I am a 32 year old mother of 3 of the sweetest little boys on earth and the most beautiful little girl in the world. My oldest is Isaac. He is six years old. Then there is Tommy Jr. He's five. Jacob is two. Our youngest is child and only daughter is Samantha. She was born on July tenth 2009. I am also the blissfully happy wife of Tommy Sr., who, I have no doubt, God had in mind when He was making me. We are truly two halves of a whole.
I've never been one to keep up with the latest anything and kind of stay wrapped up in my own little part of the very big world. That being the case, This is my first blogging experience. So, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually. Hopefully I'll make a few new friends and learn a few things in the process!
I haven't been around in a few days. I've been hanging out on facebook, cafemom and circle of moms. When I logged in to homeschool blogger it was like walking through the door of a dear friend. It is comfortable here. Reading some of the posts on those other sites only made me sad and caused me to long for the fellowship of Christians. It is heart breaking to see the shape the world is in. Their idea if right and wrong is so horribly skewed. People's hearts are hard and full of hate. I know that these things must be. And I know that they will get much worse before the return of our Savior. If it saddens me so...I can't imagine what Jesus must feel I sacrificed nothing. He sacrificed everything for this world.
I pray that the things I write and the advice I give will reflect the love of Christ in me. I pray that I will never be a discouragement to anyone...especially one seeking hope.
In Christ,
Shirley
"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptablein thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."(Psalms 19:14)
A friend emailed this to me (thanks, Marie!) and I thought it was so funny I had to share it.
If you don't laugh out loud after you read this you are in a coma! This is even funnier when you realize it's real! Next time you have a bad day at work think of this guy.
Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana . He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.2 FM in Ft. Wayne , Indiana , who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won.
Hi Sue,
Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all.
Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job.
As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool.
So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature.
It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints.
What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi.
Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. With in a few seconds my butt started to burn...I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened.
The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate.
When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt.
I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically.
Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface
to begin my chamber dry decompression.
When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber.
The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut..
So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt.
Now repeat to yourself, 'I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.'
Now whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish bad day?
May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day!!!!! Pass this on to all your friends, just in case they’re having a bad day!!!
The kids are still asleep (that means it is quiet) and my hubby is taking a vacation day today. He was going to go in and work until lunch and then come home but the morning did not go as planned and ended up just staying home. I have a doctor's appointment today and he will be staying with the kids unless my mom gets off work in time to stay with them. If she stays with them he will be going with me. I usually go by myself (no sense in dragging anyone along) but today there is a chance they may have to open my c-section incision back up again. It isn't healing properly and keeps gathering fluid. I hope that it is making enough progress and they won't bother with it...but I'm not sure if that will be the case. Tommy says it's looking better so maybe they will give it a little more time to close up. I DO NOT want to have to be in the hospital again. That would just be incredibly inconvenient (for everyone)! Y'all pray about that!
The kids are now awake. No more quiet.
I had more to write about but Isaac is asking to play a game on the internet ...an educational one. I can't say no to that!
I'll update y'all when I get back from the doctor this evening.
Well, the beginning of this school year is getting closer and closer. The kids are excited; Well, Isaac is excited anyway. Tommy is preparing himself to be bored. I am excited and a little nervous as well. Trying out the new approach this year has me a little anxious. I am sure it will work out better than the method I tries last year.
I am a bit concerned about how Jacob will fit into out routine. I am determined to include him because he hates to feel left out. He gets pretty upset when he is excluded from things the big boys are doing. I have some things planned to make him feel included.
I'm hoping that Samantha will just be our little tag along when we are out and about. And I'm hoping that she will nap a lot when we are home.
On a different note, we had a n unexpected and very welcome surprise today! My mom and dad stopped by for a visit. They almost never visit. We are always excited when they do. The kids were thrilled to see their Mamaw & Papaw. My dad is feeling bad. He has a bad heart and it is bothering him. He has had six previous heart attacks. He had what I call warning pains the other day. He had pain in his chest and burning in his neck. This is what he feels at the start of a heart attack. He has a defibrillator implanted in his chest because his heart is only working at around 30%. The chances of him surviving another heart attack are not good. Please pray for him. I'm not ready to lose him. I'm sure I will never be, but definitely not now. He also has a bad back and he's in a lot of pain because of it. He is going to see an orthopedic surgeon soon. Surgery is an option, but not one he is excited about. Please pray for him.
Samantha is doing great. She is growing quickly. She is still a tiny thing, but she has grown quite a bit. She sure is a pretty little thing.
