a random post

I had no idea this kind of boredom existed.  I am not one who is great at staying home days and days at a time.  It's been over a week since I have seen the outside of my house.  Praise God, I am doing really, really good.  My husband keeps reminding me that as bored as I may be, it's crucial to take this time and do what the doctor has ordered.  Otherwise, something could happen with my incision and I could have a giant setback.  I do not want that, so I am reminding myself to remain positive.  This image that I saw on the internet yesterday helped remind me.

 

Who in the world enjoys being around a complainer?  Not me.  I loved this saying that I came across.

The weather has been beautiful all week, and on Tuesday, I sat outside for a while.  Noah and Drew did, too.  Drew ended up coming inside to help make brownies, so while he was doing that, Noah was doing this:

He was enjoying something cold and sweet, and taking it all in.  The wind was gently blowing and the deck was in the shade.  He did this and I sat and read my book.  Well, and I took some pictures.  And Noah and I talked about things.

I can really sense the presence of the Lord when I am outside, enjoying the nature He has given to us.  I have some of my best prayer time outside, and there, I find it the easiest to praise Him.  How can I not, sitting under this magnificent tree?  Speaking of this, and seeing the sunlight peeking through the branches, I found a verse that I love last night.

"Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame."  Psalm 34:5

I love the thought of Him making my face radiant.  Who doesn't want to be described as that?  I also think of the passage in Exodus about how the glory of the Lord was evident on Moses.  That is how I want to be!

I read Psalm 34 last night, because I was quickly on my way to having a pity party.  The word of God is a good remedy to solve that problem, and last night it did the trick for me.  I haven't been reading the Bible enough lately, and I need to get back at it.  And journaling...I love writing in my journal.  I wrote down some verses last night that I loved in Psalm 34.  Sometimes I do this in an art journal that I have laying around.

My mom came over yesterday and ended up getting us lunch.  She did my laundry and she gave Drew a haircut.  He really needed a good trim.

Isn't he handsome?  My sister came over as well, and stayed until about 4:30.  I've enjoyed having various family members around and getting caught up.  I've also had a couple visitors, and I have loved that as well!  Today it's just the boys and me.  Dinner is already planned for tonight, all that needs to happen is for my family to all be back under one roof.

Well.  I am going to get dressed for the day, and I am going to read my Bible and maybe do some Bible study homework.  I hope your day is fabulous.  Love to all!

summer book club

So, apparently I am bored, and I'm coming up with things to look forward to.  And I came up with a great idea~a summer book club!  I've always wanted to be a part of one of these, so I'm starting a trial one.  The plan is to decide on the book, buy it, read it in a month's time (if it takes you longer, that is totally fine) and meet for dinner to talk about it.  (It's a trial book club, because none of us may like doing this, so if that happens we can end it after the summer.  OR we can continue on with it past the summer.)

This also sounds like the perfect excuse for a night out.  ;)

The first book that we will read and discuss is Bridge To Haven, by Francine Rivers.

I'm so excited!  Buy it from Amazon, Target (not sure they have it), Lifeway, Barnes & Noble or Amazon.  Then read it!  And we can plan a night out to talk about it.  Care to join me?

Call me (901-301-0067) or text me, email me (allboys@gmail.com) or Facebook message me.  But let me know!

I hope to hear from you!  A lot of you, even.  The more, the merrier, right?!  Go buy it and get to reading!  Happy day to you, and love to all!

taking things slow & being thankful

I can't remember whether or not I said 'thank you' to all of you who have reached out to us the past week or two.  I don't know if 'thank you' is adequate.  Well, I know it's not, but I do thank you sincerely, from the bottom of my heart.  The outpouring of love we have received this past week is enough to make me bawl, if I think about it.  I have thanked God over and over and over for all of you, and know that I pray for you, and for the Lord to bless you and your family.  Thank you, and know that you mean the world to me.

There are some things that are really good about surgery and time spent recovering.  First off, God is good all the time.  And all the time, God is good.  He is good in times of health and sickness, He is good in times that are easy and in times that are hard.  I know that no matter what happens, come what may, He is good, He is faithful and He is in control.  Spending time in recovery and even leading up to surgery is good, and something I think everyone should experience at least once in their lives.  It might sound crazy, but when you're down to nothing but you and the Lord, there is something powerful about that, my friends.  You spend time with Him that is completely unlike any time you've spent with Him before.  He leads you to certain passages of Scripture, He quietly whispers deep in your soul that everything is going to be okay, and that He is holding you in the palm of His hand.

