Simply Shenanigans

I'm Moving...

2009-03-02T12:20:00.004-06:00

Well, sorta kinda.

About five years ago, I was very much into pixel art, building websites, and that sort of thing. I fully realized that I have a short attention span. When it comes to hobbies I tend to flow in and out of different things. I wanted a website that was a definition of me. After much thought, I came up with "Merely Me"; it was perfect!

Over two years later my website had gone through numerous changes. Then one day something happened that made me want to hide away from the world. I honestly can't recall what it was. I know I was getting over 50 garbage e-mails a day. I couldn't stand having to delete message after message, all full of vile porn and scam stuff. Since I no longer cared to do anything web related (when it came to being creative) I let my hosting contract expire. Why spend $100 for a website I didn't care about?

Then I got into playing Final Fantasy Online with my husband. I was a cute little creature, and my screen name was Shenanigans. It was a perfect description for my online personality. Like much else in my life, God removed that desire from me. (Of which I am eternally grateful!) When I started blogging again, Shenanigans just followed me. But now I feel that once again I have changed. (I'd like to think I matured, but I suppose that's debatable. lol)

Though I am most definitely not the same person I was all those years ago, there is one thing I will always be. Me. Thankfully, though I had let my hosting lapse, I always kept my domain registered. Now it is time for me to return to that.

Merely Me.

Nothing fancy, definitely imperfect, often rash, unfortunately sometimes too controlling. But it's who I am, always changing, striving to be just a little bit of a better person than I was yesterday. No matter what interest me, how I change, I'll always be me.

So, this is my last post here on Simply Shenanigans. I will continue my sharing and blogging, and rambling at MerelyMe.com Though I don't have the blog entirely personalized, it's something I'll be working on from time to time. All my current posts here have been transferred over so, please, change any links you may have. Thanks for the understanding!

Better than expected, not as well as I had hoped

2009-02-26T21:03:00.007-06:00

That pretty much sums up my feelings about the parent teacher conference. I went in prayed up, and over analyzing all the possible angles like I always do. I shared that the reason why he was pulled out yesterday was to see the therapist, and this is what she noticed .... and gave the run down of what she had said. His teachers don't agree. They have big doubts that a lady who met with him one hour could ascertain that he's bored when he doesn't open up that easily. (Never mind the fact she's licensed and specializes in military and children.) They don't understand how he can be bored when he has work to do, and he's choosing to not do it. I tried to explain, but they just don't seem to see it the same way.

However, they did agree to try some of the things that were suggested. Extra "special" work that is a little bit harder will be given to him after he completes what is needed for that class. They will give him lined paper that is not as big as well. Even though I said several times that the therapist suggested he be tested for giftedness, and I want him tested for an IEP, we ended the meeting with "we'll try these things and see how it goes". So I don't think they're going to be testing him for an IEP. The councilor made the comment that they can't test for giftedness at this age.

So while I am thankful they are willing to try a few things to hopefully rescue him from boredom, I have a feeling I'm still going to have to fight for him to be tested. I'm just praying so hard that these extra steps that will be taken will be enough that he actually tries. If he does, they'll get to see how smart he really is. I mean even his communications teacher showed that the writing in his journal at the beginning of the year was better than his writing now. And I told her that it's because they are loosing him. He no longer feels like he needs to show them what he's capable of. If they don't reach him now, they're going to loose him to a point where he won't be reachable.

It's just that now I am living out all I had not liked about Public School when homeschooling my kids. Public school is set "this is the way we do things, the child needs to adapt". And you know, when you have twenty kids in a class, that's the way it usually has to be. But that's not the best learning environment. The best is finding where the kid is at and adapt the teaching to the child! This school is set up that first and second is grouped together, third with fourth, and fifth with sixth. This way kids are not split up entirely by age, but by academic capabilities. I love that about this school! I had just hoped that it would have carried over to being more willing to treat his needs more specifically.

And I do have to give the school credit. My oldest son struggles so very much with reading, grammar and spelling. That school is doing all it can to help him. He's on an IEP and I really do feel he's in good hands. Isn't it ironic how it's the smart kids that get left behind? The therapist told me something yesterday that will stick with me forever. She said 40% of drop-outs are gifted. 40%. It reminds me of my husband, who graduated only thanks to summer school. He ditched all the time, never really tried. Once he got out of high school and actually applied himself, he's graduated at the top of every single school the Marine Corps and Army sent him to. His mom tells stories about when he was in the second grade, everything just went south from there, all because the system failed him. I'm not willing to let that happen to my son. I'm just not.

Anyhow... on to an entirely different topic. I got an early birthday present today. I'm so spoiled! I got a new camera, and I absolutely love it! It's a Canon Power Shot, and I've been playing around with it today. It's going to take me a while to learn all of it's features. I am so anxious for Spring to hurry up and show its self. I can't wait to go on a photo safari and give my hand a try at getting some pretty pics. I told my kids that their gift to me will have to be patience while mommy follows them around taking pics. My girls however LOVE to have their pictures taken, so this might backfire on me! lol

Update

2009-02-25T17:21:00.002-06:00

Well, today's visit with the therapist went well. I was starting to waiver in my determination to get him tested, and she just helped me see how important it is to push that issue. The way she said it is that Johnathan is bored. (I knew that.) But he had been able to handle his emotions decently until his dad left. That extra amount of emotions was more than he knows how to handle. So rather than acting out at home regarding his dad leaving, he's coping with his father's absence, but not coping with the boredom at school.

Now the big struggle is to see if I can get his teachers to see it. She suggested that I approach them, not as a parent who is emotionally invested in having my son labeled as gifted, but as a parent who is concerned about his behavioral problems, and if giving him more challenging work is what he needs, then that's what we need to pursue. She also said that kids that are gifted often are perfectionists as well. And that would explain his outbursts in PE. He doesn't know how to handle not being so good at the physical aspects, and that's something we'll have to work on.

So, I'm just going to be praying for God to give me wisdom, and a way with words that will disarm the teachers and to get the need across without insulting anyone. I want to thank those who have left helping comments and words of encouragement. They've helped me more than you know!

Stressed...

2009-02-24T19:09:00.004-06:00

That is the single word that describes me most right now. I know as a Christian I'm not supposed to be stressed. I know that Christ is the source of all my needs, this is the only hell I'll ever have to live through. But it doesn't seem to matter right now. I am stressed, and I can not wait till the kids' bed time.

Johnathan had yet another not so great day at school. It was written in his notebook that he would not do the worksheet. He was told that he would miss recess, he didn't do it, so they sent him to the principle's office. No mention of him being disruptive, no breaking pencils, just sitting not doing his work. So I asked him why he was sent to the principles office. Was he talking back? Was he making noise? He said no, that he just didn't want to do his work.

Now, I know I am so very, very emotionally tied up in this. I totally know I am capable of not seeing this without clouded vision, but it just seems that he's being sent to the principles office for EVERYTHING! Why not just send all that work home with him for him to do? If they want going to the principles office to be the master of all punishments, shouldn't it be reserved for when he's actually doing something that deserves it? I'm just so frustrated.

I think the teacher is tired, I certainly don't blame her. I'm tired too! But I don't think this is helping. Good news is we finally have an appointment with a councilor tomorrow. Even better is that it's a Christian organization. So we'll see how it goes. I'm not sure what to expect, as I've never gone through this before. Though I doubt it, I'm hoping the six free sessions we do get will be enough. There's no possible way we could pay for him to continue. We're a family of six living off of a Sgt.'s Salary. It just isn't gonna happen.

Drastic Measures

2009-02-21T09:40:00.007-06:00

I can't believe I did it, but I did. Whenever Caitlin gets her hair brushed, she always cries and complains over the smallest little tug. "It hurts!" she'll yell out, even before I hit the tangles! Though it's down right cold today, it has been getting warmer, so I asked if she wanted it cut. "YES!" was her enthusiastic response. Boy... here's hoping that Daddy takes the news well.

Before:

After:

All those beautiful locks are all gone. It's not the first time we've done this. A little more than a year ago we had done the same thing. Her hair grows pretty quickly.

As to other matters, I'm sorry to say Johnathan most certainly did not have a good day Friday. In his notebook one teacher explained some of his actions and then followed it with an "I don't know what to do". I so join her in that statement. I think we're all tired and feeling worn out of fighting with this boy.

Anyhow, we didn't get home from my Children's ministry meeting last night till 10. I was so hoping the kids would sleep in, but nope, bright and early, just before seven I was being woke up. So I'm a bit tired today. I'm trying so hard to not be a grump. As for our day, I've gotta clean up some things, get ready for tomorrow and I have a scrapbook layout that's coming along nicely.

Looking Up

2009-02-20T09:09:00.004-06:00

Well, finally things are starting to look up! Kirsten is nearly back to normal, and by the grace of God no one else in the family got sick with it. As anyone with a family knows it seems that sickness always gets passed around. It's the one thing that kids will share without having to be told!

Johnathan has had a good week at school. I think it's partially thanks to his Taekwando instructor, who is fabulous, and partially because of the new "Extreme Work". Here I was worried that he would want to do it. Nope... every day I've given him the option to do it or not, he always says no! So now I'm wondering what I'll be doing with the $30 worth of books I bought for him. I'm thinking they'll get done during the summer. :)

I am afraid however that my relationship with his teachers has been damanged. One in particular, she voiced her concern about me pulling him out of school having a negative affect on him socially. She's always been so plesent before, she'd smile and say hi, so very friendly. But the last three times I've seen her this week, that has not been the case. Now granted she very well could have been preoccupied with other things going on, but I don't know. I do love his teachers, I mean, I'll be the first to admit, Johnathan can be one stubborn boy, he hasn't been very nice to them. But he is my son, and I have to fight for him to get what he needs. If his needs are not seen to now, it's only going to lead to bigger problems in the future.

I have Parent Teacher conferences on Thursday. I plan on bringing up the fact that according to his progress report he's mastered near everything. A couple of those he hasn't, he did have mastered for his first testing before the school year. I mean really, how does a kid forget how to read three letter words? There's something going on there. If they refuse to move him up a level I want to present them a written formal request for an IEP. The thing is I'm not sure what exactly I should request. Do I simply ask for an IEP? Or do I ask that he be tested? And then tested for what? I do know that Kansas uses the term IEP for all sorts of individualized stuff, it doesn't have to be that they're slow, they use that termonology for those that are advanced as well.

Anyhow, I'm just thankful that he's starting to straighten up. Here's hoping it continues and he's gotten all this nonsense out of his system!

Deep Breath...

2009-02-17T08:04:00.003-06:00

I am breathing a little easier this morning. I headed to the school early this morning, with my boys in tow. My poor daughter still has a 100* temp while Tylenol is in her system. She wanted to go to school (she's striving for perfect attendance), but I kept her home. I'm positive if she went in I'd be getting a call in the middle of the day telling me to come get her. So this way she rests, hopefully tomorrow she'll be better.

Anyhow, I went in to talk with Michael's teacher. Cause the way I understood the paperwork that came in the mail to me, something was wrong. I mean, first is a cover letter that says this school Psychologist received a referral request to conduct an educational evaluation of him. Then it has a couple pages of their "why he's being considered" info. Then it says

Other factors considered relevant to the action:
missed class time, social stigma

I read this as here's some more reasons why he's being considered, he's missed class time, and has a social stigma. I was getting quite upset, number one why didn't they tell me he was being considered for being seen by a psychologist! Number two, he's missed one day of school for goodness sake, and that was because we were picking up his Daddy who was coming home from a 15month deployment! And social stigma?? What the heck? Is he having problems in school socially that no one's told me about? He talks about his friends all the time!

Unfortunately I got this packet late Friday afternoon, given Monday was a holiday I had three days to sit and stew in it. So we left for school early this morning, because I was going to get some answers! I showed the papers to his home room teacher and even she was confused. She explained to me that while Michael has made great improvements, they are worried he won't be ready to move on to 5th grade. They're using all the resources they have, but think that if they had extra help, perhaps he would be ready. So they are seeking to see if he'll qualify for an IEP. This is something I do wish they had communicated with me a little better. I mean, I have an appointment next week with the Speech Teacher, so I knew they're trying to get him help, but I didn't know it was going so far. Anyhow, his teacher assured me that Michael has not been missing classes, and he has not been causing any problems.

So we headed to visit the Special Ed Teacher to see what she had to say. She explained to me, that these things (missed class time and social stigma) are things that will most likely occur if he's approved for special services. Missed class time, obviously because he'd be pulled out of class for special instruction. Social stigma, because among his peers, there very well may be kids that will make fun of him and stuff. So it's possible negatives associated with giving him special help that they need to take into consideration. That made so much more sense to me. That I can deal with. So my fears were put to rest that my son was secretly failing in school miserably. I know my son, he loves school, it just didn't jive.

So then I asked why a Psychologist has to see him, I don't understand how that relates to his academic growth, and I was told that she's the one that knows all the "legal" aspects of an IEP, has the knowledge to make sure everything is written out legally and what have you. That he's not getting psychological help so to say, just she's the one that does up the legal paperwork. So this I'm still a little iffy on. I'd LOVE to hear from others that have walked down this road before. You know, I adore his teachers. Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Adcock are two of the sweetest ladies I met. But ever since the stuff with Johnathan, I no longer trust the school district whole heartily. I guess I've been stung, it still hurts.

So anyhow, my heart is a bit lighter this morning. I noticed Johnathan's demeanor change while we were in the school though. I could see his eyes glaze over. All the life and spark that was there just a few minutes ago as I gave him a little pep talk about doing good at school was gone. There's something going on with that boy that he just plain does not want to be at the school. He was so excited to learn sitting beside me at the Kitchen table yesterday. He was asking me to teach him the math problems he didn't know how to do. He asks me to get him the next book in the series he's reading. He WANTS to learn, just not at school. I wish I could get in his little head and see what the heck was going on!

Memory Lane

2009-02-16T11:26:00.007-06:00

When my friend Lisa was here, she told me a bit about snapfish. I had heard of that website before, I was just never so sure on if their prints were actually of good quality. Now that I heard from someone I know and trust, I thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea to use them. In the day and age of digital photos, I never print out my photos anymore. Which means lots of family and friends don't get to see them. So I thought this way, family could go to my album and print any pictures they want to actually have. And even if no one wants them in their hands, this way I have another place my pictures are kept. When we moved back stateside, my hard drive in my computer had quit and for a good week it looked like I had lost all my beloved family pictures. I was a total wreck man! Thankfully my computer savvy husband messed around with it and saved my pics. I never want to feel like that again!

So anyhow, the other night I grabbed my digital photos and thought I'd start uploading them, year by year. We got our first digital camera back in 2004! Looking back through these old pictures had me reminiscing. At the time I thought my kids were getting big already. Now, five years later, I see how little they really were. I miss them!!

So I'm warning you, some of my favorite old pictures will be making their way to my blog. It is so incredibly hard to pick just one favorite picture of my kids out of a whole year's worth, but I tried....

My favorite 2004 pic of Caitlin:

Caitlin was born in March of 2004. This is later in the year, when she had begun to try to feed herself. I just love her chubby cheeks.

My favorite 2004 pic of Johnathan:

Every now and then God blesses me with a gem like this. I am no photographer, (unlike my hubby's cousin who has talent oozing out of her ears!), but I love the expression on his face as he's gazing out the windows of our house on the third floor. I have no idea what he was looking at, but it's just a great soft picture.

My favorite 2004 pic of Kirsten:

Though this pic seems a little grainy, I love the action in it as she looks over her shoulder. It reminds me of the sweet little spirit she always had as she played carefree. Always one to show her big brother she could do anything he could, she was on the go a lot!

And finally, my favorite 2004 pic of Michael:

Even though he's holding his new little sister, he truly is the focus of this picture. His big brown eyes, and that wide little grin. You can see the goofy looking boy he's about to become, but he still has so much baby in him!

Okay... I'm like officially home sick now. Why do we allow time to go by so quickly? Life seems like it's filled with trouble after trouble, and indeed it sometimes is. This has been my reminder to slow down, don't fret the small stuff, and enjoy my kids while I have them.

And here I thought...

2009-02-15T20:40:00.002-06:00

And here I thought I was done with homeschooling...

Let's back up. I've shared the struggles my seven year old is having in school. I was talking with my mom yesterday about it. I love my mom. She so rocks. She'll listen and talk through things with me. She used to drive a bus with special needs kids, so she knows a thing or two about how the system works. Anyway, as we were talking, she hit on an idea that just bloomed in my mind. I have to remember what the teachers are seeing. Sure, I know that Johnathan is one smart cookie. He's shown me the type of work he's capable of. He has not done that for them. Even when given the opportunity the boy has no desire what so ever to show them what he's capable of. So, we're at a lack of motivation. I've tried rewarding him, I've tried punishing him. It's all gotten old and it doesn't motivate him anymore. So... I'm going to give him work at his level after school. At first I thought this is going to be too much and it's going to backfire, but really, it's perfect.

He breezes through the school day, he isn't learning anything in reading and writing, the rest of the stuff is right at his level. So, if he has had a bad day at school where he has not tried his best, and listened and obeyed the teachers, he will come home, and mommy will have work for him to do that is challenging for him. Extreme work is the name he came up with for it. Bonus side is he will be learning something, he will be challenged. If he has a great day at school and has shown his teachers his true potential, then he doesn't have to do the extra work. So either way it works. If he's constantly doing extra work at home, I will soon have a notebook full of papers to show his teachers, and it's no longer just my word. Johnathan continues to learn and he's not left behind. If he does straighten up at school, then the teachers will see what he's capable of and he'll get moved up accordingly.

When we came up with this, I sat down with Johnathan and was very frank about it all. I was shocked to see how excited he was about it. By including him in the process he feels a bit of ownership in it, he understands it inside and out. This should be effective. I thought at first that eventually this boy is going to get sick of doing soooooo much school work. But tonight as I was giving him placement tests, the boy was having fun. I'm almost worried he'll want to do this extra work! But really, the downside of the extra work, is more strain on me. But isn't that what being a mom is all about?

So anyway, I'm hoping this will get him acting right at school. If it doesn't, I'll have more tools at my disposal when it comes time to face the school again. I just wish I hadn't gotten rid of ALL my homeschool stuff. I only kept the kindergarten stuff thinking I might use it with Caitlin. *shrug* So I pay $20 to $30 on school books. It's for the good of my son.

An unforeseen side effect has happened though. Johnathan did pretty good on the third grade spelling placement tests, so just for kicks I gave him the fourth grade one, explaining to him fully that I did NOT expect him to get these words right. His older siblings wanted to join in. My oldest son has always struggled with reading. There's something with how he learns that spelling is just extremely hard for him. He didn't get any of the words right, which quickly led to a breaking down in tears and crying. He's decided that he wants extra work to do at home so that he can have more practice and hopefully get better. So how's that... I'll be giving my 7 and 10 year old boys, third grade spelling work at home on top of their regular school work. I'm just praying that Michael really is going to stick with this, and it's not going to break down to constant fits and fighting like homeschool was with him.

