What’s Hot?

Boss just came home from school, so I asked him what he learned about in school today.  He said they learned what was hot and what was cold.  The following conversation ensued:

Me: So what’s hot?

Boss: A volcano.

Bubba: Yeah!  It’s real hot!  It will melt you!

Me: Yep, that’s right!

Me: So what’s cold?

Boss: Water.

Me: Well, water can be hot or cold.

Boss: It’s cold when it comes out of the sink.

Me: Hot water can come out of the sink, too.  You know what is ALWAYS cold? Ice.

Boss: Not if it melts.

Me: If it melts, it’s no longer ice.

Boss: True.

Me: So what else is hot?

Boss: YOU!

I promise you that’s how it happened!  That kids cracks me up!

We Did It!!!

I began reading the Bible to Boss when he was a newborn baby.  I’ve tried to read it to him everyday, though there are days when it just doesn’t get done…and that’s okay.  Well, tonight, in anticipation of his 6th birthday tomorrow, we finished the last chapter of Revelation.  We read the entire Bible together!!!  It took us 6 years, but we did it!  The great thing about it is that he loves reading his Bible!  He asks me every night if we can have Bible time.  I pray that this love of God’s word continues in his life.  And I’m so glad to be able to share this accomplishment with “my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Note: In case you’re wondering, Bubba and I are in 1 Chronicles and Sissy and I are in Judges!

From-Scratch Healthy Soup

I’m generally not a recipe-follower.  I like to throw things together and see what happens.  I’d say about 95% of the time, it’s a hit.  Occasionally, my family kindly lets me know that I need not make a dish again.  Last night, I threw together a healthy soup that everyone in my family loved, so I thought I’d share the “recipe” as I remember it with you!

Ingredients:

1/2 diced yellow onion

3 cloves garlic, diced

4 or 5 large carrots, peeled & sliced

1 large yellow squash, cubed

1 medium zucchini, cubed

1 pound extra-lean ground turkey

1 bag BirdsEye Steamfresh peas, steamed in microwave

3 small cans of tomato sauce

1 can low-sodium vegetable stock

1 can low-sodium chicken stock

1 box of penne pasta (whole-wheat if you’re family will eat it)

Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Oregano

Rosemary

Paprika

Celery Seeds

Garlic Salt

Instructions:

Brown the turkey with all of the listed herbs and spices.  I didn’t list an amount for each of them because I just added what I felt like adding…that’s how I roll!  Once the turkey is browned, remove it from the pot and saute the onions, garlic and carrots until they are caramelized.  Next, add the squash and zucchini and let them caramelize.  Next, add the remaining ingredients including the turkey and excluding the peas and pasta and let it simmer for 20 minutes.  Once it’s done simmering, add the peas and pasta and voila…dinner served.  We sprinkled some 2% shredded mozzarella on ours!  Also, I served ours with a yummy french loaf of bread!

My kids ate it up and asked for seconds, veggies and all!  For those wanting some spice, I added Tabasco to mine!  Yummmm!!!  And there were enough leftovers to freeze for later because it makes a huge pot!

Disclaimer: If you’re Bobby Flay or Melissa d’Arabian from the Food Network, please don’t criticize my skills!  I cook to taste and my family loves it!

Unseen Influences

I’ve been depressed…for awhile.  I don’t know why.  I had a terrible childhood and every reason in the world to be depressed growing up, but I never was.  Now, I have a GREAT life.  I have the greatest husband of ALL TIMES, 3 beautiful, smart, funny, healthy kids, a great house, the ability to stay home with my kids, wonderful friends and family and I am part of a church that is not just church family, but I really consider them family.  I’m ministering to my neighbors like I never have in my life and get to help with this great non-profit call Retread where we provide basic needs for impoverished kids so they can focus on school.  My biggest problem in life is that we only have 1 car instead of 2 now, which complicates things slightly.  That’s it.

I have nothing to be depressed about and yet I have been for months now.  Frankly, it pisses me off.  I’ve felt like running away for many months now.  (Before you get worried, please know that I would NEVER actually allow myself to do that.  It’s just been an urge.)  I haven’t wanted to be around people.  I just want to stay in bed for days and do nothing.  I’ve come to a point where I just feel like a failure, like I can’t keep up.  I’ve been overwhelmed, drained…depressed.

