magical night

three friends had a "fundraiser" for our dear friend who is going on a trip to the Ukraine with her husband. they go to minister to an orphanage that has special needs kids. my friend has an autistic son. she and her precious husband have big hearts for special needs kids.
well, in trying to come up with ideas to supplement the cost for them to go....we....three of her friends said, "lets have a dinner party and hire a singer and have a private concert and ask for a $25 donation!" we decided on my house because it has a pretty good "flow" factor. our dear friends, who cater, charged us practically nothing, and the "band" was two people...Adam Wright, lead singer of Act of Congress, and the INCREDIBLE Connie Skellie a violinist (with the voice of an angel)to play a home concert for us. We had a delicious dinner, some vino, and a show. well, i will say, it was MAGICAL! the candlelight behind them as they sang... the stories that they would tell in between songs were precious... the message of the Gospel was EVER PRESENT! the Lord blessed the evening. $950 was raised for my friend. it was a home run!
the photo is of my house. we moved my dining room table out and Adam and Connie stood under the chandelier and the candles were on the wall table behind them. most of the lights were off and we had chairs placed everywhere so everyone could see. we did not take any pictures. i could kick myself!
CLICK ON THEPOST TITLE TO GO TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS WEBSITE AND YOU CAN HEAR ADAM'S INCREDIBLE VOICE.

firetrucks are AWESOME!!

So let's call one~~ and all you have to do is pull this red lever and the whole place will start making lots of noisy woop woop woop sounds and then you get to all run outside and have fun watching the whoooooiiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooooo come driving up! with all the firemen and the kids outside. what a great adventure! and when mommy comes to get me at school and everyone is looking at her like "tsk tsk tsk poor thing she's got her hands full". SO, when mommy comes to my schoolroom the teacher tells her that she has to go to the principal's office and mommy is having a deja-vu from all the times she had to go to the principal's office in school. then mommy tries to hold back the tears as they talk about me. ooh what happened at school today? (daddy asks)
Nufing.....i say.

911 call from 5 year old must see! CLICK HERE

click here to watch amazing little girl sing and play piano

i painted a cow!

i have wanted to paint a cow and so i did!!

she's too sexy for the dentist...

i let her out and i thought she was takin' care of bidness and instead she was takin' care of BADNESS and had broken open the trash bag right outside the door and eaten through the coffee grinds to get to the LARGE amount of leftover spaghetti. she was ORANGE when i opened the door. i put her in the sink and bathed her face in antibacterial soap ccuz that's all i had right there and then i thought i would show you a picture of her "grill". she is the hottest old lady on the block. looka them chompers! do you think it might be time for dentures??? NO, we have never had her teeth cleaned. who gets their dog's teeth cleaned? sheesh!!!!!

great picture.

crunch was being sweet and he was minding me and he was all ready for school wif his widdle backpack and i want to eat him up and keep him a baby and he is four!!

the next four videos

these videos will show you a little of what we deal with in having a mental DOG that lives with us! CESAR MILAN where are you when we need you? "shht. shht." that sound you make just does not work!!

The OCD DOG~~!! WOOF!

you are kidding me!

oh come on moss!!

moss the dog.

when you are trying to quit.

