Last year’s snow was perfect!  The snow was great for building snowmen and sledding down hills.  I even got in on the fun.  And it lasted for just a couple of days – just long enough for everyone to have time to enjoy it, but life not be at a standstill.  This year, on the other hand, was quite different.  We started on Christmas day with snow.  It wasn’t really enough to enjoy playing in, but did add an extra special spark to Christmas since it’s the first time in over a hundred years since Georgia had a white Christmas.  But on January 10th, just as the kids were going back to school after 3 weeks out, snow came again.  And.it.stayed!!!  We had snow for an entire week.  The kids missed another week of school and practically everything shut down.  I’d like to say it afforded us some great family time, but the truth is — we all got pretty tired of each other.  The first day of snow was very powdery, so it wasn’t much fun for playing in and you couldn’t even build a snowman.  The next day, the light, icy rain came and sealed everything.  It was bitterly cold and just not fun to play in.  Wet, wet, wet!!!  By the third or fourth day, things had warmed up just enough and we were able to make better use of our “sleds” for a short time and Noah even pieced together a snowman.

The snow eventually melted and life went back to normal.  I can’t say I was sad to see it go!  The kids went back to school (after missing again for MLK day that next Monday) and I was left with a dirty fireplace, lots of laundry, and an empty pantry.

Summer vacation is a good place to start!  This year, our family decided to try a beach we used to go to years ago.  In fact, the last time we went to St. Petersburg Beach was the summer before Noah turned 1!  At that time, we were still doing the  extended family vacation thing.  You know where you caravan down with the rest of the extended family, you all stay at the same condo, you all eat at the same meals, etc.  Yeah, not my idea of vacation.  I mean, we created some memories together, but I can’t say they were all good.  And I digress!  We started thinking about where we would go and decided to give St. Pete another try.  We all had a great time with great weather, but have decided that St. Pete is just not the family fun atmosphere we desire.  Myrtle Beach it is NOT!  Blue hair retirement community it most certainly is.  Pop joined us again this year and it was definitely nice to spend the quality time with him.  And we celebrated Addilyn, Colby and Pop’s birthdays while we were there!

Family Photo

We returned from vacation just in time for school to start.  This was a big day for our family!  Not only was it Addilyn’s first day of preschool, but we had also made the decision to take the boys out of the Christian school they had always gone to and start them in public school.  It was not an easy decision, but an obedient one.  The Lord had impressed upon us that it was time to get out of our comfort zone and pay more attention to the needs around us.  The money we spent for a Christian education each month could be better used to minister to others.  God has since given us confirmation after confirmation that His will is always best!  We’ve been able to help several ministries financially, Noah’s behavior improved greatly, and Noah’s stuttering has lessened as he is under less pressure.  Funny how I never noticed that we were forcing him to be someone God did not create him to be.  The boys adjusted nicely at Bay Creek and Addilyn is loving preschool at Victory.   I’m so proud of all 3 of them!

September marked 2 years since Ladrene passed away.  We still miss her every day and each time I look out my front door, I’m reminded of her.  After she passed away, our sunday school class at church purchased a tree to be planted in her memory.  Sweet friends of ours from small group came over to plant it for us and prayed with us to dedicate it in her memory.  This year, I noticed just how beautiful it has grown to be and couldn’t help but think of the beautiful life she lived.

Addilyn and Colby  both received new bicycles for their 4th and 6th birthdays.  Addilyn lasted all of about 2 weeks with training wheels before she was begging to have them removed.  This Momma wasn’t quite ready for my baby to be riding freestyle!  We delayed her for as long as we could, but when she tired of hearing “We’ll do it another day!”, she took a different approach.  When all else fails, ask big brother.  He’s usually quite content to give her what she wants – especially if it means he gets to be the hero!

Somewhere around the time that I quit blogging, I took up crafting and craft blogs.  Before I knew it, I had broken out the sewing machine and was trying my hand at all kinds of projects.  There are so many fun things out there to try, but so little time to do it.  But I was determined to make some Halloween costumes by recycling some things around the house.  That worked great for Addilyn and Colby’s costumes, but no so well for Noah since he’s a bit older.  Not to mention the fact that every year he wears his costume for about 30 minutes and then he’s had enough.  Bad enough to feel like you’ve wasted your money, but I wasn’t going to waste my time too.  During a cleaning rampage just before Halloween, I nearly threw out our Twister game.  The kids never actually play with it, instead they just get it out and then they can’t fold it back up neatly.  Just as I dropped it in the trash it dawned on me that Addilyn needed a costume.

