Time Jam

You know how when you're trying to get somewhere and it's really important, or you've been driving for hours on a long trip and outta nowhere, you look up and all the cars in front of you are stopped. It's the dreaded. traffic. jam. You creep and you inch and you. stop. And then there's these annoying people who keep trying to nudge in front of you and hop in your lane {not sure what that has to do with anything but it always happens to me. HATE that.}

My point. Here we are, a mere 3 weeks way from Christmas. And my whole family has strep throat. For the 2nd week in a row.

*There is a Christmas tree, halfway put up.

*Christmas pictures, un-taken, un-addressed, un-mailed.{and a computer that will not import pics from memory cards}.

*Christmas gifts, un-shopped for and un-wrapped.

*Christmas baking, un-planned.

*Christmas programs for Children's Church, un-rehearsed.

*Those mouth-watering Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls, un-made.

*And my parents are coming here for Christmas this year (!!!)

And here I sit, quarantined in my house nursing a highly-contagious, potentially deadly strep throat that has attacked me and my family.

What I am experiencing, folks, is a time traffic jam. I do not recall giving my permission for this.

It's got me feeling downright Grinch-y!

Sick Week

{Or two}.

This is a break in the usual monotonous, post-less state of blog broadcast to inform you that the author thereof is not dead. Yet. I mean I thought I was near it last week, but my health been restored, though not completely at this state. And the week before that the kiddos took turns with near-death episodes of chronic yucky crud-y-ness. The ear-aching, throat-burning, fever-raging, bone-chilling kind of crud. Then they handed it off to me. Ungreatful whelps.

Through it all I learned one thing.

*Tylenol is my friend.

*Honey tea is a sore throat's friend.

*Pity parties are not beneficial.

Wait, that's 3 things.

It was very, very exciting to load up the ole Dashboard and see that I have two new followers! And very, very frustrating that my blogger is apparently having some cosmetic issues and cannot show me who they are. So, new followers, I welcome you! Whoever you are. Please, leave me a comment if you have a blog so I can visit and return the favor :).

Being that I am on the mend, I hope to post something read-worthy soon.

Til then, have a great rest of your weekend!


p.s. FYI, that is not me in the above pic, but a quite accurate portrayal of my state of being this week. And it makes me chuckle. :)

Chicken Thief Caught

After all that ranting about an "evil, chicken-eating cat", I must sheepishly retract. It was an evil, chicken-eating coon. After losing another chicken Monday night, it dawned on DH that he did after all own a wildlife, night-vision camera and why in the world hadn't he thought to put it out there before?

The culprit, unaware that his ugly mug was being photographed, crept up to the chicken pen and tried unsuccessfully to get his nasty paws into the fence. We figure he must have reached his hand in and snatched them as they walked past his post. That was a big coon, and I can't fathom his squeezing through the 4-inch gaps between nails.





At any rate, his chicken-eating days are over, at least from our brood. He can find another coop to traumatize and vandalize. If he comes back to ours, he will find himself trapped and disposed of. I say bring it on, you black-eyed bandit! Revenge...sweet, sweet revenge :).

The Hamper Cleaning Method

There are some really great home-making, house-wifey blogs out there, authored by some pretty amazing, organized women. I'm talking type-A, label-happy, energizer-bunny , catch-me-if-you-can women. They motive some of us less-energized (ahem) to step it up a little. I appreciate that. But I find it baffling, and somewhat amusing when I see women creating and selling e-books they've written on basic cleaning and cabinet organization. People actually pay $5.00 for an e-book telling them how to line up things in their pantry?

You're in luck today, ladies! You get to see a real, live, complete with demonstration photos cleaning post, absolutely FREE!

Seriously, I was at my SIL's house the other night, helping her tidy her house before our trip home (don't you wish you had a SIL like ME?? :)) and I was showing her how I clean a room in a jiffy. She actually thought it was a pretty nifty way to do it. I call it The Hamper Method.

*You line up three containers (like so--see above demonstration picture). Anywhere-on the floor, your couch, anywhere will do.

1. Hamper or box for stray toys.
2. Hamper for stray clothes/shoes/hats/gloves/need I go on?
3. Grocery bag or trash bag for trash (junk mail, long forgotten drawings, chunks of scrap wood and steel van bumpers). No, I'm not kidding. Look closely at demo photos to find the strange objects. Leave a comment and tell me where they are and you get a prize. (not).

*Next, let your three (insert number of children you have at home) children help you pick up said objects from floor and any and all surfaces or bookshelves and place them in corresponding containers.

*Have each child take toy hamper to their room and deposit their toys in appropriate places (toy box, bookshelf, etc).

*Sort through clothes in clothes box and separate dirty from clean, then have children return clean clothes to clean drawers and dirty clothes to laundry room.

