A shower, but no rain, day 14

I spent most of my Saturday getting my house ready to host a shower tomorrow for one of our sweet family friends.  We are so excited for "S", as my children used to call her before they could pronounce her name correctly.  She was always one of their favorite babysitters and it has been a joy to watch her become such a  beautiful, Godly young lady.  I am looking forward to catching up with lots of friends tomorrow and praying everything goes smoothly!

Smarty Pants, day 13

I was thrilled last week when both of my girls brought home report cards with all A's.  No matter what the grade, I will always be proud of them as long as they are trying their best in school.  But it sure does eliminate a lot of issues when they bring home such wonderful grades!  I spent over 2 hours at their school today to watch them get their awards.  It was a small price to pay to see such beautiful smiles!  By the way, the 5th grader was obviously too cool to have her picture taken.  Sigh....

Maybe it's Maybelline, day 12

This boy is blessed with the most beautiful eyelashes!  I can only hope one day he has a wife who appreciates them as much as his mother.

Wednesdays are the best days, day 11

I love Wednesdays so much. To start, it's my only middle of the week day to have my little guy home with me. And we usually stay home quite a bit. I let him stay in his pajamas as long as possible and he is literally my little shadow for the day.  Here's an example of how our Wednesdays are usually spent:

 Today he had his first dentist appointment - a cleaning and checkup. After spending numerous hours at the dentist's (his sisters go every 3 weeks!) he was so excited to have his own appointment. He did great sitting so still and using great manners. I was one proud mom!

Another awesome part of Wednesdays is the group of 5th and 6th graders that I help "shepherd" during their Wednesday night "Xite Nites".  Every Wednesday at 4:00 there is nothing I want more than to stay home.  But I press on and by 7:30, there is nothing I want more than to stay with these kids longer.  It is such a blessing to me to see them grow and discover their relationships with Jesus.  Tonight, everyone had to write down a word that would be their prayer word every day of 2012.  I already knew my word was JOY, and I had committed to finding God's joy in all of the little things around me this year.  But I was not expecting to hear the words those sweet kids wrote.

My Grandpa

Love More

Problems at Home

Stop Stealing

My Mom's Health

There are some heavy issues in that group.  My own MJ's word was LAZINESS, which I knew belonged to her the moment it was read out loud.  We have discussed it many times when I have said she was not lazy, but unmotivated to do things on her own.  Clean her room, brush her teeth, apologize, homework, practice piano, read her Bible, pray.  Yes, my little guy at the dentist was cute, but the true source of joy that God provided for me today was hearing MJ pray at home tonight that God would help her to become more interested in His word and prayer.  That was the best part of my day!

I love a rainy day, day 10

When your day is full of cold, drizzling rain, joy is easily found in a yummy pot of homemade chicken noodle soup, a skinny Carmel macchiato, and a functioning seat warmer. It's always about the little things!

Sometimes, I wish I was British, day 9

Over Christmas break I streamed a show on Netflix to my iPad and watched the first episode of Downton Abbey while in bed one night. I was never expecting to be completely overtaken with love for this show.  But I shouldn't have been surprised, it is all things I love: British, dramatic, cheeky, historical, and full of rich relationships and story lines. I watched the entire first season in 2 days. I was delighted to find out the 2nd season was beginning in early January. So today I shipped the kids off to school, hurried through my laundry and house cleaning and errands to have just enough time to watch the 2 hour premiere that I had recorded. And it did not disappoint! Has there ever been a more sweet and tragic love than Anna and Mr. Bates? The scene of Lady Mary and Matthew Crowley at the train station is simply beautiful with her dress and his handsome uniform. I find myself praying he makes it home safely too! After 2 hours, I was dreaming I spoke with a British accent and had a ladies maid waiting on my every whim. :) Are you watching this show? Am I alone in this new obsession? If you are a fan of all things Mr. Darcy and costume drama you will LOVE it.

Fun with Apps, Day 8

While we were out of town this weekend, my brother-in-law had a little fun with our kids and a new app he discovered.  Imagine the shock value when we thought we were about to watch a sweet video of our oldest girl telling us she missed us and instead we got this:

We laughed so much at this!  The name of the app is Action Movie FX and it is free!  We downloaded it yesterday on our car ride home and immediately put it to good use.  Enjoy!