YOUR Gonna Miss This… Moment… Week 45

Oh, Crud… It just struck me that it is Friday, and I do have a carnival to run (along with a house, and kids, and work, and company coming)  EEK!! 

I was thinking this morning about what I would write about today… I am really, really going to miss sleeping in, and the kids sleeping in longer than me, in a couple weeks when school starts.  I absolutely LOVE waking up without an alarm.  (who doesn’t!) but still waking up early and having time to myself before the kid invasion.  Love that.

I am going to miss the freedom of not having to play drill sergeant with homework & bedtimes that must be early.

 

I am going to do my best to relax and enjoy the two weeks of this we have left. (you know rather than be all excited about school starting again & getting MUCH MORE time off of mom duty.) Nope, not going to get excited about that (not very).

Besides there is still lots of summer left (anyone else feel like they are cramming as much in as they can)… friends to come over and visit… friends to go and visit… lake trips with Grandma & Grandpa to take (kids only)… school supplies to buy…swimming to do… football to start… lots to do yet before school starts…

… & I am going to miss summer break when it’s gone… so I’m headed to make some more peach tea… lay on my new hammock… wait for our friends to arrive… and enjoy the night off… while I can…

Pam

How about joining me?  Do you have a moment that you want to forever treasure in time and share with us all here?  Go write a post & link it up here!  Make sure you all go visit each other’s blogs and leave comments on those who play along!  And I’ll be over to see what you wrote!!  If you are new to this carnival you can read the Original YOUR Gonna Miss This...Post here.  And don’t forget to add this button to your post!

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Have an awesome weekend everyone!

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I WON THE BLOG HOP!

I WON!!  Thank You, Mcklinky, The Riggs Family, & Elana Kahn!

I won $100 worth of Avon donated by Avon dealer Elana Kahn  Bless her!!

The contest was put on by Brent & Michelle Riggs, through their weekly carnival The Blog Hop, using Brent’s Creation Mcklinky!!  Here is the post that I did for this week’s Blog Hop, all you have to do to be entered is write a post and link it up!

What a great week to win!  The week of my birthday!!  Kind of like God knew, ya know! :) 

Thanks again!  I am truly Blessed!!

Pam

Vlogemotion: Minus the Vlog

It’s Thursday, the day I join Tim @ Fort Thompson in his vlogemotions carnival.  BUT, for the third week in a row, i find myself missing an important element in the whole vlog creation process… first it was the camera, then the computer, now the camera’s battery charger is MIA. 

I was all set to video, I was even going to let you witness my freshly washed head of hair & my crisp clean face.  (you know cause if i run the hair dryer THEY might wake up, and THEY are all still asleep! YEAH!!)  And if I wake any of THEM to ask where the charger is… yeah, I might as well save my breath and type.

I was not sure what my emotion was going to be today anyway.  Is BUSY an emotion?  HAPPY is.  ANGRY is. WORRY? IMPATIENT?

So, with no camera battery, I sat down to work on my Bible Study Me, Myself, & Lies by Jennifer Rothschild.  Read the first paragraph and knew what I needed to do. 

“To sort fact and feeling, she makes a list of lies and truths when she talks to herself.  It’s helped speak truth and hope to her soul.”

I feel like I have been so busy that the truth and the lies get all mixed up together & I need to sort them all out again.

Lies I hear in my head:

You are alone.

Your kids are not going to make it.

You are forgotten.

You aren’t going to make it.

How is James going to go to college? 

What if he makes a dumb choice?

What if he fails?

What if he ends up following his dads life path?

HSSH is getting away with this.

HSSH is never going to change.

What God has told you about HSSH is not what you think it is.

You are holding on to something that is never going to happen.

You can’t do this.

Truth:

You have a ton of friends & family who would do anything for you.

You have an amazing God who fills your heart with love & takes away your loneliness.

You have amazing kids who ARE going to make mistakes & who are going to learn and grow by them & become better people because of it.

Where James ends up going to college may not be your choice, but you will have peace that I will take care of things.

Remember you laid HSSH on the altar?  And you intended to leave him there?  Leave him there.

Don’t believe for a minute what you see with your eyes when you see HSSH is truth.

"Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, 
you will be free indeed.'"  John 8:34-36

God has you in the palm of His Righteous Right Hand.  He will never leave you or forsake you.  Wait patiently on the Lord and He will Help you. “Delight yourself in the LORD        and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:” (my collection of verses put together as they came to me just now, Ps 37 is part of it, not sure where the rest are found)

So, between all the running, and I do mean running, Lord Jesus help me to keep the truth in my mind & to believe it.  And I pray that you help me discern the lies. So many lies. I need You.

