HAPPY BIRTHDAY Katie Lynn

Happy Birthday to my Katie Lynn!  (I'm sorry this is a day late!)  Katie became my 2nd daughter when Greg and I married Sept. 2005.  Not many folks are blessed to get a daughter that is as tall as them and almost a teen, but I was.

I has been fun watching Katie in her role as a mommy to 3 very active little boys.  Robert, Thomas, and Alvin keep the household lively.  I am also excited that she is beginning to homeschool little Robert for preschool.  What a special bond to have with a child.  After all, you teach them how to eat with a fork, go potty, put on shoes....why not also teach them letters and counting. 

Thankful for ....

the blessing of another daughter

her sweet smile

awesome hugs

watching her grow as a wife and mommy

the fun we have

"Lies Women Believe"

Amy and I are participating in a ladies Bible study at our new church.  The guide we are studying is "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that sets them free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.  Its a great Biblically based study, and we are enjoying our time studying with ladies at our church.

Here is an overview of the book ~

Chapter 1 ~ Truth or Consequences
Chapter 2 ~ Lies Women Believe About God
Chapter 3 ~ Lies Women Believe About Themselves
Chapter 4 ~ Lies Women Believe About Sin
Chapter 5 ~ Lies Women Believe About Priorities
Chapter 6 ~ Lies Women Believe About Marriage
Chapter 7 ~ Lies Women Believe About Children
Chapter 8 ~ Lies Women Believe About Emotions
Chapter 9 ~ Lies Women Believe About Circumstances
Chapter 10 ~ Countering Lies with Truth
Chapter 11 ~ The Truth That Sets Us Free

We are currently on Chapter 5 ~ Priorities.

  Which is particularly applicable in todays world ~ prioritize the work the Lord has for you each day and accomplish those things first.  Everyone's list will be different & your list everyday may vary.  If at all possible, its great to start the day with prayer and Bible reading.  You can pray before your feet ever hit the floor, or while you are nursing a baby, or taking a shower, or cooking breakfast.  If you have a houseful of little blessings you can "listen" to the Bible on tape, cd or tablet ~ as sitting & reading may not happen. 

My priorities include ~ prayer/bible study, taking care of my husband, family, care of our household, animal care, mission projects, etc.  And I am still blessed with plenty of time to sew, read, cross stitch, blog, facebook, play games.  But I try to do the important first ~ it helps the day go much smoother. 

Thankful for ~
this study for women
the opportunity to do this with Amy
the laughter we share with other ladies
realizing we don't have to do "it all"
Gods Word

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to my 2nd born son ~ Allen Scott.  Allen is named for my Uncle Allen (Moms brother) and his dad James Scott.  And Allen has carried on the name Scott to the 3rd generation by naming his son Aiden Scott. 

You've always been a bundle of energy, very inquisitive,  love to climb and find trouble to get into, take things apart, and trouble seemed to always find you.  Your love and passion for life has been a blessing and is great to watch with your own family.  Aiden is a lucky little boy to have you for his daddy.

Now that you are a dad ~ you have some inkling of the depth of love I have for you.  I am proud to call you my son!

Love you Al pal!

1 of my best birthday presents ~ Allens surprise visit to Miss. after moving to GA

Allen & Jennifer at Katie's wedding

Stone Mountain family day

helping Bobby on the ropes course

the proposal

rock climbing

saying "I Do"

my son is a daddy!

Thankful for ~
a loving son
watching him grow as a husband and father
the years we've been blessed with
his chocolate eyes that have been passed to the next generation
living close to him again

More on Consignment Sales

You hear & see many interesting things at consignment sales ~ from both the sellers and the buyers. 
This relates back to the post from a couple of weeks ago about be careful how you speak and your tone, etc. 

I had mama's come through the line for cutting their tags off and the checkout/pay line who did nothing but complain ~ about their children, prices on items, the line they had to wait in, etc.  The most complaints I heard were about their own children ~ one mom was buying loads of name brand, expensive clothing for her teen daughter (maybe I could mention here that the shorts had a tad more fabric than underwear does, but not much), and said She is so picky, She probably won't wear any of this and I will just have to get rid of it ~~~~ and on and on and on.  Good grief, knock the little princess off her pedestal and introduce her to the real world.