Call me crazy, but for all that I have been through since last June, I thank Him for.  When I am weak, then I am strong.  On my own I am weak, with Him beside me, I am strong.  See how that works?

I am also deeply grateful for my family.  I thank God for my dear husband, who moves me to tears with his kindness and gentleness, my precious children, who will not let me lift a finger or even open up the refrigerator, my mom and step-dad, who have cared for me and made me a delicious meal, my sister who spent the whole weekend with me, running around like crazy, my mom and dad-in love, who have taken care of my kids and spent time with me today, my dad and step-mom, who have helped with the boys and checked on me relentlessly.

Mere words cannot express my gratitude.

I am so thankful for good, Christian books.  During the moments when I need to rest my mind, it is so good to have a good book to lose myself in.  I started a new one last night, one that my mom-in-love let me borrow.

Have you read Karen Kingsbury?  She is my most favorite author of all time.  Her books are called 'Life Changing Fiction', and they are.  Through the words that God gave her to write, I have been deeply challenged in my faith to have more of a relationship with my Jesus.  I have read every single book she has ever written, and if I can ever recommend just one book to you, let it be a book by this amazing woman of God.  I am pacing myself in the reading of this book and am savoring every last drop.  Kinda like a good cup of coffee.  Every time I read a book written by an author I love, I pray for that author, that the Lord will continue to give them words to write that bring Him glory.  Lives are changed because of authors like this, mine included, so it's good to pray for them.

I mentioned above how thankful I am for my husband.  He moved me to tears last night, over his concern for me.  He told me that he did not want for me to be alone at all until after next Monday, my two week mark.  He has been kind, gentle, patient, good, thoughtful, and considerate to me ever since my return home.  Last night I was struck by the thought that I love where we are in our marriage.  Nobody ever tells you how hard marriage is, and how much effort it takes.  But it is and it is lots and lots and lots of work.  Marriages look different depending on who is talking about this subject, but for us, it's a constant ebb and flow of give and take.  We both work really, really hard at making the other one happy, and we take into consideration the thoughts and opinions of each other.  He knows how much I love spending time with my girlfriends, so he encourages me to always do that.  I know how much he enjoys spending time working with the sheriff's department, so I always encourage him to get in extra shifts.

Spending time alone is so important to both of us, because as parents of a large family, that is rare.  Some would argue here that spending time alone together is important as well, and it is, but with him working several nights a month, sometimes a week, it's more important for us to spend time together as a family.  We have dates alone, occasionally, but more often than not, we are with our kids.  We love them, of course, but we genuinely like them and enjoy spending time with them.

I thanked God for where we were in our marriage last night.  Our kids are at great ages.  They are independent, and hard working and trustworthy.  We count on them a lot, take this time with me recovering for instance, and we know that they are more than capable of doing what is asked of them.  He has trained them to be hard-working young men, full of integrity and the know-how of getting a job done.  In other words, he has taught them what he was taught as a young boy.  For here, I would like to thank my dad-in-love.  Because the father's roll in a son's life is of the most importance.

He has done an amazing job with our boys, and he is my hero and my lobster.

I have always loved his hands.  They show me strength and character and integrity and love and kindness and gentleness.  He is patient (on most days), he is firm when needed and sensitive when it counts.  We are not perfect and have made lots of mistakes, but we are perfect for one another and we have grown together, as husband and wife, as parents.  I am eternally grateful for him.

One last thing I am so thankful for is that our kids are close to each other.  This afternoon they were just sitting on the trampoline, talking and laughing.  They love each other, yes, but they like each other.  They are friends.  They fight and argue and bicker, but if you mess with one of them, you mess with all of them.  They are fierce about the protection of their brothers, and if the need ever presented itself, they would fight on one of their behalves.

Drew took this picture of our beloved dog, Crash this afternoon.  (Yes, I just called him 'beloved', have I lost my mind?!)

Is that not the greatest thing you have ever seen?  Sheer and utter joy on the face of this dog, is that even possible?  He makes our hearts smile, and I believe we make his smile.  He thinks he's human and when he is left out of events or outings, he cries.  Just this afternoon when the boys first went outside to play basketball, he literally sat at the back door and cried.  Whimpered.  It was pitiful.  I am thankful for this crazy dog, and for all the memories he has provided us with.

Well, that was wordy.  I think I've reached my limit.  There is a Klondike bar that is calling my name, and I must go eat it.  :)  Love to all.

Hello again!

Today is the first day I have actually felt like getting on our actual laptop.  I've been on Instagram and Facebook, but only from my phone, and only for a few minutes each time.  I have been taking lots and lots of pictures, though, and posting to Instagram.  You can follow me there from clicking on the link at the top right of this blog, if you want.  If not, then ignore the last sentence.

