too long

It has been way too long since I blogged! I am working on a new post and will update soon!!

Smoky Mountain Vacation

Our adventure began Sunday, June 28th. We left early that morning and headed South to Tennessee. We made a playland lunch pit stop on the way so the little ones could get out and stretch their legs and their vocal cords. We finally reached our destination at around 5:30 pm. There it was...an 8 bedroom log "cabin" in the hills of Pigeon Forge. As should have been expected the pictures on the website were much nicer and cleaner than the version we actually received, but all in all it was great. We were there with family, our children, parents, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters and in-laws. The house slept 24...we had 25. Most of the time there was plenty of room for all of us, the only times we became a little crowded was meal time or corn hole time. 25 people trying to fit into the kitchen to make their plates was a little tight, but still doable. It was when all of the furniture got moved to one side of the house for an indoor corn hole tournament that extended the length of the house (from the kitchen sink to the windows in the living room) blocking all access to the refrigerator that it was at it's worst. No access to the frig without disrupting the game is a big deal when you have thirsty children involved.

We tried to coordinate activities the best way we could with everyone but we did end up going our own separate ways a few times. There were tubing trips down the river, a trip to the dinosaur museum, more than one trip to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, some laser tag, crazy go-cart driving, swimming, hot-tubing, hay riding, trail walking, souvenir shopping, lots of Krogering, black bear seeing, horse petting, a night at the Dixie Stampede and of course....corn hole contests in the house with a few nights of Texas Hold-Em thrown in.

Friday evening we went on a hayride through Cades Cove. It was amazing, incredible, awesome...you name it. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Sitting there seeing all of God's Majesty surround me left me speechless. The wildlife, the trees, the mountains....WOW! Sitting there on the trailer full of hay I leaned over and whispered to my husband..."so, when are we moving to Tennessee?". I would have stayed in a heartbeat. I would have stayed in one of those old homes built in the 1800's in Cades Cove if it meant I could be that close to God and his creations. It made me think of all of the things that people rush to do in a day. It made me think of all of the "advances" the world has made and how so many of them have created a selfish, self centered country. How people used to work together for the better of everyone. How families were committed and connected for life. How our value system has changed and how our lack of morals, ethics or commitment has seemed to take place of pride in our work and honor in our family.

I believe that God has given us many choices to make in life for reasons only he knows. I believe that God has created a wondrous beautiful world and people are so wrapped up in themselves lately that they don't take the time to thank Him and enjoy the gifts that he has given us.

So, I am seeing that my post may not have ended up like I planned it to when I started writing it, but I believe it ended up like it was supposed to. I planned on writing about our vacation and sharing stories of all the fun we had and the places we went. Instead it took a turn towards where we've been and where we're going...and in simple terms...I'm not liking where the world is heading.

I will end with sharing one of the best moments on our vacation....we were in the van traveling South to Tennessee and somewhere along the trip Adriana is sitting in the backseat listening to her FP3 (it's like an Ipod) she's singing along with her Bible Songs music and I hear Tori say "Adriana why do you have your hand raised?" Adriana's reply "I'm not raising my hand, I'm praising Jesus!" Amen, Baby...Amen! :-)

A Few Things About My Honey

I got the idea for this post after seeing something very similar on another site. I have to be honest in that it wasn't my own original thought. :-) I wrote this post a few days ago and have been searching for a picture to add to the post. There were many to choose from and although this was an older picture, I just love it. This picture was taken at the "Tournament of Kings" dinner show at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas the week we were married.

He is:

A father, a son, a brother, an uncle, a great-uncle, a lover of all.

My husband for nearly 8 years.

A giver not a taker.

A hard worker with an entrepreneurial spirit.

An amazing father!

A wrestling coach.

A small business owner.

A breakfast skipper, a sometimes lunch skipper!

A lover of eating all things bad for you.

A wonderful man.

The love of my life.

Always forgiving and never holds a grudge.

A maker of beautiful babies.

Generous , kind, giving and compassionate.

A procrastinator, a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy.

Hater of anything that involves shopping, unless it's for him.

