tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40984623891776299672024-03-12T19:11:04.020-07:00barnescupof blessingsthe musings of a homeschool mom-from the fun 4 kids can have with a mud puddle to the awesome ways God has provided for our family. A place to put my brain on paper, since I usually forget the sweet things they've said by the end of the day!!!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-60257190854435599702011-04-04T04:14:00.000-07:002011-04-04T05:55:41.879-07:00Menu MondayThis week and next will be a little nutty for us as my 12 yr old daughter gets ready to perform in a children's theater production of the Wizard of Oz. My oldest daughter has also been helping with crowd control during the rehearsals, and the director has asked her to step in and fill a role in the Friday night production. With a solo and a lot of lines! My first thought for this week's hectic schedule was to do a lot of fast food...seriously. But that really was something not in the budget this week! And, yes, I know, it would also not have been the healthiest thing for us to do!<br /><br />I usually plan a menu and grocery shop every two weeks. This week I did my menu planning out of my freezer and cabinets, making a list of what I already had, and planning meals around what we already had . My actual grocery list was only about 10 items at Sams Club, and another 15 or 20 at Kroger. The young man ringing me up at Kroger( I started to type, "checking me out" but that didn't sound right!) Has seen me several times before with my customary two, FULL shopping carts, and asked, "Is this ALL?" It was nice to be in and out of both stores in an hour. My children will tell you, grocery shopping for us is usually a several hour ordeal! So while my menu may not reflect what I would typically plan, it does serve the purpose of saving money this week and cleaning out my freezer and cabinets. I still have not found a use for the one can of cranberry sauce that remains from Thanksgiving! I also don't usually "plan" our breakfasts and lunches. We usually have cereal, toast, eggs, fruit, etc for breakfast. This week I will make pumpkin muffins, baked oatmeal and cinnamon rolls. Lunch us usually leftovers, pb and j, tuna, grilled cheese, yogurt, fruit. <br /><br />Menu for April 4 to 17<br />Monday: Chicken, mushroom and spinach quesadillas, tossed salad<br />Tuesday: Baked chicken, baked sweet potatos and broccoli<br />Wednesday: Meatloaf, roasted potatos, corn<br />Thursday:chicken pot pie, salad, applesauce<br />Friday: Spagetti with homemade meat sauce, salad, garlic bread<br />Saturday:Black bean and chicken burritos, brown rice, peaches<br />Sunday: Black bean, chicken and rice soup!<br />Monday: Macaroni and cheese, peas and cornbread<br />Tuesday:French toast, bacon, peaches<br />Wednesday: Grilled hamburgers, baked beans, home made fries<br />Thursday: vegetable beef soup, cornbread<br />Friday: Dinner out, since we will be taking a day trip to the space center in Huntsville, Alabama<br />Saturday: Grilled chicken, green beans, baked sweet potatos<br />Sunday: potluck at church...apple pie andcrock pot bacon <br />wrapped "sausages"<br /><br />I will post some more recipes later, but for now just this one pot luck favorite. One sunday a year or so ago, I was staring blankly at my fridge trying to come up with a quick dish for our church fellowship meal the next day. So I called my mother in law. She is truly a walking cookbook. I could tell her I have kidney beans, mayonaise and yellow cake mix in the house, and she would come up with something. On that particular day I had an abundance of hot dogs but no buns and some bacon that needed to be used up. She asked if I had any brown sugar and then brought me some toothpicks to round out my ingredients. When she first told me, I turned up my nose.. It sounded gross, not to mention hot dogs and bacon? Could we get any unhealthier? But I tried it and it was a huge hit. Now, I am not an advocate for the hot dog and all its mystery ingredients, but for an every now and then, fix it and forget it dish, this is great. I never bring any leftovers home, so I know I am not the only one who thinks hot dogs are ok every once in awhile!<br /><br />4 packages hot dogs<br />2 packages bacon<br />4 cups brown sugar<br />Toothpicks<br /><br />Cut hot dogs in thirds and uncooked bacon strips in half. Wrap each hot dog in a piece of bacon, secure with a toothpick. Place in crock pot. Cover with brown sugar. Do NOT stir. Cover and cook on low about 5 hours.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-30650925611855488682011-03-30T20:46:00.000-07:002011-03-30T22:27:04.338-07:00Back on the Blog WagonNo use making excuses...yes, I havent blogged in 4 months. I havent been busy making every kind of milk concoction possible like my friend Anita at busy hands, busy minds. I havent been moving everything I own and a family of 6 into a lttle trailer the size of a walk in closet, like my friend, Emily, the accidental farmwife. I havent been sorting every lego in my home by color, while training for a marathon, like Roan, at Joyful Johnsons..<br /><br />I have been reading thier wonderful blogs thinking..I am not doing much thats even worth blogging about!<br />but I am reminded that none of us are exactly alike...not our households, our children, our goals, what makes us tick...we are all so different! And while I may not be accomplishing what these amazing ladies are, I am accomplishing things..things that matter to me.<br />I may never make boatloads of butter, or run a marathon, but I am tickled that I know ladies that do...I love the little window into other families lives that blogging has given us. And whether I blog every day or just once a year, I am reminded that this is an opportunity to give a glimpse of our life..no matter if its silly, strange or downright boring...its all the things that make us the family we are!<br />So while I was not sprouting seedlings this week or milking a goat, there was still much going on...<br />some of the things we DID do this week were. ..<br />Blew bubbles, picked flowers and scribbled with sidewalk chalk all over our front walkway. Took several early morning walks through our neighborhood together before school. Fed the ducks. Finished reading Adam of the Road together. Started reading the Good Master together. Played peek a boo with a one year old at least 40 times. Spent hours with all of us sitting in a circle in the living room clapping and cheering as same one year old took unsteady first steps to each of us. Loaded everyone up in pajamas before bed one night and went for ice cream. Attended play practice with my 12 year old, who is beyond excited over playing Dorothy in a production of the Wizard of Oz. Listened to my 3 yr old sing her abc's...a lot...cleaned out and reorganized every cabinet in my kitchen . Joined friends at the animal shelter to walk and cuddle some of the dogs. Got dog poop all over me. Took my 14 year old to pick up her book to start studying for her permit..still 5 months away, but she wants to be prepared. Sat on our dock watching my 8 yr old fish. Laughed as my 12 yr old took her 3 yr old sister out to jump on the trampoline ...in tutus. Read together about Genghis Kahn. Sang hymns together as a family. Cried over long division with 12 yr old. watched the brady bunch together and cracked up. Bought mentos and diet coke and made a geyser in the front yard. Rocked 8 yr old in the middle of the night with horrible ear pain. Woke up in the middle of the same night to find 3 year olds foot on my cheek. Read goodnight, moon. Read it again. Sang Jesus loves me . Sang it again, and again. Worked on Lexies scrapbook.Looked at Lexies scrapbook with her again, and again, and again. Had 9 girls over for the last night of a 6 week Bible study that my 14 yr old led. Watched the girls design and model dresses out of newspaper, toilet paper and tape. Shared a sweet time with thier mamas. Wrote in my journal. Finished reading Crazy Love and No Other Gods. Enjoyed some quiet. Enjoyed some noise. Laughed a lot. Cried a little. Had a tea party with stuffed animals. Found a rotten apple under the couch. Reminded myself that life happens in the little things. Even when I think I am not getting anything done, I realize How much is getting done..every moment..every day...thank you Lord for the little things...someday we will look back and realize they were the big things...michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-41626529594893271402010-11-29T12:33:00.001-08:002010-12-02T09:24:28.565-08:00Sometimes I feel like a spectator...Maybe I'm the only one that ever feels this way... Have you ever felt like you were a spectator, watching your life play out before you, and being amazed at what you see?<br /><br /><br />I felt that way yesterday...and not in a bad way, mind you. I continue to be amazed at this path God has put us on..the path of foster parenting and adoption. I always knew I wanted to adopt, but never in a million years thought I would be a foster parent. And even this time last year, shortly after we finalized Lexie's adoption, I never thought I'd be ok with getting together with Lexie's biological family on a somewhat regular basis. So, the spectator comment is not one that I say with the implication that my life has become somthing I didn't want for myself, but instead, as a spectator, I feel like sometimes I am standing on the sidelines watching God moving us-watching him work things out in our hearts that we never could have done on our own.<br /><br />Lexie's biological aunt, Shontel, had called us wednesday to see about getting together with us. I called her back yesterday morning to tell her that we would be heading to Ballard Park later in the day if she wanted to join us. When we got to the park, Lexie's aunt, along with her newborn and her 5 year old daughter, Paris, were there, as well as Lexie's biological grandmother and Lexie's biological brothers, Keegan, age 9 and Malachi, age 1 and her sister, yazmin, age 4. Keegan immediately ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. "Did you you bring my little sister?" he asked hopefully.<br />"She's coming with her dad in a few minutes," I told him. Lexie's aunt and grandmother gave me hugs as well.<br /><br />The last time I saw them was when they invited us to a birthday party in June for Lexie's cousin. At that time, I had not wanted to take Lexie to the party. I remember the frustration I felt as I thought, "Are they going to expect to get together all the time? She's OUR daughter now...we don't have to do this, and I don't want to." Mike said, "Whatever you want to do.." in that way that means, "But you really should reconsider..." and I knew as soon as I said "I'm not taking her." That it was going to be one of those things God would ask me to do. I went, half-heartedly, like a child being pulled along, dragging my feet to some place I didn't want to go.<br />I had that attitude of, "I'll go, but only because you're making me.." Yeah, that's the kind of heart attitude that really thrills God, isn't it?<br /><br />That sunny day in June we were greeted with wet, water playground hugs from Keegan and Yazmin-who had not seen Lexie since she was a few weeks old. Mackenzie had been right there with me in sharing my, "I don't want to do this" attitude, but as soon as she saw Paris, yazmin and Lexie grab hands and run under the spray of cool water, giggling all the way, her heart was softened, as was mine. Noah and Keegan became fast friends that day, planning their next get together. I know Lexie had no idea her new friends were family,she was just enjoying playing with them. I was humbled as Lexie's aunt and biological grandmother hugged me and thanked me for bringing her. I was ashamed that I had asked my mother in law to come along, so they would be able to see that Lexie already had a "grand mother." It ended up being a great afternoon. Keegan followed me to the car to give me one more hug and say, "Thank you for letting me see my sister." As we drove away, Mackenzie said what I was thinking, "Oh, mom...we were being so selfish. We need to let them know their sister." And then we had a good cry, as Mae and Noah looked at us like we were crazy...They had wanted to come from the very beginning; why wouldn't we want to go spend time with Lexie's biological brothers and sisters?<br /><br /> Because stuff like fear, and selfishness and judgment get in the way...."What if Lexie decides she likes them better than us?" "We don't have to do any of this. She's our daughter now.." and "She (Lexie's biological mom) made her choice when she chose to do drugs while she was pregnant with Lexie, why should we let her family have anything to do with her?" If there ever in all my life was battle between my flesh and my spirit, this whole foster/adoptive parenting thing has made it very evident. My flesh screams, "I don't owe them anything"..."we don't have to do anything"..."it's their fault they made these bad choices"....<br />and The holy spirit in me softly speaks.."Christ didn't owe you anything..." "He didn't have to do anything.." "It's not His fault you made these choices..."<br />Amazed that all of these thoughts pour out of one simple hug from a little boy...So that was back in the summer. Since then, we have been in contact with Lexie's aunt, but had not gotten together again.<br /><br />So here we were at the park, on a chilly November day, waiting for Mike to arrive with all the kids. As we waited, Lexie's aunt told me that they would be heading to the prison sometime in December to visit Charlene, Lexie's biological mother. I remembered (had I really forgotten?) that I had promised to come see her. That was a year ago....My excuses were that I had sent my paperwork in to be approved for a visit and hadn't heard anything...had I really tried?<br />I joked with Shontel that I was probably the last person Charlene wanted to see, after a letter I had written to her last January remained unanswered. I had written to her explaining that, in answer to her questions in a previous letter, I was not showing my then 1 year old her picture, nor was I telling her she had another "mama". I explained in my letter that although we were so grateful for the huge part she played in bringing Lexie into this world, that the only mommy and daddy she had ever known were Mike and I. I Told her that in time, she would absolutely know about her birth mom-she would know she had her beautiful eyes and sweet smile, she would hopefully get to meet her and have a relationship with her..but that we would make the decisions about when and where. This was all in answer to Charlene's demand that we bring Lexie to the prison to see her.