Building Houses…

This past March my Grandpa was in the hospital for a number of days before going to be with Jesus and his Clara Mae.  That is a story all of it’s own.  As he laid in his bed he would share memories he had of us.  It was an incredible experience.  The story he told about me was kind of odd.   But, these past few days, God has been using it to speak to me.

Jadon likes to hear the story of when I was a little girl with my Grandpa.  He asks me to tell it often as a bedtime story.  The story goes that Grandpa was helping with the building of my parent’s house.  I was 3 or 4 years old at that time.  And I got in the way and was hit in the head with a 2x4 he was carrying.  I was fine (or maybe that explains things?).  I went home with him that day to his house.  He recalled that I sang the whole 15 miles, repeatedly exclaiming how surprised Grandma would be to see me! 

Simple story.  Why is that what Grandpa remembered about me when he was laying on his death bed? 

This past week at the lake I had more time to think than usual.  I continue to work through Beth Moore’s latest Bible Study Stepping Up.  One of the things I read in there last week was this…

“Free Christ to be your custom builder.  Let Him tell you how He wants your house to look instead of the other way around.  He alone has the blueprints.”

Can I just say OUCH!  I was face to face with my failure, my pride, my desire to have things worked out the way I wanted AGAIN! 

I was frustrated with myself.  I was in some denial.  I was confused.  I was mad.  I was tired of trying to build on my own and failing.

Out on the lake (minding my own business) I was looking at the homes that were along the water.

(here is where I was going to insert the pictures I took of some of the beautiful homes along the lake, but someone decided that because we were out of memory space those should be deleted so these could be taken…

smiling… really, I am….)  He did take this one of the lake that morning… so it wasn’t all bad!  LOL!!

Okay, sorry… I’m here… So I am looking at these homes.  My thoughts go along the lines of how some are these incredible custom built, original, amazing designs.  The ones that stick out to you are those.  The majority you just overlook and they get lost in the crowd of other houses.  Beth’s comment in the study came flooding back into my mind. 

Why do I fight God so much?  Why am I consistently feeling like I am being hit in the head with a 2x4 because I am getting in the way of His work?  Why does it feel like I am sitting the the basement with rubble all around me, while He tries building the new foundation of my life after a hurricane hit it, and I let Him build for a while and then decide that I don’t like what I think He is doing so I tear it down and try to do it myself, REPEATEDLY!?!

Another book I have been reading, Meet Me at the Well by Virelle Kidder, said this…

“If you are afraid God’s will is the worst thing you could imagine, follow it through to it’s source.  It isn’t from God.  His plan for you is good, as He says in Jeremiah 29:11, You can believe it.”

That is me.  I am afraid of what God is going to build and I am afraid I am not going to like it.  I am afraid it isn't going to be what I want.  I am afraid...

The week went on, and as only God can do, and as I completely cannot explain, things began to clear up and God began to heal me AGAIN.  I grieve the things, and people, that I wish were in my life and aren't.  But, most of all I desire not to miss the things that are in my life. 

Yesterday, I read a little snippet from Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  I haven't had time to listen to it, but this is what jumped out at me...

"You and I are not totally free until we have released ourselves, our lives, our future, our marital status, our childbearing–every aspect of our lives–fully to the control of Jesus Christ."  --Nancy's guest Holly Elliff

What stuck out to me is being totally free because I've given every aspect (especially my marital status) to the control of Jesus Christ.

I know it is what I have to do.  I know it is not in my human capability.  I know that God will do this in my heart though, if only I can get out of the way and let Him build me a custom made life.  One that stands out from all the rest because of the beauty of the intricate detail only HE can create in my life.  I am really sick of getting in the way and being hit in the head with 2x4's.  HELP ME JESUS!!

Birthday times…

Along with the Birthday of our nation, comes the Birthdays of my two oldest sons! 

I’m so proud!  LOL!!  James was 17 on Saturday the 5th, and Zach is 14 today!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH!!!!

James has had a Flag cake for probably the past 10 years!  I thought about collecting pictures of his last 10 birthdays to show you, but that would required digging into places in my home that I am not prepared to dig into!  I believe I have pictures stashed in about 5 different places, some in albums, but many NOT!  That would be too overwhelming… So here is what I have on my computer that is simple to find…

Turning 16…

Turning 15…

Aren’t you glad I can’t go on and on!!  LOL!!! 

