Not Under The Weather!

If I could choose I would set the temperature at a sunny 75 degrees with a scheduled storm once a week and snow only at Christmas time and when the Wings were here.

I love the summers in CO and really the winters aren't too bad either. It's spring that I have trouble with. It gets all nice and warm for days and days and then WHAM!! Snow. And it doesn't stop either. Last year it kept snowing in May when my friends in AR had their gardens well underway.

Yesterday we had soccer games scheduled as well as general birthday fun. But it was snowy and rainy and cold and everything was cancelled. As we were eating breakfast, my husband prayed something that caught my attention. It went something like this...."Thank you God for another unexpected day of rest."

I hadn't thought of it like that. What do I have to complain about when I have a cozy warm house full of food, electricity, and every modern convenience? And even though our outside activities were cancelled, it is not as though I had nothing to do.

I need to learn to cooperate with God's plan for my day. I need to rest in His sovereignty to command the weather as He pleases. I need to adjust my thoughts and be thankful. Cancelled things will be rescheduled, the sun will shine again, and the garden will get planted eventually. The busyness of life will never cease, but days of rest are few.

So yesterday we spent the day hibernating. Playing games, watching movies, cooking, reading, and being together. I enjoyed the break from the usual busy Saturday routine. My son had a good birthday and it was restful indeed.

"Thank you God for another unexpected day of rest."

Tomorrow's The Day!

We will have 3 teenagers in the house! My sweet son turns 13.

After having 2 girls in a row we pretty much thought we'd only ever have girls. What a treat to have a son! A perfectly healthy handsome guy. I was also surprised at how different boys were than girls...I mean right from the very beginning. I can't really explain it, but boys are just different. When Christian was a baby I carried him around all the time. ALL the time. He was a perfect baby and never cried.

He hasn't changed much. He has a smile for everyone, is easy to talk to, and fun to be around.

~He is my go-to guy when Honey is gone. He strong, brave, and doesn't mind getting dirty.

~He loves God and his family...especially his dad. (not so much the dogs)

~He's a tremendous athlete and fun to watch. Actually he's an all around gamer and loves them all.

~He's a terrific student. Every homeschool mom's dream.

~He gets his baby brother up every morning for me and brings him upstairs with a clean diaper. He's patient with his occasional night crying.

~His little brothers adore him and want to be just like him.

~He's the romantic type. He think things are special when they are a certain way. He's going to make some woman very happy someday.

~He has extremely expensive taste. (I guess maybe that girl won't be so happy with that one. )

We gave him his present early when we took him to the Rapids game last week. That was FUN!! And I actually teared up being there on the field wondering if I'll be watching him play there someday. Tomorrow is a snow day so probably all soccer games will be cancelled. Sounds like a cozy b-day to me.

His meals...

Breakfast - a huge breakfast that he wants to make with Honey. Eggs, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, and sausage.

Lunch - sandwiches. When we were still living in AR, he came to stay with his dad here in CO for awhile. It is a sweet memory for him and he always talks about the fun sandwich stuff that Dad bought. He's had this for his b-days ever since.

Dinner - pizza

Dessert - German chocolate cake and ice cream

(What a difference 4 years make!)

Music Deal At King Soopers

I had some extra money so I decided to surprise Honey and #1 with iTunes cards. Imagine my surprise when I checked out and it printed a coupon for $5 off my groceries! If you need some iTunes cards now's the time to get them...think gift giving.

Also while you're there grab some milk and tuna.

Milk is $1.77 and Chicken of the Sea tuna is $.50

I did a huge shopping trip this week and spent a lot of my April grocery money. I'm not too worried though b/c I think I have enough of most things to make it through the month. Chicken is on sale at Safeway and I plan to grab a few of those. And when my wheat order comes in, I think I'll be good. That should leave me about $300 for produce and stock pile sales for April.

We tried a new tortilla recipe this week that was so good. Tortillas are expensive to buy but cheap to make. If you have a tortilla press, they're pretty easy too. This recipe is not as healthy as our old 100% WW recipe but tons easier to work with and tastes better too.

2 C. each WW flour and bread flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp oil

3/4 C. warm milk

Mix together the flour baking powder, salt, and oil. Slowly add the milk. Knead until firm and soft. Cover in bowl with damp cloth for 20 minutes before rolling out.

Today's meals....

Breakfast - cream of wheat and fruit

Lunch - tuna sandwiches

Dinner - pizza

Changing It Up Again

My Pyzam templates just aren't working for me. So back to simple Blogger ones. I like it though. Is it easy enough to read?

Cloth Napkins

It's been about 6 months now since we switched to cloth napkins so I thought I'd give a report. These are the cheap wash cloths at WM. I think they were $3 for 18 and I bought 3 sets. They are perfect for napkins.

I had tried cloth before but it didn't work out so well. They were always on the floor and I never knew which were clean and which were dirty. I've found it easier to consider all used ones dirty and not try to save them for the next meal. Also I don't color coordinate them for different people. We just take from the stack.

The green ones are the coveted ones for my toddlers for some reason. Unfortunately there are only 3 green ones.

I like not having to buy paper napkins and constantly throwing them in the trash. That seemed like such a waste. Spills are quickly cleaned up with these b/c they are always at the table. Laundry isn't a big deal. They are small and can be thrown in with just about anything.

I love the different colors when they're all stacked up.

March Pix

Snow fun!

Some of my boys and me!

Our new trampoline!

A pretty Bird!

My sweeties!

Girl Soap Is On Sale!

It always seems like the soap deals are Irish Spring or Dial. Well not this time!!

Soft Soap Body wash is $3.99 at Walgreens. Buy one and it prints a catalina for free one. Use that one and another prints and so on and so on. You can roll this deal as much as you like. I've done 3 so far and plan to head out tomorrow for more.

Also I think the Dove deal is still good through tomorrow. I'm hoping my store still has some soap in stock.

Simple Snack Mix

Here's a good school snack that kids can eat while they are working. (Grapes are my favorite, but when I'm out of grapes this is my 2nd favorite. )

In a big bowl mix together whatever dry snack stuff you have. Today we had animal crackers, life cereal, raisins, chocolate chips, and sunflower seeds. Nuts are good too but I have too many kids that can't eat nuts so I leave them out.

Everyone scoops out 1/2 C on a napkin and keeps right on working. I wish I had a picture of this but it's always gone so fast.

Oh and in case you're wondering about my March Budget Challenge..... I only went over February's total by $6! That still leaves me $57 UNDER my allotted budget, so I'm happy.

Buzz

No, we're not weirdos that dress our dog up in clothes. This is a picture for a photo contest Honey entered for the 2010 Rescue calendar. I hope he wins!

But since I'm here I'll give ya a brief update on puppy life. He's a good boy that loves attention...and chicken. The biggest challenge is getting his attention when he's not looking at you. You can't just yell at him to get out of the trash, you have to wave at him or touch him and sign to him. Once you catch his eye he will usually obey...even from across the room. He's pretty good at his signs.

Today someone left the front door open. Both dogs were gone. I had to trudge out in knee deep snow to look for them since all kids were out sledding. I saw Buzz but he didn't see me. I didn't see Joey but I called his name and he came running from behind some trees. As soon as Buzz caught sight of Joe, he ran to catch up and then saw me too. That's probably the worst fear of having a deaf puppy....getting loose without the leash. He can't hear cars, he can't hear me.

At almost 5 months old, he's as tall as Joey. He now looks down into the trash and it won't be long before he'll be able to easily see up on the counters. He getting better about getting into the car and bathtub. He's pretty much potty trained but you still need to pay attention. Overall, a great dog.

Eager Hands

We have beautiful snow here in Colorado. So much, in fact, that schools and businesses are closed - which does NOT happen often.

Yesterday was a day of hot chocolate, sledding, soup, and snow clothes. Sounds cozy, huh? And it was for the most part. The older kids enjoyed the time off. Little kids, however, thrive on routine and they were bored and whiny most of the day.

