Saturday, August 31, 2013

Saturday

It's been a lazy kind of day.  Todd was out of town last night, so this morning I took Graham to work.  We left at 6:50, for him to be able to work from 7 until 2.  I came home and caught up on the (what seems like) hundreds of episodes of The Pioneer Woman that I had recorded.

I almost fell back to sleep a couple times, but Jonah and Noah ended up waking up and occupying me.  ;)

I had to pick Drew up from a friends house, then we came home for a bit, then I had to take him back to another friend's for a Band of Brothers thing with some kids from church.  In between running him back and forth from one place to another, I did part of my Bible study homework.  Then I could no longer stand the color on my toes, so I was forced to take off that polish and repaint them, and my nails, since they've been naked the past few days.

Gasp!

So I guess it hasn't been the laziest of days...it just kinda feels like it.  Toddley made it back home safely, and from about one o'clock until way past my bedtime tonight, our television is and will be tuned into a football game.  Currently, the Alabama/Virginia Tech game is on, the Chick Fil A bowl.  It's weird watching this with Graham, since he is now an employee of that company.

Do you know that the first day of college football is its own separate holiday?!  It is.  At least in the South.  And definitely in our house.  I asked Todd if this is what we'd be watching all day, and he said yes, until past the time when I'll hit the sack.  He and the boys have been counting down the minutes for at least three months now...and I can almost hear the collective sigh of contentment now that it's (FINALLY!) back on.

These are the things I love...all my people under one roof (well, almost...Noah's next door swimming, but he's basically here), a Saturday when we have nothing else to do all day long, a day when we'll sit in front of the t.v. and cheer (or yell), and when I will read and finish a book.  This is a good day.  Our dinner is already in the making~thanks to Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman!  Patty melts with hot crash potatoes (look it up on her website), French onion dip and ice cream for dessert~a meal that can be consumed in the living room, while the game plays on.

Can you hear my sigh of pleasure?

I love it.  I promise to never take one single moment for granted.  For these things and too many other to name, I am so thankful.  Love to all.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

what I did all day

Besides freak out and be overwhelmed, I mean.  ;)  On what I did today.  I feel the need to confess how completely freaked out I've been over homeschooling my four boys.  Not that I'm scared to do it,  but the amount of work it requires to get started is astounding.  To make matters worse, I'm not using a boxed set of curriculum for the year.  I'm doing one thing for math for all of them, the younger two are doing A Beka language, health and history, I'm going with a totally different kind of science, a different history...you get my drift.

It's very confusing and overwhelming to think about.  (AND, I've got a high schooler!  His year counts...colleges will be looking at his grades, and I feel like I'll have somebody breathing down my neck.)  Basically, I've got this list of mandatory subjects (math; language, literature, reading and spelling; social studies/history and geography; science; health and Bible) that they need and I'm picking and choosing curriculum for different kids.  I'm customizing their year for their individual styles.  And I'm trying to not break the bank, because do you know how expensive all this stuff is???

It is.  Rest assured.

So today my sweet friend Andrea was on my brain.  Just this morning, she had asked me to pray for something, maybe that's why she was on my brain.  As I'm praying for God to help me not be overwhelmed with putting together a plan for our year, I feel like the Lord placed on my heart to call my sweet friend.  (I plan on starting partly tomorrow and we'll start full-on next week...and there are a few things I still need to order.  I've placed on myself a deadline of tomorrow to order what I need.  Hence the freak-out session.)   After even just a few moments of being on the phone with her, I felt an amazing sense of peace wash over me.  She assured me that (one) I can do this, (two) that it's not as hard as I'm thinking it will be, (three) she told me what to use or stay away from (her son is a senior), and (four) she is loaning me some stuff!

Y'all.  I am so blessed to have friends like this...God knew, in the grand scheme of things last year, that I would need this friend, and He brought me to Renewed Moms and placed me in sweet Andrea's small group, and then made sure that we had this kindred spirit thing going on.  He also knew last year, that even at that time my older boys were at the middle school, that this time this year, I would be homeschooling them and that I would REALLY need this group of moms.  He knew that I would have that freak-out session on this morning, and He knew that He would use Andrea to be a blessing in my life.  (Let me clarify~she's already been a blessing in my life multiple times in the year that I've known her, today's the only one I'm writing about.)

