This has been one BUSY week. Sydney LOVED start first. She loves her teacher (which is a blessing). We now have a week before school starts. =)

Start First.....

Today was Sydney's first day of kindergarden (or Start First)! Our schools have a program set up so that the kindergarden students go for the week for a few hours and learn about the school, and to get them ready for "real" school to start. They are then out for a week and then start with the rest of the school.

Sydney LOVED her teacher. She has several people she knows in her class and said that she just "might" go back tomorrow! I love the innocence of little kids! =)

I'm NOT that MOM!

1st alternate

S State La Petite Our Little Miss

Being crowned for the 1st time EVER! =)

We are gearing up for beauty season. Sydney is the state La Petite Queen. No I'm NOT a total pageant mom who forces her child into pageants. I am VERY selective as to which pageants she enters and she LOVES them. I waited until she asked to be in them. So far she has done very well in them.

Ending a long day with homemade Peach ice cream

Today has been just one of those days. Sydney did NOT sleep well at ALL last night. The medicine she is on makes her little stomach cramp and makes her sick. =( This makes for one TIRED mama!

Nana and Pop-Pop have been selling watermelons at the market this week and brought us home some yummy peaches. There were some that needed to be used so Nana decided to make some homemade peach ice cream. It was sooo yummy. Now if we can just get into bed at a decent hour and get some rest we can enjoy the rest of our weekend!

Patience

I love how when something is heavy on your heart and you are praying for God's help he sends you to certain places. There have been many times of the past couple of weeks this scripture has been in what I've read or in bible studies. Patience is not one of my assets, yet it's something that I strive for daily.

James1:2-8
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

We should praise God though the storms just as we praise Him when things are going the way WE want.

Wordless Wednesday

I absolutely LOVE being a mother!!!! I am so thankful that God has blessed us with 3 healthy, beautiful, amazing children. I love the little things they say and how protective they are of each other. I do have my moments where they are consistantly fussing and fighting and I'm ready to pull my hair out. But that's part of having children. ;) These pictures just melt my heart...




Trevor and Trent


Sydney showing off her toothless smile! She lost both teeth at the same time! And she's only 5!


Sydney, Trent, and Trevor @ the beach. We were looking for sand crabs and the full moon was beautiful.

Trevor and Sydney at her pre-k graduation

Tonight as we were saying our prayers Trent prayed that God wouldn't let the alligator get him or Sydney. The way he said it was so sweet and sincere. (Nana and Pop-Pop have an alligator in their pond and we have told them that they HAVE to be careful around the pond and to watch out for it)

Thought for the day...

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

A mother...

A mother is kind and compassionate and often says just the right things.
A mother works hard to maintain her home and her sanity.
A mother ensures that her children behave "properly."
A mother is a good listener and usually a good talker.
A mother is a gentle spirit and a dear friend.
A mother teaches letters and numbers and colors and shapes.
A mother teaches aiming straight, sitting backwards and wiping.
A mother does laundry and dishes and dusting and vacuuming.
A mother cleans spilled juice, sticky fingers, toilets and snooty noses.
A mother builds towers, plays babies, flies airplanes and colors Star Wars pages.
A mother is patient beyond measure.
A mother laughs 'til she cries at the silliness of her babies.
A mother loves her children and often defends them even when they are in the wrong.
A mother guides her children, allowing them to make mistakes that sometimes seem rather costly.
A mother does anything to protect her young and would cross the earth for them.
A mother makes unparalleled sacrifices.
A mother jumps for joy at small accomplishments.
A mother weeps alongside her child when they have been hurt or wronged.
A mother gets dirty in the sandbox, dances til she falls and can ignore the messes that abound.
A mother seeks counsel and wisdom from other moms who have been there.
A mother is still a mother, even if she has a child in Heaven.
A mother instructs her children in truth, love, loyalty, righteousness and faith.
A mother's desire is for her children to know Jesus and trust Him as their Savior.

All the while...

A mother loses her cool, her patience and often control.
A mother strives for the best even when it seems that 50% is all she's got.
A mother says I'm sorry and asks for forgiveness... from her children and her husband.
A mother fixes crazy dinners that seem "unbalanced" to any outsiders.
A mother could accidentally ignore the fact that the "zoo animals" are running wild.
A mother just might let her kid pick up their food off of a dirty restaurant floor and proceed to return it to their mouth.
A mother allows chocolate milk, a little Sprite, a few pieces of candy and the occasional cookie...before dinner.
A mother might give in to begging just to achieve a moment of peace and quiet.
A mother might yell when she's had enough.
A mother probably cries at times for no apparent reason.
A mother is probably exhausted and can't wait each day until nap time.
A mother possibly uses the YMCA, not just for exercise but for the few moments without anyone hanging from a limb.
A mother might put toys in the crib for 5 more minutes of sleep or teach a 3-year-old how to turn on the TV and pour his milk or even get up at the crack of dawn to drag herself to work

Strep again????

