Sentimental Journey

This past Saturday I went to an event with about 300 ladies in attendance. The day included laughter, food, fun, gift baskets (I won a baking basket), great lessons ... and tears.

Well it was a gathering of ladies, after all.

In one of the sessions, the main speaker told us the story of her oldest child who was seventeen years old when he was killed in a car accident. The purpose of her story was to show how God works in our lives and how He cares for us, but it was such a sad story that about ninety percent of the ladies in the room were in tears.

I was not in that 90%. 

It's not that I'm heartless. I know some women cry at the drop of a hat, but I work very hard at not crying in public for several reasons. For one, I'm an ugly crier. And if that's not enough, I always end up with raccoon eyes. Don't bother telling me about waterproof mascara. It doesn't help.

The main reason, though, that I don't cry in public is because I raised boys. Like most males, tears make my guys very uncomfortable. And with that in mind, I've always tried to be careful about crying in front of them. I don't want my tears to make them so uncomfortable that they're willing to do almost anything to avoid having me cry. I don't think that's a healthy way to handle tears. And I absolutely did not want them to be easily manipulated by tears. That could end up being a problem once they got married.

So I didn't cry when most of the other women did. But I was still moved by the story. At one point the speaker encouraged us with the thought that, if we wanted to express love and appreciation to our children, don't wait. Do it now. Because you don't want to regret a missed opportunity later on.

With that in mind, I decided to quickly text my children and let them know I loved them. I started to do a group text, but expressing sentimental thoughts to the entire group usually does not end well. So instead I texted each of them individually (well, I copied and pasted, but the sentiment was real) that I loved them and I hoped they had a great day. Here were their texted answers that showed up on my phone during the next session:

Luke:  You know my cousin's brother's aunt told that to all her children. And then she left home.

Stephanie:  I love you too!

Nick:  Are you still alive?

Joel:  I will! I love you too!

Matt:  What's wrong? Are you dying? Can I sell your jewelry on eBay?

I guess sometimes sentiment can be overrated. So instead I laughed and enjoyed my not-so-normal family. After all, it's the thought that counts.

P.S. In case you didn't notice, I left one of my children's responses out. That would be because Paul never answered my text at all. That's right. No answer at all. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Nada. 

I'm still waiting for you to acknowledge your mother's love, Paul.

Manipulation may be wrong, but guilt is always an acceptable tool. 

Diamond Dilemma

When my husband and I were dating we had the discussion about rings and what we both wanted our rings to look like. We never when shopping together, nor did I have a clue what he would actually choose. He picked my ring out all on his own, but it wasn't your typical solitaire like you would have suspected. It had a bit wider of a band. So when it came time for him to propose, I was completely surprised and loved my ring. 

For my wedding band we went with several diamonds in it, in hopes that in the future I would get one for the other side. Not long ago I started searching for the same wedding band to complete the look. Well they no longer had this same ring. So I started looking for enhancers or "jackets", whatever you want to call them. The ones that I really liked were a bit out of our price range for right now, so I kept looking.

For Christmas this year my husband got me two new anniversary bands so that it would have the look of an enhancer. It was more cost effective, and I loved the way it looked. They were beautiful and delicate. Well two weeks after wearing them, one of the diamonds had fallen out. Not good right? So we took it to the jeweler and they gave us a few different options, all of which were going to cost more than the ring did in the first place. After being in the jewelry store we decided to just return both rings and look for something different.

So for now I'm back to my original wedding band, and after not wearing it for two weeks, it looks like a brand new set of rings. 

So the question is, keep what I have or keep looking. 

I'm curious. 

Did you pick out your rings or were you surprised? How many of you are still wearing your original rings and how many of you have upgraded?

Brain Fog & Baby Prep

  I'm 27 weeks with baby #3, and this pregnancy has really done a number on me. Like I said, I'm 27 weeks, but I feel like I'm 39 weeks. I don't know what it is except that things get a little harder with each pregnancy, maybe?? I would share a picture of the baby belly, except I've realized that with each baby you take fewer baby bump pictures. With my first baby it was once a month, second baby I think I took three the whole pregnancy, third baby I don't think I've even take one. But I don't want to leave you without a picture.

