To My Future Significant Other....

Wouldn't it be great if we could email or actually write a letter (gasp, yes I said write not type), to our future spouses or significant others? Well here is my letter. Enjoy.

Dear Future Significant Other,

     I sometimes wonder who you will be. What your favorite music is, your favorite book (do you read?), I also wonder if you can put up with me as a person. Its kind of hard I am told. So here is what you must be able to put up with.

     Here is what I do know about you. You don't drink excessively, you don't do drugs and never have. You don't smoke (anything). You have not been to prison. You don't feel the need to go around beating people up, but have the ability to do so if the situation arises (who wants a wimp after all). Family is very important to you.

     You must be able to put up with kids. We are, I am afraid, a package deal. You must have patience, (difficult I know), you must be able to see them as part of me, but as individuals. 4 children is a lot to take on, (alcohol is tempting at times) so you must be strong patient and hopefully better at discipline than I am. Mess

     I wonder occasionally if we have met before, but probably not.

     Shoes. I have this obsession with shoes. Heels, flats, boots, you name it, I probably own a pair of them...so it is a must that you put up with my shoe fetish. O and you may also have to sacrifice closet space to hold my shoe collection (we may need to have a walk in closet or multiple?). Its a girl thing...I refuse to apologize for. I'm sure you have a fetish of some kind that I will have to tolerate!? Guns perhaps? Tools? Cars?

    I love to cook, and I am sure you love to eat. Rolling pins were invented strictly to keep men out of the kitchen. Although if you want to cook with me, I may be open to that. I just ask that you put things were they belong and not wherever you feel like it. I mean would you want me going through your tools and messing them up? I think not....:)

    Do you read? If you do, we will not get along if you read romance novels....been there done that bought the tee-shirt. It doesn't work for the guy to be more emotional or sensitive than I am. You can love your Mama, I expect it, but you can not be a Mama's boy....please.

     God. Is He important to you? Do you have faith? I do, if this bothers you, keep walking. Your lack of faith doesn't bother me, but your soul going to hell might bother you when it happens. Chances are, you do believe in God and I feel that family should go to church together whenever possible.

     Camping... hate t. I will do it, occasionally but it is not my favorite. I am a firm believer that couples can have separate vacations. Feel free to take the boys while the girls and I go to a hotel, order room service and shop. :)

     I lose my keys all the time. Never fails. At least 5 or 6 times  week. Sometimes in the same day. I don't know how it happens but it does. Seriously they need a beeper on them or something  that will enable me to find them when they are lost. They like to hide from me. Truly it is the keys wandering off and not my fault in any way. Oh...GPS is my best friend. Without it (even n O-town) I can get lost. Seriously. It is a knack. I come by it genetically, my grandmother could too. So if we go somewhere, you are better off driving than I am. I will, without a doubt, get lost. Even with GPS I can end up taking the wrong turn....Needless to say, I have gotten lost in some...um...interesting places.

Enough said....

Sincerely,

Your future Significant Other...

That would be my letter. No vodka or alcohol was involved in the composition of this letter. Promise.

 Until the next Scribble....

And The Countdown Begins.....

     Summer is here and the kids are already bored to death...It has not even been a full week. School may be out for them, but it is not out for mom. So finding a working balance will be the goal of the summer...I will probably get it figured out in time for them to go back to school and need to come up with a new plan.
   
     60 more days until are all back in school. K starts school 2 days before the other three do. A wants to move to his dad's house all the way in Maine. The only way he could get any further is if I were to move to Alaska (and still be in the US). Well on second thought Hawaii might be a bit farther.

    60 more days of, "I'm bored", "There is nothing to do", "Let's go somewhere", "I didn't write on the furniture", "He hit me", "She kicked me", and so on and so forth.

    Of course they don't want to do things like, go outside and play (unless its a theme park of some sort), read a book, (video games are the new sit down activity), or play with each other, (a total abomination). They want mom to entertain them and if it is free...nope, not happening. Gone are the days I could put them in the kiddie pool in the front yard and have them be content. Finger painting no longer appeases them.

