Becoming a human "being" not a human "doing"

I think this is one of the loudest things that stood out to me after going to hear this guy named Robb Bell a few weeks back.
I am not a busy one as far as working around the house 24/7 kind of person goes but I am one who will busy my schedule very quickly with "fun" events. I would have to say that I work moderately around here with house duties, heavily with children duties, and barely with yard duties. I am not the kind of gal who's picked up your glass that you were drinking out of the second you put it down just to put in the dishwasher asap!!! Nope , that's not me. BUT I am the kind of gal who will fill up mine and the giant's social calendar so jammed packed that we barely have time to breathe.
Well, as of lately God has really been working on me in this department to learn to say no and to be okay and even glad that I am saying no. It has been a process and one that I am still working on.
Today in the mail arrived a new favorite read in my house the Joyce Meyers "Enjoying Everyday Life" magazine and the article that just screamed out to me was one titled " Control Stress by Controlling Your Time" I am not stressed (that much) but I am a poorly managed time person .
The reason I believe I am not a good time management person is because usually I am just not. I don't really know for sure why but I think that I was a little bit better before I had four kids. Maybe. Maybe not. Anyhew, in this article it says,
"When we become too busy , we lose our joy. As a result, people irritate us , and we often become frustrated , anxious and critical. How can we break out of the trap of being too busy and practice keeping healthy margin(margin was described as the time in which we experience breathing room and access reserve energy) in our lives? Primarily by organizing our time and cutting out anything that is not in line with our top priorities." This reminds me of what Jerry Cook said when he was here, " When I say yes to something or someone I also say no to something and someone else." Oh so true. Lord help me get my priorities in line with yours.
Also it said;
"Remember, your time is ultimately your most precious possession. How you spend it determines, in many ways how you will spend eternity. Use it wisely" . Oh how I want to get better at this and use my time wisely.
I want to be a human "being" not a human "doing."

This is what happens when.......

the kids get a hold of the camera. (smile)

Shout Out

Just thought I would ask for continued prayers for all those who are up at Old Oak Ranch this week. There are 15 of us from Hillside, including Joni and Louie and lil Weezer. I am sure they would appreciate any and all prayers.

Back in the Saddle again

I have recently been bit by the scrappin bug again. Life has been on full speed for so long that I had forgotten how much I enjoy this hobby and recently I just decided to get back on the horse and get going with all these pictures.
I am behind by about 2 years but no worries, at the rate that I am going( 20 pages in the past few days) I will be caught up by the end of the summer.

So I have decided....

that I really enjoy children. I think that this is not a new decision but one that I have decided upon again after a fun filled week of kids, kids, and more kids.
Of course I am a bit partial to my own but I really and truly enjoy other peoples children as well. SO so so many stories rolling around in my brain from this weeks events but I think I only have time for a few.
One of my favs was when worship was done on one of the days and the kids favorite song "Milk" didn't get played I heard several of the youngsters shout out, "That's it!" Ha ha ha!! That just made me laugh. Sorry, if that's not funny to you all, but it was to me.
Another story fresh off the press today was from Dylan when asked what his favorite part of camp was he said, "I weally liked the water balloons, that's why today I am going to get a weally big balloon to get everyone wet."
Little Jonah crying cause he just couldn't get his camp photo to fit inside the popsicle stick picture frame. Karina asking if I could help her with her picture frame and then everytime I tried she let me know very nicely that I wasn't doing it right. Baby Samuel falling asleep amidst all the noise. Isaiah and Addison becoming the best of friends so long as he stays away from her playdoh knife. Tressa so sad and asking , "Where did all my friends go?"
What a blessing to be a part of such a fun filled week. Thanks again to everyone (the Village)who helped made this week so much fun.

Preview....

Of our Christmas Photo this year and we didn't even have to use photoshop, yipeee!~!!

My Dream Car

My dream car is for sale. Only a mere $14,000 and not too far away.

Someday. Until then I get to keep dreaming.

