Encouragement!

Are you encouraging your kids..and your husband for that matter...every day???? Sometimes we get so busy with "life" that we forget to give words of encouragement. This can be especially true if you have a really strong willed child. Look back on your day and ask yourself...Were my comments to my children mostly positive and uplifting or negative? Some mamas just seem to be so negative all the time.

A huge part of parenting is correcting...but if we are not extremely careful we will get so busy with that one aspect we forget the uplifting part. One of my kids was so trying..ALL THE TIME...those who know me know exactly which child:)...I spent many many hours praying, crying, begging the Lord for a break through with this child! I kid you not....this struggle went on for YEARS....I thought I had the one kid who could not be tamed. There were many days that I had to look really really hard to find positive uplifting things to say!

As I spent time in prayer..one of the things that the Lord showed me was to encourage this child with scripture and with the child's identity in Christ....so these were some of the statements that I used over and over with all my kids but it started with the one I struggled with.

Jesus loves you so very much! And so do I!!
The Bible says that the Lord knit you together in my womb...I love how He made you!
I can't wait to see the person you will grow up to be!
The Lord has an amazing plan for you!
I am so glad that the Lord gave you to me!
Did you know that Jesus loves you so much that He gave His life for you!
The Bible says that you are a very special blessing just for me!
I love you so much.....just because you are mine!


Look for ways to give praise...notice when your kids have good manners, speak kind words or lend a helping hand. Tell them that you are overjoyed to be their mama!

Twitter

So do you Twitter? I said that I would not!!! The twitters that I had read were things like...going to the store....cooking dinner,,,,,washing dishes....And I was thinking.....are you kidding???? I don't want everyone reading this stuff about me and I certainly don't want to read it about anyone else??!!

Somewhere along the way I started realizing that many of them were so much more. I love shouting out a short word of encouragement. I don't really like to read long passages on blogs...so twitter is great 140 characters...enough to make you think about what you really want to say without the fluff! I love the people that I follow...I laugh...I am interested...I am convicted ...I am encouraged.

It is easy and it is free....you do not actually ever have to write anything if you don't want to just follow others.

multi tasking

Today was productive! The day started early and went very well. Yesterday I make a huge batch of homemede spaghetti sauce which we had for dinner last night. Today I made 2 large batches of lasagna. I didn't cook them...I just put them together and froze them. It always makes me feel good to know there is a meal ready for another day.... a crazy day! And it really didn't take much time.

Last week I bought a huge bag of apples. We prefer a really crisp sweet apple...Gala or Fuji.....these were very tart and softer than we like to eat but......perfect for baking! Emily and I worked together to peel and slice the 20 pound bag. It didn't take very long and of course we had a great time together. I bought one of these handy dandy apple peelers...which is a great alternative to the expensive kind. We found it on clearance for $3.oo a few years ago and it works great. It doesn't slice them for you but it peels very well....and the kids love to crank it!

We put them in large bowls....sprinkled with a little sugar, cinnamon and a few pats of butter. We threw them in the microwave for 5 min......took them out stirred them and then another 5 min. We had 2 large batches of these....we let them cool and put them in freezer bags to use later for apple crisp.

Yes ,I know that my pictures are all out of whack!!! Our PC is going crazy and I am having to use Eric's lap top.....I can't make it work???? I do not have time to continue to fiddle with it:)

New Picture

We had some new pictures make for some promotional work we are doing and oh my goodness...my husband is amazing and I love these pictures. Thought I would share!

What FUN!!!

We had a blast with our friends! There are not many families (actually I do not know of any other family) that I could spend 12 days with and wish they could stay longer! Our approach to child rearing is very similar. Their kids are very polite and helpful...full of laughter and a heart to serve. I laughed till I hurt on more than one occasion.

We did go about half way through the "Do hard things" book. That was so good...it brought up so much conversation with the kids. It challenged me and I know it challenged the kids as well.

One day we joined my sisters at my moms house for a tea party...it was such a fun time. We will make that a tradition. Now we are trying to figure out how Eric and I can speak in churches down through FL so we can plan a visit soon.

It all reminds me of the importance of having good friends who you can laugh and cry with but also friends who have the freedom to speak truth into your lives. We love the Zaldivar's!!!!

