Raccoon, Kittens, Public School and Faith

So this raccoon keeps trying to get into my trash can. We have the big, green cans; the ones for the county, made to withstand a raccoon attack. Anyway they still try while my cats sit and watch like it's entertainment or something. The dog, well I don't care to let the dog out; he'll take off barking after every creature that lives in the woods next to my house, then he'll come in all muddy, track in a mess and get locked in the office, only to sleep on the sofa and stink the whole place up! So I'll sit and listen to the stupid raccoon try to open my trash can.

Did I mention that my momma cat dragged her three babies up into my attic. Yes she has them nicely snuggled in a little tunnel area above my kitchen. She's crazy and paranoid with this litter, that'll be a chore getting them out without any damage.

Well looks as though Early Bird will be going to public high school, I'll have to share this adventure in another post. While he still has another year at our homeschool, I'm getting prepared now, it'll take that long. When he leaves for high school it'll be 14.5 years that we will have spent every day with each other- I miss him already.

For me I begin to feel scared of my baby leaving the my nest, not being here with me every morning or helping me with dishes or lunch, my face time with him will be reduced! On the other hand I know he has got to grow up and leave my nest and it is my responsibility to send him off the best I can. This is where I heavily rely on Christ and the Holy Spirit in me, there is nothing in me capable of parenting in a positive manner. So my heart says public school. I've prayed and prayed and even prayed that the Lord would change my heart on this issue to my way. God is so good, He always hears us and is our true source of peace. I've found peace in trusting God with this matter, oh it is so freeing!! My baby will one day go to public school!

This whole issue is just a small portion of my life's" issues" lately. The other day I said it was if I was in Helm's Deep. Fighting in every direction, being attacked in every manner, from every angle, all around. While i retreat to my chambers the fighting gets closer until it's banging at my door. I pick up my shield of faith and am standing firm behind it. I have victory, I can jump on my horse and ride straight out through the battle because the victory has been won!

Oh people- I'm a work in progress..... that is for ShIZZLE!!

and I think I'll watch the Lord of the Rings again...
-Michelle
<><

This Too Had to End

These last days of Spring break have been exhaustin; fun, but exhausting. We did it! We hit the beach every day and even got a few friends to join in. Tuesday was rainy, wednesday cloudy and Thursday and Friday were perfect, sunny beach days. We dug such a big, deep hole my friends 4-year old wouldn't leave it. It was sort of a beach playpen.


My mind's fried, either from all the Florida sun, yes Nana I wore sunblock and my hat every day, or else my brain's just slow to work becasue of the long nap I just woke up from!


Enjoy these visuals from the last few days.

-Michelle
<><

My Man tobymac

Just Gotta Believe

So lately things have been different around here.

Hubs has started a new business. He's held quite a few titles in our 14 years of marriage and we've moved 8 times so change is nothing new to us, being broke isn't either, it's just been awhile.
Yuck, change. I'm believing God.

God is who He says He is
God can do what He says He can do.
I am who God says I am.
I can do all thing through Christ
God Word is alive and active in me!
I'm believing' God!

Wordless Wednesday

Head over to Wordless Wednesday for more!!

Singing Walking Talking in the Rain!

Spring Break Day Two!

Another great day at the Span Ranch. I started my day with Joy my cussing friend. She's not all that bad but she just chooses some more colorful language than I prefer. Actually an interesting lady, a Christ follower, just working on some areas I don't happen to struggle with. I guess that's what makes our walks so interesting, the struggle with life bonds us, yet our differences abound like in no other friendship I have.

After breakfast and a shower, the first of two showers today, I figure what's a vacation without excessive showering. So we ate and cleaned up before taking Early Bird to look at his first lawn mowing job. Did I mention that before? Early Bird has been mowing our lawn since around age 7 or 8 and started on the neighbors a few months ago, he likes the money so next thing I know flyer's are going out, e-mails being sent, estimates are given.

We them stopped at my Pampered Chef friend's house and visited before going to the beach. For whatever crazy reason we decided to go to the beach the last two days in the afternoon. The mornings have been on the cooler side but sunny. Sunny, I don't think that makes sense to those of you in colder temps but here in Florida, you know the sunshine state, when our sun's out it's hot to be in it. Before getting to the beach we of course had a too small a car incident and packed way too many kids into my Kia Rio before unloading them all into our Grand Caravan, trust me we need all the grand we can get, then we had no keys... finally we made it to the beach just in time for the rain to start. We walked in the rain while the kids played and then an hour later packed it up and headed home. The kids had a blast! These are what memories are made of! Good stuff 'round here, good stuff.

