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I have such a love/hate relationship with class days. Our local ISP is a wonderful Christian group. But man the work just to be out of the house with dc is sooooo tiring!!! In CA you are required to take California History. So that is what my 4th grader is doing. Also testing is coming up. This will be the first year for him/us. We have the option of doing class day 2 times a month or 4. I must be a glutton for punishment because I do it 4. So yesterday was my "cleaning crew" day. I don't have a lot but it is a lot of work taking your 2 yr old with you and worrying about the others on the playground (mostly worried about them getting hurt). Little frustrated because the leaders keep telling me to wait on the bathrooms (they are the only ones open when class closes) and the last 2 times (including yesterday) one of my team members thought I had forgotten or was behind so they were helping. Wonderful that they helped but a little frustrated at being told to wait. I don't think I will next time because frankly I want to go home and the other cleaning lady keeps kicking my dc out of the playground so she can lock it and go home herself (I don't blame her LOL). Leaving all 3 of my dc sitting in the quad area waiting on me. Not ideal for a 9, 6 and 5 yr. old. Giggle listen to me claiming all those as mine(my nephew and niece). Well in a way they are! LOL. So all that to say....hope everyone starts using the bathroom really quick because from now on they will be getting locked earlier LOL!! Thankfully on the other 2 days a month I teach cooking to 7-12 which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! I also do sewing for the same age but this year there was not enough signed up so I am helping in art which is kind of fun. |
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7 awesome movies |
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For 5 chapters we have 1 1/2 inch think Bible study! LOL. We won't be done with James until late April with a break for Easter in between!
So yesterday was Bible Study. It is such a diverse group of women. We have our Grandma type all the way to ladies like myself in the midst of littles. "J" is the GRANDMA. She just watched one of her granddaughters marry last year. So she is up there in age. I was so blessed to hear her say after the video part talking about maturity and that we will never graduate in this life. She says "Death is graduation and that is when you quit trying to serve and learn about Him" I wish more older folk felt that way. I should add she is like EF Hutton (remember the commercial?), when she talks everyone listens. LOL
So the subject was trials. We discussed the greek and root word meanings of trials, endurance etc. We talked and discussed with one lady (who's husband probably won't live to old age with her due to kidney transplant etc) about how she handles those trials in her life. All the while we are talking big things or stressful like finances. When we got to the video he talked about everyday trials. Like when the waitress brings you regular tea instead of tropical, when your order is messed up in the drive through, sitting in traffic.....what is our response to these things. Are we kind to that waitress/drive thru person? Do we rudely honk our horn and nearly cause an accident because the other lane looks like it is going faster? I also just finished reading a friends blog when she talks about Joy. Joyfully removing the lego from her foot. Do we joyfully remove the "legos" from our feet and go on? These little things are joy stealers and they occur everyday. They are "trials". Meant to show us where we need work, refine that work, and perfect our faith. The Pastor on the video gave such a great illustration that I wanted to share. When we are squeezed, like a lemon or orange, by a little or big trial, what comes out? Ugliness or faith? |
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Those of you who know the drama please hang on while I give a brief synopsis. I hs my youngest sisters two oldest dc. In the summer of last year she left her 2nd dh of 5 yrs due to abuse. Now she is living with my poor parents. She supposedly is looking for a job because she is on welfare back to work program. She calls around 7:30 last night and immediately launches into "I have 2 early interviews tomorrow yada yada" She caught me at a bad moment. I cut her off and said shortly I have Bible study tomorrow (which I do). She asks what time and I tell her. She immediately gets short with me obviously ticked. I am tired of her expecting me or my parents to drop what we are doing to babysit her dc-all 4 of them. She likes to tell my mom or anyone else "well Sharon can do it she only has 2" UM no I usually have 4 (her 2 and mine). I go to the dr's office, dentist, store, and any other place with 4 dc sometimes 6 when she leaves me with the youngest 2. How is that she can not go to even the dr's with her dc and yet expect that I will take them so she can? Sorry for the vent but she is irritating me with her selfishness, irresponsibility, and lack of self control. She unfortunately is the poster child for a teen mother and why you should wait! **editted to say that you should wait until you are married (teen or not) and be a responsible person ready for this job. Did not want to leave the impression I am against young ladies still in their teens starting families when married!** |
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*not meaning to be dishonoring. These are my raw feelings and I have nowhere else to put them*
