Blizzard 2011 Pic's For the Family

For my Florida family

9 AM

10 AM

11:45 AM

When Blizzard 2011 Comes In.....

The parents wake up hearing the ice hitting the windows at 4:30 AM, and move into action.

Big nasty farm dogs get to sleep in the laundry room.

10 year old boys sleep in their new birthday sleds, dreaming of snow days, forts, & sledding.

The ice is covering the ground at this point, and blizzard conditions with up to 16" of snow are expected today. I love it!

10,000

I know that there are blogs out there who receive 10,000 visits every day, but this, my little blog, in the middle of cyberspace hit 10,000 visits today. (since I began it, not all today) It is kind of fun to think about all the different people, from all the different countries who have stopped by for a visit! I am honored to be here sharing my life with you. Thanks for listening!

Facebook Statusessss

So if you were my friend on Facebook these are my last few status updates. I thought this might be a fun way to let you into my world the last few days.

3 blind mice, 3 blind mice, see how they make J.D. run, see how they make J.D. run...

mouse caught! Somewhere around 3 this morning my husband bagged another one. I believe it was a 7 pointer....

gonna watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy...hope it makes the next few days go flying by. I hope when they unwrap my leg tomorrow I don't look like schmiegel under there. :)

Please pray for my Dr.'s appt. this morning. My foot has been turning purple every time it is down and causing me to feel light headed. Please pray for the Dr.'s wisdom & my strength to get through it.

back home! I now have a very bright green cast which Karlee picked out. The Dr. said he was very pleased with my healing. I am happy to have a wheel chair, I was able to go into WMart after the appt. Still no weight on the leg for 4-6 weeks. (the ride to the appt & the time at the appt were both very rough, and I'm going to take a nap now)

is getting a pedicure from my darling daughter.

we are all wiped out today, kind've a down day after all of the excitement yesterday. J.D. is doing laundry and cleaning up, to quote him, "a woman's work is never done!".

got in my wheelchair today, wheeled myself into the kitchen (first time to go in there in two weeks) and did donuts. Then wheeled to my back window and just sat and looked outside. I have such a beautiful view and have really missed it! Then I had a terrible headache for two hours. Now I am happy on pain meds! :)

is gonna get out of the house today, and do something fun! Woo Hoo!!

finally going out, J & I are taking Karlee & Britany to Target...should be fun!

my trip to Target was really fun! I bought my favorite shampoo, and some pink nail polish! :) The girls bought junk food, and proceeded to giggle all night...it was a very welcome sound around here!

is going to try really hard to go church in the morning. I have been sick to my stomach all day but hopefully will feel better tomorrow. I decided at 9:30 this morning that, That was my last pain pill. I would rather feel pain then feel lousy from the med's. I have made it all day, now for the evening/overnight. Please pray for me as I make the switch to Tylenol.

So, is this the kind of friend you like on Facebook? The kind who actually updates, or do you prefer the silent type? I personally like the updaters, therefore I am one. I do NOT, will NOT, EVER play any of the games and have them all blocked from my "feed" so don't expect a new friend to send you a bale of hay or whatever!

If you want to friend me on Facebook, look me up...Heather Stinehelfer Arnold, if I know you and your not some weird stalker we can be friends. :)

I did make it to church this morning and it was a blessing! I'm home tonight however because I still can't kick the headache, nausea, etc.

New Background w/ a Question

Thank you to Karlee for my new background!

The question is, how does it look on your computer?

On mine it spaced nicely w/ the flowers to the left like this...

On Karlee's the flowers on the left are running into the body like this...

(click for larger images)

Thanks for your help!

Wordless Wednesday - OUCH

Welcome

A big hearty Welcome, to my Facebook friends! You are an interesting combination of my past & present. I have childhood friends from Michigan, teenage years friends from Florida, relatives all over the country who I barely even know, because we were only able to be together 4 or 5 times as kids, Pastor's wives, and friends of friends. Then there are my present friends, people who know me now, those who attend church with me and see me on a weekly basis.

I posted my blog on my Facebook page today and I have been feeling kind of vulnerable, reluctant, excited, and a few other emotions. I have known that I needed to do this for awhile now and decided to jump in this morning. Well, the hard part of that was that we left the house at 10 this morning and have only been home for two short 10 minute periods since then. I know this was for the best because the temptation for me would have been to constantly update and see if I had any comments or messages, etc.

I do want to say thank you to those of you who kindly sent me a message and encouragement to me!

I pray that God will use my testimony to touch your life in His way!

Facebook

Where have I been? On Facebook. I have been "friending" and "updating" and ignoring "farmville" requests by the dozens.

I have also been busy homeschooling, taking care of sick kids, teaching and feeding AWANA kids, caring for my pastor husband, and playing with new friends.

My daughter gave me a new look yesterday and the sun is shining and I think I am going to get back over here again!

