A little family update...

The girls are both doing gymnastics. Mercy is a Nazi gymnasts and in my opinion the best in her class. You can tell Justina is a ballerina though, everything she does she points her toes perfectly and has graceful fingers:) Not really suited for back hand springs but shes getting there. I may take her out as things are really starting to scare me. She went on the uneven bars for the first time the other day, yikes! They also go off a diving board doing flips in the air into a pit of soft blocks. Stillll... Its a little much for me:) Justina is doing well in school. I have not really started with Mercy yet. Its hard knowing that I have 12 years of school to do, why start early?
Paul is doing the same old thing "working". We have had very extreme driving conditions for the last week. It makes me very nervous when he has to go far. Today he is driving a couple hours away on wet ice. There has been many accidents here. Just yesterday near our road somebody went off the road and flipped their explorer. Not sure if they were ok, an ambulance had just arrived on the scene when we passed by. I have been trying to stay off the roads as much as possible! I wont say much more as he hates if I write anything about him without his approval:)
As for me, Im always trying to do something crazy. My new thing is training to do step aerobic instructing. The club was looking for instructors and I somehow stuck my name on the list, before I knew it one of the managers was telling all the other instructors that I was going to do a class. What she didnt know was that I was actually going to cross my name off of the list, but now if I dont do it I will look like a huge flake!!!! I actually dont do well at stepping, counting backwards and talking at the same time. But I will make a go at it I suppose! Paul is very supportive, so much so that he made me do it!
Just another thing to add to my list. Take care of the kids, do school, fix breakfast, lunch and dinner, dishes, laundry, scrub toilets, grocery shopping, pay bills, exercise, post on the blog etc... You know we really do EVERYTHING! Its a hard job being a homemaker! But very worth it:)

I have to write this down before I forget! Paul the other day was making Mercy a quick lunch. Mercy had her choice of mini corndogs or the little whale chicken nuggets (she calls the killer whales "flipper" and she made me buy them the other day). She went back and forth with it and then finally came to the conclusion, "I want to save the whales". Paul said his Aunt Linda would be proud!

Its been a while...

Well once agian I have been inspired by Pauls sister to post an update since it has been about a month. Of course we havent went on any exciting trips like disneyland and we dont have the wii Hannah Montana game, but last i night I did play the Hannah Montana DS game I got for Justina, but only for about 3 hours:)

We had a good Christmas, I think, actually Im not sure what I did just yesterday but nonetheless I dont remeber anything "not good".

Its hard durring the Holidays to not have at least some family around, uuhummm, like AUNTS, parents or fun cousins to play with. But we make it work. Paul and I battle it out on the Risk board, so far Ive won like 13 games and hes won about 8. Yes I just had to say it!

We had tons of snow on Christmas which was nice and the day after we went sledding together. We had a hill all to ourselves, it was a lot of fun.

We are going through a cold snap now and temps have been -20 to -35 (-35 this morning). I really need to go out and spit to see how long it takes to freeze:) If you walk out with your mouth open it takes your breath away for a split second. It really hurts to touch anything outside for more than a second or two. Our truck failed us last week and needed to be taken in by ambulance (tow truck) to the hospital where it recieved a battery transplant and a few other minor things. Im parking it in the garage now, right next to my laundry.

Well I think Im done rambling for now.

On my way to coffee this morning...

I actually turned around to get my camera on my way to get a hot Latte. I thought it was such a pretty morning! I LOVE winter here:) Today is Sunny and -4 degrees.

The way home...

These are some pics I took on my way home from Anchorage. A camera cannot capture the beauty, but I tried:) There were so may more pictures I wanted to take but to pull off the road is quite dangerous as your driving on ice. I had to settle for some pulloffs and the views that they offered me:)

Pics continued...

On our way home

We went to Anchorage on Tuesday and came home today. It was a pretty scary on the way up with snow and ice on the roads, it took about 4 and half hours. It is so crazy to have people pass you going 50 or 60 miles an hour! Anyways the way back was pretty awesome, there were a couple of slick spots but not to bad. We got to see these mountain goats right on the side of the road near Anchorage. There were about 6 or 7 of them trying to dig up some food I suppose. Then a ways further the sun was out and shining on all the gorgeous tall magnificent mountains.

