Just so you all know I am also seeing a professional Christian Counselor, who I am seeing today! I really love living in Spokane and cannot wait until I have time and have the money to go to some of the great Christian conferences and CONCERTS they have here! I was born to live in the city, I swear it!!! Why I was born to a farm family I will never know, but I love all the PEOPLE in the city! Not to mention the malls, and little shops, and thrift stores, galore! I swear Spokane has more thrift stores than I've ever seen in my life!! Not that I've been able to take advantage of it much. Moving and all the extra expenses of living here have left us with so little money, I haven't even been able to shop at thrift stores!!! Yikes!!! That, and, of course, for a time Josh took away my debit card. I also didn't have a checkbook or cash or anything. I mean, I could have gone to the bank to get money, but I would have really had to go out of my way to defy him to do that. He did that to keep a roof over our heads instead of letting me drink us out of a home!!!! Anyway, I'm looking forward to the shopping when we have some money for such nonsense! We're spending the money for counseling even though we don't have it. They've given us a great deal, but it's still hard. ANY amount of money would be hard at this point, but they can't afford to see me for free. I'm grateful for it anyway, and AM NOT going to throw it all away again with another drink...or 10...or 20...or 50,,,or....You get the idea. Anyway, hope you all have a great Monday!!!
And obviously I've had my coffee since earlier :)
Love,
Shellie
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2012
Friday, December 9, 2011
My Kids And Their Accomplishments (Or beginning to be accomplishments!)
Well, basketball season has officially ended for Jeremiah. However, I still have to pick him up in the afternoons, cause he plans to spend some time in the weight room. He's got to keep up his manly figure I guess! LOL! The things I do for my children!! There is a parent meeting for Wrestling on Tuesday. I'm kind of guessing, since it's so close to Winter Break, that wrestling won't actually start until after the Break. I sure hope so!!! Of course, they may need to practice through the break to be ready, I don't know. This will be the first time we've entered the world of wrestling with our kids. I know, shocking, since my husband was a wrestler, even in college for a brief time!!! Jeremiah's just never seemed interested until now, and it wasn't exactly something we've encouraged the girls to try. I have no doubt both of them would! Angela has actually asked if she can wrestle, which I'm sure is quite surprising to all of you (sarcasm)! We haven't let her up to this point, largely because of finances and because she's been so inconsistent with the things we have gotten her involved with that we don't want to spend that kind of money on her. She would love Hockey, but that's the most expensive sport out there!!!! She was consistent with that when she played on a scholarship, so if I was made of money, I'd absolutely fork over the bucks for her to play!!! Her music teacher heard her singing the other day, and told her that she has a beautiful voice, but could use some help with the notes. She offered 10 dollars for a half-hour of voice lessons! So we'll be looking into that, probably after Winter Break! We do want her to be active in something. Of course, she wants to be a pop star! What young girl who's told she can sing doesn't?! I'm certainly not going discourage her by telling her that it's highly unlikely to happen!!! What if Justin Bieber's mom had told him that!!!?! Talk about an unlikely candidate. Small town boy in Canada with a single, teenage mother!!!! Yeah, not happening! And look at him now!!!! I personally would not have encouraged my son to enter that world at the tender age of 15, but he's not my kid, so I'll let his parents raise him as they see fit! Angela does have a beautiful voice. My other two can sing, also, but Jeremiah, at least, has other interests. Chloe, on the other hand, I am told is one of the best dancers, maybe THE best dancer in her dance class after school on Mondays and Tuesdays! I can't remember what kind of dance it is. Some hispanic type of dance, but she's very good at it, which is nice. I like that she's found something she does well. Her teacher, who is also her third grade homeroom teacher this year, tells me their are 7 different types of intelligences and based on what she sees in dance class, she would have what they call Kinesthetic intelligence, so while she may not be as strong academically as others (she works consistently at a 1st grade level, beginning to be more consistent at a 2nd grade level) she is smart, just in a different way. I knew this all along, but it's nice to have others notice as well. Maybe she's not "book smart" but she is smart! Not that we're not going to continue to work on her classroom work! We will, of course! Speaking of which.....
