This week’s installment of randoms

1. In my list of how to pray for David each day, I prayed today that he would love & embrace truth. In the midst of praying for him, I was moved by the need to pray for myself. I love 2 Tim. 2:15: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately (or carefully) handling the word of truth.” It made me wonder if I am daily handling the word of truth carefully. What a responsibility!
2. For my children I prayed for them to develop a heart for missions. Again, I was reminded that if my children were going to have a love for missions then they needed to see a mother who had a heart for missions. Eek. I don’t really believe that I don’t have a heart for missions, but it is an area that needs growth and cultivating for sure.
3. In the Old Testament I read of Joseph and of his brothers returning to him when famine stuck their land. Sinful old me realized that it was a darn good thing that Joseph’s brothers weren’t my brothers because in my sinful quest for justice I would have probably put far more painful circumstances upon them then Joseph did. Today I learned mercy. I needed a reminder that if I expect mercy, I need to give mercy.
4. Lastly, as I was thanking God for regenerating me, justifying me, sanctifying me, and, one day, glorifying me, I was humbled by a great and near fear in my own life. As I was about to ask the Lord to continue to use the circumstances in my life to sanctify me and conform me to the image of Jesus, I paused. And then I froze. The last time I whole-heartedly asked God to sanctify me and to remove anything in my life that kept me from being like Him, I found myself having been brought into an intense time of suffering, refining, and hurting. Yes, in those circumstances I grew closer to the Lord than ever before, but they were awful! That was such a horrifying time of spiritual darkness in my life that I run from any sign of heading back in that direction again. And so I thought: were I to pray this prayer again, what would that mean? It would mean that God could use anything He chose to teach me something about Him and to help me become more like Him. It could mean taking the growing life from inside of me, I thought. And I couldn’t bear the thought of it. Isn’t that awful? It could mean, in the worst of circumstances, taking a loved one away from me, and I am so ashamed to say that for a moment I refused to pray for sanctification out of fear of what that might entail. The Spirit convicted me, however, and I now see that the benefits of becoming as much like Christ this side of heaven far outweighs any type of loss or hardship I might experience on earth…in this life. Ok- that was a mouthful- but I had to share.

And now for some fun randoms:

1. Simon’s favorite word is truck. He says it “cuck”. And it is too cute. A car is a truck. A motorcycle is a truck. A lawnmower is a truck. And don’t try to tell him otherwise. He retaliates when angered.
2. David and I were informed last night by a midwife that most all midwives have a placenta or two in their freezer. Better than that, did you know that a placenta is not considered a biohazard by law when given as a gift? How cool is that?
3. I am just about so ready for vacation that I could break out into song and dance. But that wouldn’t be pretty- so I won’t.
4. David loves Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. I pretty much hate it.
5. I don’t really care to be asked if we are trying for a girl (with this pregnancy, that is). It is like I am trying to be caught up in something. I always say the same thing: “We would love a daughter, but if I knew this baby would be a boy, I still would have gotten pregnant.” And then they always follow it up in a condescending tone with: “Well, just as long as the baby is healthy, that’s all we want”. I’m like: “I know that! You’re the one who asked me if I was trying for a girl.” LOL. It just cracks me up.

Randoms (because you know I love randoms)!

1. We had roast tonight. It was the yummiest thing I do believe I have ever eaten.
2. David and I had a “date” tonight. It was a band concert. Hey- you take what you can get!
3. Kacie and I talked on the phone probably over an hour today! How nice that was! I miss you, Kacie. I’ll pretend we have plans to head out for some Graeter’s peach sorbet (it was peach we always got, wasn’t it?) Or…we could always do a Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard!
4. On that note, I M-I-S-S Kentucky! I miss my family, my friends, all my favorite restaurants, our church, the seminary. That is not to say I am not happy here, but I cannot wait for vacation.
5. I buzzed Noah and Sammy’s hair yesterday. David says they look like shaved cats. I always do it when summer starts. It’ll grow. It’s just hair.
6. David is watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight. That’s cute.
7. We really really really need to have a garage sale. I honestly have no idea how we will ever get ready for it.
8. We have no A/C. We have no Swamp Cooler. We have no window screens. You do the math. It’s hot.
9. I did almost 6 loads of laundry today. I know you must be thinking: what? how? Well- we had a stomach virus last week. I got nothing done the latter part of the week. Is it making more sense now?
10. I am back to the gym in the morning. The break has been nice, I’ve gotta admit.

