4 chicks and a Hunter

HOPE FEST 2011

2011-05-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

As my "guest blogger" wrote...it has been a VERY long time since I have posted. But now I have something very important to post about...HOPE FEST 2011.

Hope For His Children is a Christian non-profit organization which exists to show the love of Jesus Christ to the orphaned, abandoned, and impoverished children of the world.

The mission of Hope For His Children is two-fold:

•To increase awareness among our family, friends, church and community regarding the desperate needs of orphaned, abandoned, and impoverished children of the world.

•To generate support for orphaned, abandoned and impoverished children in the form of: financial contributions, donations of various supplies, prayer commitments and mission trips.

Hope For His Children is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization.

All donations are tax deductible.

If you live in the Indianapolis or surrounding areas please mark your calendars for this very important and FUN event on June 11, 2011!!

Blessings,
Carrie

Big Mama Is Back

2011-05-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Just re-designed my mother's blog, "4 Chicks and a Hunter." It's been a long, long while since she's been on blogspot, but I think she's coming around and will get back to blogging soon.

Love,

#2 Chick (after Mama)

Happy Blogging!!:)

Bloopers

2009-11-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

Madi, Casi, Sarah - English Presentation

2009-11-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Easter "Basket"

2009-04-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

Backin' Up The Name (way to go babe!)

2008-11-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

Dean's top 11 Reasons why he LOVES to go hunting...

Reason #1- A beautiful (early morning) Indiana Sunrise

Guess what the other 10 reason are!!
Now we just have to figure out where that head mount is going to go!!!

Happy Birthday/Mother's Day to me!

2008-05-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

I love my birthday, this year, like many, I enjoy celebrating my "birthday week." To start off my week my sweet husband placed a box of Hostess ding-dongs in the freezer for me (only me!!). Then on Friday night we went to dinner with some friends and enjoyed some great food and live music (very fun!). Sunday was my birthday, which was shared with Mother's Day this year, the girls were very gracious in their cards and flowers that they gave. Mollie gave me an early card on Thursday (well, it is my birthday week) that read:
Happ
oomost
Happ
Barfdau

you ra sil butfil

interpretation: Happy almost Happy Birthday....you are still beautiful!
I love beginner writers!
So for my big birthday/mother's day surprise Dean and the girls arranged for an activity for us to do on Sunday afternoon. And it was so fun and relaxing. This is where we went and I cannot wait to go back. This weekend we will get to pick up our finished product, so I will let you know how they all turned out. And from my friend Michelle , she got me tickets to go see these guys and we have great seats! And from what I hear they are pretty good!!

BIRTHDAY #9

2008-04-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!
HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY MERRILL GRACIE!!

The Chicks

2008-04-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

Things are moving right along at the house, we started painting the interior two weeks ago and it is quite colorful, you can definitely tell we have three girls...the upstairs has been referred to as a "bag of M&M's" and rightly so, but you will have to wait for the pics. I have been lazy about taking pictures. It's hard to take pictures and hold a paint brush at the same time but I do promise to post some soon. Since I'm not painting tonight I thought I would take just a few moments to do some updating on the girls.
All of them started softball a couple of weeks ago, this year Madi is playing Majors for the first time and Merrill and Mollie are still on the same team for one more year, however, this year I am helping out with coaching their team, so it should be interesting:) Merrill turns 9 in just two more days and she had her "hamilton" (see Merrill's new smile post) removed about a week and a half ago, we were so excited! Her braces remain for now and she added a retainer that can be removed while eating(much easier). Unfortunately only 6 days after she received this removable retainer it was placed in the trash at a restaurant that we had stopped at after visiting a friend at the hospital, so we were back in the orthodontist office once again to have a retainer made just one week and $60 later. We will see how long this one lasts!!!

March House Update

2008-03-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it has been over a month since my last posting about the house...it is just very hard work picking out all those things that go into building a house, you know like doorknobs, and trim, and sinks. Even though I haven't actually been sweating I have been doing a lot of "brain work" or some would call "decision making", which if you know me well, is a very difficult task for me at times. With that said, I really have no good excuse for not posting, it has been going very smoothly, our contractor is great and all our workers have been very pleasant. And believe it or not, they are currently finishing the drywall and are projected to be done with that by Wednesday of this week.
Here are some new pictures, but not necessarily the most current...the exterior is the same, it is completed except for the painting, we will be doing that hopefully this spring as soon as the ground dries out and we decide on a color!!

We interrupt this house building project....to say Happy Birthday

2008-03-07T16:27:00.001-08:00

Truthfully, I have not even thought about posting about the house lately, mostly because I just haven't had time, with all the decisions going on around here it has been hard to think about very many other things but the house. So, I am still not posting a picture of the house progress yet, but I am going to let you know something I did think about other than the house today...
My best friends' birthday.
So I just want to wish Michelle a very Happy Birthday!! And I just wanted to let you all know that I am not even holding it against her that we weren't invited for her birthday dinner with her sweet family, and if you were wondering, I am not even stressing about the fact that I bought her something that she got for Christmas but I didn't know she got (but at least I didn't get her jewelry HA!), and I won't even tell you about how nice it is that she is in fact not only my best friend, but somewhat of an OLDER, wiser woman in my life. These are just a few thoughts that I had today when I wasn't thinking about the house, along with how thankful, grateful, and appreciative I am that God gave me my V.B.F.F. and today is her BIRTHDAY!! YEAH!!

