BODY IMAGE THURSDAY

I really hate the word body image- especially today. I have gained weight. An ugly truth but truth none the less. A fact that has not gone unnoticed by myself AT ALL! I am very aware of the fact. Unlike the CBS stars when I go into "Survivor" mode- losing weight not the issue. I go the other way. No rice & fish for me - bring on the carbs & the chocolate. And I have been surviving the last few months. Ladies, you know how sometimes the man in your life states the obvious before he realizes he should not have stated it? Now sometimes we set them up for the fall but sometimes they jump off that cliff all by themselves. HH jumped big time last night. He started probing about my weight - as we were going to bed. I think I will leave it at that and move on.
I recently had to have a mammogram & sonogram. Praise God for an awesome report. Now before I continue I need to set up a mental picture. You know how we are supposed to be symmetrical - you know - the same on both sides of our body. I am not. Certain anatomical features are larger on my left side than my right. My weight gain has only enhanced the discrepancy. Got the picture. Okay so they call today with the results & I email sis to tell her. Email conversation goes like this:

her - yeah. Praise the Lord. Guess you are just well endowed. But that does not help you much does it.
me - nope. like from Peter Rabbit - Flopsie Lopsie
her - you are only flopsie when you run
me - which according to my weight is N-E-V-E-R! But always lopsie! (first time I wrote it I put butt always lopsie- which is also true) I think I am having a bad body image day!

So we laugh and move on. Then one of my students comes up and says " hey miss, we saw a picture of you from 2000. and so-n-so said man she has gotten fat. We all tried to tell him it was cause you had kids. We saw pics of so-n-so and so-n-so. And you were just a skinny little thang!"

A skinny little thang! Thanks for reminding me. Good thing I know whose image I was created in:

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Genesis 1:27

NKJV

And I don't think He ever has body image issues!

SHAUN GROVES

Real quick today. Shaun Groves will be in Kilgore June 14th at Crosspointe Fellowship Church. He will be performing & talking during the morning service. Shaun travels on behalf of Compassion International. Any questions - leave a comment here & I will forward it on to the right people (who just happens to be my sis - well done Bec ! well done!)

AND THEY CALL IT....TRACTOR LOVE

Man child 2 celebrated his birthday this week. As previously mentioned, he LOVES tractors. Lucky for him my mom is an awesome cake decorator! Here is his prize birthday cake:


And here is what is left of it after he was left alone in the kitchen:





Much like his mother the boy loves him some icing! Yep that is my DNA shining through. Prayerfully the high blood pressure & high cholesterol won't follow suit.
Man child 2's birth not nearly as eventful as MC 1. We knew the drill this time around. So other than the IV put in wrong and my hand swelling up & the spinal block tapping a nerve (I so empathize with the frogs that have been tormented). Oh and the mad rush to get me numb and me losing feeling in my arms & chest (partially)- yeah it was fine. And then there was the "bowel movement aid" at midnight to keep things interesting. It was a very long week. But he is the apple of his mama's eye. He still climbs up in my lap and tells me he loves me. I still get Mommy I need you. Kisses and hugs are still mandated when we drop off for school. He is beautiful to look at and he is a stinker to deal with. Sneaky and independent and fearless and courageous. All traits I know will serve him well in whatever God has gifted him for. He loves the drums, he loves his tractors and he loves his dog. He is just a neat little kid & we love him to pieces. Hard headed - yep - but he was really double stacked in that department. And he looks exactly like my Uncle Tommy's kids did when they were little. It is spooky some days. He has a scar from a weekend at grandma's that she still can not account for. Any conversation with Audie is going to involve " where is Grandpa" within the first 2 sentences.
Having 3 men children in my house is a bit of a challenge at times, especially since I came from a house of girls. But I love them and would not trade them for anything. Besides, any girl I would have had would have suffered my fashion blunders. I am blessed beyond words with family & friends. For that, I am very thankful!

WILD NIGHT?

Not really. Wild for us. HH & I left the house at 9PM to go get dinner? We were kid free and had just seen an ad for Red Lobster - so away we went. Finally ate around 9:45-10ish. We are in bed by that time normally. But it was soooo worth it. Maui Laua Salmon & Shrimp was fantastic! So very good! HH had the lobster and could have stayed there all night eating on that. We then visited our local supercenter to "walk it off". Can I say I was amazed at the number of people who eat at 10:30 at night. And the people who have their little kids out at 11pm. And one was giving them Dr. Pepper- my men children would have never gone to sleep. But it was a nice time to be with my man - all by ourselves. Of course by the time we got home we were so exhausted we crashed as soon as we got in. At least I did, I am not sure what HH did. Now you would think my body would know that I was up late & needed sleep - BUT - apparently not. So up & awake we are. Yeah!
Big day today - family coming over tonight - so off to clean I must go. Have a great Saturday!

