The Enemy? Are YOU SERIOUS??

I thought about taking a picture of Scott's closet or better yet, his "basket" in the bathroom but I will refrain only because it is too hysterical to take a picture of. And yes, I had a day of OCD at the house and went through several, SEVERAL drawers and closets and got rid of things that I have not used. My philosophy is I have not used it in 6 months, then I probably won't use it, wear it, or need it so I pass it on! Don't you think best in the middle of that process? I do ... someone told me years ago when you are deep cleaning and really going through your things, have you ever thought that may be God is doing a deeper work in you spiritually while you are cleaning "house?" She reminded me of the spiritual realm .. .what goes on in the heavens and the spiritual realm works it outself on earth. It took me a while to digest that and think about it but then I started seeing how true that is. Last summer, I remember having a "week" and it seemed like everything was going wrong. I was out in the yard planting and ripping out old flowers and I was wrestling with God in my thoughts and I remember sitting under the oak tree and finally just having a good cry. And then I got bit by a carpenter ant on the neck!! LOL ... life is funny sometimes ....

Thanks for the encouragement, Scott. It makes my heart smile when I know you are content, happy and enjoy coming home to your family. I love you and thanks for being a loving husband and my best friend, too! And thanks for not shrinking anything in the dryer this week :) XOXO

Mom of the Year Award

I took Erica to the doctor today. She has had this lingering cough that she couldn't shake and in the last couple days, she was saying her ears were plugged up. So today, I decided I'll make an appointment see if she needs something to get her over this lingering thing .... well, much to my surprise, I left with three prescriptions. One medicine to cover the ear infection she has in both ears, one for the nebulizer and breathing treatments she will take for the bronchitis, and a steroid for the wheezing and crackling in her chest. And she has had no fever or complained about it. So, I sit here writing feeling like a complete loser. It used to be easier when they were babies. Oh, crying? Oh, fever? Oh, not sleeping? Okay, call the doctor. But when they get older and don't have the same symptoms, it gets harder to determine if they need to go. And I know I am the type to probably take them over every little thing and I know some who only take them when they are dying!!! Here I was trying to balance and stay in the middle and BAM! WRONG .... wrong.....wrong!!!! So tomorrow she will stay home in her pajamas and recover .... and I will make chicken soup! Go Loser!!!

Sleeping With the Enemy!

OK, this is Scott. I am making a rare contribution to our family blog. Do you remember the movie with Julia Roberts where she was married to the guy and everything was always in perfect order?

The cans in the kitchen cabinets, the towels on the rack in the bathroom and on and on.

Well, the other day I came home and we were getting dinner ready and I was going to get something out of the drawer---you know that drawer that holds all those random utensils and you have to dig through it to find the right one?

Well........... imagine my surprise when I opened it up and I found that all the utensils had been taken out and put back in perfect order--all facing the same way. Who could have done this?

I think we all know who did this.........she can't help it! I can say all of this now because although Marsha has chilled out a lot in this area (I think it is age...) she still likes some order to things and strangely enough so do I.

Sorry Marsha, I couldn't resist sharing this. I must say that though I kid you....the way you care for your home and family is admirable...really. Home is a place we all love to be and much of that is to your credit. Thanks for being a great wife and mother and friend.

I love you....................you're the best

Snuggle Time

After breakfast one morning on our vacation, Jack climbed up in my Aunt Peggy's lap and made himself comfortable. Jack doesn't do that very often ... or for very long. But he sat in her lap like that for almost 10 or 15 minutes and she just rubbed his back. And I can say that Aunt Peggy deserved it, too. She waited on him every morning like he was a little prince making him the perfect bowl of cinnamon toast crunch and a glass of orange juice every single morning. Let me tell you we had to change that little man when we got home ... we had Boot Camp 101 to get him back into shape :) Aunt Peggy is the scholar of our family ... Dr. Wilfong at her school or Hurricane Wilfong because of her wild antics and notes she writes all over the blackboard. I wonder what she would do if I posted this on her school website snuggling with her nephew in her coffee mug pajamas??? I think she would kill me. But I think it would be really, REALLY funny. LOL!!!

