breakfast at our house...

Okay...so last night I didn't sleep very well. Lots of reasons, but suffice it to say that I wasn't in any hurry to get up this morning. I like to get up well ahead of my girls so that I am not a walking zombie not making any sense while they are running around needing me to make sense...does that make any sense?? Anyway!!!


My girls are usually late sleepers. Aly usually sleeps until 8 or 8:30 and Lili is usually pushing 10 or 10:30, so when I rolled over at 8 something this morning, I just kept on rolling. I could feel Aly curled up in the small of my back and I figured she would wake me up when she woke up. A little while later I realized that Aly was not curled up the small of my back...it was the dog!!! I know, you are wondering why I can't tell my 4 year old from my Jack Russell. Well, they both like to press into the small of my back and they both like to dig at my skin with their toes and/or paws and...well...just chalk it up to lack of sleep!!


So, I laid there for awhile thinking that Aly must be in the bathroom, but then she never came out so I decided I better go in search of her. By the time I got myself together and made it out into the living room I found my little princess sitting at the coffee table making me a card. She quickly threw herself in horror onto her little project and screamed, "MOOOOOOOOM...don't look! I am making a surprise for you!!!" So, I wandered into the kitchen and found her other surpise on the kitchen table. She had fixed breakfast for herself and for her sister. I love it!! This is what she fixed:





A juice box, a bowl full of carrots and Gold Fish crackers, a box of raisins, a fortune cookie and, as every good breakfast should have....one little chocolate kiss. How precious is that!!!!


Thank you God for my precious children!!!


Oh, and speaking of my children, they and their Poppy (my dad) have become quite the little jelly bean eaters. They love 'em and Poppy always has them on hand. The other day he opened a new bag and was going to throw away the black licorice ones...I said, "oh, the girls don't like them either?" He said that he didn't know. He just never gave them to the girls because he didn't think they would like them. I said, "You should let them try 'em and see." So, he did.

Can you guess what flavor they now claim as their favorite??????? Can I say, "YUCK!!"




In HIS Mighty Grip~

Can you guess?????

Here is my little Tiger Lili...can you guess what she is jumping up and down about? She is so proud of herself and we are very proud of her too!! I posted several pictures so you would be sure to see what the big news is!!

Hint: TRAIN up a child in the way she

should GO and when she is

old she will not depart from it.

Blessings to you this day!!

Friday Fay update

About 11:30 last night we finally lost power. Fortunately it came back on about 4:30 this morning...just as I was about to cross the street from Hot to Miserably Hot!! With no screens on our windows, we can't open them! So while the temperature wasn't THAT hot, there was no air movement. Anyway...it came back on and it was a welcomed relief!! Thankfully we got a few hours of good sleep.
I got up about 9am and made some egg salad out of the eggs that I had boiled just in case the power went out. I had just gotten the stuff out of the fridge when I thought I better stop and do a quick blog update. So I began typing the update and just before I hit "publish"...yep...you guessed it...the power went out again!!! ARGH

Oh well... it was good while it lasted!

I went ahead and made my egg salad and then Aly woke up and joined me in the dark kitchen. I fixed us both an egg salad sandwich and we sat down in the living room to eat our breakfast. She was so bummed out and it was hilarious. We just sat there eating and talking by the light of the flashlight. (this house is very cave like and there is very very very little natural light that comes in) She finally said, "Mom, I am over all this hurricane stuff" Oh baby...you ain't seen nuthin... and I hope you never do!!! She kept going on about all the stuff she couldn't do without the lights and finally came up with a list of what she could do. She said, "Mom, there are only two things we can do with no electricity in this house...eat and talk!" Both of which she was doing...she is such a hoot!!

We got Lili up and dressed and we all went out on the front porch for a while. It wasn't any cooler out there, but at least there was a good stiff wind. A couple of times I thought it was going to blow us off into the yard and poor Bailey was about to have a nervous breakdown. But we snacked and talked and practiced our bible verses. We could barely hear each other over the wind and major rain, but we had fun!

