Overheard

Kids can say the funniest things. These have actually been heard in my house:

Child: Mommy, your tummy looks bigger than it used to.
Mommy: Uh, thanks.
Daddy: Hon (to child), ladies don't really like when you tell them they
look bigger, even if it's true. (Gee, thanks dear.)
Child: No, I told it to mommy! (Gee, thanks child.)

Child: Mommy, does the baby have tires?

Child: (singing "Your Love is Amazing") Yellow makes me sing... (Instead of Your love makes me sing...)

Tie Another One On

Friend. Let's explore.

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

-Really? OK, I'll be calling you later with a few comm...er, requests.

Job 16:20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;

-Thanks for praying for me when I asked, and when I didn't ask.

Proverbs 12:26 A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

-This is so poignant for me considering all the changes and times we've been through.

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

-Thanks for setting me straight, even when it hurts.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

-No pointless commentary needed.

Matthew 20:13 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?

-I clearly saw $65 myself on the receipt, next time I'm going to hold you to a denarius.

Matthew 22:12 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The {wo}man was speechless.

-Johanna, you did wear clothes to your wedding, right?

Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

-You tell me, because I don't get it myself; but it sure does sound nice.

John 16:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

-You knew this was going to be in here, didn't you.

Proverbs 27:9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.


Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. ~Sicilian Proverb

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
~William Shakespeare

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Author Unknown

It has been an honor and a privilege for me to be your friend through the years. May God bless you and keep you, may he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, may the Lord turn his face to you and give you peace.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Not Your Nature Television

Yesterday we went on a Fabulous Family Adventure. Don't you just love those? We went to the Alafia River State Park and hiked, picnicked and played on their playground, screamed at bugs, bled, threw rocks and sticks and leaves and oohed and aahed at all the wonders of God's great creation.

Having grown up hiking and camping mainly in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico the flora and fauna of Florida is so different. I miss the aspen trees and columbines and the smell of pine trees and the rocks you can pick up anywhere and throw in the rivers. It's hard to find rocks in Florida. It's all sand and these teeny little excuses for rocks. Makes gardening easier, but not quite as fun when you're hiking.

One thing that I learned yesterday had something to do with the whole communication issue in regards to Shepherding a Child's Heart. I find myself often being bored or uninterested in what my kids are talking to me about and it's usually because they are retelling me parts of movies they've seen over and over and over again. As I was tucking the kids in last night I stopped and talked to Sarah in depth about her day, asking her what her favorite part was and what her least favorite part was and it was genuinely fun talking to her about our adventures. I am starting to consider the television and it's distractions and divisive qualities as one of the biggest detriments to a good, quality communication relationship with my kids. This is something that God is really convicting me about. I am not convinced that all television time is inherently evil (although I'm willing to discuss the merits of this argument), but I am of the persuasion that our family watches too much T.V.

On a lighter note, someone please tell me what the deal is with this...frog. We thought he was a new frog with his "tadpole" still attached but he's awfully big to be a baby frog, we thought. It's a little creepy.

The Flylady Has Flown

Well, I hate to admit it, but I think I am going to unsubscribe to my Flylady group. I was so gung-ho about this in the beginning, but I think now I have deleted each and every one of the 600 e-mails she has sent me this last month without even reading one word of any of them first. What happened? For me, I found that I can create hot spots much faster than 15 minutes of work can put them out. I have to do in-depth cleaning in one chunk, or it will never get finished. I am a starter, not a finisher. So if I am constantly told, "You only have to do 15 minutes, then stop!" I think, "Great! I don't have to finish anything! Woo-hoo!" It just doesn't work for me.

I have had some take-aways, though. I do a load of laundry every day. Some days I may skip if we are out the whole day, but then the next day I do two. This has really helped me not get overwhelmed by having six loads to do at once. I also now clean the dishes lots more often. I don't let them pile up for days on end, which I am ashamed to admit I used to do. I don't shine my sink every day, but I do make sure the porcelain doesn't get all scratched up and the faucet is dried off after I use it - oh, and I put away my drainboard between washings. That is something Jerry really loves! He hated having the drainboard constantly on the counter top. Other than that, I still do the majority of my housecleaning on Thursdays - because on Thursday night, I have my church small group meeting in my home. It does make for a bit of chaos on Thursdays, but chaos makes me finish what I start. So, for now, I have learned to embrace the chaos.

How about you? Is you sink still shiny?

The Look

I took the kids out today. We went to JoAnn's to get some stuff for "projects."

