GOD'S LITTLE REMINDER

God’s Little Reminder

This is one of the many songs I have written.
Finished on March 12, 2008 while waiting on the birth of our 2nd son.

I was down and out

all worried about

all the bills we had to pay

I wondered how we'd make it

in this little home

with a baby on the way

I hung my head down

and I started to cry

All I could do is ask

God...why?

In a moment when

all hope seemed gone

that tiny little baby

started kicking up a storm

and I knew right then...

that it was God's little reminder

to cling to HIM a little bit tighter

   And He will see us through

Six years later

he overheard me talkin

on the phone one night

saying I was a horrible mom

and a worthless wife

I hung up the phone

and I started to cry

All I could do is ask

God...why?

In a moment when

all hope seemed gone

my little boy hugged me

and asked, "mom what's wrong"

And I knew right then...

that he was God's little reminder

to cling to HIM a little bit tighter

   And He will see us through

   Yeah, He will see us through

Thank God for little reminders.

MY HUSBAND'S WORTH

I want my husband to know that he is full of worth to our family. His worth is not determined by the money (or lack thereof) in our bank account. His worth is not defined by the hours he spends away from us each day. After all, I know he gives 110% at work just like he does here. So when doors of opportunity open, he will be ready to walk through them.

His value at home is extremely high. He works all day and then comes home and almost immediately takes over. He understands how exhausted I am from spending my day with our three boys. We both love our boys immensely, but they do have a way of wearing us out.

• He is my encourager. Whatever task God places on my life and I choose to accept, my husband is there cheering me on and giving me creative ideas. When I just can't figure out how to move forward, he's there to help.

• He's a good listener. Sometimes he's the only adult I have who will let me talk about my day. And I tell him everything! 

• He's my helper (and I am his). Occasionally he'll ask me if I have any projects that need to be done. No matter what it is that I tell him I need his help with, he just does it. He knows I wouldn't ask him to do something that wasn't important to me. And most of the time it's stuff that I just can't do on my own, like making a garden area for our plants, or hanging pictures on the wall. Well, I could do that, but it wouldn't be as straight as he makes it. If he's running low on clothes, he usually just does laundry himself. He knows that if I haven't gotten to the laundry, there's a reason.

• He's a great dad! I know he doesn't think so most of the time, but he is. He's always thinking of things to do for our boys. He makes sure to take our oldest to the video game store to spend his money before coupons expire. He wants to take our older boys to see movies together; you know, the ones that I wouldn't be interested in anyway. He helps our 6 year old with projects and he plays with our baby all of the time. Anytime he finds stuff at the store that we can afford for our boys that he knows they will love, he doesn't hesitate to buy it for them.

My hubby with our youngest boys.

• He has a heart for God! He may not get to read his Bible as much as he desires, but I know (and God knows) that he loves the Lord with all of his heart. He's ready for church every single time he can make it there and he loves working with the youth and serving wherever he's needed.

• He's a giver! Even when we barely had the money to make our tithes, he has never once suggested that we keep our tithe money to use for something else. He gives with a cheerful heart. If there is ever a need for anyone, you can count on him to give his time and energy to help.
  
• He's a lot of fun! Again, here's another area that he may not agree with, but I want him to know how I feel. Because of him, we've had some of the greatest traditions. Stuff that most families don't have. Like, the Grinch coming to our house each Christmas, our growing collection of snowflakes that we hang from the ceilings in the winter time, and the most awesome Halloween costumes!
  
  

  

  This is my favorite Halloween costume he made. He used a shopping cart to make a hospital bed for our oldest son and made it look like our younger son was popping up through his stomach.

  He loves to go hiking with us and exploring new places, playing games, taking walks, playing in the back yard, and sometimes doing things out in public to embarrass us. Deep down, I think he's hilarious! 

A silly moment on a hay ride. Don't worry, no one was actually harmed!

So, this post is to my hubby. I love you with all of my heart. Don't let anything else define you except for who God says you are! You are valuable to Him and you are valuable to me and our boys, no matter what!

