I received my first blogger award!

Thank you Mrs. Claus at Like Christmas every single day

Don't you love the name of her blog! And she has candy names for her kids, I just love that!

Acknowledging this award seems kind of silly, but honestly it's like a great big hug of encouragement, and I'll take that any day.

My only requirement is that now I have to share 10 honest things about myself.

Here ya go.

1. I still lay with my 6 year old daughter at night until she falls asleep. I know she should be able to fall asleep by herself and it's good for her and all that, but I can't help it. She is just so darn cuddly and still has that lingering baby smell.

2. I sometimes sneak into my daughter's room and 'borrow' some of her fancy hair products, because I'm too cheap to buy some for myself.

3. I  sometimes have to bleach  the hair on a certain part of my face. 

4. I have a scar on my throat from a surgery I had when I was just a baby.

5. I sometimes dream about being a missionary.

6. I get embarrassed easily and my face turns red at the weirdest times.

7. I homeschool my 2 youngest daughters and somedays I absolutely hate it.

8. I have written 5 childrens' books, they are currently tucked away in a filing cabinet.

9. I struggle with my weight. But am currently working on it.

10. I secretly wish I had another baby. A little boy.

Now the fun part is, I get to give this award (hug) to 10 11 other bloggers.

1. Inside Out (this is my sister and her heart is amazing)

2. Carpool Queen               (  makes me laugh everyday)

3. Jewels in my crown.... someday     (  is sassy and fun)

4. La Vida Dulce           ( cute, crafty, and loves coffee )

5. Life at 7000 feet                    ( likes to clean like me )

6. Marla Taviano            ( love her books and her heart )

 7. Momma's Soapbox              ( love her 'Rugrats' story )

  8. Such the Spot( Cutest Mom ever, and lover of Disney )

9. There's no place like Home ( has a PINK fireplace mantel )

10. Dirty Shame                        ( wish he was my Pastor)

11. Surviving Motherhood (her love for Moms and Jesus)

OK, now go give these people some love and I hope they play along with this award because I really want to know 10 honest things about them they so deserve an award!

The last quarter

This is the first day of the last quarter of my daughter's Sophomore year.
This made me cry this morning.

I can be a little overly dramatic sometimes.

But sometimes I can't help but think about things from a....this will never be happening again....standpoint.

This day will never happen again.

It's an ordinary day really, but filled with so much meaning.
I want to be a part of every moment of her life.
The extraordinaire and the ordinary.

I want to teach her to take the time and be thankful for moments of the everyday and make them into something special.

As I tried to hide my tears from her, because I knew how ridiculous they were, she hugged me and said "It'll be okay Mom. We'll get through this."

I know she was mocking me, but she sure has some wisdom.


What everyday event can you turn into something special today?

The 10th?

How is it possibly the 10th of April already?

10 things I wonder about.


1. What do the letters W I F I stand for in Free Wi Fi?

2. Why did the loaf of bread I always buy get smaller and the price go up?

3. Why is Diesel fuel more expensive than regular fuel, when it used to      always  be cheaper?

4. Why do you have to dissect a frog in order to graduate from high school?

5. Why was I not paying better attention when we  I named our youngest daughter?  Her initials are I.R.S.

6. Why am I rooting for the villians on Survivor?

7. How come I don't like texting?

8. How come I thought plucking out the gray hairs on top of my head was a good idea? Because now instead of a few long gray hairs neatly hidden amongst my other hairs I have these tiny, curly, standing straight up, gray hairs on top of my head.

9. If I use sunless tanner and age spot remover cream on my face at the same time what do you think will happen?

10. Ok, your turn. What makes you go hmmm...............

Please feel free to answer any of these for me!

My girls

I have 3 daughters.

They remind me daily that life is such a gift.

I saw Jesus at the Easter egg hunt

Saturday our small town had their annual Easter egg hunt in the city park.

