Girls' Night and Guys' Night Out

On Friday we split up and the guys hung out and me and Haven hung out. The guys went to McDonald's (choice of the oldest son) and played in the indoor playground. The girls had a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesday's, Nana met us there and ate with us, and then we had a very important play date with Max, a cute little pug owned by our friend Erin.

Haven has been asking and asking for a real puppy for a few months now. My feelings about getting a dog is I really don't want one more thing to take care of. When the kids are old enough and can help or best of all take care of it all by themselves I may be open to the idea of a dog. My very wise sister in law put it very well when she said she's done enough potty training and does not want to potty train a dog.

So, this is why friends with dogs are a true blessing. You can take your children and let them play, the children get their dog fix and the dog gets to run around and release some of that energy they have and everybody wins. Erin was so kind to let us come over to her house and let Haven get her Max fix. We sat around and watched and took pictures and here comes my favorite part, at the end of the night we left and Max stayed with Erin.

Max is such a good dog and he just played with Haven and gave her plenty of kisses. She loved every second. Thanks Erin and Max for letting us come play and I'm sure we'll be back for another play date soon.

Oh yeah, Haven not only wants a real dog for her birthday, she wants a real Max.

Puppy kisses.

Let Me Brag

My husband is awesome! Most of you know that he has gone back to school at Evangel University. His first class was January 11 and on his first day he had a paper due. He received an email a week before his class giving him first assignment of reading a ten chapter book and writing a 4 page paper on it. He had been told that if he failed he would be sent to the Write Place on campus. He was also informed that most students are sent there for failing their first paper. So, he was quite nervous about this paper. First, it has been almost 20 years since the last time he was in college and so much has changed in grammar etiquette. Second he was writing a paper having never met or talked to the teacher that would be grading it. How do you know what the teachers expectations are?

Well, he got his grade today and after a long speech about proper writing and letting the students have the opportunity to go to the Write Place and rework their papers for a higher grade Todd was on edge. He didn't have much confidence in his paper. Let me just say he got a 95%. I am so proud of him and he worked really hard and he deserved that "A". Way to go sweetie!

My other brag for the day; not near the greatest of Todd's 95%, but still noteworthy. I am a end of the season shopper. Especially for the kids since I'm pretty much buying new wardrobes every season. So we set out yesterday to hit the mall and the sidewalk sale with all the great deals and my Children's Place coupon. I love when those hit at the same time, clearance with an additional 30% off and my addition 15% off coupon. It makes for great deals. So, I get them a good start on next winters clothes.

After my time at Children's Place I headed to look more and saw Old Navy was having 50% off their clearance so I went in there. The best deal of the day was finding tall black boots for Haven. I paid $2.25 for them. I have been looking for black boots, but not willing to pay the prices I had been seeing. I was so excited I wanted to call all my friends right then.

She did wear them to church today with her pink tutu skirt and she looked oh so cute! Here's a picture of my great deal. I just ask that you not covet my $2.25 boots.

Some Sunshine and Warmth Admist the Cold

God was gracious to us and gave us a beautiful day to play outside. I, of course, took the camera outside to hopefully get some good pics of the kids using natural sunlight. Sunlight, what a marvelous, wonderful thing.

Jadon and Haven swinging, Haven's first time to swing on a big swing by herself. An attempt to get a picture of all 3. Jadon has started the stage where he tries too hard to smile and it often turns out kind of goofy.

The typical Jude eating stuff he is not supposed too. This time it's grass, at least it's organic.

And I just added this one because I thought it was a good picture of a beautiful little Haven.

What's Been Going On

Here's the 411 on the Wallace family.

Jude:

As can be said since the day he was born; he is happy and easy going. He's been enjoying short walks on his new dump truck walker he got for Christmas. He enjoys giving all open mouth kisses, especially to Mommy and Pappy. He has been quite excited about his new cousin Cael joining him. He likes to show his love for him by trying to poke eyeballs (they are very fascinating things what can he say).

He has also become quite the chatterbox. I'm convinced he has said "thank you" on several occasions. And he says "dada"; Todd really wanted that put in here. But he has become quite the momma's boy and I will enjoy that for as long as possible.

Haven:

She has become the little mommy around here, loving her babies and stuffed animals. She is always the comforter when someone is hurt or upset. On another note she's also turned into quite the drama queen. Some days it is just so hard not to laugh. Her new thing is to turn her back, cross her arms and exclaim, "I'm Mad!". Then stomps off as loud as she can, lifting her knees to her chin just to get that extra oompf, to her bedroom and closes the door. She will soon emerge to sweetly say, "I sorry I got mad."

She is definitely independent and that's what causes the most discourse between her and Jadon. He will often want to play and she's fine with playing with or without someone. With a little persuasion she gives in and they play wonderfully. I love watching them interact together and all the while pray that as they grow older they grow closer together.

Jadon:

He blows my mind. He's smart, funny and will be starting school before I know it. Jadon is very much a self motivator. He has always been the one asking to learn his shapes, his letters, now he's been working on addition and subtraction and reading. I so admire that about him, he takes after his daddy in that aspect. Most exciting of all his learning is his desire to memorize scripture. He is in Cubbies and they have been working on learning the gospels. His teachers are amazed at the fact they can say the reference and he can quote the verse to them. He has even reminded his teachers on a few occasions verses they forgot.