I am so glad to be on this side of my surgery.  Words cannot describe how much I dreaded that whole process, so imagine my joy at being where I am today, instead of where I was one week ago.  :/  The day of prepping for surgery was not as bad as I had thought it would be, and it went by really fast.  I filled my time that morning by doing this:

I was reading my favorite Scriptures and recording them on note cards to take with me to the hospital.  I didn't want to take my actual Bible, should anything happen to it.  Who has time to be fearful of surgery when you read these kinds of verses?  Not me.  :)

Monday dawned bright and early~4a.m., to be exact.  I had to be at the hospital by 5:30 for my 7:30 surgery.  I was really nervous by the time I got changed into my hospital gown and kept freaking out the pre-op guy who checked me in.  He told me to tell the other nurses in the holding area that I had "extreme white coat syndrome".  My heart was racing and my blood pressure was really high.  Again.

By the time I was about ready for surgery, the sweet nurse who rolled me into the operating room stopped me in the hallway and gave me what she called a margarita for my veins.  ;)  Then she hit me with it once again as I was rolling into the O.R.  I'm pretty sure I told the anesthesiologist that he was handsome.  He was being so sweet to me~holding my hand and such that it put me over the edge, apparently.  ;)  When people are extremely nice to me, I cry.  He wiped my tears.

I will be honest and say here that waking up from surgery and the actual day of surgery suck.  Royally.  My doctor was not able to perform the surgery laparoscopically, so she had to make an incision at the same spot as my c-section scar.  My pain never completely went away and that whole day and all that night were horrid.  Things started looking up around 6:00 Tuesday morning, though, when they unhooked me from everything and let me get out of the bed.  It turns out that some of the pain I was experiencing was back pain~laying in a bed, in the same exact position and not moving cannot be good for one's back.  I cannot even imagine the pain my sister must have in her body, as she has been in the hospital, in a bed for over six weeks.

Tuesday was wonderful, because I was feeling better and I got some really sweet visitors~two girlfriends from church and their babies, a pastor from church and my Sunday school teacher and his wife all came that day.  My favorite people of all, though, came to see me later in the afternoon.

They left me with blown up gloves.  It brought a smile to my face and to all the nurses.  I also got to eat a yummy dinner that night that my mom and mom-in-love brought me.

Wednesday was the day I got discharged from the hospital, and when Todd and Jonah walked into my room that morning, this was what he brought to me and my mom:

God love his sweet little heart.  The coffee in the hospital was another thing that sucked.  This cup of delicious-ness made it all better, though.

After lunch, they let me go.  I came home to some more sweetness~

~this and another card made by Drew and all my favorite candles were burning.  They cleaned for me, too, which is one of my love languages.  ;)

I don't really remember much about Wednesday, as it was a pretty bad day.  The pattern seems to be good day, bad day, good day, bad day.  Now it all seems to be much better, but for the first few days, that was how my life was.  I ended up going upstairs Wednesday night and staying there until Friday morning.  I also had to sleep in a recliner, because it hurt really bad to lay flat.  My friend Rene came to visit me on Friday and brought me some goodies.  These...

...and a butter beer latte from Starbucks!  It was so good.  And my flowers are still so pretty, where I'm enjoying them on the table beside me.  Todd had a job to do here in The Ville, so my mom came to babysit me while he was gone.  She ate lunch with me upstairs, and laughed about something she discovered while she was sitting with me.

She wore two different color shoes that day!  We laughed and laughed, until I threatened to kick her out because it hurts to laugh.  ;)

My dad came over Friday and took the boys to lunch and to his house to play his tractor.  I was feeling better, so Todd ended up being able to work the Music Fest downtown Friday and Saturday nights.  My sweet sister, Tricia, came to stay with us for the weekend.  I enjoyed every single second of our time together, and I am so thankful for all she did to help me!

We watched movies and Crash stayed with us.  Today my step-dad made lunch for us and brought it over~

...roast, potatoes, carrots, green beans, salad and cornbread.  It was so good!  My mom had to stay home, though, because she doesn't feel good.  I missed seeing her, after seeing her so often the past few days.

We've been doing lots of napping, I've been reading a lot and the animals have slept right alongside us.

I snapped this picture of Jonah today as he initiated them cleaning the house.  They've also done three loads of laundry.  I'm excited that tonight they get the night off and are going to spend the night at Todd's parents.  They have nine a.m. dental appointments tomorrow and his mom is going to take them and bring them home afterward.  I will be alone for the first time since surgery.

