Oct 30, 2008

Where to begin......what a birthday!

It is the end of what has been the best birthday of my life......

I don't know where to start, I fell like the story could go on forever,so I am just going to type, and pray that everyone can follow all that is going on in my world, in my mind and in my heart.....so here it goes.....

I should start by saying that I am and have always been thankful for Gods provision in my life! I thank Him daily for my family, husband , children, house...a lot of different things and He has ALWAYS provided, in some form or fashion. We may not have a cent extra at the end of the pay period, but we want for nothing... But, today was different. I have been wailing since this afternoon, when I got a call from my friend relaying a message from my angel.....

It was my birthday and I received a ton of calls, emails and such wishing me a happy one thank you all so much for thinking of me, it warms my heart to feel as loved as I have felt today. So thank you all again. One call was different, it did not start off that way, this messenger is a very dear friend of mine so of coarse we laughed and joked around and had our usual conversation and questions. Some how it came up that our heat was out, I was really bragging on my girlfriends cause last night they brought me 4 heaters to heat my freezing house.This friend was unaware of the fact that we had no heat (not on the top of my list of happy things to talk about I guess) someone got wind that we had no heat, and called her up to tell her they wanted to help us out and fix whatever was wrong with it........WHAT!

I say WHAT so emphatically because I was a bit confused at first, I did not think I was hearing her correctly, someone who wants to remain nameless wants to send a heater fixer to my house and fix it for us, just does not make sense to me! My sweet messenger friend is sworn to secrecy and I am not allowed to ask any questions.

I am asking again, are you sure it is us, are you sure they don't want to help someone else? We do have 4 heaters (thanks ladies, I love you)? I would understand if they found this out that they would not want to follow through....I get it, there are people who are far worse off then us. She reassured me that this is what they feel led to do for us!!

Can I just tell you what a humbling experience it was for me, to allow this blessing to come my way. We need heat, I certainly can not have my babies in a freezing cold house, we just went through 2 ear infections and an Er visit a couple days ago...we need heat.

My heart, my mind can not wrap around this whole thing yet, I am so very grateful. My heart is full, the fact that someone is doing this for my family, when they don't have to.... we are in a economic crisis now, and someone wants to help my family, I am in awe, in awe of a God that promises to never leave me or forsake me. A God who promises that I will never be given more than I can bear. A God who promises me that if I walk with Him my burden will be light. A God who says rejoice, I will supply your every need.... I stand in awe...

To our Angel,

Where to begin to express my heartfelt gratitude? What words could possibly let you know how you have blessed us. I am So thankful. I think it is even more beautiful that you want no name but HIS attached to the blessing. I don't know how you found out our circumstances ....I believe it was a God thing, that was the only way our heat was getting fixed. With all that is in me I am encouraged by your kindness! We have witnessed first hand God intervening for us in a huge way. I was able to share my story of your generosity to some family members who I don't believe have a relationship or know our Lord, and they were blown away, they could not believe it. I want you to know that your gift was so much more than heat... I pray that you will read this, that you will know how much it has meant to my family. What an amazing birthday gift, what an amazing story to tell my kids of Gods love and provision, what an example of obedience.

If I knew who you were, I would hug your neck... From all the Estes we thank you, we thank God for using you to bless us. I have prayed all day that you would be blessed in return triple what you have done for us. I am so humbled by your gift.

I pray that one day we will be able to bless and encourage others the way you have blessed and encouraged us. May God Bless you.

So I am suppose to hear from the heater fixer by tomorrow, wow, I cry as I type...I love music, that is my favorite way to worship, I have been singing HIS praises all day.

My in laws made me dinner and the whole family was there to celebrate me, thank you all as well, I love you! My girlfriends made the night special too with campfire, hot coco and great conversation, you are the best friends any girl could ever ask for(believe me I asked/prayed for you), you all encourage me daily and I am so thankful for each one of you...

