Just Lunch

Today all of my kids are sick with the snifflies. Ayden more than the others. I'm pretty sure she has the pink eye, so we'll be going back to see doctor Morrisson tomorrow. Twice in a week. Yippee!! :(

Yesterday the kids made lunch...pb&j, of course.










It was even more fun with cousin Amorri here!!











Ayden discovered that what looked like so much fun, was actually hard work!



...so she decided to just eat it off of the knife. lol.



Aren't Saturdays fun!!

O What a Day!!

Today was scheduled to be a pretty uneventful day. Ayden and I were taking a trip to Montgomery to stop quickly by a consignment shop with my friend Nyema before going to her doctors appointment at 10:30.

I was going to the consignment sale to find storage units. In my new quest to get organized, I need storage!!! Well I found some great storage stuff and, of course, a little more. Some of the items were larger than would fit in my car at the time, so I had them hold them and I went to search for my keys to put the stuff that would fit into my car!

Well...here's where the day gets looooong! My keys were on the front seat of my locked car. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! I could've been so upset, but considering that this is far from the first time I've done this and because this time I wouldn't have to spend $40 for the locksmith, I was a little less stressed!

I called Alonzo (in Tuskegee) and broke the news. He said he'd be on his way. (Thanks honey!!!)

I'm so glad Nyema was there. She was able to take me to the doctor's office and we got some good hang time on the way! As I was walking in I got another o so pleasant surpise. My friend Ella was there with her oldest, Hudson, and her precious little new born! I was so glad to see her and get to chat for a minute.

We were at the docs for a recheck of Ayden's ear. All was well with Ayden. Obviously she wasn't so sure about Doctor Morrison.









After her thorough examination, she determined that he was also well :)

I wasn't sure what I would do after we finished with the doctor's visit. I assumed that Shaunta, my friend who has 2 month old twins, would surely be home! Well...surpise, surprise...she wasn't home. She's always home !!! She texted me and said she was in a meeting! I hate I missed seeing her today!

Guess who else was just leaving the doctor's office...Delta!!! God is so good! Of course she had nothing better to do but go and eat lunch with me. lol. No, she was actually going to the grocery store, but was hungry (she's good and pregnant :) so lunch sounded much better!!

After lunch my hubby and kiddoes picked me up from Eastwood! Then we headed back to open my car and get my goodies from the consignment sale. All of it actually fit in the car! The kids were so excited!! Here they are with pics of there new toys!!







You would think that at this point I would be so ready to get home that I'd head straight there! Well...I couldn't pass Willie's Flea World without atleast stopping to see if there was more storage to be found there! Well...today was my day!! I found this beautiful wood chest, that matches the kids bunk beds so perfectly. Thank you Lord!!




As if that were not enough for one day...

I went home cleaning and throwing away things like a mad women when I heard, of all things, the tornado siren!!! I didn't think Tuskegee had a tornado alarm. I was very glad to know that we do. Most of you know, I don't play around with sirens. I gathered all of the children into the hallway, grabbed there bowls of taco soup and buckled down for the next 30 minutes. Alonzo and our friend Porscha came and joined us in the hallway!!

30 minutes was waaaaaaaaaay to long for ALL of us to be in the hallway! I should've taken pictures of that, but I was too stressed out to even think of it!

Whew! Now the day is through and I am beat! Night Night!!

My Karate Boy

Little Zo is taking Karate!!

It is the cutest thing. I wanted Alonzo to go with him. I thought it would be something good for them to do together. I didn't really think that he would do it. He can be a little shy around new things. When I drop him off at the nursery he will almost never go in without me talking him into it. He hides behind my leg and holds on. I was convinced he'd never do karate but I thought atleast we'd try. Alonzo took him and a few minutes later this was one of the videos I got on my phone!





I was so excited!!! I couldn't believe he had jumped right in there and did it!! He looked like such a big boy. It was also so great that I could see him and have the videos on facebook before he even got home from the lesson. lol. We soon progressed!!





He does so great in the class from what I see on video. Everyday when it is time to get ready to go (he goes on Monday and Wednesday) he says he doesn't want to go and that he doesn't like karate.?. I can't figure it out! He seems to enjoy it so much but he never wants to go. This week Alonzo was running late so I had to take him. When we got there he would not go and do the lesson. He stood there and cried! I was so shocked!! When his daddy walked in, I quickly walked out!! I couldn't believe it. When I asked him why he didn't practice while I was there. He said he didn't know and that he doesn't like karate. I'm surely cherishing my videos because I don't know how long this is going to last!!!





She did this over and over again for about 5 minutes. This is what she did when I first pulled out the video camera.



She wasn't quit ready to go public!

Don't Wanna Grow Up

I've decided that Ayden Michelle can never grow up!!!