WISDOM WAITS

Have you been praying about a decision you need to make? Maybe even fasting, believing to hear from God for your answer? But, you're just not getting the green light from Him. Maybe it's something that you really believe would benefit your family, like a job opportunity or moving to a new area. Maybe it's even something that will benefit others like starting a ministry or going on a mission trip.

Well, I've been dealing with this issue for about a month. I've been going back and forth, trying to decide if I should rejoin a business that I was in before; a business that I was very successful in and I really enjoyed...until it just became too overwhelming. For some reason lately I've gotten it in my head that I could do it again, and even better than the last time. I even started asking people if they would support me again. And I got a lot of positive responses. I thought it was going to be so easy because so many would support me. Then I found out that I could even rejoin for free! 

Today God finally gave me my answer that I've been praying for.  It's not a yes or a no, but for now, it is WAIT! He caught my attention today when I was reading a paragraph from Elizabeth George's book, A Woman After God's Own Heart.
This is what she said: 

"It's impossible to read the book of Proverbs and not get the message that wisdom waits. As a general principle for practicing your priorities, know that it is safer to wait and do nothing than to rush in and do the wrong thing. One of the many proverbs that expresses this biblical truth says, 'He sins who hastens with his feet' (Proverbs 19:2)."

Now that God has finally given me clarity, I'm thinking, "What was I thinking?". It's not like I have less responsibilities now than I had before. Now I'm homeschooling two children while also taking care of a toddler and we live in a bigger home, which requires more upkeep. 

Once I learned that He really wants me to wait, I feel in my heart that it's actually a no. This doesn't mean that if He tells you to wait, it's an automatic no. I just think He's been trying to get my attention all along and telling me to wait was His way of telling me to stop going after what I thought would work and just trust Him. I just needed to really stop for a minute and stop chasing my desires. It was my desire to make more income for my family and this business is the quickest way I knew how. I knew that I did it before and it worked, so I could do it again. Even though God kept whispering, "Just write.", I continued to pray about this other opportunity. I have known for a long time that I'm supposed to write books that will bring healing and deliverance to others. And I know that God wants to use me through this blog. While I love to write, I mostly write for you, my reader. I want to pass on my experiences in hopes that it will help you in some way.

So, once again I will ask you, have you been praying about a decision that you need to make? Maybe God wants you to just wait! Or maybe, like me, He's already been whispering to you about something else that needs to be done. 

Be blessed my friends!

REMOVE NAIL POLISH WITHOUT THE SCRUBBING

I don't mind putting on nail polish, but I don't wear it often because I can't stand how hard it is to get off. That was, until I found this fantastic tip! 

1. Soak a cotton ball in nail polish remover.
2. Place the soaked side on your nail.
3. Wrap aluminum foil around the cotton ball.
4. Wait at least 5 minutes.
5. Remove cotton balls by pressing firmly as you remove them.
6. TaDa  (You may have to take a Q-tip to get a tiny bit left on the sides. No big deal!)

It may look silly, but I would do almost anything to not have to scrub, and scrub, and scrub to get the polish off. Not to mention the stinky smell that's left on your fingers because of all that scrubbing.

Be blessed my friends!

The Monsters Have a New Home Outside

The monster pumpkins and watermelons have found a new home out back. We have way too many planted in this space, but we will just have to weed some out as they grow bigger and bigger. I love watching these plants grow. It makes me happy! Every time I look at them, I remember the day that my boys and I planted them together. It was such a fun time. If you want to read more about these plants, click HERE for my first post, and HERE for the 2nd post.

Be blessed my friends!

The Nightmares Continue

About a week ago I had a dream that I was walking out on a pier with my two oldest sons. I told my oldest son as I was walking away, to keep a really close eye on his younger brother. I looked back over my shoulder and yelled at him and told him that he was too far away from his brother and wasn't even looking in his direction. As I was talking, I saw my 5 year old son calmly walk to the edge of the pier and then he stepped into the water and went under. I screamed my oldest son's name. He turned and ran towards the water to try to save his brother...and then woke up.