there are lots of addictions. think of anything that is not great for you or all out bad for you and then think about how much you enjoy it and then imagine trying to STOP doing it. this spans from alcohol, drugs, sex...(the big ones) to something as small as my thrift store habit. anything that gives you a thrill that you put little too much emphasis in. some seem harmless enough. say you are addicted to your 3 cups of coffee a day. morning, mid morning, and maybe an afternoon cup. my friend is giving up caffeine for help with teeth grinding. it was somewhat hard for a few days and now she feels better and it is worth her three days of headaches. then you have the hoarding type of addictions that seem downright mental and unbelievably sad. this (i will mention) my husband is worried that i might be heading towards. he MUST be kidding. but i will say that i do get a "high" off of the "thrill of the hunt". i found a book that is listed on e-bay for $1,200! who the heck knows if i will get the $700 that i Listed mine for (discounted!). i told him that thrifting is a cheap form of therapy. but, like anything else, it is beginning to not be enough. this is what happens to me when i jump on something and then it kinda runs out of fun for me.
why do we (me included) search for something to fill our "happy" spot. our happy, "void". like putting a .99 cent thrift shaped puzzle piece in a God shaped puzzle space. there are so many "distractions" things that pull us away from HIM. the bible says to do all things for the Glory of God. i don't know if i feel like thrifting is an addiction or a hobby. oh well, not really even worth pondering. my art is NOT an addiction because it does not feel like an unhealthy distraction. it feels like it is "what i am supposed to be doing" with my gift of evangelism. i LOVE to tell people the reason that i do not OWN artistic talent. it is only God-given.
now to my real addiction. the shameful one. the one that my family will be horrified but not surprised that i shared.
i have a skin-picking disorder. anything you can pick, pop or scratch. i do it. i am working SO HARD to beat this problem. it started when i was in high school when i picked the split ends off of the ends of my hair. this progressed to picking and popping facial blemishes, in college. then arms and legs, small hair follicles that would pop. when i developed alopecia areata and had hair loss this began an obsession with my hair. i would "check" my eyebrows to make sur they were not falling out. well, recently, i have actually pulled them out. this disease moves around and can waste your LIFE!!! i am tired of it. i have asked God for healing. i am praying continually for that. i would love for you to pray for me. i am soliciting the help of a psychologist and am excited about the little bit of progress that i have made.
God could have healed me of this "impulse control disorder" a long time ago but i will tell you...it has brought me to my knees and i PRAISE GOD for that. if that is why he has not healed me....then PRAISE GOD. He will continue to use me. and for that i am grateful.
my "addiction", my enemy, but my means for brokenness before the cross and a reminder of His GRACE and redemption. i embrace the battle.

snow

right now the snow blankets the ground
but because it is night...it sits untouched
silent peaceful no one pushing it around... yet
no one throwing it scraping it mixing it with leaves and dirt
in about 9 hours the kids will wake me up...
and the snow too
they will disturb it's peace
all the while making us LAUGH..........

butter's drawings (age 6) i was pretty impressed!

rock the casbah

bert and i were in an argument about the words to the song "rock the casbah by the clash. bert thought it was "ROCKIN' THE CASBAH." i thought it was "ROCK THE CASBAH". it turns out we are both right it first says ROCKIN' then it says "ROCK". then BERT said it is "i really don't like it.....rockin' the casbah..." i corrected him that it was "the "SHARIF" don't like it"...like the local sherrif don't like it but rock the casbah anyway. you know? turns out i was wrong and it is some girl named "sharita" that don't like it. who the heck is SHARITA?

you know when you have been thinkin the same thing for so long and then you find out it is not true it kind of rocks the boat and well....my casbah.

special confession: this post reminds me of something. i just learned, after 35 years of life that the word "forty" is not spelled "fourty" ok how long have bank tellers been laughing at me? huh!

lol it just popped up on spellcheck! i KNOW how to spell it now! sheesh! oh and WHAT is a CASBAH anyway because spellcheck does not even recognize it!

OK one day later....i just went on another website cause this whole SHARITA thing is really buggin. another lyric website says it is the SHAREEF don't like it!!
PHEWWWWWW. i have been so worried about this! i'm gonna go with shareef because sharita is creepy and seems wrong. oh so wrong!

how i see this.

i was trying to encourage a friend today on the phone. and in doing so, i believe the Holy Spirit was speaking to me as well. i told her "GOD LOVES YOU and will never leave you" and she said to me, "I don't believe that right now". and i said back to her, "it does not matter what you BELIEVE.....it is still true.....i don't care if you believe it or not. it is TRUE. the Bible tells us so."