Completely without my permission and by the grace of God, James has become a strong, healthy, kind, young man.  He’s a blessing to us all and I thank God for him.

Zach is following close behind his brother.  Growing like a weed, so much faster in so many ways that James did!  Zach usually ends up with the chocolate cake on his birthday.  And they usually celebrate together, so which cake is which???

Zach at 13…

12… oh look, he has a flag cake this year… and so does James?  What did I do make 2?  I don’t remember that?  But, then again, my mind was in pretty bad shape that year.  (no comment please!!  LOL)

Today I plan to take Zach and some friends to see a movie and eat out.  Then they will sleep over here.  Saturday we visited James’ friend Alisen and her family at their lake cottage, after leaving ours…

James and Alisen…

LORD JESUS, help me raise these boys to be Godly men who serve You and have marriages and children that honor You.  I know that I in myself have no power to accomplish this great task.  By Your Grace Alone.

We’re Back!!

I’ve been working on a new slide show of some of the pictures! Planning to do a second one of the kids behind the boat soon!! Enjoy!!

Edited to add... okay, that didn't work so well... not sure how to make that slide show smaller so you can see the whole thing! I am putting it on the bottom of the page. You can see the whole thing from there!

Hoping for some time to write in the morning! We will see! Glad to be back home!

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Almost forgot again!

Thanks to Stacey at Is There Any Mommy Out There. First of all for the reminder that this is Hairku Friday! And then for the Hair complements on her post today!! She is having quite the time trying to potty train her two children. If you want to laugh, sympathize with her, go read her last few entries!

My Hairku:

This 4th we will have

firework hair, cousin fun!

It won’t come undone!

Okay, it rhymes, don’t think it needs to, but it does, and it may not make sense! But, I’m a good sport! I do better with hair than poetry!

I gave Jadon a hair cut yesterday too…

Okay, I’m going back to work… I know, it wasn’t my last post, I got sucked in!! What can I say!!

Off to the Lake we go…

Good Morning!  I’m gonna have to tie my hands exert self control and make this my last post until we return from the lake next weekend!  I love my computer!  I love my computer friends!  I love interacting with people outside of my house in the midst of busy days that are overly filled with the mundane and the antics of raising so many kids with such a wide age range!  Blogging, e-mailing, reading other people’s blog stories about their lives!  Misery loves company?

For me, when I began sharing with a few friends through e-mail, which has now become this blog, I would get into those frantic, overwhelming, you’ve got to be kidding me, moments of life and feel a measure of relief knowing that, even if no one was reading, I could share with my friends what happened and we could all laugh at my life together.  And then we could turn around and laugh at their lives, as we all realize that this mothering thing is just plain hard!

While we are on vacation this coming week, my oldest child will turn 17.  Yes, 17.  I had him when I was 8.  Any comments left by anyone telling me that I look way to young to have a child this old will automatically become my new best friend!! 

I think that the scariest thing about having a child turn 17 is that I remember so clearly where I was and what I did and what I was thinking at that age!  (since it was only a few years ago!  LOL)  I was young in my grade.  He is old in his grade.  But I graduated high school when I was still 17!!!  And the truth is that I was not quite 19 when I had him! 

Bless James Lord as he turns 17.  Growing up with a crazy mom who still deals with her own mistakes and the consequences that they hold.  Growing up with hurt of life that can potentially cause so much bitterness and anger.  I pray that all the circumstances we have lived out will be used for good by God in your life, James.  And that you will find peace and rest in knowing that God is so good to you. 

James and Jadon jumping on the tramp a few weeks ago…

I don’t think I shared that James won “Most Improved” for his track season this spring.  I don’t remember times or anything important like that, but I do know that it was for his improvement in the 110 high hurdles.  I was disappointed not to get a better picture.  They move so fast.  James is in the red shirt, the coach is in the gray shirt.

To give you a small feel for what our week at the lake will be like… here is a picture of all the kids from last year….

WOW!  I can’t believe how much these kids have grown!  I had to double check the date to make sure this wasn’t 2 years ago!  It isn’t!!  I think each of my kids has grown a whole foot in the past year!  OH MY!!

As for that annoying music that now plays on my blog.  I am removing that when I come back.  So if you haven’t scrolled to the bottom and realized that I made a slide show using my Florida pictures and that is where the music is coming from, it will not be there for long!  The music options I had when I made that were limited, and it is driving me nuts! 