He knew all this.  So the first part of my day, before lunch, was spent talking to her via either text or actual phone conversation.  Three phone conversations, to be frank.  After we talked and I got this planning thing started, He used a very inconvenient (or so I thought) thing to make me focus on my day.  (I won't go into what He actually used, my husband would be mad at me if I did!)  Just know that He used this thing to force me to be at home and to focus on planning out our year.

Because of this that I mentioned, after I fed Jonah and Noah lunch (Graham and Drew went to work with Todd today), I decided to go through all the homeschool stuff.  I took a look at what we already had (It just so turns out that we have tons already!), compared that with the list of (a few) books I need to buy, and I put together a two week lesson plan to get us started.  The funny thing about me doing this lesson plan is that I did it with Drew in mind.  I started to just do one week, but Drew loves to work ahead, and I am making it my goal to stay ahead of him all year.  He loves order and timeliness.  He is SO my child.

I don't write this to say how great I am.  If you had heard me talk to my friend on the phone this morning, you would have been witness to my near panic attack state of mind.  You would also know that these feelings of being overwhelmed have kept me up on MANY nights throughout the last few weeks, and have caused tremendous stress, which has in turn, made me have health issues.  I write this so that you know I can do these things not in my own strength, but in the strength of the Lord.  I've been praying about these things, but it's just in the past week that I've begun to ask my friends to pray for me.  I shared with my small group at Renewed Mom's last week, and just last night I shared this with the ladies meeting in my home for our Monday night Bible study.

By starting to share my need with others, God was showing me that I needed to release this issue I have of needing to be in control.  I know that He knows all my struggles and I know that He will give me guidance and direction, but still I struggled.  I don't know what made today my breaking point, but for obvious reasons, I am so glad that today was the day that I decided I could no longer do it on my own.  Once I started to get a game plan, the rest of my day was smooth sailing.  It took hours and lots of weeding through, but I went through our homeschool shelf.  I took a picture, and it doesn't look like I did all that much, or that we have lots and lots, but trust me when I say that I did and we do!

I made piles of books to give back to the friends who loaned them to me, I've got some piles of stuff that I'm hanging onto for Jonah and Noah that I'm not using this year, and I've got piles to take to my homeschool group on Thursday.  The rest of it all was reorganized and re-situated and new shelves were assigned to kids.  On the top of the shelf are science experiment kits for us to go through together and supplemental books to reinforce that they're learning what they should be learning, plus a couple of globes and some Bible curriculum.

I'll stop writing and just show you.


Poor Drew.  You can't really see his shelf, which is on the bottom.  On his shelves are all his books, his notebook and his pre-algebra manipulatives.  I hung some maps for us~a map of the United States, a map of the continents and a map of all the oceans.  The ocean map is hanging by magnets from the back of the front door.  (Yes, we are running out of room and I have no official "school room", so I'm putting it any and everywhere that I can.)

One thing I did not do was make a good dinner.  We ate dinner, and it was good, but still.  I made quesadillas for everyone, with each person picking out the goodies to put inside them.  Overall, it was a wonderful, productive day.  And once again, I have to boast in my Jesus.  If you don't know Him, I challenge you to start to get know Him.  Pray.  Read His word.  Develop a relationship with Him~He longs for you to do these things!

He is good, y'all.  I can't say it enough.  Love to all.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Miley Cyrus and how I feel about looking to others

Last night, apparently, the Video Music Awards were on television.  Thanks to Facebook, I picked up on that right away.  They weren't on our television, though...Todd and Jonah were having a marathon time of watching Breaking Amish and Mountain Men, or something along that line.

I almost wish I had watched the VMA's for just a few minutes, though, because of all the feedback I saw about Miley Cyrus.  Gone forever is the sweet, innocent teen I saw grow up on Hannah Montana, and in her place is a wannabe cross between Madonna and Lady GaGa.  (And yes, even though I have boys, we did watch that show all the time~I loved it and often would continue watching even when the boys had left the room.)

And then I turned on The Today Show.  I got to see a clip of her performance last night.  And now I wished I hadn't.  She was wearing some one-piece bathing suit-looking thing and her short spiky bleached blond hair was somehow pulled high into twin pig-tails.  As if these things weren't bad enough on their own, add to this the fact that she sang along with Robin Thicke as he performed Blurred Lines.  I feel the need to tell you that if you have kids that listen to that song, go read the lyrics.  Mine don't listen to anything by him, but after a performance of his on The Today Show, I went and found the lyrics online.  No wonder I was blushing while I watched him perform on t.v.!  And Robin Thicke~the son of Allen Thicke, who played the dad on Growing Pains!  I just put those little facts together about a month ago.

