Christmas time

My little doll baby eating/making her first cookies


She did such a good job I can't believe it
I love Christmas time!
I love how my children are so excited to give to others at this time of year. I don't think they would care if they didn't get anything. They just love to give gifts to people. We actually had planned on waiting until January of February to give gifts this year. And not a single one of our children complained they seemed excited anyway. Our neighbors are so friendly and they have been bringing us goodies the last few days. The children are enjoying making goodies to give. We even made some bread for the garbage man. And tomorrow the mailman will get some too. I love teaching my children that giving is so important. Of course they are children and love to receive gifts we all do but I love to see the happy face they have after giving a special gift to some one. Marty and I are often looking for neat "traditions" around this time of year just to make things special and as I was in a checkout line the other day the lady in front of me said "we give our children 3 gifts to represent the wisemens gifts. One thing they need one thing they would like and one surprise thing." What a neat idea. I think we are definatly going to put that into practice. We are so thankful for what the Lord has done for us this year and we want to strive to be a blessing to others. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Healthy moving

Hey everybody or nobody! I'm not sure who all reads this but I hope I get at least one person to!
Anyway, I just wanted to give an update on how everything is going here in the north which is getting colder each day.
We are planning on picking up our moving truck on the 30th tenatively. We will then load the truck and hop into our van so Marty can drive us down(to Florida:)) Why is Marty driving us down and not me. Well, its pretty simple I hate driving and He doesn't like me to drive since our van is pushing 200,000 miles. Then the day after we arrive in Florida he will fly out and come back to Michigan to pick up the truck. And drive it back down to unload it hopefully into a house if not into a storage unit. Please pray we can find a house before we come it would be alot easier that way. We have my parents looking for us and we are waiting to hear back on one.

Now, you say why call it healthy moving? Because since we have started packing I have been getting healthy! I have wanted to do this for about two years now and we just couldn't. I have been going to a Dr. who does NRT testing. NUTRITIONAL RESPONSE TESTING! They use muscle testing along with nutrition to make you healthy. You would not believe the difference I feel. I found out that I am sensitive to grains, and dyes and that my adrenal glands which are very important in every area including having babies are not working at all.! SCAREY! So that is why I have a hard time having babies (YES I Have a hard time getting pregnant, This girl has cried many a tear over that very thing). So the adrenals test from 0-10 0 being the worst 10 the best. My adrenals were at zero just last tuesday(my first day) and as of yesterdaymonday) my right one is at 10 and my left one is at 6 can you believe the difference in just one week? Some of you may be saying yeah right but you would not believe the differnce I feel! Normally I need a little snooze by after noon I have a hard time getting out of bed I sleep terrible (because my shoulders ache so bad) and I am falling asleep by 9pm. But the first night of supplements(vitamins) I slept like a baby and my shoulders didn't ache all night. I know it is amazing I can hardly believe it myself! Sugar and grains are inflamatories so that explains the joint pain being lessend since I haven't had a single grain or sugar in a week. I have been drinking three liters of water a day. You are supposed to drink half your body weight in ounces everyday(don't try to figure out how much I weigh cause I drink more than I have to):) I have been eating 15 almonds for breakfast or two eggs with veggies (yes almonds are VERY filling) a salad for lunch every day(which has turned out to be quite enjoyable with all kinds of yummy things in it and very filling) and whatever I want for dinner minus grains sugar and dye. I am hoping to lose weight and I know I will because Marty lost about 20 pounds doing this and was feeling great and Nicholas is 100% better since he started his NRT visits and my friend has gone from a 18 to a 14 with NRT.
Its not for weight loss though even though that is great but it is for a healthy life. I am so thankful God gave us The Dr. Saks team (Theresa is my doctor) They have changed my families life and not just my immediate family but about 6 others plus church family and friends. You may say that I will not be able to continue since I am moving but there is a doctor in Tallahassee that does NRT that I will going to once we get settled. I highly recommend trying to find one. You will be shocked at how well you feel and what really isn't a normal way to feel! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Our Children are Growing Up!

