Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Another Super Saturday

This past Saturday was a nice family day. We had no plan, despite our attempts at figuring out what we were going to do. No one could think of anything we would all like, our town is a little lacking in that area unless you can get out to one of the many gorgeous lakes, unfortunately that wasn't a choice for Saturday.

We left our house, flying by the seat of our proverbial pants. No plan. No clue. We were just leaving.

We drove to Extreme Pita to have a quick, healthy lunch. It was delish! The 2 youngest kids had a ham & cheese pita with their own version of the works; their meals came with drinks and a cookie. What more could a kid want? We don't need no stinkin' Happy Meal to make us happy. The food was delicious. Rush had a grilled chicken pita; BigB had a Mandarine Chicken pita and I had a, mmmmm, yummy Mediteranean pita. It was so yummy. Have I mentioned that the food there is very yummy? I did? Oh, sorry. To finish off our meals, as we were still jsut a tad hungry, we split a package of freshly made garlic pita chips with hummus. Well, I had hummus; everyone else had Ranch. How boring.





Just look at that face as Jellybean bites into that pita. Isn't she just screaming, "MMMMM this is delish!"

From Extreme Pita we walked over to the pet store which was a big mistake. HUGE! Here we held some bunnies & some hamsters, checked out some fish, and fell in love with an adorable Boston Terrier pup & an equally adorable soft, fluffy grey kitten with gorgeous blue eyes. This is when we left the store, empty-handed with long, sullen faces.



Rush with a cute little hamster she decided to call Hernado or Fredrico; she couldn't decide.


Tell me how you could resist this adorable face? Tell me! Seriously! TELL ME!


Or this one?! Look at that face! {sigh} What cuties! Now you can see why we left so forelorn with empty arms...

The boys played football while we sunned ourselves and made funny faces at mom whow was always holding the camera...

And then we hopped on the swings to swing the heat away, and to giggle uncontollably as dad gave pushes.



We finished off the day with a family movie and some snuggling. I love days like these...

Monday, July 27, 2009

4 more days

"Until what?", you ask. Until the Sweet 16 birthday celebration at the spa and then to our house for a pizza supper complete with salad and angel food cake with a lemon glaze and raspberries.

We have 'the gift' and I found some bright green wrapping paper (her favorite color, or as close as I could find) and some funky green ribbon with colorful dots to spruce it up.

My feet welcome the pedicure that is approaching, and I really hope Rush has a good and relaxing time with her girls. There will also be munching at the spa and some cupcakes or soemthing to satisfy their sweet teeth. Plus, I bought Lindt chocolate.

All that is left to purchase is the food for the supper, the fruit and the cupcakes...

But that is not all...it is 4 days until I start a week of holidays! Swe-et. If all goes according to plan, there could be a garage sale in there.

And he said...

...Look at all those dandelions...


as he looked out across the vast


fields of



...canola

Chances Are

Chances are

...if there is music playing, Bug is dancing.

...if the cat is running down the hallway Bug and/or Jellybean are chasing her with a nerf gun.

...if Jewel is following me meowing and intertwining herself in my legs, someone has forgotten to feed her.

...if it is Friday night, we are at church enjoying another great service at Canadian Revival Center.

...if it is Sunday afternoon at 2, we are just getting out of another great church service and are pretty hungry.

...if there is a lap to be sat in, Jellybean will be in it.

...if I am sitting on the couch, Bug and/or Jellybean are perched on or beside me.

...if Jellybean is wearing new clothes mustard will fall on said clothes, even if it has to fall from the sky.

...if I called my house right now, Rush would still be sleeping.

...if I were to be craving anything right now it would be garlic pita chips and hummus from Extreme Pita.

...if I would be at home I would be pricing stuff for an upcoming garage sale.

...if I am cleaning the house I should probably be in bed (I tend to clean at bizzarrely late times).

...if it is Saturday after 1, we are trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the day.

...if it is before 1, I am at church enjoying music practice.

...if Bug calls me from his room, it is to see when I am coming to tuck him in.

