Thank You, Lord for my problems

While surfing the net the last several days, I have been very affected by what I have seen. The news out of China has been bleak and while I sit here trying to get organized for all that we have going on, I have to thank God that I have these issues. I could be sitting on a broken ground waiting to see if my only child will be found dead or alive and if alive, maimed for life. Instead of griping about how hectic I am with ball practice, shopping, carpool, etc, I could be frantically digging at a pile of debris that used to be a school, tired of waiting for rescue workers that can't get to me to help find my child. I could be afraid to go into my home because of the aftershocks even though there is no shelter outside. I could be preparing for a burial, or several. While I complain about my children and how frustrated they can make me, I have to thank God for being able to be frustrated and offer my prayers for those parents whose children have died or children whose parents have died. Please take a moment to think of others around the world and remember how similar we are instead of how different. Let's focus on how we can help and not how we are better than "they" are.

Thank You, Lord for all my problems and help me to see what a blessing they are instead.

Prayers

You know how you start to look for something and then you find something else? Well, I was hunting under the bed and found a bag with about eight packages of film in it. I had gotten the CDs with each one and I have spent all day uploading certain prints. These pictures are from 2006. This has also made me realize that I have not done any scrapbooking in a while. I was pretty caught up at one point and now I think I am starting on Alex. That's 2003, January. I think its time to get busy, again. I have put a few above to show how my guys have changed through the years.

I can't figure out how to put the pictures within my blog, so if you have any suggestion, I am open!

My sister-in-law has MSRA on her lip, chin and throat. This is on top of the bout of Bell's Palsy she is fighting. She has been through so much so please keep her in your prayers. She is trying to maintain a good attitude, but come on!!

My husband was fired today from his job. I would be more upset , but the Director of Operations was also fired today. I am not sure what we are going to do, but we will make it work. Or, rather, I will take a deep breath and put it into God's hands. We have been saving money to go to Disney, so we have something set aside. So, keep us in your prayers as well, please.

I was reading another blog the other day and she had asked several thought provoking questions about God's hand in our lives. I believe that God is in our life every day and every way. I posted a reply to her blog supporting her and someone critiqued my post! I was very upset at first, but then got to thinking that it wasn't worth it. Why argue with someone. As long as my point was understood, everything was fine. Has anyone else had this happen to them? What did you do, if anything?

Oh, well enough soapbox!!

I am currently listening to three little guys playing with those Fisher Price toys that I was going to give away. Boy, am I glad I didn't!

Summer Fun

I know it has been a while, so please excuse me if I ramble..

Heather's last day of school is tomorrow and she plans to spend a lot of time " on the couch watching t.v. this summer." I had to hold back the laugh, didn't do such a good job because she said that she wouldn't mind watching cartoons. O.K., moms, you know that is not why I was laughing. I am not sure where she thinks she will be living if that is her plan. I have plans for the summer and they really do not include a lot of t.v. time. I have been asked if I will watch a couple of the carpool kids for the summer so those two plus my three does not equal a lot of TV. Life is a learning lesson, though, isn't it.

Aaron's Little League team is undefeated and they have only three games left in the season. Clark is working on baseball cards for the kids. They look just like real ones with stats and everything. I think they will really like them. Each boy will get a set of the entire team. Aaron is really working on getting straight "A"s this semester. He is close!!

Lauren is having problems at school with listening and keeping her hands to herself. She has been grabbing classmates and giving them hugs. Clark said it is because she was actually finished with her classwork in January. Its quite possible. We are working on it with her. Her brain is just going so fast that it is hard to remember everything she has to. She is really into Robert Frost right now and I am feeding that by reading with her. She is on level two book from the library and I think they are too easy for her. Next time I think I will get some level three ones to challenge her.

Alex is just plugging along. We are still working on his alphabet cards. I took a set of index cards and wrote each letter with its upper case and lower case. We go through junk mail and he cuts out pictures to glue on the back of each card. I have been letting him pick the pictures. He has come with a few interesting ones. For "H", he picked a picture of two children and when I asked him about it, he said it was because they were humans. For "E", he found a picture of Cleopatra's head and said it was for Egypt. The other day, he lay on the ground watching ants. I was about to talk about them and how hard they were working when I saw that, as they got close to him, he was blowing them away off the sidewalk. So much for that lesson!

We are getting close to our Disney trip. Did you know that Disney will let you customize maps of the theme parks with the stops you want and mail them to you with your family's name? All for FREE! We are very excited. We were watching Modern Marvels the other day and it was talking about behind the scenes at Disney and now my guys want to go underground to see that part. What happened to all the other stuff?!

Well, it is late and tomorrow will be here soon. In case I don't get on until after Mother's Day...

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. - Inspirational sayings by Washington Irving

To all the mothers I know.. God Bless and Happy Mother's Day!

My Mother taught me LOGIC

"If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."

My Mother taught me MEDICINE

"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."

My Mother taught me ESP

"Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"

My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE

What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you... Don't talk back to me!"

My Mother taught me HUMOR

"When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

MY Mother taught me PATIENCE

"Sure, you can do that. As soon as you're 21 and leave the house!"

