Popsicle Party and Birthday

It was Riley's last day in 4K yesterday. All the children's families were invited to come to the court yard at school and have a Popsicle. Jesse, Josiah and I went and Daddy got to come too. It was nice that he got to leave work and celebrate Riley's "graduation" from 4K. I can't believe she will be going to Kindergarten. She is so cute. We were driving around town last night and talking about her being done with school and she said "No school until Tuesday"! I told her, Riley you don't have to go back to school until August. "Oh, Yeah! And then I don't have to sit in a car seat anymore"! WHAT???? Well, I figured it out. Our neighbor Lilli is in 5K and her grandmother picks the kids up from school and I guess Lilli doesn't sit in a car seat anymore so Riley things she doesn't have to either. But poor girl, she will probably be in a car seat until she is in high school. I believe she is only about 30 lbs right now and she is 5 years old. Oh, to be that little again:)

Well, yesterday was a big day for me. I turned the big 35! I had a nice day. My parents come over in the morning and brought a little cake. Then after school Terry took all the kids (except for Josiah) to Wal-mart and bought a GREAT Chocolate cake. It was AWESOME! For my birthday dinner, I REALLY wanted to go eat at Red Lobster. It was so good. We just love their cheese biscuits. It was awesome. What a nice birthday. We did go in search of Nation Treasure 2 at Blockbuster but were unable to rent it. So we went home and my neighbors "broke into our house" and left me flowers and balloons. How nice:) They actually ended up coming to watch National Treasure (1) after the kids went to bed. I really enjoyed that movie. I can't wait to see the second one. (hopefully this weekend.)

Well, that is about it. I hope everyone is doing well and have a GREAT Weekend.

Just in case...

You are interested, here is a link to the official Steven Curtis Chapman website. http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

There is also a place there where you can express your condolences and meet little Maria.
http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/
They have posted a little video of SCC with her and she is beautiful. My heart goes out to this family and can't immagine what they are going through and what their son will have to deal with for the rest of his life. I was listening to WMHK this morning and they actually played an interview they did with him a few weeks ago and he was explaining about his new song "Cinderella". He said it usually takes him a couple of days to write that song but for some reason it only took him one hour to write this song. WOW, I truely believe He put those words in his heart. It makes me sad just reading them. You decide:


Cinderella
She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearin' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited
and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song, Cuz all to soon
the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I'd approve of a dress
She says "Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song, Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone.

Well, she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says "Dad, the wedding's due six months away
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knewOhh-oh
ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song, (even one song) Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

Black bear spotted in Lexington, SC

Can you believe it? Who would have thought. Evidently there is one walking around here. Check this link out from our local news: http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8352659
It is pretty scary to think about. I might think twice about sending my kids to play outside. It is pretty scary. I hope they will catch him soon.

Another sad story I heard about this morning, Steven Curtis Chapman's five year old daughter was struck and killed in an accident by an SUV driven by their teenage son on their driveway. We need to pray for his family for their loss of their beautiful daughter and pray for their son as he has to deal with what has happened. I can't imagine what they are going through. Please pray for them as they deal with this horrible tragety.

Wii Fit Family Fun

We got our WII FIT today. I am so excited. As I am sitting here Terry is doing it. I have to say it is pretty funny but I am sure it is going to be fun. It will definitely get me to exercise a bit.
There are all kinds of games and exercises we can do. Some of them are funny, like trying to hit a soccer ball with your head or walking a tight rope. And then there is Yoga and Strength Training. I'll have to take some pictures of us doing it.

Since we are talking about getting healthy and exercising, I have started a program called "From Couch to 5K". I am excited about it. I started yesterday. You download the program on your ipod (which I got for my birthday) and you listen to the guy's music but he tells you when to start the warm up and then when to run and to walk. You do that for 30 minutes three times a week for 9 weeks. And supposedly by the end of the nine weeks you are be able to run a 5k. I am excited about it. I really hope I will be able to stick to it. I want to be able to say that I have done a 5k. Wouldn't that be great:)

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well and I will talk to you soon.

Love you,
Pauline

Last day on earth...

Isn't it funny that you hear a song so many times and you KNOW the words but then one day you READ the words and you go "OOOH". Well, that happened tonight with one other song from Steven Curtis Chapman (I love his music). There is a song called "Last day on earth". And for some reason when I was reading it tonight it made me go, "yeah, what would I do if I knew this would be my last day on earth?" I don't really know. I guess I would keep my family close and tell them all the things I have been afraid to tell them. I would pray a lot I think. I think it would be very hard for me. Well, look at the words of this song and let me know what you would do on your

"last day on earth".

{Matthew 25:21; James 4:14}

I pull over to the side of the road and I
Watch the cars pass me by
The headlights and the black limousines tell me
Someone is saying goodbye
I bow my head and I whisper a prayer, "Father,
Comfort their broken hearts"
And as I drive away there's a thought that
I cannot escape, no I, cannot escape this thought
I can't get away
Oh, if this should be my last day on this earth
How then shall I live
Oh, if this should be the last day that I have
Before I breathe the air of Heaven
Let me live it with abandon to
The only thing that remains
After my last day here on earth
If this should be my last day here on earth
If this should be my last, last day here on earth
And if tomorrow comes to find me
Looking in the face of Jesus
Will I hear Him say the words "well done"?
If this should be my last day here on earth
If this should be my last, my last day here on earth
'Cause this could be my last, this could be my last
This could be my last day

Written by: Steven Curtis Chapman

Dedicated to all moms who have bad days!

