A tragedy...

This happened just yesterday. Gretchen, my sister-in-law, teaches his oldest daughter in preschool. Please pray for his children and his widow. I just can't even imagine...

We're back!

We had a fantastic time at the festival! Saw some good movies, met some great people, and felt really encouraged as a family and filmmaker. Taking the kids with us, I knew it was probably gonna be an, "I'll watch the kids, honey, and you can talk with your film making peers." kind of weekend. But, I really got blessed by meeting some great ladies. There was a sweet lady named Julie J(I'm not gonna even try to spell her last name because I will butcher it mercilessly) from San Antonio. She had seven kids and we met her in the car park on the way into the festival. She has seven kids and let me tell you, knows how to park a suburban in a TINY spot! Then there was Carmon, a truly sweet and fun spirit. Both of these ladies have enough kids to have their own baseball teams and were kind enough to encourage me on my way out of toddlerhood - must've not hid my fatigue as well as I thought :) . And I briefly met Mrs. Hayden of Caleb's mom fame. She said she wanted to read my blog - she might be the first! Then there was a brief visit with Jennie Chancey who got to see me lose a child among the crowd- not my proudest moment. And lastly was Noelle Goforth and her sons William and Myles, as well as Noelle's sister Aimee. William was born just a few days after my oldest son and is an amazing joyful young man with a king-sized handshake! I was honored to meet him and his brave Mama.

As far as details of the films at the festival, I think you'll need to read another's website - like I said, we brought all four kids with us! But, it was great to not stand out from the crowd for a change. In fact, I think we were one of the smaller families there. I was blessed, and I hope others were as well.

See ya again next year!

We're off!

We're leaving shortly for the film festival. Hope to see some of you all there!

As a mother...

I struggle with understanding God's word sometimes. It's not that I doubt its truthfulness, it's just that my small brain cannot wrap itself around the truths. For example:

Isaiah 49:14-16
14 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me."
15 "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.

I cannot imagine God engraving me on the palms of His holy hands. Yes, I find an incredible amount of joy in my own children, but as a sinner, I know I do not always love them as much as I should. Plus, I know what I'm like. I find myself annoying and difficult to live with at times, how could God not grow impatient?

I can see God's work in opening my eyes to this truth through my experiences as a mother. I know how my heart leaps with joy and excitement when they laugh and smile with me. I know how I thrill at all their cute expressions and words. I know how my heart broke when I had to rush a child to the emergency room, and even now how the memory of seeing them hurt will cause me to physically cringe. I love them so much, I would literally do anything for them. I would easily lay down my life. But, there's one thing I would never do- cause them to suffer for the sake of an enemy. And yet, this is what He did for me. How can someone love a stranger like that?

I keep trying to transpose my sin nature onto God's, but thankfully His nature is teflon. My feeble attempts to make Him something He's not will never prevail. One day, I will truly know how good, how perfect, how breathtaking His love for me is. For now, I can keep trying to remind myself of the words He gave that show me, and of the sacrifice He gave to punish His son for my sake. I will stand in admiration now, I will fall down prostrate in utter reverence and wondermemt when I am before Him forever. I can't wait to know.

Zephaniah 3:16-18 (New King James Version)
New King James Version (NKJV)
16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

“ Do not fear;

Zion, let not your hands be weak.

17 The LORD your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Peach Cobbler

Here is an excellent recipe for peach cobbler that my sister gave me.

Fill an 8x8 in. pan with peach slices. Mix in:

1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Crust:

Blend the following then pour over the peaches mixture:

Crumble 6 Tbs. butter together with 3/4 cup sugar. Then add and crumble:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup oatmeal

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 min. Then bake at 350 degrees for 45 min.

Enjoy!

Faking It

I think women in general are competitive. We wanna be prettier than that girl, or thinner than this one, or a better house keeper than all of them put together. It's part of that whole sin nature thing. We're busy watching out for number one and making sure that everyone thinks we're great, instead of seeing us as we really are - horrible, ugly, disgusting wretches.

This not only does a disservice to women individually but as a group as well. It makes the housewife who is struggling with cleaning the kitchen for the fourth time that day feel like she is the only one who wrestles with the issue. It makes the exhausted mom who fights to be kind and sweet when all she really wants to do is take a nap, feel like the laziest person in the world. What a lie! The truth is that yes, those moms are lazy and selfish, but hey, newsflash - so are we all! There is not one sin that a mom fights against, that is also not fought against by two million other moms.

