Exhausted

I am exhausted. This is our first baby that is a terrible sleeper. We are up every two hours. This one is rough because my pregnancy with Aden was a little harder. I feel like like I haven't slept a full night in close to a year.  I'm used to it but it's still no fun. I'm irritable and have no patience. I find it hard to give Noah and Nora the attention they deserve on a daily basis. This is just hard. But I knew it would be! This was a huge decision for us last year. I was on the fence with a third for years. But i never felt complete. It was one of those things that I knew in my heart I would regret years later if I never did it. I prayed like crazy about it. When it became a reality, I felt like I was about to make my world complete. That is an amazing feeling. And here we are one year later and I'm so tired! I remember again why I hate the newborn stage! If they could talk, it may be easier. I sat here tonight and fought back tears while I zipped up a very tight pair of newborn Jammie's on Aden. I stared at the new little rolls on his legs while we gave him a bath tonight. I cannot believe this is it. That part of my life is over. The part where we get excited to try to have a baby! The part where I get excited about a growing belly, giving birth, and a brand new baby.  It's not going to happen again. I cannot believe it. Sure we could always have one more, but I know better. I am full. This is what I wanted. I have never wanted 4 so I'm done. Maybe it's just making me feel old?  I'm not sure what it is. Most likely it's hormones. I feel so lucky. I say that a lot! Noah and Nora are crazy little monsters. They try my patience on a sometimes hourly basis. And I'm not always the mom I dreamed I would be. But I'm blessed. If you would have asked me years ago about kids, I would have told you I wanted a girl and a boy... And if I had three, I wanted another boy. I got exactly what I wanted. In the order I wanted. And they are beautiful. I am so blessed. I know I say it a lot, but if only my mom and dad could see them.  They would think I was crazy! They would also be crazy in love with all three of them.  I know that. Anyways, that about sums up my thoughts for today.  Now I'm off to wrap presents... Because it's the day before Christmas eve and I haven't wrapped a single gift! Yikes!! Merry Christmas!! ❤️

Nothing much!

  Well, its been awhile AGAIN, because life gets in the way. Just a little update on what's been going on in our world. First off, I have 5 more weeks of being pregnant. I'm beside myself happy about it! Pregnancy is not something I enjoy. To those that find it highly offensive that one could possibly NOT enjoy growing another human being, I apologize. I just done like constantly feeling uncomfortable. I am lucky I  have an awesome OB who is induction happy, and if little man cooperates, I will get induces at 39 weeks. Im not super worried because Noah and Nora came a week early on their own. This little guy on the other hand may have differebt plans. He was head down at 31 weeks and fully engaged! Then at 32 weeks decided breech was the way to be. Little stinker. Not totally sure what he is up to these days, but I will know more next Tuesday and will go from there as to whether or not I will need to get him manually turned. So, as super fun as that sounds, prayers for a head down baby would be much appreciated! We are about done with all the major purchases we have needed for this baby since we got rid of absolutely everything. Its a good feeling to feel prepared! Noah and Nora are super excited and talk about him all the time. Noah seems quite impatient with him and frequently asks if he will ever come out! Ha! I cannot wait to see how they react to a baby. Im just ready! I have about a zillion Braxton hicks a day and some pretty painful ones at night so I think he may be another middle of the night delivery just like the others. Only time will tell at this point! Other than that, we are just taking life day by day around here. Its getting cold in the STL and we are super excited for the holidays. I cannot believe how quickly time flies! Don't foget to be thankful this year for all of the blessings in your life no matter how small! I know we are!
xoxo

Happy Birthday sweet Nora.

