'sup?

We're having a fantabulous Saturday.  It's being spent with us just hanging out around here.  Graham and Drew had a friend spend last night with us, and he's still here.  Along with several other kids from school.  They've been outside playing hide~and~seek, basketball, they had leftover pizza, and now we're watching the Olympics.  

It's been a great day.

My husband is in the process of caulking {the crown moulding is finally done!!!}, he fixed us lunch, and now we're just relaxing.  

Here are a couple pics for your enjoyment.

 

The one above is Graham and Noah making their their superheroes do Olympic ski jumps off Dad's ladder.  

 

And this one is Jonah, Drew and Brayden playing on the computer.  

And I'm sitting here, doing this.

It's a great day.  In a little while we're going to head to my mom's for dinner.  A delicious one that I do not have to cook.  Hallelujah!!  That's the absolute best kind of dinner.

So, what are you doing today?  Here in a little bit I'm going to pick my book back up and start reading it.  It's a new author~I got this one from the library, and I love a new kind of book.  

Well, enjoy your Saturday.  I know I will.  Love to all.

the difference between girls and boys

Doesn't that just sound fascinating???  While I'm sure there are millions of differences, I'm only going to hit a few.  Oh, and I got this idea from a friend that posted something similar on facebook last night.  So Christian, if you're reading this~thank you for the idea.

1.  Girls are okay with sitting really closely together on the couch.  Tonight, for instance, my friend was over, and since we have our tv up in its new lovely home, the best seat in the house is right smack dab in the middle of the couch.  And we were fine with sitting right next to each other.  In fact, at one point, we even linked arms to give them a nice comfy place to rest.

2.  Girls get really excited over each other's lives and victories.  I literally feel like my heart is going to BURST with happiness when something great happens to a friend.  It's like it's me going through it instead of them.  But, I will add here, that THIS is what true friendship is: pure unadulterated joy and not one single ounce of envy or jealousy.  This is the stuff that true girlfriends are made of.

3.  Girls {well, at least the ones I know} love to hug.  I absolutely love showing my emotion to people, and the way I happen to do this is through hugging.  Anybody that ever extends their hand to me usually ends up hugging me.  My mom made me this way, and for this I am thankful.  My husband wasn't like this when we first started dating.  I like to think that I helped him along in this area, and now he is a very affectionate man.  Mmmmmm.  And yes, that is my favorite kind of man.

4.  Girls like to watch "chick flicks" with other girls.  How many times do you ever see 2 guys walking into a movie theatre to see the latest "guy flick"???  And we anticipate this love of chick flicks...and look forward to them all week.  I went to see Dear John last weekend with....da da da  dummmmm...4 girlfriends.  Yup.  And I am not ashamed to admit that at least 2 of us cried together.  Then laughed while we cried.  Ahhhhh.  So refreshing.

5.  Girls are just silly.  And sometimes, it's just fun to be that way.  Without regrets or excuses.  I would love to see my husband acting this way with one of his friends.  Oh, wait.  I think that might have happened when Todd was showing off his new man cave living room with the new surround sound.  Yup, that's what that was.  Well, then, nevermind.

On a more serious note, I love my husband.  I love that he understands that while I'm not at all "girly or frilly" with all these boys running around, I am in much need of some quality girlfriend time.  He encourages me to get out and get that time.  He's very understanding and supportive, and I think it relieves him of the pressure of having to be my "everything".  And while he is, for the most part~I don't want to be unrealistic.  He is my husband, the father of my kids, and my very best friend.  But he's a boy and I'm a girl.  And those differences need to be appreciated.  I happen to do this through spending time with my girlfriends.  

I hope you who are reading this can smile and say, "Mmmmmhmmmmm."  Because there is NOTHING in the world quite like a girlfriend. 

Something To Ponder

I am the Lord, I'm the Almighty God

I am the One for when nothing is too hard 

I am the Shepherd and I am the Door 

I am the Good News to the bound and the poor

I am {4x}

I am the Righteous One and I am the Lamb 

I am the Ram in the bush for Abraham 

I am the Ultimate Sacrifice for sin 

I am your Redeemer, the Beginning and the End

I am {4x}

I am Jehovah and I am the King

I am Messiah, David's offspring

I am your High Priest and I am the Christ

I am the Resurrection and I am the Life

I am {4x}

I am the Bread and I am the Wine 

I am your Future so leave your past behind

I am the One in the midst of two or three

I am your Tabernacle I am your Jubilee

I am {4x}

I am Hope, I am Peace, I am Joy, I am your Rest

I am your Comfort and Relief from your stress

I am Strength, I am Faith, I am Love, I am Power

I am your Freedom at this very hour

*************************

Let these words wash over you if you need them

and even if you think you don't

just read them and take comfort in Him who has made us more than conquerors!!

