It's in the air...I can smell it

In the spirit of Halloween...

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Prayer for Stellan

**Update: Stellan was born this morning around 10:20. He is doing great! If you haven't had a chance to check out their blog, click here for the announcement and the info on his health. God is GOOD!  If you've been reading my blog for a little while then you probably already know who "MckMama" is and you've probably already seen the above button on my sidebar. If you do not know the background on her story, click here to read a little about it. The short version is that she is pregnant with her 4th child. She has a 3, 2, & 1 year old as well! Brave woman. The baby that she is now carrying (Stellan is his name) was diagnosed with a heart defect and they were told earlier in her pregnancy he would surely die. Well God has been performing miracle after miracle in this baby's life and he has made it all the way to 37 weeks and has had really great test results lately. The future is still unknown for baby Stellan once he is born. He may need surgery right away to fix his heart. He may need to be on medication to help his heart. He may be perfectly fine. He may go home to Heaven shortly after joining us on Earth. I say his future is unknown and that's true, but only to us here. His future is known to one. God knows exactly his future and "MckMama" is an unbelievable pillar of strength, courage and faith. I choose to believe that God has chosen to completely heal Stellan and he will be born a perfectly healthy baby boy tomorrow morning. They are delivering him via c-section tomorrow morning at 9:30 CST. She is asking every prayer warrior out there to pray for Stellan. So if you think about it tonight while saying your prayers or in the morning please say a prayer for baby Stellan. I know "MckMama" appreciates it beyond words. 

Not Me Monday

I did not smoosh all the corners of the raw break & bake cookies I made for a friend, so they didn't have those squares on the top...you know, the tell tale sign that they are break & bake. 

I did not take my 3 year old to a tanning salon and make her sit in the room and just wait for 10 minutes while I got my tan on. I had my high school reunion on Saturday and I could NOT show up there looking like a ghost!

Then my 3 year old did not scream at the top of her lungs, 2 minutes into my 10 minutes set on the timer, "I have to go poo poo!"

And as I peeked through the one inch opening of the tanning bed, seeing my 3 year old holding her bottom, pacing back & forth and saying, "I REALLY have to go mommy!" I most certainly did not tell her she would just have to wait and maybe if she sat down it wouldn't come out.

I did not hear from the bathtub my two girls swooshing water from one cup to another saying, "This is my beer and this is your beer." Nice....real nice! I must really look like the Mother of the Year in this one, folks.

Check out MckMama's Not Me Monday for a sure dose of honesty and usually lots of laughs. 

What will you do?

I was reading my friend, Sharla's, blog today and she had a video I knew I had to share. It could NOT have spoken my sentiment on Christmas better. After visiting Africa a little over a year ago and seeing first hand the impact that not having clean water has on people, I was changed. The way I think about EVERYTHING is changed. But the way I think about Christmas is particularly changed. Last Christmas I went into Toys R Us to look for a few things and I left there with a heavy heart. I found myself staring at everyone's cart filled to overflowing and all the rushing around to make sure the latest & greatest toy was gotten and the only thing I could think about were these images:

I literally found it physically difficult to put things into my cart. Now I'm certainly not trying to portray myself as some righteous person who walked out of the toy store with nothing. I bought things. I just did so with a different outlook than I have ever had. I bought less. I bought a lot less and guess what....they. didn't. know. the. difference. My girls had a perfectly wonderful Christmas with toys & games etc. I say all of this because here's the thing: I realize we all want to give gifts on Christmas. I know it is magical to watch our children light up when they see what's under the tree on Christmas morning. And I truly believe God looks upon all of us with a smile on His face. He wants us to live life to the fullest. He wants us to celebrate the birth of His Son by giving to others. However there comes a point where it becomes more about the "stuff" and less about giving. If Christmas truly is about giving, why not give less to our family and also give to people who are hurting, dying, and in need. We are so blessed and fortunate to have been born where we were. Those children in the images above didn't ask to be born where they were. They did nothing to deserve starvation and a thirst that could kill. We are blessed. And we are blessed to be a blessing to others. I don't know about you, but I will always look at Christmas in a different light and I will try to fight the battle, against the grain, and instead of listening to all of the commercials that tell us and our children, "You must have this!" "You won't be satisfied until you get this!" I will watch this video:

Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Lacey. My directions are to go to my pictures, choose the 6th folder, then the 6th picture and tell the story about that picture. Funny that a lot of the people who have been tagged are posting pictures in the winter season. Anyway, here's mine. I took this of the girls outside of the Santa Picture Place right before pictures with Santa.

Jamie, Ashley, & Rebecca....tag, you're it!

Not Me Monday

I did not get this look:

from my 3 year old when I told her to "smile like a princess." I don't know about you, but I don't know any princesses that smile like that.

I did not realize as I was taking my clothes off for the day and changing into pj's that there was a dried booger on the front of my skirt exactly at the nose level of my 3 year old. Motherhood....it's a glamourous life, I tell ya! I wonder how long that had been there??

I did not eat chocolate pie for breakfast almost every morning this week. And for dinner one night, and for dessert after dinners. 

I did not almost run over a real live baby in a stroller when it rolled down its driveway and into the path of my moving car. Thank you God, truly, that did NOT happen.

I absolutely did not have to google Christopher Columbus when my Kindergartner came home with homework that was to ask me what I knew about Christopher Columbus. It's been a long time, people!

I would never ask my 5 year old, "Do you wanna go to choir practice tonight? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. You don't really feel like going tonight, do you??" just because I didn't feel like going. She totally thought I was giving her a break! Little does she know...

As always, go check out MckMama's Not Me Monday too!