Progress and a bonus!

Bathroom- Check! Sparkling and I even went to Wal-Mart and got a new bath tub mat and shower curtain!

Kitchen- Check!- I forgot what a super clean kitchen looked like. I think I used half a bottle of 409!

Bedroom- Check! Piles of socks have been returned to their apporpriate mate, and piles of clothes have been put away and hung up. Ceiling fan cleaned too!

Vacum- Check! Filled the chamber. Thats pretty gross!

Dust- Check! Man did we have a lot of dust!

Laundry- In process- always in process, it is never ending!

Neighborhood boy stopping by to ask if he can mow the lawn- Double Check!!!
I can hear the sound of the lawn mower right now. I am so happy!

Plans and random news

I have big plans for tomorrow.
I am going to totally clean and organize my house.
I have decided to do the zone thing.
I also went to Wal-Mart today and bought some new cleaning stuff.
I got some 409 for the kitchen.
I got a new toilet brush, complete with corner container to keep it in.
And I got this new Scrubbing Bubbles scrubber thing. I have to admit, I was totally sucked in on the commercial with this thing.
It's the commercial where the cute little scrubbing bubbles are pretending that the bathtub is an airport and they are taking off to clean the tub.
It is very cute and ever since I saw it I figured I needed one.
It was $4 and hopefully will work.
I'm not Kim Hill and therefore am not a very good shower cleaner.
Kim's house can have laundry piles and clutter laying about, but her bathrooms will be clean. I am the opposite...well I will have laundry piles, but they will be hidden, and my bathrooms will be a mess. I should be more like Kim and have clean bathrooms.
Tomorrow I plan to fix that problem.

So on to my zone thing.
I am going to lay it out so tomorrow I can check it off.
1. Upstairs bathroom
2.Kitchen
3. My bedroom
4. Laundry
5. Vacum upstairs.

Tuesday, Lana and I will start peeling wallpaper off her walls to get ready for painting.
Woohoo that does not sound fun to me at all.


Logan stayed in NC per Pappy's request. It's the benefit of being the oldest and the only Grandson I suppose.
I miss him though. Lana misses him too. Tomorrows cleaning day is going to be difficult without him. He is very helpful and also he and Lana occupy each other. Now Lana is going to follow me around and I am going to give her jobs to do and then I am going to have to go behind her and clean up the mess she made doing her job.


We got the kids a trampoline for their birthdays. The benefit of having birthdays in the same month was doing 1 big gift.
Anyways, I think I am going to start using the trampoline as my excercise machine. I have a tredmill that I hate. So I think going outside and jumping on the tredmill 20 minutes a day might be pretty decent excercise. It's at least more than I do now.
I may have to get some depends though, or at least plan on getting a little wet. Sad but true!


I am obsessed with two shows.
HGTV's Design star and Food Network Star.
I secretly wish I could be the design and food star, although I wouldn't last a day on either show.
"And this here is my homemade mac and cheese...it's made with not one, but two kinds of cheese to give it that extry kick you people like...I tried to use some special noodles, but I couldn't find any other body part noodles, so I had to stick with Elbows. Now Ya'll enjoy!"


Spending the week with and 18 year old and a 21 year old has made me feel old.
Gone are the days of staying up all night chit chatting for me. 5 hours of sleep a night was not nearly enough for me, and they got around 2 hours a night and where much more pleasant than I.


I took the girls up to the place where Stacy and I got married. Lana loved seeing it too.
It was sure a beautiful place to get married.
Stacy and I need to go away together. We don't get to spend nearly enough time together.
Seeing the place we got married reminded me of that fact.


I miss my sister A LOT! I plan scenarios in my head all the time about all the fun things we are going to do when she comes home.


Well, I am going to turn into a pumpkin...Good night, sleep tight!

The Ultimate Cone Head

That was the name given to my son by Dr.Radbill 8 years ago today.

After 30 something hours of labor, Dr.R finally pulled my first born out with some forceps by his huge elongated head. My husband declared that I had just given birth to an alien with his charcoal eyes, ashy skin,and the elongated head...but all I could see was a glow and all I could feel was warmth and the most amazing love that I have ever felt. I was amazed at that instant love you feel for your child when you first see them. Let alone when you first hold them. The moment of Logan's birth and the moments after are forever etched in my mind as the best moments of my life. It's amazing that a Dr can be giving you untold numbers of stitches and all you can feel is abundant happiness.

