Conquering Fears

A few of our children have a fear of animals. Anything furry with four legs causes Elijah to scream terribly. 

One day while we were waiting for Joshua to get done with his work on a nearby farm, the rest of the children and I decided to help by giving hay to the horses.

Hannah was pretty proud that she could climb up to the feed trough with her arms full of hay.

Jonathan declared himself a real cowboy. He also said that he was a real farmer because he was wearing overalls.

 

Then there was Elijah. The closer we got to the barn the more planted his feet became. 

I offered to hold him. He agreed. I put him on my hip and carried him into the barn. 

Then it happened...

A horse looked at him! 

He started hollering and screaming. You'd have thought I was about to feed him to the horse how he was carrying on.

Until his sweet big sister, Ruth, came to his rescue. She offered him her back. He was okay as long as his sister was between him and the horse. 

He would even take hay and throw it into the stall from her back. 

By the end, she had him standing on the ground throwing hay into the stall without anyone even holding his hand. Now that's pretty good!

And what did Elisabeth think of it all?

Well, she didn't seem to mind his hollering. And was pretty happy to watch the others feeding the animals. 



Maybe we'll get Elijah over his fears before Elisabeth is swayed by them.

You know two year olds are not the only ones to be afraid of something.

Even grown ups have fears. 

I am afraid of hurting people. I worry sometimes that if I say or write the wrong thing someone might get upset. I fear conflict.

I fear the time that someone will disagree with me and turn me into the "bad" guy. I've had that happen before. 

Once I was trying to help someone in a Christian chat room many years ago. (This was before Facebook and Twitter.) Chat rooms were an exciting place back then.

A person asked for help and I tried to give them what they needed.
Somehow they turned what I was saying to help them into my not caring. 

Then someone else came into the chat room and backed them. I looked like a terrible person. When I was honestly trying to help.

 The real problem was they didn't want the help. I tried to explain that I was only trying to help. They told me they forgave me. Forgave me for what? I hadn't said or done anything against them. 

That one experience had me so upset that I never went back to that chat room for fear that it would happen again. 

Is that any different than Elijah being afraid of the horse that looked at him? 

I've been working on facing my fears. I have slowly started reaching back out to try to help people. 

Maybe a bit cautiously at first. Like Elijah hiding behind his big sister. But I'm finally sharing that bite of hay. 

I am setting a goal to conquer my fears. I am going to do my best to  help people even when I'm afraid.

How about you? What fears do you have to conquer?

Feel free to share in the comments. I'd love to hear how you are working to conquer your fears.


What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. (Psalms 56:3-4)

"Why?"

Every night our family gathers together to pray before the children climb in their beds. My husband and I use this time to not only pray with our children but for discussion as well. 

Friday night having just heard the news ourselves, we decided we should tell our children about the tragedy. I told them how a man shot his mother and then went to the local school and shot 20 students and 6 teachers and then he killed himself.

"Why?" 

This question came from my 5 year old Jonathan. "Why?" 

I know I need to write about it. But I stare at my computer and the only thing I can type is "Why?" 

Every time I hear of yet another shooting. Why?

How do you answer your child? I told him that I didn't know what was going on in that man's mind. 

We know for a fact that God isn't happy with what that man did. And we also know that the man wasn't trusting God with his problems instead he killed his mother, 26 innocent lives, and then himself. Why?

I really don't know why. I could speculate. That seems to be what many other people all over the internet are doing. Speculating. There is a lot of dangerous ground in speculations. I am not going to tell you what I think all the possible reasons are.

The things I know for sure... 
God wants us to love our neighbor. (Matthew 19:19)
God wants us to love our enemies. Doing good to those that hate us.(Matthew 5:43)

I am going to continue doing my part to raise my children to trust God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.


And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 
(Mark 12:30-31)

How has the news affected you? Did you find yourself speechless? What have you found to help get past the sinking feeling? Or are you past it yet?

For me it is finally finding the words to write.

Team Work -- How NOT to put together a bunk bed!

Scott had the week of Thanksgiving off from his work. We went and visited my parents at the beginning of that week. 

When we arrived at their house my mom mentioned that she wanted to put together the bunk bed so that each child has a real bed to sleep on instead of some having to sleep on the floor.

I decided to volunteer myself as well as the older kids for the job. To measure the space that my mom wanted to put the bed in I brought in one of the mattress frames that was already put together. I told my mom it was easier than finding a tape measure. You can probably already see where this is going. 

Then I determined that it had to be about the right amount of space. We brought in all the parts to the bed. This bed had been one of our beds but we gave it to my parents in exchange for a 3 tiered bunk bed. We put this thing together before. How hard could it be?

Let's just say we managed to put the top bunk where the bottom bunk should have been. We noticed that the rail was on the wrong side after we screwed all of the bolts into the bed. 

