What if...

Once upon a time, I was a voracious reader. High school, college. I didn't read text books, sometimes didn't even buy them...but popular fiction, ahhh, that I could read. I remember snuggling up in my big chair with a John Grisham novel and finishing it in one sitting, into the wee morning hours. Then I had kids. For the life of me, I can not finish a book anymore. I can start one, oh, I can give it the ol' college try....but I can't seem to finish to save my life.

All that to say, I started yet another new book a few days ago. It's called The Prayer That Changes Everything ~ The Hidden Power of Praising God, by Stormie Omartian. I have several of her books on my shelf, but again, have struggled to finish any of them. But what I find is that even the few chapters I make it through provide pieces to the puzzle, connect the dots for something God is doing in my life, so I keep reading for a season and then for whatever reason, stop reading for a season. This book and accompanying prayer journal were given to me by my mom as we headed out the door from Florida on our last visit. We always make a catch-all bag as we leave (this time it was a box) ...for the toothbrush that was left in the bathroom, the hair barrette on the nightstand, the shoe pushed under the sofa, the DVD left in the player...all those little things that don't make it into the suitcases...and this book made it into my catch all box. I'm a little ashamed to admit that for almost 2 months, that box has been sitting in my dining room, untouched. Until Tuesday morning, when for no explainable reason other than the compelling of the Spirit, I suddenly thought of the book, rummaged through the box, and started reading. Again, I think different things are meaningful for different seasons, and for this season, this book is really connecting some dots for me. And I'm being intentional about applying it to my life...and I'm seeing results.

Yesterday's reading brought me to this list that I just had to share. It's simple, we've probably all heard something similar before, but it spoke volumes to me (especially #9) so I wanted to share...

Ten Things God Never Says:

1. Oops!
2. What have I done?
3. How did I let that happen?
4. I made a mistake.
5. It was an accident.
6. I don't know what to do.
7. I'm afraid of what will happen now.
8. I can do better than this.
9. What do you think I should do?
10. Why didn't I think of that.

When Lily stepped outside to let the dog out this morning, she said, Oooohhhh, it's cold out here.
It's 65° outside.

Luke wore a hoodie to the store late yesterday, said it was "cool" outside.
It was about 76°.

You can take a kid out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the kid!

And speaking of Florida kids...one of our very favorites has a birthday today, Happy 15th Cody! Wish we were there to celebrate with you, we miss you so much! Look for a card in the mail sometime next month, I just can't get my act together in the card mailing department :)

It's 11:15 pm...playing a little Webkinz, watching some Olympic swimming...with Lily here beside me. She's having trouble sleeping and said, I just don't know what's wrong with my body. It won't let me sleep.

Hmmm. Maybe that's the Mountain Dew talking.

Before my name hits the "Bad Mother" ballot, let me say that Mountain Dew at dinner and late nights playing games on the computer are not the norm around here (at least not for the kids!). But before ya know it, summer will be over, the alarm will be set for a quarter past way-too-early, and Lily and I won't have the luxury of hanging out on the sofa watching some late night TV.

She just found an episode of "Family Matters" (think Steve Urkel) on Nick at Nite and said, I think this is a new one. Funny.

The laundry is swishing and swooshing in the background...

The dishwasher is unloaded, reloaded and the sink is empty...

The smell of Pine-Sol is in the air, the sticky tea spill a distant memory...

The coffee is in the pot, ready to pour...

The blog has a new post...

and it's not even 9am!

If I can keep this pace, I may have the hardwoods waxed, broken toilet fixed, rose bushes trimmed, school shopping finished, toenails painted, emails returned and dinner cooked before 10am!

Happy Monday everyone.

My mother, and most avid "What if" reader, was having trouble reading my posts since I'd changed the format. I think the faux-textured background and smaller font were the culprits. Her last words to me on the subject were, "Don't change it just for me," but I'm pretty sure my mama cares more about what I have to say than most, so why not change it for her? I played around with the template a little to get the posts off the textured background...and I upped the size of the font, since, in her own words, she's blind as a bat.

Happy reading, Mama.

So I expected my little angry post to be a form of therapy for me, you know, get it off my chest. And it worked, just venting about my feelings helped me work through them. Thanks for listening.

Now what I didn't expect is to get so many friends up in arms. From texts that included censored words (like so: *#$! ), to suggestions of looking the guy's address up and going to his house(seriously!?), my female friends have rallied for my cause (i.e. my husband's honor) in an unexpected way. Mild-mannered mommies turn angry mob. What are we gonna do...give him one heck of a time out?

Thanks gals. But simmer down now!

Okay. Can I live in the flesh for just a minute? I need to vent. I will indeed repent a little later, and I'll mean it, really. But not just yet.

Someone said something rude about my husband. And I am fightin' mad. I don't really even know the guy. But I have met him and I do remember what he looks like so he better hope our paths don't cross, 'cause I'm mean. Just ask my kids.

Honestly, it wasn't a horrible comment, not really even an attack on him as a person. Just an unwarranted, ignorant, rooted in this dude's own insecurity kind of comment. But it makes me so mad because it's David. My David. Do you know my David? He isn't ever rude to others, nor does he critique others based on his own insecurities, so being the recipient of such is unjust. I can be a little catty at times. I've been known to rub people the wrong way. There are certainly aspects of my personality that I don't even like, so I can only imagine others feel the same. But David is, well, he's David. He's not perfect, but he's Pretty.Darn.Great. And I take offense to him being offended.

There you have it. My 3 minute rant. Read it quickly because chances are when David reads this post he'll request I remove it, which I will submissively do. I may even remove it myself when I've cooled down. But in the mean time, I'm a little perturbed and this is my platform. Sorry. Check back later for silliness and sunshine :)

And if I could have this guy's audience for just a minute, I'd say: Shame on you, (insert name here...and not his name, but an ugly name...maybe even a wash-my-mouth-out-with-soap name)...you're not worthy to even speak David's name, much less do so in a derogatory way. And watch your back. I may have to forgive you and move on, but David is where he is and got what he got because of the Lord's favor, and I wouldn't want to be the one running my mouth about that. I'm just sayin'...that's dangerous territory. Locusts and frogs, fella. Locusts and frogs.

Today I attended a baby shower for the sweet Joye girls, who will be home before Ferris and Wade can say "We need a nap!" It was fun to watch Ferris open each cute onesie, footie-sleeper, blankie and bootie...not once but twice! But Ferris wasn't the only one receiving a gift today...I came home to a clean house! Wow! Remember that Trashed post from early in the week? Well, the week flew by and many of the messes never seemed to disappear. With the kids at home all day, it's hard enough to keep up with the new messes much less tackle the existing ones. It seemed like we could only move the piles to new locations. I planned to tackle the biggest disaster, our bedroom (which becomes the catch-all), this afternoon...but I came home from the baby shower to an already CLEAN house! I felt like I was being showered with gifts...gifts of shoes in shoe baskets, clothes in hampers, dishes unloaded, and a neat and tidy bedroom. Wow, what a gift! Thanks David!

There it was on my cell phone this morning, in black and white: AUG 1

Really? Is it August already? I was well aware that July was flying by, but still, AUG 1 really took me by surprise. This is the month Lily goes to first grade. This is the month Luke starts kindergarten. This is the month I have two school age children and no more babies at home. This is the month the alarm goes back to a 6 a.m. wake up. This is the month bedtime goes back to 7:30 p.m. giving David and the kids a grand total of ONE HOUR together each day. This is the month that "hurry up!" and "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" become the morning melody.
Big sigh.

Any chance I could start a petition for August to be on hold for a few weeks?

Anyone?

Bummer.