Twas the Light Before Christmas

So I had the best "worst" day ever in the grocery store. Bailey & Kylie were SO good but Delaney was a MENACE! She wouldn't stop crying and we couldn't make her happy. I tried to put her to sleep, I tried to feed her, I turned her upside down and tried to shake the "bad" out of her (just kidding on that last part)

I finally just gave up, put my list in my pocket and headed to the register with only half my groceries. While checking out, Bailey started to sing to Delaney to keep her happy. I have heard her sing Twas the Light Before Christmas from our Choir Christmas Pageant so many times that I tend to tune it out
Then I heard people begin to comment, "Who IS that?" "Is that a radio?" "That is beautiful!" "Where does she sing?" I stopped for a moment and hyped the Children's Christmas Program this coming Sunday and then I finished paying and started to leave. A lady caught us at the end of the registers and asked Bailey if she would sing again. So she stood up in the buggy and began to sing, just the way Mrs. Katheron Reynolds Latham has taught her, clearly and plainly and without fidgeting or being silly. She drew a crowd of about 6-8 shoppers who stood quietly with smiles until she stopped. When she finished a lady came to me in tears and said, "Of all the things I will remember about this Christmas, this will be the one I remember most. That was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard and she is such a beautiful little girl."
Now, I will admit that as a parent, I have my share of pride in my own child, but this was one of those times that I was so touched I was almost in tears myself. It really made a bad experience beautiful and I was so touched by knowing that even at only seven years old, she was a blessing to someone who needed it this Christmas season.

Twas the Light before Christmas
When all through the land
Wisemen did follow
Cross oceans of sand
To worship the Christ Child
In Bethlehem
Twas the Light before Christmas
That shown through the land

So thankful for His Light and a little girl that belongs to Him and lets it shine through her.

Merry Christmas!!!

What to do today?

One Diva Three Dolls is available on Facebook and Etsy! You can log onto your FB account and access it by typing "One Diva Three Dolls" in the search field. You can also find me on http://www.etsy.com/ and order from there too! Woo Hoo! In the words of Truvy from Steel Magnolias, "I'm a chain!" (sort of).
I have finally branched out to include some super cute boy stuff and made an adorable outfit for my middle daughter who is in Pre-K.
So, today, my van is in the shop, hubby is off to Atlanta to pick up my new machine and I am stuck at home unable to leave. What to do what to do???? I don't have all the materials I need to catch up on all my orders and can't go get them, so I have to work with what I have.
So, I am going to make an outfit for Bailey, make a Christmas pillowcase dress to advertise and, wait for it........gonna try something new...again.
Today, thanks to my dear friend, Sherri, I have new cute fabric. It is BRIGHT green with bubbles so today I will be attempting a crayon roll. I have seen these cute little rolls on websites and in other shops, so today I will see if I can add to my gender neutral selection with this. I'll let you know how it goes (the last one ended up in the scrap bin...rick rack is NOT my friend!)

Off to sew (Sighs dramatically)

