What is this?

Ask a 3 year old what it is for & this is your answer....

Raisin!

"Master"pieces

I was so inspired last night, we (the kids) made sticker charts to chart their good behavior & helpfulness. I remember that was how Hannah was potty-trained & she is still very interested in getting them. In fact, she has already earned quite a few & her attitude is amazing. I sure hope this lasts! Josie never took interest in stickers the same way, but as soon as we find her "reward" I am sure she will be just as enthusiastic. Livvy was just looking cute, trying to help.














Sorry they are so small, it just takes years for me to upload them through Blogger, & nearly took as long w/ Photobucket & I had to resize. =P I think my lighting is okay on these pics, but I really really need to work on my skills more. I just seem to do everything else instead.

Silly Sundays

Casey & I went to our first "Growing Kids God's Way" class tonight!

Then Sings My Soul Saturday!

New thing I saw & wanted to try. I have heard so many wonderful new songs lately. This one isn't new to me, but the message hits home so much right now w/ the Hurricane down south, our wind storm here, & all the other general storms that seem to abound these days. Enjoy!

"Praise You In This Storm"



What a great idea for a Saturday! Join along if you'd like!
I already have a wonderful list going!

Wordless Wednesday

"My no like Ike"

That is how my 3yr old best described our Sunday without power. It was going to be pretty ordinary day, church in the morning, lunch & nap in the afternoon, then back to church for Growing Kids God's Way. So we thought.

It was a bit windy when we got to church around 9:30am. Liv stopped every few feet to try to figure out what was trying to knock her over. How do you teach a 16mth old about the air? Had a wonderful morning at church and learned way more than I could write in a few hours. When we left I noticed the wind had picked up quite a bit, but the kids & I hurried to the van.

More than once the wind threatened to throw me into other cars & even semi trucks. It was some pretty scary driving! I called Casey on my way (yes I cell & drive) and he told me our Bradford Pear tree out front was not fairing well in the wind & we had no power! As I approached one intersection after another, I noticed nearly every other one also had no power. Then we saw a firetruck horizontally parked at a light. Just as we got close, we were told to turn around. I didn't see any problem, until an electric transformer on the other side of the road blew up before my eyes w/ wires flying every which way. Talk about a little freaky!

So we go another way, then another, & finally we get near our road, but there is a tree blocking traffic one way & some nice residents controlling the traffic flow. Probably 15 cars can go from this direction around the tree, then 15 the other. Was pretty cool of them, especially the guy making sure everyone had enough room between the tree & the 3ft ditch. Very very narrowly did my van fit, but we got home safe & sound. (Still grieving my tree, mind you!)

Hannah had a bored day, she was stuck inside due to the wind (ppl were losing roof shingles, yard furniture, trees & limbs were falling) and she was w/out her TV. Josie could've cared less until she had to pee in the dark w/ a little tealight candle beside her. (Note to self* buy some "real" candles!) Liv was all good, she takes a wonderful nap to recharge her batteries. Casey & Aaron did have to go down to Shawna's house to cook our lunch of hotdogs, sausages, etc. & to check on her animals. Me, I flipped each lightswitch in the house about 5x, forgetting the power was still off. I can't help that it is a ritual!

So we have our warm lunch, play our boardgames, do a little housecleaning, it was peaceful. Our class at church was cancelled b/c they didn't have any power either, so I fit in about 1/2 hour of reading the Bible w/ the kids before dark. Then it got really interesting. Tealights were all I had, & now I know they produce very very little light. =) Kids don't like having to go to bed out of boredom, but even we were going to retreat to our room. We say our prayers & as I am tucking the older 2 in down in the living room, Casey says "Hey! It's back on!" (LOL, he had just put all of our important food in a cooler w/ ice!) I bow my head & say "Thank you God, for turning our power back on."

Hannah's response..no kidding..this is from my not-so outwardly religious child.."Thank you God! Glory, glory, glory!" I about lost it. It was hilarious, but at the same time, it truly showed how much we rely on technology. I turned a little tv on for the kids (they were so patient all day) & I went ahead to my room. This time, no TV, no distractions, pretending I was camping all over again. I would turn the house back on tomorrow.

Thank you God for taking away our power! Glory, glory, glory!
Thank you God for allowing us to have a sample of a hurricane, so that we may not forget about all those who have suffered & will in the future. God be with them!

Thankful Thursday!

Today, I am thankful for the story my friend emailed me. I wish I could've been there to witness this. How humbling, in this raw moment, to feel God! How many times have I missed an experience like this? I certainly don't wish to, ever again.

HAIRBRUSH EXPERIENCE OF BETH MOORE AT THE AIRPORT
For those of you who do not know Beth Moore, she is an outstanding Bible teacher, writer of Bible studies, and is a married mother of two daughters.

This is one of her experiences:

"April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville, waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you.

You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.

The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport... an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere? There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served up on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him.

Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.

I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing.

I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. 'Oh, no, God, please, no.' I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, 'Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!'

There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, 'Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane.' Then I heard it....'I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair.'

The words were so clear, my heart leap into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainier. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, 'God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man.'

Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. 'That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.'

I looked up at God and quipped, 'I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?' God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: 'I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works.' (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, 'Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

He looked back at me and said, 'What did you say?'

'May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

To which he responded in volume ten, 'Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that.'

At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, 'SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?' At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Long Locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, 'If you really want to.'

Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, 'Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush.'

'I have one in my bag,' he responded.

I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull. A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while.

