Cardiff Central http://marcandcharity.posterous.com Just living life, overseas. posterous.com Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:19:00 -0700 Easter Break! http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/easter-break http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/easter-break

I think I've forgotten how to blog or say anything more than 140 characters. *Grin*

So, I'll just jump right in. The girls were out of school for Easter break for a little over 2 weeks. It was a welcome break from the school routine: walking to school, making lunches the night before, and you know, dealing with other kids who insist on being mean to your children. We ALL needed a break. We watched movies, played outside, went to the park, rode scooters, baked, laughed and some of us who are 3 years old threw some fits because suddenly her big sisters were home from school and she didn't have free reign of the toys.

The girls wanted to make an Easter cake just like the Minnie Mouse cake, and I have a hard time saying no to cake, so we got to work! They wanted to use all my "icing things" and decorate it themselves. This would normally be hard for me to give over control, but it was acutally really fun and they did great! I was actually very impressed.

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We had been at a friend's church for an event, hence the face painting.

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Easter Sunday

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One day, the week after Easter, it was extremely quiet.  I should say, Addison was extremely quiet. Suddenly I heard Cerys screaming "ADDISON'S EATING CAKE!" She had icing on both hands, all over her face, her chair pulled up the counter...here's the evidence:

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She passionately denied having anything to do with this. She's a little bit spunky. The other day I was helping her get her pj's on and she just says "I just don't wuv anybody!" I've kind of learned with her to just keep on doing what I'm doing with her, because she changes her mind every 5 seconds. As I was tucking her in that night she said, "But I do wuv Mummy." Ha. And last night she said to me "Times I like you Mummy!" She says "times" for "sometimes." So, it's good to know that times she likes me. 

One day we went to St. Fagan's. I talked about this lovely place before. It's an outdoor museum and it's free! It's lambing season so we were hoping to see some lambs but we were a bit late. There were not any newborns, but plenty of young ones running around. 

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I laugh out loud every time I see this picture. Bless her, this is typical of our 7 year old right now. Arms crossed. Not impressed.

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The second week of break, we went to the south coast of England. If you know us, you know that some of our holidays don't quite work out the way we think they will. *Grin*  So, I don't have a whole lot to say about this week except that it rained every stinkin' day and the place we stayed was not at all what we thought.  I had to go buy some cleaner on the first night we were there if that gives you any indication. The only thing that kept us there was the indoor swimming pool. It was cool, suppose to be heated, but we braved it anyway and by the end of the week the girls were swimming like little fish! The waterslides that spit you out into the water was the biggest hit for all 3 girls. Even Addie would go down them alone, go under, pop right back up and dog paddle to the ladder to do it all over again. After we were back home, I told a British friend where we had gone on Facebook, she just laughed and said how awful it was when she was a little kid. Ha! Well, lesson learned. Americans will ask Brits before going on holiday next year.

Here are some pictures:

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We were right across the road from the beach, but it was SO cold and SO windy and SO rainy that we only last about 10 minutes.

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Getting our water-proofs on, hoping we could at least walk the beach. It was sunny for about an hour this day so we went for it! However, it was SO windy that it was blowing Addison over and it blew the end off Addison's net. You also had to climb down (and up) a small cliff of pebbles. Well, let me tell you, we were quite a site. Marc was helping us all down the cliff, but getting back up was so hilarious I nearly wet my pants. Marc deserves a medal for being Daddy to 3 girls and husband to me. 

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Right before Addie's net blew off!

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This is awkward, but you can see how windy it was. Aren't we having fun? 

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Wed, 04 Apr 2012 05:53:00 -0700 Addie-isms http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/addie-isms http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/addie-isms

Kids are so funny. Especially three year olds who are learning to say new words and phrases each day. Here are a few Addie-isms.

"Mummy, I want to tell you sump!" (something) - Although she said it correctly the other day and I about cried. Then I blamed Marc for correcting her, as he's been known to do! He denies it.

"Times (Sometimes) I like to play with that."  Be still my heart. 

I asked her if she needed to use the potty. She says no. I then asked her how long it had been since she had gone..."Last year!" Okay?

I told her "Addie, God loves you so much!"  She responds, "Yes, Him do!" I want to eat her up.

One morning while we were all getting ready for school, she was carrying a book around moaning and crying, "I just need someone to read to me!" Hahaha. It's rough being three.

I asked her, "Addie, can you help me tidy up please?"  She says, "Yes, my can Mummy." 

Her sister was crying and while I was holding Addie she says, "I don't like it when Bailey cries." I then said, "Oh Addison, that is so sweet. You are such a sweet sister!"  To which she says, "Ya, cuz it's noying (annoying) me!"  Alrighty. Nevermind on the sweet sister part.

 

 

 

 

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Thu, 29 Mar 2012 02:23:00 -0700 A Little Update http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/a-little-update http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/a-little-update

Apologies for the lack of updates and blog posts. To be honest, I've struggled since after Christmas as to what to write on here. We have a lot of ministry things going on which are going really well and I've had a lot of things on my mind- just not things I've felt ready to blog about or maybe I would feel too vulnerable to say it on here?  Anyway. 

My Grandfather passed away about 2 weeks ago and I made a fast trip to the States to be there with my family and to be there for the funeral service. I felt like I had just recovered from jet-lag from our Christmas trip and now I'm feeling really jet-lagged since returning on Tuesday of this week. I feel very drained and quite honestly, pretty down. I'm sure it's the emotions of him passing away, the emotion of seeing my famliy again and saying goodbye again, and this was the first international trip I've made alone. So I think all of those combined has just left me feeling super tired and down.

