Happy Days

Really hard to believe that these two people, six months out of high school, tied the knot, 17 years ago.

 He brought me roses....(lol is that not funny the salt shaker right beside them??)

the tiger ones...took me to dinner, bought me my favorite Russell Stover caramels and brought me back home to the five other best accomplishments in my life.  We have been through some very tough times, bought our first home, had our first baby, quickly multiplied to a large family, built a new home, lost a new home, survived a flood and tornado, stayed together through the most difficult childbirth and last five years of a very hard journey.We have moved more times than we EVER planned or wanted to. We have laughed til we cried.  We have cried until the tears ran dry.  We have prayed.  We've made good decisions and bad... lived and learned.  We are committed to each other and under the covenant  of the almighty hands of God.  I look forward to many years to come. 

Halcomb
est 12-3-1994

Winner!

Winner was Mandy, who posted over on Lillian's blog.  Thank you all so much for your prayers for our family and just coming by to check out my blog all this time. 

Blogaversary----GIVEAWAY

Three years I've been blogging here in blogger.  I think it's time for a celebratory giveaway.  Surely I have some faithful readers/stalkers out there....I hope.  Anyway, if you are here, leave a comment and your name will go in a drawing.  If you can't leave a comment on this blog, hop on over to Lillian's and leave a comment there. Click on her picture and it should take you there, but I think I have the link above her name too. :)    That is all you have to do.  I will draw a name Sunday and post the winner and what you are getting.   Leave me an email address so I can contact you.  The gift will include some of my favorite things.  Thanks for reading and commenting. 

I must admit

facebook kind of helps fulfill my blogging.  And now, there's Pinterest. I've signed up to make a pinterest page, but just haven't gone there because I just know it's going to be a time sucker.  You know, something that sucks the time right out of your day? I so don't need that addiction.

How bout some family updating?  Let's start with Big Daddy.  Right now, he's battling a cold.  He is rarely sick, so I know there's something really going on if he says anything.  He is taking the spiritual lead in our family which is nothing short of answered prayer.  God is good.  A little plug---have you seen Courageous?  Go see it.  Take a box of kleenex and see it.  Take your man too.  If it doesn't move something inside you, I'm not sure what will.

Bethany had some allergy testing and come to find out, she really allergic to LOTS of stuff.  Our insurance is awesome, so she will begin a five year program of allergy shots to help with all that. 

What is it with teenagers an these uber serious pictures??

Rebecca just finished up her first season of cross country.  Super proud to see her push herself at each meet.  She is doing FANTASTIC in school, straight A+'s and one A.  A-mazing, I think. 

Isabelle also completed her first season of track.  I was proud of her for sticking with it!  I don't think it was something she loved, but she did it.  She has had a rough year with being sick and struggled with tummy problems, but I think she is over that finally. She went to her first dance on Friday.

Madeline is fiesty and busy as ever.  She is doing SO much better in school this year.  I think she has a great teacher.  Wish she could have loop with the same teacher, but our schools don't do that.  Much to my surprise, she wanted to join the running club, which met a few times before school then the children ran a one mile race.  She did a great job, but Big Daddy had to keep her motivated.  :)

Lillian got new glasses and that has been a trip in and of itself.  Just getting her to keep them on, sheesh.  Yesterday, I found them under the futon downstairs.  It's still hard for me to even get used to her having them.  Her life keeps me hopping ALL the time and if you follow her blog, you know that already!

Big Momma-  Well, I've been doing some cardmaking and some scrapbooking too.  I haven't scrapped in forever, I'm on a mission to complete our Christmas pictures.  I've gotten up to 2005.  I cropped those pictures last night.  Anxious to finish them and keep moving through. 

I've read a lot of good books recently.  The Yada Yada Prayer Group series.  Loved those books, they were almost like having daily devotions.  I'm currently reading Heave is for Real.  It is a very quick book, almost finished.  I think this post is probably long enough. 

Are you doing any crafting?  Is facebook and pinterest eating into your blog time? 

Purely Complimentary

Try to stay with me here....I do have a point...I think.

