Just a Snippet

Hellooooo!!!  Inquiring minds want to know!  I've had a couple of messages recently pointing out that I haven't blogged lately.  It's true, I haven't.  Let's see....I'm pregnant!  No, that's not true.  We've packed up and moved to the islands!  No, not true.  Been cleaning and organizing!  Big-time not true!

Truth is, Spring is full of so many fun things, and I haven't been able to catch my breath, in a good way!  I love everything that Spring brings....except for the scorching heat which will soon follow.  But for now, we're basking in the glory of Spring!

So for anyone who is interested, and for my kids to read someday, here is a snippet of our lives from the past few weeks, not in chronological order...skim through it and you'll be caught up and we'll move on from there. :)

My birthday!!  Each year brings me closer to 40, but I. am. not. skeered.  40 is the new 20 they say.  Or maybe 40 is the new 30.  I don't know.  My philosophy is that as long as you don't act old, then you're NOT old!  I had a lovely day.  My hubby whipped up an omelet for me.  My Bible study girls celebrated me with cake and flowers.  My sweet friend texted me during Bible study to see if she could take me to lunch.  (Now you know that normally I don't leave my phone on the table during Bible study, but only on this one special day, just in case someone wanted to text me to take me to lunch, I left it there.  And what do you know?? A lunch text!)  And pictured below is our Mexican food birthday dinner with my peeps.

We also celebrated this girl.

And this guy.

Two words.  Kenny Chesney concert.  And Dierks Bentley.  And the Zac Brown band.  And Uncle whoever-you-are that hangs out with Kenny Chesney.  Just kidding.  Uncle Kracker.  We bought those tickets about 6 months before the concert, so by the time it arrived, we were just down right giddy! So. Much. Fun.

He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!!  Easter, my personal favorite.  Celebrating that because Jesus lives, I live!  As you can see, we trade in our t-shirts and jeans for "church clothes" to celebrate this special day.

Mother Daughter weekend at Pine Cove.  Sweet time away with my daughter listening, praying, laughing.  And I ziplined.  And Mark cut Brady's hair when I was away.

Where do you go with a backstage pass at the House of Blues??  Right here, with this guy, Ryan Miller.  Mark's friend from high school is in a band called Guster, yep a real live band, has real CDs and travels all over the world doing real live shows!   Here we are hanging with a Rockstar!

And we've had Field Day!

And we've watched the First Grade Program!

And slap yo mama, we boiled crawfish!  100 men, women, and children showed up on the block to partake of God's gift to Louisiana, boiled crawfish!  Laissez les bon temps rouler!

And this past weekend, Mark's dad was re-elected to the City Council of Richardson.  Congrats!

And there you have our lives in 11 pictures :)  Until next time...Waiting in hope for the Lord, rejoicing in his name, resting in his unfailing love.

Two Words

You know, you can read a passage from the Bible 100 times, and experience something new in that passage every single time.  The Bible isn't just some dusty old book of stories you have crammed into your bedside table.  Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is "living and active!"  The Bible is the word of God, speaking to you when you read it, and what He wants you to get at that moment comes to life.

I was reading from the book of John this morning to set my heart on Good Friday , and I'm reading right along through the crucifixion story like I've done before, and I stopped at two words.  And when I read these two words, I totally lost it.  The two words are "his mother."  Jesus is hanging up on the cross and John 19:25 says "Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother."  Losing it again now just typing it out.  His mother!!  If you're a mom, and especially the mom to a little boy, you can't read that not be moved.

I don't know that I've thought alot about Jesus' earthly existence, especially his childhood.  He had a mama.  She rocked him and bathed him and fed him and cleaned his boo-boos.  He probably stuck cheerios up his nose and  played hide and seek in the wheat bushels.  And now his mama is standing at the foot of the cross, her son has been beaten and whipped and stripped of his clothes....now he's hanging there, and there's nothing she can do.  She may have pleaded with God to find another way.  She would have traded places with him in a second, as I would for one of my kids.

Sweet Mary.  The mother of Jesus.  She didn't choose to be the mother to the Savior.  God chose her.  She's had to have total faith for 30+ years now, and now it's ending like this.  Standing at the foot of the cross, while her son hangs there, taking on the sins of the world.

Makes me wonder what plans God has for my kids.  Of course "my" is the wrong word.  They're God's, and He's allowed me to be their mama for awhile.  I will watch them suffer through many things (although probably not death on a cross) and I won't be able to stop it.  I pray that I can have the faith of Mary, knowing that God is going to use my kids for His purposes in ways that may be painful and unpleasant and I'll just want to make it stop!  Praise God that He has a bigger purpose for them than what I can see or dream for them.

