Struggling

It's funny how parenting is such an emotional roller coaster. Why is it that I see my kids better than others see them? I know my children's faults and strengths, yet everyone else seems to only see the faults. Then the faults are belittled. Instead of simply correcting and focusing on the strengths, we have to belittle them. Just confused as a parent; how do you deal with what others think? How do you teach your kids that they are not a smartallic, know it all, bully? Smart, yes. Tend to be right, yes. A rough boy, yes. It's all about the motive. The approach of my child is wrong, the motive is not. He's not trying to be a disrespectful, know it all punk. He's just an almost 7 year old kid, who has not completely learned how to speak and behave. I agree he's approach is wrong, but to belittle and label him that just seems wrong to me. So how do I teach through this process?

Life...the Craziness of it...

Let's see, where to begin...

Oh, I know...two weeks ago today, I ran away from life. I loaded up the van with luggage and kids. I dropped the kids with my parents, then went to a cabin in the woods, by myself. I love the hubby dearly, but two weeks ago it was about me. Not about taking care of the kids or the hubby. It was all about taking care of myself and my relationship with God.

It's funny how God had to have me run away to be able to tell me that all the studying of His word and praying to Him, was only 2/3 of the equation. I was missing the "Be Still..." Odd since that is the verse I have in VERY large print on my dining room wall. See, I was doing the things I knew I needed to do, but yet I was still feeling empty, even though I knew God was there. Well, I was empty, because I was not being still. You all know how it is as a wife and mother. You take care of everyone else first, then if there is time, you take care of yourself. God wants us to "Be still". We just have to be obedient and do it. Even if it is only for a few minutes each day, we have to get away from life and "Be still" in God, just listen to what He is saying to us. It's amazing what you will hear when you listen.

Also, God new I needed to refresh for days, before returning to the next part of my journey. You ask...What's next? Well, the hubby is still leading music at another church. God answered four specific prayers in a very specific way through a man in a restaurant, whom I had never met and probably never will again. One pray was...Father, please show me a burning bush. I got a burning bush.

The second part of what's next...Kid-O has been passing out. We've had an EKG which came back normal. We had the EEG yesterday. Don't know the results yet. And now we are on our way back to our favorite place, UAB to a pediatric endocrinologist. What's that you ask...metabolism in a nut shell. Looks like Kid-O is having blood sugar issues. Extremely lows and extreme highs. Indicates hypoglycemic/pre-diabetes.

It's funny how God using my children to keep me focused on Him. I have no problem placing them in His hands, and asking for His leading, but I have to choose to "Be still" and listen to what He wants me to do next. Which doctor does He want me to take her too. How far do I push until someone answers the question..."Why did my daughter start passing out, all of a sudden, at the age of 10?"

Little Man is about to be 7 and already has a powerful testimony about and for God. Maybe/Prayerfully God is building Kid-O's testimony to be just as powerful.

Curious...

So the Spirit of God is one of the three, from my understanding equal to God because He is God. Would that be an incorrect statement?

In the early church (new testament times) the Spirit of God would be present and the people would pray and worship until the Spirit was finished. They didn't stop. There was no time limit on preaching, teaching, praying, worshipping, etc. So my question: Why do we as Christians rush the Spirit? Why when He is moving do we decide we need to do something else?

Are we as a church afraid of the Spirit of God? Can fear be a bad thing? I think a healthy fear of God is a good thing. Proverbs states, "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom." When Moses approached Mt.Sinai to receive the ten commandments from God, God tells Moses to consecrate the people for two days and prepared them for God's appearance on the third day so they could hear God. Then God speaks through the thick cloud to Moses and the Israelites. The Israelites are scared so, they tell Moses they don't want to hear God, they want to hear Moses. Did that fear not instill in them the essence and power of the one and only Holy God? I would think that it would. Don't know I wasn't there, but it seems logical to me. Seems like the Spirit of God moving would be a powerful and awe inspiring thing.

