There has been a recurring theme in my life lately.
Over and Over, I think I have conquered it. But it Keeps Coming Back.

I'm going to be honest and admit that this is one lesson I wish my stubborn self would Just Get Already.
Because I am tired of learning it.
It hurts.
Everyone has felt it. At some point, we've all been hurt, dissapointed or offended by Other People.
There have been things that weren't reallyyyy horrible, even though I Might Have Felt like they were. But there are some things that were truly, trulyy horrible.
Things I really need to forgive.
Things that I have told myself I have already forgiven. 
Some of which, when I said I Forgavee, SOMETIMES I Might Have actually meant.... I have forgiven you On The Outside....
As in...
I'm supposed to forgive you sooo...
I will be pleasant to you.
I will smile at you and speak kindly.
And no one would ever guess that I cringe inside just at the thought of your name. Or how simply hearing your voice makes me want to hurl.
I'm not nice because I'm weak. Or because I accept what was done. Or because I'm being fake. Or because I'm such a great person.  I'm nice because I know It's What I Am Supposed To Do.  Because I have been forgiven much, and I truly WANT to forgive as Quickly and Completely as God forgives me. And because, regardless of how much I may fall, I still Strive to do the right thing.
Even when it's hard.
Even when it's not what I want to do.
Even when it doesn't feel good.
Even when I struggle.
Even when I fail.... Which is probably Prettyy Often:D
... so Let It Go and be Amazed byy what you see through Eyes of Gracee, the prisoner that it really frees is you<3 Forgiveness
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I am one voice.

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This week has been Insanee. Ridiculously insane.And I thought it might neverrrrr end. I'm not even exaggerating. But it's over. And I survived. 

Hahaa.. Yayyy:D So I'm not going to focus on that other than to say that I have learned Atleasttt two things this week...

1. As soon as I stop focusing on all of the ways I'm limited, God shows me all the ways that He's not.
2. Praying for God to help you have A Gentle And Quiet Spirit produces the Samee Exactt Resultss as asking for patience. Soooo unless you want Lotsss Of Chances To Practice, I would suggest finding a different way to phrase that request;)

Last night I got to snuggle in bed with three of my favoritee Little Things and watch The Jungle Book. We all fell asleep. Lol.

This morning is quiet. The house is peaceful. The kids are all occupied. There is nothing that has to be done rightthisminuteortheworldwillend. I am sitting on the back porch. It's breezy and it looks like it's going to rain, but the sun keeps trying to peek through the clouds. I'm still in pajamas:D That's my favoritee<3 I'm listening to The City Harmonic on Pandora and my mind is overflowing with ideas, and my heart is full of hopes and dreams and prayers. I remember that I Have Been Blessed<3

In a little while I'm going to go inside and make the Chocolate Chip Granola Bars that I've been attempting to make for the last three days:D So far I've managed  to get all of the ingredients gathered together on the counter. Where they've been sitting... For the last three days:D:D

But right now I'm living in this perfectt moment... Easy and breezy, with peace in my heart, peace in my mind and peace in my soul. Read the full story

Otherwise what's the point in doing either of them in the first place... ?

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• Yesterday I did something new. I decided I was going to Embrace the FreshNewStartness of Mondays. Sadly, Monday decided not to Return My Embrace. Rude! So.... Yay Tuesday!

• I think I am going to Stop Overanalyzing the fact that I over analyze Everything and just go with it. HOWEVER, I believe that "A closed mouth gathers no foot." which leads to me think that Brevity is Good. So I'm not going to overanalyze things Out Loud anymore.
  

• This doesn't count because I'm typing Quietly.

• Apparently, I do not Adapt Well To Change because I am NOT happy that someone broke my Facebook. WtHeck!? Really?? I LOVE my friends. So much. But I just don't feel the need to know Every Single Thing they do. Do we really Need to know every time they become Friends with SomeoneIDon'tKnow? or are a Fan of SomeCrapIDon'tCareAbout? NOPE. Not so much.

• Life Tip: Make sure you get dressed BEFORE you make your coffee K!? No need to thank me. I'm just Looking Out for YOU.

• My kids are So Freakin Excited about halloween being this weekend. We don't normally do traditional halloweeny stuff. But this year a friend is having a birthday/ Trick Or Treating party. So we're going to go. I just want to make sure that they understand that I get ALL of the Peanut M & Ms we are not going to crack out on candy for the next week.
  

