Saturday, February 28, 2015

~last day of the month and what's on my nightstand~

I cannot believe this is the last day of February!  I have always said, since my kids started being born, that this time of year flies, and it does~the time from after Christmas, to what we jokingly refer to as birthday season.  In just a short eleven days, I will have twins that will turn twelve, Graham will turn sixteen and get his driver's licence in twelve days, and three days after that, Graham and Drew will be leaving the country for their first mission trip.

Whew.

I think it's starting to finally dawn on me that tomorrow is March 1.

And I am still sick and confined to my house.  :(

I'll continue on in my denial and list what I have been into, in the way of Christian fiction books.

I love these books!  This time reading through them makes it my third time in about ten years.  If you are looking for a lighthearted, sometimes silly, sometimes sappy, but makes you laugh out loud great read~then these are for you.

I have done nothing but sit and read and watch television since Monday.  I've slept on and off, I've folded the minimal amount of clean laundry (shirts only, the boys have done the rest) and I have not cooked a meal.  And so I have finished three of these books this week.  That takes my book count up to number thirteen for 2015 so far.  I'm keeping track on my phone.

The other books on my nightstand are What Women Fear by Angie Smith that I will most likely finish today, And The Bride Wore White by Dannah Gresh that I'm doing with my community group girls on Sunday nights and Anne of Green Gables that I'm reading from my childhood days.

Those last three are in the process of being read.

My next non-fiction read will be either one called Multiply by David Platt, or a free book I got from Lifeway by Kelly Minter about her years spent in the Amazon jungle.

What about you?  Any particular book or series that you are loving right now?  You know I'm always thinking ahead.

In other news, I would love your prayers.  I'm really tired of feeling bad.  I feel like I might need another antibiotic so none of what's in my chest gets any worse.  I've been down the pneumonia road and don't want to go there again.  Please pray for wisdom for my doctor.  Thanks, in advance!  Love to all.  

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

bleh

Good title, huh?  I still struggle with thinking of catchy ones.  I've been absent from the blog because I have been so sick.  I told a friend earlier that I don't remember being this sick since Jonah and Noah were about three years old.  Or two...whenever it was that I had pneumonia.  Thankfully I do not have that, but I do have bronchitis and was told by my doctor that she's pretty certain that I have asthma.  It's always been a little present, like on humid days or when I exercise, but when I get well, I'll know more.  She told me she wants to test my lung function.  I don't even want to know what that means until I get there.

I am so, so thankful that this all started Sunday night and not over the weekend.  God is so good like that, to work out all the timing in His own way.  I know some of you may not believe that He does things like that, but let me tell you~I am living proof that He does.  I have pages and pages and pages of His goodness and His sovereignty recorded in all the journals on my bedroom bookshelves.  It's one of the reasons why I so love to journal and to write, so that I can remember His goodness and His grace.

He is so good.

Speaking of Him being so good and me being so sick, I have a really funny story.  Yesterday I didn't feel like even getting dressed, much less putting on makeup.  I did put on real, non-pajama clothes, but I skimped on the makeup and did not even care.  Until I had to go inside Target.  I love my town, because it's small and everywhere I go, I see people I know.  But it's small and I see people I know everywhere I go!  Yesterday was no exception.  I don't have a picture, but know that my hair was halfway thrown into a bun/pony tail thing, I had cheeks so red that they appeared a little blue-ish, and I have coughed so hard that I busted something in my eye and they were both VERY red.

I did, however, have on lipstick that was bright pink, because my lips are so chapped that I am embarrassed, and because why not accentuate everything else pink and red about my face by adding the lips to match?  Go big or go home.

I looked beautiful, I tell you.  (I'm being sarcastic.)