I grew up watching my Mom put make-up on each morning before she went to work or anywhere for that matter....even if we weren't going anywhere now that I think of it, although that wasn't often.  I think the one exception might have been if she was having a scheduled surgery. I would sit there and watch her every little move and detail.  She was so precise.  Naturally, when I came to about 11 or 12, I wanted to wear make-up too.( don't all preteen girls?)  I also had the mind set that I could not dare leave the house without it.  In early adult hood, I dabbled in being a beauty consultant, and the motto there...well, your face is your canvas...your advertisement, if you will.  It was so in-grained to me.  The older I got, the more I came to find that maybe it was just vanity.  I'm a clean person, I fix my hair...I'm the same person without make-up on my face.  I'd even been told by my husband that he liked me better without it.  As more children came along, I probably fell off the makeup wagon whenever I was spending the day at home.  With the birth of Lillian...my make-up wearing days fell by the wayside altogether.  Mostly, I just don't value the time it takes me to put it on.  If it comes down to having a few extra minutes of sleep, um, I'll take sleep.  If it means getting out the door on time versus being late, I'm going to be on time.  I also don't want my kids to think they need it.  I am the mother of five girls.  I want them to know they are beautiful and don't need enhancing.  Of course, they do like certain elements of makeup, mostly eye makeup.  My 11 year old is driving me nuts wanting to wear some.  And that's fine. She will get her chance when we feel she is old enough.  Where am I going with this, right?  I've always struggled with thinking I  am an attractive person.  My sister may be the only person in this life who tells me I'm beautiful  (thanks for that by the way)   if I bring it up.  I know she means.  In the Bible study we just started at church, we are doing a Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel.  To relate to us, she talks about the values the Babylon prized and how that equates to us in modern day...ie, the emphasis we place on youth, beauty, knowledge, and wealth.. The beauty one has really been nagging at me.   I really feel unsettled internally about it.  Maybe I'm just a screwed up mess....yep, that could be it. (I also think of this with my hair being so gray..color or not to color)  I decided to try to get up a few minutes earlier each day to slap on my make-up the last few days.  My children have noticed, the school kids have told me how pretty  I look, AND some of the adults I encounter on a regular basis have seemed to make a really big surprised compliment about how nice I look.  I appreciate it, I really do.  What does that say to me, though...the me inside my head...(crazy...I know)  I am indifferent, I just don't know how to process the thinking.  I'm me no matter what's on my face...made up or not.  I don't necessarily feel like I need to wear make up every day, it does not change who I am.  It certainly changes the reactions I get from people sometimes.  I don't necessarily want to dye my hair, but I dislike that people comment on it a lot when they find out I'm only 35...I mean, really, I'm 35 no matter what color my hair is. how do we keep ourselves from being sucked into being Babylonian women???Ugh, I just don't know....

The Sausage Arm Parable

Once upon a time there was a woman who thought she might go to goodwill and find some new, used clothes for herself.  She just happened to have a ten dollar reward card that entitled her to ten dollars worth of free merchandise.  Now, said woman, also happened to be a plus size woman and in recent days, thought her arms looked sort of like link sausages.  You know, from the shoulder to elbow, reminded her of sausage links.  It sounds odd, but that is what she thought when she looked in the mirror.  So, this lovely woman, ahem, went to the Goodwill, in spare window of time and started scanning the aisles.  Well, wouldn't you know, with free money in her pocket...she is struggling to find ANYTHING at all.  She did pass up a shirt with cutesy short sleeves, thinking in her head," that probably wouldn't fit my arms" so she didn't even try it on.  She became discouraged as she came to the end of the plus size clothes rack, frustrated that of course she wouldn't find someting since she had money available.  Her next thoughts took her to all the other "departments" of the store, with still no would be purchases.  She decides to check out the clothing rack one more time to see if something new has been added or if she might have overlooked a diamond in the rough so to speak.  She comes across this flannel print cutesy shrit, again, thinking, "that's my size, maybe the arms will fit after all".  Not having time to go to the dressing room and desperately wanting to fulfill her retail therapy, she thinks, "perhaps I'll just slip it on over my shirt, it's button up after all, that will give me some idea if it will work".  She places her arm in the first hole to find the sleeve is a wee bit snug. But, hey, a little tug, she can handle a little snug-ness, right?  She slips her other arm in and pulls the shirt about her and finds, it really probably won't work.  The arms would be snug, but doable, but the buttons probably won't accommodate ample boosom.  She sighs.  Oh well, she guesses retail therapy is shot for the day and she needs to get moving out of this store.  She shrugs "cutesy" shirt down her arms to find...uh oh....it's stuck on her arms.  She realizes, in sudden panick, the shirt is just not coming off.  A five minute wrestling match ensues, in which the shirt is winning.  The woman, in dismay, wonders if she is going to have to grab a stranger to tug this shirt off.  She is wondering if someone somewhere is watching this on a video camera, laughing hysterically.  She takes a moment to calm herself and wills herself to get this shirt off!  After another wrestling match, she is able to dislodge the shirt from her arms and get out of dodge.  Some days later, she finds herself pretty tickled at the sight it must have caused for anyone who might have been watching me  eer.....I mean her.  The End.

