A little glimpse at what the Minter boys do for fun.
Until I had a little boy of my own, I never knew that anything and everything could be a drum and drum sticks. Justus usually plays drums at least 60% of the day, and most of the time he starts playing and states, “I practice for when daddy needs me on stage.”
One day, little man. One day.
She informed me the other day that she thinks next year she needs to go to “real” school and not just home school.
Apparently she was talking to one of her friends who attends public school and discovered they only have ONE recess break during the day. However, during our homeschool, I give her LOTS of breaks during the day. Her thinking is that because she gets lots of breaks and the other kindergarteners at the “real” school only get one break, she is convinced I’m doing school wrong. In fact, she told me I’m completely breaking all the rules and so just has to go to a “real” school next year.
Just thought I’d document this moment so I can show it to her next year after she discovers how much she likes having only ONE break a day =)
Homemade pumpkin pie, decorating pumpkins, roasting and planting some seeds, dance parties, and spending the rest of the night with my hubby. A great night together before I fly out in the morning.
The next time you hear from me I’ll be in another time zone! Will you please pray for the next 24 hours for our travel? I can’t wait to tell you all about everything God teaches me and what He does while we are there. I’m expecting great things.
There are some people who have a special place in your heart. This is one of them.
She is so special to us that we gave our oldest child her name.
Last week, we had the privilege of spending a few days with this special woman.
The kids were enamored with their great grandma and her toys.
The little man will now say throughout the day, “I just want my great grandma”
Of course any time a 2 year old goes on vacation, exhaustion accompanies him.
But that didn’t stop us from having a great time all week.
The little guy became pretty good at trying to steal all of Uncle Gary’s Mater cars. Justus and Gary seem to be equally obsessed with Mater which made for some good bonding between the two.
And Aunt Deanna and Uncle Gary have this perfect spot in the back yard where the kids could play in the dirt for hours. Add in the fact that there were four dogs to chase around and my kids thought they were in heaven.
Just had to put a picture in of J in time out. This was officially his time out chair for the week and he used it often. As I said, vacation is hard on a two year old.
Nana and Pappaw were only able to spend a few hours with us while we were up visiting, but we made those hours count. Everything from racing, to star gazing, to putting lipstick on Pappaw happened in those few hours.
It was simply a perfect week in Oklahoma.
Yesterday was the first time I have ever had my children raise their right hand and repeat,
“I am not a monkey. I am a child.”
Unfortunately for the many mattress stores we visited, the message never truly sunk into their pretty little heads, and I’m now fairly certain we got a good deal on a mattress simply because the sales person wanted us out of their store. Sometimes having restless kids has its perks.
Unfortunately for my kiddos, I was determined to get the mattress home by myself and not pay for delivery.
Yes, that is my awesome mini van and a child crawling through “the secret passageway” in order to get to their car seats.
In our house, if you call something “a secret passageway” they will think it is totally awesome and will forget about all the totally unawesome stuff going on.
Like driving with a heavy mattress on your head. This is the view from the back of the car, but don’t worry, I kept talking to them while I drove to make sure they were still breathing.
Once we were all settled in the minivan, I remembered that Target had bedding on clearance and that I had no extra sheets for a twin bed. So we pulled into the Target parking lot, and I silently prayed my children were able to get out of the car without moving the mattress.
We only got a few stares as I tried to figure out how to unbuckle the kids and show them the teeny tiny opening they could use to crawl out from under the mattress. Getting back into the car and carseats after Target was also a pretty fun show for anyone who happened to be standing around.
But we made it home, I got the box spring and the frame down from the attic, moved it all into his bedroom, got everything set up, and then realized I was too tired to enforce the whole “don’t get out of your bed” thing. So he went back into his crib.
We’ll start the whole bed training thing tonight, but don’t let that cute little grin fool you. I’ve already heard him whisper to his sisters that he’ll come see them when mom leaves the room.
This transition should be fun.
Last Thursday night we sat down to eat as a family, and Brent and I began to talk. I was telling him all about what God had been revealing to me that day and how my day had been spent confessing and talking to the Lord and asking Him to show me how to change.
See Thursday I had been talking to the Lord about the craziness of life, and He clearly opened my eyes to the fact that I was letting my emotions dictate my actions for the day. If I was tired, I was excusing myself from fully engaging with my kids or my housework. If I was frustrated, I was acting very frustrated towards my kids and my house. My emotions were very much dictating how my day was going.
