Our newest addition

Meet Molly! Molly is eight weeks old, has been in our house for four days, and has turned my life upside.

I love my husband.

Our own "big dig"

We have four seasons here at the Rhodes house--Tax Season, Construction Season, Hunting Season and Christmas. Saturday, April 19th started Construction Season. All day that day Jeremy and Jesse (a friend of ours from church) took out windows and put new ones in. (The trim isn't up yet, but when do we ever finish a project and then start a new one??)

The next weekend was the "Big dig"! The less-than-intelligent former owners of this house didn't put a drainage pipe along the retaining wall in our backyard. After thirty years of water pressure, the wall was on the brink of collapse. So we had to rent a mini-excavator to break down the wall, dig out for an egress window, and dig a huge ditch to lay pipe down before building the new retaining wall.

Then it snowed. I mean recard-breaking 25.6 inches of snow. On top of all of that dirt. Construction got delayed.

Of course, we couldn't finish that project because we need to finish fencing in the yard in order to babysit a dog for a (new but become close) friend of ours. Ever seen five mean CARRY A FENCE??

The kids have had SO MUCH FUN "working" in the garage with Daddy!!

Today is weekend #4 of construction. God has blessed our socks off with lots of men coming to help! And by Monday night I may have a fenced in backyard :) A first for me, and I'm THRILLED!! (I pay our help in food, of course!!)

Levi, March 2009

My little man! What a guy...He wants to walk SO BADLY!!

updating...

As my dear friend Cortney says "It's tax season--Laura Beth doesn't have time to blog right now." I told her that only people who understand tax season are allowed to be my friends :)

I'm in week 7 of 14 of tax season and it is going MUCH better than last year! I'm not pregnant (yeay!), Jeremy isn't studying (yeay! yeay!) and we have a dishwasher (hip-hip horray!). I haven't had a day of depression yet this winter, and I consider that monumental success compared to last year! The kids are SO much fun--craft time, vroom-vroom time, growing teeth--all the adventures of my everyday life. I've had struggles from annoying to deep to petty--from two weeks of being sick with a nasty cold (and I"m the only one who got it...), to trying to wrestle with the Supremacy of God and the falling-apart-of-America, to "when will I EVER fit into my clothes." Definitely an adventure and never a dull moment!

I still haven't finished downloading CHRISTMAS pictures off of my camera, but here are some pics from about two weeks ago. Enjoy. Maybe I'll have more posted before April 15th. Don't hold your breath :)

Bubba Benjamin

What a character! There is no lack of personality when it comes to my second child! Whether it is poking his brother's nose, exploring new toys, or just hanging out, Benjamin is an endless source of entertainment! And what an affectionate child! He loves to snuggle on the couch (he even asks to snuggle with me!) and he gives kisses smack on the mouth. Oh how I love my little big man!

(In case you were wondering, this is called constructive procrastination--I still need to pack!!)

Can you see me?

Have you watched the first Home Alone movie? Do you remember the chaos in the house the night before they all flew to France? That's me. Right now. As I type this. In less than 12 hours I will be in the airport. If you only knew what had to be finished first....

It's Christmas!! I'm going HOME!!!! Where it is WARM!! And there are fresh Krispy Kreme donuts and delicious Chick-fil-A sandwiches! Where I get to be with my mom and my kids can play with their grandparents! HOME!!!! YIPPY!!!

Passion for the Poor?

As bloggers, we write about the things we are passionate about. Obviously, I'm passionate about my kids :) With Christmas here and the economic condition being what it is, God is increasing my passion for the poor. And with that passion comes a short blog. There is a need in all of our lives to constantly monitor how God has blessed us and how we are using those blessings. It is easy to think that if we give 10% we are being obedient. If we give 10% of gross income we think we are doing better, and if we give more than 10% then we must really be generous people. I wish it were that easy. I wish there was a magic equation that we could plug numbers into and come out with a "correct" amount to give. But God didn't give us a formula. Instead, the New Testament measure of giving is "give as I have given you." I struggle with having this kind of heart. I want to give a little extra at Christmas--some toys to Toys for Tots or a tag on the Angel Tree. But what happens when I find out that in Great Falls there are over 500 people in the Rescue Mission and at the beginning of this week the Rescue Mission only had a gift for 1/4 of them. What is to be my response? What is to be yours?

Do you know of needs in your community? If so, are you trying to meet them, even if it requires creativity? If you don't know of the needs, are your eyes open to see them? Or are you looking at your Christmas to-do lists, the school programs, cookies, present wrapping, and carol singing?

God wants to pour into our hearts and lives so that we overflow into the lives of others. Take a chance--give someone a note this year that says that the money for their present went to the Rescue Mission to a homeless child. Or don't buy yourself something. Or take some of your presents to the Rescue Mission instead of keeping them yourself. You may give a smile to someone who is living a life of despair and give yourself the gift of freedom.

Hooray! It's Levi!

