Merry Christmas

Wow, this year went fast. We are having a blast this Christmas season and I thought I would share a photo collage of some our good times thus far. There will be more to come this week so be looking for another collage after Christmas. 
Going clockwise:
1. A family photo taken at church.  2 & 3. Haley at her Christmas dance performance (Haley is in the middle of both photos).  4. Peanut and Little Man dressed up as Mr and Mrs Clause.  5. Peanut and Little Man posing with the gingerbread house they made.  6. Peanut and Little Man sitting in a sleigh at the mall.

Follow your heart?

You know the sayings "Follow your heart" and "You can't help how you feel".  While I understand both of these quotes, I also have issues with them.
"Follow your heart". The problem with that saying it that it is based on emotions. And emotions are ever changing based on circumstances. Therefore when we follow our heart it often leads us to a place of uncontentment. Emotions and feelings can lie to us.  The devil can cause negative emotions to rise up inside of us or he can allow positive feelings to rise up, knowing we will act upon them because it feels right, even when it could be completely wrong.  Our hearts can lie to us and deceive us. (this I learned from a Beth Moore study. I found it very insightful and wanted to share it).
"You can't help how you feel". False. Our feelings and emotions are something that we have control over, we just don't often exercise that control.  We give other people the power of controlling them. We allow situations the power of controlling them. And while our feelings are important and need to be properly expressed, we need to be careful not to judge ourselves or others because of how we or they might feel.  Feelings change from moment to moment. One day I feel like going swimming, the next day I don't. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy swimming or that I should give up swimming, it just means I don't feel like going. One day I may be happy with my kids and the next day I may be furious with my kids, but it doesn't mean that I don't love them or enjoy spending time with them.

So to sum up what I am trying to say....
When it comes to major decisions, pray for wisdom and guidance from God and follow your head, not your heart.
Proverbs 14:8a The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways.
And while sometimes we need to express our feelings to others, we may not need to express EVERYTHING we are feeling. Because feelings change and you may regret tomorrow something you said today that was based on feelings.
We should give it to God and ask Him to help us control our tongue.....neither of which is an easy task and I am the most guilty of not doing this....but it is something I am giving over to God and working on.  I am not perfect by any means, but I try to learn from my mistakes and offer help and encouragement to others.  That is the purpose of this blog.

Updates and Halloween

I apologize it has been a while since I posted. School started, business started picking up and life has been crazy busy again. But that seems to be how I function best :)

Little Man is doing great in school.  I teach him at home 3 days a week and he goes to a Learning Center two days a week (Thursdays and Fridays).  Peanut goes to pre-school each day from 9-11 in the mornings and so I get those two hours with just Little Man to focus on his tougher subjects.
We do Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesday mornings.  The kids and I have been doing that the last 3 years.  We all enjoy learning more about God's word.  This year we are studying the book of Genesis.

Below are pictures of the kids.  One is of Little Man after he lost his first tooth last month.  The other is of Peanut on her first day of gymnastics a couple weeks ago.  I also included pictures of them in their Halloween costumes. They enjoyed Halloween but it was cold so they did not make it around the neighborhood very far. But their costumes were big hits.
Enjoy!

Lost his first tooth

First day of gymnastics

Peanut as Loonette the Clown from The Big Comfy Couch

Little Man as R2D2 from Star Wars

Youtube and other things

If you didn't know, I have a youtube channel where you can view videos of the kids and other things that we enjoy.  You can click on the "subscribe" button once you go to my youtube page and stay updated when new videos are posted.
Here is the link:  https://www.youtube.com/user/indymama309

Things are going ok here in Indy. I am trying to figure out how best to serve my family and still honor God in regards to me working.  Please pray about this decision.
School starts on Monday so I am sure after the first week I will have lots to update you on.  Little Man is extremely excited about starting school and I am looking forward to having a schedule again. Summers tend to be chaotic and the daily/weekly schedule gets thrown out the window.

We are enjoying watching the Summer 2012 Olympics.  The kids have even gotten into it.  After that we will welcome the start of a new NFL season and cheer on our new Colts team.

That's about it for now. Take care and God bless.

Fun Times with Opa

So Steve's dad just came for a short visit.  It was good to see him. The kids were so excited to pick him up from the airport and kept asking or droppies the entire time.  We all enjoyed our time with him and wish it could have lasted longer.
During his stay we ate at a couple of our favorite restaurants (Olive Garden for one), visited The Children's Museum, went shopping at Greenwood Park Mall, and went swimming in Opa's hotel pool.  Below is a link to my youtube channel where you can watch the kids swimming with Steve in the hotel pool (plus a few other videos of the kids). Enjoy!

Click here to watch the swimming video

Little Man Swimming

Steve has been working with Little Man on swimming.  This is a short video of his second time practicing.  Once Steve introduced him to the snorkel he swam non-stop the rest of the afternoon.

Family Photos

It had been 3 years since our last family photo session, so we figured it was time.  The lovely Jessica Limeberry of Lemongrass Photography was such a sweetheart and did an amazing job.  I highly recommend her.  Check out some of our favorites below. (photos are copyright protected. If you would like any prints, please let us know)

Memorial weekend

Greetings to everyone reading this. I wrote this on Monday, Memorial Day (observed for everyone in the US) so I apologize I am just now publishing the post.
"Our family was separated most of the weekend, however we each had our own bit of fun. Peanut went to Anderson to have a weekend sleep over with her cousins. We have to pick her up today. Haley spent the weekend with her Dad. Little Man stayed home with Mom for most of the weekend. On Friday night after I spent a long day at the track for Carb Day (Indy lights race followed by a concert) in 90 degree weather, we went to see the Avengers. Unfortunately, Little Man fell asleep after 40 mins. It was a great movie, and I imagine we will take him to see it during the day when it comes to the dollar theater. On Sunday, Mom and Little Man went to God's House and worshiped, I got up at 5:00 am to be out at the track for 7 am for RACE DAY!! I got there a little late, 7:21 due to traffic. After church, Mom and Little Man went to a church friend's house to swim and cookout. The weather was a scorching 95 degrees with the heat index at 103. What a great day to swim! The temp was 84 degrees at 9:30, when we had to be in our fire retardant suits, and we stayed in them until approx. 6pm. The race was awesome! 34 lead changes by 10 different drivers (which is a track record) because of the new DW12 chassis and engines. I have a few pics to share our weekend with you. Hope yours was just as exciting!! Have a good week everyone!     -Steve"

Playing Dress Up

My little peanut is such a little princess.  She loves getting dressed up and having mommy do her hair.  We had a girly day recently and I curled her hair and even put a smidgen of makeup on her.  I thought I would share a couple of the pictures with you.

Easter Celebration

We had a fabulous Easter, celebrating with extended family at a nearby park with pictures, an egg hunt for the kids, and a picnic.  

Sunday morning we had a wonderful Easter service at church as we remembered Christ's sacrifice on the cross, but more importantly, His resurrection and ascension into heaven.  

Praise be to our Lord and Savior from whom ALL blessings come. 

If you would like to have copies of any of these pictures, just right click on it and save image to your computer.  Enjoy!

 

Peanut, on the hunt

Always willing to share

Happy boy

Showing off her goods

Happy Easter from the Indy Schenks

My mom and step dad with 9 of the 11 grandkids

My sister and her beautiful family

Peanut and Uncle B

Me and my big sis

Me and my big bro being goofy

Me and Peanut

My brother and his beautiful family