Vacation June 15, 2008

Ok, the shout out of the day goes to Ashley!  Word on the street is she likes to read my blog.  I am excited that she and her mom are moving back to Wilmington soon.  See Ashley is Jordan’s ”bestie” and her mom Cindy is mine.  Lets just say that it was a match made in heaven for all 4 of us.

We are currently trying to plan some sort of vacation.  Tomorrow is the first day of our 2 weeks off and we can’t settle on where to go.  The finances are almost non-existent and so staying in a hotel for 2 weeks isn’t doable.  The thought of camping out sounded fun but there are some grumblers in our midst (Jordan) and it would have to be somewhere cool, cause there is nothing worse then sleeping hot!.  But alas we don’t have a plan even though the family offers keep coming in.  Gas is too expensive to drive super far and staying with family the whole time doesn’t seem like vacation.  Truth is going somewhere with 3 kids is a trip, vacation is just me and John!  Oh how I wish that was what we were doing!

Pray for our family, I want to survive this trip! (that is if we take one)  

Mrs. Jonas is my hero! June 14, 2008

Ok, so the Jonas Brothers fever has struck the house as the date of the impending concert approaches, July 30th.  I bought tickets for Jordan and I to see them in Raleigh.  The tickets were a reward for making honor roll for the last two semesters of school.  This is a big deal because she hasn’t made honor roll since 3rd grade.  School doesn’t come easy to her but she buckled down and did a good job of keeping up with the work even while her pal at school did not do homework and bailed out on the project that they were supposed to do together.  I think that is what sealed the deal for her.  She saw that it was necessary to do the work to get the grade.  She made such improvements that her teachers told me so when I saw them.

The Jonas Brothers are her favorite group and if you could see her walls in her room, they are plastered with posters of all of the guys but mostly Nick Jonas, the youngest.  She is convinced that he is the one for her!  She says she completes him because she is messy and he is neat.  Go figure the logic of an almost 15 year old.  Tonight she suggested that we make t-shirts and wear them to the concert, I told her that she was welcome to do that but that I would not be making a shirt. 

If you aren’t familiar with the band, then I don’t know what planet you live on, but they are creating Beatle like mania, selling out venues, and causing chaos wherever they go.  They are brothers, Kevin is 20, Joe 18, and Nick will be 16 on September 16th, “3 days before MY BIRTHDAY!”.  These kids are Christians and wear purity rings and talk openly about their commitment to being pure until marriage.  This makes them cool also because Jordan has a purity ring too.

What is amazing to me is the involvement and closeness of their family.  I am sure that they have their moments of crazy fussing and fighting but they travel together, eat meals together, and seem to really enjoy one another.  It’s neat to see a “secular” band walking out their commitments to the Lord and seemingly staying grounded in the midst of the screaming girls and fans.  They are bombarded everywhere they go and I don’t know how their mom stands it.  I would be walking right along with them, jerking a knot in every girls head that dared to reach out and touch my boys!  Ok, I know that that is extreme but you know that she must think that on occasion.  There must be moments of “not again, could we just walk to the car alone”.  It has to be tough being parents to superstars. 

So maybe I will make a t-shirt to wear to the concert, “THE JONAS BROTHERS MOM, ROCKS!” or “MRS. JONAS IS MY HERO!”, then I can ask for her autograph.  I wonder if she ever signed one.  Probably, but I bet no one has made a t-shirt with her name on it!  Hmmm…just a thought!

 

Do you choose? June 10, 2008

I didn’t feel good today, so the kids watched movies and played outside a little today.  So much for finishing the boys room.  Maybe tomorrow it will get done.

I did spend some of my day looking on the web for a vacation spot.  We are supposed to leave on Monday to go on vacation and I don’t know where we are going.  We don’t have a lot of money and what I want to do, John isn’t too enthusiastic about, so I don’t know where we are going.  I guess we will figure it out before we leave. 

The last couple of days John has been commenting back and forth with an atheist on his blog.  It has caused quite a stir on the man’s blog and now he has several people making comments back arguing their point of view.  I find it amazing that people who are so educated can be so stupid.  Doesn’t the Bible talk about having childlike faith.  Well that is what I choose to have.  Maybe my simple mind is at an advantage over those “brilliant” ivy league graduates.  Since my brain isn’t full of book knowledge, that some man wrote, it has room for what the Lord wrote and therefore can have the faith to actually see God move.  Remember, I have been seeing “God moments”  for the last few weeks.  I have a feeling that if those “smart” people, that want to argue that there is no God, aren’t able to see him move when they ask Him to; it’s because they argue that it isn’t “logical” since the books that they have studied tell them they can explain it away.  Truth is you have to choose to see it. 

I choose to believe, I choose to have faith, I choose to know Him, I choose to see Him, and because I choose all of these things I have joy, peace, love, and the assurance of eternal life.  Those that don’t choose that are missing out and that is a shame.

Day 1 of summer vacation! June 9, 2008

Ok, today was the first day of summer vacation for my children.  Now those of you who know me well, know that I would love for them to have been in for at least another month, because no sooner then they get out then the whining starts.  “I’m bored”, “can we go swimming”, “why can’t we go shopping”, “what can we do now”, “he is hitting me”, MOM…tell them to leave me alone”, and the list goes on and on. 

