Monday's Musings

Normally everyone groans at the sound of Monday. Monday tends to be associated with negative emotions and feelings. However, I actually love my Mondays. . . mainly because I get to start my week off with disciplining Lydia. Lydia is a precious 19-year-old young woman who has one of the purest hearts of anyone I've ever known. When she asked me to disciple her, I was completely humbled and oh so excited. I just love starting out with my week with her, and I am truly honored to share sweet time with her in the Word. She really sharpens me and encourages me so.very. much!!! This girl is serious business when it comes to the Word, and I'm so very grateful she's apart of my life. Plus, her big sis, Bethany, is a good friend of mine. . . so that's just an added bonus :)

The kids are so very sweet to allow me to disciple young women. It truly is where my heart is (along with disciplining my own children, of course).

After Lydia left the house to go and get ready for work, the kids and I ate lunch. I then read them several chapters of "Same Kind of Different as Me". I cried my mascara off and didn't want to put the book down. Ash didn't want me to put it down either, but Alec and Hanna were begging to go and do something fun.

So. . . we decided to get out of the house and shake our tail feathers. . . well, sort of.

Wanna know what we did?

I know you're on the edge of your seat?

Okay, I'll give you a few clues.

It was really Hanna who was pushing hard for this activity. She was excited (and I'm not kidding here). . . Can't you tell by her "excited face"?

Our activity happened to involve one of these. . .

and everyone had to wear these. . .

And Alec's feet happened to look a little . . . nah. . . a lot like Bozo the Clown.

We headed to the bowling alley. . . there is a summer program where kids to get bowl free. . . they had me at FREE!!!

Guess who won? The gutter guards were up for everyone. . . and Hanna pulled out the big W-I-N!

Here is her "I'm so excited I won" face. She loves to cross her eyes because it freaks her mother out.

We actually get to play 2 games for free. . . Hanna was really hoping to pull out another win. . .

Too bad, Hanna. . . here is her "I'm mad I didn't win" face. . .

Big brother is the won who pulled off the win this time. . .

This is his "I'm excited I won" face. . .

Oh, and my sweet Ash. . .she's just a super encourager. . .so, of course, I had to snap a picture of her sweet face. . .

We got home and I put one of my freezer meals on the stove to warm it up. I let the kids watch "Monk". We all had dinner together and now I hear everyone pulling out the cards. Alec is laughing. Ash is bossing Hanna to "go her turn". Gotta go! Family time awaits! I don't want them having fun without me :)

Putting a Gig in my Giggle

One of my very favorite things in the whole wide world to do is laugh!!! I just love the sound of laughter and the way a good belly laugh makes me feel. Here are some things that have put a gig in my giggle lately. . .

Hanna: "When I grow up I'm going to have a husband, 20 dogs, a no trespassing sign, and I'm not having a phone." (the "no trespassing sign comes from my dad, James, who makes sure he has one up in his and Mom's yard).

Gigi felt sorry for Cookie and brought a radio over to play for him in case he got lonely for human chatter.

273 to 300

273. For front porches to sit on.

274. For children to watch play in the yard.

275. For time in prayer and in the Word on my front porch while the children play.

276. For cool breezes.

277. For the beauty of a colorful world.

278. For these 3 girls who probably teach me WAY more than I will ever teach them. I love them like my very own. For laughing, praying, sharing, studying the Word, and sharing life with them!

279. For Tuesday's with Grandaddy.

280. For walks to Gigi's and Granddaddy's.

281. For Gigi always bringing us either dessert or bread when she pops in for a visit.

282. For a husband who is affectionate.

283. For time to rekindle, rest, and relax.

284. For friends, in-laws, mama, and sister who take care of your kiddos and love them like their very own so that you can rekindle, rest, and relax.

285. For hardworking kids.

286. For "Bye Bye Booher" party and the life and legacy she is living!

287. For sweet prayers uttered to the One who has captured our hearts for Booher.

288. For children who pray.

289. For sweet tears.

291. For a home to share with others.

292. For floors to mop so babies can crawl.

293. For hands-on homeschool activities (demonstrating a "to-scale" model of the solar system).

294. For my mama.

295. For morning phone calls from my mama.

295. For a sweet conversation with my Grandmama.

296. For praying over my Grandmama and her broken heart and incomplete life without Papa.

297. For flowers picked and given to me by my children (this one from Hanna).

298. For a bed big enough for everyone to pile into to watch "Biggest Loser" and "American Idol".

299. For lunch with Bethany and a sweet time shared.

300. For grace.

Keeping us in stitches

Hanna is a riot around here. Just wanted to jot down some funny things she's said lately.

"Mom, I wish the Tower of Babel never happened so that I could understand what those ladies at Judy's Nails were saying."