Now go post your own Random Tuesday Thoughts and link up @ The UnMom.com because I cleared out my Google Reader and now I have absolutely nothing to distract me from my laundry :)



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PS. On a happier note.. I got a (Much Needed) new bra this weekend and, well, ... My boobs totally rock today! Just sayin....

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Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does.


That's all. You can continue with the rest of your day now ;)



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Thankfully. I think the.day.from.Hell was like some weird 24hour bug or something because I have been ON it and totally rocked today!

See... proof! Facebook does not lie ;)

Heather
~who is taking her life OFF of AutoPilot and switching it back to Manual. Read the full story

• Yesterday was the.day.from.HELL.
• I am POSITIVE that somehow, at some time ... atleast once during the day I absolutely earned the Worst.Mother.EVER! award.
• Not exactly what I was aiming for.
• I'm totally going to blame theBiggestThingOfThemAll. Cause it all started with this conversation the night before....

Me: "Tomorrow I'm going to try to ..."

theBiggestThingofThemAll: "Put aaaalllllll that laundry away????"

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One thing I have always always known, regardless of anything else, is that I wanted to be a wife and a mom. No matter what else I did ...that was a *given.

I remember praying for this as far back as I can remember. And my only *request, was that the man I fell in love with would have a passion for me that was so intense it would only be superseded by his passion for Christ.

Had I known then what I know now I would *most definently have thrown in a few more particulars about dishes and diapers ;)

Of course I was really only expecting to have 1... maybe 2 kids.

Hahahaha.

Now, head on over to An Island Life to link up and answer some other, more interesting Aloha Friday questions.

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He doesn't know it yet. Right now he's passed out drooling on his pillow like a sailor on leave at the end of a 3day drinking binge.

My firstborn. My most intelligent, most responsible child

was on Facebook at 3am.

How do I know this? Because when I logged in at 7:53 this morning I got this notification...

So my darling Thing1. I'm happy to see that you're so *itk on short text words.

Maybe you can figure this one out.

G4L!

Now, I'm off to try and figure out how to lock this baby up. Or down. Or .. idk cause I've never had to do it before. But just know this. Compared to getting into this computer .. getting into Fort Knox will be like takin candy from a baby.

Actually that's really not so easy.

Have you ever tried it? Babies are very ...grabby.

I'm gonna try again.

Compared to getting into this computer .. getting into Fort Knox will seem like a piece of cake.

Yummy chocolate cake. Read the full story

Okay. So, Thing4 was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

Because that is what he does best.

He was behind me and he thought I was distracted playing with Thing6.

*All knowing Mommy "Elijah! Stop it right now!!! Read the full story

Oh. My. Goodness.

I was on twitter, and I'm scrolling down. scrolling. scrolling. clicking. And all of a sudden a phrase catches my eye over in the umm...sidebar thingie. The one that is snot green and just stays that way no matter how many times I try to change it.

I guess that part s'not so important. But it drives me craaazzyy.

(Get it? s'not. snot. Um. Ya.)

Okay. Moving on.

I look over at the sidebar thingy. And underneath the Search bar has *trending topics. And the
link underneath said...

OMGosh! Did that say what I think it said?

I don't even know how to tell you what it said.

It was that bad.


Speaking of bad. Do you think it's bad that before I can write anything I have to *clean my blog.

Yep. I just scroll up and down looking for things I don't like so I can delete them.

Some ... ahem Brit... might call that ocd.

Others ... me!!!... might disagree.

Okay, so I like things a little ... neat. And if that neatness extends to mayo on a piece of bread then, so be it!

Alright it's sick. I cannot, cannot make a messy sandwich.

I like things to be neat. Not that they ever are. Well, they are, but only for about 2.5 seconds, which, I just happen to know is Thing4's record for completely trashing a *just scrubbed bathroom. Or a clean pair of pajamas.

Tonight he was skateboarding inside the house. Inside! The kids were all laying on the couch watching DCMovie so I went to "the Garage" (read: man!cave) to talk to theBiggestThingofThemAll and within 7 minutes Thing3 was outside to let us know that Thing4 was not only skateboarding through the house, but he had built some kind of ramp involving chairs & jumpropes. Seven minutes.

Maybe he's going to be a world famous engineer or something.

According to him he's going to be a *Fire Fighter.

Don't mistakenly assume ...as I did...that that means he's actually going to put out fires though.

No.

He's just going drive around in the Fire Truck with the siren on all day.