I found this picture from our last vacation. It's really creepy to me now because it's very similar to the scene at the end of my dream. Only there wasn't any railing where Stinky Face fell into the water. 

As I was telling my husband about this dream, he said that was strange because he also had a dream that involved a pier.

Fast forward to last night and I had another nightmare concerning my little Stinky Face again. Here's the dream:

I was at a park with two of my friends. Stinky Face was having a blast in the distance, but I was keeping a close eye on him. I noticed this woman with dark hair looking at him and I told my friends that she was going to try to steal him. Sure enough, I hear her call him by name. Then she tells him that his mommy wanted him to come with her. He came up to her vehicle. It was an older, maroon SUV. She went to the passenger side as my friends and I ducked down on the drivers side. We were waiting for her to put him in the car so we could actually report it as kidnapping.

She put him in the back seat and put headphones on him so he couldn't hear anything. I told one of my friends to get the license plate number. I started slowly dialing 911. After she put him in his seat, she climbed though the passenger side of the car and quickly locked the door on us. I started yelling and banging on her window. I still had my phone in my hand, dialing 911, but the call wasn't going through.

The woman who stole my son had become a man at this point of the dream. He drove off. I yelled at my friends to follow him. I got in my car trying to chase him too. I quickly lost him and I heard a voice, "All circuits are busy." from my phone. I frantically kept trying to call for help, but my call just wouldn't go through. I had lost the man and my friends in my pursuit.

Somehow in my dream I figured out where the man was. I think I saw the vehicle parked somewhere. I go up to this huge, white house and just barge in. It was like Halloween or something. There were a lot of scary people figures throughout the house. One of them was slouched over a chair with his butt facing me. Just as I was noticing this particular figure, he stood up and turned around and started coming towards me. It was the man! I was frantic!

At that very moment, someone finally answered my call for help. I was very quickly telling them that my son had been kidnapped and I found the man who did it. I looked at the door to my right and there happened to be an address label on the door. I read the address to them as fast as I could. The man was still coming towards me. I remembered the address was 90 Longsworth Way.

At that point, I was off of the phone with 911 and the man told me that we need to talk about the money. Then I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.

I told my husband about this dream and he said that he had a nightmare also. It was also very long and detailed, but basically it involved people from college holding him hostage. He was eventually able to escape. I think it's crazy how our dreams have had similarities. 

I don't know if these dreams about my Stinky Face are warnings from God, or if they are from the devil. I am praying about them and also praying that they stop. They are very disturbing. God promised me that He would give me the meanings of my dreams, so I am just waiting on Him to reveal the reason behind these terrible nightmares about my little man. I do know that in the mean time, I will be keeping a very close eye on him!

To read about my 1st bad dream involving Stinky Face, click HERE. This happened about a month ago.

Be blessed my friends! 

WHAT KIND OF MOM ARE YOU?

Have you seen the latest terms for mothers? Silky, Crunchy, and Scrunchy? Basically it puts mothers in these 3 categories. 

• Silky is supposed to be a "modern" mother who prefers a medicated hospital birth, disposable diapers, bottle feeding, crib sleeping, etc. 

• Crunchy in my opinion is like a modern day hippie; breast feeding, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, natural, home births, etc.

• Scrunchy would be a combination of silky and crunchy.

Am I the only mother who is NOT OKAY WITH THIS? 

Don't we have enough pressure on us already? Pressure to keep up with the house, make sure everyone else is taken care of, pressure to fit in Bible time and exercise, disciplining our children, guiding them, and educating them. Pressure to budget and work on our family finances. Pressure to keep up with friendships. We have enough to worry about! It's hard enough just living life in these times. Times where social media is rampant and adds more and more guilt to us mothers. Tell me I'm not alone! Even though I know that I do my best to make life interesting for my kids, I feel pressure to post it on Facebook, just because I want all the other mommies to know that I do stuff with my kids too. 

We already compare ourselves to each other so much! 

Do we really need more titles? 

