Blogging Memories

Proverbs 31 Woman or Superwoman?

2012-02-01T14:37:00.001-05:00

(Let's not mention my last post, and the fact that I almost moved to Australia, ok?)

I've got good news!!! I just found this out last night. I was laying in bed reading my Bible, and came across Proverbs 31:10-31:

¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find?
   She is worth far more than rubies.
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her
   and lacks nothing of value.
¹² She brings him good, not harm,
   all the days of her life.
¹³ She selects wool and flax
   and works with eager hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
   bringing her food from afar.
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
   she provides food for her family
   and portions for her female servants.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
   out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously;
   her arms are strong for her tasks.
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable,
   and her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff
   and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor
   and extends her hands to the needy.
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
   for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for her bed;
   she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate,
   where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
   and supplies the merchants with sashes.
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
   she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
   and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
   her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
   but you surpass them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
   but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done,
   and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

I read that whole passage out loud to my husband. "So, let me get this straight...this woman of noble character whose worth is far more than rubies apparently stayed up late, serving and woke up early, serving. Her husband's needs were met in every way. He praised her, and had confidence in her. She had two business' going on. -both real estate and sewing. (note to self: learn to sew. Duct tape can only hold a hem for so long) She made a profit from her business deals. She gave to the poor. She always had the right thing to say. She was full of wisdom and kindness. She wasn't lazy or idle. She was a vigorous worker. She was the picture of health with her strong arms. She wisely instructed her children, who called her blessed. She was a gardener. She had seasonal clothes all ready to go for her family. (If anyone has an explanation as to why I just washed a bathing suit in the middle of winter, please send me an e-mail with a subject line of: "Hey Loser Mom! It's winter! Try putting the summer clothes in a tote, so your kids don't have access to them." -And, I will gladly never speak to you again.)

I continued to read that passage out loud, now with slight sarcasm in my voice, "Oh and look here! Ms. Proverbs 31 made blankets for her bed....probably made her bed every morning, too! She kept a careful eye on her household, and made sure everything was running swimmingly. She took care of herself and dressed nice. She wasn't vain, but she was no slob, either. AND!! EVERYONE IN HER FAMILY AND IN THE ENTIRE STINKEN' COMMUNITY JUST THOUGHT SHE WAS THE CAT'S MEOW!!!" I put the Bible down in my lap, and looked at my husband completely exasperated. "WHO CAN ACCOMPLISH ALL THIS?????!!!!!!!! WHO?! WHO?! WHO??!!" My chest was heaving. Beads of sweat were dripping off my forehead. Joel opened one eye and calmly said, "Where in that passage does it say that she did all of that in one 24 hour period?"

-Light bulb moment!-

My husband went on, "You're reading about her life's work."

"Oh." -I curled up, and slept like a baby last night.

I don't know why that was such an epiphany for me, but it certainly was a glorious one!! I have read several books on the "Proverbs 31 woman." I've attended ladies' Bible studies where we diligently dissected each phrase, and compared and contrasted her to today's woman. I really did want to follow this woman's example, but she seemed so unattainable. I'd wake up with new found determination to put it all into practice, and after only a few hours, I'd feel exhausted, overwhelmed and defeated. (Australia ring a bell?) All this time, I thought she accomplished planting a garden, selling property, sewing clothing and blankets, feeding the poor, being Ms. Smarty pants, "Wife of the Year" and raising her kids up to call her blessed was just, "all in a day's work" for Ms. Proverbs 31. Despite the fact that she did not do everything in a day, I still can learn much from this Bible heroine. She was obviouslymethodical in getting her work done, according to time and seasons. She invested in people...real live people, not "Farmville." Her worth was far more than the price of jewels, because of her character, not because of what she could accomplish. My favorite part of all this is that "the Proverbs 31 woman" was human, not a Superwoman.
*huge sigh* What a relief! Now I can return that Superwoman suit. (It made my legs look fat.)

PS I love him.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Days

2012-01-24T21:54:00.000-05:00

As Mikey was reading "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" book to me, I felt a connection with Alexander. Poor, poor Alexander waking up with gum in his hair, his sweater in the sink, missing out on the toy in the cereal box. I sat there listening to my boy read, but not really. My mind was plagued with a to-do list longer than the Nile River. There are piles of laundry around me, dishes precariously balancing on every inch of the counter, food rotting in the fridge, and the vacuum cleaner is sound asleep in the linen closet. (I don't even think I remember how to turn that stupid thing on.) Emma and Annie start bickering over who gets to sit in front of the fire place. They do this even in the summer. "Girls, go get dressed." They walk out, continuing to argue over who got to sit in front of the fireplace yesterday. Mary comes in the room, and tells me that she didn't sleep well at all last night, and the little girls woke her up. She's not happy. The phone is ringing. The dog is pacing the floor, making it clear that he needs to use the facilities now. "Matt, the dog needs to go out...by the way, when did we get a dog?" Annie walks in, and asks me if I know where any clean "undah-wearah" is. I point to the mountain in the corner. The phone is still ringing. The dog is still pacing. "MATT!! THE DOG!" Mikey continues to read, "I think I'll move to Australia." AUSTRALIA!! Yes, that's it, Alexander! Why hadn't I thought of that.

"Mom, my cello string is broken. I guess I can't practice." Matt yells.

"You have three left. Work around it." I yelled back.

We've replaced at least 84 strings on that cello. The last cello was crushed under our suburban, but that's a story for another day. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in that movie, "Ground hog Day" where he keeps waking up, and reliving the same thing over and over again. Surely there is some homeschooling mom out there who doesn't have it all together. I grab my phone and google, "homeschooling moms who don't have it together." I come up empty. I did find a homeschooled 7 year old working on his master's degree, and another homeschooling mamma who has a freezer full of meals for the next 12 years. This particular group of homeschoolers wear the "Homeschooling badge" proudly, and some believe that all should have one just like theirs. When you talk to them, they like to slip in little phrases like, "When we were studying quantum physics the other day...." I shamefully look down at my "homeschool badge." It's upside down, and covered in chocolate. Upon a quick glance it reads, "Bad GE homeschooling." Most days, I wear my hair in a messy bun with the same sweatshirt on. If I do decide to put makeup on, Annie asks where we're going, so I try to keep her stabilized. I don't think I've ever shared with you that when I took Emma for her first dental cleaning, the hygienist asked her how often she brushes, and she proudly announced, "When we go to church and to the library." The hygienist looked at me like, "Is she telling the truth?" I smiled and shrugged. "We're religious bookworms." The scary thing is that Emma was HAPPY with that information. She actually thought she gave the good answer for that one.

We go to have her cavity filled on Monday.

Why am I telling you all this? Because for far too long, there has been this false idea that "homeschoolers have it all together." I'm here to let tell you that the jigs up. We have cavities. We eat cereal for dinner. We have science projects growing in the refrigerator that weren't planned. We have string-less cellos, and our daughters wear their brother's underwear. Just keeping it real here, folks. I don't think it helps anyone to pretend to be something you're not. My husband gets daily phone calls from me threatening to list our children on e-bay. He's used to these phone calls, and calmly tells me that everything will be fine, and that he'll bid on all five of our children, and perhaps I should go out for a little bit of fresh air. I then tell him what a horrible wife, mother and human being I am. He says, "No, you're not." -And we're good for the next 28 days.

Mikey turned to the last page of the book, "My mom says that some days are like that...even in Australia."

Well said, Mrs. Alexander....well said.

The Treehouse

2011-11-27T10:20:00.001-05:00

One fine Fall day, every one of my children disappeared. The house was quiet. I decided that since I am their mother, and it's best to know where your children are, I should go looking. So, off I went. Rocky came along. I stepped outside, and didn't see anyone. I heard a distant thumping sound. It seemed to be coming from the apple orchard. I looked down at Rocky. "Where are the kids, buddy?" He took off running. I ran after him like Alice in Wonderland chasing the rabbit. He took me to the edge of the woods.

And there they all were...building a tree fort.

It was one of those mommy moments where my heart was filled to the brim with love. I was busting at the seams with pride to see them working together to make something special. Each one working away in their own little corner. They were so excited to see me there, and took me on the tour. "Mom! Look our tree fort!" "This is our kitchen." "Matt's working on the second floor...doesn't it look super cool?" "Mommy! Look at my swing!" I oohed and ahhed their fort, but truth be told, I was really oohing and ahhing over the fact that God gave me these five precious gifts!

Oh, how I love these faces!

Once the tree house was built, the boys decided to play a game of angry birds.

The real version......

We drew little pig faces on green balloons, and set them up in the woods.

The boys took their places in "the super cool second floor that Matt built..."

And fired away.

A little imagination, a whole bunch of laughter....all for zero dollars. -ya can't get that at Walmart. (well, I mean you could....buuuuuut it really is wrong to go there just to people watch.)

Weight loss - Life Found

2011-11-05T14:55:00.000-04:00

This is a long post. -a very long post! I've taken some time over the past few months to write little bits at a time as I remember them. I'm writing this from a very personal place in my heart because I don't want to forget this journey, and maybe it will help someone. More importantly, this road to health was much more about God teaching me some very important lessons, than "eating right and exercising." I hope that I can share my heart with you without sounding too "Jillian Michael-ish." --she bugs the tar outta me.

And without further adieu, I present the longest post ever......

A few years ago, I got to witness my sister run her first half marathon. Since then, she has gone on to run several full marathons. I remember the morning of her half marathon. I remember the nervousness I felt for her. I remember all the training she had done to prepare for this day. I remember her coming home for holidays, and getting up early so she wouldn't miss a training day. She was very determined to accomplish what she set out to do. Race day arrived. This was her day....all that she trained for condensed down to this one day. She stepped up to the start line. We were all smiling and cheering for our sister/auntie/and daughter. We were so proud of her! The crowd was full of cheering, clapping and whistling. Everyone was anticipating the sound of that gun. Krissy looked over at us, and gave a final wave. The gun fired, and she was off.

When you're standing on the sidelines, you can't help but notice the wide array of runners out there... different shapes, sizes, and ages. -yet coming together to accomplish their one goal... to finish. I'm sure each one had their own story of what brought them to this race. My husband and I love watching the Ironman that takes place in Hawaii each year. It's so inspiring to hear some of their stories. Some of them have overcome tremendous odds! My thoughts were interrupted as the first racers blew by me. I stood there in awe. Tears filled my eyes. One after another, they went racing by in wheelchairs! Where did they get the strength to do this? I felt a sense of guilt as I looked down at my legs...they worked, but were not being used to their fullest potential. I had no excuse. These wheelchair athletes were not going to allow their "handicap" to hinder them.

{handicap} A condition that markedly restricts a person's ability to function physically, mentally, or socially.

I honestly did not see these people as being "handicapped." I saw myself as the handicapped one. I was, "restricting my own ability to function physically, mentally or socially." A life of inactivity and eating junk had crippled me. The wheelchairs continued to pass by. They were determined, disciplined and strong. -Oh, how I wanted to be like that! I walked around for the rest of the day with a plastered smile on, my mind in a fog....Where would I be five or ten years from now?

My sister crossed the finish line, and I felt like I was just walking up to my "start" line.

I went home with a new determination. I was so sure that I was really going to do it this time. I had tried so many diets. I didn't want to fail again. I really wanted to change, but somehow my cravings always won out, killing my determination. I went right back to what I knew best... no discipline, and a peanut butter cup sundae with extra peanut butter sauce. Occasionally, I would think back on Krissy's race day with wishful thoughts. I really did want to run a half marathon. Why couldn't I get that will power?

One day as I was out grocery shopping, grabbing all my favorite treats, and throwing in junk food after junk food, I noticed the contents of my carriage. -chips, doughnuts, cookies, ice cream, brownie mix, sugar cereals, hot dogs, white bread...We were going to eat all this in one week!! I was repulsed. "What am I doing to my family?" I am responsible for their health. I'm the one who shops and cooks the food. "My" choices were not just affecting me anymore. If I wanted to do that to myself, that was one thing, but to make those choices for my growing children...that was another thing! I wasn't the only one affected with weight gain. My husband was as well, and it affected his work greatly. MY grocery shopping, MY example of unhealthy living, MY cooking was also destroying quality of life for MY family.

Life was about to change!

When I got home, I immediately went downstairs where our Nordic track was kept prisoner. I removed all of the clothes that were drying, blew the dust off and reclaimed my machine. I got on it, and began moving my arms and legs. Beads of sweat were pouring off of me. I was out of breath. I was sore. I stared straight ahead. Yeah, man, I was in my "zone." I did not allow myself to look down at the timer. I wanted to go as long as I possibly could without time limiting me. Agonizing second after agonizing second passed by. My body was screaming at me to get off. I persevered. I wasn't going to give in. In fact, I cranked it out hard for those last few seconds. WHEW! I must have been on there for at least 20 minutes. I looked down at the timer..."WHAT? IS THIS THING BROKEN?? TWO MINUTES!!?" I could only handle two minutes! I burst into tears. My husband came home just as I was dragging my exhausted body up the stairs. I poured my heart out to him. "I coudn't even last two minutes! I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, " I sobbed. Joel, my darling husband, the love of my life, my best friend, always my encourager, just hugged me. In his gentle voice, he told me how beautiful I was, and no matter what size I was, he would love me. "I can't stand seeing you sad about your weight. I hate seeing you cry about it. I promise that I'll help you." As heavy as I was, he still made me feel beautiful, but he also knew my heart was breaking under my weight....literally! I signed up for a gym membership. I remember how embarrassed I felt the first time I entered Gold's Gym. Quite frankly, I felt like Han Solo in that bar room scene on Star Wars. -I felt like everyone was looking at me, like I didn't belong. After about a month, I made friends with Fran, the 80 year old woman who always had the third eliptical machine from the right. Get it right. It's the third, not the second! -I learned quickly, that was Fran's machine! If I missed a day, she would ask where I was. My nosey little buddy kept me honest about my commitment to the gym. I met another woman one day, who shared her "weight story with me." She had gastric bypass surgery, but gained it all back. She was back to square one, trying to lose her weight the right way this time. I'll never forget her pointing to her head saying, "The surgery couldn't fix this." Weight loss begins in the head. (Karate Kid really did know what he was talking about, "Nah, it's not here" -points to his scrawny, little bicep- "It's here"-points to his head.)

