Our pastor’s message yesterday was very challenging and I feel it is something everyone deals with at some point in their lives, if not continually for some.

It is the topic of being unequally yoked. I loved the way it was explained and presented and I think you’ll agree…

“Do not be unequally yoked (bound together) with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14

The word fellowship means “joint participation toward a common goal”. I’ve always thought of this verse as pertaining to marriage or dating relationships, but in reality it is addressing all relationships; even those with family. For the last several weeks, there has been a real yoke propped up against the stage at church. Yesterday, our pastor gave a great example of what non-believer relationships do to our relationship with Christ. If you and a non-Christian friend are “yoked together”, it is like your head is in the yoke facing north and the non-believer’s head is in the yoke facing south.

Above all, we are called to choose Jesus over every other relationship we have.

At this season in my life, this was not a difficult word to hear. My life is rather sheltered right now as my children are young, we homeschool with other believers, and have many commitments at church that keep us busy. However, there are still times when I have to examine my friendships and determine whether or not they are encouraging me in the direction that I need to be going.

It’s a lot to think about.

Happy Monday! 🙂

~audrey

Owen’s 3rd birthday was June 22nd and we had his party on the 19th.

I was flipping through my Family Fun magazine at the beginning of June when I saw a great idea for Toy Story themed cupcakes.  Owen LOVES Toy Story…and Woody, and Buzz, and everything about the movies.  He can watch Toy Story 1 and 2 in one sitting if we let him.   Toy Story 3 was being released in theaters on June 18th, so I decided we’d have a Toy Story themed party on Saturday, have brunch foods mid-morning, and then we could all head over to the theater (about 2 minutes from my house) and watch Toy Story 3!   Everything went exactly as planned and Owen had a wonderful party.  He even invited two of his best buddies (both named Jonathan!), which made it that much more special.  Would you believe we had 21 seats saved in the theater and all eleven or twelve kids (siblings and Bailey babies included) did great during the movie!  I was so pleased.

What are party pictures without pictures of the food?? I made Toy Story cupcakes that looked like the little green alien squeaky toys, fruit kabobs, sausage balls, and the Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls

I just had to include this picture of my dad. He LOVES kids, particularly babies. He had a blast holding Drew and entertaining Susan, who also enjoyed the attention. 🙂 He’s such a great Grandpa. I know he looks forward to more grandbabies.

Ashley braved bringing all five of her kids by herself because her hubby was busy with school stuff that weekend. The kids had a blas

Nana and Grandpa gave Owen this cute little convertible Toy Story couch.  He had slept with it in his bed every night since his party.

On another note, Owen had his three year well-child check up a few days after his birthday.  His doctor asked about his eating habits.  We’ve always known Owen is rather big for his age, but also know that some of his three and four year old friends are smaller for their age, so that makes Owen look even bigger.  I told the doctor his eating habits are great and Jesse said, “Yeah, Owen will eat anything!”  The doctor smiled and said, “Well, he’s about the size of a healthy four and a half year old!”

The doctor was asking Owen questions about shapes and colors.  He was pointing to colors in a book and asking Owen what they were.  For some reason, Owen struggles with his colors.  Sometimes he gets them 100% and tells you with confidence, other times he looks at you like he’s never seen that color before in his life.  Of course this was one of those days.  Owen kept looking up at me with big eyes, as if to say, Okay, a little help Mom! Owen could tell he was suppose to be giving some answers, so he put a big smile on, looked up at the doctor and said, “I can tell you my presidents!” The doctor laughed and looked at me expecting me to say he was kidding.  I was able to explain our classical home schooling and how the boys learn and memorize all kinds of great material because much of it is put to music, making it simple for even the preschool-age siblings.  Those are the moments that make my heart smile and confirm how much I love educating my children around the same dining room table, under the same roof.

At this rate, the youngest kids in our family should end up being the most well-educated; by default!  🙂

Happy Birthday Owen!   I can’t believe you’re THREE already!  You remain the easiest, most easy going, loving

Where is here; I do not know.

If I can just be honest, I’m in a funk.

Summer is here and is fleeting right before our eyes with little to show for it.  We haven’t had a vacation in two years.  The boys and I spent the first month of summer going to the pool every morning at 10am.

We’d come home around 12:30, have lunch, clean up, put Owen down for a nap, the big boys play games or watch movies while I do laundry, read, and get ready for dinner.  Josh comes home, we eat dinner, go to church for one thing or another, go to sleep, and get up and do the same thing again.  Every. Single. Day.

Since our foster children left on my birthday, May 25th, I’ve been waiting.  Waiting for what’s next.  Waiting for that long awaited call about our girls.  Waiting for another foster placement.  Waiting for whatever it is that God has for us next.