To my very dear and precious husband....I know this has been a hard time for you, and I know accepting these blessings from others is even more difficult, but be encouraged that I would stand beside you and be happiest in the freezing cold for the rest of my life if I had to as long as I had you beside me. I promised you almost 4 years ago that I would love you forever and I mean that more today then yesterday. You provide for your family in more ways then you know. I am honored to be your wife, through the calm and through the storm!!! I love you!

I don't know how to end this except to say thank you God, I stand in awe of you once again...your love for my family is astounding.

How great is our GOD!!

Oct 28, 2008

What a Weekend!

Before I get into the detail of this post I want to say thank you so much to all my amazing friends and family who prayed, called and emailed to check in on my family! It means more to me then you all will ever know! So again, thank you!!

Saturday night is when it all started Bowen woke up in the middle of the night and said his ear needed a band aid. Obviously his ear wash hurting, so I gave him some Motrin and we attempted to go back to sleep and get some rest. Needless to say, rest was not in the forecast for our family this weekend. After a long night full of whimpers and coughs, I woke up and headed to my friends house, she has drops to numb the ear and also antibacterial drops as well. In my mind I am hoping and praying that the drops will work and we can hold off from the Emergency Room and as soon as I wake up Monday morning I would make an appointment!

All day Sunday Bowen did fine, again a bit fussy with minor complaints about his ears I thought we would be in the clear till Monday! So Sunday night we get all the kids in bed and Paul heads to sleep, I am up editing pictures and Judd wails out this horrible scream (I have not ever herd this type of scream before) I run into the bedroom and pick him up....he is on fire, I mean SO hot. I take all of his clothes off to try to cool him down and his entire body is beet red, it looks like he had a sunburn all over his body. I go and get the thermometer and take his temp...104.7!! I am freaking out a bit at this point cause 105 is the limit for taking them to the ER, so I am nervous, praying that God would take down the temp a bit. So I give Judd the Motrin and we wait till the fever drops a bit, I put a T-shirt on him and lay him back down for bed.

As soon as I lay Judd down and I proceed to lay my own head on the pillow, Bowen wakes up and his ear hurts, so we are up again for another 3 hours trying to calm him down. So Paul and I are now on day 2 of slim to none sleep!!

Monday morning, I call the Dr. and tell them what the past few hours have consisted of with my boys and can they please let me know what time I can bring them both in to be checked out? She says that the earliest time is 5pm, so we wait and continue to take medicine to keep the fevers at bay. Now mind you even with the meds the boys were still having fevers that were reading into the 103's, so I am home by myself(Paul had to work) all day with 2 kids who are very clingy and do not feel well. We had a lot of snuggle time on the couch and that was the only nice part of the sick time, my kids are all over the place and to snuggle on the couch for 4 hours, well you know they must not feel real well.

5pm, we are in the Dr's office, both boys have horrible ear infections in one ear with the signs of the infection creeping into the second. Judd' s was so bad they had to give him a shot. Now, I am pro fever, I think it is good and well to have a fever if it is under control. In most instances I will hold off on the antibiotic to see if the body will just fight it off itself, that is the ideal situation. But when we get to the Dr. and the fevers are still in the high 103's even with Motrin, I decide I am ready for them to feel better, so lets do it!

We left the Dr, and I feel pretty good, sometimes we go and there is nothing the Dr can do, it is viral, so to leave there with an answer as to what is ailing my children was nice. We go to the pharmacy, Paul meets us there and we swap kids. The prescription was going to take a while and I had a few things I was going to pick up at the grocery store, so off went Paul and the boys!

A few minutes later Paul calls me and says that Bowen is complaining of his belly hurting and is a bit lethargic, I ask him to check Bowen's temp again and call me back. When Paul calls me back and tells me Bowen's temp is 105.7 I tell him to take all his clothes off and wait by the phone while I call the DR back, so a few minutes go by and the Dr calls back and basically says that we need to take him into the ER and that 105 is the most they would say a fever should get to, and that anything above 105 can cause convulsions and or brain damage if the fever were to say that high for a while...GREAT!! So I call Paul back and tell him to pack up the kids, I am on my way home from the grocery store and I will be there in A couple minutes.

