...AND WE ARE UP TO SATURDAY

Have you recovered from Friday yet?
Me neither:)
Saturday morning found me busting my tail to get things made to go celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.
HH and the men children went to the local barber shop to get cleaned up.
Can I tell you how much I love that?
Not just because they are out of the house, although that is a plus some days.
I love that my boys have a dad, their dad, who wants to and is able to do stuff like that with them. He is there to train them in the ways of menfolk and I am every so grateful.
I was responsible for potato salad and a cake for Saturday.
Being the PW inspired woman that I am, I opted for a FROM SCRATCH red velvet cake.
I know - right?
Well, it all got made and we made it to mom's. Yes - LATE.
But I decided is was subconscious self-sacrifice on my part so the sisters would feel good that they beat me there. Besides they had it all under control. Seems their party planner (ahem* ahem) delegated very well. I would say she used her administrative gifting but as we discovered, she is really just bossy. She does boss well though.
Zip it sisters!
Party was great. HH took each of the boys fishing for some one-on-one time.
Of course he waited until we were in the car to tell me about MC 2. HH is smart like that if nothing else. Seems MC 2 kicked off his flip flops and went sludging around in the pond, water up to his knees. He also picked up a pet- a bass. MC 2 was supposed to throw it back but seems he decided to pack it around for about 15 minutes, giving it water when it started to go lifeless. It was cruel bass Mr. Bass and I am sorry. Some ways of the menfolk I just can't explain.
Someone out there with boys tell you can relate.
Please... I need the encouragement.
When does school start again?
Kidding...I am just kidding;)

UHMMM...YEAH

You would not have wanted to read it. Pretty much anything I would have written last week would have just depressed you. Probably caused you to doubt my salvation. It has been a struggle between the inner spirit man and the flesh man trapped inside this body. If that totally just freaked you out, then it was like this....my facts and faith were colliding head on and my attitude and outlook were collateral damage. Still healing from the wounds.
So we will skip to the Friday review. It was a day that just did not go as planned. It ended up with me at Wal-Mart at 3pm trying to buy groceries. In tow I had two boys who were not content to just push their respective buggy. Oh NO. We wanted to pin brother between the buggies. We wanted to race the buggies. We pretty much wanted to do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING mommy did not want us to do. So at 3:30 we promptly left the store. Unfortunately the cupboards were bare, requiring MC 1 and I to return to said Wal-Mart at 8:30 that night. I NEVER, I mean N-E-V-E-R do I go to the store that late. Especially not with a man child. I had many ads and coupons (yes I am that girl), so I knew it was going to take a while. He was a big help until about 10:00. Then he went into overdrive and our bread caught the brunt of it. Seems he did not hear me yell after him, DO NOT PUT THE MILK ON THE BREAD!, as he raced from the produce section all the way to the back to the dairy section. I would show you a picture but it is no longer 3 dimensional, and no set of high fluten glasses will fix that.
Finally, we checked out and headed back to the truck. Sweet relief right?
No. Someone had decided to write foul words on the truck nice and BIG. Fortunately MC 1 still has problems with his vowel sounds so he could not sound out the word. I spent the drive home avoiding the what was that word question and instructing how we don't write on others cars.
Exhausted just from reading it?
But this is a new week and a new day.
In all this, one fact remains....
I still get to choose.
Choose Jesus.

OPEN LETTER TO MY SPIRIT (AND MAYBE YOURS)

Okay, so things are not like you thought they would be. Life not quite like you had hoped it would turn out. You really did not see yourself here, now. What started out as a difficult situation seems to have turned into a difficult season, which at times colors your vision to believe you have a difficult life. Not true sweet one, not true at all. First, remember who you belong to. You have given yourself to Christ Jesus and you are His. The end. Knowing that, you must know that everything that has come your way has gone through His hands and the hands of our Father. Although you feel things are out of control, they are completely in His control. Cling to that.

You have a choice to make today, this very moment. What are you going to do while you are here? The best choice...the wise choice...is to serve, honor, and seek Him in the midst of all this. Sow some seed to be harvested. Do some damage to prince of this earth. Break loose some chains of bondage. Don't give the enemy on foot of ground in this place. Remember what your Lord has promised you. Remember that He is good, He has a plan, He has never left you for one minute. Remember He is making you more like Himself each and every step of the way. Hold fast to the promises of His word to you.

Now get up and dust yourself off. Wash your face, wipe your tears, fix your countenance. Go out there and do something for Jesus. Big or small, doesn't really matter. Do something. Keep your eyes open for what He has for you today. Walk with expectation that this seemingly time of trials can be, will be if you let it, a great time of victory.

You choose.

Don't forget that.

You choose.

UHHMMMM...I DID NOT MEAN TODAY

I am around chapter 20 of Loving God With All Your Mind, by Elizabeth George. I have decided to use it as my bible study, reading one chapter a day, for the time being. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I just finished Breaking Free (enough said), and second, I actually wanted to not only finish this book but take the time to let is do it's thing (His thing) in me.