As for the Jesus part of this story, we had an awesome speaker at D-Now this weekend, a wonderful, Godly man named John Nix.  Our church has hired him to preach to our youth on Wednesday nights from March through May while they search for a new youth pastor to hire.  Bobby's (our current youth pastor) last day is March 8.  :(  I am thrilled they hired John temporarily, though.  Hopefully it'll turn permanent, but highly doubtful.  Anyway.  I never got the chance to meet him this weekend.  But guess who I saw at Target yesterday, while I was waiting and looking my best?  (Sarcasm again.)  You probably guessed.  John Nix.

He is a very nice man, not even acting like he was even mildly shocked by my appearance.  I couldn't even shake his hand, because I had been coughing all over myself.  We talked for a good ten minutes until they called my name to come and pick up my prescriptions.  Watch him not recognize me made up the next time he sees me.  ;)  But we talked about how wonderful the weekend was, and how much he made my girls want to dig into the Word, and we talked about Jesus.  When you talk about Jesus, nothing else matters.

Right?  Amen and hallelujah.

So that's what has been going on in my life this week.  I do feel a tiny bit better today, still rotten, but there's small improvement.  Praise God the medicines are working and I am only mildly shaky and having a racing heart.  (Thank you Prednisone and Albuterol.)  I am in no condition to step foot outside of my house and don't see that happening in the next few days.  My sweet mom came and got my boys today and took them to lunch and to grocery shop for our dinner tonight, which Drew will be making while I sit at the kitchen table and supervise.  I am so thankful Mom came to my rescue today!  She also bought me a pair of turquoise fleece polka dot pajama pants (!!!) from the clearance rack at Kohl's and some wonderful rose/raspberry salve for my lips.  God love her and God love my husband and kids~they do an excellent job of taking care of me when I am sick.

I will leave you with some funny pictures I have taken or have seen around the internet the past few days.  Boredom at its finest.


Because I always say, "When Hell freezes over."


Crash was looking at me and crying, because I was coughing and he wanted to snuggle with me.  He seems to know when I'm sick and does not like it one bit.


Drew accompanied me to the doctor yesterday.  He was here last in November of 2013, and in that time, he has gained thirty plus pounds and has grown a whopping five inches.  And he's not even done.


My own, personal drug store.  :)


Because he is totally rotten.


I pulled my journaling Bible out today, for the first time in a few weeks.  I've been using another new Bible I have, my Precept study Bible, because I need it for Bible study and because I love the translation.  It's NASB, which is what my pastor uses.

Well.  A shower is calling my name.  Thanks for reading and love to all!

Monday, February 23, 2015

weekend recap, D-Now edition

This weekend was amazing.  D-Now stands for disciple now.  Our church is big on discipleship.  We are of the belief that discipleship starts with our own family, so we have lots and lots of resources that are church staff is always supplying us with, as parents.  I have looked forward to this weekend ever since last year, at the same time.

Friday night we started at church.  We had an amazing speaker named John Nix that was there with us all weekend.  The theme was Open Hands, as in surrendering our lives to Jesus as we connect in our faith, families, fellowship and the field.  I was so bummed that Graham was sick Friday night.  He missed all that night and came in on Saturday afternoon, around five.  After the service on Friday, we went to our host home and ate junk food and discussed the session from that night.

Here are our eleventh grade girls.


I love these girls so much!  It has been a joy to be one of their leaders these two years.  I am so proud of them all.  We finally went to bed sometime close to one, but it was almost three before my friend and I fell asleep.  We have a tendency to talk too much every time we're together and go on for hours.  I love that, though, and love that I get to serve alongside her.


Saturday morning we were back at church around 8:45, had a yummy breakfast, then heard a different speaker.  After this we were dismissed and we started working on the music video that we had to make, as part of our CFBC Academy Awards.  It took a long time, but it turned out really good and they were nominated for a couple of awards.


Katelyn, Kittie, me and Scottie.  We had a blast being together all weekend and Kittie was our host home.

