The Ford Family

Yes, Yes I know it has been a while.....

2008-07-14T13:47:00.001-07:00

<----This is a smokey picture of base camp in Konochti @ 5am before everyone came off the fire line.

This is me at the heli-base at Konochti fire camp.^

I don't have very long, but I thought that I would let you all know that we are still here. We have been so, so busy with summer and with all of the resent wildfires here in Northern California. As you all probably know by now, our plans for me quiting my job came to a screeching Holt when Mike was laid off from his job just days before my last day at work. It was very heart breaking for me but I know that our plans are not always Gods plans. I'm OK with that. I have been working long hours for 23 days straight now and it is definitely waring me down. I was sent out of town on the fires in Sonoma and Lake county for a while and I am happy to report that I am now working on a local incident so I am able to come home every day. They kid are holding up fine and as always Mike has gracefully stepped into my shoes to hold down the fort. I am home today for half the day because I have come down with a terrible case of pink eye. Weird! I have never in my 31 years of life had pink eye, let me tell you, it is NOT fun. The Dr. said that with all of the smoke it can actually cause eye infections. Well, I just wanted to keep everyone posted on what was going on here. Things should begin to slow down here and I will be able to return phone calls, email, etc to everyone in the next week or so. Take care!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today we remember all of you who are fathers or will soon become father's. You are a piece to a puzzle in the family that on occasion, goes unrecognized. You put food on our table and work hard day in and day out to insure that we have everything that we need. You are the jungle jim for the little ones who think that your arms are the size of the incredible hulk. You are the shoulder to cry for your sweet little girls that believe the sun rises and sets around you. And for your little boys you are the smartest and strongest man they have ever encountered. You are daddy's! Although we do not tell you as much as we should.......we appreciate all that you do. We love you and have a wonderful day!

Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

On our deck

On our way to dinner!He made this one

It did not make this one

So.....It has definitely taken me a wile to get back to you all in regards to my anniversary, but let me just say "Wonderful"! So when Mike showed up we loaded into the car and began our journey north. At that point I thought we might be going to Mt. Shasta, but you never can be to sure with my husband. I was right. We made our way to Mt. Shasta and stayed in a beautiful little chalet up there right on the Lake Siskiyou. We got there around 6:30 or so and stopped by the local grocery store to pick up a few things. We picked out a great bottle of Cabernet for the evening along with some snacks. We checked into our room at the resort, changed into our swim suits and took a nice relaxing jacuzzi. Although it was a community jacuzzi meant for all of those staying in the chalets, there was no one in there at the time we where using it. It was very nice. We actually went to bed pretty early. It's funny when it's just the 2 of you and all you can think about it how exciting it is to sleep through the night. The next morning we tried our hardest to sleep in........ya right!!! We woke up around 7:30 relaxed on the deck that was literally right on the water and went and had a great breakfast at the resort. We had an 11:30 T time to play 18 holes of golf. Yes, yes, I do golf! Never thought I would but I actually really enjoy it and it's something that Mike and I enjoy doing together. It was the most beautiful golf course I have ever seen. We had so much fun just talking and enjoying each others company. I love it when you have absolutely no concept of time. It's a beautiful thing!! We spent about 5 hours on the course and then went back to our chalet and relaxed. At 7p.m. we went to our favorite restaurant up there, Mike & Tony's, and had a wonderful dinner. The next morning we cooked breakfast in our chalet and ate it down by the water in our P.J.'s. At one point over the weekend while we where standing in our chalet looking at each other and falling in love all over again, I couldn't resist myself. I had to stop and ask Mike, "do you hear that?" as he replied in a very serious way, "no, what? What's wrong?". I said"Silence, I hear nothing but silence." It was an amazing weekend that made me appreciate my babies SO, SO much more when I returned on Sunday! By himself,my husband is wonderful! But with God, our marriage is extraordinary!!!!!

What's Going On?

2008-05-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow is our anniversary and my sneaky husband is up to something! I met him and the kids for a quick bite to eat then he instructed me to go home and pack for 2 days and I only had 30 minutes. So I am patiently waiting and I can't stand it. OH yay, he just pulled up! I will return in a few days with a great story I'm sure!!

