Decisions, Decisions

I have less than 2 hours before I pick my kids up from MDO. I am contemplating between mopping the kitchen floor and cleaning the bathrooms or going shopping with some of my birthday money.

 

Hmmmm....

Peace out.

These are few of his fav-orite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

Kidding.

My husbands favorite things (according to me). I've even supplied a visual stimulant for my reading impaired friends.

• Coffee. No question about this. Black and strong. Just like... I'll stop there.

• Dudes and Donuts. Every Saturday, Noah and Brad head to the Donut Stop for dudes and donuts. They eat breakfast and watch the *ucks pass by. They both love Dudes and Donuts. In fact, a few weeks ago, I got up and got ready thinking Kayt and I might just join them for breakfast. Noah said, "where you goin' mom?" I told him that today it was going to be Dudes, Dudettes and Donuts. He said, "No it's not. It's just for the boys. You and Kayt need to stay here. We'll bring you one." He shut that idea down.

• Candy. Sweetarts, skittles, Sprees, Sour Worms, anything fruity or sour. On road trips, we will barely get out of town before we make our first candy stop. He's a sucker (no pun intended) for a good convenience store. 

• Coke with lime. Not the canned stuff. A real Coke with a real lime.

• His grandpa. He admires him so much.

• Jody. They are weirdly crazy about each other. I don't even ask anymore. 

• Friends. He loves to spend time with friends whenever he can. He has a lot of them.

• College Game Day on ESPN. I happen to be a huge fan also.

• Texas Tech. Get your guns up!

• Cowboys. Yep.
  

• Mavericks. Double Yep.

• Golfing. He loves it. I, on the other hand, think it takes entirely too long. We compromise.

• Poppyseed Chicken and Angel Pie. Or anything his mom cooks. 
  

• Jesus. And all that encompasses. His job. His ministry. His calling.
  

no visual here :)

• His offsprings. He totally digs his kiddos; he is a great daddy!

• Me. Obviously. For reasons too numerous to list. Kidding.

I tag:

Anyone who wants to participate. It was kind of fun to think of all my spouse enjoys.

p.s. Thanks for tagging me Magen! And thank you for the lovely birthday card.

The floods came up

It has rained all day.. We awoke to a soaking downpour and have splashed in the puddles forming. I love rainy days. But I don't know that I would enjoy living in an area that consisted mainly of rainy, dreary days. I cannot deny that sunshine does my soul well. 

What are your favorite days?

sunny.  rainy.  cloudy.  hot.  snowy. 

What type of weather makes you smile most?

Birthday Surprise...

My husband is wonderful! He woke me this morning to this lovely breakfast spread for the two of us. Lil' dude watched Barney and lil' dudette entertained herself in her bed while we enjoyed breakfast burritos and apple turnovers. He even had my coffee creamed to perfection!

Next to my plate were two sweet, sweet notes and a candle. I thought this was my gift and was so pleased with it. And then...

I found out we are going to Las Vegas in two weeks. He surprised me with this getaway. I can hardly wait!!!

Later, my mother-in-law brought this over. Lovely.

What a wonderful, relaxing birthday!

God of the Roach

I am heading out for the retreat.

I wanted to post something before I left, but at this very moment I am still not quite sure what I will post about.

How about this...

For the past month or so, over the course of my day, I will think this phrase: "I am God of the roach."  That is God speaking, not me. 

I didn't know why the Lord keeps saying this phrase to me, but what I had originally gathered was that he was telling  me that he is not just God of the glorious or the pleasant or the desirable, but he is also God of the small, the pesky and the seemingly unnecessary. 

The first time the Lord spoke this phrase in my mind, I was driving with my children and I was taking in the beautiful evening. The colors of the sky, the rays streaming from the sunset, and the calm evening were captivating me. In that beauty, he spoke the phrase.

I am God of the roach.

At that moment, I redirected my thoughts from the beauty and began to think of those nasty insects. Cockroaches are pests. They are of no advantage and from the research I have done they appear on most all continents. They are most always considered pests.

But since the Lord continued to speak this to me, I researched further.

I have also learned that researchers have found a balance of cooperation and competition that exist with roaches. What I am saying is that when they placed cockroaches in multiple groups, the groups all joined together, forming one group.

