WOAH!!!

Is there a stop button for life? I need a moment to catch my breath. This week went by and I think it left me back on Monday. I need a ton more hours and a ton more sleep. Got a busy busy weekend ahead. My brother and wife are over tomorrow along with my parents to celebrate his birthday (a tad late) and then on Sunday my wonderful boy T-man is being baptized. He is so excited, he just can't stand it. I will write about the day afterwards, but right now all I can say is I am beyond humbled and proud to be his Mama. His relationship with Jesus is flourishing even now and I'm so amazed at what adult thoughts he has and how mature he is. He has even written some songs about Jesus and how much He loves us and how much we love Him. (not sure if he wanted it public knowledge, so if anyone out there knows him and sees him and reads this, please don't mention it yet.) He has a really wonderful voice, he draws like a crazy man and looooves Soccer. I am looking forward to seeing how this weekend unfolds. While Halloween is big in many houses, this year, and for years to come, the most important thing to me on that day will be remember my son and his commitment to being a follower of Jesus Christ and wanting to tell the world that they will miss out on life if they don't have a relationship with a Savior who loves them unconditionally and who saved them from death by His GRACE!!!

I love you T-man... you make my life better just by being you. Love, Mama

Slow learner

Yup, that's me. Slow learner. I tend to take a long time to learn things. MOSTLY I must admit this is due to my small stubborn side. (those of you who know me have now realized how much prayer I truly need :) ) At any rate. I have all the grandios plans to do so many scrapbooking type projects and have yet to finish ANY of them. Drives me nuts. So... THIS year for Christmas I am doing a "December Daily". Ali Edwards is walking through it for I think the 4th time this year. It has been so much fun to plan and pick and sort through all my Christmas papers and stickers! I forever hear from my sweet GH that I need to use some of the stuff I have and stop purchasing so much! Well, while I did purchase a couple things for this project, none of it was scrapbook related. I got some rings and some plain chipboard. I can't wait to post a few photos of what I've done. I don't expect a gaggle of oooo's and aaaahhh's, I am just excited to post things that I loooove to do and let a few people I love who don't live near by see what I do for fun.

Many people ask me how I get this stuff done with 3 young boys running around. Well, other than 1 being at school all day and 2 taking naps in the afternoon I have this amazing, wonderful and supportive GH that sends me to fun events and gives me time to get stuff done. I don't know what I'd do without this man in my life! The other major component is my mom and by extension, my dad. My mom will come visit from time to time and play with them while I chat and work on things. And just this last weekend I got to go up for a visit for the first time in about 5 months. I got a ton finished on my little December Daily album and it was all cuz (yes, I abbreviated) she let me just get stuff done and plow on through.

And here we are to today looking at some beautiful rain outside :) I love rain. Yes, a hot cocoa, blanket, book and fire inside kinda gal! I am excited for the rain all week. It's so fun to be nice and cozy inside and enjoy the rain outside.

I have no amazing epiphany in the way of God inspired tidbit today. Just trying to stay in the moment and not let it fly by. I am also pretty thankful for my treadmill today. Without it I might not have zipped through my 3 miles this AM :)

Blessings to you all!

Women of Faith and learning to be a sheep!

Hello world! ok, hello me, but really anyways....

I truly have no idea where to start or how much to say about my experience with Women of Faith. It was wonderful to have a time to get to know my husband's cousin a lot better. It was wonderful to get to know her and meet her hillarious BFF :) I doubt she reads this, but just in case... Joy, YOU are a joy!!

I had been planning and packing for this trip for about 3 days. Of course the actual packing for it took about 10 minutes. I mean, seriously, what do you take when you are just gonna sit on your butt for hours and listen to people encourage you? So jeans and t-shirts and sweatshirts and comfy jammies. Had great drive down to my friend's BFF's house. Didn't get to sleep until after 11:30pm and woke up nice and early to get to Starbuck's for coffee/oatmeal and of course a DOUGHNUT!!! I hadn't had a doughnut in months and it tasted so fabulous! Then off to the Rose Garden for the Friday slate of speakers. Sheila Walsh, honestly, how can anyone not love that women when she speaks. So amazing. The only main things from her I wrote down were to remember that Jesus knows where to find you so just concentrate on being a sheep and going where He leads. Tough stufff to remember when you are in the midst of stress and strife. Backing up a bit, I truly wrestled with whether or not to go to WOF (Women of Faith) because our finances are really tight and I really wanted to make a good choice with my money. Despite my poor mother's warnings of not spending too much money, my sweet husband encouraged me to go and have a wonderful time. Needless to say, to some of you, I really felt like God had planned for me to be there. I always feel like God plans for me to go places and all I have to do is listen. I am so thankful I listened. The gals I went with surprised me with a night at a hotel nearby. I love them. They are so wonderful and I can never repay them for all the love and encouragment and laughs they gave me over that weekend. But boy was it nice to wake up and just be a little over 15 min. away (walking) to get to Saturday's group of speakers. Sheila Walsh spoke again and so did a few others. There were two things that really struck me and stuck with me. I listened to Karen James speak. She is the wife of the climber, Kelly James, who died on top of Mt. Hood in Dec of 2006. She hadn't been back to Portland since then and it was amazing to hear her story of what she went through and how God walked with her through the whole thing. If you have a chance to read her book "Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount hood Tragedy" I highly recommend it. Ok, so it is the next book I'm going to read, but honestly, we heard an overview of it in her talk and it compelled me to check it out of our library.

