Museum of Science and Industry

Not so long ago... We took the girls to the Museum of Science and Industry. Although it was only 4 years ago it was a very different museum. The exhibits that opened in October of last year were absolutely amazing. It was fun to watch the 7th and 8th graders in a very cool way of course get into these new sights. The mind and body experience section was fascinating for everyone.

This is a picture of Kalyn and Sam. There is a small ball in the middle of the table they are at. The object is to be completely relaxed and clear your mind; if you are able to do this the ball will go all the way to the other side of the table and of course that means YOU WIN! The screans above them show all of us how they are doing.

Veins! Put your arm under special lighting and see all the veins in your arm in action. I have to admit Sandy and I thought about how fun it would be to see all the veins in our legs but we couldn't get any of the kids to take shoes and socks off and humor us.

There was so much to do. Make a toy of your own, help a robot design a face and then watch it dance to celebrate. Fly on a airplane ride or drive it yourself. Of course many of the old exhibits were still there and are wonderful too. It is certainly a place for all ages. I would love to go back with all my girls. Be prepared to walk alot, or you could borrow bessy (my scooter) she was a lifesaver!

This was our group of students. They are standing in steam coming down from the ceiling. It almost looks like a wall of rain behind them.

A great idea for the family if you have time. Have a wonderful weekend, and Gods blessings to everyone.

Thank God Its Friday

I used to say that after a long week of work and I was just waiting for the weekend to get here. I'm sure you all know the feeling. This time however, it means I am so thankful that Thursday is over. Just Thursday. The rest of the days were fine.

Thank you all for your prayers. Our hearing went exceptionally well. We had a wonderful (if you could say that) judge and a doctor that, believe it or not had one other experience with Autonomic Dysfunction and that was 42 years ago during the war. He was very helpful in explaining to the judge just what I have. Most people have never heard of it and there is no criteria for it in the judicial system. His testimony was very important, thankfully our doctors were thorough in there testing so he was able to say without that I have these diseases and infact it is very rare and unfortunately severe.

So I should feel better, right. Somehow I don't yet. Never thougth I would be disabled, then again I don't think anyone does. God has brought us through this so far so I am just keeping it in His hands. I am thankful to all of you for your constant friendship and support.

Just wanted to let you know. Have a wonderful weekend.

The long awaited day

Hi everyone!
It's the night before our hearing and all through the house the children do thier homework no sign of a mouse. The laundry is stacked on the couch as I write in hopes that the cleaning fairy will come see my plight.

The family enjoyed a meal at our church of soup and cheese crackers and brownies to burst. This night we will pray and thank God for this day. We ask that His blessings will to come your way.


Ok really, we are preparing for a hearing for my disability tomorrow and have been preparing for a number of months/years. I have been asked if I am nervous. Not really, I have been praying about this and feel that we are making a very strong case. Do I feel confident about the outcome, no. This is the government we are talking about. That should speak for itself :)

I would like to ask for your prayers as go through this difficult day and comfort with whatever the decision may be.

Now I am off to bed. Peace be to all and to all a good night.

God's gift

I almost forgot, here are some pictures of the bags I made this past week. If anyone wants one let me know. :)

Today I am relaxing in the wonderful climate of my sauna. Thats right, I am sitting in my sauna writting this. When I was gathering my things to sit down and write the idea came to mind. What a perfect time to enjoy the warmth of the sauna and enjoy writting a post! I will not be able to sit in here all day unfortunately, there will be some things that need to get done. The sauna we have was purchased for my birthday from my hubby and my parents. It was an extravagant gift, considering we normally don't spend much but it has been wonderful getting the chill our of these bones.

This weekend I kept coming across a quote that I just love and I wondered why. What was so special about it that God kept bringing this to my sight.

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God."

WOW. I love this quote. Maybe I am seeing it so much because I am always praying about my girls and their lives. The big picture, you know those prayers. What I feel God is telling me is that yes I need to help them to become who they are and help them to be strong independent women but I also need to help them remember where they came from. Not only that they were created from the image of God but what about all those people who God put in our lives to mentor us. Whether its someone in our family or special friends who have taught us, loved us and sacrificed for us to live a God loving life. And most likely He is not sending this message just for my girls, but for me too.

People now seem so set on being independent, defining who they are by creating a new role or showing how strong they can be or creating a new purpose. Sometimes myself included, we forget to remember to stay strong with who created us. Become the woman that we can be but keep the foundation strong with the values and knowledge of our dear mentors. God gave us these people to do some of the work for us, to open our eyes to Him, to open our hearts to His love and to give us something that we can lean on at all times. We don't have to recreate the wheel, just keep it going!

An unexpected day

Friday has been busy. Abigail has been to the orthodontist and a periodontist in Rockford. The gum graft we have been anticipating after she gets her braces off will be a week from next wednesday. We can't wait at this point, there is too much of a risk that she will loose the tooth. Please keep her in prayers as she waits for this procedure and tries not to anticipate what they told her about it today. She is a trooper! When they asked what day would work for us, she responded that Tuesdays really weren't good for her because she didn't want to miss music at school, not Friday because that is the day Grandma and Grandpa Olson come over and then there is Art class. Thankfully we did manage to find a day that worked into her busy schedule.

