Pictures My Sister Took

My sister took these pictures of the sun rise this morning. She did a great job taking the pictures. The sun rise was beautiful this morning.

A Family Tradition

On Sunday, we spent time together as a family carving pumpkins. I love this family tradition and am glad that we are able to continue on with my family. This was Peter's first time with pumpkins. He was so cute and I got some really cute pictures. Paul still does not like to touch the inside of the pumpkins. We had some cute pictures. Paul loves to go and touch the pumpkins and he lifts the lid off them and looks inside. Here are some pictures of us.

I have put some captions on the pictures and to view them you would need to put the mouse pointer over the pictures. Here is also a cute movie of Peter playing with a pumpkin.

Update On What's Happening

We have found another house that we would like to buy and have placed a bid on it. On Friday, we are going to have an inspector come and look at the house. Please pray that God will let us know His will concerning this house. We would love to have this house and move in. Also, Peter is growing like a weed and learning all sorts of new things. He got his first tooth today and can sit up (he still leans over quite a bit), and is starting to move around on the floor (by dragging himself). It is quite amazing to see them develop in each new stage of life. The shop is going well. More and More people are coming through our shop. We are making just enough money to met the bills. The other day we received a phone call from someone who was starting a Cell Phone Repair shop in Texas. It seems like we have the reputation for being the fastest starting store ever. We were very surprise. We also were able to give him some good tips. I hope this all finds you well and thanks for being part of our lives.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Last night before we all went to bed, it started to snow a little. Nothing heavy, just little flakes. I was hoping that it would snow during the night. Ed called and said that it was snowing in Black Forest. When we woke up in the morning and looked out it had definitely snowed! I went out in my p.j.'s (with shoes and a jacket) to get some pictures. It was very cold outside and very windy. I just had to get some pictures before the snow was gone (which it was by afternoon). This was Paul's first experience with snow and as soon as he saw it out the window he pointed to it. We told him what it was. I don't think he like going out in it, the cold wind, and the coldness of the snow. Here are some pictures of the snow, mountains, and us!Peter all bundled up for the cold weather.Paul seeing snow for the first time.Where the mountains would be.
Snow on back patio.Snow on pumpkins.Snow on cars.Ed's house.Joshua and boys.My rose bush.The mountains later on that day.The fall leaves on the tree with snow on the ground.

P.S. Many of you have commented about us staying warm during the winter. We appreciate your concern, but we feel like we will be able to survive the winter. We may not be use to this type of weather, but there are many ways to stay warm. The stores and house are heated, so going from a warm house to warm car to warm house is no problem. We will get the right kind of clothes needed (layering as well as nice jackets). You don't need to go out unless you have to. I am planning on staying home with the boys if the weather is too bad or too cold outside. Thank you for your concern and your prayers. We will keep you updated on the type of weather we are having and how we are doing.

101 Things NOT To Do To A Cell Phone

Working in a cell phone repair shop, you learn about different things that can happen to cell phones. Some of these things I never knew COULD happen to cell phones. I am going to start a list of stories we hear about cell phones brought into our shop.

101 Things NOT To Do To A Cell Phone:

1. Don't talk on your cell phone while standing in the rain.
2. Don't have cell phones in your pocket while riding water rides at an amusement park.
3. Don't jump into swimming pools with cell phones in your pockets.
4. Don't drip water on your cell phones to turn your cell phone on.
5. Don't run over your cell phone with a fork lift.
6. Don't throw your cell phone across the room or out of a car window when mad.
7. Don't drop your cell phone when working on the roof or tree.
8. Don't drop your cell phone in water, coffee, or the toilet.
9. Don't wash your cell phone in the washing machine.
10. Don't wiggle the charger plug to get your cell phone to charge.
11. Don't oatmeal on your cell phone.
12. Don't drop your cell phone in a bowl of ice cream.
13. Don't forget to take it out of your pocket while sitting down and wearing tight pants.
14. Don't forget to take it out of your pocket while wrestling with someone so you don't break your cell phone in half.
15. Don't run over your cell phone with your car.
16. Don't step on your cell phone.
17. Be careful not to drop your cell phone too many times.
18. Don't let your cell phone slide down the dash into a drink while driving and coming to a fast stop.
19. Be careful what you put in your purse, as you can clog your speaker phone with something like chocolate and make-up.
20. Don't leave your battery in when your cell phone gets wet. Take it out right after. Then don't put it back in until you have someone look at it.

These are all REAL experiences. People came in the shop with these things wrong with their cell phones. I could not believe what I was hearing on some of these stories. I never knew these things could happen to your cell phone, but I guess anything can happen. I will continue the list as I hear more stories.

How To Tell If Its Cold Outside

In my family we don't need thermometers to tell us whether it is cold outside or not. We just go by our family:

If my mom, Joshua, and I were a jacket, its cold outside.
If my sister wears a jacket, its very cold outside.
If my dad wears a jacket, its extremely cold outside.

My dad has worn a jacket a few times since we have been here (mostly at night or in the early morning). It has gotten cold here (with fog and everything), but the next day or two it has warmed up. It is very nice to look forward to having some semi-warm again.

Family Pictures

I have been dying to get some family pictures with the leaves changing. I have been trying to get some Christmas things together and I needed some pictures to send out with our Christmas letter. The weather has been going from warm to cool and we have had some great days for picture taking. The hard part was that we work everyday except half day on Saturday and Sunday. It is very hard to find time to take pictures. Well, it was a beautiful day on Sunday and we finally got to take some pictures. We drove to Garden of the gods after church and had a great time taking pictures. We got some great pictures too. We love being able to take our own pictues. It was a good thing we went yesterday because today is rainy, foggy, and cold. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them.