<br /><br />For the things I said in the letter, I have no apologies..Lexie came to us from the hospital at 1 week old, still reeling from the effects of cocaine in her little body...while her birth mom was getting high, we were walking the floors at night with her...does that mean that I have a gold star in my crown and Charlene doesn't? Absolutely not. But I still think that some things did need to be said about what we were and weren't going to tell Lexie. I also told Charlene that I hoped she got the help she needed in prison, so that she would be able to have a second chance when she got out-a chance to start over, and even a chance to know Lexie.<br />I mentioned the letter to Shontel and that I hadn't heard from Charlene since then.<br />Shontel said, "Yeah, she wasn't too happy about that letter." Carol, Lexie's biological grandmother chimed in, much to my surprise, "You said a lot of things in that letter that she needed to hear. We are so grateful that you're letting us see her, but we know you're her mama."<br />"Do you think she'd still want to see me?" I asked, sounding like a small child.<br />"Absolutely." They both answered. We made plans for them to get the paperwork from Charlene again so that we could come visit. I planned to talk to Mike about bringing Lexie to see her..my flesh screamed, "Are you nuts?" and my heart whispered, "You have nothing to be afraid of..."<br />About the time we finished discussing Charlene, Mike pulled up in the parking lot.<br />Keegan, Yazmin and Paris ran to the car, and hugs were exchanged all around. Keegan and Noah quickly headed to the playground, and Paris and Yazmin linked arms with Lexie and took a loaf of bread to feed the ducks. Mackenzie and Mae followed a teetering Malachi around, arguing over who would get to hold him next. I sat a bench and watched them all laugh and play. Sat their with my sweet husband, my visiting parents, and Shontel and Carol. I wondered what everyone was thinking, especially Shontel and Carol. I felt my heart softening even more..last time it was for the children, this time towards this aunt and grandma sitting beside me.<br />We gathered all the kids up on a park bench for a picture. Noah remarked, "Look at Lexie and ALL her brothers and sisters (and cousins)!!" What an interesting sight we must have been, I'm sure.<br />Keegan ran over with Noah and said, "It's cool that Lexie has two big brothers."<br />"Yes, It is." I answered. And they were off to play again. mackenzie came over and pulled me aside. "Mom, can we invite them to go out to eat? I want to treat them to go out to eat."<br />I said, "Have you counted everyone? Do you realize how much that would cost?"<br />"Yes, and I want to."<br />"Why?" I asked.<br />"Because I love the way you and dad look after you've just done something nice for someone. I love the way that feels. And I just want to be with them a little longer." I looked at my oldest child, caught somewhere between girl and woman-who has been saving her hard earned money from crocheting hats for something really special. I guess this was it. Her dad and I agreed and she went and asked Shontel and Carol about joining us at pizza hut. They happily accepted and after a little more play time we began to round up the kids. I was surprised when Keegan ran over to me and took my hand. He just looked at me and smiled, and we walked to the parking lot quietly, hand in hand. Almost to the cars, he tugged at my hand and looked up at me. "Yes?" I asked. "Thank you for bringing my sister. She's so beautiful."<br />"Your welcome." I said. "You know, you and Yazmin and Malachi and Lexie all have the same eyes."<br />"We do?" He asked.<br />I paused for a moment, the words stuck in my throat. "You and Yazmin, Malachi and Lexie...you all have your mama's beautiful eyes."<br />I realize I'm a fool to think I'll ever be her only Mama.<br />And he just grinned, from ear to ear. As we loaded cars, Mike ended up with Noah and Keegan, and I ended up with Yazmin, Paris, Lexie, Mackenzie and Mae. Shontel and Carol followed us in their car, ejoying a little bit of quiet, I'm sure. On the way to Pizza Hut, yazmin said matter of factly to Mackenzie, "I'm Lexie's sister."<br />"Yes, you are." Mackenzie answered.<br />"Are you her big sister, too?" Yazmin wondered.<br />"Yes, I am."<br />yazmin thought for a moment, a little 4 year old thought. "Well, then I guess you're my big sister too!" Then she added, "My big, white sister!"<br />And we all laughed.<br />As we sat in Pizza Hut, waiting on our pizza that was taking way too long, that's when I felt it..felt like a spectator in my own life. as I looked around-Keegan and Noah, chatting like old friends at their very own big boy table; Mackenzie and Mae supervising the table with Yazmin, Lexie and Paris; And My mom, stepdad, Mike, Carol, Shontel, the two littlest babies and myself at another table. I sat there, watching. Knowing this was not me-sitting here with my adopted daughter's family...making plans to go see her birth mother in prison...making plans to do this again soon.<br />This was not the selfish me I knew. The me who wanted to hoard my sweet little 2 year old all to myself..the me who wanted to say we didn't have to let them see her at all...<br />No, this was the me I wish I saw more often. The me who knew that Lexie was not mine to hoard...who knew God didn't have to give her to us in the first place...who knew my heart was changed toward this family beacause of a little boy who gave me a hug, and a little baby named Jesus who would grow up to die for me...not because he had to, but because he wanted to.<br />And as I sat in Pizza Hut, surrounded by the sweet sound of children talking and laughing, I thought..God, help me to do more of what you ask because I want to..not because I have to. I don't want to be that child, dragging my feet, kicking and screaming...pouting because I don't get to do it my way. I want to be more of you...giving without expectations...loving first without guarantees of being loved in return...more of you, less of me.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-11855810973680545022010-11-29T12:26:00.000-08:002010-11-29T12:33:06.141-08:00stuffed mushroomsMy own thrown together recipe for an appetizer that has become quite a favorite!<br />Ingredients:<br /><br />about 20 whole mushrooms, wiped clean, stems removed (save stems for later use)<br />1 block cream cheese<br />1 lb browned jimmy dean sausage (with sage is best)<br />Chopped mushroom stems (use about half of the stems you saved)<br />olive oil<br /><br />Preheat oven to 350. Mix browned sausage, cream cheese and chopped mushroom stems together. Place mushroom caps top side down in a 13x9 pan. spoon cream cheese mixture into mushrooms-piling up mixture on top of each muchroom. drizzle olive oil over mushrooms.<br />Bake 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned. Delicious!!!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-47227239882135037292010-11-29T11:58:00.000-08:002010-11-29T12:26:29.562-08:00Thanksgiving in our new house!What a great Thanksgiving we had! My mom and step dad arrived safely and we had a nice day together Wednesday as we spent the day getting ready for a houseful of company. My mom helped clean, Mike continued to work on the new wood floor in the foyer (which looks beatiful..), Noah burned a huge load of cardboard and limbs-much to my mothers dismay-, "You let him light fires?!?" She exclaimed as he headed out the door with the matches. My mother in law came over and baked pies with Mackenzie-seven pies!!!! My mother was amazed.."who is going to eat all that pie?" My Mom in law happily remarked, oh this is only half as many as my mama used to make on Thanksgiving..." We mixed up the famous green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole-we decided to try a new recipe from a Paula Deen cookbok Mackenzie had received from my mom. I made a hot onion dip and a pan of stuffed mushrooms-my daughter requested the mushrooms because, she says, "You only make them when we are going somewhere and we never get to eat them!!!" So this batch would be for us to eat on thanksgiving before all our company arrived!!! My mother in law was going to bake the turkey, so the only other things I needed to prepare the day of would be potatoes, corn and rolls.<br />For thanksgiving, Our guest list included: My mom and Stepdad, Mike's parents and his brothers Paul and John, my sister in law, Julia and our nieces, Anna, Maggie, Evie and Bridget.<br />Mike's Uncle Tom, His grown children, Thomas, Andi and Mary, Mary husband Shawn and their 2 children, Jay and brand new baby Jordyn, Uncle Tom's best friend's, Porfilio and Joan, and their two college age daughters, Sanina and Kayla, and their 10 year old son Travis. And later in the day, our old next door neighbor from our old house, "Mr Butch", came by for some pie and coffee. Did I mention we had pie? oh my goodness...forget the pie...we had so much food! Joan brought enough food to feed an army, Salad, a HUGE pan of homemade cinnamon rolls, cranberry relish, stuffing, pumpkin bars and fruit and cream cheese cake bars. Shawn made a big pan of homemade mac and cheese. It was such a spread! It was great to have everyone in our new home..something we did not dream we would be doing a year ago. After eating, everyone migrated to the hill out back and the notorious zipline. Who knew grown ups could be so entertained with a zipline??? All the kids (young and old) had a turn, as well as every adult, except for uncle tom, my mom in law and my step dad...party poopers!! Even the neighbors came down the hill between our houses with their thanksgiving company to try it out!!! We all laughed till we cried, then we went inside and ate some more! travis and Noah went fishing off our dock, and Uncle Tom broke out his guitar, as he always does. Andi's birthday was today, so we had cake and sang happy birthday to her. I think I caught some of my children absent-mindedly singing, "Happy dry panties...." It was a great day. I'm so thankful that my mom and stepdad could be here, and I'm so thankful for Mike's big family. And by the way, no one even noticed that the foyer floor wasn't finished!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-11230096441459694242010-11-23T05:24:00.000-08:002010-11-23T07:42:53.699-08:00Sometimes you need a crowbar....My mom and Step dad arrive from Florida today. They have not seen our new house, and we have all been working feverishly to get it presentable for their arrival, and also for the arrival of about 30 of Mike's family members for Thanksgiving day. Mike has been painting bathrooms, hallways and doors and ripping out bathroom sinks. He has been working 12 hours a day, this past week 7 days, and yet in every spare moment he has lovingly worked on this house for me.<br />I have been so thankful and purposeful in telling him how much I appreciate all his hard work...until last night. Yesterday, as I pondered what my day would look like today, here's what ended up on my list: laundry, sweep, mop, clean bathrooms, change sheets, vaccuum, dust, pick up a few things at kroger, and then get ready to head to the airport later this afternoon to pick up my parents. We have been straightening all week, so the house has stayed pretty clean-I was expecting a quiet evening last night, planning to sit down about 8:30 (after the babies were in bed) to work on my menu/grocery list and a to type up some trivia for some thanksgiving day games. Well, there's a Bible verse that begins, "We can make our plans.."<br />When Mike came home from work about 5:45, he immediately set to ripping up the carpet in our foyer. Some dear friends of ours have a flooring business, and had given us beautiful hard wood planks to lay in our foyer,along with tile for our schoolroom floor and kitchen counters. We've had all these materials for about two months, but due to one thing or another, we had not started any of the above projects. Until, of course, last night-hours away from my parents arriving and days away from a houseful of guests. Anyway, last night was the chosen time by my dear husband, who casually said, "this should just take a couple of hours." "Will you need any help?" I asked. "Oh, maybe just a little." Then the fun began. I was happily preparing homemade pizza, which Mae remarked, is ALMOST as good as Dad's, and Mike began to cut and tear up the carpet with his assistant, Noah. The previous owners had told us that there was concrete under the carpet, so when Mike yelled, "Hey!! come look at this!" Mackenzie and I both answered," Hardwood under the carpet?!?" No, no, no... what was before us was far more interesting..brick red linoleum-in shiny, pristine condition-the design was something that looked like flat rocks (red) with gray grout. Back in 1979, when the house was built, I'm sure many folks entered the foyer of this home and thought, "OOOHHH, that's some fine red rock linoleum you've got there!" And the original owners, I'm sure, beamed with pride. I took one look at it and said, "can you say, 1970 something?" Mackenzie said, "Can you say Brady Bunch?" Mae thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on and asked, "Can we just leave THAT floor?" Everyone looked at her and in unison said, "NO!!"<br />In hind sight, Mae may have had the best idea....Mike and Noah went to work attempting to peel up the linoleum. I guess I should have worried when Mike walked past me in the kitchen towards the garage and came back with an armful of crowbars and hammers Then the chipping and pounding began. The linoleum obviously was NEVER meant to be removed. I am certain it must have been glued down with pure cement, or something much stronger. A third chisel and hammer were added to the mix, and Mae began chipping as well-it looked like we were having an archaeological dig in my foyer. Lexie was picking up linoleum chips and filling a bucket with them, Norah was happily watching from her high chair, Mackenzie was waiting for her turn with th crowbar and I was just watching....watching linoleum chips fly all over the living room-covering the couch, table and floor. Watching chips fly into the kitchen-onto the table, Norah's highchair, into the dog dish...and watching as a layer of dust settled on everything in the house.