What???

It's been forever.  FOREVER.  And yet I can't seem to make myself stop and write.  I don't really know why...except maybe that all my posts were starting to look the same. 

And then I thought...who cares?  I started this blog more for family than anyone else, so I will continue to write stuff about my amazing family for them.  And for me.  Since I'm not so great at the pictures/scrapbooking thing. 

It's been a really busy past few weeks.  We've been home, but when we're home, there is always something better to be doing!  We had so much fun watching Jonah and Noah play soccer, but thankfully, yesterday was our last game.  We can officially have our Saturday's back. 

Halloween has come and gone.  We had our annual celebration at my house.  I cooked a HUGE pot of Taco Soup, and we had fun with friends and family.  My friend Jessica joined us this year with her sweet little 3 year old boy, Carter.  Her hubby is one of the managers of Bone Fish out here in the Ville, and I hated the thought of her being alone on Halloween.  :(  Plus I really like her.  She's awesome. 

We had an amazing week of fall break before Halloween.  I would personally love to kiss the cheek of whoever put that week back on the Shelby County Schools calendar.  A whole week off...with no holiday to share it with...was ahhhmaaaazing.  We did something fun and fabulous everyday.  We had lots of time with friends, which is even better.  God has richly blessed us in the friend department.  We've got two couple sets that we are very best friends with...one from church, one from the Ville, and I thank God every day for them.  To have friends is wonderful.  But to have Godly friends...well, that's the icing on the cake. 

So fast forward to this week.  It's been busy, but it's been great.  Graham is full steam ahead in middle school.  He's in FCA as an officer (well, not officially, but he's on the tech team, so that includes him), he's in Bible club, he's in band, he stays after school every Thursday to watch the Lady Dragons and then the Dragons play basketball...he's very involved.  Sometimes it's exhausting keep up with it all, but all is well so far.  He's about to become more involved in a local church's jr. high youth group, too.  Our church is lacking in that department, and he's expressed interest in going to another youth group.  So...with this being said...it's been busy. 

The others are business as usual.  School is going great for them.  We have open house coming up next week in the elementary school, and they are always excited about that.  Drew has had several major book reports due since August, and Jonah and Noah have had a really big project due in their classes.  Ugh.  Drew was fine...he did his alone.  Jonah and Noah...well, come on.  Second graders doing a model of a building?  Alone??  I think not. 

This weekend has been the best.  My awesome hubby bought a fire pit Friday night.  So we made a beautiful fire in it and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores.  With our friends.  :)  We sat out there for 4 hours.  It was the perfect night...and the kids all LOVED it.  I never knew that happiness could be found in a fire pit bowl, but we sure found it!  I foresee lots more nights just like that one.  And we can take it on camping trips.  :)  Fun times!!

Another random thought...I'm having commitment issues in choir.  This is our busiest time of year-Christmas production time.  And while I can make the Wednesday night rehearsals, I am struggling with the Sunday afternoon ones.  Today, for instance, Todd is in class all day.  This is something he has to do to keep his first responder license.  And today we have a two hour choir practice.  I just can't make my kids sit through it with me...not when daylight is scarce now (thank you, daylight saving time) and there is energy is to be spent outside with friends. 

See my dilemma? 

Maybe you don't, but it's huge for me.  And with it being the Christmas season...well...who knows what the outcome is going to be.  I need to pray about it some more. 

Well.  My kids are now up and getting dressed for church.  I need to join them and do the same thing.  I hope you all have a marvelous Sunday.  I am looking forward to mine...worship service is always my favorite time of the week.  I have lots to thank the Lord for this morning.  If you're not attending church today, I encourage you to find one to attend...whether in person or by watching it on t.v.  And if you need one to visit...why not try mine?  Click on the picture to the right...the one that says My Beloved Church. 

Love to all. 

I Still Don't Have Much...

To write about, that is.  I don't really know why.  I'm fine...nothing has happened...I guess I'm just tired of writing about the same old same old.  So, I'll write about something else. 

Bible study.  :) 

I finished the Esther study I was doing.  I hated to see it come to an end.  We had an amazing facilitator and group.  We were small in number, but we were mighty.  I look forward to studying with them more in the future.  We're going to have a couple of impromptu Bible study nights on the book of James, and after the first of next year, we'll be starting a study on Daniel.  Another Beth Moore. 

