Brevity

Just in case some of you don't know...SATAN is attacking us more and more every day! I have had one of those weeks! You know, the kind of week where it seems like you are being hit with something from every direction. Today seemed to top it all. After getting the kids sent to NaNas for the day and planning to clean the house, I still found myself roaming in circles with a cluttered mind of things to do. I have been frustrated, angry, upset, sad, you name the emotion, and I have experienced it today. I felt that there just isn't enough time for me to do everything that I want to do, and being a perfectionist, letting things go is difficult for me, although I do let them go out of necessity. Just a minute ago, God and I had a talk about my attitude and He reminded me that Satan will use us if we let him. So, after an apology to God, I decided to finish up the cleaning and enjoy a few quiet moments with God before the kids came home. I went to my room to get my Bible and picked up a devotion book we got for mother's day. I had started reading it, but you know how that goes, something else always takes priority, so I have not been faithful to it. So I open it up and take a guess that day 4 will be a good place to start back. This is what is said:

Brevity: the quality of being brief, shortness of time

"I sat curled up in my favority chair, sipping a cup of tea. The early morning light stremed through the family room windows as I enjoyed a few moments of "me" time. I slowly turned through the pages of our family photo album, pondering my daughter's childhood.

"......I thought of the hectic pace of running her around for school and church activities, piano lessons, dance classes, ......What happened? The brevity of that sweet season in our lives together flew by. How soon it was gone!

"As I reminsied, I thought. Had I taken even a single day for granted? Had I at times allowed life to get so busy, hurried, or stressed that I missed our on what was really important?
"The apostle James notes,"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is you life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14) How true! God gives eash of us the same 24 hours each day. He lets us spend them in whatever ways we choose. Will we waste those hours? Or will we fill them with balance and appreciation, seizing and making the most of each and every moment?

"Today, I thank Jesus for enduring the agony of the cross, for dying in my place to earn the forgiveness I need. I know my days on earth are brief. May God help me to make the most of them, even as I look forward to spending eternity in heaven with my Savior.

NOW, even though I left some out, I just had to post this. To me, it is worth reading. I pray that is will make someone elses day the way it did mine. God knows exactly what we need and when we need it IF we are willing to listen. Now, to continue in my time with God....

Kids say the best things...

This one may top all of Aiden's funnies through the years!!!!

A brief history...we were having a silent auction at church which was made of baskets from each sunday school class to raise money for our youth. Each of my children being in a different class, I lost track of who was to bring what. I purchased Aidens donation, but forgot about Allee and Evan's and decided to give $5 each. As a reminder, I had written "$10 - Allee/Evan" on the dry erase board on the frig. It has been there about 2 weeks. So, Aiden was very sleepily eating his breakfast at the table yesterday as I was filling out school paperwork when I heard him reading the dry erase board out loud. He read that part about Allee/Evan twice before looking up at me with the strangest, terrified look on his face and questioned..."Mommy, are we getting rid of them?" Oh, my...what I had to do to keep from bursting into laughter. "Why would you say that Aiden?" " Well, it says up there Allee and Evan are for $10. Are we selling them?" I had to explain it to him, which was a big relief to the big brother!

Allee and Aiden get married!

Rick was checking in on the kids as they were playing in Allee's bedroom yesterday. He walked in on a wedding ceremony. It went something like this:

"Daddy, when do the rings come in the wedding?"

"Well, they usually come at the end after the vows."

Aiden: "Bows? What is a bow?"

"A VOW is a promise you make to someone and God."

They exchanged their rings."
"Now it is time for the vows."
Aiden: "Oh, okay...(looks at Allee) Allee, are you ready?"

Allee: "Yeah"

They both looked at each other and "bowed" like in a dance.

Daddy: "I now pronounce you brother and sister. Now go and be sweet to each other." To which Allee responded..."Yeah! Now we can go eat cake and dance!"

Is that not the cutest?

Are you nervous?