Eventually those sad little two minutes on the Nordic Track became 15 minutes on the treadmill, then 20 minutes, and before I knew it, I was outside jogging a mile, and then two. I continued to add a little more on each week. I searched blogs that promoted a healthy lifestyle. I started looking for new substitutes for healthier cooking. I joined Weight Watchers for a few months. Little by little, the weight started to come off.

So far, I've lost 47 pounds.

And my husband has lost 50!!

He kept his promise! He was there for me. He encouraged me. He ran with me. He wouldn't let me cheat, even when I got mad at him and DEMANDED he bring me home chocolate.

Last year, my sister got to come home for Thanksgiving. Joel, Krissy and I thought it would be fun to wake up on Thanksgiving morning and go running. We live among the hills, so it was a pretty difficult 8 mile run. Krissy turned to me and said, "You know you could run a half marathon, right now, don't you?" Huffing along side of her, I rolled my eyes and sarcastically said, "Yeah right." She looked at me, and with all authority that my phlegmatic sister could muster, she said, "Beck!! You. Can. Run. A. Half. Marathon!!!!!" Although I was a few sizes smaller, the self doubt was still there. "Ok, here's the deal," Krissy said, "All three of us are going to register for a race. I'll fly home, and we're going to run a half marathon in the Spring." The deal was sealed with sweaty high-fives.

And now, the real training began.

My schedule was very busy! I would homeschool from 9:00-3:00 and by 3:30, my sneakers were on, and I was running out the door. -leaving behind piles of papers, dishes and laundry. At first, I had such a guilty feeling, leaving all that mess. However, the guilty feeling subsided when I found that I was actually much more productive after a run, and seemed to get twice as much work done. My exercise time became very precious to me. It was an important part of my day that I looked forward to. I would put my headphones on, listen to Christian music, or messages, pray, and plan. I felt stronger physically and spiritually each time I returned home.

Many of my runs were with Joel. He is much faster than me, but we made a great pair on his "slow days" and my "long and hard days." I remember struggling one day as Joel was running along next to me. There was so much self doubt floating around my brain! I doubted the speed, the distance, the hills, my strength. I doubted that he wanted to even run next to me, because quite frankly.....I couldn't stand myself at the moment. I was a ball of anxiety and insecurity! He never stopped encouraging me, "You can do it!" My legs were like jello. "I can't today." I was so mad at myself, because just the day before I had gone twice as far. I kept saying, "I can't." He kept saying, "You can!" I was gasping for air. "Babe!" I whined, "I just can't! I've got nothing in me right now!" Finally, I stopped and started to walk with my tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt like a failure. He hugged me. "Look how far you've come!! Remember those 2 minutes of exercise when you first started? Every day is not going to be your 'best day.' You've got to work through these hard times, because you're going to have them on race day...just keep running. But don't worry, I'll be there next to you."

I love this man! He was willing to sacrifice his own race time in order to help me achieve my best, but deep down, I knew that I was going to have to do this race myself.

"You don't need to run next to me. I want you to run your own pace on race day." It stung as I said it out loud.

"No, I am going to run next to you. Beck, you need me. I see how you struggle, and I can help you."

"You do help me, and I will forever need you, but I feel like I'm at a point now where I need to become a stronger runner. I can't always rely on you to get me through the hard times during my running. I really want you to run your personal best on race day. Krissy will run hers, and I'll run mine. Then we can all celebrate at the finish line."

"Alright," he agreed.

We were about three miles from home. I had an idea, "Let's not wait until the race for you to take off ahead of me. It will play on my already weakened emotions. So, do it right now. Go ahead and run your pace. We're not far from home anyways."

He refused.

"Really. I'm serious. I think it will help me become a stronger runner. Go ahead."

"Alright, if you think it will help you, than next run, I will."

"No, I need you to do it right now....please!" I begged.

We ran for a bit in silence.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Ok."

And with that, he gave me the "football pat" on the bum, and was off. I tried to keep up. I couldn't. I tried to keep him in sight. Impossible. It didn't take long before he was completely out of sight. It was just me, the pounding of my sneakers, and as always...God. I am never alone. Sometimes I rely more on my husband than on God. If I have a problem, I'm more apt to share it with my husband and rely on him to fix it, than to pray and leave it with God to fix. In a small way, running would help me see my need to change this. What I didn't know at the time was that particular training run was going to be the beginning of a much bigger picture that only God knew.

Because we wanted to focus more on our pace, the majority of our training would be done separately. Sometimes I would be running up the hill toward home, as he was coming down. We high-fived and gave encouragement. We both downloaded a running app to our iphones. It had a GPS so we could see where each other was. It was fun to track that little green dot on my phone, and when I knew he was faced with a hill, I would quietly pray for him. He did the same for me. Many days, Joel would call to tell me that he was on his way home from work, and I would say, "Ok, I'm running toward you. Be looking for me out there." It was fun to "race" him. I loved seeing his truck heading toward me. He pulled off to the side of the road. I climbed in where he had a water bottle, power bar and kiss waiting.

A few months before our big race, Krissy called with some bad news. She had a stress fracture in her foot. The race was off for her...doctor's orders. I was sad for her and sad for me. "Listen!" she said, "I AM flying home for you guys. I will not miss this for anything!!"

Finally! After months of training, and years of dreaming, our race day came. I picked up my sister from the airport the day before. We anxiously talked about the race. She gave me great advice for proper nutrition and tips for the half marathon. She encouraged me to stop at all the water stations along the race. It was suppose to be record high heat! In fact, race day was suppose to be so hot that we received an e-mail from the Memorial Day Half Marathon giving us options to back out, and run next year instead. Or they suggested that we pick a race with less mileage. Joel said, "If you want out, now's the time. You could do a 10K if you wanted to." I was bummed. We had trained for the full half marathon. "I don't want to back out. Who cares if it's hot. We've run through hot weather before." I decided that I was still running the half. Joel did, too. We laid our running clothes out, and set our alarms for 4:00 am. I tossed and turned in bed all night. Doubtful thoughts were keeping me awake. "Did I train enough? Would it be a good run day? Was it going to be too hot? Should I go for the 10K? Those hills are huge! Will my legs cramp up? Am I even going to get enough sleep to get through it?" The next morning, my running buddy and ever encouraging husband woke up....SICKER THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN HIM. He could barely walk to the kitchen for breakfast. He was sitting at the table trying to eat breakfast, and heaving for breath. He looked at me with sad eyes and said, "I just can't run today." Now, it was just me. "I know, honey, but I think God has prepared me for this." It was time to leave. I don't even think I was this nervous about giving birth! When we arrived, we were instructed to get our packet and go line up. I honestly thought I might throw up or just give up.......or perhaps both! My sister helped calm my nerves, and pin my number on. My shaky hands couldn't do it.

It was time to step up to the start line. This was it! All that I had trained for was about to be put to the test. My mind was in complete panic mode. I walked over to my sweetheart, encourager and running buddy to say "Goodbye." I felt like I could burst into tears. He hugged me tight. "You're gonna do great!" he smiled.

The music began playing, "Sweet Home Alabama." People were jogging in place, high fiving and cheering. My sister decided to run the first few miles with me to help keep me on pace. "Don't start off too fast or you won't have anything at the end," she advised. She saw the anxiety on my face. "Don't be nervous! This is fun!" The alarm sounded, and my half marathon had officially begun! I waved to my husband and sweet little fans, as we ran by. "See you at the finish line," he smiled. I knew he was praying for me.

It was a little congested at the beginning of the race as everyone was finding their pace. Krissy ran along next to me. Before I knew it, we were at mile 2. "Alright," She said, "I'm heading back now. You got this! I'll see you at the end." And with that, she broke off from the pack, and ran back. I put my earphones in. All was well. She was right. I was having fun. The first five miles were easy. I was enjoying the scenery. My music was uplifting. I was happy. "I'm doing it." I thought. "I am running a half marathon!"

Everything was going smoothly for the first 6 miles. Shortly after mile 6, I started getting hot...very hot. The water stations couldn't come soon enough. By mile 9, the battle of my mind had begun, "I can't do it. I'm so tired. I can't, I can't....I'm not going to finish." I was looking around every corner for family. Even though Joel said, "See you at the finish line," I was secretly hoping that they were going to surprise me, and show up somewhere out there on the course. I knew he was sick and had two munchkins in tow, but who knows...maybe, juuuuust maybe, he would show up?? I needed someone to be there. At mile 10, I really began questioning whether or not I would be able to finish. My legs had slowed to a walk. "Please Lord, " I prayed, as my eyes were scanning for a familiar face, "I need someone to help me. I can't do this on my own." My eyes welled up with tears. I felt myself giving up. I was so out of breath. I was so thirsty, so hot, so hungry and so tired. I remembered that run with Joel when he told me that I was going to hit a hard spot in the half marathon, and to just keep going. This was no longer about my legs not making it the 13.1 miles. It was about my mind!

I thought back 47 pounds ago to the "old Becky." The one who only dreamed about races, but thought she could never do one.

Phillipeans 4:13

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

I was heaving for air. "Lord," I prayed, "You breathed life into all of mankind with one breath into Adam. Just give me a little breath....Please, Lord, breath life in me right now!" I was absolutely exhausted. I had been running for almost 2 hours. At mile 11, I came around a corner and saw a huge hill. "Breathe....breathe." It was all I could whisper. I kept my eyes down and stared straight ahead. Runners that I had passed were now passing me. I was definitely slowing down. I looked up to see when my next water station was coming, and SUDDENLY, my heart jumped! It was if the entire sky opened up, and I heard the "Hallelujah chorus." I saw a familiar silhouette! There, at the top of the hill, with her arms raised up to the sky was the answer to my prayer....MY SISTER! She was running toward me with a huge grin on her face. I was swallowing hard, trying to fight back the sob that was about to explode from the depths of my heart. When she got to me, she gave me a huge hug....

"How are you doing?"

"Not good." I said.

"Ok, well I've just come from the finish line. You have one more big hill, so save some energy for that one."

"I have none." She handed me a squished, little peanut butter sandwich that she had run 2 miles with.

I inhaled it.

"You've got one more water station at mile 12, and then it's HOME FREE, Baby!"

It felt so good to have someone next to me, telling me what was up ahead. I was sick of the surprise hills. We continued running, side by side. She was cracking jokes, trying to get my mind off the pain. I felt a smile s-l-o-w-l-y emerge for the first time like I was the Christmas Grinch. We passed the sign that said mile 12. "Come on, Beck," she cheered, "One mile! You can do this for just one more mile. Let's try to go a little faster." That little sandwich fueled me. My legs were gaining strength. My wimpy mind getting stronger. And then, I saw it....mile 13! I have never been so happy to see the number 13 in all my life!! "This is it!" she said, her words filling up my once empty tank. "Thank you so much, Krissy! I couldn't have done it without you." As we rounded the last bend, she turned toward me, and offered her last words of encouragement,

"You're about to become a half marathoner! Look! It's right up there. See the finish line?"

"Yes," I whispered.

"Joel's waiting for you. You did it, Beck! You did it!!" She slipped off like an angel, and disappeared into the crowd on the sidelines to cheer for me as I crossed the finish line. I saw the huge banner with those beautiful letters that spelled, "FINISH." There was my husband under the banner, just as my sister said. He was smiling from ear to ear. My babies on either side of him. "Here comes Mommy!" he proudly announced to the kids. I ran under that banner and right into his arms. "Good job, BABY!" his voiced cracked. He held me tight, as I was gasping for air, "I'm so proud of you...so very proud of you!" I heard my name over the loud speaker,

"I wanna congratulate Rebecca Browning -Congratulations on finishing your half marathon."

Me...a half marathoner. It was no longer a dream. It was stamped with "finished." I looked down at my smiling children who had their arms wrapped around me as well, "Good job, Mommy." They had no idea that this was much more than their mamma wanting to run a long, boring race. This was much more than me wanting to lose weight, and fit into smaller clothes. This was about getting my life back under control. God used this race to drive the truth home of his word.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Verses like that penetrate my heart a little deeper now. I feel like I understand the word, "endure" a little better.

"Endurance can only take place when there is the presence of something difficult."

Resistance creates strength. I refer back to those difficult training runs a lot more than the victorious ones. My mind daily tells me to give up when life presents its challenges. Homeschooling is hard. Raising children is hard. Keeping a home in order is hard, but sitting around "on the sidelines," wishing for the hard things to get done, doesn't get them done. My son gave me this piece of advice the other day, "Mom, did you know that when Thomas Edison was questioned on all his failed attempts at the lightbulb, he said, 'I didn't fail 3,000 times. I just found 3,000 ways not to make a lightbulb." He never gave up. Maybe at some point, he wanted to, but he never did. Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, faced much opposition in trying to open his printing shop. Eventually, he went bankrupt, but along came a man who believed in him and financed his way. Johann Gutenberg gets the credit for the invention, but his wealthy friend made quite the assist! When I had absolutely nothing left in that race, my sister showed up with some encouragement and nourishment. -That's how we ought to be when we see those struggling with hardships. We all need it. Krissy had been through several marathons. She knew what I was feeling. She could relate. She was in a place where she could give me advice. If God has brought you through something difficult, use it to help others.

Proverbs 12: 25

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,

but a good word makes him glad.

