has finally arrived! I plan to be blogging a lot this summer, so for all of you who followed me here on blogger and wonder where I've been you can find me on wordpress and follow my blog there.
Adventures in Being a Mom
I may have moved, but I'm still following all of my friends. I just follow you all using wordpress reader now. Have a great summer!
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Sunday, June 2, 2013
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Moving on up....
I'm going to give wordpress a try. Here's my new blog address if you'd like to continue to follow me. We'll see how this goes!
New Blog
New Blog
Monday, November 26, 2012
Home
I'm home for the next few days with a sick little man. WeeMan has RSV. There's not a lot we can do for him at this point. They gave him an antibiotic shot at the doctor's office this morning and my poor baby screamed. I winced for him. The needle was as large as the ones hubby had to use to inject me in my bottom when we were trying to get pregnant. It seemed so unfair to put something that big in his little thigh. I just pray the doctor is right and it goes to work on him right away. Other than that we are alternating tylenol and advil to keep the fever down and I keep pushing water and juice on him. He's absolutely miserable and it breaks my mommy heart to not be able to do anything to fix him. I'm thankful that I teach with some amazing people who are willing to jump in and help me with sub plans for the next two days. I've got my mom on stand by in case we need to stay home at the end of the week too.
On the bright side of life our tree is up and most of the gifts are wrapped (just need to do hubby's when he's out playing tomorrow night but I'm not quite finished buying his yet.) Now I can just enjoy the Christmas season I hope. I've been shopping for gifts for the nieces and wee man since this summer. I'll be honest quite a few of them are second hand but in great shape, so I know the kiddos won't mind. The ones that aren't second hand were either on sale or even better on clearance. I feel like for the most part we were able to save some money this Christmas. Sometimes I think shopping early works against me b/c I lose track of what I've spent and what I've bought - but this year I seem to have done okay. The main thing I have left to buy are all gift cards and I'll be picking those up at Kroger so we get the gas points. (FYI right now they are giving you 4 times the points on gift cards - so every $25 gift card ends up being 100 points. )
I've been trying to do a better job of planning our menu and making things from scratch. I'll be honest - I got the menu thing down, but the scratch cooking is another issue. I know it will be so much healthier for us, it's just a matter of putting my mind to it and doing it. Tomorrow I'm going to work on muffins for the freezer for quick breakfasts. I'm also being more conscious of using our leftovers up. If I don't think we're going to eat them right away I stick them in the freezer for later. I don't know what it is about winter, but I always get the urge to cut costs and live more frugally in the winter. (If only I could keep it up the rest of the year!)
So that's what's going on in my world. What's new with you?
On the bright side of life our tree is up and most of the gifts are wrapped (just need to do hubby's when he's out playing tomorrow night but I'm not quite finished buying his yet.) Now I can just enjoy the Christmas season I hope. I've been shopping for gifts for the nieces and wee man since this summer. I'll be honest quite a few of them are second hand but in great shape, so I know the kiddos won't mind. The ones that aren't second hand were either on sale or even better on clearance. I feel like for the most part we were able to save some money this Christmas. Sometimes I think shopping early works against me b/c I lose track of what I've spent and what I've bought - but this year I seem to have done okay. The main thing I have left to buy are all gift cards and I'll be picking those up at Kroger so we get the gas points. (FYI right now they are giving you 4 times the points on gift cards - so every $25 gift card ends up being 100 points. )
I've been trying to do a better job of planning our menu and making things from scratch. I'll be honest - I got the menu thing down, but the scratch cooking is another issue. I know it will be so much healthier for us, it's just a matter of putting my mind to it and doing it. Tomorrow I'm going to work on muffins for the freezer for quick breakfasts. I'm also being more conscious of using our leftovers up. If I don't think we're going to eat them right away I stick them in the freezer for later. I don't know what it is about winter, but I always get the urge to cut costs and live more frugally in the winter. (If only I could keep it up the rest of the year!)
