"Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand."

Proverbs 19:21

Friday, January 31, 2014

...and the egg won.

I made myself a hardboiled egg for breakfast this morning.  Two of them, actually.  The kids had waffles but I'm supposed to be trying to lose weight, so I opted for two eggs.  I boiled 'em up... and then there they sat for a while when I got busy with the kids.  By the time I finally finished mopping syrup off the floor, my eggs were cold. Yuck.  I do like cold hardboiled eggs sometimes, but this morning I wanted them hot.  I have this idea that they're more filling if they're hot.  So I put them in the microwave.  Peeled and whole.  For forty-five seconds.  When I tried to take a bite, the first egg literally exploded all over my bottom lip.  

Boom.

Just like that.  

Now I'm sporting a blistery, painful, swollen bottom lip.  Seriously, it doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, but it feels huge.  Like an elephant is sitting on my lip.  I ran errands today and was so paranoid that people were staring at it.  

Looking back, it was a pretty dumb thing to do.  Why didn't I at least cut the eggs in half, if not before I nuked them, then surely after.  

At least now I know better. 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

To Jordan, on your birthday!

Dear Jordan, 
Today marks eight years since the first time I held you and looked into your eyes.  Even before you were born, you were a spitfire!  Totally surprising and unpredictable.  I wrote about the day you were born few years ago.  See?  You've always kept us on our toes...just one of the things I love about you.  

You remind me so much of your Daddy.  Always moving, always cutting up, always laughing and joking.  God has given you a gift, Jordan.  People like you.  You're a leader.  I can't wait to see everything that's going to happen in your life.  

You've grown up so much over this past year. Everybody says so.  You're learning how to reign in that strong will that God gave you.  You're learning to respect the people in charge of you.  I have a picture of you praying over your friends during a worship service at church.  Your teacher told me that you did it all on your own because God told you to.  I'm so proud of you!  I pray you never stop listening to God, no matter how old you get.

You've gotten so much taller and bigger.  You used to be such a little peanut!


  You're still a little short but you make up for that with your strength.  You've got muscles!
   
Lately, you're into football, Minecraft, and singing.  You have an amazing voice and sing with such joy!  You want to coach football when you grow up.  The other day you told someone that your favorite thing about school is Math.  Ha ha!  You obviously didn't get this from me!  You say you don't like reading but I suspect that you secretly do.  

You've turned in to quite the gentleman, too.  You always hold the doors open for people when we're out, causing everyone to compliment your manners.  I love watching you with your sister.  You're always so patient and loving with her.  I love this stage of your life...so ready for independence but still my little boy, too.  You're still willing to cuddle up with me on the couch and hold my hand when we cross the street.  I try to hold on to every moment like this because I know they're limited.

I really just love everything about you. 

You're one of a kind, Jordan!

Happy Birthday!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Sandwich...

This is too much cuteness.  I couldn't NOT post these pictures.  Have you ever seen a peanut butter sandwich look this good?


Last Week's Pictures

We went to work with Chris Friday morning.  I took this picture and then later noticed the words on the screen.  I thought it was fitting. 



Sunday evening, Shaun went to Sky Zone with the youth from church.  The rest of us didn't stay but my friend Michelle took this picture for me.
He had a really good time.  He loves Solution!



Chris and I took the little kids to Bass Pro while Shaun was jumping.  
Violet was mesmerized by the fish tank.
Jordan tried his hand at shooting because the rock wall was closed.
And yes, we are "leash people".



We also turned Vi's car seat around last weekend.  
Sometimes I glance in the rear view mirror and it hits me all over again that we have three kids.  Ha!  

Monday, January 20, 2014

The Lord's Prayer, revisited.

A few weeks ago Dr. Mark Rutland preached at church.  He's been one of my favorites since my Liberty Mutual days when I would listen to his sermons on the radio during my lunch break.  To say that I was excited when he joined the preaching staff at church is a slight understatement.  

On this particular night he preached on The Lord's Prayer.  When he announced the title of his sermon I kind of got ready to be bored.  I mean, really... I've been saying The Lord's Prayer since I can remember.  I said it so much as a child that it turned into 
"OurfatherwhichartinHeaven 
Hallowedbethyname 
Thykindgomcome
Thywillbedone
OnEarthasitisinHeaven
Giveusthisday
Ourdailybread
Andforgiveusourdebts
Asweforgiveourdebtors
Andleadusnotintotemptation
Butdeliverusfromevil
Forthineisthekindgomandthepowerandthegloryforeveramen.