Then there was the gal that I checked in who had 3 completely full racks of "in perfect condition" blue jeans for girls.  Curiosity got the best of me and I did ask how many daughters she had ~ answer ~ 3.  But they love jeans.  As she was putting stuff out on the floor, I counted one of the racks of jeans....150 pair ~ she had 3 racks....that's approximately 450 pairs of blue jeans for 3 girls.  Talk about excessive.  She even said ~ oh, they love the $60 jeans from xxxx store and we buy them all the time.  In my mind, there are 3 teen girls that need a clothing budget, and possibly jobs to feed their blue jean obsession.  She priced them at $5 a pair, I hope she sold them all because that would have been a blessing to many people.  It does make ya wonder what kind of job her husband has to feed that blue jean addiction ~ and I feel sorry for their future husbands who will be getting a wife who is used to this extravagance. 

I heard loads of moms talking about how they let their kids wear anything they want, how they grew up poor so they give their kids anything, how they love to shop and get away from their little "brats", one of my favorite (not) was the lady enthusiastic about homeschooling (her 2 children were with her) and the gal in my line loudly stated that schools were there for a reason and kids needed to be in them ~ I did speak up and congratulate the mama on homeschooling and shared with her that I had homeschooled for 18 years....that hushed the loud gal.  (Homeschooling isn't for everyone ~ but niceness and manners are...you can question and disagree without being nasty, especially in front of her kids).

And the comments about their husbands.  One lady wanted to split up her purchase and only put $15 on her husbands credit card so he didn't know how much she spent ~ the rest went on her card (guess they have separate accounts).  Sad thing was, the person checking them out was fine with it and said she does it all the time to hide her purchases from her husband.  Hummmm, that's just wrong.

The best conversation I had all week was the last day ~ a mom came to my checkout loaded down with books, games, and educational materials ~ she was going to start homeschooling next year...what a fun time of sharing.  She paid for everything and thanked me for the inspiration to begin her homeschooling journey in the fall~  that was all worth it!

Thankful for ~
my kids who weren't that picky as teens
& kids that saved their money to purchase items they "had" to have
time to share with others about homeschooling
seeing the treasures everyone found
being thankful for what we have
finding items to buy for others and bless them with

Consignment Shopping

Since moving back to GA, I've shopped at a huge consignment sale in our area.  This sale features baby, children, and teen clothing & shoes, bedding, tons of toys, books, games, movies, etc.  With 4 little grand blessings to buy for, its a lot of fun to go look and find them goodies.  I usually have a list of sizes and what their moms want for them ~ and after I cover the essentials, I get to throw in some goodies when I find them! 

This sale I got my Cutler boys a little tykes picnic table, several outfits for each for the 3 of them and pajamas!  I got Aiden a little tykes basketball goal, outfits, and jammies.  And our house got 4 new to us Vegie Tales CD's for the little guys to watch when they visit.  Amy and I got 2 scrabble games for the letter pieces....we found some cute projects on pinterest to do with them.  The 2 games cost $5 total.  I also found Will 2 nice pairs of cargo shorts for the summertime.

The basketball goal and the picnic table were the 2 things I really wanted for the boys.  Robert, Thomas, & Alvins backyard is fenced in, so their table is going outside for spring/summer fun.  There were 6 basketball goals ranging in price from $10-$15, and one stuck in the back for $2.  It was an easy choice!  The $2 came home with me, we have to buy a ball to go with it.  Walmart has some smaller size sports balls for kids so that's where we will go. 

Since I volunteered at the sale, I earned some $$ credit for time "on the job", so out of pocket, my cost was $20 for all that I got! 

I found the boys incredibly cute stuff.  I found Robert some size 4T jeans that appear to have never been worn for $1 each, he got 3 pair.  They love Cars, so they got car jammies, I even found Alvin some to match his big brothers!  Aiden is into Toy Story right now and I found him a cute toy story shirt and 2 pairs of jammies also. 

Consignment shopping is the way to go for little ones.  They outgrow their clothes long before they wear them out (usually), so its a great money saver. 

Its definitely worth seeking out these sales, especially if you have lots of littles to buy for!

Now, someone needs to have us a grand daughter blessing cause all the girlie stuff is adorable! 