But as I sit here, I am thankful that God showed me that my business needed to go. Because I have finally come to terms with giving that up, I'm able to confidently say "Okay" to taking on this extra schooling. I thought I was done with it. I really did. But I see two boys that are struggling. Each for very different reasons, I need to try to help them through it.

On top of it all Kirsten is sick. 102* fever tonight. I'm not feeling so great, so I'm probably next in line to get this. I have a feeling this week will be a ton of fun. (sarcasm here) I have a Christmas card I need to make for my design team, and I'm feeling totally zapped of any creativity at the moment. I submitted a card for the High Hopes Design Team. I just could not nail that sketch. I wanted to so bad, but I just wasn't feeling it. Oh well... when the time is right, then I'll get to branch out. Right now, I'm going to be content with where God has me. :)

Where'd it go?

2009-02-14T10:48:00.003-06:00

I can not believe it is Saturday already! This week just seemed to disappear from right in front of my eyes! It's been a trying week. Johnathan has not had smooth sailing in school, I got a bit upset with my husband (that's putting it nicely), and I've listed my inventory on the Internet to try to get rid of it at cost. It's been a down week, I retreated into my comfort zone. Staying home as much as possible, and hiding. What can I say? I know it's not right, but it's what I do. Always have.

But, today is feeling better. Michael has a basketball game. The poor boy doesn't really want to go. His team hasn't won a game yet, they have three different guys that take turn coaching. There's no real structure to his team, and it shows on the court. I don't want to let him stop going, the team needs him (most games they barely have enough boys to make a team), but more importantly, I don't want to teach him it's okay to quit just because your down. It's hard though, even I have a hard time sitting in the stands listening to parents of the other team cheer and correct their boys. It's so hard to hear them yelling things at the kids. I just want to blurt out "They're winning already! They're good enough, stop yelling at them!"

I got a package in the mail today from the Wamego School District. I don't know what to make of it. Apparently my oldest was referred to them for testing. But in this packet it asks a lot of questions about our personal life. I don't like it. If I was going to be sent such a thing, you'd think someone would have called me and let me know. As far as I know Michael's been doing good at school. I wanted, tried, pushed for Johnathan to get tested, nothing. Absolutely nothing. But they're pushing Michael. The only thing I can figure, is that Michael is academically behind, so he looks bad on their statistics, and want to move heaven and earth to get him to normal. Johnathan on the other hand looks just fine on their testing results. No need to allow him to move up.

I don't know, maybe I'm just being overly negative, but when I'm not being contacted about these things, what else am I supposed to do besides come to my own conclusions?

Anyhow... I talked with the missionaries from Wycliff today. God is so good, and I just LOVE it when he moves people places and orchestrates happenings. It's a reminder that He is indeed an all powerful God. It makes me all happy to see Him work!

I think I saw Dorthy fly by...

2009-02-09T22:02:00.004-06:00

Today has been unbelievably windy. All of Kansas was under a wind advisory. My son's poor basketball hoop has fallen over so many times his hoop is no longer circular, it's oval! My trash can is a big one, it's fallen over twice and slid across our drive way. The speed limit sign across the street was pulled out of the ground. It was just unbelievable. The news says there were maintained 20mph wind, gusts in the low 30s. No wonder the Wizard of Oz was set in Kansas!

Unfortunately my meeting with Johnathan's teachers didn't go as I had hoped. I really do wish I had more of a backbone. I brought the talk around to the fact that he really needs to be challenged more and it always was steered away. I feel for the teachers, all they see is a little boy that can't behave. I'm the first to say that he's not as emotionally mature as he should be. But my saying that they need to treat the behavior problems separate than his education was not accepted. At the mention of an IEP I was pretty much shot down. I was told that was for kids who are emotionally unstable, and he should get therapy. That left me speechless, I've done my research, I know what an IEP is really for. I really do wish I had been stronger.

On the positive, they are starting a new chart, hoping his seeing immediate recording of his behavior will help him. I also gave them permission to keep him after school if they need to. It's just so frustrating! He's so smart, so bright, but he doesn't want to show them. He has no desire to prove to them what he knows.

I think I made a mistake in telling them that if this is not resolved by the end of the school year he will be homeschooled next year. Immediately I got opposition from them. But the fact is, he's not learning at a rate he should/could be. Yes, it's mostly because he makes it so stinking difficult, but I felt like they wouldn't even entertain the idea that he's acting this way because he's not being challenged. I don't know, being a teacher is an incredibly hard job. But mom... now that's tougher.

Is it the death of a dream?

2009-02-08T20:17:00.003-06:00

I've shared rather publicly (I think) about my business adventure, and my struggle with it. It was almost a year ago (shy a few months) that I really felt like I was supposed to start this on-line scrapbook shop. Man, I jumped hurdles and went through hoops to get this started. Then life happened. Fast forward to the last two months, and I've been really struggling. Feeling guilty over not putting in the time and effort that any business needs to actually function. This led to me nearly feeling bad for taking care of my family. Thank the good Lord above, it never got quite that bad.

So, with the husband gone once again, I made it my goal to get the business straightened out, and up and running, it all started with prayer. A prayer that God would make the path He wants for me obvious to me. The beginning of this week was when I started to see it coming in the distance. Anything that could go wrong did. Things that I never even thought of came out of the woodwork. And today was the clincher.

I watched as my daughter took off her sneaker and poured sand onto the living room carpet. I could not believe what she was doing! She watched the little granules pour out of her shoe, much like one would poor water from a measuring cup, she watched them fall to the floor. "What are you doing!?!?!?" Was my immediate reaction. "You do that outside! Don't you know? I mean, it's obvious!!"

"It's obvious!", is what I heard from my Lord. Now's not the time. He's given me four beautiful kids (though not always the brightest) to nurture, and love, and constantly point them to Him. He's given me a husband to love, come along side of, and comfort. He's given me a fabulous church body to grow in, to serve, to learn with. He's given me other family and friends, to encourage, comfort and love. And he's given me a host of acquaintances that I need to put more time and effort into getting to know. For the slight chance that they'll notice His light within me, and I'll have the opportunity to point them to Him. He has given me people, people all around me. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. That is my role.

So while I am really truly having to fight off the enemy and his whispers of "See! You failed, AGAIN!" "Boy, weren't you dumb to think you could do something like that." I'm okay with it. Cause what on this earth is worth holding onto? I mean really, what is worth more than my Lord? He loves me, he has plans for me, things that I could never imagine. So I shall give this up to Him, because he asks me. I will continue to put my time and energy to work at serving Him. I do think my hobby of making cards is great for that. Through those things I can brighten other people's days. So I'm not giving that up, but the business part, I've got to let it go.

Tomorrow will be a challenge for me. I'm meeting with Johnathan's teachers after school. The boy has been having major behavior problems at school. I've been assessing it from all possible angles and I have a few ideas of what could be causing it. I'm just praying that God would give both his teachers, and myself the wisdom to see what is best for this little boy.

Thank you Lord!

2009-02-05T22:08:00.003-06:00

Oye, oye, oye, oye, oye! Yup... that's right FIVE "oye"s! This last week and a half has been one heck of a doozy. All kinds of family turmoil going on since the husband left once again. Seemingly, our seven year old son was hit the hardest this time around. Just outright awful behavior at school. He was sent home early from school one day, and in the principle's office three other times. Yesterday I was actually brought to tears. I had done everything I could think of. I've prayed, lectured him, punished him, restricted him, sought his ATA instructor's help and even spanked him. Nothing. Then last night I tried one more time, asking him about the classes he doesn't have problems in first. I asked what he liked most about each of his classes, what was hard, what was easy. As I suspected, the two classes he has most of his problems in, he told me were way to easy. I reminded him as I had months ago, that because he doesn't do his best work, his teacher's don't know that it's too easy. His eyes lit up as I explained yet again that he was doing assessments and that he needs to show his teachers how smart he really is so they'll let him go up to the next class.

Today... a perfect day. No talking back, no fits, no throwing papers on to the floor, no broken pencils. He was such a happy boy today, skipping and smiling and talking all sorts. He was my Johnathan again, and it is so nice to have him back.

I didn't realize it, but the stress of having to deal with a kid that just doesn't get it, really took a toll on me. I had absolutely no creativity in me at all, he was draining me. I ate mindlessly, stuffing more stuff in my mouth, even when I knew I wasn't hungry I wanted anything sweet. Unfortunately I am now at the weight I was before I lost all my weight this last year. It so totally sucks! All those nice clothes I had bought are skin tight. Now granted, I didn't put 20 pounds on in a week, but I had planned to get back in shape, and instead went the exact opposite direction.

Also because of all the stresses, and other things going on, I have not had anytime for working on my business. This is something I placed in the Lord's hands, wanting to know if it's something I should be pursuing. All I've been hearing form him is that I already have a job. Granted it doesn't pay any money, but being mom to my kids, teacher to the kids at church, IS my job. It really kind of broke me. I feel like once again, I've started something and haven't finished it. Once again, I failed at something. But after I mourned the loss of a dream of mine, I told Him that yes, I do love my hobby, but I love my kids more. I will not sacrifice them for my dream of finding my place in that industry. While I'm not yet joyful over it, I have come to terms with it. So if I still don't get things all straightened out in the next four weeks, I'll be okay with letting that go. Maybe that's all God really wants from me. For me to put it on the alter to him.

Anywhoo... I have my plate full, and it can be really hard trying to decide what gets done that day and what doesn't. I'm just thankful that this is not my home. I'm looking forward to the other side of eternity!

Love my Daughter

2009-02-03T13:43:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to take a minute to point to an entry on my daughter's blog.
Help me Celebrate Jump Rope for Heart's 30th Birthday.

Obviously the whole post is not her original words, it was taken from a template provided by the American Heart Association. But none the less, my daughter is excited about this. Even her big brother is doing extra chores around the house to sponsor her!

I know times are tough, I don't expect anyone to give, but wanted to do my part to encourage and support her.

Touching Video

2009-02-03T12:05:00.000-06:00

This video was shared with me through e-mail. I thought it was quite touching so I wanted to share it here.

For the lyrics, or seeing what the website is about, head over to it's website: Born Again American.

Boredom & Love Fights

2009-02-02T15:11:00.003-06:00

Today was a long day filled with driving all over the place and getting absolutely nothing done. Hubby had some unfinished business with getting the truck's plates and missing items of uniform that he needed me to take care of. I tried, oh boy did I try. But three different stores are all out of the pin he needs, and I don't know anywhere else to get them. With no power of attorney, there's no getting a plate for the truck, despite the fact I broke the forgery law that I think EVERY military wife breaks.

All this time, my poor Caitlin is reminding me often that she is bored. I can't blame the poor girl, we left the house at 8:30am and didn't get home till after 2pm! So I have a whole hour before picking up my kids. So much for all the plans I had of getting dishes, and laundry done and start working on my inventory. *sigh* I asked God to make it apparent to me if this was something I needed to pursue, so far I haven't been able to work on it at all! But I still have five more weeks.

When Caitlin wasn't reminding me of her utter boredom, she was picking love fights. This is when we "discuss" who loves who more. She insists that she loves me more, but all the moms in the world know there is no love like the love for a child. She is too cute.

Also I've been working on getting things lined up, and ironed out for our Bible Celebration that the Sunday School is sponsoring. There is a possibility that we might have a couple that is raising funds for their trip as Wycliff Missionaries. When this possibility was brought to me yesterday I just loved the idea. I'm now hoping and praying, that God will bring them to our church for that. It would be just perfect!

Anyhow, the childrens' part of this will include a skit, songs, and some jokes. I found some cute ones that I might be sharing here from time to time. Who doesn't love a cute kids' joke? (If you don't, then you're at the wrong blog!)

Q: Who is the greatest babysitter mentioned in the Bible?
A: David, he rocked Goliath to sleep.

Before I close, I'd like to leave a little shout out to Jenni. She's in the hospital about ready to have her first daughter! My thoughts are with you!

Season 6 Episode 15

2009-01-27T21:40:00.003-06:00

I know I've been kinda absent lately. Just been going through my things on a private plane. It's weird, sometimes I'm totally outgoing, others I just retreat.

Tonight I've been watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I'm not in the habit of watching it, as I just don't watch much TV. But this particular episode that aired Sunday featured Chapman. Chapman is a small town about 30 miles SE of Manhattan. When the Tornado came through back in June, before taking out a section of Manhattan, it basically completely leveled Chapman. It took out both schools, and just left a lot of people devastated.

You know, it's different watching that show, when you recognize the businesses that helped out. Most of those businesses are located in Manhattan. A lot of the volunteers came from Manhattan. And it's a fabulous thing, that the show acts as the gathering force to orchestrate the coming together of so many people, but it truly is the people, the volunteers that make that whole thing possible.

It was kinda weird also, to see the interview parts in the first section of the show that took place on Ft. Riley. My friend Chara used to live in that same neighborhood that the family lived in. I drive through another that was shown on the show a good percentage of my visits. It's just different when it's so close to home, and not a bunch of people that live somewhere else you've never heard of.

Anyhow, if you want to see what I'm rambling about head over to abc.go.com and check out Episode 15. It brought tears to my eyes more often than I'd like to admit.

New Years Resolutions

2009-01-22T08:12:00.002-06:00

Yeah... so it seems a bit late for New Years Resolutions, but these aren't mine, they are apparently my seven year old's. Yesterday while going through his backpack, I found it, and I just had to share!

On the paper it says he's looking forward to 2009, and here's why. He'll be 8 years old, he hopes to grow 2 inches. He hopes he gets better at behaving at school (this is something he's struggling with). But at the very bottom is what made me smile from ear to ear. "This year I plan to do some of my favorite things: love on my mom."

Come on now! I want to hear all the "awwww"s. He pretends to be hard and tough on the outside, but deep down he's a softy!

Today I have two Sunday School lessons to prepare and a presentation to give to the congregation. But my mind is just not cooperating. I can't seem to focus on anything. I think it's the messed up sleep schedule that's taking it's toll on me. :(

Just sharing...

2009-01-21T04:30:00.005-06:00

Uh-oh. Looks like I'm becoming a once a week blogger! Well, it happens to the best of us from time to time. The Lord's been working on me and I've realized I have to prioritize things in my life. With four kids, a hubby, children's ministry, crazy dog, and household duties... it just goes on and on. But you know, God is good... and as long as I continue to seek after His will, things will be all right.

I've been struggling a lot lately on my scrapbook business I'm trying to get off the ground. Okay, ex that... wanting to get off the ground, cause let's face it, I haven't spent much time on it at all. I've been feeling so much guilt over that. I don't want to give it up, because it is something I love so much, not to mention I am notorious for starting ventures and not seeing them through. But with prayer and Godly friends, I've finally come to a decision.

Our woman's group at church is doing a study about true freedom in Christ. Previously when I'd hear the word "captive" I'd think something big. Like a childhood trauma that you can't seem to shake, or drug use, or alcohol, something like that. But I've come to understand that anything in your life that does not allow you to live in the fullest riches of Christ, a Spirit filled life is a sort of captor. For me... that's my busy schedule.

Let's take yesterday for example. (Warning, I know this is already a boring post, but it's about to get worse!) Hubby's alarm went off at 4am, and I struggled to get back to sleep. Finally got up just before 7am. Get the kids off to school and return home for an hour to do speech exercises with my youngest. Head out the door to run some errands, pick up some silk flowers for the church, go to library story time with my daughter, head out to base to have lunch with my hubby, go into walmart for a few necessities. We returned home for an hour, of which I spent making sandwiches for the evening and watched a tiny bit of the inauguration activities. Then it was promptly off to pick up my children, drive out to Wamego for Kirsten's gymnastics, do homework with the boys while we're there, get Johnathan to Takewando, let Michael eat his food. Load them all back into the van allow the rest of the kids to eat while we're on our way to Michael's basketball. Drive out to meet hubby in Manhattan where we traded vehicles and thankfully (oh so very thankfully) I was able to go to women's bible study. But in a week hubby leaves, again, for six weeks, so it's back to doing it on my own. Anyhow, I return home at 9pm. A good 13 hours after I left in the morning.

Life is just busy! Sure, not all my days are spent out of the house, but there are times when I allow that busy-ness to overwhelm me. I loose my joy, loose sight of what is truly important in life. When I reach the end of my life, will my biggest regret be not pursuing my business? No. I will be happy knowing that my children had a mother that they knew without a shadow of a doubt loved them. I don't want to be that mom that is only there to yell at and correct them when they do wrong. Likewise I want to be the wife that the husband looks forward to coming home to. My family is my most important ministry. They have to come first.

So anyhow... as to my decision. I'm giving myself the six weeks hubby is gone to get my act together. With him gone I'll have my evenings to myself (that's the theory any way) and I should be able to get it all up and running. I'm praying that if God wants this in my life, then He will go before me and smooth out the bumps. If this is not something in his will, then I want a whole lot of obstacles in the way so it will be obvious to me.

Any whoo... I'm not sure where all that came from. lol I'd just like to point you to the text below the "Simply Shenanigans"... ramblings... questionable sanity... yeah. That's my disclaimer! This week, I'm praying for my friend J... may contractions come and you have that little one! My friend Lisa... praying for God's provision and peace in your lives, and a clear vision for you to return! My friend Nona... keep her, her boys (including hubby) safe. My church kids... may they get excited about the party we're going to be throwing, and the congregation as well. And myself... may I keep first things first, and second things second!

A little bit frustrated

2009-01-15T06:50:00.004-06:00

I'm just a little bit frustrated. It seems we have this bright ideas, and they just don't come to fruition. Hubby and I had been working the phone this last week, wanting to refinance our house since interest rates are so low right now. We qualify for big loans, but we don't have enough equity in our home. So it looks like right now we're stuck with our 7. and 8. APR home loans. It's just very frustrating, because three years ago they loaned us the money for the very same house that now they're saying no to.

Yesterday I spent two hours adding inventory to my new store site. I had gotten the mental determination to do it. Then I decided to check how it was looking. Borked. It is all borked. When you click on an item it just bring up a blank page which is frustrating the heck out of me. Things that worked before now didn't, and I was upset to say the least. I walked away from it and promptly wasted an hour and a half playing on the wii. It's just got me wondering if this business is in God's plans for me. I thought it was, but maybe I was listening to my own heart and my own desires. I don't know. I'm just growing frustrated.

Oh and add the fact that something is wrong with my s key on my keyboard. I have to press it harder than normal for it to register. I'm a rather quick typer, and this just throws me off. I guess the bright side is I'll have an extra strong ring finger!

The events of today are kind of up for grabs. I have to spend time working with Caitlin on her speech patterns. Her teacher said it seemed she went backward Tuesday, so we have to spend extra time working on it at home. There's eating at school with the kids today, Taekwando, and a meeting at 7pm. Maybe add in there trouble shooting my website to see what the heck I did wrong. I really don't want to start it from scratch all over again!

