Our Christmas Doings

We have really been having sugar overload around here and more cookie baking to be done today! I just love sweets and so that is being passed on to my girls! We made and decorated some sugar cookies and then undertook the arduous task of making a gingerbread house. Our house has roof problems and we had to do some structural engineering to keep it from collapsing. But amazingly enough it is still standing! But I wouldn't advise every eating one of these- the frosting is gross and the gingerbread is even worse! Maybe next year I will think about baking one (probably just think about it and then buy another kit :)


Our sweet little Klaire helping celebrate Karoline's bday!

The Secret Life of Wise Men

Did you know that the wise men live under Klaire's exersaucer and when they aren't bringing gifts to the Baby Jesus they are having tea and crumpets with the barbies.

Merry Christmas to all!

Wanted to wish you all a wonderful Christmas. How blessed we are to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior. As I sat in Sunday school yesterday and listened to all the prayer requests for people groups around the world who are enduring tortured and death for their belief in Christ, I realize how important it is for us to thank God for our freedom and pray earnestly for their protection and the continued growth of the Gospel in those places. How fortunate we are, and I pray that we all realize the blessings we have here in during hard times.

Our family wishes you a very Merry Christmas (or mari critmas as Katie would spell it) and a New Year full of joy!

Karoline is Two!! Woo-hoo

Our little Karoline is two! She had a wild birthday week- yes week. In our house birthday's last all week long- lots of cake and lots of celebrating. So we started her birthday week in FL at my dad's house (papa)- her bday was on SUnday the 14th and Kris was preaching at my dad's church- The Vineyard. Now I know most would disapprove of this- but instead of breakfast we had birthday cake and ice cream! Now the reason why is becuase there was going to be no time for a party that day seeing that we had to be back home in time for Katie's Christmas Musical at church! Crazy day- I don't like crazy days.

Well party two came on Thursday with Grammy and Big Jim (Kris' parents). Grammy helped me make my first attempt at making a decorated cake. I would say it turned out really well! But my hands were died red for a few days. So we had here Elmo party and present unwrapping and lots of tears because the five year old wanted to play with everything the two year just got. Any advice on that- I am open to suggestions on dealing with gift sharing??? But all in all the party week was great. Lots of sugar and lots of baby dolls!

Checkers in our house

These are mini-documentaries of the multiple uses of checkers. Hope you find them enlightening.

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas

Just wanted to share some pictures of what is going on around our house this month. It has been a lot of fun, and a lot of mess, but that's okay. We are doing a Jesse Tree and it helps keep us on track each day as to why we celebrate Christmas- which of course isn't all the yummy treats and presents. It is hard though to teach a five year old that Christmas isn't about whacha gonna get, but about what Christ gave for us. They are both learning, and by God's grace they will get it.

I must say, I do dream of being cooped up in a warm cabin in the mountains of Tennessee with snow falling all around outside, as the crackling fire is burning in the fire place. The children playing simple games and playing quitely as Kris and I read books. But God has given me south Georgia humidity that is slightly chilly and a house of squealling, screaming, laughing,crying sweet little girls- and reading a books- yeah right- the only books around here come with pictures!! Maybe one day when we are all older we will get to that cabin in the snow, but for now I praise the Lord that we have a loud, crazy house full of noise.

Oh, and will all you pray for snow here. Katie is convinced it will snow on Christmas Eve.

Lil' Pilgrims

Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, there are so many things we could list to be thankful for- But how about the top ten.
1. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for making life worth living and providing for our every need.
2. Our girls
3. Our parents- how they have blessed us, more than we can ever thank them for!
4. Our extended family
5. Our Family in Christ- you mean so much to us and have been such a HUGE blessing to us.
6. Having a house to live in
7. Our daily bread
8. Having reliable cars
9. Heat and air- boy aren't we spoiled!
10. Living in a free country

We have a paper chain hanging as a window valence in our kitchen with many more things we are thankful for. I'm sure your list goes on and on also. We are a blessed country and a blessed people and I pray that on thanksgiving we spend time with our families remembering and recalling all that we have to be thankful for.

A princess and little monster

Thought I would share our Halloween pics. Katie was a pink princess, she was quite excited although this picture does not show it at all, looks more like we were dragging her out to trunk or treat! Karoline was Elmo, one of her many favorite characters, and quite fitting for her since she can be a little monster at times. Klaire went as herself and slept the whole time. We were in AL and visiting Kris' home church- FBC Level Plains- so we did their trunk or treat.Lots of fun and luckily we had to leave before the trunk or treat started, so we missed all the candy! Yes, they did get some candy, but not the bucket full that they didn't need.

The month of October ended with us visiting Kris' parents in Alabama and then turning around and spending the next week in FL with my dad. We have been home a week and have spent that week battling a "family" cold. It is so nice to share germs with your family. Well, Lord willing, we will all be healthy to head back to FL for Thanksgiving at the end of the month.

