Morning Mists

As I sit here and look into our backyard, a mist is lifting off the lake. A lone duck swims by. It's almost creepy until you just take a deep breath and realize the peace in the moment.

How many moments of pure peace do we pass up every day in our hectic lives. From what I remember, and the memories are very fuzzy, when the twins were babies, we had no peace. Three in diapers, one in preschool, life was crazy. I literally have no physical memory of the first two years of their lives. I have snippets......going to the pediatrician, the triple stroller and the grocery store, the endless diaper changes. Spending ten dollars on one bottle, because you did not have to hold it, it had a tube and you could just stick it into the baby seat and put the nipple in their little mouths and move on until burpee time. I bought four of them and thought I spent way too much money. But you cannot put a price on your sanity, or what little there is left of it.

I remember crying for a month when the twins gave up naps. I used to get so much done during nap time. I once painted a bathroom during nap time. I loved nap time. Nap time was for running around like a crazy person getting all the stuff done you cannot do with three toddlers hanging around.

So, as you wake up this morning to kiddie chaos, where will you find your moment of peace? Do you wake up early to drink coffee by yourself? Read your bible? Watch a duck swim by? Or a couple of Canadian geese with the goslings (six of them) swim by, dad in front, momma in the back. Just saw that by the way. Find a way to find five minutes. Take a deep breath, find your happy place, and then you can face the rest of the day. There is nothing wrong with hiding in your closet for five minutes.

Where will you find your moment of peace today? Share the quiet.

God bless you and yours.

Memorial Day Weekend

As I sit here in my barbeque hangover, way too much steak, I wonder what every one else did this weekend. Mine was packed. My favorite was when our house was invaded Sunday night by the high school small groups.

All year long, I have been the leader for the high school girls small group. That is what our church calls our bible studies. I have been humbled by their faith. We did a purity study and it was amazing. The boys did a study too. They have been incredibly moved. We do have a rule that what is said in small groups, stays in small groups, so I don't know everything they talked about, but I do know they watch Fineus and Ferb. A great show by the way.

They all came over and swam in the lake, made smores and hung out. Love it. Even with the mosquitos, we had a blast. The boys spent the night and Taco Bell was involved in the middle of the night, but they had fun. I have done a million towels in the washer and dryer and all the swim suits.

All of this was worth it to watch these kids grow in their faith in God. Awesome weekend.

What did you burn on the grill this weekend? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Living on a lake

Our new house is on a small subdivision lake. The kind with paddle boats and little docks. I love it. Tatum has turned out to be our little water baby. Every day after school, she is swimming with her friends. They put on life vests and swim back and forth from Emily's house to our house. Or beach to beach if you will.

We looked long and hard for house. We prayed even harder. Our church prayed. Our family and friends prayed. At times I was so discouraged and downtrodden. The lowest of the lows. But through it all, even the tears, I trusted God. I prayed for the house He wanted for us. I prayed that He would put us where He needed us to be. We looked at nicer houses. We looked at bigger houses. We put in offers and counter offers and everything in between.

In the end, we got the disco house and we love it. As I sit on my deck drinking coffee or down at the beach watching the kids swim, I know we are exactly where we need to be. Where God wants us to be. I have a peace in my heart that I have never had before. I love it.

How many times do we forget to wait on God and try to handle things ourselves? How's that working for us? Not good usually. Waiting on God is the hardest thing I have ever done and the most rewarding. Patience is not my strong point, but I am finally getting it. God in charge of your life is humbling and life changing and hard. God's time is not our time. But had I not waited on Him, I would not have this house.

So what are you putting in God's hands today? Do you have the strength to leave it there????

God bless you and yours.

Five Staples later....

So, as you all know, we bought a foreclosed house that needed a lot of work. The backyard is on a hill and there is this waterfall thing that we could not figure out how to work. My brother-in-law looked at it a different way and got it going on Saturday. Hooray! We were all down there cleaning it out and rearranging rocks so it would flow properly. Then, as I stepped on our little landing, where we had just placed a small, wrought iron and tile mosaic table, one of the tiles on the landing tipped. The sand had eroded away underneath it. I fell down, my head whipped back and I cracked it on the very sturdy small table.

I saw stars, little flying birdies, and grabbed the back of my head. I had scraped the back of my calf on the way down too. Landed pretty hard. In all the times I have cracked my head, I have never cracked it open, until now. Take my hand away from the back of my head and it is covered in blood. Head wounds bleed a LOT. It can be scary. Tatum, my daughter, is already crying and her cousin is trying to be brave and hug her. I tell them I am fine. My mother in law gets me a wet rag, Scott gets me a bag of ice and I decide we better get to urgent care.

