One Faithful Mom

What Are They Searching For?

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

              One of the funnest aspects of having a blog is seeing what terms people search that lead them to your blog. I have gone back and checked the last couple of weeks, and some of the search terms are real doozies. Two of them especially stood out to me, and I thought you might get a kick out of them too.

1) Boy Digging Hole. Oh boy, do my boys dig holes. And not always with shovels. Sometimes they dig themselves a nice, deep hole with their words or their actions. And when they do dig holes with shovels, they almost never fill them back in, so we are always in danger of breaking our leg. My children are also known for digging a hole and burying money. I believe my 3 oldest have a good bit of money buried somewhere in the yard that they never could find again!

2) Afterload. I don't even know what to say about this one. It just cracks me up thinking about the possibilities!!
    Is the afterload the load of laundry you find in the hamper when you thought you had just gotten all the clothes in the whole house clean???
   Or is it the words you are shouting as your child leaves the room because you have banished them to their room?? Is that the "afterload"?
    Is it the dishes that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher??
    Is it the exhaustion you feel as you fall into bed at night??
    Is it the bag of groceries in the trunk that didn't get brought into the house?? The bag of refrigerated groceries??
    Is it that moment when you have a brand new, clean diaper on the baby, and then...well, you know. Is that the afterload??

                                                     What do you think the afterload is?

                                                      Have a great week-end everybody!!

Got Sleep?

2012-02-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sure most of us can remember the days of having a brand new baby in our home.
Remember how the lack of sleep sometimes made you feel like you were losing your mind? I can clearly recall my husband asking me how many times I had been up with the baby during the night and not being able to tell him. I couldn't distinguish between the night just past and the night before that!

I no longer have a brand new baby here. I do have another reason for not sleeping though-insomnia. I have struggled with it ever since I was a little girl, and it has never left me completely.

So I am back to the old "losing my mind" feeling at times. And during those seasons of not sleeping well, it becomes even more difficult to care for our families properly. It is so much harder to be kind when you are dead tired. It is harder to get your work done in a timely manner; harder to deal with all the petty little squabbles between your children; harder to concentrate on a task for very long. Everything just seems harder when you ~~want~~ need to sleep.

Over the past several months as this insomnia has dogged me, I have found a few ways to help me through the day; and also to help me as I lie there at night, trying to find sleep as it tries equally hard to evade me.

1) Exercise. I am certain that strenuous exercise is the main thing getting me through the days. It gives me energy to do my work, and keeps me from feeling so groggy. Sitting down to read to a pre-schooler can be deadly when you're tired. It's not fun when Mommy is snoring when she is supposed to be reading! Exercise keeps me awake and moving.

2) Singing. As I lie there at night, my head is usually swirling with a million thoughts. I think about what I didn't get done today, what I need to do tomorrow, what I will cook for supper tomorrow, how I'm doing on my goals...you know the drill. My mind races. If I sing praise songs or hymns in my head, it quiets that other voice; the one that causes me to stress out or feel like a failure. Sometimes I even whisper the words, if my brain doesn't want to settle down.

3)Prayer. This goes without saying, but too often I think we overlook it. Now, it isn't the time to start praying about those things that may get our minds going too much. But it is a wonderful time to practice some heartfelt gratitude. Thinking back over the day to all the ways He has blessed you while you were going about your day; thanking Him for giving you the strength to do what you needed to do, even though you were tired; just taking a few minutes to rehearse the blessings and gifts of the day can calm your mind and heart.
        During the day, pray for strength to do the things you need to do. Ask God to multiply the few hours of sleep you got into the energy you need to face those children and husband and minister to them. Depend on the Holy Spirit to help you through your day. Abide in Christ, abide in His Word, let the Word of Christ "richly dwell within you", pray throughout your day. As you fold laundry, pray. When you wash dishes, or cook meals, or change a diaper, or help a child with schoolwork, or teach a little one to read, send those prayers for help up to the One Who is able to help you.
         I will be honest, there have been many times that I have gone in the bathroom and shut the door and just said, "Lord, help me." I have leaned over the dryer and said, "Lord, help me." No kneeling down, no closing my eyes, no preparation...just praying for help. And God always meets that need; maybe not with hours of glorious sleep, but with the energy to get through the day.

4)Quoting Scripture. Counting sheep may be one way to go to sleep, but saying memorized verses to yourself is not only beneficial for settling you down, but it keeps your heart in the right place. I don't know about you, but not being able to go to sleep has a tendency to make me feel anxous. I start watching the clock, getting more and more worried as the hours go by. I think about how few hours of sleep I would get if I could go to sleep right that minute, and as more time goes by, I can get in a real tizzy. Thinking over Scripture that I know by heart keeps that anxiety at bay. Since you can only think one thought at a time, keeping thoughts of Scripture in my head keeps those anxious thoughts from taking over.

5)Listen to music or a sermon. I don't usually do this one, because when I listen to a sermon, I have to take notes. Some soft music can be helpful, especially if it is just the music without singing. When my children have trouble sleeping, they like to listen to books on tape. Turned down low, the monotonous voice on the tape lulls them right to sleep.

I don't know where you are in your season of life. I heard once that there are 3 seasons of sleep in a person's life.

1) Childhood- You have no trouble sleeping but you don't want to.

2) Adulthood- You want to sleep but don't have the time.

3) Old Age- You have all the time in the world but you can't fall asleep.

And I would add those times when you want to sleep, you have the time to sleep, you have no babies to wake you up, but sleep is evasive for whatever reason.

I hope some of these suggestions will help you to find some relief if this is an area of struggle for you. And if you sleep peacefully, without a bit of trouble every night, pray for those young moms you know who could use some extra rest!

Why, Oh Why, Do They Have To Grow Up?

2012-01-28T20:00:00.005-05:00

I had no intention of posting today. It's just that, well...as my pastor's wife would say, "I'm having a moment."

For the past 24 years, I have had at least one child in my home that was no older than 4. I have spent the past 24 years diapering, feeding, changing, wiping, rocking, carrying, and all that other stuff we do for our little ones. I actually still get to do some of it, because my little guy still likes to be held and carried sometimes. He's heavy, but that's okay with me. It makes for strong arms.

So, today I had a moment.

That is my baby on that bicycle. This morning, he wanted the training wheels off. He turned 5 on the 16th of this month. It should come as no shock to me that he is ready for a two-wheeler. And it's not the fact that he's ready for a two-wheeler that gets me.

It's just that up until now, whenever I had a child start riding a two-wheeler, there was always a toddler standing there watching; dreaming of the day that they would get to do that!! And then I would pick that toddler up, and we would watch as the older one learned to steer and stop without crashing into something.

Today, there was no toddler. And it reminded me of the book by Karen Kingsbury called Let Me Hold You Longer.

A dear friend gave me this book when I was pregnant with my 9th child. There would be one more child to come after that. This book is all about our children's lasts. Not their firsts, but their lasts.

The introduction says in part: "We spend our children's days celebrating their firsts. First step, first tooth, first word, first day of school, first time driving, first day of college. But somehow, along the way, we miss their lasts. There are no photographs of the last time a child takes an afternoon nap; no parties for the last time a little boy or girl runs and jumps in Mommy's arms to be held. Nothing signals a Mommy to stop and notice the last time her child catches tadpoles."

Our last set of training wheels.

So that's what I've been thinking about today. This morning, we took the training wheels off of the last bike we will ever buy with them.

(That's cake icing on his fingers, not blood.)

No more training wheels. No more diapers. No more feeding or changing or rocking.

And to be honest, I'm not at all sure that I like that.

Are you noticing any lasts with your children?

Lately

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

We've been pretty busy folks around here lately. Actually, since November, it seems like we've been partying non-stop! We have celebrated 6 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. We have also tried to throw in as much fun as possible. Wanna' take a peek?

Michael and Heather took Jennifer and Jamie to the Carolina/Clemson football game in November.

We celebrated Thomas' 21st birthday in November.

Before we knew it, Thanksgiving was here. We had the whole gang here; all the kids plus Heather and Becca, my parents, and Andy's parents. It was a fun and noisy night! We had all the usual dishes, including my killer Macaroni and Cheese.

2 weeks later was the Christmas parade. We always head to the parade after church on that Sunday, and then we go to Lowes and get our Christmas tree. That sounds so simple, right? It would be, except that picking out the tree is a huge competition!! Here they all are with their choices, waiting for Mom to say which one wins!

This year, Courtney chose the winning tree!! She was so excited about winning, because last year her tree came in second place. This year-sweet victory!!

We were blessed with two babies right before Christmas. Michael turned 24 on December16th, and Jennifer turned 17 on December 15th. We held a joint party for the two of them that week-end. That night, our children put on their annual Christmas program that they prepare for our families.

Michael's "cake" is my chocolate delight. It's what he always requests for his birthday.

It seemed like no time at all before Christmas was here! We got up that morning and opened gifts before going to worship and celebrate the Lord's birth with our church family.

That afternoon, family started trickling in. The big kids were here again, along with both sets of our parents.

We had a simple supper of hot dogs, which I had put in the crock pot earlier in the day, chili, and desserts. Then, the gift exchange began. Oh My. It was the most wonderful chaos!! I already showed you a picture of that!

Please forgive the blurry picture. I just love this one of Andy's Dad.

In the kitchen.

I was back in the kitchen for a very special reason. Our sweet daughter-in-love Heather was born on Christmas Day!! So now our family has another reason to celebrate on that day. She had requested a cake I had never made before; a Tres Leche cake. Between the two of us, we got it made, and it was so yummy!!

The cake looked plain and ugly, but with some Cool Whip on top- yummy!!
Anyway, don't look at the cake. Look at Heather...isn't she just absolutely glowing with her pregnancy?

Eventually, young children had to get into pajamas. They were so bummed! My younger ones adore their older brothers and new sisters! But now, it was snuggle with Daddy time.

I haven't even covered the two birthdays we had this month! Jake and Courtney had birthdays in January.
I will try to get those pictures up next week.

Yes, we have been busy. In fact, we've been so busy...even the toys around here are tired.

Why, yes, that is in fact Woody napping on my front porch!! He was plum tuckered out.

Have a great week-end everybody!!

Reading The Bible - The Novel Way

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

I wonder how many of y'all made a New Year's resolution, (or a goal), to read all the way through the Bible this year. All the way through, as in Genesis to Revelation.

And I wonder how many of you have made that goal year after year after year, only to find yourself mid-February, hung up somewhere between Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and giving up because you just aren't feeling it anymore. It seems like every day you read the same thing you read yesterday. It's all laws, sacrifices, rules, and lots and lots of animals and blood.

And even though you would hate to admit it, you are bored. So, you skip one day, then another, and when September rolls around...well, it's too late to get it all in now, so you decide to try again in January.

Does any of this sound familiar? Do you feel guilty about the times you have tried and failed? Do you have a sincere desire for the Word, but feel like you just can't get through those Old Testament passages? Am I the only one who has struggled with this? Please tell me I'm not!!

Last year, I discovered a new way to read the Bible. It is shocking. It is provocative. It is extra-ordinary. It is, at times, uncomfortable.

It is called The Bible in 90 Days. Seriously. You read the entire Bible in just 90 days. 88 if you stay right on track, with 2 days of make-up time if you need it.

I am on my second go round with this Bible. My 17 year old daughter is also on her second round. My 12 year old daughter is on her first. Here she is, deep in concentration!!

I have heard a lot of criticism of this method, so I want to address some of those criticisms here.

1) You can't possibly get anything out of the Bible reading it this quickly. Actually, I have begun to understand the Old Testament for the first time in my life. When you read the first 5 books of the Bible, where most of us get so hung up and strung out, in 15 days, you get excited about it. It starts to make sense. You are pulling for these people, the Israelites. Even if you know what is going to happen, you can't help yourself; you want these people to succeed!! And if you aren't sure about God's plan for the nation of Israel, you will be after reading these first 5 books this way!!

2) It is too legalistic. Well, all I can say about that is, nobody is making you do it. If you choose to take on the challenge, then you are your own boss. I really don't like this excuse anyway. I make myself exercise, I make myself pass on the fries, I make myself smile and be nice to the kids even if I don't feel like it.

3) It is too time consuming and hard. It literally takes me around 30-45 minutes a day to do my reading, assuming that I am caught up. Proverbs 23:12 says, "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of wisdom." (NIV) The NASB says, "Apply your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge." Discipline is usually not easy. But since the Scripture tells me to apply my heart to it, it is important. God's Word instructs me in my daily life, so reading it is a good thing, a necessary thing to do.

4) I don't have this much time. Well, how much time do you spend doing things that don't impact your life? For me, it is Facebook, email, blog reading, and reading other books for pleasure. Even if they are not books for pleasure, (because I tend to read a lot of Christian NON-fiction), they are not on the same level as God's Word in their instructive qualities. Do you have 45 minutes somewhere in your day that you could give to reading God's Word in a devotional way like this?

I am not suggesting that this is what you need for Bible study. I will say though, this type of reading has brought up so many questions that I want to get answered!

If you really have a desire to read all the way through your Bible, I hope you will consider the 90 Day Bible. It has changed my view of the Old Testament, and it has me anxious to read the selection for the day! And once you get past those first 5 books, it gets so incredibly exciting that you literally can't put it down!

How many times have you gotten so caught up in a favorite novel that you stay up too late, forget to make supper, tell your kids "hold on a sec" about a hundred times...all because you can't put it down. You just have to know what happens next. I am in 2nd Samuel right now, and I am having trouble stopping for the day. I do read ahead when I can, so that if I miss a day, which happens sometimes, I don't fall too far behind.

So a couple of question-do you know how much Absalom's hair weighed when he cut it? Was there only one Goliath in the Bible, or more?

If you got hung up in Leviticus this year, bust out a 90 Day Bible and get excited about God's Word!!

The Baby That God Delivered - Part 2

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I sure stirred up a ruckus. I nearly got mobbed because of leaving this story half-told!

If you missed Part 1, go here.

So, where were we? Ah yes...

After my midwife broke my water, it was around 11:55. She said she was going to go eat a bite of lunch and make a couple of phone calls. She was literally right around the corner from my room. She could have heard me call her name. She felt like we had at least an hour before anything would really get going. Um, okay.

So, there I was, lying on my left side, willing those sharp pains to go away. I had not opened my eyes at any point while my husband kept telling me that the monitor was not working correctly. And then...

...all of a sudden, the sharp pain was just gone. Just like that. Gone. I said, without opening my eyes, "Oh good. Finally. The baby just moved and the pain is gone. Oh man, that is much better."

At that point, things got a little bit crazy. Andy said, "I am going to go get the nurse, because this machine has completely lost the baby's heartbeat. I mean, there is nothing. Something is wrong. They need to adjust your monitor."

I said, "Okay", without opening my eyes or moving. I was so tired, and pretty nauseated from the epidural. The epidural that had worked so incredibly well I could barely believe it! I had felt nothing for a while...nothing but those sharp pains anyway.

So, my husband turned to go to the door, and he happened to turn toward the bed. And that's when...

he noticed something. My covers were kinda lumpy looking down near my legs, and he actually thought he saw movement. Now, I was still lying there with my eyes closed. I thought he was gone to the door. That's when...

I felt my covers being lifted off of me. I opened my eyes to see what the heck he was doing. I will never, never forget the next moment. My husband looked me right in the eye and said,...

"Dawn Marie, you've had the baby."

Um...um...WHAT???????

He headed to the door to get the nurse and my midwife. He was so calm, it was weird. I tried to get up on my elbows to see what was going on, but that anesthesiologist had really done his job. I couldn't move from the waist down, at all. I managed to prop up on my left elbow, and what I saw was unbelievable.

Behind my knees, lying on her side on the bed, was my baby girl. Andy came right back over, after motioning for the nurse to come. It was so funny...he didn't say a word. He opened the door of my room, said, "Psssttt!" and when the nurse looked, he croooked his finger and motioned for her to come. He later said that he was afraid if he had said anything, he would have completely lost it.

I could hear the baby choking, and I started to panic. I said to Andy, "She's choking!! Do something!!"

So her Daddy picked her up off that bed, and stuck his middle finger in her mouth, and saved her life. He made her breathe. He scooped all the nasty stuff out, and stood there holding her, with her crying.

At that point the nurse and midwife walked in. My midwife, who had delivered 4 of my other babies said, "I missed it? I missed it?" Our baby girl was still in her Daddy's hands , and boy was she mad. She was screaming!!

The midwife took over then, and they got her cleaned up and checked out. She was perfectly fine, with no bad effects from the trauma. And we were in shock. It would take me days to get over the emotional trauma of the birth. I just kept thinking how we could have lost her.

We were in awe of God and how He had protected her life. My husband, who had never, in 8 births, ever watched the monitor, all of a sudden had this consuming interest in it. At the very moment of her birth, God had prompted him to go get the nurse to check things out. And He had allowed me to feel those sharp pains...those birth pains.

Oh, and remember how I said my midwife had left my room at approximately 11:55, thinking we had about an hour? Well, Courtney was born at 12:03. *smile*

Nearly every nurse on the floor came by to see our little girl. She was quite famous for a few days! And I did ask my midwife if we got a discount since she hadn't actually delivered the baby, but she said, "Unfortunately, no." Oh well, it never hurts to ask!

And that's the story of our baby girl's birth. The nurses all said that since she was our ninth child, she needed a very special birth story of her very own. Ha!! She got it!!

I love to tell this story, because it testifies to His goodness in our lives. He was watching over Courtney that day, and every day. Thinking back over that day makes me so emotional still...so very thankful for our sweet baby girl.

Courtney, on her 7th birthday.

The Baby That God Delivered

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

So, men have their fishing stories, and women have their birth stories. The only difference is that the birth stories are true. Right, ladies?

Today, I want to tell you a very special birth story. This is the story of the birth of my ninth child, Courtney Elizabeth. She turned 7 years old today (Sunday), and her birth was quite memorable for all those involved.

It began like this...