This past Sunday, I finally shared this with my church and they gathered round me and prayed.  And they’ve been praying all week; I can tell.  I can tell because I feel different this week.  I haven’t had a stress headache yet this week, and that’s huge!  More importantly, I feel more positive.  I feel like maybe I’ve just been putting too much pressure on myself to do everything.  Maybe God doesn’t expect me to do it all.  Normally, that would scare me.  But Boss’s teacher (we’ll call her Ms. N) said something to me this week (that I feel God prompted her to say because He knew I needed to hear it) that helped me tremendously.

I was speaking with Ms. N about a form that Shmoopy and I had filled out regarding Boss’s testing for the Gifted & Talented program, and she shared with me that she had found the stories about Boss funny and inspiring.  She said that she told her boyfriend that she wants to do some of the things with her kids that Shmoopy and I have done with our kids.  She said she told him that Boss’s mom is a “Godly woman that [she] looks up to as a role model.”  She said they’ve found a church they are comfortable in and she wants to grow closer to God.

Whew!  That brings me to tears all over again.  You can’t comprehend how badly I needed to hear someone say that!  And not one of my friends or family-members, but someone outside of my circle who has no obligation whatsoever to offer such kind words.  It made me see that focusing every ounce of my time and energy on my kids is not taking away from my time that I should be sharing the gospel with others.  Right now, in this stage of my life, my kids are exactly where I should be investing my time and energy.  And I don’t have to feel guilty that I’m not out on the streets finding people who need Jesus to minister to them because the time and energy that I invest in my children is making an impact on more than just their 3 very special little lives.  It’s impacting their teachers, counselors, principals, etc…

Just imagine all of the teachers, the people, that my investment in my children will touch in some way over the next 17 years until Sissy graduates from high school.  Boss alone just in his first year of school has 6 teachers including the specials (P.E., music and art).  Not to mention the interaction I have with other teachers through being his room mom and my involvement with PTA.

So, while I’m not completely out of the woods, yet,  I see hope.  Church family, please keep praying…it’s working.  Shmoopy, keep supporting me and loving me; I appreciate you more than I could ever express.  Parents & friends, you’re prayers would be appreciated, too.  If you’re reading this and I’ve never met you, please know that God does answer prayers.  He does care about your state of mind and heart.  He will come through for you in sweet, unimaginable ways.

Mother’s Day Sweetness

I just realized that I wrote a post last Mother’s Day and never hit publish, so, for those of you who care, here it is:

My Mother’s Day was so nice and restful…for the most part.  First, my mom, God bless her, asked if the boys could come spend the night with her Saturday night and go to church with her this morning.  I jumped on that and said, “Yes, please”, (after checking with Shmoopy to make sure it wouldn’t ruin any surprise for them to do so).

So this morning was much quieter than usual, though it started just as early as ever since we still had Sissy with us and she must be nursed at 7am!  Once we were all ready for church, Shmoopy told me he was taking me to breakfast before church wherever I wanted to go.  Now, I know this is weird, but I chose McDonald’s.  I’m allergic to eggs and, therefore, not big on breakfast foods anyway.  But McDonald’s has a steak and cheese bagel that I find yummy and their Mocha Lattes are delicious!  Say what you want, but that’s what I wanted and I got it!

Then we went to church, which is a house church.  Today was special in that the men, mostly Kyle (Thanks, Kyle, it was delish!), made the lunch and even cleaned up afterwards.  It was so nice.  I didn’t have to tend to the boys and beg them to eat.  I just got to sit back and relax!  Thanks, guys!

Also, my very sweet Shmoopy bought a single long-stemmed rose for all of the moms in our church, including me, of course!  He’s yummy, too!

Then, when the boys finally came home from Grammy’s house this afternoon, we went to Chili’s (again, my choice) for dinner.  This was preceded by the one not so sweet time of the day when Boss cried and cried for 15 minutes because his Daddy made him take his long-sleeved shirt and jeans off to change into something cooler.  My mother must’ve kept them up until midnight last night!

Anyway, somehow, Shmoopy was able to erase that poor attitude so much so that dinner was actually quite pleasant.  They even took turns saying what they loved about me.

Shmoopy said he loves how well I take care of the kids.

Boss said he loves when I run to him when he’s hurt and make it better.

Bubba said he just loves me!

Sissy couldn’t voice it, but I know she was thinking, “I’m thankful for her milk!”  (Hey, I know reality!)

All in all, it was a very peaceful, sweet day!  I’m thankful to be so beyond blessed!

To top it off, we had two couples tell us today that they’re ready to put deposits down on our rental house.  So now we have a decision to make.  God is so good and faithful to ALWAYS take care of us!

Happy Mother’s Day, indeed!