I just drove through literly praising God for allowing me to see such awesome things. I also praise God we made it there and back safely. Paul just informed me that a little bit ago was a five car accident near Girdwood, which is about 35 miles from Anchorage and the highway is closed. I was just there about 3 hours ago. I have seen a lot of accidents since we have been here, cars literly upside down and in ditches. I am very thankful to be alive!!

Will the constitution be upheld?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6145787.html

This is a comment on this article published by the chicago tribune(not mine):

Obama has not produced a copy of his original 1961 birth certificate. His campaign has produced a computer generated 2007 live birth certificate. It is not the same thing though. Obama's Kenyan grandmother claims she was present when Obama was born in Kenya. After she said this she was ordered by the Obama campaign not speak to the media again. Mr. Philip Berg brought up some interesting facts about Obama. Obama has not released any of his medical records. Mr. Berg believes that the reason is is because you will find Obama's birth place on his medical records.Also, Obama has not released his college records. Mr. Berg believes you will find that Obama received foreign aid listed on his college records.Mr. Berg wants Obama to do just one simple thing - produce a copy of his original birth certificate. Obama for some reason just won't produce it. I find this very strange.I hope the US Supreme Court hears this. If they don't then they are not following the US Constitution. What do we have as a country when even the US Supreme Court doesn't follow the US Constitution?

Nuclear terrorist attack by 2013???

When reading this article it talks about the possibility of terrorist stealing a "recreated" virus that killed 40 million in the early 19th century. Why the heck would someone recreate this? Then lets stick it on national news and and give the bad guys a few more ideas...

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,459927,00.html

Of course the Bible tells us what to expect in the end times and pestilence is defiantly on the list!
This is the time to look up and not abroad.

On behalf of Paul...

I am posting this on behalf of my wonderful husband who informs me that snapping your fingers is defiantly a milestone in ones life. He tells me it has to go on the blog! So the other day Paul showed Mercy how to snap her fingers. He only did it a couple of times and of course she didn't quite get it. Then a few days later we were driving down the road when we hear Mercy say "Did you hear that!". It was a faint clicky sound that we couldn't quite make out. Then "snap" she did it! Joy to the world Mercy can snap!!!! This was a proud moment for her Father!

New Obsession...

First I want to make very clear that I know and believe that whats on the inside matters much more than the outside appearance!!! 1 Timothy 4:8 says "For bodily exercise profits a little, bot godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."
But for right this moment, this post, I want to focus on bodily exercise. You see that it does profit (only a little in comparison to godliness). But nonetheless it does profit something, right?
Ok I don't know if obsession is the right word for what I am going through right now but I will say that I am exercising my brains out and trying to eat very very well in order to 1. Look Good and 2. Be healthy (in that order). Anyone who says there doing it in a different order I believe to be just flat out liars. For like 2 or 3 months now I have been trying to loose at least 20 pounds but I would rather loose 30. In the last few years I have gotten very fat, yes fat! At the club a while back they did all these little tests and told me I was in the RED ZONE. I was like what! My gosh I cant imagine what color some other folks are in. Nonetheless i knew I needed to do something before people started staring at me while eating a big mac at MC. But before I did anything I gained another 7 pounds! Im going to tell you, I was at 147. I am 5'1" so as you can imagine short and squaty seemed good descriptive words for me. ENOUGH I said! So I started exercising and such and I feel a lot better but I recently stepped on the scale and was very disappointed (I told you that would happen Jasmine) I had only lost about 10 pounds, it may sound good but after all that hard work and the depriving myself of dessert after lunch and dinner every day, I at least thought 15 or 20 pounds had come off. Regardless I feel thinner, I am able to wear old shirts that no longer show a tire ring or hefty love handles. I can even wear some old pants that I have not worn for a while:) But still I have done a lot of power pacing(stationary bike class) and there have been days that it hurts to sit (very little seat, if you know what I mean). Ughhhhhh its so frustrating, oh yeah and I replace meals with fiber shakes ALL the time. I do step classes 2 times a week, power pacing 2 or 3 times a week and Butts and Gutts one time a week. I jump on a mini trampoline and do Bun and thigh pilates. I replace 2 meals a day with fiber shakes and sometimes I even eat fiber cereal for dinner (don't have time before working out). I take a fat burner and to many vitamins to list. And yes I drink water all day! Now how does 10 stinkin pounds sound? Scripture once again always proves right! It profited little. Just so everybody knows I will keep going and I wont give up, but I am going to focus less on myself and more on God and His Word which will profit much greater and will last forever.