...if I have a highlighter (or several) in my hand, I am about to go through the weekend's sermons.

Friday, July 24, 2009

♫The Cat Kids Came Back the Very Next Day♫

She thought that they were gonners♫

♫But the kids came back; they just couldn't stay away...♫

Yes, they came back yesterday to their depressed and distraught kitty. I think she was under the assumption they would never return. Well, you know what happens when you assume. You don't? Well, it makes an a....ah, never mind.

Anyway, back to my story. The kids got home at 11:30 last night looking no worse for wear than when they left. It's always nice and mind-easing when your children come back with all their molecules in tact.

It seems as though they spent 90% of their time at the farm playing in the pool; it shows. (I am hoping to get some pictures of them tonight to show you - last night we were all too tired to do any posing.) Rush came home looking like she had just spent a good month on a tropical island; Bug looked like he is an exchange student from Australia, and Jellybean, poor, poor Jellybean... She has her Norwegian ancestory's pale skin (as do I) and she came home with a nice red triangle formed on her nose and 3/4 of her cheeks, like a danger sign or something. It just screams DANGE! DANGER! DANGER!

They did all come home with big smiles on their tired faces; I like that kind of tired, the tired that comes from 2 days worth of good, hard play, relaxing in the cool water under the hot sun, and, occassionally burying your face into the necks of good ol' dogs and horses.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

How miserable does she look?


Jewel is not a happy kitty! In fact, she spent most of last night not being a happy kitty. Her kids are gone! Can you believe it?! We actually took her kids away from her!





Yessiree, these kids were gone last night, overnight, and poor Jewel was beside herself without them. She aimlessly wandered the halls of the house last night going from one empty bed to another - missing her kids. Poor, pitiful thing she is.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Of dinosaur fish and ferries

Last Sunday Jellybean, Bug & I took a drive in the country.

We had no plan; we just drove.

We enjoyed some of the beautiful scenary of country living, that I miss and they have yet to truly experience, but do appreciate.




We found ourselves driving up to the ferry and, upon realizing the kids had never seen one, due to all their questions, decided to hop out of the car and take a little walk to get a closer view of the ferry, and to, hopefully see it cross once or twice.


As we waited to see the ferry do its thing, we wandered along the beach area of the river, and watched a boy and his dad fishing. Moments later we watched as the young guy reeled in a fish, and my children watched with their mouths wide open as the fish was revealed.

The dad asked Jellybean and Bug if they wanted to come see a 'dinosaur fish' and they jumped at the chance with a slight backward glance to get the nod of approval from me. He told them how this fish was as old as the dinosaurs and, when he saw the look of shock on the kids' faces, he explained further that this fish was probably only 8 years old but that the type of fish went back to the dinosaurs. That made more sense tot hem and they carried on admiring the fish. Jellybean got brave enough to start asking him questions wherein she discovered that it was a Sturgeon.



We played with the water, sticks and sand for a few moments before heading back to town to get a nice cool treat.


If a picture is worth 1000 words, enough said!

Rush had a bit of a mishap a few days ago, quite a few days ago. Somehow, and I really mean somehow, her phone fell in the toilet bowl (it was a clean water toilet bowl but still...ew!). BigB took her phone apart and put it in a bag of silica sand to desoggify (totally a word!) it.

She's almost 16.

Without a cell phone.

For a few weeks.

It wasn't pretty.

There were tears and withdrawal tremors.

(I only kid. Or do I?)

Let this picture tell the rest of the story to you...

(this was taken while she used my phone b/c she just wanted to 'feel it' in her hands. I think she was joking...the look on her face said she was joking...I hope she was joking...)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

My Little Man

turned 6 years old today. Six! Six! Count it...six! Seriously! SIX! Am I the only one who is panicking here!? Does no one else know what this means? Is no one else aware that 6 officially ends all things little, all things "baby", all things..well, does anyone else know that it simply changes the whole dynamics of our family because Bug is no longer little?

