No bonbons here!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I get the feeling others think that because I'm a stay at home mom, I just sit around watching soaps and eating bonbons.  To be completely truthful, there was a time that I watched soaps, but as a brand new mom, I was hardly doing nothing.  It was more for noise and adult conversation, been there?  Anyway, SweetHeart came home the other day, and this is what I had been doing.  You see, what is mostly on our TV now is kid's shows.  On one of their favorite PBS shows, Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman, we saw they guy who holds the world record for a card house--AMAZING!  (His name is Bryan Burg and here is one of his creations.)  I have tried to build one before, but I always tried to make it with triangles and it never worked!  Here is the secret we learned on Fetch!  This is the strongest way to arrange the cards.

Then you just start adding cards around it continuing the pattern.  We found that if you lay cards on top, it adds stability to it.  This was my first attempt at a level (notice the cards are facing the same direction!)  Part of the Ruff challenge was that their building had to be sturdy enough to support weight (I don't remember the poundage, but it was heavier than the little candle we used.)  When I placed the candle on this...it collapsed!  But doesn't it look good!

SweetBoy got in on the project and we got a second level going!  (With some repairs along the way.  Just in case you try this at home, it takes several tries!)

We got a third level and even a fourth!

Here goes nothing...

It supports our candle!  I know you are so impressed.  SweetHeart was, let me tell you.  So the point of this post is that there is no bonbon eating going on here, but we are practicing some mad card stacking skillz!

Scripture Memory Team 2010 #8

I'm a day late on this because it took me three days to get the laundry done this week!  I started it Wednesday, went to Mom/Mema's to wash yesterday, then put it away today.  (See previous post for explanation.)  I'll get to the ironing later...maybe.  :)  So my 15th didn't go exactly as planned but here we are today.

Here's a little background for this week's verse.  I've just finished up Beth Moore's book So Long Insecurity.  If you have known me long, you are thankful and looking forward to a more secure Shelly--me too.  Also, two years ago Mom, Jen, and a few more of our friends went to a Living Proof Live event in San Antonio where Beth taught on Inheritance.  She made it into a 9 session video study.  I knew the weekend was amazing, and could not wait for the study to be available.  I just finished that too and it did not disappoint!  It went hand in hand with the So Long Insecurity teaching.  One night I just stayed up processing all that I needed to apply to my life.  The next morning I felt so much lighter!  But I also realize that it is still a process and won't change overnight.  I have to learn a new way to think.  God has already started this in setting memorizing His Word as a priority.  I know I would have been in a pit over the move had I not been thinking about His faithfulness and His love in the verses I was memorizing.  In The Inheritance, part of what Beth taught was that we have an inheritance to come in Heaven, but we also have a spiritual inheritance now.  Just as the Israelites in the Old Testament inherited the Promised Land and had to go fight for it and possess it, I have property with the boundary lines of my intimacy with God, my past, my life experiences, and spiritual gifing.  If I am not deliberately possessing every part of my property, the enemy is standing on it!  So my verses for a while will be helping me build my muscles to kick the enemy off the property I had neglected and he was reeking havoc on because of insecurity.  He certainly found a weakness and capitalized on it for a long time.  But now I know I am an heiress of God, He makes me secure and no one can take that from me!  I am clothed with strength and dignity!  That is a super brief overview of the view of the journey I'm seeing right now.  And yes, it is sweet!  That is why I chose this verse:

Psalm 16:5-6
Lord, You have assigned me  my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Beth taught this out of the ESV where it says, "I have a beautiful inheritance."  You and I both know that not everything in life is pleasant, delightful, or beautiful.  But my God, who orchestrates everything perfectly, is more than big enough and good enough to take the heartbreak and hurtful things and work them out for His glory and our benefit.  So even with my past, even with my life experiences I can say that I have a beautiful inheritance!  Knowing that can change the way I see insults, hardships, and heartache and change the way I react to it.  I'm going to need that.

Side note:  Last year I memorized the verses just after this, so if 5-6 don't resonate with you, 7-8 might. 

Psalm 16:7-8
I will praise the Lord, who councels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me.  He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Love you!  Hope you have a blessed weekend!

