By The Grace of God

My goodness time flies by when you're having fun.....and not so much fun. Brian and I have been married 15 years. It has been tough but I wouldn't change one thing that we've had to go through. Every hard battle we've  had has made our marriage stronger. I'll put it to you straight. Marriage can be heaven on earth or hell on earth.  

We started out young. We had our first child at 16. We got married when we were 19. We had 4 children by the time we were 25. I decided after I had Alexandra that I would get my tubes tied. That was a mistake. I had PTLS (Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome). The PTLS caused severe depression along with other problems. Brian was drinking a lot and the combination was catastrophic.

We decided to split up in 2008. 

But the Lord had a plan. By the grace of God we worked things out and the Lord showed us a new path to walk down. We renewed our vows on July 26th 2008. These were not the simple I do's. We knew the gravity of marriage. We knew what it would take if we were to succeed. We knew the hurt in loosing each other. We knew that it needed to be God, each other, children. Something that I didn't understand. I put my children first when my husband should have came first. And I put all of them above God. I am thankful for the gift of repentance and the Lord's kindness and grace towards Brian and I. 

Fast forward to today and Brian and I have been married for 15 years. The last few years have been wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a more loving and attentive husband and I thank God for restoring what we almost threw away. 

Ephesians 5:24 …24But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,…

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper has been playing for girls of all ages since 1985. She would sing her way into our bedrooms while we were jumping on beds signing along in a hairbrush.

Anyway, this past Saturday night I was the designated driver for my girlfriends bachelorette party. I was very happy to do this for them since I don't drink and not a lot of people have a sweet 15 passenger van. We started off at Pinot's Palette in Chesterfield, Missouri for a paint night. This is an awesome place to do parties for all different ages. I was very excited that my painting didn't look like a preschooler did it. And yes I was worried about that!

From there the girls wanted to go to a casino near by for a night of dancing. I happily obliged. We got into the casino bar and it was packed. All seats were full. We walked around a bit and we finally got a table. I told the girls that they could go dance and I would save the table for them. I am not much for partying or dancing. I do enjoy people watching so I was not at all bored sitting there. As I was sitting at the table a 50-60ish year old man approached me. He was running his finger back and forth on the table. I looked up and he said, "May I join you?" In my head I was thinking "Eww! No creepy guy! Go away!" But that would have been rude. I said, "Sure!" He was staring at my ring and said, "That ring is a ring from a man that really loves you!" I said yes it was and he jumped up and said, "Well I guess I better move on!" And he was off to do someone or something else. I just shook my head and got out my phone. A bit later the girls wanted me to dance with them. I am not much of a dancer but it was fun and the girls were having a great time.

I decided to go get a soda and at the bar I was approached by a man. He asked how I was. I said fine. Trying to not make eye contact I wanted them to hurry. It's just a darn soda. How long could that POSSIBLY take?!? He asked if I was there alone and I said no. Then he asked me if I was married and I said yes. He asked me the question I absolutely hate........Happily? he said.
Why in the world is that ok to ask? So what if a woman said she was not happy? What's going to happen? What does that imply?
I said yes I was very happily married but that didn't stop him from asking me if I wanted to hook up. HOOK UP???? What in the world????? I was beginning to feel gross. How many women had this guy asked to "hook up"? I may not be a spring chicken anymore but I do know what that implies. Feeling disgusted I told him to turn around and walk away. I watched as him and his buddies were acting like the guys from the movie A Night at the Roxbury. You? Me? Me? You?
And it wasn't long he was on to his next fling. It made me sick to think that these are the types of guys that are around. And as my girls get older will they be worse? It seems like men today want no commitment at all. It seems like they can hook up or father a child but whoa...Marriage?!? That's too much of a commitment baby!!! Truthfully I am scared for my girls. I want them to find a man who will cherish them. Not a man that comes up to them and asks them if they want to hook up! Unfortunately it is what it is and society thinks it's ok. I can't change that but I can instill values in my boys and girls.

I did, however, have a great time with this group of ladies. They were all a lot of fun and I am glad I was able to drive them around.

Here is my painting. I was pretty proud of it :D

This Messy Life

I got up this morning and took a look at the house. It looked like the house threw up! There in front of me sat a counter full of dishes from last night, the living room full of train tracks and Thomas the trains. legos and the bedrooms terrible. Speaking of bedrooms, I have 5 boys whose room smells like a barn. Why does a boys room smell like a barn you ask? Good question! I am still trying to figure that one out myself. And Febreeze is even scared to touch it! 

I sat there with my coffee and wondered how in the world does it get this messy. It's really hard for me because I am a neat freak. I like things properly in it's place and no one to touch it. Which is hard with several little ones plotting to move your things from it's tidy little spot. I know that it should be easy to "tidy up" but we seem to spend our lives "tidying up". Our family must be so inefficient to be so ineffective. It also seems to me that when we have super busy weekends the house is worse. Maybe because there are little monsters that come out of the dark and make the mess?

Anyway, I sat there today saying to myself. I can do this! I can do this! I am bigger than the mess! Maybe? I drank my coffee and got to it. I decided today would be a good day to pair down clothes and toys and I did just that. However, my son aka Cater Salad is still working on the dishes.

And just for cuteness heres Maddie Moo! Happy Wednesday!!