Friday's Fab Photo

This is a picture I took of a painting Christopher did in school. It is the best he has ever done. I paintshopped a frame on it. But I am getting a frame to hang it up. I think it is beautiful. It he said is a picture of him sleeping in his bed under a quilt.

Thirteen Things that WILL happen when you have a headache

1. All the telemarketers in the nation will call you, one right after another because we all know they have radar to tell them when is the absolute worst time to call you.
2. The older children will start fighting over the YELLOW leggo because apparently it has a specific purpose for them and no OTHE leggo could possibly do the same thing as THAT leggo is supposed to do.
3. You will find out that your 3 year old or perhaps the 2 year old you babysit has flushed a small plastic glass from our dd's toy kitchen down the toilet. Which will require a plumber to come in and make awful noises while trying to get it out as your dear 3 y ear old and 6 year old ask him every question in the book about what he is doing and why.
4. Your 10 month old will be cutting teeth, thus be very fussy and crying a lot.
5. Your dh will call you from work and tell you about how he lost his temper with a vendor and had to apologize etc but didnt curse or anything but that he feels bad even though it has all been worked out. After all your voice has a magical quality to it at that moment and he must tell you how bad his day is going. Despite the fact your day is not going well at all.
6. Your children will then have to play plumber and pretend to flush things down a pretend potty that is conveniently located in the middle of the living room. This game requires sound effects in stereo.
7. Your children will then decide that flushing things down the pretend potty is NOT good enough and they must now flush each other down the pretend potty with sound effects of "help me help me".
8. This will be the day that the city you live in decides to repave part of your street. You will hear the beeping of backing up equipment all day plus the heavy machinery grating the road will feel like a mini earthquake with each pass.
9. Once your children tire of the potty game and you have your 10 month old down for a nap and decide to rest on the couch a moment, your children will remember somethign that they must tell you at that exact moment you close your eyed. For the location of all the planets in the universe will make them explode if they dont tell you at that precise moment.
10. The neighbors across the street will pick this time, out of character to play their loud music. Usually they reserve the privilege of listening to their heavy metal music for 3 am. But today they decide that the pleasure of hearing their music pounding should be done in the middle of the day. They also must play it loud enough to rattle windows, since they think the road crew might drown out your ability to hear their music and after all; all good music rattles windows.
11. A couple of birds will choose this day to set up shop in the tree outside and bicker. These birds do not have a nest there and they are not usually there. They are NOT pretty song birds, but loud noisy crows.
12. You children having tired of bothering you decided they must act out the entire movie of Cars, complete with kachow, kaching and all those other noises those obnoxious little cartoon cars make. (Okay normally I think it is a cute movie, but not today).
13. Finally, the said sleeping infant will be awakened by her sister who goes in the room and says "WAKE UP BABY, HEY BABY WAKE UP".

Sigh........yes, my mama always said there would be days like this.

LOL LOL LOL

Wordless Wednesday--Want a kiss?

Sunday Morning musings

As I sit here drinking my coffee, I thought I would take a few minutes to jot down some thoughts. The children's clothes are laid out waiting for them to dress. However, if I dress them this early dirt, juice, or some such foreign matter will find its way onto their clothes just before we walk out the door for church. If I wait until just before we leave, generally, but not always I can get to church and put them in their respective classes actually clean. Christopher is getting ready to take a shower. The girls had baths last night. Hannah is watching the Little Einstien's on Disney. I keep telling myself, "it is not annoying, it is not annoying, it is not annoying. It has classical music, it is not annoying". Hopefully, I will convince myself of that, eventually. Saturday and Sunday mornings are usually the time we let them watch cartoons. Jennifer is busy trying to get past the baby gate sytem, which she did once this morning before I secured it a bit better. She is not happy that we have blocked her from that wonderful and excting place, the KITCHEN. There must be awesome things in there because we keep her out. She has such wonderful problem solving skills for a 10 month old. Actually, it is astounding how well she can figure out things in seconds. She seems to have a gift in this area. Of course, I am a proud mom and every mom thinks her children are gifted. But, I truly feel my kids are smart and great thinkers. I am proud of them.

My husband is also getting ready. Now, tell me, why is it he takes an hour to get ready and I can get ready in 15 minutes tops PLUS get the kids ready. That never ceases to amaze me.

This time slot on Sunday mornings is one of my favorites. I can sit in front of the computer while Christopher and Mike get washed, Hannah watches cartoons, and Jennifer explores. Most times she does not get into trouble and she is where I can see her. It gives me some stolen free moments.

Our plans today are nothing special. We have church, lunch and then need to go to the store for some minor shopping. Nothing major but those things you run out of and need desperately, like Mommy's shower soap. We are also going to exchange my printshop program I bought that refuses to load. I think we will get paint shop pro instead. I will pay the difference out of my babysitting money. After all, I earned it. Then we will come home and get ready for church again.

This morning our church is having a Christian comedian, singer, speaker come in. I was impressed our Senior Pastor did that. Most Senior Pastor's do not like to give up the pulpit on a Sunday morning. I am looking forward to it. As an associate pastor's wife, I am finding a whole new perspective on people, how they can judge others and what they think if you miss ONE Sunday. Amazing how they think that the pastor or associate pastor's family should forget their kids have the flu or some other ailment and come to church anyway. When they themselves would stay home if they had a hang nail.(LOL). I don't mind, used to it by now, but it never ceases to amaze me. For example, I was out some recently because the children were sick. Then after that I had to teach toddler's church and on another day I had to do the nursery, and on another day talk about missionaries in the big kids children's church. So I go into the sanctuary the following Sunday and start greeting people. One older lady says "Well, I haven't seen you in a LONG time". I nicely explained that the kids had been ill and that I had been there but "behind the scenes" working in the nursery or children's church. All she said was "oh". I guess she wanted to have something else to say but to that answer there was nothing she could say. So I just hugged her and said "but the kids are better now and I am so blessed. God is so good". She smiled and said nothing more.