She just had her 3 year reasessment and the school psychologist decided to use a different type of IQ test on her this time and she tested in the normal range, at a 90 IQ!!! It's still slightly below average, but puts her in the normal range, which after working with her for some time, she felt more accurately reflects Chloe's true capabilities! This is why she chose to use this test instead of the one they did three years ago! It's so nice to see her testing in the normal range! They also said they have seen a significant change in her attentiveness, so they no longer consider her to be attention deficit! That was good news also, although, I do wonder if it's the coffee I've been giving her in the morning! That's okay if it is! She loves her coffee and obviously there seems to be no reason to change anything! She's progressing well as we hoped she would! Once again, this year's teacher has commented on her incredible work ethic and how self-motivated she is! She says she's not worried about her succeeding in life, because she's the type that will try anything and works hard at whatever she does, and will just keep trying until she gets it! She loves to learn, and you don't have to fight her to get her to do her work! In fact, while I was meeting with her SPED teachers, and other faculty that work with her, she was doing her homework, and was almost done before we even got home! And I hadn't even told her to do that. I had bought her an A&W Root Beer on my way to the appointment (her favorite beverage) to keep her happy while I met with her educators. She did drink all of her root beer, but she also did her homework. Her sister played basketball instead. Quite a difference between those two! I love them both! I had bought Angela a Pepsi which she also devoured! Of course, I couldn't leave myself out. I got one of my many favorite beverages, a Wild Cherry Pepsi:) It was fun!
And then, we went to what has turned out to be the last basketball game of Jeremiah's I would make it, too. I was not able to make the last two night's games :( It was the closest game I've seen them play, but I think they pissed off the other team when at the half it was 13-12 Moscow! They were proving that they are not pushovers! That they are truly becoming a force to be recconed (sp?) with! I think many of these boys, like my son, are playing competitive basketball for the very first time, so they are just learning the skills! Jeremiah has improved quite a bit, and just like in football has shown his athletic capability and aggressiveness. He has been known for his aggressive playing in baseball as well, as he loves to steal bases. That is one of his specialties with those quick legs of his! He did meet his match at one point this basketball season, as I watched him play against a boy he was supposed to be blocking, who at one point, flew past Jeremiah like he was standing still!!! And Jeremiah's pretty stinkin' fast, let me tell ya!!!! There's a reason I had to put him on a leash as a toddler! That kid could MOVE from day one! His uncle had him pegged as a running back in football from the moment he learned to stand steady enough on those little legs to run!!! He called it! That's for sure! Anyway, the second half of that last game didn't go so well. They were pushing those boys all over the court, and the refs were only calling about a third of the fouls that should have been called and nothing on the kids fouling Jeremiah!!! They were literally SHOVING him! He hit the floor so hard, even if you didn't see it, you could hear it at least 3 times! Jeremiah says there were about five times he should've gotten free throws! At one point when he was pushed I did hear the whistle blow, and thought, "It's about time!" but no! They didn't blow the whistle on that kid! They actually called it against someone on our team somewhere else on the court!!! It was ridiculous! He was pretty sore that night and came off the gym floor limping, cause he kept landing on that hard gym floor on his knee!!! It was awful! I hope he had a better time last night! They still lost, but hopefully, he got some good, positive playing time in! The whole team has improved a ton during this season! Pullman slaughtered them in their first game! I'm very proud of the boys! They've come a long way!
Oh, yes! And I can't believe I forgot to mention that Chloe tested out of Speech Therapy!!!! Go Chloe!!! She's still considered to have a learning disability, but she's improved so much in so many areas!!!!
She just had her 3 year reasessment and the school psychologist decided to use a different type of IQ test on her this time and she tested in the normal range, at a 90 IQ!!! It's still slightly below average, but puts her in the normal range, which after working with her for some time, she felt more accurately reflects Chloe's true capabilities! This is why she chose to use this test instead of the one they did three years ago! It's so nice to see her testing in the normal range! They also said they have seen a significant change in her attentiveness, so they no longer consider her to be attention deficit! That was good news also, although, I do wonder if it's the coffee I've been giving her in the morning! That's okay if it is! She loves her coffee and obviously there seems to be no reason to change anything! She's progressing well as we hoped she would! Once again, this year's teacher has commented on her incredible work ethic and how self-motivated she is! She says she's not worried about her succeeding in life, because she's the type that will try anything and works hard at whatever she does, and will just keep trying until she gets it! She loves to learn, and you don't have to fight her to get her to do her work! In fact, while I was meeting with her SPED teachers, and other faculty that work with her, she was doing her homework, and was almost done before we even got home! And I hadn't even told her to do that. I had bought her an A&W Root Beer on my way to the appointment (her favorite beverage) to keep her happy while I met with her educators. She did drink all of her root beer, but she also did her homework. Her sister played basketball instead. Quite a difference between those two! I love them both! I had bought Angela a Pepsi which she also devoured! Of course, I couldn't leave myself out. I got one of my many favorite beverages, a Wild Cherry Pepsi:) It was fun!
