How many more days?

We need to buy one more gift. Find and wrap a gift that's gone missing. All the other gifts are wrapped and packed. Clothes need to be packed for the kiddos and I, J has his packed already. There are at least three laundry baskets of clothes in my room that need to be folded and put away. The car needs to be packed. I work tonight, tomorrow night and Friday at 11 am. Everything needs to be done before Friday morning because we will be leaving as soon as I get off work around 5. I'm thinking of getting some food from work before we head off so we won't need to stop again. 12 hour drive then we arrive in Michigan. It will be a white Christmas because there is already snow in MI and no sign of it melting. I love snow. I plan on taking the girls sledding for the first time. Oh how I hope our plans go more smoothly than hoped.

We Tumble

Oh Holy Night

 O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here came the wise men from Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His Gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

My Growing Boy

I am officially declaring my baby boy a toddler boy.

Wednesday night J converted N's crib into a toddler bed. He has successfully slept two nights in it and has had successful nap times too. His crib was the last thing connecting him to babyhood. It is kind of sad but no one can delay growth and I am glad my little baby boy turned toddler is growing into a man.

And while we are on the topic of growing up. Terrible Twos have hit as well. Can you say "tantrum"? The other day I was telling him to leave our room.(we like to keep the children out of our bedroom as much as possible so it doesn't get littered with toys) At first he threw himself on the floor then inched himself forward every time I told him he needed to go. Then he got in a crawling position, still with his head on the ground, and crawled out of the room pushing his head out. DRAMATIC!

So heres to growth and waking up to a little boy staring into your face saying "cup, mama, cup"

Ten Days?

Seriously? Do we only have ten days left until Christmas?

That means I have ten days to finish shopping, wrap presents, pack our bags and the car and head up to Michigan. Ten days.

We are leaving the night before Christmas or Christmas morning.... we still haven't officially decided yet. I think it will depend on the weather. If it looks like the roads should be alright we will probably drive through the night and go to bed early Christmas night or take a nap after the festivities. The great thing about driving through the night is that the children should sleep the entire time. That equals less stops which means we should arrive in good time.

I hope ya'll have fun these last few days before the big day getting ready. No stressing, it should be fun. :-)

Library

The girls and I ventured to the library today to sign up for a library card and pick out some books. The trip was long over-due. I've just never been composed enough to take three kids to a place where talking in a normal voice is unacceptable. With three kids there is a greater chance of one being grumpy. Actually we are thankful when only two are upset/screaming their head off- at least it isn't all three? So the thought of the library- yes that would be awesome, with two kids, just one or can I go by myself?

J's semester is done so he is home and able to watch little N(the one that it most likely to run, scream, cry... all things that should be done somewhere other than the library). So I saw my opportunity and took it. The girls and I went to the library, signed up for a card and filled a basket full of books. We can check out 5o at a time, WOW.

More library trips will be in our future, maybe next time we will bring N with us.

Car Conversations

M "What is zero plus zero?"

L "Zero"

M "Yay! You win!"

M "What is cow plus cow?"

L "Two"

M "That's right! Two cows!"

M "What is gate plus gate?"

L"Two"

M "That's right! Two gates!"

M "What is donkey plus... ummm donkey?"

L "Two"

M "That's right! Two donkeys!"

Hope

Hope is here

Hope is found

Sometimes I wonder why things happen.

Then I realize that I will never know the why- at least not in this world.

I try to hang on to the hope- the hope that everything will be ok,

that everything will work out according to his plan.

Sometimes there is depression,

sometimes joy.

But sometimes hope creeps back into the picture.

A blessing, A life.

Tears of sadness and joy at the same time.

Of loss and a new beginning.

Last Night of Hanukkah, Number Eight

The Seventh Night

The Sixth Night

The Fifth Night

The Fourth Night

The Third Night

My favorite from the third night, L lighting the candles with the helper candle. I was home from work, I had taken off so we could go to a Christmas celebration. I ended up being sick... both girls were sick the night before and N had been sick the past week. We had some friends over, J usually has a anime watching night on Fridays. We made homemade applesauce and homemade latkes. The food was soooo good. I ate a lot of it even though my stomach was telling me not to. I could not help myself.