we are so ARROGANT and SELF-FOCUSED that we think that we can CHOOSE to believe whatever we "pick" to believe out of the Bible. whatever verses "feel good" whichever ones affirm US. UGGGGGGGG! it drives me crazy! who do we think we are?? we can't pick and choose what we think is true. the BIBLE is the WORD OF GOD and it is all TRUTH. let us NOT put him in our little tiny world "bubble" and say things like "God would not do that because he is a 'loving God'" well, does God work within the parameters of what WEBSTER and the rest of his definition cronies define as "good" and "loving"? how dare we diminish him to our level. he is GOD. THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. is his definition of GOOD and LOVING the same as ours?
let me give you an example of some of the dialogue that i have heard. "if you have enough faith and you really believe that you will be healed. then you will be healed. God made your body to 'work properly'... right? you just have to "claim the verses all over the gospels about how all of those people's 'faith had healed them'." in Mark 5:34 a woman just wanted to touch the edge of Jesus' cloak for his power and he asked "who touched me?" and he told her "daughter, your faith has healed you". stories are all over the Bible about the miracles of healing and they are all true! now, i am not a pastor, or teacher or scholar of the Bible, BUT is our definition of "healing" supposed to cover just physical healing OR is God also talking to us about our souls? what i mean is, don't we all die eventually of something? whether it is a disease or old age or even an accident. when we die...and we will...should that not fall into the category of "not healed?" isn't death the antithisis of HEALING?
what i am trying to say is if one is a believer, he will rise from death on earth, to be with Jesus in heaven. THIS IS the ULTIMATE HEALING.
let me get something straight, one CAN be healed on earth of illness. OF COURSE. and there are many miracles that happen every day! BUT, if God does not choose to heal one on earth this does not necessarily mean that the person was lacking faith.

when a child is sick or dying it is DEVASTATING, UNTHINKABLE, and HORRIBLE? do i have any idea why God allows these things? no, the same way a newborn baby can't comprehend calculus or organic chemistry. our minds are not capable of understanding these things but I do know that the Bible tells me that God is SOVEREIGN, HE LOVES HIS CHILDREN, and he calls us to....trust in HIM with all of our hearts, and lean NOT on our own understanding; but in ALL OUR WAYS, ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, and HE will direct our paths. proverbs 3:5

Do i like some of the things that have happened in my life? no. do i think that the disasters that i have seen on television happening in our world right now are ok? no. do i think that i am big enough to understand them? no. in choosing to believe "whatever i want" wouldn't i love to say that God has no part in these things? YES. YESSS....but wait? really? if I said that God has no control over disaster, devastation and calamity, that would have to mean that "He, the LORD of the UNIVERSE (that made all things by just thinking of them)...is just hanging out in heaven thinking...."goodness me, i wish i could have done something about that. oh and THAT- O MAN i wish i could have stopped that from happening." how ridiculous does that sound? THAT IS NOT MY GOD. MY GOD knows all things and has full power and sovereignty and EVERYTHING that happens in this world passes through his hands before it comes to be. HE IS NOT A HELPLESS AND WIMPY GOD that is ruled by free will and Satan. HE is a God that knows every hair on my head and every sparrow that falls to the ground (matt. 10:30) YOU might not like it. it certainly is not politically correct. but it is not up to you to like it. it is TRUTH and it sure as heck sets me free.

rejection

i just got rejected by the Double Decker Art Festival. and i am frustrated and am sad. what does it take to get into this thing?? i am an Ole Miss grad with an art degree. i sent in what i thought was an impressive package. i sent a non-refundable check for $50. here are a few examples of what i sent in my application.

the right face? i feel old. am i too young to say that?

holding the camera up to my face trying to capture "me". right now i am a little melencholy so i can't say that this FACE will stay as the blogger cover but here were the other choices.

i had a hard day. i really don't know what made it hard. maybe i was trying to equip myself for today rather than letting the Lord. yep that probably is exactly it. why is giving myself up everyday not the FIRST THING i think to do?? because i still think i know best and then when things get too hard....i go to the Lord. why is he not my first choice?