And then, we went to what has turned out to be the last basketball game of Jeremiah's I would make it, too. I was not able to make the last two night's games :( It was the closest game I've seen them play, but I think they pissed off the other team when at the half it was 13-12 Moscow! They were proving that they are not pushovers! That they are truly becoming a force to be recconed (sp?) with! I think many of these boys, like my son, are playing competitive basketball for the very first time, so they are just learning the skills! Jeremiah has improved quite a bit, and just like in football has shown his athletic capability and aggressiveness. He has been known for his aggressive playing in baseball as well, as he loves to steal bases. That is one of his specialties with those quick legs of his! He did meet his match at one point this basketball season, as I watched him play against a boy he was supposed to be blocking, who at one point, flew past Jeremiah like he was standing still!!! And Jeremiah's pretty stinkin' fast, let me tell ya!!!! There's a reason I had to put him on a leash as a toddler! That kid could MOVE from day one! His uncle had him pegged as a running back in football from the moment he learned to stand steady enough on those little legs to run!!! He called it! That's for sure! Anyway, the second half of that last game didn't go so well. They were pushing those boys all over the court, and the refs were only calling about a third of the fouls that should have been called and nothing on the kids fouling Jeremiah!!! They were literally SHOVING him! He hit the floor so hard, even if you didn't see it, you could hear it at least 3 times! Jeremiah says there were about five times he should've gotten free throws! At one point when he was pushed I did hear the whistle blow, and thought, "It's about time!" but no! They didn't blow the whistle on that kid! They actually called it against someone on our team somewhere else on the court!!! It was ridiculous! He was pretty sore that night and came off the gym floor limping, cause he kept landing on that hard gym floor on his knee!!! It was awful! I hope he had a better time last night! They still lost, but hopefully, he got some good, positive playing time in! The whole team has improved a ton during this season! Pullman slaughtered them in their first game! I'm very proud of the boys! They've come a long way!
Oh, yes! And I can't believe I forgot to mention that Chloe tested out of Speech Therapy!!!! Go Chloe!!! She's still considered to have a learning disability, but she's improved so much in so many areas!!!!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
An Alien Has Invaded And...Justin Bieber? What's He Doing On My Blog?!
Well, once again it's super-duper late, and I don't have much to say, but wanted to check in. I finally decided to get a real cold, not just that little itchy throat, and a little bit of fatique I was having there for a while. Not to mention, my toe flairing up again, my eyes hurting like I might be getting an infection there as well, and my ears plugged up. That sucked! But no, the kids had another 4 day weekend for parent-teacher conferences, which I got out of the way on Wednesday afternoon, so I could just relax and enjoy having my kids home for the rest of their long break. Well, I woke up from a nap on Thursday afternoon with what felt like much more than a scratchy throat. Sure enough, soon I was sneezing, and my nose was getting stuffy, and my head started to feel to big! This was not good. Angela and Jeremiah got a bunch of stuff in the mail for their birthdays. Cards and money. So, of course, Angela wanted me to take her out. I refused, and her dad said she could wait till tomorrow. It worked out well, cause Jeremiah would be going hunting with his daddy, for his 13th birthday! Yes, we now officially have a teenager!!! Not that we weren't dealing with hormones already! The kid's a hormone crazed....I don't know what he is? He's an alien, I think! That's it! The aliens came down one night, took the sweet little boy out of him, and put one of their aliens inside of him, so now he's all alien. He just looks human! That's it! That explains everything! Even the little glimpses I get of that little boy, because surely they missed a few parts, right?
Anyway, yeah, so now I've spent the entire vacation sick! I did take Angela to the grocery store, so she could buy a magazine full of posters. Mostly Justin Bieber posters, and then I helped her download some songs onto the iPad. Mostly Justin Bieber songs there as well. I was at one point going to make my kids only listen to Christian music, but I've decided that as long as it's not really evil they can listen to it. JB's okay. Nothing too immoral in his music. I've decided if I push her too hard, she'll really revolt on me and that could get ugly. The Bieber Fever ends, I do believe. Like I got over my mad crush on Donnie Wahlberg in the nineties, she'll get over Justin Bieber. (Did I just admit to being in love with Donnie Wahlberg on my blog! OMG!) Someday! Here's hoping! And praying, of course. That always helps. Anyway, after that I just stayed drugged on Nyquil, which I should go into my Nyquil induced coma right now, but I'm talking to you all. Anyway, wish my babies happy birthday! And good night!
