Dance....maybe?

For those of you that know me, you know that a few years back I was blessed enough to start a liturgical dance group with a sweet woman. You also know that when I had to leave it behind to move back to Do-da land it was extremely difficult. I wondered if God put in that place to help that sweet woman get her running start and that's it or if this new place would have something similar for me. I prayed about it for a few years and heard nothing so I backed off....until about 7 months ago.

I went to church with my sister and mother and as we were waiting for the service to start, I began to recognize the song playing in the background.....it was the first song that we choreographed together. Hmmm I thought to my self. What great memories! Then pastor began speaking. His entire sermon was on not ignoring or neglecting the gifts God gives you to worship him and praise him. I giggled and to myself is this a sign....and then my one of my family members said to me without knowing about what I had been talking to God about"When do you think you will start dancing at a church again?" (Not word for word mind you...its been seven months and my brain is fried) I felt a chill run through my body and the breath escape from my lips......just as the pastor put a slide of a person dancing up. He started using dance as an example of a gift to praise with and how ignoring your gifts is directly ignoring Gods plan for you. Then the worship band played the last song that my friend and I choreographed together. I started crying, almost sobbing. God was speaking to me. Hadn't forgotten me. Wasn't done with me. But what did this mean? Start at this church? By myself? With someone else? I didn't know what to do. Instead of acting, I remained quiet. Hoped he would reveal more.

The next few months were eerily similar every time I went to church......pastor always mentioned dance some how and I felt God's presence. I prayed that He would show me when he wanted this to happen and how, because again I didn't feel like I should approach this on my own. This past Sunday I was sitting before church listening to the music when I started to see myself dancing with another person. Not unusual because I would see her at a Scottish Dance practice I would have later that afternoon. I figured she was just on my mind. When I got to practice she pulled me aside and said that the pastor in charge of the local Highland Games asked if she would do a liturgical dance for the blessings of the plaids service. She said as soon as he asked she felt like she should immediately ask me to do it with her. I no longer believe in coincidences lol. Sometimes part of listening to what He has planed for you is being willing to wait for it to be the right time. Not on my time, but his. I have no idea what will come of all this. Might end up being a one time deal. But I feel blessed that he has chosen to use me this way again. To let me use the gift he has given me as a way to worship with other people. I am so blessed.
Ok I am done rambling. Most of you probably think I am crazy now and that's ok. Enjoy your Saturday!

Lets catch up

Hi! I know it's been awhile since I have written. So much has happened so I will play catchup.

School ended and my older kids left it with flying colors. Megan was even star student of the year for her kindergarten class! Which is a big deal because she worked very, very hard at being the best kid she could be during school. We are all very proud of her. After school ended we went on a great family vacation in Estes Park, Colorado. There were no electronics allowed the entire 5 days and the kids did amazing. I wasn't sure about how the kids would do, but once again the surprised me! We did five hikes and climbed a moraine which is very similar to mountain in height. It was over 9,000 feet tall! I thought that they would whine or complain about being bored but instead the excelled. They liked the harder hikes better then the easier ones, especially the ones where we had to climb up snow to get through the path. Even Garrett was content during the weekend. The entire experience was amazing. After we got back, I stayed busy helping out my friend while she was in the hospital giving birth to her first baby 5 weeks early. She ended up staying with us for a week because her little one had to stay at the hospital and my friend lives 30 minutes away. I loved having another person to take care of but it was a full house! One of the days the older kids each had a friend over for a sleepover which made it even more exciting. We got through it and this week seems easy and quiet because of it.

Other than that Gage has been getting better and better at baseball, the older kids are excelling at swimming, Garrett has cut his first tooth and can stand by himself without holding on and I feel like summer is flying by. I just want to grab onto these times and not let go.

Wordless Wednesday

Have I mentioned Alex is an amazing photographer as well as an amazing writer?

Love you sis!

Happy early birthday to me!