2008-02-20T18:26:00.001-08:00

I have finally caught up with our builders, I think. Whew! They are fast. Tommorrow siding, yeah, yeah, yeah!

A Beautiful Sight!

2008-02-20T06:25:00.000-08:00

House framing

2008-02-13T04:58:00.001-08:00

You are going to be so surprised when you see what the framers have accomplished! The first day of framing was February 8 (they laid the floor joist on the house), in just one week they were able to frame the entire house and garage.

Monday February 11...the first floor is framed

Friday February 15 the entire house if framed!

House update!

2008-02-09T19:50:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot going on around here these days, some of the most exciting have to do with the fact that we actually have some progress on the house!! A few weeks ago the footers were poured and then the crawl space dug out. The weather has been so crazy that they have not made been able to do any more work. However,this week was very exciting, they were able to lay the block for the foundation and the first floor ( as you can see in the last pic with Merrill standing on the pile of mud) was put on the house yesterday!!!

"Suddenly"

2008-01-31T04:46:00.000-08:00

I was listening to a new cd yesterday that I received from a friend and I read these lyrics...
"It's one place there's never been a foreigner/'Cause God's love makes everybody
welcome there/Sometimes there's nothing left but to believe/ Sometimes in an instant/Sometimes we wait for years/But it comes down to the moment faith eclipses fear/Your wandering is over/The other side is real/You've broken through/
Your mountain moved/And mercy is revealed/His mercy is revealed"

For some reason these words among many others that I love on this cd burned into my brain when I first read them and made me think. Sometimes there is nothing left but to believe, we try to do things ourselves and be in control and it just DOES NOT work. My fear gets the best of me, I have faith, but to actually have that moment when it does just come down to believing, to having my faith eclipse my fear, WOW, that is powerful, because then and only then can my Mountain be moved by my Merciful God!!

And if you were wondering who wrote these deep lyrics that have made me come to tears every time I've heard them, well, it's none other than Mr. TobyMac. (And who ever said rockin'rap music couldn't glorify God...NOT ME!!)

Micah's Song

2008-01-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

Since the only progress that has happened on our house since the last time I posted, has been the pouring of our footers, which are not that exciting to see(really they aren't just some concrete down in the ground), and since we took this video a few weeks ago and the girls and I still laugh every time we see it, and since my friend Michelle really hasn't posted anything exciting lately (sorry Michelle) and this is her sweet son, and since we have the copyright to this great video, since yours truly taped it, I thought I would share it with all of you... because we love this little guy!! So here it is "I Believe I Can Fly," Micah style.

*Edit note, my friend Michelle posted something great yesterday that I had failed to read before posting this, so please go over and visit, you will be blessed by her commitment to love her Lord!

Puppy Heaven!

2008-01-12T06:12:00.000-08:00

Please welcome the newest member of the Gourley family...Bosley! We picked him up last Friday and we have been adjusting to our new schedule ever since. Feed, potty, play time, nap, feed, potty, play time, nap. His schedule resembles that of a newborn baby, I have even been getting up with him at night, it's been awhile since we have had this kind of schedule in our home and we are all adjusting. The first night was really hard, but last night he slept for over 5 hours at one time!! We were very excited this morning to get a good night of sleep, or at least I did since Dean got up with him!
F.Y.I. More house updates should be coming soon!

Happy Birthday Madi--a day late!

2007-12-31T08:24:00.000-08:00

Monday,December 30th 1996, Madison Noel Gourley was born at 5:15 A.M.(which means I was in labor all night!). She weighed 7lbs, 8oz. and was BALD! Since then she has grown some hair and is now in the 5th grade.
Yesterday for her birthday she had her good friends over, Sydney, Audrey, and Erica to play in the afternoon and then her Uncle Ray and grandparents came over for dinner. After dinner Shannon, a.k.a. Sha Sha, came over for a sleepover. We had celebrated her birthday earlier in the month with cake and presents, so today was just a day to enjoy with family and friends and celebrate being 11. As her younger sisters say, Madi is now a pre-teen! Oh No! We are definitely not ready for what's in store, but we are excited to see what God has planned!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADI
WE LOVE YOU!

The Perfect Presents

2007-12-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone...it's me, Madi. This Christmas I didn't know what to think at all. Merrill and Mollie slept in my room on Christmas Eve. I talked Merrill out of waiting for Santa..but still we couldn't fall asleep. Finally, around 12pm we hit the hay. Mollie had fallen asleep about 10 pm on the floor. In the morning when we all finally were awake, we opened presents. Starting with one of those new ipod nanos for me! Then came Merrill's video camera and Mollie's pink DS. When we went to stockings we got lots of other cool gifts. Then we insisted Mom and Dad open presents next. They did. Then came all the other presents. But four special gifts made this Christmas great. #1 the ipod. #2 the Wii. #3, a box full of puppy things and a puppy. A beautiful black lab. And #4 is Jesus. Who came along a long time ago. He was born of the earth from a virgin, named Mary. Later on, which is what we call Easter, years later from this birth, Jesus died from our sins. Now that is a great present. If you want to know more about the puppy, my mom's post under this explains it. Well, I wiss everyone a Late Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our Christmas Surprise!

