Glory Hallelujah I have been delivered!

Since my relocation to Texas (again) I have been

delivered from so much pain and anguish I can only say Praise God Almighty. Jesus saves in so many ways I am awe of his awesome power! I was still in a terrible place though I have re-devoted my life to my Lord and Father. I was trying to do under my own power what is in HIS power to do. Today I received a message loud and clear. It was to listen to the whisper of his Word and not try and adapt it to your situation. I have a great job at Wal-Mart my friends. I truly have GREAT days at work. My only concern has been child care. I have given it over to the Lord and struggled daily with who will watch my youngest and God has been trying to answer me but I kept pushing the answer away. He told me to quit. My friends I was sure he meant for me to quit my job! I was scared and unsure and not an obedient daughter as I should be. I prayed with all my might.

I asked for prayer. I searched and made calls and struggled mightily against the problem. Then, today I opened my mind to the answer. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I signed onto the website I had joined to try and find a sitter in the area and heard very faintly, take him to them. So I searched for sitters outside of my small radius I searched before. Many calls made, many voice mails left. I was sure it was just going to be like it had been for weeks now. Then there was an answer.

And I FELT God move for me! Not only did the lady on the other end answer her phone, say yes to everything and was willing to take him today, but she was also willing to work with me on the expense of her watching him!! Praise Jesus!!

Getting to the sitter was one trial after another. I couldn't get Barrett to cooperate. I struggled to get him dressed, get changes of clothes for him, get his hair done, get out the door only to realize 2 things left behind. Finally get him down to the car to find the car seat in the neighbors vehicle still. I am struggling MIGHTILY on my own. Stressed out and worn out before even beginning! I realize as I am ready to leave finally that Xander doesn't have a key to the apartment. Run and get it, give it to a neighbor, call the school to let him know while driving towards Lake Jackson. Then it hits me. I have NO MONEY.

No credit card. No Lone Star Card. No Drivers license. All of these things sit on the counter of my bathroom!!

I had to stop and get something to feed Bear on the way, even though we are running late because I fed him, but did not feed myself and I had to eat and therefore he had to eat. I had JUST enough money in change and pocket lint to get us taken care of on the road. (I remembered to say a prayer of thanks to my Lord Jesus Christ for that.) Then by some miracle (Truly) we made it to the sitters. She was WONDERFUL! I was

only 7 minutes late for work AND Bear settled in so quickly that he ignored me saying goodbye to him and refused my kiss. Only to catch me with my hand on the door as I was leaving demanding "give kiss momma MY kiss momma!"

I arrived at work with a smile on my face. It made my night to get a sweet kiss from my sweet boy and though I was worried about about being late, No one cared I was 7 minutes late. I did not need to worry about money or food either. I was blessed today with a full meal provided by Wal-Mart for us meeting Sales Goals for the quarter! Drink, Food, The whole deal. . God moves so swiftly to take care of us we rarely even notice Him doing it and we really need to recognize it more.

Then I went to pick up my little boy. He was crashed on the sitter's couch. Looking like and angel. My sitter gives me a card and a sheet from a coloring book that he colored. The card is the orange paper pictures next to the text here. It almost made me cry!

I am SO BLESSED!!! God you are Awesome! I know I talk a lot when I should be listening but THANK YOU for having more faith in me than I have in you at times. I know even when I take the wrong road and am drowning in despair You are there. Holding me. Waiting for me to let you take care ofeverything! I can't express how truly blessed I am. Praise my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Today is my birthday...so I'll post some pics....

I am getting old. I am starting to see it in my pictures of myself...but I think I look better for it. So Na na na na na boo boo~

I am hopelessly country. I love my boys being country too!(And I find my Boyfriend Hopelessly Sexy!)

As a Kid Water is just plain fun, whether it's in a Tub or a Pool!

Heck a Tub makes a GREAT Pool!!

I have raised a couple of CRAZY kids...mostly to be just like me...

No matter how much fun you are having, a leg lock around the neck ALWAYS looks questionable in pictures!

Naps are good, Shared naps are even better!

Waking up in the morning and having both kids pile into bed with you is still adorable, no matter how old they are, or you are...well for now...

Church functions are fun, especially if you could keep the 2 year old on the neck of the 12 year old for the duration... unfortunately not reality.

I am always in awe of the sunsets and sky here in Texas. God has blessed me in every way possible here!