A truck driving, tractor riding, lover of our many acres of land.

A bedtime snuggling, daytime avoider of PDA.

Always accommodating and self-sacrificial.

Our life at time is full of difficult choices, but no matter what, I'll always choose him!

Changes

After nearly 9 years together Marlin and I finally went out a few weeks ago and bought a new bedroom set. The one we had been using was mine. That's not so bad, just that I bought it when I moved out of my mom's house when I was 18. I really like the new one we are getting and can't wait to put it it what will soon be our newly painted bedroom! Wooo Hooo! We even splurgeed and bought new mattresses. Can you tell that I'm a little excited!

I have been spending my day moving things out of drawers and taking things off of the walls. I am moving furniture from our bedroom into other bedrooms and moving things around between those bedrooms as well. There is furniture everywhere! If only all of the bedrooms were on the same floor I'd have this thing licked! :-) My older daughters are very excited about the furniture move, but I have explained that all things must change. They didn't go for it, but I guess we are all creatures of habit.

I will post a picture of the new set once it comes on Tuesday. I may not be at work Wednesday if the new mattress is as wonderful as they say it is.

Life is work

As I've said before I have been following the blog of another woman whom I don't even know for quite some time now. Her name is Jennifer McKinney and she lives in Minnesota. I started following her blog through a friend of mine and through reading her blog I decided to creat my own.

Jennifer is a mother of 4 small children all under the age of 4. Her youngest is almost 6 months old and was just in the hospital for more than 5 weeks with SVT (SVT is a rapid heart rate). It may not sound like much but it could very well be life threatening. After several weeks in the hospital in Minnesota, a bout of Rotovirus and numerous doctors it was decided that Stellan (the sick baby, in case you wondered who Stellan is) would be transferred to Boston Children's Hospital. Stellan underwent a surgical procedure called an ablation that by medical definition was a failure and continued to have episodes of SVT. Well to cut to the chase a bit...Stellan and his mom just arrived back at their home yesterday. He went for an EKG and some other testing this morning and all is looking great. You can see all of the details if you want at www.mycharmingkids.net

The story of Stellan has made me revist alot of things in life. I have come to accept my dirty house a little more these last few weeks. I am generally a very organized person who likes things in their place. I don't do clutter well. Laundry?? Do you have clean underwear? Then you're good to go! Dinner?? So long as we are all eating something remotely healthy...we're okay! :-) I am trying to spend more time reading books with Adriana, or playing games. I am trying to spend more time enjoying Jaxon's mischevious ways instead of finding ways to stop all of them. I am trying to spend more time listening to what Tori and Tina have to say and less time talking. And my husband...well that one I have a little more work. You see, I'm not perfect by any means, but I've always thought that I was a pretty good mom. I've always felt that it was the most important job I was ever going to have and the job that I did as a mom in raising my kids was going to set the gound work for my grandchildren, great-grandchildren and on down the line. (Just a little pressure, right?) So I've tried really hard to do the mother stuff right, though I still screw up sometimes and question myself often.

Anyhow, when it comes to my relationship with my husband I know I fall short. More often than I would ever like to admit...especially to him. ;) We've been together now about 9 years and I often wonder how? Well I know the answer is quite simple really....it is simply by the Grace of God. It is by his graciousness that I was brought together with this man and have then been blessed with this amazing family. I am very blessed and I know it. I was raised in a house where my mom "wore the pants" so to speak. Mom is the one who made most decisions, mom did the child rearing, and even did most of the house repairs. So when I met this man whom is now my husband I had some changing to do. I've struggled with letting him "take the reigns"...unless I want him to of course (then it's easy to do). That whole "wife be submissive to your husbands" thing they talk about at church...I don't do that well, just ask my husband. I'm working on it though. You see...I owned my own toolbox (full of tools of course and no, they weren't pink) and a cordless drill when I met my husband. I didn't need a man to take care of me. I could do it all on my own.