The second thing that stuck with me actually deserves a bit of background (yup, I'll keep it short). Just before I left I had been in the throws of praying a little baby that I truly didn't know (didn't even know the parents). He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot in a severe form. This poor boy was subjected to so many tests, surgeries and tubes I just can hardly talk about it. Having seen my last baby boy, little mr. J, in the NICU at Swedish and having to leave him there for 1 week and not take him home was hard enough, but to listen to this baby's mama describe her feelings and what she was going through watching him try and heal was so impactful. Sadly, just a few days before WOF, baby Ewan died. I have never cried for another unknown person like I did for that sweet baby and his family. Even now, I am tearing up at the thought. I truly felt like I walked with them through that with prayers. So, fastforward to Saturday and Natalie Grant (Christian singer) gets up to sing a concert. Now I have always liked her, heck she is from the area so it is sort of one of those "support the hometown girl" sort of things, but after she was done singing I can honestly say she ranks right up there with Steven Curtis Chapman or Michael W. Smith when it comes to impacting my heart with God's words. If you have never heard her song "Held"... wow... again, wow. I love and hate that song at the same time. It talks about dealing with losing a child. I felt for baby Ewan's family all through it. I prayed for them again, as oddly enough, at that moment they were in the middle of their memorial service/funeral up in Washington and there I was praising Jesus and singing in Oregon. I must have had a lot of tears stored up because by the time we left I don't think I had anymore tears left in me. And I have to clarify this a bit, they were not tears of sadness per se, they were tears of Joy. Yup, used a capital J for Joy. That kind of Joy is God given and God breathed. Being filled with Joy of how much God loves me as I am and never leaves me and knows where I've been and where I'm going and knew me before I was even in mother's womb and as I grew up with many many struggles (some of which I have come to terms with and others I am sure I will at some point). As my old BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) leader used to say: God is Good, ALL the Time!! Everything that is good comes from Him. I am so thankful that I grew up knowing that He loved me and that He is in complete control. I'd hate to have grown up thinking that when I die, it's just over. Bleck! Or as my uncle says, Bluck Pooey! The legacy I hope I leave here on Earth is one for Jesus and his free saving Grace for those who want it. No strings attached. He died for me and ALL of us and in two weeks I get to rejoice with family as my oldest boy, T-man, is baptized. I am so proud of him and who he is. He is truly a joy (ok, frustration, too) to me. I am a better person for having had him as my son and one day I hope I can be as sweet and wonderful as he is. I am one blessed mama.

Ok.. wow.. don't think I've ever typed this much. I gotta quit so I can clean up my kids and their dirty hands from lunch.

I am so thankful for my WOF weekend. Praise Jesus I live in a country where that is legal and we are able to worship and praise the awesome and wonderful God we serve!

Have a blessed week ... the few of you who read this... if any. But hey, I am actually excited to have an online journal. When I go back to Paris someday I want to be able to write about my trip somewhere I can always see it.

I have dreamed of having 5 children....

AND NOW I DO!!!! Ok.. sorry, just kidding. I am watching my friends two kids for an overnight AND my GH is out of town. People thought I was nuts, but it's going really great. No issues and we've played outside, eaten dinner, and now are having popcorn and a movie. We are watching Ponyo.. not bad.... different and pretty cute. So all in all.. yippeee! And to make it even a bit more fun, my little J-man has a fever :( 103. Poor guy. So we will see how the sleeping goes for all 5 kids. I am sure I will wiped out tomorrow night, but I'm glad I can help them out.

