Spreading the love

Wow, there were 29 participants in MamaBlogga’s July Group Writing Project. This was my first time participating and I enjoyed the experience and look forward to next month’s writing project.

The theme was “Thanks, Mom” and it could take on any form. A complete list of the participants and their submissions is below, so please go visit and spread some blog love and encouragement.

• No Market For Used Teenagers by Robin
• Thank you Mom! by Michelle Buck
• July MamaBlogga Writing Group – Thanks Mom! by Jennifer Hitchcock
• Thanks Mom! by Mama Zen
• To my mom by Deb
• If She Were Alive Today by Mommy Zabs
• Danke Rot Koph by Kymberlyn
• Will she ever say it? by Lisa
• Thanks, Mom. by Kulia
• Thanks, Mom! by Laura Spencer
• Thanks Mom – Group Writing Project by Amber
• Dear Mother…Thanks Mother! by Corey
• Thank you, mom by Lynnae
• My Mother, My Mentor, My Friend by Jill
• GWP – Thanks mum. by Amanda Regan
• Thank you Mother by Donetta
• I wanted to say thanks by Summer
• Thanks to my Mommy by Southerngirlmusings
• Group Writing Project – July by Jenn
• Blue Denim by bellevelma
• Thanks, Mommy! by Stacey @ Look, Mom, Look!
• Naming the Mother by Daisy
• I’m turning into my mother… by Summer
• I learned by example by Heather Erbe
• Making Memories with Your Kids—Be Crazy, Unpredictable by Karen (Pediascribe)
• There’s Loving and Then There’s Liking by Dawn
• Thank You Mom in Law by Julie
• Right from wrong by Jordan (MamaBlogga)
• Thanks for coming by Kate @ Babylune

Motherhood Monday

Writing has always been one my secret passions. I have an active imagination but have more thoughts inside my head than ideas that have made it on paper. As I continue to push myself in different creative directions, I have decided to participate in Motherhood Monday Fiction Meme started by Anonymom. The short fiction below is part of Motherhood Monday Fiction Meme #2.

The idea is to use the following writing prompt to inspire 10 minutes of uninterrupted (unedited) writing….

Writing prompt – Your main character is a mother who is bringing her child to see the house in which she grew up. The child can be any age and the mother’s family no longer needs to live there. Something surprising and out of the ordinary happens. What is it?

Felicia and Morgan had been waiting for this trip since Morgan was 3 years old. Felicia had shared stories of her youth with her daughter Morgan since Morgan was in her womb and Morgan had heard the stories so often, she felt like she had been to the house her mom’s youth before acctually arriving. The sun was shining bright and even though Morgan’s grandparents had moved many years ago, the new owners allowed Felicia and Morgan into the house. Morgan went straight to her mom’s room and tried to imagine her mom as a girl her age and when she closed her eyes she could hear her mom and her brother as they played, she could see her mom’s rabbit – Duchess as she hopped around the room. Morgan ventured outside to enjoy the sun. Her mom showed where things used to be – the garden, rabbit hutch, pool and the fence with the grapes and honeysuckle vines. Felicia always told Morgan about the enchanting fragrance of honeysuckle and what a head spin it could cause in the heat of summer. Growing up in the city, Morgan had never smelled honeysuckles and she was drawn to the vines. Felicia sat back and watched as her daughter smelled the honeysuckle, she smiled as she could see Morgan’s mind remembering her mommy’s stories. Then as all of the memories settled in Morgan’s mind, she turned to her mom and said – “Mommy, how do you eat the honeysuckle?” Felicia smiled as she joined her daughter at the fence and showed her hot to peel back the side leaves to reveal the small sweet ounce of liquid that was the honeysuckle. Out of the corner of her eye, Felicia spotted something shiny. Morgan saw it as well and she reached it before her mom and it was a marble. While growing up, Felcia’s dad had alwasy told her that the house wasbuilt on the grounds of an old glass factory so she and her brother used to always find glass bottles and marbles as children but it had been so long since they lived there she had forgotten about the glass. Morgan asked the new homeowners if she could dig in the spot that she found the marble. The gracious owners agreed and Morgan began digging with her fingers. Felicia joined in and before they knew it so did the homeowners and while dusk was settling, they found 4 old milk bottles, some green glass, more marbles and a chipped blue bottle. Morgan was allowed to keep all of the glass treasures and the homeowners asked about the glass and Felicia sat with them and their daughter, who was 5 years old, and shared her stories of growing up there.

See what others are sharing about “motherhood monday”

Friday – Show & Tell

When I was little, Friday was always the day designated for Show & Tell. So, since I have been remembering a bit from my childhood as of late, I have decided that today is show & tell.