At the end of the day I did not feel like I had accomplished anything and wished I had spent my time more productively.....especially with my babies. Experience has taught me that a healthy dose of work and play will do wonders for discontentment and grumpiness. (In mommas as well as babies. )

"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives." Titus 3:14

There are lots of things that I could've done with my little kids that would've been fun for them and profitable to all.

• bake
• clean downstairs
• make play doh
• boil and color eggs
• make and send overdue thank you cards

Today is another snow day I plan to spend it a little differently.

Reading Proverbs 31:10-31 has spurred me on.
"She...works with eager hands." v.13

Lord, please give me eager hands (and a thankful smile) today to work and love and bless my family. Amen.

Today

A day off in the middle of the week. I might need to do this more often!

~My in-laws are here from TX. We made lots of egg rolls today while the guys got the tiller working. Egg roll rolling is NOT my specialty.

~Laundry is though.

~I think I got the hang of face book. Finally.

~School planning is done for next week! And it's only Wed! Oh yeah.

~So much for my garden. I was a bit too ambitious. We're supposed to get about a foot and 1/2 of snow tonight. My little pots are in the kitchen but I don't expect them to do as well there. Good thing there's lots of seeds in those little packets.

~Happy birthdays to all my friends with b-days this week.

~My son got the new green soccer shoes he's been wanting for his b-day. I like 'em.

~2 days at home. No errands. No shopping. No appointments. No practices. No church. nothin'.

~I'm still under budget on my grocery shopping. With a few days left to go, I'm hopeful.

~Saturday night church planning is fun...but busy.

~Fun school this week. We had a history quiz with m&ms and Mally's learning to read. Only one more full day of school tomorrow, then Friday is gym and speech.

~I can't tell you how many dvd players we've gone through. Somehow we're just hard on them and they always break. We gave the latest broken one to my 8yo to take apart. What fun he's having messing with the fuses and switches and wires and stuff. He's planning to make a metal detector out of it.

Our meals today...
breakfast - cereal and eggs. I didn't chop the nuts small enough in the cereal for the babies and those with braces so they had to make eggs.
lunch - broccoli soup and I still have plenty for tomorrow's snowy weather.
dinner - egg rolls.

Chicken Taco Casserole

This is fast and easy!

2 C. cook chicken chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. chili powder

2 t. oil

1 onion thinly sliced

1 red or green pepper chopped

1 10oz pkg of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

salsa

corn tortillas

cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Coat bottom of 9x13 pan with salsa.

In a bowl, toss together chicken, garlic, and chili pwder. Cook onion and pepper in oil. Stir in spinach. Add chicken and cook until everything is hot.

Here's what it looks like in the pan...

Cover the salsa in the bottom of your dish with tortillas. Top with chicken mixture, salsa, and cheese. Repeat layers ending with cheese. Bake uncovered 30-35 mins.

Here's what it looks like when it's going into the oven...

Garden Beginnings

The string of warm weather days put me in the mood to plant something. I loaded everybody in the car and we headed to Home Depot to look at the gardening stuff. Oh those little packets of seeds are so pretty!

We made these little flags so we could tell the seedlings apart.

Flowers are in the pots.

Veggies are in the egg cartons.

Aren't they pretty?

I'm afraid the egg carton idea wasn't the best. I came back later to find it all over the ground with dirt covering the patio. Wind? Puppy? I don't know. It's ok though, I still have plenty of time and since the cold weather is back, it's probably better that I don't have so many things to drag back into the house.

Facebook

Is hard.

I can't figure it out. Or maybe I did but I just don't understand the fun. There must be more to it than I'm doing.

There's all these b-day things and IQ tests (I'm not 41 BTW). Then there's causes and circles to join.

What's a wall? And how do you write on it?

Seems like everyone likes this so it must be something neat.

Blogging is more my speed.

Free Soap!

Walgreens is running a Register Rewards deal all month on selected Dove products. I've read about several coupon match up scenarios but this one is the easiest.

Buy 8 single bars of Dove soap at $1.19 each

Pay $9.52 + tax.

Get $10.oo Register Rewards!

There are tons of Dove MQs out there if you want to work up another deal. The travel sizes aren't working for the RR deal, but I used a $1/1 MQ on travel sized deodorant and got it free.

Happy shopping!

Wanna See A Miracle?

Aren't miracles pretty?

Yep, this guy is our first reversal baby after we thought we'd have no more. I can't imagine life without him, or the 4 that followed.

~He's the friendly sort and always has a smile for everybody.

~Great with his school work.

~He likes learning new things about God.

~He loves loves LOVES inventing, building, tearing down and fixing, robots, motors, electricity, legos, K'nex, and the like.

~His special job at church is passing out bulletins.

~He has 2 bedrooms in the house. Sometimes he sleeps with his little brothers, sometimes he sleeps with his big brother.

~He has moved up to the big soccer fields this year with goalies.

~Green blankey is gone.

Today we're having fun just being home and playing. We went to the library and he checked out about 5 new books on levers and parts and things. He got his present early b/c they were just too big to hide. 2 big soccer goals! So when his dad came home for lunch they had a big game in the cul-de-sac. We opened the other presents too since Eldest won't be home tonight.

His meals...

breakfast - fruit loops, the breakfast of champions

lunch - corn dogs and french fries

dinner - frozen pizza

dessert - strawberry jello pie

Happy Birthday Sweet Son! I love you!

Spending Challenge

Here we are in the middle of the month. While my grocery spending is so-so right now, it's not as good as last month. In order to beat last month's total of $863, I will have to spend no more than $136 with 15 days to go.

Can I do it? I *think* so. I really REALLY want to. I feel pretty well stocked up thanks to last month's chicken sales and a good coupon deal at Target.

My challenges will be b-day foods that I haven't purchased yet and company coming next week.

My plan? Eat up everything we have and plan my menus around that. Be creative with leftovers and don't go overboard on stocking up the sale items. That one's hard b/c I reap such benefit from my stockpile.

What I won't do is compromise nutrition or make things unpleasant for my husband. And if there is a great deal for my stockpile, I won't pass up that "investment" just to meet my own personal challenge.

Have you ever seen this blog? Jane is able to feed her family of 4 on $800 a year! And no, her husband does not kill all their meat. It's fun to follow and encouraging to see so many deals out there. My budget is quite extravagant compared to hers.

How's your grocery budget looking? Want to join me in a low spending challenge for the rest of March?

Today's meals...
breakfast - peanut butter toast, cottage cheese, and canned peaches
lunch - tuna sandwiches
dinner - chicken taco casserole (a new recipe), refried beans (leftovers), and salad.
tea - animal crackers and milk

Happy Birthday Lane!

15 years ago yesterday I gave birth to a most beautiful baby girl with lots of dark hair and a good set of lungs. Her due date was March 13th and I hoped that she would not come on that day. No it wasn't Friday and I'm NOT superstitious, but a child born on the 13th will eventually have a b-day on Friday the 13th and I never wanted any of my children to have a weird b-day. Dumb I know.

The 13th came and no baby. In fact, I went to my friend's baby shower that day with a gigantic round belly and no hopes of labor starting any time soon. Imagine my surprise when things started moving along quite quickly that evening! Never one to enjoy being late, she made her appearance at 12:22am on March 14th. Perfect!

~Lane is so much fun. Ask any of her siblings. She joins right in with whatever is going on...soccer games, trampoline jumping, tree climbing, whatever.

~She constantly amazes me with the deep and difficult things she is able to understand about God. She takes everything to prayer and has such a sweet heart for the Lord.

~She is quick to apologize.

~This is funny. She is a great etch-a-sketch artist! I've never known anybody who was any good at making anything with an etch-a-sketch, but she is. She can even write cursive on it!

