One of the Many Reasons why Parenting is So Hard...

Hello Everyone! Long time no see... Yeah, if you know me you know that I have all these wonderful ideas like family blogs and such and I always start and never finish. Ha! It's just who I am!!! But i found this topic very blog-worthy!

You might find this topic appealing for one of two reasons: (1) you are a parent and your interested in someone else's opinion of why parenting is hard or, (2) you are interested in this blog because you know that I'm not a parent and you are wondering how I would know anything difficult about parenting.

But with two brothers who are 6 and 5... a new little sister that is 9... 2 nephews... and having been a kid once myself (and a misbehaving one at that) I figure I MIGHT no a little bit about kiddos.

Well... I was reading my Developmental Psychology Textbook (Yes it is summer... No I am not taking summer school... and Yes, I am loser enough to read a textbook) to see if I could find out more about the development of Asher and Clay! If anybody out there reading this knows these two little kids... you know that we never know what is going on in their mind or what they are going to do next. So in efforts to better my big-sister and sometimes what seems like parenting skills... I have taken the initiative to learn more about their own personal development. Here is what I found:

One particular issue that I found interesting was the topic of Discipline & Punishment. This is apparently not only an issue for parents but psychologists as well. Discipline varies a great deal from family to family and culture to culture. Ideally, parents would like to anticipate misbehavior and guide their children toward patterns that will help them lifelong. But if you are parents... you know that you cannot always anticipate bad behavior and prevent the problem from arising; sometimes punishment is necessary. But how should we punish our children?

Don't worry this is not going to be just another modernistic opinion that we should never spank our children because we are their friends and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! But rather... just an opinion from observance. It should be stated upfront that I was a very difficult child. I was the typical child who "Knew Everything", Never needed any help, always tested limits, didn't even know when I crossed the line, ran when I was supposed to walk, talked when I was supposed to be quiet, and would show off when I was supposed to be modest, and on top of all that I was severely ADHD.

My parents tried everything, they spanked, they grounded me, they did time-outs, they took away toys, they discussed why what I did was wrong & explained the consequences, and etc. They literally tried everything!

Well, first of all it needs to be stated up front that NO DISCIPLINARY TECHNIQUE WORKS QUICKLY AND AUTOMATICALLY TO TEACH ANY AND ALL CHILDREN DESIRED BEHAVIOR. Remember, it is easy to stop a child for a moment with a slap, a threat, or a spanking, but it is hard to shape behavior so that the child gradually internalizes the parents' standards. Yet we all understand that although this is the goal we feel like it is rarely the result.

Between ages 2 & 6 children are supposed to learn how to reflect on consequences, to control their emotions and bring their actions closer to what their parents expect. Then, the child becomes self-regulating, not just obedient.

In every family, the first step is clarity about what is expected. What is "rude" or "nasty" or "undisciplined" behavior in one community is often accepted, even encouraged, in another. Each family needs to decide its goals and make them explicit for the child. Parents have a wide range of expectations and thoughts regarding the raising of the children, although they are often unaware that they even have them. This diversity is all the more reason that both parents need to sit down and discuss their expectations--to form a strong parental alliance.

The second step is to remember what the child is ABLE TO DO. Many parents often forget how immature children's control over their bodies and minds is. For instance, some parents punish children for wetting the bed, but no child deliberately wets the bed. Three-year-olds are clumsy and irrational; they will inevitably break things and tell lies. Young children gradually come to understand things from other viewpoints.

• Encouraging empathy (How would you feel if someone did that to you?) increases good and decreases bad behavior.
• Remember their emerging self-concept. Young children are developing a sense of who they are and what they want. Adults should protect that emerging self, neither forcing 3-year olds to share their favorite toys nor saying, "Words do not hurt." Instead, children need to know when and how to protect their favorite possessions and their emerging sense of self. For instance, a child can learn not to bring a toy to school unless he or she is willing to share it with everyone.
• Young children are eager to talk and think, but they say more than they really understand. Children who "just don't listen" should not always be punished, because they may not have understood a command. Discussion before and after they misbehave helps children learn.
• Remember, that young children are not yet logical. The connection between misdeed and punishments needs to be immediate and transparent, but usually it is not. If you were spanked as a child, do you remember why? Did you ever do the same misdeed again?

