Happy 7th Birthday Sweet Evye!!!!

August 29

It's so very hard to believe sometimes that children grow up so very very fast. It seems like literally yesterday....we're all glad it wasn't yesterday......that she was born. We were so anxious to get her here that we stupidly tried to induce one week early. When that attempt failed and I was sent home from the hospital we again tried the following Monday. After a very long 12 hrs of induced labor she was born at 10 that night. She weighed only 6'14, after having had Grayson 2 yrs earlier weighing 9 pds. It was such an incredible feeling to be holding a little girl and wondering what in the world life would be like with 2 children. I remember wondering how in the world I'd ever manage to do a little girl's hair. That was one of my biggest worries! I still haven't managed to get the art of french braiding down but her hair has been coiffed elaborately on several occasions by.......me!

I love what she is to our family and what she is becoming. I love the fact that she loves to cook and has such a desire to sew and be creative. The two of us are very different in the creativity that God has given us but it is such a blessing to watch all of these different personalities and gifts come to life in each of the children. Aubrey is much more like me and is the stubborn, very outspoken firecracker that I was when I was younger. But sweet Evye is so much more subdued and a little girl in love with everything in life that is pretty and pink. When she was born I never knew how I'd ever manage to raise a girly girl, seeing as how I was the very farthest thing from that, but here we are and I find that I love to indulge her and dress her up to be entirely feminine. I love that about her....maybe because I see in her what I never was. I love that she is tall and slender and is so elegant at even such a young age....despite her recent growth spurt tripping her up a little....literally. I love her clear honest, blue eyes. I love the freckles across her nose and cheeks. I love how genuine she is and how she just loves to be touched and appreciated. I love her creativity and how incredibly smart she is. I love the fact that she is the one God gave us.

She is so sweet and so willing to please. It devastates her to think that she may have hurt anyone's feelings in any way. I love how she is such a natural little mother and so very full of overflowing love to the younger ones. She and Garrett have a relationship that is quite different from any of the other's. He adores her and she adores him in every way.

She is so beautiful on the inside and out. I look forward to all of the the years to come with her and to see what God's plan is for her life. I look forward to watching her grow into an elegant lady with poise, graciousness and kindness as some of her biggest character qualities.

We are so very overwhelmed by God's love and mercy to have been blessed with each one of these children in our life. I cannot imagine life without any of them. I cannot imagine life without Evye.

Redneck Rodeo

Well, the day started normal...but then normal is always pretty relative when you have 15 kids and a freakin menagerie to care for......but by 12:00 pm I am quite sure that both Brad and I could have sold off every animal we own and put every kid we have to bed for at least a month and been fine with it. Come to think of it we might just would've waved as the animals went and stocked a 2,000 gallon tank with Benadryl for everyone's sedation and sent everybody back to bed.

So, let me give a brief...or not so brief.....rendition of the day we have lived out so far.

The alarm went off at 7 since I have now made it my mission in life to beat the children out of bed and actually feel like I do something really meaningful in the mornings for them. I envision hot pancakes and steaming coffee...even though we have never in our lives drunk coffee.......and cold juice and milk on the table every morning for the entire clan. But as every morning, the war waged heavily between the clock and I. It won....like it does almost every morning. So at 8 when I could no longer ignore the persistent kids and hold them off with Nutrigrain bars, opened with closed eyes, I sleepily drug my butt out of bed. Brad found it hard fighting the battle too so after 15 minutes of tons of kids rolling all over us we finally headed off to go through the morning routine of cereal, Nutrigrain bars, oatmeal, chocolate and strawberry milk and every other instant thing in life with immediate gratification and very little work. The children were, of course, much more full of energy and life than we were at this point since the not-so-morning person in me lives on for awhile. They'd already been out at the crack of dawn running around in their underwear and pajamas like a whole bunch of little unsupervised orphans. So, in their orphan like state they discovered Walker, the goat, half dead. They come in with some animal crisis about every other hour of every day....a roadrunner fell out of the tin, a hummingbird is stuck in the shop, a baby bird's on the pavement, one or both dogs puked, a bird chirped weird, the donkey sounds hoarse, a rabbit pooped wrong, a turtle croaked like a frog, the rooster barked, the cat laid an egg, etc. So, I didn't think much of the goat issue. But they continued on and were so insistent that Brad went to check it out. That was only the beginning.


