Keep Praying

I wanted to pass on a quick update about Carlie. They did an EEG yesterday and she is not having seizures so they stopped that med. They said what damage has been done is done, but she will need physical therapy to help her get her balance back. We are still unsure of a prognosis at this point, but she was playing today, knows who everyone is knows she used to be able to sit up and stand, she just can't do it and will need to learn all over. She shakes really bad when she tries to do much. It is like a weakness shaking, not seizure or anything. Her head still falls off to the side sometimes as well as her eyes a little, but she is way better than on Friday or the weekend.

Keep praying!

Please Pray

Many of you may remember Carlie and then all the excitement after her finalization. If not, see the posts here, here and here.

Jason is still recuperating from his accident and is not working yet and then Friday Carlie began acting strange. Her head was cocked to one side and she could not hold it up, her eyes would not focus and her eyes also would go back up into her head or else off to the left. She was not playing or anything so her parents took her to the hospital emergency room.

After sitting in the emergency room all day while they ruled out sinus infection, brain tumor and a number of other things, they finally admitted her at about 8:30 Friday night. Around 10:30 they took her for an MRI and found she has Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). Her brain has 3 0r 4 large lesions on it as well as 4 smaller ones. They told the from the looks of her brain you would think she would act worse than she is. Praise God.

I would like to ask for all those praying people out there to pray for her. They were told there is brain damage, but at this point they do not know how much. According to the Drs. 50% of children with this recover with little or no visible signs of a problem, the rest have anything from a slight learning disability to major problems or MS.

Carlie is 13 months old and is so precious. Her mom is pregnant with a boy due in March. The family has had so much between the adoption in September and now, yet this miracle pregnancy is still intact. Please pray for Carlie's healing, that the damage would be minor or none and for the pregnancy with all this stress on Misty.

My posts this week may not be regular, but I will try. We will be running to the hospital to see our granddaughter as much as we can and trying to help them where needed.

The immaculate house fallacy.

When I was a young(er) mother I had 5 kids and always a mess. I would clean, they would make a disaster right behind me. If I spent a little time for me, they spent as much time messing.

Clutter with things you do not need is one thing, but clutter with things that are needed is another.I found I had clutter, but it was two kinds. Clutter because the house was not big enough for them to have their own play room, me a craft place and enough storage room OR clutter because I was keeping every little thing any one was throwing away since it might be needed some day.

Kids make clutter. I finally had to set priorities. Was I going to be a crabby, yelling, mean mom because I wanted everything neat and in place? Or was I going to let the kids be kids, use their imaginations and then teach them to clean up afterwards?

My late husband set me straight. He told me mess will always be there, but the kids will not. He told me my priority was them and later would be a neat clean house that people could eat off the floor. (haha!)

It eased me, set me straight and removed most of the guilt.

I am now a grandmother with a baby here all the time during the day. My house is full of papers, vhs cassettes all over, pots, Tupperware etc. So what? She will grow up and it will be over. I will, again, wish for the mess.

Relax, let kids grow and use their imaginations. Teach them to pick up as they go.

Someday you will long for the mess too.

Free Moments Away

Life can be tough. Babies crying, toddlers into everything and meals to fix etc. Young moms have it tough. Balancing the budget, or as I sometimes experienced "What budget? It all just went to___ (you fill in the blank)"

When I was a young mom I became flustered at times, just wanted to get away or do something but had no money to do or no time to go. I am realizing now, as I am watching my granddaughter for 9 !/2 hrs a day, that I sometimes feel the same way.

I realize, too, that we forget what is right there for us and it is free most of the time. Look around you and see what is there. No, not the messy house with fighting kids! But look out the window and see the trees, pastures, sun, moon etc. Sometimes I just walk out on our porch and look at what God has made.

When I lived in Maine I would walk on the ocean, down a dirt road or sit on the rocks. Even with the kids it was relaxing for the most part. They were excited to be somewhere and I could see the horizon and beauty.

I know as a mom with little kids there is little time for you, but capture the free moments and enjoy what is there. Pretend and dream. Even if it is only a few moments to hold you over till the next moment it will relax you; you will have spent no money and it will refresh. At least till the first screaming kid comes in!

For more ideas check out Biblical Womanhood.

Quick and easy snack

A fun meal or after school snack is pizza. Most people like it but making it can be very messy and buying it can get expensive.

A way to have it quick and easy is to make tortilla or English muffin pizzas. These are fun to make and the kids can even make their own. If you do not have tortilla's in the house, I have, on occasion (desperate one!) used bread.

Kid's Pizza (That everyone loves!)

For each pizza:

1 tortilla (or English muffin)
tomato paste, OR sauce
cheese (any kind that melts)
seasonings you like, I use garlic powder, Italian seasoning and some oregano
toppings if you have them

Spread sauce on top of tortilla. put seasonings on top, then cheese and any toppings

bake , keeping a close eye on them as they cook fast OR put in microwave for a minute or so. (temps vary)

Makes a great snack for family night movie, after school or at midnight!

Works for me!