We finally came in just before noon and about 5 minutes later the power came on. Thankfully it has been on ever since. The internet/phone has been in and out, but we are blessed and very thankful that it all has been a very minor inconvience. God is very good and has protected us!!

I have some pictures too. Of the weather and also some from last Sunday when we had Lili dedicated at church. I hope you enjoy!!!

poor dejected child...had to eat breakfast in the dark. Thank goodness for flash photography!!


Looking down the driveway. See the water building up at the back of the car?


Aly finally smiled again when we got outside. She would have gone out into the yard running around if I would have let her!!


Now THAT is some serious downpour!!


Lili talking with Pastor West during her dedication


Isn't she just beautiful???


Can you feel the love??


She was so cute. We all walked up to the front of the church and Lili just sat down on the bottom step. Pastor West asked her if he could just sit down next to her and she said, "Okay" So he did.

Okay...well, it is dinner time...thanks for checking in on us over the last few days. Hopefully there won't be many more of these this season!!!! From my mouth to God's ears!!!

In HIS Mighty Grip!

6:42pm and the electricity is still on...PRAISE GOD

Okay...so it has been a day of intermittent rain and a good amount of steady wind. But other than that, we are good to go. The last time the power tripped was a little before noon and it was off for about 5-6 minutes.
The storm is only moving at a snails pace...about 2 MPH...so we are expecting to hit the other side of this thing any time now. They are calling for "heavy downpours" and continued wind gusts.
So far so good!! Thanks for the prayers of protection!!!
By the way...check out David's blog...always the commedian!!!

In HIS Mighty Grip

Wind, Rain and a little Mike Seidel!!

Good morning all!! We are still here and we still have power. It did trip for a second about 2:15am, but came right back on. It was raining good when we finally went to sleep and it was raining again when Aly woke me up this morning.
She crawled up next to me and said, "What going on about this hurricane mess, Mom?"
So, she let the dog out and I stumbled into the living room and turned on the weather channel just in time to see...
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823425597/bclid877032950/bctid1743719235So, we actually made the weather channel this morning!! Mike Seidel rates pretty good, but you know it is serious if Jim Cantore shows up!!! So, I think we are okay since Jim is nowhere to be found in our neck of the woods this morning.
Okay...so that is the morning update. I'll check back in later.

In HIS Mighty Grip-

and then the heavens opened up...

alrighty then...it has been really raining solidly for like 45 minutes now. I am so thankful that we aren't in a flood plane. The whole area where we live is up on high ground. We are on the highest land in this county. Any flood waters would just run right off into the intracoastal waterway. Not to mention that our property in not level, so I am not worried about flooding. Like my Dad said earlier... if WE get flooded here, then the whole of St. Augustine is under water. :-)
Okay...I'm signing off for now. Off to watch the beach volleyball match...it starts in 10 minutes!!! Go Misty and Kerri!!!!!

So far...so good!!

Okay...so it is 9:07 PM and all is well. We still have power, not too much rain yet (supposed to get a BUNCH tomorrow) and the wind has just been coming in spits and spurts.
I'm so glad we still have power as I have been waiting for tonight to watch the finals for beach volleyball with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. GO USA!!!!!! I have never been into beach volleyball, but I am so hooked this go around!!! WHOOOO HOOOO
It doesn't start until 11PM tonight...here's hoping Fay stays away!!!

Blessings

Looking for Fay...later today...

Tropical Storm, Tropical Depression, big-butt thunderstorm, Hurricane...who knows!!!

Well, we have secured all we can secure, gotten some water and not perishable food, lots of batteries and whatever else. We have no idea what Fay is going to do..right now she is stalled just south of Daytona and they don't know if it is going to come right on up the coast or do the boomerang and come straight into north St. Augustine as they have been saying. Time will tell! As of now (11:40 AM) there are some very mild gusts of wind and occasional rain showers.