<br />It would be great if all I was doing was watching, but I wasn't. I was thinking. It would have been great if I was thinking, "Wow, my husband is the best. I'm so glad he came home and started this today. He is so thoughtful. He worked all day, yet he is still thinking of how I want everything to be perfect for our company." But I am ashamed to say, that is not what I was thinking. I was like a pot put to boil on the stove..steadily growing hotter and hotter-thinking, instead: "I can't believe he decided to start this tonight. Now it's 10:30-I guess I can forget any of the stuff I wanted to get done tonight. He is so thoughtless for starting this TONIGHT! I am going to be so stressed out tomorrow trying to deal with this mess..and then the house is going to looked like a bomb dropped in it when my parents walk in...." Mike interupted my thoughts.<br />"I'm sorry...I had no idea this would be so hard to get up. You'll have to have the kids scrape up this glue tomorrow..and then hopefully I can get the floor laid Wednesday when I get home from work." I would love to say that was the point at which I realized what a big baby I was being and said, "yes, dear, of course!" But instead I blurted out, "You know, I DID have other things planned for the kids to help me with tomorrow. " The kids all looked at me wide eyed. I grabbed a crowbar and began to chisel at that stupid linoleum. We worked until nearly midnight, the floor was finally up, and everyone headed for bed. Sadly, I did not even think at that point, that I had been wrong. I had even called my mom and two friends to whine about what was going on at my house, and about my poor pitiful me status. Poor and Pitiful is absolutely right. This morning when I woke up, several HOURS after Mike had been up and out the door for a full day of work, I walked into the foyer and looked at the bare concrete. "Well at least that's done. " I thought, somewhat smugly. Then, I promise, as clear as if He was standing right next to me, It was as if the Lord said, "No.It's just the beginning..I've got soo much work to do with you-Where did you put that crowbar?" I actually stopped and just stood there a second. Then images flooded my mind of the potter at work at his wheel, creating, crushing, recreating his work...<br />I thought about every verse I had ever read about our tongues and our words....Every verse I'd ever read about plain old kindness. I had been given the opportunity to bless my husband as his helper last night in a project he really was doing for me, and I failed miserably. I had been given the opportunity to show joy and contentment in front of my children, and I failed. I had been given the opportunity to set my own selfish plans aside, and I failed.<br />It's funny how things like that happen when we think we're doing pretty good. I am ashamed that I acted that way. That I didn't heed God prodding me the whole time we were up to our eyeballs in linoleum chips and dust to check my heart attitude. I know he was prodding me, I was just refusing to heed. Iam humbled as I look at that floor, thinking of all the chiseling God has to do with me. Chipping and hammering and scraping away all the junk. I am so Thankful that he hasn't given up on me, that he hasn't even once thought, "you know, this stuff they used back in 1973, it's just too hard to chip off, I'll just leave it alone..."<br />Thank you Lord for your patience with me. Thank you for the dear, sweet and patient husband you've given me. Thank you for my precious children, help me to be a better example to them of your love, patience, kindness and gentleness.<br />This morning, I can already hear Noah hard at work..chiseling and scraping at the glue...just like his father asked. Lord, help me to listen better, and just do the things you ask of me.<br />I know today I need to start with asking for forgiveness from both Mike and the children.<br />Keep chiseling away Lord, So that there will continue to be more of you and less of me...<br /><br /><br />"Go down to the potter's shop, and I will speak to you there. So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as h e had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. Then the Lord gave me this message, " O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand."<br />jEREMIAH 18:2-6<br /><br />"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14<br /><br />"You must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls." James 1:19-21<br /><br />"Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of God made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands." 1 Peter3:3-5<br /><br />"Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies, her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:10-12<br /><br /><br />"The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve. For His unfailing love towards those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For He knows how weak we are, He remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we `bloom and die. The wind blows and we are gone-as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. " Psalm 103:8-17michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-8677326896694337782010-11-02T06:08:00.001-07:002010-11-02T06:18:07.231-07:00Potty Training Makes You do Crazy Things...When your 2 year old wakes up asking you to sing the "Happy Dry Panties" song, You've know you've crossed the line in potty training techniques. But amazingly, our spur of the moment idea has worked for the past week. Night one of dry panties had us doing an impromptu version of "Happy Birthday to You." complete with a candle in Lexie's mashed potatoes for having dry panties for a whole day. The next day she woke up asking for the candle,and the next day, and the next. The whole family has gotten into the act, and last night we had 5 candles in her baked ziti for each dry day. Lexie was so excited. She woke up this morning singing the dry panties song to herself. Should I be worried that at the next birtday party we attend, my whole family may inadvertently start singing, "Happy dry Panties, to you?" Well, I'm willing to take that risk....whatever works!!! I'm planning on posting some more recent pictures in the next few days. maybe I'll post one of the whole family singing to Lexie as she blows out her candles. And just for the record, if you try this at home, candles don't stand up very well in a mound of corn, or baked ziti!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-53768250824377416312010-11-01T20:51:00.001-07:002010-11-01T22:27:43.242-07:00Moving DayOther new happenings since I last posted....we moved! We had been trying to sell our house for 2 years and finally in early April decided to take it off the market. We were tired of constantly rushing to get the house ready to show and get all the kids and pets out of the house. We were tired of that high that comes when the realtor says, "they think your house is the one." followed by the low when they just don't call back. I just wanted to get on with our lives and be happy in the house I was in. We had thought with all the growing we'd been doing, that we needed a bigger house, but obviously if God thought we needed a bigger house, he would have seen to it that our house sold. I realized I needed to just be content with what I had, which even for it's small space, was more than many families had. Mike stated, half joking, " If God wants us to sell our house then He'll just send us someone Himself-without the help of a for sale sign, without the help of a realtor!" A week went by. After church one Sunday some friends of ours remarked, "hey, there's a cute house in our neighborhood that's going to be for sale soon. We know the owners and we can call them if you want to go look." We rode with them past the house-beautiful-on a lake, big yard, in ground pool...but we told them, "first of all, we can't even afford a house in this neighborhood, and second of all, our house hasn't sold. " "Oh. it will." my sweet friend answered, knowingly. There was a "third of all" as well: another reason why we didn't feel right looking at that house. When we had first put our house up for sale, we had found out about an empty house owned by a lady we knew. We had looked at the house, and had determined in our hearts that that was OUR house. Over the course of the 2 years that followed, we formed a special bond with the owner, an older widow, who wanted nothing more than to have a family move into the house she had raised her own children in. Everytime we'd get a "bite" about our house, we'd call her. We actually went to contract on her house when we had a contract with a buyer for our house. But when the buyer backed out, we were devastated, and when we called to tell her, we reminded each other, that if God intended for the house to be ours, it would be. So, now, 2 years later, we were still at a point where we felt if our house sold, we knew exactly where we were supposed to be going, so what business did we have looking anywhere else? We kept telling ourselves, that we would know the house was not supposed to be ours when someone else bought it. Then, the phone rang. It was the sweet lady that owned the empty home we had had our hearts set on for the past 2 years. "I'm so sorry, but I sold the house. I wanted to wait on ya'll, but I couldn't refuse the offer." I told her we understood, and that if it were meant to be our house it would have been. I was fine. I was content....I was also thinking, this is great! now we KNOW it's not supposed to be our house....Until we drove by her empty house, that we had remodeled in our heads a million times, that we had sat in the driveway of on several occasions just praying that it would be ours...and when we drove by, the new owners car was in the driveway, and her lawn furniture was in the yard...and what did I do? Forgot all about being content and getting a HUGE answer to prayer and cried-just for a minute-then I grabbed hold of the fact that it truly was an answer to prayer, even if it wasn't the answer I wanted. Another week passed and Mike got a phone call. One of those phone calls where you hang on every word, trying to figure out who it could be...or maybe I'm the only one that does that....When Mike got off the phone he had a strange look on his face-half grin, half puzzled. "That..." he began, " was a women who wants to come look at our house."<br />He went on to tell me that the woman on the phone had gotten our number from someone she worked with. She had mentioned a house for sale near where he lived and asked if the co-worker knew of it.<br />Turns out, we used to go to church with the co-worker, and when she described the location of the house, he knew exactly where it was and who it belonged to!<br />I asked Mike when she wanted to come, and he said, "today, in about 20 minutes!"<br />Can you say, "FREAK OUT?!!?" The house was in major "lived in with 5 kids" mode-how was I going to get it straightened up in 20 minutes?!? Mike seemed to think the whole thing was just funny, and tried to calm me with, " She's not going to be looking at the toys on the floor." I wasn't thinking about the toys on the floor. I was thinking about the dirty bathroom, the 4 foot high lego creation in the middle of Noah's room, the dishes from lunch all over the counter and several baskets of laundry on my bed!!!!" I started to go into drill seargent mode.."Mackenzie, get the comet!" " Mae, stick the laundry behind the shower curtain!" But Mike calmly told me just to leave it. Do you know how hard that was for me?!? Everytime the realtor had come to show the house, I had been meticulous about the neatness of the house-even down to the angle at which the soap dispenser on the bathroom counter sat! Bedfore I had a chance to argue with my dear husband, Noah shouted from his perch on the front porch railing, "A lady's here in a black truck!!!" And so she toured our house, mess and all. Much to my surprise, she came back with a friend the next day! (The houses was clean the second time she came!!!!) She seemed genuinely interested, but I just shrugged it off-the dozen or so other people that had looked had been interested as well! She called us back later that day and made us an offer; an offer we couldn't accept, but an offer, nonetheless. We countered, and then waited. Several days later she called and accepted our offer, and before I knew it, we were all sitting down with her, signing a contract for her to buy our house! We called our friends from church, and told them we were ready to look at that house in their neighborhood. We looked at it, and then had a realtor show us a bunch of over the course of the next 2 weeks. I was going for BIG and remodeled, Mike was going for structurally sound and cozy. We ended up back at the first house in our friends neighborhhood. When we went back the second time, I was determined to point out to Mike all the negative aspects of the house...weird shaped living room, tiny bedrooms, odd bathroom....but instead it was like I was seeing it for the first time-I fell in love with it, and then had to apologize to my husband for wanting to bring him there to talk him out of it!!! There was still the issue of $$$$...this house still was way out of our price range. We both agreed that we wouldn't know unless we made an offer, so we did, and the week that we waited to hear back from the owners was horrible!!!! Especially because if they turned us down, we really did not have a second choice...the thought of looking at more houses made my head spin! Much to our surprise, the sellers were interested in striking a deal, so we signed a contract with them and then went on vacation for 2 weeks!!! We really should have been packing to move, but we had already been planning a trip to see my parents, and Mike said, "If we don't go ahead and do it now, it will be a long time before we get to take another vacation!" looking back, I'm so glad he insisted that we still take our trip...we definately neededa little rest and relaxation before the big move, and it was great to see my parents again. We also left there house with a borrowed trailer loaded down with tons of furniture-my parents were downsizing, and in there quest to get rid of nearly everything, we ended up with a ton of furniture for our new house!