My Good King

I'm so excited! I read Donna 's blog and got some serious inspiration today. God's timing is so perfect. In our family devotions this week, we've been focusing on 1 Corinthians 13--specifically "love is long suffering and kind." Something we are working on around here. So perplexing to me how I can be so polite and pleasant to virtual strangers and friends, but it's so much harder with those I live with. And Donna gave an amazing example of kindness on her blog today, so I'm going to read her post for the kids tomorrow during our devotional time. Talk about a random act of kindness. Then I want to make a tally chart (for kindness and patience) and the kids and I--I know, hard to believe that I need to work on those areas-- not ! ;) We'll get to put a tally mark on it when we are patient and/0r kind to someone. It will be on the honor system. It's just a way to help us to remember during the day to work at it so that at some point it will beco

Had to share this quick little tidbit from "Teenager Land." Ashley was (proudly, I'm sure) telling one of her friends at Youth that I have a blog. And her friend gives her this really confused look, pauses for a second, and says, "What is that? Is that like a MySpace for moms?" When Ashley responded in the affirmative, her friend is like, "Eww, that's creepy!" and made a grossed-out face. Then my precious Ashley tried to get her friend to warm up to the idea by saying, "She puts pictures of me on it!" --to no avail. Her friend stated, "Well, that's still creepy." So we're creepy, ladies! Just cracks me up!

I was so touched by Teena 's post today about cousins because she expressed everything I feel about seeing my kids with their cousins. Most of their cousins are on my husband's side of the family (my sister lives in Missouri, and my brother lives outside of Washington, D.C., so they don't get to see those cousins very often at all) . And like I said in Teena's post, it warms my heart to see the close relationship my kids have with their cousins. Now, the rest of this gets weird, so I hope none of you freaks out, but, some of my kids' cousins are related on both of our sides. Before you get completely grossed out, LET ME EXPLAIN! About 14 years ago, my cousin married a Filipina. Her brother came from the Philippines to give her away because their father had passed away six months prior to the wedding (I know, very sad.) . Several years later (I'm too brain-dead to do the math) , I married that brother (my husband). So, their kids are cousins to my kids on both s

For those of you who have been sitting on the edge of your seat to discover "Part II" of the Youth Saga--I'm sure that's all of you ;) (if you're lost, see yesterday's post), Ashley's very faithful (and kind!) friend came to the rescue and let her borrow an old one that her sister used. So she got wet after all! God is good! The end!

We had to go shopping today (I say, " had to " because I am one of a few anomolies (sp?) of the female species who loathe shopping--yes, there actually are others :) Anyway, Ashley needs a swimsuit because she's going to the beach with the Youth tomorrow, and she doesn't have one (just in case you're wondering, I excel at procrastination ;) ). I told her I would take her to Wal-Mart and Target--that's all I was up for. Of course, we went to both stores and she didn't find a bathing suit she likes. BUT, my torture wasn't all in vain, as she found a dress she liked! She NEVER wears dresses, so I am so excited that she actually bought one. And, apparently she got lots of compliments on it, so maybe this will start a new "feminine" trend. Yeah! Oh, what's she going to do about a swimsuit tomorrow? Her answer: she's not going to get wet. Let's see, beach, sand, ocean waves, friends swimming. Yes, I'm sure she won't so much as d

For those of you who are wondering, we got a little off track today (had to spend an hour or so running an impromptu errand that I couldn't delay any longer--darn!), so we only did about 45 minutes of "fun" cleaning. We played the flylady version of "Freeze Dance." You put music on, and one person sweeps while the other person dusts, and when the person in charge of music pushes pause, the people doing the chore have to freeze. It was SO funny playing with Carlos. He took it very seriously. When he stopped the music, even though he could see that Ashley and I were frozen, he would come right up to our faces and take a very close look. The first time he did it, he peered intently at my face, and after a few moments, pointed his finger at me and said, "Oooh, you're breathing!" I totally lost it and just started cracking up. He took it seriously every time it was his turn. Then, just to mock him (I know, not a nice mommy), Ashley and I would

Hmmm ... how do I explain "Camp GonnaWannaFly?" I'll give you the short version. I have had clutter issues my whole life, and I have really struggled to get a handle on the clutter and disorganization. A year and a half ago, a "mentor mom" at my mom's group just happened to mention in passing about a website that helps ... flylady . I looked at the website, joined, and have had good seasons and not-so-good seasons (but that's better than before where there were no good seasons!). Since the end of April however, something clicked and I've really gotten serious about following the program. One of the things they suggest is having a week-long "camp" with your kids during the summer. During the camp you have fun activities interspersed with chores that need to be done around the house. You can make it as elaborate or simple as you want. And you make the chores as fun as possible. For example, we "decluttered" the backyard by doing a s

I'm a firm believer in that. Because I have no clue what I'm doing, I don't know how to post the credits for my layout (the one at the very bottom of this page with the yellow background paper). Here's my attempt--Wish me well :) Just click on this link to see the credits for this layout. click

Well, the Blogger "bug" has finally bitten, lol! Some of my friends have blogs (Hi Teena, Donna, and Ronalyn!) and I enjoy reading theirs, so I decided to bite the bullet and create my own. Feels good to have a space to write and it gets to be "all about me!"--Yeah! Nothing like being self-absorbed, huh?! Seriously, though, I get so much out of reading other people's blogs--so much inspiration and joy, and I feel so blessed that they share pieces of themselves with little ol' me (and the rest of the world, lol!). I just want to spread the joy as it were. I'm sure God will somehow use my blog to bless others and enrich their lives as so many have blessed mine. Gosh, what to say??? There's so much. I guess for right now, just an overview of my life. I am married and have a daughter who's twelve (going on seventeen, lol!), and a son who's six. I have to say I'm really glad for the age difference because part of what I enjoy about