To all moms, mothers, and mommies!

Someone just sent this to me and I thought it was pretty funny.
Phrases my mom said to me...'At least eat one bite of those peas' (a veg I still dont eat!) 'Just close your bedroom door so that I don't have to see it' (ahh, the good old days) 'Put some lipstick on before you leave the house with Alf' (mo-om, is probably what I said)
Phrases I say to my children...'No toys at the table' (as transformers and cars get tossed to the floor) 'Be careful' (often said to my accident prone child, Aiden) 'Whatever you take out, you have to clean up' (but my house is still a mess!)
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

Mitford

I am in love with Mitford... and I want to live there.

I want to eat at Percy's grill, shake hands with Dooley, listen to the Lord's chapel bells, smell the inside of Sweet Stuff Bakery, and shop my grocerys at the Local...AND pick apples from the orchard on Fernbank.

Yes my friends, I am talking about the small town with the big heart.
I am on the seventh book of the Mitford series and will probably cry when I read the ninth one (the last.) Well here is a quote to ponder (chapter one, seventh book)
Enjoy!

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love.
Niebuhr-

Merry Christmas

These are the pictures on my Christmas card this year. The pictures are from a trip we took to Hilton Head Island back in early October. Love me some vacationing! Anyway, Merry Christmas yall!!!!!!!

Peace

I did enjoy my sugar cookie baking and decorating with the kids, and I enjoyed the little bit of shopping that took place around town. My responsibilities were little in comparison to what they sometimes are (you know, me escaping the busyness.)
BUT - in the time that I was trying to relax and breathe I was having a hard time. You see, Alf was terribly busy the last couple of weeks doing a number of things, one pertains to ministering to the community, in which I am very grateful for the opportunity that we have. I know for certain that it blesses us and I hope and pray that it means something to the people that were served.

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" Phil. 4:7

A verse that has been going over and over in my head like a broken record lately that sustained me during a time ...
We had a date night tonight that allowed us to connect again. I adore the restaurant we went to where it had a live band playing the Blues and it serves up some awesome New Orleans food.
This may seem a bit choppy for those that will take a minute out of there day to read this but I just wanted to say all this to express my gratitude to my husbands presence in the home, and for a God that takes care of us right were we are.

My Christmas this year

"It's beginning to look alot like Christmas, all around the world" Athan sung this line - just this line - all day last Saturday while we were all involved in decorating the house. Alf put the tree up and decorated the outside front porch. Athan helped with the ornaments. I lighted the tree (seven strands of lights this year, Im so proud of myself, It gets better every year - Alf says that Santa will not have a hard time finding us!) and Aiden helped by not touching anything and just sat and watched Polar Express (his responsibilities will be greater next year.)
Christmas is alot of fun this year. Internet shopping makes life enjoyable, the weather being a high of 40 creates a wonderful atmosphere, and sugar dough in frig ready to be rolled out to make christmas cookies - yummy
I work very hard to enjoy life. I do not thrive on busyness. Sometimes you have to roll with it and there are times when you just do all you can to escape it. I am escaping it this month and going to watch Alf roll with it till next week when he can join me.

Black Friday

['what a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man' song playing]

Yes, I have a good man! Black Friday rolls around and what does he do? Alarm goes off at 3:30 am, I hear the garage door open, and before I know it, it is 4:30 am and he is crawling back in bed and I have a kitchen aid sitting in my hallway. YEAH!!!

I have never been a Black Friday fan. Tell me, is it really worth precious sleep to save a couple of bucks? To fight major crowds to save a couple of bucks? Well, I will tell you this - When you spend Thanksgiving day with people preparing for black friday where they are looking at all the ads, talking about how early they can stand to get up in the morning - the hype travels!

In my 11 yrs of marriage, I have gone through two hand mixers that I burned out b/c I always expected them to do more then they really were capable of doing. I was down to borrowing a neighbors. When I saw the ad for the kitchen aid mixer it was love at first sight. On sale for 159, with a 30 rebate, add signing up for a Kohl's card and take off an additional 25, and for every 50 you would spend they would give you 10 Kohl's bucks. We figured it only really cost us 99! My friends, it was so worth it!! This thing normally cost 250 - I would have done it myself but it was even better that I did'nt even have to do it.