SNOWBALL

I am enjoying the sound of ..... nothing. Well, not exactly true. I am watching a re-run of the O.C.- because I am prone to teen dramas and at times this was a good one. Please don't get me started on One Tree Hill. If they kill off P. Sawyer I will swear off teen dramas F-O-R-E-V-E-R! Of course you will have no idea who I am talking about unless you are 18 or under. I can only justify it by saying I spend 9 1/2 hours a day with teenagers. I need to be able to relate.

Okay - now that you have probably lost all respect for me, but I sure hope not, let me explain the quiet - aka-the aftermath of a huge snowball!

So my parents needed to keep granman child 8 today. In the process, mom got with sister 2 and offered to keep granman children 1 & 3 & grangirl child 1. Meanwhile, dad has got with sister 3 and offered to keep grangirl child 2 & granman child 4. That is a total of 6 so far. As they conference they realized what they had done. Just so happens HH was with my dad and dad says heck let's just take em all. So he came & got men children 1 & 2. Ahh the quiet! Time to think and to pray for my mom cause those men children are a handful!

The events of today went very well. There were no indications of anything negative on either the mammogram or the sonogram. Just awaiting the official word. Having said that, please keep Bev in your prayers. You can keep up with her at the Siesta Fiesta blog. She is fighting breast cancer as we speak. Or as she said, God is fighting breast cancer for her.

Someday I would like my friend Nikita to share her cancer survival story. She is still battling and God uses her in a mighty, mighty way. She is hands down one of my favorite people EVER! I can't wait till she explodes into what God has for her!

I would like to praise God for the peace He has provided this week. I, we, have a very tough decision to make & follow through on. I had spent days trying to fix it and figure out how I could fix it. At church Wednesday night I really felt impressed upon me "Let it go & get out of the way. Give it to Me & leave it alone." So I have. And His peace like a river has flowed and I am ever so grateful. I still have NO CLUE how or what He is going to do. Can't tell you how it will work out or if it will work out like I want. But I know He will work out to our good if we allow Him, and oh how I want to allow Him.

Man child 2 has a birthday coming up soon. Will share his story soon. Not as funny as man child 1 since it was round 2, but priceless to me nonetheless. Love my HH & men children shamelessly. And I am honored how they love me! Only by the grace of God and the love of Jesus Christ.

Hope you have a good night. HH & I are going to enjoy some alone time, maybe catch dinner & a movie. Thanks for reading. You guys are the best. I pray Jesus loves all over you this weekend!

DOESN'T THIS SOUND FUN!

So as a precautionary step I get to have this today:

bilateral mammogram & a sonogram

Yep - sounds fun doesn't it.
Then I get to go teach 60 teenagers about oxidation numbers. The anticipation is almost more than I can handle.
Sure - you can pray for me. I will need it:)
Have a great weekend!

BOYS

My mom's day was great. My man & my men children showed their sweet sides. HH got my a very nice computer tote for my laptop. When I say very nice I mean way more expensive than I would have ever bought myself. Does the brand Fossil mean anything to any of you? As one who suffers fashion ignorance, it is lost on me. But it sure is pretty!

The men children got me flowers of various forms.

These came from mc 1. Actually got them Saturday. When I asked him Sunday what he was getting me, "I got you flowers YESTERDAY. R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R". Yes baby, mommy remembers. (PS - Bec that is your birthday gift to the left- remind me this weekend)

This little beauty came from mc 2. I know it doesn't look like much. Imagine a beautiful yellow marigold right in the middle. Poor little flower made it all the way till Sunday night, when mc 2 picked it off and brought it to me with the sentiments "happy mommy". Yes baby, a very happy mommy.

Got this little note passed to me during church. Yes, we do allow them to write on the envelopes. Silence is golden and can be bought.

They are so sweet!

They are also so gross. This little project gave them sheer delight tonight. So much so they demanded HH come & join them. N-O-W! Looks great don't they. Germs galore! Straight into the showers.