INFIDELITY

There have been SO many stories in the news recently which focus on the subject of  infidelity.
We are constantly bombarded with pictures in magazines and on television of celebrities and political figures who have been caught in the act or have admitted to being adulterers. And ,by all means, YES, adultery is a sin! But personally, I am not particularly interested and don't feel the need to be informed of each and every infidelity connected with a public personality. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
I certainly can sympathize with the pain inflicted upon those people who have been affected by this sinful act.
Most of us have felt the sting of infidelity in some way at some point in our lives. Whether we have seen our married friends deal with it or relatives or even suffered a more close up, personal  experience with it.  Any way you look at it.....IT'S UGLY!  People are ALWAYS  hurt!   The worst among these are the children of those involved. Their lives are forever changed. In most cases their parents will separate and eventually divorce leaving the children with  lifelong, irreparable damage to their sense of stability in their lives.
AND I am just TIRED of seeing  the pain and embarrassment of celebrities and their loved ones who have their dirty laundry being aired on some tabloid clothesline! I hope that I am not alone in this way of thinking.
I wish that people would just stop purchasing magazines with these stories and stop watching television shows pedaling this kind of  smut! This stuff should NOT be news. Do people really want ring-side seats to watch the pain and suffering of others simply because they are famous or related to a celebrity? I hope NOT!!

SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY 
And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another,
just as God also forgave you in Christ.
EPHESIANS  4: 32

TREE OF LIFE

Above is a photo of the Tree of Life, which is the heart and central focus point located within the
Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando Florida.  I feel these days as if my life is a lot like the branches of this tree. Stretching out and being pulled in many different directions all at once. There simply are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. I know there are many of you who can relate to this. And... OH YEAH it just keeps getting better! THIS  JUST  IN.....NASA says that the Earthquake in Chile has moved the planet on its axis and Yippie!  Now our days have gotten even shorter! Just what I need!
I always swore that  I  was not gonna be one of those "Soccer Moms" whose kids were extremely over scheduled. Kids should have time to just BE kids. Well...I should have known better than to look down my hoity toity nose at those other moms...cause here I am...in their shoes!  My two oldest(1 & 3rd graders) are on soccer teams with practices two days a week (6:30-7:30pm) on school nights. And of course the practices couldn't happen to be on the same nights! OH  NOooo! So we are left driving 4 nights a week to and from practices. And to top it all off, my 3rd grader is taking part in a school play with practices after school 1 day a week, and  has two additional  musical auditions/performances for which they practice two days after school.
My first grader takes piano lessons 1 day a week. And then there's the HOMEWORK! Oh and let's not forget the third child. No classes or practices....but it's still early. This one's a toddler. But a toddler who STILL doesn't seem to know how to sleep through the night.And what a glutton for punishment I must be....I started taking a "Boot Camp" exercise class 2 mornings a week. IT IS KICKING MY BUTT!  But atleast my bottom should be firmer soon. LOL   
Put it all together with the fact that I am 43(which=OLD) and now you see why my blogging has diminished significantly in recent months. I have considered calling it quits because I can't seem to find the time to write and although I have 60 followers(yay), the loyal number is quite a bit smaller. But for now I will try to stick it out in hopes that my schedule and/ or my kids schedules will ease just enough to allow for some creative release.
SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY       
There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under Heaven:
ECCLESIASTES  3: 1             

What A Trip

Readers: If  I still have any followers left...I thank you for returning....As you may have noticed,  I took a break from blogging. No illnesses can be blamed for this,  just  LIFE!!    

