The Things of Spring

Fall and winter are still my two favorite seasons. But it has been so beautiful here for the past few days that I am actually feeling partial to spring. Aside from Brooke's terrible allergies and my watering eyes (I actually had to buy Claritin for myself--first time in my life!), it has been lovely. Here are some of the fun "spring things" we've been enjoying for the past few days.

• Fresh fruit instead of veggies for dinner. Yum!! The strawberries have been sooo good this year!
  
• Little boys playing catch with daddy out in the newly cut grass.
  
• Sidewalk chalk messages on the driveway welcoming me home.
• Tulips--I LOVE them and wish they lasted longer!
• Lilacs--I LOVE them too!
• My cherry blossom Bath and Body works goodies. Has to be cherry blossom or mandarin orange for spring/summer and sensual amber or vanilla for fall/winter. Just because I'm weird that way.
  
• Open windows at night--I love to sleep with the windows open on warm nights.
  
• Chicken and hamburgers on the grill! We grill occasionally during the winter, but it just doesn't taste quite the same.
• Tanned faces and backs. All of our kids were blessed with Jeff's skin, and it only takes a short time in the sun before they have a good start on their tans.
  
• Bikes and skateboards and balls filling the garage while the car is displaced to the cul-de-sac for another summer.
• Twenty-nine days until homework and lunchmaking end for another year.
• My "Clean Cotton" Yankee Candle. I know it will come as no surprise that I'm weird about my seasons and candle scents too. Has to be clean cotton or cucumber-melon for spring/summer and home-sweet-home or cinnamon for fall/winter. Some people change their bedspreads for the season; I just change my scents!
• Orange Creamsicles and ice cream sandwiches for dessert! Yum!
  

I hope your spring has been beautiful and enjoyable (and sweet-smelling and sweet-tasting) too!

Goodbye and Good Riddance!

All I have to say is "It's about time!"

Quote of the Day....

Sawyer went to a birthday party for a friend from school today. His friend's family lives on a farm, complete with thirty chickens, four goats, and one cat. Sawyer was a little disappointed that he didn't to milk the goat (suspiciously named "Squirt") but he had a great time.

As we were leaving the party, I asked Sawyer if he had a good time.

"Oh yeah. It was the best party ever. I finally got to feel a chicken."

I think the boy needs to get out more........

Spring has sprung!!

I think spring is finally here! It's been beautiful the past few days--after snow showers and cold rain last weekend. It's been great to open the windows and clean out the garage in my never-ending quest for perfect organization.

It's been pretty quiet around here this week, hence the lack of posts. The kids have been having a blast outside the past few days. The trampoline has been getting constant action, and the huge bouncy ball (our second one because the kids used the first one to death!) is still a huge hit!

Our cul-de-sac was buzzing with lawn mowers and weed eaters today. The graveyard out back was mowed for the first time today, and unbeknownst to Mr. Mower Man, he ran over the boys' football tee. Our first toy casualty of the summer. I'm sure there will be many more!

Brooke and I did some shopping this afternoon, and Home Depot was mobbed with people trying to steer those enormous flat carts as they lamented over which flowers to choose this year, what trees to plant where, and which fertilizer would work best. Our neighbors were even cleaning out their swimming pool, preparing for the hot summer that's coming sooner than I'd like I'm sure. The smells of grilling meat and fresh-cut grass mingled in the air tonight, and, of course, the kids were begging to use the sprinkler! Just six more weeks until the pool opens!

I hope the weather was as beautiful at your house today! The picture below was taken at dusk as our kids and their friends were laying in the backyard, watching the sunset. (Notice the filthy socks and feet, courtesy of the trampoline!)

That boy.......

This afternoon I instructed Payton to do something. He didn't obey immediately and by the third time, I was very frustrated with him and said

"Payton, are you having trouble understanding English?"

Without missing a beat, he said "Si."

Thought for the Day

I have, at different times in the past, struggled greatly with forgiving those who have wronged me or Jeff or our family or our reputation and character: people (all professing christians), even those I would have considered dear friends, who "said" they supported us or wanted the "best" for us and then became our worst fears with skin on. While I have prayerfully and only with God's help worked through a lot of that, there are still days when my mind spins unwittingly, and those familiar feelings of betrayal and deep hurt come rushing back.

Last week, as we remembered the death of Christ and celebrated His resurrection, I often found myself thinking about how betrayed and abandoned our Lord himself must have felt. One of his own turned him in for a mere thirty pieces of silver. Peter denied him not once, but three times. And when it came right down to the end, his remaining disciples, the eleven men whom he was closest to on this earth, ran. And yet his words on the cross were "Father, forgive them."

