February 22, 2018

One of the delightful perks of living up here in the GORGEOUS North Country, is winter break.

At first I thought it was silly. After living through last winter break, I love it.

Last year we called, the year of the flu. 

No joke. It was in our house for almost 3 months straight. One of the four of us would be down...occasionally all four of us.This winter, God has been very gracious and we haven't had any trouble with it whatsoever (Can I get an amen? hallelujah?)

I am not at all bragging. God knows what we need and this year we NEEDED a week of rest.

Don't get me wrong, we have been busy. Dr. appointments over an hour away, projects around the home, kids wanting to go hangout (They haven't begged and have been VERY understanding if it didn't work out so, of COURSE we get them to wherever as often as possible,) dogs running helter skelter, plumbing fun, etc. Did I mention it has been the warmest week OF THE WINTER?!

No joke! It for realz has been up to 60 degrees! I just realized that I said "no joke" twice already. 

Obviously, I need you to understnad that I have random fleeting moments of seriousness in my life.

Granted, these moments are few and far in between. Why take life too seriously?
It causes gray hairs (my hair is the perfect example.) Wrinkles, stress, heart issues, all of these are just side effects of being too serious. Therefore, I will be the one who just refuses to grow up completely. You are welcome. =)

Probably the plumbing and the dogs are my most hilarious shareable stories.

I have to get the kids' approval to share their stories. 

Teenagers are a hoot! 

That is all I will say...

Monday was President's Day and my Chief just wanted to sleep in. It was afterall his day off. I went down to get my workout on (hello Mrs. Claus! I joked with my kdg students about trying to become a jolly Mrs. Claus never suspecting 15lbs crept on!) Anyways, it smelled like #2. I checked all over to see if a puppy had an accident. I had slept in and these dudes are R.I.G.I.D. with their routines. No mess. I checked the bathrooms....a clogged toilet. Thank you teenagers....

Long story short, that wasn't the problem. The problem was a pipe from repair work done in JANUARY had never had the end cap replaced. It was open. So .... there was ..... *gag* .... yuck all over one section of the floor. My Chief cleaned that mess up ON HIS DAY OFF. 

Did I mention he is my hero?

Wednesday was my next "fun" day. 

I left the dogs out at a more normal time for them, yet still allowing me to sleep in.

Shortly after putting these well trained turkey tails in the yard that they have been TRAINED to stay in....my neighbor calls to let me know he found my 4-legged children running around his yard but they are now safely on my porch.

He said Frank was so petrified at being caught doing something he shouldn't have, he looked like he wanted to disappear.

My darling Kaden, when caught, tried to pretend he could camouflage himself by blending in with his pre-sunrise surroundings.

For the love of coffee! (I stole that from my friend L.F. - such a great line!)

What is wrong with my pups!??!?

Now they have those delightful leads and are put on them EVERY time they go outside without human supervision. Kaden acted at first like he couldn't believe HE had to receive a consequence. Lol. Silly Kaden, you may be my fave dog ever, but you will not be disobedient at the expense of what could cost you your life (running across the street/leaving the yard.) 

Frank on the other hand, believes that the lead is an abomination. This pup was by far the MOST difficult pup to train EVER in the beginning. We have done well over that past few years. Now, when he realizes that he has to also receive a consequence for leaving the yard, he stretches his neck out, puts his ears back and stands braced. He looks afraid to allow the lead to touch him. Lol. He also went about 24+ hours without going #2. 

Don't worry! We went for a walk and he feels MUCH better now.

Hope you have a fabulous day!

February 11, 2018

I want to write again.

I miss it. The feel of words flowing through my fingers to the page. As silly as this sounds, I miss laughing as I write out the stories of what actually unfolds in this family.

It is time. Please forgive the fact that I am not going to work on catching you up. That is too daunting of a task.

October 29, 2016

Heavens to Betsy!

Abigail's birthday is this coming week. How did we get to 11 years old already?!

Time always flies by. Can I tell you something? I always thought it was a little odd and slightly silly that people had to have a blog planner in order to figure out what to write about. Seriously, just sit and type. 