<br />August 1st was moving day-our dear church family and all their trucks and trailers, along with my sweet father in law and brothers in law helped us make the move. The kids were so excited. The kids couldn't wait to jump in the pool and sleep in their new rooms. It's been 3 months now, since we moved, and there is still much to be done. Everytime I look back, I am amazed at how God's hand has rested on every event, every milestone, every adventure. I am humbled when I realize how quick I tend to forget, when things get a little crazy, that He is in control. When I was fretting because it was just days until we had to be out of our house, and we still hadn't closed on the new house..I had forgotten. When I was freaking out because we were coming home from vacation with a trailer full of furniture and no where to put it...I had forgotten. When I thought<br />our house wouldn't sell...when I was scared to death that it had and we didn't have a clue where we were going....I had forgotten. Forgotten that each and every time, God was and is right there, saying, "I've got this...stop worrying."<br /> <strong>"Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns;yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow: They neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glorywas not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe YOU? O ye of little faith?"</strong><br /><strong> Matthew 6:25-30</strong>michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-91383595249569474922010-11-01T20:10:00.000-07:002010-11-01T20:51:06.456-07:00NorahToday is finally the day... and it's only been 8 months! So much has happened in our little corner of the world. When I last posted, little did I know that we were just days away from a major event happening in our family. Feb. 21, just days before my last post, a little girl had been born at the local hospital. We had no idea she had been born, no idea that she would soon come to be a part of our family, and definately no inkling of the way in which she would take root in all our hearts. We recieved a phone call March 1st about a newborn girl in need of a temporary home.<br />We said yes, and I was required to go spend a night with her in the NICU before we could bring her home. She was such a tiny little thing, and just beautiful. I remember sitting there in the hospital room that night, rocking her and thinking, "You will not be with us long enough for me to fall in love with you." And God laughed. I'm so sure he really did. I so intended to not be attached to little Norah. To just be her "caregiver" and not her mother. Not because I didn't WANT to love her, but simply because I didn't want it to hurt when she left us. Well, what was supposed to be a few weeks, turned into a few months. Mike and I had even decided that if she was with us for a certain amount of time, we would definately tell the folks in charge of her placement that they needed to move her. Well, that "certain amount of time" came and went 2 months ago. Our social worker, as per our request said, "Ok, so what day do we need to move her by?" And I just cried. I had so wanted to be in control of the whole situation, to be able to say, "this is it, you need to find a new place for her now, because if she stays any longer we will just be too attached to her." But I couldn't do it. I told the social worker I would talk to Mike and we would let her know. I think Mike knew all along we wouldn't be able to tell them, "come get her now." The same way he knew after Austin left, when I said, " I don't want to do this foster parent thing anymore," that I didn't mean it. So we talked into the night about what to do.<br />I cried some more (yes, I am a big crybaby), as I said to him, " I think it will take more faith for us to let her stay and let God determine when she leaves, then for us to say, 'Today's the day, it's time for her to go.' " We called the social worker the next day and said we wanted her to stay as long as they needed her to. And then I hung up the phone...That was 2 months ago, and we are no more certain about Norah's future today then we were then. But we are certain we made the right decision, and we have certainly fallen in love with her. Just as God knew, well before we did, that Norah would come to us, I must remain confident that He knows if and when she will leave. It is not up to us to "control" the situation; instead it is up to us to trust God and lean on Him, and love this amazing little girl for as long as she's with us.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-30802245267104031942010-02-23T05:35:00.000-08:002010-02-25T05:01:24.447-08:00What did you say?From time to time, well actually on a daily basis, my kids say some pretty funny stuff. Too often I don't take the time to write it down, and sadly, these funny moments are often forgotten!<br />These things may be funny to only me, but I wanted to jot them down anyway...<br />I posted this first one on facebook, but wanted to leave it here as well.<br />The girls were part of a children's chorus that sang with the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. Mike, Noah, Lexie and I attended the concert, and as the lights dimmed, a recorded message played..."Please turn off all cell phones, pagers and noise making devices."<br />Noah quickly leaned Lexie forward-who was sitting on my lap-and began to rub up and down her back. "What are you doing?" I asked. Not even trying to be funny, he answered, "I'm looking for her "off" button." Mike and I just cracked up.<br /><br />On to the next funny thing..<br />Mae was re-telling a story she had just read, and often when she re-tells, it is word for word and very lengthy. So on this occasion, my thoughts began to wander after about twenty minutes of her story. Then she said with excitement, "And then, he bit her ear off!!" I quickly came back from wherever I had wandered and with much surprise said, "What?!?"<br />"In the story I was reading, the boy said he had to tell his mom a secret, and when she leaned down, he bit her ear off." I thought, what on earth has she been reading?!!! I said, "What on earth have you been reading?!!!"<br />"One of the books on our school shelf." She answered. thinking some bizarre book must have found its way onto my shelf, I asked her what book it was.<br />"Oh, you know, that one you told me I could read, That one with the pretend stories....what are they called?" She stopped to think. "I think they would be called fiction stories." I said.<br />"No, they're called something else, like fairy tales, but not fairy tales, but an "F' word."<br />I was honestly losing my patience quickly, just trying to get the name of the book.<br />"I don't know." I answered. "Well," she said, "YOU talked to us about the stories, and that they were made up stories, and I just can't remember what they were called, and I can't remember the name of the book." I thought another minute about pretend stories, not fairy tales, that I had talked about.... "Fables?" I asked. "Are you talking about a book of fables?"<br />The light went on. "Yes!!! That's it!!!" She said, excitedly. "Fables...the book was called....(she paused, trying to remember)... "ASS-Hops Fables!!" She declared it proudly, glad that she had remembered. Mackenzie's head shot up from behind the book she was reading, her eyes big as saucers. Noah dropped his legos and gasped, "Mae, you said a baaaaaad word!!!!!"<br />I stood stunned for a moment, before it all made sense. "Aesop's Fables...you read EEEEEEEsop's Fables." I stated, emphasizing the "EEEEEEE."<br />"Oh, so that's how you say it!" Mae said, suddenly a little embarrassed. I made a mental note to self, "Have the Children come show me what they are going to read before they read it...and make sure they can pronounce the title correctly!"<br />We love things like this at our house...they truly bring out the giggles in everyone.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-69140350608910676652010-02-17T22:04:00.000-08:002010-02-17T22:19:28.093-08:00Angel hair pasta with shrimp, garlic and mushroomsYum, yum... Mike threw this together tonight, and it was so wonderful....i knew I'd forget what he added if I didn't write it down. We had the pasta with a caesar salad with homemade croutons and the 3 children who don't like shrimp, had tasty cornmeal coated and pan fried tilapia...my dear husband was quite busy tonight!`<br /><br />1 box angel hair pasta, cooked according to directions-return to big spaghetti pot after draining.<br />*note, one box was really not enough for our family of 6!<br /><br />1 1/2 lbs peeled, deveined and steamed shrimp<br /><br />1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced<br /><br />1/2 yellow onion. chopped<br /><br />4-6 cloves garlic, chopped<br /><br />4 Tbsp olive oil<br /><br />1/2 cup white wine<br /><br />salt and pepper to taste<br /><br /><br />saute the onion, 1/2 the garlic and the mushrooms till tender in 2 Tbsp olive oilover medium high heat-transfer this mixture (including the oil) to the pot with the angel hair-toss to mix.<br /><br />Saute remaining garlic and shrimp in 2 Tbsp olive oil over med high heat till shrimp is warmed through-add white wine, reduce heat and simmer another 5 minutes.<br /><br />add shrimp, garlic and wine mixture to angel hair and toss again-serve immediately.<br /><br />My non-shrimp eating kiddos loved the mushroom-garlic pasta as well, minus the shrimp....more for the grown ups!!!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-66007483619328265512010-02-17T05:40:00.000-08:002010-02-17T06:14:19.815-08:00Birthday ramblingsSo hard to believe Lexie turned two Monday. The girls asked me.. "What time was she born?"<br />I said, "I don't know, I'll have to look at her birth certificate." For a moment-just a moment..there was a sadness over the fact that because I did not give birth to her, I don't have that first "birth" day memory to hold on to. But the sadness was immediately overcome by an overwhelming sense of gratitude that at just one week old, the Lord placed this precious little girl in our family.<br />As we sang happy birthday over cupcakes and a room full of balloons, As Lexie excitedly listened to her Daddy and her grandparents sing to her on the phone...As she flew to the door ready with hugs for her other grandparents...At supper as we bowed our heads and Lexie called out, "Daddy, mommy, cissy, mae mae, bubby, food...thank you...AMEN"...As she ran through the house all day shouting, "Birthday, birthday, birthday...two, two, two!!!" The amazing mix of joy, peace and thankfulness that came over me almost brought me to tears.<br /><br /> However many birthdays I get to celebrate with each of my children, Lord thank you for the gift of these days..for the gift of these children...for cupcakes and balloons...muddy footprints and snotty noses...messy rooms and clogged up toilets...army men underfoot and knitting stuff everywhere...pla-dough in the carpet and marbles in the washing machine....dirty socks..40 of them ..in the toybox...sticky handmade cards with glitter all over them...sweet notes that say "thank you mom"...toothpaste on the doorknob....late night fevers and gag reflexes in response to medicine...the same book for the 44th time....one million questions... one million more questions....Lord, thank you for this gift of motherhood-for all the ups and downs-for choosing me, to mother them. Lord, help me today, and everyday to show more of you to each of them-in the cooking, cleaning, teaching, wiping, correcting, playing,, singing, living.....How much I fall short each day...how thankful I am that you love me anyway. Thank you for the gift of another day, to try again....<br /><br />Happy Birthday, Sweet Lexie...we love you so much!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-45445859755519109532010-01-24T20:41:00.000-08:002010-01-24T21:31:17.665-08:00Just another school day...It's never "just" another school day at our house. i am so thankful for the laughter, curiousity, creativity and confusion that my children throw into our daily schooling. Life would be so boring without being a part of watching them as they grow and learn each day. i am so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool them. But as I read again in Isaiah today, I am even more thankful that my children "are taught by the Lord." This so makes the daunting task of teaching them not seem so big. It is so good to know that even when I am about to pull my hair out because someone just can't "get" their times tables down, or someone just can't seem to write ANY lowercase letters, or has forgotten everything they seemed to know yesterday..that God knows each of these children, all thier strengths and weaknesses-better than I ever could. I am so thankful that he is at work in my children's lives, instructing them, helping them along the way, working out all the little "kinks" that sometimes seem like such a big deal to me. But really, who cares if he writes in all caps or if she doesn't have all the times tables down just yet. God has called our family to this journey, and he will equip us every step of the way.<br /><br />That being said, We had one of "those' days the other day...not a bad day, just a day where I wondered, are they getting any of this/<br /><br />We usually start our schoolday with Bible, but on this particular day, the kids asked if we could do "English From the Roots up" first-our greek and latin root word study. I was excited that the kids were all asking to do it, so I decided to let them play a game. I gathered up all their root word cards and told them to line up side by side in the kitchen. With each correct answer they would get to take a step forward, and the first one to the couch would be the winner.<br />I gave them the rules: I would call out a root word and they had to raise their hand to answer and I would call on the first one with their hand raised. The girls would have to spell the root, tell me what it meant and the.n put it in a word and tell me what that word meant. Noah would have to tell me what the root meant and give me a word with the root in it.<br /><br />They were off to a good start, all hands went up when I said "phobos" Mackenzie correctly spelled it, defined it and yelled out "bibliophobia-the fear of books!!!" then it went downhill-no one could remember anything except phobos! Everyword I called out was returned with a blank stare, and if I asked them to use other roots in a word, they all added "phobia" to their root. for example for "photo," meaning light, they gave me "photophobia", which one of them then said was a "fear of photographs." I realized quickly our study skills needed improvment! Noah was so determined to win, but the girls hands always went up first, or he simply did not know the answer. Finally, wnen I said the root "syn", Noah waved his hand wildly in the air and jumped up and down. When I called his name he excitedly yelled out, "Something God doesn't like for you to do!!!!" He was wrong, but how could I not let him take a step for that one? I explained that the word we were talking about was "syn," meaning with. Then I asked if someone could give me a word with "syn" and just as quickly as before Noah threw up his hand and shouted-"Cinnamon!!!" the girls insisted I let him take another step. When Mackenzie finally won, she asked what do I get for a prize? I said, you get to study your root words!!!"