Happy Birthday Dad!

The end of summer weather is near, school has started, so that means one thing...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

My daddy (Billy King) is celebrating his birthday today and I wanted to take a minute to share a little about what he means to me and/or has taught me. My dad is the hardworking type... boy is that a understatement:) He worked two jobs when myself and my siblings were young so our mom could stay at home and nurture us. He took me to church taught me about God and on the night I was SAVED he told me all about "being born again" and prayed with me. He taught me to always be true to myself and be who I am not matter what. He taught me hard work and determination! He helped me understand forgiveness and most of all unconditional love. He also knew when to let me stand on my own and make my own choices...but always willing to help me through when things got a little tough. When I was a pregnant teenager he never told me he was disappointed (while he didn't condone my pre-marital situation) he stood by my side, took up for me, prayed for Michael and I and so much more. Now as a mother of 3 I have ALOT more respect for him and all he has done and continues to do for me!

Happy Birthday Daddy I love you!

Blessed be your name

Just for you Lindsey! We love you and will keep you and yours lifted up. And as you said sometimes a song can say alot so here is the one I was talking about!

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Money saving tips

Here are three NEW to me recipes I am using to help save money! Try one and let me know what you think. I will keep you posted!

Fabric Softener:
1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

Household cleaner:
Make an all-purpose green cleaner by combining 1 tsp. borax, 1 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. vinegar, ½ tsp. dish soap or mild castile soap, 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice and 2 cups hot water. Store in a spray bottle and use like any all-purpose cleaner. I doubled this to fit in my spray bottle!

Laundry Soap:
Ingredients
4 cups Borax (in the laundry section)
4 cups washing soda (found at cooks and sons in albertville)
1 bar Zote laundry soap
1/2 cup Oxi Clean
Grate the soap then put it in the food processor and pulsate it into a fine powder. Mix all of the ingredients and store in a covered tub. I put mine into a locking lid Rubbermaid tub. Use 2 tablespoons per load. It will not form a lot of suds and will get your laundry clean.
1/2 cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle will freshen your load.

I am excited to be saving money...I have been using coupons and stuff but this makes me really excited I know these 3 things will work great and save TONS. Below is a list of my cost so far.

Borax $3.50
Washing Soda $4.00
Zote $1.09
Lemon $1.00
Baking Soda $1.00
Spray Bottle $1.00
Rubbermaid x2 $10.00
Sponges $2.00
Fabric softener $4.00
My total so far $26.59 and I think it will last at least 2 months which means I made 3 products to last 2 months for less than just laundry det would cost me!

Looks Who's 2

I can't believe it but our "baby" Cooper is 2 years old today. Two years ago today James Cooper McClendon arrived 6 weeks early after being induce due to complications. We knew he would never make his actual due date...but his arrival on July 28 was a TOTAL surprise! Last night we sat and tried to remember the events of the weekend before his Monday birth. And how my regular doctor appointment turned into the DAY! He was born at 8:35 p.m. weighed 5 pounds 9 ounces and was 18 inches long. But WOW oh WOW how he has changed...

Today Cooper is 2 weighs 24 pounds and will not stand still long enough for me to see how tall he is. He LOVES mac-n-cheese, fruit snacks, juice boxes and french fries...I know not the healthiest things ever but hey he is really picky! He is learning to sing along, loves tractor and trucks, HAS to have his "bebe" (aka blanket) and is almost ready to potty train. He has totally earned his nickname "Monkey" which started as a sound he made as an infant, however now he climbs and clings just like a little monkey. Kind of reminds us of a spider monkey!

We can't believe the sweet little boy he is growing into. As with all of our children we are so proud of him. He was and is a WONDERFUL addition to our family:)

Happy Birthday Coopmando We Love You!

