I know David didn't mean this the way it sounds but I thought it was cute and sweet anyway... (forgive the poor-man's-scan and forgive the lack of carriage returns -- the "Blogger Bot" for pictures doesn't allow it) -- Stacy: "David, do you know who this is?" (showing him this picture). David: "You?" Stacy: "Yep!" David: "When did you do that?" Stacy: "Before I got married." David: " Then why did Daddy like to play golf?" 

Nostalgic Fear

OK, another fear post.

When I was in junior high school, I caused lots of trouble for the cheerleading/dance squads when it came time to pick our uniforms. The reason is because my feet were too big for the shoes that were available. I needed men's shoes and it was nearly impossible to find cute cheerleading shoes that had similar (we weren't even looking for identical) styles for both men and women. (I guess surely things have improved now with the popularity of co-ed cheerleading). One year we pitifully PAINTED some white tennis shoes to look like saddle shoes! UNBELIEVEABLY UGLY!

Needless to say....it was terribly embarrassing.

And today, as I get ready for a MOMS group at church, I have a little of this nostalgic fear. We're supposed to bring our own (thankfully) black flip-flops to decorate for the summer. I have to admit that I'm VERY nervous about others seeing the size of my GIGANTIC, men's black flip-flops.

The positive thing is that hopefully I can make them real cute so that when I wear them, no one will be able to tell that they're men's!

OK, I'm off to get David and the Hud-man ready to go! They LOVE going to MOMS group because they get to hang out with their friends and play and eat snack.... I like it because it's a multi-age group so Hudson gets to enjoy playing with big kids like he's used to. Hopefully the rain won't keep their friends away.

If you don't want to hear it...

If you don't want to hear anything about how much I love Mannatech, you might as well just x-out right now.

Today was AWESOME! GORGEOUS weather!

And I was able to enjoy it!

And when Donnie got home....he cut the grass....and I STILL enjoyed it!

You see, a few years back, I would have been SICK just from the idea of Donnie cutting grass. And with all this yellow pollen all over the place, my eyes would be itchy and swollen, I'd have a miserable nose, and a tickly cough that annoys the heck out of anyone nearby. But NOW that I have Mannatech in my life, I don't get bothered by my allergies when I'm outside in the springtime. Nor do I have to hide out inside when grass is being mowed.

I played outside with the kiddos today, pushing Hudson in his swing, helping David turn a backflip on the trapeze bar, laughing at Shayne and Harris Anne as they conducted their own VERY creative obstacle courses. And because of the time change, we even had time to go walking on the nature trails after Donnie got home. Ahhh, so awesome.

Put on your seatbelts for a super-fast topic change...

Napolean Dynamite.

Loved it.

Quirky and weird, but I still thought it was extremely charming. Donnie and I laughed several times.

Irrational Fears

I'm sitting here with a familiar sickness in my gut. It's a very faint feeling this time, and I'm thankful for that, but it's still a feeling I have now, nonetheless.

It's that feeling I get sometimes when I'm standing on the balcony of the condo at the beach and someone else is holding one of my children and I get sick to my stomach thinking, "Ohmygosh....if my child lurched forward, they'd go over the edge and....."

Or that feeling I got when I was standing in the Sears Tower in Chicago a year after the 9/11 attacks and I thought, "ohmygosh...those people in the attack....there were some up this high and they saw that plane coming...and there were some that fell from this height....and there were some who jumped...."

Or that feeling that I have fought quite successfully in the past couple of years but is on the verge or re-emerging since all the flooding we've experienced this week....that "what if we crashed over the side of this bridge? How would I get all of the children out and to safety?"

Ugh.

This feeling started tonight when Donnie and I were watching Conan O'Brien and the news ticker broke in and scrolled along the bottom that a police-involved shooting had occured in East M......... on A...... Highway. UGH! What if it's someone we know? Ohmygosh... one day my children are going to be driving on A...... Highway..... What if an idiot causes harm to my children who were in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if my children make terribly dumb decisions that result in horrible consequences?

And would you believe that I got nervous wondering if Shayne was OK just because she's spending the night at a birthday slumber party tonight? I think I'd be a lot sicker if the home where she is was in East M........ Thankfully it's on the other end of town.

Isn't that irrational? She's definitely not out on the streets yet, the idea crosses my mind...."what if?" and it gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.

