cleaning tip from the dirty kitchen of Holly :)

Yep, that's right... a cleaning tip! :)

In my quest to use less chemicals, I ran across this tonight and had to try it out, it worked great! Luckily I thought to take before and after pictures.. mostly because I was so excited and calling Tony to come and see and he wouldn't get up, apparently he doesn't share my excitement when it comes to cleaning the microwave. 

Here's how it goes... 

View dirty microwave...

2 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, put in microwave for 5 minutes

remove bowl and wipe clean... really it's that easy. 

And the microwave smells yummy. I usually scrub with a Clorox wipe and then the first few things I cook/taste like lemon/bleach... not anymore! 

random summer blog

I really love NeedtoBreathe, like every song they have ever made! They are on my Pandora radio right now.

Speaking of music, praise team has been given two weeks off, I've seen a number of praise team members around town and we are all missing our fellowship with one another. What an awesome group of people who love God, love music and love praising Him, so glad to be apart of this ministry. Can't wait till next week when we resume our normal schedule!

I'm blogging in between researching and writing an essay for school, that is due at midnight... I call it multitasking... some might call it ADD

Tony's allergies are the worst they have ever been, don't know what  has him going but he's been snotty and coughing for a few days now... thinking we need another good rain to wash away whatever it is that has him clogged up.

We (me and the kids) went to the beach Monday with my friend, Jessica, too much fun and I love living in Florida! I have been missing holding a baby lately, maybe because lots of my friends are pregnant or just had babies, but I'll tell you at the beach I so enjoy having children! They run and jump and play and don't eat sand and sheltering them from the sun isn't a constant concern.

Fourth of July was great, we spent the day at the farm- cooking out and swimming, playing games and just being with family and close friends. Wouldn't you know I brought my camera and left it in the bag the whole time! Sophia has been begging for a camera, I'm half tempted to get her one just so I'll have pictures since I can't seem to remember to take them anymore!

I did contact the doctor regarding Sophia's seizure episode last week, he agreed that it was probably because of the change in her routine, although he did agree that such a relatively small change should not cause a break through seizure, that is the point of the medication, so when she comes in again he will order blood work to make sure her levels are therapeutic. She is due for an EEG and MRI in September, although I'm not thinking we will see a change in anything.

I haven't blogged much this summer, we've been outside living it up- or inside during the thunderstorms... either way we've kept busy, sometimes too busy. I remembered last week how quickly I forget that Sophia's medical needs are sometimes greater than I think- I mean why can't she go to reading camp in the morning come home take a nap and then hit VBS at night? She is good for me, she reminds me to slow down... and then sometimes I remind her.

My trouble now is when we are inside, slowing down, I'm not near as productive. I told myself come July I would start getting up early and getting myself back in the school routine.. since I slacked all of June- sleeping in and wearing pajamas as long as I could get away with it, but that July 1st deadline has come and gone and I'm still sleeping in and wearing pajamas as long as I can get away with it.. but Monday- Monday is the day I begin breaking the bad habit of sleeping until the kids need breakfast!

Don't laugh- well I know you are going to... Tony bought me... 'The Brazilian Butt Lift' I had been wanting it and he surprised me with it last week. I haven't cracked it open yet (get it butt lift, cracked it open, ahaha) but Monday- Monday is the day!

I'm going to need lots of prayers come Monday!

Did I mention that I found a farm, a farm to get organics from! Beef, pork, chicken, eggs, etc.  We have always purchased about 70% of our food organic but now, now I have found a cost effective, supporting local farmers, kinda way to eat organic and I am shouting it from the roof tops! Also, we are apart of an organic produce co-op so that makes getting produce way easier and affordable too.

So from NeedtoBreathe to organic food... you have been somewhat updated on the happenings around here, I'm off to love on the big sneezing guy in my bed who probably has toilet paper stuffed in his nostrils, so attractive don't ya think!?

answered prayers

Tonight our Sophi girl had what we believe to be a complex partial seizure, 

she's had this type of seizure before... 

it lasted about 12-15 minutes,

nothing new, just been awhile since we've seen one.

We'll get with the neurologist tomorrow and review the events from tonight 

but this has been a busy week and may just have been too much for our girl. 