One Diva Three Dolls

I'm so easily led astray...first my friend Jana talked me into blogging and now my friend Nancy has talked me into starting a business! Actually, she has really just encouraged me. I have been searching for a long time for a business that I could do from home, something that I would enjoy and would help supplement our income without taking me out of my home too much. I have looked at several direct sales companies and had really thought I was ready to commit to one.
Then my cable went out. It's a long story, but the cable company messed up and we ended up without cable TV but with cable internet for about a week. Since I was looking for something to do, I decided to browse the 'net. This isn't something I do often, but hey, I had no TV to watch and I wasn't sleepy. Cleaning my house was done for the day and the girls were all in bed. I had finished my library book and had some time to kill...so I started reading my friends' blogs. Then I noticed the blogs they followed and started to read them. Someone mentioned handmade halloween costumes and I thought, "Hey, I could do that."
Hmmm...famous last words...or first words depending on how you look at it, because that was the seed that is growing into "One Diva Three Dolls."
I began researching how to guides online. Then one of my girls brought me a hairbow that had fallen apart. "Well, I could duplicate that." I thought...and so I did...again, and again, and again, and again!
The Halloween costumes turned out super cute and a friend saw them...add another costume. Then I told another friend about them at a party and showed her a picture...add two more costumes.
I made dresses for my daughters to wear to church on Halloween...add two more dresses...and so it begins.
My friend Nancy (my first dress order) told me she had been thinking all day of a name for my company. She came up with the One Diva because, hey, let's face it, that's just what I am! And of course, the three dolls are for my own real life dolls, Bailey, Kylie and Delaney. And so One Diva Three Dolls is born.
I'm currently taking orders for holiday dresses, rompers and bows at onediva3dolls@aol.com and have a page on Facebook called One Diva Three Dolls. I'm working hard on Christmas and am excited about what God has in store for me as I start this venture.
I'm currently praying for an embroidery machine, so if you wanna donate one...

Fall Fun Begins

We just rolled in from our first official fall activity! Nothing says fall like a cook out with hot dogs, chili, chips, apple cider and of course, a bonfire complete with s'mores and a hay ride! We had a great time. I was entertained on the hay ride by a very intelligent conversation with the sic-year-old son of a friend of mine. When I mentioned that I enjoyed talking to him as I had never had that opportunity, he answered as only a matter-of-fact six-year-old can, "Well, we're talkin' now." Made me smile!
I also enjoyed playing with the girls and watching Delaney experience all these things for the first time!
On the way home, we decided to sing a little bit so Kylie sang her version of Zacheus followed by "the round and around song" also known as "Only a Boy Named David." At the end of the song, after the giant came tumbling down, I thought this would be a great time to see if she had learned anything from our talks about David and Goliath. So I asked her, "Kylie, what happened to the giant when the stone hit him?"
"It knocked him flat!" she yelled.
"That's right," I said. "Then what did David do?"
"Wella (her version of the word 'well'), he took his sawwed ('sword') and CUT OFF HIS HEAD!" Again, she was very loud and very excited.
"Very good," I said. "Then what did he do?"
There was just the slightest of pauses before she said very matter of factly, "He ate him."
After I caught my breath from laughing I explained that he did not eat Goliath but instead cut off Goliath's head with Goliath's own sword and then carted it on a pike back to the Israelite camp so they would all be reminded that their God was bigger than the Philistines.
"Oh," she said. "And then they ate him?"
I'm still not sure where she got this idea but it was a long conversation of why it wasn't good to eat other people...even if they are already dead. She and her older sister couldn't get why it was okay for animals to eat each other but not people. I think they get it now...I hope...

Missionaries

Mark 16:15

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

I’ve always been fascinated by missionaries.  As a “PK” I had frequent contact with missionaries growing up.  In my childhood I had the opportunity to get to know missionaries as they would visit with us while on furlough.  When I was a kid I had a friend named John Torres.  His parents were missionaries to New Mexico and they lived behind our church in their RV for about six months.  John and I hung out constantly and ran all over town together.  He and his family came back when touring churches several years later and our friendship was instantly renewed to the way it had been.  We were teenagers by then, but he and his sister Christine and I were inseparable for the time they were with us.  To be completely honest, I don’t know where God has taken John and Christine in their adult lives, but I do think of them every now and then and pray for God’s hand in their lives. 