Sure, he is the shortest one, for now...but I am sure by the time I get home from work tomorrow he will be taller than me. Because that's how fast he is growing! Does no one else see that? His face is losing that "baby" look and he is looking more and more like a young man everyday and I am betting, by Friday, he will be asking me for the keys to my car. Because that's how fast he is growing! Have you not noticed it yourself? I am even thinking that by the end of August he will have graduated or something. Because (say it with me) that's. how. fast. he. is. growing!



Inspite of how fast he is growing, he still loves to snuggle with me and he still fits in my lap just as perfectly as he did the day he was born (with some modifications obviously because I should not be growing any more). When he lays down beside me, his body still fits perfectly next to mine so that we look like, well, me with a Bug shaped tumor or wart or something. He still asks for me to tuck him in at night and loves to have me read him a story or to sing him a song, or to tell him a 'mommy made-up story' or for the two of us to go on an imagination vacation.

I love the way he looks at me, as he can say 'I love you' with those big blue eyes framed with his 3-inch eyelashes and it absolutely melts me. Girls, watch out! Beware of the eyelashes paired with those big blue eyes; they will get you every. single. time.

I love hearing his giggle when he is being a typical mischievious boy and I love it more when I hear that belly laugh that comes from a deep down glee and happiness. I love to watch his face as he plays with toys or tries to figure something out as there is such a seriousness in his eyes.




I love how gentle he is with his cat mere moments after she has forgiven him for chasing her around the house, shooting at her with his nerf gun or how he gets me to cut off pieces of yard to play with her because he loves to see her playing like a kitten again. I love how music moves him to dance to the beat no matter where we are: home, church, the mall, the river bank...

I love how he feels misplaced and off balance when we aren't all together, as it shows me just how much his family means to him, or how upset he is when he realizes that a certain day isn't a day for us to go to church. I love how he wants to be like his daddy and his pastor, and I love how much dogs love him and love to kiss him; it doesn't matter the dog. I love how he will run towards Luca (my friend's German Shephard) and throw his arms around Luca's neck so he can bury his face deep in Luca's fur and love on him.




I love how he has to run to the stairs to give me a kiss and a hug 'goodbye' 4 times before I leave the house and how he yells my name and runs to the stairs any time I walk in the door, even if I have only gone to get the mail.

He is such a good boy and I love everything about him; God made him with the perfect mix of love, mischief, sensitivity, nurturing, fun and whatever other ingredients God threw in there to make this absolutely wonderfully fantastic boy.





Really? Six? This could take a bit to get used to.

(Pictures taken from his birthday party on Saturday at the Splash Pad and from today)

Monday, July 20, 2009

What he (Bug) said

"Did you know the sun is up and you're not?! Did you know the sun is up at 4:00 in the morning? Trust me; I know." (to his, almost, 16 year old sister when told to wake her up)

And, as Rush was eating a piece of birthday cake and licking the icing of the racing flag, Bug shouts, "Rush that's just a toy!"

Her calm reply, "I know, there was icing on it."

While playing his Quad Racing game on the Wii: "I fink a nice breakfast of cold sushi is in order." (hat was he talking about? I don't know either but he said it.)


This is all from this morning and there were other moments/words that I have all ready forgotten that brought my beverage almost out of my nose. I am sure there will be more and I am going to try to get them down on here just so we can see a day in the life of Bug on his last day of being 5.

Woke up: 6 A.M.
Breakfast: Shredded wheat with about 4 cups of milk (I know, he definitely got his dairy)
Clothes: first started with a pair of khaki shorts with a motocross t-shirt and a plaid shirt over top. Second, same shorts but a skateboard shirt (reading "Gimme my wheels" that is about 4 sizes too big for him.

Right now, at 11:37, he is tryig to figure out what a 5 year old eats for lunch on his last day of being 5. So far we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with orange (read tomato) soup.

But, it's my day off...

(Read the next few lines together really fast or simultaneously, if you can to feel the right mood to this story.)