We are all in a race, whether you registered for one or not. If you're on the sidelines saying, "Woe is me. I could never do that," -Get in the race! Start running. If you are going through something difficult, -Keep running. Don't ever, ever give up! And Pray! Maybe you've already gone through a painful hardship, and you've crossed that finish line. - Don't forget to run back and offer your help to others.

My half marathon is finished, but as long as I'm here on earth, I'll keep running this race for the Lord.

Isaiah 40:31 - But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

The Great Conqueror

2011-11-02T14:21:00.005-04:00

The kids have this thing with arm wrestling lately. It's important for them to align themselves according to muscle strength. Lest you think, "Alexander, The Great" holds the title for greatest conqueror, you are wrong. It is my husband. I know it. The kids know it, and now you know it. When one beats Daddy, he (or she) becomes: "Ruler"..."King of the Home"..."Biggest Scariest Kid on the Block" and "One to be Respected by All." History books will be rewritten in your honor.

Because the title, "Great Conqueror" is at stake, we have weekly matches. Someone is always challenging Daddy, which then causes people to buy tickets and get in line. (Really, it's a great way to make money.)

First up is Emma. We let her cheat.

It doesn't help, but it sure is fun to watch.

Next up is Mikey. He grunted, pushed and pulled. He used every muscle in his arm (and face) that he could muster.

Careful! don't pop a blood vessel there, buddy.

Now Matt is our longest running contestant. He has been trying to beat his dad for years. It drives him crazy when he looks up, and sees that Joel isn't even trying, yet. With beads of sweat dripping off his temples, he said breathlessly, "Ok Dad.....seriously...try this time!"

And with that, "BOOM!" He's down. He's out. He's got tweety birds flying in circles around in his head. Game over.

One day, Matt....you'll beat him....one day! I will be standing next to you with poms-poms in my hands, provided I'm not in the nursing home.

One more Mikey pic

2011-11-01T10:00:00.003-04:00

Look at this squishy baby! Look at those chubby toes. Smell him. I just know if this was a scratch and sniff picture, it would smell like baby powder.

Mikey's 10! (and I can't handle it)

2011-10-26T16:46:00.000-04:00

One decade ago today, this sweet, little baby was added to the family.

As I look at this picture, there are several things to note.
1. Mary genuinely believes that she just delivered this baby, and is now the proud, new mommy.

2. Matt is absolutely convinced that no box of legos could ever surpass this gift that had just been handed to him. (well, unless it was the entire Galactic Empire Star Wars set)

Mikey is ten years old today! Just typing that last sentence makes me want to drop to the floor in a heap of tears and scream, "Give me my baby back!" That went by way too fast! These boyhood years will turn into teen years, then college years and then....(uuuut! I'm gonna do it....I'm gonna drop to the floor in a heap of tears again!) Too much of my mothering has been spent wishing things away:

"I wish he could reach out and grab that rattle"
"I wish he could crawl."
"I wish he would walk."
"I wish he could tie his own shoes."
"I wish he could climb in the car seat and buckle himself."
"I wish he could put his snow clothes on."
"I wish he would match his clothes."

Right now, I am wishing that I could crawl inside that black and white picture and hold that baby!

This is my "baby" now......

In a few years, I'll be wishing to play soccer with this ~~little boy~~...big boy. I refuse to wish away anything else! I've wished for far too much already, and have gotten it.

And besides, if you try to steal from the past, and make it today.......

It's just weird....and not near as cute.

Tonight, we will celebrate by taking our big 10 year old to the restaurant of his choice. "So, Mikey...What's it going to be? Mexican? Chinese? Italian? Olive Garden has the best food, ya know! And totally awesome breadsticks!" (fingers crossed.)

"Wendy's." he said matter of factly.

"Wendy's? As in the place that sells french fries and frostys?"

"YEAH! That place is awesome! Grammy took me there once."

So, Wendy's it is. (Thanks, Mom -Why couldn't you have taken him to Olive Garden?)

Look what this big boy is doing now!

Joel did have to assist with pushing the chair down on the lawnmower. Apparently, it has a weight limit, and our soccer player has not met the "weight requirements" that alerts the lawnmower's computer brain that there is indeed a man operating it. Because of this, the lawnmower kept shutting off. (That's an extra large Frosty for you tonight, Mike! --make that two!)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mikey Aaaaaa-dores his cousin, Josh, with a capital A! Josh is 18 and college bound. (ut! tissues please....tissues!) I call Josh "Six Flags on legs" because the kids LOVE him, and he's a blast to be around! --See what I mean?

Mikey had one request for his birthday (that he put in about mid-Julyish) "Could Josh sleep over for my birthday?" Knowing that this was Josh's senior year, and all the busyness he had going on with soccer games and his social life, I just answered with, "We'll see." As Trish and I were chatting on the phone one day, I told her about my conversation with Mikey. "Oh he'd love to, Beck! We'll make it happen."

So, this past weekend, Mikey's birthday dream came true....

Josh + a box of legos + the Wii game, "Just Dance" +

"Jackie Chan, The Kung-Fu Master" + junkfood =

The Best Birthday this 10 year old kid could ever dream of!

Mikey,

As quickly as the sun tucks behind that mountain each night, I feel like you are turning into a young man. I am enjoying every minute being your mom. You brought a new love into our family the day you were born. I will never forget Matt and Mary plowing into that hospital room, all out of breath, and out of their mind with excitement to see you! Mary "mothered," while Matt "protected" you. It was a beautiful thing to watch! (still is) There were many times that we would stand outside your bedroom door, and listen to Matt talk to you. He would bring you toys, as you stood hanging onto your crib for dear life. Your giggles from the swing in the corner of our little dining room would make us all stop what we were doing, and immediately run to you and try our "stand up comedy." We just loved hearing you laugh. The most hysterical giggles came when Matt or Mary would pop up and scare you.

At this moment, you and Matt are building a tree fort together...memories still being made. Although scaring you is not so funny to you any more, the never ending bond between you and your siblings is still obviously there. Now, we get to see you play the role of "big protective brother." I love the way you care about your sisters. I love the way you look up to your brother and daddy. I love the sweet tenderness of your heart to give anything you have away... even if it's your last piece of candy. I will never forget the first time you shared a verse with all of us that you read, and with your bottom lip quivering, you told us that you were sorry for losing your temper that morning. These are the moments that I have sealed forever in my mind. We are blessed to call you, "our son." And today, I am thanking God once again for allowing us to be your parents!

I look forward to watching you grow up...but please! don't do it so quickly! You've already learned to crawl, walk, talk, get in and out of the car, as well as put your snowsuit on...You can even mow the lawn! The next 10 years, you will be driving, getting a job, staying up late talking to daddy about life, going to college and perhaps finding the girl of your dreams? The only thing that I ~~wish for~~ pray for, is that you will grow up loving God with all your heart, soul and mind.

Words could never express how much we all love you! You are the joy and laughter of our family!

Happy Birthday, precious boy!

We love you!

An Advertisement for Homeschooling

2011-09-24T10:32:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling is well on it's way.

Annie is in first grade now. She is pondering the deep questions of life.

For instance, the other night, she approached me with:
"Mom, where does poop come fwum?" I looked at my husband who was grinning from ear to ear. He couldn't wait to hear how I was going to explain this one.

"Well, Annie...ummm, that's a great question... basically, it's leftover food that your body doesn't need."

"Why?"

"Because your body doesn't use everything you put into it."

"Why does it stink?"

"Probably because it's been through your digestive system."

"Oh."

"Any other questions?"

"Yeah. Where does tinkle come fwum?"

(Does anyone have a book of gross topics that I could borrow?)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was thrilled to find this big bulletin board in the clearance section at Michaels. I grabbed it,and brought it home. I asked my honey to paint the border black so it wouldn't look so "bulletin-boardish" -Is that an adjective? It is today.

TA-DA!

It's a great spot to showcase good grades, as well as post daily schedules, jobs, music information, verses and reading charts.

And speaking of reading....I was alarmed the other day when Annie frantically called me from the other room.

"Mom!! There's a bad 'pictchor' in my reading book!"

"Oh no, honey. What do you mean? I don't think there are any bad pictures in your reading book."

-The look on her face would cause any Army sergeant to shake in his boots-

"It's a 'VER-WEEEE' bad 'pictchor'!!" (emphasis on the "WEEEEE" as you read that)

"Do I have to read this?"

"Yes."

"Mommeeeeeee."

"Let me see it."

I'll be honest. I giggled like a 4th grader. I don't know what's more comical:

1. The fact that he's trying to dry off with a hand towel

Or

2. That he's wearing blush

By the way, I did make her read the book. -Enough of this sheltering business!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

When Rocky first came to live with us, he had a hard time accepting the fact that the kids were not always available to play with him the second he wanted.

Homeschooling has brought a little order to Rocky's life. He now waits patiently for Matt to finish his work.

And when Matt is done, Rocky goes with him.

Matt and Mary had a rather interesting experiment during their English class. The lesson was on "How to Write a Good Paragraph." A good paragraph needs to have a great topic sentence and concluding sentence. Some people tend to squeeze way too much information in between those two sentences.

Let's use an oreo cookie to help explain this a little further:

This is a perfectly balanced treat. It has a great chocolaty "topic" sentence, a lovely middle and an equally as great "concluding" bottom.

Could there ever be too much filling in the middle?

Let's find out.....

a 30 stuffed oreo!

The answer is yes, you can have too much in the middle.

In conclusion: I once heard that emotion and weird humor help people retain what they learn. You can ask Matt when he's 47 if he remembers this little experiment, because that's about how long it will take for his bellyache to subside.

Cucumbers...oh the cucumbers!

2011-09-17T15:00:00.000-04:00

We planted a garden for the first time this summer. We weren't sure how the garden would do with our soil. Joel's grandfather rents his land to farmers. Grandpa pretty much has the best soil on the face of the planet. So, Joel hauled some of that beautiful, mineral rich filth over here, and threw it down. Mikey was there to help.

Because we're newbie farmers, we opted to plant less, and just see what we get.

Our soil did not fail us!!! The tomatoes did great - as well as the the green and red peppers. And then, there were the cucumbers....oh the cucumbers!!!!!

The cucumbers did well....

VERY WELL......

CRAZY WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like, "I never want to see another cucumber as long as I live" well.

I've made pickles...lots and lots of pickles. I've put cucumbers in smoothies, soups, lasagna and sandwiches. I've put cucumbers on my puffy eyes, legs, arms and rear. -I mean, I don't know.....why not, right?

I've tried just about every salad on the internet that has the word "cucumber" in it. No one is allowed in this house, unless they walk out with a cucumber...make that 5 cucumbers! As a joke for Dad's birthday, I had each one of the kids take a cucumber and decorate it. Then, they delivered his basket of bountiful blessings.

I once loved cucumbers. And now quite honestly, I never want to see another one again.

Don't let that tear fool you. They're evil!

The Enchanted Woods

2011-09-13T15:27:00.000-04:00

Two days ago, Grampy took the little ones for a walk. They returned, wide-eyed and out of breath, as they burst through the door. "MOM! We found a waterfall!!" They told everyone around the dinner table about their "secret hideout." I guess that negates the "secret" part.

The following day, they begged me to take them to their "not so secret any more" hideout. I looked around the room at the piles of laundry begging to be folded, the dishes pleading to be washed, the paper work waiting to be filed, the furniture choking on dust and my stinky armpits screaming for a shower. I had much to do. I told them to wait. The sun was moving across the sky, reminding me that there were only a few short hours left of daylight. I sighed in exhaustion. I will always have "so much to do," but my children need to know that they are at the top of that list! I dropped the laundry in the hallway, told the dishes and paper work to wait and slathered on extra deodorant. I called the ~~little girls~~ (sidenote: they informed Joel and I that they do not like being called "little girls" any more.)

So, I called the "old ladies" and asked them to take me to their secret hide away. They were more than willing! On the way down the driveway, we grabbed a friend who knew the way.... :)

We walked for about 5 minutes, and suddenly we were there! I was shocked that I drove past this little area every day and never noticed it. This was no secret hideout. It was an enchanted forest!

A place where little girls could dream and pretend to be whatever they wanted.

The excitement was spilling from their eyes, ears and mouth. They couldn't wait to walk in the water!

As the girls took off hand in hand, I sat in awe of our Creator. I tried to take it all in. I want to remember this moment. I want the images burned in my mind. I try to engage all of my senses. The sun was streaming in between massive trees, creating pockets of happiness along the water. The girls were wading around the water holding hands. Shades of green and brown were encircling me. I listened to the beauty of the birds singing mixed with mini water falls and giggles. When I'm 80, I hope I'll remember this day.

Ann Voskamp writes about the danger of being rushed in her book, "One Thousand Gifts." It really opened my eyes to how I was living. We live in a fast-paced world, demanded by clocks and to do lists. We are in a constant hurry to get to the next thing. Sadly, in our hurrying, we miss beautiful things.

In hurrying, we don't stop and take time to smile at faces around us because we're too busy grumbling about how long a line is or why a car is going so slow in front of us. In hurrying, we fail to say "thank you" to our great God.

Look around you. What do you see? Laundry? Messes? To do lists? Mud all over your daughter's jean shorts?

Look harder.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting." -Psalm 118:29

I guess I created a little extra laundry for myself that day.....but you know what?

There will always be "to do lists." There won't always be little ones begging to take you to their "secret" fort.

Rain, rain, go away

2011-07-25T16:16:00.012-04:00

I love summer! I love all the outdoor activities we can do in the sun. I love the warmth. I love the sun's rays streaming through the trees. When I was a little girl, every picture that I drew of our house had a great, big smiling sun above it. The sun just plain 'ole makes me happy.

So, when it rains, I'm bummed, and when it rains ALLLLLLLL day long, I'm reeeeeeeeeally bummed. And, if it rains for several days, forget about it....I turn into Eeyore.