No problem! We just unscrewed the whole thing and turned the mattress frame a complete 180 degrees so that the holes would line up for the top rail. 

Now mind you there was a full sized bed and a twin bed in the room as well. We have to dodge and climb over those beds as well. We required 8 sets of hands to accomplish all the work we put into that bunk bed.

Finally, it was time to put the final rail on the bed. The holes were in the wrong place. In fact, they were in the wrong place on the other side of the bed as well. That's when it dawned on us. We had put the top bunk on the bottom and the bottom bunk on the top. Then we managed to lose some of the screws that were made for the bed and put some bolts in backwards. We had a mess on our hands.

We called in the cavalry. My dad and Scott came in the room to try to sort it all out.  

Thankfully, they didn't have to take the whole bed apart again.  They did wind up rigging it a bit. 

Dad helped pop out the bolts. Scott screwed in the screws and rigged the areas that didn't have screws.
I don't know how they managed to sort it all out but they did. 

We did get one thing out of this.  A lot of laughs! We were laughing so hard at the problems we were having putting the bed together. That's when I decided to take out my camera. This much laughter needed to be recorded. We didn't get mad about it. We just laughed. 

Did you know that laughing is very good for you? The Bible says that "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."  Proverbs 17:22

Have you ever had a failed attempt at team work? When was the last time you tried to put something together and it turned out all wrong? Do you have a funny story you want to share?

Tell us about it in the comments below. 

I have 8 more posts to write before the New Year and a Christmas Present to give my readers in about a week. Don't miss any of the upcoming gifts and updates by signing up for our free email updates. You can also "like" our RockSolidFamily Facebook Page.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Have you been noticing changes to my blog lately? Well, I'm not done yet.

All of this has been bringing me yet one step closer to fulfilling my childhood dream. Today, I am going to tell you about my next step.

I was invited to participate in "The Next Big Thing Blog Tour" by my friend, Katina. In this blog hop, I am to answer 10 questions about a book that I have written or am working on.

Did I hear a gasp? Yes, I am working on a book. I have several book ideas but decided to tell you about a book that I am almost ready to publish.

1) What is the working title of your book?

     The Year Santa Meets Jesus

2) Where did the idea come from for your book?
     Several years ago, I noticed the crowds of children at malls waiting in line to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. I started thinking about how many Christians visit their local Santa and yet never introduce him to Jesus. That's where the idea for my book came from.

3) What genre does your book fall under?
This would be labeled as Christian Fiction and Poetry.

4) Which actors would you choose to play in your movie rendition?

Hmm... I'm not good at remembering actors' names. And if I were to name an actor I do know, you'd say why he's not a kid anymore. So I'll just describe what I think the actors would look like.

 I imagine Santa being a normal middle aged shopping mall Santa. Extra stuffing padding his belly and an overly white cottony beard.  For the boy I imagine him being around 7 or 8 years old with big brown eyes.

5) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Everyone, including Santa, needs someone to care about them.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Right now I plan to self-publish. Unless an agent just happens to be reading this. ;-)

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It probably took me a week to write the first draft. The first draft was not a poem. It took me a few months to modify it and make it exactly what I want it to be.

8) What other books would you compare this story to?

It's a picture book. Once I have the pictures, I'd probably be able to compare it then.

9) Who or what inspired you to write the book?

Well, God inspired me to write it. Most of the short stories and tracts I've written were simply things I felt I had to write because of problems I saw around me.

10) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It is short and sweet. It's about a boy that cares more about giving to Santa rather than receiving something from him.

I see this as a story that parents can read to their children and show them where their hearts should be this Christmas. And who knows it may stir some grown up heart strings as well.

I was tagged by Katina Vaselopulos of Life's Incredible Journeys. Last week Katina wrote about her upcoming book on her Next Big Thing Blog post here.

Do you have something big you are planning? What "Big Thing" does God have you working on right now?

As always feel free to share in the comments below.

And keep an eye out for a special Christmas present from our family to yours coming soon.
 
You can sign up for my email updates or "Like" our RockSolidFamily on Facebook to keep up with our latest activities.

Our First Fight: "No, I won't eat my children!"

Most people don't believe that my husband and I ever fight. We're normally smiling ear to ear no matter where we go.

I don't want to disappoint you but I need to set the record straight right here and now.

We're not perfect! There I said it.

In my last post, 16 Happy Years I mentioned that things weren't always easy during our 16 years of marriage. We have had our moments of what we called in the early years "interesting discussions".

I'm going to share one of our first fights interesting discussions with you now.

After I met Scott I got a job at the same grocery store he worked at. He told me later that he thought I was coming there because he was there. The truth was I needed a job and a friend of my mom's just happened to work there. She set me up for an interview with the manager the very week after I met Scott.

I got the job! I scanned groceries while Scott bagged them. We were fast becoming good friends. We both worked late shifts. I would often wait around for about an hour after I got off to wait for him.

