Corinne's First Haircut

Corinne got her first "official" haircut Friday afternoon. She was excited about it until it was time to climb into the chair. Two of the stylists, Brent and I did some fast talking and kept her calm. One of the ladies gave Corinne her cell phone to hold. That did the trick! And I had candy in my pocket for those moments when her bottom lip started to quiver:) It didn't take more than two minutes to get her "baby mullet" cut off! Now she looks like such a big girl with a little "bob".

Tent City

I went on a women's retreat with my church to Ridgecrest (near Asheville, NC) the first weekend of August. I left at lunchtime Friday and got home just before bedtime Sunday night. When I got home, I found "Tent City" in our playroom. (I guess a better name would be "Comforter Town".) Hannah and Brock spent three nights there before I sent in the demolition crew on Monday.

Needless to say the kids had a great time with Dad all weekend. I think they missed me a little bit though. That's what I'm telling myself anyway:)

All the Freeland Family

We were in Tenn in July and took this family photo at the 4th of July picnic. I snagged it off Brian and Debbie's blog today. Stephen, Connie and Jess are on the left. We're in the middle. Brian, Debbie and Jessica are on the right. Of course that's Nana and Pawpaw standing behind us.

"Come See Us"

My cousin, Dodie, and her family moved from Penn to Minnesota last month. She mailed out a card with their new info. The card read something like "The Johnson family has moved to Minnesota. Come see us in our new home!" Brock was reading the card to me and said, "Hey, Mom, they said 'come see us'. When can we go? Maybe for dinner?" I told him that was a little too far away for dinner but maybe sometime on vacation. Brock is looking forward to our Minnesota vacation:)

Pirates of Youngsville

Hannah and Brock disappeared upstairs for about 30 or 40 mintues one afternoon while I was cooking dinner. I could hear lots of laughing and playing over the monitor so I didn't pay much attention to them. They were playing nicely so why interrupt!? When I called them downstairs for dinner, this is what we saw...

Brent told Hannah she looks more like a librarian but she insists she's a pirate.

The Days of I

If you were around the twins from the time they started talking, you know that they called each other "I" (or "eye" or "ai" or any other way it could be spelled...we're not sure what they meant). Anyway, about 6 months ago Corinne began calling Emma by her name, but Emma continued calling Corinne "I".

Well, as of the past few days we've heard her say "Co-win" many times. It seems that those precious days of one of our favorite memories of the twins being toddlers is passing. Now be sure that if Emma is highly irritated or excited, Corinne is still "I"! :)

Here's a photo of them eating dinner with their bicycle helments on (am I THAT bad of a cook!?) and one of Emma "brushing" Corinne's teeth when Mommy isn't looking (or so they thought). To keep my name clear, I had just brushed their teeth but not put away the toothbrushes.

Going Hiking

Around 11am this morning, the kids left "on an 8 day hiking trip into the woods". They had books to read in their backpacks and their "hiking rope" so the twins wouldn't get lost. Less than an hour later then were back on the deck thirsty and hungry:) They settled for a picnic lunch on a beach towel in the driveway sitting in the shade.

Hannah keeps saying that she wants to go camping since she's heard some of her friends talk about going this summer. We may need to do a trial run in the backyard one night with a borrowed tent.

(Disclaimer: I could see them from my kitchen window all the time. In their minds they were miles away from home. Such fun times!)

Vacation - Friday/Saturday

After our goodbye's Friday morning, we loaded up the van and headed south. We stopped in Nashville to show the kids Centennial Park and the Parthenon. (We'll be studying ancient times this year so it was a good "field trip" experience as well:) When given the choices of eating lunch in Nashville or going to play with cousins, the answer was instant...LET'S GO PLAY!! So we drove on to Thompson's Station where Aunt Heather, Mia, Ethan and Ella Kate were awaiting our arrival.




The kids ate a quick lunch and proceeded upstairs to investigate every toy in the house with their cousins. Uncle Shawn (Sabrina's brother) was home by 2pm. The afternoon and evening were a fun time of being with family. That night the kids had a "campout" in the playroom. Ethan ended up in his bed and Brock on the floor beside Ethan but Hannah and Mia lasted all night with their "sleepover". (Thanks, Mia, for letting Uncle Brent and Aunt Sabrina sleep in your bed!)

(Photos...Hannah couldn't wait to hold Ella Kate again; Mia and Hannah dressed up like twins, also pretending to be princesses from an American Girl book)

After a Monkey Bread breakfast we loaded up the van one last time and headed east. 11 hours later we were parked in our driveway, happy and thankful to be HOME! We made lots of good memories and look forward to the next time we can visit our family and friends in Tennessee.