Being a pastor's wife is a work in progress. I feel inadequate sometimes, but I put that on myself. I think I am going to schedule a lunch date with the senior pastor's wife one day soon and try and grow that relationship. I stay so busy with the kids we rarely get to visit. I want to correct that. She has so much wisdom and experience.

I think I have rambled long enough. I did not know this was going to turn into a novel. However, I love writing stuff out here. I hope I can figure out a way to get on daily.

GTKY Questions

My childhood dream was to: Were you able to fulfill this?

It truly was to be a a pastor's wife and a mother. Yes, I have fulfilled this. It truly shows me that the promise God gave us to fulfill the desires of your heart comes true. As hard as it gets sometimes, being a mommy, I never regret it. Yes, somedays I wish I could have a break but it usually doesnt last long. I would play dolls incessantly as a child. Of course, I was a tomboy mommy, LOL. I would help my dolls win the the olympics, the world little league series and much more. I played like I was the preacher any time my sister and I made Barbie get married to my brother's gi joe. (he was as big as barbie then and we were always swiping him for weddings, LOL). So, yes, my dreams came true.

When I am waking up each morning
I look forward to having fun with the kids. I look foward to Christopher getting home from school, discovering what he did during the day and watching Hannah and Jennifer learn new things. I look forward to Mike coming home from work.

The person I most admire is: Why?
This is not the easiest answer because I have so many people I admire. However, right now I would have to say my son. He faces so many challenges but has a cheerful heart. He works so hard in school and does so well despite the many times he has been sick and gone to school anyway. His size puts him at a disadvantage to the other kids. However, when he plays or runs in a race, he gives it his all. He doesn't stop just because someone else won. He finishes the race. I watched him in T-ball this year and he cheered for all his team mates and encouraged them. If he was tagged "out"; he kept a cheerful attitude he never cried. Other kids threw a fit! His faith is beyond his years. He believes he WILL be healed despite the fact we are still waiting for his healing to be complete. He has no doubt. He does try to eat new foods even when tears stream down his face; he tries. So I admire him. Yes, I admire my girls too each for their own talents and struggles. But he was the first one that came to mind. That being said, I wouldn't want anyone think I favor him over my girls. They each have something the other doesn't that makes me admire them personally.

If I could travel anywhere in the entire world I'd go to: What would you do there?

I want to go to Israel, Jerusalem and Bethelhem. I would love to walk where my Savior walked. See the tomb from which He arose. See the place He laid down His life for all mankind. I would love to see the garden where He prayed. I do not think I could go there without crying in thankfulness. I think I would have to bow in praise and honor to my King for the gift He gave.

The best book I ever read was: Why did it hold your attention?

That is a hard one. I love to read. There is a book, can't recall the name or author at the moment, but it is a Christian novel. It is about a woman who is a prostitue. She is rescued out of the lifestyle by a man who marries her. She ends up running away because she cant believe the love he is giving her. She is pregnant at the time. He comes after her and rescues her again. It is based on the book of Hosea, I think. I think it is called Redemption by Francine Rivers, but I am not sure. It is a good book.

What is one way you'd like to grow spiritually in the following year?

Read my Bible more and pray more. Like Brenda, I find I don't get it done because of the sheer business of motherhood. I love the Lord and I know I do NOT spend enough time in His presence. I want this to improve. Because when I do, my day goes so much better.

My closest friend would describe me as most like:
a.Oscar the grouch (majorly melancholy)
b. Big Bird (naive but extremely friendly)
c. Grover (well intended but not very tactful)
d. Cookie Monster ( fixated on the good stuff)
e. Elmo (curious beyond compare)

I would definitely have to say b. I can be naive and for the most part I am friendly.

If I had one day without responsibilities or interruptions, I'd:

I would get my scrapbooks done. I have so many pictures that are either in a box(all in the same picture safe box) or on cd. I would print out pictures and make my scrapbooks be up to date. I dont even have much of Christopher's done. I need to so work on my scrapbooks.

How Old are you?

How old are you?
Is the question the nice lady asked my dd Hannah in the checkout line at office max.Now Hannah who desperately needed to go potty had a very serious look on her face as I told wait a minute honey, let me finish checking out and you can go. So the lady asks again:

How old are you?

Hannah with long suffering patience and huge sighs in her voice says and I quote: "OLD"!

Diaper Cream and baby dolls

Hannah comes running in the living room saying...to little A......here "A" I'll will get the wipies...grabs the wipies and runs to her room. Well this spells trouble. Any time my dd comes out grabbing wipies and running to her room with them means trouble. I go in and they had taken the diaper cream and the medicated diaper cream and proceeded to spread two baby dolls with it. It was all over their hands and the doll butts.....GRRRRRRRR.........I put them in time out while I cleaned up......as they have been told a MILLION times NOT to touch the cream. At least no one got it in their eyes or mouth and I am sure this would be a LOT funnier if I weren't so darn tired.....LOL. Perhaps I will laugh later about it....but first I gotta get the squeezed in the middle tube fixed and clean two dollies....one is vinyl but one is cloth.....sigh.......the joys of motherhood. But I keep telling myself at least they are well enough to get into mischief.....and having little A is a delight because Hannah has a "bwest fwiend".......so hopefully later I will be laughing about their little cream the dolly butt party.....LOL