When that's done, you're ready to dust and sweep/vacuum. WAIT! Maybe you have procrastinated about cleaning under your couch cushions. Do that now. There's an entire box of crayons and two containers of hair pins under there!

Here's Before:



(I think it is ADORABLE how Emma is saying "Cheese" in each picture. She thinks it's all about HER!)

Here's After:




Now, you can dust your hands together after a job well done, and move on to more enjoyable things...

Busy As A Bee

Does it seem to you that life seems to get busier and busier? Sometimes it seems that each week brings greater challenges than the one before, making the months pass so swiftly it's scary.

I'm asking the good Lord for some extra help this week, for better time-management skills and stronger resolve to resist idleness when there's so much to be done!

Here's my list of To-Dos:
*As soon as the kiddos are up, fed, and dressed, it's off to Wal-Mart to buy ingredients for making homemade spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce for canning (can you still call it canning when you're actually 'bagging'?). I'm tempted to buy one of those sauce packs where you just add it to the tomatoes and you're done. Definitely not the all-natural approach, but a lot less work.

*Home to blanch and skin tomatoes, and start making batches of sauce.

*Knock out mountain of laundry we brought back from 'Bama

*Regular daily stuff (kids school worksheet time, Bible memorization, reading time, etc.)

*Fill an order for 20 hairbows (goal, by Friday)

*Clean out disgustingly disorganized laundry room (which I loathe to enter)

*Pick up check from consignment store, 20 miles away

*Attend court hearing in town two hours away on Wednesday

*Keep up with garden output

*Clean church

And all the other necessary daily stuff that has to be done!! Well, at least I won't have any trouble going to sleep at night :).

When It Rains, It Pours

And right now seems to be the rainy season for the Acklen home. We've had a series of unfortunate events in the last week. One being this:



(courtesy of moi)

Which led to the cancellation of a long-anticipated, long-planned, much fund-raiser[ed] weekend trip. Bummer. In an attempt to salvage my weekend, I loaded up the kids in my hubby's car (two-door Chevy Cavalier)--talk about a tight squeeze--and we went to Alabama to spend the weekend with my family.

Guess what? We took a virus with us! Yep. Lots of nastiness filled the weekend. But now we're back home and Mom is ex.haust.ed. Let's hope this coming week is better than the last one (no lost children in public places, snakes in the backyard, or double ear infections). And that we find the right replacement vehicle at the right price. Without going into debt.

As a dear old-timer sister in the Lord used to say during prayer request time at church, "We covet cher prers." :) {translation--"we covet your prayers"}.

In the Blink Of An Eye

That's how quick he went from this:



To this:


My baby boy learned how to ride his bicycle yesterday--his first time on a bike, period. *Tear* :). What a milestone!

Kids & Scripture Memorization

Would you wise Moms care to share with me how you approach Scripture memorization? Do you learn a verse a week? Or a day? How do you reward your children for learning their verses? How do you keep old memorized verses fresh on their minds?

My kids get excited about it around here! I try to make it fun with corresponding hand motions to match the words of the verses. It's fun to watch their personalities come out as they express themselves through verse.

Here's a clip of Tator Tot while learning a verse this morning. She's a pretty sharp cookie!

Musings About Raising Daughters

You know when you see the title, "Musings" on a blog, any blog, there's no telling what it's going to be about, right? My blogging of late has been sparse, for different reasons. Firstly, (we say "secondly", so why not "firstly"?) I made a commitment to the man upstairs to decrease my computer time...drastically. There are just too little precious moments in the day to waste. Let's see, I've got a 2600 sq foot home to manage. A persnickety tabby cat to please. A hunka-hunka-burning love to helpmeet. Three rambunctious, mischievous, in-need-of-constant-training, precious children to care for. That makes it pretty tough to justify time spent in front of this screen. Secondly, I just haven't had a lot of inspiration in this area. I'm in a funk, OK? Sheesh. And the rare moments that do bring inspiration are too often interrupted by one of the precious dears previously mentioned.

So yesterday I was musing...Gracie asked me to fix her hair in pony tails. As I brushed, parted, and ponied, it came to me...in just a few short years she'll be fixing her own hair. Yes, she is only 3 3/4, but look how fast those short years have flown by. How will I bear it? Does it ever just hit you like that? The almost devastating awareness that this child will not be here forever? She is virtually gone tomorrow. With her crazy mess-making and princess dress wearing and coloring out of the lines. What a short time we have to hold them and cuddle them and instill important truths in their hearts! Oh, ache of my heart! How I will miss this squeezable girl! I don't want to forget how she says, "You wanna play dolls wiff me?" Is there any way to permanently imprint these memories in my brain? Along with two other lovies who fill the days with cute sayings and expressions and sweet hugs? Thus the blog. It's an attempt to preserve.