I will never forget the day that I was told I was going to have a girl! I honestly did not believe it! Growing up I always figured when I had kids, I figured I would have two little girls just like my sister and I. But when you are old enough to realize you don't really have a choice, I wasn't too concerned. I was through the roof happy when I found out Noah was a boy. That's what Jason and I wanted. We wanted a boy, then a girl. I couldn't not believe Nora was going to be mine. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am all girl. I spent the next 4 months staring at that ultrasound thinking it may be wrong. I kept every receipt just in case. Then the day came and as long as I live, I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on that face. How did I get a baby girl so incredibly gorgeous. Dark skin, dark hair, and flawless. I may be a bias, but she was just beautiful. The perfect combination of Jason and I. Being the second baby, she was just  so much easier to deliver which accounted for how flawless she was. Nora came at a perfect time in our lives. I was losing my mom. I had no idea how much time I had left with her and the stress from that was unimaginable. Nora was a perfect baby. I'm not lying when I say that from her second week of life with us, she was sleeping over 6 hours at night. She never fussed and was incredibly happy. God knew exactly what I needed at the time. She felt like a little angel that was healing my heart everyday. I cannot believe how she has turned into such a funny, sweet, independent, feisty little girl. Every day of my life she does something that makes me say " I cant take it she's so cute".  The love that her and Noah have for each other is awesome to watch. I'm pretty sure they spend 75% of their day together fighting, but they are black and white. When they aren't fighting, they love each other. They hold hands, hug, and say "I Love you". I am blessed. I am Blessed beyond measure with what God has given me. I cannot wait to meet their baby brother in a few months. But for right now, Ill just keep him safe and warm while I spend my time loving on the sweetest little monsters that I know. Happy Birthday Baby Nora, I love you to the moon.

 



Bedroom re-do!

Hi friends! Its been a little while. We have been keeping pretty busy making things a little bit more "ours" recently. Luckily our land lord was pretty good about paint, and since we tend to stick to pretty neutral colors, we have been able to do what we have wanted. So, I only found one picture that I had taken of our room when we first moved in. It really wasn't that bad, but I wasn't loving the yellow color, and I was kind of  burnt out on our furniture. With the cost of furniture being not so cheap, we decided to paint ours with chalk paint! A friend told us that Lowes had a chalk paint recipe on their website, so I got it. Less than $200 later, we had a new room! I wanted everything to look clean and fresh. I wanted it to feel like that when you walked in the room. I also wanted a little pop of color so we went ahead and painted the nightstands a fun orangey red. I LOVE it! Got a few yards of fabric from hobby lobby and made the pillows also. The duvet is a set from target that I got on sale. So, over all , it was incredibly easy and very cheap. I love the way it turned out. NOW, we get to work on moving the kids into the same room! YIKES!

 

 

BERORE

 

 

AFTER

 

 

 

You may be wondering..

 

 

For those of you that may be wondering how the 21 day sugar detox is going...well, its not. Now, before you go and get all judgmental on me, hear me out. First of all, this was a pretty hard thing to do. It doesn't help that I am 12 weeks pregnant and hungry. But in reality, that is not why I decided to quit.

The reason that I decided to go ahead and stop the detox, wasn't because I could not go another day without sugar. That actually got easier! A ton easier by day 5. The reason is because I really don't know what I'm suppose to be eating! "Well read the book and follow the directions silly!" You may be saying, but that isn't it either! Jason and I decided the other night to watch a food documentary "Forks over knives". I think I may have talked about it in a former thread. It was an eye opener to me about meat! Having two parents and multiple family members, friends, neighbors, you name it, die from cancer, its incredibly scary to watch after you have just been told that you need to consume a TON of meat every single day for 21 days. Not to mention that the meat you should be eating is preferably grass fed, free range, antibiotic free whatever else free meat. It is incredibly expensive. The list I had in my book was about $300 a week in meat alone. Then I hear about all of these studies done where populations that don't eat meat have these incredibly low cancer instances or none at all! So, if you know me and know that I am a borderline hypochondriac, I panic! I start to do all of this research on meat, and gluten, and dairy! Full fat vs. low fat, no carbs vs. high carbs, and every single study will give you a totally different answer. So what exactly is the truth? Is there a real right or wrong answer? I believe there is. Take EVERYTHING in moderation. Cut out as much processed foods as possible. If possible, cut it all out! Refined sugar is bad for us! Stop eating so much of it!!! Eat more veggies, more plant based diets with normal meat portion sizes! Read labels. If you cant pronounce it, don't eat it! Gluten is still out there for me to debate with because of how since we cut it out again, Noah has gone back to being more manageable! I really do believe that the gluten we consume today is not the gluten out ancestors consumed! Everything has been so mass produced to save dollars, that they have greatly modified it and some of just simply do not tolerate it. I try to stay away from it as much as possible, but I find I cant cut it out of my life forever. I think we all know that 10 years from now, a lot of the diets that we are eating are going to change even more! I can only hope that it is to a more whole foods way of living and the more processed junk becomes a thing of the past. I believe it will save a ton of lives.

