That's "Master" To You

Today has been awesome! I woke up at 5:30 yes, but while I was getting ready, the sun turned the sky absolute golden! It was beautiful! Golden yellow and blue blend really really well. Then I got in my car to leave, turn it on and what do you know! Fireflies is playing on the radio! It made my morning!

Breakfast and devotions was the usual. Awesome One and Princess Peach have been here all day again. They drove me crazy this morning! After we ate lunch however, we went to my house so my mom could go to lunch with one of her friends. It was oh so nice to be home for a little while. You never realize how much you love it until you've been gone forever. So while we were there, I got to spend some time with Lucy, pushing her on the swings and singing songs. Then I found some lightsabers and had a competition with the kids. Me being the awesome babysitter that I am, I won almost every time. I say almost because it would be bad sportsmanship not to let them win once in a while. It was great fun! Except I didn't feel very threatening standing there in my pink skirt so I had to suffice with the most evil glare I could conjure up and swinging my red lightsaber back and forth menacingly. It seemed to work pretty well. :) All I needed was a theme song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8

Now we're home in the wonderful air conditioning (great invention that!) and the kids are watching Prince Caspian as I write this. When I get home later, I'm going to be making a chocolate chip cheesecake! :D I can't wait to try it!

Until next time!

Cabin Fever

Oh yes. I've got it and I've got it bad. I am burning up with cabin fever and it's only Wednesday!!! I have two more days to go! Lord, give me strength.

Today was almost the usual except for Awesome One and Princess Peach being here all day. They ate breakfast this morning and we started reading the story of Joseph. Then they played until lunch, we went for a walk, watched Night At The Museum 2 and now they're out playing in the backyard until their parents get here. I have Bible study tonight and I will be oh so glad for some grown up company!

So, I found a couple good soundtrack songs today and thought I'd share with you. Enjoy!

First something kind of epic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoWn9dNzDLI

And now for a little Irishness. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxpLYXl3j9w

I figured we'd take a break from Michael Buble. Surprised? :) Until next time!

Here And There And Everywhere

I know that you've probably heard this a thousand times from a thousand different people but I do aspire to be a Proverbs 31 woman. And I'm kinda getting a small taste of it. Verse 15 talks about how she gets up while it's still dark and begins her work. I can say that this summer, I have that covered and I am exhausted. I don't know how she manages it! Good thing the kids are awesome!

Today has been very pleasant! Blacksmith and Skunk Monkey didn't get up until 9 so I had some time to vent my inspiration, resulting in a poem. When they did get up, we read the story of Abraham's obedience to God in his willingness to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Went over their Bible verse, decided to split up the story of Joseph into three days (since it's a really long one) and then had breakfast. While I cleaned up the kitchen, they did their chores. At about 11, we ventured into the wide open world, on the prowl for ice cream! Frosty Boy was in order so we got some for us, ran by Grandpa's office to give some to Carl and then home again home again. The next hour was spent eating lunch, cleaning up from lunch and reading while the boys rode bikes in the driveway.

Finally Awesome One and Princess Peach arrived. They played in the front yard for a while. Awesome One brought lightsabers and I joined in their game. Much to their dismay, guess who won. ME! Oh yeah! After that we went on our daily walk. Now they're watching a movie while I write this. Don'tcha just love routine?! :D

Oh! Nine days until I leave for Texas!!! I cannot wait! It's gonna be nice to have a little break from work and how better to spend it than with family?!

Now for a little Michael Buble:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK2LinUnhGk

I like him a little bit. :) Until next time!

Odds And Ends

Today has been quite nice! I slept in until 6 this morning! *collective gasp* Yeah I know! Scandalous! But never fear dear reader, for I did get to work on time.

After devotions and breakfast with Blacksmith and Skunk Monkey, I spent the rest of the morning writing thank you notes. And guess what! I got them all done! YEAH! :D I also got my open house photo album pictures all labeled and put in their places. Who's been productive? Say it.... say it..... yes! ME!

One thing that I found quite amusing: Reading through my graduation cards, I have so many people's descriptions of me. "Beautiful, amazing, wonderful, lovely young woman of God, etc. etc. etc." But my all time favorite has to be from my literature teacher from Co-op (my favorite teacher by the way). She said I was "thoughtful and interesting"! I loved it! Only Mrs. L.

So, by the time I finished licking all those envelops, it was lunch time and I added a Guarana to my lunch of leftover breakfast casserole. I actually got the boys to clean up their own lunch dishes today! Score! We got everything straightened up just in time because then Awesome One and Princess Peach pulled into the driveway. While they played, I read. They left me alone for a whole hour! Surprised? Me too!

Finally at 3, I insisted they'd been inside too long and that we go on a walk. So we did! We walked around the neighborhood and as we walked back up the driveway, we met neighbor boy. He seemed about my age and his name was..... Patrick I think. Real quick, what is it with all these new guys suddenly paying attention to me?! Can I please go back to being invisible? Anyway, now the kids are watching Kung Fu Panda and here I am!

Garrett and Gavin are gone this week at camp so it's just us girls with my Daddy. He's taking us out to dinner tonight! I can't wait! I absolutely LOVE my family!

Now for one of my favorite songs. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2viFm8f_Lo

Until next time!

Party Party Party!

Well this weekend has been one huge pile of fun! Yesterday was my open house and it was AWESOME!!! There were so many people who came, pretty much everyone I know, have known and will know. We exchanged cards for food (I got the better end of the deal) and with a hug, they left. My mouth still hurts from smiling so much but as my Grandpa put it, "Why should your mouth hurt from smiling Casey? That is just you!" Thanks Grandpa but I do know how Barbie feels now.