It wasn't until I was older that I realized that The Lord's Prayer is actually Jesus giving us a literal example of how we need to pray.  I had that little discovery and then somehow it was pushed to the back of my brain and has stayed there for years.  I hadn't given it much thought for a long time.  So, when Dr. Rutland began his sermon I settled back down in my seat and my eyes even glazed over a little bit.  

For about three minutes.  Ha!

For the first time in a LONG time, I actually listened to the words and pondered them.  That night when I got home I pondered them some more because we were challenged to pray The Lord's Prayer every day.  We were challenged to pray the prayer, not just recite it.  As it turns out, there's a big difference.  

I read The Lord's Prayer in The Message version of the Bible that night.  

"Our Father in Heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what's best-
as above, so below. 
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven by you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes."

I absolutely love this version.  How simple. When times are tough and our problems seem too overwhelming for us to form our own words, Jesus gives us the words we need to say.  

I've been doing my own private study of The Lord's prayer for the past few days.  Breaking down line by line, putting it my own words, and I've been surprised at how I've been led to pray.  

I got a kick out of "Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil".  I laughed out loud.  The Devil's bad, but sometimes I am my worst enemy.  

This whole little journey has made me think of my Mamaw  more than usual.  When I went through my infamous "rebellious period" she would always tell me that God and His word never go out of style.  She was so right!





Friday, January 10, 2014

Just a few pictures.

I've really been trying to blog more regularly.  Sometimes there's nothing really exciting to say, but I still want to document our life a little better.  Why?  I'm not really sure.  Sometimes I take a trip down memory lane on this blog and I'm surprised at the things I've forgotten.  I want my kids to be able to look back at the way I experienced our life.  If they want to, that is.  

Anyway, I've also been wanting to post more pictures.  All of the pictures I post are from my iPhone.  I do have a camera but I hardly ever use it.  I think it's currently at my sister's house and it's been there for months.  It's just easier to use my phone.  I don't claim to be any kind of decent photographer, but I like to save our memories.  

It was COLD Monday night!



There aren't words to describe how happy this picture makes me.  Violet loves books.  I finally have a child who willingly shows an interest in reading.  Every day she brings books to me, backs herself up and plops down into my lap.  Of course, she doesn't sit still for the whole story and she turns the pages before I'm finished, but she loves books!


Jordan tried to scare me with this book about aliens.  He knows they freak me out.  He's been really interested in this book.  At least he's reading, right?

I took this picture tonight at Funtastik.  Jordan was invited to a birthday party and we were waiting on him because it ran a little late.  Violet was Shaun's little shadow. 

Speaking of Shaun, my friend from church took this picture Wednesday night.
I saw it and was like, "Woah, where'd my little boy go?".  He looks so grown up here. And quite handsome, too.  He usually hates to have his picture made.  Something about being 13, I guess.  I don't have many photos of him and I want to put this one in a frame!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Weather, School, New Nursery Class.

I guess I'm obligated to say something about the weather Georgia's experienced over the past week.  To say that it's been cold would be putting it mildly.  Freezing, frigid temperatures in the single digits.  Below zero with windchill factored in.  

It stunk!

It was so cold that Jordan wouldn't play outside, several of my friends had busted water pipes, and schools were closed.  It didn't even snow, it was just too cold for the buses to heat up.  That's what I heard, anyway.  

It was so cold that my mom sent a text to check on us, complete with emojis.  

She really likes her emoticons.  Or emojis.  Whatever they're called.  I think it's cute.

The Smith Academy was scheduled to get back to school on Monday, but the kids got an extra day because I had a stomach virus.  This is how our day went on Tuesday:

The first day back is always the hardest, and Tuesday was no exception.  According to Facebook, several of our homeschooling friends were having the same problems getting back to the grind.  