<br /><br />Afterwards, we sat down to for Bible. We have been reading through Exodus, and memorizing the ten commandments, after the ten commandments had been given, I continued to read through the different rules and regulations that God gave to the Israelites. the kids were cracking up as I read some of them, but really amazed at how specific they were. Things like,<br />"A person must be put to death if they hit a pregnant woman" or "If you are aware that you have a mean ox, and it gores someone, you must be put to death..." Anyway after reading and discussion, I asked the kids to call out the ten commandments, starting with the number.<br />After our failed root word game, I was very happy when they all called the commandments out in turn, but something happened after we got to ten, and they just got plain silly. Noah said, "eleven...never hit a pregnant woman!" Without missing a beat, Mae said, "twelve...don't let your mean ox hurt your neighbor!" I was laughing and glad they were remembering what they read. Then Mackenzie called out, "Thirteen...Don't ring your neighbors doorbell in your underwear!!"<br />I was laughing so hard I almost fell of the couch. Noah added the final "extra" commandment, shouting out, "Fourteen....Don't pee in your neighbors bushes!!!" The room got silent and my eyes got big as I looked at him. "What?" he answered innocently, "That's not really a commandment, and Uncle John (his dad's brother AND our neighbor) doesn't mind....."<br />Okay, so now if you ask my children to recite the commandments, don't be surprised if they finish with, "oh yeah, and number eleven, NEVER pee in your neighbor's bushes. (even if it is your uncle!)"<br />And so goes another day....And I am always thankful that our house if nothing else, is filled with joy and laughter!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-1245876384943751102009-12-31T13:22:00.000-08:002009-12-31T13:33:25.717-08:00It's still Christmas here...While everyone else is undecorating, I am resisting the urge to take down the lights and the tree..My parents are coming into town Monday night, so we will be doing Christmas all over again with them on Tuesday. They have sent presents ahead of them, so the kids are anxious to unwrap the gifts still under the tree-but who knows if the organizing and decluttering urge gets strong enough, I may un-decorate and just put the presents on the piano!! Noah is beside himself with glee as he has already felt the packages and is certain poppy sent him a roll of duct tape. Could his world be a more happier place? a bb gun, a zip line AND his own personal roll of duct tape...does life really get any better than that when your 7? Oh, and he lost a HUGE front, top tooth 2 days before Christmas, so now he is loving sticking straws in the hole in his mouth to drink his chocolate milk. And His foster brother Austin is visiting for a few days....and they are knee deep in a mud hole RIGHT NOW. Oh and Mike just came in to tell me he is (RIGHT NOW) making a platform for the zipline and raising the cable HIGHER then previously mentioned 20 feet off the ground. NOAH is one happy boy. And the girls just received the Christmas "gift" of getting their own blogs-which thrilled them beyond all belief. And the babies are napping...but wait, are those jingle bells I still hear? No, it's just my husband and his chainsaw-another oversized boy-enjoying his toys.....michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-9975586630684901502009-12-31T07:59:00.000-08:002009-12-31T08:38:11.753-08:00The zip-line's maiden voyage and more company!Saturday morning after Christmas, Mike and Noah were up and out early, determined to get the zip line going before our friends from South Carolina arrived at noon. Mike ran out of cable and had to make a mid-morning run to the home improvement store, but was still back in time to have everything together just as our company was pulling in the driveway. We greeted our sweet friends-who mind you-have been urban dwellers most of their lives, so I'm sure traveling to our little singlwide on a dirt road in the woods of MS was a big enough adventure for them, without throwing in the excitement of a zip line. After hugs and remarking how much all of our children have grown (they have daughters the same age as Mackenzie and Mae and a son the same age as Noah), we headed arounded back to view the zipline-mind you, this would be the first time I had ventured outside to look at my husband's handiwork-- My eyes, as well as the eyes of my dear friend, grew big as saucers, as we surveyed the extension ladder extended <strong>20 FEET up, </strong>leaned against a big pecan tree, with a cable anchored to the tree just above the ladder. Mike had crafted a trolley that attached to the cable (which, I think he told me is supposed to hold 900 lbs), and attached to the trolley was a swing...and at the end of the cable-a distance of a little more than 200 feet, was a tire, attached to the cable...in order to stop the "rider" before the rider smacked into the tree as he/she zoomed down the zipline.<br />As I marveled at My husband's skill, I also wondered which one of my children would break an arm first. We stared up at Mike, standing 20 feet up in a crook of the tree, holding the swing.<br />"Who's first?" He called. At first I suggested he go first, but then I realized he was our families main source of income, and we could not have him laid up in a hospital due to falling off a zip line-<br />so the next choice was Mackenzie, who fears nothing, and quickly scampered up the ladder and onto the swing. Ready to view a thrilling 90 mph ride, we all watched, half in excitement, half in fear....as Mike let go of the swing, we all held our breath....the swing moved VERY slowly down the cable-so slowly, we all wanted to grab the swing at pull it the rest of the way-Mackenzie mosey-ied about halway down the zip line, before the swing hit the ground and dragged her the rest of the way. Each of the other kids took turns, and with each child, the ride went slowly, ending in the dirt about midway through the ride. Mike stood atop the ladder and chuckled..."I think I have a little reconfiguring to do...." His reconfiguring would involve pulling the cable tighter and having a steeper incline, although I expressed my concern with taking the cable higher than 20 feet off the ground. In the meantime, we left it as it was, and had a fun time watching the kids slide not so gracefully down the zipline, always hitting the ground in mid-ride.<br />And our friends admitted that it wasn't as dangerous as they thought it would be (not yet anyway). The rest of the day was spent enjoying our friends-trying to cram all of the remeniscing into a few hours, since their plans were to leave early the next morning. mae and her friend Ciara pulled out a typewriter and wrote stories together. Mackenzie taught Serena how to bake apple pie-the girls made one to keep and one to send home with them. Noah and Ethan tried out Noah's bb gun (under Mike's supervision of course) and our friend Luis cooked us supper-spanish rice with beans, chicken and a home-made concoction called sofrito-a blend of garlic, peppers, onion, olives and I'm not sure what else. When we all lived in Florida, where we first became friends, some of our best "food" memories involved Deanna and Luis' spanish cooking...so after stuffing ourselves again, we talked late into the night, trying to make up for the 3 years since we last saw each other! Sunday morning, at their request, we took them to Elvis Presley's birthplace, and then said our goodbyes. They headed home, we headed to church...all the kids asking how soon we would see them again. It's great to have those special friends-ones that no matter how long it has been since you have talked or seen each other, you can still pick up right where you left off.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-25593808762372798052009-12-31T07:40:00.000-08:002009-12-31T07:59:12.282-08:00Cristmas day-here comes the crowd..and the food....We are definately a family with a deep affection for food, and many of our memories and traditions revolve around food. I make no apologies for this...but I know I will spend most of the new year trying to walk off what I ate on Christmas day alone! Every Christmas, our "big" Christmas meal involves little or no cooking. I think this "tradition" was started with Mike's grandmother, who was tired of spending the whole day cooking instead of enjoying time with her family. So The meal my children all look forward to on Christmas day consists of croissants, piles of roast beef, turkey, salami, ham and cheese, chips, dips and 10 pounds of peel and eat shrimp.<br />AND grandma's rule is the kids can eat as much as they want. Usually we gather at my mother in laws, but I suggested our house this year. By the time everyone arrived, our little house was very full- All our family, plus Mike's parents, His middle brother and wife, their 3 children, his youngest brother and his daughter, Mike's uncle and his college age daughter, and our older bachelor neighbor. It was quite a crowd, and I can honestly say we had a great time. Everyone stayed longer than they normally do, and chatted and laughed more than they normally do. Even though it was cold, the kids bundled up and headed outside to play flashlight tag and jump on the trampoline in the dark, and the grown ups filled up on cookies, cheesecake, shrimp and sandwiches. It was close to 9 when the last of the family headed home...and full and sleepy we wondered why we only do this once a year. I vow to initiate a family gathering at least every few months in 2010...michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-90660954498589238502009-12-31T06:58:00.000-08:002009-12-31T07:40:22.767-08:00Christmas Eve, Christmas morning...As I sit here sipping tea with honey, brought to me by my sweet oldest child, who probably wants something...I was busy reading other people's blogs, realizing, I need to go ahead and post on mine! We had a wonderful Christmas, here at the Barnes home. Christmas Eve, we normally attend a candlelight service and then go "light looking" (Noah's term for driving through heavily decorated neighborhoods, looking at lights), followed by hot cocoa. The rain this Christmas eve was torrential, so instead of venturing out, we had our hot cocoa at home and read prophesies about Christ, followed by the story of his birth. Everyone hauled their blankets and pillows into the living room, since somehow a few years ago, we started the tradition of everyone sleeping in the living room on Christmas Eve. Mie and I were struggling to stay awake in order to fill the kids stockings-we don't do the Santa thing, but the kids always look forward to the special treats we put in their stockings. Mackenzie remarked once, "sometimes our stocking gifts are better than what's under the tree!!" We always put coupons in there stockings for things like "a date with mom, including dinner and a movie" "trip to the bookstore to pick out a book", Mackenzie gets one every year for a date with dad to have lunch out and attend a favorite contemporary Christian concert that comes around each year. This year they each recieved 12-one for each month. I found a great little coupon book at the Hallmark store, which I was able to get for free with a coupon, so I didn't have to type allthe coupons myself! The other biggie in their stockings this year were book lights-for all the late night reading they like to do.<br />I was the first one up Christmas day, and had time to grab a shower and fix my hair before the kids woke up. Mike decided he would showere before the gift-opening began, and Mackenzie asked why he was taking the LONGEST shower he had ever taken! We always have a special breakfast casserole on Christmas morning-prepares the day before, we just pop it in the oven while we are opening gifts. (I will post the recipe hopefully later today, along with a few for other goodies we made this Christmas). The kids tore into their stockings, and quickly decided some of them wanted to trade coupons. Noah would not be moved. He was not trading any coupons, even though he couldn't even read all of them! Mackenzie was trying to bribe him out of his "fast food lunch of your choice" coupon. The babies ate soo much candy while we opened presents...Dakota was covered in Chocolate and Lexie had gummi-savers stuck everywhere. We typically don't do many gifts, but by the time the kids open grandparents gifts, they usually have way more than they need! The "Big" gifts this year for the older children were-Mackenzie recieved a full audio set of Chronicles of Narnia, Mae received a pretty lamp for the piano, and Noah recieved his cub-scouts uniform, which he promptly put on over his pajamas! Lexie had a musical tea-set and puzzles and Dakota had the biggest bucket of wooden blocks ever. They all got an assortment of books, including lamplighter's and Henty's. Even though Noah can't read them yet, he loves that he has started "collecting" what he calls "big boy"books. A collective gift was the zip line that Mike had been working hard at designing for the past month-hopefully it would be up and running by the next day, when our company arrived from South Carolina. The sweetest gifts under the tree were the ones the children had given to us and each other. Mackenzie gave me a jar filled with slips of paper-one for each week of the year-each with a special "treat" for me written on them. Things like "plan menu and grocery list in peace while I babysit" or "one free foot rub". Mae gave Noah her carhart fleece hat with the built in face mask, after he cried over losing his at the Christmas parade. Mackenzie gave her dad a framed picture of him and me, and gave her sister a coupon for taking her to the movies. We had a laugh at Noah's gift giving tactics-apparently he had gone around the house-well specifically into his sister's room-and gathered things to give as gifts. He gave Mackenzie a hat that was already hers, and gave Mae a stuffed animal that was Mackenzie's as well! After opening gifts and eating, we headed over to Mike's parents to open gifts. I must say, they were VERY creative this year in their gift giving...