With Him on our side, who can be against us?

Can anyone separate us from His love?

No.  

Nothing.

No one.  

Because He is the GREAT I AM.  

Isaiah 43:15

I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel's Creator, your King."

Isaiah 45:3
I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

Book Review

Love and War

John and Stasi Eldredge 

What the Eldredge bestsellers Wild at Heart did for men, and Captivating did for women, LOVE & WAR will do for married couples everywhere. John and Stasi Eldredge have contributed the quintessential works on Christian spirituality through the experience of men and the experience of women and now they turn their focus to the incredible dynamic between those two forces.

With refreshing openness that will grab readers from the first page, the Eldredges candidly discuss their own marriage and the insights they’ve gained from the challenges they faced. Each talks independently to the reader about what they’ve learned, giving their guidance personal immediacy and a balance between the male and female perspectives that has been absent from all previous books on this topic.   They begin LOVE & WAR with an obvious but necessary acknowledgement:  Marriage is fabulously hard.  They advise that the sooner we get the shame and confusion off our backs, the sooner we'll find our way through.

LOVE & WAR shows couples how to fight for their love and happiness, calling men and women to step into the great adventure God has waiting for them together. Walking alongside John and Stasi Eldredge, every couple can discover how their individual journeys are growing into a story of meaning much greater than anything they could do or be on their own.

***This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.***

 

For more information on this book and others like it, you can visit Random House, Inc.

Coming Soon....

My first ever give~away.  You must leave a comment on an upcoming post to win this book. 

Just thought I'd let ya know.

Here's the book if you'd like to read what it's about. 

It's based on one of my favorite books of the Bible~Ruth.

Happy reading!!!

Wow...A Whole Week? Really?

Gosh, you'd think I would have had tons of things to write with all the excitement taking place in our house lately.  Oh, wait.  That's right.  All that excitement has taken OVER our lives.  At least temporarily. 

I feel like a TO BE CONTINUED... is coming on.

Hmmm.  It's been a good week.  Well, except for Jonah being sick.  That part wasn't fun.  Poor little guy.  He didn't even get to stay home and quality one on one time with Mommy.  Stupid snow days. 

Ha, I'm just kidding.  We actually enjoyed the snow...for the first 3 hours, then we were all over it.  I'm praying we'll be out of school before the last week of May.  Join me, please??? 

 

Yup.  That's it.  Right there.  We woke up to almost 6 {I'm guessing, please don't judge} inches of glorious Surprise Snow.  That's what I'm calling Monday.

Because when we got our 5am wake up call from the Shelby County Board of Education, we were like, "Huh???  Why would they cancel school???"  Fast forward 2 minutes when we actually got out of bed and looked out the windows.  "Oh.  Cool.  Goodnight."  Then we rolled over and went back to sleep.

Exciting stuff, people, I know.  Try to contain yourselves.

One more.  See?  That looks about like 6 inches.  I don't know.  I never confessed to be good at the art of guesstimating. 

{THAT'S A WORD?  Guesstimating?  For real?  My spellcheck thingamabob didn't light up like it usually does on words like that.  Neither, for that matter, did the word 'thingamabob'.}

During our lovely time at home, Todd worked on crown moulding.  And it almost succeeded in kicking his behind.  Who knew that something so lovely would SO HIDEOUS to work with??? 

We're still not done with it.  There is one more piece that has to go up and he's being forced to have someone who knows what they're doing do it.  Yup.  You read right~there are not many things my husband cannot do, but this one piece of crown moulding {that is butting up to 2 existing pieces} is one of those rare things. 

Sad face. 

On a positive note, I love our newly mounted television.  It's glorious up there above our mantel.  I'll take pics once we get everything back in place and post on here and on facebook.  Until then, I know I am leaving you just hanging in suspense. 

Well, peeps, this is about all the excitement I can handle for one day.  Hope yours is fantabulous.  Love to all.

