There is a light...

at the end of my tunnel. It all began with a bad day at work and let's just say since then I have been struggling. I have been struggling with that fact that I spend 5 days a week behind a desk, away from our daughter and yet I still have no money? I enjoy the first two weeks after pay day and then it's no life till the next payday... I will tell on myself here, I'm not the best with managing my money! So with the bad day at work and the fact that I have no money left to spend freely on I have had pondering thoughts as to why I am even working? Ok, I know there are many great reasons why I work and probably the most important reason is because my income is needed to pay the bills. I am going somewhere with all of this...

So after a long, boring day at work I come up with a plan, a goal, a life changing matter! I immediately get home to talk to Jeramy about my goal:

"I want to be able to stay home in a years time, therefore I think we need to rearrange how things are being done and do a mock run on our finances over the next twelve months!"

This one sentenced turned into a night long discussion, lots of quiet moments, almost tears and a lot of stress...And that is all of Jeramy's emotions! ;) hehehe

The final result of the conversation is this: My new car, that I got in August, has to be paid off before I even think about being a SAHM! So I am going to continue to pay our normal bills and I will also pay $1,000 a month towards my car... Jeramy is going to continue his normal expenses and pick up grocery money and gas money. This whole thing will be putting a strain on him and I am very grateful to him for being so open to the situation! As a result of this 99% of our leisure activities will be no more. This is a sacrifice we are going to have to make eventually, so why not start now and get ahead as much as we can. Now doing this in a year will be hard so our goal is to pay off my car, then ultimately we will have to save money for our next child, once that is done the light at the end of the tunnel is that much closer!!!

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family and I know each and every one of you will be so supportive to us and will understand why this is so important to us. Starting this in November is going to be a huge challenge because of the Holidays. Jeramy and I are not going to be able to give as much as we would like and as much as we are used to giving! (This will be very emotional for me, as well as stressing) The Holidays are about spending time with your family and friends and we are going to have to take that to a whole new level, but I know you will all understand why...

I am open to any wonderful ideas you may have as to how I can make extra $$ and please feel free to give us any support you can offer up! With all of our strength and with the power of prayer I know we can accomplish this. Please keep us in your prayers too :)

Tinsely Brooke Pippenger Is Here!!!

** Before I go on, I promise I was given for permission from Jill to post pictures of Tinsley! ;)


Let me just start by saying, I have been so excited for this baby girl to get here! I consider Tinsley and Cade and Kent and Jill, family. Those two kids have the most wonderful, compassionate Father and the most devoted, loving Mother. What a blessed family they are!

Tinsley Brooke came into this world just after 2pm on Wednesday October 8, 2008. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and she was just over 19 inches long almost exactly the same as Cade.

For me emotions were high. It just brought back so many precious memories that were soon forgotten. Tinsley is absolutely beautiful! She has this sweet little peach fuzz hair and cute little button nose, like her brother. She is a peaceful little girl, who is eating and sleeping so well. I am so anxious to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady inside and out!

Jeramy and Tinsley

Me & Tinsley

Sweet Tinsley Brooke!

Me & Jill

Judy and Tinsley

Kent and Jeramy

A Mother's Love

A Mother's Love

A Mother's love is something
that no on can explain,
It is made of deep devotion
and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish
and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it
or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving
when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters
even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing
when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty
of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining,
it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret
like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendoured miracle
man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence
of God's tender guiding hand.
by Helen Steiner Rice

To my sweet friend, with whom I love and adore!
Bethany

Just like her Daddy!

It was clearly identified this weekend: Ella is her Father's daughter! They are just alike...

My little monkey does not hold still for one minute. She is at her best playing with other kiddos or even just playing with her toys. She is crawling from room to room, exploring her new world. She enjoys cords! Go figure and blinds... (why do kids enjoy the things that they are not suppose too?) Ella tries her hardest to pull herself up on things, like the coffee table. At times she succeeds and you should see the look on her face, Total Amazement! However, she is not steady enough yet to accomplish this task each time and especially with out supervision! Below are a couple of fun videos taken in the past couple of weeks:

Ella crawling across her room:

Bath Time:




New Toys:
(It amazes me that she figured this out all by herself!)

Oh, how I love this time of year!

Camping, football, tailgating....It's officially Fall!


This past weekend we had wonderful time camping down at Sugar Camp. This is our favorite camping spot and over the years it has been taken over by a group we like to refer to as the "Train Wreck!" But we're taking it back.... jk :) We usually enjoy tent camping, but with a youngin' we thought it might be a little easier with a camper. The boys prepared for this event all week long, hauling campers, cutting fire wood, cutting the grass and even trimming out a volleyball court. We enjoyed a wonderful evening with our closest friends and a few others, but none the less, it was a great camp out! The boys even got in a jeep ride...

(insert) Ohhhhh!

Volleyball

Boys Love Jeeps!

First Date?

A little about me

I'm giving it another go....

In the beginning of August, I started doing aerobics classes during lunch. The first class I went to was Abs & Tone. Well we toned more then abs and my legs were toast. About an hour of lunges later, I can barely walk down the steps at the Rec Center! There after, I tried to complete a different class, Triple S, and officially pulled my quad muscle. It was not fun and I became totally intimidated by these classes. Then school started, busy time in my office and for 2 weeks I didn't even take a lunch, then we went on vacation, one week after catching up at work I try it again...

Yesterday I completed Kick, Punch & Crunch! I think this a good class for me... I am sore today, but it's a good sore! I am going to do some cardio today, probably walk/jog intervals on the tread mill and tomorrow, if I get a lunch break, do a Yoga class. I'm really excited about Yoga. I have never done anything like this before!

I am notorious for beginning a program then slacking off... Due to time, or lack there of, if I miss a day or for what ever reason choose not to do it, I lose my motivation. SO I have decided to take it one week at a time. This week just OK.

What a difference a week makes...

As you all read in an earlier post, our goal was to have Ella sitting up by our beach trip, well that didn't exactly happen. She was close and could sit up when placed up and hold herself up with her arms, but she could not sit up on her own or even for that long. Fast forward a week after vacation, Ella was at Gramma Kim's on Friday and as they played, she sat for at least an hour! (that's the longest thus far) By Saturday, my little bean was going from the floor to sit up position with no problem! WOW :) Now she is a sitting up machine. Oh and we discovered TOYS! We were over at our friend Henry's house (Angel don't you love how it's Henry's house now!) Henry has so many cool toys. Angel decided to take Ella over for a toy test drive and she was all about it. She sat there and played like a champ! I thought to myself "I have totally deprived Ella from these cool toys!" So I got home and pulled out the toy box Aunt Heather gave us and she went to town...

These past two weeks have been huge milestones for Ella Jean. She has developed so many knew abilities and they just keep on coming!
Last night Ella crawled!!!!!!
It was only a couple of steps but it was definitely something she will be working towards and mastering in a few days. She loves this new and exciting time! (pictures/video to come)