Punishment should be rare, reserved for misdeeds that the child understands and could reasonably control.

About planning punishment... physical punishment (slapping, spanking, or beating) is used more on children ages 2 to 6 than any other age group. Many parents believe that spanking is acceptable, legitimate, and sometimes necessary, they often remember being spanked themselves.

However, the life-span perspective reminds us of long-term consequences. Physical punishment works at the moment it is administered--spanking stops a child's misbehavior--but long term research finds that children who are physically punished are likely to become bullies, delinquents, and then abusive adults. Domestic violence of every type--spousal abuse, threats, and insults all correlate with bad behavior in childhood and then adulthood. Of course, many children who are spanked do not become violent adults (me for example). But, spanking increases the risk, but other factors (poverty and temperament, among others) are stronger influences. Nevertheless, psychologists often wonder why parents would increase any risk. Since physical punishment increases the possibility of aggression and only temporarily increases obedience, it is not recommended.

But, in truth, every kind of punishment might have some sort of long-term consequence. Another method that parents like to you is psychological control. This is when the parent uses guilt and the child's gratitude toward the parent which might damage the child's initiative, self-confidence, and achievement. There was one interesting study where I read where the parents were asked to respond to the following statements by rating themselves: 1--not at all like me and 5--very much like me. The statements were:

• My child should be aware of how much I have done for him/her.
• I let my child see how disappointed and shamed I am if he/she misbehaves.
• My child should be aware of how much I sacrifice for him/her.
• I expect my child to be grateful and appreciate all the advantages he/she has because of me.

The results conclude that the higher parents scored on psychological control, the lower the children's math scores. The connection only grew stronger and stronger as the children advanced in school.

Another disciplinary option is time-out. For young children, a time-out can be quickly effective; one minute of time-out per year of age is suggested. Another common practice is withdrawal of love, when the parent expresses disappointment or looks sternly at the child, as if the child were no longer lovable.

A third method is induction, where the parents talk with the child, getting the child to understand why the behavior was wrong. Conversation helps children internalize standards, but listening takes time and patience from the child as well as from the adult. Since three-year-olds don't understand causes and consequences, they cannot understand the question "Why did you do that?"

I know the each method varies in consequences and effectiveness, depending on the child's temperament, the culture, the parents' personalities, and the parent-child relationship. For example, a time out is only effective if the child prefers to be with other people.

Although sometimes we lose our temper (okay... most of the time...) the goal is for us to set limits and enforce rules, but also listen to our children. Expect your children to give opinions and discuss emotions with them! Do not treat your word as law, and not allow them to ask questions. Questions are healthy and so are explanations. Do not let bad behavior go without notice... you are responsible for shaping your children! You are not raising them to be children forever... yo you are raising them to have the qualities you would like them to have as adults (within limitations of courses). "Because I said so..." is not an acceptable answer. Demand maturity but usually forgive (not punish) the child if they fall short. Consider yourself a guide as a parent, not an authority or a friend. After all... this is how God treats us as his children. He is after all, the perfect father.

And for all you discouraged parents out there... Remember... nobody is perfect, we all lose our temper... we all scream... we all yell... we all lose our patients sometimes! But parenting is just another activity in our lives that is supposed to bring us to our knees, crying out to God (the only perfect parent) for help and support, for empathy, understanding, and strength. Remember... parenting is not a sprint... it is a marathon. Endure... persevere.... Take time every day to get the strength that you need from the heavenly father!

The Adventures of Alyssa and Ariel

One Saturday, in desperate attempts to get away from the snow (and homework) Alyssa and I decided it would be a good idea to go to the Arkansas Basketball game against Ole Miss.