Also, cockroaches run from light and desire dark places. Researchers believe that only two pieces of information are used when roaches make a decision: how

 dark it is and how many of their friends are there. 

So, in all of my silly research of cockroaches, I have concluded that roaches represent sin. This goes against my initial thinking that they may be a picture of small and unwanted issues. I believe this represents larger issues, consistent, addictive sin. 

People mirror roaches more than I had previously thought. When in sin, we flee from light. We run from those who are living in freedom, we avoid any person, place or thing that represents holiness and we desire to stay in darkness. In our disobedience, we look for friends; anyone who will approve of how we are living, anyone that will join us in our darkness. We, like roaches, have two factors in our mind when dealing with sin; how dark is it and how many of our friends are there. Those living in blatant disobedience work to stay there and over time their eyes become so accustomed to living in darkness that any ounce of light makes them turn their head and hide their eyes to protect them from light.

For the person living in sin, remaining in the dark, looking for anyone who will accept the choices you are making, He is God of the roach. I believe that my God wants to remind us that, in this dark world, full of sin and people who claim to know the truth but deny any form of Godliness, he is still the Lord. He is still the Alpha and the Omega. He alone is righteous and pure.  

In our roach-like behavior and our roach-like lifestyles, he still trumps. Ashamedly I have seen someone so entangled in sin that I don't ever consider that person coming to know the Lord. I feel they are too far gone. But he is God of the roach. He is still Lord of the one person or persons in your life that you have lost hope in. For you, have hope, take heart, and keep praying. He can restore and change. In Bible study on Tuesday, we read Saul's conversion to Paul. If Paul, who persecuted Christians, can be saved and dramatically changed, so can the roach you know.

When things seem downcast for you and when evil seems to prevail, remember he is God of the roach. He hasn't lost control. This world has not run ahead of the Lord, he is worthy of our honor.

He is God of the roach.

I am not completely sure why this odd phrase keeps going through my mind, but I know the Lord will show me in time. 

The Dump Truck was Mowing!

At the request of my husband...

Noah has cracked us up for months with his excitement over trucks. Only, he cannot say -tr-. Several weeks ago, our friends Chris and Amy were over and everyone was encouraging Noah to talk about all types of trucks. 

You can hear everyone laughing in the background and at one point Chris (Happy Birthday yesterday Chris!) fell out of the chair because he was laughing so hard. 

I know it is inappropriate and immature of us, but you know you would do it too...

My Birthday Week and My Wonderful Gift

It is my birthday week. 

For me, it has always been that the week(s) leading up to my birthday were fair game for being celebrated. Brad jokes about this because I like to start celebrating a week or two early and then often carry the celebration on after the actual date of my birth passes. He would rather no one even know it is his birthday. 

Since we have had kids, my birthday importance has slipped through the cracks. A lot of things have slipped through the cracks. Or gained cracks, physically speaking. Last year I had a 2 week old on my birthday. The last thing my flabby self wanted to do was go out in public. The thing is, I'm now okay with my once "important" day being overlooked. It actually pails in comparison to my family. It is amazing how your perspective changes after  these little, all-consuming people enter into your world. 

Thursday morning I am leaving for the Women's Retreat at our church. Brad will have the kids all by his lonesome until Sunday evening. I think that is better than any gift he could give me, don't you? The few times I have gone away without Brad and the kids I look forward to it, but I also carry a sense of guilt about leaving. Partially because it always seems like a good idea in theory and then when the time gets closer, I don't want to leave my family. And partially because I always feel bad leaving Brad with the kids. He is wonderful with them and can 'hold down the fort'(probably better than me), but that is a lot of responsibility to place on him. 

Before Brad popped into my life, I  knew that I wanted to marry a man that would be there when we had children.  Not just there physically. Not just at the sporting events or school functions, but that was as much a parent to his children as I would be. I had seen all too many marriages where the mother had to leave a list of instructions for the father, just to be gone for an hour. I grew up knowing women who trusted babysitters with their children more than they did their own husbands. I never wanted that. I wanted to be able to leave the house and be confident that my husband knew the drill, had the schedules down, and could handle the children. The Lord has answered my prayers one hundred fold. 

Though I feel guilty leaving my family for days at a time, in the end, I know it is good for everyone. My times away always make me feel more appreciated and loved, as well as refreshed and encouraged. 