Sleep schedule has been a little wonky, which means her medicine schedule has been a little off, not by much but maybe enough to cause a break through seizure? 

I don't know, we'll let the doctor determine that.

The reason I wanted to share though... for prayers of course, for the doctor and any tests he may or may not order, but most important, 

I have to share a lesson... you see today I was grumpy, tired and was ready for the kids to go to bed, I called out to God tonight, Lord give me strength to get these kids in bed!

I meant it but not in that prayerful kind of way more of a short tempered, I'm ready for this night to be over kind of way.. and then this... 

and as she struggled in the midst of a storm 

she would scream for me to hold her, 

then cry that I was holding her too tight, 

shivering and shaking that she was going to throw up, 

laying with her face on the side of the toilet.. 

you know what she did?

she prayed...

God please make this stop, 

let me just go to sleep, 

take away my hurt tummy and just let me go to sleep

Please God I'll do anything if you just make it stop

Through my tears, I kiss her damp hair and I pray with her 

because in that moment there is nothing else I can do. 

I sit on the floor with her, holding her close but not to tight

She tells me I sound far away

I'm right here baby.

God just let her know I'm right here.

During these seizures she is conscious but disorientated, 

she screams that I'm not close enough but I'm standing next to her

She cries in pain and that she is going to throw up but she's not sick

It is the most helpless feeling for this momma

So I pray...

I feel her heart rate slow down, the shivering and shaking subsides 

and in a matter of moments it's over.

She asks for me to carry her to bed and I sing a few songs

and her prayers for sleep are answered.

What an example of faith and peace that only comes for our Heavenly Father, 

she knows He is peace in the midst of the storm.

Oh, how much I learn from this baby, thank you God for blessing our family with her

and no more shouting to God for strength, at least not strength to get the kids to bed... 

just a boy and his cars...

a boy and his cars... 

 no cares in the world... 

 and then comes in a woman....

 she will will fix it (even though nothing needs fixed)

 he is patient for a while

 and then she tells him his boy cars need wives... 

that girl has 'fixed too much' and it's just a boy and his cars... 

looking up

People with special children know that no matter how many amazing people you know who have special children the challenges to each child are unique. While the diagnosis may be the same the struggles can be far different.

For the most part I am content and at peace, then every now and again I find myself standing in that dark and lonely place, feeling sad for my child, sorry for myself, feeling like no one understands and well... like God let me down.

It is the devil that would love to flood my mind with these negative thoughts.It's the human, fleshly side of me that lets these feelings come to surface, it's these feelings I would like to never pluck out on a keyboard, they are yucky and don't make me feel proud of myself as a child of God.

But it is these moments in suffering when I also find humility, encouragement and resolution in the words of my Savior.

It is these 'yucky' moments when I find myself on my knees and looking up...

Looking to the Father, the ultimate physician, healer, redeemer... my God.

And while I come to the cross, this broken, spoiled rotten, no good human... He has the power to pick me up and remind me who I am, whose I am and what my purpose is.

I was reminded just last week in a devotional that it is key for Christians to take the precious words from scripture keep them ready when troubles and temptation comes...

Here are some of the verses that I cherish when I find myself face on the ground at the cross on this day...


Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29



I am leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. John 14:27


And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28



For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11


and my favorite the one I share with my special gift from God...

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

honor and obey

Reading through this black and white composition notebook that I jotted down hundreds of different quotes and thoughts from the my get-away a few weeks ago...

I was trying to pick another one to share with you all... and since it came up in conversation this weekend I figured it's a good one to share with you all today....

The difference between honoring and obeying.... 

Watch out now! Those are two heavy words that I really don't like using... maybe it's my issues with authority... growing up these kind of words would make me run the opposite direction, kind of like the word submission (I'll save that for blog of it's own), back to the point... honor and obey....

Obey is the action and Honor is an issue of the heart

I scribbled this down in my notebook and put a big star next too it, I knew it was something I would need to come back to for myself and my children... they share their mother's authority issues 

(remember caught not taught). 

Children are called to obey their parents

Colossians 3:20 says, "Children obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord"

Now I can't be the only one who has told my children. "the Bible says you are to OBEY your parents...."

Go to your room, 

pick up your toys, 

don't talk mean to your sister, 

be nice to your brother, 

get your finger out of our nose... 

on and on and on.... 