January of 2005- I was scheduled for an induction on the 14th. My babies had all been born at a hospital almost 2 hours away, so I had been induced with numbers 4-8. After several pregnancies with gestational diabetes, along with my age (37 at the time), quick deliveries, and being a grand multip mom (meaning I hadn't figured out what was causing all those babies yet), my midwife was not willing to let me go past 38 1/2 weeks. Everything was going along smoothly. My bags were packed, my Mom was ready to take care of my other children, my hubby had the day off of work. We were all set to leave out at 4:30 on Friday morning to go have this baby.

That is, until I got the dreaded phone call. On Thursday afternoon, a nurse called from the hospital and told me that they had cancelled my induction. Okay, I did not know they could do that. I argued with her for quite some time, of course getting nowhere. It wasn't her decision; she was just the poor person chosen to tell a pregnant woman that she would most definitely NOT be having her baby the next day. Listen, if you really want to make a pregnant woman mad, tell her that her induction has been cancelled.

My midwife called me right after that, and she was so upset! She said she was doing everything possible to get me in there, and would call me back. After about an hour, she called me to say there was nothing she could do.
However...she went to bat for me in a different way. The hospital refused to do inductions on the week-end; not enough staff, etc. to do inductions. But my midwife demanded that they induce me on Saturday morning if they would not take me on Friday as planned. They gave in!! Hallelujah!!

So, my sweet midwife, who wasn't even on call for Saturday, showed up to induce me and deliver my baby.
We got to the hospital around 6:00 that morning, and they got me hooked up to the anti-biotic for the Strep B positive result. Pitocin began around 8:00. I was already having quite good contractions when I got there; just needed to get in a good pattern. Things picked up speed pretty quickly. At about 4 centimeters, I was ready for my epidural.

Unfortunately, I had had very poor luck with epidurals before. I had one with babies 3-8, and only 2 of them worked. The ones that worked were with baby #3, and baby #4. As you will see later, the one with baby #9 was a real doozy. Anyway, I told the anesthesiologist about my troubles, and he seemed determined to "get it right this time." After a while, I was at 8 cm, and my midwife broke my water. This usually means I have about 30-45 minutes before baby comes.

A short while later, my blood pressure started to go up. As it continued to climb higher, they turned me onto my left side, with the monitor still attached. I was feeling pretty awful; epidurals make me terribly sick. I was just lying there, trying to rest, trying to feel better. My midwife had gone to make phone calls and eat some lunch. We were left alone in a semi-darkened room so I could relax and get that blood pressure down. My husband was sitting in the chair over on the opposite side of the bed from the monitor. He could not see it, and he has never been a monitor watcher.

At some point, he stood up and walked around to the monitor. As he was standing there, I began to experience the most unbelievable sharp pain in my pelvic area. I commented to him, "This baby is pressing on something and it is killing me." I just could not get comfortable, or get away from the sharp pain.

My husband, in the meantime, was getting concerned. The monitor kept losing the baby's heartbeat. It would just seemingly fade down to almost nothing, and then come back up again. He kept telling me this, but honestly, I was in so much pain that I wasn't paying much attention. I figured the monitor had just slipped from me trying to get comfortable. This went on for a few minutes; him watching the monitor and me lying there wanting the sharp pain to go away.

That is when things started to get interesting.

to be continued...

Part 2

Grace for the Year

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

What do you think of when you hear the word grace? Do you think of the acronym
God's Riches At Christ's Expense? Or maybe you think of the undeserved gift of salvation that God so richly offered to you.

Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary says that grace is " Favor; good will; kindness; disposition to oblige another."

As we neared the end of last year, I began to think a lot about grace. I began to realize that I been living a life of legalism for a very long time. I am not quite sure how it all began, but it was now getting out of control.

Somehow, I had decided that in order to be acceptable to God, I had to do certain things. As a firstborn and only child, I already have a huge problem with perfectionism! Now, I was trying to be perfect for God.
I think you probably already know where this is heading. FAILURE!!!! I quickly became discouraged, even depressed, when I couldn't seem to meet my own ridiculous standards.

My self-talk went something like this..."You didn't have a quiet time this morning. You didn't even read your Bible before you ate breakfast. FAILURE!!" or "Listen to you!! You just raised your voice at that child. What a terrible mother you are."

On and on it went like that. And the worst part was, the more I demanded of myself, the more I demanded of my children. Of course, they could no more meet my expectations than I could! We were in a cycle of discouragement, anger, and disappointment.

I had made all these rules for us to follow; it was a never ending cycle of do's and dont's. I began asking my grown sons about how things were when they were younger, and if they had noticed a change. Oh my!! If you want to know the truth, ask your kids!!

One of my sons especially had a lot to say on the subject. We talked quite a lot about how things had changed over the years, and when. And let me say, I do believe that we should always be growing and changing and becoming more Christ-like. That is not what was happening here. I was becoming a first class legalist.

So, I started reading about grace. I knew what was missing in my life; but I wasn't sure how to get it. I began to pray, and beg God to fill me up with His grace, so that I could pour it out on my children. I meditated on His kindness to me, and begged Him to help me to show that same kindness to my family.

Every morning, I received His grace for my life, and then asked Him to love my children through me that day. And you can guess what happened. He did!! I saw immediate changes in our home.

For one thing, I started laughing with my kids again. We started singing a whole lot more, and loud music rang throughout our house in the mornings. They stayed up later, because we were playing games, or watching movies, or just talking. In short, life became fun again, and not just a drudgery of wondering who was about to get in trouble!

Now, I was cautioned the other day on Facebook, after posting a quote about grace, not to "presume on God's grace." So let me say, I believe that presuming on His grace means that I decide to sin because I know He will forgive me afterwards. If you have a child who is defying you because they know you won't do anything about it, that is not grace. That is clearly hatred for the child. Proverbs 13:24 says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him."
If you are letting your child get away with sin, you are not giving them grace. You are not loving them. You are causing them trouble and confusion.

So please understand that by grace, I do not mean never disciplining my children. Consequences always follow sin. We reap what we sow. Our children must learn early that they will reap what they sow. They must learn that sin has painful endings.

Grace in my home simply means that I am not trying to hold my family to some unreasonable standards that I have set, that are not specifically laid out or said in God's Word.

Instead, I am bestowing "favor, goodwill, and kindness; having a disposition to oblige others."

Tell me what grace means to you. Do you have trouble giving grace to yourself, to others? Let's talk about it...

Goals - Keeping Track

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I talked about how I came up with my goals and my categories. I mentioned a couple of specific goals I am working on for January.

The one area I didn't get to was how I am keeping track of my success, or failure as the case may be! Today, I want to show you the system I have set up...to hopefully hold myself accountable. I am keeping up with it so far, and really liking it!

Here is where I start. A 5 subject spiral notebook holds my goals, inspirational quotes, school ideas and plans, etc. There is room for everything I want to keep track of, and plenty of pages in case I mess up.

I'm a total sucker for notebooks...any kind, any color. I ask for them for birthdays and Christmas.
I am a geek, okay?

On this page, I have laid out 3 months worth of goals in my 3 categories: Spiritual, Physical, and Blogging.
I have the Scripture listed for my Spiritual goals, specific information for my Physical goals, and the number of posts for my Blogging goals.

At the beginning of March, I plan to lay out the next 3 months worth. This will let me see how much progress I have made before I set any more goals. I am a big starter and a terrible finisher. I hope that this system will allow me to actually see some success, instead of feeling like a failure by April.

Next, I needed a place to record my progress. I knew I wanted a small calendar to record my exercise and Bible reading, so I went to Wal-Mart and found exactly what I was looking for. Cost - $5. Perfect!

Here is how I am using it.

As you can see, I have a week spread across 2 pages. Monday is at the top left corner, and Saturday and Sunday are at the bottom of the right page.

For each day, I record the following:

1) What day of my 90 day Bible I have read

2) What my exercise goal is for the day

3) How much exercise I actually did

4) What I cooked for supper

5) Here, I theoretically record my calories for the day. ahem

6) What I worked on for my blog

Here is a closer shot of a couple of days:

So far, I am loving this system! It takes me just seconds, literally, to record the information. But I find myself looking back at it frequently. I find it encouraging to know that I am doing what I want to be doing...at least for now!

One more thing I want to mention: I have set a one month, a three month, and a six month goal in my Physical category as well. Those are listed at the very top of my spiral notebook page. This way, I am still shooting for something BIG, but a little bit at a time.

I hope this has been helpful to see how simple goal setting and habit forming can be. Well, the habit forming may not be easy, but with it all written down, at least I can't make the excuse that I forgot!

Have you set any goals for 2012? Tell me about something you want to change this year. Let's encourage one another!

Goals----Breaking It Down

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Before we talk about goals, I thought you might like to see a picture of our living room on Christmas evening. We had both sets of grandparents over, all of our 10 children were here, plus one new wife and one future wife! And I promise you, a half hour before this picture was taken, my living room was spotless.

Yeah, be amazed.
Alrighty then...let's move on to goal talk!!
Last year, I broke my goals down into categories. I had a category for Spiritual, Physical, School, Household, etc. I went ahead and set the goals for the whole year out, within each category. I wrote them out in bullet points in my notebook:

Spiritual
1) Finish my 90 Day Bible.
2) Work on my Bible study.

Physical
1) Lose _ _ lbs. ( ha ha,none of your business)
2) Go to bed by 10:00 every night

And on I went like that, with several goals in each category. This actually worked fairly well for me. I did lose some pounds, not all I set out to lose, but about 1/3. I did start going to bed much earlier. Not always by 10, but I was almost never up until midnight, which had been pretty routine before.

This year, due to a series one of our pastors taught a few weeks ago, I decided to work on changing habits, and not just setting goals. In reality, a goal should be a new habit formed. I have always heard that it takes 21 days to change a habit, so I decided that focusing on just a couple of goals for each month might help me to develop some new habits, instead of just being hit or miss on my goals.

I pretty much stuck with my categories from last year, but am only focusing on 3 of them to start with.

For January, I have 1 Spiritual goal, 1 Physical goal, and 1 Blogging goal. In my notebook they look like this:

January

Spiritual habit- Don't shout. I am renewing my mind through Scripture each day. I have a verse chosen for the habit I am trying to develop. My verses for this habit are James 1:19-20 and Philippians 4:4. (Look them up. )

Physical habit-Exercise 5 days a week. I am pretty good about this already, but I tend to get slack and bored. I joined a gym for a few months last year, and now that I know what I can do, I am very motivated.
This goal is actually more detailed in my notebook, with miles I want to accomplish by the end of the month, and extra things I will be throwing in, like my strength training. I am also keeping track of calories.

Next is my Blogging goal. My goal is to post 3 days a week by the end of January. And I figure I have built in accountability for that!! Y'all have been so good about letting me know when I haven't blogged in the past!!

Well, this post is longer than I intended already. So much more to say...but it must wait until next week!

Have a wonderful week-end everybody!!

2012 - On Purpose

2012-01-02T18:41:00.000-05:00

A brand new year!!! Have you thought about how you're going to spend it?

Do you have a plan for living out 2012 with purpose?

Did you just sort of watch 2011 slip by, without truly growing, changing, becoming more of the person God wants you to be? If so, it is never too late!!

The very first post I ever wrote for this blog was on goal setting. Here it is, January 2, of another new year!

This year, I am setting my goals in a different way. Instead of setting year long goals only, I am setting monthly, 3 month, and 6 month goals. I also have some daily goals that I want to talk about.

Next post -

          1) How I am coming up with these goals

          2) How I am tracking them

          3) What my goal categories are

          4) A couple of specific goals for January

I am thankful for those of you who blessed me in 2011 by telling me what an encouragement this blog was to you! If you are still around, then bless your heart!!

Let's start 2012 off with a bang - with purpose!!

Monkey Bread In Pictures

2011-07-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

For my friend, Cathy, who asked for my monkey bread recipe. Here ya' go!

3 cans of refrigerator biscuits (please don't try to use all 4 cans. Your monkey bread will not cook all the way through, and will be nasty and gooey inside.)

Cut 1 1/2 cans of biscuits into quarters.

Mix together 1 heaping teaspoon of cinnamon and scant 1/2 cup of sugar.

Roll each piece in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Coat thoroughly.

Spread around in an ungreased tube pan. Try to make an even layer.

In the meantime, while your child cuts biscuits with a sharp knife, mix together 1 packed cup of light brown sugar with one stick of real butter. If you decide to use something besides real butter, don't come crying to me when you realize the utter folly of your ways.

Stir together on low heat until it all melts together, stirring almost constantly, or until your hand gets tired.

You want it to look like this...nice and caramelized. Now, listen to me. You are going to have an almost uncontrollable urge to dip your finger in this and taste it. But it is very hot!!! Don't do it.

Once half of the biscuits are quartered, dipped and in the pan, spread a bit of the brown sugar mixture over them. Don't use quite half of the mixture...

At some point in this process, set your oven to...

Once the rest of the biscuits have been quartered, dipped, and placed on top of the first layer...

...spoon the remainder of the brown sugar yumminess all over the top.

It should look like this...

Place in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. Please don't look at my oven...it is dirty.

When it is done, it will look like this. Puffy and brown, but not gooey.

Place a cake plate upside down on top of the pan,

Then flip the whole thing over, and leave the pan sitting on top for at least 10-15 minutes.

The best way to get the pan off the top is with a sharp knife and a hot pad. Be careful...it will be very hot!

Scrape all the goo from the bottom of the pan onto the monkey bread.

The finished product!!

          I hope you enjoy making this with your children. It is such an easy thing for them to do. And the results are fantastic!! My children loved sharing theirs with their grandparents tonight!

       I hope everybody has a safe and happy 4th of July. I'll see you back here on Tuesday.

Digging A Hole

2011-07-01T06:00:00.004-04:00

There is just something satisfying to a boy about digging a hole...the deeper, the better.

The boys dug for at least a couple of hours on this particular hole. Then they found a piece of wood to cover the top, got down inside, and let the dogs try to find them. I am guessing that this is boy fun at its best.

And of course...every digging crew needs a supervisor...

Have a great weekend everybody!!

Chocolate Delight

2011-06-30T07:00:00.002-04:00

With the 4th of July coming up next week, I want to share one of my family's favorite recipes. Plus, one of my favorite blogs is sharing picnic recipes today, so head on over after you read here for lots more fun recipes!! I am always asked to bring it to family gatherings, and some of my children request it instead of cake for their birthday. It is Michael's favorite thing that I make, and I always send him home with a container full, and a plastic spoon so he can eat it on the way home!

First, mix 2 sticks of softened butter with 1 cup of finely chopped pecans and 2 cups of all purpose flour. Mix with electric mixer until it is very crumbly. Press into a 13x9 glass baking dish. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, mix together 8 ozs softened cream cheese, 1 cup of Cool Whip, and 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 small pkgs of instant chocolate pudding with 3 cups cold milk. Set in refrigerator until firm.

When the crust is completely cool, spread all of the cream cheese mixture on top. Then spread the chocolate pudding on top of that. Finally, spread the remaining Cool Whip on the very top, covering all the pudding.

Sometimes, I sprinkle mini chocolate chips or more chopped pecans on top of the Cool Whip.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. And be sure to use at least 2% milk...anything less will make the pudding very runny, and you will not be a happy camper. Ask me how I know.

*I get the big tub of Cool Whip so that I can completely cover the pudding. Leftover Cool Whip is not a problem here. Simply hide it in the back of the 'frig, and when the kiddies go to bed, chow down Momma.

Cute Kids Go To A Wedding

2011-06-30T06:00:00.003-04:00

This post will be a lot of really cute kid pictures. My friend, Karen, took most of these shots. The pictures are all from the recent wedding of my oldest son. I can hardly believe they were married one month ago today! I texted them both a Happy Anniversary wish today.

Not all of these "kids" are so little anymore, but they're still my kids!

So, on with the show...

Jake

John

My youngest four boys were adamant the whole time that they wanted to wear jackets and ties to the wedding. I could not talk them into just ties. I knew we would be doing lots of family pics that day, so I went along with the jacket idea, knowing I would be glad later.

Well, the search for navy suit jackets was a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. Ya'll, there was every color BUT navy! We finally ended up at the mall on the Thursday before the wedding. Jamie, Sam, John and I spent five and a half hours going from store to store until we finally had everything they needed. They never want to see a mall again.

But when they got all dressed up that night and modeled their clothes for their sisters...I was so happy. They looked exactly the way I had pictured in my mind. I was satisfied. And poor.

My first baby, the groom...Michael

Michael decided early on that he and the groomsmen were not wearing tuxedos. He bought all their ties, picked out the (now famous) shoes, and asked them to wear black pants and jacket with a white shirt. They all looked so handsome. I love this picture of Michael...watching the bridesmaids coming down the aisle...waiting for the first look at Heather.

Courtney, the flower girl

Heather, the beautiful bride, with Courtney

Courtney adores Heather! She stays right by her side whenever they are together. I love this one of the two of them...so sweet.

Sam

Jessie

Jessie and Lauren must have tried on nearly a hundred dresses between the two of them. My girls are very thin, and most dresses are cut for the new generation of overweight kids. We had a terrible time finding dresses that were both appropriate, and that actually fit! I think we were successful though. The girls both loved their dresses and received tons of compliments on them. I like that they were very feminine, but very modest at the same time. They looked beautiful.

Jake again...sorry...he's the baby.

Hang on girls...he'll not be available anytime soon. I'm hanging on to him!! Couldn't you just eat him up?

Lauren

My second baby and Michael's best man...Thomas

I have a vivid picture in my mind of a day when Thomas was about 3 months old. He was sitting in his little bouncy seat, and Michael, who was 3 years old, was making him laugh. I can still hear it...Thomas was doing that rolling baby giggle, and Michael was laughing at him. I stood there, soaking it in. They are grown up now. But they still laugh, and I still stand by, just trying to soak it all in.