Other posts from last night I saw that were kinda sad to me were things said about the men who were on the awards.  Not just from women, but from married women, y'all.

It makes me sad for the husbands.  And how emasculated they would feel if they were to come across what women were saying about these other younger, perhaps more handsome, men.  What in the world have we come to?!  I don't know if I'm just getting old, or if I have no tolerance for things anymore, or what, but I just cringe when I see or hear of all this.

It reminds me of how thankful I am that I don't have to look to people to make me happy.  I don't set my sights on the best and the greatest singers, or the prettiest or most handsome movie stars, I don't even look to the latest magazines to find out what's in style.  I don't have to, because none of those things bring me complete joy.  And I'm glad that I realize that if I do look to these people or things, I will be disappointed every single time.

Why?

Because man fails.  Time and again, people let you down.  They lead you astray.  And if you look to things to make you happy (bring you joy), those will grow old and that newness will wear off.  What do I look to?  Or Who, rather?

I set my eyes on Jesus.  He alone brings me joy and happiness...and His newness never wears off.  I don't need things or people to make me happy...I am confident in Whose I am and He never lets me down.  Never.  He never disappoints me.

In fact, over and over again in His word, He tells me that He will never leave me or forsake me.

He brings peace, comfort, joy and contentment.  The last time I checked, people or things can't produce all those things.

So, my challenge to you is this: look for moments that you can fix your eyes on Jesus.  Spend some time in His word.  Listen to worship music and give Him the praise He deserves.  Spend some time talking to Him.  Spend some time listening for Him.  (That's the difficult one.)  I'm not saying don't watch t.v. or don't buy anything, although if I were you, I would only do those things in moderation.  Look to Him for happiness.  Look for moments to give Him glory.  Find someone in need to give to.  Do a good deed for someone.  Speak love and kindness into someone....like that grumpy cashier at Kroger or the new kid fumbling his way through your order at Chick Fil A.  ;)

Because when you pour yourself into others, guess what happens?  It brings you joy.  Not that that's why you should do it, but you definitely are blessed for your efforts.  Try being the hands and the feet of Jesus.  Love the unlovable.  Shake that dear man's hand who walked into your church in his pajama's...don't shake your head at him and condemn him.  Embrace him!

"Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves."  Romans 12:9~10

I dare you.  Just try it.  And let me know how it works out for you.  Love to all.



Sunday, August 25, 2013

weekend happenings

I'm actually starting with Thursday, not Friday.  :)

My hubby got home from work early on this day and look what he did!  I know you can't tell, but this tree in our back yard is very tall, and he had extended his tall ladder as far as it would go, to be able to climb up and trim this tree.


Our trees look so much better now that they're all trimmed.

Two nights before this he had an emergency call out with the sheriff's department.  Two guys went missing out in Shelby Forest and they walked for HOURS in a swamp in the middle of the woods.  His work boots are ruined, he ached from head to toe, and...


 ...he was eaten up by chiggers.  Here he is painting the dots on his legs.  ;)  Perhaps this is the reason why he hates for me to take his picture.

We had lunch with my Dad on Friday and Friday night we cooked out with our neighbors.  I hung out with this cutie:


He's getting so big, that precious Caleb.

Saturday I took Graham to work at the crack of dawn, then came home and did laundry.  I was very lazy for the rest of the day and just sat.  And read...I did read some.  (I'm having a book crisis right now and do not love what I'm reading.  But that's a whole other blog post.)

Oh!  I did make a delicious dinner for us last night since Nana and Big Daddy weren't here, and we enjoyed that.  After dinner, Todd rode with the sheriff's department.  Graham met some kids from our homeschool group at Starbucks, and Drew, Jonah, Noah and I hung around Target.


They picked out some new Hot Wheels.  :)  Are you ever too old for that?!


And, I finally found Drew a big enough eating utensil.  Crazy kid.

Today was church~and tonight was a church function at the local park called Picnic In The Park.  It was so much fun...food was consumed, games were played, pastors were dunked in the dunk tank, good times were had.  I love our church.  Have I mentioned that lately?