Okay, prying myself away and going to face the reality of the packing that needs to be done…

Haircuts and Hallelujah’s

Leah and I got our hair cut yesterday!  The other kids stayed with Grandma while Leah and I went out to lunch, ran errands, got our hair cut, and shopped for our lake vacation that we leave for this weekend.

 

I was exhausted after returning home, only to have to deal with putting it all away, kids who were hungry, a messy house, and laundry that is constant.  I did lay down for 5 minutes, but plugged forward after that!

This morning I am feeling more peaceful, blessed, and calm than I have in a very long time.  I love the mornings that the kids sleep and I get to have time alone with God.  This morning they are all sleepy and there is nothing to run off to, so I have let them sleep, while I bask in the quiet that eludes me so often.

I am doing Beth Moore’s latest Bible Study, Stepping Up.  If you are interested in learning more there are some clips to watch if you click on the web-site, here.

Anyway, I love Beth.  She has become like a close friend to me in the past 3 years.  I think this is the 7th study I have done, not to mention reading some of her other books like,  When Godly People do Ungodly Things.

The Spirit uses her to speak to my heart.  And my heart has been in such an incredible need.  One of the questions that has brought me to tears this past week was this…

“What about you?  What might have happened with your life ‘if the Lord had not been on your side’?”

I don’t believe that my mind can comprehend where I would be right now, with all that has happened in our lives, without God.  I can’t comprehend the bitter, angry, hateful person I could become so easily without the grace of God.  As I went to try to share this with the group I am studying with, I was overwhelmed with the goodness of God in my life.

This morning I was reading in the study guide.  This is another question…

“OK, let’s confront the bottom line.  How can we say God has been good to us when He has allowed us to encounter trouble and sorrow?  Share your honest thoughts.”

My honest thoughts?  Will I have to share them with the group?  Oh, yeah, I’ll be on vacation, so I can share my honest thoughts…  My answer went something like this… Only after we’ve been through the trials and felt His presence and goodness in the midst of them will we be able to even slightly comprehend the enormity of His incredible goodness to His people.

Beth’s Next Line…

“God’s delivering us from every ounce of trial will never develop the relationship that occurs when God shows Himself faithful right in the midst of difficulty, delivering us through it.  That’s where we come to know Him, to love Him, to appreciate Him.”

Amen.

I hear my children beginning to wake up, upstairs.  I hear the arguing beginning.  I know that I will have to turn on the lights and see the mess that waits.  I know I will have to feed them.  I will have to clean up these messes while they work to make more in my wake.  I will try to engage their help only to have wished I wouldn’t have bothered for the arguing and complaining that will occur in the midst.  I will somehow get us all packed and ready for a week of family vacation.  (oh no, I hear them approaching)  And I will end the week, strapping life jackets on my fearless preschoolers, so that I can relax for a moment, and perhaps shut my eyes in the sun at the lake.

God, grant me peace in the midst of the storms… I just remembered that I get to have a massage today… GOD IS SO GOOD!!

TA-DA!!

Kiahna’s Patriotic Hair-Do is done!! 

 

64 Yarn Braid Extensions.

8 hours.

Triangle parts.

Star Beads and Big Giant Hair Ballies from Steph at SNAPAHOLICS.

Notice the baseball beads?? 

Last time we did 140 yarn braids.  They lasted between 3 and 7 weeks.  Some I redid after 3 weeks (the outside edges).  It took 15 hours. 

I hope to get 2-3 weeks out of this style. 

My 11 year old daughter, Leah, wanted to learn to do these braids.  So she did a few with me this time!

We even did braids in the van, in the rain, at the campground…

Because this is what it was doing outside…

There was hail, down pour, and lightening… we left…

And the sun came out… but the kids were tired, and it would have been a muddy disaster to let the two little ones loose in that mud!

This was too cute… Jadon wanted me to take pictures of his hair too…

Back to Kiahna’s hair…. the baseball beads.  I got these beads at Walmart.  After thinking about it, I realized that it would be cute to put in the beads, but I wouldn’t want them in all the time.  This is what I came up with to do.

I braided 3 strands of yarn and then put 2 baseballs on the braid.  I knotted both ends and slid the baseball to each end.  Then I took the long braid and looped it around the pony tail holder so that it hung evenly on both ends. 

The original braid looked like this…

I've done the baseballs, basketballs, (above) and footballs...