Merry Christmas to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Artist

'I want to be an artist when I grow up, momma'
That is what Athan told me a couple of weeks ago. When he was planning his 6 yr. old party (teenage mutant ninja turtle, a.k.a. TMNT), he was coloring banners and such. I came across this art work and used it for the invitations (went to Kinkos and shrunk it), and I used it for the cake (got it transfered to rice paper.)
Sooooo cool, huh?! The party was a success - high energy, karate kicking, nerf gun shooting, slime making success!
I am incredibly proud of my boy. I look forward to seeing what God will do in his life. Hopefully Alf and I will do our part and not get in the way too much:)

Update

Thanks so much for all of you praying. Once Karey had a transfusion she became a real person again! Her blood levels are continuing to go up. She is home now (Oh, home sweet home) and recovering. Amongst friends, we are taking turns visiting with her during the day so that her husband can go back to work. I was over there a couple of hours yesterday and painted her girls nails (having two boys, I think I enjoyed it more then they did:))
My dad came in town on Sunday which I am so glad. I am using him, hopefully not abusing him!

TAIL-SPIN

My life is in a tail-spin. A close friend of mine started having some abdominal pain, went to the doctor, was taken to the ER, Ultrasound, CT-scan, and then emergency surgery b/c they found internal bleeding but could not find out where it was coming from. They opened her up and still never found where it was coming from (some possibilities but nothing certain.) This all happened Tues.
Since then they have had to give her a blood transfusion. There are still alot of questions and are having to wait out alot. Her two sweet girls (who she homeschools and never usually leave her sight for more then a few hours) are being well taken care of by grandma but they deeply miss her
Please, all of you pray for Karey and her family...for stamina, for answers, for something to look forward to, for spiritual growth, for peace...You get the idea!
Thank you

I'm feelin' the love

Alf and I are not conference junkies. We never chose to invest our money in that way, and would always look at each other and say, 'we're doing o.k.' Well, we were given the chance to go this last weekend to one in town (the whole staff was treated.) Alf and I were able to have some good conversation and the information given out was good, solid info. I am not raving about the conf. but I am thankful (if you know what I mean.) The main thing I want to give more time to thinking about is how my view OF God affects my marriage. Do I fully trust Him? Is He big enough? etc.
The real reason for this post is to give a shout out to some awsome friends who love my kids and were willing to watch them for us. We are truly blessed to have the friends we have here in town, being that we don't have family close by, we really rely on each other. I left my boys with full confidence that they would be loved, taken care of, and have a good time.
Thank you guys for sacrificing your time and for caring enough, yall are awesome - and anytime you need a fixin' on your marriage, you just come talk to us professionals.

Arrrrgh!

Happy halloween me hardy's (I totally don't know if I spelled that correctly!)

Check this out!!

Kids are HILARIOUS!!
Sunday, I was going to be telling a story at a church gathering in the evening. Well, after church I told the kids to give me some time to myself to practice (Alf was still at church.) As I was practicing, Athan comes in the room and says...
'I need to tell you something momma, I put Aiden down for a nap all by myself. I read him two stories and he is fine. I thought that I would give you a break'
I smiled and told him thank you, wondering if Aiden would actually sleep or not and enjoying the fact the my oldest thrives on responsibility!!
Aiden fell asleep alright - in a mega blocks tub!
See for your self...

Pride in every American heart

I love that I live in America but I particularly love the city I live in. I enjoy living where there are four seasons. I usually love living in a size town where everywhere I go I see someone I know. I love having heard the word 'kin' truly used in a sentence. I love that it only takes 15 min. to get anywhere, and I super love the mountain.
The mountains are so colorful in the fall, white topped in the winter, and it is fun to watch them fill out in the spring.
When I moved here four and a half years ago I asked someone if you ever get used to the mnts. They said that you get used to them but never stop appreciating them. I now agree with that!
ANOTHER gift from God -

Building the immune system

Athan stayed home - Again! He got "stomach sick" for the third time since school started. Other moms are assuring me that this is common for being the first year of school. Uuugg! On a positive note: Although I was thinking my day was screwed at four in the morning sitting on the edge of the tub with my sweet five yr old, I ended up loving my day!
Me and the boys had a great day looking at old pictures, finishing up pirate costumes for halloween, Aiden helped me make pumpkin sugar cookies, we did a project that Athan had been wanting to do, and I attempted to play monster truck WII with Athan (he is way better then me)

a time to begin

Im officially in blog world!!