photo booth phun

My girls with Ella P.

Molly, right after her first self-inflicted hair cut in the spring of 2010

this is presh
I love binky babies.
there, i said it.
don't judge.

nerds

1.) My hair was SO short here but I loved it
2.) this pic reminds me of my mom

i like this pic because jack was in my tummy here. (I look horrible)
I don't like it because E, David and Moo are missing.

But Moo ends up in pleeeeenty of photo booth fun. Here she is with Miss P.

Most of my goofy sons

We even have some Ellie N. fun in our photo booth

and a boy with a panda on his noggin

Not that I am suffering from a shortage of pics, by any means...because I know I post plenty on Facebook and Instagram...but these will have to do for this evening.

Can I just say that I'm overwhelmed?

ok. thanks for letting me get that off of my chest. admitting something is half the trip to getting better, right?

As if homeschooling wasn't an undertaking in and of itself...having a self employed husband, who does a good portion of his work from home or on his phone (in our home or in our presence), and two sons and one daughter who work for him a couple times a week, and a wife (that's me) that helps out to pay for her cell phone, and classes the kids take and yada yada yada....We have just switched payroll companies this week. A very cool new program but still so intimidating for me. I'll be fine and I'm already figuring it all out (and it's kinda fuuuuun) but it just seems like a lot and I feel like I'm zoned out half of the time, trying to remember every dang thing I GET to do. not have to. get to.

if I can just look at it that way, it makes it seem a little bit more bearable.

All is well...dealing with stress does not agree with me. choose joy.

just go ahead and choose it. no one can do it for ya.
and we have so much to be thankful for. well, except this oppressive heat...and lack of rain but otherwise, we have sooo much to be thankful for. Fresh garden tomatoes, cool kids, a swimming pool, sunflowers,  clean clothes, food in our tum tums, Mary Poppins playing downstairs before we have to take it back to the library, a hard working and helpful hubby, a God who supplies all of our needs.

I could go on but I'm going to bed early tonight. I've GOT to get these younger kiddos on a better schedule. gotta.

gotta run...hope you are well. stay cool. happy 50 years ago that MLK made his I have a Dream speech.

these pix have nothing to do with my post

I think this is Luminate. Mel got to meet them at Camp Electric. 

Bart Millard, lead singer from MercyMe...sings as well live as on radio. 

Jon Micah Sumrall, lead singer from Kutless...my new favorite. 

Jeremy Camp, here and below. One of our family favorites.

so, as the title stated, these pictures, though amazing and fun...have nothing to do with my blathering here...they are just some fun pix I stumbled upon, on this laptop. I really need to be better about uploading my phone pix to this computer or taking pix with my camera but my iPhone takes such good pix, it's hard to wanna take them with my cam. does that make sense?

Yah. ok...so a little update of sorts.

Psalm 146:2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

Is this not a really beautiful verse?
I have, in no way, shape or form, arrived, as a believer in Jesus Christ. I struggle every day with my attitude or thoughts. I do wake up, get out my Bible, notebook and pen, sit down, usually at the table, occasionally out on the deck, to read God's Word, pray, sing....and that is the ONLY sure thing in my life right now. He is refining, shaping, challenging me. If you meet me, know this.

God's promises are true. I'm so thankful for this.

Hebrews 13:2 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and forever.

Proverbs 15:4 A wholesome tongue is a tree of life but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.

Just a few of the truths I've been trying to cling to. More on these later.

David is working a lot...I'd say too much but this work is a gift and he's good at it. amazing actually. (I feel like John Watson, blogging about Sherlock. My Sherlock friends will get this joke). David is cool because every day is an adventure to him. He finds JOY in the everyday...doesn't mean he's always "happy" or fun to be around but he is radiating the Joy of the Lord. Sometimes, I don't get him or even like him...but I always love him and thank the Lord for putting him into my life. He's a wunderkind. He holds me accountable and leads his family well. I thank the Lord for him.

I just re-read that. All that to say, I'm renewed in my role as his helpmeet...He is my first human priority. My goal is to be a good wife, teach my daughters how to be good wives. Show my sons what a good wife looks like.

 My kids are my 2-6th priorities. If I have time after that to be anything more, to anyone else, then BONUS!!

Why am I blogging about this today? Not sure...felt it needed to be said. for myself and maybe for someone else. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with being a wife and mother. It is the highest calling, no matter what feminists tell you or any other person for that matter. I am honored to be a wife and mom.

For the mom that is struggling to make sense of it all...for the new mom, for the seasoned mom...for the mom with an almost 19 year old, 17 year old, 15 year old, nearly 11 year old, 6 year old and baby boy who should be two toddling around but isn't...he's instead walking streets of gold. For those moms. Moms who call on the name of Jesus Christ and moms who question....

gotta run, little Molly moo is done with her bath. Much love and praying going on over here.

...I'm not dead yet....it's getting betta...

I know.

I know....horrible post title

Horrible neglect of my dear, dear blog.

My apologies.

I honestly don't think my life can get any busier. I long for those days of

JUST
BEING
HOME
ALLLLLLLLLL
DAY
LONG.

don't you?

This pic up above makes me hurt. Physically, mentally...that boy in there...he didn't even take a breath.

If you have babies that have taken breaths and lived, rejoice. for me, please.

If you have babies that haven't taken breaths, or didn't take many breaths, after the initial pain, shock, horror and general horribleness of it all, we can rejoice but if you can't? I get that.

Jack was so cool. What a tiny doll boy he was. That hair. his chin. His perfect little limbs, hands and feet. I remember feeling him move and how he'd do this little shake thing. I couldn't wait to see him do it out from under my flesh. I'm past feeling totally jipped (that is so not a word) about that and on to just soaking up, enjoying moments and finding JOY in little things.

We were out for classes, lessons, errands today and as we drove past Community South, I thought...Jack was there. that is the one place he visited outside of our home, outside of my belly. it doesn't smack me in the face so hard now days.

Then I got thinking..."What a cool kid he is" and what a gift he is, was, will always be. His short little life has caused me to see things so differently now. Not perfectly or completely full of understanding/wisdom/grace but so much more in that direction. I want to see the world as Jesus does.

Grace.
Mercy.
Truth.
Forgiveness.
Love.
Patience.

Thank you, Jack my boy. I miss you and let me tell you, there is a slew of babies being born all around me (thankfully, a good portion have been girls but still....) and holding Li'l G's tiny baby sis, Baby B was miraculous and mysterious and wonderful. A gift from God. (I haven't blogged about her yet but she is PRECIOUS and tiny and has a head full of beautiful ombre hair). So glad for you, Myssi and Adam. Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again, I say REJOICE!


Ok...I need to get back to the work of the day...ordering curriculum that I forgot to get, organizing what I DO have, getting the mess of a classroom in order and really, in the whole scheme of things, just wanting to take a nap. hahaha.

Don't forget to watch the Perseid Meteor show tonight....Will and I caught a few meteors late last night and THAT, my friends, is a cool thing.
Adios!