I guess I "feel" like the church is missing something today, the moving of the Spirit, but I don't understand why? Or maybe He is not missing in all situations, but He is being asked to leave because we need to move on the the next point of worship. I know there is no good answer to my question. It's just a question.

Where is the power of God? An author in a book I am currently reading states, what if you were stranded in the desert and all you had was the Bible and you had never attended a church. You read that Bible, loved that Bible, then were saved and wanted to go to church, would your expectations be different than what you currently see, hear and feel?

Points I am currently pondering/praying about...

Been a while...

Obviously, it has been quite awhile since I have posted anything on my blog. Busy, busy, busy...

During the spring, we were busy with spring soccer for Little Man and preparations for the Science Olympiad for Kid-O, school, Emmaus walks, Chrysalis flights, VBS and vacation, as well as church activities. Speaking of church activities, the hubby has been the Minister of Music at a church about fifteen minutes from here since the second week of January. He is still the interim there. We believe this is where God would have us serve; however, we are still waiting on God's perfect timing.



Life has been interesting to say the least. God has been teaching me lots about myself and my need for Him, my dependence on Him. It's funny how you think you can do things by yourself, to only have God knock you back several steps and say, "No, you can't".

See a few years back, after many hurts within the church body, I put myself inside of a box. A beautifully wrapped box. God has allowed me to keep my box while He was healing the wounds; however, I knew that God was going to make that box (my security blank, as some might say) go away. I have fought thinking, I like my box, I need my box, my box is good for me, it keeps me from getting hurt. But see here's the thing, that box does not allow me to be as effective of a Christian as God has called me to be. Because inside that box, all my fears co-existed with me.

In saying that, I can say many wounds have healed in the pasted 2 1/2 years, there was still some left; however, the box must be opened and I must move out of that box for God to continue to heal the remaining wounds, so I can be effective for Him.

By grace I am saved, through love I am being healed.

Check up...

Little Man had his cardiology check up today. Drum roll please...Everything looks good. There is no progession of the stenosis this year from last year. So no better, but no worse. So that is a good thing. We just keep doing his yearly check ups for now.

Snow Days

We have had a very unusual winter for Alabama, but needless to say we have enjoyed it. First, it started with snow on Christmas day. You can't beat that. Then we got another 7 inches or so last Monday. The kids ended up being out of school for the entire week. So I thought you all might like some pictures of us having some fun on the white stuff.

We decided the best way to sled was to use the boggy board, which worked very well. Especially by day two, when our sled path had turned to a slick of ice.

Little man figured out that if we ran and jumped onto the boggy board on our knees that we would get the most speed. Oh what fun it is to...

Here's the hubby having fun too. I'm in the picture at the bottom. By the end of the two days of playing in the snow and shoveling snow so the hubby could go back to work, we were very sore. We decided this was the first time that we officially felt our age. Oh, it's all down hill from here, but man was if worth all the pain. The picture of Mini-Me didn't upload. I'll upload one of him later.

Family Picture 2010

Here is our most recent attempt at a family picture. So why is it so difficult to get children to smile, normal for a picture. You should see some of the pictures. Little Man looks down right scared in several of them. There a good laugh. So here are the ones that I thought were the best of the bunch.

Of course you go, the hubby, myself, Kid-O in the glasses, Little Man the blonde, and then Mini-Me the spitting imagine of his daddy.

Here was a cute picture of the three kids together. Kid-O is turning into a beautiful little girl. Hoping for awkward teenage years. Not ugly, just awkward.

Here's the hubby and I, still very happy after 10 1/2 years of marriage, 15 years together. Actually, probably happier, praise God.

Bean bags

Thought this was a good picture of the bean bags.

Bean bags

Here is a picture of Papaw and Mini-Me sitting in the fluffy brown beans bags that Mamaw and Papaw got for each of the kids for Christmas.

We got rid of the couches, mainly because they were old, so they were replaced with bean bags. We love them.