Poor Levi. Jeremy downloaded pics the other day and it had been two weeks since I had taken shots of my little man! I recommitted myself to documenting his little life, so here you go! He weighed 13 lbs 9oz in the hospital three weeks ago, so I'm guessing he is around 15 lbs right now. He was three months old last Thurday, and is almost in 6-9 month clothes! The best part is that he is sleeping through the night. He is going 10 hours at night between feedings and nursing every 4 hours during the day. (He nurses a bit more often in the evening to tank himself up for the long stretch, which doesn't bother me at all!) Hannah and Benjamin never blessed me like that :) he loves his playmat and giggles at the star in the middle of it. He is a very happy little guy and is all smiles at his brother and sister. And he'll have his first plane ride in just four days!!

Craft time

We were challenged in church to pick an area of our lives that we need to "invest" in rather than "indulging." I know it is a sickness, but I found I have been "indulging" in cleaning my house and finishing things on the ever-growing to-do list. So I stopped indulging and started investing in my kids. We spend almost 1.5 hours a day doing craft time at their little table. They love it (of course) and God is rewarding my efforts by giving me kids who are actually obeying me. The number of spanking for disobedience and disrespect have decreased dramatically! So, if you call my house before 10am, this is what we will look like on the other end!

Playing in their "house"

I'm always in need of a creative way of keeping the kids busy while I nurse Levi. Last week, I turned the pack-n-play on its side, put the botton of the pack-n-play on the floor, threw in their favorite blankets, pillows, and bears, and they played "house." For thirty minutes. That's a LONG TIME for my kids to do any one thing!

2008 Family PIctures

These were taken when Levi was two weeks old. I love them :) Thank you, Christel!

New hooks

I'm all about function. Look at these fabulous hooks I got at Target!! Only 20 hooks :) I can hang all of our stuff when we come in from going to church--it's awesome!

Thanksgiving Collage

On the list of the many things I want to do is to actually learn how to use my upgrade to Picasa. The pictures of this are small, but it was easy to create. Here's our Thanksgiving day! We had 16 "big" people, five "littles" and Levi. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!!

Levi's hospital stay

We didn't manage to get the camera to the hospital when he was only in a diaper with the IV tubes, heart monitor cords, and oxygen cord. But just the IV is sad to look at! It was quite the weekend, and I'm so thankful that our children have been (and are) healthy and that trips to the hospital are an unusual thing in our lives. It is easy to sit in the hospital room and have a lot of sympathy for people who are there a lot.

The best picture ever!

Don't you think?

7 Random things about me

1) I have now slept in a crib with my son (Levi).
2) I can only go one day without straightening my house--it drives me bonkers to have clutter around everywhere, although I don't mind visiting a cluttered house of a friend.
3) I want to live in another country again. I'm already tired of America.
4) I have hiked 50 miles in four days with a 35lb pack. And I loved it!
5) I miss the coffeeshop that I worked at in college. Mill Mountain. I haven't been there since spring 2004, and I haven't been there with Jeremy since we graduated almost eight years ago. I get to go visit in one month!!! Nothing brings more peace to my life than a cup of coffee in a coffeeshop with my journal and my bible.
6) This year is our first trip as a married couple to either of our parents' houses for Christmas. And it is the first time that Benjamin or Levi has been to our parents' houses. It is strange that we spent seven Christmases together but not in NC, and almost more weird that our almost-two-year-old has never been to his grandparents' house.
7) I have never been in the hospital for anything other than to be born or to give birth. And I didn't really have medication for any of those four visits, either!

Did you learn anything? :)

(Thanks, Mary! This was fun!)

Levi

Quick update...pictures to follow soonish...

We spent the weekend in the hospital with Levi. He had a temp of 103.3 on Friday afternoon, so I took him to the doctor and they admitted us on Friday night. We were there until Sunday night. They determined that it was a virus, and there isn't really a treatment for viruses. Since his fever was at 99 by Sunday, they sent us home aroun 6pm. (I have pictures of him with an IV in his head that I'll post later.) I'm tired and trying to get caught up from my lack of weekend, but in general we are all doing well. He still has a rash, but he is quite happy and sleeping well. I definitely feel like I earned a mommy merit badge this weekend, though! We had quite the help from people watching the kids so that Jeremy could bring me clothes and food and his company. Our church friends fixed us a few meals, too. We are definitely providing lots of opportunities for people to minister to us!! :)

Obama and his faith

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html

Email me if you want my opinion :)

Festival of Trees

Every year a local preschool has a Christmastime fundraiser to pay for tuition for needy children. We went this past Saturday with Aunt Alisha (she deserves the title!) and had an exhausting but fun hour of activity :) There were 15 trees decorated in various themes (my favorites were the Dr. Suess and the Hawaiian), a room of playdoh, a room to color, a room to decorate (and eat) cookies, a room with a clown making balloons, and room to take pictures with Santa (whom we didn't visit b/c the kids still don't have a clue who that is). You can see more pics at our web album. Enjoy!