A run down of the “busy”

• football camp for Lucas
• football camp leading for James & Zach
• shopping for school shoes & clothes
• cheerleading practice for Leah
• swim party for Leah
• Campus Life Retreat for James & Zach
• Out to dinner with family on my birthday.
• Out to paint pottery & eat dinner with a friend.
• Work.
• Dentist.
• Chiropractor.
• Doctor.
• Groceries.
• Visits from out of town friends.

And that is just this week. I heard a country song yesterday while riding in the van with Zach… here i found it on you-tube…

Hey, Tim!  I added a video, so can I officially all this my vlog!  I sure need to tell myself much of this! :)

Well, the kids are up, and NO ONE knows where that battery charger is… sounds like life to me…

Thanks for “listening” to my thought closet adjustment today!  And head over to Tim's place to watch real vlogemos with actual vlogs on them. Ahem.

Pam

“He Is With You”

While driving Lucas home from football camp today, I heard this song I’d fallen in love with last spring, by Mandisa had been released.. It has been awhile since I’d heard it… sure is touching, again.

I need to keep remembering this in my own life… but how comforting as we pray for others too… still praying for Stellan & Abby

Pam

Blog Hop: Favorite Kid Photos

Joining with The Riggs Family in a blog hop, complete with prizes, again today!  Please keep praying for this family, and their sweet Abby, she just entered the hospital for the 25th time this year with an infection.

The prayer vigil for little Stellan continues. Things sound a tad bit better this morning, from reading MckMama's Tweets.  There is a plan in motion to move him from his home in Minnesota to Boston for future treatments & most likely a surgery of some sort. 

So, on with some kid pictures!  My parents just sent me a bunch of their pictures, since I’ve lost most of mine from July & our trip to the lake!  There were some cute ones in there that I thought I would share today!

 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday!  It was a nice day.  Birthday’s are way overrated ya know… how do you stop that?  I only went on a few short pity party trips.  Mostly I am just relieved it is over and I don’t have to fight that mental battle!  I am so blessed!  I know that. Tonight I have another night out planned with a friend, and this morning I got breakfast with another friend!  Forgive me for ever complaining!! 

Have a great day, and Happy Blog Hopping!

 Pam

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It’s my birthday & avoiding a pity party

Today is my birthday.

But, I began having my own little party yesterday. Yup. Pity Party.  I was the only one invited. Poor Me. Oh, I guess that isn’t true, I had my good friends PMS & depression keeping me company.

Blah.

I hate that. 

I feel pathetic.

I feel ungrateful.

I feel stupid.

I had no big plans for today.  I am missing one of my very good friends who I have spent my past 3 birthdays with.  She lives out of state, and it’s just worked out that we have visited each other over my birthday the past few summers. We have no plans to visit this year.  That makes me sad.

She sent me like 5 e cards this morning, one was this… thanks Dorie!

I am missing being married & having my husband with me.

I am missing my friends who are on vacation this week.

I have received some wonderful gifts and sweet cards. I am not as alone as I wanted to believe I was last night, for sure. 

I knew how I felt was wrong.  I knew it was lies.  Too bad it is not just that easy to know it and change it. 

MckMama's Tweets began coming in, telling of Stellan’s weakening condition & the helpless weariness Jennifer was feeling.  The unresponsiveness of his body to the medical interventions they were taking.

Interesting how my own little pity party dissolved as I began to pray for Stellan. 

 

 

While I was at it, I started praying for some other friends & family.

I told  asked, Leah to take a walk with me.  We did 2 miles of walk/jogging & talking.

James & Zach went to town to get some movies, & came home asking me if I wanted my gift now or later.  And wondering if I wanted them to wrap it or not (men in training ya know) :)

They wrapped it (I told them I didn’t care, preparing them for marriage, they made the good choice!!)  They picked out a 6 person dish set from Walmart!  A beautiful black set that matches my kitchen perfectly!  How about that!  They even used their own money!  They bought 1 extra big plate for the whole family to have a matching set!!

Today, I am believing the truth.  I am not allowing the lies to come back.  I am praying for Stellan & his family.  I am praying for my kids. I am blessed. Chosen. Adopted in God’s family. Accepted. Redeemed. Forgiven.

Thank YOU JESUS!

Pam

YOUR Gonna Miss This… Moment… Week 44

My Computer is back and running again!  Just in time for another week of YOUR Gonna Miss This… Moments!  Won’t you join in with me and my friends and post a moment of your own to share & link up here?

Well. Not sure what to share with you.  My computer is back, but I lost some pictures, mostly the recent ones, like the ones from our vacation at the lake.  So all I have are the ones that I shared on here.  Bummer.

I think I’ll go take a new picture right now, just so I have one to post… be right back…

Wow, thanks for telling me to buck up and take some new pictures and quite whining about losing all those others. O? That wasn’t you?  Voices in my head?