~She is an animal lover through and through. Buzz is coming along quite nicely thanks to her patient and diligent training.

~She is a great sister sitter but refuses to babysit for anyone...even if the child is asleep the whole time. But if you need your dog walked....she's your girl!

~She is careful and rarely leaves things out.

~She likes healthy foods. Yay! Her favorite food is salad.

We had a fun day yesterday with 3 soccer games, the new trampoline, and a movie after dinner.
Her meals...
breakfast - cinnamon rolls
lunch - burgers and fries
dinner - tuna sauce, garlic toast, and salad

We love you Lane!!

Latest Kid Happenings

My loves....

Here's Christian at our last field trip. This picture blows me away. Look past the orange and the funky glasses and he looks so grown up!

~Meg is the yearbook photographer and she has lots of pics of the day. You can see some of the fun of the National Center for Atmospheric Research here. I'm so happy that she has picked up her dad's photography skills. She does some cute edits and is a great help to him on photo shoots.

~I took Joshua to soccer practice. When it was over he jumped into the van out of breath and smiling from ear to ear. He was talking fast about all the fun it was. On the way home he said 2 things that blessed me so much.

"How did I do? Was there something that I need to get better at?"

and

"Thank you for taking me, Mom."

I appreciate his thankful heart and his willingness to seek out correction. I told him that those 2 things are so much more important than anything he will ever do on the soccer field.

~Mally slept in panties last night! Remember when I was just talking about the nighttime potty training issues?

~Lane has picked up the funniest hobby. Etch-a-Sketch! I didn't know that it was even possible to make some of the stuff she has done.

~Zekey can sing "Jesus Loves Me". What a sweet sound from his little mouth.

~Nate has beautiful penmanship at 4yo. He's so careful with his school work and is proud when it turns out even better than he expected.

~LB is sick but on the mend. She's quite stoic and doesn't let it get her down. I like that about her. She rarely complains about any physical setback. (I can't believe we don't have a picture of her new braces!)


~Jes is Jes. Everywhere talking about everything. He got a big bloody nose in soccer practice tonight but seemed proud of it when he got home.

Counting The Cost

I have a tendency to forge ahead without counting the cost beforehand. Today was another example. There was a fun field trip planned with my homeschool group and we were planning to go. I had a plan for dinner and Lane was going to stay home with the napping babies. I thought I had it pretty much mapped out.

Wrong. First of all the morning was rough. Late start, miscellaneous frustrations, sick kid, etc. The field trip wasn't scheduled until noon but I was never able to redeem the lost time of the morning chaos.

The place was in Boulder about an hour away. The tour took longer than I expected. My dinner plans fell through. By the time I got home, Honey was already here and everyone was hungry. Soccer practice tonight and we still needed to move furniture b/c we have new stuff coming in the morning. We ate and it was time to go again.

I feel like I wasted an entire day of my little kids' lives. They were too little to go on the trip. It was too cold to take them to practice. I missed most of their day.

And while it looked like I had a good plan in the beginning, I see now some major things I missed....

What did I give up in order to go on this field trip?
Time with my little kids.
Time to make a good dinner.
Time to clean and work on school.
The margin of rest in the day.

I want to work on being not so short sighted in the future.

How Do You Handle This One?

This is one of my favorite pictures of my boys. Aren't they great?

About boys. If you have more than one you know that one of their favorite pastimes is seeing who can burp the loudest. This carries over to other gas related competition as well. I guess it's all fine and good at home but when you go out and all of a sudden you hear "BLEZZCKK!" it's not so fine anymore. I turn around and see the proud smile (all teeth) on my boy and the surprised (Oh my!) look on everyone else's faces. I tell them no burping (or other gas passing) in public but they either lack the personal awareness of where they are, or they just can't resist...not sure which.

So it seems like the logical thing to do would be banning all such competition at home as well as public but at the same time it seems like I'm denying them a rite of boyhood. What do you think? Renee, Shannon, Janice....those of you with boys.

Misc Happy Things

Here's some random ramblings of the goodness of this week....

I went grocery shopping today in the zippy car. Usually I have a kid or two along with me but since I was leaving straight from lunch with Honey I was alone. It was the best afternoon I've had in a long time. Not that I usually have bad afternoons, but this one turned out to be particularly special.

I loved the time in the car listening to whatever I wanted as loud as I wanted. Windows down or up. It was another beautiful day.

Have you noticed how many things at the grocery store are cheaper these days? It seemed like for a long time every time I would go to the store the prices went up again. Not today! So many things I buy had gone down. Dairy, eggs, nuts....and there was hardly anything that had actually gone up this time. Yay!

A car full...and I do mean FULL of groceries. I unloaded the whole flatbed into the back of the car and thanked God for each thing. I stood back and admired it all. It represents so much....my husband's good job, a house full of children to feed, good health, and most of all God's amazing abundance. I'm so thankful.

As much as I'd love another baby, I sure enjoy not being pregnant. I feel so healthy and strong. I love sleeping through the night. And as I was unloading all those groceries I was remembering how hard shopping was when I had a baby on board.

~~~~

So this is weird and I'm sure it won't come across as I intend it to but I'm gonna try. I went to a homeschool mom's meeting Saturday. It was the first mom's meeting I've been to since I've been here. And although I didn't have much of anything to contribute, just sitting and listening to the other moms made me feel a little closer to them. Some were moms that I hadn't connected with yet and some were brand new homeschool moms. Of course there were those handful that I am close to and I especially enjoyed that. I wouldn't say that it has been particularly hard to make friends here. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly but I sorta had this feeling before that a lot of these moms had all known each other forever and probably didn't care to get to know me. But at the meeting, I realized it was very similar to the RENEWs at home. Moms are just as busy, have goals for their kids, struggle with similar things, etc. And the really funny thing is that some of my friends here are so much like certain friends in AR. We can talk about the same things, know the same books, etc.

I remember the first time I visited CO when Honey was already here. I was genuinely surprised that the people looked the same as they did at home. Not sure what I expected, but it was a bit of a relief to see that nobody had horns or purple hair or anything like that. The moms on the soccer team were kinda like the EXPRESS moms. People smiled and said "hi"(even though nobody called me "Hon"). Walmart was sorta the same. And there were lots more churches that I expected.

It's all been a revelation of "people are people" wherever you go. That simple meeting where I sat quietly turned out to be a little bit of a bonding time for me.
~~~~~

Meg's fencing mask came in and it fits just right. Fencing is fun and she's all smiles.
First week of soccer practices.

~~~~~

I'm so excited about the new Saturday service our church is starting. I can't wait!