Quick Update

So sorry for the leave of absence. Between the health of my family, Christmas, birthdays, and moving, life is…crazy! Please be in prayer for us as this is a wacky wacky time of transition and life is really crazy. A few prayer concerns that we would greatly appreciate:

1. Wisdom.
2. David’s pain. His knee is recovering well. The first few days were simply awful. I cried watching him suffer. The knee isn’t so much the pain anymore as the nerves in his legs and hips from sitting in the same position for a week. Please pray for relief for him.
3. The tissue David received in his knee. David had to have donor tissue put into his knee because it had a defect. The next 12 weeks or so are crucial in that tissue actually “taking” in his knee. It is kinda like any other transplant if I am not mistaking. His body has to accept it. Also pray that we would have no infections in our family during this time (I say this as I suffer from a sore throat that I was told was not strep throat, but isn’t getting any better). An infection in his body could affect that tissue.
4. Me. I need- more than ever- strength, grace, patience, selflessness, and a nurturing spirit. I really am getting a taste of what 4 children would be like as I care 24 hours a day for 4 (well 5 if you include me) people. I am sick. My children are sick. My house has fallen apart. Please pray that I would experience the peace of God during this tough time and be all that my family needs me to be.
5. The Move LOL. It has been coming for a long time and late this week or next week we will finally close on our new home. YAY! Please pray for our friends as they work SO hard to finish it (and we can no longer help). They have been such awesome friends to us and they have shown such Christlikeness in this home building/fixing/selling process. We are so thankful for them. We know that they are so desiring to get home to their friends and families for the holidays before they move on to their new home and we pray that for them as well.

P.S. I promise I will try to get birthday pics up soon! Our computer is so slow and it is the last thing I have time to do right now!

Today.

It’s just one of those days where I would rather not even get out of my pj’s and robe. I am sore. I am sleepy. I just haven’t felt right lately. All I want to do is go back to bed.

On that same note, why get out of your pj’s when you know you face a full day of cleaning ahead and it just feels better to clean in your pj’s?

Can anyone relate? Or am I just being a plain old grouch today?=)

I think I am just ready to move. This house is in an upheaval as we attempt to discard all things that are too old, too big, too small, too junky, too smelly, too stained- you get the point. I haven’t vacuumed, mopped, dusted, or cleaned bathrooms in over a week. They’re not the easiest tasks in the world when you can’t even see your floor.

We had to push closing back another week for appraisal purposes. I totally understand, but it’s just hard because now we feel like there is no point in even moving into that house until the new year. David has surgery next week and he isn’t even going to be able to move anything. Has anyone close to us noticed yet that we always seem to pick holidays to move? It’s not the smartest thing in the world- or convenient- but it is how God has worked it out so we know it is good.

And our friends- The Colburns- are working SO SO SO hard on this house. I wish we had more time to devote to helping, but it’s kinda difficult with my caravan of offspring. I know that when all is said and done and we are moved in, none of this will have to seemed to matter so I leave this post with a sleepy…I mean thankful… heart.

Packing and other thoughts

Everyone keeps asking us if we have packed yet. Packed? No we haven’t packed. We’re moving across town, not to another state. We are just gonna transport our belongings slowly from one house to another. But we are minimizing. My goal, since I am not packing, per se, is to eliminate any and all things that either 1. do not have a place or 2. we do not use anymore. Does that make sense? We have so much junk that I am more interested in being free of that junk than spending all my time packing and the junk coming with us. I know what you are probably thinking: can’t you just pack and discard as you pack? No! I can’t LOL. I have such a one-track mind that when you throw 3 children into the packing process of course I can’t do two things at once=)

Also, we are picking out some more paint colors today. I sincerely hope my very kind friend Emily doesn’t hate me, but we are gonna go find a living room color that is different than the one she picked out. I really like most of the colors, but there is a shade of blue that, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t like. So…we are going with red LOL. Kacie is laughing because she knows my taste. The dining room is a very pale green, called Loma Linda. The kitchen is a taupe-ish kind of brown. And the living room, provided that it looks good, will be called Arabesque. It is a very VERY dark red. I think it will look nice though because there is a lot of light in the room. The trim will be white. And we are going to bring in beige furniture (as money allows) that will lighten it up, as well as curtains and rugs. Does this make sense? I tend to ramble.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got right now. Except that last night I dreamed I was a contestant on The Biggest Loser. Jillian was my trainer and I was very skinny. Maybe it was the end of the season? Anyway, all I remember was Jillian sharing with me how bad she and her husband were trying to have a baby LOL. I must have eaten something real funky before bed last night.

