Missing Person Found!

Thanks to all that prayed. She turned herself into the police on May 10, 2011. It was a very long ten days. Keep praying for us , we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Missing Person

This is my daughter, Taylor Anne Kienbusch. She is 15 years old, born 4/1/96. She has been missing since 4/30/11. She was last seen on Grant's Trail on Tuesday, May 2, wearing a light blue sweatshirt and shorts. She is traveling with a boy named William Gallagher. If you seen her please call the St. Louis County Police Dept. 314-889-2341.

She is bipolar and has been off her meds since her disappearance. She is 5'9" and 144 pounds. Thanks for any help you can offer.

It's summer time again!

It's that time of year again for new summer dos. My little ones got haircuts with the flow bee. Liam is a pro and sat there very still to get one. Gavin isn't in the groove so he cried for a while but then relaxed when he realized it was just noisy but not going to hurt. Gavin's transformation is amazing. He reminds me so much of Austin when he was that age. When he was sitting on Austin's lap later on in the day it was like a strange sense of deja vu.

ANother big change is that Gavin is out of the high chair and sitting in a booster seat at the table. He loves it, especially now that he can touch Austin whenever he wants.

Liam has now mastered going potty by himself at night leaving me and Bill to experience the pleasure of sleeping through the night. I know that this will be short lived since Baby Wyatt will be coming in three months or less to rock my world. The nice thing about going back to the baby stage though is that now I know it won't last forever and as they start sleeping through the night you have other challenges along the way but at least for now they just want to be snuggled. For that I will give up sleep any day because they won't be around forever.

Goofy kids

I have been trying for days to upload a funny video of the kids dancing with sunglasses but google won't let me. Here's a pic of GAvin doing the funky chicken. It's really funny. The other two are of Dylan and Liam wearing embroidery projects that I did. I bought an embroidery machine and have been having fun with it making things for the kids. I plan to do a lot with it this summer before BAby Wyatt comes. I have been really having to go to the LOrd a lot these days with anxiety and it helps not only to pray but to have healthy things to focus on like making cute things for the kids. I have several projects on tap for me this week, a couple of maternity shirts, pajamas, and a nursing gown before I have some jobs coming in. I'm grateful to have work but it's nice to have a break now to get things in order at home.

Praise and Criticism.

Wow! You have your hands full. Do you know what causes that? Can't your husband get another hobby? Maybe this is too much. Another boy? Are you trying for a baseball team? Large families are for sweet people and you , my dear, are not sweet.

This is just a sample of the fun things I hear all the time. Some of them are intentionally snarky and others are saying it out of genuine concern. It has always been hard for me to be diplomatic when people say things that I don't want to hear. I go back to what Oswald Chambers says when he tells people to follow the Lord and leave the consequences up to Him. I don't follow the Lord perfectly to be sure and I fail more often than I succeed. But on the issue the Lord was very clear to us in the message, "Hands off, give control to Me." What a wonderful thing to obey Him in and I love that I can see the face of the Lord in all of my children. I wish that all the people I encounter would feel the same way but I realize I can't control how people feel.

On the bright side I've also heard wonderful comments of praise and support, mostly from my church friends but not always. It is great and reminds me that I need to return positive encouragement to others too.

Who have you encouraged today?

Gavy the great walks!

He did it! Gavy finally started walking on his own. He just took steps totally unprovoked. It was great. By the time I shot this video he was getting tired so he started stumbling a lot but yeah Gavy! It's so wonderful when they reach those milestones.

Christmas Kienbusch style

Here they are, my Christmas photos. We like to go to Bill's family on Christmas Eve. Taylor gets excited and pulls together some sort of festive outfit. We only exchange gag gifts for the adults and we give presents to the children. My gift was from my Brother in law, Bob, who gave me a hair volumizer...nice....just what I needed. Bill got Grecian formula for his mustache. All those grey hairs you know.

Gavin didn't know what was going on but he sure had fun with all the wrapping paper and other babies. He was up and down the couch all night looking at ELlie and Olivia.


We had tons of fun and lots of laughs. Bill has a sister named Wendy who lives in another state and she sent the goofy glasses with elf ears so we took a group shot to send to her. It's great to be a part of a big family like that. It gives me insight as to what type of Christmases I can look forward to in the future when my kids visit me with their families. I'm gonna love it.

One Day Way

I just finished reading One Day Way by Chantel Hobbs and it's a definite must for people that want to lose weight but are overwhelmed with how much weight they want to lose. Chantel is very encouraging and helps people break down their diet/lifestyle changes into bite sized pieces and not looking too far ahead but just doing what's right now.

After having just lost 40 pounds in the last year I can attest to how hard it is to stay motivated and keep on track. I wish I had read her book last year. Her philosophy is simple, make simple goals and stick to them. For example, move everyday. Eat more vegetables. Skip dessert...just today. As you stick to your goals then add more. Don't try to do it all in one week or beat yourself up if you have that piece of cake. Just get back on the horse and keep going.

