Look It!

Our first 3D puzzle! A Christmas present.

You can't tell from these pix but she did have some help.

Wanna hear a secret? Honey hid the directions when they weren't looking.

TaDa! Nifty huh?

Lifted Up!

Twas a messy day today. But God brightened it up, dried my tears, and set me back on the right path through a couple of dear friends who blessed me with the reminder of Truth.
And I thought I'd post some of it in case anybody else could use some uplifting!

~We can't fix anything. Only God can. We can not trust the arm of man. (amen!)

~Tormenting thoughts of terror and panic are not from God.

~God's truth changes fact.

~What satan means for evil, God uses for good.

~Isaiah 53:1 "Who will believe the report of the Lord?"

~If it isn't encouraging, uplifting, edifying, or lining up with Scripture it is not from God.

~The enemy can not take our salvation but he can ruin our lives. Life is not a playground but a battlefield. We need to be suited up for battle.

~....less crying, more resting.

~Spiritual revival is a threat to the enemy.

Aren't my sisters wonderful? And as I look back on the timing of the day I also see how perfectly each phone call fit in. Just when I needed it. A sweet e-mail from my man and skyping my pastor's family in CO just topped it off.

Life is good.

The Good And The Bad

Crazy day. Maybe I should name it Wacky Wednesday?

I went to my 2nd opinion doctor today. And it wasn't good. At all.
He said my lab work was "impressively terrible". Numbers that are through the roof and not something he sees often. Such an anomaly that he asked to repeat the labs. I'm thankful for that.

But if the numbers are right then I am looking at a very grim prognosis. An aggressive disease, and with my numbers, could be crippling in 6 months. Six. Months. One look at my hands and I wonder if he's right.

So we talked meds. And very serious side effects....like cancer. And a strict vegetarian diet that he doubts will work on someone like me but humored me anyway b/c I was insistent.

My appt with my 3rd(and last) opinion doctor, who is a natural medicine doctor, is about a month away. And he doesn't think I have a month to wait.

I was reminded of a Verse...no weapon forged against me will prevail. The victory is God's. So I'm good.

Sidenote: This has been a challenging year for my family. And I'm starting to dread the happy-to-see-you question of "How are you?!" that comes when you haven't talked to someone in awhile (and they don't read your blog). I don't know how to answer. "Fine! How are you?" just doesn't fit. And is fake. But it's also unnecessary to unload I'm thinking.... So how do you deal with it??

Enough of that. On to the happy. I titled this post The Good And The Bad. So let's get on with the good.

It was Wednesday ya know. And after coming home and telling the news to my family it was time to leave for Awana. Can you believe that for a split second I thought about not going? I wasn't sure I'd be able to not cry. And I kinda wanted to hang around to make sure Honey was ok and not leave him with so much to deal with. I told you it was a weird day. But staying home and over thinking it would not help anybody. So it was time to do the next thing. And a thing I love too!

5 little boys in my class. Rowdy happy precious ones that I got to share the gospel with. And...they were happy to hear it. And...knew a lot of it. Oh yes.

And when Bigboy rattled off a Verse in game time after being gone for many weeks my heart soared with joy! Not to mention that Joey almost has all the New Testament books memorized! My guys are smart.

So there ya have it. And I'm looking forward to a different kind of day. Maybe "Thrilling Thursday"? That would be good.

Miscellaneous Monday

I have oodles of books to choose from but nothing I wanted to read. I looked in my boys' room, I looked in my girls' rooms. Nothing.

I knew what I wanted but I didn't have it. I wanted The Hiding Place. It was recommended by a friend. I've heard a lot about it. I saw it at the book store. I checked Paper Back Swap...no luck. And my school money was low b/c I just bought a science book.

So I grabbed another book off my shelf. But I'd already read it a couple of times and when I opened it up, I knew that wasn't going to fit the bill.

I'm sitting on the porch reading it when my neighbor comes by to chat. She's my next door neighbor who lets us use her b-ball goal. I set my book down to talk to her. I don't know her well and was very happy for the chance to visit. She notices my book and asks about it and I tell her my story.

She offered up her books to me and wanted me to follow her to her house to look through them. Oh nice! And so many that I'd like. Then she says, "Oh and have you read this one?"

And guess what it is?? THE HIDING PLACE!! Oh happy day. Isn't that just like the Lord to give you something that's just right? Then we went to the garage to pick out a new reader for Mayfee. She's retired from Union and still has a lot of teaching supplies. SWEET.

~This weekend we were invited to the Love Fellowship lunch at Immanuel. The speaker was so cute! She was an animated older lady that you just couldn't help but love. She mentioned that she mails out 75 cards a month! Every month...wow.

But it spurred me on to send out a few myself. A couple of my friends at Immanuel are sick/having surgeries and I ran straight to the store afterward. I love getting stuff in the mail. I think other ppl do too.

~This weekend Honey and the kids cleaned up the back yard and blew all the leaves off the back porch. I had no idea how bad the porch was. I was just used to it and didn't notice it anymore even though I saw it everyday. I LOVE how clean it is. My bedroom looks out to the porch and now I open the blinds special just to enjoy the cleanliness of it. And no leaf better dare to blow back on it.

~I'm finding my dollar store to be more and more useful to me these days. They are carrying more practical items that are a bargain compared to my grocery stores. Various cleaning supplies, jelly (w/o corn syrup), pasta, tooth paste, school supplies, etc.

