HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

wow! how times flies. i haven't posted since november!! so much has happened since then ..... how in the world will i get everyone caught up??!! here goes .........

well, christmas was grand!! the girls really had fun this year. they had truly fallen in love with "san claus" by the end of the christmas season. in fact, they were so mesmerized by him, i just knew the trip to see santa would be a breeze, in fact, quite enjoyable. ha! think again! ends up that i procrastinated until late, not the last possible minute, but pretty close. so, with that being said, laura and i decided to go one morning - a kind of spur of the moment decision..... a.k.a. catastrophe in the making :0) we get to the mall and the line is, of course, extremely long. the worker elves came around to update us every once in a while and not too long after we started standing in line, we were told the wait was an hour to an hour and a half. oh boy! so, the waiting began! well, much to our surprise, the kids were GREAT! they honestly were. they got a little restless in the end, but overall, they were wonderful. the "sitting in santas lap" part was not so enjoyable. recall, i did say we waited in line for an hour to an hour and a half, all for what??!! all for our kiddos to act as if someone was chasing them around with a huge ax. they were absolutely terrified of "san" (aka santa). my girls wouldn't let me even think about putting them down, much less put them down and walk 5 ft away so the elves could snap a quick picture. even "san" was saying, " oh my!" i should also add that during the entire waiting period of an hour and a half, not one time did we see a child act the way ours did. i'm sure we were the butt of many jokes! good times! ....... so, for our precious daughters 3rd visit with santa, the picture is complete with mommy sitting on santas lap and mattie and grace sitting/laying on me. quite humorous! still gotta love it! its framed of course and i'm sure laura and i will have great memories of that day for years to come.

christmas was here and gone in a flash! we fought some sickness between thanksgiving and christmas, which was no fun. by christmas they were good to go and so we were able to join the arnolds family gathering late christmas eve after lunch with my family earlier in the day. this is something we started a few years back before we had the girls and i was so glad to be able to pick it back up this year. we go over after they get home from christmas eve service. despite it being late, the girls had a great time playing with nani grace. we got to visit with miss katherine - sweet little thing! she looks amazing!!! shes doing very well! and i am thanking our God for his graciousness everyday. she walks in faith knowing that this is just a season. she enjoyed the girls, and i enjoyed her enjoying he girls. shes just so sweet! :0)

next, we rang in new year and from there time has just flown by! today is february 14th - valentines day - and i can hardly believe we are already
well on our way to being a quarter of the way through this year. geoff continues to plug away at selling brick. as we all know, the housing market is pretty much horrible right now, but God has blessed us with new business leads nearly everyday! he is soooooooo good! we continue to press forward, taking one day at a time and try not to listen too much to the gloom and doom the media has to offer. we're just holding on!

we attempted potty training back in january and i'm pleased to announce that one of the 2 took to it very well! ya hoo! i took advice from my friend christy, and tackled "3 day potty training". basically you put them in big girl panties, make a HUGE deal about that, and continuously give them liquids so that they have to go potty. needless to say, i had to be just as ready to do this as them because first of all, it is/was very exhausting, and second of all, you must stay at home for THREE WHOLE DAYS!!!(unless, of course, you want to be cleaning up p p and poopy in the middle of target - no thank you!) i spent the first 2 days on my hands and knees with paper towels and a bottle of clorox anywhere .... literally, i probably spent more time on my knees cleaning up pee pee than i did doing anything else. i was warned though that it would be that way. by saturday, grace pretty much had it, while accident by accident, mattie was getting a little bit more rebelious! by monday grace was potty trained and mattie was back in diapers :0( shes obviously not ready and i've been told by many people not to push her; she'll do it in her "own time". mattie tends to do a lot of things in her own time (whatever that means! ha!) she is my bull-headed one, although i must say, grace is catching up rather quickly. so, to bring you up to date, grace is doing well. she does have an accident here and there, but overall shes doing great! mattie is still in diapers but showing more and more interest in going potty. we shall see!

other happenings include our niece, carol, getting engaged :0)!! and one of my very best friends, bonnie, expecting her sweet little baby boy any day now! can't wait to see baby cohen!

well, lets see .... i think thats it, atleast all i can think of now. its late, very late for me, and i think i'll hit the hay. i just wanted to blog and bring everyone up to speed because its been so long. i might add more tomorrow morning when i have a clear mind, but until then, good night and thanks for checking on us!

we love each and everyone of you reading this blog!
the truan's
-------------------------------------------------
my God! my God! thank you for being so constant in a day in time and market that is not so constant. thank you for loving us and meeting our every need and more. please help me to remember that you are the market. not the numbers, not the projections, not the media, but YOU! thank you for the soft reminders and the many people you have used as vessels in my life in the past couple of months. i will bless your name forevermore! i ask that you bless every single person who reads this blog as we are all in need of something. amen.