I guess I have been in a little bit of a funk because I hate seeing good things come to an end.  I love how I feel when I'm in the middle of a good Bible study.  I love how I see God in all my surroundings.  I love seeing His hand on my life, and I love how in tune with Him I feel.  Bible study has become one of my non-negotiables in life.  I know everyone has those...surely, it can't just be me?  I need (yearn, crave, want) to constantly be in the middle of God's Word.  And I don't speak for anyone but myself when I say this, but I am the kind of person that needs a good, structured study to prompt me along.  The more interesting to me it is, the more I am going to dig deeper on my own. 

I read my Bible.  Sometimes.  On my own, I mean.  I pick it up and flip through.  I read a Scripture here, and one there.  But give me a good, formatted study, and I will not stop.  It dawned on me two weeks ago that I really don't have to even wait until our next scheduled group study is going to begin.  There are lots of weeks between now and then, and the way that my favored author writes, you really don't have to listen to the cd's or watch the dvd's.  The workbook is plenty. 

So on Monday, I purchased my newest Bible study.  That I will be going through on my own...unless one of you reading this wants to join me.  I have been thinking about which one I wanted to do next...my favored author has written so many...and then I started praying about which one I was supposed to do.  I was in Lifeway standing in front of the many titles, and one just jumped out at me.  And then I picked it up, turned it over and read the back cover.  Wow.  Areas in one's life that were mentioned in this Bible study are things like inconsistencies in life, struggling with friendships, insecurities, feelings of inadequacy, FAMILY STRUGGLES, ummm, I'll just stop at that one. 

I snatched it up.  And am so excited about it.  It's David: Seeking A Heart Like His by Beth Moore.  I actually got the gift version of this about 5 years ago from my old music pastor, Kent Ferrin and his precious wife, Kathy.  I also happen to LOVE the story of David and Jonathan.  I also happen to have a heart for worship.  And Samuel 1and 2 are two of my favorite books in the entire Bible.  I am almost beside myself. 

I started on it this morning.  And was almost late for work 2 hours later.  If you haven't already read the story of how Saul became king and would like to...then read 1 Samuel chapters 8-11.  I couldn't stop there, though.  I ended up going all the way through chapter 14 and had to make myself stop.  I love a good history lesson, and though I've read these chapters before, this morning I read them with new eyes. 

I guess I'm writing all this to say that I've not really been content with my self for the last few weeks.  Maybe the ending of our Esther study helped further it along.  Who knows?  But are we supposed to ever really be content in our lives?  I think that we are supposed to be content with our belongings, as in not wanting newer and better and more, but I don't think we're ever supposed to be content in life.  I know I don't ever want to be that way.  I don't want to grow lazy in my walk with the Lord.  That tends to happen with me when I am feeling too content.  And I guess those are the feelings I've had for the past few weeks.  I knew that I should be digging into the Word more, but I didn't know where to start or how to go about it. 

Sure, I could try and do it on my own.  But as I've discovered in the past, that only leads to disappointment.  Because of my 4 children, maybe?  Or because I get easily sidetracked?  I don't know.  Or I could pick up another Bible study workbook.  I opted for the latter because I need structure.  I also need the feeling of accountability that going through the pages of the book gives me.  I need the feeling of beginning and then the feeling of completion over a certain portion of Scripture.  I need to know that I have studied a certain part of the Word well and that it has gone down into my very depths.  I need to know that I have been saturated by it, and I need to remember all that I've learned and read. 

I need to understand more of God.  And how He works.  And especially how He works in the many faceted areas of my life.  I need to know more of Him...and I can't get enough.  Do you feel this way?  Or are you "content"?

The workbook helps me. 

Am I alone in this?  Or am I the only weird one???  All I know is when I opened the brand new workbook and delved into God's Word this morning, I had the feeling that I was coming home.  I had the "aaaaahhhhhhhhh moment" and everything!  Well...

I guess I did have some words, after all.  I hope you enjoyed (or at least were entertained) understanding just one small way of how weird my brain works.  And how much I crave structure.  Accountability.  Faithfulness. 