Keeping Positive and Moving Forward

It has come to my attention that i spend a large bulk of my time blogging about all that goes wrong. So I have decided as of today I will try and do a positive thing every week. Ok yeah I want to put more pics on my blog and I miss having such cleverly twisted tales as I had back when I had a bit of free time to do the whole blogging thing, and also you never know when i will be without internet next. So here I go!!

Today we found out Xander will be able to go to the 8th Grade! Yay!!

Today I got to spend quality time with my boys and do something away from the house without sacrificing getting work done. (Ok so we bought a snack at the bar next to the laundromat but it still counts...they had fun!)

This week I have had the pleasure of enduring the long distance run that is potty training all initiated by my little Bear. I could fill this post with all sorts of complaints about the time I have spent in the bathroom (hours) and the tediousness of constant switching from toilet to potty chair. I could tell you several "vignette" type stories about how amazingly controlled my little new to the potty boy had done with peeing in 3 different places with the same bladder full of pee. I could regale you with stories of control of bowel movements that would astound doctors who study these sorts of things (seriously this kid makes poo in both toilets with one movement...it's crazy...several times...at the same "sitting") But you don't want to read about my potty adventures. (And in case you do there will probably be a blog up coming since it IS such an adventure!!)

The last thing I am thankful for comes with a photo that could be considered questionable...but I felt compelled to record it photographically as the chances of it continuing is very slight. I am at that stage with both my kids that being "loved on" is not really a common thing. Mr 2yr old is too busy doing his thing, aka throwing fits or playing alone.

Mr. Almost-13yr old is just well, a teenager and doesn't have a lot of "love" for his momma in the ways of PDAs....so lately both boys have been kissing me randomly. Bear is sneaky enough that I can't catch it on camera...Xander I can convince to re-do the love for a snap shot. So I present my totally inappropriate picture of the day. Me being kissed on the lips by my teenager. I have to say I can't believe he still HUGS me!!

Jumping to conclusions and other acrobatic skills I have...

So I had a bad night, didn't know what was going on, and as I am prone to do I jumped to conclusions. I guess I am really used to things just going down hill fast and it being the "end" to

all things.

I have been lectured on having more faith in things and stop being so negative.

Well, I can see that I need to but it is hard to do. So. I am still in a relationship.

We are just fine, I just had a

major breakdown and he just doesn't answer his phone much when he's hanging with friends and acknowledged that he wasn't in a place to discuss anything. *glug glug* tee hee! Anyway, I have decided to stop worrying over every little thing and to just bask in the glow of being happy in times we are together and live life as positively as possible.

I am starting to realize I am not a house keeper, I hate laundry when it is mine, and I just don't have enough time in the day to be lazy AND accomplish things that need to be done. And I only work Part Time! Yikes!

So to perk up this update/blog I have placed some cute pics of me and my kids...Ok of my kids.

I've been duped yet again...surprised?

How am I really going to ever trust my heart. I should know better. Over and over again I trust, put myself out there and over and over again the crushing pain comes on. I just need to stop. Seriously people I do not have a REAL LIFE best friend. I do not have anyone who really wants the job. No biggie if that is all, but I can't keep a real relationship alive with ANYONE! Whats wrong right now? Well, I don't know because my boyfriend stopped talking to me. Again. I don't play games. So what do I do? I guess I just give up. I'm not looking for anything and bam I meet him. It seems so wonderful and perfect and then boom. don't know if it's because I'm not a beck and call girl. I don't know if it is because I have two demanding kids. I don't know if it is just because I suck in bed and am just deluded into thinking I am awesome in that capacity. I suck. I shouldn't be in relationships with anyone. My son pointed out to me tonight that grandma can't do everything for us. So apparently he noticed I haven't done anything for us since my last horrid relationship ended back last year around a month from now....last year...bad year. I thought this one was going so much better. I was wrong. I seem to be wrong a lot. I really am trying to not be negative. Maybe it's just not genetically possible for me to be in a relationship, friendship or otherwise. So kudos life, you got me again. Some day I will not have anymore tears to cry.

