My Simple Diary: Week 18 of 2013

I have so much to share, even from the month of March still, but I am trying to get back into doing my simple diary posts weekly. 

Outside My Window:

Another gorgeous Saturday. Warm enough for a water balloon fight. 

Yesterday afternoon the rain came in and continued into the evening. We kept all of the windows open. Their was a cool breeze coming through the house and the smell and feel of the rain was wonderful! I love having the windows open during rain. Our gardens and trees really needed the rain! 

What I Have Been Reading:

If you missed it, I posted a review yesterday for Sweet Sanctuary.

Something I am Feeling Thankful for This Week: 

The joy and laughter of my children. I love how much joy they find in the little things from day to day. Ally was even cracking herself up while doing her math lessons this past week. She had us all rolling with laughter.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to review christian fiction books and family friendly products. Thankful for the companies who have given me the opportunity to do so. Thankful for the books that I have been able to read that I otherwise would probably not have been able to afford each month.

Something That Made Me Smile This Week: 

Ally came out of the bathroom this week like this. Made me smile. 

Because all math word problems needs some art work to spruce them up. 

Something That Made Me Laugh This Week: 

Camden: "I passed gas, but I did it with dignity." 

Something that Spoke to My Heart This Week: 

I saw this on Pinterest and it really spoke to me. I thought it might bless someone else too. Our world calls us to be super moms but God calls us to be abiding moms. 

Recent Happenings: 

Em had a dentist appointment recently to get her ready for braces. She is ready to get them on and over with. The good news is- she is cavity free!

I wrote out two reviews this weekend that will post this week and both of them have give-a-ways! One for a children's book and one for a family movie. I am excited to be able to offer both of these items to someone for FREE- so be sure and check back. 

The girls had their last Girls Just Want to Have Fun small group recently. Pictures to come soon. It was a precious time. We now break for the month of May and then a summer group will start up for the girls at my friend Alicia's home.

One more month of ballroom dance classes on Friday's and then we break for summer with them too. Last year they did some summer classes but I am not sure yet if they will doing so this year again.

Friday was a busy day for us. Ballroom dance classes that morning. After class we headed to McDonald's with some friends from ballroom and enjoyed some lunch and play with them which Ally and Natalie really appreciated. They loved their time with their friends. The kids and I then headed out to Trussville for some homeschool skating. The Trussville PlayStation opens it's door from 1-3pm every other Friday to homeschoolers for skating, arcade games, and lazer tag. They do so at a really discounted price which is nice! It is only 3$ per person and that includes your skate rental. A couple of the kids in ballroom dance go every time. The kids had a fun afternoon of skating. Natalie and Ally roller skating and Emmy and Annie roller blading. The rink plays only Christian music during the session which is really nice. Of course Ally made a new friend. That girl makes a new friend everywhere we go. 

Emmy & Annie on the rink. 

At the end of the session the younger kids had foot races around the rink. That's Ally in the purple. 

And that's my Ally girl in the lead! She is my competitive girl. She loves a good competition and loves giving the boys a run for their money. She stayed in the lead for most of the way around but lost it at the very end. She needs to learn to pace herself better. She's puts so much in at the start that she wears herself down before the race is done. We are working on her pacing herself better and she will be leaving those boys behind in the dust for the entire race. 

After the skating session we drove across the street to Sonic because it was happy hour and the girls were thirsty from all the skating. Gotta love Sonics happy hour!

We then headed back to Hoover and ran by the Galleria to return a few outfits that had been purchased back in early March but not worked. I had not had a chance to return them yet and wanted to get it out of the way on the way home so we could get that credit on our bank card. Then to Walmart to grab pizzas for dinner from their deli....swung by Student Life to pick up Bryan and headed on back home. Friday's are always busy for us and we always arrive home exhausted but it's good to spend the day out too. 

In My Kitchen: 

Since I wasn't feeling well this past week I didn't really do much in the kitchen. It was pretty much easy meals all week long. I did try out one new recipe that I had seen on Pinterest.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls 

10 cabbage leaves

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper (I’m not a huge pepper fan so if you are increase to a tsp.)
1 lb. lean ground beef
Jar of Spaghetti sauce

Cook rice. Mix together all ingredients except cabbage.

