Warm...for a moment

This has been quite a cold winter for us!  We've had many nights in the 20s, which is quite cold for this Florida girl!  We've started getting back to some warmer weather and the kids are enjoying it.  Although at the moment we have the fireplace going and my socked feet are still cold!

While enjoying a little warm up after school, the kiddos called and said I had to "come see this!"  There was so much static electricity that Callie's hair was standing up.  Silas's hair was standing up, too!  You couldn't really tell with Micah's since he had a recent buzz cut after deciding to trim his own bangs one night.  Never a dull moment around here!

There was so much laughter!  I love it!

On a side note....a sad side note...my Canon Rebel that I bought years ago in St. Martin isn't shooting the same.  The shots just aren't as crisp as they used to be.   I have decided to stretch myself and try to learn manual mode.  It's like another language and to be honest I'm just not getting it!  I like the photo above that I got....but it's so white!

I think this one is better, and I absolutely love their expressions...they were having so much fun!

So, hopefully a new camera is in our future, but until then, I'll just keep experimenting and having fun!  Just like these sweet kiddos of mine!

A Goal to Saturate

If you know me very well, you know that in January, I love to map out my year and set some goals.  I love to look ahead to the end of the coming year and decide what I would like for myself and my family.  This year was the same.  I set some goals.  They are great goals and I'm so excited about the upcoming year!

I love the accountability I gain from posting on my blog.  So, I thought I would share my plans for 2018.  

This year I want to:

*Visit 20 State Parks-I've mentioned before that I want to visit every state park in Florida by the time my Silas graduates.  It's time to make that start happening!  In fact, we visited a new park yesterday. Oh wow! It was beautiful!  I'll post on that soon!

*Piano lessons for Silas, Callie and Micah (finish book one)- My Brenna has been giving my 3 little ones piano lessons.  She does a great job. But, I need to do my part as the parent and make sure they practice.  They're doing great!

*Encouragement-God has given me so many people to encourage me throughout my life.  I want to do the same.  I have some ideas of how to make this happen and what to do.  I'm excited about it!

*Train Peaches-Oh my sweet dog...she needs to be trained.  And she needs to be trained where she should spend her time during the day.  So, it's my goal to get this puppy of mine trained!

*Read/Study/Write the Epistles-So, this is the goal I am most excited about.  As I prayed at the end of the year about how God would have me study His Word in the coming year, I kept thinking of the Letters that Paul wrote (Epistles)  I just kept coming back to that idea.  So, instead of reading my Bible completely through this year, I'm going read the Epistles.  But, I'm not just going to read through and be done, I want to saturate myself with them!  So, I've divided them up according to month:

January-Romans

February- 1 Corinthians

March- 2 Corinthians

April-Galatians

May-Ephesians

June-Philippians

July-Colossians

August-1 Thessalonians

September-2 Thessalonians

October-1Timothy

November-2 Timothy

December-Titus & Philemon

Each month I will read and read and read the book for the month.  I will also listen to it.  And I would like to write it as well.  A couple of years ago my friend Jessi mentioned about how she and her husband write out Scripture.  I hadn't been able to forget that.  And then, last year I read Deuteronomy 17:18-19.   It talks of of a king writing out God's Word so he may learn to fear the LORD his God and keep the Words.  I'm enjoying so much writing out what I'm reading.  I do find it sticks in my brain more and gives me more understanding.

It sure is going to be a great year!

One Month Already!

Little Liberty Anne has turned a month old and time is flying!
To say she has captured the hearts of our family is an understatement.  She is very loved!

And she's just so beautiful I can hardly stand it!

Being a "Lolli" is amazing!

My Blog

I have loved having the hobby of blogging.  It was about 10 years ago that my sister started her blog.  I loved reading her posts on her family and her fun ideas.  We were on deputation at the time and I was missing family and enjoying any connection I could have with them.  So, I decided to start blogging.

  I blogged about my 3 kiddos (just 3 then!)....how little they were!  I blogged about food and recipes I was trying.  I blogged about homeschooling, family fun nights and fun things we were doing. I blogged devotions and things the Lord was doing in my heart.  I blogged about our depuation journey, language school, getting to the mission field, and then returning back with medical issues. I've blogged about starting a church in America and the adventure we've had in the process. I've blogged about buying our home and making it ours.  I've kept our supporting churches informed and met many new friends along the way.  I've blogged about 3 of my kiddos births, 3 graduations, 1 wedding, and the birth of my first grandbaby.  I have loved blogging. 

Last month I received a couple of emails that made me feel uncomfortable.  They could be nothing.  But, after checking traffic sources and daily stats of my blog, we just didn't feel things seemed right.  We prayed about it and felt that for now we need to make my blog private.  I'm not sure how long it will be private.  Maybe always.  Maybe a week.  We're not sure.  We know that our faces and names and info are already on the internet even without my blog.  Being a missionary and raising support means putting your name and face out there as you seek support.  So, we definitely aren't shielded completely even with my blog private.  But, for now we will keep it this way for a bit.  At least until the Lord tells us otherwise.

I wish I had a way to notify all my faithful readers and all my prayer warriors that have prayed for us.   For now, I can only notify who I know to, and do what I need to to keep my famiy safe.

So, I will still blog.  I love keeping my memories here! 
Pray with us, please.  Pray for safety in this wicked world we live in.

I truly am blessed with many supportive friends and family.

Grace and Blessings,
Kami

Happy 43rd and Wow! What a season!

