School can’t come quickly enough!  This week has been the worst week of summer!  My 4 boys have driven me absolutely nuts every day this week…and it’s only Wednesday!!

I’ve been supporting a headache each day from all the yelling, fighting, and screaming…mostly from mommy!  Then after I lose it, I feel so horrible!  Sad that I’ve yelled at my boys and didn’t just take the time for myself to calm down first.  I’m at my wits end!  They don’t act like this when daddy’s home, which causes me resentment…that’s not good either!

This is how things are supposed to go right…

Mommy: “Please clean up your mess.”

Boys: “Yes maam!”  As they run to do it

This is how it actually goes though…

Mommy: “Please, Clean up your mess!”

Boys: Not listening because they are too busy playing, or watching tv or aggervating the dog and cat

Mommy: “Clean up your mess NOW!”

Boys: Ignoring mommy because maybe she’ll just do it…because playing is so much more important.

Mommy: “I SAID CLEAN IT UP NOW!!!”

Boys: Coming out to only do about 1/2 of the work then back to doing what they were doing before…but this time, they make the dog bark and the twins fight and they are screaming at each other.

Mommy: “How many times do I have to tell you to CLEAN IT ALL UP????”

Boys: “I did clean it up”

Mommy: “Then why is there Milk still sitting on the table, the cereal is still sitting on the table, there’s trash on the floor from where you’ve decided to throw away your trash…there’s a trash can for that…it’s not intended for the floor.”

Boys: Stomping their feet as they come out to finish the job.

God help me to be a better parent than what I am!!!  I’m not setting a very good example here.  I’m supposed to be able to handle little things like them not listening to me to clean up their mess, not lose it.   Can you tell that I haven’t had my quiet time yet today?

School starts next Tuesday!

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Today was a good day until this evening when we got 4 inches of rain in an hour!

Kevin was on his way out the door to take the dog out when the neighbor was standing on our porch (we live in a duplex).  She told him that their basement was flooded and we might want to check ours.

Yep, there was an inch of water on most of the floor in the basement!  We have spent most of the night with the shopvac cleaning up the floor.  I think we emptied the shopvac out 20+ times!  And the water was coming up through the drain in the basement…YUCK…YUCK…YUCK

I’m exhausted, but we still have a lot of stuff to clean up.  Did I mention that we kept all the empty boxes when we moved here so we could use them again to pack whenever we decided to move again?  Or that we had a ton of books and toys on the floor?

Yep…one HUGE mess!!

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We left Wednesday Morning (8/13) to go camping. I couldn’t believe how full our truck was! I had to have the dog sit between my feet because there wasn’t room in the back for the Kennel. Good thing we took her to my parent’s instead of camping with us!

We arrived (after a few stops here and there for food and to go potty…we had 6 children with us!) and started putting up all the tents. The family we went with had 1 tent, we had 2 plus a screen tent thingy (yep, I don’t know the correct terminology for things…so I make up words that work!). After we got all that done, we all just sort of hung out around the campfire that day.

Thursday, we went to the beach (we were on Lake Michigan). We all had a blast! We went in the morning (before lunch) and there wasn’t many people there…by the time we were ready to leave, everyone was there…including the Nuns (LOL).

I enjoyed watching the boys (and girls, since the other family had 2 girls) playing in the water.

I also enjoyed watching the seaguls…can you believe how close they would get?

This one even walked all over our stuff. I guess it’s not good to have food almost open when they are around!

Friday morning, the guys went and climbed the dunes…I didn’t go, I was afraid they would have made me try and climb that hill…I didn’t want to exert that much energy! I was on vacation…you don’t exert energy on vacation!

Friday night, Daniel had gotten sick, so Kevin stayed back at the camp site with him, everyone else went to the beach to watch the sunset.

I love taking photos like that! Michael and Noah had saw some photos that someone emailed me a few months ago where it looked like they were holding the sun, so they decided they wanted photos like that…here’s how those came out

Here are some more photos of the sunset.

And this one is by far my favorite photo of all! Andrew refused to look at me!

On Saturday, Heather and I went to Tabor Hills for a wine tasting.

We had a lot of fun…let’s face it, anytime I’m without my children, it’s a lot of fun…but add a little wine and it’s a great time! LOL

I had no clue there were vineyards in Michigan…I guess you learn something new every day right?

On Sunday and headed back home. It was so much fun, we will probably make another trip back there!

Oh and in case you were wondering where exactly we went? That’s my secret, I’m not sharing! We went to Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan.

Filed under: Camping, Family | 1 Comment »

A couple weeks ago our church hosted a night of worship. It was filled with Music, short video clips, and a short message from our Pastor.

I was hesitant to go since my husband was staying at home with the boys and I had been running all day…Singing on the Praise & Worship team in the morning, getting a couple last minute camping items after church, lunch, a baby shower, etc. But I went. And I was so glad I did!

It has been such a long time since I’ve felt the presence of God so powerfully like that in a service. I sang, prayed, wept, and worshiped God.

I can’t wait for the next one!!

