Gigi's Little Blog

2008-05-28T14:32:00.000-05:00

New blog!
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Pray for the Chapman Family

2008-05-22T12:24:00.001-05:00

Please pray for the Chapman Family.

2008-05-19T06:18:00.003-05:00

Today is the 6-month anniversary of my niece Megan's death. This is a hard day for us, especially for my sister Christina and her family. Tears are right below the surface.

2008-05-17T18:02:00.001-05:00

This is an excellent post! Go read it!

Saturday

2008-05-17T06:31:00.004-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: the colors of a sunrise
Listen In:dh talking to me (sounds muffled because he is in another room and is mumbling : )
Supper Plans: beans and cornbread, salad
Today I Plan To: drive dh's new car (new to us- VW bug- 47 mpg- diesel- CUTE!!), look for outside decor for my porch at garage sales, gather horse manure for my compost pile, deposit my tenant's rent check that I was supposed to deposit on the 6th (sorry!!),
View From the Kitchen Window: a beautiful sky

**Plans, what plans?? Notice above that I had a nice little day planned out, complete with productivity around the house. Well, after going " garage saling" we went to Wal Mart to pick up a new CD rom for my computer. When we came out, there was oil pouring out of teh new VW bug...all...over...the...place. Long story short, there is a hole in the oil pan, no mechanics in our town work on VW cars, so we are taking the car on a trailer to the vw dealership in Dallas. Parts+labor=$950.
So much for my afternoon of scooping horse manure.

So glad it's Friday!

2008-05-16T06:02:00.002-05:00

I am very happy that it's Friday! I love waking up Saturday morning, knowing that I don't have to rush around getting kids ready for school and then driving back and forth several times a day. Since we live 20 minutes from school now, I feel like I am in the van a lot. Saturdays are a nice break from that. And summer is just around the corner, so I won't be making the daily drive much longer. My older boys get out on the 29th of May and my little boy gets out on the 22nd. I think I am going to cry when my little one finishes pre-k. I just love his teachers; they are so gifted at what they do and they really do love the children they teach. I will miss them next year. Plus, the fact that my sweet boy is growing up is so hard for me. I think I am going through this struggle with aging and with my kids growing up because I have hit my 30s. Okay, I am 31, so I have been "in my 30s" for more than a year now, but this all started when I turned 30. I am just having such a problem with getting older. I felt young in my 20s and my kids were all so little. Now, I feel like I am aging so quickly and my kids are getting older so quickly! I know in my head that time passes by at the same rate as it used to, but it feels like it is going by faster.

Enough about that...

We are planning to travel to Oklahoma for Memorial Day weekend. One of dh's cousins whom we haven't seen in years is coming into town with her hubby and 2 kids. Her baby is 1 year old and we have never met the sweet little thing, so that will be fun! My older boys have to go back to school the day after Memorial Day and I am trying to decide if I am going to keep them out so we can stay in OK longer or if we should drive back Monday evening so they can be in school Tuesday.

I am hosting a baby shower for Mrs. Happy in June. I haven't hosted a shower by myself before, so I am making lists galore, wanting to make sure I don't forget anything. : ) Mrs. Happy's MIL has graciously offered to let us use the party room at her condo building. It is a fancy place right in downtown Fort Worth.

My kids are still doing a great job learning their evening routine (bedtime routine). I have stuck to my weekly plan this week, for the first time in months and months. I am reaping the benefits of sticking to my plan! My house is organized and clean, which makes me feel calm and happy. School is getting done, we all have clean clothes each morning, even the outside of my house is clean and pretty. Now if I can stick to it consistently, and my home can stay calm and peaceful, that will be a great accomplishment for me.
Weekly Plan- Monday laundry day, Tuesday kitchen day (cook extra for freezer and clean kitchen top and bottom) Wednesday office day (clean desk, file papers, pay bills, etc), Thursday gardening day (any outside work and decorating), Friday cleaning day (deep cleaning added to normal chores), Saturday errands, prep for Sunday, and fun family stuff, and Sunday the Lord's Day (if I have done my prep on Saturday I can actually rest and fellowship on Sunday,which is my goal). It really doesn't take that long, just an hour or two each day, to get the extra stuff done. I have it scheduled in the afternoon when the kids do their afternoon chores. Yesterday they helped me outside and we cleaned up quite a bit and then hung up our flag on the front porch. It looks pretty and clean!

That all the update I have time for this morning. Everyone is waking up and coming downstairs so I had better go.

One more thing that is definitely worth mentioning...today is the 4 year anniversary if Isabelle's accident. Continue to pray in faith for her complete restoration. : ) God is good!

2008-05-13T10:40:00.003-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: a good book read aloud
Listen In: dd2 telling me that my sandals are dry (she wanted to unload the clothes dryer)
Supper Plans: burgers, salad, and sweet potato fries
Today I Plan To: get school done, clean the kitchen from top to bottom, shop for a car for dh
View From the Kitchen Window: dark, gloomy, wet

It has been almost a week now that I have been working with the kids on their evening routine. They are doing so well! I am very happy with their progress, good attitudes (for the most part), and smooth mornings!

2008-05-07T13:58:00.001-05:00

Training Children

“Back in the day” when we homeschooled all of our children and I had 6 kids home with me all the time, I had lots of routines and charts and all of that. (Leslie lived next door to us at the time and thought all of my charts were wildly funny!) When we moved and put them in school, all of a sudden I began doing all of the housework and chores myself. I tried a few charts and routines, but I found that it was easier to just do it myself. When they got home from school, I made them do their homework and then sent them out to play. That isn’t working so well anymore. It is nearly impossible for me to homeschool 1 child, take care of a preschooler, toddler, and baby, clean the house, cook the meals, do the laundry, and still get some sleep! Oh, and I forgot about the hour and a half I am driving each day to shuttle boys back and forth to school.

It’s time for the kids to help out at home on a consistent basis. They are great kids and they help when I ask them to, but I have not been consistent with them and it shows!

I am going to begin re-training the older ones (7-13) and training the little ones from scratch (2-5). If they would learn to pick up after themselves, that alone would make our home much more manageable.

I am going to start with the Evening Routine. This is an idea from Flylady.

Kids’ Evening Routine

Goals:

Clean up house
Get ready for tomorrow
Get ready for bed
Calm down and have a peaceful atmosphere before bed

10-minute Zone pickup

dd13-Family Room

ds9-Boys’ bathroom

B-Bar Area

E-Guest Bathroom

Ds5-Dining Room

Dd2- Girls’ bathroom

Baby- hang out with Daddy

10-minute bedroom pickup

Lay out clothes and shoes for tomorrow

Take vitamins

Get last drink

Brush teeth

Potty

Get in bed with a book until “Lights Out”

I am going to work on this with the kids every night for 3 weeks. I am going to make sure they get it down to a T. Then, we will add the Morning Routine, also from Flylady.

Kids’ Morning Routine

Wake up; Shower if needed

Get dressed to the socks

Make bed or take sheets to washer

Turn off lights and fan in bedrooms and bathrooms

Eat breakfast

Go to table for school

After they all have the morning routine down, it will be the middle of June and homeschooling will be well under way. I am going to continue working with them on our daily schedule. It helps so much if everyone knows what to do when.

It doesn’t take them long to catch on, but if I want it to stick I have to walk them through it over and over, day after day, until they can walk through it in their sleep.

After we have the school routine down, summer will be over and …

Just kidding, it shouldn’t take us that long. The next thing we’re going to work on is Afternoon Chore Time. This is an idea from Kim at Large Family Logistics. She is so amazing and inspiring and a mother of 9!

Afternoon Chore Time

4:00-5:00 pm

DD13

Put away all folded laundry

Clean zone (Family room, Girls’ laundry)

DS9

Unload/load dishwasher

Feed and water horses

Clean zone (boys’ laundry, boys’ bathroom)

Feed and water Smokey

Sweep upstairs

Clean zone (Bar and area around bar)

Wipe guest bathroom with baby wipes

Clean zone (guest bathroom)

Sweep stairs

DS5

Clean zone (dining room)

Hang up your clothes in your bedroom

DD2

Pick up toys in Family Room

Help Mommy in kitchen

Baby

Look cute

Don’t cry

After working on Afternoon Chore Time for 3 weeks, we are going to work on Table Chores (Kim at LFL). I want all of the kids to learn these things; otherwise I would just do it myself. I am trying to train them so that one day my job will be much easier and they will be prepared adults. My daughters will make great homemakers one day, very prepared and knowledgeable. My sons will make their wives happy when they help out by cleaning the kitchen and doing a fine job!

Table Chores

Set table
Fill water glasses
Scrape dishes
Carry to sink or dishwasher
Load dishwasher
Collect trash from table, put cloth napkins in laundry
Put food away
Wipe table, chairs, high chair
Sweep under table
Wash dishes
Dry dishes
Put clean dishes away, unload dishwasher
Wipe counters

Then, we will work on learning how to properly manage their bedrooms. My kids get overwhelmed if they are told, “Go clean your room.” They need it broken down for them. During our Evening Routine, they are to straighten their bedrooms for 10 mintues. I may have them do these things during that time, or I may assign these things during Afternoon Chore Time, or I may save them for Fridays (we do a 4-day Sonlight program, so on Fridays they will do one math lesson, then no school for the rest of the day).

Kids’ Bedroom Management

1. Make the bed

2. Put away any clean laundry

3. Put dirty laundry in hamper

4. Put toys/stuff where it belongs. If it doesn’t’ have a home, ask Mommy to help you find one.

5. Clean off surfaces- tops of dressers, windowsills, desks

6. Dust the surfaces you just cleaned off

7. Clean under the beds

8. Closets- get everything off floor, put it all away, line up shoes neatly, hang up clothes neatly

Last, but not least, if Outside Chores. These will be done on Saturdays with the whole family outside doing outside work.

Kid Assignments

Porch, walls- sweep, clean
Garage - straighten & sweep
Vehicles - trash, belongings, dust, vacuum
Toy and Trash pickup
Pick up sticks, put them in fire pit, and have a hot dog and marshmallow roast at the end of the day!

By this time, it will be October and the weather will be beginning to get cool. A hot dog and marshmallow roast will be great in the cooler weather!

Life never goes according to my schedule, but I think it is important to plan it anyway. If I have a plan in hand, I can go back to it after the interruptions and do the next thing.

I’m really glad life doesn’t go according to my schedule or my plans. Some of the best times I have had, the best memories, were during the interruptions of life. But we also have a family of 9, 2 horses, 1 dog, and 11 acres to take care of and that takes some planning and work!

I hear a little one crying, so I had better go! So much for that cup of coffee I wanted to have out on the porch, listening and watching the rain while the kids slept…

2008-05-07T13:05:00.001-05:00

Planning For A Rainy Day

Dave Ramsey teaches to plan for a rainy day in the form of an emergency fund. An emergency fund begins as $1,000 set aside for the day when the car won’t start, your little one needs stitches and insurance won’t cover it, etc. I was thinking about this today as I was cleaning up our lunch mess and I began to think of other ways I could be preparing for the rainy days that are sure to come: days when I am sick and can barely get out of bed, those early days of pregnancy when I feel like the rug has gotten jerked out from under me, the days of winter when I have multiple kids sick and all I do is rock babies and clean up throw up all day. Gross, but reality.

A side note: last Saturday my van wouldn’t start. We got all ready to go to Dallas for the Asian festival downtown. We are beginning a study of Japan and dh thought it would be neat to go to this festival. So, we got the entire family ready and got into the van. Dh started the van and it died. This happened again, and again, and again. Dh would not give up. We did this for about 20 minutes, sitting in the garage. By that time, a few kids were whining and starting to bicker amongst themselves. DD13 was cracking up and I was beginning to get impatient. To make a LONG story short, thankfully I had that emergency fund in place because yesterday I paid a bill of $436.58 for a new fuel pump. If we didn’t have the money set aside, we would have been up a creek.

Also, I was in bed yesterday afternoon and evening with some kind of yucky stomach virus and I was wishing I had done some “rainy day/sick day” planning to make things easier on my family.

Okay, back to my rainy day planning.

The areas that go to the wayside when rainy days hit are

1) Laundry

2) Meals

3) Meal cleanup

One thing I can think of to make meals less of a problem is having meals in the freezer so dh or dd13 can pop one of those in the oven, make a salad and a pitcher of tea and voila! Dinner is ready!

