Louisiana Saturday Night

Well, the night's almost over, but we had us a good 'ol time! We headed out to the back yard, built us a fire, roasted some weenies, and then followed that with some toasted marshamallows and smores! Yum! Check out the pics...

and no the pooches didn't pee on that rock, so don't flip out!!! It's ok, really!!! They aren't allowed in that part of the yard! 'n besides...that rock was so hot it could have fried an egg... don't think any germs could have lived on it! It was the perfect place to start my chocolate a melt'n which made for the gooiest smore I've ever tasted!

toasting my marshmallow!

nice 'n toasty... placed atop my chocolate & graham cracker 

turned on the flash

mashed it down flat

going for the bite

ok... i took a couple of bites before this pick...couldn't resist
cheezing it up

going for the serious look

I <3 these guyz! God has truly blessed us!
'n btw...I never eat more than one smore, but ... um... don't tell anyone... but I had 3!!!! I have no idea what got into me, but smores done on a campfire are way better than the ones you can do in the microwave! oh... heavenly! I best be bike riding a lot next week to make up for tonight!

Blessings,

God Said No!!!

I asked God to take away my habit. 

God said, No.

It is not for me to take away, 
But for you to give it up. 









I asked God to make my handicapped child whole. 
God said, No. 

His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary. 


I asked God to grant me patience. 













God said, No. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; 
It isn't granted, it is learned. 



I asked God to give me happiness.. 










God said, No. 
I give you blessings; 
Happiness is up to you. 

I asked God to spare me pain. 

God said, No. 
Suffering draws you apart from 
Worldly cares and brings you closer to me. 

I asked God to make my spirit grow. 

God said, No.  


You must grow on your own, 
But I will prune you to make you fruitful. 



I asked God for all things 
That I might enjoy life.. 

God said, No.  I will give you life, 
So that you may enjoy all things. 



I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.

God said... Ahhhh, 
Finally you have the idea. 



'May the Lord Bless you and keep you, 
May the Lord Make his face shine upon you, 
And give you Peace....... Forever!

~ Author Unknown










My cousin sent this to me via email. I hope you enjoy it!



Blessings,

Had enough? Was today especially "Hard" for you?

