Archives for November 2005

Boys and noses

What is it about
little boys sticking things up their noses? My third son did it
for the second time today. The first time he did it he stuck a
bead up his nose. Of course it promptly got stuck. After a
couple hefty blows it was out…thank goodness.

Well tonight he did it again. This time with one of those soft
little balls you get at the craft store. We've been decorating
little Christmas trees and things with them. They're really
tiny. Appropriately enough, it was a green
one, no bigger than the width of a small pencil eraser. Since it
was so soft what does it do but absorb stuff. Nose stuff.
No amount of blowing would get it unstuck. So I just gave up
thinking there was nothing there.
Then
I get a call from the den, “Mom, where's the flashlight?” I
answer and a few minutes later #2 son comes to get me telling me there
really is something in #3 son's nose. I enter the den to find my
husband with a flashlight shining it up #3 son's nose, son is lying on
the couch with a green furry ball thingie so far up in his nose you can
barely see it. So back to the huffing and puffing and
finally…..blam….out it comes….right onto my hand. And of
course it sticks there. What else would it do?

Oh, did I mention that before it was in my kid's nose it was stuck with
Elmer's Glue to the dog's butt?? You think I'm kidding! Not!

BOYS!!!!!!!!!

6 Comments

Posted: November 30, 2005 by Julie |Category: Chuckles | Tags:

BUILDING BRIDGES

This Thanksgiving
weekend we did the normal Thanksgiving thing. It was
wonderful. Good food, good friends, and a wonderful family.
Friday before we ate we spent some time in the back yard…

…trying to decide which tree needed chopping down. (Photo above….men trying to decide upon tree)

A few days ago my oldest son and I chopped down a small tree with a
hatchet. I was concerned about losing digits so I was afraid to
use the ax. I was amazed at how good it felt to chop down a
tree. I think the last time I did that it was with a chainsaw
SEVERAL years ago. I could just see myself dressed Little House
on the Prairie style gathering wood for the morning fire. I AM
WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR!!!

My son and I took turns chopping at the
tree. My four year old even took a couple chops. After a
few burning muscles, a little sweat and a few “ughs” we were rewarded
with the cracking sound of timber falling. It's been a long time
since I heard that sound. It was a very rewarding sound….,the
sound of hard work, of sweat.

Or course we had to have
something creative to do with our newly chopped tree so we decided to
make a bridge over the creek that leads to the woods.

Son #1 on our bridge

Of
course one downed tree led to another. My son and I didn't chop
down all of the trees. My husband helped too. Then Friday
our pastor got to experience the same thing as we added to the
bridge. He was also amazed at how good it felt. Something
about an ax, wood flying and something to show from it when you're done.

We
all got a lot of pleasure out of walking across our bridge once we'd
gotten a few trees in place. Even Little Kitty (he's not so
little, huh?) got a chance to try out our new bridge.

The
smartest one, baby girl, thought staying out of the way was a better
idea. We had such a great time. I found myself very
thankful for the strength to chop wood, and wonderful modern
conveniences like electricity, a warm house and boiling water on a
stove (not the Little House on the Prairie wood stove).

1 Comment

Posted: November 28, 2005 by Julie |Category: Other Happenings | Tags:

GOD’S PROVISION, STARWARS & BAD WORDS

I stayed home from church today while my hubbie went with child # 2 and 3. My friend, Andrea,
had driven in from NC to visit for Thanksgiving so this gave me a
little more time with her and a much needed break from serving, rushing
around to get ready, plus a little down time.

My oldest son
stayed home with me along with the baby. He's been angry lately
for reasons we've yet to uncover and had been acting out this
morning. So I decided to let him stay home with me thinking a
little mommy time was what he might need. Well mommy time turned
into God time as He was so gracious to give me some insight into #1's
anger this morning.

We were writing down the names of children
he'd like to invite to his birthday party when he got very frustrated
saying he couldn't do it and that it had to be perfect. (He'd
messed up on one letter out of 6 names.) This led into no one at
school liking him.

Immediately God quickened my heart to the
lies he was believing. First of all, no one but Jesus was perfect
and second, he could write very well and he has lots of
friends. So, we sat down the pen and paper we went into the
den to snuggle on the couch. This was one of those parenting
moments where I knew I needed to explain a spiritual truth in a way
that was relevant to his world. With a prayer and a quickened
heart I tried to explain the choice we have to believe Satan's lies
about ourselves or to believe God's Truth… kinda like Anakan (sp?) in
StarWars choosing between the dark side and the good side of the force.

I told him that Satan often tell us lies like, “You're stupid” or
“You're no good” or “No one likes you”. His voice is mean,
condemning, very deceptive and often disguised as our own voice or one
of someone claiming to love us or even a friend. He'll use any
voice and any situation to make us feel unworthy.