Christmas Morning

As you can tell, yet again I am way behind the times. It seems like I can't get a leg up right now. I have even stopped doing some of the things I used to do to try to keep up with the things that have to be done. Anyway, that being said, I would really like to get back to blogging. It is relaxing for me, therapeutic I might say.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning. Kid-O got the purple pillow pet, that fluffy white pillow and the electrical circuit set. She is a little geek like her daddy. Although, I must say I am proud of my little geek. How many kids would ask Santa for that gift.

Mini-Me didn't ask for drums, but apparently daddy was really bad, or that's what he keeps saying anyway, because Mini-me got the drums. He also got the Sam's tube of cheeseballs from Santa, which is what he actually asked for. The hubby and I had a hard time not laughing when he asked for them.

Little man asked for a pogo stick, a webkinz, and a red robe. The kids seemed to have a great Christmas. I know they got tons of stuff, by the time you factor in Santa, mommy and daddy, mamaw and papaw, auntie, then grandma and grandpa.

Busy still...

In the previous post, I talked about the busyness of life and all Little Man's health issues since the Staph infection. Well, it strikes again. After the last ear infection and Strep throat at the same time, it looks like we will be back at the doctor tomorrow. Fatigued and running a fever of 101. It's been two months since that Staph infection and we have yet to have Little Man healthy for more than about a week and a half at a time. Fun, fun. Mini-Me is sick too.

I really would like to runaway for just a few days and sleep. Do absolutely nothing but sleep. Is that possible?

I doubt it, but man is that a lovely thought.

Busy, busy, busy...

Okay, so I am just showing that my last post on August 18th was true. We have been so busy there just does not seem to be time in the day to breathe. I so desire my slow, boring life back. My mom keeps telling me that is not going to happen until my kids leave home. Is she right? I sure hope not.

This is how our weeks have looked for several months now. And this is just the regularly scheduled stuff, not even the extra stuff that gets thrown in there every week.

Sunday: church, nap, church
Monday: Errands
Tuesday: Bible study in Gurley, start cleaning house, soccer practice, dinner
Wednesday: Library duty, still working on house, laundry, church
Thursday: Library duty, still working on house, laundry, Science Club
Friday: More house work, more laundry, Soccer game
Saturday: Prepare our lesson for our Sunday school class, Work on projects around the house Back to Sunday

This does not include all the doctors appointments, volunteering at the school, couponing classes I teach, Indian Princess stuff, remodeling a bathroom, building a patio, etc. It's a good thing we only allow our kids to participate in one activity outside of church and school. It truly is a blessing that God changed my Spirit a few years back. I used to not be able to go to bed with a dish in the sink or a dirty bathroom. Praise God, He changed that. Because there is usually at least a bowl in the sink, and now the bathrooms only get cleaned once a week.

So tell me, will life slow down or should I just get used to it? I want to know what I'm in for.

On a different note, my Meniere's is now under control due to extremely low sodium diet and a diuretic. I've lost 15 pounds too.

Little Man is doing better from the Staph infection in his elbow. It has been rough for a while. Becuase Staph is so difficult and taxing on the immune system, right after we got him over that he got another viral infection that caused fever for 7 days. About a week after that he got a head cold and upper respiratory cold that lasted for about 2 weeks. He has now been healthy again, this time for about two weeks. So we are praying that his immune system is finally getting ahead of all the germs.

Busy...

Life has been extremely busy these last few days and doesn't show signs of being less busy for a few more days.

Monday...Well, Monday's are Monday's. Then add an ECoG test on top of that. I have been diagnosed with Meniere's Disease. So much fun for me. I knew I was dizzy, nauseas, echoing in my ears for a long time, just didn't realize they were all related. So now I am on a low, and I mean LOW sodium diet. And I return to the doctor on Friday to review results and get more medication to take. Little Man comes home from school with a red, swollen, sore elbow.

