God is so good! We don't thank & praise Him enough for all He gives us each and every day! We had 2 wonderful services today and I am so thankful for the words of truth! I look forward to a wonderful service come Wednesday night!

*DEFINITELY TIME FOR AN UPDATE*

Hello & greetings from Roanoke, VA. It sure has been a long time since I have even posted anything here on blogspot, so please forgive me as well as overlook me if I leave anything out while updating! Feel free to ask any questions that U may have... I hope to start using this site again on a regular basis! From looking at the last time I blogged, it has about 14 months since I did post anything, so I will do my best to fill U in!

Well for starters, it has been a very busy past 14 months at that! It's hard to believe that another school year is rapidly approaching us! Seems like we just closed out 08-09. Kyle will be 17 this month and going to be a junior this year! I am really having a hard time believing that maybe, just maybe we missed a birthday somewhere down the road... but as much as I wish that were true, that isn't the case at all! He finished drivers ed, has gotten his license, a job & a car in the past 14 months. I guess I am not wanting to think about him graduating & leaving home! (I hear it's every parents fear when their firstborn reaches that time in his/her life) I almost forgot to mention, Kyle is now just a bit taller than I am! lol

Kristofer was 13 in May and he is going into 7th grade. He had the privilege of attending a summer program through and paid for by Family Preservation Services to help him with life & social skills, self help & behavior issues! I am so very thankful he was able to participate in this program! He is growing up so fast and he really needs your prayers as he starts school this fall! He stands tall enough to look me in the eyes & is still very thin!

Kaitlyn will be 11 in January. She is going into the 5th grade and can't wait to get back to school! If she had her way, school would be open all year round! lol Katie is developing into quite a young lady! She wants to do everything Mommy does... I am so often reminded that she is watching my every move & that I must mold my life after Jesus so that she will always want to walk close to Him and have a close relationship with Him! I am not always perfect & sometimes I fall... but I am so thankful for God's mercy & forgiveness & that He is faithful & just and never more than just a prayer away!

Since Kyle has a job, he isn't able to get away as much & do family events/functions! I was able to take Katie & Kris to Kings Dominion back in July. We had a good time & we ended the evening with a really good concert that included the bands Fireflight, Hawk Nelson, Skillet and Switchfoot! We throughly enjoyed the music & I will say that I was very impressed with the testimony of each of the artist that played that night! I believe that God can also clearly speak through music... we just have to learn to open our hearts and listen to the message He has for us!

I have been pondering an idea/thought that I have had for the past several years. I feel even more impressed to follow through with this idea since my father passed away in October 07. I believe that I am suppose to write a book! I know, call me crazy but I really can remember back from the time I was very young that I would or might someday do this! I believe that with God's help I have a story to tell that may be able to help others who may have had the same or similiar experiences that I have had throughout my life! I have a friend back home in Ohio that is writing a book and I have asked her questions in which she gave great advice and have done some research but I am still looking & praying for the right time to make this happen! First place for me to start is with writing and I have done just that... writing for me I find is quite theraputic! I am aware that this isn't an overnight process & it will take me writing, rewriting, maybe even several times, finding trustworthy Christians and publishers to work with! There will be a lot of truths revealed in my book that might not be so pleasant for some to hear or believe but I know it is the right thing for me to do & if I can help another person through writing then I feel that is why God has laid it upon me to do this! I want my book to reflect my testimony and how God can heal a childhood full of abuse, hurt and neglect that came in many forms and bring my life back to Him! Even though I strayed, made wrong choices and turned my back on Him, He was faithful and forgave me! That is one thing that I have had to learn to do as well.... Forgive! I will be continuing to work on this and I will keep you all posted!

Well I need to get off here... If you have any questions or comments please feel free to do so, again I am going to try & start updating here as much as possible...I will at least try to do weekly updates if not more often! Take care & God Bless!

P.S. I will also try to post updated pictures soon!!!

