Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yesterday was my volunteer day. That’s the one day per week where I basically go into work like most American adults. Ha! I put on my grown-up clothes–things like trousers instead of yoga pants–and I work for someone besides my family. I mean, I’m a mom, so of course I do work everyday, but on volunteer day I do a different kind of work.

I love it. I re-shelf books at the boys’ school library, and I help Mrs. Dubose with her current project. And once all that is done, I do my favorite part of all. I catalog, label, dot, stamp, and tape new books to go on our library shelves, all while being available to check out books for kids.

These are a few of my favorites for early readers, all on a 1st grade reading level.

This is the best job I’ve had in ages, and I do it all for free. Volunteering or trying out different jobs has been the only way for me to figure out what I enjoy doing and what I don’t.

Don’t wait around for someone to ask you to do a volunteer job. Figure out what you’d like to try and go ask to do that thing.

Otherwise, I’ve always found that if you don’t busy yourself with what you enjoy doing, other people will find work that you may NOT enjoy doing for you to do!

That’s happened to me a few times too. Nursery duty, anyone?? Aughhhhh!!! Every time I’ve ever been given church nursery duty, I lived in dread that week of Sunday because I didn’t want to do it. We all do a better job and help more people when we do what we’re good at, not what we just couldn’t say no to.

You may think it’s ironic that I love working in the library since I wrote this post: How We Got Banned From the Library, but my inability to return things I borrow on time actually doesn’t at all affect how much I love books and cataloging new ones and bringing order to shelves ransacked by tiny hands. How I love it!

I wish I could love restoring order to my house as much as I love tidying up the library. What is that? Why is it that it’s more fun to do things away from home? I got nothing. I can’t explain that phenomenon.

My VBS class made this this summer, and that’s when I realized I could totally be okay with teaching Sunday school. This was fun too! The older I get the more things I find that I enjoy.

So you know what I fell in love with this year? The library. Again. It’s a love I’ve had since childhood, though it worked so much better when I had my ever-responsible mother to make me return the books on time.

This time I’m loving being on the other side of the desk. I even have my own account at the school library now. You know why? You’ll laugh–I hope. See, I checked out a book on Caleb’s account, without his knowledge, and then I lost that book. I know. I still can’t find it!!

Well, my boys, believe it or not, never lose books and rarely acquire fines, so when Caleb went to check out a book and discovered that he couldn’t because he had a way overdue book, he was pretty upset with me…..So Mrs. Dubose did us a solid, and switched that book to my account.

Working in the library has also helped me find more ideas of good books to share with my boys.

That was a month ago. I still can’t find that book. It won’t be the first time I’ve bought a book that I’ve lost. Life will go on. The library is still a great privilege. It’s still saving us money to check out most of our books rather than buying most of our books.

Remember when I was a young adult, and I tried job after job, and felt like such a flake because I couldn’t find one that fit? Well, I’m 36 now, and I’m happy to report that I’ve found several.

Mom. Blogger. Writer. Librarian. Sunday School teacher.

I officially love all of these jobs. How blessed am I!? Sometimes you just have to give things time and trial and error, right?

How about you? Have you ever found your passion through volunteering? What jobs do you love?

The post The Job I Fell in Love with this Year appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Sometimes I choose involuntary titles to read to my children. As in, I pick the book, and they have to listen. I have four boys, and with their personalities this is necessary if I ever want them to read a single classic novel. It worked well for the Little House series and Old Yeller, so why not Tom Sawyer?

I do have the unabridged version of Tom Sawyer, which is on an 8th grade reading level and is chock full of big words, some taboo language, and outdated ideas. I think it broadens their understanding to read things like this.

And it is a hilarious book, as you would expect, certainly funnier than their beloved Captain Underpants, in my opinion.

I’m only reading Tom Sawyer to my two oldest because the little ones don’t have the attention span for that yet.

One chapter we read recently reminded me how much America has changed for the worse, though many changes, such as America’s dark past of racism, have been for the better.

What change was for the worse? Bible knowledge. These days most people have terrible misconceptions of God and the Bible. How could we have any knowledge of a book most people no longer study?

