Just What I Needed

Don't you just love it when things come just when you needed them? Some call this a coincidence, I call it God.
Let me tell you about my night. I went to bed not feeling well, and awoke to a crying, vomiting 3 year old at 2 in the morning. Poor thing, as we all hate throwing up, she does too and cried her way through it with me holding her and rubbing her back. Let me tell you, with a nauseated stomach of my own it was all I could do to not toss my own cookies. But we made it through the night with a few more visits from her insides and then she & I slept in her bed for the rest of the morning.
I did cry this morning, wondering how I was going to take care of my wonderful girl with the stomach flu, upon getting sick myself and entertain my 2 year old boy. I cried to God to help, help me somehow because I know that today would not fall upon my own strength.
Then, I opened up my email box and read my verse of the day. . .It was
"I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to Him, and He answered my prayer."
~ Psalm 120:1, NLT
I know the Lord hears me and I have already begun to feel less tired and a bit more myself. And as you can see I have had some free moments to write this blog while the kids watch Super Why on PBS.
I know we will make it through the day, but I definitely know it is not on my own strength alone.

My First "real" Cake!

Okay, so first, I know it has been a long while. My baby has now turned 2! I can't believe it, as he still has that pacifier and I am not quite sure how to cut that cord, but one thing at a time right?!?
For his birthday party we decided to take the trip to Phoenix and celebrate at a park next to his grandma and grandpa's house in Fountain Hills. It was a nice day and the kids had fun. For this birthday I promised myself I'd make a nice cake. No easy store bought cake, I would make it and decorate it. Well, I did half of it. I made it from a Duncan Hines mix, BUT I decorated it all by myself. Here is a picture to prove it. . .

So that was my labor of love for my little boy's 2nd birthday!

Sweetest Sound of All

So, things have been crazy lately for everyone. The financial markets, gas, food, oil, politics, , getting kids up, fed, going to work, soccer, kids then cleaned up, bath, bed, and doing it all over again. This is what I hear when I talk to my friends, life is just busy and crazy right now. And our family feels the same way.
But I have to share with you about last night and the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. Some of you might say your sweet sounds are when your spouse committed to you forever, or your babies first cries entering the world, or the sound of your boss giving you a raise, but I have decided the following is my sweet sound.
Last night Jeff was away at softball so the kids and I were doing the bed time routine. Complete with hair washing which both of them don't like and try to avoid at all costs. So we had bath time, brushed teeth, jammies were on, books were read, and we were all sitting in the rocker together. Then I asked them what song they'd like to hear and Lauren shouts out "AMAZING GRACE!" and Sean follows with "GRACE, GRACE!" (Yes, although I love the "new" worship music, I still love some old hymns and have been singing this one to my kids since birth.) :)
I began to sing and then Lauren began to sing, and then Sean began to sing. I start to sing softer so I can hear the kids. They go on to sing all three verses that I have always sang to them. Lauren knows all the words and sings them loud and clear, Sean seems to know all the last words to the phrases, but hums the rest.
I have decided that with all going on, this was a moment I will never give back. It was to me, the sweetest sound of all.

The 'Left' Has Left the Building

Well, I have avoided for long enough. I know some of you can't stand politics and don't believe people should share political thoughts. Yet, I just cannot sit back anymore, my passion for the current election at both state and federal levels is too much for me to bear, so now I must blog about it.

I have recently been so frustrated, I did something I vowed that I would never do as an Arizona voter. I have become an Independent. Yes, I have left my democrat party not for the other side, but for the middle. For those of you who don't know why one would not want to do this in Arizona, it is because you cannot vote in primary elections being an Independent voter. Yes, I broke my vow.

I don't know what happened to the "left" as we commonly refer to the Democrats. I am not even sure who hijacked them? Who was it that skew the old Roosevelt ways? Who turned the democrats in to whiny babies that only want to talk bout social issues that frankly will NEVER be solved by politics. Who turned the Democrats into the "Hollywood, feel good party". Well, I feel that I am just a tad bit too grown up for that. I consider myself and "old school" democrat now. A ,"To whom much is given much is required", but not give away the farm (as long as it not from my pocket) and screw everyone else, kind of gal. I am afraid I don't fit in anymore. I am not quite sure what happened, but frankly I could not take it anymore.

