We Elfed Ourselves! (Copy and Paste Web Address Below)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1644590638

Great version of 'Carol of the Bells'

FINALLY . . someone has been able to photograph the pot at the end of the rainbow!

Something I found interesting

I came across this today and thought it was very interesting. To think how God wired our brains and how differently a baby thinks than an adult is amazing.

Dear Dr. Warren: Have you heard of the term object permanence ? My daugher-in-law said her pediatrician used the term relating to her 6 month old.
-RA

Dear RA: Object permanence refers to an aspect of child development. The early development of the human psyche is absolutely fascinating. Infants are born with no knowledge of the outside world. They have an inborn fascination with the human face. Mom's face is the right distance from her infant to be in focus during feedings and baby will stare intensely at her during the feeding, but baby has no knowledge that she still exists when he doesn't see her (object permanence) and will not look for her when she moves out of view. Neither does baby make any effort to focus on objects which are not in focus since he has no knowledge of their existence as being any different than he sees them. In the first few months he integrates all the information he has taken in through all his senses and learns to distinguish between the outside world, internal sensations, memories, and dreams. By the time he has put all this information together, he has developed object permanence. He knows that things exist even when he doesn't see them, especially Mom. Once that happens a baby begins to develop separation anxiety, stranger, anxiety, and cries out for Mom when he doesn't see her. The need for Mom becomes an independent need, separate and distinct from the fact that Mom takes care of baby's other needs like hunger and comfort.

Sincerely,
Dr. Warren

Santa's Coming!!

Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I'm reminded this year that Thanksgiving is not about filling up with Turkey, but about GIVING and being thankful for all we have. I think about how blessed I am today, with family and blessings coming from every direction, and how some people can't have the experience of being with family this season. I think sometimes we go about our busy lives rushing here and there and planning out our year, but life is like a vapor, it's here and gone before you know it. Be thankful for all you have and don't take anything for granted!

Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

I'M THANKFUL FOR:
My wonderful Husband who lifts me up and makes me feel loved
My beautiful daughter who I couldn't live without
My Parents and In-Laws that are such an inspiration to me & all my brothers & sisters, sister-in-law's, neices, nephews, and the list goes on..
My Great Job
And last but certainly not least...God, for the miracle that made all this possible.

Abby's Birthday Celebration

Abby turns 5 years old on Nov. 6th, but we had her a little party tonight at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Abby - Halloween

Trunk or Treat

Silly Abby

This will be a quick post since I'm eating a bagle at the same time, hoping I can be ready for work by 8:30! Just wanted to share the mind of Abby. Funny how children can catch things and it changes YOUR perspective...
The other day me and Abby were in the car, and we were listening to some gospel song, and she asked me if I was ever going to die, and I told her yes one day but in a long long long time! I told her that everybody dies someday but it's ok if we have Jesus in our heart because we just go to heaven to be with Him. This is when she was trying to understand how Jesus *literally* lives in our heart. Trying to explain, I told her that Jesus' "Love" is in our heart, not his actual body in there floating around :) And she said to me "yeah, and mom, ya know why we have to keep Jesus in our heart?" And I asked why. She replied, "So the devil can't get in!"
I asked her where she got that from and she said "umm, just myself!"

