200 posts??????

Wow, seems like yesterday I was sitting at Glorietta Christian writer's conference figuring out what the heck a blog was and how to create one.

I think I have written on just about anything and everything related to kids. And parenting kids, and so on.

I feel blessed to have you all in my life and am going to take today to just be grateful to still be writing.

God bless you and yours.

Another Rainy day

Why is so hard to get out of bed when it is raining cats and dogs outside. I want to curl up with a good book and leave the world behind. I am covered in mosquito bites from last night's hangtime at the Kosek's. I did use spray, but apparently left out some key areas and now have several bites in those areas, should be an interesting day at work.

I am sitting here contemplating life and realize that I love a rainy day. I takes these days to bake and cook and make the house smell yummy. I have to do laundry and get ready for work and go pick up Tyler, who spent the night at the Kosek's. Last hurrah of the summer. They gave up the idea of sleeping outside somewhere around the ten thousandth mosquito bite. I hope Stacey survived, all three of her children had friends spend the night, quite a houseful. I believe at last count it was 19 kids altogether. God bless her and Dan, I don't think I would have been able to handle that.

So I must go through the mud to pick up Tyler in the "country" this morning. Make something for lunch and then go to work. Maybe it will rain all day and the teenagers will avoid the mall tonight. Oh well, Hope springs eternal.

What do you do on rainy days?

God bless you and yours.

Sophomore Registration

Quick one today, I have to take a shower so I do not embarrass my child at registration. We go this morning so he can get his picture taken and get his class assignment. Where did all the time go. A good friend of mine is saying goodbye to her daughter as she leaves for college today. So many kids getting ready for new adventures. Amazing. Then, last night when I was working, there was a very pregnant woman expecting her first child. Some days it seems like yesterday when I got the news I was pregnant with Tyler, now he is starting high school.

First steps, first words, first hurts, first smiles, all so long ago. I relish the times we spend together now. Having conversations, sharing Facebook, whatever. He still doesn't have a cell phone. Won't get one until he can pay for it himself. Life sometimes, is not fair.

I am off to get in the shower and put on make-up on my day off, a minor miracle really. I will not cry and make him red in the face. I will be happy that he has reached another milestone in his life. I will be happy.

God bless you and yours.

Rainy days and laundry

So, I slept late because it is raining and I kept thinking it was six in the morning. Nothing like a good sleep in. That being said, I am a little behind in the laundry thing, so off I go to sort the stuff, wash, dry, fluff and put away the laundry.

Laundry is a never ending task in my world. Yours too I imagine. What do the kids actually do in their clothes to make them so dirty. I cannot fathom it. Thank God for bleach and all those pre-treating sprays. I have come to know that I can get everything out except Sharpies. That's really not too shabby.

I still have ten orphaned socks, cannot find the other one for the life of me. There are in sock purgatory, with lost other items that will show up at weird times. Oh well.

So I am off to get going on the laundry and finding missing socks. Making beds and cleaning rooms are the order of the day for the kiddos. Last summer hang time tomorrow out at the Koseks, cannot wait for that. Should be a blast.

Have a great day, God bless you and yours.

Relying on God

In today's world, or at least in our little worlds, we pretty much run everything. We all know that if momma goes down, everything goes down. We are very used to being in charge and getting things done. We do fundraising, we run meetings and businesses, we run PTA's and parents meetings, we meet the teachers, we get the kids where they need to go. Moms do all these things and we do them well. I wonder though if sometimes in our need for control, we forget about God.

God has always been in my life. Even when I walked away from church and faith, I knew He was watching over me. But I can tell you that it has taken a long time for Him to be the center of my life. If I am running everything well, why do I need God? Good question, we are all very good at running our lives and making things run smoothly. But without God in my center, I sometimes felt I was running out of control. Satan had an easy mark, because I was so tired. I gave into sin because I could justify it. I am not saying I am a sin free person now, that is just foolish. But I do think I am doing a better job at recognizing it in my life and praying about it.

I have shared that I read the book "Fasting" by Jentezen Franklin. Although I was bringing God into my daily life by choosing to start my day in the bible and praying. Every day I do this to center my self and those around me. Although this is a daily ritual, I was shocked at how much closer I have gotten to God through fasting. It opened up an entire new look at my life. Fasting is part of my "three strands are not easily broken" life. Give, pray, fast. Three strands that are keeping me centered in chaos.