Thumb Sucking

Lindsey had a passie......easy to take away with a bribe to trade it in for a toy at Walmart. Marshall handed me his passie's when he was 20 months and proclaimed that he was a big boy. Emily....somewhat harder.....she reluctantly traded them in for a toy and then cried for several nights wanting to take the toy back! But this soon passed. Benjamin....never took a passie...AAHHH so easy!


Then came Luke....Oh the baby????!!!!! No passie.....he found his thumb on day 2 and we all thought it was the cutest thing we had ever seen....and we continued to think that for some time. Oh but the habit!!! He is 6 now! We first tried the Thumb stuff...it didn't do anything...then we moved to the more serious stuff...it is also a paint on solution....this stuff is aweful and it stays around for days........ after many hand washings! I even tried to put red pepper in the solution....I know it sounds awful...but it didn't work!

He only sucks his thumb at night....during the night...so it is not intentional...just habitual. I have tried putting a glove on him but he gets it off in his sleep? I really don't care all that much except his teeth are paying the price!

Any suggestions??

Life is just embarassing sometimes!

I had the awesome privilege of speaking to a wonderful group of women in Douglasville this past Friday night. I love to encourage women to be passionate about the things that God created them for! The ladies were wonderful...the entire night was planned out so nicely......and as someone who speaks at womens events.....sometimes it is crazy unorganized! :) Not this one! I took Lindsey my 15 year old daughter with me. We had a blast. She is so fun....she makes parenting a joy! After the night was over she was my biggest cheerleader. What an encouragement she was!

Now for the embarrassing part????!!!! I took our video camera just to get a few clips for a video that our church is putting together for our ministry. On Saturday morning I picked it up to download it on the computer and I of course saw myself........AAAAAHHHHHH I called Lindsey...."Please tell me that this is a mistake on the camera...because I am pretty sure that my pants look really short!" You know.......when it looks like your grandma went to the bathroom and pulled her pants up way too high!!! Not a little short...way short!!! How could I do that?? Lindsey told me that they were indeed to short and she(my total fashion girl!) didn't want to hurt my feelings and she didn't know if I could afford new pants so she thought it might make me sad! OK that is very sweet!!! BUT I do have other clothes! I wear those pants all the time but not with the shoes...I told her that I guess that was the problem and she said no that just made it worse but basically they were always a little short. We then had a nice conversation about how she can help me without hurting my feelings or making me sad that I don't have money to buy new pants!!!:)

I will try to post a picture of it soon so you can join in the laughter! Thank goodness the night wasn't about me but about Him and I did my dead level best to honor and glorify Him!

Love those babies!

Cook Book

I love to travel and speak to womens groups. Outside of being home with my babies...which I love the most.....I love to encourage other women to love Jesus, love their husbands, love their babies and enjoy their time making a home! It truly brings me great satisfaction to pour out the things that the Lord has taught me over the years. I spoke last year at a ladies event in Newnan, Georgia and one of the ladies who was there wrote a really sweet comment on my blog and told me that she is going to feature my book on her blog! WOW! That is awesome! Her blog is great...you can check it out here.

I love cooking and I love having time with my family around the table. You can learn many, many things at the table! We live in a society that is WAY to busy! The story is long and I am tired but it is a great story about how the book came to be...I will try to write about it tomorrow. But for today...this book is a really easy read.....about 30 of my families favorite recipes (easy, simple,and enjoyable), a few cooking tips, a few parenting tips and a lot of encouragement to enjoy your family at the table.

If you are interested you can order it right here for $6.95 which includes shipping. It is also available on Amazon. It would make a great stocking stuffer or gift for a mom who needs some encouragement! If you wanted it and order it today I will send it out immediately and I think it should make it for Christmas. Love those babies!

Why is our first thought NO!

I am getting better the longer I am a mother...but I still fight it.....that urge for the first response to be.... NO. I am thinking...that is too messy...that is too much trouble...it is too hot...it is too cold. I really try to stop and ask myself....is this really a big deal. I always tell my kids that they are in charge of clean up and they almost always agree that clean up is still worth whatever it is they want to do??? Kids?? We had a really big rain and this is the giant puddle that was created at our church across the street. The kids had a great time until the security guys stopped all the fun...party poopers....although you know they secretly wished their mothers had let them play in such a great puddle!