  

Pretty much how I feel these days.

Anyways, this post isn't for complaining about my giant belly and swollen ankles. This is about the last week and how pregnancy brain has hit me. We've been on deputation for two years this months. This is my second deputation pregnancy. In that time, while I have definitely not done everything perfect and remembered everything, I've never really made major mistakes.  I also haven't made a ton of mistakes in the same trip. Well, this past weekend broke my superwoman streak.

Back story is that we had just finished a week long conference at our church and been out late every night, and that week came after the flu and stomach bug went through our house. Plus, like I said, 27 weeks pregnant. All of that equals an exhausted me. So, the weekend starts and we have a meeting 3 hours from home. That means, leave Saturday afternoon and usually means come back Sunday night after church. It's easier to travel at night and we enjoy waking up at home.

One night gone. no big deal. Easy packing, right?  Hubby had already set out the church clothes and socks and shoes he wanted. My job was to pull together the overnight stuff and what me and the kids needed for church the next day. I was even doing laundry that morning so I could pick through and set stuff aside as I folded it. When all was said and done, I felt like that had been too easy and I had to be missing something, but I couldn't think of anything.

The time came and we left. We met the pastor for dinner, checked into the hotel, settled down for the night, and seemed to have everything for the night, except for my hubby's melatonin that he takes at night. He has a hard time falling asleep and takes that every night. Saturday night is not the best night to forget that.  Sunday morning rolls around. I got up and started getting ready. I seemed to have everything. Hubby got up and started getting ready.... that's when we realized we were missing a few more things. We did bring the church clothes that he had set out, but that's all we brought. I hadn't packed him anything else. Thankfully he had his toothbrush, razor, gel, and comb because he had packed those as he got ready the day before. I know, I know. I won some major wife awards, huh? 🏆🏆

So, we deal with that and head to church. Had a great service, good fellowship with the pastor, a great Sunday afternoon nap, and a great evening service. We got all packed in the car and headed home. You're probably thinking right now "this isn't a major mistake so what's the big deal?". Well, you're right. It wasn't a major mistake, but that's not the end. We got home late on Sunday night and then Monday morning our son decided that even though it was a late night we needed an early morning. By 7:30 we were all up. That's not my fault though. It was when we started showering and getting dressed for the day that we realized that in packing up the hotel room, I had left our toiletry bag sitting on the bathroom sink. Most of which was easily replaced, but there was hubby's electric razor that he's had for several years. It was a nice one that his grandparents had given him. The thing just never dies, which isn't normal for most electric razors. We started looking online and realized that to get one like it was going to cost too much. It'd be much cheaper to just have the hotel mail us the bad.

 I had called the hotel, but they had trouble locating our bag. So, I started worrying that maybe I hadn't left it on the counter. Maybe it fell off our luggage cart in the parking lot and was gone forever. Maybe it fell out when we put our display stuff in the car at the church. Who knows where it could be. Finally, late that day, the hotel called back and said they had found it and we got it shipped.

None of this, may seem like a big deal to you, but I am not usually this forgetful of a person. I'm kind of OCD about my packing. My husband teases sometimes that he could really get to me just by helping pack because he knows he'd be messing up the process that's going on in my head. I usually pack for the family, he packs for the ministry, and he packs the car. It works best that way and for the most part, we don't forget things. Until now of course. Guess there has to be a first time for everything.

The weekend was followed by me telling hubby that I really needed a day off. We make no plans, we don't worry about catching up on anything, we just try to relax. I relaxed by passing out on the couch for a nap at 10 in the morning. Don't judge, that's not normal for me. My hubby realized something was off when he called out to me from his office and I didn't answer, he called out again, and nothing. He said he walked in the living room and found, in his words "my wife sprawled on the couch like she's dead and the kids standing on the coffee table trying to kill eachother!". He spent the next hour asking me if I was ok because I don't ever sleep through the kids being loud and rowdy. I can't usually sleep at all if I know the kids are awake, and if I manage to close my eyes I jump up at every little noise they make. So he was sure something was wrong. I just kept telling him "I told you I was gonna take the day off"... although, I don't think either of us quite knew that was what I meant. What can I say. Sometimes the mom body just needs to sprawl on the couch like she's dead and sleep through a little noise. Disclaimer: No children were hurt in any way during the day off.