<br />Mae got a foam-egg crate pad to put on her bed-which she was thrilled with, since her sister already had one. Mackenzie got a HUGE box of baking supplies-flour, sugar, crisco, cherries, coconut, parchment paper, chocolate chips and a gift card for more cooking supplies at Wal-mart! (her uncle Paul chipped in on this gift as well). As I write, Mackenzie has just brought me a hot buttered biscuit from the batch she just whipped up. And Noah recieved a b.b. gun. and a jar with a million b.b.'s. Oh and STRICT instructions that he is only to use it under the supervision of his Dad. And I am the mom who said none of my children would ever play with guns. Noah now has a small arsenal of weapons, and I have eaten my words....<br />We headed back home to put the sugared-up babies down for naps, and for Mike to begin working on the zip line. Noah could not believe he was getting a b.b gun and a zip line in the same day..and I will probably be getting our family their own wing at the emergency room....michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-66552673095980379492009-12-14T05:57:00.000-08:002010-02-25T05:53:08.646-08:00Christmas Traditions...While I have not updated my blog until today, I have taken the time these past few weeks to enjoy reading other blogs...I love getting glimpses into other people's lives...<br /><br />Friend and fellow blogger, Anita, had posted about her family Christmas traditions, so I decided that I would do the same. When I read her blog, I thought, we don't really have that many Christmas traditions; However, when I asked the children to tell me some of their favorite family traditions, they came up with all sorts of things! And so, I decided I did indeed have enough "traditions" to warrant a special post.<br /><br />*We usually put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year I was chomping at the bit, so we put it up Thanksgiving day. Some years we have had artificial trees, some years we have had live trees from Lowe's or Marvin's, some years we have gone to the back of my brother in law's property and cut down our very own Charlie brown Christmas tree, whose branches were barely strong enough to hold paper ornaments! Last year there was no tree because we spent Christmas in NY with my family, and this year it is a small but just right artificial tree bought at Dollar General! The kids get so excited, pulling out the ornaments, and talking about when and where each one came from.<br /><br /><br /><br />My grandmother gave me a gold-plated ornament each year until I was 18-each one bearing my name and the year-and as simple as these ornaments were, they were so special to me.<br /><br />We began the same tradition with our children-making or purchasing a new ornament each year, so that upon leaving home, each child will have their own collection of ornaments. Noah was so tickled this year to recieve a hammer ornament from his grandparents-it was the first ornament he placed on the tree. In addition to letting the children unwrap the ornaments and decorate the tree, we set up the same ceramic creche each year. The figurines are huge and were painted by Mike's mother as a gift for his grandmother, many years ago. When Mike first brought it home, after his grandmother passed away, I thought where am I going to put that big set?!? But it has become something the children look forward to each year...unwrapping each piece, and placing them on the shelf-as long as we have had the set it has been missing a wise man-so each year when visitors comment on the whereabouts of the third wisemen, in unison the kids will quickly say-"hH went to Wal-mart to get diapers!"<br /><br /><br /><br />Typically, we are not "listmakers" when it comes to Christmas gifts, as we want to teach the children that Christmas is not about getting, but about the gift that God gave. We did start a listmaking tradition about 2 years ago. It began with a 6 inch wide, HUGE roll of paper that we had picked up at the local newspaper. Mae decided this was perfect "list" paper, and started making lists of everything-lists of her friends, lists of her family....she discovered that the longer the list the "cooler" it looked when you unrolled it and it dramatically puddled on the floor.<br /><br />Mackenzie suggested a Christmas list of things we could give, and I suggested a list of things God had already blessed us with, and we were amazed as our lists grew and rolled halfway across the kitchen. We hang the list on the pantry door, and then, pack it away with the Christmas ornaments to be read the next year. We will most likely work on this years "lists" today, while cookies are in the oven-another tradition the kids love-Baking Cookies!<br /><br /><br /><br />My step mom always baked (and still does) tons and tons of cookies to give away at Christmas-I always loved her green, Christmas tree spritz cookies the best, and had a habit of sneaking way too many of them when she wasn't looking. The children love to try out new cookie recipes, and especially love "sampling" before we pack up plates to give away. Magic cookie bars are always a must, as our chocolate chip cookies. This year we will try our hand at biscotti and probably make some no bake peanut butter/chocolate/oatmeal cookies as well. As was the tradition when I was younger, We will save a big plateful of cookies to enjoy Christmas morning with big glasses of milk while we open gifts.<br /><br /><br /><br />Since we are on the "cooking" topic, I must admit that for myself and my children, many of our memories/traditions are tied to food! Every Christmas Eve for the past several years, we prepare the same egg/sausage and cheese casserole, and it bakes while we unwrap gifts in the morning. If we are not traveling to NY or Florida to visit my parents, then Christmas "dinner" (or, what we northerners call "lunch") is loads of roast beef, ham, turkey and cheese, piled high on croissants, with chips and soda. So simple, but something the kids look forward to every year, because Grandma says everyone can fix their own sandwiches and eat as much as they want-not the case normally at our house! This year dinner will be at our house, and the children all panicked when they heard... "What about the sandwiches!!!???!!" Mackenzie asked.<br /><br />I assured them that Grandma was bringing all of the sandwich "fixins" to our house, and they were very relieved!<br /><br /><br /><br />In the days leading up to Christmas, beginning after Thanksgiving, We read through Bible prophesies relating to Christ, as well as Bible passages that tell about the people throughout history who were in the lineage of Christ. We've made paper ornaments representing each person, and these get hung on a tiny tree in our kitchen called a "Jesse Tree"-named for the passage that says "a branch will spring forth from the stump of Jesse"Isaiah 11:1-9, referring to Christ. I had thought we would make new ornaments each year, but I think we will make new ornaments only every other year, as there are so many to make! Reading together through these passages, and hanging ornaments representing adam andcreation all the way through the birth of Christ-paints such an awesome picture for our family of God's mighty hand carrying out his plans through the course of history. Even though we do it every year, I never cease to be amazed.<br /><br /><br /><br />Besides Bible reading together, we have an assortment of favorite Christmas books that we seem to read through each year, beginning the 1st of december. We usually read a story from James Dobson's Family Christmas Treasury each day one week, but it was already checked out at the library. (I have vowed to purchase my own copy for next year!) Right now we are reading through Ideals Treasury of Best Loved Christmas Stories. We Always read a little book called Renfroe's Christmas about the true spirit of giving, and we always, just for fun, read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This morning I read Max Lucado's The Christmas Candle to myself, and I will probably read that to the children today as well. Usually the week of Christmas, we read a chapter or two from Richard Exley's The Indescribable Gift-a beautifully illustrated re-telling of the nativity story.<br /><br /><br /><br />Besides these things, the children reminded me of several other things we have done, that have become "traditions". The children don't recieve gifts from Santa, but each year we read about St Nicholas, and talk about how we can be like a Santa to other people-in other words, giving gifts anonymously-without having the chance to be thanked. This has been such an awesome thing for our family. One year while discussing the idea of Santa, we decided that we would "Santa" someone. We knew of a family who had had an especially tough year and then bought and baked a few gifts for them. The kids were so excited as they decided what would be the best things to include. We couldn't afford anything big, but I think we included a homemeade fleece blanket, several toys, and of course cookies. We typed up a note, unsigned of course, and headed to their house late at night. We left a bag on the door knob and left. We never knew if they got it, never knew if they liked it...and never recieved a thank you-I had no idea what an impact this would have on our children. I never meant for it to become a tradition, but the next year as Christmas drew nearer, the kids began to ask, "Mom, who are we going to "Santa" someone this year?" My answer was a quick, "I don't know, we'll have to pray about it." The real answer that year was, I don't know, because we don't have money to buy ourselves gifts, let alone someone else. That was our first year in Florida, and money was very tight. Most weeks we weren't sure if we would have enough money for groceries, and the thought of buying Christmas gifts for anyone that year was far from our minds. But the children persisted, and even suggested a family who we knew-<br />I didn't know how to tell them we couldn't, and even Mike said we needed to find a way to do it.<br /><br />So we prepared a basket of mostly baked goods, and a few little things from the dollar store and headed to their neighborhood. Our children still talk about the night that daddy parked the car a few houses away, crept to the house in the dark, left the basket, rang the doorbell and RAN as fast as he could back to the car, where we sat in the dark and watched the family come to the door, look curiously around, and take the basket inside. As Mike sat panting, Mackenzie said, "Wow, I didn't know you could run that fast!!!' and Mae added, "Daddy, are you going to have a heart attack?" We drove home replaying the nights events and talking about the fun we had had doing something nice for someone else. I asked God that night to forgive me for not wanting to give that year. For thinking we just didn't have enough to share with someone else. The next day a package arrived. It was from some friends of our back in MS. Apparently God had put us on THEIR hearts that year, and the box was loaded with wrapped gifts for the children. They were not expensive or fancy. And I knew that the sender was not much better off financially then we were, yet God had put us on their hearts and they gave. I cried as I pulled the packages out of the box and laid them under the tree. I promised God right then I would try to do better. I would try to give more and think less about what I would do without if I gave. I promised I would try to listen harder for that still small voice, telling me of a need beyond my four walls, which for the most part were quite comfortable, and filled with more than my family needed.<br />That year was definately an eye opening experience for me, and the Santa tradition remains-regardless of our own financial state.<br />There are other fun things we do each year..which, again, have become traditions without my even`realizing it. Sometime in December-it seems like it is usually the coldest night of december, we drive to a well decorated neighborhood with my in laws following us in their truck. Once we arrive at said neighborhood, we all unload from our WARM car, and pile into the back of Grandma and Grandpa's pick-up, which has been loaded down with what appears to be every blanket, quilt and afghan my mother in law owns-and I am suddenly thankful she owns so many blankets!!!! We layer on the blankets and my father in law proceeds to drive Verrrrrrry slowly (sometimes too slowly) through the neighborhood that has turned into a beautifully lit, winter wonderland. We all ooh and ahh as our teeth chatter, and I am reminded how much fun it is to watch the expression on a child's face as they see this many lights for the first time. During this year's ride, Lexie bounced up and down in my lap, yelling, "Lights! Lights!!!" Mae, in a very dreamy voice said, "It's soooo beautiful. " Noah said, "Wow, they must have had to use some big extension ladder and a whole lotta staples to put all those lights up....Daddy, can I get on the roof and do that to our house????" And Mackenzie, ever the realist, remarked, "Boy, It sure is pretty, but I wouldn't want to have their electric bill!!!" We usually round out the night by singing Christmas carols as we ride, and watching our breath linger in front of us in the cold (FREEZING) night air.<br />When we circle back to where we started from, Grandma breaks out her trusty thermos and some styrofoam cups, and we all grab a cup of hot chocolate before we jump back into the warmth of our car, our cheeks and noses still recovering from the cold!<br />There are other things we do each year, watch certain movies, like "The Nativity," Allow each person to open one gift on Christmas eve, Bake a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and decorate it with the same tiny nativity figurines each year, try to attend at least one Christmas musical or live nativity, make lots of home-made gifts...Even as I write, I'm amazed how things have become special traditions without us even realizing it. As I think back on my own childhood, I'm reminded of the things I never realized were traditions-the cookies on Christmas morning, the fact that no matter how old you were, my step-mother always labeled our presents "from Santa"-and still does!!! Hunting for the perfect live Christmas tree (we never had an artificial one), Christmas caroling and making up our own quirky family version of the 12 days of Christmas, ice skating at Rockerfeller Center and going to FAO Swartz and to see the window displays at Saks 5th Avenue.. These things have become some of my fondest memories, and I hope the traditions Mike and I keep with our children, will someday be some of their favorite memories-things they will enjoy and share with their own children.. Most importantly, I hope their clearest, fondest memory will be one of Christ right smack in the middle of all our Christmas celebrating, reminding them that he most certainly is the reason for it all.