It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I am trying to get ready for Christmas.. I can't believe it's Friday! We are slowly getting it together thought.

This year I have had a problem that I had not expected. In a time that is political correctness and not wanting to offend anybody we are discovering that the emphasis on Santa Claus is stronger than ever.

See, we don't do Santa. We never really have. It was rush over to this house and that house Christmas Eve and Christmas day when my two girls were little. (K & B) One year I remember K asking why Santa could only bring toys to Nanny's house. Then me and their dad divorced and the whole visitation schedule interfered with all of it. During this time, I started getting closer to God and felt that for my girls was to put the emphasis back on the birth of Jesus.

So, for ten years we have not had Santa in our home. When me and Jeff got married we compromised for A & J and made a tradition of having a special devotion on St. Nicholas day(December 6) to share the truth behind the myth and also to give glory to God in the works of a godly man. St. Nicholas lived to help others. This is a good value to share with the kids, too. For Christmas once everybody is home we read the story of Jesus' birth up to the angels announcing it to the shepherds. We save the story of the three wise men for twelfth night (January 6). For our family, everything we do turns the focus on God. The kids love it because they get a small gift on St. Nicholas day (usually something little that will fit in a shoe), they get Christmas presents from Jesus (because Jesus is the provider of all our needs), and then on Twelfth Night there are little gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh which translate to chocolate coins, jewelry, perfume, etc).

Anyhow, as I was saying, up until this year we haven't had a problem with anybody trying to convince the kids otherwise. And let me note that we tell the kids that there are others that do believe in Santa and it is completely their choice. We just don't in our home.

One day Benji comes home and tells me that Santa is coming to our house and he is excited, reasonably so, and I remind him that Jesus brings our gifts. He then says no, Ms. teacher said Santa brings them. I explained to B that Santa is just a story based off of St. Nicholas and remind him about that. He says that's right and all is well. Then a few days later we have almost the exact same conversation. I didn't want to go up to the school and cause a scene, I know how Benji takes things so literal. I was hoping that it was just a misunderstanding. So I left it, figure I have a week from the time school gets out until Christmas to fix it. I am not sure I did the right thing.

What would you do if your family believed a certain way and it was not with the majority? I have half a mind to write a letter for next school year explaining that our kids do not go Trick or Treating and that we do not have Santa Claus.

My kids have just as much if not more fun that the ones that do. Do the Santa Claus kids have 3 days that they get gifts? Do they learn the history of the season? Does their season only last a couple days where ours lasts a month?

I better think ahead about Easter too I suppose.

May you all have a blessed Christmas!

Rain, rain, go away!

The last few weeks have been crazy. The kids getting stir crazy from all the rain and mud, then the last 10 days battling the flu. Micah is the only one that hasn't gotten it.

Doing lots of cleaning to make sure the germs are gone.

The kids are on fall break right now. We get a two week break here in Dickson county. Just praying we go back to school afterwards, the county commission and the school board have locked horns about the budget for four months already. Forget what the opinions are, if the school board isn't going to budge and is willing to shut the schools down to prove it then the commission needs to look elsewhere. Nobody wants to pay more taxes, but sometimes it happens.

I really feel for the high school seniors that will be affected this year if the schools do close.

Anyhow, that is us in a nut shell. Rain and Flu...

Time seems to be flying...

The past month has flown by it seems.

School started for the kids August 3rd, so we have been grabbing school supplies right and left. It gets crazy with six kids in school.

Benji is in Developmental Preschool. I really like the set up. It's a reverse inclusion, so they bring in typically developing peers with the kids that have delays. Benji has come SO far it's amazing!

Micah and Josh are in Elementary school. 1st and 2nd grades. Things appear to be going well so far, still trying to get in the pattern of checking backpacks, doing homework, etc.

Allie and Brittany are in the middle school. 6th and 7th grades. We already have had to do Allie's IEP to tweak things for this year and I pray that she adjusts well. Britt is looking forward to being in advanced band and fall ball.

Kimmie is now a freshman in High School. So hard to believe that she is growing up so fast. I know I don't feel old enough on most days to have a child in high school. They had their first football game this past Friday, it was great. The football team lost but our band and flag corp swept the floor. This is gonna be a great year!

Things for me and Jeff are doing good. Once we get the fall schedule down it will be even better... LOL

I start college Friday. Gotta get up to Clarksville bright and early for Freshman Orientation. I am excited and anxious and scared to death. You know it's one thing when you are 18 or 19 going to college, but 34? with kids? scary.

Middle of the Week

It's another Wednesday here. The middle of the week rush.

