Blessings a plenty!

Sorry friends. Stomach virus crept through my house AGAIN this week, hindering my blogging. So I'll squeeze three days into one and condense for time's sake! :0)

I have said all week, "All I do is go from one mess to another mess to another mess. Laundry and dishes, laundry and dishes." It seems some days that all I do is clean up one kid made mess to move to another kid made mess. But when I stopped a minute to think about it, I am blessed to have a family to make a mess at all. There was a time in my life when I didn't want children or to get married. Can you imagine how lonely that life would have been? UGH! My life is so busy with the things that matter most now, my children, my husband, and my home. I'm not world's greatest house cleaner. Honestly, I simply don't like to clean! But, I also don't like dirty clothes, dirty dishes, and a stinky house, so therefore I have to pick it up. But, it does get old! I like change. I know most people don't, but I do. I like spontaneity. I don't like the mundane and I consider cleaning the same thing over and over mundane. Bleh! But, I consider myself blessed that I CAN do it and that God has given me a family to clean up after. Without them I would be lonely! In that, I am blessed. I will never be the preverbial "Proverbs 31 woman". I do try, strive even, but I do not consider getting up before the sun bless-ed and then burn the lamp oil late into the night my idea of fun. But, I do consider being able to homeschool a blessing, so I get up early just to teach my children. I stay up late to prepare for the next day and spend time with my husband. There are a lot of things I sacrifice, but I consider that a blessing, not a hindrance. So what if I'm not the P31 woman all the time. My prayer is that one day my children will say of me what I say of my mother, I hope I can be just like her one day!

My mother WAS the P31 woman. She could sew, cook, clean, teach, sing (to me anyway), play an instrument, she was SOOO GODLY. I truly do strive to be like her. She was the Proverbs 31 woman to me. I was so blessed to have a mother like her. I miss her daily! Her wisdom was astounding. She was and still is one of my blessings!

I have the rare pleasure to homeschool my children. I have had some think I've lost my mind for doing such a thing when there are such great schools out there to do it for me, but in truth, I LOVE IT! We have such fun each day; laughing, talking about history, and exploring the world together. It is not always a picnic mind you, but I love it all the same. I feel I was made for teaching and who better to teach than my own children. When we learned about indians I cooked some of the things they ate and we ate in a teepee and made our own little teepees. When we learned about Columbus, we made boats and spy glasses, when we learned about The Declaration of Independence, we made Liberty Bells. It's such fun. My children have learned almost 10 memory verses! How EXCITING! It excites me that I get to teach them that, that I am blessed to be home with them. I have been told my children will not be as smart as school children, they will be weird, unsocial, taciturn. My response is, HAVE YOU MET MY CHILDREN? They will talk your ear off. They love to tell you all they have learned, recite verses, sing. (Well maybe not Madeline, unless she really knows you, but that's just her.) Homeschooling is a wonderful blessing!

If you know me just a little, or even if I just met you, I'm sure I've mentioned the Philippines to you at least once!! I go every January if I am able, to share the gospel with the amazing Filipino people. I went for the first time three years ago not knowing what to expect and a little intimidated by it all. I had not really shared the gospel with many people before and it made me nervous. Would I be able to? Would I do it right? It is a rush to share the gospel of Christ with someone. Who needs to jump out of a plane for that kind of rush!? Sharing eternity with someone is so exciting. I hope that makes sense. When you know you're investing in someone's future in heaven, you feel amazing, like you are part of God's fight to make the population is hell smaller! I AM A SOLDIER IN GOD'S ARMY!! YEAH! I get a little excited as you can tell. For me to go to the Philippines now is like going to my other home. I love the Philippines. I have such a heart and a passion for the Filipino people. I love sharing the gospel, but I love getting to see my family there now! Yes, family. They truly are like my family to me. Can you imagine not getting to see your family? That's how I feel about the team we work with when we're there. They are my family! I am so blessed that my husband doesn't mind keeping up with the house and children for two weeks. I am blessed that God always provides the money for me to go. I am blessed that our pastor has an equal passion for missions that I have and is willing to drop his VERY busy schedule TWICE a year and go to the Philippines for two weeks. I am blessed that we have such a great Filipino team that works so hard BEFORE we get there to plan out places for us to go to share the gospel and I am blessed that God allows me to go! Investing in others eternity is the ONLY reason we are here. If we're not sharing, why are we here? I am blessed that God loved me enough to forgive me and allow me to share His loving forgivenss with others.

I am such a blessed person! I am blessed with friends, children, a husband, family, homeschooling, my amazing parents, and being a missionary (in country and out). I could go on for days about all the things God has blessed me with, but I want you to stop and think of all your own blessings. Let us thank God TODAY in this Christmas season for all the blessings He's given us and reach out in love and share some of those blessings today with others. If we're not giving, then why are we here in the first place? Bless you today friends. Whether you like me or not, agree with me or not, I pray God grants you blessings A PLENTY!!!

A new day, my friend!

My faithful few who have stuck with me through my absence in blogging, I now vow to re-appear! I love to write, but life has been so busy I haven't had a chance to just sit and write, I refuse to let it get away from me anymore! So as the re-grand opening of my blog spot, I will begin this week by writing of my many blessings each day. I begin this week with a blessing that I take for granted sometimes though I don't know why; friendship.