Kind of fun, and she can wear them to her brother's games without having them permanently in her hair for weeks!

A relief to have her hair done again!  Now, a week of preparation for our week long vacation at the lake with my family! 

4th of July HAIR

I took Kiahna’s yarn hair out this week!  2 braids fell out, so I knew it was definitely time!  Most of the braids had been in 6-7 weeks, the redone ones 3-4 weeks.  I was very happy with the results of all the hours of work it took to put them in! 

When I took them all out, all but 14 slid right off like a sleeve.  It took me twice as long to take out those 14 I had to pick at as it did to take out the 126 I didn’t!

Here she is right after they were taken out.  Zach wanted me to leave it like this!  It just doesn’t work that way, bud! 

The pile of yarn braids I took out…

After washing, parting, and sleeping…

I am redoing the parts into triangles, so that they don’t cause stress in the same spots the were in.  I am putting in red, white, and blue STAR beads for 4th of July, which I got from Steph at SNAPAHOLICS!  I know she has lots of these beads and has her 4th of July special discounted!  It’s not too late to get some of these!!

closer up…

My Caucasian nieces even love beads!  I’ve promised them some beads when we go on vacation in a week!  I did do one of the girls hair at a birthday party a couple weeks ago.  It lasted a few days and she loved the swinging beads in her hair!

Kaitlin…

Oh yes, I just remembered it is Haiku Friday…

A day at Cedar Point

Leah and I went to Cedar Point yesterday, with her 4-H club.

I was advised not to take my camera in because it would not be allowed on the rides.  I wish I hadn’t listened but I did.  So I don’t have any real pictures to show you, but I think I can get some shots from the website of the rides.

Leah decided that we would go with her friends and ride the big coasters.  I figured I would be “young” and do whatever she wanted me to do.  You know, be the “cool mom”!  LOL!! 

Turns out Leah was in a little over her head.  And turns out, I was pretty glad she was.

The first ride we went on was this one…

Raptor…  Six upside-down turns: one vertical loop, two inverted corkscrews, a zero-gravity roll and a "cobra roll" that turns riders upside down twice.  57 mph. 

After we were strapped in, she began panicking… she proceeded to have a panic attack and scream about not being able to breath and scream MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM… while we sped 57 mph… upside down 6 times… vertical… you know…  UM… WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO TO HELP YOU DEAR DAUGHTER???

Needless to say, after that, we went for a little tamer rides… like these…

The one that she liked the best was the Gemini… It is turning 30 this year.  Interesting to me that 90% of the people who were riding it yesterday weren’t even born then! 

This was also quite interesting to me.  The rides that Leah and I rode all day yesterday would have been considered the top thrill rides when I was a kid.

Like the Demon Drop… I remember very clearly refusing to go on that ride.  (as I did yesterday too) but being convinced by my 8th grade classmates to try it out… 131 ft, 10 stories, straight down in 2.8 seconds…

But my dear, sweet Leah… her classmates will try to convince her to go on rides like this one… Top Thrill Dragster….

Cedar Point stunned thrill-seekers yet again in 2003 with the debut of the park's unprecedented 16th, yes, 16th, roller coaster – Top Thrill Dragster. Reaching a stratospheric 420 feet tall and topping out at an unheard of speed of 120 mph, this new steel screamer helped Cedar Point reclaim the title of owning the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the universe.

As Leah and I watched with our mouths hanging open, the people blasting off on this 17 second ride… my comment was something along the line of having to be drugged, bound, and gagged, to get me on that thing!

I was dealing with nausea on the little rides!!  3 times on the Gemini real fast, because the line was short, and I was done for a while!!  There is something to be said for helping your stomach while you wait in a long line for a big ride! 

I began looking for a stand or restaurant to sell me some chicken soup with saltines to calm my spinning tummy!  All I found were 3908 stands selling french fries!!!  At $6 a pop… I ended up having to eat something fried and take my chances, because I would have passed out from not eating!!

Then my head started hurting, and I found myself sending Leah on the rides while I sat on benches by the exit ramp… so much for the cool mom… cool mom’s don’t sit on benches!  LOL!

I really think that Cedar Point could make a lot of money with a stand selling soup, crackers, and pepto!!

We survived the day, had a lot of fun, had a lot of laughs, and Leah said she was glad that the two of us were on our own and not with a group.  I’m glad she had fun, I’m glad I didn’t throw up.