Well it's been a while since I posted. I guess having a full time job doesn't leave you much time for anything else. Every morning I wake up around 6:30, drag myself to the living room and try to wake up. Abby gets up around 7:45 and I take her to school at 8:25. She loves it! She starts her music class next week. They just learned the letter 'E' and had show and tell where she had to bring something that started with E, so she brought her "Earrings." :) She still loves her new earrings but can't wait the next 2 weeks because she can change them out into something else. She wants all these big, dangly, sparkly earrings. HAHA!
Billy picks her up from school between 1:30 & 3 everyday or his mom will come and get her and they'll spend the day together. She doesn't like nap time so everyday she asks us if we can pick her up at 1:30, hahaha. She is getting used to her new schedule, but when I put her to bed she is usually asleep in 20 minutes. I can't believe she'll be 5 years old in just 4 weeks. She's getting taller, more talkative, more outgoing, and hyper! She's actually started to wear a size 5 now. Well not much else going on. "Trunk or Treat" is coming up at our church, last year we had about 500 people come through - so we're hoping for more this year. Just think of how much candy that is! >:O Well of course Abby wants to be a princess again for halloween but we'll see..I'm trying to get her to look in some books for some other ideas that she'll like that are different but you know how that goes. The parents want to think outside of the box (afterall, it only happens once a year!) but the kids always want to be the same thing, hahaha.
We had our highest attendance at church last week of 80 people. They're looking for some other building locations which we're hoping to find soon. We're currently in the sermon series of Marriage & Family/Parenting (Relationships, etc.).
Well it's getting late and my eyes are slowly closing so I'm off to bed. Goodnight!

Family Day at the Rail Road

Abby's First Day of Pre-School

I got the job!! I go for a drug test tomorrow (hope I pass it! haha, just kidding!!) and then will start working Monday. They have a grand opening on Thursday (they've been there 4 months) where I'll have to stay til 7pm just that day, but other than that it's 9-5 Monday-Friday. After Jan.1st, I get 2 weeks vacation per year. After 6 months they'll have a review and see where I'm at and how I'm doing and can get a raise from there. I'm excited. I feel very blessed. I hope it works out. I haven't worked full time in I think 6 years! (unless you include motherhood, hehe).

In other news, MomMom (my dad's mom) is in the hospital very sick. I went and saw her today for the first time in a long time and she is doing a lot better today than yesterday. She's been there 6 days. She doesn't remember anything from during that time. She is talking and alert and knows what's going on. She trembles every once in a while a little but not bad like she was. They don't know what's wrong with her other than she has congestive heart failure. She's had every test done and they don't know any answers yet. She is supposed to be transfered to Emory sometime soon. She goes into episodes of mania I think, where she acts as if she's sewing and other such things. This time was really bad and she had uncontrollable shaking and hallucinations. She had bad bruises all over her arms where she had injured herself from banging into things. She says she feels fine but you can tell she's very weak and very tired, and has lost a lot of weight. She is a very different person from the MomMom I used to know. Me and Jessica used to help her cater dinners when I was about 15 or so. She was very on-the-go, a strong person, always had to have the perfect wig, an excellent cook, and a fast driver! My Uncle is living with them now and helping take care of her and my Aunt came into town for the week to be with her. Anyways, hopefully we'll find out something soon and maybe the tests will show something. That's all for now.

Well I met the owner's wife. She was very nice and very friendly. She basically went over with me the things we had already talked about the day before. She seemed very excited about everything and said she was really looking forward to having me there and they were going to call my references and get in touch with me within a couple days. So, it looks like I got the job (although I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch)! I'm nervous about it, but I'm reflecting today at my life and some things I've been through and thinking maybe this is God's plan, and if it is, it will all work out. Then I'm putting all these things together (too much to explain here) and realizing that everything has happened just the way God planned for it to and that my life hasn't been wasted away, but that God has really worked and set things out just the way they're supposed to be and I believe He has put me here, right where I am - for a reason.

More Jobs

Every once in a while, I search craigslist for job openings in Cartersville. So Saturday, I found this http://atlanta.craigslist.org/med/414880846.html and Sunday, I emailed them my resume. Monday morning they called for an interview and I went at 5pm that day. They asked me a whole bunch of questions and I think I got the job but they wanted me to come back, so I go again today at 10am to meet the owner's wife who helps out there sometimes. It pays very well, I think I got the job but I'm not for sure yet but I should know today! It's Monday-Friday 9-5. Will post later...

Abby got her ear's pierced!!

This one's blurry..I had to take a picture of the picture, haha.

"Antiquities" Pictures..Our Beauty Queen!