But I'm really doing OK. I have that funny pit in my gut but I'm not in a panic. I'm concerned and curious but I'm really OK. I'm just reminded of those 'what if' days because the faint 'ick' I feel inside me is all too familiar.

I'm VERY GRATEFUL that these irrational panicks have diminished over the last several years. I give God all the glory because He answered my prayers when I asked for more faith. I gave God my fears and told Him I believed He was in charge and that I trusted His decisions and that I trusted Him to guide our paths. I also got serious about wanting to follow His will so that I would not be the cause of any consequences.

I also praise God for pulling me out of the start to a very bad depression. At the point of post-partum depression after David's birth, I was at my worst spot. God saved me from it. Thank you, Lord.

So my fears now are better than they used to be. But I'm still sitting here, staying up way too late, hoping I can find out a bit of info from the Internet or TV about what happened tonight. I just want to know before I go to bed.

God is in control.

Hallelujah!

Oh yes they call him the streak!!!!!! 

Ball season is upon us and with 3 playing this year, we are spending mucho hours at the ball fields. Hudson is enjoying wearing ball caps now that he sees all of his big brother and sisters wearing them. 

I'm sorry to brag but....goodness....I have gorgeous children :) 

Hudson is 2 now (sniff). He had a "planes, trains, and automobiles" party with family and a few close friends. It was fun! 

Our friend Luke at Hudson's birthday party. 

Vanity

The girls have enjoyed the vanity in the master bathroom. Ray is attempting to straighten Indie's curly hair with a flat iron. It's not an easy task. 

Leave It To Indie

Pitiful, isn't it? This is my first post in weeks even though there have been massive amounts of things I should be writing about. But, I guess maybe it's because things have been so gargantuan that I haven't had a chance to write.

We're all moved in. We're not all unpacked but we're all in. We're not completely furnished with the things we'd like to have and were without a couch or any seating places in the "great room" for about a week, but we survived and will continue to survive. Committment to cash-only purchases definitely requires us to practice the idea of delayed-gratification.

Anyway, as the title says, leave it to Indie to bring me back to blogging. She said the most hilarious thing at Wal-mart tonight and I just had to make note of it.

We were walking by the pajama/loungewear section and there was this terrible little t-shirt that had a picture of Pebbles from "The Flintstones" on it. She was crawling in her diaper and looking back over her shoulder so that her diaper was the most prominent thing in the picture. The caption read, "Baby Got Back." I saw it and kinda moaned over the ickiness to myself. Indie went right up to it and said, "Does this mean the baby went away and now the baby got back?"

ROFL!!!!

I just said, "You're so funny, Indie, " and let it go with that.

Okey dokey....it's late and I'm still pooped from MannaFest (Fort Worth with thousands of other Mannatechers including He-Man!!). I'm so glad to be home with Henry and the big kids. I missed them so much. I hope that one day we can ALL travel together ALL the time. I don't like being without them.

TTFN.

Dependability

I KNOOOOW that I'm not the most dependable person in the world and I've done my fair share of optimistic planning only to not be able to follow through but after this week, I'm going to work EVEN HARDER at not saying I'm going to do something if I don't know that I can.

Why?

I've been on the receiving end of no-shows.....or as the eBay world calls it.... "non-paying bidders."

3 out of 5 completed auctions I had listed on eBay turned into non-responding sales. 3 out of 5!!! I wanted to get this stuff OUT of my house ASAP and now I'm having to deal with stuff AND no money AND going through the eBay process to dispute the claims (eBay charges for listing the items and then charges a % of final bid. One of my items sold for over $100 so it's a significant charge for it!)

And then I sent out an email trying to sell some other things that were a little too good for regular old yard sale fodder and I had a couple of requests (commitments in my head) only to have those to fall through, too.

Sigh.

I'm truly not grumpy...it's been a really good day! In fact, it's my birthday :) I have forgotten this fact numerous times during the week and even a couple of times during the day. It's amazing how age has made me less focused on birthdays! I think I have confused Rocky pretty bad. I told the kids this was the year that I started going backwards in age and that I was 29 again. David believes me and tells everyone very matter-of-factly that I'm NOT 31!

Prayers are lifted for our house closings to go through smoothly tomorrow. I did post where they were postponed, right? Yeah, I think I did.

