Endless possibilities

I don't really want to say this to anyone, but it's been on my mind all day. My husband may be in line for a job promotion/movement in the near future. We have been talking, and if that were to happen he's actually considering letting me stay home with the kids. At least, long enough for me to finish schooling, and for the kids to get a little older.

I am trying not to get my hopes up, because God knows what could happen in this economy. God knows what He has in store in the future for us, and this could very well not be His plan... but if it WERE, oh my goodness... the possibilities are endless! I could get more involved in church. I could get involved in PTA. I could become a Girl Scout leader so Lexi could be in my troop. I could do more around the house. I could let my creative side out.

In the meantime, I'm just praying.

This is why I love Wednesdays

My husband works Wednesday nights and that is the only night of the week that I am home alone with the kids. I usually cook dinner and watch some TV with them. I'm hoping that within the next month or so the weather will start to cool down in the evenings. When that happens I plan to go for walks in the neighborhood with them, or go to the park behind my house to play. It's such a gratifying feeling to be able to get out with them and do things myself. Just Mom and her babies.

My favorite part of Wednesday night is that my little Lexi will sleep in my bed. I do not let my kids sleep in my bed, and they haven't since they were young babies. It's not that I have anything against it... some of the best families I know let their kids sleep in their beds. But for my husband and I, it just doesn't work.

When my husband is working, I have an incredibly hard time sleeping. I think it is because I worry about him so much when he's working out there in the night. The area that he works in gets a lot of criminal activity. He patrols the Sunnyslope area, amongst others, and even though the area has been a hotbed for crime, there has been an increase in horrible thigns done there lately. So, I end up having Lexi sleep in my bed. Her warm little body next to me always seems to soothe me so that I am able to sleep. It reminds me of when she would sleep with me when I was nursing her. She is the best little snuggler.

I Love It!

Desiree has been wanting to get her hair dyed or streaked or highlighted or whatever the phrase for it is now, but we kept saying no because we felt she was too young.

We finally caved this year. Well, I caved. Will protested, with his arms crossed in front of his chest while he grumbled about it. He thinks that the looks that the kids are going for nowadays is too grown up.

My sister's sister-in-law Denise is a hairdresser and she does the kids' hair for them. Eric (my brother-in-law) took Desiree and my nephew Isaias over to Denise's house to do their hair tonight.

I LOVE her hair! It isn't too short, isn't too emo, and not colored too outrageously. Isaias got his hair colored on the top, too.

Making Cookies

Desiree, Alexis and I made some sugar cookies last night. They came out so yummy! I snapped a few pics of the girls while they were decorating, but after hearing, "Ow! Mom that flash is too bright!" I had to put the camera away. Hee hee!

I love these moments with my kids. I know they will eventually outgrow them, but for now I'll cherish what I have.

Meet the Teacher

We took our kids tonight (minus Desiree - she's getting her hair done and I'll have a post for that as soon as she gets home) to their new school for meet the teacher night. We have never had the kids to go to an all indoor school, so this was a new experience for us. Imagine... the cafeteria - inside? They only have to go outside to play on the playground?



Alexis' teacher was hard to read... she was older, and a little reserved. I didn't really get a feel on her. We'll have to see how Alexis does in her class. She's excited, yet really nervous.

Desiree's teacher, well her homeroom teacher was nice. He's laid back and cool. She'll only see him for two 5-minute homeroom classes per day and then for American History.

Danielle's homeroom teacher is really young, pretty and nice. I liked her. She'll also teacher her history class. It was funny because when we were leaving these two blond-haired/too much cleavage showing/like-OMG-type girls were walking into the classroom squealing as they went. Dani said, "Oh great... I get to be in a class with a bunch of blond-popular-hoochie types again. Woohoo..." I told her maybe they would be friends. She said she was not the blond-popular-hoochie type and she tended to not get along with those type of girls. Oh boy.

Dani and Rae will not share any classes, so that made Dani feel better.

We went into the cafeteria to find out about transportation, and it turns out the bus driver was there, and she lives down the road from us and her kids will be riding on the bus with my kids. Maybe the girls will have some built in friends in this neighborhood now?

I am praying for a wonderful school year!

Could It Be?

My husband was raised/brainwashed in a strict Christian household. He went to church every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, along with doing many church-related things during the week. His upbringing was so different than mine. I was able to listen to the radio and had all the new tapes growing up: Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, etc. He could only listen to church hymns. I was raised on Freddy Krueger, Michael Meyers, and Jason. Will's horror movies consisted of 1970's church horror movies like A Thief in the Night and A Distant Thunder which told of the coming Antichrist. I celebrated birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter... all of the holidays kids should enjoy. He celebrated his last Christmas when he was about 6 years old.

Sad way to grow up, I know.

So, when Will turned 18 and was no longer controlled by his parents, he did a complete 180. He started drinking and partying and refused to go to church. His parents were devastated, but I honestly think he did this because of the strict environment he was raised in.

He stopped his partying shortly before we got together, and had started going back to church. But by then, he was an adult and started to see the people in his parents' church in a new light. He saw his own parents in a new light. He started to feel that his fellow church goers were hypocrites. They would preach being holy while in the church halls, but then when they went about their private lives he found that many of them lied and cheated or stole. He became so turned off by this that he swore off church forever.

I, on the other hand, was baptized Catholic when I was a baby. I went to church on occasion, but never finished cathecism or made my first holy communion. My dad wasn't big on church. I grew up in a household that was full of love, but did not cram God down my throat.

After I got married, my mom took me to a Christian church with her, and I got saved. I felt like a huge part of me that was missing was filled. But then I had another problem. My husband refused to go to church with me. I want so badly to be one of those couples who worship together. I look at my sister Sara and her husband Eric who go to church together, worship together, love each other along with everyone else, and it makes me so sad. Happy for them, but sad for me and my marriage.

My husband was raised to believe that when we die and go to heaven, we will not know one another, and because we are in the presence of our Lord Jesus, we will be completely fulfilled, so it would not matter if we knew one another because all we would care about is Jesus. I understand and agree that I would be so gloriously happy to be in His presence, but surely God would not have created us all on this planet with the ability to love one another if he was not going to allow us to know each other in heaven too, right?

I have been trying to get Will to go to church with me for seven years now and he won't. I can count on two hands the amount of times he has gone with me, and most of those times were because I begged and cried for him to go with me on Christmas or Easter. He keeps telling me that when he is ready to go he will... and not to bug him about it until then. Do you know how hard that has been for me?

My dreams finally came true a couple days ago. Will was contemplating a work schedule change and told me that if it goes through, he will now have Sundays off. He actually came to me and said, "Honey, I'm not making any promises, and please don't push me, but if I get Sundays off I think we'll all start going to your church together as a family."

I had to reign it in. I nodded my head and said, "That would be so cool, babe." But inside I was doing one-handed cartwheels! Why the sudden change? Why is he wanting to go now? Oh heck, I really don't care, I am just ecstatic that he actually is considering going. Now I just have to pray and pray that he follows through.

Ahhhhh!

Posture

I made mac-n-cheese one lazy night for dinner. Outside, the wind howled and the skies threatened to open up on us. It was beautiful, so my girls opted to eat their mac-n-cheese on our back patio.

I snapped this picture.

I've got to do something about that posture.

Stat.