Meal cleanup and laundry are very challenging, especially if we’re talking about an extended amount of rainy day time, like 2 weeks of the flu, or 12 weeks of morning sickness. : ) One idea is to put 2 children in charge of meal cleanup and rotate it weekly during these times. I can do the same with laundry. That sounds like it will work. I will have to make charts to tell them exactly what to do so that it will get clean up well. I don’t know about your kids but mine DO NOT clean the way I want them to unless I am standing over them and then they still don’t act like they know what to do even when I am telling them what to do.

Doesn’t it sound like a fun home we live in? It actually is fun most of the time. Chore time is not fun for them or for me. But the results are very fun for me. Sanity is fun!!

I am going to try to take some time to make charts for them so that I can pull them out when I need to. Also, I am going to try to make double meals a couple of times a week and stick one in the freezer. I am going to take out the extra meal and freeze it before we eat or else it will get eaten, too. If my kids and hubby see extra food sitting on the counter or stove, they will eat it!! I am also going to pack dh’s lunch for the next day before we eat. That way, he will be sure to have a nice meals to take with him instead of having to eat pb and honey. Lately there have been no leftovers at all. Last night dd13 cooked dinner. She grilled 5 chicken breasts, made brown rice, and backed broccoli (drizzle broccoli with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes~ thanks Annie for the idea!). After dinner all that was left was a little bit of brown rice! My kids are beginning to eat like people have always told me they would as they grew. It’s true! Bigger kids eat more food. Wow, what a concept!

I am going to stop rambling now. Hopefully this little post will help me get some planning done so that next time we have a rainy or sick day, we will be prepared!

Blessings or Products of Nature?

2008-05-02T07:04:00.001-05:00

bless·ing - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	the act or words of a person who blesses.

2.	a special favor, mercy, or benefit: the blessings of liberty.

3.	a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.

Does God bless us today with physical blessings? Or are Christians under the New Covenant blessed with spiritual blessings?

Someone I respect and trust, we’ll call him “Joe”, believes that in the Old Testament God blessed His people with physical blessings: children, wealth, long lives, and protection. I agree with this. God’s Word clearly supports this.

Joe also believes that in the New Testament and today, God blesses His people, Christians, with spiritual blessings, not physical blessings. He believes that Christians receive good things in their lives (blessings) because they are following Christ and making Christlike decisions: good health because we are not out drinking and partying, good marriages because we are following Christ and being humble and loving, etc.

What is your opinion of this?

I hadn’t thought much about it, really, because Joe tends to get very focused on one thing in the Bible and study it until it seems almost legalistic, becoming very technical and losing focus on the idea presented.

But then my husband and I started a Bible study by Nancy Campbell called Be Fruitful and Multiply: What the Bible Says About Having Children. In this study, the author lists scripture after scripture from the OT about children being a blessing, God opening and closing the womb, God loving fruitfulness, and God knitting each person together in their mother’s womb. There are also scriptures from the NT, but the majority of the scriptures she references are in the OT.

We started discussing what Joe believes and it is really bothering me. If what he believes is true, then children are no longer a blessing. Children would be a physical blessing God gave His children.

This leads me to another issue: Does God create each child individually? Is God involved in the conception of children or are children just a result of “nature”?

Joe believes that God set the world in motion, made “nature” and that He no longer has a direct hand in our lives. He believes that children are conceived because their parents were intimate at the “right time of the month.” Obviously there is an egg and sperm and all of that and yes, it all has to join together at the right time, but I have always believed that God has a hand in conception.

Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Psalm 139:15
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth…

I have always believed, especially since I became an adult and studied the Bible for myself, that God created each one of us in His image (Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.), He knit each on of us together in our mother’s womb (Job 31:15
Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?), and children are a gift from Him (Psalm 127:3
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.).

If what Joe believes is true, then everything I have believed all these years and everything I have based my decision to “let God control my family size” is for naught.

Here are the issues I am studying and trying to figure out:

Do Christians receive physical blessings from God today?
Are children still a blessing to Christians today?
Does God form each baby or are we all products of “nature”?

Feel free to email me or to comment. I am really searching.

Homeschooling and Gasoline

2008-04-30T13:28:00.004-05:00

We are going to homeschool all of our children this summer. Dh has asked me to do this for 2 reasons:

So I can see if I can handle homeschooling all of them again
So they will be kept busy and not get into as much mischief as they would if they had all the time in the world on their hands for 3 months : )

We are trying to make a decision about homeschooling again or keeping them in public school where they are now. This year we have one at home homeschooling (13 year old daughter), 3 in elementary school, and 1 in pre-k. We love their teachers. We love their school. We even kind of like our school district. It’s a decent one, anyway. So, the schools and teachers are not the problem.

The other children are the problem. We have always known this, but right now it is slapping us right in the face. Our children have great friends, kids from good homes who have great parents who parent them well, as far as we can tell. But there are the other kids, the ones who write curse words with poop on the bathroom walls, the ones who get into fights at recess and give other kids bloody noses, the ones who tell your son his new haircut looks gay and the person who cut his hair is stupid. Those kids.

I have one child (ds9) who comes home from school about once a week with stories to tell me about. For example, how one kid says the F word and other curse words when the teachers aren’t around. This kid is twice my son’s size and is a mean kid. Ds9 told me that last year he had never even heard that word and now he hears it all time and he knows what it means. HE IS NINE YEARS OLD. I seriously do not remember knowing what that word meant until much later, probably 6^th or 7th grade.

That is just an example of why we are considering pulling them out of public school and having them home again. Our twins are still young enough that they are not having to deal with this stuff just yet. They have come home with the occasionally bad word, but it is not at nearly as bad as what ds9 is dealing with.

If I could employ their teachers to just teach them the academics without all the junk involved with school, I would do that in a heartbeat. They are really learning the academics and they are doing really well academically. But when your child has a stomach ache because he doesn’t want to go to school, you have to take it seriously. This child of mine is not a wimp, he is not a social reject, he is not an introvert by any stretch of the imagination. He is cute, outgoing, has lots of good friends, is friendly to everyone, he got the best attitude award for the whole 4^th grade, he won best Christian character award at camp last year out of all the boys. In other words, he’s a great kid!

I am the kind of parent who questions everything. I question immunizations and their safety. I question the prescriptions the dr. gives me. I question the movies my kids watch at school and home. I question what things my kids will be doing/watching at friends’ houses. I question so many things that my mom and lots of other moms didn’t/don’t think a thing about. I don’t know why I am like that. Sometimes it gets on my own nerves and I know it gets on other people’s nerves. Like my husband’s. : )

My point is, I am not going to just put my kids in school and leave them there even if it’s awful for them and hope that they turn out alright and hope the bullies go away and hope my kids never say the curse words they hear all day. I know kids have to be in the “real world” and they have to learn to stand up for themselves and make wise choices. That is why it’s a hard decision to homeschool or not to homeschool. We don’t want to overprotect, yet we want what is the absolute very best for them. We only get to parent these children one time. We want to do our very best.

So, like I said earlier, we are going to homeschool them over the summer and see how it goes. If it goes well, and I am still sane at the end of the summer, we will keep our 9 year old (will be in 5^th grade next year) and our 5 year old (will be in K next year) home next year. Our twins (will be in 2^nd grade) will be in the gifted and talented program at school and we are probably going to leave them in school and see how that goes next year.

We are currently using Sonlight for dd13. We LOVE it!!!! We (she and I) are learning lots and lots of good stuff. I love the Biblical worldview Sonlight teaches.

I plan to use Sonlight with the other kids over the summer as well as use the materials I have from our previous homeschooling days. I am looking forward to it. I need to get organized again. Having them in school for a couple of years has allowed me to get lazy with my time. I need to take some hours and work on a loose summer schedule/routine.

Another thing that is going on in our family has to do with the rising gas and diesel prices. Right now dh drives a Ford F250 diesel 4x4. He drives about 110 miles a day. With diesel prices at about $4.10 in North Texas, our budget for gasoline is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! I drive about 60 miles a day shuttling my boys back and forth to school and that adds to the gasoline expense. It is really expensive for us to drive these days. I know it is for everyone else, too.

Thankfully, we are getting back a nice tax refund and also a nice little rebate tax thingy from the government. We are going to use that to buy dh a Volkswagen Jetta that gets around 40 mpg. We will save about $350/month in gas for him alone. If I park my van this summer and basically stay home all week, running errands in his Jetta on Saturday mornings, we will save around $700/month in gasoline. How crazy is that!?! It will be hard for me to stay home, but I will need to stay home anyway. I mean, it is hard to homeschool if we are not at home, right?

Right now I am listening to dd2 roll around on my bed, trying to keep herself from falling asleep. I can also hear loud thumps coming from ds5’s bedroom, which is right above my desk. Thankfully, the baby has stopped crying and is finally asleep (he cried for all of 5 minutes). I had better go see what the loud thumps are above my head.

Have a great Wednesday!

A letter to my birthday boy

2008-04-29T13:49:00.007-05:00

To my little munchkin,

How could one year have passed so quickly? It seems like it was just yesterday that you were a tiny infant (8 pounds!) and now you have grown into a delightful, squealing toddler. Everywhere we go people comment on how joyful you are. “That is the happiest baby I have ever seen!”

I love your sweet little crinkled-nose grin, showing all 7 of your teeth (included the one in the front that you chipped last Saturday when you fell and hit your mouth on the side of the bathtub). I love it when you wake up in the mornings and want to cuddle in bed with Mommy and Daddy. I love how warm and soft you are.

You are now toddling around everywhere, falling down every few steps, but getting right back up and taking off at full speed, grinning all the time! You love to follow Daddy and Papa around the house as they work. You also love to bite us on the shoulder when you give us a hug!

You say a few words: Dada (first word, of course : ), tick-a-tick-a-tick-a, dog. Notice that the word Mommy is not in the list. Hopefully you will learn that one very soon.

I enjoy my time with you, watching you grow, laughing at the funny things you do, and cherishing this time when you are so small. I know you have to grow up, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for you. But at the same time, I wish I could stretch this baby time a little while longer. It is bittersweet. One day, when you are a daddy, you will read this and understand what I mean.

I will always treasure the memories of your first year. You are a treasure to me, a gift, a rich blessing straight from the hand of our God.

Happy Birthday, baby boy!

A Birthday Celebration!

2008-04-28T17:16:00.003-05:00

Our Little Guy turns 1 tomorrow, so this past weekend we had a birthday party for him. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. My mom, dad, and 2 nieces came down to celebrate with us! We had a great, busy weekend!

2008-04-14T22:21:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I am back after a week or so of having no computer. We now have dial-up internet, so my blogging time will be drastically reduced until we get something faster.

We closed on our house last Monday. We are enjoying every bit of it (even the brush fire was an adventure..now if it had gotten to my house I would not have enjoyed it quite so much) and are unpacking our things one box at a time. It makes such a difference when unpacking to know that we will be here for the rest of our lives, unless of course God has some other place in mind for us to live. I sure hope we stay here because I love it here and I hate moving : )

I am tired and need to go to sleep so I am not going to spend anymore time writing tonight. I hope to take our annual bluebonnet pictures tomorrow and will plan to post them this weekend. Tomorrow is also ds5’s “Rodeo” at his preschool. I will have pictures of that as well.

A Giveaway!!!

2008-03-27T16:07:00.002-05:00

Annie is having a great springy giveaway! Yay!
Go check it out. These candles are the greatest!!

Moving pictures!

2008-03-25T13:10:00.005-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the new house and the kids helping us unpack.

Moving Day Three

2008-03-25T08:13:00.003-05:00

Guess where I have slept the past 2 nights? Yes, you guessed it, the new house! It feels so great to wake up there.

I will hopefully get my pc hooked up at new house today and I will write more. Right now I am at the rent house on my knees because there are no chairs here. My desk and the piano are still here alone with tons of little things that should probably be thrown away. Junk.

Have a great Tuesday!

2008-03-23T08:32:00.000-05:00

2008-03-23T08:25:00.002-05:00

The Resurrection

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

Frugal Brainstorming

2008-03-22T11:24:00.002-05:00

Julie’s Frugal Ideas

Keep in mind that these suggestions are temporary. Once we are out of debt (everything but the house) we will loosen up a little bit. Some of these things we may continue because they are smart and make sense. The more of these ideas we put into practice, the sooner our total debt will be paid off.

