Back to school!

Today is the first day back to school! Z started 3rd grade. And M started JR High in 6th grade. It was the same ol same ol when dropping Z off. I took him to his class and he was excited. Then I took M to his school. We missed orientation because of vacation so I walked in with him to get his class schedule and find out about the buses. All was well there too. He went right in after allowing me a hug and a SMALL kiss on the forehead. Both boys are riding the bus home. It feels good to have some free time again :-)

I also picked up another weekly cleaning account today! YAY!

Blessings all around, thank you Jesus!

Our last night!

Tonight is our last night here in Myrtle Beach. We have had such a great time while we were here. Some highlights of our time:

> spending three mornings at the beach
> two nights of fireworks, 1 at the pier on the beach
> lots of quality time with Dad and Karon
> a full day at the water park!
> making friends on day 1 with a mother and her 9 year old son, Tami and Seth. This friendship bonded everyday we were here! Even exchanged #s so we can stay in touch.
> Zachery only got hurt once, on our last day :-(
> Mark and I got to spend some great time with the boys during this trip!
> Lots of sleep and relaxation was had by all of us.

Dad and Karon are taking us out to dinner tonight at a fancy restaurant. We are all excited. Then it will be time to fold the clean clothes in the dryer, pack up the luggage, and get ready for our 9am departure tomorrow morning. Its been a wonderful week. A~

Must remember OFF

We made it here to Myrtle Beach, SC yesterday around late lunch time. Perfect drive from TX. We drove through one little storm and that was it. We stopped half way in Alabama and stayed in a hotel. Nice queen beds and nice pillows! Last night Grandpa and Zachery went out to play some catch in the yard. 20 minutes later, he came back in with 2 mosquito bites on his forehead and 1 on his neck. I FORGOT TO PUT HIS OFF ON! I knew better then to let him go out without it. ggggrrr. So today Dad (my husband) and Zachery went out to play ball and I did not forget it! I really want Z to enjoy our time here and if he is all eaten up, he wont.

This afternoon Grandpa and Grandma Karon (from on the Gs) will be taking the boys to an amusement park here in town somewhere. Gs told me we could come with or we could enjoy some alone time to play around town. Such a hard choice cause we love spending time with our boys. But we love spending time today too. AND the boys love being spoiled by Gs and sometimes when us parents are around, we say no to some things.... hhhmmmmm we will let the boys decide parents or no parents! Either way, I'm sure fun will be had by all :-)

The boys are home!

I am so happy to have the boys back home! Monday evening I picked them up at the airport. I had never been in there and our airport has two gates, one on each end of the building. Funny. The first thing they wanted to show me was the pictures of the pilots and the flight attendants they took on their new DSi's. The pilot told Marcus he could take his pic as long as it didn't end up on Facebook!! I thought that was hilarious. The boys said the flights were fun. The time at the lay over room in Dallas was kinda boring! But they were very happy to fly alone and not make another 24 hr drive home!

Since their return, we have gone bowling each day, yesterday we had the pleasure of swimming over at a clients house. The night before we got to swim with friends in the pool at their apartments. Today we are going bowling, then going to have lunch with Mark at work. The kids are really excited about that! But now I hear Zachery screaming at the top of his lungs because he was bouncing around in his room and hurt himself. And of course he wont tell me what happened. And to think it is only 11am. I still have the whole day ahead of us! LOLOL Off we go :-)

A summer of spoiling

Mark and I are blessed to have our families! The last 2 years we have sent the boys back "home" for the summer. This year they have been spoiled rotten. First Mark's mom, then his brother Mike, then Auntie Julie, then my Mom and finally my bothers Shane and Frank. Marcus and Zachery have been to the movies more in the last month then all year. They went to Knotts Berry Farm with Aunt Julie and cousins Cassie and Tony, Uncle Mike bought them toys, and to cap off the summer Uncles Shane and Frank bought them thier Bday gifts. Each of them got a new DSi XL and a game to go with it. Less than a week after they get home we will be going on vaca to Myrtle Beach. Needless to say their summer has been full full full of fun! that is what summer should be about right? Im praying life long memories are being made! I cant wait to hear about it tomorrow night.

2 years later......

