communication is key....

"Just wait until your Father gets home!"is a phrase that brings fear to many children. When those words pass their mother's lips, they KNOW they have crossed a line, they have pushed their mother past her limits of control and the disobedience requires the attention of the strict, stern father.

Of course in our home the phrase, "Just wait until your Father gets home!" would bring more relief than fear. Michaela and Emma would LOVE for me to leave the discipline to their Daddy!!!

Meshing different parenting and discipline skills is one of the most difficult aspects of being parents. One parent is strict, one is more lenient. One likes to 'talk things through', the other uses corporal punishment immediately. One is consistent to a fault, the other does not follow through. The differences in parenting styles can be many, but they are not insurmountable~~as long as there is communication between the parents. Leaving the lines of communication open is crucial to being successful partners as you parent.

When there is communication between the parents there is an understanding in the actions taken to remedy the situation; you can stand together as a united force~~even if the choice made is different than what you would have chosen. The child sees the parents as unified. Discipline is more effective.

When parents communicate with one another, they both would know that their child had disrupted class with talking, for example. They both would know that the teacher had come to talk about the situation. They both would know that a long conversation had been had with the child and therefore the other parent would not have another conversation with said child 4 days later when he/she became aware of the situation. Both parents would have had said child apologize to the teachers immediately so that the individuals would know that we do not tolerate this behavior and that we hold the child accountable for his/her actions. With communication, the punishment could have been swift and both parents could have been unified in the chosen discipline~~~alleviating one parent from becoming the 'bad guy'. Communicating would allow for cohesion between the parents~~~ending any confusion that could arise.

So discuss...

hash things out....

talk, talk, talk....

Communication is the key to parenting success!

***it also would have alleviated my confusion caused by comments made by others :)***

friday frivolity...on saturday...

Friday came and went~~very uneventfully!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma Shea was playing dress-up after school...

She decided she wanted to give skating a try...

She put on Michaela's old skates~~~that were too big for her...

and she 'skated'.....

for about 2 seconds!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sharing is something we began teaching the girls when they were very young...

and Emma is GREAT at it....

she was sick...

and she shared the sore throat, fever, congestion, and aches with me!!!

of course, I also learned the lesson well and have shared my yuck with Michaela. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emma was playing outside in her 'clubhouse'...

she slid down the ladder and scraped her shin~~~there were no tears; we didn't know about it until...

she came up to me and said...

"Look, my leg looks like a mountain lion attacked me! But it didn't, I fell down the ladder."

Shew, I was worried that we had a mountain lion loose in our back yard!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was so happy to be able to see my friend Renea and her girls on Tuesday...

we had a good time talking after they came back from 'the concert'...

I miss the late night talks...

I sure wish Alabama was closer to Kentucky!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I finished my Chemistry class on Thursday...

I felt terrible, but I drug myself into the Final...

96 on the Final and 97 for my final grade...

WOO HOO~~~NO MORE CHEMISTRY!!!!

Except Dr. Repaske wants me to tutor Intro. Chemistry next term!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve called me a 'nerd' on Thursday...

I simply made the comment that I wished my new instructors would post the syllabuses up early so I could start studying...

Does wanting to study on my week off make me a nerd?

Don't answer that:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am going to go watch another episode of Murder One on the computer...

and then I am going to head up to bed....

Sweet dreams!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

following the JOBROS....

JONAS BROTHERS WORLD TOUR

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

The girls!
Lindsey, Stephanie, Michaela, Rachel, and Carley

Great seats!!!
6 seats from the stage!

A few of the MANY pictures taken
Can you tell who the favorite brother is?

Rachel and Michaela INSIST he was looking right at THEM!!
of course I think he looks angry:0

A picture before we headed north and our friends headed south!!!
Thank you to the Sims for the tickets, hotel room, JB bag, and shirts!

the things dreams are made of....

They say that dreams are our minds way of working through issues that we are dealing with in our conscious world.

There is actually a division of science, known as oneirology, that is devoted to the study dreams.

Boy would they have fun with some of mine...

I have very strange dreams...

and if dreams are supposed to be my minds way of working through my issues, I definitely need some help!!

But I had a dream Tuesday night that I think is fairly self explanatory...

All of our personal belongings, our life, was in a moving trailer~~~except some pictures of the girls.