That ultimate cone head that caused me so much pain in child birth, has caused me exceedingly great joy and pride over the last 8 years. I am proud of the young man that he is becoming. God's word says it best, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth."

Those words become more real to me every day as I see Him grow not only in His knowledge of the Lord, but his living out of that knowledge as well.

The ultimate cone head has a lot of other knowledge churning around in there too.

Logan loves to read, and not just read, but to learn. I love that I don't have to force him to learn. He inspires me to read more and to learn more not only about God, but about the Titanic, and Armadillo Lizards, and Mars, and Ancient Egypt, and how Volcanoes erupt...really the list goes on and on. Trust me folks, he does not get this natural study habit from me!

The past 8 years of being a Mom have been amazing. I can't imagine doing any thing else.

Do you remember as a kid planning your life and naming your kids?

Do you remember pretending to be a mom and taking care of siblings or baby dolls?

Do you ever now as a parent look at your husband and kids and think "This is what I was preparing for!" It really amazes me sometimes. Logan will be telling me about something or just out playing and I will watch him and be amazed that God saw fit to give me this incredible blessing of Motherhood. I think about all those years of waiting and wondering what it would be like, and I look at my first born now, and can't believe how fast the time is going by.

For as much as Logan has grown and changed over the past 8 years, I assure you I have changed and grown just as much.

It's amazing the long way we still have to go. I almost would like for time to stand still right here, right at this moment. This age where we're past the temper tantrums, past the potty training, past the first day of school...and we're not yet at the hormones, and the attitude ( as much!) and "my mom is so weird"....We're just here in this middle child hood place. A holding place where we have the opportunity to tweak and mold and get ready for the impending Independence that is looming just over the next couple of years.

So Logan William, Happy 8th Birthday...here are 8 things I love about you!
1. Your dimples and your smile- I can be having a poopy day and all I need to see is that super cute smile.

2. Your love for your Momma- It is so sweet when you bring me a cup of water for no reason...or sense that I am not feeling well or something is wrong and come to me full of love and concern.

3. Your laugh- You have the most contagious and distinct laugh! I love it!

4. Your imagination- You can definitely come up with some plans. I may not be able to execute them, but you sure do dream big!
5. Your loyalty- You are so loyal to your friends and your family. That is a trait that many people don't possess.

6. Your compassion- You care about others and their feelings enough to show them that you care, not just say it.

7. Your heart for God- I don't know what God has in store for your future, but I know that if you keep your heart and mind focused on Him, He is going to do amazing things through you.

8. Your relationship with your sister- You are an awesome big brother! You have always loved and cared for your sister and I love watching you teach her things, and explain things to her, and be over all helpful with her.

The Ultimate Cone Head may have been hard to bring into this world, but I would do it 100 times over again if it gave me the results that God has blessed me with for the past 8 years!

We arrived...but barely

Sunday was a lovely day for travel.
The sun was shining and the conversation was flowing.
I've you've ever driven across US 74 going through the Ocoee River in TN, then you know that it is a curvy road, with some strategically placed guard rails, and other places with no guard rails, only the trees to protect you from the flowing, rocky river. Oh, and make sure you have a full tank of gas, because there is no place to stop, and only a small handful of pull offs for those that run out.
So it was while we where going across this road, listening to the "Passion" CD, talking about the Titanic, and enjoying our drive through the beautiful mountainside, that it happened. My nightmare that I have dreaded for 10 years of driving this way to get to NC. All of a sudden while going through a curve my power steering stopped, all my dash lights came on, and I suddenly had no acceleration. What? My gas tank is half full and there has been no warning of this! God definitely had his hand on us as one of the very few turn offs was just to my left and thankfully no other cars where coming around the curve. Cars where behind me and thankfully nobody hit us as we turned into the cut off.
Like good little car owners, Jeanny and I got out of the car and opened the hood...looking for what? We're a car full of woman and children stuck on the side of the road with the hood open because obviously the answer is going to just pop out at us.
Oh, something else you should know about my scenario of breaking down going across the Ocoee, is that there is NO cell service. HMMM...we live in the 21st century and yet there are still places in this earth that you can't get cell service and where my car decided to die is one of them.