Of course, of all my childhood missionary family experiences, none could top the Silveiras family.  When I was about nine we had an entire family of missionaries (the Silveiras’ — a couple with their six children) living in a pop-up camper in our backyard.  The camper belonged to my grandparents and they loaned it to my parents for the missionaries since they had no home in the states.  I don’t remember much about the Silveiras family (I was only nine after all) but I do remember the ketchup.  Yes, you read right — ketchup.  See, the Silveiras’ had spent their lives ministering in the parts of Brazil that you never see on travel brochures.  They had never tasted that wonder of American culinary masterpieces, the condiment of condiments — ketchup.  Now, personally I don’t really care for ketchup unless I am really in a mood to have it on my french fries.  But these folks were amazed by it.  They put ketchup on everything!   And by everything, I mean everything.  Trust me when I say that it is an experience not to be forgotten when you witness someone who is not in the stages of advancing pregnancy dump a large glob of ketchup into a bowl of ice cream and tuck in!  They loved ketchup — in bottles, in jars, in those little foil packets you got in the drive through (which was a whole other marvel to them as well).   The problem was they were so in love with the whole concept of ketchup that they missed out on a variety of other tasty condiments and meal compliments (and often missed the taste of a meal itself by covering it with ketchup).  It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget (and now neither will you thanks to that ice cream reference!).

It strikes me now as an adult that throughout my entire childhood, teen years and young adulthood that whenever I think of missionaries I think of the Torres’ and the Silveiras’ living in our backyard and becoming our friends.   It reminds me that missionaries are more than just a photo on a card that you stick to your refrigerator with a cute little magnet.  They are more than the tired-looking family in slightly out of date clothes traveling the countryside reporting on their successes.  They are more than endless slide shows of toothless grins and dirty toddlers.  Our missionaries are real people with real needs. 

But what about us? Aren’t we supposed to be missionaries too?

You may think that you don’t have a place with missions.  You may think that since you are too old, too young, too infirm or too whatever to actually go to the mission field that you cannot be a missionary.  Our church motto is “Across the street and around the world.”  If you can’t go around the world, you can cross the street. And while scripture tells us to “go out into all the world” that can also mean the widow on the corner or the struggling single mom down the street.

There are a number of ways to think of those sharing God’s word throughout the world.  Don’t let your concept of missions be limited to ketchup.  You know, you can’t make a meal out of ketchup.  As much as you like it, it’s still just a condiment meant to compliment a dish not be the dish and even though we couldn’t convince the Silveiras family, it’s still just one of many condiments.  So many times I think that when we think of missionaries and mission work, we think we can’t be involved because we can’t go to the mission field.  We can’t be the ketchup on the Gospel meal.  But we don’t have to be ketchup.  We can be mustard, mayo or my personal fave, ranch dressing.  There are so many ways to serve and so many ways to be involved.  Don’t be like the Silveiras family.  Don’t limit your focus to one taste.  God didn’t.  Just as He created different people groups that need to be ministered to, He created different people types to minister.  In doing so, He also created many different ways to minister.  If you’re ketchup, great, but if you’re not, don’t give up.  We can each be a tasty way to deliver the Gospel meal to those who are hungry.  Ask God to use you in any way He sees fit and your flavor will always be the perfect compliment to His message.