First, I would like to share my favorite mug. I recently puchased it from Starbuck’s and whenever I drink my coffee or tea, I am reminded that I occupy only a small part of the world. It reads Good Morning in several different languages and I love the colors.

Second, I usually go crazy for my kid’s birthdays and do themes and much more but with our schedule as of late, A’s birthday really caught me by surprise. I knew when she was born being that I was there and all but I just felt like I had more time than I actually did to put things together. Also with all of our trips this year and our big trip still to come, I needed to be thrifty. I borrowed another page from childhood, this time my teen years, and purchased a bag of tissue paper from AC Moore with a coupon (40%) and made tissue flowers like we used to make for Homecoming floats. I decorated the deck, the fence, the trees, and the house with these flowers. Hubby tied many of them together because he thought they were neat and he didn’t want to throw them away so here they are hanging from a door in the house. I loved the explosion of color that they created in and around our home and A helped with a few.

Speaking of being thrifty, the third item for show & tell is a delightful set that I found on one of my thrift trips. The colors have me yearning for autumn and even though it had 3 plates instead of 4, I just had to have it as it was so me.

Do you care to join me for some tea?

I hope each of you enjoy your weekend!!!

A random like meme

I have been tagged by MLBAH to do a sort of random meme. I was a bit confused, but I think I am to answer the questions that she was asked and then the 5 she added on, if not then you will just know more than you wanted to know about me.

After completion, I am to add 5 questions but I think 15 would be a bit much, so I will stick with the 10 that will be answered below, comprende?

1). What is your favorite worship song/hymn?

Oooh, that is a tough one as I absolutely LOVE worship music and hymns. If I had to do some narrowing down, it would be Amazing Grace, Going up Yonder, and Shout to the Lord.

2). Favorite verse, and/or chapter in the Bible?

My favorite verses are off to side on my sidebar and I also like Proverbs 31 even though I am still waiting for my maidens to come help out.

3). What lead you to God? Let us hear your testimony!

I was baptized when I was 5 but had no idea what it meant to have a real and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While out doing everything that I wanted to, GOd still loved me and was waiting for me to return home. I rededicated my life when I was 29 and haven’t looked back.

4). How do you live day by day with the Lord?

More like how do I live minute by minute. I have had so much happen that I realize that God is truly in control. Daily devotionals from Proverbs 31 Woman (also on sidebar) and my own reading and quiet time (not as often as I would like) also help in the minute by minute and day by day.

5). Living Bible? NIV? KJV? The Message? Which is your favorite and why?

Actually, my favorite is the New American Standard (NAS or NASB). I also like the NKJV. I have taken and taught several Precept classes from Kay Arthur and the classes use the NASB and that has become my Bible of choice.

6). What is your favorite hobby (besides blogging of course!)

I like just about anything and everything that deals with my hands so I like sewing, cooking/baking, knitting, crochet, card making, and I am starting to dabble in embroidery. Yes, I have way too many hobbies.

7). Are you more likely to read the Old Testament or the New Testament when you read your Bible?

More likely to read the New Testament unless I am reading Psalm, Proverbs, or Song of Solomon.

8). What’s your favorite place to go on a date (with your spouse of course!)

Depends on my mood, sometimes there is the fancy dinner and other times it is fun like go-karts because we are both competitive and sometimes it is just a walk and enjoying being together.

9). If you could travel to any country on earth where would you go?

I would love to go back to Italy and I would like to visit France. Also, Madagascar as that is where we have traced our roots on my dad’s side of the family.

10). Where did you meet your spouse?

I just answered that here.

I haven’t done a meme in some time and now for the difficult part of tagging others and keeping my fingers crossed that they will participate.

With that said, I tag Redheaded Daughter, Heart Condition, A Little Moore, Muddy Boots, and On to better things.

Thanks to my Mommy

My mom and I have a unique relationship. I love her to death but she does drive me absolutely crazy at times. For as long as I can remember, she has been my biggest cheerleader but she has also been the biggest magnifying glass for all of my faults. When I was growing up she made sure that I had the opportunity to participate in any and all activities from dance lessons with a former Rockette, Barbizon, Pop Warner cheerleading and she always told me that I could be whatever I wanted to be and never to allow anyone to tell me otherwise. I have held to that encouragement and I still believe that I can do and be anything that I want…move over Hillary and Barack.

My mom gave me enough rope to hang myself on numerous occassions and she allowed me to live with the consequences of many of my not-so-right choices. She wouldn’t let my suffering last long as she would do something to bail me out and make things easier for me. This has been both good and bad for me as I have grown older. She would always chuckle about how she couldn’t wait for me to have a daughter so that she can see me being a mom.