For now, I will go about my daily life without the frustration of trying to figure out what is on a yes or no list and just eat real whole foods that GOD made as much as I possibly can . I know for a fact that I need to cut out sugar, and I have even since stopping this. It is a wake up call. I think we all need to make a few changes in our eating habits! Perhaps not drastic ones when you are 12 weeks pregnant and incredibly hormonal! 

A little secret!!

 

 

Hi Friends!! We have a surprise! Yep, baby number 3! We have prayed about this for along time not knowing if we were ready for it or not. God answered. And we are SO excited!

xoxoCarolyn



Day 4

Today was crap. For lots of reasons. Honestly this morning I was doing just fine. I didn't hate my kids, wasn't crabby, my smoothie actually was delicious. It helped that I dumped real cocoa powder Into it! Also acceptable. It wasn't until something totally unrelated happened. Staph. Yes... For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you know that I cannot seem to escape that crap! This time it's Noah. Took him to the dr and he's on an antibiotic and I'm praying it's better in the morning or it's back to the hospital we go. Later this evening, we found two spots on Nora that look like they could be anything right now. Mostly look like mosquito bites and I'm praying that since she decided to put on a tutu and go commando out In The backyard, that is what happened. Tomorrow morning should answer more questions. As far as the sugar detox goes... Not so good today. Didn't really feel bad, but ate a handful of French fries at chick fil a today. On the no list. I didn't care. It's not like they satisfied the craving...the grilled nuggets were not doing it for me and I kept dipping everything in mustard. I hate mustard but nothing tastes good. I found myself in tears when a lady delivered a milkshake to the woman behind me. I tried to convince Jason that he should tell me it's ok to eat a cookie just this once. He laughed and told me no... No it wasn't. Dinner tonight was tacos in lettuce "shells" while tasty, they did nothing for me. Spent a good hour and a half stressed out from this stupid staph situation and talked to myself about maybe going to Starbucks. Decided insted to open up the candy jar in my kitchen. Got out a bag of m&m's , stared at them, then decided to go to bed before I lost it. This is silly!! Do I really crave this that bad?! I just hope that if I can get anything out of this, it's the horrible need for it. I really do just need it. I can think of three things I would have eaten tonight had I not been on this detox and I would not have thought twice about it. Oh well. On to day five. I'll need some prayers tomorrow if y'all don't mind for me and mostly the kids!! Praying that they are both doing just fine tomorrow. Until then.. I'm off to bed to dream of doughnuts with sprinkles.

Day three

Well, it really was as bad as I thought it would be. Woke up absolutely starving and on the brink of a headache. Made myself a smoothie and went back to bed... Or at least got in bed. Can't go back to bed with a 4 and 2 year old. Spent my morning not really liking my kids. For no particular reason really, except that maybe I wanted a doughnut and they were not getting me one. Found an interesting vegan cookbook on another blog this morning and decided to hit up the barnes and noble which resulted in a flat tire on the side of the road👎. My headache was getting worse and honestly I'm not sure it it was because of the detox, or tension. Perhaps both. Came home for lunch literally nauseous. But not nauseous enough to eat say.. A chocolate cake!? Settled for a avacado, tomato, and cucumber salad and then made myself some rice when I decided that wasn't going to last long enough. Sent out a few random text messages to friends using a few more random curse words about doughnuts and cookies. Then I took the kids to the pool in an effort to ignore the hunger. Came home feeling incredibly tired from sitting in a chair and getting a tan. I started panicking because i decided I was going to get bored with the same snacks and needed to find some recipes to mix it up some. Got on Pinterest only to exasperate the cravings. Am I the only one that finds Pinterest kind of evil? Doesn't everyone want a double chocolate pie at 1130 at night? Anyways.... Had a healthy dinner then off to small group. Had an awesome time laughing and hanging out with some super fun couples. Used every ounce of will power I had left to say NO to the salted chocolate brownies and cupcakes there. I'm not going to lie. I for real thought about giving up. All in all, today was a lot harder. I just kind of didn't feel that good either. Tomorrow isn't suppose to get any easier. So I'm saying some prayers for some creativity so that I dont get bored and give in!! Until then...:)

Day two...

