Things that make me Smile :-)

My Family!

Bubbs needed to take a family picture to his first day of preschool (per his teacher), and we then realized we hadn't had a pic taken of all of us, since Baby Girl was like a week old. So we thought it was about time. :-)

I love my crazy family!

Prayer Request

If you think about it, can you say a little prayer for my brother-in-law Gerald? My sister could not wake him up this morning, after he was shaking violently in bed. After trying and trying to wake him up (he WAS breathing though), she ended up calling 911 and he was taken to the hospital via ambulance. After running multiple tests, they concluded that he had a seizure.

We are unsure at this point the cause of the seizure though. They are releasing him from the hospital this afternoon, but under strict instructions to not drive for 6 months (per the law). This will be tough on their family, as he is the only driver in their household. Please pray. That no more seizures would occur, that they would find the problem that caused the seizure, and that they would find transportation to do what they need to do for the next 6 months. Thanks so much!!

Family Pictures

Good friend Jami Dean has taken our family pictures for the past couple years. She does a terrific job, and we are always very pleased. She is even very patient with my children (specifically Isaiah) who does not like having his pictures taken. So that's an extra bonus! :)

Love this "mommy pose" below =) Just wish Lilly was smiling more.....

To me, the one above and the one below, I don't really look preggo, I just look really really fat! =(

The one below is unofficially Isaiah's 4 year old picture.......

Do they look like brother and sister or what? ....wonder what #3 will look like.....

So what do you think? Which is your favorite?

I'm ba-ack!!

Back from bloggy break cyber friends! Aren't you just sooooo excited? ;)


We had a great Christmas and New years. We spent the new years with my sister and her family and 2 kids. And yes, all 4 kids stayed up til midnight and rang in the new year with us!


Shortly after midnight we left to come home, and both kids were zonked after being in the car for only about 3 minutes. Sweet! :D


New Years Day we had our annual Japanese Sukiyaki Lunch over at mom and dads, courtesy of Chef Dad :) It was YUMMY......as usual! I'm not a big fan of a lot of Japanese foods- even though I am half Japanese, (mostly because a lot of it is fishy stuff or tofu or icky stuff like that....), but I do love me some sukiyaki :) Then we got a good photo op of mom and dad with the kids.....





Then on Saturday, January 2nd we went up north to Cameron, and got together with my dads side of the family, since we had never made it over there for Christmas. We met at the veterans home my Grandpa is living.


That is dad's brother, behind Gerald and Valerie and dad's sister behind Grandpa in the wheelchair....



Signing off for now, but look for me tomorrow, where I will post my "highlights of 2009" and "my goals what I am looking forward to in 2010" Yes indeed, it shall be exciting. ;)

Family Day

Yesterday we spent a fun day as a family, and went to Fritz's for lunch, and then to Union Station to Science City. Had lots of fun - wore the kids out. Goal accomplished. :) Here's proof:

For those who have never been to Fritz's, it is inside Crown Center, and a kid-friendly place to eat. There was no one eating there who did not have children with them. Seriously! The food was average. So-so. Nothing to write home about. But it was not about the food- it was all about the atmosphere. They had a phone at each table. When you were ready to order, you picked up the phone and they would answer back in the kitchen to take your order. They have a train track and trains, above the booths, and a train would bring your food to your booth, and lower it down and you would grab it from there, and the waitresses would deliver your drinks. It's really a cool place, and the kids were facinated with all the trains going by all the time!


Then we drove the next street over and went to Union Station, and to Science City. Our kids might be a little young for that place still, but they had a good time anyways. And of course, we had to take a ice cream break :)

All in all, family day was a success. :)

Mommys Proud Moment

Ok, so I had a very proud moment of my son today. And let's just be real, those seem to be few and far between lately, so it just made it even that more special. I know, it's sad. But all his um, not-so-good-vices seem to outweigh his good or cute moments sometimes. Just being honest!

So let me start at the beginning, and paraphrase (otherwise this could be a very lengthy post)! :)

Today was THE day at our church. The day our church has waited on......like forever, it seems like. It was the Grand Opening of our new addition to our current church building. did that make sense? And lemme tell you..........it looks AMAZING! I will definately be taking pictures and posting them later. It looks incredible. Our sanctuary is good size, seats over 1,000, but our christian adult education and kids' class rooms were definately bulging at the seams. So we added 7 adult education classes, a new fellowship hall, a huge kitchen, a coffee shop/bistro, a new kids check in area, a game room, 10 kids' classrooms and a new kids church room. Anywho, back to my proud moment. ( I tend to get off track....) :)

So to make a long story short, today was the big day of the grand opening, when we all have access to the new rooms. So the service this morning was of course, all dedicated to that. Pastor Jason had a great sermon, that brought many of us back down memory lane as he revisited the journey Evangel Temple took the past 2+ years.