We had paid a man of Middle Eastern descent to move our 'life'.

okay, not quite sure about the Middle Eastern descent reference

The trailer was being backed up to a house (the house we lived in in Beaufort???)

The wheels got stuck on a rock that was wedged in a crack...

The rock began to wobble...

and then the rock let loose and the trailer, our lives, fell down into the crack that turned into a large bottomless crevice.

Hmmm, I wonder what issues I am working through in my conscious mind!!!!

terrible connection...

The hotel has terrible internet connection...

Emma and I do not feel well...

no studying tonight...

no thinking....

I will wait until I am back from Nashville to post...

Have a great night!

a quickie...

JONAS BROTHERS WORLD TOUR
Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY

Michaela, Breanna, and Mariah

Nick at the piano....Michaela's favorite picture

Look for more pics on Wednesday
up close and personal!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EMMA DRAMA
ACT ONE!
~~~~~

Tomorrow the girls and I leave for Nashville...

It was just supposed to be Michaela and I, but Steve was able to pick up extra hours with CSS...

so Emma is joining us...

Smiles were abounding when she found out she was going to Nashville to see her friend Carley...

The smiles soon turned into heartbreaking sobs when she found out that Carley was going to the JOBROS concert with the big girls...

and she was not!

EMMA DRAMA
ACT 2...
tomorrow around 6:00~~Nashville time

upon the first day of the week...

“He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend. {Psalm 15:2-3}

just wanted to let you know...

that there is no post for today...

the girls and I headed down to La Grange to get Michaela's hair cut...

and we decided to just stay the night with the Morris family...

I did not take the laptop with me...

instead of writing a post, I stayed up....

making posters for the Jonas Brother's concert with Michaela, Rebecca, and Sarah~~~until after midnight!!!!

friday frivolity...

It is Friday again...

We survived the first three days of the new school year...

Emma has been exhausted each day, going all 5 days next week should completely wear her out!

Michaela is wanting to be homeschooled:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve is still looking for a job...

He calls the temp. services {3 of them} every morning...

They are not placing anyone anywhere.

We keep praying that something will turn up...

anywhere!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next week is my last week of Chemistry...

I have a test on Tuesday...

and then take my final on Thursday!!

Should be fun:)

And then I move on to Anatomy and Physiology, Calculus, and Cultural Diversity...

Oh my!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are being invaded by the Jonas Brothers next week...

Sunday night after church services, Michaela, 11 girls from church, and 2 crazy women will head to Rupp Arena in Lexington for the Jo Bro. concert...

Michaela will come back to La Grange, spend the night, and then Steve will drive her up to school {she will miss the first three periods}...

Tuesday, I will take my Chemistry test and then go get Mac out of school {she will miss the last three periods}, and head to Nashville...

getting there in time to meet up with the Hunters at the hotel room...

and then they are off to stand MERE FEET away from the JB!!

I will stay in the hotel room and study for my final...

Not experiencing the 1000s of squealing girls!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I cannot believe summer is coming to a close...

The pool is coming down...

The annuals have been pulled up...

and I have had to change the timer on our lamp in the entryway...

It was set to come on at 9:25~~~just as it began to get dark...

Now it has been set for 8:50....

Autumn is on its way!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve had to replace the brakes on my van today...

the metal on metal sound was not exactly reassuring...

I am glad to know I will be able to stop when necessary!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michaela is finishing her first week of Dance Team practice...

3 hours on Tuesdays {tap, ballet, and jazz}...

3 hours in Thursday {tap, ballet, and jazz}...

1.5 hours on Saturday {classical ballet}...

That is ALOT of dance!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please keep praying for us as we continue on in uncertainty.

it's a hard~knock life

What happens on the 2nd day of 1st grade....

Little Miss goes up to the guest bedroom to play~~at about 7:00pm

and falls asleep
~~with no dinner and fully clothed
(those are shorts you see, not her 'unmentionables')
(and yes, dinner was a little late tonight)

the BIG news...

I forgot to tell you Michaela's BIG news...

She received THE call from Rachel Sunday evening after teen devotional...

She was so surprised she was speechless~~~besides the giggling...

The girls in the room all said they would take her place if she didn't want the surprise...

She just laughed and said, "NO WAY!!!! I AM GOING TO SEE THE JONAS BROTHERS IN NASHVILLE ON TUESDAY AND MY SEATS ARE 10 ROWS FROM THE STAGE!!!!!!"

