ZOO DAY WITH DADDY!!!!

Today we visited the zoo with Daddy and saw a few cool creatures. We thought we would share some of our cool pics with you. Here we have the Tortoise. Snakes.
Toucan.
Stork. (Sure is an ugly one - we saw a prettier one too but I didn't snap a shot.)
Then we visited the birds and we found that Daddy has been hiding a special 'gift'.... he is.... THE BIRD WHISPERER.
Who knew?
He luckily left poo free. :)
A couple of minutes of fun in the Bamboo.
Then the kids finally rode the train! Praise Jesus - they FINALLY rode the train! :)
We were having BIG fun since Daddy was along for the fun.
We saw a few unique sites today - like these two were making out - their tales were even intertwined.
I've never seen the Rhino's walking around. They are usually laying around. This was a neat thing to see.
Camels.
The Giraffes were in rare form too. I love Giraffes. I can't decide if Giraffes are my ultimate favorite or...
if the Zebra's are my all time favorite.
Sleeping White Tiger.
Rarely do I see the Lions alert at all.
Meerkat - couldn't resist.
But I definitely love a good ole Bengal Tiger! GEAUX TIGERS! LSU!
Thanks for the fun idea Daddy! We've never had more fun at the zoo than when you join along in the fun! Loving the spring weather too!

Walking With The Dinosaurs

Tonight we went on a family adventure. We had a BLAST! I wasn't sure how strict they would be about taking pictures so I didn't tote my good camera along on this adventure. There was a fifty fifty chance we would not be allowed to use it, so that explains the gritty pictures. Here are me and HC, she enjoyed indulging in popcorn and most of all.... BLUE COTTON CANDY!! JB and Daddy - Daddy won tickets to this show by answering a question on the radio. Pretty cool huh?! What a smart Daddy HC and JB have! Thank you Daddy!
So here are a few glimpses of all the historic beasts we saw: Here is the Allosaurus on the left and the Stegosaurus on the right.
Here are two Brachiosaurus'.
They were HC's favorite - the long necked ones. They seemed less vicious and I think that is what makes them the most appealing to her.
This was HC and JB's LEAST favorite, the Pterosaur. JB kept telling Steve "I don't want that to fly by me."
Here are three Raptors eating another dinosaur carcass. HC kept saying "I feel sad for that dead dinosaur." See the Paleontologist in the picture? He was our narrator.
Here's the Torosaurus (with the spike coming out of it's ginormous head), a baby Tyrannosaurus, a Mommy one too, and finally a bumpy one with a large stone tail. The bumpy one was called an Ankylosaurus. The Torosaurus was JB's favorite.
Of course the Tyrannosaurus Rex Mommy and baby were the stars of the show - they nearly received a standing ovation. :)
Here are my two with the roaring dino teeth behind them.
What a fun night. Yay Daddy!

The End.

Spring is in the Air

The last week of February we had a special delivery. Our caterpillars arrived. Little did I know that these little creatures were going to be so fun. See them at the tippy top of the container? They are teeny here. And icky here. We had a total of 5 caterpillars and it was gross seeing all 5 of them in there. I'm not a caterpillar fan. Double ick! We noticed them at this size about 8 days after they arrived.
Then 3 or 4 days later we saw them do this.
Then within a day we saw the chrysalis appear. It is a bizarre thing to watch. How in the WORLD does this become a butterfly? I don't get it.
After they were in the chrysalis we were to wait for them to turn a darker color and then move them to our butterfly net. 4 of our 5 attached at the top of the container but 1 didn't make the climb. We put it in the net too, just in case it was still good.
On March 17th we saw that one butterfly made it's way out of the chrysalis. I wanted to watch this happen but we never managed to catch them exiting the chrysalis. See the lighter chrysalis - that's the empty one. Within 2 days they all emerged. The one that didn't hang with the others did become a butterfly but it had a torn wing. It was sad to see it flop around, it eventually died.
Here are the kids observing this latest development.Pretty neat huh?On Thursday we decided to set them all free. If you really look you will see one butterfly in center right and the damaged butterfly on the left of that butterfly.
The kids had a blast with this science project. See the butterfly on the rim?And the butterfly took a leap and landed on the ground. Before we knew it they all took off on their adventure to the big outdoors. Perfect timing too with all the pollen in much abundance.Here is one before it escaped our habitat.I wish we had the pretty yellow butterfly but this was fun even if it isn't the prettiest butterfly I've ever seen. :)
Change is happening all around us these days. It really feels like spring!