So that's what's going on in my world. What's new with you?
Friday, November 9, 2012
Blog Slacker
I know I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately. I've been caught up in living life - the day to day stuff. I've written many posts - in my head in the car or in bed or the shower. But they never seem to make it to the actual computer.
There's not really anything new going on in my life, just the same day to day and that's okay. I'm reading "Mended" by Angie Smith right now and it's a thought changer. I'll have to post more about it later, but it certainly has made me step back at times and examine my life.
We seem to be settled in at our new church. We're finding our place. Most Sunday's there's still a bit of argument from WeeMan. He misses his old church and the toys. But once he's in class he settles down and has fun. I like that he is having class and not just playing at the new church.
I've been staying busy at work. I'm settled into second grade. At first I missed fourth grade and my big kids, but I think I've found my place. Our grade level team works well together and we fit. My kiddos are a mixed bag. Some of them are so needy it breaks my heart daily, but even on the worst day - I enjoy them. In fact my class this year has helped to change some of my perspective on WeeMan's future. I've often looked at him and looked at my class and thought I wanted to home school or send him to a Christian school, but I've come to realize this year - that the kids at my school need him and other kids like him to be examples and most importantly he needs them. He needs to see them and love them and understand that he can be a light. That's what I want for him - not to be raised in a sheltered place where he never has to see the darkness - I want him to see the darkness and to shine in it. (Does that sound weird? I'm not sure how to say what I mean, so I hope I am getting it across)
So that's what's going on here. Life as normal such as it is.
There's not really anything new going on in my life, just the same day to day and that's okay. I'm reading "Mended" by Angie Smith right now and it's a thought changer. I'll have to post more about it later, but it certainly has made me step back at times and examine my life.
We seem to be settled in at our new church. We're finding our place. Most Sunday's there's still a bit of argument from WeeMan. He misses his old church and the toys. But once he's in class he settles down and has fun. I like that he is having class and not just playing at the new church.
I've been staying busy at work. I'm settled into second grade. At first I missed fourth grade and my big kids, but I think I've found my place. Our grade level team works well together and we fit. My kiddos are a mixed bag. Some of them are so needy it breaks my heart daily, but even on the worst day - I enjoy them. In fact my class this year has helped to change some of my perspective on WeeMan's future. I've often looked at him and looked at my class and thought I wanted to home school or send him to a Christian school, but I've come to realize this year - that the kids at my school need him and other kids like him to be examples and most importantly he needs them. He needs to see them and love them and understand that he can be a light. That's what I want for him - not to be raised in a sheltered place where he never has to see the darkness - I want him to see the darkness and to shine in it. (Does that sound weird? I'm not sure how to say what I mean, so I hope I am getting it across)
So that's what's going on here. Life as normal such as it is.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Small Things
I've been home for the past two days. My WeeMan has bronchitis. While my mommy heart hates to see him sick, I've enjoyed these extra days home with him. I've caught up on cuddles, laundry, cleaning, and organizing. I've even done a few small projects that I'm super happy with.
I painted this Goodwill find a sunny yellow - it was a bright red. Then I decided to hang it nice and low in the kitchen to display my vintage garage sale aprons. I love to wear a pretty apron while I cook.
WeeMan was on the road to recovery and getting antsy today so we baked some yummy monster cookies together. (He was confused and kept asking where the monster was though!) I didn't have M&Ms so we used dried cranberries and chocolate chips and they are divine!
I'm also enjoying the last of my pretty yellow roses. Pretty sure I won't be seeing anymore of these until next summer now, but they were a nice surprise so late in the season.
I'm thankful we were able to get into the doctor yesterday and get an antibiotic and some cough medicine. Poor little guy hadn't had a solid night's sleep since Thursday - yep that means mama hadn't either. Last night he took one dose of the cough medicine and slept until 9 this morning. I know his little body needed the rest.
