I’m guessing you’d all like to know what WE decided about getting our boys a WE for Christmas?  Your comments in this post were so helpful and WE really appreciate all the input.

WE went back and forth for quite a while about whether or not to get the WE.  In some ways I guess we’re still going back and forth about it.  WE’ve been saving our Swagbuck earned Amazon cards…so we wouldn’t even have to pay much out of pocket.  WE know the kids would love it. 

But WE finally decided against it. 

One reason is because we already have a PS2 that we got back in Matt’s youth minister days.   The boys get to play for a few hours each weekend.  And, they had pooled their money last year to get Rock Band to go with the PS2.  (I get a little addicted and obsessive when I play that game too!) 

Another reason is that it seemed as though we’d have to spend quite a bit more than the $199 that it costs for the WE to get more controllers and batteries and battery chargers and such.

Beyond those reasons, there have been other needs that have come up that we felt would be better use of our Swagbuck earned Amazon cards.  We’ve been feeding a lot of extra people lately, and the groceries we’ve been able to buy with those cards have been a huge help.  When these needs came up, buying a WE just suddenly didn’t seem as important.

WE decided instead that the boys’ “big gift” this year would be a couple of different sets of these, which they absolutely love playing with for hours. 

Will we maybe get a WE someday?  Maybe. 

But at this point WE feel very good about our decision.  We’ll enjoy them when we go play on someone else’s WE and since that has always been fine…that will still be fine!

Since the boys are getting older…we’ve talked about the idea of letting them work and save up their own money to buy a WE if they really want one.  The few times they’ve worked together to make a purchase has been such a rewarding experience for all of them.

And since we’ve been working up a sweat having some crazy games of Nertz lately…complete with flying cards and jumping up and down…I think WE’ll all be just fine when it comes to excerising while we play together. 

Thanks again so much for your input!  Did any of the rest of you decide to get a WE this year for Christmas?

Several weeks ago I asked you to pray about a major change going on at our house…and then  I was heartless enough to NOT tell you about it until almost a month later.  Many of the details still needed to be ironed out and we had to “get all our ducks in a row”.  Ever tried to line up a bunch of ducks?  It’s kind of like trying to get your kids and their cousins to all stand still and smile AT THE SAME TIME so you can take a picture. 

Now that everything is all official and stuff…I can tell you about the new job my husband is taking on.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you might know how we’ve dabbled a little bit in “food service” work.  Last summer we experimented with a Shaved Ice business…we purchased a trailer and have sold concessions at auctions and other events…we’ve sold food at our farmer’s market. 

All of these ideas have worked fairly well, but have been difficult to carry out since Matt needed to still work full time at construction, coach soccer, and work these businesses on the side as he could.   Ultimately, Matt had a desire to open a restaurant some day.  One that would serve good food.  One that might serve locally grown food.

But of course…in order to carry out an idea like this you need two major things:  time and money.  So, the restaurant idea was kind of placed on the back burner as a “maybe someday” kind of an idea.

In mid-July, a man from church (who somehow knew of Matt’s desire to run a restaurant) approached us with an opportunity.   He planned to open a brand new restaurant in town…and would Matt like to help him run it?

Um, well let’s see.  Matt would get to do what he’s been wanting to do, yet we wouldn’t have to back this plan financially?  And he would be receiving a salary?  With benefits?

Sounds like a no-brainer.

Except that it wasn’t.  Matt  has worked HARD the past two years building up his construction business.  It was just starting to really take off and jobs were rolling in quite consistently.  He’d already committed to doing several jobs for people and was behind on the ones he was currently working on.  Was he just supposed to stop all of that mid paint brush stroke and move on? 

And what about coaching soccer?  Giving that up would be difficult.  Would he have to give up coaching?

Long story short…all of the ducks got into their row.  God has a way of helping ducks along.  If it’s something God wants for you…all the details fall into place, don’t they?

Matt officially started his new job two weeks ago.  The restaurant hasn’t opened yet.  Right now he and the other manager, along with the owner, are working on ALL the details (lots and lots of ducks).  Opening date is set for November 1st.

Matt will be the “morning guy”, which means that we’ll all be learning how to go to bed really early so that Daddy can get up and off to work by 5 am.  Then he’ll be home around 2pm after the lunch rush.  (Okay, except we all know restaurant managers work crazy hours sometimes, so we won’t count on this being a consistent schedule.)

But just imagine it…Daddy coming home from work most afternoons just about the time we finish with school for the day?  What in the world might THAT be like? 

And…he’ll still be able to help coach soccer because most of that takes place after 2 pm.

So there you go.  That’s the news. 

The boys and I got to go take a tour of the restaurant yesterday.  Be still my heart, I got to walk through the BIGGEST commercial kitchen in town.  Somebody hand me an apron.