I've been absent from here for a bit as GH left on Mother's Day and is still gone for another 9 sleeps (that's how we count them here :) ) So I've been running around like crazy. BLEH! I am on the verge of having lost 70 pounds. I'm so proud of myself. I really think this time has done the trick with my brain where food is concerned. I am finally paying attention to what and why I eat. I also can tell more readily if I am full and if I THINK I am hungry and it is actually that I am thirsty. I am running a 10K on June 19th. Looking forward to that. Should be interesting to see how I handle it. Everyone says I will be fine, but we shall see how I feel when it is over :)

Well, no more typing for now I should probably get with the program and pay attention to the little people in case they need something.

Blessings to you all!

Silence is bliss....

So here I sit... on a beautiful Sunday morning which also happens to be Mother's Day AND my husband's birthday. He left about an hour ago for a 3 week trip to Canada for work and I just stayed up and sipped some coffee and played on Facebook for awhile. There was NO NOISE! I hope I can get up earlier while he is gone to enjoy the silence. I intended to do some bible study, but T-man decided to get up a little bit ago so no quiet time for me. BUT, I will try and have my quiet time before bed tonight. Many people like it in the AM and say there is nothing like starting the day out with God, but I love ending it with him almost more. It reminds me that even after a rough day He has walked with me through it and that tomorrow is a new day. And as Anne of Green Gables says (or more appropriately Ms. Stacey on Anne of Green Gables) "Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it" I love that quote. We may be natural born sinners and have propensity to sin, but to remember that every day is new always reminds me of how His mercies are new every morning. He never runs out of Mercy or Grace. How awesome is that?!?! (for the 2 of you that read my postings.. no need for comment :) )

I am excited to go to church and listen to a sermon today. I love working with the babies at church every other week, but I tell ya... time to be fed by God's word to my soul is always a pleasure.

I suppose I better go spend time with the T-man. Nice quiet time with him is at a premium these days and all too soon he will be an old kid and too busy for me to hang out with.

God Bless all the mommies out there today!

Week in the life/Chaos IS my life

Well, best laid plans just didn't work for me. I am much more of a planner when it comes to doing something as grandios as a "week in the life" type stuff. SO... I will share some photos from the week that I was happy with. I will try the week in the life again in June and see how it goes. I need to get my brain around what to do.





This is my usual spot for breakfast in the AM. I have my steel cut Trader Joe's oats and read email and do facebook and such. Then I get going and do the dishes and some laundry. The kids get to watch a show while I eat so I can have some peace.

Early in the week we had some nice mornings to be outside. I caught J-man and D-man relaxing and having a quiet moment. Of course, these days, anytime I show up with a camera the boys like to pose a bit. This is one of my new favorites.

I think I will treasure this one photo for a good many years. It is D-man holding my hand while we pray before lunch. He prefers to hold a finger instead of the whole hand. Even the baby holds a finger and bows his head. I love it.

As is usual here, I missed a nice big spill by my D-man. He somehow took a header off our swing and was face down in the dirt when daddy found him. Looks pretty bad in the picture. He had a really bad bloody nose, too. His owies are almost gone now. Phew!

This is typical J-man in the morning. He is such a good self-entertainer. He was on a kick last week with these safety goggles. So cute!!!

When I was finding the boys to have lunch one day I found them playing together in the Huggies wipes box. I couldn't help but take a pic. So funny! They had a race car at the bottom of the box that was on and just making racing noises, but of course going no where! So funny!

Not a big thing, but a little game of "throw Meow" before dinner with daddy. Meow is D-man's bestest buddy!

T-man is all dressed up for his school choir concert. He's my mr. GQ for sure. I am just cringing at the thought of my clothing bill one day. He will want the designer this and that and the nice looking shirts I am almost positive. But he is so handsome.. who could say no to him?!?!

Despite the look of almost happy, he is whining and crying to get help. Daddy was just wanting to take pics of this before saving him. J-man loves to climb in here and hang for a bit, but the getting out is another story. Can't quite figure out why the head is too big for the opening yet :)

That is a good bunch of photos from a fun filled week. Now that I have that off my plate I will do smaller updates as the days go by.

We are family!

So today was a fun day! My auntie flew in and we had a great time with her and my mom here at the house. Just relaxed and chatted. Went for a walk around the block and took lots of pics. The boys were great and we had lots of fun. I get to go see her in August. Time is going to tick way too slowly for that trip!

Tomorrow our really good friends/practically family are coming over for dinner and hanging out in the afternoon. Am really excited to see them.