As we were waiting at a stop light I noticed a large, 16-passenger van next to us. Do you know I've gotten to the point where every time I see a big van I look to see if there are lots of kids in it. Everywhere I go my mind is attuned to how many kids the people around me have with them. I invariably have the biggest family. Three kids is the most I've seen so far.

I'm starting to get "The Look."

Older people generally smile and think they are all so cute, but younger people don't seem to have the patience.

The lady in the 16-passenger van went into JoAnn's, too. I didn't see her go in but I knew exactly who she was. She was at the cutting counter and she had one son with her, but she looked over at me and the girls and shook her son on the shoulder and said, "Look at the baby, doesn't she look cozy. Isn't she cute!" I was carrying Lily in the Baby Bjorn. I wonder how many kids she has. She had to be the lady in the huge van, because in my experience, only people who have lots of kids themselves and love babies A LOT make such a fuss over the fourth baby. By now, everyone else is saying, "Are they all yours," or "Wow, you must be busy." When it was just Ella everyone would stop and ooh and aah over how cute she was, but now everyone overlooks how gosh-darn cute Lily is and ogles my "large" family. I ONLY HAVE FOUR KIDS FOR PETE'S SAKE. That's half as large as it's likely to get over the next 10-12 years.

I think I'm addicted to blog-land because there is where I find my encouragement. Maybe if I didn't realize that there were other people out there that believe what Del and I believe about children, then I would be more content. But, I know they're out there...they're just not here. And not blogging.

I've met one family with 7 kids here and she was pregnant at the time. The mother must be very wary of people because even though I had three kids at the time and was about 6-8 weeks pregnant with Lily, she was very stand-offish to me. Anyway, I stopped attending that homeschool support group so I don't know what happened to them.

I think it's funny that the one place Del and I can move within his job is to San Antonio because I've seen the most large families from that area of the states. We'll likely fit right in, and we can come visit your super-sized family (ha ha ha) any time we want. That probably won't happen for a while though.

I'm not sure what the purpose was of this post but...there you go. I'm starting to get "The Look."

Speaking Of Jane Austen

I am...

Take the Quiz here!

Happy

Signs of Spring at My House...

red flowers...

blackberry blossom...

strawberries...

bugs everywhere...

baseball...

pink flowers...

outdoor fun...

and fresh mangoes!

Sugarless Pizza Dough

I've been using my food processor a lot to make bread. The author of my favorite cookbook makes almost all of his bread in the food processor and he's got this really quick and wonderful recipe for pizza dough that doesn't have any sweetener in it and I thought you might like it.

Mark Bittman's Pizza Dough

3 cups flour
1 t yeast (I just used one packet)
1 to 1 1/4 cup warm water
2 t salt
2 T olive oil

Put the flour, yeast and salt in a food processor and start it. Pour in the olive oil and water through the tube and let it mix for 30 seconds. It should be sticky, but not too sticky. Dump it out on a bit of flour and knead it by hand for about 30 seconds to make it a ball and put it in a greased bowl. Let it rise for and hour or two and the make some pizza.

Just so you know, Mr. Bittman's directions were a wee bit more thorough than that; those are my condensed directions.

Thought For the Day

"All our days ebb away under your wrath;
our years die away like a sigh.
The span of our life is seventy years,
or if we are strong, eighty;
yet at best it is toil and sorrow,
over in a moment, and then we are gone.

Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath
to the degree that the fear due you should inspire?
So teach us to count our days,
so that we will be come wise.

Return, ADONAI! How long must it go on?
Take pity on your servants!
Fill us at daybreak with your love,
so that we can sing for joy as long as we live."

Psalm 90:9-14 Complete Jewish Bible


I don't really care for poetry all that much, but this is beautiful to me. I'd love to know Hebrew so I could read it in it original form.

Kitchen Capers

I love waffles. My family loves waffles, too. We eat them once a week. I have been on the hunt for a whole grain waffle recipe, but am yet to find one that I love. I like ones that have a variety of flours in them as well as oats. I really like oats in my waffles. Yesterday for lunch I tried yet a new recipe. Because I wanted to honor the Passover holiday (read: because I totally messed up), I decided to leave out the leavening. If you have ever wondered just how important baking powder is to a waffle recipe, let me tell you - it is vital. My first two waffles were totally baffling to me! The batter seemed runny and the resulting waffle was so thin and gross looking. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to actually have anything worth eating when I was done!