We finally got our things up on the walls that should have been there all along! I think that was the official last faze of my decluttering. Mark was awesome and spent about 2 hrs hanging pictures, shelves, posters, fixing my curtain rod. When all was said and done, my wish list was empty and my love tank was overflowing!

My very own closet

I am so happy that I now have my very own closet. For the last two years Mark and I have been sharing one. It is not that big. We both hang alot of our clothes. It was a source of frustration for me when it came to putting clean clothes away, which has turned into my most disliked chore. Well yesterday I cleaned out the top shelf and floor area of the front entry closet. Later that day, I had the bright idea to move the jackets to the closet of their owners' and that would empty it out for me use it for my clothes! It was a perfect idea. Last night I made the big move! I didn't realize how happy I would be to have more closet space. And Mark is sure to be happy too. I only wish I would have thought about this sooner :-) Its the simple things in life.....

decluttering

The last few weeks I have been decluttering non stop. I think I am "nesting" for our future foster kids! This weekend was a great weekend. Mark I spent lots of time together......cleaning out his garage. LOL After 1.5 days of working hard it is now all organized and cleaned out. I told Mark I don't thing it has been this clean since we moved here 2 years ago. this morning I went out and opened the garage for a quick look to be sure I was not imagining how clean it was. Nope I wasn't. :-)

In the process of all this cleaning, we have really been blessing alot of families on Freecycle with our junk! It makes us feel good to give things away rather than make a buck off them. A nice reward for being patient for 24 hours and not just dumping it all at the Goodwill!

What can I clean next? The top of Z's closet!

wonderful husband

I'm so thankful for Mark. Over the last few days he has seen me de-cluttering the house and some of the closets. So today being Sat he is out in the garage working on changing out the truck beds. It is great for a few reasons. 1 he has wanted to get this done for over a year. 2 we need the space in the garage the replacement bed was taking up. 3 getting this done is going to motivate him to continue cleaning and get other projects finished. In an effort to help him de-clutter his garage, I was able to get 2 CD racks for this HUGE box of Cd's that he keeps moving around. He was very happy to see them full of his Cd's. I'm still looking for 2 more! progress is being made and that makes me a happy wife :-)

I am alive

I cant believe that it has been 3 months since i have posted a blog update. Alot has been going on here at the Funches house.

The boys are in CA for another 2 weeks. They have been gone for the 2.5 weeks. Mark and I have been enjoying our free time. This is the only time we get all year without the kids :-)

When they get back we will be heading to my Dad house in SC. This will be the second year in a row that we vacationed there the week before school starts back. We are all very excited about it.

In Sept. Mark and I will be starting the PRIDE classes to be licensed foster parents. This will be a fun and new adventure in our lives and sure to be full of ups and downs. We know God is calling us to this so we are trusting Him for everything during the process. He will provide.

Last night I went with the Calvary Ladies up to another Calvary Ladie's house and we had dinner and fellowship and prayer. It is the second time we have done that and both times have been a complete blessing to us all.

Last night, Angie asked me to be in her wedding!! Im so excited for her and her future husband. I am also very excited to be called her friend, help her with planning the event, getting to arrange for her bridal shower and what ever else she may need or want along the way.

God is doing amazing things in our lives right now. We are open and excited about each and every one. We are always happy to wake up and wonder what He has in store for us for that day.

So there you go, a quick update with highlights from the Funches household!

Friendship

Today in church we talked about friendships. It was perfect timing for me as I am still working very hard in this area. I wrote a blog post about it a couple weeks ago. Today confirmed to me that we do indeed need friendships. They don't need to rule our lives. We don't need to put them before our friendship with God. But we do need them. It was great to see the model friendship between Johnathan and David. It was great to read about this pure, non perverted love between two people with such a strong friendship. So many times in our society when two people have such a friendship the world says it should not be so. When two men or women have this friendship, they are looked at and people may think, "are they just friends?" Or when a man and a woman have this great friendship, people may think, "are they just friends?" I wish this was not so. I wish the world could look at two people hanging out and having a deep conversation or relationship and the first thing that comes to their mind be, "WOW. Those two are showing what friendship should look like!"