As we were sitting during the first half, both of us realizing that we don't really know a thing about basketball, something exciting happens in the game. Apparently, it's called a "technical foul" (yes, I looked this up on Google). But it's one of the players has to go and shoot free throws all by themselves with nobody from either team around them. The Arkansas fans were going CrAzY because the technical foul was against us. So, Alyssa and I felt so intimidated as everyone around us was yelling things... turns out the lady behind us was a good enough cheerleader for the entire section so it's all good. But, Alyssa and I silently listened to the people around us chew out the referees and the ole miss players. We decided it would be a good idea to memorize the things that the people around us were screaming and yell them all at once on the count of three.... So that's what we did....

1.... 2.... 3....

-Oh come on...

-What the *$&#... He didn't even touch him!

-Ref's you suck!

-Expletive, Expletive, Expletive!!!

We fit in just fine until we ran out of things to say! But thats okay, because then it was halftime! Turns out this is when the real fun begins :) After we watched people dressed up in mascot uniforms attempt to bounce a ball around up and down the court we began to feel better about our lack of knowledge about the sport. So we laughed along with the rest of the crowd! There was a 3 Guys Dressed up as Taco Bell Sauce Packets (Fire, Hot, and Mild), these poor guys didn't even have face masks to see where the ball was so needless to say they got hit in the face many a time; eventually one of them even fell out of their shoes and the ref had to help him put it back on! How humiliating! The other's were dressed up as a Sonic Cup (Cherry Limeade) with the most ridiculous smile on it's face. This guy just stayed on the side of the court the whole time laughing as all the other mascots ran into each other, tumbling all over the floor.

After the amusing half time show when the game started back up Alyssa and I began to notice that everyone around us had red and white pom's they were waving around!!!! We began to wonder where everyone was getting these. Then, we noticed that a mascot down at the front was now handing them out to little kids. We decided that in order to get one we would need a child. So here are our options: (1) kidnap a child from around us and take them down to get poms... or (2) I suggested that we pretend Alyssa was mentally disabled so we could get some!

Of course after weighing the pros and cons we decided against it.

We began to get bored again and decided to take a picture of ourselves to put on facebook! Well, since we are girls we ended up taking around 10 pictures because we both kept not liking ourselves in the photo that the other one would like. Finally, we got a good one in which we both agreed up and before we knew it the game was over. On the way home we ate at one of the greatest restaurants on the planet... A.K.A. Chik-fil-A and then headed home rockin' out to Glee Tunes!!!!!

Well, that's it for this adventure! See ya next time Folks!

Blizzards and Waterfalls

It all began on the morning of Tuesday, February 1st. All area schools had been closed during the night before on account of a "Blizzard," and actually on the bottom of the screen where the area closings roll across it said... "Whole Town of Webb City, CLOSED." It was the first Blizzard warning for this area since 1982. I have to be honest, I was a little bit skeptical. I was beginning to believe that "Weather Warnings" were all scams held by Wal*Mart to get people to go on some pretty hefty grocery shopping trips. After all, the Webb City Wal*Mart was packed and was actually completely out of bread and milk by Monday Evening. The Joplin Weather Channel... To believe, or not to believe, that was the question...

Thankfully, I woke up at 8 a.m. to find tons of snow on the ground! Me and my cousin Alyssa ran and got the nearest ruler and shoved it down into the snow!!!! And the results were... 7" of snow Ladies and Gentlemen... at 8 in the morning!!!! Me and Alyssa squeeled with zeal... it sounded much like little girls who were running from their mean cousins who were chasing them disgusting bugs (not that I would know what that sounds like or anything...and no... I'm not bitter). :)

Whelp... The snow just kept coming down and at 9:30 we had 10" and at 11:30 we had over a foot! It just kept coming until eventually we had over 20" of snow! It's official... we are stuck in this house for a long, long while. Luckily... I was the smart one who went to Wal*Mart the night before and bought all the supplies to make Puppy Chow! Whew... once again, Ariel Saves the Day! :)


Mom and Alyssa and I watched the movie Grown-ups (which was stinkin' HILARIOUS) and munched on puppy chow the rest of the day. Dad was in Colorado on a ski trip with his buddies from work, and was planning to fly in on Wednesday night but I-44 from Tulsa was closed down and he had to take a different route home going around 30-35 miles per hour. It ended up taking him about four and a half hours to get to Joplin from Tulsa.