Anyway, yeah, so now I've spent the entire vacation sick! I did take Angela to the grocery store, so she could buy a magazine full of posters. Mostly Justin Bieber posters, and then I helped her download some songs onto the iPad. Mostly Justin Bieber songs there as well. I was at one point going to make my kids only listen to Christian music, but I've decided that as long as it's not really evil they can listen to it. JB's okay. Nothing too immoral in his music. I've decided if I push her too hard, she'll really revolt on me and that could get ugly. The Bieber Fever ends, I do believe. Like I got over my mad crush on Donnie Wahlberg in the nineties, she'll get over Justin Bieber. (Did I just admit to being in love with Donnie Wahlberg on my blog! OMG!) Someday! Here's hoping! And praying, of course. That always helps. Anyway, after that I just stayed drugged on Nyquil, which I should go into my Nyquil induced coma right now, but I'm talking to you all. Anyway, wish my babies happy birthday! And good night!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
My Own Personal "Shack" Part 20
Well, today was nearly disastrous. I almost quit on all of you. Thanks to God connecting me with a wonderful friend via twitter (the friend I believe I've mentioned before) she was able to redirect my mind back to God. At least sort of, enough for me to be functional again at least and not just laying in my bed crying quite loudly and trying to pray but unable to get the words out through my sobbing. (Screaming?) I don't know it was pretty loud and obnoxious. Not sure I've ever made a sound quite like that before. It even scared me. This was pain coming from so deep inside myself that I'm not even 100% percent sure what it was at all. It started by discovering I'd been blocked by some people and then of course, being angry with myself for being so annoying, which then led to me thinking, I've never been a safe person to interact with and never will be. So, despair, hopelessness, all that really wonderful stuff that characterizes my life, mostly. It is a rare occasion that I truly have great faith in God, and that shouldn't be. Of course, personally, I think hearing things like, "real Christians don't experience depression," and "you just need to trust God" and "if you had repented of all of your sins you wouldn't be feeling this way," or similar unhelpful nonsense from nearly every one in my life who could have helped or at least tried to help me find help, probably has not increased my ability to cope. I'm just saying...
Are you sensing me feeling a bit sarcastic tonight? I feel like everyone is trying to treat the symptoms and not the source. Of course, I'm not even 100% certain of the source, myself. Very well-meaning people, who, I know are genuinely trying to help, but don't really understand the kinds of things I've been through or what it is to live with this issue. I don't believe it is completely medical. At least not in my case. I can't speak for anyone else. I believe that there are deeply rooted feelings of continual rejection left over from my childhood that cause me to desperately cling to people who have loved me on any level. I am trying to be more careful about how much I share online and who I share with, so they're not overwhelmed, but it's hard, cause I do want connection with certain people even if they don't respond back to me. I'm forcing myself to not @mention people on twitter, unless it's a matter that has to do with them directly. Or, if I'm responding to something they said, obviously. Anyway, people tell me things like I should finish one task each day, so I have a sense of accomplishment, or make a list of things I'm thankful for, or listening to music, which are all really great things, and they might help temporarily, but the problem comes when eventually the lights go out and I have to lay down and at least attempt to sleep and I still have to deal with my wounded child heart. I really do believe it's still desperately wounded, because I can see where certain things that are said to me, or done to me, are similar to the way that my parents treated me. That's when I react and become heartbroken, because I'm already heartbroken, still from the emotional neglect and abuse of my childhood. I'm beginning to wonder if I always will be. I'm seriously looking into the possibility of a Christian Mental Health facility. Getting me there would be challenging since all of them are several days drive away, at least the one's I've found so far. I really do often feel abandoned by God so often, in this very isolated from many Christian facilities, part of the country that I live in(grammar? Oh, boy! I hope you can make sense of that. I don't have time to edit.) We don't have Christian based facilities like that here, is my point. In fact, we don't have professional Christian Counselors, which is why I have suffered alone for so long in the first place!
