Hubby, Hubby, Oh My Hubby:-)

In my previous post I mentioned that Hubby, doesn't put up his clean folded clothes, and this is a source of great aggravation for me. What I forgot to mention, however, is that he does a great job cleaning up other things. He mops, he vacuums and he dust the furniture, and sometimes he washes the clothes. (He looks pretty sexy doing it, by the way.)

Anyway, I forgot to mention that he does these wonderful things for me. So even though, he may not put up his clothes, he does do so much more for me. I was just aggravated that day, because I saw the stack of folded clothes that I had placed in a nice neat spot 2 weeks before, and I got peeved. But in a moment of GREAT aggravation, I forgot that he does help me so much.

Hubby told me please be sure to let everyone know that I do a lot of stuff around the house for you. So I need to clear the air and soothe his feelings:-)

Hope ya'll are all having a great week. The kids are coming to visit for the week, they will be at the house tomorrow night. Please pray that we will have a great week together.

In Christ,

I'm Wondering, Is It Just Me or What?

I have a wonderful Husband. He makes me laugh, I enjoy hearing him laugh, and he has a thousand other qualities I love, but he aggravates me. And here's why, oh my goodness....I gather up his dirty clothes, sometimes off the floor, maybe he has a few in the hamper, off the bathroom floor. I put them in the washer, move them over to the dryer, or hang them to dry if they need that. I take them out of the dryers, fold them up, carry them into the bedroom, and place them neatly on the bed or even in a nice stack in the closet floor on his side. All that is required of him is to hang them up or put them away in a drawer.

Here is the aggravation. He doesn't put them up......What's up with that? So do I put them up too? Do I just leave them there, or have a argument about it. I'm telling you, sometimes he worse than the kids. I would love to have someone, totally do all that for me.

I have a wonderful Husband. He makes me laugh, I enjoy hearing him laugh, and he has a thousand other qualities I love, but he aggravates me. I'm just saying...............I guess this is marriage :-)

I'm the Tie Dye Queen!!!

As you all know, I have been trying to keep the kids busy and not bored. While I was at Wal-greens, (of all places) I came up with a project idea. They had t-shirts on sale for 2 bucks a piece. So I got everyone a white t-shirt and then went to Wal-mart and got some Rit dye. I bought orange, royal blue and purple. I got a bag of rubber bands and some rubber gloves.

I got home and told everyone we were going to tie dye t-shirts, the next day. Niko, (bless his heart) told me "we need to get Daddy to down load some 60's and 70's music on the computer, so we can play it while we dye our shirts. You know that's a hippy thing?" I chuckled and told him, yes I know, and that he could ask his Daddy to do that.

I had 5 t-shirts all together. That was enough for our 3 kids and me and 1 neighbor kid. Hubby had to run out and grab another one. They all turned out so great. after they all dried, the girls all wrote on each others shirt with a permanent marker.

We BBQ'd and roasted marshmallows afterwards. The kids went home Wednesday morning and Hubby and I were beat. We spent as much time with them as we possibly could. Thanks for all your prayers!

Game Night!!

Last night we broke out the games. It was the kids idea. First we played Apples to Apples. It's a really fun game with a lot of friendly debating going on. Then we played Yahtzee. Girls against the boys. GIRLS WON!! :-)

I don't know about you, but I'm having a hard time seeing boredom around here!

A Day of Beauty at the Mall

I am constantly searching for fun things to do with complaining teenagers, that doesn't cost me a fortune. I've had to dig deep back into my mind and search for things my Mama did with my sister and me. Then, by happenstance, I got a great idea.

Saturday morning, I was in my bedroom getting dressed and all the sudden I had an audience, (the girls) asking all kinds of hair and makeup questions. Their Mom doesn't wear makeup, so when they are with me, the always want to get in my stuff and play around. I got to digging around and found some stuff I had bought but never used. I gave them that makeup, but then that brought on more questions. "What colors would look good on us?" Since they have beautifully tanned skin and I freckle and am fair skinned, I had no idea what colors, would look best on them.

I had an idea......let's go to the mall and get a makeup consultation, so we can know what colors you need to use. We went to the Clinique counter, and had a very sweet and helpful young lady named Jennifer, help us. She showed them the best ways to apply eyeshadow and eyeliner to accent their hazel eyes. (I have blue) They were on cloud nine.

I hit the jackpot with that idea. I bought them one duo eyeshadow apiece and scheduled a skin care consult for their next weekend visit.

Things are going pretty well. It's amazing to me how I know that I shouldn't worry about things such as the kids, and I shouldn't try to be in control of situations. God is in control and I should trust Him enough to take care of things. But sometimes, I fail in this area. But Friday night after a much stressful afternoon, with the kids, I had a little quite time and once again, gave all my worries and concerns up the One who cares more about me than any other. Jesus, precious Jesus. How He loves me. Every since then, I have had total peace and the kids have been wonderful. I truly stand amazed in God's Splendor and Grace.

Thanks so much for all your prayers, please continue to pray for all of us as a family.

In Christ Love,

It's Amazing How Much Fun You Can Have When You Just Put Your Mind To It!

Despite previous moaning and groaning, fun does seem to find us. The girls and the neighborhood friend are buddies now. They spent the entire day together yesterday. They even had a sleepover.




Amber, who has a very creative imagination, got us all into a fun thing. What we did, was write letters into "Ask Amber" (our advice columnist) and she, in turn, gave us advice on how to handle our "teenage" problems. Wow, I had to do some thinking and dredge up some memories. Ha! But we all had a great time doing it. Even Dad played along. We had big laughs. I took a few pictures.

