Thankful that He's Still God and i'm Still not:)

I've been talking alot lately about staying home and focusing on my little ones, on feeling overwhelmed and not being able to get everything done. I've also been pondering how ministry and friendship fit into this conundrum. Been feeling I have nothing to offer, nothing to give and no room for friendship or outside ministry.

A dear dear friend of mine has been blessed with a great family and a hard working husband. They have been such a blessing to us. He recently lost one of his full time jobs. He is still working but they cant amke their mortgage or live on half of his earnings. We prayed and watched God's amazing provision in their lives. They discovered they were pregnant-- They were overjoyed and felt so honored to know God is continuing to bless them. They lost their baby. We cried and cried. They named her and buried her and mourned her loss. I mourned with them and searched for something to offer. I tried to crack jokes--not good. I prayed and cried. Again nothing to offer.

My son's Scleroderma continues to frighten us. My biggest fear is that his eyebrow will be affected. Nate has started to read too much on the subject and is worried about his eye. Again, nothing I can do.

We Have been praying for good friends for our daughter. We met a sweet neighbor who has been such an encouragement and good freind to our daughter. Her mother asked if the daughter could go to church with us last Sunday. Of course. Duh. Why hadn't we realized that we had that to offer?

When we moved here 9 plus years our toilet broke. The man sent to fix it was a great man of God. I loved him instantly and just knew in my heart that he was a Christian. My husband thought that a little odd until he met him and thought the same thing. Our paths crossed alot and has been a great encouragement to our family. I later met his wife and LOVE her. They have been blessed with many kids. Great kids. I found out recently that he as totally gone off the deep end in so so many ways. I ran into this friend yesterday and cried. and cried.

A dear friend and I went to run errands yesterday (not a "normal" thing for us. My 22 month old has grown a straggly mullet. She fixed it (and even saved me the hair) My 13 year old has a ton of hair that has been drving us all crazy. People assume that he wants his hair long and wont cut it. In actuality, he would rather have it shaved but none of us can do that and we shy away from spending the money to do it. On our way out the door we decided to shave his head. All went well until ALL of our combined 13 other children decided that they wanted to see the head shaving. My friend was bumped, the razor caught on my son's eyebrow and the attachment came off. Half of his eyebrow is shaved. It was funny. Mostly because this is sooo not like my friend. It wasn't a big deal at all. Didn't phase my son or I at all. Its just an eyebrow. This is the same son that I have been crying and praying over losing his eyebrow. WHen he did (albeit temporary and not the same) It wasnt that big a deal.

I have been soo overwhelmed lately. You'd think that these large burdens that my friends are struggling with would somehow be too much for me to wrap my mind around. Somehow, it isn't. I KNOW that I cant fix it for them and I know that I don't need to . Somehow knowing that we aren't alone in any of it is extremely comfortng. We can bear one anothers burdens even thoughwe cant solve them. God uses us despite ourselves despite all my inadequacies and quirks and huge shortcomings because these are His ways. He will comfort the fatherless. He will be the husband to the husbandless. He will hold that baby that He created and knows. He will provide me with ways that I can minister and be encouraged and I will continue to be in amazement of Him.

linking up at:


and



and

10 little questions

Love parties NOT a fan of party games BUT I saw this over at

The Ins and outs of a Stay at Home Mom

and it looked like fun....

Here are the questions. Are you ready?
1. Do you say thunder and lightening or lightening and thunder?
2. Are you a spender or a saver?
3. What was your favorite game to play as a child?
4. Do you say I’m going to put my socks and shoes on or do you say it the other way around? (I know it’s like the first one but I also wonder which way people say it.)
5. Would you rather have super strength or super intelligence?
6. Are you apart of Friday Following?
7. Do you like cool-aid?
8. Have you had any surgeries?
9. Direct-TV/Dish or cable
10. Have you ever been on a game show.

1. I say thunder and lightenening....
2. saver saver saver
3.Don't remember any. Is that sad? My Dad did have a Ms Pac Man machine in the bar that he owned and I spent ALOT of time at. I got really good at playing it so I looked occupied and not approachable:)
4. Have always said "shoes and socks" and never questioned it. Now Im realizing I really want you to put your socks on first:)
5. Always thought I'd want super strength but given the choice SUPER INTELLIGENCE hands down. If you're smart enough you can find your way around not being strong enough. Guess I'll take brain over brawn.
6. Just found Friday Following and am lovin' it!
7. Detest Kool-aid.
8. I had my gall bladder removed and then cancer taken from my back. Dont like surgeries much.
9. I have had DISH for 9 years. Pay only for local channels. Am seriously thinking about switching to DirectTV and gettting a DVR. Any thoughts? If I bundle it should only be $5. more than I am paying now.
10. Nope. And im way too camera shy.