I went outside and got inspired by this…

(Go ahead, ask me about her hair!)

A staple summer meal roun’ these parts…

Pudgy Pies.

We don’t ask why they are called THAT! Ahem.

Ever had one?

The part that inspired me is how Kiahna calls them, “Fudgy Pies”!

A few weeks ago, she was so grumpy.  She ended up in bed right from our campfire dinner.  She refused to eat her “fudgy pie” and chose to cry.

I took her in to put her to bed, she said her prayers… “help me to eat my fudgy pie next time” (through the tears!)

What a sweetie!

Yeah, I still put her to bed, she wasn’t that sweet!

A favorite for our family is Pizza Pudgy Pies!  How about the recipe, you say?  Don’t even tell me it isn’t you again, I know it’s you this time!

Simple.

Bread.

Pizza Ingredients, we used sauce, cheese, pepperonis, & mushrooms tonight!

Close the pudgy pie maker and put in the fire.

DONT LET IT BURN!  That’s the biggest part.

Which reminds me of another moment from last week… speaking of burning things.  I cooked foil dinners over the fire…

Let’s just say, if you ever do this, you need to worry more about them getting burned than about them getting cooked.  (Glad I put 1/2 in the oven in the house!! GOTTA LOVE STAYCATION!!)

And one of the best things EVER about eating outside… clean up is so simple…

So, my moments this week… “fudgy” pies, staycation, reading for fun (don't look now, but I'm on my 7th novel this summer!!) summer camp fires with family & friends, adventures in cooking… o, and being 36, that’s about gone too!

We are still too busy, too many appointments, too many people running too many places, I still wish it would slow down, kinda, but I want the best of both worlds, ya know? (and to tell the truth I really didn’t miss my computer all that much this week!)

Now, it is YOUR turn!  If you are totally new you can read the Original YOUR Gonna Miss This...Post.  Hope you join me!

Pam

A random splattering of thoughts

Racing full speed in my brain & life towards the end of summer… scrambling for the breaks… while my computer… trusty ole’ soul… takes it’s own sweet time, and I fold a load of laundry while it loads a screen.  I had so many amazing thoughts 2 hours ago, when my house was still quiet.  Too bad my computer is so slow, I fear I’ve lost them all!!

We are racing towards the end of summer and school starting… it will be less than a month, August 18 that will be the first day.  First day of James senior year, Zach’s freshmen, Leah’s 7th grade, Lucas 5th grade, Jadon’s kindergarten, & Kiahna’s preschool… part of me really has to focus to enjoy these days and not wish that the were already here, and part of me wants to grasp on and not move forward. 

I truly find myself (and my kids but they don’t realize it) missing our routine badly about this time of the summer.  Jadon and Kiahna are not doing as well as they were on the days that life had a routine & predictability.  (predictably busy, but predictable anyway)

School starting will mean graduation will come in the spring.  I will mean in a year James will (HOPEFULLY) be heading off to college.  It will mean so many things will be “last time” for James.  I know it’s all good, and it will all be fine, but it is all very sad and hard to see come to an end.  A new era will begin in my life, one I feel decidedly too young for…

Speaking of being too young, I do turn 37 next week!  EEK!  See, told you I was too young.  Of course I was too young to have James when I did, too young to get married when I did, too young to have to deal with all that I had to deal with when I did… so yeah… follows suit.

I just pray so many things go better for my kids than they did for me.  Yet, I look at my life, and can’t hardly say I am not glad that the things that have made me into the person that I am today didn’t happen… yet there is so much pain involved in getting there.  It sure is hard as a parent to know that our kids are going to have to learn some hard painful lessons in life… and to know that our role is mostly to sit back and pray that they survive it.

James and Dad got home from Canada on Saturday.  They had a good time.  My camera made it back too!  James has been working on making a slide show and editing things.  Maybe he will give me permission so show it here when he is done, but for now, how about a couple of photos?

James and Grandpa

The 3 boys, Dirk T, James, and James I.  (it was these three ages 18-20 and 2 dads & 1 grandpa)

How awesome is this!?!

They had a great time.  Lots of memories!

James realized when he got home that he would only be working 4 more days, and then it is football, football, football.

I got a letter from the football mother’s club, meeting soon to plan the annual chicken BBQ fundraiser that pays to support the feeding of the team all through the season and more.

Lastly, I met with our church treasurer last week to go over our budget, expenses, etc.  It was a good meeting.  He and our church family are so supportive of us.

I was left with a very strong, stronger than ever, feeling of how much we don’t deserve this support.  How how we have done nothing to deserve it & how we can never pay it back.  Where we would be without it. 

So much like God and His Grace, His Mercy, His saving ways.  It is probably the biggest “word picture” of His Amazing Ways that I have ever experienced.