My birthday is Tuesday March 30th. There are a lot of things happening that day as well as the days before it so my husband and kids decided to celebrate my birthday yesterday, Tuesday March 23rd. It was a great idea-Phil ordered me an ice cream cake and decided we would cook out on the grill. He even decided to let the kids wrap the presents (they picked out all by themselves) by themselves. The plan was sweet and perfect. Until Phil called me and said he was running about 20 min late. No big deal, except I had started our charcoal grill expecting him home. Something that I had never done before. Which explains why I used too much charcoal......and why the flames got so big.....luckily they got under control eventually. Phil got home and realized that he forgot to pick up the cake so he and Gage ran to pick it up while the girls and I prepared the meat for the grill. Phil took over and finished dinner.....which the kids complained about while we ate. Luckily they wanted cake bad enough they cleaned their plates. The cake was delicious. Dairy Queen did a great job!
Meanwhile the kids wrapped their presents in my room. I loved opening them and seeing which things they picked out. We always let the kids pick out their own presents instead of just writing their name on one that we picked out ourselves. I think its good for them to think about things other people like....it takes them outside of themselves. Megan bought me jewelry, Gage picked out a shirt and Madi a season of Reba (a series she knows I like. ) It was sweet!! Then we decided to play a board game at the kitchen table. Megan was having a difficult time seeing the board so she kept standing up on the chair. Repeatedly we told her to sit but she kept standing back up....until she slipped and fell off the chair hitting the back of her head on the chair as she fell to the ground. It swelled up in no time flat. She started crying and screaming "I am going to die!" We calmed her down enough for her to tell us that a mom at her school informed her that a four year old fell and hit his head and died. What kind of person tells a five year old that?! Any way, we reassured her that she wasn't going to die and gave her a Popsicle because that "makes everything better." I snuggled with the kids and then put them to bed, relieved that it was my turn to rest. As Phil and I went to our room he called me over to look at our down comforter. It had a piece of tape on it. When I pulled it off feathers flew every where. There was a hole about the size of a quarter right where Phil apparently set the kids up to wrap my gifts. It had not occurred to him to put the 5, 7 and 8 year olds with scissors some place like a table or the floor. I laughed....the perfect end to my family birthday! Lucky for me any day good or bad with my kids and hubby is a perfect day.

If Alex can do it, maybe I can too....

So here I am staring at this page wondering what I am doing here. I am definitely not a writer like my dad and sister are. They seem to be blessed the ability to be witty and intelligent all at the same time.....I am just goofy. So why am I here? I thought it might be fun to write my thoughts down. Most of my days are filled talking to my 8 month old....and he just smiles and drools back. So here it goes...

Today Madison was having an off day with the dog.......he got excited and wagged his tail at breakfast which caused her milk to spill and later she was standing with a bag of popcorn which also was knocked over by the dogs tail. She looked up at me with her huge brown eyes and said "Mom, I'm not lucky." Her eyes filled with tears as she crawled into my lap and buried her face into my shoulder. I talked to her about all of the reason's she is most definitely lucky and explained that it was the dog's tails fault that her mishaps happened today. I also told her that I am VERY clumsy and it probably runs in the family. She smiled at me and ran off, content with what I had said.
Our conversation got me thinking about my own luck...I am so lucky to be the mother of four beautiful children, that seem to be adjusting well to the life that I have made for them. They are happy, amazing kids that show compassion to their peers and usually try to do the right thing (they are still kids, they can't be perfect.) I am married to a wonderful man who chooses to be with me even though I have three little kids. He cares for them and treats them as his own and loves me even with all of my faults (he probably will never read this blog though). I have an ex-husband (and his wife) who want to be involved with the kids and do their best to keep everything friendly and happy for their sake. I have my parents who have taken care of me and loved me even when it was hard. My brother and sisters and I get along amazingly and try to get together as often as possible (along with their wonderful significant others). There is also my newest blessing Garrett who has made my life even more fun. Blessings....that is what all of those things are. I am amazingly blessed. It is hard to always remember that when the small things in life get me down, but I need to do just that-remember how blessed I am.

Alright time for me to stop gushing about my AMAZINGLY blessed life. I am sure there are about one hundred grammatical errors throughout this blog. But I did it!

Time to change Garrett's poopy diaper.