Thank You, Lord!

  Grace and mercy. That is what I'm thankful for today. Last week was rough and I have no one to blame except myself.Last week I raised my voice more times than I care to count. Last week I forgot to give 3 people in my family a compliment on 2 separate occasions. Last week I don't think that there is one time that I can give myself credit for responding to a sticky situation with a smile and I definitely didn't keep the "front area" of the house clean and presentable. See what I mean. Last week was just plain yuck. The best part is that the Lord is full of mercy and grace! So, now He has given me a brand new week to try again! There's some of that mercy and grace I was referring to! Man, He is so good to me! 

   At first I was going to type out this long list of reasons why last week was so rough. Then I decided....who really cares? Last week is over! Here is a brand new week to focus on. A brand new week to get it right! 

    Last night as I was laying in the bed drifting off to sleep I prayed, "Lord, please help me to start a new week the right way. Help me wake up on time and get my day started right...focusing on You in all that I do." My alarm went off at 5:10 this morning and I was in the shower before 5:20! Lately, that has been very tough for me. This morning, no problem. Yep, mercy and grace yet again - thank you, Lord! I was out of the shower and dressed, had a load of laundry started and the dishwasher unloaded by 6:00. Now, I know this seems crazy, but, because I had all of that done by 6:00 - it meant that I had time to pack the kids lunches, get their bookbags ready for school and start their breakfast. (Typically, Scotty does all of this) However, since I was done and not rushing around I was able to do it so that I could let him sleep in this morning! While I was packing lunches Madi comes into the kitchen to say good morning and I was so eager to give her a compliment that I told her she looks so beautiful in the mornings when she is just waking up! (Her response was not one that I can go without telling you!!!! She looked at me (like I was crazy) and said, "Mom, my hair isn't even brushed and I have my jammies on....what's wrong with you?" That girl is a trip!) Okay, back to my story! I get everyone at the table for breakfast and now I get to go in and wake up Scotty!! He was so thankful for me letting him sleep an extra hour! (and I was so grateful that I was able to let him sleep an extra hour!) The morning went so smoothly and the boys and I got lots of laundry and housework done today!

   Today is the day before Dustin turns 3. Today is also the day before Dustin looses the services that he has been getting through the infant/toddler program. (Speech, OT and developmental therapies) Today is also the day that the Lord provided a huge blessing! (there's that mercy and grace again! wink!) I went to an IEP (Individualized Education Plan)  meeting for Dustin today that would determine if the public school system would pick him up and continue our speech therapy through them or if we were going to have to go private. Private services are very expensive and our particular insurance plan doesn't cover them. They would cost us around $225.00 per week. Speech therapy is not something that Dustin can go without right now because of the diagnosis that he has been given. He needs speech at least 3 days a week and will probably continue to need it for at least the next 3-5 years. Today the school system not only offered us speech each week, but they also offered us continued OT (occupational therapy) each week AND....drum roll please.....a FULL time preschool position at a close by elementary school until he starts kindergarten! Paid for. In full. Must I repeat....THANK YOU, LORD!!!!!

    I'm so thankful for a new week to start fresh and put last week in the past!

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8

Monday Is Finally Here!

    Monday, October 10th....Oh, how I have looked forward to you for several days now! Weird, huh? For those of you who know me well...actually, know me at all - know that I'm a routine and schedule kinda gal. I don't like chaos. I don't like not knowing whats next. I have to be able to plan accordingly for any and everything we do. Well, the big stuff. Every day life stuff. I'm not saying that I have to have a play date to the park on the schedule for a month or we can't do it - or we can't scratch cooking dinner at home and going out on occasion - I am saying that I can't wait 40 weeks to see if it's a boy or girl (no, I'm not expecting - just an example of the things I have to be able to prepare for), I can't feed my kids breakfast, lunch and dinner at a card table in the living room for 8 days while the kitchen floor is covered with cabinet doors, I can't spend days on end with no plans. So, the past few weeks have been crazy. No regular schedule. No specific plans or routine. Just crazy. Don't get me wrong - we had a good time, but, enough is enough and it's time to get back to "our normal". I call it "our normal" because it's probably not really normal at all to anyone else...but, it works for us!

    Through all of the chaos I have been working diligently to "Make My House A Home". For those of you that have been reading you know that I have 1. Worked very hard on not raising my voice 2. Made sure I have given each member of my family at least one compliment each day 3. Faced every sticky situation with a smile (Whoa, can we say t-o-u-g-h? I'm still working very hard on this one) So, today I am beginning a new act. While I'm still working very diligently on the first 3 I'm also going to be working to keep our livingroom, entrance and kitchen presentable for company at all times. I am not saying it is going to be spotless, just not a total mess. The email says "Our children and husbands get embarrassed when they live in a house that they can't bring their friends to." Honestly, I get embarrassed, too. I love when people stop by to see us - we love having company, but, I hate it when a friend calls and says they are going to stop by  and it leaves me scurrying around sticking stuff under cabinets and in our bedroom - that seems to be where everything that doesn't have a home ends up when we are having company! Wouldn't it be so much easier if it was already done? Then I have time to make tea and cookies instead of making it look like we aren't the messiest family on the block! So, now that the kids are back in school and it's just me and the little boys here I felt like this would be a great pick for this week! Hopefully, this will help me get back on track!