There have been alot of ups and downs along the way in figuring this out, but I do need a man to take care of me. I need my husband to love and protect me. To provide for our family. It's hard to admit that. (I think a light just came on in my head). It's hard to open up to someone in a way that makes me very vulnerable (my parent's were married almost 25 years when they got divorced). If I give myself to him in the way that I am supposed to then how do I protect myself. What if one day, 20 years from now, he changes his mind and decides "ahhh, no thanks...I think I'll be going now". Then what?? This is something I'm working on.

I'm working on the things that are really important to me, my relationships. With God, my husband, my children and the rest of my family. I know that the first place I need to start is with God....if I get myself in sync with him, the rest will seem like a piece of cake (chocolate of course). One day it will not matter what my house looked like or how clean it was. It will be the lives of all those that were touched when they walked through it's doors.

Thank you Stellan for awakening my spirit in sooo many ways.

Summer Camp

This will be the first year for Adriana to experience summer break and the first time she would be home for an extended period of time without me (since I am now working). I've been thinking of what she can do for the summer when one Sunday at church there was an announcement about "summer camp". There will be swimming, crafts, activities and tons of fun. "Perfect!" I thought. So I requested the paperwork and began my quest of filling out the pages once the information arrived.

All was well until the other morning in the midst of trying to get breakfast on the table, lunch packed and accomplishing my own agenda I attempted to fill in the blanks on the application. Adriana happened to catch a glimpse of the lovely green papers on the table and asked what they were. I explained that I was filling out paperwork for summer camp. "What??", she exclaimed. "Summer Camp...I don't want to go to summer camp." In a very calm voice with great confusion I asked "why don't you want to go to summer camp?" You could hear the concern in her little voice as she spoke "I don't want to go to summer camp, Momma. I haven't been bad. Only bad kids go to summer camp". I tried not to laugh, but could see that she was very serious. I explained that summer camp is not for bad kids and this was going to be like daycare for bigger kids. I told her that she would go swimming, maybe a trip to the park, ice cream shop...who knows. After further explanation of what exactly it was that I was signing her up for she was much more in favor of the idea of summer camp.

Oh....the things kids come up with!

My baby turns one!

This past weekend we celebrated Jaxon's first birthday with many friends and family. We prepared for days by grocery shopping, cake baking, cake decorating, more cake baking, jello making, cup cake baking, more grocery shopping, cup cake decorating, more grocery shopping, Nemo shaped pasta making, house cleaning, ham baking, etc...

Since Easter was the next day, we started the party with an Easter celebration dinner followed by a mad dash of over 20 kids trying to find more than 350 plastic eggs filled with candy and coins. Jaxon was not too interested in egg hunting since it required he walk through the grass, touch the grass and then walk through the grass some more. He was however, very interested in the eggs once all of the hunting was over. With each egg that was opened his eyes grew wide and he would let out a "hoh" sound. He was all too happy to give his findings away to a late comer that missed the egg hunt...just as long as he could play with the eggs. Ohh what simple times....

We sang happy birthday and Jaxon got to eat his mini Nemo cake. Unlike his big sister, Adriana, who cried when we sang Happy Birthday to her for the first time...he didn't seem to care much or pay attention to our singing. He just wanted the cake. Imagine that...my 24 pound baby boy only being interested in the cake??? He got right to it at first. Both hands in the cake, eating icing as fast as he could, but he didn't last too long. He wanted to feed it to everyone else instead.

Jaxon (mommy) later opened his many presents brought by his admiring family and friends. I don't think that I've ever seen a baby so disinterested in opening gifts. I opened the presents and Marlin would attempt to show him. This happened with nearly each gift. I think he may have sat still for one of them. If I had to pick what he liked the most...it would be the bunch of balloons that we had filled during one of our many trips to the grocery store. When he woke the next morning to find them lying on the kitchen floor he didn't even seem to mind. Then Daddy decided he was going to pop them all so that when they started to deflate Jaxon couldn't eat them and choke. Jaxon enjoyed the popping of the balloons, but when they were all popped something clicked in his mind and he realized they were all gone. He wasn't quite so happy anymore. He began crying and held his head in his hands. I think it was the first time I saw him get upset about something (other than not being fed fast enough).