Scott took two months off for the summer to go to Honduras. I spent all my summer's pay checks on phone calls. Then he came back. Asked me to marry him. All those details you can read in my last post here

Scott then returned to Seminary, and working the evening shift. He would often think about the things he studied in school.

One day in Seminary there was a deep theological discussion of how bad mankind's sin can be.

That discussion stayed in Scott's mind the rest of the day. He was ready in season and out of season to give an answer. (2 Timothy 4:2)

This is normally a good thing unless your bride-to-be is not a seminary trained theologian. Then you might just get fireworks.

I was waiting in the back room for Scott to clock out. We were about to leave with several other workers. We saw one of the other employees go into the bakery and steal a cookie. I was shocked!

I asked Scott about it. He said that wasn't the first time that had happened. Then the lesson they discussed that day kicked in. Just as I was about to say it he said, "Don't say that you wouldn't do that."

I looked at him in disbelief. "I would not steal a cookie!" I said emphatically. Did he think that I was so low that I would do such a thing?

He then told me about the verse in the Bible that talks about how times were so bad that even the most upright and delicate women ate their children. Was I suggesting that I was better than them?

My eyes were as big as saucers at that point as I insisted that I would NOT eat my children.
I'd give my children my own limbs if it came to that.

Poor guy thought I was declaring myself incapable of sin.

Once we got to my home we both decided to listen.

I told him about the teacher that I had in elementary that told us not to say we wouldn't do something because we would. Her example was we should not say we wouldn't smoke because we might smoke. Well, I didn't hear the might. I spent several years afraid to say I wouldn't do something.

Later I realized that it actually was good to be resolved against doing evil. And so I had a firm determination that I wouldn't do something that I know is wrong.

Scott explained that in his class they discussed Deuteronomy 28:56-57
and talked about how bad mankind can be under dire situations. I can't say that I wouldn't steal a cookie if I was hungry enough.

I admitted that I knew I was capable of doing bad things. But I would never eat my children. To me that verse speaks of how spiritually messed up the people during that time were if their best mothers would stoop so low as to eat their children.

Scott was glad to hear that I didn't think I was perfect. And I was glad to hear him say that I didn't have to eat my children.

We laugh about it now. Scott even bought a huge pot as a gag gift to me after our firstborn son was born. We used the pot for tamales but the kids sure enjoyed playing in it too.

Have you and your spouse ever had an interesting discussion? How did you finally resolve it?

Next time you have an argument interesting discussion brewing...Listen.

16 Happy Years

I'm not going to say they were all easy years. Some were very difficult. However there is a feeling of accomplishment with each obstacle we overcome.

My father, found Scott in Seminary. He would come home from work and tell me all about the questions Scott asked in school that day. My dad held Scott in high regards and was constantly singing his praises.

As the eldest of 3 siblings, I was beginning to get anxious to move out of the house. I was attending a local junior college but wanted more independence. I was willing to consider marriage but thought surely I would find a guy that met my high expectations in college. That didn't happen. I was sorely disappointed.

Then the day came that I finally gave my dad permission to introduce me to the potential son-in-law of his dreams. Yes, I was slightly skeptical at first. I even told my dad that I would only guarantee one date. Then Dad would have to help me break up with him if I didn't like him after that date.

My dad went to the seminary the next day handed Scott a business card with my name printed on the back and said, "Scott, my daughter really wants to meet you!"

I was rather embarrassed that my dad worded it that way. "Dad! You, made me sound desperate!"

Scott didn't seem to mind that though. He might not have called if it weren't for my dad making it sound like I really wanted him to.

Thankfully my dad answered the phone the day Scott called. He was coming to our church that Wednesday night. I was nervous!

My dad was preaching when Scott came in. We were a part of a small church. Scott claims he sat behind the prettiest girl in the auditorium. I'll go ahead and believe him even though I was probably the only obviously eligible girl in the room.

After the service we all talked. No it wasn't love at first sight for either of us. How does someone fall in love with a complete stranger just by looking at them? He seemed nice and was kind of cute but I wouldn't describe it as love until I was sure.

My dad took us all out for ice cream after the service. I called our first date, "Date with Dad." My dad did most of the talking and Scott knew how to talk to him. So I sat at an opposite table and just listened mostly.

I guess after that first date with my dad, Scott knew my dad would be a good father-in-law.

The next time I saw him I invited him to my band concert in college.

Easter Sunday, my Mema had invited him to eat with our family at her house. I picked Scott up that day. He was playing his guitar on his porch steps. We talked all the way to my grandmother's house and all the way back. He wasn't too shy to talk and yet didn't mind listening either. I think that was the day that I decided he was a keeper. I didn't know how he felt but I decided I wouldn't be the one to leave.

Then one day he took me to the zoo. He asked me if he could hold my hand. Ah ha! He didn't realize that he might as well have proposed to me. I agreed. He picked me a flower off the side of the road.