It was quite a shock that my Grandpa passed away, so that has left our family grieving really hard. I guess you grieve hard in any circumstance, but it has made me so thankful to Jesus- that we grieve with hope! He knew and loved Jesus.  I'm so thankful for the time we got to spend with him just 3 months ago at Christmas. The pictures we took are now priceless to me. My family would appreciate your prayers if you think of us. My Grandma passed away in 1996 from cancer, my freshman year of uni.  My Grandpa re-married about 10 years ago- it would've been 10 years next month- to Sondra or Mimi as the little ones call her. She made my Grandpa very happy and we were so thankful that she came into our family. I know you would not waste a prayer on her. Not long after they got married, they sold houses and bought an RV and have been traveling and enjoying life together. They even lived at the Grand Canyon for about a year- how cool is that? It will be tough for Sondra to make many decisions now about what her future holds. We visited the RV the day after the funeral and it just felt so strange to not see him pottering around and busy fixing things.

All this to say, we could use some prayers. It's hard to leave family behind once again- to be honest, I wasn't ready to come back. I wanted Marc and the girls to fly to Texas instead of me flying back to Wales. But, I keep telling myself that Jesus is better. He is better. He IS better. I just have to trust Him.

Thanks. 

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Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:03:00 -0700 My First 5k http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/my-first-5k http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/my-first-5k

I finally ran my first 5k! I've had this goal since 2010 and shortly after beginning training for it is when I had a herniated disc so I wasn't able to run at all. I was so sad thinking I would never be able to run a mile, much less a 5k...but nearly two years later, I finally went for it! I saw this race advertised on the back of a city bus one day and just decided that now was the time and I should just go for it. I talked myselt ouf of it several times, but I'm proud to say that I finished AND ran the entire time! That was my goal from the beginning- just to say I RAN it and didn't have to walk any of it. I didn't care about my time or anything.

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It's funny to me now that the day of the race was absolutely freezing and raining...I trained for weeks and if it was raining outside I told myself I wasn't going to train in that mess...never once did it occur to me that Hello, this is Wales and it might actually be raining on the day of my race!! Ding ding ding! The girls were concerned for me and kept saying, "I hope you don't slip Mummy!" Haha. Needless to say, 10 minutes before the race I was thinking I must be the biggest idiot in Wales- along with 430 something other people. 

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The above picture is just as I finsihed and that is a forced-fake smile as I was about to fall over! The girls were so sweet cheering for me and for days Bailey thought I won the race because I got a medal. I kept telling her that everyone that participated got a medal, but she wouldn't buy it. As I started thinking about it, I thought you know, she's right. I did win. I beat my fears, insecurities and negative self talk and I DID IT.

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I ran it in 36 min 38 seconds and as soon as it was over, I grabbed my medal and my shirt and went straight home for a hot shower and lunch! At first I said I would never run again, but now a few weeks out from it I keep thinking, "I can beat 36 minutes."  So, who knows, there might be another 5k ahead...marathons? No stinkin' way!

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Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:39:00 -0800 Catch- Up http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/catch-up http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/catch-up

So, I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated. The previous post is all about Addie's 3rd Birthday, but for now, here's a little post of what we've been up to!

We decided we would have a Super Bowl Party. Why not? A house full of people starting at 11pm and not ending till 3am? No problem. I put out a request for someone in America to please send some Rotel and Velveeta. I mean, what is a Super Bowl Party without Rotel? It's nothing, that's what. (And we got 3 different packages full of rotel/velveeta! We have some awesome friends!!!)

The girls helped me make these chocolate brownie roll out cookies- in the shape of footballs of course!        

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YUM! It had been way too long since we had some queso, so it was perfection!

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And some friends and gap year peeps, hanging out during the game.....

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Valentine's Day was the week of half term for us, so the girls were out of school, which was super fun! I made an easy dinner (chicken quesadillas) and we ate by candle-light and ended our dinner with chocolate cake!

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During half-term week we also visited one of our favorite castles- Raglan Castle- about 30 minutes from our house.  We took Jordyn and Aspyn, our two American gap year students and adopted family members with us, and had a picnic after exploring the ruins.

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A family portrait, in the giant fire place!

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And this is what happens when you give your kids the camera and aren't supervising:

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Have a great week!  I'm running my first ever 5k next Sunday- one week from today! I'm so scared but so excited! 

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Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:45:00 -0800 It's a Minnie Mouse "Bird-day!" http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/its-a-minnie-mouse-bird-day http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/its-a-minnie-mouse-bird-day

I know I say it every year, but I really can't believe my baby is 3 years old! This past Wednesday was her special day and even though she woke up in a "mood" (normal), she quickly became pleasant and was happy to celebrate! We had a special breakfast and after taking the big girls to school, we headed to our playgroup we go to every Wednesday at a local church. Addison wanted a Minnie Mouse cake, so I worked for two days to get that thing done and it was a true miracle that it turned out as cute as it did! We also made chocolate cupcakes for her to give to her friends at playgroup.

 

Here is Addison and me playing in Photo Booth, she always asks to do "silly faces" so I obliged but she wouldn't even smile!

 

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And here is the famous Minnie Mouse cake!  It seriously took me two days and after making up 8 cups of buttercream icing and tinting the colors, the black turned out gray! I went from being angry to crying- Tuesday was an emotional day for me and I swore I would never make another cake like this again. But, as I was piping the icing out, it warmed up in my hand and magically turned black! Addison loved it and that is all that matters. She told me "Aww, it's cute Mummy!"

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Addison got some pink, sequin Minnie Mouse high heels and some MM ears, so here she is posing for my mom, who was on Skype watching!

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Yummy!!

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But before we had cake, we had a pizza picinc in the living room! Love the MM ears!

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And after getting use to piping the icing for the MM cake, I really got into it and decided to go back and monogram her cupcakes! All my southern friends would be proud.