So today is Friday, there is still as much snow on the ground as there was on Tuesday and in fact, even more has been coming down for the last 6 hours. I love snow, it is absolutely beautiful! That was until around noon today when we began to have a waterfall in our basement! Turns out a pipe had broken upstairs under my parents jacuzzi in their bedroom (that's what they get for being spoiled), and had leaked downstairs into our storage room and into Alyssa's bathroom. And this was no small leak, water was GUSHING! That is until my mom called my dad, who called webb city, who called the water people, who finally turned off our water!



While my family was trying to figure out what to do. I took the boy's over to our neighbors house (Chases's house) where they learned how to play wii, watched Toy Story 3, and played with some of Chase's old toys. It was actually quite humorous because when we gave them a box of Chase's old toys, they just stared at it. They didn't know how to play with them. It was full of things like Hot Wheels, Star Wars Action Figures, Dirt Bike Figurine People with their Bikes, OLD OLD transformers and things of that sort. They just stared at it and started asking questions like, "Where are the motors for the cars?" "How come there is no remote control to make the car move?" "Why don't these people talk?" "Where are we supposed to put the batteries in, are the batteries dead?" That is when I began to crack up laughing at the fact that kids now-a-days have no imaginations what-so-ever!


Anyway, back at the house we called Reid's Dad, Kendall, who is a Plummer/Electrician/Miracle Worker. YAY FOR CONNECTIONS! :) And luckily, he came over and has been helping us with our new waterfall! My mom's first words were, "Well... I have always been wanting to redo this downstairs bathroom!" Haha. So now our water is completely shut off. Which I must say is kind of gross considering that means we can't have showers, brush our teeth, or flush the toilets (especially with to little boys running around).


So this has been quite an eventful week in the Dennis Household. I will attach some pictures below for your personal enjoyment!!!! Oh, and don't forget to be thank god tonight for your free-access to water and indoor plumbing!!!!



(Mountain of Snow Outside our Front Door, Notice Alyssa's Car in the Background!!!)



(Our Truck)


(Pretty Bird Sitting outside my Window... there were about 30 of them sitting in the same tree)


(Our Fire Pit Completely Covered by Beautiful White Snow)

Cupcake Cooking

Okay... so lately I have been in the cooking mood. I'm not really sure why! The same thing happened to my sisters when they got to be my age and I begin to wonder if it has something to do with turning 21!

But anyway... I was searching for recipes online and found that there's this website http://www.allrecipes.com/ and it is AMAZING! :) They have so many recipes its not even funny! But my favorite part is the fact that you get to have your own "Recipe Box." It's cool because you will find certain recipes and then save them to your own personal box (sorted into categories of course) and not only that but you can also customize your settings to where it can cut the serving size in half (for smaller families) or double it (for larger gatherings) and it will automatically edit the recipe for you. This is excellent for those of us who aren't very good at math! :) Also, it has a shopping list setting so you can plan your menu for the entire week, find the "top-rated" recipes for that menu and then add all the ingredients to your "shopping list" and print it off! All on one site! :) I am officially addicted! Well, I have included some really adorable cupcake designs I found on the website but don't get intimidated! They rate recipes by easy, intermediate, or difficult so that you know what you're getting yourself in to! I just thought these were adorable and wanted to share!!!

Happy Cooking to You and Yours!!!!!!

January... ending already????

Yesterday I, Ariel, was attending my 7 p.m. class when my sweet lil' friend from Brazil, Carolina, sat down next to me. She was all bundled up in this big puffy coat and she had a scarf around her neck, a hat on, and hot tea in her hand. Considering we were inside I kind of assumed that she was sick and her coughing and sneezing only confirmed my suspicions. She asked if she could have some of my Gardetto's (for those of you out there who haven't lived life yet... Gardetto's is this amazing snack mix stuff... my favorite are those brown crunchy pieces). Well, me being the person that can't say no to anyone agreed, knowing that she was sick and that me sharing my snack with her would probably get me sick too.

