My Boys

I am really proud of my boys. I have my days when I want to wring their necks, but for the most part they are pretty good kids. Lately I have been second guessing my parenting skills. Randy says if I don't have something to worry about, I will worry about not worrying- so I guess this was my worry of the week. I just want them to grow to be Godly young men and be able to make a difference in this world. Sunday I was blessed and was told what great kids they were by a few people. They won't know how I appreciated that. Eli & Ethan received $1 a piece for saying a Bible verse correctly after Sunday night service. After we got home Ethan came up to me and handed me his dollar, I looked at him and asked him what it was for. He said" you are a great cooker and make me awesome food and I want you to have my dollar". That melted my heart. Then Elijah came in the room and said "I want to buy Dad a tool with my dollar. He works really hard for us to have stuff." I just wanted to cry.
I know that they are onery, little punks sometimes, but for the most part they are awesome boys with hearts of gold!

Do you ever need a reminder?

Today is a reminder day.
I needed to look back at where we came from to remember where we are going.This has been a long road, a road that seems never ending.
We started our house on 9-1-01 with $900 in our pockets. I don't think one aspect turned out the way we planned.
We are still trusting because, once again we are in a position of needing more money to finish.
I hope though that this can be a source of encouragement for someone because God always met our needs, He always gave us what we needed, when we needed. looking at these pictures I remember the emotions I had. I probably had a hateful, depressed look on my face for about 2 years straight!Looking everyday at the big muddy hole that was supposed to be my house. There were days I just couldn't believe it would ever happen. Our house was in the" muddy hole" stage for over a year. A few people asked if we were just going to make a big fishing pond. I can laugh about it now, but then I probably wanted to punch them. It took us about 6 months to get from the concrete slab stage to framing it in. Talk about a faith tester!" Will we ever get this done?" came out of my mouth more than once. We got so much rain after it was framed in we actually took a shop vac to suck the water off the second floor. I poured gallon after gallon of water over the side of the house praying God would protect the floor and it wouldn't be ruined.
Every time I felt like giving up something miraculous happened and God made it o.k. Sometimes all it took was God giving me the strength to keep at it for just one more day. Today is the 2 year anniversary of when we moved in. The difference in our house in 2 years is amazing. We had no flooring other than the concrete slab, no kitchen cabinets ( I washed the dishes in the bathroom sink) The upstairs had drywall up and that was it. Everyday and every night we worked on this house. Finally we are beginning to see the finish line(as far as the building of the house is concerned)
So all this is a reminder of where we were and were we are going. Last week I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, this week is starting out the same. We are still waiting for money to finish the upstairs, but in the meantime we will go ahead and have our homestudy on Thursday. We have room for 2 kids downstairs. I guess that will do for now. Then I had a new thing to worry about. We don't have a car big enough for more than 2 more kids anyway. Maybe it's not that I should worry, but rest in the fact that God provides everything when and exactly how it is needed!
We have gotten more done to the house since these pictures where taken (yes, we do have a kitchen sink!) My Dad always tells me "Rome wasn't built in a day!" So when I get discouraged and feel I am not getting any closer to where God wants me I try to remember what things were like just a few years ago. The adventure was never easy, but God always kept us on the right path, He protected us, encouraged us and I think we are better people for traveling through it.

Tootsie Rolls in the Dryer

Why would tootsie rolls be in my dryer? Good question with a simple answer. I have 2 boys. Enough said.
I was folding clothes yesterday and kept smelling chocolate. I looked and stuck inside my dryer was pieces of melted tootsie roll.
I have found the most amazing and odd things in my washer and dryer. Randy asked why I don't check pockets better. Bad question to ask while I am trying to scrub tootsie roll out of my dryer.