I don't know if I've been a parent long enough to relax and enjoy it a little bit more (it was slow going there at first) or if she really is just that darn sweet!! I almost can't stand it sometimes. I want to pull out the video camera and catch her every little move.

The way she runs down the hall chasing after her brother and sister.



The way she sruntches up her little face when she is not pleased.

The way she pouts and slaps her hands on her knees as if she just can't take anymore.

Aw!! I feel like she's someones else's child I enjoy her so much (most of the time :)

Today I said "Ayden you cannot grow up. Say ok mommy!" She scruntched her face up because she's two and of course she doesn't want to do anything mommy says without a fight. I said, "say ok mommy". With her face still scruntched up she said (in her whiny voice) "o-tay mommy." How will I ever remember that!!! I won't and it makes me sad!!!

Or the way she puts her face against one side of your face and then the other before she gives her good night kiss!!

or the way she says, "cuse me mommy, cuse me mommy, cuse me mommy, cuse me mommy" until the attempt at saying excuse me not to interrupt is pointless :)



She has so much personality in her little bitty body! It is just hilarious and I love her so!!!

Motherhood Joys

There are moments like these that make motherhood a pure joy!

I was laying Ayden down for her nap today and she kept looking at me like she wanted something. (I can't explain exactly what that look was, but I'm her momma and I knew she wanted something. lol) I kept giving her kisses because I thought that was what she wanted. She kept looking.

Finally I just laid her in the bed, and when I did she said "Pway." Ahhhgghhh!!! My sweet little pumpkin wanted me to pray before she took a nap. It was so sweet! (my face is as we speak turned up in the "Aw! that's so sweet" face :)



I normally pray before she goes to bed at night but not before naps. I guess it was all the same to her. I prayed for her and she giggled like she always does. It's amazing how they love things that they don't really understand yet. I pray that the Lord will use these planted seeds to grow into the fruit of salvation!!

Speaking of planted seeds. Yesterday, partly as a joke and partly out of pure need. I started laying hands on my children. I put my hand on their forheads and prayed. Amorri (my ten year old neice) quickly informed me that I was not a bishop.?. I couldn't even begin to get into what little she actually knows and how much she thinks she know about that.



Anyway, I decided that that was a very practicle way to bring Jesus into our daily situations and to literally pray for my children. So, today whenever they would come to me with one of the miriad issues that come up during the day. I would stop and put my hand on their forheads and pray for them.

Alaiyah took it very seriously and I believe it really helped her. Zo on the other hand...



He would let out this sigh of exasperation and ask "why you keep praying for me" LOL That boy is a whole different child than Alaiyah and I certainly need all of the prayers I can get. Like Ayden, though, I can tell that he really does like it. He's a true boy, after all, and even at 3 he couldn't stand the thought of letting on that he actually likes something that his mother does. Gotta love'em!!



Oh and by the way, when I was laying hands on the children yesterday you know who had to go around and do it to. Yes, little Miss Ayden. She also did her daddy and pushed his head back a little to hard. Makes you wonder if she's seen that somewher else. ha!

This is a copy of a post from My Charming Kids

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/01/down-with-mothers-guilt.html

it was a post that I resonated with deeply and I'm sure lots of mothers will too!

The Lord has been so good to show me over the last month or so a lot of my own insecurities. It's been so freeing to know that I am accepted and loved by the ONE who matters despite my contined failings and weaknesses. I don't have to get it all together in order for Him to be ok with me.

I love it! It's so freeing! I am free to be me in Christ. I'm still trying to figure out who that me is. One thing I learned that brings me comfort in it all is that God accepts me!! I don't have to be perfect. Jesus was and His counts for me! I am free in the grace of God to be all that God wants me to be. Free to discover who God has made me to be and confident in the reality that that "me" will be different from others...which is as it should be.

I've learned that I tend to be a rule follower. When there God's rules that's great when there not that's bondage. I am also free from that!

I'm excited to see what God's plans are for me and very trusting that they will be the best plan I could ever imagine. God is just good like that.

Enjoy!!


What's up with mother guilt!?

See, I was struck with some kind of small epiphany late this afternoon as I drove our MSC to an outing. MckNugget's face was dirty. And I'm talking really dirty. Like, there were probably still 14 calories on there dirty.

And when faced with the strong impulse to wipe his face clean of the honey/almond butter/marker/bread crumbs/goodness-knows-what-else mess before we entered our public destination, I stopped short and asked myself a few questions.

Does how my child looks in public really matter? Do I sometimes try to find my self-worth in how my children behave/look/smell? Do I unnecessarily impose mother's guilt upon myself? Is this just another way of trying to control things in my life? Am I afraid of having that child?

You know that child, don't you? That one with shoes on the wrong feet, snarly hair and ketchup on his shirt who's not quite potty trained but really should be? The one who embarrasses us in the grocery store? The one who we think makes us look like bad parents because of their misbehavior? The one who isn't perfect? That child who is just average?