Colby has just gotten into Legos, so a large box, some red spray paint, and some red Solo cups were the perfect combination for a one-of-a-kind costume.  He got tons of attention throughout the night and he ate it up!

Just before Christmas, we sought out to have the dreaded family picture made.  Seeing as how my attempts at the perfect picture never quite work out, I thought it best to let the professionals give it a whirl.  A friend of mine was just getting started in the business and was so happy to take on the project at no cost to us as she was busy building her portfolio.  I was really wanting a different look than the regular studio shots, and I was so happy with the end result.

Addilyn was in her first preschool Christmas program, and what a little Angel she was!

Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve our family had to say goodbye to our beloved Bones.  Our once rescued dog of 4 years had never thought too fondly of men, but had more recently become attracted to the idea of biting.  We had already visited the vet with concerns of his anxiety, but things weren’t getting any better – no matter how hard we tried.  The final straw was when Bones decided to take a bite out of a delivery man’s leg.  We knew we could no longer take any more chances and it was time to say our goodbyes.  We were sad to see him go but knew it was the right thing to do.

So much for the saying “. . . as slow as Christmas.”  Wasn’t it just 15 short posts ago that I was talking about Christmas 2009?  Seriously though, why is it that when you are a kid Christmas seems to never come, but as an adult it is always just around the corner?  The truth is, I love Christmas!  But I must admit that I had a really difficult time getting into the spirit of things this year.  I was sick with some sinus difficulties and a nagging cough for a couple of months prior to Christmas, so that may have had something to do with it.  I’m not really sure the reason, but whatever it was, it held me back.  My house didn’t have nearly the decorations up, I couldn’t get excited about shopping, and making plans were always done at the last minute.  None of that seemed to affect the excitement my children had!  Addilyn was convinced that Santa was going to bring her an American doll that looked like her; Colby wanted Legos and a guitar; and Noah had been asking for an Xbox 360 for a couple of years.  And they were not disappointed!

The boys were also surprised with a special gift – their first guns!  And they couldn’t wait to use them.  So we headed to my sister’s house for a little target practice on Christmas day.

While the boys were enjoying their new guns, Addilyn and I snuck away for a great time with our American dolls.  Daddy was sweet enough to buy Mommy a look-alike American doll for Christmas so that she and Addilyn could build some amazing memories together.  Addilyn was thrilled that Mommy had one too!  So it was off to the American Girl store we would go to get our dolls’ ears pierced, their hair fixed, and enjoy a nice dinner together – just the 4 of us!

And that’s our 2010 – or at least the last half of it.  And I’m not sure who is more excited that it’s over – me or you!  I, for one, am looking forward to starting 2011 with a bang and a blog!

I can’t keep Addilyn away from the Photo Booth.  As you can see, her favorite thing to do is crawl up in my lap while I’m perusing the internet and start the camera.  So next time you wonder where I am and why I’m not blogging, I’m having fun with my girl!

Colby (5):  Addilyn, today is tomorrow.

Addilyn (3):  No, today is today.  (For the record, that’s what I was thinking too with a puzzled look on my face.)

Colby:  No, Addilyn.  Remember yesterday when we were playing store?  I told you that I don’t have to go school anymore and that tomorrow we could play with the cash register all day.  Well, today is tomorrow.

Aaah, now that makes perfect sense to me!

Best Buddies

So today’s writing is a Keepin’ It Real post!  Nothing warm and fuzzy about this one!  Nothing even funny about it!  In fact, it has taken me a couple of weeks to write it because frankly, it’s not something I really want to share.  But the fact is, this blog is for my children.  One day, when they have children of their own, I hope they will go through this book of writings and see that mom was not just fun and loving, but that she was normal!  She made mistakes – sometimes big ones!  And maybe they’ll learn from them before they are repeated.  So here’s the ugly truth:

A couple of weeks ago, Noah was upstairs in the playroom for quite a long time.  He enjoys going there sometimes to escape the little ones, so I didn’t think anything of it.  He typically watches some TV after he comes home from school or sometimes he talks on the phone with his friend.  (I know, right?  He’s an 8 year old boy!  I don’t understand it, but he enjoys it and it doesn’t hurt anything!)  A bit later, he came downstairs all excited to give me a Mother’s Day card he had created for me.  He had put so much time and energy in it and was so happy to surprise me with it.  I read his sweet words and said thank you, putting it off to the side.