Bug: Mo-om
Jellybean: I'm sorry....I'm sorry
Bug: Mo-om
Jellybean: I'm sorry; I'm sorry. I said I was sorry.
Bug: Mo-m
Jellybean: I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry (mo-om). Sorry. I said...
Bug: Mo-om, Jellybean kicked my de-esk.
Jellybean: I'm sor...no I didn't.
Bug: Well, it's part of it! Mo-om...
Jellybean: I. Am. Sorry!
Bug, at this point stuck his fingers in his ears; I kid you not and I was waiting with baited breath to hear "I'm not listening" singing from his voice.

I slowly got up and sent each one on their merry way to their rooms; it's supposed to be my day off and I don't want to hear stupid fighting at this time of morning. Legitimate fighting maybe. Stupid fighting, no. After all, it's my day off and I have all ready been up for 3 hours.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

To Do Thursday through Sunday

Updated: Well, I guess that's not too bad for accomplishing my list of things to do. Today is the day for getting the kids ready for camp (Monday July 20)
order cake for party
make grocery list for party supper
buy gift and groceries for Bug's party
make template for wedding invitations
photocopy template for invitations
cut out invites
glue and ribbon invites
make list for each kid of what they need for camp
• make supper for friend who recently had surgery
• take supper to friend
• buy bug spray and sun screen for kids' camping trip
• pack each of the kids stuff up
• dig sleeping bags out of tent trailer (well remind BigB to do that)
fill 300 water balloons for party Not 300 though
music practice
buy gift for friend's daughter
attend friend's daughter's birthday party
call family from northern Manitoba
• call the other family from northern Manitoba (tried but no one home)
• wiifit (each night)
pick kids up from out of town on Friday before church (which I think means fast food supper)
church Friday night. Yay!
church Sunday morning. Yay! Yay!
pick up cake
pick up Rush and two of the boys from out of town for Bug's party
take Rush and kids back to farm
• buy groceries for the kids to take with them to help out camping family.
buy more ribbon

I am not entirely sure but that seems like all I have to do this weekend, aside from working. It won't be that bad...I can multitask right? {grin} The life of a working mom...I love this part of my life, the doing stuff for my family. It is such a joy; I just hope I don't forget any important events or steps this weekend...

All I want is a Hotdog!

That's all he wanted...a hotdog. Over and over again, we heard "All I want is a hotdog", but at $5 a pop he was not getting a hotdog!

So...for his birthday party, on Saturday, he is getting hotdogs...hotdogs outside always taste better!



So buddy, you've waited a bit but, you will get your hotdog.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Excuse me!? WHAT did you call her?!?

That's exactly what our cashier at WalMart said to Rush last night upon overhearing our conversation wherein Rush did nothing more than say, "Mom, do you think that ribbon color is what they are looking for?".

She gasped and she wheezed and she sucked in air for a few moments as she tried to regain her composure, and Rush & I stood there staring blankly at her and each other - not completely sure what was so shocking to this poor cashier.

"Did you just call her 'mom'? Is she really your mom?!"

"Um...? Yes, she is...?" (we still weren't really comprehending what was so shocking until she finally gushed...)

"Wow! I thought she was your older sister but that's it! Not your mom!"

I do look younger than 35 but not a lot younger, at least I don't think I look a lot younger, and Rush does look a fair bit older than her years but at least it's not as bad as it was a few years ago. When she was in Grade 8 (still 13 years old) she was hospitalized for a bit and the doctor's kept asking her what she did for a living...

The fact that I am only 18 years older than Rush does add to the whole scenario but we have never gotten a reaction quite like that one. I sure do hope that cashier finally caught her breath.

P.S. I ♥ that cashier; she made my day (or night, rather).

Monday, July 13, 2009

Soda Tute

Bug talking to me as I finished making supper:
"Mama, I was watch...what is that Veggie Tales? Um...? Oh yeah. I was watchin' Soda Tute and Larry, he..."

Jellybean:
"Oh Bug! You are so cute the way you said that! Can you say 'Minn e so ta'? I really just think you are adorable the way you said that."