Oh I know the grass, flowers and trees need the rain to grow...blah, blah, blah..... but I don't like rain. I don't like the sound of rain. I don't like the muddy puddles, and I really DON'T LIKE the "kooked-up" feeling of not being able to go outside. As I stood looking out my bedroom window at the gray fog, and depressing droplets, wishing I could be outside, a knock came at my door,

"Mom, can we put our bathing suits on, and go run in the rain?"

Interesting how they always end up teaching me....

We need rain. Rain promotes growth. There are rainy days in life, and there is nothing you can do about that...Rain comes. Sometimes it downright pours, and the thunder and lighting crashes all around you. There's nothing you can do to stop it. But you can do something about the way you react to it. -You can become Eeyore, and cry, "Woe is me. Poor me. Why does this always happen to me?" or you can say, "I need rainy days to grow." The wonderful news is that you are never alone..."For He hath said, I will never ever leave you or forsake you." -Hebrews 13:5

I read this in a book called, "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. (thank you Shanda! I love this book!)

"Above the clouds, there is always light."

Go run in the rain. (just make sure it's not lightning out, please.)

Listen to the words of this song
It gave me a new outlook on rain.

Mary is in LOVE!

2011-05-06T18:05:00.014-04:00

Mary is absolutely IN LOVE with horses. She even asked me when she could "muck out a horse stall." -now that's love! (or maybe a little psychotic) I mean good grief! I love my babies, but not once did I ever look into that sweet, little, round baby face and say, "Sweetie, when are you going to do a big 'dookie' so I can change you?"

When she first started talking about horses, I thought it was just a phase that would go away.

A wise, seasoned mother told me. "Girls go through these stages. First, they love horses, and then....it will be boys."

We immediately signed her up for lessons. She'll be riding until she's 50.

XOXO Hugs and Kisses XOXO

2011-03-08T20:18:00.012-05:00

So what if it's March and I'm just now posting Valentine's Day pics. So what if I have no time to brush my teeth, let alone post a thing on my blog these days. And so what if the Patriots didn't make it to the Super Bowl. -wow! that was freeing.

I love Valentine's Day! What's not to love about it? -"The cold," you may say....

.....yes, but look at that face out there in the cold.

I can't say that I've always loved Valentine's Day. As a kid, I ran into the same dilemma year after year. It was mandatory in our school that if you handed out Valentine cards, you had to give one to EVERYONE in the class....which, of course, meant the stinky, yucky boys. I remember feverishly looking through all my Valentine cards just to find the perfect, "I don't like you, but I'm forced to give you this" type of a card. (Usually, you could find a super generic card in every box like a picture of a stupid teddy bear that said, "Have a Beary special day.") The worst thing in the world that ever happened to me, was when I addressed all my Valentine's except the one for the stinky, yucky boy. I passed him by, and decided to wait until the end. -a mistake that I would never make again. The only Valentine left in my box said, "Valentine, you're pretty special. NO! You're WONDERFUL! No wait, forget special and wonderful, you're the best thing that's ever walked into school!! Did I ever tell you that you're THE HOTTEST guy in class?! -Marry me." Ok, well, maybe it didn't say those exact words, but it might as well had!!!! I mean GOOD GRIEF! it was a picture of a great big sun wearing heart sunglasses, and it said, "You brighten my day." My life was over. Surely I would have been the talk of the town during 4-square at recess!

-Reason number 203 why I love homeschooling, "No mandatory Valentines for the stinky boys."

We celebrate Valentine's Day with a special "Love Dinner." Because we have so many people in our family, (and writing each one a Valentine could cause serious writer's cramp,) we decided to have each member of the family pick a name. We all wrote special letters to "our secret Valentine." After dinner, we opened goodie bags, and took turns reading our letters.

Hey, see that balloon? You don't? It's right above the table. - While poking around Walmart for Valentine goodies, I found that large helium-filled balloon of passion. I decided that since this balloon was so huge, so full of passion and so fabulous, it would look perfect tied to Joel's truck. I purchased it and off I drove to Joel's work. I snuck in. I tied it to the truck. I snuck out. At the end of the day, I got a phone call from him. I could hear the grin in his voice. "Thank you for the balloon," he said. "Balloon? What balloon?" -It's a little game called, "playing dumb" that I like to play from time to time. ( I'm totally aware of it when I'm playing, so no need to correct me, please.) We recycled the balloon to the table when he got home.
Best $3.99 I ever spent!

PS I ripped a piece of paper out of my notebook, folded it in half, and wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" for the stinky boy. -There. I said it.

Our February Babies

2011-02-14T21:27:00.019-05:00

Here they are, the February 11th babies....

And now, I have some breaking news to share......I have a teenager!!!

**someone get the smelling sauce! She's going down!**

Yes, indeed, our Matt is 13. How does one celebrate their 13th birthday, you may ask? Well for our young pilot, it looks like this....

Nothing could be sweeter than turning 13 in the clouds!

I don't know where God will lead him, but judging by the passion He has given our son, it will have something to do with planes.

Matt,
You can never fully know the love that is in my heart. When Daddy and I walked out of the hospital with you, we kept saying, "I can't believe they're going to let us take him home! I can't believe we're leaving here with this baby!!" We took 35 minutes buckling your car seat into the car, making sure that everything was secure. Daddy drove 7 mph out of the hospital parking lot. It was only a 5 minute trip, but I sat in the back with you, just in case you cried. When we got home, we carried you up to your new nursery and laid you into the crib that we had meticulously made. Every onesie, pajamas, and blankie were washed with Dreft, folded and waiting in your drawers. As a young mother, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know the first thing about raising a boy. I didn't know how to pull your tiny baby arm through your shirt without thinking it was going to break. I cried when you cried. Nothing made me happier than hearing a great big burp come out of your tiny body. (some things have changed) Many nights, Daddy and I stood over your little crib, staring in awe and repeating, "I can't believe he's ours." Sometimes, we still do that. Matt, you are even more wonderful and special to us than the day we brought you home! We still can't believe God gave you to us. We love you!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annie is 6. I can't handle the fact that she now has to use both hands to show me her age.

I can't stand it that each morning she wakes up, she looks an inch taller.

SEE? Look at her!! Look at her!!! She looks longer, doesn't she?

That's it, Annie! Not one more inch! Ya hear me? I don't want you growing another inch!

Don't laugh at me. I mean it!

Annie,
No wonder God surprised us with you....He knew we needed another little girl to keep this house sweet. When we brought you home from the hospital, the picture was a little bit different than it was with Matt. You were immediately swarmed with little people wanting to hold you. We all took turns passing you around. I don't think your feet ever touched the ground the first year of your life. Every single toy was brought to you upon the tiniest wimper. Every morning, there were fights over who was going to get you out of your crib. 6 years later, you are still swarmed with people who want to be close to you. You know why? You are loved! You are loved IMMENSELY! After Matt was born, I never understood how a mommy could love another baby, let alone five! And then, I found out that you grow another heart each time you have a baby! Annie, I love your giggles. I love your sparkly eyes. I love the way you talk. I love it when you say something funny, even though you don't mean to. I love the way you immediately crawl into my lap after supper each night because you're starting to get tired. I love the pictures you draw of our house, always with flowers and rainbows. You are a treasure from God! We love you!!!

Thank you, Lord! I love surprises.

Deep Thoughts by Annie and Emma

2011-01-18T21:54:00.004-05:00

Emma and Annie came walking into the room, dressed like this....

I said, "Oh, are you girls pretending to be shepherds?"
"No." Annie said, "We're Nuns."

(too much "Sound of Music" does this)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Conversation has been interesting with these two lately. Tonight, for instance, Joel was talking to the kids about God's love and he said, "He loves you so much that he sent His son, Jesus to die on the cross."
Emma, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought Mary was the mother of Jesus."
Joel, "She is."
Emma, "Mary got married to God?"
Joel, "No, Mary wasn't married to God, but God is the Father of Jesus."
Emma, "Well, who married Mary?"
The entire room...."Joseph."
Emma, "But I thought you just said that God was the father of Jesus."

I thought I'd try my hand at explaining, "God is the Father. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary. So, that's how the baby was put in her belly."

Emma, "So, there was no Dad?"

At this point, Annie (age 5) has had enough of this ludicrousness and decided to join the conversation..."Emmaaaaaa, if dere's no dad, whose gonna dwive da car?"

Everyone slowly looks at Annie.

"What do you mean, Ann? What car?" I asked.

Annie- "When hor belly horts, if dere's no dad, who dwove Mary to hosbubble?"

Me- "Umm, Annie, there were no cars back then. Mary hopped a donkey. Joseph led the way.... and P.S...no hospitals, either."

Family devotions dismissed.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

2011-01-03T13:17:00.015-05:00

I've made a few New Year's resolutions that I'm not afraid to share:

1. Pray more, stress less.
2. Exercise more, eat less.
3. Blog more, facebook less.

I've missed blogging, but haven't had the time to keep up with it...or so I thought. I guess I hit an all time low when I found myself stalking my 4th grade boyfriend's facebook page, just to see how much weight he gained and what his kids were dressed as for Halloween......Don't judge me.
Facebook is weird. I have "friends" on facebook that aren't really my friends. I get creeped out when someone asks me to be their friend and I have no clue who they are. And it makes me feel funny inside when I find myself in Joe Shmoe's family vacation album, clicking through each picture with a silly grin on my face as if I were there, and suddenly realize, "Who in the world is this person?" --Maybe it's me. Maybe it's the air. Maybe it's the fallen socialization status of planet earth, but I've vowed to facebook less this year, and for Pete's sake! I won't delve into someone's photos who I don't know. -Whew! I'm glad I got that off my chest.

With my lack of blogging this last year, I'd like to make it up to you... and my family digital scrapbook here. Here are some memorable moments that occurred in 2010.

February 11, 2010 Matthew turned 12 and Annie turned 5.

We celebrated with an "atmosphere" theme. Annie picked rainbows. Matt picked planes.

Matt is in 7th grade. He loves to draw.

His real passion is planes. He is working on getting his solo license. Currently, he has 4 hours applied toward his pilot's license. I know, I know..it's crazy that he has time logged toward his pilot's license, but is still 3 1/2 years away from driving a car. Does this make anyone else a little woozy?

Annie officially started school this year. Of course since she's been in a highchair, she thinks she's been homeschooling, but this is the real deal, Annie-bo-bannie. No turning back now. Welcome to Kindergarten, baby!

May 14th was a memorable birthday for Mary and Emma, as well.

Mary turned 11 and Emma turned 7.....thus the 7/11 picture.

We did this on their birthday....

Permanently etched in their ears is their 7th and 11th birthday. I'm not sure that anything could top this birthday.

I'll have to think of something REALLY good this year. Maybe tattoos? -kidding.....I think.

We've had two new additions to the family: Moses and Rocky. Funny that in the Bible, Moses was told to strike the rock.

That probably won't be happening here though.

Meet Moses:

He was no taller than the buttercups when we got him.

Meet "Rock:"

They are loved.

Oh! I almost forgot about our third addition to the family!

Meet Henry:

Henry is a hermit crab.

He is not loved.

Ok....ok..... maybe he is by Mikey.

I mean, who else would build a hermit crab this fantastic ferris wheel?

In October, my sunshine boy turned 9.

2010 brought him new teeth.

Mikey played soccer this past fall, and did fantastic! I think it was because he had the loudest cheering section.

Homeschool, homeschool, homeschool....that is my life right now.

Homeschoolers are an interesting breed, aren't they? I'll admit I still feel a little funny when I say, "We homeschool" because for some reason, I just want to blurt out immediately after, "but we're normal." I think it was the homeschoolers that I encountered when I was growing up that cause me to make that clarification. I guess that makes me a "people pleaser." And I don't want to be that. You do think I'm normal, though.......don't you????

Hello?

Anyone out there???

Mom?

**tap, tap, tap** this thing on??

Whether we're "normal"or not, we are indeed on this journey together.

Something funny that happened this year was when I told Emma to put "Ezra and the scroll" on the timeline. She grabbed the markers and went to town drawing away. A little while later, I walked by. I stopped. I stared at the timeline. I tilted my head to the left then to the right. "Umm...Emma?" I asked, completely puzzled. "What's that next to Ezra?"

She looked up at me with her big blue eyes. "It's a squirrel. You told me to make Ezra and a squirrel."

Have Mercy! we will get this child to college.

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with true joy, contentment and happiness that can only come from our Lord!

We started a new tradition this year. We hung a stocking for Jesus. The kids wrote down what they wanted to give to Jesus, and put the folded paper inside the stocking. Some of things that were written were:
"Dear Jesus, I want my words to make you happy."
"Dear Jesus, I want to bring a new follower to you."
"Dear Jesus, I won't scratch anyone." (oddly enough, that wasn't from Moses.) I won't tell you who wrote that, because that would be breaking family confidentiality......

Nope, I won't tell you....

It would be so wrong of me.

So, don't ask me again. You're not getting it out of me.

I'm happy that I blogged today. I just accomplished number 3 of my New Year's Resolution. Unfortunately, I typed this entire thing, while eating a raspberry pop over. I did pray this morning, though. -Two out of three ain't bad.

Happy New Year, everyone! I will return.

And I promise I won't wait so long.

Matt Goes to Flight Camp

2010-08-16T11:45:00.002-04:00

Love Never Fails

2010-07-05T13:56:00.003-04:00

I Corinthians 13 is called the "love chapter" of the Bible. It's a beautiful picture of what true, genuine love looks like. After reading it, I questioned, "Since we're not perfect beings, how can we ever accomplish this perfect love?" The answer is simply, "We never will." But does that mean we shouldn't try? If we fail at diets, does that mean we should eat junk food for the rest of our lives? If we fail at budgetting, does that mean we should continue to spend foolishly for the rest of our lives? If we fail in an area of family or marriage, does that mean we should walk out and give up? We can use Christ's example to continually work at this love. I'm so thankful for the love that my heavenly Father has bestowed upon us, and that as many times I have failed Him, He has never left me or forsaken me!