(Photos...six of the eight "Hanks" grandchildren - clockwise from bottom left corner - Hannah, Mia, Brock, Ethan, Corinne and Emma; saying goodbye...Sabrina, Hannah, Ella Kate and Emma)

Vacation - Thursday

Our week in Tenn was coming to an end but there were still things to do, places to go and people to see. And we did just that...




Thursday was our last day at Nana and Pawpaw's house. While Brent went to play a round of golf with Bro. Bill, Nana and Pawpaw went to deliver meals for their church. So the kids and I spent the morning outside with Jess blowing bubbles and running around outside. Nana and Pawpaw made it back for lunch. Uncle Stephen finally showed up after lunch to "build a tent" to play under, and give 4-wheeler and tractor rides. (That's Brock "driving" the tractor.)





After naptime we got our swimsuits on and headed next door for one last swim at the Barn. Joe and Vicki Swann came over with their kids. Ms. Anne Swann (Joe's mom) and Aunt Mar Swann came also. Nana, Pawpaw, Stephen, Connie and Jess were there. And I can't forget the homeowners, Kenny and Lori Swann and some of their gang were there. We had a good time swimming, eating and catching up. Hannah commented as we were walking back to our house to change clothes, "Now we have playing friends in Tennessee too!"




First photo...L to R Stephen, Joe, Pawpaw, Kenny, Brent - just like the old days:)
Second photo...Nana, Lori, Ms. Anne, Glenda (Lori's mom), Connie, Aunt Mar
Third photo...Emma, Corinne, Jess, Connie, Aunt Mar and Vicki

So it was our last night in Cross Plains, but the fun wasn't over...

Vacation - Wednesday - 4th of July

Wednesday was another eventful day. As usual it began with a ride on the 4-wheeler. Emma never would get on when I had the camera with me so I didn't get a picture of her this time. She had plenty of rides though.

Brian, Debbie and Jessica drove up to spend the 4th of July with us. We went swimming then ate lunch. I can't remember what everyone else did while Jessica, Corinne and Emma napped. Oh well. Guess it wasn't too memorable:)

We (Brian's family, Brent's family, Nana and Pawpaw) went to a nearby church for a cookout with the Traughber side of the family (Nana's family). Stephen, Connie and Jess met us there. We took the opportunity to take a family photo (with Debbie's camera:) but I don't have one yet to post. I'll post that later when I get it from Debbie.

We had a good time visiting with all our extended family. The kids were excited to see Uncle Paul and Aunt Kay. They had kept the kids a couple of years ago when Brent and I went to a Vols football game in Knoxville. There were too many people there for me to name everyone but it was fun! The homemade ice cream was a good way to end the evening.

When we got home Brent and Stephen had a supply of sparkler and fireworks for the kids (yeh, BIG kids) to enjoy. Brock and Hannah are happy to say that they held sparklers. They even liked the bottle rockets. Well, Brock is still uncertain. Nonetheless, the finale was about 300 fireworks in less than a minute. The big boys were pleased:)

It was a fun 4th of July. We certainly remember all our friends and their families who are serving in the military.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Vacation - Tuesday

Everyone was up bright and early Tuesday morning (our kids were still "on Eastern time") and our guests just couldn't arrive soon enough. Even blowing bubbles and a ride on the 4-wheeler while waiting didn't pass the time enough. Finally around 10:30am Aunt Heather, Mia, Ethan and Ella Kate arrived. Hip-hip-hooray!! Let the fun begin!!

After the initial hugs and "oh yeh, I remember you" passed, we all put on our swimsuits to go swimming at the Barn. We played in the pool for a couple of hours, stopping only to have a picnic lunch. Cousin Jessica Haley (whom I'll refer to as Jess from now on in order to avoid confusion with Jessica Freeland) joined us for swimming. While swimming Brent rode the 4-wheeler over and Ethan went for a ride. Mia passed on the opportunity (she's our city girl:) When swimming was over we played on the swingset and trampoline before changing clothes. Heather decided she wanted to leave early enough to beat the rush hour traffic (and get very tired kids home for bedtime) so we didn't get to do all we had planned. However, we did make it into town for a milkshake at the historic Thomas Drugs (minus the twins who were napping). The drug store has on old-fashioned soda counter. It was a hit with all the kids and parents too!

(1st photo - L to R - Brock, Mia, Ethan, Hannah; 2nd photo - Emma (L) and Corinne swimming with Jess; 3rd photo - At Thomas Drugs...Hannah holding Ella Kate, Mia in pink hat from VBS, Brock hiding behind Sabrina and Ethan)

Our goodbyes weren't too sad or long because we knew we'd see them again later that week. Heather said her kiddos were asleep before they got to the highway.