Because that's a *sweet ride.

And he can go fast.

And because the other cars move out of the way for the Fire Truck.

And that's awesome.

Ya think he spends too much time in the man!cave? Read the full story

So I found something earlier that completely crackered me up. Instantly. Before I even clicked the link. Just because of the name.

Because, I feel u girl. I have been asked that ??? SO many times it's the 1st thing u automatically think to tell someone.

Because you know they will ask. They *almost always do.

My 2nd Most asked question is tied between "You mean you gave birth to all of them???" (The answer is yes by the way. Every single one of them. ) and "Do they all have the same father?'' Again yes.

Sometimes I am tempted to say ... no. they all have different fathers. I'm not really sure what they're expecting to hear.


My favorite (picture this word dripping with sarcasm) definently has to be "You know what causes that right?" or any variation of that sentence. Apparently there are many ways to ask the exact same question. And they are all equally annoying.

Um.... ya. We've managed to figure that out. Thankss... Read the full story

So how was ya'lls day today?

Mine was good. I've been organizing;)

Today has been ~& still is~ one of those days where my brain just decides to do it's own thing. Without consulting me. It just goes fluttering around. From here to there. Picking random things up and cluttering my head with them.

And then all of those random things keep jumbling around until I declutter them. (I know. I love her too! I'm too...er.... OCD about cleaning to use her system but.... I really love all of her lists!!!!)

Hmmm..I really need to find some type of recovery program for this list thing.

I wonder if I can 27 fling thing (however you say it) my brain. Maybe not so much the 27 thing part. But definently the fling part. I can just picture myself standing there flinging things out of my brain.

But I'm not cleanin up the mess!

Speaking of *things. Thing5 was laughing about something (she's very random too) and she looked at me and says "Mommy you cracker me up!" And now everytime I think about something funny I hear her saying that and it crackers me up too.


Oh and speaking of randomness, what do ya'll think about facebook? Do you use it? I never really got into the whole MySpace thing, but I really like Facebook. I have to check several things online throughout the day and facebook just fits right in there. It takes like 5 seconds to see whats going on. I like that. It's efficient. And I tend to roll...efficiently :)



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Have you ever seen Curious George? Or read the books? About the little monkey who gets into ALL KINDS of trouble? It comes on PBS. Thing 5 LOVES Curious George.

Once I joked to theBiggestThingofThemAll that maybe the kids shouldn't watch it because it might give them ideas. I mean, really, you should see the things this cute little monkey manages to get into.

But it was just a joke.

Now, I'm seriously thinkin of adding Curious George to the ever-growing list of *Things we just don't watch* including but not limited to Sponge Bob which, after watching my children spent the whole day *bleeping half of their sentences, and mooning each other. Thankfully no one else was around to witness that little bit of amusingness. (It is a word. Really!)

Yesterday, Thing4 pulled a totally Curious-George-worthy stunt that had me thisclosetoblowinganartery.

TheBiggestThingofThemAll was leaving (not 4 ever, he was coming back :) So I do a head count as he is leaving, clean up Thing6 from lunch and put him down for a nap (took all of 5 minutes) Apparently theBiggestThingofThemAll had to get some stuff from the garage to put in the truck so he didn't leave right away.

A few nimutes later he leaves, Thing6 is down for a nap and I do another headcount and Thing4 is NOWHERE to be found. Okay. Panic, just a little bit. Call theBiggestThingofThemAll. Keep looking. Check all of the hiding spots. No Thing4. Panic, a little bit more. But Thing4 is really really good at hiding. Never gets caught in hide and seek. Call theBiggestThingofThemAll again. Keep looking. Check outside. No Thing4. Ask random neighborhood teenager. Nooooo Thing4. Then Thing 3 says, "Maybe he ran away because he's tired of going in timeout today." Hmmmm.....alot more panic now. Like completely freaking out kind of panic.

Finally theBiggestThingofThemAll calls to let me know that he found Thing4. In the back of the truck. "Did I surprise ya dad?" Ummm ya. Definently surprised. Especially considering that this child, who, on any other day, CANNOT keep still for 30 seconds, managed to keep still and quiet for a whole 30 minutes until his dad stopped the truck and opened the back door *found the surprise.

His response after I grabbed him and told him (through hysterical tears of course) that "I-was-so-worried-I looked-everywhere-and-couldn't-find-you-don't-EVER-do-that-again!

