My Jesus to the Rescue!

You see this little grin. Oh, how this little fella blesses my socks off with that little grin. I could just squeeze him to pieces when he smiles at me like that! But I have to confess, under that cute little grin can be one mischievous and downright stressful toddler. The "myth" of the 3rd child is gonna be a piece of cake came crashing down when this third child showed symptoms of colic at 2 weeks. And the myth continues to die a slow death as we reach the terrible 2s. This day started out as one of "THOSE" days. You know the one, you wake up late, your child is belting "ma-ma" in his crib while you know you must shower in order to be less of a zombie for the other people in your family. So at the very start of the day, Satan was on my back. Did I retreat to my security and safeguard, my Bible? No, I wretch on the children. My oldest, bull-headed child was first. His disobedience in getting dressed so we could actually leave grated on my last nerve. So, he lost video gaming privileges. Then middle son lost his for whining about big brother losing the video game privileges. While I'm secretly basking in the joy that I finally did it, took away the DS's for 1 whole week. At the end of this week, I'm not sure that we'll find them again. So as I managed to get one child to preschool and then attempt to teach another one at home, this adorable toddler above, vies for his mother's undivided attention. While I work with Jordan on schoolwork, he is practically tearing the house apart from top to bottom. And when I say tearing, I mean tearing. As I'm walking down the hallway, I find air vents littered down the walkway. Air vents, yes, those things that cover the holes in the floor that allow heat and air to circulate in the rooms of the home. Next up, was the unfinished bonus room. I have yet to really check and see what is destroyed in there, however, he emerged with a putty knife and proceeded to bang on every solid thing in sight, a wall, the refrigerator, our stove. All this madness in less than 3 hours. My life can only get better right? Wrong. I won't bore with anymore of those details, just to say this. The big boys were allowed to have lunch at the table and then were sent straight to their prisons for 1 hour and the video games are taken away for one full week (possibly more). On the way home, as I thought I might hit crazy girl alley, the Lord poured out his blessing. Baby boy drifted off to dreamland, the big boys were actually quiet (I think they were pulling the silent treatment-which is FINE by me), and David Crowder Band came belting over the airways. "Oh how he loves us, oh." Yeah, the tears started plummeting when "so Heaven meets Earth like an unforeseen kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest. I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about all the ways, he loves us." At that very moment, Jesus rescued my heart from my poor pitiful existence. And it really wasn't so pitiful after all, I know now. He reminded me, through that song, he is so in love with me. These children are my blessing. Motherhood is my ministry. I don't have time to maintain regrets when I think about what HE did on the cross for me. And just like that, his living water restored my dried up soul. As my heart broke into a hundred pieces for giving into sin of self once again, he filled me up and came to my rescue. How did he know I needed that song at that very moment? Because he's God, period. "Jesus answered...'The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life." John 4:14

Handle with care - fragile

"I tell you, open your eyes and look at the field! They are ripe for harvest." ~Jesus Christ

Last year, the Lord moved hubby and I out of the youth department and into the children's department. I can honestly say I entered into this place in our service with trembling and fear. Has anyone ever tried to work in the children's department in a leadership role? You would know why I feared. I prayed for the strength only the Lord could provide. Over the course of this year, he has supplied our own spiritual needs. However, much of our prayer time over this department has been for workers and yet, it seems they keep dropping their commitment like flies! Just today I received yet another phone call asking to be released from a role in leading our children. I had to really hold back my self-righteous judgement and condemnation. The Lord showed me in Bible study that he convicts hearts, he never condemns. In my feeble mind, my first thoughts were, "they just want to quit so they don't have to feel obligated to come to church." Isn't that what it amounts to really? I heard the excuses but that's all it amounts too, excuses. This is from my mind's eye, "I don't want to get up for church in the morning, I don't enjoy spending the hour on Wednesday night and having to put the kids to bed late, I don't care about Sunday nights. I'd rather stay home. If I don't have a responsibility at the church, then I have no reason to be there. SCORE!" Look, I'm sure that's not what was really going through this particular church-goer's mind, right? Right?

It's times like these when I just want to quit myself. Throw in the towel on all this "church" stuff anyway. Don't get me wrong, I love my church and my church family more but chasing around people begging them to serve gets old. Hearing couple after couple give excuse after excuse as to why they "can't" serve anymore, breaks down this girl's spirit. It's days like today when I have to seek comfort only Jesus can provide. He knew the harvest was ripe. He knows the workers are few. I have to remind myself LOTS, these people are not letting me down, they're letting the Lord down. It's His calling to train up the children in the way they should go. It His calling to tell them the good news. I wonder what it would be like to have "church" the way Jesus had church. Visiting the woman at the well. Traveling from town to town just to preach. Healing the sick. Raising people from the dead. Saving numbers and numbers of people from empty dead lives. No childcare was needed. No children's church workers lists. No allotted times to congregate as a family of believers. Just be with Jesus. I want church to be like that.

More field trips and more and more...

J is now in 3rd grade. Yes, it is unreal that I have a child who is now in the 3rd grade. Don't you remember 3rd grade? I remember my classroom from 3rd. I vividly recall one of my "boyfriends" giving me a bottle of perfume for Christmas with the word "Babe" on the front. Oh, was I ever embarrassed! I remember my teacher, her maiden and married name because she got married halfway through the year. Miss Spivey and Mrs. Faulk. I see my report card, the first time I brought home a grade that wasn't an A or a B! And the first time I was put on restriction for that report card, no less.