Fortunately, I was willing to admit that I might have messed up the recipe and looked. Sure enough, I left out the baking powder! Duh! Check out how different they look after I added leavening:

Sadly, after all of that, this recipe is nothing special. The hunt is still on. So if you have a whole grain waffle recipe to share, please do!


My love for loaded baked potatoes continues. I don't know what it is about potatoes, but I just cannot get enough of these things! I even had a potato and salad for lunch today! A while back I made a baked potato soup that was so wonderful I just have to share the recipe. You really have to try this soup!

After a week of being couped up in the house with one kid after another having a stomach virus, we got out to the park today. The kids were so happy to actually be out playing! Check out my super cute monkeys, er, I mean kids:

Have You Been To the Mall Lately?

We got the oil changed on the car on Thursday at Sears and while we waited we walked around in the mall. It was spiritually opressive. Del was trying to ask me questions and I couldn't answer and finally I said to him, "Can we please just go. I have to get out of here." So we left, post haste. It was awful.

This World of Ours

It seems like there have been so many disheartening things that I have read lately about homosexuality teaching in schools, neglect and abuse of children, and other evils in our world. It is so easy when all of this is right in my face to want to buy a secluded piece of land somewhere and hole up - protecting my children from the world. But I cannot really do this. Not only would my husband absolutely not support it, it is not practical for us and may also defeat the purpose God has for us here in this world. I have been taught that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. The is very hard at times, since the desires of the world are strong at times - but it is possible.

I started reading the book Escape by Carolyn Jessop. (I know, I know...I still haven't finished Mansfield Park. I got totally bogged down in the "should we allow this play, father would/wouldn't approve of this play..." section. Boring... I will finish it though.) It tells of her escape from the polygamist cult FLDS. It is particularly interesting to me in light of the 400 children who were recently removed from a FLDS sect here in Texas. It is constantly in the news. Anyway, she said something in the acknowledgments section that really sticks out to me. (Yes, I'm a dork. I even read dedications and introductions to books!) Anyway, one of the groups of people she acknowledges is the people who made it possible for her children to have Christmas the four years since she left FLDS. She says,

"The FLDS is constructed on a scaffolding of lies. We were all brainwashed into believing that everyone in the outside world was evil. Every Christmas, when I see the delight in my children as they unwrap presents from people they never met, I realize what a monstrous lie we were taught to believe."

Later, as she is describing the night she left, she talks about how she couldn't tell her children that they were actually leaving. They were so frightened. Once they figured it out, one of her daughters actually said she was taking them to hell.

Although I realize that this is an extreme situation in which these children were completely brainwashed, I see a warning here too. Am I making statements in which I am teaching my children to fear the world and all of the people who do not believe as I do? Or am I teaching them by example how to be in the world but not of it? Fear cannot be the answer. I know that fear is not from God, rather he is perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear. (I John 4:18) The Bible also has so much to say about being in this world. There is lots to say about not being drawn in by the world and not becoming like the world, but remaining pure and holy in the midst of the world. James 1:27 actually says not to become polluted by the world. I really like that wording. Even though we have to guard our hearts and minds and be responsible with our children, we still don't have to fear the world. The Bible also says that though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (2 Cor. 10:3) The biggest reason I don't have to fear is that God is mighty! He goes before me and fights the battle for me, giving me the victory! (Deut. 20:4) It reminds me of one of my all time favorite verses, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." I John 4:4 I so badly wanted to end that verse with an exclamation point!!

I don't know if this will speak to anyone else the way it is speaking to me, but with all the yucky stuff I have heard lately, I needed to think on these things. I cannot fear. I cannot withdraw and teach my children (even if by default) that everyone in our world is evil and to be feared. Afterall, God loved this fallen world so much that he gave his own son to save it - which is far more than I would have done.

Fun and Scary (Not both for one thing...)

So for the fun first. Have you seen the serious give away at Rocks In My Dryer? I'll write a haiku for a shot at $1000 any day! Give it a try - but it is today only, so we've got to think quickly!

Now for the scary. What did you think about the link my mom sent us yesterday? Did you watch it? After watching the first one, I didn't really want to watch the second one. It is so disturbing that those classes were real and those things were really taught in an actual school. I wonder if they are still using that training video? Obviously, going to a Christian school and then teaching in a Christian school, I never encountered anything like that. As if I needed another reason to homeschool...