I have to say I really missed my nap today. I'm so thankful for my parents' help with our grocery shopping each week. It is something that is very difficult for me to do and it gives them an opportunity to see the girls once a week. Tonight Abigail and Elianna had Grandpa in the kitchen with their marshmallow machine working him to the bone. His break came when it was time for Jonathan and Elianna to go to the Ice Hogs game. The big girls are at a school dance and Abigail is my snuggle bug for the night. Thank Heaven!

I have been able to get a few things done this week in between resting. I plan on taking some pictures and posting them as soon as I can. I have managed to make a quilted basket for my knitting stuff in the living room. It turned out amazing! I also made Mocha some new booties. Yes the dog wears booties. I'll just leave it at that.

Before I go just remember your lenten challenge, if you made one. Prayer and discipline. And feel the love of Jesus through this amazing season of Lent.

Our Lenten Journey

Lent has begun. I didn't give anything up or offer to give money or time to an organization. I am not going to ask my family to do those things either. This year for our lenten journey our focus will be devotion and prayer. We have a lenten devotional that we will do each day and I will encourage the girls to stop and pray during the day many times as I plan to do. Not just for meals or at bedtime or when I am doing my devitions but throughout the day. The muslims pray many times a day, it is actually a part of their daily routine. Could you imagine being that disciplined. I am looking forward to it. My goal is to pray 5 times a day. Now the act of praying is simple right. We will not simply pray but be in our prayers 5 times a day.

I read a devotion today that helped me in my decision to follow this discipline. Do you take time to read your bible each day?? If you do, has it just become something on your list of "should" do things each day? In reading the bible or praying we will not grow in our faith by just checking something off our to do list. I am challenging myself and my family to dig deeper and find true meaning in the prayers and readings this lent. Let God speak to us.

Random Thoughts

Three days in a row writting this, WOW! Not sure anyone is reading it, but it does give me something different to do. I am inspired by all the blogs I have read and have learned so much about many different things.

We had a wonderful weekend in Wisconsin but unfortunately I came home with a nasty cold. Needless to say I am homebound which could by why I am so eager to play on the computer. The house is so quiet today, the kids went back to school after our long weekend. They were not too happy to get up early and out the door. I really would like school much more if it started about 9 and ended about 2. I think thats long enough for the kids and myself.

The girls are growing up so quickly it seems like it's just slipping away. Elianna likes to start in bed with me at night and last night she was looking at our palms. She was wondering why there are two lines on the inside of her fingures and only on on her thumb. Then she snuggles in and sleeps. Abigail on the other hand is reading everything, and doing a great job! She went to her friends last night who has a cat. She came home and showed me the bumps on her arms (she is allergic to cats). I assumed that she was just sitting somewhere the cat had been and didn't think much of it. This morning I found out through breakfast conversation with the sister that she was petting the cat. She said "but momma, I didn't touch my face". Ugh!

The big girls. Melissa and I were the only ones home last night. That doesn't happen often and it was really nice to see her working so hard on her homework and then spending time watching something together. Just the two of us. Kalyn is the responsible one babysitting and then coming home to help put her little sisters to bed. She still needs some mom time though, which I wouldn't trade for anything!


Lately I have been interested in our family eating habits. We typically eat very healthy due to allergies and lack of fast food in our area. But there is always room to improve. I have been looking into some sites that use more homemade items rather than store bought. Such as ketchup, mustard, sour cream, spaghetti sauce (which we already do), and granola. A friend had us over for playgroup a couple weeks ago and made wonderful granola that we sprinkled on fresh fruit. Wow what a difference! and as we sat there visiting, eating and solving world problems she made another weeks worth. It was easy. And so much more healthy that storebought. Since we moved to Ashton I have been interested in canning and using fresh from the garden items for our meals. Something I wasn't used to living in the 'burbs. We didn't grow up with a garden.

My biggest obstacle to overcome with this new desire to eat more "real food" is the expense. We all know that buying fresh fruits and veges and meats are much more expensive that the processed or canned varieties. So I am going to challenge myself to start something new once a week or change up something we currently use. Anyone want to join me????

Last of our 4 day weekend

Goodmorning! I did it, pictures are not too hard to add to the blog or should I say you can teach an old dog new tricks. These are just a few pictures of the girls from this weekend at the Wilderness in the Wisconsin Dells. We had such a great time. Melissa is painting pottery which we all did except Jonathan. She was the one that used the most color and techniques to complete her plate and it turned out really cute. Elianna is just posing after her trip down one of the slides with her sisters. Kalyn is on her way back to another trip on that same slide with her sisters lagging behind. That girl moves fast! And Abigail is enjoying a float in the lazy river, which is more her speed.

Today is our last day of our 4 day weekend. So sad... I enjoy having everyone home. Have a great day!

Happy Valentines Day

Good morning and happy valentines day. It has been a wonderful long weekend for us already and we still have two more days. We have just come back from wisconsin Dells. We stayed at the Wilderness Resort. Wow what a huge place. The girls swam in 3 different pools, played miniature golf, jumped and played in a jungle gym area, ate ice cream, and stayed up late. But according to Elianna we did not eat dinner at all. It was a lot of fun and a great place to spend the weekend.

I have been spending time going through some great blogs and learning sooooo much. Honestly forgetting that I created one myself. How long ago was that?????

I will try to be better at posting and putting pictures up.

Have a great day!