To say that we are tired of severe storms here in Nebraska would be a huge understatement. Last night was by far the scariest storm that I have ever experienced. As we sat huddled under couch cushions, branches were hitting our basement window and I was sure it was going to break. No windows broke, but I did post some pics of the aftermath.


Who knows where the orange cone came from???



We lost a few shingles

This would be my neighbors tramploine up in a tree

Our poor tree:(

What a crazy two weeks it has been. For some reason I am struggling to put words together. I have a lot to say but I can't seem to organize my thoughts. Maybe I'm not ready to admit that life goes on after a tragedy happens. Maybe I'm stuck in my own selfish pain. Whatever the reason I am trying to work through it so please be patient with me.

A conversation that took place between Fischer and myself last night:

I was looking at an article online about Sam's funeral:

Me: Fischer, who's that?

Fischer: SAM!!

Me: That's right!

Fischer: What happened to him?

Me: He went to Heaven to be with God!

Fischer: He's happy!!

I just got home from Sam's Celebration of Life. Words are not adequate to describe the event, but I will try. The church was filled with almost 700 people who loved and knew Sam. The stage was decorated with orange and blue balloons, and the teens were dressed in the same colors. A few weeks ago at his sister's graduation party he told everyone at our table that if he could choose home school colors they would be orange and blue. The stories told and the songs that were sung were all beautiful expressions of Sam's love for life, his family and his God.

You can read his truly amazing sermon that he wrote for LTC here:

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10356854

It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you of Sam's passing last night. We hope you will join us in prayer for his sweet, sweet family. They are amazing people and we are so saddened by their loss.

Pray for Sam, a kid in our youth group who is at Little Sioux Scout Camp that was hit by a tornado. His parents are driving up there right now to find out if he is OK!

Yesterday, Franklin and I took Fischer to the zoo! It was SO relaxing to just hang out as a family! We visited the new butterfly house, which was a blast! However, I would say 95% of the butterflies liked to hang out by the air conditioner vents(as you can see from the picture). So, there wasn't that many butterflies actually flying around. They did like Franklin's orange shirt though. Fischer looks terrified in the picture with me. Maybe he thought a butterfly was about to land on him. We spent 6 hours walking around, and by the end I could barely move. Our zoo is SO hilly I don't know why I thought I could take him to the zoo by myself. I am thankful that I went with Franklin. I think he was extremely thankful to have spent some quality time with Fischer.

I guess he wouldn't be a BOY if his knees and elbows didn't look like this:

Oh well, at least he is still smiling!



On an even scarier note: Our friends are back!!!

So, I borrowed my neighbors hair cut kit and decided to give Fischer a haircut. I have never cut hair before, but I am pretty darn proud of myself! I even convinced Franklin to let me butcher him...haha!! He was actually impressed and I am glad he trusted me!


Here are some pics...I forgot to take a before of Fischer. Why do Fischer and Franklin both look traumatized? Hey, it will be saving us about $30 a month! YAY!

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Today I took on the task of planting flowers. Let me just say that I am SO thankful that I was not a pioneer woman. I can't even imagine being pregnant and doing all of the hard work that they did. I feel like I can't move right now. I have decided that I like planting in pots and not in the ground. I'm pretty proud of my pots, but I need to get a few more fillers for two of them. The sweet potato vines will be so beautiful by the middle of summer. They grow really long and spread easily.I also posted a pic of our deck with flowers. I bought the hanging pouch at Menards and it has just turned out beautifully.

I finally gave in to turning on the A/C. I held out pretty long, mainly b/c I am cheap. But today was just too hot!

This my friends is called a miracle! My child sleeping in the middle of the day. Oh, what will I do with myself?

Well, I survived our camping trip! Oklahoma was HOT and muggy...just like I remembered it. Fischer went fishing for the first time and caught 5 fish! He caught more than anyone else in the boat! He also had a great time riding in the golf cart! The drive was pretty brutal..9.5 hours! The drive home was full of adventure. We were driving through this small town in Oklahoma when a guy pulled out in front of us. He was turning out of the Gaming Center, which of course made me suspicious that he was drunk. It didn't take longer than about 5 seconds to realize that in fact he was drunk. He swerved into oncoming traffic 3 or 4 times, almost hitting a mini-van and a truck. After watching this idiot for about 20 seconds I called 911. After we followed him for about one more mile(staying far back of course) he pulled off on the shoulder. I hope an officer was able to catch him and send him to jail. I hope they took my call seriously.

Then we drove through Picher, OK and noticed that the entire town was destroyed by a tornado. I have seen tornado damage before, but never anything like this. When I got home I looked up Picher on google and found out that six people died and 100 were injured in the tornado on May 10th. FEMA had to test the air quality in the town because it is known for its lead mining.

On a lighter note, I am back to my frugal ways. While in Oklahoma my sister-in-law let me read her book, "America's Cheapest Family." It is written by the Economide family. The book is full of ideas for saving and cutting back, which is right up my alley. Today I went grocery shopping and spent $120 for two weeks worth of food($10 of that was a gift card for a graduate, plus I spent about $15 on food storage items). I might have to go back next week and spend $20 or so, but I think that is pretty good. Anyway, I would recommend this book, especially with the price of gas going up!

Here are some pics of our Memorial Day Weekend!

Lake Eufaula at sunset.


Fischer hates bugs...so this was a big step!


My cousin Esther! She is SO sweet!

