Did You Miss Us?

Well I hope you were eagerly awaiting our return to blogland.

I hope you missed us as much as we missed you.

I hope you're not too disappointed to find out that everything isn't fixed yet.

We are working on switching platforms, but it is taking longer than we planned. This is no one's fault. Just a fact of life--in the ministry.

We hope to be up and running again soon. In the meantime, here's some cute pictures of kids!

Not so Littles

Yesterday was our baby's 1st birthday.

And as you can see, she already acts like a teenager. 

We spoiled her with a pair of new shoes and a puppy!! 

We also had a party for her after our midweek service at church. It was a lot of fun and my kids ate waaaayyyyy too much sugar. That is also the reason this post is so late today. 😊

When you have little kids, everyone tells you to enjoy it because it goes by fast. Well, after having 3 kids in 3 years, there were a lot of days where it didn't feel like it was going by very quickly. However, these days it's going by a little more quickly. 

It doesn't feel that long ago that it was my oldest baby's 1st birthday, and now she's 4. The picture app on my phone ocassionally creates "then & now" collages for me. 

This was the most recent one. My oldest at a year and a half, then again only a few days ago. I guess everybody knew what they were talking about after all when they said "it goes by fast" .

*we will be taking next week off from the blog for maintenance  Be sure to come back the following to see the changes! 

What Goes Around Comes Around

Twenty years ago I hired a young college student on a part time basis to come help take care of my five children (ages ten years to twenty months old) and my mountains of laundry so that I could care for our newborn sixth child and work on packing our house and belongings to move to Uganda as missionaries. She was a tremendous help, and a great influence on my small children. After we left for the mission field we kept in touch, mostly through her mother who is like a sister to me.

Years later this girl had finished college and was back in Alabama, teaching in the Christian school at our home church. We were chased out of Uganda by terrorists and came back to our home church, where she taught some of my children in high school. She was once again a tremendous influence on our children. She was one of my kids' favorite teachers, and when she got married, Matt ended up being one of the groomsmen.

(He's in the front row on the left, in case you can't tell.) She also had Stephanie tend her guestbook, and a couple of our other boys greeted people at the door.

After she married, she moved to Texas, and we moved to Florida where my husband pastored a church. Years later her family moved back to Alabama, and her children ended up being in Stephanie's wedding.

Also about twenty years ago, two young men, brothers, began working for my husband in his painting business. Their parents were missionaries, and they had been raised in Brazil on the mission field. They were in Alabama to go to Bible college, and they spent a great deal of time at our home, eating home cooked food and playing with our children. They also spent some time with my husband doing some fishing and shooting. Bob and Charlie were both courteous, well-mannered and godly young men. On more than one occasion I told my husband that if we could raised our children to be half as good as those two, we would be successful parents.

Both young men finished school and went back home to Brazil where they got married and started families. Then they came back to Alabama to start deputation as God called them both to be second generation missionaries in Brazil. We happened to be in Alabama at the same time, and Stephanie ended up babysitting their children on occasion. Both men finished deputation and have been serving in Brazil for many years now. In fact, our church supports Bob and his family.

Almost six years ago, Stephanie married a young man who was also called to the mission field of Brazil. Six years and three children later, they have finished deputation and left for Brazil last summer. They live in the same city as Bob's family and are serving with them in the work there. In fact, while Stephanie and her husband go to language school several times a week, Bob's daughter babysits for them.

I love the way God has woven these wonderful people into and through our lives. Each of these people are so incredibly special to us, and I thank God for allowing us to have had a very small influence on them. Then they each had a bigger influence on our children. Then our children had an influence on their children. And now their children are having an influence on our grandchildren.

It's also such a comfort to me to know that, while some of our family is far away in another country, they're not alone and they're not with strangers. Through God's grace, they are with people He brought into our lives many years ago.

Isn't God good?

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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:  We will be taking next week off from blogging. We've had several issues with the platform for our blog, including problems with people accessing it and leaving comments on it. We'll be doing some maintenance work next week to hopefully iron out those problems. We'll be back to blogging the week of April 29th, so make sure to come back then and see our changes. And test out our repairs by leaving comments, of course!

Happiness is Homemade

There is really nothing like spending quality time with your kids. I admit that I’m guilty at times of getting caught up in the things that need to get done and the things that have to get done that sometimes I miss out on that quality time with my girls. I’ve been working harder at putting the things that aren’t so important aside to make more memories with my girls. They are only this age for such a short time. I’m noticing that with each kid that you have the time seems to go by that much faster! 