Friends, I pray you have a glorious weekend, remembering Jesus' death on the cross for YOU.....and rejoicing on Sunday that the tomb is empty.  He is Risen!!  Alive!  And therefore we live.

Was Stupid Mom....But I Did NOT Count to Three

About halfway through the day today, I realized I had become stupid mom!  Say it isn't so!!!  Stupid mom is worse than a "love and logic" mom.  But to be fair to the love and logics, I really don't know much about that plan, it may be really good.  I checked out at "Honey, (in calm and gentle voice) if you don't get out of the street, you're choosing the consequence of getting hit by a car."  Gag.  How about "If you don't get out of that street right now, you won't be able to sit down for a week!"  And clearly my methods are working.

Stupid mom is the one who threatens, over and over, over and over, and over and over again, but never gets to the consequence.  I'm always one row over from her at Target...."if you don't stop pulling all the diapers off the shelves, you have to get back in the cart.  OK really, you're going to have to get back in the cart.  Come on now honey, stop pulling down the diapers, mama's thinking of putting you back in the cart.  OK, now stop poking your sister.  You're going to have to get back in the cart.  Stop throwing your snacks.  OK, come on now, really, be good.  See this cart honey bunny?  OK mommy is counting to 3...one...twoooo....threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."  Put the kid in the cart already!!!!!!!!  

I just had a bunch of errands to run today, so Brady was strapped into a stroller for longer than he wanted to be.  When we got to our final destination, the mall, with only one return to make, I let him stretch his legs and walk beside the stroller.  I'm standing there making my return, which took a little while, and Brady is all over the women's swimsuit section.  He's poking his head through all the swimskirts and tankinis and bikinis, and then he'd dash over to the suitcase section, then run a few circles around the picture frames.  All the while I'm yelling at him "Brady, get over here.  Brady, if you don't stand beside me, you're going back in the stroller.  No touch, no touch!  OK Brady, fine, get back in the stroller.  Brady, seriously, you're going to have to get back in the stroller."  Threatening, pleading, looking stupid.

Finally when I awoke to my foolishness, I chased that kid down, wrestled him like I was the crocodile hunter into his stroller, one click, two clicks, secured!!!

And then we strolled down to the food court, picked up some brown rice, terriyaki chicken, and veggies, and the whole process started again when I released him to sit in the booth instead of strapping him into a highchair.  And I was too hungry to care this time.  So he jumped up and down in the booth, spit water out of his straw, laughed at me when I threatened to strap him in, I did all that today.....but I did NOT count to threeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

What Recession?

My husband doesn't think INside the box.  He never has.  We've been married almost 11 years, and I never can really tell you what he does for a living.  He's an entrepreneur, I know that...always thinking of new business ideas.  I realized a couple of years into our marriage that he's never going to work a "real" 8-5, clock-in and clock-out kind of job.  So now I just go along with it...we've never gone without a meal, and maybe one day we'll "turn the corner"  (inside joke between Mark and I and his business partner and wife.)  I love this about him.

So wouldn't you know it, he's roped the kids into his way of thinking, and so now at only 2, 7, and 8 years old, my kids are business owners too!  They came up with the idea to pull up some of the monkey grass (liriope) out of our yard and sell it door-to-door.  They made spreadsheets and lists and signs...they priced the competitor's monkey grass....then they dug it up, tied it in bundles, put it in a wagon, and hit the streets.

Normally, my husband can sell anything.  He's the guy who at our garage sale last year was determined to sell every last item, and he had one poor lady believing she would regret it for the rest of her life if she didn't buy that fry-daddy that we got for a wedding gift 11 years ago!  Personally, I wouldn't knock on a stranger's door if my life depended on it, but "if you can knock on someone's door, you will survive" he says.  He sold books door-to-door in North Carolina one summer...he showed up in a strange state and he and his team were responsible for finding someone to house them for a summer!  They did.

So off they go, my peeps and their grass.  I liked the signs.  A couple of other options that we threw out were "What Recession?", "Please Help, My Mom is Crazy," "We Won't Go Broke Under this Administration," and from Dave Ramsey "My Parents are Selling So Much Stuff That We Think We're Next!"  Finally decided on "Monkey Grass."

So they hit the streets, and an hour later I hear their little wagon rolling back home.  I run out there to meet them, and as it turns out, they only sold 2 bundles.  My sweet neighbor bought a bundle....she's so good to my kids and would buy burnt toast if they asked her to.  And another guy on our block bought a bundle, and he even gave them a tip.

Fortunately, they thought they were working on commission only, but Mark had added a salary into the deal.  So after covering their expenses and giving their agent his cut, they ended up with more than they started with, and they were excited about that!  It was a great experience for them... Mark and his apprentices with an idea and a plan!

