(almost) wordless Wednesday

Sunshine, sixty something degrees, a cool breeze, half the amount of kids, finished school work, a sweet friend who loves picnics as much as me...

...all those things made the perfect day to enjoy outside, eating a yummy and healthy lunch.

It was a delight to get to pack lunch for my friend Abbey, one of two girls who minister to our youth-aged girls at church.  They feed into their lives, so I think it's appropriate to offer them the same thing.

A sweet friendship, getting more acquainted with one another, looking forward to every Wednesday from here to an indefinite amount of time, realizing her soul resonates with mine somehow...

...it was a really great day.

Isn't she beautiful?  But even more so on the inside, where it counts the most.

I hope your day was good.

Love to all.

p.s.

Don't forget to do this:

miscellaneously random

I thought I would share what we did the rest of today, and even a little from yesterday.  We had a lot of school.  That's about it.  ;)  Not really, we did more than that, but I'm trying to get them to finish before my surgery.  (Have I already said that?  Sometimes I feel so repetitive.)

Anyhoo, I mentioned that I'm addicted to the show Parenthood?  My sweet friend read my blog post yesterday and brought season one over!  I have the world's sweetest, most thoughtful friends.  :)

Her response to me?  She was repaying kindness.  I almost cried.  I love little random acts of kindness, and this was no exception.  God love her sweet soul.  She brought a huge smile to my face and made my day.

When Todd came home yesterday afternoon, he told me he would eat dinner later because he was going to change the brakes (not breaks) on his truck.  His little helper immediately went and changed into something sloppy and rushed out to help him.

I captured the shot.  (Did you honestly think I wouldn't?!)  Then I left for Bible study.

This morning dawned bright and early, and when I turned around from doing something, I saw Jonah doing this.

This was after he and Noah folded an entire load of towels all by themselves and Noah started a load of laundry.  They cleaned the whole kitchen for me, including loading the dishwasher and starting it.  Jonah told me he was trying to learn to do all the things that I wouldn't be able to do for the weeks after my surgery.  My heart might have melted a little when he said that.  He even told me he would make lunch for me everyday.  "I'm great at making grilled cheese sandwiches now, Mom!"

These boys of mine do love me and I am so blessed!

I sat and looked at my calendar for a bit, to make sure I wasn't going to forget anything of utmost importance.

I've got a busy next two or three weeks.

I am so excited about tomorrow!  I'm packing a picnic lunch for the boys and me to meet my friend Abbey at the park.  She loves picnics and the weather will be amazing and beautiful.  :)  I can almost picture the Instagram photo ops now.

The boys and I went to Walmart today to pick up a few things.  Post-It Notes was one of those items.

Because who in the world doesn't love brightly colored Post-It Notes?!?!

Sigh.  Sometimes I amuse myself at my love for the most piddly of things.

We're also eating dinner at church again tomorrow night, which is an added bonus because I don't have to cook anything.  I loved sitting at the table with sweet friends as we ate last week.

Well.  I am going to bed.  I have a couple chapters in my book left and I am dying to finish it!  I pray the Lord brings you sweet rest.  Love to all.

transformation Tuesday

I think I'm going to start doing this same title each week.  I love the word 'transform' or 'transformation'.  When I hear that word, I think of Romans 12:2:

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is~His good, pleasing and perfect will."

That's our ministry verse for our homeschool group, Renewed Mom's.  Hence the word 'renew'.  I didn't know that for a long time, and that was one of the first verses I memorized last year when I began that task of memorizing God's word.

Back to transformation Tuesday~I think usually pictures are associated with that word, like before and after shots.  And that can be fun, but to me, the most important change comes from the inside out.  You see, I've been a Christian for a long time.  I've gone to church my whole life, and though I did some wrong things, I also did some right things.  But all that doesn't change the fact that I was only a skin-deep Christian.  I walked the walk by attending church, but I wasn't truly living that walk.  I would go each week and be filled up, but come Monday morning, I would do my own thing and basically live life on my own.

I had absolutely no relationship with the Lord.  I can remember feeling His presence at times, but I didn't talk to him, and I certainly didn't read His word.  I think that's why I have so loved this book we're doing in the tenth grade girls class on Sunday.  If I had had someone in my life to invest their time and energy into pointing me along my way, and on the right path, I would have done things differently.