Pick it up to encourage you in your new healthy lifestyle, you won't regret it. I have a copy to give away. All you need to do is to post a comment and I will draw a name for who gets it.

Extreme Makeover

One of the many nice things about having a daughter is that she likes to do hair and makeup. When she first started she was about Liam's age. She would roll my hair around a hairbrush to use as a curler and then she would get it stuck. Bill tried pouring olive oil on my hair to get it unstuck but it didn't work so I had to cut chunks out of it. I was leery of her trying after that.

She's improved a bit since then. She loves to straighten my hair and I love it when she does because it's so smooth. I never want to wash it afterwords. We had fun taking these before and after photos because my curly brown hair scares her. I think she will make a great beautician if that's what she decides to do. Otherwise I can just enjoy good hair for a few more years before she moves out.

Things for sale!!!!!!!!!

Quilted Pillows $10 each.

Here are some doll clothes that I still have for sale. The shirts, pants, shoes, shorts, backpack, and hats are all $5 each. The fancy dresses are $20 each. The leotard is $10. The tablecloth is $15. The quilted pillows are $10 each. I can ship what you want to you at a flat rate for $4.95. Please email me at wendy.william@att.net to let me know what you want and to get your address. Local pickup is free of course. I can take paypal or a check but have to wait for the check to clear before shipping the items. Thanks for looking.

If you are leery of ordering from my blog through email I would be happy to list the item on etsy. The link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/taaudy I have the purple dress, Christmas dress and the hat and muffs there already. That way you could pay with a credit card too. Just email me the item you want listed. If you buy multiple items you only pay one shipping charge, the other items are free.

Hats $5

Table cloth $15

Sunflower hat $5

Christmas hat, shoes and dress $25

Blue satin and lace dress $20

Two piece blue satin top and yellow skirt $20

brown jumper and peach shirt $15

Apron hat set $15

Two piece colonial dress $20

Red calico shirt $5

BLue skorts $5Striped pants $5

Plaid skirt and shoes $10

Fall dress $20

Pink satin dress, white lace and ballet slippers $25

Pink hat $5

Red/silver sleeveless dress $15

Cardigan, skirt and shoes $15, hat and muff $5

Red silver dress and jacket $20

I have a son I call my Eeyore. You know the type, glass half empty, expect the worst type. He was going on and on about the things that were wrong in his life. I then reminded him about all the things that were right. He had athletic abilities (doesn''t get a chance to use them), he had friends (they like Taylor better), he had little brothers that thought he was the greatest (they like Taylor and Dad more). He then went on to do a complicated grammar exercise and got it all correct. "Ha!" I said, be negative about that.

"I wasn't sure I got any of it right!" I had to laugh. In the past I felt that if I just loved someone hard enough that they would be more positive and FEEL loved. I've since realized that you can't do that. But I did give him a hug and told him I love him just the way he is. But I still can't help but pray for him just to be a tad more positive!

Halloween Fun....a little

Yes, I know it's almost Christmas time and I'm just getting the Halloween pictures up but I'm behind. This Halloween Austin and Taylor invited friends with us. Dylan sewed his own costume, complete with chest muscles! Liam was of course Spider man but without the mask as it scared him. Gavoo was warm in his Elmo costume. This year was a little different in that we started out as a family but we let the kids go on by themselves. The boys were out late and then spent the rest of the night trading candy with each other. The girls were cold and Taylor's friend was "bored" . Oh how times change quickly. Liam was just fascinated by the fact that he could go up to the door and say, "Trick or Treat" and people would give him candy. He got over his shyness right away!

I know some Christians don't celebrate Halloween and that's fine. We view it as a chance to visit with neighbors and dress up in cool costumes. We've talked with the kids about the origins of Halloween and what it means. We don't glorify the macabre or the death and violence that seems to permeate the day but instead look on it as a family activity with sweet treats.

Party Animal Liam

Liam had his first birthday party to go to a couple of weeks ago and he was so excited. He got to even skip a nap to go to it. We went to the store to pick out a present for his little friend Nick. He proudly picked out a remote controlled truck and a Spongebob gift bag to put it in and then he carried it all the way through the store. When the cashier greeted him he proceeded to tell her all about the party he was going to and how he was going to give Nick his present, eat cake and see balloons. He was also going to play with Layna (Elaina). She listened wide eyed to his story and sent him on his way.

The party was fun. There were many children to play with, chocolate cake with blue balloons on it to eat, and many toys to play with. The topper was the spiderman car he got as a party favor. Do my friends know Liam or what? He just loves Spiderman.

I forgot how much fun this stage is when they experience new things for the first time. I hope to have many more such days of this.