I am so thankful for all the help we've been given~family has stepped up by taking care of us, friends have made us dinner, I've gotten phone calls, texts and messages on Facebook.  Thank you to every single one of you who has reached out to us in some way.  It is so appreciated!  It's funny, this thing called life~it illuminates the people who are the most important and who you should surround yourself with.  And it makes me want to be more conscientious of how I treat people after surgery.  I will be reaching out to others way more than I already do, though, I can assure you.  Experiencing it kind of puts things into perspective.  And a good rule to remember is The Golden Rule~do unto others as you would have them to unto you.

Love to all.

random

Yesterday was the perfect day for yard work.  That is what my family did all day long.  From the time they got home from camping and got everything unpacked, they cleaned up the yard.  We have a couple huge trees in our backyard, and in recent storms, some branches have fallen.  After they picked up all the sticks and debris (we have four boys), they edged, raked and Drew cut the grass twice.  (It was that high.)  Graham did the front yard.

They also cleaned up the deck that is attached to the back of our house.  It is so nice, looking out to see a nice, clean and cut backyard!  While they did their outside stuff, I puttered around inside and got the rest of my kitchen and pantry cleaned out and organized.

I found a couple images on the internet that I loved, and I thought I would share them with you.

I especially love this because it reminds me of the saying, "God is good, all the time.  All the time, God is good."

I am a firm believer in thinking/speaking/believing truth and life and always being positive.  Nobody ever gripes about a positive Patty.  (Think Debby Downer.)  When you give God glory, honor and praise for all He is, and all He has done, it's impossible to continue in a negative thought pattern.  He has been infinitely good to us!

I'm preaching to myself with this one.  If God cares for the birds of the air as much as He does, how much more does He care for you?  For me?  Read Matthew chapter six.

My family just left for church.  I'm staying home because I'm trying to get stuff done before this afternoon, when my fun day comes crashing to a halt.  Don't you just love surgery prep?!  I have tons of washing to do before then, so I thought I could get it all done while they're at church.

Speaking of surgery tomorrow, this is happening right now.

On the long list of things not to be consumed today, non-dairy creamer is one of them.  I usually put two tablespoons of sugar in my coffee and a tablespoon of cream, but not today!  It actually tastes really good.

Well.  I better get off here if I plan on tackling that list.  I probably won't write again for a while...surgery is at 7:30 in the morning, and I have to be there at 5:30.  I covet your prayers.  Thanks!  Love to all.

Friday

In preparation of my surgery on Monday, I started off yesterday cleaning.  And by cleaning, I don't really mean 'cleaning', but putting things in order at my house.  My sister Lisa is here packing up her house, because she's moving to Colorado.  She gave me tons of stuff the other day~spices, pantry food, refrigerated food, towels and blankets.  I got everything put away except for the pantry food and spices.  Those are the only two areas I haven't gotten organized yet, so that is what I'll be doing today.  Yesterday was the rest of the house.

Also on my to-do list today is to buy what I need for tomorrow, to prepare for surgery.  Blech.  Hopefully it won't be too terrible, but I don't plan on leaving my house at all the whole day.  I can eat, but only clear liquids~jello, broth, things like that.  I can even have coffee!  I'll survive, I'm sure.  ;)  I tell you this, so you can pray for me tomorrow, too!

After we got the house in order yesterday, my dad came over.  We haven't spent a Friday with him in a couple weeks, so it was nice to see him.  We went to lunch at Huey's, then we went to The Ville's town square.

This is just one of the many spots I love on our square.  We sat on a park bench across from this house and soaked up the vitamin D.  The boys walked to the Army surplus store, and when they came back, I noticed Jonah had something behind his back.  They presented my dad with a gift.

It was Jonah's idea, but they all chipped in with their money.  Isn't that sweet?  I thought that was good enough on its own, but then Graham told me that the young man who checked him out (with sleeves of tattoos and those ear lobe stretching earrings) asked him about his debit card.  Graham told him that he works at Chick Fil A and they wanted to honor his grandfather, who was in the Korean War, by giving him this Navy flag.

The young man was impressed and asked Graham what he wanted to do with his life after high school.  Graham told him that he felt called into ministry of some sort and the young man didn't know what that was, so Graham explained that he wanted to be a youth pastor, or something along those lines.  The young man told Graham that he was inspired by him, and Graham ended up inviting him to church.  When he came back and told me about it, we remembered that a few weeks ago, the youth pastor gave us these books to hand out to people who might not know the Lord.  They're a shortened and condensed version of the book of John.  So we came home to grab a couple and went back to the Army surplus store.  Graham gave it to the young man and left his phone number with him.  He said he would be at church tomorrow.