A Lot of Love

One evening after dinner, I finally got the boys to stop long enough to sit and let me take their picture. This is my Aunt Linda who we stay with when we fly home to West Virginia. She spoils us rotten while we are there buying the kids their favorite cereals and snacks and they even have Bonny Bell cake on hand which Scott fell in love with. Do you know he even went on line to see if we could get one shipped to Florida??? It's a disease ... a sickness ... Anyway, the boys climbed up on her lap and she started tickling them and I got this great picture of them just laughing in her arms ... I thought it was really sweet and had to post it .... what a blessing to have extended family to go home to. I am thankful. And she is a wonderful Aunt and loved!

5th Grade Buddies

Jack celebrated the 100th day of school today! "Zero the Hero" and his sister "Zerona the Hero" stopped by to help them celebrate. There was a big party with lots and LOTS of zeros and lots of zero snacks .. in case you are wondering, those are snacks that were circles with zero calories .. LOL!! Jack has his fifth grade buddies, Garrison and Jonathan. Every other Friday, the fifth graders come to visit their kindergarten buddy. They write stories together, draw and color and the older ones let the younger read to them or vice versa. What has been really special this year is Erica has a buddy in Jack's class, too. It has been really sweet to see the older ones adopt the younger and spend time with them in class. Jack has enjoyed this very much and I love when we leave school, Jack will wave to his buddy in the carline!

We Can't Go Back.....

You ever make a decision that you know you can't go back on? Or a decision that you said you wouldn't make and in a moment of weakness, you cave and then you realize you can't go back and it feels too late? I woke up to that feeling this morning as I listened to the kids playing Game Cube and fighting over who was losing, who was bumping into their car on the track, etc. I ate my words over Christmas break. Years back, I said we would not have video games in our home because of the obsessive compulsiveness in our children. Then the kids had enough money from Christmas that if they put it ALL together, they could buy the Game Cube and a few games and that was what the three of them wanted to do. So we said if that was what they wanted, they could which I thought was pretty cool that they all wanted to share their money and have something together. So now we have this Game Cube and I don't know why they named it Game Cube. They really should call it Game Hell because all it does is bring out the worse in you when you play it. The nature of "I want to be first", "me first", "I'm better", etc. is so ugly!!!! I mean, it is outright ugly particularly when you watch your children all treat each other with such pride and arrogance ... from a mother's perspective, it is gut-wrenching to watch and against everything we have tried to instill in them.

The question is what do we do now when I simply want to throw the Game Hell out. I can always count on Scott to bring me back down to earth. "Marsha, do we live in Amish country because unless we are willing to move to Amish country, then we are going to have to learn to live in this world where technology is readily available and realize that our kids are NOT going to grow up in a world like we did. So maybe we should have days, not times, that they can play Game Hell and days they do not. How about Tues/Thurs/Sat is a day that they can play Game Hell for a set amount of time and the other DAYS, they don't play it at all." I like that idea a lot. Do I have a point? I don't know if I do at this point. All I know is I feel like I get up every day to a new challenge, a new situation, an ever changing Babylonian world and some days, aren't you just tired? I told someone a few weeks ago, "I want to go back." And she said, "You can't go back. You can't get back into the Garden. It's closed." I can laugh now .... I am getting so old aren't I? Whatever happened to playing with rocks and water hoses???? Climbing trees??? Riding bikes for hours ........ every time I turn around, my answers to everything lately have been all tied back to one thing. We can't go back.

Now Who's Laughing ...

We have some good friends, Tom and Beth Carter, who came over for dinner tonight with their 10 month old daughter, Sydney. For those who do not know the history, when we first met Tom and Beth, children were no where on their radar nor was being around them comfortable for them. So throw our three in the mix of our life and add Tom and Beth and we were a great picture of birth control for them! Well, now that they have entered the world of parenthood, tonight, we had the privilege of spending some time with them;
1. "Here, honey, do you want to feed her?" "I'm not finished eating." "But you are farther along than me. Can you feed her?"
2. "Honey, will you watch her while I help clean up?" "Helloooooo? Tom, she is in here with me! Are you watching her?"
3. "What is that? Oh, it's a hershey kiss wrapper." "What is that? Oh, it's a leaf. Gosh, she finds the darndest things!"
4. "We are going to need to go ... it's almost bedtime."
5. "Do we have everything? You get the stroller...diaper bag ... juice cup ..."
We walked outside with them at 8pm!!! ... get her in the car ... get her buckled and give her a toy ... Tom folding the stroller up and getting it in the trunk ... Scott and I watched relishing in every moment and laughing with them! It was so cute and seemed so far removed for us and yet so sad that those moments are already gone. Well ..... sort of ... needless to say in their "inexperience" as parents (by the way, the minute you think you have experience, your kids will change into something else that you have no experience in-us as we navigate a daily changing female hormonal 10 year old), they are wonderful and great with her!! I'm so proud of their adjustment to this new stage of life!!!!

