Summer Recap: Lake Barkley in pictures

 This is the place that blesses us year after year. The Munday's cabin in Cadiz Ky

We like to have em in sets of 3, that way they have friends :o)

 

 Nature Hikes and stories on a long with Aunt Kiki, Grammy comes along to be the photographer, Monica thinks she is one of the kids... that's why she gets along with this goof ball so well

 Porter Man, kissed by the sun

 A good book is necessary for a good vacation

 There's a lot of food around here

 I believe this was seconds after arriving, Donald dolling out the drinks :o)

 Prime Cousin Time

 Sisters

 One of my favorite things about Lake Barkley is the barges, the lake is part of the Tennessee River so barges come by all day and night. My dad bought a Tennessee river book that lists all the barges so we mark which ones we see and sometimes we see them both coming and going throughout the week. My dad worked and lived on a barge in the coast guard which Annie says "papa had all his clothes and toys and everything on the barge with him when he was little!" So he obviously is teaching them important barge information. :o)

 Ahhhh relaxation!

 Wouldn't be vacation without our Woodella

 I wake up one morning to find Mia saying "Mama we playin Poke Game!!"

Nicky says "No, no Poker"

Ohhh great, they are also being taught how to gamble by their three year old cousins!

 On a wild ride with Aunt Kiki

 Woody finding practical purchases at the Antique Store. This was even in the Bargain Basement!!

Addendum: Williamstown Lake

For some reason this picture wouldn't load to my last post and I just couldn't leave it out. I have this sered in my brain but I just had to share it on here. This was my grandparents cottage in all its glory!

A Summertime recap: Williamstown Lake

This summer one of my favorite activities was an afterthought in the last few weeks of warm weather. I'm sure I have written about it before but my Grandma and Grandpa Glenn owned a little cottage on Williamstown Lake which was where we vacationed when I was little. To this day lake vacations are my favorite and I am sure this is why. It was just a little one bedroom fishing cabin with 2 beds separated by curtains in the main "living space" a small kitchen and a porch with many couches which was my personal favorite place to sleep because you woke up to the sound of fishing boats on the water early in the morning. My grandma sold the property to my Uncle who eventually tore the old cabin town and built a nice house in its place. I took Joe once while the cabin was still there when we were dating and just showed it to him. We went back another time and took some of his friends from school and went swimming, but I for some reason barely remember that day and had completely forgot about it until Joe recently reminded me. I have never been inside the "new" house.

 

About a month ago I got the great idea to take my bff Jess and her kids so we could fish and swim. I called Uncle Shawn and had it all set up, the best part was that Grandma was staying there for the week so we got to visit with her also AND Jess and I both got our mother in laws to watch our babies so we could just have a fun big kid adventure without pack n plays and diapers!

 

 She wouldn't jump off the board

Epic bluegill fishing with hot dogs just like the good ol days

 Her first fish, she screamed when she caught it, and cried when I tried to take her picture with it

 The sign that was at the top of the driveway when the cabin was there. Donald and Ellarie Glenn

It was so much fun sharing these old experiences with Jess. Grandma was having such a nice time she decided to stay for another week and invited us to come back for Labor Day weekend. So this time I called up the family and we had our picnic at Uncle Shawn's house while the poor guy worked! We had fun though! It was the perfect end to the summer. It was so nice and warm I spent most of the day just sitting in sunny spots watching the kids swim.

 

 Grandma showing buster pictures of the old cabin from the day they "moved in"

 Daddy doing what daddy does best

 Picnic time

Sanctification Baby

So I'm guessing like every hormonal woman I get kinda out of control sometimes in my emotions. It really seems to come out when I am tired. Lately I have been suffering from some sort of pregnancy induced (I am guessing) insomnia. I am super tired, full day, no nap, in bed at 8:30 and can't fall asleep till after midnight! It's so annoying but mostly because I am too tired to concentrate on much of anything, I can't even watch T.V. I just lay there and think irrational thoughts.
So last night being one of those nights I lay in bed just wanting so badly to be asleep, my husband sleeping so very, very soundly beside me within minutes (seriously he was asleep by 9:00) and I get all full of self pity and he doesn't love me and he doesn't care about me, he doesn't even know what I suffer through because he never asks and doesn't care and blah, blah, blah, poor pregnant me... but seriously I am sob.bing. And then I hear that ever comforting voice that says, "who cares? Jesus is all you need, your worth is in Him and He cares for you and your "suffering" and you need to concentrate on what is TRUE (noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think on THESE things! Philippians 4:8)
So after gathering myself I pick up my phone and decide to catch up on a blog that I like to follow written by a mother in my area who is raising a baby with Trisomy 18.
She had shared Isaiah 30:18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

It immediately spoke to me however after spending the weekend listening to Dr. Stuart Scott talk about Old Testament hermeneutics at CDT one thing he mentioned was that every verse is for us to learn from but not all verses are for us to apply. I still don't fully understand it but what I took from it was that for example Jeremiah 29:11 He is speaking to those in exile, His promises were to THEM. Are the statements true? Does he know the plans He has for all of us? Yes. Does He want for us to prosper with hope and a future? Yes. Did he indeed redeem the Israelites from exile? YES which gives us a huge lesson in his goodness and reliability. So whereas the words are not written TO me, there are characteristics of Him that I can learn from and rejoice in and praise Him for.

So I felt I needed to do Isaiah 30 justice and read the background story and see what was there that I could apply. He is speaking to the people of Judah putting their trust in Egypt instead of God. They were choosing to fight by their own strength and not listen to Him. Application? Don't fight by your own strength, wait on His timing He will show you the way and take rest in His grace and compassion!