Laundry days

It seems my life revolves around laundry.  Things seemed a little easier when I finally found a laundry routine I could handle.  Once a week made it too much of a mountain.  I just can't want to do laundry every day or even twice a week, but every 5 days works.  So this week may be twice a week, but next week will just be once.  I can live with that.  Even at that it seems like every time Mom calls and asks what is happening, I'm in some part of the laundry process.

Today was a laundry day.  I had some other things to do too like take the puppy to the vet and clean out SweetDoll's closet.  After we got back from the vet, I got the laundry going...went to change it to the dryer and discovered the washer full of water.  Something with the draining step is broken.  Great.  Not to air dirty laundry here, but I got the stinkiest load done but not the most critical.  Do you know what I mean?  We have found a plan to deal with fixing it and getting today's laundry done.  And you know there is not a laundromat around the corner!  But what surprised me is the fact that I am lost without having laundry to do today.  I have so many other things I need to do, could be doing, but my brain can't switch out of laundry mode!  Aaaa!  So I'm blogging about it!  Aren't you glad?

So how do you deal with the laundry at your house?  Does it seem to dominate you too?  Happy laundry days and may your washer and dryer work efficiently!  I'm off to clean out SweetDoll's closet!  (Yes, that is another variation of laundry!)

Easter 2010

I just finished doing Kelly Minter's Bible study on Ruth.  I learned a lot about the role of a kinsmen redeemer, and it made this Easter special.  Jesus, my Kinsmen Redeemer, fits every requirement in every way.  He is a close relative.  He is able to redeem--more than able!  He is willing to redeem.  Even when I was His enemy, He chose me, and you.  How amazing is that!  And that is why we celebrate Easter.

We went to church with family.

Then it was off to Mamaw's to meet the rest of the family for lunch.  A delicious lunch with ham and fried chicken and all the fixin's...and desserts!  YUM!  The kids were anxious for the fun of the egg hunt and that was next on the agenda.  The big kids hid the eggs this year.  SweetBoy is in that stage where he likes to be one of the big kids, but a cousin he really looks up to said, "When you get to double digits, you can hide them.  This year you still get to hunt."  And that made it ok.  (Thanks, Bud!)

On your marks, get set, GO!

We have three kids and came home with 4 baskets of candy.  How does that happen?!  The confetti eggs are always picked up first.  And always used quickly!

We had a great time with family.

Thanks Mamaw and Meme for a wonderful Easter!

And all too soon it was time to head back home.

Scripture Memory 2010 #7

Wow!  April 1st.  My kids have had a fun day teasing.  They got me on one.  The kids were outside playing and SweetBoy came in and said, "Mom, there are two sheep in our back yard.  Where did they come from?"  I didn't think there were supposed to be, but I went and checked, only to find three giggling kids around the corner!  They got me and they loved it!

Well, on our Scripture memory challenge this April Fool's Day, I couldn't help but think today that I'm memorizing Scripture so that I won't be a fool anymore.  I've fallen for lies enough, and I want the Truth to be alive and active in me so that it is evident.  Lately I'm struggling with a bit of a control issue, and God is asking me to give it up and do it His way.  I know it should be a no brainer, but I am human.  A friend encouraged me with this verse that it is not all up to me.  He is not asking me to do something in my own strength by myself.  He will be with me all the way.  So I'm going to work on this verse to help me remember that doing it His way is the best and all the while He will be right beside me. 

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

I love that in context the verses before this talk about knowing God.  I'm still blown away that the God of the universe knows my name and wants me to know Him and is willing to be yoked with me.  And all of that is peaceful rest.  That sounds good to this mom!  Have a blessed Easter weekend!

This is my life

Here is a little background you need to know to fully appreciate this story.  We live at point A.  Point C is down the road about 45 minutes and that is where the grocery store and the dentist are.  Point B is a town on the way to Point C about 15 minutes from home (so it is about 30 minutes from Point C).  Does that make sense?  Good.

