"Stairstep" Children!

"The Lord's Prayer"

Fun Holiday Weekend!

Hello Friends and Family! I pray this finds you all well and blessed after a great weekend of Thanksgiving! We do have so much to be grateful for!

Even though I worked the majority of the time, we still had alot of fun family time together. The kids are really getting into baking and cooking with me, which I love! I braved a few new recipes which got 12 thumbs up!! (But my pumpkin rolls will never be as good as yours, Mom!!)

We (the girls and I) had a little time on Sunday afternoon to head to the outlet malls and do a little shopping while the "boys" watched lots of football! I think they're practicing up for when David comes home in a week!

We're all looking forward to lots of time together again in a couple weeks for the next big break from school!

Our love and prayers to you all! We are missing you and praying for!

Love,
Daryle, Sheila, Ma-lak, Rea, Ni'ke, and Ya'shar

Crazy Shopping With the Girls!

Chef Rea Vs. Thanksgiving Dinner

Keeping Cozy!

Little Smiths #2 - #5

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mommy: Hey Guys! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Tell me what you're thankful for!

Ma-lak: I'm thankful for turkey and that Daddy is going to get me an Optimus Prime Transformer car.

Rea: I'm thankful that I'm going to get a pink princess car and that I love it!

Mommy: Ok, Rea, but what about being thankful for things you have right NOW, not just things that you MIGHT get?...

Rea: Oh, well I'm thankful that I already have a bunch of toys and that I have a bag to carry them around in!

Mommy: (sigh) OK, good! Next?

Ya'shar: I like ice cream!

Mommy: Anything else?

Ya'shar: Um, Daddy!

Ni'ke: I'm thankful that I'm a princess and I love my daddy!

Mommy: I'm thankful for all my little gobblers!!

Rea and the Hair!

Good morning, Cousin It! Everyday we are more and more amazed by the sheer QUANTITY of this child's hair! It's a full time job keep it tangle-free, and her being the girly girl that she is, she wants it "done" pretty often. "Mommy will you do my hair around and around and over and through?" Translation: Put it in a bun, please." As you wish... :)

Fun Fall Day!

I LOVE FALL!!

I don't know what it is exactly about this time of year, but it's always been a special time for me. When I was a kid (and a teenager!) I used to go for walks in the woods near our home in Missouri and be gone for HOURS, especially in the fall! I would take rolls and rolls of film of the trees, the piles of leaves, the brilliant colors - I was always inspired the most then and wrote pages and pages in my journal, poems, stories, anything! So I guess getting to share my favorite time of year with a family of my own make this time of year even more fun for me somehow.

So since it was so beautiful out, we decided it was a good day to get our carpets cleaned and I planned a day full of errands and "bentures" (this is Rea's word for adventures) for me and the children while Daryle stayed to supervise at home.

We went to the mall and the kids rode on their favorite "rides" and then we ate at the food court before heading on to our next stop. Two hours later Rea was done with preschool and Ma-lak was done w/ k.garten and I was heading back to a different mall for more errands with all 4 little ones in tow. I opened the back door to our SUV and I stood there for the longest time, thinking I had lost my mind! WHERE WAS THE STROLLER?!?!?!

I retraced our steps from the whole morning (there were alot of them!) and sure enough, at our fist mall stop, I remember loading all the children back into the car, and DRIVING OFF without putting the stroller in the back! At least I had all the children, but wow.

This is unfortumately NOT the first, second, or even third or fourth time this has happened!! YIKES! (Missing wallets in grocery cars - 2, wallets left at the bank - 1, missing debit cards left in machines - 2, missing foot stools purchased at Wal-mart and left in the bottom of the cart at Wal-mart - 1. You get the picture.)

I went back to the store and looked all over, checked the lost and found, talked to mall security and still no stroller! (also missing, a bag of purchases from Sears hanging on the handle of the stroller....)

A very hard lesson learned, and again, the scripture "Be still and know that I am GOd" has been brought to mind. Why am I in such a hurry all the time?! Yeah, yeah, lots of kids, lots of appointments, lots of work and ministry commitments, but to go at such a pace like this all the time is NOT good for anyone, and it's not how God meant for our lives to be. MY life to be!

"In your patience, possess ye your souls." (Luke 21: 19)

"...he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." (Proverbs 14: 29)

Lord, help me to SLOW DOWN, to truly enjoy all that you have created and given to me, and to make TIME instead of make haste!