~~~~~

We're adding a hermit crab to the family. Don't tell my boys, they don't know yet. I think they're icky and crawly but my guys will think he's wonderful.

~~~~~

And now for the last happy musing...all kids are in bed, the dishwasher is humming along, and Honey is here to visit with me about the happenings of the day. God is good.

Next Week

The weather is supposed to be gorgeous all next week. So if ya wanna come see me, next week would be just perfect!

I confess that I have a hard time doing school when the weather is so pretty. But the work must get done right? I tend to go through waves of easy and hard weeks of school. We've just been through a hard week...which usually means an easy one will follow with the new adjustments that had to be made. This week should be much better and I look forward to implementing my new schedule.

So tonight is Sunday and I stand on the edge of a new week with new hopes for the days ahead.

~I want to continue my memory work in Philippians. I'm trying to memorize the whole book. I think I need to get it on my iPod so I can hear it as well as read it.

~I want to take advantage of the sunshine by being outside every single day.

~I want to do some painting and spruce up the house. I want to deep clean my bedroom as my plan for that for last week didn't work out. This one is kinda lofty I know, but it doesn't hurt to put it on the list anyway right?

~Babyest has had some character issues that have taken more time. All of a sudden he's decided he's the boss and not me. I want to be diligent to tomato stake him and love on him and not grow weary in doing good.

~There's a couple of sermons I'd really like to listen to. I haven't heard Pastor Dale in like 2 weeks and I'm having withdrawals!

~The Lord has been pressing on me to love others in a more outward way. I'm excited to see just how this looks as I spend time in the Word this week. I hate my selfish nature and I wish I were more aware of the needs of others. I'm asking the Lord to show me those things.

~I have a couple of new recipes to try out for next date night!

How 'bout you? Do you have some hopes for the week ahead?

What Shall I Say?

I woke up this morning to meet with Lord. There was a resounding theme in His words to me today that all centered around the words of my mouth.

"Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely O Lord." Ps 139:4

No one knows me as intimately as my husband, yet not even Honey knows the words of my mouth before I speak them. God says He "is familiar with all my ways". (Ps 139:3) He "perceives my thoughts from afar" (v. 2).

This was encouraging to me this morning. Lately I haven't been very happy with what comes out of my mouth. And because "of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt 12:34), it only reveals a heart that is not properly attuned to God.

I find myself struggling with pride the most. With speaking out when I shouldn't. With judging others. I've also learned something about perspective. Unless I can see something from exactly the same viewpoint as someone else, then we're coming from different angles. And from my angle the solution may be clear, until I step into the shoes of another and see it from their side. God rarely allows us to see a situation from every side. And even if I did see every side of it, I will never know all the inner workings of the invisible God who works in the heart of man.

I noticed today that I have posted 851 musings on this blog. 851 things to say? But if you know me very well, you know that that's not so peculiar. I tend to have something to say about everything. And when I think that there will be a day when I "will have to give an account for every careless word I have spoken" (Matt 12:36) I'm sure this blog will be mentioned!

So my prayer today is two-fold.
"See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Ps 139:24

and

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer." Ps 19:14

Is It Pathetic To Look Forward To Vacuuming?

Not if you have a spiffy new vacuum cleaner!!

Yep, we just got it last night b/c our old one has had it. It was kinda hard to even justify b/c we have so little carpet. However, in our house the hot water heater needs it too and we're about to get new living room furniture. Besides no matter how little carpet you have, any carpet at all will need a vacuum cleaner....as I've noticed since ours has been out of commission for the last week.

So last night Honey and LB headed out to shop for a vacuum. I know this is usually a wifely thing to do but since I've picked out the last few vacuum cleaners and they were all a piece of junk, we decided we better have him do it this time. He has more of an eye for quality where I just usually look at the price.

We plugged it in right away for a test drive and vacuumed the little rug in the music room. Neat b/c you can actually see the dirt swirling around as it sucks it up! Talk about a big show.

Just imagine the fun I'll have today!! I'm thinking it'll be a photo op.

Don't Give Up!

If you're having trouble posting on my book study blog, please try it again...even if only to test. I changed the template and it seems to be working better. Sorry guys!

Storytime Pest

I sat in the back with Babyest on my lap. He loves storytime and tries to participate with all the songs and hand motions. Unfortunately he's not all that steady on his feet if he has to jump or spin around or even clap his hands. I tried to catch him but he kept crashing into the back of the lady in front of us who also had her baby on her lap. She was nice about it at first. But after about the 10th time I could see wasn't smiling anymore. I don't blame her really. Maybe next week we'll sit in the front.

Awesome!

That is the only word to describe our church service this morning. Our church has a spanish congregation that meets there too. La Roca has outgrown our building and they are moving on to a bigger place. This morning we had a combined service to say "Thank you and Good bye".

Both pastors, 2 groups of people, 2 languages all praising God and worshipping together singing the same songs in english and in spanish. 2 worship teams. 2 sets of deacons. 1 united purpose...to exalt the name of our Savior. Oh what a joyful noise!

Honey said it perfectly, "This seems like a little taste of heaven". Oh yes, where every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship together.

La Roca started out with 17 people 10 years ago. The Lord grew them by leaps and bounds and I pray that it is only the beginning. God bless you La Roca and we look forward to worshipping with you eternally!

Today

I got a bit of blogging time, can you tell? BUT, I'm thinking it's not my best use of time since I'm behind on BOTH of my book studies!

~After a good snow last night, the sun came out and dried the street enough for a soccer game. Fun, sun, and vitamin D.

~I already told you what went on in the kitchen so I won't go there.

~The water heater's acting up again. Quite an inconvenience and maybe an expense.

~My baby walked across the floor, picked up a piece of trash, and put it in the trash can!! Without being told. Without someone pointing it out to him. And he doesn't even have his own jurisdictions yet! Perhaps this is a common occurrence in your house. But in our house I am constantly training the children (and myself) to do what needs to be done without being told. And here's this guy, the smallest of our number, setting an example for us all.

~Big date night tomorrow! As in we're leaving the house instead of staying in! A shopping trip with my Honey and I'm not planning on cooking.

I Got Puppy Duty

B/c Laney's playing a game with Dad.

Buzz is not trustworthy with free roam so he still needs to be watched and followed around. I spent a while playing with him and loving on him. He doesn't like me as much as Lane, but that's ok. I still think he's great.

So we have this ugly wall of mirrors in the living room and all of a sudden he jumps up and starts barking at the dog staring at him! Like he's never noticed that before? He stands his ground for while then backs up and sits with me. Chicken dog.

I wish I had a more recent picture so you could see how much he's grown. He's almost as tall as Joey at only 3 months old. He's losing the precious puppy face and starting to look more like a goofy dog.

He finally sleeps through the night (yay for Lane!) and will even put himself to bed....which is where he is now. I guess I'm unofficially off duty.

New Recipes And Other Kitchen Stuff

Well I don't have any to share yet, but hopefully soon. I spent part of nap time going through a couple of magazines and pulling out recipes. I've gotten several free subscriptions to different sorts of magazines. Some are losers. Some are pretty good. Actually my favorite has been a diabetic one. Lots of recipes and nutritional info. Here's some of the new ones to try soon...

applesauce cake
coconut cake
some chicken sausage casserole thing
garden burgers
vegetable barley
chicken taco casserole
pinto bean soup

Don't those sound yummy?

The kitchen was hopping today. The oven was full of bread and banana muffins. I had scalloped potatoes in one crock pot and chicken legs in another. 2 crockpots.....the height of luxury!

The chicken legs were an experiment. They are on sale this week and I wanted to see what I could do with them. I tried the easiest thing I could think of first, which was the crockpot. I threw in the whole 4# frozen bag and turned them on high. After a while, I seasoned them and let them keep going until the meat fell off the bone.