Here is where the Panic sets in for me as a mother. First of all I am not there to lay eyes on my child and see for myself if he is alright....I know you mothers know what I am saying. WELL, Paul calls me back and informs me that he took Bowen's temp again and it is now 106.3!!!!!! I without any hesitation tell him to throw the kids in the car, don't wait for me to get home, I will meet you at the ER.

I am knees to the earth at this point! I turn my car around and race to the hospital where I proceed to fill out what I need to fill out in order to expedite the process of them seeing my baby! While I am waiting on my family to arrive, the only thing that brings me comfort is to get on my face and pray to the Lord that cares more about my children than I do, So that is exactly what I did. I walked right out of the ER and fell to my knees and prayed out loud that God would protect my child an heal him in His name.

Meanwhile there are people walking in and out of the hospital right beside where I was praying, one of them must have been alarmed because before I knew it the security guard is out there asking me if I was alright, well no, I am not alright I am worried about my baby. I am a firm believer in prayer and I was adamantly calling out to the Ultimate Healer.

To make a really long story short, God answers my prayers and Bowen's fever began to immediately fall and by the time we left the ER it was 99.5. I am so thankful to God for looking after my family, and I am so thankful that my world, my life...my babies are fine!

I am looking forward to some good sleep tonight! Thank you once again for all the prayers, our God is good and your prayers were felt!

Oct 24, 2008

Blurb!!!!!!

Alright!! Here is something really cool!! My cousin Suzanne just sent out an email about blurb. What is it you say?? Well this cool website allows you to download software to make your blog into a book!!! I am totally pumped about this. Check it out for yourself at www.blurb.com and see what kind of neat things you can create.

I have been printing out each post on my blog, so that I can keep it since it is like a little journal for me, and now that there is this sweet software, I will certainly purchase a book at the end of the year to document the happenings in the Estes house. So for all you bloggers out there, enjoy this cool new site!!! Thanks Suz for sharing, and I love your book!!!!

My Little Chick-A-Dee

So here he is...Judd, my little chick! A couple weekends ago we attended a costume birthday party, and before we got there I pulled off to snag some pictures of the boys.Bowen decided that he did not like his costume, so I had to settle for Judd pictures only!! Who Knows what Halloween will look like, it may rain or be so cold we don't go out so I thought it would be nice on this beautiful day to get some before Halloween shots!! Paul hates this costume, he says it is "gay" I however think it is adorable!! Come on! He is only 1, pretty soon he will be picking out his own horrible costumes that I will surly despise, so as for now, while he has no opinion this chicken was a winner!! He looks thrilled doesn't he?


I love this, there was a little antique shop that was decorated so wonderfully for the fall, so we stopped there to admire the decor.




Nothing else really going on, today is a gloomy one so we have been confined indoors, which I hate, but it has been nice to make me sit and relax in my own home. I am still sifting through my Bert's farm Pics so I should have those up in the next few days!! I am looking forward to this weekend, Paul is singing at church which is always my favorite, I have several shoots this weekend including a bridal session which I am thrilled about as well. I got my new camera in and I am loving it!!! IT is amazing so check back, I will have several updates!!




Oct 17, 2008

Pumpkin Pancakes!

In honor of fall and October, I decided that this morning I was going to make pumpkin pancakes!! They were delicious! I made the batter the night before, threw it in the refrigerator and this morning pulled out the griddle and it was easy! Topped with confectioners sugar and some fresh raspberries and blueberries, it was a meal to savor!!

Bowen, who is not the biggest breakfast eater had 4 pancakes!! Judd who eats more than Bowen also devoured a ton himself!

I am inspired in the fall to bake and cook different things, next week I am making pumpkin roll, one of my seasonal favorites! Tradition in our house is pumpkin rice crispy treats (not made with pumpkin) They are shaped like pumpkins and I color them orange, tootsie roll serves as a stem, candy corn for the eyes, and an M&M as the nose, these are fun to do with children!