So I posted the above post then thought about it some more and I have more to say! We live in a sinful world. That is why the above stereotypes are what they are! of course this is just my thought. There is so much sin happening that when when pure friendship is happening it is questioned. The other day my friend posted on her FB that she was out having lunch with her guy BFF. This is great! This tells me a couple things about her. She and her husband are safe and secure in their marriage. The guy BFF is safe and secure in his marriage, if he is married. And that my friend values her friendships whether they are with a male or female. Growing up I always had more male friends than I did female friends. We always hung out. Went to eat. It was always pure. I still have male friends. But I don't get to spend time with them, because of what I think the world will think. Maybe that is the problem. I am too concerned with what the world will think. God wants us to have friendships; he gave us great examples to live by. ok thats all for now. My brain is on overload.

bbbbzzzzz

That's the sound I hear as I am sitting on my bed reading my book. I looked up and saw a bunch of bees outside my bedroom window. You see, this has been a fear of mine since we replaced the windows in this house last fall. We didn't re trim them. So that means the bees can get up into the walls and make them their home. I called Mark at work and told him what I see and he said he would take a look at it this evening when he gets home... In the mean time I pray the bees don't find a way into the house from the walls or the outside. Scary to me....

Simplicity

God is teaching me less is more and that I need to simplify my life a little more than I already have. Today was another emotionally humbling day, and a move in the direction of simplifying. I'm working on it! HE wants more of me.

Is this what they call a "storm'

You hear people say all the time you are at the top of the hill but wait till you are in the valley. OR

You just wait till the storm hits, this is just a drizzle....
OR

When it rains, it pours...

I could try and think of more analogies like this but I think you get the idea.

Anyways, I think we may be in the middle of a storm, to the world's view. But to God's view, I think this is just a continuation on the Faith lesson he has me on.

Here are the issues we are dealing with that make me feel like I am in a storm:
1. Our renters are moving out of our rental in CA.
2. We found two water leaks in our house here in TX.
3. Had the chimney guy out yesterday, he said the fire place cover thingy is too small and water is coming down, hence the leak #1. Cost $200 to custom make a cover.
4. The other leak is outside the house on the slab where the wall meets it from our master bathroom. Yes that's right, that means we have to demo the bathroom and see where the water is leaking from, repair it, and then redo the bathroom. Yes the WHOLE bathroom is tile, so that means I have a lot of work to do and a lot money to cough up for new tile!
5. Our AC is leaking and soaked the carpet last year. We turned it off, but it needs to be fixed. Call and got a repair guy to come out tomorrow afternoon. BUT church family, Wayne, is coming to see if he can fix it first so we can save some money!!
6. Rental Management company called me a bit ago to tell me the renters say there is a water leak under the dish washer in the house. aaaaahhhhhhh!!
7. Praying nonstop (well almost) for missions trip financial support money to start coming in.

There is the short list for now! Here is the funny thing. I am not stressing over all this. I mean I think about it, and I make the calls to get it all taken care of. But I am at peace with all these issues happening all at the same time. I know that God will take care of the details. I know that he will provide the money to get this all taken care. And I know that he has good plans for me, us, our family. Plans to prosper us, not to harm us. I can rest in knowing this!

Alive from the dead!!!!

About 10 years ago my brother, Shane, bought Mark and I a NICE self propelled lawnmower. It was great! I looked forward to taking care of our yards each weekend. Well when we moved here, it started giving us problems. The gas tank leaked. Then the leaks got worse. It was guzzling the gas. When it would run out of gas and we refilled it, it would not start. A few other things were also going out on it. We pampered it the first year it gave us trouble. Last year it was just too much for me. I would get so frustrated with it cause I would get part of the yard done and then it would quit on me. FRUSTRATING!!!

Off to Home Depot we went. Got a nice used mower and off I went. Towards the end of the summer the self propelled part was now Angie propelled. Again, frustrating. I was so happy when the grass stopped growing for the winter cause I didn't have to deal with having two mowers that I could not use.

It is now spring time and I am longing to get back out in the yard and get to work. Mark went and got a belt for mower #2. Wrong belt, didn't work. Now the mower would not crank. Mark gave up and I took it to the shop!! Finally an end to some mower drama! I got a call today that it would cost $105 to fix it. I was so happy.

