How happy are those....

Psalm 84:4

"How happy are those who reside in your house, who praise you continually."

This scripture penetrated my heart this morning with a few chocolate milk guzzlers in my lap. Such a short little verse with so much insight. "How happy are those ...who praise you continually."

I'm really trying hard this week to praise him continually...not just in song but with obedience, with attitudes, with words, with actions....

I could fill up the world wide web praising Him for all of his blessings, mercy and grace....and with all of my gratitudes...for provisions, health and safety.

Right at this specific moment I'm thinking over my day and I'm thankful for good friends with a common heart to share life with.....ones that desire a life of godliness..ones who hold me accountable.

my soul, my soul....magnifies the Lord...my soul...magnifies the Lord!

Click here then click on My Soul Magnifies The Lord to hear this amazing song we've been jamming to over breakfast and I can't get out of my head...thankfully!

All is calm...

What a beautiful day today. After church we came home, grilled steaks, I sewed, the boys watched the Cowboys, Crew and Kate took naps and we're sitting here listening to Brett nag and Parker practice Silent Night on the piano. Doodle is all decked out in her turkey tee and pants I started last year and finished this week, Crew is still snoozing and we're excited about the Church wide Thanksgiving dinner tonight....the kids always get crazy with excitement when we get to eat in the gym.



These boys are such blessings...and beautiful I might add.

Kate Marie

This little turkey doodle is more joy than we could've ever imagined. I could type a million words about how great we think she is and all of her special personality traits that we adore but only a momma cares about those things so...just wanted to share this sweet baby with one of her favorite dolls.




Oh yeah...the little stink....her left eye tooth is coming in right along-side her top tooth....I guess she waited so long they will just all pop in at once.

picture update

Crew definitely has a style all his own...yes, I let him wear these boots to school! He enjoyed his Charlie Brown Thanksgiving at PDO and he loves showing off his muscles in his $1.40 costume we picked up for the dress up box!




Parker and Brett wanted Bumble Bee but had to settle for Megatron.....2 bucks a pop...can't beat that for some fun play time.



Poppa took Brett hunting and shot this big ol' buck...they were both pretty excited. Brett vividly described the process of gutting the poor deer...gross!




Homeschooling is a blessing in so many ways but I love the fact that we can pack up our work and go enjoy breakfast somewhere...and still be learning! It's also a blessing when there's an extra hand to help out.




We went iceskating and to tour the new Dallas Cowboys' Stadium (which was HUGE). The boys loved being able to go out and run on the field.





More to come when I have time to upload pictures from the other card...

book party

My friend (LISA) is hosting a book party for me. Usborne Books are AWESOME....we use them almost on a daily basis during the week.

Check the link out HERE and order something if you would like. Christmas is coming fast.....what better gift than a book they love for that stocking!

hustle and bustle

I don't know why but I'm already feeling the "hustle and bustle" of the upcoming holidays. This week my calendar is all marked up....in ink! Yes, if it's "in ink" then there's no turning back.

My monogramming orders are backed up beyond anything I can imagine which I'm thankful for....need to finish painting the living room so everyone at our Sunday School party doesn't ask the infamous question of, "so, which color are you going with?" since half the wall is one color and the other half a different color...it's all neutral so only attentive people notice but it's about time to finish it...seriously!

Shopping is going to be easy this year since our kids aren't getting much of anything but I need to pencil in time to pick out a few things, I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of pictures that need to be scrapbooked, I'm praying about speakers for our women's conference which is also overwhelming...thankfully the Lord has them picked out already. If I don't get our Mission Board fixed people in the church are going to think our class stopped praying for our Missionaries! I'm in the middle of planning our annual Christmas party for all of our friends to come over....la de da da da....can you get addicted to BC powder?

If only I had Brandon's schedule....sit in front of the Cowboy's game and clean my guns that I shot all afternoon with my friend while the wives watched the kids!

(just kidding...Brandon didn't like me being funny at his expense!...he does way more than watch the Cowboys and clean his guns...I just thought it sounded good.)

Kate is 16 months old today and I just can't believe how quickly she is growing and learning. Her personality is so funny and sweet. She's quite the little ham these days and thinks herself to be so clever. We are enjoying her so much...as well as the boys. I just think I forgot about this stage all too quickly because we've been so busy having babies....it's sweet to treasure this stage and see her imagination and character develop.

I was bummed this weekend to miss gathering with some other moms for a book study we're doing...I was super excited about this section that we were reading and eager to hear everyone's insight but instead, we loaded up bright and early to head to our end of the season softball tournament. What a beautiful day the Lord gave us to enjoy good friends, great competition and an awesome sport which I love. Thankfully Brandon was able to cheer us on in the bleachers with the kids. Poor guy missed out this season due to 2 bulging discs...glad I had a sitter and a cheerleader all packaged in one! (undefeated Champions of the season and the tournament....yeehaw!)

I'll leave you with some things I was blessed with this weekend....good time with friends Friday night, great time enjoying softball this weekend, seeing so many beautiful babies of our friends being dedicated this morning, spontaneous lunch and visit with great friends this afternoon, a good laugh at the thought of a friend bonding with a cow being milked...and an excitement over a mom wearing pigtails to match her three girls in pigtails...doesn't take much to bless my soul, huh?

2 nice quotes I like

"To laugh at ugly tempers and let them pass because the child is small, is to sow the wind."

"What you would have the man become, that you must train the child to be."

