Too Long and So Much More!

Wow! It has been too long since I have added to this blog. A little over a year now. Well, as most of you know, we did have a beatutiful baby girl! She was born on December 8 weighing in at 9 lbs 9 oz. She is such a beautiful addition to our family. Her brothers cannot get enough of her, and of course, I don't have to tell you about Daddy. This picture is a recent one from the Old Mill.

We have moved back to Benton and we absolutely LOVE it! We love being near our family again. It has been wonderful. I'm teaching in Malvern and Patrick is working for Saline County Sheriff's Office. Our lives are truly blessed only because of what God has done.

Wonderful News!

Can you believe it!!! We are expecting our 4th, yes 4th baby in December. We found out on April Fools Day. We tried tell eveyone then, but no one would believe us. Patrick called his mom and dad and I had to get on the phone with them to completely convince them that we really WERE going to have a baby. Patrick is notorious for pulling April Fool jokes. :D He sent a txt msg to his brother Jon and his sister Tracie. Both of them sent me a txt msg the next day and asked me. I had to confirm it with them too. God is blessing us with another wonderful baby. We are very excited. Daniel didn't want anything to have to do with a new baby at first. However, the more the boys talked about it the more it got him excited too. He will now be a big brother and he is VERY excited about that.

The sweetest thing happened last night. We added "the new baby" to our prayer list. "God bless Momma, Daddy, Hunter, Micah, Daniel, and the new baby." :D Then when the prayer was over Micah leaned over to my belly and said, "Goodnight baby. I love you." Then Daniel did the same. It was soooo sweet I almost cried. The boys want a little sister soooo bad! Of course, we just want a healthy baby, but it would be AWESOME if it was a girl. Patrick wants his little girl, too. She will be spoiled rotten. LOL.

Be praying for us. We have lots of changes in store for us. We will have to find a new place to live because we live in a 2 bdrm/1bath house. Not enough room for 6 people. :/ So please keep us in your prayers. I'll be keeping you posted.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
(Psalms 127:3-5 ESV)

This and That

Well, I haven't kept up my "weekly" posts now have I? There hasn't been a whole lot of anything going on around here. It's been kinda quiet. :D That is NOT a bad thing. hehehehe.

Above are some pictures of Hunter playing basketball. BOY DID HE LOVE PLAYING BASKETBALL!!!! He enjoyed it so much that he was sad when it was over; he didn't cry but he was sad.

We went bowling last weekend for the first time in years. I actually think this was Daniel's first time to bowl. But of course, the batteries in my camera went dead. So I only have pictures of Daniel and Hunter. Hopefully we will get to go back real soon! The boys, and us, had a BLAST!!!

Here are the boys school pictures. I didn't
realize Hunter had on holey pants...but I should
have guessed. After all, he is a boy. Micah told me he didn't like his smile. So I asked him why he smiled like that and he said it was because I was not there to make him smile. :D
He's so sweet.

I'm taking my 4th grade honor to sing at the capitol on March 18 for Music In Our Schools Month. This is the 3rd time that I have been able to take a group. We have lots of fun. I forget what it is like to not know what the capitol is like. I grew up so close and sang there so many times, that I take it for granted. The kids are looking forward to it, as am I. Please come and join us that day if you would like. :D

Spring Break is in 2 1/2 weeks, so I will have more pictures to post then. And after that, IT'S BASEBALL TIME!!!!! The boys are playing on the same team this year, YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I just wanted to share with you how much I love my husband. He is the most wonderful husband that God could have blessed me with. He takes care of us in so many ways!!! He is an AWESOME dad, husband, and best friend. I cannot imagine my life without him. I love him so much.

Here is what he gave me for Valentines Day: a dozen yellow roses (because they are my fav) a dozen red roses, a huge box of chocolate, and the movie "Nights in Rodanthe." He brought it to me at school yesterday and TOTALLY surprised me. But the best part about it is that he made the arrangement himself. He went and picked out the flowers, vase, and even the pretty red marbles in the bottom of the vase. I think I will keep him. :D

I hope you all have a wonderful valentine like I do!!!

Happy Birthday, Patrick

Last night we celebrated Patrick's 31st birthday at our favorite restaurant, Mexico Viejo. He had no idea that I told the waiter. I was just paying him back for ALLLL the times he has done it to me; at least it really was his birthday though. I love you, Patrick!