5 Year Old Comedian

I was reading Bibles to the boys tonight, and Bubba’s reading was I Chronicles 20.  I read verses 6 & 7, which state:

“Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, with twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot; and he also was born to the giant.  So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.”

Boss interjected, “Is that true?”

I said, “Yes, it is,” and continued to read the one remaining verse in the chapter.  Then Boss said, “Whoa! God made him REAL special!”  I nodded in agreement, and he continued, “He was real HANDY!”

Ha!  Oh, man!  I laughed for a long time after that!  That kid can really crack me up sometimes!

Grab Her Foot

Shmoopy had taken the kids out to eat last Saturday while I was at a meeting.  On the way to the car, Bubba said, “Daddy?”  Shmoopy said, “Yes, buddy?”  Bubba said, “When Momma goes to Heaven, I’m gonna grab her foot.”

Ahhh!  When Shmoopy told me that, my heart melted.  What a sweet thing to say!  I asked him if he asked what he meant.  You know, did he want to keep me from going to Heaven, or did he just want to catch a ride with me.  But Shmoopy being the man that he is just left it at that and had not inquired further.

So I took it upon myself yesterday to ask Bubba why he was going to grab my foot when I go to Heaven.  He said, “Well, you’re gonna blow up.”

Huh?

I said, “I’m gonna blow up?”

He said, “You’re gonna blow up to Heaven.”

I said, “Oh, like float up in the sky?”

He said, “Yea.  Because God loves you!”

Man, isn’t that THE SWEETEST THING YOU’VE EVER HEARD IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!!!  I thought so.  What a kid.  It’s times like that that make up for the moments when he’s screaming how mad he is at me.

Mohawk or Nohawk?

One day this week, when I picked Boss up from his Christian preschool, he told me he was sad because Spike (name changed for privacy) didn’t go to his school anymore.  I asked him why, but he didn’t know.

Last night, we attended a Habitat for Humanity meeting at the church that runs the preschool he attends, and we happened to run into Spike and his mom.  I asked why he wasn’t going to school there anymore, and she explained that he was kicked out because he got a mohawk.  This confused me because I remember seeing Spike on the first day of school, and he had a mohawk then.  So I asked her about it, and she said that he had indeed had a mohawk at the beginning of school.  She explained her frustration with the decision and the school’s lack of understanding with her 5 year old’s haircut.  There had been meetings and everything.

Today, I emailed the director of the preschool to let her know that I was frustrated with the decision.  I mean, I read the rules and dress codes and nothing was ever mentioned about haircuts!  Furthermore, what kind of message does this send to Spike and Boss and their school friends?  That Spike has done something wrong, that he’s not good enough, that somehow, God forbid, he’s not worthy to learn in God’s house?  I told the director that my prayer is that this decision would be reconsidered because I’m quite certain that Jesus does not care what kind of hairdo any child has.  I hope that my concern doesn’t fall on deaf ears.  My husband said that some parent probably complained about his hair and that’s why he was expelled.  If so, maybe my complaint about his expulsion for such an ignorant reason will be weighed in as well.

Do you think a child’s haircut should matter?  Or do you agree with me that we should let them learn to express their true selves now so they won’t be so stifled when they reach adulthood?

Huh?

Below is a conversation I just had a few minutes ago with Bubba while we were painting.  I love this stuff and think it’s adorable.  However, it’s also why I crave adult interaction the way a heroine addict craves heroine!  Not the best analogy I know, but my brain cells have been killed by motherhood.

Bubba: I’m making an elephant.  And I’m making a little boat.  It’s a little one.

Me: Is the elephant in the boat?

Bubba: Yea.

Me: Is the boat sinking because the elephant’s too big for it?

Bubba: No.  It’s not a boat.

Me: Oh.  What is it, then?

Bubba: IT’S A GIRAFFE!!!!

I Know God is Real Because…Part 3

I know God is real because Bubba is finally potty-trained!!!  Seriously, people, I was beginning to think that would NEVER happen!  But I dedicated the day Wednesday to trying, without much hope, the potty-train in one day method and it worked!!  Hallelujah!  Cue the choir of angels!

Remember, if you will, that he was having problems going poopoo on the potty.  Well, he passed the test tonight.  He came and told me he needed to go poopoo, so we ran and sat him on the potty.  After 20 minutes, he did the deed.  He cried when it happened because it scared him.  I assured him that it was a great thing to celebrate.  And when he realized what he had done he said very emphatically, “It’s a BIG one!!”

Ha!  I’m SO beyond blessed!