The Cowboys- Josiah-9-4th grade
Alex-7-2nd grade Nicholas-6-k-5
Elijah-4

Isabella-15mos-A.K.A The Princess


The Beautiful Girls and Bella a little younger
Megan-15-9th grade great nobake cookie maker
Abigail-13-8th grade great bread maker



Our Beautiful Pooch Kylee-she's a great dog and we love her

I was looking at our children the other day and thinking about how big they all are getting and how different their personalities are so I thought I would do a post about them. God has blessed us with great children. And we love them very much! And we are very thankful for them!

Well, our little sweetie is 1 already. She was so tired when it was time to have her cake that she was totally uninterested until we gave her a little lick of frosting and then she giggled and giggled it was hilarious! She tried to touch her candle so Daddy had to blow it out. I still haven't gotten her anything for her Birthday so when she is older she will probably make me feel really bad about it. Grandma did make her three beautiful dresses that she has already worn and they are so cute on her! I am hoping to find a cute babydoll for her. She just loves baby's she carries the one from the nursery all around and pats it. She also has a little funny looking doggy that we call frazey that she loves to sleep with. I just can't believe that my little baby girl is already one. I have really been soaking all of her different stages in. She is definately a mama's girl. But she will settle for everyone else if she has to. She makes so many hilarious faces and she can charm you to no end. During Sunday school she will wave and wave at Pastor and she loves to clap and sing(yell) when we sing Joy, Joy. She is such a tiny little thing, tall and skinny she is only 20.5 lbs. She is pretty much only walking now which I am very happy about because her knees would get so dirty when she was crawling. We are waiting for her xray results to find out if anything is wrong with her hips since she walks with one leg way out. Little Isabella Jane has brought so much joy to our lives. She is surprisingly very obedient and tender hearted. And we love her ever soooo much. I am sure she would melt your heart too if she would let you get close enough.

Harwood Family Reunion

Well, we all survived our Family Reunion. We had a wonderful time with all of Marty's family even though we are all sleep deprived after staying up so late and getting up early every day so we could have enough visiting time. There were twenty-nine people in all which isn't even all of Marty's family we were missing one whole family(marty's sister's) of 7 and a son-in-law, eight grandchildren of which some have husbands,wives and children. Most of us except 9 stayed in our missions house with three bedrooms and one bathroom. Getting ready for church was quite the experience!:) I will post some pictures later. We only had one eventful evening which happened to be Sunday night while Marty's brother Mark who is a missionary to Canada was preaching at our church and fell down the steps blacked out and ripped his tendon off his knee and while the tendon was ripping off it broke his knee cap. It was scarey everyone thought he had a heart attack. So we shut the service down and took him to the E.R. which surprisingly only took about 45min. He will have to have surgery when he returns to Canada and several months of rehab. So his vacation was pretty much over after that. It was sooo nice to see everyone and we are all planning on going to Shady Acres in Houston, Texas in January for the camp meeting and having another reunion then hopefully this time all the Harwood's will be in attendance. God is has been good to the Harwood Family.

The Boys

I thought this picture of the boys was so funny because Elijah looks like he is getting into something he's not supposed to have and Nicholas has a longing look for a slice of that cake, actually for all of the cake. Nicholas can't have sugar except on special occasions so it is a real treat when he gets some. So Cute!:)