I know that, because we live in a fallen world, I will face these feelings of betrayal and hurt again, probably sooner than I'd like. Once more, I will begin the very painful process (and it is most certainly a process) of forgiveness, remembering that I do not have to forgive these people because they deserve it, but because I have been the blessed recipient of undeserved forgiveness myself.

If we find ourselves unable to forgive, it is because we have exaggerated others' offenses against us and minimized our offenses before God.
(Alistair Begg)

Have a spare $300??

It seems almost sacrilegious to post this after my previous post, but I don't want to miss an opportunity to share an exciting new product with you. There's always an off-chance that one of you may actually want a "Fish-n-Flush" for a mere $300. Fair warning though: it's just wrong on so many levels.

Thoughts on Trials

There’s only one way to develop perseverance: We have to surrender to God as we feel pushed past the human breaking point. We have to reach the threshold of exhaustion and then get pushed even further. One trial can help us deal with fear. Two trials can lead to wisdom. But perseverance? That takes a bundle of difficulties. (Gary Thomas)

The best part is that perseverance is not the end goal. God doesn't want us to merely have calloused souls that manage to "persevere", he wants to give us hope and joy.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
(Romans 5:3-4)

Trials are not meaningless or random.
They are divinely appointed by a loving God who, in his rich providence,
wants to give us hope and joy.

100 Things

I've been putting this off for a while now. But, due to the recent dearth of blogworthy news around here, I decided that now is just as good a time as any. Here goes. Maybe you'll learn something!

100 Things About Me (in no particular order)

1. I am the oldest (and most loved) of four children.
2. I HATE my given middle name. (My apologies to all the "Robins" of the world.)
3. I am related to Molly Pitcher.
4. I am distantly related to Kelsey Grammer.
5. I can sing. (and I'm humble!)
6. I won a national singing competition when I was a senior in high school.
7. I work best under pressure.
8. I HATE clutter.
9. I am a perfectionist.
10. I love Big Macs.
11. I had four children with no epidurals.
12. The above is quite a feat, considering my last child weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces!
13. Jeff and I dated only six weeks before he asked for my dad's permission to marry me.
14. Jeff and I had our first kiss at a McDonald's in Sydney, Australia.
15. Our daughter is named Sydney because we fell in love in Australia.
16. I have nice handwriting.
    
17. I drive a dark green 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan. I LOVE it.
    
18. I have never been to Disney World. (My parents took the rest of the family when I was a sophomore in college. I'm still bitter about that.)
19. I am addicted to Rubbermaid containers and my Dymo label maker.
    
20. I was married before I knew that Stevie Nicks was a woman and Alice Cooper was a man.
21. I was not allowed to watch "Happy Days" as a child because they danced on that show.
22. I wore a dress every single day for 13 years of private school and 4 years of private college.
    
23. I took private voice lessons for nine years.
    
24. I played basketball for six years in high school.
25. I broke my nose twice in one month playing basketball in high school.
    
26. When I was nine, I got lost in French Creek State Park for four hours with a friend.
27. I fainted in the middle of the mall right after I got my ears pierced at the age of 16.
28. I have the most handsome, best husband in the world.
29. I have four beautiful and energetic kids.
30. I HATE to call babysitters. Jeff always does it.
    
31. Grand Rapids, Michigan, is my favorite place we've ever lived.
32. My two sisters are my best friends.
33. I now know there is hope for my own girls to be best friends someday!
34. I was 17 weeks pregnant with my boys before we told anyone.
35. I lied about my actual due date with my last three kids so people wouldn't bug me.
36. I lied and told people we didn't know what we were having even though we knew both boys were going to be boys.
37. I made up fake baby names to tell people when they asked so I didn't have to worry about their reactions.
    
38. After reading the last three, I think I have issues with honesty.
39. I was a model on a box of Graco children's furniture when I was three.
40. Like mother, like daughter--Brooke was a model in a Graco catalog when she was one.
41. I am not afraid to speak in public.
42. When I am nervous, I break out in horrendous and unfortunately noticeable hives all over my neck and upper body.
    
43. I had blood poisoning from a spider bite when I was 15.
44. When riding with a group of people, I prefer to be the driver.
45. I am a proud Republican.
46. I love to watch/listen to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN.
47. My iPod contains mostly sermons. (Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle is my favorite!)
48. I could be a member of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution).
49. I passed Algebra 1 with a 70 and then switched to Accounting.
    
50. My favorite Yankee Candle scent is "Home Sweet Home" in the fall/winter and "Clean Cotton" in the spring/summer.
51. I have a Bachelor of Arts in English/Professional Writing from Cedarville University.
    
52. I have NO patience for spelling and grammar mistakes. My biggest pet peeves: lead for led, advise for advice, and your for you're.
    
