Rockin' Girls!

I was awarded Rockin' Girl Blogger by my friend Halfmoon Happenings. I'm honored. Especially because it makes me sound young and hip. And because it's pink!

And now the time has come to bestow this award on five bloggy friends. Check them out; you'll be glad you did.

Grace for Gayle was the very first blog I got hooked on and it sucked me into this blogging life. I still get a little thrill whenever Bloglines tells me she has a new post. She's quickly become someone I long to know in REAL life where I could laugh until my tummy hurts at her hilarious stories, be grossed out by her boy tales, and admire the way her man loves her. I'm also trying to beat everyone else who will crown her Rockin' ...people like another wish-she-lived-next-door friend, nsremom, Gayle's real-life BFF.

Fiddledeedee is one of the best bloggers out there- a gifted writer who is also pee-your-pants-funny. If you haven't found her yet, you simply MUST go over there.

EEEEMommy at For the Sake of the Call never fails to make me think or make me smile. She is one of those people that just makes me love God more. What could be better?? And I'm excited she will soon be a real-life friend! Her heart is huge and her family is beautiful.

Big Blueberry Eyes is a blog I have just fallen in love with. Take a look at the photos there and you'll see why. Michelle inspires me. Her love and care for her beautiful daughter will get you, too. And her man is in the service... I can't say enough about families like that!

My Crazy Life at Confessions from the Rubber Room is a true Rockin' Girl Blogger. Hallie amazes me... a single mom who is giving her girls a great life, she runs her own business, finds time to blog, and has ministered to me in huge ways. Another girl I want to pick up and move here!

So to all my other bloggy friends who are also Rockin' and wonderful, go check out these five.
And to you five, thanks for making my life richer... in bloggy land and beyond!

Tagged-Feed Me, Seymour!

My sweet bloggy friend Kimmie tagged me for my favorite local restaurants. Great meme for me because:

A. I love food.
B. I love to talk about food.
C. I love to eat at places where someone else cooks and cleans up.

I live in Indiana, home of Indiana University. It is a great town- small enough to have the small-town feel yet with I.U. here, we have fabulous sports and arts! It is a very multi-cultural town in some ways... lots of international students. Which means lots of international restaurants. Which means one happy girl named Cindy.

So some of my faves... When you come to visit me here, I'd be happy to let you take me out to any of these places:

1. Trojan Horse... yummy, cheap Greek food. When you order the flaming cheese appetizer, the waitress lights it on fire and everyone yells, "Opa!" Best dessert in town... Choclava... baklava but with chocolate in it! INCREDIBLE.

2. Essan Thai... yummy, cheap Thai food. We love Pad Thai and Tom Ka soup, a coconut-based soup with mushrooms and roots and all kinds of weird things.

3. Casa Brava... yummy, cheap Mexican food. (See a pattern here? I'm hungry yet broke.) I always choose the mushroom quesadilla and of course fill up on chips and salsa. My favorite waiter there works to send money to his family who is still in Mexico. So I always overtip. He also brings me fresh lime for my Diet Coke.

4. BuffaLouie's... yummy, fattening chicken wings. Three girls like Teriyaki; one likes Sweet BBQ; I like Medium Hot. Scott likes anything that is high in cholesterol.

5. Dairy Queen... Mint Mocha Moolatte. No other words needed.

I REALLY love to eat. (If you saw my badonkadonk booty, you would know that without me telling you.)

So I would love to eat vicariously with some of you...nsremom (because I'm afraid she isn't eating at all, she is so skinny), and Debbie (because every time she posts a recipe I drool).

And for everyone...which of my faves to you want to go to with me??? You have to pick one!

Amar es Servir

To love is to serve...
Scott and the girls came back from Mexico excited and passionate and exhausted. Scott has been on fire lately thinking about what it really means to love our neighbors and to reach out to others with the love of Christ...here in our neighborhood, in our town, and far away. Going to Mexico gave our girls a chance to witness people doing just that and a chance to live it out themselves. We hope to have all our entire family go next year.

It is amazing to watch these families come back from a short-term mission trip like this. They are deeply bonded, they have a richer walk, a broader world-view, and they desire to make a difference at HOME, too. We're finding that the church members who have participated in short-term missions abroad are then the go-getters when it comes to finding opportunities to minister to people in our own town here.

I asked Shelby (8) and Brynne (7) what they'd want my bloggy friends to know about their time in Mexico. Click on photos for a larger view.