Jacob is a bit jealous but over all I think he is adjusting well. He has started doing the cutest thing. He will run up and tickle us and say, "Tittle tittle". he always substitutes a "t" sound for the "ck" sound. It is something I'm sure he will grow out of but for now it is quite adorable.
Tommy and Isaac are so hyper I can't keep up with them. They are always moving and they aren't quiet unless they are sleeping and sometimes not even then! They fight constantly. Isaac goes back to the therapist soon but not soon enough. Tommy is having an evaluation for ADHD in a few weeks. You know I was once firmly against medicating an abnormally hyper child, but after dealing with my boys I am convinced that somebody needs a pill. It may be me. It may be them. But somebody needs to be medicated if we are to make it through their childhood and come out sane on the other side! Yes, I did just say that. And I might have even meant it. I'll let you know after we see the therapist.
I guess I should go for now. I have lots to do before bed. I'm not saying I will actually do any of it. I may just sit here and think about how I need to do it. One thing that must be done now is feed this growing baby before she gnaws her own fingers off.
Did you ever have one of those days when no matter how hard you tried to focus on your blessings, negative thoughts constantly barged right into your mind? Well I'm having one of those days today. I have opened this page several times today to make a new entry because I just wanted to check in. I could only stare at the blank page because all I could think of was negative things and I didn't want to go on about all that was bothering me. That wouldn't help me or interest anyone else either. So I am trying once again to add an entry to the blog. I have decided to tell you about some of the many Blessings that our Father has given me. It will be hard to focus on the negative while talking about His blessings.
I have been praying about our finances lately. We've been stretched rather thin. Yesterday we received a check in the mail that we were not expecting. It was for almost $65. I know that's not much but it sure helps when your bank account is literally empty! He knows our every need and He always provides!
The boys have found a friend! He is our neighbor and he is close to Isaac's age. He seems like a nice boy. I am so thankful for that. Isaac gets pretty down sometimes because he doesn't have anyone to play with.
Tommy has still only been working 4 days per week most of the time. He works Monday through Thursday. I now have to go to my O.B. every week. My appointments are always on Mondays. Because of a planning error at work Tommy was off Monday instead of Friday. He was able to watch the boys while I went to the doctor. That doesn't seem like a big deal but it really was. I had to be at the doctor at 8am. It is a little over an hour away. If I had needed to take the kids to someone else I would have had to get up at least an hour earlier to get them all ready to go and get them there. I surely would have been late. Instead, I was early and they all got to sleep in!
Jacob is using the potty! He has to walk around the house completely naked because if he has on a pull up or his new big boy underwear he pees in them. But if we let him go naked the he runs to the potty when he needs to go! He's doing great! That is such a blessing!
My parents came to visit Sunday. That seems like a small thing but they NEVER visit. If they do drop by it's only for a few minutes and my dad always stays in the car. Once, he did stand in the yard though. So this Sunday was Father's day and I wasn't going to get to go to his house because my back was hurting so bad I spent most of the day in bed. They came by and they both came in. They even brought their new dog. Her name is Patches and she is so cute. She plays with a ball that is twice her size and she makes the funniest noises. They stayed for a while and we had a great visit.
Baby Samantha is doing great. She is just the right size and as far as they can tell she is perfectly healthy. She's going to be here in under two months. I am so thankful for her as well as the three amazing boys the Lord has blessed us with. Wow! Four kids. That is pretty good for a woman that was told by 6 doctors that she would never be able to have a baby! Each of them is a miracle. Each of them is a gift. God is SO awesome! There is even a pretty interesting thing about Him giving us a baby girl. My Father-in-Law was really interested in genealogy and he traced the family back over 500 years. In that time there has NEVER been a girl born in this family. Our Samantha will be the first! That's just one more thing that makes her special!
I don't think we will have to buy any clothes for our girl for the first year at least. we are receiving beautiful baby clothes and blankest and shoes from several people. We have even gotten some baby bottles! I will be breast feeding her but you always need a few bottles for those times when someone else gets a turn feeding her! Again, the Lord provides.
I could keep going but it is getting to be bed time at my house so, I better get going.
Last night my husband went fishing with his buddy again. He caught a fish that he was excited about. Of course he is excited to catch any fish, really. But this one was pretty big and it faught hard as he brought it in. When he got it to the bank he stuck his thumb in the mouth of the fish to pick it up and get the lure from it's mouth. Imagine his suprise... and alarm... when he discovered that this fish had a mouth full of very sharp teeth! OUCH! It was a Walleye.
