Who Moved My Coffee?

Check out my new blog!

2010-08-09T04:53:00.001-07:00

I’ve been wanting a place where I can separate out the various topics I write about, and now I have it! After lots of work, it is finally ready! I’ve finally officially launched my new blog!! I will be backing up this one, and then closing it down and redirecting the URL soon. I hope that you will all join me at my new home on the web!

Sleepover Fun!

2010-07-31T09:10:00.001-07:00

Bug is so blessed to be loved by so many grandparents! One of those grandparents is Hubby’s grandmother. She loves to come over and spent time with Bug, and the feeling is quite mutual! Bug has been asking us for ages when Granny could come and spend more than one night with us. The last 2 nights, she did!!

The girls had a sleepover in the living room and had a blast! We pushed the little sofa up against the big sofa, and made them a huge bed to play, read, and sleep in.

Great experiences that will make forever memories!

Are you kidding me? Sex Ed for Kindergarteners?

2010-07-20T05:32:00.001-07:00

My favorite part about this video? This quote….”The government can’t even teach our kids to read, write, and do math”. And we want them teaching our LITTLE kids about sex education? I’m almost speechless! I actually have a lot to say, but am trying to restrain. So thankful that we have the right to homeschool! Lord, come quickly!

A day in the life of our SPD girl

2010-07-15T19:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was an amazing day in so many ways. Bug had some serious meltdowns that made for some really hard moments for sure. The amazing thing was that, by the grace of God, I was able to recognize them for what they were and treat them appropriately. So often, sensory/adhd/asd issues are misunderstood as behavior problems…intentional behavior problems. So often, it appears as though our kids are making the CHOICE to misbehave, when really they aren’t making the choice at all, but rather their body has taken over their brain.

Let me describe some parts of our day.
8:30 AM - Time to get dressed. I needed to run a super quick errand, so I told Bug to get dressed. I didn’t care what she wore, we weren’t even getting out of the car….just needed clothes on. In hindsight, I should have just taken her in her jammies, but we had people coming over later and she needed clothes on at some point.
She put on a pair of panties that didn’t feel right. This resulted in her kicking, yelling, & hitting her legs, as she tried to get the offending panties off her body. Strangely enough, if she could think rationally and slow down, she could have gotten them off much faster. All the kicking & hitting just gets them all tangled up and makes them harder to get off.

8:45 A.M. – Finally found a pair of panties that felt good. This is why we have no less than 30 pair to choose from.

8:50 A.M. – Discovered that favorite shorts were wet in the washing machine, so they were not an option at the moment. Disappointment & frustration again. Attempted to put on another pair of shorts that were in the drawer, only to get them halfway up before deciding they were even more offensive than the panties.   I watched as more kicking and yelling ensued, only this time it included her hitting herself in the face with both hands, as if she were trying to wake someone up out of a coma. Breaks my heart!
I helped her get the shorts off and just held her for a moment attempting to comfort her. I told her it made me so sad when she hurt herself and I didn’t know how to help. She told me “it doesn’t even hurt when I hit myself like that, but I just can’t stop, I can’t help it”. I don’t know how it doesn’t hurt, because I know it would have hurt ME if she slapped my face like that!
We ended up pulling a favorite skirt out of the laundry basket. Who cares if it’s a little dirty…..right now I just need comfortable!   We skipped the shoes since we aren’t getting out of the car anyway.

9:15 A.M. – Finally dressed, and we head to Walgreens to pick up a prescription at the drive through.

9:40 A.M. – Back at home, and time for some outside time. Playing in the sandbox & with the water hose provide great entertainment as well as sensory input.

She had a great time for a while, had a snack & juice popsicle outside, and then……

10:30 A.M. - A couple minutes before it was time for her to come in, I had to reprimand her for breaking a family rule. I was calm and just explained to her again why that rule was so important, and that I needed her to obey it.   No yelling, no punishment – just talking. Just the act of being corrected, no matter how minor, is enough to send my little perfectionist’s self esteem down a notch. Oh, finding the balance between building up her self esteem and disciplining appropriately. I can’t let her get away with anything and everything for the sake of her self esteem, but I also have to carefully pick my battles and my words.
Even though I didn’t see anything visible in her behavior, I knew that the “talking to” would be enough to make her extra sensitive for a while.

10:35 A.M. - Sure enough, as soon as she came inside, the meltdown started. She was soaking wet from playing in the water, and of course it was cold inside, but she was acting like I had thrown her in the snow naked. “I’m COOOOOOOLD!! I need to be DRY!!!” I told her to go in the bathroom and take off her wet clothes, and I would be right there to help her.   When I got to the bathroom, she was just standing there, shivering, and saying “it’s freezing!” over and over and over. She couldn’t even focus enough to take off her clothes. Seriously. Her brain was frozen (and not from the cold). She had lost all ability to think rationally. Thank God, I recognized this for what it was and I helped her get her wet clothes off, and dry ones on quickly.

10:50 A.M. – She’s warm & dry, and seems to be calming down.

11:10 A.M. – She comments on the fact that some dirt is on the floor of her bathroom. I thank her for noticing, and ask her to go get her little broom & dustpan and clean it up. She normally LOVES to use her broom and dustpan any chance she can.
Not THIS time.
She just could not make it work. She was either brushing too hard, or not even aiming at the dustpan. She was getting beyond frustrated because the dirt would not go in the pan. I tried to help her with a few verbal directions (she’s a visual learner….when will I learn?), which only proved to confuse her even more. Again, all rational thinking seemed to be absent. I wish I could describe the scene better, but words escape me.
To the untrained eye, it looked like she was doing it wrong on purpose to avoid doing the work. If I didn’t know her better, that’s just what I would have thought. But I know she loves to sweep and help clean up. I also know she was tired, bothered by clothes, got in trouble, and had been cold.   All of those little things really add up and end up overwhelming her body.
She even swept herself into a corner in the bathroom and then proceeded to yell at the door for hurting her as she shoved her body into it. She was yelling “Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop hurting me, door!”. She had no ability to even realize the door wasn’t alive. Seriously. She was yelling AT THE DOOR!
I finally just told her to go take a break, and I would clean it up. I said she could practice with the broom and dustpan another day. Sometimes, you just gotta take a break!

11:30 A.M. – Knock on the door. I had an appt, and was expecting 1 woman to come. I opened the door, and there were FOUR ladies standing there! Emily was a couple feet behind me, and as soon as she saw the ladies, she started backing up saying “Too many people! Too many people!”. I had prepared her for ONE, but not FOUR, and it took her by surprise. She doesn’t like surprises. She likes to prepare and plan for what’s coming. Poor thing, she was running on overload!

She had just had enough! Thankfully, I already had snacks and activities set up for her while I met with the ladies, so we managed to get through it.

But boy, she’d had a rough day!! And this….along with so many other days like it….are why we are taking the steps to move forward with a Gluten-Free/Casein-Free diet for Emily. Hubby and myself will be doing it along with her, because I’m not a short order cook, and I’d rather make us all the same meals and not worry about cross contamination. More on that subject in another post!

50 days…50 states

2010-07-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

In just 50 days, my husband will once again be a full time soldier. I will, for the first time, be an Army wife. My husband will be serving our country…all 50 states of it. The adventure begins in just 50 short days for him. First, he’ll spend about 5 months in training learning his new MOS (job). I will carry on here at home, keeping things squared away until the end of his training period when we find out where we will be moving. Then, our whole family will be starting a new life together.

I’m excited. We are all excited. I try to check in with Bug from time to time about this, in case she needs to talk. Yesterday, I asked her how she was feeling about Daddy getting ready to leave soon. She said she was “happy, excited, and proud of him!”. She knows she’s going to miss him, and she’s sad about that part, but she is so excited and proud of what he’s doing! She is getting to see such an awesome example of following God’s calling and obeying him. She is learning about sacrifice. About how important it is to help our country. About putting others before ourselves. I think it will be an amazing time for her. I know it won’t all be easy on any of us, but it is what we make of it, so I plan to make the best of it all.

I know these next 50 days are going to go by fast. It seemed like it was only a few days ago that we said we had 100 days to go. I want to cherish every day I have left with my Hubby before he goes. I love him so much, and I am so incredibly proud of what he is doing. I know it involves our whole family, but he is the one that will be out there doing the work each day.

It was this exact time last year that we made the decision to join the Army. Or re-join, for Hubby. Now, here we are a year later and moving forward. It’s really happening. It will be interesting to see where we are this time next year.

Emily’s Birthday Weekend – Part 1 of 3

2010-07-06T11:17:00.001-07:00

I’m a week late posting this, but I wanted to share Emily’s birthday weekend with you all. It was a fun packed weekend, indeed! Admittedly, it was a bit much in one weekend for her, and we are still paying the price for letting her get overwhelmed and over stimulated. However, I would say it was worth it! She had the time of her life, and we all had a weekend we will never forget!

Friday night, we went to the RODEO! Mommy, Daddy, Bug, 2 sets of grandparents, a great grandmother, an uncle, an “aunt” and 2 cousins all came to join the excitement.

Bug had heard about a couple events that take place at the rodeo. One was the “Dash for Cash”, where every kid in the place (well over 100) all line up on the arena floor and chase a calf around trying to pull a ribbon off it’s tail.

She said she wanted to do it.

Seriously? This is my little girl who can’t stand crowds. She also takes it as a personal offense if kids are running around and accidently bump into her. She doesn’t even like being in a bounce house that is too crowded (yet is sensory seeking, so if not getting bumped, she’d stay in one all day!). She gets disoriented very easily. Not to mention this was for kids up to age 12. TWELVE. She’s barely turning 6, and is only 30 lbs!

But hey – it’s your birthday, kiddo! If you want to try it, we’ll try it. So, Daddy went down with her prepared to run interference if needed, or to simply pick her up and console her if and when she got trampled.

Turns out, she LOVED it. LOVED it! She did awesome too! Ran around with them all, not caring for one minute where she was going or why. Just enjoyed running around. I didn’t tell her there was an actual prize, so she didn’t care about winning. She just wanted to run around with the calf. Daddy reported back to us that as I expected, she DID get trampled, and run over by some bigger kids. But to our surprise, she just picked herself up, and kept on going. Who WAS this girl?!

We gave her lots of hugs and kisses and told her how incredibly proud we were of her!

But that’s not all!

See, she had also heard about “Mutton Bustin’!”. If you have not heard of this rodeo event, let me explain it to you. You take little kids (all under 55 lbs), and put them on a big sheep. Then, they open the gate to let the sheep out, and the child has to hang on to the sheep as long as they can. It’s like bull riding for tiny tots!

She wanted to do this too! She’s on a roll! I was terrified. Absolutely terrified. But, I had an out! The kids had to sign up if they wanted to participate, and they only drew 8 names to do it. Personally, I wanted to tell her I signed her up, and not really do it (I know, so wrong!) but I relented and let her sign up. Then, I just secretly hoped she wouldn’t get picked. Meanwhile, Daddy was praying she *would*.

She did! She got picked, and she was beyond excited! I was still nervous because of all the potential issues. I honestly was not worried in the least about her getting hurt. I knew they would take care of her. I was worried about her perception of being hurt.

She was going to have to wear a protection vest and helmet. For a girl that can’t stand new clothes, anything with a seam, anything too tight or too loose, I knew this could be a problem. And it’s not like she just calmly removes uncomfortable clothes….she grabs, tears, yells, & hits to get them off.

Then, she had to stand there, waiting and wearing the protection gear until it was finally time to go. Waiting patiently was hard enough, but standing there dealing with the feeling of the equipment on her just gave her time to realize it wasn’t comfortable.

Then, she had to sit on a moving sheep, not knowing when it was going to just take off.

Then, they opened the gate, and she was hanging sideways on the sheep before it got out the gate. She was on the ground before I could snap a picture with the camera. As she fell on the ground, the sheep jumped over her. That’s when all the nervous energy hit her, and she started crying as the “fight or flight” kicked in! She was more scared than hurt, but she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

The rodeo helper scooped her up, carried her to Daddy, and he got her equipment off. With Daddy to console her, she calmed down quickly.

Then, she got a TROPHY!!!!

When they came back to the seats, I kept watching for her expecting to see her come around the corner in tears. I was ready to scoop her up and comfort her. But, she came around that corner holding that trophy and sporting a HUGE smile!! She was SO incredibly proud of herself.

It was a moment I will never forget! It was like she had just overcome so many obstacles in just a matter of minutes. Those obstacles are still there, sure. They will resurface. They already have. But, at that moment in time, she was so brave, so proud, and so happy!

Here is a video of her. Sorry it’s so wobbly! She was on the side of the sheep before the camera started recording. You can also watch the close up on the “Jumbo Screen” at the top left of the video.

Here she is with her trophy!

I don’t know what got into her that made her try those things that night. Only the grace of God! But, I’m so glad that in the end I didn’t keep her from doing them. I would have cost her an experience of a lifetime. Thankfully, some past experiences helped her with this one. Her horse riding lessons, allowed her to get on that sheep, and wear that helmet without a problem. Taking the hockey camp allowed her to be willing to put on the protective gear without a fit. Just the same, this experience will help her with future ones. It already has. When she overreacted to a little bump the other day, I reminded her that she was tough enough to fall off a sheep and get back up! That brought a smile to her face.

She wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. She has her eye on Barrel Racing. I just know she could do it!

A few pictures before we headed out to the rodeo:

July 4th with our sensational kiddo

2010-07-05T08:15:00.001-07:00

We were going to watch fireworks this year, but we had to change our plans. Having a child with SPD means that we have to be flexible with our plans. With Bug’s need for structure, it means we have to have a backup plan for our plan.

We were going to go to a fireworks show on July 3rd, but the weather was threatening thunderstorms, so we decided it was best to stay home. Instead we had a super fun game night playing “Charades for Kids”. We thought we would try again the next night to see fireworks, but those plans got changed too.

We started the 4th at church, with an awesome worship service. It was a little longer than our normal church service, however, so Bug was already a little antsy from having to sit for so long in one place. That afternoon, my parents and Hubby’s grandmother came over to play. We just cooked burgers out on the grill, had some good food and relaxed here while Bug got lots of grandparent play time. We tried to keep it low key, but it proved to still be too much excitement for one little girl to handle. By late afternoon, she was showing signs of being overwhelmed. Her tactile sense was ultra sensitive and every little touch was hurting. She was becoming much less tolerant of things not going exactly as she intended (otherwise known as getting upset at the drop of a hat). She was losing her ability to focus on the simplest of tasks or instructions. All this, and we still had 3 hours to go before heading out to the fireworks!

So, we decided to step up as parents and make the tough call to NOT go see fireworks. I didn’t want to do that, as I knew Bug was looking forward to them, but I also knew she had a special day with Daddy planned for the next day, and without a good night of rest, that wouldn’t go well. Amazingly, she took the news well! I reminded her we had just seen fireworks for Memorial Day, and explained to her that we would spend a little more time having fun with the grandparents and then it was really important for her body to get rest so that she could enjoy her day with Daddy the next day. At moments like this, I never know if the disappointment will be more than she can handle, but she took it like a champ.

Today, she and Daddy are heading to the Nature & Science Museum where there is a TON of stuff for kids to enjoy. Hands-on, great sensory input and all around educational. She can run around, play in the sand, the water, make bubbles, play outside and have a great time! She had a good night of rest last night and is really looking forward to this day, so I hope it all goes well.

It’s hard to make choices like we did. We wanted to go see fireworks ourselves. I wanted to pack us all up with a picnic and glow sticks, go spread out on a blanket and watch her eyes light up as she watched the fireworks. I knew she wanted to see them too, and I didn’t want to disappoint her when this is a (mostly) once a year activity. At the same time, we had to decide if this one activity was worth having a few days of challenges. We’ve already been struggling this last week because last weekend was her Birthday Weekend (post coming soon), which was 3 days full of activities, late nights, and lots of emotions. We followed that with 3 late nights of Vacation Bible School at our church. It was all super fun, and we had a great time, but her body (and even ours!) was crying out for some down time. Some time to not have to rush anywhere at a certain time.

It’s all about balance, and finding that sweet spot between making sure we get enough activity and getting way too much. We have to be structured, scheduled, & have a plan yet be flexible enough to change that if the need arises.

Caution: Busy Weekend Ahead!

2010-06-24T06:19:00.001-07:00

This upcoming weekend is packed with fun & excitement! Emily’s 6th birthday is this upcoming Tuesday, so we are celebrating this weekend. SIX?? Where did the time go?

Friday night - We are going to the RODEO! She has been once before, and has been asking to go for her birthday for weeks! She is in LOVE with horses, and is becoming quite the little Princess Cowgirl. I love it! She’s always been more nature-loving than princess-y (which fits me perfectly!) and it’s cute to see her getting a little girly, while hanging on to the cowgirl!

Saturday – We’ll have the family over for a party. The last couple years, she has chosen to spend her special day with her parents, grandparents, and “Aunt Chelle” (a close family friend) rather than a bunch of kids. Ok with us! We inflate a big pool in the backyard, turn on a sprinkler, put a bunch of shaving cream in a plastic pool, set out some snacks, pop up the shade canopy, and have a great time! She plays in the sun and water until she’s worn out, then opens her presents and spends the rest of the day playing with them.

It works out really well because with all the excitement of a birthday, her Sensory Processing Disorder will be on high alert. Thankfully, the sensory input from the water, shaving cream, and foods will help keep her in balance.

Sunday – This is the best! Our little girl is getting BAPTIZED!! We are so very proud of her! She has an amazing relationship with God, and has for a long time now. It’s so awesome to hear her say things that God told her, that we know did not come from us. Children really are closer to God than we are, I have no doubt! She asked Jesus into her heart a year ago and was saved then, but she is now ready to follow that up in baptism in order to obey what God asks us to do, and to show others that she is a follower of Christ.

I told her that the best part about all this is knowing that no matter what happens to us on earth….because we will all die at some point….that we would be together forever in Heaven. There is no greater gift than knowing your child is sealed with her name in the Book of Life.

Letting God drive

2010-06-24T06:05:00.001-07:00

I’ve started reading Acts recently as I’m going to be doing a Bible study on this book in the fall, and I like to read it through once before to prepare myself as one of the leaders. Then, I read through it again with the group. It’s amazing how God will speak to me differently in the same passage of scripture, depending on where I am in my life. I can’t wait to see what He has to say!