I decided once and for all today that I do want that child. That I accept average. Down with mother's guilt! Unlike opinions that I held strongly before having children, there actually is nothing wrong with allowing my children to enter a public establishment with a drool-stained onesie, an outfit that doesn't match, or behavior that is less than adorable. That it doesn't display bad things about me as a mother when my children act like children.

And so I left MckNugget's face dirty, and we entered the establishment with our heads held high.

And then, after I realized that I do want that child, I realized that, accept it or not, anyone with children already has that child. No child is perfect, just like none of us are perfect. All children are messy, all children disobey, all children have accidents in their pants and all children are born without the ridiculous notion that how they look in public matters at all.

Because it doesn't matter. And people aren't looking at or paying attention to us or our children even half as much as we think they are, anyway.

What if, instead of trying to play the comparison game just to make sure our kids have a leg up on others, we just let it go?

Besides, where did all this mother's guilt come from, anyway? In the Garden of Eden at the fall, of course. Although I had my fair share to do with the promotion of mother's guilt. Especially before I had children. You know, when I was the perfect mother. I used to silently judge mothers who had to drag their tantruming sons out of Target by their belt loops, cringe at mothers who let their daughters walk around with food stains all over the fronts of their shirts and swear that when I had children, I'd never have that child.

And then, when I became a mother, I let a lot of that go. I realized that having children is hard. And dirty. And messy. And imperfect. And that that child was my child! But in turn, when I let that go, I picked up a new unhealthy habit: I found myself clinging to what I did do well, and propagated mother's guilt oh so subtly upon others that way.

My children always potty train really early. I use cloth diapers. We eat organic food. Look how nicely my children sit while we lunch at the Community Center. Blah, blah, blah, blah. As if any of that proved that I was a fabulous mother.

And that brings me back to my epiphany from earlier. I realized today how I long to reject mother's guilt.

Early potty training works for our family. But I am not a better mother for it. There are scads of 2 year olds who can produce much clearer words that the toddler babbles that still come out of the mouth of our 2 year old. But there is nothing wrong with our parenting because of it. Health and wellness are valuable to me and I love natural parenting. But I am not a better mother for making those choices. I didn't make enough breastmilk for Small Fry and I had to stop nursing her much earlier than I would have liked to. But I accept no guilt for that.

See, mothering is hard enough work without allowing ourselves to be burdened by others' guidelines for our own children. It's hard enough without giving mother's guilt to ourselves. It's hard enough when we do fail and have to face legitimate guilt, so it seems silly to add false guilt over silly, meaningless things to the mix. Mothering is hard enough!

So, here's to letting go of potty training stigmas, to allowing ourselves to be okay with being imperfect mothers, to dirty faces in public being socially acceptable and to feeding our children whatever we think is best for them. And to, instead, focusing only on what really matters.

Down with mother's guilt!!

Out Loud!!!

I was kind of having a serious lack of confidence moment yesterday. It was Alonzo's and my date night so we went to a restaurant and walked around the mall. A few of Alaiyah's close friends that she's grown up with started school this year as she would have if we weren't homeschooling. I've been having some issues with that. I struggle with feeling like Alaiyah is missing out. She loved school when she was in pre-school and she loves people, so I know she would have a great time. I struggle with feeling like she's bored here playing with her little brother most days.

I really needed to here the truth!! My husband rose to the challenge. This is what God has called our family to. Our children have plenty of great interaction with lots of great people and contrary to the lies in my head she is not here playing with her brother all day every day. We get out plenty!!! Even if we didn't, it is always better to be in the will..of..God. Alaiyah will always do better if I follow the leading of the Spirit than she would if I follow what I think will be better for her. Plus she loves it! I'm not sure why, but she tells everyone who asks that she's homeschooled! We've never had a real conversation with her about it. Anyhoo my point is, I knew this truth but I needed to hear it...out loud.

This week one of my friends from Tuskegee came over to hang out and we talked about the consistent struggle with thoughts. We talked about the importance of taking every thought captive and how to practically do this. We talked about the importance of being very intentional about replacing those thoughts with the truth. We talked of the practical application of speaking the truth not just in your head but out loud so that you can hear the truth that you know!!

Both of these situations make me think about the importance of hearing the truth! Most of us who have been Christians for awhile know all of the right answers and yet we struggle to apply those truths when put through the fire. Why is that? Of course I don't know!! LOL. But I believe that part of that is that we don't ruthlessly replace the lies that dominate our minds with the truth that we know that we know!!

Romans 10:17 Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ

Let's speak the truth in our struggles...Out Loud!!!

Other verses that deal with speaking the truth:

Romans 10:9-10 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; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteiousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Proverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Why is speaking the truth so powerful?

BECAUSE THE WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND ACTIVE!!!!!!!!! Hebrews 4:12

Praise the Lord!!!!