You are Beautiful!

I had an "AHA" moment in the van today!!

Bella was crying because Jonathan told her that her picture was ugly. She colored outside of the lines, and that was ugly. I told her it was beautiful anyways! He kept on saying it was ugly...she kept crying, "MOOOOOMMMMY, he says it's ugly"

Finally I said, "Your picture is beautiful because I said it was beautiful, and I'm the mommy, so when mommy says 'it's beautiful' then that's all that matters! No matter what he says, it's beautiful!" She stopped crying, and he stopped aggravating!

My "AHA" moment??

It's kinda like God!

 No matter what the world tells me,

 I am beautiful! 

No matter what I see in the mirror, 

I am beautiful. 

God created me in HIS image... He is completely beautiful, therefore, I am completely beautiful!! 

I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image... 

HE says that I am beautiful...

 so when my "daddy" says that I am beautiful,

 then that's all that matters! 

Five Minute Friday- HERE

Linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker today on her "Five Minute Friday" prompt. Every Friday, she posts one word to write about for 5 minutes straight. You write without editing or thinking... just write what is on your heart or mind when you hear the word of the day. For more details or to link up, click HERE!

 

Today's Word of the Day is: Here ... 

HERE I go...

From here where I sit, I can see my living room and part of my bedroom. From here on the love-seat, I can know MOST of what my kids are doing MOST of the time. From HERE on the love-seat, I can see the messiness that my kids have brought to my home! I remember when I was single, living with Renee, that we always kept our apartment clean. Now that I have kiddos, my house is rarely clean. Here, next to me, on the bookshelf and all over the floor are TONs of books. There are DVDs everywhere! There are blankets and stuffed animals. Over here in this corner is B's dirty pjs from last night because she doesn't know how to put them in the hamper!! 

Here is where I sit- not knowing what to do or where to start to make my house more clean. I am HERE overwhelmed by the clutter, the toys, the mess. Here. I am here. 

I would love to be there... you know...THERE... Somewhere that I don't have to see the toys and animals and clutter. I would love to be in someone else's "here" right now, but I wonder how many other "heres" are just like mine? 

So, here I sit. Day in and day out. Yep, I realize this sounds a little down, but honestly, right HERE is right where I need to be, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my "here" even in all the mess!  Right here....

Darn timer... guess I'm done!

Friday Letters!!

Today I am trying something new. I'm linking up with nearly 100 other bloggers to write letters. It's called "Friday Letters" and you can join up by clicking the button below to check it out over at "The Sweet Season" blog!

Dear Bloggy Friends, Thanks for reading!   Dear Spring, Why must you tease me? One day I am in shorts and enjoying your beautiful day in the 70's... the next day, I have to click the heater back on and bundle up with long pants and jacket! Brrr!   Dear House, When are you going to be clean? Or should I be addressing this letter to the elusive Cleaning Fairy?   Dear Jonathan, Thank you for breathing! Monday night and Tuesday were rough days for me- I don't like to see you sick and struggling to breathe!   Dear Croup Virus, Please STAY AWAY from my house! You are not welcome here!  Dear Hubby, I had an amazing weekend with you- Happy 11th anniversary- you have been and forever will be the love of my life! Always and forever   Dear Laundry, I HATE YOU! Not every facet of you, so that's good, right? I don't mind WASHING you or DRYING you, but the folding and putting away part of you really stink!   Dear Asher, I am SO glad you had fun on your first ever field trip. Momma sat at home worried for you, but you proved just how awesome you are! YAY!   Dear Opposing Soccer Club, You know who you are! You are terrible! I wish my kid didn't have to play against your kids... you take all the fun out of the game! But, ALAS, tomorrow, we have to do it all over again...ugh!   Dear Migraines, You are my nemesis. I wish I could figure out how to defeat you!  Dear Princess B, While you are absolutely adorable, do you know that your "Du-uh" comments after everything you say grate on mommy's nerves?!!? Can't wait for your teenage attitude (note the sarcasm...)!

10 on 10 April

It's the 10th of April! That means, I take 10 pictures in 10 hours to share with my blogger buddies! I hope you enjoy your glimpse into our day!

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730am- The class t-shirt for Asher's FIRST EVER field trip today. It says, "Coopers Cubs ... Sailing to Success 2012-2013"

830am- The cool purple tree outside my house. I love how you can tell there are no leaves on the trees still from winter, but these purple trees are blooming all over!!