O.K.  So We FINALLY did it!!  The BIG TRIP TO..........DISNEY! Our kids had been bugging us for ages to take them to the "Magic Kingdom". Our daughter actually had the nerve to insinuate that she was suffering abuse because she was the only child in her 3rd grade class who had not yet been there. Of course, my husband and I both have to laugh at this, since we both grew up in families who couldn't afford such luxuries as a Disney vacation. I personally didn't get to go to  Disney until I was in my teens. And we lived an hour from ORLANDO!!!  It is an 8 hour trip from our home now and 5 times more expensive!! BUT.....we went!
Let me just say....it was MAGICAL! The kids had a ball! And of course we enjoyed watching them having so much fun. My wonderful hubby splurged for some very nice accomodations while we were there...suites the whole time...which made a week in hotels with 3 small kids a little more bearable. BUT....believe me when I say that the trip was not without its share of  nightmarish chaos . First of all....THERE WAS SLEET & SNOW FLURRIES the day we arrrived in Florida! That's right! SLEET!! IT was FREEEZING!  I swear it was warmer  where we live, several states to the North! The whole time we were at the Disney parks we had coats, & hats & gloves on!  YAY!  The up-side to that was that the lines were probably shorter than if it had been warm. But there were still lines.
Besides the weather issue, there was the behavioral metamorphosis which took place in our family while we were there. Let me explain. It went something like this....
Our normally mild mannered, somewhat well behaved and fairly intelligent children turned into little whining, complaining,disobedient,snotty & spoiled acting little BRATS!!! And my husband and I, in turn, became two very irritable, short-fused ticking timebombs! At one point we were in one of the parks and  my hubby was so fed up with the misbehavior of one of the kids he was verbally reprimanding them and people were staring! I was mortified with embarrassment! I have never seen my husband lose his temper to this extent. Certainly never in public. All I could do was look the other way and pretend I wasn't with this noisy group!
Needless to say, when all was said and done, I was ecstatic to return home and get the kids back into their regular routine and back to their normal behavior. I am sure that I will get to be subjected to the "magic" of Disney at some point again in a few years. Can't  wait!

      SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY
  All the ways of a man seem right to him,
  but the Lord evaluates the motives.
                PROVERBS  21:  2

Never Never Land

Well....I am finally back from  Never-Never Land. You see, this.....is where I spent my Christmas Holidays.
We drove to our favorite spot in the mountains of North Carolina for Christmas and there was a foot of snow on the ground. We don't really get snow where we live...so this was very exciting for us! My kids had a blast, of course. I mean...this is what people dream of at Christmastime isn't it?  A white Christmas?
Well....we got it, alright! It was AWESOME!!! The kids made 6 snowmen. Just because they could.

Then the third or fourth day we were there. It rained. Freezing rain. I was disappointed for the kids because I figured this would melt all of the snow away and ruin their hard work on the snowmen. But instead we were surprised to find everything still where it had been ,only now it sparkled and glistened. It was breathtakingly beautiful!! The cabin we stay in when we are there has a wonderful, flowing creek with hundreds of  cascading waterfalls. The outter edges of the creek were covered with snow, of course and after the freezing rain there were beautiful icicles everywhere too.  But the most fun part of our holiday was when the kids discovered they could use a knee-board for a sled to slide down the hills nearby. Before the freezing rain where our feet had sunk into the deep snow with every step....now it was hard, solid & slick! It was like a luge!
The kids took turns sliding down the hill on the board with my husband and I grabbing them at the bottom each time as they can flying by, because the bottom of the hill happened to drop off into a road. This of course just made it all the more exhilarating! And yes.....in case you are wondering....the adults tried it too!
At least that was until I smacked into a tree with my ribcage and decided to call it quits BEFORE having to see the inside of the local ER      .Oh YEAH....You Bet! I was sore the next day. But I survived!
For Christmas I had printed out the months worth of blogging I had done in my husbands honor and made a book which even included the comments from all of my faithful fans. I think I lost some of my  blogs following by having done such a long....sappy....bunch of posts. But ...I don't care! It was worth it. My husband enjoyed reading it. And I enjoyed writing it. For those followers who have stuck with me...I thank you!

         SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY
      I have asked one thing from the Lord;

   it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,

   gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple.

                 PSALM   27: 4

30 Days Of Christmas In Love (The Finale)

Whew! At Last!
This post completes my month long series on the reasons I love my husband,
titled "30 Days Of Christmas In Love".
I have really enjoyed creating these posts! With the beginning of the New Year I will probably focus on some things other than my spouse, now that my readers are well acquainted with ALL of his wonderful attributes!  
Happy Holidays All !!

For anyone who hasn't followed the series, for days 1-26:  see previous posts.




 Day 27

He Loves Sushi.

