WARNING! VENTING IN PROGRESS!

So...this is suppose to be our first night of bible school and by the way it is the first year that Gavin can attend. Chris and I talk about it and decide that he is perfectly capable of going so I will just call the person in charge (who by the way I know) and talk to her about his food allergies and his other issues. So I call her and ask her who his teacher is going to be so that I can get there early to talk to he or she about things. She ask me what is up so I begin to tell her about the food allergies and then I go into THE CONVERSATION.

This conversation should not be a big deal. Gavin is very normal in so many ways that sometimes Chris and I even forget that there is anything wrong. But, when you are trying to explain Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) to someone you might as well be speaking in a language from Mars. So, I have reverted to saying that he is on the Autism Spectrum, but that he is Very high functioning. I usually go on to say that he is perfectly normal until he is not, meaning that most of the time he acts like a rowdy 4-year-old boy.

The problem is that when people hear Autism they see Rain Man. All they hear is the word and then they stop listening. Back to THE CONVERSATION. The lady wanted to know if he was verbal, and I assured her that he was. I also assured her that I would not bring him unless he could function well there. I really do want success for him and he can be successful at this. In fact he can be more successful at this than a lot of children that I see at Walmart that have no diagnosis!

Now, for all of you positive peeps I know that this is an attack of the enemy on me, b/c I have been struggling with my sweet Gavin. So, here I am sitting and I am going to pray that I will go and hang out with him tonight, and not be spiteful, enjoy the extra time with just him, and pray that the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in me.

Just remember that we all know you can't judge a book by it's cover and you can't always judge a child by his or her diagnosis! Love You All!

"Stolen Kisses"

For most of you I am sure you are asking yourselves, "What in the world is she talking about?" But there are a handful of you that know my sweet Gavin and our struggles with his unique qualities. One of those blessed qualities is that he is not affectionate in that he rarely receives it and even less often gives it. It has only been in the past 4 months that I have been able to kiss him on the top of the head and him not have a complete meltdown. Well, I am pleased to announce that for about the past week I have been able to "steal" some kisses on the top of his forehead and the side of his face!!!! It is almost as if he doesn't even notice, but hey I'll take it.

Like I said you all can celebrate this V-I-C-T-O-R-Y with me and continue to pray with me that one day he just might kiss me, but until then I'm going to enjoy my "stolen kisses."

Cheap Fun

A Can of Cheap Shaving Cream: $.99

Water to Clean them Off: $.70

Thirty minutes of PEACE: PRICELESS

Blake loves getting messy and wants everyonelse to join in on the fun!

Gavin is fine as long as there is a barrier between him and the mess!

The greatest thing about it was that there was almost no cost and almost no clean up!

Oh Lisa....Where Are You???

The rest of you can just ignore this....but Lisa L. you found my blog, but I can't find you! Please email me or something so I can have your new email address!

The last we talked you were living in Alabama! I would love to keep in touch!

We Own a Horse Stable

Grace wanted horses for Christmas and then didn't have a stable big enough for them so....Daddy went to work.

She wanted a ladder so her people could climb up to the loft, but these didn't quite please her so back to the drawing board.

Here we have a REAL ladder!

I think the side doors are to hide all of the junk in, but the kids think they are for playing hide-and-seek with the people.

I personally am very impressed with this creation! This was built from trash wood from work, no drawings, and not exactly the right tools, but I bet we could make some money if we sold them.

The funny thing is after all the hard work Grace wanted to paint the barn with Tempera Paint! Yea right!

Field Day

Yesterday, we had a fun day at field day. It was filled with of fun things like:

THREE-LEGGED RACE (WITH THE WRONG LEG IN THE BAG!)

RUN RUN RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN YOU CAN'T FILL THE BUCKET UP WITH WATER BEFORE YOU ARE SOAKED

WHAT IS THE PLAN TO GET SO DIRTY OUR MOMS WON'T RECOGNIZE US?

GUESS WHAT I DID? I FELL AND TUMBLED RUNNING THE 50 YARD DASH - GOT UP AND KEPT ON GOING! AND YES, I GOT VERY DIRTY!