Well, the first child just crawled out of bed, time to get the day going!

Weird Feeling

2009-01-12T08:08:00.003-06:00

Well, hubby went off to work this morning. It's a weird feeling in the house, just me, my youngest and the dog. It's quiet, it's weird. On my to-do list is catching up with dishes and laundry, hopefully figuring out the shipping modules on my new website I'm building. But I'm so tempted to waste the day away. Oh... sooooo tempted.

Not a lot going on today. I think I'm going to put my Toby Mac CD in, maybe some upbeat tunes will help get me into gear.

First Game

2009-01-10T15:57:00.003-06:00

This morning Michael had his first Basketball game. For the longest time it looked like there wasn't going to be a Saint George team due to a lack of coaches. His first practice was Tuesday, this morning his first game.

He's the one on the far left with the ball. You know, it's hard to get good pictures when it comes to sports! Anyhow, for the last year and half Kirsten & Johnathan have had extra activities, poor Michael hasn't. It was nice to be able to cheer for him and his team. Unfortunately they didn't win, but they had fun and the coaches now know what areas to coach on Tuesday.

Not a whole lot going on here. Hubby goes back to work on Monday, so we're just trying to enjoy the last two days together.

Hubby's new red head

2009-01-08T16:06:00.005-06:00

First off, I totally do not intend to offend anyone! I apologize if I do, this is totally in jest!

About 4 years ago, we were living in Germany, we had some friends over. The wife and her daughter were in the house with me and our kids while our husbands were out in the parking lot working on hubby's old Mazda. He paid $600 bucks to purchase it, and countless hours afterwards. This is the car that hubby got pulled over in, not because he was cruising at 120mph on the autobahn, but because it was so loud!

Anyway, whatever hubby and his friend were working on that day, they were having a hard time. Hence the car was labeled as a "red head" because of it's bright red paint job and men's tendency to refer to their cars as females. That day a new joke was born between us, my husband's difficult red head would be the butt of many jokes.

After the red Mazda he had a BMW (we were in Germany, they were cheap there!), which wasn't red. But after that was a red Toyota Celica, which had it's share of difficulties, and now we have just traded in our minivan for yet another "red head".

It's a '98 Dodge Dakota Sport. Hubby claims he doesn't even care for the color red on vehicles. "I like blues and greens." he'll proclaim. Yet he keeps buying red vehicles!! Hubby loves Dodge Dakotas. Back in the day we had a black one that was slightly raised, had roll bars and lights. He loved that truck, but we had to sell it when we found out I was pregnant with Michael. He's in a mini heaven having a Dakota again. Though he'll say "it's not that nice", he had no problem parking it on the very very edge of the drive way so it wouldn't get hit by the door of a behemoth of a van when the kids get out. lol

Anyhow, we ended up having to take out a small two year loan to cover it. In doing so, hubby has to quit smoking. He had successfully quit before his R&R, was smoke free for near four months. But once he went back to Iraq, he started smoking again. So I know he can quit, but I'm worried about him actually doing it. The end of this month he leaves for Alabama for a six week class, he's planning on quitting then so we don't have to be around his grumpy, going through withdrawals self. So if you pray, please pray for him. He's gonna need it!

Happy 2009

2009-01-02T14:00:00.002-06:00

Happy 2009 y'all! Sorry I haven't been around much. With the kids out of school, and all their extra activities put on hold this week, we've been living a relaxed lazy life. It's been good to have some unwinding time. It hasn't all been easy though, Nahla decided to put a 3" hole in our carpet while we were at church last Sunday. You know, most puppies chew on furniture or shoes. Not ours, no, she hasn't destroyed a couch or chair, not a single shoe has been harmed despite there being 8 pairs sitting in the living room. Nope, instead she puts a hole in our carpet. Needless to say, our restraint was seriously challenged!

Lately I've been trying to work on my website. Finally got Magento installed. That thing has so many bells and whistles, it's like a little kid in a candy store. But unfortunately all those bells and whistles make it's learning curve extremely steep. I have spent days on this app, and I'm still not close to being able to launch it. Hopefully I'll get it up by the end of the month. We shall see!

So unfortunately, my beloved hobby of card making has kind of gone on the back burner for right now. Next week the kids go back to school, and all their activities start up. Kirsten will be going to a different gymnastics school. This one with older equipment but far more experienced and qualified coaches. I am looking forward to that! Michael starts the basketball season, he's completely stoked about that. And we're trying to transfer Johnathan to a different location for his Taekwando. It's owned by the same person, but has different instructors and I'm not quite so thrilled with that. I have the highest of regards for his current instructor, he is really talented at what he does and knows how to interact with a trying seven year old boy. I worry that I won't be happy with anyone who's slightly less capable of juggling so many roles.

So that's what's going on. Not a whole lot, and I'm enjoying it. The crazy hectic life is due to resume on Tuesday, we'll see how I survive. lol

Shot of the Day

2008-12-25T09:52:00.003-06:00

This morning was nice. Woke at 6 and jokingly told my hubby, "lets go wake the kids". He got out of bed and I called after him thatI was just joking. I got our ham in the slow cooker and our Christmas morning cinnamon roles in the over. Shortly before seven we went and woke the kids. It's so much fun jumping on their beds saying "It's Christmas (insert child's name here)! It's Christmas, it's Christmas! My younger two wake up immediately, the others taking just a smidgen longer.

We have been so blessed this year. I just have to share this favorite shot of the day of mine.

Michael is 10 and he's entered the stage of joking around with me faaar too much, and always trying to get the better of me. So I told him I was going to 'get him good' this year, and boy did I ever. My son has recently been all about basketball, unfortunately they couldn't find a coach for St. George's kids, so it looks like he won't be playing this season after all. Anyhow, he's had his Dad's old ball for a while, the thing is flat and doesn't hold air for anything, he wanted a new basketball so bad. So, all the presents are open and there's no basketball. He told me "I have $40 so I'll get to buy a basketball. That's when I suddenly remembered that there was another big box. I presented it to Michael, he was very excited.

So he opens this big box, just to find another box in it, and another box, and finally a little tupperware dish. He's giving me looks, inside is a little 3x3 card, written on it is a clue. He gets a clue which leads him to my bathroom which leads him to the fridge, which leads him to the laundry room. Funny thing is, he's still tripping out over the fact that Mommy 'got him', and his siblings are the ones figuring out the clues!

So in the laundry room he finds a big box, opens it up and inside is his basketball. He's glad and relieved, till he finds that there's another clue taped to it. That clue leads him to the microwave where a little box waits for him. He opens that up and finds a net. He keeps saying, "I know you didn't get me a basketball hoop. What is this for?" Meanwhile his sister is reading the clue that was with it which tells him to get some fresh air. He heads outside and finds a basketball goal in the drive way with a big red bow on it. He was so shocked and surprised. I'm quite satisfied that I got him so well. I've proved once again that I am still able to get the best of him. :)

It's that time of year...

2008-12-23T09:19:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year, the time of family, friends, laughter, good cheer, and.... not much time to blog. Today is the last day of school for my little ones, so starting tomorrow I have two and a half weeks of constant noise and having to find something for them to do. I don't suspect I'll disappear entirely but my much decreased frequency will probably continue for a while. I'm spending my time with my family, which is finally whole for a change. I pray everyone has a fabulous Christmas. Remember, it's not the gifts, or the money that makes Christmas great, is the memories of being with one another, and remembering our Savior's birth. :)

A Perfectly Imperfect Christmas

2008-12-18T15:11:00.003-06:00

One of my kid's teachers forwarded this to me. It reminded me of my crooked Christmas Tree that I posted earlier. I know nothing about Jim Fay or the Love & Logic group this is from, so I can not either endorse them or discourage their message. But I do know that this particular message made me smile, and in this season of stress and worries, sometimes us adults need to allow things to not be perfect.

=====
HAVE A PERFECTLY IMPERFECT CHRISTMAS

What was your best Christmas as a kid? Was it the one where there was a lot of stress about a perfect meal elegantly served—on time—to a perfectly dressed family? Or was it the one where the dog pulled the turkey off the stove and dragged it away through the dog door? There was no perfect meal that day. Everyone rolled with the punches. They rolled up their sleeves and worked together in the kitchen to salvage a makeshift meal.

The beauty of that memory is not in perfection and organization, but in remembering the joy of being together and doing things together. It was the laughter. It was one of those days when the choices were to laugh or to cry, so you all laughed it off and enjoyed one another. It brought you all together in a different way.

Holidays are times for enjoying one another. We are not suggesting that you purposely feed the turkey to the pets, but we strongly suggest that an imperfect day with little stress will create better memories of loving relationships.

We wish you a perfectly imperfect holiday season.

Thanks for reading!
Jim Fay
=====

Though I seriously do not hope anyone's dinner runs away from them, I'm hoping everyone will allow joy to fill their hearts during the imperfect moments.

Now it's looking like it!

2008-12-16T08:16:00.002-06:00

This is what I woke up to this morning! Isn't it so pretty! So yeah, a couple days ago the cookies had it smelling like Christmas, now the snow has it looking like Christmas. I'm so glad my hubby's home to do a share of the shoveling! lol I did not enjoy doing that last winter.

I hope everyone is staying warm! I'll be huddled around the dryer, stove and craft table at different times of the day today. :)

Quick check in

2008-12-14T06:55:00.004-06:00

I love my kids with all my heart. Just last night I was whining to my husband about how lonely I will be when they all grow and leave the house. I told him he better be prepared for my mid-life crisis when my baby girl moves out. But one thing I think I will enjoy about a quiet house... being able to sleep in when you plan on it! I had planned to sleep in till like 7:30 this morning, but noooooo.... two boys and a puppy made sure I was up at 6! *sigh* So is the life.

Yesterday was a very busy day. Johnathan had a tournament to participate in. I'll have to see if I can get a picture or two up on here later as my camera is currently in the back of my van, which I'm not allowed into because there are Christmas presents there from our shopping trip last night. One must be resourceful to go shopping for five different people and not let anyone see what they got. lol Thank heavens for big jackets that cover contents of shopping carts!

At least this morning I woke to an e-mail letting me know I made the Design Team at the Christmas Cards all Year 'Round blog! I'm so excited. It's my first excursion into this realm and I hope it leads to new and excited things. People have always told me how "creative" I am, it's time to put it to the test. :)

Well, off I go... gotta get this day started. Sunday School to prepare for, a Lord to serve. :)

It's begining to smell a lot like Christmas

2008-12-12T09:44:00.006-06:00

Anyone who knows me, knows usually my Christmas decorations are going up before all the Thanksgiving dishes are washed. This year has been unusual for me, the outside of our house still has no lights, and my tree has been in my living room for one week, all it has is lights and garland.

Friday evenings in our house are known as "Family Night". It's the one night that there is no where to go, nothing to do, I love it! Tonight we're making my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies (what do you mean you never heard of them?) and hanging ornaments on the tree. I decided to get just a small amount of baking out of the way this morning. Caitlin and I made Spritz cookies together. It was my first time doing them, as my friend gave me her Pampered Chef Cookie press when she moved to California in June. I love it!

Anyhow, something that's been bugging me lately is that there are nearly no pictures of me with my kids. As I make their scrapbooks it seems I'm not even in their lives! So I bugged my hubby to sit and take some pictures, boy am I glad I did!

I won't share them all here, but there's a few I just have to.

Caitlin of course is given the job of pouring the already measured ingredients into the bowl, keeping the mixing bowl steady, and decorating the cookies. She had done some snowflakes with blue sugar, some wreathes with green. Then we did some squares of which I gave her my big Christmas Mix to decorate with.

I had the side with holes opened, so I knew she couldn't dump them out, however this quickly led to "It's too heavy for me!" So I put some in a dish and instructed her to use her fingers and sprinkle them on. While I turned to tend to something else, she promptly picked up that little dish and dumped all the Christmas goodies on one cookie. While I missed it, thankfully her Daddy did not.

I just love the distressed look on her face. It's priceless. These are the memories I'll cherish when she's all grown up with little ones of her own.

We will be making more tonight, so the others aren't left out of the baking fun, so beware there might be more pictures tomorrow. So, as I conclude this post, I'll share just one more.

A happy little girl feeding a happy daddy Cookie Dough. :)

Why?... How?? and other such laments.

2008-12-10T11:17:00.004-06:00

Let's start with "Why?" Why oh why did I ever get a puppy? I know, Michael had been begging me for a dog for years. Chocolate labs are hubby's favorite breed of dog. I knew the owner of the momma, and she's a fantastic gal. How often will you find a pure chocolate lab at the price of $50. And lets not forget... she was soooooo very cuuuuuute!

Yeah, well now that cute, can't pass it up, puppy is driving me nuts! She's going into bedrooms, getting kid toys to chew on. She's slowly tearing apart my Christmas tree. Each morning I wake to at least three branches torn off the bottom and scattered around the living room. Why oh why did I get a puppy?

As for how... Thursday I visited Mrs. Kirsten (Nahla's original human mommy) to get my hair fixed. I had my hair highlighted for my Sister's wedding back in Sept. 07. I hated the job and went to Kirsten to fix it a couple months later. She did such a fantastic job I wanted some more highlights put in for hubby's return. Well, hubby returned early, but I didn't care, I wanted my hair touched up.

Anyway, she washes the color out and says "You only had three grey hairs, not bad." What?!? Gray hairs? When did that happen? I'm only 31!! I can't have gray hairs! "I think I got them all." she comforted me. I jokingly told her that if any remain she can just pluck them out. Low and behold a minute later she finds one as she blow drying my hair. "You're going to have such pretty silvery hair." she comments. Uh, like hell no I'm not! lol I had her pluck it. My mom chastised me for that one, saying I'm going to only get more, but I wanted that hair gone. It was funny cause you could see the dye mark like halfway down of when I had tried to fix the bad highlight job. I brought it home to my husband, with strict instructions of telling the Army that's the damage deployments do to his wife. I swear I didn't have grey hair before he left!

I'm so not ready to face getting older. Not ready at all.

On to other non-news. Today I created a card for a Design Team call for the Christmas Cards All Year Round blog. It's a small blog, and they've posted the call several times, so I get the feeling they haven't had that many takers. I had thought I'd pass on the chance with hubby being home and all, but today I decided why not. You've got to start somewhere right? Besides it was fun. They'll make the decision on Monday, then I will post my entry on my crafty blog. Win or loose, I like it, it's cute, and I'll share it.

Now I must get my butt in domestic gear. After the kids school they have dentist appointments and Calvary Kids Club. So I gotta get things cleaned up now and a take with us dinner made.

Oh, I can't believe I almost forgot to share this cute picture.
Yesterday was really cold, when hubby came home he directly to our bed, hoping to warm up under the covers. Caitlin and I joined him and they ended up taking a nap.

Aren't they too cute?

My brain is sleeping

2008-12-08T11:45:00.003-06:00

I'm up, I've been up for a while, but I swear my brain is asleep. I've tried to start this post several times over the last few days, but I always end up just staring at the screen. I have nothing witty to say, so I shall just ramble.

Hubby braved the Saturday crowd at Walmart and picked up a tree. We did have a nice artificial one that had prestrung lights on it that we bought five years ago. Unfortunately we couldn't get it pulled apart last year so I just let it stand in the corner of the garage. We brought it in and started to clean it up. There were some things on that tree that neither of us felt comfortable with, so out it went.

Anyway, hubby braves Walmart for me (he's so courageous) and we got it up on Saturday. The thing is extremely crooked. I mean, the trunk of it is, it just grew crooked. So depending on where you stand in the living room it looks like it's falling over. We let it stand overnight with nothing on it to allow the branches to fall and settle. Our dog loves to chew on sticks so we also wanted time to teach her it's off limits before anything electric/breakable got on there. She's learning, thankfully, but she's still not broken of it completely. But that's not what worries me, her tail hitting the thing worries me more. lol Her tale has been nicknamed a lethal weapon, it wags, a lot.

Anyhow, I finally got lights and garland on it today. It's not as lit as our old one was, because it was pre-lighted plus three strands. Now this one just has three strands, but you know, I'm happy with my not quite so bright, very crooked tree. Christmas is not about perfection, if anything it reminds me just how 'crooked' we are, and why Christ came to earth for us.

Anyhow, today is a day of chores, if I can get my headache to go away. I may do my best to sneak a nap in today. I'll need patience and a clear head for putting ornaments on the tree with my kids tonight. :)

The tale of two wildcats

2008-12-05T05:50:00.007-06:00

Okay, so my husband's alarm went off at 4:30 this morning. What the heck is the army thinking?!?!? These soldiers just spent 15 months in a desert who's recent weather averaged 75 degrees F. After being home less than a week, they want them to go PT in less than 20 degree weather. Idiots... I swear!

Anyway, so though I try as I might I can't get back to sleep. So after some prayer time I'm on my laptop still in bed :), checking my e-mail. I know I've said it a thousand times over, but I love living in this smaller atmosphere. Back about a month ago, the 1st and 2nd graders had a poster contest for the K-state Basketball season. Johnathan's class won which got them a visit from the K-State mascot, Willie the Wildcat.

Now this isn't going to matter to anyone but me, and those friends of mine that grew up in Arizona. See, my home town, Tucson, Arizona is home to the University of Arizona, which happens to have the wildcat as it's mascot also. So I grew up with one distinct "wildcat" mascot, it's weird to see a different logo and different mascot attached to the "wildcat" name.

Wilbur Wildcat:

Willie the Wildcat:

Honestly, I think the Arizona one is superior, because the wildcat head on a human body just gives me the willies. (pun intended) I mean, yeah, we all know it's a guy in the costume, but at least Arizona tries to mask the fact.

And my friends that are loyal to Tucson may want to throw tomatoes at me for this next comment... I think the superiority stops there.

Where Wilbur is a fun character, great to have around at game time, I don't recall it ever being involved with the community, with younger children outside of sporting events. Willie the Wildcat is. My sons class got to go to the K-State college and see the locker rooms and basketball court and football field first hand. Willie was with them as they took the "secret stairs" that led them outside. Willie signed autographs and if you didn't have something for him to sign, he'd sign your arm for you. (I know... the marker still hasn't come off my sons arm!)

The fact that K-State is involved with the youth at the younger ages outside of sporting events thrills me. My little man came home so psyched up about his visit, he was just bubbling over with excitement. Though this might seem un-important for most, think of the early impact. It is making young kids excited about college really. My son will never forget the day he got to go to the college, he's going to feel that connection, and how he felt important and special, like he belonged there. It's just awesome that's all.

So as I leave this post that I'll be scratching my head about later, wondering where the heck it all came from (I blame the 4:30am alarm clock!!) I shall leave with a picture my son's teacher sent me.

PS Oh, and if you're like me and interested in useless little trivia facts when you have time to kill... According to Wiki, K-State created the costumed wildcat mascot first. Willie is 12 years older than Wilbur.