53. I love Diet Mountain Dew.
54. I love to watch NASCAR races.
55. I keep in touch regularly with my good friends from high school.
56. I don't worry. I plan for the worst.
57. I can't play any instruments.
58. I hate my fair skin.
59. I wish I were shorter.
60. I love snow and winter.
61. Tulips are my favorite flower.
62. I love conservative talk radio--Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dave Ramsey.
63. I rarely listen to any music.
64. My current favorite perfume is Mademoiselle by Chanel.
65. I don't like cereal.
66. I love to read, mostly fiction but never "christian fiction".
    
67. I love rain.
68. I do not enjoy most fruits and vegetables.
69. I don't like any hot drinks.
70. I have a sarcastic sense of humor and a quick wit.
71. I hate milk. It's just gross.
    
72. I have an oval-shaped diamond engagement ring.
73. My favorite class in college was "History of the English Language".
74. Baskin-Robbins rocky road is my favorite ice cream.
75. I am a terrible photographer.
76. I am punctual, and I think everyone else should be too.
77. I would have a lot of gray hair if I didn't color it regularly.
78. I do not currently nor do I ever want to scrapbook.
79. I grind my teeth horribly at night.
80. I don't save anything--not bill stubs, not children's artwork, not leftover food. This has come back to bite me a few times.
81. I love HGTV, TLC, and the Discovery Health Channel.
82. I am my in-law's favorite daughter-in-law. (Never mind that I am the ONLY daughter-in-law.)
83. I am a fifth-generation Christian.
84. I check my e-mail about 100 times a day.
85. After I was married, I had a 4.0 GPA my entire senior year of college.
86. I love chocolate. Hershey's is my favorite.
87. I cannot/will not open my eyes under water.
88. I've had kidney stones twice. I would rather have more children with no drugs than have kidney stones again.
89. All of my children regularly slept 12 hours a night by nine weeks of age.
90. I love filet mignon, cooked medium rare.
91. My husband says I know more about professional football than the average wife.
    
92. Jeff and I sang twice in our own wedding.
    
93. I hate Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and other science fiction/fantasy.
94. Chicago is my favorite city, and I get to visit there every year with three dear friends.
95. I cannot stand to hear people clip their fingernails or toenails.
96. I will buy only Downy April Fresh scent fabric softener--no matter the cost.
    
97. When we were traveling in Australia, our team got to sing in the Sydney Opera House.
    
98. We have moved eight times and lived in four different states in our 19 years of marriage.
99. I wish I could stand to let my hair grow.
100. I'm glad this is over! It was hard.

We're Still Here!

Wow! I miss a few days and people are clamoring for a new post! How nice to be missed!

Actually, it hasn't been a very exciting week around here. The kids had spring break so we've been able to sleep in, relax, and not spend our evenings doing homework. That's been nice.

We woke up to snow this morning--a covering on the ground and flurries off and on throughout the day. Seems strange to be dyeing Easter eggs while snow is blowing around outside! But the kids had fun and that's what matters. I will post some pics tomorrow--right now the camera batteries are dead, and there is not a AA battery to be found in this house.

In other news, as always happens this time of year, my hatred for easter grass has been renewed, and there is WAAAAYYYYYY too much chocolate in the house. Every year I vow to buy candy that I don't like (which is a very short list, mind you!) but that never seems to happen.

And, in news of the weird: as I was out and about this week, saw a few things that made me scratch my head. First, I stopped at Dunkin' Donuts before work this week (to get a fat free muffin of course! And if you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you!). In front of me in line was a dear elderly lady who was having a very hard time making a decision. As I inched closer and listened to her conversation, I realized why. She was asking the clerk if they had sugar-free donuts!!! I almost laughed out loud! HELLO!!! Who goes to Dunkin' Donuts and gets something sugar free? That's just wrong!

Secondly, I was running (and I mean literally) errands this week and trying to move quickly along a crowded sidewalk. Ahead of me, I noticed a man walking with a white stick like blind people normally use. The strange thing about this "blind" man was that he was wearing glasses and carrying a newspaper??? Now, if you are too blind to see cars on the road and people in front of you on the sidewalk, how do you read a newspaper???? Makes ya wonder......

Blessed Resurrection Day to all of you!!
Christ is risen!!
He is risen indeed!

Shout it Out

Recently, I've been having trouble getting stains out of the kids' clothing. Now, I am very particular about laundry, and these were stains that would normally not be a problem. Things like ketchup, dirt, chocolate, etc. I thought getting the washer fixed would help, but the problem remained.

Last week, as I was sorting laundry and "stain fighting", I thought the solution smelled different and glanced quickly at the spray bottle in my hand. Problem solved!!! I discovered that, for the last two or three weeks, I have been spraying all the kids' clothing with Fantastik antibacterial kitchen cleaner!!!! Although the clothes smelled lemony-fresh, the stains remained. Sigh........I'm getting old!