And NEWSFLASH- KATIE MULLIS LOST HER FIRST TOOTH!!!!! We are so proud of her. She wanted Kris to tie a string to it and do the old door slamming routine, but I opted out of that for her, and she ended up pulling it herself. The tooth fairy visited and left $2- that is the going rate in our family- and a puzzle. But the tooth fairy was quite clear that gifts were extra special and only for the first tooth and not to be expected here on out. She is quite cute with her missing tooth and we are expecting another tooth launching in the near future.


We wish you all a happy thanksgiving and don't forget to count your many blessings, for we all have many.

The Election

Even though I am a wee bit nervous about the upcoming election, I know that God is in control and he appoints the president, not us.

Don't forget to vote!

Mark Driscoll speaks on The Shack!

Flippin

Sweet Karoline

Just wanted to give an update on our Karoline. Karoline is almost 2 and a ball of fire! If any of you watch the show Reba, then you know her fiery daughter Kyra, well I have feeling that Karoline is going to be a lot like Kyra. Karoline is sweet though and the most loving child. She is very gentle with Klaire and gets upset when Klaire cries. She is little mother in the most literal of sense. I know you aren't suppose to compare, but who doesn't! So the only child I have to compare to is Katie and what is so funny is that all the things Katie wasn't interested in at Karoline's age, Karoline is interested in. For instance, Katie did puzzles (and still does) like crazy from about 1 year on. Karoline has no need for them. Katie never liked dress up or girlie things till she was about 3. Karoline has been prissing around with a purse on her arm since she could walk. Karoline loves dolls and stuffed animals and playing kitchen and doing all the prissy girlie things. I just think it is amazing how different each child can be, yet I didn't truly get it until now. God has made every child so unique and special in their own little sweet and peculiar way. Karoline has certainly shown me that. She keeps up on our toe with all her antics, but I would want her any other way.

Here is Karoline being mama to her baby. Her naked baby at that! What is it with kids taking off baby doll clothes!

Katie's a sparkie!

Here is our new sparkie! She is so excited about AWANA and loves working on her bible verses. She makes sure she has them down before club, and we don't have to reminder her at all!


Katie said a funny today at breakfast that I just had to repeat it. We had biscuits and gravy from Hardees and Kris made some comments about gravy and God- not in the same sentence- and a few seconds passed and Katie said why are you talking about papa. I said,"Do you think papa's God?" She said,"No mom, gravy, papa's name is gravy." Well, my dad's name is Grady, which I had no idea she knew his first name, but I found out that she did. So I had to call my dad and tell him Katie had renamed him to Gravy! Lesson here, kids pick up a whole lot more than you think, and they misinterpret some of it.

School Time

Well, after all the hemming and hawing- we are doing it- homescholing that is. We started with Katie last year doing preschool stuff and beginning reading. But now we are full steam ahead into homeschooling and I must say, it is going rather well considering a newborn and a 20 month old in the mix. Katie is doing well and enjoys it for the most part. Our day consists of bible memory time, phonics, handwriting, math and once or twice a week science. History is done by reading books at this point- it is amazing how much history you can get from picking out the right books at the library- not to mention American girls are great for a history lesson. She is also going to AWANA and is an offical Sparky and quite proud of it! She loves going and memorizing scripture. It warms my heart to hear her recite God's word. She also goes to children's choir on Monday afternoon at FBC Jesup where we are attending. So all is starting off well. Please continue to keep us in prayers- as tempers do rise at times when trying to teach and learn.

As a side note- GO McCAIN/PALIN!

Katie's Doings

Katie had a busy and fun summer. When we got to Papa's house in FL she started swimming lessons and did a great job. A few days a week she would go to Ms. Brenda's as we call it (our friends daycare) and she would have some time with kids her age and older. She had some firsts at Ms. Brenda's- she went bowling, skating and got to go to the movies without mom and dad.

Katie celebrated her 5th birthday in July and with all that had been going on with Klaire we had a spur of the moment party and her good buddy Cade, from Georgia came down to help her celebrate. That in and of itself was the best present she could have had- she loves Cade! And he was such a good sport, wearing a princess crown for her party.

Well after much prayer- Kris and I have decided that homeschooling is what we are going to attempt this year with Katie. I have always felt convicted to homeschool since before Kris and I were married. I had figured that with Klaire being born so close to beginning Kindergarten that we should just put her in school, but a few months back I just felt that we needed to go forward with the homeschooling. And so that is what we shall do. Please to pray for us as I want this to be a positive experience for all of us. I am currently looking for a homeschool group in our area and have found a few. We already have all the curriculum, so now I am waiting for the first of September to go full speed ahead with it (hopefully that will give me time to get the house in order). I am very excited, although I think Katie is a little disappointed that she will not being going to "big" school as she calls it. But a five year old doesn't get to make educational decisions :). We will keep you posted on how it all fares.