Finally a peek at Hubby's Sunday project. I've been working on WeeMan's bathroom a piece at a time (you can tell I still need to repaint- see that old wallpaper peaking through) Hubby used some spigot heads we found in the basement and an old piece of board he found in the garage and WeeMan has a new towel rack. Just what I had pictured and all for the cost of a few screws to hold the spigot heads on.
So I'm counting all my blessings today and surprise days off!
Sick days with my WeeMan
A Hubby that doesn't question his wife's weird projects
Medicine that heals
Surprise roses late in the season
Small projects finished up
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Looking Forward to the week ahead
I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief - we've weathered two incredibly busy weeks and survived. We did more than survive actually, we managed to not eat out except on the weekends - once or twice each week - even though I wasn't home much to actually cook anything. But finally this week life will be slowing down and returning to normal.
We spent most of the weekend taking it easy and doing little things. Saturday morning a sweet friend went to a local historical park and took some more fall pictures for us - hubby was upset that his glasses turned dark in the first set of family shots we had taken. She got some beauties. I'm so blessed to have a talented, loving friend. These are some of my favorites.
Other than pics our weekend consisted of catching up on groceries and laundry. I made a menu for the week and am looking forward to being home every night to cook for my family. (Another blessing!)
Saturday night hubby and I had a date night at home. Hubby smoked some delicious ribs on the Big Green Egg and after WeeMan went to bed we watched tv and cuddled. ( Not a bad date night even though we couldn't get a sitter)
"Young boys should never be sent to bed . . . they wake up a day older." J.M. Barrie
So I'm wrapping up the weekend by counting my blessings!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Breathing in and out
Many of you know that our family has recently changed churches. It was a long time coming. A lot of prayer and soul searching and doubting ourselves, but we made the move. We're not 100% settled in a new place yet and we haven't cut all of our ties with our old church. We've stayed involved in our Wednesday night small group. After all after a year of spilling our hearts and celebrating our joys - they've become family and you don't just walk away from family. I really respect our leader - he reminds me a lot of dad and honestly our group is one of the reasons we resisted letting go of Sundays at Life as long as we did.
There certainly wasn't one reason we walked away. There were several things that over time just began to feel wrong for our family. One of them was definitely the way the Children's Ministry is run. After all we have an almost 4 year old and yes the children's ministry is an important part of church to us. I volunteered in the children's program for about 5 years. Some months I would only actually be in church 1 Sunday because the others were spent teaching. In August last year when our world imploded and we had the miscarriage I felt like I needed to walk away from the children's ministry. Things had begun to change there and I was also falling to pieces. I felt like I needed to be in church - I was fighting to hold onto my own faith and I just didn't feel like I could be a teacher when I was lost myself. I explained that as well as I could to the people in charge and I stepped back to fall apart and try to put myself back together. I stepped down around the time the person in charge was changing. The whole program changed. They went from having several different classes divided by age to having the toddlers class 1 - 3 which WeeMan was in and then the next class was 4years old through 5th grade. (Yes you read that right and no we don't go to a small church.) The switch was gradual - it was 4 - 1st grade (not too bad) and then we went to where they are today. It doesn't seem to be b/c of a lack of volunteers either. Every Sunday there are several adults helping with the youth. There are usually around 30 kids in the group. Knowing that WeeMan was getting close to that move up age was a factor in our decision to go ahead and move. As a teacher I don't believe that 4 year olds in the same class as 5th graders is beneficial for either group - at least not for the entire time. I could see doing some whole group and then splitting - but not lessons and all together. I don't talk to a 4 year old the same way I do to an 11/12 year old - they don't think or reason the same way and they certainly don't have the same understandings.