We were exhausted by four thirty, and I caught this happening:


We had dinner, another church service, then the Awards show.  I think we ended back home by eleven.  And by this time, I think I might have been delirious.  We all were, because we laughed so hard, and at everything, while we were back at our host home, snacking.  And on this night, I was asleep by one.

Sunday morning dawned very early for us, and we were back at church by nine.


And though they look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, one of them (whom I will not name) was VERY grumpy about taking this picture.  She needed her sugar fix and was quite impatient about getting in the doughnut line.  ;)

We had one last session, then our regular sermon by our pastor.  After church, I came home, took two bites of spaghetti and then slept for the next three hours.  My friend woke me up~I was supposed to help her at the merchandise table at a concert last night, and I wasn't responding to her texts.  Her third text woke me up, at 4:45, then we were back at church by five.


Matt Papa was there in concert, and we worshiped.  Every one of his songs had such a beautiful message, and I think I must have cried the whole night.  One of the band members gave me a cd for helping sell merchandise, which was really nice of him.  I can't wait to pop it into my kitchen radio and listen to it while I am cooking or folding laundry.

It was an awesome weekend, and by last night, I already missed being with the girls!

On another note, Graham is fine now, but Drew and I have a cold or something like that.  Neither one of us can stop coughing.  The only thing that helps is ice water and cough drops.  I felt mine coming on last night, but his started Friday.  :(  I pray we don't get what Graham had and that the rest of us are better by Thursday.  I really don't want to miss our homeschool group again.

Well.  Laundry is calling me again.  You should see the mountains of piles.  I have a long day ahead of me.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Friday Favorites

I'm excited about and dreading this day for a couple of reasons~one, it's Friday, and this is D-Now weekend!  My dad will be here soon to whisk us all away to lunch.  Two, because he may not make it!  It totally depends on what the weather is doing at the moment.  More wintry mix is headed our way at about that same time.  I'm also wondering if D-Now will be postponed until tomorrow morning.  I REALLY hope that doesn't happen.  I will have some disappointed kiddos on my hands if it does.

All of that being said, it's still Friday and that means:


I'm linking up with Momfessionals for this post.

I've had lots of favorite moments from this week, and a lot of them I talked about yesterday.  I'll try to not repeat myself, though.

I loved having all of my family home for two whole days in a row this week.  On Sunday night, Todd worked with the sheriff's department and ended up staying out all night.  He got home around nine that next morning and though he said he wasn't going to go to sleep, I caught him doing just that.  If you're reading this Todd, please don't be mad at me for this picture.


Crash kept him warm and comfy while he napped.  Two of my favorites from this week.  

Another favorite moment from this week was the fact that my kids finally (FINALLY!) got to sled on some ice/snow!  It's been at least two years since that has happened.  This was my excited face as I pulled on long, warm socks to keep my legs from freezing.


And though I loved all the outdoor activity going on, it created loads and loads of extra laundry, which I don't necessarily love...but I don't mind it, either.  I found this image on Instagram yesterday and loved it!


That's one of my favorite Bible verses.  

Yesterday was back to school for us.  In between subjects, the boys found one of their favorite shows on Discovery that they watched for a couple of hours.  Lone Target.  We are totally not above using Netflix for homeschooling, too.  We watch documentaries all the time.


Another favorite from this week was a text that my friend Abbey and I shared.  Here's the picture I sent her in the text.


She and I both have this thing for crazy socks.  I showed her mine and she sent back a text showing me hers.  I knew she had them on, too, which is reason number three hundred and eighty seven why I love her.

I love my living room view~it's especially a favorite of mine when I have ice or snow to look at through the French doors leading into my backyard.  Check out these icicles!



I saw another couple of images on Instagram that I loved and saved to my phone, because I am a nerd and I do things like that all the time.  I really love the one that says 'paid in full'.



A favorite moment from yesterday was when Graham decided to make sausage balls and fudge pie.



Both were delicious.  The pie is still left, but the sausage balls were devoured in minutes.

