A Palm Poem

On a tiny donkey he came
The man with many a name

The whole town began to stir
for reasons, some unsure

His presence made them rejoice
They raised their hands and their voice

Cloaks were thrown down upon that road
and Palm branches were grabbed many to hold

The crowd sang praise to the King who comes in the name of the Lord
Others cried out No, and in their hearts hatred they did hoard

On top of His donkey He wept for them all
their eyes not open to see ahead their own fall

I picture myself on the side of that road
I see my burdens upon Him, such a heavy load

I'll pick up my palm and wave it high for Him to see
His head will turn and look directly into me

As my head falls down in shame I can't hide
My chin He will lift so I don't miss His donkey ride

he heads into town as we wave the palm branches we hold
The end to the beginning is about to unfold

Tuesday I prayed about our hot water tank repair. I asked God to please make it a "free repair day" (that basically it wouldn't cost too much money.)

The repair man was scheduled to come Wednesday morning.

Wednesday morning the phone rang and it was a message confirming our appointment for Thursday.

Not good.

So I prayed again.

My husband got up and I told him that the repair man was not coming today. I expected him to maybe freak out a bit, but he didn't.

He said "well maybe I should just look at it again and see if I can fix it."

He had said this the first day it stopped working, but after I couldn't find the manual and him almost getting shocked he gave up.

We went downstairs together and I moved some things I had stuffed behind it stored nicely next to it. And what did I find? The manual!

Once he had that he could easily see that the thermostat was most likely the problem, except there were 2 and he wasn't sure which one was causing the problem.

Meanwhile the phone rings and it is the repair place calling to ask if they made a mistake with our service date?
"Why yes you did, but that's okay we're going to try and fix it." I tell them, as my husband's asking me for the phone.

My husband asks them if they will answer one quick question about the tank. The lady on the phone says they're not suppose to but go ahead and she'll see if she can help.
She knew his answer right away.

After 2 minutes with the screwdriver and a quick trip to the hardware store, it is repaired. All for a whopping $13.99!

What did I learn?

What I always learn.

That God answers my prayers.
Never like I ask or think they should be answered.
He cares about us and uses us in the answered prayer.
He turns mistakes into good for His glory.

So, pray about the big things in your life, but also about the little things! Because He can be glorified in the everydayness of our lives.

And be thankful for your HOT shower!

Prayer for the repair man

 Tomorrow the repair man is coming to look at the hot water tank.

Of course the warranty expired. Just last year.

Perfect.

So I have a special prayer request.
That he will come here and say "It's free repair day!"

Or something like that.

"I hate Mondays!"
Garfield



On normal school day mornings, my oldest daughter gets herself up around 5:15  and starts getting ready for school. I get up at 6:00 and help get her lunch together and then take her to the bus stop.
This morning I got up and noticed her door was shut and it was awfully quiet in there, so I went in and woke her up.

She said she got up earlier but that the shower water would not get hot so she went back to bed.

ok there is just so much wrong with that sentence. First of all no hot water means something is wrong with the hot water tank, and like I need another financial issue right this minute. And why would she just go back to bed? Shouldn't she have came and woke me up, so we had some time to figure out what to do?

So,  I go to the bathroom and run the water, and yes she's right, no hot water. Then I go down stairs to the hot water tank and stare at it. Because I'm thinking that will fix it. It didn't work.

So, I tell her that she better get up and just get ready as best as she can and hurry now because she has like 10 minutes.

She is 16, this does not go over well!

She wants to just go back to bed and be late to school until her Dad fixes the water heater and I can just drive her when she's ready.

OK, PRINCESS!

I didn't say that.

I calmly said, get up and get dressed, put your hair in a pony tail and make it work.
Apparently I'm Tim Gunn.


This is where the whining, begging, pleading her case starts.

She informs me that yesterday I told her not to take a shower, to give her hair a break since we were just staying home doing nothing.
She reminds me how greasy AND frizzy her hair gets after just one day without a shower.
She even has tears.

I feel like this is one of those decisions that define you as a parent. One of those moments that help shape the kind of adult your child will be.