In Acts 1, Jesus was quoted as saying to his apostles, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised”. This was one of the verses that I read when we were considering whether or not Rob was going to re-join the Army. God clearly told us to wait until we heard from Him. And we did! I’m sure God loves initiative, but He doesn’t want us to run ahead of Him, looking back to see if He’ll catch up with us. Instead, He wants us to wait on Him. Wait for His word, His calling, His provision. He wants us to pray about every decision we make, no matter how big or small.

Verse 7 says, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”.

We all want to know the plan, don’t we? I know I do. I’m a planner. I like to schedule things, research things, know what’s going to happen. If I’m on vacation I love to go with no plans at all, but for my day to day stuff, I need to have a schedule & some structure. It makes me feel comfortable. But God is great at taking me out of that comfort zone, so that I have to truly rely on Him.

Right now, there are a couple major areas in my life that I’ve had to turn over to the Lord because there is nothing I can do about them. One, is the Army. I know we are moving in the Spring, but I have no idea where to. It could literally be anywhere in the world that there is an Army post. I can’t even begin to guess, or start looking up local attractions, housing, etc. It doesn’t even matter what we want because, although the Army will ask our top 3 choices…the truth is, they will send Hubby where they need him. The other is our foster baby. I would love to know his outcome. Will he be returned to his mom? Go to someone else? Or will we end up adopting him? Again, there isn’t a thing in the world I can do about this situation. It’s completely out of my hands, and it relies on so many different things, that it’s like a huge puzzle with a few missing pieces. So, I wait.

I could choose to let the unknown drive me crazy. I could worry, and be anxious, and think about all the “what-ifs”. But God tells me in His word not to be anxious or worry, but to trust in Him. So, as hard as it was at first, I am letting it go, and just letting God be in control.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Phil 4:6)

At first, that feels scary, but then when you truly surrender there is a peace that comes with that. God will give you a comfort & a peace that can only come from Him. Letting go was outside of my comfort zone, but it’s right inside His.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)

So, I am letting God drive. I’ll just go along for the ride, and enjoy the view along the way. I’ll rest, knowing that He is behind the wheel, and I’ll look forward to seeing where He takes me!

Memorial Day

2010-06-01T05:58:00.001-07:00

I’ve always been glad to live in America. Growing up, I knew that our country was free to do a lot of things that other countries were not. I knew that people came to our country to get jobs. Unfortunately, it was not until I was an adult that I learned just how free we are here, and grew to be *proud* of my country, not just happy to live here. The things we take for granted are privileges that many countries just don’t have. I learned that people fought for our rights to have these freedoms and that many of them died.

I regret now that I did not have history teachers that instilled a desire in me to learn more about our country’s history. We spent a great deal of time on Texas history, however. Even then, it was unfortunate that my history teachers cared more about devoting their time to coaching a team than they did teaching us anything. I didn’t learn that true American pride from my family either. I mean, sure, they were glad to be here. My father moved to the states from Canada when he was a young adult, but he held on to his Canadian citizenship. My mom’s dad served in WWII, but he passed away when I was 6, and we only lived in the same state for less than 1 of those years. I never heard his stories, or even knew of his service except in passing when someone would mention he fought in the war. In fact, it was only a week ago that I learned from my mom that he was awarded the Purple Heart. He had been shot, and left for dead, until someone came across his body and kicked it just to make sure…and he moved. Growing up, Memorial Day was just another 3 day weekend to have picnics. Veteran’s Day went by without a word. It is no longer that way for me.

When I met Hubby, and learned that he had served our country in the Army for 7 years, I was intrigued. I love hearing his stories and seeing his pride for our country. I loved seeing the feeling and emotion he had when we took a trip to Washington D.C. together, and visited many of the memorials. He took me to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and it brought tears to my eyes as he watched with the upmost respect and cringed at the people who were showing no respect at the “show” they were watching. Even then, years before we had children, he spoke of teaching our children pride for our country and respect for the military. I remember when he once noticed that a building had hung their Texas flag upside down, and have since realized that many people don’t know which side is up (Remember it like this: the red is on the bottom to symbolize the blood shed). If the red is at the top, it is a sign of distress or extreme danger. He takes off his hat, and puts his hand over his heart at the singing of the National Anthem.

I can now say that I am truly PROUD and BLESSED to live in America! It’s a different feeling than just being happy to be here. That has grown immeasurably over the past decade, and I am so thankful. I love having the chance to learn history all over again as I read and Hubby answers my many questions, and as we together teach our daughter. I love that we are instilling a sense of pride in her already, as we teach her about other countries and why we are free in America.

Memorial Day is not just another 3 day weekend. Sure, I was glad to have Hubby home for an extra day, but I also know that there were many widows, widowers, parents and children who were spending the day without a loved one who died while protecting our right to be free. For that, I am honored and thankful.

It would seem that we are doing an ok job of teaching Bug about these things, because we overheard this conversation between her and the neighbor friend on Sunday evening:

Bug: “You know what tomorrow is? It’s Memorial Day. It’s the day we celebrate the people that have defended our country from the bad guys.” (she didn’t mention that it’s to celebrate those that died, but she knows that)

Although, we still have a little work to do, because she followed with this:

Bug: “Daddy, who is the bad Army? Is it the Canadians?”

Daddy: “No, baby, they are on our side!”

She is so excited that Daddy is going back into the Army, “to fight the bad guys”!

So, THANK YOU, to each and every one of you that have lost someone you love on my behalf as they served our country to protect our rights and freedoms. Thank YOU to the families who gave the ultimate sacrifice because they have to live without someone they love. Thank you for loving your country so much that you supported your loved one as they fought for us. Thank you!

They didn’t kick me out!

2010-05-26T15:21:00.001-07:00

I recently returned to the gym. I need to get in shape, and no matter how much I love the idea of working out at home, it just doesn’t happen with little ones underfoot. So, I’ve joined the gym Hubby goes to, and can now workout while my children enjoy someone else’s company. :)

I always feel intimidated at the gym. The women that are perfectly in shape, the feeling like a shark’s prey when I walk in the door and get eyed by every salesperson with a quota to meet, the offers to buy personal training or sign up for something, the muscle filled body builders in the free weights area.

Ahh, yes, the free weights area. I actually love it there, but I’m always nervous to step across the invisible barrier into the land of the body builder club. I feel like they are all going to shoo me out because I’m not grunting enough or ripped enough. I don’t know why, at age 36, I get nervous about something like that. But I do.

But today, I ventured in. I walked in like I knew what I was doing, found the machines I knew how to work, loaded my free weights on, and there I was working out with the rest of them. No one even glanced at me, let alone kick me out. I felt the confidence coming back just a little. I always feel strong when I venture in there. I feel strong today. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically. Well, the physical will take some time, but I’m getting there. Just using the "Hack Squat” machine, no matter that I only put 20 lbs on it, makes me feel strong. I am woman, hear me ~~roar~~ purr. :)

Today, I used the row machine for 15 minutes, the stair climber for 10, and then did weights for 20. It feels good.

Another “feel good”…..

On the way home I saw a car stopped in middle of the intersection, an older man. I couldn’t help because I had 2 kids I couldn’t just leave in the car, but as I turned and double backed to get to my street, my heart was filled with joy! I saw a young man help by pushing his car with his own car to get it out of the street. Kindness still exists. Look for opportunities to stop and help someone else today.

98 days to go

2010-05-24T20:16:00.001-07:00

In just under 100 days, I will become an Army wife. A title I will hold proudly for the rest of my life. It sounds like a long time from now, but it’s just about 14 weeks away. Hubby will do some training for a few months and when he’s done, we’ll find out where we will be stationed. Since he’s prior service, he doesn’t have to go to basic training, but he does have to go to AIT where he will be trained to do his new job.

It’s funny. We already know that this time next year we will be living somewhere else, but we have no idea where. It could be anywhere there is an Army post. For a control freak like myself, it’s a little stressful to be planning to move, but not being able to research the area ahead of time.

All of a sudden, I feel like there is so much to do. We’ve been recording Hubby reading books to Bug so that she can watch them at bedtime, or anytime she misses him. Suddenly, there is an urgency behind it and I want to make sure we get many, many more done. Then there is the legal stuff. We already have a will, but I will need Power of Attorney and other emergency information on hand. At the time, he’s only scheduled to go to training, but I am very well aware that he could be deployed at any time after the training is done. On that note, I want to get as much done now as I can so that we are better prepared later. Especially things that are between Hubby and Bug. IF, just IF, he were to get deployed soon after training, what things would I wish I had done for him or for Bug before he left? More pictures of them together? More Daddy-Daughter date nights? We’ll be doing all that and more.

We are excited! God has called us to this path, and we are anxious to follow it. It’s a new adventure, a new life, and another leap of faith.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Taking it easy on low motor days

2010-05-10T07:56:00.001-07:00

LoveBug takes after me and is not a morning person! It’s just another reason that I am so thankful that we homeschool. I can’t imagine how rough her day would be if I had to have her up, dressed, fed and dropped off somewhere before 8! Honestly, I’m also thankful that I don’t have to get out of bed early enough to do all that.

I love being able to set our own schedule, and keep it flexible enough for her needs. She gets up at 8:00 every day except Sunday when we have to get up a bit earlier to make it to church on time. If she wakes up between 7-8, she turns on her little light and reads in her bed for a while. At 8, she comes out to say good morning and we get our good morning hugs & kisses. We usually have to ask for them, but she complies.

Then, we remind her to go to the bathroom and off she goes. She is like a camel and can go for ages without going to the bathroom, so we have to ~~make~~ remind her to go first thing in the morning, before rest time, and before bed. She takes her time in the bathroom, ~~getting~~ ~~distracted by~~ noticing herself in the mirror, or any number of other things. A good 10 minutes later, she’s out.

At this point, we eat breakfast because she does much better doing her morning chores after getting a little fuel in her body. If we are doing great, we can be eating by 8:30, sometimes 8:45.

After breakfast, is morning chore time! She is responsible for getting dressed, brushing her teeth, making her bed, and feeding the cat. These chores take anywhere from 10 minutes to 30, sometimes 45, depending on how the choosing panties & clothes goes today.

There are days that we zoom through everything and can be sitting at the table ready to do schoolwork by 9. Those days are rare. Then, there are days like today. She’s had a very busy weekend at the grandparents’ house and celebrating Mother’s Day. So today, her motor is running extremely low. It would take hurculean efforts to get us ready to go by 10:00. Fortunately, we are having an easy morning with no where to go until this afternoon.

What does it look like for her to have a low motor?

First thing we notice is that her light isn’t on before 8. That tells me that she slept in, and hasn’t had her slow-wake-up reading time. Next, she comes stumbling out of her bedroom with eyes still half shut, and complaining about some ache or pain. Today is was that her right eye hurt, and her right leg was “hurting and feels sleepy”. I gave her kisses for the eye, and a massage followed by joint compressions for the leg. Her muscles are so tired, she can hardly walk. Her voice sounds almost whiny, but I can tell it’s the tired whiny, not the “not-getting-my-way” whiny, so I can tolerate it. Besides, she isn’t saying much, which in itself is just another clue she’s running on a low motor.

A quick easy breakfast of a favorite all-natural cereal helps get her energy level high enough that I could have her do some light bouncing on the trampoline to wake up her body. Next, I get her dressed in her favorite comfy sweats (yes, it is Texas, and almost summer, but her cold-natured body doesn’t care) to keep the tactile issues to a minimum, and have her brush her teeth to help her oral sensation.

At this point she’s feeling a bit better, so just a couple more steps to go. I make her a large cup of applesauce for her to drink through a straw (oral), while sitting on the sofa watching an episode of Blue’s Clues to finish waking up.

Within seconds of finishing the applesauce, she is talking & moving with much more energy. Her brain is alert and she’s feeling better.

Today, it took her 1.5 hours to go from getting up to feeling ready to start the day. Not too bad, actually. Now, that she’s feeling better and can handle more, I can have her go make her bed and get her hair brushed.

No schoolwork today, but we are going to work on purging some books and stuffed animals in preparation for a garage sale in a few weeks. We’ll see how that goes! My goal is to convince her to let me buy her a few more of these, in exchange for giving up some of the stuffed animals that take up WAY too much space! I LOVE the little hard animals because we can use them in sensory boxes, or doing math skills too! Multi-purpose!

Picture: A few months ago, when Bug let me rock her all the way to sleep. Bliss!

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." ~ Matt 11: 28-30

Happy Mother’s Day & The World’s Largest Card!!

2010-05-09T19:50:00.001-07:00

This has been an incredible weekend! Hubby’s grandmother spent the weekend at my parents’ house and they all took care of our kids (Bug, and our 2.5 month old foster son) for the weekend! Hubby and I got some precious time alone, and caught up on some much, much needed rest! Glorious!

Today, my mom and Granny brought the kids back and then spent time having lunch and playing here for Mother’s Day. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom, and also to be so close to my mother-in-law, and my grandmother-in-law.

My daughter made cards for my mom and Granny (and Grandma too, but we have to mail hers). I bought them some flowers and printed a collage of pictures for them.

Then, my daughter presented me with a surprise she made me while she was at my parents’ house.

The world’s LARGEST and BEST Mother’s Day card in the whole world!!

Isn’t it AWESOME?? I’m so proud of it! Now, where to hang it?

I am blessed that the Lord called me to be a mom, not only by birth, but by fostering, and hopefully one day adoption. Of course, I could not do it without my devoted husband and partner by my side!

I am also blessed to have such a wonderful mom of my own! No, we didn’t coordinate our colors on purpose! Scary, huh?

Happy Mother’s Day!

A little random-ness

2010-05-05T07:48:00.001-07:00

I know I haven’t been posting a lot lately, but part of that is because I’ve been working on redoing my entire blog. It needs a makeover! I’m working on a new design to hold all the various topics I want to blog about, while making it easy to navigate. It’s going to be spiffy when it’s all done! So, I’ve been stalling on some of my posts so that I can put them on the new site. I’m not sure when I’ll be done, but I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, enjoy a few random pictures!

I think it’s time to clean out the coat closet!

This is what our coat closet looks like right now.

It’s Spring. In TEXAS. Only 3 of us wear coats. One is too little and just gets wrapped in blankets, and the other has a God-given fur coat. I think it’s time to pack some of these away. Although, I do think we used most of them at least once during the winter this year since it actually snowed 3 times. Still….too many coats!

It would be a little funny to see her go down the slide, wouldn’t it?

What IS this? There were about 5 or 6 of these things growing on our Oak Tree. Usually, all we have are tons and tons of acorns, but the other day Bug asked me to get down one of the “bubbles growing on the tree”. Interesting.

Our pumpkin plant!

Well, sorta. We threw a rotting pumpkin in the side yard last fall just to see what would happen. Now we have sprouts!! Think we’ll have any pumpkins this fall?

Garden Salad!

Bug has been growing lettuce in a pot on our patio. A couple days ago she harvested enough for she and I to have salads with dinner. Yum!

Just for you!

Bug is always bringing me flowers (or weeds) from the yard. My mom bought this for her to give to me. Isn’t it the cutest thing?? I LOVE it!

Deep thoughts

2010-04-28T19:36:00.001-07:00

Today as we were driving home from Bug’s horse riding lessons, we had the following conversation:

Bug: (looking at a map of Florida, with a picture of a manatee on it) “Why are they called MAN-atees? They can’t all be MAN-atees. Some of them have to be WOMAN-atees, because if they were all boys they couldn’t make any more, right Mom?”

Me: “That’s true”

Bug: “Because the girls are the ones with the eggs, and the boys have the sperm, right?”

Me: “Yup”

** Keep in mind, Bug is our animal-obsessed child who has watched many nature videos, including animals mating, but has yet to learn about the real “birds and the bees” **

Bug: “So, how do people get the sperm to the egg without doing anything inappropriate?”

Me: (trying my best to stifle my laughter) “What would you consider inappropriate?”

Bug: “Jumping on each other like the elephants do. It would also be inappropriate to be bottom to bottom like the doggies.”

Me: “Well….people do have a special way of doing it, and you will learn about that when you are 8” (Pulling a number out of the air and hoping she won’t hold me to it if I change my mind later)

Bug: “Ok. I just wanted to make sure you would tell me sometime. It doesn’t have to be today”

I just love her! She’s known for a while that Daddy has the sperm, I had the egg, and together they made a baby. It was only a matter of time before she analyzed it and tried to figure out just how they came together. LOL

Little Bear is 2 months old!

2010-04-21T14:10:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe that Little Bear has been with us for almost 2 months now. Just a little over 7 weeks ago, we picked him up from the hospital, and he’s already such a blessing to our family.

Emily is an awesome big sister! She loves to hold him, help feed him, throw away the dirty diapers. She sits and reads books to him, shows him toys, and gives him kisses. She admits that he’s not quite as much fun yet as he will be when he can walk and talk, but she’s so patient.

We got a crib for him a week ago, and he LOVES it!! He went right to sleep the first time we put him in it. He has also slept through the night (7-8 hours) the last 3 nights! YAY!!! I have been so blessed to have Hubby’s help during these first couple months. I do not like being sleep deprived, and it has thrown off our schedules for the last 2 months. It’s been worth it, of course, but thrown off still. Now, we are getting a chance to catch up on some sleep and get back to our daily routines.

He’s more active too, and enjoying his awake time between bottle and bed. He likes to listen to music, and will make noises back to us when we talk to him. He definitely knows us, and our voices.

It’s so fun having a baby in the house! In a couple months we’ll even be able to introduce real food to him. I am excited about that part. I made all of Bug’s baby food and really enjoyed getting to provide that for her. I love to cook, so pureeing some cooked rice, fruits and veggies is not a big deal. I’ll have to share some recipes when we get to that point.

For now, here are a couple pictures of our precious little one!

From tears to triumph!

2010-04-12T17:34:00.001-07:00

I don’t think I have ever been more proud of my daughter than I was this past Sunday afternoon! It was an absolutely amazing achievement for her in many ways, and especially in regards to her Sensory Processing Disorder / Asperger-like challenges.

We had signed her up for a FREE “Kids First” hockey class at the Dr. Pepper Stars Center, and yesterday was the class’ first venture onto the ice (class #1 was just picking up/sizing equipment).
It was absolutely precious to see all these 5-8 year olds in their hockey gear toddling around on their skates. A few had skated before (Bug has been a total of 3 times, once a year for the past 3 years at Christmas time), but the majority of these kids had never been on the ice before, and they were all certainly beginners.