 He says in verse 15. In repentance (returning to me -The message) and rest (waiting for me-The message) is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. They chose their own way and therefore He says in verse
18. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Oh waiting! I don't like it but I will learn from it and I will praise Him through it!

19.People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious  he will be when you cry for help!  (Cry for help and what you will find is grace and more grace! -The message) As soon as he hears, he will answer you. ²⁰ Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. ²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” ²² Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

Well buddy I dont have any silver or gold idols but I certainly do have idols in my heart like selfishness and pride in wanting my husband to pity me and praise me in my sleeplessness! 
There are some gooood lessons for us in this Old Testament narrative report and I am so grateful for the inspired words that are STILL there for me to read and STILL applicable in this time of people everywhere even in christian leadership turning their backs on basic morals and truths I will choose to cling to the "archaic" reassuring values of my faith!  

She's Never Been 5 Before!

Today Annie is 5. I would say I can't believe it but I can, a friend of ours said "she's been acting 5 since she was 2!" and that is probably why I can believe it.
She has been pretty fun today too. She said in the car "Mama, I cant believe I am 5... I have never been 5 before... I'm A Whole Hand!!"
She is into dresses and her best friend is Anella and she loves being crafty, she can sit for hours just cutting and gluing and taping and such. Especially when she is alone and uninterrupted. Last week she found some gift wrapping ribbon and cut it into tiny confetti like pieces and glued them to paper and well, ill be honest I thought she was brilliant!
She is loyal and has an amazing memory and is a good big sister, not too bossy but always knows best. I think its that her little sister hasn't yet learned to question her and so what she says goes and they are both fine with that. Carly on the other hand does not like being told what to do and much of the time if there is "NOOOO" being screamed its because Annie is trying to get her to do something that she simply does not care to do.
I have to separate Annie and Carly sometimes and I don't think I have ever separated Annie and Mia!

This is my last year with her home with me and I am so very grateful for it. I am enjoying this time very much before she goes off to school next fall and my life starts being dictated for me. I am not dreading it, I look forward to her experiencing that stage of life, however I don't think I will like having to switch to a more demanding schedule after almost 6 years of doing "whatever I decide" all day long.

I'm 15 weeks along and the girls and I have decided its a boy baby in there. We wont find out for a while, even though we tried to cheat and see last week, baby just wasn't moving and there was no revelation. Mia just calls it "our brother" although Annie is willing to admit it might not be. Daddy is not holding his breath and just insists its another girl. Annie tries to get Carly to say "brother" but instead she screams "NOO" are you noticing a trend? BayBay is a screamer! Mia was saying "MEE!" the other day instead of something normal and not annoying like "may I have a turn please" and Carly picked up on it. Now whenever she wants something she screams "MEE!" at the top of her shrill little lungs! She will repeat whatever you say IF she is in the mood which is fun to hear her say random things. Yesterday Mia called from the bathroom that she needed assistance which Carly picked up on and went around the house declaring "poopy!"  Mia was quite pleased with her new word.

Mia gets very excited when things go her way in life and will declare you "my brest friend" if you make it happen. Daddy took us to what they call "chippys and dipdip" (otherwise known as "Mexican" in our family because I have never bothered to look at the name of the restaruaunt) which she loves and jumps up in the seat next to her daddy and says "you my brest friend right?" Last week I told her we could play memory to which got me declared the "brest friend" for the day.

It's Coming!

My parents neighbor coming in for a landing in a freshly mowed field

Hello blogworld

I've been feeling all bloggy again

I blame it on Autumn

I get all sentimental and gushy in the fall and I can feel him coming, I'm starting to get reflective and gushy.

When I was little I remember a stage where I claimed to hate the fall, even though my birthday is in October I said I didn't like my birthday either. I said that fall meant winter and I didn't like winter... I was dumb. Don't listen to that girl, she was in denial of what is truly wonderful. The Fall is a magical time of warm and chilly weather combined. Where you can still feel the warm sunshine through your plaid shirt, it whispers enjoy me, cherish me, pick apples and carve pumpkins, make pie and stew fill your storehouses old man winter is coming!

Wonderful = Fall because fall brings winter and winter brings snow!

I smile every time I see snow, even if it means looking out the window every 5 minutes, I smile every darn time! There is no other weather condition that makes me smile like that. You would think that sunshine would, but no, sometimes I look out at sunshine and think "ugh, you are hot". Rain makes me want to watch movies and there aint no time for that. Good thunder storms are enjoyable and make me wonder in awe and watch in anticipation but I am never glad they are happening. Gloomy cloudy days make me just wish it were snowing. And there you have it.

So pull out those sweaters, sniff the air in anticipation of the smell of crisp leaves and wood burning stoves, kiss your awesome summer tan goodbye till you can be scorched again next year in the name of beauty and break out the sunless tanning lotion 'cause winter is coming and this time it's bringing a baby!

That's right blog world, its already been made FB and IG official weeks ago, its time for blogger official. Baby Zuerner #4 is coming in February and I am super excited! The million dollar question is "are you hoping/trying for/wanting a boy?" the answer is not really/how does one try that?/we will be pleased with whatever God chooses to bless us with!
I am very excited about having something to look forward to in February. My official due date is March 14th however with my track record we are looking at about Feb 14 which will be a nice little anticipation, distraction, enjoyment, project for those days where it's still cold out, hunkering down with a fire burning and enjoying being inside during snowy days with a baby in fleece! My last two babies being born in June didn't get to experience the adorable little snuggly fleece jammies that Annie lived in and I eagerly anticipate finding out whether we will be snuggling pink again or if I should start envisioning my life with some blue fleece snuggle time.