Instead of putting make up over our sins and pretending like the bad complexion underneath doesn't exist, we should be much more like the scripture that says to boast in our weaknesses! No, that doesn't mean we should be glad we're lazy, mean, and self-centered. It does mean that we speak openly with others so that they can encourage and also be encouraged. After all, yes we struggle agaisnt sin, but the ultimate fight has been won already. We our perfect before God for eternity, even though the flaws show right now. Today I met with a friend and we at first hesitated to share our problems with each other, but once we did, we both realized that we were going through many of the same valleys, and we could inspire one another on to keep trying, and fighting the good fight.

So, today, I encourage all women out there to stop covering up and really begin to love your fellow sisters in Christ. You never know who you might be relieving of an undue burden of feeling alone in their struggles.

God bless!

A pink room update

Here's the final after pic for my daughter's room. Although, looking at the picture I see some tweeks I wanna do. But it took me until Saturday to finally find the right pole for her curtains, so it only took a month to do! That's sarcasm in case you couldn't tell! A final thanks to Grandma for all her help in making the room beautiful.

A sparkling personality

I took the Myers Briggs test thingy. I came out as an ISFJ. I think that's pretty accurate although I do toe the line with F and J. But don't be too quick to think you got me pegged. I'm full of surprises don't ya know!

Random embarassing facts about me...

Since I've been busy painting walls and have been slacking with my posts here, I am starting to feel like I'm now also talking to a wall. Maybe this will drum up some interest here.

1. I eat frozen chocolate chips every night after the kids go to bed.

2. I still have twenty pounds to lose after my last baby, and she's almost fourteen months old. i.e. I have no more excuses left. (Also, see random fact #1)

3. I am addicted to home and garden television, especially house flipping shows - all in the name of research, of course.

4. I very often start to lose words when I get tired, explaining why I don't post long drawn out posts and probably why no one is visiting my site anymore :(

5. I used to wear a size 6.5 shoe, but after having babies I'm now a size 7.5 - weird don't ya think?!

6. I used to have naturally very curly hair, but after having babies it's straight - I know!

7. I was set up with my husband by the reformed matchmaker, Steve Schlissel- very cool, and I'd recommend this method highly.

8. I am grossed out to the point of getting nauseous when I clean the toilets - didn't happen until my little boy potty trained. He still forgets to look where he's going.

9. I am a math geek. I love to do math problems for fun and will do algebraic equations in my head sometimes if I'm bored.

10. I am not creative at all and don't think outside the box very much. In fact I like the box - it's nice and cozy, so why would I want to leave it?

Anyway, hope that gives you a better picture of who the big blogger is. God bless!

Paintin', paintin', and more paintin'

So, now that the floor is done, we're painting some more. Yes, I know that's backwards, but it's all part of our master plan, don't ya know! Anyway, here are some painting tips that I've learned:

1. Freeze your brushes and rollers wrapped in plastic so that you don't have to clean them when you're having to stop painting mid job.

2. Pull your tape off when the paint is still wet so that it won't stick as easily.

3. Your best bet for a clean finish, is to tape well. Taking the time to do this properly will really make the painting step much easier and will give you a better overall finish.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'm sure, with all the painting this house needs, there will be more later.

What else is a blog for?

Here are some pics of my precious kiddos for no other reason than it's my blog and I can! And you can't stop me - hah! I also just happen to think I have the cutest four kids in the entire world. So here they are.

House renovation update

My parents were in Mexico this last week, and we were in their house due to the fact that our house was a dustbowl. Dear husband was refinishing the floors and he did a fantastic job! Here are some pics of before and after. Anyway, that's all for now, just wanted to let you know why I haven't been around and brag a little about my hard working hubby. Btw - the top is the after, and the bottom is the before. I don't know why they posted like that.

God bless!

I took all the kids to the grocery store by myself today, and was quickly reminded why I usually prefer my husband to come along too. But since we were desperately out of milk, cereal, bread, and all other forms of food, we had to make the sacrifice. Not only, was it lunchtime - I know, I know but darling husband was in a demo and we needed the house quiet right then, not to mention there wasn't anything for lunch :) - but to top it off, it was sixty degrees outside and momma hadn't checked the weather that day. So I drag all my kids clad in sandal and shorts into the store, two of whom were literally crying because they were so cold. BTW, this is not one of those I went to the store and was told how sweet and well behaved my kids were kind of stories. My three year old continued crying the first ten minutes and holding my leg in such a way that my skirt was being raised up to an embarrassing level. I finally had to discipline him in the store rather than wait to get in the car, because it was really just too much and frankly I think those around me were glad to see him be spanked. Not one of my proudest moments - but then pride isn't something to strive for. My five year old actually whined for a balloon, something she isn't prone to do nowadays. My one year old did really well to her credit and God's mercy, and my two year old was pleasant as well. All in all, it was a good learning experience for the kids and me, and after their spankings they were very cheerful and compliant. I was glad I went with them all, and despite my humbling, felt like I learned alot about remaining calm during a few chaotic moments. I wouldn't have preferred this experience, but I know God used it for my sanctification anyway. So, thanks be to God!