Cut off end of cabbage head and place cabbage roll into a large pot of boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes. The purpose is to soften your cabbage pieces. Carefully place hot cabbage in drainer and run cold water over it until it is no longer too hot to handle. Peel apart cabbage leaves. Trim or cut off the really thick park of leaf that connected to the head.


Place around 1/2 cup of meat/rice mixture onto middle of cabbage leaf. Roll leaf like you would a burrito. Place seam side down in a baking dish where a small amount of spaghetti sauce has been poured to cover bottom of dish. Continue until all cabbage leaves are stuffed or you run out of meat mixture. Pour additional spaghetti sauce over rolls.

Cover cabbage rolls with tin foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove tin foil and bake 15 minutes more.

This recipe seemed very familiar to me but I know this was the first time that I had made it. I am thinking this may have been a recipe my mother made when I was young? I thought they turned out really good. 

We did our big grocery trip this weekend so we are set for the next few weeks. I have our menu made out for May and I am hoping to try a few new recipes in May if I start feeling better. 

Favorite Memories From This Past Week: 

Listening to Camden praise God in song.

Also watching the girls skate at the rink on Friday. Brought back memories of my 70's childhood. 

A Few Favorite Recent Photos:

Even though it's blurry, I still had to share. Doesn't Cuddles look like a stuffed animal sitting there. She's so adorable!! We love her dearly. 

Camden and Cuddles playing in the school room one morning before school. 

Annie with our friend Julia. 

Having fun on the trampoline with our friends- mid week. 

Taken this weekend. Big sis, lil sis, having some fun together. 

Have a great week, friends! 

My Fibromyalgia

Thank you to those of you that prayed for me this past week. Sometimes, one of the greatest challenges I face in living with a chronic illness, is that my illness is silent. On the outside, I look fine. I don't look sick. I seem normal. But on the inside, I am none of the above. It also doesn't help that I am a person with a high pain tolerance and someone who doesn't like to complain or show others when I am in pain. In many ways this can mask what is really going on inside of me daily. It creates a challenge on top of a challenge. I don't ask for prayer much with my Fibro and when I do, it's usually because I am in a pretty bad flare up. So again, thank you for caring and thank you for praying. 

When I am in a flare up, it is a pretty typical scene around our home for things to get a bit unorganized and what feels to me like out of hand. The kids and Bryan are amazing- they have their chore lists (the kids) and responsibilities and they know me well enough to know when I am not doing well without me even having to say so. It's not untypical for one of the kids to go the extra mile- to help out in ways that are not written on their chore lists or expected of them- and I thank God for that! That doesn't mean the house stays in order during my Fibro flares though. Even with all the help- things can still get pretty out of hand at times. One part of that is that when I am hurting really bad our normal schedule is often altered. The pattern in which we do things does not remain consistent. Life gets a bit jumbled up. I suppose that is hard for someone that doesn't live in our home to understand. With 8 human beings and 4 pets living every day, 24/7 in one place, eating....sleeping.....playing....working.....messes just happen. Life creates messes. Homeschooling creates even more messes. Community creates messes. People beyond our family coming and going. And mom not feeling well enough to get up out of the chair or bed and perform her normal duties.....the messes....they are inevitable. But I can honestly say that I am thankful for them. I know that sounds odd but they are a reminder to me of just how much I need Jesus! I can't do it on my own. My strength is not enough. It never will be. My fibro has a way of reminding me of that on a regular basis. It humbles me. It causes me to cry out to my God and be fully dependant upon Him to meet all of the needs of my family. And you know what- He always does! His mercies never fail us. And for that, I am eternally grateful! In my weakness HE is made strong! 