Tuesday...Took Little Man to the doctor, because I knew his elbow was infected. Can't take a chance with infections due to his heart condition. So we spent on hour at the doctors office yesterday morning to discover he has a Staph infection. First, squeezing the infection out of the elbow. Can you say, OUCH? Blood was drawn from one arm for CBC and sedimentation rate. Doctor called Little Man's cardiologist. After that call, more blood had to be drawn from the other arm for a blood culture, to see it the infection had gone septic. Left knowing we might have to go on IV antibiotics, an appointment for tomorrow, and horse pill antibiotics to take 3 times a day. Then Little Man could not go back to school, due to having to monitor his behavior. In the midst of the doctor's office visit, my Meniere's decided to make a visit. Dizzy, nausea, had to lay down. Why in the middle of Little Man's appointment. Squeezed more infection out last night. Can you say, GROSS?

Wednesday...Back to the doctor's office at 8:30 this morning. Infection was not found in the blood. So that is a good thing. Still able to squeeze infection out of the elbow. The elbow is still red, but not blood red like yesterday. Swollen, but not as bad. And still tender. Meniere's set in again, UGH. Left doctor's office this morning with another appointment for tomorrow morning. IV antibiotics is still a potential. Will lance the elbow and clean out as much of the infection as possible tomorrow. Trying to give the antibiotic a fighting chance of catching up to the infection.

Tomorrow...We'll see at the pediatric office.

Friday...Back to the ENT for Meniere's.

Doctors are great, but sometimes, do you ever feel like you are just seeing them WAY to much.

Funny...

I walk pass Mini-Me's bedroom. He is under his sheets with his head covered. I walk down stairs. I see the bar chair fallen on to the aquarium. I pick it up, and go back upstairs to Mini-Me's room.

Conversation goes like this (with Mini-Me still under the sheets):

Mommy: What are you doing?
Mini-Me: Hiding.
Mommy: Why are you hiding?
Mini-Me: Because I want too.
Mommy: Why do you want to hid?
Mini-Me: So daddy can't find me.
Mommy: Why don't you want daddy to find you?
Mini-Me: I don't want him to spank my hinny.
Mommy: Why would daddy spank your hinny?
Mini-Me: Becuase the chair fell.
Mommy: Oh, okay (trying not to laugh)

Little did he know, his cuteness kept him out of trouble, becuase he dented the aqaurium stand pretty bad and dented the bar chair as well. Apparently, he was sitting under the chair which we tell him not to do a lot. I guess we don't know what we are talking about.

Couponing 101...Part 11...RiteAid

Okay, so I shopped at RiteAid this week. It is pretty easy and words very similarly to the CVS Extra Care Buck program. In a previous post, I already posted the coupon policy, so don't forget to read that since I won't post that again in this one.

So here's how I did it this week.

Transaction 1
M&M's 2/$4.00 get $1.00 +up
Buy 3 bags of M&M's
Use Buy 1 Get 1 MC
Use $1.00 off pretzel M&M's
OOP = $3.00
+Up = $1.00

Transaction 2
Granier Shampoo and Conditioner 2/$6.00 get $2.00 +Up
Buy 2 bottles
Use 2 $1.00 MC
Use $1.00 +Up
OOP = $3.00
+Up = $2.00

So, three bags of M&M's and shampoo and conditioner for $6.00 OOP and $2.00+Up rewards in my pocket.

So far the only real difference I see between the CVS program and the RiteAid program is the rain check procedure. With CVS you can get a rain check for the sale price with the ECB attached. So if the item would be $4.00 with $3.00 ECB, when the item is back in stock you would go in, get the item and they would print your ECB. However, with the RiteAid rain check procedure, if the same item is $4.00 with $3.00 +Up rewards and you have to get a rain check it will be written for $1.00. Rite Aid is unable to print the +Up rewards out after the sale, so they will right the rain check for the sale amount minus the +Up reward amount.