Shelby and The Scooter

We were outside enjoying the nice weather the other day when Shelby pulled out her brother's old scooter. You know, the Razor scooters that were all the rage a couple of years ago. It was a "have to have" back then and now it is so rusty it is hard to unfold it. That thing has seen one too many rainstorms.

Shelby got me to unfold that thing and she tried to ride it. She said, "Mama, just hold me up till I learn how to this on my own." While I was helping my soon to be 7 yr old trying to learn how to ride her big brother's scooter, I started thinking about what she had said.

Of course, she just wanted help learning to ride the scooter, but I saw something deeper in the statement she made. See, my job as a mother is to do exactly what she said. It is my job to hold her up, spiritually, physically, and emotionally, until she is able to do it on her own.

That is one of the reasons I decided to home school. We have good days and bad days~~sometimes we have VERY BAD days~but ultimately I want to do the job God has called me to do~be her Mother.

I know that God knows my heart and He knows that I want to do right by my children. I know that He doesn't call all mothers to stay at home or home school their kids. I DO know that He has called me to do both of those things and when I get to where I feel like I can't take it anymore~~He's there to cheer me on and tell me I CAN do it.

Do I get scared sometimes? Absolutely! Sometimes it is very overwhelming to home school and know that I have people looking to see if I fail or succeed. I just keep reminding myself it is not the world's standards I have to live up to. It's my Saviour's and He even helps me succeed~unlike the world.

Yesterday...

we got a phone call around noon that one of our members at our little church passed away. We are grieved to say the least. Remember, this is a very, very small church and very close. He had been on dialysis for a long time but he was VERY faithful to our little church.

He was just at church Sunday morning and seemed to be doing okay. We are just so shocked. Mike talked to his wife and she would like him to do the funeral. He is a little nervous because this will be his first (other than family) that he will be fulling in charge of. I know the Lord will lead him and that he will do fine.

I am sad for Chris's wife and family. I love what they represented to our church. They have broken down barriers in that small church and I am thankful for that. I am thankful for the opportunity to worship with this kind man who always had a hug and smile.

You know, every time I am faced with the death of someone close it smacks me in the face. We never know from one minute to the next when death will sting us. I am reminded of the verses in I Cor. 15:

55. O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?
56. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Thank you, Lord for these comforting words when our feeble minds can't wrap around what we are seeing and feeling. Have a thoughtful day, everyone!

*update~I was going to take the song off today but I felt it was fitting for this post.

New Music

I love this song by Nicole C Mullen and so I put it on my blog. I will probably change it in the next couple of days but for now I am in the mood to hear it.

Do you ever get in a mood where you could listen to the same song over and over? I do!!! I really have to love it and feel it!!!

So, enjoy Redeemer with me for a little while!

Being Real

I just went over to my friend's blog and she had posted about being real with others. I can be really real with some people, one of them being the friend whose blog I was reading. We have shared things from mysterious rashes to female issues to anything else women go through!

Sometimes, though, I have a hard time opening up about things if I feel I may be judged harshly by the person I am talking too. Being real is what we should be as Christians because folks that aren't can spot fakes a mile away.

I will never forget one Sunday morning in church my husband was leading the music and he felt lead to share about God's grace and mercy in our lives. He talked about how we had our son before we got married and how God had used it for His glory. He said other things but I remember that part the most because at the end of the service another couple that had been coming for quite some time approached us. The wife said that they had gotten married when she was a couple of months pregnant and that they felt in bondage to that.

She said that it felt good that they were not alone and that God could use them. We don't know what kind of things that people are carrying around sometimes because we can't be real and share our struggles. We probably never would have connected to that couple if Mike had not been open and shared.

I feel when I am transparent I am more at peace with myself. I know that I have missed opportunities to minister because I wasn't willing to open up and share myself. If you have ever been hurt by a close friend you know how hard it is to be vulnerable and let people in. When we moved a state and a half away from our family and friends it was hard to open up to new people in our new church.

It was literally PHYSICALLY painful to go to a new church knowing all of the people we loved were meeting together and we couldn't be there. Those are the times God stretches us and makes us more pliable for His guidance. You can either harden against the pain or let God work in the pain. At times, I have chosen to fight against it and at other times I have let God work. I recommend letting God work because fighting is dangerous.

When I read my friend's post I knew where she was coming from because we have been friends for years. I just pray that we will all be the open and honest Christians we should be. I keep thinking of that old quote from somebody, "You may be the only Bible someone ever reads."