What did I do?

So…for the first time today I got an email entitled “Comment to your blog: Awaiting moderation” or something like that. Upon approving that comment, I found like 10 others that had never been approved! I have NEVER had to approve comments before. It just started doing that! I am going to go into my comments in a few and try to adjust my settings, but until then, I am sorry: Jill, Heather, Sharon, Joanna, Jennifer, and Jamie Z!!! I just read your comments.

Heather- I will take a peek at that camera as Christmas is coming soon=)

Joanna- I agree with you about HPV. However, one thing I have been thinking about lately is this: what if my daughter (if I ever have one LOL?) chooses to become sexually active without me knowing? Should I choose to immunize her anyway (provided that the vaccine is safe by that point) or should that be the consequences of her choices? I am not sure. It is something I have a long time to think about. Do you have any thoughts?

Jennifer- Varicella (chickenpox) is not something I have a problem with and we will get it. It will just be delayed. I hate giving him so many shots at once. I think he gets chickenpox at 18 months. We have to get vaccinated for chickenpox. David has never had it. Sorry- I know Aidan has probably had his visit by now. I am so sorry I didn’t see your comment sooner!

Some bedtime thoughts…

• Noah wants my last Fiber One granola bar. I love him, but he just isn’t getting it!
• Sammy just sneaked into the graham crackers and I am too lazy to go upstairs and take them away from him
• David is at visitation. I miss him so very much and can’t wait til he gets home. We DVR ed Biggest Loser and can’t wait to watch it! And…he’s bringing me home a cotton candy blizzard. MMM. No, I’m not pregnant! And yes Kacie, I do realize I am cheating on Georgia Mud Fudge=)
• Speaking of pregnant, it would be so fun to be pregnant the same time as my sis. Then we could have maternity shots done together!
• I cleaned my closet out together. It was packed but after cleaning it, I discovered that I have clothes the range from size 4 to size 14!!! I put everything size 8-14 into boxes…woo hoo!!!
• I actually bought something at Old Navy the other day that was X small!
• I can’t wait to go to the gym tomorrow
• Simon has a cold. I can hear him whining and sniffling in his bed right now
• On the topic of Simon, he is off of formula and down to 2-3 bottles of milk a day (plus he had what we had for lunch and dinner today!
• He will be one in 8 days (no way!)
• Finding babysitters here is hard. Praying that we find one soon so we can get away together in October to State Convention!!!
• We come to KY in 10 days (actually 9 and a half)! We can’t wait!!!

Saturdays are great days for long posts!

What a beautiful northeastern New Mexico day! We’ve spent the majority of it in Colorado, but it’s the same thing basically…

I feel like I have so much to say today! How can I condense it before my “incapable of napping” kiddos begin to scream? I’ll try. Daddy is upstairs watching the Cardinals play so he is kinda keeping an ear out for them as well.

I love links and I love resources so I’ll start there. I found what I am sure will be an AWESOME CD from an always awesome group, the Getty’s. They have put out a children’s CD entitled Songs That Jesus Said: Scripture Into Music. It is on sale for back to school and I will for sure be purchasing it with my BLOW money for the month! Check it out here!

Secondly, I cannot say that I have always been the biggest Mercy Me fan, but I do love their song from the album Coming Up To Breathe, “Bring The Rain.” Here are the lyrics:

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that
I’ve gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It’s never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am yours regardless of the clouds that may
loom above because you are much greater than
my pain you who made a way for me suffering
your destiny so tell me whats a little rain
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
is the lord God almighty
is the lord God almighty
I’m forever singing

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
is the lord God almighty
is the lord God almighty

everybody singing
Holy holy holy
you are holy
you are holy

Today has been a busy, but great, family day. We went over the pass to Colorado to do our grocery shopping. We took the boys to a fantastic park, which was VERY comparable to the waterfront in Louisville. The river, however, was much much smaller. That’s the “partial” desert for you. Shopping for groceries for 2 weeks is tough stuff with 3 kiddos in carts, especially when you are doing you Sam’s Club-esque shopping, without the Sam’s club of course=)