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Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:22:00 -0800 Grill A Christian http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/grill-a-christian http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/grill-a-christian

Every week the gap year students- now called interns- get the chance to interview a Christian that is invited in. It's called Christian In Focus or lovingly referred to as "Grill a Christian."  Well, in all our years here I have never particiapted, but Marc always has. Several months ago I felt like God was telling me that there would be some things that I needed to step out and do even though I'm scared. I began my training course for the crisis pregnancy centre last Saturday (it runs for 10 Saturday between now and May!) so that was the first thing I felt like God was telling me to do. And "Grill a Christian" was the second one. It's kind of interesting because I had never for even one minute entertained the thought of participating because I'm always too nervous and I hate being the centre of attention. I cheered Marc on as he was interviewed each year, but no thanks, I'm good. 

In November, I was just doing minding my own business one day and suddenly I thought "I think I'll do Christian In Focus, it would be good for me to do that."  WHAT? I laughed at this silly, fleeting thought. No, of course I wouldn't do that. I would be too nervous and would say something dumb or worse, do the ugly cry in front of these guys!  No. Nope. Until the sweet lady who organises the guests, emailed me and asked if I would do it...3 days later! I knew I had to do it but I was so scared. So I told her I would, but knew that once we came back from our Christmas vacation I would be so anxious over it. And I have been. Like, oh my word, my stomach hurts nervous. I've been practicing questions for several days in my head- since this is kind of like a hot-seat type thing, I wouldn't know the questions beforehand. Eek!  

Sunday rolled around and as I looked at my diary (calendar) for the week I saw it written on Thursday's place. Dread. I prayed, imagined what they might ask and prayed some more. This morning I was so sick I wasn't sure I would make it. Sounds so silly because guess what? It was totally fine. And fun! My interviewer was super sweet and asked some funny, light-hearted questions like Indian food or mexican food? Um, duh! Or seaside or countryside? Brad Pitt or Orlando Bloom? To which I said, my husband is sitting right over there, how am I suppose to answer this? Haha. The good news is that I only choked up a few times on the tough questions and didn't do the ugly cry! Thank you Jesus. So, for 45 minutes I was "grilled" on my faith journey, what God is teaching me right now, all about my family, funny stories and embarrassing stories, who I would invite to tea if I could invite 5 people, etc. I survived, God gets all the glory and hopefully God will use anything I said to encourage our interns.  Also, it was so cute, Addie sat at the back of the room with Marc. He put headphones on her while she played games on his new Kindle Fire he got for Christmas. That thing is the best thing ever!

As we were leaving for lunch- I begged Marc to take me out to eat since I had made it through- the lady who had asked me back in November said, "I don't know why I haven't asked you to do this before!" To which I quickly replied, "It must be God's timing, trust me, I would've said no every time!" She then said, "Great, I'll put you down for next year as well!" 

 

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Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:57:00 -0800 Girls Day Out http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/girls-day-out http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/girls-day-out

Before I tell you about my super fun outing, I found these three pictures from our flight back a few weeks ago. I didn't mention that our flight from Dallas to Detroit was messed up and they put me and Addie in First Cass! Actually, on any other day I would have been super pumped to be in First Class, but with Addison? I nearly had a breakdown. I was so nervous she would be too loud or throw a tantrum or throw food, you just never know! I did get some "looks" from the men in First Class but our sweet flight attendant must have been able to tell I was anxious and she told me not to worry about it. She even said "As far as they know, you are a paying customer and you can sit here!"  She was so funny. So, for about 2 hours Addison and I were living it up in First Class. She talked way too loud, had to use the potty 4 times and ate a lot of snacks. 

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This is a picture of her as we were landing in London, she was OUT.

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But sat up right at the end to see what was going on...this is "airplane hair" - it's always in knots by the time we are done travelling!

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Yesterday, I met my good friend Joy in London for the day! We had a really fun time.  She was flying back to Africa from America, and had a long layover in London. I took the train and bus to Heathrow and once she arrived we hopped on the tube into town and had us a girly day!  I must admit that I was super nervous about this for several reasons, but God was so good to me. I have never (I know, I know) travelled without Marc. And I've never navigated London without him! So, he dropped me off at the train station early Thursday morning with detailed instructions on what I was suppose to do.  But I must say, it was super easy and SO FUN! I'm proud of myself for doing this, I'll just go ahead and say it. *grin*

I even laughed when our train broke down and we had to walk across the tracks to another train headed to London. I sent Marc a text saying "TRAIN BROKE DOWN!" I handled it all very well and just followed the mass of people. I was bummed because I was sitting nice and cosey in Coach A reading Jen Hatmaker's book "7" and when we had to switch trains it was so crowded that I ended up standing in between cars where the toilets are for about 25 minutes. So, I took the train to Reading, England and then you switch to a RailAir bus that is about a 40 minute ride to the airport. It was super easy! As I was waiting on the bus, a girl next to me started talking to me and she was American!  I told her what I was doing and she even said she was flying back to America to see her family for the first time without her husband and we laughed about how we were both nervous about it. We chatted the entire trip to the airport and even hugged when we said goodbye at Terminal 5. Only God could orchestrate that neat meeting for us! 

Ok, so our first stop was to eat lunch at Tortillas- a Chipotle type place. So good!  Then we ended up in Picadilly Circus and just walked everywhere.  Trafalgar Square is just "around the corner" so we spent some time there taking a million pictures. Well, Joy took a million pictures while I just laughed at her. She has never been into London before so she was enjoying it so much. At one point she looked at me and said "I'm being such a tourists aren't I?"  Um, Yes. 

They had this countdown to the Olympics in Trafalgar Square-

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You can see Big Ben from Trafalgar Square, so we took off walking in that direction..passed Whitehall, Downing Street, took more pictures.

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And then we ended up at Westminster Abbey! It was a cold, but beautiful day, so this picture turned out great!  We decided at the last minute to pay for a tour, but we can't take pictures inside. I had been in there a few years ago, but after watching the Royal Wedding in April, I couldn't wait to see it again and stand where William and Kate stood and walk in the door where she arrived- so fun!

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The Great West Door- Kate's big entrance!

