It was supposed to be a quick run into the superstore to see if there was a toy that my girlfriend wanted for her girl’s Christmas present.

Taking Ben anywhere is quite a challenge.  He wants to look at every toy.

But today, he was good!  He actually had no problem leaving the toy section as soon as we were finished.  So when we checked out, I thought, “I’ll get him a cookie.”

The line was longer for the concessions than for the check out.  During this time, Ben felt the need to be restless with the shopping cart.

“Stop,” I warned him.

About two minutes later, he rammed me with the crazy contraption! 

“That’s it!” I told him, “No cookie.”

He threw a huge fit—right there in the front of the store.

“It was an accident,” he screamed at me, crying and making a huge scene.

We left the store, without the cookie.  He then tells me, “You are on the NAUGHTY LIST!”

“That’s okay.” I tell him.  “I don’t want a present.”

That made him even madder.  He was sure that he could take my emotions and make me reconsider.

It wasn’t the fact that it was an accident.  It was the fact that I told him not to mess with the cart and he did. 

“I understand it was an accident.  But you chose to disobey me,” I explained to him.

He continued to tell me that I was on the NAUGHTY LIST and that Santa was not coming to bring me anything.

I told my husband.  He assured me I was not on the NAUGHTY LIST and proceeded to tell Ben that if he did not change his attitude BEN himself would be on the NAUGHTY LIST because we would email Santa ourselves!

It’s too funny how kids process things.  I had to keep myself from laughing as he told me that I better watch out.

So, if you are reading this and find yourself wanting to share a similar story, please comment!  Sometimes the best stories are the ones that are shared.  I could also use a good laugh!

It was a 10th birthday I pray my daughter will remember forever.

We took a road trip to Dallas with four of her favorite friends and their moms; spent the night in a hotel and went to the American Girl Place.

If you aren’t familiar with American Girl, they are a line of beautiful dolls with historical stories to along with them.

My daughter received Samantha several years ago.  I am a cheapskate and I bought the doll off of ebay. The doll was in perfect condition.

The company has decided to “retire” Samantha after this year.  The doll, accessories, etc. will be gone soon.

This trip was so special.  Rachel bought Samantha’s best friend, Nellie, who is also being retired, with her own birthday money from grandparents and friends.

I nearly cried as I watched my beautiful 10 year old stand in line on her own to purchase this doll.  There was a huge smile on her face.

We have spent the last day or so playing with them and talking about my childhood.

My mother and grandmothers gave me Madame Alexander Dolls when I was a child.  I was never allowed to play with them!  But I would always sneak….and play with them anyway.

What good is it to have something and not use it? 

Carpe Diem!  Or, in doll terms—play!

For Brian’s birthday, we went to see The Nutcracker with the kids.

It was Ben’s first time to go.  For a 6 year old boy, I was a little nervous as to whether that he could handle sitting still.  So, I gave him 2 lollipops!  One during the first act, the second one during the second act. He looked at me during the second act and said, “I think I’ve had too much sugar!”

He did alot better than I thought he would.  I attribute that to Disney’s Little Einsteins.  I think that show is totally awesome.  I don’t love everything Disney puts out, but that show is tops.  It teaches kids so much about art and music.  It is everything I wish I had as a kid.  Each time he heard a part of the music he knew, he would give me a huge thumbs up.

His favorite part was when the nutcracker came alive.  He thought that was awesome.  Also he loved the sword fighting.

After the matinee, we went out to dinner.  Normally, he would sit down and color to wait for food.  Instead, he laid his little head down on the table at the steakhouse and allowed visions of sugarplums to dance in his head.

The other day, I was on the computer looking at cyber deals for Christmas and Ben comes over to ask me a question.

“Mom, who’s that girl I’m going to marry?”

I stopped and looked at him.  “What girl?”

“You know, that girl that we went to see, far, far away?”

I have no idea what he was talking about!

I asked him what he meant by that.  He got a little agitated with me.

“The one I’m supposed to marry!”

“Ben, God’s got the right one picked out for you.  I don’t pick her,” I explained.