As I write this, I'm realizing it was a terrible idea to wait until this morning to write it. I'm learning this morning about the meaning of "brain fog" and I'm having a terrible time trying to focus on what I even ate yesterday. Ugh... Anywho, I'll do the best I can. 

Yesterday wasn't so bad. Big breakfast of eggs and a smoothie with the kids and it kept me good and full for a few hours. A couple healthy snacks and a delicious lunch that made me think of an miss my dad like crazy. A green salad with home made dressing and cold steak! Ha! I totally remember walking into the kitchen and my dad was leaning against the counter munching on the last nights dinner... Some kind of left over meat. Of course I would walk by and he would shake a bite at me and I would of course eat it. Haha! Miss it!  Anyways, the afternoon started getting a little worse. I got a bit of a headache and started craving something crappy. So i ate a green apple with almond butter and cinnamon. Pretty good! Dinner was salmon, cauliflower rice, and peas. The salmon was amazing!! After dinner I was almost nauseous with the need to have something sweet. So I grabbed a handful of macadamia nuts and a small piece of dark chocolate. I felt better after that. Surprisingly, the nuts were sweeter than the chocolate. I think mentally I was just happy I ate chocolate and knew it wasn't bad for me! The rest of the night was good. That is until Jason and I decided it would be fun to watch a food documentary on meat and all of the hellacious diseases we are all dying from. "Forks over Knives". Anyone seen it? My sister told me about it and I kind of brushed it off. Well, I only watched the first half and went to bed terrified that I was going to be dying of cancer soon and that I need to be a vegetarian. Stress. We both came to the conclusion that our meat consumption should go down, and our whole foods should go up, but the idea of never eating meat.. or DAIRY!!! ever again makes me want to cry like a baby. For now, just going to down our portions on it. So, that's about it for yesterday. I'm not going to lie, today has not been good so far so I'm a little worried about day three, but hopefully we can find lots to do today. I see a pool in my future! Have a yummy day everyone!!😉

Day ONE

Didn't turn out so fantastic... But it was intentional. What happened was, yesterday was our anniversary. What have I been telling Jason I wanted for MONTHS? French macaroons!! And I got them. No, I was not going to let them sit for 21 days without eating them. So today is a little more of day one than yesterday. Althought, that was the ONLY sugar I had yesterday. So I'll tell you a little bit about the rest of the day. 

Woke up yesterday and Jason was off work. We made some bacon and eggs for breakfast which is not too hard to eat! I also made myself a smoothie with a green banana, pure almond butter, and almond milk. Also delicious. I did a friends hair after that so the rest of the morning was easy and I didn't think about food. Until we made the trip to whole foods to get some last minute things. I don't know what the whole foods by you is like, but the one by me is incredible. The bakery!!! The pastrys, the cookies, the gelato!!! I started to crave it. I almost started getting nauseous I wanted it so bad. I just kept my mouth shut and remembered I was getting macaroons. Jason had a good laugh at me and we left. I became a crab! I was highly irritated with the kids and Jason because I wanted a stupid cookie. Luckily, I got my macaroon. Immediately felt better. Then about an hour later, STARVING! Ate some leftovers from moes, which was on the "yes" list. Felt a little better but soon after started needing sugar again. I find myself walking around my house looking for food to "fix" it and get crabbier and crabbier. I don't think it was my body wanting it so much as habbit right now. I'm a bit terrified as to how to today will go with NOTHING. For dinner we made steaks with zucchini noodles(incredibly delicious) and asparagus. Couldn't eat it all. For sure more filling than pasta. The rest of the night I just tried to ignore the craving and ate a small square of 85% dark cocoa. Also on the yes list. Then went to bed because I couldn't stop thinking about those macaroons! Believe me, Pinterest is maybe going on pause for a few weeks! Anyways, for what I did accomplish yesterday, it wasn't too bad as far as hunger goes. Eating more protein really does fill you up! As soon as I ate the cookies, I was starving an hour later. It's so crazy when you really pay attention to your body. The habbit of eating something sweet a few times a day is going to be hard. Can't exactly be a complete crab all day with two kids!! Alrighty, well I'm off to start my day with ZERO sugar! Wish me luck! I'll try and post tonight. 

