Irony Update

Well, I know you are waiting with bated breath to know what happened yesterday while TV shopping...but you are going to have to wait. I have a much more exciting story to tell first.

Yesterday, as we were headed out into the rain to find our new "black hole"(just kidding sweetie). We came upon a car that was stalled half way in the street and half way in the drive of a shopping center. We passed it, but Rock found another turn in and pulled up to help the person push their car out of the street. The driver was a lady, dressed to the nines for a meeting. Rock tried to push her up the drive, but it was raining and he was wearing dress shoes. He found a strap in the back our our Suburban and was able to tow the car onto a level surface before it broke, then he was able to push her into the parking lot where she could safely wait for the tow truck. Now, this is a good story in and of itself, but the really neat part of it was happening in the Suburban where we were staying dry.

The kids asked me what Daddy was doing, and I told them he was helping the lady in the car because her car was broken down. Professor asked me why. I reminded him about the story of the Good Samaritan, and while this lady was not in a life and death situation she still needed our help. Daddy was helping because it was the right thing to do. We watched as many cars went around Rock in the street, as even more cars passed on the other side leaving the drive, as perfectly capable people (even men dressed to be in the rain) went in and out of the stores right there by the drive, and no one helped the one person trying to help another person in a pouring rain.

The kids were extremely impressed with their Daddy... "Wow! Daddy can push a car?!" "Daddy is doing what Jesus would want him to do."... And we got to talk about how we are to help people even when it isn't convenient, fun, or easy. What a terrific example of Christian behavior Rock was to his babies.

Now to leave the wonderful and go on to the simply material.

Yes folks, that is 47" of TV. We got a great deal, and of course Rock is thrilled with it. As far as the Wii goes, well that is another post.

Oh the Irony....

So, last night Rock goes to our local hardware store and gets some new backer board to fix our wabbly TV cabinet. After he fixes the cabinet we are going to rearrange all the electronics, hook up our new ClearPlay DVD player, and the Wii (more on that later). So everything is running smoothly, the cabinet is fixed and very sturdy, and we put the TV in the cabinet. Well, lets just cut to the chase.

The TV fell out the front of the cabinet! I hear this loud thump that sounds like a toilet lid slamming down and come into the living room to find my very irritated husband setting the TV upright on the ground. Okay, so the irony is...we have a very sturdy TV cabinet, a brand new DVD player, and a brand new Wii...all of which we can't use because we no longer have a TV. Well, we're going shopping in about half an hour so I'll let you know what happens when we get back.

Fruit

You never really know what God is up to in the lives of your children, until you see the fruit there of.

Christ laid claim to Professor's life Sept 8, 2006, and since then we have seen many battles going on with his flesh. However, we have also seen him soften to the commands of God and we have seen him heartbroken over his disobedience (even when we didn't know he had been disobedient). More recently we have seen Christ working in Professor's heart about his concern for other people. For example:

This past Tuesday Professor had his first Little League practice. During that practice one of the boys was just being a little bit of a pill, kicking dirt, throwing sand, giving little shoves. Aparently, I'm telling this second hand via Rock, during the huddle at the end of practice this little boy began focusing his efforts on another little boy, and Professor called him on it. "You stop picking on him. You can't treat people like that. You need to be nice to people." Well, when Rock told me this story, I was a little giddy. All that teaching, all that hard work was finally paying off.

Then last night Professor told me about the boy on his team who was "being a bully." He didn't tell me about what he had done, but he told me that he wanted to be friends with this boy, but didn't know if he should because the boy was being mean. Then he said the words I didn't expect to hear, "I think (boy's name) needs to have Jesus in his heart." Blow me down and pick me up! He's getting it! He is beginning to really understand the difference between a heart for Christ and a heart for self.

It is humbling to realize that it was not my discipline and teaching that made that difference in his life, because I fail far more often than I succeed. It is amazing to see God work in the lives of your children. I am excited to see what Christ has in store for Professor.

Playing Catch Up!!!

I didn't realize how much had happened in February until I started trying to publish a post that encompassed everything that had happened. Needless to say I don't think I have that much time...at least not today.

So to sum up...

Baby J had his first solid food. Brown rice cereal and milk, and really liked it. He also likes apple sauce and carrots, but his favorite is avocado. The jury is still out on green beans.