(I'm sending you all this picture in the mail)

Abby has been doing her "Homeschool" as she calls it. She loves it! First we do the workbook where she's now learning to recognize the letters and numbers. Grandmommy got her a great Phonics program where we go through the flashcards everyday and learn all the letters by the cd that we sing the abc's along with. Once she learns that, she'll learn the sounds of the letters and eventually be able to read the little books that came with it! She's so excited about it, she can't move on to reading until she learns the letters and sounds so she pretends and tries to trick me into thinking the knows how to read the books!

I forgot 1 thing. The hair day, I walked outside, and there on the windshield was a parking ticket! I had parallel parked on the side of the main road and pulled in from the opposite side, so the drivers side was facing the curb and apparently that is not allowed. So, it cost me a whole ten bucks, heh.

Well my hair's not like a "bad" haircut, it's just too short and not what I asked for. I have to fix it with a clip to the side and curl the ends to make it look right. I called to see if I could get my money back but they want me to come by tomorrow and see what they can do with it, although I won't let them cut anymore off so I don't know what they'll do.
Anyway, we did school today! We woke up at 9am, went to the library and picked out some books and came home and read them. We learned about germs and how to wash our hands a lot and eat lots of fruits and vegetables. We learned numbers 1-6 and I didn't realize Abby could pick out the number if you asked her to find it. She did picture problems like today she had to guess which picture has the boy doing the least amount of yard work. She got it right and got to color the picture. We sang the a-b-c's and had snack time and even rest time! We set the timer for each activity and Abby just loved it! I'm hoping to teach her to read by the time she goes to Kindergarten. I don't know how well that will go but I always remember how Jessica taught John Mark to read when he was only 4!
I'm looking into some part-time jobs. Tomorrow I'll apply for a Book Keeper position at the library. Monday thru Friday from 9am-1pm. We'll see from there :)

Hair Disaster :(

I went to get my hair trimmed and the girl put a lot more layers in it that I didn't ask for and put layers as short as my bangs on the sides where there didn't used to be any layers!! She showed me a manican of how my hair basically was before and she asked if that's how I wanted it and I told her yes, just trim it up a little bit and take a little of the thickness off the back. She took exactly 2 hours to cut my hair. I didn't see in the mirror until she showed me when she was done. I told her it was pretty short but that I thought it would be ok. Well, now I have short layers on the sides of my head and my hair is not really angled anymore like it used to be which is the whole reason I wanted my hair short!! :( I'm so upset about it. Don't ask for pictures because I'm not putting them up :)
I don't intend to say anything bad about her, she did a good job last time. I just didn't get what I asked for and it doesn't look like it used to :(

My interview went ok. I won't know if I got the job until Monday but I think I'm going on another path. Am thinking of homeschooling this year (yes that's right mom!). Will write more about that later.

I just found out the position is for a Loan Associate (not officer)..duh Bethany :)

I GOT AN INTERVIEW!!

Thursday-2pm with my bank, Unity National Bank, to be a loan officer (Associate?). I'm kinda nervous because I feel like I'm not qualified (let alone I don't even know what a loan officer does!!) but she read my resume and I told her on the phone that I've never worked at a bank before and she knows I don't have a degree, just a high school diploma. She said I would be responsible for imaging loans at the bank (I don't even know what that means! She explained it but I missed half of it because I was trying to keep Abby quiet, hehe). So hopefully all will go well! I think this is the one that's Monday through Friday, I'm not sure..I've lost track because I've applied to 8 other places! Yippeeeeeeeee!

Abby's Big ol' Sunflower!

Abby planted a garden of corn, cucumbers and other things, including sunflowers at Billy's parents house. Just wanted to show you all the Sunflower she planted all by herself!

Abby is ready for school! She's signed up not too far from home, at the daycare in front of our apartment. They have a music instructor come in every Thursday and teach them music. Abby will love that! Now all that's left is a job..I'm still looking. I've looked and applied to several places but haven't heard from any of them. I want to start working by August 13th when Abby starts school because I'll be paying for her to go there, so I'm getting anxious because that's only 2 weeks away. Abby has been really sick recently. A stomach bug I guess. A bad one! She is feeling a lot better now, poor thing! Lots of sickness around here. Just recently in our church, several people are dealing with illnesses, even cancer. Please pray for them and also that I'll find a job soon and that Abby will adjust well to her new schedule!