In Brynne's words...
"I was scared at first but now I want to keep going. The people are very nice to you and you can play soccer a lot. The showers aren't hard to do, they are very easy once you get used of them. It is good because each night you praise God and you learn more about people."
And in Shelby's words...
"It was awesome! I got really hot because we had to wear pants at the worksites. I got to get on the roof and hammer nails in. I mixed cement and stucco. I got to help put on chicken wire and make tar squares. The food was really good. We helped a family with three little girls. One was 6, one was 2, and the other one was 1. The 6 year old's name was Alejandra, and the 2 year old's name was Valeria. They came with us to VBS and the dad was always out there helping us. I thought that God was leading me down a path that I thought I wanted to follow for a long time. A path of helping others. Putting others in front of yourself. It felt really nice at home to sit on a flushing toilet. I hope we can do this with our whole family next year."

The kids on the work sites really do contribute to the house; marking boards, sifting concrete, and they make a difference. They also pitch in during the VBS for the community children singing, making crafts, playing games, etc.

Here is Scott teaching the Mexican children John 3:16; mixing up the words and having the kids get them back in the correct order.

Brynne and Shelby handing out gifts at VBS:
Brushing their teeth for the first time south of the border. :)

Working hard...



Scott and the girls with the family who received the home their team built:


Is it just my imagination or are my little missionaries awfully cute?

One of the high points of the week is when they head to the ocean for baptisms.
This is one of my favorite photos. Look at their faces. This little girl (whose family is dear to us), was baptized by her daddy. It is intensely special... her mommy has cancer. It is terminal. What a gift that the family was able to go on this mission trip together. One more thing that puts life in perspective...
And another...And yet another...

A Bit O' Bloggy Business

Heads up, friends. The fascinating blog you see before you has changed. It is now officially called "Still His Girl." Why? Because I really had no meaning behind "Finding Our Way." (I am frequently lost, and frequently unsure, but really, it had no meaning.) Since my blog address and my little name/picture thing is Still His Girl, I thought I'd just go with that. That way I don't have to come up with something else with meaning. My brain is too fried today to do meaning. Know what I mean? ;) You can read about the name here.

More Bloggy Business... if you use Bloglines to keep up with my blog (and if you don't, read on- you should!), you may need to "edit" your subscription to have the new title. I'm not sure, though; I'm SO not blogoliciously brilliant.

If you enjoy reading blogs and aren't using Bloglines, you must, I say... you simply MUST! It saves so much time and allows you to see which blogs have been updated without having to visit all your favorite blogs separately. You can quickly and easily set up a free account and enter all of the blogs that you enjoy. You can subscribe to this particular blog by clicking on the button on the sidebar.

Speaking of the sidebar, I updated it a bit. New books I'm reading, a give-away, etc. ;) Here's another give-away you should check out, too, at Making a House a Home!

I'll post tomorrow about the fam's time in Mexico. Hopefully with some pics! :) Thanks for praying for my crew! They had a muy bueno time.

Bumped and Bummed

I thought I'd have an "It's so wonderful to have my family home" post today. Or at least an "It was pretty nice for the first fifteen minutes to have my family home" post. But it turns out Scott and the girls won't be home until Saturday NIGHT now instead of first things Saturday morning. They got bumped off their flight. I am BUMMED... I was so ready to have them home. Unfortunately, this also gives me more time to get the house cleaned for them. Just in time for them to bring home a zillion bags of dusty, filthy stuff. :)

Double bummed that Scott will miss a wedding we were going to. I always like him to remember back to our big day. You know, the day I weighed 20 pounds less and could see no negatives characteristics in him at all. I also like to see his tender Daddy heart when he tears up with the father gives his girl away; he always squeezes my hand then. And I REALLY love it when we start mentally calculating what it will cost us to have four weddings.

So I have another day without them. BUT, the good news is they get three free flights! I was thinking a fabulous vacation for Scott and me and our personal pool boy, but he is thinking of ALL of us going to Mexico next year. I'm sure camping in tents in the Mexican desert and going to the bathroom in a hole and then doing manual labor will be just as great as a romantic vacation! :)

So let me live vicariously through your vacations... what's the best vacation you've enjoyed or where do you want to go? Tell me so I can pretend I'm there. My top three dream vacations would be:
1. Europe
2. NYC where I'd see tons of shows
3. Hawaii

Our top three most visited places in actuality are:
1. Missouri
2. Ohio
3. Church camp

It's a good life, even if it isn't very exotic.

Did You Know?