Love is beautiful! I'm thankful for the ones that God has given me to love, and to receive love from.

For you, Dad

2010-06-20T01:23:00.003-04:00

Emma's question

2010-05-20T12:00:00.003-04:00

In reading a verse in Proverbs the other morning, Emma had a question. Sometimes I find it difficult explaining the deeper issues of life. As my curious girl stared wide-eyed at me, searching for answers, wanting to understand....all that came out of my mouth was, "Let's call Daddy."

-click play.

Winner!

2010-03-31T21:09:00.004-04:00

And the winner of the Easter egg is...........

-drum roll, please-

Liz O.!!!!!!

(and the crowd goes wild!)

Congratulations, Liz! Now, come get your Easter egg. I'm holding it for ransom until you bring me your baby. :o)

I wish I could give you all an Easter egg, but since they're Reeses Peanut Butter eggs, I'll be eating the rest. I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all who entered my little contest. There are too many to name, but I'll just start with Liz, Mom and Shanda....again the list could go on and on, but I'll stop there and say thank you. You made me feel welcome at the lunch table. (well, almost all of you)

Wait! Don't Go Away! Here I am!

2010-03-30T22:12:00.008-04:00

Hello everyone!!!!!!!!! Please sit down...really, the standing ovation isn't necessary.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have a plethora of pictures to share. (did you like the use of that "p" word? It was one of our vocabulary words.) Anyways, I've got neat stuff that I'd love to blog about, however....all my pictures are stuck.....yes, you heard me right! They're stuck. I decided to download a new photo program, and all 20,000 pictures transferred there. Now, I can't get them out. Don't you worry, though, my photographer friends will be here over the weekend. They'll get it fixed. And, "Blogging Memories" will be back in business!!!!

***crickets chirping***

I said, "Blogging Memories will be back in business!!!"

Hello?

Anyone?

Mom?

In the meantime, I'll throw a little quiz your way. First one to send me the answers wins an Easter egg. --calm down, everyone!!!!

Pull yourselves together, you've got a quiz to take here!!!

On your mark,

(admit it, your heart's pounding out of your chest, isn't it?)

Get set,

(Breath!)

(swallow your spit, please)

GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. What are your Easter plans?

2. If we went to highschool together, would you sit next to me in the lunch room?

3. Why or why not? (remember, there's an Easter egg at stake here!)

4. Why aren't I in bed?

5. Fix the grammar in any of these sentences. I'm going to bed.

All answers will be kept a secret, and filed in my 6th grade diary until tomorrow.

And don't think for two seconds that you can get in this baby. It's locked up, and sealed tighter than the Democrat's secret meetings over healthcare. And besides, I've got the key!

Good luck, everyone!

Where are your Training Wheels?

2010-02-23T19:48:00.006-05:00

I'm sorry?????...who just went riding past me on her itty bitty bicycle?

Annie? Is that you?

What in the world, Ann! You're riding a two-wheeler with NO training wheels!!!!!!

Hey, Annie...where ya going?

Annie! SLOW DOWN!!!

Cooooooooooooommmme bbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

WATCH OUT! Crazy blonde coming through!

Careful! There's a wall over....

there!

Slow it down, girl! You're gonna give your mamma a heart attack!!

You must be so thirsty after all this riding. Maybe we should go inside for a drink?

No? You're good?

Okey-dokey, then.

Hey, who taught you how to ride that back, anyhow?

Oh, I see.

And here they are...The Pink Posers.

Training wheels.....GONE!

means one thing

my baby.....GONE!

Could somebody please pass me the tissues. I'm having another moment.

Where in the world is Becky?

2010-01-26T13:37:00.026-05:00

Did you miss me? Did you miss me? .... huh? ......huh?

Guess where I've been?

Here's a little hint...

Recognize this humble, little home?

Yes-siree that's me hanging out with my sis in front of the White House.

The last time I recall being here, was my sixth birthday. Dad told me he was taking me to Washington DC. He gave me 4 "passes" and said that I could invite 4 friends to join us. I remember sitting on his lap, counting up the passes. I looked around the table. What a surprise! There were four faces peering back at me. Mom -one, Trish-two, Kris -three and Ann -four. I wonder what in the world Dad would have done if I picked 4 giggling, squealing girls from school. (Actually, I don't think it would have made a bit of difference, noisewise.) I don't remember too much else about the trip, except lots of cherry blossoms lining the sidewalks. Oh, and I remember eating ice cream. Hey, these are the things that matter most to a 6 year old.

Guess who was home? See the cars lined up?

And upon closer examination....what?!!!!! THE PRESIDENT???? Is it really him? And what's in his hand?

ZOOM IN CLOSER!!!!!

Unless the President has taken to polishing his own car, I do believe we were mistaken. It sure was exciting for a second there. You should have seen us racing up the sidewalk. We were giggling and out of breath. My camera was swaying from my neck, like I was some crazy paparazzi. When we got to the White House driveway, I asked a policeman if the President was coming out, because we just saw the black cars. It was then that he dropped the bomb on us. "The President had just returned five minutes ago." What a let down. We missed him by five minutes...and we ran so hard, too. It was just a tad bit embarrassing when a bystander said, "Excuse me ladies, what were you running for?" We were like, "Umm, 99 cent sale at the dollar store."

Mr. President, I do hope that you didn't make too many enemies last night at your State of the Union address. Personally, I did have to take you off my friend list. (btw, rockin dress, Michelle! You're still on my friend list.)

------Now, on to my real friends. -------------

Krissy and I took a road trip to visit our dear friends in South Carolina.

There they are!

We've been friends with Kenny and DeAnna since Joel and I were married. We were all newlyweds, happily decorating our homes, and enjoying candlelit dinners every night. Here we are 14 years later, blissfully in love, however our homes have been "decorated" with barbies, matchbox cars and tiny handprints on the walls. The candles are pretty much used when someone makes a stink in the bathroom. Life is great, and we wouldn't trade it for anything!

I love these girlies to pieces. DeAnna and I often laugh that our Mikey and their Isabella will get married. We stopped joking about it when we saw that Mikey and Isabella have completely taken the control out of our hands, and now talk about it themselves.....as if it was their calling in life. She and I are starting to "back pedal." Certainly not because we wouldn't love the idea. I mean, we get a long great....why shouldn't our kids? Still, it was a bit strange the first time they talked on the phone and I heard Mikey say, "I love you." And DeAnna heard on her end, "I love you, too." We both grabbed the phone from their hands!

It was so much fun just to sit in DeAnna's backyard on a sunny, beautiful day, watch the girls play and chat. Because we live so far away, these moments never happen.

Thank you for the wonderful time at your house, Kenny and DeAnna. Oh how I wish we lived closer! DeAnna, thank you for always encouraging me in the Lord. Your sweet testimony, love for your husband and your girls are just a few of the things that I admire most about you! Thank you again for allowing Krissy and I to take over your living room. You guys are awesome! Your friendship is so special to us!! (I hope you still feel the same way about me, despite your air mattress.)

I highly recommend anyone travelling south to book their reservations here. Good food, good fellowship and lots of laughs. Did I mention that they have "dance, dance revolution" for the wii?

And get a load of this......Kenny gets an extra star for making our beds, and leaving us these on our pillows.

5 star hotel, fer shur!!

I left my home Thursday morning and returned Monday night....total travel time for those five days was 32 hours. 32 hours of no laundry. 32 hours of no school work. 32 hours of no cooking. 32 hours of uninterrupted quietness, minus the old man snoring next to me on the train. 18 of those 32 hours was spent in the car with my sister. Our road trip was suppose to be 7 hours, but it took us 9. We hit lots of traffic!

One of my favorite memories was waking up early Monday morning and touring around DC. Krissy showed me the nearby monuments, and took me to a lovely place for chai tea and ginger scones. I am told that Rachel Ray ate here, and ordered the same thing.

(and I've been dreaming about them ever since I got home!)

If monuments don't interest you, I highly recommend that you bring along an oversized knitted hat. Oh, the things you can do with a hat!

Which one is the Capitol?

"Ahoy there, is that land I see?"

"No! I think it may be pirates!"

Krissy did ask that I take one serious shot of her, so she could frame it for her house.

Enough of this non-sense!

Krissy, thank you for the wonderful memories! They are locked away in my vault of happiness, forever. I loved seeing your beautiful home, and spending time with you. The saddest part about the trip was saying goodbye to you at the train station. Thank you for always making me laugh and encouraging me. I am so blessed to have you, Trish and Annie not just as sisters, but as my friends! I love you, and I miss you already!

PS Sitting in traffic will never make me angry or frustrated again.

Christmas Moments '09

2009-12-31T10:24:00.027-05:00

Welcome to our home on Christmas morning. Come on in!

Actually, that door leads to the trash room, but I like it. It's pretty.

And so here we are in the year 2010. I really don't think there are 24 hours in a day on Christmas. How can there be? It goes by so fast! The kids woke up to stockings hanging at the foot of their beds. They're allowed to open the little gifts inside, and eat all the candy they want. I think Christmas stockings was a tactic thought up by St. Nick to buy parents extra sleep. Gotta love that St. Nick! We really took advantage of the extra sleep this year, seeing as we were up till 2:30 in the morning working on a special project. (I'll tell you about it a little later.) Joel and I walked into the kitchen to coffee already made by my sister. Annie sat on the couch with torn bits of paper around her, and a chocolate smeared mouth. She wanted to show me everything she got in her stocking. I bummed a Hershey's kiss off of her. Then, we all grabbed our steaming mugs of coffee and walked into the living room. The music was softly playing. The gifts were arranged around the base of the twinkling tree, and everywhere I looked I saw huge smiles and bed head. I love Christmas morning! One of my favorite moments is watching the children give their gifts to each other. They shopped for the gifts themselves, and even wrapped them. I was reminded of this every time I went looking for the tape, and found one of the children's presents secured tightly with approximately 3 1/2 rolls of tape. Mikey couldn't wipe the grin off his face when it came time to give Matt his gift. He had a special surprise. I need to give you a little background first. Several weeks ago, the boys were given a "totally awesome hat." Since that hat has come to live with us, there has been some "unrest" of whose hat it is. I decided to put on my judge's robe, and solve the problem. Upon reviewing the array of awesome hats that Matt already had, I ruled in favor of Mikey. I thought that was fair, and went about my day. Fastforward to Christmas morning...Matt received an awkwardly wrapped gift from his little brother. (you catching me here?) Mikey was smiling and bouncing on his knees. Matt tore open the paper and there, sitting on his lap was the "totally awesome hat." Matt beamed with happiness. "Aw! Thanks Mike!" He grabbed his brother for a sideways hug. These are the moments that touch a mother's heart. And this is why I do not blink on Christmas, not one little blink. I might miss something.

Another cute moment was when Matt gave Emma her gift. He got her a sweet, little nativity scene. Emma has been playing with the large one that is set up in the living room. It's been in the family for years, so I didn't really like it when Polly Pocket moved in. Emma opened her present, and squealed, "THANK YOU MATT!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!"

I said, "Let me see, honey. What did you get?" She held it up and announced with pride, "Matt got me my very own ACTIVITY SCENE!!!" :o)

The Bible says, "It is better to give than to receive." I love it that the children are experiencing this truth firsthand.

(by the way, in case you're wondering, Mikey does not play hockey, nor does he have exceptionally large hands for an 8 year old. He was merely borrowing his father's gloves.)

The little girls were very surprised and happy to receive something ALIVE in one of their presents!

Daddy picked out a purple one just for Annie because "porpull" is her favorite color.

(Sadly, they've already been flushed. Fish just don't do well with us.)

One of the funniest moments occurred on Christmas Eve when Annie approached me with a very big problem. She was visually distraught. Upon counting her gifts, she came up three presents short. She looked at me with her hopeful, big, blue eyes, "Mommy, I forgot to get you, and Daddy and Aunty Kwissy a pwesent." I knew she was relying on me to fix her problem, but my mind was spinning with last minute projects and all the stockings that needed to be put together. I stared blankly straight ahead...all I could see was the large bookshelf. ***lightbulb moment*** "Well, Annie, I know that me, Daddy and Aunty Krissy all like to read...why don't you go shopping at the bookshelf?" The load was lifted! She grinned from ear to ear, "OK!!" She skipped off to the bookshelf, grabbed the first three books that her little hands touched, and ran for the wrapping paper. I had no clue what she grabbed. There are a bazillion books on that shelf. Christmas morning, Annie strutted confidentally around the room handing out her gifts. Joel was the first to recieve his book.

**Drumroll please** There are some real goodies here.

Joel got a book published in 1947 entitled, "How to Have a Better Relationship with Anybody."

(Looks like it's working already!)

And now my turn: I opened up my present, sneezed as the dust flew out, and turned it over to read the title. "ANNIE!!!" I retorted. "What's this suppose to mean!!!??" She giggled cluelessly.

The name of my book....

(by the way, I forgave her)

And then there's Krissy's book: I saved the best for the last. We all laughed so hard. I couldn't have picked a better one if I had hand picked it myself.

Let's just cut right to the chase, shall we?

The Total Man! (Hey K, what chapter are you on?...lol!)

Annie, thank you for giving us the gift of knowledge. We will cherish our books more than you'll ever know!

PS Wow, you are serious about keeping those ears warm, huh baby?

Remember I told you at the beginning that we were up late on Christmas Eve? My dear husband took on two rather large projects this year. He decided to make a go-cart for Matt. He stayed late at work each night, welding, painting and creating.

