Pictures-Birthday Parties

Sunday we were at my parents for March birthdays....and Ellie played cowgirl with Paw-Paw's boots ;)

And she ate lotsa cake with Aunt Julie......

The birthday buddies.....I am the 17th (a leprachon), Daniel is the 25th and Gage the 30th.

Gage with big brother Ethan.....

Gabe hanging out with Chelsey watching a funny movie....

The lovebirds......

Daddy's girl.....

Gage opening his presents, he was a hoot to watch!!!!

I am soooooooooooo thankful for my family.....and how much love grows deeper every day.

Fulfilling His Purpose

"We talk a lot about discovering your purpose.But most of the time in Scripture, people’s purpose discovered them.When God places His hand on you to accomplish great things through you, part of you will feel like: “Hey, I didn’t ask for all this!”If you’re the parent of a strong willed child, a decision maker in a struggling company, or a youth pastor with little budget and no support, no doubt you’ve felt the frustration:“I didn’t ask for this!”
Mary didn’t ask for a full-term teenage pregnancy.Noah didn’t ask for a 102,000 square foot, 43,000 ton building project upon which the preservation of the human race depended.Moses didn’t ask for the responsibility of leading a fledgling nation of couple million ingrates through the wilderness.
God doesn’t ask your permission to fulfill His purpose through you.You don’t get a vote, much less veto power.You may as well give a gracious acceptance speech, and get on with it…"

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/ ~PASTOR STEVEN FURTICK


Congratulations to Alyssa!!!! She is the lucky winner of the Strawberry Guava Set!!

Pictures-Weekend Recap

We had another great weekend....I'll put up the first set of pictures tonite and the others tomorrow night as I have way too many! Friday I enjoyed a lunch date with my Mom at the new tea room in Fairbury, then we went clothes shopping for the kids and got some sweet deals!!!
Friday night we headed to Paw-Paw Doc's for supper and evening. Saturday morning I went to a spring luncheon with my Mom and took my friend/"big sis" Kathy and had a fun couple hours of yummy food, fellowship, and entertainment. Then Jason and I headed up to Chicago with Isaac and Chelsey to see Chris Tomlin. The weather was crazy........we drove in about 1 1/2 hours of POURING rain and wind but it let up the closer we got there.

We were in the Sears Center Arena and managed to get the tickets that seated us at the VERY top top row and I am VERY scared of heights!!!! It took me a bit to relax and quit looking down!!

Israel Houghton and New Breed opened up for Chris and lead us into some amazing worship.

Chris Tomlin is one of the most annointed and humble worship leaders I know....he is always such a blessing and the power of the Holy Spirit was so powerful last night. It was an incredible night of just entering into the prescence of the Lord with THOUSANDS of brothers and sisters in Christ. (It was a sold out concert) There are no words to describe the atmosphere....and there are no words to describe what is felt in the heart when God reaches out and just touches us in such a way thru worship and praise.

Some people say, praise and worship music is a bad thing because it is very emotional.

To this comment, I reply: God is the one who created us with so much detail. He is the one who gave us our emotions. I can't imagine how it blesses our Father to not only put our emotions into worship but putting our heart, body, and soul, and mind into it also. We were created to worship. It's all over in The Word the ways of praise and worship.

Israel was a HUGE blessing also....an incredible musician and an amazing testimony. Oh, if we could just go back to that arena and spend DAYS worshipping our King in such a way!!!

Blogiversary!!!!Giveaway!!!

I missed my blogiversary!!!!! I can't believe it!!! Soooooooooooo......that means a giveway!!!!
To celebrate 1 year of LOVE AS OUR GUIDEPOST....Pictured above is some very divine smelling Strawberry Guava Lotion, Body Spray, Shower Gel made exclusivley for you by Avon.
Simply leave a comment with your home address to mail it to you and your email so I can contact you if you win ;) I will draw the lucky winner Monday morning!

And finally......my new desk shelf and toy basket......I used my birthday money and finally got the empty corner of the dining room filled!!!!

Happy Friday!!!!

Colossians 3

Was reading Colossians 3 today on my lunch break.
And what do you know, but the very things I strive for the most:
(humility, compassion,love, peacemaking, patience).... I was put
to the test when I got back to work.

These are little stepping stones that I must remember......
that are getting me closer to my Heavenly Goal.
And praise God I'm not walking on them by myself!

"12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3"

Pictures-HodgePodge

Updating all pictures I haven't scrapbooked yet over the last couple months.....

Ellie got very creative one day with playing the drums with spatulas...just like Daddy!

Anxiously awaiting summer when we can go outside allllllllllllllllllll the time!

Jacob and I had fun highlighting his hair one night.....

We went for the subtle look.....he's says way more next time....hmmmmmmm

He was pleased with the results....

Night-night kisses.....

If you look closely, you can see what an allergic reaction looks like on his face...red, hives, rashy.

This brings us to today's events: Lunchtime today: Gabe decides to PLAY with his chips and salsa while Mommy is changing Ellie's diaper in the other room......I was NOT happy with what I found when I came back out....notice his hair and face. I have no idea what got into him other than the meds he's on for his strep is making him extra onery!!!!

Then tonite...thankfully Jason was here to help me clean up the mess. Can you guess what you see on the carpet? That would be monkey poo......yes, Gabe isn't pooping on the potty consistently yet. Him and Ellie were playing in her bedroom tonite and all of a sudden she came out to Jason and handed him a HANDFUL of poo!!!! It was all over her pants, arms, hands.....