Maybe it will be back one day, but until then, I am officially an 'I'.

Back in the swing of things!

So, we have had a bit of a roller coaster month in our house. :) I would rather not relive it either, but God was good and gave us everything we needed at the times we needed it.
Jeff was in Israel again this month. The day he left, Lauren came down with a virus that was accompanied by a very high fever, but the blessing is that there was not any vomiting involved, as that is not so good with small kids. Then she got better and Sean came down with it, but the blessing is my mom came down for a couple days to help. Then Sean was good and Lauren broke out with the chicken pox! Yes, both kids have had the vaccine, but we were those people who ended up with the pox anyway, but the blessing is that is was a mild case for both of them. However, I do know what it is like to have cabin fever as we just had to stay at home for a while. But that is okay as they were well enough for a wonderful trip at the end of this month with great friends in the Tahoe/Donner area. And they were able to see their grandma, who had just gotten out of the hospital after major surgery, so those things were both blessings. I guess in it all we were provided many blessings.
I am sure September will be wonderful, and I can't believe it is here. Jeff is home for a while, Lauren is back in preschool, and we are getting our routine back in order.
Happy fall to those of you with fall like weather, it still feels like summer here! :)

Found Out

Why is it that we are so afraid to be found out? We are afraid to let people in, to let them see who we are and our struggles. We (and when I say we I mean the American society) are fearful of what others might think. That we might not have "it" all together. Whatever "it" may be. That we have failure, sadness, fears, and bad days among our successes, hopes, dreams, and laughter. That sometimes we need help from others and that we make mistakes.

The funny thing is that we ALL have these things, but very few of us share them-even with people who are close to us. We are all broken in some way or another, but yet we have this innate desire to pretend. We have become great pretenders. So much that we laugh when we want to cry, lie when we should share truth, are in debt up to our eyeballs to keep up with the Jones & fake a lot of things that should be real.

Let's face it. Maybe we do it because we are just as judgemental towards others. It is like the parable of the spec of dust and the log. We are so eager to point out some one's spec of dust in their eye that we miss the log in our own. Maybe we do this because we can't face our own log. Maybe because calling someone else out or comparing ourselves with them would make us feel better. But in the end it doesn't.

I have decided I want to be the most "real" person I can be. I don't want to spend any time looking at the dust in other's eyes and want concentrate on having the Lord deal with my big fat log. Because I am sure it is even bigger than I realize.

It also makes me wonder. . .If we were all "real" would we have a lot more friends and be less stressed out?

Everyday Heroes

I have a friend that has become one of my heroes. She is amazing woman with a strength that only comes from the Lord. She is the vision of the Proverbs 31 woman. Her husband does praise her and her children will (when they get older) call her blessed. :)

First let me tell you she is a stay at home mom with 5, yes 5, children. The oldest is about 10 but then the other 4 are all under 6! She plays with them, disciplines them, teaches them about the grace of the Lord, cleans, does laundry, gets them to school and preschool, and volunteers. I think that is amazing, but if that was not enough, it gets even better. This is a women who has worked through the loss of her mother-in-law to Lou Gehrig's (shortly before her marriage), her father-in-law to cancer, almost lost her husband (who was not long ago in the hospital for days upon end), and now has found out that her brother has a cancerous tumor. Yet in all this, she still praises the name of the Lord and thanks Him for her sustenance. There is a song, "Praise You In The Storm", by a group called Casting Crowns and the chorus is as follows:

And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

This is what my wonderful friend does and I cannot say that about many people. She considers her family blessed and trials an opportunity to share her faith and who God is to her.

I have many heroes, some I have met and others I have not. Today I wanted to share with you just one who is absolutely amazing. And if you pray, please pray for her family and that the Lord will show Himself to her even in the midst of another 'storm'.