Friday, June 26, 2009

Short and Sweets

Horton Hangs A Who


Or at least levitates a few...

I'm hitting the garage sales bright and early in the morning. Check back this week for my finds! Have a fabulous weekend!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The Art of Imperfection


Have you ever wondered why we try so hard to be perfect?

We strive to have perfect families. We obsess and sometimes spend thousands of dollars to achieve a "perfect" body. When we are in school we are pushed to have perfect grades and perfect scores. We try and, as in my case, repeatedly fail at keeping perfectly clean, neat, and immaculately decorated homes. We try to personify the perfect Christian. We want perfect husbands, and perfect kids, perfect hair, perfect financial freedom, perfect personalities, and perfect clothes for the perfect occasion so that the perfect holiday dinner that we cooked will delight our perfect parents and in-laws. It all makes me nauseous.

I have come to the conclusion that living with imperfection is sometimes WAY harder than trying to be being perfect. Of course, perfection is totally unrealistic in most cases. It will never happen until I am made perfect by our Lord when it is my time to go. But while I are here, I am realizing that I am wasting time trying too hard to be "perfect." Where as it is easy for me to pretend that my life is wonderful and flawless, I tended to put a lot of pressure on myself trying to be that way.

No one wants to be imperfect. We just are. Nothing we can do on our own power will change that.

There are so many things that I would love to change about myself. So many attributes that I would love to have that I don't. So many pet sins that I seem to keep stumbling over. Yet, I continue everyday trying and failing.

To me, perfection is unchangeable. It's flawless and complete. No changes are ever necessary. It's also nearly impossible. Yet, I chose to torment myself into thinking it's necessary to be excepted and loved by others, but more importantly by God. And while it's true that sometimes people do expect perfection, I am reminded on a daily basis that my Father doesn't. He knows I am going to fall. He knows how completely flawed I am. He still is with me. And His love for me stays steadfast.

I had to face it. I AM IMPERFECT. And it's OK. Why?
Because perfection has been achieved. I came across this verse last week in my quiet time and wanted to share it with you.

"Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a PERFECT sacrifice for our sins."
Hebrews 9:14


Jesus alone was perfect. We will never achieve perfection like He did. And He did it for us so that we don't have to be perfect, but still can live eternally with our amazing Creator! He did it because He wanted to. Because His love for His imperfect people is so unfathomable that He chose to live a faultless life and then give it up so that we could be forever together with God.

Does this mean we should just let it all go and live as we want? No. But it does mean that the pressure is off. When we mess up, which we will, if we are in a personal relationship with Jesus, our shortcomings will never separate us from His abiding love.

And because of this undeserved and unearned grace He bestows on us, someday on the glorious day that we will get to meet Him face to face face, we will get that perfected body and the perfect mansion that He's creating just for you and me! We will sing with a perfect voice to the perfecter of our faith, our beloved Savior.

Garden Update 2

I don't know about your part of the country but here in the heart of the Mid-South it's as hot as H.E.Double hockey sticks. Today's heat index was well over 110 degrees. It's so, SO very hot that we have planted our family in our little air conditioned home and don't intend to leave it's 75 degree heavenliness unless the plans include a pool or ice cream (or Target.)

One interesting thing about this crazy weather we are having is my little garden seems to love the blistering heat! We are already harvesting some wonderful tomatoes and are amazed by the monger cucumbers that we have pulled. As you can remember, our first attempt at a garden last year was quite the learning experience. We got little to nothing from it except knowledge of every disease, mold and predator bug known to tomatoes, cuc.'s and watermelons.

This year has been wonderful so far! I am amazed at my tomato plants and how huge they are! Just so that you understand why this is so exciting for us, I thought I would show you a picture of what our garden looked like in early September of last year when it should have been at it's fullest and most mature stage. Can we say Pit.i.ful?


Saaaaaaaaad. Here is what the tomato plants looked like. Be sure and notice all the empty stems where the hornworms ate all the fruit and foliage. I abhor those horrible, nasty creatures!


In comparison, here is what our garden looks like today. Yeeehaw!!!


It's so much fun to have a thriving garden! Not to say that God might feel the need to humble me and let it become a fun night out for the hornworms again, but for right now I am rejoicing and thankful that it's doing great!

Here's a few pics of what else is growing:

Baby cantaloupes and watermelons.

Tons and tons of Better Bush, Roma Grape, Early Girl, Beef Steak, Better Boy, Jumbo Cherry, and heirloom tomatoes.

This was probably THE best tomato I have ever tasted. We had BLT's with it last night! Yummy!


Our cucumber's are ginormous. Supposedly, they are supposed to be only 6 inches long, but when they were that short they look so skinny and scrawny. We let them stay on the vine for a couple more days to see if they might plump up some and they literally grew 6 inches in two days.


I look forward to seeing what else we can pull! The kids are enjoying watching everything as it grows and then being able to eat it after it has ripened.


Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Today's Forecast

We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this special weather report. Doppler radar has shown a large area of sock showers moving in a southerly fashion. Be particularly aware of the striped tube socks and socks that are missing their partners.