That summer he visited a Missionary in Honduras for 2 months. I spent all my money on phone bills that summer. We still have the numerous letters we wrote back and forth to each other.

Early one morning, he called my Dad and asked if he could marry me. My dad told him, "That's why I gave you that card." Scott asked my dad if he could get my ring size without my knowing.

The next day my dad asked me and my sister if we had any idea as to how he could find out my mother's ring size without her knowing. He said that he was thinking about getting her a ring.

We asked which finger and he said he wasn't sure. So we decided the best way was to get everyone in the family to measure all their fingers. Well, our idea didn't work because mom never did measure her finger. I think my dad was smarter than I was.

Then Scott arrived back from Honduras. He imagined the perfect setting to ask me to marry him. However we went to a wedding that night and the rumor had gotten out that we were engaged already. Poor Scott didn't know how to tell people that he hadn't asked me yet. He decided that night that he better go ahead and ask.

We almost set our wedding day to be on my birthday in December. However that was an awfully busy time of year for his mother to come. We decided to move the date up to Thanksgiving. He thought he'd be able to remember it better that way.

Thanksgiving day, November 28, 1996, I married my knight in shining armour. Life might not have always been easy for us down the rocky roads of life but 16 years and 6 children later we have really been blessed.

How long have you been married? Where did the two of you meet? If you're not married yet, do you know what you are looking for?

Never settle for less than God's best.

Living Childhood Dreams

It's fun to ask a 4 or 5 year old what they want to do when they grow up. When Joshua was about 5 years old, he wanted to build robots. Ruth at that age wanted to be a princess. Hannah wanted to be a football playing mommy with milk.

Jonathan just turned 5 this month and he wants to be either a fireman or Captain America when he grows up.

I love the dreams young children have. The sky's the limit as to what they can do some day.

What happens as we grow up and face the real world? Whatever happened to dreaming great things?

When I was in fifth grade I was given an assignment to draw a life sized drawing of myself wearing the clothes of the profession I wanted to be. I'm sure the teacher had a good number of fire fighters and nurses. I drew a picture of me with a pencil and a name tag. The name tag said, "Anastacia Clark, Writter".

I'm not sure why, but my dream got lost in the shuffle of daily school life. I was complimented on my writing by English teachers but the closer to college I got the further that dream crept away.

I didn't consider it a worthy profession. I thought writing was just a hobby. In college, I should have taken journalism and writing courses. Instead I spent most of that year dropping courses I was good at in order to try to pass courses I was terrible at.

Then I married. My husband saw my writing and encouraged me to pursue it further. In fact he has always been my biggest supporter.

Now here I am. Living my childhood dream. I'm taking a writing course. A book is in the works. I have a domain name and soon I'll even have my own website. Since that day many years ago, I hadn't really imagined myself coming this far.

I want my children to live out their dreams. Even if their dreams change as they mature. I want to see them using their talents and reaching their goals. Maybe they won't wait until they are my age to just be starting at it. I want them to reach to the stars right now.

How about you? Do you have an unfulfilled childhood dream to reach for? What is it that's holding you back?

Feel free to share. Let's be kids again and reach for the stars together.

My 10 Super Mom Capes

In my last post I talked about being a not-so-super mom. There was only one problem. My husband and children begged to differ with me. They declared that I really was super. Now I'm going to write about the capes in my life that are super. Maybe by the end you will see that we're really not so different. Yes, that means you're super too.

There are 10 basic areas of my life that are important to me.

All of these areas of my life would make a blog post all by themselves. Right now I will give you a brief glimpse of each area and expound more in future posts.

Cape #10 -- A Writer This cape is still a work in progress. I feel like I still need to hem the edges a bit. My husband has been my biggest supporter. Ever since I was in 5th grade, I wanted to be a writer. Now I am trying to keep the momentum going forward. I am currently taking a writing course. I've been learning so much. You may have noticed some of the changes I've been making on my blog. I'm not done tweaking it yet. Bare with me as I continue to make improvements.

Cape #9 -- A Friend I have many friends. I have church friends, homeschool friends, writing friends, karate friends, and internet friends. I value every friendship. All my friends are very encouraging to me. 

Cape #8 -- A Sister I am the oldest of 3 children. My little brother and sister are a lot of fun to be around. We weren't always nice to each other. I tended to be a pushy big sister. We grew out of that though. Now we each have families of our own. Life is not boring for any of us. We still have a good time whenever we get together.

Cape #7 -- A Grandaughter I have always had a tight nit family. Both my grandfathers were preachers. My father is a preacher. My husband is a preacher. My brother is a preacher. And my brother-in-law is a preacher. Do we see a theme going here? I remember listening to my grandfathers pray before meals. My grandmothers endured many trials to raise my parents and their siblings in a time that was ever changing. I love my grandmothers and miss my grandfathers.

