25 Things...

Jill and Amanda tagged me on Facebook for a list of 25 Random things about me and since I don't know how to respond on facebook and I don't want to take the time to figure it out...I'll post it here! IT took me days of thinking on this while I was walking and cleaning...most of it is not-so-random, but 25 Random Things is a lot of randomness...so I put some serious things here for my kids to read one day about their mother's life.

25 things…

1. I love to exercise…I feel yucky if I don’t break a sweat once a day--even if it is just mopping.

2. I never leave home (even for a simple trip into town) without ample amounts of FOOD and a water bottle.

3. The only good things about winter to me: spring/fall and American Idol.

4. I love having dance parties with my kids.

5. I love going to church EVERY Sunday—Foothills is AWESOME!

6. The more animals in my life the merrier.

7. I never thought I’d want a mini-van, but in the next year I do!

8. Nothing excites me like when all my flowers start coming out and up! I love gardening and watching plants grow. Even the smell of mulch is fabulous!

9. I want to be outside all the time…I don’t enjoy cooking, cleaning, scrapbooking, sewing, ironing, crafting, decorating, or any other feminine indoor pastimes!

10. I love people. The more friends and family in my life the merrier. I have never been a girl that needed one best friend—just lots and lots of interesting people of all shapes, ages, sizes, colors, talents, gifts, weirdness, boredness, funniness, sweetness, inspiringness…I love everyone in my life for all kinds of reasons. They all enrich my life so much.

11. If I won a lotto jackpot, I would give some—to international charities that support orphans by providing a gospel message, food, shelter,etc…spend some—pay off the house so that I could travel more and save some---so that the kids could go to college (although I still want them to be paying for part of it themselves EVEN IF I have the money), and so that I never have to work again—more tennis!

12. In my life I have wanted all of these careers at some point: a P.E. Teacher, a TV journalist, a social worker, a teacher, a full-time mom, an editorial writer, a news reporter, a public relations person—fortunately, I have had and do have some of these careers!

13. I am absolutely obsessed with wiping down my kitchen countertops????

14. I hate food floating in a water…it makes me gag. It truly is a repulsive thing to all the senses.

15. My husband is a loving, selfless man who is a good at EVERYTHING!

16. My kids have big personalities that make me laugh often.

17. I want to trust God more in 2009 and make some faith-filled decisions that FORCE me to do it! I have been forced to trust him by many circumstances that I did not choose—he always comes through…I know it!

18. I love food…ice cream, breads of any sort, apple pie…really any pie, peanut butter, peanut butter mixed with jelly…peanut butter mixed with chocolate…see a theme? I love candy too…peachies and lemon drops are my favs! I love pizza-even when it's bad it's good.

19. I wish I could play the piano again. I want to do that one day…maybe when Jeb is learning to play the “tar” I can re-learn the piano. I enjoy music tremendously…music of every sort!

20. I enjoy the mountains and the rivers more than the beach and the oceans.

21. Books that have impacted my life the most: The Bible esp. Psalms, Proverbs, James.; Randy Alcorn’s books Heaven and The Treasure Principle; The Power of a Praying Parent…Power of a Praying Wife, The Hidden Power of Praising God all by Stormie O’Martian; Don’t Make Me Count to Three and Shepherding a Child’s Heart; The Strong-Willed Child; 30 Days to Taming the Tongue—Pegues; His Needs Her Needs and For Women Only; Experiencing God and The Bondage Breaker; The Purpose Driven Life and God’s Answers to Life’s Difficult Question—Rick Warren.

22. I worked for a year with Oscar Mayer Foods: Yup, drove the Wienermobile, rental cars, and flew a lot. My job was to audition kids and invite local media and do interviews all over the country about our talent search. The 10 finalists spent 2 weeks auditioning/having fun in LA with us at Universal Studios and such…what a fun job! I went to the KY Derby, the Superbowl, Nascar events, The FL Keys, 4 weeks in Key Biscayne in Dec/Jan and now I’ve been to almost every state in America. This gig helped me pay off all my college debt—what a blessing! Once when leaving Chicago I hit Mike Ditka (Coach of the Chicago Bears, who was in first class) with my bag on my way through and spilled wine on his dress pants. I didn’t even know who he was till I got to my seat and the man next to me explained the magnitude of what I did. Mr. Ditka was very nice about it !