Allee is in an Easter pageant at school tomorrow, her first pageant ever. As we were saying our prayers tonight, Rick said during his prayer..."Lord, please help Allee tomorrow night during her pageant not to be nervous." When he finished praying, Allee said in the sweetest little voice, "Daddy, I'm not gonna be nervous, so you don't have to pray for me." Awwww. Of course he told her how he wanted to pray for her anyway and all the time. There is just something about hearing a little girl say "Daddy" that will melt your heart! Mine anyway!

Don't you wish as adults we could think like children. I mean, she is excited about the pageant, and will probably be a little timid in front of the people, but nervous....not so much. When I asked her about what nervous means, she said "It means that you feel really bad." I think God gives us our children for joy, but also to teach us many life lessons! We can learn a lot from our children if we choose to really listen to them!

Spring Break

Hope all of you have had a wonderful spring break. I am ready for some sunshine. All of my plans were for weather that we could at least get out and jump on the trampoline in. But, we have still had a blessed time. Aiden asked if we had to go to school tomorrow and when I said no, he yelled....WoooHoooo!

My little Evan has gotten a sassy mouth on him lately. Don't know where that came from! LOL! We actually had pull the car over and get him out of the car seat to spank him today for screaming at one of us AND a sibling! We need prayer! The other night, he had taken a late nap and refused to go to sleep. We were all tired and I could not get him to sleep. I finally put him in his bed, turned a movie on and in a very aggravated, last straw and elevated tone of voice, very sternly began to lecture him on what I felt his behavior should be for the remainder of the night. (My lecture is funny afterwards, but in the heat of the moment, it was important that he knew what I was thinking...LOL). After the last "and you had better not get up again and I mean it" throught the gritting of my teeth, he looked at me and yelled, "Mama, you be ugy a me!" To which I replied, "yes I am because you are being ugly to me by not going to sleep....NOW GO TO SLEEEP!" Then I left and laughed under my breath! He is so cute....but I still have to discipline! Ya'll all know how that is!

Allee's Boyfriend

Tonight at church, Allison came had dropped Jackson off in class with Allee. She told me that one of the other students was talking about Allee and Jackson being boyfriend and girlfriend. Allison said, "I thought you already had a boyfriend." She said Allee cut her eyes and said, "I know, my mama already talked to me about that."

You see, about 2 weeks ago, Allee was sitting at the kitchen table and said, "Mama, I've got something to tell you. I have a boyfriend and his name is Skyler Cole." Aiden started teasing her about it. I explained to her that she didn't need a boyfriend and that we should only have boyfriend and girlfriends when we were planning to get married. She told me very matter of factly that they were planning to get married, just like Aiden and Karley. So, needless to say, we had a long talk about relationships. From her comment to Allison, I guess maybe she actaully listened. However, she did end her statement to Allison with, "but I still have a boyfriend."

Marriage

I just want to give a little plug for marriage! Marriage is a wonderful thing. The Lord put woman on this earth to be a help meet for man. Marriage was meant to be beautiful, fun, enjoyable, and happy, among other things. Rick and I have been attending a marriage class for the last 6 weeks and we are loving it. I just wanted to say how happy I am to be married to my husband and how wonderful he is. He is not wonderful because he is perfect, but he is wonderful in spite of not being perfect. Together, we are able to work through our differences to come to a solution that meets both of our needs. A good marriage must have God as the foundation, but also, a good marriage is made of two people who are determined to make each other HAPPY not miserable. So often in talking with people, I find that we are a selfish people. We would much rather have ourselves be happy than others. We will never find true happiness in this attitude. Think of the joy at Christmas time when you are giving to others. The same is true in your relationships. When we give of ourselves, it makes it a lot easier to recieve. Rick always says in his sermons, that as a Christian, you are never sitting still. We are either moving forward, or growing closer to God, or we are falling behind. The same is true in marriage. We cannot afford to let our marriages sit idle. If you are not working daily on improving your marriage, then you are letting your relationship with your spouse fall away. So, I encourage you, if you do not already, to spend some quality time getting to know your spouse all over again. I think you will be suprised what you find out! May God bless you and your home, especially your marriage that the devil is determined to destroy! Love to you all!