She homeschools. She bakes great meals all the time for her family. She uses all natural products and cloth diapers. She makes her own baby food. She balances work and family life. She breast feeds. She bottle feeds. Her baby sleeps in his own crib. She had him in a hospital. You know what? I don't care what kind of products you use, whether you work or choose to stay home, whether you bottle feed or breast feed. 

All I care about and all you should care about too, is that you do the very best you can with what God has given you to love your children with all of your heart. 

Many moms, including myself would've loved to parent a certain way, but that's not how it worked out. For example, I wanted natural births, but I ended up with 2 emergency c-sections. Does that make me less of a "crunchy" momma? Better yet, does that make my love for my children any less? No it doesn't!

I refuse to beat myself up over these man (woman)-given titles. God's plans have thankfully prevailed in my life, regardless of how I expected things to turn out. He has a reason for my c-sections. He has a plan for all the pain I went through, just trying to make it one more day with breastfeeding. His plans for calling me to quit my job of 10 years to homeschool my kids is becoming more clear to me each day. I can't wear my baby no matter how many different brands of gear I try. It just doesn't work for me. So, thank God for strollers and strong arms! 

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

Let's take more time focusing on God's plans for us, instead of trying to fit into certain categories. Follow His plans and you will prosper in so many ways!

My name is Amanda and I'm a mom! A mom that loves my kids with all of my heart. That's all that matters! I have peace!  

Be blessed my friends!

Summer Fun & Coppertone ClearlySheer Sunscreen

Summer is now in full swing. Yay! I'm so excited about that. This is our first year taking the summer off from homeschooling in about 5 years so I'm trying to fully enjoy it. We bought a pool pass for the local pool. They have a nice kids area, a water slide, a lazy river, a sprinkler playground and of course the rest of the pool area. This will be our main hangout on the really hot days.

Here's my hubby and my little man going down the lazy river!

I also send the kids outdoors as much as possible. One of our favorite things is the awesome trampoline we bought last year. Here's a picture of the big kids playing on the trampoline while the little ones used their grand imaginations with chairs.  :)

Since the kids are outside so much during summer, I was SO excited to be invited to this BzzCampain for Coppertone's ClearlySheer products. (To learn more about becoming a BzzAgent where you can receive free products to review like I do, click HERE.) I received several small samples of the Coppertone ClearlySheer Sunny Days, a couple of mini spray bottles of their Beach & Pool spray, a full sized sample of Sunny Days body lotion, and coupons to pass along to my friends. 

I was a fan of this sunscreen from the moment I first sprayed the Beach & Pool spray on my kids. It sprayed on so thin. It was a really light spray that goes on smooth and doesn't feel greasy. No complaints from them! I take skin protection very seriously (as you can tell by the shirts on my boys below) so it was also important that this sunscreen did what it was meant to do, and that is protect our skin. After trying out the various products that I received samples of, each of them proved to do their job. None of us ever got the slightest tint of redness on our skin.

Another great factor about Coppertone's ClearlySheer products is that it sells at a great price. If you are comparing sunscreen costs, just one look at all the different brands together, and you will find that Coppertone products are some of the least expensive ones. But don't let that discount the quality! 

I absolutely loved the Sunny Days body lotion. The scent is light and refreshing. Its moisturizing formulas go on so soft and smooth that you can wear it underneath your makeup. My teenage son is also very prone to acne. It has gotten to the point that we got a prescription from the doctor. He has it pretty much under control now and I'm very happy to report that the Coppertone ClearlySheer products did not make him break out. It has been clinically tested on acne-prone skin and it doesn't clog pores or cause breakouts! Our family was so happy with Coppertone's ClearlySheer products that we plan to switch from our regular brand. I can't say enough positive things about this awesome new product. You can purchase ClearlySheer products almost anywhere you find regular sunscreen. I was not paid to give you my opinion, however, I did receive the free samples that I mentioned. My opinions are always completely honest. If I don't like a product, I will definitely let you know so you don't waste your time or money on it. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great summer!

Be blessed my friends!