Tonight was Early Bird's Boy Scout Court of Honor where he received his Stamp Collecting merit badge and Early Bird has now crossed over to Boy Scouts, so Scouting is officially a family event for us all again.

Well it's off to straighten out my office area, put the boys to bed and then watch episode 9 of Heroes... shhhh, don't tell Early Bird, he hasn't seen it yet.

Holes!

Day One of Spring Break Rocked!

Well what else would I say? We slept in til 9am, well Early Bird was up and drawing in the office at 7am. I made Steve some breakfast and walked it, the dog and a gallon of water down to him at our new business .5 mile away. My dog is not a leash walking dog, so on the way he tripped me like a dozen times and I dripped water all over myself. We finally made it to the property, as we so originally are calling it, Steve took the dog while I unpacked. Our walk home was less eventful and I even tried to jog a little ways. Hey I jogged more today than yesterday!

My grandmother came over for a surprise visit, we chatted about family, missionaries and I just listened to her talk. I am so blessed to have her for a grandmother.

Things began to go quick once I got home, the number of the kids in the house doubled to 4 and lunchtime came quickly; reheated tacos, ham sandwich, ritz, fruit and a Klondike bar satisfied their hunger. We dropped off Steve's lunch before hitting the beach. We were the only ones to go out of the ga-zillion people I invited. It was cold for Floridians but we have made a pledge this week: We will go to the beach every day!

Some say I'm crazy for taking all the boys with me different places, I say, I wouldn't travel without them. Today I had 2 extras and even though the weather was a little chilly by Florida standards and windy to boot, they all said a big yes to the beach. It wasn't very crowded and only a few clouds dotted the sky. I put them to work digging the biggest hole I've ever seen. I took a shovel to the mouth during the excavation process. By the end of our 2 hour stay it was getting cloudier and cooler, so after a quick swim- yes boys are crazy- we came back home where you guessed it, they were all hungry again. I got rid of some beefaroni I had inherited yet no one likes, some more ritz crackers disappeared and few bananas are gone and of yeah a bag of popcorn. By 6pm I had kicked them all out and we'll start again tomorrow.

Tonight I plan to stay up late and clean. Don't laugh I love to clean when every one's sleeping, and yes they sleep through the vacuum.

Check out our castle and hole pictures!

My baby is growing up. It amazes me at how fast time has flown.

Today Early Bird rode his bike the farthest he's ever gone alone. I want to follow him whe he leaves, but I can't. I'm trusting God with his every move, his every breath, his every pedal. He first rode to dad's business, just 1/2 mile away and then on another 1/2 a mile to his Boy Scout meeting place. He was going to help an older boy work on his Eagle Project for scouting. My baby is just getting so responsible.

The other day while riding home, Steve and I got into a bit of an arguement. Vaughan immediatley said "we should pray" and then they did.

We worked out our disagreement, but not after alittle more silence. Sometimes it's nice to keep ones mouth shut when one has nothing nice to say.

Point of story: prayer works.

Spring Break Rules? or Spring Break Rules!

OK so the Spring Break rules have been set. Yes I do better on a schedule, with rules and some sort of boundries; if not we'll sleep our whole week away, well sleep and eat and playstation it away.

1. We will visit the beach daily. Everyone must go, no questions asked.
2. You may invite as many friends to the beach as will fit in the car.
3. There is no screen time until 4:30pm. It is unlimited time from then until bedtime at 9pm!
4. They boys can stay up 'til 10pm on Monday to watch Heros with mom and dad.

Perhaps I've entered the too much telelvsion category this week, but if you can't have a special treat during spring break then I don't know what spring break fun is. Plus, for those that don't know my stance on television or the Medusa Set as Dr. Walke called it, we don't have cable or dish or satelight, yep- we have the basic, old-school bunny ears! So free screen time 'round here consists of Playstation, Gamesboy DS and watching the Simpson's or Heros online. Which remind me, has anyone watched tv via the interent? It rocks. Hubs and I have been catching our new fav show, Heros, every night online at nbc.com. Just one short commercial between sections and the commercials are for cars, insurance and cleaners. So far no half naked people or "stupid item" commercials. Since it's the commercials that have kept me from having paid television, I like this alternative. Although lately I've been pondering my compromises and I'm wondering if television and media is general has been compromised 'round here? I'll get back to you on that one. In the meantime we'll be hittin' the beach each morning, napping each afternoon and playing playstation all evening- perhaps I'll get in on some sort of gaming tournament; and oh yeh we'll be hanging out at the new landscape shop we just opened, it's good to work for yourself.