Are you sensing me feeling a bit sarcastic tonight? I feel like everyone is trying to treat the symptoms and not the source. Of course, I'm not even 100% certain of the source, myself. Very well-meaning people, who, I know are genuinely trying to help, but don't really understand the kinds of things I've been through or what it is to live with this issue. I don't believe it is completely medical. At least not in my case. I can't speak for anyone else. I believe that there are deeply rooted feelings of continual rejection left over from my childhood that cause me to desperately cling to people who have loved me on any level. I am trying to be more careful about how much I share online and who I share with, so they're not overwhelmed, but it's hard, cause I do want connection with certain people even if they don't respond back to me. I'm forcing myself to not @mention people on twitter, unless it's a matter that has to do with them directly. Or, if I'm responding to something they said, obviously. Anyway, people tell me things like I should finish one task each day, so I have a sense of accomplishment, or make a list of things I'm thankful for, or listening to music, which are all really great things, and they might help temporarily, but the problem comes when eventually the lights go out and I have to lay down and at least attempt to sleep and I still have to deal with my wounded child heart. I really do believe it's still desperately wounded, because I can see where certain things that are said to me, or done to me, are similar to the way that my parents treated me. That's when I react and become heartbroken, because I'm already heartbroken, still from the emotional neglect and abuse of my childhood. I'm beginning to wonder if I always will be. I'm seriously looking into the possibility of a Christian Mental Health facility. Getting me there would be challenging since all of them are several days drive away, at least the one's I've found so far. I really do often feel abandoned by God so often, in this very isolated from many Christian facilities, part of the country that I live in(grammar? Oh, boy! I hope you can make sense of that. I don't have time to edit.) We don't have Christian based facilities like that here, is my point. In fact, we don't have professional Christian Counselors, which is why I have suffered alone for so long in the first place!
Monday, May 23, 2011
"Random" Drawings
Wow! I have not been taking very many pictures! All of the pictures I just downloaded off my camera are Jeremiah's pictures, so I guess I will copy an excerpt from my new book.
Okay, never mind it's not working. Not really sure why. I'll have to figure that one out later.
Did I mention that I won a blog drawing recently? I didn't! How in the world did I let you miss out on that one!?! I won a drawing on the blog Praise And Coffee!! You can find that one in the margin of my blog at this point! I have all the blogs I follow in the sidebar, so you can click on it. They have a monthly giveaway and I won their May giveaway! I just got my coffee from barista de casa this last weekend! It is delicious!!!! I may never be able to go back to drinking Folgers again!! But of course, that is their goal, is to get you to buy their coffee! If it's not too expensive I might! You can find them on both facebook and Twitter, by the way, if you're interested! If you actually like cheap coffee and don't just drink it cause you don't have a choice, like me, you probably won't like it! But if you like things like Starbucks coffee, you will LOVE barista de casa! I'm telling you, I think it's even better!!! They sent me two flavors and the one I have on right now is called "candy ban." It smelled the best, so I planned to do that one last, but I accidently opened it instead of the "Panama Estate" like I planned too, so that's what I'm drinking this morning!
What I really can't wait for is the cd I won! It's by Laura Story and it's called "Blessings." I can't help but think it's a God-thing that I happened to win that cd! I listened to a snippet of it online (cause I was curious) and the title song starts out, "What if your blessings come through rain drops, what if your healing comes through tears." How timely is that in my life as I'm going through counseling and dealing with very tough things in my past and in my current relationships! Their have been many tears and what feels like rain in my life! I watched an interview with Laura about the album and if I'm remembering correctly all of the songs on the album were written during a time when she and her husband were going through some tough times and trying to figure out how to praise Him during the storms. And she talks about learning to see our circumstances through God instead of looking at God through our circumstances! It just seems to be way too timely in my life for this too have been totally random! I think God Himself drew my name out of the "hat" so to speak! The supposedly "random" drawing was controlled by God!!!
Okay, never mind it's not working. Not really sure why. I'll have to figure that one out later.