When we got home from the store, I came to one stark realization: the fridge needed help. The situation was not pretty. Are any of you brave enough to admit that there are just times when you thank God that the department of sanitation didn’t decide to stop by because if they had, the next phone call would have been made to social services, which would result in your children being taken into foster care? LOL… I am admitting it! You name it: old veggies, bad elk meat, probably some iced tea that was far past its “full of antioxidants” phase! But at least it is clean now and you actually see the items in the fridge in compartments (meat, dairy, veggies, etc…)

Simon is almost 1! That just can’t be right! I was just pregnant with him. This reality struck me today as I bought formula for the last time. We have tried him on milk and sippy cups and he is doing great so we are going to begin the initial switch to cow’s milk this month. I also know that we are approaching the end of his baby food days. He simply wants what we are eating and baby food is so expensive as well. And the last thing I have time to do is make homemade baby food. I am saddened because, as a mother, I know this transition is one place where I usually perform poorly. Once my kids are off formula and baby food, it usually signifies the beginning of the juice addiction and an incomplete portion of daily fruits and veggies. In New Mexico you HAVE to drink water…lots of it. So I can at least be fairly certain that Simon won’t have the juice addiction as I have now finally broken the boys from it. Our family of five used to go through 3 to 4 bottles of juice a week. Now it is one. They get one cup of juice a day. I plan to honestly not put juice in sippys for Simon for the most part so that we won’t have the same problem. My friend Traci just does not give her boys any juice so they never have wanted it. I am sad, though. My baby is growing up! I have a hard time without an infant. I love the infant phase!

On the way home from the store, David and I had a schooling chat. We discussed our plans for this year. He wanted to go through the “how it’s gonna work” chat again since he has never really expressed any strong feelings toward home or public schooling in the past. I explained to him some things I had been researching. I told him of the pearls each of you had shared with me. He shared as well some things he had been reading. One floored me.

In David’s current read, entitled Hurt, by Chap Clark, he has been learning much about the world today for teenagers. On the issue of school (public), he quoted me something he had recently read himself:

“A high school junior who arrives home from school promptly at 5:30 after volleyball practice begins a four- to- six hour nightly ordeal called homework- on an average night. She has dinner over a textbook, which allows her to avoid conversation with her mom, and falls asleep exhausted at midnight, only to rise at 5:30 the next morning for band practice before her 7:00 AP calculus class.”

Can you believe that? I can. I experienced it. And this is one area that furthermore sparks mine, and David’s, interest in schooling our children. With a much smaller ratio and, from home, the ability to see where our children find most of their interest, our kids will be much more capable of spending their time wisely as opposed to much of the time that we feel just isn’t necessary in many public schools today. And, as parents of boys, we feel that especially in the elementary years, we can give our children the much-needed time to just be kids and PLAY! I hope this makes sense. It made sense to us, but sometimes I have a hard time conveying=)

I hope you all have an excellent weekend full of rest, worship, and fun!

What’s on my mind today

1. What is the difference between salt and sea salt? I have heard a lot of people say sea salt is better for cooking.

2. I started Stepping Heavenward and Seeing With New Eyes. I read one chapter a day in each- one in the afternoon and one at bed time. By my own definitions, Stepping Heavenward looks like a long read, but I am enjoying it. I finished chapter one and I can already see a lot of Katherine in myself. I wonder if that is what Prentiss intended?

3. Noah and Sam have been pulling each other in a wagon all day playing pretend for the first time ever. They have gone to Granny’s house, the beach, school, and Califormia LOL.

4. Tomorrow is date night! Yay! Now…if we only had money to spend on a date. I think we are going to the coffee shop and doing the August budget LOL. WOO- stinkin-HOO! Any other cheap ideas?

5. I am really excited about going to KY in September. I can’t wait to see so many people! We are booking our flight today. Yay for Frontier Airlines and direct flights with multiple babies.

6. Is it nap time yet?

7. Too much laundry to fold! But I am using my clothesline for the first time today!

8. I have this nagging pain at the top of my right leg!

9. I did my weigh in at Curves today and my body fat % is down almost 8%!

10. Lastly, at 5 p.m. David is home for the weekend! YAY! I love him! I should probably show him more=(

A Little Potpourri

There’s so much on my mind this afternoon. Let’s see:

1. My mid-year resolution is to…dare I say it…eat salad. I have said it. I can’t take it back now, can I? My usual comment in regard to lettuce has always been: “Why would I eat lettuce? If I wanted to eat grass, I could just go in my back yard and eat it!” However, Noah is trying…hard…to eat vegetables. He sees his daddy and his brothers enjoying them. He always asks for them. But then is afraid to eat them. He hasn’t noticed yet that mommy isn’t eating them, but I fear he will…soon. And I need to set an example. I like italian dressing. I L-O-V-E croutons and I have been known to eat some (well…all) of David’s croutons off his salad. Maybe I can just bathe my few pieces of lettuce in all the other good stuff and that shall suffice. And who knows? Maybe I will actually grow to (am I really gonna say this?) like it.