Before all of the coldness hit, on Sunday, Violet moved up to her new class at church.  She's not on the "baby" hall anymore, where we had to pass her over the counters to get her into the room.  Now she just walks into the room when her teachers open the gate.  She was NOT in a good mood that Sunday and I was worried about how she'd do in a new class.  Then I talked to one of her new teachers and found out that she was mad and irritable, stalking around and throwing toys down.  I went to check on her a little later and she was fine...I expected to see her crying.  A little part of me wanted her to not be ready to move up.  I know that's silly!  I lurked around in the hallway like a stalker and tried not to cry as I watched my big girl in her big girl class through the mirrored window.  The first time I went down there she was sitting at the little table with her friends having a snack.  The second time, a boy tried to take her toy and she stared him down.  I think she can take care of herself, thanks to her brothers.  Ha!  

When I asked if she liked her new class, Violet replied with her sweet little "Yea".  And then she told me that her teacher's name was "baby".  Ha ha!




Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Bringing up my boys.

This past weekend was SO exciting for us.  Ha!  Chris had to work and I had to do laundry.  All day on Saturday.  Our washing machine's broken, and I was going to go to the laundromat but my mom said that was ridiculous and for me to just bring half of our stuff to her house and the other half to Granny's.  So that's what I did.  Everything was finally clean and folded and the kids and I looked like hobos, but I had to go to Wal-Mart for tights for Sunday morning.  Oh, the joys of having a girl!  Ha!  This trip brought back flashbacks of my mother buying tights for Lori and myself every Saturday when we were kids.  Memories!

The kids and I took the trash off on the way to Wal-Mart. It was Jordan's turn to unload and dump our trash in the compacter thing.  He did so, which he loves to do…seriously.  He loves it.  As he was climbing back into the car, a man walked up to our car and signaled for me to roll down my window.  I rolled it down about a centimeter because he was a total stranger.  What he said was, "Thanks for making your boys get out and do stuff.  You don't see that a lot anymore.  Good job, boys".

Well, that just made my day.  Sometimes a little encouragement goes such a long way.  I thought about his words the rest of the night… when we got dinner and Jordan brought over a high chair for his sister without being asked…when we left Wal-Mart and Shaun automatically picked up all the bags to carry out.  I'm so proud of them.  

I'm not saying at ALL that we are perfect parents.  We fail so badly with our kids every single day, but maybe we're doing something right, at least. I want my boys to be manly.  I want them to know how to treat a lady.  The whole southern chivalry thing.  In today's world, a gentleman is hard to find.  I feel for my single friends because the words I get from them is that decent men are few and far between.  

My boys are, well, boys.  They're inappropriate sometimes.  They burp and fart and laugh about it.  Sometimes they're disrespectful.  They're still learning.  It's easy to pick on all they do that's wrong but this man, this complete stranger, made me stop and take a longer look at all of the good things they're doing.  

I'm thankful for that. 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Beef and Black Bean Chili

What better way to start off the year than with a food post?

The Hubs and I have vowed to get healthy this year, so I'll hopefully be writing about food a lot.  It will keep me honest.  ;)

My family and I really LOVE chili.  We eat it year round.  I have several different recipes that we like, but Beef and Black Bean Chili is by far our favorite.  It's actually a Weight Watchers recipe, but it's so delicious no one would ever know. I made it for Christmas with my in-laws last Christmas and my father-in-law had three helpings.  He ate and ate, and didn't believe me when I told him it was "diet food".  Ha!  The look on his face when he found out that his chili was from Weight Watchers is one of my favorite memories of him.  

I know the recipe by heart, and here it is:

1 pound ground beef
16 oz tomato sauce
1 cup chunky salsa (I use medium!)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans with juice
1 tbsp chili seasoning

I brown the ground beef and then just dump everything in the crock pot and cook it on low for 6-8 hours.  So good.  Of course, we top it with a little sour cream and cheese and the boys always enjoy their chili with corn chips.  Even Violet loves this chili.  

I have recently had to start doubling my recipes since the boys have the appetites of monsters.  I'm so thankful that I won my own crock pot back at my family's Dirty Santa exchange this Christmas.  I dropped my big one and broke it a few months ago, and a double batch of chili won't fit into my smaller crock pot.  We're good to go now, and I tried it out a few days ago.  The Beef and Black Bean Chili was my new crock pot's maiden voyage.  It turned out perfectly.  We just used the leftovers to make chili cheese fries for lunch today.  

Yummo.