Making some changes!..Like for real!

Ok guys.. If you really know me, you know how I feel about food. Sugar in particular. Anything that starts or ends with pie or cake is my favorite food. Not so much chocolate... Just SUGAR! The more the merrier. I know for a fact that I'm addicted. I have claimed for years that God has given me what I like to call a "dessert pocket". Yep! That's right. A little pocket that sits on the side of my stomach so that I can eat all the lunch/ dinner I want and still have room for dessert. It's my love, and it's terrible for me. You also may know that we recently went on a gluten free kick. I wasn't seeing much of a difference with Noah, and I started getting terrible indegestion after everything I ate. So I stopped. We started eating it again, and I felt better, and Noah actually started behaving like a new kid. Then something happened. Noah suddenly started morphing back to his old ways. He is easily distracted, can't sit still, zones out, and the incredibly impulsive behavior came back. Nothing else has changed! He never saw a behavior specialist, no more trips to the dr, nothing life changing with parenting has happened either. The only thing we can think of was gluten. After slowly adding it back, he has slowly started getting back to being out of sorts. I LOVE to research food. I am a FIRM believer that tons of illnesses and diseases can be helped from diet changes. So, after a lot of research and prayer, we have decided to do a little detox! Nothing too crazy. We are for sure going back to gluten free, which surprisingly wasn't that hard when you eat at home and prepare yourself. I also need to figure out what it is that gave me indegestion! Also, a sugar detox. I'm super anxious about this one concidering my absolute addiction to it! I cannot control my need for it when it's in front of me. I can't just eat one cupcake. Not just one brownie! And I know it's too much because of how my body reacts. Within an hour, my heart is pounding much harder than normal, I'm tired, and I feel like crap. I know better, but it's so hard to say no. I've learned that your brain on sugar reacts the way it would on cocaine. So, it's a real addiction for me. I need to put an end to this. I want to stay as healthy as possible for my family! I want to be around for a long time and teach them how to make good choices. I want us ALL to be healthy. I've seen the statistics and I know that sugar is a huge culprit with many cancers and we all know I'm not going there. So, tomorrow marks day one of my sugar detox! Not going to make it too crazy since I need lots of energy with these little monsters. Luckily the book I got has a section for extra energy and a level system. I figure I can always try the crazy diet a little later when I'm not afraid of murdering my family. Luckily Jason is doing this with me! He's not so bad with sweets, but the love of sweet tea and dr.pepper is a bit out of hand. My plan is to blog an update everyday!! Yikes! Praying that I can do this and make some major changes for us. Getting as healthy as possible is what I want for my family! I have no plans to rid myself if sweets forever, but if I can the cravings and the need for it, I will feel like that is a huge change. Prayers are appreciated on this 21 day journey! Mostly for the kids! Haha! Until tomorrow.....

A little late from Easter!

I am realizing that I have totally forgotten to post any pictures from Easter. This year was pretty uneventful. Went to church, then back home and made lunch . We  spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies and playing with the kids. I miss the holidays with family , but this was incredibly relaxing. The weather here was nothing exciting either, chilly and rainy. Honestly the perfect day to do nothing. Lots of big changes coming for us in the future, so we are just taking it easy as much as possible and loving the life that God has given us. I swear that every day we become closer as a family. Of course I would not  change that for anything!

 



A little beach fun.

What a gorgeous weekend to be in Charleston. Grandma and Grandpa Paul came to stay with us for the weekend and of course we had to hit up the beach. Got a brand new shiny camera lens that was begging for me to try it out too! So, a few pictures for you to enjoy! Hope everyone else had a beautiful weekend.

 

 

Pretty much fed up!

I want to start off by stating that this post is probably going to make some people very angry. I am in no way writing this personally to anyone. This is a subject that has been shoved in my face for 14 years and I honestly cannot take it anymore. I was scrolling through Facebook last night when I came across a religious post that someone had posted about women these days and why women of the apostolic religion do the things that they do and believe the things that they believe. It was all fine and dandy until it went on talking about us non apostolic women and why we do the things that we do. I am absolutely fed up and refuse to listen to it anymore. So, if you don't want to get offended, I suggest you stop right here and go on with you beliefs. Your beliefs that I have NO problem with at all and respect, until you start to judge mine.

