Psalm 33:7-8

Who am I, the creation, to question my Creator?

I stand in awe of Him.

I praise Him.

I trust Him.

Go HERE to see others participating in Week 10 of Scripture & A Snapshot.

thankful in ink

I was organizing picture files on my laptop and, out of curiosity, clicked on the folder that said "Palm". Now I remember... David's old phone from 2008, his Palm Treo. I bet there are only pictures of airplanes on it.

I have never been so glad to be so wrong!

I literally *gasped* with surprise. And then smiled that knowing smile. The one you get when you know that someone put special care and thoughtfulness in picking out a gift just for you.

July 17, 2008. I remember this day. This very moment. (I had only forgotten that the moment was captured!)

We had taken the boys to the mall and let them ride the carousel. We went round and round, smiling and waving to daddy on the sidelines, "Hi Daddy!!!" being shouted from our lips with each and every rotation.

How prideful of me to assume that there would be many more rides like the one on this day, many more opportunities for photos, pretzel sticks, carseat buckling, bathtime and tickles.

Pastor preached Sunday from Ruth 4, how Naomi's friends had to tell her she was blessed when Obed was born to Ruth. I pray that if ever I am blind to the blessings around me, my friends would be brave enough to tell me!

I don't ever want to get to the point of ingratitude. I don't ever want to be so wrapped up in my grief and sorrow over the absence of Christian, that I neglect to SEE and savor the presence of the two blessings that still yawn "good morning, mommy" and kiss and hug their goodnights.

I know that life is hard. Jobs are lost, roofs leak, marriages struggle, friends disappoint. It is easy to be distracted by self-pity and a defeatist attitude. There have been times when I would look back on my day and realize that I wasted it. The whole stinkin' day. Wasted it with a downcast heart, worry, anger, or a gloomy attitude.

I am done with wasting away and wasting my day!

{It is time to say this out loud and be accountable.}

I resolve to be thankful. To not complain. To SEE the gifts in each day. If I count them up, I know I could easily reach one thousand!

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. -Psalm 48:1

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: -Psalm 63:3-5

I. AM. THANKFUL.

{{{Today, I am specifically thankful for this picture! Eeeeeeeeeee!!! :-) }}}

I will record my thanks in a notebook every night and read it to remember every morning.

What about YOU? Will you keep track of your thanks and answered prayer?

It's never too late to start counting your blessings!

I Corinthians 10:31

Whatsoever ye do.

Even if it is being still or waiting...

Do it ALL for the glory of God!

Hooray for Week 9 of Scripture & a Snapshot!

review and giveaway: JumpStart.com (and a fun Q for you)

CONGRATULATIONS TO CARRIE FROM LIVE, LEARN AND LOVE TOGETHER!

Y'all are such fun friends!

We have a token system in place for our video game and computer time. The boys must read 30 minutes to earn a token that awards them 30 minutes of game time.

However, there is one game that I don't mind bending the rules and giving them FREE time for--- the 3D virtual world created by the folks at JumpStart.com.

While I was familiar with the JumpStart computer games for toddlers and elementary aged kids, I was excited to find that they had launched a browser-based virtual world for kids 3-10 years old.

It's an online system that is safe, educational and FUN, even for my boys that are used to the excitement and gameplay of the Wii and Xbox 360.

Austin and Noah's favorite area is the shipwreck lagoon. You get to choose and customize your own boat, pick your track, and race against other people online. Nothing like a little competition to perk up your day! Especially when you get to compete with kids that are of the not-your-brother variety. :-)

My boys have also enjoyed creating their own Jumpee. A Jumpee is their own personal character that they have created to use on the site. They get to choose their Jumpee's facial features, clothing, accessories, artwork and even pets!

When I was little, we had Space Armada and Burgertime on our Intellivision System III. Technology has sure come a long way!

Austin and Noah are 11 and 9yo. JumpStart also has areas aimed at the younger set, such as StoryLand for 3-5 year olds, AdventureLand and MarineLand designed for K-2nd, and FutureLand which is geared towards 3rd-5th grade. You can see and read more about this at the JumpStart blog.

Now for the giveaway part.