Funny, in a Horrifying, Absolutely NOT Funny Sort of Way

So yesterday was the day of vomit in our house. By the way, if you are reading this and are squeamish or feeling nauseated - you might want to just stop here. Fair warning! Okay, so yesterday morning, Aaron woke up early saying that his stomach hurt. I asked him where, and it was sort of low so I told him he probably needed to go potty and he should try. He did, but to no avail, so I asked him if he felt like he needed to throw up. He assured me that he did not, so I sent him back to bed and told him that he should try to go back to sleep. I got back in bed and snuggled down for a bit more sleep myself before Jerry got home from the gym. Minutes later I heard a terrified scream coming from the boy's room. I had to rouse myself out of bed and arrived in their room just in time to see a cascading waterfall of vomit from the top bunk all out of Aaron's mouth! It got on his bed, on Ethan's bed (with Ethan of course sleeping blissfully in it!), and all over the floor. While he is producing Niagara Falls, Aaron is screaming on the top of his lungs! I was thinking that the last thing we needed was for Ethan to awake, and confused in those first few moments of wakefulness, climb out of bed into the oncoming spew. So I tried to hold back my own contribution to the situation and go wide around the mess to climb up to the top bunk to comfort Aaron and get him to stop screaming! He did calm down eventually, and somehow Ethan slept through it all. I got Aaron changed, washed, and sitting with a bowl in a chair and decided that I had to do something in their room because Ethan could not currently get out of bed without rolling over into his brother's generous offering. I got large towels to cover it up, but the smell only made me sick too. Finally I was able to hold my breath long enough to at least cover the mess, but somehow Ethan still managed to push aside the towel on his bed before getting out of bed. I won't go into the details of what happened as a result of that...

Meanwhile, I called Jerry's cell, which of course he left in the car - twice. He did call back when he got in the car, and I lovingly told him that he had a huge mess to clean up when he got home! I had tried and only succeeded in adding to it, so he was on his own. He came in the house with bright green surgical gloves on that he uses when he is staining in the garage - prepared to go into battle! How I wish I had taken a picture of him doing this! He looked so funny with full protection to face the mess! He managed to strip the beds, clean the beds, and clean the carpet. He carried out the soiled linens as far from his body as possible to wash, and then looked at me very confused and had to ask how to start the washer! Wow, I've really gone wrong somewhere! While he was doing all of this, Aaron is still throwing up. Fortunately he embraced the "throw up into the bowl" method, but I still contributed when I had to empty the bowl. So Jerry worked from home yesterday morning. Thank goodness for flexible jobs in times of vomit crisis! Of course, both my parents and Jerry found this story absolutely hilarious - hardly able to contain their laughter. Aaron and I see it a bit differently. Thankfully, this morning has been vomit free so far!

(Re)Considering Ballet

As you know, we have the two older girls in a dance class each. Sarah's is ballet, tap, tumbling for an hour and Ella's is ballet for 45 minutes. I have had conflicting feelings about sending the girls to a dance class from the very beginning, often saying things about "poise", "grace" and "discipline" to ease any conscience pricks that may have arisen.

From my reading post, you also know that I have had the intention to read Tedd Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart. So, I have been waking up with Del and after he leaves I read my bible and a book until the kids wake up. I am reading Mr. Tripp's book and it is quite a doozy; very conscience pricking.

Here's my issue with ballet.

We are to have a God-oriented, God-glorifying, God-pleasing life.

1) We can get them to ballet on time every week without fail but we can't get them to church? We don't even do a simple Sunday service at home in our house. We don't even do a daily bible study, but we sure can get them to ballet on time.

2) Are we sending them to ballet because of the social pressure of giving your child what makes them happy? The "grace" thing doesn't always resonate with me considering what I see them learning in class. They learn the recital and not the discipline of ballet. The only reason we sent them in the first place is because Sarah asked to go and we like to give them things that make them happy.

3) Does ballet counteract our modesty message? I don't want them in the recital because I don't want them performing in public in tights and a leotard, but does simply sending them to ballet give them mixed messages about beauty and modesty?

4) What is the end purpose of ballet? Does it glorify God? If we are teaching them that everything we do glorifies God, is ballet what they should be doing at this time?

Some things that Tedd brought up that have made me consider these things are:

We homeschool; we "refuse to have them influenced by secular humanism in school, but will expose them to unbiblical ideas of beauty in dance class."

"Many families who always have time for team practice are unable to organize family life around regular times of family Bible reading and prayer. What values are taught?"