I was having one of those days today, too. The kind of day when you think, I just don't know if I can keep this up. As a mom homeschooling a teenager, I get discouraged at times. We have our ups and our downs, but lately we seem to be having more downs than ups. And I tell him... "I just can't do this anymore! Something has got to give!"
I love him to death, but some days he drives me plum crazy with his procrastinating, excuses, and the disrespect. Here lately he has taken to raising his voice at me when he answers me. That is getting under my skin. Um... that really gets my temper going, and I hate that!
But then, I sat here reminiscing about yesterday evening... I was sitting in the ER waiting to go back after making a mad dash to the hospital because my granny had taken a fall. The neighbor brought her to the ER. My mom was on a "sisters outing" in Texas (with her five older sisters), so she couldn't get there for a while being a few hours away. My dad was right in the middle of a project.
I volunteered to go until one or both of them could tie up loose ends and make their way to the hospital. As I entered I only noticed two other families in the waiting room. One woman was chatting on the phone, while another woman sat holding a beautiful little boy who couldn't have been more than three years old. His gorgeous smile caught my attention more than the cast on his leg.
As he and I exchanged smiles, I noticed his clothes. He was only wearing a sleeveless tee and a pair of underwear. The hospital was freezing. I felt so bad for him, but that smile never left his face.  I began to chit-chat with him and his mom a bit and she told me he had just had his leg amputated above the knee. He had it done over 3 hours away from here, and had some complications. At a nearby hospital they had put a cast on his leg that morning. Tonight they sat in the ER for hours waiting for another cast, because without a foot or even a lower/leg and knee joint this poor lil feller couldn't hold that cast on. It kept sliding off.
I didn't think much more about the little boy, as I went back to what condition my granny was in. She had taken a fall in the craziest way while helping another lady move some furniture out of her house. Evidently part of the bed was in the living room at the time and she got tangled up, some how sailed over the top of the bed, hit the carpet, grabbed for something to catch herself, and then pulled the television down over the top of her. She had a 10 cm gash (from one side of her right knee cap to the other). I of course examined it when I arrived, and it was pretty gruesome looking. I have a pic, but I will of course spare you that! I could see everything mind you including the knee cap! It's one of them things my husband would have said... Cool! b/c he's weird like that!
Thankfully she wasn't in much pain, but they were taking forever. I always thought older people had a lot more patience, but not granny! She was getting pretty ticked. If you think about it, if you were laying there staring at your knee cap, you'd probably be pretty impatient, too!
We talked about everything under the son, including discussing whether the nurse was a male or a female. That kind of disturbs you, especially if the name is gender friendly, too. We're yes sir/yes mam people here in the South... and well... what do you say when you don't know ... yes'um, no'um?
We tried to find something to watch on the television, but every channel seemed to have someone making out on it! lol! We opted for the good old standby... Food TV! but then granny was starving! lol!
I updated my dad, mom, husband, and our pastor via text message including the picture in the text. Put in an order for granny some food. Mom brought it when she came. Shortly there after dad arrived, so I went home to my hubby and the kids who had waited up for mom (so was their excuse for getting to stay up late).
My mom called me this morning and told me they didn't get granny home till after 2am and mentioned something about the doc coming in and having everything out to stitch her, but left to go deal with some kid who's cast was coming off. I knew exactly what child they were talking about... I could never forget that darling lil face. I recalled again his leg, and thought about how different his life would be as opposed to other children (like mine of course). I felt bad for him, but I felt bad for my own kids, because I think sometimes they don't know how good they have it.
When things don't go exactly our way sometimes... like this horrid pain I have in my lower back right now, my granny's split open knee, our home-schooling mishaps due to the friction between mom and teen... we do wonder...why is life so hard?
Yep...Life is hard sometimes, but sometimes it is way harder for others! Our problems seem almost minuscule in comparison to what some face and will face for the rest of their lives.
I recently heard rumor there is a family living under a bridge about thirty miles from where I live. While my family and I sit here with a warm pan of cornbread fresh out of the oven, a roof over our heads, and a soft comfy bed to lay down to sleep at night... there is another family only minutes away from us, resting under a noisy bridge. It makes me ashamed of myself that I complain sometimes and that my kids complain!
We really have so much to be thankful for! I am sure you do as well! Tonight as I lay down in my nice cozy bed, I will pray to God for all he has blessed me with especially my children (though they drive me crazy insane sometimes). I will be mindful to pray as well for that little boy and his family even though that I may never meet them again. And of course rumor or not, I will pray for the family under the bridge (just in case it's true).
Sometimes we don't understand why things happen to people or the circumstances to bring them where they are today, but I guess we're not supposed to.  We can only pray and ask for God's Perfect and Devine will to be done... and... Be thankful and appreciative of the life we have and those God has blessed us with who enjoy life right along with us!
Well, I'm sorry if it seemed as if I was rambling, but I really couldn't think of anything to blog about today... this was running through my mind off and on like crazy today. I almost didn't post today, but then I came in here and read today's devotion at Proverbs 31 Devotions blogspot. I thought... this fits wonderful with what and all was weighing on my mind. So a big thanks to them for this wonderful devotion, and blessings to you all who may of happened upon my page and read this. I hope you, as did I, might now tell yourself... "Hey, today wasn't really as "hard" as I thought! I will persevere! I am very blessed and I am thankful!"

Good-night and God Bless,

Give to the community; they give back!

Saturday we had another outreach event dropping flyers at houses and on windshields. My kids just so happened to come across a house where a woman came out to give her lil pup a potty break! They were more than eager to run over to hand her a flyer! See it goes like this...if they see a puppy, they've got to pet it!!

Next thing you know we were walking up the street with a new puppy! The  pup spent the rest of the day riding in my husbands lap as he creeped along with our vehicle while we scurried from house to house handing out flyers! The lady lived on a corner lot, at an intersection, and was worried the pup was going to get ran over! She seemed a little sad, but told the kids that he really needed a good home! We were more than pleased! We had the perfect home in mind!