This next picture is just for fun~I was in the car, trying to untangle my hair and realized that my fingers wouldn't go through it.  I posted this Instagram.  It looked like a rats nest at the time I took it...it's kinda hard to tell here, but it is a mess of ringlets in tangles.  Seriously, what am I?  Four?


Well, that's what we did.  How was your weekend?  Love to all!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

fun facts

I don't know how I ever did school five mornings a week with four kids.  Our one day a week school is almost overwhelming, I have so much to remember.  I'm thankful.

Todd weeded through my nail polish last night, trying to pick the perfect color.

For his legs, that is.  Or, more accurately, his chigger bites.

I hate flat bill hats.  That is all.

I love my nail polish color that I'm currently wearing~Jade Is The New Black.  It's emerald green.

My kids have been playing the same game of monopoly since Monday afternoon.  My dining room has been taken over.

I feel smarter since I've been studying Leviticus.  And, my brain hurts from studying Leviticus.

Sweeping my living room floor brings me such joy.  I love seeing all the dust and dog hair fly out the back door when I sweep it out.  :)

I doodle.

I sometimes procrastinate.

I have issues that Bible study brings out of the woodwork.  Isn't that funny, how that works?  How timely.  A God thing, indeed.

My kids are addicted to wraps.  (Sandwiches.)

I was told on Monday by a Costco employee that I had a cheerleader smile.  He then proceeded to tell me, "Let's get fired up."  To which I replied, "Thanks?  I think?"

Mmmmmkay.

I must go.  Love to all!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Tuesday night fun

Yesterday was a looooonnnnng day for me.  I was so glad to get away from our house last night, and a baseball game is a fun thing to do on a night out.  The weather wasn't quite as nice as the last time we went, but I never actually broke a sweat.  I only came close a couple times.  ;)  We went with my in-love's and our girl's ministry leader from church, Erin.  It was her first Redbird's game.

Every time we go downtown, I am reminded of how much I love our skyline.


Well, this street's skyline.  This is my favorite street in the downtown area...I love all the cute little shops and restaurants.


We were stuck behind this trolley for a while.

We had fun at the game~I love to people watch, and I got to do lots of that last night.  I can't tell you the score, but I know the Redbird's won.  Graham and Drew had said that when we went, they were going to try and get a player to give their hat to them.  Well, guess who got hats?




All of them!  A couple of them even got autographs.  We were able to enjoy the beautiful moon on the way home.  I took a picture from my phone, zoomed in of course, and this is how it turned out:


Pretty cool, huh?  I hope your day was great!  Love to all.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

words

I've started and deleted several posts in the past few days.  I haven't really had a lot to say, in fact, at least one or two times a year, my mind just kinda goes blank and I never know what to put on the ol' blog.  I still don't have much to say, but I thought I would share what's been going on since last Tuesday.

Wednesday night was church as usual, but my summertime Wednesday night church hangout came to an end.  What is a summertime Wednesday night church hangout?  It's a couch and a chair and lot of floor space that was occupied by at least five of us mom's who had kids upstairs and didn't really have another place to go.  We would sit and talk and laugh for one solid hour.  I got to know a couple people better over the course of the summer, and I miss it already!

We had a fall vision dinner last week.  That is just a dinner and break-out groups explaining what would be going on for this year.  Every age group had a break-out group to go to.  Needless to say, I'm excited about this year.  Lots and lots of things are going on at Collierville First Baptist Church, and if you don't have a church home, I would love for you to join us.

I can't forget Wednesday night's much anticipated season premier of Duck Dynasty.  Even though we had to wake up early the next day, we let the kids watch before going to bed, as long as they promised to wake up happy.  They did.  :)

On Thursday, our homeschool group started back.  You have no idea how much excitement this brought us, and we were all running around like mad men on the night before, getting our bags and lunches and snacks ready to leave bright and early.  And that leads me to this: how did I ever do that with four kids in school every single day of the week, in two different schools?  I'm thankful I no longer have to.  Our one day a week is plenty for us Goodwin's.

Friday was spent at my Dad's house.  We picnic-ed, the boys fished and drove the John Deere, and we just sat and talked with my Dad.  It was a great day.