This summer I have a different plan.  I am going to do my best to keep them really busy and try not to let them get on my nerves.  I started writing a summer plan that I haven’t told them about yet.  We are going to go back to school next year having improved our reading, multiplication, and with clean rooms.

Now I know that this doesn’t seem fun, and I would agree that there will probably be moments of complaining and whining, but I also have a plan for an extravagant reward system that includes, cash, swimming, shopping, games, and lots of fun too.  I will have to keep this blog updated with how this seems to work out.

Today though I spent my entire day in the boys room, resorting all of their toys into the appropriate storage cubbies, throwing out 3 bags of trash (scary, I know), tossing out the broken toys, and getting rid of the outgrown clothes.  It isn’t quite done but is so much better.  I made them work with me and then had to give them seperate breaks because they had had enough of one another.  We will finish tomorrow.  Today’s reward was going to see Kung Fu Panda.  You must see it, it is hilarious! 

I figured that the best thing to help them with keeping up with the plan that I have for the summer was to get their room good and clean and then they wouldn’t be overwhelmed by having to keep it that way.  Jordan cleaned hers today and I will probably go and help her perfect it tomorrow so her cleaning schedule is easy too.

So I guess I survived Day 1, but boy am I tired!  Not only did I clean all day, but then there was dinner and then the reward, but on the way home I felt so refreshed riding with the windows down.  I have decided that I need a convertible though.  I don’t quite know why they don’t make convertible minivans, that would be awesome for me!  But the breeze was cool out tonight compared to the 100 degree weather of the day.  As we rode I could smell gardenias from the blooming bushes in our neighborhood and the air smelled clean.  I could’ve ridden in the car all night.  It was a hug from heaven just for me today, I needed it!

Have you ever really taken the time to just breathe in deep and enjoy all the things that God created using more then just your sense of sight?  God is awesome and I like to think that He created the breeze and smell of this evening just for me.  He knew that I would need that encouragement today.  Not just because I had had a long day, but because we have been walking through tough times of late and I just needed an emotional boost too.  He does love me and He has been faithful to show that to me in little ways over the last few weeks.  I am just thankful that I haven’t missed those moments.  To quote my daughter, “Moments don’t need words”.  God moments!  Thank you Jesus!

Moments June 3, 2008

Jordan, my daughter has been coming home from school almost everyday to tell me about the “moment” that she had.  We are fast learning how grown she is now.  She is experiencing her first real “crush” on a boy.  Around here he is fondly referred to as “drummer boy”.  John however calls him “midget”, I know it’s not “PC” but Daddy isn’t happy about this situation, and the boy is an inch shorter than she is.

Jordan has been having “drummer boy moments” nearly everyday.  The first one of any significance was when he and a few fellow classmates were practicing their music for a band performance in a mock American Idol competition.  He was, and I quote, “guitaring” with the guys.  Apparently she likes musicians, he plays the drums as well, thus the nickname.  She told me that she looked through the window and was watching him “guitaring” and he looked up at her and smiled, and that was her “moment”.  This is all too funny to me because you would have thought that she had just won the lottery by the way that she carried on over it. 

There have been moments in chorus class, in the hall, in the lunchroom, you name it and she has had an eye contact/smile moment with drummer boy.  Now he always seems to have a girlfriend and that doesn’t seem to prevent him from making eye contact with her.  I think that he has had 2 different girlfriends in the last 2 weeks, so I have told Jordan that he may not be worth her time.  But I do remember my first real crush and it was pretty monumental.  She has had a bunch of her friends to try to “hook them up” by calling him and telling him that he should “go out with Jordan”, just for the record, they aren’t going anywhere but that is what they call it now.  No longer is it boyfriend/girlfriend, it’s going out.  She had one friend send him a myspace message telling him that she liked him.  She is a bit embarrassed about all of it, but apparently he is not bothered because he keeps smiling and giving her “moments”.

Well, Jordan had her 8th grade formal Saturday night.  I took her to the mall and she had her makeup done and then she paid to have her nails done, she had a nice dress and looked beautiful and really grown up.  She had plans to spend the night with a couple of friends when the dance was over.  When she got to the girls house after the dance she called me and squealedinto the phone, “Mom, I had the best moment ever with drummer boy!”  I asked her what happened, and she told me that they were both walking through the decorative arch at the same time and he “gently reached out and grabbed her arm” and smiled at her as they walked through, both heading in the opposite direction.  So I say to her, “Jordan did he say anything to you, like hello or maybe that you looked nice?”  And she said the funniest thing to me…”MOM! Moments don’t need words!”  LOL!  I thought I would die, it was too funny.  I shared with John about his daughters moment and he had heard just about enough and was ready to hunt the boy down!  Needless to say she was thrilled, and I was laughing hysterically, and John was pouting.  This is part of growing up and let’s face it, she is almost 15 and at 15 I had already kissed a boy.  She hasn’t even had a boyfriend yet and she thinks that french kissing is unsanitary!  Thank you Jesus!  I keep telling her that one day she will change her mind about that, but she has assured me that she will never change her thinking on that!  We will see. 

As for drummer boy, he had better not play with my daughters affections, because more then one person will be knocking on his door, Mom, Dad, Grand-daddy, Chris and best of all Josh, who would scare any midget of a boy!  Good luck to the first boy who sets his affections for Jordan, he will have quite the group of people to get past and receive approval from!