She had been looking forward to this for a couple weeks. She’s enjoyed going ice skating with us at Christmas time when we hold her hands and toddle around the rink. She loves watching hockey with us when we get a chance, and she has an older cousin who had done this class years ago. To her, this was a chance to do something “cool”.

We arrived at the rink in plenty of time to get her dressed in her equipment. We had tried on the equipment a few times at home, so she was comfortable wearing the skin pads, elbow pads, padded pants, and helmet. With the exception of a bigger helmet it wasn’t too much unlike what she wears to ride a bike.   She was all smiles as she received her very own jersey to wear (and keep upon completion of the class), and couldn’t wait to get started.

UNTIL…..she saw the coaches putting out the goal nets on the ice. Suddenly, she was hit with this overwhelming fear and perfectionism as she started bawling, “I can’t hit a puck into those nets, I can’t even skate yet!”. She saw the coaches skating around, professionals that they are, and assumed she would be expected to do the same. Thankfully we were able to convince her that she didn’t have to skate like the coach yet, and that they would help her.

Here is where I have to give a HUGE shout-out to Coach Katie!! The male coach (didn’t catch his name) was giving the “welcome speech” to all the kids before they got on the ice, and Katie took Bug on out on the ice and skated around with her. She held on to her, helped her up when she fell, and taught her how to get up on her own. Most importantly, she removed Bug from the overwhelming crowd of kids anxious to get on the ice, and gave her some much needed ‘space’.   That did wonders for her!! She doesn’t enjoy feeling crowded under normal circumstances, but when she’s anxious that feeling just gets worse and she gets into “fight or flight” mode. That’s where she was, all ready to quit and go home just to “get away”, when Katie rescued her. She scooped her up in her arms and skated around with her on the ice. Bug’s face lit up at the “ride”, and she was able to relax a bit.
Bug was then left to skate around a bit on her own and get used to it. Of course she fell, several times, but the coaches were quick to rescue her and encourage her.

Once it was time to get everyone on the ice, they were instructed to skate (or rather, “march” on skates) around a bit and then come together in a circle in the center. From the outsiders perspective, it looked like a comedy of errors. Kids dropping like flies, some causing domino effect as they fell into someone else knocking them down too. Up and down, they all went as they tried to figure out these things attached to the bottom of their legs.

Unfortunately, during this time, Bug had reached her limit. Our little perfectionist was frustrated that she kept falling down, and was oblivious to the fact that everyone else was falling too. Her bottom was hurting from all the falls, although I suspect not nearly as bad as her sensitive body perceived it to be, since she had some great padding on. At one point, she was sitting on the ice just bawling hysterically, and our hearts were breaking. I wanted to just run out on the ice, pick her up, take her home to cuddle and rescue her from the pain – both physical and emotional.

But we waited. The coaches were right on top of things, and Coach Katie even picked up Bug at one point and was holding her on her hip (while on skates…wow!) and talking to her. Coach Katie did her best, but eventually, Emily came rushing over to the doorway to us. She’d had enough! She was crying so hard that she could barely get out the words. “This isn’t as fun as I thought it would be!”, “I want to go home!”, “My bottom hurts because I keep falling on it!”, “This is hard!”, and “My hair keeps getting in my face!”.

I took her in my arms and told her that we loved her very much. We told her that we understood it was harder than she expected, and we pointed out that she was only one of MANY that kept falling down constantly. We told her how proud we were that she was learning to get up all by herself. We told her “You could go home, but why don’t you give it a little longer and see if it gets better. You might end up really enjoying it. You don’t have to be great at it, you are all here to learn, and the coaches will help you every step”.

We reminded her that Mommy & Daddy were right here watching her, and that God was always with her. We reminded her that she could pray to God in her head and ask Him for help.
Then, we tried a little bribery – I said, “How about you try to finish the class, and if you do, we’ll go to the store and pick out a new package of stickers?” .   She lit up at the beginning of negotiations! She said “If I do good, can we go to the park as a reward?”. We said “Of course, but you don’t have to be good at hockey. We just want you to try to finish the class”.

I just knew that if she finished the first class, she would be so proud of herself. I also knew that once she knew what to expect, the next 3 classes would go so much more smoothly.

So, out she went again, to give it another try, and by the awesome grace of God, she did it!!

She kept falling, but she bounced back up and kept going. She skated fast and had several times where she skated halfway across the rink without falling. She looked back and smiled at us. She got hair in her face, and went to ask the coach for help (without tears!). Her glove fell off, and she picked it up and put it back on (without fussing!). HUGE accomplishments for an SPD kid! She had been in the middle of a meltdown, and actually recovered from it within moments. Thank you, Lord!! Hubby and I were grinning from ear to ear and I was just amazed! Normally, once she hits that meltdown mode, we are D.O.N.E – done for the day.

Then, they brought out the pucks! Soft, foam ones, not the hard “professional” ones. They tossed them all on the ice, and the kids just went to town trying to get them in the net.

Another achievement for Bug!!
She got a puck and hit it toward the net. She missed. She fell. Another kid fell and landed on her puck. She hit the puck from right in front of the net and it went way off behind the net. She lost her glove. But, she kept trying!! She chased that thing around the ice, behind the net, and back before finally making it in the net!! You should have seen the smile on her face as she turned around to look at us!! You would have thought she just won the Stanley Cup! Mommy & Daddy’s smiles were even bigger than hers as we gave her thumbs up and cheers from behind the glass! The determination she showed was incredible! She didn’t fuss, she didn’t cry, and she didn’t quit!!

This is HUGE for her. Bug does not do well when she gets something wrong, or doesn’t succeed the first time. She is a perfectionist, and often quits when the going gets rough. But she kept at it! She even fell down and lost a glove during all this, but bounced right back and kept going, determined to make that goal!

After the first one, she claimed another puck and did it again!

When class was over and she stepped off the ice, her first words were “I want to be a hockey player when I grow up!”.

She went from this sad, dejected, frustrated, miserable, confused & hurt little girl at her meltdown point……

…..to THIS – proud, confident, happy, excited, determined & accomplished ice hockey class participant!!

(Sorry the pictures aren’t great. It was low-light, and we were behind the glass. The “after” picture was taken from a video, but even so, you can just SEE the glowing in her face!)

Here is the video (1 min, 39 sec) of her chasing down her first puck and making her first goal! (She's the one with the blonde ponytail hanging out of her helmet!)

When the going gets rough, just take off your panties!

2010-04-10T18:04:00.001-07:00

We’ve had a couple of busy couple of days around here, and that means a very haphazard schedule, which makes our SPD kiddo all the more sensitive and out of sorts. Even after a bath tonight (which normally does wonders for calming her down and desensitizing her), she just could not find any panties that were comfortable for bedtime tonight. She tried on about 7 pair of panties including her old favorite standbys, a couple pair of bike shorts, and even her swimsuit shorts (since she wears those sans panties), but none of them worked.

Finally, she decided on a nightgown without panties. What are you going to do? In this case, sensory needs far outweigh modesty. I did remind her that this was only ok because it was bedtime, but that we had to have *something* on over our bottom to go to church tomorrow. If we don’t make it to church, you’ll know why!

I will say that I am oh-so-proud of her for actually using her WORDS to tell us how she was struggling tonight. Usually we get a lot of tears, whining, and flailing. Tonight, she was able to stay in control enough to say “these just don’t feel good” and “those have seams so they bother me”, and finally, “can you give me a massage to keep my legs from hurting tonight so I can sleep?”. WOW. I made sure to praise her highly for her awesome communication skills in the middle of such an uncomfortable period for her.

Baby boy – 2 weeks later!

2010-03-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

“Little Bear” has been with us for 2 weeks now. He’s already growing so much. He gained 1 pound the first week he was here. His neck is getting stronger too and he’s holding his head up a lot more. He’s still sleeping most of the day, and eating every 3-4 hours. Sometimes he’ll demand a snack at about 2.5 hours :)

He loves – being held, being in the sling, laying beside our legs on the sofa, being swaddled with his arms out, resting in the bouncy seat or the car seat/swing so he’s at an incline.

He dislikes – being naked, getting his diaper changed, getting his clothes changed, laying down in the Pack-n-Play bassinet.

He’s hit or miss on the pacifiers right now. He’ll take one for a bit if he’s really upset, but he spits it out soon after.

He grunts All. The. Time. When he’s hungry, when he’s stretching, when he’s pooping. It’s so precious, and it’s why we call him “Little Bear”.

We still don’t have a timeline for his stay with us, so we’re just enjoying a day at a time with him.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Couch-to-5K ~ Week 4

2010-03-13T11:19:00.001-08:00

I’m in Week 4 of my Couch to 5K program! It’s amazing how much easier this has gotten along the way. This last time I ran, I ran for a total of 16 minutes! 3 min jog, then walk 90 seconds. 5 min jog, then walk 2.5 min. Then repeat.

I ran 5 minutes in a row without stopping!! I literally jumped for joy and said “Thank you, Lord!” when I finished that! I never, ever thought I’d be able to do this, but I am doing it!! God is good!

I’ll do similar days 4 more times, and then at the end of next week, I’m supposed to run 20 minutes in a row with no walking. Wow. I’m looking forward to getting to that point.

I’ve chosen my race, but haven’t officially signed up yet. It’s on April 11. Just 4 weeks away. Intimidating, but exciting all at the same time!

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! (Phil 4:13)

What I love most about my Hubby

2010-03-13T10:49:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday, Hubby & I were the designated “Spotlight Couple” in our Sunday School class. That means we went up in front of the class to tell how we met, what we do, about our family, etc. After we tell our story, a few people ask questions. Sometimes people ask about how he proposed, or about the first kiss…things like that.

One of our friends asked “What do you like best about each other?”

I struggled to come up with something that I could say in just a few seconds, as I knew we were running out of time. As I finished, I felt incomplete. There was so much more I wanted to say about why I love my husband. So, I’m going to say it here.

Why I love my husband:

* He loves me. Really, really, loves me.

* He loves God. He reads God’s word, and seeks affirmations from the Lord before making decisions. He leads our family in worshiping God, praying to him and learning more about him. He is the spiritual leader in our home.

* He absolutely loves being a Daddy. He loves cuddling with Bug, reading to her, getting down on the floor and being silly with her. He enjoys time with her, and takes her on dates. He has never, ever, complained about taking care of her when I need to go somewhere or do something alone. In fact, he encourages it. I pray I never take this for granted! I know so many women who don’t have that support from their husbands, or the dads feel like a babysitter with the kids. I am so thankful that God gave me the perfect parenting partner for me.

* I love that he works with me to open our home to foster children. That not only does he love being a daddy to his own daughter, but he wants to be a daddy to these other kids that need that role model.

* He is a hard worker with an awesome work ethic. He works hard for our family to provide for us. He works hard at whatever job he is working on, whether it’s mowing the yard, changing the oil, or doing work for one of his clients.

* He loves my family. He gets along wonderfully with my mom & dad, and the rest of my family too. I also love his family, and am blessed to call them mine.

* He is my biggest encourager & supporter in all I do. If there is something I want to do, he does everything he can to make it happen.

* He enjoys going clothes shopping with me :) In fact, he has great taste and is very helpful in picking out things that look good on me. He even encourages me not to always buy what’s on sale, as that’s hard for me.

* He is a great cook! I love cooking with him, and we have so much fun working in the kitchen together.

* He looks great in jeans & boots :) The boots were a recent addition to his wardrobe, and hubba-hubba, I like it!

* He is a gentleman. He still opens my doors, carries things for me, and calls me “bride”.

* He truly completes me. When I am too emotional, he is logical. When I am too quick to make a decision, he helps me wait. When I’m worried, he is strong. We balance each other well, and make a great team.

* He is patriotic to the core of his being! He loves his country and the people that fight for it. He votes regularly and puts great thought into the candidates that he chooses. I highly respect that.

* He makes me feel safe. In his arms I feel like everything is going to be ok.

I love you, Babe! You are the love of my life, and I am so thankful that God brought us together like He did. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you!

We have a baby at our house!

2010-03-09T15:46:00.001-08:00

Yep, a real baby! Not a fur baby, not a doll baby….a real baby!

I apologize for not updating the blog sooner, but things have been a little busy at our place. That, and we’ve been missing out on our usual amounts of sleep, so when I’ve actually had the time to sit and blog, I chose to sleep instead.

A couple weeks ago, we found out that a new baby boy needed a temporary home. It’s a long story that I am thrilled to share because it’s an absolutely awesome example of God’s providence and timing.

This story involves a young woman, and I don’t want to disclose her real name at this time, so I’m going to call her “Z”. Z attends a Bible study for low-income & homeless women that some good friends of mine lead every week. I had met Z one time a couple months ago when I volunteered at an event with these ladies, but that’s all the contact I’ve had with her.

Recently, she gave birth to a little boy, and because of a long, assorted past, CPS stepped in and told her she was not going to be able to take the baby home from the hospital. She was told that she had a chance to find a friend or relative to take the baby, and if she couldn’t, he would be placed in foster care.

(Side note: As many of you know, Hubby and I have been certified foster parents before. However, we let our license expire because we were still prayerfully considering which agency to change to in order to have one closer to home. In addition, with the upcoming change in Rob’s job, we were praying about when to get certified and reopen our home as foster parents. I’ve been praying about this for months now, but still had not felt led to any particular agency, and in fact, felt strongly that we were to be *waiting* – so we are not currently certified foster parents.)

The word went out from Z, to the leaders of her Bible study, and email chains were started. The word quickly got to me as our friends knew that we had been foster parents and thought I could shed some light on the situation. I said that of course my instinct would be to offer our home for the baby, but that I’ve learned not to act without praying, so I wanted to go home and talk to Hubby and pray about this.

I got home, and told Hubby and he told me how the Lord had been talking to him for some time about saying “Here I am, Lord!” and being available for His service anytime, no matter what. We agreed that we needed to be open and available for this little baby, and if the Lord wanted him in our home, he would end up there, but if not, that was His will too.

Z had a couple options in addition to us that were presented to her as people that were willing to give her baby a temporary home. She was to give all the options to CPS and they would run background checks on everyone and make a decision. Hubby and I prayed and told God that only HE knew the timing involved. Only God knows how long this child needs a home. God knows when we are moving, where we need to be, and when. We don’t. God knows how much I want to have this child, a little baby, in our home – even if only for a little while.

So, we turned in our info, and then sat back and waited. We didn’t have to wait long. By the end of the day, we were approved and told to be at the hospital the next morning to pick up the baby. Wow!

It’s a “God thing”!

CPS was allowing Z to do a “voluntary placement” with a friend or relative rather than placing the baby in foster care. In order to do this, the caretakers of the child can NOT be certified foster parents. Can NOT be foster parents!! Did you catch that? That immediately ruled out one of Z’s options that had stepped up as they recently were certified as foster parents. But we qualify for that! Is this why God was having us wait?

I don’t know CPS’ official reasons for preferring “voluntary placement” over “foster care”, but I assume it has something to do with a lot less paperwork. Also, the state doesn’t pay voluntary placement caretakers, but foster parents do receive some income to help with the child’s needs.

So, for a little more than a week, we have had a new baby in our house!! He’s about 3 weeks old now, and it’s just amazing! Hubby is the BEST at helping and I’m so blessed to have him by my side through this.

We learned with Bug that it was silly for both of us to get up every time she needed something during the night because NEITHER of us got any sleep that way. We both felt guilty for not being up, so we’d go with the other to keep them company. Silly! So, with later foster kids, and now with this baby, we are taking turns. One night I go to bed, and Hubby sleeps on the sofa with Little Bear in the living room. The next night, Hubby goes to sleep in our bed, while LB and I hang out in the living room. It’s working wonderfully!! We are still tired, but not fall-down-exhausted! God' has been so great to us and is supplying us with the energy we need each day!

Plus, it’s just an energy boost to cuddle with an adorable baby! If you are going to be up during the night, you might as well be holding a cute newborn!

Still in AWE! It is just amazing that God would bring me into contact with this woman in such a way that I would be aware of her situation at just the right time. Also, that Hubby and I would not be currently certified foster parents so that we were able to be considered for this placement. Then, that CPS would first offer Z voluntary placement in the first place, and then choose us over the other options. A true miracle!!

This is completely unlike any foster care placement we ever had. With this voluntary placement, we are very involved with the mom and will interact with her frequently. She will have visits with the baby, that have to be supervised by Hubby or myself. In foster care, we rarely have interaction with the parents. In fact, they usually don’t get our last name, address or phone number. This extra interaction with the birth mom presents all sorts of interesting challenges, but I also pray that it provides for some great ministry opportunities.

We don’t have a timeline yet, but from all we’ve heard so far, we are looking at anywhere from 6 months to a year or so. There are so many variables involved that it’s impossible to guess. There is so much more to the story that I don’t feel comfortable sharing on here. Feel free to ask me in person about it though, as this is just an awesome, awesome testimony to God’s sovereignty!

I need caffeine before I can work my coffee maker

2010-02-25T06:50:00.001-08:00

I drink a lot of coffee & tea. I really like them both equally, although sometimes I’m in a mood for one over the other. I love all the various flavors of tea, and have become a huge fan of loose leaf tea as well. I just can’t give up my coffee though, as I really do enjoy the flavor. My hubby would tell you that I “ruin” the flavor since I add milk and agave nectar (a natural sweetener), but I love it!

Needless to say, I absolutely love my Keurig coffee maker! I was spoiled by my husband a couple years ago when he surprised me with it. It’s so nice to be able to make tea or coffee just one cup at a time. It’s also great when we have company over because it’s easy to make decaf for some, and regular for others. You can get different flavors of tea, various flavors/strengths of coffee, and even hot chocolate! Lots of choices for everyone.

In order to save money, and not blow our budget on K-cups, we supplement with the “My K-cup” filter, which allows you to use your own ground coffee. (Extra tip: You can get good deals on the K-cups by using a 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath & Beyond)

We also use the Keurig for hot water, by simply running it without a K-cup in it at all.

So, this morning, I put a tea bag in my cup, and ran some hot water through the machine to make some lovely raspberry tea!

Unfortunately, I forgot to check to make sure the K-cup holder was empty.