Tom Sawyer was no goody-good church kid.

That much you know, but out of requirement he did attend church every Sunday. The kids in Tom’s Sunday school class could even earn tickets by reciting Bible verses…..much like AWANA today. Tom was obviously not one to spend much time practicing his verses, so he took to trading for tickets.

This was funny to me because Caleb used to do this exact thing with SOAR cards when he was in 1st grade. SOAR cards were handed out at school for good behavior and could be exchanged for prizes. Caleb used to take Lego men to school and trade them for SOAR cards. He and many of the boys in his class had a real underground black market going with those cards.

Anyway, in the book Tom hands in enough tickets to get the grand prize, a new Bible. Not only that, but when he receives the grand prize he gets to stand up in front of the entire church and receive applause.

So they brought Tom up, and they asked him questions like, “What is the greatest commandment?”

No, Tom didn’t know.

Most people in America probably don’t know what commandment is the greatest. Sometimes the loudest so-called Christian people are the very ones who have confused everyone from knowing what God’s message even was. Ugh.

So I ask you, do you know? What is the greatest commandment?

Some of you know, and some of you may not, but I don’t think we can ever be reminded too often.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”                                  –Matthew 22:36-40

Because if we love others, we will naturally not steal, lie, cheat, or use God’s name in vain. When we love others, we want to respect, help, and honor them.

None of us are perfect, and none of us ever will be on this earth, but what we should be striving for is LOVE.

“We were meant to put ourselves out there for people. An earthly cause is nothing without a people it affects.”       –Beth Moore

Love God. Love people. The most important commandments.

People often split hairs about raising children. Do they have all As? Are they good at sports? Are they leaders? Do they sit quietly with their hands in their lap? Are they outgoing?

Who cares? You know what matters? Do your children love God and love people and show that through their actions? That’s what matters in my book and in God’s book too.

Of course, they have to learn that from us. We have to show our children how to do these things through our own actions. I hope we will always look for ways to show love to God and love to people. It isn’t always easy, but it’s more than worth it.

As I type these lovely, ideal thoughts out, I wonder. How will I show love today?

You know, I’ve probably already failed a few times at this, and it’s only 10:39 am. But it is never too late to make the next step in a positive direction.

The post Tom Sawyer and the Most Important Commandment in the Bible appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I tried to take his pic outside by the car, but my iPhone spazzed, and I had to re-start it. I tried again once we got to his class, with my now working phone, but JD said, “You already did,” and walked off to show his new teacher his Lightning McQueen backpack.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a solid night’s sleep in a week. Maybe it’s because he’s my fourth son, my last baby. I don’t know, but today I dropped JD off at his first day at preschool, and I cried all the way home.

He’s three and a half, and he’s ready. We knew he was ready. He knew he was ready. His brothers are even excited for him.

And he handled it like a champ. He proudly put on his brand new Minions tennis shoes, showed me where to write his name on his new Batman lunch box, and rushed me out the door. He didn’t even pause long enough for his “First day” picture, he was just so eager to go.

And what did I do? Well, I handled it like a grown-up. I cried all the way home. I was supposed to go straight to the grocery store, but I couldn’t. I had to run home to my refuge, crying.

I’m fighting the urge to sit down in the floor with a Coca-Cola and a fat stack of baby photo albums and boo hoo.

I haven’t had days off like this since 2010. I’ve had part-time babysitters that came and took care of the boys while I went to doctor appointments, but this is different. I might finally write my book!

There is something extra special about time off when you are taking care of small children all the time. It is beyond necessary.  I hope if you are a mom of pre-schoolers that you will sanctify at least one day a week to have time off from taking care of children.

Schedule it! Make someone commit to watching those babies for you while you take 2 hours off, or whatever you can get!

Make them put it in writing.

“I promise to watch these sweet, precious children on this day at this time every single week so Mommy doesn’t lose her mind or end up with a heart problem.”

I miss that sweet little boy already. Oh, I love him so much. I can’t believe he is my last pre-schooler. I’ve had at least one preschooler, usually more, in this house for 11 years now, and suddenly I find myself almost finished with this phase. I only have 1 1/2 more years!