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The sun was setting and it was getting colder, so we hopped back on the tube back to Heathrow (about an hour's ride)

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It was so fun to hang out with Joy for the day.  She and I skype all the time and she's such an encouragment to me.  She lives out in the African bush and homeschools her precious kids...she's my hero. She is usually sweating on skype and I'm all wrapped up in a blanket. I love that we can skype from Africa to Wales and encourage each other at this time in our lives!

And a special thanks to Marc for taking care of the girls all day- in fact, they loved it. Daddy fed them Cookie Crisp cereal for dinner so what is there to complain about? 

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Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:16:00 -0800 2011 in Review http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011-in-review http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011-in-review

In trying to blog regularly again, I thought I would do what my friend Amanda did- this little review of 2011 in question format. Better late than never. Here we go...

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

I joined a gym and actually went 3 to 4 times a week! All year long!

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't really make "resolutions" but goals- and yes, some of them I did keep and some I didn't. I've already made a few goals for this year.

3.Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes. My older brother and his wife had a baby girl. And several friends had babies too!

4.Did anyone close to you die?

Marc's grandmother passed away December 31 of 2010, he flew to Atlanta in the wee hours of New Years Day of 2011. 

5. What countries did you visit?

 England, France and Spain  (And we're going to Greece in July of this year! Woohoo! Sun and yummy food!)

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

Hmmm, a hunger for the Word of God like never before.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

February 6, 2011- Cerys asked us to pray with her because she trusted in Jesus to be her savior

April- THE Royal Wedding! It was so fun to live here during that time.

8. What was your biggest achievement for the year?

Probably going to a counselor and admitting I needed help. (see #10)

9. What was your biggest failure?

Constantly comparing myself to people I don't even know in real life from the internet and feeling bad about who I am. 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I finally came face to face with my anxiety issues that I've tried to act like I don't have for years. And finally got myself into counseling. 

11. What was the best thing you bought?

All I can think of is "Duty or Delight" a Bible study that helped me SO much (See # 27)- kind of nerdy I know. Ok, my brown boots? I have no idea.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Well, that would be the grocery store, Tesco. :)

13. What do you get really excited about?

Watching university students learn more about Jesus, coffee, going out to eat with Marc or on a date ;)

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Not really song, but album, would be Passion 2011 because it's been on my iPod since it came out and I always end up listening to it at the gym while I work out. 

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

      Happier or Sadder?

      About the same..generally happy with some sadness mixed in :)

      Thinner or fatter?

       23 pounds thinner, thank you Jesus!

      Richer or poorer?

    On the same end of poor! ;)

16. What do you wish you had done more of?

Prayed more instead of worrying or stressing over life.

17. What do you wish you had done less of?

Worrying and stressing!

18. How did you spend Christmas?

TEXAS!! We spent 3 weeks with family and it was awesome!

19. What was your favorite TV program?

We don't watch a lot of TV....but I did love Downton Abbey Season 1 and 2. 

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

I read a lot of non-fiction, so it would be a boring list to some of you. 

21. What was your favorite music this year?

I have to say I don't really have a favorite- I am not a good connoisseur of music. 

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

We do not go to the movies often here, it's too expensive. But we did see The Help and Soul Surfer, both were great.

23. What did you on your birthday, and how old were you?

I almost had a pity party since I was alone in this country with 3 kids while Marc was in the States at his grandmother's funeral. How pathetic am I? But the Lord just graced me with friends that brought me cake and with all kinds of FB messages. It ended up being a good day. 

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

More of Jesus.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

I am pretty sure I have NO fashion sense...but since losing weight I felt better about myself and wore skinny jeans for the first time ever with my tall brown riding boots and lots of jumpers (sweaters). It was kind of fun!

26. What kept you sane?

You mean who? Jesus.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?

I can not make God love me more. Behaving the right way and doing the right things doesn't mean he loves me more than on the days where I do nothing right. His Grace is amazing and I'm finally allowing myself to receive it. 

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Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:40:00 -0800 Christmas 2011 http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/christmas-2011 http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/christmas-2011

This is my attempt to get back to blogging. Sorry that the last few months I have not been posting much at all. We had a great time in Texas, although exhausting! Going to America for vacation is never restful, but Addison had major sleep issues the entire time y'all! She didn't sleep one night all the way through in the three weeks we were there. Towards the end of our stay, I ended up sleeping in an extra bedroom with just her (because she became a Momma's girl suddenly) so everyone else could get some good sleep. Needless to say, this week has been a week of catching up on sleep and getting over jet-lag. I chose just a few pictures from our time to give an idea of what we were up to! (I'm still figuring out the posterous site, sorry these pictures are huge!)

The day we arrived it was my Dad's birthday, so we of course had cake and ice cream!

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All three girls also got their hair trimmed, and it was very serious according to Addison!

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This is what happens when you go driving to see Christmas lights and you still have jet-lag from arriving!

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Christmas Eve at my parent's house!

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We spent a few days in Tyler, TX with Marc's brother and family...his parents drove from Atlanta, Georgia too so we were all together!  Marc's brother is the Lifeway store manager so we always have fun shopping at his store.  The kids went right for the kids area!

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The big hit in Tyler was roller skating with their cousins at their church! I even put a pair of skates on, but I won't be posting that picture! I'm pretty sure these skates are the exact same ones that we had at my church growing up. Since my mom was on staff we pretty much got free roam of the Family Life Center and the smell of the equipment room is so distinct, these skates took me right back!

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Bailey found my wedding dress! 

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Another family picture! Goodness, the girls are growing up so fast!

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We went down to my little brother's college to see his dorm and hang out. The girls loved it and told me that I could live with them when they move off to college. Ha.

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We did a lot of this....

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My 35th birthday (gasp!) was the day we would be flying back to Wales, so we celebrated early. The girls went shopping with my mom and decorated the house and made me Banana pudding! (Addison and Bailey are trying to hold up "35" with their hands)

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The next day while my mom babysat, Marc took me to the Cheesecake Factory. Wow! I love their white pizza and we shared this Hershey's triple chocolate something cheesecake. 