2008-05-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Mothers, this is for you! We are all strong women who have been blessed with the privilege of being mothers. God has chosen each and every one of us to care for these children and we have taken on the task of Motherhood. Everyday that I look into my child's eyes I am overwhelmed by the love that comes over me. What an honor to be a mother! What an honor to know that God has chosen me to look after one is his most precious gifts. When I started thinking about what I wanted to write for my Mothers Day post, there where a few things that came to mind. So here it goes:

--Somebody once said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after the baby is born.
That somebody doesn't know that once you are a mother, normal is history.

--Somebody said that if you are a "good" mother, your child will turn out "good".
That somebody thinks that a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

--Somebody once said you don't need an education to be a mother.
That somebody never helped a fourth grader with their math!

--Somebody once said you can't love the fourth child as much as you love the third.
That somebody didn't have four children!

--Somebody once said you can find all of your child-rearing questions in the books.
That somebody never had a toddler shove beans up their nose or in their ears!

--Somebody once said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.
That somebody never watched their baby walk away from them on the first day of Kindergarten or get on a plain to boot camp!

--Somebody said being a mother is boring.
That somebody never road in a car with with a teenager trying to teach them how to drive or called 911 because their child fell out of a tree.

--Somebody once said a good mother never raises their voice.
That somebody has never walked outside just in time to watch their child hit a baseball into the neighbors window.

--Somebody once said "Your mother knows you love her, you don't have to tell her".
That somebody isn't a mother!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

My Gosh it's been a while...

2008-05-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

I have actually been working on a very detailed blog entry for everyone because we have so, so much going on. But I don't quit have it ready to post. I did want to give everyone something to read about though so that you all don't think that we dropped off the face of the earth. So here goes. These are observations and new sayings from and about my children.

-One of Blake's new things is to squat down and sway back and forth when we even think about saying the word dance.

-Rylin has recently renamed herself. She absolutely refuses to answer to the name Rylin and insist on being called Monkey!

-Jade is beginning to question about things going on with her body and to very very honest it makes my heart sink when I begin to absorb the reality that my first born is becoming an outstanding young lady.

-Jaycee has a voice that can belt out just about anything and if you had your eyes closed you would have no doubts that the voice came from a women with the voice of an angel.

-Blake has 7 teeth now and when he eats he makes sure to shovel every last bite in all at the same time. He sits there with it in his mouth until I notice what he has done, place my hand under his mouth and he spits out half of it and then laughs and carries on.

-Regardless of their ages, every one of my children love, love, love to play with bubbles. There is something about bubbles that makes everything ok.

-Rylin is obsessed with the over the counter topical antiseptic, Bactine. She calls it her "favorite stuff" and believes it to be some kind of magic position that heals anything from bites to a broken heart.

-Jade has recently gone from a total neat freak to a room the you need mountain climbing gear to make it over the pile of clothes that great you upon opening her bedroom door.

-It never fails, somehow Jaycee can take a brand new pair of shows and in just one day have then looking like I handed them down to her from when I was her age.

-Jade and I are starting to share clothes. YIKES!!!

-Rylin has to end every sentence with the words coo coo or toot toot. When she calls herself monkey, it is not only monkey, but monkey toot.

-Blake despises eggs. Jade likes sushi. Jaycee is picky she would eat top ramen for every meal if I would allow it. Rylin thinks that candy is #1 at the top of the food groups. But to be honest, all of the kids have no problem trying something one time. If if they really don't like it, we don't force them to eat it.

-Blake says many words now but I am very impressed that he can say apple at only 13 months old.

-Jaycee's new saying is "HOLY MOLEY!" And if you could only see her face when she says it, so passionate.

Last but not least.......Mike and I have made a life changing choice recently. I am happy to share this with all of you since we have prayed about it for the last month and the Lord has eased our hearts and our mind and we know that He will provide. We are so excited to tell you all that as of June 1st I will no longer work. My job is amazing but my children are my life!! This was hard because I have outstanding benefits, flexibility and have worked very hard to be where I am in my career.........BUT. We made a choice to have 4 children and there is still the possibility of more children in our future and for those very simple reasons God has lead me back home where I belong....with my children. Thank you all for your support and God bless all of you.