Did you know that after a walk through the locker room at swim lessons, life truths become clear?

"Little girls don't have as much privacy, did you know, Mommy? Girls don't and little girls don't have as much privacy. But when boys are naked, it is easy to see all of their privacy."

And did you know that it is not at all difficult to single-handedly consume an ENTIRE bag of peanut butter creme-filled Oreos in eight days?

Nope, not difficult at all.

Home Sweet Home

Well, now you're in for it. I have no grown-ups to talk to, I'm putting off folding laundry, and I have the disks with house photos on it right here, so I'm gonna show you more before/after shots of our house. (Even the "after" shots are three years old, though, so we now have things like curtains and lots more junk, more school stuff, and bunk beds instead of toddler beds.)

This house was an incredible, incredible blessing to us. We never dreamed we would have a home like this, especially on a minister's salary. Even now I still think EVERY SINGLE DAY that I can't believe it is ours. (Or Regions Bank's, technically.) It isn't the fanciest house ever but it is more than perfect for us. It came to us at an incredible deal...unfortunately because of someone else's loss and pain. But that family has since moved back into the neighborhood and has their own brand new, beautiful house now. They say that losing this house was the best thing that ever happened to them, spiritually and for their marriage.

The negative about this house and yard is how much I love it. I never want to be tied to a structure, and I don't ever want to not respond to God's call because I love a material thing so much. But the fact is, I really, really love it and am so incredibly thankful. Big bonus- our front yard makes for a great slip n slide area!

I wish I could have all my bloggy friends over to my house and feed you some Triple Chocolate Mess and coffee! Imagine we're sitting here in the front of my living room:

Before:

After:
I know it is bizarre to show you my 1/2 bath, but I actually REALLY love it. I've found vintage postcards of lots of places we've gone on vacation, photos of the homes we've lived in, posters, etc. and framed them all. There are a lot more than this shows now. I started getting the postcards and photos for Scott for our 10th anniversary. Before and after:

The little girlies' room before and after. The momma here before me had four BOYS! :)



The office/school room before and after. It now has no couch, another desk, lots of maps and posters, a zillion more books, etc.

The Love Nest (aka Master Bedroom) before and after. It has never really come together, though. We don't have real bedroom furniture and everything is pretty blah. I love the color on the walls, (like a caffe mocha!) but that is about it. Any suggestions? Before and after:
What is your favorite spot in your house? What would you feed me if I came over?

Tagged- Page 12

I've been tagged by Amy, so here goes:

1 Pick up a book that is near to you
2 Go to page twelve in the book
3 Read the first two sentences and post it on your blog
4 Also post the book title and the name of the author
5 Tag 3 other People : )

This tag was harder than I thought it would be... the first book I looked at was blank on page 12, the second one had a letter to the author that would have sounded like I was trying to get you to buy it! This one was good, though. It is from A Life Embraced; A Hopeful Guide for the Pastor's Wife by Gayle Haggard.

Somehow in the midst of all my defeated attempts, it occurred to me that God had sent His Holy Spirit to teach me, counsel me, and guide me. So I started to talk to Him about my desire to walk with Him and know Him more, and before long, not only was I able to fill an hour with prayer, but my days were filled with prayer.

Good words for me even this morning! I forget to ask for help in my walk, how about you??

Javamamma, Halfmoon Girl, and Southern Girl...tag, you are it! And of course ANYONE who has a fascinating page 12 should consider themselves tagged. :)

Quote o'the Day

Mommy! I counted all the way to infinity! I really did!

Room By Room

This past weekend I started re-painting Cassie's and Shelby's room. Wanna see? For some reason I can't get the photos larger. I think if you click on them they will be bigger. First, a little history. Here is the room as it was when we bought the house:

And as it was when we moved in after having a giant painting party for the whole house. (Maybe if you beg I'll show you more before and afters.)
The girls were 7 and 5 when they got the green and pink room. It went through many room rearrangements after this, of course.

Now the girls are 11 and almost 9 and wanted a more "not so little girlish" room with "bright colors." So I started working this weekend while Shelby was in Mexico and Cassie was in Cincinnati for a Bible Bowl tournament.

Jenna was actually a huge help; she took off all of the outlet covers herself and was my little errand girl!


This is where I started feeling as though I was living inside a basketball and was worried.
Started feeling a little better when pink was next to orange.