A ( doozy of a) week in Review

Last Monday: Lillian has therapy 9-11.  Appointment in KY at 1.  Realizing I will not make it home in time for nine year old Madeline, I ask a friend to pick her up.  Friend gets tied up at work, misses time, shows up late to house...no Madeline.  By the time I arrive, Madeline has been found down the street at a friend's house.  Monday evening, 11 year old Isabelle is done with cross country meet, needs a ride...calls back one minute later says Pastor will bring her home.  Calls back 5 minutes later, says Pastor left, I need to pick her up.  Bring her home.  4 minutes later, Pastor at front door, in near panic mode...he had just gone across the field to pick up his son.   Lillian has started throwing up feeds.

Tuesday: Busy morning, take baked goods to church to make peace offering for all the trouble I feel like I've created via my kids...come home, 4pm, phone rings...15 year old Bethany has missed the bus from school.  FROM school.  In fact, FIVE kids miss same bus from school.  hmm.  Go to get her, pass her friends walking home, pick her up.  At her urging, stop in parking lot by previously mentioned walkers, as we pull up, one of said teenagers has just been struck by a car.( PTL he turns out to be ok, just bruised up pretty good.) I order other walking teen into vehicle and drive him home.  I get home, potatos have turned but oh well, they go in the oven anyway.  Feeling a little shaken by car crash teenager....realize it's 10 minutes past time to pick up 11 year old Isabelle from cross country.  UGH.  Lillian is still puking.

Wednesday:  Get up, get ready to go to store...end up paying bills.  Go to goodwill and big lots...decide to go to nearby town.  Eat supper with some extended family.  Go to Sam's club with 9 kids and 3 adults total.  Get home, all kids totally grumpy.  What was I thinking? More puking.

Thursday: MUST GO TO STORE.  No milk in the house, husband less than thrilled. Get Lillian to therapy...must get milk.  Pouring onslaught of rain.  *sighs* Get a bath on the way to car.  Dirt all up my legs.  Umbrella NOWWHERE to be found.  Drop of Lillian, head to get milk.  TRAIN.  15 minutes behind train = not enough time to get to store.  Decide to get oil changed.  Mr. Lubie closed.  Must drive to other end of town to other Mr.  Lubie.  Pick up Lillian, get her off to school, stop at church for ice in cooler for grocery trip.  Talked into coming back and baking for Octoberfest.  Kids home, pick up from cross country.   Daughter volunteers me to take someone home....take child home, pizza for dinner, older girls to football game, off to store for milk.  Lillian still pukes, have to stop feeds almost completely.

Friday:Lunch with friend in nearby town.  Home late.  Pick up kids from CC, off to supper at a friend's house followed by scary movie.  Still puking.

Saturday: Prayer room, then off to Indy for a visit with Grandma.  Home, supper date with Hubs, off to Walmart for Monday's Labor Day cookout at my house, which is a disaster because I've not had a moment to clean. Ready to make cake for dinner at someone's home that I don't know well tomorrow...BUT cake turns to fruit salad as 13 year old has dropped Labor Day's watermelon and cracked it all the way around.  Lillian pukes for 30 minutes, forcing a stop at rest area.

Sunday: Church, then off to dinner with a couple from church who'd like to get to know us better.  Whole day spent there, home, get final things done for Labor Day cookout tomorrow.  It'll be outside, so the house will be ok so so.  Lillian pukes on couch of host.

Monday: get up, start cooking.  Make deviled eggs, potato salad, butterscotch oatmeal bars, cupcakes, pasta salad, baked beans, prep hamburger toppings,reheat augratin potatoes,  must get done early bc family member coming early to cook her stuff here.  Start grilling meat, almost done with hamburgers and gas runs out on grill.  Realize it is way too cold to eat outside, must make room in house for all these peeps.  Family here, eat, play cards.  13 year old Rebecca realizes Washington DC fundraiser stuff due tomorrow, has lost 77 dollars somewhere.  Maybe it has fallen behind kitchen cabinets...hubs and brother in law, spend an hour at least pulling out cabinets without tearing everything apart.  Praise God, it is really there.  I just thought they would get it all done and no money would be found.  Drop into bed.  I ache.  Which brings me to today.  Drop of Lil, reading in van, 13 year old calls, she has forgotten fundraiser stuff at home.  Duty calls.  Lillian is on a feeding and hasn't thrown up yet.

Welcome to my life. Thank you Jesus for your hand in it ALL.