Ash was saying the blessing. In the middle of the blessing Ash paused and coughed. She then resumed her prayer and concluded with, "Amen." Hanna looked at her and in the bossiest voice said, "Ashley, p-r-a-y without ceasing."

Griswold Momemts

There are several "Griswold Moments" Jon and I had while in Sodom and Gomorrah. I'm so thankful I have a husband as fun as Jon to share life's moments with . . . the good, bad, and ugly. . . and oh yeah, i should probably throw embarrassing in there somewhere. Thankfully, neither Jon nor I take ourselves too seriously. If we did, we'd be a in heap of trouble.

***We decided to rent a car for a few days and I could, of course, make this story really long. So, I'll try for the short version. Long story-short. We were told it would be $10 a day (or something like that to rent the car). Can you tell we've never done this before? We were stoked! Get to the rent-a-car place, and they tell us something about having insurance. They scare you to death and act like if you get a scratch on the car you're going to have to put your children up for random. Jon asked how much? $23. Fine and good. He tells us our final total. . . something in the ballpark range of $150 (maybe more or less, my memory fails me). Jon got a tad bit upset. I was afraid we were about to have a repeat of a time share episode (I'll have to share this later). I braced myself. Thankfully it wasn't. We just said never mind. So, we proceeded to another kiosk of rent-a-cars. Basically the same thing happened with the whole insurance thing. They apparently meant $23 a day and not for the entire time you rent a car. While Jon and I were trying to decide what we were going to do, I told him, "I bet if you don't get the insurance, they come to your hotel (they do get the name of where you're staying), find the car, and beat it in with a hammer." I was delirious and excessively giggly. . . I was just kiddin'. We humbled ourselves and went back to the 1st rent-a-car place. While redoing all of the stinkin' paperwork Jon tells the man, "My wife said. . . . and he basically repeated what I'd said about them beating the car in." He was the sweetest Mexican man and said with a giggle and maybe a snort (just kiddin' about the snort). "No, no, that only happens in the movies." Doggonit Jon!!! I didn't know he was going to tell of my ugliness :)


***So the next evening after renting the car we go to the parking deck to go and use the car. We went to the left of the deck. . . NO CAR!!!! Then we went to the right of the deck . . . NO CAR!!!!We were on the verge of a slight freak out. . . seriously. I was thinking it'd be just like the Lord to humble us after I was playfully ugly about the rent-a-car folks. Jon and I were booking it across the parking lot, anxiously trying to find the car. Great! Hope the insurance covered a stolen car. Guess what? We were in the wrong parking deck!!!!!!!! Clarke Griswold would be ever so proud!



***When we sent to the strip we decided to park at the Bellagio. We went around the deck 1 time, then another. We saw a mustang parked like it was waiting for someone, not parked in one of the rows. Jon then said, "Are we going around and around the same deck?" Me: "No baby, there was a mustang parked there and it's not there anymore. Well, after about 4 more times we realized we WERE circling the same deck over and over and over again. Every parking deck Jon and I have been on was the circular kind. We'd never been on one where you have to exit the deck to get to the neck one.


***On the strip I was already slightly freaked out about all that my eyes were seeing. Also, all that my spirit was feeling. . . such darkness and blatant sin. Anyone can be on the streets there, homeless, musicians, Disney characters, human statutes, WHOever and WHATtever. There were these people with 2 snakes wrapped around their necks. I clung to Jon tightly and said in my louder than normal voice, "Snakes, do you see those snakes? Those people have snakes on them?" Well, right beside them was this man with a baby tiger beside him, "Jon, Jon, do you see that? He has a baby tiger out here? Look at that!!! Oh.my.goodness.!!!!" I was actually freaking out!

Jon replied, "Babe, that's a stuffed animal."

Mother's Day

Despite having some jet lag and a horrible head cold, this has been a really great Mother's Day. First of all after being away from my babies for 5 days, I was really to soak all 3 of them up. We all went to church this morning and then headed out to eat. Since I have this horrible cold and can hardly taste a thing I thought Mexican sounded really good. . . and, it was. I could taste it somewhat.

We then went to Wal-mart. Yeah, I know it was last minute for shopping, but that kind-of stuff doesn't matter me. . . maybe it's because I'm a "Last-Minute Lady" myself. . .

We came home and Jon told the kids he and them were cleaning the whole house for me. Wow! This meant so much, especially considering there was a week's worth of laundry piled at the back door, along with suitcases galore. . .

Meanwhile, I lay in the bed reading a book my friend, Bethany, had let me borrow. Yes, I started this one on my trip.

It was quite funny hearing the "clean the house fiasco". Even Hanna thought so. She walked through my room giggling.

"What's so funny Hanna?"

Giggle. "Daddy cleaning the house."

"Why's that so funny?"