The Second Night

The First Night

Hanukkah

Hanukkah begins tonight and our home is filled with excitement and expectation.

Last night, after we had put the children in bed, we began to organize and wrap the gifts. We had them all laid out on our bed when the girls came knocking at our door screaming "N is throwing up! N is throwing up!" We quickly shut out the light in our room and closed the door so they couldn't see our gifts and got N out of his bed and into the tub. I took care of the mess in his crib while J washed N. I told L and M that they could go into the playroom because of the smell. A few minutes after that I noticed our bedroom door open and the lights on and the girls laughing quietly to themselves in the playroom. I asked J if he had gone into our room and quickly figured out that they girls must have. When questioned if they had seen any gifts they replied "No" So I threatened them. "If you do not tell me what you saw I will take all the presents back to the store" (thinking to myself.. please tell me so I don't have to take all the presents back to the store) They said they had seen the Pillow Pets, a Lady Bug and Unicorn. Man they were happy.

Good thing we were planning on having them be the first nights gift.

So the excitement of having Pillow Pets is in the air. We decided to forgo wrapping them since the girls know what they are getting. Maybe I will tie a ribbon around them. N is getting a tent tonight. Poor little sick boy! I hope he feels better soon.

I am excited. It is our first Hanukkah that we will spend the whole week at our home. Usually we have to travel during this time of year. I plan on cooking some great tasting food and spending some quality time with our beautiful children and my wonderful husband. I do work most of the nights of Hanukkah so we might improvise on the usual traditions and open gifts in the early afternoon before I leave for work. Then J will light the candles with the children after dusk.

FYI: We are not Jewish. We are just Christians who have decided to practice the feasts of Israel. It has been a learning experience and we are still in the process of learning the in and outs of celebrating these feasts and festivals. I'm sure we will still be adding and deleting here in there until we find a tradition that is traditional yet uniquely fits us.

Rhema Lights

A family tradition ever since we moved to Tulsa.

Christmas' gift

"Christmas is a gift of love wrapped in human flesh

and tied securely with the strong promises of God.

It is more than words can tell,

for it is a matter for the heart to receive,

believe and understand."

[Unknown]

Short Vacation?

J and I just arrived back from a four day trip without any kiddos. I wish I could call it a vacation but we spent our time in a class like setting from 8am-5pm two of the days and from 8am-12pm the next day and the rest of our time was spent flying on planes and sitting in airports. Wait a second. I won't lie. We had a very nice king bed suite at Holiday Inn Express that had a jacuzzi tub. There was a little relaxation involved. The bed was super comfy and there as no worry of being interrupted by a child needing something. We went out to eat- by ourselves. Watch t.v.- by ourselves. Got ready in the morning- by ourselves. No one needed me to cook their food or pick out clothes for them in the morning. It was nice. Breakfast was served to us in the morning, Continental style. Which means it was prepared by someone else and all I had to do was pick and choose what I wanted to eat and I was able to sit for as long as I wanted and eat my hot breakfast in peace. Nice. Really nice.

I will blog more about the Church Multiplication Boot Camp later. There is a lot to blog about. I am just glad now that I am home with my family. My loving children are a blessing. Even though they wake me up when I want to sleep in. Ask me for more breakfast before I've finished mine and make it 100 times more difficult to get anywhere on time. I miss them when I'm gone. I miss their craziness. I miss their loudness. I miss their unending needs.

I'm happy to be together again.

Mr. No

Little N is from this point on referred to as Mr. No. Everything you ask him the answer is "No". He might turn your body towards the fridge and say "cup! cup!"(meaning that he wants milk in his cup) and you might in turn ask him "would you like some milk?" His answer "No" But if you then walk away without giving him his beloved cup full of milk he will break out in a frantic "CUP! CUP! CUUUUP!"