Like I mentioned there were other things that factored in to our decision also. To be honest our concerns about the ministers leadership and his lack of shepherding our congregation were also a BIG issue. We had been devastated when our world fell apart and he wasn't there for us. When he finally sat down and met with us - he said "Oh I didn't realize it was so bad" (Slight rant here - we had called him the day the miscarriage started - he knew what we had gone through to get to that place and he knew everything that took place afterwards all the ups and downs and uncertainty with what was going on - and he blew us off over and over for meetings - then to say that. It was like are you serious? How many Sundays have I stood in church (not in the back) and let the tears fall. Did you seriously not notice that we were struggling to find faith) Okay but back to focus - that being said there were things he was saying in the pulpit that didn't go along with the God that I felt like my father had taught me about. Things that made me go "What? " and not in a good way.
So fastforward to July. I needed to let the hospitality director know that we were moving on. So I sent her an email explaining that we felt at this time our family needed to find a better fit. I told her only that we were thinking of WeeMan and did have some concerns about the children's ministry and wanted to find a better fit for him. I didn't vent about the pastor or how wrong I felt he was or any of that - just felt better to keep it simple and not sound bitter.
I should also add at this point that Hubby wanted to talk to the pastor when we started looking - but our pastor has a bit of a God complex and doesn't like to hear that you disagree with him or don't have the same ideas or even answer questions - we've had personal experience with how ugly that can get with him and also had several friends who have had very bad experiences with him in that situation. So I said - no I think we just need to go - I don't do confrontations and I didn't feel that it would change anything. So we went.
Tonight I heard that we were an example of how not to be in a sermon a few weeks ago. Oh he didn't mention us by name... but another couple in our small group was sharing about their decision to leave and the wife was telling how she doesn't feel comfortable the way he uses specific people and conversations as negative examples in his sermons. (Never mentions names - but still ) One of the others asked her what she meant and she shared how in this specific sermon he was talking about how if you don't like something then fix it and said there was a family in the church who recently had left because they didn't like the children's ministry but they never volunteered in the children's area and they wouldn't help with VBS either. Okay he could have been referring to several people who have left for the same reason recently - but I felt like he was probably talking about us. I had been asked to help with VBS but had training for school that week and I had said no I couldn't take over a month of children's ministry in the summer b/c we had vacations planned.
I know it's silly and I need to let it go - but I'm irritated. I'm working on breathing in and out and keeping my mouth shut. We're going to keep going to our small group - they are family and at this point our issue is not with them. They know all our reasons for leaving and still welcome us. I am irritated that we might feel a little uncomfortable walking in to the building to get to our small group - we shouldn't though b/c our church has a public coffee shop in the lobby so it's not like we're going into the church to meet. I'm irritated that what was once a strong place of faith appears to be slowly toppling but no one can do anything about it. The elder team has been taken apart piece by piece and the pastor is the person in charge of the whole church now so there's not really anyone to stand up to him. One of my friends called it "The church of M..." when I was telling her what was going on and sadly she's right. I'm going to pray that in spite of what's going on they can continue to grow and make a difference - many of the kids in the youth program are kids from my school. They walk there on Sundays by themselves. I just have a bad feeling that in the end - they are the ones that are losing out.
There certainly wasn't one reason we walked away. There were several things that over time just began to feel wrong for our family. One of them was definitely the way the Children's Ministry is run. After all we have an almost 4 year old and yes the children's ministry is an important part of church to us. I volunteered in the children's program for about 5 years. Some months I would only actually be in church 1 Sunday because the others were spent teaching. In August last year when our world imploded and we had the miscarriage I felt like I needed to walk away from the children's ministry. Things had begun to change there and I was also falling to pieces. I felt like I needed to be in church - I was fighting to hold onto my own faith and I just didn't feel like I could be a teacher when I was lost myself. I explained that as well as I could to the people in charge and I stepped back to fall apart and try to put myself back together. I stepped down around the time the person in charge was changing. The whole program changed. They went from having several different classes divided by age to having the toddlers class 1 - 3 which WeeMan was in and then the next class was 4years old through 5th grade. (Yes you read that right and no we don't go to a small church.) The switch was gradual - it was 4 - 1st grade (not too bad) and then we went to where they are today. It doesn't seem to be b/c of a lack of volunteers either. Every Sunday there are several adults helping with the youth. There are usually around 30 kids in the group. Knowing that WeeMan was getting close to that move up age was a factor in our decision to go ahead and move. As a teacher I don't believe that 4 year olds in the same class as 5th graders is beneficial for either group - at least not for the entire time. I could see doing some whole group and then splitting - but not lessons and all together. I don't talk to a 4 year old the same way I do to an 11/12 year old - they don't think or reason the same way and they certainly don't have the same understandings.