Back to Normal

2008-12-04T08:43:00.002-06:00

Well, it's finally come, a day that goes back to normal. My husband's alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. He went off to work just before the kids wake up. Then it's get them off to school and now it's just myself, my baby girl, and the dog. Laundry is started, e-mail is seen too, dishes are calling my name, and my craft table is screaming to be cleaned. lol Yup, back to normal!

It's below freezing outside, so it looks like my Christmas yard decor isn't making it out today. I usually have the Christmas stuff going up before the Thanksgiving dishes are washed, but with the circumstances this year I haven't gotten to it. With a rowdy pup and my husband's homecoming, it just hasn't happened yet. Hopefully soon. Hopefully.

Okay, so this was a useless post. Guess I just wanted to check in. :) I'm off to get something done. lol

All about hubby

2008-12-03T08:22:00.005-06:00

My friend posted this list on her blog, and given my husband's recent return home, I just HAD to snag it!

All about Hubby...
1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? An action/adventure movie.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Artichoke Hearts

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? We never go to bars, but if we did, it would be a German Beer.

5. Where did he go to high school? Sunny Side High School, Tucson, Arizona

6. What size shoe does he wear? 9

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Coffee mugs

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Philly Cheese Steak

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Mexican Food

10. What is his favorite cereal? Cocoa Puffs

11. What would he never wear? Pants hanging down low

12. What is his favorite sports team? He doesn't have one, he thinks they all get paid too much.

13. Who did he vote for? McCain

14. Who is his best friend? Me

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Bug him with silly blog questions

16. How many states has he lived in? Five plus Germany and Japan

17. What is his heritage? All mixed... like most Americans

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday what would it be? It would be a cheesecake

19. Did he play sports in high school? Track & Cross Country

20. What could he spend hours doing? Reading, putting up with his wife

21. What's something cool about him? He actually laughs at my jokes. He has a photo memory when it comes to technology. He can list stats of all sorts of gadgets and tell you exactly which one can do what and how much it costs. He can instantly revert to boyhood and play with the kids, but when I need him, he's all grown up. :)

Home

2008-12-02T14:12:00.003-06:00

Are those happy kids or what? That was the scene yesterday, and the reason why I may be a little hard to nail down. The ceremony time kept changing, first it was on Sunday, then it was Monday at 11am, then it was Monday at 8:30am, then when we got there we were told it changed to 10. Thankfully though, once it did start, it was super quick. They marched them all in (about 100 guys) and some high ranking guy thanked the men for a job well done, then said let's get these guys released to their loved ones. I was so thankful for that! Finally someone who knew his droning on and on meant little to the soldiers, they just wanted to be with their families.

So for now things are going slow. He has to go back to work full time on Thursday, I'm sure I'll be pestering my blog then. :)

One more day...

2008-11-30T13:04:00.003-06:00

Ha! As I should have predicted, hubby's homecoming isn't happening today. His plane broke down in Iceland. lol Poor guy. Now we're rescheduled for Monday at 11am. I'm rolling with the punches, unfortunately however my oldest is being a down right difficult child and I can't help but wonder if it's because of this. He is just lashing out at everyone, and though I understand his frustration and anger, it's not okay that he takes it out on those of us that are home. *sigh* Today is going to be looooooong.

On the bright side, I now have more time to clean up. lol Not to mention play with my "stuff". I posted a card I made today on my other blog, and I really need to get making a good website. I gave out several cards at the craft show yesterday, I need to have a website to support it, but I just so am NOT in the mood to create a website. I have the know how, I just don't have the gumption. I wish there were a lady out there that would trade me a website for a discount on scrapbook items. lol If you are out there, contact me!!

Oh... thought I'd leave with this picture of my daughter, bored at the craft show yesterday.

Finally Home...

2008-11-29T18:31:00.003-06:00

Today has been excruciatingly long! But it hasn't always felt that way. The alarm went off bright and early at 6am. Out the door by 6:30. My oldest stayed home with our dog. Last night, my oldest thought it was a grand idea to play keep away with Nahla using one of those small rubber bouncy balls. Well, Nahla got it, and swallowed it whole! So while I'm freaking out Nahla's quite pleased with herself. Thankfully the vet said she should be able to pass it (while she's barely a 5mo old pup, she weighs 40lbs, she's a big girl), he gave me some medicine to give to her to help her poop. So since my oldest was the one to feed her the ball, he got to stay home to take her potty constantly and see if that stupid ball makes it through.

Anyway, I dropped my youngest two off at a friends house, then my oldest daughter and I headed to the craft show. It was pretty easy to set up, I had one table their for me. When the doors opened at 9am the guy that was to my back dumped all of his oils on his six pails of potpurri. While I've always liked potporri, sitting by buckets of it for hours on end isn't good. Come noon my head was pounding, and when 4pm came I couldn't wait to get out of there. Thankfully 3/4 of my stuff sold and it was a super quick pick up. I hope to be able to do the show again next year. With more time to prepare I can make more things and be less stressed about it. I was shocked that three of my cards actually sold for $3 ea and I had several people take a business card and even chatted about my cricut machine with a few!

Anyhow, so now my head is pounding, but it's been a good day. I pick up my kids and as I'm driving towards Pizza Hut to pick up our pasta for dinner (I love their chicken pasta) the phone rings. It's the army. I get to pick up my husband Sunday afternoon!! It's supposed to be COLD tomorrow, and the ceremony is outside, so hopefully it will be quick. The poor guys have been in the desert for the last 15 months, they think 60 is down right cold. We're not even supposed to hit 40* tomorrow, and our off and on snow is supposed to continue tomorrow. What a homecoming it will be!

So, if I'm not around my computer much the next couple days you'll know why. He's supposed to have two days off before he has to go back to work, till the 13th when his block leave starts. So I'm sure I'll get to the computer by the end of the week. But I doubt I'll be around my puter for the next two days or so. :D

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T07:38:00.003-06:00

It's that day again! The often under appreciated day when we are reminded of all the blessings we have in our life. And I have lots of them! I could easily sit here and type out a list of 100 things I have to be thankful for. The good Lord has given me so many blessings in my life. As I redecorated this blog for Christmas, I hope all my friends, and those who happen to cross my blog somehow will see the Lord's fingerprints in their lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A lonnnnnng time...

2008-11-26T09:17:00.003-06:00

First, I want to say very publicly, thank you Jenni! For understanding my need to vent despite the fact that I know all of this stuff already. lol And of course my mom... who I called immediately begging for her to come do my craft show for me. lol Thanks for laughing with me through it all.

I'm a military wife of 13 years, this is not the first homecoming I've been through, though this is the longest he's ever been away. He left on the 3rd of Sept. 07. He'll be home just days shy of 15 solid months. I know that it's perfectly 'normal' for the emotions to range from anxiety to pure excitement. There's even resentment, fear, joy, and awkwardness. It's all very usual... but just because it's 'normal' does not mean it's easy.

This morning as I was cleaning up my kitchen, preparing to get my pie started, my mind wandered to the changes that have happened in this house since he's been gone. There's been a lot.

The first one that comes to my attention (probably because I can't take two steps without running into her) is our Nahla.

I am so sorry Jenni, you've asked me about her often, and I somehow always forget to snap a pic of her. Even now that I have, it doesn't show her size well, all I can say is when we got her, her head was well below my knees when I sat. Now you can see she's waaaay taller than that. But I just love this picture, she's so.... handsome in it. (Can I use that word to describe a girl dog?) She is beautiful but she is a handful! She's a very large, playful, rambunctious (did I mention large?) puppy. She is however my hubby's favorite breed, so hopefully he'll fall in love with her. Hopefully she won't mind him to much as well. lol I can see the two of them getting along.

Then there's the fact that when he left I was homeschooling the kids. Now they go to the public school, which involves a huge change for them, but also for our schedule. There's dropping off, and picking up, tutoring days to keep straight not to mention homework.

When he left the kids were not in extra activities, now there's Gymnastics, Taekwando, Library Story time, Calvary Kids Club and soon there will be basketball as well.

All of his kids are a year older, half of them have had two birthdays since he's been gone.

I'd have to say one of the biggest differences is me. Quite frankly, I was depressed. I had the joy of the Lord, but being joyful is not the same as being happy. I was depressed, I didn't take care of my self, I didn't put even an ounce of effort into my appearance. And though I still do not wear makeup, and I'm not all about my looks, I have self worth and value now. The Lord has worked on me lots while my husband's been gone.

And you know, I'm sure the biggest changes are those that I don't know about yet. The ones in him. Those that know our story know that there has to have been major changes for him. I mean we faced divorce square in the eye while he was gone. It's weird. Fifteen months is a long time.

Got a phone call

2008-11-25T19:01:00.003-06:00

It's not the phone call... As that title is reserved for the worst phone call military families fear. Nope I got the "you can expect your spouse home between this three day window" call. While I'm glad, and it's nice to know he's on his way, I am so worried that he's going to come in on Saturday! I payed a $55 fee just to have a table at this fair, I sunk over $100 worth of stuff into creating my goods for this fair. Now watch, I won't be able to go because I'll have to pick up my husband. Is it wrong for me to pray he won't come in until after six pm on that day? It is isn't it! There's no way I'm NOT going to pick him up. I mean it's the end of a 15 month deployment. But man... it'll hurt to not have the opportunity to recoup the costs... Listen to me I sound horrible!!

Around

2008-11-24T17:34:00.003-06:00

Around... that's what I've been. Just not here. Life's busy, I've got the craft show this weekend, throw in Thanksgiving, and trying to mentally/emotionally prepare for the husband's return. His e-mail today told me that they're no longer working, now they just sit around waiting to get flights out. My poor hubby is probably going to be stuck in Kuwait for Thanksgiving. Oh well, it beats being in Iraq.

I'm afraid I don't have a ton to say. I just wanted to check in today, I've had a horrible case of the headaches tormenting me. No amount of tylenol has worked, this is not normal for me. I'm taking a small break tonight to watch Wall-e with the kids. It's a cute movie. I'll probably post on Sunday or Monday telling how my craft show went. Hopefully it'll go well.

The answer to that question is...

2008-11-17T14:00:00.003-06:00

You know that ancient question... "Is there such a thing as too much of a 'good' thing?" I have the answer. YES!! There is such a thing. I have been crafting my little heart out whenever I can, and I can tell I'm headed for burn out. I have over 2 dozen different little baggies that are partially done. They're awaiting filling, ribbon and accents. I feel like I'll never get it done!

Of course, in between those I did do a quick goodie bag for a friend of mine from church, and I stayed up to the wee hours of the night last night making a card for my Grandma. It turned out so cute, I was determined to take a picture of it. But this morning when I woke up I forgot all about taking pictures of it. I filled in the inside, and mailed it! lol That's what I get for crafting instead of sleeping.

If this show turns out to be a success, I know I'll want to do it again next year. Just next year I'll have three months to work on it, instead of just three weeks!

What I've learned...

2008-11-16T20:53:00.005-06:00

Today has been a busy day filled with ups and downs. It could so easily make a long post of details, much like a checked off "to do" list. But you know, I think at the end of this day, I must stop and reflect on why it was the way it was. What was God trying to whisper in my ear today?

How about the fact that even though you know what's best for your children, they often want to learn their lesson on their own, which means doing it the hard way. The same could be said of those of us who are God's children. He knows what's best for us, and we know He knows what's best for us. But we are determined to give our way a shot, and finding out, often times the hard way, that we really should have tried His way.

Or how about the first person to volunteer to reprimand, usually isn't the one who should be doing it. Rather it should be the one who is most hesitant to speak. Being less "gung ho" about correcting someone gives you time to pray for the correct words so you can approach the person with love, rather than self righteousness. And when you pray for God's guidance regarding the way in which you should approach someone, He will always provide, if you are the one He wants to use. If you don't hear from Him, then pray some more and keep your mouth shut!

How about the best laid out plans need to be disposable. When God wants to interrupt your daily planner, let Him!

Then there's always the fact that you never know just what an impact you have on someones life. You may not hear from a person, and you think your deeds are unnoticed, or really don't amount to beans. When truthfully you've made a huge impact on their life, and they just don't know how to tell you.

And every now and then, the things your children do that worry you the most, are the exact same things you were guilty of yourself as a kid. And you must ponder... am I lecturing them, or me when I was that age? Let's face it, our kids are "just like us" and it drives us nuts!

To those whom I take for granted, I am sorry. I pray that I will listen closer to God's tiny whisper.

Can't Focus

2008-11-14T22:11:00.003-06:00

Today has been the polar opposite of yesterday. Yesterday started out cruddy but quickly transformed into a good day. Today started out fantastic, then quickly transformed into a cruddy day. I let Nahla stay outside last night since the cloud cover was supposed to keep the temps up. So I was able to sleep in till 7:30! Talk about fabulous! But as I woke I realized my whole body ached, and when I tried to talk with my kids, I had no voice! It came back to me as I got up and moving, but I sound like someone who's been smoking for 80 years!

This sinus thing is going around my family. Started with my youngest, has gone full circle up the ranks to me. Unfortunately though it seems my baby picked up another version of it, as she had a fever when she crawled into bed tonight. We just have to get past this this weekend!

I tried to craft today, I really did. When I think that the craft show is only 2 weeks away now, I want to go into panic mode! I have virtually nothing right now. I managed to make about six packets today but then I just quit. I did not like how they were turning out. I just can't concentrate and be creative when my body aches like it does.

The whole day was not wasted though. We got a boatload of laundry done today. And I do say "we". My kids rocked it for me today! They each folded their own, and separated out mine, helped me with the socks. (Have I ever mentioned that I HATE folding socks?) Given we haven't had a truly warm warm day in a while I bit the bullet and put up all the summer clothes so we have enough hangers for the long sleeve shirts. I do feel that today wasn't wasted, it just wasn't spent where I needed it! So now, I am on my way to bed. Unfortunately it's dipping into the mid 20s tonight, so Nahla is inside. Here's hoping she doesn't "retrieve" things out of the trash for me while I'm sleeping. It all leaves me asking, "Why, oh why did I get a dog again?" lol

Oh, I almost forgot. My daily thankful. I did forget yesterday. (I'm slapping my own hand.) Well, yesterday I was very thankful for the fabulous teachers that my kids have. They are fantastic women, and I am so thankful that God has provided an excellent school for my kids.

Today, I am thankful for $1.99 a gallon gas!! Here I thought it would never go below $2 again in my lifetime! Woo-hoo! Just in time for hubby to get home and do his long drives to work. The gas prices before he left was killing us. This will be a little easier to swallow.

A dog sorta day

2008-11-13T14:59:00.003-06:00

Today's been a longer, yet relaxed day. Although, it didn't start that way. This morning I woke to sounds of our puppy's paws on the kitchen floor. There was a lot of foot steps for so early in the morning. Little alarm bells went off in my head. So I got out of bed and what did I find? Clothes everywhere!! I have a laundry basket in the living room of clean but unfolded clothes. It's like a pit of socks that I just can't force myself to fold.

Well, at least they used to be, until my dog decided she would spread them out all over the floor. Boy, was I not happy. And boy did she find out. After grabbing a hold of her, spanking her hind quarters and dragging her out to the back yard I forced myself to take stock of the damage. Surprisingly they were wet from dog slobber, but there were no tears or holes. Go figure, she played with them, didn't tear them apart. Labs are listed as retrieving dogs, is that what she was doing?

Now I'll have to decide, do I lock her up in her Kennel where she's guaranteed to wake me up super early, or do I hide the basket of clothes and take my chances with her retrieving something else?

Needless to say, I wasn't in the bests of moods. Thankfully I got a great e-mail from my friend which boosted my spirits. The morning hours were then spent crafting. Nothing to show for my efforts yet, but I hope to complete them tomorrow. This afternoon I had Parent - Teacher conferences to go to. Thankfully they went well. Johnathan is finally going up a level in reading class. He had started in the higher class, but because of his behavior, they moved him down. Though he still struggles with his behavior, he has improved enough they want to put him back up. I'm worried that the change in teachers and the change in routines is going to stir up some problems, but I'm hopeful that having work that isn't a cakewalk for him will help as well. The boy acts up when he's bored, so this just might help!

My older two have improved a lot since first getting there. They had big adjustments to make from having only been homeschooled to now being in public school. I adore my kids' teachers. They're all fantastic ladies.

This evening we have gymnastics class and Taekwondo. I'm planning on taking the kids out to a new fast food place that just opened up; Freddy's Steakburgers and Frozen Custard. I've never heard of it before, I hear it's just a tad expensive, but they deserve it!

One of those days...

2008-11-12T16:58:00.003-06:00

Today is turning out to be one of those days. It seems like nothing I do comes out right. I've wasted so much time today attempting to get things accomplished and yet at the end of it all, absolutely nothing was accomplished. Add to it the fact I'm sick, and some really harsh words spoken by a child, I can't wait to climb in bed. First I have to head out to the church. If I hadn't promised I'd help with the packing of Operation Christmas Child boxes I wouldn't be going. I'm glad I am though. Even when all I want to do is crawl under a rock, getting myself to church around those who love God and love me helps to lift my spirits. Even if there are a bunch of loud kids running around.

My friend has gotten in the habit of posting what she is thankful for everyday. I think I need to start doing this! Force your mind to dwell on the positives and your bound to lift your mood a little. Today I'm so thankful for the years God gave me with my kids at home. Yesterday during Taekwondo, the leader revealed the new weapon that they're going to start training with in January. It's basically a glorified, shiny plastic sword. All the kids oohed and awed over it. Someone asked how much it is... "It's usually $50. But these two weeks it's on sale for $40." My jaw dropped. Holy cow! He then mentioned that you could train with the brown stick instead.

When we got home and I was tucking my kids in for the night, I asked my son what he thought about it. Of course he thought it was really cool. I asked if he had heard how much it costs. He hadn't. When I told him, I followed up with, "If you get that for Christmas, I'm afraid that's going to have to be your main gift." His reply? "Okay, I want the stick then." With no pouty face, no big bottom lip, no hint of sadness in his voice. I was floored. I asked him several times, "Really?" I asked him how he can say that so calmly. "Because I don't care what other people have. I don't want what they have." I was floored. This coming from my seven year old son. I just have to get it for him now. He totally deserves it.

So yeah, I'm thankful for my son, and the time God's given me with them. Here I thought nothing was sinking in!

Organizing

2008-11-12T08:40:00.002-06:00

I've decided to split my blog up a little bit. I've created a new one just for showcasing the crafty things I do. I hope in the future I can use this as a means to compliment my business site. Not that I'll be selling things on it, but it'll be more of a "see what I did with this" type of thing. I spent last night moving most of my crafty posts from here over to there. This way folks that are interested in that type of stuff can browse a blog that doesn't have a lot of my personal reflections and stories on it.

I'm still trying to get things organized, it'll be a work in progress. Hope you don't mind Jenni, I like the background on your blog so much I got mine from the same site. I'm such a copy cat!