By the way, if you need to add any monkey grass to your landscaping, let us know!  This is actually one thing you can't kill, and borders your flowerbeds very nicely :)  They  might even plant it for you.

Row Row What?

I just realized that my 2 year old doesn't know any baby songs!  How did this happen?

Nope, he doesn't know to row row row his boat.
He doesn't know that Mary had a little lamb.
He doesn't know to wiggle his fingers and sing twinkle twinkle little star.
Itsy Bitsty what??
Definitely not Rock a Bye baby...kinda disturbing when the bough breaks and the baby just falls to the ground!
Hush Little Baby?? Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird and a billy goat?? Ugh...NO, mama is NOT.

Poor kid, first day of kindergarten, "Hey Brady, do you know about Mary?"  Um..who?  Mary having a little lamb is not even relevant to my life today.  Mary apparently didn't have an HOA!

So I'm scrolling through my iPod to find out what he does know...
Black and Gold to the Superbowl!
Bunch of Kenny Chesney
One Usher song
Alot of David Crowder
YMCA of course, who doesn't have YMCA on their iPod?
The stuff Mark managed to sneak in...Switchfoot, Third Day
Brady Paisley
...and more

Oh well, of all the things to worry about as a mom, Brady going to school saying "Peace up, A-town down" is the least of my worries....right??

Mine...Mine...Mine

MINE  MINE  MINE!!!!!  That's possibly the most annoying sound in the world.  Like fingernails on the chalkboard. An alarm clock before 6 a.m.  A fly buzzing in the kitchen.  Wind chimes.  A person brewing generic coffee (oh wait, that would be the most annoying smell).  Anyway, you get the point.

MINE doesn't even necessarily mean "that's mine".  It could definitely mean "it's Brady's."  Or it could mean "I want to do it myself."  It could mean "I want Daddy to get me out of the bed."  It might mean "I'm willing to risk pinching my finger off to buckle myself into the car seat."   It sometimes means "I'd like to try the long jump from the shopping cart into the car."  It says "I'll get this shirt on by myself even if it kills me."  

Brady is a boy of few words, but he has perfected MINE, with his basic definition meaning "back-off lady."

Therefore when I plan my day out, I plan it LOOSE-ly.  We will get to the grocery store, but it could take 30 minutes to get dressed, and another 30 to get from the house, through the garage, one little sneak into the backyard, and then the grand finale...securing child safely in the car seat.  But sometime today, we will get to the grocery store.

Ah, but isn't this just the way of it??  Mine.  Mine.  Mine.  My stuff.  My plan.  My way.  My kids.  It's all God's stuff.  I know it, He knows it....I think He wants me to acknowledge that it's all His, and I'm just a temporary steward of it.  We have a death grip on our lives, even willing to pinch a finger in the process.  God wants us to surrender it all and walk in the plan He has for us.

Wouldn't that be easier anyway?  By the time Brady has run circles around the couch, arched his back in the car seat, kicked me in the gut, and cried a few buckets of tears, he's a bit spent!  Dude..."help me...help you!"  I wonder if God feels the same sometimes...let me help you! 

I'm letting go of the word MINE.  Whatever God has for my life, I'll trust that He knows best.  And I'd like to do it with as little kicking and screaming as possible!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."  Proverbs 3:5-6

I Pat My Booty

If you've ever had a conversation with me, in real life, you  might notice me patting my right booty alot. There's a left booty too, but I just pat the right one.  It's similar to the motion a rider of a horse uses to make the horse giddy-up.

I caught myself doing this a few times this morning.  It went something like this "Well I had a text from her this morning" pat pat

"Well I emailed her" pat pat

"Oh I talked to Susan yesterday" pat pat

Maybe you've always thought I had some kind of a nervous twitch.  Like some people twirl their hair, or rub their eyebrows, or twirl a pen.  Did you go home and ask your spouse "Have you ever wondered why April pats her right booty?"

Well here's the truth...I keep my phone in my back right pocket.  So when I'm telling you that I texted someone, I am illustrating that act by patting my phone...which is in my back pocket.  But the average Joe has no idea my phone is in that pocket and may wonder what the heck I'm doing!  

So there you have it...no nervous twitch, no giddy-up, nothing other than my phone resting in my back pocket. 

Pat pat. 

I Do NOT Live for This

I hate to exercise.  I can't find anything about it that I like.  I look stupid.  I don't like sweating.  I don't like parts of my body extending beyond their normal range of motion.  I don't know what to wear.  I get mad when the instructors on the DVD say something funny while my heart is pounding outside of my body.    What's to love people??