 




Saturday found us sleeping in late (kinda) and spending the day with Todd's parents.  My mom-in-love's parents owned three houses that she lived in at one time or another, and Wiley and Phyllis recently sold them all.  Before the houses are improved and different, Phyllis wanted to take us to them all and tell the boys stories from her childhood.  It was a really neat day, and at the last house, I cried.  That was the house that I remember her mom and dad living, and it just kinda overwhelmed me as I was flooded with memories of my kids' in that house, gathered around the kitchen table, or remembering Grandma Rena fixing them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I cried like a baby...in every single room.  It's funny when emotions like that happen, because I didn't expect to be saddened by seeing the house.

I really lost it when the kids each found something they wanted to bring home; a magnet, a Jesus sign and a stick.  It makes me cry just remembering it.






Sunday found us back at church.  Graham and Drew were there all day, almost.  After church, they had a band of brothers luncheon to talk about things they would be doing through Christmas with their big/little bro's.  Then they had puppet practice from 4-5:30.  Church started at six for Drew, and Graham and I had community group.

Also, after lunch on Sunday, we gained two house guests.  Our neighbor's kids stayed with us Sunday and Monday nights.  Last night (Monday) was the start of a Bible study I'm hosting in my home.  We're doing Beth Moore's David: Seeking A Heart Like His.  It's been a year and a half since I did a Beth Moore Bible study, and can I just say that I've missed it?  She teaches in a way that challenges me and that makes me remember things about the Bible.  No matter that I've read and re-read 1 Samuel, when she teaches on it, I learn new things about Samuel, Saul, and eventually, David.  I can't wait to start my homework!

But before I can start on that homework, I need to finish my Renewed Mom's homework in Leviticus.  I've got a couple more days' worth to do before Thursday.

In other news, Graham's first day of work was yesterday!  He had a great day.  He learned the cash register completely and he said everyone was incredibly nice to him.  :)  You'll be glad to know that I didn't cry...I kinda thought I would, but all I felt was pride as I dropped him off.  This job is something he wanted, and that he went after relentlessly, and it paid off.  I couldn't be more proud of any other fourteen year old.

Will you please help me pray for a friend of mine?  I don't want to give her name, but she got a disturbing report from her doctor and is having to schedule surgery with an oncologist.  I know she's nervous and fearful...I would be too...and she desperately needs prayer.  I'm praying Isaiah 26:3 over her, that He will keep her in perfect peace because she trusts in Him.  Thanks for helping me pray.

Well.  My day is waiting on me to get started.  I pray you're having a great week!  Love to all.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

a little dinner out and a story

It's not often that we eat out.  As much as I love dining in restaurants, it's not in the budget for our family of six.  Last night, my husband's sweet parents took us out to eat to Chili's.  Trust me, it was a treat.  The boys immensely enjoyed themselves.  So did we.  ;)

The best part of the night was the company we were with, though.  When Todd was a young teenager, his parents found out about a family from Springfield, Missouri that had a little two year old girl named Lacey.  Lacey had leukemia and was coming to Memphis to be a patient of St. Jude.  I'm not sure exactly how Phyllis and Wiley found out about this family, but in the Medlin's time of great need, they reached out to them.

These were the days before the Grizzlies or the Target House on the property of St. Jude.  I don't know if St. Jude had a block of hotel rooms somewhere that they reserved for their patient's families or what, and if so if they stayed there or in an apartment, but I know that for the time they were here, they were taken care of by my in-love's.  Phyllis would drive them around, she would cook for them, Wiley would be available for whatever they needed, they were basically the hands and feet of Jesus.

They've kept in touch over the years, and I'm happy to tell you that today, Lacey is twenty-seven years old.  It was so good seeing them last night, and their story reminds me to be thankful for every moment of health that my boys are blessed with.  Lacey has two siblings, as well, and she is the very proud aunt of a three month old little girl.

And about my husband's parents~seriously, can you get much sweeter than them?  They've been doing this again, for another family with a baby with cancer.  Phyllis has been cooking meals for them on a rotation and they faithfully pray for their family.  That, to me, is what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  These people are Christians, yes, but in their time of need, Phyllis and Wiley reach out to them.  I pray that the Lord gives us opportunities like this someday, and that we look for them.  You never know when you might be used by Him, my friends.

Happy Wednesday to you, and love to all.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

some things I saw in cyber world today and a picture from our afternoon

My poor husband is on day number four of being stuck at home.  God love him.  On the bright side, we have LOVED having him at home and all to ourselves these past few days.  We've had some marathon television watching taking place around here.  Yesterday was Lizard Lick Towing (do NOT ask) and today seems to be Criminal Minds and CSI Miami.