Well in the mean time, Mark decides to take apart the gas tank on mower #1 and glue up all the cracks! 1st try was good. He got the tank back on, and mower started and pulled beautifully, but then gas started leaking out again! Darn!! He took the tank back off and did some more gluing. Put it all back together tonight, and mowed the front yard!!! I WAS SO HAPPY!! Now he is speaking my love language!! Mark said there was a couple more little repairs that he needed to do, but it works good in the mean time.

This last weekend, I had 2 mowers and neither of them worked! This weekend, I will have 2 mowers and they BOTH will be working. Music to my ears :-) I'm a happy girl with a wonderful husband!!

Thank you Shane for buying us a great mower that with a little TLC is still working 10 years later! Your money was not wasted and we are so thankful for that gift!

BOY Scouts

It is called that for a reason. It is full of boys, led by boys, to teach and encourage boys.....

So why did I think it would be OK for me to "tag" along today while the boys helped out a fellow scout on his Eagle project? This was our first time to help with an Eagle Project and it happened to be my favorite outside activity, yard work. When the fliers came home I thought, oh this will be a fun thing for our family to do together while helping someone else out. And it was. But I was the only female there till the end. I helped, I cut down little trees, pulled weeds, helped the boys learn to use a drill to screw wood planks to the foot bridge. But when all is said and done, I kinda felt out of place. Moving forward, I will leave this fun family time to Mark and the boys. I will resist the urge to want to go along. I must remember that the boys are getting older and more independent and that I don't need to be with them all the time. This will be great stuff for Mark and the boys to build their relationship on.

I need to adopt a little girl! Or learn to enjoy the free time while the men in my life are out doing "boy" stuff.

Brain Dump #4

All I need is Jesus!!!

This is so true and wow did it go in one ear and TRY to go out the other one but instead it got stuck in the mumbo jumbo of my brain!! and that's a GREAT thing.

There are many days since moving to TX that I am by myself while Mark is at work and the boys are at school. I find myself being sad that I don't seem to have many friends out here. I know a lot of people but they are not "friends." They are not people I would call and ask out to lunch or the movies or for walk at the park or call and bounce thoughts of. I had lots of friends in CA that I would do these things with. I loved it. I really am a people person. But since being here this area of my personal life has been a struggle.

Then I was at a teaching at the CCWR and the speaker said:

"If we have a husband to come home to that loves us, what a blessing! But if not, WE STILL HAVE JESUS!"

"If we have friends that love us, what a blessing! But if not, WE STILL HAVE JESUS!"

Right then IT hit me!! I am looking for love and acceptance from all the wrong people and places. I should not be looking to man/the world to make me feel good or to make me feel accepted. I should be looking to Jesus to fill these needs I have. I have been over committing myself in many areas trying to "feel the love" and it has not happened. Well DUH! Its not going to. I am only stressing myself out and getting my priorities out of whack! This here is a direct result of not seeking out God FIRST!

This last week, I have had a chance to do a lot of thinking and I think my thinking is getting back on track! I need and want to put God first in all I do. When I do that, I will be in prayer more, in His word more, and in return, I will have that close 'friendship" I have been desiring. I have already felt and seen the difference from doing this. I have gotten back to the correct order of priorities God, Mark, Boys, then....... everything else!

It has not bothered me this week that my phone does not ring, that my email does not have messages, that there are no comments on my blog, that I don't have a lunch date. Because I know that Jesus is my friend, He is calling me ALL the time, I have a book full of "emails" written just for me (!) and He always want to have a lunch date with me! I know that if I can work on this friendship, He will send others to me. Perfect friends, in His perfect timing. In the mean time, I will trust Him with the few he has blessed me with, because I am so thankful to have them!

Brain Dump #3

I will trust the Lord. I will trust the Lord. I will I will I will. Must remember this.

