9

Duck Commander Family by Willie Robertson

Of course, I loved this book.  I love anything related to Duck Dynasty and I'm even more obsessed with the Robertson family after reading their story.  

There were parts of this book that were so funny I laughed out loud, and Chris didn't even mind when I read them aloud to him.  Duck Commander Family delves deeper into the roots of Duck Commander and the faith of the Robertson Family.  I was really shocked by some of the things I read but I love that the author was open and honest.  The Robertson family's story is truly one that screams  the Lord's grace and redemption.  

The kids wanted to read it, too, but I have to turn it back in to the library.  This may be one that we buy, just to keep around the house.  

8

Matched by Ally Condie

This was another good one, courtesy of my sister.  I read it immediately following Divergent and I'm mixing the characters up!  These books are different but kind of the same... totalitarianism with some romance thrown in. I admit it.  I'm sucked in.  I can't wait to read the rest of the series.  

Say the Words!

I was at the park with the kids today when I had a "moment".  I glanced down at Violet, grinning up at me from her stroller as we watched the boys run around like crazy on the playground and was suddenly filled with gratitude that I am able to spend days with my kids.  No, it's not always easy and most days at some point I want to scream and pull my  hair out.  Those feelings aside, I am confident that I am living out what God has called me to do in regards to educating our children.  

I thought of Chris, who works really, really hard so that I don't have to work and we can keep the kids at home.  We may not live in a fancy house or have lots of material things.  We may have to sacrifice, but we have what we need and he works hard to provide for us.  And God whispered to me, "You should tell him!".  

It's not easy for me to share my feelings, but I did it anyway.  I sent him a text that read, "Thank you for working so hard so that I can stay home.  :)".

And right away he replied with, "Thank you for teaching my kids the right way."

Wow.  Of course, I cried.  

Four years ago we prayerfully made the decision to homeschool together.  I have never once doubted that we made the right decision for our family, the path God guided us toward.  Chris has never doubted, either.  But to hear those words of affirmation... it was so encouraging.  To know that he appreciates what I do at home the way I appreciate what he does at work.  I was walking on air the rest of the day.  

I write all of this to encourage my married friends to encourage your spouses!  I know, I know... my own marriage is far from perfect and I'm the last one who needs to be handing out unsolicited marriage advice, but I just could not believe how much hearing encouraging words from my husband made my day.  It made me want to be a better wife and it made me feel so close and connected to him.  This is the way we're supposed to feel toward each other, but most of the time life happens and we spend more time squabbling than speaking words of appreciation.  

I am so glad I listened to God today and took the time to send Chris that text. I think he blessed me more than I even thought about blessing him.  I hope he was encouraged, too. Everyone needs to feel appreciated and I am going to make an effort to speak encouraging words more often.  Lots more often!

Crazy Time

5:00 pm until 8:00 pm has been renamed "Crazy Time" at our house.  I know I should think up something wittier and cute but I'm just too tired.  

It starts around 5:00 or 5:30.  Violet gets tired and takes like a five minute snooze.  She is grouchy when she goes down for her nap and even grouchier when she wakes up.  She wants to be held.  She doesn't want to sleep... no, no.  She doesn't take kindly to napping.  She just wants me to sit and hold her until 8:00, which is when she finally gives in to the exhaustion.  

Only I can't just sit and hold her.  This is dinner time.  I need to cook.  And usually finish up the last odds and ends of the boys' school work.  And do some laundry.  And feed the boys.  And clean up the kitchen.  And eat myself.  When Chris is home, it's more tolerable but still pretty stressful.  

Crazy is what it is!

Violet is getting more dramatic as she grows older.  For example, today she wanted to be held but I was in the middle of cooking dinner.  I had raw chicken all over my hands and just couldn't pick her up.  Before I started I set her up in the living room with her favorite toys and a couple of her little puffy snack things.  I started a movie for her and gave her a her sippy cup.  She looooves her sippy cup.  Except at 5:30, when she doesn't like anything.  

All of that wasn't enough and pretty soon she'd crawled into the kitchen where she followed me around wailing with big crocodile tears streaming from her eyes.  And let me tell you, she is LOUD!  At one point I did wash my hands and pick her up for a minute.  Of course she stopped crying immediately.  I had to put her back down to finish the chicken.  When I did, she threw herself facedown on the kitchen floor and kicked, screamed, and cried.  