Oh Be Careful Little Eyes What You See..

We've all heard this song in Sunday School as children
"Oh be careful little eyes what you see,
Oh be careful little eyes what you see.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
So be careful little eyes what you see."

Of course I've always been taught this meant to watch what you look at. To not look upon vulgar or awful things. Whatever we look at - if we feed our lust - lust grows but if we feed our spirit man with the things of God - our spirit grows. So feed the thing you want to grow.

Yesterday I was getting ready to meet a friend and I heard this line of the familiar Sunday School song in my head. I almost dismissed it and went on when the "Oh be careful little eyes what YOU see" was the way I suddenly heard the song. It hit me. How DO I see things? I usually see things from my perspective and often with my expectations in mind. That's pretty normal but I have come to realize that just because it is 'normal' to think/do things a certain way doesn't necessarily mean it is beneficial.

I am learning that seeing things clearly is a gift. Many times I have 'seen' awkward moments and/or offensive moments and quickly assessed the situation and reacted - normally my perspective was deceived and I was not seeing what was true. I'm learning how much better to truly look at the whole picture and see what HE sees. He sees what is noble and true and of a good report. He does not see the issues of life as I do.

It's also possible to experience a situation now and evaluate it based on experiences in the past. So, we see a pattern or a familiar source of pain and we are often mistreated again in that area repeatedly. We fall into a trap of looking at our wound and jump into the "Why me? Why is this thing always a source of pain to me? Why am I always let down in this area?". What that does is dig up an old wound that we then cause to become infected again. (It causes us to limp in that area again until our footing becomes more sured on our lie that we must not trust again or we must take care of self.) Then it is a sore spot again, and we need TLC in that area again, and now our foundation is based on a lie in regards to any future scenarios that may cross our paths.

I've recently understood a few things that were once unclear to my finite mind. When I fell Saturday and injured my foot I was having a few bad days. I can clearly see a familiar pattern. I have had a few bad days before (who hasn't?), then WHAM something 'unrelated' happens and it sends me spiraling into a pity party of 'WHY ME?' again. When this incident occurred with my foot something was different. I know God has been giving me MUCH revelation lately but I think I FINALLY have ears to hear and eyes to see. I've asked MANY times to see and hear but never really tried seeing and hearing first. This time I asked, and I am trying to see and hear, and HE IS showing me what He wants me to see and sharing truth with me! What a delightful change!!!! After I fell Saturday, I sat there and composed myself and thought about the moment. I waited to stand when the awful pain ended and was relieved to find that my foot was not broken! Whew! That's a relief!

Over the last few days the entire experience of the bad days plus the fall has been on my mind. I knew something was unusual in it all and I wanted to clearly see what HE would have me see in all this. I clearly see how in the past I've been primed for an incident like this and sure enough - I would have a big unexpected WHAM come my way and it would knock me down (figuratively). This time I was literally knocked down. After being figuratively knocked down, my pattern was to fall into the pit of "WHY ME?" Pity party central would erupt and so would my temper - there was a new wall built and I would withdraw and hide out in hopes of never having THAT happen again.

This time was SO different. SO unlike my natural reaction. I sat there and thought about the moment, stood up and went on. I see how I've grown much stronger as a result of this new reaction. I see that in the past my weakness (fear of being hurt or misunderstood) was my first instinct and now I am learning to follow my strength (trusting Him to be near in ALL situations) instead. I'm growing because I am willing to change my habits and I am letting Him show me truth. As the song mentions "For the Father up above is looking down in LOVE", His view is one of love and compassion. His view is of truth. He sees us in our pain and HE wants to apply the ointment of truth and love to our hurt. When we self medicate instead we say "I don't need you, I've got this." and we remain bound to our weaknesses.

I now see how much stronger I feel even in the pain. I have noticed that since I injured my right foot (right represents government and our source of strength) that my entire body is compensating for the injury. My back is tight, my left leg is achy, my hips ache, my shoulders ache, and of course... my right leg throbs. My whole body is compensating and balancing for this injury. It is changing me physically but mostly spiritually. I realize growing hurts and it takes intention. It doesn't happen overnight. Today I see a pattern of weakness broken in me, I did not fall into the trap again! I clearly see the benefit of taking in the moment and trying to see what is really going on around me. My instinct of pity has left me weak and unfulfilled; but this moment of seeing has brought much strength and joy. Every throb of pain and every uncomfortable muscle is a CLEAR signal to me that I have grown and I am becoming more balanced. I am balancing ON HIM and not on me. My weaknesses are being stifled and growth is the fruit! What a treat!