People who somewhat know me know I am friendly. I love people! I love to watch people, talk to people, get to know people. However, I have precious few "real" friends that I talk to on a somewhat regular basis. Believe it or not, I am a somewhat private person, if not a secret introvert. I only have one best friend, who is a non-family member, other than my hubby that is. She has been with me though actual thick and thin (life and body wise). She's loved me when I certainly didn't deserve it and listened when I know I was whining like a big baby. She has stood beside me and taken my side when I felt like no one else had my back. I thought I lost her once, but through God's amazing grace and love, He gave her back to me. I have told her everything there is to know about me, the good, the bad, and the ugly!! I have told her things that the only other person who knows is my husband. I trust her with my life and my children (same thing just about). My point is, that if I'm only gonna have one "best" friend, she's it. I know I could call her at stinking three in the morning and wake her up and she would (reluctantly) wake-up and talk me through whatever it is. The best part, is that she is also my spiritual accountability partner(apart from my husband). She reminds me that I am blessed, that God is the most important force in my life, He is my rock and my fortress. She is a Godly lady. I am truly blessed to have Kristy as my friend. I have been thinking about true friends over the past week or so and my husband constantly reminds me that a person doesn't need fourteen best friends, they really only need one. I am reminded of Jesus and His 12 disciples. Yes, they were His close friends, but if you really break down the passages about His disciples, you see through the lines who His closest friends were, Peter, James, and John. He brought those three with Him everywhere. Jesus knew His time on Earth was limited and He had to teach the disciples as much in the short time that He could. But as with any person, there were His favorites, His confidants, His true friends.
We encounter a lot of people in our short lifetimes. Some we just pass, others we talk to in passing, while others we are drawn to and engage with. But there are those few that we open up to completely and love, those are our true kindred spirits. They love us, carry us, walk with us. Not everyone can be that person because well, you only have two sides. You've heard the saying, two's company, three's a crowd? We are meant for friendship, but not every person who says hello can be our best friend. Sometimes we have to learn that the hard way. We all learn that at some point. Life's hard and very rarely is it forgiving. It's good to know that God provided a friend for me to lean on when life gets hard, and although my husband is my best friend, help mate, and love, a girl needs another girl she can lean on, talk to, cry with. Do you have that? I pray you do! I prayed at one time that God would bring me a friend. I thought I was so lonely, but I didn't realize that He'd already provided me with a friend. I had to lose that friend to realize just how great she really was! I pray I never take advantage of her again!! Now I do have some very good friends that I love dearly. They listen and love me and I am so very grateful for them (my family included). But I am so very grateful for my sweet red headed friend who loves me even when I'm me, who can complete my thought and listen to my dreams. We can go months without talking and pick right back up where we left off like it was nothing but a pause in a sentence. That's friendship, that's the kind of friendship that's lasting and I am completely thankful for her today. Thank you Kristy for ten years of friendship, for always being just a phone call away, and for loving me when I most certainly didn't deserve it! You (and Brandon) are one of my many blessings!

What 30 has brought me thus far!

For those who don't know, I turned 30 yesterday! Yes, that's right. The age when you are 18 that you think is old. Well I've been 18 and remember thinking that 30 was old. Now I'm 30 and thinking, it's not so bad. I was in bed with a nasty migraine for the first part of the day yesterday, so the idea of being 30 didn't get to sink in. I have heard many people (women mostly) tell me how hard turning 30 was for them. I have even had a few men tell me it was hard. I thought it would be, I even joked about staying 29 forever, but I don't think it's so bad. What's 30, but a number. Jesus was 33 when He began His miracles, you can't be president till your what, 35? Seems being in your thirties is a good thing to me. Besides, I had one raging birthday party last night that let me know just how loved and rocking I am. Check out that cake! I had exactly four guests at my party and they were the only ones I cared about being there for my main event!

Turning 30 has made me stop and look back though. In the years since I graduated high school to now, I am amazed at the transformation from that girl, to this woman. I am ashamed of some of the things I have done, and disappointed that I didn't do some of the things I wanted. But overall, I am quite blessed to doing the things I'm doing now. God has blessed me with so much, that in my thirty years, I'm just thankful to be here, loving my family, serving God, teaching my children, and being open to what God brings next. Bring on 31!! (but now for 12 months please!) :) Smiles friends! Happy Tuesday!

My very favorite season

It felt so great outside tonight! This was the first day I've sat outside and didn't sweat! It was wonderful. I am so ready to see the leaves turning colors, the weather to become chilly enough for bonfires, camping, and piles of leaves in my yard. I love spring when the grass and flowers begin to grow, I love summer when the days are longer and I can swim with my family. I love winter, it means my Philippines trip is just around the corner and we celebrate Christ's birth, but I truly love Fall the best. There's something magical about the changing of the seasons. The brilliant colors that fall brings, is wonderous to see. I can't wait to pack up for the weekend and head to the campsite with the family for some MUCH NEEDED get away time. I see God in all of creation for sure, but when it's fall, I see His glory parading about in amazing colors. I can not wait to enjoy God's season of fall. Enjoy your Monday friends. Come often!

What I forget, is what God is reminding me of

I'm sure none of you ever focus on one bad thing and see none of the good things, but I have been so guilty of that today. We had an electric bill that was crazy high and it couldn't have fallen at a more terrible time. That was my focus today. It distracted me from a good day. I lamented to anyone who would hear. Why can't there ever just be enough green stuff to go around?? Ugh! Well, I read a blog as usual by one of my favorite blogger's and she quoted Spurgeon, whom I love incidentally. He said, "We can't be faithful and fretful." That's so true, we can not trust God and worry. That's like mixing oil and water, it just doesn't work. We either trust Him or we don't. When I forget that God's in control, He always has a way of reminding me. Kind of like when you knew the answer to a nagging question all along, but couldn't get it out of your brain, only when it stared you in the face did you remember you already knew it! So annoying by the way. Well, God reminded me much in the same way today, no not with money, that would be way to easy. HA! No, He showed me how blessed I am in other ways. Take my children for instance, I was fed up with Mommy, will yous today. It's Mommy will you all day long. Mommy will you get me something to drink, to eat, fix the computer, cut this for me, clean for me, etc., etc., etc.! Well, I'd had enough of that rounder of a 2 yr old, Mollie Jo and kept telling her to go to her room, and she finally climbed in my lap and said, Mommy I love you so much, your my friend. Boom, God said, you are blessed. Madeline wrapped her arms around me as I tucked her in and said, Momma, I like being at home with you, I love you. Boom, God says, you are blessed. My husband walks in the door and kisses me without a look at the dishes or Cheerios in the floor and says, I love you. I know, I am blessed. I sat down to begin working on my Philippines fund raising letter and watched the video from last year, I am blessed. God is taking care of us each day, we just fail to see those blessings sometimes, because we are looking for the blessings we want to choose. Sometimes, God's blessings are disguised in our children, our spouse, even I hate to say it, in our jobs. Yes, I have a job, the benefits are out of this world. I may not bring monetary gain to our household, but when I can keep my attitude in check, I add something to our home as well, security for our children, clean clothes for everyone, an education for my children, and so much more. Always, what I forget, is what God is reminding me of. I can not fret and be faithful at the same time. I must use my negative for positive. Thanks God for the daily reminder and for still working on me, to make me what I ought to be. Happy Monday folks and a blessed Tuesday. Come back often.