We both do, actually. He introduced me to it  though when we were still dating. And even though it was

definitely the ugliest food I had ever put in my mouth....I  loved it! We have shared sushi together in many different cities throughout this country and even across the globe in Australia and New Zealand. 

 

Day 28

He Enjoys Fine Arts.

My husband has a learned and diverse knowledge in most things relating to the arts. Although he is not artistically talented himself. He is however a natural born musician. He can play songs on both piano and guitar having had little to no training.We both have very similar likes and dislikes when it comes to music or art. Neither of us is drawn to hard rock, rap, or alternative types of music. Nor are we  fond of

unrecognizable or unrealistic works of art. Spray painting  done in splotches by an animal is not ART to me, no matter what type of canvas it is on! Luckily we both agree on this too!

Day 29

 He puts up with me.

This is perhaps the most important reason, "WHY" I love my husband. I am not the most difficult woman ever there was to live with. But I sure have my fair share, and then some, of skeletons in my past. No criminal records or anything like that, but I am somewhat insecure and touchy in certain areas, due to events from my childhood. I tend to direct most of my anger toward him, frequently. Sometimes he deserves it, but many times he doesn't.  MY biggest misdeed however is that  I have put the needs of our 3 children way ahead of

any attention given to my husband. It has been a progressive unintentional effort since the children were born and I often wish that I could turn back the hands of time so that I might change this awful reality.

I have never been overly fond of New Years resolutions, but I now know what mine will be for 2010! 

Day 30

He is my Prince.

Every girl dreams of a night in shining armor to carry her away from the wicked step-monster or from her life of certain misery.I was surely no exception! Although , as I was a flight attendant for many years prior to meeting my handsome prince, I was not exactly living a life of emptiness or doom. But all the same, I do feel in some ways that I was rescued when I met my husband. I dated plenty of ugly toads along the way...BELIEVE me!!  Now, I cannot imagine what my life would have been like without him in it. And I pray

that I will never find out!

    SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY       

Marriage must be respected by all,

and the marriage bed kept undefiled, 

because God will judge immoral people and adulterers.

Hebrews  13 :  4

 

30 Days Of Christmas In Love (continued)

Readers:  This is a series which ends with Christmas.

For days 1- 22   see previous posts.


I love my husband because.....






Day 23

He is a Captain.

My husband LOVES boats, boating and everything in between. He has always loved being on the water.

He enjoys fishing, but his real love is just being out there, seeing  everything and enjoying the beauty of nature

in the wild. Our first born child even sports a name which correlates to his love of boating. I won't disclose this name for safety sake...but needless to say it is a cool name and very original.

Recently my husband completed his certification for a captains license and has plans to start a business doing what he loves to do. Can't beat that huh?

Day 24

He kills for me.

O.k.  ...Now that I have your attention back.....get your mind out of the gutter! No...my hubby is not a murderer. Let me explain.  We live in a home that is in a very wooded area. Over the years we have had HUMONGOUS spiders in the house. I mean like tarantula size monster spiders. A neighbor says they are called fruit spiders.All I know is that they are fat and hairy and GROSS! AND.... I can't stand 'em!

My hubby just calmly walks right up to them and squishes them like the pests that they are! I don't know how he manages this but I am thankful. Then....one night...we had a snake in our master bathroom. Normally we see lots of  harmless little green garden snakes and some black rat snakes(one fell out of a tree while eating a squirrel...right in the middle of a group of people at my childs 2nd Birthday party)YAY! Right? I am sure you can imagine the chaos that ensued.
Anyways...back to the snake which got into my house. It was an upstairs bathroom. Don't ya just love this!

And...no it wasn't a cute little garden snake OR a rat snake. It was red,yellow and black striped.....like....

a Coral snake, which is very poisonous!!! So I was FREEKING out!!! But luckily our neighbor told us the way to tell.... if red touches black....not poisonous, if red touches yellow....RUN LIKE heck!
Our snake was red on black.We were safe.

Needless to say he removed the snake. And about six months later I finally stopped looking over my shoulder for snakes in every corner of my house.

Day 25

He is the Garbage man.

Yup...that's right! Sort of.

Because we live in a rural area we don't have public trash pick-up.