Fall Break Staycation

A friend of mine suggested that I post some of the things we will be doing for fall break this year. Since a complete trip to Disney is out of the question, we have decided on a Stay-cation instead. We are really excited about all the things we are planning on and thought we would throw out some of our ideas. Obviously if you aren't in the Hamilton County area, these won't work for you, but consider finding like ideas in your own area. Also, to my out of town readers, we have a full week for Fall Break so that makes a big difference too.
Here are some of our ideas and prices. The prices are based on a family of 5 with 4 members being over the age of 2 and one being under 2. So basically, these are prices for an average family of 4.
Six Flags over Georgia $34.99 per person ($139.96) plus $15.00 for parking
  If you go on the 16th, they are open 10 am to 10 pm and giving out candy. Kids under 12 can also dress up in non-scary costumes.
Dollywood $55.90 for adults and $44.70 for kids ($201.20)
TN Aquarium and IMAX $29.95 adults and $19.95 kids ($99.80
TN Aquarium only $24.95 adults and $14.95 kids ($79.80) There is a $10 off coupon in the Kids First Coupon book making this price $69.80, but an annual family pass is only $115.00
Lake WinnepeSPOOKah is probably one of the priciest value-wise, but does include unlimited rides. The dates are limited so you might want to check their website. It's $22.00 per person, but specially marked receipts from McDonald's are good as $2 off coupons making this $80 for a family of four.
The Creative Discovery Museum is $10.95 per person, but the KidsFirst Coupon Book has a buy one get one free coupon in it. We have 2 books, so we will be going for $21.90 for a family of four.
The Chattanooga Zoo is only $1.00 on Wednesdays so a family of four on Wednesday is ONLY FOUR DOLLARS!!!!
Also, the Regal Hamilton Place cinema is only $1.00 on Wednesday, so you could go to the zoo for $4.00, then have a picnic lunch in the adjacent park and hit the movies for another $4.00! Just watch that "golden" popcorn at the movies, they still charge $15.00 for popcorn and a drink!
Mayfield Dairy Farm in Athens is running their Fall Festival with corn maze too. That's $8.00 per person for a total of $32.00 for a family of four. If you would rather go to Riceville instead, the Guthrie Farm is only $28.00 for a family of four, but I would advise checking them both first.
Then of course, there is always camping at Harrison Bay State Park which is only about $20 a night but you do need your own tent/camper. It's a beautiful spot though and if you're the camping type, I highly recommend it.
I have heard rumor of an indoor pool somewhere in our area, but have yet to confirm info on that. If you have any, feel free to leave it here.
Anyway, hope you enjoy your fall break. We figured to do everything we want to do for the entire week will cost us around $250.00 but we probably won't have time to do everything anyway!

By the way, if you are interested in taking a trip down to Florida (go for us since we couldn't), here's some info for down there too:
5 day/4 night stay in a luxury one bedroom condo (sleeps 4): $375.00
Disney's Not So Scary Halloween Party: $227.80 (parking $15.00)
SeaWorld's Spooktacular: $167.90 (parking $15.00)
Keep in mind that SeaWorld is still offering their "buy one adult ticket, get a child's ticket for $5" so that makes a big difference. The dates for these activities are limited and the Disney is separate from any other regular park admission, so don't go in the morning or you will have to pay twice. The SeaWorld Spooktacular is included with regular admission so if you go on the right day, you will have lots of time to play!

Enjoy your fall and your fall breaks.

But I just cleaned, honest!

So every day I clean my house. At least some part of my house, anyway. I usually spend most of the morning picking up toys and putting away clothes. Mondays are my laundry day. I try to get as much laundry done on Mondays as possible so that my husband doesn't have as much to do the rest of the week. (My amazing hubby does random loads of laundry throughout the week while I try to do the bulk on Mondays) Today I just wanted to sit on the floor and play with the baby, but I did my work like the dutiful Mommy I am.
But, the baby wanted to play...with everything I had just put away. She toddled behind me all day dragging back out everything I had so carefully put back in it's respective closet, bucket, basket or bin. By the end of the day, when one of my students came over, I had to stand at my door and say, "I've been cleaning all day, honest."
But you know it made me stop and think. How often do we do that to God? We have a revival or crusade (Ronnie Hill was just at our church) or a particularly powerful service or choir special and we just really put our all out there for God. "Fix me, Lord," we say. "I'm letting go and I'm living the life you want for me. Clean my house and make me a vessel for You, an instrument for Your purposes." Then we watch while He cleans the cobwebs out of our hearts and picks up the "issues" we mess with, while He takes out the sin-trash and gets things ready for Him to fully occupy our hearts and lives. And what do we do? We toddle behind Him and randomly pick things back out. We drag out those hurt feelings so we can cry over them. We pull down the blocks of poor time management and scatter them across the floor of our hearts. We get out the dirty clothes of bitterness and grief and we mess around in the trash to pull out that gossip wrapper or the empty package of pride so we can play with them all again. Then we have nowhere to "play" anymore because everything is a mess and we go on a hunt for something else to do/feel.
Then we wonder why things got messy again. And He looks at us and says, "I just cleaned you out, honest. You're the one who won't leave it alone." 
"Well, Lord, this time I am leaving it be. You've cleaned it and I'll leave things where they are supposed to be. You cleaned out the mess and gave me the talent You wanted me to play with and I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna play with the gifts You gave me and let You decide when and where I will use them. And while I'm at it, I think I might like to take advantage of some of that perfect peace You give too."
Gonna crawl up in Daddy's Lap and take a little Sabbath Rest. G'night.

