Where Have I Been?

I cannot believe it has been over two weeks since I have posted anything. I wish I could say that I have been keeping all kinds of great stories from you, but the truth is it's been pretty slow around here. I had a migraine for nearly an entire week which sent me to the doctor. Wanna know what they call Migraine Therapy...a very powerful little pill that you take when you feel the headache come on. I have to say I was expecting way more than that when you attach the word "therapy" to something. LOL I did take the pill and I have to say the pill is almost worse than the headache. Thankfully it was near nap time so I was able to sleep the worst part off. Ron and I have started to watch 24. We finished season one and are on to season two. So I don't feel like I am wasting my time entirely I have started to make a blanket. At this point it is about as wide as two scarves put together. It's finally getting to that point where I can actually envision this blanket. Hopefully I will have it done by the time we get all caught up. We call it the 24 blanket. I also have started to play with chocolate and making candies and suckers. This is exciting because it was on my list for my 40 things to do by 40 years old. Anyway, the girls and I made all kinds of suckers and have a bunch more to do before Easter. Turns out for a little bit of work you can look like a creative genius!! I took pictures but they didn't turn out so you will have to wait until Easter to see them. One last item before I close. The other day Ryan and I were in A.C. Moore getting chocolate supplies and he ran to the end of the aisle and looked back and said, "MOM! Come follow me..." with that his head snapped in recognition of the starting words of his bible verse for Sunday school and finished the sentence with, "...Jesus said. " I am pretty sure it was one of those "had to be there" kind of moments, but if you could just hear the intonation of his voice it would make you LOL. Alright, I will try my very best to come up with something interesting in the next day or so. In the mean time I will be enjoying the everyday stuff that would bore you to tears!! Here are some pictures I took of the kids one night after showers and before bed!

I have candy!!

Last night at dinner time Rebecca wasn't overly thrilled with her chicken and pasta. Thankfully there is usually one child ready and willing to tattle on the other. If you listen carefully you can hear the deal going down.

Rebecca: Ryan, I have candy...come over here
Ryan: OK, I coming
Rebecca: Here you go
Ryan: NO I not want that
Rebecca: Really Ryan, it's not chicken, it's candy...it's good...taste

With that Ryan is not duped and runs away. At this moment is when Reagan feels the need to put a stop to the goings on at the table. So she says in a rather loud voice, "Rebecca! stop telling Ryan your chicken is candy and trying to get him to eat your dinner!! LOL I have to give her credit for being creative at least!! Thankfully Ryan isn't as dumb as his sisters think he is!!

No Way!!

So the other day my girls had to clean their room. They made the mess, I simply asked them to clean it. Let the complaining and arguing commense. So in keeping with our family memorizing of Bible verses I put a new one on the board..."In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing" Rebecca comes up and I am helping her read it and so she is repeating each word and when I get to complaining and she starts to slow down. Once we say "and arguing" she looks at me and like only a five year can and says, "NUH-UH, You made that up!!" LOL I promptly told her that I did NOT in fact make it up and that it was in God's book and I showed her. She then says, "I totally thought you made that up but since you didn't I guess I had better learn that one." I wish this verse was only for my children, but it is indeed good for me to learn as well. So hopefully next time it's time to clean the old bedroom this truth will be hidden in their hearts and I'll get a little peace. Are you supposed to use Scripture for selfish purposes?? I am sure there is one in there about that too, God is good like that!!

Great Love

I am in a Bible Study called "Lies Women Believe." One of the things they were talking about was why on Earth would God allow Eve to eat the fruit or put the serpent in the garden knowing the end result. I know why I believe what I believe but I have always had trouble explaining this part. Why would God create people if He already knew what they were going to do. Tonight I get it. God knows the beginning and the end so He did know that His own creation would reject Him. So He already had a plan of Salvation in place. How great is His love for us that even though He already knew Adam and Eve would choose the knowledge of Evil over their relationship with God, He created them anyway and put our lives into motion. He took that rejection and subsequent rejection for the love and relationship of the rest of us. Amazing. That is deep love. So Adam and Eve reject Him and break that relationship with God and so God sends Jesus. Jesus is rejected and put to death to pay for everything I do wrong before I am even created. Why? To restore relationship with me one day and to be able to lavish me with His love. All He asks in return is that I acknowledge His work on the cross and live my life for Him. Which is in reality a life full of blessing. All of this just to know me and so I can know Him personally. I am so glad that He would take that rejection over and over again and created us anyway. Welcome to the Joy and miracle of the Easter season.