He might be pointing at the bananas and you ask him "Would you like a banana?" and he says "No. Blyna(his word for banana)" You know he wants one so you ask again. He says "No. Blyna" You say "Say Yes" and he says "No"

"Are you N?" NO

"Is your sister M?" NO

"Am I your Mommy?" NO

"Are you hungry?" NO
"Are you poopy?" NO

"Can you say NO" NO

At least I win one.

Oh My L

My wonderful middle child will not attend her tumbling class. For the third week in a row we have dressed for class and she will not go. M goes. L does not. I don't understand why she won't. M is in the class with her. L loves all the new tumbling "moves" that they do. And I don't know what to do. It is frustrating that we are paying for the class and she refuses to go. I would love to force her to attend but then again I have never been one to make my children do things that they really don't have to do. I would rather un-enroll her from the class and just have M attend. But I know as soon as I get that process finished she will decide she wants to go. Oh how frustrating parenting can be. What to do? Her teacher told me the other week that she has had the same thing happen with other children sitting out for three class periods so I guess L is just normal?

Mario Kart Wii

I've been a video game fanatic the past week. Last night I stayed up until midnight trying to unlock new things. Yes, yes, I know that now I cannot complain about not having enough time to quilt or scrapbook because somehow I have enough time to play Mario Kart Wii. One thing I do know for sure is that I would be able to play much better if little N would #1. Not try to clean my face with a wipe while I am playing and #2 Not play with my hair while I'm playing He is such a sweet little boy. Is sweet the right word?

One-Lane Bridge

Last month during our vacation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas we took a random drive out of the village and came across this beautiful one-lane bridge in the village of Beaver. It is wooden and quite long which made it even more scary to drive across but magnificently beautiful. On our way back to Tulsa we drove out of our way to cross it again.

Whew!

Crazy. That is the word that explains what I went through tonight. Went into work at 4pm and right away had 2 tables, then a couple more, then a couple more until someone came on at 5:30pm. I thought I was going crazy but somehow I made it through. I don't think I stopped until 6:30. I only had one table for awhile and then we got slammed again. I had a couple rounds of having 4-5 tables all going down at the same time then finally it was all over. $833 in sales tonight. Tipped out $26 to my bussers( SOO glad we had two on tonight, they are so helpful). Brought home $157 tonight, 7 hours of work. Can't beat that.

Before Work Hugs and Kisses

L, my four year old daughter, started this routine with me about a month ago. As I would be leaving for work she would run to meet me at the door and give me a quick hug and kiss goodbye. M soon joined in on the fun. Even if they were laying down "napping" they would run quickly out of their bedrooms when they heard me opening the door to leave and give me a hug and kiss. The hugs and kisses have now escalated to whenever they see me dressed in my uniform, almost ready to leave, they will each hug and kiss me and then hug and kiss me as I'm going out the door. Sometimes they will even yell out their bedroom window "goodbye, mom" several times, each I echo with a "goodbye, girls". The last time I left for work I'm surprised I actually made it out the door. Each girls had to have given me at least five or six hugs and kisses, WOW! that was exhausting.

Halloween and Harvest Parties

My beautiful girls in their butterfly outfits.

We went to a Harvest Party on Friday. We had told the girls on Thursday that we were going to go the next day and that they were going to wear their costumes(the costumes had been put in my closet so that the wings would be less likely to be broken before Halloween) I woke up in the morning and noticed my closet door open. I didn't think much of it other than that it was weird that anyone would be going into my closet. I went into the hallway and looked towards the living room and two little girls shouted "Trick or Treat" decked out in all their costume apparel. "HAHA" I really wanted to laugh. But we had told the girls that they could not get into the closet to get their costumes and there was no way I was letting them spend all day in their costumes. So I nicely told them that they had to put their costumes back, it was not time yet. They told me that they had crawled on the floor into my room, into my closet to get the costumes out so that I would not see them. Sneaky children. Sneaky Sneaky children. You tricked me. This was a trick not a treat.