AN UNOFFICIAL GAME OF TUG-OF-WAR! GIRLS VS. BOYS!

THE GIRLS DRUG THE BOYS ALL OVER THE FIELD!

GAVIN MADE IT ONTO A TUG OF WAR TEAM THAT MANAGED TO PULL THE OTHER TEAM OVER (AND PULL GAVIN AS WELL)

All in all it was a fun day! We got soaked from the rain, got banged up a little, enjoyed friends and cool weather, and won a few ribbons!

Best Mother's Day I Have Ever Had

Usually on Mother's Day I get the whole day off. I don't get anyone but me ready for church, I don't take anyone to potty, I don't fix any one's meals, I get to take a nap that ends when I say, in short...I get to be lazy.

This morning did not start that way. But I didn't care. I woke up smiling because this was going to be the best Mother's Day I have had so far. We were all going to walk into the church auditorium dressed for church and three of us were leaving WET!

I had the incredible privilege of baptising Chris, my husband, my love, and my friend this morning and then watching him as he baptised Grace.


I have only seen him cry a couple of times in 12 years but this morning as he told about Jesus changing his life I could see him holding the tears back. You want a REAL man....There he is!


I got a little scrambled on my words and said "Holy Ghost" instead of "Holy Spirit". Who says Holy Ghost anymore. I guess you can take the girl out of the Baptist Church but you can't take the Baptist out of the girl!

The heater wasn't working in the pool so it was a little chilly. Really Chris and I didn't notice it much but when Grace got in she started dancing around in front of 1,000+ people saying, "Ooooo! It's cold in here!" She was excited and cold and it was Grace so of course everyone was chuckling!

One of the neatest things that our church does is to encourage you to have people from your family and support system stand on stage with you saying that they will walk this journey with you as you grow in Christ Jesus. We were blessed to have Paw, Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Bob, The Johnston Family, and the Herrrells. We missed having the Haydens and the Schrimshers, but we know that you were there in heart.

Here we are all leaving wet and blessed! The feeling of being obedient to Christ is incredible! I am so proud of Chris and Grace both that words are not sufficient!

By the way...I still got my day off. After leaving church, my sweet husband took me out to eat, took care of the kids, let me take a really long nap, and is fixing them "supper" even as we speak! I am thankful for a day off, but I am even more thankful that God made me a MOTHER!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Princess Grace!

THE PRINCESS IS 7!!!

It is so hard for me to believe that this sweet (Ha!Ha!) baby is seven years old.

But, she is growing up. I really am enjoying her more now than I did even a year ago. There are still challenges, but we can relate now (somedays a little too much). Here are some a few current pictures!

I would LOVE to see this!

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of "pretend" bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment. He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation).

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

There is only one TV between them, and a remote with dead batteries.

Each father will be required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, which they will apply to themselves either while driving or making three lunches.

Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must try to explain what a tampon is for when the 6-yr old boy finds it in the purse.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book and then pray with the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name.

Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better.

They must have a loving, age appropriate reply to, "You're not the boss of me."

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years...eventually earning the right to be called Mommy!

A Story of Grace

I was sitting in church on Sunday listening to a wonderful message on living like we have God's grace instead of living in fear and although it was a wonderful message it was not speaking to my heart. I learned from it in my head, but you all know what I'm talking about...When the message goes beyond cognitive understanding and moves into your spirit. It is like a fire of excitement is lit deep within you. A fire that causes you to tremble inside and "feel" the Holy Spirit. For me on Sunday it was not the message that lit that fire, but the testimony of a woman at the end. She told of a life of searching for love. She told of looking for that love and acceptance in men and the many troubles that led her into. She told of the pain of abortion. But, then....She told of God's mercy....God's forgiveness...God's love...and The incredible Grace that has been given to us in Christ Jesus.