930am- Jonathan with his super d-duper cool Penguin Nebulizer! He is croupy, so we're treating :)

1030am- Rain, rain, GO AWAY! Brrr and wet!!

Noon- Watching Wreck It Ralph! The kids love this movie!

1pm- They HAVE to have popcorn. About half-way through the movie, they started begging for that salty, buttery goodness!

2pm- Asher is vegging out- tired after his field trip!

3pm- Xander out of school...notice the rain in the background? It's STILL raining :(

4pm- Gangster Storm trooper!

5pm- Two of my faves- Diet Coke and Pasta!
(dinner tonight was lemon-butter chicken spaghetti...delish)

Refreshing Runaway

I just realized that I haven't blogged in 12 days... TWELVE! How on earth did I go this long without blogging? OOPs!

11 years ago this past weekend, I married the love of my life! It was a beautiful day with friends and family there to celebrate with us! We had tons of beautiful purple & yellow flowers... dinner reception with dance and a vacation to Cancun! It was fantastic!! 

Fast forward to 2013. Thanks to our mothers, we were able to run away again! They kept our kiddos for the weekend so we could go to Branson, MO! Branson is only about 3 1/2 hours away from home, so it didn't feel like we spent an entire day of driving! We stayed at a Still Waters condo on Table Rock Lake...it was SUPER nice and the view was ah-mazing! We had a private, screened-in balcony ..it was so peaceful to sit out there together and read! Tim LOVED that because I am NOT a reader and he is! He thought it was awesome that we shared that experience...reading together on the porch!! He said, "I can just see us doing this when we're old and gray!" I added, "Yes, I can see us sitting there reading our Kindle books together!" LOL!

OUR CONDO: 

Kitchen

Living Room

Our balcony

View from the balcony

 While we were there, we went to a couple of shows! Friday night's show was a variety show called "Grand Jubilee." It was at the Grand Country Music Hall! There is comedy and singing and a little bit of magic. The quartet that sang is called New South...they were AWESOME! I loved every single minute of that show...they even sang "YMCA!" Gotta love that, right??!!

New South singing YMCA

Then, on Saturday night, we went to the Sight and Sound Theater to see the performance of Joseph! This is the last season of the show, so I'm REALLY glad we were able to go- the Bible story of Joseph is one of our favorites! It was a musical performance- the singers were all fantastic. The acting was so well done, that even though I know the positive outcome of the story, I was sitting there in tears over a sad moment! AND, it was awesome because they had real animals that they led through the audience! Our seats were directly in the center on an aisle, so we could've reached out and touched the camels & sheep! So fun!!! They wouldn't allow photography during the show...bummer... but I got these pics of the theater! It's a beautiful place!

The outside... pretty building, right?!

The Lion and the Lamb!

The ceiling... so pretty!

Tim and Goliath!

On Saturday afternoon, we spent the day shopping at the outlet mall and at the College of the Ozarks. The college is pretty cool! In fact, I would love for all of our kids to attend there! It's a private, Christian college that doesn't believe in debt. Everyone who graduates, will graduate free of student loans! Every student is required to work on campus to pay for their education. Whether they are tending crops, feeding animals, planting flowers, working in the office or the campus restaurant, everyone works! They are taught responsibility and the importance of being debt free! I can totally get on board with that! We ate our anniversary lunch at the campus restaurant called Dobyn's...the food was fantastic, the service was terrific, and the experience memorable! AND, they even made us a special dessert for our anniversary!

Menu...looks cool, right!??

Delish

11 years together!

 

The view from the restaurant

On Sunday, after we checked out of the hotel, I convinced Tim to go play putt-putt! It's not his favorite past-time, but I love it! We used to go a lot pre-marriage, but I don't remember a time we've played since we got married! We don't keep score- we just play for fun!!  Here are some fun pics from The Lost Treasure mini golf course: 

We had such a great time! It was probably the best anniversary trip we've ever taken!! I had a blast! It was so nice not having anywhere we HAD to be, not having anyone who needed us, not HAVING to do anything...just time together- me and my love- enjoying our married life as man and wife...not as "mommy and daddy" for just a couple days!

 Our Refreshing Runaway... Loved every minute!