We have found ourselves with 4 children going on field trips, award ceremonies, and then 8th grade prom. WOW!

There is more next week too.

Meanwhile at home, we are working on getting the garden going. With all the rain we have had it has been difficult.

The barn/shed is built. We still need to tear down the old one so we can use the tin roof and old barn wood to finish it. Once it is completed it will look fabulous!

Now I need to find a recipe for honey bbq sauce. We are avoiding high fructose corn syrup and that means we have to get creative. :o)

Summer Schedule Ideas

So I was looking at our family's summer schedule and realized there are a couple things that are not set in stone yet. It concerns me since we have 3 that really thrive on schedules (aside from myself)

Our oldest was nominated to take an 'Algebra Camp' where she will get help with her math skills and also career training.. and the cool part? She will get paid! But we don't know if she is accepted or not. This matters because it is 5 weeks and from 9am-3pm. It makes it so we can't go to the zoo as much if she gets in. (Which is great! I mean help with her math, I don't have to pay and it opens doors for her!)

The same beautiful child has band camp for 2 weeks in the end of July. This is a definite. I have to remember to get sunscreen. :o)

We also have doctor appointments, vision appointments, therapy appointments, I think dental too... I am not seeing an easy way to schedule normalcy through this. I also know I will need some help here and there with having to take one kid in and the rest needing to be elsewhere.

I know it will be taken care of and I know God will provide the means.. it just gets to me not having a schedule in place.

In the middle of the kids scheduling I also have college registration on June 11. I keep telling myself that if this is of God it will work out. This has been a dream of mine to go to school for Journalism since I heard of college. (Okay... maybe not really but it's been a dream for over 20 years. Ouch.. )

Off to figure something out... Any of you plan for summer? Or do you just 'wing it'?

Holy Thursday

I find myself torn today.

Today is the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus. Or.. that is the general consensus. My soul wants to honor the Lord and focus on Him. Even moreso than normal. As important as Christmas is, Resurrection Sunday is even more important.

So why am I torn?

Because today, four of our six children are participating in easter egg hunts. Where the focus is on the furry rabbit and how much candy can they collect... and of course how much can they eat before they get home and it is rationed.

Why is it okay for the school system to worship the pagan goddess of fertility when it is not okay to mention that Christians celebrate the resurrection of their Savior?

We find it already difficult to get the school to understand that we limit the junk food the kids eat (we have removed things like red 40, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, etc), the school doesn't understand that we see it as the kids responsibility to do their homework and to get papers signed, not ours. The school also doesn't want to get involved with consistency, or stopping a child from lying when they know the child is lying. In the grand scheme it makes me almost want to homeschool. Almost.

More thoughts I suppose. The older I get, or perhaps the strong my faith gets, I see more and more of what is wrong with the world.

What a Weekend

Yesterday Kimmie and Britt had Solo and Ensemble in Clarksville with the MTSBOA. Both of the girls were absolutely nervous. It's to be expected somewhat. I would have thought Kimmie would be used to it by now. It's her third year.

This is the first year that Kimmie did an ensemble. Her and a friend played a Clarinet duo. ("Spring of the Four Seasons") They did really good, for playing at 9am after riding an hour to get there. They did really good anyway, though. The judge was very helpful.

Britt was the next with her Saxophone solo. All the 6th graders play Sawmill Creek for the solos. She got a bit unnerved because we were early to the room and the judge was still waiting for her. She had a little trouble at first but he let her start over. He gave her a couple tips but said she had good sound.

Kimmie's solo was at 9:40a. She had the same judge that did the duet so she was a little more relaxed. The only thing the judge could find to be improved was for her to draw the melody out longer.

So... after the duet and the solos were done, we got to wait. For 3 hours. But at the end of the three hours we got the news. Kimmie and her fellow clarinet player got a #1 for their duet. Britt was ecstatic to find that she received a #1 for her solo. Then, Kimmie had a repeat #1 for her solo plus the judge was like 'I wished I had a clarinet player like you in my band.'

On the way home I got turned around and ultimately lost. I probably would have been able to find my way but it was raining and the temperatures were dropping. I got all anxious so called Jeff to get me home by using google maps. At that moment I was wishing I still had the VZNavigator still on my enV.

We made it home though, safely and before snow and ice was an issue.