I've gotten pretty good at blocking things out over the years, but this is getting to me, my friends.  Nothing will settle her except sitting in my arms.  I admit that I love the fact that she loves me.  That makes it a little  better. 

Finally, when everything is done I give her a bath and she starts being happy again.  After the bath she takes about half of a bottle and then falls into a deep sleep and she's out for the night. 

It seems as if this little routine has been going on for weeks, but it's only been a few days.  

The weird thing is that if we're out and about she will take a nap. 

Maybe she's teething, and I know her allergies are bothering her.  She's just so pitiful when she does this.  

I know it will pass.  Looking forward to the day when we'll laugh about it.  

Saved!

Yesterday was a crazy-busy day.  We were out of the house before 8:00 for my niece's first horse show, Shaun had a ballgame in Cleveland, and then we drove to Buford to Skate Country for Kids Day Out.  We were all so tired on the way back. Chris had to go back to church so the kids and I got an early dinner and then I had to go to Kroger for some baby food.  On the way to Kroger, out of the blue, Jordan asked, "What do you have to do to get saved?".

He's been asking some questions about salvation lately.  Mostly he'll ask where certain people are now, who have already passed away.  We've had a LOT of relatives die lately.  Sometimes the answers are easy..."Mamaw's in Heaven.  So is Pawpaw".  Other times, the answers aren't so easy.  Chris and I have tried to balance being honest with scaring Jordan to death by talking to him about hell.  

Yesterday in the car I was caught completely off guard by his question.  I caught a glance at him in the rear-view mirror and could tell he was serious.  I tried to explain very simply as I continued to drive down the road.  

"Do you believe in Jesus?  And God?  Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins?  Do you know that YOU sin?  Are you sorry?"

The answer to all of these questions was an emphatic YES with the exception of the last one.  That yes was more tearful.  I continued to try to explain to Jordan that all he needed to do was to pray to Jesus and tell Him all of that and that he wanted to live for Him.  

And just like that, the 4 of us driving to Kroger, he did.  It was one of the sweetest moments of my life.  After he was finished Jordan looked up with bright eyes and exclaimed, "I just got saved.  I'm going to Heaven!".

The first person he wanted to tell was his daddy.  My phone battery was dead...no red bar even showing.  I knew he wouldn't be able to wait until we got home to call, so I prayed for God to help the call go through.  And He did.  Jordan was able to call Chris and then my parents.  I wish I had been able to have seen Chris' face.  I could hear the grin in his voice.  

After they'd finished talking we went on inside the grocery store and then Jordan wanted to call my parents.  Mom and Dad were camping on the lake and must have had a bad connection because I could hear my mom saying "What?  You shaved in the car?".  Ha ha!  And then Jordan kept shouting, "NO!  I GOT SAVED IN THE CAR!.  We finally got it all straightened out.  

After we got home I had the best time just watching Jordan.  He really looked and acted as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.  

Freedom is a beautiful thing.  

7 Year Check

Jordan had his seventh yearly well-check today.  He's grown so much! Gained 16 pounds since last year and he's grown several inches.  Up until a few months ago, he was always so skinny and tiny.  Now he's still pretty short but let me tell you, he's built like a house! "Strong as an ox", as my mother says.  

The checkup was going great until the very end, when Jordan discovered that he had to get a shot.  One little shot.  He heard the word and started to make a break for the door.  I grabbed him and tried to reason with him while Dawn, our sweet nurse, was out of the room getting the vaccine ready.  He wanted nothing to do with it and wriggled out of my arms and shot under the counter.  Dawn came back in the room to find me staring down at him in shock.  I told her that we were having a little issue and she replied that she had a remedy for us. She left again and came back with Mr Jay, a lab tech.  He has been drawing Jordan's blood for a good six years now and has never  had any trouble.  He looked pretty surprised to find Jordan down there under the counter, too.  

We all asked Jordan to come on out, and then Mr Jay told him that if he wouldn't come out, we'd have to pull him out like a baby.  Which is exactly what Mr Jay had to do.  Of course, Jordan kicked and screamed as both Dawn and Jay hoisted him up on the table.  Can you say mortified?  

As if that wasn't enough, the three of us couldn't even hold him down.  Dawn had to call another nurse in.  I told you he was strong!

At the end of the day we finally managed to get Jordan caught up on his immunizations.  We had to to the "walk of shame" down the hallway to the checkout desk.  Me all flustered and sweaty and Jordan red-faced, snotty, and teary.  I just know everybody in that office heard him screaming.  