You see, my life right now is in chaos. My mother-in-law through no fault of her own is losing her house. Scott and I tried to save it and were told it was considered a family bail out. We can get a mortgage, but no one will give us a mortgage to buy her house. Thirty banks said no. So as we began to search for a home, we found the NSP program. A federally funded program to get foreclosed homes off the market. As we put in offers, they get rejected or someone got there first. We need sixty days to close on this type of deal and we have around 45 days left in the house we are in. Chaos reigns supreme in my life. It seems as if the blackness is closing in.

But as I fast and pray and continue to give, monetarily and through time and talent, I am peaceful. God is in control. I am not. He is working supernaturally to put us in the house that He needs us to be in. I cannot see all that is going on behind the scenes but He can. I have let go of this and given it to God. I still do my part of the work. I look for houses, go through them, put in offers, run around and get papers signed. Now, I have to wait and see and pray and hope. As I come closer to God, He comes closer to me.

So as the chaos I am in errupts, I will be calm, I will pray and know that God is with me. I release the control to him alone and know that we will all be fine. We will get the house that God has picked for us. We will amaze everyone involved by making it happen when it seems it should not, and we will tell them it is by God's grace that these things have happened.

Releasing control to God is the hardest thing I have ever done. I struggle with it and want to take things back and make them work my way. In doing that, I could be closing a door that God is opening. I have to let Him work.

Where is chaos reigning supreme in your life? Get your bible out, get into a Spirit filled church, and get some good friends around you who support you and will pray for you.

God bless you and yours.

Getting Ready for Three different schools.

Okay, Tyler is in high school, Grant in middle school and the twins at elementary school. So where does this leave us? Running around like crazy people and going nuts. Filling out forms in quadruplcat (sp?) and going to open houses. Yikes, sounds like madness and it is.

We don't start school here in Michigan until after Labor Day, so it is late this year. I have two more weeks of at home kids. So bored with each other that they fight constantly and make me crazy. I did get them all new shoes. Except for Tatum, she has inherited my shoe fetish and has way too many shoes. And hand me downs from all her cousins. Yikes, she has more shoes than I do. I was very happy with my extra 30% off at Kohls and the shoes were all on sale, so three pairs of boys/men shoes for 80 bucks is not too bad.

Hit all the back to school sales for supplies, don't really need crayons and markers and all that jazz, but needed spiral notebooks, pencils, and paper. I need folders too, but I just remembered, I did not buy those yet, oops. I will get those later. I always buy markers and crayons when they are sale so I do not have to buy them in the middle of the school year for projects.

After all of this, we just wait until the day of school starts. Yeah!!!! I may take the day off and go listen to the silence. I love listening to the silence. It's my favorite sound.

What have you done to get ready for school? How are the kiddies doing?

God bless you and yours.

Why do what you do?

Interesting.... our new youth pastor asked us to go around the table and explain why we work with the youth group. Most of us have felt called by God to be there. The funny thing is, God called us all in very different ways. He works like that a lot of the time. I think the point is to come when He calls. It's never easy, but it's always worth it.

I was "called" when my children wanted to go to winter church camp. We did not have the money, but I had heard there were "scholarships" available. So I went up to Pastor Tim and asked him about it and then told him I would do all the fundraising for the mission trip. Silly girl, fundraising is for people who have time. I did not. That being said, between the cookie dough fundraiser, the silent auction/spaghetti dinner, the car washes and the mission letters going out, we raised all we needed to raise.

Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, I fell in love with these kids. So when PT asked me if I would be interested in being a leader at our summer church camp, Velocity, I said yes. Then I fell in love even more. These kids' hearts are on fire for God it is amazing to watch. How could I NOT be a part of it.

So where is God calling you today? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Had to get Squished

Sorry so late today. Between writing up yet another offer to a bank for a foreclosed home and going to the doctor's today, this is it.

I had my mammogram today. Blech. Necessary and all that, but jeez louise, I hate it. And then, the first squish was not good enough and they had to do it again. Oh, and relax. Oh, and don't breathe. Man, at least it was a gal. I often wonder if there are any men doing mammograms. Wouldn't that get awkward? I mean, they have to position every thing just so. And my girls are not what they were before children. I think I would rather die than have a guy do that. I'm just saying.

Other than that, I had to have an ultrasound because of my really bad, really heavy monthly friends. Who is really no friend of all. I mean, I am done having children, why do I have to have periods. I have not had an ultrasound since the twins, and all that with a full bladder. Again, I say, Blech. Oh well, hopefully this gets me closer to a solution.

