"The poop's riding, too!"

Jordan actually said these words to me tonight. We had been playing outside. Well, truthfully, he was playing. I was reading a book and watching to make sure he stayed in the yard. I glanced up from my book and saw him squatting down over the basket on the back of his tricycle. Yep, he pooped right in there. Of course I screamed and yelled for him to stop, but it was too late. He pulled up his undies and shorts and hopped back on his trike. He peddled back across the yard to me and said "The poop's riding, too. The poop's riding, too." Over and over.

He's a strange one, that child of mine.

Yes, he was punished. And no, this isn't the first time he's put his poop somewhere it doesn't belong.

2.2 and What to Do?

... pounds down this week! That makes 4.2 in 2 weeks. Not as much as I'd like, but still not that bad. This week's gonna be tougher. Several cookouts and dinners out in restaurants. I really think I'll be okay, though. It feels sooo good to finally have some progress. The progress feels a lot better than eating a hotdog!

I wonder if the 15 minutes I spent restraining Jordan during his temper tantrum can count as activity points. I certainly did work up a sweat.

I'm trying to decide what to do at church tonight. Its the last Wednesday, which is my Wednesday off from Kidpak. I usually work in my three year old class on these Wednesdays because last Wednesdays are theme nights and extra help is usually needed. And I sure could use a few more hours on my check. I'm tempted to go upstairs for the service instead. Its been a while since I've been to a Wednesday night service at Free Chapel. They're the best. I think its because all of the "Jesus Junkies" are there. You know what I mean. The folks who are really SERIOUS about their walks with God. Whatever the reason, He always shows up on Wednesday nights. What to do, what to do?

Not Me! Moday

I decided to do a Not Me! Monday post tonight, in honor of Stellan's release from the hospital. Here's to you, MckMama! Oh, if you aren't familiar with MckMama and her remarkable son Stellan, you can visit her blog at www.mycharmingkids.net

Here we go:

I did NOT become seriously addicted to MckMama's blog during Stellans's hospital stay. Seriously, I have two kids. I have no time to continously Twitter and run upstairs to check for updates. Nope, Not Me!

I am NOT ecstatic that Stellan got to go HOME today. (Or at least that he was discharged from the hospital today. He won't fly home until tomorrow).

I did NOT receive a miraculous phone call from an old friend last night that is a direct answer to my prayers and fasting.

I strive to mold my children into mild-mannered, easy-going kids. That said, Jordan did NOT have a melt down because he had to carry his book bag into preschool this morning. No way, no son of mine!

Shaun did NOT get his homework finished on the way home from physical therapy today. The homework did NOT include both math and spelling, and he did NOT finish it all by himself without me having to prompt and remind him to stay on task a million times.

I am NOT deliriously happy that we only have 4 more weeks of school and I am NOT counting the days until Shaun never has to go back there again. NOT ME!

I did NOT join Weight Watchers. And I did NOT lose 2 pounds my first week.

There ya have it...there's what I didn't do all week long. Its so great to be Not Me-ing again!

I'm so amazed...

...at what God is doing right now. I mean, I'm blown away. It started last night. Actually, I guess it really started in January. Chris and I participated in the 21 Day Daniel Fast with our church. This was our second year fasting, and we had a huge "Fasting Hit List" that included our children, our country, our marriage, our finances, etc. Mostly the same things we had fasted for the previous year. One new thing was that God had led us to fast for several of our friends who were either not Christians or who had gotten away from God. So we fasted and were waiting patiently for some results. This was in January 2009.