From the shorter catechism:
Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

"You must equip your children to function in a culture that has abandoned the knowledge of God. If you teach them to use their abilities, aptitudes, talents and intelligence to make their lives better, without reference to God, you turn them away from God. If your objectives are anything other than "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," you teach your children to function in the culture on its terms."

All these things are making me question ballet, at this time. I feel we as a family need to put more of an emphasis on glorifying God on a daily basis, before we venture out into other activities.

I also think that because I homeschool, I desired to put them into ballet so that I could prove to other people that we are normal; we do normal things, just like everyone else. This is hardly a God-glorifying reason to put them in such an expensive and time consuming activity.

Catching Up

It has been a long time since I really posted anything of value here...Can I pull the, "I have been really busy - feeling overwhelmed, actually - and this new little baby is reeking havoc with my stomach!" card? Will you have sympathy on me then?

So, regardless, I have done a few things lately that are somewhat blogworthy. First of all, I got new spring shoes! That's right, shoes. I loved the ones you posted recently, and mine are the same style. I wear these almost all the time now.

I know some people wouldn't like the second pair because it shows the toe cleavage. I never knew that toes could have "cleavage" per say. It is actually kind of nice to know, because for me, it is the only kind of cleavage I will ever have! I had never thought about this apparently horrifying problem until I shopped for shoes at Target.com and read the comments on some of the shoes available. You wouldn't believe how many people are unable to wear a pair of shoes that shows their toe cleavage. Yet, I imagine that these very same people would wear a pair of open sandals...scandalous, isn't it? (Or should I say "sandalous"?)


I also made a baby buggy cake for a joint baby shower for two of my friends who are both in my Sunday School class. They are due just a couple weeks apart, and both are having baby boys. I think the cake turned out well, but I was so disappointed because almost no one showed up to the shower so we had about 4 times as much cake as we needed. I took it to church the next morning to allow the guys in our class to eat some and still most of it was left. We then moved it down to where the youth group meets. They were done and milling around, heading to the service, but some of them ate it and about half of my cake got eaten. The other half got fed to the trash can. How sad. People said it tasted good, but now I am beginning to wonder.

I did make some really cut gifts for these friends, though. And I know they'll get thoroughly used! I went with some onesies and a burp cloth for each. I also made some washcloths for one of them since I had a separate shower to go to for her since she is also in my Bible Study group. I'll post those on Mothers of Invention.

Finally, I broke down and bought one of these:

Yes, I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet. I really cannot believe I did, either, because I have always been fundamentally opposed to paying for something that I have to continue to pay for more and more somethings to continue to use. I think it is a great idea for the manufacturer, but not so great for the consumer. But here's the thing - I am sick of pulling out a disgusting mop that looks like it is full of bacteria to "clean" my floor. Every mop I buy breaks, or gets discontinued right about the time I need a replacement head for it. I know that I could regularly bleach the mop head and all of that, but I am lazy. I thought that especially with children crawling on the floor, it would be nice if it was actually clean. And we have a cat...need I say more? So my mom had already gone to the dark side and bought one of these a while back and last week she brought it over so that I could "just try it out." And what do you know? I really liked it. It is fast, easy, and really gets up stuck on dirt. Not that my floor ever has stuck on dirt, but that is what I have been told. So when I saw a $3 off coupon in the paper this last Sunday, I considered it to be divine revelation that I was supposed to buy it. And :::gasp::: I like it. There, I said it.

Tooth Envy

I know this sounds weird, but I think Lily is jealous of my teeth. She has spent the last few days screaming bloody murder if I'm not holding her and when I finally relent and pick her up (STOP BOSSING ME AROUND, LILY), the first thing she does is go for my teeth. She puts her hand in my mouth and strokes my teeth and then just rests her tiny little fingers on them. After she has tired of caressing my teeth she will grab my face and try to eat my teeth. You know how babies put everything in their mouths? It's just like that. She wants to see what my teeth feel like.

I'm sorry, Lily, but if you had decided to grow your own teeth by now you wouldn't be jealous of my teeth. I mean, eight months old! All three of your sisters were four months old when they got teeth.

This is so bizarre, I've never seen anything like it. I've tried to thoroughly inspect her mouth and I think I finally see a tooth in there cutting through her gums. This probably explains the mild fever, the running of the nose, the drooling and the screaming.

Weekend Update

We have an executed contract on the house we're trying to buy; we're just waiting for the bank to approve it. Our realtor and the loan guy are both positive that the bank will just sign the papers and hand over the keys. This is the closest we've ever been to being $250,000 in debt. It's a wee bit scary.

