Ahh..sweet sleep!

wea·ry
1 : exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness
2 : expressing or characteristic of weariness
3 : having one's patience, tolerance, or pleasure exhausted -- used with of


Well it had been one of those days. Sadly it was beyond a day of instruction, it was a day of discipline. My two year old has moved from the cute, "no..i go bye bye" when I tell him to do or not do something. He has stepped right into the defiant, "NO!" I noticed that the day before I was not as quick to discipline as I should, so I was resolute on this day. I went before the Lord about it during my focused, alone time of prayer (aka, in the shower) and was determined to meet my son with grace, yet consistancy. At the end of the day I was weary. Every use of the word, above, described me. I was desperate for a Word from the Lord. So after the little ones were in bed I opened my Bible and asked God to speak. I did the ol' fashioned concordance look up for the word describing how I felt.: weary. After a few verses that just made me laugh, "The weary find rest in the grave," Job 3:17, I found some very comforting verses. Most I have read before, but i had new eyes to see and was thinking of my current situation with dealing with my disobedient son, yet knowing that this is what the Lord has for me.

"He gives strength to the WEARY and to him who lacks might He increases power." Isaiah 40:29

"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get TIRED, they will walk and not become WEARY." Isaiah 40:31

"For I (God) satisfy the WEARY ones and REFRESH everyone who languishes. At this I (Jeremiah) awoke and looked and my sleep was pleasant to me." Jeremiah 31:25-26

"But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good." 2 Thessalonians 3:13

God is good. I love those words: Strength, might, mount up, run, walk, satisfied, refresh and pleasant sleep! That is what I need during this time. However, I must: wait for the Lord! I will trust His timing through this season of "rebellion" with my son. I know that God has this child in the palm of his hand. Not only will I pray for me, but I will resolve to pray for this little fella as well. Ahh.. sweet dreams.

Good for her!

Im glad that she went on tv too and was able to not take herself so seriously. I probably have a zillion clips that my husband has captured, where i sound like a dork. Especially with my southern accent!

Son, beauty is fleeting....

Im outta here.. pray for my husband!

Im leaving this afternoon for Briarwoods womens retreat. Susan Hunt is the guest speaker and I am so excited. I will be back tomorrow afternoon, but Big Jorge has the boys all to himself. Please pray! He does a great job. I just hope they all survive! Ha! I can't wait to fill you in on all the details of what I have learned and all the wonderful relationships I've made.

Hasta Pronto!

The Laundry Elf!

Granted this amount of laundry was special.. since I could not do laundry while we had no AC and were not able to be in the house for two days. And this was only three loads piled on my bed. The fourth load was in the dryer. My husband took the picture and then helped me put it away.. how else was he going to get in the bed?? So now I challenge all you other women to take pictures of your massive load and put it on your blog! Ha! Who says that stay at home moms don't do anything all day??





It all looks so small after its folded.. thats why the before picture is there.. ;-)

Self Confidence vs. chiffon. Chiffon Wins!

There is nothing in the world to crush any self confidence you may have mustered up after giving birth to two children in two years, than trying on bridesmaid dresses. Esther is engaged. For that I could not be more thrilled. I am honored that she would ask me to be a part of her special day, I just wish it could be as special with me in overalls. Or even just a nice pair of slacks and a pretty shirt.

I love that I have enough around the middle to fill up the dress, but not enough for up top.

I love that the people who are also going to be in the wedding have never had a human grow right in their belly. In fact, none are even remotely close to that event.

I love that no matter the fact that it could be an Empire waist, I got to much muffin top.

I know what you ladies are saying right now.. C'mon Rachel.. you are skinny. You look fine. Okay ladies. I see your lips moving but I ain't hearing ya! I am not saying that Im not "happy" with my looks. My belly and stretch marks are a "crown of glory" for my two beautiful treasures. However, what I AM trying to say is that Im a big orange compared to all these apples. Different comparisons. As I told Esther today, "Please do not pick your bm dresses (funny bm also stands for bowel movement) around what looks flattering on me. An almost thrity year old mother of two is not the target group for designers of bridesmaid dresses."

Anyhoo.. I thought I would share my interesting experience. What is also going to throw a kink into it is that I hope to be pregnant by her wedding next June.. just not sure how far along. Soooo.. at any rate..this could get very interesting.