I am sitting here at the computer desk putting songs on my new Ipod nano while Terry and Joel are out watching "Prince Caspian". And as I wait for my cd's to download, I am reading some of the lyrics and came across this one song that I wish I had found before Mothers Day but thought I would share it anyway. It is a Steven Curtis Chapman song called "One Heartbeat At A Time". Just remember moms, we ARE changing the world!

You're up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall in bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth
doing got done
Well maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

That you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every
smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every, "I know you can do it"
And every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem
to go unnoticed

They're just like the drop of rain
Over time, they become a river

You're beautiful, so beautiful
How you're changing the world, yeah you're
changing the world

I blieve that you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Written by Steven Curtis Chapman
2007 Sparrow.
CD: This Moment

Mothers Day

Since Mother's day is ALWAYS on Sunday's it makes it sometimes too hard to do anything on that day. So we actually went to Chapin on Saturday to celebrate it with my mom. We had a lot of fun. We brought Mom/Oma a pretty plant for Mother's day. We spent the morning/afternoon there and then left around 2pm so we can get some stuff done.

Dad found a snake skin in the yard a few days/weeks ago and gave it to Joel to take to school. He was so excited about it.

Then on Sunday we actually got up WAY too late (8:30am and Sunday school starts at 9:30am) so we had to rush to get to church on time. So after church we went and stopped at the Pig and got some chicken for lunch. So after lunch Jesse got me his mother's day present. He had made a sun visor for me and a card at church. It is very cute:) Then Terry sent me upstairs because he wanted Josiah to make something for me. When they called me there was a little box on the table-wrapped. I opened it and guess what was in it.... An ipod nano. I was so excited:) Now I just have to learn how to use it.

I love being a mom to my beautiful children. Yes, it gets tough sometimes and it probably is one of the hardest jobs in the world but I am very blessed with some GREAT kids. Thank you God for giving them to me:)

Love you:)

Cousins and a broken bone.

WOW, what a busy two weeks. My sister, Marjolein and her family came to visit April 25Th from Holland. We had such a good time, but way too short. They stayed the first week here in SC and then the second week went to visit our other sister in Alabama. I wish we could have all gone and spend some more time together but since the kids were still in school that would have been pretty hard. I really wished we could have spend more time together and the kids had so much fun. The last time there were here was when Jesse was a week old. Riley doesn't remember since she was only 15 months old. Joel and Joran had so much fun. They were actually able to communicate this time around since Joran is learning English in school. Yara knew some English words but it was still amazing how the kids communicated. Yara and Jesse really got close. It was amazing. They just had so much fun together. One night while they were here the kids had a sleep over at our house. I was going to put the boys together in one room-Joran, Joel and Jesse and put the girls together in the other- Yara and Riley but Yara wanted to be with Jesse. So we put them together and Joel and Joran had a room together. It was fun:)

So then on Tuesday April 29Th while Marjolein and her family were visiting Charleston for a couple of days. I got a phone call from the school nurse and she told me that Joel hurt his finger playing football on the playground- it got jammed with the ball and she thought it would be a good idea to call the doctor and get it x-rayed. So Terry took him to Chapin and yep, it was broken. He made a appointment with a Pediatric orthopedic doctor for the next day to get it set. So Terry took him in the morning and after 3 hours of waiting in the waiting room they finally saw him and looked at the x-rays and told Terry that he needed SURGERY!!! No way, my 8 year old boy needs surgery???? WOW! So he scheduled the surgery for the next day.

We got there at 9:30am and while waiting we had some visitors. Our pastor Daryl stopped by and brought his son Eli. Joel and Eli have been friends since they were little. Eli was so cute, he brought a joke book and pretty much read all the jokes in that book. It was cute;) Then Daryl prayed for us and they left. Russell and Cathy McFarland also came by to visit. Cathy actually works in the ER so that was really nice. At around 11:30am they rolled him away and Terry and I went down stairs to the waiting room. While waiting, Stephanie Keisler (who also works in the ER) stopped by and so did Terri Hooper.

The surgery went very well. They had to put two pins in his finger and they will take them out in about a month. I actually have to take him to the doctor tomorrow and they will put a new cast on and make sure it is not infected. Then in 2 weeks they will permanently take off the cast and pull the pins out and put a splint on (for I don't know how long).

He is doing very well. He broke his right ring finger so that is nice, since he is a lefty:) Although he does use that right hand a lot.

I will keep everybody updated with everything. I hope to take a picture of his finger tomorrow while the cast is off and if that comes out well I will post it. I am sure it is going to looking pretty interesting.

Well, I hope everybody is well and we will talk with you soon.

Pauline