Wow!

I did it!! I am so proud of myself, in a good way! I figured out how to pick a new scenery and I even added links!! Whew!! Thank goodness it is done! If you love to cook you need to check out the link to the pioneer woman cooks. She also has a blog called confessions of a pioneer woman. She is hilarious! She takes awesome pictures. She is one of the blogs that Bryan likes to read! I will sit and laugh at her humor. Check her out!

Tonight we have watch night service and all night partying! We will play games and stuff. We'll see if Bryan and I make it. The kids are really excited! I love to play games so I am looking forward to it too.

I do not have any new pictures uploaded yet. We'll try later.

Happy Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying something new

Seeing if this new template works ~ ugh!!!!!

Day Off Work

What a wonderful day this has been. I finally got a day off work and it could not have come at a better time. My wife and I needed to finish, actually start, our Christmas shopping since that special day is quickly approaching. So we got the kids ready for school and left a little after 8:00 to get them there on time.

Then we met The Brugger's for breakfast at Perkins and had an enjoyable time sharing, laughing, and of course, eating. What a great way to start the morning. (I have not eaten breakfast for months). Then we were off to start the difficult day of shopping for everyone. We started at the Thrift store to see if we could get any good bargains on clothes for the kids. Aisle after aisle of clothes, I could hardly wait to get out of there.
From there we went to straight to the Grand Old American store--Walmart! I was very concerned about the huge crowds and the long lines and since we were not there by 4:00A.M., I was afraid the coveted and best gifts would be gone. We rushed to get a cart and began looking feverishly for presents that we knew everybody else wanted. We had to knock over one old lady, but she got in our way, and we really didn't care- we needed to get that present. We finally found it and were so thrilled.

Thankfully, after that close brush with disaster, the rest of the day went smoothly and we were able to get most of the shopping done. No worries though, we still have several days left to get other things.Hopefully, the kids don't read this post, they might discover some of their presents, oh well! What a day! By the way, we are still taking donations to cover the cost of this particular post and the contents thereof. The day ended with us going to church to go Christmas caroling at several of the Nursing homes in the area. It was a good way to end the day and make someone smile this blessed Christmas season!
Toodles!

Our New Home and Update

Guess what? We are finally back online after our extended absence. The move is complete and we are settled in to our new home in Marion, OH. How exciting to post again and update new information. (By the way, this is Bryan posting for Marsha.) However, I noticed not much has changed since we have been away on other blogs, Brenda is still posting pictures with fancy graphics all over them, Trisha is still posting pics of Nic, and Char is still complaining that God only gave her 24 hours to get alllllll her stuff finished. You could give her 36 hours to get it done and it would not get done. Anyway, I guess that's what blogs are for.

We moved on November 14th to Marion and what a day that was. In the middle of packing the truck, we noticed that Copper (our new puppy) was missing. My heart sank as low as it could go. Tears were in my kids eyes and almost in mine. I prayed, "Lord, not today! She can't disappear today!" but she was gone. Packing stopped and an all-out search party was started. Up and down streets hollering and praying to God and He ANSWERED! She was about three streets down tied up at a construction site. Oh how I thanked God for showing us where she was.

Then later on in the day, I looked up and a policeman was writing up my daughter and a couple of her cousins for playing on the train tracks. Great, we get arrested on our last day in Cincinnati. It's not like you can't hear the train whistle or the train approaching and move a couple of feet so it can pass. Anyway, they all got a warning and he left the scene-hope he feels better.

Both of my boys had a bad rash on their skin, and it had been there for several days, and I admit it wasn't getting better. However, one of my nameless sisters convinced everybody that those rashes could be serious and "life-threatening" if not checked out immediately. So off my wife goes to the emergency room with two kicking boys to make sure they would survive the night. Again, God answered prayer! as they were diagnosed with the dreaded disease of impotagoviralosusdangerouso or something like that.

Finally, we arrived in Marion about 7:00 P.M. What took us over six hours to load took the men of the church about 1:15 minutes to unload. Amazing and wonderful!! Thank the Lord again. Well here are some pics of the new place.

Moving on Up!

