3 Girls, 1 Guy and a Zoo!: January 2014

Friday, January 31, 2014

New Health "Insurance"

It's no secret that we love "our" company and job with Dairy One. They have been an awesome company to work for and Doug loves what he does. They are good him and the people that work there, so many of them have their own relationship with the Lord. The only thing that we struggled with was the Health Insurance. All insurance today is expensive, and I'm sure we weren't paying the most that you can pay out there, but for what we were getting, we felt that we could be better stewards of our money. At one of my homeschool meetings, the mom's got talking about Christian Health Care options. At first I was doing the whole, "Yeah, ok!" deal, but then I started really listening and decided to come home and do my own research. After spending a bunch of time online and over the phone with different companies, we took the plunge and went with Medi-Share. For us, they fit our needs the best. The people there have been great to deal with and really make you feel more like a part of a family than a part of an insurance scam. I feel like my money is being used wisely and not on things that I don't want my money spent on. Want to learn more about it and see if it would be a good option for you? Click on Medi-Share and learn more!

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Thankful Thursday

God is good! But I don't need to tell you that do I! :) He continually shows us that He cares. Saturday night, I ordered some stuff we needed for the camper and a couple early birthday gifts for the girls. When I was checking out on Amazon, before finalizing the order, I double checked on something and then went back to finalize it. I didn't realize before I hit the final order button, but Amazon had changed my free shipping to 2 day shipping. Sunday morning I woke up, checked my email and realized the mistake I had made. We now had almost $19 worth of shipping charges that I didn't need to spend. Now we have the money for it, but I just felt like it was a waste and a irresponsible thing to do. It really bummed me out. Monday I woke up and checked my email again and there was an email from Amazon. Now I order from there quite often and I have NEVER gotten an email like this. It stated that the items I had ordered and asked for 2 day shipping were unable to be shipped in that time frame. Therefore, they were refunding my shipping expenses for the entire order :) God did that! He didn't have to, it wasn't a huge deal, but He did, just for me!

Thank you God!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Our big news :)

After years of waiting and saving, we made the move and got ourselves a camper :) We have looked at this thing every year, at least once, for the past 5ish years. This year, we sold our boiler and changed around our health insurance to save some money and decided it was time to make the move. We are super excited about the family time that this is going to give us. When Doug is in Ithaca all week, we know ahead of time, and if we aren't needed here, we can pull it down and stay with him. The girls are beyond excited! Can't wait to make our first trip with it!

They wanted their individual pictures taken too ;)

I left the inside pictures off for now. I promise I'll show them later :)

I want to show my Mom and Dad in person and not on here ;)

Monday, January 27, 2014

Church Skating Party!

First off, I'm sorry this blog is a little late this morning! My goal was to have it up normal time, but that obviously didn't happen! :/

Anyway....a couple Saturday's ago, the a bunch of church families met at the Lowville Ice Skating rink for some fun :) We had a pretty good turn out! We didn't have the rink to ourselves, but we sure had fun! Please excuse some of the pictures, I learned that its very difficult to take accurate pictures of ice skating! LOL

The teens were so helpful with the younger kids who were trying their first time on skates.

Once she figured out the "walker", she was pretty much unstoppable!

Working hard

Too cute!

Go Marissa, Go! She did sooo good :)

One of her many times on the ground! She did awesome, but would go so fast and then wipe out. I'm not sure how she was even walking the next day!

Hi!

Now she is moving!

Look Mom, no hands!

So cute

Train!

A good share of the group just before we left :)

For anyone in the area looking for a fun activity to do with your kids, skating is free at the Lowville Fair Grounds and they even offer free rentals! It doesn't get better than that!

If you were to ask me where I would see myself in 10 years, I never would have guessed that I would be here. However, I couldn't be happier! I'm very happily married to the love of my life and have two girls. We have begun our journey towards adoption and I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us over the next couple of years. I'm a stay at home mom who home-schools. I enjoy researching and finding things out for myself. This blog allows me to share with others my passions and keep in touch with family that I wouldn't normally be able to keep in such close touch with.

Daddy is such a blessing to me. We met in college and became best friends. About one and a half years after we met we were dating. The rest is history. Together we have grown in the Lord and learned many lessons even in our few years together. Things haven't always been smooth, but together and with the Lord's help we can accomplish anything. He is the love of my life and my true soul mate. He is 100% committed to his family and the Lord. He is currently working for Dairy One in Ithaca. He loves to ski, ride dirt bikes, tinker on things, mow the lawn :) and spend time with his girls.