Yoga Junkie

I believe I have become a yoga junkie. I have been doing these stretches everyday for the past few weeks and if I miss a day I can really start to feel it. I feel like gumby afterward(although I am not exactly sure this is how gumby feels) and not quite as old as I am.
Today while doing yoga with the children even Isaiah got in and struck a pose. Wish I couldv'e snapped a shot in time but imagine his lil body bent over with one arm stretched up to the sky. I thought his big head would topple him over for sure but he held his position strong for a good long time.
TOO CUTE!!!

Killer Cat Hunter seizes his opportunity

As proposed a day and half later the killer cat Hunter had poor little Pickles in his jaws. We were saying goodbye to the girls friends who had spent the night when one of the girls shrieked...."The cats got the bird!" WHAT!!!!!!
I don't think I have yelled like that since the Boys 2 Men concert a few months ago. (That was for you Brent) My cat apparently is
deaf and didn't care that I was popping blood vessels trying to get his attention. He had a tasty treat that he wasn't letting go for a thousand blood curdling screams. He ran out of the living room where all children were present to see the bird in his mouth and back to my bedroom. I ran to get some water and closed the door
behind me so that my children wouldn't be traumatized. A bath,in a jug of water later,
and a good yank on his tail did the trick. He dropped
the bird out of the jaws of peril and left him panting for dear life.
After we all settled down I called Moses to come get the bird OUT OF THE HOUSE. The bird who is now at the church is doing fine and still looking for a home.

Bird Found, Free to good home

Today, while sitting outside Starbucks a parakeet landed on my roof rack. I knew this was not a native Nevada bird and before I could think twice about what to do the bird flew right next to the table where Sarah and I were sitting.
With the help of Sarah, and a nice lady who threw her sweater over it we caught the bird and stuck it in my car, BUT.....as much as I know my husband who loves birds would love to keep this bird, alas, we have a cat, named HUNTER no less and it just doesn't seem like a bright idea.
SO, if any of you blogreaders are looking for and free pet here she is.
Looks almost identical to the picture on the left.
Let me know if you are interested. My gentle Giant has already set her up in a nice comfy cozy hotel of a cage and so that will be included along with a bag of food, mirror, toys,etc. etc. He went a lil nuts caring for this lil critter so pretty much she is literally "good to go"

Nanny McFee

This is a new kids movie out on dvd. We recently rented it for our kids and watched it first because someone said that it was about a witch. I thought "bummer," and I wasn't going to rent it and then Moses picked it up without knowing what I had heard so we watched it first and to my surprise it is no more about a witch than Mary Poppins was about a witch. To those of you who think Mary Poppins was about a witch then .....well, disregard this blog.

Anyhew, one of the things that I liked about this movie is that she comes in to teach the kids 5 lessons and as each lesson is taught she loses a blemish. First a mole, then another and finally by the end of the movie she is skinny, beautiful, no moles and perfect teeth.
Ohhhhhhhhh, that this could be real life!!!

Shout Out!!

Just a shout out for my friend Shontell. Lord, let that baby come like yesterday already.
Health, pain free as possible, peace, comfort, strength, rest, wisdom and a debut very soon. Thank you Jesus.
Baby Samuel's already in big trouble.

11 YEARS

I love you more with every day.

The happy ending(part 3 of the FORD saga)

First, I must start this blog by saying that my husband is amazing. Truly , I believe he is a genius and a rather hot one at that. Now back to my story, it was starting to get dark and so being the genius , amazing man that he is he told everyone to look in the car for something long and straight to pry open the window on gramma's van. After no luck in our search inside the car we then looked outside the car for any stick on the roadway and finally on the car seemed the ONLY answer, our antenna. Now, I don't know about other people but this is what amazes me about my husband because I would have never thought that a car antenna and a little girls shoe could unlock a car door but apparently it does. So 45minutes later we were back in business and able to call on the wonderful piece technology that we had longed for all day. Thank God for cell phones.
The car ride home I sat on the floor in the back with the kids and thought a lot about the days events. I was feeling pretty down and I had wished for somebody, anybody to yell , scream, or holler at me but no such luck. The people in my family are just all too kind.
I woke up the next day and still felt like crying. It wasn't until spending some alone time with Jesus that I felt much better. He taught me some things that I needed to learn in the best possible way and said the words I needed to hear. His kids helped a lot in this as well.