And when they listen.. this my friends is the action of obeying. 

but I don't want my children just to obey me, following my commands as a sort of dictator (well, yes sometimes that is nice), I want them to understand my words are teaching them something, out of love I am teaching them, yes telling them to stop picking their nose is down out of love.... but I want my children to honor me. 

Honor comes from the heart and yes, 

children are called to honor their parents; 

Ephesians 6:2 says, "Children honor your father and mother" 

While I can tell my children to go pick up their toys and most likely they will do it... but will they put their things away orderly with an attitude that honors you as their parents or are they slamming things into drawers, huffing and puffing about what you have asked of them?

I told my six year old, "I am glad you obey me, but I want you to honor me too." 

This word, honor, is not one I thought of as having a place in everyday conversations with my children, 

I'm realizing just how necessary it is though.

Are we not called to obey and honor our Heavenly Father?

Now, the hard part, are you leading by example? 

not just obeying but honoring your Earthly parents? 

how about your Heavenly Father?

If  you ask me to obey part is easy...

Honoring comes from within, it's the emotion in which we obey. 

And we are always leading them by example. The best example I can give my children is for my heart to honor God and my parents as they ask me to obey.... big gulp.. as that was even a bit hard to pluck out on the keyboard (these authority issues may be bigger than I realized). 

Just another thought from the black and white composition notebook, 

I figured someone else may need to receive this message just as much as I did... 

caught not taught

Last week I spent two days away from my loves and nurtured my mind and spirit.
I was reminded how sometimes we need to "put the oxygen mask on ourselves, so that we can protect the ones we love the most" 

No doubt that the Lord blessed this gathering of his faithful followers as the joined together to learn, share triumphs and failures, encouragement and skills with one another.
This was for homeschool parents, but no doubt in my mind all parents would have felt empowered and encouraged by the words that filled the air.
During the next few weeks I plan on making time to sit down and pluck out some of the encouragement that I received during this weekend... figure why not share the joy! I hope you find encouragement and share it with others as well...


And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. -Hebrews 10:24-25

So to kick off... 

I'd like to begin with one of many quotes I jotted down in my black and white composition notebook....

"Most things are caught, not taught"

This can be from multiple arenas... what are your kids learning at school, church, work, with their peers, or with you? 

Oh, nelly... this hits home to me. You see our house is loud! I have vivid memories in the not so distant past, screaming at the top of my lungs "stop yelling!"

It's almost comical to think about, thinking about all the times I scream at my children to 'be quiet, use your inside voice'.... 

The rationale, is that I need to be louder than they are (which is very loud) 

but where did they learn to be loud? their momma. 

You see, my man, he hates loud yelling... when he comes home from work the thing the bugs him the most is when I am stressed and fussing at kids, I always wondered why it was when Daddy raises his voice everyone in the house stops, even the dog. 

Yet, I yell all day long and no one listens... that's just it you see, Daddy never yells, so when he does all eyes are on him because there is a reason for it. 

When I yell.. it's just another day in the life... or so it used to be. 

The first thing my daughter said when I got back, mommy your voice is different.... I have had those words stuck in my throat for the last week.. hard to swallow those words.. but thankful that she noticed her momma will fix it when she's been wrong. 

While I was away I had time to think, clear my mind, be filled with good thoughts and some humbling ones too...

Be easy on yourself, we all make mistakes, but we also are all offered the opportunity to start a new day... another resounding message at the convention "God's mercies are new everyday, somewhere on Earth, it's a new day... so start over now!"

I thought about the things I don't like that happens in my home... the humbling part, what I don't like... starts with me. 

So while I teach them to speak kindly to one another, they catch what I'm throwing out... and that, gulp, isn't always kindness....

So, remember most things are caught, not taught... what are you throwing? what are they catching?

schoolroom renovation!!

When we moved into this house... this was the schoolroom (to be)

Formerly a little boys race car room, the walls were terribly dirty and there was no floor, the closet doors were broken and one side was missing... complete disaster zone, perfect for me to renovate!

We moved in during Christmas break and there was SOOO much to be done that the schoolroom got put on the back burner, the floors were put in and the boarder was some what removed, but once the school supplies and students were put in place there wasn't much time for renovation, 

so this was our school room this year... 