These boys eat me out of house and home, in case I haven't said that lately.

You all know that reading is my favorite hobby.  I have read a ton this week!  I finished another book last night, the one I posted about yesterday, Sisterchicks Do The Hula.  That makes the book I started right after that, the tenth book I've started this year.  :)

Well...I think I hear laundry calling me.  And a shower.  Happy Friday to you!  Love to all.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

a little bit of icy mix and life lately

On Sunday night, we had an Arctic front (or something like that) move through our area, and with it came lots and lots of sleet.  It woke me up at three a.m. it was so loud against my bedroom window.  The kids were thrilled when they woke up and saw all the lovely icy white on the ground, and of course, headed straight outside.

So one of the things I have done lots of is laundry, because when they're outside, they get dirty in this stuff.  Little bits of grass have been all over my house and their clothes, so today I plan on vacuuming and mopping.

Anyway.


This would be Noah, not that you can tell from his facial features.  He was dressed to combat the frigid temperature.  And yes, those are mismatched gloves~all of our matching pairs seem to have disappeared.  Hashtag boy problems.

They really wanted to go sledding, so I sweet talked my neighbor Travis into driving.  :)  This is all of them waiting on him to come out.


They lasted for about an hour and a half, then we came back home.  I never got out of Travis' truck~but I enjoyed watching from the warmth inside.  

And then I needed to do laundry again, and enjoyed my view while folding at the kitchen table.


It wasn't much, but we sure enjoyed what we had!  And I think it's beautiful.  

For dinner this night, we had loaded baked potato soup.  

On Tuesday, I did more laundry, but mostly, I did this:


I read almost all day.  I finished the book Angels Walking by Karen Kingsbury.  It was so good!  The second installment in this series comes out in June or July.  

Tuesday afternoon, my friend texted me and told me there were plans in the making for our tenth grade girls to go prank the tenth grade boys that night.  Let me explain why: every year, our church has a winter retreat type event called D-Now (disciple now).  We stay overnight in homes in this area, with the youth divided by gender and grade.  The then 9th grade boys rolled the home that their grade girls were staying in.  And they did all kinds of other things to them too, like stealing their chips and Saran-wrapping the car they were in.  So this year's D-Now is this weekend and on Tuesday night, the tenth grade boys were at their leader's house planning for the weekend.  The girls thought it would be fun to prank them while they were there.  

My friend and I took them to buy shaving cream, and they had wrapping paper they were going to wrap their yard with.  It never occurred to us that the boys might take the giant cans of shaving cream away from the girls, but that is exactly what happened, and this is what they looked like afterward.


Epic fail.  But it was fun, nevertheless!  And it was good to get out of the house.  And yes, I was in my pajamas, because my original plan was to NOT get out of Missy's car.


We had to stop and clean the windows so she could see.  Then we had to clean the shaving cream off her car,  because we both thought it was bad for the paint.  Turns out, it may not be bad for it after all, so we froze to death for nothing.  Ha!  Still.  So fun!

Dinner for this night was Italian roast beef, roasted potatoes, asparagus and garlic bread.  Noah was sick on this day, too.  He came down with a virus, I guess, where he ran fever for about a day and a half.  The fever stopped last night and he woke up better today.  

Wednesday we were home almost all day.  I finished my Bible study homework for the week and Noah and I went to Kroger.  Along with everyone else in The Ville.  The boys were excited that I restocked our pantry.  And for dinner, I made taco soup.


A dutch oven full.  And we had a guest for dinner!  One of our favorite people, a young man we used to go to church with, Mike, came home with Todd.  They had been at the church for something and Todd invited him to come home with him so we could see him.  He ate dinner with us and stayed for a couple hours.  It was so good seeing him and catching up on what he's been up to lately.  He used to be one of the youth leaders at our church, and we miss him so much!  He's been working with Student Life~at their summer camps, at retreats and his latest huge event was Passion 2015.  He was a small group leader for a few hundred people, including someone pretty famous from Duck Dynasty.  He also just happens to be close friends with a few big name people, like Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, Louie Giglio, Dave Crowder...people like that.  No biggie.  ;)  It's cool to see what God is doing in his life, and where he'll go next.

