I'm Either Called or Insane...

That is a joke, of course!! :) LOL I feel confident (at this moment in time) about the decisions I've made for our future...Starting this fall...

First of all, I have decided to homeschool Abbey. I think in my heart I knew all along I would do it. I think that I wasn't totally honest with myself because of fear...lots of fear. I have a friend, though, who told me that I would not be a failure if it didn't work out, and that I won't scar her for life!! LOL So, we're "officially" taking the plunge.

That is a huge undertaking, especially since we want to do it mostly for free...that means lots of research & study time for Mommy, as well as Abbey...and it will only become more so the older she gets...

ANYWAYS...

Second is this...I plan on heading up our Awana program for the next school year. I have a bigger vision than just the Awana program itself. I would LOVE to expand into Family Ministry. Maybe this all sounds wierd to you all who are in a church that has these things in place, but I go to a church that does not. SO, here goes!! LOL

We had a huge problem with Awana in the past at our church. Poor leadership, and that leadership tended to focus on the incentives (the kids earn Awana Bucks and that equals prizes), and I guess they became so outlandishly ginormous, and the kids needed so many Awana bucks to buy these prizes, that turned into crazy memorization time, with little emphasis on LEARNING the verse, not just memorizing them. There are more issues, but they largely point back to leadership...The leader wanted to have a "bells & whistles" start, instead of starting small & growing from there.

Well, this cheapskate is all for Oriental Trading-type prizes, with maybe a few "big ticket" items being a lunch box or something like that...Maybe an Awana T-shirt, stuff like that that's not way over the top...

I will have a busy summer...

PRAYERS ARE NEEDED!! Not just for me, although, I will need plenty of them!! I would like to start recruiting teachers this summer (like July & August) so that we can start training & stuff in August. I'd also like to get the congregation to praying & understanding that it's not going to be as dramatic as it was...Learning scriptures are the key principle here, and that should stay the main principle (remind me of that when I'm worrying over which pencils to choose for the Awana store!! LOL).

The second phase to the vision (I sound like a villain giving away his "evil" plot!! LOL), is to get parents involved. A LOOOONG time ago I found these "family day" activities on children'sministry.com & filed them away for future reference...And have recently been thinking that now is the time...to get started...

So, quarterly, we're going to have a Family Day at church, with there being a main focus for parents to be encouraged & equipped to be examples & influence their children by their lives with Christ. That sounds all deep & heavy, but I can assure you that these principles are laced with LOTS of fun!! :) First would be a day about prayer!! There would be a workshop for parents, a seperate workshop for the kiddos, and then they would have free rein to explore different developmental stages & ideas of incorporating prayer into their familial lives (ie. what to pray about, from toddlers praying for their families while holding & looking at pictures of them, to a station set up with a TV newsreel loop & newspapers to open up dialoge with their teen children on praying for current events.) Families would have time to explore these different centers & then there would be lunch (of course, we're Baptists!! LOL) .

Again, PRAYERS, please? These are some big ideas, and I obviously won't be able to do everything by myself, so it will take a team of volunteers (can I just hope for positive-attituded ones?LOL) to carry everything through.

OK, love you all, and if you made it this far without skimming, thank you!! LOL :) I appreciate you wading through my craziness!! I needed to blog about it...

Trying Not to Eat Everything in the House...

I just had a bad week...

We've been fighting THE COLD here...and I don't mean the weather...

Poor Eli & Abbey just got over stuff, and last week, about the middle (I've forgotten the days of the week, and am moving into where all the days kinda mush together...) Eli started coughing in the middle of the night...that barking/croup-like cough that scares me to death! Then, this weekend, Abbey started it.

The good news is that I think Eli's starting to get better, so that means Abbey will start getting better soon (although, she's older, and it doesn't seem to be hitting her as hard).

Between sleepless nights (I've been exhausted, just not able to sleep! ARGH!!), coughing/whining/grumpy babies, I about lost my mind last week...

Then I got a breather...the weekend...

Abbey stayed with Mammy & Papa (she was feeling OK), and Eli slept much better this past weekend (especially since Steve was here most of the weekend to help).

So there it is...I'm just hangin' in there, trying not to eat every scrap of food we have in the house out of stress & raging emotions...

Love you all!! :)

Make a Smilebox postcard

Party Day...

Today is Abbey's Birthday party!! :) I am trying to stay sane because this throwing a huge party thing is NOT easy on a Mommy, especially with Steve working every night...

But then I feel stupid because I think about what my friend is going through right now, and I know that I have nothing to complain about, and realize just how precious life is.

Tragedy has a way of clearing our focus, our perspective.

Love you, Sara!!

A 5 Year Old...

I cannot believe that my baby girl is FIVE already!! This was a very emotional birthday for me this time.

We had stayed out pretty late Sunday night because of the Superbowl (we went to Chelle's), so the kiddos didn't get to bed until really late...

And, then, we got a 3a.m. wake-up call from Abbey... And, it was the "ear infection" cry...

It actually turned out to be a very sweet moment for me (and for her, too, I think, especially after the Motrin kicked in! LOL). I was sitting with her in the living room rocking her & cuddling a little bit & happened to look at the clock. Exactly 5 years ago at that time I was tossing & turning all night because I was so excited & nervous all at the same time! I told her that, and she said, "For real?" LOL I told her I was so excited to finally see her face!

So, needless to say, I was a mess all day Monday!! LOL Well, it wasn't that bad, but I did choke back some tears a time or a hundred...

My Dad called Monday to wish her a happy birthday, but she wasn't here (she had a trip to the dr. with Daddy). So, we got to talking & he says, "Yep, 5 years ago today all of our lives were changed forever." ::SOB::

We met Mom & Dad & Chelle & Katie at Chuck E. Cheese's and had so much fun! We went to the one in Springfield, and no matter how much they change the look of that one, I will always have fond memories of MY birthdays that were spent there!! :) (read: the gorilla man is still there playin' his keyboard, only now he's purple with neon green hair & is called "Munch." I will always miss Billy Bob, though.)

So, aside from an ear infection, she had a great birthday!! :) LOL And, so did I!! :)

Love you all!! :)