Wow! I haven't updated in AWHILE! Let's see what's been going on with the Irvins...

Shannon has been out of town a lot lately. He's had to train some people for things in his previous job title and also received some training himself. The boys and I are sure glad to see him come home on those days and weeks when he's gone! He's pretty ready to be home, too...to eat a home-cooked meal, sleep in his own bed and be with his most favorite peeps in the world -- us! :-)

We've been getting ready for the Christmas program at church. It's coming up TODAY!! It'll be tonight at 6 pm! The kids have worked hard and have been so faithful to practice. If you don't have somewhere to be tonight at 6 pm, come see us!!

The boys finished up school on Friday and are out for a couple of weeks. They are super excited! Elihu moved up to the top reading group Friday morning so that made HIS day!! We worked really hard on his words on Thursday during the "snow" day. He was so proud. Josiah was so bummed that he wasn't going to have a party. They were supposed to have his party on Thursday afternoon and Elihu's party on Friday afternoon. Thankfully, they did both parties at the same time. It was a little trying on all the parents but it worked!

Isaac has learned some sign language and I didn't even know it! We were sitting on the couch Friday night...waiting to go to a Christmas get-together with family.I had put in a Baby Einstein DVD (which he loves). Elihu was sitting in my lap reading "Go, Dog, Go!" and Isaac was sitting next to me watching his DVD. This particular DVD has sign language for all sorts of words. It shows the word, the lady doing the sign, and also a picture of the word. I noticed his hands start moving but wasn't really thinking about what he was doing. All of a sudden they say "School" and show the sign for school...which is what he was doing. Then he starts doing something different and they say "Library." I said, "Oh my goodness!! You're doing sign language! How cute is THAT!!" There's no telling how many words he knows on there. He did the signs for school, library and salon right then. I can't wait to put it in again and see how many more words he knows!!

Josiah and Shannon went to Patriots Point with the cub scouts last weekend. Josiah had a blast! He got to sleep on the ship and do all sorts of tours and things. Elihu was a little bummed that he didn't get to go so Amy and I treated him (and Isaac of course) to Texas Roadhouse for supper. Amy spent the night and went with us to his school the next morning for the Festival of Trees. It was a super fun weekend!!

I've written another song and it has me thinking about what I need to do with all these songs. I tried to look into copyright stuff but none of the links worked on the Library of Congress page for some reason. I don't hardly know what to do from here!?! I guess I've written 10 or 12 songs. I don't know what God has in store for the songs but I know He surely can't use them if I'm just sitting on them and not sharing them somehow. Only I don't exactly know how to go about "sharing" them with the world. Any ideas?

I'm still reading through my Bible and doing a basic summary or "thought process" for each chapter. I never would've thought I would've learned so much doing it this way! I've made it from Genesis all the way to Psalms 20 something. It's hard to stick to a specific quiet time ritual each day since every day is different and every day's schedule is different and there are 3 little boys added to the mix WITH me. But I manage to find a time each day where I can sit down and have at least a quick chat with my Father and see what He wants to tell me today. I couldn't imagine life without those moments. One of my favorite lines is from "I Claim The Blood." It says, "I do not know how others make it through who never go to Calvary as I do." I honestly don't see how you make it through a day...much less weeks and months...without taking it all to Him and just turning it all over.

It's 5 am and I've been up for about 2 hours now. Ugh. I woke up and just couldn't go back to sleep. Maybe I'll go lay back down and try to doze off before it's time to get up for church. Have a wonderful Christmas Sunday!!!