First Service

Well, hello everyone! It is freezing here today with a chance of snow tomorrow! Burrr! It actually is in the fifties but it feels colder because it is wet and rainy. For us Michiganders in the snow belt fifty is nice!:) I guess we got spoiled. The funny thing is that a church up here always has their camp meeting in May with Jason Kendricks who is from their church. It is a very large campmeeting. With Sam Gipp, who we really like to hear and lots of other preachers. We usually get to go a couple of times. Anyway the meeting starts on the nineth and it is supposed to be really chilly. Maybe they should start having it in June!:)
Anyway, We had our first service in our new auditorium and it was really nice. I must say that I did get a headache from looking up at the platform. Ours was so low before that I am not used to tipping my head that way. It was a great service and we had alot of visitors that day. We had alot of singing specials. We sang the Unseen hand which our family sings pretty much every evening in devotions. Pastor and his family sang Thank you Lord and Send the Rain-I love this song it sends chills. Their family plays alot of instruments which is nice. Our Pastor used to be an Evangelist before the Lord put him into the Pastorate. Marty also grew up with our Pastor and when he was out of church for a few years when he was younger Marty went to visit him and he and his family started coming again. It seems like that has been so long ago.
Anyway back to the service. We had testimonies and Pastor preached of course. It was nice. It does seem different in the new auditorium kind of like why is our whole church visiting another church. Its hard to explain I guess. Even though things aren't perfect (like the drywall and the concrete) It is still sooooo beautiful. I am having a hard time adjusting to the new pews though, the backs are higher and I am not tall enough to rest my arms on the back of them.:)
We had our first missionary in on Wednesday night and that was nice. Chuck, my brother in law who is an missionary in Ukraine and my brother in law who is a missionary in Canada will be here presenting their ministries on the 22nd. We are very excited and are making plans for a Harwood Family reunion.That is all for now. I would post pictures but we just got a new camera and I am not sure how to use the thing yet. Maybe later.

Finally!!

I just wanted to let you all know that Sunday we will have our first service in our new auditorium!!! YAY!! We are all so EXCITED!:) Last night Pastor said that we were going to have church in the new Auditorium whether we had
our occupancy permit or not because they said the inspector couldn't come for 2 months. Then this morning the inspector called and said he would be stopping by today. He came and walked in and walked out and said the inspection passed!!! AMEN! We are so excited and now we can really use the building. There is still alot to do in the old part of the church such as put in the commercial kitchen which was given to us for free. Build Pastor's new office and build more Sunday School classrooms. We will be having our dedication Saturday the 22nd of May!! I will have to post pictures of the new building later!! We are just a little church and God has really been working here. After our service last night we moved the piano in and there was just a buzz of joy through the building and it is really all starting to pull together. It has been amazing how God has just been supplying the funds for this project. Our church was given about $600,000.00 and only ended up with $145,000.00 after lawyer fees and all so that is what we built our church with even though we exceeded the amount given to us by a mere $100,000.00. We have built the church debt free even though we tried to get a loan for the pews but God didn't allow it and some one gave the money. What a blessing. It has been great for our kids to see and we are so excited that we were able to be a part of this project. It only took us a year to do this and we mostly only worked on Saturday after soul winning. I'm not even sure it has been a year yet. We have all got in on helping with some project on the new building even the little guys pulled nails and had their own tool belts. Our new auditorium isn't just a part of the church that we go in and look at and say pretty anymore but it is now a place to worship and glorify God and that is what we plan to do. Rejoicing over seeing souls saved. And now whenwe sing it won't sound like we are singing in a tunnel. I can't wait! We get to sing on Sunday! YAY! God is good! What a blessing!!!:)

Finally

BIBLE QUIZ FINALS 2010

Hello Everyone,
I wanted to give you an update on how our final quiz went. The quiz played out just like we had planned. We went against a team from Mt. Pleasant, Mi. who tend to cheat. We actually have seen them give answers to there kids and Saturday was no different. There Pastor of all people gave signals to one of the girls and told her what verse the question was from. But of course no one spoke up. Now to get to the quiz. We ended up in the final quiz as we were sure this was how it would play out and that it would come down to our team and Mt. Pleasant. Our team has alot more consistent players than theirs but they are sly and like to cheat SERIOUSLY! Anyway, one of our boys answered a question and the quiz master said correct and Levi sat back down. Well, Mt. Pleasant stood up and wanted to contest it. The quiz master said that he didn't agree with her arguement. BUT.... Marty stood up and consulted with him that it wasn't a reference question and that the answer he gave was right. The quiz master agreed but decided to throw the question out. Which was crazy. So we lost our twenty points and then they got the replacement question. The same thing happened again with a question Abbie answered. This was ridiculous!!! So we ended up losing by one question which is twenty points. Not to mention that the Pastor cheated. They also won the high points trophy for the year even though we had 4oo more points than they did?? Sounds a little fishy to me. We are not a well liked team because our kids are very good and we don't dress immodest and we take a stand. The kids memorized ICorinthians this year. It is a blessing to see the kids memorize so much scripture. Last year they memorized the book of Romans. So anyway unfortunately our kids came home with second place but we know that they actually won first. Abigail was the top quizzer out of the whole league and Megan was third so that was very exciting and most of our kids placed for a trophy in individual quizzing. This league does individual quizzing and team quizzing. One thing we like about this group is that they always have an activity and Preaching after each meet which is alot of fun for the Kids. The preacher that preached on Saturday was a missionary to India. He was great and his message was encouraging the kids to live for God now. Not to wait it was really good. We had a good time despite the circumstances and we are really happy with how well our kids did this whole year. We are looking forward to next year. We will definately dominate the league next year since two of Mt. Pleasants quizzers graduate this year. But we may be joining another group so we will have to see. I can't imagine how good our team will be by the time their all seniors. Most our team is in seventh or eighth grade. I guess thats all for now.
OH YEAH!
CONGRATULATIONS RUSSELL AND HANNAH MAYNARD!!!

