So much for which to be thankful!

I hope that y'all had as wonderful a Thanksgiving holiday as we did. We spent most of the weekend out at Boys Ranch with my family. The kids built up strong memories for the future.


They received plenty of cuddle time, they rode horses, played on hay bales, went hiking, decorated Thanksgiving cookies and a Christmas tree, Uncle Michael brought his wii over and we all had a great time.

The adults (Joel, my youngest sister-Tiffany, her boyfriend-Wes, and I) went fishing while the kids were hiking with Poppa. I'm the one who loves fishing and yet Tiffany was the only one who caught any fish. I think the final count was 7! They were just little perch, but I was fishing right next to her. We'd both get bites and she'd be the one who brought in the fish. She was fishing with Dara's barbie fishing pole and the hook was smaller than the rest of ours (I'm saying that's why she caught so many while we didn't. Don't know if it's true, but it makes me feel better so we'll just go with that.) :)One of the moments that I'm most thankful for is Friday afternoon. I was moving a load of laundry from the washing machine to the dryer when I hear a clunking in the bottom of the washing machine. After I got all of the clothes out, I realized I had washed Joel's thumb drive. It's the one he uses for everything (like our bills - all of them)! As he plugged it into the computer, I sent up a desperate plea for mercy to my loving heavenly Father. It worked long enough to save everything over to the computer! Don't let anyone every tell you that God is too busy to care about the little things. He is good all the time!

(You can barely see the light flickering on the thumb drive. It was a beautiful sight!)

We came home on Saturday and had a second Thanksgiving with Joel's family on Sunday. It was such a relaxing day - just sitting around visiting and playing games. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures to show you of how funny four adults look when they are trying to make a video game system work (one that doesn't work very well for anyone...according to the reviews on the internet).

I hope that your Thanksgiving weekend was as relaxing and full of thanks as ours. It's my favorite holiday and I cherish every minute of it!

Veteran's Day

Dara's music class put on a show for veterans this past Tuesday. Here's a short video clip of "You're a Grand Old Flag"

She is growing up so fast, and she is definitely my daughter. If you remember our most recent newsletter, I expressed a type of frustration when people make comments like "you are so brave" in regards to going to Africa. This past week, Dara told me that kids will come up to her at school and say "You've got to be so excited about going to Africa!". Then they run off and leave her wanting to tell them that some days she is excted and some days she's not excited at all and sometimes she's really scared about it. I love her honesty and was happy that I could understand her feelings. Please pray for both of us as change is not easy for these Skinner girls.

p.s. Joel's previous blog post was hilarious and very accurate. I do wish that everyone could have seen the passion and fervor with which he jumped up and demonstrated how little of the bed he actually has. I'm just glad that he at least said how little sleep he gets without me. He's such a funny man, and I'm glad that he's mine!

No "Room"

Jill didn't make it home last night until around 9:00. That's a late night for her - most of the time she will make it home by 7:30-8:00. We visited while she ate a late dinner and got ready for bed. We stayed up to watch the weather since it had been storming since 7:30. Our kids are not the bravest when it comes to thunder and lightning. So after making the safe assumption that there would be no more storms until the early morning hours, we hit the sack. After debriefing a little from our day and praying together (our normal bedtime routine), we each rolled over hoping that sleep would creep up quickly.

I was beginning to doze just a little, when I hear Jill say, "just one thing - when you roll over onto your back you take up a lot of room and are on my half of the bed." That was at 10:42. I laid there silently for about 10 seconds while it regsitered in my mind what she just said. See, we have this ongoing feud about space on the bed (a friendly and funny feud mind you). I just couldn't believe my ears. Every night I gaciously allow her feet and arms to rest on "my" half. Very rarely do I complain, because the reality is that I love to know she's there after a long day; and the leg draped over me and the hand poking into my back remind me of the gift God gave me in Jill.

However, I couldn't let this one pass. I immeditaley sat up and held her foot in place while I turned on the lamp. I wanted her to see who really took up all the space on the bed. I kept telling her to put on her glasses and look at where her foot was but to no avail. The problem was, that by this point, she was laughing hysterically and not even able to sit up. When she finally raised up enough to look, she laughed even harder and rolled back over. I turned off the lamp, but couldn't let it go. I told her I would take a picture of the bed this morning with a blanket showing the amount of space I sleep in and prove to the public once and for all who takes up two thirds of the bed and who is left fighting for room throughout the night. So, if I can figure out this picture posting thing, the picture will be below.



As you can tell, the blanket on the left (as you are looking at the picture) represents the amount of space I sleep in. While I didn't measure (but probably will tonight before Jill gets home), I assure you that it is about one-third of the whole bed. So, when Jill says she has no "room" I just want it on the record and want to have plenty of witness that will agree with me that I am the one with no room!

It's sad to admit

I really don't know how God puts up with us (especially me). Maybe you're like me, but hopefully your faith is much more stable. We're trying to sell the house, right? So in our efforts to advertise that this is our desire we have a sign in the front yard that reads "FOR SALE by OWNER" and our phone number. That's it - no flyers or anything else. It gets better...We live on a cul-de-sac that branches off of a street that does not receive a lot of traffic. With all this said, it is huge that we've received at least 3 calls a week and shown the house 6 times! In today's market and economy, God is so gracious to provide this much interest!

One of these prospective buyers has actually verbalized a desire to buy it. Their English is not that strong, so their adult child is supposed to call this Thursday or Friday to talk numbers. I was very excited when I heard this and yet I still feel myself prone to being anxious about what the future holds. What if the financing doesn't go through? What if they change their mind? I have all sorts of similar thoughts racing through my mind. Don't I trust that God has it all under control? Why doesn't my mind find peace in this? Where is my faith? I am confident that God has a plan and I am so grateful for that knowledge. I guess it's a choice I make as to where I put my thoughts (that's what I'm always telling Dara). Please pray that I will rest in the knowledge that God has a plan that is perfect for us and it's a good one. (Romans 8:28) Do I think I'll be disappointed? How silly!

No wonder God said it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed in order to move a mountain. He knew how hard it is to have even that small amount of faith. It's pretty sad. I am so thankful that He loves us and desires us. We are so undeserving.

This is much longer and deeper than I usually post, so to make it lighter and add a picture (which I believe should be a part of every post)...here are the kids in their "fall festival" (a.k.a. halloween) garb. I didn't get off work in time to be with them, but Joel said they had a blast and we have enough candy to insure the high continues for awhile.

On the Thursday, Dade kept wanting to shoot Dara with his gun, but Dara was quick to point out that you shouldn't shoot an angel. Watching them wear their costumes then and knowing they will wear them for months to come, makes it all worth it.