Now that I am at this phase of life, I can totally identify with those people who need to have planners in order to figure out what to write. It isn't that there are a shortage of ideas. The struggle is that there is such a surplus of ideas, where do you start? For example, we have begun the hormonee phase of life. (purposeful misspelling.) That phase of life alone initiates about a million different types of stories. Some of them had me tearing my heart out. Others had me laughing so hard my stomach hurt. Speaking of laughing, did you know that it is possible to echo inside of a Chevy Suburban?

It is.

This weekend is such a perfect example of our lives. I forgot that Kyle was going to a friends house. So, of course, to give him a kudos and show some love, I rented 2 movies that he would like. Then I remembered, he wasn't going to be here. I planned on going to the grocery store Friday, only to remember I had to run back to Clayton pretty quick because of my dentist appointment. My dentist was running behind and I had to be home before the kids because some friends were getting off the bus at our house. We rescheduled. However, due to the busy-ness of life, I had to reschedule during work hours. I left the dentist, rushed through the grocery and made it home just as the kids hopped off the bus. We went in only to discover that we now have a yellow jacket nest in our house. Yay! ...I hate anything with stingers. We killed close to 50, the pest guy helped locate where they were coming in and Stephen plugged up the entry point. So far, we've only had one human get stung. Poor Abigail woke to one tangled in her hair. She tried to help it get out (direct quote from her) and the thing stung her. Abigail was indignant that when she tried to help the yellow jacket, it stung her!

Anyways, so 3 kids, I threw a snack at them and I drove them to the trunk or treat my neighbor was taking them to. Once back home, Stephen and I went on a date. It was perfect. Perfect I tell you. We had an appetizer (loaded nachos! So delicious!) We sipped our drinks. Then decided dinner was in order. Of course, my husband has 2 true edible loves: pizza and ice cream. We, obviously, ordered a pizza. After we got home, the neighbor came back and we all visited, they went home and we fell asleep on the couch.

Kyle?

Did I forget him? No. He found out I had rented movies and now wanted to come home from a friend's house WItH his friend so they could watch the movie. He told me I could pick him up at 6pm. Uhm, no. I am going on a date with my husband. I left the 3 kids from earlier in this post at 5:30pm with a 45 minute drive home BEFORE I went on my date. Poor Kyle finally gave up and decided they were having too much fun to come to our house anyways. 

Any wonders about why I get so overwhelmed with ideas that I don't write often?

All of that to say, I am going to start writing ideas down in a specific section of my planner so that I can choose calmly what I want to write about. =)

Love you! 

Praying for you!

April 21

I still haven't figured out yet why the website won't allow me to add pictures.

Of course, in order to figure it out, you have to actually sit down and fiddle around with the website. What a novel idea ;-)

Today I took the last of my tests to try for my NY teacher certification. 

Anxiety seems to be a dominant thing for me lately.

Test anxiety

Anxiety about if I don't make it

if I DO make it

if I don't find a teaching position

if I DO find a teaching position

if I am required to get my masters

UGH!

So, sounds like fun, right?

Well, God has been working on me a lot lately.

Such an uncomfortable process.

Can I get an Amen?

Well, it has all been good.

Painful, but isn't all growth painful? My aunt helps grow butterflies. As in she plants the milkweed and sets up a protective net as soon as the chrysalis is formed. Once the butterflies emerge, she unzips the net and allows them to fly free. It is a beautiful and wondrous event to witness.

Long have I been told that our lives are similar to the butterfly's. 

I now believe it. I feel as if I am in that chrysalis becoming goop (very technical term) so that one day, He might use me for His glory. Oh, how I wish that day were now! I seriously feel as if all I am doing is blundering from one mistake to another.

That is the real reason I have not been writing. My eyes were so blinded to my own foolishness that all I did was point at everyone else. God is so good though. So very patient with this stubborn, strong willed, hard headed child. No, everyone else is not perfect. However, how can God get to them and help them if I am constantly standing up and hollering and causing such a ruckus that everyone else cannot hear His still, small voice?