So So Busy...

2008-03-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately I have not had a chance to blog. And today is no different! Hopefully I will have some time to myself and I will get to bring you all up to date soon. We have a lot of things that have changed or are changing in our lives right now and I can't wait to share them with all of you. Talk to you soon.

Sick Children!

2008-03-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Our family has been completely attacked this year as far as sickness. I myself have been fortunate as far as staying well. I truly think that as mothers we just know that we are unable to get sick. Who would clean up the messes and nurse the family back to health. Babies want their mothers regardless of what age they are when they are not feeling well. And husbands try hard but just don't have what it takes to walk in mommy shoes! So with that being said I am going to give you a little insight into what I attribute all of this illness to.

Of course, I know that I have 4 children and with that comes germs, cough, cold, flu, etc. But does it have too? Absolutely not! In the past year Mike and I have truly pressed into the Lord hard and whole heatedly. Every single time that we have major breakthrough in the kingdom, our family will literally be attacked in some way the very next day. For example: 1 week ago Mike and I went to our once a month leaders meeting for our core groups that we lead. It was amazing! There was a turn out of about 50 leaders. They broke us up into 4 groups. You remained in the room that they assigned you and there was 4 groups of very powerful prophetic people that came around to each group to pray and prophesied over us. To make a long story short, it was the most amazing thing that I have ever gone through. I have never had so many good words that hit right on track. It was powerful and revealing of many things that we have been looking for confirmation on. The very next day, I had the craziest off the wall day. It started out by going into work to find that I have a new boss. A new boss that is completely power hungry and just a down right mean person. My old boss still works there and we ultimately have to report to him, but he has appointed this man to over see our department. Then in the middle of the day I went to take our region chiefs car to have new tires put on it. I was so glad to get out of the office. That is until I was pulled over in a marked state vehicle and given a speeding ticket. Now if I really would have been speeding this would have been exactly what I deserved, BUT, I was doing 59 in a 55. When the officer was giving me the ticket he used the foulest language I have ever heard and proceeded to tell me what a piece of S#$@ state workers are. You can bet I will be fighting that ticket! Then I get a strange phone call from my ex-husbands girlfriend. Keep in mind we NEVER hear from this guy let alone his girlfriend. She begins to tell me how they are going to the authorities because I have forged his name on court papers causing him to miss court dates and he is now going to jail and child support services has intercepted his tax refund. (This was actually a brighter part of my day to find out that he is finally going to have to pay up and be held accountable for something!) Then of course to end my day I end up with half of my children coming down with illnesses. My thoughts about all of this..........Something really got the enemies attention the night before at our leaders meeting. Now I may be rambling on so I am going to sum it real quick because the kids want my attention.

1.) I absolutely refuse to believe or accept that because I have a large family, we will catch every sickness that we cross paths with. My God is bigger than that! We have decided that from here on out we will battle this head on. I had words with the devil earlier today and made sure to remind him that he is powerless here. We have the authority to say "No". We will be extra conscience of every word that we speak. We will speak only life and never death. When people try and tell us that we will just have to accept that fact that our family is large and therefore will battle sickness a lot, we will take that opportunity to teach the speakings of life and death and how much the spoken word is really able to effect our lives and what that means to us and our God.

2.) Mike and I feel that we are on the right track to our destinies. We truly believe that every time that the devil attacks us or our family that it is one more confirmation that we must be doing something right. He reveals himself so openly because it is a last resort during the time when he is so desperate because he is losing every little piece of us that he thought he had.

3.) We believe that Jesus shed his blood for us. His blood provides us with many things and one of those things is to be free from sickness and pain. We have always prayed for our children when they are sick and we have taught them to pray for healing and protection. But we have decided to shift our prayers. We give thanks for good health. We pray for the blood to cover us and shield us from viruses and germs. We will no longer accept the lie that our family will be sick a lot because there are a lot of us. We say "NO"! We will guard ourselves and our children from those who speak negatively.

To Be Continued....................