My children truly are each other's best friends. The big ones love on the little ones, and the little ones adore the big ones. I treasure the relationships they have, even though sometimes things seem to be going downhill. They fuss, they bicker. But in the end, they are best friends.

Jamie

I love this picture so much. What's a four year old to do when the toasts and the dancing keep going on forever?
Why, make a telescope of his hands of course!

Jennifer was a bridesmaid. Heather has been a wonderful friend to Jen. She had so much fun being in the wedding!

We had to decide who was going to walk the grandmothers down, and Sam and John said they would do it. Sam walked Andy's mom down, and John escorted my mom. It was precious.

Our ten children. This one makes me cry. They are all growing up so fast, some already grown.

Our sweet Becca...engaged to Thomas. She is a HUGE part of our life...we couldn't love her more if we tried.

Can we go home now?

That's all for now...hope you enjoyed it!

For Tired Young Mothers

2011-06-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

Today, I want to send you over to another blog. Some of you may be familiar with Kim over at In A Shoe. She is a mom of ten like me, only her two boys are way outnumbered!!

I think her post will be a great encouragement to a lot of you!! Go check it out...

http://inashoe.com/2011/06/for-tired-young-mothers-of-many/

Gender Nonsense

2011-06-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

I have been reading an awful lot lately about gender issues. There are parents who are refusing to reveal their child's gender, hoping that the child will "choose" the gender they feel most comfortable with as they grow.
All I can say about that is "Baloney." Oh, but don't take my word for it. Let's see what God's Word has to say about it.

Genesis 1: 27 says, " God created man in His Own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

And again in chapter two of Genesis we read: "So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken from the man, and He brought her to the man... For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Genesis 2: 21-22, 24

God didn't make two beings, and let them figure out what they were. They were created male and female from the very beginning.

So since I have been reading all this hooey and nonsense, I decided to take a random sample of children and see just what they were up to. These pictures were completely unstaged. I literally grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures. And since I have so many children, I needed to go no further than my own home to get more than one sample!!

Sample Number One- The Guys
What were 3 of my guys up to when I grabbed my camera? Well, it looks like they are interested in something on Mom's laptop. Wonder what they're looking at? Let's see...

Notice the intensity on the faces...

Ahhh, air soft guns!! Guns??? Yep, they're boys alright!!

Sample Number Two-The Gals
Two of my girls were over playing on the other side of the room. I'll bet you would never guess what they were playing with...are you ready for this?

                                                 Gasp...are those actual dolls?
       It's true. My girls play with dolls; even if I don't make them. And for the record, my girls have never, ever asked if they could look at air soft guns on the computer. Oh, and they actually made a couple of the outfits the dolls are wearing. So evidently my girls have been involved in some sewing as well. Goodness gracious. Moving on...

                                                   Sample Number Three-The Little Guy
After getting his fill of air soft guns, he decided to go make a little war for himself. Notice the casualties on the table already...

Making war is hard work, hence the box of raisins off to the side. "We must keep up our strength, men."

Poor white helmet man with no hands...I hope you weren't one of the good guys.

And there you have it folks. Boys and girls doing what comes naturally. Guns, dolls, sewing, and war. All in one house at the same time. And I'll bet it goes on in your house too! Unless you only have children of one sex...like my cousin with three boys who really needed at least one girl.

Gender neutral my foot. Male and female He created them...

Eat Food!! Read Books!!

2011-06-27T06:00:00.001-04:00

Last week, I bought 9 lbs of red seedless grapes for $.99 a lb. Fifteen minutes after I got home, about half of them were eaten. The rest were gobbled up the very next day.

This week, I bought 9 lbs of red seedless grapes for $1.68 lb. Half were eaten upon my arrival at home, and the other half are actually still in the refrigerator. I almost typed the word "icebox" instead of refrigerator. Did any of y'all grow up calling it an icebox?

We also made 2 pans of monkey bread this week; John and Jake made one on Thursday, and Jamie made one on Friday. Yeah, you probably guessed there is not any left. Not a crumb.

So why am I telling you about our groceries? Well, it just made me think about something important. I got to thinking about food...and books.

I love these books...simple enough to capture their attention...short enough to leave them wanting more!

This week, my 9 year old, Sam, asked me for a book on George Washington. I gave him an easy children's book on Washington. Then he wanted more, so I gave him a couple more books about the Revolutionary War. He gobbled those up too. So, I have given him three more, which he hasn't finished yet.

I should mention that I am planning to study American history with my children this year. A big part of me wanted to tell Sam, "No, just wait until we get to that in history. Then you'll have all the books you want on Washington and the Revolutionary War."

He would have obeyed and waited. But would his interest have held out? I don't know.

It's like those grapes. I could have said, "Hey! Don't eat all those grapes! I just bought them! Eat something else. Save some grapes for tomorrow." And they would have obeyed. And the grapes would have probably rotted in the icebox.

As it is, there are a few grapes still left, and Sam has a couple more books to read. He might not read them until we get there in History this year. Who knows? But while he was hungry for information, I gave it to him. While they were hungry for grapes, they ate them.

Ya' know, I would have LOVED to have a picture of monkey bread here...but we can't keep it long
enough to photograph it. Please imagine that those robin's eggs are actually monkey bread.

That monkey bread was really yummy; and my children love their Horrible Harry books and their Pony Club books and all kinds of silly fluffy children's books!

But if that was all they ever ate or read, we'd be in trouble. They wouldn't be very healthy, in body or mind! So when they ask for good food, or good books, I give it to them. I let them take in as much as they want...um, within reason. I have a child who would eat all nine lbs of grapes if I let him/her.

If your kids want to read some really good literature, don't panic if it isn't what you had planned for right now! Feed their interest, and watch them learn!

I suppose this blog post could have been much shorter if I just said, "They want good food? Feed it to them! They want to read good books? Let them!" But how much fun would that be?

So go...Eat Food!! Read Books!!

Summer Fun!!

2011-06-24T09:01:00.000-04:00

Well, summer is officially here in good old South Carolina! With heat indexes reaching into the 100's for several days in a row, it is all we can do to stay cool.

Air conditioners are straining to keep up with the heat; and my husband who is an A/C mechanic is straining to keep up with the broken air conditioners! We are very thankful that he has a skill that keeps him busy year round.

I mentioned the other day that we have something new this year for summer fun. I took a few shots over the weekend.

There are 9 of our kids in the pool in this shot.

My space when my ears get too full of water or I want a break.

My 4 year old, Jake in the back, swimming along in his little life vest!

Oh my, this has been way too much fun! The pool is 24 ft in diameter, and a little over 4 feet deep. It is over the heads of 3 of my children, but they don their life vests and have a ball.

When we bought the pool a month ago, none of my children could swim. Well, Sam and Jamie could swim under water. Otherwise, nobody could swim. Within 2 weeks, everybody except the three youngest can swim.

I was afraid that it would be too big, too overwhelming, too deep. You know, I really think we moms worry too much sometimes! It has turned out to be the best thing we have done in a long time. We've had 2 cases of swimmer's ear already, so we don't swim every single day. Hey, we still have to work every now and then!

This has definitely made the hot southern summer much more bearable!

So, what are you doing for fun this summer?

When It All Comes Down

2011-06-22T06:00:00.006-04:00

When it all comes down, does your life have Jesus at the center? I mean, how do you really know?

It is easy to let false guilt cloud our judgement. I know that all too often, I allow Satan to make me feel completely inadequate and worthless. It is a fact that I can do nothing without Christ, but He considered me worth dying for, so while I am certainly unworthy, I am not worthless.

But how do we know? Is my life always pointing to Him? Am I pointing my children to Him daily? Do I take every opportunity to bring His teachings, His Light, into our home? As I began thinking about this, I wondered if there was a way to really know. I think there is.

Jesus said that a good tree would produce good fruit. So, I figure if I look at the fruit that is being produced, I will know.

Once again, I want to use a picture from my son's wedding 3 weeks ago.

Michael, Jennifer and Thomas

The two young men in this picture used to be my babies. The girl was my baby too, but she isn't grown up yet!
Michael and Thomas were just like any two brothers...they fought. They are complete and total opposites and always have been. Michael is a literature and history lover; Thomas is a musician. But as they have gotten older, one commonality has shown forth. They both love Jesus and have a personal relationship with Him.
They both serve in multiple areas in their local church; they are both givers, to the church, and to anyone who has a need; they can defend their faith when asked; and they are both incredibly hard workers. One has the gift of evangelism; one can tell you what he believes and back it up with Scripture; one has the desire to pastor; one has the desire to worship through the music he writes.

Satan could try to convince me that I failed these boys, and he would be right. I failed them on so many occasions. But to say that they turned out right by accident wouldn't be right either. They are the fruit of many years of faithful parenting.

Please don't think that I am boasting; I am not. I am trying to give you the long view of living a Christ-centered life. When you have Jesus at the center of your life, it will show in the fruit you produce. My husband and I have tried over the years to give our children a home where God is at the center. Have we made mistakes? Oh my, yes! Do I have regrets? Goodness, yes! Do they continue to make mistakes in their own lives? Of course!

But when I look at these two men, who used to be my babies, I am pleased with the fruit I see. I see two young men, sold out to Christ, wanting to serve Him with their lives. They talk about how they will raise their own children, and I know that Christ will be pleased with their faithfulness.

And one day, they will see the fruit of their own parenting...godly children becoming godly adults...making a difference in this world for Jesus Christ. And when it all comes down, that's all that really matters.

My Favorite Wedding Picture

2011-06-21T06:00:00.007-04:00

At the reception following my oldest son's wedding last month, he and his lovely bride shared a very special dance; just the two of them, him singing every word to her, as they slowly made their way across the dance floor.

It was a special time for me as his mom. See, two years ago, Heather lived with us for a month. During that month, she taught my son to dance. They would move all the furniture in the living room, and she would teach him to dance. It was so fun watching them, and the other kids loved it because they let them get involved too!

But it was a rough month. She was living with us under some pretty tough circumstances. Lots of tears were shed that month, most of them from me. At the end of that month, Heather went back home to North Dakota. We weren't at all sure when she would be coming back. We missed her terribly when she left.
Her leaving left a void in our family that I am personally still not completely over. Like I said, it was a rough month.

So to see them dancing at their wedding just brought tears to my eyes. I think I cried harder then than I did the whole day...well, until we got home that night anyway. But back to the story...

I was completely unaware that people were snapping pictures of me during that time. My most favorite picture of the day was taken by my mother, as I was watching my firstborn and his beautiful new bride dance together. I had leaned back against my husband and we were both enjoying the moment.

Andy and I, after nearly 27 years of marriage, watching Michael and Heather share their first dance.
It doesn't look like I am crying, but trust me. This was near the end of the song.

The whole day was so special. Everyone who was there has told me how sweet the wedding was, how personal, how touching. And it truly was. Michael and Heather have been through so much to get to this point...the feeling of joy was palpable throughout the entire day!

I have lots more pictures to share, so stay tuned!

Benefits of Hard Work

2011-06-20T06:00:00.001-04:00

A while back, we talked about the hard work of mothering. I think we can all agree that mothering is some of the hardest work we will ever do in this life. And the thing about mothering is, it's never done. Even when they grow up, you are still mothering. The issues and needs aren't as "in your face" all the time, but they can be much bigger than they were when the kids were little. Things like getting married, having jobs, going to college, buying cars, moving out, etc. Those are some big issues! And I haven't even hit the "I'm gonna be a grandma" stage!

But for all the hard, exhausting work we do as moms, there is no other job on earth with the same benefits as mothering. I don't care if you make ten million dollars a year, you are poor compared to me. All the money in the world will never compare to a child wrapping his or her arms around your neck and saying, "I wuv you, Mommy."

So, if you're wrapped up in the hard work today, let's take a minute to talk about all the fringe benefits. And there are tons.

Nothing on earth matches the feeling of wrapping your baby in a towel after a nice, warm bath. You rub that wonderful smelling baby lotion into their soft skin, and inhale. There is no sweeter smell.
Then, later, when they fall asleep in your arms, and you feel that sweet baby breath on your neck...ahhhh. Couldn't you just sit there forever? It's so hard to go lay them down, isn't it? But when you do, you have to just stand there and watch them. They are so beautiful.
Then they grow...they start talking, and if you're lucky, they'll say "Mama" first. They wobble around on their little fat legs, and point and babble, saying, "Juice! Cup! 'Nana! Book!"
When they get a bit bigger, they start making you cards for Mother's Day and your birthday. They draw pictures and you can't even tell what they are most of the time! But you never throw anything away...you hold on, because it's all you can do.
They get even bigger, and they look for ways to serve you. They bring you a glass of tea, or save you the last piece of cake. They tell you about their dreams, and they tell you what they are thinking about. They ask so many questions. You start to see yourself and your husband in them; you wish you could save them from the same mistakes you made. You pray hard.
Then...they start to smell. The boys play football, and you can barely ride in the same car with them afterwards! The girls begin wearing perfume and shaving their legs, and let's not forget the time spent using hair products. And you learn how to do without sleep, because if you've done your job when they were little, they are gonna keep you up at night, wanting to talk.
They have so much to talk about. What a privilege!
They write you notes, thanking you for all that you've done for them. They buy you gifts instead of making cards with pictures. They drive you to the store, and maybe buy you an ice cream on the way. They ask you questions, ask your opinion on things.
Then they get tall. Hugging your boys involves reaching above your head, and sometimes being lifted right off the ground. That's fun!! They show their love in so many ways...

Yep, this mothering gig is a doozy of a job!

And I wouldn't trade the fringe benefits for all the gold and jewels in the world!

Homeschool Conferencing

2011-06-18T06:00:00.001-04:00

Last week this time, we were right in the middle of our local homeschooling conference. We are very fortunate to host a conference at our church; and we have had such wonderful speakers. Let's see...over the past few years we've had Mark Hamby, Jeff Myers, Lou Priolo, and this year we had David Hazell of My Father's World. What a blessing to get to hear these speakers so close to home, without having to travel long distances and sleep in hotels!!

I spoke on Friday morning about Teaching Multiple Ages and Loving It, although to me, it was called Teaching Multiple Ages without Losing Your Mind! It went well, even though I was super nervous because I was being recorded. If the sessions get posted to the public, I will put a link up on here.

The whole conference was so good, and so incredibly encouraging. I also made some wonderful purchases to use in our own homeschool next year. Over the next few weeks, I would like to post on what we will be doing for our different grades this upcoming year if anyone is interested. Let me know!

So now, my kids are all excited about starting school again! They keep asking, "How many more weeks?" I keep telling them that this is actually my first week of summer vacation! First we had the wedding, then the next week was the conference. I am just starting to relax a little. I have some reading I want to do, and I also picked up some cross-stitching projects I haven't touched in probably 10 years! I'm looking forward to at least a few weeks of no commitments!

We'll see how long they hold out. I may let them get started on a few things earlier than I planned, but not if we are still enjoying our summer. And this year, we have a new reason to enjoy summer...I'll show you that tomorrow.

Where I've Been

2011-05-30T20:14:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in 26 days. I haven't been sick. I haven't been out of town. I've been...well...see for yourself...

This is my firstborn and his gorgeous bride!! They were married on Sunday afternoon.
This was their private prayer time during the ceremony...she is praying aloud here. I love the way he is looking at her.

So, I've been wedding planning and cooking reception food and having way too much fun!! We are totally in love with Heather and have been for a long time. She is the perfect compliment to Michael, and we couldn't be happier!

They are both so in love with Jesus, and so in love with each other. Their relationship and their wedding have been a continual pointing toward Christ. They are an encouragement to so many people. They have devoted themselves to the cause of the Gospel, and their life together will be one of ministry and faith.

I will be doing several posts next week of wedding shots and more about Michael and Heather. Stay tuned!

Just Be The Mom

2011-05-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

I may lose some readers after this post, but that's okay. What I am about to say needs to be said: Just be the Mom.

What do I mean by that, you ask? Let me explain.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I hear something similar to the following :

"I just can't get her to go to bed on time."

"I just can't get him to clean up his room."

"I just can't get her to do any chores."

"I just can't get him/her to do the schoolwork."

...and on and on it goes. Whether it is schoolwork, chores, cleaning a bedroom, eating good food, going to bed, or any other number of things, it seems like a lot of Moms have lost their ability to be the boss.

Now look, I am not saying you need to be mean. As a matter of fact, my next blog series will be on how to bring the fun back into your mothering. I am all for having a good time.
But if my children will not do as I say, we can't "just have a good time"! It doesn't work that way.

If your child of any age will not do as you ask, then there is a problem. If you have to hassle, harass, negotiate, threaten, bribe, reward, punish, or anything else to get your child to do what you tell them to, you need to step up to the plate and be the Mom.

If your child will not clean their room, then they will not eat breakfast. If they will not do their schoolwork, then they will not leave the table (room, chair, desk) until they do. And we don't serve meals at that spot either.
If they refuse to do a chore you have assigned to them, they will not have a meal until they do not only that chore, but also an additional one you will assign for their refusal to cooperate.

Hoo boy, that sounds cruel and heartless, right?
2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, "For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either."

Does this verse say that we should try to coerce them to work? Should we try to make everything fun so it doesn't seem like work? That's not what I'm reading. It says "not willing to work".

If your child is not willing to work, the Scripture tells you exactly what to do. So if your child of whatever age (obviously a reasonable age), is still sitting down to meals with the family even though they refuse to obey you and do their work, you need to just be the Mom. Don't set their place. Remind them gently what they need to do or what they have refused to do, and that you would be glad to have them join you as soon as they are finished.

And then move on. Please do not get all tangled up in some emotional drama with them. They will wear you out with that mess. Once you have answered them , and they know what they should be doing, just don't keep talking about it. Tell them that this conversation is now over.

I am not talking about first time obedience in this post. I am talking about the child who refuses to cooperate, and you as Mom find yourself very frustrated over the fact that they won't do what you have told them a thousand times. They are behind in school, their room is a wreck, they refuse to do anything to help out in the house, and when you say anything to them, you get locked in a battle of wills with them.

