Show us your life-Things you love/make you happy

There are alot of things that I love or make me happy. I will try not to ramble and save you all the pain of me listing them all...

My husband and children: they bring me the most joy in this whole world

A good worship song on the radio

Cooper's sweet feet in my lap

No laundry in the hamper

Peach sweet tea;)

A perfect sundress that doesn't show my arms

Watching Jesse do gymnastics her smile is priceless

Duece singing in the back of the van when he thinks nobody is listening

A spotless kitchen floor

Uninterrupted sewing time

When Michael let's me lay with my head in this lap and he rubs my eyebrow (you have to REALLY know us to even begin to understand;) )

Sitting under and umbrella at the beach reading a book while listening to the kids splash in the waves

My church

My friends and their children

My niece and nephew

Painted toenails

Earrings

Great flip-flops

Volunteer work

Hugging my children

Reading a bedtime story

Helping others

Sharing God's word and the work he has done for me

Fresh flowers in my kitchen

Front porch on a spring night

I think I could go on forever but as the song says "These are a few of my favorite thing!"

Proverbs 31

Back in December when I was making resolutions I mentioned my desire to study and try to be more like the Proverbs 31 Woman. Well I bought a "study" book on the subject and of course I have read that chapter in my Bible a MILLION times. But I have not been taking the steps to be more like her. Even though I know part of my High calling is to be more like her! So God who is not so suttle has been letting me "run" into this topic over and over. So now it is a lot like convection convection! A blog I read is doing a study on this chapter of the Bible on Wednesdays and I have only been following it for a couple of weeks but yesterdays "topic" knocked me back in my seat. In verse 28 they say " Her children rise up can call her blessed" ( my paraphrase) and as I read on and on I realized just how I had missed the mark. I have become so consumed "working" on PTO, teaching children's Bible study, working to help staff our church nursery...That I haven't been doing my part to build disciples in my own home! I am going to start Monday I am going back and printing all her previous talks on this subject and tucking them in my book and going to start studding and trying to be more like the woman spoke of in Proverbs. As mothers God has given us one of the highest callings if you ask me...to raise spirit filled disciples for Christ. And while I realize that not all my readers might feel the same way this is what I truly believe is one of my many jobs as their mother.

Side note when I started this blog I never intended for it to be a religious forum I was really using it to almost scrapbook or journal our lives. But I feel strongly about this topic and also know that should someone stumble on this blog this something I feel led to share. No not all my topics are religious so please visit again! I am also not promising that I wont touch this or other subjects like this I know part of God's calling on my personal life is ministry and sharing is love joy and promise to each of us.

Hey Mom Look What I Made

I so wish I could share pictures of the sweet gifts my wonderful older children made me at school. But as you know if you have been reading my blog for anytime my camera and computer do not have compatible software...But I digress. I received some of the most wonderful handmade gifts from my children.


Jesse my 9 year old 3rd grader who's year making gifts for me at school are numbered....Made me two sweet poems one of which she said " My mom looks funny when she cooks" and she also made me a cute little paper tea cup with a poem on it and a lovely smelling tea bag inside of it. I still cry every single time I open one of this most wonderful gifts.

Duece my 6 year old has many a year ahead of him making me gifts at school but this year his teacher was extra crafty and he was SO proud of this gift. They used white 4x4 tiles and decorated them with a flower made out of their finger prints then the finishing touch was his name wrote in his handwriting on the top. Oh I almost forgot he wrapped it...Not sure whose idea it was to use packing tape though! It was wonderful and it to made me cry.

I love these gifts more than any other gift that could ever be bought for me. These handmade gems mean the world to me and I will cherish them forever. I can't wait until the day Cooper brings gifts in with that sweet smile on his face.

Show us your life-Baby Names

Jesse Nichole Grace ~ Michael Kelly Duece ~ James Cooper

Today I am linking up with a blog I read daily (kellyskorner). I really enjoy her blog and don't always link up on "Show us your life Fridays" but I REALLY like today topic. BABY NAMES I thought I would share how we came up with our children's names.

When we found out we were having our first child we were so young and lost we were willing to take other peoples advice on this subject...My mom STRONGLY recommend we name our first born after her grandfather Jesse Paul. My mom was really close to this grandfather even though he died before I was even born I knew he was a huge part of my moms life. So we decided boy or girl it would be Jesse. My mom also picked out our middle name once we knew it was a girl...I wanted to call her by a double name (Oh so southern I know) so my mom suggested Grace and sealed the deal with telling me the names meaning. Grace- a gift from God we do not deserve! PERFECT But Michael wasn't so cool with having no say so we decided on Jesse Nichole Grace whom we would call Jesse Grace. Now almost 10 years later she only wants to be called Jesse but will only us the monogram for Jesse Grace! HA Love it!