He got some pictures of the fish...and it's teeth. I thought I'd share them with you.
The other day Isaac and little Tommy were out exploring in the yard. It's like a jungle out there. Sooner or later the mower will roar to life and our front yard will no longer look like a hay field. Anyway, they found this beautiful little caterpillar and we put it in a gallon jar and hoped to watch it change. I have tried to find out what kind it is. I have had little success. I even asked my best friend Lisa who knows a bit about everything (she's been a home-school mom for a while now). But I still don't know what it is. I'll include a picture below. Unfortunately the pictures I have so far aren't very good ones. But tomorrow when the battery is charged for my better camera I will get some better pictures to share.
The little thing has hung himself from the bottom of a stick and curled into the shape of a J. He hasn't moved since. I was expecting it to be wrapped inside something other than it's own skin when it changed...but maybe not. Let me know if you have any ideas about what kind it is and if you have any info that I can pass on to the boys. They are very curious. I guess I am too.
It's Friday night. We don't have to get up early in the morning so I kind of planned on a bit of a romantic night with my husband when the kids went off to bed. Instead, it's almost eleven p.m., the boys have been asleep for hours and I have spent the evening with Dr. G. Medical Examiner. My husband is standing under a bridge (out of the rain, I hope) somewhere with my best friend Lisa's husband. They are trying to woo some catfish. So much for my romantic evening. I know I sound a bit upset but really I'm not at all. My Tommy spends so much time working and ministering to others that I am tickled that he is taking time to do something he enjoys. I am even more tickled that he is getting to spend time with his friend. And I am thankful that his friend is a good Christian man. There are plenty of other places he could be with plenty of other people. But I know where he is, who he is with and what they are doing. There are so many women who can't say that about their husbands tonight.
This is his second fishing trip this week. He's like a kid when he talks about fishing. He's so cute! He was so excited this evening when his buddy agreed to go fishing with him. I think he thought that I would be upset that he was leaving so soon after getting home from work. I do miss him and the kids do too. But sometimes our men just need some time for themselves.
If you have seen my counter you know that I am 25 weeks along. The baby seems to be doing fine. She is more active today than she has been all week long. I'm glad for that. I have been feeling pretty rough lately and I was beginning to wonder if she was doing okay. I have been having lots of contractions. Most of them have been Braxton Hicks but some were the real thing. I have had a bit of cramping and a dull lower backache (different from the sciatic problem I've been struggling with for the last several months). I am taking a medication for chest pain that is also sometimes used to stop preterm labor. My dosage has doubled and I had a few days of bed rest. Things are going better now I think. I see the orthopedic doc on Monday. Hopefully he can give me something to control the constant sciatic pain so that my blood pressure and heart rate will go back down. I'm sure that it will help to alleviate the stress on my body that has been caused by months of constant pain. Then maybe the contractions will slow. I ask for your prayers for the baby and myself.
Maybe you could also pray that the men bring home a whole truck load of fish tonight! How fun and exciting that would be for them!
My med.s have kicked in and it is now time for me to go to sleep. Bye for now!
It's been a while since I've been able to blog. It's not that there is a lot going on around here. It is that I am sooo tired. The boys are feeling better but Tommy and I are sick now. I think we both have a sinus infection. And for some reason Jacob never goes to sleep until about 12-1 o'clock in the morning. I'm not sure what is going on with him but I sure wish he'd go to sleep! I'm exhausted anyway without being up all night with him. He is so incredibly cute though. He has now started to meow like the cat! He sounds just like them. And he laughs at everything! He's started taking his clothes off and running around naked. It is the funniest thing. Of course the fact that I have found a puddle in the floor once or twice makes it a little less humorous. He likes to go sit on the potty but he never does anything while he's there. Once he started to pee while he was on the potty but it kind of scared him and he started to cry. I think it's because when we found him standing in a growing puddle we swooped him up and ran to the potty with him. That scared him and I think he associates the act of peeing with the fear he felt when we ran to the bathroom with him. So now if he starts to go when he's on the potty, he stops and then he cries. Potty training. Fun times.
So far the pregnancy is going well (as far as I know anyway). I don't go to the doctor until January 6th. I feel okay other than being so tired all the time. I think I could sleep for a week straight and still be tired. Of coarse there is no chance of excessive sleeping in this house. There's not really even a chance of enough sleeping in this house. My belly feels bigger than it should at this point. And I'm not just talking about the squishy part on the outside.