Well, I will save you all the gorrie details of the 2 plus hours that we sat on the side of the road with the children, and the heat, and the need to go potty, and the mosquito's. The awful blood sucking mosquito's. Suffice it to say, it was a long 2 hours.
But it also was amazing the way God works. See Saturday it was determined that Jeanny and Mary would ride up with me. I have At&T cell service. Mary has Verizon. As providence would have it that even though there were no bars on Mary's phone, we where able to call out. We called my Dad to come get us (we where still 2 hours from my parents house), and we called AT&T's roadside assistance, with a Verizon phone! When I get back to civilization me and AT&T are having a talk! Well after mind boggling conversations with the dispatch office, and a visit from our friendly State Park patrol guy (who by the way made balloon animals on the side of the road for my kids!) my Dad finally arrived to rescue us and my already loaded down van. So we transferred all the stuff, drove up the road for better cell service, got the tow truck finalized, went back to my van, left the keys in my floor and my van on the side of the road, and headed back up the road.
Finally around 11:30 est, we arrived. My poor poor van is now sitting at the Toyota dealership in Cleveland TN, with a busted water pump, timing belt, and some other stuff that I don't know about it. All I know about is the bottom line, and it doesn't look pretty!

But the important thing is that we arrived and that God protected us from what could have been an incredibly horrible situation.
I am so thankful that Mary and Jeanny where with me. They were so great at occupying the kids while I tried to handle us getting out of there in one piece. Trust me, without them, not only would I have not had some working cell service, but I would have had a mental brake down doing it on my own. It is great to see the way God worked out the last minute arrangements for them to come with me on Sunday.

Today we have spent recovering, grocery shopping, itching our mosquito bites, and fixing boo-boos. Jeanny cut her toe down at the Creek and Logan stepped on a Bumble Bee.
So now as we settle down for the night with a bowl of Ice Cream, I am happy to be here and really looking forward to getting things ready for VBS tomorrow.
My Mom just said it would be a miracle if I get these kids to sing.
I figure we've already had a few miracles this weekend, getting the kids to sing is a challenge that I readily accept!

Dove....mmmm....

So I have a case of Strep throat. Really if you know me you are not suprised by this. I get it many times a year. It's annoying and painful...but the reward today was good!
My nice husband brought home Pizzas and Ice Cream. He brought me my own little individual tub of Dove Mint Ice Cream. If you've never had it let me just say go get some now!
The bonus is that when you open the lid, there is this layer of chocolate over the top with the word Dove in it. Very nice!
It felt good on my throat too...Yippee!

So tomorrow I leave for NC. I am taking 2 girls from church with me, Jeanny and Mary, plus my kids. We are going to do a 3 day VBS this week. It is going to be completely different from the VBS that I am used to doing. I mean it's the same program, just going to be different in the execution of it. I'm excited though. We'll probablly have about 50 kids and then people from my parents church are going to help as well.
I'm excited for Jeanny and Mary to be coming. They are great and it will be fun to have people to travel with instead of just me and the kids as usual. Jeanny is 21 and Lana thinks she is like her best friend. Poor Jeanny, it might be a LOOOOONG 5 hour drive for her.

Please pray for us and the ministry we will be involved in this week. Please pray also for my throat. I started antibiotics today and am really waiting for them to kick in.

Now, go get you some Dove Ice Cream...you'll never want any thing else ever again!!!

For Sale

One set of tonsils-horrible condition, but still there.
One throat- very sore and gags alot.

One Front yard- Very grassy and people are also kind enough to throw their empty beer cans in it too. Yep, you get to keep the money for recycling!

One Kitchen- Dishes are already out and ready for you to put away!
One Living Room- The piles of clothes are an added bonus!

One Boy Child- Likes to play video games and does it well when Mom doesn't feel good and could care less.
One Girl Child- Likes to listen to her Hannah Montant CD over and over and over and over, while singing loudly along.

And the Winner is....

Well Lana has spoken and it looks like we will be going with this one, the brown and pink toile.

It's hard to see from the picture, but the brown trim has pink polka dots on it, and the hem below that is all chenille. I think it is a very pretty set. It comes with the pillow sham, the dust ruffle, and a valence. Very good deal indeed!