So later in the day, more around the time of the Harvest party. We had the girls all dressed up in their butterfly costumes and little N in his Tiny Ninja costume. So cute! We took some pictures then went to pick up our friend IZ who was also dressed like a Ninja. So we had two Ninja boys and two Butterfly girls.

WIN!

Our plans this summer were to take one day of the week and tour Oklahoma. For the first month of our summer vacation we have failed at our planning but last week we headed out to the Oklhoma City Zoo on our combined day off and this week we headed out to the Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow and then off to find The Peach Barn located in Porter, OK.

J had the GPS going on his new phone, but as soon as we pulled off the expressway onto the rural roads his phone died. We knew the barn was located at the corner of HWY 51 and HWY 69 and that we were somewhere to the southwest of that. We followed signs to a Lindsay Orchard, hoping that would lead us to The Peach Barn. Instead it put us on a dirt road in the middle of who-knows-where.

We followed our sense of direction thinking we were going north, praying that eventually we would run into HWY 51, it had to be 4 miles north of us. After driving down a one-lane dirt road thankful that it was a bright sunny day and not night time, we finally saw some hope in our future. There was a road ahead of us that there were many cars driving on. This had to be HWY 51. Well it wasn't HWY 51 but it WAS HWY 69. WIN!

We drove it north to HWY 51 and there was the Peach Barn. WIN AGAIN!

We toured the small building filling our small basket with some goodies and then I saw the sign "Cash or Checks only" REALLY? You have got to be kidding me! Being a server I SHOULD have more cash on me but I had just made a deposit the other day. I had $7 on me. We bought 1/3 of our goodies and then headed into the small town of Porter, Ok to search for an ATM. Their bank did not have one. We checked out their only gas station. I sent J in to look. He came out with....... MONEY! WIN US A THIRD TIME! We drove back to the Peach Barn to buy the rest of our goodies and headed back to Tulsa.

Finally Five

M just turned five. My little independent baby girl is turning into a little woman.
She had a makeshift, thrown together haphazardly, birthday celebration. Four days before her birthday her little brother came down with Rubella. He had to be quarantined, therefor we couldn't have anyone over for a party and we couldn't go out like we had planned.
I took M out for breakfast on her birthday at Mimi's Cafe and they gave us this slice of birthday cake. We came home after breakfast and picked L up. Then the girls and I went to a places called "Kuts for Kids". M got her hair cut by this really cool man who then braided her hair into a heart shape. After her hair cut and braiding M went out with her daddy for lunch and shopping at a $1 Jewelry store. She came home and opened some gifts and blew out the candles on her Mimi's cake. It was a really simple birthday, nothing like what we would have had if little N had not been sick. I learned that when life gives you lemons make some lemonade and that is what we did.

Turning Four

L's birthday was on the 19th. Because of my husband being out of town until Saturday we decided to postpone the birthday party celebration until Sunday. I think it worked out great because L had a week worth of special activities and with being the middle child, she was in need of some special attention.

The Monday before her birthday her father took her out to eat for lunch and then to a movie. She was also able to open one of her presents(a Tinkerbell tea set) on her birthday day, which she played with extensively for a couple days before her Grandma M gave her a baby doll that was played with for the next couple days.

We celebrated her birthday with a party on Sunday. We picked up an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and some $5 pizzas from Little Caesars. K and her three children came over and my parents had come down from Michigan. It was a great, low key, party.
I love this time of year. For the next three weeks both girls will be four, they are my little Irish twins.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

To Assume

Taking care of three kiddos is not a piece of cake. But when I am out shopping with them, strangers feel the need to say, "Wow, you must have your hands full!". I have a list of sarcastic responses that are dying to flow smoothly from my mouth that sadly never do.
The other day this lady felt the need to tell me
"I remember that stage of life- You might not know that this is the best time of your life, your children are blessings"
Really lady? I don't know you. You really have to nerve to tell me that I don't know how good my life is? You don't know anything about me and you are
#1-Telling me my hands are full and
#2 Telling me that I am most likely not appreciating the blessings that I have been given
Ok, maybe I am getting offended too easily, I'm sure the lady meant to be nice about it. To save a young mom from not appreciating her children and regretting it later. I know I look at least 4 years younger than I do, making me a teenage mother in the eyes of many.
I hope and pray that I am never like that. That I never assume in my old age that I know and understand what a younger mom might be going through. That I know how she feels because she must be feeling the same way I did when I was her age. I hope that I ask questions. Find out about her and how she feels, before assuming. Because we all know that to assume only makes an ass out of u and me.