~Sunday morning I couldn't open the juice. It was the frozen concentrate kind with the ring around the lid that you have to pull. Well it was a bad RA morning and I couldn't do it. Mally and Zboy tried but were not strong enough. We decided to just wait and have some juice at lunch when more ppl were home to help. But then E came over to grab a music stand for church. Perfect! And he opened our juice. My littles were so impressed and exclaimed, "WOW, he is SOOO strong!"

~Oh guess what? The girls and I went to a ladies' thing at church tonight and I won the door prize! A cookbook! Yay for me. It's the fund raiser one from the elementary school where my Awana babes go.

~This morning the girls and I headed out early to Savers for the 50% sale. I love that they open at 7am on those days. We were in and out and back for breakfast and school.

Today's meals...
Breakfast - cereal plus LB's new biscuits (from the Family Feasts book)
Lunch - chicken salsa pasta and bread
Dinner - spaghetti
No snacks, no tea. Gotta bake up something tomorrow....

Cookbook Reviews

And 3 of them at the same time! That's what snow days will do for ya. Did I tell ya'll how much I loved those snow days? ....maybe I did.

I'll start with the worst first.

My New Mediterranean Cookbook by Jeannette Seaver
Nope. Did not like this one at all. AT all.
Grand Pot-au-Feu with Warm Marrow Brioches will never make it on this southern girl's table. And that's what the whole book is full of. There's no foods that real people actually eat. Each recipe has a huge list of ingredients. And where would I get duck fat (yes duck fat!) for the Galette Of Potatoes?

This one goes straight back to the library shelf.

Then there is The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Durmmond

The new cookbook of all cookbooks. Everyone I hear talk about this loves it and I was thrilled when the library got a copy.

But, what's all the fuss about?? Really. I don't get it. Yeah, I like ppl's pix of kids and dogs but it's not quite what I'm looking for in a cookbook.
And yes, there are some recipes that look simply mouth watering. But they're also kinda heavy and Paula Deen-ish. And that's not the way I cook.

Will you still be my friend if I don't like it?

This one goes back too.


But now Family Feasts For $75 A Week by Mary Ostyn is more like it! And the fact that Owl Haven was my first blog crush has nothing to do with it. I promise.

Mary is a mom of 10 and shares all sorts of goodness about saving money at the grocery store. There are 200 recipes with real ingredients to make real foods that real people eat. And did I mention that they sound delicious? Most of my current 2 week menu is centered around this new find and I'm eager to try them out.

The recipes are easy to prepare, involve no canned soups, and nothing that you can't pronounce. I did laugh a little at the recipe called "Fresh Cabbage Salad" that she says is made in the southern part of the United States. That would be Cole Slaw, ya'll.

While most of these recipes look generally on the healthy side, they also look easy to tweak and will probably work with whatever flours/sweeteners you're comfy with.

I have 2 more renewals left so this little treasure will be camping out at my house for a while!

2 Cor 4:16-17

"...inwardly we are being renewed day by day." V 16

Day by day. Don't you love that!? If you are a child of God, He is constantly working with you to conform you to the likeness of His Son. So no matter how you screwed up yesterday or last week or last year, you can be glad to know that God is moving you forward and using those things to achieve for you an eternal glory.

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

"So, (I love this part!) we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary (praise God!), but what is unseen is eternal."

Hallelujah!!

Miscellaneous Monday (um, yesterday)

Guess what ya'll!? My 2nd daughter just got a tutoring job working with a 6th grader at Union 3 days a week. I'm so happy for her and excited for the opportunity it will be for her.

And don't ya'll love this weather? I'm thinking I need to take the kids on a picnic. What do you think?

~Before the snow hit, I ran to the library and grabbed 2 cookbooks to play with. I got another one yesterday. I've found that our libraries have a great selection of even the newer cookbooks and I don't hafta spend a dime.

~Two Wednesdays of snow meant 2 Wednesdays without Awana. Imagine my surprise when I didn't die. But ya know what? There's no snow for tomorrow so that means I get to spend some time with my cutsie Awana peeps.

~I working on planning VBS at my church. There were several people who came forward Sunday to volunteer to help. AND they were in the areas where I needed it most!

~Tomorrow marks the 2 week mark of J's surgery. He's just about back to normal. It took longer than I thought, but he did great. Now he gets to pick a whole day of special meals just like his birthday.

~Today I found myself at piano lessons with an hour and a half of nothing to do. I planned something to do and took my new cookbook to look through and write out ideas. I also took a back up book. But my cookbook was terrible. And where was my other book? Gone. Somehow it didn't make it all the way to piano. Grrrr..... But it was ok. I had my planner and in the back of my planner I have 4 whole pages of Scripture that I've been working on. So I was able to read over those and pray while I waited.

~One of my doctors have recommended the Mediterranean Diet for my RA. Sounds good, I thought since I like raw foods anyway and already eat whole grains and olive oil. I swung by the library and snagged the first Med Diet cookbook available. And it stinks. I mean do people really eat eggplant caviar? Or how 'bout French-Greek Cold Dumplings of Cauliflower Mousse?
Gotta find another one.

~I've started keeping a Wellness Notebook for my RA to chart foods, weather, rest/exercise, etc. I'm hoping I'll find some commonalities with my good days/bad days.

~I needed an extra copy of our science book for our kids' science teacher. A friend of mine let me borrow hers. The very day she gave it to me I came home and found an e-mail saying that I won an Ebay auction for that book that I forgot I bid on. Ohhh, I was disappointed...especially since I wanted that money for other books.

~My 3yo was sniffing his nose. Finally he said, "Momma, can you pick my nose? You're the best one at picking it." Yep, I'm a mom of many talents.

