My Friends Are My Family

This morning...just like every morning, I woke my six year old up for school. I always rub her back and speak softly and give her a little kiss on the cheek.  She rolls around a little bit, but she doesn't open her eyes right away. Needless to say, she is not a morning person. So after a few minutes, I always pick her up and carry her downstairs.  She is little enough that I can still do that.  As I picked her up this morning, she was not wanting to wake up, so she just laid in my arms, not holding on at all.  I don't think she even thought about the possibility of me dropping her.  There are 16 steps that I had to walk down while carrying her. I had to look over her little head with every step, so I wouldn't miss a step.  If I did, we both would go tumbling down and quite possibly be really hurt.

I started thinking, isn't that how we are sometimes? When we are so tired, or confused, and we feel like we just can't take another step.....someone is there to carry us through it.  I know without a doubt that when I have days where I am frustrated or sad, I have family and friends who I can just fall into their arms.  My little girl wasn't worried or even concerned that I would drop her. She was counting on me to carry her to the destination of the couch without any incident. 

It's cool how we can be strong for each other. I have "carried" many of my friends through difficult times. However, there have been times when I'm the one who needs to be carried through.  They have been there for me! No questions asked....just carried me through and took those steps that I couldn't seem to take on my own.

Today, as we are in the Thanksgiving season, I am thankful for my family and my friends, who I consider family. Thank you for walking for me when I couldn't; for opening your eyes when mine were closed; and for loving me throughout this life! I am a better person because of you!

Ever Had One Of Those Days?

Several of my friends have heard this story, and a few of them encouraged me to blog my "elevator story".....So here it is.

Labor Day weekend, we took the family and headed to San Antonio for a long weekend.  We checked into the 4 star hotel where we have stayed year after year. We love this hotel! 

The next morning, we had breakfast and headed out to the Riverwalk.  The girls ended up at Ripley's Believe It Or Not, while my husband and I walked around the Alamo.  We headed back to the hotel and went for a swim......this is where the tale begins.......

After about an hour, the rest of the family went upstairs to shower and get ready for the evening.  I decided I would lay out by the pool and get some sun and read.  After 45 minutes or so, I made my way into the hotel to go up to our room.  I got on the elevator....alone.

I pushed the button for floor number 15 and started up.  After about 10 floors the elevator stopped.  I stood there and waited for it to start again. It did not.  Then, because I've watched so many movies, I started thinking that the elevator could quite possibly fall down to the bottom and I could die! So, I quickly sat down and braced myself! (I know now that it would not have mattered if I were standing or sitting....I would have plunged to my death)...but lucky for me, I didn't know that fact at the time.

After about 5 minutes of Nothing, I pushed a button that appeared to be an intercom.  Some lady said "front desk, may I help you?"...I said..."Yes, I'm stuck in the elevator?"...She said, "oh yes ma'am we have someone working on that", and HUNG UP ON ME!  So, I sat back down and braced myself.  I prayed. I really did not want to die right then, my hair was a mess!!

I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more.  So I pushed the intercom again.  This time a man said "front desk, may I help you?".....I said..."Yes, I'm the one stuck in the elevator?"....He said, "yes ma'am, the fire department is on it's way."....I said..."Can someone call my husband in room 1504 and let him know where I am?"...He said yes.

So, back in our room....the electricity had been out, so the family was just sitting around wondering where I was.  Apparently, one of the girls said..."Wouldn't it be funny if she were stuck in an elevator?"...just then, the phone rang and my husband answered it.  After a few minutes he said..."which one is she stuck in?".....Then, I've been told, laughter filled the room, as I guess this was a funny image for them!!

After about 20 more minutes......I pushed the intercom AGAIN!......another lady said "front desk, may I help you?"....I said......"Is someone going to get me out???!?!?!!".....she said, "yes the fire department is here and they are looking for you."

Meanwhile, down in the lobby.....my husband had walked down 15 flights of stairs and was trying to find out what was going on.  NO ONE at the front desk could tell him where I was, or if anyone had contacted me in the elevator!!! (Who had I been talking to all that time???)  Maybe I was calling the front desk of some other hotel across town? I'm still not sure.

So, my husband meets the firefighters as they come in.  FOUR firetrucks....just for me!  The front desk couldn't tell them anything either! My husband took charge and told him that I was stuck somewhere between floor 1 and floor 15.  They took off looking for me.