23. A few life changes that changed me FOREVER: A. Going to the Univ. of MO at 17 (18 hours from home)—didn’t know a soul and didn’t go to orientation B. Being loved by church family at Cornerstone and friends at crusade and BSU. C. Doing missions at Yellowstone National Park for 4 months D. Living in Colorado at newlyweds E. Dating and Marrying Jonas—he changed me so much for the better F. Coaching tennis at Kanakuk-A Christian sports camp—this place was like Heaven, seriously was. G. See number 22. No GPS, no home for a year! Flexible and Fun were keys! H. Quitting my job to stay home with the kids I. Joining Foothills—gave me more of a heart for the lost and learning church is not for ME. J. Traveling from Canada to South Carolina with Jonas! K. All at once---Building a house, getting a Master’s, quitting a job, being pregnant for the first time, while Jonas ran a roofing biz and taught full-time—glad that’s over! L. J’s deployment—alone for 16 mos in a big ole new house and a new baby.

24. A part of my soul will always reside in the West: I love Wyoming, Montana, Utah and Colorado. When the kids are older we will be out there during our summers living like hippies.

25. There is one thing I am sure of: Life changes FAST and goes quickly…
“In the years I have lived thus far, I have invested much time, energy and resources into many different things. I now know that there is only one investment of any real value. There is only one investment that will prove to be of eternal significance—people!”
By Larry McDaniel, the founder of a children’s home in MO and a super dad I was blessed to be acquainted with at one time.

Sweet Home ...

Today Jeb and I were having a serious dance party...We danced to Happy Day, Today is the Day, Scooby-Doo Theme Song, I Play Chicken with the Train, etc and various other "hits--according to Jeb"...while he was taking a break and eating a snack I clicked on Sweet Home Alabama only to hear him exclaim a few minutes later---

"Hey, he said OBAMA!"

Yes, he knows who Obama is...he says,--the new "boss" of America! He keeps me giggling!

Cold Days...Busy Days...

Bitter cold but busy as ever…

We have been spending these very cold days climbing steps, making playdough flowers (see picture), starting swimming lessons (more about that some other day) with Jeb, swimming for fun with Caleb, tearing apart the playroom (more about that another day), and painting Cars pictures! Caleb has been found up on a shelf, eating paper (see picture—he is salivating over that magazine), eating firewood particles, getting in the dog bed, and various other predicaments. Jeb is constantly screaming my name to get him when I am not already there bailing him out. Sometimes it feels like I have an indoor goat!

When Jeb leaves the middle of his racetrack these days Caleb crawls in there (see pic) and chews on things. He doesn’t know what to do or how to run a race, but he know that that circle is THE place to be—so funny!

Despite the fact that Caleb will eat anything that is NOT food, he will not eat many foods. He loves fruit and yogurt—just like his brother. He enjoys sweet potatoes and corn and that is about it when it comes to veggies (if you think corn is a veggie). He does not like any meat but ham in baby food jars…if you feed him anything else –WATCH OUT. He will gag himself. If he does not gag himself he will cough until he makes himself throw up. If there is one particle of something in his food, he will find it and regurgitate it along with any other stomach contents! If he doesn’t throw up in his high chair, you are not out of the woods yet. Too much activity, like playing chase with brother around the upstairs after bath, also makes him throw up. Each night I wash a load of throw up clothes—it is almost a full load considering that it usually hits someone else too and then there is the clean up rags, etc…it is really a job getting him to eat and then cleaning up all the food when it comes back out! What a shame. See him in the sink picture? He is sometimes so nasty he can't go upstairs. He may be eating solid food by 2. Enough about throw up…

We had a fun time doing music at church last week. Jeb struggles with me as the teacher, I think? I don’t know why he won’t participate that much…I suppose he doesn’t think it’s that special since we do it at home OR he just does not like me giving other kids attention OR he doesn’t like that I can be 100% devoted to him—probably a combo of all 3?? Still, the kids seem to smile a lot and it’s a good time for moms to have fun singing and dancing and playing instruments with their kids!

