Twice in One Day? Crazy I know

I know I already posted once today but I just had a super funny conversation with Jacob and wanted to share it with everyone.

Jacob: Mom, what do you think?

Me: What do I think about what?

Jacob: I think I should quit school.

Me: Quit school? Why? You can't even quit school, it isn't allowed.

Jacob: Yes I need to quit school. We do the same thing everyday. Except for gym days. I like those days.

Me: Yeah you are not going to quit school. You will be back at school tomorrow as long as you don''t throw up again.

Jacob: Fine I will go back to school but we do the same thing ALL the time but fine.

I guess I thought this conversation would come when he was 16 years old not 6 years old. He hasn't even been in school for a year! I think this will be a long process for the both of us.

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On yet another topic of the day ...
I have been considering changing a huge aspect of my life. I am not going to share what it is yet but I am asking everyone to pray for me. Please pray that what I am trying to do goes with what God has planned for me. I know He has plans for me but I just want to make sure this one is what He wants me to do.

Mindy

It's been awhile

Hello everyone. It has been awhile since I updated my blog so I figured I should fill you in on what has been going on with me.

On Sunday February 15th my little man turned 6 years old. We had two birthday parties for him one for my dad's side of the family and one for my mom's side of the family. He has received a ton of great birthday presents and has been playing with all of them.


My Uncle Jimmy is a fireman so he brought his fire truck and the ambulance over for the kids to check it out. They loved it.
I got Jacob and Christian to sit still for a minute and took this great picture of them on the front of the fire truck. Below are just a few of my cousins. How cute are they? Jacob and I have been blessed with an amazing family. Dakota, Megan, Madeline, Alissa, and Devyn are all around Jacob's age and they play very well together.



For Jacob's first party I got a cupcake cake from Dominick's.
For future reference the cupcake cakes are wonderful. No knife needed kids can pull their own cupcakes . But the problem was this bright green frosting. It stained everything .. clothes, hands, teeth, fingers, and mouths. What was I thinking?! Green frosting!

So after the green frosting disaster I decided to make Jacob a cake for his second party. It was a lemon cake with raspberry filling. It was so good. Way better than the "green monster" cake.

What do you think? Jacob enjoyed it and so did the rest of my family.

Also, on Jacob's birthday we took him out to lunch to the Two Toots Grill. It is super cute and your food is delivered by trains that go all over the restaurant.





Baby Edie, Donna, and Ron came to Jacob's birthday lunch. I love baby Edie. Isn't she just the cutest?! Donna and Ron are very good friends of mine. I love them too!

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On a different note ...

My Great Grandma, Fairy, passed away on February 20th. She was 96 years old and she will be missed terribly. At the funeral yesterday, the priest was overwhelmed with the amount of family she had. It has been counted and these are how the numbers came out.

Fairy had ...

13 children
31 grandchildren
52 great grandchildren
7 great great grandchildren

She was the rock of our family and she would want us to continue to get together. We have all agreed and I couldn't be happier.

Can I become a better Christian by reading blogs?

Hi, my name is Mindy and I am a blog reading addict!

It started off really small I would just read Bring The Rain by Angie Smith.



I love reading what Angie has to say. She is such an amazing Christian woman. I look forward to any and all posts she writes. I pray for her and her family all the time.


Then as I was snooping around her blog I saw the button for MckMama and to pray for Stellan.



After I started reading about Stellan's story and the Many Small Children. I was hooked.


Then I started snooping around her blog and I was hooked on another blog and another blog and another blog.

Now I check on my blogs everyday. I feel like they are my best friends. I am inspired by the stay at home mothers. I am inspired by the authors. I am inspired by the decorators, the preachers wives, the preacher himself. I find myself longing to read about their lives. I relate to them when the discuss their weaknesses. I pray for them when they need to find inner strength. I laugh when funny things happen in their lives. I love all my blog friends. (Side note: Can they be your friends if all you do is stalk their blogs? I think YES!)

But the more and more I read the more I wonder ...


Is it possible to find yourself becoming a stronger Christian by reading these blogs?

Many of the blogs I read inform me of some amazing books they are reading or books that they have written.


I just ordered From Blushing Bride to Wedded Wife by Marla Taviano. (Another sidenote: I know that I am not married yet but this book helps you when you become a wife and the proceeds of the book went to an orphanage in Cambodia)

I digress. My point is I now have a wish list of books that I want to read by reading these blogs. So here is my official wish list.


* Living Simply by Joanne Heim

*Misplacing God: (And Finding Him Again) by Joanne Heim

*She's Gonna Blow! Real Help for Mom's Dealing with Anger by Julie Ann Barnhill

Ok I know that this is a short list but it will get longer the more I read these blogs.

Does anyone have any good Christian book selections for me to add to my list?

Not Me! Monday ... Oh wait it's Tuesday!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

No not me ... I definitely did not want to rear end almost all the drivers on the road. I love all people so I definitely would not call them morons and idiots ... No not me!

No not me ... I would never ever let me son sleep in the clothes he wore the same day because it would be easier than to change him into p.j.'s while he was sleeping. I have a strict evening routine and I would never ever let watching The Bachelor stop me from it .... No not me!