Prayers also for the numerous children I am hearing about these days with massive health challenges. 4 kids in particular who have cancer. There IS HOPE yet I don't have access to all 4 of these kids to tell them about it. I'm praying about approaching the family of 1 particular child, I've already approached another of the children's parents (to no avail) but 2 of the families are more distant (but local so I'm praying for an opportunity for me or another person to share with them.) I'm really wanting to start a local Manna Relief fund.... I don't have the time, that's for sure, so I'm praying someone who DOES have the time and desire will come forward.

Henry is ready to watch a little bit of our Malcolm In The Middle DVD box set. More later :)

I'm back.

But I ain't in a new house yet. Hmph.

Got a call today that closing must be postponed until Monday.

Double-hmph.

Grrr.

Getting over it.

Indie and Rocky are at Uma & Arthur's for a couple of days. Ray and He-Man are home with us. I hope Ray enjoys her quality time that she is looking for. Hope she doesn't get mad at me for putting her to work.

Back to being grumbly -- there is so much we were going to do at the new house this weekend....grrr.

I'm wearing my glasses again. Did I ever post that I got some? They had one REALLY bad lens that needed a new Rx. At first I was told to just 'keep wearing the glasses and you'll get used to them.'

Nope. They needed a new piece of glass for the right eye. I got it swapped and VOILA...I can see so much better!

I REALLY, REALLY hope there are some folks living close by us that would like to be an accountability/walking partner for me. I really want to get back to walking and I know I won't do it by myself.

Pray for no rain on Monday morning so that Andy's new parents can come get him and so that my yard sale won't turn into a living room sale.

OK. Goodnight.

One last post before bedtime... 

Panting

No, that's not a typo for a title -- although I could totally write an entry about 'painting'. Truth is, I'm PANTING from all this stuff going on these days. Trying to move while life goes on is an exhausting experience. I actually have a teeny bit of HEARTBURN! I NEVER get heartburn....unless I'm pregnant and NO I AM NOT PREGNANT.

Anyway, there's just a bunch of stuff going on. Things are really good, though.

Stuff going on:

• I'm taking Indie and Rocky to Uma & Arthur's tomorrow after school. They will stay there for a couple of days of playing. Ray wants to stick around and help with moving. She also has a bball game on Saturday morning so she needs to be here anyway.
• We're closing on both houses Friday morning. (Kids are out of school for Teacher In-Service)
• We'll start the moving process immediately afterwards. I will also begin removing wallpaper from the girls' NEW bedroom and kids' NEW bathroom in preparation for painting (Happy Birthday to me! I don't have to paint!!!)
• I sold several things on eBay and need to work with buyers to get their stuff over the weekend. I'm worried about 2 buyers from out of state. I haven't heard from them about the auction ending yet and I'm concerned they might be no-shows. I've never had that happen before. I'm curious what will happen.... Anyone know?
• Monday - I'm having a good, old-fashioned yard sale. Cleaning out tons of stuff!
• Monday is also the day Andy will be moving to Alaska. Yes, you heard me right....Alaska. We will be meeting his new owners at a small non-towered airport for him to begin his new jet-setting life with a pair of aviation missionaries. He'll be flying most of the next 4 weeks! Isn't that wild? Long-story short (for those of you who haven't heard) -- Andy has just been too much of a puppy for us lately. We haven't had the time to continue with his housetraining and we're worried for him in the new house. We won't have a doggie door and we'd have to keep him locked up for fear of ruining furniture & carpet. I found this Mannatech couple of has promised he will continue to get his Ambrotose every day! We're going to miss him SO much!
• Tuesday - our sweet painter (lady from church) will start working on the girls' room. We'll also have our water filtration unit moved from this house to the new one and we'll probably plan to get lots of our utility stuff turned on this day. Hopefully the cable/phone folks can come by and help us with our computer & TV.
• Friday-week - I'm going to be doing some volunteer work at the school. I need to remember to get a babysitter for the boys....

And speaking of school.....we've decided to let Rocky go to pre-k next year and then start him at the girls' school the following year for kindergarten. There is no doubt he is intellectually/scholastically ready for 1st or 2nd grade but we think a pre-k will do wonders for him in other areas of maturity. He's not thrilled about this but Henry and I are confident it is the right decision for him. With a June birthday, we'd rather him be the oldest in his classes than the youngest.

I guess that's enough for now. I will probably write my next entry from the NEW HOUSE! WHOO HOO :)

Here's the back of the house that I posted a picture of earlier in the week. It sits on a .6 acre lot of land. And guess what..... 