Fast forward to last night, April 26th. An old friend calls our house and wants to know where Chris is. I explain that Chris is out of town but tell him how glad I am to hear from him, how I miss him, etc, and prepare to make some small talk. He kind of interrupts me and says "I looked for you guys this morning". I say "Oh really? Where". His answer: at church. Wow. That answer was unexpected, to say the least. While I'm still in shock, he starts saying that he's been trying to get in touch with us for 3 days, that he's going through some terrible stuff and that he realizes that its time to turn his life around. And he came to church. And: HE JUST HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF THE FRIENDS WE TARGETED ON THE FAST! Oh man. I start to cry myself. I begin to tell him how Chris and I have been praying for him. How we fasted for this exact thing! And he said he needed it. That he needs it now more than ever. And that he needs Chris and I to pray for him and be there for him and to hold him accountable. Wow, wow, wow.

Everything's not all peachy, though. He's going through some serious trials. His family is in jeopardy. He's feeling a ton of guilt. But he knows that God can fix all of this, and I know He can, too.

I love this guy. He was one of my closest friends. In fact, when I got pregnant with Shaun, he was the first person I told. Chris grew up with him. He was in our wedding. The only thing missing to make him perfect is God...and he's getting there!

Obviously, he still needs major prayers. Obviously I'm not going to post his name, so just pray for my friend...God'll know who you mean! Pray that God sends the right people to him...pray for the chains of the past to be broken...pray for that his family is knit back together...pray for all negative influences to stay away from him.

God is so good! I'm amazed! And I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next!

Nurture!

I took a big step today. I went to a women's Bible study at church. Its a study by Lisa Bevere called "Nurture". This is so unlike me...getting out of my comfort zone...meeting new people. But boy am I glad I took the plunge! Okay, okay. I didn't go by myself. I picked up my friend Loretta on the way. I knew a good many of the girls there, but we all got split up into different groups. I can't remember my leader's name, but I love her! I loved all the women in my group. We're different ages and are from different backgrounds. I think we'll learn a lot from each other. And the adult conversation was GREAT. It felt soooo good to meet with other women and pray and study God's word. Definitely refreshing and definitely much-needed. I'm sad that I haven't gone to a study before now! Now I just need to purchase my books and I'll be all set!

Frustrations....

I received an email (2 of them, actually) from GVA, the home schooling program we enrolled Shaun in for next year. Apparently everyone else in Georgia had the same idea we had and so many folks enrolled their kids that GVA is now having a LOTTERY to decide who gets in. What?!?! A lottery...are you kidding me? Considering its a public education program and the children are taught at home, I don't really see why it would matter how many kids participate. We should find something out in May, but I'm looking into other curriculum options. Whatever happens, happens. I think we'll be fine either way. And, let's face it, I'm not overlly thrilled at what the system is teaching our kids. If we don't get in, at least we'll have more freedom.

I went back to Weight Watchers today. I'm really gonna do it this time! I'm determined! But I was totally frustrated when I saw my current weight. I've gained 10 pounds since the last time I weighed in. That was months and months ago, but still! Oh well, I'm not going to get down and out about it. I'm doing something about it now. That's the important thing. Right. Sure.

I finally registered Jordan for preschool next year. Only the Monday-Wednesday class is full. He got into the Tuesday-Thursday class, but if Jaycee goes on Mon-Wed-Fri next year, we wanted to be coordinated. So we're enrolled on Tues-Thurs but on the waiting list for Mon-Wed. Guess that's what I get for waiting until the day Early Bird registration ends. Sigh.

I noticed that Jordan was a little quiter than usual a minute ago. I went into the kitchen to find him standing up on the counter and pulverizing all of the spices in my cabinet! Poor little attention-starved thing. I'll go play with him now!

One year later

Today marks the first anniversary of my grandma's "Heaven Day". That's what I'm calling it...I hate the terms "passing away" and "death" when it comes to my Mamaw. And, since I do know that she's in Heaven, April 10th will always be her Heaven Day.

It still seems so surreal. That she got cancer. And died. That my family was put through that, and that we made it. I can't believe she's been gone a year. The pain is still so raw. I would give anything to talk to her one more time. She was more than just my grandma. She was my friend. One of my best friends, in fact. I talked to her almost every day. I hung out with her. Oh how I miss our talks. And her prayers. I'm pleasantly surprised that Jordan remembers her. I'm so glad...I thought he would have forgotten her by now, but when he sees a picture of her he always announces "There's Mamaw".

