So far so good

Ok, so things are going pretty well here. I am actually a day ahead!! I know, can you even believe it? Monday is the day I usually clean the kids rooms and vacuum them. I did this last night though, so I woke up this morning and looked into their rooms and thought, "ok, now what do i do all morning?" I am also caught up on all my laundry, which just never happens here, so Lonnie will never believe it happened.

So now I have 2 kids in the bath tub with a half a bottle of bubbles, this is apparently this is just as good as swimming. they couldn't be happier. I just had to cover my whole bathroom with towels first.

I am amazed by the grace of God and the way He has given me the ability to deal with my kids and not feel completely overwhelmed. It is really going fairly well. We are even having a little bit of fun around here.

...

"It's not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena... who, at best know in the end the triumph of great achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

we will try

"Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like you do when nobody's watching."

Comfort

We are currently in a situation that requires us to rely on God in a very real and practical way. As we are dependant on Him daily, I am forced to wonder if we are somehow at a disadvantage of sorts being in America, and taking it all for granted. I love my country and I love my life. The issue that is weighing on my heart is that the more aware I become of God in the details of each part of our lives, the more aware of the suffering and depravity around me and around all of us. There is just so much pain and suffering everywhere. My heart breaks for the sick and the dying. My mind can't fathom the widow trying to tell her kids it will be ok when she doesn't
even know herself if it will be or how. My heart weeps for the orphan who is huffing paint fumes because it is cheaper than food. My soul looks at these things and so much more and seems to scream from within me "THIS IS NOT OK, IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THIS WAY!!!!!" I am well aware that these are the consequences of a fallen world and the price that is to be paid for sin.
But I believe we are called be Gods hands and feet in these situations. I can not fix it all by myself, nor am I called to. If each member of the church answered the call that God puts on their hearts, we would make a difference.

I have a good friend whose heart bleeds for women's health. Mine does not. She has a desire to travel the world and educate women about their bodies, cleanliness and the like. I do not.
My heart goes to the kids. Hers does not. That is the beauty of living with God and listening to what He has to say to us. If we all felt the same call, so many things would be ignored. But if we work together, change begins.

It was said at church tonight that answering the challenge that God puts before us is not comfortable. It is not safe. But it is right.

Let me tell you, I would rather be right with God than comfortable in my wealth any day.

Alone?

So Lonnie is off to Guatemala with 23 other people. He will be gone for a week. So it is just me, 3 dogs, a cat, some fish, a bird, and 4 kids. All alone. :)
It should prove to be a pretty interesting week. I am really going to try to keep the house in order, you know dishes, laundry, all that, but I sometimes tend to not do so well when he is gone, I just kind of hang out and not do a lot of the work until the day before he comes home. We'll see.

Now what would any logical person do in that situation? Add 3 more kids to the mix of course, and quite obviously with out their parents, so now my house contains: 2-6yr olds, 1-5 yr old,
1-4yr, 1-3yr (4 in 4 days), 1-2 yr, and 1 infant + the zoo mentioned above. What a morning.

So things are going well on the front of "fringe friends" I am really finding that when I am conscious of those around me, I am looking for the face in the crowd that I normally would glaze over, I am having much more interesting conversations, learning new ideas from new people, and generally having a more full day.

Yesterday, as I was in the middle of a 5 hour argument with my cell phone company, I was being perfectly grumpy and kind of enjoying it, Then, leaving the grocery store, I saw one of these great people. I thought of just waving and leaving, because I wanted to be alone with my grumpiness. Instead, I made myself get out of the van and start that conversation. i actually enjoyed a few moments talking to her, learned something, made a connection, and when I got back in the car, I was just that much less grumpy.

I am convinced that there are small pieces of God all around us, if we just look. I think we get so caught up in the big gestures, that we miss the small.

So here I go in search of the small.

Friends

Isn't it funny how we surround ourselves with our friends? We pick 2 or 3, usually the ones most like us, and kind of push everyone else to the outskirts? We use words like our core group, our small group to justify this action. When if we actually look around ourselves, we can see so many more "fringe friends" that we are surrounded by. These are the people who are not in our speed dial. We may even have to look their number up,believe it or not.

Now here is the interesting thought, we need these people too. Sometimes they are the ones who don't think just like us. Or they are not in the same "stage of life" as us. They might work while we stay home. They might watch different TV, or even go to a different church. But if we step just a few inches outside of our box, dial a few more numbers on the phone, we might just learn something.

I am very excited today. As I was contemplating this theory,one "fringe friend" kept coming to my mind. This is a woman I greatly respect, admire, and even value her opinion. So I took a great big leap, i looked up a number, then dialed the extra digits. I asked her to visit my zoo/ daycare for lunch. (I was completely convinced she would laugh hysterically and hang up the phone) But something surprising happened, she said "OK, sounds like fun"
Imagine that, she is willing to share my insanity with me for a little while. As I am frantically trying to put my house in some sort of order, I can't help but wonder about my other "fringe friends"

Maybe I can get used to this, who knows, I may even learn something or be blessed by those around if I can continue to just make my box a little bit bigger.

Updates on lunch later.................

Weakness

OK, so the diet is going pretty well. As long as I stick to it that is. But the problem is that I am weak. I have two big weakness, one is Blizzards from DQ, the other is cake. I LOVE cake. So yesterday was Lonnie's Birthday. He asked for a lemon cake with chocolate frosting. YUCK. So like a genius, I made his cake for him, and I made a chocolate cake with fudge frosting too. duh. now I am stuck in the house with possibly the best cake ever. Slim Fast just doesn't taste the same when the cake is calling you from the other room.
Other than that, we are very busy, Lonnie's candle is burning quite rapidly at both ends, and the kids are really quite ramped up also.

just another day.........

YEAH

So this morning I got a phone call. One of my favorite calls to ever get.

Ready, My NANNY came to visit today.

OK, so maybe she is only my mother-in-law, but still she is on the very short list of people that I want to come and stay and spend as much time as possible with us.

Again I say YEAH!!!

Here we go....

Our family has been on a great journey, totally walking in faith that God has something just fabulous for us on the other end of our journey and we are trying to see him in every aspect of the midst of it also.
Lonnie just started a new job. It is not any where that we thought it would be. But he now has a great opportunity to be Gods hands in a very practical way. A much more hands on way than ever imaginable. It is absolutely amazing the way that God works. There are those times when you can't help but sit back and be amazed.

On the other side of things, since he is working full time, going to school full time and still trying to be a great dad full time. I am once again reminded why God gives kids to two parents and not just one. I am tired, he is tired, and the kids are refusing to go to bed. So my day goes on.

Not so good

Ok, So I know it has been about forever since I posted anything.

SO I am sitting here watching The Biggest Loser, and my 6 year old keeps telling me, "She looks just like you Mommy" and he doesn't mean the trainer.
Now I have really been working on making better choices, you know the apple over the cookies, that kind of thing. But WOW, how my resolve just changed. I really don't want him to think that of me. My only consulation is that it is the smallest girl on there that he picked, not the biggest, but still, WOW.....

So other than that, all is well, Lonnie is off to work on his BA, and the kids survived the Holidays and are back on school, we work so much better in our house on a schedule.

All for now, hopefully it won't be several months until I get back here again.