Those were the good ole days, right? As I spend this length of my life homeschooling my son, it is with sheer joy to experience 3rd grade again. We're reading the chapter book, 3rd grade Detectives, it's so fun. We're studying Zoology, the study of Flying Creatures. He's learning multiplication facts! Ahh! I remember night after night sitting with Daddy on the couch as he'd flip through the flash cards. They were green with yellow print. However, my most favorite subject of all is the SC History we're learning. I love History, period. I belong to Bill Jordan, if anyone should ask. He instilled in this child a LOVE LOVE LOVE of all things pertaining to history. And especially, the history of our beloved south. Ah, just blogging about it gets my blood pumping! Moving on, we are soaking up every ounce of this state's rich history in the form of field trips. I mean come on, we live in one of the 13 colonies for pete's sake. Every county in this state has oooodles of historical significance. The river systems, the street names, the schools ALL point back to our state's rich heritage. It's awesome! Our most recent SC History field trip takes us back to Charleston. Had I planned a little bit better, we would've gone to Charles Towne Landing since we are studying the colony now. I will catch that one the next go round with Tman. SO on this adventure, we visited 3 landmarks. USS Yorktown, Ft. Moultrie, and The Citadel. The third being as necessary a visit as life. We had to see our favorite cadet, Uncle Travis. On the Yorktown, we went inside the USS Clamagore (submarine). We climbed into the cockpit of a jet, Ashbear almost jumped out of it. Fun. Then we went on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown. We also saw the inner workings of the ship, Yorktown. Awesome, trip! Ft. Moultrie was perfect! After studying what's behind all those state symbols, getting to go to the actual place was the icing on the cake. Why is our flag blue? Why do we have a palmetto tree on our flag? What's the crescent for? What is our state called the Palmetto state? Why are the palmetto tree and oak on the state seal? Look to Ft. Moultrie for clues! It was just perfect!

Proud to be an American!

History Field Trip = Spirit of American US Army show and a stop by The Citadel. Kids favorite part, the firing of the cannons (both places) and seeing Uncle Travis, our favorite cadet.

Spirit of America live show!

5? Where did the time go?

It's tough to swallow that my sweet man has turned five. I told him the other day I wished he was a baby still. His reply, "Mom, five is not really that big." Well, it is to me. 5 means five years away from that sweet baby smell. Five years aways from the pitter patter of his little feet. 5 also means five years closer to 10. Five years is time to start school. Five years is learning to drink out of the cup with out a lid successfully, getting his own snack, being independent.

At 5, our Tman is just an absoulte joy. I like to think of him as our calm after the storm and before the next one. (That being directed to our other two children, of course).

*He adores his big and little brothers. Although, the smaller one is sort of a pest sometimes.

*He enjoys learning. Wow, it amazes me that one of my children enjoys this. Must take after Mom. :)

*Tman is loud! I'm not sure why, but for whatever reason, his voice is very loud and carries throughout the house. Literally from one end to the other.

*Loves, loves, loves, superheros.

*Favorite toy: Nintendo DS and lego men

*Favorite food: Cheese pizza, cheese burgers (but no pickles), and chocolate chip cookies

*Favorite person: Uncle Travis

*Favorite movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

*Favorite song: London Bridge is Falling Down

*Spend just a few minutes with our Tman and you'll be walking over lava and flying through deserts. His imagination is out of this world!

This year's birthday was yet another superhero fest. Power Ranger Samuri.

One Fine Day!

The more years the Lord chooses to bless me with, the more I see the importance and blessing of family. This is just one half of my family and not all the members are able to be in the picture. Family was a treasure to my grandmother. When I was a little girl, she'd insist on having the family at her house for Tuesday night supper. This was a weekly thing and oh, the memories and relationships that formed over those Tuesday nights. I forged a tight knit relationship with my first cousins that in this day and age seems strange to people. Who even knows their cousins much less, spends every week with them? Those traditions reinforced a desire in my heart to try MY BEST to put family first. We don't miss birthdays, weddings, Thanksgiving dinners. Family is first. And soooo thankful the Lord blessed me with Kevin. Because he treasures my family as much as I do! He is an absolute God-send, no doubt about it. I hope my boys understand the importance of this God-given structure called family. Already, they've missed the opportunities to really know their great-grandmothers. Tman was 5 months old when Nana died. I'm said that he never knew her. She loved all her grandbabies so. It's time like these, when our family members come together, that I thank God for the blessing of this!

Reason #34 to homeschool...FIELD TRIPS!

And this is why I LOVE homeschooling so very much! Here we are at Brookgreen Gardens. The butterfly house was our main reason for going on this field trip. J's science curriculum has a scavenger hunt that lists 4 types of butterflies to find. We found just one around home. SO, a field trip was in order to get those others checked off the list. Not only did we see the 4 different butterflies on his list, but also, we saw eggs on the top of a leaf, a flying grasshopper, a bird with red coloring on it (cardinal-male) and tons of other flying creatures. He's studying Zoology 1, Apologia. What was his favorite part of the trip? Seeing all the naked statues. Yes, I realize my hands are quite full with these boys of mine!!!

Tman checks out the Barn Owl.