It wasn’t. I had left the “my K-cup” in there from last night when I made a cup of decaf coffee.

As I took a sip of my tea, I noticed this odd flavor that I couldn’t quite put my finger on at first. Suddenly I realized it was coffee flavor, mixed with raspberry tea!

Not tasty!

I had to start over. Some mornings I really think I need my cup of coffee before I operate any appliances :)

So, which do you prefer? Coffee or tea? What flavors?

I miss cable…a little

2010-02-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

This week I am missing cable. We haven’t had TV service for a few years now. We turned it off at one point to save money when we were out of a job, and then we just left it. Normally, I don’t care. Bug watches her DVDs, and has a good selection to choose from. Hubby and I watch our favorite shows online. It’s amazing how many shows put their episodes online for you to watch! Sure, we watch them a day or few late, but that’s no problem. We also use Netflix and get one movie at a time from them. So, we stay plenty entertained without using up too much of our “free” time in front of the tube.

But right now is WINTER OLYMPICS time!! I *heart* watching the winter olympics! I’ll do my best to find some videos online, but there is just something about watching it live, I think.

I love the figure skating! They always look so graceful. I also love the bobsled & luge for the speed and accuracy! I have fun watching the skiing because I’ve never been, but it looks like so much fun, and I hope to try it someday (on a bunny slope!). Hockey is always a favorite, but I like that year-round, not just at the Olympics!

Oh well, it will end, and I’ll move on. I’m working on contentment : )

What is your favorite sport to watch in the Olympics?

Couch to 5K

2010-02-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

I feel like I can officially write about this since I’m in week 2 of my 9 week training program. Before now I have never been a runner. I’ve always said “I don’t run. I walk.”. I can walk/hike for miles, in fact I *love* hiking!

But I don’t run.

Until now.

When I say I’m not a runner, or that I *can’t* run, my sweet husband tells me that it’s all in my head (he says it sweetly!). That I have to push past the pain. I thought he was loony. I mean, you are supposed to *stop* when something hurts, right? Unfortunately, that’s what I’ve always done.

But then, this past December, we went to watch several friends run in a marathon. A marathon! That’s 26.2 miles, and they ran! It was inspiring. Even more inspiring were the people we saw running with prosthetic legs. We saw 2 or 3 adults running with TWO prosthetic legs. I mean, what better excuse do you have for NOT running? Yet, there they were. I have been blessed with 2 legs that work just fine, so why can’t I do this?

Because I haven’t tried.

Plus, I just watched my husband train for 6 months to get back in shape to join the Army. He is my hero! He got up early, worked out multiple times a week – hard! He lost weight, gained strength, and focused on his goal. He didn’t want to get up early, or go running, especially with a 50 pound rucksack on his back. But he did. Because he’s that kind of guy.

So, now I’m trying. I’m going to start….and finish this! I desperately want to accomplish this. I want to run a 5K (that’s about 3 miles) without stopping. Just because I can. I’d love to do a marathon someday, but right now that’s too lofty a goal for me to focus on. We’re going to start with a 5K. Then, we’ll shoot for a 10K. Baby steps.

I completed week 1, which consisted of 3 days of training. Each time, I ran 1 minute, then walked 1.5 minutes. I continued that cycle for 20 minutes (plus a 5 minute warm up, and another 5 minute cool down).

Then I had a setback of a couple weeks with an awful chest congestion, so I started over, and did week 1 again.

Now, I’m in week 2. Yesterday I completed Week 2 – Day 1. Run 1.5 minutes, and walk 2 minutes. Although, I forgot to look at my training program before I left the house, so I only walked for 1.5 minutes. Guess I did better than I was “supposed” to :)

The first week was miserable. For one thing, I didn’t stretch enough before/after and I ended up with awful shin splints that made me wonder if I had already broken something.

Then, one day I ran/walked, it was the day after our area had record breaking snow! It had started to melt, and I found myself running in crazy zig-zags to avoid the puddles. My shoes have mesh on them, and every time I would step in a puddle, cold, wet water would seep in. Burr!

This week, I spent more time stretching, and it made all the difference in the world! Yesterday when I ran, it was so cold out, that I kept changing my route so that I could stay in the sun. It doesn’t really matter where I run, because right now I’m running for time, not distance, so I don’t measure out a certain path. I just go.

It felt GREAT! This week was easier than last week. It was still hard, but it was easier than last week. I hope that cycle continues because I really WANT to enjoy this. Not just do it, but enjoy it.

Don’t sweat the small stuff…God already is

2010-02-18T08:09:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday night, just before Bug went to bed, I was rocking her in the rocking chair. I feel so incredibly blessed that she still lets me do this from time to time, even at 5 (and a half!).

Suddenly, she burst into tears! She said “I don’t want to grow up. I want to stay a kid forever.” I assured her that she had tons of time to enjoy being a kid, and when it was time for her to be a grownup, she would WANT to be a grownup! She was worried about outgrowing her bunk bed (a twin!), so I told her about how I slept on a bed that size until I was a much older grownup and it fit just fine.

Then the conversation got around to us moving (ahhh! the real worry!). We know that about a year from now our family will be moving. We don’t know where yet. Most of the time, Emily is super excited about it. God blessed her with an amazing sense of adventure and curiosity. She wants to visit more countries and states than I think I even knew existed at her age.

However, this time, she was bawling. She was scared and worried about the move. I held her close and told her she could ask me anything. That Daddy and I had both moved many, many times in our life, so we could tell her all about it. She’s moved before, but she was too young to remember it. Now, she’s starting to process the concept of moving, and trying to figure it all out. See, she’s a detail person and a planner. That’s who she is. So, rather than focusing on the adventure of it, right now she was focused on the little details.

What was she worried about? Well, here were a couple of her questions.

* What if my new bedroom doesn’t have a window? I assured her that her bedroom, would in fact, have a window! She loves to look out her bedroom window!

* What if we are driving to our new home and we have to stop, but we can’t sleep in the van….where will we sleep? Obviously she had forgotten the many times we’ve slept in a hotel room on the way to a destination! I reminded her of the hotel stops when we went to Florida this past year, and that settled her mind.

Last time she did this, she was concerned because she “would never get to go to the zoo again!”, but was fine once I showed her that there are zoos in or near most cities, and that she would definitely get to go to the zoo again!

She was also curious about having a yard to play in, and since I don’t know if we’ll be in a house or apartment at first, I couldn’t promise that. But once I told her that apartments have swimming pools, she said she wanted us to live there!

Our sweet girl is not a big fan of change. She likes to plan ahead and know what’s going to happen….exactly how it’s going to happen. So this first move will be challenging for us. We’ll have to give her lots of details, without giving her ones she doesn’t need to know at her age.

As she was worrying about whether or not her bedroom would have a window, I was reminded of Christ in Matthew 6:25-39. He tells us not to worry because he will take care of us, even more than he does the birds and the flowers. He’s already in the details. He sees the big picture, when we only see what’s right in front of us.

Just the same, I can worry about where we are going to be stationed, what our house will look like, if it will have a microwave built in, whether I’ll have a bathtub or just a shower…..Or I can just relax, take it as it comes, and trust that God has it all planned out for us.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)

Letter C week

2010-02-16T13:03:00.001-08:00

I had more ideas than I had time to implement for this week!

We studied Christopher Columbus (history), contentment (Bible), the calendar (math).

In Science, we studied crabs, and did an experiment with celery. You know the one where you put the celery in a glass of water with food coloring? Then you get to see the food coloring moving up the stalk as the celery absorbs water. Never gets old!

We made cookies, chicken pot pie, and ate chocolate! I altered the pot pie recipe a bit, and made my crust from scratch, but I’ll type that out later.

We had our dear friend “Aunt Chelle” over for dinner. Not just because it was “C” week, but it worked out nicely!

Bug clipped her fingernails for the first time all by herself! (No blood! Yay!)

She made a cat craft where the legs and tail were all made out of letter Cs. I turned her loose with the glue on this one, and let’s just say that it’s a good thing that stuff comes cheap! Ha Ha!

She also decorated a letter C with cereal. I was so proud when she said “Look Mommy! I made patterns!”.

For sensory development, we played with clothespins, played catch with a ball, and made sensory balloons (I guess I should have done those on B week!)).

I made 2 sets of sensory balloons filled with popcorn kernels, salt, birdseed, oatmeal, pinto beans, and lentils. The idea was for Bug to simply feel the balloons and match one from the pink group to the same one from the orange group. She amazed me by completing this in record time! I don’t know why I was surprised. This is the girl that notices every little detail, and can tell if there is a single stitch out of place inside her shoe. Later, she used the balloons and an empty laundry basket to make a tossing game in the hall. That was a little trickier, as motor skills were involved. Great practice though!

Other snacks included crackers, cheese, oranges (citrus), & more chocolate! Also pictured is the sewing card I made for the week.

I also bought a new set of cookie cutters! 101 of them, to be exact! They were at Walmart for only $10, and I’ve been eyeing them for a while. If you follow that link, those are the same cutters, but my box did not have a see-through window, and I paid $10, not $14.99!

I have to say, I was super impressed with this set! I fully expected them to be teeny tiny cutters for the price, but I was surprised to see how large they were. I wanted a set of alphabet cutters, so I was willing to deal with them being on the small side, but they are actually a good size. Some of the cutters, like the gingerbread people and the pumpkin, are 4-5 inches. There are several sizes of hearts and circles, and a great variety of other items. I LOVE it!! Bug had a great time spreading them all out on the floor and playing too.

Let it snow! (Day 2)

2010-02-13T13:05:00.001-08:00

Here is what we woke up to on Friday morning! It snowed the ENTIRE day on Thursday, and overnight covered up most of our tracks from the day before.

It even covered up our snowgirl we made the day before! She’s got on a pink cowgirl hat, but you can’t tell!

We all (mostly my hubby!) worked hard in the front yard to built a snow fort. The plan was to make it taller, but Bug and her friend from next door decided it should be a slide, so the plans got redrawn!

Bug had a blast with her good friend from next door. We are blessed with some of the most wonderful next door neighbors! This little girl is their granddaughter, and she and Bug just adore each other. They played in the snow for hours before I finally lured them in to decorate cookies and warm up.

Finally, they wore out enough to sit still for a movie….for all of 30 minutes….before getting back up to play!

It was a wonderful day! We are very blessed!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! (Day 1)

2010-02-13T13:04:00.001-08:00

For many of you, snow is just a given at this time of year. However, for us in Texas, these past few days have been a real treat! For an area that deals with temperatures in the 100’s for so many days in the summer, it’s nice to experience the colder side of things from time to time.

DFW just set a new record with over a foot of snow falling in 24 hours! We built snowmen, ate snow ice cream, snow cones, went sledding, and just all around enjoyed it!

If you aren’t from Texas and you are wondering why we are so excited it’s because it is a RARE treat that we get real SNOW. Usually it’s this icy, slushy, mixed with dirt stuff that Texans call snow. But this was white, fluffy, powdery, genuine snow!

Here are some highlight pictures!

We’ve joined the Army!

2010-02-10T10:54:00.001-08:00

The roller coaster ride has begun!

Hubby signed the papers yesterday to re-enlist in the Army! For the past 6 months he has been getting back in shape to join the Army, and now it’s time. His MOS (job) will be 74D - Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Specialist. Get ready to read lots of acronyms as I learn a whole new language!

A little background for anyone just jumping on the ride with us:

Hubby served in the Army for 7 years…and has been out for 13 years. After he got out, he spent some time as a SCUBA instructor in the islands, then came back home to Texas to continue teaching at a shop here, where we met. Later, he got into the IT field working with computers for the next several years with a small break while he worked as a manager for Starbucks. During that time, we got married, had a baby, and moved a couple times locally.

A couple years ago, we considered him getting back into the Army, but we dismissed it without much thought. However, the idea didn’t disappear as we assumed it would, and this past summer it came back with intensity! This time, we prayed about it and spent a lot of time seeking God’s will. After
many affirmations, we knew in our hearts that this was where we were going.

It’s a huge change from the dream that we’ve always had for our life. We met while SCUBA diving, and we both always wanted to own a dive shop together somewhere in the Caribbean. We weren’t sure when, or how, we’d get there, but we wanted to get there. A couple years ago, we gave that dream up to God. We prayed about it and told God that if HE wanted us to do that, that we knew He would get us there, but in the meantime, we were willing to do what He wanted us to do. It really changed our hearts, and opened our minds to a different path that might be in store for us.

I’ve never been an Army wife. Bug has never been an Army kid. Hubby has never been a married guy with dependents in the Army. This is a whole new adventure for all of us!

We are excited! We know this is where God wants us to go, and my husband is an amazing, patriotic man who loves to serve his country. I am so incredibly proud of him and proud to support him as he serves!

He will be leaving August 30 to start training for his new job. He’ll be away from home for about 5 months. We will have limited communication during that time. Toward the end of that 5 months, we will find out where our duty station will be. After his training is done, then we’ll figure out where we’re going, and when we will all be moving. We know we’re moving, but no idea where. With this job, he could be attached to just about any unit, which means we could end up at any Army post. It’s all in God’s hands!

Life is a roller coaster ride

2010-02-08T20:29:00.001-08:00

One of my closest friends put it this way, “It's like when the cart get's to the top of a rollercoaster isn't it? You know what is coming is scary and exciting but you have no idea what's coming. Just that it's about to start.”

That sums up our life right now just perfectly! I am so thankful that God is in control!

Our family has some huge changes coming up soon. Huge changes. My husband is currently in the process of re-enlisting in the Army, after being out for 13 years. I will, for the first time in my life, be an Army wife. We will be moving away from our current home. Hubby has done that before since he served in the Army for 7 years, but I have never in my entire life lived more than 30 miles away from my family. For the last 30 years, I’ve lived inside the same 30 mile radius. I’ve always wanted to travel, to live somewhere else, but I haven’t yet.

We don’t know exactly when, or where yet. Hopefully we will be finding out the *when* soon, ideally this week. The *where* may not come for a while.

We feel 100% sure that this is a calling for us. We’ve been praying about this for months and months now, and God has affirmed it for us over and over again. We’ve been preparing for this for a long time, and the time has arrived. This is a new adventure for our family. A chance for us to let go of the reigns and let God use us for His glory. A chance to serve our country. To make friends with people we would have otherwise never met. To see places we would have never seen. To serve others in ways we don’t even know about yet.

We are excited! A little nervous about some things, sure, but excited! We are walking in faith, trusting Him to lead us and show us where to go, where He wants us.

A long time ago, Rob and I learned that the only way we can get through anything together is by having God as the 3rd strand in our marriage. The 3rd strand of a rope is what holds it together. The same is true in our marriage. We’ve been through a lot together in our 8 years of marriage, and we’ve come out of each situation stronger together, by the grace of God. We know that this next adventure will be no different!

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. ~ Ecc 4:12

I will be updating here as I know more. For now, I ask for your prayers as we embark on this new journey together as a family.

Letter B week

2010-02-08T20:28:00.001-08:00

Letter B week was so much fun! We learned about the Tower of Babel for our Bible story. We sang songs about a black sheep and a dog named Bingo, and played with our sand blocks while listening to music. We snacked on bread & butter, blueberries, and peanut butter balls.

Here are some of the pictures from the week!

We made a bird feeder! We spread peanut butter all over a pinecone, and then covered it with birdseed and hung it in the tree. The birds (and some squirrels!) loved it!

We made a school bus craft with Mommy’s Cricut paper cutter!

Practicing my handwriting! Big line, little curve, little curve!

Then we baked bread in the form of pretzels! Yummy!

Emily spent time building blocks, and balancing them!

Decorated the letter B with buttons!

Then we ended the week with a special trip to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, courtesy of Bug’s grandparents, to see some Bull Riding and Barrel Racing!

Letter A week

2010-02-08T20:25:00.001-08:00

We’ve changed curriculum a bit in homeschooling. The one we were using was only frustrating both Emily and myself, so I made some changes for this second semester. We are now working through the alphabet with a Letter of the Week program I’ve put together. It’s a compilation of ideas and tools from different sources. We absolutely LOVE it! Emily loves coming up with new ways to incorporate our weekly letter, and I love having a “theme” to work around.

I didn’t get many pictures during “A” week, but I hope to for future weeks. We learned about Abraham, being attentive, airplanes, angels and alligators. We ate apples, applesauce, & “ants on a log”.

We had a paper airplane making contest!

Practice makes perfect

2010-02-06T14:18:00.001-08:00

The other day my daughter was practicing riding her bike. She was working on her turns and making figure eights without turning too much and falling over. I told her “Practice makes perfect!”, and she told me “No it doesn’t, Mommy! No one is perfect except God.”
How right she is!

If only practice made perfect, then maybe I could have hopes of being a perfect mother one day, but alas, it doesn’t….and I can’t. Lately, I find myself making mistake after mistake after mistake. I lose my temper, or get upset about something I shouldn’t, and I end up having to go once again and apologize to my 5 year old for getting too mad, or yelling, or not listening well enough. It’s humbling. Even more humbling when she practically interrupts me to quickly say, “it’s ok Mommy, I forgive you!”.

I am finding that the more that I acknowledge that God is growing me in an area, the more I struggle with it. Also, I and realizing that I tend to be harder on Emily in the areas that I myself need the most work in.

For just one example - she gets upset because she’s not getting her way about something and gets grumpy with me. DUH, right? She’s a kid! But when she does this, I get upset with her because she’s upset, instead of just letting her be upset. I accuse her of being selfish and getting upset just because she doesn’t get her way. Wait – aren’t *I* upset because I’m not getting MY way? I’m not getting a nice, perfectly obedient child every minute of the day, so I get upset because it’s inconvenient for me to stop and discipline her, or teach her at this very moment. Now who is being selfish? I’m expecting her to have adult level behavior for issues that took me years as an adult to learn….and that I’m still learning. Why are my expectations so high (too high) of her sometimes?

I’ve heard a saying about how when you point a finger at someone, there are 3 more fingers pointing right back at yourself (try it, you’ll see).

I find that SO often when I am saying something to Emily out of frustration or anger, it’s like God was saying them to ME instead. “You need to get in control.”, “You need to listen to me”, “You aren’t paying attention to what I’m saying.”, “Are you thinking of yourself or others?”, “Are you being a blessing to others right now?”. OUCH.

So, I’ll keep practicing. Every day for the rest of my life. I’ll never be perfect, but I do hope to become more and more Christ-like. In the meantime, I surrender all to Him!