Cape #6 -- A Daughter-in-law I would be remiss to not acknowledge my position as a daughter-in-law. God gave me a hard working husband that is willing to work any job to provide for his family. My husband gives his parents credit for instilling in him his strong work ethic. I hate that we live so far away but technology has helped us bridge the gap. I try to plan our family vacations to include a trip to see my husband's family in Michigan.

Cape #5 -- A Daughter I am very grateful that I was born to godly parents. My parents are the ones that raised me to be the woman I am today. I had good parenting skills modeled before me in my childhood. There is so much I could write just on things I learned from my parents. They are still here for me to learn from even in my adult years.

Cape #4 -- A Teacher. My husband and I made the decision to homeschool our children when our eldest child was only 2 years old. Right now I mix and match my curriculum to fit each child's needs. Next year I'll be entering the High School years with my eldest. That will give me 1 High Schooler, 1 Junior High, 2 elementary, 1 preschooler, and 1 day care age all under one roof. It kind of makes me feel like I live in a 1 room school house except they're all my own children.

Cape #3 -- A Mom. I'm the mother of 6 children. Three boys and three girls. Our eldest is 14. Our youngest is 5 months. My husband and I love each and every child so much. We can't imagine our life without any one of them in it. We plan to have as many children as God allows us.

Cape #2 -- A Wife  My husband, Scott, and I were married on Thanksgiving day in 1996. We have been happily married for 16 years. It hasn't always been easy but maintaining a happy relationship is well worth the effort. I can honestly say that my husband is my best friend.

Cape #1--A Child of God  My faith is very important to me.  It is the foundation of all my other relationships. Without God and His instructions there would be no purpose in my life. 

What part of your life is important to you? 
Is there a particular area that gives you purpose to do what you do best?

Feel free to share! Check out my comments section below. 

A Not-So-Super Mom with Many Capes

"You're my hero!" the other mother said to me as we talked about our children. I'm not sure what exactly I did that made her say that. Perhaps it's because I'm a mother with 6 children. Maybe it's because I homeschool my children. I've been told this many times. One time was after I delivered my 11 lb. 4 oz baby. People would ask if I did that naturally. "Yes, I did. With no medication."

Then suddenly there goes that phrase, "You're my hero!"

I think they mean it like a child that proclaims Super Man as their hero. They want to be like him, fly like him. They want to be him. Why not? He's bullet proof.

I think some women just view me as a type of Super Mom. What exactly is a super mom?

I picture Super Mom as this amazing woman with everything figured out. She manages her time wisely. Her children are always neat and clean everywhere they go. She feels no pain. Potty training is a breeze. Her hair is always tidy. The dishes are always washed and put away neatly. She wakes up early. Her family eats three square home cooked meals a day. And...She is never late!

If that is a super mom then that's not me.

I sometimes choose to do the history lesson over dishes. Sometimes I cancel a homeschool day in order to have my kids help clean up a messy house. I pick and choose their activities and they don't always get a say in the matter. I haven't potty trained my 2 year old yet. I brush my hair while rushing the kids out to the car. I rarely look in the mirror. And...we're almost always late!

I don't feel like a super mom. Things get crazy for me too. I usually have a game plan in mind. Then nothing goes as planned.

For instance, the other day I decided to take a picture (above) for this post. I told the kids what I wanted. I found a spot. My daughter volunteered to take the picture. And then....the picture looks awful! I look like a tired, worn out mother with kids gone crazy all around me. What's so super about that?

I showed the picture to my husband. He understood. He knew what kind of picture I really wanted. "You're wanting a picture with a baby under one arm. The wind blowing at your cape. One arm is extended as you prepare to save the day."

He was right. I see that picture in my minds eye but it's not really me. It's rather crushing when you realize that you can't pull off that Super Mom look. Even if I let my husband help me get that "perfect" picture there would still be that one problem. That would still be the not-so-super me in it.

The truth of the matter is I'm just a normal mom with many capes trying to decide which one I need to put on right now.

What kind of capes do you wear?
Do you have a particular one that's your favorite?

Feel free to share in the comments below.

I'll be posting more about my various capes soon.

Getting Ready to Fly!

I'm working on some changes to my writing goals. I really do plan to write more often. I have been getting back to the love of writing.

If you noticed over the years my blog has been changing. It went from my writing about things that touched me in some way to trying to keep up with what is going on in my life right now.

I found that it's easier for me to just post short bits about my family on Facebook. It seems a bit repetitive to post those same things on my blog. It's hard to blog about every detail of my life while trying to live it. (Like right now, I'm blogging while feeding my baby.)

I have been learning a lot about blogging and other forms of writing through a writing course that I am taking. You'll probably be seeing quite a few of my writing assignments on here. I feel I'll be killing two birds with one stone that way.