Now onto picking paint colors. I am thinking either very pail pink that is almost white, or a light neutral taupy color. But with the darker bedding and the white furniture, the wall will definetly need to be light.

The original look for the room in my mind has changed. My first invision was more fun and whimsy, but I think the toile will be very chic and classy and will grow with her for years to come.

The thing that I am most excited about is Kims idea of the pictures and the cupcake. That is going to be so super cute. Oh, I just remembered that Lana has a pink dress with brown polka dots. Would that work Kimberly? Even her pink ballet costume would be cute.

Well, onto Mount Laundry. It's high and large and must be tackled!

Check this one out

OK...Lana and I just found this great site.
They have a cute brown and pink polka dot, but Lana has now discovered Toile!
Jennifer, you will be so pleased!!!
Anyways, the pink and brown toile (the 2nd one down on the right) is so cute and very classy.
Check it out here.

We are sitting and comparing and narrowing down.
I think the decision is soon to come.
I know, I know...you are all on pins and needles...ouch, ooh, get this needle out of my butt!

The continuing saga...

I know you are all on pins and needles just as I am about the bedding and the room switch.
So here goes...
First of all, I am now having second thoughts about switching rooms.
Switching requires many other things to happen that I hadn't thought of.
With a busy husband the prospect of switching out fans, light fixtures and removing and replacing furniture, is probablly more stress than he and in turn me, needs right now.
Plus there is the money issue. If I switch the rooms I have to spend more money and buy 2 bed spreads among other things.
With wanting also to get the school room painted and get new desks, I am thinking that I need to go the easier route.

So my new plan is to paint Lana's room for her.

What do you think of painting it Chocolate brown and doing lots of white and pink accents?

I like bedding choice #4 because it has just the right amount of pink and brown and would blend well with the walls. Plus at $69.99 for the whole bed in a bag, including the shams and bed skirt, it is one of the best deals. (JC Penney.com)
And to answer Virges question about where they all come from...
#1- Wal mart.com -$45 bed in a bag
#s 2 & 3- Bed Bath and Beyond.com - $99.99, comforter and sham only
#'s 5 & 6- I think also Walmart.com- $45

I thought if I go ahead and order the bedding then I could match the paint accordingly.

Now onto my next question...

If I get that pink and brown polka dot bedding and paint the walls brown, would big assorted colors of pink polka dots on the walls be too much? I'm not talking covering the walls, just a few sizes scattered about here and there.

Now isn't this fun?
I just showed the bed spread to Stacy and guess what...
He doesn't care!!!
And then I told him that I might now switch there rooms now (he is the reluctant party in the house), and he said "Just let me know when the roller coaster is over and what I am supposed to do and I'll do it."
Is that a mans response or what?!

Thanks for hanging in with me on the saga of the room. It is fun to do it with the help of my peeps!


***Edited*** Again!
Just found 3 more options on line...
Option #7

Option #8

Option 9

New...option 10 found on Ebay. Comes with the most stuff and ironically is Lana's favorite.

More decisions

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3



Option 4

Option 5


Option 6

The room switch is a go. Some reluctant parties in my house, but it is a go.
Now to choosing the bedding for Lana's "new" room.
Pick your favorite. I am not telling you where they are from or how much they cost so as to not effect your decision. Sadly my favorite one is the most expensive, but my second favorite is the least expensive. So give me your vote. 1,2,3,4,5,or 6. Remember white beds and furniture and brown walls.

I am also excited for Kim to come next month and work her photo magic and do the idea that she had for the chocolate pictures. Yeah for Kim coming soon! Yeah for Kim and her creativity! Yeah for Kim and her camera! (Uh, hey Kim...loved the idea btw!!!)

Thank you all too for your advice about the color wash. I won't go there!!!
This is fun putting Lana's room together with ya'll. It's been 5 1/2 years since I've done her room and this if fun :)


Edited per Moms suggestion...this is the brown of Logan's current room that would be Lana's. It actually looks a tad darker in person.