I am looking forward to my 'retreat' and time of connection. But, as I leave, I know that it is not without the sacrifice of someone else. Thank you babe...my heart if overflowing with love for you!

Great memory + Star Struck

Two posts in one day. Wow. Brad is not home yet and I have nothing better to do. Actually, scratch that. I have better things to do, but nothing that I feel like doing.

Noah is the type of child that overhears an adult say something and then two weeks later throws that name or word or location into causal conversation. He has a stellar memory.  

During the Olympics, all he could talk about was Michael Phelps. It was Michael Phelps this and Michael Phelps that. 

Several weeks ago we were driving and a country song came on the radio. He asked me if it was Allan Jackson singing. 

Later that week, he asked me if I had seen The Beatles on TV. He went on to say that he watched them play two songs and really liked them. 

On Wednesday, Sarah called to see if the kids and I wanted to join her and the girls for dinner. After I got off the phone, Noah asked who I had been talking to; I told him it was Sarah. "Oh, Sarah Palin?" he asked. Ummm, no. It was actually Sarah Wilson. From what I can recall, Sarah Palin didn't call me on Wednesday.

Today we were leaving Texas Roadhouse from having dinner with my dad. As we passed McDonalds, he and my dad had this conversation:

N: "Hey Pappy, I think we should go to a birthday party at Old McDongals" (he doesn't grasp the difference between the  restaurant  eating joint and the song)

Pappy: "You do? Who's birthday party would you like to go to?"

N: "How bout' John McCains" 

Pappy: "Well, I guess if John McCain has a birthday party at McDonald's then we could probably make that happen."

Later in the evening, Noah asked this: "Does Obama like change?" 

Whatthaheck?

Speaking of what the heck, I've heard that phrase come out of Noah's little mouth on more than one occasion. A few days ago, he was going to share a piece of his cereal bar with Kayt. He gave her a rather large piece expecting her to take a bite and give him the remainder. Of course, she shoved the entire thing in her mouth. He said "Whatthaheck! She ate my biggest piece!"

Crazy kid. 

I think I need to watch what I say, don't you?

How do you pick a title for this?

I have been such a bore lately. Not only blogingly speaking, but I all around. My mind is back and forth between numerous things and the sores in my mouth (yes I still have 2 of them), keep me from wanting to say much to anyone. 

Let's see what comes out of my mind this morning...

-Can someone tell me how to change my comments from saying 'sweet comments'? I did this several months ago, and I guess I was feeling extra sentimental that day because since that moment it has bothered me. I cannot figure out how to change it, so it has remained against my liking. 

-Yesterday evening, we went to the Sandies homecoming parade. The kids loved it and they were quite a hit. I am pretty sure they received more candy than anyone else in the miles of turf covered. All of the high school students eewed and awed over the two little munchkins in their fall outfits. I guess that means Brad and I have a lot of candy to consume, because I could never allow Noah or Kayt to eat the mound of candy they acquired because their teeth would fall right out of their heads. Kayt only has 3 so that  would really put her at a disadvantage.  I also realized how popular my husband is. When you are the high school pastor to the largest youth group in town, you are well known in the high school community. It was like being married to a mini-celebrity. Kids were yelling his name from every direction. The older gentleman standing next to us said, "I'm assuming you must be Brad. Should I get your autograph?" The funniest thing was that Brad hardly had a voice yesterday so he was just making hand gestures at them. 

-Noah loved the marching band. He loves all things band, from VH1 to Sunday morning worship to the marching band, he loves music. He is actually quite talented at the guitar and drums. I know I am his mother and all, but for a 2 year old, he jams out. He can keep count and can memmic most any pattern. He is so cute tapping his drum sticks together saying "one, two, one two three..." Vouch for me here Lezlie. When she heard him play, she said he was a prodigy. And she knows music. Okay, bragging over.

-After the parade, Noah requested dinner at either "Chic-ba-way or Shili's."  Since our pickins' were slim, Brad and I opted for Chili's. A monsoon came and went while we ate dinner. I think Jesus had that dinner lined up for us, because we ran into several friends while there and ended up getting to eat dinner with our friends, Sarah and Jared. Thanks Sarah for sacrificing your quiet dinner with your husband for a messy and loud dinner with us. Isn't it funny how eating out changes once you have children. Noah thought it was so funny to dip his chip AND HAND into the ranch dressing. Kayt, on the other hand, didn't seem to think anything was funny. She was 2 hours past due for dinner and we were running into her bedtime. She is nothing if not scheduled. 

