Not Me!

Oh dear it's already late afternoon on Monday and I've not posted Not Me! Monday! So without further delay:

I did not have an hour long "discussion" (aka argument with me on the defensive) about homeschooling only to come away wondering what it was I was arguing about. I don't argue...

I most certainly did not completely ruin a loaf of bread today by letting it rise so long that it flopped out over the sides of the pan and drooped down onto the oven grates.

I did not "ignore" boo boo princess while she had markers only to regret that decision when she showed me her rainbow belly.

And I would never "ignore" my nator long enough for him to find two markers and color his mouth and face with (don't worry they were non toxic).

I am not just now finishing a fall dress I started for boo boo princess last fall.

OH yeah and I for SURE did not rush My Piggy (who no longer wants to be called that by the way) to Fantastic Sam's for an emergency hair cut after the little girl he was playing with at chick-fil-a showed her mom the itchy spot on her head and her mom loudly announced "She has Lice!" That would be irrational!

Check out what Mckmama didn't do this week!

House keeping

My Clean Living Room:





And the reason it doesn't stay that way:

And Faces of My Nator:


Don't worry, I do dress him when we leave the house.

High heels in the Kitchen

The floor was dirty so instead of sweeping I searched for a pair of shoes.

Where were my comfy crocs?

Oh Well...my church shoes are here by the door and I won't be in the kitchen much longer...

I remember well the days when I would put on moms high heels (when she wasn't looking) and stumble into the kitchen where my reflection could be seen in the oven. I loved how pretty the shoes were and how pretty I felt.

Today my high heels are functional. I can reach things on the high shelf without getting the kid's bathroom stool. I am marching over all the annoying crumbs grinding them into a fine powder and allowing myself a few more meals before I must sweep. They make me feel like June Cleaver and inspire pictures and blog posts.

No matter that my children are confused as to why I am taking pictures of my high heels perched upon the stove...They fit now and as I glance at my reflection they offer me a moment to escape back to a day when all it took was a pair of high heels and a shinny oven door to make me feel pretty.

RIP

Blanche Pierce

2008-2008

Roosting in life, Resting in death.

She was a pretty lady. She could be seen flapping about the compound pecking at anything that moved. Blanche was wise despite her small stature. She was the first to prove flight was possible and that an escape route could be found. She led others with determination but was a respector of persons. She understood her place in the flock and carried out her role with dignity...even if that meant leading the gang in a dirt bath. Her laying was superb. Large and speckled were her eggs and they came rain or shine.

Blanche, we don't know how you went. It burdens the soul to know it was likely not gentle. We know you are resting. No eggs will be expected of you now. The golden girls are merely silver without you.

We will miss you!

Not Me Monday!

It sounded fun so here it is...the list of things I most certainly did NOT do this past week ;o)


1. I did NOT let the kids eat ice cream for dinner twice this week.


2. I for sure did not forsake the laundry and dirty dishes I mentioned earlier in favor of sewing an insanely adorable skirt for boo boo princess!

3. I absolutely did not get a little teary eyed when I realized we are offically missing a chicken...Blanche may you RIP.

4. I would never have picked My Nator's boogers while he slept on my lap during church this morning even though his head was tilted just so that they taunted me hanging all dry and crusty from his little nose.

I can think of other things to tell you I did not do, but you wouldn't believe me anyhow. And under the slight chance you might classify me as a truthless falsifier...I confess that I did in fact do all of the above.

Oh forgot to mention: This idea came from Mckmama's site

Silent Sunday?

Not So Funny Friday

It's past 12 and I am still in my jamies, Nator is trying REALLY hard NOT to fall asleep at this hour past his first nap time, BooBoo Princess is screaming while thrashing about in her room (why? I can't remember), My Piggy is paitently waiting for lunch (poor kid he's probably starving), There are dishes piled beside the sink and laundry in both the washer and dryer as well as in most of the baskets in the house, The trash can next to me smells as bad as a skunk with some three day old diapers in it...

I'm not complaining, I was just wondering...

Has anyone got the number for a good fairy godmother?