Paint technique

A new suggestion has been offered up in my room painting, furniture dilemas.
My Mom has suggested that Logan and Lana switch rooms so that Lana can have the bigger room and be able to keep the whole set of furniture ( if she stays in her room, I have to break the set up and save the other bed in case we ever move).
So I am thinking this is a good option.
My dilema...
I will have to paint Lana's room for Logan. No big deal, its a small room and should require 1 gallon of paint.
But Logan's room for Lana, I just painted 2 summers ago. I painted it a nice brown color.
I thought I could leave that for Lana. The furniture is white and I could do lots of pink accents.
Well anyways...I just saw today on a design show where they did black paint over some red cabinets. They put the black paint on and then crinkled up sheets of aluminum foil, put it on top of the paint and ran the roller over it. When they took the foil away, it had just meshed the black paint into the red, and so the red was coming through. It looked really really cool.

Do any of you know of a paint technique where I could leave the brown walls, but do a sort of pink wash over them?

Suddenly I think this is going to turn into a harder project than I had originally hoped for. :)

Lazy days of Summer

I'm ready for those...just havn't gotten there yet. We've had some lazy mornings here recently, but no full fledge lazy days. I'm ready to slow down, but don't see it coming any time soon. At least not for the next couple of weeks.

Next week will be fun as we go to my parents and do VBS again. This will just be a 3 day program and should be lots of fun. Maybe I can at least have one lazy day of Summer while I am there.

One of the things I want to accomplish this Summer is to paint the office and transform it into a school room. I am looking at paint samples. Do you want to help?

I want to do an aqua blue color.

If I do that, I am thinking of getting desks and shelving that would be silver/chrome. I think that would make for a fun feeling school room.

I had thought about black furniture, but I think the silver would be a more fun contrast.

Or Oak...but I don't really think Oak. Give me your feed back on that too.

I'm also going to paint Lana's room. She wants pink of course. My Mom is about to give her some very pretty and girly white furniture and I think a dark pink will look super nice next too it. Look here at Sherwin Williams and tell me the name of an aqua and a pink that you think would be nice. (If you like to do things like that!)

Who likes to paint? Who wants to help me?

Maybe one day I can have a lazy day of Summer. If you know how to make me do it, then please...make me do it!!!

How does one...

Discipline a cat? Honestly, I am so unfamilar with cats that I don't know how to handle this one.
I mean if my child scratches another child they are getting spanked and going to there rooms for a good heart to heart.
If my child purposely pokes a claw into another childs chest because they are angry about being removed from upstairs, I am going to deal severly with that child.
So what do you do with a kitten that does these things?
All I know to do is pop it and send it to it's bathroom.
Am I crazy? Does time removed from the family mean anything to kitty?
It means something to my falling apart daughter who cried and accused me of hating her cat for sending it to the bathroom.
Oh good grief is all I could say. How else do I respond to a 6 year old crying over my disciplining of a cat.

So really, how do you discipline a cat for scratching and clawing on purpose?

Also, I think the cat senses my uncomfortableness. When I sit on the couch in the evening she jumps up on the end of the couch and gets into a pouncing position. Stacy then taunts me and says continually "get her Anna", which isn't nice of him. Then she pounces on my leg and scares me to death and then I jump up and scream because I don't like being pounced on. Then Stacy laughs and I go to another room where the cat can't taunt me anymore.

How do you discipline a husband for encouraging a cat to pounce on his slightly afraid wife?

Help me!

Personality

Kim had this on her blog about the personality test. Love these...so I took one too.
I am an encourager. Click here to take the test for yourself...which I know you do...then tell me what you are and I can encourage you in that area :)


General Description
As an Encourager, you are very relationship oriented and respond naturally to the needs of others. You want to be seen as an excellent listener who can respond to the challenge of helping others in practical ways, including solving personal problems.

Typical Areas of Strength
Encouragers, like you, are typically energetic, friendly, encouraging, patient, understanding, loyal, steady, dependable, and are willing to listen to the needs of others.

Typical Areas of Struggle
You often shy away from conflict and may avoid making difficult people decisions, rather than hurt the feelings of others.

Your Preferred Activities
Because you cooperate well with others, you function best with access to people who need assistance, encouragement, development.

Your Communication Style
You communicate through carefully chosen words, gestures, body language, facial expressions, and listening skills to communicate your concern.

Cats are needy

And this is why I've never wanted one.
She meows if I close the door.
She pushes against my leg if she wants attention.
I think I am allergic to her too. My throat has been hurting since Sunday.
Needy needy kitty.

Today Lana spent her Birthday money on a little cat house that Logan spent an hour trying to put together. Poor Logan. He tried so hard. Poor Lana...spending her birthday money on a cat house!

