Just my thought...

I think everyone should put off doing laundry until the day they are supposed to leave to go on a trip. That way when the dryer refuses to dry in less than two hours you can have something to panic about...

Just my thoughts.

Be blessed!!

Ok I give up...

I am going to just have to resign myself to the fact that that man of mine is a little too busy to fuss over my computer. Don't worry. I understand. I mean this weekend alone he put together my square foot garden, helped me with a birthday party for Adrian, AND went shopping with me for Karly's presents at TWO craft stores.
Sweet guy that he is told me to download onto his computer anything I need for the blog, so... Im moving in.
I will finish up the courtship post this week.
I will talk about Adrian's birthday party and Karly's birthday.
I have a few more things to write about as well.
In May I am going to pick up the change one Monday posts again.
My wonderful friend Michelle bought over a camara for me the other day. I have to get a memory stick for it, but I hope to be back to posting pictures soon. My kids are so darn cute I know you want to see them all the time. LOL
Im taking off for some time Friday through Wednesday. More about that later as well.

Ok ladies, I will put at least one post up this evening.

Be Blessed!

Still without...

My own computer. I must admit I am a little stressed as I have a lot of important information on my computer that I would like to access, but I'm learning to be calm and wait.
We had a nice weekend. My mom wanted to take my three youngest to church with her Sunday so she volunteered to keep them Saturday night. What an amazing blessing. The rest of us went to Lowes where we got everything for my square foot garden. We then went to dinner, which is compeltely different with four people as opposed to seven. LOL.
I also spent some time Saturday preparing for my Adrian's birthday party next Sunday afternoon. We are having it outside so I picked up some bubbles, pinwheels, jump ropes... you get the picture. I think it will be fun. I also swung by a consignment store and found 4 nice jean denim skirts for my oldest all for under $20. HOW EXCITING!
Sunday morning was relaxed and we had a wonderful time of worship. We keep our children with us for worship. My two year old is going through some rebellion right now so much of my worship lately has been taking care of him. Its ok because I know its the right thing and this is only a season which will reap great rewards someday. I don't go to church to get fed. Our church has a wonderful podcast on the sermon during the week anyways so I can just listen to it at my leisure. I will admit though that it was nice to focus on the preaching Sunday. LOL.
Today is Adrian's fifth birthday. He is with grandma having lunch and going to Build A Bear today. We are going to have cupcakes and ice cream with dinner tonight.
Well, I better go. I will post more regularly when I have my computer back. For now I jump on when DH is not home and the kids are busy.

Be Blessed.

TAG

Since I cant get on my computer and I miss you all so very much ;) I thought I would finally do this tag, my friend Leigh asked me to do.

What I was doing 10 years ago:
Lets see I was 19. I'd graduated from highschool a year before. I was doing pretty much nothing. I was working for a small insurance firm during the day and hanging out with my friends chasing boys on the weekends. Productive, huh? The good news is I would meet my future husband in about 11 months.

Five things on my To Do List today:
1. Get through the day. I am having some stomache issues today so this is a big one! ;)
2. Get some homeschooling done.
3. Work some more on a family/hospitality meal table message I am giving to our ladies group next Friday.
4. Wash Adrian's t-ball uniform
5. Go to Adrian's t-ball game.

Snacks I enjoy:
We are not big snackers around here. I am learning to enjoy raw/fresh fruits and veggies more.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
First I would help my church get some land and build a building where the a/c worked all the time. *Sigh*
I would buy the land we want and build the houses for us, our parents, and our hospitality cottages.
I would so adopt more kids.
I might buy our local Christian station so I did not have to listen to the beg-a-thon anymore. :)

Five places I have lived:
In my parent's house
In my first apartment with my new husband
In my first house with my husband
In the same city, in the same state the whole time....

Five jobs I have had:
Receptionist at H&R Block
Mail clerk and then operator for a small insurance company
Mail clerk for another small insurance company
Packaging clerk and then Client Services assistant for a payroll company
The best job of all: Full time wife, mommy and homeschooler!!

If you want to participate either do so in the comments or on your own blog. :)

Out of Order

My computer is out of order. It has a lot of my courtship information I want to post and some more pictures from our portrait sitting. ;)
DH promised to fix it tonight though, so maybe tomorrow I can post for real.


Be Blessed!

Pictures, Drama, Love....Part 1

So we went to get pictures taken last Monday. At the end of the day. Yes. I am that stupid. LOL.

This picture is missing a child.. where is Jonathan? Oh that's right mommy kicked him out of the family. Don't worry I let him back in after awhile.... a long while. ;) Aren't my other kids cute though. Not a tear drop one on their faces. They might have been a little worried I would not feed them if they did not look cute. I threatened the baby with that once or twice.
Oh look here is a family picture. Fortunately, my face is not only distorted by that awesome copyright symbol Picture People has chosen, but I have a funny look on my face. See my two year old in the front. He is not crying at this second, he has not slapped himself in the head again to show his anger so his hands are not covering his face, and he is perched precariously on a small black box with his brother. I was supposed to hold him, but he wanted to stand on the box dadgummit. So, stand on the box he did. You can't see it but I have a grip on the bottom of his shirt. And you do see the funny look on my face, right?
Here we are again. This is one of the times I let Jonathan back into the family. Only he brought a friend. It's a cup from Orange Julius. We were hoping they would pay us for sponsership, but daddy covered the name up. We actually bought this picture...fat roll showing and all. Well because its one of like three pictures out thirteen billion, five hundred, and seventy that we took that Jonathan was actually smiling. I figure I can blame the fat roll on having five children approximately two years apart. I will just omit the fact that they were adopted. By the way please notice we were barefoot. I did not bring the right show attire for our pictures so I bought everyone white socks. I thought it turned out cute.
Now, my favorite and sure to be everyone else's favorite as well. When the two year old boy does not want to take a picture just yell dog pile and he will be all about it. Forget the fact Tamara looks a little scared. She's fine. Really. She was only in the very middle of it all. The Dr. said her insides should go back to normal in no time.
By the way if you happen to be walking through the mall and see a picture similar to this hanging up at Picture People it could be because it is this picture. The lady begged and pleaded on her hands and knees for me to sign a waiver so they could show this picture and possibly the one at the top on their show room wall. After many tears and arm pulls from the nice photographer I graciously agreed. I am nice like that. ;)

And don't you love the colors?? I did that myself, thanks for asking. Yes, I will do it for you as well. But you have to pay for my next round of pictures for me. These things are not cheap!