“No, God says,” my son informed me, “I get to pick her.”

No sense in arguing with him.  He’s only 6.  So I let it go.

A little bit later he tried to tell me something else about marriage.

“I’m going to marry someone like you, Mommy. Only she’ll be even prettier; with yellow hair.”

Ouch! Okay.  He’s just 6, I’m not going to get my feelings hurt.  The child has always preferred blondes.  Two years ago he asked 2 blonde girls to marry him on our vacation.  He was turned down both times.

Then, the funniest thing happened.  He gave me a more detailed description of this bride-to-be.

“She will already have children,” he informed me.

“Oh, really,” I inquired, “why is that?”

“Because I don’t want her to hurt!  So she’ll already have children so that way she won’t have to get them cut out.”

Man!  That was so ingenious!  I mean, he knows that he had to be cut out because the chord was wrapped around him twice.  But to take that and associate “I haven’t got time for the pain…..” well, the child is intuitive!

Children have such great senses of humor.  His knowledge about marriage is based on what he sees around him, and what he perceives as real.

Sometimes, I wonder what my children’s spouses are going to be like, and even are like right now. In fact, I actually have prayed for them for years.  I want my kids to know the kind of love that endures. And I want their spouses to know the One who places it all in motion.

My friend, Chelle Richards (also a KSBJ DJ), would tell you I can kill a cactus! Chelle and I worked together about 13 years ago at another station. I used to have a desk with a cactus on it at that station, and it died.  I have never lived that down!

But the truth of the matter hit me real hard the other day.  I was sitting on the couch in the living room and I noticed that my fake plant on the fireplace mantel was turning brown.

I got up and moved it off of the mantel.  I looked at the leaves and sure enough, they were turning brown.  The orchid leaves were pink and just as beautiful as Mother’s Day when my husband gave it to me.  But the green leaves were turning brown.

It was then that I inspected the plant a little further.  I looked at the stems.

I realized the fake plant my husband gave me was only HALF fake.  The flowers were fake, but the stems and leaves were made of bamboo!!

I began laughing hysterically.  I took my half dead fake plant to the kitchen and gave it a drink.

Then, I began to think about how our spiritual lives are like that….we think everything is okay and that we are getting the nourishment we need.  But in reality, we are like that bamboo….using up the resources right where we are until we are dry and parched.

Often times we believe our lives are a certain way–everything on the outside looks right, but on the inside we are brown and a mess.  The scary thing is, we may not even know it.

The bamboo has started to perk back up.  Funny thing is, when I pointed it out to my husband he was just as surprised as I was!

So now, I am confessing I have such a black thumb that I can kill a fake plant!

I love time change weekend in the fall.

I like that feeling of rest; that extra hour.  I like waking up to light instead of dark.  I don’t mind it getting dark at 5:45pm.

The conversation this morning in the car on the way to church was interesting.  My daughter was talking about how fast time goes…

“This year has really gone by quickly,” she told me.

“It goes faster as you get older, ” I told her.

We have a good relationship.  However, she’s almost 10.  As I understand it, there will be some challenges in the next 10 years, and not all of them will be as rosy as the first 10 years have been.

I’m amazed at how fast the first ten have gone.  Everytime I hear Steven Curtis Chapman’s song “Cinderella” I think about my daughter at the age of 3 leaving her shoe in the living room, pretending to be Cinderella.  And here I am, planning her 10th birthday party.

I’m not complaining.  I am so thankful!  And very aware that every moment is precious.

We were in my son’s kindergarten Sunday School class.  My husband was teaching the kids about Noah and The Ark.  We talked about the flood and then my husband asks,

“What did Noah do after the waters receded?”

One child raised their hand.  Another one piped up, “I don’t know, but when I’m done with church, I’m going to Denny’s!”

The boy who raised his hand said, “He built an altar.”

Wow.  This was born out of something our church is doing for all of the kids.  They gave a Bible CD to all of the kids.  When I told his mother that he answered that question, she said he had been listening to the CD all of the time.

Amazing.

It is amazing what a little time and a few fake tattoos can do!