~As I type at 8:30 tonight, Honey is at work. He did come home at the regular time and took everyone to TKD, but now he's back at work. It rarely happens, but he is on call this week and sometimes you get that. I appreciate how hard he works for us!

Making Valentines

Paper, scissors, glue everywhere!

A palm tree valentine? Nice.
Pretty!

Only one more sleep!

What's Not To Love?

~happy kids

~giggles and smiles

~Honey home early

~chili, warm bread, and apple crisp

~getting to wear your snow clothes

Lane swept Ms Ruby's driveway while the boys stole her snow. They always talk about all the "wasted" snow in yards where there are no children to mess it up. But Ms Ruby gave them permission to take hers.

Happy boy.

Carrying home buckets of snow!

Aiming a snowball.

Working together to make something great.

Love Love Love this weather!

This Just Out...

I went to bed last night determined to wake up to a good day. A day where I would smile, refrain from negative words, and be an encourager. Ya know, just to try to turn around the atmosphere of trouble.

Then I woke up. And there went that.

In fact, the day went so severely wrong that Honey came home from work for awhile this morning. And in the midst of trying to clean up a mess, the phone rang.

It was the nurse from my doctor's office to say that all my blood work was back. And it is Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ohhhh, was I thankful he was home! Like I can't even describe how much.

So there ya have it.

But it's ok. Or as I like to say, a'right. And yes I did bawl and sob cry my eyes out b/c news like that is just a disappointment even if you think you knew it anyway.

But ya know what? It's a'right. I have a peace about it. The peace that passes all understanding. Henry Blackaby says, "Perfect Love won't give you second best." Smart guy.

And my sweet man whispered in my ear, "in sickness and in health" and then offered to buy me a pink wheelchair. Wow, what more could I ask?! (Don't laugh, I'm serious.)

Renee told me to just walk in this day. And she's right. I don't wanna let the fear thoughts of what might be rob my joy of the day. Because today I can walk, and wash dishes, and get dressed by myself, and sit on the floor and tell my boys a story, and color eggs with my littles.

Soooo...it was a good day after all.

Busted Cars And Cookie Jars

I'm reading the 1000 Gifts book. Sometimes I like it. Sometimes it's a bit hard to swallow. But the gist is giving thanks in all things. ALL.

I had never heard of it before until I won it on Tracy's blog. Then I heard about it everywhere. And everyone loves it. I do too. Most of the time.

But it's one thing to read something and agree with it. It's another thing all together to put it into practice. I try. And I am thankful. But I also wonder. And I think it's still ok to be disappointed, discouraged, and sad. Even if there are plenty of things to be thankful for at the same time. Don't ya think? Or no?

I have visited doctor's offices more this year than I have in many many years. Or most years put together for that matter. As I sit and wait I look around and wonder why the people are there. It's never good, whatever it is.

As I was waiting for my turn for lab work one day, an elderly man came out, finished. He was struggling to put his coat on. I recognize his pain, the way he moves. I have it too. I helped him with his jacket and he said, "Thank you." and "That left arm is getting harder to find." What do I say? Just "you're welcome". And smile. And I prayed that his lab work would turn out ok.

Then there was the one on the icy day. My car did NOT like the ice, but I made it just fine. Of course there was the parking lot to navigate next. I look up and see a man. Walking very slow. Tiny steps. A Walmart sack in one hand and using an umbrella as a make-shift cane in the other. I made my way over to him and took his bag. I figured two was better than one. And we walked together to his car trying not to slide.

He says, "I just got diagnosed with Parkinsons." I think I may be the first person he told.
OOohhhhh.......
And then, "But I'm 80 years old and I'm thankful for all the years of good health I've had."
And I just wanted to cry. Still do.

Both gentlemen were thankful. I doubt they are the types to complain. But the disappointment was still there. The humility. The quietness. And I think that's ok. Being thankful isn't the think-positive idea. It's the knowing by faith that something good will emerge from the bad/painful/dark/sad b/c God says it will. It's just getting to the other side....gracefully.

And for me, the gracefully part is the kicker. I'm not so graceful. I'm more the type to throw a big fit. I'm learning though. And trying. And thinking....

Our Saturday

Snow again!

We love it.

Isn't he cute?

Fresh bread

Boys and Battleship all sprawled out on the floor.

And chicken soup.

Then a nacho cook-off! Meg vs Efum.

Delicious!!

Taking Care Of My Boy...and other stuff

J is doing great. I've slept on the couch with him for 2 nights now. The first night we didn't get any sleep. He'd wake up crying and whimpering and not feeling good. Finally at 2am, I gave him some meds and gave up on sleep. He said, "Can I cuddle with you?" Oh yeah!! So we watched Benji. Then we watched another Benji. And then his daddy was coming in to leave for work.

He is so thankful for any kindness shown to him. I can't even tell you how many times he's thanked me for this or that. It sure makes it easy to take care of him. He's warm and snuggly and his momma is loving getting to love on him.

He ate today. Before today jello and water was about all that would go down. Maybe a little applesauce. He didn't want ice cream or pudding or juice. Just water. But today he ate some soup and nibbled on a tortilla. He's hungry and wanting some real food. And I'm glad he didn't want the sugary stuff. His body is craving nutrients.

Snow! And he can't go out to play. But Honey is home and they are playing Wii. Again, he has a great attitude.

Other news....Meg wrecked the car this morning coming home from school. I feel bad for her. Now we're weighing our options and figuring out what to do. I'll hafta drive her to school for awhile.

35 days into the new year. 330 left.

J's Surgery

Our Fine Nine went in this morning to get his adenoids and tonsils out. This has been our only surgery except for Lane's tubes when she was a baby. Ecclesiastes says, "the end of a matter is better than its beginning." Amen to that.