Food/Groceries/Grocery Shopping

~Follow Hillbilly Housewife’s $45/week menu once a month (www.hillbillyhousewife.com)

~Follow Hillbilly Housewife’s $70/week menu once a month

~Bake treats from scratch (cinnamon rolls, banana bread, zucchini bread, cupcakes, cakes, brownies, etc.)

~Plan dessert 3x a week to keep dh from eating candy and ice cream on his way home J

~Cook double and freeze half; do this at least once a week

~Leftover Night once a week

~Shop for food once a week

~When shopping, only buy what is on my list

~Leave debit cards at home

~Use Dave’s cash envelope system

~Plant a garden

~More With Less cookbook

~Use what we have in the pantry/freezer for our meals

~Buy a large jar of applesauce and put into small containers for boys’ lunches

~Make pudding/jello and do the same

~Make sure they bring home their water bottles each day

~Make KoolAid once a week and put into their water bottles

~Get creative with their sandwiches: tortilla wraps, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey, turkey and ham, cheese, chicken salad

~Eat meat/poultry with dinner twice a week

~Have beans and rice/beans and cornbread, eggs and homemade biscuits/bread, baked oatmeal and scrambled eggs several times a month

~Use Betty Crocker cookbook for basic recipes

~Have cold cereal on Saturday mornings only

~Shop at bakery outlet

~Base menus on sale ads

Our Time

~Stay in town from 8-11, then pick up ds5 and go home for the afternoon

~Do Sonlight at park or library

~Make Fridays library days; be sure to get books back on time; 1 book per person

~Work in garden on Saturday afternoons

~Sunday afternoons have to be a time of rest; after lunch, the kids and I need to go to bed for the afternoon

~Budget Committee Meeting each Sunday evening

~Use my planner

Selling Our Stuff/Getting Rid Of Excess

~Ask Dad to find a home for the horses

~Do not pay for a U Haul for moving to new house

~Get rid of cell phones

~Only basics on Verizon phone bill

~Have garage sale

~List piano in paper, on Total Money Makeover forums, and on Craig’s List

~Shop garage sales on Saturday morning for things to resale

~List items on eBay Sunday pm (8ish)

~Buy Weight Watchers book on eBay and count points manually; cancel Weight Watchers online

~Collect cans and take to recycling center for kids’ spending money

~Sell weight bench

Conserving

~Use cloth diapers at home; disposable diapers when we leave the house

~Put panties on dd2 at home; disposable diapers on her when we leave the house

~Save $50 a month for car repairs and keep the van as long as possible

~Fix things as they go wrong; don’t wait until there are 5 things needing repair

~Keep thermostat at 64 (daytime) 62 (nighttime) in winter and 80 (daytime) 78 (nighttime) in summer

~Set program on thermostat so we don’t have to adjust it

~Conserve water by using faucet aerators

~Use compact fluorescent light bulbs

~Use rechargeable batteries

~Use clothesline or clothes rack

~Use low-flow showerheads in both showers

~Set a timer in the bathrooms for showers

~Run errands once a week (Fridays)

~Use powder dishwasher detergent instead of tabs; see if powder is really less expensive than tabs or liquid

~Use 4 cleaners only (bleach, window cleaner, all purpose cleaner, vinegar)

~Wash everything in cold water

~Sew patches in the boys’ and dd2's pants

~Put bibs on babies

~Keep SA8 stain treatment on hand all the time; buy several

Bargain Shopping/Smart Purchases

~Stock up on essentials (diapers, wipes, toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, dishwasher detergent, shampoo) when they go on sale and/or I have a coupon

~Pay $89 for yearly membership to Total Money Makeover online instead of paying monthly (25 cents a day if I pay yearly)

~Take advantage of rebates at Walgreen’s and CVS

~Check Money Saving Mom’s blog at least weekly for bargains and freebies

~Shop at consignment stores and garage sales for mine and kids’ clothes and shoes

~Shop at Kohl’s sales for dh's clothes and shoes

~Research refillable ink cartridges

Smart Things To Do

~Get hay crop going on back part of land (mow the whole thing, get rid of tires and metal, fertilize)

~Cut up credit cards (videotape it and send it to Dave Ramsey’s TV show)

~Get papers organized so that all receipts and warranty paperwork is filed and I can easily find it

~Keep desk clean and organized

~Keep checkbook balanced

~Take Shonda Parker’s Naturally Healthy Family course ($300)

~Use Trilight herbs to treat illnesses

~Give kids a good quality vitamin; try giving them the full dose of Juice Plus

~Clean, paint, and repair this house so we can get our deposit back

~Learn to cut the kids’ hair

~Put Pay Per Posts on my blog

~Do taxes; e-file

~Look for ways to have “free fun”

Frugal Reading List

Not Just Beans by Tawra Jean Kellum

A Simple Choice, by Deborah Taylor-Hough

Frugal Living For Dummies(R), by Deborah Taylor-Hough

Unplug the Christmas Machine: Putting Joy Back into the Holiday, by Jo Robinson

30 Days to a Simpler Life, by Connie Cox

Eat Healthy for $50 a Week: Feed Your Family Nutritious Delicious Meals for Less, by Rhonda Barfield

More-With-Less Cookbook, by Doris Janzen Longacre

365 TV-Free Activities You Can Do With Your Child, by Steven J. Bennet

Unclutter Your Home, by Donna Smallin

Dinner’s in the Freezer: More Mary, Less Martha , by Jill Bond

2008-03-20T09:13:00.003-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: Spring air
Listen In: boys playing football on ps2
Supper Plans: not sure yet
Today I Plan To: grocery shopping, shoe shopping for ds9
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine and shadows

2008-03-20T09:02:00.002-05:00

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

Sorry About That!

2008-03-20T08:37:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness, I was so whiney yesterday morning! My day definitely got better. I got the upstairs floors sanded and re-finished, then I helped Dad all day on various things. Last night before we left, we cleaned and put one coat of finish on one set of stairs and all of the downstairs floors. We worked until 11:30 pm, so I am a wee bit tired, but I am very excited about the progress we made yesterday.

Today the heat and air will be completed and tomorrow the propane will be installed and all appliances hooked up. We will put a 2nd coat of finish on the floors before Dad leaves to go back to Oklahoma. Then we will be able to move in on Easter Sunday.

The shower in the master bathroom will not be completed when we move in and there are a few light fixtures that I have not picked out yet so we have little porcelain fixtures that just hold a bare bulb. But I can live with that until I find fixtures I like. The dining room chandelier and the entryway light fixtures are the ones I am having trouble finding. I have looked at Lowes and Home Depot. There is a store in town called Lone Star that has Texas/Western style fixtures and furniture and I am going to look there.

Tomorrow the youth group is coming 0ut to help pick up trash outside of the house. There is so much trash to pick up! The wind has blown stuff all over the 11 acres and probably into the neighbor's land as well. Hopefully we will have that picked up soon.

That's all for now! Have a great Thursday!

Discouragement

2008-03-19T07:59:00.002-05:00

I am discouraged this morning. There are 2 reasons for this:
1. Mom and I put the 2nd coat of finish on the wood floors upstairs in the kids' bedrooms yesterday morning. We figured that turning on the fans would benefit us by helping the floors dry faster. Wrong. Yes, the floors dried faster, but little bubbles are all in the floor, making it look kind of like bubble wrap. That is not exactly the look we are going for, so today I get to sand all of the bubbles out and start over. I feel like we wasted a whole day. I am really thinking about crying over this.
2. I listed a bunch of homeschooling books and curriculum on eBay Saturday. it took me hours to do this. Well, when I paid my account balance last week through PayPal, I accidentally clicked on "Pay Now " before realizing that I had authorized payment from an old bank account that is closed, instead of our current bank account. Today when I went to sign in to eBay to check the items I was selling, it told me that my account was suspended for nonpayment. Blah blah blah, to make along story short, now I have to relist everything. Again, I feel like to totally wasted my day Saturday.

We want to move in this Saturday. I am tired. I want to cry. My children have been home with a babysitter all day everyday since Monday. My kids and I are not used to me being gone from morning till night. My baby is missing me and I am missing him. Last night I called to check on him and to let the kids know I was on my way home and Baby was screaming at the top of his lungs. When I got home, he was already asleep. So sad. : (

2008-03-17T20:53:00.002-05:00

Okay, I lied. I didn't mean to though!! My mom's camera requires some fancy little thing that she left at home. It won't upload pictures without it, which means you will not get to see pictures of the house and kids and Aunt Maxine and Aunt Sandra and mom and dad and my cute hubby until next week when she gets home and emails the pictures to me.

Sorry!!

2008-03-17T07:05:00.003-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: visiting with someone you haven't seen in a long time
Listen In: Baby talking and kids breathing as they sleep
Supper Plans: Crockpot Herbed Chicken, brown rice, salad
Today I Plan To...be very happy that it is Spring Break and I don't have to drop off/pick up kids from school, work on the new house with my mom, dad, mom-in-law, and dad-in-law
View From the Kitchen Window: dark outside

Yesterday I got to see my Aunt Maxine. I haven't seen Aunt Maxine in almost 10 years! The last time I saw her was at my Grandad's funeral, which was when ds9 was 6 weeks old. She is going to be at my other aunt's house all week and yesterday both aunts drove down to see us. These are my mom's 2 sisters. It was so much fun to see her! She is 72 years old but seems MUCH younger. I enjoy being around her so much. We met up with some friends from the town I grew up in who happened to be in this area this weekend as well, and we all (my family of 9, my parents, my n-laws, our friends from home, and my 2 aunts) went out to eat at a great local Mexican food place. We had a great time and it is a memory I will cherish always. I took lots of pictures and I will post them later today because they are on my mom's camera!

We are working, working, working on the house this week, trying to get in by this weekend!!! I have hired a babysitter today, tomorrow, and Wednesday to keep the little ones here so I can help out some at the house. My mom is such a hard worker. She is one of those people who is constantly working on something. She never sits down. Seriously. So having her here for the week encourages all of us to not sit down and to keep working. And, of course, having her here lifts everyone's spirits because she is a very cheerful little gal!

I had better go get ready for the day. I am siting here in my jammies, wrapped up in a blankie, and the babysitter will be here in 45 minutes. I wil post those pics later today.

2008-03-13T04:58:00.002-05:00

When I went to bed last night my house was pretty messy. The kitchen was especially neglected. I have been leaving the house every morning this week at 7:45 to take the boys to school and not getting back home until after 3:30 when I pick the boys up from school. We have been doing “carschooling” this week while we run all over North Texas running errands for my dad and my father-in-law as they finish up our house.

Last night I finished dd13’s school at about 10:30 and crashed. I was so tired that I fell asleep in my clothes. I just woke up when my alarm went off. I came into the living room and it looked rather clean. Hmmm…I turned on the light and it was definitely clean. Then I walked into the kitchen and was sure I was in the wrong house. Either that or someone broke into our house last night and cleaned the kitchen. Spotless. Floor mopped. All dishes done. Table cleaned off. Table polished. Piles of dirty laundry begging to be washed are gone. I am not sure where they are and I am not going to look.

I know my hubby didn’t do this because he took Benadryl last night and the last time I saw him he was snoring.

That leaves dd13 as the sneaky cleaner. Wow! What a HUGE blessing to wake up to a clean kitchen and living room. Oh, and did I mention that Mt. Washmore, who had been taking up the couch and spilling onto the floor, is folded?

I hope she didn’t stay up until wee hours of the morning working on this. But if she did, I feel even more thankful and grateful to her. What a sweetheart! I am super blessed and thankful and very loved!

Now, if it really wasn’t dd13 who did this wonderful thing, I have to figure out who exactly It was. I’ll keep you posted!

** Update** It was dd13 who cleaned up for me. She stayed up until 2:30 am cleaning!! She couldn't find the mop (??) so she scrubbed the kitchen floor on her hands and knees!! AND she has arranged for the youth group from our church to come out to the new house and do a major cleanup the day before we are scheduled to move in (which is now March 22, btw). What a sweetie!!

Spring Cleaning Guide

2008-03-11T06:38:00.002-05:00

Amy over at The Motherload
has put together a great guide to Spring cleaning. Today is Day Two of week One, so hurry up and check it out!!