I have nothing against the church I grew up in, it's just that it was small and we were all lumped into one class on Sunday mornings.  I loved our teacher, but looking back, I didn't gain much from that teaching.  I don't even know if that person had the spiritual gift of teaching, and that's a whole other blog post.  So when I picked up this book we're doing and started reading it, it was like a light bulb went off in my brain.  It's so funny that we're supposed to be teaching this to the girls, but it seems like I am the one gaining from it!  God is funny like that.  I have always loved His sense of humor.

The things is, I had gotten lazy about my quiet time.  I would forego it altogether, or I would do other things first.  I knew that if I had the time to check emails and Facebook, that I had time to read God's word before that.  So I started being intentional again.  I started taking my Bible to bed with me each night to read before I fell asleep, and I picked it up first thing each morning, second only to getting a cup of coffee.  I started reading in John at first.  (I'm still reading my Bible chronologically, too, but first thing in the morning, I wanted to read in different parts of the Bible.)  I finished John and moved to Psalm, then added Matthew and James.  I love those books, and reading about the miracles Jesus performed while He walked on earth strengthens my faith.

I did one thing before starting to read~I asked that the Lord would make me fall in love with His word all over again.  And all of a sudden, it was like I couldn't get enough.  I'm still that way, and was so encouraged at our women's conference this weekend.  I feel like I'm just soaking it all up right now, which is definitely a good thing!  Our lesson this week, though, was more about Bible intake~this time by memorizing, meditating and applying His word to our lives.  I told you yesterday that the Holy Spirit convicted me about memorizing Scripture again, so yesterday I took it a step further and included my family in on this.

Why do I want to memorize?  Why do I want them to memorize this written word?

Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

Pretty simple, huh?  So I wrote that first verse for us to work on, on a notecard and I taped it to the fridge.  In Bible study the other night, my friend Amy said that our kids only have as much Jesus as we have.  In Deuteronomy, the Bible tells us to write the words on our door posts, talk about them morning, noon and night, to even write the words on our foreheads.  We are responsible for training our kids up in the ways of the Lord, and if we don't have enough Jesus to give them, how much less Jesus will they have when it's time for them to teach their kids?

Thought provoking, I know.

In this process, I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind, just like Romans 12:2 talks about.  It's an inside/out process and one that is subtle.  I feel like I am more "open" to feeling the nudges of the Holy Spirit and I feel like I am reading some of these familiar passages for the first time.  I believe that the Holy Spirit illuminates certain passages or words on the pages of our Bibles for us.  I keep coming across parts of verses that I haven't noticed before.

Anyway, please know that I write these words with a humble heart.  My point in even writing this is to encourage you.  If you feel stuck in a rut, ask the Lord to make you fall in love with His word all over again.  Or maybe for the first time.  Ask Him to put a fire in your heart about your walk with Him, and ask Him for a revival in your own personal life.  Often times, we feel so worn down, so broken and discouraged by what goes on around us...in homeschooling, in overwhelming circumstances, in our jobs, in just our day to day lives.  I encourage you to pour it all out to Him.  He already knows the condition of our hearts, so why not confess it to Him?  And ask His forgiveness for letting other things get in the way.  I know I have to do that over and over and over and over again.

I was going to share some more pictures, but I don't want to do that just yet.  I might write again later, but I want these words today to be all about Him.  If you're feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit, will you take the time to get this matter settled?  I feel prompted to say that and to just stop writing now.

As always, if you want to talk, you can email me at allboys@gmail.com for a more 'private' conversation.  Love to all.

much-to-write-Monday

I'm on a roll with the titles, people.  ;)  I particularly like this title because it's so true.  This might be long, so bear with me!

I saw my sweet Daddy on Friday!  He was away from home for two weeks, when my sister Teri was in such critical condition.  (More on this subject in a few minutes.)  Before it was time for us to have lunch together, I took the boys to a store here called Kinnucan's.  Drew had birthday money that he wanted to spend on some Chaco's.  I took them and they were having an Easter egg hunt.  In the hidden eggs were three dollar off coupons, and in the golden egg was a $25 gift card.  Guess who found the golden egg?

Yup.  He purchased his own pair of Chaco's for $35.35.  That, my friends, is a deal.  He was so proud of himself!