Boys will be boys, and Taylor will join in!

Daniel liked Paisley, as long as he was holding her.
He did not really like it when I was paying more attention to her
and telling her how cute she was. Such the baby...hehehe

Taylor was loving her some Micah!
She loved to wrestle with him. Too cute!!! :D

Ice Storm 2009

Well, as you all know, we were "fortunate" enough to be a part of the worst ice storm in Arkansas history, but we all made it through just fine. The rain started falling last Monday, January 26 and continued through Tuesday morning. Our superintendent was so nervous that we might get caught at school when the rain started to freeze, that she decided to close the school at 1:15. So, at 1:15 we loaded all the students on the buses and into their cars and then we all left just knowing that we would be back the next morning. Well......you guessed it. They canceled school late Monday evening. The next morning Daniel woke me up saying, "Mom, the batteries on the TV don't work anymore." I laughed pretty hard, even though I was asleep. I got up and sure enough, all the power was out. This was about 7:30 am. We all continued on with our day, only without TV and video games and Facebook. To prepare for the ice storm, we bought the food, gas for our vehicles, candles, flashlights, batteries, and propane for our camping stove. So when the power went out, I got up and made breakfast on the camping stove. It was really cool. I made homemade pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and toast. We have this really cool toaster for the camp stove. (Thanks Toni!!!) We played a couple of rounds of Sorry and Uno. Then around 11:30, I think, our power came back on. We were very excited and thought, "wow, that wasn't bad." Then it went off again about an hour or so later. This time it would stay off for a while. So we continued with Sorry, Uno, Checkers, Go Fish, and coloring. I knitted and just watched the boys play. As night fell, it was like being at the lake. There is not much to do under the power of candle light. So we basically went to bed at 8:30. The next morning and afternoon it was the same. It is Wednesday, January 28. Our power came on around 8:30 pm and we started going back to watching TV, playing on Facebook, and the boys playing video games. We had gone so long without it that we didn't want to go to bed. :D We decided because of the trees hanging over our house that we would move the dining room table and put our mattresses in there. It is in the most central part of the house. Honestly, it was like camping in a large tent with heat (gas wall heaters) and hot showers (gas water heater). The boys finally passed out around 11:00 and I at about 1:00 am. We woke up the next morning, still had power, and got really used to it. Daniel's allergies were starting to get on his nerves and so I ran up to the store to get him some medicine. I walked in the door, walked over to the medicine, picked it up and then the lights went out. So I ran up to the counter to pay for it before their register back up power failed. When I got home, our power was out....again. We were so tired of being all couped up in the house, I decided we would go get some lunch where there was power and then we would go to Wal-Mart and get some new games. We did. But about an hour after we left, Patrick text messaged me and said the power was back on. We went ahead to Wal-Mart and picked through what was left of the games...not much. We picked up Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land. When we got home, the power was out...again. So we played the new games until we couldn't stand it anymore. Then the power came back on....and went off....again. By this time, I'm about to pull my hair out!!!! Nowhere to go, getting too used to the power every time it comes back on, and just the annoyance of the whole situation. About 8:30 pm the power comes back on. This time I totally "ignore" it. I don't get on Facebook, I don't turn on the TV, and I don't text anyone to tell them I have power. I go in the laundry room and start some laundry. Then I call mom and let her know that we will be leaving mid-morning on Friday. We had already planned on going to Benton. It was my dad's birthday and Brian and Mer were coming with their precious baby girls. However, we were not planning on leaving until much later in the day. But I had had enough and packed everything and left. The power never went off again, but I just didn't know how much more I could stand. I think I would have been just fine had the power gone off and stayed off.

But we are all well, we are all safe, and we are all with power now. I like camping, but only when I can go outside and jump in the lake or lay on the shore and listen to children playing in the water, and boats going by. :D

I have posted the pictures I took of the BEAUTIFUL ice storm, and also some pictures of the boys and Paisley and Taylor.

Have a great week!!!!
Love,
The Lunsford 5

New Journey

OK. I am trying something new. I am going to attempt to create a blog for all to see. I have some family members that do not have Facebook accounts, but would still like to see pictures and hear about what is going on in our lives. So I am going to try and update this blog at least once a week. Bear with me as I learn and explore this new idea. Enjoy and love you all!!! Have a great week.