Homeschooling so far

Several of you have asked me how homeschooling is going. I haven't had the time to blog in a while, so I thought, I'd kill two birds with one stone here. Homeschooling is going wonderful. I truly feel God made me for this. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! We have so much fun, most of the time. :-) I've almost adjusted to working around Kindergarten and a 2nd grader and a 2 year old who thinks she's in school as well. Lots of coloring, reading in between, copy work for Madeline, and clay time, but it all gets done. Several of you have asked me, "What's a typical day like for you doing school?" Well, I'll answer that as well! I wake up between 6-7, six on good days, six thirty or seven on not so good days. HA! I shower or straighten, depending on the day, then I get all the breakfast items needed out. Some mornings, when I'm trying to do more than one thing at a time (surely not, right?), I have Madeline fix hers and Ethan's cereal or waffle, whatever the case may be. Yes, she can fix her own and her brother's cereal or waffle. I am training both children to make their beds, help Mollie make hers, get dressed, brush hair and teeth, and fix their own breakfast. I believe in independent children who can do most things for themselves, and breakfast is no different. After breakfast, they have to clean up their mess and be at the table by eight to start school. I leave Mollie Jo asleep if she hasn't woken up because I believe in the adage, let sleeping babies lie!! So she sleeps most mornings till 9 or 10! Hallelujah! At 8, we start school with the pledge of allegiance, the calendar, days of the week song, and prayer. Then I have Madeline do handwriting and copy work to improve sentence structure or I give her a themed based craft to what we're learning or a worksheet/seasonal color sheet. Then I dive in with Ethan. First, he has bible/numbers/creation. It's all lumped into one for the rest of this week anyway. Then we move to alphabet recognition, flash cards, and correct annunciation of the letter sound. He walks around the house and looks for his number of the day and letters we're working on. He also does his cuisenaire rods. They are a bucket full of colorful rods of different sizes. He has to fit the rods into his letter on the page in his book and count how many he uses and what colors he uses and build his letter correctly, then he makes pictures that start with the letter of the day. This teaches letters, numbers, colors, following directions, and cognitive reasoning, plus hand eye coordination. I LOVE THOSE THINGS! We always color, cut, and glue, everyday. FYI: We've been through almost 6 glue sticks in less than three weeks. Anytime I get Ethan working on something, I flop over to Madeline. Her regimen has more writing and "work" than Ethan's obviously. After her "writing" skills are out of the way, I praise her for how well she's done, then gently show her how she can improve. We move on to her history, spelling, math (which she loves most, not my kid!), science, then music, and art. Anytime I have to flop back to Ethan, I assign Madeline to read aloud in her chapter books, do a worksheet, or get her doing math games (which again, she loves). I flop back and forth till Mollie wakes up, then I feed her and give her worksheets with the colors, letters, and numbers on it. We count as high as she can (up to 20 now!), sing the ABC's, and play and talk, then by that time, she's bored and moves on. After our "lessons" we move to book basket where we read for about twenty or thirty minutes, Madeline silently, me aloud to Ethan and Mollie Jo, then we're done. We take breaks in there for "potty", snacks, and to stretch, then we're typically done by lunch, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Afterwards, we eat lunch, clean our rooms, and do various chores. Somedays we go to the Cafe for lunch. Most days we eat at home though. On Tuesdays or Thursdays we go to the library in Fulton and take back our books and swap out for new ones and go to the park right beside the library. They have a phenominal park there and the kids LOVE it!
Some of you have asked, if I'm about to go crazy yet. The answer is NO WAY!! I really do enjoy and love my job! I do have bad days and have had a bad day or two so far. There are days when Madeline just doesn't feel like writing and has attitude or Ethan doesn't want to pay attention or sit still (well the sit still part is most days actually, I'm used to that) and I want to pull all my hair and their hair out! I have had to get up, walk away, breathe, then come back, kiss their faces and start again. But, I still love it. We all have days like that, do we not? Every teacher has days where they have explained something 102 times and the kids stare at them like a deer in headlights and you want to scream, "OH COME ON, GET IT ALREADY!!!" But we press on, because we love them and love what we do, right?? Absolutely. I have had a blast setting up lesson plans and projects the night before till midnight, then gone to bed just to get up in six hours and replay it again. Will there be days I want to stay in bed and roll over and ignore the clock till like 8 or heaven forbid 9? Well don't we all?! Regardless, I press on and thank God each day that I can look my angelic babies in their faces and tell them without fear of getting in trouble or retribution about how much Jesus loves them and why, and all the glorious Bible stories and lessons I learned growing up. I feel like I'm getting the blessing in teaching them and seeing their ah-hah moments when Ethan finally gets the letter Q without me having to give him a hint or Madeline recites her Memory verse without help. It's like being there when they learn to finally take that first step or being there when they first roll over. It's a blessing not every mother gets to share, so I fully recognize the blessing I have everyday and thank my God for His rich abundance! Happy Wednesday/Thursday friends. Come often, I promise to try harder to blog more often. I'm still trying to adjust to my new schedule, so stick with me. In whatever you do, give the Author of all creation, Father God the glory!!

