Fun Photo Shoot

My sister-in-law got super creative with an impromptu photo shoot with our children. Here's the results...

A Visit from Our Nephew AND A Mellette Duet

Enjoying a rare moment with our only Mellette nephew (plus, our 2 children)

My children participated in our church's children's Spring Celebration on Sunday evening. The evening was full of precious music and Bible recitation by children as young as 4 and as old as 13 giving glory to our Heavenly Father. It was an added treat to have my dear sister-in-law here to accompany my children on the piano. She lives out of the country and so this was REALLY an added blessing!

Here's a YouTube video of the Mellette children duet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8_cagV-n2A&feature=channel_page

A Cheery Post on a Dreary Day!

Since last week's posts were "downers", I thought I'd update you all on the ongoings of the Mellette family...

Our 7-year-old Prince is doing much better! He's tummy has resumed its normalcy and the bed railing has been purchased, so hopefully no more falling out of bed episodes!

We had such a nice weekend taking advantage of our Easter present - a membership to a local Recreation Center! Our children LOVE swimming in the indoor pool and we simply praise God that everyone is healthy to do it! :o)

On Sunday, Hubby and I were blessed to be a part of a VERY special Worship service at our church. Our worship pastor invited a guest musician to lead worship. The guest musician just happened to be the man who brought Hubby and I together vocally! We travelled with this "musical genius" on a small vocal ensemble with Lancaster Bible College. So, to participate on the worship team Sunday morning while the "musical genius" was playing the piano was SUCH A TREAT!!!!

To bring sunshine to your dreary Monday morning, I've posted 2 very unprofessional videos of my absolute FAVORITE singer, my hottie hubby! (I can just see my sisters groaning...they "adore" the fact that I refer to my husband of almost 9 years as "hottie hubby")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_nw9Kuo2s8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-nalME6dMY

Psalm 150

1 Praise the LORD.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD.

Back from the Hospital

I don't normally blog twice a day, and even though my arms from my elbows to my fingers hurt, I wanted to update you all on the conclusion of my "Tough Tuesday."

At the close of school, our son's name was called to come out of the car line to where I was waiting for him. I commented to a friend how long I thought it was taking him. When I saw him, I knew he still must not be feeling good. He told me he felt as bad as he did this morning, that the pain hadn't lessened. After our short ride home from school, I lifted up his shirt and noticed his one rib was sticking out...it never looked like that before. I called our family doctor and after quickly changing into jeans (thank God there was 5 minutes to do that), we went to the doctor's.

When the nurse looked at our son, she, too, thought his rib was broken. But when the doctor pressed on my little prince's ribs, he didn't wince in pain. The stomach area was what really made his face squirm in pain. Without x-ray eyes, our doctor said he couldn't figure out exactly what was causing his pain - Could it be something wrong with one of his organs? Possibly a liver lacerations? Could there be internal bleeding? Without tests, we'd just be guessing. SO....we were instructed to go to the hospital stat!

Our 7-year-old little man had to drink this super nasty bottle of grossness within an hour for the x-rays, CT scan, and then, an IV, blah, blah, medical jargon, and so on. Notice, I have no clue what the medical lingo is but I'm so thankful it's so readily available!

Can I also just mention here that family is awesome?!!? When I was tearful - oh, yes, I was - I was able to call my sisters and sister-in-law, my mom and my hottie hubby called his dad, too, just to unload and get them to pray. My mom and dad took our pretty little princess so we could focus in on our little prince - how nice and thoughtful! My sister and niece came to the hospital just when we needed someone else to step in to try and persuade our little prince to DRINK, DRINK, DRINK that nasty iodine contrast junk. And, when I needed some more creative help, I called my dear friend who just "happens" to be in radiology school! She was SO helpful as she told our son over the phone to drink the "magic potion" that will "highlight your insides!" Thinking that his insides would be like "glow-in-the-dark" was some added motivation!

My niece and my sister

On a side note, my ever-so-understanding ol' college friend totally understood when I asked to cancel my Uppercase Living show for this evening! Don't you just love Christian sisters?!!!? She was so understanding and encouraging...yes, I cried a little to her, too!

Close to 8pm, we got the results from the tests...all of his organs look good...the only thing - which is minor to any major organ - was that his bladder didn't look exactly right. I don't know, compared to all it could have been, I'm so glad that it wasn't anything serious!

When we were walking out of the hospital, who was there at the very street we walked at upon but my dear parents!!!! With them was Kentucky Fried Chicken - ah! Supper! Thank God for such thoughtfulness and generosity!

What will tomorrow hold? I don't know, but I know Who holds my future!!! Thank you, Father, that I'm still relatively sane after this Tough Tuesday!

Tough Tuesday

All of this happened before 9:30 this morning....

Our son fell off his top bunk a little before 3 this morning and cried for an hour. He's still not himself. He said his stomach hurts. I'm not sure what to do. He's at school and so am I. I'm subbing in instrumental music (I have a break right now).

Before I go on with how my day at school started, I have to tell you that once our son finally went to sleep, I had terrible nightmares. I was frozen in fear! I kept waking up from the nightmares and then, from terrible numbness in my hands! In other words, not the most restful of nights!

It hasn't been the typical subbing day either - the classroom where I am to teach today was locked. I went to the closest teacher and his key wouldn't work. I called from another teacher's room and maintenance was sent to unlock the door.