Jacob has fallen asleep and it isn't even 1am yet! That means I'm going to bed! YAY!
Okay. I have written this twice already and the first time I somehow made it disappear. The second time I wrote it my computer froze just as I tried to save the entry and I lost it. So, this one will be much shorter than either of the first two. But I am going to type it again...because it is so awesome that I just have to share it with you all!
To make a long story short...we needed a new front door. We have no money to buy one. When my uncle Stan was laid off from his job a few weeks ago I told my aunt Kathy that if he ran out of projects to keep him busy at home, my front door was in desperate need of attention. I then told her that I was kidding about having him look at it, not that we wouldn't welcome his help, but if the door could be repaired we don't have money for supplies and if it couldn't be repaired (which is what Tommy thought) we don't have money to buy a new door. So, really it would just be a waste of Stan's time to mess with it. But he did run out of things to do at home and he can't stand to sit around and do nothing. So they came to our house so that he could look at the door and see what needed to be done about it. He agreed that we did need a new door. And he just happened to have one that he wasn't using! He put it in on Saturday! It is four inches wider than our old door. It has a bigger window too, so it lets in a lot more light! We have a new door and it didn't cost us a thing! Our electric bill and our gas bill are sure to go down now. Isn't God wonderful! Uncle Stan is pretty great too. He is always helping other people. If he sees someone with a need that he can meet...he does. It would be great if a lot more people were like that. It would be great if more Christians and churches were like that.
Okay...I'm going to save this entry before it disappears again!
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
Now I have experienced God's provision many times. As I look back over my life, it is obvious that God has been taking care of me the whole time. He has always protected me and comforted me and provided for me. But even after all He has done for me I am still sometimes amazed at the care God takes of me. This week has been one of those times. You all know that Tommy has been out of work for over a month now. In that time he has been paid twice and both times he was paid late. We had been hoping for a check this week but we weren't sure that it would come. We've had NO money but we have so much food that I had trouble closing the fridge door the other day! We've had some bills due that we were unable to pay so we were really looking forward to receiving Tommy's unemployment check. Well we got it yesterday. Only it wasn't the amount he usually gets. It was double! So now we can pay the bills and even buy the cats' medicine! Isn't God wonderful! I have more to write but we've got friends coming over in a few minutes and I think I'll clear the kids' toys out of the living room before they get here. I look forward to sharing more about God's provision for us!
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
November is our month to do the jail ministry at our county jail. We've done it several times in the past but we haven't had the opportunity for two years now. It's finally our turn again! I hope to get a permanent spot for next year. That way we can go on the same day of the week at the same time all year next year. That would be great! Of coarse I'd have to find a (Lisa) brave (Lisa) soul (Lisa) to watch my kids (Lisa) for a few hours (Lisa) every week (Lisa). I have no idea who I'd get (Lisa). I just realized that I haven't asked anyone to watch the boys for us while we are there tomorrow! Panic is setting in. Gotta make some calls. No one seems to be home...ah...the unsuspecting uncle! Maybe he will watch them. Well gosh! I can't find anyone at home! Oh well God will provide someone. I hate to ask Lisa again. She watched them last week. My brother says he can watch them. See...God will always provide!
Anyway, I get to do the women's service at the jail. We have a lady from church who is going so that we have someone to play the guitar. Boy she can sing! Anyway I am so excited to be able to go into the jail and tell them about Jesus. I hope you all will be praying for us!
8:36pm and I am so ready to go to bed! It's been a pretty good day...but a long one. I got up early this morning before anyone else was awake. That's something I haven't done since Tommy's been home. I use to get up really early with him and then when he left for work I had several hours of quiet time. That is usually when I could spend time with God in prayer and study. Then I could get prepared for the school day. But Since Tommy has been home (he lost his job, for those of you who are just joining us) I've been sleeping late. The whole house is just completely out of order. My schedule is so messed up (not to mention my kitchen). It's like I've been on a staycation (a stay at home vacation). I'm trying to get back on track though. We got a lot done in school today. We are working on our phone number. They are doing pretty well. I hope to be able to begin a new unit with the new month. I'd like to do a unit about thankfulness. I found a pretty neat one one www.HomeschoolShare.com. I hope that it goes better than our first unit. I'm sure it will because I'm getting a better idea of how much to plan for one day. I kind of over did it the first time around.