About an hour later, we were in the car heading to dinner.  I was talking to Noah and noticed this green stuff ALL OVER the undersides of his arms.  When I asked him what was all over him, he proceeded to tell me that it was ink from my scrapbook markers.  I’m pretty sure that flames shot out of my ears at that point.  Why?  Because he has been told REPEATEDLY to stay out of my scrapbook stuff!  There are very few things in this house that I call mine, but I lay claim to the scrapbook stuff.  And I don’t like to share!  Nothing is ever returned to the right place (not that I’m that organized); the mess left behind is never cleaned up; and lids are never completely replaced on the markers (you know – push until you hear the click!).  UGH!!!

The scrapbooking mom who prides herself in preserving special memories for her children went off the deep end and ripped him a new one!  ”Why can’t you ever obey?  I’ve told you repeatedly to stay out of my things, but you just can’t obey.  You have no respect for anything I say!  How many times have I told you to stay out of my things.  You’ll never get it, will you?  And on, and on, and on . . . “

I will never forget the look on that sweet child’s face while he shook his head.  He didn’t speak a word, but he didn’t have to.  The look of disappointment spoke volumes.  It was at that moment it dawned on me that just an hour before that same child had brought me a surprise Mother’s Day card.  A big, beautiful card decorated with what else but a green marker.  And sitting behind me in the car was a child with the back sides of his arms covered in ink that had not completely dried while he continued to create!  And then came the realization that a single scrapbook marker cost less than even a store-bought card would have cost, but no price can be put on a card made by my child – just for me!  A card made with no prompting from dad or a teacher at school.  A card made by a little boy who loves his mom and wanted to tell her so!

Did he disobey?  Yes.  Should he have asked first?  Probably so.  Would I have said yes had he asked?  Not likely.  Is a scrapbook marker worth the broken spirit of my child?  Absolutely not!

No “Mother of the Year” awards here!  Just a huge apology to a sweet little boy and a desire to be better than that.  And for those of you who know me well, you know there has been guilt and self-condemnation to follow.  And now there is a big, yellow card with green marker proudly displayed on my mantle, just under the Thomas Kinkade.  And it may be there for a while!

Thank you God for my sweet Noah.  In a wonderfully difficult way he teaches me more about You every day.  Thank you for Your forgiveness, Your grace, Your mercy and especially Your patience with this Mom who loves so much, but fails so often.

Maybe I should have been a little more clear with my instructions.  You think?

Too hungry for clothes!

Later today I went to the school to try and fly a kite with Colby’s class.  When I entered his classroom, three different adults felt the need to greet me with statements like, “Why is Noah in the principal’s office?”  or “What did Noah do this time?” or “Did you see Noah?”  Apparently, the school got involved and decided to talk to the boys about the problems their jealousy conflicts were creating for the classroom.  I can completely understand that.  After all, the school office had no idea that the parents had already discussed things and would get it under control.  My greeting was what ate at me all afternoon!  The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became.  And I’ll stop now before I get worked up again:)

I have been trying to decide how best to handle this situation with Noah when he gets home today.  Because he was guilty of saying unkind things and calling names, I had decided that he would spend a few minutes studying/writing “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”  While I was repeating the verse to myself while trying to find where it is located, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and showed me that maybe I need to spend a few minutes studying/writing this scripture too.

Noah’s words may not have been pleasing to the Lord, but my mediation on the situation isn’t either.  Seems we’ll both be disciplined this afternoon!

Sunday Stirrings

A few weeks ago in my quiet time, I studied Luke 11:14 -23 – specifically verses 21 and 22. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure. But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers him, he takes from him all his weapons he trusted in, and divides up his plunder.” The parallel is that Satan is the strong man and God is the One who is stronger, ultimately victorious, and divides up the plunder.

The question was asked, “How has Satan stolen from you and intended to harm you?” “What plunder did you receive from that when God was victorious?”  Given that I was studying this particular lesson on the week of my 15th wedding anniversary, I knew the answer to both of these questions immediately.

My marriage has not always been as wonderful as it is today.  It had a rocky start and some really tough times early on.  There was a point when we admitted to one another that we never should have gotten married – that we were not part of God’s perfect will for our lives.  We liked each other and even loved each other, but not as God intended for us to.  There were numerous times that Satan sought to kill, steal and destroy us individually and as a couple.  Only by God’s grace, some marriage counseling, family, and a commitment to our vows did we survive during those first few years.  But survival doesn’t necessarily equal happiness.  Fortunately, as time passed, we matured.  We grew closer to one another and thought we were happy.  Life seemed to be pretty good.  It was around this time that we went through fertility problems for three-and-a-half long years!  Our issues were labeled “unexplained infertility” but God knew His explanation and thru many tears, He revealed it to us.  I believe it was originally a consequence to sin and then His sovereignty and perfect timing.  When we thought our marriage was strong enough for children, He knew better.  We needed to endure together the stress that came with infertility.  Trust me, it was hard!  That kind of stress, emotions, and hormones brought about a whole new level of problems in our marriage.  But it also eventually brought about a full dependence on God.  We survived those difficult years and in God’s perfect timing, after our full surrender, He blessed us with children.