Eventually I would like to start blogging under my own domain name and having an email newsletter with exclusive non-blog stuff. I just need to work this part out.

I'm hoping to be able to start this new endeavor by the New Year. It's a work in progress right now. You can help me by letting me know honestly what you like or don't like about my blog posts and what I write. Your feedback can help me as I prepare to move forward with some exciting new changes. You'll probably start seeing some little changes from time to time. Feel free to leave me a comment when you notice something new that you like or don't like. :-)

I'm also working on a special Christmas present for everyone.

Please help me out as I spread my wings to fly!

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 

Moving Mountains

What would I say in just 15 minutes? If I were to just start writing to see where my thoughts go, where all would I travel. This is just me thinking to myself.

Did you know that I write in my head? Yes, that's a little fact about me that very few people know. If there is something that bothers me, I immediately start thinking about what I would write if I could post that in a blog. Writing for me is therapeutic.

When my children say or do something funny, I write it down. If I am worried, I write. If I am angry, I write.

Sometimes I write my thoughts in a notepad. Sometimes I write my thoughts on my blog post. Then there are the more frequent times that I write in my head. In fact for this 15 minute assignment, I wrote several papers in my mind, before I ever got around to starting this one on paper.

One of the things I wrote in my mind was my thoughts on voice. What is my voice? When I thought about that I started thinking of all the things I have written in the past. I feel as if I have two voices. Although really they are both part of one voice, but they sound like two.

One way my voice comes out is my casual, pull up a chair and have a cup of tea voice. That's my mother voice that enjoys bragging about what my children have done today. Look at what my baby learned. Guess what my two year old said. And maybe throw in a lesson that can be learned just as an extra lump of sugar to that tea. You hardly noticed you learned something today.

Then there is the passionate side of my voice. That is when I see some injustice and I can't hold back. My two has been crossed! Oh, you hadn't heard that story yet? Many years ago my husband and I bought our first computer. We bought it from a used computer store. I wrote check for a certain amount of dollars and 25 cents. Someone crossed my 2 and turned it into a 7. I was so upset over that 50 cents they stole from me. Ever since, anytime I see some injustice my husband says my 2 has been crossed.

When something is just out right wrong, I become passionate in my writing. I can tear into an issue. I pull out all the facts and prove that there is a better way. That's the writing that would move mountains in giant chunks. While my casual writing moves mountains one spoonful at a time.

I think the world needs a little bit of both. What I need to do is give those thoughts to the world where it can help. It does no good to hide it all in my head.

I shared these thoughts with others in a writing course that I'm taking. I'm tired of trying to come up with pictures for what I have to say. I'm now committing to just write. I'll occasionally throw in some pictures but if that is the main thing you are wanting leave a comment with your email address and I'll give you my Facebook link. That's my favorite spot to post pictures.

But right now I plan on moving mountains both by the spoonful and by giant chunks. Pictures will just be the occasional added sugar to sweeten the tea.

Dear Teenage Me,

I know you had a tough time figuring out who you are the past 12 years and now I want to write this letter to encourage you.

First of all, you're a night owl. If there is some way you could change it while you're young it would be really nice to break that habit early on. When you get to be my age breaking the night owl tendency doesn't get any easier. Your children may inherit those same tendencies.

How about your early years? The bullies you faced in Elementary, go ahead and forgive them. You might actually become friends with them later on in your life. You can go ahead and thank your dad for teasing you now. It really will toughen you up and help you react better to kids giving you a hard time. You will learn how people love to pick on people that give them the reaction they are looking for. You will feel really good in high school when a kid picks on you and you have the perfect come back for it. Which makes him and his friends laugh at how witty that come back was. That will be the day that you realize you are no longer subject to bullies. You find strength during that time.

You will realize that you don't have to cry and act weak to get attention. People will notice you more if you let the strength in your personality shine through.

Thank your Dad for saying that you and your sister can't date until you're 18. That makes it super easy to turn guys down in both Junior High and High School. There actually is a sense of freedom in boundaries. You don't have to have your heart broken like you see with so many of your friends around you. Peer pressure to date will be a non-issue for you because you can always fall back on the phrase, "My dad won't let me date." And believe it or not your dad doesn't mind you using him as your excuse.

Oh, very important would be to learn about personalities early. I realize that you will not heed this advice until you meet your husband (which by the way is worth waiting for). You will learn a lot about personalities in a marriage and family class you will take with your husband. You are going to wish you had known this important aspect of relationships much sooner. I think that might have saved your mother some tears if you had learned the differences between the two of you before slamming the door.
I highly recommend you read "The Five Love Languages". It will one day open your eyes to understand why your mom will feel terrible when you don't let her buy something for you. You may feel you are being independent but sometimes it's okay to accept your mother's love.

When you reach my age you'll cherish getting to go out with your mom. You will then see going shopping as quality time and both of you will be happy.

