Breast Cancer Awareness

I am so grateful for the photo challenge this week from I ♥ Faces. The task is to find a "Pink" moment. Something that speaks to you about breast cancer. It is not that I am thankful that anyone has to climb such a mountain but that it gives us all a chance to make others aware and reflect, ourselves, about how it has, is or could affect us.

How many of us know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month? Sometimes we tend to forget about how much it affects people until we are hit in the face with it ourselves. About 3 years ago my grandmother was faced with the challenge of breast cancer. As I sat miles away, with tears in my eyes...oh, how hard it was to know that as she was going through it, there was nothing immediate that I could do. It was in the Lord's hands. So I prayed and she has beat it and I know that there is something that I can do for my daughter and my boys. I can be more aware and take precautions. Be informed about your body and give it a chance.

I pray for God's wisdom on doctors and researchers so that my daughter's eyes will never fill with tears because of what cancer could do to her or her family.

My "pink" moment is this sweet, innocent, little face who knows no differently right now.

So Excited

This wonderful friend of mine, whom I seem to have more in common with than I thought, has brought yet another exciting website my way, I ♥ Faces. This one is an enjoyable spot to have more fun with those pictures that I seem to take so many of.

Kamden always seems to have a smile on his face when he catches me in hide-and-seek. "Found you, mommy." He is an easy subject, usually excited and used to the camera in his face.

Mommy's Little Helper

During the days it is just Kamden and I. I often find myself just staring at him in is adorableness. (I can say that even though he is mine because I am not being prideful. Afterall, I can not take the credit for his make-up. God created him. He gets the credit. And what a wonderful job He did.) I have created a schedule of daily household chores that get done, in addition to the "school" time that Kamden gets, to do while the others are away. I must say that Kamden has become quite the little helper when it comes to these chores.

Let me first start with his caring side. We did not have to call in the fire department on this one. We had it all under control.

"Oh, you poor thing. Let me help you. It must have been so scary in there."

Don't let that sweet face fool you. Oh, yes, the pictures have been placed in reverse order. That's right, you are the one who stuck it in there in the first place. As you do with many other things. But it always makes my day when I go into the baking cupboard and find another Kamden stash. We have seen stuffed flowers, bouncy balls, sippy cups, and today...the envelopes from the bills as mommy tossed them on the floor. Silly guy.

Now don't get me wrong. Kamden is a helper. This day he was helping put the silverware away. I had placed the holder, balancing, on the edge of the drawer next to the appropriate drawer. I do this to sort them out. As I walked away for something my helper took over.

"Don't worry mommy, I got this one."

But I will have to say that his favorite of all is vacuuming. Most children tend to run in the other direction crying when the vacuum is turned on. Kamden does the same when you turn it off or ask for a turn to help him.
I love your help, Kamden Bear, as long as it is time with you.

Reminder To Self

In my daily ongoings with my children, I often times get caught up in the nonsense little things; quarrels between siblings, stuffed animals that are left behind once one is done playing with them, the super sillies at inappropriate times. The list could go on but no use in crying over spilt milk. (I have done that a time or two.) Then as I write this I wonder, "Who am I to decide what is a good time for sillies?" Should it not be more often?

Then as I sat overwhelmed from chasing Kamden around on Skylar's fire station field trip, preping lunch for two daycare girls, Skylar and Kamden, and getting the kids off to "quiet time" Skylar decides she is going to disagree on where she is going to participate in quiet time. It is the whimpering sound coming from her room squeeling, "Mommmmy!" that begins to fray my nerves.

The Lord has placed a blessed friend in my path that I know I am to learn from. I read this friends blog. (Hope you don't mind my sharing.) I sat and almost broke to tears at the Lord's teaching through her. It read:

I was reminded that I am the one he will listen to. He will learn how to be caring and loving by my choice of words and the inflection of my voice. He'll be watching me to learn about the qualities he is looking for in a future mate.The responsibility is great and there are such few years. Because little eyes and ears are watching me, I commit to continue to grow into the woman God wants me to be, so my kids have a godly woman to watch with the microscope they use. One who is giving, who loves endlessly, who knows she can do nothing in her own strength; one who relies on God's grace EACH day. In Jesus' strength, I AM able.

I want to strive for the same of myself. It is the tone that I take to mentor these children, that they will in turn use with eachother. I want them to be caring and loving. Disagreements are bound to happen but it is how we solve those that makes the most impact.

My recent bible verse that I am studying is:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men." Colossians 3:23

I am working for the Lord. I am nurturing His children. I am preparing His children to be like Him. But I must do that by being an example for their innocent eyes to see.

I must take the time to share with them, the little things that are important in their lives, to help them in realizing their loving place within this world. I am daily, under construction.

Football Sunday

Ok, so I was so nicely reminded by a friend, that it was time to get back into the swing of things and step away from the break that I had unintentionally taken from blogging. I would have to say that I have missed taking the time to count my blessings.

As I sat in service today, I caught myself reading one of the inserts about a girl who did not remember the big fancy birthday parties that were thrown for her as a little girl but that she remembered the little rides to get breakfast with her dad. You know, we go out of our way for these big memories and they focus on the color dress mommy let them buy at the consignment shop. I would have to say that is one of Skylar's most enjoyable things that she talks about. "Mommy I like going to Savers with you." A girl after my own heart, knows how to catch a deal. The other day I caught myself teaching Dustin about the idea of a pair of pants at you local WalMart might cost $10 but at Savers you might be able to buy a pair for $5. It was so nice when Adam came home, he quickly shared his math lesson for the day. "Daddy, did you know that you could get 2 pair of jeans instead of one." He went into the fine details about the price of men's jeans as well.

Now I am trying to blog too much into one entry. Back to the original story. I decided to shop quick at Big Y. Then I figured since Adam was golfing with his dad, that I would hit Subway. The kids always enjoy a good sub. We raced on home to "hurry because the Giants are playing". So I felt that I had a family obligation to settle down at the coffee table with our sandwiches and give them the play by play details. The smiles on their faces to think that mommy would allow them to eat in front of the t.v. Boy did I feel like a wonderful momma. Then to top it off I hear this little tiny voice say, "This is fun." And we hadn't even gotten to the icecream sandwiches yet. (I got Skinny Cow for myself, only 150 calories and premeasured.)

My thoughts tend to normally gear towards the practical. But as you can tell by the pile of laundry behind Dustin's head, I figured that could wait. I'm makin' memories here! Afterall, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are laundry days.
As I sent Skylar and Kamden off for nap. I figured I would let Dustin skip the quiet time and let him watch the game. I tried to sneak in a little download of some pictures for this post and he came over to me and asked if I would watch the game with him. He said, " I like it when you watch with me so I can tell daddy and talk to you when its 1st and 10." So sweet. See I'm doing ok. I know the basics. 4 turns to get 10 yards. Then that is a whole new lesson, yards. Today's lesson was to review the downs then we worked on flags. To hear him say, as the Giants received another flag, "Come on, can't you just play the game the right way!" The teacher side of me tends to not let any of the lessons slide by. We drew out the fied on a magic eraser board and talked about the boundaries, downs, field goals, and extra point after a touchdown. Oh so fun!!!Skylar usually just hears the teams are playing then asks if she can wear her shirt. She is good for the Giants and the Red Sox in that way.
Hey, this is supposed to be turned into a book right. Maybe that is why I tend to write a book.