Probably from the years of 2001 to 2007, we seemed pretty happy.  We had our ups and downs, but we seemed to be in a good spot.  It was in 2007 that my relationship with the Lord began to grow.  As I grew closer to the Lord, I realized my marriage wasn’t all that it needed to be.  During a series by our pastor on “Besetting Sins” and a simultaneous study by Beth Moore called “Breaking Free”, I came to realize that there were things that I had not forgiven my husband for.  Things that happened before we even married!  But I also recognized that there were things I had not forgiven myself for.  I had asked God’s forgiveness for past mistakes, and I knew He had forgiven me.  But I had not forgiven myself.  I survived under a blanket of guilt but it weighed me down.  I came home that night and told Chanch that I forgave him.  I asked his forgiveness for my inadequacies, and he forgave me.  But even harder than that, I forgave myself.  I told Satan that I would no longer allow him to use my past as a weapon against me.  He would no longer have the freedom to guilt me with forgiven sins.  My chains were gone!

Since that time, I seriously can’t begin to tell you the changes that took place in my marriage.  We are truly happy now!  We don’t always see eye to eye, but we’ve learned how to fight!  We love each other more than anything, and even better – we are best friends.  There is no one I would rather spend time with than my sweet husband.  And I know he feels the same!  We have 3 beautiful children and 15 years of marriage behind us.  We are both closer in our individual walks with the Lord than we had ever been, and we encourage each other to grow closer.  And the man who once regretted marrying me just gave me his mother’s wedding set as a renewed commitment of his love for me.

Satan intended evil against me.  And I gave him plenty of footholds (weapons) with which to do it.  But, “Greater is HE that is in me than he that is in the world.”  My God was victorious and He not only brought me freedom, He blessed me with the plunder!

Visit Jodi at Fruit Inspection for more Sunday Stirrings and feel free to share what God is teaching you.

Numerous times within my 15 year marriage, Chanch has discussed the option of getting me a new wedding ring.  I must admit, my answer wavered.  I mean, what girl doesn’t like new diamonds?  But I’m also very sentimental.  There’s something about that first wedding ring.  Maybe it isn’t as big as some of my friends’ rings, but it represents where we were and what he could afford when he first asked me to marry him.  It carries memories with it.

On the night of our 15th anniversary, we were at a romantic dinner, listening to the band play quiet love songs.  Just before dessert, Chanch asked me if I wanted to slow dance with him.  I recognized the song as “Looks Like We Made It” by Barry Manilow and commented on how appropriate that song was for our night.  Little did I know Chanch had previously arranged it all with the band.  At the close of the song, Chanch went down on one knee, held out a ring box, and proceeded to ask me, “If you were able to do it all over, would you marry me again?”  I, of course, was crying and replied, “Yes, a million times over.”  We kissed and the entire restaurant broke out in applause.  He asked me to open the box and inside was a beautiful diamond wedding ring.  I was so enamored by everything happening, that I didn’t notice it’s significance.  He then told me that my new ring was his mother’s wedding ring.  Now, I was squalling!  I slipped the ring onto my finger, replacing my original ring, and spent the rest of the evening wondering how I could be so blessed.

This ring is so much more than diamonds to me.  It represents, first and foremost, what every wedding ring represents.  But, it also represents a renewed commitment from a husband who loves and trusts me enough to entrust me with such a special family heirloom.  It represents a family that I was blessed beyond measure to marry into and their love for me in honoring me with this privilege.  This gift to me represents what must have been an obvious love that I had for my mother-in-law and she had for me, as her own daughter (Melissa) said she knew her mom would want me to have it.  How blessed I am that Melissa has one of her favored rings too, and was willing to offer Chanch this one rather than leaving it in a jewelry box not to be enjoyed.  Finally, it represents a lady, my late mother-in-law, that I loved and still love more than anyone will ever know.  I still miss her every day.  Her love and commitment to her family was obvious and they continue to carry her beautiful legacy.  I’m so fortunate to be a part of it!

I am so thankful that the man of my dreams understands me.  I could take off my original wedding set and replace it with the new one because of the sentiment it holds.  Hopefully Chanch will be able to give my original to Addilyn one day as a promise ring of her commitment to not remove it until God sends her His perfect one.

And I will wear my new one for the remainder of my lifetime, remembering all that is represents.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon around 3:30 after a six hour drive from Atlanta.  The place was huge and absolutely beautiful.  I’ve always been a fan of big columns and the lobby (Grand Hall) here had it’s fair share.