JumpStart.com would like to give one of y'all a free three month membership!

To enter, leave me a comment telling me what your fave game as a child was. It can be a video game, board game or even chase-in-the-yard game! :)

I'll random.org a winner on Tuesday, November 23rd.

For the record:

Fave childhood board game: Candyland and Stratego (obviously at different ages!).

Video game: the aforementioned Burger Time and Pac-Man.

Yard game: definitely cartoon freeze tag! You get "unfrozen" when someone crawls under your legs and says the name of a cartoon... or was it that you say the name of the cartoon when you are tagged?...

My current favorites:

Facebook game: Scrabble

Phone game: Angry Birds

Card Game: Skip Bo

Board Game: Settlers of Cataan

Video Game: Don't have one.

Disclosure: I was provided with a JumpStart membership at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

fisticuffs and parenting

My boys have been fighting incessantly. While I have rare moments when the right words proceed out of my mouth, the usual moments involve loud words spoken with little thought.

Also known as thoughtless and immediate yelling.

As a mom, it is important to have an action plan when it comes to fighting. Yelling and losing control should not be a part of said plan.

Last week, my boys were really annoying each other. A week off of school only contributed to their foul and testy moods. Not having to do schoolwork is one thing, but having too much time on your hands only leads to trouble.

On this day, the trouble led to a full-blown fistfight with grunts and everything.

I am pretty sure that I'll get some flack for admitting this, but sometimes it makes me laugh to see them punching at each other like that.

So much so that I have to go into my bathroom and shut the door!

Give me a sash and crown me mother of the year, y'all.

How can I laugh at such a thing? Because I know that my little hoodlums love each other. With all the time spent together, they are bound to get on each others nerves sometimes.

Just as *I* get on their nerves.

{A mom would be foolish to think that she never gets on her child's nerves.}

How did I respond to their fisticuffs? What was my action plan?

I didn't yell (this time).

I didn't laugh (too much).

I did what any responsible mom of boys would do...

I sent them outside.

To pick up 4 acres worth of sticks.

In the rain.

It took them less than 10 minutes to start laughing and playing with each other once again.

They came into the house dirty, wet, happy.

Relationship restored. And yard picked up.

When my boys were little, my "go-to" action was sending them to their beds. Lights out, heads on pillow, no toys. Now that they are older (tweens even!), my go-to is a little more self serving... picking up sticks, cleaning the baseboards, and any other chore that they can do together.

Some days it works better than others. :)

Do you have a go-to discipline in your house? How do you handle sibling rivarly? What about fisticuffs?

{At the Gem & Mineral Show, Austin won me a MOOD RING from the Wheel of Fortune! Not just any old mood ring either... this one said "Princess" on it! *snort* }

proverbs 22:1

I can't believe we're already to Week 8 of Scripture & a Snapshot!

Christian's 6th Birthday

Christian's birthday is today. My 3.75 year old blonde boy wonder would be celebrating his 6th birthday! How can that even be?!

I have struggled with his friends starting school this year and with children celebrating their 4th, 5th and 6th birthdays... days that I will not get to celebrate with my powerhouse of a boy this side of Heaven. Sigh, cry, pout, stomp, crumple to the floor... I've done it all, sometimes outwardly, other times only in my heart.

Even when my mind appears to be coping, my body will show signs of rebelling. The nervous twitch in my left arm and hand have been plaguing me all day. I noticed that my leg is even twitching as I type. This involuntary flexing and jerking first began in those painful hours that Christian was missing. How often has my arm clued me in on my distress when I didn't even know that something was bothering me!

When my mind and body fail me, I am reminded that there is One who never fails-- my sovereign God!

God knew Christian before Christian took his very first breath and before he took his very last breath... and knew him well!

God knit him in my womb. God breathed life into him and gave him a soul. God loaned him to ME! {Thank you, Lord!}

Christian lived the exact number of days that God had for him! (Psalm 139:16) Even if I complain to God about His math, I still trust Him and thank Him.

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. -2 Samuel 22:31

Six years ago today, I held Christian for the first time. I heard his cry, gazed into his eye (why is it that newborns only open one eye when they are born?), and sighed at the newest Drews boy. I was officially outnumbered 4 to 1 and I loved every second of it!

