Want to see a MOVIE??????

Hey, Justin and I went to see the movie "FireProof" last night. We thought it was great. I would recommend it to anyone. If you want to know more about it, let me know and I'll give you a detailed review.

Sweet Story for Mothers

The Invisible Mother......

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously, not.

No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? & Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'; I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what woul d become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte . I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.

It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my daughter to tell the friend she's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.'

That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want her to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to her friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot see if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women

Nothing Special... Just my ramblings.....

Nothing too exciting to blog about. Life is going good. Today was picture day at school, which was not really a big deal and yet a big deal at the same time. Miah was really thinking picture day was for her too, so I got the camera out and took a few pictures of her too. The boys had fun picking out their clothes the night before. (I have a feeling it will be a bigger event when Miah is in school.) Miah reminded me all day that I promised to take her to Target to get her own pictures taken.

I am very ready for the hot weather to pass. I really like Fall, and can't wait till next week when it is suppose to be in the 60's!!!

I am reading a GREAT book, I will probably blog about it in the future, but I want to finish reading/studing it first.

I had a massage today. I know that is so NOT me, but I have been having some MAJOR back and neck issues the last few weeks, so I made an appointment, and it was truly a great decision. I feel 100% better. I really cannot put into words how much it helped. This morning I couldn't even lift my arm over my head to get dressed, and driving was hard because I couldn't turn my head side to side. So YEAH, finally feeling better, not back to normal, but better.

I have a big TO DO list for tomorrow. Thursday is the only day that I don't have to work at all outside of the home, so for some reason, I have so much more energy and time to get things done at home, so I look forward to Thusdays.

Miah is officially done taking naps. She is almost 4 years old, and has still been taking naps about 5 days a week, but she is now to the point where she sleeps way better at night if she has no nap, and she just does better overall with no nap. So this is the first time in almost seven years that I do not have a child napping. No more nap time. I agree with all you older people out there that tell me how quickly these years go by. My baby is almost 4 years old. And my sweet little Cameron turns seven in 3 weeks!!!!!! He is counting down the days. He loves being the oldest and he loves the special priviledges that come with it.

I have never been big into the whole 'study of birth order' thing. Most things I have read in the past didn't seem to apply to me or to Justin. He is the oldest and I am the youngest. In many ways, neither of us seem to fit the typical '1st born' or 'baby' characteristics. But, since I now have three, and I have a 1st, middle and baby, it is very interesting to me to study and understand the differences. When I finish the one book I am reading now, my next book is going to be all about birth order. I suddenly have an interest.

Exercise has been on the back burner for me the past 3 weeks!!!! I have been nursing a knee injury, back injury and neck injury..... long story... frustrating... slowly getting better. I am still working... but not working out. So somewhat of a bummer, but also good. I think I needed a break, and this was just my body's way of letting me know I need a little rest.

I ran into a friend at Target who was already shopping for her kids Halloween costumes.... is that normal????? :)

Jalen prayed at the dinner table today. He asked for God to heal Miah, He thanked Jesus for dieing on the cross and dieing for our sins. He thanked God for food and water and family. It was very precious.

Life is Good! Give a big hug to those near you and thank God for the many blessings in your life both big and small.

Odd's and End's

Great Movie: "Facing the Giants"

Great Soup: "Cleansing Chicken Soup" recipe from Jordan Rubin

Great Breakfast: "Carrot, Celery, Beet, Cucumber, Kale" Juice

Great Store: "Maurices" (love their clothes)

Great Author: "Kevin Lehman" and "Gary Smalley"

Side Note: I did get a treadmill. Found it on craigslist.com (thanks Erin) :)

Kind Words Cost Little but Accomplish Much

I have a favorite message from church that I like to listen to often. It was given by Dr. Bob Laurent back in the Spring. The topic was Words. He gave a list of 15 sayings. He calls them: Positive Pushes = words that encourage AND Negative Shoves= Words that discourage.

HERES THE LIST OF THE NEGATIVE WAY TO RESPOND TO A SOMEONE AND THE POSITIVE WAY TO RESPOND:

Negative: I give up on you.
Positive: I believe in you.
Negative: You can't do anything right
Positive: Hey, everybody makes mistakes
Negative: Look at the mess you made
Positive: I've done that myself, lets clean it up together
- You're so stupid/clumpsy, ugly
+ You're my hero
- Here, I''ll do it, I'll do it for you
+ Try again, you can make it this time
- Your brother can do it, your sister can, why can't you?
+ We love you all the same
- When are you gonna grow up?
+ I know what you're going through
- I told you this would happen
+ Your not alone, were in this together
- Why don't you ever listen?
+ Third time is a charm, never give up, never give up.
- It's Always your fault.
+ Stop beating yourself up.
- How could you not know that
+ Now lets move on together
- Big boys don't cry
+ I love your tender heart, I love that you are sensitive
- You'll never learn
+ You teach me more than I'll ever teach you
- You're no good, you never will be
+ You're worth the death of Jesus Christ
- You're a hopeless case
+ You're the treasure next door, you are God's treasured possession.

Story about Thomas Edison,
When he was young, a teacher at his school called him "addle brained" which means having a confused mind, or your brain doesn't work right. So kids started calling him that too. His mother then made the decision to take him out of the public school and homeschool him. She purposed each day to rename her son. So everyday she called him "my little genius".