Anyhow the new one is Cards 'N Things. And I posted the two cards I made yesterday. :)

Happy Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T15:04:00.001-06:00

You know, growing up as a kid, I heard about Veteran’s Day. I knew what it was about, but I never really did truly appreciate it. I’m 99% certain that’s true for all kids. It’s just not something you think about in your days of youth. I’m afraid to say that I feel the same is true for a lot of adults in this country too. You can’t truly appreciate what a veteran, or active military member does unless it’s touched your life somehow. I mean, I’m thankful for police and firefighters. I think they are true heroes, often unsung. But I can’t truly appreciate what it is they do. Put their life on the line every day.

The same was true of me, even as a military wife, until this war on terror started. When I married my husband back in ’95, the only war I knowingly lived through was Desert Storm. And that was pretty much short and sweet. I was in high school during that war, I was more concerned about the drama going on with my friends than some war that was in another country. I was more into 90210 than watching the nightly news. The first six years of our marriage was during peace time. There were a couple two or three month exercises in the field. All really no big deal. Then 9-11 happened. That’s the beginning of my getting to truly appreciate Veterans and what they’ve done for us.

My kids’ school had an hour long Veteran’s Day ceremony today. I wish the school district I grew up in would have tried to actually teach us the importance of this day. Not that I can guarantee I would have listened if they had, but who knows, maybe I would have. The local VA chapter came to the school, carried the flags and opened the ceremony. Not ten minutes into the thing I had my first opportunity to fight tears. A gentleman placed a black POW cover on an empty chair in the front, the speaker explaining that the gentleman doing so was himself a POW of Vietnam. I lost the fight with the tear that formed in my eye. The things that man and his family had to endure, and all those that never return home. What can I say, it got to me.

The high school’s marching band was there, among other songs they played the theme songs for the five branches of the military. I leaned into my daughters’ ear during the Marine Corps song. “If Daddy were here he’d be singing the words.” She smiled. Her daddy would drive me absolutely nuts walking around the house singing that song. Later I found out they have been teaching the kids those songs. I think my husband has a singing partner in Kirsten now. They both sing off key so it’ll be beautiful.

They asked the students of the school to stand if they have a relative that is serving or has served, I was shocked when somewhere around 90% of the kids stood. Granted, most of those were probably grandkids of military members, but still. A list of names was called out of people that were present who have served, each stood and were applauded. Some that stick out in my memory, one of the last survivors of Perl Harbor, WWII vet, and a nurse who served in the Nurse’s Corp. They called my husband’s name. My kids got to stand up for him. Again, I had to fight the tears.
My husband and I don’t always agree on things, my nose would grow if I said we’ve had more good years together than bad. But I’m ready for him to be home. And I’m proud of him. And I’m proud of my kids. And I pray that I do a better job of teaching my kids how important it is to be truly thankful for those who have served and die for our country, than I was taught as a child. My job may be easy, as their lives have been deeply touched and torn by this war.

Oh, before I forget. Our town ordered some banners to go on the light poles of the town’s main street. There’s only four flags, but on one side they say something like “St. George salutes those who serve our country.” (Not an exact quote, I'm going from memory.) And the other sides have names of people who live here that have served, or are currently serving.

That’s my hubby, second one down. Say what you may about hick town St. George, who’s only businesses in city limits is a bar and a barber shop. I’m proud to live here.

The jury is out...

2008-11-10T10:45:00.005-06:00

Last night I awoke to the sounds of my younger son struggling to breathe. There's no hint of a fever, but he's congested so thick it isn't funny. So, he got to stay home today. When my kids stay home sick from school they have to lay down all day. And take a nap. Come lunch time I'll run down to the school and pick up his school work for him to do. I'm just so very thankful that we don't have to go anywhere today!

So, in between pouring drink refills, I've been working on my next craft. I'm not so sure I like the took of this one. There's something that just doesn't do it for me, but I can't think of any other way to finish it. It's supposed to be a paper Christmas Tree.

I swear it's not really that crooked, I just took a tilted picture.

Oh, to answer the question you left in comments Jenni... It's the Cricut Machine by Provo Craft. I have secret hopes for an Expression one day, which uses the same cartridges but can make images twice as big. One day, one day. :)

Sweet Science...

2008-11-08T14:40:00.005-06:00

Well, no crafting yet today, instead the kids and I have worked on cleaning up the house (yet AGAIN) and doing their science projects. They've been learning about the scientific process of doing experiments, and they were to come up with their own to do at home.

My daughter (the smart one) decided she would compare lemons and oranges to see which has more juice. Yeah, so it seems like a no brainer, but it's the sort of blonde idea she comes up with.

I was surprised that her arm held up through the juicing of six fruits (3 lemons + 3 oranges). The favorite part for her, was when it was all done...

I found out that you have to add a whole lot of sugar to make lemon juice drinkable!

As for my son... I swear, he can't leave his stomach out of anything! Including science! His project... finding out which has more candies in it, a bag of Skittles or a bag of M&Ms. I know... not very scientific. But he's able to do the scientific process with it, so the teacher said it counts. (I know you're dying to know... over all M&Ms had more, but not by much.)

So yeah, you can bet they're anxious to eat those six bags of goodies!

Before all the "science" activity going on, we were cleaning up the house once again. When I found out that hubby is NOT going to be home for Thanksgiving I felt that there's no reason to celebrate. I mean, it's just me and my kids, why cook a gigantic meal? You cook for hours making a ton of food that takes a whole fifteen minutes to sit and eat then you get the hour plus of cleaning to do. I wanted to just skip Thanksgiving all together.

But as I took stock of how things are, this morning I decided to stop being a party pooper and I brought out my fall decorations. I'm glad I did. Sitting in a cluttered house really does put a damper on your spirit. With the pretty fall items around me I'm in the mood to cook and just accomplish general household stuff. Let's see if that hold's out till Thanksgiving. For some reason I highly doubt it!

On my way to bed...

2008-11-07T22:41:00.005-06:00

Oye... I am one tired mommy. This morning was spent at the bank and out to a few stores. Besides the necessities for feeding four kids I was looking for things to get my craft show making self in gear. By time we got home it was after lunch time, so I took care of my kiddos and got to work.

My mindset is I want to make a variety of things, but it all has to come back to my Cricut machine. That way if someone asks how I do it, I'll have the crack in the door to stick my foot through. Not to mention the stalls have electricity, so I'll probably bring my machine with me. That way I can work on things when I sit and am bored, but also it wouldn't hurt to have it out in the open.

Anyway, I decided to start with something simple and easy. This show is all about homemade holidays, so I'm focusing on inexpensive gifts and home decor. That way whatever doesn't sell will make nice little gifts for teachers and what have you. The Christmas Clips posted by Teza over at Christmas Cards All Year 'Round seemed like the perfect little simple thing to get myself started.

Ha ha... was I fooled. While the project itself is really super simple, I had to open a brand new Christmas Cartridge for my cricut and it took me a while to figure that thing out. Not that it gave me problems, but that I was making one of something in several sizes to get the right fit! That's okay though, because I'm collecting the extras I made and they'll be put to good use later.

Anyhow, I'm going to market these as photo holders. For the show I'll actually print out a picture from Christmas past... but for this, I just grabbed the first photo I could find.

I absolutely love these little snowflakes. I'm definitely going to have to play around with them to see what works of art I can create. Here's a close up, just because I want to. :)

I did a few in the more traditional color schemes of Green and Red. Man... getting all those itty pieces of snow (white paper) on their right took a lot of time. I am just so thankful that I have nails, or it would have been impossible. I have sticky fingertips from that!

And last but not least, some pointsettas. These were the very first ones I did. I'm not entirely happy with all of them. As you can see I ran out of ribbon and I will need to get some more!

Anyhow, so these will most likely be my simplest items. I'm hoping to get a paper tree made tomorrow. After I spend the morning on chores and getting all the kids school work done, and I HAVE to find the Sunday School book. I can't find it, and I need to teach on Sunday! Oye... I'm in trouble. lol

Jenni... I so totally owe you an e-mail, as long as to a few other as well. I will be working on that in the morning. For now it is after 11pm. I'm going to take the dog out to pee and then I'm crawling in bed!

Out of my mind

2008-11-06T18:56:00.002-06:00

Yup, I must be out of my mind! I found out there is a craft show three weeks from Saturday in Manhattan. While I can't sell my products, I could sell items I make from my products. It's a good potential opportunity to get my business name out there. The only down side is I now have a ton of crafting to do. By time December comes I will be all crafted out!

I forsee lots of pictures will hit this blog in the coming weeks. Part of me wants to start tonight, but I am so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open. I just might be going to bed the same time as my kids do!

Tearing people apart

2008-11-06T12:41:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the new sprint commercial where firefighters are in charge of the government? If not, check it out here. It really is a great commerical.

If only life was that simple eh? I had told myself the best idea when it came to politics and my blog was to keep them separate! Everywhere I look I see politics causing problems between people. It seems like politics and religion are the two topics that are guaranteed to cause problems. While I will speak openly about my beliefs and my faith, I'm not so quick to do so when it comes to politics. Why? Cause I believe my faith is the truth. The truth that has the power to save people from hell. I know there are many in this world that would call me closed minded, old fashioned but I don't care what they think of me. The world rejected my Savior, why would I expect to be treated any differently?

But when it comes to politics and who is the best person for various jobs, I do not think there is a "truth". I have my opinions, my neighbors have theirs, the media has their own. Politics is something that I've always taken the "agree to disagree" high road. And I don't want to descend from that in this post. But as I'm up late tonight, thanks to my poor baby girl having a fever, I'm watching the news, and I'm just troubled. Since I haven't been able to talk with my husband for some time, I have no one to discuss it with. So, I'm turning to this. It's my only option other than keeping it all bottled up in myself.

As for the title of my post... I do, I see politics tearing friends apart. I found myself correcting people. Obama is not a Muslim, Obama is not the anti-christ. And the fact that people scoffed at me over stating the facts is telling. Why were people so scared of him that they resorted to making lies to attack him? All that does is make the other side look cowardly, devious and desperate. It does more harm to them than to the candidate they were hoping to damage.

I will say upfront that last night CNN was my channel of choice for election coverage. I see NBC as far too left, and Fox as a bit right. I do think that CNN tilts to the left, but overall they're fair. Their fancy hologram reporting was a bit over the top for me, the money spent on all that fancy show off technology could have been used for far better causes, but ehh, what ya gonna do about that?

I was intrigued last night, as they broke down the information they gathered from exit polls. Since I can't seem to find it on the CNN website today, I'll do my best to pull it from memory. Over 60% of the people that said race was a major factor in their choice voted for Obama. I think that is wrong. Just like the near 50% of people that voted against him because of his race is wrong. I am by no means a racist, four years ago I wished that Collin Powell would put his bid in for the presidency. But to vote for or against someone because of the color of their skin. That's just wrong. I understand and agree that a major turning point happened in this country, and quite frankly I'm glad that it did happen. I just wish no part of it would have been based on such superficial reasons.

On the flip side, a lot of people voted against McCain because of his age. While I don't agree with that, I think it is legitimate. I mean, lets face the facts, I think John McCain is a hero of this country, I feel his image was drug through the mud and distorted, both by the other side, and his own campaign. But he is no spring chicken, and having Palin as the president in waiting... that just doesn't jive. While I admire Palin and all she stands for. Every person is made to fullfill a role in this world, I just don't think the President is one she was created for at this time of her journey, she just didn't have the knowledge or experience for it.

I admit, as I watched John McCain give his speech last night, I was deeply moved. He is a man of integrity all the way. When his supporters booed Obama, he stopped them. The clincher of the night was when he blamed the failure of his campaign on himself. That was sad to me. I don't want him to ever see himself as a failure. No, he's not perfect, no one on this planet is, but that man has given more to this country than most people can even dream of.

So now that Obama is our president elect, I'm worried for him. So many people have put him on this pedestal that is ridiculously high. He has been handed one of the worst situations our country has ever been in, and a ton of people are looking to him to solve all of our problems. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a president in recent history that has kept many of the promises they made while running for the office. Many people really believe he is different, they expect him to deliver. For that, I have to say good luck. Good luck Obama, you're going to need it!

I saw a video clip where a preacher was basically calling Obama the messiah for today. A different person compared him to Jesus, at the same time comparing Palin to Pilate. Never have I heard Obama put himself there, but others have. Others are looking to him to save this country. That's a very large task for anyone. Even though he has a majority of the house and the senate on his side, which is guaranteed to make things a bit easier on him, the problems this country currently faces have no easy fix.

I'm curious, once he gets all those super secret briefings, will his stance on speedy withdrawal from Iraq change? Or is he going to stay true to his promises of withdrawing all troops sometime in 2010? Will he still dump a ton of money into health care, and schools while not increasing taxes? Where's that money going to come from? I just don't see how he can keep all those promises. And honestly why should we expect him to? All other presidents in our life time have not kept their promises, why should he? Because his followers believe whole heartily that he is the answer to all of our problems.

I will be interested to see how it is received if he can not deliver all he promised. Will the media kindly forget the promises, as they did when he said he would not accept public funding but then did anyway? Or will they tear him apart over every little weakness as they do President Bush? I have my own opinion, but I will wait to see.

Now I will do as my Father has commanded. Romans 13:1 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." There's a reason why Obama is having his moment to shine. No one can look at his journey to the White House and call it ordinary. The world is watching, we shall see what he does.

So now that I've unloaded all that was on my chest, I don't plan on posting anymore political blurbs. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, that was definitely not my intentions. I just needed to share some of my thoughts. I promise, once my hubby is home (some time around Dec. 10th I've learned tonight) ya'll won't be subjected to it as much. :)

Out of breath...

2008-11-05T22:15:00.000-06:00

I am a bit out of breath. Literally. Today has been a whirlwind, and I am definitely looking forward to a smoother tomorrow. My day started off badly, I couldn't find the dog's shot records, so as I looked for it I was wishing my mom a happy birthday. Head off to the vet's, drop the dog off back home and head out to a friends house to brief him and the pastor so he can take over the admin stuff at church. Come home for half an hour before getting my youngest from school, help him with his homework, go back and get my other two. Head out to Pizza Hut so they could use their book it coupons, drive through a huge storm out to base to deliver a title, then head to trainin on base. Get home, it's already 9pm. I feel like today was so packed full of stuff, if it weren't for my headache I'd fall asleep instantly. Thankfully tomorrow's highlights are dishes, laundry, prepping my Sunday School lesson and eating lunch with my kids at school. I am looking forward to it!

The meeting on base tonight was interesting. I am struggling to not be so selfish. My hubby will be one of the last ones home since he's training their replacements. They're expecting the majority of hubby's company home no later than the 15th of this month. The rear d shared that they'll have 5 days of reintergration stuff, after that they're pretty much going to have nothing to do until their block leave. So here, my husband isn't coming home till after the 6th of December, he misses a tiny bit of block leave. It just feels that those leaving now are getting an extra month of leave. I should be happy for them, but I'm jealous! I know envy is a sin, but it's so hard to not feel like you're getting the short end of the stick.

I was surprised to hear that the guys that came back about three weeks ago, they've already had a drunk driving arrest, sexual assault and something else. To sit and listen to other wives share their frustrations and how they pretty much don't want their husband's home. It's just sad. These are real people, real lives, and they're so screwed up. I'm so thankful I know Jesus. He's the only reason I'm okay, and I don't know how people do it without him!

Everyone is doin it...

2008-11-04T09:57:00.004-06:00

Well, at least everyone should be doin it. Voting that is. I headed down this morning, it was my first time to ever actually stand in line. In the past I always voted via absentee ballot thanks to being part of the military. This year though when going through my separation that I was sure was going to happen, I decided to become a Kansas Resident, so this year I got to stand in line. Thankfully our town is small, and even with all the surrounding area having the same polling place I was in and out in just under an hour. Not too shabby. I do have to say I'm glad it's done. This year is unlike any other, and I really feel that this election fits into the end of times. I love this country, but I believe it's passed it's golden days. Things are happening, times are changing, and my Savior is coming back soon.

The older gentleman next to me in line said he feels this is going to be a waste of his time. He's sure his man isn't going to win. I shared my philosophy on voting. If you vote, and your man does not win, then you have the right to complain in the future. If you didn't vote, then you have no right to complain. I remember four years ago, it seemed the whole world was certain Bush wasn't going to get a second term. However he did. I felt then, those that hated him, but didn't bother to actually vote, they couldn't complain. They had their chance and didn't take it.

I have a feeling though, this time around, I'll be the one who bought her free to complain card. lol Either way my God is big and I place my trust in my God, not my president.

A-OK

2008-11-01T17:01:00.002-05:00

Wow... it's been near a week since my last post. I swear I'm not hiding! Things have just been busy, busy, busy. I'm trying to get ready to pass along the administrative duties to someone else. In doing so Pastor asked for me to make some changes and it's all just kind of spiraled out of control. Things are a mess, and I hate to pass on a mess, but I just can't keep this up!

Today I selfishly spent the day creating. Unfortunately I can't post pictures of any of what I created even though I'm absolutely tickled pink over them. The baby announcements for my friend turned out great, I hope you love them Jenni! Made a birthday card for my mom, and a card to go in my friend's package. I want all of them to be a surprise to their recipients and they each visit my blog, so no pics are to be posted.

We spent last night at the mall. Johnathan participated in the yearly "Board Breaks for a Cure". The ATA classes try to raise donations for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation by breaking 1000 boards in under an hour. This year they did it in less than 40 minutes. I took some video and wanted to post it, but I can't get Windows Movie Maker to work correctly. I'll keep working on it, eventually something has to go right for me! Johnathan enjoyed it, and if anyone doubted the boards were real, there were enough "Oww!!"s proclaimed and bags of ice being passed around to prove they were real. lol It was a good time though.

I'm afraid I'm still gonna be a little hard to get a hold of till the end of this week. Monday I'm dedicating to the church books. Tuesday is the usual taking Caitlin to class, but also need to go wait in line to vote. Wednesday I'll be with the pastor and the guy who's taking over my admin duties. Thursday will be busy with errands, hopefully Friday I'll be able to breathe!

At least staying busy helps the days to fly by. I just hate feeling like I'm never caught up.

mia

2008-10-27T17:30:00.003-05:00

A big ol' "Sorry!" to those who have been waiting for an e-mail from me. I don't know what's goin' on with me! Okay, so I kinda do. I just can't get myself out of it. Saturday was a busy day of working around the house. I loaded up all the left over garage sale stuff that's been in my garage for over a month into my van. Now at least I can fit a vehicle in there again. The van full of stuff now sits in the garage waiting for me to haul it down to the Salvation army tomorrow.

Yesterday was a good but awkward day. The other two families with kids in my class didn't come. So Sunday School consisted of just my four children. It was kind of weird. The pastor that teaches on Sunday night is sick with bronchitis, so he didn't make the hour plus drive to come teach Sunday night, so I didn't get fed Sunday night either. Our pastor planned a movie night, but I couldn't bring myself to drive all the way out there for a movie when I'd rather just spend downtime with my kids at home. Sunday afternoon we walked to the school and played on the playground. My youngest has been pining for a chance to play on the new equipment.