Courtship An Alternative Part Three

Courtship- The Next Step



Ok, so you have your friends. One day the young man notices the young lady a little more closely. Maybe he is attracted by her sweet spirit, her gentleness, her kindness.... whatever. Something to pull out here is that the boy needs to be the aggressor. Women are made to be responders, men aggressors. The first person he needs to seek out is his father. Here are some of the questions Mr. Andrews thinks should be answered between father and son:
Am I ready to pursue a serious relationship with marriage as the result?
Is this young lady an appropriate candidate for a wife for me?
What do you see that I don't see that could be a problem?
This should all be discussed before any emotional attachment occurs.
Mr. Andrews says at this point the father is in a position to encourage the relationship or to end it.

Mr. Andrews says, "If dad gives the green light the next step is to contact the girl's father. He is in authority over his daughter and must be apprised of any interest in her. This is not a request to marry his daughter, but to enter into a courtship phase in the relationship; a period of time for serious investigation by all parties (the girl, the boy, and both fathers) as to whether this young couple are God's choices for each other.
Now its important to point out here that some dads will have no idea what is going on when the boy calls him up to ask his daughter out. Some boys will have no idea how this courtship thing works. Hopefully the dad will find it impressive that the boy is willing to include him. Boys might not understand why the girl has so many dating rules, but if he truly wants to get to know her then he will be respectful. Thats the first sign that he is mature enough for marriage. A willingness to respect her father and her father's vision for his family.

Mr. Andrews briefly describes a situation with his daughter who was away at college and how a young man stepped in to woo her off of her feet. When you get the book you will understand the story. :)
I use that to quote him on something very near and dear to my heart.
"... sending a girl away to college, out from under a father's direct supervision, is a very dangerous thing, no matter solid she may be spiritually, no matter how much she agrees with her father's role in her life, and no matter how committed she is to her father's vision. Girls are responders, and they will respond to the right young man. Fathers must train daughters when they are very young to hide nothing from them, to always walk in the light with them. They must be confident of this, or they should not let their daughter leave their direct supervision."
I am praying that our girls do not go away to college. I don't care if they go to college at all in all honesty. I do pray if they need a degree in something though that they can do it here at home under their father's protection.
Moving on... LOL

"Courtship is a time, based on a previous friendship, rather than a romance, when two people are consciously seeing if they are God's choice for each other." Mr. Andrews goes on to explain that during courtship while kissing is still taboo that a couple may now hold hands. He said this signifies they are a couple. We are still being very careful to guard our hearts.
Mr. Andrews says that, "Courtship provides formal definition, so everyone knows where the relationship is. There are no surprises. Evaluation is occurring: the couple evaluating each other, and asking the question, 'Is he/she right for me?', the girl's father asking,' Is he right for my daughter?', and the boy's father asking, 'Is she right for my son?'
The young man needs to know that he has God's love for this young woman. If he realizes he does not he must end the courtship. This love will be what their marriage is built on.
The girl's father needs to know that this is the man he will give his daughter to. As Mr. Andrews says, "After the wedding is too late.... If he is fooled, and this young man does not take his daughter in the direction of the kingdom of God, he has lost of his weapons of war, a part of his heritage, and his influence down through the ages because his grandchildren may not be raised as kingdom men and women."
When the young man has gotten the go ahead from the father, he must now set out to win the girl. Just because the father is impressed does not mean the daughter will be. She has the right of refusal.



During the courtship the father still needs to be on guard. It is his duty still to protect his daughter. There will be restrictions on alone time and restrictions on physical contact. There is no commitment at this point. Hearts should still be guarded. Mr. Andrews says, "The father should continue to hold the young man accountable as to time and location when the young people are together."
Courtship is not the time to get ready for marriage. Both should be mature and able to enter into marriage already. "The purpose of courtship is evaluation, not preparation."

Next we will talk about Engagement.
I just want to endorse once again this wonderful book I am reading. The Family God's Weapon For Victory by Robert Andrews, is one of the best books I have read on family vision for God's kingdom. It outlines everything. DH and I are both enjoying it.
I am trying not to copy to much straight from the book, but it is hard as he has such wisdom and insight that I can not properly put into words.
I hope you are enjoying this.
Are any of your thoughts about dating changing? Do you already have a courtship model in place?

Be Blessed!

This is the week that never ends....

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you could not wait for it to end?
Welcome to my week. LOL
DH had a birthday Sunday which was wonderful.
We had pictures taken Monday which was...ok. At one point I sent my 2 year old out of the room and told him he could not be a part of our family anymore. My mother in law thought I was serious and lectured me forever. If the kid is too sensitive at 2 to handle me then we have bigger issues. LOL. I do have one picture without him... ;) I can't wait to show it to his fiance one day and tell her about him being a punk that day.
Tuesday was a busy Bible study day.
I also thought this week would be a great week to implement our new system for cleaning the house.
I assigned two children to three rooms each. So far its working great.
I will get the next Courtship An Alternative post sometime this week I promise. I am glad everyone is enjoying it. :)

Be Blessed.