I leaned over to Chris and said that aside from that grace I too would be telling that story. As I sat there I thought about the day when I tell Grace the story of her name. She knows that even before I was pregnant God told me that I would have a little girl and I was to name her Elizabeth Grace, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. The whole story goes something like this:

I too, as a young girl needed love and attention. Everyone does, but as life would have it I did not get that at home, so I began looking for it. I didn't realize that was what I was doing, but nevertheless I did. As I developed physically I realized that my physical appearance (dressed in an inappropriate way) gained me attention. In fact it gained a lot of attention. I wore everything that I could to show every part of my body that I could. I loved the attention. At 14 I received the attention that would change my life. I had my first "experience". I remember during the 8 months of that "experience" thinking that I was with child. You can imagine my dismay. I remember ramming my stomach into the corner of my dresser so many times that I looked like I had been beaten. I wish that I could say that I learned my lesson, but I was finding "love." My method of finding love went on for years, even after I became a christian. It was my sin. You know the sin that keeps you bound up in chains that just won't let go. I knew it was wrong, but it was like a drug, I tried to stop but I would always return to it.

The stopping point was the year before I got married. Then I was delivered...because I was suppose to have those "experiences"! As we moved into married life and the thought of having children came to mind I began to wonder why and how I had never gotten pregnant in the past years. Then I began to think that it was possible that as a logical consequence of my sin I may never be able to have children. That seemed very probable to me, not because God is vengeful, but because he is just. I really believed that the day of carrying a child would never happen for me.

In (I think) June or July of 1999 I was driving down the road listening to a song by Point of Grace that had part of the old hymn in it, "Grace, Grace, God's Grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, Grace, God's great Grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin." I know at that moment I heard the voice of the Lord. He spoke to me so sweetly, "Terra, my grace is greater than any of your sins. To show you, you are going to have a baby girl and I want you to name her Elizabeth Grace." Now, one would think I would be in awe of this, but instead I said out loud, "But, God I don't even like the name Elizabeth." After than moment of insanity I realized what had just happened. I finally understood that I was not that girl searching for love. I had found it in Jesus and he had even expressed his love even further through Chris. And in His sweet loving kindness He had in fact forgiven me and had covered my sin with His grace.

I didn't tell Chris at first, but when I did I began to look for the meaning of Elizabeth. It means "belonging to the Lord," so when you put Elizabeth Grace together it literally means that she "belongs the the Lord's Grace!" On Sept. 9 I found out I was pregnant (by the way we were not trying, so it was in fact God!). I was not at all surprised when the Dr. told me it was a girl. Now, every time I hear that old hymn or take time to think about Grace's name, I am reminded of the grace that was given to me. It was given to me freely. It was given to me undeserving. It was given to me completely!

Thank you Jesus for your Grace!

STOMP HIS FACE!!! Song

This morning I started singing this silly song to the boys that has the same tune as another song that they remembered so as I began singing Blake yelled, "NO! Sing the STOMP FACE song!" So...after I corrected the fact that we do not tell Mommy , "NO!" we proceeded to sing this song:

If I had a little white box to put my Jesus in,
I'd open it up, hug his neck, and share him with my friends.

And if I had a little black box to put Satan in,
I'D OPEN IT UP AND STOMP HIS FACE!!!
And put him back again.

Maybe if I could just do that every morning. Wake up, greet my Jesus, and plan to share him that day it would start the day off right. I am certain that if I got up in the morning, ready to put on my battle armor, and STOMP SATAN'S FACE it would definitely be a better day! Maybe I'll try that.

Slow internet anyone?

I knew that we were behind the time as far as getting high speed Internet goes, but until I started this blog I really didn't see a need for paying more than $13 a month for time on this crazy computer. But, now with this blog is has become very obvious that there are many things I can't do without high speed. For example I tried to download a picture for a post and about 3 hours later I gave up. So we are in the process of getting a free modem which will give us $19.99 Comcast for six months!

So...Just wait when the floodgates open pictures will come!

Going Crazy!!!

I woke up this morning with a headache, but I was determined to make this a praiseworthy day. It hasn't gone so well. Grace took an hour on math alone while the boys screamed at each other off and on for one thing or another.

I am trying to make my house livable because we have friends coming over on Friday and I am determined for it not to look like I live in a cluttered pigpen! I know they love us anyway, but really who wants to have friends over and them have no where to sit?