FYI... bm dresses are like the plague.. avoid them.

Here we go again...

Okay friends you said to keep at it so... at Kim's suggestion, lets discuss homeschooling vs. public/private schools. Or lets discuss which style of Worship is better. Ha! Just kidding everyone.

We are finally back in our house and it was only a $23 part that needed to be replaced. It ended up costing $139 after the diagnostic fee and all, but you never heard a complaint out of me. thanks to mom and dad for putting up with us. Sorry about the sugar container mom. I'll replace that. And Paul, I'll buy you a new book cover for your beautiful John Piper book. Toddlers: they take their destructive tendencies everywhere they go.

I am enjoying my cooled off house and can't wait to catch up on everyone elses blogs very soon. I hope you guys have a great day.

Feeling HOT HOT HOT!

We have been kicked out of our home. Our AC unit is not functioning, and after one night of suffering last night we decided to head to mom and dad's house (terry) for tonight or until it gets fixed. It was 84 degrees last night, in our house, and that was WITH windows open and fans on full blast. The kiddos slept in their diapers and I had fans blowing directly on them the whole night. HOT! The sad part is that not one contractor has called us back and the one we have talked to (Big Jorge flagged him down while he was making a house call a few houses down from us) said that most people would not fix it until Monday. Sad. The awesome thing is that we have family here that we are able to stay with, and who needs an excuse to spend some extra time with family?? Fun times. Please pray that this can be resolved soon.

I am praising God for AC right now. I will never take it for granted again. Ha!

UPDATE: i went to the house to get clothes and other things.. the house thermostat read 95 degrees! I was sweating while packing our bag. lol!

Little things I noticed today

1. Jorge knocking on his own door at 6:30 a.m while trying to come out of his room.
2. Miguel trying to pick up something off of the floor. Full of intent and committment. Oh wait, thats a dead fly.
3. Jorge aiming the big bouncy ball, quite well I might add, right for the top of Miguel's head.
4. Miguel a little bewildered as to why his brother is laughing hysterically at the ball that just hit his head.
5. Jorge was the "grose boy" that the little girls at the Chickfila playplace were trying to run from. Of course he was clueless. Their response when they see him, "ewww..there HE is. Run. Don't let him touch you." Priceless.
6. Miguel only wants the toys that his older brother is playing with.
7. Don't walk out of the room to change your youngest sons' diaper. Older son will pour contents of bottle onto the end table and floor. Then hide in the corner behind the couch upon your return.
8. If I give Jorge a cup while playing in the bath he WILL, I repeat, will pour water onto his younger brothers head.
9. If Jorge is jumping on his toddler bed and Miguel is trying to climb on it too, chances are that Jorge will do an accidental booty drop onto Miguels head. Its a given.
10. When its time for bed, baths have been given, bellies are full, and its moments before we have to put them down for the night, they will play quietly and calmly as if they are someone elses children.

Dancing

the reason why we start laughing at the end of this is because my son is so narcissitic that when he sees that I am recording him, he stops dancing and runs to see himself on the camera. Please tell me he will outgrow the narcissism. ha!

First Words

Coming up for air....

I got back from Tampa at 7am on Monday morning. I was up with the boys and playing at 10am when I got a frantic phone call from my sister in Montgomery. She said she was at the ER with my 5 year old niece, Livia, who had fallen from their second story balcony in their house. She landed on her face and stomach. All they knew was that she had a broken right arm and was in stable condition. Big Jorge and I, with our kids, hopped in the car to see what we could do, namely get Mishka's other two kids, Levi (2 1/2) and Asher (7 months) who were with a neighbor. Enroute we recieved word that by the time we got there, they would be transferring Livia to Childrens here in Birmingham. After two nights stay at Childrens she was released to go home with just a broken arm, a bone fracture under her right arm and a bruised liver. I say "just" because we believe had it not been for her arm "breaking" the fall, we would have had a fatal outcome. Or brain damage at the very least. While my sister and brother and law spent thier time at the hospital with Livia, we had the opportunity to have four kids 2 1/2 and under, under the same roof. I want to thank Brittany who came to help the first day and my sweet husband (who was off of work) who helped the second day. What a week. All that, and the culmination was Bryce asked Esther to marry him on Wednesday night! God is so good. He protected my sweet Livia and has added to our family all in the same week.