That night my heart broke. My youngest has a stuffed unicorn that she got from the hospital when I took her in for an x-ray, shortly after we moved here. It is her most favorite stuffed animal in the whole wide world. Well, I allowed her to bring it to church with her, and unfortunately she left it there. This naturally was discovered as she was climbing in bed for the night. The big brown eyes with tears swelling up in them and quivering bottom lip did me in. It didn't help that this was just after she had talked all about how she misses daddy and how he would read night-night stories to her. She was trying to be a big girl, holding back her tears as she realized unicorn was alone at church. Man, talk about heart wrenching!! I dashed into my room, and got a stuffed animal off the top of our wardrobe. It's stuffing is similar to her unicorn, her daddy won it for me at an amusement park in Germany. I offered it to her and after finding out it was from her daddy she took it. She thanked me and said it reminded her a little of her unicorn. My poor four year old! I'm headed to the church tomorrow, it'll be a happy reunion for her!

Today I pretty much wasted. I found out that abc has season 2 episodes of Kyle XY on the web to watch for free and I got hooked on it. I haven't been hooked on a TV show in a very long time. At least this way I had very limited commercials. lol I got a phone call today though that really bothered me. It's hard when there are rifts in family. It's even harder when you feel like you have to protect yourself from them. I hope my children never feel like that. But I refuse to feel guilty. I have a responsibility to protect my children from harmful people, even if that person is family, and especially since they refuse to acknowledge just how toxic they are.

Anyhow, so I admit, I've been kind of mopey lately. I'm fourteen months into a fifteen month deployment. God is so big, and so grand, he's used this experience to fix my marriage. But I'm not handling this last month as well as everyone thinks I am. I'm not like hiding out in a dark room type of thing, my Lord is my strength and the house still functions. I just think I'm taking a bit too much pity time. But it's comfortable here.

Tomorrow is going to be super busy. I have Caitlin's speech class, story time, meeting with the pastor, taekwando, bible study, errands, the list goes on and on. Add on top of that a seven year old boy who is struggling through school, and I can't figure out how to help him, a nine year old daughter who can't get enough hugs and feels alone, and a ten year old son that's been acting out against those that love him most, probably because of his Dad's absence. I don't know, maybe I have a decent enough reason to waste an entire day watching sci-fi stuff on my laptop?

Getting better

2008-10-24T10:17:00.008-05:00

I am so completely shocked with myself right now. After I got the kids off to school this morning, instead of going about my usual chores and business I climbed back in bed. That is so not like me. I stayed there for about three hours! That also is so not like me! I've never done that before, but now that I have I feel like myself again. And I think I understand why I've been slowly getting back into that funk that totally took over yesterday. I'm the type of person that needs a solid eight hours sleep. I can function well enough off of seven, but less than that and I am not at my best. Ever since we got our dog over a month ago I've been averaging five to six hours a night. I think it's been taking it's toll on me, and I just don't have the energy anymore. I really should be getting in bed earlier than I do, but I just don't want to. With hubby deployed I find myself wanting to just stay up so late that I literally pass out with the TV on. It's not healthy, but I just can't force myself to go to bed at 10pm. Stupid emotions... why do I have to let them rule?

So, I'm getting a late start to this day, but hopefully I'll get more done around here!

Last night was my kids' concert at school. It was folk songs across America. I love living in this little town! (Have I mentioned that before?) :p The music teacher mentioned at the beginning that she strives to have an important role for each and every kid, and as far as I can tell she accomplished it. There were approx. seven songs and throughout them different kids came and sang solos or with one or two other kids, or played the big bass xylophones. Michael got to keep beat during Polly Wolly Doodle, which we found out, has roots here in St. George! Kirsten sang a verse at the mic on Clementine. Unfortunately I didn't get the best of pictures. They were too far away and the lighting wasn't so great that my camera did a less than stellar job of capturing moments. But they had fun and they did a good job. I caught some of the last song on video, I wish I had caught it from the beginning. Can you tell what song it is?

During one part I zoom out and you can see near all the kids. That's all of third and fourth grade, not quite a third of the entire school. Next year, all four of my kids will invade it! Kindergarten, second, fourth and fifth grade! lol Watch out St. George Elementary!

Nada...

2008-10-23T12:56:00.003-05:00

Nothing, nada, zilch, zero, that's how much stuff I've gotten done today. I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to get motivated. I'm not depressed, I just have no energy and no drive to do anything. Maybe staying up past one in the morning did me in. My mom wants me to get my thyroid checked since problems with that run in the family. Maybe it's my lack of exercise lately. What ever it is, it has me in a funk. Despite having a nifty schedule that should be keeping me on task, I just want to lay on the couch. I did go to the school and eat lunch with my kids. In a few hours I'll be picking them up, dashing to Kirsten's gymnastics, grabbing some food to eat and getting back to the school. Johnathan is missing Taekwando today because Michael and Kirsten have a concert they're in at the school. They have to dress up prairie style. Michael is so nervous because he gets to play the Xylophone and he hasn't quite mastered it. Before going to school, they keep telling me "make sure you bring your camera mom"! So they're excited.

In other news... I got an e-mail from a woman that was a dear friend of mine back in highschool. Her hubby is in the Army and they're expecting to be moved to the same base my hubby is stationed at this summer. I'm excited to see her, meet her hubby and two boys. People change a lot in life, I'm not the same person I was back in highschool, but it'll be neat to catch up with her.

Hubby sent me good news via e-mail. During their deployment award ceremony Sgt. Major told him he wants hubby heading up the Tactical Airspace Integration System (TAIS) team when they return. This is huge and such a sign of God's hands at work. Thanks to a couple different people in charge at different times, hubby had pretty much been dismissed as a looser, having no future in the Army. Now he's finally being recognized for what he does. I know it'll make a welcomed change for him. Maybe now he'll be happier in his career. Before that ever happened though, he had to get right with God for that to happen. I'm just so glad to see Him work, He is a great God.

Hmm... lets see... there was something else that I can't remember right now. Guess my brain is on vacation too!

It's coming...

2008-10-21T21:18:00.002-05:00

Today has been a frantic day. Not in the chaotic sense of the word, as I'm glad I've gotten a bit more organized with my tasks lately. But it's been busy busy busy. Tuesday morning is my youngest's speech class, so I spend near an hour bringing the kids to school, and various things. Then we head out to do errands. I had to bring my new wedding ring to the jeweler for it's six month check up. Gosh that sounds really goofy, but I have to bring it in to keep it's warranty in tact. Anyhow, they cleaned it, and wow it's shiny. Who knew it had gotten so dirty!

Anyhow, then it was off to the library for story time for my youngest. Then to hobby lobby for searching for supplies. I couldn't find anything that was a clincher, so I got one of everything and figured this way I could play around with them at home and come up with something then go get enough supplies to do all of my project. Naturally that took waaaaay too long. lol

Then off to walmart for the typical items needed all the time. I got home a good hour later than what I had planned, so there was little time before driving to the school and picking up the kids since it was pouring rain. We were home less than two hours before I headed out with my youngest two, leaving the older two at home. We had taekwando and women's bible study, I didn't get home till 9pm. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I feel like I don't get to see my kids. I got to see them a whole two hours today. It's what I don't like about public school, the kids spend more and more time away from family, it's only a matter of time before the family bond isn't so strong. This is one of the reasons I've struggled lately with all my church responsibilities. I took on half of the admin, then a couple months later the sunday school got added on, then a couple months later I got the rest of the admin added. I've been so buried down with extra activities when my kids don't have school, I'm busy with church stuff. Yes, we are to put our God first, but it goes, God, family, church. I can't be the jack of all trades, I'm practically a single mom right now, I can't sacrifice my kids for the church.

So, I prayed, and Sunday I told our pastor that I need to pass on the admin duties to someone else by the end of the month. If I had it my way, I'd be passing on the Sunday School responsibility, but God has made it obvious that wasn't what he wanted. Today I found out that someone else has stepped up to take over the admin, and I'm sooooo looking forward to it. The next two weeks are going to be laden with extra duties as I need to train the new person in all the ins and outs of the paperwork and financial aspects of it, but once it's done, I will feel like I am getting my priorities in line. Just in time for the hubby to come home. :)

Wow... lookie there, I've gone on and on. I'm not even going to go back through and spell check it... too much to do, too little time. So I'm just going to finish with, God is sooooooooooooooooooo good!

Bye bye weekend

2008-10-20T08:37:00.004-05:00

*sigh* The weekend is over and it's back to the week. I feel so drained that I am so tempted to say adios to the schedule I made for myself. But the boys' clothes hampers are overflowing, so is the sink with dishes, so I do have to get some work done today. I'm thankful we don't have to go anywhere after school today.

Saturday was good. We tried something a little different than usual. We worked for an hour cleaning up the house, then we took an hour break. Then we worked for an hour in the garage organizing the leftovers from our garage sale so I can hopefully get rid of it easier, then took an hour break. After lunch we went outside and worked for an hour raking leaves, then... well, you get the idea. Work, break, work, break. It actually worked very well for my kids. Since their work was interrupted by play time I got less attitude from them, and it worked well. Saturday seemed really long for me.

Then yesterday a lady at church that I really felt was a friend of mine dropped a bomb on me. She picked up her son from class and told me they would not be returning. She didn't want to talk about it, but they were leaving and not coming back. My jaw sort of dropped. I wanted to ask her why, I could tell she was hurt about something, but if someone tells you they don't want to talk about it, what are you to do? I'm not a pushy person, I am more than happy to listen if someone is willing to talk, but if they don't want to talk, then I'm not going to pressure them. It was the suddenness of it that really shocked me. There had not been any hinting to dissatisfaction, in all the times we talked, even looking back with hindsight I didn't see any hints to something boiling underneath the surface. For someone to just up and leave without talking about it is hard to accept.

And not to sound selfish, but she was the pre-school teacher. So we have one week to figure out what we're going to do. It looks right now like I'll be taking both classes. Thankfully we're small enough, I can do that, but if we get a visitor with little ones, I won't be able to do that on my own. You can't effectively teach six 9-11 year olds while trying to keep a couple babies happy while they're going through separation anxiety.

Anyhow, it just really brought me to my knees in praying that God will save this church. There's so much turmoil, and it really feels like we're under attack of the evil one. He despises churches that teach the word of God, and he's apparently not very happy with us right now.

I also spent a good amount of time on the phone yesterday with family in Arizona. My (husband's) grandpa's funeral service was Saturday. It was neat to hear of the people that came to pay their respects. The man that hired him back in 1950 something was there, along with old friends he worked with, and even his hearing aid guy came. The church has really surrounded my (husband's) grandma and has been bringing her food and checking on her. She has her sister with her, along with her sister in-law. So God has been good and answered/is answering prayers to surround her with love. I got to talk to her, and she's doing good given the circumstances. The church recorded the service and we'll be getting a cop of it. One of my father in-laws friends from his church made a picture slide show to celebrate his life. And my father in-law who is a worship leader sang a song for his dad. I know that had to be a hard thing for him to do.

Wow... I've rambled and rambled. I guess I'm making up for my relative quietness lately. I need to find the will power to actually do my household chores today. Cause tomorrow I'm going shopping for supplies for baby girl announcements and I want all my work done today so I can spend time creating tomorrow!!

Turn it back on... please!!

2008-10-17T16:50:00.003-05:00

I know we are not machines, but I swear that someone somehow turned my brain off today. I am just so out of it!! Earlier today I tried to create a card. I stared at the stamps, rummaged through my papers, and shifted things around. And shifted, and shifted. Just nothing came from me, nothing at all. Despite having my nestabilities now, which are so cool!! But nothing came to me. So I wasted an entire hour with that.

Then while cooking dinner once again my brain was not turned on. I had to put the dish in the oven so the crust could get browned. I removed it and about five minutes later I poured the egg filling over it and proceeded to grab a hold of it with my bare hands. Completely forgetting that just five minutes ago it sat in a 325* oven. My poor finger tips are so sore!

So anyhow, we're resuming family game night tonight. It used to be a weekly happening, somewhere along the way it got put aside because of my lack of patience. With my brain not working my kids are assured to win!

I'm here...

2008-10-16T08:47:00.007-05:00

I'm here... and there... and everywhere. *phew* What can I say except for I feel like I'm split in a hundred different directions. I feel like there's not enough hours in the day to do what I want, but when I honestly backtrack over how I spend my days, there's a lot of time that's not so productive. I'm just so unorganized, so yesterday I sat down and made a schedule for myself. Trying to fit in time for chores, church duties and quality family time, it's quite a juggle. But hopefully this will be a good launching pad to get my time better spent, for I must admit, I'm a procrastinator and really don't get nearly enough work done. This will also help me to make a decision regarding cutting out a responsibility on more facts and less feelings. After all, if there's one thing I know about me for sure, it's that I can be rather emotional and make rash decisions based on those emotions.

Anyhow... yesterday Johnathan tested for his camo belt. That boy is so psyched up. He's thrilled that now he'll get to participate in sparring and weapons training. I'm riding on the coat tails of that excitement as long as I can and trying to use it to influence his behavior at school. Today is his show and tell day at school so he brought all four of his belts to show off.

Unfortunately two of the pieces of sparring gear that I bought used are too big for him. So the good news is he'll grow into them and use them later if he sticks with it, bad news is, I need to find proper sized gear super quick. This stuff is so expensive!!

Today I get to watch my daughter's gymnastics for the first time since the gym reopened after the tornado. Usually I have to drop her off and run to something else. I'm really looking forward to that and just wish I could be more involved with her. *sigh* Yeah, some responsibility needs to go, cause my kids are growing fast, and they are not getting the attention and time that they deserve.

Rainy day...

2008-10-13T06:23:00.002-05:00

I'm up early this morning. Usually Nahla wakes me about 6am, I let her outside to potty, then I come back in and lay on the couch, drifting off to sleep till 7. I couldn't this morning though, I feel tired, that's for sure, but my mind won't be quiet, so I'm up instead.

It's raining outside, a perfect match for what's going to happen in our family today. My prayers are with my grandmother, my father in-law and his brother, and my brother in-law. They're all going to be there at the hospital (hopefully) to say good bye to Grandpa as he passes today. I've been praying simply for comfort, and His peace, which passes all understanding.

Today the kids and I are going to drive up to Topeka to go shopping at Sams club. It's nice to have a three day weekend. (Thank you Columbus!!) The two days is just so short I could never get everything done AND spend quality time with the kids. It's just hard to get it all done.

14 cards, oh my!

2008-10-12T15:06:00.005-05:00

Today's kind of mellow. I have been having a really hard time focusing lately because of the events going on in my family. Today I had planned that the sunday school kids would watch a veggie tales movie just because I wasn't at my best. The teacher of the preschoolers and I ended up combining classes, and it was just amazing how God had prepared her to provide for my kids as well. God is really good!!

There are some other things going on at church that I find just really bothersome. I feel torn and lost, I wish I knew what God has in mind for me and my family. One day we'll find out. God provides a light to our feet, not a spotlight to show us the whole journey. One step at a time!

((Portions of this post have been relocated to here.

For my Grandma

2008-10-11T21:07:00.004-05:00

This post has been relocated to here.

Generations

2008-10-11T15:41:00.003-05:00

This picture was taken over a year ago, right before my husband deployed to Iraq. It's four generations of boys. From my own two sons, their dad and his brother, their dad, and his dad. Four generations of men/future men. Soon to be no more. The oldest there, my husband's grandpa, the man he's named after, will soon leave us. He went into the hospital about a week ago, with stomach pains that have been bothering him. One thing led to another, led to another, led to another. And now he lays in the hospital kept alive only by machines. Today the family that lives there is meeting to decide when to pull the plug. Shine, (his nick name) had always made it very clear that he never wanted to be kept alive artificially. When it was his time to go, he wanted to go.

Death is one of those things you hear about all the time. You can't watch the news without seeing some headline of another person meeting their end. It's so easy to brush it aside, to not let it actually penetrate us, or our emotions. It's almost as if we've been inoculated with it. Never mind all the dramas on tv, some nearly glorifying death. But it's different when it hits your own family. Though this man is technically my husband's grandfather, I always refer to him as my own. I've grown close to his grandparents. And I find myself facing regret, wishes and questions.

The last time I saw him was the day that picture was taken, over a year ago. I wish we could have visited them more often. I find myself recalling things about him. He was a stubborn man. Though his hearing had gone some time ago, he hated hearing aids and would opt to read lips. This would make for some odd conversations some times, having to repeat yourself over and over. He liked things a certain way, and as I recall was rather picky about baby diapers. lol But he was also a big hearted man. Though he and his wife fought a lot they absolutely loved each other. If his wife needed something for one of the big meals she would prepare for her guests, he would drop everything and run to the store for her. He adored his great grandsons. An avid golfer, I'll never forget that he bought my oldest a set of kids clubs before he was four months old. He bought him his first t-ball set when he was one.

I'll never forget the Christmas he hand painted little wagons for my then two kids. They were the perfect size that my kids would put their favorite stuff animal in there and pull them around the house. In the garage he had a big old bulletin board filled with pictures of his grandsons & great grandkids. He would rather spend time with his great grandkids than adults any day.

I'm going to miss him.

Lots.

I'm frustrated!!

2008-10-09T22:14:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure if this is constructive or not, but I'm seriously frustrated right now and I just have to let it out somewhere.

My husband's grandfather is in the hospital, has been for about a week. Right now he's listed in critical condition and the docs are saying there's a 10% chance he'll pull through. Now I know in my heart if God wants to heal him, he absolutely will, but I don't know that that is his will. This man has lived a long good life. He's had health concerns for a while, and has been in a bit of pain or discomfort.

So, I wanted to get word to my husband, so he could call his grandmom and just talk with her, comfort her a bit. I know hearing from her grandson would mean the world to her right now. She has always loved her grandsons, and there's just a lot of history between them.

Anyhow, so I call up the american red cross, because that's the quickest way to get word to him. About an hour later I get a phone call from my hubby's dad. The red cross had called him asking for a bunch of personal information and apparently mentioned stuff about my husband coming home. I just wish they would have TOLD me they'd be calling him so I could have warned him. This man is looking at his father in the hospital, not doing well at all, and then people call him up wanting to know information about power of attorneys and releasing medical records.

Anyhow, he's understandibly under a lot of stress, and the red cross didn't get the information they wanted. It makes perfect sense that they need to verify the situation so they don't have a bunch of fakers passing on fake emergencies to get them home for a bit.

So I guess I'm going to have to go through the rear detachment commander. But I won't call him at this hour of the night, I'm gonna have to wait until tomorrow morning. I'm just frustrated, almost to the point of tears. I want to get a message to my husband and thanks to the lack of internet it's impossible. His grandmother is such a sweet loving woman, I want her to hear from her youngest grandson in her moment of need. This just sucks.