2008-03-06T17:03:00.004-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: the color green
Listen In: E playing with Baby and ds5 talking
Supper Plans: pintos and cornbread
Today I... ran errands, homeschooled
This evening I am going to pay bills, fold laundry, and do the supper dishes. Our homeschool program (Sonlight) is a 4-day program so we get Fridays off (except math, which we do M-F). Fridays are supposed to be cleaning and errand days, but I have been running errands everyday while we are building the house.
Tomorrow will be cleaning day, I hope. However, tomorrow is supposed to be wintery weather here, so I may have all 7 children cooped up all day. It's hard to clean when they are cooped up in the house. They make major messes when the weather is too bad to play outside!
View From the Kitchen Window: raining cats and dogs : )

2008-03-05T06:28:00.003-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: homeschooling in Texas
Listen In: Mister Rogers
Supper Plans: spaghetti, Italian green beans, garlic bread
Today I Plan To: homeschool dd13, shuttle boys to and from school, make a quick trip to the grocery store, go to church service tonight, go out to new house and look around at the progress (our move- in date is getting SO close!!!)
View From the Kitchen Window: dawn

Decorating for Easter

2008-03-01T17:04:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone,
I hope your weekend is pleasant and relaxing. Ours has not been, but that is okay. We have managed to pass around a nasty stomach virus all week and today Baby and I are finishing up our bout with it. Lovely.

The garage sale didn't happen, obviously. We will try again next Friday. : )

I would like to decorate my new home for Easter. Can any of you give me some ideas for decorating without spending lots of money? I want to do some simple things that will not stretch my creative side too much. I don't have much of a creative side, that's the problem. I have been searching around on the internet for ideas, but haven't seen anything that really catches my eye. it has to be EASY and QUICK.

Thanks!
Have a happy weekend!

Today's List

2008-02-28T12:54:00.002-06:00

Keep the basics going (laundry, dishes, trash)
Finish cleaning living room (kid clutter, dust, vacuum)
Pack living room
Work on desk (sort, pack, clean)
Clean up driveway and side yard
Put gray table in garage
Set up extra wooden table in garage
Take all garage sale stuff outside onto driveway
Start sorting
Go to bank and get cash
Buy garage sale signs (5)
Put signs out tonight after dark

Did I mention that I am having a $1 Garage Sale tomorrow-Sunday?

Here's the plan: Friday everything is $1 (like Dollar Tree), Saturday everything is $.50, and Sunday I am putting a sign out that says FREE- Take It!!
Monday morning I am putting everything out on the curb and Tuesday is trash day. I can't wait to get rid of all of that junk!

2008-02-28T06:50:00.001-06:00

Did I mention that we would be done painting a few days ago? Ha ha ha ha ha What was I thinking?? Painting is a NEVER ENDING project, you see. Especially when you have to go back for more paint and Lowe's doesn't get the paint matched exactly and so when you paint the wall and think it is going to match the color that is already on the wall, when it dries you find out that it is a slight shade lighter.
Oh well, who cares? My solution to this problem: come home, take Nyquil, and go to bed at 9 pm.
This morning I feel rested and ready to deal with mismatching paint.

2008-02-27T08:05:00.004-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: working together, having a great marriage that will withstand extreme stress, happy children, washing machines
Listen In: garage door opening
Supper Plans: not sure yet
Today I Plan To: work through my To Do list, while taking care of little ones. You know, the norm.
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine on the grass

2008-02-25T08:11:00.002-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: husbands who take kids to school for you
Good Things: It is supposed to get to 78 degrees here today, Michelle had a healthy baby boy, my children are all recovered from the flu, I am also recovered from the flu, Jesus loves me, and my husband is off work all week!!
Listen In: Me telling my 5 year old son that if he didn't want to brush his teeth everyday he should have been born in Africa. ??? Intelligent conversations like these happen often when I am around. (Hopefully no one from Africa is reading this and getting offended. No offense intended, it just popped out of my mouth.)
Supper Plans: roasted chicken, baked potatoes, green beans
Today I Plan To: help dh paint new house (We will FINALLY be finished painting today. I repainted my kitchen and my bedroom and that slowed us down quite a bit.)
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine

Congrats to Mrs. Happy!!

2008-02-22T15:36:00.004-06:00

I just got the wonderful news that my great friend, Mrs. Happy, will be having a baby BOY in late July/early August!! She and her hubby have 2 sweet little girls, so there is much excitement around their house right now. There's nothing like a little boy to shake things up in life! ; )

2008-02-22T11:50:00.003-06:00

We just got back from the pediatrician. Dd13 and Ds9 have the flu, type b. I woke up last night feeling like I had been hit by a mack truck. I am assuming I have the same thing.
I am getting ready to call dh and ask him to take 1/2 day of vacation to come home and take care of me. I just need to sleep.
Have a great weekend and I will hopefully be back Monday.

2008-02-21T12:34:00.002-06:00

It is rainy and dreary here today. I have been to the paint store to get more stain for the wood trim in the new house. Yesterday I accidentally bought 2 gallons of the wrong color stain so this morning I took it back. They didn't have the color I need so this afternoon at 2 they will have it and I have to go back and pick it up.

Then I need to run to Lowe's and order our floor tile, bath tile, linoleum for kids' bathrooms, and Formica for cabinet tops. I am also thinking of ordering some glass tiles for behind the oven/stove area.

I have 3 kids down with this flu or virus that we have been passing around. Dd13 is beginning to improve, ds9 woke up with a fever this morning, and ds5 had a fever yesterday when I picked him up from Pre-K. Yuck! So far I just have allergy symptoms...itchy, watery eyes and nose, scratchy throat, sneezing. No fever. I feel pretty good, considering. Dh has also managed to stay healthy.

Dh's boss has been here all week from California. He has been working late all week. Last night he got home after 10 and the 2 nights before that he was home after 9. I am ready for him to be home at a normal time again! 5:30 is his norm.

Papa (Dad) was supposed to go home today because he has a wedding to be in tomorrow night, but the roads in OKC are icy so he has to stay here another night. And he can't even come over and visit with us because the kids are sick! He will have to spend another night out in the camper by himself. This house project is almost over and he will get to go home and stay home. I'm sure he and Mom will both be glad to see the end of this project. It has been 7 months so far. By the time we are completely finished I think it will be an 8-month project. He hasn't been here the whole time, but he has done quite a bit of traveling back and forth. Lately, he has been here all week and then he goes home for the weekends and is back on Monday morning.

That's about it for an update.

Have a great Thursday!

Reality vs. Plans

2008-02-19T10:59:00.002-06:00

What I am actually doing today: taking care of sick dd13 and ds5, cleaning up dd2' s messes, being physically drained, wishing it was naptime, planning an outing to Chick fil A drive thru for lunch, and watching Baby take HIS FIRST STEPS!!!!

Wasn't it just yesterday that he looked like this??

2008-02-19T06:54:00.003-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: birdsong in the morning
Listen In: my printer printing out calendar pages for March
Supper Plans: pizza
Today I Plan To: school with dd13, take care of sick ds5, shuttle boys back and forth to school, attempt (again) to shop for jeans, prepare tax return
View From the Kitchen Window: frost

2008-02-18T12:37:00.002-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: the right color on the wall
Listen In: Andy Griffith
Supper Plans: not sure yet...I think Pizza Potatoes (Fix It and Forget It)
Today I Plan To: school with dd13, laundry, vacuum, return jeans to Beall's, shop for new jeans at JCPenney, give 30-day notice to landlords, buy new air filter and new ink cartidge

Look what happened at our house tonight!

2008-02-16T19:02:00.002-06:00

Ds 5 started feeling a bit better after taking ibuprofen. He started jumping around, then he fell and hit his head on the corner of the piano bench. The picture above is what resulted. We went to the ER, then decided to come back home and evaluate it more before seeing a doctor.
On Dr. Sears' website (www.askdrsears.com) he says that if the cut is gaping open 3/16" you need to get it stitched closed. I measured ds5's cut and it is 2/16". The advice given was to use either steri-strips or skin super glue. We cut his hair and tried to use steri-strips, but that didn't work, so we used skin super glue. We held the wound together and glued it shut. It worked! The bleeding has stopped. We have given him ibuprofen and he is feeling lots better.

Dr. Sears says there are two reasons to go ahead with stitches: 1) to stop bleeding, 2) for cosmetic reasons. He says if the cut is in a spot that will not be seen, you can try to avoid stitches by trying to close the wound at home.

I really like Dr. Sears! I have read most of his books and I agree with a lot of what he advises. I am glad I looked at his website instead of taking my baby to the ER. I think they would have gone ahead and stitched it up if we had gone inside. But I think we made the best decision for ds5.

2008-02-16T10:04:00.001-06:00

This morning I awoke to a houseful of puny children. 6 out of 7 children have some mysterious illness that mimics the flu. I guess it could be the real flu, but it resolves itself in 3-4 days, whereas the true flu takes a couple of weeks to get over, in our experience.

The first symptom is itchy, watery eyes (which, unfortunately, I have this morning)

Then an itchy throat

Then burning, hurting eyes- the eyeball and eye socket

Followed by high fever, lethargy, and body aches. Oh yes, and stomach aches that present themselves in a variety of ways. I will spare you those lovely details.

Yesterday Baby was the only healthy child. Last night he awakened with a fever and lots of crying. This morning B is the healthy one (although he is very cranky and precocious) and all of the other children are feeling the effects of this illness.

Daddy is out at the new house with Papa. Papa is painting the new cabinets (which are beautiful!) and Daddy is painting the interior of the house with a nifty spray gun thingy that his friend let him borrow.

I had great plans for today. I knew I would be dealing with some puniness, but I planned to get laundry finished up, floors vacuumed and swept, and trashcans emptied. But Baby has other plans for his mommy. Those plans include holding him constantly, alternating between rocking him in the rocking chair and walking around the room while holding him. I don’t mind, though. He is getting so big and active that I rarely get to just sit and hold him. The housework can wait a while. Maybe when Baby takes his nap I can get some things done.

I hope you all have a super Saturday and a sensational Sunday! (I couldn’t resist)

Dealing with stress God's way

2008-02-15T06:34:00.003-06:00

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

2008-02-14T06:41:00.000-06:00

2008-02-13T16:46:00.002-06:00

"If I had $100 I would helpe peple pay hospitle billes. And food for peple that are weeke. And toys for childer. That have no toys."
~my 7-year old son, B

Making Our Home A Haven~Tackling the Laundry and Menu Plan Monday

2008-02-11T14:17:00.000-06:00

Crystal, at Biblical Womanhood, has issued a challenge to tackle our laundry today. I desperately need this challenge! I, like Crystal, find it very easy to run the laundry through the washer and dryer. Then I pile it in baskets or on the couch, thinking I will fold it later. Later passes me by and the laundry stays on the couch. This happens several days in a row and we have a huge mountain of laundry that takes up the entire couch. We have to fish our clean laundry out of the pile and we also have to sit on the floor. It's a problem!

I am going to work on tackling our laundry today, even though it is already 2:19 pm and I have to pick up boys from school in an hour. I can still tackle it, right? My goal is to get all of the clean laundry folded and put away. There is a load in the washer and a load in the dryer that I want to finish up, too. And, last, but not least, I want to gather up all the dirty laundry and sort it all into baskets/hampers.

This past week was a crazy hectic week! My dad was down here working on the house and my in-laws were here working on the house as well. Lots of progress was made. One day we had people working on the wood floors, me painting, kids running around outside, Baby in the pack-n-play watching me paint, someone installing the garage door, the plumbers installing the aerobic septic system, and the people from the electric company putting in the permanent electricity to the house. I think my father-in-law was also working on electrical stuff in the house that day. It was CRAZY!! But fun!

Laundry just didn't make it high on the priority list last week. Today it is going to be very high on my priority list.

Monday:Cheeseburger Pie, green beans, fruit cocktail
Tuesday:Baked Penne Pasta, Spinach Salad, Garlic Cheese Toast
Wednesday: Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder, Spinach Salad, Cornbread
Thursday: kids' dinner party with mom and dad= heart-shaped pizzas, heart-shaped brownies with caramel and pecans, some kind of special drink; Mom and Dad's romantic dinner after the kids go to bed= T-bone steaks, baked potatoes, sauteed asparagus, Happy Valentine's Dessert Trifle
: )
Friday: Tuna Pasta, orange slices
Saturday: leftovers

2008-02-04T11:37:00.000-06:00

Friday I chose to go to Mardel and then to eat with my sweet hubby. We had fun and it was a relaxing morning and afternoon. Dh works about 40 minutes from home and Mardel is an hour from home, so I was gone from about 10:30 until 3:00. Then it was time to pick up the boys from school.