Felt a lot better when Cassie came home and loved it. :)



There is still more detail work to do; a few more things to find like a cute desk chair, maybe a rug, curtain rods, etc. But it is coming together. It sure is bright! :) They love it and that's all that matters. That and the fact that when we're ready to paint again in a few more years, they will be old enough to do the fourteen coats of paint that it will take to cover up Frosty Berry and Orange Slice!

While Half Of Us Are In Mexico

I've noticed that with only two children...

There are fewer cups sitting on the counter
It is easier to go places
We only bring home HALF a zillion papers from church
It is WAY cheaper to go out to eat
There is less bickering
There is less disciplining
There is FAR less laundry
Life is a little easier

There are fewer hugs
There are fewer "I love you, Mommy"s
Six extra kids today doesn't make up for my missing two
There is not as much laughter
There are not enough kisses
I sometimes get a lump in my throat
There is a huge hole around here
Life is a little more dull

With my man gone, I notice:
Everything is cleaner
Nothing is as good

Happy Father's Day, Scotty!

Happy Father's Day to my hubby who is off in a far away land and doesn't get spoiled at all today.




Things that make Scott a great dad:

He adores his girls
He makes them laugh
He never takes anything too seriously
He is a gentle disciplinarian
He teaches them about the Lord
He is adventurous
He always welcomes their "help"
He loves their mommy
He would always rather be at home with his family than anywhere else
He makes up stories and songs about them
He is incredibly intelligent and can answer their questions
He lets them stay up way too late
He sees the very best in each of the girls
He makes our life fun

Wishing for PMS? What's Up With That?

Why on earth can't I blame how I've been feeling on PMS? Blaming things on PMS means it is temporary. Or maybe not completely rational. With PMS not an option right now I'm worried that the way I'm feeling, the thoughts I roll over in my mind, and the tears that are near the surface actually have a solid foundation and can't be wisked away by hormone excuses.

I'm tired, I'm weary, I'm lonely, I'm feeling defeated. The word that keeps coming to mind is "rejected." I have in recent weeks felt rejected on multiple levels... by friends who really know me, by acquaintances who don't really know me, by opportunities, by leaders, even by my own six year old... I didn't fold the burrito the way she wanted it.

At least I'm in good company... Jesus was rejected by men...Although I bet the Bread of Life didn't have any tortilla failures.

I keep trying to believe that God is working... drawing me to new things. But I don't see any progress or any new things; just endings or interruptions or doors closings or proverbial rejection letters. I feel like I'm in limbo, waiting for good; waiting to be used; waiting to make a difference.

I know that in my little private world, when I close the front door, I am safe. I have a man who loves me unconditionally and four daughters who despite my inept abilities at burrito-rolling still think I'm wonderful. I have four little lives to influence, and I have the opportunity to be an encouragement and a harbor for my man; to enable him to do what he's been called to. I know that when I'm reading my Bible in my room I read that God loves me; that I am chosen and accepted and sought after.

But it is when I open the front door and try to enter the world around me that I get the pit in my stomach and want to crawl back into my house. I feel exposed, raw, rejected, unsafe.

Part of me wants to say, "Well, God must want me to focus more on my family and my relationship with Him." And I'm sure that is probably true. I'd like to just keep that front door closed and do just that.

But then the other part of me says, "You've been called to make a differerence in this world. You've been given skills and opportunities and you need to use them. So open up your stupid front door and get moving!"

If I open that stupid front door, however, I face more rejection. And I really don't want any more of that. I want safety and acceptance and a cushion. Is that what I'm called to, though??

I go back and forth between the idea that I'm not at ease because this is not my home; that I am a resident alien, and the idea that this IS my current home and I must live here and live here well and fully and make a difference.

Today I think I'll keep my door shut, and focus on the two girls I have here and on my Bible. And then maybe tomorrow I'll open the door and risk it again. And I'll blog about something happier...like my girls' room I redecorated!

But I sure wish I could blame today's emotions and thoughts on PMS. I do have a bad cold... maybe I could blame it all on that??

Girlfriends and Garlic

My nose is stuffed up, my breath smells like garlic, and my toes are swollen from too much salt today. But you know what? I am one happy, happy girl.

I just got to spend the evening (eating garlic-laced food) with three of my dearest friends. There's another one of "us" who wasn't there tonight, and we missed her.

I realized tonight we've known eachother almost as long as we haven't. Does that make sense? (Maybe not...the extra salt is heading to my brain, I think.) Anyway... we met when we were 18 and they've been my friends for 17 years. That is a LONG time! The world has changed since those days. All of our bangs are a lot less poofy, for one thing! I remember we thought we were so cool when we got a cordless phone in our dorm room. It was as big as my arm, but we were COOL! We had tons of great cassette tapes next to our boomboxes and helped each other make mixed tapes for our boyfriends.