I'm about to take S to the doctor AGAIN (for the 4th time) with a sore throat. I have to be honest here, I'm starting to get tired of doctors and her being on antibiotics. She has had strep throat 3 times since the middle of May. This will be the 4th time. Literally every 2-3 weeks she relapses again.

T2 has an ear infection. Or I'm pretty sure he does. His ear is hurting (it has been hurting off and on for a week)and is a little swollen around it.

Update....

Sydney has Strep AGAIN!!!!! This is the 4th time in 2 months. If this round of antibiotics doesn't clear it up we will be off to a specialist to see what's going on.

Trent has a middle ear infection!!! Poor baby....He did sooo good while the doctor checked him. (Trent does NOT like doctors. After he had to have his head stitched up in Dec '08, the doctor wrapped him in blankets to stitch it and then to take them out and since then he doesn't like them)

Who causes problems in our Marriages?

This is just my soap box and my opinions, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone.

There are so many people who are having marriage problems right now. It breaks my heart and at the same time it's hard to explain to my children. We live in a society where everything is based on "emotions" and unfortunately our covient with God is broken because people just don't care.
John 10:10 says that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Believe us, Satan would like nothing better than to destroy your marriage. In fact, he'll even use you as a weapon.

Why? because if your marriage desolves, your children will be affected, your relationship with God will be affected, your witness will be affected, your community will be affected, and ultimately the church will be affected.


So how do you explain to your children that it's wrong and not ok to just walk away. I'm not saying that is the case if there is abuse. Sydney got my attention when she said that she would marry "R" first and then "T". I had to explain to my 5 yr old that we didn't do that. I wish people would realize that most marriages could be saved if they would just try and that they CAN be happy and "in love" with their spouse. It would make so many peoples lives different.

Snow White

S and T were watching Snow White during quite time today and loved the part where "bambi" was washing dishes. The deer licking the dishes clean just tickled them!

I just love them sitting together and watching a movie that was one of my favorites as a little girl!

T1

T1 is our oldest. He is an AMAZING child. He was THE BEST baby you could ask for. Only cried if something was wrong or he was hungry! =) He is getting SO incredibly big. I can't believe that he is about to start 5th grade. It's hard to believe. He can be such a BIG help. And S and T2 look up to him sooo much. We all love our T1.

Life.....

Lately I've been trying to do more bible studies and reading various scriptures and these seems to keep popping up! The funny thing is these are geared toward some of the trials I'm facing or my family is facing right now. I think God is trying to tell me something. ;)

Trying to differentate between a person and their sin is sooo hard though. I wanted to post these scriptures as a reminder for myself...
Psalms 95:6-11
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.

Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,[a]
As in the day of trial[b] in the wilderness,
9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Hebrews 12
The Race of Faith
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Discipline of God

3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:


“ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”[a]

7 If[b] you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Renew Your Spiritual Vitality

Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake[h] not only the earth, but also heaven.”[i] 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may[j] serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

James 1:22-23

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror

T2

(This picture is about 2yrs old but I LOVE IT!!!)T2 is my little character. He says the funniest things! Tonight at supper he told us he wanted more "corn on the corn bob". Daddy asked if he meant "corn on the cob" and he said no "corn on the corn bob" and just smiled. =)

~S~

Loving "S".......So thankful that God allowed me to be her mother. She is everything and then some that I prayed for her to be!


(will add T and T later today!)

Getting to know me....

I've hunted around on the web for a 'get to know you' questionnaire and this is what I've found!

Current Job: Mom and I work in hospice.

Originally From: Lower Alabama

Married In: Jan. 2010

Siblings: 2 - Sisters

Natural Hair Color: brown

Childhood sports?: none...

Mountains or Ocean: OCEAN! We live oh so close to the most BEAUTIFUL beaches of the Gulf Coast...(hoping the oil doesn't mess them up!)

Sports Car or SUV: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my SUV! But I do like a nice sports car on occasion!

Favorite Color: That changes daily. I really like pink, lime green, and blue

Favorite Board Game: Hmmm....Monopoly....

Favorite Fast Food: Depends.... Zaxby's and then Sonic for their cherry limeades!

How Many Times Did You Fail Your Permit/Drivers Test: Oh goodness. I passed the permit test the first time. I failed my first actual driving test, but the lady cop was mean and she tricked me!

Pens or Pencils? Both.

Driver or Passenger: Just depends...I really don't mind doing either!

Favorite Actor/Actress: Resse Witherspoon and Josh .

Favorite Movie: Chick Flicks. Sweet Home Alabama, Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Blindside, Anything classic Disney...

Pop or Soda: I call everything Coke!

Tea or Coffee: TEA! I love the smell of coffee but I can't stand to drink it. I love sweet tea.

Hand shake or Hug: Hug! I love hugs!

Magazines or Books: Both!

3 Personality Traits: Sensitive, honest and caring.

I hope this helps you to get to know me better!

Starting something new....

Finally I'm giving into the whole blogging world! =) I want to keep up with what the kids are doing, pictures, and just life in general!