Some days I miss nothing!

Do you ever wish you could take a step back and breathe? I miss doing nothing some days. Not every day mind you, but So, other than school and some cleaning, tomorrow is my official NOTHING day. I'm calling it my own personal in house staycation! So if you're looking for me, I'M AT HOME WITH MY BABIES FOR SOME NOTHING TIME!

On a side note, our first day of homeschool was great. I think this is going to be a great year! Have a happy Tuesday friends. Sorry it's been a while.

At the Library

Every week for a while now, I have taken the kids to the library. We leave with a huge bag full of books every week. It's so exciting for me, to see my babies want to get so many books that we have to make a list for the next week of the books they want. I love showing Madeline all the books I read as a child that she can read or work up to reading. There is something magical about a library. To those who aren't readers, they think of the library as a torture chamber perhaps, but to me, the library is where dreams and imaginations are. The library holds all books on all topics. It's all there. If I want to read about pirates sailing the tragic seas, I can. If I want to read about a jilted love affair from the World War II era, I can. If I want (want being the key word) to read all about the art of farming, it's there too! That's not the only reason I love the library. I love the quietness of the library. I bring three normally loud children to the library every week, but they know once they walk in the doors that they must whisper, and even Mollie Jo remembers. She always tells the sweet librarians in a sweet whispered voice, that "we mus whisprr in the libary". The librarians are always so kind to my children. We never leave without a bathroom visit of course, a trip or three to the water fountain, and stickers on every surface of their little arms. My children love being able to look and take their time picking out their three books each week. They have to sit and look at a hundred books a piece before choosing, and Mollie Jo has to have me read at least ten books before she can choose three. I never go when I can't dedicate an hour, usually more to the library. It is NEVER a quick trip and I wouldn't want it to be. In order for children to love reading and become good at it, parents must make it a priority and show their children how important reading is. It's true with anything we want to show our children, but reading is my niche and I want my children to love it like I do. There's something timeless and classic about the library. Don't get me wrong, I love my technology and I would LOVE an iPad to put all my books and music on, but you can not beat a good book. There's something special about the smell of a library. The smell of old volumes stacked on metal shelves. That acrid paper smell mixed with age and dust. It's delicious to me. I love the sound of turning pages and quiet whispers in the library. Now I hear computers typing and copy machines whirling. When I go with my children, we retreat to a back corner and ooh and ahh over our book choices. I usually just get to peruse the newest books by the check-out counter. But, that's alright. My time is better spent nurturing the love of reading in my children. I can always re-read my books for the thousandth time. Yes, they are that good! I get just as excited about going to the library as the kids. There's just something about being, At the Library! Happy Thursday folks! Come often! Sorry I haven't written much this week. It's just one of those weeks.

Fun Story Friday~The Tide Burglar

In lieu of my anniversary this week, I thought I'd tell one of our funny stories from our first year of marriage. This is a pretty good one in my mind, I hope you enjoy it!

Our first home was an older, fixer upper to be sure. It was a tiny little house. The bathroom had an accordion door on it, not exactly private. It had an old store room off the kitchen, which is where the washer and dryer were. It even had one of those old water heaters that was a little box, not tall and round like they are now. It had one bedroom, a quaint living room, and an OLD formal living room with yellow shag carpet. We never used that room to my regret now, but it was fabulous storage for all of our combined items. Troy lived alone for several years before we got married and I had acquired a lot of things as well and we had no where to put them in that tiny house, hence the storage. Looking back, I loved that old house, and I still have the fondest memories of that house, and how wonderful and simple life was.
Well, moving on. You know how it is when you first get married. You have to go to the grocery store and buy EVERYTHING! You literally start out with nothing. Well, we had just come home from my parents house after coming back early from our honeymoon and some of the gracious women from the church had cleaned our house and prepared dinner for us. We sat down that first night home to a candle lit dinner of steak. The next day we went to the grocery store and bought everything we needed to set up house, including Tide, toilet paper, all the food, even spices, and salt. We spent a fortune that day. I went home and cooked my first meal for us, I was so excited to set up house. Well, that night, after I'd cleaned up the kitchen and Troy and I watched t.v. and talked a while, I put a load of laundry in before going to bed. I placed the big new box of Tide on the water heater, it being a box shape, it was perfect for placing the Tide box and Spray N' Wash on. Well I turned the washer on and headed to bed. Troy and I had just laid down and gotten almost to sleep when we heard a scratching noise and then a huge bang. We both sailed out of bed and I thought someone was breaking in. I looked at Troy and said, "Go check it out." He looked back at me and said, "You check it out. Why do I have to?" "You're the man stupid, you're supposed to check it out. " "Who came up with that", he said. Well, being my brave knight in shining armour, Troy picked up a metal hanger from the floor and banged it on the wall screaming, "Who's there, I've got a gun!" I looked at him and said, "Well you just scared whoever it is to death with a hanger!" Troy said, "Well what else do I have to use?" Troy walked into the living room and saw nothing. He went to the front door and it was sound. He went into the kitchen through to the store room and the washing machine was just a bouncing. The old hot water heater and the old uneven floor had caused our washer to start bouncing. The hot water heater was bouncing so ferociously that it knocked our brand new box of Tide and Spray N' Wash into the floor making a horrible noise like a burglar breaking into the house. We cleaned up the huge mess and went to bed, but we learned a huge lesson that night from our Tide Thief, never put the Tide back on the water heater. Hope you all have a Happy Friday. Love you friends, Come often!