What's new in your medical world? Is there anything more embarrassing than being a girl? Just asking.

God bless you and yours.

If God is for us, who can stand against us?

As my life gets more chaotic, I find myself, at odd times going to my bible to seek comfort. Since I usually seek comfort in brownies or some kind of chocolate and then, as an afterthought, go to God, this is a new one for me. Going to God first is becoming a habit of mine that I want to keep. I am embracing all the comfort of knowing I have a heavenly father that watches over my every step. And knowing that all things happen in His perfect time, not my own.

That's a tough one to wrap my mind around. His perfect timing. We understand it once we come through something hard. Being in the middle of something hard, it is not so easy to understand God' timing. We have the perfect solutions, if only He would show up. It is humbling to come to a place and know that He is showing up right on time. His time is not our time. We just wish He would hurry the heck up sometimes.

As the things of this world weigh us down, let us all lighten our loads a little bit. Go to God and receive his peace. Which, according to the bible, we cannot fathom the depth of His peace, if we go to Him and ask for it. Our Heavenly Father wants to know what we are going through and help us through it. We just have to accept it. Receive His Peace.

I encourage you all to go to God with all your stuff. The small stuff too. I truly believe He just wants the conversation to start. No fancy words, just a lightening of our hearts. Stand in the shadow of His protection.

God bless you and yours.

Maxed Out

So, between looking for a house, getting ready for school, sleep overs, teenagers, and all the rest, I am a little maxed out. I know we have all been on this precipice before. Standing on the edge, knowing something very small could pitch us over it. Usually, during these times, I like to hibernate. That is so, if I do go bonkers, I do not offend those around me. I don't have time to hibernate, so someone could get offended.

It could be the teenager who has become accustomed to telling me what he thinks he is going to do instead of asking. It could be the surly co-worker, who is so miserable, I believe that this person will die alone with hundreds of cats. It could be my brother in law's dog whom we babysit every day, who at this present time is jumping on me and trying to get me to pet him, thus messing up my typing. All these have a decent shot at throwing me over the edge.

If you add in that I have been up since three in the morning because I woke up thinking about all that is going on in my life, and tossed and turned until I just got up to read my bible. That helped a lot, but I am still exhausted.

What do you do when you are maxed out?

God bless you and yours.

Sorry no blog

Sorry, we have a family emergency, my mother in law's sister in law was in a car accident yesterday in the morning. Someone ran a red light. She is 75 and has two broken legs, at the hospital late last night and have to work this morning. Please pray for Aunt Margie, she is spunky, but 75 and her right femur is smashed and her left tibia is smashed. Not exaggerating, saw the x-rays. Have a great day, God bless.

Blessed with Teenagers

So, for whatever reason, this week, I am the kool-aid house. Last night was movie night at our house for a lot of kids that are friends of Tyler's and happen to be in our youth group. For whatever reason, they don't like scary movies, but it is a tradition to watch scary movies. Karley brought her own blanket to hide under.

The only thing I asked was that they pick up a little. To my shock and amazement, they did! Cameron and Rico slept over. Rico is not his real name, but there are two Erics in youth group, so Rico is Rico. As in "It's boom boom time Rico".

As of August 15, in preparation for school, there will be no more sleep overs. Sorry to be such a drag, but there you go. I know they did not go to bed before three in the morning. And I hate crabby kids.

I know I have said it before, but I love having all these kids around. It probably helps that I got to know most of them at Velocity and know their hearts are on God. I did start to watch the movie, 1408 with John Cusack. I am a huge John Cusack fan. But just when it got really creepy, I went the heck to bed. No creepiness for me. I like my sleep too much.

So who is hanging out at your house this summer? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Hey, I cooked for something.....

So yesterday, due to vacations, Tyler's bible study group was at our house. Since many families are on vacation, about ten kids showed up, mostly my chicas. That would be chicas por Jesus from Velocity. Fun times. Then, Pastor Tim took Tyler and two of the gals to the mall. I said I would make tacos for dinner and they all came back and ate them. Then the hubby got home with his brother Keith and Grant had Elijah sleeping over, so it was worth it to cook.