Oh and by the way, your future husband will have similar personality traits as your mom. That actually makes a good combination if you learn to work with those differences. The older you get the more like your dad you'll realize you are. One day your husband will tell you, "Wow, you sound so much like your dad!" Don't worry you'll be pretty sure he means it as a compliment.

Let's see what else I should warn you about. I'm not going to tell you how many children you will have. Let's just say it's more than just the 2 you will think is all God has in mind for you. Oh and you will do quite a bit of babysitting. It really is easier when they're your own kids.

Another piece of advice I better throw in here. Your little brother will one day hit his growth spurt and will suddenly be taller than you. You better watch out how you treat him while he's small. Payback is tough. :-)

College: that will be the big question in the upcoming years. Another piece of advice you won't heed but I'll go ahead and tell you anyway. Pick something you're good at. God has given you talents. Don't be afraid to use them. You'll think you need to pick something big and important. You'll decide to go to college for elementary education but you really should go with journalism and writing instead. When you get to be my age you will wonder why you spent so much time on frivolous stuff when you could have perfected what you are already good at and already enjoy doing. You'll look back and wonder why you didn't get a job at a newspaper office or some other publishing company. You would have done really well at that.

Finally, never settle for anything less than God's best for you. I know you are now starting a list of everything you are looking for in a husband. Keep waiting. Don't settle for anyone else. I know you're going to feel discouraged. You'll even think your list is too strict. Keep waiting though. He really is out there. God's going to bring him from another state. You won't understand why God chose to call your dad to preach during your senior year, but once you meet the guy he finds for you in seminary it all becomes clear. You'll be very glad you waited.

I can probably think of a lot of other advice but you are rather stubborn. You will learn a lot just from living life. Keep reading your Bible! That will be the biggest help you have on life's journey.

And be encouraged that even with the mistakes you will inevitably make, I'm very happy with how well your life turns out.

Sincerely,
Your future self,
Stacie

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Emily Freeman, author of the book Graceful wrote a letter to her teenage self. She encouraged other writers and her blog followers to do the same. You can see all our link ups on her blog at here

I really like the idea. If you want to write a letter to your teenage self and want to share it with me, leave a comment on my blog post and I'll go read your letter. :-) Have fun!

Family Moments

This summer was filled with so many activities with our extended family members.

My brother and his family returned to the states on furlough from France. It was really nice to get to see and visit with them. It made taking family pictures even more meaningful. We never know when we'll have these opportunities again.

We spent a week at my parents house with them. My sister and her family also came and we took a family picture.

We also had a family reunion at my grandmother's house larger family picture with all my aunts, uncles, and most of my cousins on my mother's side of the family. It was great that they planned this reunion right before my brother's family went back to France.


Family seemed to be our theme this summer as we seemed to do everything for and with family all summer long.


We took this picture with Scott's mother when we visited her in Michigan.


This is a picture we took with my paternal grandmother.

This one we took with my maternal grandmother at her home.
We were so blessed this summer with so much family time.

This week I've been missing everyone that we saw this summer. I would love to do it all over again and get even more visiting in.

I realize I hadn't been keeping up with my goal of blogging at least once a week throughout this year. I am going to try to pick back up and start blogging once a week again. I may even get a few extra in to make up for the weeks I missed. :-)

Church Camp

We did so much this past Summer. I only blogged on a few of things that we did. So much keeps happening that I seemed to have missed blogging about church camp.

Our church camp was the last full week of July. We enjoy renewing friendships each year as well as making new friends.

We arrived at camp on a Monday around 3:00 p.m.
We registered and paid our fee. At 4:00 p.m. we had a sponsors meeting. Scott, my husband was voted to fill in for the song leader who was absent this year due to health problems in the family. He did a really good job coming up with songs last minute.




I lost my voice during camp. It was just starting to leave me on Tuesday. I was able to teach and lead the children's choir. But by Wednesday my voice was gone completely. I really appreciated my brother helping me during the week. He taught my 2nd & 3rd grade class on Wednesday and helped me with the children's choir on Thursday. He was really a blessing!



The kids all had a lot of fun. Besides preaching and classes there was also recreation time. The kids played basketball, putt putt golf, swimming, and all sorts of fun activities.



The food in the cafeteria was good. I really liked the onion fried green beans.


If I had been feeling better I would have gotten in on more of the fun. I usually try to get more pictures as well.



There were 20 saved and 12 rededications.


I have gone to this same camp since I turned seven years old. I was saved on a Wednesday afternoon under the same pavilion that I taught from this year. I always enjoy giving my testimony to my class and pointing to the spot where I sat and repented of my sins when I was 10 years old. The Lord sure has been good to me with blessings beyond measure.

A New Body

We were having our Wednesday night Bible Study tonight at our home. We were learning about Gideon putting out the fleece. Somewhere in our discussion, Scott mentioned how that one day when we go to see Jesus that we'll have a new body.

