I am freaking out! Day 1.

In one week we are having a rather large Garage Sale. Just tonight I decided to enter the abyss in our basement. I moved all the tubs of clothing upstairs to get ready to sort and tag. Yikes! I have like 20 tubs of baby and toddler clothing. Why have I been holding onto all this stuff for 6 years? Why did I think that my children needed to much clothing? Why don't I save myself the hassle and give it all to Goodwill? I cannot sleep or think or do anything but obsess about this sale. You can see why.
And this is only the clothing department.

Indulgences

I seem to have stumbled upon an irresistable snack. I had noticed this in the popcorn section of my local grocer for months. In a moment of weakness and impulsivity I bought a box.


It is my new "bedtime snack" as my kids would say. It is delish! Gone are the nights of chips and salsa, I now choose the popcorn with the gooey topping that tastes like Rice Krispie treats! I will eat the whole bag. I can eat a fairly decent diet all day but after 9pm, I snack. It is like a family ritual. Before I moved out and got married I remember my dad having numerous evening snacks such as cereal, chips, or those little weird crackers called "Twigs."

I am stuck on this little indulgence for awhile, until a new one takes it's place. What snack turns you into a crazy person?

Memory Lane.

When I was a kid, we lived outside of Hopkins, MI. It was and still is officially the "boonies" , "the sticks", whatever slang you want to use to describe the very rural country in which my parents made a home for us.

Just recently I took a little road trip back to where I lived and to Allegan where we went to church. It was a small church named Millgrove Christian Reformed. When I arrived there, I was saddened to see that the building was no longer being used for a church. It appeared as if it was no longer being used for anything. I had many feelings welling up inside. I could just picture myself as a 7 year old running up and down the steps to the entrance, or walking up to the front of the sanctuary after church to dip my fingers in the wax from the candles. I started to wonder how a church could just no longer exist? I thought about all the people I had known there, what are they doing now? Where did their lives take them, do they still walk with the Lord? How does a church community just dissolve?

My family went to Millgrove for about 10 years. I was baptized there, it was likely in that building that I first learned of Jesus Christ and gave my life to Him. How could it be that this is now just an abandoned building?

I am trying to decide just what to make of it all. Dan said I am having a "pre-mid-life crisis" and that is why I am getting all nostalgic. Maybe. I guess it is good sometimes to see where one's roots are, spiritually speaking. I realized that the same God that was in that church 20 years ago hasn't scattered like it's members. He is with them still, including my parents, my siblings and me. The seed was planted, and it grew. The now defunct Millgrove CRC served a Godly purpose, one that I'm forever grateful for.

3 Girls.

I just heard word from Stacey, she had another ultrasound today and Baby "A" is confirmed to be a girl!

You can see a pic of her growing belly at the top of the blog, I think it grows every day!

Please keep them in your daily prayers that she can keep those girls cooking inside for 15 more weeks.

I Sell??? AVON

More like I buy AVON.
Yes, for those of you who do not know, I am an official AVON lady. Here is my shameless promotion. Last June I signed on as a independent AVON Representative. I decided since I was buying so many great products from my friend Julie, I should just sell it myself and get all the great demo prices and discounts. Fast forward to now, and I have quite a stash. I can be quite sure that even with a consistent customer orders, I still do not make any money at this venture. Any profits I make pretty much go right back to AVON when I buy demos, catalogs, samples, and such. They must love suckers like me. When my dad found out I was selling AVON, he just made a symbol with his fingers in the shape of a triangle (pyramid). I guess He'll be getting a "Soap on a Rope" for Father's Day.

That being said, I just love their products! The prices are good and so is the quality. I have always loved trying new make-up ever since 5th grade when I would sneak make up to school and put it on in the bathroom.

I am always looking for new customers. Please check out the link to my website in the sidebar of this Blog. I also have catalogs! Next time you are looking for makeup or beauty products...think to yourself, I wonder if AVON has something like this?
I'm sure that they do... :)

Happy 4th Birthday Andrew!

I am just a tad belated with Drew's Birthday post. He turned 4 on April 15.
What does being four years old mean to Drew?

• Getting a new bike and skateboard
  
• Buckling his own seat belt
• Going to his "school-church"
• Picking Dandelions for Mommy
• Bossing his sister around
• Still being young enough to have a "Dee-tee" (blanket)
• Learning how to fly a kite from the Dollar Store
• Having a "My Little Pony Toothbrush" even though it is technically for girls :)
  

Happy Birthday Dewey! We love you!

More Blogging to come...