Did I mention that I won a blog drawing recently? I didn't! How in the world did I let you miss out on that one!?! I won a drawing on the blog Praise And Coffee!! You can find that one in the margin of my blog at this point! I have all the blogs I follow in the sidebar, so you can click on it. They have a monthly giveaway and I won their May giveaway! I just got my coffee from barista de casa this last weekend! It is delicious!!!! I may never be able to go back to drinking Folgers again!! But of course, that is their goal, is to get you to buy their coffee! If it's not too expensive I might! You can find them on both facebook and Twitter, by the way, if you're interested! If you actually like cheap coffee and don't just drink it cause you don't have a choice, like me, you probably won't like it! But if you like things like Starbucks coffee, you will LOVE barista de casa! I'm telling you, I think it's even better!!! They sent me two flavors and the one I have on right now is called "candy ban." It smelled the best, so I planned to do that one last, but I accidently opened it instead of the "Panama Estate" like I planned too, so that's what I'm drinking this morning!
What I really can't wait for is the cd I won! It's by Laura Story and it's called "Blessings." I can't help but think it's a God-thing that I happened to win that cd! I listened to a snippet of it online (cause I was curious) and the title song starts out, "What if your blessings come through rain drops, what if your healing comes through tears." How timely is that in my life as I'm going through counseling and dealing with very tough things in my past and in my current relationships! Their have been many tears and what feels like rain in my life! I watched an interview with Laura about the album and if I'm remembering correctly all of the songs on the album were written during a time when she and her husband were going through some tough times and trying to figure out how to praise Him during the storms. And she talks about learning to see our circumstances through God instead of looking at God through our circumstances! It just seems to be way too timely in my life for this too have been totally random! I think God Himself drew my name out of the "hat" so to speak! The supposedly "random" drawing was controlled by God!!!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A New Chapter In Our Lives (with some emphasis on: Chloe)
This is my darling daughter, Chloe, "modeling" for us.....with her Orange Julius in hand. Hey, she was thirsty. Shopping is thirsty work! This was last weekend when Josh and Jeremiah went on a hiking and camping trip. So, what did me and the girls do?.....Shop! What else is there? Even in all of my pain and challenges I look at pictures like these or the girls themselves (and my son) and remember that I am truly blessed. I mean, look at just this one! At Chloe. Could she be more perfect! Created in the image of God! Wow! She is such a joy, and often gets overlooked in the larger scheme of things with the older two and ALLLLLLL of their activities, which is why I am highlighting her today! She is so sweet and innocent (something I never have been. Didn't have that priviledge.) and so content (also something I have never been.). She's also very talented. She is still developping her gifts and talents, so it is hard to find things to write about with her. She loves music and has taken a few intermitent(sp?) piano lessons. I'm told she is picking it up very quickly. I've always suspected she had some musical talent! She has a very sanguine personality and how does she usually express it?....Why she sings, of course! What else is there in life, after all!!!! I was the same. I would always make up songs about life events and sing other songs preveiously written, like "Jesus Loves Me," which I knew from the earliest point of my childhood that I can remember, even though I did not know Jesus personally at the time and did not even know you could have a personal relationship with Jesus. My parents church didn't teach that and my parents certainly never taught me that either! I've since found out they don't even believe in the same Jesus, I do. My Mom told me that she does not believe that Jesus is God. Wow! That was a shock to my system, since, at least to me, it is so clear in scripture that that is who Jesus claimed to be, so as far as I'm concerned, if you don't believe that Jesus is God, then you don't believe the bible, and subsequently, aren't a believer. Ouch! My mom's on her way to hell! Thank God I can pray for her! 