I do have to admit that Anna is very entertaining to watch in the evening. That is her happy time and she pounces around chasing shadows and flies. She then sits in Stacy's lap because he has become a cat person and he pets her. I don't pet her. I'm allergic you know!

Seriously People

I have a huge pet peeve. It probably isn't yours too since I see almost everyone doing it.
Here it is...When you go to Wal-Mart there are two doors. One is Enter...one is Exit.
Can people not read anymore? Is it too hard to take the extra steps to walk over to the enter side when entering. If I am walking into the store I am walking into the Enter side. Why do I have to dodge the annoying people with their carts full of groceries coming out of the enter door?
When I am leaving with my cart full of groceries, why do I have to maneuver my cart around the illiterate people that can't read the exit sign?
It really bothers me so much that I am going to have to start saying things to people.
How does one correct grown adults for entering the wrong side at Wal-Mart? And even more than that...how does a Christian tell someone in God's love of course "Hey idiot, use the other door!"
Perhaps I should just start running people over instead of being polite and letting them pass by. Maybe if I give them a good ram or two with my cart and just casually point up to the sign, then they will get the picture.
Maybe I could bring a long pointer or one of those pointers with the laser on it...I could deeply clear my throat and point as I non chalantly sip a Mtn Dew or something.
Of course Wal-Mart does not help this issue at all. At least in my Wal-mart things are backwards. The carts are on the exit side instead of the enter which really makes no sense.

So I beg you...the next time you go to Wal-Mart, pay attention to the side you enter!
You never know where I might be hiding and just what I might do!

If you know me...

Then what I am about to tell you is going to be a complete shock...

Today, Ms Valerie brought Lana another Birthday present...

As you can see by the look on her face she was happy...

She looked at Ms Valerie with much thanks and admiration...

But what may you ask could bring such happiness to my little 6 year old?

What was inside the box?

Yes, Ladies and gentlemen...we now have a kitten. Jennifer, Ashley, and Kim, you may all pick yourselves up off the floor now and Say "AH, Kitty kitty".

I can't even believe that Stacy and I agreed to it. Maybe its guilt or maybe we're really just softies, or maybe we secretly wanted a cat. OK, so it's not the last one...but I figured I got my first and only kitty when I was 6, so why not Lana too

Ms Valerie asked me last Sunday if she could give her a kitten for her birthday and we did say yes. Ms Valerie even brought her in a box and with a kitty litter box, feeding tray, cat food and a certificate to get her spayed. After being Spayed, she will be an outdoor kitty, I assure you that folks!!!!

But until then, I am happy that Lana is happy and seeing her absolute shocked happiness was worth the fact that I don't like cats.

I must say though, I think this one might grow on me...she is kind of cute. And Lana wasted no time in naming her...she immedietly said her name was Anna.

So there you have it folks. We are not cat people but we have a cat. One is plenty. Don't bring us your strays.

Complete and Utter exauhstion

I think it has just hit me. The past few weeks have caught up and I am now completely over the top exhausted. After the weeks of prep for VBS, and then the week of VBS and then the birthday and the anniversary and the day at Oak Mtn today with our Sunday School class, I am seriously considering going to bed right now at 5:30. I think I could. Maybe I will. The children can eat Teddy Grahams for dinner. Those are healthy right?

Our Pastor is preaching on wifely submission tomorrow, so since I have that mastered, I think I may skip Church...except my husband would say no and then I would have to submit and go to Church because I am the model of a submissive wife. Maybe I could sleep during Church and compromise.
Or maybe I should just listen and learn.

OK...well, I am going to go throw a can of mandarin oranges to the children to go with their Teddy Grahams. That will solve my dinner dilemma.

O Happy Day...

9 years ago today in a ceremony atop a Mountain, by a lake, and after a late afternoon rain, my husband and I said "I do". Many of you where there and either sat in a wet seat, dried off seats, or comforted me as I threw up and cried. You may remember how the rain brought out the beauty of the mountains and the clouds mixed with the sunset. The Celtic music that had been preselected was fitting for the mountain mist, and we surprised you all by riding off into the sunset on a horse. I remember when the rain started 30 minutes before our wedding, post poning it by an hour, thinking why would it rain on my outdoor wedding day, just before the time for us to walk down the aisle. But just as God has done for the past 9 years, He took that rain and turned it into something beautiful. I can assure you that even if it hadn't of rained, the wedding surrounding scenery would have been amazing, but the fact that it did rain, in the end, made the surroundings even more idyllic. Standing on top of that mountain as the sun set and the clouds that had once opened up and poured out their wet wedding gift, was a moment in time that is permanently etched in my memory. I can still smell the wet grass and feel the dampness of the misty fog.