Sleepy heads

My sister came in town today, and when Aunt Amanda comes to town, everything is a party! She has five kids, going on six, and my children just love to play with them all. They have a great time together, usually :), but they also play hard and don't nap. This makes for some very tired kiddos. As we left Grandma's house tonite to go home, two of my kids conked out in the first two minutes, the other two took turns wailing and weeping. I don't think they even knew why they felt so sad, and just leaving the cousins behind at Grandma's for the night wasn't sufficient for these the-world's-coming-to-an-end tears. When this happens, and reason flies out the window into the night air, I find that it's best not to give in to the desparation of the moment, but as the proverbs say, not answer a fool in his folly. I know that their cries are a result of their sinful natures just as much as they're from their exhausted bodies, but I also know that our Lord who is slow to anger and compassionate with me, sees these little ones with just as much love and patience. So, I try to see them through these last few moments before crashing in their beds, by soft tones in my voice and kind, understanding words. And I know that this is just a small and very flawed example of how my precious Father in heaven also handles my irrational cries - like during the arsenic hour every day, or all day long during pregnancy, or even in the throes of labor pains. He is THE Comforter! May He make me more like Him today.

So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. Zechariah 1:13

Late last night about 3 a.m., I got up to feed a little one.

Let's just say, Mama-3, roaches - 0.

God's little jokes

Of course God has a sense of humor! How do I know? He's given the world's biggest bug scardey-cat a house that went unoccuppied for months and now has an infestation of roaches that think they own the place. Everyday I have a run in with at least one and sometimes up to five of these pesky little creatures. In case you were not aware, the roaches in Texas are, like this blog, Texas Sized. Two inches on average, and if you think I'm kidding, just count how many cans of bug spray are lying around my abode. So, yesterday I find one in the kitchen which dear husband helped me to attack. We chased it across cabinets, behind the toaster, around the trash can, and at last it got smart and scurried under the refrigerator. Thinking it had been sprayed with enough poison to kill it in a minute or two, I relaxed a bit only to have the thing come sprinting out from underneath straight at me! Visions of roach caught in my long skirt danced through my head - I screamed. Then darling strong stud of mine stomped on it just in time to save this distressed damsel.

Well, that was enough excitement for me for one day, so off to bed I go. Well, lying in bed talking before turning the light off(see the small graces God gives) I notice another huge roach crawling on the curtain rod across the room (at least it wasn't on the one right above my bed!). Well, hubby runs for the bug spray, and just as he sprays it, the thing takes off in flight(yes, some of them fly!) across the room and straight into the closet two feet from my side of the bed - now how am I going to sleep? So we shut the closet door and spray enough Raid around the door to kill, well me and think we'll just have to hope it dies soon. Well, true to cockroach form it crawls out of the closet straight for my side of the bed - what have I done to them?! Again we just resign to hope it dies soon, but it quickly runs out from the other side of the bed, and once again clod-hopper stomps it dead(aren't husbands great!).

So, I've decided to thank God for the small graces He gives in dealing with these creatures, and hopefully find a way to laugh instead of cry. Oh yeah, and I think I'll invest in some Herman Munster shoes for my man.

Update

As I sit in here, avoiding eye contact with the boxes, my five year old comes in to announce that she has made a cool park out of the debris! Complete with a slide and all!

Numbers 11:17I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Yes, God's word is true - children are a blessing!

I am not one of those people who look at a big house full of boxes, and ripped apart floors, and bare windows and says, Okay let's get started! I tend to feel much more disorganized and overwhelmed amidst utter chaos, rather than energized and efficient. So, as I sit in the middle of my war zone, I cry out to God, "Hear my cry, O Lord!" I know amidst other trials that are faced in life, this can seem rather petty, but for me it is a deep pit of despair. To God nothing is small, and He answers me, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you." And He shows me, "God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day." Praise be to God, I believe He is good and kind despite my feelings of hopelessness at the moment.