Our Vacation

Abby & 6 of Her 8 Cousins

Abby has a new cousin!

Andrew Arthur Sellers was born this morning to Luke and Erin! 7 lb-10 oz. Another one to add to the Sellers, it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger :)

Not much going on around here lately. Going to the Zoo, Aquarium, & Ruth's Chris next week so that should be exciting. I'm praying that it's not too hot the day of the zoo! I'm still looking into a place for abby to go to pre-k. There's 2 places that I'll send her to and she's on the waiting list for both so I'm not sure if she'll get in at all at first but there's not much else I can do except send her somewhere I'm not comfortable with. I'll be looking for a job here soon and hope to start working while Abby is at school. Don't know what I'll do, but I'm going to look into working at the court house or with the city or at a bank. When I make these posts, the time that it puts on my blog below my posts is wrong, I don't know why! One of them says I posted at 5 something a.m. and you all know I don't get up that early! It's 10:25pm right now, let's see what time it puts on this one (not that any of you care)....

This Afternoon

I stepped out on the porch this afternoon and this is what I saw!

Cartersville Family Church Kid's Day

"The Office" Dwight CIA

My New short do!

After the first hair cut, it really looked aweful, choppy, and uneven in the back. So I had to go back and get the girl to fix it but she had to cut it shorter to do what I wanted it to do. So here it is! A big change for me..

Abby growing up

Abby has really gotten into baby dolls, singing, and books the last 2 weeks. We read a book every night before she goes to bed. She never did like to just sit and let me read to her but I started reading her the American Girl Doll books and she loves them! The books used to be mine when I was little and she finds that funny. Shes sings songs out of words she just makes up as she goes, and last night she learned to write me and Billy's name! She wrote everything in this pic except for 'Billy' in the top left corner. On another note, I got my hair cut today. It's a graduated bob where it's longer in the front and shorter in the back. I don't know if I like it yet. I'll have to mess with it.

Vacation Coming Up!

Billy has 9 days vacation the 2nd week in July and we have some things planned. We already got tickets to go to the Zoo and the GA Aquarium. We got a combo ticket that saves money. So we'll go to the Zoo one day and then get a motel somewhere and stay the night and go to the Aquarium the next day. We'll also try and go to Ruth's Chris Steak House and the Coca-Cola Factory. I am sooo excited!! We've never been on "vacation" anywhere together really since we've been married. Now we just have to save our money up! We're hoping Billy's parents and Savannah will come with us. Speaking of....Savannah got her license Saturday!! She has been driving around and doing really well...Now I'm waiting for her to come pick me up and take me to the new Starbucks ;-) Hahahaha.

Chiropractor Visit

So I went to the Chiropractor Friday, a hour visit where they took X Rays, an adjustment, and did some different tests and used some different tools that "most chiropractors have never seen" (what's that supposed to mean??), and put this electric current thing on my back for 15 minutes. I found out my left leg is shorter than my right leg. Most of my muscles on the right side of my body are being used, and hardly any on the left side. I had a lot of muscle spasms and the bones in my spinal cord are pointing more outwards instead of forwards. So that was interesting.
~Bethany

Daily Thoughts from Bethany, Mother's Day

Billy has had 5 days off work and we've just been hanging out around the house, eating pizza, going to church, shopping, and watching movies. Abby has been stopped up the past few days but she's better now. We had a good Mother's Day. We went to church where I had my third time singing, woohoo! We had about 3 new families at church today which was great! For lunch, Billy and Abby took me to Cracker Barrel where we waited for a table for 35 minutes...but it was worth it! Hope you all had a good Mother's Day!

The newest edition to our Family

Ernie Ball MusicMan StingRay, after 4 1/2 months, it's finally here!

Abby found Max & Ruby at Cracker Barrel!

Easter

FOR SALE

Anyone want to buy a Mac G4?? $200... Let me know!