Well I can definitely say that is has been a long while since I have done any blogging and part of that is due to my life getting too busy... shame on me! Anyways a lot of things has happened since February and some of them I will let you in on.

The kids have made it out of school and was ever so ready for summer break. They all passed and Kyle will now be in 10th grade, Kris in 6th and Katie in 4th. Where does the time go??? Oh before I forget to mention, Kyle is now driving!!! Yes I said driving. I am not even sure if the shock of it all has worn off but my darling little boy isn't so little anymore and that really makes me sad! He will be 16 in less than 2 months and how I wish that I could stop time or slow it down... knowing that I can't makes me even sadder. I think all of you parents can understand where I am coming from? Right now Kyle is at camp in Alabama with my sister in law and niece and nephew.

This coming Friday, July 4th we are headed back up the mountain to get ready for our yearly church camp meeting aka Blue Ridge Camp. Last year was my first time there and I can say that I wouldn't miss it for anything! My kids have so much fun as so do we adults, but I am really looking forward to just going to the services and being fed! I want to come down off that mountain and know that I allowed God to work in my life in such a way that I am forever changed for the better and that I will better know what God's purpose for me is! To many this might seem odd, but as I look at this world and the sin and sadness that is all around, I am reminded that I was once there and that I don't have to live there anymore and if I might stumble and fall that Jesus has never even once left my side... I just have to reach out and take hold of His Amazing Grace! So many times I have gotten caught up in my own life and have allowed it to become so busy that I loose sight of where I need to be... but I want to stay on track and make sure that I keep Christ the center of my life... and when I do I will never go wrong! Philippians 4:13 has been really revealed to me here in the past few days and I have found that to be true. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I want that to be a constant reminder when I am at a low and when satan seems to be working his hardest. I pray that you will pray for me and my family as we will do our best to remember you all! Have a Blessed day!
I will try to do better with posting and updating my blog!
P.S. I will update with new pics at a later time

Dear family and friends,
It has really been a long time since I have posted on here last but I am here and I try to pick up where I last left off if I can remember. It is hard to believe that we only have a little over a month left of school and the summer has already started to fill up with important dates and events that we will be doing. We definitely want to go as a family back to our churches camp in July and I know that Kyle will be going to a lot of different events with the youth. I started working about 8 weeks ago and I love my new job. The only difficult thing about working is trying to find a sitter for the kids during the summer. I know that God will provide.

I put Katie back into the Christian school but Kris has to stay where he will get use of his IEP that he so desperately needs. He tried out for the 5th grade all country choir and made it. He had a jazz concert back about 1 month ago and they really did a good job! The teachers have asked me if Kris has had formal training and he hasn't but they have suggested that he further his vocal abilities. He is learning to play guitar.

Kyle has really turned into quite a musician... at times he now plays lead/acoustic guitar for youth worship. He is the drummer on Wednesday nights for worship. I am encouraging him to further his vocals as he also can sing.

Katie is just Katie... she still does some solo parts. He is having some problems with her asthma. I had her back to the doctors this week and the PFT test that she took showed that at times she is only using 44% of her lungs. Please keep her in your prayers as this week she is on intense therapy and if she isn't quite a bit better by Tuesday the doctor is taking some aggressive measures on getting her better.

Well I need to go... Kids need to be tucked in and I am getting sleepy. Give me a holler back and stop in say hi or email me at anytime. I will update more later! Hugz to you all! God Bless

*A LONG TIME GONE*

Dear Family & Friends,
I know it's been a long time since I have posted anything and believe it or not a lot has happened or gone on since my last post. I won't bore you with all the details but for starters I will let you know that I am no longer seeing Brian. I believe that we were both just wanting different things and that is the way it goes sometimes. Katie and Kris are back in public school and Kyle is still in Parkway. Please pray for our little family... I know myself and I'm sure the kids would appreciate it too! We are each experiencing our own difficulties and Satan has been working against me in the worst way! I would greatly covet your prayers! I will update more at a later time. Blessings to each one!