After this we had lunch with Dad, then I had to leave them to go to a doctor's appointment.  Remember, before Christmas, when I had an ablation, because of all the issues I'd been having since last summer?  Well, the ablation didn't work, and all my problems started coming back, though nowhere near as bad.  Even with that little fact, I still needed to get this addressed, because I knew that with time, it would become that way once again.  So I went to doctor number four (finally, someone who listened), and once reading all my history, told me that she recommended a hysterectomy.  (This is way personal, I know.)  My surgery is scheduled for April 28th.

I am relieved that I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel.  It will be a blessing to have all this behind me, so I can carry on with a normal life once again.  And, I am so looking forward to a healthy summer, since last summer was not so much.

After my doctor's appointment I came back home and freshened up for our women's conference.  This took place Friday night and Saturday morning, and was so much fun!  I was really sad to see it come to an end, and I came away feeling so encouraged.  Because sometimes, we all need to be encouraged in our journey.  I had the privilege of singing with a sweet group of ladies for the whole conference...I have so missed being on a praise team!  Here are the ladies I sang with.

Left to right are Meg, Laurie, Brook, and yours truly.

We took some more pictures of our table before we left on Saturday.

Remember me talking about Drew's friend girl?  This is her sweet mama.  We laughed all weekend over our two crazy kiddos, and how awkward and adorable they are.

Saturday afternoon, I came home and crashed.  I was up early Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and after all those nights of not sleeping well, I was beat.  (That, and I'm still anemic, I'm sure.)  My house was empty, so I took advantage of the quiet.  I only took about a thirty minute siesta, then I got hooked on a show that is new to me, Parenthood.  Where have I been all these years?!  This is the best show!  I watched on our movie on-demand channel, and I can only watch season five, so if any of you people who read this have seasons one through four, I would love to borrow them!  I'm not subscribed to Hulu plus, but if I can find a free trial period, I might subscribe so I can get caught up.

We went to my mom's and step-dad's for dinner Saturday night (ribs!) and came home and I watched three more episodes before falling into bed.  Sunday came bright and early and we had to be at church at eight thirty for a meeting.  I woke up extra early to study our lesson and was totally convicted by the Holy Spirit to start memorizing Scripture again.  We're reading a book called Spiritual Disciplines and yesterday's lesson was on Bible intake...and three ways to do that are by memorizing Scripture, meditating on Scripture and then applying it to our lives.

So good!

So I chose Colossians 3:1 and 2 to memorize for this week, and my kids will be doing it with me.

I love my index cards.  I keep them in my purse so I can go over them again and again and again.  That is one of the keys to memorizing God's word.

We headed to Costco after church for some shopping and lunch.  Drew amused himself while we were there, by trying out the reading glasses.

 Later on I got to see one of my best friends, her mom and precious baby girl!

So happy and adorable and smiley!  Annalise REALLY liked my keys.  And she adores her Auntie Jen.  I'm pretty smitten with her as well.  We weren't together long, but I don't need long.  I just needed some face to face time with this beautiful lady!  She is one of the best friends I have ever had and she gives me the warm squishies.  :)

I get to see her again in September, when we go to Branson, Missouri for vacation!  Woohoo!

I came home and then took Drew to church for his youth group, and Graham and I left for community group.  We ended the video series we have been watching and had some good discussion.  And I laughed at this girl, who slept through it.

It was a long and busy weekend, but I was so blessed and encouraged by all that took place.  Today will be spent straightening up my messy house and doing other chores and just resting before the busyness starts again tomorrow.  We'll be hitting the books hard these next couple weeks, in an attempt to get ahead before my surgery.  It would be great if we could be done by then, but I'm not sure if that will happen.

About my sister Teri...she is back in the ICU.  And the ventilator is back in place.  She had an air pocket in her left lung, so now she has drain tubes in both her sides to help remove the fluid in her lungs.  Hopefully the vent can come back out in a few days, and we'll see where she is at that time.  Please continue to pray for her!  She still has pulmonary fibrosis in her lungs, which is not good.

Thank you for reading all these words.  Love to all.

birthday celebrating and throwback Thursday

My middlest child turned fourteen today.  He was the sweetest baby, so quick to laugh and smile.  He was also my strongest willed child, the one who made me read a parenting book by James Dobson and the one who once fell out a window in my kitchen.  He also thought it would be fun to put a Hershey's kiss wrapper in the cigarette lighter of his Mimi's car and shocked himself.  He's pretty swift that way.