The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.

I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knee and said, 'Sir, do you know my Jesus?'

He said, 'Yes, I do'

Well, that figures, I thought.

He explained, 'I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior.' He said, 'You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride.' "

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it.

Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft.

I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, 'That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?'

I said, 'Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!'

And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted, you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way ... all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth'

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, 'Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Lord!'

Wordless Wednesday

Sleeping Beauty


Hannah Banana


Livvy (isn't her hair growing/getting poofy!)

3yr old funnies!

(Sitting on the couch)

J: Do you love me mom?

Me: Yes, I love you!

J: Do you love me mucher?

Me: Yes, I love you more.

J: No, do you love me mucher?

Me: Yes, *giggle* I love you mucher! *hug*


(Sitting at the table)

J: Mom, I no want you to heat it up.

Me: *putting the plate in the microwave* Just for a minute, you don't want to eat it cold.

J: No mom.

Me: It'll be done soon.

J: Well, it's gonna get cooker.
(I suppose she meant hotter?)


(In the van, she sits behind me (driving)

J: Mom, look at this!

Me: I can't look right now.

J: Look in your mirror! (I have 2 mirrors, one showing the back window & one that shows the kids in the back, like a school bus)

Me: I really can't see Sweetie & I can't turn around I have to keep my eyes on the road.

J: Un-uh! You have to keep your eyes in your _____!
(I couldn't quite understand her)

Me: My what?
(I looked in the mirror & saw her pointing to her eyes!)

J: In your HOLES! Keep your eyes in your holes!
(I was laughing so hard, I could barely keep my eyes on the road!)

Gosh, she is so funny, I forgot all about this "literal" age!

Joy
Ostentatious
Stunning
Ingenious
Entertaining

Thankful Thursday!!

I am most thankful for....
... not having a heart attack when I encountered my intense arachnophobia.

I opened my backdoor and walked right into a thick huge spider web. I immediately closed the door & began to freak out, or have a seziure? I mean I was jumping, squealing, & flapping at my body & hair. Then I started to freak out some more when I felt something in my hair. I had a small clip in, & I knew it, but in that split second, you could not convince me it wasn't a huge hairy spider!

I think that was the biggest immediate freak-out I have ever done. I seriously wonder how many times my heart stopped. The web was SO thick, I know I did some damage. I am sure I looked crazy to the little girls, as I was hopping around & flapping. When I was done, still not calm, I called Casey. I figured while I was relaying my fear, I would look out the back window (I doubt I will be using that door for weeks now) & see if I saw anything.

Sure enough!


Do you not realize that could have been on me? No, I barely missed it by maybe an inch over my left shoulder. THANK YOU GOD! I probably would've peed on myself, passed out, had a heart attack, & it probably would have never bitten me. If it had, it would not be life-threatening. To ME, it would have been life-threatening if it would've just smiled at me!

So, since I narrowly escaped death, I have painfully taken some pictures of the ugliest thing God ever created. I am sharing b/c I want y'all to know it wasn't a little fuzzy baby Charlotte that had me freaking out.

It was this!!!

Ugh! Now I am having a hard time going back in my kitchen to clean! I swear, if it comes in my house, Casey WILL come home from work!

My friends!!!

I am shamefully plugging my Tupperware Brunch/Party coming up this Saturday. If you would like to order anything give me a call & I can have it ordered & shipped right to you! If I can't get a catalog to you in person, please check out the Tupperware website! by clicking HERE...

I have to rave about my cups & lids with the straw holes. Oh, I love them! Best thing ever for my kids, who never can finish a whole glass of milk. I just put them right back in the fridge. I also love my trays, which the kids think are so cool to have dinner on. They look like lunch room trays! I also have some bowls, perfect for pudding creations & even some microwaveable ones, I don't know how I ever lived without! Now I am throwing out all my cheap stuff & replacing it w/ something that will last!

They have also come out w/ a few products we haven't seen in a little while (such as the Hamburger Press!) as well as some great deals (12 cups w/ lids for $24!)Okay, enough of the "saleswoman" in me, I really am not using you all for host points, I genuinely love this stuff!

If you live nearby & would like to come, or bring a friend, or you didn't get an invite, I am sorry, you are still more than welcome to join us! Email me or call for the address or ordering information! Back to your regular blogcast!

Sweet girls!

Josie and I had the sweetest talk ever about having Jesus in your heart. She takes everything so literal, it's funny. She also started to talk about Heaven & how Mommaw's bird went to Heaven b/c he had Jesus in his heart too. She just doesn't know how beautiful she is & how much she means to me.

Livvy's word of the day is "up!" She kept trying to climb up my legs all day long, so we taught her to say that. (The other day she wanted me to hold her, so she bit the back of my leg while i was doing dishes. I told her we don't bite, we use words. Guess she didn't know which one to use.) Anyways, she repeated it all day long. Earlier, we were outside & she looked up at the sky, then a tree, pointed, and said "up!" Melts my heart.

Hannah, she really just has a way about her. She is most definitely so much like me, we are like rams w/ horns locked. She moved me the most today, when she apologized for something simple. She was so humble, it amazed me. She is normally so high and mighty, that it really caught me off-guard. Then she kissed me!

*Update on my big-little testimony..It was so wonderful! I will have to type it out sometime. I really was so scared, but God gave me so much peace, courage, strength, you name it, that I actually had fun! I would've never thought I could do something like that. Me? In front of 300+ ppl? LOL, truly a miracle!