My Sweet Drew

He's been sick the past couple days.  I am praying that the fever doesn't return~so far, so good.  Hopefully we can return the world of CES tomorrow.  Hopefully.  I love him, and I love having quality time with each of the kids.  I was thinking today, though, that poor little Noah has NEVER had to stay home because of a sickness.  


Never.  


Isn't that sad?


He's missed because of a vacation, and when he was in kindergarten, on the days that Jonah was sick, I let him stay home with us.  Because they're twins.  And because at that point in their school career, they were mere babes and could not bear the thought of one not being just right down the hall.


***Sigh.***


So back to Drew.  I've enjoyed the time with him.  Yesterday we went to the doctor, then to the library and to Walgreens.  We came home, I fixed lunch, and we settled in to watch Kicking and Screaming.  After that {and my short little 15 minute power nap}, we played Phase 10.  At which point, he kicked my tail.  


I love him.  


Today was more of the same, but this time I took him to McDonald's for lunch~his choice, not mine.  Every time one of the boys gets sick, I let them pick where to eat lunch {if they're up to it}, and if it's Mc'D's {and it usually is}, we always sit at the exact same table.  It's in the back and in a corner and we always sit side by side.  They love this because since I work at their school, I don't get to eat lunch with them.  It's a fun time just to talk if they want to, or eat in companionable silence.  Drew and me did the latter today.  Well, that and we people watched.  And commented on how yummy our burgers and fries tasted.


After lunch we came back home, took some books to a friend's sick daughter, and came home and played Phase 10 again.  At which point, I kicked HIS tail. 


Muahaha.  


Revenge sucks.  

He wasn't very happy with me, but it was all in fun.  And maybe a pout or two.  But who's counting??

We went ahead and went to church tonight, and I let the sick one hang out with his Dad and his Papa in the video room.  And yes, even though we went, it's been since early morning that he had fever.  All day and tonight it was around the 98 degree mark.  Even after running around the church tonight, though he was clammy, his temp was 98.6.  There is something to be said for that perfect number when you're SO afraid that it has spiked again. 

We had choir practice, and once again, Music Man delivered.

 The man has a gift for putting together some music, and tonight we got started on Easter.  Well, not really, but we got a taste of a song or two.  Which is funny, since one of the songs is Taste and See.  {As in, "taste and see that the Lord is good!"  Psalm 34:8}  Wow.  It is going to be AHHHHHHMAAAAAZING.  

We also practiced this awesome song I posted on FaceBook last week called, "I Am".  And yeah, you can just imagine how great it is with that title.  If you're my friend on FaceBook, go to profile and try to find it.  It's worth the time it takes to listen to it.

So now, the hubs and I are hanging out in the living room {that's almost there, by the way!!!} watching some logging show on the History channel.  Sounds fascinating, doesn't it???

I thought about posting an entirely different post tonight about wives and husbands, and maybe I will, eventually.  But for tonight I wanted to keep it light hearted.  The reason for THAT post is that the Lord really convicted me of the way I used to treat my husband.  {And yes, this was without intention on my part.}  A friend gave me an audio book that pretty much changed my life.  It's called The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, and it's written by Laura Schlessinger.  If you think this might interest you, click HERE.


It was seriously life changing, in spite of the ridiculous title.  Anyone who reads it and doesn't change the way she acts toward her husband needs to go back and re~read it.  And maybe again and again until you just plain GET IT. You can't NOT change after reading that.  Todd and I are not at all the perfect couple.  We never have been, and we never will be.  But there is a reason that we work, and once I share, it will all make sense.  Perfect sense. 

But anyway.  I was thinking about that book, and my hubby and I were talking, and I was inspired to write about marriage.  

But not tonight.  

Maybe soon, though.  

Did I mention that I'm excited about going back to work tomorrow {hopefully!!!!}???  I am.  I miss my sweet kids!  And all the hugs I get every single day.  Ahhhh.  I am beside myself with excitement.  And I've missed loving on my own sweet kiddos while they eat.  I'm thrilled to be able to work for a very understanding lady.  She is a mom and she understands that when kids get sick~your world just stops.  I wouldn't  have it any other way.

So my little tradition with my boys when they're sick has peaked my curiosity about what YOU do with YOUR kids while THEY'RE sick.   

Anything special you're dying to share?

Well, even if you're not DYING to share it, please do so anyway.  I'm always looking for new, fresh ideas on how to parent.  

Until then, I hope you all hug all your loved ones tonight.  Love to all of you, in the sweet name of Jesus.