For the record, the day off completely helped and now nesting has set in. So the rest of the week has been quite productive I am happy to say. So that was my week. How was yours?

The Sickies

Due to sickness there will be no post today. But don't worry, we won't leave completely empty. Here's a riddle for you. First one to answer correctly gets 1,000 meaningless points!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

Why did God create Adam before He created Eve??

Leave your answer in the comments. Have a great Wednesday!

The Struggle Is Real

I’m not sure what it is about the new year. It seem like I’m on track and am off to a good start on my goals. However, figuring out what to blog about sure seems to be a struggle. Well, this weeks blog was no different until something interesting happened yesterday afternoon. 

I had a few things I wanted to get done after church so we had a quick lunch. We finished eating and I was sitting on the couch for a few minutes before getting started on my “things”. All of a sudden I heard both of our older girls running down the hallway towards the restroom. They were racing each other to the toilet because we only have one bathroom. When nature calls, apparently it calls them both at the same time. Well Stella beat her little sister to the potty. From the living room I could hear Talia telling Stella to hurry because she was going to go in her undies.

It was just a second later, Talia calls out from the bathroom. “Mom, can I go in the bathtub?” I looked at my husband panicked and he just starts laughing. So, I shouted “No”, and darted to the bathroom. 

Well, I was too late …

As I walked into the bathroom she was already sitting on the edge of the bathtub. She had already “gone” in the tub. 

I should have been mad and she should have been punished but it seemed a little pointless to punish her since she had already seen me laugh. So, we took care of it and had a nice talk about how we shouldn’t do that again. 

So, if you thought you had a rough afternoon because you didn’t get that nap or that special dinner you were wanting. Just think it could have been “stinkier”.

Mom life

 This is coming to you at 3:00 in the morning when my one year old decided he couldn't sleep and then I realized that I hadn't blogged. And what else would be on one's mind at 3a.m. Other than the the thing that is keeping them awake. My children.

  My son has been tossing and turning in his bed for a while now and finally woke up to come find me and tell me he wanted his cup. Well, I didn't have his cup, the kitchen did... And I'm not a house wanderer at 3a.m. But being the good mother I am, and knowing I won't get to go back to sleep if he doesn't get some water, we trekked across the dark eerie house. Turning on every single light as we went.  We have our water and now I'm gonna write this while I wait for him to fall back asleep. I have to wait because I may not be a house wanderer, but he is.

  Kids are funny aren't they? And we do things as parents that we never thought we would have to do or say in our lives. My father in law keeps telling me to do a post called "things I never thought I'd have to say" but I haven't because most of them aren't really appropriate. Think about it, if you never thought you'd have to say it there's probably a good reason, but then your kids does something and you're like "why in  the world do I have to tell you that's not and okay thing to do?!?!". I remember my mom having some of those. Our family growing up had some rules that probably fall into my mom's category of "things she never thought she'd have to say". 

 Then kids say the funniest things too. Our two year old, almost three year old , is learning something new every day. Her new "thing" lately is "I has a question for you". The first time she said that was at nap time when she didn't want me to leave her room...

Daughter: "mom, I has a question for you."

Me: "ok, what?"

Daughter : "it's about dinosaurs"

Me: (intrigued) "what about dinosaurs"

Then she proceeds to tell me, not ask me, something about dinosaurs. We've had this exact conversation three or four times in the last few days and I still haven't figured out what it is about dinosaurs that she's  "asking" me.