I’ll try to keep you updated as time goes on.  Thanks for your prayers during this transition.  Change can be hard for me…even good change.   Ah, but we’re trusting the One who never changes.  The One who can always line up the ducks.

Ooh, I think some pictures are in order, huh?

Here are a few highlights I’d like to share from my time visiting family and friends in Kansas this week. 

Monday…

Here’s Malachi taking a turn holding his cousin Austin. 
He only dropped him off the couch once. 
(Don’t worry…I caught him.)

Here’s my niece Renee. 
She looks a LOT like I did as a little girl. 
And yes, that is Elias attacking Malachi on the couch. 
Glad I could capture that on film for you.

Here is a shot of my dad’s yard and our memorial day picnic. 

Tuesday…

I was privileged to be able to meet Amy and Crystal for a visit. 
Wish you all could have been there!

I told Amy I would play Rock-Paper-Scissors with her to see who got to hold Silas first…but it wasn’t long before Amy had to take care of a kid with a bloody nose, so I snatched the opportunity to grab him up (first).    Look how sweet he is.

Here are Amy’s kids…Crystal’s girls…and my boys all sitting around the table eating a picnic lunch.  Amy and Crystal were so happy to tease me, the “Heavenly-Homemaker-I-only-eat-whole-foods”, since I was feeding my kids frozen pizza for the picnic.  HEY.  There was NOTHING else at my dad’s house to fix.  Sometimes, you just have to resort to frozen pizza, you know?

Malachi wanted a turn with Silas too. 
Malachi could never remember what Amy’s little girl’s name
was and kept saying, “Where did that girl go?”

Wednesday…

I met a few friends, as well as my SIL Michele and her kids at the park on Wednesday.  The weather took a sudden turn toward coldness and we all froze since I hadn’t packed warm clothes!  After playing (freezing) at the park, we met my dad at a pizza place.  (yes, more pizza)  My dad’s wife Tacy couldn’t meet us during that time, so that was a bummer.  I would have loved for her to be in this picture too.

Here we are waiting for our pizza to arrive. 
I wanted a pic with Austin, and of course Malachi had to get in on it too.

Wednesday night after church, we went to see my niece and nephew play baseball.  I ran into Amy again (and forgot to watch the rest of the ball games).

Thursday morning we headed home.

Everything about my week…definitely finer things. 

Being back home with Matt…the finest thing of all. 

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday.

Ah, the month of May.  I love, love, LOVE it! 

Here’s what our Thursday looked like:

Our morning began with a nice round of light saber wars.  Check out that ninja in the background with the purple light saber. 

My living room is alive with this type of “violence” on a regular basis. 

We spent time outside planting okra (yes I know that wasn’t on my original list, but I had a little extra space and Matt loves okra).  I also put the boys to work pulling out a bunch of “sticky weed” (I’m sure that’s the official name for it) around the garden.  They pulled it out and stuck it all over themselves.  It was loads of fun…until the itchiness set in. 

Asa with his sticky beard is the main feature of this picture…but if you would like to take a peek behind him at one of our garden areas, I can show off my little potato plants to you!  And way in the back protected by milk cartons are our little broccoli plants.  So far, they’ve all survived!   

Here’s how our potato container looks now!  Isn’t that SO EXCITING?!?!?!?  Okay, maybe you aren’t a garden geek like I am…but little green plants growing out of soil makes me giddy.  I added more soil from our compost area so that the “growing potatoes in a container” project could work.  Notice that last time I showed you pictures of our container, it was the left side handle that was missing and this time it’s the right side handle.  How did that happen?

After our time in the yard, we went in and cooked up lunch.

Here’s Chef Justus.  Is that hat the greatest or what?!  Here he is stirring our mac and cheese.  Notice he changed out of his sticky (turned itchy) clothes after pulling weeds. 

Malachi couldn’t wait for lunch.  This little guy has been HUNGRY lately.  I mean, more than normal.  

Our last soccer games of the season were tonight, and Asa wanted a treat for his teammates.  We baked these cookies into bars and put them into baggies to share.

Here we are on the way to our last games of the season.  Justus decided to sit in a booster seat, which is why he’s so high up on his chair there.  Silly kid!

One last event to end our evening…

Malachi has been shy about playing on the field with his teammates (he’s a little four year old guy out there with four, five and six year olds), so most of the time he just sits on the bench and shakes his head no at his coach when asked if he’s ready to go in.  I REALLY wanted his season to end on a good note.  Soooo…I asked Malachi, “If Mama goes onto the field with you, will you play?”  And he said yes.  And so I did.  

There I was on the field with a bunch of little people running after a soccer ball.  I was trying to stay out of the way, yet trying to push Malachi over to get the ball (which he really didn’t want to do).  Other parents were waving and smiling their teasing encouragement (probably very happy that it was me and not them).

