It is Time...Time for a Ramble

I have not been able to post much in the past week due to the mind overload of my life right now.

With this I decided it was time for a ramble.

First let me say I added to my home school Blog Hop post below for week four. { I also made time to reread what I had posted . The typos. WOW, sorry about that. Thanks for bearing with me. You all know I am a grammar flop desperately working to improve my skills. But, some of my typos I just knew better. Now, I would call that just plain lazy or too busy to care. One?

So much is going on here. Not good not bad, just a lot.

School is starting off really well~ The kids are enjoying learning, as I am enjoying teaching. Light bulbs are going off. Just as I need them to. The kids did say I was harder on them this year, ummm I don't see it. I just know they can do it. The schedule and all the order has really been nice. The free to be me had no idea how much we would enjoy this.

Chore Chart~ This being week two of the school year, I posted the kids individual chore charts. With Sweet Pea being four I decided to illustrate pictures on her chart. Sitting down going over her chores, the little stinker was cracking jokes about each of my illustrations. She said my trashcan looked like a dog house and my hair brush looked like a tree.

Time with family~ I love spending time with family and I thought this summer would be filled with days of family visits.  I am thankful for the few we had. Here is a photo of Little Man and my cousin's sweet girl. We all met up and ate lunch at my grandmothers. I guess I need to remind myself that family visits are not only made in summer and look forward to memories made soon.  

Clutter and having enough~ About two weeks before school started I woke to a chair filled with clothes that needed to be folded, a floor of laundry that needed to be sorted and a hamper of dirty clothes that were stinking up my house. I had it. It was too much. Just after coffee I pulled out the big trash bags and started stuffing and stuffing. Once my room was done I moved to the kids bedrooms.  Seven bags later I loaded them up and made a huge donation. My van was so full the kids were like needles in a haystack.

 Not one day since have I regretted that large donation. Simplicity is key~

Well, once. When I found that all of Allen's shorts were donated and he asked if he was going to have to go buy them back from our local Spirit of Sharing store, I may of had a small regret that day. I told him it was all for a good cause and they would probably only put a few dollars on them.... He did forgive me!

Does this make me HAPPY?~  I am asking does it bring me peace joy happiness~ Such a good question to ask. Believe me we fill our lives with so many things that truly do not make us happy.

LIKE.... my huge sectional. After years of guilt filled wishing it would just break down, I sold it. My dear friend was going to buy a new one for $900.00 and I sold it for $200.00.

If you have been here long you know my home is SMALL~  That piece was too big for my home and getting rid of it made space.

My mother and my grandmother wonder what on earth I am thinking, but it just did not make me happy. Space makes me happy. For now I have a cover on a couch my friend was going to donate. We are keeping our eyes open for just the right fit.

ALLEN'S JOB~ After eleven years at the same company while continuously climbing the ladder Allen has put in for a new job. He had to take a test before they would even consider interviewing him. We are thanking the Lord that he passed the test. Although I am not surprised, he is the one with all the brains in the family.

I know... and I am the one homeschooling~

 If he gets this job we could possibly look at moving. After eleven years in this house and sixteen years in this town, moving would be a big deal for us. We are praying and leaving it all in the LORDS hands. The only way to make a decision is in him~

Decisions. Talking about decisions~

You have heard it. Allen and I are huge pro-lifers. We support fostering and adoption. Adoption is the loving option. If we are to stand up for life, we must open our hearts to the orphaned.

We are One Body in Christ.

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."

Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Mark 9:37  and Matthew 18:5 "Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

Knowing we would one day foster. Knowing we would spend our retirement fostering and mentoring to the orphaned, we are surprised to hear the Lords call so soon in our lives.

I plan on blogging about our call from the Lord soon. For now let me ask for prayers as we are walking the path to openly foster/adopt the babies that are unwanted and abandoned.

What else can I tell you? Oh we are excited about a new home school group we met up with last week. It is really a wonderful group. We are like-minded in many ways. {My like-minded is hard to come by locally. The group is something to rejoice over.}

My weight~ This is such a real subject for me. Makes my skin crawl to even start this ramble. I was the muscular girl. Naturally muscular. Supposedly it came from my biological fathers family. After having my first born I gained an unruly amount in my pregnancy.... are you ready?

Okay, I gained 80 lbs. I have never made it back to my prepregnancy weight. The year after I had him I strangely did not even care about weighing 40lbs more than before. I found happiness in my "Mom Jeans". All I cared about was this amazing boy, my son.

The year after that I decided it was time to get healthy and I lost down to what I feel to be a healthy weight for me. I was filled with the worst of stretch marks, a deflated top and still weighing about 20 lbs over my prepregnancy weight, but I was happy. Allen was happy. It was all good.

We then conceived Sunshine. I did better with her only gaining 50 lbs. Yes I know, when 50 lbs is better things are not good.
One year after having her I was back to my prepregnancy weight and feeling wonderful.

We then conceived Sweet Pea. Here I am four years later still weighing 25 lbs over my prepregnancy weight and 45 lbs over my original prepregnancy weight. I have lost some and then gained some. Not completely making it into what I would call my acceptable weight range.

Is it vain? No, not for me. If it were the stretch marks and the deflated top would also bother me.

It comes down to a personal issue of health, of will-power, of failure, of gluttony then leading to an area of social anxiety.
 So there it is~ My weight. It is not vain, but it is an issue. Allen says I am beautiful and loves me just the way I am. My kids squish on my stomach and call it bumpy, in turn this makes me laugh.

Self analyzing~ We are to do this often as Christians. How to better our relationship with the Lord ,ourselves and others around us. I self analyze and I then pray about it. With this I have found comfort in showing my faults. As I strive for daily holiness. I am here to reveal some of the "real" along the way~

I almost  forgot... I need your help. I am a few months away from my thirty first birthday. My skin is changing. It is dry and often broke out. I need your secrets. What do I use to wash and moisturize. What make-up is best. I think the cover girl I have been using for the past 15 years in not cutting it.

Garden New~ It is gone. After the heat wave our okra was the only thing to make it. As I have said okra can stand the heat, so no surprise. I am excited about a raised fall kitchen garden. No, not a garden in my kitchen. A garden just outside of my kitchen. This way it will be easy access for me to keep up and make use of all it's charms. Allen still has plans to plant in our larger garden. As soon as we start planting I will update you with a post.

Fair time~ Little Man is so excited about the fair, he even has a countdown chain. You know the kind children make when they countdown until Christmas. He has also created a few fair set ups with his links. Little Man will be showing his goat in the fair this year and I will be sure to share photos soon after.

On a sweet note~

 Little Man read at Mass tonight. He read all the prayer intentions. It made my momma heart just smile.

Sunshine lost her tooth. When mom asked her what tooth, she then told her it was the loose one. This made me laugh.

Sweet Pea brought me this Barbie card and told me" this is you and daddy, cause you maddied (married). She makes me smile daily. She also hugged me and said " I lub you momma, even more.

Thanking the Lord for motherhood.

So, that is my ramble for now. Blessings to you, my dear readers.