2007-12-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas...a couple of days late! We have had a few fun days playing with new gadgets, (still figuring them all out), visiting with family, and eating lots of yummy food. However, the few days before Christmas found myself and Madi in bed very sick! But thanks to our favorite Dr. and some prayers we were able to roll out of bed and make it to our Christmas Eve service at church. By Christmas morning we were much better.
This Christmas was special for a few reasons, one, it is the last Christmas we will spend in this house (hopefully), and it was our first Christmas without Cocoa in 5 years. So as you can imagine the girls (and Dean and I) were pretty emotional when the girls opened a box filled with a green leash, collar, and a book about Labs. At first they weren't sure what to think, but then we explained that a couple of weeks ago we had picked out a black male lab puppy for our family. He isn't quite ready to come live with us yet, but very soon, maybe by this weekend or early next week. So yesterday we headed out and visited our new puppy for the first time. When we arrived at the owner's home they had just let the puppies (all 11 of them) outside for their first time ever! We spent about an hour playing with our new puppy and his siblings and visiting with the owners. Merrill was able to capture some video of our visit on her new flip video recorder, and she made this movie earlier today, very cool!! Now we just have to decide on a NAME!!!

Happy 6th Birtrhday BIG MO!

2007-12-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it! Mollie is 6 years old today. Our family had fun at dinner time looking and reading through Mollie's baby book. She was born at 1:08p.m. on a Thursday. Big sisters and grandma and grandpa were the first one's to greet us in our room at the hospital. The first gift I recorded that she received was a soft, pink blanket from our sweet friends Kristin and Shane and MaKenna, which also happens to be the same stinky, ugly blanket that she still sleeps with today! It is unrecognizable!! But that is for another post:) It's fun to think back on all of that (now that I get a full 8 hrs. asleep each night, and if I don't it's my own fault) and think about our young family of girls.
Today we decided to celebrate Mollie's birthday after Kindergarten with her V.B.F.F.L. Jordan Randolph. We ate lunch at Mollie's favorite restaurant, McDonald's, and headed to "Build-A-Bear", which was more like "Build-A-Bunny". After much indecision Mollie chose the same Bunny as Jordan and then they picked out coordinated outfits in pink and black for their "bunny twins." They are fun girls to hang out with, they enjoy each other so much, God has definitely given them a special friendship which started from the very beginning of their lives.
Happy Birthday BIG MO!
We love you smooch!

Closing Day!

2007-12-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

We signed all the papers today to close on our construction loan. Now what you ask? Now our builder can get to building and digging and all that stuff that takes money. However, we will see how fast this starts due to the small mountain of snow that fell on the ground this past weekend!!

For Cocoa and Harley, our WonderDogs!

2007-12-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the 6 week anniversary of the departure of our beloved dogs, Cocoa and Harley. They took off for a walk together and we have not seen them since. We would have had Cocoa for 6 years this coming April, Cocoa was 3 months old when we drove to Southern Indiana and picked her up, the same age as our little Mollie. As far as the girls are concerned we had Cocoa most of their lives. And so now life without Cocoa has been heartbreaking to say the least.
Harley came to us by way of The Timmons this past spring, when Brock spotted Harley on the side of the road and talked his dad into picking him up, in hopes to find a home for him of course. So we willingly took Harley off of their hands. As far as our vet could tell Harley was a Bernese Mountain dog, less than a year old. He was a great dog. He and Cocoa hit if off right away.

So after many, many, many, prayers that continue daily, fliers, phone calls, drives looking for our beloved dogs I finally right this blog. I love the fact that my girls have all this love they want to share with animals and I know they get it honestly from their father. I think he has been rubbing off on me too because I have never loved an animal in my life until Cocoa and surprisingly I fell in love with Harley right away too.

We have no idea what has happened to our dogs, but I do know that many tears have been shed for them and that they were very loved, what more could a dog ask for!!

A night at the Symphony!