Yes, that means Michaela is going to the JB concert in Lexington on Sunday evening and then I will drive her down to Nashville on Tuesday so she can go see them again~~~and maybe even get to touch them because she will be so close!!!!

Oh the excitement!!!!

Oh the envy from the other girls!!!!!

Oh the joy for me because I will not be sitting through either concert:):)

not quite wordless wednesday...

First Day of School

One morning down....

189 more to go!!!!

New outfits adorned, lunches packed, school supplies loaded into bookbags, 'first day of school' letters written and hidden~ to be found later; the official end of summer!

Yellow school bus....off to public school !

I cannot wait to hear all about their first day!

on a lighter note....

Having spent some time with teenage girls this weekend, I learned that:
*goosebumps on legs causes the hairs to grow AN INCH immediately!!!!
* teenage girls should not try to talk about Buddhism when the are in need of sleep because a new religion, BOOTYISM, is created!!!!
* the 'check yes or no' notes of long ago~~~you know the ones, Will you be my boyfriend?" check the box~~~have been replaced by text message requests!!!!
*Michaela has a 'stalker' from the Wittsitts and he thinks her smile is dazzling!!!!
* that Nick Jonas is the cutest of the brothers!!!!

Having gone shoe shopping with Michaela yesterday, I learned that:
*she has TERRIBLE taste in shoes!!!!

Having made THREE attempts to wake up Emma this morning~~~~ an hour later than she has to get up tomorrow, I learned that:
*tomorrow morning is going to be a bear!!!!

Having stayed up WAY TOO LATE last night and having to get up for Chemistry this morning, I learned that:
*titration is a difficult concept to grasp!!!!

Having sat on the couch typing this post, I learned that:
*Emma + her ipod+ pretending not to be paying attention to her= her singing and dancing bringing a smile to my face!!!!

no more than we can bear...

I remember a lab experiment on surface tension I had to perform in high school. We were given a penny, water, and an eyedropper and told to record how many drops of water we could 'put' on the surface of the penny. We made our guesses...no one predicting a large number; it was the surface of a penny after all. It could not possibly hold too much water before it all began to roll off. We added the water, drop by drop. The number of drops increasing far past our predictions. The penny, though not very large, was able to have more and more water added to it's surface without a drop being lost. Until, the limit was exceeded. It wasn't a large amount added that caused the penny to lose the water, it was ONE drop. ONE DROP~~~ the same size as all of the other drops that had been added. It was that ONE DROP that was the breaking point~~causing all of the other drops to lose their hold and roll away.

I feel like that water tonight.

The email we received stating that Steve would not be going any further with UPS was THE ONE DROP. The hold I have been trying to maintain for the last 5 1/2 years of uncertainty has broken.

And it only took one email...one final drop.

When I should have been saying words of comfort to my husband who was obviously in turmoil, I was sinking. I had no words of comfort to give him.

When I should have been counting my blessings, I was asking 'Why do you keep allowing this to happen?'

When all around me is God's presence and love to behold, I allowed myself to be blinded by the waters flooding around my as I lost hold.

and... I am saddened that Satan won that battle.

As I was allowing my heart to be flooded by questioning and blaming, Satan was holding my penny and rejoicing in his success.

After searching through scriptures and lessons about prayer and suffering {posts about the lessons learned to come}, I have taken my penny back and I am ready to hold on again~~~knowing that God is here to help me hold on as the sufferings of life are added~~~drop by drop.

Romans 8:28 "... in all things God works for the good of those who love him."

is it a lie if it is for a surprise????

Michaela blowing out the candles on her cheesecake

August 14th has come and gone... Michaela has turned another year older; enter into the next phase of her life... and because she has a sneaky, conniving Mama {with some fabulous friends}, she did with a surprise party!!! Stephen and I had a celebration planned with 7 of her friends from church and her friend Rachel from Alabama, a stretch hummer, dinner at (where else) Olive Garden, and rooms for the night at the Marriott Hotel~~~none of which Michaela knew about~~because as I said, I am conniving and sneaky! Unfortunately the absence of a paycheck create the necessity of putting those plans on hold. We explained to Michaela that her celebration would have to be delayed. Of course, because she is the kind-hearted young lady that she is, she was content with just a small family celebration.

But, because of the great friends I have, a hotel room was donated to us in La Grange, food was provided by friends, and all 7 of Michaela's girl friends were able to come {except Rachel who was 6 hours away :(}~~~all arranged Thursday night!!!! The fun part was trying to keep the celebration a secret and getting Michaela to La Grange without her being suspicious!

Good thing she has a sneaky, conniving Mama:)