There are no words to describe how this feels.  All I can do is Praise, Honor, and Glorify the God of Heaven.  Who Was & Is and Is to come.

This morning in the study Me Myself & Lies (Week 5, Day 1) Jennifer said,

“When was the last time you told your soul to ‘forget not’?  Your soul needs such prompting,  Otherwise you can too easily focus only on today, this moment, this worry, this problem.  Yet our memories of God’s benefits are just as compelling and every bit as real.”

Oh Lord, may my soul never forget that it is only by Your Great mercy that this has all not consumed me…

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;  therefore I will wait for him."

Lamentations 3:21-24

Pam

YOUR Gonna Miss This… Moment… Week 43: Staycation

Last weekend Kiahna and I took a bike ride.  We went through the state park & camp grounds near our house.  I thought about how much fun it would be to go camping with the kids. And how much work it would be.  Then I said something to my sister about pulling her pop-up camper, that is stored in my building out there this weekend.

Then we did the week.

Summer school.

Doctor appointments.

Football camp.

Cheerleading camp.

Lunch with friends.

Swimming at the city pool.

Never did call the park to see if we could get in.

Plus, I was tired.  And camping is work. 

Work that I would be doing myself, with my 2 oldest boys gone for the weekend, my dad still gone, and my sister’s husband busy helping his family roof a house.

Too big.

This afternoon though, I had a burst of energy and my mom helped me pull the camper out of the barn and set it up in our back yard near the fire-pit!

So, this weekend, and maybe into next week… the kids will be enjoying the “sleeping out in the camper” routine (and I can sleep in my own bed if I choose!) We can eat camp food by the fire… and I can use my house so I don’t have to pack up a thing!!

The weather is unseasonably cool & comfortable… This is my kind of camping!!  I even have a novel I am reading…

I think I could say, “I am going to miss this” kind of camping!! 

Pam

Now, how about you?  Do you have something that you would like to write about and link back to this post so we can come over and read about the moments you will miss… and be inspired… maybe you are like me and need to be reminded to look for these things each week.  Sometimes it’s a challenge.  A good challenge.

Read YOUR GONNA MISS THIS guidelines here, if you are new to this blog carnival!

Vlogemo, Week 10…Lake Video & Grasping for Summer

This week I am once again joining Tim @ Ft Thompson For Vlog-emotions.  As I said in last week’s video, I let James take my video camera to Canada fishing, so no vlog “emotion” from me this week.  Whew!  You are in luck!  I do have a video for you though.  I didn’t have much footage to work with but I did put this together from our week at the lake!  Enjoy! 

Since we got back from the lake, a little over a week ago, summer has been flying by.  In my brain I want to believe that this is the “slower” time of year.  Time to relax, refresh, get ready for another year of school and being busy. 

Instead I feel busier than ever!  Camps, practices, summer school, & appointments crowd every day.  I have to make time to relax!  I have to choose to go swim with the kids.  Time on the computer, browsing the blogging world is scarce. 

I feel like I am grappling to hang on to some sense of summer… choosing to read a book for fun… choosing to go swimming instead of fold laundry… choosing to let the unedited pictures sit in my files waiting for slower days when I can enjoy them…choosing not to post or read blogs as much as I’d like. 

Braiding Kiahna’s hair.

Taking a bike ride.

Building a camp-fire.

Working on a 4-H project.

I am so behind on pictures to show you all… how about I end this with a few of those…

Zach & friends at his birthday dinner….

Mowing down the ribs!

Kiahna with her “poofy” hair! (which she loves but hates to have combed) so we are working on yarn braids again! & a kitty (one of 10 needing homes!!)

Don’t you love this shirt!  She picked it out herself, and how could I say no!?!

Sometimes we just don’t ask…

I try not to be too overprotective of a mother.  Letting boys be boys, to a degree.  Letting them get dirty, make a mess (until I go crazy, as long as it isn’t in my house). 

A couple days ago, Zach and his friends (see above picture minus one) Were over here.  They went out riding 4 wheelers.  Thankfully (and surprisingly) the 3 that left here wore helmets (and will every time, if I have a say).  They met their friend Cody, who lives a mile away.  Cody didn’t have on a helmet. 

Zach stopped the 4 wheeler to turn on his lights.  Cody didn’t see Zach through the dust, and hit him.  Cody was thrown off the 4-wheeler. 

Very scared boys.

Cody is going to be fine.  Spent the night in the hospital, suffering from a concussion and some very bad abrasions.  Thankfully he is alive & nothing in broken.

Guardian Angels work hard around these kids.

Off to enjoy some more of this gorgeous sunny, breezing, mild summer weather… or fold laundry, or cook dinner, or take in our 4-H projects, or pick up Leah from cheerleading, or take Zach to a birthday party, or read a book… catch me if you can!

There is always Twitter!

Pam