Suddenly, I could hear a firefighter's voice.  He was calling my name! I could hear him faintly, then he got louder and louder.  Suddenly, the doors to the elevator began to pry open.  When they opened, I saw that I was between floors.  I could see the inside of the elevator shaft, and the floor was above my head.  It was kinda scary at that point.

But as the doors opened, I saw a sea of firefighters in their blue uniforms....SO many of them......but I also saw my husband right in the front of them leading them to me! I was comforted by that sight.

The firefighter said....."We are going to take your hands and pull you out.  When we do, it needs to be fast!".  All I was thinking of was how glad I was that I had put a cover-up on over my bathing suit!!!

So, he counted, "One, Two, Three"...and they pulled me up and onto the floor.  I felt like I was in a movie.  Then they immediately moved to the elevator and secured it so it wouldn't go anywhere.  I found out later that they pulled me out so fast because sometimes elevators start moving, and people have been cut in half.  Good to know.

The hotel was very apologetic and we got a free room out of the experience.  My family got a good laugh, and I have yet another story to tell in my psyc class!

What About Me? What About Me? What About Me?

Have you ever said that to yourself? Maybe not in those exact words, but you've thought it. I think at one time or another, we all have. We see the guy who keeps getting all the great stock options when our 401K is getting smaller. You see the girl that just graduated college with no experience, get the job that you have been working from temp to perm for 10 years. Or what about the kid who gets all the scholarships for various colleges and you can't even get one. Yeah, we've all thought it before......What about me?

I think the important thing to remember is to not dwell on the question in the wrong light. It's only natural for us to think it, to feel it. But if we linger there too long, then it becomes a poison inside of us that no good can come from. Really, what does anger and pity for yourself get you? Nothing.  It can however, inspire you. Inspire you to change what you can. When you get knocked down, it's important not to stay there very long. One thing that I have found is to take a step back out of the situation, and look at things from a different angle.

One evening last week, our family went to a new Chinese Food Buffet. When we walked in, there were six long areas of nothing but food! As we took our plates and began filling them, I looked down at my six year old getting things for her plate. I thought, WOW! How privileged we are and we don't even know it.

I came home and looked up the word privilege:  special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual.

I have found that when I begin asking myself, "What about me?" I am now asking it in a different way....."What about me? What about all of the privileges I have? What about all of the good things that I get to enjoy? What about the air in my lungs?"

I wish we all could turn that question around and ask it in a way that makes us truly grateful for all of the things that we have. Then, in turn, look around for people who we can help. One sure fire way to be thankful for what you have, is to help someone who is going through a rough patch.  Look around you. You can always find someone who needs your help!

Stop Riding The Fence

I went to an Astros game this weekend, and after the game we stayed for a David Crowder concert. He is a Contemporary Christian artist. This particular Astros game was designated "Faith and Family Night", so there were many people there with their children.  As things were getting geared up for the concert portion of the evening, a man, his wife and three children were seated in the row in front of us.  The children were not hyper, they stayed seated for the most part, not acting up at all.  The mom was glued to her Iphone texting someone, and her daughter kept trying to ask her a question. The mom in a very hateful tone and facial expression, told her daughter to stop bothering her. The little girl just sat back in her seat and didn't try to interact with her mom anymore.

When the concert began, the mom quickly put away her phone and began clapping with the music and smiling.  She would close her eyes and raise her hands, as many others were doing in response to the music.  During one of the songs, one of the little boys was trying to talk to the other little boy and he was using kind of a loud voice because the music was so loud.  She went from raising her hands "worshiping" to leaning over in his direction and yelling at him to BE QUIET! Then she went on to tell him, "I'm NEVER bringing you to anything else...mark my word!"...So hateful.  She went straight from yelling at her son, to putting her hands right back up and "worshiping".

I couldn't help but think, this is how a lot of Christians are on a daily basis. She was giving me and example of how throughout our lives, we can be "holy, worshiping, God following" people, then in a blink of an eye, we become "compromising, indecisive, hypocritical" people.  There is a passage from the Bible that says:
                               “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.
                                 I wish you were either cold or hot! So, because
                                 you are neither cold or hot, I will spit you out of my mouth."

