Animal farm!

So let me tell you about last Monday! Robby just got back on the job Sunday night, so my plan was to get up with the kids in the morning and get them out of the house and go work in my classroom so Robby could sleep. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans.... so here is how the day started... Both girls are dressed and beds are made, I go into my room to start getting myself ready and I locked the bedroom door behind me.. why you ask? because my girls will come in screaming and talking and wake up their daddy... so anyway as I am getting ready I hear a knock on the bedroom door... now I have to admit I was frustrated that someone was knocking on the door with Robby in bed trying to sleep so I go over and open the door with a grumpy look on my face to find my 6 year old standing there holding up her hand with some sort of worm thing in it! She looks at me and says "mom, I found this in the guinea pig cage!" That was all it took to wake Robby up he sits up in bed as I walk Bekah over to him to see if he can tell what it is.. because I dont have a clue!! Thats when he announced that Bekah was holding a maggott! YES a MAGGOTT!!!!!!! I freaked, of course made Bekah wash her hands and went to get the cage to clean it out, yet again. Now I am sure you are thinking the cage had to have been filthy to have a maggot in it, it did need to be changed but it wasnt that bad, but we have had a massive amount of flies coming into our house lately with the kids going in and out. So now that I have made that excuse! I told Bekah to grab a trash bag and head out side so we can scrub the cage, as soon as she opened the door... out ran the dog! Needless to say my morning is not going well, so Bekah and I chase libby around the neighborhood, and I finally got her to follow me into the house, in all of the craziness Robby was woken up yet again! Now we are finally able to get started cleaning out the cage, the dog is back in the house, the maggot is down the drain, and the guinea pigs are in the living room in the top part of the cage! Bekah and I worked together and scrubbed out the cage and then Bekah began to dry it with paper towels, while she was working on that I gathered up the trash to take to the curb. I took a couple of trips out to the curb with the trash and Bekah had gone back inside to pet the guinea pigs while she waited on me to help put the cage back together. On my 3rd trash trip I turn to come back up the driveway and as I am nearing the garage and I look down and there is a duck, yes a duck in my garage! Right at the entrance to the garage from the driveway! I call Robby, who is still up, and I dont think he believed me at first then he and Bekah came to the door to see the duck!! I will post pics soon! we watched for at least 30min as the duck sniffed around the yard and just waddled around like it owned the place! It was the most bizarre morning of my life!

Simplicity

I am typically known as a go go go girl! I am constantly doing something or going somewhere! As most of you know slowing down isnt my style. However I have learned a lot over the past few months and have learned that sometimes you just need to slow down and look at the simple things in life. I have so enjoyed spending time with my family this summer! Something that is very rare normally with Robby working, but since he has been laid off this has given us time together. Since school got out we have spent every single day as a family together swimming at the pool, going to the park, playing with friends, cooking out and our most recent adventure was driving 12 hours to visit Debbie, Kris and the kids! I was so impressed with how the kids did on the drive up and since we have been here we have had a great time. We have taken the kids swimming, played outside and played in the basement playroom! We havent been going like we normally would, but with a combined total of 5 kids who could! We have had a wonderful time just enjoying the simple things, such as Taylor getting into Jillian's nail polish and painting herself, the bathroom floor, the cabinet, the dresser and her new shoes, then there was world war 3, 4, and 5 between all the kids screaming crying and fighting like family, followed by Maddie getting into a poopy diaper (her own) that was briefly left un attended and she proceded to cover herself in poo! like I said its the simple things in life! I am sure as we continue our vacation there will be many more stories to share, these are just the a few from our 1st day!! (Yes I did say 1st day)

Summer

There are so many reasons why I am looking forward to summer. I can't wait to spend time with my friends and kids at the pool, hanging out with my husband, traveling to Denver, hanging out with my Mom and Dad, road tripping. Spending time with our neighbors.... I am such a summer girl! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but this year has been too much for me, between Robby losing his job and watching 2 of my friends bury their babies that were within 2 months of Taylor, I have had all the stress I can deal with. I need a break to regroup and spend time finding my center again..putting my focus on GOD! Trusting him to take care of everything and learning to lean on Him again. Bring on summer! Only 5 days of school left.