These girlfriends of mine are good for my heart. They don't mind that my breath smells like garlic or that I didn't wash my hair today or that I didn't know that the U.K. did not want to adopt the Euro. They are ALL smarter than me but I've long since come to grips with that.

They know my man and they love him. They know my girls and they love them. Those are easy, though. The real trick is that they know me- REALLY know me and love me anyway. Living together in college they saw my darkest moments; moments that would make most people run in fear. Yet they still let me have their home numbers. And in the years that have followed, they have loved me through everything and they help keep me grounded. They are safe friends. And that is rare.

Truly, they are among of the greatest gifts God ever blessed me with. And I'm not just saying that because I gave them my blog address tonight.

We all turn 35 this year, so we are going to try to get a weekend away together. Between the four of us, we have 17 children, but we will NOT be taking them with us. Can you imagine us out at a restaurant eating garlic with all 17 kids?

So, inquiring minds want to know... what would YOU do with 4 of your closest friends for a weekend to celebrate the fact that you're getting old? What's YOUR dream girlfriend getaway?

Vaya Con Dios

The day that we've been waiting for has finally arrived! Wednesday afternoon Scott and Shelby and Brynne leave for Mexico for a mission trip. They will be part of a group of 100 people at a week of family camp.

Four houses will be built from the ground up, and they will also conduct a VBS for area Mexican children. They work extremely hard all day and then in the evening head back to their camp and have a great time of worship together. At the end of their work week, they present each family with keys to the house, a Bible, some tools and some food, and they read a blessing over the family and their new home.

Shelby has gone with Scott the last two years, and this is Brynne's first year. They are all so excited. And I was so excited for them, too, until this afternoon when it started to hit me that half of my family would be gone for ten days. Ten days. Yuck. Last year was only eight. This will be the longest I've been away from the girls. Yuck again. The worst part is that I won't hear from them at all until they are back in the states again on the 24th. I usually get an email from a church secretary saying they arrived ok, but that is it. I HATE not getting to talk to Scott for that long.

I would love your prayers for them...
*Safety flying and driving
*Getting across the border without incident
*Safety on the work sites
*Good health
*Special Daddy-daughter time.
*No homesickness (Shelby, my tough one, came home from church camp tonight and said she cried a little in her bed one night because she was "homesick for Cassie.")
*Bonding between the two girls going. (They aren't as close to each other as they are to their other sisters.)
*Tender hearts for serving others; a heart for missions developed further in the girls.
*Recognition of how blessed we are here at home to have shelter and water and a zillion other things.
*Blessings on those who helped support the girls financially.
*And for us left behind, that we'd have special times together and that Cassie and Jenna wouldn't be too sad without Daddy and their sisters.

One of these days we'll all get to go. Scott can't wait for that! He misses me when he's there without me. And I'll miss him. On the upside, for ten days my bathroom sink will stay cleaner and I will hear no snoring. But I will definitely, definitely be missing all three of them!

They haven't even left yet and I can't wait for them to get home.

I might have to get some chocolate nachos from Cheeseburger in Paradise in honor of them. It's only right.

Quotes o'the Weekend

Shelby and I went on a date this weekend. She is talkative and asks lots of questions.

"Mommy, do your eyes ever burn when you look at something?"
"They can; if I don't blink, blah blah blah."
"Yes. We need that moisture. Cuz sometimes...(insert her rambling for 3 minutes here). How does that water get in there?"
"I don't really know. I don't understand all of that. God planned it that way," I wisely replied.
(Thoughtful Pause)
"When I get to heaven, I'm sure gonna have a heap of questions! And about one third of them will be about the body."
"What will the next third be about?"
"Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt."
"Ah. Of course."
"And the other half will be about the Bible."

Yes, I homeschool. And yes, I'm her math teacher.


I taught the kindergarten/first grade class one hour yesterday at church. The lesson was about gifts God gives us; that He gave Samson the gift of strength. The kids drew gift boxes, we shared some things He gives as gifts and how when we put our gifts together, we can do amazing things, etc.

The kids were really getting into it. They said God had gifted them with being kind, being a good artist, being gentle, being a good singer, being strong, being funny, etc. In the back of the room, my little girl Brynne raised her hand.

"What has God gifted you with, Brynne?"