My son is in between sizes right now. He's too tall for 12 month pants, but too skinny for 18 month pants. It's a real problem because most of the time he either looks like he's ready for a flood or he didn't get the memo on belts. And when his pants are too big and they fall down, he doesn't see the need to actually pull them back up, he just waddled around as is. The other day I realized why he doesn't want to pull them up. Baggy pant legs make great toy storage apparently. After telling him to pull his pants up and watching him struggle, I went over to help him. He couldn't get them up because he had a toy stuffed down each leg. He was quite proud of himself for thinking of it too because he wasn't too happy when I took them out, pulled his pants up, and said "we don't put toys down our pants". That would be on that list of "things I never thought I'd have to say".

I remember when my little brother was three years old and we got to the point where he would get a pat down before every service Because his Sunday school teacher kept finding him with cars and G. I. Joe's. Turns out he was hiding them in the back of his tie in that little bar that's supposed to hold the back of the tie to the front. My son hasn't figured that out yet. At least his smuggling method is a little easier to detect at this point. Pants on the ground = obvious clue.

Then they do the really cute things that make your heart melt. Last night on our way home from church our daughter was sitting in her carseat jabbering away when... 

Daughter: "mom, I'm pretty tired"

Me: "are you?" 

Daughter: "ya, and pretty cold. I need a blanket" 

Me: "I don't have a blanket, sweetie. You'll have to wait till we get home."

Daughter : "oh. I'm pretty cold, dough (though) will you share your coat with me" 

Side note: my coat was the Jean jacket I was wearing over a sleeveless dress. 

Me: "I'm not really wearing a coat" 

Daughter: "yes you are. It's right dere" 

Me: "where" (thinking maybe she sees one in the back that I missed) 

Daughter: "on your back. Can you give it to me?" 

Thankfully daddy stepped in and shared his suit coat, because she was asking so sweetly and melting our heart. I was about to freeze and just go sleeveless in the 20 degree weather. 

Our son, however, had a not so sweet church evening. He got dropped off at the nursery and in record time my buzzer was going off. Apparently, he was pretty ticked that he was in the nursery, which is not unusual for him. But this time he was standing at the gate crying and then screaming and swatting at the workers who tried to come get him. Well, that just doesn't fly in our house and the workers know me well enough to know that. So we're back to the record time buzzing. I went back and we had a little session and chat about obeying and not hitting, followed by the most pathetic little quiver and "yes ma'am" I've ever heard. The he went back to his class and I didn't get buzzed again. They said there were a few more crying at the gate attempts, but no more hitting. Thank goodness for nursery workers. They get the un-fun job of watching everyone's cranky, tired babies this week. I say that like this is abnormal for my son because it's been a long week, but I know the truth. He's always cranky in the nursery. Sorry, ladies. 

Speaking of him, though, he's finally back asleep. So I think I'm  going to go back to sleep now. Hope everybody has a great Friday. I think I'll be sleeping in after this... Oh wait, no I won't. I have toddlers. What was I thinking? 

Tools, Traveling and Tips

So I'm writing this post while sitting in a motel. We're traveling back home to Alabama because hubby is supposed to preach in a conference later this week. Today's post is going to be a hodgepodge of suggestions and tips for everything from traveling to life.

Your welcome.

Anyway, tip number one is that you should never announce on the internet that you're traveling because you don't want to alert thieves and robbers who are trolling through the internet that your home might be vulnerable. I realize I started today's post with that kind of announcement that we should never make, but if you're a thief who reads this blog in order to know when to break into our house, 1. you need to get a life; 2. you need to get a better target; 3. even though we're gone, these guys are still at the house. Not only will they guard our stuff well, but they also know Krav Maga, and they will leave you hurting if you attempt to enter our house without permission.

Tip number two:  if you play the piano, you may have noticed that your fingers become awfully icy by the time you finish playing for the song service. Especially if you live in Michigan, the temperature is in the single digits and the furnace doesn't kick on early enough to warm up the auditorium. With all the hunters in my family, I've zoned in on one of their tools and now I always carry one of these with me to the piano:

I hold onto it between songs, and it helps keep the feeling in my fingers. They also have toe warmers in case you work in a drafty office in the same building. Just sayin'.

Tip number three:  it's not overpacking. It's called being prepared. I like to have choices in what I wear because I never know how I'm going to feel on any given day. So to be gone for four days means I have to take more than four outfits. And let's face it--if you take only one or two pairs of shoes, you're doing it wrong.