So we got up bright and early to check in. When we got there, our good friend George was there waiting for us. That was a great distraction for Honey. Thank you George!

Waiting. Playing Uno. And reading Hank The Cowdog.
Getting ready.

Suited up. He had a great attitude about everything until he heard he would have to dress into a gown. That didn't go over so well. Especially since there might be "girl" nurses who might see his underwear. I think these were the first tears he shed over the whole thing.

Wheeling him out.

And we waited. Honey got us some food and George headed home.

Meanwhile back at home, his siblings were making jello for him and a big welcome home poster.

Finally done!

Oh my poor baby!

We took him home and put him to bed. And Honey headed to the store for his meds. And pudding. And applesauce. And mac&cheese. And a special cup for him.

And now. Just look!

He took a nap. Ate a whole box of jello. And is a new man.

At this very moment he's up and playing Wii with his brothers.

You would hardly know he had surgery just a couple of hours ago!

I Love Winter

And I love this picture of my snow babies. Yes, it was "way back" in January and today won't look like this. But I still love the cold...even though it's cold.

And the valentines to make.
And warm soups and hot breads.
And the closing of schools (!)


And there ya have it. The first 3 of my 1000 gifts.


Ya know what else? Sometime today I will probably receive my Azure Standard order right to my front door. Thank you Connie! And that means more wheat and apples and honey and whatever else I ordered that I don't remember.


Just in time to make some applesauce for my boy who gets his tonsils out tomorrow. I love you my Fine Nine!

Ramblings Of Recently

A new week and a new month (almost). 1/12 of the year is gone. Already it has been eventful.

~Eventful might be the word to describe this week too. Lots of appts. My son gets the rest of his braces off today. Honey and I go to the rheumatologist tomorrow. And our "fine nine" has surgery to remove adenoids and tonsils Wednesday.

~The "eventfulness" is catching up with Honey and I'm a bit concerned for him.

~Did you see my green and yellow belts? They are so happy. This week we get to add their service patches and the special kick patches to their outfits. What are those outfits called anyway?

~Today is our first science class since before Christmas. I've missed Andie.

~I didn't get to talk about Awana last week so I'll give you a quick peek into the past. Fantastic as always and the youth from the week before were back. I'm hoping for a chance to get to know them better as time goes on. I only had 3 little boys in my class but guess what?

I'm sitting in the sanctuary waiting for the welcoming/opening thingy when I feel a tap on my shoulder from behind. I turn around and there is my BIGBOY!! He's BACK!! I missed him and loved having his pretty smile again. And it was cute how he snuck up on me like that.

I didn't get to have class with the youth this time but I promised them I'd sit with them at dinner. But then! Oh no. MJ smashed...and I mean smashed his finger during game time and I had to take him home. He handled it very well. If it were me, I'd still be crying! But by the time I got back I had missed dinner and my friends were gone. :(

I'll probably hafta miss this week b/c of my son's surgery.

~I made corndog muffins for lunch last week. I mixed up a batch of cornbread batter. Cut up hotdogs in it and baked them in muffin pans. My kids went wild over these!

~We had a fun cookout with friends Saturday. The weather was perfect and it was great to get to know them better. Weird to think there is snow in the forecast now.

~Just finished Deuteronomy and plunging into Joshua. I'm praying for God to open my eyes to the wonderful things in His Word.

~I'm reading 1000 Gifts and love it! Thank you Tracy! I'm fixing to order another copy for a friend of mine who is sick. It seems like so many ppl I see are struggling this year already. I'm working on keeping a thankful heart.

Off to start the day. The week. The month. And Joshua.....

"Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1: 9

Promotions!

Saturday was TKD testing for my crowd. Dark pix that are posting weird, but you get the idea.

Dont they look good in green and yellow?

Group picture!

Then a service project. They filled bud vases for local nursing homes. The Townsends always make testing so much fun. A couple of our kids won extra patches for special kicks. A first!

Pizza afterwards, breaking boards, and lotsa smiles.

Congratulations to my green and yellow belts!

TKD Nights

Tues and Thurs is TaeKwonDo and that means just me and my Birdy at home. I love having this time with her by myself!

We cleaned up the kitchen and finished the muffins that Lane started.

Then we ate one (b/c we could!).

Played Pretty Pretty Princess.
Guess who won.

And we goofed off with the camera. Always fun!

Later she asked me if we could watch a princess movie. I pulled up Princess And The Frog on Netflix but hated the dark/evil of it and turned it off.

So we heated up leftovers and waited for the family.

I love you Birdy Pie!!

Today Is Better

than yesterday.

Yesterday I was hit with a sketchy diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Not regular-everybody'll-probably-get-it-sometime-arthritis. But the autoimmune kind. The disabling kind. The kind that my sweet family will have to deal with for the rest of my life. And that's the worst part.

But today! Today is a new day! And today I can type about it, and think about it, and maybe talk about it (haven't tried that yet) without sobbing crying.

Today I have less pain. And that's an added gift!

The Lord is SO gracious to me! He has given me His Word to stand on and some new insight into some Scripture I've had memorized for years. He has given me my precious family who loves me and prays for me. He has given me friends who are interested in helping me figure this out and will listen to me think. And my blog to type out all that rolls around in my brain. And ya know what? Tonight He has given me Awana with some sweet kids that will listen to me teach them about Jesus. (And I have a surprise for them tonight too!)

Today I get to spend most of the day at home and some one-on-one with my "fine nine". Today I have all my chicks in the nest for most of the day. I love them. And today I get to love on my big handsome man who whispered in my ear that I was precious to him.