Then, he would come home to work on project number 2, a dollhouse for Mary. This dollhouse was given to us last summer, and was put in the garage because of its rough condition. It was a grand dollhouse, but it never really captured the girl's attention. It was dark blue on the outside. The carpet was old and smelly, and the wallpaper was outdated and torn.

And then my "Ty Pennington" came along for an Extreme Home Makeover!

Demolition Time! Joel was shocked at the details on this dollhouse when he got in there. Each room had crown molding and was trimmed with little baseboards. Some rooms had tiny chair molding. It was a beautifully made house that just needed some TLC.

Hours upon hours of work went into this love project.

When it came down to the "womanly touch" of the home, Joel summoned my help. As I was going through all my scrapbooking paper, trying to decide what colors to use, I thought it would just be easiest to let Mary make the decisions. I took the approach of, "If you could wallpaper your bedroom in any color, what would you choose?" And, "What about a bathroom?" and "How about a kitchen?" Any other little girl, whose mother was acting odd at Christmas, smelled of paint, and told the kids to stay out of the garage, might suspect something, but not my Mary. My little sweetheart sat there, shuffling through paper, completely clueless that she was decorating her own dollhouse.

As Mary was deciding, she held the papers up on the wall to show us how it would look.

After she made her selections, I was anxious to get back outside to the garage and start wallpapering. However, my sister was still feverishly thumbing through all the paper.

I had very little time, and wanted to be on my merry way. The clock was ticking. I patiently waited for my sister to hand the rest of the stash over. I waited for her to look up at me so I could give her "the eye." She knew about "the secret project in the garage." In fact, it was her job to keep Mary occupied. I waited and waited. She was really digging for her favorite colors, and was just as clueless as Mary. After OBVIOUSLY tapping my foot for a good, long time, I gave her a look and said, "Uhmmmmmmm, Kris? Ya done down there?" She looked up at me, burst out laughing and sheepishly walked away.
(Pst! Mom! If you're ever thinking of refurbishing a dollhouse for Kris, I know what her favorite colors are.)

Finally, it was time to give them their gifts!

And all the hard work paid off.

We didn't quite get all that trim up in time, but Mary was still shocked at the transformation. She said she didn't even recognize the dollhouse.

As I sit here, thinking about all the special moments of Christmas morning 2009, I am smiling with tears in my eyes. Just as quickly as Christmas flew by, today's moments are ticking by. Enjoy each one. "Redeem the time." Make it count for eternity!

-and whatever you do, don't blink...your kids will be grown!

Merry Christmas and have a blessed New Year!

Here we go again

2009-12-18T07:47:00.004-05:00

Remember this post? Here

Apparently, Annie forgot how she felt about curly hair.

The other night, she hopped out of the bath and asked me to put her hair in "wollors." I reminded her that she didn't like the "prom queen look," but she had her mind made up. She slept all night in those pink, sponge rollers. When she woke up the next morning, she was excited for me to take them out.

The excitment was short lived. When the first pink roller unravelled and her hair sprung up in a "Shirley Temple style", she began to cry. "I don't want my hair corly."

The problem was we were on our way out the door to church, and we were already late. There was no time to wet her whole head and start over.

So, Joel took his usual position, and told her how much he loved her hair, how pretty she looked yaadaa, yaaaadaa, yaaadaa...

While Emma tried desperately to straighten her sister's hair.

Dear Annie,
Please forgive me for all the hair posts that have been written about you. When you're big enough, I will buy you a hair straightener. In the meantime, for your sanity and for mine, let's not do rollers again for a long, LONG time.
love,
your frazzled mother.

Winner!

2009-12-05T09:01:00.006-05:00

Congratulations to Liz, winner of the homeschool quiz!!!!!!

-pictured here is my friend, Liz, sipping orange juice with me at Panera Bread. I realize that the winner was to receive a cup of coffee, but since Liz is a big baby and doesn't drink coffee, I allowed an o.j. You too can enjoy such luxuries, when I launch another pop quiz. I try to send out an e-mail when I update my blog, so you'll know the very second that we've got some news around here. (if I don't have your name, and you'd like to be informed when we have a birthday, see a deer, eat baking chocolate or destroy the wings of a butterfly, please send me an e-mail. Just put in the subject line, "Becky, I'm interested in your non-sense." I'll add ya right on in a jiffy.)

Secondly, if you're wondering about my puffy eyes and bed head, it's because we got up at 4:30 in the morning to go shopping.

Oh! one more thing, to enhance your Panera Bread experience, when the cashier asks for your name, give a fake name. Then, try your hardest not to giggle with your high school friend, and 10 year old daughter standing next to you. -I'm telling ya, it's more fun than faking a fall at the library! Try it!

Our New Arrival

2009-11-21T19:04:00.015-05:00

Guess who came out to meet us!!

We've had our little friend sitting in a jar on Emma's nightstand. We knew "hatching time" was close because the chyrsalis had turned black. What we were really seeing was his black wings.

The next morning, Mary went upstairs after breakfast and yelled, "THE BUTTERFLY IS HERE!!!!!!" We all ran upstairs to see a little, soggy, limp butterfly laying at the bottom of the jar. We felt terrible that our friend was confined inside our claustrophobic jar. It was the moment that we had been waiting for since we first set our eyes on the helpless cocoon. It was time to take the jar outside, unscrew the lid and sing, "Born Free."

It was a bit chilly, but hey he chose to make his chyrsalis here, right? Now, is as good a time as any to get to know the weather around here.

"Fly, oh thing of wonder! Fly away!"

tap-tap.

"Yoo-hooo! It's time to use those black and orange things, little guy."

"Please, don't thank us! Goodbyes are hard enough....Now FLY!"

"Mommy??? Why isn't the butterfly flying?"

Unfortunately, we all missed the memo that a butterfly needs to dry upside down for SEVERAL HOURS before releasing him.

We stuffed him back in the jar, hoping he'd crawl right back onto his little stick and drip dry.

We gave him a lovely, warm, sunny spot and waited for him to pull himself back together.

OH Yeah! and we gave him a craisin...just in case he got hungry. I'm no dummy! I read Eric Carl's book, "The Hungry Caterpillar."

Several hours later, his wings looked like they needed ironing.

Well kids, we've done all we could do. It's time to say goodbye...

I'm sorry that you will never get a chance to fly little butterfl...I mean butter"walk."

Oh how we'll miss you!

Thank you for teaching us about metamorphosis.

We love you!

WAIT! before you leave! There's just one more thing I've got to do.

Ok, gross. You can go now.

Transformation

2009-11-10T20:13:00.017-05:00

I was folding laundry the other day when Emma came running inside. She was all out of breath. "Mommy! Hurry! Come see what I found!"

She led me outside. There in the driveway was a stick with something small attached to it. She was all smiles as she walked toward the stick and then carefully picked it up. "SEE!!!!? It's gonna be a butterfly!!!!"

Can you believe the beauty of this chrysalis? Look at the perfectly, detailed gold markings! According to my findings, (sorry, I didn't mean to sound like Velma from Scooby-doo) but anyway, according to my findings, this is the chrysalis of a monarch butterfly.

I always thought the caterpillar just went in there, grew some wings and came out a caterpillar with wings. Maybe the scene from "Alice in Wonderland" with the caterpillar influenced my thinking. In researching the chrysalis, I found that the caterpillar actually dies in there, and through metamorphosis, he is chanaged into a butterfly. That means that this little guy literally digests itself from the inside out. Isn't that amazing? He enters the cacoon a creeping caterpillar, and will emerge a beautiful butterfly! No longer will he crawl along the earth. Now, he will fly above it.

What a picture of the work done in my own life! I have been changed from the inside, too. The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Romans 10:9, "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is available to anyone who will place their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Romans 10:13 "for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from eternal death.

I remember hearing this as a little girl. And around the age of 9, I prayed, thanking God for the gift of his son, and apologizing to Him for my sinful ways. I knew in my heart that God sent Jesus, my Savior, to die on the cross for my sins, and that He raised Jesus from the dead. I put my faith and trust in Jesus.

As the years went by, all salvation meant to me was, "no Hell for Becky." I even remember thinking, "I'm on my way to heaven, so why do I have to actually live differently? Why not have fun while I'm here on earth? What's the meaning of living like a Christian?" Salvation is NOT just "fire insurance." Salvation should reflect a changed life! How stupid would it be for that caterpillar to say, "I like it in here. I'm never coming out." My teenage years consisted of impressing my friends and appearing "cool." Talking about God was very much "not cool," and besides it made me feel uncomfortable. I didn't want my friends to think I was some weirdo....well, at least "weirder" than what they already knew of me. :o) When I was 16, all that thinking changed. I dedicated my life to God. My friends were not always going to be there, but God sure is. And being cool is,..... well....it's over-rated. :o) I want to be impressive in the eyes of God! I could tell you sad story after sad story of where those "cool friends" are today. I am changed because of the Lord Jesus Christ living in me! I am a new creature in Him!

And while I have breath, I will spend the rest of my days praising Him! He gave His life for me!!

Why, oh why, wouldn't I want to give mine back to Him?

The hairstyle that TRUMPED them all

2009-11-03T21:12:00.007-05:00

"Mommy, can you do my hair yike dis?"

"Sure!" (I was fully confident that I could handle that first one. How hard could a side-braid be?)

-Awkward. How about a pony tail instead?

"I yike dis."

"No really. I'm good at pony tails."

"I don't want you to take it out, Mommy."

"Please!! Annie! This is an embarrassment!"

"Why?"

"Have you ever heard of Donald Trump?"

I rest my case.

The story of Mikey

2009-10-27T18:54:00.022-04:00

See this little guy holding up the tree?

He just turned 8 yesterday.

See this little binky faced boy?

The binkies have been traded in.

-deep sigh- sometimes I long for the binky days...

My precious Mikey,
When you were first placed in my arms, you were named "Adam James." After looking at you and cradling you for 24 hours, "Adam" didn't quite fit you. Daddy always loved the name Michael, and I loved the name, Adam. The day after you were born, your name was changed to Michael Adam. We immediately started calling you "Mikey." Mary bossed us all around like she was in charge of you. She thought that you belonged to her. One Sunday when I went to pick you and Mary up from the church nursery, Mary was in a mood. When I got her into the car and asked what was wrong, she said, "Doze yadies were holding MY baby." I said, "Mary, those ladies are helping Mommy. They're taking care of your brother so I can sit in church with Daddy." She was quiet for a second. "I don't yike it."

Shortly after you came home, it became obvious that we were all holding you ENTIRELY WAY TOO MUCH. If you were awake, you wanted to be held. Putting you down for the night was nearly impossible. I can remember feeling exhausted after chasing around Matt and Mary the entire day. All I wanted was to go to sleep, and all you wanted was for me to hold you. So, I took the sweatshirt that I had been wearing that day, and wrapped you up like a caterpillar in a cocoon. I laid you in the bassinet.
-That was the first night you slept for 6 hours straight.

One of your first words was, "Ball!" You were absolutely obsessed with them! One time, I heard a loud crack across the wood floor. I came running to see what had happened....just in time to see one of Daddy's golf balls roll by.

I remember walking in the grocery store, proudly pushing you in the cart. Upon entering the produce section, your eyes grew as wide as saucers and with that big booming voice of yours, you yelled, "BALL!!!!!!" There in front of you was a sea of apples, oranges,grapefruit and watermelons. And as we passed by, you had to call out to each and every one. "BALL!!!!" "BALL!!!!!" "BALL!!!" It got louder each time. I remember leaning down and through my giggles, I tried to "shush" you. You arched yourself around me...."BALL!!!" Off to the meat section we went.

Taking you to Mary's tennis lesson wasn't working out so well, either.

For the most part you were an easy child, except for the minor run in with the police officer. -but that wasn't your fault. You were locked in the car by your sister.

However, emptying the entire contents of the Buzz Lightyear bubble bath....THAT was your fault!

Then there was that little issue with the dog bones. You were ALWAYS getting into that container!!!!

And it wasn't for the dogs either!

Another constant temptation for you was to NOT push Emma in her "johnny jumper" to state of Maine.

The other "problems" were just your typical boy antics....like locking Matt, Mary and your pregnant mother in the basement. (had to call the neighbor for that one)

Did I say "typical boy antics?" ..... I take that back.

I hope you've got all those crazy things worked out. :o) I love you, my funny guy! Lately, it seems that whoopie cushions, legos and GI Joes keep you amused.

You are a loving, caring and protective brother, Mikey! You've always taken wonderful care of your sisters.

And your love was there, even though it wasn't always returned.

When Annie was sick last week, you made her feel better.

And when she was watching you play soccer on that chilly evening, you took care of her again.

and again...

making sure every bit of her was toasty warm...

I think it makes you happy to help others.

That sure does make God happy. When you live your life for Him, you will find true happiness and peace that only He can give you. Trust Him with your whole heart, and He will direct each step of your life. There are so many obstacles in this world that will attempt to take you away from that goal.

Oh Mikey, some day you will grow up, and as I look over these pictures, it's happening much faster than I would like. Daddy and I will be here to help guide you through life. We promise to pray for you. We will not do everything right, but you have a perfect, all holy, patient, full of grace, full of mercy, protecting, all knowing, all forgiving, all loving, Heavenly Father who will NEVER let you down. Love Him...love Him with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

How thankful I am that God created you, and then let Daddy and I take care of you. You are our Sunshine boy!

I love you, Sweetheart!

Homeschool Quiz

2009-10-03T11:39:00.019-04:00

You know you're a homeschooler when your husband asks a question at the dinner table and two of your children raise their hands. Homeschooling is a topic that makes us all think of jean jumpers, long hair to the waist, no make up and weird, unsocialized, robotic children. I homeschool, however....

