A Goodly Heritage

I take for granted so many blessings in my life. One of these I realized a few weeks ago at our family reunion. We had our reunion in the Black Hills of South Dakota with my dad's side of the family. It was a great time. We were there over a Wednesday evening. We usually attend church on Wednesdays for our church's Bible Study and Prayer meeting. Since all of our family is Baptist and we have 4 pastors in our family we decided to hold our own Bible Study right there at our cabin. We sang songs and had special music from the 4 girl cousins and also from my dad and uncle. And then my cousin Phil preached to us. He said he was only going to give a devotion.....no....he preached!! It was a great message on God's goodness. But as we were having our little church service, I started thinking of how blessed our family is. Not very many families can have a church service or Bible study during their family reunions. There are so many families who believe SO differently when it comes to spiritual matters. But all of my extended family on my dad's side believes the same. And that is such a blessing! I know Grandpa and Grandma Lydick were watching from heaven and saying "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 1:4

"Yea, I have a goodly heritage." Psalm 16:6

Nine years ago......"Will you marry me?"

Jason sent me these flowers to celebrate our engagement nine years ago. I'm not sure if everyone knows how he proposed so I thought I would share the story.

So, we had been talking about marriage so I knew he was going to ask me eventually. He got his job at PayPal in February. And after he got his first paycheck, he bought the ring (I didn't know this at the time!). He kept giving me clues the whole week before, but I didn't have a "clue"! He told me things like "I have no money right now" but I knew he had just got paid. I didn't get it at all. So, on Saturday, he came into the salon and got a haircut right before the salon closed. When he was paying he told me he would give me my "tip" later. I thought he was just being goofy like normal. So, I just ignored him. After the haircut we went back to my parents house. I went into my room to freshen up my hair and makeup cuz we had a church activity that night with our College and Career class. While I was in my room, he was so nervous, cuz he knew he was about to ask me, that he dumped over a vase of flowers that my mom had on the coffee table. My parents knew he was getting ready to ask me, so my mom told him to go in my room and ask me. He came into my room and I asked him what he was doing. (He had never come in my room before). He told me he was coming to give me the "tip" for the haircut. I thought maybe he wanted to give me a kiss or something but I was a little freaked out since we were in my room. So, I continued at the mirror freshening up my hair and makeup. He told me to turn around so he could give me the "tip". I kept telling him no and to leave me alone. After he about drove me crazy, I finally turned around to find him down on one knee holding out a little white box. In my head I thought, "If that is not a ring, I'm going to KILL him". He opened the box and there was the ring and he asked me if I would marry him. I first asked if he had asked my dad, he said "Yes, I wouldn't be here if I hadn't." I asked him if my dad said yes, and again he said "YES, I wouldn't be here if he hadn't. " I then gave him a REALLY big hug and said "YES!" He then asked if he could put the ring on my finger.....I had almost forgot about the ring. "Yes, yes, put it on my finger!"

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

Yesterday was Jason's 28th Birthday. He LOVES cheesecake so I tried a new recipe and thought I would share it with everyone. It was really easy and really good!

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Pie
1 (8oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 (14oz.) can sweetened, condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
1 egg
3 Tblsp. plus 1 tsp. lemon juice, divided
1 (9 in.) graham cracker crust
1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth, add egg and 3 Tblsp. lemon juice; mix well.
Pour 1/2 of the batter into crust. Combine remaining 1 tsp. lemon juice with preserves in small bowl. Spoon half of the preserves over batter.
Pour remaining batter on top. Using knife, swirl remaining preserves into decorative pattern on top.
Bake 55 minutes. Cool. Refrigerate. Enjoy!!