-Kayt is walking!  She awoke the morning before her birthday and I guess Jesus gave her the walking pass in her sleep because she went from taking steps and cruising around the furniture to walking, walking and walking more. It has always amazed me how babies seem to reach milestones upon waking up, or at least mine do. Do yours? Noah went down for a nap as a crawler and woke up as a walker. It just isn't like that for adults. I don't go to sleep at night not being able to skateboard and wake up in the morning being able to glide up a ramp. --Don't ask me why I picked skateboarding, it just came to me. I guess it is from Noah's third love, skate parks. What? He is well-rounded; sports, bands, skateboarding...-- Okay, let me use a more realistic example. I don't fall asleep not being able to sew and wake up making quilts. Better?

-As soon as I get Noah's book shelf re-done I will post pictures of his big boy room. After I get the book shelf completed, I have a cute idea for a project for Kayt. If it turns out like I plan, I'll tell you about it. If it doesn't you will never hear another word of it. That's how I roll. After that project, I want to reorganize our closet and bedroom. This is where you come into play. The bottom line is that we do not have enough room for all of our clothes and shoes. We have cleaned out and given away and thrown away until we can do it no more. We really do wear all that we have (well, most of it), and only a small portion of the clothing I own is in our room. I keep a lot of my belongings at my in-laws. Does anyone use anything, organizationally speaking, in their closet that would be good for me to know about. I am trying to fit as much as possible in a relatively small walk-in (I guess you could call it that) closet. I want it to be organized and easily accessible. I understand the sky is not the limit when you have a closet that is older than it's owner. In 1958, when our house was built, they must not have owned the amount of things that we own 50 years later. Or maybe it is the difference in how the owners do or do not accumulate massive amounts of 'stuff'. The funny thing is, Brad and I don't buy new things, really we don't, but somehow our stuff seems to be expanding!

-And last, but most important, thank you Mandy for the new header. I didn't even ask her to make me one. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my email to find this. Gosh, I love good friends! For $15 she will make you one too. Okay, I'm kidding. She doesn't do it for pay. But have you thought about it Mandy?

-If you made it this far, bless your heart. If it were me, I would be quickly skimming the post by this point. Have a great weekend. Pray for Brad, he is speaking at a Disciple Now and still has little to no voice. He made himself a homemade remedy last night. Any guesses on what was in the medicine (wink, wink)?

The First of Many, I'm Sure

In January, I will be a part of a team traveling to the opposite side of the world.  While in India, we will take part in two different ministry agendas; orphanage ministry and a women's conference.

To say that I never imagined myself doing this type of ministry at this point in my life would be an understatement. I mean, after my children were grown and out of the house is one thing, but I have 2 babies who very much depend on their momma. When asked to join the group, my initial reaction was an instant no, but the the Lord really began to work in my heart showing me how my small world needed to be expanded, how my narrow mind needed to be broadened and how my ministry needed to be taken to the ends of the Earth.   Brad has encouraged me to go from day one. He is so great about knowing what is best for me long before I can see it.

Brad spent 10 days in India in the spring of 2007. It changed his life. He loved the thought of us being able to connect based on this journey, even though our trips will be almost 2 years apart. My husband has never once discouraged me in any area of ministry. He is willing to do whatever it takes so that I can be involved in most anything I choose. I am very aware of his sacrifices for me and his desire for me to constantly grow and become.  

My two biggest concerns, my children and the funding, are in the Lord's hands. I have raised the large sum I needed to be a part of the trip. I was blown away by the ways the Lord provided for me and how he blessed me beyond what I could have conjured up. My children will be in great care and my anxieties about leaving them for 12 days have began to decrease dramatically. I am sure as the departure gets closer I will feel many motherly emotions, but the Lord continues to remind me that he loves my children far more than I do. He is their protector and their greatest advocate. They are his, not mine. I, too, am his and not mine. For that very reason, I will now and forever go when the Lord calls me. 

I cannot fathom what ministering to hundreds of pastors wives on the other side of the world might be like. I am excited to see what this step of faith looks like for me, and am eager to share all that I learn in the mean time with you. I am sure you will hear much more about India from now until January, but I wanted to share the details of my trip and my heart about the journey.