Thought I would share that Katie does memorize more than TV slogan. We had started memorizing Psalm 23 about a year ago and she still can remember it. I think memorizing scripture for children is so important- it will not return void in the years to come. Katie will be starting AWANA soon and that will add to the scripture she has already hidden in her heart.

Our New K

Well, after much traveling we are finally home in Georgia with all of our family. Our beautiful little girl Klaire Austine was born on July 6th at 7:32 a.m. My dad got me to the hospital at 6:40 a.m. and shortly there after she arrived. Kris was not able to make it in time for the birth, mainly because my lack of knowing what a contraction felt like!


Please keep Klaire in your prayers. She has what we like to call it "poo poo problems". So to spare you the details, we have to help her poop. She is doing well though and pooping great, we hope that her problem will be fixed in the next month of two and that surgery will not be required. The techical name of her problem is anal stenosis if you want to look it up. But she is healthy and eating and sleeping great. She is a real blessing to our family and thank God she is doing so well.

Katie and Karoline are the best big sisters any baby could ask for. They both are very caring and gentle (for the most part). Karoline is very sweet to Klaire and is always concerned about Klaire having her paccy. Katie is a huge help and loves her little sister so much- maybe a little more than she does Karoline- simply because Klaire cannot mess with her "stuff" yet.

Well, that pretty much sums it up right now. Think I will go and take a 5 minute nap!

RED GREEN!

For those of you that aren't familiar with The Red Green Show...here is a clip. This show was awesome. I would classify it as Canadian Redneck. Remember, if they don't find you handsome, they should find you handy.

One Step Closer...

As of today we signed a contract for someone to purchase our home in MS. We are thrilled. The potential buyer has to sell their house. But, we are confident that God will take care of this as well. Personally (Kris), I am thrilled to be moving to Jesup, GA. Their is no place like Georgia. I believe that Shana is excited about being so close to family. In less than 1 month we will be in GA again and hopefully we will remain residences of the State for a long time.

Finally moving to Georgia!

Like the title says- we are finally moving to Georgia, just not the Atlanta area or back to the church.This is the story... Kris has had his eyes on a transfer closer to home since he started working for the BOP, we just figured that it would take a few years. Not so... he will be reporting to Jesup, Ga in June! We are both very happy about this move. It is funny how God puts you where he wants you to be, just in his timing. Kris will still be doing chaplaincy for the BOP, same position and same pay, just closer to what we think of as home. It will put me closer to my dad- about 2 1/2 hours, and a little closer to Kris' parents. So folks- we are for real moving this time from Mississippi.

Please keep us in your prayers, cause as you know I am due July 22nd. So basically the plan is that the girls and I are going to live with my dad in FL and have the baby there and then move to Jesup in time for Katie to start school. I am having to put my homeschool aspirations on hold till we get baby K a little bit older. So here is what we ask you pray for
- Sale of our house
- Easy Move and transition
- Place for Kris to live temporarly in Jesup
- Delivery and Birth of Baby K
- Be able to find a house to buy before Katie starts school in August

It is alot of ask for, but God will make it all work out, even if it isn't quite like we would like it. One way or the other this baby is coming and Kris has to be to Jesup in June- those things are certain!

Thanks for your prayers and we will keep you updated as our journey progresses. I must say that I am always amazed as to how the Lord provides for us in ways we couldn't ever image. He is such a great and awesome God.


Katie in her ballet and tap outfit
Karoline rocking away

Its been a while

It has been a while since I last blogged. But we have been in a little bit of limbo. To get you up to date on us... First, things did not work out for us to return to the church that Kris had pastored in Ga. Second, my early months of nausea just about did me in with this pregnancy. But praise the Lord I am over it and back to cooking for my family. Third, we are having a little girl with the possible name of Kelly Anne Laura, but that could always change. So that about covers what major events have happened in the Mullis household. As spring and summer approach and I get bigger- which you could not tell I was half way through my pregnancy right now, but as I get bigger and it gets hotter, life will get busier around here. But it's all good and we just can't wait to add our newest girl to the family. As a side note, if you haven't heard about the California Homeschooling case, please check out www.HSLDA.org for more info on that and you might have noticed the parentalright.org logo on our page now- check that one out to. It is pushing for a constitutional amendment that gives parents the right to raise and educate their children as they see fit, and it would limit the courts to making these outlandish rulings on subjects they have no business in. Just keep in mind there are a lot of federal and international groups who would love to have complete control of how our children are raised and we need to stop them before they get to far. I will stop harping on that- but please check out the websites and see for yourself. Pray you and your family are doing great!