Is anyone still out there?

While the Cat's Away the Mice Will Play!

We had a wonderful trip and I want to write about it, but I am way too tired. I thought I would put up a couple of pictures of things I came home to. We were teasing our church family about the mice not playing while the cat was away. Of course, then they had a big snow storm and had a good reason to skip church on Sunday. The night before we left, our fridge gave up the ghost. It was wonderful to come home to brand new one all set up and working and no sign of the old one. A major perk is that this one has much more freezer space! I love it!!As mischievous as our congregation is, I would suspect that they planted this little surprise in the tub for us. However, I know they took it easy on us because we had a friend fly home with us from Florida. J discovered this when he went to make sure the shower was in working order for our guest...let's just say he used our shower.

Sitting Here

I am sitting in a very comfortable recliner with the windows open, enjoying the Florida sunshine and holding my sleeping niece, Emma. Now tell me does life get any sweeter than this?!

Housework

Sometimes Emma just says it best. I have company coming tonight and I have TONS of housework to do first. YUCK!!!!!

Good Bye, 2009

Here are some highlights from 2009...

I can't remember any highlights from January or February.

March~ I started my blog, J really thought I was crazy, but being the loving husband he is, he went along with it.

April~ We had our first tax return as a regular working guy...it was nice getting a chunk of change.
(pastor's are considered self employed...we won't be seeing that again...it's worth it!)

May~ My dad came for a visit and we enjoyed beautiful weather and a week of hiking together. J.D. and I flew to Virginia for his mom's b-day and a visit with his dad.

June~ J.D. begins to be asked to preach a lot. We start to feel strongly that God is pulling us back into ministry.

July~ We had a nice quiet summer this year. Full of going to the pool, flea markets, picking blackberries & blueberries, and just spending time together.

August~ J preaches at Emmanuel for the first time. On the way home we talk about how much we like the church. We are very impressed with the friendliness of the people and the welcoming facilities. I begin preparing for a new school year and a family vacation.

September~ The goals that I accomplish (cleaning out rooms & closets) are really going to help me when I wind up moving. (something that is not even on the radar right then)
We have the best family vacation we have ever had. Going to Colorado on a shoe string budget.

October~ God moves in our heart and our future church's heart and J is voted in as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Jane, MO. I tell myself I will take my time packing and moving. My niece, Emma is born.

November~ On the 1st we move into our new house...I love living in this parsonage. This is also J's first sermon as a restored pastor of a church, a very moving day.

December~ What a busy month it was! High's include Friend Day at church, a Christmas party complete with a white elephant exchange, many gatherings at friends houses for food & fellowship, my first open house, and a talent show to welcome in the New Year.

2009 was a wonderful year! It was a year of family bonding, restored ministry, and new family and friends.

Thank you, Lord, for 2009!

Blessings,


P.S. Thank you Karlee for the new look!

Wishing You and Yours

This week I have an Open House for our church family tomorrow. A Christmas Party to go to Wednesday. Christmas Eve. Christmas Day complete with the big dinner. So, I am wishing you all a Merry Christmas and I will try to get back to blogging next week.

Merry Christmas!

Is That A Cigar?

I just stopped by to see my new comments...thanks Tammy & Leah! I was looking at my new template and I think the shepherd looking over Mary's shoulder may be smoking a cigar??!!

What do you think?

A Christmas Flashback

Every year my children get Christmas presents before Christmas. This is my fault. Honestly, it drives J.D. a little bit crazy. It all started when I was a child. My parents had a tradition of putting a few presents under the tree each week leading up to Christmas.

What they didn't know was that I was an EXPERT at unwrapping enough of the gift to find out what it was and re-wrapping it without them knowing. I would do this when they were still in bed on Saturday mornings. My brother & sister would gather around me to watch my skills, in return for their secrecy, I would do their presents too.

One year in particular, we hit the jackpot. All three of us were avid Mr. Rogers watchers. This year sitting under the tree was a puppet each from the show. My brother got King Friday, my sister had Lady Elaine and for me X the owl. We were SO EXCITED about getting these. Of course we all were cool and collected when mom handed them to us for our Christmas Eve present and we all acted very surprised to see them. (as we did with all our presents over the years)

My parents did not find out we did this until I was 25. It was my first Christmas that I didn't live at home with my parents. They came up to Arkansas, and Christmas Eve, after everyone was in bed, my brother and I spent some bonding time unwrapping and re-wrapping gifts. The next day we were cracking up at each other trying to act surprised and we finally confessed what we had been doing all of those years.

Now, I get so excited to give my kids their gifts that I just can't wait. They know I'm a big softy and that I understand their pain of hating surprises.

So, today they will each open a present after they finish school & chores. Can any of you relate? Share your stories!

Blessings,

Happy Black Friday!

