One thing I LIKE about my boys growing up . . .

. . . all the hot, stinky, dirty, heavy, tiring, boring, repetitive, exhausting, loud, icky jobs I hate doing! Isn't that why you have kids?

No, I Haven't Fallen Off . . .

. . . the face of the earth! I'm sick. I've been sick for weeks. Ok,not really, just for days--FOUR days, to be exact(but it feels like weeks!). And are there any signs of it going away? Nope. I'm tired of being sick. Know what I've learned from being sick?

• You can spend too much time in bed (or on the couch--it's all the same thing!). My neck and shoulders hurt from laying down too much.


• Even though you're only supposed to take Ibuprofen every eight hours, it only works for six.


• Kids really stink at givng neck rubs. (They're cute trying, but when your sick, you're not looking for cute!)


• They can't go grocery shopping, and somehow you always get sick when the groceries are low.


• You can get stinky doing nothing.


• If you sleep all day, it's hard to sleep at night--even when you're sick.


• When you need help, people really can't read your mind. (Figured if I was married, I'd be blaming my husband for that; instead I was blaming the rest of the world!)


• While I work hard to get my kids well when they're sick, I think they are deliberately trying to keep me down. After all, it's like a holiday. Hmmmm. . . maybe I need to make them work really hard tomorrow!


• My family targets holidays and holiday weekends for crises!


• Chicken soup, applesauce, and toast are comforting even when you don't have a stomach bug. (Mine is just fever, aches, congestion, and sore throat . . . and I'm thankin' the Lord for that!)


• God's plan is VERY different than mine!

Ok, I'm whining. I'm going back to bed. (Ouch!)

HB JB!

Dear Josh,

Today you are twelve-years-old. I am amazed that it has been that long. Everyone I have ever known who has been a parent has told me that the time flies by, but only now am I really starting to understand what they mean. I am so proud of the young man you are becoming--frustrated and concerned some days--but for the most part pleased with who you are. I guess I am especially surprised with the way you are just naturally easing into being a responsible, contributing part of the family. Growing up has brought with it many new responsibilities. Because you tend to be so laid back (OK, maybe just a tad lazy!), I was sure it would be a fight to get you to take out the trash, or mow, or keep up with your own online classes, but you seem to thrive on the honor these harder tasks bring. I hear very few complaints, and you do chores without much nagging.



Your latest "passion" is superheroes. Now while I realize that every boy needs heroes, and the "super" kind fit nicely into that need, I feel I have done you a disservice by introducing some heroes who really aren't, and although I know you intellectually understand their shortcomings, I still see some hero worship that makes me uncomfortable. I'm claiming a lot of God's grace to cover over my mistakes. In spite of this, I love the fleeting glimpses of "little boy" I still get in your superhero play. I dread the day when you are through with childish things altogether.



Spiritually, you always impress and amaze me. You have so much knowledge and understanding packed in that 12-year-old head of yours. I'm constantly astonished at what you are able to understand, and what you seem to believe. Of course, my big worry is that all that understanding will fuel a huge pride, which the Lord will have to break in the coming years. I often get frustrated that I don't seem to see your faith translated into action, but then again, I have struggled with that myself. It comforts me a great deal to know that God covers you with His grace. I know it is all by God's grace that you have been given so much of His truth. HE has made it possible for me to be so involved in teaching and training you. HE has made you able to learn. And HE has put His Holy Spirit in you to help you to understand. Even though I know all this, it makes me proud to be your mom.



Josh, there are so many things I like about you. I LOVE your sense of humor. You have your daddy's wit, and that makes life with you so much fun. Even though your almost always a little rough on your brothers, you have a very tender heart. I love to watch you with little ones--you are so gentle and can just talk to them. You can converse with older kids and adults too. You have always amazed me with your extroverted personality which enables you to make friends with just about anyone. Even though I think you hate to hear it, you have a real talent for writing and telling stories. (Writing involves too much work for you.) What an imagination! And with your humor, you rarely compose anything dull! You are a loyal friend. It seems the boys with whom you are friends have been your friends forever, and you stay faithful to them in spite of their quirks and annoying habits.



My precious boy, I look forward to seeing the wonderful things God is going to do with you. Everyone I talk to is so sure He has great plans for you. I am sorry for the many ways I fail to prepare you for His call on your life, but I am so grateful that it does not all depend on me. Even though entering into the "teen years" has thrown me a bit off balance with the ways you are changing, I have found something to love at every age, and I know I will with you at this age too. I am sure of it because of how much I love you. You are a special boy, and I thank God for every day I've had with you. Celebrate my dear son! Today marks an incredible day--the day God brought you into my world!