My Mother taught me DIPLOMACY

"I don't want to hear who started it, It takes two to fight."

My Mother taught me SHARING

"Play nicely with that or I'll just take it away from both of you."

My Mother taught me ETIQUETTE

"Use your fork! If I see that hand on the table again I'll Slap it!"

But most of all, My Mother taught me LOVE

" You know that whatever you do or whatever happens, I'll stand behind you because I Love you."

Aaron

We went to the doctor today since Aaron had said that his rash was beginning to itch. The doctor looked at it and said....Fifth's Disease. Great!! I asked if he should stay home and if it was contagious and the doctor said it was contagious but two weeks ago!! Lovely. By the way, there is nothing that can be done about it! Cause you know I have money just laying around just trying to figure what to do with it!

More From the Gardens

The infamous lizard! This is as close as we could get for Jarred. Maybe his mom can blow it up for him. The kids had a journal that they filled out as we went. We rubbed tree bark and traced leaves. We also rubbed footprints that were in the Texas walk. We rolled down hills and walked and walked and walked...... We also fed koi and snapping turtles. It seems that we paid more attention to the wildlife than the flowers and plants. We did go into the rose gardens. The kids seemed to like how strong the roses smelled. We passed one lady who was there who had stronger perfume than the roses and I really had to hustle to keep the kids from saying anything. They did wonder why you would wear perfume like that. I couldn't help them with that one. The cardinal in the other picture was really posing for us. He must have sat there puffed up for several minutes. The kids thought he was cool especially since we had seen a female one and talked about camouflage and why it was important.

As we walked, I wanted to give them a little freedom so they could experience things so as we left an area I would quack. Yes, I said quack. They had to quack back to let me know that they were paying attention. I just figured that since they had to follow me like duckings, that we might as well act like ducks. Jarred did ask why we had to quack and I told him that we could tweet instead if he wanted. He opted for quacking. As my mom would say..You always have a choice. Sometimes its between peas and carrots, but its still a choice.

I am about to leave for afternoon carpool, but have to fold a load of laundry first. Man you leave it for even one day and I think that it reproduces!

Don't Give Me A Rash

Today was very fun. Lauren and I went to the Botanical Gardens with her class and we had a great time!.. However, before talking about that let me fill you in.

One of the carpool kids asked Aaron on Wednesday "Hey, what's that on your face?" Statements like tend to make a mom look up. I looked and he had a bad case of acne. I looked closer and it was all over his body. It actually looks like a giant case of hives. It is not raised or bothering him. He has no fever or anything else. The doctor said that she hadn't heard of anything so she thought he would be o.k. Makes you feel good, right? He should be fine. Its the should that got me... I let all the carpool parents know just in case. So if you see a lot of kids around with this odd looking rash, its my fault. I've told you about it...so DON'T GIVE ME A RASH.. HA!

I guess it works out because one of the little carpoolers threw up all over my house that same day. It was a busy day!

But on to the Gardens...

One of guys was so OCD about touching a lizard. It was so funny watching him try to catch one. Everywhere we went he was looking for one. We didn't get everywhere on the map, but these little guys were troopers and walked a great deal. I did seem to have more and more in my backpack at the end of the day, though.

Its now the weekend and time for a mommy's night out. Hellen and I are going to Starbucks to hang out. Tomorrow starts early with a baseball game and then shopping. The kids have friends spending the night and then Sunday is church and Sunday School. I'll try to get back to blogging on a regular basis.

Beauty in the Common Things: sleeping children

Listen in: A very LOUD TV show that my husband is watching

Good Night!

Catch up

It has been a while since I have been on to let you guys know what is happening. So let's take it from the top:

Me: I am trying to organize my days more. It seems to be working, but we'll see. I am the carpool mom for the neighborhood. At least once a week I watch two little guys for a friend. I have some time to myself from about 12:30 to 2:30. Oh, yeah, I also spend that time doing laundry, dishes, sweeping, showering, or anything else you can think of. I have been researching new schools for my guys to go to next year. I just don't feel that our current school district is meeting the needs of my kids. I am also on my way to be the crazy colorblind mom. My dad and I are going before the school board to talk about what they can do for kids who are colorblind in the school system. It looks like I am going to have to keep going to the top(state) to get anything done. I guess I am the crazy colorblindness mom.

Clark: Still working at a job he hates and still looking for something else. Coaching Aaron's Little League team and very involved with the LL board.

Aaron: Doing well in school and in baseball. His team is two and 0. He plays catcher and third base. He has a hard time hitting slow pitches but rocks with the fast ones.

Lauren: Doing well at school but keeps finishing her work too fast and is getting frustrated with how slow everyone else is going. She has several friends on the street now and I have several kids who keep coming to the door asking about her. She is very popular and seems to be in charge. She decided one day that she was able to ride her bike without her training wheels and did! She is like that.

Alex: He has decided to not know his letters and numbers. He won't show his teacher that he does know them so just in case we are doing alpha cards. I have written the alphabet on index cards and we are looking thru ads and old magazines to find pictures to match the sounds.

Heather: She has a new job and is having a little trouble with math but is working hard to get thru it.

This sounds like a Christmas letter, but it does bring you up to date.