Or Merry Maids?

pimp myspace profile

How about some headlines?

UK Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking law...

Priest Accused Of Selling Coke From Church...

UPDATE: 400 Chinese babies sick from contaminated milk powder...

24 dead, 135 injured...

Encouraged? No?

I know these aren't atypical headlines, but they're discouraging none the less. Almost mindlessly I postion myself in front of the computer a couple times a day to check out the latest headlines and read about how I'm much better off than those mentioned. I find myself attracted to the stories with the greatest shock value.

I wonder how the families of those 24 dead would feel if they knew the tragic loss of their family member was entertainment to me.

What about the sick babies in China...I remarked how sad I thought it was, but I did little more than come up with some snide judgement against whoever let this happen.

The way I see it I have two choices:
1. Stop reading the news.
2. Start making the news.

Quite possibly if I was out walking the footsteps of Christ, serving the needy, sharing the gospel, and living the gospel I wouldn't have time to read the headlines. Maybe if enough Christians did that we'd be the news.

You may have seen the e-mail that went out a while back saying that Billy Graham paraded down the streets of New Orleans with a massive army of Christians singing hymns and witnessing to people on the street. It was a great story...it wasn't true, but it could have been. Would that make news?

I'm not saying Christians should be vying for their 15 minutes of fame. God gives Grace to the humble. What I am saying is that if I was obeying God's command to love my neighbor maybe, just maybe they wouldn't be the next tragic headline.

I have not been alive long enough to recall too many momentous American events, but certainly I will never forget where I was on 9/11/01.

I was 17 and 7 months pregnant with my first son. I had just begun my senior year of high school. I was in my car getting ready to drive to my boyfriends house to wake him up for work. I heard it on the radio. At the time only one plane had struck the twin towers and they were reporting it as an accident. I went in to wake up K* and by the time I was on my way to school again another plane had hit. I got to my world geography class late and told them to turn on the T.V. that another plane had struck.

I think I will remember it most because I was pregnant. You tend to think about the world a little differently when you're bringing new life in to it. I remember thinking about all the pregnant women whose husbands were in those towers, or at the Pentagon, or in the planes. I remember thinking about the children who were at the daycare centers in those buildings.

Maybe I remember it most because I was 17 and just about to go into "the real world" where things like that happen to people...people who aren't expecting it, people like me.

Maybe I remember it because it got me out of a day of school work, or because it started a war. My generations war.

Whatever the case...I remember 9/11/01.

Education is Grand!

I figured out how to get this video up on my site. It's great...I mean sad...very very sad.

Labor Day - a few days late

Warning: Baby Talk happening

So I saw this idea on a friends blog and liked it. What woman doesn't like to talk about their labors!

My Piggy:
I started having contractions the night before I went into the hopsital and stayed most of the night timing them. They weren't painful though. I went to the hospital about 7 in the morning. I was determined to be having pre-eclampsia symptoms and hooked up to magnesium sulfate fairly quickly. That slowed things down so I was pumped up with Pitocin. From start to finish at the hospital my labor was about 12 hours maybe a little more. I don't remember pushing too long, but apparently it was about an hours worth. My son was 7lbs .60z and was born naturally and without pain medication. He was also born in the caul (amniotic sac still intact) and I remember it was quite difficult to puncture.

My Boo Boo Princess:
I was induced with my daughter. My doctor was going on vacation the weekend I was due and I didn't want to risk having a doctor I didn't care for. I got to the hospital about 4:00 and was contracting regularly as I had been for days. I asked for a hep lock but not to be hooked to an IV which they agreed to. My doctor came in about 5:30 to brake my water which was very difficult to do. He ended up using the sharp point from one of those things they use to monitor baby's heart beats in utero. I had told him I grow them tough! I walked around, took showers, and labored for about 7 hours total. My daughter was born at 12:00AM exactly (the nurses had a hard time deciding what the date of her actual birthday was). She was 7lbs 3oz. Born naturally without pain meds.