Wouldn’t you know that I have a daughter and not only does she look like me when I was little, she completely acts like me with some of her dad thrown in, thank God!!! There are many times I see you just laughing as you watch our interactions and then you always say, “she acts just like you”…some days that is good and most days it serves as a reminder that God is not through with me yet.

Mom, I am thankful for your encouragement and pushing to follow my dreams even though they weren’t your dreams for me, you allowed me to see where they would take me. You have dealt with the ups and downs and all the craziness that I have taken you through and for that I am grateful. You have been and continue to be strong even when you lost your son and you have helped me deal with the lost of my son. If I had to choose an area for us to be similar, I wouldn’t have chosen that but God did so we go forth carrying our crosses.

You have come to see the importance of my staying home with my kids even though you worked, you are embracing us homeschooling the kids even though you sent us to public schools, you see that even though I was pretty financially irresponsible (with your enabling) while growing up that I do quite well living off of 1 income.

There are some things that I would change in retrospect but many of them we have discussed. I am thankful that God chose you to be my Mommy, I love you!

This post was inspired by the July Group Writing Project hosted by MamaBlogga.

An examination of friends/friendship

Some events in my life have led me to look closer at friends and friendship. The friend relationship dynamic has always intrigued me since I was a little child. Some people come in/out of your life like a revolving door, others sit for awhile but eventually leave and others get comfortable on the loveseat of life and are always around.

I stay in touch with a friend from 6th grade and while we do not talk often we can still pick up the phone and chat as if we haven’t missed a beat. They say that as you get older, you can’t meet any new old friends but I think as you grow older and you are more settled as a person you are able to make more meaningful friendships and relationships.

My hubby and I are in the midst of planting a church. When we married, I joined his church and we have been fellowshipping there for the last 6 years. However, the Lord is truly calling him in another direction and the transition has been nothing short of awkward. There are those wondering why we would ever think of leaving that church as if it something that the church has done, we aren’t following the church/pastor, we are following God. It has really felt cultlike and cliquish for some time but I guess all of that becomes more evident when you are on the other side.

Yesterday, we happenned to go to a local park because A wanted to go there as a part of her birthday. Well, there were several soon-to-be former church members there with their kids and many of them are homeschoolers. Our homeschooling community has dwindled at the church since the church started a school. You ever felt like you stumbled upon a secret meeting?

In conversation it was said that being that I was no longer worshipping at the church, I would have to work harder to maintain friendships because others see each other at church.

I guess I was a bit taken aback because I really thought that I had some true relationships with some of these women yet when I sat and thought about it our relationships did not really extend beyond church. Yes, a few had been over my home but still there wasn’t a true connection.

Have I forgotten how to show myself friendly according to Proverbs? What does it mean nowadays to have friendships? I feel closer and more connected to some people in blogland than people within my community, is that normal or strange?

I have a few other dear friends and while they don’t homeschool nor do they craft, I love them just the same.

Maybe, I am at a point in my life where I need to examine me in the friendship process and work on how to show myself friendlier. Of course the other alternative is to not worry about making new friends, but I don’t feel that is the life that God has called me to lead.

It’s Official!!!

Yesterday we received our paperwork back from the county indicating that A is officially recognized under the home instruction program. Woohoo!!!!!!

I am so excited and considering I had heard some not so encouraging stories about the staff at the home instruction office, they returned the paperwork within less than 2 weeks of my sending it in, I don’t think that is bad at all.

Of course, I am equally nervous and excited about our journey. Let’s face it, since our children were born all parents do some form of home instruction or at least I would like to think they do. It is just different now in that she is really ‘enrolled’ so to speak in what society marks as the beginning of education – Kindergarten.

I still have a few items left to tidy up in terms of a schedule which I need to keep myself on track but the intent is to really just continue our flow of some math, more reading, story time and a mild intro to history/science with a unit study approach. Also, art and music as those are definte areas of interest to my daughter and see if she still really wants to learn Spanish and sign language. When I type it out it seems like way more but really it isn’t that bad being that only Bible, Math and Reading are done daily.

I hope each of your plans are firming up as you like and if they aren’t they you are bending like a willow tree as you make adjustments.

Time Travel Tuesday – Spouse Encounter

Was it love at first site? or did it take a little longer…
Let’s travel back to the day we met our spouse.

The first time that I saw my hubby we were at a new event at a church in DC and he sat behind me and my friends. I noticed him but I was not looking to meet anyone new nor was I looking for a relationship at the time as I was starting a new job and had just come out of a relationship that was based upon some lies that weren’t revealed until later. I felt that I was at a place that I needed to sit still in order to hear more clearly from God about my next steps.