I don't know if you can pick up that we are all having fun. But we are :-)



I hope everyone is having a great day. Thanks for all the prayers. Also please pray for little Ryan. You can read all about his story here Murry Mayhem. Please take a little time out today to say a prayer for Ryan and his family. God can heal. He hears us and He does answer our prayers.


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In Christ,

I'm sooo Bad!! But You Do Whatcha Gotta Do Right!!

As I mentioned yesterday, the kids are here for a whole week. The girls ages 12 and 13 have been moping around. Telling me constantly that they are bored. Anytime I have suggested anything to do it's been "lame". I have been thinking about just going to my room and closing the door and staying there until they leave. But, I then thought, that's not really such a good plan, no matter how appealing it may seem! Not very grown up either. (hey I have moments ok)Ha!!

Anyway, I called my friend and neighbor, Nikki, she lives in my neighborhood, just a street over. She has a daughter that is 12 too. (we have tried, unsuccessfully, to get the kids all together before). Anyway, her daughter is very outgoing and really fun. Nikki, suggested, how about I send her over with a couple of her friends and they all go to the park or something? That sounded great to me. (but I didn't tell anyone at my house about this plan) Pretty sneaky huhhh!! (I was afraid of more drama and wailing that they don't want to meet anyone new, blahh, blah, blah) You wouldn't believe the drama those 2 can come up with.

So about 15 minutes ago, they came over, (I was worried that our girls would refuse to go and possibly be rude) That's happened before. Anyway, not so today. (I did shoot a pray up before the arrived) Off they all headed. I gave the girls some money and suggested they go get a Slurpee. Hopefully, I did the right thing and got them out of the house and making new friends. (you may remember, that their Mom tells my Hubby, they don't want to be here because they have no friends, and are bored).

On to other things. We got a call from the adoption agency. We have an orientation meeting in August. In the state of Illinois, you have to have a license to adopt or foster. So we are moving along in that front. My prayer has been, that the Holy Spirit will begin to work, in the lives of all people involved, and lead us to the child God wants us to have. We are willing to take a sibling group. I worry about Hubby's children, that they might not like this idea, we have discussed adoption with them before. But I still worry. (I know that's a sin) I am working on that!!

I hope everyone has a great Thursday.

In Christ Love,

I Think I need to See a Shrink!! Mark my Words, I'm gonna go Crazy....

Ok, this post will be a little bit of a rant. As you may remember, Hubby's ex has not brought the children for visitation 3 times. (that in itself is a whole other post). She hasn't returned any of his calls. It's like they all fell of the face of the earth. Except we have been communicating with the kids on the computer. But other than that, nothing. No commucation at all. Because all of our calls aren't returned.

Suddenly, Sunday afternoon, we get a call. I about fell over backwards, when I noticed it was HER number on the caller ID. She asks, can I drop the kids off for 5 days or so? What's up with that? I just want to scream.....We have a life too. We have plans we have to rearrange, jobs we need to deal with. Luckily I work mostly from home. So I was able to adjust work accordingly.

I have really tried to be so nice to this woman. I have sent her cards, I gave her a birthday gift. We gave the children money to buy her a mother's day present. I got her a Christmas gift. I am soooo trying.... But I think I am at the end of my rope. How much do I have to try? At what point do I just throw my hands up and well, give up? I hate giving up, but I hate being a doormat even worse.

Niko and his Daddy.

Also, I think I mentioned in a few previous post that Niko has a form of autism. (asperger syndrome is what we have recently found out.) It is really heart breaking, because since he walked in our door yesterday afternoon, he hasn't left his daddy's side. Not once. He even slept with us last night. He says he has been missing his daddy. He loves us, why hasn't he seen us? We were completely speechless. We didn't know what to say. We don't want to talk about mom and her issues with him.

Niko and his Daddy. They watched the all-star game together.

If you have any advice, I am all ears.

Backyard Summertime Fun!!

My Mama, Sister & and sweet nieces have spent the last few days at our house. We have a loads of fun. Yesterday we spent the afternoon out in the yard. It was a very nice day. Hubby grilled and we all ate out on the deck. Summertime is beginning to be one of my favorite times of year. In Mississippi, I dreaded it. It was way too hot.

Kayla being silly!!

Kaydee Bug!




Good Eats.





Say Cheese.

Hope Everyone Had an Awesome 4th!!

Decorating those 4th of July cookies.

Kaydee & Kayla (my nieces) with their party favors.

I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth! We had a house full of folks. Hubby's parents and brother came over. Hubby's great aunt, aunt and uncle. My Mama, sister, her hubby, and 2 nieces and a couple of our neighbors. We had some rain, so for most of the day everyone spent it indoors. It was a little crowded. But all in all good company and good food.

Had the yard all decorated!!

We had fireworks, games and water balloon fights (outside for this one) and lots of good food! I had party favors for the kiddies and we made and decorated homemade chocolate chip cookies. It was a really great time.

Watching fireworks, we got to sit out in our own front yard and watch at the park right across the street.

On the adoption front. I got a letter in the mail today. We have been assigned to an agency. That's exciting. They should be contacted us in a couple of days to get things going. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated.

In Christ,

Small Talk 6 Saturday!!!

Here's Small Talk 6 Saturday! It's a cute little meme started over at Momdot.com It's for the slower weekend blogging days. So hop in and join us.

Today's topic is 6 best patriotic movies.

#1.) AirForce One--1997 starring Harrison Ford. Love this movie!!

#2.) Apollo 13--1995 starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon.

#3.) Pearl Harbor--2001 starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett

#4.) Independence Day--1996 starring Will Smith.

#5.) Saving Private Ryan--1998 starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon.

#6.) The Patriot--2000 starring Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger.

When I watch each one of these movies, I come away with that feel good feeling that I am PROUD to be and American!! Hope you all have a Safe & Happy Fourth of July!

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