12 Years Ago Today . . .

I was just settling into bed after dinner and a movie with friends. Little did I know that within a couple hours I'd be experiencing incredible discomfort as I went into labor with my first baby. It was an all-night labor, and Josh was born at around 1pm on August 28. A dozen years ago my life changed. I became a mom for the first time.

Tonight I had to sit up with that same little boy, not so little now, to help him make a grown-up decision. He wants to play an online game, and after much research and prayer I feel like it's inappropriate at best, and potentially dangerous. But he's 12 now, and ready for more than just a no, so we walked through scriptures to base our decision on, and reviews of the game. Growing up is so hard when your heart wants to do something that your head tells you isn't right. And I'm left with a sullen kid because he has to give up something he doesn't want to give up, and he thinks mom is being unfair. Hopefully he'll feel better about it in the morning. Hopefully he'll resist the temptation to play behind my back. Hopefully I will communicate that I do trust him, even though I don't want him in the midst of overwhelming temptation and danger.

Twelve years ago it was about changing diapers and knowing how to feed him. When did it get so hard?

Signs of Teen Years

Is it normal for me to be so shocked everytime I see those hairy man-legs hanging over the top of my son's bunk bed? When do you stop being surprised that his body is now one of a teenager, instead of the fat roly-poly body of the little boy I remember? And the attitude, what is that about? What happened to Mommy's good-natured, agreeable little buddy? Is there any way to stop the hormones?

My One Year Anniversary!

Happy anniversary to me!
Happy anniversary to me!
I've been blogging a whole year!
Happy anniversary to me!

Thanks Erin for getting me into this. I absolutely LOVE it! And I love all my virtual friends in the virtual world (and getting to keep up with a few real ones and some family!) To those of you who read my goofy sentiments regularly--I hope I educate you occasionally (or at least challenge your brains), and entertain you often! Thanks for being my friends!

Wow, did I just accept an Oscar?

Oh Boy! What WAS I Thinking?

What is chaos? A desert social at which two little boys help themselves to as many deserts as they care to eat, followed by the trip home to greet a new pet. Yep! We have a new member of the family, a guinea pig whose name I think is going to be Nibs, although it will probably change several times before we settle on one. (AJ wants to call it Checkers, which I like also.) The boys were so excited when we got home I could barely stand the noise and motion (or perhaps that was the 15 brownies they ate at church tonight!).

And get this! They ARGUED over who was going to get to assume the different chores involved in taking care of the pig! Go figure! How do I get them to argue over who's going to vacuum the carpet? Or clean the bathroom? Better yet, I should take odds on how long it will be before they are arguing about it NOT being their turn to care for the same guinea pig!

All in all . . . he is kind of cute. Guess I better like him since it's probably just a matter of time until he's mine.

The Best Last Day of Summer!

Yes, supposedly we started school three weeks ago, but with friends at our house most of those days, and with all the summer activities our friends were involved in, it has been hard to get the summer out of our system. Monday is the official "We're really starting school" day, complete with a schedule, no TV or PS2, and LOTS of assignments!

So it was a great thing that we were invited to a "Lake Party" at one of the home of a friend of Josh's today. It was even more thoughtful that AJ and Stephen were invited. So today we played . . . in the water . . . at high speeds . . . with gusto! Tomorrow we start getting ready . . . for school. Uuuugggghhhh!

My Goal in Life . . .

My oldest son informed me the other day that his goal in life is to be able to converse with anyone in only lines from movies. Where have I gone wrong?

And on a side note . . . I must remember to be careful what I allow him to watch, now that I know he is burning all of these movie lines to his hard drive. I let him watch Napoleon Dynamite this weekend and he's driving me CRAZY!!! What was I thinking?

Sometimes the Simplest Things . . .

. . . can entertain a boy!

Hello, I am a CD player. I have had a very useful life, playing all kinds of music and stories to my owner. But I'm old now, and I haven't been working right for a long time. Actually I really don't work at all, I just look like I'm working, but I'm not really doing what I'm supposed to do.

This week, it was through my death that I brought the greatest enjoyment. It is hard to believe that all those praise songs I sang weren't as pleasing as having my screws taken out. No one fought over which story to listen to like they fought over who would get my "chips." And nobody cut a rug to my tunes with as much pleasure as they cut my internal wires.

That's OK though. You should see my cousin, the CD boom box . . . they took a hammer to him! Now we are in pieces all over the house, and beyond. Will we ever be useful again? I don't think so.

First Day of School Traditions

I remember that when I was growing up, back-to-school traditions made the whole experience of starting school somewhat exciting. I read an article a couple years ago about the importance of having back-to-school traditions even for my homeschool kids, and I realized it was something I had neglected. Since we don't really need new school clothes, or lunch boxes, and such, I have come up with a few things all our own.