Before I left, I emptied and filled the dishwasher and started a load of clothes in the washer. It wasn’t much, but it helped. When I got home, I had a mess to face, but it was okay. My husband really encouraged me to not worry about the mess right now. He says the same thing Annie says- Just do the basics right now and survive until we get into the new house. He is pretty laid back about the condition of our home. After a few days, the mess gets to me, but he is very relaxed about it.

Saturday I painted the new house all day. Ds9 went with me and really helped me a lot. We had fun together! Dh brought the other kids out a couple of times and I fed the baby and then he took them back home so I could get back to painting. I enjoyed seeing the rooms take on a "personality". Going from white sheetrocked walls to a warm, rich color made a huge difference. It is beginning to look like home!

Today I have been painting again. I have had Baby Girl and Baby in the pack-n-play with toys while I paint the kitchen. We came back into town to pick up ds5 from pre-k and now we are home for a few minutes eating lunch. We are going to spend as much time out there as Baby can handle. I really want to get those walls painted! Dh wants the painting completed before the wood floor gets installed. My dad is on his way down here to do the floors right now as I type so I had better hurry up and paint!

Have a great week!

My Cute Kids and Hot Hubby

2008-02-01T19:48:00.001-06:00

Our New House

2008-02-01T19:44:00.001-06:00

9 months old!!

2008-02-01T19:41:00.000-06:00

2008-02-01T09:04:00.000-06:00

Facing Discouragement and Fatigue

I am faced with the issue of discouragement quite often. For example, when I get a room tidied up and then look behind me to find Baby Girl making a mess in that newly cleaned room. That discourages me. Or when I walk into my boys’ bedroom to find that I can’t walk into the room because of all the clothes (clean and dirty mixed together) and toys scattered on the floor. Those things discourage me.

Christian motherhood and wifehood is a very challenging job. The nitty gritty details of everyday life seem so insignificant, yet they are what make our house a home, what make these nine people a family. Doing the dishes, tying shoe laces for the thousandth time because this kid will not learn to tie them on his own, taking out the trash, making my bed, reading a Bible story at breakfast, making sure dh and I have time together- all of these things are my service to the Lord and to my family. I know that. And I love that. I love that my job is to shape little hearts for Jesus. My job is to help my husband and take care of him. I love this wonderful occupation God has called me to.

Knowing all of this, why am I so discouraged and disheartened this morning? I hate it when I feel this way. It just doesn’t make sense. Knowing what a wonderful life I have, what a wonderful husband I have, what great children I have, feeling discouraged and depressed makes no sense. But it is what it is and this is how I am feeling this morning.

I started feeling this way yesterday afternoon. Baby Girl was making messes every time I turned my back! I left her alone in the kitchen eating a pb and honey sandwich while I wrote a quick thank you note that I had forgotten to write from Christmas. In about 3 minutes time, she had taken the lid off the honey, crawled under the table, and poured it out onto the floor, where she was eagerly eating it…off...the…floor. Ewww! I promptly disciplined her for that and put her in bed while I cleaned up the mess. While I was cleaning up the mess, she got out of her bed, went into my bathroom, got my conditioner, went back to bed, and poured conditioner on the bed, under the covers. She then got out the baby wipes and attempted to clean it all up. She did a pretty good job actually, but that is beside the point.

At this point, Baby was screaming because he is cutting his top front teeth and he just doesn’t feel well. I attempted to give him ibuprofen, but he spit it out all over his outfit. He then got put in bed as well.

Another issue that is discouraging to me is the fact that we have a few mice in our house. Gross!! The last time we had a mouse problem was when we were first married and lived in Norman, OK, in a tiny cute house. I saw a mouse, put out a trap, got it, end of story. This time, they seem to be multiplying. We have traditional traps, glue traps, and 2 different kinds of poison (hidden away from the kids’ reach), yet we still are seeing mice. The boys think it si great, Mommy does NOT think it is great. I am disgusted by mice. I feel like I must not be doing a good enough job of keeping the house clean. I try to keep all food cleaned up, but with 7 children, two of them under the age of 3, food gets spilled on the floor, taken into the living room, etc. I feel like this is war and the little creatures (the mice, not the children) are winning!

Okay, there you have it. All of these things have led to my discouragement I am feeling this morning. Last night I just wanted to get out of ehre, so I went to the store to buy coffee, a few Valentine’s cards, and fill up dh’s truck with gas. I stayed gone for about an hour, and came home to a big mess. Dh is a great hubby and daddy, but he doesn’t exactly clean up too well. That’s okay; I love him despite this flaw (smile). This morning I am still dealing with the mess, plus I turned off my alarm and slept in for an hour and a half. No Bible time, no prayer time, no shower, the clothes I want to wear are in the dryer, you get the picture.

I am considering two options:

Ignore the mess and the things I need to do, get dressed, go to Mardel and spend my gift card from Christmas, and go eat lunch with dh (I only have 2 little ones all day today)
Stay home, start my day over from the beginning and follow my morning routine that I know works so well.

Option 1 sounds much more fun, but I will still face the mess when I get home.

What do you think I should do?

Menu Plan Monday~ January 28, 2008

2008-01-28T17:54:00.000-06:00

Monday: Breakfast for dinner (eggs, toast, fruit)
Tuesday:meatloaf, baked potatoes, salad
Wednesday: Annie's Taquitos, spanish rice, salad
Thursday: Chicken Tetrazinni, salad, green beans
Friday: Natalie's Red Beans and Rice, sauteed squash (yellow and zucchini)
Saturday: Scrambled eggs, baked oatmeal
Sunday: Spaghetti, green beans, salad

Can you tell I have lots of salad stuff to use up this week? Hopefully we will eat it before it ruins in the fridge.

2008-01-25T15:49:00.000-06:00

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Okay, here is the good news. The good news is that I love my kids and my husband, we have food, shelter, and clothing, we will be moving into our new home very soon, and my menu plan for this week is going very well!

The bad news is that my house is an absolute wreck. The dishes get done every day. The laundry gets washed every day. The beds get made every day. The toilets get cleaned, sinks cleaned, trash emptied every single day!!! But the house is still an absolute train wreck!!!!

Whew, I feel better after "screaming".

This is what I plan to do this weekend to sort of get back on track:

The Basics

Laundry- get completely caught up

Meals- continue following menu plan- No fast food!!!

Dishes- keep them caught up- no slacking on this

Floors- sweep/mop all the floors

A clean chair/clean couch for dh to sit on in the living room- this is a big deal to him

Clean master bathroom

Make myself a hair/wax appt.

I also plan to begin painting the new house this weekend. Dh wants to rent a paint sprayer, but my dad says those use way more paint (than using a roller) and don't do as good of a job. ??? It's dh's house so we will probably be doing it his way. : )

Add to this the fact that I just called the lumber yard to get my account balance and it was $4,000.00 more than I had budgeted. All of these things (chaotic house + $4000 issue) =STRESS. I feel sick. I really hate money issues. And I really hate a messy, filthy house.

I know we will be fine. But I still feel sick about it. $4,000.00 is a lot of money for us and money doesn't grow on trees, so there is a problem. I am waiting for the lumber yard people to email me a detailed list of my account. Hopefully they made a HUGE mistake.

2008-01-24T09:57:00.001-06:00

Beauty in the common things: uninterrupted sleep (actually not very common around here, but it sounds very nice)
Listen in: Baby gurgling
Supper plans: Annie's Taquitos, spanish rice, salad
Today I plan to: get rx filled for ds9, work on laundry, clean up house, go out to new house and pay contractors (texturing the walls will be finished today at noon, we will paint this weekend!!)
View from the kitchen window: dreariness

2008-01-21T12:43:00.000-06:00

I went a little crazy while planning this week's menu. I had so much fun planning and planning and planning!! Here is the result:

Monday:

Notes:

After lunch: make chicken mixture, chop veggies, and shred cheese for tacos tonight. Also, slice veggies for afternoon snack. Make cookie dough, shape into balls, and put in fridge.
After dinner, mix up ingredients for Baked Oatmeal and put in 9x13 casserole. Put in fridge.

Breakfast- oatmeal
Lunch- leftovers/ sandwiches
Snack- veggies with dip
Supper- Chicken Ranch Tacos
Dessert- chocolate chip cookies

Tuesday:

Notes:

When I wake up, put Baked Oatmeal in oven.
After breakfast, chop chicken and mix up ingredients for Chicken Pot Pie. Chop extra chicken, put in freezer bags, and put in freezer.
Mix up dough for Chicken Pot Pie crust.
After dinner, mix up pancake batter for tomorrow morning’s breakfast.
Put frozen meat (for tomorrow) in fridge.

Breakfast- Baked Oatmeal
Lunch- leftovers or sandwiches
Snack- peanut butter crackers
Supper- Chicken Pot Pie, corn on the cob

Wednesday:

Notes:

After breakfast, brown venison for taquitos. Mix up ingredients, put into tortillas, put in 9x13 casserole dish, and set in fridge.
Also in a.m., chop veggies for Spanish rice.
After dinner, put pinto beans in crock-pot to soak overnight.
Also after dinner, mix up ingredients for Baked Oatmeal, put in 9x13 casserole dish, and set in fridge.

Breakfast- pancakes
Lunch- grilled cheese and ham sandwiches
Snack- fruit and cheese
Supper- Annie’s Taquitos, Spanish rice

Thursday:

Notes:

When I wake up, put Baked Oatmeal in oven.
After breakfast, rinse pintos and put in crock-pot to cook all morning on high.
After lunch, add ingredients to crock-pot for Pinto Bean Soup.
Also after lunch, mix up ingredients for cornbread and put in fridge. Bake cake.
After dinner, make pancake batter for tomorrow morning. Set frozen meat in fridge.

Breakfast- Baked Oatmeal
Lunch- leftovers or sandwiches
Snack- veggies with dip
Supper- Pinto Bean Soup, cornbread
Dessert- cake

Friday:

Notes:

After breakfast, brown venison for lasagna. Put lasagna together and put in fridge.
After lunch, make rolls or bread for dinner. Set frozen meat in fridge.

Breakfast- pancakes
Lunch- tortilla wraps, baby carrots with ranch dressing
Snack- peanut butter crackers
Supper- Lasagna, bread or rolls, green beans

Saturday:

Notes:

After breakfast, brown venison for tacos. Chop veggies and shred cheese.
After dinner, put red beans in crock-pot to soak overnight.

Breakfast- peanut butter toast
Lunch- beans and cornbread
Snack- peanut butter crackers
Supper- Tacos- meat, taco shells, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese

Sunday:

Notes:

After breakfast, rinse beans and put them back in crock-pot to cook all day.
4 pm- bake cherry pie

Breakfast- cereal
Lunch- leftovers or tortilla sandwiches
Snack- fruit and yogurt
Supper- red beans and rice
Dessert- cherry pie, vanilla ice cream

2008-01-19T08:26:00.000-06:00

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

2008-01-17T09:32:00.001-06:00

Arise and be comforted
For the Lord, He is good to the weary
And even the young heart can tire and fall
But He knows them all
For the Lord, He will renew their strength
And they will soar on wings as eagles
And they will run and never grow weary
They will walk and not grow faint
For the Lord, He is good
Lift your eyes to the heavens
For the creator is living in you
Come surrender as you are

And know that you’ll never stray too far
Let His power within you heal your heart
Lift your eyes to spacious skies
Let Him chart your way to flight
Spread your wings and fly
For the Lord, He is good

Arise and Be Comforted
Watermark

2008-01-17T09:17:00.000-06:00

Beauty in the common things: a clean home
Listen in: Baby Girl telling me that ds5 called her "lady", Watermark singing "Holy"
Supper Plans: black beans and rice w/ smoked sausage
Today I plan to: clean up the messes that I didn't' clean up last night before bed, take down the Christmas tree (yes, I know, this was on my list a few days ago. You will notice that I put things on my To Do list several times before they actually get done!), figure out who our dental insurance company is, find a new dentist, make appt. for myself at the dentist
View from the kitchen window: sunshine and a yard that needs to be tidied up a bit

More Children?

2008-01-16T13:29:00.000-06:00

Okay, I have had a couple of people ask me about my comment about babies in the previous post ("We may have another baby or two by then..."). Let me clear this up for you guys. : )

God has worked in our lives concerning this issue for several years now. Back in 2000 we had the revelation that children are a blessing!