Jacob is sitting beside me on the couch. He's so wiggly! And loud. Gosh he babbles so much. He points at everything and yells, "Whassat?" That's Jacob speak for what's that? He climbs on everything and he has recently figured out that he can get much higher if he pushes a chair around with him to climb on. When he gets caught getting into something he shouldn't and we tell him to stop, he gives us this annoyed face and says, "AAAHHHHGGGG!" It's quite funny. He loves to be outside and he always screams when its time to come in. He really likes wind chimes. He could stare (and point) at them for hours. He and little Tommy are buddies. They wrestle with each other all the time and they chase each other around the house. Jacob gets upset when he isn't included in everything the big boys do. I'm trying to include him in school as much as I can without putting the other boys behind. Jacob is so funny. He just picked up a toy lion, stuck his finger in it's mouth and yelled, "Ow!" What a goof!
Well, I guess I'm just rambling on and on about nothing important so I'm gonna hush for now. Bye!
Today is Friday. The first of Tommy's unemployment checks (no job yet). Guess what? It didn't come. Maybe it will be hear tomorrow or Monday at the latest...right? This is one of those times that I will have to practice what I preach and wait on the Lord as I trust Him fully. Right? Right! Our Heavenly Father has never let us go hungry or without shelter. I don't believe that He's about to start now. I told Tommy that the much anticipated check did not arrive and he made no comment at all. I'm not sure how to read that response. But I don't think he's worrying. I think He's just waiting...excited to see how God provides our every need as it comes. I must say that I'm a bit excited to witness that as well...and I'll let you know as He does it.
I am looking forward to getting back on track with school next week. With all the doctor's appointments, hospital visits and my feeling puny, we haven't been able to keep our schedule as we should. But I pray and believe that next week will be better. I'm not sure about my choice of unit studies. Maybe I've just made them too long and drawn out. Maybe they should be shorter and simpler. Maybe a week long unit. Maybe just a day. I don't know. I want so badly to get it all together and have the perfect unit that is centered around the majesty of our Lord. I just can't seem to get it together. it would seem that more prayer is in order.
I have discovered in myself a love of photography. I really enjoy taking pictures of everything. And I seem to view the world differently. I look at everything and immediately decide whether it would make a good photo or not. I see what an amazing artist that God is and I feel so blessed to be able to get a small piece of His beautiful creation on camera. I also really like taking pictures of people. I'd like to do that as a job. I'd like to take family portraits and record special events for scrap books and such. I enjoy taking pictures of my family. I'll have to learn how to use my camera first though. It's pretty fancy and I don't know what all the functions are for yet. I also need to learn to use the timer and then I can be in the pictures with my family. Of course, a hobby is one thing but a job is quite another. I will have to pray quite a bit about that. For now I'll just be taking pictures for fun.
We are all feeling yucky today. The weather is changing and our allergies are giving us all a fit from the youngest to the oldest. Poor Jacob went back to the DR yesterday for a re-check on his ear infection. In the beginning he had an infection in his right ear and strep throat. After the first round of antibiotics his strep throat was better but his ear was still infected. We tried a stronger antibiotic and had the follow up yesterday. Not only is his right ear still infected, but his left ear is now infected as well. We got yet another antibiotic but he can’t keep it down. He won’t eat anything and he won’t drink anything except milk. His throat is very red and irritated from the allergy drainage. He’s in sad shape. I’ll take him back to the doctor on Monday and he’ll get the first of three shots of a much stronger antibiotic. Please remember him in your prayers.
School has kind of been on hold for the past few days. We are taking a few sick days. I guess we’ll make them up at the end of the year. I have been doing a bit of planning for when we are all well enough to get started again.
I took some pretty nifty pictures the other day. I’d like to add them to my album soon. One was of a dragon fly. Boy, God has made some cool looking creatures! Every time I take my camera outside and look for something to get a shot of I am amazed at what an awesome artist God is! I take pictures of the simplest things. Weeds and bugs and trees and such. I guess some people look at them and wonder why on earth I took a picture of that. But it’s usually because of the beauty of the colors that most people would never have chosen to combine. God puts the most unlikely things together and the result is always amazing. Sometimes I take pictures of things because of the way I feel when I look at them. I took a picture of a bunch of trees in the mountains because looking at them made me feel peaceful inside. Anyway, I guess I’m rambling. I’ll write more later when I have more interesting things to say!
I don't have much to say. I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. I've been spending a lot of time on the prayer request blog lately. Lots of things to pray about.