I can be a little overly dramatic sometimes.

But I honestly saw her as an adult and this same thing happening. Would she chance losing her job because her hair was icky? Would she expect the world would just wait while she got ready.
And I thought about this boy in Africa and all he had to go through to get himself to school each day and that he would love for a cold shower to be his biggest problem in life.

So, after a few slammed doors and boycotting my breakfast, she went to school.
I tried to tell her not to be mad. That she didn't have a choice right now about this situation but she had a choice about how she was going to react. I reminded her about the kids in Africa we had just been reading about and that maybe God was trying to give her some perspective and remind her how blessed she is.
I'm not sure if she listened. I'm not sure if I even made the right choice. I'm trying to imagine myself going to town without a shower for 2 days. Would I do it with a happy heart?

What would you have done in this situation? Take your child late or go all Tim Gunn on them?

Happy Monday!

Random life updates

My tooth:
Ok, I tend to be either a completely boring calm and rational person or I tend to totally freak out. It ends up that my tooth wasn't that bad. It doesn't even hurt. A little piece chipped of because I have a huge, old filling in it. And it's way in the back, no one will even notice, and I have a whole other side to chew on.
This is me trying to convince myself I don't need to go back and have the dentist fix it. I totally hate going to the dentist.

My Job:
Like this is even a job. This little baby is the best baby and he smells so good. Me and my 2 younger girls just sit on the couch together and hold him and stare at him and then before we know it, it's 4:00 and his Grandmother has come home and we have to give him up. And then I get a check and go buy groceries and just can't even believe it!

Oldest daughter = Track:
After a horrible first week, and  many calls from school (crying) asking if she can please quit, last night she got home, and I asked how it went. She said......... totally fun! and walked past me to her room. Ummm excuse me, yesterday you were crying, now it's fun?
Ok I totally knew this would happen, that's why I was the really mean heartless Mom who wouldn't let her quit after only one week. But I did not rub that fact in or dance around the room yelling told ya, told ya! Because I am totally mature like that.

Unemployment:
My husband is still totally out of work, but he did recieve the emergency unemployment so we are still eating. ha! He has a meeting tomorrow to go over some career skills because the construction business is still at an all time low. I know he is really scared. Construction is all he has ever done. He keeps looking to me for all the answers and honestly I tried to be that person for him for the last 20 years. (that's how long we've known eachother, not been married) But now? Now I'm standing back and letting him figure it out and just hoping that he'll start letting God be that person for him. It's not been easy though and I have the feeling that my husband is the kind of person who needs to hit rock bottom before he looks for the way out.

Happy Thursday. Totally.

So, last weekend..........

When  I took a little road trip with my daughters a few weekends ago, my oldest kept saying she wanted to go on one with her friends.

Her Birthday was coming up, so me and 2 of her friends planned a surprise for her.
A road trip......with Mom.
Yeah, I was a little worried they would think it wouldn't be that fun, but I promised them I would just be the driver and would say no to (almost) nothing.
Saturday morning, after a quick swim lesson, and a smallish track meet which we will not be talking about, we were off.
Warning: summer's coming and I will talk about swim nonstop.

It took my daughter about 2 hours to just relax and enjoy all that we had planned.
She's kind of controlling like that. I have no idea where she gets it.

I tried to just be quiet and let them do all the talking. I was hoping they would forget I was even there.

But ya know what happened?

They wouldn't let me be quiet.
Or stay in the car at each stop.
They even asked what I wanted to do next.
And they laughed at my attempts to be funny.
They told me their family issues. even my own daughter.
And asked my advice.

I tried to give my daughter a really great memory, and I got one of the best ones myself.

Thank you girls!

We live in Eastern Washington.
We haven't always lived on this side of the state. My husband and I both grew up on the western side, and all our family still lives there. We go back often, not as often lately as the kids are so busy here now and gas is so stinken expensive.
So, our road trip involved leaving this side and going to that side.
Mainly because I knew we could sleep at one Grandparents and have another Grandparents buy us a big breakfast the next morning.
Plus one of my daughter's friends had never been to Seattle.

My daughter took this picture. I love it.