Dh is becoming more and more admanent that WE will not have any more dc. How many do we have some of you may be asking? ONLY 2!!! Well 3 if you count our dear baby boy in heaven. How do I deal with this? I am very young (at least in my mind LOL early to mid 30's) How do I *cheerfully* get rid of cloth diapers, baby clothes and toys especially when a part of me wants to throw them at him? I have prayed for at least 3 years that dh would become qf. I will not give up praying and recently a conversation we had enlightened me to part of his unwillingness to look at that. He admitted he has a problem with trusting/faith. Knowing what I do about his childhood this is not surprising. However, it is ripping my heart out. I no longer have a dc in the nursery and at this point won't. Early on in our marriage he warned me not to nag him beyond 3 dc. So I have not said anything. He makes comments like "sorry I asked you to deal with this forget I asked" etc not wanting to realize my hurt and aching arms. I guess maybe if he sees or looks at that he will feel guilty. What is even harder is that a very dear irl friend is pg. AND she did not want to be and had taken steps to avoid that. She and her dh had decided they were done and surprise surprise b/c failed! I just have a hard time hearing other people talk about how she did not want to pg and I think of all the women who deal with infertility problems and of women like me who would secretly ROFL while dealing with a disappointed dh. It so hard to honor this especially since he is such a good daddy. Hard not to share my hurt because he would just see it as a *vicious guilt trip* I suppose I have my MIL to thank for that. *sigh* She can't take all the blame since he has seen other family members in action so that is the other problem. When asked what I wanted to be as a child/older child I always said Mommy. I remember my own mother hit the ceiling when I said I wanted 12. I tamed it down to 4 when I realized that is what was acceptable. When I *learned* I was supposed to have something else I secretly hid my desire just to be a mom and nothing else. LOL However it hasn't changed....I just want to be a mom.
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I don't have older dc though I know someday they will be LOL My niece and nephew are responsible for cleaning up the toys and messes they make at my home throughout the day. My dd has chores and actually my ds who is 2 is a better pickerupper than she. How do you mop floors, dust, detail clean, vacuum daily while homeschooling, watching littles and just in general doing the little daily chores? My house always looks like a tornado blew through it. Piles here stuff there. Some of it is dh and he would be the first to admit it like right now he has about 10 CD's, family catechism book, and his bible on one of the bar stools. LOL Not to mention his radio and Bible study sitting at his place on the table. I need a solution to keep my house clean. I don't need perfection but I would like it cleaner than it is. Of course 1200 sq ft (including stairs and garage) townhome does not go very far for 4 people and 2 extra dc during the day. My grandmother's house was perfection itself. Not a speck of dust ever. My mom was not that bad LOL However, it sure was cleaner than mine and she DID homeschool. Of course I was a teen at that time so I know I had chores and did a lot. Just frustrating for me when my littles need the attention in school and not knowing how some women get it done! |
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for my friend (see the "My Friend" post). THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! She received such an outpouring of love even flowers from someone at church. What a blessing it is to be part of believers (even if we don't all agree LOL) who share in our joys AND our sorrows!!!! |
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Yesterday I went with my mom to her church where Dr. Rankin of IOM, Carrie McDonnell (sole survivor of the missionary attack in Iraq) and Beth Moore were speaking and of course the Pastor, Dr. David Jeremiah. It was being televised to other churches across North America and Canada. It was awesome and all I can say is WOW about Beth! It wasn't necessarily how long she had (very short time) but the content. She is a woman who is passionately in love with Jesus!
The whole program was 1 1/2 hours long so it was one of those short and sweet kind of things. It was on praying for Missions. Very powerful message from all the speakers. One thing that Beth Moore said, was that all our walks are different with Jesus, and if we can agree on this one thing....Nations will be changed. To pray for the missionaries all over and maybe adopt a country to pray for. Nations will be changed for Jesus. AMEN! Now to find a country. I might start with Thailand where my dh and I already support dear friends of ours. |
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Today marks the 3rd month we have been sick |
. I am having asthma trouble and Gideon is still sickly. Dh finally is sick (this of course not being a good thing) and Allison finally seems to be okay. She hasn't been to AWANA's since Nov., we have not been in church as a family this whole time, we are missing the family Bingo night(church) tomorrow, and frankly I am getting cranky about it. I missed bible study yesterday because I was not about to share my germs. I just really want to be well and I really really want my poor little boy to be better. So I guess I am the whiner today. 