     Mom of course is lame and boring because she still has to clean and do school work. Time to start planning activities for these little/not-so-little people to do.....otherwise this mommy will go insane before the 60 days are over....o and no camping, unless there is a cabin involved.

    This mommy would love nothing more than to rent a house on the beach for a week....hmmm

Until the next scribble.....
    
    

WTH Moment...

Every parent has those moments when they wonder what possess their children do the things they do. Mine came yesterday when I was doing laundry. I opened up M's drawer to put his pajamas away and what do I find? This:

 

A cup and some Beyblades. Not just any cup though, a Starbucks cup...a Starbucks drinker in the making?

 

What are your "WTH" moments with your children? There truly never is a dull moment when you have children. You just have to look for those moments in the midst of hectic, trying and tiring moments. They are there, just like this one was for me.   

Until the Next Scribble....

Family Time....Photographs...

Have you ever looked at your children (and I know you all have) and wondered how they grew up so fast? K is going to be 15 in March and my baby is going to be 6. It is amazing how much can change in just 15 short years. So my new years resolution is not to lose weight (though God knows that would be great), not to eat healthier (pizza and hamburgers are my weakness), and since I don't smoke, drink or do drugs I don't need to quit those. My new years resolution is to spend more time (quality time) with my children.

This past weekend we went to Sn Francisco for the day and then Napa. Most people you know go to Napa for the wine (well the adults do) but we go to Napa to play at the park....Seriously. We found a park, the kids got out and we spent pretty much all our time there. O and I did find my dream house...it's only 795,000...I am thinking my new career path might have to be lawyer for the mob...HAHA.

Here are photos from our trip to Napa.....They all want to go back...for the park....Seriously!

 My dream house, trust me it looks better in person and in the pictures from the brochure. I took it fast, was getting funny looks by neighbors...it is empty...:)

The Pictures below are taken from the park we visited. The kids fell in love with Napa and so did I...we all want to move there...

Had to go to Ihop for Pancakes!! Nothing like pancakes to end the day...Although we had to get new shirts (see pics above where they are wearing new clothes...and we went back to the park.

 

He thinks that he is the king of the playground...

 

 A with his goofy grin...

My Princess S...

                                                 

 

                       Swing time...S loves the swing...had to buy her some pants...

I am also making it a challenge to take more pictures and to take better pictures. I am still learning my phone. Perhaps a new camera is in order......

 

In today's society it seems like family has taken a backseat to other stuff. Family time is no longer a priority and it is easy to let it slip to the wayside with work, school, bills, activities and what not. I think that we all need to make it a priority to spend time and photograph our family outings while our children are younger and while they will still go hang out with us...

 

I thought about posting a new photo every day....although not sure how well that will work out. So my challenge is for you...find new ways to spend time with your family. Document it. Photograph it. Enjoy it.

 

Until the next Scribble....

Strong Enough

Algebra. Two kids home sick. 1 kid calling home to say he is sick. Laundry piling up. All of that and it is that time of the month...this is what we call a recipe for disaster.

M is bothering his sister, cause while he is sick (runny nose and cough) he wants to be at school, not at home. S is getting annoyed (because that is what she does) and I am trying to solve linear equations. Did I mention I have two terms of Algebra? Laundry gets halted. Bugging, laundry, x=y+3(4z-6) and now I have to stop what I am doing and go pick up A from school (did I mention he told me this morning he was going to call home sick?)

Can you feel the anger and frustration boiling? (intensify it by 100 because it is that time of the month).

That's it. I missed two questions on a 4 question quiz....for stupid things like not putting the negative sign on my answer and forgetting to simplify.
For
My future rolled out in front of me and I was done. There is not point to me going to school. Why? Well let me tell you, I am going to fail the next two terms (my conscience won't let me have some one do the work and the tests for me), therefore my current A GPA is going to go down to at least a C-, and I need at least a B GPA to get into some law schools and an A GPA to get into the law schools I want. So, no law school, no point continuing my education and I should just get my job back at the local convenience store as that is what my future holds.