Redesigning our mind

I do not know about you, but I love HGTV. Not everything, but I love the shows where they tell you how to use what you have. There are several of them, but the ones I like to watch are freecycle, Design on a Dime and Design Remix.

Freecycle they rearrange the furniture, grab furniture, pillow, sheets etc from other places and when they get done the room looks totally different than it did before, but you have spent no money.

Design Remix is a lot the same, but they spend $50 plus paint to show how to make a room look totally different.

Design on a Dime actually buys things and paint, when you come back home it is a new room. Problem is their dime is $1,000 mine is .10! However, you can get some ideas for decorating what you have.

I have a student interior decorator coming to my home as part of her class work and portfolio. She is not charging me but is helping me rearrange what I have to look better. I have bought paint (oops paint at Home Depot) and painted one wall in the room and I will need to buy knobs for the cabinets, but so far my living room looks so much better, and it was all my own stuff that I had!

Yes, it meant getting rid of some things that clutter, things I did not want to part with. It means taking some things and making them less prominent in the room, and other things more prominent. Even though for me it might be upsetting to get rid of or move things, it is much better afterwards.

I began to think of this in another way. So many of us get unhappy where we are, or with our spouse, kids or church. The situation may look bad, may be awful yet God has an answer. We fight and kick when He is trying to do the rearranging bu,t if we let Him, it will be better.

There are things in all of our lives that need to be uncluttered, moved, thrown out. I have been going through a situation here that has had me beside myself. Frustrated, upset, ready to run (no, not from my husband! ) but it took someone close to me to point out that I am here for a reason and that they can see so many changes in some others because of me. She encouraged me not to leave the situation, but to know I am being used of God in a mighty way. She told me to pray more and rest in what God is doing.

I needed to rearrange some thinking, get rid of some clutter in my mind and open my eyes to see how I am being used. I am praying for wisdom, instead of fretting. I am asking to be used more, instead of getting depressed or running.

What is your situation? Are you frustrated, negative and feeling that you wish so and so (husband, kid, etc) would straighten up? Know you are there for a reason. Work on your attitude. Work on de-cluttering your mind and ask for wisdom to be the woman of God you are meant to be.

This hurts, probably more than getting rid of the physical things in the house. We have baggage, harbored hurts etc that need to go. It is in letting God work in our lives that we can look and see how we can be used. Let Him do the rearranging, in that room in our mind as well as in the situation. He has a plan, work with Him for our families and our personal lives.

Worry Cure

This morning I awoke at 3 AM. I sometimes do this when I eat or drink the wrong thing before bed, other times because I went to bed too early, this morning it was none of these. Years ago I used to worry over everything. It took years but I finally have much of my worry in God's hands and almost never get too worried, but my one weakness is financial matters. That was this morning. I was thinking about some problems we have had since August. We needed to take our vacation early because of one of our daughters getting married in Maine. We planned on having the money saved for mid-October and left the end of July instead.

Since we are contracted for cleaning at 17 offices in a plant, we had to find someone to cover us and pay them, $900 for during vacation and another week because we had conflicts. Rick's family has a small house the rent out and the man ran into some problems and could not pay any rent one month and part of the rent another. The rent pays the taxes, so we had to come up with the money ($260) out of our pocket. My husband needed to pay for a course he is taking, $200. Today the renters money is due again and I know we can't cover it this time. Worry!

As I lay there I was getting more and more frightened until God started to speak. See, I was also worrying because I was worrying and did not like the lack of peace I was having. It has not been part of me in so long it was odd to me and hurt. When God spoke He asked me about my lack of time with Him lately. I used to read and pray every morning, I had been slipping. This was the key!

I had been getting up, running to my computer, and fitting me Bible reading and prayer in when and if I could.

I got out of bed and had my time with Him and peace came. I still have no idea how all will be cared for, but I have peace.

I began to wonder about when my kids were small and I was young, how much better I would have been if I spent my time with God more regularly. Raising five kids was tough. Someone was always into something, hurting something and getting yelled at (and one place we lived it was unjustly by a neighbor, so this meant also having patience with dealing with an unsaved neighbor). I was also a pastor's wife so everyone thought they knew how you were to dress, your kids act etc.

I spent time with the Lord, but at my convenience, or when I was worried, upset or angry with someone (which was most of the time), but many of my prayers were not trusting and in faith, but prayers that the other person would change etc. We had so many financial troubles, those alone were more than enough worry on it's own. Instead of trusting I worried and often told God how to answer me. (You know the ones "have some one give us money" or " "somehow get that guy for what he is doing" etc.)

Are you having problems with worry over daily family living? Worried about your kids and how they will turn out? A sickness in the family? Unemployment? Read your Bible and pray. God provided for me when I put my dependency totally on Him. I finally did this about 4 years ago, I let things to him and he filled me with peace as long as I gave it all to Him.

Your kids are God's. He loves them more than you. He will care for them and give you the wisdom needed, but it takes praying and reading and praying.

If you are like me, have my weakness of worry it is no good for you or your family. If I can overcome, anyone can. It takes persistence and not give up when you fail. You will be a much better wife and mother when you leave it all to Him!