God's beauty

This is the most beautiful flower in the world! Well, at least that is my opinion! It is a certain type of peony... not sure which type, so if you do, please let me know. It is planted on the side of our house and is struggling to stay alive. You see, it is being pushed out by the ugliest Yucca plant. Every year I say I am going to dig the Yucca up and hope that the Peony will thrive more. Maybe this year I will actually do it. I had a friend who dug up her yucca and she said it was impossible to get it all and that it came back the following year better than ever. If you have any ideas on how to get rid of one, leave me a comment!

Memorial Day Weekend

I had the best Memorial day weekend! It started with a ball game for Curt on Saturday then Bill and I headed to Wal-mart to purchase flowers to plant around the yard and toys for summer time fun (basically some squirt guns and waterballoons). We also picked up some yummy food for cooking out.. the weather was perfect!

My niece Kristen and her boyfriend come over on Sunday and we had the best visit. She just graduated from Kent State and it was nice to catch up with what is going on in her life! We got out our HUGE water slide and the Sims water park was open! The kids had a ball! We ended the day with SMORES of course! Bill has this little fire pit he created in our back yard that is perfect for gathering the kids around and roasting those marshmallows. The kids were out til 9pm playing tag and making a ruckus! Just what Summer is all about!

Then on Monday I swore not to step foot in my van! I was not going anywhere! I spend all week taxiing everyone around and I needed a day off! We got the little girls bunkbeds set up in their room (which meant a lot of cleaning!), it was nice to cross that big job off my list! Then we spent the afternoon with my kids and Alex and her friends having a waterballoon fight! It was a lot of fun! Just what memorial day weekends should be like!

Happy 13th Birthday Curtis

One day you turn around and your baby is all grown up... well sort of!

Still likes to goof around!

He is losing that boy look and turning into a young man. He is now 5'6" - almost as tall as me! (Alex still has an inch on him!)

This was last nights baseball game. He started pitching this season and is doing quite well. He struck out all 3 batters! Then he ended up sliding into home and scoring the winning run for his team!

Spring has Sprung!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I posted last. Wow time really does fly by! I am actually having mega computer problems. So here is what has been happening in the glorious days of May. (spring is my favorite time - love it when God's beautiful creation comes alive!)

My precious baby, Maria. Her curls really start to SPRING when it gets hot!

Olivia at swim lessons. She improved so much! She actually dove off the diving board and swam to the edge all by herself! She even learned how to do free style and breath to the side. Maybe I will have a swimmer after all to follow in my footsteps.

Of course there were the horse shows. The last 3 pics were taken at the All American Youth Horse show at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. Alex showed in 4 classes in the very large coliseum. It was quite the experience for her and I was very proud of the way she road and jumped! Didn't place but still did well considering she has only ridden BUBBA for 4 months and was competing in the 14-18 age group!

This was taken at a fun show in Lancaster. Alex took home a few first places and had a lot of fun with all the girls at the barn!

This is typical of Mercedes. She loves to lay her head down on you. She is always coming up and placing her chin on my leg wanting affection. This time however, she was just resting on top of Olivia. I think they stayed like this for at least a half an hour!

The cutest bubble bee and butterfly ever! Maria, Olivia and Anna were in a play at church, called Noah Fluedde. All the kids at church were animals and the costumes were great. Anna was a horse of course! They did not have big parts in the play (adults played all the people) but the show was done exceptionally well and my girls had fun being a part of it!



I know no pictures of Curt. Well, it is baseball season so I will post some soon. Curt is doing great on his Indians rec. team. Bill is coaching Anna's softball team (quite the challenge since most have never played ball before). Both Curt and Anna pitch so it keeps me stressed! Olivia is playing Tball for the first time, that is always entertaining! She loves it though! Of course Alex spends 5 out of 7 days at the barn. So you can imagine what I do most of my days... drive kids around and watch them do all their activities. One day they will all be gone and I have no idea what we will do with all that spare time... except do it all over again with the grandkids!

Train up a child II....

Ok, I have about had it will blogger.com!!!! I think it is time to switch to a new site! It posted my devotion without the devo!

I will try to post the devotion about training up a child again! The verse from Proverbs 22:6 (below) is one of my favorites, especially since I home school my 5 beautiful children! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! If you like this type of daily devotions sign up for it at Girlfriends in God !!

May 3-4, 2009
Being a Mom that Matters
Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
Proverbs 22:6 "Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change" (NCV).

Friend To Friend

So much of who we are as women is rooted in the parent/child relationship. I believe that my role as a mother will greatly affect the kind of woman my daughter will become. I also believe that moms are the primary teachers in a child's life. Here are a few familiar and humorous truths taught by mothers:

Cleanliness: "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning!"

Religion: "You had better pray that will come out of the carpet."

Logic: "Because I said so, that's why."