Do you all remember the song off of the Jefferson's? Yes, we had a TV growing up and I loved watching that show! Plus you might have heard Mark Lowry sing just a snippet of it! Anyway ~ we are moving tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! We are moving from a blue house to a yellow house! Friday was my last day of homeschooling!!! Whoo Hoo!! Everyone was excited, except Trenton! He said he wanted Mom to teach!! How sweet!! But, he is going to school! *-* The kids are nervous, yet excited! It is always scary to go to a new place! It is ACE, except K-5 and 1st grade are ABEKA. God has worked out lots of things which we give Him all the praise!! I am still packing, packing, and more packing! I will be glad to unpack! So, today is a long day. I want to get everything finished except the frozen food and refrigerator stuff ~ that will be tomorrow! I'll try to update once we get Internet up and I get some pics!! Have an awesome day!

Goodbye big blue house!
Goodbye!
You brought us lots of
happiness for a big blue house!
I loved that you had so much room,
a lovely laundry room,
a beautiful living room,
a cozy family room,
and room for all five children
to have a good time!
The yard was amazing,
the children and the dogs
loved to play in it!
Thank you for opening
your many doors and
windows to us!
We will miss you
big blue house!!!!
Please make the next family
feel as welcomed as you
made us!!!

My Prayer

Lord, I lift to You the situations of my life that concern me. I lay my worries before You and ask for Your mighty intervention to show me what's right when I can only see what's wrong. I am determined to see the good, so help me not to be blinded by my own fears, doubts, wants, and preconceived ideas. I ask You to reveal to me Your truth in every situation. Give me Your perspective. Bless me with the ability to understand the bigger picture and to distinguish the valuable from the unimportant. When something seems to go wrong, help me not to jump to negative conclusions. Enable me to recognize the answers to my own prayers. I trust You to help me see the light in every situation.
~taken from the book"Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On" by Stormie Omartian

I have been trying to do this! Just leaving everything in God's hands, without my impute!! That is really hard! But, I noticed when I kept my mind and mouth out of it ~~ He answers prayer! Now, I know we all know this is true, but why is it so hard to learn!! We had two answers to prayer yesterday, and I am expecting more in His time!!

Have an awesome day friends!!

Wonderful!

Last evening in church, our evangelist was preaching about Jesus coming again, and at the close he invited people to the altar. I think it was after 2 verses Bryan nudged me and said to talk to Brittany. I look over at her, and there is a tear coming down her cheek. I leaned over and asked her if she wanted to go up and she said No! So, I put my head down and started praying and all of a sudden she pushed passed Breanna and grabbed my hand and said, "Go with me!" So of course I did! She wanted to be sanctified ~ and she was!!! As I was praying with her someone else knelt beside me ~ I looked and it was Zachary! He was praying to ask Jesus to save him and then he prayed for Trenton and his seizures and for Trenton to get saved!!! Very precious. Then when they said for the Christians to come forward, Brooklynn came up! She was very intent on asking Jesus to help her with her temper! She said that she was saved, and she knew what she wanted to talk to God about!! I went back to my seat and there sat Breanna with Trenton. She was crying so I just asked her if she needed to pray. She said No. She was just praying for the others. I then asked Trenton, and he said No!! We are still working on him! And Jesus is too!! The children wanted to talk the whole 2 hours and 20 minutes home!! I finally had them to get quiet so they could sleep since it was going on 11 o'clock. They were all happy and excited!! Do you remember doing that? I do!

I did get to meet a fellow blogger ~ Nicole Cassady. They were the special singers and BJ Walker was the evangelist. I wish we could have been able to get up there more and not just for Sunday! Jesus knows!! Nicole is a wonderful, magnificent pianist and I loved her voice! Her husband did well also!! *-* I would have loved to spend more time with them because they seem like an awesome couple with adorable children!! I love meeting new people!!

Update on our house: At this point it looks like we'll being going up in the next week or two. We are going up tomorrow to meet with the realtor and then go and fill out job applications for me!! I am excited about this new journey ahead of us!! We'll see what happens!! Thank you for everyone's prayers!! I so do appreciate it!!

Disclaimer! Or Whatever!

I thought I should clarify any misconceptions that I would change some things about my husband. I started thinking, "What would I change? Would I have him eat chocolate with me? No, then I would be much bigger than I am! Would I have him eat anything that I cook? Oh wait! He already does that!" I am stumped!! I really would not change anything about him!! He is just right! You know, like when you wouldn't change a thing about a Reese cup! It is perfect just the way it is! We go together like double stuff oreo's and milk!! Okay!! I want to eat some chocolate!! I need to find some!! Do ya'll have any? Wanna share?