Like I mentioned there were other things that factored in to our decision also. To be honest our concerns about the ministers leadership and his lack of shepherding our congregation were also a BIG issue. We had been devastated when our world fell apart and he wasn't there for us. When he finally sat down and met with us - he said "Oh I didn't realize it was so bad" (Slight rant here - we had called him the day the miscarriage started - he knew what we had gone through to get to that place and he knew everything that took place afterwards all the ups and downs and uncertainty with what was going on - and he blew us off over and over for meetings - then to say that. It was like are you serious? How many Sundays have I stood in church (not in the back) and let the tears fall. Did you seriously not notice that we were struggling to find faith) Okay but back to focus - that being said there were things he was saying in the pulpit that didn't go along with the God that I felt like my father had taught me about. Things that made me go "What? " and not in a good way.
So fastforward to July. I needed to let the hospitality director know that we were moving on. So I sent her an email explaining that we felt at this time our family needed to find a better fit. I told her only that we were thinking of WeeMan and did have some concerns about the children's ministry and wanted to find a better fit for him. I didn't vent about the pastor or how wrong I felt he was or any of that - just felt better to keep it simple and not sound bitter.
I should also add at this point that Hubby wanted to talk to the pastor when we started looking - but our pastor has a bit of a God complex and doesn't like to hear that you disagree with him or don't have the same ideas or even answer questions - we've had personal experience with how ugly that can get with him and also had several friends who have had very bad experiences with him in that situation. So I said - no I think we just need to go - I don't do confrontations and I didn't feel that it would change anything. So we went.
Tonight I heard that we were an example of how not to be in a sermon a few weeks ago. Oh he didn't mention us by name... but another couple in our small group was sharing about their decision to leave and the wife was telling how she doesn't feel comfortable the way he uses specific people and conversations as negative examples in his sermons. (Never mentions names - but still ) One of the others asked her what she meant and she shared how in this specific sermon he was talking about how if you don't like something then fix it and said there was a family in the church who recently had left because they didn't like the children's ministry but they never volunteered in the children's area and they wouldn't help with VBS either. Okay he could have been referring to several people who have left for the same reason recently - but I felt like he was probably talking about us. I had been asked to help with VBS but had training for school that week and I had said no I couldn't take over a month of children's ministry in the summer b/c we had vacations planned.
I know it's silly and I need to let it go - but I'm irritated. I'm working on breathing in and out and keeping my mouth shut. We're going to keep going to our small group - they are family and at this point our issue is not with them. They know all our reasons for leaving and still welcome us. I am irritated that we might feel a little uncomfortable walking in to the building to get to our small group - we shouldn't though b/c our church has a public coffee shop in the lobby so it's not like we're going into the church to meet. I'm irritated that what was once a strong place of faith appears to be slowly toppling but no one can do anything about it. The elder team has been taken apart piece by piece and the pastor is the person in charge of the whole church now so there's not really anyone to stand up to him. One of my friends called it "The church of M..." when I was telling her what was going on and sadly she's right. I'm going to pray that in spite of what's going on they can continue to grow and make a difference - many of the kids in the youth program are kids from my school. They walk there on Sundays by themselves. I just have a bad feeling that in the end - they are the ones that are losing out.
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