Nevertheless, just out of guilt, I decided to get up, not once, but TWICE this week to exercise.  5:15 am....RONK RONK RONK (don't really know how to type out an alarm sound, that's the best I can do.)  Weight training yesterday, stupid stupid stupid Yoga today.

Some of the questions you may have:

Did I enjoy getting up at 5:15 am??
No.  Only Jesus should be awake then.

Was simply getting out of bed the hardest part?
No, actually performing the moves was the hardest part.

Did the endorphins kick in making me scream "I live for this!"
No.  The endorphins thing is a lie that workout freaks use.

Did I see results?
On my body? No.

Do I feel better now as a result of this morning's workout?
No.  Hence the need to write this post.

Here's one exercisers like...."But now that it's over, aren't you SO glad you got up to exercise this morning?"
No!  Honestly, I'd like to have that hour of sleep back!

Someday, will you be glad that you got up and exercised this morning?
OK, you got me on this one.  Yes, someday, I'll be glad that I got up and exercised this morning.  When I'm in my 60's, I will be thankful that I put in the time in my 30's to exercise.

Which brings me to the frustrating, but true, conclusion that anything worth doing takes time!  Nothing gets instant results, other than a TV dinner you can pop in a microwave, but that hardly falls under the "worth doing" category. ARRGH!!  One more time...ARRGH!!  Say it with me....ARRGH!!!!!

Exercise, parenting, loving people, gardening, business, building projects, ministry,.....I'm learning that there are so many things that I need to remain faithful in doing even when I don't get immediate gratification.  Sigh.  There are several references in the Bible to running the race, finishing the race, running with perseverance....I'm not necessarily trying to make exercise a spiritual matter....I'm just finding the strength to continue to do things over and over again, whatever they are, just because I need to!

Exercise, ugh!  I have to have balance with this just like everything else.  I'll never be obsessed about it...I graduated to the swim-skirt after having kids and I'm totally OK with that.  But do I want to be able to play with my grandkids someday?  Yes, I do.

But will I get up again tomorrow morning to exercise??  Hmmm.....that might be pushing it a bit, don't you think? :)

Keep on persevering my friends!

Embracing My Sight

I was reading an article in the paper about an 8 year old boy (the age of my oldest child) who is going blind.  He's about 80% blind now, and he will eventually completely lose his sight.  So he's preparing for a life of blindness and trying to figure out what he wants to see in the short bit of time he has left.  What would you want to see and hold in your memory if you only had one month, or maybe 6 months, left to see??

I was suddenly convicted of my vanity when I was reading that article.  I feel like I'm wasting my gift of sight.  How sad.  I wake up in the morning and study my fine lines and wrinkles...oh there's one, well that's a new one, the serum isn't working on that one...oh there's one more...30 minutes later...OK done, yep, all still there!  Get over yourself April!  Why am I wasting my gift of sight on myself?  The little things that consume me would mean nothing if I was facing blindness.

I'd like to see differently.  See myself as a daughter of the King, beautiful and precious to God.  Rejoice over a box of crayons....according to the internet, and therefore must be true, Crayola has 133 different colors!  Make eye contact with my kids more.  See what God sees in people, and not just what I see on the outside.  Stand in awe when I see the ocean, the mountains, and the stars in the sky at night! Click my heels with the leprechauns when I see a rainbow.  Gaze at the sunset.  Smile when I see the baby fingerprints on my windows.

Thank you God for the gift of sight!

The Face of a Girl

This is the face of a girl who is NOT cool in Uptown, trying to BE cool in Uptown!

We land there a couple of times a year, just often enough to remind us of why we live in a suburb full of kids.  Uptowners are cool and hip, young and old...they have fancy dogs instead of kids. 

Try walking through Uptown with 3 kids....FREAK SHOW!!  Not to mention that we were dressed in matching shades of blue and coral, because our first plan was to go to the Arboretum this day and get perfect family pictures in the tulips of our perfect family!  Double attention-grabber!

Imagine the stares and whispers when you're crossing a busy street and your son decides to stop, and you have to drag him by one arm to save his life in front of a busy patio restaurant where ladies are sipping their Evian.  

Imagine asking for a highchair in Jakes or Hook Line & Sinker.  

Imagine my surprise that the DOGS of Uptown socialize with each other....."oh poodle-baby, let's go talk to the chihuahua."

Imagine me rolling my eyes at the conversation I heard at the Starbucks while waiting for the trolley..."Oh that Lady Gaga concert was so good, she's just really such a blessing to humanity." 

Oh well, cool days have come and gone!  Thankful to be a mom to 3 cool kids!