When you crack your head open, you always feel like your head is going to explode, but this was so painful. We get to urgent care, they are not sure if they want to take a head wound, did I pass out? No? Okay, come on back. The doctor has a thick accent and asks me what happened. I tell him we were down on the beach. Beach? Like I have lost my mind or my brains were seeping out. I explain that we live on a lake and we have a beach. I didn't think I was at the ocean or anything. He then tells me he is going to put in staples.

He also explains that it hurts more to numb the area than to just staple away. Okay, after five staples, and the first one "not sitting right" so it was taken out and put back in. I say, next time, numb away. Scott has bruises where I squeezed his leg as the staples were going in, it was not fun. I also was crying my eyes out and since I was laying on my side, snot and tears were sliding down my face.

Prescriptions for motrin and anti-biotics and instructions that if I start vomitting or seeing double to take me to the hospital and we are on our way home.

I get the staples out on Thursday, all I wanted to do was clean out the waterfall and make it look nice. Yucko. Oh well, better me than one of my kids. My head is still ringing.

Any trips to the urgent care or ER for you this weekend?? Share the love and pass the tylenol.

God bless you and yours.

Man Trip

So my baby, I should say my first baby, who just turned sixteen is on a man trip. Six friends, all Christians, going out to explore the "mitten" that is Michigan. They leave this morning, are headed across the state and then they are doing the perimeter of the mitten. Home on Sunday.

I have to say, I was not crazy about this trip. Six boys, ages 22-16 in two cars, exploring Michigan together. Most would think it was a drinking, girl chasing trip. Most would be wrong. If I even had a doubt, which I do not, something that happened a couple of weeks ago would have squashed it.

The trip involves one of Tyler's small groups. That is our church's name for bible study. Tyler is involved in two and usually is reading another on the side. It humbles me how much he is on fire for God. They were meeting in our basement and I went downstairs to see if they needed snacks. I figured they would be mostly goofing off with a little bible stuff thrown in for good measure. I was wrong. They were diving into the book of Revelation and discussing and arguing points and really getting into the Word.

These are the same kids that went for a Pond run when it was 45 degrees out. A pond run involves only boys, in the middle of the night, and they swim and they don't wear suits. This is a part of male bonding I don't even pretend to understand. Much like peeing in the woods together and other uniquely male things I don't want to discuss that involve noises from various body parts.

So, my kid is off on his first real man trip. The company he is keeping is awesome, so I guess I am okay with this. I am just remembering when we traded his pacifiers for a batmobile. So grown up.

Anyone in your house taking a trip and growing up? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

It's starting.....

We already have one teenage boy who insists on showering in the morning. Now we have two. Now my daughter wants to shower in the morning. That would be five of us showering in the morning. Oh the humanity.

I have to shower in the morning, I have short hair. Those of us with short hair know that you wake up looking very scary. I call it the curse of the short hair. Spikes are everywhere followed by flat spots, it truly is lovely. My husband has always showered in the mornings. Let's face it, the older we get, the more we need something to wake us up in the morning. Added to that fact is that we are now walking at 5:00 a.m. every morning and we need to wash off the funk.

Grant has recently discovered girls actually exist in junior high and started taking showers every morning. Between that and the Axe cologne/deodorant, he smells quite nice. Tatum is hitting that sixth grade mark where she wants to shave her legs (I let her), wear make-up (light mascara only) and do her hair. The hair for a tweenage girl is a little nuts. Could be great, could be horrible, you never know. Go figure.

So now, the quest has become who can shower first and how much hot water is left. Yucko. I usually shower last and to a tepidness I have come to embrace. I just cannot shave my legs because of the goosebumps. The resulting big foot sightings are not helpful.

When Cooper discovers girls, and because he has aspberger's, this may never happen, we are in trouble. Six showers in the morning. This could get ugly.

Who is hogging all the hot water at your house?

God bless you and yours.

Thirteen year old boys..

Okay, I have posted my angst at the teenage boy phenomenon. The testosterone, the man hair sprouting up, all those things. I have gone through this with one of my children. Here comes the second one. All I can say is WHY? Why would you do your assignments and not turn them in? Why would you talk back about everything. I mean everything, from ketchup to not having his older brother's curfew. Why would you punch a wall and fracture your hand?

Which just happened over the weekend. My oldest was going to prom and they starting scrapping at each other and I called a stop to it so the suit would not get messed up. Older brother got in the last hit. Apparently I did not yell enough at the older one. Never mind that the girl and her mother were driving up the street, to our home, to take pictures. Never mind that it's my first prom as a mom. Never mind that the thirteen year old started it all by taking the sunglasses that perfected the "look" for prom. It's still my fault that Grant punched a wall because I did not do anything about Tyler hitting him.