Dear Family & Friends,
Wow! It has really been over 2 weeks since I last blogged and a lot has happened in that time but I can say that most or if not all of it has been good! :-) God has been working in my life and I just wouldn't be able to post this blog without mentioning how good He really is to me! I had a situation concerning my car come up and God had already taken care of it before I thought about how me, this weak unworthy person that I am was going to deal with it. I can say that not only did He take care of it, He made it possible to be able to see into what I thought was going to weigh me down for months. God is good all the time and I can't say this enough.... ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!

The kids are doing good! They did have 2 days off from school last week due to some weather issues, but I pray that the weather will be kind and not cause for anymore school days missed... after all we only have 3 make up days this year. Anyways we all got through it and were all still in one piece! The only set back was that Kyle had end of the semester exams that had to be carried over into 2 days this week, but today was the last for him for another 9 weeks. I pray that he used his time wisely and took those extra days to study! Kris and Katie are doing well in school.

Well I must hurry and get dinner in the oven. Tonight is church and I want to have dinner almost finished when the kiddies get here as it is usually kind of hectic on Wednesday nights to cram everything in before 7pm. I started working with 2 other ladies at church on Wednesday nights helping with our 3-4 graders in a series called the Pioneers Club. We had 24 last week and I believe that we could anticipate more to come. This series runs through the end of May and it is another way for me to get the classroom experience that I wanted when I was going to get my teaching degree. Anyways, it is a learning and exciting experience.

Take care and I will try to do better about updating my blog on a more recent basis. I want to keep you updated a little more with what's going on with my personal life! ;-)
Much Love & Blessings To You All! (and ya all know you ya are)

*WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD*

First I want to start off by saying that thanks so much to each and everyone for your many thoughts and prayers. You know who you are and I just cannot tell you how much your friendship and kindness has been! To my family, I love you and I'm thankful and blessed to have you in my life! To all my friends, the same goes to you!

God has made Himself again so real in my life. Just when I doubted Him as I am so guilty of doing, He showed me again that He will never leave me nor forsake me... and I am going to try my best to remember that! This is a new year full of new beginnings and I want to make each day count and not to forget the One who gives me the gift of life! I have been going through some personal battles here in the past few days and I can't say it enough how good God is to me! He has not only heard my prayers and saw my heart, but He brought closure to something in my life that has really consumed me for a few years. I am so glad that when we least expect it, God has a way of changing what we once believed and taking care of it as He always does! Let's just say for almost 5 years I lived in fear of and was made to believe something that wasn't true and if I would of relied on Him for guidance and what necessary steps to take next I wouldn't of had to live the past 5 years in pain. We all live and learn and I'm thankful that this learning experience will definatly make me a stronger person. Thank you God!

Yesterday we celebrated Katie's birthday 9th birthday. She had a big chocolate chip cookie in place of cake with ice cream. She sure didn't need the sugar to make her buzz around the place, she was already buzzing when I picked the kids up from school. She was happy with the little Polly Pocket thingy that I got her along with the jumprope that she has been wanting. Kyle even wrapped gave her a gift that was in a huge box, stuffed with some heavy books and packing styrafome (I know I didn't spell that right, oh well!) and she was tickled just to go through the box and see what he got her. You never know what to expect when Kyle throws his twist on things into the mix... and I do mean that in a good way!

In close I want to mention that Katie did have a nice birthday, she is still not able to understand why her father didn't call her or even send her a card yesterday. She is aware that this isn't the first time he's forgotten her on her day, and i just ask that you remember her in your prayers and also that I have the wisdom in knowing what to say to her to help ease her sadness. I don't ever wish this to happen to her again. Also, I have another request. There is someone that I love dearly and care so much about... they are going through a tough time right now and I ask that you help me hold them up before God and that they will find peace with what they are going through. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and those of you who don't blog... it is a good form of therapy and I would love to read your blogs as well, so I would like to take this time to invite you to open up a blogpage and join the rest of us fellow bloggers! Take care and Blessings to you all!