We were able to see him because church was cancelled last night.  


This is my Bible study room at church.  I got there really early last week and was alone for twenty minutes, so I killed time by taking pictures of the room and messing around on my phone.  It makes me sad to miss Wednesday night church.  I love our class so much!  

Today we should be at our homeschool group, but because of Noah being sick, we stayed home to play it safe.  I will be reading a lot today.  I started another book last night, one that I pulled from my library shelves.  I actually re-read a lot of my books, and that's why I like to buy them if I love the author.  This series is one of my all time favorites, the Sisterchicks series, by Robin Jones Gunn.  This will make the third time to have read through the series.  


And dinner is in the crock pot.  I love when that happens!  Tonight we are having chicken tacos.  

What have YOU been doing during these lazy days?  Share the love!  I've been hearing lots of crickets chirping on the blog.  Wherever you are, stay warm!  It's a balmy seventeen degrees right now.  ;)  Love to all!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

how I met my hubby

Today's post is a fun one, and I am linking up with Momfessionals for Show & Tell Tuesday.


Todd and I met the first time at kids camp, when we were about nine years old.  He doesn't remember me, but I remember him.  He was the annoying kid who went around asking for all the girls' phone numbers.  I am pretty sure that I did not give him mine.  (And by the way~who does that sound like?  Andrew Myles.)

I met him again, when we were juniors in high school.  I started going to his church and it wasn't until we started being friends that I started liking him.  I had a boyfriend for a while during this time, and when I broke up with him, I started hanging out more with Todd.  Our first date was a double date, and we went to see the movie, Little Rascals.  This didn't happen until our senior year in high school.  We were friends for a long time before our date, and even after our date, I wasn't convinced that I really liked him as more than a friend.

One night, in the late spring of our senior year, my mom and I were babysitting my niece and nephews.  Todd had come over to eat with us (he ate with us almost every single night) and hang out and play with the kids.  We were jumping on the trampoline with my niece Erika, and when my mom called the kids in for baths and bed, Todd and I sat out there and talked.  While he was practically in the middle of a sentence, I remember being struck with how much I loved this boy!  And all of a sudden I knew that all those months of friendship had turned into love.  I wrote that in a note and gave it to him before he drove off, and made him wait to read it after he left.

He called me when he got home and told me that he loved me too.

:)  And then our lives continued, but with him as my boyfriend, it was so much better.  We went to prom together.  We were at each other's graduation ceremonies.  And after graduation, my dad and step-mom and us went on a two week trip to Destin, then onto Orlando and to Disney World.


This was on our way to Disney World.  ;)  And when my dad wasn't looking.  Ha!  We were taking selfies before that was even a thing.

At the end of the summer he broke up with me.  He said it was because he didn't want to be tied down, but what he really meant (he told me so later) was that he thought I would meet someone else and he didn't want to get hurt.  That only last a couple months into my freshman year at Lambuth, though.  In September we got back together and on Thursday night, October 5 of 1995, when I came home from college for a long weekend, he proposed.  (I only went to college for a semester.)

And obviously, I said yes.  We were engaged for a whole year and married on October 4, 1996 at the ripe old age of nineteen.  We turned twenty in December of the same year, but I find it funny that while we were first married, we couldn't buy a bottle of wine.  We have literally grown up together.


We had Graham when we were twenty-two.  We lived in a second story apartment for one year, a third story apartment for one year and a ground level apartment for one year.  When Graham was one, and right before Drew was born (when we were twenty three), we moved into our first rental house here in The Ville.  We lived there until Drew's first birthday.  My step-dad bought a small house then, and rented it to us for three years.  Jonah and Noah were born during that time (we were twenty-six then) and we outgrew it and bought our first home when they were eight months old.  That will be twelve years in November of this year, that we have lived here.