So, lets talk about my problem with some people in this religion. A religion that forces their beliefs on us Christians with the intent on making us want to come follow the same path that they are on. This is a path that we are told will lead you to a life of peace. A place to really experience a true relationship with Christ. One where we can come to know him with all of our hearts and souls. Our lives will be better and no one else's beliefs will even be able to compare. I can tell you first hand that that is not the experience that I had with the church. I attended service with my then boyfriend/now husband on and off throughout the years that we dated. I usually left service feeling judged and mentally exhausted. I never grew up in church but I was very cautious of this God that was being represented to me at this place. I knew all about Jesus and that he died for our sins and that he loved each and every one of us unconditionally. I pretty much grew up on the basics but this was a new addition. A God that seemed always angry. But if I were to conform to their ways, maybe that would change?

Changing was never really a thought that ran through my head. The standards alone are what made me think it wasn't going to happen. I never thought of myself as slutty, or manly or unholy by the way I dressed. I dressed comfortable, even practical. Not once in my life did I think that it would be fun to try to get the attention of men in hopes that they would commit a sin! That was never who I was. So, I see these women with their uncut hair, no makeup, and skirts...to name a few... and I don't get it. To anyone that looks hard enough, they can see that the place is surrounded by double standards. "Don't color your hair" ..but you can perm it. "Don't wear makeup" ...but bronzer, clear mascara, and lip-gloss is ok. "Don't polish your nails!" ...but its ok to get acrylics put on! Please ladies, please tell me why its ok to pick and choose and then judge me on my appearance. I'm being REAL! I read last night a post about women these days conforming to the ways of the world, and why we cut our hair and wear the clothes that we do. I don't cut my hair for ANYONE but me! Not because whoever in Hollywood did it! I don't care. I cut my hair because number one, its HEALTHY!!!! and number 2, because I have baby fine thin hair that is much easier and faster to take care of when its short. It seems a bit impractical to grow my hair to floor length, roll it up in rollers every single day and then proceed to morph it into an elaborate up do for the sake of Jesus loving me when I have a family and a husband to attend to. And lets not forget that it is take completely out of context in the bible.  If you take it literal is its implied than women should have long hair and men should only have shaved heads. Yet how can you take your hair off only when praying and prophesying in public which is what the scripture says. Also how was it ok for a woman to take the Nazareth vow and yet at the end it commands the hair to be shaved. For the women to say I'm sinning because I wear jewelry but that's not taken out of context? Does the same verse also give the examples of braiding of hair and fine clothes? Pick and choose I guess.

Lets not forget pants! Yes, I wear pants. I wear them because they are comfortable, practical and they keep me warm. You say I am dressing like a man? Never in my life have I put on a pair of men's jeans. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Deuteronomy 22:5 says..."A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord detests anyone who does this. SO, what's the problem. I'm wearing women's jeans. And guess what? Pants were not even hears of in the bible!!! THEY ALL WORE ROBES!!! Does it say men must wear pants and women must wear skirts? NO!!! so if you want to take it literally, put on your robes ladies and stop judging us. I also am offended by some saying that me wearing pants is immodest. I have been to enough church services and seen my fair share of pencil skirts, fish net tights, and stiletto heels. BUT, my jeans and sweater are making men all over the place sin!!

After commenting on a Facebook post yesterday that prompted this whole rant,  I was told that I have a lack of faith. It makes me crazy that anyone can say that we Christians do not have a full on relationship with God because we do not have the same beliefs. No other religion has ever made me feel this way before, and I can say that NO other pastor of a church has ever looked me in the eye and told me I was going to hell. That's right! That is the experience that I have with this religion. Being told you are going to hell seems like a favorite subject to preach about. Really the only one I remember...because it was basically every week. My husband and I were baptized not even a year ago in a church that we considered Home. We were baptized in the "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". From what we are being told back is that it meant nothing since it was not in the name of "Jesus". For a church that prides itself in taking the Bible literal, we both found it hard to believe that all the MANY times it was said (even by Jesus himself) throughout the Bible to do it that way, the one time a MAN says it was the only correct way. How is it that taking a verse literal some how is then taken and interpreted to really be saying something else. I can't find one verse that said to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which is Jesus. Do I believe baptism is required, absolutely as it is stated throughout scripture.