Did we move to Florida when I wasn't looking?

So, Bill went to take the girls out to the pool this afternoon while I stayed inside with the baby. I needed something out of the car and was heading outside when all of a sudden it started to POUR DOWN RAINING!!! Not a gentle late summer rain, but a full on gully-washing, tree-blowing down pour. I ran to the back garage door to find Kylie sobbing while trying to get her shoes on with the rain drenching her. I ran outside, snatched her up, carried her inside, ran back out for the towels and her other shoe, back inside again and out one more time to get Bailey inside. I was soaked! I mean, water dripping down in my eyes, hair plastered to my head, clothes dripping soaked! Here's the kicker, by the time we got in the house and I was putting on dry clothes...you guessed it...the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was JUST LIKE being in Florida!
I think God has a warped sense of humor too!

They're only 12!!!!

WARNING: CONTENT MAY BE CONTROVERSIAL TO THOSE WITH LIBERAL VIEWPOINTS. I AM A CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN AND AM NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION TO ALL WHO BELIEVE!!!!!!! IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THIS STAND, PLEASE KEEP YOUR COMMENTS TO YOURSELF. MY BLOG, MY CHALK, MY MARBLES, MY RULES!





I am in a bit of a tither this week. Some of my dear friends are struggling with our local school system about reading material for middle schoolers. I guess it's a sign that I'm getting old. When I was in school hmm...hmm...teen years ago, we read literature in literature class. We had books that had literary value, classics. Books like To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Fountainhead, Jane Eyre, Hamlet, The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the like. Yes, our school did assign books like The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men and 1984, but the parents had the right to have their child opt out if they found it objectionable. They had this right without negative repercussions from the school systems. My parents made that decision for me. I was not permitted to read The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, 1984 or Lord of the Flies when I was in high school. My parents would rather I not read the coarse language or gratuitous sex that was in these books. They WANTED me innocent of such things. And you know what? It didn't hurt me any that I didn't read them. Did I eventually read them? Yes, when I was an adult and had a clearly established set of values and morals. THESE CHILDREN ARE 11, 12, 13 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!
And they were told that if they had a problem with the content of 1984, then it was because they were immature. Well, duh!!!!! Of course they are immature!!! They are CHILDREN!!!!!!!! They are not supposed to have the maturity of an adult to deal with these things. And for the teacher to say that she is going to count it against them in their final grade if they do not read some of these books (and let's face it, there really isn't that much literary value The Outsiders either) is absolutely ludicrous!!!!!!!

Here is the REAL literary value...the REAL lesson...the REAL truth and the REAL reality...


Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children: and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But FORNICATION, and ALL UNCLEANNESS, or COVETOUSNESS, let it NOT be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither FILTHINESS, nor FOOLISH TALKING, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For THIS YE KNOW, that NO WHOREMONGER, nor UNCLEAN PERSON, nor COVETOUS MAN, who is an IDOLATER, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU WITH VAIN WORDS: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. BE NOT YE THEREFORE PARTAKERS WITH THEM. For ye were sometimes darkness; but NOW ARE YE LIGHT IN THE LORD: WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT: (for the fruit of the Spririt is in ALL GOODNESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUTH;) proving WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE UNTO THE LORD. And HAVE NO FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS, BUT RATHER REPROVE THEM. For it a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret...See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL.
Ephesians 5:1-12, 15, 16 (emphasis mine)