We did have one pretty day recently and I spent the entire afternoon outside. I did some "sun therapy" while the kids slept. FLASHBACK: When I went to The University of Missouri it seemed like the sun was never out! I would leave class some winter days at 4:30 and it was DARK AND COLD. YUCK. So, when I would come home on breaks my family would find me out in the middle of the yard on a beach towel IN WINTER, fully-clothed, shades and all, soaking up the sun that I could find here. They thought I was crazy. So, on Sat, I took my lounge chair out of the garage, got my devo materials and "laid out" on the back porch for a while. It was refreshing and fun to get so much Vitamin D--the all natural way!

The pants say it all

Caleb's new past time is taking our hands and showing us to the stairs. He would spend the greatest part of his day climbing our 2 sets of stairs, bouncing on the rails, and chasing Bubba up them.

Love this guy...

Of course, I love Jonas and Jesus and the boys ...but when it comes to men who have changed my life and how I know God...this man does it!

One of the best, most awe-inspiring writers that I always feel challenged by is Randy Alcorn.

1. His book, Heaven, will totally revolutionize your thoughts about our future as believers and about witnessing to the lost while you are here.
2. His newsletter: Eternal Perspectives. It is free and it is AWESOME. To get his newsletter you can go to www.epm.org. Our church, though I love it (it has a great heart for local folks that don’t know Christ), does not give much to foreign missions. Jonas and I feel burdened about that and this newsletter spotlights a ministry each month (from all over the world) that Alcorn and his organization supports. Each month there is a feature on heaven, why we are pro-life, a missions project, and usually something about finances…which brings me to his next book.
3. The Treasure Principle—I am currently reading it right now and it is really blowing my mind. He is such a generous giver it makes me feel like a big nothing. I have a ways to go in this area, but Jonas and I have really done better in the past 2 years to up the anty in our giving. God has been amazing to provide us with so much, so we have felt honored to give him more lately and in new and different ways.
4. The Grace Truth Paradox—This book does the best job EVER of explaining why I go to Foothills Community Church. Some churches and people are too much TRUTH, without the GRACE and some are too much GRACE, without the TRUTH! Lost people need a healthy dose of both and that is what Christ gave us. He did not mince words when it comes to hating sin, but he also is very forgiving and loving even when folks are still far from him. We are to be the pleasant aroma of Christ, but at the same time we should be different from lost people and our lives should not look like theirs. It is truly are balance that is hard to keep.

Strange Downloads?? Redneck Fun and Random stuff

Weirdness??? This week I downloaded an odd combo of things--
1. Chicken Fried
2. Happy Day--Tim Hughes or Lincoln Brewster---praise music..
3. Be My Everything--Tim Hughes--GREAT SONG
4. She's Country—Jason Aldean…so redneck-but I like it! Jeb loves it.
5. "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" AND "Looking for a Good Time"-Lady Antebellum-they're new on the country scene and I like their upbeat, fun sound!


Speaking of redneck…my dad won his grandsons tickets to a Monster Truck Rally at the Bi-Lo Center. I think we are all going to go for grins and kicks!

Carson came over and spent an evening with us. She is the best little girl! So sweet and so easy! You can see the cuzins scrubbin here!

Jeb Antics

Jeb is always up to something funny as you can see from these few photos taken this month!

1. He is loving his "tar" ie guitar. I had a dream when I was pregnant with Jeb that he became a country music star?? What do you know, but he wants to learn to play the "tar"...here he is rocking to "She's a Country Girl" on CMT. It is a great song, by they way! SO FUNNY!

2. He is asking about Satan. In his devotion this week, Satan came up...he has apparently been thinking about it all. 2 days later, at lunch today, he asks, "Is Satan real?" Boy, have we had some theological conversations for him to be 4. I don't know if I wrote about this...but if I did..just skip it...We were playing chalk one day and discussing the trinity...3 in one...God the father, Jesus his son who came as a man and was God, and then the Holy Spirit. I said, "That's confusing isn't it?" To which he quickly replied, "No, it isn't. I understand it just fine." Oh, if he only did!

3. He is wearing undewear on his head. Besides theological discussion he also asked me in the tub this week if toys were borned? I said, No, since they are not real. He said, well...do they die?? I said no, since they are not born, and not real, they don't die, they just break and go to the trash can. He liked that explanation!

4. The other pics are him goofing off one Sunday morning while I WANTED to take a cute pic of him in his sweater vest! He is into mooning folks, be thankful he has pants on here.

5. He is learning to surf.

Whew!

My posts are all turning to list? I guess the next step is stopping this! Seems so crazy lately.

