[ NOT your typical Monday ]

Mondays are typically spent working at home. I work on Saturdays so I normally take Sunday and Monday off, but... Monday usually ends up being a computer day for me to catch up. Yeah! I got a lot done today. Not as much as I wanted to, but more than I expected to. Does that make sense? lol :)

Yesterday we did our school supply shopping. It didn't take long (thank goodness!) and we actually didn't spend near as much money as I expected. Since Taylor's a senior she didn't really get anything but paper and pencils and we'll figure out what she needs after her classes start. Tyler and Tanner got pretty much everything they needed, but were disappointed that we didn't get new gym shoes or backpacks yet. Sometimes you just have to wait for payday. ;) Tomorrow daddy and I will attend the school board meeting to see exactly what we're going to do with Tanner for school. Frustrating to have to wait until the last minute to make some decisions, but such is life. Some people may not know our situation, others do and empathize and understand and feel our frustration. Our older kids have gone to what most would consider a private or semi-private school for the last 13 years, and now that our youngest son is getting ready to start school it seems the loyalty and dedication (not to mention thousands of dollars in tuition we've spent) one family has devoted to a school we believe in and support has failed us. Returning that dedication to their families has become a disappointment. Long story short, my 5 yr old with sibling seniority has been trumped by families with students that may have only attended 1 year of preschool. Our 13 years of dedication is bumped by a 1 year member. Frustrating is an understatement. So... everyone can pray for that meeting tomorrow. That what needs to be done for all parties involved will be led by God's will for our lives and our children's education.

Make me know Your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.

--Psalm 25:4-5

I started a fun new project yesterday too. I found a website for patterns and some really cool ideas (http://www.youcanmakethis.com/) and decided I'd try some of them out. There are 'name pillows' and of course you could use any font to print and make a letter pattern but after my brain fart subsided I remembered I have a Cricut Machine! So I gave it a shot, after ironing on my heat-n-bond I ran the material through my machine and cut my letters for my pillows. :) So easy and fast! Better than cutting them all out by hand. Now, granted I'd love to have a different font cartridge for my machine, but for a first try the plain 'ole plantin schoolbook worked fine. I just set the cutter to roly poly I think it's called and cut away!

For my first run I made my kids pillows. Tanner helped pick his material, hence the red checkered 'e' that doesn't seem to fit the color scheme I was going with and his major turquoise blue! lol But hey, it's his pillow after all.

You gotta love these handy little machines (okay, I have the big one but still...). Serious gadget love going on here!

Now, if I could just get a new sewing machine to finish the applique after ironing the letters on my base material. My old machine really bites. My thread gets caught all the time and it clangs now. After 20 years my Wal Mart machine isn't in such good shape. :) lol I think after trying these out, and liking them so much I'm going to use them for my fundraiser ideas for the mission and my 'adoption hope' fund. ;) I'm hoping that the Lord will see us through the feelings he has placed in my heart someday. And, if it's not in our future to adopt I'll use my 'adoption hope' fund on the mission. Or I'll sponsor even more children. There's plenty of those too! I've found lots of goodies I want to try to make and use for fundraisers. Can't wait to share!

[ Brian's Birthday ]

My friend Diane had to go away for the weekend to a board meeting for Life Connection Mission. So, while mom's away the kids will play...at my house! :) Brian and Kristi came over today and will spend the night and we'll go to church together in the morning before mom comes home. And today is Brian's birthday! He celebrated early with mom before she left yesterday so he brought his Nintendo DS along for some fun. He's video game junkie I swear!

The kids have been really good and I had to work a bit this afternoon. They came along and while I had a photo session Tyler was being an awesome big brother and they walked to the convenience store to load up on junk food snacks and soda. Lucky for me, pop doesn't affect their personalities. ;) lol After work we headed to the grocery store to get fixin's for homemade pizza and treats for after dinner (fruit roll ups). No one warned me that going to the grocery store would be such a chore! lol But we survived.

Yummy! I love homemade pizza!

The kids play and get along great for the most part. Tanner being the youngest tends to get bored or overlooked at times. He gets tired of playing video games when Brian gets ahead of him or feels left out when his brother won't make crafts with him but he looks forward to doing them with Kristi. He had it rough today anyway...stepped on a bee and got stung right on the bottom of his foot while they were playing tag and hide-n-go-seek outside.

Tyler and Kristi made sock puppets as a surprise for Kristi. Tyler wants a little sister so bad. :) His big brother role with Tanner is sometimes great, but most times difficult. They love one another, but tend to fight like cats and dogs. Being the middle child has been tough for Tyler, but he hangs in there. :) God knows he's the tough one or he wouldn't have given him the middle child role.

Miss attitude with her weapon! lol Tyler would hold the yarn hair and tell Kristi to cut. She got faster and faster and between giggles Tyler would say "Slow Down Kristi! You're gonna cut my fingers off!" lol Of course she was being careful but he loves to make her giggle.