Bug:
"Could you twit calling me tute all ready!? All I said was we watched Soda Tute! There's nuffin' tute about Soda Tute!"

How do you stop from laughing when he is so adamant about not being tute, soda tute even?

Not Me Monday



Welcome to Not Me Monday, a fun, slightly therapeutic blog carnival created by MckMama where we can confess all those things we don't do and never would. That being said, welcome to Not Me Monday.

It was most certainly NOT me who made an overwhelmingly long list of things that need to be done in our house. That list definitely didn't include painting every room in our house other than Rush's most recently painted bedroom. I would never add that kind of workload onto BigB and my shoulders? Why would I do that to us?

It was also, then, NOT me who decided that we have a lot more stuff in our house that we can get rid of. This means, then, that it was also NOT me who decided to get working on having a garage sale. I most certainly don't have time to add that to my schedule.

It wasn't me you saw throwing my kids onto trains in the trainyard to get pictures of them and it was also NOT me driving around town to find suitable spots to get Bug's picture taken. Why did I decide to do that? Well, it most certainly wasn't because he was sporting his new faux-hawk and looking too cute to not be photographed and since he isn't sporting the faux, he doesn't look absolutely adorable in these pictures posted here and here.

We did not spend Saturday evening trying not to drool over other people's cars and it certainly didn't get me to start singing "My Little GTO" and since we didn't drool over Challengers, and Mustangs and bikes (oh my), I didn't write this post with pictures here.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Does somebody have a cell phone? Anybody?

Family Camp is next week. The 21st to be exact. Bug's birthday is the 21st. BigB & I couldn't get that time off work so no one was going to go. A very, very dear friend offered to add our 3 kids to her 5 kids (WHAT!? Perhaps our very dear friend is flippin' nuts! Nah! They are all good kids and J1 and Rush will be lots of help with the kids I know.)

Needless to say, the kids are all super stoked about going! However, this is what I overheard this morning:

Does somebody have a cell phone?! Anyone?! Does someone have a cell phone that I can use!? I will need to call my mom and dad every morning and every night so I say good morning and good night to my mama and daddy! And I won't even be with my mom on my birthday!"







How could you NOT love that face? (And, of course, the faces of his lovely sisters.)

Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out...GTO

My family ♥ cars, well, not just cars; we ♥ good ole American muscle cars (except for Rush; she ♥ them too but her favorite is the 2009 Acura NSX and if you were to ask her, she would even add silver on there because it doesn't hurt to be too specific).

BigB and I took the younger two kids to a small, local car show yesterday and, more often than not, the thing we heard most from their adorable faces was "OH! I LOVE THAT ONE! THAT ONE'S MY FAVORITE!". We have discovered that Jellybean loves Challengers (any year) and if they are purple that makes them even BETTER. Bug loves Challengers, Mustangs, GTOs and, pretty much anything that screams American muscle car. His favorite seemed to be a '71 Boss Mustang, orange in color but I didn't end up getting a picture of him with it.



We found the cutest Austin Mini Pickup that the kids HAD to get their pictures taken with it as they were almost taller than it.

At this point I think they were distracted by a lime green Challenger.


"Heh! Yook (look) at dat Mustang!"

Mama's favorite...

I have stalked coveted loved this car from the very first time I saw it, about 10 years ago. Now, don't get me wrong, I still love me some muscle car and I ♥ the Challenger and the Mustang but this car, {sigh}, she is SO pretty!!!!

As much as I love that beautiful navy blue 1932 Buick, as we neared the end of the vehicles, I gave my ♥ to another but check it out! How could you not love this big ole boy?

A Boss Hoss with Nos (and no, I am not channeling Dr, Suess.)


C'mon Dad! There's lots more to see!

And just like Bug rockin' the faux hawk, these cars ROCKED (according to my 2 young children - um, and me...)

Fun with a Bug and...a Jellybean

The condensed version of our family (even sans Rush who was working this weekend) had a fun evening out together and it went a little like this...

We spent some time at a local, annual car show (more on that later, perhaps tomorrow)




We found the most darling Bug in a tree.