In the background of this picture is the recipe book Deceptively Delicious. It is an awesome book for parents who's children have an aversion to veggies and other nutritional foods. The thought is, if you puree veggies and add them to your recipes then your family will still get the nutrients from those veggies. I will be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first...I thought that we would have to add tons of sugar to hide the taste of the veggies, and what would the point of that be? I certainly did not what to fill my kids with sugar just so they could eat broccoli. Much to my surprise, this book is very health conscious, using things like flax seed and stone ground wheat, it is a much healthier approach to cooking than I have ever done.

So this week was grocery week, and I decided to give it a whirl! I have come to realize I love this book. It did take me a while to find all the ingredients in the grocery store and getting used to the idea of pureeing and freezing will take some time, but I think it will be so much better for my family, and so far all 3 of my biggest food critics have not noticed a thing!! Pretty awesome when you think of brownies made with pureed spinach, Hugh???



This morning was the best morning to break out the pumpkin pancakes, it was raining with a chill outside, we have the windows open and are enjoying the rain and each other! Savoring the few hours we have until life gets busy again, rehearsal dinners and such tonight! I think my sis-in-law and her kids may come over and we can keep in good company, all enjoying the rain together. Not to mention the perks of wearing the kids out with some good family playtime, and then nice long naps for tired mommies!!! :)

My Boys

Here are my babies once again I have made them be my models.... not really, I just wanted some fall pictures of my kids so we headed out and caught a few of my favorites!! I love the sun in these images!

Just an update, things are good at the Estes household. I am still in my bible study and loving it! Paul and I are reading together a book called Love & Respect, I am excited about this book too. This weekend is very busy, but I am so looking forward to everything on our to do list! From a killer Halloween party with some new friends, a wedding, Bert's Farm, pumpkins, and apple picking!!! OHHHH my I can hardly wait!


This is Bowens silly pose!! He looks so GQ here it is hilarious to me! But I love it!!


This one slipped in there cause I think it is cute, we took a few Christmas pictures for our Christmas card and I loved this one of Judd, I know he is not smiling, but I still love his expression!


On another note, Paul and I have started mentoring with this awesome couple, I am so pumped about this. I think it will be good for us to have others who have been where we are in life and help Keep us on the path of serving one another. I have been learning a lot lately about God's provision in my life, and about being obedient in honoring my husband I am so excited to see what he has in store for our marriage.

Here is a part of the bible study I am reading. I really like what Kelly says here. I found it very pleasant!

" I believe obedience is the precursor to experiencing God's satisfying presence and the richness of His blessings. This is not a formula but a path that manifests itself in a relationship that is honest and open between God and us. It functions supremely when we are looking solely to Him as Savior."

I love it, I love the picture it paints of our relationship with God! Oh there is so much in this study that just ROCKS my socks off...

I feel this pertains to my obedience to God in respecting Paul, even when he does not deserve it, and I must be more obedient in loving Paul, even when he is not lovable. I love how the things I do with my study group of amazing ladies, always seems to go back and pertain to my amazing husbands, God is so good to intertwine the two....He is much smarter than I give Him credit for at times!

Oct 15, 2008

Van Gogh.....maybe so?

I will start off by saying October is a hard month for my personal blogging time. We have been really busy around here, partly because we have a bit of relief from the hot weather, and also because it is almost fall, my favorite time of year. There are parties to attend, festivals, fairs, pumpkin patch's...you see! I am guessing that because of all this fun, Bowen was inspired...

Here is what I walked into the other day....Bowen, who is almost 3, plays well by himself, I usually can do some laundry or some other chore around the house and he will entertain himself very well. So walking into this was a shocker. Now all of the art supplies are in a container in his closet and it would be really hard for an almost 3 year old to reach, right??? That's what I thought, and I think I was wrong.