Gabe didn't make it to the potty so she decided to investigate the treasures he laid.

OH SO NASTY!!!!!!! I got no pictures of her because we washed her up quickly!!!!!

Arrggggg.......Needless to say, Gabe got 3 showers today because of all the messes he made.

*sigh* NEVER a dull moment in our house ;)

Streptococcus

Now I officially feel like poop on a stick.
I have the nasty streptococcus.....yippiyiyeah!
I seem to get this every year and every year I choose the shot
in the rear, as you feel better so much quicker.

So I went in this morning and got me a fix...then came home and
slept the morning away. Thank goodness for Jason being home
on break and being a great help with the kids.

All I can think of is the movie, Fun with Dick & Jane......a great movie.
At one point he says says the word in the movie: "Streptococcus" and you just
have to laugh. Can you just picture Jim Carey saying that word with so much expression???

The good news in this all is that we are all hopefully on the road to recovery AND
a friend of mine found out today she is pregant!!!! Her and her husband have been
trying for 2 years to hava baby AND today is their anniversary!!!! God is good!!!

The Sickies

The sickies have officially entered our house again. Gabe has strep....yuck!

Daddy is on spring break, so we're praying for a speedy recovery so we can go

outside with him, do LOTSA playing, get projects done,and enjoy spring.

Pictures above: Festivities with Daddy home have started!!!! Notice where he teaches

the monkies to climb????? up high!!!! Then we wonder why they do the things they do!!!!

Pictures-Weekend Recap

Lil Miss Muffett gets a little more dramatic every day....her latest (which I couldn't resist capturing a shot) when she doesn't get her way she will run to the corner and throw a very
small little hissy fit (as we call it in the Steidinger fam) then she will stop and turn and giggle as if she's saying "I'm not really that mad, I just think it's funny to throw a fit." We will have to crack down on this soon I believe ;)

Her famous expression of "Where'd it go?"

Despite Gabe getting sick again......We had a really good weekend.....Friday night we went to some friends and had a sitter....and we seriously have the best sitter in the world!!!! Thank you Karla.....we love you for ALLLLLLL the times you come and play and take such good care of our kids for us!!!

I also had a friend detail my car this weekend for $40!!!!!!! Let me tell ya.....the best money I ever ever spent in my long-legged life! I cannot remember (okay maybe when we bought it) that my car sparkled this much....I almost didn't recognize it! Jordan Marti is your man and if you are interested, he lives in Forrest and does a fantastical job!!!!

Yesterday was another beautiful day. Our friend Wes came and cleaned out our air ducts and wow, you should see the crap that comes out...yuck, yuck yuck.....we're hoping this will help Gabe's allergies also! So while he was doing that, the kids and I gallavanted around the neighborhood in the wagon and stopped and played with all their little play mates.

Last night was a bummer.....Gabe's temperature came back that he has been having off and on since last Sunday night. It's been the weirdest thing. (Although not so weird, because alot of kids coming into the clinic with week long fever and nothing else) He would complain of his tummy hurting too. By this morning he LOOKED sick....he still had a high temp, complained consistently of his tummy hurting and just wanted me to hold him. Didn't want to eat or drink. A huge thank you to my Dad and Mom for taking Ellie to church with them. Gabe and I stayed home while Daddy went since he's on the worship team. By 10:30 Gabe asked to go back to bed......when this monkey asks for this, you know he doesn't feel good. He went right to sleep. So I crawled back into bed too. He ended up sleeping for 3 hours, poor kid. Hasn't been a whole lot better tonite.

Not eating still, still temp and now he's got HUGE lumps on either side of his neck and is turning his head funny. *sigh* I pray it's just swollen lymph nodes!!!!

Playing with ice made him happy for a few minutes.....and a few minutes only.

The funniest things will make a kid smile ;)

Thankfully Ellie has been a happy camper....I pray she doesn't catch what he has.

Jason snuck a picture of me sitting and relaxing......and thank you honey, for letting me get out for a couple hours today! You are the best ;)

He remembers he's not feeling good....poor guy.

Lil Miss Ellie on the other hand was all smiles today......and very onery. Paw-Paw said after

morning church he put her down in the hallway and she ran and ran and ran......

The clinic sent me these beautiful flowers for my birthday a couple days late....

they are gorgeous!!!! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Thought for the Day

When I want what God wants... for the reasons God wants it.....I’m unbeatable and unstoppable.

~Pastor Steven Furtick

In the book of Acts, there's the occasion when Gamaliel told the Sanhedrin to leave the disciples alone because:

“If their purpose or activity is of human origin it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”Acts 5:38-39

How awesome is that.....the devil can't beat us!!! The world can't beat us!!!

If God is for you, who can be against you?

Pictures-First Remodel Project

Mee-Mee has found an edible muffin mix that Gabe can eat!!! Yeah!!!! And it doesn't
taste like wallpaper paste!!!!

Well, we finished our first official remodel project (besides replacing windows in this house)...

because of Gabe's severe allergies, we yanked the carpet out in his room and put down laminent.

So the one night the room was torn up, we put him in Ellie's bed and they shared her room. It was an interesting night!!! They jabbered away for quite awhile, then at 6:45 the next morning,

Gabe was saying, "Baby! Baby! Wake up!!!" What a nut....

The before pictures.....

How many men can you fit in a rinky-dink bedroom?!?!?!?

The finished product!!! We love it!!! Thank you Paw-Paw, Uncle Josh, and Daddy!

I found my little monkies cleaning out the fridge today...

Ellie found one of Gabe's old hats and put it on her head.....too cute....