We returned home to play outside and enjoy being with Nana and Pawpaw. We also went through Uncle Stephen's corn maze that is only neck high right now, Hannah rode one of Jess' horses, and Brock caught a fish while we were fishing. Brock caught a fish with Dad's help!!

Petting horses with Jess in Uncle Stephen's big barn. Hannah is wearing her Laura Ingalls bonnet:)

The next day had plenty more fun times in store for us...

Vacation - Monday

Last Monday was not a terribly eventful day as far as vacation days went. We had a lazy morning around the house. The kids stayed with Nana and Pawpaw while Brent and I went "out" for a few hours. The previous Friday had been our 11th wedding anniversary but we didn't get to celebrate that day. So Brent took me on a walk down memory lane...one of our first dates was to a driving range to hit golf balls. Knowing that he was playing golf later in the week, we went to a driving range for him to hit a bucket of balls.

We drove around White House a bit, Brent showing me where he played ball as a kid and other memorable places. Then we headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch. It's always a treat to eat a meal while it's warm without having to cut food for little ones.

The rest of the day was just riding 4-wheelers and jumping on the trampoline. (Kenny and Lori gave us "run" of their backyard as well as use of the Barn.) We went to bed that night looking forward to our guests arrival the next day...

(Sorry, I didn't take any photos that day.)

Vacation - Sunday

Okay, I'm going to try to recap our vacation one day at a time. That seems more likely to happen for me than remembering everything at once. So I'll start with last weekend...

Brent had the privilege of preaching at his parents' church Sunday morning. Mt. Carmel Baptist in Cross Plains, TN provided a scholarship to Brent when he was attending SWBTS in Fort Worth. Their generosity made our time at SWBTS much easier financially. It's always a joy to go back to visit there. It's even more fun for Brent when he gets to preach:) The kids and I made it to Sunday School and the second service.

Brent's family was there to hear him preach as well. Brian drove up with Jessica that morning (Debbie was out of town). Stephen and Connie were there with Connie's son, Travis. Of course, Nana and Pawpaw were there. After church we all went back to the house to eat lunch. We spent the afternoon talking and playing. The 4-wheeler was riden by some excited kids. Joe Swann, a childhood friend of the Freeland boys, stopped by to visit for a while as well. Oh, the stories that can be told with all those guys together!

The day ended with Stephen, Brent, Hannah and Brock going fishing in Stephen's pond. Hannah caught a fish the first time her line was cast. By the time they left, Hannah could cast her own line.

The attached photo is of the Freeland grandkids. We didn't plan on the coordinating outfit with Jessica but her daddy picked out just the right outfit!

Let the Good Times Roll!

Grammy is here and so are the good times! After picking her up at the airport, we headed straight for the life and science museum. We saw the butterflies again and did all the fun stuff. The "Tree House" was open so they got to pet the tortoise, roach and snake. And of course there was the train ride. Tomorrow we go to the art museum for the Temples and Tombs exhibit.

And some really good news...there's a new baby in our family as of Thursday, June 21...she's still nameless at this moment but I have a new niece in Oslo, Norway. John and Anne Grethe are already in the groove of parenthood. Congratulations!!

Happy Father's Day!

The kids woke Brent up this morning with a parade. Brock was playing the drum and the girls were marching behind him. They (I) got him the DCTalk Jesus Freak cd. They also did some watercolor pictures. Then he had a "show" with the kids playing their toy instruments and singing with the new cd. After that a shrimp and cheese omelet before heading off to church.

We made it to Shelley Lake today. Brock rode with Brent, Hannah rode herself, and I pulled the twins. Brent says we rode 2 or 3 miles but I'm certain it was more like 20 or 30!!!! The last bit is all uphill so I walked Brent's bike up with Brock walking beside me. I have to say our "Super Dad" pedaled up the whole way with the twins in tow! What a guy...what a dad!! We celebrated our bike ride at Jason's Deli.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads reading this!

Bikes and Trikes

We have had a fun beginning to the summer. Hannah is riding her bike very well. Brock has mastered the tricycle and is moving on to a bike with training wheels (thanks to our friends the Notts loaning us one for him to try). Our friends, the Baldwins, gave us their buggy to pull behind a bike for the twins. Corinne and Emma love it! Brent found a nice women's bike on the road in our neighborhood with a sign that said, "Free. Take it." so he took it. Now I have a bike to pull the twins. Brent's bike has a child's seat attached to the back (come to think of it, that bike and seat were given to us too several years ago...thanks to our friends the Peases' in VaBeach) so our plans are to head out to a nearby lake tomorrow that has trails. We rode around our neighborhood today and I didn't think I was going to make it...but I did...and Brent assures me there aren't as may hills at the lake. And to think some folks don't think God can provide all things!! We're a family of 6 ready to take off on a bike ride that's shows HE DOES provide more than we can imagine.