"joovie"

i am reaching the end of a rather interesting day. it began as usual and really uneventful. i PREPARED myself all morning for what i thought was going to be a traumatic "dental" experience. crunch had to have a cavity filled. in my defense, the dentist said that the cavity was so deep in the tooth that it was probably an "abnormality" in his tooth. in other words....i don't pour sugar down my kids mouths. the kid came out of the filling like a champ. no tears. a little loopy maybe. but it was SO EASY. WOW! i thought, this is gonna be a good day AFTER ALL.

after we left the dentist, crunch and i headed to get him something "cold" to drink and then (since we still had time to spare before the others got home from school) we headed for the art store so i could grab a few supplies. up at the register there was a display of "x-acto" knives that were little and kind of looked like tape measures. they were brightly colored and they looked like fun so crunch grabbed one...i took it out of his hand and said, "you can't have that..it is a knife and it will CUT YOU!" i always try to sound kind of scary when my kids confront something dangerous. it will CUTTT YOOOOO! i guess i think it works.

we get home, the kids come in from walking home from school. big sis started tickling crunch when they walked in. he retreated to hide in this pillows of the couch. i said, "oh look he is so tired from his filling...leave him alone....let him rest". then she said to me "MOM he's hiding something in his hand!" right about that time he shows me the purple x-acto in his hand. Oh. My. Gosh!!!!!! CRUNCH YOU STOLE THAT KNIFE!!!!!!! then i went into my upset fussing "i can't believe you did that! you CAN"T TAKE STUFF that you don't pay for!! that is called STEALING!!!

next stop: police station...[this will really get him], i'm thinking...we will go in and i'll let a police officer talk to him and that MIGHT get through to him (since this is our 4th shoplifting experience). so we drive up and there is an officer on his cell in his police car. i rolled down the window and asked if he would talk to my four year old. well, not only did he talk to him....he asked if we wanted to come and see what the jail looks like. [OH BOY! what an opportunity!] i thought. so, we went on a "tour" of the local jail. oh yes, we saw the interrogation room that just happened to have a HANDCUFFED PRISONER IN IT!!!! (i don't think 'officer jimmy' knew there was someone in there). luckily, peanut is the only one that saw him and i think she is over it. we got to smell the stench of the "cage" area of the jail and we saw a prisoner inside the cage. now, let me be clear...the two older children had eyes as big as saucers and were greatly impacted by everything and butter wanted to be SURE that his little brother was not going to be left there. BUT CRUNCH. WAS HARDLY MOVED AT ALL BY THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE!!!! UGGGGGG!

final location: returning the stolen merch we headed back to the art store and all piled out of the minivan and crunch just be bopped his way on in and, we brought the x-acto back to the manager and he asked for forgiveness, she played along and then i pulled out my final desperate trick...nothing else had worked in "shaking him up"...SPIDERMAN the action figure just happened to be in my pocket. i handed the manager crunch's favorite toy for the manager to keep until we come back again....i got a little reaction with that...but nothing to really write about.

we got in the car. he pulled a piece of candy out of his pocket from the first visit to the art store (a tradition for crunch to get a mint from the manager's back office..yes, he helps himself). SO, he goes to put that mint in his mouth and i said, "oh no you may NOT have that candy. not after what has happened today." he curled his lip out and cried.......but only a little bit. a reaction? was it enough? we'll seeeeeee!!!!!! LORD, i can't know how to be the best mom to a child like crunch. please help me to make the right decisions concerning my kids. please protect them. help crunch to learn from today. and me too!
disclaimer: one might feel that i went a little far with this "disciplinary tactic" and i just have to say, "WALK A MILE IN THESE SHOES! i have to make big statements to get results. he is a strong-willed child and unless you have one of these then shhhhhh...." thanks!

it is Beau's birthday!