Tommy is off again- for the third Friday in a row. I like having him home. It hurts a bit when payday rolls around but I am so thankful to have a little extra time with him. I'll miss him when it picks up at work again. The kids like having him home too. I think Tommy enjoys it a bit less than the kids and I do. There's lots of noise at work, but it is a different kind of noise than what comes from children when they play and when they fight. And of course I don't think they bug him as much at work. I think he's free to do his job in his own corner of the place and he doesn't have to entertain at work like he does at home.
Anyway, It's way, way past my bed time. And I am really, really sleepy. I hope to write again soon and hopefully, next time I'll have something interesting to say
You wouldn't believe the day I had yesterday! My brother's girlfriend has three boys (4, 7and 8 yrs old) they spent the night Tuesday night and I decided to make them pancakes for breakfast. I called Lisa and asked if she'd like to bring her crew over for breakfast too. So I was making pancakes for 13 people. I made this huge batch of batter. I ran out of self rising flour so I had to use some plain flour (of course I added the baking powder and salt). So, anyway, I ended up with what I thought was pancake batter. Then I started to cook it. I wanted to get as many done at one time as I could and I don't have a griddle so I put a Pampered Chef stoneware bar pan over two stove eyes. I know, I know YOU CAN'T DO THAT! The pan cracked pretty bad. So I ended up with two skillets and I started frying pancakes. Well some of them turned black and some of them never got past an odd shade of white. They just were not cooperating. They were pretty tough too. I threw one at Lisa's oldest son, (we were just having fun...I don't normally throw food)and he threw it back. We hit each other with that pancake at least four times before it broke. So after a brief meltdown (when I chopped a few pancakes into tiny pieces as they helplessly lay there frying) I gave up and ordered pizza. By this time it was almost ten thirty and no one had eaten breakfast. Well, Domino's didn't open til 11 but someone was there at 10:30 and he took my order and said the pizza would be here by 11:30. About 11:15 the guy called back and said his delivery driver's car had broken down and the other one couldn't be there til noon. So we may have our breakfast by 12:30 or 1pm. Thank God for Lisa! She went to pick it up and we had pizza for...brunch! It was so good I called the guy back to tell him to pat the cook on the back. Turns out, he was the cook! Later, I tweaked the pancake batter a bit and then the pancakes turned out pretty good. Now I have about 35 pancakes in the freezer and 10 in the fridge.
Yesterday I told Lisa that she could not blog about my embarrassing pancake mess. I've changed my mind. Go ahead and comment Lisa (AKA Nikki), know you're dying to.
It's Friday and Tommy is off again! Apparently, things have slowed down quite a bit at work and not everyone has something to keep them busy. Tommy is a tool maker and he's the only one they have. So, he always has work to do. But he can't work there alone. It isn't safe, so everyone gets the next few Fridays off. It isn't good where the paycheck is concerned. I know we all depend on those 40 hour checks! I hope you all will pray for those who are having trouble meeting the bills this week. God knows the need before we even ask...so I know he's ready to take care of it!
I'm not sure what we will be doing to take advantage of our long weekend - but I hope it's something fun!
I've been thinking of adding a Bible study entry category. That way I could share what I'm studying with you guys. Right now I'm studying love. I have been for a loooong time. I think that God keeps me on this subject because I still have soooo much to learn and put into practice. I'd also like to add a testimonies category. I would post my testimony and you all could share yours. I believe that it is so encouraging for us to see how God is working in each other's lives. It helps us to realize that He still works His miracles everyday. They aren't just something we read about Him doing for people thousands of years ago. He's still the same God with the same power and the same desire to do awesome things for those who believe. Isn't He great!!!! Let me rephrase that - HE IS SOOOO GREAT!!!!!
It may be me. It may be them. But somebody needs to be medicated if we are to make it through their childhood and come out sane on the other side!
Yes, I did just say that. And I might have even meant it. I'll let you know after we see the therapist.
romantic night with my husband
There are plenty of other places he could be with plenty of other people. But I know where he is, who he is with and what they are doing. There are so many women who can't say that about their husbands tonight.
The baby seems to be doing fine. She is more active today than she has been all week long. I'm glad for that. I have been feeling pretty rough lately and I was beginning to wonder if she was doing okay. I have been having lots of contractions. Most of them have been Braxton Hicks but some were the real thing. 
My belly feels bigger than it should at this point. And I'm not just talking about the squishy part on the outside.
I just realized that I haven't asked anyone to watch the boys for us while we are there tomorrow! Panic is setting in. Gotta make some calls.