2008-02-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

So on Friday, the day after Valentines Day, I am at work when I get a message that there is a delivery up front for me. This is normal as I always have deliveries with my name on them for work. When I walk to the front desk I find this!! My husband does it again! I am very blessed!

Jaycee and Rylin playing at Turtle Bay Park.

Our weather has been amazing. Saturday we took the kids to Turtle Bay park and the sundial bridge to play. It was 72 degrees. I don't know that I am ready for it to get warm. I really was hoping for a big snow storm this year.

2008-02-14T23:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! It is a beautiful day here. I am really looking forward to the weekend because that is when Mike and I are going to have our Valentine's Day. We actually have a babysitter for all 4 children on Saturday. For those of you who are close to our family, you know that is very rare for us to have alone time without ALL of the children. Mike has planned something for us but I know nothing! I like it that way! Mike has always been a very thoughtful man when it comes to romance and surprises. And I absolutely love it!!! While I was at work today I found myself daydreaming about our trip to Fort Bragg 6 years ago. Mike planned a whole weekend get away for the 2 of us. It was Valentine's Day on Friday and we had a beautiful dinner at the cliff house resteraunt, (MMMMM Lobster, my favorite). After diner we walked on the beach and talked for hours. The next day we had a late breakfast and then moved on to the botanical gardens. Now if you have never walked through a botanical garden, it is a must. It was raining but we said "what the heck". We walked through the gardens in the rain and out to this amazing rock point. This place is like a fairy tale. It is 120 acres of gardens and it walks right out to a rocky ocean point. We stood on the point while the waves crashed up against the rocks and it was like magic. The rain stopped and a small break in the clouds appeared out of no where. A sun beam shot straight down through the clound as if it where putting a spot light on us. At that very moment Mike got down on one knee and proposed. OH! It still makes my heart pound. The greatest thing was.....I had absolutely NO idea that he had been planning this. He had already gone to my dad and other members of my family to ask for their blessing the week prior. We where married 3 months later and the rest is history.

LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH!!

MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU!

God grant me....

2008-02-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

It was actually snowing at our house and sticking!

Rylin said she wanted a baby in her tummy like mommy used to have!

Blake was so relaxed laying on Jaycee.

God grant me.....Patience for my children. When the kids are not listening to a word that I say, Blake is crying, Rylin is yelling Mommy over and over and over again and Jade and Jaycee are begging to get on the internet. Help me to remember that one day I will cherish this exact moment!

God grant me.....courage. To face my greatest fears in life. Like going back to school to get a masters degree. This is something that I long to do. Not only for myself, but for my children.

God grant me.....wisdom. Please fill me with your knowledge Lord. So that I am able to recognize the signs of a spititual battle. So that I am able to disengage myself when I am surrounded by negative people at work and in my life and turn to you for comfort.

God grant me.....strength. To be able to draw healthy boundries with family and friends. I want to rise up above the strongholds in my life and break ALL generational curses.

These are the things that I am contending for in my life right at this moment. And I know that with God nothing is impossible!

WOW it's been a while

2008-01-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that you are all wondering if I dropped off the face of the earth. Nope! I just went back to work and have been so very busy with the kids that when I do finally get a spare moment, I am usually trying to pick up the house or rest my feet for a minute. So I will try my best to get you all brought up to speed with the current events with our lives.

Mike has kicked off the New Year at work with a bang. He is working hard and loving his place of employment. They treat him amazing and they are talking about handing over the entire fleet division to run how ever he would like. He has decided to take a brake from softball for the next 8 weeks because of the amount of work that is on his plate. He leaves the house usually around 6:30am and hasn't been returning until approx. 8-9:00pm. He is still leading a men's group on Tuesday nights and he knows that his true calling is Ministry. We continue to ask the Lord where he wants us and so far we feel that we are right on target.

I am back to work now and I am worn out!!!! It was definitely harder on me than it was the kids. I really love the agency where I work but there are some mornings that are really hard. I am also leading a group through our church. I lead a women's group on Thursday nights that has just been amazing. This is my first experience as a leader and I must say that when I was approached with the idea I flat out said "NO"! I had received so many good prophetic words that I was meant to lead but I didn't realize that GOD meant right now. But Hey, what do I know. I am done being in charge of my life. This year I have vowed to take my hand off the wheel and let God steer. It seems as though every time that I try to "be in charge" I screw it up.