We can't be lukewarm about Christ. If we talk the talk, we have to walk the walk. Trust me, I haven't always done this! I have failed over and over again. However, I can't deny what the Bible teaches me about it. If I believe in Christ and I believe in His commands, I can't just pick the ones that suit me....I have to live it out.....ALL of it!

I can't raise my hands in worship on Sunday and then fill myself with things God does not approve of during the week. I can't nod my head in agreement with the preacher when he says "love your neighbor", and then walk right past someone who will not get to eat that day.

I either have to be hot or cold...not lukewarm. I need to stop riding the fence and pick a side. I want to choose HOT! I want to be on fire for God and obedient to His commands for my life!

Change what you can........

One of my favorite things to do is to take an hour drive to Galveston by myself from time to time. This morning was a gorgeous morning to do just that.  As I unloaded my bike and began to ride along the Seawall, the first thing I noticed was a flock of pelicans flying by.  I thought they were amazing!  I continued riding and just soaked in the smell of the ocean.

As I rode a little further, other people were riding bikes and walking. I noticed that the people I passed looked pleasant and most all of them returned my "Good Morning!"  I didn't ride much further until I came across a man and his little girl. She looked to be about a year and a half old. They had just stepped out of their car and the little girl started pointing at the waves and saying "oooh-oooh-oooh".  I slowed my bike down and watched her excitement of the ocean. She kept pointing and ooohing and looking from the ocean up to her dad and back to the ocean.

I rode on with that image in my mind. Oh, to have the innocence and the wonder of a one year old. She thought the waves were magnificent! Why can't we see things with that new-ness?  I realize that we can't point to things and say "oooh-oooh-oooh"; people might find us strange. But it seems to me that we can have that same internal excitement and appreciate so much more than we generally do.

Sometimes it's easy for us to get caught up in the "every day, same bad news, the world's got troubles" mind-set. 

We can change a lot of things; need to lose weight? Eat right and exercise. Want to earn a better paycheck? Do what it takes to meet the qualifications.

There are huge amounts of things that we cannot change. I can't change the fact that thousands of people are without homes because of the recent tornadoes. I can't change the fact that there are horrible dictators in other countries. I certainly can't change the fact that I am only 5'1 and will never be any taller :)

What I can do is enjoy what is in front of me. Enjoy the little details of my life. I get to go to sleep in a comfy bed with a ceiling fan above me that keeps me at just the right temperature. I get to peek in on my kids while they are still sleeping in the mornings. Today, I even got to take a drive to the beach and look out at the ocean in awe of the majesty of God's creation!

So, I leave you with this....Change what you can, pray for what you can't...and enjoy what is here.  Live life to the fullest!

What is your assignment?

Have you ever thought about why you're here? What is your assignment in this life? So many times we get in a rut of doing the every day in and day out activities that we lose sight of what we are supposed to be doing.

Were you assigned to be a parent? To have a biological child or to adopt a child in need of a stable home?  What about your career? Are you supposed to be the CEO somewhere, or are you supposed to work from home? Are you destined to be a motivational speaker, or a foreign missionary?

Did you ever stop to think that maybe your assignment is to look out and care for someone other than yourself? To keep a pleasant home that your family enjoys living in? To work hard and provide for your family? To make a way for someone who has lost all hope?

You are not here by accident. No one is. All of us have a purpose, and it's up to us to find out what it is. It reminds me of the Persian Queen Esther. She risked her life coming before the king, but her Uncle had said to her..."And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Why are you here? What is your life's assignment? Take time to look around you. Encourage someone today with your words, with your money, with your time. You may never know the impact you will have on someone's life, but could it be that you were put on this earth for such a time as this?

Generation Me

I read a book a while back entitled "Generation Me" by Jean Twenge. I loved it so much, I read it through twice. The truth of it, however, is becoming more evident to me in recent days.  I have seen this in action: the current generation lives in an entitled state of mind. Not everyone in this generation, certainly....but statistically a large amount.  It's not only the "young" people of this generation, but the generation that we are all becoming.

For instance, look around you the next time you are driving. People of all ages are driving as if they are headed to disarm a bomb and time is of the essence. When in actuality, they are simply headed to a friend's house to hang out and play the Wii.  People are putting their lives in danger, and other's lives around them in danger, all because they want it NOW. They want to get there Now, they want their possessions Now, they want to loose the weight Now.