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I have been playing with the templates trying to find one that is easy to read and would suit me. *shrug* So I chose one that is easy to read and would be ideal if I could look at my window and see that in my yard! LOL |
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Last night I received an email from a long time friend. We still go to the same church (we both changed at different times) and she was in my wedding party. Her dog whom she got about 11 years ago, was killed by coyotes. Some people would say it is just a dog, but I know to her it was her child. She spent TONS of money on his health when they attacked before and injured. However, I know that some will not sympathize much or will wonder about why she is so upset. I just had to write this out because I am upset FOR her and worried that she will not receive the support she needs. If you think of it please pray for her. She is single (never married) and her dog was the one who greeted her when she came home. |
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Here I sit precariously tilted to one side. Why you ask? Well I will tell you. Got an offer for a really new to us desk and a very nice rolling chair. All for $75. Well thankfully the desk is worth that AND more! LOL cuz this chair sure ain't. I was told that there was something cracked. Did not seem to be an issue I guess until I sat my big butt down in it hour after hour! See it's my work chair, computer chair and school chair. 3 out of the 5 wheels have cracked where it holds the ball bearing of the roller (plastic) So in spite of the electric tape the one rebellious wheel keeps popping out! Moral of the story....while I think it would have broken regardless....time to lose weight and don't go anywhere w/o a little tape :D |
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Studying James with my Bible study group. It is a precept study. One new thing they are asking us to memorize. WOW haven't done serious memorizing like a whole book in a while. So that will be good.
Some thoughts and questions from this morning's study.
She (Kay Arthur) talks about how different people get different interpetations and can this be correct. Of course the answer is no. The problem is that we want to know what the Word of God means without first giving diligent effort to finding out what the Word of God actually says. Thus, in our hurry to know the truth, we bypass that which is necessary for understanding God's Word.
The 3 steps Begin with ACCURATE observation of the text. As you observe then correct interpetation and then personal application.
Several things hit me today as I was studying and observing James 1. Am I quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger? Not very often and I find for myself that once someone has crossed a line (in my book) that I will not extend the grace I should. Why do I feel the need to give someone a dose of their own medicine that they have been giving to me for years? Why can't I just extend more grace? Do I cross someone off my list for acting nasty (like my sister)? How very self righteous of me to not "associate" with someone who does not believe the way I do and they "know better about the Word" The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Ouch. Tough stuff here. Then I was pondering what James meant when he said to "prove ourselves doers of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves" Am I a doer? abiding by the law of liberty? See the above, I have a lot of work to do! Verse 26 was a big one "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless" Well lets see if you are in a public place with other Christian women and a stranger walks by and happens to listen to your conversation. Would your religion be worthless? And the last part of verse 27 was "and to keep oneself unstained by the world" I am looking forward to finding that answer in the Word because I think there are too many interpetations on that one. Well that is not all but it would take up a lot of space LOL However, I hesitated putting some of that stuff up but that is the real me and so now you know I am not so nice all the time. So go easy on me :D |
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Today was weird! No other way to describe. Though dh and I did thank God for the extra "down" time to talk. We were able to fill in the blanks with each other on the little things we have not had time to share.