A Bigger Bed?

I guess you say I stand on the fence when it comes to co-sleeping or sharing your bedroom with your children. I have known those who would never let their children sleep in their bed or on their floor and also those who willing share their bed with their children and have a toddler bed in their room for their child to sleep on.
We have a very comfortable queen size bed. Comfortable until you throw a large one year old and a three year old in it with you and then it is quite cozy-is that the right word? Cozy, sometimes, if I am too asleep to notice the children who have climbed into the bed. Then I wake up, sore, and unable to stretch my legs because a child is sleeping across them.
What is the solution? A king size bed maybe? But then when there are more children and we find ourselves with three or four children climbing in to sleep with us, well I not be just as sore and unable to stretch my legs because of the children that are sleeping on them?
Kick them out? Create rules and regulations regarding bedtime and sleeping in our bed? This seems cruel and unnecessary to me.
I love snuggling with my babies in the morning. Even when they decided to sleep with their stinky diaper butts in my face or across my legs so I can't sleep well.
I also love having space to myself to stretch out.
So, someday we will buy a bigger bed.

Back Seat Drivers

On the way to visit my best friend, K, for a much needed talk/play-date I missed the turn onto I-75 and decided to take the road that runs parallel to the highway instead of turning around to get back on. My girls, who can now recognize land marks and know that we always take the highway to get to K's house, were taken aback by my choice to take the unfamiliar road.
"Mom, I think you need to turn around. This is not the right way."
"Mom, it's taking a long time to get to K's house. I think you should go back" They cried, every two minutes or so.
"Do you really think I don't know where I'm going?" I told them.
Obviously they thought I had no sense of direction whatsoever.
As I was turned onto K's street they grew quiet and when I turned into her driveway I said "Do you think I need to turn around now"
"No, I think this looks like her house" They said soberly.
"So, do you know think I know where I am going?"
"Yes"

Lessons learned:
Don't drive on unfamiliar roads to familiar places unless you are prepared to defend your choice of course with your children.
Mom always knows where she is going

The Best Mother's Day

My Mother's Day started off at 5:00a.m., not because any of my children woke me up but because I had to be at work at 6:30a.m. I didn't mind working on Mother's Day. I actually don't mind working any of the holidays. The money is 100% worth it. I was at work from 6:30-3:30.
When I arrived home I was welcomed at the door by my two little girls yelling "Happy Mother's Day!" at the top of their lungs. Right away they started telling me to come into the living room and to "close my eyes". I did what I was told. Taped to the top of our entertainment center were three signs declaring "Happy Mother's Day". Above those were a piggy bank in the shape of a fish, a digital picture frame and a Starbucks gift card. The frame was scrolling through pictures of my children and I and pictures of the children holding the "Happy Mother's Day" signs. I also learned that I had a ice cream pie in the freezer.
My husband then cooked me up some food and told me a little about their day. I knew that they had to go into at least two stores.(a fact that was confirmed later). So on top of going shopping for all my gifts they had put away all the laundry, fixed a problem we were having with our television, wrote "Happy Mother's Day" signs, took pictures of the children with the signs, transferred the pictures to the frame, and reloaded my Starbucks gift card. Whew! All in less than 9 hours( I am pretty sure they all didn't jump out of bed when I left for work at 6:00a.m.) I am utterly in awe.
I then threw in a movie to watch otherwise I am sure I would have passed out. I was so exhausted from working. Jake volunteered to go out and get me a Dark Cherry Frappuccino from Starbucks. While he was gone we ate some of the pie.
Then, only a few minutes after he arrived home, I received a text message from K asking if we wanted to bring the children over so that we could go out. My response: "Are you serious?" It was 8:00p.m., the girls were in their p.j.s already, I was about ready to put them all in bed. But I have learned to never, ever, pass up a free date. So we found a movie to go to, dropped the children off and went out. We saw the movie "Babies" so very cute!
That was the end to my Mother's Day, which was the best Mother's Day I have had.