The goat was indeed dying so the morning activity began. Clothes were hurriedly thrown on, calls were made, neighbors came, dogs barked and children were everywhere. With a worm diagnosis finally made Brad took off for Ballinger with Aubrey as company....since she'd had no less than 5 melt downs due to being told she was not going and her whole world then falling apart over and again every time somebody even dared look at her. The needed meds were purchased and a stop by the vet was made to get details on the care for the others. They arrived home and the medicine was given to all while I put Garrett in the tub. In the chaos he had managed to fingerpaint himself and the majority of the walls with an almost empty yogurt cup he'd retrieved out of the trash and then continued on eating a banana peel. After discovering it tasted less than wonderful other uses apparently came to mind as he squished it in between his toes. Oh....we can't leave out the stale hard wienie he found under the highchair that he was gagging down that conveniently came back up with most of breakfast......puked expertly on top of the crushed up goldfish all over the kitchen floor......the ones that had been amusingly thrown off his highchair and trampled by everyone else in their hurried morning activity. As I cleaned up the floor mess while he played Garrison and Grant, unbeknownst to me, decided to join him in the tub.


Brad called for my help saying the goats had to be driven into the other pasture. He had the truck and Suburban blocking the opening and needed everyone else plugging up the holes in between the vehicles. He was quite adamant that we would not be chasing goats around town ever again. I ran out the door with strict instructions for Evye to stay with the boys in the tub. After some time of Grayson and Brad ridiculously chasing goats around the middle pasture the goats finally headed into the designated new one with Fletch.....after Brad successfully managed to rope the stubborn one, as he is now the roping king after hours of practice at the station roping traffic cones due to way too much time on his hands. I went back in to tend to the boys only to discover they'd emptied both of the last bottles of shampoo and the only bottle of baby wash out into the tub "to make bubbles, mama". It smelled good though!


Mother arrived around then on her lunch break so I talked to her for awhile as news came from Brad that Walker had indeed died and didn't pull through like the children had prayed for. Now the lengthy explanation of why God doesn't answer prayers sometimes. Brad went to go dump the dead goat and a few minutes later Grayson and Evye ran in saying Fletch was after the little goats. Good freakin grief! Evye, once again, was charged with manning the bathroom chaos while Mother and I went out to deal with the donkey vs goat war. Fletch, being a very smart stupid donkey, knew the rope well and eluded all capture. So, we stayed at the gate waiting on Brad to get home and keeping Fletch away from the remaining goats....seeing as how we'd already managed to kill one off by not deworming them.



I'm not exactly quite sure what Evye was thinking as she watched and supervised the boys bucketing out the entire tub full of water onto the floor but somewhere in her Evye head she "watched' them as instructed......just watched them pour out the entire freakin tub onto the tile. So, Mother left about the time I swam into the bathroom. It took the entire Bed Bath and Beyond warehouse to clean it all up. After donning my swamp gear I waded into the bathroom stepping on a still saturated water laden floor to bathe Garrett. By this time I was quite ok with Garrison and Grant leaving the tub unwashed, despite the fact Grant still had pink yogurt glued behind his ear and stuck in his hair. At least they weren't going to be gleefully pouring anymore water out of the tub....not that there was any left to pour out at this point. With Garrett screaming in his past due nap exhaustion and Gavin screaming hungrily in his swing we had a chorus of lovely music between the 2 of them and the 2 kids still crying on their bed. Brad arrived home from dumping the goat and he and Grayson set to work getting Fletch into the other pasture away from the remaining goats. As I lotioned Garret I looked out the window only to see Fletch running down the driveway.......and then hear Brad's diesel engine fire up. I could only laugh at this point. A few seconds later Brad's truck flew down the driveway. He was already mad about the whole day but I knew at this point he was pretty much irate. Seeing as how he was doing 60 mph down the driveway I surmised that his outlook probably wasn't the best at this point. I went on tending to Garrett and tried to squelch the hysterical laughter, now bordering on insanity, that I felt about the donkey now running around town. Long.......very long........minutes passed and no one returned. Evye rang the doorbell and had run home from their donkey rodeo to say that Fletch was now at the park. I looked down the street to see the speck of Fletch grazing and all to wisely eluding capture as Brad walked along side him. The whole thing just made me laugh.