So the elaborate detailed lie story was created and the deception began!

*** I explained to Michaela that parents, and parents only, are allowed to tell holiday stories~~they are not lies :):)

and....WE PULLED IT OFF!!! She was completely surprised.

YEAH!!! So now I am in a hotel room listening to the breathing of 7 sleeping teenage girls (all but one asleep before 1:00am~~light weights!) wondering if I will actually fall asleep tonight...

and thanking God for the blessings of my selfless, genuine Christian friends, Penny, Gina, Cari, and Regina!

I cannot wait until later this morning because she has another HUGE surprise from Alabama~~~I will update with the info as soon as she receives her phone call:)

**no great pictures... my friends and I sat in the meeting room and talked and left the girls to themselves in the pool and hot tub!!
Hopefully I can get some tomorrow today before they all leave~~if I am awake enough.

IT has happened....

The day we have been dreading for a long, long time!

I do not know HOW it happened...

It was after all just yesterday that Steve and I were at Christ Hospital welcoming our new baby into our family....and NOW....

The feared, but inevitable, has occurred!!!!

She has turned into......

A TEENAGER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please say it isn't so!!!!!!!!!!!

and PLEASE PLEASE say many prayers for Steve and I as we venture into this unknown terror~tory:)

****more to come later*****

a just because post...

Thirteen years ago tonight....

No, I really will not put you through that drama...

I did make Michaela sit and listen to the story of her birth~~ this the eve of her 13th birthday...

Hey, she put me through agony 13 years ago, the least she can do is listen to the details:)
(actually there was no agony~~~epidural= bliss!!!!)

*************************

What does a 5 year old decide to do with her last few days of summer vacation....

Why, take a break from swimming and have her friend push her in her babydoll stroller, of course!
Steve ran in asking for the camera. After taking the picture he came in and showed me what he thought was 'so cute'.
"Um, yeah! She knows she is not allowed in that. Could you go tell her to get out before she breaks it!"
{a lesson on doing what we know is right even when we have a friend coaxing to do otherwise followed~~with Emma, not Steve:)}

**************************

What does the 'almost teenager' do her last few days of summer break?

She lays around in her pajamas until late afternoon, IMing friends and checking Faceb**k...
until her mean, evil mother kicks her out of the house and makes her do something outside.
{and then she has to suffer and spend hours and hours in the refreshing pool~~what a sacrifice!}

not quite wordless wednesday...

In December, 1999 we began building our first house.

In July, 2000 we finally got to move in.

The day the builders were pouring the driveway, Steve grabbed Michaela out of preschool and ran her over to the house to create a lasting mark at our new home.

She was almost 4 years old.

For the last 9 years those little feet have welcomed all who have visited.

In two days my little girl turns 13!!!!

Those tiny feet have walked many steps as they have grown; many adventures have been had...

and as my first baby enters a new stage of her life {and I reserve a padded room} those feet will take her on many more adventures!

But boy I sure do hope they are done growing because they have gone from a child's size 4.5 to an adult 7 in a year!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more wordless/wordful wednesday check out these sites:

Ordinary and Awesome
Seven Clown Circus
Wordless Wednesday

b.a.n.a.n.a.s.....

I just found this in a MISC PICTURE file...

Michaela videotaped Emma singing this about 2 years ago...
the backdrop is our living room, girls' bedroom and closet in dorm room in England

Hairbrush microphone and some awesome 'dance' moves...

It is not the best quality video, but it will make you smile:):)

my life is a clogged garbage disposal....

warning: the contents of this post tonight are not cheerful, uplifting, rational, or very positive...if you want warm and fuzzy you should probably move on.

Today has been one of those days, You know the ones~~~where you want to find a dark corner, curl up into the fetal position, and just rock back and forth.

Yep, it's been that good!

As I was beginning to wash the dishes from dinner, the garbage disposal began acting up~~because I truly need ONE MORE THING to add to the mound of crappy, no good, depressing things piling up in my life.

See I told you it wasn't going to be pretty.

Anyway, back to the disposal.

As I turned the disposal on to grind up the potato peels from dinner, the other sink filled up with dirty nasty water. I continued turning the disposal on and off for several minutes~~~because doing the same useless thing over and over always works~~~with the same outcome each time...left sink cleared of food scraps, right sink filled with sludge.

Okay, I finally called Steve in to deal with the situation because I had had my fill for the day. ~~~if only I had NOT gone to the mailbox as he was fixing the problem.