Kristi's sock puppet, finished. Almost looks like she's smiling doesn't it?! Tyler made pigtails for her puppet but Kristi didn't like them so we took them back down. Her yarn hair almost looks like little 'fro braids. :)

And of course boys will be boys. We'll take time to put everything away before bed right? I hope. Otherwise it's going to be a long morning playing pick up before church! Hey boys! Look at me! Boys.... Oh Boys!.... Please? YO! BOYS! Hmmmm...

Okay, fine. I made Kristi and Tyler come to the living room and made the boys pause the video game so we could take a group picture for Brian's birthday. :) It's no giant party with balloons or cake, or even any real presents...but we're having a great time!

Tyler, Kristi, Tanner and Brian

My four kids for today. Tomorrow I'll be back to my normal three. (Taylor will finally be done working at the cook shack during the fair and I'll have my daughter back!) Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Despite the heat we're having a ball. Giggles, laughter and squeels galore! May God richly bless your weekend as He has mine.

Oh... and a huge P.S. This is tax free weekend! Tomorrow we're going school supply shopping! Every penny counts!

[ Please Pray ]

Not everyone feels the plight for orphans and children/families around the world that we've been enlightened to over the summer. Our lives have changed so this year. So much for the better and positive, but our minds and our hearts have been opened to things beyond our backyard.

A bloggie friend posted on her blog this week about an orphanage where she has family working with children in Uganda and four of the boys were kidnapped from the orphanage in the night. Most likely for child trafficking and slave trade. They were ages 4-12. Can you imagine being alone in the world at the age of four and enduring so much pain, confusion and loss? Please pray for these boys. In a perfect world, they would be returned unharmed. Of course, in a purely perfect world they would not be orphaned to begin with. But learning to trust and hope in someone, finding a place of refuge from the wild world they live in and then being stripped away only to be abused and neglected could only be short of hell for a 4 year old. (in my mind at least). I know I can't carry the burden of the world. But I can pray. God's ears must be burning lately from my little lifeline in the world. I hold fast in his faithfulness and strength. He's got big ears and broad shoulders. :) You can read more about the boys' and the orphanage and the mission supporting them by clicking here.

The young boy in the gray shirt on the right was one of the boys kidnapped. The boy next to him in the green shirt had the misfortune to witness it all and has been traumatized and needs prayer also. Look at those faces. Doesn't it just melt your heart. God created these boys, just like He did my boys. I wish I could do more...

[ Friday Freebies! ]

Holy Cow!! Free chocolate?! Is it for real? YES! Every Friday through October, you can click here to get your coupons for free chocolate! Limit 1 coupon per e-mail address every Friday, limit 4 coupons per family for the period. Of course we all have e-mail addresses around here so I'm thinking we're gonna get lots of chocolate! lol :)

Don't you just love Friday Freebies?! My goal is to find a new freebie to share every Friday. Now, I've got work to do, but will post more later. Go grab your chocolate before it's too late!

[ Thankful Thursdays ]

Thankful Thursday. Today I want to know what you are thankful for, and you can't just pick out the 'no-brainer' that we'll all list like your children, your spouse, your house, or being free in America. We're all thankful for those. Not to mimize their value, but I want you to really think today about what it is you're thankful for. And I gotta tell you after our mission trip to Haiti this year our lives have changed tremendously. Things we took for granted that we had no idea or gave it a second thought.... I won't bore you with the beauty I find in electricity, or hot water or food today.

While I was picking up the house today because we were having a satellite installed and the realtor come by I'm reminded of just how much I suck at housekeeping! lol :) Yep, I'm horrible. Dust bunnies big enough to pack away a newborn baby. Then it dawns on me...I'm thankful for the legos and hot wheels that pierce the bottom of my feet out of the blue. The chaos of my children fighting over the video controllers or the ding dong of my daughters cell phone for the gazillionth time as she carries on a text conversation that last 3 or 4 hours. Someday soon, all these little sounds and spoilers will be gone. The kids will go to college, start families of their own and it will just be daddy and I home alone. What will we do? I can't imagine my home being that empty and the 'fun' disappearing. I realize everyone looks forward to spending time with their spouse again or doing things alone without the kids. But daddy and I make time for one another now. We have our date nights, we take weekend trips together. Right now I'm thankful for the clutter in my house and the constant chaos and coming and going because I can't imagine it being gone. I don't care if my house is messy--it's lived in. By my three awesome children that God blessed us with. I'd love to have more. I'd love to adopt. If I had my way I'd be that little home woman that lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do! lol I'd know. I'd have an even messier house and more chaos and an abundance of love and laughter.

Today, I'm also thankful for footlong corndogs! Smothered in mustard! The highlight of the fair! They came to our small town and didn't bring a tilt-a-whirl so the fair went down the tubes for me, until I spied those footlong dogs, calling my name! Ahhhhh...

Just a few pics from the fairgrounds. Now... tell me what you're thankful for this Thursday. :)

I think the goldfish game is so cool to look at. Too bad we can't all see color like I see it through a lens! :) These are the wierd little oddities that grab my attention at the fair.