Playdate at the Park

We just returned home from a much needed and long planned play-date in the park with my best-friend, K and her three kiddos(ages 4yrs., 1 1/2yrs. and 2 months) We've been planning to go walk or play in the park for at least a month(really the last time all of us went to a park to walk was last fall I think) and finally everything worked out so that we could actually go.
We went to this cute little park on the river. It is absolutely perfect. The play area is not too big and not too small, just the right size for our older kids to enjoy themselves without feeling like they are "too big" to play on the "baby" size slides and still small enough that if the smaller kids, ages 1 and 1 1/2 climb and get stuck high up, us mothers can easily reach them from the ground.
We let the children play for awhile while we chatted and then we decided to take a stroll. The park is located right by a bridge(for vehicles) and another bridge(for pedestrians). We walked across the bridge then back again. As we were taking a stop to look at a snake skin that had been shed under the bridge I saw my husband coming our way. He was on his lunch break and decided to come find us.
Then we all went out for lunch at McDonalds. I was amazed at how well behaved the six children were as we stood in line and then all sat down to eat.
It was a great morning. We will plan to do it again next week.

In Between

A year ago I would have told you our future plans, 99.9% sure that they were going to happen. Now I am waiting, not sure where we will be or what we will be doing in our future. It's like that bible verse says:

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit."
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say,
"If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."
James 4:13-15

So here I am. I feel like we are in between lives. J is finishing both his degrees in a little more than a year. I am working nights and weekends. Sunday mornings, when the majority of the Christian world is attending church, I am serving people breakfast. J and I see each other less often than we probably should but I think that knowing that this phase in our life is temporary makes it all bearable.
I am still unsure of where we might be in the next year. Even the possibilities that have surfaced we have shared only with a few select people. It's not that I am worried, not at all. I KNOW that God has something good planned for us. He would not let all the talents he has given J go to waste. I am just not so keen to declare our possible plans to the world(Like I did before the rug got pulled out from under us). So for now, if the Lord wills, we will be living in Michigan somewhere building a campus ministry and church out of thoughts and dreams. One thing is for sure. We plan to dream.

Gum Stuck In Hair

My husband, J, took the children to church this morning.. which is quite a feat in itself. Sometimes the girls get gum during their Sunday School class(I don't know why... I think children don't ever need to have gum)
On their way home from church, L complained about having gum stuck in hair and soon after M complained about gum stuck in her hair. Both girls, after chewing their gum, decided that it would be fun to stick their chewed up gum behind their ears. They both have seen Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and obviously got the idea from Violet sticking her gum behind her ear to "save" it for later. M has tried this before, successfully, without any hair damage. That is a whole other story but long story short she said "Mom, I have gum behind my ear like the girl in Willy Wonka"
Well, when the party arrived at home the first thing my husband did was reach into his pocket, bring out his trusty itouch, and search for "how to get gum out of hair" on the Google app.
How do you get gum out of hair?
There are many ways.
Peanut Butter
Ice(put on for 15 min)
Cold Cream
Hand Lotion and Mouth Wash
Husbands method of choice: Vegetable Oil
Soak hair in oil, getting most of the large wads out and then wash the rest out with bath water.
Did it work? Yes! Success!