As Steve tore apart the pipes and I opened the mail~~~and received more for the mound I seem to be building~~~I realized that my life is like the broken plumbing. I have been trying so hard to put my fears and doubts down the disposal of faith; I have been turning on the faucet of belief that God will provide, attempting to grind up the uncertainties of our futures and yet dirty water and garbage seem to be keep backing up into my heart.

Steve fixed the problem~~~clogged pipes~~~and I went on to finish up the washing.

And I know that I could continue with my analogy and say that my heart seems to be clogged, just as the pipes were, with fear, bitterness, hurt, and anger. I could say that I need to clean out the pipes of my heart by adding scripture and faith; knowing that God is always with us and He knows the plan He has for us~~~and He will show it to us IN HIS TIME! I could say that the garbage that is clogging my heart is allowing Satan to pile on more garbage, making it harder to flush out the junk that is causing the back up.

I could say that, but I am not going to.

I am NOT ready to call the plumber in yet.

what encourages you?.....

I have mentioned several times before that we do not have tv in our home. Until recently I had not seen a news report in years. A few weeks ago, while we were at someone's house during the evening news, I watched about 10 minutes of the broadcast and then had to get up and leave the room. The entire 10 minutes had been one story after another of murder, break-ins, rape, and fire. I was astonished/amazed/sickened~~10 minutes of a Louisville station was only a minute fraction of the ugliness in the world. The hatred we see shown, the hurt we see inflicted to one another is overwhelming. The concern for our fellow man seems to have been choked out by selfishness, greed, and anger. Brotherly love has been replaced by selfish desires. Neighbors squabble over the height of the grass. 'Friends' gossip about one another. Needs of others are ignored. It becomes easy to see ONLY the degradation around us; to become absorbed in the negatives and give up on seeing goodness. But we cannot give into the apathy!! As Ghandi said, We must be the change we wish to see in the world.

If we look beyond the vile, repugnant behaviors of mankind and we focus on being a true faithful Christian, being 'the change we want to see', we can find encouragement from others around us. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word encourage as inspiring with courage, spirit, or hope . Inspirit, hearten, embolden, words that are interchangeable , denote the filling up with courage or strength of purpose. How awesome would this world be if we all strived to fill each other up with courage? How much good could be done if we inspired one another with courage, spirit, and hope? What stories would fill the evening news then?

It is easy to surround ourselves with negatives. We do not have to look far to see pernicious behaviors in others. But it is my choice as to what I dwell on. I decide what fills my mind and heart. I can sit around moaning and groaning about the unfairness of life or I can look past the trials that face me and can be encouraged, filled up with strength of purpose, by....

• the unconditional love I see in my girls
• the anonymous card of encouragement left on our pew at church
• the neighbor that came out to help me mow the lawn of a empty house in foreclosure
• the 'silver lining' that can be found in a situation that seems devastating
• friends that invite us over on Sundays~~and feed us lunch!!~~ so that we have a place to 'be' between services
• the genuine love of Christ I see in Michaela with her desire to be with fellow Christian teenagers spending as much time in study and worship with them as she is able
• my friend Renea~~that no matter how busy her life gets, I know I can call her and fall apart and be comforted in my sorrow or whine and complain and get the kick in the pants I may need
• genuine kindness~~with no thoughts of 'whats in it for me.'
• my faith in a better life in heaven
• a husband that is willing to do anything to support his family
• the stranger at the grocery store that paid for my groceries
• the smile from the employee in the drive-thru window
• the excited squeal and hug from a young lady we had not seen in years
• the neighbor girl graciously helping Emma bring her toys home
• and on and on.......

As we go about our day to day lives, let us remember to look for all that is encouraging. Let us inspire one another to be 'the change we want to see!'

friday frivolity...

Another Friday...another week gone!

Of course having Steve home all week and him working last night has thrown my conception of time off...

I have thought it was Saturday all day!!

I guess as long as I do not drive to worship services in the morning I will be okay:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First, I want to wish my friend Renea, and I guess Greg too:), a happy anniversary...

22 years!!!

I cannot believe you have been married over 2 decades...

and that we met and have been friends for that long!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michaela spent the night with Hayley after bible study on Wednesday...

Emma did too...

after the drama of "Whys" and "She always gets invited to spend the night!" between the sobs!