A Beautiful End is only the Beginning

This is the beautiful ending to our tale, that is actually only the beginning. I told you all yesterday that I would tell how Troy and I came to be engaged, so here is that and maybe some quick memories of nine years together. Enjoy!

The summer of 2000 I went to serve as counselor at Camp Garaywa. I was sick at leaving my mother who was sick, but my heart ached at leaving Troy. We had broken up at the end of the school year a few weeks before and I didn't think I'd make it then. It seems silly now, but at the time I was miserable. It was so hard not to call him and tell him to please take me back. But two weeks after I'd gotten back home, Troy called with some cute lame excuse about having my mother's credit card in his wallet and wanting to bring it himself instead of mailing it to ensure that it made it safely. He came to Nashville and told me he really didn't care about the card, he had missed so badly he wanted just to see me. He didn't know if I'd take him back. Oh honestly! And again my heart sailed! But when I was to leave for camp, I dreaded leaving Troy so viciously, that I broke down on my stairs in a pool of tears when Troy walked out the door. He came back in and held me and then realized just how much I did indeed love him. It was then that we both knew in our hearts that we would be together till God took one of us to heaven. Our summer being very limited in seeing each other, was a hard one, but it made us appreciate each other that much more.

Around January 2001, Troy and I went to visit my parents in Nashville for the weekend. Troy never told me he was going to ask my father if he could marry me, but why else would he take my father out to eat. I did what any other star struck female with marriage in her mind would do, I began to look at wedding dresses. Troy came back grinning from ear to ear and said, "I asked your father if I could marry you, and he said yes." I was so excited, I hollered something to the effect of "I knew IT!!" I set out to plan a wedding I had not even been asked to be in as the bride yet. I chose and bought my dress before I even had a ring. At that point that boy had better follow through. Ha! I waited and waited. I thought he was never going to do it. Valentines Day came and I knew he would do it then. He came to get me at my dorm. He was being very ugly to me, being short, and snapping at me to hurry. I was so mad at him till we got to his truck and I saw the cutest little face pressed against the window with a bow. I jumped up and down clapping my hands like a small child. I opened the door and the cutest little boxer puppy jumped in my lap. I loved him instantly! I named him General Maximus Brutus. (Gladiator was very big at the time) Max was supposed to have a beautiful diamond ring hanging from his ribboned neck, but I found out later my ring wasn't ready yet.

About a month later right before spring break, my friend Erin asked me to the movies and out to eat. When we were on our way back, Troy called and asked me to pick something up from the drive threw for him. When we got to Troy's house he met us outside and sat on the tailgate to eat his food. I was sitting there staring at Troy with Erin beside me wondering why on earth he was being so darn rude to poor Erin. He jumped up a few minutes later and said, "Well I think Erin has to get on her way now, so we'll see you later Erin." I was astonished at how he was acting. I said, "Troy, why on earth were you so rude to Erin and why did you sit out here to eat? You're being crazy!" As we walked to his door and he opened it, I saw candles everywhere. In all my obliviousness, I turned and said, "Oh, did you make us a candlelit dinner?" Don't know what I was thinking then, um yeah, duh Robs you just ate! Anyway, Troy laughed and as we walked inside, and I realized quickly that this was not dinner. As I followed the trail of candles, I walked into the living room and thought I'd stepped into a cathedral. There were candles everywhere, all the furniture was moved out. The whole room glowed, it was magical! In the middle of the room at the end of a path made from candles was a trunk. At this point, I thought I realized what was going on. I left Troy standing there and hurried over to the trunk and opened it. Inside that trunk, was another trunk, inside that one was yet another one. I opened the smallest trunk and inside it was...nothing! It was empty. WHAT!! My only thought was ok, this is not what you thought, don't act upset. I knew the only way to not show my feelings was to not turn around, so I said, "Oh Troy I just love my boxes, they're pretty." From behind me Troy said, "I think this is the box you're looking for..." I turned to find Troy on one knee, smiling at me with that same genuine smile he flashed at me almost two years before on the first day I'd seen him, and he said, "Robbie, I love you, will you marry me?" I cleared the room in two steps, threw off my class ring, and put my hand in his. "Yes, yes, forever yes!" I cried, he cried (sorry Troy), and we prayed for our life together. Then I called every last person I knew!! It was truly magical and a moment I won't forget in a thousand years, much less nine! We were married five very fast months later! It was a fairy tale day, that I barely remember. I remember the important parts though, when I pledged my love before God and my family to Troy whom I love more today then I did nine years ago. I still remember to this day what my mother told me and Troy not long before our wedding. She said, "You must decide to love each other everyday. It won't always be about feelings and romance. You must wake up each day and decide to love the person next to you, because the day you don't, your marriage will be in trouble." Troy and I live by that still today. We wake up each day deciding to love each other, for better or worse. I'm not saying each day is easy. There are some days I want to hit Troy in the head with a frying pan, but I love that man. There have been many rough patches, and many marvelous moments, but each one has been a learning experience and there's no one else I'd rather learn with than Troy Comer. God has blessed us with three miraculous gifts from heaven, that we get to raise together. Our life has been one grand adventure and it's just getting started!

Here's a few of short memories of nine crazy wonderful years:

Year 1:

9/11

lost a baby Nov 01

got pregnant with Madeline 2/14/02

lost my momma 4/02

1st Ann. 8/4/02

Year 2:

Had Madeline 11/8/02

2nd Ann. 8/4/03

Year 3:

Madeline turned 1, 11/8/03

My dad remarried 11/09/03

moved to house in Myrtle two weeks before Christmas, then moved two weeks later (I'll save that story for Fun Story Friday) 12/03

Got pregnant with Ethan around Christmas

moved into a nine bedroom nursing home

my father came and preached our revival, fell under Holy Ghost conviction!