They were a big hit! One bag wasn't enough though so next time I'll have to do 2 in both crock pots.

The left over scalloped potatoes will be tomorrow's potato soup. Again in the crock pot. I boiled the chicken bones to make broth to add to our soup.

We're having a couple of the senior ladies over for lunch after church and one of them made a special request of corn bread. (Isn't that cute?) I'm not too good at making corn bread unless there's a box that says "Jiffy". I guess we'll see.

Blogging Is Therapeutic

The unedited musings of an overly emotional (though I have no idea why!) mom that's staying up way too late....

I don't fit in with this generation.

I think I would've done better about 200 years ago.

I'm ready for the rapture.

I like hymns played on the piano with the words on the overhead....not so much in the hymnal.

I cry everytime I play "I'll Fly Away" on my iPod. They played it at my G'daddy's funeral and I remember him playing it in his church. I wonder if it was his favorite hymn. It's one of mine. I wonder if we can sing it together in heaven one day?

I wish I lived closer to my G'mothers.

I miss my family. And the Wings. And my neighbors. And Mr. Walker. And Mrs. Coffman. And Uncle Robert. And the snow cone place.

I wish I was watching Star Trek.

Isn't it ok to give up on something if it's just not working? To throw up your hands and say, "Well, never mind." To not be a finisher if the thing is not worthy of your time and energy?

God's bounty enables me to share with others. I like that. So his blessing is multiplied as it fills my heart with thanksgiving.

I'm glad there are people who love me even when I'm unlovable.

I'm begging God to teach my kids more than the shallowness this generation has to offer them.

I have the best job in the world and I look forward to jumping into it tomorrow. If I ever go to bed that is.

9 kids are not enough.

Irritations Are A Catalyst For Change

There'll be a lot of changes in our house. Everything from school schedules and work ethics, to words of the mouth and looks on the faces.

I consider irritations as God's prompting for improvement. If things are not going the way they should that is my cue to engage. I need to examine myself first and see where I have allowed things to slip, to seek the Lord's wisdom on what I need to change, and to jump in confidently with both feet.

The weekend is a good time to work and there's work to be done over here. It's been an irritating week.

Today

~First off...A Very Happy Birthday to Drallen! Wish we could've eaten some birthday cake with ya.

~I took 2 of my boys out tonight for a special treat. We went to dinner then out and about running errands. I am convinced that the longer I have these guys the more I like them. I guess they'll just have to stay! It was nice to sit back and hear about life from a 7 and 12 yo.

There is something that happens around the 12/13 mark. I'm wondering how it will play out differently with a boy than with girls. There are times when they leave you rolling your eyes and shaking your head. Times when you wish for the easy days when they were only 4. And then there are the times when they wow you with their sweetness and maturity. I was wow-ed tonight as my son saved a chocolate to take home to his brother and then bought his sister a card b/c she had had a bad day.

~I didn't realize how much I loved our weekly library trip until I decided to skip it. Yesterday we had a rough start so I woke up and decided that we just couldn't spare the time and needed to concentrate on the diligence matter at hand. That announcement was met with sad whimperings all around and it echoed in my own heart. As the morning went on I found we were doing better at keeping on schedule and having good attitudes. I made a last minute decision and we were off. B/c of our better start, we were still able to catch up ok when we got home. It's funny how the early morning can set the tone of the whole day. Story time was good as usual and everyone was happy to come home with new books.

~The new fridge is all set up and chillin' nicely.

~I walked today! That makes 2 days in a row.

~My little boys made a fan and a light bulb with the nifty electric kit they got for Christmas. Who knew those things really worked?

~Laney's looking for Joey throughout the house and calling his name. Finally she finds him lying in the living room but he won't get up and come. She walks over wondering what in the world is wrong with him. Poor dog has his rabies tag stuck in the living room carpet and can't even lift his head!

Today's meals....
Breakfast - we cleaned out the fridge and ate everything that could even remotely be considered a breakfast food.

Lunch - Sandwiches

Dinner - Eldest was busy making pancakes when she suddenly looked up and realized she was following a muffin recipe instead! With a bit of adjusting, she was able to save them. They were a bit sweet and hard to work with but with blueberry syrup, they were just fine.

A Weekend of Bounty!

So much goodness and fullness this weekend.

~Time! I'm savoring these nothing-on-the-calendar weekends as long as I can.

~Another photo shoot and with an adorable 5 week old baby. It felt nice to hold his baby sweetness.

~Company for lunch after church with a new chicken salad recipe.

~Lots of goings on in the kitchen. Lots of food to fix. Lots of people to feed. Lots of dishes to wash. Lots of hands to help.

~A full refrigerator and a full tank of gas.

~Valentines and new coffee cups and little presents from sweet siblings. Pretty cards and pink lemonade.

~We got new appliances and clothes! I know. Cousin Billy is putting in a new kitchen and gave us his nice Kenmore flat top stove, big side-by-side fridge, and dishwasher. We're looking at trying to install them in the garage as a second kitchen. I love my convection oven but there are some times when an extra would come in handy. Along with the appliances we got 2 big bags of clothes. Billy buys *nice* stuff!

~Date night. I burned my other new chicken recipe but it turned out to be salvageable....and even good. Lots of good conversation and family business decisions settled. Star Trek too (!) and Honey even watched it with me b/c he loves me....not b/c he particularly likes it (although I don't know why not).

~My cup overflows and I'm ready for the week.

The Power Of The Written Word

The kids and I went to an Abe Lincoln re-enactment this week. He said something in particular that caught my attention. He was talking about having a few books in his house and when his dad brought home a new book for him, he was awake all night. He wasn't reading though. He was awake b/c of his excitement about what the book had it store for his education...all the new words and ideas and phrases he'd be able to learn.

Isn't that the truth? Books have been one of the biggest shaping influences in my adult life. I love learning from those who have gone before me and enjoy each individual writing style. Books enable me to "meet" thousands of people I would otherwise never have known.

When my daughter was about 7, she was enamored with Dolly Madison. She loved getting the Vision Forum catalog to see if there were any more DM items available. She read the books and longed for the outfit. In one of the VF catalogs, it listed in the description of the book several character qualities of Dolly Madison. Meg slept with this catalog and memorized the words and made it her goal to try to adopt one of these character qualities every day. At that time in her life, Dolly Madison was a wonderful shaping influence.

I've been thinking of my favorite authors and books. My Bible is at the top of the list. I'm ashamed that I don't have more of it memorized than I do. I'm working on memorizing more but Oh, it comes so slowly! I love to look at my G'daddy's old tattered Bibles and see his notes and think about how it changed his life. And while my Bible looks nothing like his, it is starting to come apart. Bad news for me since I'm not so fond of change.

There are others that I love too. Henry Blackaby and Anne Ortlund are 2 of my favorites. I also love the Debi Pearl book (no hissing and throwing tomatoes please!). There are others like Tedd Tripp, Pam McDonald, and Elisabeth Elliot that have been especially helpful over the years. And new "friends" like Elizabeth Krueger and Voddie Baucham.

As I'm typing, my little boy comes in and announces with triumph that he is on chapter THREE!! He's so proud of himself to have read so far in his new library book. He is adopting my love for the written word although our tastes are quite different.

I'm not so crazy about Star Wars.

This Weekend

Another weekend with nothing on the calendar! Life is good.

~We got the frame of our Christmas trampoline up! That thing is HUGE. That's as far as we got b/c we have some digging to do and the ground is still frozen.

~In our 20 years of having dogs I don't think we've bathed a dog as much as we have in the last 2 weeks. I do think it's working though. That and moving the trash cans.

~Saturday was a big kitchen day. We baked 4 loaves of bread, cooked some roasts for BBQ sandwiches, and made potato salad. We made a bunch of deviled eggs and a ton of cookies. I think I messed up every dish in the kitchen.

~2 potlucks in a row! Today at church and tomorrow with the homeschool group. So I've been thinking of what to take that was meatless inexpensive and a crowd pleaser. My daughter came up with the idea of deviled eggs and cookies. Perfect! She also made some of Aunt Barbara's fudge.