So...this lil feller is now the new best friend to my neighbor - my mother-in-law. She's been ever so lonely since the loss of husband, though we are over to visit everyday. I was so excited that she decided to take the lil pooch! I hope he brings her lots of joy!

Isn't he a cutie?! He's a dapple dachshund or as we here in Louisiana call it... a Catahoula Weenie Dog! lol!

Problem is... he doesn't have a name yet! We forgot to ask the lady what his name was, and now he's just DOG! So we're up for suggestions!

Blessings,

Fishing Friday & Family

Yay! Yay! It's fishing friday for our bunch! Oh... I better add this right up front... I know there is nothing like fishing for a good deal, but I'm talking real fishing!! So if you stopped in for that... I guess I could mail you some coupons for the grocery store! lol! I don't want you to be disappointed, but I am talking 'bout the  whole "you get a line and I get a pole" thing! We're heading off to the fishing hole!  Well, at least we were supposed to be heading off to go fishing as soon as my husband got off! but... :( now he's saying something about going to buy a  new alternator to put on his truck, so something tells me we may not be going fishing this evening. I'm a bit bummed.  Here are some pics from last weekends fishing expedition. We caught a few good sized ones on the yo-yo's, but we threw them back. The time before that my daughter caught a folding chair, and a few limbs, and my mom caught a perch. We're obviously not entering a bass tourney, but we have a lot of fun!

Anywayzzzz....My favorite pic first!!!

Check me out--- walking on water!!! so cool! of course not as cool as Jesus, b/c I cheated but how??? bahahahaa! 'n it is not photoshopped b/c if it was I wd have definitely tried to slim my self up a bit!! Remind me to NEVER!!! EVER!!! wear this outfit in public!

I thought ruching/gathered sides were supposed to make you look thinner, but I guess if you pull your shirt way down to be sure it doesn't slip up 'n show your tummy when you raise your arms while acting like an igmo pretending you are walking on water... this is the look ya get! I'm no fashionista anywho!!! but I will give u a tip... don't wear a layering tee under a ruched shirt! u'll burn up while ur fishing and u'll look a bit thicker in the mid ta boot! I definetly appear to have more girth than normal! trust me I don't need help there, the "hippy"mom I already am!! 5'2 has bennies... I don't have far to fall when I trip, but if I was another few inches taller, I wd be in that normal BMI zone! ha ha!

More pics...

this lil fisherman is always grinning! 

my daddy, my girly, her "bubba", 'n my hubby

whistle while you troll...da da da da da da da! 

[my hubby does not like to get his pic taken... notice the furrowed brow! lol!]

my boy 'n my momma <3 'em both like some kinda crazy!

God has definitely blessed me with an awesome family! I pray the same blessings for my readers! Hope you have a fabulous friday!

Blessings,

All Before Noon! Whew!

Yesterday I mentioned keeping my cousins 10 month old daughter and 2 year old son. I only had to keep the 2 year old till his aunt could get off work to get him, but the 10 month old stayed over night. Bath and bedtime were a breeze, and she slept all night waking about the same time we normally wake at our house! All went amazingly great! She's a very good baby!

About the time I'm dressing her, her mom calls. They were on their way. I looked at the clock; the book mobile was on it's way, too.  I hurried to get everything together and by the door. I had just gathered the books when the book mobile pulled in the drive. We get on, get to checking in and checking out, and up comes my cousin.

I pass off the baby to her daddy, make a few trips in and out of the house for all her stuff, and then we just stand there talking. I can't figure out why the book mobile hasn't left yet, so my oldest volunteers to check and see what's wrong.   He discovers that in the midst of the hustle and bustle dealing with the baby's stuff we forgot our entire crate of books on the bookmobile! The woman has to be the most patient person I know! and sweet as she can be! She didn't act like she was in any hurry at all! I felt bad b/c with baby on hip, I headed off the bus, and had told my oldest to pack the crate... he never heard me. teens don't hear much, do they? lol!

Once my cousin and her family leave, as does the bookmobile, we head back in the house to finish up the morning chores. My oldest had a project to finish up, so he sits down to conquer that task. I sit down, too! I thought I'd take a quiet moment!