No more battle of the wills!! You have to win!! And you have to win decisively...or they will try again and again to wear you down.

Let me say in closing that I am far from perfect in this. I don't have any trouble being the boss, but I do find myself locked in the occasional emotional war. I am working on that! We will never be the perfect mother, no matter how hard we try.

We have to daily beg God for the wisdom to train our children to work. Are you having trouble getting your kids to do their work?
Then please...just be the Mom already.

*Disclaimer*-If your husband is deployed, you just need to cut yourself and your kids some slack. You can't be Mom and Dad for months on end without wearing down emotionally. Do the best you can, work together, and have a lot of FUN!!

If You Give A Girl A Book...

2011-05-02T05:00:00.004-04:00

If you homeschool a girl, you might give her a Science book to read.

And if she reads a Science book, she might read a chapter about insects.

And if she reads the chapter on insects, she might read something about ants.

And if she reads a little bit about ants, she might get very interested in ants. She might decide to do a little more research.

And after she does more research, she might be even more interested in ants.

She might decide to watch some ants outside in her yard. And if she watches them, she might see them doing things like carrying food to their homes, or even fighting off another type of ant.

And if she watches them doing all that work, she might decide that she wants to watch them longer. And if she decides that she wants to watch them longer, she might want to build an ant farm.

And if she decides to build an ant farm, she might read some more in the Science book to see exactly what she needs to do.

And if she reads more, she might find out that she is going to need a queen ant. And if she needs a queen ant, she might try to coerce her brother into helping her find one.

And she will search for an antbed, but she won't have to look far, because the 6 acres of cleared land in her yard has numerous antbeds.

And when they find the perfect antbed, they might need a shovel. And when they find a shovel, they will probably have to dig down really deep looking for the elusive queen ant.

And if they dig down really deep to find the royal ant, it might take an awful lot of dirt to fill the hole back in.

And when they get done filling in the hole, they will probably leave the shovel sticking right there in the big pile of dirt. And if they leave the shovel there, they might leave the glass jar that they had planned to put Her Royal Highness in also.

And if they do all this work to find the queen ant herself...and with hundreds of ant beds all over the yard...which antbed do YOU think they will choose??????

The one in the front yard closest to the road.

Lovely, isn't it?

I'm BAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!

2011-05-01T16:58:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have asked, I am fine! Our family has had some minor illnesses over the past few weeks, and honestly, between that and some other things, I have been meeting myself coming and going.

As much as I absolutely LOVE writing this blog, I am still the mother of 10 people who need me. My oldest son is getting married 4 weeks from today, and we are greatly enjoying being able to do a bit of wedding planning! This is our first to get married, and so it is a very exciting time.

We only have 2 weeks of school left; our last day is May 12th. I am very excited about that too!! I am looking forward to the break.
So, there is a post all ready for tomorrow morning...enjoy!!

Book Study

2011-04-21T09:23:00.002-04:00

Book study post is coming tomorrow...sorry for the delay.

Mothering Is Hard Work

2011-04-18T05:00:00.044-04:00

I said mothering is hard work. Can I get a hearty Amen?!!
I have been thinking about this lately: how hard mothering can be at times. I am not even talking about the emotional or mental stress it can be. I am talking about the sheer physical demands of being a mother.

This will not be a post telling you how to do it with less stress or weariness. This post is all about telling you that I understand. I know how you feel. I get tired too. Heck, I've been tired for years.

If you have several small children, or have had several children in a short span of time, this post is for you. If your husband is deployed, all I can say is thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice. I will never be as tired as you are. I will never know the loneliness or the emotional toll it takes on you.

My first 2 children were 3 years apart, then we added a 3rd child 4 years after the second one. Hmmm, 3 kids in 7 years..not too bad. I could handle that. Yeah, it was work, but we had started homeschooling when number 3 was about 1 year old, so that lessened the stress somewhat.

Fast forward 3 1/2 years...my oldest was 10, second was 7, third was 3, and number 4 was on the way. That was July of 1998. Number five came in July of 1999. Number 6 came in September of 2000, number 7 came in September of 2001. I lost a baby in April of 2002. Number 8 was born in March of 2003; number 9 came along in January of 2005. The caboose joined us in January of 2007.

So I had 3 kids in 7 years, and then I had 7 kids, plus a miscarriage, in less than 9 years. Yikes.

It was an adventure, that's for sure. Ha! I think that's a good word for it! My 3 older ones might think of a better word. I can tell you this...

It was a lot of hard work. Getting up during the night with babies, when your barely biggers are still so needy makes for one tired mama. There's no naps for a homeschooling mama with lots of littles and older ones who need help with school. We managed a quiet time every single day though; without it, I probably would have gone insane. I trained the kids to all nap at the same time. My olders would read, do school, play quietly, whatever.

When my 4th child was 11 1/2 months old, his little sister was born. He wasn't even walking yet, and still drank a bottle. He would sit beside me in the chair drinking his own bottle while I fed his sister. Every baby I had, the next one up would be climbing all over me while I was trying to feed the newest addition! I have some pretty funny pictures. I also got some pretty funny questions, which I will leave to the reader's imagination.

And have you noticed that when you bring a new baby home, your youngest child looks like a giant? Your petite little girl suddenly looks like Amazon woman. It's crazy!!

I could never have made it through those years without my older children helping me. They did so much. For several months, I actually paid my then 12 year old son to make everybody ages 4 and under a sippy cup of chocolate milk in the morning. That was 4 kids at the time. I would come out of my bedroom to find them all lined up on the couch, happily drinking their chocolate milk! Oh, he got $.50 a day, in case you wondered. It saved me in the mornings.

If you are at home with small children, please do not try to be Superwoman. Seriously, mothering is hard work. You need to take very, very good care of yourself. Eat really healthy food, get sleep when you can, exercise. I know, I know. You don't have time to do any of those things. I know. Really, I understand.

Those years for me were sheer survival. Sometimes I really do wonder how I made it through. But I did. My baby is now 4 years old. No more diapers; no more bottles; no more dressing or feeding or slings or cooing or baby lotion or fuzzy little heads right out of the bath. No more baby breath on my neck while my little one sleeps. No more first smiles, first words, first steps.

It's different now. I can't stick anybody in the sling to keep them happy. I can't just mash up a banana for anybody and call it lunch. These people eat. And do you know how much mess they make? Egads!! They make lots of really big messes. They want to do things like art and projects and cooking and sewing and driving and board games and all manner of time consuming and mess making activities.

They have harder questions now. They are trying to figure out the world and how to live in it. School is no longer just singing the ABC's in the car. I wish!! There is orthodontia to invest in, for more than one child at a time! Seriously...all that chocolate milk...didn't it help their teeth?

The daily dishes and laundry and clutter are enough to drive the most organized woman in the world out of her mind. Since I am not her, I suppose I am not far from gone.
The daily food needs of these folks is huge!! 3 meals a day, every day, here at home. We go through at least 5 gallons of milk a week; 6-8 loaves of bread; 2-4 dozen eggs; several pounds of apples, grapes, strawberries, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, and carrots. To make tacos takes 4 lbs. of ground meat. A birthday cake is enjoyed on the birthday...and that's it!! No leftovers!!

We don't do weekly housecleaning; we do daily housecleaning. I used to vacuum once a week. We vacuum at least once a day. I used to clean the bathrooms once a week...every day now. Laundry? Every single day. Dishes? Multiple times a day.
The children do a lot of the work, but who has to make sure it gets done? That's right. Mom.

So if you ever feel tired or discouraged, or both, there's a good reason. Let's all say it together now...

Motherhood is hard work. Amen.

Old and Smelly

2011-04-14T22:35:00.001-04:00

When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents. My maternal grandparents were very special people in my life. My grandfather was a Methodist preacher, so they moved every few years. From the time I was born until I was 4 years old, they lived right down the street from me. Those were the years that they bonded so closely with me.
The year I turned 4, they moved to a town about 1 1/2 hours away. We visited a lot of weekends, and I stayed with them during every vacation I had from school. I spent several weeks with them during the summer, and my whole Christmas vacation.

They lived in that particular town for 7 years, until I was 11 years old. The bedroom that I usually slept in had an antique dressing table in it that had a mirrored tray of Avon perfume bottles on it. Most of the bottles still had a bit of perfume in them. My grandmother had purchased all of these bottles, and they were very decorative and beautiful. I would sit at that table, wearing one of my grandmother's long, silky nightgowns, and put on perfume and brush my hair.

I always told my grandmother that I wanted to have that table one day. She had even saved the perfume bottles! When she passed away 2 years ago, it was time for me to get the table out of her house. It went into my bedroom, and then I only needed one more thing: the perfume bottles. I found them in a box, neatly packed away, just waiting to be displayed once again.

aren' they just lovely?

So, the day after I set it all up in my bedroom, my 6 year old little girl asked me..."Mommy, can I play with the pretty bottles of perfume?" Would you like to guess what I said? Ahem. I gave her an emphatic "No." As soon as the word left my lips, I regretted it. I could hear my grandmother...how many times had she let the children play with special things, refusing to deny them the joy of using their imaginations with neat, old things? I knew she would be disappointed in me if I denied my sweet girl the pleasure of opening those bottles and smelling them. And boy, after 40 something years, they did indeed smell.

that white bottle with the purple flowers was my favorite

isn't that one with the amber colored liquid inside gorgeous?!

So, I called my sweet girl back to me. I told her how special those bottles were to me, and I told her about how I had played with them when I was exactly her age. I told her that if Grandmama was still here, she would definitely let her play with the bottles. So, I was going to let her play with them. Oh, her eyes lit up!!

She has been playing with them for several months now. Her favorite thing to do is to re-arrange them on the tray, and of course, to open them all and smell them!! Sometimes, my bedroom has quite the odor in it!

I just wish I had one of Grandmama's long, silky nightgowns for my little girl to wear. It's so much more fun that way!

sweet little hand arranging beautiful bottles...love the reflection of her hand in the mirrored tray

So, I'm curious...do you children play with any treasured item from your childhood?

The Pursuit of Holiness- Chapter 1

2011-04-14T05:00:00.001-04:00

Well, it's time to step into the real meat of the book! I hope you've had a chance to read chapter one. I am taking notes in the book itself; there are such nice margins in the book that I can fit my notes at the bottom or the sides of the pages. Do whatever works for you!

At the beginning of this chapter, Jerry Jenkins talks about what holiness actually means. He gives a lot of different ideas people have about it. So, what does holiness mean to you? Was your definition the same as his? His definition of holiness is "to be morally blameless". What do you think about that?

He also addresses our sin problem; specifically "besetting sin." Is there a certain sin that seems to plague you more than any other? He talks about anger, but there can be any number of besetting sins. Each of us has our own personal area of vulnerability; that place where we sometimes feel like we'll never get a handle on it!

He then goes on to give 3 reasons to help us figure our why we aren't more successful in our battle with sin. I wrote these out as questions in my book so I could answer them.

#1-Do I worry more about "getting victory over sin", than I do about being obedient to God?

#2-Am I willing to do the work necessary to root out disobedience in my life? Do I even see that as my own responsibilty?

#3-Are there some sins that I categorize as no big deal or too small to worry about?

On page 18, he says that "it is compromise on the little issues that leads to greater downfall." Do you agree with that?

Two things that stuck out to me in this chapter were:
#1-Page 19- Do I believe that the Lord is to be obeyed in all things, whatsoever He commands? Is He a holy Lawgiver? Am I bound to give implicit assent to His will?

#2- Page 20- Do I really understand His absolute hatred of all sin? Do I truly see His absolute moral purity?

I like the way he puts it regarding our feelings about our sin. When we fail in an area where we are trying to gain victory over sin, how do we feel? We typically feel angry with ourselves. But why? Is it because we realize how offensive our sin is to God? Or is it just because we want the feelings of success that come with obedience?

If we're honest, I think most of us would say that we aren't upset because we are thinking about what God thinks of our sin. We are upset with our own lack of success. Too many times, it is personal success we are seeking...not obedience for Jesus' sake.

Okay, any thoughts on this chapter? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below. Next week, we will begin looking at the holiness of God. That should give us some perspective!

So...Would You?

2011-04-10T22:33:00.000-04:00

Just answer one question for yourself? Would you want you as a mom?

Would you? If you were a tender little boy or girl, would you feel loved and cared for if you were your mom? Or would you feel like a pain, a bother, a nuisance?

Would you feel like you could share your excitement over the cool bug you found? Would you know for certain that you could get comfort in your hurts, no matter how insignificant they may seem to the adult you?

Would there be lots of laughter if you were your mom? Would there be fun and good times, playing together, working together?

Or would you be afraid? Would you be hesitant to share your feelings, for fear of being called silly? Would you be scared to tell a joke, for fear of being told to get busy doing something useful? Would you be timid about climbing up in your lap? Would you feel like you had all the hugs and kisses and loving you needed?

Would there be lots of singing and talking while you worked together? Would you feel valued if you were your mom?

I have been struggling with so many of these questions lately. I want my children to feel loved. I want to express my love. I have a certain son who really needs a lot of kisses and hugs to feel loved. I noticed that I was starting to kinda pull away from him. Not in a mean way, but just getting a bit exasperated when he needed the 3rd or 4th hug, or when he wet my cheek every night with his kisses. I made it a point every night to wipe my cheek with a certain force to get my point across.

My goodness, what was I thinking? Here I am, 43 years old, and I could have all grown children with no littles still in the house. Yet in His favor, He has blessed me with these sweet children, and all they need is a Mommy to love them. And I was making a point to let him know I was irritated?

God, forgive me. I am trying to get it right. I see a whole lot more snuggles in my immediate future! If you see me with children on my lap and holding my hands and pulling me down to whisper in my ear, then thank God!! I plan to hold them for as long as they will let me. So when you see me carrying around my 4 year old, just smile. And don't feel sorry for me.

I am most blessed among women.

Do you need to make it right with your children? Are you the kind of mom you'd want to have? Well....are you?

What A Difference

2011-04-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

This is my baby. Yes, that term is relative. He is 4 years old now. Fortunately for me, he's a snuggler. He still sits on my lap and falls asleep in church, and is very free with kisses and hugs. He's one of those kids that I often say I could "eat with a spoon". Oh my, he is just a yummy, yummy little boy!!

But you can see that he needed a haircut. Honestly, I thought he looked absolutely adorable, but he was getting hot and "thweaty" when he played outside. So I took him on Thursday afternoon to get a trim. Well, maybe it was more than a trim! What a difference a haircut makes...

Okay, he's still adorable. At least I think so!! Nice hair, Jake!

The Pursuit of Holiness- Introduction

2011-04-07T05:00:00.001-04:00

I am very excited to begin this study. Personal holiness is something I long for, and something that God commands me to strive for. I think we all realize that without His help, we will never attain to holiness. As we study this book, we will begin to see that while God does indeed play a major role in our holiness, we are responsible as well. We can never say, "Well, I'm just waiting for God to take such and such temptation out of my life...then I can move on from it." No. That is wrong thinking!!
I hope that as we move through this, we will all see what God expects of us, and how much He truly loves us and wants to help us. Think of a baby learning to walk: you can coax them, hold their hands, dangle a treat in front of them, clap for them...but you can't take the steps for them. In order for them to learn to walk, they have to move their legs.
So, are you ready to learn to walk? Let's take a step toward holiness together...just grab hold of my hands.

Jerry Bridges starts by comparing personal holiness to a farmer planting seeds. I'm sure we can all relate to that! How many of us have helped our children to plant some seeds, and then watch as they try so hard to wait patiently for something to appear out of the ground?
In the same way that God causes the seeds to grow after the farmer is faithful to plant, so too, He will cause us to grow in holiness as we obey. He will not make us holy against our will. It is a cooperative effort.

I love how he talks about how Christians say they desire "victory", but don't desire to obey. This hit home for me. It seems to be the "in thing" to talk about "victory in Christ". We all want "victory in Christ". We refuse to face up to our responsiblity to obey.
He also talks about what I would call Biblical ignorance. We simply don't know what the Scriptures teach about personal holiness, and how to attain towards it.

Now, the next section, I had trouble with at first. He uses Hebrews 12:14, and says it is his paraphrase.
The NASB says, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which noone will see the Lord."
But then I read it in the KJV, which says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord..."
The NIV states, "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
All of a sudden, it made more sense to me. We are to pursue holiness. So what does the word "pursue" mean? Your thoughts?

We can definitely agree that none of us will ever attain to complete personal holiness this side of Heaven. That's where the word "pursue" comes in. We can never stop striving for holiness. We must be diligent and put forth effort. We must not get tired of the effort required to pursue holiness. It will never be easy, but we are called to it, and must obey.
To end this week's study, I love the way he says, "...as we begin to conform to the will of God in one area of our life, He reveals our need in another area..." Isn't that the truth?! As soon as you feel like you've got a handle on some sin that has been a problem in your life, you've forsaken it and seen some "victory", another sin pops up and you start all over again! It is easy to get discouraged, isn't it?

But we must not. We must press on, keep taking those baby steps toward personal holiness, and trust God to do His part.

Mark Your Calendar!

2011-04-06T10:54:00.000-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is the first day of our book study!
We will be covering just the introduction this week. The introduction is a very important part of The Pursuit of Holiness, and we can't move on without looking at it first!

So I hope everybody is ready to join in. I am asking some of you to step out of your comfort zone and actually make some comments on the study. You know who you are! Seriously, it won't be much fun if I come on here and preach and y'all listen!! LOL!! I do want you to feel the freedom to participate and ask questions.

Before I close this out, I just want to say a HUGE thank you to so many of you who have told me how much you are enjoying the blog! Your encouragement makes me want to stay the course, even though I sometimes feel like I am running out of time to post. I really do want to increase my number of posts in a week, and am working toward that.
So thanks for all the hugs in the hallway at church, and for the sweet comments from those of you who don't live close by. You bring so much brightness into my life!!

