Randomness

It has been a while since I last posted, I know. We have been extremely busy and I have been very, very tired lately. I just trudge through the day, waiting for the second that I get to fall into my bed. Praying for more energy, or to realize what it is that is sucking me dry. I am really just counting the minutes until school is out and I can rest.

But in the midst of all the chaos, I got new floors, French doors hung in my foyer,a brand new stove, a new kitchen light(the old one hadn't worked in quite some time) and a new front door installed. My hubby has been working his hiney off and my house is looking great because of it.
We also recently celebrated our 10th anniversary recently, which I didn't blog about because we didn't much celebrate, since he had a "mandatory" crawfish boil with his work. But I will say that the past 10 years have been absolutely wonderful, and I wouldn't change a thing about them.

While at said crawfish boil, we discovered a great state park that we are taking the kids back to in a couple of weeks. We went canoeing and "hiking" on nature trails, if you can really call it hiking in Louisiana...everything is so flat that it is pretty much just walking through the woods. But it was lovely just the same. Except for the "snake" that I saw. Cecil swears it was a salamander, but I'm not convinced.

And then there was Mother's Day, which I also failed to blog about. I've really got to get on the ball, I'm missing some great blogging opportunities. A quick recap of the day: We went to church, then had lunch with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Then we came home and I cooked dinner for my family, and my parents. Oh that reminds me, I have to share the recipe that I cooked for them. Maybe I'll get to that later on today. Well, that about catches you up on the happenings of late.

Have a wonderful day, all!!

Sand, Pebbles, and Stones

Many years ago, when I was still in high school, I heard a sermon illustration that has stuck with me all this time. This past Friday and Saturday I attended the Fresh Grounded Faith Conference with some ladies from church and I heard the illustration again.

I has to do with prioritizing and balancing all the things that we, as busy moms, need to balance. There are days when things go undone, maybe we don't get to the dishes, or the laundry that needed to be put away. But there comes a point when you really have to sit down and think about the important things in your life and what matters most. You have to set your priorities straight. Even then, once your priorities are in order, there are going to be times when things are left undone, because there are just so many minutes in a day. And, do you know what? That is okay!

Consider this: If you put sand in a bucket, then small pebbles on top of the sand, then larger stones on top, it is not all going to fit. BUT if you first put those large stones in, then the smaller pebbles, then pour the sand in, the sand will filter through all the cracks down to the bottom and the sand will fit in the bucket along with the pebbles and stones.

The bucket is our day-to-day life. It holds all the "stuff" that we need to get done. The sand represents all of the little things that we often run around frantically trying to accomplish; chores, errands, our to-do lists. The small pebbles represent the people in our lives who need us or those that we have the opportunity to bless throughout our day. The larger stones are....you guessed it! God and our relationship with Him. What happened in the bucket illustration when we tried to put in our sand and pebbles first? God didn't fit. That day God was an afterthought. Maybe you quickly gave a sleepy little prayer before you crashed that night, but you didn't give Him much of your time.

But when the day started out with God (large stones) all the other "stuff" fell into place. Notice too, that the pebbles (the people in our lives) are put in before our to-do lists. If you have to make the choice between blessing a person-a friend, a family member, a church member, an exhausted mommy-always, always choose the person over your to-do lists or your errands.

This was applicable to my life back when I was a junior in high school just as it is today as a wife, mom, and teacher. I still have work to do in the art of prioritizing but each day, God's grace meets me where I fall short and I wake up the next day and try it again.

Five Question Friday

***Disclaimer...sorry about all the wonky formatting...can't fix it.


This is my first time doing Five Question Friday started by Mama M at My Little Life. If you want to read more about 5QF, hop on over to her blog. Okay here goes....

1. Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life? This is tough. I love Rachel McAdams. We have nothing in common but I think she is gorgeous. I know that after I publish this, I will think of someone better.
2. Did you ever go to summer camp?I went to 4-H camp once in 4th grade...I cried and was miserable for the most part. Then cried even more when I realized that I had forgotten stamps so I could send my mama a letter. So I put a letter in the mailbox with 27cents (or however much it cost back then) thinking that the mailman would take it and put a stamp on the envelope for me. But when I later checked the mailbox, someone had stolen my money and left the envelope...then I cried some more.

I then went to Church camp in 10 grade...had the best time there!! No crying.
3. What sends you running and screaming in the other direction?Geckos!!!!! They do not look like the cute little GEICO gecko, and there's no endearing Australian accent.---I have been paralyzed with fear of those things on more than one occasion. Once when Cecil and I were first married I found one in our bathroom. I had never seen one and it FREAKED ME OUT!! I mean they are transluscent for heaven's sake.

Then once more recently, I found one in my office as I was setting up for a photo shoot. It was literally staring me down in the corner and I couldn't do anything about it. Alyssa could tell that I was panicked and said, "Mommy, maybe you should pray to God for strength". I stood there and watched that thing until my photography "client" got there and had him remove it from my presence. Luckily he was my brother-in-law.
4. What is something you do that drives your spouse nuts?Leaving waayyy early when I have to be somewhere. It's what we fight most about. I want to be 10-20 minutes early...he wants to be right on time.
5. What is currently your favorite song?I Need A Savior by Among the Thirsty

My Girls' Checklists

I am a list maker. I make lists for everything. I have even been known to add something extra that I did that was not originally on the list just so I can cross it off. I have my list of chores, groceries, daily tasks, lists for work, lists for extra things I'm doing (like the school book fair). I just love lists.

So imagine my sheer delight when I found my girls making these one night.

The first one is Alyssa's (8). The second one is Lylah Grace's (5). I really hope you can make out what they say. They are so cute...they have their day mapped out detail by detail. Lylah Grace's says things like:

Sleep for 10 hours

Wake Up

Get Dressed...

Wait at Door

Go to Van

etc...

I have passed on just a bit of my Type A gene to them and I love it! It's a very, very small bit but I'll take it.

What's On Your Cabinets?

I'm still cleaning. I have finished the office, along with the living room and foyer. I am halfway through the kitchen, which is a painfully daunting task, between the refrigerator, oven, inside the cabinets and pantry. But it is coming along. The tops of my cabinets are bare and I vow not to use that area as storage ever again. Apparently that used to be the hiding place of choice when we wanted to keep something from the children. I found 2 baby bottles that Cecil put up there when trying to get Ava off the bottle (still working on that one). I found two pacifiers (put there when trying to get David off the pacifier (that mission was accomplished). I found a Pooh Bear book that was supposed to be a Christmas present for a nephew (about 2 Christmases ago) ...apparently I forgot where I hid it. I found a giant art kit filled with paints, markers and crayons that the older girls used to strow everywhere, and use to color the walls. And I also found a Valentine's Day card (not from this past Valentine's Day) that opens up and sings the High School Musical theme song over, and over, and over, and over again. I bet you can guess why that was up there.

I had to take a break for a bit because the hubs is installing flooring in the kids' rooms. ----Am I the only one who hates it when someone reads over my shoulder while I blog? I love you, honey but please go away. Thanks!----Anyway, we ripped up the nasty carpet that was in there...the carpet that we installed about 3 years ago...the carpet that I hated (no offense to anyone who loves carpet), and we are putting down laminate wood flooring. Not real wood because we know our children well enough to know that it will need to be replace in a few years anyway.

BEFORE

Back to work I go, hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Let the Cleaning begin...

I started Spring Cleaning today. To be honest, I'm never sure where to start when I'm spring cleaning. Or even what to do when I spring clean. I just know it's something I'm supposed to do. But who is really going to notice if I vacuum all my ceilings and walls, really?? Anyway, vacuum I did. So far I have completed my living room and foyer....walls, ceilings, fan, under couch cushions, vacuumed shades, cleaned out fireplace, dusted every surface, cleaned all glass, organized DVD's, vacuumed and cleaned floors. So, if you happen to visit me anytime soon, please say something to the effect of, "Wow, your house really looks so much cleaner", so that I will feel like this was all worth my time.