The church I was attending at the time had a very active singles ministry and they were hanging out the next night at yet another event. Later I realize that they had a Christian Peyton Place going on but that is another story for another time. Anyhoo, my hubby was the speaker for the evening at the next night’s function so he and I chatted but I figured that he wouldn’t remember me from Eve so I just filed his number away. (Being single and living in a big city, I did not give out my number.)

I called him a few days later and he did remember me and we just started talking on a daily basis and there would be times that we would stay on the phone until the wee hours of the morning, I mean the wee hours. I went to a few of his church league basketball games and then we went to lunch on Valentine’s day and he held my hand and this was the first time that we had held hands since we met 2 months prior…he proposed in March and we married in June (yes that is 6 months since we met) and we just celebrated 6 years of marriage.

Doing this has made me realize that I do not have any pictures of us in a digital format.

I found this at Are we there yet? and it all started with Annie.

Today she turns 5!!!

Today our Princess turns 5 and we are so thankful and blessed. It has been a truly amazing 5 years and full of lots of highs and lows, valleys and mountains, and so much more.

Our daughter was born with biliary atresia which means that her bile ducts inside/outside of the liver did not develop properly and while there are a few treatment options if detected early enough, her first pediatrician did not diagnose her jaundice properly so we didn’t find out until she was 3 1/2 months of age. One night she wouldn’t put any pressure or move her left leg so we took her to the local urgent care facility and after tests and x-rays, the doctor told us that he had good news and not so good news. Of course as new parents this is always what you want to hear…NOT!!

The good news was that her leg was fine. The not so good news is that she had a liver disease and while he wasn’t able to determine the specifics we needed to visit the local Children’s Hospital for further testing. That led to an 8 day stay in which we had a battery of tests because there are a host of other diseases that present in the same manner including neonatal hepatitis and AIDS so we had to have HIV and Hepatitis tests which even though we both knew we weren’t infected makes for interesting hospital chatter.

Through everything it was confirmed that she had biliary atresia and she needed to have a liver transplant because a Kasai wouldn’t work and she was listed for a liver. You can read more about the whole journey at her CaringBridge site which is linked on the sidebar.

Our faith in God really carried us through this entire journey and continues to provide us with the strength that we need to endure each day. We were married within 6 months of meeting one another and then were pregnant within 4 months of marriage so this was a lot on us as a newly married couple but it only served to draw us closer together and we give all praise to God for that because we know things could have turned out far different.

Our daughter did receive a transplant and we are forever grateful to her donor family that in the time of their despair they chose the selfless act of giving of her organs so that others may have life and have it more abundantly.

Princess A is a healthy, active and gem of a girl that brings joy and love to all she meets. She is a sensitive child and also very loving, gentle, and thankful for the smallest of things. She is fully aware of all that she has been through and often goes through the pictures of her times spent with feeding tubes and hospitalizations and ask questions and then re-tells the story to her brother and anyone else that will listen. She is only on 1 medicine which is awesome compared to post-transplant when she was on 14 and I was in the early stages of being pregnant with her brother. There are still blood draws every 2 months to see how her liver is doing and how her body is handling her immunosuppressant but all in all she is doing GREAT!!!!

We had a party on Sunday to celebrate so we are taking it easy today with a few shopping trips to purchase her a Bible and then we will probably do lunch out and enjoy the park and just enjoy life.

Your prayers are appreciated for her continued health and the health of all of the other little kids with this disease and other diseases as well as for their families as they walk the path that has been laid out for them. Also, please pray for her donor family and all others that give selflessly of themselves and their loved ones so that others may have life. Prayers and Blessings!!!

Here are a few pictures of the journey and for more recent check out the Flickr sidebar:

Princess A in bassinett

Princess A with her feeding tube

Princess A in the hospital

Saving Grace – quite interesting (song info added)

Tonight I checked out TNT’s Saving Grace and I must say that even though it was a bit raw it was a good viewing. I was quite surprised to see such open talk about God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and things that are Christian spoken about and sang about so freely. Of course, it probably helps that it is on cable and not the regular channels.

If you have been saved all of your life then you probably won’t get it but if you have grown up with a knowledge of God and strayed and decided to live your life according to your own rules and then you have had some life altering moments and have come back and surrendered yourself to Christ then you will get it.

I do not know any details about Holly Hunter and her faith but she is a good actress and truly plays her role well. I will be interested to see how long the show airs and what topics will be addressed.

Her self interested style of living reminds me of a new study by the Barna Group on individualism. The study also looks at how people use their faith to make decisions and depending on the writing of this show, it seems that Holly will start to look at the world differently.

Definitely a show worth watching and it is for adults as it can be raw, graphic and in your face.

Edited to add: I have had many people looking for the song information and the song Saving Grace is by Everlast and you can listen here