Malachi finally had a chance to kick the ball twice and had big grins on his face and we went and sat down again.  Oh the things a mother must do (and where in the world was the daddy?) (at Justus’ game…so he had a good excuse).

I’m so sorry to report that I don’t have a picture of this part of our evening…I guess you’ll just have to picture that little event in your head.

On Tuesday, Matt’s Grandpa Coppinger finally got to meet the One he’s been living for the past 90 years.   It’s bittersweet for us of course.  We’re going to miss him.  But oh are we excited that he’s received his reward. 

Grandpa loved the Lord and loved his family.  He spent years working with World Bible School, a program that reached people all over the world for Christ.  He took many, many trips to Ghana, West Africa to teach people about Jesus.

Fifteen years ago, on what was Grandpa’s last trip to Africa…Matt took his first trip to Africa.  He’s so glad they were able to travel and work there together. 

You know one of the sweetest things about Grandpa?  His kids still called him “Daddy”.  Some of his kids are senior citizens themselves…calling their father, “Daddy”.  I always loved that.

Here are some pictures taken at Christmas time with Grandma and Grandpa: 

Here’s Grandma and Grandpa with most of their grandkids and their spouses.

Here they are surrounded by most of their great-grandchildren.

We’re so thankful that we had one last chance in December to hug his neck, to kiss his cheek and to tell him we loved him.  And to tell him goodbye.

We’re gonna miss you, Grandpa.

In case you were wondering, we made it to California…and of course we’re having a great time here with our family.

Can I just say this?

CALIFORNIA IS A LOT WARMER THAN NEBRASKA!!!

Yes, it’s true.

It’s in the 40’s and 50’s here and since we’re used to 10 degrees and far below that right now…we’re LOVING this weather!! 

A few things about our trip out here…

• We did drive through a little snow, but it was MUCH better than we were fearing.
• When we drove through the mountains…the pressure in the van increased so much that a bag of chips exploded.  It scared us all silly.
• Driving through the mountains is SO pretty.
• At one point in our trip Malachi wanted to know, “Are we going to be in the van FOREVER?”  Yes, it did feel that way.  We ended up making it in about 24 hours though like we had planned.
• I can’t remember what day it is.

Okay, I’m going back to continue my vacation.    You know I can’t stay away from blogging entirely while I’m taking time off! 

Remember that there will be no Gratituesday this week, but we’ll pick back up next Tuesday with How God Was Great in 2008! 

And now…back to the regular scheduled program of the Learn About Laura series. 

Just a few hours before take off…I THINK I have everything under control.  We’ll see.

Before I go, I want to tell you a few things.

First…I’ll be sort of taking a blogging break while I’m on “vacation”.  However, I enjoy being in touch with you too much to stay away entirely.  I’ve pre-written several posts and time stamped them.  Plus, Matt’s sister has internet and I’ll probably pop on now and then and check in.  Most of the posts I’ve pre-written are the kind that help you get to know me a bit better.  I’ve started writing an autobiography of sorts (emphasis on the “of sorts” part).   Stay tuned if you want to hear all about my shoe size in the eighth grade and other exciting stories from my past. 

Second…I’ve been making a few Christmas time menu planners for you and am finally getting around to tell you about it.  You can find them here…go help yourself!

Third…Malachi (my baby) is turning 4 on Saturday while we’re on our trip.  I’ve been in denial about the fact that my baby could possibly be four…and I apologize in advance that I will probably whine about this to you everytime his birthday rolls around for the next 63 years.  It’s just that how could my baby possibly be foooouuur?  Anyway…the latest cutest thing he’s been doing is that ever since he learned to say the “th” sound (instead of telling people that he’s “free years old”) he’s overdoing it by putting the “th” sound on words that really do need the “f” sound.  Like…he’ll tell me that it’s “threezing outside” and that he loves his “thriends”.  So, I guess he’ll also be turning “thour” on Saturday. 

Thourth, I mean Fourth…Since I’m leaving and trying to do all kinds of things to prepare for the trip, I’m disappointed that I’m unable to keep participating in Amy’s Bloggy Progressive Dinner…but if you’re able to…go check it out and take part in it.  AND…if you go over to Amy’s blog and check out this post…you just might win a free Heavenly Homemakers EBOOK!!!  Ooh, I love giveaways!!

Last…THANK YOU for being a part of my life and blogging community.  I pray that you and your families have a wonderful Christmas together full of all the wonderful things Christmas time brings.

Here it is! 

I think this is the sweetest picture of Austin 
showing his quilt to his mommy and daddy. 

Okay, I didn’t give the three year old a pokey needle. 
I handed him markers instead. 

Christmas presents are well on their way!!
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More Wordless Wednesday here.