BRRRRR!!!

Hi Everyone,
Just thought I would let you all know that It is freezing today!:( We knew that it would come! We are also having snow flurries. Yuck! Everyone will probably be sick because it is supposed to be 60 on Saturday. Thankfully we have not been sick at all this winter. We have been taking alot of vitamin D which helps keep the flu away. It has been a blessing.

We have had such a blessing this past week. Josiah got SAVED! We are so excited! We have had many a devotion time with the children about salvation and Josiah would always say he knew he wasn't saved and it was very scarey to us. Alex got saved one night in devotions back in January after Marty taught on Hell. We thought for sure Josiah would come at that time also but to no avail and we were very disappointed but happy that one of the other children had come that night. Anyway last Thursday we were fasting for Marty's stepmom who has terminal liver cancer and we decided to fast for Josiah at that time also. Then Saturday we had gotten home late from our overnight vacation and were sending the kids to bed when Marty decided to have a quick devotion eventhough we had had them earlier that day at the hotel. And boy were we glad we did. The chapter we read was IICor.12 and Marty gave an example of a boy from the boys home, Matt by name who claimed that he had rejected Christ so much he couldn't get saved. Needless to say it wasn't a quick devotion and we sent the children off to bed eventhough we could see the conviction written all over Josiah's face. Then Marty told Josiah to get him a glass of water and then I asked him to get me one too in hopes that he would come and talk to one of us. Well, he brought them and headed off to bed but something stopped him and he came over to me, I was sewing, I asked him what he needed hoping he would say what we had hoped and sure enough he asked if he could talk to me. My heart leaped for joy. I have to put in here that Marty has always gotten to deal with the girls when they got saved and I prayed for the opportunity to show some of the children the way to Christ too, so I had been praying that the Lord would give me a turn. I was able to show Alex and now Josiah. Josiah and I went out to the living room and talked a little, he knew what he needed to do and he did and boy did he!!! It was so amazing to me that God answered our prayer! When we were fasting and the hunger would get strong I just kept reminding myself that I could fast for one short day and be in prayer for my son. It sure was a small price to pay for the eternal life of my son!!! And I am so thankful I continued the whole day and obeyed the Lord! I am also thankful that Marty obeyed the Holy Spirit and had devotions eventhough we were all tired. So just remember when the flesh is telling you your to tired to have devotions and you don't you could have just missed the blessing of seeing one of your little ones get saved!!!!!! Or get right!!!!! Have a wonderful Day!:)

Sooooo Beautiful

Hi Everyone I just thought I would let you know that it was almost 80 degrees today. I can't believe it! We have a saying around here March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion. But it was almost 80 degrees with no humidity. Praise the Lord! Just thought I'd let you know hope you have a beautiful day. Talk to you soon.

WOW! Is it March??