Thankful for ~
grandchildren to buy goodies for
finding specific items I wanted
great prices
lots to chose from

Thomas

Today is Thomas' 2nd birthday ~ he is our 2nd Grandson!  Little Thomas is cuddly, quite the talker, loveable, has awesome facial expressions, full of personality, and his favorite phrase is probably "hold me".  He bring lots of joy and excitement to our lives! He loves his blankies & pacie, molk (milk) and bananas.  Eating with a fork or spoon is too slow for him and he shoves in the food with his non utensil hand ~ lasagna, chicken pot pie, oatmeal, whatever!  He does not like the little dogs but tolerates Mack.  Loves to feed the chickens as long as I am holding him.

ignoring the camera ~ but awfully cute in his Hawaiian shirt

riding PaPa Gregs childhood rocking horse

That's his Stonewall expression ~ taking baby brother for a wagon ride

contemplating how much flour and sugar he can eat while helping bake cupcakes

getting a ride in Auntie Amy's old doll stroller

Katie & Thomas

We are thankful for ~
A happy healthy Thomas
our 4 grandsons ~ Robert, Thomas, Aiden, & Alvin
the blessing of grandparenthood

Chicken Love

My love of chickens is a recent ~ as in the last 6 or so years ~ phenomenon.  I love them!  I've got ceramic chickens, cross stitch chickens (thanks Mom) and real chickens.....14 of them. 

I found this cute garland on pinterest this morning ~



Which would be adorable hanging over my kitchen window ~ I would make different color chickens since mine are all different!  This is adorable!  Hopefully the link has directions.

Here are some more chicken goodies ~

cute little chickens to cross stitch ~ would be great on a kitchen towel

more little cross stitch

Know where I am planting my sunflowers next year ~ shade for the girls!

great idea for hot days and my chickens love vegetables and scraps!

wheatgrass wagon ~ I would use some of the planters the previous owners left

beautiful eggs ~ who needs artificial dye?

Thankful for~

the sturdy coop Greg built

beautiful chickens

variety of egg colors

fresh eggs

Eggy Breakfast Muffins

I found a recipe on pinterest this week for Easy Breakfast Muffins ~ I was intrigued.  They have a shredded hash brown potato crust and looked easy and yummy.  The original link is http://www.playpartypin.com/2015/03/easy-breakfast-muffins.html.

Here are my pictures of the process ~

hashbrown, cheese, and egg crust

added ham to each cup after the hashbrowns baked

next came eggs and cheese

looks yummy ~ right out of the oven

even though I greased the pan, they still stuck

My take on this recipe ~ I would do it again....but with modifications.  They needed more flavor ~ so sausage or bacon may be a better addition than ham or more than one meat if we have it.  The original recipe called for bacon but I had the ham handy.  The hashbrowns added a little to the recipe but I am not sure if it was enough for the carbs.  Think I will try next time with liners in the muffin pans. 

This recipe is Chihuahua approved....they gobbled up what I scraped out of the pans.

Thankful for ~
new recipes
having all the ingredients
easy pinterest links
time to experiment

Be Careful What You Say

In reading the Bible last night, I was reminded once again to be careful what I say and how I say it.  Its ok to disagree or even argue your point, but do it in love and be in control of yourself.

2 Timothy 2:22-26 (NKJV)

Flee also youthful lusts but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.  And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NKJV)

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness buy denying its power.  And from such people turn away.

These are Pauls words in a letter to Timothy, cautioning him on how to act toward and treat others in his ministry.  As applicable today as they were several thousand years ago.

In wanting to "win" and argument or "make" the other person see our point of view or agree with us, do we cross over into the 2nd set of scriptures.  I continually have to remind myself that no one will see the real Truth unless the Lord opens their hearts and eyes to it. 

I watch with amusement and caution many of the conversations and arguments over different topics on facebook.  Both sides want their own point of view to be first and foremost on any topic and if the other person doesn't agree, the name calling and unhealthy speech start  The only real authority on any topic is the Lord and His Word, the Bible.  What was called a sin then, is still a sin now...it doesn't change with the passage of time.  It is ok to correct someone who is in opposition to what the scripture says...but argue it with scripture not the latest fad, book, speaker or Pastor.  We can all get it wrong or pull a passage out of context to make it say what we want. 

Thankful for ~

wise words

revealed truth

opened eyes

the Holy Bible