The Air Force Academy

On Saturday we went with a family, The Tossells, from our church to go see the Air Force Academy. The husband worked there and it was great to see all of it from someone who knows about it. We did not get to see all of it because it is such a big campus. The views are beautiful as you drive in and it would be very easy to get lost if you don't know what you are doing. We went to go see the chapel. It was very beautiful in there. They have many different places of worship. We got to see a Jewish Temple and they had many things on display. There was even tile on the floor brought in from Jerusalem. It was beautiful out when we went. The weather had warmed up and the sun was just about to set. We went went to see the office where he worked. It was very interesting. On the way back to where we parked, Paul had fun looking at the airplanes on display there. He loves to point to the airplanes. He got the same kind of love his father has for airplanes. It was also interesting to see all the cadets running and walking around outside. After we got to our cars, we decided to go out to eat. We had alot of fun and a great time of fellowship. It was a great experience. I hope we can go there again to see what else is there. You really can't see it and enjoy it in a day.

My Little Turtle

Peter has this really cute face that he make. He tucks in his bottom lip and the top one sticks out in a way that makes him look like a turtle. It was very hard to capture this look. It is even cute when he smiles while doing this. Here are some pictures of him making the face.

To All Our Friends and Family

I wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed putting this blog together to keep everyone up to date on pictures as well as what's happening. I have enjoyed every response that I have received telling me how much you enjoy looking at it. I am glad that you are able to share with us what is happening even though we are far away. This blog is very important to me and I wanted to ask you all to not give out the address to this blog without talking to me first. I want to be careful with the information this blog contains. I want also to point out the copyright I put on this blog. I would rather not have anything taken off without my knowing. If you want to use something off the blog, please contact me. I appreciate your understanding. I also look forward to sharing with you what God is doing in our lives. God bless you all.

Auntie Mar

My sister has been such a big help to me, I don't know what I would do without her. She often takes care of the boys so I can take a nap, run a errand, or do anything else that needs my attention. This is very helpful in the fact that it is very hard to get things done with two kids. The boys love her and love playing with her. I am very blessed to have her around and so are the boys. Thank you, sis, for all that you do for us.

Update on What's Happening

It was the Lord's will that we were not to buy that house. We definitely feel God's protection. The owner's were not willing to produce the permits to show that the basement was done up to code. They also were taking a long time to get back to us about paying for half of the roof. We feel a huge let down, as we were feeling uneasy about the whole thing. Now we are again house hunting. My parents are looking after work and before work. Please pray that we would find the house that God wants us to have. We are all getting anxious about finding a house and giving our friend back his house (seeing that we have been living in his house for 3 months). But we definitely know that we would not want to be out of God's will for us. Please also pray for our health (as it is getting colder and the start of the cold season). I have not been feeling good again and it is hard to take care of two kids (my sister has been a great help, I don't know what I would do without her). Thank you for all your prayers and faithfullness in reading this blog.

A Praise and Request

The praise is that our house in California has sold! It just closed today. We are very happy that the sell went through and that we were able to sell it. We are even more excited about the granddaughter who bought the house. I am going to miss that house though. That is the only house that I have ever known. It was a very nice house. Too bad we could not take it with us. The request is that we would know God's will about the house we were thinking about buying. We really like the house, but when we had an inspection done, there was alot of things needed to be done on the house. The roof would need to be replaced, the shower needs to be fixed, and the basement has no permits (at least they say they have permits, but we need actual proof). We are waiting for the appraiser to come and then we will make a final decision. Please pray that we would know God's will and that we would be able to make a wise decision. We don't have alot of time for necessary repairs.

Brr....Its Cold!

We have been experiencing some WAY cooler weather than what we are use to. It has been in the 40's during the day and freezing and below during the night. I don't like to go out more than I have to. We are also expecting some snow. It has not happened yet, but we are still excited by the thought. You can tell that a storm is coming in because of the clouds around the mountains. It is pretty amazing to see. I took some different pictures of the mountains during the day. I had to run outside to take them and then run back inside. I hope you enjoy them.These two pictures were taken first thing this morning.These were taken around the afternoon.These were taken at night, before it got dark.

A Beautiful Fall Day

Since the weather has been turning cold here, we have been trying to get outside as much as we can. Especailly since there may be snow on the ground some time (we are very excited about that thought!). Joshua has the day off on Thursday's and we try to plan something fun. After we ran errands (such as buying pumpkins!), we took Paul to the park. He loves the park and has so much fun when Daddy can come and play with him.Daddy with both of his boys.Daddy playing with Paul.Paul and his bucket and shovel-ready to play in the sand.I was trying to take some cute pictures of Peter. It did not work out quite like I would like to because he kept wanting to look at the stuff more than me.

Harvest Time

One of my favorite family traditions (that started when Joshua and I were courting is buying pumpkins to carve. The tradition first started before I met Joshua. My grandparents use to buy pumpkins for my sister and me and then grandpa Paul would come over and help us carve them. I have alot of great memories with carving pumpkins and am glad that I am able to pass down those memories to my children. I just wish that my grandparent were still alive so that they could help us. Joshua and I love to do this every year, even though the kids are still little, we can't help but still get them pumpkins. We did not go to a pumpkin patch, we went to Home Depot (we don't have much time for those kind of things right now).The boys were so excited about being able to get pumpkins!Of course we had to get some pictures of the boys and their pumpkins before they were carved.This is one of my favorite pictures. It is so cute to see the boys grow up together.It was very hard to get Peter to sit up. We had to support him by pumpkins! And then hope that he would not fall over!