"Because he's downstairs trying to do the laundry. I don't think he knows which detergent to use." Giggle. Giggle.

He was yelling at the kids some, but cleaning the house will do that to you. . . that's why I try to avoid it. . . ha!ha! I kid! I kid . . . kinda.

We then all climbed into Jon and I's bed and watched a movie. Lazy days are the B-E-S-T!!!!!!

We went to Gigis to celebrate with her.

This was my yummy banana split.


We all ate on the patio. It was such a nice evening.

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful mother-in-law and mother. I can't wait to celebrate with my mom!!!!!!!

Also the kids and Jon got me a really sweet card. My little sister sent me a super sweet text thanking me for being a Godly example. Also Jon and the kids got me a new subscription to "Runner's World" Whoo! Hoo! and "The Dawn Treader" I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the Narnia movies.

But, even if I didn't get a clean house, sweet cards, or gifts, the Lord has blessed me beyond measure, and I'm so very grateful for my sweet husband and precious kids!

Those DANG books

Okay, so I get to the airport, and before I can get in the door this man comes to get me to weigh my baggage (no wait). That bad boy weighed 63 lbs. He then informed me that for every bag over 50 lb Delta charges an ADDITIONAL $90. Now, I'd already paid $23 for this bag. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't go back to my car and empty some stuff out of it; I would miss my flight. I certainly couldn't throw my things in the trash. I would just have to suck up the $90 that I don't have. Yikes!!!

I had to go inside and take care of the charge in there. I then remembered my behemoth of a purse. "I know," I thought, "I'll take all my books and put them all in my purse. Cha-Ching, this has to work. My Bible feels like it weighs 10 lbs anyway."

I go to weigh my bag again. This time it was with a lady. Baggage weighed 54 lbs. Shoot a flying goose!!!!!! I'm going to have to pay $90 all for 4 lbs. The lady saw the look of exasperation and the "my hubby is going to kill me when he finds out" look all over my face. She said, "Girl, you don't want to pay $90. Let's open that bag up. Take out some jeans."

So here I am just a few feet from where Ash threw up on Friday, opening my bag pulling out jeans. E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-I-N-G!!!!!!!

Sheew, down to 51 lbs.

"Girl, let's take out some shoes."

I'm pulling fast because I really am mortified at the Griswold in me (Remember, National Lampoons & Vegas Vacation????).

I took out 2 shoes . . . and to top it all off they didn't even match!!!!!!! Typical. . . just plain ol' TYPICAL.

With the help of my new friend, "T" (I can't remember her full name. It was hard to pronounce), she and I scored!!!! Whoo Hoo! 50 lb baby and no $90 fee.

However, I did have just a small problem. My behemoth purse is packed to almost overflowing with about 10-15 lbs of books (I'd already had a few in there), and I have 3 pair of jeans and 2 mismatched shoes to carry on, plus my laptop bag. I asked my new friend, "What it the world am I going to do with all of this stuff? They're not going to let me carry this on to the plane."

"Girl, go to one of those shops and get a bag."

Awesome idea, T.

So, of course, I headed to the shoo-shooish, froo-frooish shop (without thinking) asking her if I could just have a bag.

"Mam, you need to go to where they have the snacks just down the hall to the right. We don't have any bags."

Great, good one, Michele.

I'm so afrid at this point I'm going to miss my flight. I was already pushing it when I got to the airport. Again, that's just typical for me.

I found a store that sold snacks, books, etc. and found a bag on clearance for $6.99. SCORE!! Sure does beat $90.

Okay, I can relax.

Get past security, grab something to eat to eat on the plane, standing in line to board the plane, lady takes my ticket and then says to me.

"You have too many bags (purse, new bag, and laptop). You will have to fit 2 of your bags into one."

YOU'VE.GOT.TO.BE.KIDDING.ME.!!!!!!!!!!

I then proceeded to stick behemoth purse into my new red bag. I couldn't close the thing, and it was spewing forth every book, paper, lip gloss, pen, etc. from my purse. But hey, it worked, she let me through!!!

On the eve before I leave

Well the night before I left I wanted to have some sweet time with the kiddos. So we made make-your-own pizzas. This is a family favorite. We then played a couple of rounds of Uno Flash and, to my amazement, no one pouted or got made (that's a rarity when we play games :))

I had a long list of things to get done. I let the kids watch TV while I tried to mark things off my list. . . tieing up a few loose ends before I left.

One thing I always do whenever I leave to go out of town is write my children notes. I hide them in their bags (or if they are at home I put them under their pillows) and always pray they will find them at a time when they need to.

The sweet thing is is I actually saw a note in my bag placed in there by one of the kiddos. Come to find out it was a letter from Ashley. This is what it said.