$2.99 & 9/10ths

2008-10-09T12:39:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was driving my kids to Calvary Kids Club when a gas station employee was out changing the price of gas on the street sign. I couldn't believe my eyes! Gas has finally dropped to just below $3. (What is up with that 10th of a cent thing, I mean really?) But hopefully those prices will continue to go down.

Today's been good so far, though I still feel like I haven't actually got anything done. When it comes to dishes, laundry and cleaning, it seems that I'm always doing them, but they're never done!! I think that's why I like to create cards, I have something pretty to show for my time after an hour.

For anyone wondering, yesterday Johnathan had a great day. He came from the school doors with the biggest smile on his face in a hurry to show me how good he had done at school. Hopefully it will keep up that way!

This post is short because it's just one of those days. But I'm thankful for it. :)

Wacky Wednesday

2008-10-08T08:18:00.004-05:00

Hola big world! I'm sitting here on my couch with Backyardigans on the tv and seeing our puppy go to town licking my daughter's feet and legs. It's almost as if Nahla thinks she's the mom and Caitlin's the pup. Should I be offended that Nahla is telling me my daughter is dirty? lol It's funny though.

Yesterday I visited with Johnathan's teachers after school. (You can see the reason why two posts down.) I still don't know exactly what the solution will look like, but it became painfully obvious to me, that part of the problem was the lack of communication between the teachers and I. They had to go so far as to put him on a special plan where he tries to earn rewards for good behavior, and I wasn't told about it! So I approached them asking for what types of things they've done in the past to keep better communication with parents when needs like this arise. So now he has a notebook that he has to bring to every class he goes to. The teachers will write just a little note on if he's had a good day or not, and he'll bring it home to me. I'm hopeful. Part of the issue is he knows they don't have any real consequences to give him. He leaves school and leaves his problems. Now he'll be held accountable for his behavior at school at home. I'm hoping this will help him make better decisions. This morning I had him stand in front of my bathroom mirror and I used styling cream to make his bangs stand up/out. He liked the extra attention and then I held his hands and prayed for him. It seemed to have given him a new confidence as I asked him if he was going to have a good day at school he shook his head yes and pointed up and said "Because of God." I am so thankful that Jesus is real in their lives. I don't know for sure if he's believed in Christ with a saving faith, but at least he's getting a decent foundation. Who knows, maybe this is why God has allowed this to go so far, maybe Johnathan needs more discipling.

Any how, Caitlin and I will be heading to the library today to do story time. I haven't done a story time at a library since my first two were itty bitty things. I'm hoping this will become a weekly thing for us, something special between Caitlin and I.

Hubby called this morning. It's official he's reenlisting this Friday! Woo-hoo! And God's fingerprints are all over it. He's likely to even be promoted come November. Double woo-hoo! God is good. So very, very good.

Which reminds me, I have card kits to put together. During Calvary Kids Club the kids of the church are going to be working on getting packages together for Operation Christmas Child. Their leader wants the kids to make cards to go in them, so I volunteered to put kits together for them. Hey any reason to stop by Hobby Lobby is a good one for me. :)

Coloured Christmas Challenge

2008-10-07T21:06:00.004-05:00

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What a day!

2008-10-07T11:24:00.002-05:00

What a day today is turning out to be, and it's not even half way over yet! (Though it probably will be by time I finish typing this out and get it posted.)

To begin with I found out that my younger son has been lying to me this whole past week! We're having issues with him at school, I had been holding his Sparring gear captive, saying he wasn't going to get it until he had five days at school where he didn't purposefully give the teachers a hard time. All last week he was ensuring me he was having good days at school so he finally got his sparring gear. This morning I went into his class with him, because he had not been turning in a book, just to find out he has not been behaving. In fact it has gone so far as he will stand outside of the room refusing to go in.

I am at a loss with this boy! Basically he pretends to be stupid. Says he doesn't know where things are when he does know. He pretends he doesn't know the rules when he does. He yells "why are you ruining my paper?" when he's the one crumbling it up. I mean it's just weird extreme stuff. All I can think is it's an attention thing. He acts like that he gets attention. He didn't just start this since going to school, it's something he's always done so school isn't the cause of it. But I've grounded this boy, I've restricted him, I've taken things away. None of it works. I'm afraid I'm going to have to go to just plain old spanking him.

My youngest had her speech therapy today, so I was able to spend sometime with him in his class, and I see things that I think are triggering it. The fact that at the age of 6 & 7 these kids have to constantly change classrooms. I understand why the school does it that way, but I think the constant changing isn't good for my son, it's distracting and works against him trying to pay attention. There's other things too, and now I'm wondering if I made a mistake by putting him into the public school. My oldest two are doing great, I have no doubt that they are right where they need to be, but I fear for Johnathan. He is a really smart little buggar. I've been telling these teachers that he's a bright boy, they need to challenge him, but all they're seeing is a little boy that is struggling at the level he's at. I'm going to have to seriously pray over this. I thought I was done with homeschool, but if it's what will save my son from building this bad foundation, and it's holding him back, then it's what I need to do.

Anyhow, I got my haircut today. She went ahead and straightened it and it looks so good! I would buy one except I know I will never spend 15 extra minutes on my hair. I just don't have the time, nor the want honestly. Today for example, I have September financial reports that I MUST get done today!! And I am running out of time!

There was so much more I wanted to share. The fact that Michael is going to try out taekwando, that my step-brother about gave my mom a heart attack. lol My frustrations with not being able to talk to my husband, a card I want to make and more. But I've rambled enough and I have work to do and a daughter who wants attention!

Calling me again...

2008-10-06T11:03:00.004-05:00

You know, sometimes I am just blown away by my Lord. I've been missing from here a few short days. Though I'm sure no one missed me, I'm going to share my heart anyway. It's weird, I don't know if it's because I'm human, because I'm a woman, or because I'm me, but my life seems to go in the same old cycle. A rich closeness with God, then some complacency. Then something comes my way to kick me back into my closeness with him. For the last almost month, I've been in that state of complacency. Yesterday he kicked me back into closeness with him, and I am so very thankful He never gives up on me. If I were him, I would have kicked me to the curb ages ago! But His love is never ending, never fading, always there for me. I am glad to say however that my bouts of complacency are getting less and less severe, so at least I'm learning something on the way.

Anyhow, a couple days ago a sister in the Lord called me, wanting some advice on dealing with family that is against her beliefs. Her husband had encouraged her to call me because he knows I've been there and dealt with that. Then yesterday I was chatting with a dear brother in Christ, and he told me that I was such a rock, he knows he could always count on me to point him in the right direction. And you know, I felt so convicted! I mean, on one hand it's great that those close to me know I will do my best to point them in the Lord's direction, but if these people knew what I struggle with they wouldn't be so quick to complement me. Then yesterday, I was getting bombarded by unclean thoughts. I mean things were just coming at me left and right, it was as if someone else was in my head. And I was convicted. I go to church Sunday Morning, Sunday Evening, and Tuesday nights. Other than those times, I'm ashamed to say my Bible has not been opened in the last month. No wonder I was suddenly susceptible to attacks, whether these thoughts were coming from my flesh, the world, or the evil one's henchmen, it really doesn't matter. All that matters is that they weren't from God, so they had no business being in my head!

On the way to church last night I had a compilation CD I was listening to. "My Jesus" by Todd Agnew came on, and I began bawling. I love this song, always have from the moment I first heard it. It reminded me of all my Lord has done for me, and how dare I forget that!

I don't know why I felt compelled to share this. Maybe just because of my natural want to share things, maybe someone is going to stumble across it when they come to see the cards I've submitted, I don't know. But really, it doesn't matter. At least I'm being obedient again. Now if I could just kill that stupid cycle!!

Christmas is... challenge

2008-10-04T17:31:00.006-05:00

You know, the Lord is good!! I have been creating cards all day long thanks to Splitcoaststampers challenges. The kids are wanting to earn a little extra money, so they've raked leaves, done a little laundry and now they're finishing up the dishes. Yeah, so all that work is going to end up costing me about six dollars, but hey, I think it's worth it! I get to create and they actually want to do chores, so it's a win-win situation.

In between stamping I got an e-mail from my hubby. His Marine Corps paperwork was accepted, so maybe, just maybe he'll manage to get promoted as well! Did I say good?? Nah, He's great!

((Portions of this post have been relocated to here. ))

Nice Quiet Mornin'

2008-10-04T07:22:00.002-05:00

Yay! The weekend is finally here!! As I sit here on my couch, with my laptop on my lap, I am so very much enjoying the quiet. By this time in the morning, the kids are usually finishing up brushing their hair and teeth, and we're out the door in twenty minutes. Today, everyone slept in! Including Nahla who didn't wake me up till near 7! It's nice to have a day without the stresses of places to be by certain times.

Unfortunately though, I feel a sinus cold coming on. I have the sinus drip, and that's not good. Hopefully I won't get it full force until after tomorrow. Now with Lisa gone and Lee in the nursery, I can't imagine who would take over the 6-12 year olds for me. Not to mention I promised Myron I'd be there early to get the worship songs in the computer program. So yeah, I don't want to be sick.

Today is World Card Making Day! So along with my usual participating with the Christmas Cards All Year Long challenge, a stamping community that I participate in is having "festivities" I hope to play along with. All while getting some major dishes done, financial reports and other church business. Hmm... did I say this was going to be a relaxing day? lol

Hmm... Three-quarters of my children are awake, and poor Kirsten doesn't sound so good. Looks like it's that time of year, along with falling leaves, we get scratchy throats!

Blingy Thingy

2008-10-03T14:03:00.005-05:00

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It's gonna be one of those days...

2008-10-03T07:19:00.004-05:00

It's gonna be one of those days where I have to keep prayin all day to not loose my mind. My youngest is driving me crazy. The thing with Caitlin is she has a sensitive tummy. When she skips a meal, she gets nauseous and if she skips two meals, she's definitely throwing up. The rule in this house is if you don't like the meal I cooked for you, then you don't eat. Otherwise I'd be making four different meals to accommodate everyone. Well, Caitlin does not like anything resembling spaghetti sauce. Last night I cooked Italian Chicken and sure enough little miss thing didn't like it. So at 4am she's up complaining she thinks she's going to throw up. Now she has breakfast sitting in front of her, and she doesn't want to eat it! Who in the world doesn't like Cinnamon Grahams?? I mean really it's not like I gave her shredded wheat or something! I must go shopping today, I have supplies I need for Sunday School, and there's no doubt, if she doesn't start eating her cereal, she will be throwing up on me. Oh Lord, please give me patience!!

Good news is, I got a call from hubby this morning. He did fantastic at his board review yesterday. He scored 149 out of a possible 150. So he'll be reenlisting. And it appears that nearly everyone in his unit wants to leave the area, so we should be able to stay here several more years! That's a good thing, because we live in a wonderful little town, the kids' school is top notch, and we have a house that would be hard to sell in today's market.

Anywhoo... I gots to get going. It's just about time to walk with the kids to school and get a small amount of energy out of crazy dog. Thankfully she's no longer peeing continually!

*gah*!! Yup, sure enough, as I was checking this post for spelling errors, she threw up all over the place. *sigh*

Tropical Christmas

2008-10-02T10:18:00.009-05:00

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Woo-hoo!

2008-10-01T22:37:00.005-05:00

Tonight's going to be a long one. Nahla has an infection and won't quit whining or peeing! I need a doggy diaper!

(Portions of this post have been relocated to here.

Yup, it's Wednesday already

2008-10-01T12:58:00.006-05:00

Nahla had another appointment today. The vet thinks her unending need to pee is caused by a urinary tract infection. So $100 later she had shots, and will have medicine to take all week. I can't help but wonder, we gave her a bath on Monday, and then Tuesday she comes down with the unending pees. I can't help but wonder if something to do with the bath caused it. But there's no way I'm going to let her go on and on and on without a bath. Not if she's going to be in my house majority of the time.

((Portions of this post have been relocated to here.

Blessed

2008-09-30T20:56:00.004-05:00

Hola. It feels like it's been ages since I've been on, but really it hasn't been that long. I was trying to get on earlier, but couldn't log into my google account. I ended up updating my browser (firefox all the way baby!) and that did the trick.

Yesterday the kids had a day off of school so the teachers could get their rooms together in the new school. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate Kirsten's birthday. We headed out to Pizza Hut for lunch, and then went bowling. I was kicking myself because I had left my camera at home. After a game she opened up her gifts, we went to Sears to spend some of her birthday money on clothes and came home to do her cake and icecream. She was absolutely tickled pink about the cake I made her.

I am so thankful for my girl. It's scary that she's 9 now. She's growing so fast, but she's still so sweet. Since today is her actual birthday she brought cupcakes to school which was well received. Caitlin and I went down and ate lunch with her at school. It was all in all a good day.

Busy, busy, busy...

2008-09-28T06:35:00.003-05:00

Oye, here at sit at 6:30 in the morning, struggling to wake up. Nahla naturally woke me up at 6 for her emergency bathroom break. Usually I lay back down hoping to doze off till 7 but this morning I couldn't. There's so much on my mind that i just had to spend some time in prayer. Our church is kind of in a mini-crisis, my husband is going through stuff, and I'm struggling to keep my head screwed on right!

Yesterday was 'clean the house' day for us. Unfortunately we only got the kitchen and livingroom done. Half my kids were giving me such a hard time with helping out that I lost it. I admit, I blew my top. Started spewing out why was it so difficult for them to help their mom clean up, they live here too, and how would they feel if every time they asked me for something I answered with "Do I haaaaave to???" I wish I could say I was always level headed and completely cool and put together, but that is not the case. Especially when it comes to my younger boy. That child has a lying problem, and he has it bad! He's been getting away with it at school so it's increased at home as well. This little actor can turn tears on in the snap of a finger. He just turns the waterworks on and all kinds of adults start tripping all over him! It drives me nuts, because I know they're fake. He also can turn them off just as quickly!

*sigh* Anyhow, after I lost my cool and yelled at them all we actually got some work done. Then thankfully my hubby called. It had been a long while since I got to hear his voice, and it was nice. Feeling connected is vital for a relationship to stay together when the two people are so far apart. The good news is he had his company board yesterday and he passed! So he is this month's NCO of the month (finally!). He goes to the brigade board on October 2nd. If he does well at that he can reenlist, maybe get promoted. The woman that seemed to be trying to ruin his career is now asking to be transferred to another company because it is so upsetting to her that she didn't get her way. It's been a real struggle for my hubby, and I'm just praying that he's growing in the Lord through all of it. Unfortunately he smoking again. Which I really do not like. He said he'd try to be smoke free when he comes home in December, but my gut aches and says it isn't gonna happen. I'm praying though. I want a smoke free husband dang it!

Anyhow, today will be a bit busy as well, but not too bad. There's the usual teaching Sunday School in the morning, the kids will go on a treasure hunt this morning. What they'll find at the X on the map is a Bible. Which leads into God's word is like a treasure map, it will lead you to the greatest treasure of all, a relationship with Jesus. I hope the kids will enjoy it. My daughter surprised me last night. She can now recite all 66 books of the bible from memory! Which is really sad that I can do the Old Testament and the first 11 of the new. I'm gonna have to step up my game and catch up with her!

Anyhow, this afternoon I have food to prepare for the pot luck, and a birthday cake to make for my daughter's birthday party tomorrow, not to mention cupcakes to bring to school on Tuesday which is my daughter's actual birthday. Then back out to church. Somewhere in there I need to fit in buying dog food. So I won't get any creating done for a while. But that's okay. I must invest more time in my kids.

Okay, so I'm rambling, and I've been doing so for 20 minutes! Guess it's time to get off this couch and walk Nahla. She's been keeping my feet warm for me this whole time!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Small Town Goodness

2008-09-26T14:46:00.018-05:00

Have I ever mentioned that I love living in a small town? I really really do! Today is homecoming day for the highschool of this school district. Every year they have a parade through St. George and I just love the feel of it all. You have all the kids lined up by the road to see the floats that the highschool kids make. This year the kids got to follow the parade with their wagons full of stuff to move into the new school. Yup, a brand new school that is just really nice. There is such an overwhelming pride too in the smaller towns. I mean, yeah, I had school pride when I was in highschool. But as I see these towns and how they really support and care about the schools, it's just totally so much more! It might help that you're actually a person in this school district, and not just a number. To my kids' teachers, I am Denise, not Mrs. Beach, or "Johnathan's mom". Okay, I'm rambling.

Anyway, I don't care if other's laugh. (I'm not technically a small town hick, cause I didn't grow up here, I just moved here a few years ago.) I'd like to share some pics. The parade started off with the firetruck.

Now I know why the volunteer Fire Dept. folks were at the station late last night. They were shining up their truck! (The firestation is diagonally across the road from me and one building over.)

Next was the Grand Marshal.

His sign says "A Cut Above the Rest."

Next along was the band.

Following the band were the candidates for homecoming royalty.

All three jeeps were donated by a local dealership to be used. See, that's what I mean, people caring about the community and wanting to be a part of it.

As for the class floats, they were all centered around Johnny Cash Songs.

Seniors had Ring of Fire

It was pretty funny, they had the "assembly line" for the falcons (their rivals that they'll be playing tonight) that were getting cooked. They had a bucket of chicken and were eating it.

Juniors got "Man in Black".

It was pretty cool cause each of the students were frozen in a position of an athlete in the various sports. On the tombstones are written "Falcons". You've gotta click on it to see it larger to really see it well.

Sophomores had Folsom Prison Blues

Obviously there's a "Falcon" in the jail cell with the Rock Creek Mustang being a jail warden.

The Freshmen had The Black Mobile, but there's was pretty stinky. lol Go figure, freshmen.

Anyway, I really hope we'll be able to stay here. It's a wonderful place for the kids to grow. This afternoon after the parade and picking up the kids Michael and I went to help out with moving from the old school into the new. I have an even greater appreciation for those poor teachers. They're using their own vehicles and moving their own heavy furniture. My back and hands are sooooooooooooooooooooo sore from just three hours of work, and those poor teachers have a lot more to do still.

Anyhow, I'm off to find something for dinner and try to unwind before getting my stamping done.

What the heck possessed me?

2008-09-26T06:48:00.004-05:00

Mornin-mornin everyone! I'm up a bit early today, as after my mouse, or, err... dog, squeeked me awake this morning for her potty break, I decided to just stay up instead of trying to get a little more sleep in. I tell you, the pup is driving me nuts!! She has not only one, not two, but three different toys for her chewing pleasure. But is that enough for her? Nooooooooooo. Now she's begun going in Caitlin's room to find wonderful toys to chew on in there, and the bathroom! Now granted, the bathroom should be clean, but she's gotten a barrette, a hair tie and clothes out of there, and I'm just ready to blow! I put her in the backyard for a little while, but with no kids to play with she doesn't seem to like it as she had dug a hole under the gate and got out within 20 minutes. *sigh* So it's hard for me to get anything done down stairs (she's not allowed down there, cause there's simply too much stuff she'd destroy) without me putting her in her kennel. I can't stand to keep a dog locked up in a kennel all day, so I give up. I know one day she'll be a good dog, but right now she's more than a handful of a puppy!!