We have learned that Jadon's love language is quality time and words of affirmation. The first is very crucial in his behavior. We know when Jadon is feeling like he's not had his quality time with us. There are screaming break downs and many time outs. Todd and I are now having to figure out how to meet these needs of Jadon while our schedules have/are changing. Prayers regarding this would be greatly coveted.

Todd:

Is going back to school. Yes, he has enrolled in Evangel University's accelerated program and will hopefully graduate in about 20 months with a degree in Business Administration. I am very proud of him for taking on this venture. With the program he's doing his classes are 5 weeks long, which makes for one long class a week and lots of homework the rest of days.
So, this is a huge change in our family schedule and is one reason to the above mention with Jadon. I do ask for prayers for Todd as he juggles time with God, family, work and school. I also ask for specific prayer regarding how we speak Jadon's love language during the transitions in our family.

Heather:

I'm getting used to Todd going back to school and the routine changes. I will also prayerfully be going to China this summer to love on orphans at the Philip Hayden Foundation. Springhill sent a team last year and I have been praying since that trip whether God would allow me to go if they went back. Through much prayer and a husband that is wonderful and encouraging I will prayerfully go to China. I keep saying prayerfully because I still need to raise the funds and get things in order (like get a passport, I can't believe I need a passport.)

I am extremely excited and a bit nervous. Excited about the opportunity to minister to orphans and serve God, but nervous to leave my family for 10 days. I could definitely use your prayers and I know Todd could use prayers while I'm gone.

More On Christmas

After doing my Christmas entry that could have been broken down into 3 parts I wished I had added more family photos from Christmas Eve. I decided to go ahead and add them. So, I'm sure you're super excited, but anyway.

Me and my beautiful sister.

The 3 sibs.

All the girls, minus a few, in the family with grandma.

All the boys, minus a few, in the family with grandma.

Grandma and her granddaughters.The girlies.What's great about these photos for me is we not only celebrate the fact that our Savior came down when we couldn't reach Him, but also that we were a family for another year.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I can't wait to see what God has in store for my family this year.

Merry Christmas...A Little Late

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebrating Jesus. Our Christmas was wonderful, we got to spend a lot of time with family. We spent time talking and teaching our children about the reason we celebrate this wonderful holiday. Jadon and Haven even picked out some of their toys to take to a local charity.

Jadon really got into the spirit of giving. He asked if he could take his own money and buy a toy for a boy and a girl that wasn't getting toys. Of course I was so proud of him. He has this great sensitivity about him.

I'm sure like everyone else our holiday was also spent being very busy. We took the kids ice skating for the first time. The whole way there Jadon kept telling us that he was going to teach us how to ice skate. As he said, although he's never been he has watched the Backyardigans do it and it was easy. They did awesome walking around the room in the ice skates, but once they saw the ice it was a no go. Haven went around the rink once (Todd carrying her most of the time) and that was enough. Jadon wouldn't even try.

If you look closely you can see where they wrote Welcome Wallace Family on the ice.We did make our annual Christmas trip to Silver Dollar City. We made it on the last day along with many, many others. But the kids enjoyed seeing the place all lit up and the rides were still open so the kids got to ride a few before we called it a night.

Here's a few more pictures to share from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Waiting patiently for their presents. left to right: Haven, Jude, Miles, Adrian, Jadon and Noah.

Christmas at home, Haven opening and playing with her first princess castle.Our rescue hero. He liked playing in the wrapping just as much as the toys.We hope yours was filled with as much fun, love and blessings.

The Lord's Protection

We experienced the Lord's protection on Monday before Christmas. The kids and I were home, the kids taking their nap, I had finally sat down to relax and the door bell rang. I looked out the window and the way the blinds were positioned I could see out, but the man at the door couldn't see in. I didn't recognize the man or the car that wouldn't pull in our drive way, it sat out in front of our house with another man in the driver's seat. So, I didn't answer the door and just sat at the window watching the man and the car. After a few minutes he proceeded to bang, like really bang loudly on the door. I continued to watch him and again he rang the door bell with the loud banging shortly afterward. This happened one more time.

Up until now I hadn't felt threatened or even scared, I just didn't want to answer the door with a strange man standing on the other side. I guess after he decided that no one was home what he really wanted came to head. He tried pulling open our screen door. The door has a lock on it to keep it from flying open when it's extremely windy. After he was met with a locked door he tried even harder to open it and again even harder.

By this time I've come to realize that he wants in our house and the door is not going to hold up much longer, because he REALLY wants in our home. The only thing running through my mind right now is that I have to let him know someone is home and get him off my porch.

I will say I didn't do the smartest thing, but the one thing that came to my mind right away. I opened our front door and coarsely asked him what he thought he was doing. I did scare the crud out of him and he came up with the story he was looking for Jerry. I told him there was no Jerry here and he couldn't leave quick enough.

I ended up calling the Sheriff and told him what happened and he did confirm that there had been home burglaries in our area.

There was also a story on the news this week of a man suspected on burglaries in the area had been caught, they are still looking for his accomplice. The one they caught was not the one at our door, but could be the one they are still looking for. I'm just thankful he didn't get in our house and that I was home and that the Lord protected us.