Entering the Next Chapter

Dear Friday,  Today feels like a lazy day. I can't believe you are already here and with you, you bring the end of August.  Dear Hubby,  I am so thankful that you are stepping up and getting a second job. I will miss the time we get together and fear that we will be passing ships in the night. I love you.  Dear Financial Struggles,  I don't think that you will ever go away, but at least you could back off a little bit. I am trying to give you to God but often find myself picking you back up, along with the anxiety you bring.  Dear Abbie,  We found out so much about you health that we didn't know, but don't let it cause you fear. God is in control. He made your body and He will protect it. I am so proud of how much you have been learning. I also love spending so much time with you and teaching you.  Dear Elizabeth,  Thank you for sleeping through the night last night. You have been so needy and jealous of your big sister but it will be ok. I love you both th

So many Christian's face the times when the fire in our hearts begins to die down and the overwhelming feelings of emptiness and sadness  begins to grow. We begin to drown in the mundane. As a wife and a mother, I often struggle with this. I am constantly trying to keep up with the cooking, cleaning, diaper changing, laundry, and the budget. It feels like a never ending cycle of stress and constant disappointment. The days melt together and the hours pass by slowly. I begin to feel robotic and even though there are no major things I am completing I am constantly and completely emotionally and physically drained. So often we can get distracted by everyday things such as work, family, and financial stressors. We lose a piece of the fire we once had that burned so bright for God and we sacrifice our time with God but save time for mind numbing activities, such as watching junk on television.  I remember being first saved. I remember the feeling of being unstoppable with God on my si

Dear Friday, I am so glad to see you again. Tomorrow is our anniversary. Today is also payday and you know I love that. Dear Pay Check, Please be enough to cover most of the bills. At least the important ones like internet.. I don't know how long I can survive without the ability to blog. Dear Ion Television, Thank you for playing so many of the shows I love. Especially the way you play multiple shows in a row. Dear Criminal Minds, I think you are becoming one of my new "go to" shows.  I am very confused by the obvious sexual harassment. I guess it isn't considered sexual harassment when it is Shemar Moore doing it. Need I say more? Dear Eb, I am so tired of you refusing to sleep and crying all night. Dear Hubby, Happy Anniversary baby.

Amy had two best friends. She was extremely close to both of her friends and she wouldn't dare to choose one over the other. Both of her friends were selected to represent their school in a statewide spelling bee. She helped both of her friends to study and to practice. She encouraged both friends to continue working hard. As they competed against the other schools they were successful at taking down the competition. One by one, the other schools were knocked out of the running until only Amy's two friends stood standing. Amy was so excited for her friends until suddenly a knot grew in her stomach at the realization that her friends were competing against each other. The next day as she was sitting in the auditorium she watched on in a nervous silence. When one of the friends beat the other and became state wide champion she was put in an uncomfortable position. How could she be a good friend to both girls at the same time? She had to  find a way to celebrate one of her friend&

Dear Friday,  This week has been amazing. I am glad you are here and feel like time will go much faster.  Dear Abbie,  I am so proud of you. You have done amazing at school this week. I had so much fun homeschooling. I don't know why I was so nervous. You are an amazing big sister. I love watching you cuddle with Elizabeth. She is so lucky to have you.  Dear Weather,  Wow... all I can say is thank you. It has been so much nicer outside. It gets warm but I can't complain about it. I was told that we were done with the triple digits.  Dear Sonlight Curriculum,  You are amazing. It is so complete and well organized. I am also glad that you discuss God in each subject.  Dear House,  I told you I would take care of you. I have kept you in order for a couple weeks now. I still need to attack the basement but still I am so proud to show you off now.  Dear Eb,  I think it is so sweet that you are starting to say "Thank you" and "Bless y

╰☆╮ First let me apologize in advance... I have recently found some new emoticons that I can use on here to add a little umph to my posts. Since this is the first time finding them I might over use them a bit... I guess this is an apology and a warning. They are really cute. ╰☆╮ For those who know me, I have always struggled with organizing and cleaning. When I am faced with a mess I just stand staring at it feeling overwhelmed. I have a hard time doing anything because I can't figure out where to start. When I was a child I would be sent to my room to clean and several hours later I would get in trouble for having not finished anything. The other problem I have is focus. I can get really easily distracted sometimes. As I clean I end up looking at ever paper and getting sucked into a entirely different train of thought. I feel like the dogs on the movie "UP" who get side tracked every time they see a squirrel.  Recently, I began reading and doing the whole Flylady th