 

The end of the school year which we planned on celebrating with our beach vacation that ended up being a stay-cation and for Tony a work-cation... resulted in the schoolroom renovation!!! 

Here is our new schoolroom... there are still a few things left to do but I couldn't wait a moment longer to post pictures!!!

I still need to add window treatments but the white blinds are serving their purpose for now. 

I love the closet doors Tony put in today... 

Tony is hanging the dry erase board and the supply holders as I type, but like I said I'm too excited to wait!!

I can't wait till next year!!! 

These are the work boxes I've been working on, art, playdoh, letter writing, tag readers, scissors and glue, etc. Everything has a place and everything in it's place! 

Oh and this nifty paper roll and holder I snagged at Ikea for all of $13

And I will post more pictures when the decorations are up... 

I love it! 

And so do the kids, they are so excited! 

Sophia asked if we really had to have summer vacation now that the schoolroom is done. 

summer vacation, not so much...

I never thought I'd be writing these words, that's for sure.... 


I went to a Christian homeschool conference this past weekend and one of the many things I learned about was the differences of sheltering your children and choosing solid Christian influences for your children to be around while they are developing their character and their virtues; it's it funny how God knows just what we need before we know we need it. 


Friday and Saturday was the conference, Sunday was church, Monday we left for vacation... 


Every year we stay at the same small family owned seaside cottages. This year I thought I'd change things up and I booked us at a big resort at a different beach. We spent all two hours there and after about the first ten minutes I knew we couldn't stay. Tony and I kept looking at each other, thinking the same thing but neither one of us wanted to break the news to the kids. 


I sure didn't think that lesson I learned at the conference was going to cost us our vacation... 


Against our better judgement we checked into the room, leaving our belongings in the car we told the kids we were going to just check it out. We knew the kids would be disappointed... we explained to them (as best we could to a four and six year old) that the people staying in the hotel weren't very polite and it wasn't very safe for us to stay here. We told them that we understood why they were angry and sad but that mommy and daddy were making the best and hard decision to just go back home. I walked the halls singing in my head "this place is not my home I'm just passing through, the angels beckon me from heavens open doors and I can't feel at home in this world anymore" When we got in the car the kids were disappointed but they knew we made the right and safest decision for them to leave. It was for their safety and their hearts we don't want them hearing bad language or being exposed to things that could harm them. 


The resort didn't wan't to refund our money, apparently the adult environment and the guests being worldly influences on our young children is not a good enough reason for them to refund the money. But more than that I'm just thankful to be home, thankful my babies are tucked in their beds safe, thankful my man is here to lead us through the tough choices that have to be made sometimes, thankful that God answered my prayers to keep our spirits up and we ended the day with pizza and family togetherness. 


We talked a lot about how people have different rules in their lives and we all choose to do things differently, some to honor God and some to not, God gives us all a choice, Troy said, "mommy, I can't wait to get to heaven, I bet they even have trampolines there" sweet guy! 


And then tucking my girl into bed she prayed to God thanking him for her good mommy and daddy who knew to bring her home from that 'dirty hotel', oh I love them! 


So thankful I can call them mine! 

is it possible I'm the only one...

who hates the ice cream truck?

I hear that horrid 'It's a small world' music being played a few streets over... as it gets louder and louder I just pray my monsters don't notice it... 

it's unmistakable... 

and what I am thinking that they won't notice it!?

that yellow and white truck with sugary, high fructose corn syrup injected, brain freeze giving  ice cream on board...

it never fails, they notice and they remind me of that one time their daddy chased down the ice cream truck so they could buy some over priced, empty calorie snacks... I hate it! 

How about some organic apple slices instead?

I am certain my blood pressure rises and I feel my heart beat go from resting to feeling as if I've just run a marathon... 

The kids scramble, begging me for ice cream, they know the answer but they ask anyway... 

The stupid truck stops in front of our house and waits.. waits... it seems as though he turns the music up to full blast as he sits on the road in front of our house. 

The kids dumping out their piggy banks trying to convince me they have enough money for the $4 popsicle that I am certain will make their tummies hurt 1/2 way through. 

No, thanks! 

Ice cream man.. keep on driving! 

And only because I find this super funny! 

How's this for ya, Ice Cream Man!! 

Muahahaha (evil laugh)