Don't squeeze the Charmin...

My toilet paper is white.

My toothpaste is also, white.

Thus, last night while taking a bathroom break from cleaning the kitchen, I did not notice that somebody [most likely under 3 feet tall] had apparently painted our toilet paper quite liberally with toothpaste...I did not notice, that is, until I was almost done using said toilet paper.

Oh, dear Goodness, the PAIN.

Of course, the girls thought it quite unfair that mom ran very quickly upstairs [squirming, cringing and moaning] for an impromptu "Bubble Bath" before the kitchen was clean and they didn't get to have one, too.

**I am beginning to think that Blogger will never let me upload pictures again. At least I am getting better at using Photobucket again, though.

Autumn Loves Snails...

I mean really, really LOVES snails. I have found them in bed with her. I have found them in her toy dresser. One night at the dinner table I heard her talking very quietly to something near her plate. I looked closely and there was a snail on her tortilla and she was lovingly trying to feed it a pinto bean that was half it's size.

So, imagine my delight when, this morning, while I was helping a neighbor find their lost pet rat, I found the Super Secret Snail Hideout. (Shh, don't tell anybody.) My neighbors probably thought I was a nut when I went into the house, got my camera, and came back out to snap pictures of, well, what else? Snails.

You might not believe it, but snails are actually pretty easy models to work with. They don't run off, they don't make funny faces, they move quite slowly so you don't have to worry about them losing their pose when you take a shot. Obviously you won't be able to get a whole lot of action shots, but, hey-there is beauty in simplicity.

Here, then, in this post, I present to you a couple of photos from Autumn's new photo collage of snails (coming soon to an art museum near you). The theory behind my snail photo collage is this: she is welcome to take the pictures to bed with her, to the dining table with her, anywhere her little heart desires. Hopefully she will leave the actual live snails at home with their "snail family".

**Blogger is still not letting me upload my photos. Please excuse the huge and way too small photos in my posts as I relearn how to use photobucket to add pics to my blog.

Prayers answered...

can be a funny thing. God has this strange way of answering prayer sometimes. Take my prayer to get up in the morning, for instance...ever since I prayed for Him to help me get up earlier, I have found that He has placed things in my life that actually make me HAVE to get up earlier. For example, my neighbor came to me a week or two ago and explained to me that sometimes she has to go in to work early (I mean really early-she has to be there by 6.) Her teenage girls watch her 10 year old son until they leave for school at 6:55, at which point she does not want her son to be alone until it is time to walk to the school bus stop. She asked if I would kindly watch him on the mornings she goes in early and walk him to the bus stop with my girls. I told her i'd love to. I really feel like it is part of Him answering my prayer to get up earlier. So, this morning when I woke at 6:35 and the sun was already mostly up behind the gray puffy clouds, I got out of bed and got myself some coffee so i'd be a bit awake already when my young charge got here. I enjoyed the solace of the morning (for a few minutes at least) and I got my dishes put away and some minor things done before the kids got up. It feels like I had a total head start to my morning!

Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

To my delight, (and our family's benefit) another thing I have been praying for was granted to our family recently. We needed a vehicle pretty badly. (It is hard to go grocery shopping among other things around here with no working vehicle and several children. Public transportation in our area leaves much to be desired.) We have been bessed with a "new" van! It's a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country. It's in great shape, has less than 78,000 miles on it and it has only had one previous owner! I'm so excited! Please pray for us that we will be able to keep up our small monthly payments for the next two years. :)

I will insert pictures later, blogger is not letting me upload pics this morning for some reason. :/

Mornings...

^walking Gwen and Jenna to the school bus stop this morning

<--Autumn, sleeping

Proverbs 31:15
She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

I have been praying that God would get me up and out of bed earlier. I have always loved the time before the dawn and I enjoy watching a quiet sunrise in solitude while drinking my coffee. It is a great way to gather my thoughts and take some time with Him before all the kids wake and the day is thrown into our daily hectic schedule.

Right now I wake up at 7:00. I'm getting better-it used to be around 7:15 or 7:30. My goal is at least 6:30 or maybe 6. When the kids were little, I used to get up at 5 or 5:30 and I was always falling asleep by 7:30 at night because I was so tired, so instead of just waking up super early right off the bat this time, i'm gradually waking up earlier and earlier. It will get easier after we "spring forward" I think, and, of course, when it warms up a bit so that getting out of bed before sunrise doesn't seem so darned cold and uninviting-right now, my blankets are so warm and cozy I just keep snuggling up in them until I fall back asleep.

I sleep with my blinds open because I like to be awakened by natural sunlight. Usually if I wake and it is still dark, I go back to sleep. (Shame on me.) If I wake and the sun is up I get out of bed. I don't use an alarm clock, my body just naturally wakes up every morning-first at 5:30 (I go back to sleep) and then again once or twice by 7.

Right now, I wake up at 7, get my shoes on, get some coffee and have a few minutes of quiet, and then wake up the bugs (Gwen and Jenna) to get them ready for school. (Yes, they go to public school. I homeschool my 13 year old.) After I walk the girls to the bus stop I wake up Christian (he's lucky, he gets to sleep in until 8) and have him get dressed, eat brekkie, and we start on his lessons. I put away all the dishes and then start a load of laundry. Usually Autumn wakes up by 8 or so and we eat breakfast together and then we do her "schoolwork" too. (She's doing preschool work right now.)

My goal is to wake up earlier so that I can devote about a half hour to my morning devotional uninterrupted, and possibly have time to start my laundry and put my clean dishes away and do my morning housework routine before I wake up all the kids. It would be awesome to get all that stuff knocked out before the kids are up. The day would probably seem less busy as well. It might even leave me some time for sewing!

I am a constant work in progress. I'm striving to be what He wants me to be as a mom, and a human being, and it is coming slowly and with effort-but that's ok. At least it is coming.