Think about all the stories Christ told. He was all about sharing struggles and showing people what others go through. May I mention when Satan tempted Him. He didn't have to tell us about that, but He did so we would know we are not alone. He knows what we struggle with and we can count on Him to help us.

Thanks, Resa, for provoking this healthy look at being real!!

Our Red Hot Piggies!!!

My lovely 1st daughter and I did each others piggies and it was so fun! We thought the red was a great color for the month of February~~you know, it being the love month and all!!! I love having daughters!

Funny, Funny Girl!!

Let me start off by saying that hubby and I got the crud Monday night. And...with our teenage son gone it was a 6 yr old that was our helper. She was a good one! We have recovered now and the weather is so nice that we have opened the windows!!

Anyway, I gave my baby a teaspoon of honey this afternoon and she ate a little of it. She put the spoon down and said "I can't eat anymore, Mommy, it tastes too much like honeymoon." I thought I would split my sides laughing. She was so cute!!!

I've Been Tagged......

Toni over at guruofmyhome has tagged me.
Here goes.....
Aprons- Y/N? - YES I am a true southern girl

Baking- Of course I make a mean batch of chocolate chip cookies from scratch

Clothesline- Y/N? =Yes especially in the summer months I love that smell

Donuts- Ever made them? Yes! Canned biscuits make great donuts

Everyday- One homemaking thing you do everyday? Kitchen and laundry-it becomes unmanageable if I don't

Freezer- Do you have a separate deep freezer? - No I wish I did

Garbage Disposal- Y/N? - Sadly no

Handbook- Y/N? - no

Ironing- As needed everthing gets hung up until someone needs something I did away with the ironing basket years ago

Junk Drawer- Where is it? - one in the school room one in the bedroom

Kitchen- Design and decorating? Chili Peppers and I love it

Love- What is your favorite part of homemaking? - Freshly laundered clothes all the dishes washed

Mop- Y/N? - When I start sticking to the floor

Nylons- Wash by hand or in the washer? - washer in a bag thingy

Oven- Do you use the window or open it to check? - Open to check

Pizza- What do you put on yours? - white pizza with chicken and mushrooms

Quiet- What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? - Computer, book, or devotions

Recipe card box- Y/N? - Yes

Style of house - 3br/ 1bath ranch style kinda I think

Tablecloths and napkins- Y/N? - Ummm, no....paper towels and paper plates if I am lucky we have no dishwasher

Under the kitchen sink - cleaning stuff and kitty food

Vacuum- How many times a week? every other day~it is my oldests job

Wash- How many loads do you do a week? - about 10

X's- Do you keep a list of things to do and cross them off? - Most of the time

Yard- Who does what? - My hubby and son they LOVE it!!!

ZZZ's- What is your last homemaking task for the day? Washing dishes or folding a load of clothes

I am tagging seven4 heaven and anybody else who reads this and wants to do it!

Baby Girl Has It Now!

Well, the baby got sick last night. She got out of the tub and said my tummy hurts and....then she showed us why. All over my bedroom floor. She has been lying on the couch all day and when I say all day I mean ALL day.

We had snow all day yesterday and it was warm enough that it just turned to slush when it hit the ground. BUT, when the sun went down so did the temperature. Everything that was slush during the day froze.

We didn't have church this morning because the roads were slick. Driving an hour from home on slick roads is not my idea of fun. I am glad they called off church. Basically, I wouldn't have gone anyway because baby girl is sick, but I would have worried my head off to send my hubby off on frozen roads.

Is anyone else sad that Reba is ending? I love that show and I tried to find back seasons at the library~~because I am cheap that way~~ and they didn't have any!! Van is my favorite character because he is a hoot. He is over the top which makes me laugh so hard I almost wet my pants!!!

One of mine and Trevor's favorite episodes is when Van says~get a load of these hammies. We say it to each other and crack up. I am missing that kid!!!!! I am counting the days down til he will be back home.

We are watching the old TV show Northern Exposure~again, from the library~you know the cheap thing! We are enjoying it. Prime time on regular TV is awful! We don't have cable so we are very limited in what we can watch and the selection is slim pickins I tell you what!!!!

I know...I know

Before I took my sweet girl to the doctor I did a few things around the house. Hence, I decided to fore go a shower until I was done with said things! Isn't it normal not to get clean until you stop getting dirty? Maybe I shouldn't have waited so long.