2007-12-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

It was magical, beautiful, wonderful. We headed downtown Indianapolis to go (for our first time) to Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's Yuletide Celebration. As we drove downtown we admired all the decorations and Monument Circle's Tree of Lights. We parked and walked to the Hilbert Circle Theatre where we were greeted by Reindeer! The City was beautiful with people taking carriage rides and walking downtown enjoying the Christmas attractions. We entered the Beautiful Theatre and we found our seats. As we waited for the lights to dim and the curtain to go up, I watched the girls, they looked beautiful in their new dresses with their hair done, so "grown-up" as they browsed through their program given to them by the usher who greeted us. We were so excited to see what was about to happen on the stage below us. Sandi Patty was the host and let me tell you, she looked beautiful, and her voice was amazing. She did an incredible job and what we were so amazed with was the 10 or so gowns that she transformed in. Every time she left the stage she appeared in a new amazingly gorgeous dress, with diamonds, glitter, trains, beautiful! And she was so fast!! However, that was only the beginning, because the African Children's Choir was the special guest this year for the show. They were WONDERFUL. The children were very involved in the show and show much FUN to watch, it was beautiful to hear them sing praises of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. The other special treat was one that will not be there for every performance so they did not promote it. Ben Utecht from the Indianapolis Colts showed up in his "Colts Blue" Tuxedo for a duet with Ms. Sandi Patty, she of course, was wearing a beautiful "Colts Blue" gown at this time with lots of diamonds, and it was fabulous. She walked off the stage with a white fur given to her by Mr. Utecht that proudly had his name and number on the back in lots of glitter!! Very Fun! And that was all before intermission. The show ended with the telling of the story of Jesus' birth, it was beautifully done. After the show we headed home and made a dessert stop at Steak and Shake, don't you love that Steak and Shake is open so late! (We even saw Tom and Terry Camp there, Jeremy's parents)
So this is where I would show you all the beautiful pictures that I took of the girls and the lights and the theatre. Where you would see pictures of me and Dean looking, might I say, the best we may have ever looked (wink, wink) But, unfortunately, when my parents stopped by before we were leaving to take all these beautiful shots I realized my battery to my camera was going DEAD and this is the ONLY picture that we have of the night. I am so sad about this, hopefully I have learned my lesson. Today we go get our tree and my battery is FULL.

Day 7...

2007-11-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

No pictures, just use your imagination for this one...we have a well. Not extremely exciting, but hey it's one more thing to check off our list and who doesn't like indoor plumbing! Another step closer to that dishwasher and second bathroom :)

I Can't Believe What My Eyes Saw Today...

2007-11-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, I actually saw trucks, dirt being moved, a "tractor thing", men standing around talking about where something should go or which way something should be moved,(you know those things that guys talk about when they are standing around), a big metal thingy that goes under the driveway to help the water drain(I think), and the best of all a dump truck unloading one load of gravel!! Yes, we have what looks to be the first signs of a driveway. And since I wasn't sure if this could be called our "official first day of building" I decided that without a driveway big trucks and "tractor things" and men can't drive onto our property and talk about where things should go and build our house or dig our well and all that other stuff that needs to get done before I can actually have a dishwasher or second bathroom. So I am declaring today our official first day(even though they were only on our property about an hour!). Work has been done and we are on our way!!!!!

A few days...A month...

2007-11-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

So it is now November 16th, exactly one month since I posted about being days away from getting our house started, and we have NOT started building our house, hmm. So when I said we were a few days away, obviously I did not know what I was talking about. Nothing is wrong, just slow. Very slow. Dean heard today that we have our final approval from the Bank and they just need a couple of documents from our builder, and then...well, then I have no idea. I assume we close on the loan and they will start, but for some reason I have this feeling they(the Bank) are going to ask for some other document and it will then take a few more months, I mean days. Anyway, God is good, we are all healthy, and He is teaching us lots of patience!

Merrill's new SMILE!

2007-10-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

MERRILL CAN NEVER SAY THAT MADI ALWAYS GETS TO DO THINGS FIRST...because as of October 23, 2007 Merrill has experienced something before her older sister! Merrill got BRACES! Unfortunately she was a lot more excited before she got them than after:) Due to Merrill not having enough room in her mouth for her teeth, she got an extra device called a "Hamilton" which helps spread her mouth to allow more room. It is however very hard to eat with and talk with, so please pray that she gets used to it quickly and easily. Dinner last night was not very enjoyable for her to say the least :( However, today she was the star of the class since her teacher informed me that her whole 2nd grade class could not wait for her to get to school with her braces in place, she said it has been quite the topic and they were all very excited to see her new smile!

THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS...

2007-10-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally (I think) days away from starting to build our house!! Now I didn't say how many days, but we are close! I thought it might be fun to blog about our house building experience. To get you up to speed, in February we talked with my Grandma about purchasing land from her in order to build a house. At the end of April our land was approved for rezoning from Agriculture to Residential. In June we had house plans drawn up and in August received a bid from our builder for those house plans. At the end of August we threw away the first house plans and drew up new ones. Needless to say we simplified without losing space and we fell in love with our new house plans and also the new bid price(which we received last week). The beginning of October we started applying for permits and continued our banking loan, which had actually been started in June. Today we meet with our builder to sign the contract with him, tomorrow I will go and apply for our last permit (building; we have already received the other permits needed) and we will sign our approved construction loan and give final papers needed for the banking side sometime this week...

One more try...for my girls

2007-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

Not sure if I want to try this blogging thing again, but I know the girls' think it is very fun! So we will see...

GO COLTS!

2007-01-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

For all of you that haven't heard yet....the Colts are going to the Superbowl!! What an awesome game, Dean had a meeting at church and didn't get home until the last 9 minutes of the game. I thought I was going to go crazy watching it by myself. Tommorrow I have my BSF class and one of the ladies in my small group is the wife of the Colt's tight end coach, I can't wait to celebrate with her! Go Colts!!