Now here comes the happy ending. A few days before all of this had taken place I had told Moses that I thought we should just give the Ford away or park it for a while and get me a vw squareback(station wagon) . To save money on gas was my primary reason but also,I have never felt better in a vehicle than when I am in a vw . Something about them is just a comfort to me. Anyhew, he thought that would be fun to look into and then all of the stuff with the Ford took place and we really needed to find something else. Instead of just a want it became a need. We did have the camper(which btw fits us all just fine and up until just 2 weeks ago was out of commission) but I am not really good at driving that because of the reach factor. I can do it , it's just not easy for me. Then our bug was not running because Mo pillaged parts from it to get the bus running. So, we went to Bug O Rama this year hoping to get parts to get the bug running again and for some much needed R&R. Before the trip had even got under way Moses met a couple who came to the parking lot where our VW club(Slogoinvws) was meeting in Carson City. They weren't in a VW and so Mo wandered over to say hello and maybe he thought answer some questions they might have. Turns out that they had a friend who had a squareback in his garage for over 8+ years and he was looking to sell it for a very low price. Moses didn't get to overly excited but he did think it was interesting that out of all the people there he was the one who got the number.
We got home from our wonderful weekend in Sacramento(Just what the doctor ordered) and gave the guy a call. Sure enough it was the gem we were hoping for. As the guy rolled her dust covered body out of the barn I was given a name for this car , Grace. This car is a sign to me of God's continual hand of grace on my life. Even though I screwed up, even though I feel I should be punished for my stupid oversight God is gracious to me.

Part 2 of I don't know yet(Continued FORD saga)

My heart sank and I began to feel sick to my stomach. Mo prompted me to try the engine a few more times but this time it just clicked when I turned the key so they thought maybe it might be the battery. The police officer hooked up his battery jumper cables and still nothing. Moses came over to tell me that the engine was "blowed up", done, ca-put, gonzo. I sat there shocked. Surely, something could be done. At this point I was really feeling ill but had to make a decision as to who to call to come to our rescue and decided that my mom's house would be the best bet because someone is always home. The police officer kindly let me use his cell phone to make this call and thankfully my sister was home . After describing where we were, that she would need to bring mom's van because there would be so many for the car ride home, and that we didn't have our cell so she would just have to keep her eyes wide open for us she said she was on her way.
The police man needing to get back on the road after helping us for the last 2 hours said he would be by later to check on us. He drove off and there we all sat and sat and sat. There was of course the occasional bathroom break behind the protection of our vehicle and I did get out and try to wave down a cell phone to call Louie and Joni to inform them that we wouldn't be there but other than that we sat. It was almost getting to be dark when I saw our beloved rescuers on the other side of the road , honking , waving , and smiling. They pulled up behind us and jumped out of the car in such a hurry that they locked themselves out of their very own car with the engine still running!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
All I could do was laugh because I had been crying all afternoon and thier just wasn't a drop left.