Learning to deal with death

Well today was full of emotions! Bekah and I arrived at school this morning and like always the first thing she did was run over to Oreo's cage to see her, Oreo was our guinea pig. Notice I said "was", this morning Bekah informed me that Oreo was "sleeping" and told me to be quiet so I didnt wake her. I walked over to check on her and noticed she wasnt in her normal "sleeping" position. I opened the cage door and she didnt move, so I touched her and realized she was gone. I turned to Bekah and had my first of I am sure many conversations about a pet going to Heaven. Bekah cried and cried it was awful! She was so sad that Oreo was gone, I tried everything I knew to comfort her, but nothing was really working. We had a long talk and I told her that our sweet little neighbor Lexi, that passed away a month ago, probably missed Jerry her guinea pig, and now Oreo went to be with her and they would have each other. That seemed to help her. We have never had an animal or any member of our family die so this was totally new ground for me to cover as a mom. I hated seeing my little girl so broken hearted!! As sad as I was, I was able to put my emotions aside and help her deal with hers. I know I will have to deal with this again and I hope that I will have the answers she needs, when she needs them, but I know that will not always be the case and I pray that God will help me through it.

This afternoon as soon as school was out she came running into my room to see if we could go to Petsmart, she wanted to go and get an Oreo 2. So after 2 long hours of deliberation at Petsmart we finally decided on a little brown and white guinea pig that looks like Hurley from G-Force, the girls finally decided to name him Blaster. I think Blaster will be a wonderful new addition to the family, I am praying that Blaster will survive and flourish in our care.

Easter

I have 2 favorite times of year, Christmas and Easter. I love Christmas because it reminds us that God sent his most precious gift, his son, as an infant to come save us sinners. Knowing that in 30 short years he would be sacrificed on the cross in a horrible death so that we might be saved from our sins and have eternal life. Easter brings home that sacrifice for me. Several years ago when the movie, Passion of the Christ came out, we went to go see it with some very old friends of ours. I loved that movie but don't know that I could ever sit through it again. It shook me to the core, I wept and wept like I never had before and haven't since. I have grown up seeing many different depictions of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, but none had touched me as deeply as this had. For the first time I saw the Crucifixion and Resurrection from the eyes of Mary, his mother. I was a new mom and had never seen taken that perspective before. I cannot even begin to fathom what Mary was going through watching her child be tortured and die a horrible death on the cross for people she would knew and for billions more she would never know. It makes me so thankful for all of the blessings in my life this Easter and every day and I pray that I will always remember the sacrifice that Christ made for me.

Spring Break!!!

Okay so I LOVE spring break!!! I think it is one of my favorite times of year! The weather, for the most part, was beautiful and beyond that my most awesome husband planned a suprise getaway for us!! He even set up childcare arrangements with my parents and my girlfriends to watch our girls so he could take me to Eureka Springs! He booked a room at an adorable Bed and Breakfast and ordered the romance package which included a couples massage- I must point out that he HATES massages, where as I LOVE them, but he suffered through it with me because he knew I would love it! It was so great to get away from life for a couple of days!! We had 2 full days of just spending time with each other, reconnecting and eating, and shopping and not one time did we talk about all the drama that has encompassed our lives over the past few months! It almost made it feel like things were normal again! At least it felt that way until we got back yesterday! But that is for another blog.... Thank you honey for an amazing spring break and I love you!

I need a Break!!!!!!

I have decided that I need a break, a total break from reality and all the stresses of life for a little while. I want to close my eyes and wake up on some tropical beach with the waves crashing at my feet, my husband next to me, my girls playing (nicely) in the sand just at the edge of the water, the sun beating down on us and have not a care in the world! No arguing, back talking or sassy attitudes, no money stress, no job stress (or lack there of), no school stress, testing stress, nothing but a serene moment in time...

Life and Faith

This morning I woke up with a heavy heart knowing what the day was going to hold for me. As I got ready for work I was preoccupied with my thoughts for our sweet neighbor's the Alt's. After a meeting at work I left to attend the funeral of their beautiful little girl Lexi. Lexi is 9 months older than Taylor, she had some issues with her liver and had a transplant in St. Louis just over a week ago. Last Thursday she went to be with the Lord. As a mother my heart breaks and wants to scream out for this family! I cannot even fathom the pain and loss they are feeling. I want to bring her back and for her to be okay and for none of this to have ever happened, no mother should ever have to bury their child! But as a Christian I lean on God to carry all of us through this, especially her family. Lexi leaves behind a wonderful mother and father, a 9 year old brother, 7 year old sister, 5 year old brother, a twin sister and a baby brother. I will continue to have faith that God will carry this family through and His Glory will shine for all to see.
This year has put so many things in perspective in my life, back in October I attended the funeral of another friend who's 2 year old son died of cancer, both Pierce and Lexi have touched my life in so many ways! Seeing them battle through diseases that no child should ever have to face and to do so with strength and determination and love for every minute of their life here on earth is beyond inspiring! All of the little stresses of life that seem so overwhelming at times, are really put into perspective when you see a family face the worst days of their lives. I am pledging and praying that these two precious babies will have not died in vain and their lives here on earth, all be it short, will have made a difference not only in my life but in the lives of many many others. Personally I plan on making a change in my life, to be a better mother, wife, friend and daughter, to have more patience and to show those I love how much they mean to me and always say I Love You!