My prayer for my girls is that they give their hearts to Jesus at a young age, and never taste the sin of this world. I hope they fall in love with holy living, and submit themselves to God's plan for them. I pray God will help me to instill in them the values of modesty and femininity and that they find an oasis in prayer. I have so many questions. How do I keep them from being boy chasers? From falling into the trap of girl-gossip? To value simplicity and wholesomeness and purity? That beauty is not defined by Hollywood's latest Miss Thang, but God "beautif[ies] the meek with salvation". When the time comes, where to draw the line with dating. Will they date? Or court? Truthfully, I don't have a clue about these things. But I'm trusting that my Lord will give that knowledge to me when I need it. He said if we ask, we will receive, and I'm asking for lots of wisdom.

I love this song by The Isaacs. I cry each time I hear it. If you have a little girl, grab some Kleenexes before you listen.

Snow In Louisiana

The weatherman has been trying to tell us it was coming, but could we dare hope? We tried not to get our hopes up, to downplay the possibility, just in case. But this morning, it started coming down! Big, fat flakes, cascading down, transforming the drab scenery into something fresh and exciting! Yeah! Snow in Louisiana does not come very often, just about ever 3 years or so. We're so excited!

The word is we can expect 2-4 inches this weekend. If it keeps up, we should have quite a thick carpet of fluff to play in tomorrow. Get ready for lots of snow pics! Here are a few from this morning:



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Elijahnator the Imaginator--can weave a tall tale faster than you can wink at a cowgirl! His most common conversation starter: "When I was my Daddy's age..."...and then some tale about building a ship or a bicycle or...who knows! :)



My expressive, emotional child. Woe to me when PMS kicks in! :)


You would not believe this girl's vocabulary! It's growing every day! She's quite the questioner: "Where's Wijah? Where's Dacie? Where's Daddy? Where's Beamie?" All. day. long. And then, "Wass dis?" at about anything that can be pointed at. Yep. She's going to keep us supplied with interesting conversation around here! :)

A Matter of Discretion

Titus 2:4,5-- That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

What does it mean for a woman to be discreet? When I read that verse, I always got the picture of a woman sitting correctly with her dress pulled down over her knees, her legs together, and her feet crossed at the ankles just so. In my mind, to be discreet was to be modest and careful in one's appearance. Whatever it meant, it's obviously pretty important that we be so, since Titus included in his "a godly wife should be" list.

I recently dug in and did a little study on the subject and it was interesting to learn that although I was close, there is a lot more to being discreet than being prim and proper (thus, the importance of study).

First, a few definitions:
Good Ole' Mr. Webster-- judicious in one's conduct or speech, esp. with regard to respecting privacy or maintaining silence about something of a delicate nature; prudent; circumspect.
My Bible's Hebrew Dictionary: safe, sound in mind, self-controlled (moderate as to opinion or passion):--discreet, sober, temperate.

Then I noticed the next verse down, Titus 2:6 states, "Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded." On checking the reference to "sober minded" in the middle margin or my Bible, it said, "or, discreet". Further cross-reference studying revealed that "sober" and "discreet" are pretty much synonymous, and their roots are very close to the same roots used for "sound mind".

Hmm...let's look at "sober" (Webster): showing self-control, quiet or sedate in demeanor, as persons. My Bible dictionary said that "sober" as used in the first part of Titus 2:4 actually means "to discipline or correct, to make of sound mind, and to teach to be sober." This is a different form, which I believe means we should be continuously evaluating ourselves and training our self-control. Of course, that's just an opinion.

Here are some interesting cross-references:
2 Tim 1:7--For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1 Tim 3:2--A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

2 Time 2:9--In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

Proverbs 5:3--That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.

OK, so about here I began to realize...I've lead a life of indiscretion. I mean, I'm from the South. I come from a family of loud, opinionated, no shame women. Sadly, in my social circle growing up, the more shocking your conversation, the more fun you were perceived to be! But, ladies, this is NOT pleasing to God. I believe it is shameful to Him, and shameful to our husbands and families. Now, don't get me wrong, I love to laugh and have a good time, but there is a point where we just have to use good sense. That's what "sober" means, actually--have the good sense to know when something should not be said or told. I am SO preaching to myself here, now. I am an impulsive person and tend to pop out of my mouth whatever comes to mind. That's why this study has been so convicting and eye-opening for me.

