Riding in cars with kids.......

I love to listen to my kids while I am driving in the car. If they are not fighting...which is 75% of the time.......then they are usually having some interesting conversations. Sometimes we sing...loud. Sometimes we watch Monsters vs. Aliens and listen to Jesse say "SUSAN" 100 times...he is seriously in love with Ginormica! Sometimes they just talk amongst themselves and that is when I love riding in cars with kids the most.

Charlie likes to ask me 1000 questions about things that are not even relevant....like "Mom, are there deer on the moon?". Addie likes to talk about her friends and all the fun they have...and "can so and so spend the night with me this weekend...cause I haven't had a friend spend the night with me in a long time"! Jesse likes to talk to himself and look for airplanes. He will be all quiet and then he will scream....."AIRPANE"! He seriously has eagle eyes!

Shelby....oh Shelby! She talks about funny stuff! Case in point....on the ride home from church Sunday morning Shelby told Addie that "if you don't give me my ring, then I am going to ground you"! Ric giggled and said "Shelby what does it mean to be grounded?". She said "it means you are put in a cave in the ground and you can't come out?" Now people, I promise you I don't put our kids in a cave when they get in trouble...but it is a grand idea! Ric asked her where she heard about said grounding....her reply..."I-Carly"! She's four people!

You learn a lot when your riding in cars with kids........

Riding in cars with dogs is a whole 'nother story.....

19 kids.....what a blessing.....

I enjoy watching TV. I don't get to watch a lot of it during the day because most of the time it is on PBS kids...and well, I love Sid the Science Kid and George and Word Girl...but these shows would not be my choice if I were the one doing the picking. The TV doesn't turn to a channel that I like until the kids are fast asleep, and then Ric and I usually catch up on the few shows that we do watch.

Last night I watched a show that I love....but that broke my heart. Can I tell you how much I love the Duggar Family?? Last night, the show centered around the circumstances that led up to Michelle delivering their 19th child prematurely. Her older children were doing mission work in El Salvador....the little ones were at home getting taken care of by family and friends...and she delivered this tiny child into the world.

In one segment of the show, the dad Jim Bob was filming himself and in the background you could see Michelle laying on the bed....her mouth moving and her eyes closed. She was praying.....praying I'm sure for her baby...for her health...for her children halfway around the world...for God's blessing on them all. It was a mother....pleading for the life of her unborn child! Of course it brought tears to my eyes and made me want to be a better Christian...and a better mother.

The sweet little baby(Josie...love her name) was born so tiny and fragile...clinging to life...and they took it all in stride! When all the kids got to come and see her at the hospital they couldn't believe how tiny she was and just stood there and Jim Bob said "Josie is perfect in every way" and boy was he right! God is the creator of life....and He doesn't make mistakes! Thank you Duggar Family for reminding this country about how precious life is...and for being a GODLY example to this world through your families life.

God bless this sweet precious family.....and sweet little Josie!

Tiny Truth's Thursday....The cane....

There are times when your kids do stuff that just make you proud to be a mom...proud to be THEIR mom! We all know there are times that they do stuff we are like...."who's kid are you and who has been raising you for the last 8 years???" Well I had a genuinely special moment with my boy Charlie on Sunday night....and yes, I am going to take a few minutes and brag on him.

Charlie has always been a sensitive boy....he has cried for his friends who are sad....cried for his family who is hurting...cried for his favorite PSP game that is lost....cried 'cause he knew he was getting in trouble...he is just sensitive....and I love that about him. He is the kind of kid who is sensitive to others needs as well....and I saw it that cold Sunday night, demonstrated in a way that seriously almost brought me to tears....yep, I got welled up!

We had been at church for the evening service and Ric was meeting with a couple after the service....and well, that meeting lasted until 9:00. We had rode with him that night so we could not leave....so we waited. The kids listened to a teenager practice his trumpet....they did flips on the handrail in the breezeway...they played hide and seek.....they waited. They were tired...hungry....and ready to go.

We weren't the only ones waiting though...the couples two kids and their grandma were waiting on this meeting to end. When it was finally over I walked out in the hall and saw Mrs. Rachel(the grandma) getting up out of her chair. Charlie had been doing something crazy in the hallway when he saw Mrs. Rachel and he stopped what he was doing and he asked her with the sweetest little 8 year old boy voice I have ever heard....."Do you want me to go get your cane for you?". Her cane was leaning against the wall all the way across the room....so Charlie got it and gently handed it to Mrs. Rachel and then went about his business of doing something crazy up in the church house.

I was so proud of him that even in the midst of his carrying on....he saw a need in someone and wanted to help her. He wasn't afraid to ask her if she needed help....he just did it...and I love that about him! This sweet boy that I nurtured in my womb...as a babe...as a toddler...now as a young man truly got it. Don't get me wrong people...he can act just like every other 8 year old....but at that moment...for those 15 seconds I only focused on the act of kindness.