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

We had read that before in the Bible many times, but it took on a new meaning for us. If children are blessings, true gifts from God, why say "No more!" to God in that area? What other blessings do we refuse to accept? Good health? Wealth? No. We gladly accept all other blessings from the Lord.

We decided to no longer try to prevent having children and let God bless us with children when He wanted to. We believe that God works in our lives, that He knits each child together in the mother's womb. So this was an easy decision for us.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

After 2 years of no pregnancies, many tears, and many prayers, we adopted our twin boys. There is a wonderful story behind all of that, but I will save that for another time.

Well, a month after we adopted E and B, we found out I was finally pregnant! We believe that God rewarded us with a gift, a baby, because we took a leap of faith and adopted our twin sons.

Fast forward several years and here we are with 7 children. We have lost 2 babies to miscarriage also.

Since Baby Girl's birth in 2005, we have struggled more with the issue of trusting God with our fertility. Let's face it~ raising children is challenging and at times heartbreaking! It would be so much easier to say "Enough, we're finished." We thought God was telling us that our family was complete last summer after Baby W was born. But now, looking back, we realize it was just a combination of hormones and lack of sleep! : )

Will we have more children? Only God knows that. My husband and I are both open to receiving the children God has planned for our family.

If we decided to stop having children at this point, I think I would always wonder who God would have given me if only I would have let Him. I look at my children's faces and I know that God put them in this family. He chose me to mother them and my husband to father them. And oh, how glad I am that He did!

I think going for a couple of years with no pregnancies, and then losing two babies, made us realize that children truly are gifts. We are at peace with this decision for our family and we look forward to seeing who God gives us next, if He chooses to bless us with another child in the future.

The Lord has convicted us of this and we believe it would be wrong for us to shut out His voice and not trust Him in this area. Do not assume that I am judging you and that I think you are wrong if you have chosen to stop having children. I am not judging you at all. Not one tiny little bit.

I know there are lots and lots of arguments against "letting God plan your family size" because I have heard them all over the years. It's okay. You don't have to agree with me. Let's not get into arguments over this please. : )

Time Travel Tuesday~ 5 Years From Now

2008-01-15T11:33:00.000-06:00

Five years from now my children will be 18,14,12,12,10,7, and 5 and I will be 36. I will probably have another baby or two by then, but we won’t go there just yet!

I will be living in my dream home, continuing to work on my gardens and enjoying our 11 acres. I plan to be riding our horses regularly and really enjoying being out “in the country.”

I will be almost finished homeschooling our oldest. There is a possibility that I will be homeschooling the others at that point.

At some time, I would love to teach women’s Bible studies in my home and have a Moms In Touch prayer group in my home. Hopefully I will be doing that in 5 years. I hope to be mentoring and teaching young wives and moms how to love their husbands and children and how to manage their homes and their time. Maybe by then I will have it figured out so I can teach someone else!

In 5 years, I will be consistent with exercising and running. My goal is to run half marathons and 5K’s with my husband.

I plan to be very involved in my children’s lives and in my church family. Those things will be going on in 5 years along with all the goodies of everyday life with a hubby and lots of kids!

Life will be just as busy and exciting (but hopefully not as stressful) as it is today!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-01-14T22:24:00.001-06:00

Monday: Chicken fried steak, baked sweet potatoes, pinto beans
Tuesday: Taco Salad
Wednesday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad
Thursday: Black beans and rice with smoked sausage
Friday: Fried rice, salad
Saturday: hamburgers, mac and cheese, chips
Sunday: Chicken and Rice

The Lord's Day

2008-01-13T07:30:00.001-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: home
Listen In: cartoons (I am concerned that most of the time when I type my "listen in" section, the tv is what I hear in the background. Not a good thing, IMO)
Supper Plans: I don't know yet
Today I Plan To: I don't know that either.
View From the Kitchen Window: the beautiful pink streaks left over from dawn

Questions

2008-01-11T23:46:00.000-06:00

While you have the time, take the time.

What things am I doing now that will not matter in 10 years?

What things am I doing now that will not matter in 100 years?

What things do I want to be doing in 1 year?

5 years?

10 years?

20 years?

30 years?

In 50 years, I will be 81 years old. What do I want to be doing at 81 years old? What kind of woman do I want to be?

When I die, how do I want my children and grandchildren to remember me? What kind of memories do I want my children to have of their childhood and of our life together?

What heritage, what legacy, am I leaving my children?

If I died in one year, what would my children remember about me? What would they think was my focus in life?

2008-01-11T12:16:00.000-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: the smell of smoke from a neighbor's chimney
Listen In: Baby and Baby Girl talking, Jonathan Park CD blaring from dd13's bedroom, Barney on in the living room
Supper Plans: Chicken and Rice Soup, cornbread sticks, simple salad
Today I Plan To: um...maybe I will take down my Christmas tree and decorations! (One year we just left it up and made it a Valentine's tree)
I am also going to get the basic house maintenance stuff done and have some fun cutting out and organizing coupons. Is it a sign of my age that I think it's fun to cut out and organize coupons?
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine

A Fun Bloggy Award!

2008-01-09T08:20:00.001-06:00

Annie gave my this fun award. Thanks, Annie!

Xandra, from Heart of Service has created this fun award. Here is what she says:
"it's for blogs that I must read every day without fail . . . They make you laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time you read a post. They give you a thrill as you see them loading into your browser and you get an equally satisfying thrill when you see that they have commented on your blog."

Let's see...each morning, after I check my email of course, I read Annie's blog...then I start at the bottom of my "a few of my favorites" list and start clicking. I even click on the ones I know will not be updated (Leslie and Mrs. Happy...I'm talking to you here).
I am giving this award to:
Annie
Natalie
Marybeth (Cheaper By The Half Dozen)
Elizabeth (Homeschool Mommy)
Michelle (Big Blueberry Eyes)
and
A Wise Woman (A Wise Woman Builds Her Home)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

A Fun Meme!

2008-01-08T09:55:00.000-06:00

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes, my aunt Maxine
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Not sure. Within the last week probably.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Pretty much
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Smoked turkey
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 7
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? yes-- too much I will admit
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No way!!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Life
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Sometimes
12. DO YOU THINK YOU'RE STRONG? Yes, physically and emotionally
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their smile
15. RED OR PINK? Pink
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Baby weight
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Megan
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? N/A-- but I would love for them to post their answers on their blogs!
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Brown pants (athletic), brown shoes (athletic)
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A turkey sandwich for breakfast
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Baby Girl asking for Wheat Thins
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Yellow
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? The smell of the air right before it rains, spring dirt, daffodils, baby lotion on a clean baby, my husband
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My husband
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I don’t actually know her, but I think I would like her if I met her : )
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Ice skating or gymnastics
27. HAIR COLOR? brown with some blonde highlights
28. Eye color? Blue
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? yes
30 FAVORITE FOOD? I love food so this answer is impossible! I have too many favorites!
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Miracle on 34^th Street
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? light green
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? winter
35. HUGS OR KISSES? kisses
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Cherry or apple with vanilla ice cream
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? N/A but leave a comment if you put it on your blog
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? N/A
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Created To Be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? No mouse pad
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV.Late LAST NIGHT? I didn't watch tv last night
42. FAVORITE SOUND? the ocean, my babies laughing
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Neither
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Bahamas
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Not that I know of
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Idabel, Oklahoma
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? N/A
48. IF YOU COULD HAVE (OR HAVE HAD) ANY PROFESSION, WHAT WOULD IT BE? pediatrician

2008-01-04T08:31:00.000-06:00

Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

Psalm 5:2-3, 11-12

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a crown of splendor.

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

Do not swerve to the left or to the right.

Proverbs 4:6-9, 14, 23-25, 27

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people.”

“Therefore come out from them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.”Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

2 Corinthians 6:14, 16b-7:1

These are the verses I underlined in my Bible this morning as I read. I wanted to share them with you.

Meema and Grandad

2007-12-31T20:43:00.000-06:00

In 1933 my grandparents were married. My sister, Natalie, has written a post telling the story of their wedding.

2007-12-31T20:25:00.000-06:00

I have been considering different ways our family can have fun and enjoy each other in the coming year. Here are some of the ideas I have come up with:

Have a tea party each month with my children

January~ A Tea to Celebrate New Beginnings
February~A Valentine’s Day Tea
March~An Easter Tea
April~ A Spring Tea
May~ A Mother’s Day Tea (invite the moms and sisters)
June~A Birthday Tea (celebrate all the kids’ birthdays) and An Anniversary Tea (just the two of us)
July~An Independence Day Tea
August~ A Back to School Tea
September~ An Autumn Tea
October~A Chocolate Lover’s Tea
November~A Thanksgiving Tea
December~A Christmas Tea

Invite a family over for dinner or coffee and dessert once a month

Try to establish a read aloud time. We were very good about doing this when my oldest 2 were little. The past 5 years or so we have struggled with consistency in this area. I would really like to read through the Little House On the Prairie books, but I am concerned that my boys and Baby Girl would be bored stiff. I am going to have to get some book lists for boys and see what I can read that will keep them interested. A Dog Called Kitty was great and they paid attention the whole time!

Celebrate the holidays with our traditions. Make new traditions if needed. Last Valentine’s Day was our most memorable holiday of the year, imo. I am going to do the exact same thing this year and make it a tradition.

Simple things like making sure we all wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and planning ahead for the 4^th of July will make a big difference in our celebrations. I think it is good to celebrate as a family.

I would really love to observe a Preparation Day and a complete rest on the Lord’s Day. I think it is wise to rest one day a week, but it is oh-so-difficult to do!!

We all know that I am an over-achiever in the planning department and a slacker in the follow-through department. But I love coming up with ideas like these!

Tonight we ate 7-Layer Dip for dinner and now we are watching Ratatouille. I am going to try to stay up till midnight, but I am already getting sleepy.

Happy New Year!!

2007-12-30T08:20:00.000-06:00

I realized something a few years ago~ If I don’t stay home it is hard to clean the house. That may not be a revelation to any of you, but it was an eye-opener for me. It was a time when we were running around a lot, just coming home to eat and sleep, for the most part. Now, you may think that because we were not home the house would have stayed clean, but no, that is not the case.

Well, this morning I realized that weeks of being gone a lot, mainly working on the house on weekends, has taken its toll on our home once again. This is what happens:

During the week, I am constantly busy running kids back and forth to school, homeschooling, running errands, taking care of kids and babies, etc. Then, on the weekends, when I normally would take time to clean the house and “play catch up,” we are out at our new house working. That scenario times several weekends, and I have a huge mess.

A house cleaned by children (because they have managed to keep up with their daily jobs) will look like a house cleaned by children. They do a pretty good job cleaning their zones and cleaning up their messes, but this house needs a good Mom cleaning.

I remember the days when I had 2 children and I could take 2 hours and clean the house from top to bottom. I mean, deep clean the house in 2 hours. It was great!

Those days are over, mainly because we have more stuff and also because I get interrupted more often.

Baby has pink eye in both eyes and an ear infection in his left ear. So, this morning I am staying home from church with him and tonight dh is staying home from church with him. I am going to make a list and attempt to tackle it while dh is at church this morning with the kids.

Here’s the list, so far:

Morning Routine (get myself ready for the day, make my bed, get Baby ready for the day, breakfast and vitamins)

Start laundry

Deal with dishes

Put cleaner in potties

Quick pick up in each room

Vacuum all carpeted areas

Clean potties

Wipe out bathroom sinks

Sweep all hard floors

Empty all trashcans

Polish table

Light a candle in living room and turn on candle warmer in kitchen

Make coffee

Sit down and visit with my family and enjoy my “cleaner” home!

I bought a new calendar for 2008. It is called Motivated Moms and it is a printable calendar that you put in a binder or a planner. Go here to take a look at it. I like it because it breaks down the deep cleaning chores into small bites. You do a little bit each day. Let me know what you think! You can view a sample page if you go to the link I gave you.

Have a joyful Lord’s Day!

Taking Time to Review God's Blessings of 2007

2007-12-27T10:17:00.000-06:00

As I sat down to research the past year, I came across this post.
I have taken time to write down the events of the past year each January since 2006. So I have a record of each month of 2005 and 2006 so far. I would like to put these in a scrapbook eventually, adding pictures for each month. I think that would be a great memory book to have. I will hopefully be able to copy one for each of the children to take with them when they grow up and start their families.