Not...My daughter runs in hollering about something being in the neighbors yard. So off I go again... thinking what now?

"Mom, something is in there!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you hear it... MOOOOM!!!? Listen to the dogs!"

"What?"

"LISTEN!"

"I can't your yelling!" lol!

And so... low and behold I hear a familiar sound... it's our missing cat! Well, the newly adopted stray cat  that is!

See... he made our house his home on Monday or someone else made our house his home when they dumped him. I'm not so much a cat person, but good for the cat, my kids are. They couldn't help but fall in love with him. Then...he goes amiss! After being gone nearly two full days, they were sure he'd never come back.

Now what is that I spy with my little eye... it took a lot of spying to figure out where he was, but I spotted him al'right! Blending right in with the bark... he's got a unique pattern (something like that of an occelot), so I could barely make him out fifty foot up that pine tree! The neighbor's squirrel dog wins again... cept this time, he's done treed himself a cat!

We call the neighbor cell phone, move the dogs from one part of the fenced in area to the other area, and call that cat over and over and over again! After a while I give up which makes me look heartless to my kids or more specifically to my 14 year old!

"Come on, we're going home!" I say.

"But, Mom... It can't get down! I have to climb the tree!"

"You're not climbing the tree!"

"I can use my climbing stand or those things dad has to hook on your boots!"

"I don't think so!"

"Mom! It is NOT going to climb down!"

 It got up there, didn't it!"

"But there aren't any branches...It can't jump down!"

"It will get down!"

"Mom, it won't!"

"It will figure out the dogs are penned up, and it WILL get down! I promise!"

"Mom, call the fire department!"

"No!"

"Mom it's gonna die up there!"

"I've never seen a dead cat in a tree before!"

"MOM!!!"

"COME ON!" I hollered waving him toward the gate.

Now during the time we're going on and on fussing about this cat, we're supposed to be getting ready to go to my mom's work place for her birthday lunch. My daughter had already left the scene when her nose started bleeding. Dry air does it to her sometimes. I had instructed her to do the usual stuff, but when I got back to the house, she was still having issues.

Her brother, who knows everything, told her...
"You know if you lose too much blood, you'll die!"

That's all it took! She was convinced, she was dying! Crying frantically doesn't really help  too much when you trying to stop a nose bleed!  I get to looking at the clock and think... we can't do this anymore. I call the doc's office, and we end up loading up to see the doctor. By the time we drive there, wait in the waiting room, and see the doc, the nosebleed stops. Seriously my kinda luck! Not that I wanted her to be bleeding like that forever, but I so hate sitting in a waiting room full of sick people! lol! ... nothing like going to the doctor well just to get sick, ya know!

We get the all clear, and then head on to my mom's office! Just so happens they are serving Gumbo! Oh... yum! We love Gumbo...or should I say my gumbo. We use beef sausage and chicken. This was chicken and sausage gumbo...but it was pork. We don't eat pork, so that was out. The other options was squirrel gumbo... and that was most definitely out! rofl! I'm from the country, but I don't like it that way! ugh...

My daughters exact words were, "Mom, I think I'm going to be sick!" lol! I thought, "Me, too, honey! Me, too!"

I think she wasn't so much talking about the gumbo, though I am sure that was the icing on the cake...so to speak... btw we did eat a piece of that! :) Baby, bookmobile, blood draining down her face and throat, thinking the cat was going to die up the tree, being convinced by her brother that she was going to bleed to death, and then seeing squirrel parts floating around in a pot... a little too much for one little girl all before noon! She was exhausted!

"Can we just go home? I want to go to bed!" was the next thing I heard.

"Me, too!"

Baby Blues...not talking hues

Today was a fun day. I had double duty today... double diaper duty that is! lol! Really... I was talking about homeschooling and baby-sitting, but the diaper thing came to mind.  My cousin needed a sitter for her darling two, today. Though the day was quite uneventful, it was definitely therapeutic!

You see, ever so often, one gets those baby blues. The feeling that comes on when your "babies" seem to think they are all grown up and don't necessarily think they need you as much as you know they do.