It is late, but I will post anew tomorrow. I am still working on adding lists and links to the blog. Does anyone know any Blogger shortcuts?

not new, but slightly improved...

I have been learning by trial and error how to spice up my blog. Farting around long enough on the internet to "home school" myself on a few things like tags, HTML, codes, skins, and image hosting has only taught me how much I do NOT know. The result is a few small additions to Mini Van-Mega Fun! including a photo streamer which I hope to update often. I also added a few links in the sidebar, and a profile. I suspect that this will be mostly useless to the 2 or 3 of you out there that read my blog, for you already know me. Oh well, the time I have spent on these improvements has sucessfully kept me from exercising and cleaning toilets this afternoon.

Waiting The Coming Day...

I have not posted in the last few days but tonight something inspired me, so I want to share it.

I was thinking about Easter songs and a few popped into my head. The ones that we sing in church on Easter morning, specifically, "Low In The Grave He Lay". It is an ancient hymn written in 1874. We still sing it at our church today from this hymnal.

Tonight I was putting laundry away and found myself humming the melody to the previously mentioned Easter hymn. Chase was in the bathroom and said,

"Hey Mom, I know that song, I like the part where it says:
waiting the coming day"

I had to sing the lyrics over in my head to make sense of what Chase had just said.
He told me that his teacher Mrs. Wells taught them the song at school.

There are a few things that I want to remember about this moment with my son. He is beginning to understand about Christ and what Salvation means. He may not fully understand what the lyrics to that song mean, and let's face it, that tune is 132 years old, but this is what inspires me. Something about that song~~ the words, or maybe just the way the musical chords settled on his ears, God was speaking to Chase and working in his heart. I've seen it this week. God used Chase today to really make me think about what the Easter celebration is all about. It is not about Joy's beautiful pink Easter dress, or the warm weather, or even going to church. It is about Jesus Christ and victory over the grave, and the salvation He has freely given. It is about a song whose words are so true, a kindergartener in 2006 starts to understand for the first time what Jesus Christ did for sinners.

Low in the grave he lay--Jesus my Savior:
Waiting the coming day--Jesus my Lord.
Up from the grave he arose With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.
He arose the victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
He arose, He arose, Hallelujah! Christ arose!

It's Two Girls and a ???

Well the results are in, sort of.

Stacey called and told us that two of the babies appear to be girls. The third baby wasn't as easy to determine with great certainty if it was girl or boy. Stacey said that the technicians think that Baby "A" may be a girl also, but another ultrasound will be needed to get a clearer view.

So it looks as if she may get another chance to find out in two weeks at her next appointment. If not, it may be 4 weeks until we find out what that little mystery baby is...

Right now Dan is bragging about how his predictions were all correct.
He predicted that she would get pregnant with triplets, and also that Brad would have 3 daughters! Doh!

I have to admit, he was unusually prophetic!

That is all.

Today is a Big Day!

This afternoon at around 2:30, Stacey and Brad will have and ultrasound at her regular Doctor appointment and they will hopefully find out what the triplets are. Imagine the possibilities! 3 Girls, or 3 Boys. Maybe 2 Boys, 1 Girl or 2 Girls, 1 boy.

I have always been more old fashioned and never wanted to know what my babies were going to be before they were born, but I have been obsessing about this for weeks now. How can you not know when you are having 3 children at once!

I will definitely be posting again very soon!
Stay Tuned.

For the record, my guess is: 2 girls, 1 boy

What do you think?

The Story of a Brave Young Boy.

We have had an interesting couple of days around here. Monday was coming to a close and the kids were in their jammies ready for bed. Dan agreed that I could run to the mall to return some shoes I purchased for him. While there, I received a frantic phone call from Dan saying, " You need to meet me at the Med Center, Chase got his finger slammed in the door and the tip is just hanging!" I hauled ass to Cutlerville to find my little boy on a bed with a Big cut in the middle of his finger nail down to the bone. Just imagine the type of pain that would be. He started to cry when I arrived, but calmed down and was so courageous during the examination and x-ray. I am telling you that if this happened to me I would be asking for any random narcotic or two to take away the pain! Chase sat quietly. Then came the shots to numb the finger. That was the worst part for him, but he hung on and they managed to stitch up the finger and it looks as if it will be viable. Complete recovery within a month or so, new fingernail in 3 months or so, and bragging rights to his friends and cousins about a sweet scar for years to come.

I may have left out a few details...

Who closed the door on his finger? Joy.
Where was Dan when it all went down? Upstairs making Rice Krispie treats!

Get Well Soon, Chase!