The Essence of a Mother

Here is a slideshow I put together of our month.  Sit back and enjoy!!  

Boy... have I been BUSY!! This country lifestyle and living with my in-laws has really made me very accountable.   Not that anyone is accounting for anything.   I am keeping myself accountable...... Little ole' me, myself, and I have laid out all the do's and don't of what to do around here. Plus....being close to my hubby makes me ultra accountable. Yeah...he's become like the "principal" around here.   He makes sure I'm up, dressed, and ready for breakfast before 7 am.  Breakfast can be anything from toast, oatmeal, sticky buns and many days.....cold cereal.  The past few days I've been dragging out of bed to a brewing pot of coffee my mom-in-law (Mema) has made and children already stirring in the kitchen.  Yeah....even the kids are getting up early to start school.   Kinda nice.... The older three do their schooling with dad after morning bible and I school Shiloh, Galen, and Kole.   Older kids finish up with dad aro...

Ok....so I think I can finally say we are all settled in.   After lots of packing, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning  and after my fingers worn down to the bone from scrubbing so many floors.... we are all settled in.  We had lots of unpacking too, but not nearly as much as packing. Plus we put half our house into a 10 x 15 storage unit....stacked wall to wall, ceiling to floor. Packed!!  unpacking   So here we are at my in-laws and guess what...I love it!!  the main house I know... I can't believe I'm actually saying this.     .....saying that I love it and that I don't mind not having my "own home".   Yeah... I am so very thankful the grace of God is so amazingly great.   All I can say....it's by the grace of God that I am filled with thanksgiving and joy.  I knew I would deep down.   Even though part of me (before the move) had resistance to the move but when I realized that...

Hey All... Here's a quick update on what's been going on since my last post.  Well....we are moved in for the most part.  I still need to go back to the old house and clean, clean, clean.   Lots of cleaning... I wish I had the pictures to show you how much of a mess we all made while living there for 4 years.   Those pictures will have to wait for another post. I was also thinkin'... Boy how much STUFF do 10 people need.   I don't see myself as a clutter-bug...pack rat... I am always ridding my house of stuff.... Actually, to much stuff makes me hyper-ventilate.  I've been having a bit of moving anxiety lately.   I get these waves of panic.  Thank God they don't last long.   Oh...and please don't worry about me... I am not depressed or having panic attacks.  :) but you can pray though I think it's a mixture of the normal moving blues mixed with hormones of an almost 40 year old.   Gosh... c...

Remember when I made a post about my home?   Remember how I wrote about how much I loved living here  and  how I think I might want to buy the home?  Well.... I now come to say that we are moving from this abode.    moving makes such a mess... Yep...making a move about 40 minutes south from my current city.   This is such a bitter sweet feeling.   Honestly....I've shed my share of tears.  I've felt overwhelmed....  I've felt sad...  I've felt all sort of things.    And I have also felt very excited about this whole new journey we are going to take.  Are you wondering what happened? Well lots....   I've shared in the past about my husband launching his business and  how we have somewhat struggled with finances? And....  how awesome God has been to meet our needs....remember all of this?   My brother-in-law came to help out with the move Anyway... have been...

Do any of you have those mindless times spent doing something that really doesn't matter?   Just wasting time...vegging....being mindless?  Yeah....I've been doing this lately in the evenings after the little ones are all tucked away in their little beds.   But I'm not alone though...  My husband joins me along with the older two, Moriah and Justin.  Yeah...it's rather fun.   :) Years ago we decided to get rid of cable TV. I thought it was just plain ole mindless... waste-less time.... Nothing fruitful or fulfilling about it.   Plus we thought.....it rots minds!! Ha ha.    Now don't get me wrong I would still get free TV via the antenna and watch PBS or our local stations to watch local news.   I just didn't care for cable.  Actually, I still don't care for it.   But now... since the old antenna ways of watching t.v. are long gone and now have access of other technical gadgets our televi...

Yesterday was such a fun day. We went on over to the museum of Florida natural history.   We haven't been in months maybe even a year.   This museum is about 15 minutes from home and free of charge. I have no idea WHY we haven't enjoyed it much more?  Donnie joined us and we made a family date out of it.    The kids all had fun searching for something to "learn" about.   Daddy doing what he does best....TEACHING Moriah telling the boys what exactly they were looking at Shiloh my scientist Cautiously entering the dark cave Curious Kole lots to see Lots to learn Playtime in the playroom Kole and I had a blast playing this giant matching game Today I received my comforters from my sweet friend.   She gave me three comforters, lots and lots of towels,  sheets,  a nice lamp (on the right), and   the decorative planter (it sits to the left of my bed).  Here is one of the s...