Hannah is enjoying her art class once a week. She has two more classes then it's finished. She really enjoys art.

Emma had scarlet fever (strep with a rash) at the beginning of the month but she's fine now. Hannah has swimmers ear but it's getting better. Corinne has a cold and cough but it hasn't slowed her down. I think she's on the mend. Other than that, we're all good.

I would take a photo of the kids on their bikes but I don't think my legs will cooperate right now. Maybe next time...

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Getting my ears pierced and losing my tooth

on mother's day may 13 that night i got my ear's pierced the earings i got were the birthstone for april (diamond) their color is silver

after 6 weeks i get my november birthstone earrings


by hannah


may 28 wen (when) i went to bed it was only liek (like) 10 or 20 secints (seconds) before my tooth fell out


by hannah

Beach Bums

The kids and I just returned from a visit to Virginia Beach. We stayed with Jane and Laura while Brent was in Lynchburg taking his LAST doctorate class. All the kids wanted to do was to play at the beach. So we spent quite a bit of time there. I did manage to get them away from the beach to go ride the ferry from Portsmouth to Norfolk and back. We went on the Battleship Wisconsin while in Norfolk. Lots of fun memories...

I still haven't learned how to put captions under the photos...that's us at the beach, the kids with Laura on the ferry, and the kids with Miss Jane when we were leaving to come home. (Emma thought I was going to leave her:)

Odd and Even

(Note: In our van we have one booster seat and one toddler seat in the both the back and middle rows of seats Therefore, the twins do not sit by each other but have time to bond with their older siblings.)

In an effort to stop the arguing over who rides in the "back seat" for Hannah and Brock, I came up with a plan. Brock gets to ride in the back on ODD days, Hannah on EVEN days. So we've spent time talking about odd and even numbers. The plan works well for them. Now Corinne and Emma argue over who will ride in the "front seat"...anyway...

Last night I read about Adam and Eve to Corinne and Emma in their Lift the Flap Bible. We looked at all the pictures of the animals and repeated the names of Adam and Eve over and over.

Tonight when I handed Emma the Bible to look at the pictures again, she opened it to the pictures we had looked at last night. She pointed to the man and said, "ODD". She pointed to the woman and said, "EVEN". Looks like I have a little work to do on that story:)

Happy Mother's Day!

Flowers, breakfast including fresh picked strawberries, cards, paper plate puppets with a "curtain", bracelet made from a sticker tube, going to church together, lunch, key lime pie, playing at the park and feeding the ducks together, dinner at Jason's Deli, and bringing out the ol' Hanks' Family Feelin' Fine CD for a listen (yes, John, the Original Superman still lives!:)...what more could a mom ask for on a day like today! (If you don't know me from high school, you won't understand the CD part so just move on!)

Happy Mother's Day!!

P.S. I'll let Hannah post this week about her adventure today...stay tuned!

A Conversation between a Dad and his 2-year old Daughters

Dad to Emma: What's your name?

Emma: Two!

Dad: No, what's your name?

Emma: Two!

Dad: How old are you?

Emma: Emma!

Dad: No, how old are you?

Emma: Emma!

Dad: Okay, what's your name?

Emma: Two!

Dad looking at Corinne after a brief pause...

Dad: What's YOUR name?

Corinne: Me!

Dad: What's your NAME?

Corinne: Me!

Dad: No, your name is Corinne.

Corinne: Yeh, me!

Dad: How old are you?

Corinne: Emma!

Dad: No, how old are you?

Corinne: Emma!

Dad looking back at Emma...

Dad: What's your name?

Emma: Two!

Dad to Corinne...

Dad: How old are you?

Corinne: Emma!

Dad: How old is Emma?

Corinne: Two!

Dad: We better stop with a right answer!

Emma's Words

This morning Emma was following me around saying the same thing over and over. "Mommy, me ol nuf, me ol nuf, Mommy!" Over and over and over. I finally said, "Emma, you're old enough for what?" Her response..."pay tocker!" Looks like we'll be spending many more Saturdays on the soccer ("tocker") field!

Another soccer season has ended

It's hard to believe. Hannah finished her second season of playing soccer today. It was a beautiful day to be outside and she had a great time. She scored one goal but they didn't count it...the player on the other team who kicked it prior to her was actually "on the bench" at the time...he just decided he would join in since the ball was coming his way...but Hannah still kicked it in the goal so as far as we're concerned, she scored a goal! (This isn't major league soccer...just some 6 year olds having fun with some tense parents on the sidelines!:)

She got another trophy which is not on her shelf next to last year's trophy. If you visit our home, she's sure to show them both to you. She says she's ready to play again next year so I guess I'll start learning a little more about the rules of soccer other than "don't use your hands".