Tip number four: If you plan your traveling right, you can multitask and end up visiting your college kid on the way to your husband's preaching engagement. If you time it really well, you'll hit town at the same time as a snowstorm that cancels classes and work for the day and you'll get to spend the whole day with him! Yay!

Tip number five: it's probably not a good idea to write a blogpost when you've only had three hours of sleep the night before because you were trying to get things finished up so you can leave in the morning. You'll end up falling asleep three times while trying to type, and then you have to go back and re-read what you wrote to make sure you were making sense and not talking gibberish.

With that in mind, I think I'll finish up here so that I can go to sleep properly.

So what about you? Got any tips either for traveling, packing, or just general life?

Chocolate Lovers

Do any of you think that Chocolate could be a meal all on it’s own? Although I can’t see you, I feel as if you are all shaking your heads yes. Awesome, I think so too! How about Twinkies? I know we all love Twinkies. If you don’t I’m so sorry that you are missing out. What if I told you there was a delicious way to have Chocolate and Twinkies all wrapped in one? When I was growing up my momma used to make a delicious Twinkie Cake. I didn’t think it was fair to keep it to myself so I thought I would share with you. 

INGREDIANTS:

1 Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Mix (Follow Directions on the Box)

1 tub of frosting

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

3 cups powdered sugar

7 oz. marshmallow cream

INSTRUCTION:

Preheat your oven and grease your 9x13 pan.

Bake your cake according to the package directions.

When the cake is done baking, remove from oven and let it cool completely.

While the cake is cooling, prepare your filling. 

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter, shortening, vanilla, and salt until smooth.

Next, beat in powdered sugar on low, gradually increasing to high until smooth.

Last, mix in marshmallow cream until your filling is light and fluffy. 

When you cake is completely cooled. Flip it over onto wax paper slice in half, depth wise.

Carefully put the bottom half of your cake back in the pan. Spread your cream filling on your cooled cake. Then add your top layer back on. Chill in the fridge until your filling it set. 

Then top with your favorite frosting. 

*This cake is best kept in the refrigerator.

So, what’s your favorite chocolate recipe?

Snowball Effect

  Sorry about the missed post yesterday. It's been one of those snowball effect weeks. One thing after another. The most recent of which was Thursday nights events..

It started around noon. I had a friend coming over and we were going to take my car for errands. I went out to move my car so that she could pull up in the driveway and not block us from getting out. Well, the only place to move my car was off the driveway and into the yard. I thought nothing of it, as we had done this many times before. When my friend arrived and we got in the car to head out, I realized that  the van in the yard may not have been my smartest move... The tires started spinning but not getting us anywhere. Needless to say we didn't end up taking my car to run our errands.

After an evening of attempts to get the car out, including friends cancelling a date night to come help,  and me hitting the brakes instead of the gas when they were trying to push, we ended with no success. Praise the Lord, that it didn't cost us much at all for a tow truck to come pull it out yesterday morning.

All that said, if you read my last post, you know about my snowball effect of a week.  I also posted about my New Years Resolutions, which have been going really well. We also have a big conference coming up at our church, and our pastor recently preached a message about preparing your heart for services.  Because of that, our family has been spending some time preparing our hearts for this upcoming conference.  What has all this got in common, you ask? I'm glad you asked.

In your Christian walk, have you ever noticed times when things seem to be going really well spiritually, you're up on that mountain, then the gusts of wind and rain blow and try to push you off that mountain?  Even though my resolutions, some of which were personal and about my walk with the Lord, have been going really well, it would be easy for those gusts of wind and rain that have been the last week and a half to blow me down off the mountaintop.

Those times in your life when it just doesn't make sense why all this is coming at you, it's easy to think that you need to re-examine some things. Is there something in your life that you need to get right?  It's easy to get discouraged about progress and feel like somehow you must still be failing in some way.