Yep, today is better. And if only the Lord would return, I would say "today is best".

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matt 6:33-34

Saturday In Pix

A sunny day! And just right for football.

And a bike wreck.

I needed some poster board for a VBS project. Honey went with me and we took Lane, Josh, and Jes...who is COW. It was a rather short trip in Hobby Lobby and while we were walking through a fragile aisle full of glass vases and fanciful things Jes says rather wisely, "I guess I better not touch anything."

Good idea son.

I'm checking out and Honey and the kids wait up front and sit on the furniture. The furniture for sale. And just as I walk up..

WHAMSLAM!!

And Jes is on the floor. On top of the chair tv tray (that he thought was a stool) that was his resting spot. He busted it all the way to the floor.

It was hilarious!! ....but maybe you had to be there. For whatever reason the Hobby Lobby lady didn't think it was so funny. (Even though she was there. ) Huh.

Anyway, we paid for it. Way too much.

At least it was on sale.

But seriously. It's a $8 tv tray that costs $45 after tax.

But it was still funny.

Honey fixed it enough for Jes to keep by his bed to keep stuff on. Poor guy, this'll pretty much wipe out his Christmas money though. That part's not so funny.

The rest was though. Trust me.

We also went to Walmart (and didn't break anything) and got scooters on clearance for $10!!
We bought 4.

We kept one. The others are for gifts. Probably for some Awana kiddos for Christmas(!)

Oops. This picture is from yesterday. It's cute though, don't ya think? You can't see it here, but he has lifesaver eyes from one of the neighbors and an icicle nose.

No more pix b/c ...well nevermind. Let's just say Blogger makes it hard sometimes.

So as for the rest ..minus the pix

~woke up with much less pain today than any other day of the week.

~listened to the Crazy Love audio book with Honey.

~had a nice phone chat with my bestie.

~made some hamburger buns that only Marc liked.

~read a few almost a million books to Zboy.

~floofed his red blankey.

~and sat on the bed with my girly.

Great day!

Lovin' The Snow!

Do you know how much I love this kid!? She is sweeping the snow off our elderly neighbor, Ms Ruby's, driveway. Ms Ruby is one of the neighbors that usually likes us and Lane's sweetness is one of the reasons. Of course I also thought that there was a good chance that Ms Ruby might be upset with her for messing up the snow. (That sorta thing happens around here.)

Funny thing is when Lane came in she said she was hoping Ms Ruby wouldn't catch her b/c she might be mad at her for messing up the snow. Turns out Ms Ruby came out with candy for her, thanking her. So we're safe!

Love this face!

Fixin' to make a snowman.

Everyone walked to the park to sled (except Mally and ZBoy) and I put on a pot of soup and hot chocolate. Perfect day!

One of my favorite things is bundling up snow babies. I love pulling out snow suits, seeing which one fits who now, poking little fingers into gloves, and making sure everyone remembers their hats.

Then off they go! And they come in with little red cheeks, cold noses, messy clothes, and begging for hot chocolate. Love it.

Awana

An interesting night to be sure.

Only 3 in my class this week. Tis flu season ya know and lots of ppl were gone, including teachers. I enjoyed my boys though and we got to work. Only they were bouncing off the walls! And I couldn't seem to settle them down. I threatened them with push-ups..and they thought it was funny. Then MJ asked if that was like a strike. (The Awana policy is 3 strikes and you're out.) Pleeeeeze, like I would ever give one of my guys a strike!? Perish the thought.
So I just smiled and suggested a game. I pulled out a Bible and we had a race to see who could memorize the best. I picked a long hard Verse. And I lost! (Have I told you how smart they are?)

Game time for my littles and I got to fill in for the 5th-6th grade boys' teacher. Fifth and Sixth grade boys. And I only knew one of them. There were 5 and 4 were new. And did I mention one of them was a 16yo girl? And nobody had a book. And they were all over the place. Apparently there was some sort of competition to see who could be the most obnoxious.
My tactics I use on my littles would certainly not work here.

So I pulled out my camera and immediately got their attention. "Will you put it on FB?"
"Can I see?" "Wait that was a bad one, do it again."

Finally. And by the grace of God they all happened to sit down at the same time. I was trying to learn names. I came to the last 2 who would NOT tell me their names. So I told them I would call them Fred and Lucy. For whatever reason, this was hilarious and they decided to talk. Lucy's name is Kaylie and Fred's name is....Erica. Fred is a girl? I thought I misunderstood so I asked him to spell it. Yep, I'm an idiot.

Ok, 3 rowdy boys and 2 teenage girls. And there was not a chance in the world I was going to try to work on any Awana stuff with this group. So I told them we'd have a quiz with prizes. I always have prizes in my Awana bag. I dig through. No prizes. I did uncover a green lifesaver and a tiny bottle of bubbles from Halloween. And you would've thought they were five dollar bills.

I had their attention. And just started talking. Asking them specific questions about God, telling them about Ps 147:5, and talking about the Way to heaven. They opened up, settled down, had lots of questions. Lots of comments. Totally involved.

And I was blessed.

Erica asked me if she could sit with me at dinner b/c she wanted to talk. Oh yes.
I shared my food with her and we talked about her life.

I am wow-ed and humbled.

I pray that Mr. Barry is feeling better, but I really hope I get a chance to have his class again.

Side note: Thank you for praying for MJ and Stormy. They went back to court and now get to have their momma every weekend! So much better. It looks like they will get to go home permanently soon. MJ was so excited telling us about his new apartment...and even his cat Boo was there!! We prayed in class and gave thanks to God for answering this little boy's prayer. Happy boy. Happy Awana teacher. Thank you God!