After we got home, Jeff decided I needed to get away from the kiddos so we left our mature and responsible teenager in charge and went into town. While we were there we stopped at the Verizon store to start looking into getting me a new phone. (I have the oldest phone and have been needing a way to sync calendar and all with the computer. Can't carry a laptop everywhere you know. LOL)

So... I got the Blackberry Curve. (with a good discount) It was so odd. While we were talking with the salesman my enV crashed. Completely locked up. Even after we disconnected the battery and reconnected it it was locked up. (This of course was a freak out moment since I had 937 pictures on it that were not on the computer) So... we knew getting a phone was a have to with Benji being with me and all. It's a good phone, just gotta get used to it.

Then we went home.

It was a good day overall... The best thing is that I was reminded that when we get stressed the best thing to do is give it over to God. We should actually give to Him prior to the stress... :o)

I Surrender!

Goodness! The last few weeks have been crazy!

We celebrated my birthday and Papa's birthday on the 6th, It was fun, we enjoyed a delicious cake that Nana made and it was great having family around. It's hard to believe that I am 34. Most days I feel like I am still in my 20s. On bad days I feel ancient.

The 7th we went over to Nana and Papa's and chopped firewood along with my brother's family. The girls and my brother's boys helped while the little boys played in the play yard. They got alot of wood cut up and it should be enough for at least the rest of the winter.

While the guys were doing the wood, I checked out an old wooden file cabinet that is in the old barn and we have decided we are going to clean it up and fix it. It's missing a side but it's just 1/4 inch board, so pretty easy to replace. It will need to be sanded and the veneer fixed. Then a coat of paint and it will be PERFECT! I love reusing old furniture that is built well.

When I got back up to the house and about the time the guys were finishing up I found a swingset on Craigslist for FREE. It had never fully been put together and it is huge! (2 swings, star cruiser, glider, sit and spin, and a slide.) The boys love it! God has provided once again!

Saturday night Micah seemed to not be feeling well and we thought he had wind burn on his face until we took his temp. It was 102.7 but he wasn't complaining of anything else. Sunday he was pookey, and was developing a red polka dot rash. Monday I took him in to the doctor along with Benji. Micah had full blown strep with scarlatina. Thankfully Benji just had a sinus/ear infection. It took till Thursday for Micah to be able to go back to school. He was so upset he missed the 100th day of school.

Benji had his Valentine's party at school on the 12th. Which meant while Micah was home sick I got to make cookies and valentines.

Micah and Josh had their parties on the 13th. Josh's teacher had sent a note to not send anything but Valentine's and the classroom mom for Micah's class asked me to make cookies.

I was very thankful that Jeff helped with the cookies. I will have to share the recipe later. He is so wonderful!

Britt made the softball team. Tryouts were the 5th and 6th. She's on Junior Varsity, but it's good since only 4 6th graders made it. (plus she's the youngest on the team being only 11) Her practices are keeping me busy. 3-5 M-F. It's worth it though. And it looks like she's playing catcher this year.

Everything else is just busy. Trying to get adjustments to schedules down.

Dental visits went well. No cavities in any of the 6. 1 kiddo needs to brush their teeth more and we need to think about braces with her. 1 kiddo is looking at having to have an appliance put in because he won't stop sucking his thumb and it's curving the jaw bone.

So much for a quick update huh? LOL

~ Faith

Our Weekend...

Wow... really. We had a good busy weekend.

Friday... Friday evening we stopped by some friend's of our Open House party. It was so good. Lot's of food, lot's of friends. We didn't really want to leave but our special needs group, Hearts and Hands, were having a parents night out and me and Jeff were going to take full advantage of it. That is the one thing we have learned is that mom and dad have to have dates. So, we got 2 1/2 hours to ourselves. It was much needed. The kiddos had fun too. They made pictures and ornaments and then watched a movie. There was also games in the gym they got to play and the older girls were playing pool with some of the older kids. (Advantage to the parents night out being in the youth center at church) Afterwards we dropped Britt of with her dad for the weekend.

Saturday.. Me and Kimmie got up ridiculously early to get to McGavock High School in Nashville. Her band director nominated her for mid-state band. We had to be there by 8:50am... 1hr 15min drive... I had to get up at 6:30am... anybody remember that I don't do mornings?

While we were at midstate, Jeff, the boys and Allie decorated one of our outside trees with ornaments and lights. It was cute for the boys to do it. I think even Scrooge had fun. :o) Check out Benji's blog for Jingle Benji... I promise they had way too much fun with us gone.

Thankfully at mid-state we had the "golden" ticket and got to skip line... there were over 150 Clarinets. We had to be back into White Bluff for the parade at 4pm.

We went to the parade that was VERY cold. Thankfully we were able to stay close to the truck and stay warm. Kimmie went to her friend's sleep over party afterwards. During the parade it was cute, the kids were grabbing gobs of candy and because we forgot a bag they kept stuffing it into my pockets in my coat. I gained like 15 lbs standing on the side of the road. LOL.