Anyway...the power may or may not go off. I will try to update when I can. If you don't hear from us for a few days I will post as soon as the power returns. Pray that the power stays on ...PLEASE!!!

Please say a prayer for all of us down here in the Sunshine state and pray that this ole gal just fizzles and goes away!!!!

In HIS Mighty Grip
Shelley, David, Aly, Lili, Poppy and Bailey

Just Singing In The Rain...

My girls LOVE water...any way you serve it up to them. The shower, a cup, the tub, the pool , the rain. But I think that they have the most fun in the rain. As soon as the rain starts they start asking if there is thunder/lightening. They know that they can't go play in the rain if there is.

So, today we were coming home from my never ending trip to the chiropractor and it was coming down pretty good. The very second we pulled into the driveway they started asking, "Is there any thunder or lightening?" After we determined that it was just rain, I let them take their shoes off and they roared out from under the carport into the wet playground that is our driveway. Lili said, "Dad, it's raining water!" yep...that's my little Einstein!!

They absolutely had a BLAST and were totally soaking wet within a few short minutes. It wasn't too long before Lili was cold and wanted to go in, so David took her on in the house. Aly, on the other hand, had NO intention of leaving her watery playground so quickly. I had been taking pictures, but that wasn't good enough. She wanted me to take video too. She was kind enough to inform me that I could post some of the pictures and the video on our blog. Thanks Al!! When I put her to bed tonight she made me promise to come right to my computer and do so!! Do you want a little HAM with that cheese???

Anyway, here are some pictures and video ...

Aly wrote this song just for the occasion. I LOVE how she counts off at the very beginning!!

Mom...it's raining and I am getting all wet!!

Oh, it's just raining water!!

I am having SUCH fun out here!!

Look Mom...I'm all wet!

Come on Lili...there's a BIG puddle over here

round and round and round we go...

Ta-Da!!

Here is my crane pose...in the rain no less!

Now THIS is a puddle!

Oh Thank you God for the rain!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE RAIN!!

August 5, 2007...has it been a year already?

Wow...what was I doing a year ago today? Well, it is now 10 am and my Dad had just called me from the nursing home to let me know that Mom had taken a turn for the worst and I better get over there immediately. I flew over there as quickly as I could and spent my last day with my sweet Mom. She had not been conscious since about middle of the day before. She never woke up again. But she met Jesus face to face that day!!! That fact makes it all somewhat tolerable for me...and it is the only thing that keeps me going some days. Just to know that she is safely in the arms of her Savior makes me able to deal with my grief. I don't always do it very well, but hey...she was my Mom! How do you let go of your mother?

I found myself telling God things about her...you know, stuff you would tell the babysitter when you go out so that they can attempt to care for your child the way only you can. Stuff like, "Okay God...you know that Mom doesn't like it to be hot...so crank up the A/C. She is terribly afraid of heights and small spaces, so give her some room. Oh, and please watch the chewing gum...she goes nuts when someone is smacking gum!! Oh...and she always sleeps with her glasses on, so don't try to take them off or you will wake her up. She has a really dry sense of humor, so don't let that throw you...just give her back what she dishes out and you'll be fine! Don't get her laughing too hard or she won't be able to stop laughing and then she will...um...well, she'll probably pee on herself!! She loves to sing, but she doesn't think she can. She has a beautiful voice, so could you maybe work on her self-esteem issues a bit when she gets there? Oh yes...and if you need some help decorating...give her a call...she'll fix up the throne room in no time flat. It'll be a showplace!! While your at it...give her something really cool to do up there...she is an amazing woman with a big heart and a lot of common sense and she is very very smart. She always had the right answers for me. She always gave me good advice...even though she was a bit bossy...try to overlook that. Most of all God...please just take good care of my Mom till I see her again. I still feel so very lost without her! Thank you for letting her be MY mom...of all the moms in the world that you could have given me...I got the best one!!"

