The Value Of A Buck

Well.....I found myself frustrated recently when I realized just how much dirty laundry is being washed, dried, folded and put away by me in this house with 5 people. It sometimes feels as if I am cleaning the clothes of 5 families. And so I decided to start keeping a log book to track the number of loads amassed in a week. Don't ask where it I think it will get me. But I am still trackin'! I had also written in my old blog about the fact that back when we only had 1 child my hubby paid for a maid to clean our almost 4000 sq. ft home .... once a month
that's all.....but it was nice & REEEALLLY appreciated! And of course now that we have 3 kids ....NO Maid! However, today.....I came up with a new plan.
My two oldest children wanted to know how they could earn some money. In the past my husband has allowed them occasionally to pick up debris in our yard in exchange for a dollar or two. On went the light bulb in my head!!! Lets see..... there's some kids laundry needin' to be put away, floors need sweeping, a swifferer might be nice. I offered to pay them $5 each to take care of it. Bingo! Problem solved! They were soooo excited that they were getting a small allowance(well maybe not so small...but still cheaper than the maid) and I got, not one, but two little maids for the day. YEAH
That's what I'm Talkin' bout. Ok... well it wasn't done perfectly, of course. But score 1 for mom. And when they were done with their "chores" my husband offered to take them out for ice cream if they wanted to spend a little of what they had just earned. Their choice...spend or save. And of course ...which choice do you think they made?



SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY
Ill gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.
Proverbs 10 : 2

THE BIG C

CANCER

There...I said it!! The "C" word.
No I don't have it , that I know of. But every time I turn around there it is again. In the news someone else either has it or has died from it or is trying to raise money to fight against it...searching for a cure. Yes.... I understand that this is necessary. What scares me the most is that the extent of my knowledge about cancer, until recently, has always been through the media. News stories, warnings(like the latest: "stay out of tanning beds"), and the occasional movie. I just watched the movie " My Sister's Keeper" (probably should have read the book instead). It was a pretty good movie as long as you have about 4 boxes of tissues with you. It left me with a very graphic picture of what it must be like for those who are dealing with a close loved one suffering with cancer.
But now I am beginning to notice more and more of my friends......or friends of friends having one form or another of the disease. My husband has a cousin who has cancer and is about to undergo a bone marrow transplant. And most recently my own Aunt now has terminal cancer, consisting of several brain tumors(the inoperable kind..no less)and a tumor in her lungs. She was undergoing chemo and radiation but after a recent stint in the hospital with blood clots, they sent her home....to wait to die. Nothing more can be done.[ At the time of this posting, ironically, I received a phone call from my cousin informing me that hospice care had arrived and my Aunt is not expected to live for more than a day or two.]
This past year one of my son's teachers had to suddenly quit when her husband was diagnosed with a very aggressive form, which had already spread through most of his body. One day he was seemingly fine, then boom CANCER!! And another good friend who I was walking with several mornings a week, had to quit because her own sister( married with 2 small children) was losing her battle with brain cancer as well. She passed away a few weeks ago, which as it happens was probably a blessing in disguise. Her oh-so wonderful husband was suing her for divorce! And ...yes you guessed it...he wanted custody of the kids too! I hope if ....KNOCK ON WOOD...I am ever fighting a losing battle against a monster like "THE BIG C" that my husband won't turn out to be Satan in disguise too! I mean how low can you go?
P.S. Aunt passed away August 1, 2009



SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY
Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues , preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness .
MATTHEW 9:35

