HELP!!!

So we are living in the bathtub today, with a bottle of dawn. It's not really working so far. Does anybody have any other suggestions for getting Vaseline out of hair?

Little Things

"My paycheck came in early, do you want to go grab something to eat," he asks as he finishes putting gas in the car.

"Sure. How about that new barbecue place?"

"That's just what I was thinking."

So they head off to see what the new barbecue place holds. Turns out it's closed, so they head to the next best thing.....the OLD barbecue place in the next town.

After a shower and a change of clothes, they are on the road to ease their hunger after a great time of sighting in some guns for a deer hunting trip that's coming up in a few weeks.

She's looking out of the window as she notices him passing the exit for barbecue.

"Hey. I think you needed to exit there."

A smile comes across his face and his shoulders shrug. "I just go where the truck goes."

Confused, but pleased, she adds a smile to her face as she sits back to enjoy the surprise and try to see if she can figure out where he has decided to take them.

Times had been hard lately, what with her being basically unemployed for a month, and several big annual bills having just come due. There hadn't been many fun times like this in quite a while. It felt really good just to sit back, enjoy the ride, and let him do the driving and deciding for a bit. It felt really good to be taken care of. "This is what I love about being married," she thought. "This is what I am thankful for this year." Nothing nights with my family.

Here's hoping you enjoy the little things in your life this year.

Way Back Whensday...November 2008

God Still Speaks

Tonight God spoke to me. Through Jakob's Childrens' Bible.

David and I have really been struggling financially. (And when you struggle financially, don't you usually struggle in other ways, too? We do.)

Anyway. My whole life I have wanted to be a stay at home mom. But it just hasn't worked out so far. I have been able to work at home, so it's kind of like I am staying at home with Jakob.

But not really.

Even though it's not really staying at home, I am still counting my blessings that I have been with him at home for this part of his life.

I say all of that to say that David and I are in the middle of making some big decisions to what I am doing.

It is not really working out for me to do what I am doing, and we (mainly I) am really searching for what God wants me to be doing. I have a teaching degree, but the mommy in me struggles against the idea of working out of my house. And leaving Jakob with someone else during the day. To me, that is MY JOB. And I have really, really, really, struggled with why would God give jakob to us and then want me to leave him with someone else for them to raise and influence him.

So I have been on the never ending quest to find what God's will is for my life right now, and I think I have found it.

In Jakob's Childrens' Bible:

Do you see it? No?





Look a little closer.






There:



And God saved Baby Moses AND GAVE HIM BACK TO HIS REAL MOTHER FOR A LONG TIME.

See. That is my answer. God may need me to work in a way that is not spending my days with Jakob, but He will bring Jakob back to me.

For A Long Time

Tot Talk Tuesday

I am no longer around kids on a regular basis that can talk, so I am going to have to be creative.

Here goes:

A convict completed serving his 50 year sentence and was released from prison. Upon his release, he ran through the streets of the nearby small town yelling, "I'm free. I'm free!!" Up and down every street, he ran and ran. He stopped after he had run up and down the very last street. As he stopped, and looked around at the beautiful day of his release, he looked down at the young child that just happened to be standing at the end of the same street, and said, "I'm free."

"So what," the child exclaimed. "I'm four."


Ok, yes it was a joke, but I just don't have the cute kiddy talk access that I have had in the past.

Be sure to stop by Niecey's blog and read some actual cute kiddie talk, not just the made up variety.



Click here to join in

Halloween

This is my favorite pic from the evening. Jakob picked out all the lollipops himself. I thought it was cute. More pics to come later, if anyone is interested. Not sure how I will know if anyone is interested since NO ONE EVER COMMENTS......

Blessed

Right now, I am typing this at my kitchen table. David fell asleep on the couch watching the Military Channel. Jakob is right beside me in one of the kitchen chairs. He is toggling between swinging the cord to the blinds, pushing the cd rom button on my laptop, pushing the Caps Lock button (it has a light, after all), and drinking the sweet tea I just poured into my insulated water bottle.

I was playing a game on FaceBook, but I decided I just had to blog about this, because I know there will be a time when, given the choice, Jakob will not be in the chair next to me while I play on my computer. In fact, there will be a time when he won't even choose to be in the house with me. Not by ill will, of course, but by being able to go out with his friends, or even {gasp} a girl.

Now that I think about it, there are times, RIGHT NOW, when I get frustrated because he wants to be RIGHT HERE beside me.

Tonight, though, I am drinking it in.

I'm letting my heart swell with pride as I watch my son notice everything. And I mean everything. If I move or change anything, he is right on top of it. What is different? Why is it different? What made it different?

I couldn't be prouder as I watch him be him. I love that I get to know the essence of Jakob. I get to know him before he gets out into the world and experiences failure, heartbreak, loss, or pain. And before these things change him.

David and I would love to give Jakob a sibling, but if that doesn't turn out, I hope we never take having Jakob for granted.

Jakob is enough. I know that if I go through my life with what God has already given me, and He doesn't give me even one more thing, I am blessed, and I have been blessed.

Thank you God.