I was bothered, of course, just one more mess to clean up, but I was thankful it was washable temper paint!! WRONG AGAIN!!!!!! A while ago I bought letters from Michael's to spell out Bowen's name and I was going to come home paint them and hang his sweet little name on the wall. Well I did that but I put the acrylic paint in Bowen's art box....you see where I am going? It is NOT the temper paint that would wash right off of the walls, it is the acrylic paint that is not budging no matter how much elbow grease I put into it! So it looks like I will be painting the room all over again...The tan color was leftover from our hallway and we used every drop for Bowen's room. No touch up paint left.

He was reprimanded, but he was so proud of his work, I couldn't help but think it was sweet! OH, since then we have moved the art box..

The dolphin is not part of the artwork (in case you were wondering)!

I will update soon with lots of fall pictures, we are heading to the piumpkin patch this weekend. It has neen a tradition for our family! So I will have lots of pic to post real soon! I hope this finds everyone well!




Oct 2, 2008

Interesting to say the Least...

So this week and last weekend has been pretty crazy! My family and I drove out to Gwinnett on Friday night, so we could go see my family. And also one of my friends just had a baby and she lives about 10 min from my mom so we decided to pack up the family and make the hour and a half trip out to Stone Mountain.Well... before we packed up the kids, I called and asked my mom if there was gas out her way, cause there was NO gas anywhere around Dallas/Hiram area. My mom assures us that there is plenty of gas and we should head on out there and we will find gas on our way. Now mind you, we only had enough gas to get out there and not to get back...So Paul and I are looking at every gas station and we keep passing one, two, three...no gas! We pull up to my moms house, tell her the news of No gas anywhere out there either and she apologizes, and we wait!!



The next morning I call my friend and tell her I do not have enough gas to make it out to see her and meet her new baby girl, and she assures me that there is gas out by her and I should head on over. Now, she had her husband go up to the corner store before I left just to make certain there was gas, and there was. So I head to her house to see her and Lela, I take a few pictures, visit with the family, and head out to stop by the gas station they said had gas...and they did have gas....until I pulled up to the pump, then, of course, they ran out. So I barely make it back to my moms, and we had every intention to hang at my moms till about 2pm, eat lunch and head over to a friend of mines daughters 2nd birthday. But that was not going to work, cause we had no gas, and unless we waited on the closest gas station to get gas we would run out searching for a place that had gas. It was a vicious cycle.



Now after the birthday party(which we never made it to) I was suppose to go up to the hospital and visit some friends of mine who just had their little boy, and of course take pictures as well, BUT without gas I was stuck and could not go anywhere. So I unfortunately had to cancel that as well.



Now I am panicking, I need to get home, I am singing at church on Sunday morning and I needed to get back to Paulding county and I needed to get to church. Well, we sat in line for over 2 hours to get gas, we waited and waited and we were ready to wait as long as we needed to. Finally got gas and did not make it back to our house till after 2am on Saturday night! Awesome, I was home and getting ready to sleep only to have to wake up and go to church and try to sing with a man voice cause I had no sleep. I will be honest I thought about canceling at the church, but I am so glad I didn't, I always enjoy it so much and it was nice to be back in my element(it has been a while)



Now, in between all that Paul and I were stressed out and we took it out on each other, had an argument in front of Bowen and had to go back and apologize to him, I don't think he gets it, but at least he saw us resolve our conflict! Aghh!!! I hate that!



And in the meantime since we were literally stuck in Gwinnett, we went and watched my brother play football. He only has 2 more games left and I have yet had a Saturday where I was free to go watch him, so even though things did not work out like I had planned them to, it was still a nice weekend, and I did enjoy the extra unplanned time I was able to spend with my family!



On another note, Paul took me out on a date to see the movie Fireproof, and well it helps to put things into perspective, and our little scuffle is over, Thank God! I do think every married couple should go see it and maybe even keep a copy on hand at home! I cried the whole movie and I loved it(once I got passed the poor acting) The point of the movie is awesome!!