“He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” ~ Proverbs 21:21

Having fun, fun, fun with school!

2010-02-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

We’ve had so much fun this past month with school! I am truly blessed to be able to homeschool Bug. I adore seeing her excited about learning new things, and I have a blast learning along with her.
Here are some of the highlights!

Science projects

Making crafts and trying them on the cat

Making a city out of recyclables

We started a new program using a “Letter of the Week”, and I am LOVING it!! I’m pulling from a few different sources, but basically I am putting together a curriculum centered around one letter each week. Bible stories, Handwriting, Read Alouds, Science, History/Geography, Math, Snacks/Cooking, Crafts, & Physical Activities – are all so fun to plan around a letter!

I’ll post about the letter weeks in separate posts.

Silly Willie

2010-02-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now.
I just now found a peanut, found a peanut just now.

Well, maybe not a peanut, but my Bug and my parents did find a caterpillar and put it in a bug cage.

My dad did the research and found out that it is a Giant Leopard Moth.

3 weeks after that first picture was taken, it spun a web for itself and made a cocoon!
It started off like this:

Later that day, it looked like this:

And it has been that way since January 17! Now we are just waiting and waiting to see how it develops! From what I’ve read, it could take till Springtime to come out, so I guess we get to practice our patience!

January Jumble

2010-02-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

A little of this…a little of that. Here is what January looked like for us.
Playing our new favorite game, Super Stretchy ABC

Playing dress up

Doing yoga with Daddy

Trying new foods (sardines & oysters!)

Earning a FREE PIZZA with the Pizza Hut Book It Program!

Sleeping on the floor UNDER her bunk bed. What kid doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned “pallet”?

Riding a new bike! Thanks to a great friend, we received a hand-me-down bike for Bug. (LOVE hand-me-downs!) Her knees were hitting the handlebars on her old one, so it was time to move up. This was a huge blessing!

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!

2010-02-02T15:58:00.001-08:00

Emily could NOT wait until the leaves all fell off the tree! I think she asked almost daily if we could rake the leaves “now?”. She was so excited when Daddy finally agreed to make some leaf piles! My little “sensory seeker” was on cloud 9!

Hubby filled up the slide for Bug to slide down – Weeeeeeeeeee!

Then he tried it with the cat. She was not as impressed, but forgave him quickly!

Happy New Year!

2010-02-02T15:57:00.001-08:00

Just a month late! January was a busy month. We started the new year at my mother-in-law’s house. She lives near the beach in Galveston, and we always have a great time hanging out with her.
We celebrated New Year’s Day with our annual Ice Cream Sundaes! We even get dye-free maraschino cherries from Whole Foods! Somehow, I was too busy enjoying the ice cream to get any pictures of it this year. Oh well! We also played plenty of Wii games to burn off the ice cream calories.

We can’t go to Galveston without going to the beach, even if it is the middle of winter! We bundled up and headed to the beach for a shell-collecting mission. Of course, we weren’t there for 2 minutes before Bug was playing in the water. She was enjoying herself like it was summertime. Crazy girl! Her pants are wet all the way up to her coat!

Bug drew this picture of a bug all by herself!! LOVE it!
One day, Bug decided she wanted to be a mouse, so she enlisted Grandma’s help making a costume!

Unfortunately, on January 2nd, we received a call from my mom that my grandmother (my mom’s mom) had passed away. We knew it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier. We loaded up and headed home so I could be with my mom. While we miss her very much, it is also a blessing to know that she is with our Lord and no longer in any pain.

We had my parents over the next day for dinner and some game play on the Wii. We wanted to give mom a night of fun and laughs in the midst of her stress. I think it worked!

Mom getting a little instruction from my Hubby!

Getting serious about it!

Meanwhile, Bug enlisted Grandad to play dolls with her!

A few days later we had the funeral, and it was short and sweet. Praise God she’s in Heaven! She’s no longer in pain! I heard a couple really great stories about my grandmother at the funeral. One relative told me that my grandmother once spent her last $1 to buy her a pair of shoes because she didn’t have any to wear to school. Another relative told me that once she didn’t have any shoes, and my grandmother took the shoes off her feet, gave them to her, and went home barefoot!
Wow.

I hope that those stories stay in my mind forever, and that I can shoot to live my live like that…..truly loving others and putting them before myself.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T21:31:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas! I feel absolutely, incredibly blessed today! I have had the best Christmas season ever, I think. We kept things so much simpler this year – spending less, giving more, not trying to go to every activity, making sure we had time for just R and me, time for just our family of 3, and time with extended friends and family.

I am so proud of Bug right now! She was amazing yesterday and today. Last night she got to open a present after church. She knew she was going to get one, and she was so excited about it. She had it all built up in her mind, and you could just tell she thought it was going to be the best thing EVER! She even talked about how we would all get to play with her new toy and how she would share it with us. I was concerned she was going to be disappointed when she realized it was just jammies.

But, she was so excited about them and put them on immediately. Unfortunately, I should have washed them first because they were a little uncomfortable on her, so she put her old ones back on, and was so content with it. What a little blessing she was with her great spirit and attitude!

Today, Christmas Day, she was so sweet and tenderhearted. She was patient, kind, loving, and a pure joy to be with! We opened stockings first, and she took her time, enjoying each and every thing that came out of her stocking. She stopped to play with or enjoy each item. When we stopped to go play in the snow (first white Christmas in North Texas in 83 years!), she got involved in that, and had a great time, never once asking about the other gifts under the tree or rushing us. Once we came back to the gifts, she wanted R and me to go first (but we didn’t take her up on it). She was truly thankful and appreciative for each of her gifts (doll clothes, and 2 animal skeleton books). She took time to play with them and look at them without rushing, then she showed genuine interest in what R and I opened as well.

She did this in the afternoon at my parents’ house too. We got there and hung out a bit, and we actually had to tell her that she was the kid and she was supposed to ask when we opened presents! When we were opening them, she took her time to enjoy the gifts, to really stop and play with each one as if it was the only gift in the world she had. She slowed down and watched as others opened their gifts, and seemed genuinely interested in what they were doing. She was kind, polite, thankful, and so much fun to be with! I am so proud to be her mommy!

I was proud of my parents and R’s family too! Everyone was very generous with their gifts, but also kept it simple and reasonable in their gifts to Bug. She was able to truly enjoy her gifts without being overwhelmed with too many packages to open. She received things that she loves and enjoys and things that are perfect fits for her personality and interests – really meaningful gifts.

R and I were a bit spoiled by our parents – even more than Bug was this year. I feel humbled and so blessed to have parents that love us so much, and that even though we are out of work and can not reciprocate this year, they went all out to get us things they knew we wanted, but would never buy for ourselves.

I also feel blessed because we got to spend the day with my parents AND R’s family – in ONE location – as usual. My parents, his mom, his grandmother, and his uncle, all getting along and having a great time. We’ve always been very blessed and fortunate that not only do we get along with each other’s families, but they also get along so well with each other and really enjoy each other’s company.

I feel like we finally got it right this season. We slowed down and kept the focus on Christ. We gave more than we received and did our small part to help the “least of these”. We gave thoughtful, meaningful gifts rather than gifts for the sake of giving. We cherished our time with our family.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming to us over 2000 years ago, in such a humble beginning even though you deserved so much more. Thank you for coming as a baby, so that you could grow and experience life on earth as a human. So that you would know about anything we could ever go through, and be there for us. So that you, could live a sinless life and die for our sins, so that we could live with Our Father one day in Heaven. We love you! Happy Birthday, Jesus!

6 years ago today….

2009-11-26T21:22:00.001-08:00

…on Thanksgiving 2003, we found out we were pregnant!! A true miracle! After being told by multiple doctors that we were infertile and could not get pregnant, even with extensive measures – we were blessed with a surprise miracle!

Actually one doctor told us “you will never get pregnant without a whole lot of help”. We had all the help we needed from the Lord!

I woke up that morning, and took the pregnancy test as I always did before I took the medication to bring on my period. What a happy shock when I saw it said I was pregnant!! I was so excited, I took that test in hand, and went to Starbucks where R was working that morning and showed it to him right there in the store. He was so excited! He also told me to go next door to the grocery store and get another test to confirm it. I got 2. I came back and took them both right then in the bathroom at Starbucks! 2 more positives.

We told my parents that evening at their place, and they were excited beyond words. We called R’s mom to tell her she was going to be a Grandma, and she thought we were getting a dog! She likes dogs, but a baby was much better!

It was the best Thanksgiving Day ever! We are so very blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T05:48:00.001-08:00

This morning, I got up a little early, but not to dress, stuff, or cook a turkey! Instead, I washed my face, made a cup of hot tea and sat down to enjoy my quiet time with the Lord, reading His word. What a blessing that time is!

Today, our family is going out to eat for Thanksgiving! GASP! Can you imagine? We’ve talked about doing it for years, but never could break ourselves away from the preparing & cooking that started days before Thanksgiving. The getting up early, rushing around, and spending hours preparing a meal that took minutes to eat. Even then, getting my mom to actually sit at the meal is a feat in itself as she plays the ever busy hostess. So this year, we are heading off to Maggiano’s Restaurant to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast for lunch! Then we will all come back to our place to play games and spend time relaxing together.

I led a Bible study discussion about Mary & Martha (Luke 10:38-42) last week, so I am even more excited to be able to slow down, relax and focus on what is important today. Relationships. We are blessed to enjoy many a home-cooked meal in our house, and we actually eat turkey on a regular basis, so the special thing for us today is not the preparing of the food, but the time sitting and enjoying family.

That’s not to say that the time preparing and cooking is not special. We love to do that too! To gather in the kitchen, prepare meals together, exchange recipes and laugh when we leave something in the oven too long, or not long enough. It’s just that today, we are choosing something different.

I hope that you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, no matter how you choose to spend it. Count your many blessings! If you are sitting in a warm house with a roof over your head, and you plan to eat today (maybe even more than once!), then you indeed are rich! Stop and thank He who provides it all.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus! (1 Thess 5:18)

Bug’s first stitches!

2009-10-22T12:05:00.001-07:00

Staples, actually.....2 of them....in her HEAD!

This morning, my dad picked up Bug to spend the day/night at their place.   Less than an hour later, dad called and said "Bug fell and cut her head open. I need you to meet us at the hospital"

ACK! I was off!

Turns out, she was with him in his workshop and trying to watch something, so she was climbing up on a chair, it turned and she fell - and hit the back of her head on his LATHE machine! OUCH!   She is his little apprentice in there, and always loves helping him work on something.

She's got about an inch and a half gash on the back of her head and had to get 2 staples in it. Of course it was bleeding all over the place, as head wounds do, so dad scooped her up to take her to the ER to see how bad it was.

I got to the hospital and she and dad were already in triage. She was so scared about what was going to happen to her, and also about whether or not she would still get to spend the night at their house (she wanted to!).

She was a TROOPER!!! The nurse looked at it, then the doctor looked at it. They gave me a cotton ball with some numbing medicine on it to hold on the wound. Then once it was numb, the doctor put a shot of more numbing medicine in the wound (YIKES!) - Thankfully Bug didn't see it OR feel it! Then he used this little disposable staple gun (we got to keep it!!) and put 2 staples in as fast as you would staple paper and he was done!

Bug was more scared about what was going to happen next than she was worried about the pain. Makes sense, when you have nothing to compare it to, or don't know how all that stuff works. We assured her that I got to hold her the whole time, she wasn't going anywhere by herself, etc.

I told her I'd go get her popsicles or ice cream or whatever she wanted when we were done. She said "I just want some water". Silly girl! Poor thing, her tummy was upset (you know how you get a sick tummy when you get really hurt or upset?).

I didn't think to grab the camera to take with me (you know....when dad said head wound, I just went!), but Bug wanted pictures, so I took some with my phone. I'll take pictures of her staples better when she gets back home tomorrow.

After the hospital, dad took her home, and I went to the store. I got her some popsicles, ice cream, a coloring book (with an elephant on it!), and some stickers. Then I went to their house, rinsed out her hair and shirt (covered in blood!), and then left her in the care of my dad. She still wanted to spend the night, and once she was all done at the ER, she seems to be almost back to herself. She's tired, and her head is sore, but otherwise, she's doing great. I'm amazed really! God was really with her. My sweet girl has cried for 2 hours over a paper cut before, so the fact that she bounced back from this so fast is a huge blessing!!

She asked me to "take a picture of me crying" - she's on my lap, that wasn't easy with the phone camera.

The wound

The staples

Now, she gets to have a day of all the popsicles and ice cream she can eat at MeMe and Grandad’s house. A great ending, I think!

Kindergarten – Month 1

2009-10-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

What have we been doing for the last month?
Having a great time!

We officially started school on Sept. 8, right after Labor Day weekend. The previous 2 weekends were huge “field trips” as we spent a weekend with my parents in Oklahoma, and then spent the next weekend at the Galveston beach with R’s mom! Both weekends were filled with fun and learning about nature!

Each week we cover the following subjects: Reading, Writing, History, Geography, Math, Bible, Science, Spelling, Home Economics, Arts & Crafts, & Physical Education. The core of that is done in 2-3 hours a day!
We are having a great time!

Here are some of the highlights from the past month:

* Learning about Egypt and the fact that they used to shave off HALF of one eyebrow when their cat died to show they were mourning.
* Learning that the country of Italy looks like a boot on the map.
* Reading (Mommy read, she listened) to the first book in the Boxcar Children series.
* Checking the weather every day for our Weather Chart.
* Changing the days on our “Today is…” chart.
* Making fossils
* Making a weather vane
* Having a paper race to learn about wind
* Hearing my daughter ask if we can PLEASE “do more school!”
* Learning how to operate the “self-check” machine at the grocery store.
* Going to a local Greek festival after learning about Greece.
* Taking soil samples
* Building a rocket out of a cardboard box

Making a coracle and testing to see if it would float.
It did!

Fun at the Greek Festival:

Making Fossils

Soil Samples

Weathervane

Fun with Spelling

Egyptian Collar

Learning the difference between sedimentary & igneous rocks

Physical Education (aka: Getting the extra energy out!)

Whew! I can’t wait to see how October goes!

Kindergarten – Homeschool style!

2009-10-02T14:48:00.001-07:00

I can’t believe it’s been an entire month already! I am absolutely loving teaching Bug Kindergarten! I admit, it took me a couple weeks to get in the groove with the new things to do each day, but we’ve got it now!

I get so many questions about what we do and how we do it, that I really want to document it here to share. This is one of the greatest things that we have ever decided to do and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! Please, please ask any questions that you may have. I know that a couple years ago, this was not even on our radar and we had NO clue how to go about it. We have learned so much and love to share that with others that are interested.

Currently, we only have one child. However, when I was teaching her preschool, we had anywhere from 1-4 children ages 5 and under in our home because we were foster parents. Then I was dealing with school, plus therapy appointments, entertaining little ones while teaching Bug, etc. I can answer questions about that too!

Let’s start with WHY we are doing this.

Our Reasons for Choosing to Homeschool
1) We want our children to learn about the world from a Christian perspective, with a Biblical view, and to make that the foundation of everything they learn.

2) We want to be able to teach our children in the way that they learn best, and with our daughter, the school system just would not cater to those needs appropriately.   We had no idea when we decided to homeschool that our daughter would be diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD, but now that she is, we are even more thankful to be able to work with that, not against it, and to treat it like it’s “who she is”, not a “problem she has”.   I’ll go into more detail later on how homeschooling has helped us meet her needs.

3) We want our children to learn hands-on about things like volunteering, serving others, grocery shopping, the post office, even doing laundry.

4) We don’t want to be penalized if we want to take our children on a vacation, or worry about missing too many days of school.   Going to see a memorial on Veteran’s Day, going to Washington D.C. for Memorial Day, going camping to learn about science in the woods, taking a road trip to the ocean to collect seashells or to the Grand Canyon, or Niagra Falls --- are all things we want to be able to do, WHEN we want to do them, and would provide incredible opportunities for education.

5) We love that with homeschooling, we complete all our work (including ‘homework’) in less than half the time that public school kids are in school. That provides us so much extra time to go do fun things as a family.

6) The flexibility in the schedule is priceless! I use the term “schedule” loosely anyway, since we don’t have to follow one to the letter. I have the lesson plans of what to read/teach on each day, and go from there.   We have so many options!! Do it all in the morning, some in the morning/some in the evening, double up on one day to get an extra day off, save one of the days for the weekend with Daddy, etc.   If we need to visit a sick friend, babysit for someone, get some extra rest to ward off a cold – we have time!
Typically, we have a 4-day school week. That gives us one day for a field trip, and then 2 weekend days in case we need an “off day” for whatever reason.

7) I love to spend time with my daughter!! I absolutely adore getting to see her learn and get excited about it. I would be so sad to miss that.   I love doing the projects with her, taking her fun places to reinforce what she’s learned, and seeing her grow in so many ways.

8) We don’t want our children exposed to many of the things that are in public (and even private) schools. We do not keep her in a bubble, but the truth is that kids are growing up way too fast, and if I can slow that down just a little for my children, it will be worth it.

9) We get to go to the zoo, museums, and other fun places when it’s less crowded because all the other kids are in school!

10) Voddie Baucham is very convicting :)

Texas State Fair Discounts!

2009-09-15T06:18:00.001-07:00

It’s almost fair time, and I can’t wait!! The Texas State Fair means it’s finally Autumn – my favorite time of year! I love the sights at the fair, and look forward to a yummy corn on the cob! Last year we spent the whole time running from building to building because it was pouring rain the whole time, so I’m even more excited to go this year for another chance :)

I think every child should get to have cotton candy at certain occasions and the fair is one of them! Since we don’t eat any artificial food coloring, the typical stuff is off-limits, so I buy Bug’s cotton candy at NaturalCandyStore.com – it is kid-loved, and mom-approved around here! If anyone in your family is following the Feingold diet too, then check out this awesome candy source for the upcoming holidays!

Also, anyone that knows me, knows I love to be FRUGAL! Which means, I don’t ever pay full price to go to the fair (and I take in a cooler of snacks to save even more $$).