I was so embarrassed and kept apologizing to everyone.  They were pretty good sports.  Dawn couldn't stop laughing, she was so shocked that Jordan had acted that way.  She said that she wouldn't have to work out tonight because she'd already gotten her work out in. 

This will be one of those embarrassing stories that will be retold at all of Jordan's major milestones... graduation, wedding, 30th birthday party.  Not necessarily in that order.  :) 

  

"If at first you don't obey..."

...said in the same melody as "If at first you don't succeed...try, try again". 

Obedience.  It's always such an issue around here.  This morning I woke the boys up and told them to get ready, and get ready fast.  Shaun, as usual, shot out of bed and was ready even  before I was.  He was, in fact, all ready to go before his younger brother had even gotten himself out of the bed.  Jordan isn't a morning person.  He never has been, but we were going to the zoo and had to meet people at 9:00 and he needed to hurry!

I came back into his room several times before I threatened to punish him.  His response?  "I don't want to get up yet.  I'm too tired.  I don't want to."

"I don't want to."

I've been hearing those words so much from him lately.  As in, "I don't want to brush my teeth.  I'll just use mouthwash".  And "I don't want to wear socks.  I'll just wear my shoes without them.  There are lots more, but you get my drift.  

This morning, the third time I came into his room, I told him that if he didn't get up and get himself ready he just wouldn't get to go to the zoo.  And he told me that he would just stay home because he was so tired.  And then I screamed that I was his mother and I was tired of him being so disobedient and that he should respect me by obeying me because it was the right thing to do.  

And then I had to go into my bathroom to have a little breakdown because I'm a big, fat hypocrite.  

My little 7 year old is teaching me so much about my walk with the Lord.  Or rather, my willful acts of disobedience against the Lord.  

How many times over the past few months has God tried to gently(at first) nudge me in the right direction?  He's leading me out of my comfort zone.  Wanting me to turn the other cheek and show mercy and grace, love those who seem unlovable.  Just like Jordan, I know the right thing to do.  I hear my Heavenly Father telling me what to do (as if I didn't already know) and I say no anyway.  

"I don't want to!"

I've been disobeying my Father and it's making me bitter.  I looked in the mirror today and realized that bitterness is not becoming on me.  At all.  

Disobedience.  The same thing that frustrates the crap out of me and brings me to screams and tears.  It hurts me when my children choose not to respect me.  How much more must God hurt when I don't respect Him?

And what does God do to his stubborn, strong-willed daughter next?  Exactly what I do to my stubborn, strong-willed son. I make him do the right thing.  Force him.  Back him into a corner and manipulate the situation until he does what he should have done on his own in the first place.  It's painful and awkward and not at all as easy as it would have been had he just listened to me in the first place. 

But back to me.  When everything is said and done, however, I realize that it's not anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be.  It's also not as sweet as it could have been, either. Like I do with Jordan, God does what He has to do to get me to do what He's called me to do. And He loves me and takes me back.  Only without all of the screaming and crying. 

Because He's God, and God just doesn't do all that.

Dream

It was raining cats and dogs when we got home from church last night and I left my book in the car.  I'm reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth if you're interested.  I usually read after the kids are asleep, but it was raining so hard that I didn't want to go outside to get it.  Plus, I couldn't talk Chris into going out there for me.  

I have a "thing".  I can't go to sleep if I haven't read anything first.  Just call me quirky.  The other day my sister and I had the kids at the park and we discovered a cute little library in the town of Clermont.  It's called "The Dip" and it's absolutely precious.  Three little ladies run it strictly on a volunteer basis.  All of the books have been donated and there's no computer system... they just write the book's due date on the little card in the back of the book.  Just like we did back in elementary school.  Oh my gosh... I love it!

The last time we were there I checked out A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  Yes, another book for kids.  I had always wanted to read it when I was younger but somehow never got around to it.  I never got around to it this time either, since I was so wrapped up in other books.  I was just going to return it and had it sitting in the library bag by the front door.  I picked it up to read last night just to have something to read before bed.  I read this preview on the front cover:

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

Sounds like a good book to me.  But, Violet was having a hard time settling down for the night and by the time she went to sleep it was after midnight.  I wound up falling asleep watching reruns of Duck Dynasty.  

