My Flesh

My flesh is so strong and my faith so weak at times....sometimes I still get selfish and bitter....mostly when sleep is involved! Here's how it all played out...Sat. night, around 3:30 my 3yr old woke me up by poking me and telling me the monster in his room "made-ed" him sick....I thought he was being a silly 3 yr old & I put him back to bed. An hour later he woke up and was suffering from his asthma and had a high fever! 3 more kids woke up sick with fever and headaches. The day was long...Rob & I didn't feel well either. That night (Sunday) was awful! I was up 2 times with Savannah....2 times with Kate, 1 time with Ty, and about a hundred times with Colton, and up with the dog. Not to mention all the times I just checked on them all. I am their mom...this is my God given job. At this point I was starting to get REALLY tired and REALLY grumpy....especially at that big guy snoring next to me! Was any of this my husbands fault? No! Was it his fault he didn't hear any of this "action" through the night? No! Could I have simply woken him up to ask for some help? Yes! He would have done so gladly. But instead....I fed my flesh. I got mad, and selfish, and greedy....God got a hold of me though :0) He is faithful! As I laid there (everyone settled in for the night at about 4:00 am, and I get up for the day at 4:30 am!) I looked at the love of my life and God helped my heart soften to my situation...and I was no longer angry....tired, yes....angry, no! I realized I love that my kids want ME when they are sick...my heart would be twice as broken and hurt if they wanted anyone else! I am blessed to be young and able to go with little sleep. It took all of that just to see what God was showing me....

My kids are all better now...and we are all caught up on our sleep! Life is normal again :0)

Mommy Moments

Mommy moments....ahh....there are many! I LOVE being a mommy, it's the best thing I have ever been a part of! I feel so blessed to have 7 great kids so far. God is good! With that being said...I thought I would give you a glimpse into my "mommy moments".....my real life.

The things I say the most are:

1. I love you

2. great job!

3. good morning....did you pee your pants? always said in the same breath....always fearing the answer!

4. Did that come from your nose?

5. Go wash your hands....don't touch anything on your way to the sink!

6. What are you eating and where did you find it? Oh...spit it out....NOW!

7. Ash, Ty, Vanna, Kyara, Cyle, Kate...I mean COLTON! Sad, but true, I cannot remember my own children's names. The one who's name I am trying to remember and say just stands there watching all their siblings come out of the woodwork to see what I want...while they patiently wait for me to remember their name.

8. Get out of the garden

9. Can I pray with you?

10. Come give your mama a big hug! Always said with a smile!

Some of the crazy things I do during my "mommy moments" are:

1. forgetting to do a headcount until we are 10 minutes away from home...then we turn around and get missing oldest child...

2. forget to ask if everyone has shoes on until we are well on our way....I think this is a ploy for them to get new shoes!

3. One time we had a man from church over for dinner and we sat down, prayed, and began our meals...a few minutes passed and we realized we forgot to give the man a plate of food!

4. standing next to any given child, having a conversation, and then yell thier name for them to come to you...yup, they are standing right next to me already...why in the world can't I remember these people! LOL....just kidding...I know very well who they are....lol

5. We sing before we eat breakfast....we sing "This is the day"

6. We love to have our children pray for our meals, not just Daddy

7. We don't "do" any youth programs at church....well, we do the Christmas play and Sunday School....but that's it.

8. We all cram in ONE small tent when we camp....children wake up ontop of each other...sometimes with a foot in thier face or an elbow in their eye....makes em' closer, right?

9. We give lots & lots of hugs at our house

10. It's nothing to find us running around our yard acting like goobers with our kids....life is FAR too short to be serious all the time!

Hope you enjoyed a small glimpse into my life as a mommy...I cherish each of these moments...what are some of yours?

How It Went Down & a Sad Story With A Happy Ending

Ok...so thanks to you all for your tips on grocery shopping!! Here's what i did...I made complete lists of what we eat for all meals...like, meatloaf, homemade bread & beans....I listed meals for all 3 meals, snacks & desserts. I picked a menu from my list, and made a grocery list from my menu! Simple & effective! I got no weird stuff...just stuff that was actually needed for the week! I tried really hard to think of everything we had going on through the week, when we were going to have company, be busy, have a vet appt...things like that. I set a budget...I did go over a bit...but I was still happy! Each week will get easier, I'm sure! So...now I know what meals I am going to make & I don't have to annoy my family with the QUESTION...you know the one, "what should we have for dinner???"! I even planned snacks! I'm sure this is second nature to some for you...but like I said before...it has been a thorn in my side for 13 years!