Here is the list of Discount Days for this year!
Advance purchase General Admission tickets are $13.50. A Season Pass is $29.95. They may be purchased at the check-out counter or at the service desk at your local Kroger.
Daily Deals
Opening Day: Sept. 25—Bring a full 20 oz. Coca-Cola product for donation to the North Texas Food Bank containers at Fair admission gates and enter the State Fair for $4 per donation per person.
Dr Pepper $3 Tuesdays: Every Tuesday, bring an empty Dr Pepper can and enter for $3. Most rides (excluding the Thrillway, Texas Star and selected other attractions) are 5 coupons.
Dr Pepper $5 after 5 pm: Bring an empty Dr Pepper can to any State Fair admission gate after 5 p.m. and enter for $5.
Kroger “Three for $1″ each Wednesday: Admission is $1 for each visitor bringing 3 cans of food for area food banks.
Coke $4 Thursday: Bring an empty 20 oz. bottle of a Coca-Cola product and enter the Fair for $4 admission.
FREE Thursdays for Senior Citizens: HealthSpring and Mature Texan Magazine sponsor of Seniors Day. Senior Citizens 60 years and older get in to the State Fair FREE each Thursday.
FREE Thursday admission with a Cinemark Theater ticket stub.
Any Day—McDonald’s offers $4 off General Admission: with one of their State Fair coupons (available on tray liner or bag stuffer) any day of the Fair. A free child ticket (with purchase of general admission) coupon is also distributed by McDonald’s. Offer may not be combined with any other offer.
The State Fair of Texas opens September 25 and goes to October 18. ENJOY!

Looking for a diagnosis

2009-08-22T19:14:00.001-07:00

In a recent post I talked about Bug’s recent diagnosis with Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and giftedness.

How did we get this diagnosis? What made us seek it out? Why did we even want a diagnosis? What did the label matter? I asked myself this many times, and had it asked of me many more.

We already knew that Bug has SPD, even though it was not confirmed. We had already been seeking out books & information to attempt to learn all we could about this and how to help her.   During this process, I learned about a local horse therapy program (a FREE one!) that I desperately wanted to get her involved in, but we needed a diagnosis first.   They needed something from a doctor/therapist that listed a diagnosis to be accepted into the program.

The other reason I wanted a label, was so I would know where to look for help. There were so many things that her symptoms could have been, and I wanted to be researching the right ones so I could find the right solutions. I couldn’t help her if I didn’t know what I was supposed to be expecting, or what her challenges were.   We had tried for a long time to “deal with it”, or to “fix it” through discipline or behavior charts, but nothing was working.

Anyway, I could get her in to this free therapy if we just get a diagnosis, right? Great, I thought, we’ll call the doctor! Well, her doctor didn’t diagnose this type of thing. Neither did several other doctors I called. Where do I turn, then? Finally, someone on a local message board recommended I contact Our Children’s House at Baylor.   What a blessing!!!   All they needed, was a prescription from her pediatricians office, which they were happy to give. We made an appointment with the neuropsychologist and were on our way!

Bug and I went one day to meet with the doctor at OCH. There was a brief intro period where Bug played in the room while I talked to the doctor about our concerns. Then, I went back to the waiting room with my stack of paperwork and evaluations to fill out while the doctor evaluated Bug on her own. Several hours later we were done. R and I went back a week later without Bug to get the report and talk to the doctor.

Honestly, when we made the appointment, we were trying to rule out or confirm Asperger’s, which is why we wanted to see the Neuropsychologist first before the OT.   From the little we knew and had read, we thought she displayed many of the symptoms. Well, the doctor said she didn’t quite qualify for it even though she scored “highly probable” for it on all the tests because there were a couple issues that Bug did NOT have, that in her opinion, all AS children have.

We also learned that she has multiple things going on that, when combined, display themselves in a variety of ways. Often these issues displayed themselves in ways that appeared as though she had behavior problems. From the outside, it would seem she was misbehaving or being defiant, when so much of the time, she was acting involuntarily.

In addition to the ADHD, and Gifted diagnosis, the doctor recommended a full OT evaluation for Sensory Processing Disorder. We were already certain she had SPD, but needed the diagnosis. This doctor couldn’t give it because it wasn’t her specialty, so we needed to see the OT. Makes sense.

To get the OT eval, we needed another prescription from Bug’s pediatrician’s office. That took a couple days, but came quickly. The OT eval was much shorter (a couple hours), and the OT was able to tell me a great deal of information right away!

We started once-a-week OT therapy the next week, and that’s where we are now! We’ve only had one session, but I’ve already received a wealth of information from the therapist and can’t wait to see her again this week to ask more questions.

In another post soon, I’ll talk about what we are doing at home to help.

The dangers of finger paint

2009-08-22T18:54:00.001-07:00

You all know that due to our daughter’s SPD, we’ve avoided artificial coloring in our food for over 2 years now. Now, we even have to be careful about non-edible things like finger paint because it soaks in through the skin.

Tonight was just classic! R was in with Bug while she was having her bath tonight and I was doing some other things, so I didn’t go in until near the end of her bath time. I got there just in time for the show!

I went in, just as R has given her the “2 minute warning” (she needs a lot of help with transitions), only to see her acting like a laughing hyena that just finished off a pot of coffee.   I truly thank my Heavenly Father she was *happy* hysterical this time, but YIKES, was it nuts in there! She was attempting to clean up her toys, but was bouncing & rolling around in the tub (as much as one can actually bounce in a tub) as the water was draining out and didn’t even stop when it was empty. She was laughing hysterically and her body was just out of control. She couldn’t stop herself, and I was beginning to think she was going to bust her head on the side of the tub with all that slipping, sliding, rolling, & bouncing!

I had to bite my tongue not to laugh at her out loud, as I was so thankful that she was at least in a good mood for this one, instead of the opposite, which is common.

At some point, I looked over and saw the RED finger paint that she had been playing with in the tub, and turned to ask R, “How much of that got on her skin?”   He replied, “Umm, a HUGE amount!”. Suddenly, we knew exactly what was going on.   Yes, *I* bought her the paints.   She’s a sensory seeker, and gets out of control with paint so I figured letting her paint in the tub was a no-brainer. Obviously, it was a no-brainer as I wasn’t using my brain when I bought them :)   R confirmed that they had a similar reaction last time he had her use them in the tub.

We had to literally pick her up out of the tub since she couldn’t focus enough to step out on her own. She couldn’t even hear us talking to her. We wrapped her in a towel, and I carried her to her room where I laid her down on the floor and prepared to give her a little massage in the hopes that it would calm her down a bit.

WRONG!!!

Instead, the instant the lotion (the same one we’ve been using since she was a baby) touched her tummy, she screamed out that it was HURTING her belly button!

Fine – wiped it off, tried the chest.

Nope! That hurts too!

Ok, I said, we’ll do a massage another night.

She insisted she wanted a massage, so we rolled her over and tried her back/bottom/legs.

“That hurts my butt!” (We couldn’t help but laugh at this one)

We gave up and tried to move on to PJs.

She put her button down shirt on backwards, and tried to convince us that she should get to keep it like that. We told her if she could get it on, and button it herself she could wear it like that. She got 10 seconds. Didn’t make it. We finally convinced her we’d do a “backwards day” for homeschool one day and she could wear it all day long.   By the way, I don’t really care if she wears her PJs backwards, but I didn’t want to get woken up at 2 am with her screaming that she wanted it turned back around – something very likely to happen.

Ok, finally PJs on. Check.

Now, we need to get 2 stories read because if we stray from the routine, we’d be in even more trouble.   We picked out 2 of the shortest stories we could tonight, and attempted to sit down to read them. She was all over the place, laughing, bouncing, still hysterical, so R and I each read our story as fast as we could. I don’t even think she heard most of it since she was talking pretty much the entire time. Normally, we would have stopped reading if she kept interrupting, but tonight she wasn’t even aware of it.

After the stories, we gave hugs and kisses and put her up in her top bunk.   At that moment, she proceeded to kick her legs hard and yell “I don’t want to go to bed! I’m not tired! I won’t go to bed!”

Excuse me?

She *never* fights us about bed when she’s sane. Never.   She was given a choice of keeping her light on and having her usual reading time, or throwing a fit and losing her reading time.   We did manage to get an apology from her, so she got to keep the reading time.

Secretly, we’re hoping the Melatonin kicks in soon and she won’t need much of the reading time anyway!

During this whole episode, I was reminded of that day in the department store over 2 years ago when we first saw her clearly react to food coloring. It was scary! Tonight, I just praise God that we were able to laugh during the whole thing. No yelling, no tears, no frustration.

And somehow – by the grace of God – Bug actually had a brief moment of clarity when we asked her to say her prayers. She thanked God for her day, for her family, and for JOY &
LAUGHTER!

Praise God for joy and laughter! Even if it was chemically induced tonight.

Praying about panties

2009-08-14T16:46:00.001-07:00

Seems an odd title, don’t you think? Not to me. See, praying about panties is a very regular occurrence in our home.

Our daughter, Bug, just turned 5 a month and a half ago.   2 weeks ago, she was officially diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), although we had suspected it for quite some time now.

We also found out through this evaluation process (with a neuropsychologist and an occupational therapist) that she has ADHD, and she scored as “gifted” in her learning and verbal abilities. These 3 things, all combined, make for some challenging times. Unfortunately, to the outside world that doesn’t have all the facts, she sometimes appears to be misbehaving, not listening, ignoring instructions, or being defiant. Truth is, so much of it is involuntary or simply her mind/body trying to make sense of things in her world.

I want to start publicly sharing about this in the hopes of helping others that might be going through this to feel like they aren’t alone. I hope to educate people about SPD because it seems like many people, even physicians are not very familiar with it. I also want to just share how God is using this in our lives. I NEVER want to appear as though I’m complaining about my daughter, so please hold me accountable if it ever appears that way.   I ADORE my daughter, and consider her a true miracle gift from God. If you don’t know the story of her miraculous birth, ask me! I love to share! I’ll save that post for another time. I am honored that our Creator trusts R and me enough to put this sweet girl in our care. I just want to learn enough about her, so that I can do the job He gave me to do.   I want to learn about these conditions so that I can better help her cope with the difficulties she faces. I want to be compassionate about her needs, while also teaching her to properly interact with others.    Most of all, I want to love and appreciate her right where she is!   I want to see her through HIS eyes, and I want to see the world through HER eyes, because that is what brings me closer to His love!

Looking back, we can see signs from infancy and toddlerhood that point to this. We were first time parents though, and didn’t have much to compare her to, in order to know what was “normal”.

Normal. I really dislike that word, anyway. God made each of us unique, specially purposed for HIS plan. Why would we want to be (or want our children to be) like everyone else? Yet, we often do.   Thankfully, I’m learning to appreciate her differences and to embrace them. I wish I could say I did that daily, but I’m learning.

What made us seek professional help?

Here are just 3 of the reasons that really stood out early on. Many many more followed, and I will list those in a later post.

1) Her reaction to artificial food coloring. We didn’t give her any sugar until she was 2, so we never noticed this reaction before then.   God had graciously allowed me to have “heard of” food colorings causing reactions in children through some various channels in the past, so when it came up in our house, I was vaguely familiar with it. At least, enough to wonder if it was the culprit.
One day, R and I were at the mall with Bug, having a great time….until we let her have a cookie with sprinkles on it! We were walking around a department store, and within minutes of eating it, our child turned into some crazed, aggressive, mean person we’d never seen before. She was literally yanking clothes off the hangers and throwing them on the ground left and right. She was out of control….and we were scared. This was not our child. We strapped her in the stroller, and got out of there.   After what could have only been God’s urging, we thought to go get her some “real food” and see if that helped. Finally, after what seemed like hours (but was probably 30 minutes), she calmed down.   But we knew something was wrong. She never threw tantrums, and was truly a very easy going, well behaved child.

We went on to “test” this theory about the food coloring under controlled circumstances at home 3 more times. Each time, same reaction.   After that, we banned all artificial food coloring from our home and we haven’t looked back. It’s been a couple years now.   Thankfully, we have been able to find substitutes for just about anything. Whole Foods and NaturalCandyStore.com are my favorite resources for this! We are thankful that Bug has adapted to this lifestyle without a fuss, and is perfectly comfortable telling people she’s “allergic” to food coloring and bringing her own snacks/treats everywhere we go.

2) Her reaction to having socks on her feet. She has never liked socks. Never. Can’t say as I blame her, as I don’t either. The difference is, when I don’t want them on my feet, I pull them off.   Bug, on the other hand, would scream bloody murder while slapping and punching her feet as if her socks were filled with fire ants. Not a typical reaction, I’d say. Thankfully, we are able to cope with this by simply avoiding socks.   She doesn’t wear them. Ever. Not with snow boots in Michigan in January. Not with tennis shoes. Not with cowboy boots. I figure if it doesn’t bother her, it doesn’t bother me.   On a RARE occasion she has worn them in order to play somewhere on a play area that requires them, but 9 out of 10 times, she will ask to go somewhere else if she knows they require her to wear socks.

3) The panties. The aforementioned panties. For a while, she was fine, and then almost overnight, her panties “bothered her”. Every single pair of them. She’d put them on and say they bothered her. I tried checking for things that might be poking her. I checked to make sure they weren’t too tight, or too loose. I made sure the elastic wasn’t crooked. I checked everything. This became a daily occurrence where we spent way too long picking out a pair of panties. Then it happened. One morning, she just melted down completely trying to find a pair that worked. Poor thing, she was frustrated, discouraged and confused. She melted in my arms sobbing, and I just prayed for her.   That evening, we went out and bought 50 pairs of panties. Seriously! Every brand, various patterns, fabrics, styles. We even bought some “boy” underwear because she liked the dinosaurs on them. Who knew….many days those were the ones that worked best…when on backwards! Good thing no one would see them anyway, so who cares!

I still pray with her about this multiple times a week. She’ll be getting dressed, and I hear it. The sounds that tell me she’s tried on several pair and nothing is working right today. So I go in and sit with her and pray over her, asking God to please allow us to find a pair of panties that will work for the day.   Every time, after we pray, we find a good pair within 1 or 2 tries. Praise God!

Thank you for joining us on this journey! I covet your prayers, and would love to hear from anyone that deals with this in their life as well.

Are you comfortable?

2009-07-31T05:52:00.001-07:00

I am, all too often. But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to step out of our comfort zone and follow HIM. No matter what.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

It’s scary sometimes to think “Where will I go?”, “What will I eat?”, “What kind of house would I live in?”, “What would I have to give up or do without?”, “What will THEY think?”.

God’s word tells us not to be anxious about these things. To let HIM be our PROVIDER! One of my favorite group of verses is Matthew 6:25-37 (click to read) where He reminds us that we do not need to worry.

What is God calling you to do? Something that seems impossible? Something that seems HUGE to you and way out of your comfort zone? Something that makes you think “No way! That’s crazy!” No matter how big it seems to you, it is small in the hands of God. He’s got it covered!

I wonder how Noah felt when he was told to build a huge ark…especially considering it had never rained before.

What about Gideon when his army got cut down from 32,000 to 300?

Or Joshua, who was told to use marching, trumpets, and yelling to knock down the Jericho walls?

Think about little David, a young teenager, who was called by God to kill a GIANT with just a stone and a slingshot?

God calls us to do uncomfortable things! Things that require us to depend totally on HIM for our strength, courage, provisions.

WHY?

Because HE did big things for us!! His only Son came to earth, suffered and died for our sins! He was born in a stable and placed in an animal’s feeding trough for his bed. He never lived in a palace, or even had his own home. He didn’t travel around in the fanciest of chariots. He was uncomfortable…for US!

You can do it for Him!

Copywork from the Bible

2009-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

The other night, Bug got in a little trouble. She made a couple bad choices and was being disrespectful and disobedient. I know, shocking from my sweet girl, but it happened. :-)

Praise God! He was right there helping R and I, as we told Bug we would be back in 3 minutes after we’d had a chance to step away and talk as parents. We calmly left her screaming to herself while we discussed what to do. Boy, was she mad! These 2 offenses are directly addressed in scripture, so we focused on that.

We explained to Bug (not for the first time) that these are not just our rules, but they are God’s rules. We are just the people that God put in her life to teach her these rules so that she can grow up to obey Him!

Then, for the first time, we implemented “writing sentences”! Remember those from when you were a kid? I know I had to write “I will remember to bring home my spelling workbook” a few times, and probably a few other things!

Since she’s only 5 and still fairly new to writing, we only made her write 2 sentences, but they were great ones!

First, Ephesians 6:1, and then Leviticus 19:3.

Thank you, Lord, for being right there with us during all of that! We were calm, we brought the whole lesson back to scripture, reinforced it in her mind by having her write it, and most of all – disciplined out of love, not punishment! She even had fun doing it! That’s when we have to remind ourselves as parents that discipline is about LEARNING, not about feeling miserable!

It’s official! We’re starting Kindergarten!

2009-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Decision

Our only child, Bug, just turned 5!   Over the past year, R and I have been discussing whether or not to start homeschooling Emily in Kindergarten this fall, or wait until next. We weighed several pros and cons, prayed about this decision, thought we had decided to wait…in fact, wanted to wait, but ultimately we ended up deciding to move forward with school. God has a way of shaking us up like that, but that’s a whole other post another time!

So, this fall, we will be the parents of a Kindergartner! WOW!

Changes at home
On one hand, not much will change. Since we homeschool, I will still see her every day. I don’t have to go drop her off anywhere. I don’t have to get her up early, or pack a lunch the night before. We will still read, do crafts, go on field trips…all very much like the last year. I am so incredibly thankful that He has provided us with the opportunity for us to homeschool Bug and to ensure that God and His creation are the focus of all that she will be learning! I am also thankful that I get to spend each and every day with her. To watch her learn, to see her excitement, and to share in that with her….priceless!

On the other hand, things are changing! This year, we will be focusing on a curriculum (My Father’s World), and will be supplementing with some extra things, like Rosetta Stone’s Spanish program.   We are setting goals and making lists of things we want to teach her this year.   I am a big fan of Charlotte Mason, and the fact that her methods are less structured than most. However, we have come to terms with the fact that both Bug and Mommy need some structure, so we are doing the best of both worlds! We will follow the curriculum as a guideline of what to do each day/week, but will also implement CM methods in order to keep us from getting too bogged down in the structure.