1. I got rid of my jean jumper in 1984.
2. Third grade was the last time I had hair to my waist.
3. Makeup is my friend.
4. Unsocialized, robotic children are indeed strange.

There are pros and cons to homeschooling. The biggest pro is that I get to be involved in our children's day to day activities. The con would be that I get to be involved in our children's day to day activities...leaving very little room to go out with another mom for a cup of coffee.

Since it's Friday, and since I've got no one to drink coffee with tomorrow, I thought I'd spring a "pop quiz" on ya. The first person to accurately answer all three questions will win, and win big! I don't fool around. The prize for the Homeschool Pop quiz will be.... drumroll, please....... a cup of coffee with me!!! (if you don't drink coffee, pretend you do. I need grown up conversation!)

PLEASE, form a single line, people. -No shoving, pushing, kicking, pinching or tackling.

Are you ready? -cue Jeopardy music-

On your... keyboard,

Get set,

GO!

1. What year did the War of 1812 begin? I'll repeat it for those of you who did just as poorly as I did in History class in 9th grade...what year did the War of 1812 begin?

2. Answer this question

3. Identify these famous people

End of Quiz

*I will anxiously be hitting my refresh button to see who the winner is!

How to wake a Groggy Child

2009-10-03T11:17:00.010-04:00

Good Morning, Baby!

Ann?

I like those slippers. They're hot.

Ohhhhhhh Annnnnnnnniiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......

How 'bout some pancakes?

Yup, works everytime.

Our Family Musical

2009-10-01T18:58:00.007-04:00

Do you like singing and dancing?

Do you love listening to children practice their instruments over and over again until your eyes are blood shot and you're drooling uncontrollably?

Have you had a day void of stress and problems?

Are you headache free?
-------------------------------------------------------
If you've answered "yes" to the following questions, than you are in the right frame of mind to click "play."

If you answered "no," go take a bubble bath, and never return here again....ever.

PS Save me some bubbles! -I beg of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you a tooter?

2009-09-26T08:04:00.009-04:00

How could I forget to add this to our "cornmaze day"?!! While at the farm, they gave away free frisbies! The kids were delighted! One of the girls shouted, "MOMMY! Now, we don't need to use pretend steering wheels anymore! We can use these!"

And they did.

All the way home.

Little road rage education for Emma here.
I looked at Joel, "Imagine that! We got a hornblower back there. I wonder where she got that from?" -for those of you who do not know my husband, in the almost 14 years that we've been married...I'm thinking now....I don't want to exaggerate because you know that I don't do that here. (or here) I don't think I've ever seen him use the horn on our car once. Well, maybe he did use it once..... when I was in labor and we were stuck in Boston traffic. (Come to think of it, I believe I was the one who leaned over, and laid on the horn for the next 26 miles)

Survey for my readers:

Are you a tooter...by that question, I mean, "Do you beep your horn?"

Are you a friendly hello tooter?
An emergency tooter?
Or I'm just in a bad mood tooter?

I'll be the first to start off....yes, I do use my horn. I am guilty of using it under all three conditions. An "emergency" can be described as:
1. Someone taking my parking spot.
2. I'm late getting to the Creamy ice cream stand, and someone just pulled out in front of me.
3. I have also been known to beep at deer, rabbits, raccoons and small birds. I think that one falls under the bad mood category.

We grew up with good morals, concerning the horn. We never beeped on Sundays because you never know, that person could pull into church right in front of you. (embarrassingly enough, it happened. I won't tell you who it was, 'cuz that would be gossip, and that's not what this blog is for. )

Corny People

2009-09-22T20:02:00.015-04:00

Whoever thought a corn field could be so much fun? We went to a cornmaze this past weekend.

Look at that thing! Cornmaze = Amazement! I sure was glad to be following Joel. We did get a little hung up in the udder area.

Upon entering the maze, we were faced with the law of the land:

Aww, sorry Kris. You're out.

Ann, so are you.

Trish is out.

I had turn around, and go back.

There was a total of 10 clues scattered throughout the maze.

The goal was to collect them all, and write them down. Then your name was put into a drawing for free maple syrup.

Here we are at the first one....

The clues were so cute! We were walking through there, giggling like crazy at some of them.

This was my favorite one....."cow poke"

We made it out with all 10 clues!! -If we win, you're all invited over for pancakes!

There was a barn of baby animals there, as well.

I have never seen such a tiny goat in all my life! I'm telling ya, I could have put this little guy in my pocket and walked out of there.

The girls were excited to ride the ponies. The excitement went down the tubes for Annie when she saw that she had to wear a helmet. So, she "graciously" took herself out of the running.

Matt took Annie's pony.

While Emma sported the helment with no problem.

Inside the barn, there was humungous box filled with corn kernals. The little girls dove right in there....

and got to work

Apparently, not everyone in the cornbox shared their same work ethic....

These kids had STUFFED themselves full of kernals! (check out the boy trying to stand up in back ground)

The final activity was the corn cannon shooter.

And let me tell ya, these guys take their job seriously...very seriously!

Mr. "Corn Cop" told us that there were two rewards to be won. The first reward was if you got it through the smiley face pumpkin, but the bigger and better prize was if you shot it through the tire. The tire was pretty far out there. He said, "That's a cool prize. You get a free hat and a free candy bar from the snack stand." Matt was up for the challenge.

In went the little corn

out went the little corn

And guess who got it through the tire!?

Mr. Corn Cop smiled very big, and said, "I don't believe it. You're the first person that's ever got it through there."
"Mamma Farmer" and her sister came out to meet the little champ. They were shocked. "Do it again!" they said. Matt got to take a few extra shots. (he didn't get it in again, though) Next came the "friend of the farmer photographer." She congratulated Matt, and asked if she could take his picture.

Yes-siree, best two bucks he ever spent! Not only did he walk away with his free hat and candy bar, but he walked away King of the corn cannon!

Birthdays and First Day of School

2009-09-12T23:01:00.004-04:00

When the last bubble has been blown....

and the last of the flowers have been watered.....

and the last swing on the hammock has been taken.....

and the last ghost story has been told around the campfire...

and the last...ummmmm.......spray in your face has been sprayed????

And suddenly, I find myself looking for sweaters, and coats....

This can mean only one thing: Summer is over,

I can't believe it! Where did it go? It certainly ended with a bang of a birthday week.

First of all, it was my father-in-law's birthday.

Then, it was my dad's birthday.

Then, it was my darling husband's birthday.

Then, it was my nephew's birthday.

Then, it was my sister's birthday.

THEN, it was my other sister's birthday.

(Oh!! and I almost forgot....President Obama's birthday was August 4th, and I had quite the time putting that shin-dig together!)

IT WAS ALSO DEANNA'S BIRTHDAY! -QUICK!! send presents!!!! There's still time!!!!!!

Happy Birthday one and all. -I don't want to see another piece of birthday cake again for a long, long time.

----------------------------------------------------------

With the summer sun setting, the "back to school sun" rises.

We started school last week. We let go of all the birthday balloons that had been bounced from party to party.

The "lift off ceremony" signified the lifting off of a new school year, a new grade, new memories, new school work....and here's hoping we don't pop along the way.

As always, no celebration is complete without cake.

(I said, "I didn't want to see any more BIRTHDAY cake." -This is CELEBRATION cake.)

We celebrated our first day of school with a heavenly melt in your mouth chocolate cake made with love by the bakery lady from BJ's.

(Ok, fine! I wrote it.) -for those of you wondering what in the world I'm talking about: My mom and Krissy went to BJ's to get a cake for Tricia's birthday this past week. Apparently, when the cake was handed back to them....let's just say that Emma could have done a better job with the lettering.

"Dear Bakery lady at Bj's,

Handwriting class starts at 10:00 and there's still an open slot if you'd like to join us.

PS don't feel so bad. My dad's handwriting is atrocious, as well. You can sit next to him."

Hairball?

2009-09-10T12:29:00.006-04:00

What's this? We don't even have a cat.....

I'll show you what it is!!!!!!!!!!

Brace yourselves!!!!

From 7 to 17!!!

It was bound to happen. My baby boy grew up!

Horses DON'T have manners

2009-09-03T22:11:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago, our family volunteered to help for a horse competition.

Our job was to serve food to the hungry riders. We had a lovely assortment of muffins, coffee, trail mix bars, doughnuts, hot dogs, cheesburgers, cold cut sandwiches, chips, cookies and soda. I used my best penmanship to write the menu on our marker board. We laid out all the snacks in perfect towers. The napkins were formed in a lovely geometric shape. I had lavender placements at the coffee station so that spills could be easily wiped up. There wasn't one drip or one crumb on our table. It was clean as whistle, and I took great pride in that. I even had a little pump of Germ-X handy for the riders, as well as myself who would be dealing with the money. Our little helpers moved about, rearranging the snack towers and wiping down tables. It was fun, but I'll admit, we might have looked a little "over eager." When a potential customer would remotely look our way, Emma would "whisper" very, VERY loudly, "MOM! I think they want to buy something." And by the time the customer finally did muster up the courage to walk over and order, they didn't get one syllable out of their mouth before Mikey and Emma went racing as fast as they could to the cooler to retrieve whatever they thought they heard.

Annie quite frankly could have cared less for such silliness. She was all about her chair.

Apparently we weren't the only "over eager" ones hanging around the food table. A horse, led by his clueless owner walked by, and left us this....RIGHT SMACK DAB IN FRONT OF OUR FOOD TABLE!!!!!!!!!!!

(Good grief! the porta potties were right there! Teach that guy some manners!)

The kids were in absolute hysterics.

I was appalled. I know sometimes I can be a bit of a germaphobe, but this was downright disgusting. Who in the world wants to step over THAT to buy a doughnut and a coffee? At first, I felt compelled to tell everyone to be careful where they stepped, but after a few strange looks, I kept to myself. I quietly walked over to my Annie, and sat down next to her, hugging my Germ-X.

Missing my Big Kids

2009-08-21T21:25:00.006-04:00

I'm missing our two big kids. Mary has been away, camping with Grampy and Grammy. She's been gone for over a week. Matt just left. He's off with his buddy Caleb, and his dad and grandpa. They're having total boy time, fishing, wake boarding and sleeping in the boat. I know they are having the time of their lives, and I am so happy about that.... but still Mommy misses her babies. ----No little goodnight hugs, no good morning grins, and two empty chairs at the table----- If you think I'm bad, every time I call Mary, Emma yells out, "I WANNA TALK!! I WANNA TALK! I miss Mary!!" And Annie has asked me approximately 36 million times when "When is Mare-wee coming home?" Poor Emma and Annie miss their big sister like crazy, and poor Mary is going to get pounced by them as soon as she gets here!

Last week, Matt came running inside and yelled, "MOM! GRAB YOUR CAMERA AND FOLLOW ME!" I thought for sure I was going to be met with a bear, a slimy frog, a rare bird, a fox or yet another slithering, evil snake. I was wrong on all of the above. Matt walked me outside and said, "Don't turn around, ok?" I agreed and continued to follow him, making sure all along that it wasn't a snake. He only smirked, and with a twinkle in his eyes, he said, "You'll seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." When we arrived at "the spot," he said, "ok! you can turn around!"

I gasped! -And, this picture will not even come close doing it justice.

It was HUGE!

It was Gorgeous!

And I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect one before.

The biggest, most majestic cloud I've ever seen!

How blessed we are to be able to look up and see "the heavens that declare the glory of God."

We Appreciate you, Krissy

2009-08-17T15:08:00.006-04:00

When we were little, mom would occasionally give us a, "We Appreciate You" party. We wouldn't know about this special surprise until we came to the table. If it was your party, you had a red, "you are special plate" at your place. Under that plate, was a pile of notes from each member of the family, telling you how much they love and appreciate you. -Krissy, you've just come to my blog and found a RED PLATE! It's your day, Girl!- I thought I'd throw her a "We Appreciate You" party to celebrate her recent move. Soon, she will have new students to love and care for. Her former class will not be forgotten, and neither will the impact that she has left behind. Since they can't write letters or communicate the words of appreciation themselves, I thought we'd let their faces share how much she is loved.

Krissy, you have forever made a difference in their lives. We always knew you were the best, and now, there are more to join us....
WE LOVE YOU!!!

The British Grenadier

2009-08-09T21:45:00.007-04:00

-knock, knock, knock....anyone home?

Oh, look! It's a beautiful princess!

With all the rain we've had around here lately, the little girls set their kingdom up in the living room.

It was plain to see that Emma was the queen.

I stood watching the girls play for a while. I couldn't figure out who or what Annie was. She stood on a little stool, not moving a muscle, silent as a mouse. She stared blankly ahead. Emma moved about the castle, singing away. Annie stood like a robot. She didn't look like she was having any fun at all. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer and asked Emma the puzzling question. "What is Annie doing?"

"She's my guard," Emma answered.- And let me tell you that Annie took that role seriously...very seriously....almost as serious as the British grenadiers guarding Buckingham Palace.

(apparently Mikey was an innocent bystander)

Don't blink, Annie.

Don't itch.

Don't move a stinkin muscle!

Stand VERY still, baby. -and whatever you do, DON'T sneeze yourself off that stool!!

Hello. We're famous.

2009-08-08T09:55:00.004-04:00

Roll out the red carpet, everyone. Here she comes.....

HERE SHE COMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ONE.....................And ONLY.......

EMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(and the crowd goes wild)

Yes-sireee, we made the front page of the newspaper.

And why shouldn't we? Who could resist a face like that?

If you would like a signed autograph, please pay-pal us, $6,568.97

Top 10 Reasons Why I Blog

2009-08-04T07:43:00.017-04:00

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Ok, I admit. I'm a horrible blogger. I may even be the worst blogger in Fargo, North Dakota. (wink, wink) What's the purpose of blogging anyways? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here are Becky's top 10 reasons of "Why I blog."