My precious nephew is 5 and is having a GREAT day! he gets to eat WHATEVER he wants today and he is having a "camo" party! his daddy sent this video of Beau dancing with his sister. heartwarming!




continue to pray for Beau and his fight against DMD Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. We praise the Lord for Beau and how much joy he brings to people! he is the cutest and funniest kid!

an injured husband

poor bert. i did not even know that he was outside last night! i was so into my "criminal Minds" show that i am addicted too (i know. it's creepy) when bert comes walking in the house in a rain suit. lemme go back....he is obsessed with the house and how it is "fairing" in the rain. when it rains he goes outside to see if the gutters and downspouts are working correctly. i don't get it. it is dangerous and it is also a little obsessive if you ask me (because i am an expert on obsessive behavior). ANYHOOOOOO he comes in and he has freakin' blood coming out of his mouth. this is what happened:
he has this big old flashlight that hooks to the wall to charge and i really think that he would jump in a flood to save this flashlight over lets say...me or one of the kids! ok, so he was outside checking on the downspout and the long pipe type thing that he has connected to it to keep the water from pooling next to the house. he needed both hands so what does he do? he puts the butt of the flashlight in his mouth to hold it while he tries to pull a stick out of the ground that was "touching" his pipe. his hand slipped and he hit the flashlight and it jammed into his mouth!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so, he was shivering in shock, spitting blood and laying on the carpet in our den. i made him swish and spit so i could see where the blood was coming from. he had a cut in the soft pallet Right in front of his tonsil and that was all i could see. but, he kept saying his tongue hurt. he lifted his tongue up and THEN WE SAW the source of the pain. that little connector under his toungue was a bloody mess. we also think it is bruised. poor bert. i had him all wrapped up and a space heater on him to warm him up. a little hydrocodone syrup and a lidocaine mouth swish that i had from the time that i bit the STINK out of my lip.
he is fine but sore. can't talk very well because he has a swollen tongue. what next in this family?
MORAL OF STORY?
DO NOT put a flashlight in your mouth! i know you have! hey i think i just thought of a gift for bert...a head lamp!!!!

three ballerinas

a friend asked me to come by and look at her little girls room. she has three girls VERY close in age. we decided ballerinas would fit the girls best so i painted some little cutie pies!

painting of my friend's house

a rare moment of sharing

there is a small war in my house at all times with little snippits of peace. this was one of those moments. butter letting chrunch look on while he played his DS.

frannie

PAINTING SOLD!

I am thrilled to say that the painting went for $600! a wonderful woman was the top bidder on the painting! i will post pics of the painting being delivered. BTW the money was donated immediatly to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund via paypal. thank you Justin for your selflessness and time in creating a auction website for the painting. thank you to Chris for getting that hooked up.
I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me the gift of painting and an opportunity to serve.
PRAY FOR HAITI.

IMPORTANT BIDDING INFO!

THE AUCTION CLOSES AT 2:00 TODAY! (EASTERN) LISTEN UP THOUGH....IF YOU BID...DO NOT INCLUDE A $(DOLLAR) SIGN! IT WILL NOT REGISTER YOUR BID. JUST PUT THE NUMBER IN. BID BID BID! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW THIS ENDS! IT IS AT 600!!!

PAINTING NOTE, I HAVE ADDED THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GLOSS TO THE PAINTING THAT ABSOLUTELY SETS THE PAINTING OFF! IT LOOKS GREAT! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHO GETS IT!

portrait turned fun art

a few posts ago i shared with you that i would be re-painting an old "portrait" to add my additional child to it. well, i tried, and tried. i started with peanut....disaster. she ended up looking like a contestant for "toddlers in tiaras". it was awful. i tried all different expressions, face color lip shade..no matter WHAT...she ended up looking like she was FORTY!! Painting portraits of yourself or your children (i have heard) proves to be one of the hardest things to do. as a rule. i do not know why. but it WAS. so i said BLAAAAAAAAAA and decided to make a "fun" painting out of it. i like it MUCH better. SO from original portrait...to hideous 40 year old little girl to FUN FUN FUN! UP on the MANTLE and i am happy. NOTICE: beloved "rico" on Peanut's shoulder. no painting is complete without the family rodent.