So much to be thankful for...

Well, I haven't felt obligated to do this (blog) every day, but I have thought about it...does that count?!
Tractor Boy had his 6th set of ear tubes placed earlier in January. That was wonderful. He can hear everything now and he lets us know about it all the time. I am so thankful for modern medicine and that he did not experience a hearing loss this time. His ears were full of fluid but he was not deaf from it.
I am thankful for my family and friends. Danger Man flushed a cloth bib down the toilet some time on his birthday and it got hung up under the house and caused our downstairs toilet to GUSH poo water when the clothes washer upstairs was dumping water. This resulted in our entryway becoming a tiny retention pond. It was 10pm on Danger's 2nd birthday and Dear Hubby was offshore on a boat. Angel Girl was my calming angel telling me, "Don't panic Mom, nothing good can happen when we panic. Just be calm." Then I heard, "Better than a Hallelujah" on the radio and finally understood the true meaning of that song even though its not my favorite song. I got our wet-dry vac out of the garage and started sucking up the poo water. Angel and Danger both fell in the poo water and Angel took care of it both times and hopped back downstairs with her pink cowgirl boots on "ready to help" ! The plumber came was here in 10 minutes and a very dear and now close friend and my amazing Mom came to help mop and sanitize. It might've taken me all night to clean it up if I hadn't had such angelic help. It was a birthday evening that I will never forget!!

Our family has been going non-stop since Halloween. Every weekend since Halloween we have had one weekend after another filled with activities. Most recently it has been birthdays and parties and showers and baptisms. Oh, and we are now GODparents!!! again! It is very exciting and a great honor and blessing to be Godparents of our new neice. We love her so much!!

This weekend we are hosting a sleepover of epic proportions. Most epic in attendance but I'm not afraid. It will be fun, loud, hilarious, but mostly fun. Angel Girl turns NINE and she totally deserves a huge bash with all of her girlfriends. It should be a memorable evening.

Since I posted last, so much has happened. At each happening I think to myself, "I should post this to the blog..." and then something else happens and I forget to post it. But I know that if you're following this, you probably understand where I'm coming from. So I'm not going to make any apologies, I just like to explain why I do things so that I'm not perceived as a flake. But, I cannot control how you perceive me...I can only make vain attempts at it! ;-)

Currently we are in the midst of a "Blue Norther" that has brought with it grisly temperatures in the teens with wind chills in the single digits. Can't remember when it's been this cold in Houston before. People are acting like idiots and it is just not acceptable. This is weather. Deal with it or stay home. But please don't get out on the roads and flip out when the wind blows. That is NOT okay.

I typically enjoy cold weather. But at times like this I am actually thankful for the brutal summers that we endure here, with blistering heat and wicked barely-sufferable humidity so that we do not have to shovel snow in the winters. I want to like snow. I like feeling like a kid on Christmas morning when I see snow. I wouldn't want to hate it or to live in a place where it was an inconvenience or a hassle. The rarity of a Houston snow is what makes snow special. So this makes me thankful for the yucky summers because they are what make the winters here so sweet.

I'm also thankful for electricity and that I'm not a pioneer woman or Amish. Not anything against the Amish, I actually think they have a really great thing going. I'm spoiled. I like warm toasty things when it is cold out and I like cool crisp air blowing in my face when it is 110 degrees out. I like those things. I'm very very thankful for those things.

I am thankful for the bad things that happened in my life because they shaped me into the person I have become today. I am who I am now because of people being horrible to me and me being horrible to others. I am the person I am now because I was broken and had a terrible attitude and hated myself and others and I changed.
People CAN change. I did. I even had friends when I was in that dark place. Most of them probably wouldn't believe who I've become. That's okay. If you're in my life now and you have been for over 15 years, I want to thank you for still being in my life. You have been with me through the dark and yucky me time and you have helped me be who I am today. God never left my side even though I turned my back on Him. I can do all things through Christ Who strenghtens me. His Grace is sufficient for me.

Until next time, peace be with you!

A Not-So-Brief History of All My Stuckeys

I have been going around and around with myself about starting a blog. What made me finally do it? I couldn't contain my happiness any longer. My blessings are bubbling over and I must share the sweetness that is my family, with all of you!