Jade is growing up so fast! She is an astounding young women, very intelligent and beautiful. She is a 4.0 student this year and is taking a number of honors classes. She is definitely a social butterfly with a large group of friends that she has been a part of since 2nd grade. She is still very involved with her cheerleading. We are out of town about once a month at tournaments all over California. Mike and I are so proud of her. We just had our first experience with boys and it was very interesting. Jade has had a crush on the same boy since 3 rd grade. They have always been considered boyfriend and girlfriend. Mike and I have always been very open with Jade about relationship and boys. So the other day when she cam home from school she was acting very strange and quit. When I asked if she would like to talk, she told me that her and Taylor broke up. She told me that all of their friends where pressuring them to kiss. As my heart is slowly sinking to my toes I am trying to keep a very open line of communication and make her feel as comfortable as possible during this very uncomfortable conversation. (I am definitely more uncomfortable than she is.) She proceeds to tell me that she is very uncomfortable with the idea of kissing and that she does not want to deal with the pure pressure any longer. So she pulled Taylor aside and made it very clear that she really liked him but she was breaking up with him. I was so excited to hear what she was saying that I wanted to jump up and down. But I didn't! Instead, I thanked her for trusting me enough to talk to me about something so personal. My goal with all of my children.............To keep an open line of communication about ANYTHING!!!!

Jaycee is also growing like a weed. She is in 2nd grade this year and is my free spirited child. She loves to sing and dance all the time. My mom bought Jaycee a small kids guitar last year for Christmas and that thing gets more use than any toy in our house. Jaycee and Rylin are constantly singing and playing music, they call it worship time. We love watching them. Jaycee also does cheerleading but is not as enthusiastic about it as Jade. So, I am going today to sign her up for softball. She really wants to be involved in some kind of sport and Mike and I believe softball might be her thing. We went to the batting cages a while back and Jaycee got in there with absolutely no fear and hit ever ball that came her way.

Rylin is 3 and a half going on 21. She a non-stop comedy. Her and Jaycee are always putting on shows for Mike and I. Rylin is very strong minded and likes to try and run the house. She follows Blake around and watches over him. This is good but sometimes it tends to go a bit overboard. I usually know that it is time to intervene when I hear her say "no, no Blake Michael". That usually means that the next step is her trying to carry him away from something even though he is only 6-7 pounds lighter than she is. I am searching for a good mommy and me tumbling class right now to work out some of that 3 year old energy that I wish I had.

I cannot believe that Blake is almost 1 year. He is amazing. I never could have imagined just how wonderful having a little boy would be. We really have a bond like no other. I of course bonded with my girls just as strongly, but in a different way. He is taking a few steps here and there but not walking yet. He just started waving and he eats table food now. He has 4 of the cutest little teeth that he just loves to show off.

Well that is all for now! I will try and be more consistent with my blog but it is hard when you have 4 children running around. This blog entry alone took me 3 whole days to compose. Oh the life of a mother. My family is big, my life is non-stop action and drama, we generally have bathing, biting, laundry, pooping and screaming 6 out the 7 days of the week. But I never give it a second thought when people ask me if I would change anything!! I simply reply "nope, not a thing!"

Happy New Year!!!

2007-12-31T11:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays are just about over and I am exhausted! Mike and I are excited to bring in the new year with the kids and some friends that will be coming over. Jade and Jaycee start back to school on the 7th which is the same day that I start back to work. I must say, I don't know that I am ready to go back to work or not. I am very thankful to have the job that I do. I have so much flexibility, and if everything works out the way that it is supposed to, I will be starting a new position as of February 1st. The new position will provide me with even more flexibility than I have now. Anyway.....I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year! Peace be with you and your families.

Still More Pictures...................

2007-12-23T23:41:00.001-08:00

Jaycee Showing her roundoff at the party

Jade is amazing when it comes to gymnastics. She is showing us her back hand spring!