The other night the weather was so nice, we had just put in a full day’s work at the church, I had a sink full of dishes, I didn’t have dinner ready or anything planned. So instead of facing all the work I had to do we took the girls outside to play. We played chalk, we took turns pushing the baby in the stroller and shot some hoops, it was so simple but we had a lot of fun. We came inside, ordered a pizza and spent the rest of the evening watching a movie. It didn’t cost a lot of money, but it was spontaneous and special.

I’ve had a little Easter dessert that I had been wanting to do with the girls, so over the weekend we finally got to it! 

     Here are my little sous chef’s hard at work.

and our results!

My parents got to come for a visit so we did a little early birthday party for this pretty girl! 

and she may or may not have partied too hard!

It really is the little things that matter most. I love making memories with my family!

What are some of your favorite things to do as a family?

** Next week our blog will be under construction!

All your care

Earlier this week, I was reading in I Peter, and a couple verses stuck out to me.

I Peter 5:7-8

 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 

I know these verses. I've known these verses for years. I taught one of these verses to my 3 year old. But something jumped out at me this time when I read them. 

Life can be overwhelming. Motherhood can be overwhelming, jobs can be overwhelming, bills can be overwhelming. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, there are many things or situations in life that can just come upon you and take over. 

That's when verse 7 comes in. Instead of being overwhelmed, you give it to God. Cast it upon Him, for He cares for you. 

Do you want to know why that's an important thing to do? Because we have an adversary.

The devil. Who is walking around looking for prey to devour. You know who is easy to devour? The weak. The ones who are burdened down with cares. 

If you are not sober and vigilant, and casting your cares upon Him, you are that weak prey that the devil is seeking to devour. Holding on to the burdens, and the overwhelming thoughts is making you an easy target. 

What are you holding on to today that is painting a big red target on your back?

When A Man Understands

Ive done a lot some blogging about the differences between men and women here on the blog, and I've even talked about how hard it is for one gender to understand the other at times. That, of course, doesn't mean you have to live at cross purposes. It's not always necessary to understand the why's of a certain reaction or response. Sometimes it's enough to understand simply that there will be a reaction or a response.

For instance, if some of the males in my household are equidistant between the bathroom and the back door, there's a 50-50 chance as to which door they'll choose in order to take care of nature's call. I don't understand it. I don't like it. I just know that it is a fact. On their side, they know that I don't like it. So although an outdoor choice makes perfect sense to them (!) they're more likely to choose the indoor response if I happen to be nearby.

One of the areas that men don't understand is pregnancy. And really, who can blame them? They've never experienced it and never will, so they can't truly understand all the intricate realities of what a woman goes through while she's pregnant. Bless their hearts.

My Indiana Jones wrestled with some of this through my six pregnancies. He had sympathy cravings which meant he asked his six-month pregnant wife to pick up a 36-bar pack of Hershey's candy bars while at the grocery store. Except the cashier didn't believe they were for my husband's cravings.

Indiana also tried to be supportive in the labor room. But he learned quickly that encouraging me through a contraction and chanting, "Come on, no pain! No pain!" were two separate things.

Now our third son and his wife are expecting their first baby, and yes, that grin has pretty much been on his face ever since they announced they had a little bundle of joy coming. I think it got a little bigger when they announced that the baby is a BOY! (Just in case you missed it.)

Paul's been pretty supportive during Shelby's pregnancy, understanding (or at least accepting) the nausea and exhaustion that often accompanies the first part of a pregnancy. But he's even taking it a step further. He's had some cravings. He's joked about having mood swings, but the grin is the only mood I've seen. But he's also been good about filling in for his wife. For instance, she's off coffee for the duration of the pregnancy, and she really misses it. Some men might sympathize with their wife, but still drink their coffee. Some might give up coffee right along with their wife. But here's where Paul is going the extra mile.

He's having his coffee and her's too. Talk about a sacrifice!

Here Comes the Bride

Were you one of those people who started planning details about your wedding when you were young? My Stella girl has already began her wedding planning, with many details picked out. Not only has she started on the many many details it takes to plan a wedding but she has also started praying for her husband. It's never too early to start doing that, right?

She told me a while back that she wanted to get married when she is 17, just like I did. I informed her that I was 20 when I got married, but didn't have the heart to tell her she wasn't going to be able to date until she is 30.

