An Annnouncement...

Okay, I have some work to do! The Duggers, you know the family on TLC that has 18 kids, just announced they are having their 19th child! My son informed me we only needed 8 more to tie them! The difference is they have at least 2 sets of twins. Me, not any, YET! They do say the more children you have, the greater the chance for multiples! I was a nanny for twins 17 years ago and always said it was prepartaion for my future! So if this were a contest, I got some work to do! But since it is not a contest, just people surrendering their lives to God and wanting to be obedient, I will enjoy my 11 beautiful babies and anticipate an announcement of my own in the next 12 months I would guess! We will see!

Congratulations Dugger family!

Foto Friday- our newest fur ball

My kids bought a little albino fur ball bunny with their money this week and I just had to make you smile! She is the cutest little thing! Have a great weekend!

While I was away...

I decided to make a quick kitchen run while my boys were playing quietly in the living room. Everything seemed to be going fine while I was away.

Then I entered the living room and saw this...

















...and then this!












Wonder what happened? :)

Priceless!

What is it like being in a large family?

-sleeping past dawn? NO WAY! You're lucky if you make it UNTIL dawn!
-getting as much breakfast as you can possibly eat? No, not unless some of the others don't eat all of theirs!
-getting anything short of a homemade meal? Not often!
-get away without taking an afternoon nap or quiet time, nope!
-having juice, pop, kool-aide, or anything else but water or occasionally milk to drink? Don't think so! -sitting down to a quiet table for meal time? Are you kidding?! Way to much to talk about!
-brand new clothes? Yes, if a tag from Goodwill or a pulling them out of a grocery bag because somebody set it on your porch means they are new. Does the phrase, "New to you," come to mind?
-own room? Not! And if you did have your own, who would pray those scary dreams away or hide under the covers during storms with you?!
- own bed? Yes, IF you decide you want to be that lonely and not WANT to have a little sibling crawl into bed with you!
-playing by yourself? Who would want to do that anyway?:)
-looking for help with your school work? Take your pick! Lots of people have been there, done that!
-watch TV? IF you can find something on the 3 channels we get and who has time anyway?
-feeling left out and alone? NO POSSIBLE way!
-bored? Better not say you are, mom WILL find something for you to do!
-have to answer dumb questions from other people about how your life is because you are from such a large family? Constantly!
-good at communicating with ALL ages? Of course! You HAVE to learn how otherwise you will get ate alive!

-life is always perfect? Hardly, but the joy of sharing your life with many others day in and day out is simply put...PRICELESS!

Army bound?

Every once in awhile, I feel like there is a chance MAYBE the little things I am trying to teach my children is getting through. Responsibility, independence, and some evidence of order. Well, yesterday I was yelling, I mean gently calling to my child, to get downstairs. He had been up there quite awhile and to my experience, a four year old that is out of view and quiet is usually NEVER a good thing! No answer. So I decided to get my energetic, okay, lazy self up and check on him. And there right before my eyes, my angelic, never in trouble, adorable little boy was...are you ready for this, sitting on his floor with his clothes all in a row, FOLDING them and putting them in his drawer. Now don't get me wrong, this is something I have been teaching him to do for at least 2 years now, but usually with my direction. Nope, not this time! He looked at me with those big electric blues and said to me as I stepped into the doorway, "Mommy, I dust could not ake it aaannnyyymore! My cothes ere evywhere!!" AAAHHHH music to my ears! I will admit, I'm not sure what he meant because a couple hours ago I had just helped him put them away in his drawer but who am I to stop a neatness gene in him! It may be the only child I have that has it! I better enhance it and appreciate it while I can! (This is also the child who makes his bed every morning AND must get dressed the minute he wakes up!) Either he's going to be in the army someday, or he is just getting in practice to be a really good husband! This is what I call a "camel moment". Those days when you wonder if anything is getting through and then one moment something happens, such as my 4 year olds desire to be organized for a minute. I use these times to get me through the times when I want to throw my hands in the air and scream, (I mean quietly whisper), "who are these children and why are they calling me MOM!"

Today, I will gladly acknowledge he is mine! Tomorrow, we will wait and see!:)

 

 

 

Not "my child" Monday

These are some things that I have endured that teach me humbleness and to laugh. Although sometimes not right away!:) Clink on the box above to see more "Not Me's"!

It was not my children who ALL got the stomach flu this past week! No, not all 10 kids were regurgitating everywhere! My oldest daughter DID NOT sit on the couch moaning that she did not feel good and I did not tell her she better go up to the porcelain throne in case she "might" throw up! It was not her that decided she would be okay and she WAS NOT sitting 12 inches away from me and NOT the porcelain throne when she decided to lose her dinner not all over her lap and not all over the couch and no way was the entire family in the same room and they would have never had to witness the whole thing! They did not immediately cover their noses and did not all gasp at the same time yelling ewwwwww it stinks! I did not have to clean it all up! That would have been way to gross and I would not have been gagging myself when I was not scrubbing and scrubbing the upholstery! Febreeze surely WOULD have worked! No, not with the stomach flu, I guess! Surely I cleaned it up while happily singing, "This is The Day The Lord Has Made." I was not angry while I was doing it, that would be a BAD mother!

It was not my 18 month old child who came to me with slobber running down his chin while he was chewing on something. I did not pull that something out of his mouth only to find a piece of old, been chewed many times, and with dog hair alllll over it, piece of gum! And he did not cry because he wanted it back in his mouth! My kids would know their chewed gum goes in the garbage, right?! Or DID they put it in the garbage and my 18 month old get it out of there! Things that make ya go HMMMM! I would certainly have my eye on that little guy and know every move he makes!

My 6 year old did not pull the fire alarm while we were eating at a restaurant! I did not pick a quiet place in the corner to escape the stares so I could nurse the baby in a half private area. The ENTIRE restaurant did not totally turn their heads in synchronized rhythm to the shrieking sound over in the "private" corner while I had JUST started to lift my shirt up to nurse. It was not one of those alarms that you have to turn off with a key and we did not have to wait for the manager to walk ALLLL the way from the front to the secluded corner in the back to turn it off! My brother did not stand up and yell across the restaurant, "Shows over, false alarm! Everyone is okay!" We did not leave a half hour later and the whole restaurant did not turn their heads to watch us leave!

Can you come up with anything your kids did that maybe embarrassed you? You are not alone!

Foto Friday

Glad my week ended up better than it began! Have a great weekend!

Be still and know

The other night I was holding my 8 week old as he was crying and getting very impatient to eat. He had about 30 minutes until it was time. Because I am his mom and I know what is best for him, I knew he needed to wait. If I fed him too early, he would either not eat enough to make it until his next feeding, get a tummy ache, and the worst would be that if I would give in all the time, he would think that every time he cries, I feed him. Not a good way to teach discipline! Which by the way, is important to them even as a tiny baby! It is the basis for life~ So as I was holding him, I gently said to him in that high pitched voice that I so often speak to him in, "Don't you know even if you did not cry, I know what you need! I am your mommy! I know you want to eat, and I will feed you when it is time."

Now I know he had NO clue what I was saying. But a thought crossed my mind, that is how it is with God and me! I cry and whine about all the things I think I need and want. The truth is, even if I said nothing, He knows exactly what I need and when I need it! The great thing is that He does want to hear what I have to say, just as when my baby cries, I understand that he is trying to tell me something and so I try to comfort him, but in MY way! God will and does listen to me, but ultimately He will do what He knows is best for me!

So I guess what he was trying to say to me, "be still and know that I am God!" Just as my little one can be still and know that I am mom! :)