Two people have been extremely instrumental in my rather obvious epiphany. They may not know it, but they have been. They will deny it, but it is true. Some days I call twice a day, sometimes every day, sometimes every other day. I am sure that at times they just shudder and think, "PLEASSE just drink some tea!" (because they are CONSTANTLY riding me to stop drinking coffee - devil water they call it. ;-)

Instead of soothing me and saying, "Poor Elizabeth, your life is so terrible." 

They said something more along the lines of, "Dear Elizabeth, our God is so much greater than your anxiety, your pain, your bitterness, your (fill in the blank.)"

Of course, they are right.

They are always right.

*shudder*

Those words are like vinegar in a child's mouth, just in case you wanted to know.

What have I changed?

I have changed my routines. God has dropped some amazing things into my life and I am attempting to make the most of each thing.

1. First5 app

No, I am not gaining anything by telling you about it. However, if you have an android or an iphone, I highly recommend downloading this free devotional app. It has been a huge blessing and opened my eyes to so many connections within Scripture. It is wonderful!

2. Discipleship study

This one is tough. Very tough. It has caused me to squirm and attempt to get out of the nitty gritty questions that are posed. God has been using it to help me grow. Between these two studies, I have to spend time in the Word 2x/day. It is FABULOUS!

3. Fitness

I am attempting to become more consistent. Through much trial and error, I have discovered the magic formula for what my body requires. It is tough. But!!!!! the First5 app opened my eyes to how God sees my body - His temple. 

Granted, He is not only interested in me, He is interested in all of His children! I just have to be a good witness for Him and take care of what He has blessed me with.

4. My perspective.

Perspective is everything. It is literally ridiculous how much perspective changes everything. There are many things that are being adjusted in reference to my perspective. One day I hope to share them. However, today is not that day.

I will try to share more as I can. But it is just so wonderful to see how faithful God is through all of this. God has provided an AMAZING support network for all of us up here. WE have a wonderful church. We all have extremely great occupations (jobs and schools - kids and adults) We have the sweetest neighbors! AH! So many great things going on with our neighbors!!! I will have to write about that another time. God has also blessed me with some WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, MAGNIFICENT, SWEET and INCREDIBLE friends to help me through my fitness/nutrition/life. LOVE those sisters SO much! More on that later as well. Love you all! Keep it real!

Nov. 26 - I just found this again...oops! April 17

As I sit here, in my kitchen, smelling pumpkin pie baking, thinking about last year at this time and looking to what God has for us in the future - I am in awe.

This time last year, Stephen had been home for almost 12 hrs.

We were living in the tiny town of Vidalia, LA.

I was teaching 1st grade, Kyle was in 6th and Abigail in 3rd.

We were anxiously awaiting our orders. Secretly, I was praying for orders anywhere as far south as TN & as far north as NY. We all know how that ended up. =)

We found out where we were moving and I immediately began praying for the teachers, schools, job, home, neighbors, church and community that God was going to send us to.

Again - absolutely in awe.

God orchestrated Stephen & me dealing with moving while the children were in AR. He protected them from the frustration of delays. We came just in time to meet some extremely sweet souls and begin relationships. God had us drive past a church in town and have it catch Stephen's eye.

I cried through the first two services. 

I am extremely thankful for all of the people God has blessed us with since we have become involved at the church. We have enjoyed fellowship, worship, Bible study and more with these people. God has also allowed me the added blessing of a women's Bible Study - HELD AT NIGHT! 

What?!?!?

Yes!

Granted, I was more excited for the fellowship possibilities than the actual study - but that's neither here nor there. After all, who wants to study Deuteronmy???

Not me! 

Been there.

Done that.

NO desire to go back...

God has sent me back to Deuteronomy. Just 2 weeks in and my eyes have been opened to how much this book is exactly where I need to be. Some of you know that I got a bit worn down. My personality is, as someone so eloquently put it, more of the "Sunshine, rainbows, fairies and unicorns." ;-) I just like the sunny side of life. My parents did an AMAZING job teaching us to always see the cup as half full. "Attitude equals altitude." (just for you, Dad!) But - when you are tired, all you see is another cup to wash. I stopped seeing the positive and strove to simply survive until I got to bed. Nope, not sick. Nope, not in financial bind. Nope, not alone. That Devil is a tricky one. He snuck in and started whispering. Slowly but surely my Bible time disappeared. 

Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Uhm, Elizabeth!

"I am the vine you are the branches,...remain in Me, as I also remain in you....IF you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much frout; apart from Me you can do NOTHING." 

(John 15)

Uh, yeah, duh! Read your Bible! Pray! Remember who God is!

Well, I still knew who He was. But I made a mistake.

So this Bible study, our key verse is, "And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in and give us the land that He swore to give to our fathers." Deut. 6:23

I have no claim to the land, but I can claim that if God brought me out of a place, He will bring me in to His blessing as long as I stay focused on Him.

4/17/16

Yep, 11:54pm and I am sitting on my TV room floor with an adorable 97.8lb puppy snuggled up beside me. Work ended about an hour ago. It was a pretty good shift.

Granted, there are things I need to do - but, meh - who wants to be responsible all of the time?

NOT ME!

I did start the washing machine some darling somehow managed to put on hold so that it wouldn't auto start and be done washing those loverly towels by the time I got home.

After that? Well, I snuggled the most handsomest man on this planet. =)  About the time I started to doze off, I got up. 

Can you believe the kids are already 10  & 13? 

I certainly can't I was looking at pictures from when we first got married. The kids looked SO tiny!

FYI, Price Chopper has a DElicious crunchy veggie salad. I could literally eat a whole half pound container by myself.

And I just did =D

Ugh, fine, I will go be responsible.

Clean the bathroom

2 loads of laundry

Grocery list

Coupons prepped

Contacts, brush teeth and wash my face.

See you later gators

Oct. 12

Is it true? How on earth can that be possible?!

October?!

Uh, yeah, what did you expect I was going on about? ;-)

I am one of those crazies who absolutely goes bananas for cool weather. I cannot tell you how painful it was to be without the gorgeous colors of fall, the brisk breeze that awakens all of your senses, the sun waiting to wake its sleepy head just a bit later and return to its bed a bit earlier, the promise of winter just around the corner.

Are you shaking your head at me?

I am sure you are, but you've no idea how much this gets me excited. Take your love of chocolate, ladies, multiply times infinity and you have a FRACTION of my love of all things fall & winter. Men, take your love of fishing, sports, hunting, etc. also multiply times in infinity and you have a TEENSY fraction of my love. It is inexplicable. The pops of orange, yellow and red amidst the green of pine trees gets me so excited I just can't help but gasp, or squeal, or burst out with, "OH MY GOODNESS!!!!"

Granted, this is not always appreciated by certain peoples, my husband whilst driving for example. I am pretty sure if I wasn't a woman he'd pop me. Bless his heart he has swerved quite badly while driving because I get so overwhelmed with the beauty.

It's a good thing he loves me! I will try to take more pictures, but honestly, I tend to completely forget my camera is in my hands while we drive. The brilliant colors capture me so completely I forget to take the picture until after we have already passed that particular tree.

....

Ok, so I have tried multiple times to attach a picture so you can get a GLIMPSE of how beautiful just ONE tree is, however, the site isn't allowing  me to upload it. SO...I will be diligent to take more pictures, upload to FaceBook and tie the link into a blogpost for you.

You are welcome!

Ok, now, some of you know I went on adventure this weekend. Those of you that didn't, you do now! Haha! I just crack me up sometimes! My neighbor is huge into horses and owns three beautiful horses. She (we will call her A - no it isn't Abigail) shows her horses in western shows - aka reining, cutting, etc. SO MUCH FUN! Well, A had a show on Saturday that she was going to do a demonstration at. I was very graciously invited to ride along.  We borrowed a few of her bf's dairy cows to make sure we had cows that didn't have horns.

Seriously, imagine how awful it would be to have a cow with horns that you are driving down a fence line. All of the sudden that stinker whips around and hooks your saddle girth with his horn or even your stirrup and gives a good YANK! YIKES!