The Bible tells us in Colossians 3:12 to "put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, bearing with one another "....I pray that as Charlie has put this into action...that I would do the same. That in the craziness of my life( and we all know it can get crazy ) that I would see needs of people around me. That I would be sensitive to others....and put on the things that the scripture speak of here.

Tiny Truth's for this Thursday:

- Never ride with my husband to church at night again....just sayin'

-That my kids can truly find a hand rail entertaining for hours

- That my kids can really be crazy

- That my kids can really be kind....and take the time to get a cane for sweet Mrs. Rachel

- That we should put on all those things that we are told to in Scripture...cause the Bible tells us to!

Snowmen don't have feet........

Most mornings at my house start off with me getting the two older kids up...dressed...and off to school by 7:20. Speaking of 7:20....I remember getting to school at 8:30...just sayin'. After the big kids are gone, it's just me and Shelby and Jesse.

After they eat they begin about their normal business....Jesse dumping blocks out and harassing our poor dog Hogan, and Shelby either wants to color..paint...or watch PBS kids. As of late she has started to navigate the computer pretty well and she loves to get on PBS kids and play games.

Yesterday morning she is on the computer playing a snowman game and she tells me

"MOM(this was said extremely dramatic), did you know that snowmen don't have feet?"

Me: "Yes Shelby, they don't have feet because they are made of snow".

Shelby: "But they have hands....and they move around like this(imagine her on her knees scooting across the floor)..so why don't they just have feet?"

Me: "I don't know Shelby....maybe next time we will give our snowman feet so he can walk instead of scoot since all the snowmen we make move around and all"

Shelby: "Sounds good to me Mom....a snowman needs feet"

A girl can dream....

Tiny Truth's Thursday.....I know someone famous....

I love to take Thursday's and write about a "tiny truth" that I have learned from my kids that week! A day to share what God teaches me through every day life...'cause He does that ya know! He teaches us BIG truth's through the simple things. This week was a little different for me because the truth I learned wasn't from one of my kids....God literally worked in my heart over this while I was blow drying my hair Sunday morning.

I have been coaching this one little boy on my basketball team for two years. He is the cutest little blond haired boy and such a sweetie. This Saturday was the first time I had seen his dad since last season. I got to talking to him and he told me that he hadn't been to any practices because he had been working in New Orleans. He proceeded to tell me that he works for Brad Pitt's organization that is rebuilding the Lower Ninth. I think my mouth was hanging open...and I muttered the words...."you know Brad Pitt..Pitt?" He laughed and told me yes and that he sees him often and has even met his kids. I did not ask about Angelina 'cause she's not important to me you know! I thought it was just the coolest thing that someone I knew, knew someone famous...superstar famous...Brad Pitt famous!!! I told all my friends that day about him knowing Brad(we are on a first name basis now since we have a friend in common)!

The next morning as I was drying my hair I was thinking about the whole scene. About how exciting it was to know that he knew someone "famous". I begin to think about how he went around all day telling everyone who he worked for and how excited he was about it...and how excited everyone he told was. Well, God got a hold of my heart and literally broke it about this whole situation.

I get so excited over someone knowing a famous person....when I know THE Famous One! I thought it was so cool that he worked for a famous person....when I work for THE Famous One! I thought about how different it would be if we as Christians were just as excited about telling people who we worked for....about telling people that we knew the most famous man to ever walk this earth...and that He was fully man and God! What if we got that excited about making Him known as we do about celebrity's. Can you imagine walking up and telling someone that "You are not going to believe who I know....Jesus...and let me tell you all about Him"!

What the world holds as famous and important should be different that what we as Christians do. As I was writing this this morning with my coffee cup beside me, I told Ric about what I was writing about. Shelby was sitting there with Fruity Pebbles in the corners of her mouth, and Ric asked her who Brad Pitt was. She looked at him and said "Who?" and then he asked "Do you love Brad Pitt?". She said "uhh..No". He asked her who Jesus was....she smiled and said "God"...."Do you love Jesus Shelby?" ...."yes Dad...I love Him". She truly knows who the Famous one is....I pray that I would never forget it...and daily be reminded to be just as excited about Christ as that man was about Brad Pitt! I pray that my life would show how famous He is!

You are the Lord
The famous one
Famous one
Great is your name
In all the earth
The heavens declare
You're glorious, glorious
Great is your fame
Beyond the earth

Tiny Truth's for this Thursday ~

~That Dylan's dad works for Brad Pitt and is proud of the work he does

~That I asked for an autograph picture...just keeping it real folks

~That God can move in our hearts....even when we are blow drying our hair

~That I know the Famous One and I should shout it out loud...and live it out loud

~That Shelby has no idea who Brad Pitt is...but she knows Jesus