Whelp, needless to say, I am writing to you now from the comfort of my bed. I've got the down comforter pulled up to my neck and and bowl chicken soup in my hand. Oh the joys of being sick.

Well, January has been a fun month! My mom and dad are just being mom and dad. Ashley and Reid are having fun taking care of the most adorable nephew in the world. :) (so Far) So, I will start my updates with Amber and Caleb!

This is Amber with her adorable baby belly! She is now 31 weeks pregnant and is due on March 24th, only 9 weeks left!!!! Amber and Caleb are very, very excited! They have had 3 baby showers this month celebrating this new baby boy, Emerson Paul Gutshall! Her and Caleb have also found a duplex that has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. They are remaining in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Caleb just got a job with some company called Garner I think???? Anyway... Amber is such an adorable little pregnant lady and if you ask me she is still way to motivated! Over Thanksgiving Break she ran a 5k with her Hubby and her In-laws.... CRAZY! I can't run a 5k now and i'm not even pregnant. Sheesh!

HERE IS SOME ADORABLE ITEMS AMBER HAS GOTTEN:

Cute Personalized Pacifiers from her friend Natalee!

A Burp Cloth! "E" is for Emerson!!! Made by Ashley and Dina!

"WOOOO PIG SOOIEEEE!!!!"

It's a little razorback onesie that is also courtesy of Ashley and Dina (two of Amber's college friends)!

Wooden decoration with the words "Emerson Paul Gutshall... welcome to the world" engraved into it. Also, Courtesy of Ashley and Dina!

Asher had joined Upward Basketball Program in January. After going and watching him play, I must say it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! These little kids are all running down the court in one big herd. One person has the ball, nobody is even trying to steal it from the other team, they don't know how to dribble, therefore traveling is accepted, and the teams don't keep score. It cracks me up! :)

Meanwhile, when Asher is not playing basketball he is at home with Clay. Their normal day consists of attempting to be the karate kid while try to chop the coffee table in half, or dressing up as spiderman or batman and rescuing the damsel in distress (a.k.a. their sister) from whatever "dangerous" situation she is in. Sometimes I come home to two little football players, sometimes it's two baseball players, sometimes it's a cowboy or a fireman, sometimes its a power ranger, sometimes its a lion, a clown, or a pirate. There's really no telling what I'm going to come home to each and every day! My personal favorite is when they dress up in their spiderman costumes that have the built in Arm/Ab muscles and then they attempt to put clothes on over them since they are "in disguise." It is adorable!

As for me, I am keeping busy with school, relationships, and coaching cheerleading! God has most definitely been answering some prayers of me and a few other people about the possibility of a "Jones Center" type facility combined with a "New Life Ranch" type facility opening up in Joplin. I am so blessed because God has been working out everything so perfectly! I am so blessed to be able to be a part of God's story! He is completely and utterly amazing! I can't give too many details about this new center! But hopefully I will be telling you more about it soon!

That's all for now folks! :) Have a blessed end to your 1st month of the New Year!

New Year, New Update

Whew... the Holidays are over! Don't get me wrong here... I love the Holiday Season... but as far as I'm concerned, my x-mas break doesnt even start until after New Years!

For Christmas us Dennis' had about 20 people at our house for 3 days... Of course all the married people got the bedrooms so you wanna know where I was left sleeping... THE CLOSET! Now, in all fairness to my parents, it is a huge closet! haha.

On Christmas Eve all the family came into town Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nephews, Sisters, Brothers, etc. and on X-mas Eve night guess who showed up at our house!

Drumroll please....

Santa Clause! That's right, Santa Clause payed us a little visit on Christmas Eve, handing us all one present each! All of us adults were given Boyd Metal's hoodies while Asher and Clay got remote control trucks! Little did we know that Santa was doing a Co-Op with my dad's business!!! Hm... interesting how that works! :) Well, here are some pictures from Christmas Eve at our house!