Progess has made it so easy for us to get used to having things immediately. I can make my oatmeal in a minute-thirty seconds. I can make instant mac n' cheese for my daughter in four minutes. I can apply for and receive instant credit.  If I get on-line and have to wait an extended few seconds longer than I think I should for a website to come up, I start the heavy sighing as if my entire day is ruined.

It makes me sad that we as a generation are going into extreme debt to buy things that we don't need, to impress people that we don't even know. It makes me sad that we are so busy getting what is ours, that we leave out people who need our help. Our patience, compassion, and understanding for others have been affected by our own desires.

The generation coming up now knows only about instant gratification. My youngest one doesn't know what it's like to not be able to send a text message to a friend to ask if she can play. Instant things are nice, but I hope we take time to reflect on time and the beauty of it. Taking the time to spend with people we love and taking the time to care about others who need us.

Self Control....To be or not to be......

Does this ever happen to you......?  It's a typical Friday morning, I get the kids to school successfully and then I'm off to the grocery store to stock up before the weekend. It's not very crowded, but I still want to park away from the other cars, because it's just what I do to keep my car from getting banged up and scratched.  I'm only in there for about 30 minutes, and when I come out the parking lot is just about empty...except for....wait for it.....Yes, there it is, out of ALL the empty parking spaces, the BIG Ford F250 is parked right.beside.me! And parked as close to me as possible, so that I can't even load my groceries on that side.

Now, I just stand there and ponder...why? Why do people do this? What could be their possible motivation?? I am stumped, and aggrevated. I'm pretty sure he didn't do it to be mean. Why would he? I don't know this person. And yet it just baffles me! My first inclination is to ram his big truck with my shopping cart. No, that's not the right thing to do. My next thought is to pull my shopping cart between our two cars so I can load my groceries while scraping the side of his truck. No, that's not right either. Then what am I supposed to do??

I took my groceries around to the other side and loaded them in. Then I carefully opened my door so I wouldn't bang his door with mine, and I slid in ever so easily to get into my car. As I sat in my car still pondering why this person would do such a thing, it hit me. Maybe people do this to me because it's one of my major pet peeves and it is helping me with self control. See, I believe the Bible and I want to have the "fruit of the spirit"; one of which is self control.  I feel pretty good about the other ones; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness....but that self-control one, now that's a challenge for me.

So, could it be that these people who do things to me that make me want to lash out at them, are God's way of teaching me to use self-control. Even though I felt like smashing against his truck, I knew it wasn't the right thing to do and I resisted. So then my thoughts went to this guy. What was his story? Was he getting ready to go to a job that he hates? Is his wife at home sick and he has to maintain the household chores? I have to consider that he is a person, with real problems, with real emotions. I used self-control today. Little by little, I'm getting better. Now, where is that bag of kit kats? :)

A Pregnancy Journey.....

So, six years and about 9 months ago....I took a pregnancy test and it was Positive. But that was just the beginning of the story.....Let's go back there........

When I pray, I expect God to answer; and He does. Not always the way I want.  I had 2 previous miscarriages that I prayed for God to spare me from...but He chose to say no. When I went into the doctor in early 2004, she conducted an ultrasound. I was far enough along that we should have heard/seen a heartbeat and seen the sack where the baby was.  My doctor saw nothing. She called me back into her office and said that she picked up a faint heartbeat that was most likely mine. She said that this was a 4 percent chance of being a viable pregnancy. I prayed....I cried.....I spent the rest of the day in my room grieving the coming loss of yet another pregnancy.

That Sunday, my church had a healing service. My friends gathered around me and prayed for the healing of this pregnancy. Because we all knew that our God is WAY bigger than any 4 percent prediction. I prayed, and I waited. Two weeks later, I went in for another ultrasound the day before a scheduled D& C procedure. On that ultrasound, we not only saw/heard a STRONG heartbeat, we saw my little one moving from one side of the screen to the other! My doctor said with tears in her eyes...."This is a miracle"....She still calls her my miracle baby.

Sometimes God answers with a no; sometimes with not right now....and sometimes, He answers with ALL of His Glory and Power with an Almighty YES. Emma was so close to not even being here....but God took the pregnancy and did what only He could do.......He gave me Emma. Thank you God for saying yes!

Turning Our Okay Into Beautiful......