2. Do you ever wonder what other women mean when they say: “I would give anything to be as lucky as you and be able to stay at home!”? Ok…before other ladies start bashing me please note that I am being completely tongue-in-cheek and I don’t really (well…mostly) mean anything of what I am about to say. That being said, has it ever occurred to anyone else that a SAHM’s job is NEVER EVER done? One lady said being a SAHM is like “stringing beans with no knot at the end.” It never ends. In the work force, in most cases, your job provides variety and unique opportunities to branch out. Not for SAHM’s. Every morning, I know that I will load up the trash, change diapers, unload the dishwasher, make the beds, change diapers, clean up toys, wipe the kitchen table, serve meals, change diapers, and after lunch, I will do it all again. I was sweeping today (I think a lot when I am sweeping) and I realized that the same dirt would probably be back in the same spot again tomorrow. Sometimes I wonder why I even sweep=)

Again, I want to reiterate that the blessings of being a SAHM far outweighs the monotany and redundent-ness (I know that’s not a word!) And, as Scripture says: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the Glory of God.” It also says: “Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest…” It also says: “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men…”

Ok so if I am remembering all this scripture concerning these matters, perhaps I should remember the one that says: “Do everything without complaining…” 

I think I’ll move on now…

3. I ordered some new books today. One is Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss and the second is a re-order of our catechism book we lost in the move to NM. It’s My First Book of Questions and Answers by Carine MacKenzie. If anyone knows how to do that cool link thing where the titles of my book would be underlined so you could link up to them, please let me know so I can catch up with this decade LOL.

4. On that same note, I have basically had to cut out all TV viewing (with a few exceptions) and I need some ideas on some good DVDs I can order for the boys. I want to get them a BOZ video, they could always use a new Thomas the Tank Engine, but I am looking for some Christian movies that maybe I haven’t heard of before. Any ideas?

5. We have to get our house sprayed for spiders. Has anyone seen Arachnophobia? Just kiddin…not that bad. But getting there.

6. We are in the heart of potty training Sammy. I forgot how many times in a day I was capable of saying : “Are you sure you don’t have to pee?” or “If you pee in the potty, you get 5 chocolate chips!” He isn’t responding well. He IS ready. He has shown us. He will not leave a wet diaper on…or a poopy one for that matter. It is bad and I don’t know which is more disgusting: dealing with the old already been pooped in diapers that he takes off at bedtime and we find hours later or the poop all over my solar brick floors (partially dried on). Too much info- sorry! He has had one pee victory and two or three poopy victories. I think he is going to be the polar opposite of Noah. He hates peeing in the potty but is already doing the other.

7. I think we are going to the Walsenburg, CO water park on Friday!

8. We are going on a date on Friday or Saturday night and my vote is the new movie Hairspray!!!

9. Our car is screwed up again. Last time it was the brakes. Now every time I accelerate the car shakes. Anyone (Dad) know what that might be?

10. A great new (new to me, not necessarily to the stores) CD to check out is Chris Tomlin’s See The Morning. My favorite song is “How Can I Keep From Singing?” It is a fabulous song and a great CD overall as well! New purchases I would like to make soon are the new Caedmon’s Call worship CD and the new Casting Crowns CD.

11. Lastly, anyone going into a ministry position soon? Make it a goal to have a better receipt filing system than me! We are required to keep ALL of our receipts in case we were ever called upon to prove that we spend what we make. Interesting. I thought a regular manila file folder would contain said receipts. Not hardly. Maybe the first month’s, but now month’s 2 through 7 are bursting forth and needing a new file home. Enter new plan: accordion files that I will start on ASAP…as if I didn’t have enough to do already.

Have a great rest of the afternoon. I need a nap after all this writing. And potty training.

P.S. Since my mind is on the subject (and I CANNOT believe that I didn’t share this sooner) Noah is completely potty trained!!! No diaper in weeks! Shame on me for thinking he’d go to college in pull-ups!

P.P.S. Simon has quite the ‘tude these days. I just went to give him a board book to play with and he threw it straight at me!!! Is he too young for a good swat to the bottom LOL?