Obnoxious snorting and contagious laughter are possible.

Winds of joy and happiness are immanent!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A New Look?

OK, so I have been wanting to change things up a bit and try a new look for awhile. I have had the same wonderful stylist for almost 20 years, but was brave and decided to try a much younger girl thinking she might could really bring my "do" up to date.

I just wanted your opinion of her amazing work. Whaduya think?








Perri, my 5 year old, hip stylist for the day says, and I quote, "Mommy, you's looks Fab-U-Less."
I do, don't I?

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Vivaaa, Oh, Vivaaaaaa, NashVegaaaaaas!

Whew! It seems like forever since my last post! I had envisioned long and frequent posts this summer, but apparently that ain't gonna happen. We have been so busy, busy!

We had a nasty, yucky storm here on Friday. Lots trees and power lines down, but gratefully no one was hurt. Lots of people are just now getting their power back. We lost ours for several hours, but were one of the lucky ones to get it back so soon.

On a happier note, I spent a wonderful weekend with my bestest bud and cousin in Nashville. I packed my oldest youngin' and myself up headed over there on Saturday morning. Although we just mainly trashed hung around the house, we had such a wonderful time just being together. Her precious hubby kindly watched the myriad of boys (she has three + mine) Saturday night so we could go out and have some girl time. We laughed 'til we cried, ate a fabulous dinner, and almost got thrown out of a movie theater. What more could ya ask for? She is truly the best friend I will ever have and we're related! Life is good!




She's going to kill me for putting this picture up, but whatevah... She's gorgeous! She can deal with it. :)

Her boys are so adorable, too!

This is her oldest, F. He and Perri and exactly 2 weeks apart in age. We laugh because he and Daylor are so similar in personality - very careful thinkers and big helpers to mom!


Such a great looking kido!

This is her 2nd little boy, J. Carbon copy of Duglin. Gets into everything. Never stops for a moment. So very, very loving.

Can't you just see the rascal in his eyes. Love him!

This little dude is the adorable V. He's a precious one. I had the privilege of watching him be born. Such a sweet little angel. And Oh. My.Word. The child has got some hair!! He's just a year old and has already had at least five haircuts! He's got that surfer dude look goin' on.

Couldn't you just eat him? And he's quite the oral child, as you can see above...


And here...



And here...



On Sunday after church, we took the boys to a beautiful walking area in the neighbor and let them run off some pent up energy. Around the perimeter of the walking trail was a natural stream like looked like something straight out of a scene from Narnia. So pretty...




I could have spent the entire day there making pictures. The dudes had a great time just running, playing on some stepping stones, and skipping rocks. The mama's had a great time chatting it up with little, OK, alot of interruptions, but whose counting? It was still a wonderful afternoon.








We headed home Sunday evening accompanied by a gorgeous sunset, bagillions of lightning bugs, and a suitcase full of dirty laundry.

I wish we could have had more time with the cousins, but the time we spent was so sweet and as always, full of memories of "growing up together."

Love you, girl! Thanks for a wonderful stay!



OK, sorry. Just had to show you one last photo of V. It's only fair that you get to see him in all his cuteness with out a washcloth, alligator, or cookie blocking his little kissy lips.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Short and Sweets

Werkin' it...




4 more. 3 more.2 more. Now take it to the left...

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Ghost of Weekend Past

Tell me how is it possible to have a perfectly clean house Friday afternoon (after spending a week cleaning it) only to wake up Monday morning to find it looking like this?



I can think of a few possible reasons:

  1. Daylor
  2. Duglin
  3. Perri

I need a vacation.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Question of the Day

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Parental warning - Not appropriate for children's eyes. Wish this child's mother had the same sentiment.
***********************************************
Would you allow your 9 year old daughter wear this? (Yes, she's NINE.) Especially to a public CHILDREN"S sprinkler park? Hmm. Bet you don't have to ponder that one too long.


Honestly. Sometimes I wonder what parents are thinking. Wake up, folks!

Busy, Busy, Busy...Havin' Fun!




Last year a made a huge mistake in letting my house get so past the point of disorganized and completely nasty that I ended up spending most of the summer trying to get it back into shape again. (Can we say, eeeeww?) Summer is supposed to be fun and well, unfortunately ours last year was anything but. This year I made a concerted effort to stay on top of my housecleaning so that when summer rolled around, I would be able to take the kids to do fun stuff and not just a quick outing to Walmart to buy yet another bottle of 409.

We have been quite busy so far and have so much fun being together and just hanging out. One of the reasons I love summer so much is I get to be just mommy the mommy. I don't have to be Mrs. Mommy, the teacher. We do have plenty of educational moments during the summer, but the pressure is off because there are no tests, no seatwork, and no lesson plans. It's just plain ole' fun and we love it!

Today, I took the kidos to a local sprinkler park. It started out a bit cloudy, but they disappeared soon after we got there and it was PERFECT weather for a day in the water. I enjoyed watching my sweet little ones drenching each other and having a great time. I also got to start a new book from one of my favorite authors. It was really a perfect day. Here's a few of my fav. pic's.