I am posting some more pictures I took of the Missouri Ice Storm in January 2007. I converted my blog over to the new Google Blogger and it has edited all my pictures below and cropped em off. So here's some new ones. I am proud to say that the local newspaper printed a full page of my pictures in the latest issue! I love taking pictures and it was really cool to have someone acknowledge them. I hope you enjoy them too.

A Missouri Ice Storm 2007

Praise God for Electricity!!!! Ok this has been one of the craziest weeks of my entire life!!! It all started Friday night when the storm rolled into the Southwest Missouri area. We got ice Friday night and lost power for the night but it came back on Saturday morning. We got more ice starting Saturday night and at about 10:00 pm our power went out again. This time it stayed out.

We got more ice Sunday and some very cold temperatures the next few days. We have not had power until today!!! I am praying for the folks who live in the rural area's who are still without power and have no reassurance of when power will be restored. They are saying it could take weeks!

At one point all of (the county I live in) was out of power. 100% of us!!! This has been such a damaging wide spread storm. There's been numerous deaths from people miss using propane heaters in their home and getting carbon monoxide poisoning.

We have had to throw out all of the food that spoiled in our refrigerator that we didn't eat. We have been staying with family who has a generator so we weren't home the past week. At one point we had to wait in line at a gas station in another town to get gasoline for the generator. Every station in town was closed since there was no power in the entire town for over 4 days.

I have taken a ton of pictures over the last week of the damage the ice has done and some beautiful scenery pictures. We are bracing for another storm coming our direction this weekend. They are saying we could get up to 8 inches of snow but please no ice!!!

I am so thankful God sent the ice and took our power away for this last week! I have never been more thankful for the home and family I have. God has to show us how blessed we are sometimes by taking away things we take for granted.

More pictures of the ice storm

Here is a light pole down in someones yard

This yard is full of limbs

This is the view from my front door

Niangua River

The creek

Mr Squirrel

These guys worked long and hard to get power back to us I love them

Here's the latest video from Brett. He's singin'

January 2th was Chris's birthday so before he got home the kids planned surprises for him. Emily made him a card and we cut a slice of cake and put a candle on it for him. Then they taped this happy birthday song for him. They all hid and we turned the lights off when he got home and they jumped out to surprise him. It was so cute Logan was so excited all day and then he had to sing happy birthday to him again after he watched the video. Kids sure are great!

I bet my mom is ready to kill me right now ;) Sorry MOM I love you! I told her two weeks ago I would post this video and I've just put it off and put it off but now I am actually doing it. On December 24th 2006 my daughter Emily was baptized. She was so excited and I was excited for her. Now I was baptized in November of 2000 and yes the water is very cold that time of year... We baptize in the river around here ;) Anyway I was trying to prepare her for this little detail and no matter how much I told her the water would be freezing cold but she'd only be in there a minute she just acted like it was no big deal. Well as you can see in the video when she stepped in she decided that it WAS actually a very big deal!!! She looked like she was gonna chicken out but luckily the preacher got right to it and didn't take his time. You can see Emily kickin' as she comes out of the water. She was cold cold cold but she says she is glad she did it :) Praise God and I'm blessed!

Brett's 2nd Birthday he got a toy vacuum cause he loves them lol and Logan was more excited than anyone.

Brett got a new big boy bed for his birthday!!! Logan helped him pick it out ;) Brett wanted the Elmo bed but Logan insisted he get the Spiderman bed... so after much thought... Brett agreed that he needed the Spiderman bed too...

It took me an hour to put the thing together but it was worth it cause Brett loves his new bed!

Psalm 34:1-3
1I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Thinking just of myself I can't imagine how much negativity I spread with what comes out of my mouth every day. It's so easy to complain or talk others down... Why? I often catch myself gossiping or saying things that aren't nice, or yelling at my kids. I don't like doing these things. They always leave me feeling miserable. Verse 1 is definitely something I want to apply to my life. I would much rather let the praises of God fill my mouth and go forth for others to hear. I should be magnifying the Glory of God instead of contradicting it with the words spewing from my lips.

I am trying to spend more time reading my Bible :) During the day I find myself watching talk shows and junk tv just because I'm bored. Well no more! Instead I'm going to crack open the good book and fill my mind with the word of God :) I need to keep up to date with my blog postings too so I'll be posting more :)

Philippians 1:12-18
12But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; 13So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; 14And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: 16The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. 18What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Amazing Scripture... Paul sets such a great example to all believers. In spite of being in prison he is able to think of the positive aspects of his situation. He shows all believers that every circumstance can be used and should be used to spread the Gospel.

