Happy Father's Day!

I want to acknowledge to very important men in my life, my husband and my father. My husband grows more and more everyday as a father. I hope you see how much our children light up when you come in the room. I know you can actually see the love Monkey has for you, but I hope and Jewel grows you begin to understand that special relationship between and father and his daughter. Thank you so much for all you do for us! We love  you!









My dad, like I said on Mother's Day had to step into both rolls, and he did an amazing job. I know now more as an adult of the sacrifices he has made through the years. He has been my rock through the ups and downs in my life. My dad and I have always had a very special relationship and a very close relationship. Partly because my mom traveled so much with her job, and partly because I am my dad's only little girl. I pray that my husband and Jewel have our relationship as they grow. I guess a lot of things remind me of songs because, I am always putting song lyrics up, but there is one song in particular that will always remind me of you dad. I love you, Happy Father's Day!

There's two things I know for sure,

She was sent here from heaven, 

And she daddy's little girl.

As I drop to my knees by her bed at night,

She talks to Jesus and I close my eyes,

And I thank God for all of the joy in my life,

Oh but most of all

For butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer

Stickin' little white flowers all up in her hair,

                                   Walk beside the pony daddy, it's my first ride,

I know the cake looks funny daddy, but I sure tried.

Oh with all that I've done wrong,

I must have done something right,

To deserve a hug every morning

And butterfly kisses at night.

by: Bob Carlisle

Boo Boo Bag

I saw a recipe for a gel pack on another blog recently. I liked their recipe, but because it had water in it, the gel pack still froze making difficult to wrap it around an arm, knee, neck, or whatever needs the the "Boo Boo Bag" at the time. My recipe calls for dish soap and a zipper sandwich, snack, quart, or gallon size bag, choose whatever size you will use or make one of each depending on your needs. You fill the bag half way with liquid dish soap (I get whatever is the cheapest, since you won't be using it for cleaning), close it and toss it in the freezer. The great thing about it is it will be cold, and stay cold just as long as ice would, but it is still moldable. You could get baggies with designs for the kids, or even allow them to pick what color (whatever the color of the soap is) they would like. You could dress them up as little or as much as you want, either way they will be put to good use........

Count your Blessing

I thought after my last couple of posts I would put up something a little more light hearted.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your blessings, see what God has done,

Count your blessings, name them one by one,





Count your many blessings, see what God has done.....

Children (not a post for the kids)

I was recently catching up with a friend on Facebook, and we were commenting on how much of a blessing our children are. I am saddened by many people I know who do not feel the same way. My views have changed through the years, but I think now more than ever I am aware just how much of a blessing they truly are. I have been researching what the Bible has to say about children, birth control, and family size. Actually some of my research has gone past just the Bible and many, many commentaries, but also into the medical realm as well. I recently found out the according the statistics the best selling birth control medicines right now are the low dose, low estrogen, low progesterone, which are better for women. I applaud the medical community for continuing their research to provide the best to us as consumers. I am disappointed by some of the people who take these pills, because they are being "responsible." I doubt that some of them have read the pamphlet that come with their pill, this pamphlet tells them how they work. Older, non "low dose" pills worked in a three fold manner: 1) they try to stop the woman from ovulating, 2) they increase the woman's discharge making it harder for the sperm to get to the egg, 3) it doesn't allow the endometrium layer to thicken, so if the first two don't work the egg cannot plant onto the wall of the uterus. The new ones only do the third one, so if you are like me and believe life begins at the moment of conception, then life begins in the fallopian tube before the egg implants on the wall of your uterus. Essentially, if you are as fertile as my husband and I seem to be you could conceive and lose a baby every month. I am by no means saying you should have 30 kids, but I am saying that we need to be informed. My husband and I think of children as a blessing and no matter what kind of "birth control" we choose we know that God opens and closes the womb, as He sees fit. He may open it quickly, like after only 17 months like He did with Monkey and Jewel, or He may choose to close it for a few years. We prayerfully make chooses about our family, and try to keep a close relationship with God, so he can give us a peace when our family is complete. Which may be this year or 8 years from now, but we feel like we have through prayer and applying the knowledge we have been given is the best we can do........

Small rant

Forgive me for my small rant tonight (I will add pictures of the kids at the end to offset this). I love God, and I trust Him with everything. I know that He knows what is best for our lives, sometimes we may not think it is best or truly understand why He does things, but that is because we can't see the big picture. What bothers me is that sometimes along your walk, those times when we see only "one set of footprints in the sand," is when we need our family and friends to be right there as well, they are not. Why is it that as Christians we seem to judge and beat down others when they need to be carried the most. My husband pointed out to me earlier today, that I have been like this in the past as well. I, too had opinions about other peoples lives. God got a hold of my heart and said just love them, no matter what. You may not agree or understand with what is going on or even why, but God does, so just love them and pray for them. A song was brought to my mind through all this:

Because He live I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives all fear is gone;

Because I know who holds the future

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Spontaneous

Today, we made a spontaneous trip to visit Aunt Sissy (my husband's sister, no that is not her real name, yes that is what they call her). She just got her first apartment and it is about and hour away from us. This was the first time we were able to see it. Although it was a short trip, we were able to have some fun together.......

Family Time

I love our family time! I used to think we had to plan time together, but as time has passed I realized that it doesn't matter what we are doing as long as we are doing it together. Tonight we all cooked dinner, when I say cooked I mean,

my husband cooked the onions,

and I cooked the rest, while the kids played in the kitchen. We played and laughed as well, in between all the cooking. It was fun just to spend those few moments together, I love our little family.......

(finished product was Pork Chops with caramelized onions and cheese, baked potatoes, and black-eyed peas)