The Box

2007-01-18T12:46:00.000-08:00

So I'm trying to clean out my bedroom, I mean really clean, when you go through drawers and your closet and get rid of stuff. I actually enjoy this process, I love getting rid of clutter and having a nice, organized, and clean area. However, lately I find it harder, we seem to be outgrowing our house and the stuff is multiplying faster than I can de-clutter it. Anyway, I started in the other night and opened up a box that I open every once in awhile and then I close it again because I just don't know what to do with what's inside. See, even though I love not having clutter around, I am a little sentimental. The box I open is full of cards. Cards from our wedding, cards from college graduation, mother's day, birthdays, births, valentine's day, and just because cards, just because you care cards, just because I need to tell you I love you cards, just because I did something wrong cards . I just can't part with them, but I don't know what to do with them. See when I open the box I start to look through them and they remind me of all the wonderful people that are in and have been in my life. It reminds me of how long Dean and I have been together and how much we have shared. Some of the cards are from Dean or from me to Dean. Cards from our girls and from our friends. Some of the cards are from loved ones that are no longer with me, my grandparents, Dean's grandmas, Fred and Bid, Duane Powell, Aunt Pat... The signatures are so telling... ageing, sickness, old relationships or pre-married cards signed only by one of our friends that may be married now, some are pre-kids or kids have been added to their families and some are from family that now lives far away. I love reading notes that people have put in the cards...While I'm reading these cards I think maybe I should look in this box more often because it reminds me of how precious these people are in my life and what an encouragement they are to me. Sometimes I need to be reminded.
But then I ask again, what should I do with all these cards... because I have another box of them right over there that I haven't even told you about, and then I have the box of cards that are in my closet...
Thank you Lord that you have filled my boxes with overflowing cards, and I pray that I may someday be a blessing to each person that has a card in my box!

Birthday, Birthday, Birthday, and Birthday!

2007-01-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Birthday Season--
I just wanted to post some pics of the last few
weeks of our busy holiday(and Birthday) season for all of those family members that are so far away and we miss so much. We wish we could have shared some of these special moments with all of you, but here's an update so you can have a look at what we've been up to.
December is full of Birthdays for us, as you know, 4 very special Birthdays in our family that we celebrate...Mollie, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Cocoa--our dog, and Madi...

Mollie's Birthday--
On December 16th we celebrated Mollie's 5th Birthday(we pretended it was December 20th, which is her actual Birthday) She invited two of her friends and the three of them had a big day together going to Libby Lu's and Chick-fil-a for lunch and then back home to be greeted by her big sisters, dad, and grandparents for cake and ice-cream, it was a great day, and our baby is 5!!

Jesus' and Cocoa's Birthday--
Of course we had a wonderful celebration on December 25th, the girls prepared yet another Birthday cake for Jesus and we were able to spend time at church and with our family. December 25th is also our dog Cocoa's Birthday she also turned 5 just like Mollie!

Madi's Birthday--
Madi turned 10 on December 30th!! We can't believe it either. We told the girls on their 10th Birthday they can get their ears pierced, so of course, that is what we did! Dean and I took Madi and 3 of her good friends to Claire's for the special occasion. After the big event we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch, then bowling and the arcade, and back home to be greeted by her grandparents and sisters for cake and popcicles. It was great day.

For Women Only...

2006-11-20T06:28:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a great book. For Women Only...what you need to know about the inner lives of men. By Shaunti Feldhahn The author was in the process of writing a novel when she wanted to do some research on the inner thought life of a christian man for one of her characters. She was surprised when she evaluated her research and found out that a lot of men felt and thought the same things and the things she found out they were thinking surprised her!! And honestly some of it surprised me too. I loved how this book encourages us as christian women to respect and love our husbands, and is completely honest with how sometimes we just don't. What we do really does impact our husbands lives in so many ways.

Disney World Vacation 2006

2006-11-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

My Top 10 Favorite Things About Our Disney Vacation

10. Splash Mountain(3x and only got really wet once!)
9. BEAUTIFUL WEATHER
8. Short Lines! Yeah!
7. Turtle Talk with Crush@Epcot Totally Awesome Dude!
6. My mom's silly stories she told the girls as we were driving back and forth to the parks.
5. Soarin'@Epcot Very cool.
4. Mickey's Philharmagic (2x, favorite attraction at Magic Kingdom)
3. Getting our pictures taken with and autographs of 16 different Disney Characters.
2. Mollie twirling in her Snow White dress as we walked around the Magic Kingdom.
1. Enjoying a wonderful vacation without any grumpiness, bickering or fighting with
my beautiful family.............thank you girls, Dean, and mom and dad

Happy Halloween!

2006-11-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

I have lots of Disney vacation pictures to post and will soon but,
I couldn't resist these pictures of the kids last night. The girls' and I met up at theZimmerman's house for some "candy consumption!" We had a great time. We don't really celebrate Halloween, but it's hard for our girls' to resist the opportunity to actually wear dress-up clothes in public and get tons of candy!