Doug Phillips, of Vision Forum, is who I learned this tradition from. Here is an excerpt from a newsletter I received from him today:

I. Outline and Chronicle the Many Providences of God

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Hab. 33:2)

First, using simple bullet points, outline the key events for every week of every month of the year. Take the time to do the research which will help jog your memory and allow you to make an accurate record. I find that reviewing bills, blogs, journals, newspaper headlines, letters, and even organizing my photographs chronologically are enormously helpful tools. Those individuals who were faithful to journal or keep a diary will have little problem reconstructing key events. Give yourself a good week to reconstruct your own outline of the year. Also, by making this a family project, you will not only build your list with greater speed and precision, but (in the hands of a loving patriarch) the very act of chronicling the providences of God in your life is a blessed tool for family discipleship.

Every family will have a different set of priorities directing what they should record. In addition to recording the key events and providences of the year chronologically, I try to take the time with my family to record some of the following information on separate bullet lists:

Where did I/we travel?
What were the titles and key texts of sermons I preached?
What books/articles did I write?
What significant household projects did we accomplish in 2007?
What were the most important meetings of the year?
What special friendships were made this year?
Which children lost teeth, and how many?
Who grew in physical stature, and how much did they grow?
Who learned to read this year?
What diet and physical exercise regimen did I maintain to honor “my temple”?
What books did I read? Did we read as a family? Did my children read?
What Scriptures did my family memorize?
What loved ones died this year?
What were the great personal/ministry/national tragedies and losses of the year?
What were the great personal/ministry/national blessings of the year?
What were my most significant failures/sins for the year 2007?
What unresolved conflicts/issues am I bringing into 2008?
What significant spiritual and practical victories did I experience?
In what tangible ways did I communicate gratitude to those who have blessed me and invested in my life?
What are the top ten themes of 2007 for my family?

Doug also recommends that we say ‘Thank You’ to those who have invested in your life and forgive those who have wronged you.

I love this advice. If any of you are interested in reading the entire newsletter, just email me and I will sent it to you.

In 2008 I Would Like To...

2007-12-26T21:03:00.000-06:00

learn to quilt
learn to knit
finish my Names of Jesus cross stitch for our new home
design a Names of God cross stitch pattern
stick with Weight Watchers
actually lose the weight I want to lose
do some significant work on the kids' scrapbooks
read one book a month
force myself to stick to a daily schedule
take lots of pictures
get a new camera (I need to do this one before I do the one above)
get the good pictures developed instead of letting them sit in my hard drive forever
get my blog bound~ 2006 and 2007
stop eating fast food
write down the stories I remember my grandparents, grandparents-in-law, parents, and parents-in-law telling me
start a new tradition or two~Family Night and the Special Plate
write in a journal often
and lots of other things!!

There are really too many things to name. I keep thinking of more things I want to do, things I want to accomplish, ways I want to bless others, habits I want to establish, hobbies I want to cultivate. I know 2008 is going to be wonderful and I am looking forward to it's beginning.

2007-12-26T17:40:00.001-06:00

1 Corinthians 13---Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,baking dozens of Christmas cookies,preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime: but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.

If I work at a soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity; but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angelsand crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love does not envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.

Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return; but rejoices in giving to those who cannot.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust; but giving the gift of love will endure.

---Sharon Jaynes, Celebrating a Christ Centered Christmas

Merry Christmas to You!!

2007-12-24T23:14:00.000-06:00

Right now I am taking a break from wrapping and preparing food. I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas! I hope you have a relaxing, fun time with the ones you love.

A Treasure

2007-12-22T07:52:00.001-06:00

2007-12-22T07:49:00.001-06:00

I don't have time this morning to write a real post so instead I am sharing some wisdom from A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
This is a great post she wrote a while back. I have been thoroughly convicted after reading it! Good stuff.

Making Our Homes A Haven: The Challenge

2007-12-15T08:06:00.000-06:00

Crystal at Biblical Womanhood issued a challenge back on November 28th. I just found it today so I am starting late.
Read all about the challenge here.

Day One of the Challenge
1. Refresh our spirit by spending time with the Lord. (5 minutes) This is something I normally do each morning before anyone else wakes up, but I haven't done this in about a week. Everyone is already awake, but I am going to find a quiet spot to pray and read sometime after I take my shower.

2. Take Time To Plan (5 minutes) Crystal wants us to focus on our morning routine. Like the above, I normally have a morning routine I follow. It is pretty long, and I think I have posted it before. The basics are: spend time with the Lord, get myself clean and ready for the day, take care of my children, take care of my home.

3. Do Something (5-15 minutes)
Crystal says,

"Put on an apron, light a candle, and turn on some uplifting music. Then go to your front door and pretend you are a first-time visitor to your home. Walk in and take a look around. What is your immediate impression of your home? Is it calm and clean or cluttered and chaotic? Take five to fifteen minutes to clean, de-clutter, and beautify your entry area. Do a quick pick up if there are items out of place, mop or vacuum the floor, shake the rug, spot clean the walls, and rearrange things."

Moving to Campers, Part 2

2007-12-14T08:38:00.000-06:00

The plan has changed. We are no longer moving to the campers. Which means I will have internet service after all. We had an awakening and a reality check when I got the flu and Baby got pneumonia. I envisioned us in the campers trying to deal with illnesses, mud, rain, and cold weather, and I backed out of the plan.

I am not a camping type of girl. What was I thinking?

2007-12-13T09:49:00.000-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: the warmth of my jammies and my bed
Listen In: Baby Girl telling Baby something important
Supper Plans: a friend from church is bringing us dinner!
Today I Plan To: survive, figure out how to get my pocket pc off caps lock
View From the Kitchen Window: dreary, rainy weather

Thirty-One

2007-12-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

1. This past Friday I came down with the dreaded flu.
2. It is actually the 2nd time I have come down with the flu this year, although this time it is obviously a worse case.
3. I stayed in bed all day Saturday and all day Sunday, except when dh drug me out of bed to go get something to eat and look at Christmas lights Sunday night.
4. Yesterday morning dh had to go to work so I had to get up and take dd13, dd2, and Baby to the pediatrician.
5. DD 13 has an ear infection.
6. DD2 has an ear infection.
7. Baby has pneumonia.
8. Dr. sent us to the hospital to get Baby's chest x-rayed and dd2's finger x-rayed.
9. Sometime over the weekend, while I was in bed, she got her finger shut in the hinge side of the glass door.
10. Ouch!
11.Her finger was not broken.
12. Baby's pneumonia was confirmed with the chest x-ray.
13. Neither one of them cried during the x-rays!
14. Dh took the day off work and met me at the hospital since I was sick and having a hard time.
15. I took 1000 mg of ibuprofen before I left to take them to the hospital.
16. I didn't mean to take 1000 mg.
17. I thought I was taking 800 mg.
18. Then I took a moment to look at the bottle.
19. It said 250 mg capsules.
20. Oops!
21. I was feeling pretty good by the time we were finished at the hospital so we went to lunch.
22. After lunch we came home and I crashed on the couch.
23. Dh went to get the boys from school while the babies and I napped.
24. Dh took all of the big kids (ds5, E, B, ds9, dd13) shopping.
25. Did I mention yesterday was my birthday?
26. They came home with shrimp and baked potatoes for dinners.
27. They also came home with lots of great presents!
28. Dh spent more $ than we budgeted for my bday.
29. I am okay with that.
30. All in all, I had a great birthday!
31. Dh babied me, my kids and dh gave me great presents, and dh and the kids cleaned up the house!

A Great Deal!

2007-12-07T15:47:00.000-06:00

If you are interested in creating a will, go here. US Legal Forms has a great holiday special right now. You can get a state-specific will for only $15.00! I have been meaning to do this for a while, so tonight I am going to take care of it. It is one of those things we don't want to think about, like life insurance. But I think it is so important to take care of those left behind if something happens to one of us or both of us.

Checking In

2007-12-05T22:59:00.001-06:00

Packing is going well and is taking up lots of my time. It helps to keep my mind occupied. I still feel an ache in my heart pretty much all the time. I really can't imagine how my sister feels. To lose a child must be the hardest thing to bear. I am praying that God holds her in His hand and comforts her each day. This journey of grief will be a long one for all of us, but especially for her parents and siblings.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on that subject. It just dominates so much of my thinking these days.

So we have been packing and moving, packing and moving. Today we found out that we had a water leak out at the land for the past 3 days. Someone finally called today and turned off the water meter. I feel sick thinking about how much water was wasted and how expensive it's going to be. Water running full blast for 3 days. Ugh.

But it's not the end of the world and we can handle it.

This weekend we will be babysitting our 4 nieces. They are ages 8, 6, 3, and 1. We ought to have a fun, busy weekend full of squeals and giggles. I am sure I will be ready to send them home come Sunday afternoon. : )

Moving to Campers, Part 1

2007-11-29T20:20:00.000-06:00

It dawned on me this morning that I have about 15 days to sort and pack our belongings to move to the campers. The reason I only have 15 days is because one weekend in December we will have our 4 nieces staying with us and then there is a Thursday-Saturday that we will be having a moving sale. We have to be out by the 26th of December (nice planning on my part, right?) but we want to be moved out by December 20th and then take a few days to clean the house.

So...I sat down and thought this through this afternoon and made a packing schedule. Basically, my goal is to pack one room per day. Each of the kids gets one box to pack their stuff in to take to the camper. Clothes, toothbrush, toys, all of their necessities and then whatever else will fit in the box that they want to take. The boxes are not very big. They are 10 in x 12 in x 15 in and they have lids. The Hubster and I get 2 boxes (or how ever many we need). I am packing Baby's stuff in my boxes.

Today I am supposed to have the Master Bedroom and Master Bathroom packed. It doesn't look like that is going to happen unless I make a pot of coffee and stay up really late. I have managed to pack all of my clothes and Baby's clothes. I have packed Baby Girl's clothes for storage but I haven't packed her clothes to take to the camper.

It has been taking me quite a while to pack because I am sorting as I go. I am sorting things into 3 categories: Camper, Storage (we will be storing all of the extra stuff in our barn), and Garage Sale. It is really fun to watch about 50% of our stuff go into the black Garage Sale trash bags. It feels great to get rid of stuff that we no longer need or use! Everything that doesn't sell at the garage sale will be donated to charity. That way I won't be hanging onto it and it will bless someone else.

The kids are all pretty excited about packing their box. It is cute to watch them pick out which toys are special enough to go into their box. I had better go so I can get some packing done. I just got Baby to sleep so I have a couple of hours before he needs me again.

Good night.

2007-11-29T08:57:00.000-06:00

My cell phone has been misplaced. This happens often, if you can even imagine that. Who me, be disorganized and lose stuff...all...the...time?

So my cell phone is my alarm clock. No cell phone=no alarm clock=waking up late.

I woke up late with a sore throat. I felt so tired I was about to cry. Some of that may have just been the fact that I am extremely emotional these days. So anyway, I asked dh if he could get the kids ready and take them to school while I went back to bed. Of course he said yes because he is a darling hubby (and also because he got home from work last night at 10 pm so he could go in a bit late today).

I went back to bed and the next thing I knew light was flooding into my room and it was 8:00. I haven't slept until 8 in a long time. I feel much better. I got up and drank some hot choffee (1/2 hot chocolate, 1/2 coffee) and my throat feels better now. I am still in my jammies and have not done anything else, but I feel optimistic and hopeful this morning.

Did I mention that we are moving in 3 weeks and I will not have a computer until February??
Yes. No computer until February.

Here's the deal:
We are building a house and it should be ready to move into by February. BUT, I am tired of paying rent and utilities here and I am also tired of the neighborhood children who are bad influences on my children and are acting inappropriately. So our solution is to move out to our land and live in my dad's and my father-in-law's campers. 2 campers. 9 people.

I first thought of this because I discovered some inappropriate things going on between my 13 year old daughter and a neighborhood boy. Not THAT bad, but boyfriend/girlfriend stuff that I don't' approve of. Then I discovered there is some boyfriend/girlfriend stuff going on between my 9 year old son and a girl in the neighborhood. The neighborhood kids I am talking about happen to be brother and sister and come from a very dysfunctional home. I feel sorry for them. I want to be a good example to them and show them what a loving Christian family looks like. I want them to have good role models and be blessed by my family. But what is happening is that my kids are following their example instead of the neighborhood kids following our example. Does that make sense?