Whoa.

Well into the car I go with these dark thoughts in my head. Ticked off and ready to explode. The non-christian radio station is on....I am suppose to be taking the 30 day challenge through K-love. www.klove.com (in case you want to take the 30 day challenge) (remind me to go sign up like I keep meaning to do, just never get to it) I think who cares. No one is going to know that I didn't listen to it while I was in the car. I am the only one in the car. Heck, I will know. God will know and on to K-love the radio goes. Be right back...before I forget again to sign up.

Back...

As I turn the channel onto K-love, Matthew West's song Strong Enough is on.
                                                                 "Well, forgive me

Forgive me if I'm wrong

But this looks like more than I can do

On my own"

 

Amen I thought. This is more than I can do, more than I signed up for. More, more, more and every day it seems like there is more, more and even more. I am done. I am ready to give up. Move on. Move on from what I hear myself asking. Move on from your kids? Your reason for not giving up?

The song continues and I can feel myself calming done. It's just numbers and some letters. Its just kids being kids. Everyone is sick right now.

 

"Well, maybe

Maybe that's the point

To reach the point of giving up"

 

Maybe that is the point. I am not strong enough to be everything to everyone, and yet I am doing it. I want more for myself and for my children and Algebra is the way to that. The current situation is not good for us, we need our own space. What I am saying is that we need more than this and Algebra is the way to that. (Feel free to insert whats you need for Algebra). God doesn't give us more than we can handle.

 

Psalms 18:32

 

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze."

 

I am not strong enough...on my own. I need God to give me the strength I need. Like it says in Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength" Notice that I highlighted and made bold the word Him. Because God (aka him) is the reason and the source of my strength. By the end of the song, I am good. I may not be completely at peace, I still want to cry for the frustrating day I have been having and the last 6 years that on the outside appear to be hell.

 

The thing is, all this frustration, anger, bitterness and self-doubt does not come from God. It comes from the devil. Whether we want to see it or admit it or not, this is the truth. God does not give self-doubt or feelings of worthlessness. He gives encouragement and strength. He gives love and support. Yes, he challenges us....I have been highly challenged for 6 six years...but he doesn't give us more than we can handle.  I am also saying...that this 30 day challenge is working. It is positive.

So the conclusion: God is strong enough for anything we feel we can not handle. We are not alone and he will carry us.

 





This blog...and more...Enjoy!

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this blog and the direction that I wanted it to go. What did I want to use it for, and then I was sitting in church this week and the pastor was talking about Hope (the next two weeks will be faith and love). While listening to this sermon, I kept thinking that I need to use this blog for more than just witty and whimsical posts about my family. I will still post those, but we need more God in our lives. Not just on Sunday, where we get dressed up for church, and sit through the sermon, greet friends and new comers and then go home. We need God Monday - Saturday as well. So this blog, while still about the struggles of being a single mom and the day to day amazement my children bring me, I am directing it  towards God and his work in our lives. I also thought about what Faith, Hope and Love meant to me. So I will be working on a blog that deals with these. Especially since Friday, when all our hearts were broken when an armed man, (I am not using the name of the gunman on purpose) came into a school and wreaked havoc on the lives of our most innocent. I have a blog outlined (in my head) for one related to this, because as probably almost any parent here can relate to, when you hear something of this magnitude you automatically do not want to send your children to school anymore. Homeschooling sounds like a much more viable option than sending our children to school where this can happen.