Sunday mornings are pretty much the same around my home. I'm the first one up and I get the pot of coffee going. I mix up the blueberry muffins and get them in the oven, then head to my computer for some quiet time. Then, I begin waking the rest of the family up and they head into the kitchen for breakfast. After breakfast, everyone begins getting ready for church.

On this particular Sunday, my 6 year old got herself dressed and then wanted to do her hair all by herself. My first thought was "this is not going to be good".  So, I let her take the brush and begin brushing her hair. After a few minutes, she was so proud of the front, but she looked perplexed as she tried to figure out how she was going to do the back of her hair. I was standing to the side of her, finishing my make-up. She looked up at me and said "Mama, would you brush the back of my hair?" Of course I said yes, and while she was playing with a little toy in front of her, I brushed the front too!
         
She wanted to do the whole thing by herself, and it would have turned out okay I suppose. But when she asked me for help, I took the "okay" of the situation and made it "beautiful.".  I couldn't help but think, this must be what God thinks of us many times.  I always set out to do things, usually on my own and in my own power. Those things usually turn out "okay", but just think how beautiful it would turn out if I would simply ask for His help at the beginning instead of in the middle or even at the end.

I was willing to do the whole thing for her. I was just standing and waiting for her to ask. That's all it took. She asked, and I did it.
 

"A leper came to him, begging on his knees, "If you want to, you can cleanse me." Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, I want to. Be clean." Then and there the leprosy was gone. - Mark 1:40-41

    

God is willing to take our "okay's" and make them Beautiful! All we have to do is ask!

Giving In When You Really Don't Want To.....

Just as a disclaimer....this is SO not about me......all the glory belongs to GOD!!

So this morning while driving over the Baytown bridge to get to my class, I was thinking about the parking situation. I knew I was going to have to park far away and walk. I was already dreading it, but I had my big coat with the hat and the gloves. As I was walking the long walk and freezing while I was totally dressed in winter wear...it hit me. There are thousands out there who will be sleeping in shelters tonight, but many who will be on the streets. I just kept thinking about them with every step I took until I got into the warm building.

As I was teaching my 2 classes, there was this constant "unhappiness" I felt. Even with my goofy jokes and the class responding in such a positive way, there was something bringing me down.

As I was walking back to my car and still freezing, I felt like I was supposed to do something. But what?? It's supposed to be like 27 degrees tonight...people need blankets. This was the thought going on in my head (I'm convinced it was God). So I felt God leading me to go to Wal Mart and buy a few blankets. I also had a crockpot full of taco soup that I felt like I was supposed to put in plastic containers and take to someone.

Even though I had this thought, I kept saying things like, "but I don't know where to find these people", it's so far over to Houston, what am I going to do with the kids while I do this?"...But with every excuse I tried to make, I just kept having different verses come to my head...."whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me" and "love your neighbor as yourself". Then the Brandon Heath song came into my head.."give me your eyes for just one second..."

So I went to Wal-Mart. I bought 2 blankets, 2 pillows and some plastic containers for my soup. I came home and made some pb&j sandwiches, and put them in a couple of bags along with some cheese & crackers and some pudding.

I called my dad and asked if Emma could stay with him for a few hours. Then I told my plan to Kendall and she wanted to go with me. I wasn't sure where to go, but I knew that I had always seen homeless guys on the benches in Herman Park by the zoo. So, that's where we headed. We parked and got out and started walking. The wind was blowing the water from the big fountain directly at us and we were laughing and freezing all at the same time.

We didn't find one person in that park! So, we went back to our car. We were not going home defeated. So, we took off down San Jacinto street and headed into downtown. There we saw him. A person covered by a make-shift blanket on the steps of an abandoned building. As we approached him, there was no place for me to stop, so we kept driving and looking for others. We finally felt like we were supposed to go back and give our things to this man.

I turned around and headed back to the place where we saw him. There was an Eye Center on the corner, so we parked there. We got out our soup, sandwiches, blanket and pillow and headed across the street.

"Hello?"....."Hellllooo?" "Excuse me".....I called out to him, and finally he pulled his covering away from his face and looked at me. "Hi! we have some food for you, can we leave it here?". He said yes and moved some things out of the way so we could put it down. Then we handed him the pillow and we spread the fleece blanket out over him. I asked him what his name was......Kevin. We asked him if we could pray for him later and he said yes. We told him to take care and that we would be praying for him. "Thank you" he said.

