Sun, fun, fellowship

After such a crazy, drama- filled, stressful week, this weekend and all its fun was quite enjoyable.  Friday night our family had an impromptu evening out with friends.  Saturday evening was spent at the home of another family.  Today was  much more of the same.  We had a family over for lunch after church and we ended up making an entire day of it!!  They actually left only about an hour ago.  My in-laws also came for the afternoon, so we had a house full!! 

God gave us a wonderful gift with the weather as well.  Bright sunshine and warm temperatures allowed the kids (all 8 of them) to play outside.  I wish I had pictures of all the fun and festivities, but I guess I was just having way too much fun enjoying the day! 

I now officially have Spring Fever.  This is bittersweet because we have a couple of months of school to finish.  At least the end is in sight and we were able to get a taste of what summer break will bring.  Sun, fun, and fellowship.

Tomorrow begins a new week, but the fun and joy we have filled up on this weekend has me looking forward to it.  We will be playing a little "catch-up" from the drama from last week, but somehow it just doesn't seem as stressful as it did before.  Funny how things work out that way.

February 12, 2010

Here in the Southeast, we rarely get to see much (if any at all) snow. The last real snow I remember was in the late 80's or early 90's. Last year we saw some fall from the sky, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground. My older kids have seen snow in West Virginia, but my 2 younger ones haven't really gotten to experience the thrill of what a good snowfall consists of.

That is until Friday. The snow started to fall around 2pm and didn't stop until the wee hours of Saturday morning. We ended up with about 5 inches!! It was Beautiful!!!

The kids played outside until late that night, and were up and out early on Saturday morning. They were excited to have neighborhood friends to have snowball fights with and sled down our front yard!

The next morning , the sights were absolutely breathtaking!! For a West Virginia girl, it was like going home.

We consider the snow a wonderful blessing. The fact that it didn't hang around very long or cause and damage was even better!!

my valentine

Yesterday was a special day in our house. Sure, it was Valentine's Day- special for so many "love birds", but for me and Big Daddy, it marks the 18th anniversary of our very first date. Yep, February 14, 1992. I was a senior in high school and he was a freshman in college. My best friend was dating his best friend, so they arranged for us all to get together. Our best friends didn't work out, but we have been together ever since. 18 years- WOW. We were married on August 9, 1997 (my parents anniversary). It doesn't feel like that much time has passed, but when I think about how much has happened in those years and how far we've come- its really breathtaking. I don't think Big Daddy knew then how crazy his life would be. He sure does have his hands full with all of us, but we try like crazy to love on him and show him everyday how thankful we are of him. He is an amazing man, friend, husband, father, and leader. We are abundantly blessed. I look forward to getting to celebrate 13 years of marriage in August and count even more blessings then!

So to my Valentine- I love you Big Daddy!!

I have to tell you about this boy.
He is all boy and then some. He is LOUD, full of energy, a motivated and hard worker, and is the best snuggler ever! He turned 7 this past October and had a very cool party with live animals from the Savannah River Site Ecology Lab. He had lots of his friends there to share his day with him and received lots of neat gifts. The one present he didn't get was something he asked his Mimi and Pop for- a day at his favorite restaurant.

Well, it has only been 4 months, and he finally was able to go. He spent the night Sunday night with my in-laws and on Monday we skipped school to meet them. T was so excited and had such a great time. We spent a couple of hours there just letting the kids wander around playing games.

Don't know if you can guess from the pictures where we went. If you couldn't from those, I bet you can from this one. Yep, Chuck E. Cheese. Usually I don't enjoy going there, but since we were able to go during normal public school hours, it was actually quite fun. There were only a couple of other people there with their younger children, so we were able to let our kiddos just roam and enjoy themselves. T man has decided that he really likes splitting his birthday gifts throughout the year and is already planning on doing it again next year!!

I really must admit that is was the best Monday I think we have ever had!!

payoff

In 2007, when A began competing in gymnastics, she rocked the competition. Not to brag, but she did a super job and ended up winning-alot. She even won the State Meet that year.