Aldersgate

Wow what a great trip we just returned home from....My family (all 5 of us) traveled to Charleston West Virgina for a Aldersgate Conference. What is that you ask? It is a United Methodist conference on spirit filled living. We have been blessed to be able to attend the last two years. It is a chance for us to be with like minded people that share our beliefs and learn more about being empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Michael and I are kind of new to this spirit guided lifestyle! LOL What I mean is until we were blessed by the arrival of our newest pastor who is ON FIRE for Jesus and helped usher a new found fire inside of Michael and I we hadn't heard/learned much if anything about being spirit filled. Now that is our one desire is for our lives and the lives of our children to be spirit filled and driven. We know we serve a God who IS and not a God who was or is going to be...He is and he can do the things he says he can do and he WILL do the things he says he will do. I know this first hand by two recent healing in my family.

Being Christan parents is something very important to us and going to this conference always fills us up just a little more so we have plenty to pour out to our children but also to others and our community.

I am blessed to serve a risen Savior and having weekends like this one just affirm that fact even more. I would love to blog more about the Aldersgate ministry so I might just do that one day! It is something near and dear to my heart as I believe God is calling us his church to rise up and do the things he said we could do!

Independence Day

Today we celebrate our countries Independence...As an American this entitles us to many freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. So today as you eat that all that yummy BBQ, hug friends and family, and enjoy your fireworks please don't forget to pray for all the men and women who make all those freedoms possible.

My family is celebrating to with friends. These friends are like family to us and we are happy to spend the day with them! We are going to enjoy a meal of pork, baked beans, corn, cucumber/tomato salad, apple pie and homemade ice cream...I almost forgot homemade salsa and chips. YUMMY We are also having the return of the redneck slip-in-slide. It is going to be TONS of fun. Then we will go to Michael's grandmothers at dark for the annual fireworks celebration. This is a long running tradition for his family that is being carried on with our children. It was always Michael's Pawpaws "thing" he would make a huge deal of the holiday and he himself would shop for all the fireworks and he would make his famous homemade orange sherbet. This year the celebration will be missing Pawpaw and most likely his sherbet. I know Michael will miss Pawpaw like crazy. But I am sure he is in heaven enjoying his own fireworks. It might not be the same with out him but his memory and tradition live on.

Happy 4th of July everyone...Enjoy every minute of it with the ones you love!

Summer structure...not free for all

Oh yeah summer is in full swing down here in Alabama complete with 90 degree and 100% humidity! School has been out of just about a month now and when it started I decided not to let my family fall into the old routine of "lazy summer syndrome" you know the parenting part of us that wants to let the kids sleep in and do nothing. Oh no that was not going exist around here not this summer. I have always been a firm believer in keeping my kids "busy" so they don't fall into laziness and boredom. So I have structured out somethings for us! We signed up for swim team, are planning a couple day trips when swim is over, taking a vaca to an annual Methodist Conference, and we are summer homeschooling to try it out to see if we want to make a way of life. And several other little things.

Now I know not everyone shares my opinion on keeping your kids busy. But I am a firm believer in the old saying "idol hands do the devils handy work". I believe nope scratch that I know if left the their own vices most children at some point would get into mischief and or act out. All children need structure of some sort ALL the time. School or no school they need to know what is happening and when...Thus NO free for all around here. We begin most days ( I say most because if my children have sleep over company I let the "schooling" go for a day) with breakfast followed by a writing assignment and then some reading and math work in their workbooks. Then we move on to chores. Then we are off to swim practice. So on and so forth I am sparing you the other details:) This has been working wonderfully for us. I am so glad to be offering this to my children. A little side note would be that I have always keep my children busy...I believe they need those opportunities to shape who they become.

There are many in this world who might think I am a lazy parent because I choose for my children to be at these activities. And to them I would say "WHAT" who do you think drives them there, sits through the activity, chases the toddler, and helps them practice LOL. For a couple of short hours everyday my children my not be with me...But that doesn't make me lazy! I am still the one giving them 90% of their care and meeting ALL their needs.

Enjoy your summer it will be over soon! And if you live in Bama stay cool;)