Proverbs 6

2011-04-05T05:00:00.001-04:00

Time for another Tuesday Teaching from the book of Proverbs! I hope you are all enjoying the time of studying Proverbs with your children. I am sure you are all old pros by now! Once you get going, the study will get richer and richer, especially as your children get older.

This week has a challenging chapter in it. I am sure that nobody is very excited about teaching chapter 7 to their young children! Chapter 6 is a fun one though. So I will hit the highlights of that chapter this time around.

Most children will love talking about the ant in verses 6-11. I would first talk about the ant itself: how the ant works to find food, how it stores food, how it leaves a trail for the other ants to follow to get to the food, etc. And I would ask the kids, "So, who is telling that ant what to do? Who is her boss? What would happen if the ant did not gather her food in the harvest time?"
Then you can move into how verses 9-11 apply to us. If the ant doesn't need someone to tell her to do her work, do we need someone to tell us? Does Mommy always have to remind about chores? Do the children start schoolwork without being told? Do they slack off or dawdle when they should be working?
Does Daddy get up and go to work every day? Who makes him? Does he need someone to tell him to go to work every single day? Does Mommy need you to tell her to feed you, dress you, clean the house, buy groceries, etc.?
How will being lazy bring you to poverty? What is poverty? What is a sluggard?

What if Daddy and Mommy were sluggards? What would happen to the family? Would there be enough food, clothes, electricity, gas, etc.? What will happen if the children are sluggards? What if they never want to do their school? What if they don't do their chores? How will it affect the family?

Now again, you want to keep this fun and lighthearted. Laugh a lot, and don't single out any child. They know who has a problem with laziness. Maybe it's Mom. If so, just confess it to them. "You know what? Mommy is lazy sometimes. Sometimes I want to sit at the computer or read my book instead doing what I should be doing. Mommy wants to be a hard worker like the ant."
Children feel so special when you talk to them about your own sins, instead of always talking about their sins! And I have found that whenever I confess something to them, they are always very encouraging. They always say things like, "Oh Mom! You aren't lazy! You work so hard around here. You do a lot of stuff for us!" Or something along those lines. They know how to pour on the love and encouragement!

I hope you enjoy teaching your littles, and bigs, about the ant this week! Let me know how it's going for you!

Proverbs 30

2011-03-28T21:47:00.000-04:00

Hooray!! It's time to study a Proverb together!!
I am very excited about doing this each Tuesday. I hope you will get excited too, as you teach the Proverbs to your children. They will get no better wisdom in life, than to study this book which is full of godly life lessons.
This week has some really meaty passages, and I know my girls will be especially excited about chapter 31 coming in this week! But, in case you have no girls, or you have all younger ones, I will be going over Proverbs 30 for now.

To begin, read the chapter to your children, or have them take turns reading. This is a rather long passage, with 33 verses, and the verses are long too!

This passage is pretty neatly divided into sections. If I were teaching this to all little ones, I would especially hit on verses 4, 18-19, 24-28, and 29-31. They will have a lot of fun acting out all those animal parts, and listening to you explain how God made each animal to fill its own role in creation. Verse 4 is an amazing description of God. I would supply some definitions for words like ascended, descended, gathered, and established. You could read this verse slowly and let them answer all the questions that are asked. I love at the end where it says,"Surely you know!" I would ask them, "Can you gather the wind in your fists? Why not?"

For the older ones, I would definitely explore verses 7-9, 11-14, and verse 17. In 7-9, we would have a discussion about why some people are never satisfied, no matter how much they have. I would ask them if that applies to any area of their life. And if I have difficulty in that area, I would confess it to them and we would talk about it. We might turn to Philippians 4:11-12, where Paul talks about being content no matter what he has. An excellent discussion could be had on contentment- what it means, how we live it out, what it looks like in daily life.

Verses 11-14 and 17 could describe many children today! Do your children act disrespectfully to you or their Dad? Do they roll their eyes? Do they huff away? Do they walk around with a hateful look on their face? You know exactly what I am talking about! These verses address those very issues. I would ask, "So this passage tells us what kind of person does this. What does it say in verse 12? He is pure in his own eyes, but is not washed from his filthiness." What does that mean? Have them answer.

Listen Mom, don't be afraid to sit there in silence for a couple minutes if necessary to let them think about it. Then ask again. So what do you think that means..."Is not washed from his filthiness"...?

There is so much more to this passage of Scripture, but you want to save some for next month! Stop while they are still having fun and wanting to do more. I always stop early enough that the children groan and ask to do just one more verse. Of course, I do let them do just one more, but that is it! I always say, "Don't worry...we'll be back here again in a month!"

Well, there you have it. You just sat in on our Proverbs study time! Now go start your schoolwork!!

Let me say this, I do not use our study time to point out character flaws in my children. If one of them brings something personal up, we will talk about it and try to see what we need to do to change, and they will encourage each other. But I really want to encourage you to not make this a time to slam them. If you do, they will hate this study, and they won't listen, and you will give them cause to run from God's Word instead of embracing it.
I do use Scripture in disciplining, of course, but study time is study time. It's just a time to enjoy talking together about God's Word and seeing what it says and how we can apply it to our daily life.

Heart Attack Mac

2011-03-26T12:11:00.001-04:00

My great grandmother, Granny, was famous for her macaroni and cheese. I can remember going to her house in Sylvania, Georgia for all the major holidays when I was growing up. And even as a little girl, I always looked forward to the pan of golden, gooey, goodness that I knew awaited us!

Granny died when I was 12 or 13, and it was a while before we had good mac and cheese again. But my grandmother set herself to the task, and it wasn't too many years until we were back to big pans of cheesy heaven. Every holiday, no matter how insignificant, merited macaroni and cheese.

My dear grandmother passed away 2 years ago. My daughter, Jessie, is rather fond of macaroni and cheese. As in, she could eat it 3 times day, seven days a week!! She was feeling the lack of mac in her life. So, I set myself to the task. I have experimented over the past few months. We all agree that I have finally gotten it just right.

warning: the following pictures can clog your arteries...if you have heart problems, better go read a different post for today...don't say I didn't warn you...

Okay so this is nowhere close to a healthy recipe. It uses a ton of cheese; real and fake. If you are trying to eat healthier, this is not your recipe. Everybody else...follow me....

Grandmama's Macaroni and Cheese

This is how I make myself feel better about this recipe; by using healthier pasta. You'll need a full 14.5 oz box. You can use regular white elbows if you like. Start the pasta water boiling while you grate a full pound of hard Extra Sharp cheddar cheese. Gotta be Extra Sharp...cause my Grandmama said so.

You will also need 6 slices of American cheese, and 8 ozs. of Velveeta. Hey, I told you this was not a healthy recipe!
Divide each slice into thirds, and cut the Velveeta into smallish chunks. Divide your pile of chunks in half- I had 16 in each pile.

When your pasta is done, put half of it into a 9x13 dish. Then , snuggle half of the Velveeta chunks down in the noodles. Push them down in there! Now, lay half of the sliced cheese pieces on top of that.

Using half of the cheddar you grated, cover the top of the noodles with it. Spread it over thoroughly.
Then, do another layer just like the first: noodles, Velveeta, sliced cheese, and shredded cheddar.

Didn't my eggs make the cutest smiley face?! Oh well, time to beat them anyway...after beating them, add enough milk to make 1 1/2 cups. Pour this evenly over the whole pan of mac and cheese. Then, pour plain milk over until it comes to within a half inch of the top of the noodles.

Now it's ready for the oven. 350* for 45-50 minutes. Then, let it rest on top of the stove for at least 15-20 minutes once you take it out. This will firm it up.

The finished product. You want it nicely browned on top. It looks kinda gooey here because it hasn't done its sitting time yet! After 20 minutes, it is perfect for spooning out!

I do mine in a glass dish, and put it straight in the frig with any leftovers. One word of warning: do NOT reheat this pan in the oven. You will have baked on macaroni and cheese that will never come off.
This stuff reheats beautifully in the microwave.
So there you have it...if your arteries can take it!!

Linking this up to Raising Arrows.

Book Study

2011-03-24T05:00:00.010-04:00

I have been thinking about taking one day a week here on my blog for doing a book study. I would love to know if anybody is interested. I will choose a book, and then every Thursday, I will post notes and discussion questions on the current chapter. I plan to only cover one chapter per week. The first book I plan to do is The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. I have read this book before, but feel like I need to go back through it again! It is such a rich study on why we should pursue holiness, and how to practically do it!

If you would be interested in participating, would you leave a comment below to let me know? Or comment on my Facebook page to let me know you would like to be a part. You can also email me at
onefaithfulmom@gmail.com . I have several books I would like to study. If anybody is interested, I will begin the first chapter of The Pursuit of Holiness 2 weeks from today: Thursday, April 7, 2011.
If you do not have the book and would like to purchase it, you can click through my link above.
I hope to hear from some of you! I am looking forward to it. And if you can't buy the book, no worries. You can still participate just by reading the posts!

Letting Go Of Perfectionism

2011-03-23T05:00:00.009-04:00

Anybody else out there struggling with perfectionistic tendencies? I feel quite sure I am not the only one! I suppose I was set up to be a perfectionist from the beginning. I was an only child, the first grandchild on both sides, raised around adults for most of my childhood. I had 2 cousins that I played with on a pretty regular basis, but my world was an adult world.
It's funny...I never considered myself a Type A person...I am actually very spontaneous and relaxed. But when I think about it, I like to list out what needs to be done, and then get busy! I can become drill sergeant Mom if I don't see people as busy with work as I think they should be!

As a perfectionist, ~~I suppose~~ I know that I have unrealistic expectations of myself. Unfortunately, all too often, I have unrealistic expectations of others...like my children. I get all excited about getting a plan in place, and then I get frustrated when the plan doesn't lead to perfection. I thought I would share with you my most recent plan of action, and the reality that followed.

THE PLAN

This took me hours of work! I took it to Staples, had it enlarged and laminated, and put magnets on the back. I know I should know better, but I really thought that it would solve all our problems...our messy problems I mean!! Oh, everybody was excited about it at first; running to check it every morning to see what they were supposed to do that day. It seemed like my plan was working. I could see perfection looming on the horizon. Somewhere along the way I guess I forgot that when 11 people live in a house, perfection is a joke. And so I was brought back to...

the sad reality...

The dishwasher was loaded and running when I took this picture. This is what all wouldn't fit.

And evidently, they don't quite get the concept that cleaning out from under your bed doesn't mean that you just pull it out and leave it there.

I didn't turn into drill sergeant Mom though. As a matter of fact, all those messes are still there. We'll get to it.
Sometimes, we just need to ride our bikes, or play with the dogs, or take a nap.
So I am learning to let go of my perfectionism...a little bit at a time. It's not easy, and I probably won't get it right for a long time, but I'll keep trying. Until I can do it perfectly. smile

Studying Proverbs with Your Children

2011-03-22T05:00:00.001-04:00

This post is only for mothers. I do not teach men how to study the Bible with their families. This method is what I use with my children in the mornings before we begin school, after their Dad is gone to work.

I am a woman who is absolutely and completely dedicated to being a faithful mother. I do not intend to fail my children by not instructing them in the Scriptures. If I do not teach them the Word of God, I have no reason to expect that they will grow up to be godly people. It doesn't happen by accident or by default. It is my responsibility as their mother to teach them what the Word says and how to apply it to their life.

Please do not think that I am saying that fathers don't have the same responsibilty. I believe that every father will answer to God for how he has discipled his family. I am only speaking of my role as Mom. If I am to be a faithful mom, I must teach and train my children in the Scriptures!

So with that being said, I want to share how the kids and I study Proverbs together. We do this in the morning, after breakfast and chores, but before we start schoolwork. If the kids are dawdling, I call a halt to chores and we do Bible time. They have to finish the chores later during free time. Yes, I'm mean like that.

We always do the Proverb of the day. In other words, if it is March 21, we do Proverbs 21. We begin by reading all the way through the Proverb. Some of them are quite long...up to 36 verses or so. That's okay. We are in no rush to finish studying God's Word. It usually takes us between 30-60 minutes to do this.

I currently have a 16, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 6, and 4 yr old doing this. The little ones are expected to sit still and be quiet. This is excellent training for sitting through church! I sometimes let the little guy play with a couple of quiet toys right near my chair. Otherwise, they sit on the floor, couch, or with me.

Every child that can read has his Bible open and ready. Most of the time I read the whole passage. We sometimes take turns, but that usually causes some frustration. Slow or new readers take a lot of time and patience, and we are really trying to get a good overview of the passage. The reading should be fairly quick, but with much enthusiasm and good inflection. The children follow along in their Bibles.

As you read through the passage, you'll begin to pick up on some themes. There are usually anywhere from 2 to 6 themes in a Proverb. Some familiar ones are wisdom and foolishness, laziness and diligence, honesty and deceit, working hard and slothfulness, sin and righteousness, being stingy and being generous...those are a few common themes you'll see repeated throughout the Proverbs.

So after we read the entire passage, I ask the children if they see any themes. When we first started doing this, I would name 2 or 3 themes and just let them find the verses. They have progressed to finding the themes themselves! When a child names a theme, he/she must tell me a specific verse that has that theme in it.
Example: Proverbs 6 has the theme of laziness vs. diligence in it. The child might refer to verse 6 which speaks of looking at the ant as an example of diligence.

At this point, I allow the child who is giving the verse to read it aloud. Then we discuss it. I ask them questions; they ask me questions; I offer definitions for unfamiliar words. As an aside, this is where I teach them to use their concordance. They look up unfamiliar words in the back of their Bible. Once we have meanings, context, and any questions answered, we look for application.

To me, application is the most important part of what we do with the verse. We talk about ways we can use the verse, or things we need to change about ourselves. We talk about situations we have found ourselves in, and how the verses could help us.

I try to give each child a chance to give at least one verse. We will do 2-3 verses on each theme, and then go to the next theme. We can never exhaust Scripture, but I do try to save something fairly meaty for our next go round!
My 6 yr old is still a beginning reader, and ny 4 yr old isn't reading at all yet, so they have been mostly listening up to this point. But when we start application, look out!! They can come up with all sorts of imaginary situations where the verse would apply to them. I love hearing them get excited about God's Word. It might seem silly to some to hear the things they say , but it is not silly to get your children excited about studying the Scriptures! They also love to have me use them as examples in situations I make up. My 6 yr old just said the other day, "Talk about me, Mom. Use me in a story." So cute!!

Once we have done 2-3 themes, and a verse or two for each theme, quite a bit of time has passed. I am always amazed by how quickly the time passes when we are immersed in God's Word! That is a warning to you though: if you are going to be stressed over getting a later start to school, keep in mind that you don't want to be saying, "Come on, find a theme already. We've got school to do." That wouldn't be good.

And there you have it...an easy way to study God's Word with your children. I like that I can include every age child I have and everyone has something to contribute. Try it with your precious little, or big, ones this week, and let me know how it goes.

Starting next week, I will be putting up a sample study from Proverbs every Tuesday. I will use one of the weeks' passages, and give some possible themes, questions, verses, definitions to look up, etc. I hope it will be helpful to some of you!

Pieces Of My Childhood

2011-03-21T05:00:00.003-04:00

I can remember it like it was yesterday. She would wake me up in the wee hours of the morning, and tell me to get dressed and put on some shoes. We had to go look for Daddy because he hadn't come home. Again.

Or, we had to go because Daddy had been in a wreck and we needed to go to the hospital.

Or, we had to take Daddy to the hospital because he was sick with kidney stones. His buddies had brought him home from a night of drinking, and I could hear him outside my bedroom window, hollering out in pain from the stones. I can see him in the wheelchair, as the orderly pushed him along, vomiting into the metal trashcan he held in his lap.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night; hearing him stumble to his bed, not a word to the wife who had waited to be sure he was coming home.

I remember him coming home from work and saying he just needed to run downtown for a minute. Momma and I knew what that meant. He wouldn't be back; at least not for hours, and not in a good state, if he made it home at all.

I remember my 15th birthday. All the family was there, everything was ready. But he never came home for the party. We finally had the party without him.

So many memories. Everybody has a past; mine just isn't much to look at. I have never talked much about my past...too painful. But there is something else I remember that makes me begin to share.

I remember the fear...and the overwhelming shame...to be continued

Still Alive

2011-03-16T18:51:00.000-04:00

I am still alive and kicking, but my laptop has been "in the shop". I hate writing on the desktop...spoiled, I know...but there it is!
I am getting my laptop back on Sunday morning, and will be back to regular posting next week.

Gosh, I miss y'all!!!
Stay tuned...

Two Wheeling!!

2011-03-08T05:00:00.002-05:00

It has been super nice weather wise here lately! The kids try to finish their schoolwork and chores as quickly as possible so they can get outside. We have a lot of room to play, so they ride their bikes in our yard. I don't let them ride on the road.
Last Friday, Sam decided to teach Courtney to ride a 2 wheeler. Now, Sam learned to ride a 2 wheeler at the tender age of 3, thanks to his determination, and the patience of his sister Jessie! So it was fitting for him to teach someone.
After about 30 minutes, she was pedaling alone! This morning, he was teaching her about turning...without falling down, that is. Here's some pictures of the lessons.

She was so proud!! And he was too!! He needs to teach her to climb on and take off by herself still, so I think the lessons will continue for a few more days. Such fun times!!

I had to put in one last shot of my pretty girl...

Updated to add that she is now starting off by herself, and can do a complete turn around without crashing!!

Now, to teach her about the brakes...

Birthday Time

2011-03-07T05:00:00.004-05:00

This past Friday was our John's birthday. He is now 8 years old! He requested tacos for supper.

He wanted to help make his cake, so we did that together. Then Jennifer helped him frost it. He went a little crazy with the sprinkles! Kids can't get enough of them I guess!!

I found some candles at Rite Aid that were individual letters, so his candles spelled out his name. They were very flimsy though, and the "O" was holding on for dear life. It wouldn't even light.