I just wanted to encourage you today. Sometimes, the gusts of wind and rain aren't a sign that something is wrong, but that something is right. Sometimes, those gusts mean that you're making the devil angry. He's not going to just sit by and do nothing about you trying to do more for the Lord, and more in your Christian walk. So, don't let the wind and the rain blow you off the mountain. Let it be a reason for you to pray that you can be more consistent, and more diligent, and that you can stand strong on the mountain. Don't let the snowball effect get you down or off track this year.

So, do you have a verse or a song that helps you stay strong through the gusts of wind and rain?

See ya Tomorrow

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, today's regularly scheduled post will be postponed until tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience!

How're You Doing?

Well we're ten days into the new year. We've put the Christmas decorations away (or we're going to soon), we've said goodbye to the college students and sent them back to the halls of learning, and we're hunkering down for the long haul of winter before we see spring.

All things considered, is 2018 everything you thought it would be? I know, I know. It's only been ten days. So let me ask a different way:

How're the New Year's Resolutions coming along? Are you plugging along at it, still seeing the hope of improvement and changes that will brighten this year?

Are you struggling along, just barely keeping up with the resolutions and wondering why on earth they were so important ten days ago?

Or have you already given up and decided to hope for the best in 2018 and plan again to make things better in 2019?

In case you're one of the ones already struggling to keep up with the resolutions, try tweaking them with some of these suggestions:

1. Make them more manageable. Instead of saying you're going to exercise for the year, just plan on exercising one day. Then maybe you can try it again in a few weeks.

2. Did you resolve to do better with finances? don't stress over a financial management system. Pay one bill today. Boom. You're killing it.

3. Everybody resolves to "eat healthier". Stop trying to choke down your vegetables. Cut your dessert in half. Eat half at lunch and then practice self-discipline by waiting until after supper to eat the other half.

4. Did you resolve to read more this year? It's not really cheating to do audiobooks. Just saying'.

5. Did you set a goal of getting more organized? Start with something small. Take down the rest of your Christmas decorations. Bonus points for actually putting the totes and boxes back into storage instead of letting them stand in a corner until March.

And if your resolutions just seem too far out of reach, you might want to remember the following dates:

February 16th - Chinese New Year

April 13th - Thai New Year

September 9th - Jewish New Year

Just in case you want to start those resolutions over again.

Your welcome.

The award goes to...

Talia has been working hard at potty training and has finally done it! We went out of town over Thanksgiving to see my parents and she was still in pull-ups. She had been going on the potty here and there but was doing it consistently. Well a week later we went to visit my husband's grandparents and while we were there she had gone a couple of times on her own. I thought that maybe this is it: she's finally ready to do this. Sure enough she stayed dry the whole time we were there and even on our journey home. It took a few extra stops, but it was well worth it. She has only had a couple of accidents in the last several weeks and we could not be more pleased.

While potty training our girls, we've tried rewarding them with candy; if they go several times a day that ends up being a lot of candy. So, we changed up our reward system. They get very excited high fives when they go potty and when they have been trained they get rewarded with earrings!

My husband and I knew we were probably going to take her over the weekend. After work Friday, my husband told Talia we we're going and she was excited! 

Here is Talia's pre earring picture: excited but not sure what to expect.

Talia with the dots: it's really happening but not sure why this part is necessary. Also, big sister Stella holding her hand for support.

The ladies were able to do both holes at the same time. Which was a relief to me. I was expecting a lot of tears, so this was the best way to go.

1, 2, 3 ...Boom she was done. She didn't even flinch. We kept expecting tears but nothing came out. She did a great job! 

And finally Talia with her new earrings!

Phew, I'm glad that's over!

What reward system did you use training your kids?

Field Prep

  Well, as I mentioned last post, there will be a lot of things that are changing in my life and that my goals were to prepare myself for those changes. However, the things that have happened in the last few days weren't exactly what I had in mind.

    Here's a few little clues to the last three days. 

   We got home late Tuesday from our last trip. I'm not usually a homebody, but I was so excited to be home. There's just something about your own home. Our house doesn't have central heat and it actually got down to the single digits here in Alabama, so it was pretty cold, but I didn't care... I was just happy to be home. 

