Month: April 2023

Doug brought this to me the other morning. It came right out of our beautiful front garden.

Side note, these beauties surround our fountain as well.

Aaaahhhhh, flowers. They communicate to us:
“I am a beautiful diversely colorful creation from God’s omnipotent mind!”

Each flower is totally different; they are so fragile; so delicate. They come and go… die so fast. But when they are alive, OH BOY are they glorious!

Well, such is life. Each day is truly a gift. However, each day is fragile; delicate. It has moments of highly colorful, brilliant moments. Then, yes, they do die, but do we remember that storms bring more flowers? They literally plant a garden.

OH, and the thorns? You know those intense stings we get when we grab a stem? We hold so tightly to our lives and reluctantly release our grip to give it to God. Well, guess what happens when we grip so tightly? We bleed! And do realize you never grab the beautiful parts..the petals! NOPE! Such as we never grab the beautiful moments of our lives with gratitude. Gosh, we hold so tightly and try to CONTROL those thorny stems. OUCH! BUT, if we trim those thorns or we allow him to trim and prune us, guess what happens? The flowers are much more abundant and the color! Oh the field of colors!

So, relish the flowers in your life. And more importantly relish the process of being pruned because the result is a garden of colorful creations and more blessings.

Last year, Tatum told me she wanted to be in the talent show the next year. I wondered what she would do in front of the school. The show is not a competition but merely just a fun celebration of various student talents. Mrs. Cline, the music teacher, puts it on.

About 2 months ago, Tatum said she was going to participate, but she wanted to do it solo. She also said she wanted to do a puppet show. Confused, I wondered what she would do and why a puppet show?

Well, you see, Tatum often comes home from school a bit somber and frustrated. The “girls” in the class are very cliquey and not very nice. She has chosen to hang out with more often boys or Milania. She just doesn’t participate in the whole drama thing; in fact, she despises the drama, gossip, and meanness. So, she decided to write a script that would be a fun/funny way to depict how it affects a person (but in this case an animal since we often learn best by parables or fun stories with animals!)

Piggy and Gerald are classic characters in Mo Willems’ books:

She wrote the script:

Practiced practiced practiced….

She rehearsed with Mrs. Cline and this is what she said:
” it is so cute and powerful!!”

It was time to present to the WHOLE school. I mean K-12!! WOW.

There were only about 15 kids performing!

She was 3rd in the line up. She got behind the table and EVERYONE cheered!!!

Gerald and Piggie began….

Here’s Scaredy and Piggie.

Now, the all clapped before she was finished. SHE WAITED…then restarted and finished. WOW.

They loved it!!!!!!

SO MANY approached me and said they were so proud of her to make such an impact and give this message with love.

The other kids showed their talent (yoyo, dance, gymnastics, piano), so Tatum’s was a bit different in that she sent a message. I’m so proud of you my sweet girl.

She wanted to sport her new shoes to the field trip.

I didn’t go, but so many wonderful parents sent me pics. She had an informatively great time!
She and Milania hung out the whole day!

And her whole class…

The Red 4 group: Milania, Lincoln, Hayden and Tot.

She brought some spending money and bought this cute little guy…and also some trinkets about our wonderful state.

June 2016:

That little chickie! She is so stinkin’ cute. Fast forward to today, 7 years, before school!

We like to go on Fridays, so why not revisit an old flame?

We still adore each other, and she STILL loves her brekkies. Those little dollar cakes have a way to her heart.

I’ve always been a “routiney” type of gal. Yes, I thrive on getting into a routine and making it stick. Sometimes the routines are not necessarily healthy. For example, my car used to automatically stop at Circle K for cinnamon coffee. FOR YEARS. Good habit? Hmm…not really. Maybe good in the terms that I made positive relationships with the staff, but not health-wise. Exercise? Great habit, right!? Not if it gets in the way of your health or your relationships.

Recently, there’s been a WAVE of books written on the topic of habits.

Example:

These are the top books. There’s also a great podcast and company called KOH: Kreatures of Habit. The founder has a repetitive routine from 4:45 am -9pm. DAILY! I’ve been inspired to look at my habits and also how I am modeling them for Tatum as to teach her.

We’ve always been very intentional with our routines. For example, every morning, we do our devotion and prayers. It’s SO missed if it fails to happen! We end every night with reading in her room, prayers, and talk. I decided to add one:
10 Things. (I’ll add one when she’s 11)

I read these to her the second before her eyes close. (see the bonus one?) That is one we always follow and hopefully she’ll always get to her responsibilities finished first before play. I know that we INSTANTLY do her homework when we get home. This will pay off when she is on her own with her homework.

I’m adding better habits into my life as well. I start every day with a smile in my bed (and I try to hold it for 10 seconds). I do my breathing to wake myself up, and then I go right into my prayers and devotions. The key to any habit we start is to see if it is sustainable. It is a chore at first, but after a good month or two it can become second nature.

Stay tuned with how we are doing!

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day! MUST WALK OUTSIDE!
So we did

We find the neighborhood and our “ocean” is worth visiting as much as possible!

First JESUS IS ALIVE and has CONQUERED DEATH!

Praise HIM for giving us eternal life, a FRIEND/COUNSELOR/HELP ALL THE TIME! (through Jesus) and….HOPE.

Now, let’s get on with the Easter hunt!

What’s in there?

(now I can buy that Lego set)

She also can read read read!

And those books won’t fly away with this bad boy!

Family Life sent her this as a thank you! (for donating)

My honey got me this. I love the story of this man (who wrote the song). He lost EVERYTHING…(like Job), and still he praised God. May I always be well with my soul.

Mama came over for a nice brunch: Sausage, eggs, sourdough with apple jam, and fruit.

The day couldn’t have been better. I experienced a healing for my gut, and I continue to live in victory. The enemy is NOT ALLOWED.

AMEN! HE IS RISEN.

Mommy? Where are you?

He is searching for her…she leaves and he flies towards her.

And Coopy wants to know EVERYTHING that Woody is doing!