I never can sleep Thanksgiving night. I feel the same way I did when I was a kid on Christmas Eve. The anticipation of all the shopping keeps me wide awake. Well, last night I decided to do some of my shopping at 11:00. I had an email from Kohl's saying that their door busters would start at 11:45 and figured I could get some shopping done early. I did my shopping and had my cart all full and ready. At 11:45 I clicked the check out button and watched with glee as the Black Friday prices appeared. I had beat the system!

NOT!

At 11:45 as I clicked the check out button the Kohl's server went into over drive.To my dismay Kohl's kicked me off their web site completely. Oh well, I thought, at least my shopping cart is full and I will only have to go back on and check out.

WRONG!

I got signed back in and found that I had lost everything. Not to be stopped, I began my shopping again. Now the site is moving VERY SLOW, every page taking well over 2 minutes to load. I am telling myself to think of all the time I will save in lines tomorrow. Then I am kicked off again, lose everything again...I am very frustrated!

I try to log back in. (yes, sanity was long gone) Now I am being blocked. I can not even enter my password without being kicked off. At 1:00 I finally give up and try to go to sleep. I am ticked off, forget about anticipation of shopping, I am ready to go have a few rounds of kick boxing. (I will not mention with who or what)

It is now 4:45. I awoke at 3:45 ready to conquer that website. Guess what? I logged right on, did my shopping, checked out and never had a glitch. Doesn't that figure?

I hope your shopping is full of insanity and laughter today. If you see me, I will be the one in need of strong coffee and direction.

For those of you who are snug in your beds and wouldn't think of going near the stores today....I'm sorry I just can't relate to you! :)

Blessings,

A Quick Hello

I have been absent this week. There are two blog posts rolling around in my noggin, but I just can't make myself start either one. So instead I have been ignoring this here spot of mine.

I am having a wonderful week complete with enjoying a retired missionary couple from Venezuela, WAY too many desserts at a dessert fellowship, cold rainy days that make you want to hunker down and watch old movies and drink hot chocolate, getting out alone with J for a little shopping, roasting 2 pumpkins, making pie & roasting the seeds. Today, I am taking my sister shopping and out to lunch for her b'day. Happy Birthday, Leah!

I hope you are enjoying your week!

Don't Mess With These Baptists!

Just as promised, here is a picture from the front page of the paper today. That is my Karlee and her friend Niki.

Pretty Funny, huh?!

In other news, I took some pictures of my new friends today. This is Karlee's favorite...she named her Salt & Peppa.
Here is my favorite. She has such unusual markings. Meet Reese. (For the Peanut Butter Cups, my sister's idea) I love her ears!!

If you were a witness to me getting this picture, it would have cracked you up. She did not want to look at me and I had to make all sorts of noise, run in place, and jump up and down. I considered it great practice for next weeks Simon Says game with the AWANA kiddo's.

Have a great weekend!

Out Of My Box

Last Thursday I was awarded this!



Let me tell you this class was WAY out of my box. I was blessed to be given Lori as a partner, because, she felt the same way I did about avoiding the camera. (There was a man from the local newspaper there)

I can't wait to see the write-up about our church group taking a self defense class. I will try to post a copy here for all of you who don't belong to the church. (unless I am in it) :)

I did learn some good moves that I think I could use if I had enough adrenaline flowing through me. We also had a really great time and our instructor was very patient with us as we giggled our way through it. Talk about breaking in your new pastor's wife right. First wash her feet, then beat her up a bit. I wonder what they will do to me next?!

Here is a picture I took Sunday night before church. Doesn't the building look warm & inviting? Well, it is. There is family waiting inside.

This picture is unedited as I do not know how to use any photo editing...that is exactly what it looked like!

I hope you are having a beautiful Tuesday!

Pounded

My family has been pounded! If you asked me what that was 2 weeks ago, I would have said I have heard of it but I'm not really sure. I had never had the opportunity to pound or be pounded before.

So what is it? Our new church family pounded us with gifts in the form of groceries. On Sunday, J, the kids, and I took a load of stuff to the parsonage and when I walked in there were bags of groceries all over the counters! There were vegetables, baking supplies, canned goods (I can't wait to try all the different homemade jellies and canned garden tomatoes), paper towels & toilet paper, garbage bags, newly picked apples, fresh butchered ground beef from someone's farm, and farm fresh eggs in the fridge. Then yesterday there were two more bags in J's office. Guess what someone did? They had read through my blog and found a couple of my favorite recipes and bought the ingredients to make them! I can make my favorite beans and yummy chocolate cherry cake the week I move in!

My children were even pounded with a $10 Wal-Mart gift card each. What a great way to make us all feel welcome!

Here is the perfect verse for this season in my life~

Ezekiel 34:26
I will make them and the places all around MY Hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.

I love this because our little church sits on a beautiful hill. I pray that we will see His showers of blessings on that hill many times over.

(I hope I am not the only one that is going to sing Showers of Blessings all day now)