So Thursday night I confess this to Brent, and we start talking about how I can flip this again. No one wants to live on the rollar coaster of emotions!
Then Friday morning I show up at Women of Faith. Patsy Clairmont (my new favorite speaker!) begins speaking, and one of the first things she says is:
“It is extremely important to have boundaries on your feelings”
I sat up a bit taller and started listening a bit better. Then she states that we all must have boundaries on our emotions and reads Proverbs 29:11 “A fool vents all her feelings. A wise women holds them back.“
Okay at this point, I began to thank God that He had revealed the sin of my emotions less than 24 hours earlier. I was so thankful I was aware of my problem already so that as Patsy spoke, I could just soak it all up.
She continued to speak and remind me that my feelings are not stronger than my will and that my feelings were never meant to think. And it is our emotions that keep us tattered and swinging and not pursuing the true desires of our heart which are from God.
Most of what was said was not “new” information, but yet I truly needed the reminder. The whole weekend was incredible, but the three different times Patsy spoke, God used it to move my heart. I will definitely be writing about all I learned from her as the week goes on, but today I just wanted to share the fun way God works. He knew what I would listen to on Friday morning, and He prepared me so He could change me.
Change is so good. Which leads me to the next amazing thing Patsy Clairmont spoke about. But I’ll save that for another day. For today I’m simply grateful I got the chance to spend the weekend at Women of Faith.
I sit here this morning enjoying a cup of coffee and going through an Examen on EXAMEN.me. Life is good.
And its only going to get better this weekend!
I leave in an hour for Woman of Faith. Have I mentioned how long its been since I’ve attended something where I get ministered to? The nature of our job is to minister to others and so to be AWAY and to be ministered TO is something I’m very much anticipating. Plus, I’m going with one of my greatest friends. I. CAN’T. WAIT!
This weekend our church is also having a circus! My kids have been talking about this circus for weeks and our tickets are bought for the last performance on Saturday. I’ve never actually been to a circus before and so have NO IDEA what to expect. I may be as giddy as the kids =)
Circo Del Rey from Northwood Church on Vimeo.
The next 48 hours are busy but hopefully not hurried through. I desire to soak up this experience and just savor the excitement of the next hours.
And of course I’ll be writing all about it as well =)
It all began over coffee. Seems fitting for an adventure to begin with such a glorious thing.
Last Thursday, as I was drinking coffee with a friend, the topic of Vietnam came up. She was going on a trip in October and was praying for one more certified teacher to join this particular trip.
As she shared why she needed another certified teacher and the difficulty of finding teachers who are able to go in October, my heart began to stir. I’m a certified teacher. I am available in October. I’ve always wanted to go to Vietnam.
So the praying began. I came home that morning and casually mentioned the trip to Brent. In the flurry of getting the kids’ breakfast, Brent checking on our elderly neighbor, and then him heading to work, we didn’t get farther along in our conversation than simply, “What would we do with the kids?”
The next few hours consisted of a few texts back and forth and a lot of excitement building in my stomach. By 2pm, we had made a decision. If I could still be added to the trip I would go.
12 hours later, I had my plane tickets.
I have no money, I have no one to cover the research writing class I teach here, I have no experience in Vietnam, and I have no one to care for my children, BUT I know the Lord urged me to go, so I’m going. Obedience first; working out the details comes second.
All that backstory to share with you all I”M GOING TO VIETNAM! For 10 days at the end of October, I will be treking through the mountains of North Vietnam to do a couple different projects.
I’ll share more details in the days to come, but in the meantime, please pray! Pray for wisdom as we decide what to do with the kids while I’m gone. Pray for peace as we continue to prepare and plan for the trip in two months. Pray for guidance as the team meets Wednesday night to go over some details. Pray for freedom from stress for me as I wait to see how God is going to financially provide for this trip.
In conclusion, please pray =)
To the best of my ability, I will be blogging my way through this trip. This adventure is for all of you as well as for me, so every day I will attempt to capture the emotions and events through words and pictures so that we can all experience and see what God has done and glorify Him together.
In nine weeks, we will be embarking on an adventure of a life time! Are you as excited as I am?
check back tomorrow for details on how you can support me and specifics on what I will be doing!