I really want to get inside his mind sometimes and do some spring cleaning. The stuff that comes out of his mouth sometimes. It's my fault his hand is broken.......Hmmmmmm, I did not punch a wall in frustration. He did.

So now, after urgent care and the chaos, we must go to the orthopedic surgeon to get a cast. He has a boxer's fracture of the fifth knuckle. Fabulous. Love it. No more baseball, no more track. Period. The end. No more sports until it is healed. Now I will have to sit on him to allow himself to heal. Great.

Who's punched what in your world? Share the fisticuffs.

God bless you and yours.

Sunburn, oh the agony

Okay, so I am foolish. I used to live in Arizona, so when I am out working in the yard in Michigan, for some unknown reason, I do not think to put on sunscreen. The sun just is not that intense. Or so I think. I am horribly wrong by the way.

Our new house is on a lake. You have to rake algae out of the lake, in addition to leaves, crawdads, and various other stuff. We also had to weed the beach. So after church yesterday, I donned my bathing suit top and board shorts and off to rake I went. The whole family was working in the yard, but I actually got into the water and raked. Three hours worth. From one in the afternoon to four in the afternoon. Then I took a shower and noticed a little bit of burn.

This "little" bit of burn progressed into a flaming wall of ouchiness on my shoulders. The thought of wearing a bra today may send me over the edge. I have to go to work, so I have to wear a bra, but it's not going to be a fun day.

Why do I do this? Why not just put on sunscreen? Why does the sun in Michigan fool me, one time, every summer? Why? I do not know, but I am sure I will do it again next year.

Pass the aloe vera gel and avoid patting me on the back today. Thanks.

God bless you and yours.

Teenagers

I am a youth leader at our church. Technically in "charge" of high school girls, but I will love on any of those kids. Our youth group runs the gamut of new believers to kid with a faith so huge, I am humbled. I never set out to be a leader, but God usually puts you where He needs you, so here I am.

Teenagers today face a world with no moral compass. None, except their parents. And a lot of parents want to be their friend, not their parent, with horrifying results. Again, no moral compass. We are upon prom season and graduation party season. Only one of my children is going to prom and it is as a good friend, not a boyfriend/girlfriend situation, so I am okay with that. Tyler's faith and walk with God is so amazing to me, that even if he was going as boyfriend/girlfriend, I would not be worried. That is not me putting my head in the sand, that is me being fully involved in my child's life.

Knowing his friends, where he stands, what he's doing, all those things lead his father and I to trust him. It is not as if he has never messed up, he has and will again, but he is working on his faith on a daily basis and has it more together at 16 than I did at 35. Again, I am humbled.

Back to Prom. Mothers of girls, please, please, please, go shopping with your daughter for her dress. Please do not encourage her to buy the "sexiest one". Please do not encourage her to go bra-less. Please do not give her permission to stay out all night. If you are going to do all of these things and your daughter's dress has more holes in than swiss cheese, don't be shocked by anything that happens that night. Be a parent, not a friend.

Mothers of boys, talk about honor and respecting girls. Talk to them about the fact that the girl they are going out with is someone's daughter, someone's sister and a child of God. Do not get them a hotel room for the night. Send a message of respect and principles to your son and expect great things of him. Be a parent and not a friend.

I am telling you, by someone who is around teenagers all the time and twice on Sundays, these kids are crying out for guidance. Crying out for rules and regulations. They will fight you and say you are not fair, but in ten years, they will thank you for sticking to your guns. As much as they might gripe about it, these kids crave structure.

Do your kids know about the consequences for their actions? Good and bad? Are you having hard discussions? I hate it too, but it is a necessity. These children (and they are still children) are facing things in their lives that were always on the fringes of our lives. If we knew potheads in school, they know heroin addicts. If we knew "that" girl who got in trouble, there are seven in the sophomore class who are pregnant. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. It's not different anywhere else and there is no perfect utopia where everyone is just fine. We are all struggling.

So, if you don't own a teenager, is there one in your life who you can lead? Mentor? Be a part of their lives? Speaking into their lives positively?

Where is the teenage chaos in your life? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Little Ducky

Well, our new house is on a lake (pond really, but whose counting?) and we have ducks and geese. Actually, they fire off these noisy flare gun type things to scare away the geese because they poop so much. But I digress. Ducks are everywhere. We have had this group of one female and three males on our lake, but no ducklings. Kind of weird.

As I was coming home from taking the kids to school, I see a lone duckling wandering in the middle of the street. No momma duck, no daddy duck, just baby duck. So, I stop my mini-van in the middle of the street, put on my flashers and get out to help the baby duck. It promptly waddles right under my mini-van, yikes. I get it out and drive home with it, not really sure what to do. I have three dogs, so the trick was to get inside, to my mother-in-law for help, without alerting the doggies.