Christmas Morning at our house began at 6:00 a.m.! Here are some pictures for Christmas morning!

Sleepy boys... waiting to see what Santa brought them...

My Momma, sleeping in!Caeden's first view of all the presents Santa brought him!

Caeden's New shopping cart, complete with a full set of play food...

Clay dressed up in his Lion costume... So cute!

Asher dressed up as an army dude...Clay with his glowsticks (it's the little things)Amber and Caleb with Emerson's new Razorback Piggy Bank!

Caleb's big present from santa!! He's been a good boy! :)

Me opening my present, $50 gift card for victoria's secret!!! Woot, Woot!

But the very best presents were scarves and hats knitted by Amber and Caleb (shown in the picture above)! We were all so shocked, as you can tell by my mom's face, and very excited! I do not have a picture, but the hat they made me is greenish-blue with a cute silver button! I love it! They kept it a secret this whole year that they had taken up knitting and I must say they do a very very good job!

Well that's all for the Dennis Familiy Christmas! We don't really do much for new year's or else I would post something for ya!

Happy 2011 everyone!

The Dennis Family

Hello Everyone! This is the new blog for the Dennis Family (written by the Ariel, the Youngest Daughter). We decided to get this blog-trend after both of my sisters had started a blog about their own families. I decided the name was very appropriate for our family because if you have ever spent a day in the Dennis Household you will understand that we truly do lead a not-so-simple life; in fact, our house is often described as chaotic.

I will start by introducing each member of our Crazy Family! :)

The above picture is my dad, Audie Dennis. My dad is quite a character. As you can tell he graduated from the University of Arkansas. Some people might describe him as Arkansas' #1 Fan, but I think the term "maniac" is much more accurate. I have been considering signing him up for "Arakansas-Addicts-Anonymous" which is a support group to help Arkansas Graduates move past their "glory days" at the U of A. Symptoms of this often include:

-Random Hog Snorting

-Shouting the phrase "Woooo Pig Sooie" in casual conversations

-Person only asnwers to "Felix Jones", "Darren McFadden", "Steve Little", "Matt Jones", "Joe Ferguson", or "Ryan Mallet"

-An obsession with buying any Razorback paraphernalia

-Often shows spirit by stripping their shirt and painting their skin. They may also wear costumes, capes, masks, or "hog-heads", or, on the opposite extreme, nothing at all.

-Tends to adapt an "aggressive nature" when watching the Razorbacks or when engaged in Conversations dealing with the Razorbacks. This aggressive nature may include the following: making full use of every profanity, defamation, or insult that they can recall or even throwing projectiles, anything from pillows to pop cans, at the incompetent officials or players.

I have learned that it is best to observe these kinds of Barbarians from a safe distance.

No, I'm Just playing! My dad is unbelievable! He is a stubborn man who will accomplish what he wishes to accomplish. He is sooooo patient, determined, and loyal. Of course, that is after my mom whipped him into shape. Sometime I'll have to tell ya'll some of my dad's stories... turns out he was quite the practical joker back in the day!

The next person on our list is my Momma. Her name is Melodie Dennis. She grew up in Arkansas, fell in love with my Dad at 16 and got married at 18. This lady is the biggest people-person you will ever meet. She could tell you someone's life story after 10 minutes of talking to them and she has very keen "mom radar" (which was very unfortunate for me while growing up). My mom is the parent of 3 girls and 2 boys (all of which you will meet below). My mom is everything good put into one person; her biggest flaw is loving people (especially her children) a little too much. And if you ask me, if that's your biggest flaw, then you must be doin' alright.

Just for kicks and giggles I have included a picture of my parents from when they were lil' youngsters below!!!

Moving along...