I noticed one of my sisters nearby my locked classroom so I went to chat with her quietly (there was a meeting in the foyer). Then, I went over to my now-opened classroom to see the chairs weren't set up! So, off I went to set up the chairs. For a reason only God could orchestrate, I glanced out the window. Mind you, I had NO time to glance out the window because a class of 8th graders were about to make their way into my classroom, but I noticed something out of the corner of my eye...my hysterically crying 4-year-old nephew! He was wandering outside of the school in the rain just about to round the corner, out of sight! I quickly opened the window and yelled out to him to stop! He heard me and I made my way outside. He came with me inside and I brought him quickly to my classroom. My sister wasn't far - she was busy setting up refreshments for some visitors that were going to tour our school later today. She never dreamed her son would exit the car in the short amount of time she was inside!

Remember I said there was a meeting going on in the hallway so I couldn't yell over to my sister to tell her I had her son, so I tried calling her on her cell phone but she didn't answer. In the meantime, I glanced at the lesson plans. Usually the plans are emailed to me and I look over them ahead of time, but it was just one of those days! The students were due to arrive in 2 minutes and as I looked at the lesson plans, it read, "Get VCR and Projector". UGH! I had to go to another teacher's room and retrieve the media equipment. Hand-in-hand my nephew walked with me as fast as his little legs would walk. The bell rang just before I reached the classroom to get the media stuff. We dashed to my classroom to see it already filled with 8th graders. As I returned, I again looked out the window to see my sister's car gone! It's good I'm not afraid to multi-task because I had my nephew by my side as I was trying to get the VCR working and at the same time, I'm calling my sister to tell her I have her son! I was so glad she had her cell phone on her at this point! My sister was teary-eyed and frantic trying to find her youngest! School officials were already looking for my nephew, but here he was with me! Anyways, my sister and her son were reunited - praise the Lord! But, that ol' VCR, man! I couldn't get it working! Two dear teachers came and rescued me. One fixed the VCR while the other found some class rosters for me. My hands keep going numb...perhaps it's a bit of a panic attack - only God knows!

But on a more cheery note, our Easter was fantastic! I enjoyed singing in the Cantata at church, the meals at my parents', the Easter egg hunt - just loved it! I longed for the day to just keep on going! But, you know, God knew I needed a remarkably good Sunday...He knew what kind of Monday and Tuesday I would have! Yes, I didn't even tell you about Monday - that's in the past and I'm just trying to live out Tuesday!

"...Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. " Philippians 1:6

I've had little interruptions here and there as I've written down today's blog. The 2 last interruptions were just delightful...around 12:30, my eldest niece brought me my lunch from the cafeteria. She even spent her hard earned money on me, buying me a refreshing Turkey Hill Green Iced Tea! How sweet and thoughtful! As she left, my hottie hubby came with a treat as well, a warm french vanilla cappuccino! Needless to say, I need to end this blog to use the facilities, but oh, the caffeine! How'd they know I'd need it?!!? I have an Uppercase Living show this evening.......

Speechless

As I think of what Jesus did for me at Calvary, I am speechless. To think He lavished His love upon me and to have the opportunity of being called His child leaves me speechless.

Second only to my husband and children's beautiful singing voices, is Steven Curtis Chapman. As you think of the cross, go to YouTube and search Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Speechless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-1wj7_Q6k

Easy Chicken Meal

My dear friend makes the most delicious chicken dinner...I asked her for the recipe and as well as my memory serves me, here it is!

Ingredients:
Raw Chicken
Italian Seasoning
Box of Manicotti
Alfredo Sauce (depends on how many you're serving 1-2 jars)
Italian or regular can of diced tomatoes
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1. Cut raw chicken into small pieces and mixed with Italian seasoning
2. Cook manicotti (boil shells for 7 minutes)
3. Prepare baking dish by lining the bottom of it with Alfredo Sauce
4. Fill manicotti with raw Italian chicken pieces; put in pan
5. Top manicotti with the rest of Alfredo sauce and can of drained diced tomatoes
6. Bake at 350^ for 50 minutes, sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese

Serve with garlic bread. Yummy!

Sorry there's no picture of this delicious dish...I made it for my husband's co-workers and before I had a chance to take a picture of it, it was gone!

Our "New" Kitchen

On Saturday over breakfast, my hottie husband made the mistake of saying, "Today is YOUR day, Wanda. Whatever you want to get done today, we'll get done!" I'm guessing his coffee hadn't kicked in at that point! What a help he was! My overindulgent idea was to paint our kitchen cabinets!

Unfortunately, you won't see the before pics...that's because when I first thought about taking the before picture, the cabinet doors were already off! Oops! But, if you can just imagine, it was simply UGLY! The cabinets were painted a dreadful white and I attempted to stencil some cute butterflies and things on it to make the white look better. I kept thinking that the white cabinets would make the kitchen look brighter, but dirt and spills kept appearing so quickly! I felt like I could never clean the cabinets enough!

The first picture is of our pretty little princess keeping busy on the playground while Daddy was sanding the cabinet door and I was beginning the painting. She's saying "What's Up?" Not sure where she got that, but she sounds so adorable saying it!

I didn't get a picture of our son because he was on the computer at that point. The other day at school he got a "Gold Card", he got it for good behavior and as a reward we allowed him to become a member on "Club Penguin"...a fun website for kids.

When our pretty princess got tired of saying, "What's Up", she decided to help Daddy with the sanding...

Here's the finished product...thankfully my dear hubby fixed all of my oops and mess-ups! Here's his little coffee nuk...

In March we had to get a new frig when our 9 year-old frig suddenly died. Thank God for parents who can help out in a jam! Too bad the lighting in this pic is so bad...it's a very dark dreary day out today.

One of the corner cabinets...

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs." Psalm 100:1,2