This was him two years ago, at a lacrosse tournament in Little Rock.  Having a really good hair day and a fake smile.

Today was a great day for him.  His friend girl bought him all his favorite candy, his favorite teacher at our homeschool group bought him a doughnut and I got him his favorite chocolate cake from Costco.  It was a great birthday.  All our family came over tonight for some cake eating and card reading.  ;)  I took a picture.

 Imagine that.

Just for fun, I thought I'd do a little throwback Thursday on the ole blog.

This was the year Todd and I graduated from high school, the summer of 1995.  That was an awesome summer.  :)  We were on our way to the beach in the backseat of my dad's car.  This was the same year we got engaged and the year before we got married.  We were nineteen.  

This was the day Graham got in trouble for something, and his punishment was to vacuum the downstairs.  Just for kicks, he put on some fun sunglasses to help pass the time as he vacuumed.  I laughed and laughed on this day, when I took this picture.

Throwback to a couple years ago, when Noah would crawl up in Big Daddy's lap and then fall asleep.  I miss these days!  I think they fell asleep shortly after I took this.

Jonah's last year of public school, when he was a name and a number.  Aside from that annoying fact, this was the sweetest thing he ever wrote in school.  God love his little self.  I love what he said about our church and Austin, our family ministry pastor.  :)

Throwback to three summers ago, when Noah had a faux hawk.  I miss his hair being like that!  It was so cool, and by the end of the summer, it was really long and teenagers would stop and comment on it all the time.

One last.  :)

I hope your day was great.  I know ours was!  Love to all!

wordy

I feel like I have so much to say right now, and nobody around to talk to.  I'm thankful that I feel like I can do this here...even if you never comment, I know you read.  I don't want anybody to ever think that what gets posted on this blog is intentionally boastful.  I never ever in a million years mean to be that way!  I might say how proud I am of one of my kids, but I never can get this verse out of my head:

As the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord."  2 Corinthians 10:17

That being said, I will continue on my merry way.

I feel like, for the past two weeks now, that I cannot get enough of my Bible!  Part of it may be the book I'm reading for our Bible fellowship class, which teaches about being spiritually disciplined, and part of may be answered prayer about me falling in love with the Word all over again, but whatever it is, I cannot put it down.  I feel like I carry it all over my house.  It's gone into my bathroom with me to read while I'm getting dressed, I take it to bed at night, I wake up with it in the morning for quiet time, it's on the kitchen counter, or on my table, in my chair...I cannot get enough.

While that is definitely a good thing, I can't help but think back on times in the past when I've been like this.  It was always right before something happened.  Not necessarily anything bad, but just something the Lord was preparing me for.  I have no idea why I'm like this right now, but I'm soaking it in.

(I had a first today~while I got dressed, I listened to 1 and 2 Thessalonians on my YouVersion app.)

I told you!  In case you thought I wasn't being truthful.

I've always got a lot going on in my life, involving reading and studying the Bible.  I am in a Bible study on Thursdays at our homeschool group, which is always a Precepts study by Kay Arthur.  I'm usually reading some sort of plan for my private quiet time, and I'm reading through the Bible chronologically.  While that may seem like a lot (and it is), what better thing to do lots of?  The Lord has shown me so much already this year, in just these first four months.  I know that He will continue to do that, and it's exciting!

On a completely different note, we're about to head to church.  Todd and I are taking a class to help foster parents out the next few weeks, and because the class is so long, we get to eat dinner at church every week for free.  Not just us, but our kids, as well.  This makes me really excited~it's been almost three years since we've eaten dinner at church on a Wednesday night.  ;)

Today the boys rocked their school work.  That includes Jonah and Noah learning a new concept in math, which I taught them.  We skipped the DVD for once.  It was fun (I usually don't do the teaching of the math) and they were proud of how fast they caught on.  They're all almost done with their math books for this school year.  When they finish these, I'm going to let them take a break for a couple weeks in math, then we're going to start the next book for next year.  I've learned that if we miss a couple weeks, like for Christmas break, it's harder getting back into.  I'm totally okay with keeping a few subjects going all year, like math and science.

And, if they finish their high school required math early, it'll just make their senior year that much more pleasurable.

I took a picture of what my table looked at one point this morning.