Momma will go to great lengths to protect her babies from negative influences, so we are moving. Before you think I am crazy, just remember that we are going to move anyway, I am just getting us out of here a bit sooner. Dh thinks it was his idea. He loves it.

We are busily working out the details and trying to pack our belongings. I need to be working on that right now, but here I am typing this post.

I have a huge list of things to do today and I want to share them with you. It makes me happy to share my lists with you.

Morning Routine
Bible and Prayer ( didn't wake up and do this today)
Wash hands
Contacts in
Brush teeth
Shower
Get dressed
Fix hair and face
Breakfast and vitamins
Help kids get ready for school (dh did this one)
Take kids to school (this one too)
Clean up bathroom
Gather up all dirty laundry and take to kitchen
Sort it
Start it
Unload then load dishwasher
Make bed
"A" items on To Do list

Daily Chores
feed pets
clean kitchen countertops
sweep kitchen floor
clean kitchen sinks
Sweep porch/entryway
Read to kids
4 loads by 4 (laundry)

To Do List
order vitamins
call someone to do septic system
call someone to do sheetrock
sort, weed, pack stuff
work on craft project w/kids
get nieces' addresses
call Lowe's to get bid on insulation
put cash into envelopes

There you have it. That is what my day looks like. I am going to get started now.
: )

Baby Girl'sNew Accent

2007-11-28T13:32:00.000-06:00

There= Thay-er
Chair= Chay-er
And=Ay-nd
Where=Whey-er

2007-11-28T08:39:00.000-06:00

Today I am helping my hubby with a few things. I am going to Lowe's to pay for the shower for the girls' bathroom (new house). Then I am working on our budget, paying bills, etc. I am going to get the clean laundry folded and put away then work on packing. I consider all of these things to be helping him. He has been running the house since last Monday and it is time for me to get back to my job.

It is incredible how you can be going along, taking care of your family, living your life, and then WHAM out of nowhere something hits you and throws your life into crisis mode. That is what happened last week when I got the call that Megan had died. She took her own life. Laundry and dishes and cooking and cleaning up all of the sudden didn't matter to me.

Dh has been taking care of dinner each night so we have been eating macaroni and cheese with lil' smokeys, nachos, and waffles. : ) He is such a sweetheart and the kids love it when he takes over the cooking and grocery shopping. We have several kinds of sugary cereal and we also have strawberry syrup in the fridge for making strawberry milk. There is probably ice cream in the freezer but I haven't looked. These are all things that I don't normally buy, so the kids think it's great!

The laundry is clean and piled high on the couch. I just need to take the time to fold it and put it all away. For some reason, that is my least favorite thing to do. It is ranked down there with mopping floors.

Do you like my new signature? Annie must have changed it for me. Thanks, Annie!

2007-11-26T10:38:00.000-06:00

I can't seem to focus on anything this morning. I keep coming over to my computer to look at Megan's face. I can't hear her voice but at least I can look at her face.

My house is a pile of filth and squalor.

What does squalor mean anyway?
Let me look it up...
Okay, this is the definition as given by www.dictionary.com:
squalor- n. A filthy and wretched condition or quality.

Yes, that describes my house right now. It is beyond horrid. Every surface is dirty. The kitchen floor looks like we all ate ice cream and dripped it on the floor. There are dishes piled up begging to be washed. My van is stuffed full of suitcases needing to be taken out and unpacked. I need to make a menu and a list and go to the grocery store. But instead I keep coming over here to the computer.

I have managed to make some coffee, put on Christmas music, dig all of the dirty laundry out of the hampers and hiding spots, sort the laundry into huge piles on the kitchen floor, and start a load. I also managed to take my children to school this morning, the ones who are well anyway. I have 2 children in bed today with sore throats and coughing. Ugh.

I am going to have to give myself a break and take it easy. My heart is broken. My mind is numb. Any little thing I get done is going to have to be enough.

The baby is awake now and crying in his bed. Gotta go.

Megan

2007-11-25T22:40:00.001-06:00

Our niece Megan left this life on November 19, 2007. She was a sweet, kind, loving, vibrant young lady. We loved her so very much. She will be loved and missed every day until we see her again.

Please pray for my family

2007-11-20T05:21:00.000-06:00

We have had a tragic death in our family. Please pray for all of us, especially my sister Christina and my brother-in-law, Sean, and their 5 living children.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

2007-11-17T16:05:00.000-06:00

Beauty in the Common Things: dreams
Listen In: PS2 NFL game
Supper Plans: leftovers
Today I took care of kids, went out to land to visit with in-laws and hubby as they worked on electrical wiring in new house, and had a great idea that I will share with you soon!

View From the Kitchen Window: trees, an overcast sky

Decorating the New House

2007-11-10T16:02:00.000-06:00

I have been browsing websites this afternoon looking for decorating ideas.

This is what I have found so far:

Scriptures stenciled on walls and cabinets around the house:

I especially like t his idea. I stenciled Philippians 4:13 on my living room wall in Mission, but I like the idea of going all the way around the room. I have started a list of scriptures that I want on my walls and cabinets. I will have to post that later because I don't want to look for it. : )

Family Tree wall:

Isn't this a neat idea?

I want to have a wall where I hang black and white pictures of the kids. I will probably have the family tree wall and the kids' wall in the formal living room. Then along the stairs I will hang their school pictures and our family pictures.

Artwork:

This blog has beautiful artwork. I love this style of art and I love the paintings of mothers and children, fathers and children, flowers, etc.

These are also very cute. Maybe I could put these on the upstairs hallway wall.

Donna Green is an artist I like a lot. Her Velveteen Rabbit series is wonderful! The painting below is hers.

Candles:

Right now I just have candles in teacups in 2 spots. I want pretty candle holders and lots of yummy scented candles, like Yankee candles or Triple Scent candles.

Feminine and romantic:

With 5 boys at home, I had given up on having a romantic, pretty home. But, I think I am going to give it a try. Obviously, only certain rooms will have that pretty feel to them. I think the formal living room, my bedroom and bathroom, and the guest powder room are a few places I can decorate this way. The babies’ bedroom is another room I can make pretty. Yes, the baby is a boy, but the room can still be masculine and pretty. Hmmm…that sounds like a contradiction, but hopefully you know what I mean. The toddler is a girl so her part of the room can be feminine.

A magazine I love is Romantic Homes. Southern Living has a lot of romantic decorating also.

The rest of the house will be practical and simple, I hope. I have LOTS of stuff to get rid of before anything can be simple. Right now we just have so much stuff. But I may find that once I have some storage space, we don't have as much junk as I thought.

Kitchen:

My kitchen is going to be bright and airy. I have a huge window overlooking the backyard. My appliances will be stainless steel and the cabinets will be antiqued white. I had planned o base my color scheme on a painting that I love called The Mission Bell Tower. It is a painting of the bell tower down the road from our home in Mission. It is really beautiful. The colors are dark yellow, dark green, and a lighter shade of green, with sky blue.

I am going to frame some of the kids' artwork and hang it in the kitchen.

One more thing:

ha ha!!

2007-11-10T15:11:00.000-06:00

This is the most encouraging, elegant, beautiful blog I have ever seen!! I am obsessed with it at the moment. I love the artwork. It is really beautiful.
And this lady has 8 children!!!!

Baby Girl's Tooth Injury

2007-11-10T05:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening Baby Girl and DS5 were chasing each other through the house. Baby Girl tripped, falling into a table leg. She cut her lip, hit her nose, which made it bleed, and worst of all, she hit one of her front teeth, almost knocking it out. It is kind of hanging there, wanting to come out.
I called the ambulance, because there was all this blood and it scared me! They came, complete with sirens blaring, and checked her out. They said the tooth needs to come out and told me to call her pediatric dentist, which we don't have. They were extremely nice and I was very blessed by their presence. They have such a difficult job.
We talked with a pediatric dentist last night and he said that 99% of the time the tooth will go back to it's position. The tooth will be dead, but it will go back to it's spot. This morning her tooth looks like it is starting to go back to it's position. Isn't that strange?
She is still in pain and she is very cautious about taking a drink or a bite of anything, but she is doing much much better this morning. She slept all night, which was an answer to prayer.
I may post a picture later today. She looks so much better this morning. The swelling is down and I managed to get the blood all cleaned of of her mouth. She wasn't too happy about that!
Right now she is bossing Chunky Monkey around. Sounds like Baby Girl is back to normal!

2007-11-09T15:01:00.000-06:00

Take a look at this beautiful, simple Fall centerpiece. I love it!
What do you think? Doesn't it look quick and easy, but really pretty? Check out the cute high chair cover in her dining room (bottom picture). So cute!!

2007-11-03T06:24:00.000-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: spending time in God's Word in the wee hours of the morning
Listen In: Chunky Monkey "talking" in his sleep
Supper Plans: Texas One Dish, baked sweet potatoes, salad
Today I Plan To: tackle the mountain of clean laundry that has made it's home on my couch
View From the Kitchen Window: dark

2007-10-30T08:41:00.000-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: warm jammies
Listen In: dishwasher running, baby talking, my timer ticking
Supper Plans: see post below
Today I Plan To: buy one more pumpkin for ds9 to take to school tomorrow to carve, work on house, finish creating my holiday planning spot, make appt. for holiday picture, write a few emails, write a few notes, read my new Above Rubies magazine from cover to cover : )
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine, dh's truck (I now drive the truck; diesel is expensive right now and he drives almost 100 miles each day to work and back. I only drive about 15 miles each day so I am driving the expensive and LOUD vehicle)
What I Am Reading: I am currently reading A Dog Called Kitty to the kids~ neighborhood kids and my kids. I am reading a book called Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund. This is such a great book! I highly recommend it.

Menu Plan Monday

2007-10-30T08:31:00.000-05:00

Last week I modified my menu quite a bit. We ate some of the meals I had planned but a few of them are going on this week's menu.

Monday: we had Smashing Pumpkin Soup, whole wheat rolls, and salad

*The pumpkin soup was not a hit with the kids. The adults liked it; it was a nice change. It had a nice subtle flavor even with the curry. I will make it again, but it's not a favorite.

Tuesday: Chicken and Artichoke Casserole, steamed baby carrots with brown sugar, brown rice, baked butternut squash

Wednesday: Texas Black Bean Soup for the crockpot, brown rice

Thursday: Texas One Dish, baked sweet potatoes, and spinach salad

Friday: Bean Chili (black beans, pinto beans, red beans, chili seasoning, diced tomatoes), cornbread

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Halibut Marengo, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad

Holiday Countdown

2007-10-29T09:37:00.001-05:00

www.organizedchristmas.com

Assignment #1:

Designate a spot for Christmas planning.

My spots are limited because we are very crowded in this little rent house. I am going to designate the countertop in my kitchen where my cookbooks are located. I am going to have to clean it off first and then tell dh and the kids not to pile their papers there.

I need to put these items in my Christmas planning area:

Christmas Notebook (I will be making this later on today)
Pens and pencils
Christmas cards (need to make appt. for holiday picture for Christmas card)
Address book
Stamps (order online)
Mailing labels
Stapler
Sticky notes or tape flags
Accordion file or hanging file folders for tear files
Christmas magazines
Mail order catalogs
Cookbooks
Recipe files
Christmas books
Lap desk or writing surface (going to use kitchen table)

Today is day #9 of the official Holiday Countdown, but I am just getting started so it is day #1 for me. I have attempted to follow this plan for a few years now, since 2004 I think, and it always help me have less holiday stress. I never follow it to a T, but I try to. Each year I get a little better at planning the holidays so that they are not stressful. The most stressful thing for me is traveling during the holidays. Just the packing alone takes me a full 8 hour day. That is very stressful and I don't like it. This year we are staying in TX for Thanksgiving and traveling to OK for Christmas. Next year we will be in our new house so we will be hosting Thanksgiving and staying home by ourselves for Christmas. I am looking forward to that!
Have a happy Monday! : )

2007-10-27T07:54:00.000-05:00

Beauty in the Common Things: "Titus 2" women (older Christian women who teach younger Christian women)
Listen In: a conversation about a spider
Supper Plans: sister-in-law has something planned for dinner
Today I Plan To: go out of town with brother-in-law and his family
View From the Kitchen Window: our scarecrow in the front yard