This just makes me chuckle...

Mercy and Justina sat in the living room playing a star wars game for at least an hour but I would almost say two hours yesterday. When I came up Justina was telling Mercy that she was trying to destroy some fort thing and Mercy being VERY into the game yelled "No your not, I am". You see Justina slipped, the whole time she had made Mercy believe she was the main cool guy with the cape while she pretended to be the sidekick. In actuality Justina was the cool guy with the cape and the side kick was just the computer. Mercy's controller was never plugged in! Of course we do that all the time but this time seemed so funny but yet so cruel.

Is Obama an American Citizen?

Paul and I just found this interesting little article on the legitimacy of Obama's birth certificate and citizenship...We don't have news so I don't know whats out there about it but I haven't heard much.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=81943

Just an interesting read...

Here Nancy this is for you:) Justina was trying to be goofy and
I sharpened the picture so its not to blurry. Is this better?

Justinas Adoption Day

Today Justina was officially adopted by Paul!! Paul and I went to a hearing this morning where everything was found to be in order and approved by the judge. I was very nervous as it has been years since I have ever sat in a courtroom in front of a Judge. I could not seem to finish my sentences when asked questions and I told the Judge I was just nervous. After all was said and done Paul told me that the Judge gave him Legal rights but she was probably thinking I should have mine taken away for sounding like an idiot. Oh well, its over now:) We celebrated by getting dressed up and going to dinner at a nice resturaunt and having a cake with her NEW last name, BARLOW. We are both very thankful to the Lord for bringing this about as we have prayed for this the last 5 years.

Signs that I drink to much coffee...

1. The other day I was driving down the road when I caught someone having a storage unit sale. I flipped around through a parking lot across the street from it. I was waiting behind this big yellow moving truck in order to get across to the sale. I sat and sat and sat wondering when this guy was ever going to go, there were may opportunities. Well after about I don't know 4 minutes or so I realized I was behind a big yellow PARKED moving truck! If I wasn't so zippity do doh on caffeine I might have realized it a little sooner.

2. You know you have a problem when someone asks you how your weekend was on a Monday and you reply "I can't remember".

3. I was taking a shower and some of my hair was standing up behind my head. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and freaked out thinking first it was my cat, and then second a really big spider. Don't ask me how I thought my cat was in the shower floating behind me head???

4. I work all day and at the end of my long hard day I seem to have accomplished absolutely nothing. Go figure.

5. I drink a double shot espresso in the morning, a energy drink in the afternoon and its still not enough.

6. Irritable, Irritable , Irritable. Did I mention I was irritable? My family can use your prayers!

7. Really, how many times can you put warm things in the fridge and cold things in the cupboard?

8. I know I have a problem and Ive wanted to quit for a long time, years even. I know its not good for me and I know it makes me irritable, confused, ditsy and many other things, but I cant seem to stop. I'm waiting for them to come out with CA (coffeeholics anonymous).

My life as a homeschool mom...

If you cant read these just click on the picture to see better.

More of my life as a homeschool mom...

These are by Todd Wilson

Something Sweet...

I just had to post something over my other post that makes me sound like a raving lunatic. So Im posting something sweet. Pauls favorite pie is apple and I found the best recipe a few years ago on allrecipes. I use sweet firm Fuji apples instead of Granny Smiths and you can subsitute a homemade crust for the store bought pillsbury ones (homemade is better though). Just make sure its a lattice crust so the syrup that you pour over gets into the mounds of thinly sliced apples (you can cut up the pre made crusts). The crust is my favorite! After you pour the syrup over it gets all over the crust and cooks to a sweet golden brown perfection:) Try it!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Pie-by-Grandma-Ople/Detail.aspx

Trusting...

Well I decided to delete the long post that was here about the election. I trust the Lord period and nothing can happen unless God lets it. Sooo I will continue to follow the Lord and trust in His Word and may His will be done. But I will leave you with this!