My Nator:
This was my favorite labor experience (of course all the births were equal in joy). I was having a home birth this time around and I wanted no unnatural intervention...especially not AROM (braking water). Once my due date passed and I had already started taking herbs and rethinking the lack of intervention, my midwife and I started to talk about my possibilities. We finally decided she would do AROM as they thought I might have excess fluid that was keeping the head from engaging. She too had a hard time braking the amniotic sac. Once broken at 5:30PM contractions started to get serious about 30 minutes later. I walked around my neighborhood with friends (there were 7 women there, one boo boo princess, and my husband). I took a bath, hung on whoever was closest, and generally enjoyed prancing around my home uninhibited. My Nator was born a little after 9:00PM. He was 9lbs 5oz and got a little stuck coming out as he had his hand up by his head. I remember being shocked he was so big!

I hope you had a happy labor day! Thank you to all of you who work to keep America going economically.

The sound of music...

See the title? Here the music? Just guess what I shall be musing about today.

So what you are listening to is a style of music typically heard booming from souped up low riders, honda civics, and small trucks in our town. Don't worry the artists skillfully pounding out rhymes on the tracks you're listening to are Christians. (Note: I am not well versed in hip hop please try not to laugh too hard when I try).

Now aside from that one DC Talk CD I owned back in the day, I'm not a big follower of rap. I've rolled my eyes plenty of times when we passed by one of those low riders that you could actually see shaking with the vibrations of a bass turned up WAY too high. I've covered my children's ears when we were close enough to actually tell what words were being rhymed, and I've made my share of jokes about "platinum grills."

This music is Awesome, God honoring, gospel sharing, artistic praise music. Artists like Lecrae, Trip Lee, Shai Linne, and others are using their God given talents to glorify him and share Christ. I have been challenged by the lyrics to songs like "Send Me."

My husband and I hope to use this music to minister to the people in our community. There are some awesome gospel tracts that include a 10 track CD with some of these artists. You can view and purchase it here.

I hope you enjoy the music...it took some getting used to for me, but the words are what got me. I'm not forsaking my other musical loves (there are some of those on here too), but for now I'm taking a detour down Jesus Muzik Lane.

Gotta check with my peeps. I'm out.

I'm so copy catting!!!!

A few people have been doing a wordless wednesday...Obviously this Wednesday is not wordless (that is a very hard concept for me), but just take a guess as to what is taking place in this picture:

Church

We attended a MEGA church yesterday for Sunday services.

My husband and I have been listening to this pastor's messages for some time and have been continually encouraged by the spirit at work. So, with that and the fact that I have a family member that attends there we made the trek an hour away to visit.

The church is held in a high school but that didn't strike me as odd and they had plenty of signs out in the parking lot to help you find where to go. What did strike me was the amount of media, tables, chairs, and overall transformation that had to take place to turn that high school into a church and a comfortable one at that. I am still wondering what time of morning the "crew" gets up to prepare that place for worship. Maybe they do it Saturday night but it still has to be put up and taken down every week. There was a full stage with the background covered with curtains and three big screens mounted. Speakers have to be chained to the cealing and lights constructed on the sides. All the classrooms where the children go have to be cleared and toys, portable rocking chairs, and mats are brought in. This occurs in at least 15 rooms that I could tell.

This church has 4 services on Sundays. There is at least one midweek gathering and 200 small groups that meet in homes. The pastor did ask this Sunday for 200 more people to step up and volunteer to host small groups.

The worship portion of the service was like attending a rock concert. The music was loud (in a good way) and the musicians are very talented. The songs were repetitive but that really caused me to focus on the words and mean them. We sat in the back and just about everyone in front of us was tall. It wouldn't have mattered much if we sat in the front as most people had their hands in the air praising and the view still would have been obstructed.

The pastor's message was awesome! Click here to listen to it. He really encouraged us (again) with his message about running the race (for lost souls) to win from 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27. If you've ever wondered what it took Micheal Phelps to become the althlete he is today, it's detailed in his message.

I am grateful for Bible teaching churches who desire to be servants of Christ and want to wholeheartedly follow God. I am grateful for my own church. We had so much fun worshipping and growing at the church we attended yesterday.