In other news...Brock jumped on a trampoline yesterday without complaining about it. I think he even enjoyed it. Corinne and Emma have "bubble guns" that keep them occupied outside for a lllllllooooonnnnnnngggggggg time which makes Mommy very happy. Hannah lost another tooth which makes number 3.

Hannah's Caterpillars

Was it just last summer that I heard Hannah say, "BROCK, COME HERE AND KILL THIS BUG!"???? And was it just a few weeks ago that Hannah yelled from the bathroom, "MOMMY!! PPPLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEE COME KILL THIS SPIDER!"????

Well, she is quickly overcoming her fears of small creatures of God. And I have proof!

Yep, you're seeing what you think you're seeing...caterpillars all over her hand. She has built a "caterpillar nest" for all her new friends in our backyard with sticks, grass and "special leaves" that they love to eat in record time. Our science lessons have moved to the caterpillar world these days and she's loving it! She has even convinced Emma to hold them. And that reminds me of the "rest of the story" after I took these photos.

We had come inside, washed hands with warm water and lots of soap, and were eating dinner. A few minutes into our meal, Emma kept saying, "care-pil-uh, care-pil-uh". I was standing at the sink when I heard Brent say, "Hannah, grab that caterpillar off Emma's arm!" Sure enough, Emma was trying to tell us that a caterpillar was crawling down her sleeve. Needless to say, the kids thought it was soooooooo funny.

I guess tomorrow we'll stop by the library and return our space books for caterpillar books. Don't get me wrong, we're still looking at the planets. But dark is coming later and later so we need something to keep us busy until fall.

Oh, I almost forgot...Hannah also has some earthworms in a bug container...unless they crawled out through the holes...but that's another story!

It's Spring...we think!

After a rather warm winter, we had to wear our winter coats to the Easter Egg Hunt at church Saturday. The cold weather didn't keep the kids away though. There were almost 10,000 Easter eggs "hidden" for the several hundred kiddos who showed up to hunt. We had a good time. Laura was here for the night so she took Hannah with her age group while Brent and I had the other three with the younger group. Everyone had a good time and we have enough candy to last until the 4th of July!

Easter Sunday was a wonderful day as we celebrated the resurrection. We went to SS and church then came home to BBQ I had made on Saturday. We spent the afternoon enjoying family time and a little golf on tv. How about the results!? I wonder if Tiger realizes that there is SOMEONE bigger than him...and that SOMEONE allowed a believer to win on Easter so HE would receive the glory??!!

Although we had to wear sweaters to church Sunday, it felt like spring here more than in Central Texas where they were "snowed in"!

If you read this, leave a comment. Hannah loves to read the comments.

We are excited about using the Tapestry of Grace curriculum for school next year. It is a four year study of history from creation through the present. It shows HIStory of God's plan for mankind. Literature, geography, writing and a host of other subjects are integrated into the curriculum. If you want to know more about it, go to this link.

http://www.lampstandbookshelf.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=TOG&AFFIL=TOGU410

Or you can visit www.tapestryofgrace.com.

Or just contact me and I'll tell you what I know about it.

Emma, our "Gemma"

Okay, Hannah keeps reminding me that I've blogged about all our kids except the youngest. So let me introduce you to Miss Emma Rachel...

Emma is the youngest of the twins by 37 minutes. She has brown eyes and curly hair. She loves to sit and stack things. I can't turn my back when we bring in groceries or she'll have glass jars stacked as high as she can reach. She loves to sing and color. She loves to read. She loves to swing and slide outside. She loves bubbles and sidewalk chalk. She does NOT love to sleep. Naptime and bedtime are not her favorite times.

Hannah gave Emma one of her famous "spa treatments" the other day and fixed her hair. Here was the result.

Emma loves to pose for photos. She started dancing while I was taking her picture in the second photo.

Emma's favorite Bible story these days is Noah and the Ark. She'll listen to that story over and over and over and over...and then ask for it again!

I guess you could say that Emma is our extra blessing. We were expecting to see one baby on that ultrasould but God said, "Oh no! I'm giving you Emma too!" And we're so glad He did!!

The Diaper Bag

It was March 1st. A storm was blowing through Alabama and into Tennessee. We had been to the museum in Nashville, had lunch downtown and were headed south to meet Ella Kate (then 10 days old) at her home in Thompson's Station. However, we had to stop about 15 minutes from Shawn and Heather's house (that's Ella Kate's daddy and mommy) for a potty break for the guys in our family. They returned quickly and we headed on down the road.