I honor those parents who are standing for truth. I honor those students who went directly to their parents and said, "Mom, this is wrong. This is not the way we believe." I honor those parents who are sticking together and standing up for what is right. It is you who pave the way for my young children who will have much worse to deal with in 6-10 years. You are the ones who are making a way for us to be able to stand when it is our turn. It is your testimony that I will look back on when I have this fight myself and it will be because of your commitment to what is right that I will be able to not back down when my turn comes. Keep up the fight and keep the faith. Those who come behind you are blessed by your example!!!!

Miss Clairol, where art thou???

So, I'm sitting in the car wondering how in the world I'm gonna get Miss Cranky Pants out of her car seat without waking her when I look in the rear view mirror and think, hey...what's that shiny thing in my hair? So I pull on it and it's attached. Yep, you guessed it...it was my own hair. Two inches of shiny gray with a brown end. And here all this time I thought when my roots grew out, they'd just be a different shade of brown. Not so!
It's not that I'm a stranger to gray hair. Like my dad, I've had it since I was a teen, but then I was blonde and it was really hard to find. Three babies and eighteen years of who knows what kind of free radicals later, I really have no idea what my natural hair color actually is. When I was in my twenties, I was told at an expensive salon that they had clients who paid hundreds of dollars for those shades of blonde, gold and red in that perfect balance. What happened to THAT hair?
And whatever happened to that perfectly coiffed chic who used to be able to style her hair in multiple ways with nothing more than a clip, fingers and mousse? Now it takes three brushes, a hair dryer, a pick, two combs, a flat iron, a curling iron and eight different styling products that I can't even pronounce to get...straight hair that flies everywhere and lays flat on my head. Well, flat except for that weird cowlick in the back of my hair at my neckline that makes one side look shorter than the other. But, hey, as I was told, "assymetrical bobs are still all the rage this fall." But I LIKE symmetry. I like for both sides of my hair to look like they belong on the same head. I LIKE my hair to be one color with tones and shades instead of seven different colors that make me look like a bad hair academy experiment!
So I guess I'm off to Wal-Mart this afternoon to stand in front of the hair color aisle and contemplate between "Rich Mohogany" and "Bountiful Brunette."  And since I already have too many "bountiful" parts, maybe I'll go for rich this time...

New to Blogging

So my dear sweet friend who is addicted to blogging told me tonight that I needed a blog. Apparently my life is amusing enough and occasionally inspiring enough to warrant being read. I have to confess that my vanity has always prevented me from starting a blog. What if no one reads it? What if people read it and think it/I is/am stupid? What if I just don't care?! So I decided to take her advice and start a blog. So here you will read my thoughts and the things that happen in my home.
Oh, wait, who am I? I am a wife, mother, homemaker, teacher, servant of God and all around goof ball. I sing in the choir at church, teach VBS every year and direct the drama productions at our church. I am wife to an amazing and wildly funny husband (we just celebrated our Fifteenth Anniversary...go us!) and the mother to three EXTREME DRAMA QUEENS!!! I am mother to a infant/toddler, a pre-schooler and a second grader. They are all girls, all beautiful and all very funny. Most of my stuff will be about them and their antics. The homemaker part I pretty much stink at unless I am decorating for a holiday or party. My house is cluttered and only fairly clean. You can eat off my kitchen floors...believe me, I know this for a fact because my one-year-old does it often. There is always food on the floor. Even right after I sweep...what's up with that? Although after the june-bug eating incident, D is much more cautious about what she eats off the floor. I think she has enforced a strict self rule of "no eating anything with legs" but other than that, pretty much everything else is fair game.
So, this is me and this is my blog. Don't know how often I will post, but probably a lot because apparently I like it when total strangers know all my personal business.
So until next time....