Happy birthday, John...now BLOW!!!!!!

For his gifts, he got a radio controlled police car that he's been wanting, and a Lego City sticker book. He also got a watch, some sunglasses, and a cool cowboy vest!
Facts about John
John is our 8th child. He is the most affectionate of our bunch, and pretty close to the most stubborn too! He's small for his age, but exceedingly smart. He's a second grader this year. I call him John-boy nearly all the time. He loves to read his Bible, and he likes to read books to his 2 younger siblings. He has a very tender heart, and still likes to kiss his momma. What more could I ask? Just that he not grow up too quick.

Happy Birthday, John-boy!!!

Do You Know What Time It Is?

2011-03-02T07:00:00.002-05:00

At our homeschool support group meeting last night, the subject of this post came up. I wrote this post a week ago, and I was so affirmed that this is an issue which needs to be addressed.

So, do you know what time it is?

Time seems so elusive sometimes, doesn't it? Days go by, weeks go by, months go by, years go by. We get older, and we wonder how in the world we got here. How did the kids grow up so fast? Every day seemed an eternity, with dishes and laundry and meals and schoolwork and chores and diapers and shoes to tie and noses to wipe and jackets to zip and on and on and on.

Then one day, we wake up and realize that it's all done. They are all grown up.

So, do you know what time it is?

There are so many different times in life. How do you tell time? Have you learned to tell time God's way?

Is it time to rock the baby for just a little while longer? Is it time to read a big stack of books to your little boy or girl, and let the dishes wait for a bit? Is it time to listen to your 8 yr old's long involved dream from last night, and change the laundry over when he's done?

Is it time to sit on the couch with your husband, and wash up the supper dishes later? Is it time to listen to your teenager's plans and goals, and miss a couple hours of sleep?
What time is it?

How do you know what time it is? How do you learn to tell time?

If you are a mother of young children, then the time you spend with them is crucial. It is time for you to train them to obey; to teach them to work; to read God's Word to them; to sing songs with them. It is time to love on them and squeeze out all the sugar you can! I am squeezing my 4 year old as much as I can!

If you have older children, it is time to teach them to be self starters; teach them to do their work independently; talk to them about this world and how to live in it; to listen to their dreams and plans; to laugh at their silly jokes that you've heard a hundred times before; to teach them to cook, clean, and serve wherever they see a need.

Some of you are blessed like me and you have children in every stage of childhood. We get to do it all!!!! I get to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and 10 minutes later, I get to do a reading lesson, and 15 minutes after that I get to listen to an advanced piano student play me her latest piece. I get to teach someone to make a meal, and teach someone to tie her shoes, and teach another one to play quietly while I am reading aloud.

So, what time is it? How do you tell time?

Where are you in your life? What are your priorities? What do you need to take the time to do today that won't wait? And I do not mean the laundry! 20 years from now...10 years from now, what will you wish you had spent more time on? Then it is time to do it now!

You learn to tell time by seeing where God has you right now, and then...embrace it!!!! Live every minute to the hilt. Don't waste time by wishing it away. That toddler who drives you crazy by getting into everything...he will soon be a teenager. Look at what time it is. Train the little rascal now. It's time. Don't just wish he was older.

So, what time is it in your life?

Replacing My Goals with His Goals

2011-02-28T20:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it's the end of yet another month! This year isn't wasting any time going by, is it?
Time to check in with how we're doing meeting any goals we set for ourselves this year!

Last night, our family had our monthly meeting, and the kids were just too cute talking about how they're doing with their goals. Earlier in the day, I heard my 6 yr. old Courtney asking her 8 yr. old brother how he was doing with his goals. They had a little conversation about it which my 16 yr old and I found absolutely precious and hilarious! They were so serious about it!

On a side note, our pastor has been preaching through the book of Genesis for the past few months. Every single Sunday, I come out of church completely amazed at how God is speaking to me! This past Sunday was no exception. He was teaching about Joseph and how he responded to the trials in his life. Joseph handled his trials with such trust in God...never questioning, never growing bitter, never doing less than an excellent job. Instead of being angry at his situation (being a slave), he chose to trust the Lord, and God blessed everything Joseph touched. After he was comptroller of Potiphar's house, and things seemed to be going great for him, he ended up in prison on false charges! Yet he never became bitter. He continued to trust, and soon was in charge of the prison.

I say all of that for a reason. See, I have had 2 rather difficult trials this past month. These trials have driven me to my knees, and driven me to memorize Scripture. I have had no alternative but to trust God. There was nothing else I could do. Did I get angry? Yes. Have I felt bitterness trying to creep in? Absolutely. That's why I needed that sermon from yesterday so much! If Joseph could trust God when his own brothers hated him, and sold him to slave traders, how could I not trust Him? It makes my trials seem so small. Now each person's trials feel big to them, and they are. When our life gets turned upside down...when we feel like the rug is being jerked out from under us...it is hard. That is when we need to throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus and beg Him for grace.

So, with all of that said, back to the goals. As I looked over my goals that I set back in January, I felt like I hadn't done so well this month! But then I remembered the Scripture I've been learning; the extra time I had spent praying; the crying out to God; the time spent reading the Word; the special way God had spoken to me through those sermons; and I realized that He had exchanged my goals for His goals.

The goals I set are good goals. They will help me to be more healthy, more spiritually mature, more rested, and more cheerful. There is nothing wrong with setting these goals. I actually am doing pretty good in some of them!

But let's see what God's Word says about setting goals. Proverbs 16:9 says, "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

I firmly believe that He wants me to set goals. Without a goal, how will I know if I make any progress? But, I believe even more that I must be open to allowing Him to change those goals. God has been directing my steps this past month in ways I did not want to go. I certainly would have never chosen these trials. Would Joseph have chosen to become a slave and be torn away from his family? Would he have chosen to be thrown into prison? No!

But my pastor made a statement on Sunday morning that I wrote down; "God cannot work through you until He works in you to teach, train, and equip you." If God is working in me, He must have a serious reason. He wants to see growth in my life, and trials are the way He brings about the growth. That is, if I choose to trust and submit to His will.

None of this is easy. Sometimes these trials just stink. They make it difficult just to function some days. But I know that in the end, His goals for me will change my life. They won't make me skinnier, or healthier, or happier. But they will make me holier, and isn't that the main goal?

So that's where I stand. If you have read this far, bless your heart!!

Please leave a comment below telling us how you're doing with your goals. I have the comment feature fixed now so that anyone can comment, even if you don't have a Google account!

Celebrate Good Times-Come On!!!

2011-02-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

We had another party here tonight. Seems like we are finding a lot to celebrate lately! Maybe it's just another way for me to find a reason to eat homemade mac and cheese and chocolate cake with rainbow chip icing. Whatever.

So tonight we were celebrating some terrific news that two of my daughters got last night. Our church has wonderful children's choirs for ages K4-6th grade. I have children in all three choirs!

The 4th through 6th graders put on a spring musical every year. It is a dramatized version of a Bible story, along with music and singing. In the past, they have done Noah, Joseph, David and Goliath, and several others. I have always had at least one child in the performance, with a couple of my kids having starring roles over the years.

This year, the musical is based on the story and Bible book of Esther. It is going to be such a cute show!! We've been listening to the CD and singing along for a couple of weeks now! 2 weeks ago, the children had auditions for the speaking parts and solos. You can bet that there were a lot of little girls hoping for the part of Esther! Including one of my own daughters!

Lauren and Jessie with their Esther books

They had been trying to wait patiently; knowing that last night would be the big announcement. When church was over, my 10 yr old, Lauren, came running to the car smiling this humongous smile. She could not contain her excitement, but burst out that she had gotten a solo!! Oh goodness, she was beyond happy!!

After I congratulated her, I warned her not to tell what her sister, Jessie, had gotten. She told me not to worry; she wasn't going to say anything.

When Jessie came to the car, she jerked my door open and screamed, "I"M ESTHER!!!!!!!!!!" Then she grabbed me around the neck and hugged me for what seemed like a very long time. We were all laughing, and a few of us may have had a tear or two in our eyes. Maybe.

So tonight, in honor of my two stars, we had their most favorite foods for supper. Everybody loves Publix fried chicken; I went by there today and picked it up. Jessie and Lauren are huge fans of homemade mac and cheese, so I let them make a pan of that. And I made a chocolate cake with their favorite icing! (And it just happens to be my favorite icing too, so it's a win/win kinda thing.)

They were so happy that we were celebrating...how could you be sad about cake anyway?

I want to thank my dear friend, Monica, for teaching me how to celebrate the everyday moments that occur. Who needs a birthday to have cake?

Tea parties, teddy bear birthday parties,

and parties because you got the part you

wanted are all completely valid things

to celebrate.

They won't always be children. I'll take my chocolate cake while I can get it!!

Wasting Spiritual Time

2011-02-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever found yourself needing to know lots of Scripture by heart, and falling short?
This past Thursday was such a day for me. For several different reasons, I was having an emotionally draining day. By 9:30 that morning, I wasn't sure I was going to make it through the day. I was headed to town for my daughter's speech therapy appointment. As I drove, I got more and more upset; more and more anxious.

Finally, after praying everything I could think of, I decided to just start quoting Scripture to myself. I didn't want to just do random verses though; I wanted to quote whole passages. I started with Psalm 8, then went on to Psalms 1 and 23. I knew part of Psalm 100, but not all.
It was helping me so much, just saying those Scriptures to myself...but then I ran out of passages. I had definitely not yet run out of anxious thoughts, or of dread for what lay ahead for the rest of the day.

So I just went back to praying. Praying and driving. Praying and driving and telling myself that I will memorize more whole passages of Scripture!

When I think about it, I see how much time I have wasted. If I just memorized 2 verses a week, think of how many whole New Testament books I could have said to myself that day!! I could have quoted the entire books of Colossians(95 vs.), 1 Peter (105 vs.), James (107 vs.), etc. There are several I could mention.

God's Word is the solution for every problem I face; it is the solution for every anxious thought in me. His Word can and will rescue me; but only if I know it! The little bit I knew was such a healing balm to my heavy heart; there just wasn't enough! I needed to know more.

So, I have begun. I am memorizing Psalm 46 right now. I have the first 5 verses down so far. My children are helping by listening to me say them! I'm not sure what I will tackle next; maybe 1 Peter. I love that book!!
I just know that I don't want to waste any more Spiritual time. At my age, I should have tons of Scripture memorized, and I don't.

Time to get in the game. How about you?

Do you memorize Scripture on a regular basis? And if so, what is your plan?

Baby Years Part 1

2011-02-21T20:06:00.000-05:00

I had my first baby at the ripe old age of 20. My second was born when I was 23, and the third came when I was 27. I was absolutely certain, and would tell you in no uncertain terms, that I was not having any babies once I turned 30. And, oh, how God laughed. He must have guffawed up there, as He set a plan in motion that would have me eating those words.
I went home from the hospital with my 4th child on my 31st birthday. It was a Sunday. Andy had gone to get breakfast while we waited to be discharged. He had totally forgotten that it was my birthday. My sweet nurse, however, remembered. When he got back from getting breakfast, she was getting things straightened up in the room, all the while humming Happy Birthday to You!! It only took a couple verses for him to get it!!
Over the next few years, we would bring more babies home. We came home with our last on January 18th, 2007 and I was 39 yrs old. My tenth child, a sweet little boy we named Jacob, came home to his adoring brothers and sisters on a freezing afternoon.
4 years have gone by since that freezing day in January. My baby is not a baby anymore...al least according to him! He still loves to snuggle with his Mommy though, especially in my bed. I don't ever turn him down. There aren't many more years left for me to snuggle babies in my bed.

Having grown children is such an amazing thing; I wouldn't change it for the world. But being 43 years old, and still having a sweet little guy to hug, snuggle, and tuck into his bed is the most amazing thing of all. I am so glad that my plan wasn't God's plan! Because cute little 4 year old boys in Spiderman pajamas just can't be beat!!

The Girl I Used To Be

2011-02-18T20:54:00.000-05:00

I have had this poem for years...have no idea where I got it. I hung onto it though, because I loved it. It spoke to me then and it still does.

The Girl I Used To Be

She came tonight as I sat alone,

the girl I used to be...

And she gazed at me with her earnest eye

And questioned reproachfully:

Have you forgotten the many plans

And hopes that I had for you?

The great career, the splendid fame,

All the wonderful things to do?

Where is the mansion of stately height

With all of its gardens rare?

The silken robe that I dreamed for you

And the jewels in your hair?

And as she spoke, I was very sad

For I wanted her pleased with me...

This slender girl from the shadowy past,

The girl that I used to be.

So gently rising, I took her hand,

And guided her up the stair

Where peacefully sleeping, my babies lay

Innocent, sweet, and fair.

And I told her that these are my only gems,

And precious they are to me;

That silken robe is my motherhood

Of costly simplicity.

And my mansion of stately height is love,

And the only career I know

Is serving each day in these sheltered walls

For the dear ones who come and go.

And as I spoke to my shadowy guest,

She smiled through her tears at me.

And I saw that the woman that I am now

Pleased the girl that I used to be.

Author Unknown

Maybe you struggle with where you are in life; with where God has you serving. Maybe it seems completely opposite from what you had always planned. Maybe you sometimes wonder what things would have been like if you had "followed your dreams".
May I encourage you to follow God's dream for you? He really does dream much bigger dreams than we do...and His always turn out better than anything we can dream up!

Beautiful Day in the Country

2011-02-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

It was so incredibly beautiful outside today! There was no keeping the kiddos inside once schoolwork was finished! Daddy helped them set up their tent, including running extension cords so they could listen to the CD player. I had to sneak around and get a few pictures.

Got this tent at a yard sale for $15.00!!

They've got it right cozy in there!

The other side of the tent.

What they were listening to. 19 CD's-the whole set of Narnia-picked up at Barnes and Noble for $12 a couple years ago.

Somebody thought the tent was boring. Dirt is much more fun!!

Is it weird that I love his little feet so much?

They plan to sleep in the tent tonight. We'll see how that goes! Have a great weekend everybody!

No TIME To Be Grouchy

2011-02-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

I have a deep desire to live a life that will not cause me to have regrets at the end. I want so much to be sold out to Christ; to please Him in every aspect of life. However, there is one area where I live with a lot of regret.

Those of you who know me personally know that my 10 children are not spaced very evenly. I have 2 grown sons who are 23 and 20, and my baby is 4! My biggest regret in life is the time I wasted being "grouchy Mom" with my oldest children. It started out great.
My oldest was an only for 3 years, then I had 2 boys for the next 4 years before another child came along. Those 7 years were some of the best of my life! We had so much fun! But as we added children to our family, my grouchiness grew by leaps and bounds. Chalk it up to multiple pregnancies close together, homeschooling a houseful, trying to keep the house clean and meals prepared while supervising my growing brood. Whatever the reason, I became a frowning, fussing, aggravated Mom.

I spent far too much time being angry over everything...and nothing.
Since the beginning of this year, God has really been speaking to my heart on this issue of grouchiness. After deciding that I wanted to practice joy this year, He began to impress the word cheerfulness on my heart. Then, my pastor's wife wrote about cheerfulness. So I began to pray every day, multiple times a day, to be cheerful; especially with my children.
I have seen such a difference in my attitude lately. As I pray and read Scripture, God is changing my heart. I would like to share some Scriptures with you that have helped me. Ephesians 4 has been the most important passage for me. This passage is chock full of encouragement for the frustrated, angry, grouchy mom.

Then, just this morning, we read in Proverbs 15 that a cheerful face makes a glad heart. Notice the order there. It does not say that if you feel happy on the inside, your face will show it. That old song, "If You're Happy and You Know It, then your face will surely show it" has it backwards. This verse clearly states that a cheerful face makes the heart glad. So, smiling affects the heart. Even if I feel grouchy in the morning, I can choose to smile and be cheerful. When I do, I find that our morning goes much smoother, and I feel happier.

Moms, we just do not have time to be grouchy. It seems like just yesterday that I had 2 little boys; and now they are grown and I can't get their childhood back. Those days of fussing and frowning are gone, and there is nothing I can do about it.
But I can be a very different mom to these younger children. They can grow up in a home where Momma is cheerful, and makes the days happy and fun. Of course there will be times of discipline; you know what I am talking about. This is not being a perpetual Pollyanna.
This is about treating your children the way you would want to be treated. I ask myself frequently, "Would I want ME as a mom?" For far too many years, the answer would have been, "No." I am working on changing that.

I want to encourage you to take each day as a gift. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill you each morning before you even leave your room. Beg God to fill you with cheerfulness; to fill you with His grace until it overflows onto your children. Ask Him to give you a love for them that expresses itself in kindness and cheer. Speak to them in cheerful tones; laugh at their silly mistakes; have fun doing the schoolwork; laugh at yourself.
I find that the more I laugh, the more I laugh!! It's true! When is the last time you laughed with the little ones?

Are you a grouchy mom? If you are, please get into the Word and allow God to work in your heart. Those little children are growing up before your very eyes, and you don't want to have regrets. Take my word for it, Mom.

We have no time to be grouchy.

Teddy Bear Birthday Party

2011-02-14T22:41:00.000-05:00

On Saturday afternoon, 4 year old Jake informed me that Sunday would be "Brownie's" birthday. Brownie is a stuffed bear that his big brother brought him from Washington state a year and a half ago. After a brief conversation about it, I realized that he was dead serious. He wanted cake and a real party. I knew I had a cake mix and a can of frosting in the pantry, so I agreed to make a birthday cake on Sunday afternoon.

Well, on Sunday afternoon, I was very tired. I napped off and on for most of the afternoon. And I had to beg off of making the cake. I asked if we could do it on Monday instead, because after all, Monday was Valentine's Day! Jake asked Brownie about it(truly), and Brownie said, "Oh! I'm sorry. My birthday wasn't really today. It is really tomorrow."

Well, thank you, Brownie!