What a birthday for my sweetie!  The day before was an Eagles game.  Everyone reading should know that my husband is a fan.  Let me rephrase that....he's a HUGE fan!  It was almost a requirement for marriage and I quickly learned that I must be an Eagles fan, too! :o)  We love our football season!  and we love our Eagles!  So...since they were playing a BIG game the day before his birthday, we decided to celebrate!

What a game!  It was down to the last play against the Falcons.  It was so close! And quite stressful. But, we're excited to say that they won!

Chocolate for my Sweetie.  His favorite.

 My parents bought him an Eagles watch for Christmas and texted to make sure he wore it for the game.  He did! :o)  Notice the wrapping paper on the floor?  We told him that everytime the Eagles scored he could open a gift.  That was fun!  Happy Birthday to my sweetheart!

And after the game on Sunday against the Vikings....we are off to the Superbowl!  Well...our team is.  We'll watch from our couch after church on Superbowl Sunday. :o)

A New Pantry for Me!

  My sweet husband....all I have to do is mention (maybe a couple of times :o) ) an idea of something to improve in our home.  And voila!  It happens!

I had been wanting to put more shelves, or do something different with our pantry.  When we moved in the doors were metal and rusty and ugly!! So, we took them down and we've had an open pantry.  The walls were nasty yellow and we hadn't painted them.  The shelves were sagging. The pantry definitely needed to be redone!

 I told Patrick that I really do like having the pantry open.  I like being able to easily look in and see what we have.  So, I wanted to keep that idea.  I just needed more shelves.

The first job was to take everything out.  I'm glad my husband likes to get projects done once started.  I don't know how long I could handle all the food in the piano room!

Everything out.  Ewww.

Building new sturdy shelves.

Patrick made the shelves into an "L" shape.  I now have double the room!  I also like that I have a little shelf on top to decorate!

Beth was in charge of painting the walls gray.

Brenna and Tricia did the white.  You know you have awesome friends when they help you paint!!

So clean looking!

And here it is all done.  I love all the dollar tree bins.  I had to go to 4 stores to find all the white bins I needed!  They sell out fast!  So thankful for my new pantry!

Awake America~Florida

Patrick and Josh have been planning a trip to the Florida Capitol for Awake America.  It's a great time for Pastors to get together, pray for the state and their leaders.  They also go to the Senator's and Congressmen's offices and pray for them.  It's a great opportunity!

The day before they left, Patrick asked Silas if he wanted to go along too.  My Silas was so excited!! Time with the guys!  He said, "I haven't been on a trip with Josh since he got married!"

He packed a bag with toys and joke books and was ready for the 2 hour trip to Tallahassee.

The service the night before was a blessing and they asked Josh to sing in the choir.

Silas was preapred to get as much brother time as possible!  He was actually watching TV from the mirror on the back wall of the hotel room.  :o)

The next day it was time to head to the Capitol!

Patrick said they were able to pray with some of our state's leaders and it was a blessing to be there!

My Silas loved seeing the Capitol.  He loved hearing preaching and being around Preachers and leaders of America.  But....he especially loved time with his Dad and big brother!

Florida Winter

This winter has been coooold.  I mean the "Below freezing" type of cold.  The "Is this really Florida?" type of cold!  We've covered our plants and put in a heat lamp for our goats.  Our outside dog is enjoying some inside crate time.  And when the kids check on the goat's water in the morning, it's frozen on top!  How fun!  The good news is that it has warmed up during the day and the kids enjoy their outside time.  Oh how I love living here!

Silas's Day

We sure do love birthdays around here!  The birthday guy/gal gets to plan the day and I love the simple, fun things they come up with!
Of course, we start our day with gifts. :o)

Silas and his Daddy went and got Dunkin Donuts for the family.  He sweetly picked out each donut according to each family member's taste.  Patrick said it was quite a process, but it was so sweet!

Then, it was out to the football field.  For his birthday, Silas wanted a family game of flag football.  It was quite chilly that day, but the sun was shining and we all had a great time.  Not going to mention who scored the winning touchdown, but it just happens to be the girl typing this post. :o)  It was fun!!

We all even wore the black liner for football player.  Silas was pleased.

And then, it was dinner....lobster tail for Silas!  (And fishsticks for the rest of us.) :o)

Joshua, Tabitha, and Liberty came over to sing Happy Birthday. (Josh and Tabitha were on their way for their Anniversary dinner.  Don't they look adorable?  Can you believe it's been one year?)

Happy Birthday to my Silas Boone!  What a great day we all had!!

A sweet gift that made me cry

My husband wanted me to save this one for last to open on Christmas morning.  When I opened it and saw the names of all my children....I mean all as in the 6 here on earth and the 3 up in heaven....it made me cry.  Such a thoughtful gift and it's so beautiful!

He bought it from Eve's Addictions.  It really is so thougthful.  I love it!

Happy 9th Birthday to my Silas Boone!

It seems like it was just yesterday we five were welcoming our Silas Boone into the world.  Oh my, how he was prayed for.  God gave him to us as an answer to our prayers and we are so very thankful.

Today he turned 9.  Big boy, trying to grow up 9.  I'm so proud of the young man he's becoming.  He's super sensitive, super thankful, and super fun to be with.

He loves football and if nothing is really happening around home, he's tossing the ball in the air.  Whether we are inside or out.  You will usually find a ball in his hands.

The past few months he's gotten into magic tricks and is getting very good at slight of hand.

He's also turned into quite a joke teller.  He can be quite funny!  I love it when he laughs at his own jokes. :o)

He still has a strong desire to preach and is already asking his Dad for another oppurtunity.

I'm so thankful for this boy of mine!  Happy Birthday Silas Boone!