Now for the sad story....

the cat pictured above was Ty's beloved cat, Nala. She was a stray cat that found us 7 years ago. She and Ty were BEST friends! I have honestly never seen a human/animal relationship like the one they had. Yesterday morning at 5:15 I was walking out to the car with Rob and we were actually talking about how much the cat loved Ty, because we saw the cat across the road. Keep in mind, we live way out in the sticks, every one's animals roam freely. Well, as soon as we said that a truck went whizzing by and hit the cat...killing it. It was so sad. Ty was DEVASTATED. Long story short...we got a number from my MIL of an old lady who had a kitten dropped off at her trailer in town and she had to get rid of it. We called and went to see it. She is so cute and SMALL, She can't even be 6 weeks old. Her name is Ally and she is the newest member of our family! She's so sweet and we love her. We are really missing Nala, but this has helped the kids some.

Another bit of sad news....I have had my dog, Casey, for 14 years...he is starting to loose his functions. We are going to the vet tonight to see what can be done for him. We are hoping he will be able to take a pill to control his bladder, but we need to check on his overall health. Please pray for us today, he goes to the vet at 3:30.

There always seems to be so much going on....but I feel so blessed to be able to see God's Hand in it all. I watched yesterday as God put amazing people and events into ty's life yesterday to just encompass him in love....like this, the McDonalds cashier couldn't find the toy Ty wanted with his Mighty Kids meal (grandma & grandpa ttok him to lunch) so he bought him a hot fudge sundae from his own pocket! God's grace is amazing....all the time.

My Current Issue

Ok.... my current issue is this....where and how to buy my groceries! I had been doing my food shopping at Sam's Club & I LOVE it. BUT...it's an hour away, and a HUGE inconvenience to get there...even doing "click & pull", and since they don't have everything I need, I'm still forced to go to Walmart through each week. I feel like I don't have any "control" or organization in the food department as of late. I think a lot has to do with Ashley starting to prepare a lot of foods and meals...so she may use something that I had bought for another reason, and then we end up with random things in the pantry! My pantry is big and has lots of shelves, it's not beautiful, but very functional...so I have room, that's not the issue.

So, what am I going to do? Today I organized & cleaned the pantry...put like things in labeled bins...that was fun! I am even having a bin for ingredients that are "saved" for something I want to make. I have a bin for "lunch extras", "snacks", & much more! I am thrilled! But, as thrilled as I am with the pantry, I still have to keep it full....which means food shopping. Where shall I go? What type of plan will I have? How much should I budget a week? (I have never had a food budget, but think I want to) Should I menu plan? I have some different ideas floating around my head....this issue has been a thorn in my side for 13 years! What do you do?? PLEASE help me! LOL

What's Been Going On Around Here

We had some pretty wicked storms a few weeks ago, which left us with trees to cut up and brush to drag (through shin deep wet manure, I might add! UGH) and fences to repair. The storm also fried tons of our electronics....including our computer. We have now fixed the computer and are back up and running. Other than that...we have just been busy living life :0) Summer fun!

The boys have had fun fishing with an older neighbor man. He calls and says "I wanna take the boy fishing"...and then we figure our which boy that would be! LOL....they have a great time of fellowship!!

Playing hide and seek.....you'll never see them hiding....in plain sight....in the hay! LOLJust being silly! Life is just too much fun to be serious all the time, right!

Making and eating yummy treats....and then texting daddy the pictures to make him jealous....heheheHaving dance parties!

Life is good! I'm not sure how much I will be posting anymore...it's been on my heart for a while. I'm just praying and waiting for direction. Time suckers, I must be careful about time suckers...these kiddos deserve my full attention...and hey, who would want to be stuck to a computer while all this fun was happening?? Not me! Go enjoy your day & have some fun!