   We bundled up warm and got busy right away doing all the stuff that needs to be done when you've been gone a while. We got the wall heaters and the space heaters going, and then POP!  We popped one of the breakers because of the space heaters. So, my hubby went out to flip the breaker and found that the hot water heater wasn't doing so...well, hot. It was leaking all over the floor. 

   The next few minutes were spent finding the valve to shut off the hot water, and cleaning up the water, then calling the landlord to let her know the issue, and she set up someone to come check it out. The guy couldn't come till the following day because it was after 6:00. But even after all of that, we were home so I didn't care. So, we would have to wait a day to do laundry. So, we might have to get a late shower the next day. No big deal. 

   Later that day the guy called to say that he actually couldn't come until Thursday to fix it. So, on Wednesday we went over to some friends house in the afternoon so that we could get a hot shower before church. I just have to say, you know you have true friends when they let you come to their house and you've been 24 hours without a shower.

   So, yesterday was Thursday. We didn't know exactly when the guy was coming to fix the hot water, and I couldn't just sit and wait. Plus he had to walk all the way through the house to get to the hot water heater. So I decided to try and get a few things done. I started by boiling some water to wash the few dishes that we had dirtied the day before. Then I cracked up a little at the thought that this was a little insight to how I might be doing dishes in Brazil. When we there for our survey trip, you had to have a heating element on the faucet to have hot water. So usually just the showers have hot water. So you either wash your dishes in cold water or you boil some water to wash them in. Note to self... keep short accounts with the dirty dishes in Brazil, because letting them stack up isn't going to be as easy to deal with as it is here.

  The guy showed up around 10:30. He looked at the tank, said it was an easy fix, and left to get the parts. He came back an hour or so later to fix it. I was taking a nap with the kids, but when I woke up, he was gone and my hubby said we should have hot water. I was getting all ready to throw in some laundry and go take a hot shower. But my hubby turned the kitchen sink on and went out to check the tank and it was leaking again.  I was a little disappointed, but the guy had also mentioned that his pipes had been frozen for four days. Then every time I felt disappointed about our situation I told myself to quit moping because at least we have water and to flush our toilets and brush our teeth.

   By the time we got back in touch with the repair guy, he couldn't come back till Friday. Which was fine, but I was not waiting till Friday to be clean. So, I decided I would boil some more water for a bath. A very small bath because there's no way to boil enough to fill half the tub.  I learned that when the tub is freezing because there has been no heat touching it for the past several day, boiling water doesn't do a whole lot. My plan was to boil some water, then add a little cold water, just enough to soap and rinse. Ya... it was freezing. But, I was clean. Just very, very cold.

   After cooking dinner, boiling more water for dishes, and cleaning up from dinner, I thought that was the end of it and we'd have hot water tomorrow. It hadn't been a bad few days and we were home so I planned to relax for the evening. Well, turns out my 18 month old had other plans. He came in the kitchen while I was washing dishes, seemed totally fine just chatting away to me, but then he burped, and again, and then started throwing up all over my feet and his feet and the floor. Oh yay! He was grossed out that it was on his feet so he kept moving and, you know, throwing up everywhere he moved. When he finally stopped, we stripped him down, boiled more water for a sink bath for him (which ended up being a nicer, warmer bath than mine), and cleaned up the floor. He threw up two more times last night, but I managed to catch those before they became a huge clean up mess.

  I didn't realize how much I used hot water, but go a few days without it and you'll realize it's value. It made me think how here in America, it's a problem and a few bad days if you don't have hot water, but in Brazil, aside from hot showers you don't really use hot water. Guess I have some adjusting to do. 😜 It was more of a prep for Brazil than I was planning right now, but an eye opener. And quite the interesting three days.