Until the next time...Happy Wednesday.

Words Fail Me...

...But I know they'll eventually come back. 

And when they do, I will have a plethora to write about.

Until then...all I have is...God is good.  All the time.  All the time, God is good. 

Amen?

Till the next time...

Where Do I Start???

Last weekend was so crazy that my head felt like it was spinning.  Saturday was a whirlwind day of:

sleeping in...well, 7:30
fixing a late breakfast
Todd doing husbandly projects around the outside of the house
the boys selling some junk toys
us doing a major overhaul on our garage, cleaning everything out and putting it all back nicely
Todd dropping off the rest of our yard sale items to Bibles For China
watching football and experiencing devastating heartbreak over Alabama's loss against South Carolina
having a cookout with good friends, then doing our annual pumpkin patch/hayride thing

And Sunday was spent at church.  In an awesome service both times. 

This week has been good, but weird.  Jonah had a stomach virus yesterday and stayed home with me.  :)  Graham finished a looming project.  Whew.  Drew's project was done a couple weeks ago, thank the Lord.  Now we have Jonah's and Noah's to look forward to.  It's not due until the 29th of this month, but it's complicated.  They have to make a model of a building in the Ville.  Ya know.  No biggie, right??

Except for when it's TIMES 2. 

Jonah was better today, but oddly, Noah had an ear issue.  ???  I took him to the doctor to discover it was TMJ.  Crazy, right?  He's been in pain a good portion of today.  Poor thing. 

I have to be a Mom for a minute and tell about how proud I am of my boys.  My sweet oldest son was a gem today and fixed my messed up windshield wiper for me today.  This was a proud moment after a great open house at the middle school last night, and really nice comments about him from all his teachers.  Whom he knows like the back of his hand already.  And whom he adores and vice verse.  In middle school, no less.  I know.  It's shocking. 

I was also honored to find out that all of the other boys are getting recognized at tomorrow night's PTA meeting.  Their annual read-a-thon is finished, and all 3 of them placed in the top 3 of their class.  Also, Drew and Jonah (and hopefully Noah!) are recipients of a new quarterly award called the Braggin' Dragon Award.  I am one proud mama.  :) 

Todd's working tonight, so it's just me and the doodlebops.  We had breakfast for dinner, and sweet rolls for dessert.  Yummmm.  :)  And now I'm typing this, watching Chopped in silence.  Ahhhh, blessed silence.  Nice after a long day.  Well, I'm going to go enjoy some more.  And them I'm going to go to bed.  Because I have another really good book waiting on me up there on my nightstand.

'Night. 

Nothing Much

In this post, anyway.  It's been a good week.  After my fun weekend, I almost feel like I've been in a little of a funk.  We had so much going on last weekend that I just now feel like I'm catching my breath.  It's all good, though.  I'm ready for some much needed family/friend time and some rest over this weekend.

I had a great day.  My sweet friend, Shea, was at school today eating with her daughter Lillian, and after I signed her in, she handed me a diet coke.  She completely made my day.  What a nice, unexpected act of thoughtfulness, right? 

It's all about the small things in life.  I'll pass up diamonds and fancy restaurants any day for a random act of kindness.  I told her it was the perfect way to start my least favorite day of the week. 

Enough about the whole day of the week curse, though.  Let's move on.  My kids are still outside playing.  It's 7:05 and it's almost completely dark.  Some neighborhood kids are over here, and they're all in the front yard playing football.  Well, nix that.  They all just came in.  That's okay, though, they're on their way to the shower.  Smelly boys. 

I'm excited about the weekend.  I'm even more excited about our upcoming fall break.  We get an entire week off!  We're all ready for a break from the mundane.  I am ready for a week of sleeping past 6a.m.  :)  So is Graham. 

Well, I am going to enjoy the rest of our evening.  I hope you enjoy the rest of yours.  :)

Ummm...

I don't know what to call this one.  I don't really have anywhere in particular that I'm going with this post, so we'll see how it goes. 

Monday was really good.  I know, I know, it was Monday, but to me, it was really good.  I always dread starting back the routine for the week, but it wasn't like that this time around.  Sure, I didn't want to get up, but my steamy shower helped take care of that for me.  I literally walk from my bed, straight to the shower.  It helps wake me up. 