While they've watched, I've cleaned and laundered and cooked and cleaned up and organized my Bible study stuff and completed days two through five of our community group study.  I've also made lists of important dates for my small group at Renewed Moms.  I've listened to lots of K-Love and I've read several passages of Scripture in the Bible.  And I finished a book.  And started a new one.  :)

In surfing the web today (as my sweet daddy likes to say), I came across some pictures that I liked and thought I would share them with you.


This picture reminds me of the females in my family.  My mom, my mom-in-love, my step mom, my sisters...they've all got the incredible gift of being able to beautifully decorate their humble abodes.  I love seeing people's homes...and when I go to a friend's house for the first time, I love to get a glimpse of their home-life.  It's always been fascinating to me.  I also love the warm, cozy glow of light pouring through their windows at night.


I saw this on Facebook today and loved it...and the reminder that no matter how many times we mess up and fail, God never fails us.  His mercy endures forever.

This last image will be forever etched into Noah's memory.  The pull up bar that he has been longing for finally arrived!  They had to stop what they were doing to open the box and give it a try.  I captured them in the act.


Other happenings:

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she got her first ever truancy visit today from a Collierville police officer.  An elderly lady in her neighborhood called the police and told them that there was a lot of noise coming from her yard from multiple children, and that they should all be in school are are not.  She homeschools her four kids.  The irony of it all is that the police officer and his wife homeschool their children as well.  He then told the kids that they should continue on with their playtime.

Can you BELIEVE that?!  It always surprises me that people have nothing better to do than sit around and spy on their neighbors.  I have lots of friends who have had situations like this happen to them over the years, and I always just shake my head.

Well.  That's about all I've got for today, my friends.  Oh!  Graham had his orientation yesterday, did I mention that?  He should be finding out his schedule and when he starts soon.

Now that's all.  ;)  I hope your day has been great so far!  Love to all.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Monday, Shmonday

It was a very uneventful weekend in the Goodwin house.  Which is okay by me on occasion....but now, I'm going a little stir crazy.  My poor hubby had some (seemingly) minor foot surgery on Friday afternoon, and he's been laid up all weekend.  I feel really bad for him~he's been in horrible pain all weekend long, so just today he had a prescription called in for him, two actually, an antibiotic and a pain killer.

God love him.  It's sad to see this big, strapping man somewhat helpless.  I think it's grating on his nerves, too.  He even stayed home from work today, and as I write, he's extremely aggravated over a situation with one of his customers.  I realize that stuff like this happens pretty often, but being stuck at home is making it worse, I'm certain.

On another note, yesterday was week two of teaching tenth grade girls.  And even though I just met them last week, I already love them.  I appreciate so much how they were so willing to share with us yesterday.  Our lesson was all about how we are made in the image of God, and some pretty tough questions were asked of them.  Both Scottie and I shared something from our lives, and most of them were willing to do the same.  I am telling you, these girls are precious.

Last night was also my second week of being a leader for the ninth grade girls in community groups.  And the same thing applies to these girls; they are absolutely precious.  We laughed and laughed and we introduced a book that we'll be going through together this semester.  It's called Her: Becoming a Proverbs 31 Girl, and it's really good.  I know that I'm not a young girl, but there is a lot that I'm gaining from it as well.  If you're the mom of a teen-aged girl, I strongly recommend that you try this book.  It's written by Emily Cole.

So that's about it for me on this weekend.  Drew and I took a monstrous trip to some grocery stores today.  We went to three: Aldi, Walmart, then Target.  It's been a while since I've made a trip to the store like this, and let me just tell you how excited my kids are that we have different things to eat for lunch everyday!  I got the makings for soup, for sandwich wraps, marshmallows (for crackers baked in the oven with peanut butter and marshmallows on them), pasta's, salad fixings...you name it, I got it.  My pantry and fridge are full once again, and the boys are happy.  (I've been trying to go through what we already had.)

I pray your weekend was wonderful and that your Monday was great.  Love to all.

Friday, August 9, 2013

this week in pictures

While everyone else headed back to school this week, we had a relaxing week at home.  It was nice...I've been able to catch up on laundry and house work.  It feels nice to stay on top of those things for once.  This summer was so busy with kids having plans and me driving them from here to there, that I let certain things get way out of hand.