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive. -Acts 20:35

A Lily Pad In The Pond

   A few years back Scotty decided to paint our oak cabinets white. So, him and a few friends took a weekend and tackled the project. They looked great....at first. In the past year or so the paint has started chipping, the parts that still have paint on them have turned to a lovely brownish whitish color...you can see hand prints, food and juice spills...they just aren't pretty anymore. It happens when there are 3 meals cooked daily and 8 little hands that can't seem to walk past them without touching them! So, the time has come for the long tedious project to be re-done. We've been talking about doing this for a while now, but, couldn't really decide on a color. Okay, maybe decide isn't the right word...we couldn't really agree on a color! He wanted to paint the cabinets green! Are you kidding me? Green!?!?!?  Absolutely not. No way. We. Are. Not. Painting. Them. Green!!

     Tucker had an appointment at UNC on Friday (I will do a post about him soon - we have another couple of appointments next week and then I'll update!) so Scotty and I took him to that and my mom offered to keep the other 3 kids over night for us! So, it began. When we got home we put Tucker to bed and got started.  We had no idea just what we were getting ourselves into. This time, Scotty decided he wanted to tackle it alone - he wanted it to be done just right and just his way so he wanted to do it alone! I have helped some, but mostly I have "worked" on keeping the kids out of the kitchen - and by the way, that is quite a tough job! So far he has put 42 hours of sanding and painting into our cabinets. They are looking great but, he is so ready to be done and I am so ready to have my kitchen back...

Still White....well, kinda white!

Cabinet Doors Coming Off....

Sanding Away. This took the longest...hours and hours and hours!

Starting on the last cabinet door....at least the first coat!

Almost finished with the first coat!!!

A floor full of cabinets that need to dry!

    As you can imagine keeping my four frogs (also known as children) off of "Lily pads in the pond".... aka...wet green cabinets on the kitchen floor is not the easiest job! We have spent lots of time at my grandma's house! While there, I have been able to work on the kid's fall outfits for our family pictures coming up which has been fun and the kids have got lots of time to do "whatever they want" because that seems to pretty much be the rule at Gigi's! Wink!

Dylan and Tucker coloring pretty pictures for Gigi's fridge!

Madi, Dustin and Gigi working on coloring a picture of Mickey Mouse!

The beginning stages of Tuck's fall outfit for our family pictures!

Dustin's shirt!

    This weekend some of our good friends from Kentucky are coming to stay for a night and can't wait for them to be here....hopefully my kitchen will no longer be a pond with lily pads, but, a kitchen with beautiful new GREEN cabinets! And, yes, for the record - I finally agreed on green and I just l-o-v-e them!

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. - Ephesians 5:24

Turn That Frown Upside Down!

   Straight to the point today. Ready for act #3? Put a smile on your face. Seems simple enough, right?

  "Put a smile on your face even if something is not good. Let a smile be your first defense for those bad, hurtful thoughts you are having. After a while that smile will turn your sad feelings into nice ones. If you don't believe me, prove me wrong!"  

    This sounds so simple, however, I have a feeling that it's not going to be quite as easy as it sounds. I also have a feeling that it will work wonders and be so worth the extra effort that it is going to take! So far I am not raising my voice and I'm giving lots of compliments - okay, okay....I'm working very hard to make sure I don't raise my voice. I have had a certain 6 and 7 year old have to hold me accountable and remind me a few times that I promised I wouldn't raise my voice anymore! Ooops! Over all though, I haven't been yelling and I've been complimenting like crazy and it has been amazing! My "new" behaviors have helped my children see a "good model" so much more clearly. Just yesterday when we were leaving for church Madi told Dylan that he looked handsome!!! Now, for those of you that know my Madi - know that this was a jaw dropper for me! So much so that I turned around looked at her and said, "What did you just say?" Just wait! It gets better - guess what happened after that!?!?! Dylan told Madi that she could play with his DS on the way to church, because he thought it would be nice to share it with her! What? Are you kidding me? Now, don't get me wrong - there have still been lots of picking at each other and some not so nice things said....but, it's a start!

   So, here's to smiling all the time! I'm very excited to see what a simple smile will do for our week!

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. - Proverbs 15:13