Brad called from his cell phone to tell me to go move the Suburban....the one that had been parked there to keep the said donkey and goats from escaping into town.......cause he was on the run towards home. I ran out to see Grayson running him home with Brad, once again in his life, rounding a wayward animal home with his truck. I jumped in the Suburban and drove through the neighbors yard to block a potential dart down the street and get him running down the driveway. It worked...at least for a minute.....as he ran down the driveway...only to run into the neighbors yard that I had just driven through. So, I backed up and attempted to block him in with Brad behind in his truck and me in front in the Suburban. I think the town loves us being here just for sheer entertainment purposes. In the time that we have lived here we manage to chase every one of our animals around town at least once a month.



So, Fletch goes back on the run darting in and out of our driveway and the neighbors yard. Finally, he manages to escape into Mrs. McKinney's pasture....2 houses down. So, a little frustrated and feeling like a fool I throw it into reverse and aim for the wide hole in the fence. Driving no less than 30 mph in reverse I then managed to successfully run over the portion of barbfreakinwire laying on the ground with both back tires to round out the day. After running over that I plowed over 4 boulders.....seeing as how in my shock over having hit the barbwire I only pressed the accelerator harder. I got out hurriedly checked it over to make sure I wasn't going to drive on a flat and then hopped back in to continue our insanity. We finally got him headed in the right direction and he ran his stupid ass into the gated pasture and the gate was closed behind him. I got out again and tried to refrain from telling Brad about the whole little barbwire/boulder incident but he saw me checking it out and asked, of course, what I was looking at. I coughed it up and he knelt to listen for air pouring out. Miraculously there was none at that point. I'm a little cautious of going back out to look again and see what's taken place in the last few hours.



We all came in for a quick lunch and then Brad left for work at Mr Martin's. I tried to recoup from the day and clean up the disaster zone that the house had become. Unsupervised toddlers are less than kind to a house. And then after 4 wks of Aubrey sleeping on a little fold out bed, due to having moved her bed out and waiting on the new one, the deputy finally calls and said she's ready for the new bed to be picked up....and today would not be too soon. Oh my freakin gosh! Can I just sit still for a minute and not think and not move? So, with it nearing 4:00 I call Brad to let him know, call Mother to ask to use her truck since Brad's got the welder in his and start getting everybody ready to go. They both arrived at 5 and took off with some of the children to get the bed. I started dinner and, in between doing that, tried to ready the room for the new bed.......the room that had been perfectly vacuumed and ready for it 4 wks ago but was not prepared at all for it today. They got back with bed in tow and began moving Evye's bed out and the new bed in. As I fought off starved children in the kitchen Brad worked on getting the bed together while fighting off rowdy kids hanging from the ceiling fan in the bedroom. With that project finally completed and dinner ready we sat down for a quick dinner and then I went on a scavenger hunt to find the sheets for the new full size bunk. After 1/2 an hour of trying to locate those and playing fruit basket turnover with the children's new sleeping arrangements everybody was put to bed for the night.


And here I am nursing a baby....like I've done every 3 hrs throughout this whole entire day.... and now headed to bed....if the house doesn't blow up before then.



The only pictures I managed to get all day.

