7 months.  It has been exactly 7 months to the day since I last updated my blog!  (and while we are on that subject, how deliciously random is it that I would think to look at this thing on the same date that I last updated??).  Lets see.... how much can change in 7 months.  Still married to an amazing man, still have 3 great kids, hmmm.  OH YEAH, we moved!!  After 14 years of being transplanted in NC, I finally have Jerrod settled down in my homeland of SC!  Ok, so maybe it wasn't as much my doing as Gods, but you get the point.  After much praying and searching and being still before Him, we felt the Lord calling us to serve with an AMAZING church in Saluda, SC.   We have been here a little over a month and have fallen in love with our new church family.   The people are amazing, the area is beautiful, and we are so excited to see what He has in store!   The kids have transitioned as well as possible seeing as we uprooted them the last month of school and just tossed them to the wolves, haha.  They love having their own rooms and tons of room to run and explore.  We seriously live in the country and the closest walmart is about 25 minutes away.  I cant believe that I'm saying it, but I LOVE THAT!  We see stars at night and cows in the day and eat lots of fresh veggies and eggs from sweet friends that are spoiling us.   Have I mentioned how much I love it here?  So thankful for God's provision and plan for our lives, even when it seems we do so much to mess it up.  We are so unworthy to serve Him and yet He allows us to be a part of His work.  When you stop and think about it, its really overwhelming!  
Id finish this up with a promise to update soon, but I have a horrible track record in that department so maybe Ill just say "I may never update again".   Since I seem to break my "blogging" promises, maybe saying I wont update will spur me to come back faster!

Noah update

Just wanted to share a bit about Noah with you guys so you can be praying with us.  We went to his ENT at UNC and discovered that not only is his hearing not better, its moved into a "mild" loss on the right side and "moderate" on the left.  She wants to fit him with hearing aids but first wants to send him to a surgeon that deals with ONLY ears for a CT scan and second opinion.  (just a quick plug we have the most AUH-MAZE-ING ENT!  Her name is Amelia Drake and she is the head of our craniofacial team.  Love love love her!!)  Of course my sweet son decides to tell us that he cant hear in class and is embarrassed to tell his teacher or ask her to repeat herself, so he doesn't understand the math that he is doing right now....BANG HEAD AGAINST WALL!!!  So until his appointment on the 5th of December, we are getting him preferential seating and asking his teacher to repeat instruction as needed for him.   Of course, he isn't digging the idea of hearing aids and said he will look like an old man and everyone will laugh at him.  For some reason this year he is very much more aware of the way he looks and talks with his head down and his mouth covered and it breaks my heart.   I keep praying and telling him how wonderful he is and how beautiful God made him but to be honest I feel so stinking inadequate.   So that's where we are.  We covet all of your prayers as we proceed with Noah.  There are so many decisions to be made and it scares the bejebbies out of me!  Love yall!

****UPDATE!!****

Before I could even remember that I started this entry and get it posted, the coolest thing happened.  The babies (what I still to this day call Noah and Katelyn....side effect of having 2 children under the age of 2 HAHA) brought their report cards home yesterday and did great.   Noah had an extra envelope with his and I swear I said "GREAT! what NOW?" lol.  Jerrod started pulling papers out and showed me a brochure for AiG.  It seems Noah scored well enough on his 3rd grade Cognitive abilities test, he was invited to take the ITBS to see if he qualifies for the Academically gifted program!  Now, he very well may not score high enough "get in" but this is a huge deal for us!  When Noah was born, we were told that if was very possible that he could swing anywhere from "major learning disabilities" to "mild mentally challenged"   I love that God is proving that geneticist wrong!!!  Like I said, Noah may not score high enough to be considered "gifted" but to me it was like getting a hug from my Abba and hearing Him said "stop stressing, I got this!"   

been a little bit since I wrote here but my excuse is that I have a lot on my mind.  While other, more normal people may hash out their feelings through writing about them, I have to get them all sorted out in my head and THEN share it.  Well, I'm not doing too well on my own with it so don't be looking for much updates about anything too serious LOL.  I can scream "BUDGET, TRIPS, MIDDLE SCHOOL, MINISTRY, DIET, KIDS!"  at you and it will give you a small glance at what's going on in my head.  (scary thought, I know!)   I guess the one major thing that I have come to realize is, I can NOT do this on my own.   I have been trying and let me tell you, I'm failing miserably!   In fact, I think God has to be shaking his head and laughing at my horrible efforts.   I'm embarrassed to say that I have let my stress and fear affect me even physically.   Please help me pray that I will lean on the ONE that has the power and wisdom to guide and direct me.   This is VERY hard for me.  I have always depended on myself and "gotten the job done" when I was younger.   Maybe you are like me?   If so, I hope these verses that I'm literally drinking in will help you.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 4:19


"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." Psalm 46:1-3,7

"Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. "  Psalm 62:5-5

Crazy momma!

OK, so let me start by saying that I'm stressed.  Like mega stressed to the point where I am SURE its affecting my personality.  In fact, I'm sure that I'm the last person that anyone in the world with half a brain would want to be near if given a choice. Ok ,maybe an bit of a exaggeration, but not too much of one.   That being said, I have a strong feeling that my sweet honey is sort of walking around carefully wondering when I may blow.   I could write a complete new blog entry on why I'm stressed, why its a sin, why I shouldn't be stressed and how I could cope with it better, but I digress, back to the story.  I go through little fits of "OH MY GOSH I HAVE TO CONTROL SOMETHING IN MY WORLD RIGHT NOWWWWW"   and rush off to do random and sometimes weird things.  (think nesting for the un-pregnant insane!!)   This afternoon was one of those times.  Quite unexpectedly, I rushed from my room to the kitchen to whip up a container of homemade chocolate syrup for the kids.   When my precious J-rod came to see what was up and ask me what I was making I said (a bit too brightly, in my opinion)  "chocolate syrup!".   Of course, he asked "um, what for?" and it sort of stumped me.  I think I looked at him for a few seconds before I sputtered out "because I can".  He gave me a little half smile, patted my shoulder and escaped the kitchen.   Don't y'all have a whole new respect for my wonderful sweetie?