On the first day of school, each kid gets some kind of treats. Since they don't normally carry lunch boxes with packaged foods, these things are a real treasure in our house, so each year I give the kids an assortment of their own packaged chips, cookies, and candies. This year it was all in a gift bag with some new school supplies (don't care how many crayons or pencils we have, you just have to have new ones to make it feel like the first day of school!), and some individual drinks.


There are, of course, new school supplies, although over the years I have discovered that we need less and less replaced every year. One of the boys got a new backpack this year, but not all three needed one. One got a pencil pouch. Nobody really needed a binder. They all get new pencils, colored pencils, and I stock up on art supplies and such.


Our first day of school is a preview day. There are very few "real" assignments. We design portfolio binder covers--this year we did them on the computer with photos of the boys and cute individualized graphics. I take their picture with all their new books for the school photo album. And we look over all their materials and do any introductory lessons or reading.



One of the things I did with Josh this year about two weeks before we started was to help him make a list of all the things he thought he'd be doing in ten or fifteen years. We came up with things like married, dad, homeowner, church member, and he thinks he might like to have a job (he keeps insisting as a video game tester!). Then I sat with him and we brainstormed all the skills or knowledge you need to have or do those things. Although I didn't get and grand oooohs or aaaahs, I'm hoping I've given him a little of the practical reasons for why we do this stuff.

The first week has been a little less organized than I planned. Rather than being: "Wow, what a first week!", it's been more . . . well . . . normal. But I'm excited about what we are doing, and about all the new and additional challenges we will face (like how I'll homeschool three kids with a toddler around, and when I'll get to the gym for some much needed exercise!).

I Am Just Plain Tired!

In spite of a restless night, I made it through a delightful day. As I mentioned earlier, Josh went to Wet and Wild, so I took the younger boys and some other friends to the beach. Now you might think that everyone who lives near the coast of Florida makes regular pigrimages to the beach. Not so. In fact, I always had sort of a love/hate relationship with the beach as a kid. Maybe part of it is that I burn so easy. Maybe I just don't like all the work of packing and driving, only to get sticky, sandy, itchy, and have my eyes burned by salt water. But today was a different kind of trip--odd, since I am now the mom who has to do most of the work.




Today I took five kids and a teenager to the beach. I swam in the water with the boys, and LOVED it! We ate sand affected food and LOVED it! I got totally fried (you'd think I'd know by now that sunscreen washes off in seawater!) and . . . well . . . OK, did't love that part. I'm tired, and my arms and back hurt, but hey! I had fun. I think the kids had fun too!

Two Firsts

**Sniff, sniff**

**sob, sob**

My oldest son just went off on his first junior high trip. They went to Wet and Wild today . . . on a bus . . . and he's leaving now, at 5:45 in the morning! Now I know I've done week-long camps and stuff like that, but somehow this is different! Worst of all? He packed his own stuff! I basically did nothing! He didn't sleep last night he was so excited. For hours he tossed and turned in my bed (hence, I didn't sleep either!), and told me he finally went downstairs to read and eat an apple. That was the second first--he had to get up in the middle of the night to eat! Oh, brother! I'd better install those key-locks on the pantry and 'fridge!

The only shining moment for mom? He's still too lazy to put his own sunscreen on!

Sweet Andrew

Andrew is like lightning. He is full of energy--energy that can be destructive or beautiful, depending on where he hits. The boys came home from their dad's today. They were full of stories of adventure from the week. I listened to every one, and never got tired of the chatter or the constant teasing and quarreling. Guess I missed it, even though I enjoyed the quiet. We went to some friends' home for lunch, and when I came home I was a little tired and decided to rest for a bit. I was watching a movie, and Andrew came in to lay down beside me. Before I knew it, he crashed, and slept from about 7pm, until a half hour ago. (It's now 1:30am!) Just like lightning, he quickly burned himself out!

He's having a small snack and then we're going to bed. We have to be up early to start school tomorrow. (I'm such a mean mom!) While he was snacking, I took some pics of him with my snazzy new digital camera. I'll tell more about that later.

Hello! I'm Still Breathing!

This week my boys are staying with their dad. I have enjoyed the break and have played with friends almost every day. Last night I was out late (No, I did NOT have a date!), and I collected mail when I got home. In the mail was a letter for each of the boys . . . from our credit union.

Dear ****,
Please accept our condolences on your recent loss. We would like to assist you with the closure of hte account titled in the name of the late Lisa ***** . . . .

I thought,"What? I'm dead? And nobody told me?"

Funny, I don't feel dead (not that I'd really know what that feels like). And I somehow managed to get out of bed this morning and get ready for the day. Of course, if I'm dead . . . do I have to pay my bills?


Note: What actually happened, is that my account was flagged. Banks and credit unions watch death notices and flad accounts where names are mentioned. Somebody just forgot to take the flag off my account. I'm quite releived that I'm still alive.