I have so much admiration for those of you who run like crazy women and still have a clean home. I have something going on every day this week and here I sit because I simply don't know where to start. The FlyLady would say a good place to start would be putting some clothes on (yes, I am still in my PJs at noon)!

Now, I am going to pray that my calm precious Jesus will give me perspective on my list of to-do's so I won't go crazy!

Mommy, how do we really know?

The other day as we were sitting at the dinner table without Daddy, b/c he was working late Grace looks at me with a serious look. I have learned over the past 6 years that these looks are usually followed up with very interesting questions that I don't always have a good answer for. Anyway she says, "Mommy how do we really know that there is a God? And even if there is how do we know that Jesus was his son and he did all the things that the bible says? You know people could have made it all up." Now, I am usually pretty quick on my words but she can really stump me. I don't even really remember what exactly I said. I know I told her something to the effect that it would be really hard to make all of that up and it all make
sense and that many people saw the miracles that Jesus did and even saw him after he rose from from the dead. I did remember to put in there that one of the disciples questioned if it was really Jesus when he saw the Risen Lord and Jesus showed him the holes in his hands and feet. She seemed to be content with the half answers that I gave her, but I sure wasn't.

So, here I am the night before Easter and I am trying to figure out a better answer as to how we know it is all true. There are a few "reasons" I have come up with:

• First, I was reminded by Rebecca (my sister-like cousin) that Jesus fulfilled so many prophesies of the old testament. I think her words were something to the effect that it was more likely to get hit with lightening twice than for one man to fulfill even one of those prophesies and not be the Christ. So I started looking for an example of this and found more than I could list but this one all by itself is so impactful to me right now.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led
like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so
he did not open his mouth....For he bore the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:7 & 12

• The second thing that I though of is that it is true in history that this man, Jesus, was born and died. Many of his teachings are recorded not just in the bible but they are recorded as history. So we have established that he lived, but even though many people want to say that he was just a prophet or a teacher of God. Well, the problem with that is that God would not be too happy with someone walking around claiming to be Christ if he were not. In John 4:25-26 Jesus claims to be just that, the Christ.

The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he
comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

What incredible boldness! Now we are faced with the decision: Is this man, Jesus, the Messiah or his he blaspheming God? This quote is just one of many where Jesus calls himself The Messiah, The I Am, The Son of God, The Son of Man, and claims to be sent by the One and True Holy God. I don't know about you, but for me either Jesus is who he says that he is or God the entire bible is, in my pastor's words, "The biggest hoax the world has ever known.

• The last reason that I came up with in my thougths about this was for me the most important. I am not lessening the value of the first two, because each of them is foundational to my beliefs in God and in Jesus being God in the Flesh. But, for me the number one reason I have that I really know is that I KNOW HIM PERSONALLY! Yes, I said it, the God of the Universe, I know him! And his son, Jesus, I know him too! I talk with them every day, I laugh with them, I cry with them, I get excited with them, and even angry when I don't understand what in the world they are doing. I have felt their touches and heard that sweet voice in my spirit. I have laid in their arms and have felt Jesus' nail pierced hands wipe away my tears. I have seen my sweet Jesus living inside of people around me. I have felt the sweet release of knowing that the God that created the son loves me. I have experienced the peace that far surpasses any explanation that I have. I know my Jesus, my Lord, my friend, my Father, my One True Love!

So, when I tell Grace, Gavin, and Blake over the next few years the reasons that we can really know I am sure that I will share the first two reasons, but what I want for them to KNOW is the third. I want first for them to see me KNOWING Jesus. Then I pray with all of my soul that one day when they are faced with the question of how do you know it's really true they can say wholeheartedly that they KNOW the Holy and Living God!

Here I Go!

Okay! Since I have discovered the world of blogging I realize that it can be a bit addicting so I have limited myself to just a few to keep up with. (You all know I have nothing better to do with my time than sit at this computer!) But, now I am venturing out on this journey of doing one myself.

As you can see there is nothing very spectacular about this so any of you more seasoned bloggers can you give me any advice on sprucing up this page? Really any help would be wonderful. I don't even know how to put pictures on this thing.