Easter Surprise!

Keith and Nichole,
What a timely match.
God gave us to each other.
There was no need to catch.
Madison, Morgan, Mallory, and Meghan
were special gifts sent to us from Heaven.
But, would we have a little boy one day?
A year and a half later Joshua was on the way.
Would he get a brother...a playmate even?
"Yes!" was the answer when God gave us Stephen.
God is Salvation and Crowned Victorious!
We pray these two boys for God's Kingdom will be glorious!
Joy, sweetness, and laughter is what we needed.
Maleah Grace, full of them all, soon proceeded.
Is our family complete, O Lord?
For the answer we would wait.
"Not Yet", says the Lord.
So we welcome baby #8!

Well, this is the poem that we had the children read on the Lord's Resurrection Day because we couldn't think of a more special time to celebrate what God is still doing in the lives of His people. All of them were very excited and even today at lunch, our three year old told his daddy, "Daddy, Mama's gonna have another baby." We just laughed and Keith said, "Really? How did you find out before I did?" Of course, Stephen thought this was fantastic that he told his daddy something he didn't already know!

Lord willing that everything goes well, we will welcome a new little life in the beginning of December. That will only make 3 birthdays, 1 anniversary, and Christmas in the same month. What better time to celebrate?!

Praising the Lord,

Nichole

Beautiful Hair!

While these last few weeks have been trying, taking care of sick children and washing everything in sight, during nap time one day I decided to get out that Beautiful Hair Treatment that I bought from the Bulk Herb Store a couple of years ago. It had been in my freezer along with many other herbs that I have gotten from them over the last few years. In the directions it stated that a good time to do this might be when you know your husband will be gone for a day or two and since Keith was out of town, I thought this time would be great.

Of course, I couldn't resist doing it together with all of the older girls (except the sick one).

Bless her heart, she was only able to lay down and watch. Although a little Vitamin D did her some good!

After mixing all the ingredients and getting chairs and towels set up outside, we began slopping that stuff all over their heads!

At this point they are not so sure about what I had talked them into doing.
We all agreed that it smelled like Maleah's feet after taking off her leather shoes after she had been running around and sweating in them all day! We sure hope this is worth it???!!

I can promise you that we did not do this to "turn heads", but I have to admit that catching Stephen in this picture was too cute to pass up. He was really just wondering what in the world we were up to. I had to get a picture of the finished product. Even after wearing that stuff in our hair for an hour or so and then only rinsing it out until the next day when we would finally wash it, it was fun. I can honestly say that the girls have healthy hair anyway, but I knew this treatment would do them some good. And, yes, I took part as well. I just decided to spare you the sights of that one!

The mixture consists of different herbs that are good for the skin, body, and hair. Herbs like oatstraw, chamomile, horsetail/shavegrass, and nettle. To it you add some lemon juice or vinegar, a couple of eggs, and olive oil or mayonnaise. Our particular blend was for blond hair. I bought it to use on myself. As you can see, Madison, who is the oldest, and Morgan, the second oldest have some blond highlights (natural) and the treatment really enhanced those highlights. My hair is slightly blonder than theirs and it really made the blond look lighter. My hair is very soft and seems so free of all the chemicals that I put on it with hairspray and gel, etc...

Doing this a couple times a year is all they recommend and probably all that we would do, but it is definitely worth the time and the smell.

If you are interested, you can check out the Beautiful Hair Treatment and much more about herbs and such over at http://www.bulkherbstore.com.

Nichole

Mighty to Save!

The last couple of weeks have been trying for our family. We have had two little ones come down with a very strong illness, that hopefully we will find out in a few days what caused it. It has been one of the worst times of sickness for these two. It has weakened and pained their little bodies and required constant care and clean-up.  Although sleep-depriving and schedule-altering, it has also been a blessing. It has slowed us down. Me, in particular. I have spent many hours of holding, hugging, wiping, cleaning, praying, and caring for them. Painful, but special time.

One particular morning, after 3 long days of no eating and fighting dehydration, the second little one barely had enough strength to speak. I walked by her bedroom door to hear what I thought was whimpering. I immediately went in to see what was wrong and found her peacefully asleep and singing. Although I had to get close to hear her, I recognized the words....."My God is Mighty to Save, He is Mighty to Save...." over and over. I knew that I was experiencing one of the sweetest moments in my life. I thanked God for her and for the time we have had together. Even in the midst of her sickness. The verses from Psalm 8 came to my mind, "Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger."  I am no theologian, but for me in this moment, out of the mouth of this little one God gave us both strength and silenced the enemy in his efforts to drag us down and defeat us. We chose to praise and thank God. 

No matter what you are facing today, whether small or big, our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save!

Blessings,

Nichole