God just laughs, I'm sure. In that still, small voice I hear, "I know my child...I know all about her! She is in good hands! We are having a wonderful time getting to know each other even better. It will be okay...I promise...in time."

What is it I miss about her so much? I think about that a lot in light of my own daughters. I wonder about them missing their birth mothers vs Me. But, I know that what I miss about my Mom is not that she gave birth to me...but it is our history ...what we carved out together that I crave and ache for. The wisdom, the relationship, the time, the love, the rough patches we overcame, the advice (solicited and unsolicited!) the shared experiences, the late nights, the laughter...God, the laughter, the phone calls, the yelling, the yelling??? yep...I miss that too!!!

Someone told me just before Mom died that I will never get over it, but I will simply learn how to live with the new reality. She was so right! If I allow myself to think about it all too much, I can immediately feel the same raw pain that made me not able to breathe that night. I can feel that punch in my gut that caused all the air to rush out of my lungs in total disbelief. It is all right there at my fingertips. But you know what? Sometimes I need to go there. The truth is that many days I go along in my own little world and I don't think about it too much...kind of like shallow breathing. When I need to take in some really deep breaths...I can be there in a few short seconds. I take in those deep breaths and somehow feel alive again. Then I am okay and can get back to my world again for a while longer. I will be breathing deeply today. I will be doing a lot of talking to God today. I will be missing my Mom a lot today. I will slowly be moving forward again.

~Oh thank you God for precious memories!!! Thank you that I can hear her voice in my head anytime I need to. Thank you that I can say something that Mom used to say to Daddy and a huge smile will come over his face! Thank you that time marches on and we learn and grow and are able to adapt to life as the changes come. Thank you that I can talk to you about it anytime I need to!!!! By the way...she REALLY can be bossy!!! Just take it with a grain of salt and tell her to hush!!! She's worth it!!




In HIS Mighty Grip

my little munchkin...

Okay...so it was about three or four years ago when I was sitting in church listening to the sermon. Honestly, I have no idea right now what the sermon was about, but I remember one point very vividly. He told us about an experience when their children were little. A wise couple in their church told them to teach their children the 10 commandments early on. They said that the earlier the children learned them, the earlier they would understand their need for a savior.

I have always remembered that and so I recently started teaching Aly the 10 Commandments. Lili is learning them right behind her. Anything I can do to help my girls come to know Jesus as their Savior as soon as possible is good by me!!! It amazes me how they just soak this stuff up... of course this means that they will also soak up the bad just as quickly!!

Okay...so here is the video. Oh...and thanks Reggie!!






I also want to share a picture that Aly drew for me today. I was trying to finish up something on the computer before David came home and we had to go to the store. Aly came to me and said that she was bored and wanted me to give her something to do. So, I asked her to draw me a very special picture. She asked what I wanted her to draw. I said, "Draw me a picture of God" She looked at me funny and said, "but what does he look like?" I asked her to draw him however she saw him in her little head. Whatever she thought he might look like. So...off she went and a little while later she came in and handed me a piece of paper with this on it....

Now, I was a little confused. So, I asked her to explain it to me. She told me that this was "all three of them" I said, "You mean the Father, Son and the Holy Sprit?" She said yes. I asked her to tell me who was who. She said, "Well, God the Father is the one in purple" Oh...well, that makes sense. So I asked if that was Jesus right next to God the Father. She said, "No, Jesus is the one over on the side" Really? I would have thought that Jesus would have been next to the Father. I asked her why Jesus was the one on the side. She said, "Guess" So I looked at it...and I looked at it...and I looked at it...and then it hit me like a tree in an hurricane. I asked her if the very large hand next to God the father was his right hand and if Jesus was seated at the right hand of God? She looked at me and smiled. She said, "Yep...you got it Mom!"
Don't you love it when they pay attention to the small stuff???
Oh how I love this little smarty pants!!!!