~I have my very own laptop! As in I don't have to share with anybody! Did I say that already? Honey came home with 5 that the school was ousting and now they are ours.

~Next week is Valentines day. It's always fun at our house. So we're busy making valentines and planning a fun dinner.

~Date night tonight!
Salmon and fries and salad for us. Pizza for the kids.
Pastor Dale and maybe a movie I recorded.

~We're cancelling Dish tomorrow to save some $$. I'm happy and sad at the same time. We will miss Man vs Wild and Rachel Ray. But I know there are lots of better ways to spend our time/money so it'll be good.

Age Of Opportunity

My other book study is the book Age Of Opportunity. I'm doing this one with some of my homeschool friends in CO. Fantastic book about teenagers.

Here's one of my favorite parts...

Rule of Love or Rule of Desire?

"Our response to others will be shaped by the rule of love, "Do to others what you would have them do to you." Matt. 7:12

or shaped by the rule of desire..

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from the desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you can not have what you want. You quarrel and fight." James 4:1-2

Such a simple approach to evaluating our hearts. And as there are many relational issues every day I have been able to use this quite a lot. Coming home from the dentist office I had 2 boys fussing over who would sit in the front seat. Were their responses based on love or desire? Obviously desire since there's apparently an invisible pot of gold hidden under the front seat.

Another creative way to train my children (and myself) with God's Word.

Check out Paul Tripp's book Age Of Opportunity. Great read!

And The Winner Is.....

Toria!! Congratulations!! Meg was wondering what you were going to do with it. Well I have an idea. Most of the days are not marriage relationship specific you could actually put it into practice on whomever you came in contact with on that particular day.

For instance, Day 26 talks about taking personal responsibility instead of pointing fingers and blaming others. You could use this in any relationship with anybody. It's a good book and I'm sure you'll find it useful whether you keep it or give it to your mom. BTW, tell your mom I said "Hi" and I'll mail out your book early next week.

Pray For Me If You Will

It's been a bla couple of days. And when you look at it from the outside it's looks pretty good. The kids are happy, the weather is perfect, the family is healthy. So why am I feeling this way?

I don't know.

Questions rattle in my mind like....Am I really making a difference in the life of anybody?

Am I an utter disappointment to God?

Where's the fruit?

I have been given so much but I give so little. And what I do give, does anybody even want?

Stuff like that.

And while I'm not usually given over to a mood of depression, I'm finding it hard to smile and stay focused. Not grouchiness really, more like confusion. I'm battling with wanting things I can not have and giving over that which is not mine.

I am so distracted with "stuff".

What I Learned Today

~Yogurt starter only lasts 4 times. When you use it the 5th time and take the yogurt out theres all this cottage cheese stuff on top and yellowish juice on the bottom. I usually don't have to worry about this b/c I forget to take out the starter and have to start fresh anyway.

~Kids get sick when you have no juice in the house.

~The bike pump is broken and the tire is flat.

~When you dust your cabinets with too much Pledge it makes a dangerous fun walkway.

~My boys have been taking baths without soap. Or shampoo.

~Just when we're about to cancel our Dish subscription I figure out that Star Trek comes on every single night! Where have I been?

~Never heat up butter and chocolate chips in your favorite plastic measuring cup. 2 holes in the bottom and a sticky microwave.

~I paid $65 to take a stinky dog to the vet when it turns out that he's been in the trash. I know.

~My baby knows another word besides "NOOOOO!!!!" He now says "Thank you" without prompting. Do wonders never cease?

~God cares about potty training.

Super Bowl!

Big event at our house. Everybody's cheering for the Cards. Personally I don't care who wins...I mean it's not like I have a son on the team or anything. But I LOVE the happiness and fun it brings to the house. We have friends coming over the watch the game and eat junk food with us. Football decorations make the house look festive. It's all fun.

Our Super Bowl Menu....

Super Bowl wings. This is our special SB recipe!
Sams wings. Because those are good too.
Velveeta dip
Salsa
Onion dip and lots of chips and crackers
Meg's homemade poppers
Strawberry lemonade
Punch! I love punch.
Cookies

My First Giveaway!

I won an extra copy of The Love Dare from the Fireproof movie and I want to share it with YOU!

Just leave me a comment and I will randomly draw a winner next Friday. If you put my button on your blog, then your name will go in twice. Just let me know on your comment. Scroll down my sidebar for the button.

Good luck!

In Psalms Today

Just wanted to type out some things that were special to me in the Word this morning.

First some gardening verses...
"You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance." Ps. 66:11

"May the people praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God will bless us." Ps. 67:5-6

I don't mean to grumble against the cold but I do look forward to a garden this spring!! I so enjoyed it last year and have bigger plans for this year. Now I have some verses I can pray over it in advance and look forward to the warmer temps.

And now my favorite of the day....
"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens." Ps. 68:19

The same God who has prepared eternity in the "someday" of Heaven is the same God who walks the footsteps of today with me. I don't know the burdens of the day but God does and says He will bear them.

It's a good day already!

What's For Dinner?

Emily called and asked to come over and spend the day with us. She's our only CCU student at church. We had a fun afternoon chatting and playing games.

My son comes upstairs and says, "Emily, Dad wanted me to ask you if you wanted to stay for supper."

My heart stops in my chest. WHAT??? Does Dad know what ya'll are having for supper??

It's date night and the kids were eating Spaghetti-O's. Although I grew up on the stuff (and still love it), I have this stupid idea that *real* moms don't feed their kids Spaghetti-O's. Not only am I feeding it to my own kids but now I'm serving it to company?!

Emily liked the idea. We had 2 family sized cans of ravioli and 3 cans of spaghetti-o's. We mixed them all together and the kids thought they were wonderful.

So did Emily.

Happy Saturday!!

~I woke up earlier today than I have all week. What's up with that??

~Laney came out with Buzz and asked me if I'd take him while she went back to bed. He's still not sleeping through the night. Honey got up too and had fun playing with him and doing a short training session. Kinda fun to have him to ourselves.

~Nothing on the calendar and bright sunshine. Time to take advantage of this while we can. Soccer season will start up soon and that'll be fun too.

~My dinner plans fell through. I thought I had lots of enchilada filling in the freezer. Nope. But I did have some refried beans, taco meat, and rice in the freezer. So I'll mix them all together, make some salsa and tortillas and have burritos. I like my new tortilla press!

~Here's my dinner menu for next week. I had a couple of meals left over from last week as plans changed.

• Chicken salsa pasta
• enchiladas
• roast w/mashed potatoes
• tomato and spinach frittata w/hashbrowns
• pizza
• Superbowl Sunday foods(!)

~I'm working on book study #2. I have 2 going simultaneously. One is done, the other is still in progress.

~Fun in the kitchen with lots of helpers. I had LB, Nate, Mally, and Zekey helping me make bread, chicken broth, potato soup, yogurt, and muffins. That's a lot of people in the kitchen at once! I put Nate, Mally, and Zekey up on stools to watch until I had something for them to do. They put in flour, pushed the button on the grinder, mixed in salt, and things like that. Meanwhile I taught LB how to make broth from chicken bones. Then I turned her loose on the muffins. It was her own recipe that we were adapting to be healthier. After awhile I heard her tell everyone, "OK, I don't need anymore help!!" I guess too many little hands don't make the work light after all!

~Tomorrow is church, 2 of my girls will be out babysitting, and DATE NIGHT!! I'm making some Rachel Ray portabella pizzas. I did something new for my kids for date night. I let LB look through all my coupons and pick out something for everybody. She picked spaghetti-o's. Most of my kids have never had those before so it'll be a fun surprise.

~Any tips to getting a 3yo to stay dry through the night? I'm so paranoid of having a bed wetter. I don't know what age is considered an official bed wetter. I'm thinking of getting her up right before I go to bed for another potty trip. Has anybody ever done this? And do you have to keep it up forever? I'm about to bite the bullet and buy some pull-ups. Sigh.....

I Have Such A Big Mouth!

From the council of my husband and the wisdom of a friend I'm posting an addendum to my previous post.

To the sweet moms at my church who had lunch with me Tuesday, I was NOT talking about you!! It was totally soccer related.

I do not mean to judge others' parenting styles when it comes to homeschooling vs. public school, cloth diapers vs. disposable, time out vs. spanking. In my opinion those are disputable matters. However there are issues that I feel totally violate Scripture and *that's* what I hate.