My youngest came in and climbed up on my bed beside me and said, "Mama, you need a bubble bath!" Okay~so I knew that but did we have to say it out loud. I laughed and laughed! I tell you what I love the honesty little kids have. They are so oblivious to political correctness and they don't care what is socially acceptable.

She has said lots of things that I just hoot at because they are the absolute truth and she just slings that truth right on out in the open! She is like some of the little old ladies that we see at the nursing home every Sunday. Those ladies are hilarious. They will just come right on out and say whatever they are thinking.

What have they got to lose, they know they don't have time to dilly dally and dance all around the truth, they just let it fly. I love it!! They aren't trying to hurt feelings or be mean and neither is my daughter. They just see what they see and they don't mind telling it like it really is.

I have had to say "No, I'm not pregnant. I just look like I am." and "Yes, that is a wig Missus So and So is wearing but it is lovely." and "It's okay that Mr. Smith is playing his harmonica the whole time we are having church."

They sit and stare at him and give him dirty looks because they wouldn't dare interrupt my husband while he is conducting the service. They just give looks that could kill until it is over and they make comments at the end like "I couldn't hear a thing because So and So wouldn't stop playing that contraption." "You need to leave that thing in your room next week!" "I don't think he knows how to play one song on that thing."

I think there are lots of similarities between my almost 5 yr old and the little old ladies at the nursing home. The truth sets them free. :~D

What Is A Mother To Do????

Isn't the very goal of a Mother to feed her child and just when she is done, feed them again? What happens when the child is peaked (yes, that is the southern word for feeling bad and it is pronounced PEA-ked, thank you very much) and won't touch one morsel of Mother's food!!!

You call the doctor and get an appointment. Because, even your non alarmist husband is concerned about his little girl. So much so that he is willing to stay up and watch the youngest so you can take the other to the appointment. So we will go at 3:40 this afternoon.

I have something else to say. Ahem~ I was in a very bad mood yesterday. Not to the kids, not to the 6 people I talked to on the phone, not in my post, but to my husband I was in a bad mood. Are you happy now, honey? My hubby came home this morning and said,"Why didn't you write on your blog yesterday that you were in a foul mood?" I proceeded to let him know that it was not something I wanted to share with everyone~just him.

I am sure that he wishes I would share with others more! That would at least give him some relief. I will not go into the ugly details~it would be very incriminating. Lets just say it was UGLY~I was UGLY. I am over it now, in fact, I was over it last night. I think hubby has forgiven me since he did kiss me goodbye last night and I was very glad about that.

I am sure sometimes he feels like he lives with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I am, after all, a woman and we go through these kinds of things ever once in awhile. Now that I think about it~it was a little comical.

Picture this~me-meeting hubby at the door as he arrives home from school. He-briefcase in hand looking bewildered as I proceed to tell him I want him to go through the house and tell me every thing I had done while he was gone. Which, in my defense, was a lot but only because I was aggravated with all the clutter and decided to do something about it.

Thankfully, I finally let him go to bed and I was fine when he got up. See, I told you, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! SCARY!

One Sick Little Girl...

lives in our house! S. got sick yesterday afternoon. She came in the bedroom and started to tell me she was going to be sick...she didn't get that far. She just showed me that she was sick!

She kept telling me that her stomach hurt yesterday morning and I asked all the usual "Mom" questions~~Have you been to the bathroom? When? Did you eat too much Valentine candy? etc. etc. etc.

Then, I hear about the peanut butter scare. We are BIG peanut butter fans. My daughters would eat it EVERY SINGLE DAY if I let them. We had the Great Value brand from Wal-mart with the numbers that they were saying that was the contaminated lot. Makes you go~hemmmm I wonder---but then again it could be a stomach virus just the same.

Well, as I am typing this she threw up again. I thought that part was over but I guess not. Now she is soaking in a bubble bath and just lying there willing herself not to throw up again. She is so sweet and I hate it when my babies are sick.

I'm going to go see if I can make her feel better with some cuddling and kisses.

Pictures From This Weekend.......

I Had The Time of My Life.....

Oh yes, I did!! We are back and it was GREAT!!!! We walked and talked, we ate and laughed, we read and watched TV, and that's as far as I going. We loved every minute of it!

We bought a few stuff for our newly planned bedroom. Mike said that for Valentine's Day he would paint for me. I need to go this week and pick the color I want to use. I found a quilt while we were gone but, sadly, they were out of the shams that went with it. Now I have to scour the internet and see if I can find it.