I wanted to start by saying that this was inspired by MooCow's Desserts ... It isn't a copy of what she made but I liked the idea of having a center piece and cupcakes. I am not sure how she made hers and even designed it differently but I do want to give her credit for making beautiful cakes and cupcakes.  Minnie Mouse Center Piece and cupcakes...  Things you need to make the Minnie mouse cake: Rice Krispies ingredients: Bag of marshmallows, butter, rice krispies cereal,  a large pot, and a greased spoon. Cupcake recipe: Box of cake mix, eggs, oil, water, cupcake pan, Cupcake paper, can of strawberry frosting, can of vanilla frosting.  Design recipe: Large greased bowl, parchment paper, fondant, marshmallows, rolling pin, black food coloring paint, black food coloring, new child's paint brushes, and cherry kool-aid (or red food coloring). I started by making the rice krispies and had a greased bowl ready to fill for the head. I also layer some out flat

As a child, I had two dreams of careers that I had wanted. The first one was to be a writer, I love the process of putting the pen to paper and letting the words flow from the tip of the pen onto the paper. I loved using my words to create an atmosphere and a mood. I loved pulling others into my world, into my head, and through the adventure of emotions. Like a roller coaster, I was able to pull others through the highs of excitement and down to the lowest darkest parts of myself. My second dream was to become a massage therapist. I began giving back massages to my father, uncles, and grandpa's. I had very strong hands, so strong that I actually bruised one of my uncles shoulders from the deep tissue massage... don't feel bad for him I had asked him to tell me if it began to hurt. In school I combined my two loves and wrote an essay about my love for massage therapy and won a scholarship. With the money I paid for classes in Reiki.  When I was in sixth grade I began to notic

Dear Summer, While I enjoyed the time, I am so glad that you are over. The faster you left the sooner we can get back to my favorite weather, anything not hot.  Thank you for going quickly. Dear Jenaye and David, I had so much fun watching you guys this summer. You are both so well behaved. I feel like I have adopted another daughter and son. I hope that we get to spend more time together. I am so proud of you both and know that you will do great in school this year. Dear House, I told you I would work on you. Don't you feel so much better now that you are nice and clean? I know that I will have to keep up the cleaning but I am up for the task. Dear Abbie, I am so excited about starting homeschool on Monday. I know that you can focus and work and will learn so much. I am excited about all the time we get to spend together. I love you. Dear Eb, How was your first week as a one year old? I hope you enjoy your party tomorrow. As for these little fits, you can stop the

I don't need to envision the warmth of the sun and the cool waves washing up from the ocean. The soft sand between my toes. No thank you... my happy place is a place of inner warmth. The cool crisp air outside with the scent of leaves. The oranges and reds of the leaves floating onto the ground from the trees. Until I have that, I will make believe by turning my home into my happy place.  The slight crackle of the needle brushing along the Vinyl's surface. The smooth voices of the past serenade filling the room with a presence unlike modern music. Christmas songs transforming the room into a time and a place of peace and family warmth. The soft pulsing glow of the candle and the scent of a fresh evergreen tree bring back memories of childhood. This is my happy place. 

Dear Friday,    I am so glad you are here again. When I see you, I feel like I have seen an old friend. I can let my hair down and relax. I can breath again and just enjoy the day. At the same time I realize our time together will not last forever. I have missed you. Sadly next time we see each other will be the end of summer. Today is a big day for us.  Dear Elizabeth,   Happy Birthday baby girl. I love you so much. One year ago today we got to meet you face to face. I am so proud of how much you are learning and how obedient you are becoming. Your personality is shining through. You are loving and yet so independent. I know that you think that you are five years old just because you have an amazing seven year old sister. I hope we can have a great day today. I love you so so much.   Dear Abbie,     I love you. I am so proud of what a wonderful big sister you are and have become. You are the best helper in the entire world. You help me with so much  around the house. You ar

I don't think I have ever had writers block. I can usually come up with some sort of topic or idea to go off of. In marriage counseling one of our pastors gave us a writing exercise. When I heard his words I was immediately filled with joy. "Write a letter to God about your spouse. Your spouse will not read it. I will be the one reading both. Pour out your heart to God about the other person. God already knows all you are thinking and feeling so be honest." This sounded like a great exercise until he said, " I expect your letter to be more than ten pages." At that moment you could hear a pin drop, or more accurately both of our chins. Honestly, I don't think I have ten pages of stuff to write. Of course, I can rehash the past and things that have happened but even that wouldn't be honest, since I have already forgiven him for those things. When speaking to my hubby, we both freely admitted that ten pages seemed like a little much. I thought that even tw