and then I received a much anticipated phone call Thursday asking if they could stay another day...

Today I went to pick them up...

Well, Emma is home!!!

Caleb was driving to the Whitsitt's...

so Michaela is in Indianapolis at the teen weekend devotional....

I guess we will finally see her again on Sunday!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Who knew there would be a silver lining to the severe storms and flooding in Louisville last week...

Steve will be slugging through water logged buildings doing restoration and demolition.

Woo Hoo, a paycheck!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I registered for my classes today...

Anatomy and Physiology...
Calculus....
Basic Arrhythmia...

I am so excited to finally be done with my prerequisites and starting in my core classes!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There has been a call back from one of the companies Steve applied to...

I am not going to get into the specifics yet...

but it would be a positive thing for many reasons....

so please pray for the situation!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is Steve's drill weekend...

which means he works 41 hours...

with about 3 hours sleep tomorrow evening.

Thank you honey!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summer is supposed to return tomorrow...

temperatures in the 90s...

UGH!!!!

The air may have to come back on:(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laundry calls~~I have been ignoring it:)

The floors are in need of a mop...

and I guess I should figure out dinner at some point...

I am thinking popcorn:)

Chemistry homework after Steve leaves for work and Emma goes to bed.

and around 2:00 or 3:00 am...

SLEEP!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have a great Friday night!!!

what would MY portrait look like?....

One of the novels I was required to read in my high school English class was The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde in 1890. The story begins with the main character, Dorian Gray, sitting for a portrait of himself; a portrait to immortalize his youth and beauty. As he spends more time with the artist's friend, Lord Henry, Dorian comes to believe that the only qualities worth pursuing are those of beauty and sensual fulfillment. The fear of losing his beauty overwhelms him and he sells his soul to save his mortal beauty by having the portrait take on his aging. As he sinks deeper and deeper into debauched acts, the portrait acts as a mirror to the effects of these acts on his soul~~becoming disfigured and grotesque as he continues his life of self fulfillment while his outward appearance remains unchanged.

I often think of Dorian Gray's portrait as I think about what our hearts must look like to God. Throughout the Bible we are taught that God knows our hearts. He knows our intentions and our desires.

• Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. (Psalm 44:21)
• The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath. (Psalm 94:11)
• O LORD, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. (Psalm 139:1-2)
• "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. (Isaiah 66:18)
• Then the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and He said to me, "Say, `Thus says the LORD, "So you think, house of Israel, for I know your thoughts. (Ezekiel 11:5)
• For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Man judges 'beauty' by the outward actions that he sees, but God sees the motivation and intentions behind the actions. In I Samuel 16:7 the Lord tells Samuel concerning Saul, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” And in I Peter 3:3 wives are told that it is the inward character, not the outward appearance that is to be valued~~ "Your adornment should not be an external one: braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God. God knows what is in our hearts. He sees our countenance. Our hearts are our portraits.

While outwardly we may appear gracious and loving, inwardly we may be harboring resentment or thinking hateful thoughts; sins that are hidden to man, but that are known to God. And with each desire to lash out with an ugly comment or wish of retribution for those who have wronged us, our heart becomes more disfigured; more grotesque to God. To those around us we may appear "beautiful", but God knows what unkindness our hearts may be holding. And what an ugliness that must be for our Creator to behold. What if we were forced to hang that disfigured, grotesque portrait of ourselves up to be looked upon daily; to be seen by others.

Thankfully our portrait~~our hearts~~ can be a beautiful sight to our Lord. In Philippians 4:8 we are shown that our thoughts guide what is in our hearts.~~"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." If we allow Psalm 19:14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer {my favorite verse} to be our guide, there will be no room in our hearts for those thoughts that are NOT worthy of praise. And thankfully, because Christ went to the cross for our sins, even when our heart becomes disfigured with the ugliness of sin, we are able to be made clean through the repenting of our sins.