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

My husband noticed a news story yesterday in which a 16 year old "boy" had been accused of raping an 11 year old "girl". If the ages involved in this tragedy weren't shocking enough, get this....apparently the mother of the "girl" was quoted as saying she did not feel the boy should be charged because...it was consensual sex!! AND "they had done it before". Now this just brings up a whole bag load of issues for me. First of all, it seems to me that it is the PARENTS of these two children who should be charged with something. I mean OBVIOUSLY the "mother" of this poor little girl thinks it is OK for her to be sexually active at 11!! And I am not so sure that she is alone in this truly sickeningly dysfunctional thinking. This type of story, sadly enough, isn't even front page news worthy any more. Young...very young kids having sexual intercourse. Am I the only one who still finds this shocking ? Really? I guess we've completely skipped the days when girls and boys were happy to just play hopscotch or hide-and-go-seek ....or to write little notes simply saying "johnny has a crush on you ... if you like him too...check yes" Does anyone remember those days? If you checked the box for "yes" ,you could bet all of your girlfriends would poke fun...saying" Johnny and Katie...sittin' in a tree K_I_S_S_I_N_G....first comes love.." But nowadays I guess this is all skipped and they just go straight for the "baby- in -the- baby carriage " part!! With their parents knowledge apparently.
I was a senior in high school before I had any heated make out sessions. 19 years old before I gave away the keys to my "vault". And even then I was probably the only one in my group of friends who hadn't already allowed a boy past second base. But come on ....11?
Well,God as my witness, no child of mine will be out doing more than just swappin' spit before the age of 16. And with any luck...even later than that!

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord.
COLLOSSIANS 3: 20

THEY WILL COME

Well I now think that it was not an accident that I am beginning anew with my blog.While some of my friends found the old entries humorous, in truth there was a lot more venting going on than anything else. With a fresh new outlook, I plan to take my blogging in a different direction! I am still probably going to be writing plenty about the joys and frustrations of my experiences as a mother. But I intend to focus more now on the positive things that God brings to light for me with each passing day. For starters I will now include (at the bottom of each entry) a" Scripture of the day" . And with any luck I will be able to put forth some relevant views and opinions which readers might find interesting and perhaps occasionally amusing. I am determined to not give up,as this is, if nothing else, a great creative release for me. Since I spend most of my waking moments in "mommy" mode, it is nice to do something that is just for me!
My husband picks on me whenever he knows I am blogging these days. His favorite comment goes something like this "So....let me get this straight, you are basically keeping a diary... online...and just who is reading it?" To this I of course don't have much of a reply , since I don't have a huge following....YET! But I am gonna keep on pluggin away, and as the old saying goes...
THEY WILL COME

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY
Lord, reveal to me the end of my life and the number of my days. Let me know how transitory I am.You, indeed, have made my days short in length, and my life span as nothing in Your sight. Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor.
Psalm 39

Not Everything Is Comin' Up Roses

Well today I begin my second attempt to join the world of blogging. I have had a blog page for several months now. It held some of my most creative attempts at writing as well as the release of maybe just a bit of my pent up frustrations over various occurrences in my life. However as my bad luck would have it...I somehow managed to accidentally delete the entire blog!! My husband finds this quite amusing of course. Anytime I am using the computer for anything and one of the children starts whining for my attention, he always says sarcastically "Sorry honey, mommy can't help you now ....She's bloggin' ." I am so disappointed too , because my last post on the old site was about a story which I read recently in a book titled "When God Winks At You" by the author Squire Rushnell. It is a book containing various stories about the power of coincidence in each of our lives. These coincidences are referred to as godwinks . The story that I was reading was called "A Mutt Named Moe". Which in itself was a godwink to me because our new puppy(just 11 months old) had just been killed by a car. And although we had called him Snickers, when we first got him.... his name was Moe . My recent blogs on the old site had recounted how distraught I had been over Snickers death. And how I fealt silly for "grieving" over the loss of a dog. But when I read this story...and from a book which had sat for years on a shelf.... it contained a note from the author which addressed the fact that it is OK to mourn such a loss. I fealt as if it was not the author saying this but...God speaking directly to me! It was amazing!!! As for the loss of all of the material I had posted in my old blog...I am trying to look on the bright side ....I didn't really have any followers yet anyways. Maybe my new material will catch some interest.