I marvel at the gift that God has given me in the birth of Christian Edward Drews. Do you know what's even better? Not only did God give me Christian as a son, but He gave me HIS Son Jesus Christ as well! I am doubly blessed for all eternity-- and even more so when you consider Austin and Noah.

Happy 6th Birthday, Christian!!! We miss you. We love you. Even though we'll see you soon, it won't be soon enough.

{You have been born once, but have you ever been born again?}

I Heart Faces: Orange

My friend has an annual pumpkin party the first Friday of November. This year she had over 500 pumpkins!

What a blessing to carve pumpkins, roast hot dogs and s'mores, have a hay ride and play with our friends. Everyone ends up smiling up to their eyes, just like Alli up there!

(Even with a giant butcher knife in her hand, it is impossible for her to be scary... Although I'm sure there are some knife safety rules being broken. Ack!)

Hop on over to I Heart Faces to see more Orange themed pics!

I Samuel 16:7

What would God see in your heart?

See more Week 7 Scripture & a Snapshots.

what to do with bad dreams

Last night, Noah walked up to me, eyes pleading. I could tell that something was really bothering him. He seemed apprehensive and shaky. He wanted to talk to me about his bad dream.

And yet his dream was so bad, he couldn't bear to voice it, as if speaking the horrifying thoughts would cause them to make the jump from imagination to real life.

I was able to pull a few words from him-- in the yard, box with a bright light, a frightening note.

We hugged and he pulled up a chair so we could talk.

Who lives inside you, Noah? Jesus.

Whose child are you? God's.

Is there anything in the world that is greater than God? More powerful than God? No.

Does God love you? Yes.

Can you trust Him? Yes.

I began to tell him how I, too, was scared at night when I was a kid. How I would say my memory verses out loud because I knew that the devil didn't like to hear God's Word. The only problem was that I would always forget half the verse! In a panic, I would sing "Jesus Loves Me" until I fell asleep.

We talked about the power of Jesus' name.

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." (Philippians 2:10)

"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20:31)

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

And what he needs to think upon.

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." {Philippians 4:8-9}

Focusing on the TRUTH of God's Word, rather than our imagined fears and bad dreams, will give you peace.

We hugged again and I told him that it was okay to sleep on the floor of our room.

As he ran to get his blanket and pillow, an idea came to his mind, one that suddenly made things not-so-scary...

He determined (on his own!) that reading the Bible before bed would bring sweet peace.

And sweet dreams.

How do you handle scary dreams at your house?

Bathroom deliberations

While I don't necessarily think about these things while I'm in the bathroom, these are things that I think about regarding the bathroom.

- The scale. Just tonight, Noah was super excited to report that he had gained .7 pounds since this morning. He was amazed. And he was bragging. :)

- The seat. I might be the only mom in the world that gets mad at her boys when they leave the toilet seat DOWN. Since boys can get in a hurry sometimes, I much prefer the seat UP so there is less mess!

(I took a pic of the boys' bathroom but it was too ugly to share.

Here is my bathroom with the seat down so I don't fall in in the middle of the night!)

- The sign. There was a sign that used to hang on the wall in our church bathroom (or was it my aunt's house?) that said:

"If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie."

I don't have any signs in our bathrooms right now. I'm considering a goofy one for the boys' bathroom. Do y'all have any ideas?

- Reading material. Our go-to is Reader's Digest courtesy of a yearly gift from my mom and dad. I'm not quite sure if they were being generous, or if they found themselves bored in our bathroom one too many times.

- Speaking of reading material... Is it just me or do you find reading material in a bathroom kind of gross? Whenever the toilet is flushed, I have this creepy feeling that germs are floating up in the air and depositing themselves on said reading material. G-R-O-S-S. (And on my toothbrush... even MORE gross!)

- At least we don't have a squatty potty like Jimmie.

What's it like in your bathroom?

1. Scale - yes or no
2. Seat - up or down
3. Sign - any memorable sayings?
4. Reading material - what is your material of choice? or is it nothing?