My prayer request this past week was that I would be able to focus on that which God desired of me and that the current messes around me would not distract me from doing HIS work. I'm not a clean freak. It's not so much a little dust that bothers me. But I can become distracted by baskets of laundry or ironing that have piled up or those projects that I have had to sit aside for a time being given that I don't have the energy to finish them currently. You know......the big pile of reading commitments that I have gotten behind on, knowing that due dates are lingering around the corner for me.....the papers that need checked and graded......the weeds in the flower bed that need pulling......the art or homeschool project that was stopped half way through until mom feels a little better.......the piles of curriculum books that need to be organized for our new semester......the lesson plans that need to be written for upcoming months......the research I need to do on a certain subject prior to teaching it.......all of the above and more fall into the category of messes for me. It's not just the messes that a little extra cleaning can take care of....it's the responsibilities I have in my life that become little piles of messes laying around, waiting and eager for me to address and finish them. That is the largest challenge I face, when I am sick. 

I really felt your prayers this past week and I thank you so much for them, as I was able to keep my focus where it needed to be. I could hear Him in the midst of the messes, guiding me and helping me see where my priorities needed to be for the week. While I am never able to forget the demands of messes that surround me, and I wouldn't want too, as those messes really define the life I live and love so much, sometimes those messes can be very distracting when I am physically unable to tackle them.
When my body is slowed, my vision blurred, my insides screaming in pain.....I can sometimes become depressed that that which I long so badly to accomplish is suddenly thrust into the impossible. All of my grand plans for the week suddenly have to be surrendered.

My Fibro requires of me a surrendering spirit. 

This past week I was able to live in the midst of my messes with a cheerful heart. A heart that was able to give to my family and the community of Christ that God has surrounded us with, without my soul becoming distracted and weighed down. And that my friends is simply due to the grace of God and His answer to your/our prayers. 

My muscles are still screaming. I actually got out of the house Friday and was able to full fill our Friday commitments in town despite the pain, but my arms and legs still feel like I have been beaten with a baseball bat and that pain has worsened after spending the day out Friday. My vision is still blurry. My entire body feels sunburned and yet somehow, by the grace of God, we made it through another week and I can honestly say it was a good one. Good in that we felt the presence of God among us and we, especially I, delighted in Him despite our circumstances! 

Really, if we think about it, life is just flat out messy, isn't it! We live daily in a fallen world. May our messes always remind us of just how deeply we need Jesus! 

One morning this past week I was in the school room working on pulling together some books and papers for a lesson that morning. I had tossed and turned all night long and barely slept because of the tender points in my neck. My fibro flares cause me to feel beyond exhausted, much like when you have the flu, and not sleeping well only added to the struggle. As I was searching our shelves for the book I wanted to read to the kids for our history lesson that day, I was starting to feel frustrated that it was being done last minute as I am not by nature a last minute person. I thrive on having everything well planned out and ready. As I was searching for the book, I turned on the computer and began playing the following song. Camden jumped up, began singing along at the top of his lungs with all his heart, hands raised and dancing, and as I stood and watched his delight in praising God, I was reminded that THIS is what life is all about! All the other things, while important, do not compare to this! 

"Look to The Lord and His strength; seek His face always."
- I Chronicles 16:11

The Legend of the Easter Egg

We love reading this book each year at Easter! 

We always do some egg project after reading it and this year we decorated sugar cookie eggs. 

Natalie's. 

This was my favorite. She used edible ink pens to make it. Reminded me of stained glass. 

World Malaria Day

Today, April 25th, is World Malaria Day. 

The following is something that Emmy wrote this week as a writing assignment. 

Buon giorno! (That’s hello in Italian.) My name is Massimo the Mosquito and yes, I am a member of the much-feared Malaria Mafia. I am sure you have heard of us.

Just a few years ago the World Health Organization said we were responsible for the deaths of 655,000 people, many of them children. Although I cannot confirm or deny that, I do have a confession to make.

Lean closer........malaria is preventable and treatable! But before I tell you some ways you can help prevent this horrible sickness let me tell you a little about it. 

What does Malaria feel like? Well, it starts with a quick, painless, bite from a mosquito just like me that's carrying the disease. In minutes the disease travels to the liver. First symptoms are flu-like. If it goes untreated it can lead to: severe anemia, respiratory distress, brain infection, liver failure, and eventually coma. All of that from a preventable, treatable disease.  

