Uncle Simon and Aunt Joy visit!

This past weekend, Simon and Joy paid us a visit. It was just a quick over-night stay, but we had a great time, and the kids really enjoyed receiving presents! Here's a few pictures of the kids.

Thrift Store Find

Went to a new (for me) thrift store this weekend. Found this message board for $2.98. My office is yellow, and this board is blue, green, and yellow. It matches perfectly! LOVE IT!!

The 30-day Giving Challenge

Yes, I'm doing this again this year. But I'm not stressing about it. I feel good. I've unloaded 4 or 5 boxes to the local thrift store. I've passed on baby items, books, and clothes. I've done special things for my husband. I've given up half a day to see some of my favorite teenagers. And I've been blessed. My neighbor is fantastic. She's as sweet as can be, and willing to be there for us. We've lived here 6 weeks. She watched my kids for the aforementioned half a day. With only two days notice. We've been welcomed with open arms into our new church. The other homeschooling moms I've met are all willing to answer my questions (and I have a lot) about places to go locally (Drs, car places, shopping, etc). I have little people that love to hug me. I have little eyes that smile at my silliness. Yes, I'm am blessed. And I'm enjoying sharing my blessings this month. Are you giving?

Allison's fit

Allison is really good at throwing fits. Here's a series of shot from our photo shoot with Robert and Candy. The blonde is our great-niece, Abi. Watch Ryan and Abi as Allison screams. Cracks me up every time I look at these!

The Move

So, to back up a little bit (about a month), we've moved to Missouri. Not very far into Missouri. We're only an hour from the Arkansas line. Andy got a job up here last March (well, he started on the 31st), and was making the hour and a half drive every day. We finally decided it was time to leave home. We looked at a couple of houses, and finally found the one we're in.

We're out with the cows. And mice. We have a few neighbors, and by few, I mean 5 or 6 within half a mile. Only one of the neighbors is under the age of 50 (I think she's in her

early 20s), so I'm praying we become friends. She has a little guy who's almost one. A little younger than my kids, but Allison is in love with him.

We've been to the new church once. We went early for Sunday school, and Turner volunteered to be Joseph in the Christmas show. And he's our shy one!! We've met with Charlene a couple of times (she's the associate pastor), and she helped us find a Sunday School class that I think will

be what we need right now. She also gave me some phone numbers for babysitters.

We've joined the Y. They offer homeschool PE once a week, and the boys seem to really like that. Turner is signing up for basketball and can't stop talking about it. They also have Family Fun Nights on Fridays, and other art classes throughout the year. I think our Y membership is going to provide a lot of fun. Besides, the whole exercise thing...

Our shopping options here are Wal-Mart, Lowes, Dollar General, a couple of smaller grocery stores, and a few cute down-town-type shops. There's one store, Modern Variety, that reminds me of General Dollar back home. You never know what you'll find and it's so much fun to go in there.

As a thrift-queen, I'm sad to say there's only one thrift store here, and I wasn't very impressed. However, Springfield is only 50 minutes away and they have over 15, according to Magicyellow.com. Joplin is 30-45 minutes away and they have about the same.

A few pictures...

We took some family pictures a couple of weeks ago with our sister-in-law, Candy. Here's a sample... Turner is 6, Ryan is 5 and Allison is 3.

What to say?? 30DayGive 2010

Well, hello Blog. How are you? Life's been a little crazy lately. Have you noticed? Has anyone? Let's see. We now live in a different state. That's exciting. We're adjusting. We're trying to get the house put together. We're hosting Thanksgiving in 4 weeks. YIKES!!

The real reason I'm pulling this up, is that I'm doing the 30Day Giving Challenge again this year. I'm pretty excited. I love to keep track of the blessings I receive as I bless others. So, I'm hoping this will motivate me to keep up with you, my blog, as I keep track of my giving for the month of November.

Yesterday was the 1st. And actually, I hadn't even really thought about it, but I offered up some workbooks that I didn't need for the kids. Today, as I was arranging a meeting for the mom to get them, I realized that was what I gave yesterday. Today, I dropped off our old vacuum and a box of miscellaneous stuff at the thrift store. So, 2 down, 28 to go. I feel good.

More about the move later... (yeah, right!)