I don't WANT to get a Bath!!!

So much for bath time today. Every time we put Hermie in the bath water, he would climb right out. He must have grown because he could never reach the sides of the container before.

Life with Hermie has been very interesting lately. The other day, he tried to climb through a hole about the size of a Quarter. His legs fit but he could not get his shell in no matter what he tried. He was very persistent because he was trying to get in the hole for about 10 minutes. Finally, he gave up and found another way in.

This again reminds me of spiritual things. I want to be as persistent in my prayer life as Hermie is in getting out of his bath. So often I pray for something and if my prayer doesn't get answered in MY time, I give up or forget about it. For example, I have been praying for God to heal my eyes for at least 5 years. (I have had to wear glasses since I was 5 years old. I have very bad eyesight.) I go in spurts where I will really press in and pray about it. But then I get discouraged and stop praying. Another example is my family. My siblings are not Christians and I pray also in spurts for them.

I would love to get to the point where I don't get discouraged and continue to persevere.

Nick Vujicic

I found this video this morning ans thought I would share it with you. This guy was born without any arms or legs and is now using this as a testimony to reach many, many people.

Click here to watch.

Nick Vujicic

Singing Sunday

Today's group is Tree63. I have been listening to them a lot over this past week and the songs are deep and worshipful. I tried to pick just one but it was really, really hard. So I decided to highlight the band instead.

The band is originally from South Africa. They named the band because they were standing under a tree when they were trying to think of a name. The 63 is from Psalms 63.

Like any other band they have had some good times and bad times. They use those times when writing the lyrics to their songs.

I hope you enjoy this band as much as I do.

Another Blog

After some harassment from me, my sister-in-law, Beautiful Grace Started her very own blog.

Welcome to the Bloggy world, sis!

Free on Friday

Here's today's freebies...

Lotion (it asks for a code offer, but just leave it blank and it goes through).

Noxema Cleanser

Pfizer Pedometer (Classic Mama this one is for you!)

Hope everyone has a great day today!

Wow!

I saw this story this morning. All I can say is wow!

Click here. (After 14 seconds the real story will come on).

The Recording

My DSH had a recording session with some members of The Burning State on Tuesday night while I was at the MIA coffeehouse. Here's what I found when the kids & I got home.

Last Night

Can anyone guess what we had to eat last night?

My Date

Last night we had a wonderful time together. Thanks for all of the suggestions on yesterday's post.

First we dropped of the kids and then went to eat at Pakha's Thai House in Dillsburg. When we pulled up to the restaurant, I was a little afraid to get out of the car because the outside is in pretty bad shape. But because my DSH was here before, I trusted him and went in. My DSH had Vegetarian Pad See Iew (I have got to get a recipe for this. It was so good!) & I had Pakha’s Cinnamon Roasted Beef. Both dishes were excellent! I am so glad that I didn't let the outside of the building sway my decision! I recommend this place to anyone!

Next, we were going to go to the Greek festival to get some flaming cheese, whatever that is. But on the way there, it started to rain and we weren't sure how long it would last so we decided we would go next year.

Instead, we went to the Guitar Center to look at some recording equipment. I could say that I was pretty bored while we were there because I really didn't know what they were talking about, but I wasn't. It was really nice being in a place like that without kids to tell to stop touching this or that. And, building a studio is important to my DSH so it is important to me too.

After that we went to Circuit City to buy more memory for our computer. When we run the recording program, it seems to freeze up lately so in talking to friends we learned that to stop this from happening, we needed more memory. We felt the favor of God on us because we got it for $80 when it was normally $139.

Next we went to Giant and got some candy bananas which are in Runts. Bible Bat Boy is learning about Mickey Monkey next week and since monkey's eat bananas, he should eat some too. Let me tell you, that was a feat in itself. The bulk candy container was full to overflowing and every time I tried to just pick out the bananas, the candy overflowed onto the floor. I needed 15 bananas but I gave up after 10.

Then we went to Sears to take back some of Shadows jeans. I love the KidVantage Program that Sear's has. I'll save that for another post.

Next we went to Borders. Our neighbor had given us a gift card for there a long time ago so my DSH had a cup of dark roast coffee and I had a girly drink - Green Tea Latte. We walked around there for a while and dreamed about all of the books we wanted. I am an avid reader and I love to go to bookstores.

Next we decided to go to the church parking lot and watch 24 on the iPod. We are totally addicted to that show! When the episode was over, we took your advice and parked in the church parking lot. Just to clarify, we have a car and have 3 car seats in out back seat. We only parked for about 5 minutes.

Then we picked up the kids and went home to park some more.

We did all that without even wondering aimlessly through Walmart!

We had an incredible time together. Hopefully we'll do it again soon!

I'm Going on a Date! I'm Going on a Date!

