save jackson bortz

i urge every mother, father, grandmother, and grandfather out there to pray for the bortz family in GA. their son, jackson, was wrongly taken from them from the DCFS. my friend lori has great information about the situation--click here to learn more about how you can support them.

the bortz family has also set up a blog. click here to visit their site.

this is every mother's nightmare, but i am confident that God is watching over that little boy. please keep him in your prayers.

how well do you know me?

ooh ooh ooh! i made a quiz!
see how well you know me by taking my quiz!! have fun. :)

update 1.13.06-
ok, kristi...here's a quiz just for you. see if you can do better than a 50, which is what i made on your stinking quiz. :) i challenge everyone to beat kristi at this quiz!!!!

oh dear...that's early

girl talk, a blog that i love to frequent, has issued a good challenge for the start of a new year... getting up early to spend time with God, accomplish tasks, and serve your family. these ladies get up at 5 a.m....that is early. real early. mama d would call that "0 dark 30", i believe. i know i'd get a lot done in the mornings, but my sweet husband is a night owl and my precious child is a late sleeper (God is good!!).... so i tend to stay up with my husband and wake up to the ethan alarm, just in time to iron brian's clothes and make his lunch before he heads off to work. and then i get things accomplished. but an hour of quiet before the day really begins sure does sound nice. proverbs 31:15 does speak about rising early...("she rises while it is yet night"...yep, sounds like 5 a.m. to me!) 5:00 is ridiculous for me to even try (mom, i said it so you didn't have to!!), but 7:00 would be a start. i may try it. not tomorrow because as you can see by the time, i'm already up a little late. maybe i'll try it on friday. fridays are great days anyway, since they're fridays (i still find this true, even staying at home now.). so i will attempt a 7 a.m. wake up time on friday and see how it goes. i'll report back.

kristi, are you with me?

christmas in january

we just had christmas with my dad & joy because we were out of town, and then they were out of town till this past week. we had a great afternoon visiting with them...and then they watched ethan so we could go see narnia! they gave ethan the activity center i mentioned below, brian got a lowe's gift card (woohoo! he says.), and i got the BEST slicer thingy ever!! here are a couple of pictures from our time with them.

another new toy

thanks, papa & grandma joy, for mommy's new favorite toy!! this baby einstein activity center is just perfect for ethan right now. he can turn around to play with the toys surrounding him, and he can practice standing in it as well. he has perfected the art of banging on the animal noise buttons while chewing on the toy next to it all at the same time. :) he loves to watch mommy unload the dishwasher while he plays. (mommy would love to switch places with him!!)

as you can see in the picture, ethan figured out how to stick his tongue out today. it's pretty funny to see for the first time. you say, "what's the big deal?" i know! who cares, right? he's sticking out his tongue. well, yesterday he couldn't do it, and today he can! that, my friends, is what i call development. :)

by the way, that is NOT a flower in ethan's hair. it is a toy on the ever-entertaining activity center.... just to clear that up.