I wonder sometimes if God sent the rains 30 minutes before my wedding to prepare me for the next 9 years of marriage. I have spent many days in our 9 years of matrimony crying and feeling sick over our struggles and hard times. We have been through as many ups and downs as Mother nature herself, and yet out of the rain and the soggy seat cushions, God has always brought us through it to the other side and the waiting blessing of the unexpected beautiful sunset. God has used our marriage to show me more about myself than I had ever learned in my previous 24 years of living. But more than that He has used our marriage to show me more about Himself than I would have thought possible.
In all honesty I have wondered in the past, why God would choose Stacy for me and me for Stacy. I have at times wanted to strangle the man I am married too. But at this juncture of 9 years, I am more convinced than ever that God through His divine will and infinite Mercy has truly blessed my marriage even when I choose to focus on the pending rain clouds.
As the days, months, and years go by, I am thankful for the beauty that God shows me through those clouds and I have no choice but to be thankful the clouds where ever there. After the rain comes the most beautiful sunset.

So Happy 9th Anniversary Stacy....here's to the rain and the beautiful sunset on our wedding day... Here's to the rain and beautiful sunsets of our daily life...and here's to many more years of seeking a marriage that is focused on Christ and balancing the two out.

For Laura

Sunday at VBS the kids had to draw on a paper on the wall what they would miss if they couldn't be around people any more because they had a disease or something.

This is what Lana drew...

It's Sarah Beth!

She said she didn't have time to draw Summer too.

We love you and miss you and glad you have a blog now!

Blisters, VBS, and Birthdays

This is my life right now.
I am in the middle of VBS. We just finished our first night last night.
It went well. I love seeing the kids faces as they learn to worship and learn more of God's truths.
I love seeing the workers love the kids and be patient with them and show them God's love.
I don't love that by the time the first night of VBS got here I was so tired I didn't know if I could stand up in front of everybody. But I do love that God gives us second winds and He blew a huge one in my sails last night to get me through.
I slept till 9:00 this morning and am feeling more rested and ready for tonight.

What I don't like is that during the course of last week and all the planning and prepping I managed to get some horrible blisters on the bottom of my feet. I'm talking huge. Right on the top of the foot before they meet your toes. I've been soaking them and then putting on some blister pads, but this morning they actually feel worse then ever.
Really, why does this happen to me? I don't get it. I'm weird I guess.

On to the Birthdays. As you know Lana shares her birthday with Stacy and I's anniversary. Which is also during VBS. I know, we are good planners! So Lana has been telling everyone that she is having a Hannah Montana Birthday party. Guess what...that was not part of my plan. When do I have time right now to plan a birthday party? My plan was that Friday I was going to take her and Landy and Bella to the movies. Well Paige and Laura...read closely...
We are now having a Hannah Montana party! Thanks to my nice friend Gwendy who has decided to take this on and Lana's wonderful Sunday School teacher Ms Valerie who loves her and makes yummy cakes, we will now be throwing Lana a suprise party on Thursday.
Gwendy has already got Hannah Montana plates and such and Ms Valerie is making HM cake.
Who ever heard of throwing a suprise party for a 6 year old? But, in all fairness to my sweet daughter, her birthday does kind of get mixed up with VBS and anniversaries and all of that. And for some reason this year she is ALL about her big day. She's never counted down and worried about it like she has this year. So I guess I owe her this fun suprise party. It will be fun and suprising and the cake will be good.
I am very thankful for my friends to help me out like this.
So Paige and Laura...bring Landy and Bella at 4:00 to our church FLC (same as last year). We will arrive at 4:15 for the suprise. Of course VBS starts at 6:00, so at 5:30 I will have to go get ready. It will be a short party, but you can stay for VBS if you want!

So that about covers my life right now....blisters, VBS and Birthdays.
Next week is going to seem dull in comparison!