Well...we did it!!! We bought the house I posted here earlier in the week! We got an offer on our house the same day we found this one. And would you believe BOTH of those events occurred on that Monday that I skipped going to Birmingham???? I'm thinking that was TOTALLY a God thing....Anyway, these pictures are ones that the owners/realtor posted to market their house. This is one from the kitchen. We are getting that refrigerator (whoo hoo!). The door beside it goes to the utility/laundry room (which also leads to the driveway.) The doorway you can barely see to the right leads to a 'bonus room' that could eventually be used as a 5th bedroom someday. We will probably use it as a office/guest room. It has a half-bath attached as well as a door to the driveway. There is also an enormous closet attached to it. It was being used as a sewing room by these owners and could potentially be a small office space. I had originally thought I might go that route but I'm leaning towards making it a mini junkroom. By the way, WE LOVE THIS HOUSE and give God every ounce of GLORY He deserves because this house could NOT be possible without HIS outpouring of blessings on our family. PRAISE GOD! 

Thes pictures were obviously made during Christmas time. We REALLY love the arrangment in the great room. The smaller sofas in front make a cozy place for watching TV and the chairs in the back make a nice sitting area. You can see the doorway to the master bedroom. There is a door to the left as well that takes you down the hall to 3 bedrooms and a bath. 

The foyer. 

The fireplace is setup for gas logs to be hooked to a propane tank. It might be next year before we try to do that. I love that mirror above the mantle but am not sure what we will put there. We really like the arrangement for the entertainment center. 

Beautifully colored (crimson) dining room. Not sure how formal I want this to be. Needs a Daniel Moore painting :) 

Breakfast area of the kitchen. I want to get a funky, bright-colored clock for just above the windows...and I want it to be BIG or at least VERY EASY to read. 

Master bath vanity - has 2 walk-in closets, garden tub, separate shower, phone by the toilet! Now....will y'all wonder where I am if we talk on the phone??? LOL 

Could It Be?

Could it be???? Could this be our next home???? We will know in a few days!!! It's looking good, though! Just gotta keep praying :) 

Thanks to fellow bloggers

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to the wide variety of bloggers that write such wonderful things for me to read. I have many that are so deep and serious and thoughtful and sometimes downright depressing....and then I have those who crack me up with goofball posts about daily life. I enjoy the variation and wonder where I fit on the spectrum. When I look back at my entries, I wonder what people think. Personally, I probably wouldn't read myself very much.

I love getting comments (hint, hint!) but I know that more people are reading me than indicate through the online feedback. I will hear from time to time that someone knew something about my life because they had read it on the blog. HUH? Strange stuff.

I'm rambling.

I appreciate you reading me :)

Oh be careful little eyes what you see

Do y'all know that children's song? It's so true...our eyes have to be protected because what they see gets into the heart.

Sometimes that's good, though. I think eyes give the heart reality. This is good when what the eyes see are factual. Not so good when the eyes see something protrayed as fact yet is wrong. Boy, I could totally go on many tangents with this thought but I won't. My point of all of this is that the reality of the terrible tsunami tragedy was only words until tonight. I saw a terribly graphic and horrible photograph of the carnage. The body count was unbelievable and grotesque. I won't link it here. Too disturbing. I wish I had not seen it. But on the other hand, the reality is in my heart now. I feel more pain for the people who were affected. Absolutely unreal. And as the person questioned who posted the picture I saw ... Why has God shown such mercy to me? Why has our family escaped such tragedy thus far. There is certainly not anything I have done to keep danger away.... In fact, as a sinner, I deserve death. That's mercy. That's what Christ is. He bore the death I deserve and redeemed me. Amazing.

Praise!

Our 'new-to-us' Honda Odyssey. WHOO HOO! 

Gettin' Cold!

Getting cold 'round these here parts...Will it snow? Maybe even a White Christmas? I won't hold my breath! 

Do We Look Alike?

Do we look alike? Henry thought so. 

Flipping Out

Last night, Henry and I sat down with the kids to kinda put our feet down about behavior lately. We are all in desperate need of more prayer and bible study time. Henry and I have both been kinda stressed but I think that Henry is probably stressed because I've been in a pretty cranky mood lately.