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We were able to see one game of my little brother's college career- I thought it was funny to see Bailey carry his size 14 shoes. 

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My parent's church have an indoor play area, so on our last day we let them run wild for about an hour before having our final meal at Saltgrass Steakhouse! Marc loves his beef. 

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Caleb and Cerys waiting on their food...

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I will now sleep and go on a diet. 

It is such a bittersweet time- so fun getting to see family and friends all while having a knot in my stomach knowing I would have to say goodbye just as soon as I said hello. I had a few times sitting in the sun watching the girls play outdoors with their cousins, or watching them play with grandparents that I thought "Why on earth do we live in Wales, this is ridiculous. We have to live here near family."  And after a good cry I realize that we do not feel the release to move back to America yet. Maybe we will one day. Maybe we won't. It costs to be obedient. And it hurts at times. But He is faithful.  He gave us an easy flight back here (I was so worried Addison would fall asleep on the overnight flight and wake up screaming and flopping around like she had the last 3 weeks!) and we had no issues whatsoever and I'm so thankful. I'm pretty sure if you can travel with small children internationally, you can do anything!!!  Oh, and another blessing was that my unlce is a police officer at DFW airport and he was on duty the day we left.  He met us at security and he got my parents to go back to the gate with us which was so neat!! Instead of our usual blubbering mess in the security line, we were just a blubbering mess boarding the plane. ;) 

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Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:51:00 -0800 Special Visitor http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/special-visitor http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/special-visitor

We've just had our little family Christmas. The girls are tucked into bed. The house is quiet. Sometimes that is my favorite sound of the day. Silence. (Their giggles rank way up there too, though!)

We're headed to Texas in about a week, which is why we let the girls open their three gifts tonight. We made a paper chain to count down to our Texas trip starting at 50 something days, so to get down to single digits is really exciting for the girls. (Ok, me too!)  Addison tells everyone "We going on a-fane to Texas" and asks no less than 10 times a day if she can pack her backpack yet. She wouldn't remember Texas from when we there in 2010, but by the way she talks about it you would think she does!  It will be a fun-filled few weeks with family and friends for sure!

The little playgroup that Addison and I go to had a "special" visitor (Father Christmas/ Santa) on Wednesday. I knew he would be coming in during the song "Jingle Bells" so I was hovering near Addison and asked her to come sit on my lap, to which she told me no...but as soon as she heard the HO! HO! HO! it was no time before she was clinging to my neck, screaming. She was the only child there that was screaming. I knew she would react that way.  He gave out little gifts of chocolate to each child and as he called Addison's name, she shouted "NO!" So a friend had to go over and get her chocolate for her. This kid will do anything for food, so that was a surprise to me. So, last night around 11pm guess who started screaming "NO SANTA" in her bed?  Poor girl just got her sleep issues sorted out. She was staring at her Peter Rabbit pictures up on her wall insisting that Santa was in the picture. It was so sad. Even this morning she said to me, "Santa not coming to see me, right Mummy?"  

Speaking of Christmas, I bought (for only $4.99) 'The Truth In The Tinsel'  advent book that has been so wonderful!  We have really enjoyed it. There is a short Bible reading each day with some sort of craft- and my girls LOVE crafts. We're not doing one every day because I knew it would be unrealistic of me to try to do all 25 with our trip to the states.  And you know what, I'm okay with that! I've been giving myself A LOT more grace than I ever have and it's so freeing! It hasn't been all peaches and cream, I will admit that yesterday's advent reading was a bit stressful. In hindsight, I should've just put it off till today when we were all in better moods. Nothing like Mummy saying "Shh, I'm trying read about baby Jesus! No, that's too much glue! Stop it! Just glue your baby Jesus on, okay?"  Oh dear. Sounds like Mummy needs a little chat with baby Jesus.

This week coming up is so busy- school Christmas concert, Christmas meal with our church community and packing for America!! 

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Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:24:00 -0800 Thanksgiving 2011 http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/12/thanksgiving-2011.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/12/thanksgiving-2011.html
This year we felt strongly about inviting our neighbors over on Thanksgiving day. We've known them for seven years- since Cerys was born they have brought us sweets, cards, and presents- every child's birthday, at Easter time and Christmas. They are a precious couple who live 2 doors down from us. They have always signed their cards from "Auntie" and "Uncle" so this year when we were planning Thanksgiving, we knew we should spend it with our "family" here. Since it's business as usual here on Thanksgiving day we invited them for dinner that night. Addison and I walked over to their house the week before and gave them an invitation to which they both responded by hugging and kissing us and saying yes of course they would be there! And they gave Addison chocolate as we left, typical. *grin*

So, Thanksgiving night they arrived right on time, with Christmas gifts in hand for the girls. They love the girls so much. When our neighbors started asking about the Thanksgiving holiday, the girls brought them a book to show them and she started reading it aloud to the girls...

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We had a fun night- and interesting conversation. They've been married 53 years and it was a joy to serve them dinner and learn more about them.

On Saturday, we got together with some other ex-pats and had a huge feast. There were 5 other families there and we each brought several items- wish I had a picture of the food table! The kids ran around while the adults enjoyed catching up with everyone. Here are a two pictures- I stole them from Jordyn, our Texas girl who's here for the gap year.

I love this picture of Miss Priss
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Bailey, enjoying her feast!
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And our little family- Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:56:00 -0800 Seven Years Old http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/12/seven-years-old.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/12/seven-years-old.html
How is it possible that we have a seven year old? Cerys had her special day all planned out- so this is what we did!

As soon as school was finished, we drove straight to the bowling lanes! As you can tell from the picture below, Addison was SO! EXCITED!

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All three girls, chillin' on the bench! (Facial expressions are pretty true to their personalities- Bailey: Trying to act cool for the picture. Addison: annoyed at anyone telling her what to do. Cerys: Well, lately her mood changes on a dime, so who knows.)