Filed under: It's a GOD thing | 1 Comment »

I have so many different posts I want to make…but with back to school arriving soon, I’ve been spending my time getting my oldest 2 ready for school!

I do have a couple posts I want to get up this weekend…and a list of things I want to blog about, but we’ll save some of those for another day when i’m at a loss as to what to blog about!

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We leave tomorrow to go camping!  Tonight, softball and packing…tomorrow a long drive up to Michigan!

I’m sure we will have lots of fun, I’m looking forward to it, well to the trip, not the packing part.

I’ll be back on Sunday!  Don’t miss me too much! 

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I just spend part of my morning watching the interview that Larry King did with with the Chappman family.  I was encouraged by their faith and honesty.

We have a family in our own church whose 3 year old daughter was backed over by a city worker.  I’ve watched this family going through all the emotions and grief that one goes through.  It hasn’t been an easy road for the members of our church, let alone the family themselves.  I catch myself at times just watching them during worship, to see their hearts poured out…every ounce they have…praising God.  It touches my heart, you know they are giving everything they have…tears streaming down their face.  It warms my heart.  That’s true worship…with the whole heart!   It reminds me of a story in the bible…

Mark 12:41-44 (New International Version)

The Widow’s Offering

41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,worth only a fraction of a penny.

43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

It’s such a true testament of faith.  To move forward knowing that God will sustain them throughout this process.  Leaning on the Lord for strength.

Think about it.  This is something we should be doing each and every day without a tragedy, yet do we?  I know that I don’t.  I know I should, but it doesn’t mean that I do.

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I am slowing learning the blog thing.  I did finally figure out how to create a post and have it publish itself on a different day!  YEAH me!

Now if I could just keep the words flowing and find the time to write the posts, I will have broken through that invisible barrior that seems to have planted itself right in front of me!

Why is it easier for me to write posts in my head and not onto the screen?  I lay in bed at night and think “Oh, I could write about this…” then proceed to think through how the post would go.  I could write a book, my words flow so well…but you’d never know because by morning, I have forgotten the whole post!

Figures!!

Ok, I need your help!!  I am trying to figure out a “signature” line that I like the best…here are a few that I’ve made, please tell me which one you like the best, or if you think I should make something different.  I want to start being more consistent with the signature line with each post!

Rose:

Sun:

Rainbow:

Prayer:

Cross:

Coffee:

Plain Blue:

Bee:

Bible 2:

So take a look around my blog, tell me which signature line fits best.  If you think of something different (I know there are some talented ladies out there who can come up with great ideas), I can create a different one.  Also remember, if you like one above, I can change the color to match my blog (which is probably will do)

HELP!!

Annabelle…signatureless

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It’s Thankful Thursday again!

• I’m thankful for having such a great summer with my boys.
• I’m thankful for a wonderful husband who supports me even when I’m running out the door every night to do something for church or go out with friends.
• I’m thankful for family who will watch my boys at a moment’s notice, just so my husband and I can go out for a long weekend.
• I’m thankful for the friends we hung out with one night during our said weekend.
• I’m thankful for not gaining weight from said weekend even though I ate more than normal!
• I’m thankful for family I haven’t seen in a long time who visited my folks when we were picking up my boys from said weekend. It was great to see them again!
• I’m thankful for the Revelation bible study notes my sister gave me. She taught on this at her church a few years back and gave me her notes. It has opened my eyes more.
• I’m thankful for my sister’s notebook…there was more notes in there than just the Revelation bible study that I get to read/type up for myself.
• I’m thankful for my camera that I got for my birthday this past year. I love taking photos!!
• I’m thankful for my nephew who wants me to take his Senior Portraits instead of going somewhere to get them done.
• I’m thankful for the program I have to work with said photos to make them look better!
• I’m thankful for my in-laws, even if they do drive me nuts. They are my family and I’m determined to see the best in them and focus on the good…pray for the bad!
• I’m thankful for our upcoming camping trip…looking forward to it actually and excited to get to hang out with our friends again for a whole week.

To see more Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris’s blog Sting My Heart

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Oh no! I went to Starbucks tonight to meet with a friend. I went early, you know any way I can get out of the house without the children and spend some quiet time on my own, works for me!

I go to Starbucks, pull out my laptop and try to connect to the local WiFi’s around and none of them would connect, so I asked the lady behind the counter about it and she told me that, unfortunately, Starbucks requires a paid WiFi usage! It’s $3.99 for 2 hours, not bad, but I wanted FREE!

So, here I sit…debating, do I buy the prepaid card ($10) and use it or do I just write my blog entry on word and then copy it to my blog later tonight…

Doing my blog at home, I get distracted, the TV, the cat, the dog, the 4 boys, my husband…the dirt in my house that has been sitting there taking up residence in my carpet. If I do the blog here at Starbucks, I only have people I don’t know around (yes, I’m a people watcher, but I can type and watch at the same time here…something I can’t do at home…weird, I know!).

So I bet you are all dieing to find out what I did right? Well, I typed this up at Starbucks on Word and saved it because it was time for my friend to arrive and I won’t be doing much on the computer once she arrives! Too much to catch up on!

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