I get inside, swoop into my mom-in-law's bedroom and we decide what to do. You are probably asking yourself why I went home with the duckling. I was in my pajamas to drive the kids to school and didn't want to walk around the neighborhood in my PJ's when I haven't yet met most of the neighbors, carrying a duck. That's just me. We put the baby duck in a box and proceed (after I get dressed) to go back to where I found him to see if there are any ducks around. There are, but we don't want to get too close, so we let the little guy go nearby and back away.

Here's my problem. What if that wasn't his family? What if those ducks hurt my duck? What if it was a baby goose? What happened to my little duck? I don't have the answers and I don't want to go looking and find a dead baby duck, so I will live with my fantasy that he is re-united with his family and living large on worms and grass.

But if I see him again today, I am keeping him and raising him as one of the family. Just sayin'.

God bless you and yours.

What's New with You?

So many things happening in the last couple of months. We moved into the Disco house and we love it. We lived in a construction zone for three months, had more "pop ups" than we could count and finally, finally, there are no noises when I get home from work. I can walk through my house without my contractor walking in another door. As great a job as our contractor did, I am not sorry to not see his truck in my driveway. If you need any and all repairs/work done on your home and you live in the Detroit metro area, email me for Mark Harrop's number, he does exceptional work and is very reasonable.

I also went back to work full time. I don't work at Starbucks anymore and once my "free" pounds of coffee run out, I will have to find a cost effective solution to my addiction. I am scared for that day.

Back before I had kids, I was a licensed optician. So, I got re-certified and went looking for a job. And I actually got one. No one was more shocked than me. And I love it, another shocker. I am working more hours, but have more energy and love my new job. Working full time does have some drawbacks, like planning dinners, instead of picking something up every day, but I really, really love it.

I think one of the reasons I truly love it is that I really prayed, for months before, for God to put me in the job He needed me to be at. I dropped off so many resumes to so many places and ended up in the perfect one for me. That brings me such peace.

The kids are adjusting pretty well, and I don't have to work as late as at Starbucks, I am home by 8pm at the latest and home every morning to get them off to school, so that's good. The crock pot is getting a work out, and if you have any exceptional recipes for that, post those too.

I am back to blogging, which I love. So what's new with your crew? New jobs? New babies? New empty-nesters? Share the love. God bless you and yours.

Gone too long

Sorry folks, I guess living in a construction zone took the best from me. I am back and will be blogging starting tomorrow, so much to share. Hope everyone out there is doing well and praising God for all the blessings in their lives. See you manana.

Construction Zone Living

So, for the last three weeks, in the new house, we live with the sights, sounds and smells of construction. To say I am flustered is an understatement. You see, I know these things need to get done. We need two more bedrooms in the basement. Which means we need an egress window in the basement. We need another bathroom in the basement. We needed to turn the front living room (which real people never really use anyways) into our master bedroom. We are making the house fit our family, which is great.

And I know it's a blessing that we are able to do this. And a blessing that our contractor is a Christian, honest and reliable and a friend. I get all of that. I really do. But coming home from work to nail guns and saws and dust is making me a little crazy.

Also, the boxes.........oh the boxes. We cannot unpack everything because no one is in their right bedrooms yet. Every time I go downstairs, I face the boxes. The boxes are mocking me. They laugh at me behind my back, I am sure of it. Plus, when I need something, I must go a digging. Not fun.

So, I will keep trying to be positive and they will keep on building. Hopefully, by March we will all be settled. If you know this won't be true, LIE TO ME.

God bless you and yours.

I'm Back!!!!!

We have moved into the new house and now the fun begins. Who knew there could be so many boxes in such a small space? The things we cannot find are hilarious. We cannot find the big blue tub of dog food. We cannot find a box that had the toothbrushes and apparently Scott's belt in it. The toothbrushes are in the bathroom, the box is missing and here we go!!!

The garage is packed, the pod is packed and I have got to tackle these things pronto. The cable is hooked up, so we did not miss American Idol last night! Well, I missed it because I was doing stuff, but the kids saw it.

I have made the pledge never to move again. Ever. I hate it. I hate being unsettled. I hate the last minute packing that has to be last minute or no one would have clothes. I hate the never ending job of unpacking, finding a place for it, and then breaking down boxes. YUCK.

But I love our new house. Every day I look out my back door wall (arcadia door for those of you in the Southwest) and see a lake and various wildlife. Love it. We will still have construction for about a month to get the bedrooms in the basement done. So dust will be a constant companion, but that's okay. This too shall pass.

Any funny moving stories out there? Share the love.

God bless you and yours.

Taking some time off....

A little time off to move and strip wallpaper. God bless everyone.