The next thing I knew it was 3:00 in the morning and I was shaking my head, thinking "What a crazy dream".  It started at my grandma's house.  I was throwing some scraps of food off the front porch after dinner one night.  I turned around and saw a woman in a black hooded cloak getting ready to ring the doorbell.  This woman looked the way I had imagined the "disturbing visitor" looked in A Wrinkle in Time.  For some reason, I thought she was my friend Glenda.  Not sure why...she's not at all disturbing.  I said hello to her and she jumped.  Apparently she hadn't seen me there. When she did see me, she ran away.  FYI, it wasn't Glenda after all.  

The scene then changed to my parents house.  A houseful of people was there, including all of the Robertson grandchildren from Duck Dynasty.  All of the kids were up in my old room having a slumber-like party while the adults were talking downstairs.  I went to check on Violet when I remembered that I had a missed call and voicemail on my phone from several hours earlier.  It was the creepy lady from my grandma's porch.  She hissed three words..."Jase is gone".  

Jase, as in Jase Robertson.  How had we not noticed that he was missing?  I've never met him personally,  but I think he would sort of stick out in a crowd.  We also somehow figured out that the old woman had cast a spell on us.  My  mom, myself, and a few other adults cautiously crept to the door that leads out to what used to be the garage at my parents house, before they turned said garage into an extra room.  My mom was about to open up the door when I shouted, "Wait!  We need some anointed oil!".  

My mom thought this was silly, but she humored me anyway and allowed me to run to my purse to retrieve a small vial of lavender essential oil.  Not exactly anointed, but close enough, I guess.  We slowly opened up the garage door and found a garage full of frogs that where multiplying as we watched.  Frogs.  As in one of the curses God brought down on Egypt in Exodus.  The started to hop into the house and everyone freaked out because those frogs were huge!  I smeared my "anointed" oil on the threshold of the door and bound those frogs out of the house in the name of Jesus.  The frogs disappeared and  my mom told me that she would never, ever doubt the use of anointing oil again.  

Things got a little fuzzy after the frogs vanished, but I do remember that somehow we found Jase Robertson.  He was safe and sound.  

I don't think I need to eat chili late at night again.  Ha!

A Change of Plans

I had today all planned out when I went to bed last night.  The kids and I were going to wake up early and do our school work so that we could meet my friend Kelli and her kids at the park after lunch.  

We did wake up early and I even managed to do science and history over breakfast.  Then Chris left to go to work.  As he was walking out of the door he called, "Are you coming to prayer service today?"  We sometimes meet him for noon prayer service on Wednesdays but I told him that we had other plans today.  Then he said, "Okay.  I'm singing at the service."

He says he told me this last night, but I just don't think so.  Otherwise I would have made plans to be there.  Either way, the boys wanted to go so I postponed our park plans with Kelli and we scrambled to get ready and complete some more school.  We actually got quite a bit finished.  We'll just have to make up a few things on Saturday to stay on track for this week.  The beauty of homeschooling!

When we got to church Chris' boss asked Jordan if he wanted to sing a song with his Daddy during the service.  Of course, she didn't have to ask twice.  They sang "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman at the end of the service.  That song is not easy to sing, but it's one of Jordan's favorites and he poured everything he had into it.  I was so proud of him!

This picture is terrible...the zoom on my camera's phone is so bad.  But can you make out his little mouth belting out the song.  I love it!

Chris' "boss lady" was in charge of preaching the sermon for prayer service today.  She preached about deliverance, among other things.  I needed to hear this.  I needed to be reminded that deliverance comes from the Lord.  In His time, not ours. We have some family members in desperate need of His deliverance and sometimes the waiting is so frustrating.  Jill's message kind of put me in my place a little bit.  :)

Oh, and Violet learned to sit up from a "crawling position"  during the service.  She was getting antsy and we were sitting in the back so I spread out her blanket on the floor and let her go.  Not too long ago she taught herself how to crawl in the Kidpak auditorium and that's where she learned to sit up, too.  I love that she is literally growing up in the church.  

After church we went to lunch with Chris and some of the guys from Kidpak.  That's always fun.  Then we had some time to kill.  Gas is so expensive, so we try to not make two trips into Gainesville in one day if we can help it.  The weather was nice today and the boys wanted to go to the park.  They played a little and then wanted to walk the trails.  And, they wanted to pose for pictures, which hardly ever happens.  

My handsome boys!

We walked for a LONG time.  The boys loved it and Violet did, too.  We went to the library next and then it was time for church.  The main service was amazing and from what I heard, so was the kids' service downstairs.  

We came home after church and had a late chili dinner and then watched Duck Dynasty.  

It was a pretty good little Wednesday!