Mission Accomplished.....and other random pictures

The closet is now completed. I don't think I've ever felt better or more in control of my life. It's absolutely amazing to me what sheer junk and clutter do to your overall quality of life. It makes me crazy. There is such a peace in my life now knowing my closet is clean. And no skeletons ever came out of it either! And the organization process is pretty contagious. Each of the children have a cubby in the top of their one closet. It allows them to keep their personal stuff put up that is dangerous for the little ones....ie. for Grayson guns, bullets, knives, targets that can easily be destroyed and ripped into shreds by little hands, his disgusting collection of rattlesnake rattles, etc. Evye's contains jewelry that can be easily broken..in which 1/2 of it already is, makeup that hasn't already been eaten or used to repaint the walls, and favorite stuff she wants to keep to herself and save for naptimes, etc. For Aubrey she has her own little jewelry box she wants to keep up like Evye's and lipstick tubes that have been completely eaten. The boys share a cubby for now and I keep some of their misc items up there. Anyway, Grayson got the neat gene and the closet project was completely contagious and he went to work on his cubby. He spent an entire day on it. It was so sweet and I loved the fact my closet actions set a good example for them. Evye....well let's just say she didn't inherit anything close to an organizational gene or the remote desire to ever establish one. So, her cubby still looks like a big bottle of Pepto-Bismol spilled haphazardly into a green crate. We're working on establishing motivation for maintaining details in life. So far, it's not looking too promising. At least she's finally gotten really good at picking up stuff and keeping their room decent and she's a pro at making beds. And Aubrey's still young enough she just loves anything project oriented so she got ahold of her cubby and "organized" moving her pile of broken jewelry and eaten makeup from one side of the cubby to the other. Mission accomplished for her!

So, here are my humbling before pics and very fulfilling after pics.



Before doorway view





After doorway view




Before of Brad's side





After of Brad's side
Oops....stay tuned for after pics. Forgot this angle.



Before of my side







After of my side (from inside the closet looking towards the door. I don't have the patience to go take a pic right now from the same perspective of the 1st pic)





Before shelves






After shelves









Before top of shelves







After top of shelves




Before bottom of shelves and floor













After bottom of shelves and floor





Before top shelf on my side




After top shelf on my side







Before middle shelf on Brad's side




After middle shelf on Brad's side



Closet cleaning is fun! All kinds of little jewels were discovered. Who knows where the pairs are...but then who cares when you found you're two favorite things ever...puppies and race cars.






More jewels discovered........"New" shoes are fun......even more fun in the nude.






Gavin's 1st camera smiles!!!! I was about ready to trade him in for a non-fussy model but within the last week or so he has finally adjusted to life and is a complete joy. He's sleeping through most of the nights and finally just loves to snuggle instead of being so restless. And he's arrived at utter contentment with life. He's been sleeping in the swing since that's the only place he's been happy but last night he slept curled all warm and soft in between Brad and I. I loved having him cuddled up right next to me all night. How in the world can I be so in love with this little bald miracle I've only known for 6 weeks? The one I've carried for so long but never touched. The one I've dreamed of for so long but never seen before a mere 6 wks ago. How is it possible to love so much?













City council meeting. What's a car?



Sunset in heaven






Alright, and for the new section "Today's Mess". I really do watch my kids....some of the time.


Monday's Mess (lotion)




Tuesday's Mess (Fruity O's...or more commonly known as Fruit Loops)




Friday's Mess (As for Aubrey, I guess she was a little thirsty or something? Or maybe it's just fun licking bacterial infested surfaces.)

Building Cathedrals

I read this today. It is my heart's desire and my life's work to build 7......or more......cathedrals.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going she's going......she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become, for me, four life-changing truths after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it."And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Nikki. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Summertime Blues

So, can there possibly be kids any more bored than this???????? Yesterday was one of those tough days where nothing really got accomplished on my part for having to deal with constant boredom, complaining and whining. They had to wake at 7 to get everything done and be ready for church. That was after having gone to bed at 11. Well, not exactly having gone to bed at 11 since they were actually there in the bed at 8. But they were too wound up and having way too much fun and so they all stayed up and kept each other awake playing in the dark until 11. 7 came very early for them yesterday morning. We had plans to visit an incredible little church 40 miles from us, thus requiring us to leave at 9. Brad's working his Sunday shifts so I was on my own. It didn't quite go according to plan and I finally called Mother in complete exasperation and told her there was no way I could ever pull it off. At 8:50 4 were still not dressed and those same 4 still needed breakfast. And you can't exactly take Aubrey or Garrett anywhere without them having been fed. They have this thing with low blood sugar and I wasn't about to make myself that miserable, not to mention the church we would be attending with them in that state. To make matters worse, the Suburban had only a quarter of a tank of gas and would require filling to some extent, only lengthening the morning endeavors to actually get there. It was pretty much the morning from hell. I was stressed out since I wanted to go so very bad. I figured by the end of it Satan was either working doubly hard to keep us from being there or the Lord was intervening and we weren't supposed to be there for a reason. I never did really figure out which one it was.