 So a couple of times a week my hubby takes all of our trash and our neighbors trash to the dump. Not

a real fun chore. Somebody has to do it though. This is why I love my guy!

Day 26

He leaves the toilet seat.... DOWN.

He is very considerate that way. He doesn't do alot of the gross things that some guys seem to always do.

I had two platonic male roommates for 7 years before I got married. So...BELIEVE me...I have seen it all!

Since I was like a sister to them both they felt comfortable to act naturally around me.You know, they weren't trying to impress me with their manners. Of course I don't know that my husband is still trying to impress me after all of these years either, but he still remembers his manners. And I love him for it.

         SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY
  But a married man is concerned about the things of the world--

           how he may please his wife--.

               1 CORINTHIANS  7 : 33  

30 Days Of Christmas In Love (continued)

Readers: This is a series which will end at Christmas.
For Days 1-18  See previous posts.







Due to the fact that we are going out of town for the Holidays I
will need to consolidate several days worth of entries into the next few posts. I hope that you have all enjoyed reading these posts as much as I have enjoyed creating them. I have enjoyed reading your feedback as well!

Day  19

He is Nosey!

This is not misspelled and does not refer to a character or personality flaw. It refers to the fact that he can smell a person smoking a cigarette a half mile away. His nose could challenge the best bird dog or drug sniffing canine.We can be stopped at a stoplight and he will say that he can tell someone is smoking a cigarette in another car...and sure enough...I will peep over at the vehicle in the lane next to ours....

and there you have it....a smoker! (my apologies to any readers who partake in this act)

I can be cooking something in our kitchen and the minute it begins to burn, which with my cooking is frequent, he of course takes notice. I love his nose!

Day  20

He  Devours Books. 

No...he doesn't actually eat them! But he sure LOVES to read them. He has even been known to read the dictionary! I kid you  NOT!! We have a library filled with books in our home...most of which he has read at some time or another. It is a great example for our kids..who are at the ages where they don't want to HAVE to read even though they are both excellent readers ...well ahead of their grade levels in their lexile scores.

I keep hoping my husbands love for reading will eventually rub off on them!

Day 21  

He is a Chamelion of sorts. 

My guy looks good whether he is clean shaven or sporting a  five o'clock shadow. I call this his mountain man look. One minute he is wearing  jeans and a raggy t-shirt with hiking boots or sneakers and driving a tractor through our neighborhood to smooth out the roads which are unpaved and often filled with potholes.
The next time you see him he is wearing a fancy sport coat and hobnobbing with the towns upper-crust.
Handsome either way!


Day 22

He is a clown.

My husband must have been voted "CLASS CLOWN" when he was in school.
He has always had a strong sense of humor. And even though I  am not always amused at what he finds
humorous.....I still love that child-like  quality about him which never fails to keep things interesting and
 more importantly,  keeps him young at heart !  

     SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY 
     Many plans are in a mans heart,

     but the Lords decree will prevail.

              PROVERBS  19: 21 

30 Days Of Christmas In Love (continued)

Readers: This is a series ending on Christmas. For Days 1- 17 see previous posts.


The reasons I love my husband are:


Day 18
He is  Andy Griffith, Charles Ingalls &   Mr. Mom all rolled into one! 

My husband is a fairly firm disciplinarian. He manages to always

be sure to mix in just the right amount of  tenderness and  understanding while opening up a can of whoop*ass on whichever child is being unruley.

Don't worry there is no child abuse involved in the opening of the can. Just the tone he uses when angered is usually enough to spur them into behaving. But sometimes plan B comes into play. He will take away their allowance or their favorite video game or some other privilege. And of course they have PLENTY to lose.

He is fair in his punishment. But most importantly he almost always follows through with whatever he says he is going to do if they don't behave. The results of this are sometimes quite amusing . Often now when one of the children has disobeyed and is called to task for it...they will go and get the money from their piggy bank and bring it to him before he can even  ask for it. Ya gotta love it!!!!

                                                                   
  SCRIPTURE  OF  THE  DAY

  Teach a youth about the way he should go;

  even when he is old he will not depart from it.

            PROVERBS 22:  6