Week Rundown! (01/20/13 - 01/26/13)

On Sunday, Malachi was presented a Bible from Pastor, plus a baptismal certificate. He hopped all the way up to the front to receive them.

Mysia got to spend the night with her Aunt Abigail and then the whole day at Granny's on Monday since school was out for MLK day. By the reports given, she had fun. Lydia didn't have classes either, so she went into work early.

Lydia got to spend time with her friend Courtney after classes on Tuesday before coming home with the kids to prepare supper. Once I got home after work, we ate and got things done around the house. I read with the kids before bedtime, and Lydia worked on her homework..

Once again, Wednesday evening was a bit rushed.I came home with the kids and we ate a quick supper. We were ready to go when Lydia pulled up, and Lydia ate her supper on the way to church for evening services. Today was the start of the kids' "Master's Club" for the year. A little hectic... but still good! On our way home, we stopped and got some Andy's Frozen Custard in celebration of Lydia passing that IRS test last Saturday..

Lydia had a meeting after classes on Thursday, so I picked up the kids after I got off work. We ate a quick supper and then headed out to see Sam test for his 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo. Lydia was able to meet us there. Malachi sat with Granny and Granddad during the testing, watching what was happening and playing on Granddad's phone. Mysia sat with friends and toward the end, played on my Nook. Sam wowed us with breaking of boards. By the time we arrived home, we were all tired. The kids ate a little snack and then went straight to bed.

Since Lydia had to work late on Friday, I came home with the kids, had supper, and then we got the house ready for Mysia's birthday party for Saturday. The kids were assigned to straightening their room while I worked on other parts of the house. When Lydia came home, she got a lot organized, including making the birthday cupcakes. Before bed, Malachi made a quick run to get Mysia's gift from him.

On saturday, we all got up early and got ready for the day. Lydia headed into work, and the kids and I attended Taekwondo class at church. We then went to the store to pick up a few things before heading home for naps and housework. Mysia's guests, a few girls from church and school, started showing up before evening. Once all assembled, they watched the new Tinkerbell movie until relatives showed up and hour later. Mysia opened her gifts and we ate pizza, cupcakes, and ice cream. Her friends stayed for a while and she got to play and show off all the stuff in her room. She really had a great time, and was sad when they all left.

What a week!

~Matt

Mysia's Birthday

Today Mysia turned 8!

It's amazing to think we have such a talented, beautiful daughter. She's smart, sweet, and well-behaved! Wonderful to have around, Mysia will win your heart. She has such compassion for others, and a kindhearted spirit.

Blog Posts... There's MORE!

 

Hey everyone...

If you follow this blog, that's great! It's best way to keep up with what goes on in our family. This is were you will find out news and exciting things that happen with each of us throughout our lives. 

However, I want to let you know that there is more than this one blog. For example, back in 2009, as part of a class project, Lydia had to create a blog (Pert Opinions) that would journal her thoughts, etc. She also started a blog in 2011 (jamiesbride)where she posts chapters of a book she's been writing when she finds the time. However, since she's dealing with college, her posts on the two blogs are not as often as she'd like.

There is now a fourth blog... I, Matt, have a place where I can post my thoughts, rants, and opinions on things. (Matt's Musings) It's something I've wanted to do for several years, and I've already got plans for it. So you might want to check it out!

As for this blog... you can now expect more postings on things that are happening in our lives! Test scores, art, funny family events, etc. Keep following!!!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (01/13/13 - 01/19/13)

On Sunday, it was determined too icy to risk running the vans for church. The van is not the easiest to control when there is black ice on the roads, and we want to put safety first when dealing with the transportation of kids. The highlight for the day was Malachi getting baptized after morning services. He was so excited. He was jumping up and down, like usual, and we were afraid he'd jump right in if given the chance! We took naps in the afternoon. Evening services were also good.

Lydia started her college classes on Monday... Of course, that also means a new schedule. Monday evening, I rushed home with the kids and had them take showers while I worked on preparing supper. Lydia got off of work at 6. I was able to get Abigail to watch the kids for the evening while Lydia and I attended KWFC's Bowling Night. We didn't do the best on scores, but had fun anyway.

After classes on Tuesday, Lydia did the big grocery shopping. I picked up the kids. Mysia worked on homework while I prepared tacos for supper. Once Lydia arrived home, put up the groceries and ate supper. We watched some tv before sending the kids to bed. Of course, Lydia had homework as well.

Wednesday evening was a bit rushed. Lydia's new schedule for the semester has her getting off from work at 6. So I got the kids, rushed home, prepared a quick supper, and we ate. Once Lydia arrived home, we packed into the van and headed off to church with Lydia eating on the way.

Lycia agreed to watch Mysia and Malachi while Lydia and I snuck away for a date night on Thursday. Lydia and I decided to try out HuHot Mongolian Grill. We had to wait for a bit to get in, but the food was great. It was nice to be able to spend some time together... just the both of us.

Friday was a 'fun night' at home. We ate and watched TV for the most part of the evening. I also read a chapter from "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" to the kids before sending them to bed.