I'm not sure what it is.....other than it being a spiritual issue. I'm not in a Bible study right now and I'm really not doing much 'quiet time' on my own. It's pathetic that I need the accountability of a Bible study but it appears that is the case. Otherwise, I stay up entirely too late (just ordered more Mannatonin to try to correct that again, though) and just plop right in bed without reading my bible. I'll get into some reading during the day some but it's definitely not anything of much meat. My phone is ringing constantly or a kid is needing me for something. As much as I hate to admit it, I am just not reading my Bible lately.

So, after this meeting last night where Henry and I told the kids we were going to do better and how we expected them to help do better, I flipped out.

It started at Walmart -- kinda -- well the flipping out didn't start, but the pressure started building. All I have to say is "Walmart" on a December afternoon and I think the rest can be figured out. I wanted so badly to get in and out of ther quickly. But there are WAY too many distractions for kids right now and every step was, "Momma, look at this." "Momma, what's this?" "Momma, can we get this?" Or "Momma, didn't you say we needed one of these?" ARGH!

Then, in a rush at home (getting ready for a Mannatech meeting), Rocky locked He-Man in his bedroom by himself. He-Man was fine until he heard us trying to get in. Then he started getting upset. ARGH! And Rocky was warned about this LAST NIGHT!

THEN.....just a few minutes AFTER the locked door incident....I'm draining the noodles for spaghetti and SPLAT....the noodles ended up in the sink.

THAT is when I flipped out.

I told Henry I was leaving. Of course, it was time to leave anyway but I know the way it sounded was like I was leaving 'for good' or something.... It was one of those things where I just HAD to get out of the house.

I was so frustrated. I didn't care what Henry ended up doing with supper, just as long as I didn't have to do anything with it. I was done! (He did fine, by the way. Made some more noodles and served it up......just a little later than was originally planned).

I spent my whole car ride to the meeting in prayer. My biggest issue was that I did not want the Evil One to use this incident for his purposes. I prayed that God would please protect my children, Henry and me from harm because of my sin. I prayed in Jesus' name and I prayed for forgiveness. I sang praises to God knowing that it was for THESE REASONS that I needed Jesus...I'm such a sinner.

And thankfully, meeting went extremely well. It was our first official training meeting and the turnout and substance was really good. God blessed it even though I didn't deserve it.

Isn't God's mercy overwhelming?

Sweet Home Alabama

The Cuddlers. Look at all 4 boys in my bed (Andy's there, too so look closely). I just give them a little nudge so I can squeeze in with them. The bed isn't this full EVERY night but I will say I have learned to not take up as much room as I used to. These days will be gone too soon so I will cherish them now. Night, night! Time to go see how many I need to nudge over tonight! 

Rocky gets his dancing moves from his Daddy! 

Indie and I took a self-portrait during the Bama/Miss St game last week. Sure wish our smiles were as big during a Bama game THIS week....sigh....Roll Tide anyway.... 

Lucy

Since I've been sharing a few pictures of Andy lately, I thought I'd also post one of our sweet, 11.5 year old Lucy. She's still a cutie! And what a Good Dog she is :) 

Sleepy

So sleepy.

Very sleep-deprived.

And I've done it to myself.

I have too much to do and not enough time to do it. I need a personal assistant. Seriously, I do. In fact, if any of you would like to apply for the job let me know. I'm very seriously wanting to hire someone ASAP. I need someone who can run errands, answer phone calls, return phone calls, answer emails, light housekeeping....pretty much anything I need help with. Someone who could help me once a week would be great.

I need someone who won't judge me and who has the energy to keep up with this crazy family.

This month is entirely too crammed. Please help.

Dress-Up Day

We don't celebrate Halloween. However we have done "Fall Festivals" at church in the past. This year we celebrated "Dress-Up Day". Rocky dressed up like "Woody" from Toy Story (sorry I didn't attach the picture - it needs to be rotated and I didn't feel like uploading my picture-editing software). The girls were treated to a makeover at Libby Lu (www.clublibbylu.com) Aren't they gorgeous? He-Man didn't dress up today. He'll have his turn in years to come. Oh, and as an added bonus to today's festivities, I took the girls to see "Shark Tale". Ugh...even though it was a pretty entertaining movie, I thought it was DEFINITELY a Hollywood propoganda thing. (Accept the Shark as-is even though he chooses to do things sharks weren't created to do.) It's definitely not a G movie (rated PG I believe) even though there was nothing particularly foul about it. Just had subject matter (gambling, mafia) that was a little over my kids' heads. Some of it was kinda funny, though.