Friendly Blogging

Thank you so so much for all the prayers for me this past week. Thank you too for all the new friends who stopped by and said a prayer. I was feeling very alone and scared and this was such an encouragement to me!!

This was an odd and packed few days. I had melanoma in 2003, my husband suffered a work related back injury and was out of work for three years. Jump forward 7 years. he has now been working part time almost 5 years. I had a rush appointment to a cancer specialist for three biopsies. Couldn't figure out where the office was. my 12 year old son decides to scramble eggs and throws raw egg EVERYWHERE. Our van is low on oil and coolant--Its time to leave here people!! Get to the appointment. LOVED the Dr. I will be back there regularly. he seemed positive about the biopsies. I will have results back in 2-3 weeks. Found out that our grandmother is having surgery that same day. Good thing we were in town:) My husband was made full time last week. He was pulled aside yesterday and told that he may be laid off. We're out of bread, we're out of peanut butter and the house needs a good cleaning. No socializing for me today:)

If you're new here...stick around things will pick up. I promise:)



Because I just can't stand to miss a party-
I'm linking up to:



and





and I think you should too:)

Pray for Me?

I wouldn't hesitate at all to ask you to pray for someone else but I feel really strange asking you to pray for me. Why is that?

I had stage 3 malignant melanoma removed from my back in 2002. They sliced a 7 inch line down my back and took out all the flesh to the muscle. (that is my understanding anyway:) All the cancer was removed and my lymph nodes were unaffected.

I now have 3 very sinister moles all around the site. not good on a few different levels. There was a rush put in to have them removed and biopsied. That is being done tomorrow. I don't know when we will receive the results.

I am now cleaning and checking the fluids on my van (nagging my husband to actually) and figuring out school for everyone while I am gone. My husband wanted to go with me but honestly, I need him more here. In the back of my mind I'm wondering if I am going in for surgery again and will be out of commission for another year. Should I be getting school ready for then? Will I refuse chemo-therapy. Will I be open in the recovery room. I'm sacred.

I KNOW that I should worry about nothing and bring all my concerns before Him with thanksgiving. I KNOW that no matter what happens He is still the God of all.

Will you remember me and my family in prayer as we keep those two facts in the forefront of our minds and our hearts focused on Him.

(A more Real) Love Story

This is a pretty fitting following to my last post:) Many of you have probably seen this...What I wont show you is my dancing around that 1000 square feet of tile Im trying to figure out how to clean. My little princes are taking turns spinning and dancing with me:) This is very cute but BEWARE it is soooo catchy. She is good.

A Daily epiphany, a baby reminder..

I am going to try really really hard not to get on a soap box and rewrite this post and use my spell check 5oo times and get out a grammatical dictionary....

I CANT DO IT ALL!!! I know that. I don't expect anyone else to. Why do I keep thiking that I am "supposed" to. How does this thinking slowly creep in?

I came accross a wonderful blog today: Stay at Home Missionary

where she shared these quotes:

"There is a lie, even among the stay at homers, even in the church, and that lie is that just being home isn't good enough. This lie can be detrimental to embracing our High Calling.


"The season of young children is a time to refrain. Refrain from most outside activities, even church activities. Now is a time to be faithful in discipline...it's the springtime of mothering. Redeem the time, don't waste it."


by
Sono Harris,
(mother to 7 including Josh Harris and Alex and Brett Harris)

I knew this when I had 3 under 4. It may obvious, practical sense. But now..I have "older" chidlren and am a little more established and should be able to handle taking on being in 5 places at once, right?



I will miss some fun times with my friends but will enjoy them with my children. My sons may not indulge in every activity and may not expect their wives to either. As their free time is spent stuck here with me, I hope they will choose to be stuck home with their wives and children later in life.




You are welcome to join us, but we are going to be hanging out here for awhile:)

Swagbucks! and a giveaway

**REVISION:
this blog has been "down" for sometime until thee AMAZING Diana at The Girl Creative fixed it. She walked me through the solution and then when clueless me coudlnt do it, She did. From her cell phone, wile out of town for her sister's wedding. Wow.

Please visit her and say hello and see how talented and sweet she is!

I am extending the below giveaway through April 1st. WELCOME SPRING!!!

I have been using Swagbucks as my main search engine for a few months now and LOVE it...except for this guy, who keeps calling across the house from "my" office, "I GOT SWAGBUCKED"

I am getting "swagbucked" a lot and saving up Amazon money. Anytime I go on Facebook, check my email...I use the Swagbuck search engine and get bucks ( happens around three times a day.) I think just about everybody is using Swagbucks and earning stuff. Just in case, anyone reading my blog hasn't discovered Swagbucks yet, I thought I should share with you all:)

I am giving away a $5.00 Amazon e-certificate on april 1st. (I will take entries until then:)
to enter:
-tell me how long you have been using Swagbucks or what great prizes you have gotten

For bonus entries you can:
join Swagbucks here and let me know

-Follow this blog and let me know