BSF--Lesson 5

2006-10-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Due to an unexpected outing last night I didn't get my BSF blog done, and now I'm stealing just a few minutes away from folding and putting up laundry to share with all of you what I learned yesterday. Our lesson was taken from Romans 3:21-26, and it is all Good News. After hearing so much bad news this was the Good News that we were waiting on! We talked about righteousness and redemption, justification, propitiation, and sacrifice of atonement...all big words. To simplify...righteousness has nothing to do with what we do, it has to do with our position not behavior, biblically it means to be right with God. Justification is an act whereby God declares us not guilty, we contribute nothing. So righteousness is our position when God declares us justified. Redemption means to buy back. Our teacher gave the illustration of Hosea in the Bible where his wife,Gomer, left him and he bought her back out of slavery. (Third Day fans=Gomers!!) Just like Jesus bought us back . Propitiation, the removal of God's punishment for sin through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Sacrifice of Atonement, the sacrifice that God gave through his son to atone for our sin. So we deserve death, we are all sinners, and all unworthy of what God did for us. However, God in Love gave his only son so that we might have eternal life. There is nothing that we can do to earn or deserve this, but it is all there for us to receive if we have faith and believe. I pray that we never underestimate the sacrifice that was made for each one of us and that we find the urgency to share it with others that are undeserving, just like us!

Happy Birthday Dean!!

2006-10-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

Today is the Day! Today is the day 36 years ago that a new "man" was given life. It was the day that a little baby boy came into this world and started on a journey. A journey to find his Saviour, a journey to find God's will for his life. A journey to become the father for three beautiful girls and one undeserving wife. On this journey he has sometimes had guidance and sometimes been alone, and sometimes been with the one that loves him more than she has ever known. We are so thankful that this Man has had the courage and strength, Godly wisdom and Love to be on this journey with us.

For all the crazy things you do and the sensitive heart that you have... I Love YOU!!
Happy Birthday.

Your Wife.

BSF Tuesday--Lesson 4

2006-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

"This was a hard lesson," I was so relieved when I went to BSF today and other women in my discussion group were saying the same thing. The passage is short this week, Chapter 3:1-20, thankfully! The overall message of this part of the chapter is that we are ALL sinners, apart from Christ, no one is righteous, no one understands(spiritual discernment), no one seeks God, no one is worthy, no one does good, and all people are completely depraved! Wow, makes you feel good doesn't it. Thankfully God loves us because he wants to not because we are worthy. We are totally depraved; meaning we are unable to do a single thing to please God or understand spiritual things, or to seek God. Total depravity shows us that we need help, we cannot become righteous on our own, and when we turn to God to make us righteous He gets all the Glory!!!

Dedicated to all the "mismatched" 4 yr. olds.

2006-10-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

On September 19, Stacy, "blogger," blogged about her daughter, who is 4, and how she has this ability to pick out clothes. I have giggled about this over the past couple of weeks as I have remembered how far I have come. My oldest daughter is 9, my middle 7, and my youngest 4. Each one at about the same age 3-5 yrs. old also went through this independence of picking out and "matching" their own clothes. I would have never let Madi go anywhere in some of the outfits she put on, we definetely struggled to get dressed some days. Merrill has a lot of fashion sense, and has made me proud on many occasions when refusing to wear something that doesn't match, however, she too went through this same independence, however, I was a little less controlling with her. Now Mollie is going through this phase and I think I have totally given up complete control, well, maybe not complete control. However, she has been seen IN PUBLIC in just about every combination you can imagine. Actually just this week as we were picking up Madi at our friend Colleen's house she was wearing jean capri's with butterflies, hawaiin (dress-up) shirt, sandals, ponytail AND headband (note picture). Colleen actually made the comment that she wishes she could dress like that! Knowing Colleen's good taste, I questioned the comment, and she meant look that cute in something like that! Knowing Colleen, I'm sure she would have let her daughter where it too.
Now, instead of thinking "how does that mother let her daughter where that in public" I think, "what a good mom for letting her daughter pick out her own clothes!" Because I'm sure they are saying that about me:)
Then we have the whole dress-up play clothes, my girls did and do plenty of dressing up, we have had more than one person say, "every time we stop by your house your girls have dress-up clothes on." Some days( before school) they would go directly from pajamas to dress-up. Some days they still do. Some days Mollie tries to wear dress-up wherever we go. Some days, I just give in and agree with Stacy when she said "I just swallow my pride and remember it's her heart that matters." I pray that I can teach my girls this and they learn the value of modesty (note to self, get rid of the revealing belly button hawaiin shirt) and the value of a beautiful heart. It's also good to remember they learn how to match... eventually.

Stacy, glad to hear you enjoyed the muffins! sad to hear you are on "blogging strike" :)

Disney World --Here We Come!