It's when you see your youngest inching ever so close to becoming Mr./Miss Independent you tear up a little. It happened with the other children, and you know it's inevitable! ...but the difference this time is that there is no one crawling across the floor to you, your not rocking anyone in that rocking chair, there will be no more little boo boos to kiss, no lil hand tugging at your shirt-tail, or silly as it might be... no one to hear your own special version of Goldilocks & The Three Bears!  um... btw i'm talking 'bout those bears who live in the south 'n trek through the swamp waiting for their Gumbo to cool! lol!

So, yep... that's what I'm going though. My youngest is 6. So far he is still cuddly, lovable, and enjoys being rocked (though he is physically much too big for rocking).... but... (sniff, boo hoo) the other day he yanked off his Thomas tank engine Bible cover that I so carefully & lovingly crafted for him and told me he didn't need it anymore.

I was flabbergasted... Thomas!!!... tossed on the floor! 

I mean, of course, I am ever so thankful it wasn't his Bible tossed into the floor, but I knew right then and there... that was some semblance of a metaphor for the innocence and wonder of his childhood... tossed away. He's growing up!!!! and (whine & stomp) I'm just not ready!!! What am I going to do?

And so... I said yes to keeping my cousin's 10month old daughter and 2 year old son. Never in my life did I have to deal with two kids in diapers at the same time.  I barely had to deal with bottles and sippy cups at the same time b/c my kids have some distance between  them (4 years between the oldest and middle  and 4 years between the middle and last).  I thought surely I'd be insane by the end of the day, but I wasn't. A wee bit tired, of course, but not miserable or insane!

So that didn't exactly cure my baby blues like everyone said it would. "Keep someone else's, you'll remember why you stopped at three!"... na' don't think so. I think I'd still want to have another BABY if I could. Key word there... BABY b/c It's not the baby thing that scares me!

What scares me is knowing that without a shadow of doubt that baby has to grow up and become a ... ahhh... oooooh... eeek!.... TEENAGER.... bahahahaha!

Yes! Yes! I know it's only a phase...but, that's when the job get's really hard! 'n that's when you really wonder... am I going to go totally insane?!! lol!

Of course there is something positive about it... your prayer life will increase exponentially when your kid hits the teen years! Cry out to Jesus... the words seem to have a whole new meaning, I'll tell ya!

Prayer changes things. I can definitely see a difference when I pray and when I don't... no doubt! A lot of it has more to do with me than it does my teenager, because most of the time I have to pray for God to keep my attitude in check when it comes to dealing with that boy! lol!

While other's are shelling out hundreds of dollars on professional therapy, I have vowed that I will get my therapy from the one we call Counselor...
I am so grateful--
I don't have to make an appointment!
I don't have to drive an hour away!
I don't have to wait in a stuffy room to take my turn!
God's always ready and wiling to listen!
...on my knees seeking HIS guidance, praying for strength HE can only give, and peace that passeth all understanding!

Now that's what I call Therapy!

Daughter of a King!

When the devil tries to make you feel like trailer park trash, proudly announce to that rascal... I am more than queen of this doublewide trailer; I am the daughter of a King! iLuv my Jesus!

About This Blog

iLive! iLuv! iTeach! blog are the ramblings of me…a homeschooling mom! I am proud to say that I am a Christian woman who believes in rearing her children up the Biblical way, Proverbs 22:6! I have an awesome husband who supports our homeschooling endeavor though times aren’t always easy on one income! We’ve been married for over 16 years and we’ve had our ups and downs, but God always lights a way! Our most precious treasures are our children: our eldest son – age 14, our daughter – age 10, & our youngest son – age 6!

My husband and I don’t have many close friends, as the majority of our time is devoted to our family! We love spending time with the children and each other! Children grow up so fast, and we don’t want to miss a minute of their lives! God blessed us greatly when he brought the two of us together and then entrusted us with three beautiful children! My hopes will be that they will grow up to glorify HIM in all aspects of their life even if we haven’t been the greatest example to them! We believe in admitting our mistakes, learning from them, and pointing them out to our children so they may learn from them also! After all… we’re not perfect, but Praise GOD we’re forgiven!