The Power of Kind Words . . .

Ross and I were sitting at the table late afternoon and he out of the blue said to me "I am happy with you." Ahhhh, those were nice words to receive. The kindness may have come from the fact that he was sipping on a chocolate milkshake from Jack in the Box but hey I'll take it!!! :-)

Just Gotta Love'm . . .

I have had an extremely rough week with the kids. I was so discouraged that I have spent so much time training them, teaching them, loving them, teaching them Bible truths and verses and it seems like the last few days they have learned little!! Babe sent me an email saying that God did not call us to results but faithfulness and that I needed to remain faithful to their training. I know they are tired and that they are sinners and are going to have rough times. I did make a new rule for myself this week . . . 2 nights in a row I got phone calls at the wrong time at night and the kids got put in bed late and without their bedtime routine which isn't right of me so the new rule is I don't answer the phone starting at 6:30pm so I don't get caught and don't answer until the kids are tucked in and settled. I really like it and it has created less stress. Anyway, tonight the kids were having so much fun and were so cute! They love each other so much and I am thankful for that. "Faithful is He who calleth us who also will do it."

Dear Heavenly Father . . .

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come tonight because my heart hurts so much. I long to be with the man you gave me to be my husband. I feel as if I almost can't go on. Father you know what we've been through to get me/us to the point of the deep and amazing love we have for each other. We have sought to honor you in our marriage and in the raising of our children. In the areas where we lack I pray you would help us. Brian is the love of my heart and I miss him more than ever. Father, I do pray that you would help him in his job to have wisdom and discernment in how he executes what is laid out for him but I also pray that somehow you could help us make it through this separation it seems longer than what is bearable. I want to have you push a fast forward button I'm tired and heart sick and my endurance is seeming to fail. I know fast forwarding is not an option but I also know you are "The God of all heaven and earth" and that you have all power. I ask you to please help Brian and myself and the kids to not jst make it but to live abundantly. Please help me and Brian and Gabriel and Annalina and Ross and Sprout. PLEASE hold us up.

Thank you for your many blessings and making your care so evident.

Thank you for giving me a husband that is easy to love.

Please help. In Jesus name Amen.

I fell asleep quickly and with such peace after this.

My Evening . . .

This actually happened to me a few nights ago but I want to record it. My night tonight was not far off of it as it is blogged below plus what i didn't write in there is about the toilet overflowing AGAIN, more Ross antics, ETC. Anyway these events took place December 4th.

*wiped up the Sprite Ross purposely dumped out of the glass

*cleaned up the pee from Gabriel trying to leave the toilet before he was done peeing (which is not a common problem with him)

*cleaned up Sonja's crate where she regurgitated something she had in her that shouldn't be there. It looked like cloth.

*picked up the lamp that had broken apart when Ross was gofing with it and then the lamp dropped shattering the bulb on the floor in the kitchen

*Ross split his lip open goofing around and bled which scared Annalina very much especially since . . .

*Annalina feels miserable and had a fever of over 101 degrees

*found the parts to the humidifier that Ross has decided he likes to dismantle

*did NOT get the hundred or hundreds of coins picked up that Ross somehow got out of Annalina's piggy bank. Now he can't sleep in there tonight because it is to dangerous if he put one in his mouth and i wasn't around to see it.

*I now have Ross laying next to me with his foot against me and his hand on my arm so he knows i am near as he goes to sleep. he has been a bit clingy since grandma and grandpa left and he doesn't understand why people keep leaving. Annalina told me the other day that she doesn't like dreaming that she is separated from me.

*Also, today i listened to my very sick sweet daughter say "I wish (I or we) could have Daddy all the time."

Breathe in, breath out.

"God is so good He's so good to Me."

Again, I have not been keeping up with my blogging which I don't like but I do hope to go back and fill in at least a portion. This past week has been CRAZY with 2 kids that got very sick, a van that was not working right and ended up in Reno and I paid over $700 and they didn't find the original problem, and a doctors appt up in Reno and top it off with all the antics of a 2 year old. It is truly amazing to me how everything can be going seemingly wrong and how God is so evident. I get stressed, tired, cranky and think why does there seem to be constant drama and yet on the other hand I see God's care in it all.

Today at church the pastor talked about how parents often consentrate on changing behaviour instead of changing their children heart and i thought that was a great point. I talked to the kids about it today. At dinner Annalina was having a really rough time eating which is unusual at dinner and she was really whinning. I finially told her she needed to leave the table and if she needed to go pray than to do it. She wanted to pray there where we were and as Gabriel and I continued to talk I could hear her praying. Her attitude change no more whinning and she did what I asked. I found out later on tonight why she may have been having a hard time.

Tonight at bedtime it was to late for reading devotions because I had talked to my brothers on the phone which I enjoyed doing. I decided to discuss again about what I had learned in church about changing hearts not actions and if our heart is right our actions will be (discussed that aspect of it earlier). Anyway, I talked about what each child struggled with and how we should be praying and then I named what I struggle with. Of course, when I named Ross' he parrots back what I say. Anyway, when we were done Gabriel said "What does Daddy need to work on?" I was impressed by the question because he understood that we all have areas to work on. I told him that if he asked Daddy that he would tell him and that Daddy was very sensitive to doing what God wants him too and will change if he needs to. Gabriel said something like "I do too (speaking of wanting to change if it is not right with God) I already knew this of Gabriel and said "I know Gabriel it is one of the things I appreciate about you." I felt it was a wonderful conversation no one felt beat up on because we were all sinners standing in the need of prayer! We also discussed ways that they would be helping me at the house and when i walked out of the room they came up with a plan for something for tomorrow for helping me I assume and I told them that I will look forward to seeing it tomorrow!