2006-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Two weeks from Today, Saturday, we will be traveling to Orlando Florida to have a fun-filled week at Disney World. This post is for those of you who enjoy Disney and would like to give us any tips or advice. Those of you who are not Disney fans, I would ask that you hold all comments until we at least get home:) This will be our first trip to Disney with the girls, we are planning on going to Magic Kingdom one day and Epcot one day. We are also seriously considering doing a character dinner, and the "not so scary halloween party." We are flying, yes Cat and Jed, this will be the first time for your nieces to fly, I'm sure your kids can't imagine that!!! This is actually only the 4th time for me to fly, and it has been 10 yrs. since the last time I flew (with Cat and Scott Orlando). I have to admit, I'm a little nervous. Anyway, my parents are also making the trip with us, so we are all very excited. The countdown begins...

A DAY WITH DAD By; Madi

2006-10-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well, hello everyone i'm Madi Gourley the oldest ''chick''. As you probibly know today I went on a field trip with my dad,''The Hunter'' is what mom calls him. I kinda just want to tell you how my day was.We met tons of people and had a fun time. We learned what it was like back then. We went around and people acted like it was back then we even went shoe shopping with a gal! We went to the blacksmith,Doc.'s house,inn, pottery shop and more!I really liked the Doc's house. Anyway, during the day we saw W.Conner's home. We waxed candels and had a 1 hour busride!That is to long cause that made us have not enough time for everything! We missed the ''POW WOW!'' That was something special you could see. We missed the Zimmerman Farm that is supposed to be good. While we were waiting after lunch we rolled down the huge,tall hills.And I felt like I was back then.Thank you all for listing I will love to write soon.
Love,
Madison Noel Gourley (Madi)

P.S.I LOVED HUNTING TOO!

A Day with the "Hunter"

2006-10-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Today, Madi our oldest "chick" spent the day with her dad, the "hunter". They first started the day with a school field trip to Connor Praire, which is a living museum about pioneer days. They had a beautiful sunny, brisk, Indiana fall day. Then they spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening hunting. All of our little "chicks" enjoy their special time with their dad. They seem to especially enjoy hunting with him. They reflect on God's creation and enjoy the walk together. They also get pretty excited when they see wildlife, the girls and Dean:) The girls' enjoy this time for many reasons, but I think they enjoy it the most because they know this is something that their dad loves and he is willing to share it with them. I also think that is pretty cool.
Thank you God for not only giving me a loving husband, but also a loving father for our girls!!

BSF Tuesday--a day late!

2006-10-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

So it's Wednesday, the lesson is still the same, maybe I'm avoiding talking about Chapter 2 in Romans because it hits too close to home! Paul starts the chapter out by by telling us "we have no excuse!" Yes, you, "who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." Wow, and we thought we avoided God's wrath because we don't have "depraved minds" and" we aren't full of every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity or full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice," Romans 1:29 We need to be careful that we are not to eager to judge another, because we may be guilty of the same offense. I'm guilty of gossip, envy, jealousy, the list goes on, but I have no problem stopping my girls when they start to talk about someone from school or each other in an unkind way or when they are complaining about not having something the other one may have. It' s easy to see it in them, but not so easy to see in myself.
In chapter 2, we learn from Paul that, we all deserve God's wrath, however, we need to be aware of God's kindness, patience, and tolerance that leads us to repentance, and if we are persistent in seeking Gods' glory and honor he will reward us with eternal life. As christians all of our sins have already been judged, and they have already been forgiven!!
However, we must be be careful not to become hypocrites. We can't take God's forgiveness for granted and continue in our sin when we know the difference between right and wrong. We need to be careful not to show contempt towards God and think we have a right to God's patience, tolerance, and forgiveness. It should be the goodness of God that leads to repentance.
If God never did another good thing for me, would he have done enough?
Finally, God is more interested in our heart than in our outward signs of christianity. One of our questions this week was to substitute the terms, "baptism," "confirmation," or "church member" for the word "circumcision" in verses 25-27, How do people today rely on these outward signs for their relationship with God?" Paul, says that "a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God." Romans 2:29 God's judgment is based on truth and reality, not on perception. God judges the heart.

BSF Tuesday--

2006-09-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last week I started going to BSF...Bible Study Fellowship, it is an inter-denominational organization that is around the world. It is wonderful, I can't say enough about it, and the children's program is great. I have learned a lot about the Bible through this organization. This year we are studying the book of Romans. I have attended before but I had to miss last year due to a conflict. Anyway, I am going to attempt to do a blog every Tuesday about the lesson and what God is trying to teach me through this.
This week we read Romans 1:18-27
This part of Romans talks about God's wrath. It talks about how people chose to disregard God as Creator and chose to worship the creation instead. We discussed the difference between a darkened heart; one that has lost all spiritual discernment, becomes self-centered, without compassion for others, and a depraved mind; one that looks at evil and calls it good, approves of the practice of evil, and looks at good and calls it evil.
In verses 24-28 it says that "God gave them over," God took his hand off from them, he allowed them to pursue their lust and sinful desires of their hearts, and gave them over to their depraved minds. SOUND FAMILIAR! This is our world we live in today, so how does this apply to me? I don't have a depraved mind, Thank you Lord! Do I have a darkened heart? I'm hesitant to answer, but no I don't, however I could very easily. How, you might ask? Failure to thank God can lead to spiritual darkness, Failure to worship God above all else will lead you to subsitute a false God in His place, which will lead to spiritual darkness.
How many times do I find myself whining, swimming in self-pity for some trivial circumstance that may inconvenience me for a short period of time. How many times do I find myself feeling insecure and self-centered because of things not going the way I want them to go. How many times do I put off reading God's word and sitting in His presence to pursue something of no eternal value. More than I like to admit!
The Good News, which is the best part of the lesson and the reason I can answer no to having a darkened heart, is that my Hope is in Jesus Christ. I am Guilty, but Christ took that guilt away and he has given me a clean heart and a pure mind. I know where my hope is and I know where I would be without Him.
Without the Bad News, the "Good News" is not good news. If I don't understand the bad I won't appreciate what God has done for me.
We need to develop "attitudes of gratitude" it acknowledges that God is our provider and it protects us from the spiritual darkness that surrounds us. It also helps to develop a God-centered life instead of a "Carrie-centered life." I pray that not only will I develop this attitude for myself but also for my children, so that they can see this modeled for their lives.