On Monday, SweetHeart decided to make a dentist appointment for SweetBoy at the same time as his next appointment.  Great!  Well, that didn't work, so they set it for the end of the month.  That wasn't good for me.  When he called back to change it, they asked, "What about tomorrow at 4?"  No problem.  New plan for Tuesday...since we would be in town where the grocery store is and I haven't been in like a month, I got my grocery list ready to do that while we were there. 

So Tuesday I pick up SweetBoy a little early from school and we are off.  We were talking about how long it would take us and when we would get home.  I was estimating a little before bed time--no reason to rush.  Then he says, "Oh, Mom, I have a basketball game tonight."

"Tonight?  Like in a few hours?" 

"Yes, I got a note today about it."

You have got to be kidding me!  So our nice little trip to Point C just turned into a race!  Thankfully the game was at Point B, and thankfully the game was later than it usually is!  We arrived a little early, so we stopped to get gas.  Then on to the dentist where we left right when we needed to so we could head to the store.  (And by the way, no cavities! Praise the Lord!)  We set a land speed record in Wal-Mart, and got everything on the list, I might add!  (Except cleets for baseball that SweetBoy is hounding me about, but they didn't have them!)  Then we hit Sonic and left with plenty of time to not have to speed to Point B to get changed and play basketball.  (Dad and the other kids met us there with his jersey.)  Whew!  Are you tired too?

Thank goodness it is not like this all the time!  But with two about to be playing baseball/softball, our schedule is going to kick up a notch.  (Hopefully we will have a little more notice about games and practice.)  That would be helpful!  ;) 

Well, that is what is happening here.  How about you?  Any tips about balancing schedules and getting it all done?

Spring Break 2010

What a week!  We spent last weekend with Granny and Papa, and we all met the rest of Granny's family half-way to celebrate Papaw's 82nd birthday!  It was a short trip, but good to visit with that side of the family.

After lunch we went to see Jenni and her family while we were in town.  She had just hosted a slumber party for her girls and then we came!  Thanks, Jen, for your hospitality!  It was great to see them!

Then it was home for school on Monday.  Yes, the decision-makers last year planned a snow-make up day for the Monday of Spring Break.  Evidently they had not used one in a decade and never intended on needing it.  Well, this year we did!  Hopefully that won't happen next year!  ;)  Then it was off to see Meme and Granddad and the rest of SweetHeart's family.  We had a great time, and totally enjoyed the warm sunshine.  I had not really had spring fever until now, but I'm ready for it!  The trees were budding and flowers blooming...and my alergies kicked up! (Not ready for that part of spring!)  Anyway, here are some of the highlights.  Two afternoons we went to have coffee with Mamaw.  It was good to see her.  We met the brothers and their families at the pizza shop for supper.  We had cousin fruit basket turn over.  My kids went to stay the night with them.  One cousin stayed with us.  They had a blast!  SweetBoy enjoyed going to work with Granddad and helped fix a computer or two.

We went fishing with Uncle K and some cousins.  It started out chilly, but warmed up when the sun came out.

SweetDoll caught a fish!

So did SweetBoy!

The next day one of Aunt M's friends was hosting an Easter party and they let us tag along.  The kids had so much fun!  They had a jump house, crafts (including dying Easter eggs--Wow! they were brave!), egg hunt, food, and just plain playing around. 

Then there is our big news of the week...the kids have been wanting a new dog.  OK, I have been too.  I'm ready for all the good, fun parts of having a dog, but not the not-so-fun parts.  Anyway, we had put them off to wait until it was warm outside.  We were looking for a Rat terrier just because that is what we have had before and we like their temperament.  They are not super popular and you don't find them in the paper that often, so we had been keeping an eye out for one because, you know, it is getting warmer now.  While we were visiting hometown, SweetHeart dropped by the vet just to see if maybe there were some posted.  There was one female rat terrier for FREE!  Right dog, right price--yea!  So we called about her and picked her up on our way home!  Let me introduce you to Lucy, our new puppy!

The kids are loving her!  They overwhelm her sometimes!

She will be 8 weeks old next Tuesday.

I'm so glad we waited until it was warm outside!  This is what we came home to...

Thankfully, the kids are still enamored enough to go out with her.  And by Monday, when they are back in school, it will be warm again!  At least until it snows again on Wednesday!  Ugh, hurry up spring!