The Sacrifice Of Thanksgiving

This has been quite a week at my house. I've been shown more in this one week than I have in a year. And every day it has been something else. Something new. Something unexpected than leaves me shaking my head.

Monday started the week with our 5th robbery since we moved here.

Tuesday I got a glimpse into the world of vastly different parenting styles...that I hated by the way.

Wednesday we were spared from a very serious accident.

Thursday we witnessed an altercation on the soccer field in which no one would admit to wrong doing. Horrible attitudes.


Everyday there has been danger for my kids' physical or emotional well being. Anger, tears, and confusion has marked this week. I have felt threatened every day. It's been an eye-opener and has put me in a "mood" as my husband called it. A mood of reflection to be sure. And wondering if some of this falls under the "disputable matters" that Pastor Dale preached on recently. I think not...but that's another post. In any case my kids have had to endure many sermons as I've tried to work this out in my head.

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." Ps 50:23

I read this this morning and the Lord prompted me to turn my heart toward thanksgiving instead of myself.

It is easy to give away those things that don't cost us anything but a sacrifice is something different. A sacrifice does cost something and when we are angry, confused, threatened, or intent on blaming others then to offer up thanksgiving is a sacrifice indeed. It is those times that we are hard pressed to show thankfulness.

But ya know what? When I turn my eyes toward Jesus He does show me how to be thankful in a threatening world. Thankful for His mercy and care this week. Thankful for the education and confirmation. Thankful for so much. In whom do I place my trust? Parents doing a horrible job of raising up the next generation or a loving God that will be exalted in the earth?

Look at the return on that sacrifice...honoring God and preparing the way for salvation to be revealed!

In this verse, the word "salvation" is "yesa"...translated to mean "deliverance, protection, implying that a victory of God is at hand".

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Ps 46:10-11

Beautiful Savior, Wonderful Counselor, Star Of The Morning, Risen One, my hope is in YOU and I do offer up thanksgiving with all my being. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Yesterday

Yesterday was quite a day. Full of disappointment, tears, thankfulness, forgiveness, a myriad of emotions really.

My sons were playing with their air soft guns when a kid no older than 14 rode up on his bike, stole them, and sped off. My boys were left speechless, mad, and defenseless.

And I have to ask...where was his dad? And what is his mother doing all day that he is loose to ride the streets and steal from others? How has this young boy been taught that he has no conscience whatsoever? Will they even notice that he comes home with 2 brand new air soft pistols that have somebody else's name on them?

So of course my immediate reaction was fury that my boys were violated that way. Then thankfulness that my eldest son kept his head and did what was right. The rest of the day I had to work through the forgiveness part.

And I do forgive him. We lost 2 guns. Big deal. This boy lost a lot more. Now at 13/14yo he is a thief.

Yesterday morning we started the day with Psalm 37. It speaks of God's blessing on the righteous and destruction on the wicked. I pray that the Lord will have mercy on this kid. And I know that if not for the grace of God it would be my sons in his place.

The Shoe Prayer

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm." Ps 37:23

Here is a prayer to pray with your little one when you're tying her shoes. And if you pray it out loud, you'll soon hear it on her lips too!

Please Lord, make her ways delightful to you and make her steps firm. Amen

This Weekend

~A long lazy weekend with nothing on the calendar. Beautiful weather and healthy kids. God is good.

~Eldest is loose! Sorta. She got her driving permit anyway. Now she has to have it for one year, log 40 hours of driving experience + 10 hrs of night driving. I took her driving yesterday for 30 minutes. I thought it would be scary but it was kinda fun. Only 49 1/2 hours to go.

~Honey has another wedding scheduled in the spring!

~G'ma and Paw Paw gave Lane some money to spend on Buzz. We took him to Pets&Stuff, weighed him (23# @ 10 wks), and she got him a new leash and a couple of toys. The owners even threw in 3 free toys as they were trying to get rid of Christmas merchandise. I think he's set. He was quite the attraction and Lane liked showing off her baby.

~Shhhh...my house is quiet. Honey took 7 kids and 2 dogs to the park for 3 hours. Is he wonderful or what? Babyest is sleeping and Bird is playing quietly.

~After Mally's nap I let her make stew and cupcakes with me. She loves the kitchen. After Christmas I bought these star cupcake cups on sale. A perfect time to use them. We just used a plain cake mix and when everyone else comes home I'm going to let them decorate their own star with icing and sprinkles. They will be so surprised.

~During the quiet time I cut out all my coupons and planned out my shopping for the week. I also got the little boys school figured out for next week. They are at the growing stage where things are changing fast. New flash cards every week, different things to consider. I like this time.

~Here's my dinner menu this week + a couple of extras that were requested that I don't wanna forget to make. I stopped menuing breakfast, lunch, and tea as I found that to be overkill. I just try to be careful to think ahead.

• enchiladas with beans and rice
• spaghetti, salad, bread
• turkey w/ stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans or broccoli
• chicken salsa pasta, salad and bread
• spinach and tomato frittata with hash browns and toast
• Pizza and salad
• Salmon (date night) and onion rings
• brownies
• apple salad
• carrot cake

~Plans next week...2 soccer games, 1 parent meeting, worship practice, and Joey's b-day. Story time, get back in the flylady routine, and cook with COW

~2 new rules at our house. See if you can guess the stressful time of day.

• Cow helps with dinner EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.
• No asking Momma any questions while I'm working on dinner. Not "what are we having?" Or "Who's your favorite character in Winnie The Pooh?" Nothing. You can talk to me and help but don't ask me any question that I have to think about!

~Please consider my book study and hurry and order your book! We have 6 so far and I think it'll be a good discussion.

My New Blog

Come join me in a new online book study. I think it'll be fun to review this very practical book together.

The pace is slow so it will be NOT be overwhelming. And PLEASE don't lurk...just jump right in and join us.

Check it out here.

It's MINE!

Two of my kids were fighting yesterday. It was a misunderstanding involving ownership of a tape measure. It wasn't even a nice tape measure. It was one of those junky free ones you get when you buy mini blinds.

Neither of them could see anything that was their fault but instead blamed the other with the prideful angry countenance that comes from being "completely in the right".

It reminded me of the many fights misunderstandings that I've had with Honey over the last 20 years. It's never my fault. It's always his. And then somehow this annoying thing happens where the Lord slowly softens my heart and I start to see my side of it. My sin is revealed and his isn't quite so offending. It happens every single time. Every Single Time.

In our regular reading was Psalm 32. The theme is forgiveness. Imagine that!
It turned out to be a good reminder for all of us. So we talked about it and slowly I saw the faces of my children change. They apologized to each other and my mother heart smiled.

Boy could I relate! Like my 2 squabblers I tend to cling to my right to my tape measure, willing to risk relationships in an effort to keep what was never mine to begin with. It always seems important at the time but later it turns out that it was all silly and didn't matter at all. As I was listening to my kids explain what happened, I just wanted to roll my eyes and to somehow make them see how dumb this was.

I wonder if God does that with me??

A Perfect Gift

Several years ago my daughter had the opportunity to bless someone with a perfect gift. My cousin was a missionary and was off to a country where believers do not have the same freedoms we enjoy. In addition, it took about 8 months worth of wages to purchase one Bible.

With the help of her siblings, she purchased several Bibles to send with Eddie. He passed them out as the Lord led and reported the joy of those who received them. He even made a video of a couple thanking her personally!

Imagine saving up 8 months wages for something and finally having it in your hand. How careful you would treat it, how precious it would be. Never tossed aside. Never misplaced.

I am thankful to live in a country where I have the freedom to read God's Word without fear. I have the provision to own several Bibles all full of Truth. And if I ever want another, I need look no further than my local dollar store!

This morning I was reminded in Psalm 19 of just how perfect a gift God gave us through His Word. It is a gift that.....

