Thank you God for a fun family

Here we are being our crazy selves. We had so much fun at Sears taking our family pictures. This would have been used in our Christmas Card this year, but John opposed the idea because my lovely face was covered by Jake's head. I think it would have been adorable. We'll try again next year.


After we took our photos we surprised the boys by taking them to see "A Christmas Carol" in Providence. The tickets were only $10 so we jumped on it. Of course we sat on benches so we have sore back ends...but it was worth it! Somewhere between Scrooge's ghost of Christmas past and Tiny Tim's "God Bless us, every one" the creeping crud got a hold of me. My head stuffed up, my throat tickled. I was hoping it was from being out late and in a crowd...wishful thinking!

Looking over the foyer balcony and the theater

A Very Typical Ludka Thanksgiving

The boys started their day early with a scrumptious breakfast cooked by the queen B...(thats me). Then off to the annual Turkey Bowl with the guys from church. About 22 men killed each other in Christian love.

Then we headed to Grandpa Ludka's for our Thanksgiving meal. As we pulled in we were greeted by the friendly cows. I had to snap a shot of their cuteness.

Here are all the boys spread around the house devouring their turkey and all the fixin's

The next day we tried to enjoy a day together enjoying a game of "Guesstures".

Another day of the Portholes

Today was an interesting day. I think it must have been a full moon. I used to take pride in that my boys could busy themselves and understand that Mom and Dad had work to be done. Today was NOT the case. I had to take the 3 younger ones plus a friend from church down to the building so I could work on a few portholes. The kids were crazy intense on bugging me to paint. Non-stop begging! So finally I gave in. I created very attractive trash bag painting attire. For the most part this worked well...unless you are six! Joel's trash bag garment was dragging on the ground and through the paint pan and all over his bod! The main reason for our trash bag ensemble was to protect the not so cheap school uniforms!! In less than a half a second Joel was stripped to his "grundies" and Mom was running out to the hose to see if the pants could be spared. Here are a few shots of our fun day...NOTE: Mom didn't get one thing done that day!

"Mom this is embarrassing!"

Joel drying his pants on the lamp.

Portholes in the Toddler Room. Possibly called "Little Tugs" We are open for suggestions to go with our boat theme.

The Never Ending Portholes

Many of you have wanted to see all the painting that has been going on in our new church nursery.

If you can't tell, these are portholes looking into the deep blue sea. So much more has transpired, but I don't have current pictures. I will post those very soon!












Some of our artists....Me, Mrs. Kate, Mrs. Beth.














2 of the 3 portholes in the infant nursery.














The beginnings of our baby turtles.

Some Things Never Change

Oh the chants of "CHANGE" ring through our ears and across the air waves. What all this means one will never really know until feet are put to those words and promises. But today I am thankful for things that will NEVER change:
The Bible still has ALL the answers.
God still answers prayer.
The Holy Spirit can still convict me to change.
God still loves to be praised.
We can still go to church and hear preaching
We can still sing
God still wants to bless us
Jesus still loves me
There is always room for one more soul
We will NEVER be alone no matter how bad it gets.
And the list goes on and on...what things won't change for you?

As the Deer Panteth for the Water...

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Ps 41:1
Seeing animals in my yard is something I will never get over. John used to laugh at me when we first moved to CT because I would call everyone to the windows to see a squirrel. I guess I have gotten used to those creatures running up and down my trees and eating the seed out of the bird feeder, but every other animal is a breath taking experience for me...especially deer.

The kids ran up the stairs this morning to show me the wonderful surprise in our backyard. Oh it was a welcomed greeting. Here is a video off our deck.

"Run the Race with Patience"

God has given our boys stamina! I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination. I trained on my high school cross-country team with the hopes of loving it by the end of the summer then I would join the team...it never happened! John will only run if he has a ball in his hand...other than that it's just plain dumb.
Jon, Justin and Pasha had their first cross-country meet, running a 3 mile course. Their team did not beat the other school but our team did great! Jonathan had an excellent stride and stayed in first most of the time. At the last few minutes Christian Higley zoomed passed and won for the Eagles, Jon came in 2nd place (for our team) at 22.5 minutes. Justin came in at 24.3 and Pasha can't remember! :) GO EAGLES!













Jon focusing...or daydreaming













Jon pullling ahead!













I think I am dying













I think I can, I think I can!