Redemption Part 3

This week we are talking about conversion in our series of The Doctrine Of Salvation.


Conversion is at the heart of what the Bible is about.

There are 2 parts to conversion... turning away from sin (repentance) and turning to Christ(faith).

3 Keys To Repentance

*Knowledge of sin - Do you know you are a sinner?
*Hatred of sin - Do you hate it or justify it? 2 Cor 7:10
*Turning from sin - Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19

3 Keys To Faith

*Knowledge of Christ - knowledge of the gospel. Rom 10:17
*Love of Christ - It is not enough to know the facts. What are your affections set on?
*Trusting in Christ - John 3:16 Acts 16:31

One of the reasons I'm loving this series so much is that I want to be more effective in sharing the gospel. But more than that, I want to feel comfortable with it. Never second guessing what I said or wondering if I left something out. I'm praying that God will "open wide my horizons" . In the meantime, thank you for letting me share it with you!

Ramblings Of Recently....

I'm officially old. And I'm trying to be ok with it.

Ever since Christmas I've had lots of muscle/joint pain. But it was manageable and not such a big deal. Just a nuisance really.

Until today, which started last night, then there was big unmanageable not-able-to-smile-at-all PAIN in my shoulder. And nothing to do about it. Nothing worked. So I sat and tried not to cry.

Dinner was approaching and there was no way I would be able to cook. So I gave the kids instructions and set them to work. But, oh no! We were missing the main ingredient. How?? Because we never run out of that. But I guess at some point you do run out of it. (Not everything can be like lentils, ya know.)

So I gave up. I was hurting too much to think about it and trying really hard not to cry. Somebody said something about cereal and I was good with that. But then, my sweet eldest baby girl took initiative and came up with her own idea. And she went to the store. And she bought me some flowers. And she cooked it. (not the flowers) And she cleaned it up!

I was sooo blessed.

After a while everything was getting better. The pain was subsiding. I was able to smile. And move. And not growl at anybody who even looked like they were thinking about touching me.
Big relief.

I'm guessing I'll have a better night tonight. I have a doctor appt next Monday, if I live that long. Internet searching makes me think I have rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. I hope not.
That sounds so old.

I hope I'm able to drive tomorrow for piano. If not at least by Wednesday. If I miss Awana that would truly be a tragedy....for everyone who has to live with me.

~Anyhoo. On to funner stuff. We have a reward system called the marble jar. When kids are caught being sweet, helpful, or kind they put one marble in the jar. When the jar is full we have a big treat. This time it was skating. At the real skating rink.

We kinda went all out. Honey spent some time adjusting skates and switching out wheels. We even made a trip to the store for a couple of new pairs.

They've only been once before and they had a blast. It really is a fun family outing. And people are generally nice and don't run over you. They have these little walker/skater type things made out of pvc pipe with wheels on the bottom for little kids.

Mally and Zboy had never been before. This was their first time. Mally was pretty much glued to her skater the whole time and moved at a snail's pace all the way around over and over again. Zboy on the other hand, was aggressive with the whole thing and would have no part of the skater. He was skating on his own and loved every lap.

Race time! My boys love anything competitive. Even ZBoy wanted to race. Last time we went Jes won the race in his age group. This time he asked, "Since I always win (always?) should I give everyone a head start?" HA!! My boy's a bit over confident, and I was thinking a loss might do him some good. But he won. And I was happy for him. Just gotta work on some humility issues.....

~I'm so excited about VBS this summer! I'm thinking and thinking. I'll get to do it twice this year. First at Immanuel, then at our church. Sweet!!

~It looks like our "fine nine" will have surgery at the end of the month to remove adenoids and tonsils. His adenoids present a 75% blockage and on a scale of 1 - 4 his tonsils got a 3. Hopefully this will solve many of his issues. Oh his momma is sad for him! I cry if I think about it too much. So instead I'm thinking of all the fun things we can buy do for him when he comes home. His siblings are in on it too and Jes was eyeballing some applesauce at the store and asking if we could get it for his brother.

~4 kids in piano lessons now. So far so good. We take school work to do while we wait on everybody's turn and I just sit and make sure everybody works. Meg is still home and holds down the fort and keeps the littles happy.

~Remember our family newspaper from a couple of years ago? It's been resurrected by LB! Mostly it's a fun place for the kids to publish their writing and gives them a good reason to write.
We pulled out all the old ones last week to give LB an idea on the format. It was so much fun to read back over the family happenings and see the pix. Baby Mayf learned to walk, Jes rode a 2 wheeler, new puppy, .... lots of family history. If you want to be on the mailing list, let me know!

And to my homeschool friends, this is a really fun writing assignment and a great way to keep extended family up-to-date.

~Ok, I guess that's it. Off to heat up my rice bag and take my not-nearly-as-bad-as-it-was shoulder to bed.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

This is one of my favorite Christmas presents. I read it every chance I could and was disappointed when it was over.

Overwhelmed By A Relentless God...I mean what's not to love about that?

One of the last lines in the book reads, "The world needs Christians who do not tolerate the complacency of their own lives." pg 172 And I think that pretty much sums it up.

Francis Chan is able to hold your feet to the fire in a humble way. It's a likeable read, but not an easy one. What I mean by that is that it is full of love, and humor sometimes, yet saturated in Truth.