Tacos are easy and healthy. Lean ground beef, cook it up and add the seasoning. Chop up some lettuce and tomatoes. Sour cream and I found the bonus, guacamole in my freezer. Soft tortillas, we are a soft taco family. Queso dip and chips. Shredded cheese. I normally make home made salsa, but I did not have the stuff on hands, a great alternative is Chuck and Dave's fresh stuff. You can get a really big one at Sam's club. Then it is just pile on what you like. You can even make nachos if you like. Really, it's a twenty minute meal.

Oh, I did make Redonna cheese crisps or quesadillas. See, I used to just throw some shredded cheese on a tortilla and stick it in the microwave. That was until my small children went to my friends house. She puts butter on two tortillas, cheese in the middle and fries it in a pan like a grilled cheese sandwich. Crispy yumminess and you cannot go back to limp, hotness from the microwave. Then I cut them up with a pizza cutter and wahlah, Redonna cheese crisp.

So, tacos for a crowd went well. I love a full kitchen, especially full of teenagers. Love it. Oh, we had ice cream for dessert. PT had two kinds, it is his weakness after all.

I hope your kitchen gets filled to the rim soon.

God bless you and yours.

I cook for nothing

As a working mom, sometimes I feel guilty that my kids don't get home cooking. Sometimes I feel so guilty, I make a wonderful dinner. That is usually the day that my husband comes home and says, "I had a late lunch, looks great, but I am not hungry". The kids are eating over their friends houses and all my hard work goes into the fridge as leftovers.

This summer, I have discovered that kids like carnival food. Any day I get out the deep fryer and make chicken nuggets, french fries and cheese sticks, they are happy. I cannot, in all good motherhood, do this more than once or twice a month. My kids would die of a heart attack by the time they were twenty. Hey, everyone loves the deep fried stuff. Of course we do, or we would not go to the state fair for elephant ears and indian fry bread. Or deep fried twinkies. I actually tried one of those, all I can say is, not worth it. Totally disgusting. Now, a real, dipped, deep fried corn dog, that I can do. There is something magical about it. Crispy yumminess, dipped in mustard, so good. Baking frozen corn dogs out of a box do not compare to deep fried freshly dipped ones. Hmmmmmm, when is the state fair?

So, after grilling and salad making and Sunday dinners and all my hard work, all they really want is carnival food. Well, being a mom, I must shove something healthy down their gullets, or it's just wrong. Every time I see some child with pop or kool-aid in a bottle, I want to talk to the mom. Not that pop and kool-aid are bad, they should just be used in moderation, not as a daily drink for hydration. And I don't think they ever belong in a bottle. Just my opinion, but seriously, come on.

So what's for dinner tonight you ask? It is my day off from my other job, so I will grill out whatever meat is on sale. Marinate it in Italian dressing. Make a cole-slaw/ramen salad, and maybe some roasted potatoes. See? Protein, green stuff, potatoes. Nice balance. The deep fryer shall wait for another day. Oooooohhhhh, I have watermelon for desert. Not the healthiest of fruits, but hey, it's summer.

What are you making for dinner?

God bless you and yours.

Let the groaning begin....

In an effort to get my children ready for school, we have started cutting back on their curfews and bedtimes. Also, the time they get up in the morning. After many years of trying to wake children up on the first four weeks of school, starting this procedure a couple of weeks early seems to work out. They hate it. They push it. They try to stay up late with lame excuses. I don't fall for it. These kids have to get up early now so they can get up early then. The end.

Of course, this means no sleeping in for me either. That five in the morning alarm is going to start going off again. Why did I ever stop getting up at five? It is hard to get up at five and keep going. Especially since I gave up caffeine and I cannot have my coffee. Coffee good, stomach bad. Oh well.

What routines do you start doing before school? Do you let your kids sleep in to the bitter end? Or do you try to get them into school mode a little early? Let me know.

God bless you and yours.

Manners

As I work at Starbucks and serve countless people in a day, I am dumbfounded by their lack of manners. Mostly teenagers, but lately, old and young alike, have lost their ability to be kind and courteous. This results in me coming home on a friday night after working, waking Tyler from a dead sleep and lecturing him to make sure my kids do not act like mongrels. When did the manners stop? I actually came home yesterday hating the public at large.

I know as I sat at my dinner table, I had to ask politely, "could you pass the peas please?" and once they hit my hand, I had to say thank you. I want to know why parents stopped teaching their children manners. I did not. My kids are polite. Total strangers tell me how polite my children are, so I am pretty confident in this. Manners begin in your home, period. Please and thank you should be uttered thoughtlessly, not eliminated from their vocabulary. If one more teenager asks me to "get me a strawberry frappacino" I think I shall ask for the magic word. "What's the magic word?" I don't care if there is a line out the door every friday, I must take a stand for humanity and insist on the magic word. Then, I think the bar person should physically hold the frappacino hostage until the other magic word is uttered, thank you. Such a small amount of effort to be polite and we all have fallen short some how.