One of the lessons we learned at CCWR was to trust the Lord and when doing so I will have His peace. I like the idea. I think it is way easier said than done. I am real quick to pray and talk to God about things but I have a hard time LEAVING them at His feet. I like to pick them back up and think about them some more and more and more.... I learned that I need to worry about nothing and pray about everything. I am doing the second half well and well I'm working on the first half :-) I think the real problem is my "I'VE got to have everything under control 100% of the time" way of thinking needs to change. I like order. I like knowing my plans. I love knowing I am saved by grace cause God is cringing at my worriedness right now. I knew that since this is the way I am, and that He has a huge sence of humor, He would be sure to give me a lesson in this area right away and sure enough He has wasted NOOOO time getting right to it!

Our renters gave 30 day notice to our management company yesterday. This is our first time dealing with one tenant moving out and another moving in.....hopefully soon. We were always afraid of this day. The wondering of how long our house will be empty. How long before we have new renters. How much will they be willing to pay? How much will we have to pay to cover the mortgage and for how many months will the house be empty. What does our house look like? How much work and money will it take to get it back to rentable condition? AAAHHHH all these questions running through my head.

Oh Lord, I come to you now with these thoughts. I trust you with them now, Lord. Please go before us, and bless our current renters in their new rental house, that it would be a perfect fit for them, their kids and their dogs. Lord, please bring us new renters in your perfect timing, hopefully soon. Please give Mark and I your peace during this transition. Help me to leave this at your feet and not pick it back up. I truly want to give this over to you. Please guide Mark and I as we have to make the decisions for our plan to move forward. Thank you for hearing my heart. Amen

Brain Dump #2

Foods!!! This is another area God spoke to me about this weekend!

So we are NOT the healthiest eaters in this world. Shock shock!! Well lets be honest, you would for sure put us in the "Horrible Eaters" group. But I am going to attempt to change that a bit! Now don't go falling off your rockers, because I don't think we will be eating any more veggies than we do now, but I plan to change other areas of our diet. The first one is we are going to switch from white bread to wheat bread. We are out of bread at the moment, so now is the perfect time to make the switch. Another change, I will be adding fruit to every meal we eat. I told the boys this morning on the way to school that for now on we will be eating fruit with our meals unless they would rather I make veggies. Well I am sure you know how that went!! They choose fruit. I have lots of it in the house. Fresh green and red apples, oranges, grapes. I have canned peaches and pears. I am going to increase the monthly fruit budget to help in this area.
Another change will be healthier after school snacks. Like less chips and cookies and more peanut butter with crackers. Or cheese and crackers. Or sandwiches.
We also will not be drinking sodas. Now we already hardly ever have them, but for now I wont be buying any soda at all. I know this wont be hard to implement because Mark does not ask for soda for work either. We do tend to eat out more than we should. Especially when we have full cupboards and a full freezer. I will be making more of an effort to plan ahead for dinner meals. I will HAVE to remember to take out some meat to defrost. That is the main problem. I forgot about the meat. Moving forward my goal is to be better about that! I also need to make sure that I remember my family first before all other things that cloud my mind. I forget that we have busy nights and that I need to cook dinner before we leave the house in the evenings. I can not continue to think that I can cook a good meal after boy scouts or after base ball practice.
So there you have it! Brain dump #2. It sounds like I need to prioritize and make better decisions for our family. And that starts NOW!! Please pray for us!!

