Todd's Bad Awful Day

There is a children's book that my kids love for me to read them. It is Grover's Bad Awful Day. You can probably guess what it is about.

Grover wakes up late in the process of trying to hurry out of bed he stubs his furry toe. While getting ready his toothpaste fell off his toothbrush, he lost the toothpaste cap down the drain, his fur was all tangled, he poured milk on the table instead of his cereal and he got to class late.

At play group he kept messing up his picture during Art class, he forgot part of his alphabet, music class didn't go so well, his friends wouldn't let him play with him and at lunchtime he realized he forgot his lunch at home.

On his way home from play group he dropped his ice cream cone on the ground, it started raining, one of his rain boots got stuck in gum and he had to walk the rest of the way home with only one boot.

But here is where the story takes a turn. He gets home and his mommy is there and he tells her all about his bad, awful day. All of a sudden there's a perspective change and with her assurance he comes to realize that he can get through bad, awful days and be okay.

Yesterday was a bad, awful day for Todd. He woke up and left for town to get items we needed for the house while in town the car died at an intersection. After being pulled home by his uncle he decided to mow the yard, while mowing the tire came off the mower. He was going to run back into town to get a part for the mower and when he got in the van the battery was dead.

That is a bad, awful day. But, even better than Grover's mommy we have the Father with whom we can run to and He can change our perspective on a day like that. We can rejoice in those bad, awful days. We can say, "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24.

Thank you honey that on your bad, awful day you sought peace from our Heavenly Father and allowed Him to turn it into a day to rejoice in Him in all things.

Chick-fil-a Princess

I love Chick-fil-a, is my favorite fast food place. The kids are the same. Anytime we are in the area of Chick-fil-a that's where they want to eat. So, Haven was pretty excited when we learned they were hosting a Princess Night. They had all the things a Princess would want, hair and make-up, face painting, fingernail painting, meet Miss Missouri and Miss Teen Missouri and free samples of food.

Mom and I took Haven and Kylah and Great Gram joined us too. We had a great girls night out. The lines were so long for everything that we only had time to get the faces painted and have pictures taken with Miss Missouri and Miss Teen Missouri and, of course, eat. But the girls had a blast and they looked like little Princesses in their matching dresses and tiaras.

The only disappointing thing of the whole evening was while waiting in line to see Miss Missouri and get her autograph and a picture taken with her I, and everyone else, could see her teal panties. Yes, her dress was so short that when she sat down you could see her underwear. I doubt it was intentional to show off her bright teal underwear to a bunch of little girls. But I was a little, okay a lot, disappointed that someone who has positioned herself to be a role model for young girls would be dressed so inappropriately. In line all I could think about was how I really wanted to tell her thanks for wearing a dress so short we can all see her underwear, including little girls that will grow up thinking that's how they need to dress to be pretty.

I was so overjoyed when Haven, not being impressed with them at all, refused to have her picture taken with them. I found myself smiling and saying that's just fine sweetheart let's go find something else to do. Jesus, I pray that she finds her value in You and not in her clothes (or lack of) and outward appearance.

My Children are Blessed

My children are blessed to have the Daddy they do. I am so thankful that he is my partner in training our beautiful children. His wisdom, love, patience, firmness and most importantly his devotion to serving Jesus challenges me. I am thankful for his leadership in our family. I am thankful our children adore him because he has made it easy for them to.

At church Jadon and Haven got to say things about their daddy as the teachers wrote. Here's what they had to say about their daddy.

Jadon:

"I love you. I like helping you a lot. Do you like to stay with me a lot."

"I like to hunt mushrooms with you."

"You play golf with me."

Haven:

"Thank you daddy for doing great things with me. I like playing with you. You are so cool."

"I like when you sing."

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Daddy and husband as far as we are concerned.

The boys making their funny faces at the camera.

An Original

I am so excited. My mom brought over my Mother's Day gift on Saturday. I know this past weekend was Father's Day. My mom had worked so hard on my Mother's Day gift this year and had to send it off to be finished. She had no idea it was going to take this long for them to finish everything.

I love it! It is an Elizabeth Chapman original. It's a rose, then my mom took the poem that Todd had written the day after we lost Karis and had them matted and framed. It turned out beautifully and I was totally surprised. And of course I cried. What a beautiful way to remember our daughter and how great our God is.

I love Elizabeth's paintings and had mentioned many times to Todd how I would love to own on. Plus the fact that she is a friend makes it even more special to own one of her paintings.

I tried to take a picture, I don't know if you can see it well, but it is absolutely beautiful and if you are ever my way stop in and I would love to show it off.

Rodeo Princess

Haven's birthday party this year was all about horses. She is so into horses right now and it takes me back to my childhood. When I was a little girl I loved and knew everything there was to know about horses. Every birthday and Christmas all I wanted was a horse.

So, when Haven started showing a love for horses it pleased me very much. I was also very excited to plan a horse birthday party. Haven was a Rodeo Princess and we were blessed to have Todd's cousin willing to bring their horse Sugar for the kids to ride. It was a birthday this little 4 year old will not soon forget.

All the kids getting their turn to ride Sugar.

Papa and Jadon hanging.

Oops! Little Mister caught sagging.

The rest of the party was pretty great too, opening presents and the cake.

It's great to be 4!

Success

I have an official Kindergartner. Jadon is all signed up for school and this past week he started summer school. He has loved every minute of it. Each night he lays out his clothes and we start packing his lunch and he gets his backpack ready. In the mornings if he beats me up he finishes packing his lunch. He is such a responsible boy.

He has made friends and comes home to many questions about his day. We are beyond proud of him.

His first day of summer school.

Jude is doing very good on potty training. After a rough time of it early on, he has been doing wonderful in telling us when he needs to go. I would call the whole thing a success. I feel a little strange having potty trained my last child.

Happy Birthday

This sweet little girl turned 4 this week. Pictures taken by my awesome sister.