Off by a Week

Well, this is what we missed today on our vacation .... by a week of course. We showed the pictures to my kids and that didn't go over so well. They cried and cried over it....I showed it to them before bed and they ended up crying themselves to sleep. And Spencer couldn't even wipe his eye, you know, cause he has that black eye and we had to just dab his eyes. Erica was so upset that she begged me to let Chip sleep with her so I had to give in because she was so upset. And Jack, he just hasn't even said a word about it. He just sits there and stares. And Scott is in the kitchen baking brownies over all the money we spent on plane tickets and he is in there emotionally licking the bowl. There probably won't even be anything left to bake. We don't even know what to make of it. But I can thank one of my most favorite uncles for being kind enough to send me not one, but five pictures of the snow that is "falling from the sky." That was all the kids wanted was to see snow "falling from the sky" but we missed it .... by a week ..... and they are still crying .... and Jack is still staring .....

Fresh Start

I just finished walking the lake this morning with a friend. The temperature is in the 40's today and the skies were so blue. The wind blew the whole way around and it was so refreshing. A gift this morning to my day..... I received a gift from God this week. Sunday, I sat in church and was really down. He talked about the gift we get every year from God ... the gift is January. Every year, we get a fresh start. A new year to change or grow. I honestly had never really thought of January like that. I always thought in the terms of diets, goals, exercise, etc. But the Pastor used January and Joseph leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The Israelites complained and grumbled about how they wanted to go back to Egypt where it was comfortable and "safe." They could choose to have faith or stay in unbelief. So I sat there depressed and thinking to myself, "I don't want to move forward either! I want to be an Egyptian! I want to go back (to what I don't know, it doesn't matter. I just don't like moving forward because every time I have attempted to move forward, it never looks like I thought it would.) I still feel like a wanderer aimlessly looking for something, anything, that is satisfying. Every time I have thought I found it, it disappears. A friend told me yesterday life is full of illusions. I have thought more about that and that is exactly how it feels. So as I walked with my friend and we talked more about life being illusions (or feeling delusional!!), I came home to check my email and I opened this book I have, "31 Days of Praise" by Ruth Myers. And I just flipped it open and this page came up. Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. And then I read the prayer that she has written on this page and it says " So I rest in the fact that You have me in this place for this day, and I praise You that You will faithfully guide me throughout life to just where You want me to be, as I seek to do Your will. And most important of all is my place in You. How delighted I am to have You as my dwelling place where I can settle down, feel secure and be contect anywhere on earth .... You are my blessed Home, "where I can enter and be at rest even when all around and above is a sea of trouble" (Andrew Murray). I sit here amazed at how faithful God is. I journaled last night and my question to Him is what do You want from me? Where do You have me going this year? I don't have answers to any of those questions right now. But the fact that I feel alone, wandering and disappointment at different times right now, that doesn't change who He is - my dwelling place where I can settle down. Isn't that so awesome? I just love when I am struggling through something and then He orchestrates answers in my day through different means, whether friends, music, books or strangers. Just makes me feel loved! If you have never read the book, I suggest it to everyone. Her prayers in this book are so amazing and tender. I have relied on this book so much in the last three years. The picture above was taken in Maui during our anniversary trip. I took a picture of every church on the island that we came across. They are all small and old and the design of each one was so different and beautiful. Thank God the cross is not an illusion ................. oh and top off my disappointments? My Aunt in West Virginia called me this morning. First time to tell me it was "lightly snowing from the sky!" So much for being a week off on our trip. Then, to top it off, she called a SECOND time to tell me, "it's snowing even harder now!" I said, "Aunt Linda, send a picture and don't call me again!!!" LOL!! After dressing three kids in snow suits, well, I can't say I'm sorry I missed it!!! :) They left this morning in pants and long sleeve shirts ... no boots, no gloves, no jackets, no ski pants!!! Blue skies .....

Do You Hear That???