Ignore all the above if you are offended by husband's and chocolate!!!

Happy Sweetest Day to the Love of my life!!!!


Thank you for being an awesome and marvelous
husband, father, brother, son and my best friend!
I love you now more than I ever did!!
I have no regrets! I would not change a thing! (well, maybe a thing or two! *-*)
I would marry you all over again!!

I love you now and always!!!!!

Don't you just love the pics!

Funny things!

I LOVE my children. Each one of them have an amazing personality! I was up on 2nd floor checking out a website called AboveRubies.org and I kept hearing Brooklynn talking. Well, I thought she was bring my phone to me or something. I go and look over the banister and she is looking into the hall mirror with a pretend phone to her ear and talking away!! She is so funny! I was real quiet until she walked away!! She would turn her head differently, I guess checking herself out in a different angle! Too cute!! I must admit, I remember doing some of that stuff! I am sure No One else did when they were younger, or maybe you still do!! I am not going to judge you!!


Here she is with her friend Melissa Crosley

Sad news

It was sad to hear this morning that John Case, Jr. passed away this morning. He was Cathy Brugger's husband. They have 3 children ~ I believe their oldest John is 16, Catrina is 13 or 14 and Jaceyln is 12. Please remember this family in prayer!! So sad!!

Bro. Brugger called us this morning to let us know. He asked Bryan to preach tomorrow morning and GBS choir is there tomorrow evening. I am to lead the church choir tomorrow morning. The Brugger's left to go and be with Cathy and the kids this morning. John went to GBS and he traveled with the quartets and he traveled with the trio I was in the first year. That is where Cathy and him got together! He always helped with running the sound at IHC too.

Tag Time!

Alright! I was tagged twice and I have been putting it off and wishing it would go away!! What do I have to say? I am sure my husband and friends could think of plenty!!

Seven things about me that you may not know nor wish to know!

1. The most important thing is- I love, I mean really love CHOCOLATE!
and it can be the cheap stuff! Like, reese cups, snickers, choc. chip cookies, that
kind of thing. I have never tried Godiva and I really can't stand those candies they buy at Christmas or Valentine's day. (things that come in a box) I do not even know the name of them!

2. My hair is down to my ankles. I use to have the feathered bangs and my mom
always trimmed my hair. I quit cutting and trimming it when I was 18 yrs. old.
When I went to College my hair was in the middle of my back. When I graduated it was between my bottom and knees. After all those pregnancies, it grew down to my ankles and has stopped! Thank God!

3. I always wanted a lot of kids. My first thought was 7 and then 6. So when Bryan and I got married I said I wanted 4 live pregnancies!! Not even thinking about twins!

4. God called me to teach high school choir when I was a junior in high school. I attended a public school and we had a lady choir director! So, out of the 15 years out of college, I have taught high school choir 10 years. It has been great!!

5. I am the baby of my family. I have an older sister and brother!

6. I love to read books ~ mainly fictional ones. Dee Henderson is one of my favorite authors. I also like the Left Behind series.

7. I love Southern Gospel music!! Most of it anyway!! My favorites right now are Greater Vision, the Hoppers, the Booth Brothers and Gaither Vocal Band. I also enjoyed Keith's group Liberty when I heard them in person. I am weird in the way I like to see people sing, then I will buy their CD's or videos. Oh yeah, I love the Reggie Saddler family!! Love their harmony!

That took a while!! I am glad that is done now it is not hanging over my head!! Since everybody is pretty much tagged, another reason that I held off, I will tag my friend Sharmen who has a blog now. It is musingsbymissmusic.blogspot.com Since I can't figure out how to do the links on my page, that will have to do!

Now my never ending laundry awaits!

Birthday Celebrations!

I am finally back with much disgust! I have been busy, and really not wanting to post! How is that for honesty?!? Anyway, I do have some things to blog about so here it goes!

The twins had their 13th b-day last month, oops 2 months ago! I cannot believe that they have reached the teen age! Lots of fun is happen' here now because of it! Just kidding. Here are a couple of pics that I had to scan (which is what I was struggling with) so the quality is probably not the best. They were cute little munchkins once they started gaining weight. They weighed 4lbs 7.5 ozs. and 4lbs. 6.5 ozs. They were 6 weeks early and I had them totally natural at an Amish midwife's place. It was great!