Not all mosquitoes are as loyal to helping these kids as I am. That's why we need YOUR help!

So now that you know a little about this malaria, what will YOU do? 

By supporting Compassion's Malaria interventions program, learn more, HERE, you can help. Compassion can provide treated mosquito nets and make sure the families who receive nets know how to use them, how often to replace them, and how to get rid of these mosquito's. A child suffering from malaria will receive treatment. 

9 out of 10 malaria hot spots in the world are in Africa! Did you know that for only 20$ you could provide 2 mosquito bed nets for families who live in malaria hot spots! 

Help spread the word about this preventable, treatable disease!

~Emmy-Anne Unsell

St. Patricks Day & The Trinity

For St. Patty's day this year we talked about how the shamrock has three parts to it just like the trinity. We then made some shamrock trinity sticker sheets. 

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." ~ Matthew 28:19 

Radiant Chalk Pastel Cross

My kids love working with oil and chalk pastels. They are Ally's favorite art medium because they are messy. *grin*

 This was a fun project with a beautiful result. 

We cut out crosses from thick acryclic paper.

The kids then used oil pastels to color the very edge of the entire cross.

We did the same thing with a cut out of a hill shape. 

They then put their hills and cross on a white piece of paper and using their fingers spread the pastels from the edge of their cross onto the white paper. 

When done the lifted off the cross and hill and......

Tada! 

Camden's. 

"For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

My Simple Diary: Week 17 of 2013

Outside My Window:

Gorgeous weather this weekend! We had rain on Friday for most of the day but Saturday was clear and beautiful! Especially after the rain. I spent most of Saturday out on our back porch reading. 

The sun felt so good when it would hit me. I needed the Vitamin D! By early evening it started getting chilly again and we needed to come in and close all the windows. 

Our dog Duke joined me on the porch. He prefers a chair to the ground. *grin* 

What We Have Been Watching: 

This was our family movie on Saturday night. I won't say much about it in this post because I have a review coming for it in about a week. I do have to share though that it was really good! Steven Curtis Chapman plays in it and Casting Crowns has a part in it too. GREAT message! Be sure and check back to learn more. 

Scripture/Ouotes that Spoke To My Heart This Week: 

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Rev. 5:12).

"May God deliver us from the easygoing, smooth, comfortable Christianity that never lets the truth get hold of us." AW Tozer

The purpose of prayer is not to give information to God, but to experience intimacy with God (Mt. 6:8).

Prayer Requests: 

I am in a flare up with my Fibro right now and thus really really tired and could use some prayer for extra strength and stamina for the week ahead. 

Recent Happenings: 

It's that time of year again. Bryan's busiest time of year- gearing up for camp season. That means weekend and evening business calls and nights working late. The older three kids have started going in to work with him once a week to help out, usually on Wednesdays. Bryan was approached by some of the staff who do the summer hiring and they commented on what hard workers our kids are. They said they wished they could hire them for summer workers. I will admit that it made me proud of my kiddos to hear such a compliment on them! They are hard workers and of course it is always nice when others recognize the good qualities in your children and comment on them. Starting next year, Houston will be old enough to work as a summer hire. That idea excites him!

Two weekends ago was Stadium Fest, a weekend long Christian event at one of the local parks/stadiums in Hoover, AL. The event was 2 days full of inspirational speakers and Christian concerts, and it was all FREE! Emmy and her best friend Abby along with Abby's brother and sister went both days and loved it! It was a really encouraging weekend for everyone. Emmy said her favorite band that played was Newsboys which made me smile as Bryan and I used to listen to them a lot when we were around her age. Bryan had several of their CD's when we got married. She also really appreciated Switchfoot and David Crowder.

Here are some pictures that she took of the weekend......

Katie, Abby, & Emmy 

Abby & Emmy 

Newsboys playing. 

Switchfoot concert. 

Fireworks at end of night. 

Have a BLESSED week, friends!