Oh, no. I’m going to start crying again if I talk about it. How I’ve loved it. I have loved every minute of taking care of these babies. Okay. That’s not true. I didn’t love every minute, but I loved THEM every minute.

JD sleeping on me just this past weekend, and Caleb showing of his latest Lego creation. I do love this job. I love it.

Sometimes I long for them at ages that they used to be that we will never get back. They are still here, but that age of them is gone forever. Sometimes I think back to, for example, baby Daniel, the round little ball of baby, my two-year-old boy who followed me around relentlessly wanting to help me do everything.

two-year-old Daniel

I think about rocking my babies at night, and while I don’t want to go through all that we went through again, I’d give anything just to hold one of those sweet babies and rock them and feed them.

holding one or two-year-old Caleb. He was a little sea-sick. (Destin, Florida)

I think about one-year-old Caleb and how he thought his big brother was the greatest person of all time. I think about them in their little Halloween costumes and how they’d take turns sitting in my lap to read books.

Okay, now I’m pouring tears, and I have clearly crossed over to the bad, bad, super sad place, so I’d better stop thinking about this.

Me with my very first toddler. I can still remember that feeling of new love you have when you first become a parent. It’s so much it feels like your heart could just explode with rainbows and joy.

I’m going to clean up my face, put my contacts in, and I’m going to go to Sam’s. I’m going to go be a grown-up, because that’s what you do and because we are almost out of milk and totally out of my coffee creamer. And I’m going to just be thankful for the time that I had with each of those adorable baby boys. I’ll keep enjoying them at the stages that they are now, and one day I’m going to be one awesome grandma.

Granted, I’m already under doctor’s orders to not lift any babies over 10 pounds because of my arthritis, but I can hold them in a chair, and I can take lots of Tylenol.

Then at 1:00 today, I get to pick JD back up and cuddle him for as long as he will let me, which if I put in a movie, might actually be a long time.

Don’t get me wrong, I have times when I’m so beaten down by kids that I’m not this sentimental, when I’m happy for a break. But today was JD’s first day of preschool, so today was not that day.

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: 2 God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead.

 

 

This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.                         Ecclesiastes 6:1-3

Enjoy those babies while you can. I guess that’s my point. Enjoy them, but take breaks because you really can’t pour water from an empty pitcher, and you know they will drain every drop from you. Take time to refill that pitcher and enjoy those little ones. That’s what I’m doing today. I’m re-charging….and I’m buying milk.

The post Thoughts on My Last Baby’s First Day of Preschool appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We were crazy excited to find my favorite coffee at Winn Dixie. I should write this company and ask them to sponsor my blog, like permanently. Just FYI, those are Alan’s arms, not mine. I just thought, “Oh no! What if people think I have man arms!!??” Yes, it matters.

I guess life has settled down into a new normal here at our new casa. Thus begins the 1st year that you move somewhere. Oh, how I love that first year. (That’s sarcasm.) This is the year when you walk around confused because you don’t get it yet, and you don’t know how to fit in either. You leave extra early to get places because 8 times out of 10, you are going to get lost. It’s a year of frustration and flipping out in the driver’s seat.

It’s a year of meeting tons of new people. It’s a year of very few commitments because hardly anyone knows who you are, which means no one asks anything of you. See, now that’s positive, right? Or maybe it’s just lazy.

I love moving. Moving’s fun. I mean it’s a giant pain in the neck, but it’s fun. We’re adjusting quite well. The boys hop out of the mini-van every morning and enter the building looking happy and ready to go. (Not sarcasm. The boys are life-savers, they’ve handled it all like pros.)

We’ve all met plenty of people already. We each have at least two people a piece that we could call a friend already. They probably don’t know our last names, but by golly, we are clinging to them.

Here are a few tales of our most recent adventures:

John David about gave me a heart attack at the pool. He has no fear. He floated around the deep end, with nothing but a pool noodle!!! Don’t worry. I was so helicopter-mom, I can assure you of his safety.

I re-framed a large photo. The glass kept trying to come out and cutting me to pieces, but it is done, so yay!