They are 2 1/2 months in this picture. Breanna is on the left and Brittany is on the right! The next ones are at the church we pastored in Brent, Alabama. They would have been a year old in those pics. Sorry about them being smaller, but I couldn't figure out how to enlarge them! Twins were fun to have! I am glad that I had them first and not last tho! Whew!! Many happy memories!


Then we celebrated Brooklynn's b-day in September. She turned 11 years old!! She was extremely happy for this day to come. She told me that she is finally growing up because she can tell that she is acting differently!! I just had to smile! That is my Brook!!

Again sorry for the size! Hopefully you can see some of them! Her labor was different since it was induced! She was 2 weeks early and weighed 7lbs 9 ozs. We were a little bit nervous when I was expecting again and I felt that it was a girl ~ we didn't want her to feel that she did not receive enough attention since the twins received tons of attention! God took care of that!! She came out with a personality!! She is the one who will say things that makes me wonder where she came from!! ( my family loves to remind me that she is me! I do not see that *-*) She made our family complete until the next ones!! She was so mischievous! She would get into everything!! When she started getting older of course everybody thought we had triplets!! She is as big as Breanna now and passing them up in other ways. Most people who meet the girls think that Brook is the oldest!! Does not sit well with the twins, especially Breanna since she is the oldest and the smallest!! Life is interesting here!!!

Thank you for checking out a little bit of the girls stories. There is soooo much more that I could share, but I am afraid of boring you dear people!!

Prayer Request!

I desire you all to help me pray please!

We are desiring to move from this beautiful home that we believe God gave us to move to Marion, Ohio. Why Marion? We have been attending Heritage Bible Church where Bro. Brugger pastors. We love the church and best of all they have an ACE school there. Bryan would be working in the school once we get there. He does have to take the course requirements to be the administrator. Right now Stephanie Brugger is filling in- which she does a marvelous job! We do know that even if that would fall through, that God wants us there. We love and appreciate the Bruggers~ they were my pastor during High School years. Bro. Brugger is the one who encouraged me to sing high! Anyway, we have had our house up for sale since the end of May. There have been some people checking it out, but nothing. We are trying to trust God, yet there are days!! So, if you that read my blog would not mind breathing a prayer to God, I would greatly appreciate it!!!

I do know God answers prayer in His time!! We would love just a hint!! *-*

New Addition to the Family

What can we say, we have added one more to the family, Copper, our new Pit Bull. Now before you get all exited and worried that all our children will loose their heads or fingers, rest assured it will be all right. She is a wonderful puppy and came from great parents.

I was at work and had to go to an apartment to pick up some merchandise that was past due.
Sadly, a father had deserted his girlfriend and daughter. She met us at the apartment and told us that there was a pit bull inside. Needless to say, in my job, that is a concern. However, when she opened the door, a very friendly mother and 8 puppies came running out. They were happy to see people. She said that they had been left in the apartment for two weeks when he decided to leave.
The apartment was in an extreme mess from nine dogs and no attention for two weeks. But the dogs were adorable. She asked if we would take some because she did not know what she was going to do with 8 puppies.

After seeing the temperament of the mother and asking her about the father, I was convinced I needed a puppy and our children are extremely glad. She has been a great addition and getting lots of love and attention. By the way, if you read up on Pit Bulls, you will find that they make great family pets if raised properly, which of course, she is getting a Christian up-bringing!

What can I say?

We are finally back home again~ I really enjoyed being in Michigan to help out Bryan's folks. Not sure what all I did, but it was great being with them! The kids and I played tons of games with Mom ( she loves games) and tried to help Dad, but he was feeling a whole lot better. Mom and I did get their dishwasher in from the van. Of course Dad had to show us what to do. We just laughed. He is feeling quite well, but I told him I had to do something or I would be on his daughters black list! He just smiled. I did ride the lawn tractor and mowed the church lawn which maybe took 10 minutes! Whoo! Hoo!! I felt better!
We were supposed to come back on Tuesday, but friends of ours, John and Martha Forsee came back early from their vacation to be with us~ so of course we stayed until Friday. We took them to Kokomo's, a place that has go cart, bumper boats, mini golf, laser tag. Then the next day, they spent the night and we took them swimming at an indoor pool~ it was empty except for a grandpa and grandma who were there for an hour. It was fun. The kids had a blast!! Martha and I just sat and talked! Oh we love our friends!!! My only wish that Bryan could have been there with us. We always have fun with the Forsee's!