I read several blogs of women who have lost their children. I honestly do not know how they handle it. If my grief is this strong for my grandma, I cannot imagine what it would feel like to lose my child. I pray I will never have to know.

My family had a cookout today. We had bad storms in the area (tornadoes, in fact) and I was kind of glad for them because they were a distraction. It still feels wrong when we all get together. But we had fun. We ate and ate and laughed and talked and ate some more. Keri-lyn got sick and threw up, so Lori and her family had to leave early. But it was still fun. I have the best family...I love my aunts and am so thankful for the chance to get to know them better. My cousins are pretty awesome, too. That's one good thing that came from Mamaw's cancer...we all came together to help her, and in turn we were blessed to discover that we actually like each other!

So, we made it through today. I've heard that grief is hardest the first year. I hope this next year is easier.

GVA

Chris and I began the enrollment process for GVA today...that's Georgia Virtual Academy. Looks like we'll be homeschooling next year. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm scared. I'm happy. I'm relieved. All of he above. The next step is gathering/sending in all of the paperwork, including Shaun's IEP. For all I know, GVA won't even accept us, and then we'll be back to square one. I went with GVA so that I could have some kind of guideline. I thought that would be useful, at least for the first year. But we'll see what God has in store.

Wow....homeschooling. Who woulda thought?

Warning: Items in the Organic Foods secion at Kroger may not be as organic as they appear.

I made this discover Thursday night. I took a late-night grocery shopping run. This is my favorite time to grocery shop for many reasons. The store's not crowded, I can shop by myself, I can stick to my list, I can shop by myself, the night shift employees are nicer, I can shop by myself... You get the picture.

Anyway, I always get a lot of stuff from the "natural" section. Because of the kids' food sensitivities and what not. One of their favorite things to eat is Annie's Macaroni and Cheese. Up until Thursday, I had assumed that this delicious macaroni dish was natural...organic....since it is found in the NATURAL or ORGANIC section. Not true, my friends. You MUST read the fine print. I picked up a box of Annie's Mac and Cheese and was about to throw it in the cart when this sentence caught my eye: Made with Organic Pasta. Hmm. Organic pasta. That's great, but what about the cheese? Is this not organic, too? Nope. It turns out that, contrary to popular belief, some of Annie's mac and cheese contains preservatives, some food dyes and, I'm sure, some other yucky stuff that I've been trying to avoid. Not all of them. But some. The thing to really look for, I guess, is the green "Certified Organic" mark on the lower right hand corner of the box. Hmm. Who knew?

Why...

Did Shaun feel the urge to pinch a girl at church tonight? And why did he have to follow through with that urge?

Does Jordan have the desire to pee and poop on my granny's porch?

Does Jordan love to pee in his toy dump truck and in an empty popcorn bowl?

Its been one of THOSE kind of days!

On eating at Moe's

I love Moe's! I'm not sure why, but I love it. We ate there last night after Taekwondo. Because kids eat free at Moe's on Tuesday nights, and we're all about the kids eating free. I always feel like I have ADHD when I enter Moe's. I'm bombarded with trying to figure out what I want, what the kids want, what Chris wants. We order for the kids and I'm still trying to figure out what I want but then I forget that I have to tell the servers what the kids want ON their food and then I have switch back to try to figure out what I want again and then I finally decide but then I realize that I have to tell them what I want ON my nachos and the kids are running on down the line and finally we pay and get to sit down. Outside in a small caged area. Yeah! That's the best part about Moe's. We get to sit outside with our kids. If you go late enough, there's no one else out there and the kids can dance around and eat without getting on the other customers' nerves. And we always have leftovers to take home. I love Moe's!