We threw the kids on the back of a cube van. I am not even joking...




After eyeing up the artwork on this fence since, well, many, many years, we stopped to take some pictures in front of it. (You can't tell from this picture, but I will post more later, but this is a beautiful painting of a train on someone's fence.)


We spent time hanging out at the train yard playng on the trains and on the tracks...





We had a really fun evening and the kids went to bed smiling and exhausted. BigB and I got to spend some quiet time together. You want to know how we took advantage of that? We threw in an old movie (Son-in-Law with Pauly Shore; I used to love that movie. Funny how our tastes change. Now I think there is far too much swearing and sexuality in it for us to keep this movie in our house. It was great to go down memory lane though and it did show us that we have changed, a lot.). Oh yeah, back to what we were doing. So we watched the movie, chuckled at parts of it ad sat on either end of the couch snuggled up, each with our own laptop looking like a couple of geeks. Me, I was editting photos and BigB was doing some research for different projects he is working on.

It was a nice quiet night spent with some of the people I love, love, love. Did I mention I ♥ them? 'Cuz I do! (Really missed Rush tonight though)

Friday, July 10, 2009

A little of this and a little of that

→ BigB worked from home all week and has been enjoying it quite a lot. I have to admit that I enjoyed him being around town as well as we were able to get away on a nice lunch date.

→ Progress has been made on me being able to work part-time and be home with my kids in the afternoons. At this point we are unaware of how much progress it is but progress is progress and we are steppin' forward, baby!

→ I have wiifitted (well, what would the past tense be then?) myself into some very sore muscles this week. Some of those advanced levels are tiring, especially when you do them for over an hour. What? Too much?

→ It's been raining here, pretty much all week and we are all hoping for some nicer weather that we may enjoy a bit of the summer months before they are over.

→ Bug's birthday party is coming up in a week and Rush's party is two weeks after that. Wow that seemed to come fast. Think that's the end? Not even close. There are birthdays in between (including my dad's, & BabyK's); there are wedding showers, weddings and anniversaries and all sorts of fun events to look forward to.

→ I have been thinking of having a garage sale to get rid of some more of our clutter but, haven't quite figured out when I would have time to do any of the organizing a garage sale requires. Perhaps something to put on the agenda for this weekend.

→ Rush will be working again this weekend. She is excited about that. She loves that job and it gives her great experience considering she is contemplating a nursing career as well.

→ I did a bit of research to find some html codes to help make longer posts look more organized and found this arrow one. I think it looks great! How about you? Do you think it makes things a little neater looking and esthetically pleasing?

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Overheard in my house this evening

Yes, you can sleep with Mr. W; he's the one with the sweater. Don't take the dark brown one without the sweater, the chocolate one. If you take him, I'll punchya in the nose; I sleep with that one.

And that, folks, was said by a teenager in our house to the 8 year old...Would I even lie about something like that?! Seriously?

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Don't just sit there! Work harder!

Today's devotion from Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's "Pursuit of His Presence" spoke to us as a family. We can't just sit back and wait, not all the time anyway. Probably not even most of the time.

Here's a bit from the devotional:
"'We just need to get out of the way and let God work. After all, we can't do anything anyway. He's the One who is in contol.'

Have you ever heard anyone say things like that?

I am sure you have. In fact, if you're like most of us, you've said them yourself. At the time, they probably sounded very good. Very religious. Very humble.

But let me warn you, that kind of attitude can also be very dangerous. It can leave you sitting passively while the devil tears up everything around you. It can leave you in tears, begging God to fix a situation for you when He was saying all along, 'Take care of it yourself! I'll back you. I've given you My name. I've given you My authority. I've given you My own faith. Now, use it!'"

Interesting. Especially since I just said something somewhat similar to the whole "I am just going to turn it over to God, sit back and let Him take care of it." Sometimes religious thinking sneaks in there and we have to shake it off and get rid of that stinkin' thinkin' all over again.