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-90372993043397104922009-12-14T05:38:00.000-08:002009-12-14T05:57:13.497-08:00Catching up...It has been quite awhile since I have posted, and I figured that since I just sent out our Christmas letter to friends and family, in which I invited them to come visit our family blog-<br />I probably needed to at least have a post that was more current than October 30!<br />We have been pretty busy since then, so my blog has been low on the list of things to do..<br />A week after my last post, we recieved a call about a little 2 year old boy, who came to stay for just 2 days, before getting to go stay with his grand-parents. A few days later, on the same day I went to speak at the foster parent training, we were called about another little boy, 18 month old<br />Dakota. He has been with us a month today, and while he is so sweet and precious, it is obvious that even at such a young as he is so confused about all the changes going on and all these new poeple around him. He will probably just be with us through Christmas, so we are continually trying to prepare the children for his leaving. I think Lexie and Mackenzie will miss him the most, but we are so enjoying him while he is here. Lexie is having a tough time learning to share, but it is sweet to watch the two of them walk around the house holding hands. They love getting into mischief together, and on most mornings can be found playing in the dog water bowl or taking all the ornaments off the bottom half of the Christmas tree! So again, no excuses for not posting, except that life has been busy! As we head into the new year, Noah has joined a local cub scouts group, which he is so excited about, and the girls are beginning weekly practices for the children's chorus which will accompany the local symphony in a performance this February.<br />So now I feel I have accomplished something....bringing things up to date....until next time...michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-86471694875679105812009-10-30T21:25:00.000-07:002009-10-30T22:14:50.699-07:00From a Child's Point of View...."God Places the lonely in families..." Proverbs 68:6..Funny that we read that verse tonight.<br />I have been asked to come speak at a training session for prospective foster parents, and so today I told the children I'd like to be able to share their thoughts on foster parenting when I speak. I asked Mae and Mackenzie to write an essay, and Noah to dictate to me and illustrate a story about our foster care journey. Mackenzie was too busy today with Math and grammar to get started on hers, but Mae and Noah worked on their rough drafts. Noah is still having a tough time some days, but It was so great to listen to him tell his "story" to me today. Here is what they came up with..I am very proud of them.<br /><br /><strong>Noah's Story as told to mom</strong><br />A foster family is for making a home for children. My family is a foster family. We give children a home. The first time we were a foster family, a boy named Austin came to stay with us. He was five-the same age as me. The day he came to our house we jumped on the trampoline and dressed up like cowboys. I showed him my room. I showed him his bed and his dresser. When he came he only had one toy car.<br /><br />I was so excited to have a boy to play with. When Austin was with us, we had fun playing legos and lincoln los, building forts and riding bikes. I liked having a foster brother. Sometimes we wore matching clothes. But sometimes I got mad when he didn't want to play what I wanted to play. I always liked to play outside and Austin liked to stay inside and draw.<br /><br />Sometimes I got jealous when he visited his mom and dad. He came home with new hot wheels andI got jealous. I told mom I wished I was in foster care so I could get hot wheels every week.<br />Mom said Austin gets special things sometimes because he only sees his parents once a week.<br />I didn't want to see my parents only once a week.<br /><br />Sometimes we invited Austin's parents to do things with us. They went with us to Chuck E Cheese's. Austin's dad gave me extra tokens and bought me an ice cream. They had a birthday party for Austin and invited me. We invited them to the party we had for Austin.<br /><br />Austin got to be with us a long time. When Mom and Dad talked about Austin coming home, I was sad. I really wanted him to be my brother. Mom and dad said his parents wanted him to come home and they missed him. I liked his parents. I knew they loved him alot.<br />I helped Austin pack his toys. I gave him my Diego playset and some cars. We drove to his house and he showed me his fort-he told me we could play there. I helped him bring his things in his room. he had almost 100 toys to unpack!!! I helped him unpack and gave him a hug.<br /><br />I felt sad because now I didn't have a brother to play with, but I felt happy because now I could spend time with my dad all by myself.<br /> I miss Austin and I want him to come visit me. I am happy Austin gets to be with his mom and dad, but I wish he stillcould be my brother.<br /><br />I want to be a foster brother again because I like having a lot of brothers and sisters. I like having someone sleeping in my room. The next time I get to be a foster brother, I will be happy.<br /><br />I also had a foster sister named Lexie and she got to stay. When she came to stay with us she was a tiny newborn. I thought she was cute but she cried a lot. When she got bigger I liked her more. Mom and dad said we were going to adopt her. To adopt means she will be my sister forever and not have to leave.<br /><br />When we adopted Lexie we went to see a real judge! She told us Lexie was going to be ours forever. I felt like fainting because I was so happy she was going to stay. I'm glad God let her stay. I love her. My favorite thing about Lexie is her laugh. I hope someday we can adopt a little boy, too.<br /><br /><strong>Mae's Story</strong><br />My name is Mae. I am eleven years old. My favorite color is light blue. I have two sisters and one brother. I love to read and play the piano.<br /><br />Before we became a foster family, my parents always wanted to adopt, but decided to become a foster family. We always talked about wanting more brothers and sisters.<br /><br />Before we became a foster family, we prayed about it. We talked about it. My parents went to classes and we became a foster family.<br /><br />I was happy because that meant more sisters. I was sad because that meant kids leaving.<br />I was curious because I had never been a foster sister.<br /><br />When we became a foster family, we got to take care of a little boy, his name was Austin.<br />Austin was five, the same age as my brother. Austin had a great time, so did my brother-but Austin had to go home. Everyone was sad when he left, especially my brother.<br /><br />But we also fostered a little baby girl. She was one week old and her name was Lexie. We adopted her. We finalized her adoption last month. She is almost two now.<br /><br />The hard thing about being a foster sister are having to share your stuff, like toys, books and drawing stuff. And when they leave.<br /><br />The great thing about being a foster sister is playing with them, helping out with them and being a big sister again.<br /><br />I think people should become foster families because giving a home to someone who needs it is really great. It is great to help take care of children when their parents can not take care of them.I think God would want people to be foster parents.<br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Much to everyone's surprise, Austin called us tonight and asked to come visit next weekend. Mackenzie said when she talked to him he said, "Cissy, I'm coming home next weekend!" There is definately an empty place without him here.It will be so good to see him.</strong>michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-61524272728379672212009-10-29T20:19:00.000-07:002009-10-29T21:07:28.687-07:00Back to normal...sort ofWe are finally unpacked and back in somewhat of a routine...We have had a lot of things going on since we have been home so school has been here and there and on the road...It always amazes me that when the kids are not required to do schoolwork, they always find something "school-ish" (my new word) to do, without even realizing it. While trying to get back into a daily groove, we have had several days of the kids just doing their own things. Mackenzie has been cooking like crazy, trying out new recipes and tripling batches of cookies (fractions, cooking, measuring).<br />She has also been copying tons of recipes into a notebook (handwriting!) and sewing/crocheting/knitting Christmas gifts. Mae has been feverishly playing the piano every chance she gets, and has been drawing and illustrating stories in her journal, as well as typing some of them on the computer (handwriting, spelling, grammar, typing, creative writing, art).<br />She is not as crafty as Mackenzie, but Mae's idea of fun is reading about different topics in our encyclopedias (this week her chosen topics were dogs and dog training)-She then spent 2 hours and a whole bag of dog treats trying to teach the dogs tricks. Noah has spent time lately building a rocket out of a 6 foot long cardboard tube that Mike brought home from work, (math? art? science?) and building with legos (engineering?). Lexie has been busy "cooking" all week. She gets out about 4 bowls, all my measuring cups, a whisk and several spoons and uses legos or magnets to make soup-which we all have to pretend to taste! Even in our non-school days, we have been busy reading. The girls and I are going through "Raising Maidens of Virtue" by Stacy MacDonald. Mackenzie and I are both reading Mandisa's book, "Idol Eyes" which I picked up at an Ewomen conference this weekend. I enjoyed Mandisa's performance and Testimony, and decided to get her book for Mackenzie. Mackenzie has just finished "Before You Meet Prince Charming" by Sarah Mally and loved it. Mae, much to my surprise, picked up "Pride and Prejudice"last week and decided to read it. Very funny to hear an 11 year old's comments about the story! She devoured the "Wizard of Oz" and a book called "Princess Academy" and is now reading a great little book called "Ten Girls who Changed the World." For our Read aloud time together, we are Reading through The story of Joseph in the Bible- always so amazed at God's constant hand in his life-always leads us to lots of discussions about Gods plans for us. I have also gotten hooked on the Life of Faith books, so I am now reading aloud book 6 in the "Millie Keith"series. I can not recommend these books enough for young girls. In my own reading, besides Mandisa's book, I am doing a study on the Proverbs 31 woman-"The Virtuous Woman" by Vicki Courtney and reading a tearjerker about fathers and daughters called, "Don't Let Me Go" by David Pierce (husband of Comedienne, Chonda Pierce). Noah is not much of a reader yet, but he is determined to start big...instead of easy phonics readers, he wants to read his LampLighter book, "Boys of Grit". Written in the 1800's this book is not written with the 7 year old reader in mind, but he is determined, and expects me to help him read a page from this book each night! 5 years ago when we "dropped" our cable service, I wondered how we would survive without it. Now I'm so glad we don't have it. The kids find so much other stuff to do with their free time! I definately say, if you want to grow a reader, unplug the TV!<br />We did ease back into our studies a little more yesterday, and spent the day learning about Egypt, pyramids and mummies. Mackenzie researched the wonders of the Ancient World, While Mae researched Queen Shubad-I had never heard of her, but turns out her tomb was quite a big deal! Mae was fascinated by the fact that 5 soldiers and 13 ladies in waiting were buried with her. Noah has been building pyramids out of Magnetix pieces and trying to see which design will support the most weight. We studied Ancient Egyptian Art, With Barry Stebbing's God and the History of Art (by far, one of our favorite resources this year) and I was very impressed with the children's drawings. We learned that the Egyptians never drew anyone overweight or old!<br />Very funny! We mummified apples by burying them in a mixture of baking soda and salt-now we are supposed to let them remain "buried" for seven days. They are already a little stinky-but this is way better than the chicken Mackenzie mummified with her gifted class in Public School several years ago. She was so proud that she got to bring the chicken mummy home after TWO WEEKS. I almost gagged, it was so gross. We buried it at my in-laws house. The apples will not have a burial-they will go in the garbage! We are having some great talks about the beliefs of the Egyptians, an how glad we are that we serve the one TRUE God. I am so thankful for homeschooling-even on the days I feel I don't accomplish much. The interaction and the conversations I get to share with my children are priceless, and the ability to weave God into all of our studies is such a blessing. Even on our "bad" days, I wouldn't trade this for anything.michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-972343479488935072009-10-18T21:49:00.000-07:002009-10-18T21:58:58.505-07:00home again!We finally made it back to MS, and were greeted by some preety cool temperatures! The kids ran in the house and threw off their shorts and flipflops to change into jeans and jackets! Noah was sure it was going to snow! We had a great time on our trip, but it is always so wonderful-that first night back home sleeping in your OWN bed! Except that I left our pillows in FL, so we were scrounging around for throw pillows to sleep with. I am usually pretty pick about having all my pillows, but last night I didn't care-I was just happy to see my pillowtop mattress! I love my mom-but her guestbed was like sleeping on a board! I am now ( and probably will be for DAYS!)