My Plans

This is what I want to do:
1. Cut my hair. I want it to be similar to how I had it two years ago, the summer of '08.
2. Die my hair. A dark brown or black with highlights or low lights of some sort. Red maybe?
3. Get my nose pierced

Mourning

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their distress,
and to keep oneself unstained by the world"
James 1:27(NASB)

Long story short. We were talking about mourning at Mosaic this weekend and the question was asked, "What do you/should you mourn for?" and "What do you think God mourns for" My answer would be injustice for the innocent.
As Christians I think we sometimes focus on getting the world saved rather than taking care of the needs of the world. We are more concerned about church growth than meeting the needs of the people in our community. We would rather take care of those we know then those we don't know.
I think we are called to help out all with no strings attached. I don't really care if they never show up inside a church. This should be our mission: TO HELP OUT THOSE IN NEED
The Innocent The Poor The Widows The Orphans
I think God mourns for the women and children who are thrown into the sex trade industry. He mourns that we stand around and do nothing.
He mourns for the fatherless and motherless. I think He wishes that we would be more willing to open up our hearts and homes to the orphans of our country.

SHOW ME THE SUFFERING OF THE MOST MISERABLE

Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So that I will know my people's plight.

Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person

Help me to take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.

Give me honestly and patience;
So that I can work with other workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world, Amen.

Cesar Chavez

This is what I do for fun

Yesterday we spent the entire day at K's house. This is her newborn daughter, who I practiced my joy of photography on.
Between her and I we have 6 children under the age of 5. We always have lots of fun. The older children play outside most of the day. For some reason they LOVE playing with water and somehow always, no matter what, find water to play with. They even go to the extent to ask for water to drink and sneak it out of the house while Kathleen and I are chatting. Silly kids.
On this visit they found water in a sandbox and made a mud pit in a hole a few feet away.
We had a lot of fun. I had a glass of wine and a cup of coffee and chatted with K and her sister, who is visiting from Michigan. I also got some good pictures of her precious little daughter.

NEW RULE

While driving yesterday I created a new car rule. The girls had both dropped certain objects that they had brought in the car with them(because when we leave the house everybody has to bring at least 5 items with them in order to be happy), they were both crying that the objects had fallen on the floor and they couldn't reach them. "Can you get them Mom!" they cried.
This is the rule I created: You can only cry about objects that are not in the car. If you left it at home, you are allowed to cry. If your object suddenly flies out the window, you are allowed to cry. Even if your brother eat your object, you are allowed to cry. But if the object you are crying about is in the vehicle then you cannot cry. Older Sister thought about an object that she wished she had that wasn't in the car and I said, "Yes you can cry about that, it is not in the car." She states "But I cannot cry about it, the tears won't come out"

Random ranting

I think of myself as a rather laid back person(I'm sure my husband would agree... you can tell by the nature of my housekeeping) Don't get me wrong, I can and will be drawn to madness, if the occasion calls for it. For example, my best friend is being charged $15 by Dish Network for them to come to her house and remove their wiring from a box that is suppose to be used by COX cable company and only COX cable company. She is getting internet through COX and they cannot set it up until the wiring(which is not suppose to be there) is removed. Dish wasn't suppose to put it there but they are charging her to remove it and get this, the charge would have been $95 if she wasn't on some special pay plan. But because she is, she will be charged $15, for their mistake. That makes me upset.
The National Organization of Women makes me upset and any other organization that dares to include me in their feminist thinking and way of life. RIGHTS do not include murder. Thank you very much. Although I do think that the name calling and taking sides needs to stop if we want to see any decrease in the number of abortions that are performed in our country. People need to be educated. We need to look at the issue through a "Love" mirror and not a "Pro-Life" or a "Pro-Choice" mirror.
Christians make me upset. Do you really think leaving a tract as a tip will make a difference in a person's life? Or leaving a "anti-gay" tract as a tip for a gay server will make him think God is great? Come on people. THINK BEFORE YOU ACT!
Facebook is for friends. Sorry, just because you go to the same church as me or you are my husband's cousin doesn't mean I will be your friend on facebook. And if I delete you. Don't take offense. It really is nothing personal. You just are not my friend and I don't care to have everyone I know know every detail of my facebook life.
On a different note. Something I am learning is to take everything you hear.... especially everything you hear that is second hand AKA Gossip..... with a grain of salt. And something else I am learning is that I am who I am and will not be what you or any other person want me to be. I am not one to change because you want me to. I might change but only because I want to. Don't think so highly of yourself-you had nothing to do with it.