( By the way, I so wanted to give a "Holla" to Gretchen while I was there. maybe someday!)

This is my daughter almost getting hit by a car. And if you look closely at her cheek, you can tell she is smiling about it!

This was one of my our favorite stops.

This is her cake from last night.

Those gum drops on there are really cute, but they were so gross. I did not read the package as they were called spice gum drops. eeww.

Oldest daughter:

Happy sweet 16!

Thanks for making me a Mom!

What a weekend!

I took my daughter and 2 of her friends on the quickest, longest, funnest road trip this weekend.

I am exhausted!

The end.


Hoping to try and post some pictures tomorrow.

try being the keyword.

A tooth and a prayer

Last night  my husband and I were sitting together on the couch sharing a bowl of popcorn. (actually we had our own bowls because we both love p.c. and end up fighting over the bowl)
We were watching Survivor.
All of a sudden I had a sharp pain in my mouth and then my tooth broke.

I spit  one whole half of my tooth out into my hand and just sat there in shock looking at it.
Then I freaked out!
I was so mad. Like wanting to throw and kick and scream mad.

I think it was like how can things just keep piling up on me. Always something trying to bring me down.

I have no dental insurance.
I have no extra money to even attempt to pay for this.
I'm sure my dentist will let us make payments, but this is one of the last things I want to struggle to come up with a payment for right now.
I'm scared it's going to hurt to fix it.
This weekend is my daughter's 16th Birthday surprise little trip I have planned and I don't really have time to fix this right this minute.
It hurts and I don't know if I can eat with it like this.
I take really good care of my teeth, why did this happen.


I cried and tried to just go to bed so I didn't have to try and figure this out.
But my family wouldn't let me.
My two youngest were so worried about me and were crying as hard as I was.
Mom just does not lose it like this.
My husband was trying to get me to take some advil, but I couldn't because I was too scared to put anything in my mouth.
My oldest came running up stairs screaming "What's wrong?"
Mom just does not lose it like this.

So we prayed.

At first my prayers were for myself. Why? Why? Why? and How? How? How?

But then.

I got this image of Moms everywhere getting bad news today.

How does a Mom come home from a doctor appointment and look into her kids' eyes and tell them she has cancer?
How does a pregnant Mom get up from watching Survivor, go to the bathroom, and find she is bleeding?
How does a Mom get up from watching Survivor to answer the phone and get told her husband was just killed? How does she tell her kids?
How does a Mom tell her kids there is nothing for dinner and have to look into those eyes, helplessly.

My prayers changed rather quickly.
I was thankful for this moment of pain and more financial hardship because it reminds me once again how blessed I am.
It reminds me to let my heart be broken and pray for others.

So, I'm praying for others today.
Will you do the same?

My oldest daughter

In honor of my oldest daughter's 16th Birthday this month, here are 10 things I love about her.

1. Her smile. She smiles with her whole face. Often. When she was little her Dad called her clown eyes. Her smile is contagious too, you just can't be in a bad mood around her.

2. Her hair. She has great hair. dark brown with natural highlights and really thick with amazing curls. I also love that even though super straight hair is in style with the girls at her school, she seldom straightens hers.

3. She loves talking with and getting to know adults as much as kids. Ever since she was little and we would go to a party or shower of some sort, more often than not she would be hanging out with the adults.

4. When she was about 10 and we would be at a store like Target, she would always go to the baby section and look at all the baby stuff. She even lately has started asking me to buy her things for her babies someday, when she sees something she realy likes. At first I thought it was weird, but now I guess she just knows what she wants from life. And being a Mom someday is so important to her.

5. She also has most details of her wedding all planned out.  Her colors, music, unique things she wants to do at her reception......She wants to have a candy table at her reception with cute little boxes for people to fill up and take home, so whenever we are at thrift stores she always heads to the section of dishes and looks for a cute dish, jar or bowl.

6. She is really loud. When she was little she had this loud, crazy, obnoxious laugh. I would always say, try and laugh like a lady.
 (I know. I am so annoying)
I have since given up on that and learned to just embrace her loudness.