Marissa is our oldest. She was born in May 2005. She is 100% Daddy's girl. She is a home body and usually isn't away from home for long and she is asking to go back to our house. She always claims a job and sticks with it till its done. She is very quick and catches on fast. You have to be careful what you show her, because before you know it she is going to be attempting it herself. Madalyn is her best friend. She loves church and loves learning and singing about Jesus. Marissa is now is school and she is doing great. She loves to read and do projects. She LOVES animals and has decided that she wants to be a Veterinarian when she grows up!

Madalyn is our youngest. She is 100% Mommy's girl (nice of them that they split us up so that one isn't quite so overwhelmed isn't it?). Madalyn knows what she wants and goes for it. She has no fear and is usually the leader of my two even though she is younger. She does love to shadow her older sister though. She is my girly girl, but also my one that is always getting messy. She loves her hair done, to get dressed up, and shoes! We are in trouble with this one! She loves school and is super smart. She has decided she wants to be a "snow plow driver" when she grows up. She is also going to build a house RIGHT next to us and live there so she can still see us every day ;)

Case was actually our "oldest child". Sadly we said goodbye to him on October 29th, 2013. He was a black lab/ red-tick coonhound. He loved to roam the fields, swim, play ball, catch frisbees, go hiking and spend time at the barn. He also very much enjoyed those black and white cats that roam in the dark and have stripes down their backs...or he must have because he kept getting sprayed! He hated to be abandoned by his family and preferred us to all be in the house by 9pm or he started pacing. His biggest dislike was winter. He hated the cold and would rather hold his potty all day long than to go out and pee. Even when he did go out he barely makes it out the door and he was starting to go! Haha He was our "little boy in a doggie suit" as my aunt says. We love him and miss him like crazy.

Cali is our first cat together as a married couple. Sadly we said goodbye to her on October 8th, 2014. We got her from the barn shortly after we moved. She had to be one of the softest cats you had ever felt and of course one of the best looking calicos. LOL She was a great mouser and spent alot of her time in the basement hunting. She had a funny quirk. When she got ready to settle down and sleep, she parted the hair on her tail so only a few hairs were sticking up and then she proceeded to suck on those hairs.

Beaker is a litter mate to Cali. She is a great mouser. She loves to sneak outside when she gets the chance but if you say her name she quickly darts back in. She is VERY attached to Doug and is always coming up to him purring just as loud as can be begging to be picked up. Beaker of course never does this to me. She doesn't like change and isn't fond of strange dogs, although she has gotten much better with the dogs. She will still swat at Molly but it's not angry, it's almost like she is playing.

Sid was our Marshall Ferret. We said goodbye to him in 2012. He was amazing! Great with kids and other animals, but a total goofball. He definitely lived up to the typical ferret personality and a total thief! Sid's favorite thing to steal was pacifiers. He would take them right out of a baby's mouth if given the opportunity and then take off running! He always hid everything in the same place, so at least we knew where to find them, but of course they were always ruined. Anything rubber was in danger of ending up in the said spot. We definitely miss having him around.

Chloe is Cairn Terrier. She is a blast to have around and I'm definitely sold on the terrier family! She is great with the kids and loves spending time outside. She is a great woodchuck hunter and will sit at an occupied hole all day till she catches one. Even in the winter time she will spend forever out there and come back looking like a snowman. She loves to swim and will swim in any temperature water. She loves to mother other animals. Whether it be kittens from the barn, Case, or her own litter of puppies, she is a great mother! We have since fixed her. Although I'm sad there won't be another litter, it's for the best with the probability of us moving and having to find a new vet.

Meet Molly, our newest dog addition :) After taking some time to heal after losing Case, we decided that our household wasn't the same without a big dog around and we were missing something. So we took the plunge and went full out this time. Molly is a purebred, mis-marked mantle, Great Dane :) She has grown into one good looking pup! I'm still in love with this old picture though, so I'm not changing it! She stands about 31 inches at the shoulder and weighs over 100lbs (although honestly I'm not sure how much over because I can't lift her anymore!) She is great with the kids and loves to cuddle. She shares our bed and is the biggest baby ever. She is very protective and does not like when anyone is pinned down. She is right there to break up the "fight" LOL We love her to pieces!

When Doug's sister and her husband started breeding rabbits, I had a feeling deep down that it was only a matter of time....Here she is! Peterette started out as "Peter". When Madalyn realized "he" was actually a "she", she settled with Peterette. :) Peterette is a flemish giant, which according to what I have read is the Great Dane breed in the bunny world! Figures right? She is super sweet, very laid back and loves to be cuddled and pet. She'll stick her nose out of her cage when you enter the room just so you will scratch it!