God's voice,
on the other hand, is uplifting and loving. God tells us things
like “You are special”, “I love you”, “You are my child”. His
voice is often harder to hear because it's softer, more loving.

Two of the words we don't allow our children to say are “butt” and
“stupid”. Something about boys and body parts!!! However,
trying to connect with my sweet 6 year old's way of thinking I came up
with an idea. So here it is. “Son,
you are allowed to say both of these words in this context only.
When you hear Satan telling you things about yourself that make you
feel bad, sad or angry you tell him, 'Satan, you are stupid.
Jesus kicked your butt on the cross and I am not going to believe your lies.'”

I think that's something akin to “Bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” just in 6 year old language!!!

Desiring to raise children in the TRUTH…
julie

3 Comments

Posted: November 27, 2005 by Julie |Category: God Breathed | Our Family, Our Lives | Tags:

For in love we weep with one another

In Memory Of

Emily Anne Roberts

November 4, 2005 -November 23, 2005

God
has blessed me with allowing the Roberts family to come into our lives
through the purchase of our van several months ago. It's
important for me to have our things bless others the way they have
blessed us and so I prayed for the right family to buy our van and God
definitely provided them. Living near Savannah, GA the Roberts
were expecting quadruplets with a toddler already at home. Lisa
ended up delivering very early in a special hospital out west and after
just 19 days with us, Emily Anne Roberts left us to be Jesus.

I sat down at my computer tonight hoping to hear of a miracle, one that
would have kept Emily here, with her parents. However, upon
seeing Phil's email blinking at me in my inbox I knew tonight's email
would bring sad news. I sat, silent, staring at my inbox, knowing
the reality that opening the email would bring. Because I heard
nothing throughout the day I had hopes that God's miracle would be
played out here on earth. Instead his miracle of Emily resides
with HIM tonight. Oh, how my heart weeps for this precious family.
Three of their children … Danielle, Benjamin, and Casey still fight
for their precious lives in the NICU in a hospital somewhere out west.

This family's faith and love for Jesus has been overwhelming. So
many people love this precious family I have only met over the phone
and online. My arms ache to hold them, to give them a hug and
weep with them tonight. I know God sees my tears and they mingle
with the Roberts on behalf of Emily.

HIS ways are not our
own. There are things we will never understand this side of
heaven. But one thing I know for sure. My Jesus loves
us. He has our best interests at heart even when we grieve so
desperately as I know the Roberts must be grieving tonight.

I understand their grief for I too have two precious children waiting
for me in the arms of Jesus. I smile through my tears to think of
them playing with one another at His feet. And it makes me long
for my Saviors arms even more.

Included in the Roberts email tonight were these words of faith, grief and encouragement:

Outside
the hospital, in a beautiful garden in the fresh air and sunshine,
Emily Anne Roberts went from her Mommy and Daddy’s arms into the arms
of Jesus. With no more IVs or tubes, and
wearing a beautiful pink and white dress, she looked at Mommy and Daddy
for a moment before she left this life peacefully, as she heard words
of love and adoration, songs, Scripture and prayers. We
thank the Lord for every moment that we were able to share with her,
and for the prayers of all those who came to love her so quickly, and
through our tears we yearn for the day when we are reunited with her
again.

matthew 6:19-21

we held in our arms a treasure

for a moment yesterday—

her beauty, beyond measure

or words we knew to say

try as we would her life to keep,

this jewel we cannot own;

we smile at her, and softly weep

and know she’s not alone

and though it hurts with all we feel

( this leaving—so abrupt),

we place her where no thief can steal

nor moth or rust corrupt

Jesus, heal our precious child

as we so wanted to—

and till the day we’re reconciled

we lay Emily up with you

Jesus…for the sake of the children….come quickly….Julie

3 Comments

Posted: November 23, 2005 by Julie |Category: God Breathed | Tags:

Lessons Learned from Barbarian Ways

Middle son and Sparky

This was written April 2005. It's a great story so I thought I'd share it with you guys……

You
must have at least a small sense of humor when raising children
otherwise you'll go nuts. Between the constant questions,
repeated answers and “why moms” there are days I wonder how mothers who
have gone before me look in the least bit sane. I find I also
gain a greater appreciation for my mother with each passing day.

This
is the week I decided to go and visit a friend who lives about 6 hours
away at the beach. I had originally planned to go by myself with
our four children but my husband decided to come along at the last
minute. How I thought I’d make the trip by myself is beyond me
but I guess if you’re going to dream it’s important to dream
big!!