Just thought I would post a few pics from a friend's wedding we attended today. We decided to take a family picture since we were all dressed up. Of course Fischer is hamming it up, plus the wind was blowing so hard it was hard to pose. And yes, I am only halfway through my pregnancy and yes I am huge!

I have absolutely no idea who posted the helicopter thing on my blog. Weird. Anyway, we do have helicopters in our yard.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Have you ever seen these little plants? I call them "helicopters" because you can throw them in the air and they spin like the rotor on a chopper.
Cool to find one and throw in in the air.
Not so cool to have about TEN BILLION of them in your yard!

Just wanted you to know that the doctor called and said that everything looked great! I wish I could post more pictures, but Fischer "stole" my SD card and I haven't been able to find it. Hopefully I will get around to buying a new one!

NEW PICS OF BABY!!!!

HERE ARE SOME NEW PICS OF BABY BOY! WE ARE STILL WAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM THE DOCTOR ABOUT ANY RESULTS. HE KEPT PUTTING HIS THUMB UP TO HIS MOUTH, BUT HE NEVER QUITE MADE IT IN!

Hopefully you can tell by the last pic that we are having a BOY!!!!!!!!

Don't you just love his sweet little profile? Everything went well, my OB just wants to do another ultrasound in two weeks to check on his heart again. The ultrasound tech couldn't get a good picture due to his position. My OB kept reassuring me that this has happened before, and she has never had an abnormality come of it. I told her that I would try to take her words to heart, but that I would probably worry a little bit anyway! But, on the bright side, I get to have another ultrasound on the 20th!!

Well, tomorrow is the big day! Is baby Wood a girl or a boy? I keep having dreams that it is a boy, so we will see. Tune in tomorrow for the big news!!

Well, it didn't take a week, only two days! Thank you Jay! You are awesome. Tomorrow he is going to put on the stairs and third railing. It is SO nice to have a real deck!

Here is the before picture...To Be Continued(It may be a week or so before the after pic is here)!

Just had to post this pic of Fischer and his daddy. This is the second time in a week or so that Fischer has fallen asleep in the chair with Franklin.

Boys will be Boys!

Well, he did it again. Only this time, it was worse! The first time involved little crying, and one stitch. This boo-boo had screaming, crying, convulsing and four staples to the head. Poor little guy. We had just arrived home from Bible Study, and I was rummaging through my purse to find my blood sugar monitor. I heard this horrible sound, and I knew that it was going to be bad. He fell off his little riding truck and hit the corner of the wall. Fortunately, I stayed somewhat calm. I drove him to Urgent Care and his daddy showed up within minutes. He's doing alright now. He had a hard time going to sleep the night it happened. He kept saying, "What did the doctor do to me?" and "What's on my head?"

I have 12 days until my ultrasound! Maybe if it's a girl this time, there will be less trips to the urgent care!

Just when I thought it was getting fun that Fischer can express himself, he muttered these words to me before bed tonight:

I don't love you

You are not my friend


OUCH! Where in the world has he heard that from? I think he does it just to get a reaction out of me, b/c right after he says it, he will say, "No, I do love you."

Oh the prayers of a two year old:


Fischer: Dear God, Thank you for our blessings(he says bessings), thank you for my house, thank you for daddy, and thank you for ME!

How come I always get left out of the prayer? I'm the one that wipes his little butt all day!

This is a conversation that took place two nights ago around dinner time:

Fischer: "Mom, what are you doing?"

Me: "I'm making dinner, honey,"

Fischer: (Said in the most high-pitched, enthusiastic voice a 2 year old can muster!)
"You're making dinner mommy? For me?"

Me: "Yes dear, I am making dinner for you and daddy."

Fischer: Pats me on the behind and says, "Good girl Mommy, good girl!"

Well apparently the baby is doing some major growing today because my moods have been wacky today! These are Franklin's words:

"You are very hormonal today. Your moods range from anger to crying to serial killer to laughing to depressed and back to anger."

HAHA...It's true. Sorry baby, maybe it will be better tomorrow!

I am finally back from Florida. Apparently while I was gone, blogger changed too. You can add music and new layouts. Of course, I don't know how to do any of that. So, you are stuck with my old format and boring blog.

We had a great time in Florida. We took Fischer to DisneyWorld and we swam our hearts out. The last couple days that we were there we had to DRAG Fischer to the pool. He was pretty tired of swimming.

We had some great experiences while down there this year. Franklin and Fischer both got to see the Magic Kingdom for the first time. We also heard the shuttle re-enter the atmosphere and then saw it streaming across the sky to land. Fischer also saw the ocean for the first time. Also, while we were at the beach, dolphins were swimming up and down the coast. I posted some pics of our vacation.

Life has been crazy around here. Spent a week in Atlanta at the Youth Ministry Conference! We had some great experiences and enjoyed spending time with old friends.

Franklin and I are still trying to get pregnant. We have been thrust into the world of fertility treatments and shots. I don't know how people endure this month after month. I received my first hcg shot yesterday and I haven't felt the same since. I had a migraine the size of Texas last night, my whole body aches like a 93 year old, and this afternoon I slept for 3 1/2 hours!

I had a conversation with a friend of mine today who is also taking fertility shots and hcg. I asked her if she ever felt guilty, like we were playing God when we go to such lengths to have a baby! Where's the line between having faith in God and putting your faith in modern medicine? Then again don't we go to such lengths when we have a heart attack, cancer or get in a car accident? We allow the doctors to do everything they can to save us. What are your thoughts on this subject?