Until next time....

This Is Neat

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Let's get This Party Started!

Welcome to my party!
Please make yourself at home.
Grab something to eat and in case you haven't been to a party at my house before, it's always pot luck, so place whatever you brought on the bar and help yourself.
Drinks are over by the sink just write your name on your cup.

That's tobymac's new CD you hear, also check out the new video to my fav tby song)

tv room or hang with us. You'll notice a pile of younger kids toys in the corner and the bathroom is straight ahead down the hall.

I'm so glad you made it, please enjoy some of our favorite party snacks:
hubs- a block of softened cream cheese, spread with canned shrimp on a Ritz
Me- peanut butter brownies
early bird- Cool Ranch Doritos
Night Owl- Ice cream sundaes

Hey it's the electric slide! let's go!

Now that we've got a bit of a workout I want to tell you what happened last night. On our way from our church missions dinner, hubs and I got in a fight. Over something stupid, you'd shake you head at us if you heard the details, anyway we yelled! Both of us! Now if you haven't been around us then you'd know hubs and I don't usually yell at each other. Not that we haven't and not that we don't but it's been pretty rare lately, thank you Lord! So the yelling quickly turned to silence and Early Bird, our 13 year old, says, "Do you want to hear what I learned in Sunday School today?"

Silence from front seat.

"We learned that a foolish man vents his anger, we also learned that you should not let the sun go down on your anger."

Silence from the front seat.

We got home, silence still, and then started at each other again until we both just gave it to God, had some time alone, then confessed our sins toward the other before thanking God for His awesomeness in our brokenness.

What we didn't know is that as we were fighting my mom called and spoke with Early Bird and they all prayed together for us. We have shared our making amends with each another with the kids and got to give praise as a whole family for His answer to prayer, His goodness and His love for us no matter how much a wreck we are. Hubs and I have wondered why God gave us such "spiritual" kids, today we laughed- it's because He knew they'd need to parent us!

So welcome to the party, mingle, enjoy and don't forget to praise God for something he's done this week in your life!

How I Love the March Weather in Florida

Friday is a good day to kick your kids out of the house. If they're old enough that is, and if you're not kicking them out- out, because if I were to actually kick my kids out of the house that'd just be wrong, after all they're only 11 and 13; but today was their day to be outside. There's just something about cleaning my house with no kids in it- I love it! Perhaps it's the fact that once I vacuum there's no one to track in a bunch of dirt, or when I clear the counter no one is quickly following behind me setting things on it. Oh the worst clutter item for me is anything that could possible be educational. No Michelle, we don't have to keep every creature we find in a container somewhere for us to observe, oh which reminds me, we caught a snake the other day- I wonder if he got out?- yep he's gone. Anyway back to the outside day today.

They're always disappointed at first when I tell them at 9:00am it's time to be outside until lunch and then it's back out again until 2:30pm; it doesn't take long and they are deep into some activity. One week they were experimenting by mixing ants from different colonies together, another week they set up a paintball course, and still another they headed out into the woods on some adventure. I hope none of you are thinking I'm cruel, after all don't you remember being left to the outdoors and your imagination as a child. That's when some of our best childhood memories come from: jumping our bikes off homemade ramps, climbing trees, building forts, climbing rocks, we had a blast!

So the boys are outside today with their Bionicles. For all that have seen our Lego room, this is an extension of that. Bionicles are made by Lego and today the boys are set up on the table outside. If you don't have a table set up outside you've got to get one. It's the best to spend time doing homework, crafts, reading magazines, doing Bible study or devotions, playing a game or coloring- it's all so much better outside. Of course if it's freezing cold and you have a foot of snow by all means stay inside or better yet come to Florida where living outside is easy! So while I go on to continue my housework I'll leave you with some pictures of their creations. Enjoy!

And oh yeah, in case you haven't heard about this, then stop back in on Monday for my part of the party. It's gonna be a blast!