My Wake Up Call

I read THIS blog this morning and it was exactly what I needed to read. It is a great reminder for us wives and mothers. Too many days I go about my day being selfish and thinking about what I deserve and what my family should do to help me. Don't get me wrong I am always doing things for my family, but is it enough and where is my heart when I am doing it. Am I doing it because I HAVE to or because I want to, because I desire to serve them? We must get to the point that we die to ourselves daily and truly become a Living Sacrifice to Him and our families and then to the lost and dying world. We must remember that our ministries begin at home and if we aren't fulfilling that ministry and doing it in a way that is worthy of the calling he placed on us when He called us to be wives and mothers then we have no business beginning ministries in other areas. This is definitely a call to action, a reminder to turn back to where I once was before I let busyness get in the way. I pray it speaks to others of you as much as it has spoken to me this morning. Thank you my Jesus for your ever so gentle wake up calls. What a faithful and loving Father you are!Read

Catching Up

I've been a little AWOL on the blog front lately. In all honesty I am working on being on the computer less. My Facebooking got more than a little out of hand. Now that it's fall, I start thinking about Christmas and I also like to crochet when it's cool out. So, instead of spending time on the computer I am working on catching up on some projects. I had several things started from last year so I decided that I would not start any new crochet projects until I finished my unfinished ones. Right now I have a cute little yellow baby afghan that I'm keeping in the van so I can work on it while we ride and when I have sitting time while we are out, like my free hour at co-op and while I wait on the girls at dance. I should be finished with it soon. I also have some granny squares that someone gave me, so as I sit and watch TV I'm working on stitching them all together. They are large, so it isn't taking very long and I am halfway through. I should finish that one today. I'm also helping Kelsi with a scarf and teaching Keeli to crochet. I made on crocheted dishcloth and am either going to teach the girls to do them or do a few more myself. I like the look of them and have heard that they work well. When I finish all of this I have a boy baby afghan that I started last year and plan to finish.

I also have some embroidery and work to catch up on and we are working on getting and keeping the house really clean so we won't have to do a mad dash cleaning before we leave for Orlando.

We have some fun things planned for this fall. We are going camping, helping with a major Harvest outreach at our church, going on vacation with friends to Orlando and planning Thanksgiving in Montgomery with Patrick's extended family. Usually we stay here or go to Mobile and have dinner with mostly just his immediate family. We're looking forward to seeing those that we don't often see.

I'll try to keep you updated with what we are accomplishing and maybe even post some pictures as I complete some items.

The Beauty of a Two Bathroom Household

When we first got married we lived in an apartment that only had one bathroom. No biggie though because we did not yet have any children that lived with us. Just after our first anniversary we bought our first home. It was a small home, but was brand new and had a big yard. We lived there for 8 years and really outgrew it, so we moved. We really didn't want to spend much more money, but wanted to increase our home size and move closer to family. So we traded a nice new small house with a big yard to a much larger old house (a definite fixer upper) with a small yard. We upgraded in size and downgraded in features, no central heat and air and only one bathroom. The one bathroom thing has not really been that bad. You figure out the logistics of it fairly quickly. There are only occasional issues. But here's the thing, in our old house we had two bathrooms, one of which was off of our bedroom. So, when I had a long day and needed to escape, I would go in my room and lock the door, then go in the bathroom and lock the door, turn on some music, light a candle and take a long hot bath. In this house we have only one bathroom which is off of the kitchen, you know the room that is the hub of the house. No matter what I do I can hear every noise that is going on in the entire house while I'm in there. I have almost exclusively only taken showers since we have lived here. I think I may go crazy if we do not figure out a way for me to have a peaceful getaway within our home. I'm here with these people and these pets and all of my responsibilities (housework, schoolwork , work-work, church work) day in and day out. What's a girl gotta do to get a bath?!?!?!?

Calgon take me away......................................................