After the parade we stopped over at Nana and Papa's house to warm up. It took a good 30 minutes to be able to feel my hands again! About 5:40pm we remembered the Saving Little Hearts Christmas Party... that started at 6pm.

Better late than never...

The kiddos had fun, especially Benji. The other 3 enjoyed eating pizza, cookies and watching Santa Claus is Coming to Town (the old one with Mikey Runey) For Benji's fun see his post about it.

We finally got home about 8:30pm and we were all wiped out.

Yesterday we had a wonderful church service even though we missed Sunday School. The message was Have a Mary Christmas. (I will link to it once they have it up on the site)

For the afternoon, we stopped by Goody's since the y still had the sale on the purses. I was really hoping that they would restock the one I saw on black friday. Well, they didn't restock, but one was returned! So I got my $30 purple purse for $12 PLUS... Ms. Murphy got her Christmas present of a brand new nice and warm cat bed for $5. Two happy customers.

We got Benji's swing fixed and re-hung once we got home. Let me tell you. Talk about a happy customer. LOL

When we picked up Britt she wanted to get the pitch back with her allowance/Christmas money... so we went in to Walmart. This was when my head said enough and unleased a nasty migraine. Before walmart though we stopped by Claire's with my $10 gift card. Got another purse (lol... I buy maybe one a year... plus it is SO cute.)

I spent the evening in the dark and in bed. It was a crazy but mostly good weekend. And oh... Kimmie didn't make the mid-state band. She's a bit upset but realizes she didn't really practice enough too. There is next year.

Christmas is coming!

So... it's the 4th of December. Just one week from Thanksgiving. Who all has their decorating done?

LOL... We have what we are doing outside done. Inside we need to finish up tonight and tomorrow.

St. Nicholas day is the 6th. Anybody use it to avoid Santa? We do. Sorta became necessary when we brought our two families together. I had never really done Santa and with my kids we emphasis that Jesus provides our needs and wants so, Jesus is who the presents come from. With Jeff's two they were all about Santa and the materialism of the commercialism of Christmas. So the compromise is that we do a devotion on St. Nicholas and explain who he was and why he is associated with Christmas. (I'll post the devotion later today)

It seems to be working out. On St. Nick's eve the kiddos leave their shoes by their doors and in the morning find a little present in them. (VERY inexpensive and nothing that big)

We still need to figure out what exactly we are doing for Christmas. We had thought about having a friends party the Saturday after Christmas. I don't know though. I would love to have friends over but the business is going crazy.

This weekend is busy. Tomorrow evening the elementary school aged kids are performing in the city park in Dickson as a premiere for "Miracle on Main St." The actual performance is Sunday night at church.

Next week Britt has practice for the band concert on Monday. Both Kimmie and Britt have the Band Concert on Tuesday. Wednesday is church, Thursday is Kimmie Drama performance, Saturday (13th) Kimmie has mid state auditions at McGavock in Nashville.

I am sure there is more going on too. Wouldn't have it any other way.

I forgot... Benji has his Echo on Monday. We are praying his heart is healed.

Just one of the nuts.

"It takes hundreds of nuts to hold a car together, but it takes only one of them to scatter it all over the highway."
- Evan Esar


You know... with school starting this past Friday and having to get everybody ready and everybody off, I feel like we are the car and it would only take one slight thing to knock us off schedule.

Praise the Lord though! Everybody that is suppose to be off to school is. Micah and Benji are home today. Brittany is being Diva girl today with her birthday dress and tiara. She's so cute, and I don't say that just because she's my daughter. She is really cute. The dress looks really good on her. I'll post a picture later.

I am hoping to be able to get the house back in order and get things back to some resemblance of control. Every where I look I see messes... So I am picking one room a week in addition to keeping up the normal stuff. You know... laundry, running Benji to school, dishes, laundry, running Benji to therapy, laundry, garden, etc...

So today... I hope to get the following done..

Devotion
Laundry (I was and dry, Jeff folds and puts away)
Dishes
Make ice cream (gotta run and get some ice)
Get Micah's birthday present (yes.. I procrastinate)
Straighten the Kitchen
Clean the living room (minus the office area)
Have fun with the boys

That doesn't look too bad does it? Now.. it's just a matter of getting it all done in time for the birthday party tonight. With Britt's bday being today and Micah's being tomorrow, we are doing a family party this evening and they will have their friend parties 2 weekends from now.

Bless you!

And I leave you with this scripture...

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34

Do you have joy?