Plague, Pestilence, and Propane

So we begin our story...uh tale...complaint?!? Well it began the Thursday before Christmas. I was lucky enough to have Bear in early nap mode and comfortably snuggled in the bed together when the bedroom door opens. Now this is a bit of a shock since I don't have anyone at home with me except my current snoozing companion. Surprise it's my mom! She was called to come pick up Simon from school since they were unable to contact me...(No missed calls on my cell BTW but whatever) Mom announces my eldest has contracted and shows major visible signs of the chicken pox! (Plague for those into the title) I wonder aloud how is this possible since he was vaccinated, and authoritive as ever my mom replies with the school nurses answer...he's only had one shot so he is susceptible but it should be a much milder case since he WAS vaccinated. Being the super responsible mom I am, or maybe because I'm freaking out that chicken pox is not only infesting my house, but what about little Mr. Bear? Will both my kids be miserable and covered in spots for weeks?!? Of course my luck holds out as usual and the Dr's office closes early on Thursday. Being panicked and not quite awake I call the on call Dr. Who basically says nothing they can do but run their course and perhaps the youngest might get them too but not to worry as the vaccine will make it a much more mild case and also this will give them a much better immunity than the shot. Well great! Well it didn't kill us but dang it was fun having sick boys. I still don't know if the very few spots on Bear counted but he most definitely was not himself for a few days. Xander's took about a week to begin really clearing up but we survived and were then full on into Christmas season! I was taking a bath with Bear when I discovered he had lice!(Pestilence) So, off to grandmas we go to launder everything we own, figure out how to treat the dry clean only bed spread from my room and get that lovely shampoo etc for treatment...only to find on my way that I have $0 in my account! Yay for part time job for the single mom of two so fabulously dealing with life! So grandma comes to the rescue. We check heads (and shave down Xander's) and discover Bear and Xander are the only infecteds. I still treated my head! The next couple of days I pick Bear's head like a banjo as often as he will let me near. Xander was less cooperative, and thus resurgence after I had it beat on my youngest! But that's the cart before the horse! So,I was way behind on everything and had to call in reinforcements to assist in completing gift wrapping Christmas Eve. We got everything ready and Bear had his worst night sleep in I don't know how long...but after sleeping till 10am we were up opening presents! All seemed well in hand...Mom and my sister put in money together to pay a bill for me for Christmas and the Monday after my mom takes that money to my propane company. No, they don't come deliver propane they call me mid-afternoon on their day of delivery (the ONLY day they deliver to my area) and leave a voice mail as I am not near my phone/probably sleeping. My phone does not notify me and when I call the next day they are closed when I do call. So we are sitting around New Years Eve day when we run out of propane. They inform me they can't deliver till Monday at the earliest and there would be an out of service area fee in addition to a pressure test fee...oh and the $200 didn't cover a minimum delivery. None of this was mentioned to mom (that they had to call me before delivery, the minimum not met etc) because the gal only heard her say it was a gift NOT that we desperately needed propane. So now again I'm a bad mother and its my fault I'm poor and didn't have the money to fill the tank. Lovely! So, we have the coldest temps we have seen in our part of Arkansas in many years and they are SUPER busy and my mom finally ends up talking to the manager and finally making it clear it had been nearly a week without heat, hot water, or cooking and we are heating with space heaters and all that and she gets them to show up Monday. This of course begins the pilot light on the hot water heater not staying lit, near freezing of pipes 3 times AND the bathroom not having cold water till miraculously on The Coldest Night when it starts running again. So I gather my faith closely to me and imagine there will always be more near catastrophes but we shall survive!

i have been blessed

I have been blessed with some of the most wonderful things anyone could ask for! I may not have money, or a long term partner/relationship but it has become very clear I am more than lucky with all I do have. I am truly blessed!

I am blessed to have two beautiful, wonderful, unique, loving, and understanding boys. They are awesome! Today my oldest asked me if I was happy that he and Barrett gave me a reason to keep going. I stopped and said really for a while they were the only reason I could keep going. I really hope they always realize how important they are to me, my life, and where I want to be!

I have amazing friends! I have been in a state of need for a while, was probably never going to even consider anything for Christmas other than just setting up the tree and a photo album of us as a family making it here. Now I find I have Angels coming out of the woodwork! Every single one of those women are friends who I met on a message board, and yet are so completely a part of my life I wish I lived near each and every one of them! I am surrounded by beautiful generous women who are such a blessing! Thank You doesn't cover enough in these situations!

Also I have a friend from back in good ole ND who sent me a kings ransom, which they believed to be just a small thing, to help me get by this tough time. God is watching over my family with some very special Angels indeed!

Last but certainly not least, Rachel P. Not only did she send something much needed at a time I couldn't afford diapers/laundry/milk...but also proving to me that if ever I have the chance and the funds diapers.com is the way to shop! I never even knew Luvs came in 180 count box!!! That is freaking awesome! Thank You!

So many blessings! So many touching not just our lives but our very souls! I cannot express what it really means to find out who your friends are!

I truly am so blessed!