We have had some really bad times of marriage and we have had some really great times of marriage.

He is still my best friend and the one I call first for everything.  His face is more familiar to me than my own.  He makes me laugh more than anyone else and there are so many things I love about him.




Just for fun, here are some more pictures of us throughout the years.








He has loved me in the good and the bad, and apparently, through multiple colors of hair.  ;)  And it's only been eighteen years.  (We will celebrate nineteen this year.)  We have experienced half of our lives together, and we have so much still ahead of us.

Thanks for reading about how we met!  Love to all.

Monday, February 16, 2015

the weekend

Friday was a teacher in service day for the schools in The Ville, so I gave my kids the day off, too.  :)  Really what happened is that they finished their work early enough to earn that day off.  We had lunch with my dad and ended up coming back home, when we found out the gym at our church was closed.  A couple hours later, though, my friend texted me and told me her hubby was going up there to unlock it, and they invited all my kiddos plus an extra along.  They went, happily.

Friday night Graham and Drew went to McAllister's with some friends, so Todd, Jonah and Noah enjoyed a good dinner at home.  After dinner, Todd took the two littles to a friend's basketball game and some girls from church came over and we made cupcakes to take with us Saturday.


We listened to loud music and sang while we mixed and baked.  :)  I love these girls~they are all so much fun to be with and I am glad my boys have them as friends.  They've known each other since kindergarten.

Afterward, they might have had a small~ish fight that involved icing.


I made the boys clean up after they went home.  :)

Saturday we lounged around until noon.  I was on the laptop and I watched television.  (Exciting stuff, right?)  It was a lovely, lazy morning.


I'm not one for mushy Valentine stuff, but this was an image I loved.

We loaded into my car around one, made a couple stops, and went to see some of the kids from Street Reach they met last summer.



Graham was so attached to this little boy~and he to Graham.  Every time D'Korian sees Graham, he throws himself into Graham's arms.  It's the sweetest thing ever.  We go to see them, because they live in an area that isn't always included in the kids clubs that Street Reach does for the kids.  Their site is included only depending on the number of kids they have in a week to serve.  If there aren't enough kids to serve, the Treadwell site gets left out.

:(

They have come to expect us, and we like to go see them once every few weeks.

For dinner Saturday night, Todd and I made steak, roasted potatoes, asparagus and garlic bread.  And then we took the boys bowling with some friends.


Drew is crazy, and I have found that I can't take him anywhere.  He has acted weird all weekend, and then he goes and does this and lets me get a glimpse of his personality that I miss when he acts weird.  He said he was really tired all weekend.  Today he seems back to normal, though, much to my relief.

Yesterday after church, we went to Steak Escape for lunch.


I took this on the sly.  ;)  He wore this sweater that our friend who lives in Iceland made him.  It's not ever cold enough to wear it, so when it is, he takes advantage of the moment.  I love him so much.  On Instagram, I captioned this, "He's my lobster."

He is.

My mom brought me a Valentine's present yesterday.


She knows me so well!  Fleece pajamas.  :)  I love them and have them on right this moment.  They are so warm, and perfect to enjoy our snow day in.

We had community group last night, then came home and had dessert and watched our favorite shows.

The local schools closed, and when we woke up this morning, we woke up to ice.  Not snow.  Ice.  But it's okay, because ice is better to sled on!  I plan on taking them later this afternoon.


They have all been out already, but currently are back inside warming up.  I made them eggs and biscuits for breakfast and we're working on our second pot of coffee.  I do love a good and cold day off.

How are you spending this wintry day?  Love to all!

third Tuesday check-in

  Happy Tuesday, friends! It's time for the third Tuesday check-in, when I'll share a very honest assessment on how life is going in...