To our surprise, the resort had graciously upgraded us to a Junior Suite.  We were so impressed at the time. but soon realized we were just about the only people staying at the resort until the weekend, so I guess they figured “Why not?”.  We unpacked our things, rested for a short bit, took a quick self-guided tour of the main building, then headed to the bowling alley so Chanch could show off!  After bowling, we got dressed and headed to dinner at the Tavern for some great river trout.

Thursday was our actual anniversary date.  We took this day to enjoy some relaxation in the spa.  The corridor leading to the spa was beautiful and set the tone for what was to come.  We enjoyed the total body package starting with an herb infused bath with natural hot spring water and ending with a pedicure.  Of course, a body massage was somewhere in between.  After our treatments and lunch, we went for a relaxing dip in the heated indoor pool.  What a pool it was and a bit intimidating when you are the only people in it!

We took a quick nap and got ready for a nice, romantic dinner together at the Dining Hall.  A live band played romantic music and the food was great!  Chanch had a surprise  waiting for me there, but that story is reserved for a whole other post to come.

Friday morning was our day outside.  We headed to the ski slopes and spent numerous hours going up and down the slopes.  Some downs were more graceful than others, but we had a fabulous time.  There were maybe 15 other people there, so I wasn’t a danger to anyone else.  Chanch even got me to go all the way up one time – but only once!  I much preferred the mid-station drop off!  We finished skiing and headed to the snow-mobiles for an hour’s worth of fantastic fun!  We each got our own snowmobile and had a blast racing each other, doing donuts, and jumping hills.  I told our guide that I might be a girl, but I don’t drive like one!  We headed back to the room and got dressed for a late dinner.  This time we ate at the 1766 Grille.  Wow!  The food was unforgettable.  Seriously, it was that good!

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we headed to the shooting range for our first round of  skeet shooting.  I say our first round because we ended up shooting on three different occasions because I enjoyed it so much.  It was quite the challenge, and I was determined to beat it!  Even after three times, I came nowhere close.  In fact, the instructor told me to stick to raising kids!  Oh well, I still had a blast shooting – even if I didn’t hit the targets.

After that first round of skeet, we headed back to the ski slopes but this time for some snow tubing.  We started out on two separate tubes, but before it was over we were on one together which made for some great laughs and wonderful memories.  For some reason, when I was on a tube by myself I kept slowing down and sometimes even stopping before I was down the lane.  The workers there said I needed to evenly distribute my weight on the tube.  I wanted to ask them if they had taken a good look at my body – no even distribution there!  Once we weighted down the tube with me and Chanch, it was smooth sailing and so much fun!

We met a couple from Virginia while we were snow tubing.  There names were Jay and Stacy and we enjoyed talking with them.  Turned out they were in the room right next to us, and they had dinner reservations at the 1766 Grille that night at 8:30 too.  Ironically, we were seated right next to each other so we spent the evening chatting across tables and enjoying their company.  We invited them to join us at our table for dessert, but we weren’t sure the timing would work out.  It didn’t.  They were finished with their meal before we even got our salads.  I’m sure that was a relief for Jay, because little did we know, he had it worked out with the staff to bring Stacy an engagement ring with her dessert!  Such a sweet moment to witness!  He told us later that he was squirming to figure out how he was going to tell her they couldn’t sit with us for dessert!  They stuck around for us to finish, and then we headed out for the guys to play a few games of pool while Stacy and I chatted it up.  I love meeting people, and it is so rare that you meet people you just click with immediately.  She wasn’t prepared with a camera for their big engagement night, so I took plenty with mine and we’ve exchanged e-mail addresses.  We’re looking forward to keeping in touch.

So it’s Sunday, and we’re heading home now.  I’m so excited to see my kids.  This has been the longest I’ve been away from them.  I missed them like crazy, but can’t even explain how much fun we had.  There is no one I would rather spend time with than my best friend, my husband.  I’ll save more of that for my other post!

I can’t say enough good things about The Homestead!  It was such a beautiful place nestled in the mountain and a great place to create some wonderful memories.  Among the activities we enjoyed, there is also ice skating, fishing, horseback riding, hiking, rifle range, carriage rides, golf, tennis, and a movie theater with two movies showing nightly.  We never left the resort and had no reason to have our car while we were there.  A complimentary shuttle takes you anywhere you want to go.  And we heard rumor that they are in the process of purchasing dune buggies now for fun when the snow isn’t around and putting in some water slides to the outdoor pool.

We definitely plan on returning in the future and look forward to taking our kids there!