When we got to my brother's house, we couldn't find the diaper bag. WHERE WAS THE DIAPER BAG!?!? I remembered having it at the restaurant with the sippy cups. Brent drove back to the gas station (the potty break stop) to see if he could find it. I started calling every convenience store I could find in the phone book with that name. Heather found phone numbers of parking lots in downtown Nashville. (Why didn't we take that receipt when we paid parking!?) I called the restaurant. There was no diaper bag to be found.

Now let me just tell you...this is no ordinary diaper bag...or maybe it is...this diaper bag had my pocketbook Bible that I'd had since college, Brent's new electric razor, Brent's Palm Pilot, a ziploc bag of crayons I'd been collecting since Brock was a baby, enough pullups and diapers to last 2 days for twins, and then the usual diaper bag stuff (i.e. ointments, wipes, sippy cups, etc.) WHERE WAS THE DIAPER BAG??!!

I searched my memory to figure out what had happened to it. The only thing I knew was that it either fell out at the parking lot or at the "potty break". Then it hit me...when Brent and Brock came back to the van, Brent opened both sliding doors (habit!) then immediately closed the passenger side door since it wasn't needed. It must have fallen out. But why wouldn't someone call us. You see, the bag had our nice little church ID card on it with the twins' names, address and phone number. WHERE ARE THE HONEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!?!?

Hannah and Brock continued to ask why someone didn't give us our diaper bag back. Although I wanted to tell them there were mean people all over the world, I knew better. I told them that God knew where our diaper bag was and that He could bring it home to us if He wanted to. So we prayed every day that whomever had our diaper bag would send it back.

Honestly, I had just about given up. Brent bought a new Palm, I found new sippy cups to use and life continued.

Friday morning...March 16th...the phone rang...it was a lady in Tennessee...was I the mom of Corinne and Emma? "Yes." She had the diaper bag!! The kids were SOOOOOOOOOOO excited! I was so excited!! She apologized for not calling earlier. They had 2 deaths in their family and had been out of town two times. The bag had indeed fallen out at the "potty break". They saw our van and tried to catch up with us but lost us. (We exited about 2 miles down the interstate.) Her husband was shipping it to us that day.

And so today...March 20th...the first day of spring...19 days after we lost the diaper bag...it came home to us via UPS! And everything was still there...including the 3 week old banana!! :) So I gave it a good cleaning and it's ready to go again.

What's the point to this story? God used a simple thing like a diaper bag to teach our children (and to remind us) that He cares about every little detail of our lives. Our kids know our prayers were answered.

And God bless Mr. and Mrs. Hall in Tennessee! There are two honest people in the world!!

Everyone May Comment Now

Okay, I finally figured out how to allow "anonymous" comments. You don't have to have an account to leave a comment. Just please be respectful and sign your name. Any unsigned comments will be deleted!

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS! Is anyone reading this!!???????????????????????? (Just kidding...I know you are because you have told me. Now you can COMMENT!:)

Photo of twins

I was asked by a college friend to post a photo of the twins. So here's one from our snow day last month. Emma is in the pink hat, Corinne in the white hat.

Hannah reminded me that I haven't "told everyone about Emma" so I'll do that soon. It's just too late tonight to think about it.

We spent most of today outside as the weather was quite nice around 60 degrees, I think. Snow is fun for a day or so but I think I like the warmer weather better for keeping.

MY SWEET GUM BALLS

today i was outside 5 hours gathering SWEET GUM BALLS stiiicky BUT REMEMBER THE GRASS IS'NT SICKY INYMORE i'm glad cuase now i can go outside ALLDONE

by Hannah

Our own entrepreneur

Hannah is getting quite good at counting money for a six year old. When her grandparents were here at Thanksgiving, she made some money "selling" them her artwork. (We won't name any names for who got that started, but he goes by the code name of PAWPAW around here.) We finally had to put a stop to it when she was trying to charge her brother for a picture.

Brent took Hannah to the bank last month so she could open her own savings account. She has learned to pick up coins that are left around the house. They either go in her bank or the offering can for Sundays. She had saved well over $25. Brent helped her divide it into 1/3's. She chose to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, the church building fund and then put the rest in her savings account.

What she didn't realize was that her bank would be empty. So she was developing the habit of asking us for money. One day she kept saying, "Will you give me some cash?" or "Will you give me some money?" all day. That just wasn't going to happen! Well today, I got the bright idea of telling her, "Hannah, I'll pay you one penny for every sweet gum ball you pick up off the ground." Off she went...and 5 hours later she had picked up 903 sweet gum balls...yep, that translates to $9.03 we owe her. I'm just glad I didn't offer a nickel for every sweet gum ball!! :)

The photo shows Hannah with her sweet gum balls in the 5 bags ready to go to the dump in the back of Daddy's truck. At least our yard looks a little nicer now...and Hannah says the grass isn't "sticky" anymore.