No not me ... I would never ever eat an entire bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs ... I never eat junk food that is just disgusting to eat soooo much chocolate that my stomach was sick and yelling at me for the rest of the day. ... No not me!

No not me ... I would never ever log onto my computer first thing in the morning to read everyone's new blog posts. I have a life and a job and a child! ... No not me!

No not me ... I do not find myself talking about fellow bloggers as they are my best friends and cyber blog stalk them ... No not me!

I hope everyone is having a great week.

Mindy

Purpose

I am not really sure how to start this post. I have been thinking about my purpose for awhile now. As far back as I can remember I felt like I had an extra special calling. Although I am not sure what that extra special calling is quite yet. I felt like God wanted me to put my stamp on this world. That he would use my life as an example or he would use it for some type of good work.

I could be a missionary and spread word of His love to people who may never heard of Him before. I could be a photographer and show the world the beauty God has created for us to enjoy that we usually walk right past. I could be a public speaker and share my story of having a drug addicted father. I could be an author and write a book that can change someones life. I could be a teacher and influence our children.

Instead, I put paperwork together for people who seem to look right through me. In their eyes I am someone who stands in their way of getting back in their car and going home.

What kind of purpose is this?

I am touching no one. I am affecting no one. I am not speaking God's word to anyone.

I want something more! I want God to show me what my true purpose is.

I am going to furiously pray to God that he shows me my purpose. I am going to pray that I won't have any fears when I hear my purpose. I am going to pray that I can hear God's voice telling me my purpose.

Dear Lord,
I trust that you will show me my purpose in life.
I trust you that you will give me strength in everything and anything
I am called to do. Show me the way. Show me the direction you want
my life to go. I am Yours Lord. Fill me with Your spirit. I am Yours.
Do with me what you will and I will obey.
I am ready to start anew.
I am ready to hear Your voice.
Calm my fears. Give me Your strength, Your love, and
Your will and I will follow.
Lord hear my prayers.
In Your name I pray
Amen

Good Enough

If you know me you probably know that I tend to be on the perfectionist side. Granted my house isn't always in perfect order, my errands don't always get done, my to do list is miles and miles long, and I am never on time for anything but everything I do get done I want it done to PERFECTION!

At work I do my best and always give it my all. I take it very personally when someone doesn't approve of what I have done. In my personal life I always try to be a perfect. I want the "perfect" child and the "perfect" relationship. That never happens by the way.

Trying to reach perfection is exhausting! In addition to my perfection seeking behavior I am a people pleaser. I want to make everyone happy even if it makes me miserable. I want everyone to like me, I want everyone to think I am doing a good job in my life, I want them to think I am making the right life choices, and I want them to think I am a good Christian.

I am incredibly hard on myself and I also judge myself on what other people might think. I am exhausted!

When is good enough, good enough.

I need to allow myself to be good enough. I need to allow myself the margin of error that I give everyone else. But that is so hard. I want to be the best mother, the best employee, the best friend, the best girlfriend, and the best daughter. I want to be counted on.

It is obvious that all this pressure I am feeling, I put on myself.

So ... starting today good enough is enough for me. Well I am going to try and some days may not always be easy. I will be telling people NO. I will be only allowing as much on my plate that I can handle. I am shuffling my priorities. I am going to do things for me and not for everyone else. At the end of the day, I need to make me and my son happy.

**My New and Improved Priorities**

God
I need to make my relationship with God top priority because I want to be filled by Him. Through him all things are possible. He knows the plans He has for me and they are way better than anything I have in mind.


Jacob
God has given him to me and it is my responsibility to raise him with God in his heart. He deserves a mother who does not yell and bark orders at him. He needs to have a mother who works around his schedule and not the other way around. He deserves the best of me.

My Family
It is easy to put your family (i.e. - Mom and brothers) on the back burner for other things going on in your life. I don't want to be that kind of daughter or sister.

In my quest for good enough status I am going to reorganize, stratagize, and wake up earlier to meet my Maker. Starting off with a meeting with God will put my day on the right path. I am going to pray for energy. I am going to pray for strength. I am going to pray that God's will be done for me each day.

Not me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

*I most certianly did not beg my 5 year old to tell me what I could do to get him to listen to me. He did not respond with "Mommy, I always listen to you" Could have fooled me!

*I also did not ground him after he knocked the tv off the stand while trying to get a Lego that he threw behind the tv. My child would never throw things or disobey my rules.

*I would never ever pray to God to help me to stop yelling at Jacob so much. I would never yell I always handle things with a calm voice and I never loose my composure.

*After the alleged TV accident, I would never never never pull the cords out of the back of the playstation, grab the game controller, and hold them out in front of Jacob declaring them "Mine Now"

*Then in pure desperation this morning I would never log onto the church's website and sign up for the "Effective Parenting in a Defective World" small group. I most certianly have the parenting thing down pat.

Now that I have shared my Not Me Monday ... give it a shot yourself. Clear your head and your conscience of the things you may or may not have done.