GOT SAVED 5/04 at 3a.m.

Troy baptized me

3rd Ann. 8/4/04

Year 4:

moved into house down the street from nursing home

Troy started working at ICC BSU 8/04

Had Ethan 9/14/04

moved to Dorsey,MS 3/05

4th Ann. 8/4/05

Year 5:

Ethan turned one 9/14/05

Began our adventure with NorthStar 11/05

bought a house 12/05

Troy GRADUATED COLLEGE!!! 5/06

5th Ann. 8/4/06

Year 6:

Found out we were having baby #3! 1/1/07

Began staying home with my babies full time!

Madeline started preschool- I cried!

6th Ann. 8/4/07

Year 7:

Mollie Jo Comer is born at 4:15 in the morning. 9/25/07

I go on the Emmaus Walk that turned my Spiritual Walk around. 6/08

7th Ann. 8/4/08

Year 8:

Mollie Jo turns one 9/25/08

Go on my first trip to the Philippines 1/09

8th Ann. 8/4/09

Year 9:

Kids get a dog for Christmas 12/25/09

I go to the Philippines again 1/10

I want to shoot the dog! 3/10 ha!

We decide to home school our children, 4/10

Craziest summer EVER! 5/10

9th Ann. 8/4/10!!

So much happened in the in between times, how can you sum up nine long wonderful years in a single blog? You can't! I am so blessed to have what God has given me.What I want to say is to you Troy, you have given me so much. Three amazing children that love you completely, a friendship like I've never known, a home that is all ours, a love some people only dream about. I love you, yesterday, tomorrow, and for as long as God gives you to me. You are my best friend, my partner, and my love. Thank you for nine amazing years, and may God grant us fifty more, for better or worse my love. This song below is silly I know, but it sums up our life together pretty well! Here's to you my love, side by side

Oh! We ain't got a barrel of money,

Maybe we're ragged and funny,

But we travel along, singing a song,

Side by Side

I don't know what's a-comin tomorrow

Maybe it's trouble and sorrow

But we'll travel the road

Sharing our load

Side by side

Through all kinds or weather

What if the sky should fall

Just as long as we're together

It really doesn't matter at all

When they've all had their quarrels and parted

We'll be the same as we started

Just traveling along

Singing our song

Side by side

I LOVE YOU TROY! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

A love I didn't deserve

Here's today's sweet memory of mine and Troy's dating relationship and marriage. It's a little long, but I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think, comments are always welcome.

I mentioned yesterday that Troy liked my friend, but I did have a boyfriend at the time, so we remained friends at that point. By the fall, we were basically best friends. We talked everyday at school and hung out, but we also had started to talk on the phone every night too. We started out talking about my friend that he liked, then eventually we didn't talk about her anymore and our conversations became two and four hours long late into the night. We talked about everything from where we wanted to live one day, our favorite colors, foods, etc. We learned so much about each other. In the fall, the BSU had a Fall Retreat. Troy, me, and our friend Lance all rode together. We had a great time. We sat up late every night talking. But inside my soul was screaming. I knew from all my time with Troy that I would never be good enough for him. My heart was hurting. See Troy was pure and I was not. I could tell that we were beginning to be more than friends at this point and I didn't know what I would tell him or if I'd just not mention it. But what if he asked me? Our last day at the retreat our speaker was talking about David and Bathsheba. God sat square on my heart. I couldn't breathe. I WAS DAVID! I just wanted out of there away from everyone including Troy. I felt sick. I got up and went to my bunk. I leaned over my bed trying to breathe. What was I gonna do? I was scared. When I finally came out of my room, there stood Troy. He said he was looking for me and did I feel OK? I lied and told him I was fine. He knew better. We walked to the lake and he asked me if I wanted to canoe. Um, alone in a boat with Troy?? YEAH!! We canoed out into the lake and he joked about reading me poetry and all that. We laughed. Then he said I smelled like his mother. Ha ha! He said my perfume was the same kind his mother wore. Well, I never wore that again. We went back to the dock and sat there talking for a while. We shared each others testimony of how God had saved us. Mine couldn't have been very convincing, as I didn't have Christ in my heart up to this point, but I wasn't about to admit that to myself or Troy. I told him how I grew up in Church and knew all the church answers, it was just second nature to except Christ, pitiful I know. We talked about our lives before we'd met and I skittered around my horrible high school years.
When we got back to the College on Sunday night, Troy officially asked me on a "date". First things first, I had to do what I'd been putting off for a while, call my boyfriend and break it off. It hurt my heart to do so, he was such a sweet and caring guy. But I trudged up the stairs to my room and called him. I was telling him and we prayed together and I knew it would be better for us both since we lived so far apart. Meanwhile, Troy called my roommates phone and asked what took so long, we was ready for me to come down stairs. Pitiful! When I came down, my heart was swimming. When I looked at Troy this time, it was not with eyes of friendship. He took my hand and we walked out of my dorm. I climbed in his truck beside him and our first date was Taco Bell drive threw and his house to watch Jaws. We did see some of it, he he, we talked most of it, and then he kissed me. My heart still thrills over that first night. I was definitely head over heels for this boy.
Over the next few weeks, I knew I needed to tell Troy what I was dreading so badly, what I was worried about at the Fall Retreat. We sat on his couch one night and I said, I had to tell him something. I looked Troy Comer in the eyes and told him all my dirty past and how I couldn't get serious with him and not tell him. I started to cry, which I'm sure freaked him out, and told him I couldn't not be honest with him. He sat very quiet for a minute and I worried that he wouldn't want me, but I knew it was what I deserved. Finally he looked at me and told me, he never wanted to date anyone who wasn't a virgin like him, but he wasn't perfect in his life either, and it wasn't for him to say I wasn't worthy. He said he knew we were supposed to be together. I looked into those baby blue eyes, and saw redemption; that's what Troy did for me. That's also what God did for us. He looked at all we had done wrong in our lives, and loved us anyway. He told us it didn't matter. He sent His own Son for us in our place, as us, because He loved us that much. Jesus was our redemption. I hope you have that redemption, but if not, you can seek it today, God gives it free and full of grace. Just pray and ask Him to love and forgive you. Be honest with Him and tell God what you've done and how you want Him in your life forever. Be sincere and open and Christ will never deny you, no matter what you've done.
Less than two years later, Troy would ask me to marry him, but I'll tell you that tomorrow, it's a pretty special story. Love you friends. happy Tuesday, stay cool today. Come often!!