Which brings us to Friday. It had been a tough week, few weeks actually, for me. I have had more than one quiet time with me just spewing whatever was inside to the Lord and sometimes at the Lord. Friday was one of those times. Before I read my Bible, before I read the book, before any of it, I spent time spewing. I am one of those kind who needs to talk it out. I figure He knows it anyway, so I might as well talk it out with Him. No sense trying to hide stuff from the One Who created you. At the end of all that spewing, I asked the Lord to give me a truth to hold onto for the day. The section of the book I am in now is focusing on Romans 8:28,

And we know all things

work together for good

to those who love God,

to those who are the called

according to His purpose.

I can say without any hesitation I struggle with that. I do. Sometimes it is hard for me to remember that. But as with the "true and real" stuff Mrs. George had been sharing, I was determined to grab hold of that piece of truth and make it my own.

I finished up my quiet time and headed outside with MC 2. That is when I noticed the tread coming off, separating off, my back tire. I called HH, and he confirmed that I couldn't drive it safely. The news created a problem because MC 1 was at his last day of school and had to be picked up in a couple of hours. So I called the local family, and as the Lord would have it, they were unable to get free to get him. The only option left was the bus, which actually goes right past our house. Yeah, right? Let me let you peek inside this mama's head -

On the LAST day of school this mama has to put her firstborn, whom she has chaperoned to and from school everyday for the past 185+ days, on some unknown bus with some unknown bus driver so he or she can bring my precious cargo home. My man child has no idea he needs to ride the bus, no idea which bus to ride, no idea of the bus route.....NOTHING.

HH calls back and through my tears we confirm the plan of action. I compose myself long enough to call the school, email his teacher and get things squared away. Then I cried. And cried. And cried some more. MC 2 even came in and asked. " Are you done crying yet?", and walked away while mocking me with a fake baby cry.

Through those tears I kept going back to Romans 8:28. Repeating it. Praying it over those next couple of hours. Meditating on it. Telling the Lord that I did not mean today, I did not really want to test it out today! Then refocusing in the truth I had requested in my quiet time, taming my wild imaginations to focus on what was true and real.

End of story, MC 1 makes it home safely. Thought it was awesome. Saw a fight. Got a Popsicle. The usual public school bus ride.

Lessons?

First, if you ask God to equip you with a truth, you better be prepared for the chance to apply it to show up soon.

Second,

And we know all things

work together for good

to those who love God,

to those who are the called

according to His purpose.

MANY HANDS MAKE FOR AN EVEN BIGGER MESS

I have been trying to finish the bathroom remodel we started over a year ago.

Which basically means fix my botched up paint job so HH can put the mirror back and we can resume some form of civility.

I mean a house with no finished bathroom is like a house with no kitchen floor.....

ahem....

moving on.

I knew painting with MC 2 would be a challenge.

No you may not stand by the open paint can.

No you may not stand on top of the toilet by the open paint can.

Please stop rolling the walls with the empty roller.

No you may not have a paint brush.

No you may not stand on the bathtub.

Where did you go?

What are you doing?

Come here so I can see you!

But I need to finish strong, so today we will hit it again.

Figuratively I hope.

I DO

It has been a long week with the men children. MC 2 has broken two windows, turned the last gallon of milk I have into a gallon of chocolate milk, disobeyed too many times to count, doused the bathroom in baby powder, and gotten very clingy at night when mama wants people to leave her alone. MC 1 has been ate up with attitude and sass, cried alligator tears at bed time, and somehow thinks he has become in control of the remote. Let us not even mention trying to get up in the mornings - for any of us. It has been a long week, and I have not momma'd all that well. Bodes for a long summer. Condemnation wants to come sit a spell it seems. And it is not just the men children it wants to talk about. But as I hear or read about the stories of the families in this world suffering, with loss of children, with divorce, with destruction, with true poverty, I am pulled back into what is true and real. The truth is my men and I have a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. The reality is my men children have both parents at home trying to raise them together the very best we can. I have my men children with me today. I have HH with me today. Sadly there are some mama's and wives that can't say the same.
So though the week has been long, it has been blessed.
Though I told the Lord today I feel alone, I know I am not.
I can still choose right now to remember that.
I do.

BECAUSE...

it seems we are for Team Jacob

I was going to show you the

three pounds of peeled garlic

HH bought at the store the other night.

Even though I clearly said,

"I only NEED taco seasoning",

and he said,

"that and snuff is all I am going to get".

Response to my facial reaction,

"What? I like garlic."

Why yes, Buffy, it seems you do.

However, I can not show you said pic

because I discovered this morning

that someone has deleted

all the pictures from my camera.

No prizes for figuring out who.

Some of the photos were on my lap top,

but not all.

And it may not have been HIM.

But given his track record the last couple of days,

he is suspect numero uno.

Hello Wednesday.

Did you change your name to Monday?

Good grief!