A Favorite Fall Food Tradition

2006-09-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, for the first time this year, I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. YUM!!! I love these muffins and so does my family. As soon as they are out of the oven they are pretty much gobbled up, I had to fight my husband for the last few that were in the muffin basket last night after the girls were in bed. Of course the girls asked for Pumpkin Muffins for breakfast and I had to tell them we were out because their dad ate them all :)
I only make these muffins a few times each year and only in the fall months, usually after mid September until Thanksgiving, I don't know why I just do. Anyway, I got the recipe from my sweet Pumpkin Chocolate Chip lovin' sister-in-law who I think about every time I prepare them. I don't think I've shared a Pumpkin Muffin with Cat for a long time, but I wish I could right now because that would mean that she would be here hanging out drinking tea and eating muffins with me chatting about life while the kids are off in the other room preparing some sort of play/musical routine to perform for us later or playing pirates or house or dress-up or legos or whatever they could imagine! Unfortunately Cat (and her sweet husband) is in Thailand with her 4 very imaginative children whom I love and the next time they are home it won't be "Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin Making time." Maybe I will have to cheat and make them in May!!

I love you Cat, wish you were here...

If you are interested in trying these out here is the recipe...

Mix in Large Bowl
1 2/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

Mix in Small Bowl
2 large eggs
1 c. pumpkin
1 stick butter
1 c. chocolate chips

Add wet mixture to dry mixture and fold together with rubber spatula

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (Makes 12 muffins)
or
Make mini-muffins for 10-12 minutes (Makes 40-45)
(we prefer the mini muffins!)

I'm on my way...

2006-09-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way, new computer, which I'm still figuring out all the new gadgets on, and we are back online! Yeah.

Don't give up on me yet!

2006-09-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

I'm getting close to finding my groove AND buying a new computer...just stay with me.

Finding My Blogging Groove...

2006-06-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

As you have all noticed I'm having a little trouble finding my "blogging groove." I wonder why and then I look over my calender at all the events that have happened in our family life over the past few weeks. Nothing stressful, or bad, just busy. One of the biggest problems have been our computer...it has not been acting as it should. Other things such as school ending, softball games nightly for our two older daughters, swimming, sleepovers and going to sleepovers, having anywhere from 1 to 6 girls the age range from 4 to 9 years over our house. Going to friends homes for cookouts, graduation open houses and such. Having friends and family over for dinner or card playing, attending church, taking care of our garden and just routine family chores. We also just got back from a family wedding in Georgia and our family vacation to the Smokey Mountains! Whew! I'm tired just typing it all! But the other day when I was once again on our computer typing trying to blog, my 4 year old came up to me and asked me to snuggle with her...then I remembered why I haven't found my "blogging groove." But I will...just be patient with me.

Our family (by Madi)

2006-05-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our family sometimes gets a little out of control! We are a silly family that loves being together. Here my mom made shirts for all of us, it was July 4th!! We have tons of fun together. And we love to spend time with the Timmons family!!

It's All in the Name

2006-05-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

It's hard for me to think of names. When naming our children I obsessed about each one. How it sounded with our last name, how it might sound as they grew up into adulthood, how it looked written out, and after the first was born, how the next two siblings name sounded with the first. I also thought about how I wanted each one of them to have an unique name, that was perfect just for them and that wasn't too trendy or overused. Why would I be any different in choosing a name for our blog? I wanted a name that described our family...something fun and a little silly, (just like our family) after much time and effort it has evolved to this...4 chicks and a Hunter.

Our family consists of 3 darling little girls(the little chicks) and one darling man who loves to hunt, and me his "chick", or "mama chick," which makes the 4th.

For those of us who have accepted Christ, we also have a name, we are called The Children of God. How blessed I am to not only have a birth name given to me by my parents, my married name accepted by becoming one with my husband, my name I'm priviledged to be called by my daughters, but also my name given to me by my Heavenly Father! So as I start my blog and share with all of you, just try to remember through all the "name calling" that goes on around here, what we are striving for the most in our home is to be called Christians, (to be Christ-like in a world that is not).
Happy Blogging,
"Mama Chick"

We are just testing this post

2006-05-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

This is just a test