What prompted me to write today was an incident that happened even
before we left the house this morning. I still chuckle thinking
about it. But let me start at the beginning…

About 3 months ago when I realized my husband and I were probably
finished having children I decided I needed some other kind of baby so
I began looking at puppies. We have three boys ages 6,5,3 and a
daughter who just turned 10 months old, 2 cats, and 1 fish. We’ve
had as many as 10 fish but for some reason I kill all but one.
God must know too much even when I don’t.

I remember
thinking that certainly a cute little puppy would fill that baby void I
was already beginning to feel. Our daughter was already beginning
to crawl, cruise and utter words like, “Dada, Ma-Ma, Dis and
bye-bye”. By the beginning of February when she had turned 8
months I was just searching for an excuse to buy a puppy. I
stopped by our local pet store several times, talked myself out of a
dog and then left only to return again a few days later to see what
else had arrived.

One evening as my husband left for a business trip I gathered the kids
in the car to “just go look” at the puppies at the pet store.
Seriously!! No more than an hour later we were the proud owners
of a Feist/long hair Chihuahua mix my 5 year old promptly named
Sparky. My excuse – his birthday was only a few weeks away.
Sparky has turned out to be a delightful little dog but I’m quickly
learning the disadvantages as well as the advantages of having a small
dog.

This morning after packing for 4 children and myself I help my husband
load the car then get all four kids into their car seats. (No small
feat!) I then turn to look for Sparky. She usually comes when I
call her although she isn't alway in a mood to cooperate and be
persuaded into the car or the house when she’d rather be outside.
So this morning she was in one of her favorite places enjoying the
spring day underneath our gazebo. It’s a great cool, dark place
that our cat used to inhabit before a little black and white 7-pound
dog took over his world. I called for her several times and she
would peep her head out from underneath the gazebo totally content with
being in a spot where she thought herself completely
unobtainable. So I grab the broom and whisk it around underneath
trying to convince her that coming out really was a good idea.

Now my husband and four children are sitting in our van watching me and
I could only imagine what my husband was thinking….“ And she had to
have a dog!!” or “I wonder what dog tastes like on the
BBQ?” After a few minutes of watching my antics with Sparky
my husband hops out of the car and marches inside the house. I
was only half paying attention to him until I saw him walking across
the lawn towards me with a bottle rocket and a lighter in hand.
Normally my husband’s barbarian ways only cause me to shake my head in
bewilderment but this particular morning he was more like my
savior. Laughing at the mental picture that was forming in my
head I smiled and graciously stepped aside.

After securing the bottle rocket into the ground so it wouldn’t
actually go under the gazebo, just blast off while staying in the
ground beside it, my husband stoops to light the thing. By this
point most of our family is out of the van or watching from the car
window. As we stand with fingers stuck in our ears the
unexpecting Sparky hears “BBLLAAMM” as sparks fly in random fashion
into the air and fall upon the ground. She shot out from
underneath the gazebo like a greased watermelon in a pool on the 4^th
of July. Scared but perfectly okay she sits in the backseat as we
pull out of the driveway. And I chuckle as I think this time we
can certainly “Chalk one up for dad!!!!”

Boo hoo hoo!

My first TWO piggie tails!!

I have to admit my ever increasing blogging slump! UGH….

I sit down with the wittiest intentions and a desire to make others laugh like JUNOSMOM or TC
but nothing comes. (Where do you guys get this stuff???) My
head is filled with spiderwebs. I search the homeschoolblog
community for inspiration and end up closing the computer in
desperation. What happened to all that was once swirling around
in my head??

It's frustrating at best. I've changed templates three times hoping it would inspire me. NOTHING.

I look back on my day for something witty. NOTHING.

Yesterday was filled with an 18 month old with a fever and a newly
found milk allergy puking all over me and my 4 year old, a 7 year old
NOT making it to the bathroom on time, 3 of my 4 children deciding to
make the bathroom a swimming pool (at different times) and one who
thought black acrylic paint really was the color I should paint the
kitchen table, and hardwood floor, and the kitchen faucet, and bathroom
counter, AND the mirror. All the while I've got about 10 people
and their children expected for a bible study at 6pm. Aren't I
supposed to be spiritually minded or at least cheery? Oh, did I
mention my husband was out of town?? You get the picture??

I even sat and took pictures of birds on the birdfeeder day before
yesterday and didn't get one good photo. (Don't laugh Nancy!!)

Where has my creativity gone? I'm beginning to think it's missing just like TN3JCARTER
went missing a couple weeks ago. I'm so thankful her husband found
her!! If anyone's seen a brain running around full of wonderful
ideas it belongs to me!!! It may come when beckoned if you have a
fist full of chocolate. Desperate measures may need to be taken
so have plenty!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And sometimes I think…..”Who are
you trying to please, Julie?” Maybe it's you guys instead of
Jesus. Maybe my intentions are misguided….”Oh, Father…fill my
thoughts with your thoughts. Let this be about you and not me.”