More Pictures.............

2007-12-23T23:35:00.000-08:00

Rylin was ready to get off the train!

Blake is going to walk any day at only 9 months!

A lot of fun at Danny and Greta's Holiday Bon Fire!

Having fun with mommy!

My amazing husband and I

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

We tried to get a picture of the 6 of us, but those of you with kids know how this works out!

Rylin refused to look at the camera

Jade taking a ride on the mini train that went around the giant Christmas tree!

Rylin was less than pleased with the mini train ride

Jaycee had fun!

Mike and I took the kids to see the lights in dowtown
Redding tonight. They where beautiful! We both agreed that this year we have had such a feeling of excitement and anticipation for Christmas day! I think it has to do with the fact that this past year has been such a crazy year and we have made it through. Our family is stronger and wiser and our love for GOD and each other has grown tremendously! Where looking forward to the new year and all that it brings!

The other night we went to a Holiday Bon Fire Party at our friends Danny and Greta's house. We took some great pictures that I will post. We also took some picture tonight while we where out looking at Christmas lights. Make sure to look at the one of Rylin completely freaking out because she DID NOT want to go on the miniature train ride. She has been so temperamental lately! Anyway....to each and every one of you, have a very Merry Christmas and may GOD bless another year to come!

The Most Amazing News.....

2007-12-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

So we just returned home from spending the weekend with my sister and her husband. We had a wonderful time. On Saturday night we had dinner with my family at my uncles house. After dinner my sister wanted all of us to watch my mom open her Christmas present. My mom carefully pulled the gift out of the bag with a puzzled look on her face. It was a bib! After a few seconds I looked at my sister, then back at the bib, then at my sister, then back at the bib until it finally struck me.............................she is pregnant!!!!!!!!! I am SOOoooooooooo very excited to have a niece or nephew around! For the longest time, I have been the only one having babies. I think that we where all so puzzled by this because they really have not been trying for very long at all. My sister actually thought that she may have trouble getting pregnant because of the irregularity issues that she had in her younger days. But I told her from the beginning that she is my sister and I absolutely had NO problems what so ever, all that she needed to do was relax and trust GOD! Have faith that when the time is right, it will happen. She was off of birth control for 1 week!! God is so good and faithful!

Christmas is Coming.................

2007-12-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

So Mike and I finally started our Christmas shopping. I was going absolutely stir crazy knowing that I had not even started the long task of Christmas shopping. Usually by now I am completely done. I had surgery on November 27th and I expected to be up and running by the following week. Unfortunately I under estimated major surgery! Although, after talking to many others who had similar surgeries as the one that I had, I feel very lucky and blessed to be moving around the way that I am now. Thank GOD that he made our bodies to heal the way they do. I am posting some of our Christmas pics that we took while decorating our tree. The girls where such great helpers and of course Blake could not wait to get his little hands on that tree. Children............They are so fun and entertaining to watch. Last year Rylin really could have cared less about Christmas decorations. This year, she was very territorial. She made herself a nice pile of ornaments and would not allow any of us to touch them. Then she would proceed to neatly place them on the tree. The funny thing was that she bulked them all together on one branch until the limb was practically touching the ground. When I tried to move them Mike quickly stopped me and reminded me that she was very proud of the placement of all of those ornaments and that it was beautiful and we should leave them where they had been placed. It was a great reminder to me. Leave the little things alone. Some times it is just more important to let it go. Our way, is not always the only way or the right way! Children..........I think that I learn more each day from them than they learn from me.

TIME TO START BLOGGING!

2007-12-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

So I have promised our family and friends for a long time that I would try my hardest to keep them updated on our ever changing lives and that I would get better about sending pictures. Well, life is crazy and it just never seems to work out. So I decided to start a blog thanks to a dear friend of mine who I have not spoke to in years up until the other day. She gave me the address to her blog spot. It was so wonderful to get on there and read information and view pictures of her beautiful family. It really is a great tool. So am letting you all know that I have committed myself to stay faithful at posting new blogs and pictures that will keep everyone in the loop. Stay tuned for more! (The baby just woke up, gotta go!)