2005 in Review

I decided to look back at 2005 and make a list of all the things that were accomplished that brought Randy and I closer to our goal.
Our goal being buy the farm, build a house big enough we can adopt a lot of kids, develop friendships that are not superficial and be a support and source of encouragement to our friends to follow their dreams. I know God has more than that, but that is all I know of for sure from Him for now
So by looking at 2005 in those terms it was a fantastic success!
*We were able to get to know a few people better. We listened to their dreams and were so encouraged to hear what other people wanted to do for God. And we have had soooo much fun having people over and just spending time with wonderful people.
**We saw God restore a marriage and use that couple to minister to others with broken hearts and marriages. AWESOME!
***Randy coached the boys soccer teams and we met so many wonderful people. Randy had a blast doing it, also! ( That really isn't part of our long term goals. Just wanted to brag again about my hubby and what a great father he is!)
****Randy and I have almost completed all of our classes and paperwork to be foster parents and to adopt. This is a huge one!
*****After MANY trials, we were finally able to buy the remainder of the farm. That was such a huge relief. I can't say enough how much stress that relieved out of my life.
******We were able to help another family out. Spiritually, financially and keep them from being homeless. I get excited when thinking about this one because isn't this what it is all about. We have something, someone else needs it and so we give it up for them. To think God used us in this way is a tremendous thing.
This was just a quick recap of 2005. I keep all of my calendars so I can go back and see what we did and where we were at differents times in our life. Looking back through this calendar excited me and I am looking forward to another successful year in God.
It is easy to forget the bad things when you see how many good things happened.
I managed to stay out of the hospital this year too. Now that is something to shout about!
Here is to an Awesome 2006. God's gonna do even more this year, cause my faith is getting so much bigger. I am expecting bigger and better things.

New Zoo Revue

Does anyone remember The New Zoo Revue?
Henrietta Hippo, Freddy Frog, Charlie the owl.
I loved this show when I was a kid!

My Husband

I need to brag on my hubby tonight.
He is off working a long night for his family. We needed some extra money so he volunteered for overtime at a job he really doesn't like. Usually when we are short on money it is because I spent too much on the kids or Randy bought too many toys at Best Buy or we just weren't frugal enough. This time it is different.
We made a commitment to help someone out financially. We made the commitment when we had the extra money. Now it is hurting the pocketbook a little and so Randy is being true to his word and going the extra mile to provide for his family and help someone else out. I love him for that.
He provides so I can stay at home and home-school our boys and be a full-time Mom. I love staying at home and he sacrifices so I can do that. If I worked, he could get a job he enjoyed.
He will not do that. He would rather work a job that he is unhappy at so he can provide enough for me to stay home. I love him for that.
I am proud to be his wife.
He works so hard. When I would want to give up when we worked on the house, he kept going.
He never gave up working on our house. When he was tired or discouraged, he just kept going.
He did not want to let his family down. He built us a beautiful, warm house that we can enjoy.
I am one lucky lady.

My perception = My Deception

The sideways glance, the laughter, the well-dressed person, the apparent snub, all of these things can be perceived a certain way.
I learned a valuable lessen about perception.
I have always been paranoid. I assume the worst. Someone is not talking to me because they are mad. I hurt their feelings. If they are mad at me then I am not going to talk to them. All of these dialogues have went through my head multiple times before.
I make an assumption and then take it as fact.
God changed all of that.
I started a friendship with someone I thought had a lot of friends and didn't need one more. Someone I thought was confident and their life was close to perfect.
I found out that that they appeared to have friends, but everyone kept it on a superficial level. Everyone else thought they had plenty of friends, too and that left this person out in the cold.
Never assume anything.
How often did I use to assume something, take it for a fact, then act accordingly.
Now I try to spend time with someone. Ask them about their life. Find out their hopes and dreams. It has suprised me how spending quality time with people has changed me so much.
And if I think someone is upset with me, I just simply ask "Did I do something to hurt you?"
It has surprised me to get the answer to that question, too. Sometimes it had nothing to do with me at all. I was the one snubbing them because, yet again, I assumed something.
It is amazing how not assuming anything and having a dialogue with people has changed my heart.
I have new friends I would never had before.

Back to Work

The holiday season is officially over for the Kemerly's.
Randy is back to work today and we will try to get back to schoolwork for the kids.
I miss Randy when he is not home. I get spoiled having him here all day. The more time we spend together, the more time we want to spend together.
For me one of the only good things about the holidays is Randy being home all day for a week or so.
The holidays wear me out. I think it is mostly because of the traveling. We go North, South, East and west to visit family.
Usually I love Christmas. I listen to Christmas carols all year round. I love decorating the house and making cookies with the boys. I don't know what my problem was this year. I was a big BAH HUMBUG!
It never even felt like Christmas and I was so glad to put away the decorations.
Maybe that is what turning 30 does to me. Turns me into more of a grouch than usual.
But it is a new year and I am in need af a new attitude, so it is perfect timing.
I will have to look back through my calendar to make a post about 2005. I can't remember what happened or what I did all year.
I have lost my memory- something else I can blame on my milestone birthday!