  Next is speaking in tongues to be saved. Once again basing a belief on A scripture. Does not the bible say that speaking in tongues is a gift? Does it also say that not all people are given the same gifts? So if not everyone is given the same gift that not everyone can speak in tongues. Does not the bible also say that no more than two or three should speak in tongues at one time unless there is one to interpret? That NEVER happened at a single church service.

 So, if anyone else wants to go posting articles on Facebook that blast the everyday Christian believer for not walking the same path, I will promptly delete you. I have walked a very ugly road in the past few years. A road that has brought me straight to my creator when it easily could have done the opposite! He is the one that held my hand through the worst and to the light. For ANYONE to tell me that its still not good enough can just stick it where the sun don't shine. I don't have room for you in my life. Pick up your bible and read more than just a few scriptures that you alone have decided are the way the truth and the light. My husband and I have done just this! And I can promise you that we are loved by God and are paving OUR path to heaven because we live our lives to give glory to GOD!! Not by how we dress, what color I paint my nails, or what I do with my hair, but by how we live our lives! How we spend our time, and how we treat others. Its not about me! So, before you go off on another rant about my lack of faith or knowledge, pray about it. Know that I am NOT under any circumstance trying to get anyone to change their beliefs, standards or faith because of what I wrote! I am simply telling you to stop trying to make me feel unworthy because of mine! God is #1 in my life no matter what you think and I can promise you that his love for me is absolutely no less than his love for you.

One of THOSE days...

Today was one of those days. The kind that works your nerves. The kind of day where it starts off bad and you pray like crazy that it won't get worse. It was the kind of day that I find it mentally impossible to even be nice to my kids because every word they say is them trying to test me. I hate these days because I feel like a terrible mother. I just want ONE second to myself to walk upstairs without someone behind me screaming to pick them up. Or the moment they get quiet is quickly interrupted by someone screaming bloody murder because one of them took the others toy. It just wasn't a good day. But tomorrow will be better. I pray that God gives me the knowledge and patience to deal with the silly shortcomings of my day. My kids are a gift and I want them to know that even when they make me want to run away screaming and pulling out my hair....I love them with every ounce of my being. 

My little man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I shared in my previous blog that we have been having some behavior issues with Noah. I have always been concerned that perhaps there is a bit of ADHD. I know for sure that it runs in his side of the family. We haven been doing our best to get a handle on it before it becomes a bigger problem. This little guy is a challenge. We have days where we butt heads something awful and I just need to leave. So, the past few weeks have been challenging for both of us. Sometimes I wonder if it is easier to just give up and let him act a fool. I know that it is incredibly hard to spend every minute that I am with him trying to figure out how to intercept the situation and avoid an argument, a struggle, an all out free for all of emotions. This past weekend I was home with the kids by myself because Jason works one Saturday a month. So, I got out the camera and decided that Noah was going to take pictures all day. "I want to see your day!" I said to him. He was so incredibly excited and was ready to move! Thankfully it was a GORGEOUS weekend and we go outside. Noah had so much taking pictures and telling stories while he was doing it. He was just fantastic all day.

 

I shared in my previous blog that we have been having some behavior issues with Noah. I have always been concerned that perhaps there is a bit of ADHD. I know for sure that it runs in his side of the family. We haven been doing our best to get a handle on it before it becomes a bigger problem. This little guy is a challenge. We have days where we butt heads something awful and I just need to leave. So, the past few weeks have been challenging for both of us. Sometimes I wonder if it is easier to just give up and let him act a fool. I know that it is incredibly hard to spend every minute that I am with him trying to figure out how to intercept the situation and avoid an argument, a struggle, an all out free for all of emotions. This past weekend I was home with the kids by myself because Jason works one Saturday a month. So, I got out the camera and decided that Noah was going to take pictures all day. "I want to see your day!" I said to him. He was so incredibly excited and was ready to move! Thankfully it was a GORGEOUS weekend and we go outside. Noah had so much taking pictures and telling stories while he was doing it. He was just fantastic all day.