Julie

2 Comments

Posted: November 21, 2005 by Julie |Category: Other Happenings | Tags:

Life in the fast lane…

Do you ever feel like that's
the way we live? No wonder so many of us struggle to hear God's
voice. We have to be still and quiet to hear His whispers of love
to our souls. “I love you. You are mine. I created
you. I know everything about you and still you are the very
essence of Christ to me.”

AHHH…..
Now I can write.

This
week we decided to turn off the TV. I've felt for a long time
that our lives would be better without it. I think I could drop
all of them off our bedroom balcony (well, it's a deck but balcony
sounded better) and never miss them. I'm not sure my husband
would agree, especially during football season. You see, he's
just sure there will be football in heaven and he'll get to be
quarterback. He LOVES college football.

But we've
had a few discipline problems that really encouraged us to do a little
“outside the box” thinking. So, we turned off the TV. None
before school. None after school. None, period.

And
you know what? I think we've stumbled onto something. I'm
convinced the TV sucks what good sense God gave my children right out
of their brains. It leaves them disobedient, agressive and
robotic. Monkey see, monkey do.

Now you may think we've
not monitored what our children watch very closely, but we have.
And still…..monkey syndrome. So this week we decided good
behavior earns TV but not until the end of the week, Saturday.
It's been amazing at how much more involved we've become in their lives
and how much better theire behavior has been. There has been less
fighting, more playing, less aggression, less hitting, more reading and
more good old fashion family time.

When we lived in KY we lived next door to the Carters (tn3jcarter).
They always had the TV on. Since moving to the country they've
put away the TV and adopted more pleasurable things (read her blog at tn3jcarter).
Since we still keep in touch I've gotten to hear about the changes in
their family but just haven't been brave enough to try it yet.

I think I've been afraid I'll miss something. WHAT??

But,
I knew it would happen. God's been convicting me for a
while. We've had such a great week as a family that I am ready to
throw all the TVs off the balcony….my hubbie says I just have to wait
until after the IRON BOWL tomorrow (that's the Auburn vs Alabama
college football game).

I really think we're onto something here!!!
Adios televisionitis!!
Julie

5 Comments

Posted: November 18, 2005 by Julie |Category: Our Family, Our Lives | Tags:

God’s Creatures

This is so amazing…

A friend emailed this to me today. I just had to share it.
God never ceases to amaze me with HIS wonderful creation. Clink
on the link below for a wonderful photo documentary of baby
hummingbirds being born, nurtured, and taking flight.

http://community-2.webtv.net/velpics/HUM

Enjoy!!
Julie

6 Comments

Posted: November 16, 2005 by Julie |Category: God Breathed | Tags:

Home Made Christmas Gifts

This
year we've decided to home make all of our gifts. It's been fun
to find the crafts I think will be fun for the kids. And it's
been a lot of fun making the ones we've done so far. Family Fun
has a great website with wonderful craft ideas. Do you guys know
of anymore??

One we've decided to do this year…
I
purchased some of the clear flat marbles and then printed pictures of
the kids on and hot glued them on the back. Then added a
magnet. They are so cute. We even decorated some as funny
faces, reindeer and added things like JESUS ROCKS behind some of them.

I've included a few samples and the way we're making the photo magnets. They were harder to photograph then the others.

Hope
this gives you a couple ideas. The glass beads were 1.99 at Hobby
Lobby. The magnets I got at Walmart for less then 3.00 and the
rest is home made things we had laying around the house and of course
I've used the computer and printer. Have fun.

Send me your ideas!!!

Julie

“brushing teefies”

Well, my toddler has finally discovered running water, the toothbrush
drawer and how to unscrew the top off of toothpaste. Thankfully
she still comes to find me saying “UNH” which means 50 different things
depending upon the situation. In this one it means she wants
toothpaste on the toothbrush having yet to figure out squeezing
achieves the desired results (thank you GOD). You really must
have mommy ESP to understand such complicated communication. We
must all have super intelligent kids. (smile)

Speaking
of intelligence, I've convinced my 6,5,4 year old boys that God gave me
three eyes in the back of my head they can't see. Only God and
mom know they are there. They believe it!
How AWESOME!!!!

After seeing Chicken Little (real cute) today with all of them I've got
more ammunition since the “aliens” in the movie are fuzzy little mop
head looking things with three big eyes. They also only come out
when necessary so sometimes you only see one eye.
My kids don't stand a chance!!!