who's got puppy blues?

My doggie is gone. He was a good chap (when he wasn't biting harmless kids) and he will be missed. Like the way he stole food off the table, licking the babies mess clean off the floor, cuddling on the couch, the poo on the sidewalk instead of the grass, and the lovely way he lapped up water from our toilets. Ah, Yes, the beginning of each morn we would have to pass the Kipper smell test before leaving the house. His nose an inch away from our mouths, smelling if we had brushed or not. (he preferred the not)





He was a good and decent fellow, and the absence is felt.

I pray that a good family comes and gets him from the Humane Society. He is a gentleman when his tummy is rubbed the right way. Plus he loves to dance!

Sunday lounging was complete with him here.

Goodbye sweet pooch.

quite

The house is still in the mornings, and before the kids get up I find myself staring at the birds outside of my office window. They are such beautiful creatures. No point to be made, just observation.

Today is Aspen's birthday and we woke her up singing and with a pudding filled chocolate cake that she insisted I make. She had bought me this betty crocker fill n bake a year ago and I thought the instructions were to difficult, so in my cabinet it sat until the other day when I asked her to tell me what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. So I got the dust off of it and tried again to make sense of instructions. The cake turned out yummy, but my husband said it looked like a big breast. No matter how it looked, it was a great morning of cake and singing and opeing up of birthday presents.

finally

OK Mandy I am making a new post! I just now was able to get back on my account. Old age has made me forgetful I guess.

So much has happened since my last entry and I am having trouble trying to figure out where to begin.

Home schooling is going great and Aspen and I have found a new peace with each other. She has been jumping to my defence in a lot of situations, and a few times I have had to get her to back off of being such a guard dog. Mark calls her my little side kick. My mother in law does the English part of the lessons and leaves me with the math, science, and history. I am loving the time I get to spend each day in prayer and study with my daughter. The Lord knew this was something that would draw us closer to Him and to each other.

The home life is getting more peaceful as well. I find my husband outside on most nights reading his bible and trying to heal from his past hurts. So, although this journey has been long, I am glad to have taken the road I did.

Not having to go to work is AWESOME!!!! So thankful not to have to deal with a certain stress that will remain nameless. I am still working on Sundays as an Adult Sunday School Coordinator. Still not too sure what all this involves, other than making coffee of course. :)

We just went on a trip to Mount Lemon with the middle school kids from our church. This is a picture of Aspen blowing up the giant soccer ball. She really is full of hot air.

Also, April is birthday month for my girls. Jordan had a great party at the Oro Valley Park and instead of getting presents she decided to have people donate money to a charity of her choice. She chose Teen Challenge which helps get troubled teen help to fight addictions. She raised 290 for the place! But, most of all she felt so wonderful doing it. She knows first hand how drugs can ruin people and she had tears in her eyes when we were reading the website the Teen Challenge has. She does not want any other family to go through what she went through with her Biological father. I think my daughter has a real heart for God, and I am so thankful for her.

Shakespeare festive is coming up and with this time comes hurt feelings with Aspen, but joy with Jordan. Jordan has many speaking lines in her 2nd grade program, while Aspen was not allowed to participate in the program at all. I hope all goes well, and will be putting pictures up of the event. Cornerstone is such a blessing.

I was nominated for secetary of the Cornerstone school board for the next year. YEAH!!!!!! Ballots go out next week and this is a weird situation for me as I have never ran for anything before.

That is all for now, but will try to go into more detail later on

hiding under the cover. you can't see me!

I have been feeling a bit stressed lately, and I feel that my personal relationships are hurting from it. I am having trouble getting over the little things and blowing up at anyone. I think that it is just that I feel that a lot of things are getting out of my hands and I can't reclaim them.

Mark is still holding a grudge for what he feels was an unnecessary outburst. I threw fruit at him after he messed up again. not just any kind of fruit, but rotten bananas and grapes. they were the closest thing to me at the time of explosion. In my defence, they were better than apples and oranges. these were just mushy. I was just so angry and hurt and words failed me. Hard to see me without words, but it happened! the fruit hit the Mark (literally)

Things will get better. God is using this hard time as a stepping stool for something better in the future.

I have such a sense of "whatever" at the moment. the fruit will have to be cleaned off the Mark though.

Wedding at Tubac

What a romantic time we had at our friends wedding this last Saturday. It was a nice chance for my husband and I to drop the kids off and spend an evening as adults. Talking with adults about things other than kids. It was a beautiful service and the dinner afterward was yummy!

These are a few pictures of me and Mark at the wedding. Oh, and one of the awesome new shoes I bought of for the event. I love them!!!

I really enjoyed the event, and most of all, spending time with my boo.

Dinner for 8

OK, so I survived my first dinner for 8 hosting. It was actually a lot of fun! We cooked chicken and burgers and everyone else brought over side dishes and it was a great time of talking, eating, and watching kids go crazy.

My husband thought I would be all stressed out because I usually am when it comes to people coming over, but I think I was wonderful.(if I do say so myself)

My mother in law helped me in seeing that it is not how clean my house is but the fellowship that happens. It is silly to think people will judge me because of a messy house. I also did not want to spend all my time running around like a crazy person cleaning my house for people. Be Mary, not Martha.

Tomorrow we head to Tubac for a great stay at a glof resort and a wedding. I bought a beautiful dress with cute little shoes (if you can say any size 9 shoe is little) It will be nice to get away and just look at my husband without kids running around. It has been too long.

flowers

I love spring! The wonderful weather, the birds singing, and getting to play in the dirt in my garden!

I pulled weeds for over 2 hours, and there is still so many more. I keep thinking of the veggie tales movie as I am pulling them, and find I am humming the rumor weed song to myself. Of course I am doing all the funny voices of the characters as I joyfully pull them suckers out!

It is so true though, rumors can spread like weeds. I am so at fault and need to work in this area. It is so easy to talk about something awful you heard of someone else, but who does it really hurt in the long run? I think it ends up hurting the person who is gossiping, because people lose trust in that person. Why would you share something with someone who just told you the secret of another?

I guess it is something I need to work on as a personal goal.