My parents, sister, and Trevor (my son) left this afternoon. Trev is going to go help them get their stuff from Florida. Oh, what am I going to do for almost two weeks without my Trevor! I will be missing him a lot! He is the one I use up most of my words on when Mike has a busy schedule during the week. I like our conversations in the evening during supper and clean up.

While he is gone I will have to make do with talking to a 6 and 4 yr old about why we should eat the veggies instead of dropping them on the floor. I will have to laugh by myself at the funny stuff on TV that the younger kids won't get!

I will have to get use to talking to myself after the younger two have gone to bed and it's just me. My almost 16 yr old is more company for me than he realizes I am sure. Probably more than he would like to admit seeing as how he IS ALMOST 16!! I am going to miss that almost adult kid of mine!!!!!

Okay, so.........

my parents and sister are on their way here and should arrive around 10 pm or so!! Am I excited?? You bet your sweet bippy I am excited!!! I still have some cleaning to do but other than that I am so ready for my parents and sister to get here.

I am glad I get to spend all day with them tomorrow and talk to my Mom till we forget what we have talked about and start repeating things that we have already said. I can't wait for the kids to absolutely fall over themselves to get to their Grandma and Grandpa!! Can you tell I am excited?

Mike has to work two more nights and then we go away!! Away, meaning gone from the house and sleeping in a bed I don't have to make, eating out of dishes I don't have to wash (by hand, I might add, NO dishwasher at our house). A friend of ours asked if I would be calling and checking on the kids and I said, " Do I have to?" She probably thought I was kidding!

I am so totally ready for this trip and I am not worried in the least about the kids. Come on, I mean they are going to be in the capable hands of the parents that raised ME!!! My kids will look up from what they are doing when we get home and say "NO, IT'S NOT BEEN LONG ENOUGH!! GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!!!!!"

My Mom said she brought her sewing machine and lots of material so these girls are going to be busy helping Grandma make curtains for their room. Also, she is making Abby a dress from the movie White Christmas, you know, the dress that Judy wears when she is dancing with Wallace when they are outside on the dock. Abby loves that dress and she asked my Mom to make it for her, so that is what they will be working on~along with the bonding and snuggling.

I probably won't be posting again until after the weekend. I will post as soon as I get a chance and let you know how the get away went.

We Got More!!!

This morning we got about an inch more of snow. We were excited about it until Mike went out to show the girls how fast water would freeze. We were headed to the van to go to church and it was slick.

Let's just say Mike had to go back in and change all his clothes but his socks.

He slipped on some ice and went down with the cup of water. Thankfully he wasn't hurt, he laughed uncontrollably for 30 minutes afterward. It WAS funny after I got over the shock of coming out the door and seeing him lying on the ground.

All of the white stuff is pretty much gone now, but it was nice while it lasted.

New Blog Readers

Feel free to leave a comment to let me know that you visited. I would love to hear from you!!

MMM...MMM... GOOD!!!!!!!!!

Does hot chocolate taste better after playing in the snow? I think so!! One of our friends gave us a hot chocolate maker and we LOVE IT!! It heats, mixes, and froths it all for you. Perfect temperature and everything. The girls are so cute!

Miss Kitty Had To Get Glasses

We took them from Mr. Potato Head and she seems to be doing well with them. We are hoping it helps her leap from the ironing board to the window sill with better skill.

WE GOT SOME SNOW!!!!!!

We have already been out to play! We have had a great time! We are happy.

Tickers

How do you like my new tickers? They are so fun!! I may get addicted to them. I hope not. You know, too much of a good thing and all! There has to be a happy medium. I think two should be my limit. Unless~something big and important is happening and two tickers won't do it~then 3 would be my new limit! That is it though, 3 is my ultimate limit! I promise! Unless~~LOL!!

We Were Cheated!!!!!!!!!!

We got none, nada, zip!!!!! We got absolutely NO SNOW!! We are disappointed!!

When I got up this morning, I ran straight to the window and peeked between the shades just like a kid. There was nothing! We were robbed!! It went farther south so they got a little more than a dusting. Well, we aren't giving up hope yet, we still have over a month of winter left and we are holding out for some snow!

In other news, I have gotten all my homeschool stuff organized, finally! I was becoming swamped with all the papers the kids were doing, so I went and bought a couple of those accordion file boxes. They are on sale at Target 2 for $7.99. I got everything in the right little compartment and I feel much better. It feels good to get all that stuff put in a "home".