<br />trying to unpack and get all the stuff back where it belongs! We will do our schoolwork around the suitcases and laundry tomorrow-The kids were hoping I would call off school since I wasn't done unpacking..no such luck!michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-77956633284639566852009-10-15T04:51:00.001-07:002009-10-15T05:08:59.047-07:00Florida FunOur vacation is winding down, and we are enjoying our last few days. We are enjoying the pool so much-Lexie loves the water, and Mae and Noah could stay at the pool all day. We are all so relaxed-this little trip has definately been enjoyable. We have not done "tourist-y" things, but we have had a lot of fun. The other day we visited Gumbo Limbo Nature center in Boca Raton. While there, we climbed a 40 foot observation tower with a view of the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the intracoastal waterway on the other. We walked a boardwalk trail through tropical woodlands, and then enjoyed "feeding" time at the center. The kids were thrilled to get up close and personal with loggerhead turtles, stingrays and nuse sharks. Mae absolutely loved the sound the nurse sharks made when they sucked in their food. We were able to get a glimpse of the Florida Atlantic University Lab at the nature centure, wher we were amazed to see tons of baby loggerhead turtles-we all wanted to stick them in our pockets and take them home!<br />Last night we visited with some of my mom's friends and today, suprisingly, we will go swimming again! I think we are going to a local chinese buffet for supper tonight-yum!<br />Tomorrow I will tackle the big task of packing, and Mike will tackle the even bigger task of making everything fit back into the Yukon! We will head back home refreshed and ready to get back to school and work....maybe....michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-19108978909172481052009-10-12T17:54:00.001-07:002009-10-15T04:40:37.051-07:00Florida Fun<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq00DkPcJpDHnpvaw4DsM0xuG6YNehtcgeuJ5iBDS9d377gwxw8Pczhr3WOL-uXDaN8iTXgLeNiw2w1wBHxDrlaFEWsdnx68IN5NFk0dUn2DZ5fE7OSl-tQQMy2eKKjeOI4Rp1Zhg7leid/s1600-h/DCFC0760_0568.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391886509015247634" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq00DkPcJpDHnpvaw4DsM0xuG6YNehtcgeuJ5iBDS9d377gwxw8Pczhr3WOL-uXDaN8iTXgLeNiw2w1wBHxDrlaFEWsdnx68IN5NFk0dUn2DZ5fE7OSl-tQQMy2eKKjeOI4Rp1Zhg7leid/s200/DCFC0760_0568.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02EmcFQf2lxe3vn1rYXLQr2C2K_WYUFHTZkKHn13Wj-g-E4OqNHHy47XcNXxN8iMZrSxCwYM7biwNYNQ4Sd031zg-13ZiA5YwjcRv9PoCOvxpE6atTd5GSv-wD-XC03DPTraC8IvlygpM/s1600-h/DCFC0758_0570.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391886292784655010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02EmcFQf2lxe3vn1rYXLQr2C2K_WYUFHTZkKHn13Wj-g-E4OqNHHy47XcNXxN8iMZrSxCwYM7biwNYNQ4Sd031zg-13ZiA5YwjcRv9PoCOvxpE6atTd5GSv-wD-XC03DPTraC8IvlygpM/s200/DCFC0758_0570.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3seLLeglfzF5Nzfga5kkN1tXqR-Nbw-dXG4d9vSokYqCEUeuQb4BocrYs8oFZC8UsMECYEALwm5GmeE3SNz_z_Kz2BlsRxLtE6fcAKTOZOxwFXKlRG3BBk2sUhTcXukgqFRHEqmSgjS01/s1600-h/DCFC0754_0579.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391886052415272482" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3seLLeglfzF5Nzfga5kkN1tXqR-Nbw-dXG4d9vSokYqCEUeuQb4BocrYs8oFZC8UsMECYEALwm5GmeE3SNz_z_Kz2BlsRxLtE6fcAKTOZOxwFXKlRG3BBk2sUhTcXukgqFRHEqmSgjS01/s200/DCFC0754_0579.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Mae & Adyn, The whole gang, Adyn & Lexie</div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>After we left St George Island, we drove all day to Boynton Beach. Noah was so excited to see that Grandma and Grandpa had put a balloon outside their door for him. After hugs and hellos, we had a pizza and cake for Noah's birthday-we were all amazed that Grandma I had baked a cake...I joked that it was probably the first one she has made since about 1975! Noah was thrilled to have presents from Grandma I and Grandpa Charlie to open (a pair of new light up crocs and and erector set) as well as a box that had been sent from poppy & Grammy with a new scooter!</div><div>Hard to believe my little boy is 7. He is getting so big.</div><div>We all crashed and after camping for 3 days were VERY thankful for beds and air conditioning!!!</div><div>Friday the kids spent most of the day with Grandma, Grandpa and Mike swimming at the community pool, while I did tons of stinky laundry from our camping trip. Saturday mom, mackenzie, Mae and I hit the road early for our favorite family pastime-yard sale-ing. We also found some great bargains at the local Goodwill thrift store. Saturday afternoon...more pool time with Grandma and Grandpa's friends, who are all so sweet to the kids. </div><div>Sunday we headed up to West Palm Beach to attend worship service at our old church. The kids always love seeing their old friends-it's neat to see how much everyone has changed between or yearly visits. </div><div>Sunday evening My mom's friends and my step-brother, his wife and their little boy came over for supper. We had not seen them in 7 years, and it was exciting to meet a "new" cousin-</div><div>almost 3 year old Adyn and Lexie had a great time playing together. It was great to see them.</div><div>They also spent the day at the beach with us today, and we are all very crispy, and as everyone is getting ready for bed, we are all slathering on the aloe vera gel!!</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098462389177629967.post-77073737810141195572009-10-12T05:51:00.001-07:002009-10-12T17:52:27.467-07:00Florida Fun<div><br /><br /><div><br />Noah Mackenzie & Lexie Dad & Noah Mae<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddnXbjDOyOJUH0AMeV_MT9MRusxEuNuoCn5L6koy_70O1ACTKgRk0KqVDoupnpPGEI7tBzZytfELTTxKDXka05YTY3fyqkEpHz2kNtFt2o74zvOA3BQ4zu-7NtyVTCQQ9zmPHRiblpSqi/s1600-h/DCFC0721_0090.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391876845400806466" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddnXbjDOyOJUH0AMeV_MT9MRusxEuNuoCn5L6koy_70O1ACTKgRk0KqVDoupnpPGEI7tBzZytfELTTxKDXka05YTY3fyqkEpHz2kNtFt2o74zvOA3BQ4zu-7NtyVTCQQ9zmPHRiblpSqi/s200/DCFC0721_0090.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQjgP8AY0zr8xIuPmj_PKXh_JoSyDXZNs5RtloeYqcHbyw0fD79Abh8CJ_mCfEt8npih3JSqlmfl0A6_hrH-fjhznUMLB_MXVA0RPynTFDXeu_m-LKX1SS2VwimZMKn1czB3C20JIXI97C/s1600-h/DCFC0720_0091.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391876457847798146" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQjgP8AY0zr8xIuPmj_PKXh_JoSyDXZNs5RtloeYqcHbyw0fD79Abh8CJ_mCfEt8npih3JSqlmfl0A6_hrH-fjhznUMLB_MXVA0RPynTFDXeu_m-LKX1SS2VwimZMKn1czB3C20JIXI97C/s200/DCFC0720_0091.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFbWeAzb9-LZAipoBF_KB0mAaIyMWTzE7CDhe901rjeT102GO3DwlDf3iEEgrKM9lBlyQSWVQTvzRfXUtwNngI3k3spOL4DA9aeFjN0QhdkyIuuwOXQFDRqZHL46rKvEtFOcqmq9yhWGy/s1600-h/DCFC0747_0064.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391878941871294914" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFbWeAzb9-LZAipoBF_KB0mAaIyMWTzE7CDhe901rjeT102GO3DwlDf3iEEgrKM9lBlyQSWVQTvzRfXUtwNngI3k3spOL4DA9aeFjN0QhdkyIuuwOXQFDRqZHL46rKvEtFOcqmq9yhWGy/s200/DCFC0747_0064.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXt8OWcXT5vXLWZcplbsKgZZoKMu0SubNhzSBcCiW_Y3MgflCrjE3ltuy9-MBqouU69rFxavFa0dFaUHvhB8Myq7jIS_dTyDDt-hKIjRXVIOdX4gn7qJivcfzu2WWxaxKQj7r5bHkySSsG/s1600-h/DCFC0722_0089.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391877078150122946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXt8OWcXT5vXLWZcplbsKgZZoKMu0SubNhzSBcCiW_Y3MgflCrjE3ltuy9-MBqouU69rFxavFa0dFaUHvhB8Myq7jIS_dTyDDt-hKIjRXVIOdX4gn7qJivcfzu2WWxaxKQj7r5bHkySSsG/s200/DCFC0722_0089.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFrW56K1w_JTgjBI0KSp60_ccH97v0u3xLPuVR5LnoAiYdGlGG7nTAqZljf42CDECAzSICSq8L4XUMw32p4MtcP02JmH2dT8MVoVFCk2_e1qTZPSA8fsreH9R8LzXpmBz9AiWq3n8n62D/s1600-h/DCFC0725_0086.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391875532045933138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqFrW56K1w_JTgjBI0KSp60_ccH97v0u3xLPuVR5LnoAiYdGlGG7nTAqZljf42CDECAzSICSq8L4XUMw32p4MtcP02JmH2dT8MVoVFCk2_e1qTZPSA8fsreH9R8LzXpmBz9AiWq3n8n62D/s320/DCFC0725_0086.jpg" border="0" /></a>St. George Island beach at sunset on our first night<br /><br /></div><div> a handful of shells, snails & hermit crabs!<br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391877539105738002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtrLFacy_KzG045CA-FcIKNib5vQ4npqzwpGGpln3S6dUkcGTf9we8j12dsi10CUvHD2ar4X26G7YRh7ceDO5Bgdl5Rh29-ka-NdUiKIjA9nEDlLRKxjKe5keHjAL-IvtF-RG3e2_-hk8/s200/Copy+of+DCFC0680_0131.jpg" border="0" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFx_8wZxvC91DSaz_D5qwsYjvnNjU7wuSlpakqs2QwN9qsL7Ef4R003oTudaPeok62bz8TDbstcZVPqV4L-qs2lxBzn1dLhQZZdgAZrlqUzIxyWd52opeWibyZ9yJu-FjWepbWf2bsjing/s1600-h/DCFC0734_0077.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391878454597903234" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFx_8wZxvC91DSaz_D5qwsYjvnNjU7wuSlpakqs2QwN9qsL7Ef4R003oTudaPeok62bz8TDbstcZVPqV4L-qs2lxBzn1dLhQZZdgAZrlqUzIxyWd52opeWibyZ9yJu-FjWepbWf2bsjing/s200/DCFC0734_0077.jpg" border="0" /></a><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391875226946845426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_JaQkg3iY_keAmJaH_rn0WuaH8kW221qHbbygz6pOacf01q01BbdsJY9t_n-J1gNj8UjFNQg2Zllmo8YzsdkM3jjbGYcQGnN_9KYNQMApXJ14svtxJNytwMbs9ccI031_6TdcdOCL6ph/s320/DCFC0729_0082.jpg" border="0" /> The St George Island lighthouse...also pictured above is the view of the </div><div> from the lighthouse's lantern room.<br /><br /><div><div><div>(notice the wrong date on all my photos-haven't figured out how to change it on my camera!)<br /><br /><br /><div>We headed to Florida a week ago Monday at 6:30 in the morning, loaded down with borrowed roof top and pull behind carriers, 2 tents, 6 sleeping bags, 12 towels, two coolers, 1 basket of beach toys,4 camp chairs, 3 bottles of bug spray, 2 tubes of sunscreen, 3 backpacks, 4 pacifiers and a partridge in a pear tree...oh and so much more....it looked like we were moving....<br />We were off to visit my mom and step-dad on the east coast of Florida-but decided we would take a little detour for a few days before we arrived on Oct 8. We made camping reservations at St. George Island State Park, a barrier Island in the gulf of Mexico, 75 miles SW of Tallahassee. We had never been there, but the kids were asking to camp on the beach, and this island with an adjacent campground seemed like the perfect place. We arrived about 5pm Monday evening, after MANY potty stops, especially since Lexie is potty training..... The kids were thrilled with the 4 mile bridge that we had to drive over to get to the island from the mainland-except Mackenzie-she HATES bridges...The Island was beautiful, and we ooohed and aaaahed over all the cute beach houses up on "stilts". It was a 4 mile drive to the state park, and once the kids saw the water and the sand dunes, their was no containing their excitement.<br />After setting up camp, which took a little longer than expected, we roasted hot dogs over a campfire and then headed to the beach for a stroll at about 8pm. How peaceful!!!! The kids were supposed to just dip their feet in the water, but everyone was soaked from head to toe by the time we left. We headed back to the campsite to stoke the campfire, and read a little before turning in.... Mike and I didn't get much sleep, as it was pretty hot, and Lexie tossed and turned on top of us most of the night....We awoke to a very buggy campsite, and immediately had to cover ourselves with bug spray...pretty much from that point on, if we were at the campsite, we were covered with mosquitos...so we quickly left the campsite to spend our second day at the beach. The water was pretty murky, but the kids didn't care... they spent the day finding shells, snails and hermit crabs and trying to figure out how to use our new skim board. </div><br /><div>Lexie was not fond of the water. We kept asking if she wanted to go in, and she would continually shake her head and say "no!" So she spent most of the morning walking around with a shovel and eating sand. By afternoon, she was a little more adventurous, and would go in the water if we held her.<br />While jumping waves with the kids we noticed a few fins in the distance...several dolphins passed by...the kids were amazed! One little boy on the beach saw a fin and ran from the water, screaming, "SHARK!!!" Very funny! The beach was all but deserted-just a handful of people-it was great. We left the Island mid afternoon in search of ice cream that didn't cost a fortune (the island shop's prices were outrageous!) We ended up driving 30 minutes away, finding nothing along the way..so we stopped at a grocery store and picked up a box of ice cream bars to eat in the car, then made a stop at the Crooked River lighthouse,The lighthouse was closed to visitors that day, but the kids enjoyed climbing on the huge play structure shaped like a pirate ship. We returned to the island and had a cookout at the beach pavillion, but ate in a hurry since we were overcome by mosquitos. We headed back to camp for showers and marshmallows, and added Noah to our tent for our second night, since he said the "night noises" (birds and frogs?") scared him.<br />The next morning after pouring the bug spray on, we decided to do some exploring the island and mainland of Appalachicola during the day, and head to the beach in the late afternoon.<br />We visited the St George Island Lighthouse and climbed the 98 steps to the top, and then climbed the ladder into the lantern room-what an awesome view!!! The kids absolutely loved this, and the docent's talk on the history of the lighthouse was very interesting. We headed to the mainland for a walk around historic Appalachicola, enjoying all the little shops and a free tour of the Rainey House museum. We found an old timey soda fountain for some ice cream (we love ice cream) and souvenirs and then picnicked on a wharf overlooking the appalachicola bay. While we ate, Mike walked to a nearby fishmarket and bought some fresh steamed shrimp to enjoy with our lunch. They were steamed with the heads on! Lexie was scared to death of the little critters, but the rest of us popped the heads off, dipped them in melted butter and thought they were great!!! Back to the beach that afternoon, Lexie still was eating sand....our cookout on the beach that night was less buggy, and the sunset over the water was beautiful. We began to pack up camp that evening, and in the morning headed out towards the east coast....but first made a stop at a local restaurant for breakfast to celebrate Noah's 7th bithday!</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>michelleleighhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04075958311559739458noreply@blogger.com1