It spoke to some issues that have been heavy on my heart lately. In particular, closing the gap.
"We either close the gap or don't take the words of the Bible literally." pg 121

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality. 2 Cor 8:13-15

There's so much to say here. And God continues to show me places where I can do more. I'm watching and waiting.... and eager. I do NOT want to be complacent. I do NOT want to consider any possessions my own. I do NOT want to waste my life for the sake of comfort. I want to spend my life doing things that may cost me in this life but will be more than worth it in eternity. pg 116

At the end of the book there are little snapshots of what this looks like in the lives of many people. Each one is different and encouraging.

There are videos that go with the chapters plus a couple extras. Fun and different. You can check it out at http://crazylovebook.com

Food Talk

I haven't gotten back into the menu swing since the holidays. Payday is Friday and I knew it was cutting it close ...both in money and food, so during piano I made up our menu for the rest of the week trying to remember what was left at home.

After a short trip to the store I was happy to still have $13 in my food envelope with nothing else to buy.

Here's what we're eating...
Dinners - spaghetti, bread, salad
Owen Chicken and rice with chips
Pizza

Lunches - pb&j sandwiches and apples
leftovers

As for breakfasts, I really don't know. You see I just gave LB the breakfast jurisdiction. Planning and fixing. I think tomorrow is cream of wheat and pumpkin bread sometime after that.

Tonight I made our favorite pancake recipe. I do NOT like making pancakes b/c it's so messy and takes forever. But we had the stuff.

Oatmeal Pancakes

4 C flour
4 C oats
2 T baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients and make a well in the center. Then add...

6 1/2 C milk
1 C flax seed mixture (or 4 eggs)
1 C melted butter
1/4 C honey

Mix everything and fry on griddle.

If you're looking for fluffy golden pancakes, you won't find them here. These are the ugliest pancakes you've ever seen. No matter what I do, I can't make them pretty. But they are healthy, filling, and yummy.

I also made some sausage with some ground turkey I had the freezer and some strawberry syrup.

Bananas!! 10 cents a pound was a screaming deal and we bought a ton. We loaded them up on the puzzle table and stacked them high.

The first order of business was banana pudding. This silenced those that were making fun of me and my bananas. Then there were smoothies and banana bread and one of my kids' faves....sliced bananas tossed with coconut.

And anytime anybody wanted a snack the answer was the same : banana.

I also made Abigail's banana bread recipe b/c I fell in love with it when she made it at church. But apparently Abigail's banana bread recipe only works for Abigail. Mine was gross. So maybe she can come over and walk me through it step-by-step? Pleeeeze???

The stack was dwindling and got moved to the fireplace. Finally it was time for the freezer. All hands were busy peeling and packing bananas into freezer bags.

Love it!

And then it was time to deal with some apples. The plan was to can some applesauce. And my little people had a special request "white applesauce". That means applesauce made without the peels. Purists.

I didn't wanna waste them though so I got out another crockpot to add some butter, honey, and cinnamon to them and serve up later.



And then these guys came in and cleaned me out!

So all I had left was one crockpot of apples which cooked down to 1/2 a crockpot of applesauce. The bandits hit again and by the time everyone was done I had 1 pint of applesauce. No canning this time.

Time to start menuing for next week. Any suggestions?

Redemption Part 2

This is part 2 of our new sermon series at church. This week's focus is regeneration. To listen to my pastor's sermon last week and this week click here. He says it better than I do!

Regeneration - Born Again! John 3:1-10 (and just like last week, I will link all Scripture to Biblegateway.com so it's only a click away!)

A simple definition of regeneration is the work of God when He reaches inside of you and changes you. We also call this being "born again". And something interesting about that is that the word 'again' when translated from the Greek has a 2 part meaning. It means 'again' and 'from above'. As in, it is a work from God only and not us. Eph 2:4-5

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1Peter 1:3

How does it work?

~God draws people through our giving the Gospel call.

~It is a mystery (like the wind). Don't drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out, just believe.

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8

Regeneration produces results.

If God's Spirit is inside of you it will respond to the Spirit of God. It is also called Irresistible Grace.

"And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people and I will be your God. " Eze 36:27-28 (and 1 John 3:9)

It is radical. (I love this word and whenever my pastor says it my family all smiles b/c it reminds us of Pastor Les. Anyway...).

"I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Eze 36: 25-26

Isn't that awesome? Do you struggle with a heart of stone? I love the promise there...

Have you been born again? If so, are there results? Do you see growth, change, faith, love? If you're not sure then I urge you to respond to the Gospel call.

You are a sinner and separated from God. But because He loves you so much, He sent His son Jesus Christ to take your sin upon Him so that you can live eternally and have a relationship with God the Father. There is a great exchange that takes place where your filth is transferred to Jesus and His righteousness is transferred to you. And to receive this, all you have to do is ask! Pray and tell God that you know you are a sinner and ask for the free gift of his grace through Jesus.

Lately....

~Week one of the new year did not start off so well. To tell the truth, I think we were on vacation too long. Too much unstructured time breeds selfishness around here and it just doesn't work. But as the week wore on we settled back into routine and there are smiles again.

~We bought this 2000 piece puzzle that was so big it didn't fit on our puzzle table. It got moved to part of the dining room table which meant that we lost 1/2 of the table for school and eating. That means people had to eat at the coffee table or kids had to move school work to the empty puzzle table. But then it was Meg's b-day and the puzzle moved back to the way-too-small puzzle table. And there it sat. Untouched. But it was nice to have the whole table back.
A decision had to be made..... and the puzzle is packed away. I'm glad. It was ugly anyway.

~Honey changed out the OS on my netbook and now she and I aren't getting along at the moment. I'm typing on his lappy....which feels soooo comfy....until he can look at it again. I'm thankful for my man who fixes my computer stuff.