HI everyone!
I just had to share with everyone how beautiful it is here! We are all amazed! It is March and we are usually unburying ourselves out from one blizzard after another! But its an amazingly beautiful 60 degrees! I just can't believe it! We really haven't gotten any snow since December! We are all very excited! All of our snow is gone except for a few little spots the sun doesn't hit! I guess if you aren't from a colder climate you wouldn't understand how us northerners feel, but we are all giddy with excitement up here. I raked our yard today and the boys have been playing outside none stop for a couple weeks now! We are very thankful for the beautiful winter we are having. I know I don't live in florida and usually in the winter I wish I did but when I look outside and see the beautiful sunshine I can almost picture myself there. THANK GOODNESS FOR GLOBAL WARMING!!!! HEEEHEEE! Thank you Lord for the warm sunshine! Although we are having such beautiful weather everyone is preparing for a good blasting of snow in the future but we are all hoping that it won't return. Summer is so short around here! I hope your day is as beautiful as ours!!

What happened to young ladies?

Hi everyone. I was scanning through our pictures and came across this one of the girls. They are turning into such young ladies. They are getting to be so much fun. We can go shopping together and play games and do fun mother daughter things together. Hey, they even talked me into going ice skating which is something I haven't done since before I had Abigail. I didn't last to long and fell pretty good but it was fun. Marty and I often talk about how much our life has changed in the last few years. For example we never need a babysitter anymore which is wonderful. Not that we go anywhere but when we run to the store we don't have to take a bunch of rowdy boys.
So what happened to young ladies? Even in our churches it is so rare to find a young lady. You might expect this in walmart among the unsaved but in the churches, what a shame! We have a church near us that people would consider fundamental and it is a very large church with a college. But the girls and ladies there are anything but ladies. We have gone there for campmeetings and such and I felt so aggravated at the dress and conduct of the women I couldn't even pay attention. Not to mention feeling like I need to cover my husbands and boys eyes to protect them from seeing the immodesty and from seeing the women flaunting themselves. Grrr!! It really upsets me. It truly is a disgrace! Our goal is to raise Godly young ladies that are pure! Sometimes I look at my girls and think they are so pure! What a Blessing.
It is only by the grace of God that we will reach our goal of having Godly children who desire to love and serve God. I'm sure you understand what I mean if you are also in the battle to raise Godly children. It is to bad that Christians have lost such morals and standards of modesty! I guess I will continue this thought another day. Have a wonderful day! And don't let your guard down.

Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord! The Lord is doing so much here at First Baptist! We have been seeing growth in the lives our people here and we have seen God provide for our church in miraculous and unforseen ways. We are in the middle of a building project right now. Actually it is almost over. Our men have been working hard on our new auditorium and our Pastor has pretty much been working day in and day out to get this project finished. We have had the lighting donated the carpet paid for and today we had $10,100.00 given to our church for the new pews! Boy were we shouting Marty and Pastor were running laps! We didn't even know until church was over and the treasurer called and told our Pastors wife. You may be thinking this really isn't that big of a deal but it is to our little church. We had no clue how we were going to pay for the pews and we were starting to get nervous since our pews will be here the beginning of March. GOD IS SO GOOD! We are very excited to see what God is going to do with our church. Just thought I would share the excitement!

I Love this picture of Isabella. She is wearing the cowboy hat my parents got Nicholas before he was born and she is sitting in the little rocker that my mom got when she was five and broke her leg. The seat of the rocker is worn from my mom's cast when she propped her leg up on it. Cute huh!:) Have a wonderful day

Getting Settled

Well, I hope this post finds everyone doing well! We are finally getting settled in and back on our schedule. Why I would ever want to get off our schedule is beyond me. It seems that we have been going from sun up to way past sun down trying to get everything arranged in our new home. It was our hardest move so far 1.For the fact that we had to move everything of my Grandparents out of the house and into the basement or down to Indiana where they are living now and 2. Because it is even farther from the church. But we are so excited that the house that has been a thorn in our side for the past 6 yrs is finally GONE!!! AMEN!!! I am very excited about some of the changes we have made in our home since we have been in our new house. 1. The constant battle we have had with clothes has so far been resolved by only allowing 5 outfits for each child in their dressers. This has eliminated alot frustration for me and also for the boys who's overflowing dressers were hard for them to handle. 2. The constant problem of toys being all over the house has been resolved by only allowing them to play in the basement or outside. 3. The annoying snow clothes mess has been resolved since we do have a basement and they all have a special spot for their specific items. These may not seem like much but it was a constant battle for us in our old house. We really love this house and since we have spent so much time here with our Grandparents it was easy for everyone to adjust.
We are coming to the end of our quiz season (we quiz once a month this year over 1Cor.) we just have March's quiz and April will be the final's. So far we are 4 wins and 1 loss. We just quizzed Saturday and won 360pnts to 40 pnts. Abigail is the top quizzer out of all the quizzers and Megan is in third. These are quizzers from 7th to 12th grade. Every month the team with the highest points wins a traveling trophy and we have won it 3 times this season. Plus we have received a team bonus 2 times in a row which has not been done in at least two years in this league. We have a great team and all of the kids know their stuff. We are very excited for our team. Well, I guess that is about it. Please pray for our church we are in the final stages of our building project and it is crunch time. Our pews will be here March 3rd and we aren't done with the drywall yet. Our Pastor and men are working night and day so it will be done in time. Maybe next time I will have some pictures for you.