Matthew 6:22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light."

Will The Real Me Please Stand Up?

A glance back down memory lane explains much to me. We moved about 3.5 years ago and I've noticed a familiar feeling return - "Do I really know anyone here and does anyone really know me?" We moved around much when I was in school. I think I attended 3 or 4 elementary schools and 2 different middle schools. We finally settled in one place my last year of middle school and I finished high school in the same place.

Over the last 3.5 years I've felt like I was back in middle school. I know that in truth I'm not, but the feeling of being in a new place stirred up the feelings I once new well in middle/high school. Where do I belong? Who can I trust? How can I plug in this community? Same questions - different stage of life.

The first 2 years were great. I was plugging in and feeling like life was treating me fine. Then that 3rd year hit me when I wasn't looking. It was a doozy! I started feeling like I hadn't really gotten to know anyone, really. It was all the surface stuff that, as a Mom, we cannot help indulging in. It isn't our fault really! Every conversation is at the mercy of our wee ones. Every bit of knowledge of the friendships made in the first 2 years was deeply fragmented. My kids were at ages that they needed me and therefore I look back and think... there is SO much I feel I don't really know about the connections I made in those first 2 years. This was how I felt but I didn't have words to express because I was 'in' the moment and it wasn't clear why I felt so disconnected. Looking back now we were all sharing the new feeling of being called Mommy; but that wasn't all there was to know about one another.

It wasn't until reading a friends list of '25 things about me' that it hit me how true one of her 'facts about her' fit all Moms really. She wrote "People didn't used to be so surprised to find out I have a sense of humor. I don't know what happened. It IS a little dry I guess." The other obvious thing I noticed was I knew so little about her. Seeing her list - NONE OF THAT came up in our many conversations!!! How can that be possible?! That list of 25 - I did mine and I know for me - I shared things that seemed most like me to me; so knowing I didn't know these things about her was jarring.

After pondering her #19 on her list - the humor one - I finally saw it all clearly! How fragmented much of my time is with my friends. No time for real talk. We talk about the here and now and what is going on with our kids mostly. Stages of change for them, progress, behavior issues and how we handled it.... on and on the list goes. Where are WE in that conversation? We are becoming Mothers.

Often that requires a sacrifice of 'me'. Whether you are a working Mom or a SAHM (stay at home mom) the 'me' changes. The single me changed into the married me and now the married me is responsible for little lives. I've never learned MORE about myself than I have by being a Mom but I've also never felt so unknown by those in my life than I do now.

I think it is a season but for now I do feel like I'm beginning to break out of the being unknown feeling. Seeing that it exists and that I was so deeply hidden made me more intentional to offer the 'me' in my time with friends AND it made me more intentional to find the 'me' of those who surround me. There is nothing worse than being surrounded by GREAT people who you really love and care about and realize they have no idea who I am and sadly I don't know them at all either. I know there heart, as far as mothering is concerned, but that is almost all I know about them! I'm awake to this distraction and I want to know all the 'me's' that I call friends. They are ALL dear to me - even the ones I rarely see or chat with via the www - but they are still important to me and I am now wanting to know the 'me' I failed to know when we had more time together!

Snow Day

We have had some adventurous weather lately. Friday we had a tornado miles away, Saturday was a gloomy wet day and this morning it snowed for hours! The snow began falling in the wee hours of the morning and stopped around noon. It was the most fun ever! Plenty of time to really enjoy ourselves and tire out from the fun of it all. I believe we did just about everything we could do with the snow. HC had a great idea that we should pile up the wagon with as much snow as possible. We could have piled it higher but... JB wanted snowball fights and so this was our limit. The view from our street.
My two were so happy. HC had been praying for a snow day since November. She wanted to make a snow angel and boy did she get a BIG answer to her prayer! (I had begun to think we wouldn't see the white stuff this year. Boy was I wrong!)
My happy girl! YAY God!
JB couldn't resist the urge to throw the snowball before I took the picture. I love it!
Let's get this snowball fight going, shall we?
So fun!
Now THAT'S one cool dude eh?!
So cold yet so happy!
One of my favorite pics of JB, ever!
SNOW BALL FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a fun day. It was just enough. We had hours of fun and more snow than we expected! No complaints here!

It has been a truly fun day around our house. Potato soup on the stove now, hot chocolate has been consumed.... who could ask for anything more?