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Sweet Sisters!
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We had to stop halfway through the bowling game for a bright blue slurpee- I didn't even know they had those things here!

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As soon as we were done bowling, we played a few arcade games and headed to Burger King- Cerys' choice for dinner. I tried all week to persuade her differently. Marc laughed at my futile efforts. After we endured BK, we went home for cake and presents!

She's growing up way too fast!
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She changed her mind about a Mary Poppins cake, and I could not have been more relieved! She chose a pink cake with sprinkles- it was still a labor of love, 3 layers is a lot of work. It wasn't our favorite cake ever since it was quite heavy and dense but Cerys told me "You did pretty good Mummy, it's okay" Ha. (Her doll is Mary Poppins from the Disney Store, she LOVES it!)

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After Skyping with both sides of our family, we all fell into bed with full bellies and happy hearts. Happy 7th Birthday Cerys, we love you!

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Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:27:00 -0800 Hola! http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/11/hola.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/11/hola.html Well I thought I would tell y'all about our little trip to Spain. First of all, let's give God some praise because we had the best flight EVER with all three girls on the way to Spain! We left our house at 5:45am to drive to Bristol Airport (about an hour) to catch our flight to Malaga. So, even with being up so early, the girls were just awesome. And I'm mostly talking about Addison here, because Cerys and Bailey are pro's at flying and they entertain themselves quite well.

Addison was so happy, compliant and hilarious on the flight. She was so proud of being a big girl with her backpack full of stuff. She loved her seatbelt and putting the window shade up and down a jillion times. She did keep calling one of the flight attendants "old lady" and I was considering stuffing her under the seat in front of me. (Addison, not the flight attendant!) I kept looking across the aisle at Marc, who was sitting with Cerys and mouthing "Can you believe how good she's being?" I think I said it a few too many times on the way to the hotel (a 10 minute walk) that Marc finally said "Ok, honey, I got it, she did great, that's great, now let's move on!" Well excuse me for being so excited that we didn't get kicked off the plane!

If all of that didn't already put a huge smile on my face, we arrived in SUNNY and WARM (about 75 F) Spain! I mean, look at this: the view from our hotel balcony.

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We had an apartment in this huge hotel. I'm pretty sure the marble-floored hotel room was bigger than our whole house. There was a bidet in the bathroom and Bailey came running out shouting "Mummy, you HAVE to come see this tiny, cute sink right next to the toilet!" Aw, bless. Good thing I didn't have to explain that one. Some things are better left unspoken.

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Addison loved "frowing wocks" in the water! There was a playground right here next to us in the sand but she was not interested in the playground. I can't blame her.

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Yes, Lord, I think I hear you calling me to Spain....

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While Marc and I were reunited with some friends and met new friends and sat in meetings all day, the girls did some fun activities with a group of Americans that came from Arizona to keep the children. They did lots of VBS (Holiday Bible Club) type of activities and kept them fed and watered. One afternoon we did have a chance to walk down to the beach and the girls were in heaven!

On the way down to the beach we saw this interesting house: Rapunzel style Spanish home?

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Ok, don't judge me on this next photo:

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It's common here to carry a portable potty when potty training you child. It folds up in this little bag and comes with absorbant liners that you throw in the bin afterwards. So, I took it to Spain because you never know when you might need to "go." We were down on the beach and she was desperate and I knew I would not have time to find a toilet. So, see, it's good to have on such occasion. Marc was surprised that I took a picture. I'll show her when she's 20 years old and she will love me for it.

Also, we had fun finding different American food items in Spain. They had cheetos! and chips ahoy! the two important food groups. Just kidding.

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It was an eventful week in more ways than one. A nasty stomach bug was going around the hotel and I'm pretty sure at least one person, if not more, from each family got it. I kind of freak out over the stomach bug. There is nothing grosser (is that a word?) to me. So on our second day there, I knew we were going down. But who would it be? Each morning there were a few less people in our meeting...it seem to knock the kids out first so lots of moms or dads were missing from our group. Sure enough, Friday night around midnight I was holding a bowl for Bailey- there wasn't enough time to get her to the "tiny, cute sink" ;) Thankfully it was short lived and by Saturday morning she was running around the apartment. I'm SO thankful no one else got it. Although, Cerys did look a bit green on the flight home, but she never threw up. Also, the hotel staff were really friendly, but of course spoke only Spanish. They would squeeze Addison's cheeks and say a bunch of words to her. Well she picked up on "Hola!" and would put her hand up in the air as if to wave and shout "HOLA!" when she would walk past all the workers. It was awesome.

We had an equally good flight home, which gives me great hope for our long-haul flight to Dallas in December! The day we arrived home I had a friend, whom I've never met in real life, send us a package of candy corn! Just in time! Isn't she sweet? That bag is gone now. They were sure good.

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We arrived back home Sunday afternoon and we sent Marc off to preach at The Well. I stayed home with the girls and frantically started laundry and getting things ready for school the next day. We were exhausted! On Monday the 31st our friend's had a "Clashing Colours" party at church, so we joined in. I didn't get a picture of any of us, but Marc got one of Addison. She didn't like the balloons popping- but she loved the other silly games they played. One guy got an answer to a quiz wrong and had to have baked beans poured all over his head. The girls were cackling and Addison kept saying "Him got beans on him head!" Hahaha. I love 2 year old speak.

Here's Addison in her clashing colour glory: She was very concerned at first about wearing two different shoes.

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And finally, Saturday night was Guy Fawke's night or Bonfire night. So we went into town to watch the fireworks, but it was cold and we couldn't really see the fireworks over the castle wall. We're too cheap to buy tickets. Well, sort of. We bought tickets last year and it was not really worth the price. So we ate dinner at home (fajitas) and went to Krispy Kreme to get a donut before fireworks. Except that KK was about to close (everything closes early around here) and they only had about 4 kinds of donuts to choose from. And they were out of sprinkle donuts. And it was too long till the fireworks started. And it was too cold to stand outside. And, and, and...