Saturday turned out to be very busy. After waking up early, I started getting things ready for putting in the new stove in the kitchen. John Bingham came over and helped. Okay... he did most of the work. He's handy at carpentry, and was able to cut room for the stove to slide in between the cabinets. If I tried, I would have botched the job. I did work the water line for the fridge, but had a few complications later.

Lydia left for work, and then took her IRS test later on in the afternoon. She was stressed out over it, but she passed! After installing the stove, the kids and I headed off to church to participate in the new Taekwondo class being offered for free. Yes, my brother Sam is the instructor. We're wanting to get involved... myself for the exercise, the kids for discipline and self-defense.

After lunch at home, the kids napped while I worked more on getting the kitchen put back together. Once Lydia was done with her test, she came home and worked on the reorganization too. She's happy that she has more room in her kitchen!

~Matt

Week Rundown! (01/06/13 - 01/12/13)

On Sunday, I ran the church van for morning services, then that afternoon we took naps. Evening services were good.

After work on Monday, we spent the evening working on things around the house. We helped Mysia with her homework, since the following evenings were scheduled to be busy. She had done a great job, and can do it great with some encouragement. Her math skills are great. Malachi had come home from daycare with a paper showing how good he had done with subtraction! He isn't even in kindergarten yet.

While preparing for supper, Lydia gave me a lemon to eat. I decided to share it with the kids, especially since Mydia had reportedly won 'contests' at school in eating sour candy without making faces. True to good form, Mysia ate her pieces of lemon with no problem. Malachi, on the other hand, didn't fare so well! lol. What fun!

Mysia came home on Tuesday with her school reading scores... of course, they were excellent! They placed her as 6th grade, how awesome is that? We can't be more proud. After a quick supper, we headed out to friends, the Whitchers, for "game night". Several others from church were there too, and we enjoyed visiting! We played several games and had a great time.

Wednesday was fast paced. We had a quick supper and then headed to church for evening services. We met with our pastor afterwards to talk about Malachi's baptism on Sunday... Malachi was excited.

As expected, Mysia came home Thursday with her school report card, along with her math scores. She is once again the top of her class and school! Before coming home after work, Lydia got her books for the next semester at college, and also checked out the gym. She was impressed and got in a little workout. The kids and I ate supper and watched some "Garfield & Friends" on Netflix until she came home... then it was bedtime!

Friday evening we met my family at Culver's for dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday. It was the first time for my mom to try their food. The kids ate well, and got a ice cream treat afterwards. We then headed over to my folk's house to watch a Disney movie... "Frankenweenie." Mysia and Malachi have seen scary movies, but this one was just to weird for them. Needless to say, I was up through-out the night. :(

Lydia had to go in to work on Saturday. The kids and I did some housework, went out for a walk through the neighborhood (in the cold), and had a restful afternoon. Of course, there was quite a bit of playtime as well. During the evening watched the football game on tv. The kids also played some education games on the computer before bed.

~Matt

Week Rundown! (12/30/12 - 01/05/13)

I woke up Sunday morning and headed to church to run the vans. During the morning route, Lydia called telling me she felt like she had a stomach bug. I picked up our kids along with the others. After morning services, we stopped by my parents' house to say bye to my brother Benjamin and his family, who were leaving for home. We then went home, ate lunch, and took naps before heading to evening services at church.

We woke up on Monday to a dusting of snow on the ground! Unfortunately, it didn't last through the day.. Lydia went in to work the entire day while Malachi went into daycare. Mysia went to work with me for a few hours and then we spent the rest of the afternoon grocery shopping. We spent the evening at home watching tv. The kids went to bed at normal time while Lydia and I brought in the new year. But we didn't stay up any longer! ;)

We slept in on Tuesday, and just had a lazy day at home. It was nice! Of course, we did some housework. That evening, we went and saw a movie at the theaters. What a fun night!

Wednesday morning wasn't much fun though. I woke up with a bit of a stomach bug... but Malachi was hit hard! He had a high fever and was not feeling well at all. We both stayed home. It was Mysia's first day back at school. We didn't go to church, so that we wouldn't spread any sick bug around with others.

Malachi was still sick on Thursday, so Aunt Abigail agreed to come over and watch him while Lydia and I went to work. It sure is great to have an awesome sister that would do something like this!!!

To our dismay, Malachi was still not well on Friday. It was Lydia's turn to stay home. Lydia took advantage of the situation and got a lot of things done around the house that she had been meaning to get to. By afternoon, Malachi was feeling better and they tackled his bedroom.

Saturday was a big day. We got some things at the "Restore" then worked on the house all afternoon. I was finally able to take down the outdoor Christmas lights. We spent the evening putting away all the Christmas decorations in the house. It took quite a while determining what stuff went into what box! It sure was sad. It really hurts to imagine that in 10 months, we'll be bringing it all back in again....


~Matt

Eating Habits

Has the economy changed your eating habits?

It has ours. Not drastically by any means, but we have been more “money conscious” when making the weekly menu and buying our groceries. Every week we make a menu of dinners before shopping. Lately, those our dinners reflect how much money we have to spend at the store.