I haven't always been a huge fan of these types of events, but it was free and our friends were going so I thought it might be fun. Plus it was free eggs and candy for the kids. It was also free.
sorry I'm just on such a budget these days that the word free makes me very happy.

They had the park sectioned off by age groups.
My youngest was in the 4 to 6 year old area and I had to stay with her because there was someone dressed up as the Easter bunny, and she was having a complete panic attack whenever he came to close to her.

Here's where I first saw Jesus.
We were standing around waiting for the whistle to go off when I hear my oldest daughter say "Mom, what is Dad doing here?"
I turned to look across the park where she was pointing and I see him, in all his camo glory, walking across the park waving to us.
I wanted to cry. Happy tears.
You see my husband just doesn't do these types of things with us. I'm not really sure why. Years ago he would have, but somewhere along something in him changed. He just usually lets me do all the busy activities with the girls. So seeing him there I knew he came just for the girls, and that made my heart so happy.
I saw Jesus in  my husband that day.


So, off my husband went to be with my middle daughter who was across the park in the 7 to 10 year old section. I was a little worried about her because it semed to be the largest group. Lots of 10 year old boys who looked like they were getting ready to go to battle.
This is why I usually don't like these types of things.
She did have her friend who was actually one of those 10 year old boys, but I thought maybe he would look out for her.

The whistle blew, and off they went. The 4 to 6 year olds were hillarious! Some knew just what to do, some ran straight across the park thinking this was some kind of race, a couple started crying while their parent kept yelling at them to just pick up an egg. It was comical that's for sure, and it was over in like 60 seconds.

Here's where I saw Jesus again.
As we walked to meet my husband and my middle daughter, someone told me that her friend (the 10 year old boy) was crying. Apparently he had gotten pushed and his bag fell, spilling all his eggs. The 2 boys that had pushed him then grabbed all his eggs. When I met my daughter I told her what happened and asked her if she could share a couple of her eggs with him. She got this look on her face, like she was thinking about it. Then she looked at me and asked, "Mom can I just give him my whole bag?"
I couldn't believe it. I said "It's your bag, you may do whatever you want to do."
I was trying to keep it together and act like this was just an everyday act, but I knew it was so much more. I was seeing Jesus in my daughter.

The look on his face when she went over and gave him her bag was amazing. And his Mom, my very best friend, had a complete meltdown. She of course made the scene that my daughter so deserved, and made sure everyone around us knew what she did. I knew it would have been ok too if she had done it quietly and hadn't been recognized for her action, because that just would have been a treasure she stored in Heaven. But it was amazing to see her loved on like that.

My husband and my middle daughter showed me Jesus this weekend. They reminded me that it sometimes is just the small selfless acts of life that can be the biggest picture of Jesus to people.

And my youngest had known exactly what to do when that whistle had blown, so we still went home with plenty of free eggs!

Not too busy

We have been busy this week.
It's been spring break.
I almost capitalized spring, then I heard June screaming at me.

We've played at friends' houses, shopped, went to the movies, went to an indoor waterslide park, laughed, ate, came home late, and on and on and on.......

But it seems in all the fun we're having, every so often I would hear a small whisper.
It was Him.
He wasn't upset that I was doing so much or having so much fun that had nothing to do with what He went through this week so many years ago.
No, He was laughing with me and just reminding me that it was why He did it all. So that I could have life. I was having fun but I know that it's the kind of fun that only lasts for a moment. The joy that comes from Him lasts forever.

I wasn't too busy to have my moments with Him.

I wasn't too busy to hug my daughters and look into their eyes and see Jesus there.
I wasn't too busy to thank my friends for being there and feel Jesus in their hug.
I wasn't to busy to put a band aid on a scraped knee and think about His blood.
I wasn't too busy to share a meal with our friends and think about His last meal.
I wasn't too busy to comfort my crying child and feel Mary's pain as she watched her son die.

Thank you Jesus for being in my busy week and not letting me forget.