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And, so I told the girls, get over it and smile for the camera!

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While Addison hid under her blanket and cried "I WANT TO GO HOME"- Yep, just another typical Verlander outing. Except we did have our awesome gap year girl with us to experience all of this. She's like the 6th member of our family, whether she likes it or not! :)

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So we headed home, put the girls to bed, made coffee and got under a blanket to watch the A&M vs. OU football game. I think it was OU that played? As you can tell I'm not that into it. I just like being in the room and asking "What happened? Is that good? Why is their mascot that?"

Also, just let me mention that I dyed my hair on Friday night- tried to do what the salon did back in May- going browner. I bought a "nice and easy" box that wasn't really nice or easy. It turned out a bit red. Thank goodness it's non-permanent and will fade. I washed my hair six times on Saturday. Not kidding.

So, I know this was a totally random post but I wanted to share our Spain pictures since the walk to school this morning looked like this:

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Most of the leaves are gone and there's a chill in the air. But God is good. He blessed us last night at The Well with 9 new faces and so that makes 23 in total last night. We were just so excited, as each person came in the front door I was bursting on the inside! I love students and it's just so neat to be apart of what God is already doing here in Cardiff. I love chatting to them, making them tea or coffee, listening to them and just watching them learn about God who loves them so much and wants a relationship with them. We covet your prayers each week as we mentor students and as Marc preaches the Word each Sunday night.

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Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:38:00 -0700 Puh-kin Kitty http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/puh-kin-kitty.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/puh-kin-kitty.html
I saw this Smart car parked near our house and I had to take a quick picture with my phone. When you have a Smart car and there's no room to parallel park, no big deal!

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The weather has been much cooler this week- like in the 30's a few mornings. I was running around the house getting some things done and I noticed Addison was playing in the sun coming through our bedroom window. You do what you gotta do during these Welsh winters.

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I went into town to get my tins of pumpkin before they are all gone! There is one store that sells them (for a price!) and they are usually sold out really quickly. Last year I was on a waiting list to get some. So, I'm now prepared for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

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The girls had school pictures and parent/teacher conferences this week at school. We're really proud of both girls and how well they are doing in school here. To celebrate we went to IKEA and got ice cream after school on Thursday and then on Friday night we went to Costco to eat pizza for dinner and get an "extra large" pumpkin to carve. We might have also bought some giant cinnamon rolls that need to GET OUT OF MY HOUSE.

Today we chose our pumpkin or "puh-kin" as Addison says, theme. I wanted to do a giant V for our last name. Everyone told me that was lame. Cerys thought a big heart with "Jesus" written inside would be good. We had all kind of ideas but since Marc is the resident carver- he vetoed all our fancy ideas. So, a Puh-kin Kitty it is!

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Last year none of the girls would dare stick their hand in that messy pumpkin. I can't blame them. This year, they dug in with great gusto- even Addison who called it "gooey chili?"

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And there you have, Puh-kin Kitty!

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The girls are out of school this coming week for half-term and we are headed to Spain later in the week! We're hoping for SUN and warmer temps! Have a great week!

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Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:04:00 -0700 Phone Dump http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/phone-dump.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/phone-dump.html
Since my last post was a bit on the serious side and I'm feeling extremely vulnerable, I thought I would post some pictures that I've taken with my phone.

Addison playing in the back garden:

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Bailey is ever the fashionista. She loves anything with matching tights:

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Marc had a quick meeting one day after church. What else is there to do but push your sister around in a funky chair?

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We had four or five really nice days- no jacket days!! It was glorious!

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Do you have grey nail polish? You should get some. I'm in love.

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The first night of The Well:

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Poor Kate, she's in a box in every toy shop:

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Our glorious days are gone and autumn is here. This is a typical view from my kitchen window looking out to our garden and garage:

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Addison took the canopy off the baby doll crib and shouted "I da Queen!":

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My view each morning on the way to the gym. It's cold and silent:

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One of the best Bible Studies I've done in a long time:

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I got some red patent ballet flats from Clarks for only £13.00! I love them!

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Bailey often dresses quite hilarious. I call her Memaw sometimes. She also decided that the flower pot was ugly and needed a design. Cerys is digging for worms:

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Addie and I visited a play place today called Jazzy Jungle. We were freezing- but thankfully the heaters were on:

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Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:08:00 -0700 Stirring The Nest http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/stirring-nest.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/stirring-nest.html I wanted to share something with you that I hope will encourage you. This morning I was on my knees on the bathroom floor praying through Psalm 86 out loud. I was desperate to hear from God. I needed to know that he hears me, sees me and cares about me. I know this stuff, but when you are in the midst of a battle it's hard to remember sometimes. Maybe I'm an easy target for the enemy because I believe his lies too easily. But I've felt attacked, which sounds dramatic but it's the only way I can describe it. It seem every few years I go through this- just a real, heavy, battle. I can feel "it" on me, around me, every where and it tempts me to despair. Some old things I thought I had worked through, even had victory over seem to come rising up out of the ashes and can seem HUGE in my eyes. As if to say, "This is the time it's going to be the end of you, You never get through this" kind of thing.

This morning as I was praying I got to verses 16-17 of Psalm 86 and it says " Look down and have mercy on me. Give your strength to your servant, save me, the son of your servant. Send me a sign of your favor, then those who hate me will be put to shame, for you O Lord, help and comfort me." That verse stuck out as if it was the only verse on the page. I said "Yes Lord, Yes Lord" over and over and then had to get on with my day of getting myself ready for church and the three little girls. As I was sitting in church I felt the urge to run out of there. I fought it and looked down at a note card that I wrote 2 Thessalonians 3:3 on, "But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one." I read it over and over and then the guest speaker got up to talk to us.