:)  Forgive the bragging, please.  But I am a proud mama!  Both for the fact that they gave my dad a gift, all of their own accord and with their own money, and for Graham being bold in his faith.  I told my dad I wish I had been that bold when I was that age.

The boys were really excited about their one night camping trip yesterday.  Todd came home early to load up all their gear, and about an hour later, I was waving goodbye to them.

He posted these pictures on Facebook for me a few hours later.

They camped at my dad's house.  His house sits on eleven acres, and they were at the back of his property.  Todd said that's the most perfect spot of grass, so that's where they set up camp.  They dug out a spot for a bonfire and roasted hot dogs and s'mores for dinner.  My dad said the next time they camp out there, he's going to stay with them.  :)

While they were camping, I met the ladies in my small group at Bible study on Thursday at Bangkok Alley.  It was so much fun being with them outside of Bible study.  We sat there for three hours and talked and laughed, until we noticed that they were closing.  Then we went outside and talked for another half hour.  They all prayed for me, then we parted ways.  It was a sweet time.

Love them!  After dinner, I came home to a quiet, empty house.  I'm glad Andy was here to keep me company.  I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep, but I was fine and fell to sleep within ten minutes, until eight thirty this morning, when Andy woke me up telling me he needed to go outside and that he was hungry.  The family is all back home, now and unpacked.  I haven't started my day yet, but will in a bit, when I decide to get moving.  I've done laundry already, I just need to get dressed now.

Well, I hope you enjoy your day!  It's glorious outside.  Love to all!

almost summertime

I am so sad that today was our last day of the 2013/2014 school year at our homeschool group.  It's bittersweet because out of the five moms who regularly attend, only two are coming back next year.

I know, I already said all this last night, so I'll stop with that.

Today the stomp class that Graham took this year performed for us.  They are amazing!  I would love to share it with you, but it's not allowing me to do that right now.  They played a drum line with drumsticks and gallon sized paint buckets.  I love watching them!

I went ahead and registered all my boys for next year~Graham will be taking his chemistry class here, Drew is taking a home-economics type class and personal finance, Jonah and Noah are taking a science class and a cooking class.  Their Bible study hour will be spent in the book of first Timothy.  I'm excited for all of us!  I am also glad that the small group leaders will continue meeting all summer.  We're taking off May and June, but starting in July, we'll meet weekly to pray and study.

Before we left, all the moms gathered around my friend Rachel and me.  Rachel is having her gallbladder removed tomorrow, and since I'm having my surgery on Monday, they prayed for us.  Let's just say that it ended with both my friend Angela and me crying.  I wish I could tell you the way it feels to have a bunch of Jesus-loving women pray over you....but I cannot.  If you've experienced it, you know what I'm talking about, but if not, there are no words to describe.  It is precious and anointed.

As we wind down this school year, I wanted to share with you the sovereignty of God and His perfect timing.  I've been dealing with my issues ever since June of last summer.  I continually got worse and worse, until December, when I had an ablation.  Notice I said December~right before we took our break for Christmas, a time when it was acceptable for me to slow down and recover.  I was better for a while, then things started getting kinda bad again in March.  I saw doctor number four at the beginning of April and at the (almost) end of our school year, she's performing my surgery.

A few things about the timing of all this...God knew that I could not have done my job as a homeschool mom and recover from surgery.  He also knew that I would need tons of help getting from point A to point B, and only a month and a half after my oldest son turned fifteen, He saw fit that this would be the perfect timing for me to have this surgery.  Do you see how He worked out all those little details?  It's no accident that any of it happened this way.  It makes perfect sense that all this would play out only in His perfect timing.  Not mine.

So when people ask, "Don't you just wish you'd already gotten it all over with?", my answer would have to be no.  I don't wish that, because that timing would have been mine, not the Lord's.

Let me also encourage you with one last thing~if ever you doubt that the Lord hears every word we utter, do not doubt any longer.  I prayed very specifically about this surgery just a week ago today~I almost seemed to be getting better and I doubted the decision to go through with it.  Not two hours after I prayed about it, the Lord very clearly gave me an answer that I needed.  The answer was yes, I definitely needed surgery.  He's continually shown me that all this week, and for that, I am so thankful!

Keep praying, keeping seeking Him.  I love in Matthew chapter six, where we are told to seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, then all these things will be added to us.  We don't seek the opinions of others, we don't seek approval from man, we seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness.  When we seek Him first, everything else falls into place.

Be encouraged today, my friends!  I know I am.  Love to all.