Where to start?? The FORD saga

What a turn of events that has occured in my life in just the last week. I don't even know where to begin.
Maybe I should go back to a week ago today I was enjoying the tail end of the visit with Moses mom Nashelle and we were driving them into Sacremento where thier plane was to fly out the next day. We said our goodbyes and were headed straight for church to drop Mo off to work. We had just left the gas station and were on the road for about 2o minutes when the Ford started to make some funny noises. Moses told be to pull over to the side of the road and it was a good thing that he did because our engine was just about ready to blow up right there on the the freeway. He popped the hood and the kids and I figured no big deal , Mo is such a mechanical genieus we should be on the road in no time. Much to my dismay this was not the case. Someone had forgotten to put oil in the car(the guilty party shall remain anonymous NOEL) and it was bone dry. OUCH!! Well, I thought good thing we caught it in time but now what? Mo had forgotten his cell phone and wallet and I was glad at least that we had my debit card to go get some oil but it would be on foot and we didnt' know how far so Mo suggested(being the wonderful husband that he is) that he go with my card and hope that they didn't i.d. him. So off he went, while we (me and munchins) sat and sat and sat. One half hour later we saw him going down the other side of the freeway. The kids were happy to see him and so was I but I also realized that this meant that he was headed the other way to find a gas station and who knew how far away the closest one was. So we sat, and sat, and sat. About almost 2 hours after seeing Moses a police officer pulled up behind us. With tears in my eyes I rolled down the window and told him our scenario and he said , "Well, I will go find him and we will be back in a bit" Again, we sat and sat and sat and about 45minutes after he left ,Moses and him pulled up with the oil in hand and popped the hood to fix all the problems. Yipee!!!
The engine turned over and was running for about 45 seconds when it slowly died. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
(to be continued)
I promise a happy ending is in sight.

Philippians 3:12-14

"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."
This passage of scripture has really been speaking to me lately because I feel as though I am having to press on through some things. Some old habits that need to die, some areas of my life that have not been disciplined, and some comfort zones that are no longer comfortable for me to live in.
It's a funny thing when God speaks He does it in such a way that I always know that it's Him. At first it is always so quiet and then the longer it takes for me to listen the louder or more evident it becomes that He indeed is talking. The specifics become clear and He gives me the strength to take the steps to walk in obedience.
I am in a "pressing on" season in life. It is good. I am glad that He who began this good work in me a while back is faithful to complete what He has started.

Change of Seasons

Thankful for the change in the seasons. Seems my brain is busting with new ideas and I don't know if it's the nice weather or what but I can hardly even keep up with the excitement in my own head. Does anybody else ever experience that or am I on my own here? It's like when you go to do some spring cleaning and one thing leads to another and before you know you have rearranged the room. I feel like thats what happening on the inside of my head.
Thank God for the change of scenery.

A Gift

Have you ever recieved a gift that you were afraid to use, touch, or move for fear that it might break or get dirty, or even be stolen? When my beloved gramma died this past fall I was given her dutch boy cookie jar. Do I put cookies in it? No. Do I set it on my counter top for all to see? No. It is hidden in my pantry where it can't even get dust on it, let alone be knocked over and broken. Every now and then when I open the cupboard I look at it and it puts a smile on my face but I wonder would my Gramma frown upon the fact that I am not using this to distribute cookies to her great grandbabies.
Sometimes that's the way I feel about the gifts that I have been given from God. One inpaticular , keeps me wondering why did God give this to me? I know so many others who would've done so much greater things with this gift and it almost seems wasted on me because of my fear to use it.
It reminds me of Moses in the bible , not my hubby. We can tell from what is written about him that he definately did not think that he was the right man for the job. When God asked him to go back to his hometown and tell his family and friends that what they were doing was wrong and that they needed to stop immediately and free the Hebrew slaves he questioned Gods call . He even came up with what I think is a pretty legite excuse of not being a good public speaker due to his stuttering. God didn't like his hesitancy because I think it showed Moses lack of faith/trust in Him . I can relate to Moses. I can think of a million excuses not to do what I know in my heart I was designed to do but in the end the call never goes away. The nudging is still there be it ever so small.
Because I know what Jesus said about the gifts that he gives and what we are supposed to do I am trying to be faithful using my gifts the best way I know how but somehow I wonder when I stand before Him will He ask me why I buried so many things because of my fear of rejection or pure complacency. I wonder if it will be enough. I am trying to be faithful but the desire every year grows stronger.
So, I am left at a crossroads. I can start to choose the path of least resistance or I can muster up all the time, energy, courage, strength and boldness that I have left and pursue what it is that I know in my heart is a gift buried right now.

First Grey Hair

That's right , I found it this morning. Had a bit of a different texture. Interesting. Exciting. Bring it ON !! Here's to growing old gracefully.