I found the motivation to help my son be good in school.  I found fake tattoos in the dollar section of a superstore.

We usually don’t do the fake tattoos.  I don’t want our son getting the idea that real ones are okay.  But, when he began having problems in school, I started trying motivation.  Nothing was working until I found those crazy Batman and Spiderman tattoos.

All of the sudden, I discovered the key that had my son excited to have a good day.  If he gets a sticker on his behavior chart, he gets to pick his tattoo and wear it to school the next day.  If he goes to orange or red, he doesn’t get a tattoo.

Since we have started this little system, we have not been to the red jar!!  His teacher says, “Ben is like a totally different child!”

I don’t deny my child is impulsive and is a little inattentive.  However, it is really rewarding to know that I don’t have to subject him to medication if I don’t want to.

The other day we had a class social at the park.  Some of the moms were telling me their children were asking to go to Burger King to get tattoos!  I found that amusing!

Amazing.  Tattoos make the difference with him!  And they are so cheap!

My husband got a job!

I’m so EXCITED and, honestly, a little bit scared.

I’m a little ashamed to admit the scared part.  I suppose it’s normal though.  Because everyone goes through a little apprehension when change comes.  Even if it is good change.

I have a testimony from these past 6 months that would take too much time to read!  But the coolest story comes from these last couple of weeks.

Since March, I have worked two jobs.  My first job is here.  My second job has been working for an office in an accounting department.  It has been a great blessing to work there.

However, for the past several weeks, I have been feeling like God wanted me to quit.  It didn’t make sense to me.  I didn’t want to quit without my husband having something. 

But the day before the storm hit, I was praying.  I prayed, “Lord if you really want me to quit, I need to see it and know, crystal clear, that it is You.”

Immediately, a scripture popped into my mind, “Matthew 22:7.”  I turned to it.

“This is my son…..Listen to Him!!”  I was speechless.

So, after the storm and recovery, I went in and quit.  I was crying while I told the CFO, who happens to be a good friend.

“Don’t cry!  It’s okay.  We were going to take all but one of the accounts and move them to our office in Arizona.  We were going to keep just one of them for you, so you would still be able to work here, because we like you.”

Sometimes God asks us to do things in faith and we don’t understand why.  Because, that next day, my husband got the call that invited him to sign on at the new company.

Things I have learned during this journey:

Trust
Faith
God’s Provision
Patience
Endurance/Long Suffering
How to have joy….it’s different from happiness.

I don’t know what you go through.  I have a feeling you aren’t any different from me.  You struggle with the same things I do; consistant prayer time, respecting your husband, disciplining kids, how to keep a clean house.  But there’s one thing we all have in common—the Love of Our Savior. 

His love is so deep and wide you cannot escape it.  He will not let you go.

My prayer is that you will remember that.  No matter where you are in your walk or your life.  The difficult or the delightful; He remains constant.

Here’s a new vocabulary word:  Hurrication—n. a vacation that spontaneously occurs due to the evacuation from a hurricane.

I spent my hurrication in the Hill Country.  In my humble opinion, the area of New Braunfels–Boerne–San Marcos is the most beautiful area in the world. 

Where I stay, deer come up to the back porch.  It is as if God’s peace rests on this hillside.

As a child, I can remember spending many days and nights on this hill.  The older I get, the dearer it becomes to me.

This morning I received word that my house is okay.  I’m missing a number of shingles on my roof.  I had a large tree fall and total our swingset and fence and block our street.  Channel 13 was at my house filming the bizarre picture, according to my neighbor….But I praise God that none of my trees hit anyone’s house or car.  Apparently, a tornado spawned off of Hurricane Ike and came down my street.  Many trees were down; one hit a house a half a block from me.

We will head back tomorrow to survey the damage.  My prayer is that this will allow me the opportunity with my neighbors that I have been wanting; the opportunity to lend a helping hand and be Light to them.  I want them to know my Jesus, and what better way to do that than to volunteer!

I pray that you are safe, my dear friend.  Please know no matter what that your Savior holds you in the palm of His hand.