~I woke up to a bird outside my window this week. Birds....remember them? I love the sounds of birds in the spring! But for now I'm loving the SNOW!

~I was toying with the idea of putting aside My Utmost For His Highest this year and doing some different devos. But it didn't happen.

~I got a special calendar for school this year. I love having it separate from my regular planner. Should've done that years ago.

~Birdy and I scrapbooked this afternoon. I really wanna get ZBoy's baby book done before life gets busier. Since he's 3, I'm thinkin it's time.

~Date night tonight and we're talking over exciting possibilities. I plan to share when we get it all figured out.

~I'm reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Great stuff.....and lots to think about.

Welcome Back Pam!

I cleaned out my closet over the Christmas break and found Pam.

She was my very favorite doll when I was a little girl and I used to always play with her at Nanny's house. This is the only outfit that ever fit her (bless her heart) and those shoes were my baby shoes when I was a baby.

When my older girls were little I let them play with her too. They decided Pam was a bad name and re-named her Taller. Because she was taller than the other dolls.

How is that better?

Anyway, Taller Pam has been put away for awhile with no little girl to play with.
Then SHE walked in.

And it was love all over again.

Awana This Week!

Boy, did I miss these little people! 2 whole weeks off. But it actually seemed like only one b/c I got to see some of them at movie night.

I had an especially good night with Nycen. He seemed to have a lot on his mind, full of thoughts and questions about deep things. We had some time together in the sanctuary before too many others were there and he asked me things like, "Do you know what is going to happen at the end of the world?" "How do people know when they really believe?"

So we got to talk about the Holy Spirit. And the rapture. And about when he made his decision for Christ. And whatever else popped into his head.

The Daniel Veggie Tales was on while we were waiting for the bus and he had never heard of Daniel in the lion's den. I narrated the story to him as we watched. He loved the part about the angel. And I showed him in a pew Bible where it was so he could read it in his Bible when he got home.

5 were in my class this week. A couple were sick and there have been some who haven't come in a long time.

I love the stuff they pray about. Grades, detentions, sick people, and MJ's court case that is coming up next week. I'm praying hard for that one! My cutsie boy misses his momma and I know she's missing him too.

Game time is one of the times I get to spend with the younger kids that aren't in my class. I don't really do anything but cheer them on and help them know when it's their turn and how to play by the rules. Geneva sat in my lap since I sat by her line. She's such a cuttle bug. And Jordan pulled up his sleeve to show off his 6 year old muscles when I coached him to "be fast!"

Such sweetness.

Happy Birthday Eldest!

Oh my, the LAST of her teen years! And next year she'll be 20. Twenty. As for now, we'll enjoy 19.

T'was a fun day. She and I spent the day shopping and getting her hair cut. Beckah was with us for part of the day and so was her little brother. I bought her everything she wanted and took her to lunch. Sonic.... She's a cheap date.

One of our stops was Savers, our favorite thrift store. As we're shopping there is this lady looking around in the same area. She's walking back and forth, up and down the aisles calling back to her mother that "it was right HERE". Whatever she was looking for was GONE. And as the minutes wore on her panic level was increasing and she was getting louder and louder. Meg and I figured she'd lost her purse and I kept waiting for her to ask for some help. Finally she cries out in desperation, " Well apparently somebody done helped themselves to my MOUNTAIN DEW!!"

We're still laughing....

After TKD, it was brownies and homemade ice cream and presents. We rented Despicable Me and watched it with the whole family...minus me who fell asleep.

A great day celebrating the life of our sweet first born! We love you Meg!

Redemption

My pastor started a new series Sunday that I'm very excited about.


After VBS last summer, I have been working with my children to prepare them to be better equipped to share the Gospel. We've been memorizing the Romans Road and lots more. But there was something I was missing that I couldn't put my finger on.


My pastor nailed it. It was the steps to sharing it faithfully. Correctly. And when I asked my kids Monday morning if anybody thought they could lead someone to Christ confidently, without worrying if they would mess up or leave something important out, they all answered "no".


Perfect! Just what we need. And if this is something that you would like to learn about, will you follow me as I re-cap what we're learning each week? If you don't have a Bible, that's ok. I have all the Scripture linked to Biblegateway.com. Just click on the highlights.



This is what we will be discussing every week.

The Order of Salvation

1. The Gospel call

2. Regeneration

3. Conversion

4. Justification

5. Sanctification

6. Perseverance

7. Glorification

The Gospel Call

1. The Gospel call is universal ~for everyone and must be presented for anyone to respond to Christ. 2Peter 3:9 1 Tim 2:3-4

2. God tells us to take the Gospel message to all people. Matt28:18-20 Mark 13:10

3. All people need to hear the Gospel. Rom 10: 13-15 & 17

How To Share The Gospel Faithfully

1. Explain the facts of the Gospel.

a. All people have sinned against God. Romans3 :23

b. The penalty for sin is death. Romans 6:23

c. The solution! Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins. (the good news!!) Romans 5:8

2. Invite the person to repent and trust in Christ. 2 Cor 5:20 Will you respond? Do you trust this message?

3. Present God's promise of forgiveness and reconciliation. There are benefits! Matt 11:28 Mark 16:16 Acts 2:21, 16:31 Romans 10:9

The Bible says that we are all sinners. And because of our sin, we are separated from God. But God has made a way for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus died for sin once and for all so that all could be saved. And through Him, we have eternal security and a relationship with God the Father.

If you believe this and are interested in learning more please let me know. I'd love to talk about this with you!

So Far...

Strife, fighting, lotsa tears....

2011, I'm not impressed.