  The pictures at the top are of my little girl in her nightgown, leggings, socks, slippers, robe, and hat. That was right after we got home and it was still quite cold in the house. Then the picture of my little boy sleeping on his cot in my room so that I can hear him overnight if he throws up again. I really do not want to be scrubbing puke out of his toddler bed in the morning. 😷 Then lastly is our laundry that has been piling up. That was before the puke incident so there's quite a bit more added to that. I know I can do laundry in cold water, but especially with puked on stuff, I just prefer hot water. But if for some reason we don't get hot water today, then I'm gonna need to do some laundry or we'll have other problems. Momma always taught me to make sure you had clean undies. 😂

 So, how was your first week of 2018???

Dinner for Six

One of the Christmas presents we got this year was a restaurant gift card. We enjoyed it last week when we got to go out with our four youngest boys. 

Going out with these guys is kind of like taking my life in my hands because I never know what they're going to do. For instance, right off the bat they have to be reminded not to blow straw paper wrappers at each other while waiting for the food. 

We were all coming from different directions, so we decided to meet at the restaurant. Nick and I got there first, so we went in and asked for a table for six. I was pleased that we didn't have to wait until I realized they were leading us to a booth. An oversized booth might seat four people comfortably, but there was no way I wanted to get crammed into one booth with these five guys, so I asked for a table. 

Each of the guys had a set dollar amount that they couldn't go over so I had to go through the menu with them and remind them that all the yummy "add-ons" that the server would offer were going to cost extra. The add-ons were fine as long as their total didn't go over their set amount. And I had to remind them that the same went for the "premium" sides as opposed to the classic sides. 

The waitress brought one small loaf of rye bread on the table, and the boys immediately fell on it, gobbling it down before she even had a chance to get back to the kitchen. When she stopped by the table again, they asked for more and she brought out another loaf. One loaf. Clearly she did not have a lot of males in her household. When they devoured that loaf just as quickly, she brought another helping, but this time she brought two loaves. They guys finished all four loaves before they brought out the salads.

We do practice table manners at home, but I still had to remind one of my guys that broccoli was not usually eaten with the fingers, and that large portions of anything should be cut with a knife before eating. He gave me a long-suffering sigh as he moaned, "This is so hard!" Apparently good manners are quite the struggle.

In spite of the fact that I try to mind my manners, I do find myself eating quickly when we go anywhere with the boys. The reason for that is, they gobble down their own food and then start eyeing my plate. "Are you gonna eat that whole steak?", "Are you done with that salad?" are typical things they start saying as they edge closer. I practically have to curve my arm around my plate and wave them off with my fork. So much for manners.

I considered it a successful night because no one spilled their drink (although one came close), no one made loud or rude noises, and any inappropriate comments were made too low for people at the neighboring tables to hear them.

So how about you? Do you dare take your children out in public?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

This year I have set some personal goals as well as a few for my family. Aside from the goals I have set, I also have a list of things I’d like to get done around the house. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with either of those lists. 

However, I already got a good start on the list of things for my house. Let me explain. 

Yesterday afternoon. I got to take a nap after church, which is rare for me. Anyway, I got to take one and it was wonderful. I woke up and still had a while to go before our evening service. It was one of those afternoons where my kids were kind of driving me crazy and I heard “mom” only about three hundred and eighty times. Well, I had a few things that I had to get done that afternoon. So I gave them something to do to keep them busy. 

I was thinking of some “easy” things on my to do list that aren’t urgent and they could easily get done for me. This particular job involved all three girls so I told them they had to take turns and there couldn’t be any fighting. We have a hamper full of junk mail and credit card offers that we let stack up for a while and then we shred. So, this is the job I gave them.

I told the girls this was a super cool job and I really needed their help. Their eyes got pretty big when I told them they actually got to use the shredder. I showed them how to use it and gave very clear safety instructions (don’t put your fingers near the shredder). Then I gave them a stack of papers and let them have at it. 

Stella told me, “We’ll do this job anytime you want us too.”

That works for me. Honestly, who has time to sit and shred that much paper? Not me.

For a solid twenty minutes, I didn’t hear the word “mom” and the only thing I heard was the shredder and giggles. Only twenty minutes you ask? Yes, because the older girls started burying their baby sister in the papers… Don’t feel bad for her though. She was eating it up.

So, parents did you ever hand off a job to your kids that you didn't want to do and they loved it?