Now she wants to make papers to give to our neighbors to tell them she'll pick up their sweet gum balls for $.01 each...that just might be a good idea!

One more thing...

I didn't mention this in my last post. Saturn is almost 700 million miles away! To give you a little perspective...it's about 20,000 miles around the earth. The fact that we could see it so clearly from our driveway through a telescope is amazing to me!!

We finally saw Saturn!

We got the kids a telescope for Christmas. It was our "family gift". No one told us how much work it is to use a telescope. Neither one of us is an astronomer. Brent took the task to heart though and has spent a great deal of time reading on the internet, using www.skymaps.com, and working with the telescope to find things for the kids to see.

Well, tonight all his hard work paid off. WE FINALLY SAW SATURN!! It looked just like this photo except a little smaller. (We don't have a high dollar telescope!) It was breathtaking, nonetheless!! We could even see the rings around it.

God has created an incredible universe!! We're having fun learning about it through our telescope.

Valentine's Day (a.k.a. Mom's Day)

Remember KidStuf...one of the God Time devotions said to serve your parents breakfast in bed. Well, Hannah decided that Valentine's Day would be a good day to treat mom to breakfast in bed...and do laundry...and clean the baseboards...and unload the dishwasher...and fix my hair...so this is a picture of me after my time at Hannah's spa.

Those KidStuf virtues are beginning to show in our sweet daughter!

Our climber, Corinne

Our first two children were never "climbers". I'm sure I said things about parents who just couldn't keep their kids from climbing. How hard could it be?! And then God smiled and gave us Corinne...

Corinne is our third child (only by 37 minutes). She has made me "take back" so many things I said prior to her arrival. This girl will climb anything that even looks like it can be climbed. I think she was climbing before she was walking. I do believe there are days when her main goal in life is to find something to climb, then show her "younger" sister how to do it so that when I walk into the room, it's Emma I catch, not Corinne.

Now let me say that even with all the climbing, Corinne is a joy to be around. If you read my entry about our oldest, Hannah, then you know a little about KidStuf. (If not, read that entry. I think it was in Nov or Dec 2006.) Anyway, Corinne is right there beside Hannah singing during KidStuf. She even knows some of the hand signs. During the week if someone asks a question like, "Where are you going?", she immediately shouts, "KidStuf!"

Corinne also loves to help me clean. I call her "little Martha" (as in Martha Stewart). I can always count on her to pick up toys that are out, "help" me with laundry, clean up messes the best she can, and help me make my bed when she's around. If she gets her hands on a wet wipe, she's scrubbing the walls or baseboards. Oh, how I do hope this continues until she can REALLY help!

There's so much more I could say about the smallest member of our family but I'll stop here. I've often heard "big things come in small packages". If anyone can prove that to be true, Corinne will be the one to do it. She is "fearfully and wonderfully made". There's just no fear in her when she sees something to climb! :)

Two 2-year olds in the house!

We celebrated Corinne and Emma's 2nd birthday Saturday. It was a Winnie the Pooh and Friends party. They had a fun, fun time. It was an hour of playing games, opening gifts, eating a light lunch then plenty of cake for everyone. It's such fun to watch a room full of 2 year and nearly 2 year olds "partying".

We couldn't believe we were expecting twins 2 1/2 years ago and now we can't imagine life without them! God is good!!!! (And Mommy is tired so...good night!)

Our sweet Brock

I told you some about Hannah last time. Our next child is our son, Brock. What a wonderful boy he is! Brock loves to sing. You can hear him humming or singing at most any time of the day. Sometimes I wonder if he doesn't sing in his sleep! :)

Brock is full of questions. When I give my "mommy" answers, he'll ask me what every word means. "What does 'probably' mean?" "What does 'maybe' mean?" "What does 'in a minute' mean?" "What does 'I might' mean?" Honestly, the boy asks questions all the time. And he loves numbers...on clocks...on signs...on stereos...anywhere there are numbers, he's focused on them and what they are telling him.

Brock keeps us laughing at life. Brent was reading out of the Bible to Brock and Hannah before bed one night. He was in the part of the Old Testament where the Law was being given. (Don't ask me WHY they were reading this part...I have no idea!) Anyway, Brent read the verses about killing disobedient children. Hannah asked if people still do that. Brent told her no, but some parents send their kids to military schools if they don't obey at home. Brock took a long, hard look at Brent, pointed his finger at his daddy and said, "YOU DON'T DO THAT!" He was quite obedient for several days after that!! :)

We are thankful that God chose to give us a boy as part of our family. He does bring a different perspective to life. We love our Brock!!