Then we left and ran across the street to our car. As we were getting back into our car, a guy who was standing by the metro pick-up said..."that was a real nice thing that yall just did".

Here is what I learned today. Always, always follow God in obedience. Even if it doesn't make sense to you and especially if it's out of your comfort zone.  I don't know what God will do with and through Kevin, but I'm praying for great things!! The man at the metro bus stop saw what we did and I hope that he is inspired to show some kindness to someone along the way.

Maybe we blessed Kevin tonight. I hope we did. But I can tell you this much....I was blessed beyond words. I got to spend precious, quality time with my daughter living out God's command and I will appreciate my bed, heater, fireplace, and refrigerator full of food a lot more tonight than I normally would. I take things for granted BIG TIME! Tonight, Kevin is sleeping on a hard concrete step. But I hope his stomach isn't growling tonight and he stays a little warmer with his new blanket. But more than anything....more than ANYTHING, I want him to have felt the love of Jesus tonight. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. I'm so glad that Kevin allowed me to show God's love to him tonight. I am truly blessed!

Stepping with Purpose

A few months back, I stopped by HEB to do a little grocery shopping. When I came out of the store about 45 minutes later, it was pouring down rain. I had not brought my umbrella with me, so I stood there a few minutes contemplating what my next move would be.

After thinking it through, I realized that I was just going home and it didn't really matter if I got soaked or not. So I held on tight to the cart and took off across the parking lot. As I was walking quickly to my car, another car honked at another car for some reason. When he did that, it startled me and my foot slipped. I didn't fall, but my foot kinda turned underneath itself and it hurt! My entire leg all the way up to my hip hurt every day for about a month. I'm too young to be hurting like that!

So, as you can imagine, I've become a little skittish when it comes to walking outside in the rain. Yesterday, I was about to walk out of my building and it had started to rain. I had on the exact same shoes that I was wearing at HEB that day that I slipped. So, as I started to take that first step, I was a little leery! I put my foot down very deliberately and slowly. Then took the next step and then the next. Until finally I made it to my car without slipping.

It made me think of real life. How, so many times we are "walking" and doing our own thing, and we slip up. We do or say things that have negative consequences. We get hurt or we even hurt others.  Sometimes, we may not want to get back out there and try again; we are afraid of slipping up again. But the cool thing is that if we learn from the things that made us slip in the past, we are less likely to make those same mistakes again. If we take time to think about our actions, take our steps deliberately and with purpose....the rest will come easily.

Don't be afraid of past mistakes. Learn from them. Be a better person because of them. Live life by putting one foot in front of the other and walk with purpose!

I Just Stay Home........

Several years back, I can remember some people asking me, "what do you do?"...My reply was always..."I just stay at home with my kids." I really didn't feel like I "did" anything that was worthy to be noted.  It didn't take long for me to change my mind.  If any of you have ever stayed home with your kids, you know that doing "nothing" is far far from the truth!

When the kids were younger, I would arrange playdates, trips to the children's museum and fun snack times throughout the day. Now this only occurs during the summer, due to school.  Today, my day starts off at 5:30a.m. to get things done for myself like working out, quiet time with God and playing around on facebook :)  Then, lunches get made, children wake up, breakfast gets made and clothes get picked out for the day.

After I drop the kids off at school, I come back home and get things started around here.  A typical day begins with a load of laundry. While that is going, the clothes that are lying around in different rooms on different floors need to be picked up.  Dishwasher gets emptied and another load of dishes goes in. Then it's time to check emails and balance the checkbook. Making sure that all of the bills are up to date and nothing is being overlooked! Need to lay something out for dinner so that it will be ready to go when I'm ready for it.

Appointments need to be made and an errand list needs to be made for the day. Sometime in between all of this, bathrooms need to be spruced up and floors need to be swept.  About the time all of this gets finished, it's about time to pick up the kids and get dinner going. After dinner, homework gets done, baths, and nighttime books and off to bed we go.  Resting up to get ready to do it all over again the next day.

Keeping a home running smoothly is not as easy as it may look. I have learned not to downplay what I do. I have an important job and I take pride in doing it. I'm not "just a wife and mom"....I am "a woman" and that includes a whole lot of things......leave the "just" out please!