Four hours of standing, talking, smiling, hugging, taking pictures, laughing and celebrating and after everyone left, me, Jess, Matt, Garrett and Gavin all stuffed ourselves into my car we went to Frosty Boy for ice cream. Got home about 10, shooed Matt out and Jess and I laid on my bed and talked about the day. I also read the few notes I got from people.

This morning came too early. I got up, showered and Jess and I headed to church, just in time to catch the last few worship songs. We're starting to study Revelation on Sunday morning and I am so excited! I've read the book but never in depth so I will definitely be taking a notebook to church for a while.

At church, I got a few more cards and gifts from yesterday's absentees (best being a full two packs of Guarana!!) and had a good time messing around with Jess and Steve second service. Steve makes me laugh. :) Anyway, afterwards, Jess, me and Garrett went to Chinese (with the understanding that I would be reimbursed) and I took Jess home. Now I'm here with just my family and my room looks like a train went through it. So, until Katie's open house later, you can probably guess what I'll be doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY3aljAO7qU

This week should be interesting as I have to get up at 5:30 every morning. :( No lazy summer mornings this week. I'll be at the Kern's all day with my four kids and have plenty of time to read and write thank you notes. Billions and billions of thank you notes. This should be fun! Not.

Well I best go get cleaning. Until next time!

Be Still

As some of you may know, I've had a lot of inner unrest lately (especially today). Many things on my plate cause me to worry and fret.

Today all these concerns, both old and new, felt like too much to bear. So as is my habit in times like these, I went on a walk. I love walking down our street. All the fields make it windy and in the heat of today, the breeze felt wonderful. But the best part is that I get to talk to God..... out loud. Yes, I carry on a conversation with Him though usually me doing most of the talking.

However, today was a little different. I'm walking along, talking away and suddenly I hear a soft "Be still."

Psalm 46:10a came to mind: Be still and know that I am God. So I stopped talking. And you know what? It was then that this thought came to me. God is God and I am not. He's got this! All my worries and all my cares shouldn't be there because He has things under control.

The rest of the way home, I felt lighter, happier and I've been singing this song ever since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHlbnNUHQGI

I hope that your day tomorrow is sunny and pleasant. Me? I'm gonna be hosting my open house and then Jess is spending the night! :D Can't wait!

Until next time!

Breakfast And Bible Stories

I am absolutely loving my summer so far! Yeah I'm babysitting my four charges every day so I'm not exactly "free", but at the same time, they're all pretty self sufficient so I am free! Like right now. As I sit here writing this, they are all laughing away about something in the living room. It's great! Not to mention that they're really cool kids. :)

However, believe it or not, all this free time hasn't been my favorite part. What is my favorite part you ask? Well, it has to be the mornings I'm at the Kern's house with nine year old Austin and five year old Jack (aka Blacksmith and Skunk Monkey). Tuesday (my first day), sitting at the breakfast table, I proposed we read a Bible story every time I was over this summer. I expected groans and "Do we have to?"s but to my surprise, I was met with much enthusiasm! Even Jack was open to it!

Upon some conversation, I discovered that the only part of the Bible that they really knew about was what is taught at church on Christmas and Easter. That's right, Jesus birth and His resurrection. That sealed what we were going to start with. Genesis 1:1. Tuesday morning we read through the story of creation. And they loved it!! They kept telling me they couldn't wait to continue.

This morning during breakfast, we read Genesis 3 and talked about Adam's sin or "mess up". They had a great time retelling the story in their own words and needless to say, I did too.

I also threw the memory verse idea at them and they were totally in! We (I should say they) are now memorizing Psalm 100.

What really got me though was just a few minutes ago. I walked into the kitchen and found little Jack sitting at the kitchen table, looking down at my Bible. I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was reading Psalm 100. I asked him if he'd read it to me and he said "Sure!" and does it with very little help. It was so exciting! I didn't even know the kid could read and the fact that he's sitting there, willingly reading the Bible to me was fantastic! I just might be doing something right here!

So there you have it. My summer project. Bible stories and verses over breakfast. I'll keep you updated. :) Until next time!

Simplicity

Simple. I think some people dread the word. It means to make less complicated. I was thinking today, I think the world likes to make things complicated. Think about it. What's the answer to so many questions nowadays? "What's the matter?""It's complicated." "Why do you feel the way you do?""It's complicated." "How's this or that relationship going?""It's complicated."

Why? Why must everyday life be complicated? *sigh* That's one thing I want to work on, simplicity. I want to try to be satisfied with the simple pleasures in life. What simple pleasures you ask? Well, a bright blue sky, the birds singing in the early morning, the crickets outside my window at night, lightning bugs and butterflies, smiles from my friends and family. I think you get the picture.

While we're on the subject of simplicity, here's another subject I've been pondering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMEAr9c0LlQ

Until next time!

Practicing Mommy

I started my job today. It went pretty well! Got up at 5:30 which wasn't pleasant. Given a heart attack by my phone ringing (thank you Carl) which wasn't pleasant. Had two cups of coffee which was pleasant. Got there on time and had devotions and breakfast with the kids which was pleasant. Read, ate lunch, went to the park, watched a movie, read and finally, at 5:15, I was dismissed and allowed to come home. So, I get to practice being a mom this summer. The only difference... I'm getting paid for it. :)

While I'm talking about "mothering", I found this quote a while back but I can't remember who it's from. "Homemaking is the highest, most noble profession to which a woman might aspire." I don't know about you but I give that a hearty "YES!!". I completely and utterly agree and you would never understand until you've had to play (or be) mother.

Another thing. I found this story in the bottom of a drawer and wanted to share it with you. Thankfully I found the whole thing online! It's kinda long but it's really good so read it all!!

http://lilleysofthefield.blogspot.com/2007/04/when-queens-ride-by.html

And last but not least:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NytXT-U-tg

Until next time!