How about you? Have you complete your spring cleaning? Do you plan to? What tasks to you aim to complete while cleaning?

First Piggy Tails

Ava's hair is finally long enough to put in piggy tails. (*sigh, sniffle, sniffle*)

Family 5K

This weekend was a fabulous weekend for our family. We decided to complete a 5K race. This particular race, The Super Cooper Heart Run, is such a special race. It was started by John and Ashley Fontenot, whose son Cooper underwent open heart surgery at 9 days old. He is now 5 and is doing well.

As most of you know, David has undergone 3 open heart surgeries, the last one being this past July. So in celebration of that and in honor of how spectacular David has done, we, as a family decided to complete this race. I had t-shirts made for us. See....

Psalm 139:13-18 (supposed to say 13-16) has helped me accept David's defect and also helped me not to question why it happened. I know that God made David just the way he wanted him to be made. There was nothing that I could have done, or not done, to change that.

The back is a song that we often sing in church that nearly brings me to tears every time I hear it. Sorry if you can't read the words. It says:

I have a Maker

He formed my heart

Before even time began

My life was in His hands.

It's so reassuring that even though I have no idea what this life holds for David, the Lord has every day of his life mapped out.

So we all showed on Saturday donning our "Team David" shirts. The organizers, Cooper's parents, were expecting us and came to meet David. We had 8 kids, 5 of them 4 and under, and one wagon. We made it though. David rode in the wagon some, ran some, and walked the last way across the Finish Line.

As the awards ceremony was finishing up, they called to see if "Team David" was still there. I waved to them and they said that they wanted to present David with a trophy. I walked him up to the stage area, fighting back tears. Cooper's mom, Ashley, gave him the trophy to give to David, from one 5-year old who has had heart surgery, to one 3-year old who has had heart surgery.

It was a "Super" exciting day!!

A little piece of Hope

Our church is participating in Buckets of Hope. We are sending buckets filled with very specific items to Haiti for the earthquake victims. We filled our bucket tonight. See...

We had to fit all of this in one bucket...

There were VERY specific instructions on what goes in and how it goes in...

Everybody got a chance to put something in the bucket...except me...I was snapping away behind the camera...

And with the help of the VERY detailed directions, we were able to fit it all in. As we were closing the lid, Cecil said, "Oh, look, that's neat, the little recycle symbol almost looks like 'HOPE'." And sure enough it did.

So, there you have it. Our little family sending a little piece of hope to a needy family in Haiti. It's not much to us, in fact, it only cost us about $25.00. But we were told that what we sent can feed a family there for a week.

We also took advantage of the teachable moment with our kids and explained how much we have in comparison to others in the world. We stressed how important it is that we are always thankful and that we remember to thank God for everything that we have been blessed with. To which, my 3-yr old son replies, "Thank God for Spencer sharing his toys with me." It was a fun night!

I haven't known how to write this...

but I have not been able to write anything else either. It's been almost two weeks since my last post.

On Sat. Feb 20. my 2-year old nephew was hit by a vehicle and passed away. My heart is absolutely broken for my brother-in-law and his wife. I cannot imagine the pain that they are going through, and how badly they just want it to go away. I don't know if you ever completely stop feeling the pain of losing a child and I pray that I never have to find out. I pray for comfort and healing for their family. It's an awful, awful situation, and we don't know why, we may never know why these things happen. But, without a doubt, our Creator does and he is in ultimate control and I trust in His plan.

Alyssa asked me a couple of days after it happened, "Why did N have to die?". I told her, "I don't know, we may never know. But God knows and God has a plan for our lives and he had N's life planned. It's in these times that we have to trust that God's plan is perfect, even if we don't understand it." It's really hard to explain death to children, but this is what I am 100% sure of and she was comforted by these words and for this I am thankful.