Lots to do

WOW! I had an amazing time this weekend at the Calvary Chapel Women's Retreat in the Ozarks, AR. The drive up with beautiful. I had lots of drive time to look at the surrounds all around me, knowing each and every thing I saw was perfectly created by the one and only God. Who else could have do all this? It was the prefect way to start out a weekend that was all about Him and what He is doing and going to do in my life. I knew at this point that I was in for a God filled time with lovely ladies that love the Lord as I do. What I didn't know, is that in my opinion, I have so much more learning and loving to do. To see the love of Jesus pour out of these ladies was so inspiring and I could do nothing but take it all in and weep. Weep for the fact that I thought I loved Jesus will all I had, and I clearly saw that He wants to much more of me, so much more of my life, so much more of my heart, so much of my mind, so much more of ME as a whole! and the fun thing is that I am ready to give it to Him. I know its not going to happen over night. I know that loves grows as the relationship grows. I know that that relationship can not grow if I am not talking to him daily, reading his word daily, and implementing it in my life daily.
We were challenged a lot this weekend to give our WHOLE life over to Jesus. That's whats he wants from us. I kept hearing over and over in my head the one area that I have been holding onto so tightly is what I read. I have subscriptions to People magazine and US magazine. I know that I should give those up and I will. I also know that He wants me to give up the majority of my unread books as I know they are not appropriate material for a Christian lady to be reading. The funny thing is that I have had all these books for the last 4-5 years and have not read them. I got them all on sale at Barns and Noble back in CA. But since then, I have been reading all Christan novels, books from church, and Godly books loaned to me by other Christian ladies. My heart has not even been to read these other unread books, but I didn't want to give them up. Well I am finally ready to. I am going to post them to http://www.paperbackswap.com tonight and when I trade them and I am going to get all Christian books. I am very excited about this change in my heart. I am realizing that I was holding onto materialist things (books) instead of my relationship with Christ. I know this may seem pretty lame, but for me this is a big deal. Please pray that I would desire to draw closer to Jesus. This is my prayer and I am going to try everyday to evaluate what I could be doing to please Him with my obedience.
I have so much more to "download" from this weekend. So the blog will be full of "brain dump" for a while to come! If I can be an inspiration to someone else to grow in their own relationship with Jesus, it will be worth it to share my thoughts and progress with others.

Blessing! Angie

The Adventure Begins

I always feel like I am going on an adventure when I start the process of planning for a missions trip. It is a fun adventure with lots of unknowns. This trip will be much the same. I have been down to Mexico many many times. Loved each and every visit. This time I am going to the complete opposite side of Mexico, down on the Yucatan area. Merida is a city of about 1M people. I am told it is safe, clean, and only a short drive to the coast lines. Right now the exciting thing to me is that I will be staying with a host family instead of staying in a hotel. The not so exciting thing to me is thinking about what am I going to eat??? LOL You may think that is crazy, but if you know me, you know how picky of an eater I am. This is always a challenge for me when I leave home. This trip I will view it as an adventure and will hopefully be able to try some new foods. I will keep you posted.

If you would like to be apart of my prayer team, please email me at afunches@cableone.net so I can add you to my group!

Prayer Team/Support letters are going out today. If you get one, can you pls pray over it and see where the Lord leads you? Once I get the funds raised I can focus on other important stuff!!

A~

God clearly said "Go!"

And go I will!

Dear Family and Friends,

I remember my last missions trip to Kenya like it was yesterday, even though it was over three years ago! Many families were blessed beyond measure during that trip. The Gospel was shared, lives were given to Jesus, hearts were changed, medical outreaches occurred in the “bush” and many other great things happened, all to give glory to God!

My heart has longed to go on another trip and continue the good work of sharing the gospel and loving on others in whatever ways possible, but I heard God say “be still” and so I have been obedient “being still!”

After being still for 3 years, focusing on other areas of life, and much prayer, God has said, “Go!”

Our church Calvary Chapel Texarkana with Pastor Craig Rose, has been invited to visit Calvary Chapel Merida, Mexico for a special week of training teachers, church members, and children on the topic of Creation vs. Evolution based on the teachings of the Bible. We will be leading classes teaching this very basic, very important subject for the majority of the time. A VBS style teaching will be held for the children of the church and surrounding community.

The details are being worked out and that leaves me with two tasks to complete! The 1^st would be a team to focus on prayer covering during the trip and the 2nd is raising the amount I need to cover the expenses J

Roundtrip airfare is $395.00

Food is estimated at $25.00/day X 8 days $200.00

We will be staying with church families J so no hotel cost!!

Travel within the Merida area $50.00

Incidentals $100.00

Estimated total $750.00

More than financial assistance, the team and I will need A LOT of prayer covering!!

Would you please pray about what your role in supporting me might look like? Our trip is from June 11^th thru June 19^th. I do need to have raised the amount of $750 by April 20, 2010. I know the Lord said “Go” and go I will! With His clear directions to me, I know He will raise the funds to see glory given to His name!

If you would like to be a part of my prayer covering team please email me @ afunches@cableone.net

If you are able to be a part of my financial support team, please see the attached sheet for all the details.

Thank you so much!