Addendum!

Literally as I was posting my last blog entry, my sweet, amazing, funny, handsome, considerate, very busy hubby called with 4 beautiful words: "your van is unlocked". Have you ever heard something so sweet in your life? After much rejoicing, I'm happy to say that I'm blogging poolside with very happy children!

opps!

Well, it seems as though I have discovered the best and most sure fire way to irritated my children and risk my life at their little hands in my sleep.   Picture it........mom: "come on kids, lets get our swim suits on and get ready for the pool!"  Kids: "woohoo we have the best  mom in the world!!" (or something like that anyway :D ).  Then 30 minutes of getting them all dressed, sun screened, making them stand while their sun screen dries, packing the towels, goggles, dive sticks, torpedos, black bands and naked barbie dolls.  Another 10 minutes or so of getting the cooler bag packed with water and various snacks that we would need.   Yet another 5 minutes of mom searching for her membership card after Noah removed it from the beach bag for some crazy reason and left on the living room floor. FINALLY,  out the door and to the van.  But what is this???  The doors are locked???  No problem, Ill grab my....ummm where are my keys?  A scene from last night plays in my mind at the baseball game.  I see myself opening the secret storage compartment in the van (NO I wont tell you where it is, its a secret!) and dropping the keys in before we left the parking lot to go in.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  Looks like the pool is not in our future for the day

LOOK OUT!!

Yes you are seeing this correctly....TWO posts in one day.   Look at me and my bad self!   I just was looking through my previous blog posts and found one from our very first year in seminary.   I almost fell off of my chair.  I knew that my kids were little when we came, but I guess I just imagined them being shorter versions of themselves now.    Its crazy to see how much they have grown and changed in our years in Wake Forest.  Caleb was about to go to first grade and in just a few short weeks, he will be starting middle school.  Noah was just this tiny thing that we had so many questions about and now he is an almost 3rd grader with no mental delays (in fact he is pretty stinkin' smart) and has "graduated" from both speech and occupational therapy.  Katelyn was still our "baby" in diapers and let me tell you,  on TOP of being a beautiful, funny, incredibly smart almost 2nd grader, she most certainly has mastered the whole big girl underwear thing!  Its more difficult to see how Jerrod and I have changed and grown next to seeing the visual changes in the children, but let me tell you that our home, hearts, and relationship are leaps and bounds more mature than they were in 2006. (even though we have so much farther to go).  Im so thankful for God's provision, protection and plan in our lives.  Jerrod has now graduated with his M Div. and while we are in somewhat of a holding pattern as we wait  for our next step, we have faith that Him and his amazing will for our lives.

yeah yeah yeah, same blog different day

I refuse to start another blog with the title "worst blogger ever" but if you look at the date on my last post, you may come to that conclusion all on your own.   Its not as if I haven't had anything going on in my life or that Im trying to be all private and stuff (those of you on my facebook friends list know that AINT the truth!). I guess its just that I only let myself write when I had something profound to say.  Since I rarely if ever have anything near profound to say, I guess that left my blog all empty and cricket chirpy.  So here we go, Im gonna dive into the world of sharing everything in my little head (profound or not) and yall are stuck reading it!    

Dwelling on the gift of motherhood

Just wanted to share something that I read this morning that touched my heart. 

"Because God's love is reflected in ours, our children will learn about God simply through motherhood's love.  Oh, we need to teach our children about God and His Word.  We need to read them Bible stories and pray with them, answer their questions and take them to church.  We need to live in such a way that they'll see what it means to be a Christian.  But on much more basic level, they'll understand about a God who always hears, because when they were babies we responded to their cries.  They'll be able to have faith in a God who meets their needs, because we saw that they were never went hungry.  God's strength and tenderness will be real to them because they caught a glimpse of it in our love, from the time they were born.
So, mothers, never let the world tell you that what you do is not important.  Remember, when you rock your babies and sing a lullaby, your arms and voice are God's.  When you do load after load of dirty Diapers, and then grass-stained play clothes, and finally school clothes smeared with ketchup and chocolate pudding, remember your hands are God's hands.  And when you love your children unconditionally, all the way from colic to adolescent rebellion, you are loving with God's love.  Through you, He will imprint Himself on your children's hearts. "

~Taken from A Heart of Purest Gold

Triples are coming, are you ready??

OK so I am not the best couponer  in the world by any means, (Ill leave that title to the more awesome women that mentor me in this wonderful art form) but I have have several people ask me "how do you do that" when I post my savings.  I wish I could say that I just have this amazing brain that can hold all of the sales flyer's and my coupon inventory in a neat little package to be pulled out when needed but I just don't got it goin' on like that.  I use some amazing websites that help mold me into the small time money saver that you see today.  I promised that I would share these sites and guess what...I let life get in the way and forget.  I figured this might be the most effective way to share those wonderful sites and their wealth of information with all that want them.  If you look here on my blog, on the right hand side you will see "A few of my favorite things".  I have listed some of my very favorite, go to every week blogs/websites for your viewing pleasure.  So sorry it took me so long.  Hope you enjoy!