Jonathan was intrigued by this. "Will I be a girl?" he asked.

"No, you will just have a new body. It won't feel any pain."

"Will I have brown skin, and have the sides of my head shaved?"

Okay, I'm sure you can guess which Rocky movie we watched last. Somehow Mr. T fascinated him. That was the kind of body he pictured himself having in heaven one day. The rest of the night he and Elijah went around making muscles and saying, "I pity a fool!"



1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

The Adventures of Parenthood

I'm going to stray a little from talking about our summer activities to share with you another adventurous day in the life of our family.

I woke up a little late Saturday morning, having gone to bed late the night before. We drive about an hour on Saturday mornings to go to our karate class, which doesn't leave us much time to dawdle. The kids fixed oatmeal for breakfast, everyone got dressed in our karate uniforms and we started heading out the door. Scott came running into the house as I was just about to go out asking me if he had any ants on him. The front passenger side door had ants all over it. It had been a few days since we had gone anywhere and the ants had found a dead frog on the top of the door and some packages of unopened crackers in between the front seats of the van.

Yes, you counted right there is an extra person in the back of the van in this picture. We didn't have time to evict the ants from the front of the van so Scott moved to the backseat.

It was strange not being able to talk to my husband while I was driving. I actually had to call him on his cell phone to tell him about the truck that played leap frog with us. I hate when a vehicle passes me while I'm passing the one in front of me. They stayed right on my tale while I was passing and barely gave me time to move over before passing me.

Later another car in oncoming traffic tried playing chicken with me as they came into my lane in order to pass someone in front of them. I had to slow down and move over onto the shoulder of the road but I missed them. I told my husband later that it was probably good that he didn't see that one.

We arrived safely to karate only a few minutes late. We had a great class! I'm trying to get back some of my flexibility that I lost while I was pregnant. It's coming back and I feel really good while exercising.


After class, we needed to go grocery shopping. We also needed to find our bank. Our GPS was failing us! It said the bank was in the Walmart parking lot. Scott ran into Walmart while I drove laps around. No bank. But a Walmart associate told him that Kroger had the bank. Our GPS put Kroger in the middle of an intersection.

I have a friend that I knew could help us out because I saw her post that milk was only $1.99 at Kroger on her Facebook wall just a few days ago. So Scott traded places with me and drove while I sent a text message to my friend. (The ants had dispersed at this point and my husband came back to the front seat.)My friend was very prompt to answer and told us exactly where it was. She is much nicer than a GPS.

We arrived at Kroger and all 8 of us got out and headed to entrance. We were greeted by fire fighters showing off their truck to children.
Each of our kids got a chance to sit in the truck.

Elijah wasn't too sure what he thought about it.

Actually Elijah was more interested in the giant chicken that also greeted us. If I were his size, I'd be a little concerned about the giant chicken too. I was proud of him though he didn't cry or holler and he did hesitantly touch the chicken when I told him he could. He was a bit nervous but he kept saying, "Hi, Chicken!"

The chicken passed out water, chicken samples, and a balloon to each of our kids. Scott and I don't know which is worse last week's experience with Buddy Bucks (I thought we would never leave HEB last week with all the kids wanting to play the Buddy Buck machine) or this week's helium balloons.

I knew this would be a test of our parental patience when Jonathan lost his balloon before we even entered the store. Imagine if you can, 5 children (and a baby) following their parents around the grocery store with 5 helium balloons. I felt like I was either dodging balloons or getting hit by them everywhere I turned. On top of all that the bank gave us packages of cookies and we let the kids eat their three cookies.

One of the employees said that they were having some sort of kid appreciation day. I'm not sure how well most parents appreciate the effects of the store's good intentions.

Elisabeth became hungry and Ruth wasn't feeling well, so the 3 of us found a nice sitting area. Ruth and I talked while I nursed Elisabeth. Yes, I breastfeed my babies. I used to feel stressed about finding a private place to breastfeed. That was in my earlier years. Now all I need is a place to sit down. I use a blanket or a nursing cover for privacy. (I need to blog on my take on breastfeeding sometime. There are so many different levels of opinion on that topic.)

I just finished feeding Elisabeth when Scott finished shopping with the other 4 children. We made sure all balloons were secure and that all the younger children held one of our older hands. Scott and I always seem to be doing a head count. We started to leave when Jonathan exclaimed that he wasn't buckled. Why was he not buckled? Because of the balloon!

Okay, I'll spare you the story of our ride home. We arrived home safe and sound. But can you guess whose balloon popped just a few seconds after we entered the house? Jonathan's.

As soon as I heard it pop, I commanded,"Don't cry!" Okay, I may not have come across as very sympathetic but I did tie his string to one of his stuffed animals as a leash.

I guess the Lord must have known that I needed a little more practice in patience. :-)

Romans 5:3 "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience".