happy birthday Bry

Happy Birthday Bryson!

7 Years ago...I had the EASIEST birth I had ever experienced!

Little did I know you'd be a little boy of extremes!

In some ways you are EASY and flexible!

You already read very well and do classwork in a flash!

In some ways...well you're rigid and inflexible!

You're a little powder keg...and quite a challenge

But amazed God gave me a little Peter and Moses all rolled in one!

Bry, Billy and Ney circa 2004

Right now you enjoy...

Globes and Maps

Trains and cars

and ANYTHING Police, FBI, etc!

Your favorite books are Arthur and your

favorite show is National Geographics Tornadoes...

Your best friends are Angel and Eliza.

You told me you were going to marry Nicole! (but I told her not to wait!)

Bry 2010 and Nicole at her graduation

Love you Bry...you do keep me on my knees!

November is almost here!

(Bill and I on bikes at the lake during our last Thanksgiving adventure)

Well November is almost on us...

and I'm already thinking about

Thanksgiving vacation!

This year...

hubby has agreed we need to

GET AWAY!

So with that said!

We're not doing a traditional thanksgiving dinner!

I don't know what's going to happen!

I'm bend on some adventure!

With a limited amount of income and

three boys in tow...

I just don't know where to go!

I'm leaning towards a camp ground/cabin

that houses youth pastors/ministers

GRATIS!

It's just something I've started thinking about!

We'll be over in 15 minutes...

Ok so yesterday was an eye opener to me.

We had a dad and his girls over for dinner with 15 minutes notice.

(I was suppose to bring their dinner to them...but it turns out

they were staying 10 minutes from my house so they

said they could come over and eat with us. How can you say no

to someone who doesn't have a place to live because you

only have six matching napkins and the table isn't "set"?)

Did I panic?!

Well OF COURSE!

The house was....

ok except for the kitchen, (filled with dishes)

the family room, (filled with toys)

the boys room, (filled with dirty socks)

but

the bathroom was surprising clean...(thanks to a 6 year old and some mud the night before...)

but when you have people over for dinner...

let's be honest...

you want to show off.

a pristine home

a pristine dinner

a "pristine" family.

God work on my heart so when I am showing hospitality...

let it be in YOUR NAME...and not my own.

Who care if I had to use regular plates (that's another post all together)...

and who cares if the forks didn't match?

Who cares if every thing wasn't perfect...

It dawned on me...

While I was complaining about not being in the city I want to live in...

They don't even had a place to call their own.

Lord help me to be hospitable on YOUR terms and NOT MINE!

With that said...I'm heading to remove some toys from the family room...

'cause my boys have too many toys!

Blog you've become....gasp! My husband!

Dear Blog...

I'm sorry I haven't attended to your needs as of late.

You know I love you.

We've been together a while now and

I know you're always there.

Steady

faithful!

But the fun is worn off!

You're not shiny and new anymore!

It takes more effort and will to post.

I have to work at finding photos!

I don't even have an excuse.

Things are easier now that my 12 year old has lost his ipod!

I've got video and camera at my disposal!

You'd think I would be posting up a storm...

but alas...I'm not....

you've turned into my.......

husband!

Last Saturday my hubby and I actually spent the ENTIRE day together.

One was with our neighbors...

one was at a band competition...

and one was hanging with his friend around our house.

And we found out...

we need to put time and energy into this thing called marriage!

Just like I need to put time and energy into this blog!

We'll I decided...today...I'll focus on marriage and home!

So I'm off to do something special for my hubby and maybe even a cobbler for him!

Well maybe NOT the cobbler...he'll think I'm pregnant!

Blessings!

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind,

regard one another as more important than yourselves.

Philippians 2:3

Love is a Battlefield!

Remember the Pat Benatar song...

We are young...

heartache to heartache we stand...

no promises....no demands...

Homework's a bat-tle-field!

We are strong!....

no one can tell us we're wrooongggg

avoid-ing the alegbra toooo long...

both of us knowing....

Homework's the battlefield!

So as my weary bullet riddled body comes from the sidelines...

of being in the homework trenches and thinking of some strategic

battle plan...

I'm bringing out the big guns...

I'm taking the homework avoider (and his 6 year old brother in tote...)

TO THE LIBRARY!

Yep...

Praying there will be no distractions there!

Both of us knowing... Love is a Battlefield!

The big C

I can't say cancer right now...but I can say the big C!

(I'll explain the photo at the end of this post)

OK what do you do when someone close to you

gets

the

big

C!

If it was someone old...I guess I'd be ok with that.

If it's someone random in your church...I'm ok with that too I guess.

I lift up a quick prayer and move on.

But what if it's someone whose woven in your life.

Someone who when your mother in law passed away...

went to your house, woke up your kids, bathed them and took them to their home.

Someone who likes the same shows you like...

the same music...

the same restaurants...

the same everything.

Someone who when I had to cut my hair...let me CRY...

and cry again. Told me it was going to grow back...

helped me put in extensions on the side that was broken off.

Someone who accepts my kids the way they are...

and still let's her near perfect kids play with them.

Someone who has the same stuffy husband as I...

and we don't mind...'cause a stuffy square hubby is a loyal hubby!

Someone who when you're bored you call...

for no reason and no agenda.

And you're not related..

I really can't be ok with that. I go from being stoic...

to mush...

in t - minus 2 seconds.

and can you tell today is not a stoic day

We use to pray on the phone...but right now I can't do that.

'cause I don't know what to pray.

When I'm in the same car as your child alone...there is a BIG

WHITE

ELEPHANT...

and I don't know what to say!

Lord give me the words to say and help me to be ok..

it's not really about me.

Dare I pray...

against the odds...

help her to be ok...

'cause it's the big C!

The photo above is when I FORCED my love, hope, faith teacups into my friend's

pink retro kitchen...She wanted to use her Spode...but I just had to have it my way.

Taming the Tongue!!!

So this morning I knew it was back to

TAMING MY TONGUE!

Of course I was given a little test to

TAME MY TONGUE

with an audience in tow....

well my hubby and I

kind

of

failed!

Oh we were civil...

no cuss words are ever exchanged...

this time there wasn't even any yelling...

but we were both

arguing our points...

trying to put in the best defense for

our own side...

and

what were we fighting...

no correction debating about?

desktop folders on the computer and their placement!

That has to be the dumbest (ok that's a bad word round here...)

unsmartest....arguement!

Needless to say now that it's over...

WHY? WHY? WHY!

So Ladies...

Proverbs 13:3

He who guards his mouth preserves his life,

but one who

talks too much comes to ruin.!

Lord...let my mouth speak PRAISES TO YOU...

and my family too!

Let me not argue about

trite matters...

Life is so short! What we say will last a lifetime!

Oh.....Baby showers....

BABY shopping!

Well I'm off to get some baby clothes for three different moms to be!

One was a total surprise...and she's having a girl...a young mom, a former youth I knew through the church. She's got a bit of an uphill...but if she sticks close to the Lord...she can make it!

The second was a total surprise and she's having a boy! An older mom!

Anything past 35 is old!

We are TOTALLY excited about this. It's funny how the same announcement

has different reactions when you do things in the order God intended....

but for her to wait soooooo long....

we're just EXCITED!

And then my cousin I posted about a while back! I'm still in shock.

is it wrong of me to be

TOTALLY DISAPPOINTED!

Wasn't she suppose to be our

STELLAR EXAMPLE of our family having a doctor in it!

Was it...is it...right for me, her parents, just about everyone...

to put our hopes and dreams into

ONE PERSON!

Obviously God has other plans...

but while those plans are being fleshed out...

I'm shopping for pink and blue....she's HAVING TWINS!

The thing is...now that she's pregnant...we can't condemn...we've got to help be her support base and she can still be a doctor...just not right now.

Well it seems to be a baby explosion all over the country...

and I'm hitting Amazon.com, Babies R Us...and around the town...

to see what bargains I can get this wonderful little additions!

Well I guess I'm sulking...

Yep!

That's me!

Sulking 'cause I got no

well you know..

The thing that takes

PICTURES!

Ha!

In other family news....

My middle one is wrestling and that is consuming any spare time I THOUGHT I had.

Band season is in full swing and I'm exhausted already thinking about it...

and my little one is being dragged from place to place "supporting" his brothers!

I did pick up those cinnamon smelling pine cones so at least if it doesn't

FEEL like FALL

it smells like it!

Blessings y'all...

It's going to be a busy day!

So I'm spiraling....

So I'm spiraling...

out

of

control!

It seems that in this family

one extra curricular activity per child is the maximum!

And if you count church activities for my kids...

well

it's

a

LOT!

With that said...

I've got

cupcakes to make,

a lunch counter to volunteer at,

a band booster snack stand to stand at,

and

I need to prep my Sparks stuff for church.

I feel like I'm the stay at home mom....

WHO IS NEVER AT HOME!

Taming the Tongue!!!

So lately I've been having these

REALLY bad thought about certain people...

things like...

"She thinks she's all that?"

"She's stuck on herself?"

ETC...

and then it dawned on me...

that's the enemy

trying the

OLE

BATE

and

SWITCH!

Don't fall for it.

When we have thoughts that shouldn't pop in our heads...

just put them right out...

and think about

SOMETHING

good you know that person has in them.

I'm going to try that.

That way...

my thoughts don't become actions

and

my tongue doesn't get the best of me...

because you always THINK IT...

before YOU

SAY IT!

Blessings!

I'm a little tired....

I turned on the radio to hear a program discussing autism.

On the Christian station!

You'd think I would have been excited...but I wasn't!

I'm a little tired of

Autism

Asperger's

Spectrum

whatever you want to call it.

Inflexible

ADHD

whatever label

you want to call it!

I'm tired of teachers starting with..

"He's really smart but seems withdrawn."

"All we can do is get him to draw during art."

"His test scores are through the roof but real work seems hard."

"He rushes through his work to write little stories."

"He only seems engaged in his math class."

Ummmmmmm

I KNOW!

Yes, they draw, play, Wii and sword fight more than the average.

But I like to draw and made money at doing just that.

My husband likes math and makes money doing just that.

When crisis strikes...we both have an ability to disconnect ourselves

to get whatever that needs to be done...done....

so some of those traits aren't all bad.

I'm a little tired of the word Autism, Aspergers, ADHD!

10:08

Randonness at 10:07!

Yes...I'm still in what I wore to bed.

Yes...I haven't done my devotional...

spent too much time of facebook and twitter

and dinner isn't in the oven.

BUT

I've loved my family this morning...

by

lifting up prayers for them,

listening to music designed to point me to God.

cleaned up the breakfast onslaught and organized homework

area for the troops when they get back...

just random thoughts at 10:08!

An AHA moment....

It finally dawned on me!

Last night while I was trying to convince my husband

that

he was

DEPRESSED about his mother...

that he was

SAD she was gone...

and

that he was feeling like an orphan...

I WAS TOO!

Don't get me wrong! I know my dad is still living and I praise God for that everyday.

But what WOMAN

do I know have that

has my back,

loves me unconditionally,

thinks my kids do no wrong,

and doesn't mind when my laundry is still in the dryer.

I don't have that anymore

and

HE

doesn't either!

It's ok.

God one day will reunite us with our loved ones.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,

with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and

with the trumpet call of God,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that,

we who are still alive and are left will be

caught up together with them in the clouds

to meet the Lord in the air.

And so we will be with the Lord forever.

(parts of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Hello Kitty Pink and My Van!

You know how you look for your car in the parking lot and can't find it?

Well last night...that was me!

Walking up and down the aisles of the local

WalMart

looking for my maroon mini van!

Finally!

In the distant...I thought I saw it...

but as I walked towards the "van"

I noticed....

this one looks clean,

shiny,

pretty on the outside.

It can't be mine....

my was...no is...dirty,

dingy,

and years of boys slamming doors

have made the sides dinged out!

(an older photo...remember "me no camera"!)

No...

it WAS MINE!

The light at 7:15 in the evening was

waning...and the sky was as pink

as Hello Kitty clothes.

My van was reflecting that

and

APPEARED so clean...

so shiny!

so BEAUTIFUL!!

Well by the time I got to it...

there it was...

same old dirt...

same old dingy...

same old dint marks.

Lord!

Let the dirt in my life,

the dingyness of life not be seen.

Let the reflection of your Son cover my sin!

Let the reflection of your Love shin anew.

Let others see Jesus in me...and YOU!

I know...I'm behind...

Please be patient...

I will be back...

promise!

PINKY SWEAR!

Outta here!

On vacay.....

will be back

Friday

August 13, 2010....

Blessings!

Taming the Tongue Tuesday!

I've finally figured out why

James says in the bible...

The tongue can not be tamed...

My son comes home early from his friend's house.

"Ney what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" I press.

"Welllllll"

"What?!" Now I'm getting loud...I know...I'm working on that too...

I'm thinking....was he attacked, abused, hurt, maimed...WHAT!?

"Daniel's grandmother was cussing on the phone and I could hear her..."

"Sooooo I left. I'd tell you what she said...but then I'd be cussing too."

Now if you knew this kid...this would be shocking since he struggles with his own

MOUTH ISSUES!

So for a brief moment...I thought...way to go Ney...

you are really choosing the right attitude and actions for the Lord...then

HE

OPENED

HIS

MOUTH...

"I guess grandmothers can be idiots too."

OK God's still working on his tongue.

And mine.

And yours too!

Let us all be so sensitive of cursing, gossiping and the like,

that when we hear it...

we got to get out.

and

YES I talked to him about using that word IDIOTS...

it's a recurring theme in our household as of late...

maybe we can make it a cuss word too!

James 3:8

But no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison

Ephesians 4:29

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,

but only what is helpful for building others up

according to their needs, that it may

benefit those who listen.

GO TAME THAT TONGUE!

Can you say yes to VBS!

Glue...

paints...

brushes...

strips of leather...

foam and more foam...

We're doing crafts at

VBS!

Prayers would be appreciated!

That all goes smoothly and kids

feel

God's love!

Blessings!

The scale don't lie...

Well here I am...

another year later...

and due to a myriad of things...

20 lbs heavier...

YES...I gained 20 lbs. from July 31, 2009 to July 31, 2010!

It wasn't the best year!

But that's o.k....

God is faithful and I'm focusing on weight loss and healthy living again!

So I'm back at square 1!

This week's emphasis...

water!

water!

and

more water!

Moving my body for 30 minutes each day...somehow someway!

Next report...

Next Saturday! Hopefully there will be less of me!