Where else can we apply this teaching? Let's see--you're in church, and you've told your four year old five times to turn around and stop staring at the person sitting behind you. Finally, you jerk him/her up by their arm and drag them out, with a scowl on your face. Or, you put them over your knee right then and there and give them a good spanking. NOT very discreet or sober. This would be the time to exercise that self-control. Calmly, take your child's hand and lead them outside, where you administer discipline in a calm, but effective manner. And it would probably be a good idea to take them out the first time they disobeyed instead of the fifth. Yep. That's me--the before and after :).

OK, ladies, let's admit it. We like to talk. We love a good story. We are detail-oriented and love to share. Ahem. But let's be discreet. Let's use good, common sense about what, and how much, we share with others. Now, those of you who know me personally are probably saying, "She's really got a lot of room to talk." But let me tell you, God has used this study to convict me of my indiscretion. I am ashamed and repentant of how deeply indiscreet I have been in the past. With God's help, I am working on changing myself on this matter. What's the old song say? "He's Still Working On Me".

I have seen so many women hurt because someone "shared" something about another sister in the church. A ripple effect is created: The Sharer mars her own testimony and causes the Sharee to lose confidence in her experience. The Shared (the one told on) is hurt because others are talking about her behind her back. The Sharee (the one listening) loses confidence in everyone and decides they are all just hypocrites talking about one another anyway so what the use? It's so important that we use discretion in our conversation and be sensitive when the Holy Ghost says, "Ah-ah, don't say that."

This study has shined the flashlight of the Holy Ghost on a dark corner of my heart that needed to be swept out. I'm working on spring cleaning my corner of indiscretion. Search your heart. Ask Him to show you where you have been indiscreet, and He will show you. WARNING: It might not be pretty!

My Weekend Revealed

Does it seem to you that our grown-up weekends are somewhat less glamorous than our childhood ones? Oh, the excitement that Friday brings to the youth! My weekends do not hold the same carefree attraction as they once did, for motherhood and maturity have revealed responsibilities that must be fulfilled. But every now and then, I shake off the burden of all that must be done and let my hair down! So this Saturday, my MIL, the girls and I packed up and went to GOODWILL!! For two blessed, wondrous hours I scouredtshe shelves and racks, delighted when my hunt was rewarded with some awesome finds!! Here's what I got for $20.00:



Three adorable, fancy dresses for Peanut--.99 each!
A pair of like-new, Children's Place jeans for the Elijahnator--$1.99
A baby doll for Tator Tot (which she will pay for out of her piggy bank)--.99
A big, deep, sturdy basket (to use for our hospital waiting room snack ministry)--$3.99
A pair of NICE sheets--unbelievably soft and CUTELY printed--$3.99
A pair of footed jammies for Tator Tot (not pictured)--$1.99
Six bibs--.99

And that does not add up to $20 but I can't remember what else I got.



Peanut modeling the 3rd dress (not pictured above). Cute, cute!

Whilst we were blissfully stealing steals from the GW, Dh and Elijahnator were on a little fishing excursion--Elijah caught his first fish! We also discovered a really nice park that we didn't know about! We'll be visiting there frequently, I imagine.



Yes, he is waaaaay past due a haircut. But still the cutest thing around!

Having my MIL staying with us has given DH and I a lot more opportunity for Mommy/Daddy time. After our fishing and shopping, the kids and Beamie napped while John and I visited our bus route kids and did some grocery shopping. Childless. It felt really strange, and I sorta missed them. Saturday evening, DH cleaned the fish and then grilled chicken quarters! My fave!

Time spent with family, some good bargains, and good food! All in all, it was a great weekend! As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get much better than that! How was yours?

Hint, Hint

There's a certain something I've longed for, since we moved into this house. I've mentioned it (in very un-nag-like fashion) to my dearest love a few times. Just here and there.

It had kind of left my mind in the last few months, it being winter and all.



But, with the rather odd, unseasonably warm weather(for January) we've had around here this week, I've been reminded.



PUL-lease??

Snippets of My Day

Yesterday morning started off like one of THOSE days. Mommy felt "off" and the kiddos woke up with an extra large dose of energy. The two do not make a good combination, if you know what I mean. We made it through breakfast and getting dressed. I decided, after a few futile attempts at getting chores done, to throw it all to the wind! So we bundled up and went outside to enjoy the beautiful fall weather (rare around here these days). We took a walk and visited with neighbors. It was just what we all needed!




The kiddos were more content inside after our fresh air & exercise experience. When we came back in, I turned the computer OFF and felt freed. Sometimes you just gotta shift gears and step out of the norm, kwim?

Puppy Sarah got sick, but she had a good nurse to give her some cough medicine.


Emma went for a boat ride.


Elijah created some works of art.



Grace helped with evening chores. She does a great job!


As I read back over this post, it strikes me how a Mom has the power to change the mood of the entire day. We can choose to let things go downhill or we can take control of the wheel and get the ship back on course. What a great responsibility we hold in our hands!