Changes at church
Another big change for her will be at church. This fall, she will move upstairs to the KDOG (Kids depending on God) program that is for K-6 grades.   On Sundays, she will attend her Sunday School class during the first hour, and then will join us in worship service during the second hour.   I am so excited about this! We’ve been bringing Bug into worship with us from time to time for some time now and we all really enjoy being together during that precious time.   Bug is also excited!! The new Kindergartners get a special green tote bag to carry to church, and she has already seen so many of her older friends with these over the past year. She is so excited to get her green bag!

I’m very much looking forward to the next year. It will be amazing to see how God works in our family and how we grow together, and in Him. Not only is my little girl growing up, but God is using her each and every day to help me grow up in Him! It’s going to be a great, ever-changing, year in our family!

Best toy EVER!

2009-07-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what took us so long to get this. We should have had this 2 years ago! We recently bought Bug an exercise trampoline, and it is the best thing we have ever given her!
Bug is extremely high energy, and she is a sensory seeker! That just means she is always on the go – moving, touching, bouncing, taking it all in! Sometimes it is hard to adequately meet those needs inside our home, and we just can’t always go outside and swing, to the park, or the pool.
Now we have a perfect indoor tool to help meet her needs! She uses it first thing in the morning, off and on all day long, and before bed. Anytime she feels she has extra energy she needs to “get out”. For many kids, this might wind them up too much at bedtime, but for Bug, it actually helps to get out some of the extra energy so she can settle down and relax.
Who knows, maybe she will even give Mommy a few minutes to get some exercise on it! R is enjoying it too! Just watch my handsome hubby! He is the most amazing dad ever!

Mommy Time

2009-07-11T09:17:00.001-07:00

Over the years, I have read many books, often geared toward moms, that tell women that we need “me time”. That our families shouldn’t expect our undivided attention. That we need to think about ourselves and take care of ourselves first, so then we can take care of our families. That if we don’t take care of ourselves, we can’t take care of them.   The whole “if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” line of thinking. Unfortunately, I think many of these books go way overboard and the enemy can use these to make us into selfish, self-centered, resentful women.

On the other hand, I have also read some books that basically say we shouldn’t want time away from our family. That we are to be devoted wives and mothers, with our entire focus being our family. Some of these almost make it sound like you are sinning if you want to spend some time away from your husband or children from time to time.

I simply adore my husband and my daughter. I absolutely love spending time with them! My husband is truly my best friend, and we can have fun doing anything together. My daughter is a true blessing to me, and I honestly love spending time with her. She makes me laugh, she renews my childlike spirit, and she notices many of the things in life that I take for granted.    I love our family times! Our vacations, camping trips, game nights, and lazy weekends!
However, I feel there is also an incredibly healthy balance that can be found.

I enjoy time with just myself. I love curling up with a cup of coffee, a good book, and quiet.   I love sitting at Starbucks with my iced tea, maybe a sweet treat, and my laptop with nothing but time to write.

I also love time with just my friends. I work with a very special group of leaders in my discipleship group and I cherish the times that we meet together to help each other grow in the Lord.    I love getting a chance to meet a friend one-on-one for a cup of coffee and to catch up.   I enjoy getting away once a year to hang out with some special mommy friends of mine from all over the country.
I also love times when our family gets together with other families.   Sometimes we have a couple over for dinner – some with kids, some without.   It’s so nice when we can sit and chat as adults while the kids play together.   I also often meet with another mom and her kids for play dates. We chat, the kids play, and it’s a glorious time!

I think the important distinction is our motives. I don’t spend time with my friends because I want to spend time away from my husband. I spend time with my friends because I cherish the friendships God has given me and I want to deepen them. This means that I am careful about who I spend this focused time with, and I look to God to direct this. I don’t spend time alone because I want to get away from everyone. I spend time alone so I can meet with God, or do things He is calling me to do – sometimes write, sometimes rest.

I also work with my husband, not against him, in planning these times.   My family comes first. If R or Bug need me, I will be there. My true friends understand that and feel the same way.   When I have a meeting and will not be home for dinner, I make sure that dinner is planned and/or prepared for my husband before I leave.   When I am going to be away, I make sure that the timing is acceptable to R’s schedule and that he approves of what I am doing.

Right now, I am out of town for 5 days to spend some annual time with some mommy friends. This was planned with R’s approval and encouragement.   Before I left, I made sure his clothes were all clean (and almost all put away!). I also created a meal plan for him for the days I’m gone, and made sure most of the food he would need is already purchased and at home.   He is perfectly capable of planning and cooking his meals, but this is something he likes that helps him, so I do it. He likes to know what is for dinner, even if it means he’s cooking it, without having to think about it when he gets home. He wants to spend the time playing with Emily while I’m gone, so I do what I can to make that easier for him.

So, my focus is still first on God, then on my family. When my priorities are in order, I can also make time for myself and my friends. God uses all of these times – alone, with family, with friends….to grow me closer to Him, and I pray that He uses me to bring others closer to Him as well.

Teaching good stewardship to children

2009-07-02T07:32:00.001-07:00

I’ve answered a few different people recently about how we do “chores” and “allowance” at home, so I thought I’d write a post about what we do in our home.
Earning Money
First, we don’t do allowance. You don’t get paid for doing nothing in our family. Instead, Bug (age 5), has JOBS that she is responsible for, and for which she can earn money.

We started this when she turned 4, so we gave her 4 jobs. I’m sure we’ll add another soon since she just turned 5. She is responsible for:
* Making her bed each morning.
* Keeping toilet paper on the roll in her/guest bathroom.
* Setting the meal table with napkins, utensils, and her plate/cup.
* Cleaning up her own toys each night before bed.
For those 4 jobs, she gets paid $4/week. It’s a lot for a child her age, I’m sure, but we also teach tithing and saving, so we wanted to make sure she had enough left over to actually save to buy something in a reasonable amount of time.

Where does the money go?

$1 goes in her God bank, $1 goes in the Saving bank, and $1 in her Spending bank. Then, she has $1 left over to choose which bank she wants it to go in. 9 times out of 10 she puts it in the God bank. She’s our little giver! All of her “God money” goes to church with us each week where she gives it to the benevolence fund because she wants to “help the church buy food and clothes for people that need it”.
Yes, I realize she is tithing 25% or more, but it was easier to split into quarters when we started. As she gets older and we do more math, we’ll allow her to tithe 10% or more.

Extra Money
In addition to her regular jobs, she has a list of extra jobs that she can ask to do anytime to earn extra money. This rarely happens because she doesn’t care much about earning money to buy things, but it’s available. One day she did all of them in one day as she was saving for a horse toy! For those jobs (mop floor, sweep patio, wash sliding glass door), she does them for a certain amount of time (5-10 min) and earns $1 (which gets split out among the banks).

She also gets money for birthdays & Christmas from some relatives. She must tithe on this money, but we don’t make her save from it.

Just because you live here!
Day to day, Bug is also expected to do some things just because she is a member of our family and needs to learn to contribute and someday run her own household. She often helps me empty the dishwasher by putting away the silverware, all her dishes, and anything else she can reach.
She is also responsible for putting her dirty laundry in the laundry room, and then once I wash and dry her clothes, she puts them all away. I put her clean clothes in a basket, then she hangs up her shirts, folds, and puts away everything else. She has a low hanging rod in her room so she can reach everything she needs.
How do you teach good stewardship with money in your home?

Bug’s Birthday Weekend!

2009-07-01T22:06:00.001-07:00

Friday night, we had dinner at “560”, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant inside Reunion Tower.   Bug saw Reunion Tower a little over 6 months ago when we were out driving one day, and she asked me about it. “What is that ball on a stick?”, she said. When she found out there was a restaurant in it, she decided right then and there she wanted to go there for her “5 birthday”.
I’d been there before, and while it wasn’t super cheap, it wasn’t bad.   What I didn’t know, when I said “sure!”, was that it had been remade into a fine dining restaurant! With “fancy” food! Good thing my little girl loves SUSHI!
So, we gave her the choice – a birthday party with friends, or dinner at the restaurant with family. She chose the restaurant and never changed her mind.
I’m so glad she did! She had the best time! We celebrated with my parents, R’s mom, and R’s grandmother. She ate tons of sushi, some samples of everyone else’s food, and an entire apple crumble dessert all by herself! Such a big girl!

The next day, Saturday, we had the family back over, along with our dear family friend, Aunt Chelle. We had cake & ice cream, opened presents, and mostly played with Emily in the little pools in the backyard. It was a fun, relaxing day!

Now, my little girl has been 5 for 2 days, and she’s growing up before my eyes. All I can do is pray that this next year goes by a little slower than the last, and that I cherish each and every moment with her! I am so blessed to be her Mommy!

Happy Birthday, Bugaboo!

2009-06-29T20:23:00.001-07:00

My precious baby girl is 5 years old today. It’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone. We’ve had an amazing few days celebrating her birthday! I’ll do my best to get those pictures and update up tomorrow.
I love you, Bugaboo! You are an incredible blessing from God, and I am so thankful to be your Mommy!

A summer safety reminder

2009-06-28T20:20:00.001-07:00

This summer, as you are taking your kids to the pool, or letting others take them – please, please, take a moment to read this!
I followed a link to this blog from this blog, and I thought it was so well written and so important, that I wanted to post it here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve already seen moms doing some of the things mentioned in this post.
We have to be careful!
Please read: “Drowning in Sorrow”.

Happy Father’s Day!

2009-06-21T08:05:00.001-07:00

What an awesome weekend!!
I am incredibly blessed to be married to my best friend. He is not only a wonderful husband and partner, he is also an amazing Daddy! He truly loves being a daddy, and loves spending time with his little girl any chance he gets!
This weekend, we had a special Father’s Day camping trip…right in our living room! It’s Texas, and it’s hot, so we thought it would be fun to bring it all indoors. It was a super fun time (and still is, since we’re leaving it up till the end of the day)!

BEFORE & AFTER:

It was interrupted for a few hours in the middle of the night Friday night/Saturday morning when we had to take Bug to the ER because she was having trouble breathing and we were afraid her throat was closing up. Turns out, she has croup! A steroid shot in the bottom (OUCH!), and a cool mist breathing treatment later – she’s much better! Still a bit sick and tired, but better! Thankfully, I guess, we gave her Benadryl before heading to the hospital in case it was a weird allergic reaction, so she ended up sleeping through a lot of it and was able to remain calm the majority of the time. That was a huge blessing!!

Back to the camping trip…
We played games, did some reading, worked on a wooden puzzle, had fun with glow-in-the-dark sticks, and just enjoyed time as a family! We ate all our meals in the tent, cooked Pop-Tarts over a camping stove, ate watermelon, and even had our own version of SMORES! The smores were ‘fondue’ style – dip the marshmallow in melted chocolate chips, then dip in crushed graham crackers – Yum! All while enjoying the conveniences of air-conditioning, indoor plumbing, and the microwave :)

R even got to sneak in some quiet reading time while Bug and I made breakfast for him. Chocolate waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon!

And of course – PRESENTS! We did them a day early because Bug insisted it was Father’s Day already :)
First, an original drawing of Daddy’s favorite animal!

Then, from Mommy & Bug, a framed collage (click to see it enlarged!)

R,
You are an amazing man, and I am so honored and blessed to call you my husband. I love looking at our little girl and seeing so much of you in her. I love seeing how much she loves her Daddy, and I hope and pray that when she grows up she marries someone just like you. Thank you for loving God, and for loving us, with all your heart! Thank you for working so hard to care for and provide for our family. Thank you for always making time for us. Thank you for working together with me to be the best parents we can be, and always working with me to learn more about how to do so. Thank you for allowing God to be the 3rd strand in our marriage and for always leading our family in learning more about Him and looking to HIM for guidance.
I look forward to raising Bug with you, to all the experiences & adventures that God will bring us, and to being married to you for the rest of my life!
I love you with all my heart! Happy Father’s Day, my love!
Love,
Stacy

The loss of a pet

2009-06-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

Bug’s first pet died this past weekend. It was a tadpole. My cousin had given us a habitat for it at Christmas, and then we ordered our tadpole from Ribbits Galore. We actually ordered 2, but one didn’t make it in the mail. The second one, Bug promptly named “Green Bean”. It was supposed to turn into a frog within 90 days, but despite our best effort and instruction following - 6 months later we were just looking at an extra large tadpole. It was still fun to watch and Bug enjoyed talking to it.

Well, Friday night R and I noticed it had finally given up. Saturday morning, we broke the news to Bug. To say she was devastated would be an understatement. She was heartbroken! I’m very thankful we got the kitties a week before so she at least already had another pet to attach to!
We held a burial service in the backyard, where R buried him in the back corner and Bug completed it with tongue depressor headstones.
She was very sad, but seems to have moved on now. Maybe we’ll try again if we get our hands on some real tadpoles rather than the mail order ones. I’ve since read that there is a high death rate among them.

“Green Bean our family loves you”

What a night!

2009-06-11T10:54:00.001-07:00

Last night, we spent about an hour hunkered down in the bathroom because there were TORNADO warnings (meaning they saw one!) near us for quite a while. A rotation had been spotted in our city, so we took shelter.

We threw pillows in the tub, and Bug and I got in there together, while R sat next to us, using the toilet as a desk for the laptop and checking the weather constantly. We got one kitty in with us, but the other refused to come out from under the bed, so we figured she was as safe there as anywhere else.

Here is what that looked like: (excuse the bad photos, I was using my cell phone)

We gave her the Leappad and headphones because when she has something to listen to like that she's much calmer and less talkative, which helped as we were trying to listen to the news reports.

As you can tell, she was really stressed (not!) In fact, she prayed to God and said “Dear God, please keep us safe from the tornado and if it is close to us, please move it somewhere far, far away”. Complete, total, faith and trust in HIM! Love it!

Weatherman R, and our not-so-thrilled kitty:

We got out of the bathroom around 8:45, got Bug put to bed and then R and I went in the living room to hang out. The storm seemed to have passed by at this point. Immediately after we said it was all gone, Bug (and we) prayed to God and thanked him for providing our safety!

THEN.....
Our power went out at 10:00pm! No rain, no storm, nothing....and BAM! Lights out! Thankfully it was just about bedtime anyway, but not quite. Oh well, off we went to bed.

I knew it would be a loooooooooooooong night because none of us sleep well HOT, and Bug and I don't sleep well when it's too quiet (I use white noise, she uses music)

So, about midnight, Bug woke up crying that she couldn't sleep. I knew this would happen since it was hot and her music went off with the power (note to self: get her a jambox cd player with battery backup)

We gave her a flashlight and told her she could read for a little bit until she was able to fall back asleep, which turned out to be 2 hours later! Poor thing!

FINALLY, after a lot of off and on sleep, the power came back on at 5:30am! Nice, cool, air! WHEW!!! PRAISE GOD for air conditioning! Something we take for granted all too often. I’m also thankful this happened at night when it was bedtime anyway. So much to be thankful for! Our Father truly calms storms in our lives – in so many ways!

Today, we are taking it easy at home to try to make up for missing most of our sleep last night!

We adopted!

2009-06-07T19:21:00.001-07:00

No, not a child (yet!). This weekend, our landlord finally agreed to let us have a cat! So, we adopted a kitty from the SPCA! She is around 3 years old and just adorable! She is settling in and seems to be perfectly comfortable with us.

We went with an older kitty, instead of a kitten, for a few reasons. 1) Their temperament is known, as is if they lived with other cats or children before. 2) They often have a harder time getting adopted. and 3) The fee for adopting them is much cheaper if they’ve been at the shelter for over 30 days (as each of these had!)

Introducing……..

~ Angel ~
This little sweetie picked us out! She started rubbing on us and talking to us when we first walked in. Then, I set down my backpack for a minute and she immediately walked over to it, sniffed it, kneaded it, then made it a bed and fell asleep! R and I looked at each other and said “We’ve been adopted!” and brought her home!

To be like a child

2009-06-04T10:08:00.001-07:00

The Bible tells us that unless we become like a child, we will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matt 18:3

I learn so much from my little girl each day! God uses her to teach me about His character, and the qualities He wants in each of us. I find that I do much better when I strive to be more like her, than when I focus on trying to make her more like me.

Yesterday, I talked to Bug about her play kitchen she’s had since she was 2. She played with it for a couple years and thoroughly enjoyed it! However, now it just sits in our kitchen taking up space and she never plays with it anymore. Her interests have taken her elsewhere, and she prefers to help Mommy cook in the real kitchen than to pretend to cook in a pretend kitchen.
So, I gave her some choices.
1) She could move it outside and see if she played with it outside differently.
2) She could sell it and use the money to buy something else.
3) She could give it away.
She chose option #4 – “I want to sell it and give all the money to God because helping other people is more important than toys.”
WOW.
Why is it that my first (sinful) reaction in my mind is “Are you sure?? You don’t want the money for something else? You could tithe on it, but then buy something else, you know. “ Thankfully my brain-to-mouth filter was turned on, and I didn’t say any of that out loud. Instead, I told her how proud I was of her choice and of her generosity.

Right now, I’m spending my quiet time in Psalm 119. This morning, I picked up where I left off yesterday and read verses 36-37,

“Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”

We don’t need to raise our kids to be grownups who seek to “have it all”. We need to cherish our children, and look to them as examples of what God wants us to be like.

Trust in the Lord

2009-06-02T07:31:00.001-07:00

We teach Bug a new memory verse each week. It is awesome to see her hiding His Word in her heart, and learning more about Him in the process. We introduce a new verse on Sunday night, and then say it each night before bed. She usually has it memorized after a couple times, but we continue with one verse for an entire week to really meditate on it, and what it means.
A couple weeks ago, our verse was Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight”.
This week our verse is Proverbs 18:10. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe”.   We explained that this meant she should call on His name anytime and He will be there for her. If she’s worried, scared, needs help, etc. That calling on His name is like running into a tower for protection.

As a mom, I can think of no better reward here on earth than to hear my child calling on the name of the Lord.   This weekend, she was climbing on a play structure in our yard, and I heard her say “Dear God, please help me to balance”.    Then, just yesterday, she was climbing our big oak tree for the first time, and she said “Dear God, please help me to not fall and to be safe”.

I love that she knows she can call on Him anytime, anywhere, and that He is always listening to her, because she knows Him.

“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” ~ Psalm 9:10

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him in His right hand.” ~ Psalm 37:23-24

A, B, C, D, E, F, G….

2009-06-01T13:52:00.001-07:00

Bug was so excited to show me what she had written in her “fort”! She was halfway done when she asked for help spelling “next”, “time”, “won’t”, “sing” & “with”, but she did all the writing herself!
What a fun “schoolhouse”!