"THE RIGHT AND WRONG WORDS STAY WITH US FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES." THOMAS EDISON

"SATAN SEES WHO YOU WERE AND HE LABELS YOU, HE JUDGES YOU, JESUS SEES WHO YOU CAN BE, HE CALLS YOU MY LOVING BROTHER, MY CHOSEN FRIEND, MY FAVORED ONE." DR BOB LAURENT

"I CAN LIVE FOR TWO WHOLE MONTHS OFF OF ONE GOOD COMPLIMENT." MARK TWAIN

"WE INCREASE WHATEVER WE PRAISE, WE INCREASE WHOMEVER WE PRAISE" DR BOB LAURENT

Three things for parents to pray...

I heard this on the radio today, and I liked it.
3 important things for parents:

Pray that you will be:
1. Faithful
2. Available
3. Teachable

Why do kids act so crazy around their grandparents?

Now I realize that to a child, grandparents are like super-stars. It is a very exciting moment when young children see their grandparents. But seriously, ours go crazy. It often annoys me. They often don't even have any fun because they are in trouble all the time, because they can't sit still or talk at a normal level. My three sweetie-pies get very loud, very active, and start bouncing off the walls, literally. There is this attempt to see who can impress Grandma and Grandpa the most? Who can get them to look at them? Who's art work will they like the best? Who will get the most praise? Who gets the most hugs?

Today was no different. The kids were very cooperatively helping me pick up the living room when grandma and grandpa show up. Immediately they forget all, and start running to the door screaming. (my headache started at that very second) And the chaos began. Within minutes both boys are in a time out for fighting (which the haven't had a time out all day). They were only here for 20 minutes and the loudness, fighting, whining and high level activity, oh, did I mention crying, all together was enough to make even the grand-parents head for the door.

I have talked to my kids about this many times. For years. I don't understand how they can go a whole weekend and just have fun, be normal, get a long, and then at a time you would think would be the most fun time, they can't handle it. Numerous times before and after we go to see grand-parents we talk about what is expected, we talk about proper behavior, etc. But, all is forgotten the minute they see their grand-parents.

Any thoughts, any advice? This is so frustrating to me. It seriously gives me a headache and makes it no fun for me. Who wants to have to put their kids in a time-out when they have special people over to visit.

I really want a treadmill....

Seriously, I am looking for a used Treadmill. I had one for many years, and it was very special to me. Justin got it for me for Christmas about 10 or 11 years ago, it died last year. I have been treadmill-less since. It has been rough, but with the support of my friends and family I have made it through. But, I am getting antsy. If anyone sees one for sale somewhere, anywhere.... please let me know. Or if you have any suggestions on what web sites to look at online, let me know.

Baptism Day

Today when we were walking into church, the kids were asking about the four big blue pools that were on the church's front lawn. We told them today was baptism day, and they all three said over and over again, "I want to get baptised!". So we explained that Baptism was a step people took after they gave their lives to Jesus, then they get baptised to tell the world that they are going to follow Christ the rest of their life. So Jalen says, "Well mom remember I said yes to God at that Upwards Soccer thing, I already gave my life to Christ." And so I told him that yes, and next year if he wanted to he could get baptised and go through the baptism class for kids at church. And he said, "Well I do want to live the rest of my life for Jesus."

gccwired.com

Really amazing service today at church. The message was on "Significance" and Mark Beeson (markbeeson.com) delivered at great message about making your life count. He also invited people to give their lives to Christ, and it was really cool to see about 200 people go forward and say yes to God. I saw kids as young as 7 or 8 and adults from 18 years old up to 60 years old, husbands and wifes, mothers and daughters, it was really powerful and touching. I actually started crying at the beginning of the service when they did a song/drama thing, but I pretty much cried (trying hard not to) the whole way through. So after all these cool people when forward, then they went back to their seats and so then Mark announces that today is also Baptism day, (which has been planned for a long time now), and that anyone who has given their lives to God could now get baptised also if they wanted, so then a big group of people followed our pastor outside to where the pools were located to do the baptisms. Then all the rest of us were still inside singing the final song, and right before the song was done, a lady not far from me got out of her seat and went forward, grabbed a small rock (which was symbolizing giving her life to Christ) and then she followed out the door to get baptised! That's when it happened, I cried and cried hard. It was such a powerful scene to me. This lady who I don't know, was dressed up all nice and was sitting there this whole time wanting to go forward and trying to muster up enough courage to get out of her seat, and even though all the others had done it 5-10 minutes earlier and now she was down to the finally 30 seconds, she did it! She took that first step toward Christ. I was so proud of her and I am gonna pray for her as she starts her new life with Christ. I don't know her name and I may never see her again, but I am so glad God allowed me to see her decision this morning.

Check out the weekend message if you want, go to www.gccwired.com and click on watch weekend service, you'll love it!

A Birthday Party to Remember

My sweet Jalen turned 6 years old yesterday, yes, it is hard to believe. It was fun to celebrate him. He is truly a joy. He makes me smile everyday and he never gets tired of hugging and cuddeling mommy. He loves all people and so it was a big deal to invite all those that he wanted. Sometimes I sit and wonder what Jalen will be when "he grows up" and I know that it will be serving people in someway. He would do well as a doctor or a pastor. He could be a small business owner or a teacher. He is a lot like Justin, in that whatever he sets his mind to do he will do. He could also be a comedian, but I probably won't encourage him to pursue that as a career. For now, he is my loving, joyful, cuddley six year old who thinks Batman is cool, loves to play with balloons, and can't wait to shoot a little flying jet thingy 300 feet in the air.

Family Time at Manowe

Daddy taking us out to dinner