So this afternoon, while I had a child at the orthodontist, my daughter helped Jake and Courtney make cupcakes for Brownie's birthday.

Before we sat down to supper, I put a candle in a cupcake, and we all sang to Brownie. Yes, we did. Of course, Jake had to blow out the candle; we didn't want Brownie to catch on fire or anything!

Jake pretended to give Brownie bites of the cupcake, being careful not to get frosting on his face.

I hope Brownie enjoyed his party. It's funny...none of my other kids ever came up with anything like this. And honestly, if they had, I might have just laughed it off. I need to do a post sometime on parenting in your later years as opposed to in your twenties. We had fun tonight; all on account of a teddy bear's birthday. Oh, and in case you wondered, Brownie turned 4 today.

P.S.- Tonight at prayer time, Jake said we had to pray for Brownie. It seems he ate too many cupcakes, and he was feeling sick.

Making Valentines

2011-02-11T19:28:00.000-05:00

My 6 year old daughter, Courtney, was fully occupied for several hours today making valentines! First things first...get out all the supplies.

Gotta' spread it all out, all over...

Then, drop all the glue stick caps on the floor. Cut out lots of hearts, and drop all the scraps on the floor.

Making Valentines is hard work!

Ask Mom how to spell all the names and words you can think of. Make a Valentine for your 9 siblings, both parents, all 4 grandparents, 2 future sisters-in love, Sunday School teachers, bunches of kids in your Sunday School class, pretty much anybody and everybody your little 6 year old mind can think of!
Do lots more cutting and gluing.

Pretty smile to match a pretty Valentine!

Ask Mom if you can do this all day long tomorrow too!

Thrifting!!

2011-02-10T21:12:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday, I went to a nearby city to do some thrift shopping. Andy stayed home with all the kiddies, so I had the whole day to myself. My first stop was this huge store downtown. It was called Blessingdale's, and their proceeds go to a resident home for young ladies who are expecting and need a place to stay. I found some great fabric in there for my girls. The fabric was actually originally baby blankets, but at $.75 each, it was a great deal for a large piece of flannel and a large piece of cotton backing!

One thing in this store really made me laugh though. I couldn't get a picture because it was right at the counter. Someone had used about 1/4 of a bottle of shower gel, and the other 3/4 of the bottle was right there marked $.75!! Does anyone really buy used shower gel? I mean, I know it wasn't used...but still.

Next stop was their other store in another part of the city. Here is what I bought in there. Baseballs-$.25 each; jeans-$1; movie I threw away ages ago and my kids haven't ever let me forget it- $.75! Score!!

This was the funniest thing I found in there. This old exerciser!! I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it. It must be from the sixties at least!! I think it was priced at $.29. Maybe I should have purchased it...looked like a classic to me!!

This was my last thrift stop of the day. I found 3 prs of jeans for my daughter, a gorgeous faux fur lined jacket for another daughter, and hmmm...something else which totally escapes me at this moment. I thought the prices in here were pretty high for thrift. The jeans were $3, $5, and $7 each. If my little girl hadn't needed them so badly, I may have passed on those!

After this, I headed over to Lifeway Christian store, where I have been known to disappear for hours on end. True to form, I was in there for probably an hour and a half. Not bad!!

I did run in Once Upon A Child, but their clothes seem very overpriced to me. $10 for jeans?? I can buy them new for that price! However, all was not lost, because they had some wonderful books for cheap!!

All in all, I came home a very tired, but happy Mama.

Do you thrift? Have you found any great treasures lately?

This post is linked over at Life As Mom.

Embracing His Touch-The Art of REAPing

2011-02-08T13:33:00.002-05:00

If you missed Part 1 of Embracing His Touch, go here.

Last Wednesday, we began talking about sensory overload. I promised you some help, and today I want to show you 4 easy steps to get you started. We'll use the acronym REAP to make it easy to remember. Ready? Let's get going!!

The first letter is R. This stands for remember. I want you to think back...maybe waaayyyy back for some of you. Remember when you were dating, or engaged. Did you ever ask your beloved to "give you some space"? Did you ever pull your hand away if he wanted to hold it? Did you ever sit on the opposite side of the room from him? Did you ever wish he would just leave you alone? Um, yeah, I didn't think so. Remember how you used to love being close to him. Remember how you loved holding his hand. Remember when you were first married. Were you anxious for him to find something else to do so he would "quit pestering you"? Did you push him away or refuse his advances? Or were you just absolutely longing to be with him again? Did you treasure every kiss, every caress? I'll bet you did! So, first things first...spend some time remembering.

The second letter is E which stands for embrace. You need to come to the point that you embrace the fact that your husband needs your touch. This is not a bad thing! God made the man and the woman to cleave to each other. Would you rather he cleave to someone else? Some of us are very blessed to have husbands that put up with our foolishness. They are patient with our negative attitudes toward them day after day. How long do you expect him to wait? God expects him to wait forever if need be, but why would you do that? How long will you turn him away? Embrace the way God made your man! He needs your touch! After a long day out in this cold, cruel world, he needs to come home to a woman who can heal his spirit with her touch. Please don't tell him that you "need some space." One of these days, he may just give up and let you have all the space you want.

Now then, the letter A stands for Admit. Uh oh. I see some of you shying away from this one. Come back...this won't hurt too terribly much. Some of us need to admit that we are the ones with the problem, not our husbands. It is NOT a problem that your husband wants to hug you, kiss you, hold your hand, give you a love pat, or sit right beside you. Dear sister, the problem is with the wife who refuses her husband's loving touch. He is coming to the right place, only to be denied and told that you are "too tired", "too stressed", "too busy" or "Doesn't he know that the kids are all over you all day long?". It is time to admit that we have done our husbands wrong. We have denied them the love they need from us. (And if your husband's primary love language turns out to be physical touch, he needs your loving touch even more than most! Without it, he never feels completely loved by you!!) So, admit your faults, and move on.

The last letter in our acronym is the letter P. It stands for the word pursue. I believe that the first 3 steps in this process should only take a couple days, but this last one may take a few months, or even a couple of years! You know what the word pursue means. And that is your next step...go after that man of yours!! Following steps 1-3 will get you to the place where you don't resist him anymore. It will enable you to stop pushing him away. But that is not enough. You must become the initiator. This seems so hard at first, I know. Believe me, I know. It feels completely unnatural. It feels fake and phony and almost silly. But trust me on this one, your husband will not think it is fake or phony or silly. He will love it! And the more you step out in faith and love your husband through touch, the easier it will be. Not only that, but may I tell you that you will once again begin to crave his touch? It is true! I have seen it in my own life.

That's the cool part about it. Once you start receiving his touch, you start to long for it! You aren't satisfied anymore with waiting for him to hug you. You start touching him whenever you walk by, reaching for his hand, sitting beside him on the couch. You might even find yourself rubbing his feet, even when you are tired yourself! And it has a compound effect: the more you touch him, the more you want to!!

The end result is you have a husband who feels loved and cared for. He no longer feels like he is a bother to you. He is back in his rightful place as the primary receiver of your love. He is no longer in competition with the kids. He knows he will come home after a hard day at work, and be refreshed and warmed by his wife's loving tiouch.

Ready to get started? Then let's go REAP!!!

Andy Loves Dawn

2011-02-04T10:08:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, January 28th, was the 28th anniversary of our first date. My oldest son said I should blog about it, but I just ran out of time!
So this morning, my hubby woke me up and said, "Happy Anniversary!" Before I tell you this, let me just say that I know we are total cornballs, okay? You don't have to tell me. See, today is the 28th anniversary of him giving me his high school ring to wear...signifying that we were "going together". And yes, we celebrate these 2 dates every single year. Always have, even after 26+ yrs of married life!
Anyway, when I finally got out of the bed this morning, I found a little surprise on the mantel.

Go ahead, say Awwwwww. I know. Isn't that sweet? But there is something sweeter still. Because this is just the tip of the iceberg. My husband has some kind of weird obsession with writing Andy Loves Dawn everywhere!
Nearly every Sunday, his church bulletin will have it written there somewhere amongst his notes from the sermon. I have slips of paper that I use as bookmarks that have it written on there...just scraps that he found on my desk and left it for me to find later.
One morning a few years ago, I was lacing up my shoes that I wear to exercise. One of the kids said, "Hey Mom, wait a second. There's something on the bottom of your shoe." I flipped the shoe over, and right there, written in ink on the sole of my shoe were the words, "Andy Loves Dawn." My girls just about died from the romance of it all!!
I find it everywhere...on the calendar on my desk, in my notebook I use to write my grocery list. Yeah, that was a recent one. I was in the store buying groceries. I turned the page in my notebook, and there it was. Andy Loves Dawn.
Now, my husband is by no means still a lovesick teenager. No, he's a father of 10, who works himself to the point of exhaustion at times, just to provide for his family.
But the lovesick part...well...I think he might still have that disease!
After 26 yrs of marriage, we aren't blind to each other's faults. Far from it. They smack us in the face every day.
But my husband has chosen to bless me, on a regular basis, by reminding me that Andy Loves Dawn.

Embracing His Touch

2011-01-30T14:22:00.000-05:00

It all starts with the first positive pregnancy test.
The touching. Doctors, nurses, touching you constantly. Then, birth. The touching grows exponentially with the bringing home of a baby.

Over the years that follow, the touching becomes a way of life. Nursing; changing diapers; feeding babies, then toddlers; wiping noses, bottoms, faces; dressing them; carrying; holding; rocking to sleep; hugging; holding hands in the store and at church; trying on clothes; potty training; tucking into bed; hugs, kisses; wiping tears; giving medicine; holding during vaccinations; snuggling while reading or watching movies; sleeping in Mommy's bed; wiping fevered brows; a pat on the shoulder, a tousle of the hair; spankings; brushing a toddler's teeth; bathing them; brushing hair; helping loose teeth come out; trying on shoes; cutting hair; checking them while they sleep; being tapped on the shoulder; feeling tugging on your leg; hiding behind you; good night kisses, and on and on and on.

The mother's life is a life of touching and being touched.

Do you ever feel like you're on touch overload? Like if one more person touches you, it will not be good?

And have you ever noticed that it is right at that time, your sweet husband will come in and want a hug or kiss? Or pat your bottom as you're cooking supper? Or wrap his arms around you as you're washing dishes?

Have you ever wondered at what point his touch became an irritation? At what point did you stop wanting to be touched by him, and take it as an aggravation instead of a loving touch? Do you wonder why he has to bother you, annoy you so? Have you actually made comments to him, or brushed him off? Have you gone so far as to push him away? Have you ever said something like, "Why can't you just give me some space?"

I have had more than one wife talk to me about this...her husband is hurt, but she just wants him to leave her alone. Doesn't he know how tired she is? How she is touched from her first waking moment to the last tucking in, and then during the night as the need arises? Doesn't he understand that she is on sensory overload?

True confession: this has been me. This was a major struggle for me for many years. I have mostly conquered it, but I have to be very careful not to let it sneak up on me. It has take diligence and hard work, and a determination to change.

Next Wednesday, I want to offer some help and encouragement in this area. As with anything, there is a way to overcome it. It takes time, and effort. But be encouraged...you can do it!!!

I am linking up to Ann over at http://www.aholyexperience.com/ . She is doing a series on The Practice of Marriage. You should really go check it out!!

Saturday!!

2011-01-29T18:31:00.000-05:00

So how did y'all spend your Saturday? We cleaned. All day long. It seems like we spend most Saturdays cleaning.

We cleaned this...

and this...

I remember cleaning nearly every Saturday when I was growing up. I hated it. And now here I am, making my kids clean on Saturdays! Today was so beautiful; I threw open the windows and propped open the front door!

My sweet Lauren cleaned the piano for me...

I cleaned out the bookcase in the living room. I must have thrown away at least 25 toy catalogs left from Christmas!! Ahhh, much better....

My lovely Jessie cleaned Mom and Dad's bathroom.

In between it all, James cleaned and vaacuumed out the car, and I did a million dishes. No, really. A million.

And Sam and John cleaned the yard from all the nasty firewood mess. We did load after load of laundry. I moved all the furniture in the living room, with help, and vacuumed under everything.

Everybody got showers, except for the 2 little munchkins you see pictured way up top. Lauren and Jessie put them in Mom's big bathtub so they could play for a while.

I made chili for supper, and garlic bread. Then I washed some more dishes!

And now, everybody is clean, and everything is clean, and I am one tired, but faithful, Momma!!

Have a wonderful Lord's Day everybody!!

Motivation-Changing Our Way of Thinking

2011-01-27T23:14:00.000-05:00

I hope you have been reading the 2 Peter passage from last time! One of my goals this year is to memorize that passage. It is just so full of good stuff!

In this post, I want us to begin the makeover. As Paul charged the Colossians to "put off the old man and put on the new", we, too, will have to put off the old way of thinking. We all talk to ourselves. Unfortunately, we tend to do a lot of negative self-talk. Please understand though...I will not be talking about "positive thinking".

Positive thinking gets you absolutely nowhere. I can talk all day about the delicious chocolate cake I am going to have for dessert; I can picture it; I can almost taste it. But if all I do is talk about it...guess what? There will be no cake. No matter how positive I feel about it.

So it is with motivation. We can get ourselves all hyped up, deciding how much better we are going to do at all the things we stink at, and it just doesn't happen. So, are you ready? It all starts with just one word.

We are not practicing positive thinking...we are going to practice replacement thinking. The most important thing to do is to think correctly about yourself.

From now on, just drop the word "motivated" from your vocabulary. Really. Pretend like it doesn't exist. Let's pick up a new word to replace it. How about the word "character"?

So, let's give a couple of examples.

Say you're overweight...I hear that a lot. Hmmm, I say that myself. So you know without a doubt that you need to move your body in some fashion. (We could use the term exercise here, but hey, why get ugly?) How many times have you said, "I know I need to exercise, but I'm just not motivated." Change it. That word no longer exists for you. God has given you everything you need for life and godliness.

So from now on, you say this: "I know I should exercise, but honestly, I don't have the necessary character to make myself do it." Ouch. That kinda hurts, huh?

Or how about this..."I know I scream at my kids too much, but they just drive me crazy!!" That won't fly for you anymore. Now you have to say, "I know I scream at my kids too much. I just haven't developed my character to the point that I have decided to stop."

Or, "My house is a wreck, but I just can't get motivated to get rid of all the clutter." Try this instead: "My house is a wreck, and even though God has given me everything I need pertaining to life and godliness, I have decided not to worry about it."

Do you see how this change in self-talk changes the way you view things? When we talk about not being motivated, it puts the blame for our character issues on some "out there", abstract reason. But to have to actually admit that we are the problem...that's another thing altogether!

For the Christian woman, we have no excuses for not doing the things that God has called us to do. Lack of motivation is not a problem for us; lack of character is. He has given us everything we need; He is our motivation.

HE IS OUR MOTIVATION!!!!
So I want you to think of all the things you've been putting off; the things you've been saying you have "zero motivation" for. Stick the words out of the 2 Peter passage in there wherever they fit.
Make the Scripture personal. "God has given to ME everything I need to live a godly life. If I don't get on that treadmill, I am saying that my body is not important. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; therefore I am saying that He is not worthy of the very best I can give. I have not developed the character necessary to do the things He has called me to do."
So there it is friends. The big secret. Change the way you think. Change the things you say; the excuses you make. Call it what it is, and watch God honor your obedience. Keep reading the rest of the verses in 2 Peter that talk about the things to apply in our lives...moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Figure out which of these you need to apply to the situations you've been avoiding. Then, obey.
The End

Motivation: Part 3

2011-01-27T20:47:00.001-05:00

Y'all thought I had forgotten, didn't you?

Let me just give you a piece of advice. If you plan to teach something to someone else, be very prepared for God to have you double and triple check that you know what you are talking about! He has really had me on my toes lately;I have had to practice what I am preaching! So I think I am ready to move on with this, but I have a "Holy" fear at the same time.

Last time we talked about being conformed to this world. I heard from some of you that you had believed a lot of the examples I gave. Thank you for being so honest! I am sure we all have conformed in one way or another.

Now that we have examined ourselves, let's move on. Going back to Scripture, let's look at 2 Peter 1:3-7. You can clearly see in verse 3, that Peter tells us that we have been "granted everything pertaining to life and godliness." God has already given us everything we need to live the life we should be living. We lack nothing.

And on down in the following verses, he lists for us some of the areas where we will especially use this power: "moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love." These are some of the very things we have been talking about!

Overweight? How about some self-control? Unkind to the kids? Maybe you need some brotherly kindness and love. Sleeping too late? You need perseverance to get out of the bed every morning. Watching trash TV? Practice moral excellence.

But, you say, this is all easy to read and talk about. How do I really do it? And there is where we find ourselves all too often. We say, "I know what I should do. I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm just not motivated".
So, are you ready for your makeover? Please let me give a word of warning before we move on. This is not a game. If you play it like a game, you will get thoroughly disgusted with yourself, and you will probably give up.

In my next post, we will hit the real nuts and bolts of a new way to think; a new way to talk to ourselves. It may take a couple more posts to touch on everything I want to get into, but let's hang in there together! We can do this!
In the meantime, study your Bible. Read 2 Peter 1:1-11 over and over!! Ask God to speak to you through His Word. Pray for strength.
A special word to those who are expecting new little ones: REST!! It is the one thing I wish I had done more when I was having all my little blessings. And remember, you will be nesting furiously before long and making the rest of us look like sluggards. : )

Homemade Pancakes

2011-01-23T21:02:00.000-05:00

I have looked for a long time for a delicious pancake recipe. I really wanted to ditch the Bisquick- trans fats and all that!

My future daughter-in-love, Heather, gave me a recipe that is just out of this world good!!

My kids were very willing to pose for me this morning!