Oh.....and in the midst of it all Mickey was supposed to stop by and pick up some of his stuff that we found while cleaning the closet out. It's a really good thing he didn't up and sell the house to somebody he didn't know. So far we've returned more stuff than I could ever think of leaving behind that was stashed and unknowingly left behind. This happened to be the survey of his 410 acre ranch (that was interesting to look at) and his grandfather's German confirmation within the Catholic church in Germany. That was amazing though. Of course, Brad and I had no clue what we were looking at. It just kind of looked important and we thought he might want it. He did. So, he was stopping by before church and I wasn't about to let him come into a disaster zone. I've learned it's either a clean house or a day out.......but not both. It's fairly impossible to be on a time schedule and try to leave a clean house behind. Things are pretty much strung out everywhere by the end of a "get everybody up and ready and leave early" morning. It just doesn't even matter if it was left spotless the night before. In the midst of the Sun morning routine I was also barking orders to get everthing picked up since I knew he'd help himself inside if we weren't home. Ohhhhhhh.........the chaos and stress!!! It makes me crazy just thinking about it. I wasn't coping too well to put it mildly.





With everyone now dressed but kids still needing to be fed I hurried up to get dressed since that was all that was left on my part. I probably shouldn't have even gone there and tried to fit in old clothes on that kind of morning. I think that was pretty much the last straw. Not good. I go in, as is my every Sunday horrific delimna, and start looking through a rod of clothes that don't really fit. I finally decided on a denim skirt that I wore not long after I had Garrett. I figured I'm only 10 pounds more than I was when I wore it then so it might just work. I got it on easily with it only accentuating a few more curves than I had before. Ok........not too bad I think. So, I hurriedly run through the dressy sleeveless stuff and put one on. I tuck it in, don my cowhide belt and shove on my boots. Only lacking jewelry I rush to the mirror to get a quick glance and overview to make sure everything's in place. Ummmmmmm........so let's just say I just shouldn't have even done the whole mirror trip. I stopped and just stared....and in not such a great way. There, staring back at me, was a ghostly white, thick, lumpy overweight reflection. On the verge of tears I walked back into the closet to get a grip and convince myself it's only in my mind, as I was told so many years ago by my weight counselor at the time. I was in the closet and was determined to re-emerge with a new outlook and see the person that really was standing there. Well.......ummmmmmmm......that's kind of the problem here. That WAS the person standing there. Let's just say not much changed in a few hurried seconds worth of "yoga" time in the closet. Yep, the whole deep breathing, new age, whatever crock of crap they teach somewhere in the world doesn't do much to the troubled soul fighting with the mirror. The same scarily white, flabby, fleshy person with the now very framed round face by the Shirley Temple hair was still there all too happily to greet me. So, I got mad and discarded the top not too gently and went in a rough quick search of another one. Nope.......nothing there. So, I grabbed my trusty jeans that disguise the flaws and a crisp white shirt...so, it's a tailored cut maternity but it hid the lumps and covered the flaws....and flung it on as I cried. I was so mad at this point that it's kind of comical. I probably should be delivered from this little complex but it's really irritating. My fear of becoming what I used to be, or turning into an out of shape mom of many, grabs hold and just won't let go at times. Yes, I am quite sure deliverance is needed.