7. She puts others first. She shares everything and always so willingly (Is that a word?) She cares about figuring out her friends problems and helping them, even though she may be struggling with something herself. She roots with her whole heart for a sister who is better at a sport that she just happens to love herself.

8. She asks for my advice. I know this is huge. And not just for things like school work or family issues, but real things like boys and her friends. She not only asks, but takes it. uses it. And thanks me for it when the outcome is good.

9. She flirts with boys. I love this about her because I was scared to death of boys when I was a teenager, and sometimes being scared of something alters your decision making. She's not scared. She's not scared to flirt. She's not scared to tell how she feels. She's not scared to tell a boy her parents said she couldn't date him. She's not scared to say don't talk to me like that.

10. She gets me. We laugh at the same things. We read eachothers minds. She knows when I'm mad without having to tell her. She knows I love details and always offers them before I can ask. She gets my humor, when no one else does.

  Me and My oldest daughter!

Pictures!

I am working on a little project/Birthday present for my oldest daughter.
She turns 16 next week!

The project involves pictures. I have been going through all her old photo albums and taking some special pictures out and scanning them into the computer.
She is so old that we didn't have digital cameras back then so she has tons of printed pictures and tons of photo albums.
My middle daughter has alot of photo albums too, not quite as many as her big sister though and of course her big Sis is in most of her pictures.
My youngest on the otherhand has like 1 photo album, as most of her pictures are on the computer or a disc.
Somehow it just doesn't feel as special saying here is your disc versus a cutsie hand made photo album.
I need to work on that.

Does anyone else have misbalanced documentation more pictures of one of their kids?
Does anyone feel the need to keep everything equally balanced like I do?
I'm an only child (for the most part) so I get all confused on the whole siblings things sometimes.

So, now that I have all these adorable pictures of my first born and her birthday is this month and I started this whole blog becasue of her...................

I'm thinking of posting some pictures.

Maybe I can get it together enough to do a tribute to her for the 10 on the10th!

Like this one.

Stay tuned.
I'm tellin ya' my daughter is cute! Then and now!

A job

Remember when I told you about my friend who's daughter was having a baby?

He turns 2 months old tomorrow.

His Mommy needs to go back to work a little bit, but she has this adorable, great smelling little bundle of joy.

The thought of putting him in daycare was just too scary. Her Mom said that she had a person in mind to maybe watch him a few hours a day a couple times a week. She asked her daughter if she could pick one person to do that who would she pick?

They both said my name!

I got the call the other day. I said yes without even having to think twice about it. I even will be paid a little bit, which I tried to say no to, but she insisted.

A job. For me.

Someone is going to pay me to sit and cuddle a baby! I can't even begin to describe the smile on my face and in my heart.

And the fact that I will be able to sit and pray over this little guy just brings me great joy.

Road Trip

Me and the girls took a small road trip this weekend.

It was small in the sense that we only stayed one quick night at our destination, but the driving part was not small at all.

I love road trips with my girls.

For some reason my oldest and I have always had great conversations in the car. I guess having to keep our eyes on the road and the never ending drive seems to let us just talk and talk. Before we know it we're talking about important and sometimes awkward or embarrassing topics.

We also listen to tons of music. Everything from Classical to Country and Christian to Hip Hop.
(Hip Hop/Rap/Gangsta...? I have no idea)

When we get really bored we play a game with the music.

My daughter puts 6 random CD's in and we take turns picking a number from 1 to 6, and then another number from 1 to 12. (or however many a CD has on it)
and then that is the song we listen to.
It never fails to turn out funny or even special as to that particular song totally being about that person.

We had been playing this game for awhile on our trip and everyone was getting bored of it so we decided to stop. My oldest daughter had one turn left so she started fumbling around with the CD's and I think she was trying to put a different one in.
She was basically cheating, by knowing what CD it was and what song she was picking.

And the song?

Best day by Taylor Swift

If you know this song you'll know I was crying my eyes out. I felt like this had been one of the best days ever with my girls. But the fact that my daughter must have also been feeling that........well, words just can't describe.

Go listen to that song if you don't know it. It will remind you of your kids or maybe even your own Mom............