I am 35.
I am conservative (politically) and vote as such.
I am Catholic (and PROUD of it!).
I am married to a sweet, hard-working man, who will be referred to as Daddy. We were married on 2/20/1999! We met as freshmen in college in 1993.
I have three adorable earthly children, Lulu (aka...AngelGirl born 2002), BeeBop (aka...Tractor Man born 2004), and Juju (aka...Danger born 2009).
I drive a minivan.
I'm not good at gardening but I am composting.
I'm overweight but working on losing it.
My parents are still married and I have 2 sisters. One is married and has a boy and a girl that I LOVE! The other sister is working hard at an awesome career in environmental education.
I love reading, knitting, writing, crocheting, cross-stitching...but pretty much just get time for reading and writing.
My husband's parents are still married and live in "the country" on family land. We love to go out there and ride tractors, hunt, fish, play hard and relax.
We are omnivores, but are increasingly going organic.
We currently live in a dream house that we are renting but hope to buy one day.
We have been through the desert and are on the other side of it.
My husband and I are the co-coordinators for the Houston Retrouvaille community. When we were in the desert, Retrouvaille was our lifeline and it is through Retrouvaille that we are still married. We wouldn't have had Juju if it weren't for our commitment to Retrouvaille's program and working on making our marriage stronger over the last 5 years.
I have homeschooled Lulu since Kindergarten. She and Beebop both attended preschool, but the cost was too great and the logistics too complicated to continue to send them to school, and so, our homeschool is now in it's 4th year. We have our good days and our not-so-good days, but we persevere knowing that the rewards are great and the struggles are worth it.
I love our homeschool group. Such an amazing group of families and the support is incredible. Most of my friends are in this group.

People usually say to me "How do you really feel about that?!" because I don't mince words. Sometimes that comes off as rude, sometimes people think it's funny. If I hold it in, I feel as though I'm not being true to myself. But I do hold it in as social mores dictate and for the most part I do not blurt out my observations as if I had a disorder. If I have a problem with something that's happening, it eats away at me until I let it out...I have difficulty explaining why this happens. I usually have to sleep on things and formulate my response (with the help of prayer and The Holy Spirit) before I can respond to certain things. But I believe it is necessary to explain this because occasionally I may rant or exclaim my displeasure in other ways and I judge you need to understand that it's for my own good.

I often look at this world and I'm amazed at how rude people are, how selfish people can be, and I marvel at the politeness I see, the charity and chivalry that is still out there in a society that is increasingly ego-centric and self-serving.

Sometimes I may contradict myself.

Sometimes I mess up BIG.

Sometimes I just mess up.

Sometimes I make a mess before I can clean it up.

I have discovered that life is messy and I shouldn't apologize for my messes so much.

I have a BFA in Theatre (and an English minor) from Sam Houston State University. I graduated in 1997.
I wrote a book during NaNoWriMo 2008 and haven't done a thing with it.
I love taking pictures and don't do much with them but wish to find more time for scrapbooking because I miss it.
Sometimes I feel as if I cannot do it all, I can't pay attention to my kids, make their food, clean the house, do the laundry, keep things picked up, sweep the floor, take Beebop to therapy, manage his doctor appointments; but I do have a calendar and an ipad to help me stay organized. Some days are much better than others and on the days that are not better, I remind myself how good I really have it. I am blessed to be able to stay home and homeschool these sweethearts and I am so thankful. But SOMETIMES, I feel overwhelmed. Just sometimes. Please don't worry about me. I do my VERY BEST to focus on the positive. "Pollyanna" is STILL one of my favorite movies.

I manage a carepage for BeeBop and I hope to transition it to this blog so that I can feel more free to gush about everyone's accomplishments and cuteness without limits. I have not been good at managing the carepage in the last 18 months.

Having Juju has switched time into hyper-speed. It seems like yesterday that we were celebrating his 1st birthday and in 2 days Juju will be TWO! I just don't know where this year went, but it's certainly been very eventful.

I hope that through this blog I can get my thoughts out of my head, share the joys and trials of homeschooling in an honest and charitable fashion, share the cuteness and hilarity that is my kids and family, but mostly offer hope that there is more to life than working 12 hour days, that there is hope in faith, 24/7 motherhood, and tradition marriage.

And so it begins...

May God Bless you abundantly as He has me and my family.