Needless to say, the morning wasn't going too well. Of course, my mood affected everybody and because of my aptitude in dealing with the crisis the whole house was now in a bad mood. By then it was kind of spiraling downward and I was mad at myself for even handling it the way I was. I've got to get a grip on my self image issue before the girls get too much older. I called Mother and let her know there was no way we'd ever be there before 11:30. With a tear streaked face and ruined makeup, sadly, the mood had been set for the day.



I can't think in this! Who could???!!!!


The closet is still a work in progress and it makes it hard to function at all. I can't even think in my room. It makes me crazy to even go in there. I look around and just see crap everywhere. My organized mind is a little overwhelmed by the disarray and stuff arranged in piles, boxes and everything else. That made the whole morning crisis just worse. Having the option to still make the church service across the street.....Lord knows I needed it!!!!......I opted to just sit in the quiet.........or not so quiet...of the morning and regain my composure and just chill out and enjoy the children. Well, I had good intentions. I think we maybe should've gotten out though. I waited for the atmosphere and mood of the house to change and the children to miraculously get happy and begin to see the fun in the day. Alright........so that didn't really ever happen. They whined, griped and complained and stayed bored the rest of the day. So, in my continuing frustration I just put them to work doing chores. That tactic didn't go over so well either. Not doing too good at this point. I figured we'd all set to work on the closet and they'd be occupied and I'd feel better. Nope. Due to Mickey's arrival and then our continual struggle with moods throughout the rest of the day by the time the afternoon rolled around I just wanted to go to bed. Brad's worked non stop for days on end now and all I could think of was him coming home so I could go to bed. Or him coming home so I could just lay beside him for awhile. There is nothing in the world like the comfort of his arms, his warm body just being beside me in the bed, or his fingers running through my hair as I fall asleep. I love the comfort that he is to me. But, no...it's been days now and he shows up in the evening for dinner and then we both fall into bed exhausted. We did have a date Friday night in the middle of the torrential rainstorm. That was so much fun and such a needed time with him. Mother kept everybody while we just went and sat for dinner and talked.

Still working on it


Is this project over yet????





Anyway, with him at the station as acting Lt there was no chance of him coming home. So, I plodded on and never did get around to the closet. Admittedly, the day didn't ever really improve too much and I dealt with very bored whiny kids the rest of the day. As I sat nursing I looked up to see them as they are in picture at the top. I laughed out loud at the sight of them. They got ahold of electric tape and this was the result of their restless streak. Too hot outside and nothing to do inside...let's just tape each other up.





So, this isn't exactly a gripe or pity entry. It's just to remind me in later years that there are those days. It is teaching me each and everytime to stay a little more focused on the Lord and what the big picture really is all about. This life is always a refining process....and children (and a mirror) can be some of the biggest refiners. They can bring to light every imperfection, every intolerance, every lack of self control, every detail of life still needing to be tended to. I am so grateful to the Lord for keeping me at a place in life that keeps me on my knees in need of Him. Only through Him will I ever be able to raise these children to be decent adults, despite the flaws that abound all too abundantly in my mortal self. We have been given 7 of the most extravagant gifts I could ever imagine and I am in awe and overwhelmed that it is through these blessings that He also works His greatest miracles in me and continues to make me a better person as a whole. I hope that I can teach each of them when we do encounter days such as yesterday to look up and rely on His ability to work through us in order to turn a crapped out day into something unexpectedly extraordinary. Not that I really succeeded in that yesterday but He is again on the move and convicting my heart in ways and areas that have laid dormant for too long now.

By the end of it we put on praise music, danced around the house and took pictures of each other. That cheered everybody up and we ended on a very good note.

"I could sing unending songs of how You've saved my soul!!! I could dance a thousand miles because of Your great love!!! My heart is bursting Lord to tell of all You've done and how You've changed my life and wiped away my past. I want to shout it out from every rooftop for I know that God is for me not against me. I can sing unending songs of how You've saved my soul!!!! The joy is in this place! Everybody's singing now cause we're so happy. Everybody's dancing now cause we're so happy! We're singing and we're dancing cause you've lifted my spirit!!"

I hope that I can teach them to overcome themselves and focus on what really matters in life.