Hello Everyone! I hope your week is going well. We have great news that all of Elijah's some 30 tests came back and all is well. He is still complaining of his knees hurting in the morning but HSP can last for up to a month. Our moving and packing is going well. The girls will be gone the rest of the week so hopefully I can get the rest done by Saturday on my own. Once we move we will have to pack Grandpa and Grandma's house. So it will be a long slow process. The Jehovah witnesses stopped by this week, on Monday evening and Marty was able to throw them off. We are trying to win them not just hammer them with the You Guys are Crazy! We have been doing alot of studying and where we are moving to is where the first couple that came to see us are from so they will probably be stopping by, we are very excited about this because they didn't seem as sure in what they believe. Every time they are here I just sit there and think that it is so sad that they are so deceived and brain washed THEY ARE DYING AND ARE GOING TO GO TO HELL! OHHH, if we only could realize the reality of hell wouldn't we be so much more aggressive in our soul winning efforts! Which reminds me, we just started a new soul winning program at our church and we are very excited about it. Last week was our first week and we had 26 not including all of our little guys. And a few more that were missing and some came to Pastor on Sunday and said they would like to start coming! We are just a small church of about 70! Praise the Lord!! Well, I guess that is about all for now! Monday is our closing on the house, Please pray that we can get out of the house by Saturday! I will give you an update when we get moved!

Preparing for the J.W.'s

Well, it's moving day. We are off to a slow start. Marty has many things to do today. Anyway, we are preparing for some Jehovah's witnesses who are coming over today. They have been coming since the beginning of summer first it was two men and now it is a newly married husband and wife. I have known the husband for years, his family are window washers and they used to wash my parents business windows. They were here on Monday and the wife who has just arrived from Brazil did not appreciate us jumping around to different subjects and totally shut down. They like to talk to you on there terms. I just don't understand why they keep coming back. I think it is fun to talk to them. It makes us study the Bible even though their thinking is so out there. As they were sitting in our living room I was thinking, they are so dedicated (this couple goes out door to door 70 hours a month) yet they are striving for the wrong things and are going to die and go to hell. It is so sad. We are praying for a window of opportunity today. We feel God has led us to the subject we are dealing with and we are excited to see how the Lord will work today. This will be our last meeting with them and we are hoping it will be a long one that will leave them thinking. Of course we are hoping they will get saved but we aren't just dealing with the average joe these people think they are good. J.W's are very brain washed. It is scarey. Talk to you all soon and I will let you know how everything turns out.

Moving on

Hi Everyone! We decided to create a blog since we have enjoyed everyone else's so much. There are so many things in the past that I have wanted to put on a blog or to comment about. As most of you know we sold our house and we are in the middle of packing like crazy! We are hoping to be moving tomorrow. We will now be about an hour away from church! But right now we are just sitting and waiting for the Lord to reveal His will for our family. My Grandparents are allowing us to rent their beautiful home until we can find something closer to the church. Selling our home of 14 years is a little sad but we can't wait to see what the Lord will have for us now! Please pray for Elijah as he has been having continuos problems with swelling in his feet for two weeks and he is briusing very easy. They think it is something called HSP but we aren't positive yet. That's all for now.