Going to Church

Last night my honey and I had a nice talk about church. When we first began dating and started living our lives together, we would occasionally attend the baptist church I grew up going to. The church I was baptized in at the age of ten.

We soon moved to the DFW area where church was not quite a priority. It wasn't even in the top ten on the priority list. Our marriage suffered but we stuck through it.

I have always believed in God. I have never lived in a strong, Christian home. My mom took us to church on Sundays but that is where church stayed. Sometimes I went to church with Grandma. She attended Church of Christ and was a good, godly woman who I looked up to. I found out not too long ago that scolded my dad for letting Mom take us to a Baptist church. Dad never took us to church but didn't oppose our attending. He says he "doesn't believe in that stuff".

Sean and I have been through so much crazy stuff in our sixteen years together. I have not always been a very good wife and mother. I have made huge mistakes. I made horrible choices in my marriage and tried to destroy it with my bare hands. Then, just as I had almost given in to the enemy, I became pregnant. I often tell myself that a baby saved my life. My baby saved me. I began to see that I had to do better for my family. I still dealt with depression after having the baby but wouldn't let it get me down.

Over the past few years I have worked very hard to redeem myself. To my husband. My children. And most importantly, my Father. I began to study the Word. I have stopped worrying about what the world thinks of me and started worrying about whether or not I have pleased God. It's tough, but it feels so good!

So last night Sean and I were talking. I believe it was in April that we went to Houston to celebrate Sean's grandfather's life that had expired in January. Sean had never told me this before, but last night he told me how attending the Catholic service made him feel closer to God. It lit a fire inside of me. It seems that my prayers for him to personally draw closer to God for his own good are working! (Ugh, I'm tearing up now.)

We decided together that we will try out going to a local Catholic church and see how we all like it. That day in April was my and the kids first mass ever. I had little clue as to what was going I, but I did enjoy it very much.

Last night I sat up for a little while searching and researching Catholicism. I believe I have been fed some misconceptions but that's really no surprise. Hence, the reason I research anything that is of importance to me. We're going to try this and I am excited. It could be a whole new season in our lives.

Going to Church

She's Aliiive!

Yes, I am still alive and I am waaay overdue for an update! I have had such good intentions, but I have been so super busy.
This would make week 5 of our new home schooling adventure and I can now say that things are going pretty darn well. ;) I must admit that week 3 was a difficult one, though.

We had visited our family in C-town (for the first time in almost a year!) for the Labor Day weekend. Once we were back home, I started hearing a lot of complaints from Sage. She was voicing her desire to return to public school on Facebook and Myspace but not so much to me.

It hurt my feelings. It hurt that she had not yet given home schooling a chance. That she wasn't talking to me about it. I let her know how I felt and then left the ball in her court.

The past two weeks haven't been so bad. I am getting more organized and figuring out what works for us.

I'm happy with that.

Last week I finally took care of something that has needed to be taken care of for a while.

I am (what I figure to be) a typical mom in the aspect of taking care of the husband, kids and house and not taking care of myself so much.

I found out a few years ago that I had what they call dysplasia when it comes to my cervical cells. In other words, the cells were abnormal and could form into cancer.

I found this out at about the same time I found out I was pregnant with KK. In fact, I found out about the pregnancy the day I went in for the biopsy.

Praise the Lord that it was not too bad at that time and all I had to do was come back every 6 months for another pap.

Well there I go again not taking care of myself. I went to my first appointment a few months after Kaitlan's birth but failed to make my next appointment 6 months later. And the next 6 months after that.

With some hard nudging gently coaxing from dear husband, I finally went in for an appointment.

What do ya know, it had gotten worse.

That's when the wonderful Dr. W scheduled me for what is called a LEEP procedure. I went in Tuesday morning last week for a (really) quick day surgery that hopefully took care of what ailed me. (When I say quick I mean quick. I went in at 6am and was on my way home at 9am!)

Now I just pray that it has been taken care of and I will not have to face this issue any more.

In other medical news, it seems that Sean's maternal grandfather will probably be joining his wife in the Lord's arms sooner than we had hoped. We found out that he has stage 4 colon cancer that has spread to his liver among other places. We're talking about an old tough Marine who is now weak and depending on his children to take care of him. It's really sad and the family could use your prayers. I don't know if it's awful to think this way, but when it comes down to it, sometimes I just wish God would take them and get them out of the misery they're suffering. Such a difficult subject.

Okay, I really need to get out of the doom and gloom that I'm starting to fill with, so on to something great and sad in it's own right.

My baby girl is going to be 2 years old in just about 2 weeks now! I can't believe it! She is so tiny, but I can see how much she is growing and I wish she could just stay little forever. Especially when I think of her sister and that attitude! Only kidding... kinda. =) Actually, this kid is a teenager in a toddler body, I tell you. She has attitude that is unimaginable for a kid her age. I'm really loving (almost) every minute of it, though. Our family wouldn't feel complete without her.

Well that's it for now, folks. Someone has to do laundry around here and I can tell you that it isn't any of the other 4 people that live here! Have a blessed day and I hope to post again soon!

She's Aliiive!

Can I get a little help here!?

Ok, ladies.  I have a question for you.  Do you ever feel taken advantage of by your own family?  Let me explain.

I am a stay at home mom and I really do love it.  What I don't love about it though, is that I seem to be the only person that lifts a finger in my home.  I so appreciate my husband and his working outside of the home.  I want my children to focus on school and strive to meet their goals in becoming successful adults.  I also want them to pick up after themselves, though.  I would be extremely embarrassed to show you pictures of my children's rooms right now.  Disasters, I tell you!

So does it seem fair that I have to clean the house, wash the laundry, cook, clean up after cooking, care for the baby, change almost every diaper (especially dirty ones), carry out the trash, do the dishes, mow the yard, pick up the dirty laundry, check homework, check for dirty ears, check for clean socks, sweep, mop, vacuum, check for dirty finger nails, put away the laundry, etc, etc, etc....*breeeeathe* all while the rest of the family is watching tv or playing video games?

I think you get the gist.

I constantly feel rundown and completely unappreciated.  Is it so bad to ask for a little help?  Can't someone else watch the baby for 5 minutes instead of me having to take her into the restroom with me?  Or pull the overflowing trash bag out before it, well, overflows?  We're talking about a 33 year old grown man as well as an 11 year old and an 8 year old.  Am I being over dramatic and selfish?  I know I should do most of the housework and I don't really mind that, but can I get a little help here?

Can I get a little help here!?