The Adventures of the Reese's Pieces Gang

I'm sure by that title you are wondering what this post will be about. Well, for the past couple of years our little 6 person table has 8 squeezing around it. We weren't able to put food on the table along with all the plates and silverware without being very crowded. We had many spills and accidents because 4 people were sitting at the corners where the legs were, and overall it was not a comfortable eating experience. We had decided that when Phil got a job that a new dinning room table would be one of our first "big" purchases.

Two weeks ago Phil went shopping for one and found one that he thought would work and he had filled out the paperwork to purchase it, however, he was a little apprehensive about it since I hadn't seen it. When he got back to his apartment his landlords showed him a table in their basement that was perfect for our family with the exception of being short 2 chairs. Phil decided it would be better for us to have to buy just two chairs than to have to spend well over $1000 on a new set of 8 chairs and a table.

All that being said, he brought the table home this Friday. What a joy it was to sit at "brunch" this morning and have us and all the food on the table with lots of room to spare! We can fit another 2-4 chairs around the table which will be so nice when we have guests. I almost cried at breakfast because my heart was so filled with Thanks for God providing exactly what we needed at a fraction of what we thought it would cost. Praise the Lord!! Lord willing this table will last us through the years of the kids being little. Eventually we will look for an even larger, nicer set for the teen years & beyond. Phil took pictures of us this morning as we had our first meal around our new/used table. Hopefully later today he will teach me how to load pictures onto my blog posts. I'll be sure to post when I've loaded pictures for all the past posts that have pictures to go along with them.

In conclusion, I had wanted so badly to have a dinning room table that we could all fit around before Christmas and God granted the desire of my heart! I am so thankful!

I just wanted to take a minute in between dealing with sick kids and trying to complete all the gluten/casein free baking for the holidays to share with you two cute things that the boys have said this week.

A couple days ago Philip was wiggling while standing in the hallway so I said, "Philip, go potty." I said this or course because I thought he was doing the potty dance. Philip then said, "But mama, I'm not doin the potty dance." We all started to laugh! :-)

Thomas is sick right now and struggling with an ear ache. Yesterday after watching a Pooh movie he came up to me and said, "Mom, I have fluff in my ear." I asked him if the fluff was what was making his ear hurt and he said, "Yes, the fluff makes my ear hurt." He came up to me again this morning and told me that the fluff was hurting his ear again.

Are there any other mom's out there severely lacking in sleep these days? We've had the cough cold moving through the house for the past couple of weeks. I got it early last week, thankfully since I loaded myself with Kyolic Garlic, Vit C & Echinacia I'm not feeling that bad even though I do still cough occasionally. Last night my poor little Philip was up coughing until after Mid-night. I tried the Vicks on his feet with socks, propping him up on several pillows so he was practically sitting, cough medicine, sipps of water, etc. and nothing was helping to relieve his cough. Finally, he decided to head back to his own bed much to my relief! I couldn't sleep with him coughing.

6:30 a.m. seemed to come awfully fast this morning! I think the one thing that is most difficult when single parenting are the times when you cannot get the sleep you need! For me I have to make sure to spend some extra time in the Word on days like today so I can have a sweet spirit while dealing with my kids. I'm a red head and very good at allowing my temper and tongue to fly but for the grace of God!

So now that the kids are off to school I'm off to shower and spend some time "resting" in the Lord.

James 1:22 "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." NASB

This evening I wandered down the steps after tucking in Thomas & Philip to find little tiny pieces of paper all over my office chair. I noticed on one a bank routing number. Then I found on the floor one larger piece of what was once a check from one of my Pampered Chef Customers. AHHHH! Nathan had taken a pair of scissors and cut it to bits. The largest piece still recognizable had the amount and 1/2 the signature of my customer on it. I had to humbly write her a letter explaining why a small piece of her check was enclosed with a request for a new check. I did send her a self addressed stamped envelope too since it isn't right for her to have to pay to mail me a new check.

So the answer to my equation this evening was: Scissors + Nathan = Finely Cut Check!

Lesson learned!! Put all important documents HIGH so little hands cannot find them and practice their cutting on them!!

We had a lovely snow storm on Saturday. It left us 8+ inches to enjoy. The kids have had a lot of fun playing in it over the past couple of days. I was telling Phil that I really enjoy all the seasons and I'm thankful that for the time the Lord is allowing us to live where there are four distinct seasons to enjoy. I hope that this winter will give us fresh snow each week. Winters where we get fresh snow every few days are my favorite kinds of winters. I can endure the cold when there is beautiful sparkling snow to remind me of God's everlasting forgiveness. He washes our sins white as snow!

Hopefully next weekend Phil will be able to teach me how to upload pictures onto my new computer so I can ad pictures to my posts!

Dear friends, my mothers heart is so burdened for one of my boys today. When you end up reading this entry please pray for God to win the battle in one of my sons hearts. Those of you that know me well will know which son it is, but that is not as important as seeking God to break down the stronghold of anger and bitterness in his heart. His realization of his struggle has been surfacing over the past couple of weeks. Phil and I feel that through this realization he is on the edge of making a choice to forsake his sin and accept God's love for him or to continue in misery, anger, depression, and self pity. Currently he is struggling with God's love and God's ways in his life. Please pray for him and pray for us as we try to turn him to the Lord.