Too many parents are doing a disservice to their children because they won't teach them the way they should behave. What a loss of time and a waste of a child's potential!

response to a comment...

I don't have the person's email that left this comment so...if it's you...here's my reply....

(comment from blog reader)
"Hello - I wanted to tell you I follow your blog because I am a new mom and I think your stories are funny and your perspectives are interesting. This entry has convicted me about watching meaningless TV. But what else to do when nursing 5 times a day?
About Halloween - I wanted to say I respect those who don't celebrate, but hopefully y'all don't judge those of us who do. I don't care about the "orgins," for me growing up it simply meant fun family time carving pumpkins and creating our own costumes. Precious memories. And trust me my parents were CHEAP too, I was a tooth fairy using an old wedding flower-girl dress."

(reply from me)
I'm glad you read my blog and it's people like you that make me thankful that I've left my blog open to public view. I'm glad my random (sometimes meaningless) thoughts give you something to think about. I know what you mean about "what else to do when you're a milk cow"...milk cow being my words as to how I always felt! I haven't been a tv watcher for a while so that hasn't ever been a big issue with me but reading is what I normally did before they got old enough to be distracted by the book.....after the second kid my nursing times were usually reading them books or just plain "crowd control" and answering questions about why babies eat boobies!

Any fellow nursing mommas out there with ideas...please share with this blogger!

My main reason for a post specifically addressing a comment.....by no means do we look down upon those that do participate in Halloween....yes, for me too it was just a fun time growing up....with great memories and super cute scrapbook pages! It's just a conviction I have that if we're going to "take a stand" on some issues...I feel we should take a stand on every issue we feel convicted about. I do believe that most Christians look at it as just "fun times" and "good memories" that they don't take a second thought on it because it's just good clean family fun. I've just changed my opinion over the last couple of years so I hope I didn't sound condescending...I just am tired of complacency and "Christians" not standing up for anything but just going along with the crowd because it's the norm or because they don't know any different...or don't want to be different.

Off to church....thanks for the comment.

random thoughts

I changed my profile info which got me to thinking random thoughts.

I have a habit of talking a lot....got that from my handsome Daddy. Lately I've come to pray about idle talk which we are going to be held accountable for so...I've become what some might think as boring!

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36

Idle talk is nothing more than sound made by bored people to fill silence!

Back to being boring...I honestly like having meaningless conversations with my extended family but that's mostly out of shock effect (I like making you guys think I need therapy!)

Seriously though....does anyone really care about who won what football game, what purse you bought to hang up next to the other 40 you have in the closet, where you went for dinner, what the Dollar General has on sale this week....I'm bored with these kinds of conversations so...I've become boring myself....sitting in my own little spot, not contributing to the conversation, wondering how I can change, be different and not live a life of complacency...but also be able to enjoy good conversation.

I've been around people that think all conversation has to be an in-depth Bible debate and quite frankly...those people are not who I want to converse with but...surely you can have meaningful conversation without being too serious 100% of the time but also without having idle conversation????

I haven't got it figured out just yet. The Lord gives us people to form relationships with....relationships are a gift...a true blessing. So, why not enjoy these meaningless conversations that do nothing to make us better people? I'm at a loss of words...at a loss of where to even direct my thoughts on it.

Lately as I've studied about switching homeschool curriculum and really focusing on what God's plan for my family is....a friend of mine and I have had some great conversations. I like conversations that leave me feeling invigorated with new ideas and ways to make better use of family time and how to equip our kids to be all they can be for the Lord....other conversations filled with small talk which sucks the life right out of you...just feels like I lost an hour of my life and can't get it back.

As dorky as this may sound....I want my kids to enjoy good conversations their entire life....eager to hear what their best friend is doing for the Lord, even more eager to tell what the Lord is doing in their lives, not wasting words on meaningless, materialistic chatter...but driven to things not of this world...how they can become better young men and ladies for the Lord, what they can do to encourage one another in their walks, overwhelmed with excitement over being able to lead someone to Jesus, pray for someone who's hurting, talk "Jesus" with everyone they see...they can't just "wake up" one day knowing how to attain these things....they have to be taught...I pray that I will become the person I want my kids to be so I can lead them in that direction. I pray they will see Jesus when they see me...I have a long road ahead....can't even see the end in sight....I'm going to run the race set before me.

I have a lot of bad habits to break....I plan on spending as much time with Jesus as I can so I can become more and more like Him.

I pray for true friends that will encourage me, lift me up, have the same goals for their family as we have for ours. I pray that I can be a friend that says, "hey...let's pray about that right now!" I don't want to be caught up in the same old pattern of meaningless conversation...I desire to grow friendships that have eternal value. I trust God to provide those.....I thank Him in advance for providing everything we need.

hahahaha

We are always telling the kids to go to bed because Mommy and Daddy are going to get naked or something funny like that because the kids' eyes get really big and they think it's funny.

It's Friday so the boys are up late....Brandon turned off Swiss Family Robinson and said, "okay...go to bed!" Parker said, "we want to stay up late" Brandon said, "No, because Momma and Daddy stay up all night kissing." Parker said, "nu-uh...or you wouldn't have any energy to spank us and stuff!!!"

Hahahahaha

As I'm typing this...the conversation about kissing is still going on. Parker said, "come on Brett, let's go see if there are kisses on the bed then we'll have proof!" Brett said, "yeah, like on Little Rascals...those pink marks!"

These kids are fun-knee!!!