1. Because my friend, DeAnna, was nagging me to death about how much fun she was having, and I fell into peer pressure. Besides, she's really cool, and I want to be like her.

Here she is. My friend, and future mother-in-law to Mikey.

DeAnna, you're such a good friend that, if all the other kids were jumping off the cliff, I would too...BUT, only if you were. That's how much I love ya, girly.

2. The second reason for my blog is right there in the name. I blog for the memories, of course. As I've said in 4,568 posts, time is passing so quickly....

I'll let you in on a little secret... on a quiet evening, I've been known to dip into my own archives, and read away, with the biggest, goofiest grin on my face.

3. I blog because our family is scattered all over the place, and it's a nice way to park it in the cyber living room together.

4. I love blogging because I've found former friends that I haven't seen in years.

5. I blog because photography is fun. I never realized that I had a secret love for my camera. It doesn't always love me, but we're learning. I do have a love for the crop button. There's no greater feeling in the world than eating oreos, and cropping your rear off, all at the same time.

6. I'm only on the sixth one! You mean to tell me I've got another four to go after this? (pullin it outta my ha-at) -that was for you Trish and Kris. Let's see....why does Becky blog.....hmmmm....AH-HA! Blogging is great for the brain. Grammar, spelling, run-on sentences, dangling participles...it's all here.

7. I love Joel.

8. I love Joel.

9. I love Joel.

10. And LASTLY...I blog because... well...simply, because I want to.

I do love to blog, but I also can't be bothered with it when I'm having too much fun. So, this is my political way of squirming out of my "lack of blogging" charge.

Thank you to all my adoring fans....moo-wah!

Pool Fun

2009-07-25T21:54:00.005-04:00

Summer + friends = pool fun!

Summer + friends .... also = lack of blogging

I'll get on here one these days and upload lots of pictures.

The Men Who Felt Smart

2009-07-23T09:09:00.004-04:00

This was the dynamic around our dinner table the other night.

Maybe it's because it was raining....
Maybe it's because we couldn't find our monoply game...
Or, maybe it's because there is something seriously wrong with us...

Mom, I'm sorry we didn't say, "puff."

Happy Birthday, Mamma!

2009-07-21T23:19:00.003-04:00

Here she is....

The Birthday Girl!!!!

Happy Birthday to my dear, sweet Mamma! How blessed I am to be able to call you, "mom!" I'm so glad you were born...because without you, then there'd be no me, and without us...well, the world would just have been a sad place.

I love you more than I could ever put into words! Thank you for being the best Mom, Grammie and friend! God gave us a treasure in you!

Emma's friend

2009-07-13T11:42:00.006-04:00

Hi! It's me.... Emma.

Look what I caught this week!!

We became friends rather quickly.

My mommy told me that he was going to go potty on me, and give me warts, but I don't care.

We're friends to the end.

I just didn't expect the end to come so soon.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: **No animals were harmed during the photo shoot. **

Disclaimer to the last disclaimer: **I can not speak for what happend AFTER the photo shoot. You'll have to ask Annie about that. The frog croaked on her watch...literally.**
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

2009-07-07T15:19:00.008-04:00

BIG NEWS FOR EMMA

She has been wiggling this tooth for a long time. It was hangin' on for dear life! Her adult tooth started coming in, which helped push that little tooth out. The next morning, she told us that the tooth fairy forgot that she had lost a tooth. I gasped, "What? THE TOOTH FAIRY FORGOT??" She looked at me with no expression on her face whatsoever, and said, "Yeah, I think Daddy fell asleep early." When Emma sat down to eat breakfast, "the tooth fairy's substitute" made a mad dash upstairs to the girl's room, and stuffed a couple quarters under Emma's pillow. Then, I nonchalantly walked into the kitchen with the biggest "give-away poker face" there ever was, and asked her,in between breaths, "Are you sure you checked under your pillow?" She said, "Yup." I leaned in. "Positive?" my voice went up an octave. She caught my wink, grinned a huge toothless grin and ran upstairs...

The first thing out of her mouth was, "Can we go to the dollar store?"

I told her we would go. "And, can we go out for ice cream, too?" she asked. Unfortunately, I had to break the news to her that she did not have enough money.

So, she turned to the mirror and looked for any more possible "wigglers."

Smart kid.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's a mom to do when her daughter with long, flowing hair falls asleep in her lap?

Remember the "crimper" curling iron? That would have been so much easier.

Hmmmmm. Should I?

.........Naaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I miss my gang. This week, our friends Dan and Tami have opened up their home and turned it into the funnest kid camp ever. Matt, Mary and Mikey are sleeping over their house for almost a week. It's great to have friends!

(oops! Where's Matt's smile? )

Annie, mind taking off that King Kong headband next time we shoot a picture?

Family Camp '09

2009-06-29T22:17:00.013-04:00

Boy, did that week go by fast!

We just got home from family camp. It seemed like as soon as we unpacked, it was time to pack it all up again and head home. We love going there! This year was our 7th year. The first year we went, Mikey was a chubby, bouncy baby in a stroller. Now, he's a string bean, riding his two-wheeler all over camp, shooting the girls that went by.

It was wonderful to reunite with our friends and catch up on stories.

I think I've mentioned this before, but our family grew up with these girls....excuse me, "ladies." As a matter of fact, when we were little, my parents took us to family camp. We have such great memories of our childhood. Now, we're the moms, and our children are playing together.

Here is little Enzo, Mariano and Becky's baby. Hasn't he grown up so much? His mommy and daddy are speaking to him in English and Spanish, because they are headed to the mission field of Uruguay. It's amazing how much he knows already. The girls LOVED spending time with him. One afternoon, Emma took him for a little walk. I think she enjoyed pushing a real baby in a stroller, instead of her dollies.

We sat together at meal time, and every time, Mary came close to Enzo's highchair, he would lean over for a hug. -such a loveable little guy!

Mary and her friend were the "camp babysitters." They loved it....so did the moms!

Joel and I had the privilege of heading up the teen program at camp. These kids were 8, 9 and 10 years old when we first came to camp. Now, here they are...all grown up!

We really enjoyed our time with them. Joel went through some rough teenage years. He turned his back on God and thought he'd try life without Him. Those were some of the darkest and lonliest years of his life. Because of that, anytime he can use his testimony to bring glory to God, he is ready and willing. We're thankful that this ministry gave him the opportunity to share with these kids some of his struggles and give them hope from the Word of God.

For Matt, this week was more than just "a fun vacation." His dream became a reality...My little "pilot wanna-be" got to fly.

My friend's husband flew in one day to visit her, and offered to take Matt up in his plane. If only you could have seen his face! His eyes were twinkling. Every day, he flies planes on his computer, but this was the real deal!
He even let Matt fly the plane for a bit.

As Brent took off for home, Matt stood there in amazement and watched until the plane disappeared into the sky.

On our way back to camp, he said, "Mom, that was the happiest day of my life."

And now, onto my dare-devil...See this little girly-girl in the black and white dress?

Do NOT dare her to do anything! Emma decided to take a trip down the water slide. This isn't just any water slide. It's a crazy, "I think I'm gonna die" waterslide. Last year, I went down once and only once! When I was asked, "Are you going to go down again?" I said, "I would rather have five more children." -and I meant it! When you first get on the slide, it seems slow. Usually, you need to nudge yourself along to get going. THEN, you hit a steep part, and that's when you think you're gonna die. I took several short videos of Emma going down and giggled my head off. Here they are:

Sorry about my constant giggles, but I simply could not help myself. She went down that slide four times and it just got funnier each time.

We had a wonderful vacation! Dreams were fulfilled, fears were conquered, and lives were changed...you can't get much more action packed than that!

They're gonna eat me!!!!!

2009-06-16T09:01:00.009-04:00

You already know from previous posts, that Matthew is our outdoors man. From sun up to sun down, he is outside hunting. Yesterday, was the KING of all captures!

If you are scared of snakes, now would be the time to click outta here. -Mom, leave.

For the rest of you, don't say I didn't warn you....

His first capture was this garter snake:

Ooooooo, soooo creeeeeeeeeeeeeepy!

Second was this rat snake:

YUCK-is your heart pounding?

And lastly, a warty toad:

It's just plain wrong to be this ugly!!!

This is the biggest pile of reptile/amphibian grossness I have ever seen!

On Sunday afternoon, my husband was outside doing yard work when he came across the meanest, most aggressive rat snake we've seen, yet. -knock on wood...ALL OF YOU KNOCK ON WOOD!! PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU...KNOCK ON WOOD!!

And since my little outdoorsman wasn't here, I had to capture it on camera for him. Let me start by telling you that I have an enormous fear of snakes, however in order to earn my "cool mom of boys" badge, I was willing to lay that aside for the sake of some awesome footage. Well, I mean I did my best to lay it aside.

*WARNING* Do not click play if you:

a) are squeamish over reptiles
b) get annoyed with heavy breathing and screaming
c) or, if you have a pace maker.

Are you ready for this?

-is your heart pounding as hard as mine?

OH HAVE MERCY! I can't stand it any longer!

"Ok just stay calm...beeeeeeeee calm, Becky."

-In through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth---deep sigh---

Here goes.....

click on the arrow...

If you are experiencing shortness of breath, please seek medical attention!!!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to seek medical attention and then go play dolls with my daughters.

School's Out

2009-06-15T08:28:00.009-04:00

Sorry it's been quiet here on the blog. It certainly hasn't been quiet in our home. Our first piece of news is.....WE'RE DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!

We had our annual end of the school year party last week. Our menu consisted of: pizza and chocolate chip cookies. What better way to end an educational year than with total junk?!

I'm pleased to announce the grades that everyone will be moving into.

Did you all do the same thing I did when I took one look at this sign? "WHAT??? Matthew and Mary are going into 6th grade!!! Did I figure that out right?? They are at the half way point of their schooling!!" I can't believe it. This year will be my 6th year of homeschool. In some ways, it's gone by fast. In other ways, it hasn't. :o) But overall, we have enjoyed this journey.

(I hope you noticed Annie's certificate. She was standing there just as proud as could be that she has joined the ranks of "school aged children." We'll need to go over few things to help her gain popularity around here. )

Next up for announcements is this.....

Look who came home?!!

And so the bikes begin the trek up and down the driveway to Grampy and Grammy's house. Everyone is so happy to have them home! We've got a summer packed full of fun.

The morning after our last day of school, all the kids had breakfast on the deck. It's so sweet to watch them. There is no denying the closeness they share.

I know that they will always have their ups and downs with each other, but it's forgiveness and love that keeps our bond close to each other and most importantly, with the Lord.

Proverbs 17:27 "He who restrains his words has knowledge"

Proverbs 18:6 "A fool's lips bring strife"

Good verses to think about as we talk to one another today.

Hebrews 3: 13 "But encourage one another day after day"

The Horse Whisperer

2009-05-31T19:55:00.007-04:00

Meet our horse lover.

Mary looks forward to our time at the equestrian center for her "job."

Her job description is as follows:

-brush the horses

-help the teacher set up and take down jumps

-feed yummies to the horsies

-pet 'em like nutty

She knows most of them by their name.

You absolutely can not pass through this little horsey lane without getting some "cat calls" from these guys....

"Howz about a kiss, baby?"

"Back off Kodak, she wants these hot, green lips."

-yeah, this guy was a little hyper.

She could spend hours upon hours here. When it's time to go, I have to put a lead rope on her and drag her away. :o)

You know the phrase "a picture is worth a thousand word?"

I have nothing left to say. :o)

Special Friends

2009-05-29T10:24:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, Great Papa came for a sleep over. He wanted to get up bright and early and take Matthew turkey hunting. They scouted the woods the night before.

Matthew jumped out of bed with excitement to get ready. Papa gave him layer after layer of camouflage to put on. He was in his glory!

First, they set up the "decoy." -for those of you who don't know what a decoy is. It's basically a hot, faker of a turkey that attracts the boys. -you know much like what we see on the magazine covers.

I can't tell you how many times I walked by the window and gasped because I thought the decoys were real. Actually, if I did tell you how many times I stopped and gasped, I would embarrass myself, so I choose not to.

HUH! WHAT??!!! MATT! It's a.....oh. -never mind.

-Admit it, you all gasped because you thought it was real.

And now, the waiting begins...nothing sweeter than sitting next to your pal in the quietness of the early morning.

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God:

Staring at his creation, I can't help but think about Him.

I am enjoying these mountains because of Him.

I am enjoying the sunsets because of Him.

I am enjoying my family because of Him.

I am breathing because of Him.

Proverbs 18:24
there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother

And again....nothing sweeter than the quietness of the morning with your friend.

My little encourager

2009-05-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

The other day, I quickly ran to get something off of my desk and found these....

Mary has always been my thoughtful little girl. Joel and I will find notes on our bed, at our bathroom sinks, or on the stairs. She has such a tender heart. Thank you for the surprise, Mary. You make me smile.

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-29T09:10:00.009-04:00

Today, I am saying thank you to all those who fought and are fighting for our country. It's not Memorial Day, but I don't want to just be thankful on that day. It was so sweet when Joel went out on Memorial Day to put the flag up with Annie by his side. It was one of the moments where I stood back, and just stared at that flag, flapping in the wind...feeling so thankful and so proud of our country.
This daddy can stand here next to his little girl, because someone else's daddy sacrificed his time with his little girl. We are so blessed to have freedom. It's not something I wake up and think about every day, but because I enjoy the benefits every day,it should be. I don't ever want to be so consumed with Memorial Day being a day off from work/a day off from school or the national "hot dog and hamburger day" that I forget what this day is all about. I want our children to know that they can have a special day with their daddy, only because someone else had to sacrifice their "daddy time."

"You make me happy, Daddy!"

"You love me, don't you?"

"I love you, too."