This is Ashley and Reid Pierce. Ashley is my older sister and Reid is her husband. They met when they were 14-ish and are still together 12 years later. The adorable little baby boy in front is Caeden their 16 month old son (whom you will hear more on later). Reid teaches Jr. High Biology and is a fanatic about the Razorbacks as well. Ashley used to teach second grade but she is taking a break so she can spend some more time at home with Caeden. Growing up Ashley was a bit of a nerd (shh!! don't tell her I said so). She was always so studious, doing homework before it was even assigned. She made schedules when she used to babysit me and my sister and when we would go on family vacations we would have assigned time slots for "reading," "coloring" and other festivities. Ashley is also the mediator of the Dennis Clan... she is so wonderful to settle all of our family dispuits and disagreements! :)

That is their adorable little boy Caeden. He is now sixteen months old and he is the cutest little boy on the entire planet. He is very strong-willed and is all-boy (which means he doesn't know how to play with a toy the way it was meant to be played with). He is spoiled rotten by his Aunts and his Grandma's and Papa's but he doesn't mind at all, however, if his mom knew, we'd all be dead!!!!

This cute lil' couple is Amber and Caleb Gutshall. They are the kind of couple that everyone loves to hate. They are the kind of people that will make homemade pizza with the fresh vegetables they got from the farmer's market that day then go running together with matching running outfits; they also like to spend their time at public libraries reading books drinking a cup of coffee. As you can see they really are quite charming. It wasn't always that way though. Actually miss Amber used to have quite the temper on her. She probably won't remember but I recall many a time me running for safety to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Occasionally, if I didn't run quick enough she would drill me in the head with the remote control. But luckily, when she went off to college and I grew up we both began to love each other and now we are greatfriends.

Amber got her teaching degree from U of A and her Masters in Christian Ministry from Liberty. Caleb (her hubby) is an electrical engineer (i'm still not sure what that even means). As you can tell from their picture, they are expecting a cute lil' boy due on March 24th. His name is going to be Emerson Paul Gutshall. We are all very anxious to meet him!!!

This is me, Ariel Dennis. I am 21, not married & looking. ;) Haha, I am going to Ozark Christian College and I'm majoring in Biblical Communication for Women. Basically it teaches women how to correctly interpret and teach the bible to other people through preaching, teaching, writing, and etc. I would like to someday speak at conferences and write books, possibly teach at a Christian college at some point, but we'll see how that all works out. I'm quite the dreamer and I have a hard time staying in one place for very long. I was a bit rebellious growing up, I was one of those little 6 year olds who thought they knew EVERYTHING! As i've gotten older I've realized this is not the case. I'm a bit indecisive but also really spontaneous. I'm an introvert and an Extrovert. In fact, almost all of my personality traits are paradoxical. :) I, like my dad, am quite the character. The one thing that is dead set in my life is my love and passion for Jesus. I did not discover the truth of him until I was about 19 years old, but having lived 19 years without him, I am now 100 times more thankful for every day that I have with him.

Below is a picture of us three girls while we were growing up! Ashley is on the left, Amber is in the middle, and I am on the right!

This is Asher and Clay. Asher is on the right and clay is on the left. We adopted Asher and Clay through the foster care system. We have had Cay since he was about 7 months old and Asher since he was almost 2 yeras old; Clay is now 5 and Asher is now 6.

Asher is a sweetheart. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and when he grows up he is the kind of charming prince who will make girls' hearts melt! Sometimes when I come downstairs in the morning looking at disheveled he looks at me and says I look "stunning" or "beautiful." Then he offers to play with my hair or scratch my back for me. He truly does have a way with words. In his free time, Asher likes to pretend he is spiderman or batman and constantly forces Clay to be the bad guy.

Clay is an accident looking for a place to happen. His new nickname is trouble. He is the loudest one in the Dennis Family (he took my place) and he literally never stops talking. One time, I was sleeping next to him in his room on Christmas Eve and I woke up to him punching me in the face as he was sleep talking (more like sleep screaming) about not wanting to share with Asher. Oh, it was a long night! Basically the definition of Clay is "a noise with dirt on it." But, somehow, this little troublemaker never fails to capture your heart whenever he cuddles up in your arms and tells you how much he loves you and calling you his new best friend.

I am so thankful for those two new additions to our family.

Well, this is the Dennis Family Introduction for you! Hope you enjoyed it and I will try to update about our complex life from time to time. :) Have a great New Years!!!!