Today is slated to be a busy one. I have to call up the church's insurance company and see if I can work out some problems. That's always fun working with them. (Yes, that statement is dripping with sarcasam.) There's an 11am elders meeting I need to go up to the church to take minutes for, I have to bring a wagon up to the school at 1:30pm for my son to use in the parade. And I get to leave the house at about 3:05 to walk to the new school to pick up my kiddos. Promptly afterwards my oldest and I will head to the old school to help the teachers move.

It's going to be a big busy day. Tonight I have some stamping to do for a swap I signed up for... wow, this post is becoming my 'to-do' list aint it? Sorry, guess I'm thinking out loud so to say. Not having contact with my husband is starting to get to me. It's been about three weeks since I've heard his voice, a week since e-mail. He did call Sunday night, but I was at church. I never thought I'd be one of the wives that complained she hadn't heard from her husband in a week, but here I am. *sigh*

Well, off I go. Gotta get this day underway, take Nahla for her walk and get the kids off to school!

Baby Brain

2008-09-24T11:40:00.004-05:00

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Nothing, absolutely nothing!

2008-09-23T12:33:00.005-05:00

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Now we're talking!

2008-09-22T19:25:00.008-05:00

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Leaves, Knees, and God things

2008-09-21T21:06:00.005-05:00

I warn ya ahead of time, I feel this will be rather rambly.

These last few days have been buh-seee. (busy, emphasized!) My hubby no longer has Internet, and my moms on vacation, so I haven't unloaded on any one.

Lets start with leaves! The calendar says tomorrow is the first day of fall, but our trees have been shedding their leaves for over a week. And when you have nine trees in your backyard, plus at least five around the perimeter. All those trees leave a ton of leaves! And we're only at the beginning of the season! I love how pretty the landscape gets this time of year. I grew up in the desert where there is no such thing as four seasons. There's winter and summer, that's it. Oh wait, I forgot the monsoon season! But all those leaves are a lot of work. Thankfully I have three kids that are getting bigger and want to earn some money. So they spent a good part of the afternoon raking up leaves at $1 a bag. Meanwhile I'm inside trying to fix up a scrap area. A good portion of our basement was dedicated to homeschooling. Now that I'm not doing that anymore I think it's time to make some room for my crafts stuff! I really do love creating things, and it's been so long since I've done it. I figure if I can get my stuff out of the giant heap it was in I may get more opportunities. So, you just might be seeing some craft corner snap shots coming soon. :)

As for the Knees... my poor baby girl! I swear, that little girl's knees will be permanently scabbed till she becomes a teenager! And it always seems to happen at church. Wednesday she fell down in the parking lot and scraped up her knee. Ever since then she's had more falls. While they've been rather small falls, her scab keeps breaking open, making it bleed all over again. Then tonight at church she falls again, this time scraping the other one. And it bleeds, and bleeds, and bleeds and bleeds. The poor girl has two knees all bloodied up.

As for the God things... my Lord is so good. You know, he just blows me away when He decides to show me his Mercy and Grace. Our church is rather small, barely more than a year old. I teach the Sunday School, which is for ages between 6 - 12. We have five kids that are regulars, and two that come and go. So we average six kids, three of them are mine! Anyway, we started a new curriculum today that focuses on the Bible. Along with our studies, we launched a "Change that can change the world." fund campaign. Basically we're asking that people put a few coins in a container. The money we raise will be going to the Wycliff organization to help fund missionaries that are working on getting the Bible Translated into languages that don't have a Bible in their own language. Anyhow, this morning I gave a short presentation to the congregation about it. In one day someone brought in $70 worth of change they've been saving up, and another has told me that they will match what ever funds the children raise! God's just blowing me away. I had set a goal of $200 for the kids. I figured we only have three families represented in our little class, that that was a decent goal. But if we have $140 in one day, man, God has a waaaaaaay bigger goal than I ever could think of.

He also got me up singing worship tonight. I haven't been able to sing with the worship team since we moved buildings last March because I'm the only Sunday School teacher. Tonight when I walked in our worship leader let me know I was singing. lol I just love to sing out to my Lord. It's funny, when I sing regular old songs, my voice isn't all that great. But when I sing from my heart, adoring my Maker, it's just such a sweet song. It felt great to be able to do that.

This coming week will be busy, but I'll be around. :)

Getting Crafty...

2008-09-19T19:45:00.006-05:00

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Oye...

2008-09-18T06:32:00.002-05:00

Oye... that's the best word I can think of right now to describe how I'm feeling. From the rollercoaster mess going on with my husband and the Army, to a sick dog throwing up all afternoon, with trying to prepare for a scrap class and launch a new Sunday School curriculum all mixed in it, I'm just ever so slightly overloaded. lol

But you know, God is good! I am excited about the new study we're launching at church. Part of me really wishes I had more children in the class, I mean, three of them are mine, there's two other boys that are there every week and that's all of our regulars. We do have about three other kids that come and go but they're not there consecutively. Anyhow, the topic the next six months is all about the Bible. How did we get it, where it came from, it's message and authority. While trying to get the 66 books of the bible memorized in this time, we're also launching a fund drive for the Wycliff people. They work on getting the Bible translated into languages that don't have one. Some of these languages don't even have an alphabet. So it's big work.

I was able to get most of my work for that done yesterday, so I'm hoping today to work more on the scrap party I'm hosting on Saturday. I'm just struggling to get my demo album done. I want to make cards and crafts, not mini-albums right now! Creativity! I wish I could get mine to cooperate!

I'm here...

2008-09-16T10:44:00.002-05:00

Hola!
I'm still around, I've just been busy. And you know, as I sit here trying to recall just where all my time has gone, it tends to be a bit of a blur!

Yesterday a teen girl that bought one of Nahla's sisters was walking by just as we were heading out for a walk. It was neat to see the two litter mates together. At first they were a bit apprehensive about each other, then they got to playing well. But then something triggered the aggressive side of Nahla. Their friendly pouncing and playing turned into mean noises and actual biting. We seperated them but Nahla just wouldn't let it go. I don't know if it's because it was her yard or what, but I was surprised. She's not aggressive at all with us. I must say I am going to be paying extra attention to her actions when she plays.

This Saturday I'm hosting my first ever scrappin' party. I'm scared! I've never even been to a scrap party/class never mind host one. I have a project in mind, but I don't know. There are some very crafty ladies in my church, and I fear they're going to be bored with me! To add on top of it all, I want to finish the project for myself so I have an example and I can help out women with my diecut machines, but I have no creative juices right now. I'm so tapped out there's no creativity in me right now. It's a shame really. I think I need to get researching on the net. I've gotta get inspired!

So, for now life just keeps on rolling along.

Catching up...

2008-09-12T08:47:00.004-05:00

Wow, I actually never got on here yesterday. It was a busy busy day, but good! The kids' school had a "Freedom Walk" to commemerate 9/11. Thing is they had it in the gym because it looked as if it could start pouring any moment. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I went and walked with Michael, the gym teacher who was leading it had absolutely no clue what 9/11 was about. She was reading statistics off a piece of paper when one of the kids asked what the Pentegon was. Her reply? She shrugged her shoulders and said it was a building. I mean come on! But it was good to spend a little while with Michael.

Then my youngest and I ate lunch with Johnathan, since it was his birthday. Their school is so different than the one I grew up in. Growing up our lunch and recess was our only real time to just be a kid, be loud, talk with your friends. This school is a whole other creature. As a mom, I'm glad they have rules in place to keep the kids from getting out of control. But it's so odd for me. They have to ask permission to put their tray away, then they have to put their head down on the table to wait for a teacher to tell them they can go. If it get loud at all the lights go off and everyone has to be quiet. I mean, my kids are louder in my van than they can be in the cafeteria. Now I know why they're so loud when they get home from school! They aren't allowed to make noise at school.

Johnathan had Taekwondo class. My son just HAD to tell his instructor that it was his birthday. So he got 7 Birthday Kicks. It was hillarious. Then we went out to Time Out Corner. It's an indoor mini golf/arcade place. My boys each wanted to play pool with me. I'm glad to report that I won both games. Though not by a whole lot. lol We had pizza and Johnathan had a fun time. We ran home to have cake and finish homework right before heading to bed. Johnathan kept saying it was great day. I'm so glad he enjoyed it, and I am so thankful that my kids are thankful. He didn't have a big party, and our time out really wasn't much, but he truly had a good time, and I'm so thankful that he had a good day.

September 11th, 2001 is a day the rest of America remembers as a sorrowful day. And though I grieve the loss of so many, I can not allow that to take over. That day the Lord blessed me with my son.

Anyhow, as for today, it's already started out eventful. My morning walk in the rain with Nahla had another dog follow us home. Thankfully she was friendly. I called the number on her tags, but there was no answer. So off to City Hall she went. Today is filled with dishes and laundry. Michael has an eye appointment today. Wednesday he started complaining about his eyes hurting again. They better not make me pay another hundred and something dollars for a new prescription. We'll see what happens.

So off to work I go. :)

Keeping my head above water...

2008-09-10T13:35:00.002-05:00

Ya know... Having a personal blog is a weird kinda thing. I mean, I can't speak for everyone, but at least for me, I start mine off for the sole reason of having an outlet to express myself. So many times it helps to just get something off your chest. You don't really want anyone to "fix" it, you just want the opportunity to express it. But then after it's started, there's things I start to type and tell myself "You can't publish that!" I become my own sensor, not wanting to give the impression that I'm weak, vulnerable, make mistakes and have differences of opinion with those around me.

So, the very thing I took on as a way to lighten my burden actually has the opposite effect! I know I must be careful, the Lord gives us instructions to watch our tongue, and He knows I struggle with that a lot! But why do I think twice about admitting I cried today? Why am I embarrassed to admit I'm struggling? Because I don't want to let others down? Folks are always telling me how "strong" I am, and how I can do anything. The thing is, they don't see me in my moments alone when I break down. When I cry out to my God for comfort, because I feel lost.

Why? Why am I afraid for others to see I'm human? Because I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. I don't want to hear "It must be so hard with your husband gone." I don't want to be reminded of all my struggles! I swear I'm a walking contradiction! And I am more than happy to blame it on being a woman! (Gotta love the hormone excuse!)

So yeah, I cried today. I still haven't done my daughter's hair, we've had the TV on preschooler shows all day. I've spent over an hour doing the church's finances, trying to track down a few adding errors I've made and making out checks for bills. Shipping out an order or two, baking cupcakes for my son's class tomorrow, taking the puppy out for frequent potty breaks, and taking her on her walk. My kitchen is a disaster area, and the living room is only clean because of our new puppy! She forces the kids to keep the floor clean! I need to mow but I just don't have the energy. It's not super tall yet, so it'll survive. And in the middle of it all, I'm forcing myself to just keep going.

Tonight is Calvary Kids Club (CKC). It's kind of like Awana. This is what I had picked my oldest up from last week that he had his major attitude with me which led to him swinging at me. As I dug into the situation to try to figure out what the heck was going on, I found that there's another boy there that just started coming a few weeks ago. This boy is the same age as my son, but built more solidly. Well, he and my son had gotten into a heated moment, not an all out fight, but the tension was there. So when I picked him up and asked why his brand new sneakers were ripped already, he had all that tension in him that came flying out at me.

That night I had told him he wasn't getting to go to CKC the next week. My kids love CKC, but if that's the attitude I'm going to get from him after it, he doesn't need it. Now, a week later, and having time to really think about it, I'm not sure I'm going to have him go back to it at all. I mean, they do talk about God and a Bible verse, but a lot of it is playing with the kids and doing crafts. All good things, but I think what my son really needs is time with me. This poor boy is 10 years old and his father has not been a real part of his life since he was 3. He's had no real man to look up to, and now he gets like no time with me. So I think I'm going to give up my hour to myself every Wednesday night and spend it with him instead. I'll still get my errands done, but hopefully the two of us can reconnect. We'll see how it goes anyway.

Tuesday... and counting

2008-09-09T09:31:00.010-05:00

You know, I think I had a bunch of pointless life ramblings to type about today, but now I can't remember any of them! I think that's a sign of old age (and I'm scared)! I DO know that I have a small video clip to share for this "Tickle Tuesday". I'm not sure it counts as tickling, but this is my blog, so if I want it to count, then it counts, dag-nab-it!

Yeah, so we have a little fun at our poor puppy's expense. The good thing is she's completely oblivious to the fact that there is now a video of her on the internet! She won't care.

Anyhow, the big event this week is Johnathan's birthday on Thursday. I'll be busy tomorrow making cupcakes to take to his school. The good news is he did much better at school on Monday. Hopefully it'll stay that way!

My daughter's birthday is later this month, and I'm just so thankful for my girl. I was asking her what she wanted for her birthday and she couldn't think of anything. So I asked her questions, "You couldn't possibly want more ponies could you?" (My oldest daughter is loves My Little Pony and has been collecting them for years!), she replied that she would like pony stuff, but not until her little sister is older and can play with her better.

So I asked if she wanted craft stuff, (another hobby of hers).
"No, I don't need any more."
"How about necklaces, bracelets, nail polish and stuff like that?"
"No that's too girly."
I laughed and said she wasn't helping me out. Her reply? She gave me a hug and told me she was happy with what she had. It about made me cry.
Her older brother chimed in and said, "How about Magic Tree House books?" (The school got them hooked on that series.) My daughter jumps up, "Yeah! I want books for my birthday!!"

I tell you, I am so thankful that my children give me snippets of hope that I am doing something right in raising them! Others may think we're odd, but I like us that way. :)

Okay, so HE knows better than I do

2008-09-08T14:04:00.004-05:00

This last few weeks have been a bit hard on me. A whole new array of problems have snuck up since the kid's entered public school. Not that the school itself is the problem, just the changing of schedules and less time with my kids has started to effect things. Previously we would get our homeschool done by afternoon, then we'd go do their extra activities and usually be at the church for something or other. Now they get home at 3:30 and they still have school work to do, not to mention everything else. When you have three different kids that all need to do something with a parent, and you're the only parent available, it can get sticky. I simply can't keep up with those responsibilities, plus being expected to be at our church. I struggled hard with the decision to cut out mid-week service from my schedule. I'm viewed as being part of the leadership, shouldn't I be there all the time? I was getting down on myself, the passing remarks by others didn't help... But God...

But God is good, and never ceases to surprise me. Today as I was driving to the church to do some paperwork, I was listening to the radio. In the sermon the pastor mentioned how one of the biggest tragedies today is that Christian parents neglect their own family, often times for the ministry. It opened my eyes, made me see all the times these last two weeks my daughter has tried to hug on me, and I'd have to give her a tiny squeeze and go on to my "work". How each of my sons are grounded because of their angry outburst. Then this afternoon my pastor calls, and through our conversation he's relieved some of my fears and feelings about the whole thing. So now my shoulders' are a little lighter. Thank you Lord!

Well, it's Monday! I admit, I have not done any prep work at all for this Music Monday, so I'm just going to list my favorite band. I grew up with rock&roll so ThirdDay is a natural fit for me. I love that their songs range from praising to God to comforting those in sorrowful times of their lives. Awesome Christian Rock Group in my opinion. :)

If it aint one, it's the other...

2008-09-05T17:24:00.003-05:00

*sigh* Boys!! I had shared that my oldest son and I had issues on Wednesday night. Well today just before lunch my kids' school calls asking me to come pick up my other son. Turns out he pretty much mimicked his brother but to the teachers. When I got to the school he had this smug little grin on his face, rather proud of himself for getting so much attention, and in his mind ultimately getting his way. He didn't want to do that math paper, now he didn't have to, he was getting to go home. Oh how nieve! That boy is grounded, he got a spanking, (yes, on serious issues like this I do smack their bottoms, please don't yelp at me stranger who might read this and does not know me or my kids), there's no tv, no video games, no computer, no anything fun until Monday. We'll see how his attitude is on Monday, see if it's improved and decide if he's not grounded anymore or not. Oh, and I made him do the worksheet at home. lol

I will never get boys... at the young age of my son, or at the older age of my husband!

Rain, rain, go away...

2008-09-05T11:18:00.006-05:00

It's stinkin COLD outside! Less than a week ago we were down right hot. Now it's down right cold, and rainy and just dreary outside. It's like we switched from summer to fall in a two day span. I LOVE Christmas, but I don't care all that much for fall and winter. I so much more prefer spring and summer. But, there is a time for everything! I just need to accept it.

Today is my "Photo Friday" and though I already posted a pic in my MySpace album, I want to share it here. My oldest got his reading glasses!

I brought them to him in the middle of the school day. When I picked him up from school he proudly proclaimed, "I read 15 pages and my eyes don't hurt at all!" It was great news, and hopefully he won't hate reading so much anymore.

I'm late...

2008-09-04T20:37:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I'm late today. I usually post about 10 hours earlier than this. What can I say, I've been under a little stress and decided to stay away from my computer this morning. Last night my oldest had another "episode". I don't even like calling them that, but I just don't know what else to label it. So he's grounded for like ever. Okay so not literally, but it's an "until I decide your punishment is done" type of thing. I think the fact that I haven't been getting all my sleep thanks to cute, cuddly little Nahla doesn't help either. But my God is big, and he'll see me through all things. :)
So, a thought for Thoughtful Thursday...

A life with love will have some thorns, but a life without love will have no roses.

Wednesday

2008-09-03T08:23:00.005-05:00

Okay, I really have to come up with some more interesting titles than the name of the day. I mean really! But I just don't have anything else in mind. The vet yesterday went well. Cost a lot of money, but went well. Nahla is a 15 pound 7 1/2 week old puppy. The vet said she'll be twice her size within 2 months. She's gonna be big. Last night I stayed by her kennel until 2 in the morning trying to make her stay quiet. Eventually I had had enough I put the kennel outside. She stopped within 30 minutes. Who knows, she might be spending more nights outside.

This morning we reattempted a walk and surprisingly she did quite well. She's becoming rather attached to my youngest and loves to follow her everywhere. I think we tired her out cause after some water she went to her favorite spot and laid down. Yay! Quiet puppy at last!

Anyhow, today is the Wednesday What... and I found a news article that just me shake my head in disbelief. Even if you are not a person of faith, I think anyone in their right mind would find this outlandish. There is a Senator suing God. Nope, not a typo. Insane eh?

From the article on the ABC News Website:

(Senetor) Chambers said God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents in Omaha, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

His reasoning? That he wants to prove a point that the courts should be accessable to everyone, no matter their wealth. Never mind the fact that he criticizes Christians, I don't understand why judges should have to waste their time with such a stupid case. Even if he won... what the hell does he expect the courts to do? Put God in jail? It's nuts!