Angie Funches

Boys

You know your raising boys when they feel the need to tell you how big and what shape their poop comes out in.

His passion

Mark is an artist. He loves to paint, draw, music, anything that is artistic. Well Marcus's den needed a flag made for their promotion into Boy Scouts. My eyes got real big and of course I volunteered Mark for the job. When i took him the little tiny pic that one of the kids brought to the meeting to turn into a flag, he was so excited. I was even more excited for him since I know that he has not painted anything other than cars for at least the last 10 years. He enjoyed drawing the picture over and over to make it perfect and larger and in the end:

The whole den loved it. Each of the kids looked at it and their parents did as well. I was so proud of Mark. He did such a great job. Its not done, we still have to add a few things to it. I will post more later.

I love savingsss

Thank you Lord for the snow day on Friday. I was able to hold off on shopping for the class party till today and I got it all at 50% off. I even got bags with stuff and the boys! Came home and made a heart shaped chocolate cake for Mark and the kids. They all enjoyed their V-day gifts. My vote is to celebrate all holidays one day after the actual day cause we can save a lot of money and get more stuff for the same price!!

Here are the goodies I had in the bags for the boys. Little toys and 1 little box of candy!

Here is my attempt at being creative with making a heart cake! Mark liked it. He liked it more because he knows that being creative is not my strong suit....

Here is what they all came home too after Boy Scouts tonight!

Happy Valentine's Day to my Hubby and sons!

peeyew

Men/boys sure can stink up a bathroom. Maybe this is one reason why God gave them me and my love of scented candles! Now... where are those matches??? LOL

so emotional...

but for a good reason, kinda. I was moved. To tears...in the check out line at Wal-mart.

I was standing there at the express check out and looked around as I was day dreaming. I saw a man with an employee over in the bakery area. She was helping him put a cake in his buggy. I didn't think anything out of the norm but I blinked and the next thing I saw was him pushing his buggy to the check out stand....WITH HIS CHEST. You see, he has no arms. Only stubs up at his shoulders. He had only one leg and an artificial leg. He immediately started unloading his few items WITH HIS TEETH!!! He had 2 2 lt bottles and some other stuff. That is when I teared up, watching him do this. I was in shock. I just stood there. Staring. I have never seen this before. I know people loose their arms, legs, eyes, and they have to learn to adapt. This guy did for sure. After the second bottle of soda a young kid about Marcus's age went to ask him if he could help. The guy accepted, not too proud! I teared up again. I was so happy that someone went to help him. That could have been me helping, should have been me helping, but I was still in shock and didn't move. There were a few people in line before me so I had a few minutes to get myself together before I had to speak. Thank God. I was reminded by this event of a few things. To be thankful for my arms and hands. I take them for granted. To be thankful for my two natural legs. I need to use them more, they are a blessing. Also, to share this story tonight with the boys as a teaching moment on how to show God's love to someone at the grocery store, even though I fell short on this opportunity and someone else got the blessing. I think that is the real lesson, hearing God speak and do what he is telling you to!

Unwelcome Guests

So this week has been full of fun with our unwelcome guests, better know as mice!!! The good news is so far they are only in the garage and maybe up in the attic. In the last 2 days 5 mice have been caught! That's great. But its also scary thinking how many more are there??? Mark and the boys are having so much fun with this it is crazy. They all wake up in the morning with one thing on their mind. Going to check the traps to see if they caught another one!!! As soon and the boys gets home from school, the first thing they want to do, is go to the garage and check their traps. ALL BOY I tell you. All 3 of them. I hope this ends soon, cause I don't like mice. Although in my mind, this is much better than dealing with a million ants!!! I'm knocking on wood right now!

$3

$3...That's what I gave Zachery on Monday. He woke up at 6am with his dad. When dad left for work, Zachery came and got in bed with me. He was not tired and didn't want to lay down. So..... he rubbed my back for 30 minutes and asked for $3 in payment! I gladly gave it to him and said please come back again! This momma loves her back rubbed and he knows it!!

Confirmations

Each day He gives me many confirmations that I am doing good things for my children. Today Zachery brought home the newsletter from the school. He is listed under the "All A Honor Roll" and "All Es Work Habits"! This would be very normal for Marcus, but unfortunately not for Zachery. Therefor this is a great confirmation that Mark and I did make the right choice for Zachery. They both bring us such joy.....