Bitter Monday becomes something SWEETER!

I'm a little bummed, and not wanting to get motivated today! What I told you all last week about my typical Mondays is not typical for today. See, this is my set design week at the church to make the new set design for our children's worship with my team. It's also my work week at the new building on Tuesday night, Thursday night, and Saturday morning. It's also my anniversary on Wednesday and Troy's birthday on Sunday. You see why I might be a little bummed huh? Yeah, we're grown ups and it has been nine years, but I wanted SO badly to get away with my sweetheart. However, duty calls and that's life right? So what, I'm still a little bummed anyway.

SO, to perk me up a bit and keep you all from having to listen to me whine, over the next few days, I'm going to tell you some of my favorite little memories from being with my best friend for twelve years. (nine of those being in marriage) So to begin for today, I'll share way back when BEFORE we were mister and misses, when we were young college kids, not even dating yet. I first saw Troy on my first day of classes, when he walked into my English class. He walked into class in his typical "uniform"; khaki shorts, Hawaiian shirt, Berks, and that tattered, ratty black hat. His eyes were blue, his smile was genuine, and he had the cutest red cheeks and baby face I'd ever seen. Not exactly what Troy wanted to hear, but he was so cute none the less. He sat down and I looked over at him and smiled. I didn't even think he noticed me that first day. We did talk and he asked me where I was from all that stuff, but I had a boyfriend at the time anyway. We met again a day later (Blue Mountain is very small) in the student building. He was playing his guitar with some friends, and he could sing!! Whelp, I was smitten. Troy looked up at me and my friends and smiled. We all sat, talked, laughed, and then can you guess what happened? He turned to my friend and talked to her. Ha ha! That's right, he went for the pretty one, remember, I did have a boyfriend. When he went to leave that night, he asked about my friend and I said, I'd talk to her and see what she thought of him. It was then that we became friends. This was a friendship that would be lasting, a friendship that will never end. Stay tuned for the next memory of our change from friendship to dating tomorrow!! Happy Monday friends! Come back often!

Fridays are for Fun Stories ~Satan painted it BLUE!

On Friday every week, I will TRY to post a fun story worth reading! Most likely about my dog, Rebel that we have nicknamed Satan, more accurate a name I think, or about my kids, Ethan's pretty funny too. Come every Friday for a new award winning (well it should be anyway) story for your Friday enjoyment.

Satan painted it BLUE!
Rebel (our dog) has done so many things to our house, property, and himself, it's hard to know where to start. He's our Marley really. I was determined to get rid of him. In fact I had found some wonderful friends to lovingly take him. They have lots of yard and another Boxer for him to play with. I thought it was a great idea. Troy loves Rebel, he'll not admit it out loud, but he does. The kids were broken hearted at the thought of getting rid of him, so I lost this battle, but I'm still in the war. HA! For now, however, Rebel is still part of the Comer Farm.
Yesterday, Thursday, Troy got up, put Rebel out, then headed to film something with our youth ministers. He took the van and said he'd bring it back after he was finished. Well, a little while later when he came home, I went outside and in my carport, was blue paint everywhere. Troy yelled, "Don't let the dog in or get near you. He got paint everywhere including on himself." It was then that Rebel ran up the steps where I was standing. He did indeed have paint ALL OVER HIM! All up his paws, on his face and tongue I might add, and all in my carport. I should take this time to point out he didn't become ill from licking the paint, we should be so lucky. HAHA! Just kidding, sort of! I then looked around the corner to see blue paw prints smudging my nice black driveway, my grass, and the carport, clear up to the steps. I looked at Rebel, growled, and said, "UGH Satan!!!" Andrew, our youth minister at church, and friend, just laughed and started helping Troy clean it up. He declared that their boxer never did this kind of thing, ha! No, I'm sure he doesn't, only our dog can be so smart while being so dumb!!
You know, my life wouldn't be the same I don't think if we didn't have Rebel. He adds more "color" to our lives that we wouldn't have otherwise. So I have a little paint in my carport. I like blue, it is one of my favorite colors. He is part of the family, and you can't chunk them out when they annoy you, and he does severely annoy me, but I like the big stinker, if not love him. Happy Friday friends. Come back often!

New blog, and the simplier life.

I have changed the look and layout of my blog, making it more pleasing to the eye. I have decided also to change the content of my blog somewhat. I will be adding stories of my childhood, the childhood of my children, and also some "thought provoking" blogs from time to time. A special thanks to my friend Sarah Marlin for being my inspiration without her even knowing it! She reminds me to focus on what's important; my husband, my children, & my blessings. Thanks Sarah and Happy Anniversary! Follow her blog, jumping jax, and I know you'll be inspired. She's in my list of whom I'm following.