Planning: "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

The circle of life: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

Seriously, we live in a world that many times denies the importance of being a mom. I don't come to you as an expert. I simply want to be a successful mom. Well, actually, my credentials are impressive. I am the mother of two beautiful, brilliant children. We adopted our son, Jered, and our daughter, Danna, when they were only days old so I had nothing to do with their beauty or brilliance, but I do want to be the mom they need and deserve. The good news is that God wants the same thing. Being a parent is a holy calling from God and God never calls us to do a job without providing the power and the plan to do that job successfully. How can we be the moms that really matter?

Be a mom who loves God.

1 John 4:19 "We love, because God first loved us" (NCV).

We are incapable of loving our children like they were meant to be loved until we first love God! Motherhood at its best demands a thriving partnership with God! We cannot give unconditional love until we have experienced unconditional love! And God is the only source of that kind of love! We can do everything else right as a parent but if we don't begin with loving God - we will fail!

Be a mom who prays continually.

I Thessalonians 5:17 should every mother's commitment to her children. "Never stop praying" (ICB). It is never too late to start praying and it is always too early to stop.

• Pray for God's plan -- not yours -- when praying for your children.
• Pray that you will see your child like God sees your child.
• Pray specifically for your child. For example, I often pray Proverbs 3:5-6 for our son, "Lord, I pray that Jered would trust in you with all his heart and will lean not unto his own understanding. I pray that in all his ways Jered will acknowledge you and that you will direct his paths." And for our daughter, I pray 1 Peter 5:7, "Lord, I pray that Danna would cast all her care upon you, because you care for her."

Prayer is an eternal gift we can give to our children, teaching them the importance of prayer and teaching them how to pray. I recently heard the story of a mother who had invited several people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," she answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

We began early to pray with our kids at bedtime. One night, out of the blue, our son, Jered, began to pray that his grandfather and his uncle would stop smoking. Since both had smoked for many years and neither was trying to quit, I didn't expect much. But our son did. Within the next year, both men suddenly quit smoking. I was totally amazed, but Jered acted like it was no big deal. When I questioned his response, he simply said, "Mom, you told me God answers prayer." I am convinced that if we pray for our children and with our children, it will change their lives and ours and give us insight that we can gain no other way.

Be a mom who gives time.

Proverbs 22:6 "Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change" (NCV).

It takes time to be a mom, to know and to train your children. Every child comes with a set of characteristics already established by God. Our job is to identify those characteristics and then steer the child toward them. The original root word for "train" is the term for "the palate, the roof of the mouth, the gums". In the days of Solomon, a midwife would deliver the baby, dip her finger into the juice of crushed dates, reach into the mouth of the baby and massage the gums and palate to create a sense of taste and thirst. She would then give the child to the mother so the baby could nurse. Our job as mothers is to develop a thirst in our children for the right things. And that takes time.

There is a popular philosophy today that it doesn't matter the quantity of time that we spend with our kids as long as it is quality time. It does matter! Can a woman have it all - a home, a family, a career? I think she can. I'm just not sure she can have them all at the same time. There are seasons of life to which we must yield in order to be the mother God wants us to be. Time spent with children is never wasted! Every minute invested in your child is an eternal investment! Give your children the best of your time -- not the leftovers.

· Make weekly dates with your kids.

· Pull them out of school occasionally for a fun day.

· Have a meal together every day.

· Be involved in the things they enjoy.

In other words, be available! And just your physical presence is not enough. Our normal bedtime routine was to spend a few minutes with each child, talking about the day, praying together and then I would tuck them in for the night. When our daughter, Danna, was six-years-old, Dan was out of town and I was behind in studying for an upcoming retreat. I went in to Jered's room, completed the bedtime routine and he was asleep in minutes. However, when I went into Danna's room, and tried to speed things up, Danna refused to talk. When I asked her why, she cried out, "Mama, you're not here!" Confused and a little irritated, I responded, "Yes, I am! I am right here!" Her big brown eyes filled with tears as she drove the truth home, "But you're not really here on the inside." Be a mom who gives your children time.

Being a mom is the hardest job on earth and can bring out the best and the worst in you. I know being a mom requires great sacrifice and limitless energy, but to invest your time and best efforts into a child, to watch that child grow and develop, is to be part of the creative majesty of life itself. We're half the way there! Tomorrow, we will explore four more ways to be a mom that matters.

Let's Pray
Lord, thank You for giving me children. Help me to be the mom they deserve. I commit to constantly pray for each child and invest the best part of my time and life in them. Forgive me for allowing lesser things to take the place of my role as a mother and guide me to be a mom that really matters.

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Are you growing in your life as a Christian? How?

Evaluate your schedule in light of the truth that the best part of your time goes to being a mom.
What changes do you need to make in your schedule?

What do you need to give up so you can spend more time with your children?

What specific needs are you praying for your children? Make a list and pray through that list daily.

Train up a child...

This was my devotion from Girlfriends in God today. It really inspired me to be a better mom, who prays continually for her children and shows them God's love everyday! I hope you enjoy it too!