Mother of the Year

Anyone that knows me knows that when a sentence starts out with "Mother of the Year", something awful is about to follow. I forgot Rebecca at church. Now, I didn't make it out of the parking lot, but if I hadn't talked to Ron on the phone I would have. Don't send me hate mail, I feel bad enough. Let me take you back in time before the "incident." I was up quite late on Friday and exhausted from a busy week. Saturday morning I got up and ready to roll at the fine hour of 7AM. Six short hours of sleep...darn. So I drag myself through the day being productive with house work, laundry, heck I even made a full dinner meal before Ron left for work so he could take it with him. He closed Saturday so the evening activities were all up to me. I got all the the kids showered and church clothes picked out and everyone was in bed. I check the calendar and realize that I have to teach the two-year old Sunday School class in the morning. I do a little scrapbooking and wait for Ron to get home at 11PM. Then I hear it...a horrible barking, wet cough coming from Ryan's room. He is burning hot, and coughing that scary cough and he is wide awake. I put him back to bed after I get him set up with some Tylenol and a humidifier. I spend some time with Ron and when I go check on Ryan he is still awake. I ask if he's OK and he, being the sweetest sick kid ever, says, "Yes, mommy, I OK!" I go to bed at which case it is now 1AM and I sleep for one entire hour. I wake to Ryan calling my name and saying all kinds of weird things. I pick him up and he says he's hungry. So downstairs we go and we remain WIDE AWAKE until 5:30AM! When I can no longer stand it, I take him upstairs to my bed and he falls asleep right up against me. I have literally about 1/4" of the mattress now. I do my best to fall asleep. I tell Ron that he can't be my "helper" in Sunday school because Ryan can't go. Ron asks if I care if he goes to first service and then we'll meet with the children and I can teach the Sunday school for second service. I don't mind and off he goes. Now the plan is that I will drive to the church, Ron will come out and take Ryan and Rebecca home with him. Reagan will be my helper for the Sunday school. After church is done we will race home because Ron has to get to work. Upon pulling up to the church, my awesome husband has a cup of coffee for me in hand, made just right! Now Rebecca doesn't want to go home, she really wants to go to Sunday School. Well what kind of a parent says, "No you can't go to church!" So I change my mind and tell her OK she can go. I drop her off, Reagan and I run upstairs and do our thing. Had a great time with the kids...what a great age group. So time is ticking and parents are taking forever to pick up their kids. Ron calls and is like, "Are you almost done??" Finally I get the last kid off to a parent and Reagan and I run out the door. We are so late I am meeting Ron at a McDonald's so he can be on his way. The parking lot after second service is a nightmare. It takes a good ten minutes to get out of it. So I am waiting in line and call Ron to tell him I am just trying to get out of the parking lot. That's when he says, "how was Rebecca's class? Was it the normal one that she usually attends?" to which I reply, "shut up, she's with you." Imagine my panic when through the fog of my brain our change of plans becomes crystal clear and I realize that my daughter is sitting in the Sunday school room with no parent picking her up. I drive like a crazy person out of the car line and try to be patient as I hear Reagan in the back saying, "OH MY GOSH MOM!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT REBECCA!!!" Now I didn't realize until Ron pointed it out later, that Reagan didn't remember her either...but alas it's not really her job to make sure I have all the children. So we run into the church and Reagan's says as loud as possible, "Rebecca, MOM TOTALLY FORGOT YOU!" The Sunday school man looks at me and tries to say something nice like, "it happens when you have two parents picking up kids." Did I mention that there was Rebecca sitting alone on a bench looking at the floor all sad??? Ugh. My poor baby girl. Anyway, I apologize over and over again and she of course forgives me. Now I am even more late to meet Ron and I decide that because I am such a great Mom the least I can do is get the kids McDonald's for lunch. I guess this will just have to be one more session of therapy I have to pay for when my kids get older.

How big is Jesus?

A while back we were walking past a cross hanging on the wall at our church. It's really big and cut out of marble, my best guess is the cross is about 15 feet high. As Reagan was walking past she looks up at it and says, "Mom, just how big was Jesus?" Needless to say we laughed and let her know that this particular cross was for decoration and to remind us what a gift Jesus gave us on the cross. I just love the way kids think!!

Giggles with Bob!

Ryan has a build a bear...bear, named Bob. Well last night Ron and I are upstairs watching American Idol and we hear laughter coming from Ryan's room. It was so funny. So we pause the T.V. and try to figure out what he is laughing about. Even though all my kiddos know better than to get out of bed, I thought maybe Reagan was in there producing this belly laugh from Ryan. Finally Ron and I could take it no longer and we went to look. There in the dark is Ryan and Bob having a fantastic laugh. When we asked what he was laughing about, Ryan simply replied, "I dunno!" and proceeded to laugh some more. I so wish I had a recorder handy so I could play it for you, but alas it will just be one of those I have to keep in my own mind. What a fun end to the day!! Here is a picture of Bob...He does have two eyes you just can't see the other one.