Last week I got tired of the mundane, so I did a week’s worth of lesson plans and told the boys we’d be starting school this week.  Not 100% of our 2010-2011 material, but I’d say we’re at about 80%.  They were actually pretty excited about it.  I think they’ve been bored as well.

Monday was a holiday so we did things differently than I had hoped because Josh was home and the boys had spent the night with my in-laws the night before.  Tuesday was like pulling teeth, only worse.  By this morning, my house was in utter disrepair, there were toys in every room of the house, school books were all over the dining room table, but had not actually been opened, and everyone’s attitudes stunk.

After spending a good hour putting tons of laundry away, I got an idea.

I went to work cleaning the house.  I spent the majority of the time in the boys’ room and the living room.  I picked up toys, sorted them, put them back in their appropriate bins and boxes, laundry in the hamper, shoes in the shoe bucket, trash where it belongs.  When I finished, I took the boys on a tour of these newly cleaned rooms and then I sat them down.  The rest went something like this (in a cool and calm voice):

I’ve had it up to here.  Your attitudes have been horrible, you’ve been ugly to one another, you’ve made messes in every room of the house and whine when it’s time to clean up.  Every day this week you’ve complained when it’s been time to do school work.  You’ve spent entirely too much time playing on the computer, playing your DSs, or watching movies.  Enough is enough.  From this moment on, there will be no TV, no movies, no video games, and no computer until I see one full week of excellence in your school work, your chores, and your attitudes.

Kind of sounds like something Mama Bear would say in a Berenstain Bears book.

Surprisingly, the boys took it quite well.  With straight faces they said Yes, ma’am, and are now playing wildly, but nicely, in their bedroom.  I can smell dinner in the crock pot and know there is yet another load of laundry waiting for me in the dryer.

Tonight is Putt-Putt family night for our church’s children’s ministry and the boys have been counting down all day.  The truth is, I’d really like to tell them we’re not going, give everyone a bath, and put them in bed at 7:00pm, but that would be really mean.  There are several key people out of the office this week so Josh is carrying the load of many men.  As a result, he’s working late whenever possible just to stay on top of things.

Tomorrow is Thursday.  I need to make bread, finish cleaning the house, and I have my annual OB/GYN appointment in the afternoon.  I fully intend to leave plenty early for that appointment so I can sit in the waiting room and read in peace.  I’m half way through Leigh Bortins new book, The Core:  Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education.  It’s been excellent.  The beginning of the book was so inspiring, I decided to write an article on The Decline of America’s Youth.  I’ll give you the link when its published.

Okay, I feel better now that I’ve gotten all of that off my chest.  Time to vacuum and feed the kids before heading out to play miniature golf in the hundred degree Georgia heat.

~audrey

I’m not typically the mom who feels my life forever revolves around my kids’ poop stories, but for today, I’ll wear that hat.

It all started last Sunday when my sister-in-law was helping Owen go to the bathroom. She called Josh into the bathroom when she realized there was blood and a weird yellowish gel-like substance in the toilet. Unfortunately, the toilet was flushed before I was able to see it. However, Owen continued to have poop issues for the rest of the day. He was going at least once an hour and it was very strange. It didn’t have much of a smell and it had a mucous consistency.

**If you are not either a parent or in the medical field, you’re probably gagging at this point and I would suggest you stop HERE!**

The pooping continued through Monday and Josh was up with Owen for most of the night into Tuesday morning. We had to go to Greenwood on Tuesday to see my mom, so we had to stop on the side of the road twice so Owen could poop in the grass…it only takes an hour to get to Greenwood!

By Wednesday, I finally called the doctor. His poop was starting to look like it had tissue in it…not Kleenex tissue, but bodily tissue.

The nurse called me back immediately and sent us to the children’s hospital for tests. They said they were very concerned and to tell the ER that the doctor had sent us. Thankfully, the kid is pooping every 5-10 minutes, so we had no trouble capturing as many “specimen” as the doctors desired. A few hours of going back and forth to the bathroom in the hospital, Owen literally almost fell asleep on the toilet (**GROSS!**). Five hours later, we were told he has a nasty intestinal infection and that he did indeed have blood and tissue from his intestinal wall, in his poop. They had to send the specimen to the lab for culture and we’ll get the results today. If it’s viral, he’ll just have to ride it out and it should pass within a few days…considering this is day FIVE. If it’s bacterial, however, we’ll have to go back to the hospital where he’ll receive IV antibiotics.

He’s still going to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so, but he got about 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night, so that’s progress! I’ll update when we get the lab results.

~audrey