Naming our second born was ALOT harder...We waited until we knew what we were having to start talking about names. Since we were having a boy I pretty much decided to let Michael take over! So Austin James it was or so we thought. Then one day I heard of someone calling a sports player whos number was 2 Duece (Deuce). Which we all know mean number two. I hadn't really liked Michael choice of name so I saw this a my chance to when Michael over. See Michael's full name is Michael Kelly and he didn't want to name our son that for ALOT of reasons to many to list in this blog...So anyway I suggested we name our son Michael Kelly Duece instead of Michael Kelly II or Jr. That was that we were having a Duece! Some family called him Michael or little Michael because the didn't like Duece...But now at age 6 Duece lets people know really quick he is NOT Michael.

When naming our third child I wanted something to honor my mother who had passed away. So I thought of many names perfect for little girls honoring her. And only had one for a boy which was Kingston since my maiden name was King. This was quickly shot down due to Gwen Stefonie (SP) having a son by this name :( So we began tossing names around Michael was still stuck on James and I loved Cooper so I suggested James Cooper. Michael was like no he didn't like it at all but called me the next day on his lunch break and said we should name him that. I guess God really wanted us to have a James Cooper to have changed Michael's heart.

I love all of my kids names they each have some biblical name or meaning to it so that is our theme! Cooper however is the only one with out a double middle name so when and if baby number for comes it will have to be like Cooper! So he wont feel left out. I trust that one day God will bless us with another child and until then I am tight liping my other names. But if it is a girl I will be honoring my mother and you know it with have some Bible relation of course!

Planning a party...Need a little help!

Cooper's 2nd birthday is coming up on us FAST! It is about 11 weeks away. And I have ALOT to do. I am almost positive the theme will be "Mod Monkey" from birthday express. That is not the problem the real problem is where to have it. Being at the end of July I need some where with a little A/C and enough room for the kiddos to run around. I was thinking about a water themed party at my house complete with baby pools and slip-n-slides but then thought of the mess that would create. So then I thought about Chick-fil-a but I really want to be able to decorate just how I want. So now I am not sure where to do this shindig. I am OPEN to ideas so if you have ANY please share them with me:) This momma needs a little help!

Chore Packs

I have had several people ask me about the "chore packs" I am now using with my children. So I thought I would share a little about it with you. First I am going to share some helpful links then I am going to tell you how I made mine. Some on these links are fancy I made mine simple because I wasn't sure they would be worth the trouble...But they are two days running and all chores are finally getting done! So here are the links I read getting ready to start this!
http://www.noordinarymomentsblog.com/2007/10/our-chore-system.html
http://shecanlaugh.blogspot.com/2009/05/chore-packs-independent-chore-help.html
http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/2009/07/chore-packets-teaching-our-children-to.html

Those are 3 really good links plus you can google "Duggar chore packs". I made mine out of those spiral wrist key rings that you get in the stationary section at Wal-Mart. To that I attached one half of a 3x5 index card with a number and a chore. These didn't hold up so I...Cut card stock into 2.5x3 inch pieces and then printed and cut out my chores and used packing tape to stick it all together punch a hole in the corner and put it all on the key ring. If they get the morning section done before school they can take them off and leave them here but if not then they HAVE to wear them to school! It has worked so far. I will keep you posted I started pretty simple but will be adding and changing things over the next couple of weeks. When I have my system like I like it I will share again. This is also working with our reward system to earn money and with our house rules! So many things are changing in our household over the next couple of months ( NO I am not pregnant...more details when I can share) I wanted to get this system, house rules, and other things in good working order. Our old system which was mom asked and I just didn't do it! HA That was not working...I think I need to do this for my children and me. Hope my sharing is helpful...I will for sure be sharing more so check back often!

Also, here are some links to ideas for age appropriate chore!
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1572055/age_appropriate_chores_for_children.html?cat=25
http://www.familycorner.com/parenting/growingpains/3.shtml

April 24 2010

This date is forever stamped into my mind and the minds of all Albertville residents. This night our small town in Alabama was hit by a EF3 Tornado.

I am not sure on the actual number of homes damaged or destroyed. But I do know that there was 33 injury's but NO deaths. I also know the Tornado was almost a mile wide with winds around 140 miles an hour and traveled for roughly 19 miles.

My family didn't suffer the direct hit of this storm but narrowly escapedit's wrath by less than a half mile. At my house huddled in the hall with our three children you could hear the roar of the wind which to me sounded alot like a huge vacuum or dryer. The pressure inside our house changed and we heard TONS of loud bangs and bumps! I have to say I have never been so scared in my adult life. And I am afraid I will now forever be that way :( My children know just how fortunate we are as they have several friends who's homes were damaged or complete losses.

Please pray for our town one week later almost all have power back, clean up is making progress, and we are slowing healing and putting together the pieces. Albertville will survive we just have that spirit about us!

Here is a link to a blog I read that was very imformative. And includes pitcures of the damage.
http://warmsouthernbreeze.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/tornado-rips-severe-damage-through-albertville-alabama/