I am soooooo excited! This evening, I am going on a date with my DSH! We have not had a real date in over a year. Yes, we have gone places together without our 3 wonderful children but it has always been church related for meetings and such.

So far, we are planning to go out to eat and then look at recording equipment. We are dreaming of the day when we can have our own recording studio in our house. Hopefully, that day will be soon.

It has been so long, that we kind of are at a loss as to what to do. If you have any great ideas, let me know.

Free on Friday

Here's today's freebie.

I just love this magazine. I got my new issue in the mail a few days ago and realized I never put it on my Free on Friday. All of the recipes I have made from this magazine have been excellent.

Kraft Food and Family Magazine

Our Sneakers

After yesterday's post, I wanted to write a little more about the sneakers we bought on Monday.

The sneakers were created by Stephon Marbury (Starbury), a basketball player for the New York Knicks. Stephon grew up poor, in a housing project in New York City. He was one of seven children and wanted the $100-200 Air Jordans as a kid but he could never afford them. $200 was their grocery budget.

When Stephon Marbury got signed on with the Knicks and started making 17 million dollars a year, he decided to do something about the price of sneakers. That's when he started his own line of shoes (and clothing) and he now sells them for $14.98 a pair. You know that they aren't junk because he even wears them himself on the court.

He seems like such a good guy. He really cares about inner city & poor kids. He is constantly giving back to the community.

I will buy more sneakers just to support him. He has such a great vision and I hope more professional sports stars take after him.

Bargains, Bargains, Bargains

I have to tell you about our day on Monday. Because of the Breakthrough conference at the church, they gave the staff off on Monday. That in itself was a huge blessing to me because my DSH (Dear Sweet Husband) works CRAZY hours on Mondays. Because he had off, we decided to have a fun filled family day.

1. We went to Allentown to the Da Vinci Science Center. We recently spent $75 to become members of the Whitaker Center so now we are able to go to 130 other science centers all across the country for free. We had such a great time. The kids had a blast going through the dark tunnel, playing with the fish and making shapes in the dark room. We then spent $3.00 for a pizza out of a vending machine just because we had never seen one before. It most definitely wasn't a bargain!

2. Next we went to Taco Bell for lunch (the pizza didn't cut it!) because we had a BOGO free coupon. Taco Bell is one of our most favorite places to eat.

3. Then we went to buy some sneakers. I first heard about them on Rachael Ray. So I searched the web to find a store near me and found one in Allentown. The store is called Steve & Barry's. Let me just tell you what all we got. We spent $84 and we got 4 pairs of sneakers (4 PAIRS) , a belt, a pair of pants and 3 shirts. I highly recommend this store to anyone! The only downfall to the store is that the shoe sizes start around Shadow's size.

4. On the way home we stopped at Cabela's and had a great time looking at all of the stuffed animals and the walk-through fish aquarium. We had gone there a couple years ago when they had first opened and it was wall-to-wall people. It was much calmer on Monday.

It was such an awesome family day! We don't get to have many days like that one very often and I'm going to cherish it for a long time.

Last But Not Least

Here's what we did on Saturday afternoon before church.

Girly Girly Before

After

Holy God (song story)

Here's the story behind the song.

Singing Sunday

This week's song is one that we have been singing over the last few weeks at church. It is performed by Brian Doerksen. My favorite line is "romancing, pursuing". Just think, the God of the universe is romancing us! That just blows me away. When I think of being romanced, I think of getting flowers, going on dates, etc. Whenever I look outside and see the beautiful creation, I feel romanced by God. Whenever I spend time with Him, I feel romanced by God.

As you go through your day, let God romance you.

Holy God

Holy Holy Holy God
Holy Holy Holy God

Creating
Commanding
Transcendent Adonai

Defending love
Destroying sin
The warrior divine

Holy Holy Holy God
Holy Holy Holy God

Forgiving
Redeeming
From every tribe and tongue

Arising first
The nail scarred Lamb
Salvation’s champion

Holy Holy Holy God
Holy Holy Holy God

Romancing
Pursuing
Reclaiming to restore

Releasing hearts
Transforming lives
The Lion’s mighty roar

words and music by Brian Doerksen
© 2006 Integrity's Hosanna! Music/ASCAP and Shining Rose Songs (adm by Integrity's Hosanna! Music)/ASCAP

Free on Friday

Here's your free stuff for today.

Haagen-Dazs (I have no idea where there is one of these stores around me but if you happen upon one on 5/15, stop in and get a scoop).

2-Liter bottle of diet 7-UP (It's swim suit season soon)

Juicy Juice Harvest Surprise Juice (to get this one you have to fill out an annoying little survey first)

Dove Cool Moisture Hair Care (who doesn't want cool hair in the summer????)

And one more...
Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nail Polish (this one is noted to take 6 months to get but maybe you'll have painted nails for Christmas.)