Now we are home! It feels so good! We have just been hanging out and doing nothing! Today we did get the church cleaned and tomorrow the children are going to the zoo and spending the night with Sis. Durr! I am not sure what I will do!? Any advice? I am sure I can think of something!!

We are still waiting for our house to sell! I feel that Jesus is telling me to just wait on Him! God's clock does keep perfect timing~ I do know that!

My pics are not working~ I am not sure what happened. I did take some really cute pics of the kids, not sure what I can do. I will have to figure it out! *-*

helloooooooooooooooo

Wow! Where has the summer gone? Everything is happening fast, well most everything! Here is a recap of what has been happening in our lives!

*Bryan's dad is doing extremely well! It has been 4 weeks since his surgery, and he faithfully followed the doctors advice as well as his therapist! (I am at their house for a visit right now)

*My girlfriend's came for a visit! Garilee and Sharmen and boy did we have fun! I laughed so much my throat hurt! We talked about the old days at GBS and after. It was a blast! It has been 14 years since we've all been together. I wouldn't trade them for anything!! (maybe a candy bar! JK)

*We have our house up on the market, which is not moving very fast. I resigned my position at GBS when God said it was time to go! I have no regrets, just peace! We plan on moving to Marion, OH at Bro. Brugger's church whenever our house sells! We have been going up there on some Sunday's and we have enjoyed every bit of it. Breanna said on Sunday, "I really like this church!" I have been amazed at how God has worked on not only our lives, but the children as well. They all were fine with our decision to move. They did not want to go back to the academy, not that there was anything wrong, but God worked on them! That is exciting! I don't think I could have moved or even left the school without the children in agreement!

So, that is what has been happening in our lives. I am trying to have patience and wait on God to sell our house in his perfect plan, and then give us a house in Marion. It is awlfully hard trying to find a house with at least 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Plus, we need a yard. I am looking at a house in the country, with 4 acres, but we will see! Please pray for us when you think about it. I do have some pics, but not sure how to do it on Dad's computer! Oh well. I'll have fun trying to figure it out!

Bryan's dad

Bryan's dad had to have a quaduraple bi- pass this morning! Thankfully he is doing well. Please keep the family in your prayers. Bryan, Char and Bev are there with Mom. Mom is holding up well.

Trenton's hospital stay

Trenton on the way to the hospital. We had to take him in to children's for a 3 day stay to video monitor his seizures. They did take him off his meds to hopefully force him to have a seizure so they could see what was happening to his brain. Thankfully he had 1 on Saturday morning. They were able to get a good read and we go on June 13th to see our neurologist. He did awesome at the hospital. He sat in his bed and played with the toys some kind people brought him and he watched cartoons. He also loved making the bed go up and down and ordering room service. He loved their food!! We thank the Lord that he did have a seizure so they can better treat him.
Getting wrapped up
Putting his hat on

Wrapping the cords
Here they are trying to give him an IV, but his veins kept blowing
cool dude!
cutie pie!
unwrapping him
his last meal! fruit loops and a fruit roll up!

Bev's surprise 40th!!

My hubby
Mom and Sindy Replogle
Dwight Replogle, Char and Dave
Bev and her 40th cookie!
Anthony being himself!!
Timmy
Andrew and Tyler
Breanna, Brittany and Alicia
Christi and Brooklynn
Cordell and Beverly
the sisters being "weird"







us 4 ladies doing something!*-*

the new and improved David!!!!

We had a good time and we did surprise Bev!! Happy birthday!

Our trip to West Virginia

My nephew Seth

Brian praying
The Senior class gave all their parents a flower
Brian David Gawthrop
His girlfriend Kasha
the twins looking thrilled!
and Zachary too!
a small smile from Brooklynn
a big grin from Trenton
what is Bryan thinking?
my adorable nephew Seth
twins- who is who?
Trenton being goofy
Zach and Seth
My side of the family!
We had a great time! It is always nice to be with family!!