"Did ya look on the roof?"

I just know that somehow this little episode puts me in the running for worst-mother-EVER.

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We've been good. A little chaotic but good.

It's kinda ironic the way my life works. When I had plenty of time I had NO internet connection. Now that I have plenty of internet connection, i have NO time!

But I love you SO much that I made some time. Just for You!

We are officially moved and it has been crazy busy.

Of course we have been busy with other things too. Like getting ready for school to start next week. And I'm going to be gone ALL weekend. I am seriously SO excited!!!!

But.....

that means....

that the BIGGEST Thing of them ALL....

will have all of the *little Things....

by himself.....

for 2 days.

So ya'll need to PRAY hard for him ;)

and them.

Have a GREAT weekend!

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I put the kids in school last year.

I know.

Don't bad mommy me.

It was a VERY hard decision to make.

I was writing my own curriculum for 3 schoolagers.

In 3 different grades.

And a preschooler.

I was pregnant.

And very TiReD.

I was chasing a very active toddler

And an extremely hyper preschooler.

There was SO much going on at the time ~ you have NO idea what we went through the past 14 months ~ and

I. Just. Couldn't. Do. It.

I admit it.

I am not *Supermom.

So I prayed and I prayed because I couldn't just hand my little *things over to the Fla public schools.

That would have been the equivalent of throwing them into the *Lions Den.

And yes, I know Daniel made it out just fine....

but it's not like his mom is the one who tossed him in there!

So I was led to a charter school. Actually a Montessori Academy which fit them perfectly coming from a fairly laid back and self directed homeschooling enviroment.

It' technically a public school, BUT because it's a charter school it's run like a private school.

Which we could NEVER afford with 6 kiddos.

There are only 16 (or less) kids in each class.

And,

imagine my shock (and joy) when I found out they actually PRAY *in school.

Yes they do.

But I still felt really really guilty.

Like maybe,

just maybe,

I had failed.

My children.

And my God.

And that I was definently not the *good mommy that I thought I was.

And that I try SO hard to be.

Then I read this book, about the life of Paul.

How EVERY detail of his life

(his birthright, his citizenship, his parents sending him to study under Gamaliel)

was specifically planned the way it was for him to fulfill his purpose.

And I realized that it was OK if *I wasn't the one who taught my children math. Or science. Or geography.

Because *I am still teaching them the most important things of all.

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I have NO wireless connection :(
and like 5 minutes.
Hope ya'll are having a great week!

Don't have too much fun WITHOUT me. lol. Read the full story

Very interesting day today! How 'bout ya'll?

Okay, maybe it wasn't that interesting. Not that I was lying before. It was interesting to me. Just maybe not so interesting to you :')

I don't have any long, wisdom~filled, inspiring thoughts on any given topic right now as I usually do.

Oh, wait. I was just thinking about somebody else's blog.

I don't usually have those here.

But you can still *pretend that I do. If you want to.

Or you're like a big~purple~dinosaur~who~shall~remain~nameless and that's the way you roll.

Either way. It's all good to me.

Do you want to know what I saw today? You're never going to believe it. It was just sad.

A rose made out of panties.

This is not the interesting part of my day by the way. This is just the random part of it that popped into my head when I started typing.

Now I'm not completely naive. I understand that there is obviously a huuuge market for those things.

Really.

What girl wouldn't want one?

What shocked me about it, was that they were being sold at the cash register of the local convenient store.

The one where I have take my children in with me to get stuff.

My children.

Half of whom, are still in the if~you~can~get~it~in~your~grabby~little~hands~then~it~must~go~into~your~mouth phase.

It doesn't always make it to the mouth though.

On a good day.

Which today was.

But those hands are really .. grabby. And quick.

My children.

Who ask questions about everything. everything!

And not quietly either. Not even a little bit.

It's like they have a rule or something.

Must...ask...embarrassing...questions...as...loudly....as...humanly...possible.

But only with an audience.

The bigger the audience, the louder the voice.

Like they're taking a poll or something.

Ya think they're checking my answers?

Maybe I should rethink this homeschooling thing.

They might be learning too much.

Isn't there another rule out there somewhere that say mommy's always right?

Atleast when it comes to the little *Things.

If not, we should definently get one of those.

That could be useful.

Anyway, the above combination of Things, convenient store counter paraphanelia & other people within hearing range is just not a good mix.

How is it a *convenient store if I still have to go to cvs? Read the full story