For the Love of Family

How often do I find myself thinking that I'm not doing enough for my kids?  That I'm not giving them all that they need?  That I'm not quite the mom/homeschool teacher-mom that they deserve?  That I'm not all that God created me to be.  


Just yesterday, I was visiting for awhile over at
Clover Lane when I found this lovely quote 
by Mother Theresa...  

"Start by making your own home a place where happiness and love abound, through your love for each member of your family and for your neighbour.  Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for home.  Make them long to be with their families.  So much sin could be avoided if our people really love their homes."

Mother Theresa

Oh!  That's what I want!  That is my heart's cry!

I encourage you to take on this assignment.  Put together 20 pictures of your family.  You will find a new perspective on your role as mom--God's perspective. You might also find, like I did while working on this post, a little boy at your elbow begging for his mom to come watch him...just watch him...ride his bike.  And, after reading Laurie's blog post this morning, that's just what I did.  I watched him ride and ride and ride.  

And I treasured it.

I will make my home a place where happiness and love are found!

Enjoying the love of family and home,

OhhhYeahhh

Brilliant idea.

Cookie Saturday.

Ohhhyeahhh.

That was one of the more popular ideas that I have had. 

One that the kids reminded me of often..."It's Saturday, Mom!"

It didn't last though.

My conscience killed it.

The guilt was overwhelming.

Another pretty good idea.

One that was a bit less guilt inducing.

Trail Mix.

Ohhhyeahhh.

We took this one on our camping trip back in June.

Delicious...although the boys would have opted out of the raisins if they could have.

This one will be joining us on our next camping trip.

Raisins are invited along.

Check out this beautiful mug of coffee.

My dear friend, Nicky, brought this mug to me back in June.  

She didn't know it, but on this particular day 

I was thinking of my mom.

This would have been Mom and Dad's

 47th Wedding Anniversary.

Sweet Nicky. 

She noticed that many of my mugs have a Christmasy/Winter theme, so she wanted to be sure that I had a beautiful anytime mug for my coffee.

Not only did she bring me that beautiful mug, but she also brought me a cheery little yellow flower and a package of Mackinac Island Fudge.

Ohhhyeahhh.

Thank you, Nicky.

Enjoying those Ohhhyeahhh moments,

From the Archives: The Top Ten Things That Scare Me

Sometimes my blog posts don't get published.

For one reason or another, I just put them aside...maybe to work on them later when the creative juices are flowing more freely...maybe because I am just not happy with how the post is coming along.

This is one of those posts that became a "draft" rather than a published post.

So, here it is...From the Archives...

From September 30, 2008...

As we were driving home one evening, we saw a billboard that really scared me. I don't even know what it was advertising, but it was a picture of this guy with big googly eyes. He looked frightened. I think that must have been the point of the billboard...he was maybe afraid because he didn't have insurance, or something like that.

It got Carrie and me to talking. I said, "Boy, that would be on my top ten list of scary things." Then she tried to guess some of the other things that would be on my list.

Of course, there are the obvious things--the ones that I think all of us fear...life without Jesus, accidents that hurt our loved ones, disease, etc...

But this is a list devoted more to my common, everyday, even silly fears.

So, now you have it.

 My official

"Top Ten List of Things That Scare Me"

#10  The Googly-Eyed Guy on the billboard

#9  Rollercoasters

#8  Swimming in lakes--What's in the water that I can't see, anyway?!

#7  People dressed up in costumes who try to shake my hand and talk to me

#6  The Burger King guy in the commercials--the one with the big plastic BK head

#5  Clowns

#4  Darth Maul

          Sorry...I can't even post a picture of him because he is so scary.

So...here's the Lego Darth Maul...

#3  Spiders

#2  Snakes

#1  Tornadoes

It seems that #4, #5, #6, and #7 are the same...but different.
Ew.

Enjoying Living with Avoiding the scary things in life,

America's Got...Talent?

 Carrie was very proud of herself yesterday.

She found one of her Dad's ties and decided to teach herself how to tie it.
Using youtube.
Of course, she found a video that taught her how to tie a tie...
and there you go.
You really can find anything you want to know on youtube.

All that's left is to bask in the satisfaction of a job well-done.

(Note:  It really was her goal to wear it down to her knees.)

I'm not quite sure when the Captain Morgan stance became her trademark, but it seems to be her default pose.

Passing the football...

We'll call this her Secret Service pose...

minus the mirrored aviators.

She's thinking...she's thinking...

Hang on.

For some reason, the next pose caused her to lose her comPOSEure.
I know.
I spelled it wrong.
But you get it, right?

Wait!

Deep breath.

Straight face.

BAM!

How do ya like that one?!

Some kind of Happy Dance.

I think I've caught this one on Spongebob.
(Please don't write to me telling me about the study just conducted on children who watch Spongebob.  I think that Matthew is a very good problem-solver despite his slight obsession with that absorbent, porous, yellow character.
Wow.  I think he's gotten to me.)

I don't know what this is called either...

I know this one!

Disco...

Hokey Pokey?

Jump for joy!

And back down again.

What?

Really?

I'm not sure what look you're going for here...

Rambo?

 Actually...now that I think about it...this may have something to do with that full Harvest Moon in the sky...

Yep.

That's what it is.

I'm now trying to figure out if I can give her some type of grade for this.

I need to get creative with my credit assigning.

Enjoying the tying of ties and the silliness of a teenage girl,