So, 4 cows, 1 horse, an adorable puppy (hers - not mine) and off we went! We were 2 hrs into our 3 hr drive when said puppy needed to tinkle. At the next rest stop we grabbed some lunch, let the pup out, checked out the animals in the trailer and struggled to pick our jaws up off the ground.
One of our two back tires on the driver side (this is important) was flat...like dry rotted and flat. Thankfully, A was level headed and wheeled us around to the air pump that was at the rest stop. She filled the tire and was assured that we would be fine to drive CAUTIOUSLY for the next hour when we would reach the rodeo and find a way to acquire a new tire.

Read that again...acquire a new tire....I just love things like that! I know there is a technical term for that...if you want to leave the technical title of that kind of grammatic via FaceBook or comments below, I'd be grateful!

Ok, so, back to the story...A put some air in but the stinking thingie (another technical alludes me - more coffee? YES!) On a small side note (yes, another one) I LOVE vanilla chai protein shake mix with coffee - so delicious! Ok, so the lovely STEM retracted inside of the tire while we were airing it up. We were told we would be fine - so we continued. In defense of the poor soul who advised us, they did not realize the tire was so ready to be buried. Can you guess where this is going? Yes? Well, I bet there are parts of this story you won't expect!

For example, Stephen (my Hero) had graciously offered to keep Kyle and Abigail after a church lock in so I could go on this trip. (getting a picture??? Lol!) Both claimed they weren't tired. One burst into tears when said child realized that sleep was mandated and not the rodeo. Add to this, before the children were picked up at 8am and before I left at that same time, our dryer kicked the bucket. Our washer was 99% in the grave also. So guess who had two sleepy, but not at all sleepy, children and got to drive 30minutes one way to go pick out a new washer and dryer????
(Did I mention this man spoils me??? He always buys me the BEST of the best and nothing less. I don't deserve his generosity!!!!)

We could HEAR the air slowly leaking out, but had no choice other than to continue our trip. Shortly after getting on the interstate, our 3 lane highway goes down into 2 lanes. We are hauling 4 heifers, 1 prego mare, driving a large quad cab ram and hauling those animals in a huge trailer. A semi was in front of us and we needed to get around it. The poor soul was going about 10-15 under the speed limit. We moved to the center lane to go around. One care passes us on our left. The semi is now on our right and we are about halfway passed him. POP! That little tire blew out. The 3rd lane is ending, a well-meaning couple comes up on our LEFT side!!!! They were frantically motioning and letting us know about the flat tire. The frantic motioning switched to frantic cursing once they realized they were about to collide with divider poles followed by a concrete divider.

Remember the semi?
On our right?
Yes, we tried to hug him, give room for the car to finish their ridiculous idea to pass/warn us and hit the brakes without locking up the trailer and injuring our passengers in there. Needless to say, I was screaming, A was cool as a cucumber, the car was full of terrible language and I glanced at my mirror. All I could see was the cab of the semi as the driver graciously displayed his sentiments through various motions.

No one died. No one got in an accident. Holy CROW!

Our story continues... Yes, there truly is more! Can you believe it???

We found the closest place and ended up at a Sam's Club.

Your average horse weighs about 1.200lbs. Your average dairy cow I THINK is about half that. So, we have four dairy cows (roughly 2,400 lbs) and one horse (1,200 lbs) in this trailer with PLENTY of room to spare. Sam's has this rule for safety sake that they are not supposed to do ANY work on ANY vehicle unless that vehicle is INSIDE the garage. Dairy cows are not very compliant when stressed (who is?) and we had FOUR. There was no way we could get them out and the horse and not lose them. We didn't have enough lead ropes or places to tie them.

Long story shorted up a tad - Sam's replaced the stem that blew off, changed our tire and EVERYTHING without giving us any flack.

I think they felt bad for us  - we were mildly shook up!

We finally arrived at our destination. The rodeo was over, BUT I did get some fabulous pictures! The link below is to those pictures. A did a great job of introducing a basic reining pattern, demonstrating how to box a cow and then drive it down the fence. She even got to experience my Hanger! (hunger induced anger) for some reason, she didn't leave me on the roadside, for which I am eternally grateful.

Anyhoot, fun times! Enjoy these pictures because I had a BLAST taking them!!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100165930083196.1073741846.161503164&type=1&l=cd49f73055