Paul could have felt sorry for himself and spent his time questioning God and wallowing in self pity. However, he chose instead to praise God. He didn't praise God because he was in prison but because God was still using him to spread the Gospel. I don't think Paul is saying God wants us to be happy when something bad happens to us... That is unnatural. Instead Paul shows us to focus on the good instead of the bad.

Starting in verse 14 Paul talks about people who preach the Gospel for the wrong reasons. The only reason to preach Gods word is out of love for God and unbelievers. In spite of those preaching for their own gain and glorifying in Pauls inprisonment he was able to see past that and just be happy Gods word was being spread. He didn't condemn or judge, he praised God and rejoiced that Christ was being preached.

My uncle Abraham tied the knot. This is him and his lovely new bride Toni!

Me and the Bride ;) Toni

This is me and my uncles Caleb and Aaron.

This is me, my Dad, my sister Misty and her two cuties Macey and Mattie.

This is a picture of the whole clan on the Teerlink side... Well not the whole clan but those who were there. I'm not even going to try to name them all.

Me and my sister Misty :)

Me and my Dad!

Me and my Lovely Grandma Ruby Teerlink.

Me and my Grandpa Abe Teerlink.

Emily was a flower girl in a wedding this last weekend. Chris's cousin Amanda was married on Saturday November 11th. Emily was so excited about being a flower girl. These are pictures from the rehearsal and dinner after. Emily's cousin Devin was the ring bearer. There were two flower girls in the wedding so he had his hands full. I'll post pictures of the wedding tomorrow.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Here are our little Trick or Treaters! Brett was Mike Wakouski... not sure if I spelled that right. It's from Monsters Incorporated. Emily dressed up in my old dance uniform from when I was a little girl! I even put makeup on her which she loved! I'm scared to death at how old it made her look! But she loved it. And of course our Logan is the Red Ranger! He was lovin' it. Brett was so cute all night. He was just overjoyed that people were giving him CANDY. He clutched his little bag and even when it got to weighing a lot he wouldn't let it out of his reach. He just drug it with him everywhere. Logan and Emily were nervous over the people dressed up in scary costumes but Brett didn't worry about it at all. As long as they were giving him candy and he knew Daddy was right behind him he was goin' in for the Candy. It was so cute!

We went to the Open House at Logans preschool last night. It was so cute to watch him run around and show us around. Chris's mom and dad came with us and got to see him in action. He just kept dragging us from one thing to the next he was so proud we came to see his school. We got his school pictures back too!!! They are beyond CUTE!!! I came in the day they were taking pictures to help the kids dress in the clothes they have because these are old time photo's. It's a good thing I volunteered too cause I got Logans pictures for half price!!! It pays to be helpful :) I just love these pictures. I posted Emily's school picture too so as not to leave her out.

Another Football Game!!! Emily got a little distracted at this one again with the dirt... What is so fascinating about the dirt??? She loves cheerleading but she is so easily distracted. This last week at practice I had to go up and interrupt the cheerleader teaching Emily's group so I could take Emily in the hallway and have "a little talk" about her behavior. She wasn't paying attention and was just laying around and jumping all over the place... I know that she really likes cheerleading cause she is so excited before each practice and each game and afterwards that is all she talks about. She can say all her cheers and she enjoys doing them and cartwheels and jumps are her favorite. I just wish she could focus a little better. I guess that comes as you get older. Here are some pictures of her and some of her buddies ;)

Best Buds ;)

Something wonderful happened today! We had a great morning getting ready for church we were on time and everything :) It's a very rare occasion for a Sunday morning for us. When we got to church someone didn't show up to teach the class Emily was in so it fell to me... Of course I despise it when this happens because I miss out on my Sunday school lesson and I have to teach without any preparation what so ever. Well this Sunday was a bit different. I had five kids in the class and we talked about being saved all morning. They wanted to know all sorts of things and it was really enjoyable.

Emily has been asking lots of questions about being saved lately. When we told her believing in Jesus isn't the same as being saved I think a light bulb went off in her brain. All of a sudden she felt vulnerable I think because she realized that she needed to be saved. The other night Chris and I were answering questions for her and she was just really wanting to understand how to get saved. So Chris and I explained to her the basics. For anyone who doesn't know, the basics are that you have to recognize and acknowledge that you are a sinner and deserve hell. We will never be equal to God or good enough on our own to stand in his presence. Knowing this we then need to realize that we indeed need a savior. We need to realize that Jesus is that savior. He is the one and only savior who came to this world to die for us all. And finally the very last thing is we need to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We need to trust and know that what he did was sufficient to save us and wash us clean. When we believe this we are saved :)

So Chris and I explained that to Emily and each time she said "I believe that," but when we would ask her at the end if she was saved she would always say she didn't know. So we just asked her to keep praying until God told her in her heart the time was right. I think this conversation took place on Wednesday night. She has been praying and we have been really praying hard for her because she is really under such strong conviction.