Me neither .... today, it is back to the daily grind and routine. Holidays are over, playtime has ended. This morning, we sent the kids off to school. Do you hear that? Me neither. It is nice and quiet today. I could actually hear myself think today! Yes, I think every now and then... Scott took me out to breakfast this morning to Mimi's. We had a nice little breakfast date and I came home to finish putting all the Christmas stuff away. I think I have some sense of order again and that is always a nice feeling. As I was putting stuff away, I came across this frame. It is one of those frames that is a box and you can open it. Then you can pin your pictures/messages inside of it. I'm sure you have seen them. I had bought three for Christmas presents and ended up with a leftover. I stood there looking at it thinking what am I going to do with this .... and God gave me this great idea ... I put a little header on it with construction paper that says "You've Got Mail" and then at the bottom, I found this scripture that I thought was really cool .. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. " I John 4:11-12 What a great way to write each other notes of love and encouragement and leave them in this!! So we have an indoor mail box now .... my goal this year is to be more expressive and not just when I'm angry!! So if I hang this in the right place, I will be constantly reminded to love my family so that "His love will be perfected in me." That's a big job but I think He can handle it :) I hope this encourages you and maybe you will make your own "You've Got Mail" picture box that fits your family! Well, I'm off ... carpool in 4 minutes and 52 seconds ..........

How Fast Can I Go?

We found an ice rink nearby and went twice this past week. These kids love to ice skate - it just cracks me up. And what is really funny is they are pretty good at it! Last year, Jack hung on the wall all the way around fifty times. This year, he got on the ice and within about 10 minutes, he got his little groove on and off he went. Erica picked up immediately and took off with no problem and all she wanted to do was stay in the middle and figure out how to spin and skate backwards. Spencer? He hits the ice and immediately, how fast can I go? How fast can I go and how many people can I squeeeeeezzzzeeeeee between as I am zipping by them? It was hysterical. I skated .... yes, I can skate. I got out there and warmed up, did my figure eight, spun around a few times and made a few triple lutzes .... LOL .... that actually was someone else I was watching but anyway, the second trip we made didn't go so good for me. I was out there "maybe" ten minutes and the muscles I had used two days prior were hurting SOOO bad that I had to get off the ice and go shopping with my Aunt Linda and Aunt Peggy at the mall instead!!! I know ... I know .... I truly suffered walking the mall but hey, there was no need to disappoint everyone in one day .............

SNOW .... well ... sort of

So we ventured north to find snow after Christmas. Surely we'd find snow on our trip. Well, what we found was a resort in Maryland that was making snow so we settled for that! We took the kids snow tubing at Wisp. We had a great time and the kids absolutely loved it! We were not sure what we would find but it was pretty awesome! Erica doubled with her Great Uncle Gary and down the lane they went ... 750 feet at neck breaking speeds!! It was really cool. Wow ..... snow pants, socks, boots, jackets, gloves and hats on three kids is not as easy as it sounds! Scott and I realized just how fortunate we are in Florida. Our recreation is "how little can we wear" versus "how much can you wear to stay warm!!" Fortunately, that day was fairly warm and we had to take a few things off to keep from sweating to death! After all that work, we decided no snow wasn't "so" bad ... WV actually had warmer temperatures than normal and blue skies/sun all week. We took the credit .... we just brought some Florida with us!!!

NAP ANYONE???

You know your tired when ..... this was the afternoon we flew up to West Virginia for a vacation to see some snow! The boys were so tired ... we had gotten them up at 5:45am and by 1pm, they were toast! I got this great picture of them laying on each other and literally holding the other up ...... needless to say, the second wind they got helped out for the rest of the day!!!!

Oh, if they were this sweet when they are awake!

26 yr old Man Beats Up 6 yr old Boy!!!

Well, we have returned from the Mountaineer State ... BY GOD West Virginia! The family flew up the 27th of December and we got back this evening! I could say it was a very long, LONG day with three chattery children but when we were driving home from Orlando at 4:30pm, Scott wondered where we would be if we were driving about now and we determined we would be almost out of North Carolina. So then it became a no brainer about the day ....

As far as the headline ... LOL ... Spencer got his first "official" black eye from wrestling with his yes, 26 year old cousin, Josh! Wish I could say that he didn't cry (Spencer, that is) but he did take it in stride! It was pretty funny but I can say that because I wasn't in the room. Funniest part? Two different stories of how it happened. We still aren't sure but I know a little boy who is really excited about going to school tomorrow to show his friends his black eye. Wonder who Spencer will write about tomorrow in his journal at school ... hmmmm...........