Hannah and KidStuf

Let me tell you about our oldest, Hannah. One of the highlights of her week is KidStuf. Each Sunday evening, the children have their own worship service. The stage in the children's building has a set that is used for Sunday School and KidStuf. The Sunday evening service is for kids and their parents, a family style worship. There is music, drama and a few surprises every week. The music is upbeat. There is a worship "team" (i.e. one or two adults and lots of kids) on stage doing hand motions and basic dance steps. This was all a little overwhelming to Hannah the first few weeks but she knows all the moves now! She is totally captivated for 45 minutes every week!

For Hannah's birthday last month, she received a gift that had a headset microphone...the kind the worship leader wears for singing every week. Earlier this week our kids were all outside playing. When I stepped outside from the kitchen to take a peak at them, she had Brock, Corinne and Emma all lined up and she was leading them in her own version of KidStuf - headset mic and all!! They were moving their arms and singing the best they could! It was ssssoooooo cute!! I got a little of it on video.

Part of KidStuf is learning a virtue each month and a memory verse that goes along with it. This month's virtue is "compassion". Each Sunday in Sunday School they get a piece of paper to take home called God Time. It has four days of things to do to put the virtue of the month into action. Today, Hannah went to the dollar store with Brent so she could do her Christmas shopping. (She had $2.69 left from her birthday money.) She came home with two coloring books, one for the twins to share and one for Brock and her to share. She was soooo excited to have gifts for them under the tree that she had bought with "her money". She said, "Won't they be excited to have a gift from their big sister?!"

She also had a card in one of her bags. She wouldn't let me see it. I figured since Brent had been with her to buy it, I didn't need to investigate anymore. A little while later, Hannah came to me with the card. On the envelope, she had written "Mommy!" It was a thank you card. She said, "Mommy, on one of my God Time sheets, it says to give a thank you card to someone who has helped you do something. So I got you a card." Inside the card she had written, "Thank you for helping me clean daddy's truck he likes it love Hannah". Earlier this week I had helped her sweep out the back of Brent's truck as a surprise for him (another God Time idea she wanted to do). Needless to say, I cried a little after she was off doing something else.

We never know how our actions are shaping our children. It reminded me again how important it is to cover all I do with my children in prayer. It also reminded me that we only have them for a season. I want this short time in the span of their whole life to be one of happy memories with mom, not mom off busy doing other things and not having time to help, teach and train them. What an awesome task God has given us as parents! But He doesn't give us any task any greater than the power He gives us to complete it well!!

Our sweet Hannah is such a blessing to our family. I hope one day she'll know how much she teaches me every day!

This month's verse for compassion is Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind and compassionate to one another."

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Okay, so it's December 1st. Our children were given a book for this month. It's an Advent Christmas Carousel. They are so excited that December is finally here so they can open a window each day. The time just doesn't go fast enough for them. Brock said today, "Why can't it be tomorrow so we can open another window?" Such excitement for the unknown...but maybe not because I heard him telling Hannah later..."I know that Jesus is born on number 25!"

This is the most wonderful time of the year...when we have an open opportunity to share the Good News...with everyone we meet. My prayer is that during this time, I will not become irritated over a long line...frustrated with "the new person" checking me out...aggravated over mislabeled items at a store...but rather I will allow Jesus to live through me to be seen by those I meet.

I know each day that "little eyes are watching me"...four sets of them most days...and I want them to know that Jesus is the Reason for this season!


The Freeland Family

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for family, good health, good friends, and most importantly - God's love! We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

October

October has come and almost gone. What a pretty month this has been with the leaves changing colors. We are trying to enjoy being outside as much as possible before the cold weather settles in to stay for a while.

Brent turned 40 on the 19th. We spent the afternoon at the NC State Fair. It was our first time for the NC fair. Actually, it was the first fair for the kids. They had fun on rides and eating. Brock was 4 on the 21st. He had a fun party that Sunday. He is showing his uniqueness more and more as he gets older. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he says "a football player". Cars, trucks and legos are some of his favorite toys right now.

Brian, Debbie and Jessica were here for a few days. It was fun letting all the cousins play. Sweet Jessica just came right in as if we were next door neighbors! I'm not sure she knew what to expect but she was ready for it! The time with them went by tooooooo quickly.

Corinne and Emma are able to remember words and phrases from books now. They are beginning to have their favorites that they bring to us to read over and over again. Thankfully, they have a big sister who can read to them when I'm not able. She keeps them occupied when necessary.

That's all for now. Check back periodically for more about the life of the NC Freelands...

The Freeland Family