God is our comfort and our strength. All things are possible if we call upon Him to help us. He wants us to bring our weaknesses and faults to Him; to ask Him for guidance and support. We will falter here in this life, but because God loves us we have a hope of an eternal life with no tears or sorrows; no disappointments or trials. An eternity with a pure and clean heart~~a portrait of beauty!

really wordy wednesday....

nearly not quite ...wordless wednesday

This picture was taken when Emma was 6 months old.

We had seen her sucking her thumb in the womb and she was DETERMINED to continue sucking it after birth. {She is slightly strong-willed and stubborn~~just like her Daddy:)} So, because it was part who she was as an infant, I wanted a picture of her sucking her thumb.

Of course, do you think the little stinker sweety-pie would cooperate when we had a photographer standing in front of us, ready to snap the picture?

So I did what every good mother does...

I put candy on her thumb!!

Hey, anything to get the shot :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fast forward 5 years...

Right after starting Kindergarten, the thumb sucking ended quickly~~ with the application of Hoof Hands.

Unfortunately, the bad habit has reappeared in the last few months.

And it's not so cute at 5!

Whenever she is watching a DVD or sleeping, the thumb is in her mouth:(

On the way to Bible study last week, I heard the sound of her contently sucking on her thumb.

"Emma, GET YOUR THUMB OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!!"

"How do you KNOW when I have it in my mouth?"

"I am a mommy, I just know!"

"But is so hard! It is sooo yummy!"

I was very thankful I was in the front seat so she could not see me laughing:)

To recap:

6MONTHS= CUTE

ALMOST 6 YEARS= NOT CUTE
PROTECTING THE THUMB FROM MOMMY:)

For more wordless and wordful wednesday post visit:

SevEn cLoWn CirCuS
Ordinary and Awesome

what a difference a day makes...

Yesterday...Sunny and 87*
Today.... Torrential rain, thunder and lightening and 67*
I LOVE global warming:)

Yesterday.... Outside swimming and playing
Today....Inside playing cards with Daddy and watching movies
In between Steve searching for a job, priming Emma's room, making phone calls

Yesterday....Girls dressed, hair and teeth brushed
Today...Girls in pajamas all day.
I think they brushed their teeth!

Yesterday...Steve unemployed
Today...Steve unemployed.
Opps, I guess a day didn't make a difference there!

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.... God is with us

"....Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

what a glorious day....

The sun is shining...The outside temperature is fairly mild {87 is mild for Kentucky in August:)}
And one has to only look around at the beauty that surrounds us to know that there is an awesome God that is in control of it all!


Emma and her friend have taken advantage of the beautiful day and are back in the pool~~for the first time in over three weeks!

Showing me her moves...

Sitting on the dock of the bay bottom of the pool...

Gotta' love that smile!
Newly cleaned and polished at the dentist today:)

There has been a stranger lurking around all day...

Oh wait, that is our long lost daughter that has been here and there for weeks!

She was welcomed home by a trip to the dentist to have a tooth pulled and her teeth cleaned...

and dish washing duty!!!!!

upon the first day of the week...

[God said] "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Psalm 50:10

making an assumption...

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an assumption as:
a: an assuming that something is true
b: a fact or statement (as a proposition, axiom, postulate, or notion) taken for granted

We have all heard, saw, or read something and made up our minds about the intent or meaning of the situation. We are all guilty of making assumptions without complete knowledge of the circumstances. It is so easy to do. We read something, we attach a meaning, generalization or an intent behind the words that may or may not have been intended by the writer. We take the words or actions and we begin to create an ugliness or evilness behind it. The words or the action may have been perfectly innocent in nature, but we WANT it to be something else; something unpleasant, so we concoct a scenario, filling in the gaps with our innuendos to make it what we WANT it to be.

And then what do we do? Do we call our relatives and tell them~~because it seems as if many feel it is not gossip if who you are telling is a family member! Do we throw accusations out at the person who said or wrote the words WITHOUT getting the facts? Or, do we do the Christian thing and contact the person PRIVATELY to obtain the facts? Do we reassess the situation AFTER getting the facts and then proceed with whatever actions are needed? Do we allow God's principle of loving one another be our guide as we speak/email/write to one another?

Assumptions are NOT based on facts. They are NOT based on a complete knowledge of the situation. They are NOT based on a complete understanding. They are one sided. Do the loving, right thing with information you obtain~~either get the details from the individual involved or let it go; because usually it DOESN'T CONCERN YOU ANYWAY!!!

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14