We went to visit my grandma over the weekend. I remember as I was growing up, watching myself get taller than her; at the same time I was getting taller, she was shrinking. I can't wait to be as short and cute and lovable as she is and to be surrounded by my family. We went on a walk and saw two alligators and rescued a huge turtle.

I was thinking about righteousness. When I think about my life I know I've fallen way short of God's expectations. I get nervous about God's judgement; how is that going to go down? Once when I was 13 I asked my (ex)uncle if ,when God was judging me, I'd be embarrassed. He barked basically that I should be more concerned about obeying God than being embarrassed. He was very unsympathetic to a young teen wondering about God. Anyway, sometimes I still think about that. I'm not so worried about being embarrassed as far as what other people will think of me, but what God will think of me. "Not righteous," is what I'm thinking. (This is a lot of thinking, I think.) Anyway, what eases my worry is that God credited Abraham's trust as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Abraham was not always trusting, or obedient, yet God still called him righteous. This gives me comfort on two levels. 1) God is just and we can trust him to judge us justly, 2) Abraham was just. like. me.

Trying For Perfection

It's the rage these days for SAHMoms to make all sort of claims of trying to be a Proverbs 31 wife. I've had a problem with this for a while. When I read that passage in the bible I feel nothing but guilt and a horrible overwhelming sense of falling far, far, far and did I mention far short of that fine lady. I think she's unattainable and so I rebel at even trying to become her. The fact of the matter is I am not perfect and as far as I can tell, the lady described therein is perfect. I bet she never yells at her kids or gets irritated with her husband.

Anyway, one of the things that sticks with me is verse 15 where the Bible says, "She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls." I mean, why can't I have a servant girl? No, just kidding, that's not what sticks with me.

I noticed several months ago as Del was struggling through his 5:15 a.m. wake up call and then later at 8 a.m. my daughters coming into my room to get me out of bed that I was a lazy wife and mom. I mean, that Proverbs 31 lady gets up while it's still dark and gets stuff done before her family get up and makes them food. My children were having to drag me out of bed and poor Del was left to be miserable and lonely in the dark while I snuggled deeper under the covers.

Starting on Monday I got up at 5:15 with Del. I got dressed, packed his lunch and chatted with him until he left for work. Then I made myself a pot of coffee and folded two baskets of laundry and then started two more loads. The kids were up at 7:15, and I gave them breakfast and we finished school before lunchtime. Can I just tell you how fabulous this is? I know you already wake up that early. For me, just knowing that I was not being a lazy, selfish shell of a mother and wife has been freeing.

The laundry is done every day, school is getting done consistently, breakfast is being had before 8 or 9 every morning and I'm even getting other projects done like sewing all those clothes I've promised to make and CLEANING THE BATHROOMS. The transition hasn't been totally smooth because we've all been very sick this week, but even so it's been better than when I rolled out of bed at or after 8 to the kids all saying, "Mom, can I have breakfast."

Maybe she is attainable. One verse at a time...

Cornbread Issues

Alright, here's my problem. For some reason I feel compelled to like cornbread. This is a problem because, actually, I don't like cornbread. It's an even bigger problem because Del doesn't like cornbread. Being as Del is from a soul-food-cooking background, he's quite experienced in the cornbread arena and whenever I make a new recipe, he puts a bit in his mouth and says, "Nope, this isn't right." Do you know how many recipes for cornbread I've tried? It's ridiculous. Here is today's version. Wish me luck.

We Are the Worst Bloggers Ever!

So we don't post here so much...I am tired of seeing a post about a funeral when this blog pops up! But sadly, I'm too tired to do much about it! We have lifegroup at our house tonight, and I'm sitting here typing this when I need to mop, clean the dishes, and put away the ironing...

I am going to a baby shower Saturday and I am making the cake. I bought all new cake pans for this one. I was tired of doing the same 'ol, same 'ol, so I bought a cute baby buggy pan and a set of square pans. I am going to put the buggy on top of a square, because the buggy alone won't be enough cake. But I haven't started that either. I haven't made the gifts I'm taking either. Hmmm....I think I have some work to do. Good news, though - I'll post the cake and the gifts when I'm done!

On another note, have you seen the post about Ted Turner's view on how we'll all be cannibals in 40 or so years on Granny's? I had to crack up when I read this! Apparently, we're personally assuring that people will eat other people in the near future just because we have more than one or two children! Too funny!