I am constantly amazed at the children of today and how much they lack in manners, common etiquette, and the simple matter of being around adults. Most cannot hold a conversation without including all the texting synonyms. Some cannot spell, because of the same synonyms. Omg, idk what to do with these kids. Most teenagers cannot even order properly because they are texting at the same time. Rude, rude, rude. We have to put it to a stop.

If my mother and I were in a line and I was a teenager and I was rude I know she would have slapped me silly, made me apologize and then slapped me again. Rudeness is running rampant and I want to know when this started. Because most of my friends discipline as I do, I know you are all going to agree with me, but is anyone out there who would like to get on a soap box and tell me why manners are not important? Just checking.

God bless you and yours.

A Summer Reading Suggestion.

Okay, first, sorry for no blog yesterday. I had to get up at midnight to go get the boys from their Cedar Point trip and then I had to open Starbucks. I could barely see straight, let alone blog about anything that was worth reading. Missed you guys too.

Second, you have read Stealing Home by Allison Pittman. Even if you don't read historical romance. Even if you don't read Christian historical romance. Her blend of characters, brutally honesty in writing and the story are worth picking this book up. I have to be honest and tell you I only picked it up because I met Allison at the Glorietta Christian Writers Seminar and we have become friends. We should all support our friends. I am not a big reader of Christian fiction. That being said, I loved this book. Could not put it down and it caused many a late night before I finished it. Great read. Perfect for a quiet afternoon on the beach or poolside.

I love finding a new author that I like. Knowing her personally only makes it better. She works very hard on her craft, something that I know is not easy to do. I have also read her book, Saturdays with Stella, which is non-fiction. Also, a great read, especially if you are wrestling to find your place in God's family.

So, I encourage you to go out and get Stealing Home, you will enjoy it. What are you reading around the pool this summer?

God bless you and yours.

What the........

As I roll over last night I hear something in the bathroom. Check the clock, it's 1:30 in the morning. I realize the sounds coming from the bathroom are my son's nightly rituals for getting ready for bed. Huh? It's one thirty in the morning, he should be in bed. Especially because they had to get up at 5:30 to go to Cedar Point with our youth group. So I ask you, am I crazy? I know teenagers like to stay up late, but what I cannot figure out is why? Sleep is good, sleep is fun, sleep is necessary. He knew he would not be able to sleep in, so why stay up so late? I don't get it. I really don't.

Then I realized he had been out skateboarding all day and had not checked in. Wrong answer. I asked him this morning when he got home and I believe he was home at curfew. But I dropped him off at like one in the afternoon. Not a word all day. I know he is all of fifteen and can handle himself, but really, throw the momma a bone here.

So, here I sit, perplexed, do I make him wake me up when he gets home, so I know he is safe and sound? Do I rely on his word, which is pretty honest if I do say so myself. He will use this as an excuse to say he should have a cell phone, then I could a hold of him whenever I wanted. That is not going to happen. All his friends have cell phones, I can always embarrass him and call one of them.

I am not sure I will survive these teenage years. Yikes. I wonder if God gives us teenagers to teach us perseverance. Good question when I get to heaven. My only hope is that I know someday, hopefully years from now, I will laugh at him handling his own teenagers. That will be worth the wait.

God bless you and yours.

Okay, the laundry soap is a go

IT WORKS. My clothes are whiter and brighter. I cannot believe I did not find this sooner. What a God send. Saving money, I mean tons and tons of money and it works really really well. I was a little skeptical. I mean, who can really make ten gallons of laundry soap for two dollars? Well, I can. And I will from now on, so worth the maybe half an hour it takes to whip up.

I was a little scared when I uncovered it Saturday morning and there was a gelatinous mess in a bucket. Then I followed directions and stirred it up, divvied it up with half water, half stirred up stuff and now I use it every day and it is wonderful.

All the stuff in the recipe is stuff our grandmas used. Borax, Fels-Naptha soap bar, washing soda. The stuff they used before commercials told you that you needed the newer and the better. Well, the older stuff is just as good or better in my opinion.

Again, I call out, what do you do to save money? Let me know.

God bless you and yours.