I had a tea party with my girls on Tuesday. We made little round sandwiches, hot tea, cookies, the works, and other than a little spilled tea, a cranky two year old, and some BROWN cookies, it was fantastic, all ten minutes.!Then Madeline(the 7 year old) and I, sat down and watched my favorite movie based, off my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. I like the simplicity of that time. There wasn't a lot of STUFF to complicate life. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone and I wouldn't be blogging without my computer, however, I think we(me) tend to complicate life with all the STUFF we put in it. The time of Jane Austin was very different from now in that, women were basically only allowed to marry and have children, they weren't allowed to make money and money and houses weren't passed to them. But, the home lives were very simple. They did things like, make quilts, have knitting circles, and make house calls for tea with friends and spend time talking on porches and verandas. You know talking, that's when you put down the twitter, Facebook, texting, and phone, to talk ONE ON ONE with a PERSON. Sometimes, I think we have forgotten to turn down the noise and refocus on people. You don't have to live in Jane Austin's time to appreciate that. Happy Thursday friends. Come back often.

My Mondays

This was a busy summer at the Comer house. I am in recovery mode. I don't know about you all, but I don't feel like I really was able to enjoy summer. It was so crazy busy that I barely remember moving from May to July. I'm glad we don't start school till September, maybe we can grasp at a little peace before school starts. How are your Mondays? I personally, used to hate Mondays with a passion. Troy has all his meetings at church on Mondays. He has like four or five meetings on Monday and he doesn't get home till around 8:30 or 9. I hated it, because I was on burnt out mode by the time he got home and inevitably after a whole day by myself with kids I was ready to scream and some catastrophe had taken place. Not now though. Mind you, I have my weeks when Mondays are such a dread, but not very often. I came to realize that it's like anything else, I can get used to it and get over it, or make every one's life miserable. I choose to get over it. Now, I enjoy Mondays. I'm giving away some of my secrets here, but on Mondays, I don't clean other than laundry and feeding and playing with the kids till Mollie's afternoon nap. I enjoy the morning time and relax. This sets a great precedence for the week for me. I don't feel like it has to be spotless before lunch this way and I can recover from our crazy weekend schedules. I put more into Tuesdays and so on. I want it clean by Friday when Troy is off, so we can relax a little or do other small jobs and not focus on clutter. Today, I have fed the kids, made them clean their rooms, and made our lists for school supply shopping tonight. I'm gonna lay Mollie down and clean up, then tonight we're going to buy school supplies. Sounds exciting to me and the kids! This will be our first year to home school and we are all very excited. Crayons, pencils, and paper, have never been more exciting to buy. I can't wait to get started. I pray it's always this way, however I know we will have days when we don't want to do school, we all have those days, but we will plow through. God is good and has given us many blessings, this being one of them. God bless and happy Monday friends!

My worth in gold is nothing to my worth in love

Proverbs 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Someone recently said to me, "So, Robbie, you stay home for a living?" I chuckled a little then looked at him (of course) and said back, "If by staying home for a living you mean not working outside the home, then yes, I 'stay home' for a living."
I also had a friend a while back say to me she wished she could stay home with her children everyday. I assured her it could be done with a little sacrifice on her and her husbands part. A well meaning friend who was listening said to us, "You can't do that! What and waste your degree sitting at home everyday?! You'd go crazy!" Trying to keep myself in check (not an easy task), I replied, "So it's okay for me to be a "stay at home Mom" because I do not have a degree, but not her because she has one?" The logic was lost on me. I have several women I know with varying degrees that stay home with their children, is it such a waste? Who says that a piece of paper on your wall and a steady paycheck replaces the joy of spending each day watching your little ones grow? Where did we go wrong as a society to make women think they must work to have meaning or to make ends meet? I have worked many jobs and placed my children in the care of wonderful, kind, loving people, and then cried all the way to work assuring myself I was doing the right thing. They were wonderful people who loved my children, but they weren't me.
Back to the gentleman who said to me, you "stay home for a living". He told me, "Well some of us have to work for a living." I then very sweetly responded back, "Well if you were to take all that I do within my household and calculate it into dollars and cents, you couldn't afford me." He then laughed and said he'd never thought of it that way.
I'm sure, no positive, that the debate will live on forever between mothers who stay home and mothers who work. I would never criticise a mother who works, she is doing what she feels she must to make ends meet or because she is a single mother.
I may not make a monetary contribution to my household, but Troy and I have made many sacrifices through the years so that I can be with our children, and now that I'm going to home school we will continue to make the needed sacrifices to fulfill our scriptural duty to our family. I cannot listen to those who would neigh say or criticise what we do or the decisions we have made. I can only listen to my heavenly Father and obey the commands He has for my life. Have a great day friends.

Titus 2:4-5, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, and to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Truth

The funny thing about truth is, it's truth. You can deny it all day long, but if it's true, it stays true. Take a dog for instance. You can call a dog a cat all day, but it's a dog, that's the truth. The gospel of God is THE TRUTH! There is more evidence to back it up than any of the so called "theories" out there. What other book is more widely read, studied, translated, and has survived for thousands of years? None. Take a look at this.

It's a square, right? Ya sure it's not an oval or a rectangle? Of course not, it's a square. Well that's how the truth of God's Word is. We try to mess with it and make it say what we want it to, to fit our lifestyle, our chioces, and our decisions. But you can't change the truth, it's still the truth, you become the lie. Today we try and justify EVERYTHING till no one can say anything without offending someone. Don't you think it's time we fessed up to our mistakes instead of trying to change the Word of God around them and come clean and get right with God. It's time we realized truth for what it is, truth, pure and simple.

Homeschooling and life

I'm beginning blogging now and beginning homeschooling in the fall. I'm so pumped about both and want both to go well. I know there will be those days, you know of those days that I speak. But I have a profound passion to see that my children learn to love learning and crave knowledge and then I can write about those disasters. HA! Now this perfect vision of mine will inevitably be crushed and re-molded a thousand times before we fall into a neat groove. Naturally there will be interesting situations as the year progresses next year, look for those blogs. This being my first attempt at blogging, I pray that you (whoever you are) will stick with me, they will get better. As for now however, have a pleasant day and bright tomorrow!