I need all the prayer warriors out there to pray....
As you all know, I volunteer on a regular basis at our local high school. I am usually in the office of the Athletic Director. Got a call an hour ago from his assistant. He is in a hospital in Gainesville and they have discovered a tumor on his brain.
PLEASE, PLEASE, send up petitions to the Great Healer on his behalf.
Thank you so much for being faithful. Thank you for sending up prayers on behalf of him and his family.

Random Drivel

Alright, so everyone knows that my middle child is big into soccer this year. As a matter of fact, he is playing right now, as I type. I, however, am not in attendance at his game. For once, his father is off work and I sent him to the game. I'm not really a bad mother, I've just had enough.(Plus, I am baking a cake, my oldest is having a birthday party tomorrow night, he's 15 YIKES!!)
I have been at the soccer field almost every game (whether he was playing or not). Because parents are supposed to be involved in every level of their child's sport, I volunteered to work the ticket booth and on a couple of occasions, the concessions. All this money goes to the soccer teams and to defer the cost of their uniforms and transportation. And I think it's only fair that the parents work in those two areas to help out. There are plenty of games going on when my child is not playing. I just don't volunteer to do anything for the time that his team is playing. Up until today, I thought this. There are four parents out of at least 60 sets that have actually signed up to help. FOUR!!!! And today, when the soccer secretary sent an email out to ask these parents for help (to raise money to benefit their kid), one of the parents responded by asking to be removed from the email list. Can you beat that? Drop your kid off to play and come back in a couple hours, but don't bother to volunteer to help support the organization that is teaching your child a sport?
What is wrong with people? Seriously? It's an hour and half. Give me a break.
Okay, through venting now. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I know I sure enjoyed all my family and friends that came to visit.

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!!!
This is a great week. Only two days of school. My family will begin arriving on Wednesday. I am looking forward to those two days with my family here.
My wish for each of you out there is a week full of family, fun, and thankfulness for each of our blessings.
Please try to be good to yourself this week and not stress too badly about all the small details that no one else will think of.
I plan to take a few minutes each day this week and really stop looking at all the stressors and just look up and thank God for all His blessings on my family and I.
What are your family's plans for the holiday? I look forward to hearing about your plans.

I am putting this out there, hoping that somewhere, in this great big blog world, there are others who feel the echo of what I'm about to confess.
I am going to preface this confession with the statement that I love my family. I would not trade them for anything. ANYTHING!!!!
But today, I feel resentful towards them all. I resent cleaning this house till my body and my brain hurt and then they carelessly tromp dirt all over the carpet that was just vacuumed. I resent the coffee spilled on the floor that it took me an hour to mop. I resent the pile of clean clothes that I just finished washing and folding being thrown in the floor rather than put away. I resent the dishes and plates carelessly left wherever they happened to finish eating off of them.
I think what I resent the most however, is their abililty to completely, totally not care what they live in. They are perfectly content to live in the squalor of their own making.
NO one would ever accuse me of being a nice-nasty kind of person. I can live with a certain amount of things on counter tops and even on the floor. But I am finding it harder and harder not to resent that they can pour Kool-aid and be perfectly content to leave that red ring on my countertop(which I might add is almost impossible to get off); harder not to resent that they can walk past dirty socks on the floor and never even think about picking them up.
Harder still for me is the disrespect the teenagers dish out. Mom is the one who makes sure that they have food and clean clothes and get to guitar, piano, or sports. The dentist, their doctors, and anywhere else in between that they want to go. And for all that, the sassy mouth and glares when they are asked to complete their simple chore list, it just astounds me.
I love my family, and I would not trade them for anything, but today, I'm very frustrated with them.
Thanks for listening bloggy pals. Let me know if I'm alone in this.

This post may be a little long, but yesterday, I had a revelation of sorts, and I wanted to share it.
I find myself (often) asking, "What is wrong with people?" Seriously, why are they so crabby and grouchy and downright unpleasant?
I mean, we all have bad days, don't we? And disappointments?
My son had a banquet last night from a sport that he played. And as we were sitting there watching the video of the season, I noticed that one of the main players was not in attendance. I also know, that sometimes his family has transportation issues and monetary issues. This was a very special night and I hated to think that he would not be there to get the recognition that he had earned. So I hopped in my car and rushed around to their house. His grandmother would not let him go. After me begging her for about five minutes, she finally relented and let him go.
I got him there and he walked in the door just as they called his name to award him trophies.
The thought that kept running through my head is, "What kind of person wouldn't want her grandson to be there to receive awards?"
That was pretty judgmental thinking on my part, huh? After the program, I took him home and stopped in for a few minutes to talk to his grandma.
I came away with a whole different mindset than what I went in with. She was not being a "bad" person, or even being "mean". She was just tired. Life has beaten her down. She has her daughter and all of her daughters children living with her in that small house. The daughter is always at work, so she is left to raise those children. She has some illnesses that can be very debilitating and tiring. And she was upset with the sports program because they didn't give her adequate notice of the banquet. And I could see that. We were only given two days warning and then only because my son remembered to tell me. There were no letters sent home to any parents. She felt like she had been disrespected by the program and by her daughter, who had not mentioned to her about the banquet.
The moral of this for me was to stop being so judgmental when someone is being unpleasant and maybe take a moment and say a prayer that God will relieve them of whatever pressure it is that is making them that way.
HUGE eye opener for me.

Seriously????

I have been thinking about blogging all day. Well, not actually all day, but it has been popping into my thought radar all day. There, that sounds a little bit better. Anyway, I kept telling myself, I am about to sit down and submit a new post on my blog. I must have told myself this about six different times today. (I can hear you laughing at me, please stop).
This goal may have been too lofty.
As I sat down, just now, to start this post, I looked up at the clock and it read 11:29 pm. Seriously???? It cannot be that late. But, alas, it is.
Where did my day go? How can I be so busy and yet seem to accomplish absolutely nothing? I didn't even get a chance to read any blogs today.
Now, I am just grateful that I have had a few minutes to sit down and unwind. I will set a goal to post tomorrow about what had me so busy today. Be blessed!!

Random thoughts and observations:

I am typing this from a netbook. Because, my click happy children gave our home computer a virus. Not just any virus. The blue screen of death virus. My poor hubby stayed up ALL night trying to retrieve most of the pictures that have been taken in this family since Abby was born. I'm waiting with fingers crossed to see how that turns out. The entire hard drive is going to have to be redone. And who knows when that will get done because he is at work for the next two days and moi, I just ain't got the knowledge to mess with it. Thank you Lord for a husband who knows enough about computers.
The oldest child has been signed up and starts guitar lessons this afternoon. Thank you Lord for a child that wants to be musically inclined.
The youngest has moved piano teachers and will begin lessons with her new instructor today. Please let this lady be a little more kid friendly. Thank you Lord for a child that wants to continue with her lessons.
The middle child is now playing soccer. He looked like he was having a good time at practice yesterday. Thank you Lord for a child that wants to exercise.
It's my turn to cook at our church's Wednesday night Bus Stop Cafe. It will make for a long day. Thank you Lord for all the helpers that you will send my way today.
Thank you Lord, that for this month, at least, everyone's lessons are paid for with no use of credit card.
Thank you for the blessing of a vehicle to take us all where we need to go. Thank you for the blessing of my mother in law, who will help me get children where they need to be when there are two places to be at the same time.
Thank you Lord, for being.
I hope everyone is having a great week.