What makes this all the more interesting is tying it in with last Friday's sermon on "Strict Training". We read from 1 Corin 9:19-27. Verse 24 says that all runners run but only one gets the prize; verse25 says that everyone who enters the race goes into strict training but I think it was verse 26 that spoke the most to me "therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air".

We need to fight with a purpose and enter into strict training (strict training doesn't come from having a hardcore drill sergant barking orders at you. He can bark all he wants; if you have no self discipline it doesn't matter what he tells you to do). Strict training comes from you; it is a strictness that you put on yourself, a self discipline. Remember, we are not to run aimlessly; we are to have a purpose, a reason for doing what we are doing.

Paul said that he would be disciplined. How? It tells us in Mathew 22:37, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul". There you have it. Pretty straight forward.

The woman with the issue of blood didn't just sit back, 'get out of the way' and wait for Jesus to decide when to heal her. She made a plan, she set her mind on her healing and she purposed to get it done. She decided who, when, where & how.

We, as christians, need to stop being so passive; we need to get aggressive in the things of God. Christianity isn't ice cream cones, rainbows and pretty unicorns under a sparkling morning sun with us sitting in the dewy grass holding hands as we sway back and forth and it most certainly isn't doing our own thing Monday through Saturday, become righteous and pure because we graciously give God a few minutes on Sunday morning. Going to church each Sunday doesn't make you any more of a Christian than sleeping in a garage makes you a car. It takes more than believing to be a Christian; the demons believe too. They, however, don't submit themselves to God. So, we need to submit to Him but, we don't sit there like a wimp and wait for Him to tell us to do something. He has given us access to His power and authority, and now, we need to be aggressive enough to plug into that power and authority, and actually use it.

Come on girls, do you really like passive men, a man who will stand by and watch someone mistreat you and harm you? Or, would you rather a man who will aggressively defend you and come to the aid of your honor? We, as Christians, need to be aggressive as well - to restore God's honor in a time where honor of anything has fallen to the wayside. We don't need to sit on the sidelines and wait for God to tell us exactly what to do; press into His word more, His presence more and pursue Him, aggressively (like the woman with the issue of blood - I doubt she was sauntering down the road thinking "I'll just walk down here and IF God chooses to heal me than Jesus will walk by and it will be close enough that I can reach out and touch Him." No she pushed, crawled and shoved her way through multitudes of people to get to Him, knowing that if she could even just touch the hem of his garment she would be healed. I have never once read where she said, "If it be Your will that I be healed..."

Anyway. All this to say that we need to stop being so passive in our beliefs. Have a purpose in what you do. Have faith and chase after a God that wants no harm to come to you; he just wants you to love Him and chase after Him harder tha you chase after the loves you have in this world.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Not Me Monday



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Welcome to Not Me Monday, a blog carnival created by MckMama. Are you tired of trying to hide behind a facade of perfect motherhood and womanhood? Ashamed that you let the kids eat marshmallows for breakfast or that you were just so tired that you watched as one of your children painted the baby? Did you fall short of all of your motherly/womanly expectations? Good. Join us as we all share what we didn't do this past week. If feels real good to get it off your chest and to air your laundry (oh, you didn't do your laundry....hmmm)

I did not overhear Jellybean say this, as she was about to kill a beetle, "Any last words?" I do NOT think that my children are incredibly funny most of the time and I have never, ever told any of my children that they were geeks. (Positive and uplifting words only)
BigB did NOT discover that leaving the glass bottle of BBQ sauce, with lid on, by the hot barbeque will lead to the lid blowing off. Fortunately no animals, children or other innocent by-standers were harmed during this discovery. (I have never thought it would be funny to see this on the end of a movie, One animal was harmed during the filming of this movie but he recovered very quickly and is in perfect health now. Or some other similar such note.)

I did NOT pay for my kids to get tattoos this week. No, really I didn't! What kind of mother would I be?! Well, ok...I did sort of pay for them to get tattoos...