Pancakes

1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour 2 eggs

3/4 cups quick oats 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp bkg powder 1 TBSP vanilla

1/2 tsp bkg soda

Mix all your dry ingredients first. Then, beat the eggs and add them. Add milk and vanilla. Cook on griddle or fry pan. Makes about 9 large pancakes, or more smaller ones!

Now, I usually double this and freeze them. I put 2 or 3, depending on the size, in wax paper, then put all my little bundles in a freezer zipper bag. Microwave for a minute or so, and they are so fresh tasting!!

The batter will seem way too soupy. Don't worry; it is supposed to look like that! I have found it best to mix the wet ingredients in with a wisk. That works better than a spoon to incorporate the oatmeal. I cook mine on a griddle, but you can use a frying pan or whatever you normally use for your pancakes.

When these are cooking, they give off this wonderful sweet odor. My kids love to smell them!

The thing I love about these is that they keep me full for the whole morning. Because of the combination of whole wheat and oats, they really stick with you!

I hope you enjoy them!!

Meltdown!!!

2011-01-20T21:47:00.000-05:00

This post is for all of you that think that moms of really large families, whose kids mostly behave themselves in church, have it all together somehow. I give you our trip to town today as an example of reality. No pictures or names will be included, in order to protect the guilty!

One of my children had a speech therapy appointment this morning at 11:00. Now, the town where we do this, and also go to church, buy groceries, have music lessons, bank, etc., is 40 minutes away. That is the price we are willing to pay to live in the country.

Okay, so we also needed to leave early enough to allow my older daughter to run by the optometrist's office for a few minutes. We left at 9:00 a.m.

First stop-optometrist. Quick visit; in and out in 15 minutes.

Seconds stop-speech. 30 minute appt.; therapist pleased with daughter's progress.

Now, here is where it starts to get a little hairy.

On the way down to the car, I remembered that for the past 3 weeks, my 12 yr old son has complained about his church shoes being too small. As in, having to scrunch up his toes too small. So I decided we would run in our favorite shoe store and grab him a pair of church shoes.

Yeah, you're already laughing at me, aren't you?

Suffice it to say, 7 stores later, we finally found a pair of shoes. Oh, but let me back up a bit.

After we had been in only 1 store, the children were hungry. I offered Sonic for lunch. I only asked them to sit for a few more minutes while we went in the store closest to Sonic.

While in the store, my daughter came in and said a certain 4 yr old was having what we Southerners call a "hissy fit."

When I got to the car, it wasn't pretty. I disciplined him, and we went over to Sonic. While we were trying to write down what everybody wanted to eat, I heard some commotion starting in the back seat. This commotion escalated fairly quickly.

And then...Mommy snapped. I cranked the car, and threw it in reverse. The stunned children all said, "Mom!!!! What are we doing????!!!!"

"Going home", was the reply. They all moaned, while thanking the backseat offenders for their kind behavior.

So, we had to stop at the gas station, which was on the way home. After pumping gas, I was feeling a little bit better, so I offered to return to Sonic. We did, and the 4 yr old was doing much better. And we still didn't have the shoes, remember?

So, we ate, and we went in 5 more stores before we finally found the shoes. At Kmart. On clearance.

Now, I am pooped. The children are all asleep in their beds. And tomorrow is a new day. Let's hope it doesn't include any more meltdowns.
Oh, and our quick little trip to speech therapy turned into 6 1/2 hours.

Habits for a New Year

2011-01-18T21:01:00.001-05:00

What do you think of when you hear the word habits? Fingernail biting? Teeth brushing?

When I saw that one of my favorite bloggers was having a link-up on habits today, I knew I wanted to participate. I have been trying to develop some new habits this new year myself!

First, I want to start each day with Bible study with the kids. We are studying the Proverb of the day before we start school. We take turns reading and discussing.

Another habit I have begun, believe it or not, is drinking coffee in the morning! I know; that sounds like a crazy habit! But, I am about the most non-morning person I know. The coffee is helping me to function better, earlier! I figure one cup a day surely won't kill me.

I also am trying to get into the habit of reading before bed each night. Too many times, reading gets squeezed out of my schedule. I am hoping to get through some books this year!! I will be talking more about this later.

Lastly, I am praying that this year I will develop the habit of joy. I want to lose the stress, the irritation, the frustration, the aggravation...I want to have joy be the order of the day. Every day. This little guy knows a thing or two about joy!! -->

A Few of My Goals

2011-01-18T20:42:00.000-05:00

I promised to talk about my goals for the new year. I have been working on them a little bit. It might take me a while to get it all down. If I try to do it all at once, I will get overwhelmed and just quit.

As a matter of fact, I am not even done making them all! I don't want to rush through it. I think that's why I fail so many times. I make plans without thinking them through clearly and taking the time to pray about them first. I can make all the wonderful goals in the world, but if they aren't His goals for me, what is the point?

So, onto the goals.

First, I worked on my Spiritual goals. I will only list a couple here, even though I have several.

1) Finish reading the Bible in 90 Days. I am in Proverbs. I hope to finish by April 31st.
2) Memorize 2nd Peter 1:1-11 and apply it to my life by reviewing it regularly.
3) Read through the Bible in 90 Days again over the summer months.

Then, I worked on some personal goals. Again, I will only list a couple.

1)Continue learning to run for exercise, and increase my time each week until I can run for 30 minutes without stopping.
2) Go to bed no later than 10:00 each night. (This one is proving to be my undoing!)

I have goals for what I want to accomplish with the kids, for school, and financial goals. So far, things are going pretty well. I am working on my 90 day Bible, and I am up to running for 5 minutes without stopping.

One important personal goal I set was to increase my own personal reading time. The more children I have had, and the busier I am managing my home, the less time I have had to read. Anyone who grew up with me would tell you that I was the classic bookworm.

I am excited this year about doing a lot more reading. I have finished 1 book, and I am looking forward to starting the next one! My biggest problem is that there are so many books I want to read; it's sometimes hard to know where to start! I have a good mix of books lined up, and I'm sure I will add to the stack as time goes along.

Well, there you go. Those are a few of the things I would like to accomplish this year.

Anyone else want to comment on any goals they have set and how it's going so far?

Crazy Love

2011-01-17T15:27:00.001-05:00

I am going to write a post today about something of which I have no firsthand knowledge. Many of you know that I am an only child. But God must have a sense of humor, because He blessed us with 10 children. So, today, I am going to tackle the subject of something that truly seems crazy to me: sibling love.

Our first child, a son, was 3 years old when his younger brother was born. They grew, and they were buddies, and to my horror, they fought with each other. This was such a new experience for me. Quite frankly, it scared me. As they grew, a sister was added. Oh boy.

I have visions of her chasing her brothers through the house, screaming and wielding a pink miniature broom over her head. They remember it too.

And when they weren't screaming or fighting or calling each other names, they were playing outside; setting up picnics; climbing trees; playing ball. Honestly, I never knew what was coming next.

I used to ask my husband, one of 3 boys, "How can they hate each other one minute, and the next minute be pushing each other on the tire swing?" I really didn't get it! I can remember him telling me so many times, "Don't worry. This is normal. They won't kill each other." Sometimes I wasn't so sure.

Now that my older 2 boys are grown, I have learned a few things about this crazy love that exists between siblings.

1) It is protective. Crazy love won't leave you stranded in the woods screaming for help until Mom comes. Crazy love will either help you out, or run get Mom.

2)It defends. Crazy love says, "I can call my brother all sorts of names, but nobody else better."

3) It encourages. Crazy love says, "That is so cool!! You are so talented!! I love it!!!" It feeds the soul of those it touches, giving them an uplifting word when they need it most.

4)It challenges. Crazy love reminds you when you are about to do something really stupid. Crazy love holds you accountable to what you say you believe. It doesn't just let go and say, "Oh well. He won't listen to me." Crazy love screams and pulls and doesn't let go until it has won.

5)It never gives up. Crazy love never, ever gives up. In spite of all the fights, the name calling, the harsh words...it hangs on. When the siblings are grown, they may still have their times of disagreement. But the crazy love hangs on. It offers advice, help, and a hand on the shoulder. It offers a shoulder to catch falling tears.

6) It is loyal. Crazy love will never turn you away. You can be dificult, stubborn, or downright hard to deal with, but crazy love will keep watching your back, keep trying to reach out, keep calling and praying and trying to make things right.

Crazy love calls you on your birthday, no matter where you are or how busy they are. Crazy love offers solutions to problems. Crazy love gives, and expects nothing in return.

I have seen all these things in my own children. I may not understand this crazy love, but I must admit...I am a wee bit jealous of it.

Sweetie Pies

2011-01-14T09:34:00.001-05:00

It's birthday week-end at our house. Courtney turns 6 on Saturday. Then, my baby, Jake, turns 4 on Sunday!! These kids are growing up way too fast!! They aren't spoiled, but they are definitely well loved!! Happy Birthday to my two babies!!

Family Picture

2011-01-13T16:33:00.000-05:00

Front row: Jessie-11, Sam-9, Lauren-10, John-7
Back row: Jennifer-16, Heather-engaged to Michael, Courtney-5, Michael-23, Thomas-20, Jake-3, Becca-engaged to Thomas, Jamie-12

Okay folks, here we go again! A wonderful friend helped me get this picture up here. Let's hope it stays!!

The "M" Word Part 2- Foundations

2011-01-13T14:47:00.000-05:00

Now if you are expecting to read this post and have your life changed, GO AWAY. This post will NOT change your life. Today, we will do some very important ground work. Do not get discouraged.

As we begin our mind makeover, we must start where all makeovers start-with the foundation. If you go to the Clinique counter for a makeover, they will not put on your eye make-up before your foundation. If you build a house, you won't be putting up wallpaper before you establish the foundation. It might seem more fun to do wallpaper first, but your house will tumble down. Likewise, making changes in your life will not be a lasting thing if you start with what you perceive as the "good stuff", without investing in your foundation first!

Foundation work is hard work, thoughtful work, but necessary work. Ready to get started? Okay!

Our foundation is going to come straight from Scripture, so if you do not follow Jesus, or if you do not believe in the authority of God's Word, you should probably go read something else!

If you have your Bible close by, look at Romans 12:2. A lot of you are familiar with it and many of you could quote it from memory! "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds..."

So first off, let's think of some areas where even we as Christian women have become conformed to this world. Do you ever say any of the following to yourself: "I am too tired to exercise; I deserve a break; I serve people all day every day, it's time somebody served me for a change; I know I should go to bed earlier, but it's the only quiet time I get; I blew my eating plan today, so I'll start again next Monday(even if today is just Tuesday!!); I know we're behind in schoolwork, but I am so tired of fighting the kids over schoolwork; I know I shouldn't buy that, but I never buy anything for myself". Ever said any of that? Boy have I!!!! It's all a little too familiar to me!

If we are saying those types of things to ourself, silently or out loud, we are becoming conformed to this world. This world will tell you that you deserve a break, that you gotta look out for number one, that some fad diet will get that weight off, that you need to treat yourself.

So, let me ask you a question. Are you believing any of those things? Why are you reading this post? Let's look at the second word that I made bold.

Transformed. Isn't that what so many of us want? To transform our lives? Whether you want to transform your whole life or just one part of your life, a transformation is what you're looking for. The Scripture we are using tells us exactly how to transform our lives. It just isn't so easy to do, is it?!

This is where our mind makeover begins. Today's post must come to an end, but in the next post, we will start our makeover. It won't be painful, but it won't be easy either.

Until next time, I want you to really do an inventory of your thoughts and try to see some ways in which you have become conformed to this world. We can't transform what we can't see or admit. Try to get to the root of your resistance to change. Is it stubbornness? Or my own personal one- laziness? Is it a lack of desire to change, even though you may say you want to?

You think on it for a day or 2. Then we'll get down to the real work.

The "M" Word

2011-01-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

I have so many topics I want to write about. Just the other night I sat down and wrote out a list, and it was looonnng. It might take me a long time to communicate everything I want to, but I will just keep on plugging away at it! 2 or 3 posts a week is what I am aiming for. We'll see how it goes.

Disclaimer: If you are going through a fiery tial, or if you are in a period of intense grief, please be kind to yourself. I have spent the last year and a half in the most intense grief I have ever known. Some of you know that I lost my precious grandmother in March of 2009. She was the closest and dearest friend I have ever had, and for the last 5 years of her life, she lived next door to us. I took her supper every night, my kids took her mail every day, she did all our ironing! Losing her really threw me for a loop. For the past year and a half, I have been incapacitated. I have slept too much, eaten too much, and accomplished far too little. It is time to try to put our life back together. She would be very disappointed in what I have let happen to me because of her not being here. So, if this describes you, please don't push yourself. Only you can decide when it is time to push on through. There is a time for grief; if you are there, wait on God to urge you on.

So, we can't put it off any longer, can we? We have to talk about motivation. I looked up the word in a couple of dictionaries, and was surprised to find that it isn't even included in Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary. I like the 1828 because it gives such strong Biblical definitions of words. Motivation wasn't there, nor motivate.

So I went to a more modern dictionary which told me that the word came into use around 1873. Hmmm...so the pioneers had never heard of motivation. George Washington had never heard of motivation, norBenjamin Franklin. Think of all the people who never heard the word. Yet, they accomplished so much in their lifetimes. How did they do it?

The definition I found said that motivation is something that causes a person to act. Okay, that is fairly close to what I was thinking. I was actually thinking more along rewards and incentives, and one dictionary actually did mention "incentive". I see motivation as that "magical" quality that makes me do the things I might not want to do. For example: "If I exercise every single day this week, I will have a piece of chocolate cake on Saturday." The reward of the cake will "motivate" me to exercise. ...in theory, anyway!

So, I want you to think of a couple of things you've been putting off. Since it's the beginning of a new year, a lot of us are trying to accomplish some goals. What will make the difference? What can we do to make this year different from every other year?

Do you long to spend more time with God? Do you want to exercise regularly; spend more time on school with your child; eat less; sleep more; get up earlier; eat out less; spend less money; finish a project; etc ad naseum? There is a way.

Do you lack motivation? Are you already struggling and feeling like a failure even though it's only January 11th? Have you given up again? Are you feeling like it's never going to come together for you? Like you just can't ever seem to "get your act together"?

In my next post, let's talk about motivation some more. I will try to offer some help, and some hope, for those of us who need it. We're going to give ourselves a "mini mind makeover"! Trust me, it won't hurt a bit.

If you feel comfortable doing so, please leave a comment telling the rest of us where you are having trouble or needing a "little push". I'm sure we can all relate!

Friday Recap

2011-01-07T17:48:00.000-05:00

So how has your week been? Have you accomplished the things you set out to do? Did you set any goals for the new year that you began working on this week?

How has your Friday gone? Are you tired? Are you happy? Are you grumpy? Are you filled with joy?

Me? Well, I am tired. Jake, our 3 yr old, hasn't slept well this week. He goes through spells of not sleeping so great, and this has been a rough week.

I also reconciled a relationship this week with some family members with whom I've had zero contact for about 20 years. That was pretty rough emotionally, even though it was a positive thing.

On the bright side though, I did actually meet some of my goals this week. I know I said I would share my goals in an earlier post, and I will do that next week. I exercised every day this week.

I am trying to learn to run, for exercise I mean, and so I am setting weekly goals for that. This week, I only wanted to run for 2 minutes and then walk for 2 minutes. So, on Fridays, I try to push myself a bit further. Today, on my last run, I ran for 4 minutes.

Now all you marathoners can go ahead and die laughing. It's okay. But it really felt great to me!!

Hey, you've got to start somewhere, right?

Hoping for a good night's sleep tonight, and tomorrow...maybe someone to help me with blog design!! Hooray!!

So, chime in in the comments and let me know what you've been up to this week. And thank you for all the encouragement I've received about the blog!!

See y'all on Monday!!

Taking It Personally

2011-01-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it seems like God has to whack me up side the head with a brick to get my attention! Anybody else have that problem? Anybody out there as stubborn as me?

Well, lately, He has been teaching me a very specific lesson through my children. I don't know about you, but this has been one hard lesson for me to learn. See if you can relate.

When your child(ren) sin, do you feel angry? Do you ever say to them, or just to yourself, "How could they do this? With everything I do for them, how could they treat me this way?" Have you ever said or thought those words? I am probably not alone in this. I have always felt so personally offended whenever my children would sin. I would wonder where I went wrong in their training; what I should have done differently; where I had failed.

I remember a time when my oldest son was in his junior or senior year of high school. We were dealing with some issue that had me really upset, and really questioning where I had gone wrong. I even said to him one night, "Son, where did I go wrong? What did I fail to do for you? What could I have done differently that would have insured a different outcome here?"

I'll never forget him looking me in the eye and saying, "Mom, this is NOT about you. This is about MY sin. Nothing you have done caused me to do this, or could have prevented me from doing this. This was my choice; my choice to sin, or not."

Unfortunately, I am a slooowww learner. Fast forward a few years to now. Last week, I had an issue with a child. Oh goodness, I felt so offended! I was so angry with this child. How DARE they do this to ME? Notice that? Me. Yep. Slow learner.

God has been teaching me that when my child sins, it is not a personal offense against me; it is a personal offense against Him. David recognized this in Psalm 51 when he said, "Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight." That doesn't leave much room in there for Mom, now does it? No room for me to feel personally offended; no room for me to judge motives.

David goes on to say, "So that You are justified when You speak, and blameless when You judge." So, am I justified when I speak? Am I blameless when I judge? If I feel like the child sinned directly against me, I would have to say no. I am not judging blamelessly; I am seeking vengeance.

I am slowly learning that my child's sin has nothing to do with me. Yes, of course I need to train them and bring them up according to God's Word. But they are fleshly people. Kinda like their Momma. They will sin. They don't sin because they hate me, or because they want to hurt me. They sin because they are sinners.

Are you taking your child's sin too personally? Why not let them and yourself off the hook; take them to Him Who judges righteously, and let Him deal with them. Of course you use proper disciplinary measures. No question. But stop taking their sin as a personal affront. It isn't.

I hope I've learned my lesson!!