Anyway, I got off track a bit. Nobody ever told me or Chloe that musicals weren't realistic. Somebody told me that in the last couple of years. They said that people don't break out into song in real life. I was like, "They don't? That's funny, cause I do all the time! So that's why people look at me funny in the grocery store when I'm singing or humming to myself while I'm shopping!" Seriously, I do. I don't sing loudly, but I sing. Only when I'm generally in a good mood, which I believe is my true personality, not this ugly depression thing that takes over way too often and for too long. I haven't been singing much recently. But Chloe? Chloe sings all the time. When she first started going to school all day, Jeremiah and Angela came home and told me, "Mom, it's embarrassing! She sings in the lunch line and everyone stares at her, and she doesn't seem to care! She just keeps singing!" I just smiled and said, "So she's happy. Let her sing!" And so we do! We just let her sing, but as she got older we'd hear her "experimenting" (that's the only thing I can think to call it) with her voice in her bedroom, changing octaves to make different sounds and what-not (those of you who've studied music would probably have better terms for it than I do). She has always just sort of bounced through the house singing to herself. She recently came to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior, and you have never seen a child so on fire! She's always telling me how she's going to "make" her friends be Christians. I keep telling her you can't "make" people be Christians. They have to choose it for themselves. Okay, so she's a little overzealous, but haven't we all been at some point in our Christian walk, if we take our faith seriously at all! I was the same way when I first came to know the Lord! I was irritating! (Boy we do seem to be a lot alike, don't we?!) She's recently asked to be baptized, which is something we're still talking about. She has to talk with Pastor Kim about that and then we'll see. So be looking for that post. I am sure at some point this spring, my last child to be baptized will be baptized. I've not mentioned her coming to know the Lord, because to be honest with you, it's an odd and wonderful sort of thing, that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around, that all of my children are now believers! I love it, but it definitely feels like a new chapter in our lives as a family is beginning. Something to ponder. My son will be going to junior high next year and turning 13! Things are shifting for sure, and in some ways (like teenage thing) I'm not sure I like it. I like that they're believers, but I'm constantly asking, "What next, Lord? Now what?" I know their faith is just beginning to bud and flourish and this is only the beginning, but not having any idea what's coming bothers me sometimes. I mean, I know in general, but it's a little nerve-wracking thinking about the temptations and challenges they will soon be faced with, and that really, I don't have any control over that. And that they will have to make those decisions for themselves. I can't make it for them. I feel like slowly, but surely control over my children's lives is being taken from me, and for the record, I. DON'T. LIKE. IT!!!! It's how it was meant to be, I know, but I'm a control freak, people! I can't allow this to happen! But I don't really have a choice, do I? No, I don't. So here we go! This new chapter in our lives is beginning, and all I can do is pray! And pray, I shall!!!!
Anyway, I got off track a bit. Nobody ever told me or Chloe that musicals weren't realistic. Somebody told me that in the last couple of years. They said that people don't break out into song in real life. I was like, "They don't? That's funny, cause I do all the time! So that's why people look at me funny in the grocery store when I'm singing or humming to myself while I'm shopping!" Seriously, I do. I don't sing loudly, but I sing. Only when I'm generally in a good mood, which I believe is my true personality, not this ugly depression thing that takes over way too often and for too long. I haven't been singing much recently. But Chloe? Chloe sings all the time. When she first started going to school all day, Jeremiah and Angela came home and told me, "Mom, it's embarrassing! She sings in the lunch line and everyone stares at her, and she doesn't seem to care! She just keeps singing!" I just smiled and said, "So she's happy. Let her sing!" And so we do! We just let her sing, but as she got older we'd hear her "experimenting" (that's the only thing I can think to call it) with her voice in her bedroom, changing octaves to make different sounds and what-not (those of you who've studied music would probably have better terms for it than I do). She has always just sort of bounced through the house singing to herself. She recently came to know Jesus as her Lord and Savior, and you have never seen a child so on fire! She's always telling me how she's going to "make" her friends be Christians. I keep telling her you can't "make" people be Christians. They have to choose it for themselves. Okay, so she's a little overzealous, but haven't we all been at some point in our Christian walk, if we take our faith seriously at all! I was the same way when I first came to know the Lord! I was irritating! (Boy we do seem to be a lot alike, don't we?!) She's recently asked to be baptized, which is something we're still talking about. She has to talk with Pastor Kim about that and then we'll see. So be looking for that post. I am sure at some point this spring, my last child to be baptized will be baptized. I've not mentioned her coming to know the Lord, because to be honest with you, it's an odd and wonderful sort of thing, that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around, that all of my children are now believers! I love it, but it definitely feels like a new chapter in our lives as a family is beginning. Something to ponder. My son will be going to junior high next year and turning 13! Things are shifting for sure, and in some ways (like teenage thing) I'm not sure I like it. I like that they're believers, but I'm constantly asking, "What next, Lord? Now what?" I know their faith is just beginning to bud and flourish and this is only the beginning, but not having any idea what's coming bothers me sometimes. I mean, I know in general, but it's a little nerve-wracking thinking about the temptations and challenges they will soon be faced with, and that really, I don't have any control over that. And that they will have to make those decisions for themselves. I can't make it for them. I feel like slowly, but surely control over my children's lives is being taken from me, and for the record, I. DON'T. LIKE. IT!!!! It's how it was meant to be, I know, but I'm a control freak, people! I can't allow this to happen! But I don't really have a choice, do I? No, I don't. So here we go! This new chapter in our lives is beginning, and all I can do is pray! And pray, I shall!!!! 
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