So I encourage you to join the blog as a subscriber. Read this blog and tell your friends about it.  Hopefully I can do my part in spreading God's word. We need more of God and not less in this world. There are those who claim to be spreading God's word and really they are only spouting out Satan's word. Westboro Church for instance who protest military funerals and who know want to protest at the funerals of these innocent children and brave teachers. God did not use an armed gunman to brutally murder and terrify children and teachers to seek vengeance on this world for gay marriage, or for any other horrible sin this church feels that society is making. Our God might be a jealous God, he mourns for those who do not follow Him, he does not kill them in His name and he certainly does not take vengeance out on innocent children who can't possibly know or understand any of this. Shame on this so-called church for intruding and possibly intruding on these funerals where parents are mourning the death of their child, or their loved one who so bravely protected these students to the best of their ability. I can't watch the news anymore, it is heartbreaking and even Morgan Freeman had a valid point, that by watching and retaining the name of the killer we are validating him in a small way. He pointed out that what is remembered in these kinds of tragedies is the name of the killer and not the victims. It is the victims that matter here, not the murderer. It doesn't matter how many were killed, whether or not this is the worst or close to the worst school shooting tragedy, simply because one is not more tragic than another. All are tragic, senseless and something that we will never understand.

Pray today for these families. Pray that God brings them some amount of healing and comfort. Their hearts are broken and their lives are forever changed. Only God can bring peace, healing and comfort for those mourning their loved ones.

As a parent I can't imagine my 5 year old not coming home from school to share with me his excitement over his day and that he got a green note today or being good. Or my 12 year old who may not always have a good day, but does try to find something good in her day, and who loves to tell me about her day after school. My 13 year who has a rough day at school most of the time, but still has a loving heart. My 14 year old and first born, who I have watched grow up into an amazingly independent individual. These children, a gift from God, are the joys of my life, they aggravate me, they frustrate and anger me better than anyone else can with their petty fights and senseless torture of one another, but they also bring me joy and wonder. I am constantly amazed at each of them and the things they come up with. If one of them did not come home, my world would be truly broken. Saturday I woke up to these little one's fighting and I started to yell at them, and then I stopped and thanked God that they were still here to argue with one another. I did ask them to stop and directed them to better and more productive activities. We need to thank God each and every day for our precious gifts. We need to put Him first in our lives.

Until the next Scribble.....

Praying for our Monsters...:)

Hello...

So here is to a frustrating night of learning. Our kids are our greatest source of joy, but they can also be our greatest source of frustration. I love being a mom, but nights like tonight remind me why I need God in my life and in my family. He promises to love us even through our mistakes and trust me I made plenty tonight. I let my frustrations get the better of me and that is never a good thing. I definitely came unglued tonight. (BTW the book Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst is amazing!)

God reminds us that while we are not perfect, neither are our children, and they are going to test our limits and our patience to see what they can get away with. They are kids....even though sometimes it feels kind of like a gang of ninja warriors attacking. As parents we need to guide them and guide their behavior in the right direction. We need them to turn their eyes towards God.

As moms, we take on a lot, as single moms, we take on even more and some days it feels like it is all just to much. No one ever says their goal in life is to be a single parent, and God created parents in twos for a reason, but unfortunately we are not perfect and things don't always end up the way they should or the way we planned. So while we struggle to maintain our homes, our busy schedules, and juggle all those things that we as mothers (and fathers) struggle to juggle, we need to sit back for a minute (easier said then done, I know) and breath. Pray for our kids, pray for ourselves, and pray for the parent who is absent. Pray over your family. As Christian parents there is nothing more important in our parenting lives than praying for our children.

I know its hard, believe me, I am human and there are days when I want to shake my child and ask what on earth he/she is thinking....seriously my 14 year old has blue hair...blue! My children are amazing and they each have their own quirky and unique personality that makes watching them grow the best thing on earth. Sure if we didn't have children, our homes would be cleaner, our lives would be quieter, we would have more time for ourselves and to go out, but, it would be completely and utterly boring.

So the next time your precious little one is suddenly turned into a whiny-crying-tantrum-I-hate-you-mom-throwing monster that without this monster you would be bored, even if somewhat relaxed. Grab a cup of coffee, read your bible and pray for your little monsters, they need it and so do you!

Until the next Scribble....