Okay the "down" time LOL! Dh wakes me to tell me I can sleep in cuz he is taking the dc with him to work LOL!!! However, it was very nice to read my paper and drink my coffee in relative peace. He gets home and we talk about where and what we will do today. So after getting showered and dressed we head to Bed, Bath & Beyond. Dh has decided that this year he will be clutter free. Can you hear me at your house yelling Thank you LORD!!!?? We look at the different storage options in different areas of the house that we need. We decided that we should visit The Container Store. Off to get gas for the van first. Fill up and dh brings a soda out for us to share. Go to start the van and it barely turns over. **SIGH** SOMEONE turned the lights on and left them on. I know our old car used to automatically turn lights on and that was nice but if you can't remember DON'T turn them on!! Of course I never turn them on during the day, but I probably am breaking some safety law somewhere LOL!!! Anyway dh ended up pushing us out of the way and I called AAA for the second time in a month! Thankfully it is just to help us and not the fact our car is broken! So we waited for about 40 minutes. The dc were so good and played in the car (5 and a 2 1/2 yr old) So that is how dh and I got our down time LOL! We never did make it to The Container Store. We bought a new battery at Sam's Club and grabbed a Jumbo Jack for lunch. Came home and I went to the grocery store. Dh says to me when I get back "So are we going to go anywhere else" GIGGLE No way! I told him we had not done so well today and we should just try tomorrow. But then again there is football on Sunday! |
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I got home late from a meeting and everyone was asleep already. I checked on her and covered her before I went to bed. I awoke with a start a little before 3. A door was shutting fairly quietly. I immediately went into her room. TV was off, she was lying stiff as a board with one of her blankets and pillows on the floor looking at the TV. I asked her if she was okay...yes....Well what are you doing? watching a movie I am not sure why because she never has had this happen since she has been potty trained. I will watch and make sure that she does not have an infection or anything. |
My first reaction was okay she is sleep walking. So I said Hey get into bed. Her little eyes welled up with tears and she says "Mommy I need to tell you something pretty serious" Well my mommy's heart did a nose dive. So I sat down and she says "Mommy I peed the bed" Okay well I can live with that LOL But she was so scared and worried that I and Daddy would be very mad. I felt like I had a good opportunity to hug and cuddle her. I explained that I knew it was an accident and it was obvious from the amount that she had probably fallen asleep before going to the bathroom. I changed the bedding (thanking God for the waterproof mattress pad cover my mom bought) and put her back to bed. I worry about her choice of words but I am glad that she spit it out before I stuck my hand in the bed LOL. |
And as Oprah calls it....an AHA moment. Well dh called and told me that in 2 years he will have his own branch. We are very excited but feel like there is still a lot up in the air but that God will reveal as time goes on. Wednesday was the first day of bible study. Precept study of James WOOHOO I am excited. A good friend of mine from church is joining us this time too so Allison has someone to play with. Rushed home and got ready for the meeting for the assoc. I work with. Picked up my Babysitter from school and off I went. Came home just as dh got home and we went out to celebrate. Just down the street to a resteraunt but definitely a treat. I am and have been very surprised how well both my dc behave in a resteraunt setting. LOL Take 'em to the bank and the get ants in their pants.
My AHA moment came in dealing with my daughter. I told her on Wed. a.m. to go and get me a pretty pink rubber band for her hair. You know the froo froo kind. Well she comes down with a clip it was pink so I send her back up. She comes back down with her red rose one and wants to wear it really bad cuz it is so beautiful Mom. Meantime clock is ticking and so instead of correcting I send her back to do what I told her to |
Yeah I know. So she comes back down with 2 tiny barrettes. I take a deep breath to YELL and then 
Okay Sharon who's fault is this. I did correct her and did remind her that Mommy would not be brushing so fast if she had obeyed the first time. Why did it take me so long? However, I am working on catching MYSELF. I realized those little things we let slide....sighs, sagging shoulders, the "in a minutes" thinking in some cases things could be worse. OR "at least she is doing what I told her" What do you end up with? A snotty kid who no one likes. So if you think of it pray for me to continue with the instant obedience and that I don't slack off.|
Today dh is meeting with the CEO of the company. He has worked for that company for 14 years. He is in the position to have his own branch someday. Right now they will be discussing how and the time line! Praying for him. This would mean really good things for our family financially. I think I am more nervous than him. Of course he spent the weekend and stuff reading up on things and being sleepless. Now my stomach is in a knot! LOL I am even a procrastinator with nerves!!! |
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It is so tough dealing with my niece and nephew right now. They are going through another divorce. |
Of course if my dear sister was walking with the Lord like she knows she should then some of the choices she has made would not end in this result. I have homeschooled my nephew since Kindergarden. He is now in Fourth. Kind of lazy student but when he gets going he is a good student. Right now I have never seen such poor work from him. I let him know that while I don't understand what he is going through I am here but I am not going to let him get a way with bad work. My niece is with me for her second year and is in first. She is just a stinker anyway 
that it would be interesting either way. Many people over the years have applauded me for doing OPC (other people's children) and others have tried to discourage saying I should not allow others into my home like this. I don't think I am doing anything special by hs them. I and my dh believe we should be doing this and have seen some things we don't like but nothing that is not teachable with just one session. However, I am investing in their lives in a different way. They are getting to be in a loving Christian home where the husband and wife love each other. Boy do they watch us! How we speak to each other and treat each other. We knew this would be important for our own dc but never realized how important for them to see it too. It saddens my heart for them, but I continue to pray that God will use this home to witness and show others His love by our love. |
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