Then it happened... Today at church I went to the alter to pray and I have done this before often and Emily has seen me... but today was the first time she followed. I knelt down to pray and a few moments later I felt Emily kneel down and hug me. Chris and his Mom followed after a few moments. I could tell Emily was really nervous because a lot of people were coming forward to pray with her and I was so worried I didn't want her to feel pressured. I wanted her to know she was saved because God said it was time, not because she felt pressured. I whispered to her and told her to pray and we would pray with her and she was finally able to answer yes to the very last question. When the preacher asked her if she was saved... she said Yes :) I've never felt so happy.

After church she was just so excited and telling everyone she seen. She said she can't wait to get to school to tell her teacher and her friends. She wants to call Grandma in Hawaii but we didn't get to today so if you read this first mom be expecting her phone call ;)

My Little Cheerleader :)

Logan had a real great time for his birthday. He loved blowing out the candles as you can see...

He even got out the candles out on the second blow ;)
This was his favorite toy... The Giant Power Ranger
This was his second favorite... Or actually Bretts favorite... The Spiderman couch!!!

I am so excited!!! I started a new home based business and unlike some of the others I've done I think this one is actually going to work and I'm going to enjoy it. I'm a stay at home mom for anyone who doesn't know and any other stay at home moms out there know that it's pretty hard living on one income and staying home all the time can become monotonous. I have tried numerous things like selling PartyLite and Home Interior and Country Bunny and I never enjoyed doing that and it always seemed so hard to get people to host home shows and I hated the thought of people feeling obligated to buy something when they attended.

Check out my beautipage click here

I've signed up to be a BeautiControl consultant. I love this company because it was very affordable to sign up and they don't have all the strict rules the other companies have. I can sell this stuff on ebay and not be breaking the rules and if I don't want to host home shows or as they call it "spa's" I don't have to. I only have to order $100 worth of stuff every 4 months to remain a consultant. The great thing about it is I love the products so I will order that much for myself alone :p.

I had never heard of BeautiControl skin care products before going to a home spa so I was mainly going to help a friend of a friend who had started selling and she needed a practice group. I'm so excited about doing the in home spa treatment thing because it is so much fun. I don't have to sell stuff either cause I'm not a salesperson I suck at sales. This is just fun cause you go and give a group of three or four women a relaxing spa treatment and if they enjoy the products they can purchase them and they're so cheap. I have been buying Oil of Olay stuff at Wal-Mart and spending twice as much.

All you mom's out there have to check out my Beauti page. It isn't anything like the other home based businesses and if you love make up and skin care products you'll love BeautiControl. They have a microderm abrasion system that is just awesome if you have skin acne issues. I am going to start an extra blog just for my BeautiControl business and I'll post pictures and stuff of different spa's I do. I'm so excited!!! Did I say that already? Oh Well I can't help it I AM!

My son Brett loves to dance. This isn't a great quality video cause I took it with my phone but it sure is funny...

Sure has been a while since I've bloged. Life gets so hectic. I've been working hard selling a ton of stuff on ebay for Chris's dad. I take about five packages a day to the post office so it's been going pretty well. It keeps me pretty busy. Logan started preschool and he just loves riding the school bus. He's still adjusting to a new routine and is a little frightened when he gets dropped off in the morning but he's getting better.

Emily is loving cheerleading. They got to perform at their first game last week. It was cute as could be. I took some pictures and also video taped it so if I get it edited sometime soon maybe I can get it uploaded here. For now here are some pictures I took.

Our kitty died today. His name was Moochie and he was such a cool cat. Chris had him for six years before he met me and we've been together eight years now, so Moochie was about 14 years old. That's pretty old for a cat. He used to be an indoor kitty but our second boy Logan is allergic to cats and his face swells up and he has asthma attacks when cats are in the house. We had to make Moochie live outside for the past three years because of this. I tried to find homes for him because he was such a good cat and I hated to see him living outside. He was declawed and neutered so he didn't have a chance against some of the neighborhood mongrels we have running around. He got beat up a lot and I tried to just keep him on the porch but cats wander.

It was really sad to see Chris crying because of his kitty dieing. He really loved that cat and Chris hates cats, if that makes any sense. Emily is also pretty sad. She understands though that Moochie was really old and people and animals don't live forever. Poor kitty I'll miss him.

Haven't been keeping up with my posting and I've been writing songs!!! I'm so excited I am actually playing my guitar and writing real songs. :) Here are some cute pictures to hold you over till I'm tired of singing... :p

Brett cheesing it up and sporting a black eye... Poor kid always has a bruise somewhere...

Logan probably gave Brett the black eye when he was trying to steal his chocolate ice cream :p