Re-framed photo: See, doesn’t it look nice? I found that frame super cheap at a yard sale. Then I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a mat to help the photo fit the frame.

Take your baby’s poop with you when you leave. Wow. I took this photo at the pediatric cardiology office. Thankfully, I’m past the diaper phase, but man! What a reminder! It’s a HARD life out there for a baby’s momma.

We discovered a local park with trails, playgrounds, and water fowl galore.

a beautiful Saturday in the South

JD has gotten really into baseball. He uses this little bitty light weight bat, and I throw a medium-sized, light, rubber ball to him, and he’s getting good!

Joshua joined his school cross country team, so we’re learning all about this sport. He did a fantastic job on his first race. Go, Joshua!!

This is JD, sleeping on DaddyO. I’ve always said that my children can sleep anywhere.

most adorable self-portrait ever

We are doing quite well, I think. I’ve even started attending a Beth Moore Bible study. We’re doing Entrusted: A Study of 2 Timothy. I’m excited about that.

A note about the heart thing:

I’ve learned a valuable lesson about moving. If you have medical problems, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get copies of your records before you move. My new doctor won’t see me until I get him my records, and his staff is apparently incapable of getting the records themselves, so they kept making me call California, and ugh. It has been such an ordeal.  Thankfully, my other doctor’s office wasn’t so shy and handled the record retrieval themselves.

Also, I learned so much more about what is actually wrong with me than what I knew before I read them. There are so many things doctors don’t bother to tell you. I found out that my heart beat is over 100 for 8 hours of a day, and of course that varies. My average heart rate is over 90. My v-tach was 210 beats per minute. I had not known any of those things before. It doesn’t change anything, but it’s nice to know. Don’t worry. I faithfully take my beta blockers every day. Those stats were while I was off of beta blockers.

Always get your medical records before you move! Lesson learned.

I hope you are all having a great week. I want to leave you with a beautiful quote I came across recently, from the Kendrick brothers who make all those Christian movies, like Fireproof and Courageous.

“Love positively acts; it doesn’t negatively react. Love rises above the cloudy circumstances and soars above the storm. It defies common, self-centered logic.”   –Kendrick brothers

I have had my low-grade fevers and hip and shoulder pain lately, and Alan has done a beautiful job of this love-in-action thing, handling so much of the house work because it’s such a struggle for me to keep up. Thank you, Alan.

Have a wonderful week, y’all!!

The post 2 Month Moving Update appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

After a 19-day vacation to see our folks, it warmed our hearts to find this in our driveway when we returned. What a hug to come home to this sweet driveway art! Our friends did this for us while we were away.

“We can do small things with great love.” –Mother Teresa

Isn’t it funny how it’s the little things like this that make our days bright and cheery?

And oh, while vacation was fun, it is always wonderful to be “Home Sweet Home”.

Joshua, Caleb, and a buddy of theirs (one of them that did the driveway art) were discussing “New Year’s Revolutions.” Yes, I corrected them. Joshua quickly understood the difference. He joked, “Ha!!  This year is a revolution!! Yaaaaaaaah!”

One of the boys said that he wants to have peace and goodwill on earth. Another one wants to own every single Lego Star Wars buildable figure.

“What’s yours, Mom?”

Um, uh…”Well, I haven’t fully decided yet, but I do hope to get rid of my hip pain this year.”

I got blank stares for that one. It’s hard for elementary kids to relate to chronic pain, I think.

So yeah. Not planning a revolution this year…..I don’t even have a concrete resolution.

I just want to do my job well, love my family, and move the family back across the country without stressing out about it. I’m so done with stress.

You know what I want most for this year? I want to focus on being a good mom and a loving wife. If we all did that, the whole world would be sweeter.

making gingerbread houses with the little guys

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
― Mother Teresa

Yes, I got a bicycle for Christmas. No, my hips didn’t love it, but the boys were so excited to have their mom ride bikes with them. Thanks, Santa Alan!!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! I’d love to hear your resolutions/goals. No, really. I get my best ideas from other people, so do share.

Bring it on, 2016.

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