We spent an evening with some friends, and needless to say Baby J

was in the center of the action.

February also saw the return of Z-Man. Who fit right back into his routine with us after a 4 month sabatical for me to take care of Baby J.

Momma Monk and I attempted a sewing marathon while our Darling Hubbies went to a hockey game. We had grand ideas that we could sew 3 simple little girls' skirts while taking care of 8 children ages seven and under (2 of whom are nursing babies). Needless to say, it took us 7+ hours to finish one skirt. I finally finished the Princess' skirt, and here is what it looks like.

Baby J got to see snow for the first time. He was only mildly interested.

The kids are saving money to purchase a Wii, so we institued child slave labor. Believe it or not the kids actually put the stamps and lables on straighter than either the Rock or I. They are saving their money to buy a Wii.

Now for some beautiful pictures of my beautiful family.

AWOL

I had no idea that so many of my family read my blog. As far as I knew it was only read by the people who's blog is linked to mine. However, I have been reprimanded by my Mother over the phone and by my Sister-in-Law via comment to my last post.

Things have been a little crazy around here. Kids have been sick on and off, I've been sick on and off, Rock's in the middle of tax season, homeschooling, the little boy I babysit is back after a sabatical, and I am in conquest of keeping my house and myself clean using only natural cleaners. So needless to say, something had to go by the wayside.

The cleaning stuff is pretty cool. I first made my way to my local library and checked out a book called Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck. It was very helpful, although I had to be convinced to actually read a housekeeping book. There was a lot of scientific information that is way cool, but at the time, all I really wanted was a recipe for an all purpose cleaner. Well once I finally got over my expectations and read the thing I really got interested. I mean, who knew that vinegar is pretty much the best thing to clean anything.

Right now in my cleaning arsenal I have baking soda, borax, vinegar, a small piece of copper wire, Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap and hydrogen peroxide. To tell you the truth I was expecting it to clean. But, I was not expecting it to clean as well as it did. Not only did it remove the regular every day dirt, but it also cleaned off the residue left by the chemical cleaners I had ben using. I even made up some of my all-purpose cleaner for the church nursery, because the nursery coordinator and we mothers didn't like the idea of washing the toys that go in our children's mouths with chemicals that they would again put in their mouths.

So, here is the recipe that I use.

Sarah's Natural All-Purpose Cleaner
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp castile liquid soap - like Dr. Bronner's - or dish soap if you don't have the latter
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cups hot water
spray bottle

Combine the baking soda, soap, and vinegar in the bottle. Allow the baking soda and vinegar to react and some of the bubbles to subside before pouring in the water. It is important to allow the bubbles to subside before adding the water as this little amount of soda and vinegar fill my 24 oz spray bottle with bubbles. Adding the water to early will give you a nice pile of bubbles flowing out of your bottle.

To use simply spray on surfaces and wipe with a cloth. Then let your house smell like you have been coloring Easter eggs until the vinegar does it's job. Then once the vinegar has dried completely you will be left with fresh smelling house because after all, vinegar is a natural air freshener as well.

Why Buy Expensive Toys?

Thought you could use a laugh...Blessings!

Recovery

Having a bad head/chest cold will put you out pretty fast, but not as fast as having that same cold while trying to take care of four chilren who also have said cold. We have all been sick here, even Rock, and I am so glad that it is over. It has been three weeks since I have been able to go to church because of sickness, and I am missing it so much. However, because I am a staunch believer in keeping your germs to yourself, we stayed home yesterday.

Everyone woke up in a pretty good mood, though still caughing and hacking a little, and Rock and I decided that it was time to do the post sickness cleaning. So, everyone got a bath, all the bed linens got changed and washed, and the house got a through cleaning. Today, we are all up to about 98%, and I'm praying that tomorrow will bring us back to 100%.

Now, the thing that I give credit to helping us along our recovery is that in typical Texas freaky weather style it is 80 degrees outside. I have the windows open and am enjoying that awesome fresh air. It's amazing how much better you feel when you aren't breathing recycled air. Can you feel that nice coolish breeze? You know the kind that just flutters the sheers over the window. I know that some of my readers are going to be jealous, but don't be. Tonight it is supposed to rain and be 40 degrees tomorrow.