My heart did NOT leap for joy when I got this text "Hi girlfriend! We are on our way to (insert name of town here). Will be there tonight. When do you want to get together?" and since I did NOT get this text, we did NOT decide to meet Thursday and we did NOT hang out all afternoon at Walmart and Timmy's with our kids and I, of course, then, did NOT get a chance to take these pictures of my most adorable nieces.

I did NOT think about enrolling my 5 (almost 6) year old son in some kind of etiquette training or "good husband" class after hearing this comment, "I am going to make a GREAT husband!" Followed by an incredibly loud belch.
I most certainly did NOT feed my kids and their friends s'mores for supper tonight as we had had a late lunch or "lupper" as they call it and I most certainly did NOT eat a couple myself. Good health practices are always followed in this house and I, therefore, fed them a wonderful snack of raw vegetables, nuts and berries. Yup, I sure di...

Ok! Ok! Don't judge me... {grin}

It is most definitely NOT a quarter to 1 as I type this as I have NOT been having a difficult time sleeping the last 3 days. Oh! Remember last week's NOT ME? Those sick family members I had been taking care of were NOT finally diagnosed with having H1N1 and since three of the four were boys and the girl only got a mild case of it I did NOT say something to the effect of that proving that men are pigs because I only ever say things that are honoring, respectful and uplifting (even when joking and trying to get a laugh). Always. So, I never did say that - NOT at all! NOT even a little bit! I never even hinted! NOT ME!
I am NOT going to bed now so I can get some sleep and get to work and I will NOT add the links and pictures needed to finish this edition of Not Me Monday tomorrow later on this morning (after I get some sleep).
This morning, on our way to work BigB & I did NOT stop to get some oil and a gingerale for me, and when he turned to right to drive me to work I did NOT ask him where he was going because I most certainly didn't think he should have turned left to go to church. I am always well orientated and know precisely where I am and where I should be going. He did NOT laugh at me and say, "You know you're in a revival seeking church when..."
Anyway, that was our fun week and you can read about more of our adventures here, here, here and here.
Whew! Ok, I feel a lot better having shared with you all my shortcomings of the week (as well as a couple from my family). Now go on over to MckMama's and read what the rest of us didn't do. Go on now! Go! I'm serious! I mean it! You! Go! {grin}

Friday, July 03, 2009

Look who I met!

Isn't she adorable? Couldn't you just eat her up with a big ol' jar of Nutella? How can you not ♥ either of these girls?


Me an' my girl, my sistah

Happy Canada Day from our house to yours

I did manage to get those pictures uploaded so here it is - our celebrations. Hope our fellow Canadians and Canadian transplants had a great day! Tomorrow we send wishes of a Happy 4th of July to our fellow Americans and American transplants. (BigB & I were in Missouri for Independence Day a few years back and we had a great time; you guys know how to throw a party!)
Anywho, here's a little photo look-see of our Canada Day.
We got ourselves all tattooed up (some of us weren't as willing to show off our tats as others were)

We enjoyed a feast of grilled steaks, corn on the cob and citrus spinach salad (yum! That is delish in itself: spinach, canned mandarine oranges, dried cranberries, almonds, feta cheese and tuscan italian dressing. First time we ate that salad Bug said "WHY are there oranges in dis salad?! There are oranges in here! WHY?! Now he says, "This is my FAVORITE salad!)

We all enjoyed a dipped cone from Dairy Queen before heading to the river for the Canada Day festivities (and by that I mean rolling down the hill, doing interpretive dance to really off key singers, trying to figure out new and creative ways to not actually have to sit on the portapotty seats - yuck - and...people watching)

Hill rolling which soon turned into little boy squishing...
*Disclaimer* No little boys were hurt during the documenting of this adventure.

Part of the interpretive dance

This photo is VERY similar to the one where he was on his knees, looking directly at a couple as they passed by crooning at them. He is his father's son (or is he a lot like me? Perhaps both)

Bug and Jellybean doing their best interpretation of a Toyota commerical (from my youth) "What a feeling! Toyota!"
Fireworks then off home for our own sparklers and some nachos! Yummy!