Here are some pictures from our week:


Graham got a job!  If you're in his cell phone contacts, chances are, you already know this.  ;)  He is Chick Fil A's newest employee.  I don't know when he'll start.  The manager will call either him or me to let us know when his orientation and training will begin.  I hope it's soon for his sake!  He's ready to get started.

He will not work anymore than 18 hours each week because of his age, by the way.  For all you nay-sayer's, hopefully that'll reassure you.  We are so proud of him, though, that he wanted to do this.  We never asked him to, he came up with it all by himself.  Todd set up a checking account for him last night over the computer.  His debit card should arrive sometime early next week.  Along with depositing each paycheck, he also has plans to put at least $10 from each paycheck into a separate savings account.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for his life~the possibilities are endless!


Wednesday, after Graham's interview, he and Drew went to our church to hang out with one of our youth pastor's, A.J.  They also had breakfast with A.J. before Graham's interview~in fact, he was the first one Graham told about getting the job.  He hung out with Drew during the interview and wanted to wait to hear something about how it went before he left.  So sweet!

Jonah, Noah and I went to the church at one.  My friend Barbara sent me a text saying that they were going to the gym there, and asked us to come.  They've been wanting to do this, so we left almost right away.  We did this again yesterday afternoon (Thursday), then ended at her house afterward.  While at the gym, they played basketball and kickball.  Barbara has two sons~Jacob is one year younger than Jonah and Noah, and Sam is one year older than Graham, so they all get along really well.


We've done some painting this week.  Currently my dining room table is a train wreck with all our canvases and paints and brushes spread all over the place.  And yes, my house does stay messy sometimes.  ;)  Is this owl not precious?  Drew did this for me.


These are the faces of some very sad boys.  They are sad that our children's pastor's intern (one of them) is leaving tomorrow to go back to college.  We came to know and love Sarah Biggs this summer.  She quickly became one of my most favorite people ever; her joy and laughter is contagious.  These kiddos gave their hearts away to her, too, and they are truly sad to see her leave.  The good thing is that she will only have classes Tuesday-Thursday, so hopefully she'll come home often for long weekends.  This is her last year, and I pray it's a great one for her.

In other happenings, we have had boy drama this week.  I won't go into details on here, but apparently girls are NOT the only ones who can create drama.  I hate drama~have I mentioned that?  I encourage my boys to stay as far away from drama as possible, and they do for the most part.

Overall, it's been a pretty nice week.  We'll be seeing my dad today and my mom and step-dad tomorrow night.  I hope your week has been good!  Love to all.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

weekend

A friend told me yesterday that I have been oddly quiet on Facebook.  And I have, not really even thinking about why I've been that way.  But I tend to not be on there too much on weekends.  I try to be in the moment and just enjoy being on our weekends.  But she's right~I have been quiet.

It's been a really nice weekend.  We didn't do anything on Friday night.  The boys each invited a friend over, but the only one who could do anything was Drew's friend Canon.  Yesterday was spent doing laundry and just cleaning up in general around here.  The boys did a major overhaul on the upstairs; it needed it!

Last night we had some sweet friends over.  :)  The hubs grilled our hamburgers and hot dogs, and we just sat around talking and laughing.  It was a fun night.  I love when our friends make themselves totally at home, and I'm fairly certain that they did last night.   I was looking at this basket in my living room that holds our blankets~they're all refolded now, but three of them covered up and got all snuggly on my couch last night.  I love that, it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Today is promotion Sunday at Collierville First Baptist Church!  I'm excited about it~in fact, I need to stop writing so I can wake up everyone to get dressed.  We have to be there in fifty minutes for a meeting, but they're providing the breakfast.  I'm thankful for that~it makes getting there at 8:30 so much more appealing.  ;)  I pray that the boys all love and feel comfortable with their teachers.  I'm pretty sure they will.  Drew's teachers are moving up with them.  Graham's are new, but I think he knows them.  Jonah's and Noah's class has one teacher moving up, I think, and I don't know who the other one is.

It's going to be a great day, and I need to get a move on.  I pray you all spend part of your day in church, worshiping our Lord~He deserves it!  If you don't normally do that, try it!  I promise, it's amazing how good your week goes when you spend Sunday honoring Him.  Thanks for reading.  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...