Last year, however, was a different story. While she complained about going to practice, she didn't want to quit. It was a struggle for her to get her mind on her routines and what she needed to do to get them right. She had mediocre meets at best and finished way behind at the State Meet.

This year is really looking up for her. She has had both good and bad meets, and finished well. The past few weeks, however, she has really pushed herself to practice and try to get things right. There is a huge banner on the wall of her gymnastics center that reads "Great gymnastics is not the result of a million repetitions, Great gymnastics is a result of a million corrections". WOW. She asked me the other day about why is says this. I told her it was true- it wasn't just going through the routines over and over- it was making the corrections to make them right.

This past weekend she had and awesome meet. Yes, it was a small meet, but it was one of her best EVER. She made her highest scores ever on the beam and vault. She won first place in everything including All Around. She was so excited and realized the results of true hard work.

I was able to use this example with our bible reading this week as well. We have been reading through Proverbs this month. One chapter a day was the goal, but we have actually been reading more.

Proverbs is full of verses dealing with instruction and discipline. Such as:

Prov. 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be

wise

Prov. 13:1 A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not

listen to rebuke.

Prov. 6: 20 My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your

mother's teaching

But just as these versus tell us to obey, there are also versus that tell us what happens when we do not:

Prov. 19:16 He who obeys instructions guards his life, but he who is

contemptuous of his ways will die

Prov. 13:13 He who scorns instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a

command is rewarded

Prov. 15:10 Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path: he who hates

correction will die.

I was able to explain to my kiddos that each time we are instructed, disciplined, or given advice we need to not only hear what is said to us, but to understand it so that we can apply it. When we apply the lesson, we can only then realize where we need to make the "corrections" in our lives, obedience, attitudes, and judgements. It is so easy to become angry when we are disciplined, but the Bible is very clear on hating correction- we will die. Listening and accepting will make us wise.

Its not just "Great gymnastics" that is the result of a million corrections. It is also Wisdom- now that's a payoff.

big day

Today was a big day in our house! Our sweet, oh so smart, sassy, lipstick loving, cuddling, sister adoring, brother loving, babywearing "little mama", beautiful little girl turned 4!! She has been celebrating for a few days now. She spent the weekend with my in-laws getting showered with attention, gifts and getting to make not one, but two birthday cakes. This morning, my parents came to take her to breakfast and then shopping for her gift. Tonight, she got to pick what (or where) we ate supper. She chose Captain D's. She wanted to pick it up, bring it home and have a picnic in the living room watching a movie. (My hubby and I skipped out on the grease and had Subway) By the end of the movie she asked if she could go to bed- "my birthday made me tired". Really? I can't imagine why. Love you sweet girl!!

Its therapy time again. A time to admit to things we certainly have NOT done this week!! If you would like to read what many others have not done, hop on over to MckMama!!!

This past week was the first week back to homeschool after our Christmas break. I most certainly did NOT try to make this week as easy on myself as possible. I would not ease up on the kids work just so I could make life as easy for mom as possible- Nope!

This weekend A and I went to Athens, Ga to watch a gymnastics meet between UGA and Stanford. On the way to the meet I did not break the speed limit driving my MIL's sweet new car that seemed to glide down the interstate. We did not have an awesome time watching the gymnasts perform like olympians. I also did not act like a crazed manic when we saw our old friends across the coliseum! I was not so excited that I jumped up yelling - even though I knew they were too far away to hear us!!

After the meet, we went out to eat with our sweet Athens friends. We certainly did not let our daughters play like maniacs at the restaurant. Since they haven't seen each other in years, we made them sit quietly and whisper. We would not let them use their napkins to make hats. And I am quiet sure the adult ladies would not join in on the fun!! If one of us had joined, I am the kind of friend that certainly would not take a picture of my friend and post it!!

I am sure that I am a much better
friend than that! To do such a thing
would not require me to be
aware of payback from such friend!
NOPE!!

And to top off the weekend, our family did not come home from church today and do absolutely nothing ALL day. We are always a productive family- even on Sundays- with quality family time. We certainly would not allow the kids to play video games and watch T.V while Big Daddy, L and myself napped. Who would do such things- NOT ME!!