At the end of the sermon, there was a special song, by our worship team and our music pastor, Pastor Ryan. During that time, we had what is known as "cardboard testimony". If any of you have never heard of that, it is where one by one, certain people walk across the stage, holding a sign........it could say, I was a sinner.........I was an alcoholic.........Did not want to go to church.......Abandoned........Lost..........you get the idea. They would hold it up for a couple seconds, then flip the sign over, and on the other side it would say something like .....now I am found........Found Jesus!..........Back in church.........and so forth. It is a very powerful time, as many people go up there and flip their sign over, showing their life before, and their life with Christ now. Well my family had the priveledge and opportunity to be the last ones today at church to flip their signs over.

It all started with Grandpa Haines (Jer's Grandpa). His sign said........"No time for God". Then Jerry came out (Jeremy's dad) and stood next to Grandpa and his sign said, "Raised in church", then Jer came out and his sign also said "Raised in church", then out came Isaiah and his sign said "That's my Great Grandpa, Grandpa, Dad". Then, all 4 of them flipped their signs over and here's what they said..........

Grandpas: Accepted Christ in 1955

Jerrys: Still in Love with God

Jeremys: Still in Love with God

Isaiahs: The Legacy Continues

It was very powerful and very emotional. I don't think there was a dry eye on my pew! (my sister and parents were sitting next to me). I was so proud of Isaiah......he walked right out there on the platform and flipped his sign and stood out there so good. I was a very proud mommy! Now for pictures......:)

Sonya helping Isaiah with his sign and helping him flip it over :)

Standing next to Grandpa

Isaiah got preoccupied with the musicians after a while when Pastor Jason started talking... :)




And of course, I was so focused on getting a clear picture of Isaiah, I didn't think to get one of all 4 of them holding their signs, until they turned around to walk off the stage.

to the far left is Jeremy, then his Grandpa, then his dad :)

What an awesome, amazing legacy the Haines family has. My children are blessed. As are we.

Please pray.....

I am asking all of my reader friends to please pray for Grandma H again. She is not doing well at all. You can read about what's going on with her in my previous blogs.

Anyways, I talked to my father-in-law tonight, and I guess she is getting disoriented and forgettful, and saying off the wall stuff sometimes. She is extremely weak and tired, and just needs a touch from the Lord.

She is going in tomorrow for an MRI. The doctors don't think there's a whole lot else they can do for her though.

Please pray! This is very difficult for the family, as Jer's family is so close.

Meet the Teacher & an Update

We went to Lilly's preschool meet the teacher night at her school tonight. We came back with some more info on the school and how it is run. Her teacher seems very nice and friendly. She tried to talk to Lilly, but of course Lilly hid behind me. Lilly wasn't on her best behavior at the school, and got a talking-to in the car later, but hopefully will warm up to the school and her teacher soon. I think we were just trying to push her too much tonight. Lilly needs time to take it all in, and adjust. She can't just dive in to a new surrounding quickly. I'm hoping she'll adjust quickly. In the meantime, we're talking a lot about her school and riding the school bus, here at home. It will be fun! and the countdown is now.......FOUR days til preschool! woo-hoo!

On the other news-front.....I talked to Grandpa H on the phone on Tuesday, and was asking about Grandma. She's been having some good days (PTL!) where she has been up a lot of the day, but then she's had some not so good days. Jeremy's aunt and uncle (Grandma's son and daughter-in-law) went to visit her a while back, and her son trims the shrubbery at their house, and his wife stayed inside and talked to Grandma, and she actually sat up and talked to her for about an hour- which is good for Grandma. Usually she wears out sooner than that. So they are pretty much taking it one day at a time, and replying heavily on their (and our!) prayers. Grandma has lost all of her hair, which I know she is self-conscious about. She has always had perfect hair, going to the beauty salon religiously. I asked Grandpa about coming to visit her, and he said that he will tell me what he has told everybody else, 'that Grandma will let us know when she's up for visitors'. Which I have to admit, hurt my feelings a little. I mean, we're not visitors, we're family. But we will respect Grandma's wishes. And continue to pray for her! Grandma has a another test soon (I believe he said today, actually) that will determine if the chemo is helping at all. And once they get the results on that, it will determine if they continue more chemo, or something else.

But praise the LORD, we know the Healer!