We’ve become more thrifty in what we make, and with what we buy to make our dinners. If we can go for the cheaper brands, yes, we’ll do it. Of course, there are some things are worth the sacrifice of a few pennies for better taste!

I definitely can’t knock Pinterest... it has been helpful on finding ideas for cheaper meals. Plus, great ideas for new ones as well.

Bologna and tuna sandwiches have made a resurgence on our dinner menu, along with ramen noodles (although not Lydia’s favorite)! That’s fine with me... they taste pretty good.

~Matt

My "Daily Picture Challenge"

I like taking pictures. I like a challenge.

I’m also an owner of an iPhone, so pictures are constantly been taken. I average over500 pictures a month. Most are of my kids, of course!

At one time, I had discovered an app that would give a daily challenge in taking a photo. Many of the users would try to be creative when taking the picture of the day. However, the developer of the app gave up, stopped the updates, and the app is no longer available.

Not wanting to give up, I decided to do a search. Surely there was a place online that would do the same thing. But no. Sadly, I didn’t find anything I liked. I had noticed that some sites had lists, so I made my own. I then started assigning them with a day, and then made my won chart for each month. It makes it simple, yet still a challenge.

So far, I’m enjoying it! I haven’t missed a day since starting a few months ago, and I hope I keep going. I've even had help from my kids. In fact, Malachi helped me with the one for this post... we used Christmas ornaments, crayons and paper, plus ice from our freezer! As you might guess, it was fun!

My “Daily Picture Challenge” albums for each month are on my facebook page. Check them out!

~Matt

Malachi’s Salvation

What a special Christmas surprise we had on Sunday, December 23rd. Malachi accepted Christ as his Savior during the evening services at Hillside!

For months and weeks, Malachi has been asking us questions on salvation. They were more confirmation questions. He already knew, but he wanted to make sure. We weren’t going to push anything though. Since he is five, we were afraid of him making a ‘false profession’. Not really meaning it, etc.

However, it is something we’ve been praying about. It’s actually been a heavy burden for Mysia. She believed that he was old enough to understand, and couldn’t grasp that he wasn’t ready. She had asked, and asked him about salvation, running him through everything. She’s been a great encouragement, but was very concerned. She often shared that she was afraid something would happen, and “what if he’s at that age where it’s too late?” We’d then have to assure her (and ourselves) that it was all in God’s time and we can pray and wait.

Mysia sure did her part! Malachi was on her “prayer list”, along with several of her friends from school. Lydia and I also discussed his occurring questioning of salvation. We had often asked him if he wanted to pray for forgiveness and ask Jesus into his life. He would pause with thought, and reply with “not yet”.

Since it’s Christmas-time, there is a lot of talk about Jesus’ birth. We made it a point to explain that the ‘birth’ was only the first part of the story, and the reason for His coming was become the ultimate ‘sacrifice’ for us because of our sin. It would lead to great conversations with both Mysia and Malachi. Especially the thought that Jesus’ life was His gift to us.

Well, on Sunday morning, Lydia and I found out one of Malachi’s friends from church (his age) had gotten saved over the past week. What a blessing, and our Sunday School class rejoiced with the news. It also encouraged us to pray for those, like Malachi, who have shown interest, but haven’t made that move just yet. We talked about the subject matter, and prayed.

We didn’t mention anything to Malachi that afternoon. Of course, we spent a time of Christmas celebration with Lydia’s family. Talk about Christmas always centers around Christ.

Soon, we were back at church for evening services. We sat as a family in the pew, listening to Pastor’s sermon. Malachi was being pretty well-behaved. After the sermon, during the invitation, he grabbed my hand a pulled. I bent down, and he asked to go forward and pray by including, “I want to get saved...”

I then lead him to the the front, we knelt down at the altar, and I ran through salvation with him several times. He prayed, with full knowledge of what he was saying, and I then asked him a few more times what had just happened and what he had just done. You see, I wanted to be sure that he just didn’t go forward without meaning it. He was positive, and toward the end of my questioning, a little annoyed that I’d was going over it again and again. “Yes, dad... I know...”

As you might guess, there was a lot of jubilation over the news, and we are very happy. We tried to call and text every family member. If you hadn’t heard until this post, I’m sorry, but now you know!

As for Mysia, I asked her how excited she must be, her prayer for Malachi finally answered. She looked back to me, with a concerned voice... “that’s just one, I still have several friends!” What a daughter!

~Matt

Happy New Year 2013

Yup, it is here! 2013!

I'm once again amazed how fast this last year has flown by. So much happened this past year, it was amazing! I'm anxious to see what this new year holds and what might happen. There is so much to look forward to. 

I've glanced back at my past posts and since most are about what we've done each week, it anxious to see what the future weeks of this year have in store. Of course, I don't put my hopes in what tomorrow may hold. I've got to live each day with the expectation that it could be my last. And I'm ready!

I hope all who reads my blog had a great year, and if you still plan to follow what I post, I promise that it will be worth it. Like always, I have plans and perhaps we'll see what the future may hold!

No matter what, I can promise that it'll be interesting!

~Matt