Jonah and Noah were with me, Graham and Drew were upstairs, and while they worked, I completed this week's Bible study homework for my homeschool group tomorrow.

I am so excited that I pulled out my summer lotion today~it's Aruba Coconut from.  I must say that I smell really yummy right now.

Well...I have to run!  When I write tomorrow (maybe tonight), it'll be about my almost fourteen year old!  Love to all!

Talkative Tuesday

;)  Catchy, huh?!

Yesterday was a really good day, aside from the fact that Jonah didn't feel very well.  I think he's just got a nasty sinus infection, but still, it was enough to make him lay on the couch all day.  He even took two naps, which is totally unheard of.  The kid never sits still and he most certainly never shuts his mouth long enough for a daytime nap.

I cleaned my house like a madwoman yesterday.  I did the downstairs, and Graham, Drew and Noah did the upstairs.  They even made my bed for me as an unexpected favor.  I love it when that happens.

I had a meeting at church last night at seven, and Todd wasn't home, so the boys and I went there for an hour.  After the meeting Graham had to run to Chick Fil A in Collierville to return his badge, and because Jonah hadn't eaten dinner and because his "neck" hurt (his words, not mine), I bought him a milkshake.  The rest of the boys got large waters, but I bought myself a large diet coke.

And yes, I am in the passenger seat.  :)  Graham was driving us around...something I'm almost starting to enjoy.

This morning I took Graham, Drew and a friend of theirs to get their hairs cut.  ;)  I know it's been around for ages, but I have never been to Gould's Academy.  It costs $12 for a haircut, and that includes them washing your hair and drying it afterward.  They did a really good job on the boys, so we will be going back.  Drew's hair was in a desperate place, bless it, and she thinned his hair out so much.  The same for Graham, but his wasn't quite as bad as Drew's.  I took pictures of them, but they disappeared on my phone.  I don't know where they went, probably in cyber space somewhere.

While I waited on them, Jonah and Noah played on the stools in the waiting room, by raising and lowering them repeatedly.  I took a picture, but I don't think I posted it on Facebook and I'm too lazy to go find it.  I filled in the pages of my Erin Condren life planner.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love this beautiful life planner?  I do.

Somebody turns fourteen this week!  My Ruby, my Drewby, my pumpy-umpy-umpkin.  ;)  That used to be his ringtone on my phone.  We're having the family over for cake and ice cream Thursday night.

Writing in these blanks makes me so happy.  :)  Yes, that's a doctor's appointment I have on Friday~fingers crossed that this is the doctor who actually does something to fix whatever is going on in my body!

Speaking of doctors, my sister was able to be taken off the ventilator!  They were able to get it out, with no tracheotomy!  I know she still has a long road ahead of her, but for now, her report is promising.  She was able to maintain good numbers today, but she did tire this afternoon, so they gave her some oxygen through the nose tubes.  This is nothing short of a miracle.

We had to run to the Chick Fil A that Graham is working at now, to pick up his uniform.  We decided to eat lunch there, while we were at it.  We ended our day at the park.  It was beautiful out, and I took some time to read my book.

When we came home, I sat down to check my emails, I found this in my inbox.

Woohoo!  I was asked to be a part of the launch team for Beth Moore's newest Bible study, which will be released in the fall of this year.  I'm so excited about this!  All I have to do is share images on all my social media sites, including this blog, so you'll have to bear with me the next few months.  I get some fun freebies, too, as a "thank you" from Living Proof Ministries.  :)  I love freebies.

Tonight, Graham and Drew went to their friend's soccer game.  They went to eat buffalo wings afterward, and apparently, Drew burned his lips on them.  Poor thing...it looks painful.  This is the same kid who once threw up violently, after eating hot wings that were labeled as volcanic.

Yup.  I couldn't make this stuff up.

I saw this tonight, and I loved it.  It immediately struck a chord within me, because as women, we are not often "real" with one another.

I was talking to a sweet friend about this kind of thing last night...and wondering why we don't ask each other to pray more often.  It's baffling to me, but I want to work at being more open with the friends around me.

I'll leave you with one more image, one that made me die laughing one night.

I found this on Facebook one night and about spewed my drink across the room.  Remember when your kids were young, and you hated when they screamed?  Yup.  This perfectly defines my feelings.

Well, I hope you had a great day!  I'm heading up to try to read a lot of my book.  Love to all!