Christmas Saga

We had quite an "eventful" Christmas this year. The original plan for Christmas was to leave on December 23rd and travel to Sioux Falls, SD to spend it with my sister and her husband in their new house. Because there was a VERY large snowstorm coming we decided to leave a day early, so we drove up late on December 22nd. We got there just fine and were all settled in before the BIG storm hit. A few days before we left, Isaac started running a fever off and on. We didn't think too much of it since it wasn't consistent and there were no other symptoms. But once we got to Sioux Falls the fever got worse and worse. So, we decided we should take him to the doctor before it was Christmas Day and then we would have to take him to the ER. So, we took him to the doctor and found out he had pneumonia. The doctor gave him a shot of anti-biotics and we had to start giving him breathing treatments every 4 hours plus anti-biotics every day. The next two days it snowed, and snowed, and snowed; and Isaac's fever just kept getting worse and worse. The anti-biotics seemed to be doing nothing for him. So, on Christmas Day morning we took him into the ER. Thankfully, the doctor there said that because it was such a severe case of pneumonia it would take a few days before we started to see any improvement. So, we went ahead and had Christmas dinner and everything. It was hard to enjoy Christmas though with a kid that kept running a VERY high fever and kept throwing up because of all the flim in his throat. And then because it snowed for so long and so much (about 20" in Sioux Falls) we ended up staying 2 extra nights in Sioux Falls. After a VERY LONG week, we are finally home and all I can say is "Home, Sweet Home"!!

Funny Conversations.....

We have had several funny conversations with Isaac since Malachi was born. I've been writing them down but thought I should post them here. You should get a few laughs out of these...I know we did!!

1) On the way home from the hospital, Malachi was crying in his car seat. And Isaac leaned over and looked at him and said "Malachi! That's enough!". This came from times when Isaac was crying for no reason and we told him "That's enough!".

2) During another one of Malachi's first car rides, Isaac yelled "Mommy, Malachi's doing something!" We didn't know what was wrong so we pulled the car over to see. Malachi had just spit up a little but Isaac thought it was something bad wrong!!

3) After bringing Malachi home, we would sit and talk to him -- things like "I love you" or "What are you doing?". Or I would talk to Isaac and say things like "I love you" or "What are you doing?". After we would say things to either one of them, Isaac would then ask "Me? or Malachi?". If we told him we were talking to him he would then ask "Me? the talking one?". We don't know where he came up with "the talking one" but it was SOOOO funny!

4) Another thing Isaac has had a hard time grasping is that babies sleep ALOT! He always says "Malachi needs to wake up...it's morning time...it's not dark outside.... he needs to wake up!".

5) This one doesn't have anything to do with Malachi but I thought it was funny. We just bought a new vehicle. While we were looking, we had driven through one of the car dealerships. A few days later, we were driving on the street that goes in front of the car dealerships. Isaac said "Mommy? you remember we went and looked at those cars?" I said, "yes". Isaac -- "But you don't need a new car...you already have a car. Daddy doesn't need a new car....he already has a car. I don't have a car....I NEED a new car!" I just about died laughing at that. So, we bought our new car....Jason traded his WRX in and was VERY sad about that! So, Isaac told me after that "I will buy daddy a new blue car and then he will be happy!" Too funny!

I could write pages and pages of the silly conversations we have with our 3 year old. It never ends. Even when we are having a bad day we can still laugh cuz he will say something like these things I have shared with you!

Better late than never!!

I have not updated this blog in awhile. I guess I've been a little busy with the new baby....oh, I just realized....I never posted that we had the baby! So, yes, we had our new son, Malachi Jay, on September 2, 2009. He was 7lbs. 12oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. He is doing great. He is a good sleeper (so far). We hope and pray he stays this way. Isaac loves his little brother. He likes to help with everything....which can be good and bad!! When Malachi is sleeping, Isaac likes to lay next to him and talk to him. It is so cute! And then when we talk to one of them, Isaac always asks "Me or Malachi?". Then if we say "you" he says "me, the 'talking' one?". It is so funny!! It has been fun having two kids...and so far easier than people had me thinking it would be.

Air Force Cake

I decorated this cake for my friend's reenlistment to the U.S. Air Force. It was a pretty easy cake to decorate so I was glad for that!