Dear Mommy,

I love you so much and already miss you so much. But I love you and hope you have the best time ever. I jus can't reapeat how many times I love you cause its more than you think. Here's a kiss (picture of red lips). I hope you and Daddy have the best time.

Sincerly,

Ash

P.S. I love you

Attached to my letter was another card made by her. Here's what it said.

I love you Mom and already miss you so much and I know you miss me and I can't wait to see you. But while your there have THE BEST TIME EVER!!! I love you.

That girl is some kind of sweet!!! Yes, I know we need to work on her spelling, but don't you just love her heart of gold?

When I dropped the kiddos off with GiGi and Grandaddy Ash was actually better than I thought she would be. Hanna was very clingy (she's my girl with no words, holds everything in) and didn't want to let me go. Not like a "i'm going to hold onto you so you won't leave me" more like a "i just want to hug on you until the absolute last minute you have to walk out this door." Alec was good. Very loving, but he knew we'd be home and he did want to talk to me that night to ask me about my flight. I have some wonderful kiddos, don't I?????

Random Pictures

This post is a followup to my Random Words post. Mama and James wanted to take me a on ride through their trails in the woods to show the some tornado damage they incurred about a month ago. They are so much fun. They make these golf cart trails and name them. . . They've just started working on these trails, but one of this is named "Poison Ivy Patch". I have to say I got the red-carpet treatment or, should I say, the brown-leaf treatment. Yep, those brown leaves were all rolled out for me to step on and my mom pulled up with valet parking. . . Yep, the golf cart!
Here's the creek on their land. I don't think they've named this yet. It's beautiful though!

And, here is just a smiggin' of the trees that have been uprooted. . . beautiful, beautiful oak trees.

We also had an egg hunt. Mom had 8 prize eggs with money. Alec was focused on finding these. He cared nothing about the candy.

This is what James did while we were hunting.

That Hanna is ONE SERIOUS egg hunter!

He then moved to get a better view of the action. . . still sipping on his coffee? Do you see why I like coffee the way I do . . . it's in my blood!

(If Melissa reads my blog she is going to KILL me for putting this picture on here). . . I'm taking my chances here people.

This is my cousin, Sally's, little girl, Rachel. She spent the night with my mom that night. Very sweet girl. She was even calling me "Aunt Michele".

Mama and James

Mel and I

The Easter egg crew

As stated in my Random Words post this is the Seder supper we went to.

The Rabbi is the one holding the microphone.

I just loved the Jewish music.

This was very sweet. We had to dip our finger in our wine or grape juice (you got to chose) and for each plague (remember this is to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt), you said the name of each plague and sprinkled the juice onto the plate.

One thing I took away so much from this is how to trust in the sufficiency of God, which I think I do, but it was just put in a different way or struck me differently this night. Whatever He has for you in life, wherever you are at, He is sufficient. They didn't ask for anymore or any less than what the Lord had portioned them. I really want to read back through my booklet and glean other things. I will definitely be doing this again next year!!! It was a very sweet night and very, very meaningful. So much JOY!

It's grape juice, I promise :)

Here is the tornado damage that wiped across our county last week.

Here is a trailer park we went to help at. They are literally sitting on top of all their things. A local school was open for a shelter, but no one would leave because people were stealing one another's things. This makes me so very sad!

I just loved seeing the compassion of people also. They were all so very, very grateful! My heart left very full even amongst the destruction.

Nothing like tragedy to bring people together.

This is Ash's old Sunday School teacher's house. Precious, precious lady. She was so sweet. She was trying to give the kiddos candy for helping. Even amongst all of this she was still thinking of others. Something about her reminded both Melissa and I of Faye (grandmother).

These are the cedar trees where some of their things are caught up in.

Things I Want to do in Sodom and Gomorrah

Okay. . . well it's Las Vegas. . . that's where we're headed. Here's a list of things I want to do.

1. See the Grand Canyon. . . not going to make this one. Jon is literally in class from 7:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. So that means no time for a 4 hour drive. Shucks!

2. Read.

3. See an Elvis Chapel with Elvis impersonator. . . cause I'm a big dork.

4. Read.

5. Sleep late.

6. Run on trail where we run through canyons.

7. Read.

8. Hang out by the pool.

9. Read.

10. Share the Gospel with people I meet.

11. Read.

12. Take a gondola ride in the Bellagio (I think that's the name of it).

13. See a show. We're broke and those things are expensive, and although Jon's company is paying for ALOT, they're not paying for our entertainment. Shucks again!!!!

14. Read.

15. See the desert.

16. See the town lit up on the strip.

17. Go letterboxing (yes, without my kids and yes, b/c I'm a big dork).

Okay, so I mentioned reading quite a few times. I love to read, but our days here are so packed I don't get to do it nearly like I would like.

Here's my list of books I'm taking.