Im a people pleaser

When I do things for people I love to hear that they are happy with what I have done. Doesn't everyone? I like to go above and beyond the call of duty when I have time and I can. Yesterday I did that. I cleaned out the fireplace and brought up the trash cans from the street for my client. Both things are not part of my normal duties.

Tonight I received a txt message from her saying:
Oh my gosh. You are such a jewel. I intended to text you yesterday and tell you how much we appreciate you bringing in the trash cans. I was also very pleased with everything else. The house was spotless. But tonight when I sat down and glanced at the fireplace I was speechless. It is cleaner than it has ever been. There will be a bonus waiting on you when you get here on Monday. You are awesome. Thanks for everything you do.

Little notes like this make my day and bring me such joy. Even though I don't like cleaning, those of you that know me well, know I really don't like cleaning, I clean for each client as if I am cleaning for the Lord. He is rewarding me now via this little note. :-)

Learning...

I am learning to go to the Bible for wisdom and understanding! Sometimes I dont understand why things happen the way they do or why people say the things they say. It can be hurtful. This time He led me straight to Proverbs 15. There were a few verses that "hit the nail on the head." I feel better after praying over my feelings and hearing from His word. I am reminded of a few other verses as well. Jeremiah 29:11-13, He has good plans for me! Psalm 147:5, How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension. When I dont understand, I know He understands. I will rest in trusting Him.

Its happened!!!

I have become THAT mom. That mom who takes her kids to school in the morning while still wearing her house robe! It was so comfortable and warm..... LOL

the constant pull.....

Every day I do some sort of "office work" whether it be at home balancing my check book, doing work for the school, vol for Favor of God, or tracking giving for my church. Everyday I feel the natural pull of my heart telling me to go back to work full time in an office environment because I miss it so much. But I have to remind myself that for now, I am doing what He wants me to do! I know that one day I will go back to work. I want to go back to work. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year. Maybe full time or maybe part time. I know He will present to me the prefect job He has for me and I know beyond a shadow of doubt, that the timing will be right according to His plans for me. Until then.....I wait and listen for the still small voice.

He learned all he needs to learn at the age of 10

Last night I took the boys to BB practice and on the way home ever heard this conversation between them:

M: Mom next week can I choose the place we eat out at?

Me: Sure

Z: When I get older I want to choose where to eat.

M: When you get older and want to have a good relationship with your girlfriend, you need to ALWAYS LET HER CHOOSE WHERE TO EAT! Cause then she can't be mad at you for not liking the food!

I just had to chuckle! And tell them that was a good rule of thumb! :-)

They are growing up so fast!

Been busy

So its been 3 months since I have blogged. That's too long! A lot has been happening. Today one thing on my mind, did Mark and I make the right choice to help Z with school by putting him on adhd meds. We got his last report card and what a difference it was! He had ALL E's on the behavior side. Last year it was all F's. He now has more friends in school and more friends that want to come visit with him outside of school. He seems to have more self confidence and is not in trouble so much. All in all, we have seem some MAJOR improvements. The only down fall....... He is not eating lunch. And he wants to. He likes to eat. He gets the food, then just talks to his friends and doesn't even touch his plate. I noticed this, so when I go to the school on Thursdays and Fridays to eat with him, I don't even have him get the food. We have been going to the school library and getting books of his choice for me to read to him. (he can now sit and enjoy listening to a good story!) He seems to like this. He gets good books and helps read them too. But he complains about not being able to eat. Today after reading for 15 minutes, he tells me he is hungry. So we go get the tray lunch. He did not want to eat it once we sat down. I don't show him any of my frustration, cause he has his own. I did manage to get him to take about 4 bites of his burger and a few sips of milk. We went to the docs for a follow up visit and they said this is normal and that is still doing good, because he had gained 6 pounds since starting. So I am doing my job well, making sure he eats breakfast and dinner.
I type all this just to vent. I really feel like we are doing the right thing because the pros out weigh the negatives by many times over. I just wish there was a PERFECT solution, before we get to heaven. :-)