Friends

I was looking through some pictures today just wasting time while printing my tags for JBF and came across some pictures from college then stumbled upon pictures from Jr. High and High School. As I was looking through the pictures memories came flooding back into my mind, fun and silly things I used to do with friends, joys we shared, sorrows we shared, secrets we told one another. I started thinking about how blessed I am to have the friends in my life that I do. My friends have stood by me through the good and bad times in my life and never once wavered in their support or love. I hope they all know how much they have touched my life and how much they mean to me! I would not be the person I am today (mother, teacher, wife, friend) if it weren't for them!! I believe that when you love someone you give a little piece of yourself to them, I honestly feel that I carry a little bit of each of these special people with me every day and I am blessed beyond measure!!!!

Trials....

So I have been thinking a lot the past couple of days about the trials we face in life... specifically the ones I have faced in one way or another. Many of you know about my past and the abusive boyfriend that I had growing up, although it was not my "finest hour" God has used that trial in my life to help me to become the strong woman I am today. Never again will I fall victim to someone like that and I now have the strength to stand up for myself and those I love to protect them from what could harm them. Another trial in my life was leaving Perry and moving to Idaho! Although it doesn't seem like that would be a trial it was for me. When Robby first took the job in Perry I was excited but when he told me we were moving there, that excitement quickly turned into disspare, it was a small town and I was a big city girl, Robby new everyone really well at the church but I still felt like an outsider! However once we moved in it didn't take me long at all to call Perry home and I came to love it more than any place I had ever lived in my life!! (Tulsa and Stillwater)I loved the community, our church family, the peace everything! I did my student teaching in 3rd grade with Mrs. Martin and LOVED everything about it! I fulled planned to graduate, get a job and settle our family in Perry, then we got the news that we couldn't make the Youth job in Perry a "full time" position, so we had to move. I was devestated! I am not a big fan of change, and it took me long enough to fall in love with Perry I couldnt imagine leaving but here we were headed to Idaho of all places. This is where the trial came in, we moved 36 hours away from all of our friends all of our family to a place that was VERY VERY hard to fit in. Robby and I were both so homesick and struggling but once again God used that trial in our lives to pull us together and rely on one another instead of support from friends and family, it made our marriage stronger than ever. Which helped as we faced the next trial we had when we moved home from Idaho and lived with Mom and Dad for 11 months while Robby searched and then found a job and tried to get our feet back on the ground. God used that trial to teach us to rely on him! Then I faced the trial, 2nd hand, of my best friend Debbie losing her son, I have never in my life hurt so badly for someone else. I felt as though my own heart was being taken away, I cried and cried, yelled at God wanted to know WHY!? Once again God used that trial for His glory, Robby and I were able to minister to Debbie and Kris and help them through that time and it brought all of us closer together and has opened so many doors for Debbie to help other women facing the same loss. Once again we are facing a trial, on January 31st my husband turned in all of his issued gear from the City of Tulsa and ceced to be a Tulsa Police Officer because of budget cuts and layoffs. His dream had ended, at least for now. This has been a very difficult time for our family but one I have decided to look at in anticipation for the glory God will get from this trial. I dont know what God has in store for our family, but I do know that He will use it for His glory, and for that I praise Him!!!

Entering the blogging world

Well I finally decided to start a blog, not at all sure what I am doing and honestly don't know what to blog about, but I decided to go with the masses and join the wonderful world of bloggers! I am sitting her tonight catching up on American Idol and watching my kids run around the living room like crazy people!!! I cannot for the life of me figure out how they have all the energy that they do after a long day at school/preschool!!! I certainly dont!

I am pretty sure that if I could find a way to bottle up the amount of energy a toddler and 6 year old have and sell it I could make a small fortune! It doesnt matter how much sleep they get, or how much sleep they dont get, the amount of energy they have would probably keep all of the lights on in Broken Arrow if it were a power source!

Tonight however they seem to have an extra boost of energy, I unfortunately do not and will be heading to bed soon, I just hope and pray they dont destroy the house while I am asleep (daddy will be up with them, but that doesnt mean much!)