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U

V, W, X, Y, Z – NOW I KNOW MY ABC’S

NEXT TIME WON’T YOU

SING WITH ME

Death is not dying

2009-05-29T03:30:00.000-07:00

I imagine many of you have already seen this video. I’ve seen links to it several times, but finally took the time to sit down and watch it. As always, God’s timing is perfect, and He spoke to me through this woman with what I needed to hear today. This is a 37 year old woman, a wife, a mom of little ones, a daughter of the King, a woman who knows God, and sees herself through His eyes. She is dying of cancer, and will likely not be here on her 38th birthday.
I encourage you, I strongly encourage you to please set aside an hour to watch her video. At the very least, you can download the MP3 file from her website, so take it with you to the gym, the car ride, or wherever you can find 55 minutes to listen to this.
IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Memorial Day

2009-05-26T11:10:00.001-07:00

I don’t know why I was blessed to be born in America, but I am so thankful to God that I was. Yesterday, we had the honor to go see a traveling replica of the Vietnam Wall that was displayed here in Dallas. R and I had been to see the “real” one in Washington D.C several years ago, but this time we were able to take our almost 5 year old, Bug, with us and explain just a little about what Memorial Day means.
We told her it was a special day that we all remember the people that served in the Armed Forces (we said Army because that’s the one she knows well), and served to protect our country’s freedom as well as the freedom of other countries….but have now died. Some killed while they were working, and others years later.
She was interested in her own way, and asked a lot of questions. We welcome any opportunity to instill patriotism and honor in our children. She knows that Daddy was in the Army, and that he is an “alive veteran”. I am so proud and honored to be married to a man that was willing to serve his country.
Last night, just like every single other night since he’s been gone, she prayed for our dear friend “Mr. Brian” to be safe as he serves our country. I hope someday she realizes what a sacrifice he, and so many others are making….and have made.

Rainy Day Activity – Hand Painting

2009-05-26T09:44:00.001-07:00

Bug found this activity in a “Rainy Day Activity” book, and just couldn’t wait to have her hand painted like an ELEPHANT!! (Her all time favorite animal!)
It would have worked better had our face paint not been so old, but I look forward to many more creations!

Rainy Day Activity – Rain Gauge

2009-05-26T09:31:00.001-07:00

The forecast called for rain. It was dark, thundering, and sprinkling, so Bug and I got busy on a couple rainy day activities. Wouldn’t you know, it cleared right up immediately afterward and now it’s bright and sunny outside!
Oh well, we had fun anyway!

Rain Gauge
Start with an empty water bottle, and cut off the top third or so.

Place the top of the bottle upside down in the bottom part of the bottle.

I also put packing tape around the top edge so it wouldn’t be too sharp from the hard plastic.

Add a few drops of blue food coloring (so the water will show up better), then insist on being in the picture :)

Add a few pebbles or marbles (to weigh it down), and set it outside to collect rain!

Then decorate a wooden spoon to be the Weather Man (or Woman!) and measuring stick! The lines are marking every half-inch. Just stick down in the hole of the bottle, and measure! (Yes, I know the measurement changes because of the stones we put in there….I’m not worried about being *that* accurate!)

Then wait for rain! Or set aside for another day in our case.

Book Reviews

2009-05-21T12:40:00.001-07:00

Here are a few great books I’ve read lately, that I wanted to share.

Raising your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
This book is AMAZING! I so wish I had read this 3 years ago or more! This has to be, hands down, the best parenting book I have ever read (next to the Bible of course!). I know nothing about the author’s faith, even after reading the book, so I encourage you to read it prayerfully and let God speak to you about what He wants you to get out of it.
Our daughter is definitely “spirited”, and honestly some days that can be quite challenging for us. This book reminds us to use POSITIVE terms when referring to our children, rather than the negative ones that tend to fall off our lips. “Perceptive”, rather than “distracted” for example. “Persistant”, rather than “stubborn”. This book also gives so many great suggestions on how to handle those trying moments, and more importantly, how to actually prevent many of them! She’s real in letting us know we can’t do away with the hard times, but we can prevent many of them and keep the ones that we do have much shorter. She also addresses how to handle it when we as parents have some of these same qualities, as well as covering introvert/extrovert and how to to make those traits work for our children.
God gave our children each and every trait that they have, and He will use them for HIS good, in HIS timing. That is something that I don’t always remember from day to day.
If you have a child that is intense, full of energy, perceptive, persistent, and/or sensitive….then PLEASE read this book! If you even plan to have more kids, then read this book! Better to be prepared ahead of time! :)

The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible by Paul S. Taylor
My daughter is just one of many children that is fascinated with dinosaurs. As a Christian family, this has been difficult to know exactly what to tell her about them. Did they exist? How long ago? What about what “that book”, or “that museum” said about it?
I stumbled across this book in the library one day, and brought it home for myself and Rob to read. I love it! This one is written from a Christian point of view and I think does a great job of explaining how dinosaurs fit in to Creation, what happened to them, and how accurate the scientists reports of them are. It discusses for example, how they often find one bone and have to create a drawing of an entire dinosaur based off that one bone, so often the majority of the information is imagination and speculation.
If you have a little one that likes dinosaurs, or if you are a big kids that likes them, I highly encourage you to read this! As always, I always encourage you to read any book prayerfully, and determine what is right for you and your family. I’m not stating that this book is the final answer on any of this, but it will definitely help me be able to answer my daughter’s questions in a way that lines up with our Christian faith. For that, it’s worth it!

Master your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels
I’ve read my share of “diet” books. I’ve read several books specifically on the subject of PCOS, hormones, and insulin resistance because those pertain to me. This one is the best one I’ve read yet! If you have hormone issues, diabetes / insulin resistance, PCOS, or just want to be as healthy as you can – read this book!
I’m a fan of Jillian from The Biggest Loser anyway, so when my mom brought this to me, I was eager to see what she had to say “off the show”.
I love that it’s not a “fad” diet (can’t stand those!). It’s real information, about real food. What chemicals and toxins are hurting your body, your blood sugar, and your hormones. What foods HELP your body restore proper balance. How to make changes in your body and environment to help your hormones. Simple meal plans with real foods. Why “going organic” is so important.
Toxins are bad. Artificial coloring/sweeteners are bad. Trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) are evil. Carbs are good (the right ones). Fat is good (the right kind). There isn’t a single thing that is a real food that she says not to eat. In fact, she says, “If it had a mother, or grows in the ground – eat it”.
For me, I’d love to lose the weight and get back to my goal weight that I haven’t seen in years. But even more importantly, I need to balance my hormones (I’m in menopause), avoid diabetes (in my family), be healthy, and live long enough to set this example for my children.

Catching up with our family

2009-05-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I haven’t posted about our life much lately and thought I would do a little “catch up”.

Foster Parenting & Adoption
We do not have any foster children at the moment. Our last placement went home earlier this month to be with relatives.   We are now on a break until we return from a family vacation this month. Once we get back, we will begin the process of transferring our license to an agency closer to home, and then our plan is to focus on adoption for a while.
When we have more than 1 foster child in our home, we are considered “full” (because we can only have 3-4 total children in this house due to size…hope to change that in a year or 2). That means that even if a suitable adoption placement came available, we can not be submitted for consideration.   It also means we can’t even try to adopt any of the children we find on the Texas “waiting children” website.
While we feel very blessed to be able to provide a temporary home for children, we also desire greatly to grow our own forever family. So, with much prayer and consideration, we’ve decided to focus on adoption for a while and see if God chooses to provide our forever kids during this time, or if we will need to wait.   In the meantime, we will be open as a respite provider which means we will be able to provide a needed break to other foster families by “babysitting” their children for 1-14 days.

Vacation
The 3 of us are heading out this Friday for a family vacation! We are driving to Florida to spend a week at the beach. A 17 hour (one way, but stopping overnight in the middle) road trip! I can’t wait! Great conversation with my husband, singing songs with Bug, and great quality family time. Then, a week of relaxing, reading, swimming, family games, and very little time with the cell phone/internet/tv!
While we are there, we are going to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis launch! I am so excited about this. The shuttle is scheduled to be retired in 2010, so we are looking forward to experiencing a launch up close and personal before that happens. And the launch is now scheduled on my birthday! WOOO!!!
We splurged and got the VIP tickets for this considering it’s pretty much a once (maybe twice) in a lifetime opportunity.
This is what we got:
Your Launch Transportation Ticket provides:
1.)Transportation to a restricted area viewing site on Kennedy Space Center property approximately 6 miles away from the space shuttle launch pad.
2.) Launch countdown on public-address system.
3.) Vehicle placard for entrance into Kennedy Space Center on launch day.

Those are the 2 major things going on in our lives at the moment that are shareable. God is definitely working in our lives in some other ways, and we will share more on that when we can.
Now, I’ve got to get some pictures off my camera and onto the computer so I can post those!

The supremacy of Christ

2009-05-04T11:50:00.001-07:00

I really want to put an "intro" to this, but I just can't think of something worthy of the words that God spoke through Voddie Baucham in this video.
Listen with open ears. Watch with an open heart. Grab the tissues. Prepare to be humbled. God is SOVEREIGN.

________________________________________________
When you are done with that, I want to introduce you to Donna Stuart. She’s a singer/songwriter I met at a women's retreat back in February. This one particular song prompted me to buy her entire CD (I never buy a CD for one song!), and this song pierced my heart. I can’t legally post her song here, so I'm going to ask that you follow this link to her myspace webpage, and listen to her song, Help Me Believe. You have to hear this song!

Here are the lyrics so you can follow along. But really, don't just read them. You have to HEAR her sing it!

All that I've done and all that's been done to me
Drove nails through Your hands hard and fast to the tree
and the lies that I live and the shame in my story
You covered with blood for Your name and Your glory, Lord

CHORUS:
Jesus help me believe
Jesus help me receive
This girl You've created You have redeemed
Lord help me believe this Lord help me receive
This daughter You rescued You have washed her clean

So I raise outstretched arms with my knees to the earth
and I bow low my heart for in You is my worth
and I SHOUT from this mountain great joy in my soul
HALLELUJAH KING JESUS in You I am whole

CHORUS
And when I am tempted to believe something less
I run to Your Word... embracing forgiveness
Thank You for loving and thank You for healing me
CHORUS

Disney Earth

2009-04-27T18:39:00.001-07:00

R & I saw Disney Earth this past weekend. I rarely find a Disney movie that I feel is appropriate for our children, especially young ones. However, I loved this one!!
Of course, it’s actually from British producer/director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the Emmy and Peabody award-winning "Planet Earth" series (BBC and The Discovery Channel) and "The Blue Planet."
Gorgeous views of God’s magnificent creation! Waterfalls, rain forests, desert landscapes, icebergs. Awesome examples of His sovereignty & power! Elephants, directed only by their creator miles away to find water, and knowing just what path to take. Incredible views into God’s beauty & craftsmanship as we look at birds of paradise, humpback whales, mountains, the lynx, and so much more!
Just so you can be prepared - some animals get killed by others in the course of the food chain, but nothing graphic is shown.
The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God. (Psalm 104:21)
There is also another animal that dies from the natural course of life. If this would bother you or your children, you might want to hold off. I’m planning to take Bug (age 4 1/2) to see it though. She loves animals more than any kid I’ve met, but is completely content knowing that the bacon she’s eating came from a pig, so I think she’ll be fine!

Unfortunately, all that was missing was giving the glory to Our Creator for His holiness!

The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2)

How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. (Psalm 104:24)

You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (Neh 9:6)

How she grows!

2009-04-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

I was digging through some old pics online, and just had to share these. We've had this caterpillar since right after Bug was born, and it's still a favorite.

2 months old

2 years old

4.5 years old

Every day, every stage, every year…I fall more and more in love with you, little one!

Muffin Tin Meals

2009-04-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

This isn’t a unique idea, but I wanted to share it anyway since I’ve been using it for quite a while. I had seen it on several blogs & in magazines and thought it was a cute idea. My daughter, Bug, LOVES samples, and will eat almost anything on a toothpick. Often she even requests for me to make her a “sample lunch” (lots of bite size items and toothpicks for utensils). So, when I saw this idea, I knew she would love it!
Turns out, I love it too! In fact, I now do it at least twice a week. I love it even more when our house is full of kids, because I like to keep lunches simple, healthy, and interesting. I line up the muffin tins and in pure assembly-line style, prepare lunch for everyone. Grapes…some here, some here, some here, some there. Cut up cheese….same routine. And on it goes.
If I include sandwiches, I only have to make 1 or 2 because everyone just gets part of one. If I heat something up, I just heat up one bowl and everyone gets a small serving in one of the tins. That’s another bonus for anyone paying attention to portion sizes – each muffin tin is approx. 1/2 cup. Good way to make sure they get their fruits & veggies if that’s a problem in your house.

You can Google “muffin tin meals” and get a tons of ideas, but here are a few of my examples.

From top-left: Apples, ranch dressing, quiche muffins, peanut butter, celery, carrots

These had frozen peas (my kids love them), apples, 1 gumdrop (made with natural coloring!), cheese & crackers, & 2 spots of plain yogurt w/applesauce mixed in.

From top-left: apples, cheese, candied ginger, homemade jello (gelatin & no-sugar-added juice), crackers, & hummus

Another take on the idea for snack time: peanuts, raisins, & mini PB crackers.

From top-left: a piece of whole wheat biscotti, green bean casserole, chicken breast, grapes, veggies, ranch dressing

Another reason I love it is because it makes my daughter do fun, creative things like dip her grapes in ranch dressing (ewww!), or make a “sandwich” with celery, carrot, green pea, and a piece of chicken. LOL

Schooling at the Zoo

2009-04-17T07:54:00.001-07:00

I’ve been going to the Dallas Zoo for a long time, but only recently realized what a great resource they have at their Nature Exchange! It’s in the Children’s Zoo area, right near the bathrooms.
You can read the details on their webpage, but to sum it up:
* Children bring in items from nature. Up to 5 items per visit. Things like shells, rocks, bones, animal cast-offs, animal homes (cocoons), seeds, leaves, pressed flowers, fossils, dead bugs.
* They share with the staff what they know about the item.
* The staff then awards points to the child based on what the item is, how unique it is, and how much they know about it. The more they know about it, the more points they earn. The staff there is extremely knowledgeable and takes time with each item and child to teach them more about what they brought in.
* After getting their points, the kids can go “shopping” in the Nature Exchange to “buy” other pieces of nature. Many choices exist including seashells, animal bones, crystals, shark teeth, all shapes & sizes of rocks, and much more!
There are also many things in the exchange that are for ‘display only’, but very interesting to look at and learn about!
Here are some pictures of our last visit to the Nature Exchange with some friends!
Listening to Gerald teach them about their objects

Investigating a grub worm!

Items for display & trade

Testing a rock to see if it’s limestone (it wasn’t)

Bug answering questions about her acorn, bark, and leaves

Bug just loves it, and was already planning her next visit before we left! An incredible learning opportunity for child or adult – I know I learned a lot right along with the kids! It’s also a definite plus for homeschoolers, or any fans of Charlotte Mason! You get points for bringing in a Nature Journal too!

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)

The earth is the LORD's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. (Psalm 24:1-2)

How do I love thee?

2009-04-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

If a perfect stranger were to overhear the way you talk to or about your spouse, what would be their impression of your marriage? Of a Christian marriage? What if no words were heard, but one was left to judge your marriage on what they saw instead?

Today I was at the zoo with Ginger, and we saw a married couple with their toddler son in the children's play area. After one simple look at them, our hearts broke for this woman. The husband was wearing a t-shirt that displayed such a sad and disrespectful image of marriage. I can't find it online, and I admit after trying and seeing all the others out there, I gave up looking.

On the left was "Before", along with a stick figure man and woman looking very happy. On the right was "After", complete with the sad face on the man and a drawing that resembled a woman nagging/talking/yelling at the man.

It was along the same lines as this one (notice the ball & chain, and the poor sad face on the man).

That simple shirt the man wore spoke volumes about the lack of respect this man must have for his wife, and for marriage. How is his young son going to learn respect for his mother, for his future wife, when this is what is displayed when they go out in public?

Worldview would have us believe that we are too sensitive if that bothers us or we are offended by that. That it's only a joke. That's what the enemy wants you to think. He wants you to enjoy that type of humor a little at a time until he wears you down and you start believing that it's normal. What it is, is sad.

I am so incredibly thankful each and every day to have a husband that truly loves and respects me. I only hope that he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt how much admiration I have for him. I am married to my best friend. He is my partner in life, finances, parenting - everything! He works hard at his job to provide for us. He has an amazing work ethic, and practices his values at work as much as home. He is constantly trying to better himself spiritually, and as he learns new things for work. He absolutely adores being a daddy! He *never* "babysits" our daughter, but rather plans special daddy-daughter dates just because he wants to. He welcomes my opinion, but stands firm in leading us when God directs him. He prays with us, and for us. He helps around the house, is a great cook, and doesn't mind (too much) if his clean underwear is still in the basket because I was out all day spending time with our daughter. He isn't afraid to ask for help, but is also amazingly talented at figuring out a way to do something. He does without extra things, so that we can do more for our daughter, for our friends, and for the needy that God calls us to help. He is trusting. He is faithful. He is compassionate. He is supportive. He loves my family. He loves me. He loves the Lord! I could not ask for a better husband! God put us together in an amazing way that only He could do, and I hope that I can continue to grow and be the wife that he needs and deserves.

Love your spouse! Compliment them in front of others. Build them up and encourage them. Find out their love language, and use it. The best gift you can give your children is to love your spouse.

Make God the third strand in your marriage!!

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecc 4:12)

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. (Prov 31:10-12)

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Eph 5:22-33)

Remember, wives are not called to submit ONLY IF the husband leads. Husbands are not called to lead ONLY IF the wife submits. God is giving us each a commandment here and we are each responsible for obeying our Father.

Starting Fresh

2009-04-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

I'm moving my blog over to blogspot for several reasons. I regret that I can't easily bring over all my previous posts from my previous blog, but I have decided it is worth the cost to move over here. I'll probably do some copying & pasting to bring over some of my favorites from time to time, but for now I am starting fresh!

So, welcome! I hope you'll grab your own cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever) and follow along!