I read or should I say skimmed an article in Focus on the Family and it was speaking about kids Ross' age and how they need to be taught discernment and i thought that seemed like a BIG concept to teach a child that age. But Ross gets into so much and can at times reek havot. So I decided to give it a try. When he does something unwise I will say you need to pray and ask God for discernment that means to help you know if it is right or wrong and then i will ask him if what he did was right or wrong and he'll tell me wrong. Well, today he just started praying when i told him he needed to pray!!!! He needed my help through it but started it on his own. Amazing!

I put the kids to bed tonight and it just seemed to go real well after awhile GAbriel came in and said he had a bad stomach ache and a short time later I started hearing Annalina coughing and she again vomited in her bed (she did 2 nights ago too), then the toilet, and after a change of shirt and moving away from the toilet and after giving her medicine she vomited on my bed. AHHHHHHHHH! I saw that Gabriel had gotten up and started walking around and I was a bit annoid and asked him what he was doing. He quietly said he was "going to pray" ah, man what a response to the situation. He said to me "Why did she get this sick". Then sometime after praying he went and made her 2 papers one was a heart that said I love you the other was a picture of them playing legos together and he brought her a toy zebra (that is her favorite animal in the animal kingdom). After a long process of cleaning up i put them to bed again and she took the papers to bed with her. Oh, I also saw she took the ribbon necklace with a fake flower taped to it that Gabriel had made her earlier to day to bed with her too. They really love each other. Annalina is kind hearted to though at dinner there was only a small bit of brownie left and i was saving it for her and she said Ross can have half. So Ross ate half and she only got a SMALL bit.

More stories I want to remember

I had been having a lot of problems with Annalina's attitude of late and even though I knew it may be a byproduct of stress that is not an excuss.  I had talked with her and prayed with her. She seemed hesitant to want to pray about it. In fact, last Sunday we had a had a big episode with her and when I was dealing with her and it was her turn to pray she mumbled so I could hear her. I told her she needed to speak louder. She said "No, I don't need to" I was curious as to her reasoning so I asked why and she said "God can still hear me". I told her she was exactly right but that I wanted to hear her too!! Finially, I few nights ago on her own at bedtime prayer she asked God on her own to help her be good. The next morning she was cheerful, she started to get ready for school without being asked, etc. That shows character. She was trying hard to do the right thing. 

One of the times I was talking to Annalina about her attitude Gabriel was listening too and encouraging with agreeing that Annalina brings joy to others when she is happy I was also trying to explain how she could not be good on her own she needed God's help and she needed to pray for help. Gabriel broke into this excellent illustration of how Satan is like a lion and God is our Fortress if we pray and ask for help we are put into that fortress and Satan can scrap on the walls but can't get in!! Perfect illustration, he learned it at church and what a perfect time to share it!

The day after we all thought I had lost the baby and had the scare of so much bleeding. Annalina wanted to be right with me. She sat and colored and watched cartoons. She heard me talking on the phone to someone about my situation the night before . . . Annalina interupted and said "I want to pray RIGHT NOW!" I stopped my conversation and she prayed "Please keep baby Sprout alive and help me to feel good. In Jesus name Amen." Amen to that. Faith.

At breakfast a day or so ago Ross had his finger up pretending to shoot Gabriel and then say "you're dead" and Gabriel acted like he died and thought it was funny but then he turned to Annalina who did not find it as humerous! She said "I have a shield, God is my shield!" I thought that was a pretty good thought!! I am glad she thinks about her Heavenly Father that is what delights me. Shortly, after that I played some Christmas music for the kids and one of the songs talked about Heaven and Annalina in a very serious almost dreamy way said "I can't wait to go to Heaven". It took me off guard, of course, I want her to wait a long time to see heaven! but at the same time it touched me to see her faith.

Last night she made me a necklace with various things she had collected whole punched and threaded on a string it was for mommy. Grandma had shown her the word Joy beautifully typed out in a catalog and thought it would be nice for Annalina for her scrapbooking. Annalina used it on my necklace. I read the word to her and she said "I enJOY you!" What a nut she is.

Out of the mouths of Babes . . . comes cute stuff!

This morning (which is the morning after the day I got put on bedrest)t I was combing Annalina's hair. The night before Grandma had given her a bath and one thing led to another and her hair never got combed out with the comb detangler or sprayed with the detangler spray after bathtime. Which could have meant a tougher time in the morning. This is one of the least favorite parts of the morning process is combing her long hair! She hates tangles and having them combed. Anyway, when I went to comb her hair I commented to her that her hair was not bad this morning. This was interesting considering we did nothing with it the night before! Annalina said to me "did God do it?" I started laughing and said "maybe He did!!" He certainly knew it was a stressful part of the morning process and I had had plenty of stress the day before! Who knows but I thought Annalina's response was cute!!

Yesterday Gabriel came home from school and was telling me about how he learned about Veteran's Day. He had worked on a book for Veteran's Day. He told me that his teacher told the class that if anyone in their family was in the Navy that they should go home and give them a hug. Gabriel started tearing up and fighting back the tears and covered his face, embarassed that he was emotional and I heard him say "I want to hug Daddy". I told him to come to me and I put my arms around him and said "Your Daddy wants to hug you." Then in true Gabriel spirit he got a big smile on his face and said "Maybe I should give him a hug when he gets back." I told him that was a good idea. What a sweet kid.

Yesterday my mom was messing with a flower kit (Amarillis) she had purchased for the kids to watch grow. Ross walked into the kitchen and mom said something to him about it being a flower and he said "Flower? Winter?" What a smarty pants! He doesn't have a hard time putting 2 and 2 together!!!