He read Deuteronomy 32:11 "like an eagle that stirs up it's nest and hovers over its young, that spreads his wings to catch them and carries them on it's pinions." I immediately sat up to listen harder. Something grabbed me and I couldn't take my eyes off the huge picture of an eagle he had on the screen. He began explaining that the mother eagle will stir up or messes up the nest when it's time for the little ones to learn to fly. She hovers over the nest, ready to swoop down and catch them if they are struggling to fly. Tears filled me eyes. He said that we might be cosy in our nest today or we might be flying, soaring just fine in life. But maybe we are falling and struggling and when we do sometimes nothing makes sense, even our theology seems to not be working and we can't remember any promises from God. In his great Welsh accent he said this is a beautiful picture of our great God- he swoops down so to speak and carries us on his wings to safety. I got home and read in J. Vernon McGee's Commentary this- "This is the way God watches over those who are his own. God pushes us out of our nest sometimes, not because He doesn't love us but because He wants us to learn to fly- He wants us to learn to live for Him. This is a wonderful description of the goodness of Jehovah."

Last night before I went to bed I had been thinking that maybe God is trying to teach me to fight in some ways. To stop taking the lies and filth that come straight from the enemy's mouth. Maybe it's time I start recognising it at the first lie and not even entering in to the enemy's mess. Usually, I cower down and start agreeing with the lies and before I know it, I'm a wreck. I feel like I'm falling down in the dark abyss of torment and chaos. It's a scary fall. This morning I believe was for me. I prayed that God would help me see or hear from him and this morning, in the chaos that was my mind, He spoke calm, peace and love. I'm His child. I'm chosen. He cares more than I will ever understand. What the enemy has meant for harm for me, God has meant for good. The enemy wants to destroy me, but God, maybe is using this to "stir my nest" and teach me to fly. To stand up. Enough is enough.

I hope you find that as encouraging as I did today. As Romans 8:15 says, "For you didn't receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, so we cry Abba! Father!" I'm so glad I call on my Abba Father to reach down and pull me out of the pit. Help me, Jesus.

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Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:26:00 -0700 Untitled http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/one-probably-shouldnt-log-into-blogger.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/10/one-probably-shouldnt-log-into-blogger.html One probably shouldn't log into Blogger when one does not have a thing to write about.

So, how are y'all? Good. Good.

We've been busy with various things this month- one of which was the first night of The Well! We're a small group right now, about 15 of us, that is meeting on Sunday nights to worship together, hear from the Word of God and share what we are learning in small groups and also serve our city in any way we can. We've met for the past two weeks and it's been really neat. Marc is doing an awesome job of preaching each week, I'm super proud of him. We've definitely felt the enemy this month, so if you think of us, we would so appreciate your prayers.

We are going to Texas for three weeks at Christmas!! We're very excited! One night at dinner we asked the girls what would be the best Christmas ever and they said going to Texas but it's too far. Then I said, "Well guess what, Daddy got us plane tickets today, we're going!" Bailey just stared at us and Cerys teared up and kept saying "ARE YOU SERIOUS? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" So, the countdown is on.

I've been staring at this keyboard for about 5 minutes. Sometimes there's just too much going on in life to write a blog post.

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Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:08:00 -0700 Funny Stuff http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/09/funny-stuff.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/09/funny-stuff.html So I will remember these one day, here are some funny things the girls say right now:

Bailey- "I don't like crust-ez" (as in bread crust)
"You are the best-ez Mummy in the whole wide world" (my personal fav!)
"Well, I'm pleased to tell you...." (imagine strong British accent)
and all manor of British words like- lovely, fabulous, cheeky, etc

When Addison wants me to do something with her she ends her sentences in "me"-
"Mommy, do this puzzle me?"
"Mommy, read this book me?"
"Mommy, get juice me?"
"Mommy, get biscuit me?"
"Mommy, turn Mickey Mouse on me?"

As you can see I'm her personal assistant.

And Cerys. Oh me. She is hilarious. Her sense of humor is developing and not only can she "get" jokes, she makes them up too! She's planning her 7th birthday that is coming up in November with a list of things she wants to do or get. I wrote on her list last night "7 birthday spanks" and she lost her breath laughing, "Oh Mummy, you are so hilarious." It's awesome to see her start to use "big" words in context, well mostly she uses them in context. Ha. She wrote out her list and it is as follows, in her own spellings:

1. bowling
2. movey (movie-Mary Poppins)
3. diner at Burger Kind (King?)
4. present

And she informed me she wants a Mary Poppins cake. Anyone have any suggestions for me?

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Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:19:00 -0700 Freedom http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/09/freedom.html http://marcandcharity.posterous.com/2011/09/freedom.html On Thursday I was hoovering (vacuuming) upstairs. I pulled out Addison's crib away from the wall to hoover behind it because it gets so dusty. I remembered that the backside of her crib was broken and propped up with a piece of wood. Classy, isn't it? It was safe, don't worry. But since I've just potty trained her, I figured it would make sense to take that broken side off her crib and allow her some freedom. Ahem.

What was I thinking???

Actually, it hasn't been that bad. Yet. We put a bed rail on the side so she won't fall out even though it's not that far to roll out. So there is just a small space where she can get out. The first day she thought it was great and called it her "new gate." I put her down for a nap and she slept great, didn't even try to get out of her bed. I was amazed. Then at bedtime that night, same thing, she went right to sleep and even woke up at 5am saying "I wanna get out my bed" and I thought that was funny because she didn't even know she could! Now, Friday was a different story-two potty accidents and she kept coming out of her room- but the thing that keeps playing over in my mind is how she was free, but didn't know it.

She's been in her crib for over 2 years. She was so used to it that she didn't even attempt to try to get out.

It's a lot like me actually.

Jesus Christ has set me free from anxiety and fear, but I sit in it many times not even recognising that I can get out! It's familiar, it's comforting in a weird way because it's what I know, it's what I do. But there's so much of life out there, if I would just scoot to the edge and climb out.

"Now God, don't hold out on me, don't hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keep me together." Psalm 40:11 The Message

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