1. I feel like all I do is clean something and this place still seems dirty, and the people I clean get dirty the second after I get them clean!

2. Caleb enjoyed his first visit with Mamanette. He is 9 mos old and she is 1,094 months old. Going to Lila Doyle is an adventure. Jeb likes to see the fat cat and the birds and the elderly LOVE seeing him. I always seem to see someone from high school there, isn't that strange? I need to do some more witnessing to those folks from SHS that I meet. I did do that once and it was a great opportunity. I see that girl and her kids around town now pretty regularly. Mamanette was in a great mood; Jeb said that I was "rude" for waking her--but she's always asleep!

3. Robotics has kicked off OFFICIALLY. Jonas is the Team 343 Team leader and basically a volunteer for all the hours he's worked for his itty bitty stipend. Still, he is remaining in good spirits to be working until 8:30 pm and running around getting stuff every spare minute, and dealing with engineers and students and public relations, newspaper reporters, industry reps...the list goes on and on. Jonas is actually seeing a lot more worth in this than he originally thought so that was good!

4. Jeb's fav Christmas present is his Piston Cup 500 Race Track. He spends many hours there reenacting scenes from the movie Cars. Besides that, he loves his Deigo Electric Toothbrush! He also got many, many new animals for Christmas. His favs are his Okapi and a porcupine.

5. Caleb is another waterbug! We have gotten to swim a couple times in the past few months and he LOVES the water. He does not mind being splashed, going under, etc! YEAH! I can't wait for summer. He is eating so many things now with his own two hands--which is a MESS! His high chair is disgusting. He loves Baby Mum-Mums, biter biscuits, mandarin oranges, bananas and even avocados. Caleb crawled happily for about 2 days and then was not content with crawling anymore. Now, he is trying to pull up on everything and is cruising out on the porch, from person -person, and from couch to tables! YIKES. He does not have the sense to walk at 9 mos! Today he was eating bark and dirt from a plant...about the time I got the plant cleaned up he was barfing up breakfast everywhere. He also has his first big boo-boo. A nice gash in between the eyes from our ottoman...so sad. The first of many.

6. We had fun over Christmas break having daddy around more! We got to go to the zoo, eat a lot of yummy pancakes (daddy's treats us when he gets up in the morn!) and eggs, and just fun hanging around the house together. Jeb got to chase and wrestle more so he liked that!

7. Our message on Sunday was about expecting the unexpected...the next 2 days--my sink leaked underneath, my compressor on our heat pump is iffy, and the vacuum is not pushing right, and Jeb has turned a new DISRESPECTUL leaf lately when he does not get his way???? What the heck! I am thankful that most of the unexpected things this week were not a big deal! Us, our family, and our friends are all well and that is what really matters. This week Jeb broke something that I liked (and it was something that he made too)...it was a good opportunity to say--Hey--that's just stuff--it really doesn't matter!

8. I knew that the tide was going to turn soon with Jeb. Discipline definitely has different seasons. The past few months we have not been needing hardly any time-outs, repercussions, etc...and NOW we are really struggling with him losing all self-control when he does not get his way. It breaks my heart. Hopefully, this is short-lived since we are BEARING down on him and using every tactic we know. He needs NAPS and yet, he is not THAT tired and he thinks that he doesn't need them now.

9. Jonas and I need a date. We have had a rough couple weeks of STUPID squabbling and me being generally frustrated. We are going to go out on Friday--can't wait for that break. I miss laughing with him. Christmas is just too much to bear! ha! Nah really, though, you know how I feel about Christmas. I love the TRUE meaning, but the stress of it is ludicrous.

10. Caleb is in a big-boy car seat now and loving it! He can see brother and enjoys all his antics. The more Cay-cay laughs the more that Jeb amps up his shows! Fun all the way around! He has been sick for over a month now, but it has not slowed him down. I have been doing 4 breathing treatments/day for 4 weeks--yuck. We are going BACK to the doc AGAIN--take 3 for this same JUNK.


11. Aunt Libby and Paul and Noah and "Samwell" came to visit for a few days/new years...that was nice! The boys (all 6 grandsons) did a lot of fighting, a lot of laughing, a lot of chasing and a lot of squealing!

12. We are still trying to sneak outdoors when it is warm enough...it has been raining A LOT, but we need it. I thank God for every drop. I hope the lakes look somewhat better soon.