I've decided that I should consider starting a kids' taxi service.  I am in charge of three extra little boys before (2 of them, anyway) and after school.  My boys look like the part in the circus where all the clowns keep getting out of the little car.  Except my car is big.  And the boys aren't clowns.  And after 6, they really do stop.  :)  For two of the boys who are my neighbors, I'm doing them a favor by taking and picking up.  For the third one that just started coming over this week, his mom offered to pay me.  A nice little amount of money for not a lot of work.  I also take another boy named Drew every day, every other week, and on Friday when I drive Graham to school for his early morning meeting with Bible club, I take an extra one-a girl, if you can believe that.

So.  It's fun.  It's also kinda sad when we had to go shopping yesterday, how I had to arrange for care for all of them.  Two of the boys-my neighbors-hang out with us until about 5:30 every night.  The new one I drive home after school, although he might stay some Tuesdays until about the same time.  I don't mind it, usually.  Some days it wears on my nerves, like when they all decide to start fighting.  I guess that's a sign that they're all comfortable with one another?  So when that happens, I threaten to separate them all.  Which I have yet had to do, because the thought enough is torture.  They're good kids.  And it gives my kids a virtual party in their house every single afternoon.  Every.  Single.  Afternoon. 

We had family night last night, as Noah called it.  My mom and I took the boys to get jeans and athletic pants, and afterward we had Lenny's for dinner.  It was my 6, plus Aunt Trish, Big Daddy and Nana.  Noah was very excited.  :) 

Well, it's that time.  Time to wake up the other 3.  Lest all this excitement be too much, I'll stop here and spare you any more details of our life in the Ville.  Love to all.

Overwhelmed...

with emotions!  It's been an amazing weekend.  I took off work yesterday and spent the entire day with all the bridesmaids and Christa.  We got our nails did, we had spa treatments, we ate, and we got to know each other better.  We're all amazingly alike, and I thought Christa's little heart was going to explode right out of her chest.  She kept hugging us and saying, "I can't believe you're all here together!"  We were her peeps.  :)

After we got our nails did, Jennie, Kerri and I went to Memphis Pizza Cafe and had a 3:00 lunch.  We were HONGRY!!!  I'm so glad we did that because we didn't eat until close to 8:00.  We would have starved to death before then!  We met at the church at 6 for rehearsal.  And waited on the sweet couple to get there to join us.  We rehearsed and goofed off and I smiled stupidly for pics, then we chowed down on some barbecue.  The groom's family is from Missouri and wanted some good ol' barbecue. 

After the rehearsal, Todd and I came back to the Ville and got pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks.  Yummmmmmm.  Then we came home and went to bed.  Well, we stayed for about up for an hour, then went to bed.  I know, we're exciting, right???  We kinda used last night to celebrate our upcoming anniversary on Monday, October 4th.  We're celebrating 14 years!  Anyway, the kids spent the night with Mimi and Papa, so we could have a kids free night and celebrate.  I am very thankful for the time we had.

Today, we woke up at the crack of dawn and left for soccer, and for me to get to the church.  We had pics, then the wedding started at 2:30.  We all held up really good until the bridesmaids gathered around Christa and prayed for her.  Then we all lost it.  And continue to lose it until the seconds before we walked down the aisle.  I cried through the entire thing, almost.  Jason wept when he joined Christa and her dad, therefore I wept.  Because we all know that when one cries in my presence, I cry with them.  It was the most meaningful ceremony I have ever been to.  There was worship music, tears, laughter, jumping up and down with excitement...it was just awesome. 

It's been a great weekend.  I'm sad to see it go.  I have had very mixed emotions all day-I met some incredible new friends, that I would love to remain close to, saw a best friend get married and said goodbye to her, all in 48 hours.  Nothing could have prepared me for this weekend, but I'm kinda glad.  It was full of God's presence.  He definitely smiled on Christa and Jason this weekend.  :)  I feel so honored to have been a part of it all.  I wish them a lifetime of love and happiness. 

Well, I'm gonna finish watching the Alabama/Florida game with the hubs, and chat with him and his friend Bob, who just got here.  Love to all.