One day last week we took a girls’ day and she had taken a note pad with her to make sure she could write down any details of her wedding so she wouldn't forget what she wanted. She had mentioned to me that morning that she wanted to design her own wedding dress, and asked me if I could make one. I told her that I thought that was a fantastic idea to be able to design her own gown but that I would be happy to help her find someone when the time comes to make it for her since mommy can only sew a button. On her notepad she started some sample sketches of what she wants her dress to look like.

She is also very big on making lists, she started a list for everything she needed to get for her wedding.

If you can't make out what any of these pictures are, don't worry. I couldn't tell all of them at first either so we talked about it. She read off her list and it sounded a little something like this:

1. Tables and Chairs
2. Candles
3. Blue Flowers
4. Cupcakes
5. Balloons that say "Best Wedding Ever"
6. Music

When she mentioned the last one, I asked what type of music did she think she might have. She informed me that it would be godly, like "Jesus Loves Me".

I happily listened to all of her plans and told her that I loved everything that she had so far, but perhaps we should focus on finishing kindergarten first. She sighed at that idea and went back to designing her wedding gowns.

Teacher in the Making

On Sunday, the one that made me a momma turned 4.

The last four years have been a whirlwind, and I feel like I missed most of it. Since she was born we've moved from Kentucky to Alabama, started deputation, had two more kids, and moved to Brazil.

This girl is my mini-me in all areas: the good and the bad. She looks like I did and she acts like I did. Every time I talk to my mom and tell her something my daughter did (you know, the not so good things), I get the response, "hmmm, I feel like I know someone else who was just like that". 🤷‍♀️ I dont get it.

She is also quite the little momma to her siblings, whether it be very insistently informing me of their needs or dragging her little sister away from somewhere she shouldn't be. I was also like this. My mom said I took helping her upon myself, even to the point of deciding I was ready to change my first baby diaper because the baby was crying and Mom was dealing with another kid. So, I just did it.

But with the "little momma" thing also comes some not so good stuff. My daughter loves her fashion. She puts on a carefully chosen dress and shoes to match, and then goes to check herself in the mirror. When she determines she is satisfied with her look, she then goes to her dad for approval. I say approval, but she really wants the "ooos and ahhs". Now she has added to the routine by going to her brother for a compliment. She recently trained him in the response to give her.

Daughter : "how do I look?"
Son : "beautiful, you're so beautiful."

I'm not sure how she got him trained to answer that way. Maybe I should have her start teaching him the alphabet next.

Men will Never Say This ...

We have discussed before here on the blog the (obvious) differences between men and women. I personally feel that I've been put in a unique position to have an upclose view of the world from a man's perspective since I have so many men in our family. With that in mind, I came across the following recently and, after verifying the accuracy of the statements with the Boyd men, I'm sharing with you things you'll never hear a man say:

1. Does this hunter's outfit make look fat?

2. Do you think he's prettier than me?

3. My wife never listens to me.

4. I'll have the light vinaigrette salad and a diet soda.

5. Why do't we go to the men's room and freshen up?

6. No, I didn't see the game last night. I was watching QVC.

7. Looks like it's time to buy some new underwear.

8. Okay, who left the toilet seat up?

9. I've got my father's thighs!

10. The dog??? No, that was ME!

And because we also always try to include helpful suggestions here on the blog:

Happy Wednesday!

Believe Nothing and Trust No One

Im not typically an openly opinionated person. If you ask me my opinion, I will tell you otherwise I am more of a keep it to myself until I get home and share it with my husband type of person. Just ask him, he’ll tell you!

April Fools' day is a great day to try and pull off the ultimate prank and I’m all about a good one. However, I have had something on my heart that has bothered me for several years that I want to be openly opinionated about.

Every year on this day I come across someone using pregnancy as their April Fools' joke. To tease about such a sensitive matter is not only inconsiderate but can really hurt someone. So many people struggle with trying to get pregnant, miscarriages, or even the loss of a child. Not long after Matt and I were married I had a miscarriage and we lost our first baby. We were devastated! So it is really not something to joke about.

It’s easy to be tasteful with your pranking. I have even provided a couple of fun ideas. I personally have not tried any of these but someone very close to me has. From some stories that i’ve heard he was quite the prankster. To protect this person, I won’t name names…. April Fools', it was my husband.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Place saran wrap under the toilet seat.
2. Replace the icing on Oreos with toothpaste.
3. Fill a bowl with cereal and milk with a spoon place it in a freezer overnight. Someone will be surprised the next morning when they try and eat their breakfast.

So tell me, how are you pulling off your ultimate prank?