The Sled

I was just in our school room working with Girly Girl when I heard Bible Bat Boy say, "No, Shadow, It's not safe!"

I ran upstairs and found my 2 adventurous boys getting ready to sled down the stairs. Yes, they were using the same sled that L-Bug was napping in.

Thankfully no one was hurt. They are now sitting quietly.

Who Needs a Pack-n-Play?

Yesterday afternoon Mugs, L-Bug, and Muffin Man came over for a visit. Muffin Man is helping my DSH build a deck some time this summer.

Anyway, the kids could not wait for Mugs to jump with them. I really appreciate her - she is such a GREAT mom! She jumped, and jumped, and jumped. She was thoroughly worn out by the end of the evening.

During their visit, L-Bug got cranky and could have used a nap. We no longer have a Pack-n-play (We went to Lowe's after we moved and it was in our trunk. Since we now have a car instead of a van, we couldn't fit the Pack-n-Play and all of the stuff we bought into our trunk. So we gave it to a young mother that we saw in the Lowe's parking lot).

After much thinking about what we could use for a crib, I put L-Bug in our sled and slid her around on the carpet. Within 3 minutes she was asleep. It was really hysterical!

So...If it's ever nap time and you don't have a crib, try a sled!

Yes, she really is asleep in our sled!

Singing Sunday

Today's song is "I Will Rejoice" performed by Rita Springer.
To listen, click here then on # 5

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God (4x)

I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad (2x)

There is a fountain full of grace and it flows from Emmanuel’s veins
It came and it healed me
It came and refreshed me
And it came and it washed my sins away

For the past few weeks, I have been asking the Lord to show me what songs mean. I don't want to just sing the words. I want to understand what I am singing about.

At the conference last weekend, we sang this song and the Lord so faithfully gave me a picture. Here it is...

I was standing in a fountain and the Lord was splashing me with water. So I splashed Him back. This wild splashing went on for a while and I felt that He told me that this song is made so that we could have fun together.

Later in our worship time we sang the song "Running" by CFNI. There is a line in that song that says, "leaving everything behind". When we sang that line I was again in the fountain with the Lord only this time, He took my hand and I stepped out onto the bank. Then He told me that the splashing wasn't just having fun, but it was taking care of business too. He told me He was washing me clean as we were playing in the water. So I was a new woman when I stepped out of the fountain. In the water I left my harshness, jugdementalism, criticism, selfishness, pride, anger, my hard heart, sarcasm, and stress.

Thank you Lord for meeting me in such a personal way. You are truly an awesome God!

If anyone is interested Rita Springer is coming to Christ Community Church on July 25, 2007

New Show

Aunt MA sent this site to me and right away I thought of Say Anything.

In The Motherhood

Enjoy!!


If anyone writes a story and submits it, let me know.

Free on Friday

Here's today's freebies...

OB Tampon

Post-it® Flags and Notes

REACH® ACCESS™ Daily Flosser

Have a great day! I love Free Stuff!!!

Love

This morning my DSH got ready for work and as he was finishing, Shadow woke up. Then Bible Bat Boy woke up. Usually, Shadow is the only one awake before my DSH leaves for work.

After they woke up, they both sat on the sofa and cuddled with my DSH. When I saw that, there was such a love that welled up in my heart for my family. I cherish these moments because they won't last forever.

I love springtime. Its a time of new life, new attitudes, and new love.

My Score

I am quite embarrassed to post my score after talking last night to all of the people who took the quiz.

Here goes...

I got 3 correct out of 11. Yes, that is a 27%. I'm just glad that the quiz didn't really count for any school grades! I am not as intelligent as I thought I was!!!!!

New Woman

I am a different woman since I have been back from the conference this past weekend. While I was there, the Lord dealt with some attitudes I had been harboring. (I'll explain exactly what happened on the special Singing Sunday edition, this Sunday).

This is what usually happens when I go to a conference: I feel really close to God, and think that I have changed. Then, the real world happens again! And I find out that I was only changed during the conference.

This time was different. I went to the conference, got close to God and really did change! At times I have felt the old attitudes welling up but I have pushed them down and Said NO! I am much more patient with people. I feel a great compassion for people. I am not stressed like I usually was. I am still looking at life differently. I am honestly having fun with my kids, which is something that I have struggled with in the past.

If you are struggling with attitudes, keep praying. It has been a long journey for me. I am not perfect, He is still working on me to make me who He wants me to be. No, you don't have to go to a conference to change, God can work anywhere.

Intelligence Test

I found this this morning and thought it was really cute. I'll let you know how I did tomorrow.

Intelligence Test

Growing Up

Shadow lost tooth number seven (the open spot on the top). It seems like just yesterday that he didn't have any teeth at all! My, how time flies! I am learning to cherish each and every moment with my kids.