• is perfect, reviving, trustworthy, and able to make wise the simple
• right and gives joy to the heart
• radiant and give light to the eyes
• pure, enduring forever, sure, and altogether righteous
• more precious than gold and sweeter than honey
• warns us and by keeping His laws there is great reward.

We received several nice gifts at Christmas time but none met even one of the attributes listed above. I am thankful of this reminder and pray that I never take the gift of God's Word or the freedom to enjoy it for granted.

Boring Stuff But I'm In The Mood To Blog

Is it really only Tuesday? It feels like we've been schooling for like 2 weeks straight. Apparently the weekend was too short. Or maybe, well probably, I was totally spoiled by being on vacation. And now I just can't seem to keep up. I feel busy and pulled and way too tired. Can I be on vacation again?? To tell the truth if I'd just get up and clean my room I know I'd feel a lot better. My bedroom serves as my headquarters and when it's a mess I feel like everything else is too whether it is or not.

~Life with a puppy is busy. Especially for Lane. She's up in the night with him and scrambles around while he sleeps to get everything done before he wakes up. He's one busy boy and requires constant attention when he's awake. He's keeping her on her toes. He reminds me of a new baby in the house only he's messier if ya know what I mean. But ohhhh is he soft! He's learning a little more every day and seems to have a teachable spirit. He likes to please.

~Lots of snow this week. Sledding and snow ball fights and shoveling and hot chocolate.

~I had a good visit with a friend today and we're planning our next book day. We're doing Age Of Opportunity. I'm considering hosting an online discussion with it too. Anyone interested in joining me?

~We dropped our long distance and other frills to save on our phone bill. Instead we're using Skype. Great idea but I have to be sitting at the computer to actually talk on the phone. I can't walk around and do other stuff. Plus there's no door on that room. And I have to share a computer with everyone else. And, and, and.......I obviously haven't gotten the hang of it yet.

~My g'mother sent me a surprise in the mail. She's such a love!

~My cousin Carri had her baby boy this week. You can see how handsome he is here and pray for them on their long journey. I do wish we lived closer. Praise God for His perfect creation!

~Off to clean my room.

Here He Is In All His Funness

He got home last night about 9:30 to a very excited family.

Look at his pretty eyes!

Happy girl!!

Daddy teaching Buzz the sign for "sit". He is deaf as most white Danes are. He is also part Blue Merle and that's where he gets his pretty coloring.

It's hard to get used to not being able to say his name or tell him "no" and get him to respond. You have to wave your hands to get his attention or stomp your foot so he can feel the vibration. He seems smart though and we're already working on signing with him.

He's all puppy! He's everywhere. He's all over the place. He's tons of fun!

Free Buddies Soap!

Here's another $2/1 coupon for Johnson's products. Buddies soaps are around $.97 so you can get 2 free! Thanks Moneysavingmom for posting this.

Buzz

Check him out! Isn't he a love? And by bedtime tonight he will be home. This is our daughter's late Christmas present.

Buzz is a 9 week old Great Dane puppy that is deaf. We are all looking forward to working with him and welcoming him into our family. My daughter loves animals and hopes to work with them one day. We think Buzz will be the perfect introduction to that.

We're adopting him from the Rescue. Wow, what a big deal that is! References, background checks, home visits...goodness. All that is behind us though and Buzz comes home tonight from a foster family in WY.

Welcome home Buzz.

Nevermind

I'm recalling the Southbeach coupon deal at Walgreens. The coupon is for a box of 6 bars and Walgreens only carries the 5 bar box. Too bad.

The other ones work though, I promise!

Freebies At Walgreens!

Go here and print 6 $2/1 coupons (hit your back button). These are on sale 2/$5 with a $5/$15 rebate. Buy 6, use all 6 coupons. Pay $3 OOP and submit rebate. You just made $2!! Hurry though b/c this coupon deal won't last long. Usually the limit is 2. (Thank you Shellie!)

Reynolds foil is .99. Use the $1/1 MQ from a recent Sunday insert to get it free.

Electrasol power balls are free with a small overage when you use the $2.50/1 MQ from Sunday's paper and submit the $1.50 rebate.

Also Fructis shampoo is .99 after coupon in the Easy Saver book. Add that with the $1/1 MQ from Sunday's paper to get it free!

Oatmeal Pancakes

This is our favorite pancake recipe. It's from The Two Sisters cookbook.

Oatmeal Pancakes

5 cups of milk -I like to use 5 C water + 1 1/3 C powered milk
2 sticks of butter melted
1 C flaxseed mixture (below) or 4 eggs
4 T honey

Mix all wet ingredients.

4 C. flour - good with whole wheat
4 C. oats
2 T baking powder
2 t. baking soda
2 t. salt

Mix dry. Combine. Cook on a griddle as you would any pancake recipe. You can also add blueberries, apples, or chocolate chips. Top with Apple Spice Syrup (below).

Flaxseed Mixture

This mixture works as an excellent substitute for eggs. It binds ingredients together and has worked in everything I've tried. Flaxseed is a rich source of fatty acids, which can assist in lowering high cholesterol. They are also pretty inexpensive. I like using this in baked goods and saving my real eggs for something else.

Grind 1/2 C. flaxseed in blender on high speed for about 1 minute.
Add 2 C. water and continue to blend for 2 minutes.

1/4 C. of flaxseed mixture = 1 egg

You can store this in the frige for 2 days.

Apple Spice Syrup

I think I posted this before but last night I made it with honey and it was delicious! Here's the honey version...

6 C. apple juice (use 1 can of concentrate and add 6 C. water)
1 C. honey
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
5 small apples, peeled and chopped small. You can also use pears.
1/2 C. Sure Gel or cornstarch

Combine 5 C. apple juice with the honey, spices,and apples. Bring to a boil and simmer until apples are tender. In a small cup, combine the remaining 1 C. apple juice with the cornstarch stirring to remove lumps. Add this mixture to the boiling apples and stir until thickened. Serve hot.

Happy Birthday #1

"I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High." Ps 9:1

Happy Birthday to Eldest! My baby girl is 17.

I look at her and I do praise my God for bringing us so far, for leading us every step, for growing our family the way He has.

He trusted two very young, selfish, and immature people to raise up this beautiful creation and He did not abandon the work. You see, He has grown us far more in these 17 years than He has her. Oh yes, "I will praise you, O Lord, will all my heart!"

The teen years are such a time of change. She has proven that change can be sweet. We are so proud of who she's become and humbled to have been entrusted to her.

I see great things in store for Eldest this year, Lord willing. Learning to drive and taking the ACT just to name a couple.

Today we're spending the morning at the library--her favorite place. No school on birthdays!!

~She's a huge football fan. Huge.

~She loves sword fighting and air soft wars. Weapons are great.

~On the other hand, she is quite pink and pretty and girly. When she was little she wanted to wear dresses every day.

~She's the prefect first born. She invests in her siblings hugely and they all adore her.

~She is a fun participant and ready to jump into the action--except in board games. Or as she calls them "BORED" games.

~She has read her Bible all the way through 5 times! I know!

~She has a solid sense of right and wrong.

~She loves God, her family, writing, music, her iPod, and computer. She's quite the techy...is that the word?

Her meals today:

Breakfast- breakfast burritos

Lunch - burgers

Dinner - tacos

Dessert - cookie and ice cream

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! WE LOVE YOU!!

Happy New Year!

The first full week of the new year and that means back to school and work. Part of me could stay on vacation forever but the other part of me is eager to get things in order.

Honey asked me if I had New Year's resolutions. I decided against that this year. I've found I don't do as well with long term goals and usually just wind up forgetting what they were in the first place. Besides they are usually *my* plans and maybe not necessarily what the Lord would have me concentrate on.

So this year I've decided to take it one day at a time asking the Lord what He has for me this day. I want to give it up to Him and grow in the areas that are needed.

Today I read Psalm 8. Verse 2 says, "from the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise." I can think of no sweeter sound than that of my children praising their Father. I'm thankful for the opportunity to teach them to love God and how I long for His praise on their lips!

So today I consider that my special goal and I can't think of a better way to start the new year than by paying special attention to the words and hearts of my kids.

We have several things to pray about. We'll read and work on memorizing Psalm 1. I want to smile and have patient words. I want to resist "sending them off to play" but instead keep them close so I can be consistent to discipline them when necessary. And I will pray for wisdom to not waste any of the time He's given me with them.

Thank You Lord for another year. Please guide me through each day of it. Amen.