"Prettiness."

Ah, yes. Another proud moment.

Thank You!

I was incredibly touched by the comments and the emails I received after my post on perfectionism. THANK YOU! The scriptures given and the eye-opening comments were gifts to me. THANK YOU, bloggy friends o'mine!

Perfectionism

People have occasionally said I am a perfectionist. I completely disagreed, because NOTHING I ever did was perfect. Perfectionist work until things are perfect, I thought.

I'm starting to see the real picture.

Hello. My name is Cindy and I am a perfectionist.

I am a perfectionist...NOTHING I do is perfect, and I really tend to beat myself up about it; thinking I'm a huge failure. I looked up online some things about pefectionism.

(Somebody I never heard of) describes two types of perfectionism. Normal perfectionists "derive a very real sense of pleasure from the labours of a painstaking effort" while neurotic perfectionists are "unable to feel satisfaction because in their own eyes they never seem to do things good enough to warrant that feeling".

I think if anyone knew me really well, they would rise to their feet and echo a resounding "amen" to the neurotic perfectionist definition for me.

I feel like I've made some progress in this area but that recently I am slipping back into the danger zone. I struggle with keeping things in perspective; with not feeling like a total failure on every front. Scott asked me this week if I looked at someone who had my life and did everything exactly as I did it, what would I think of her? I said I would think she is doing the best that she can and that she's doing a good job. HOWEVER, I don't see that about me; I don't give myself the same grace. My faults and mistakes and missteps far outweigh any positives in my eyes. I don't really believe the nice things people say; thinking they don't know the REAL me.

So how do I get out of this? I had a long conversation with a friend last night who had some wonderful things to say about me but also had some things that were extremely hard to hear. This particular person doesn't know me super well, but I respect her so much and I think she has a gift for insight and wisdom. She said I have to start believing that God has gifted me tremendously. Simply, REALLY believe it about myself. She said that God uses me now in some big ways, but just imagine what He could do if I actually believed He was using me.

The cycle of affirmation sucks. She talked about that, too. I need affirmation but then I don't believe it, so I crave it but then I don't believe it. And on and on and on.

I know I need to overcome these tendencies. I don't want to burden my girls, or my friends, or Scott. And I think I am. I know I am. And of course knowing that leads me to feel like a total failure which starts the cycle all over again. Nice.

UGH. This all sounds like hard work, a lot of possible failing, and miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.

Do any of you struggle with perfectionism? Neurotic pefectionism?? Have any of you been released from it? Have you been affected by others' perfectionism? I can only imagine what it could do to a child to have a perfectionistic parent. I need to nip this now before I do more damage!

Gotta go now to clean my house that I never clean good enough. And do the laundry that I never do well enough. And be the mom who is not enough. And be the friend who is not very good. And the wife who really is no good. And do all that other stuff I always suck at.

But maybe today I'll try to see a girl who is doing the best she can.

I'll try to see HER.

VBX

Want to see what my family has been up to this week?
Scott has been growing lots of hair, for one thing...










It is VBX week at our church. With zillions of kids in the building, it is a fun week! My hubby is Professor Scott, a wacky scientist making discoveries. I love singing with the kiddos. This year has been a little different; both Scott's and my roles have changed a lot since he is no longer the Children's Minister. We talked today that we are both mourning it somewhat, and I'm sure the first year will be the most awkward. At least I hope so!

Each day I come home with more than my own four kids, and we've been doing lots of swimming and eating and visiting. It really feels like summer! It is so fun, but so exhausting, too! I'd like an ice cream cone and a nap right about now!

If you want to get a video glimpse of our week, check out this link. I think the Tuesday video recap is my favorite. Scott is the guy in the lab coat, and I'm one of the girls in lab coats on stage. And if you don't ever blink, you might catch a glimpse of Jenna doing jumping jacks and Brynne's head a couple times. :)

I'm A Tad Bit Excited

I'm a TOTAL freak. I just got a book in the mail from Amazon and I've read the forward, the prologue, and the beginning of the first chapter and I realized I was holding my breath through most of it. It is insane! Scott knows I'm absolutely giddy, and he is laughing at me. (Laughing while he makes dinner so I can read.) If you've been reading my blog for a while and like me, I hope I don't lose your respect for my middle school behavior.

I'm not a huge TV watcher, but when I like something, I REALLY like it. Last year we thought we'd try watching American Idol. My world was rocked when Mandisa entered the competition. My girl Mandisa stole my heart, swept me away, made me go crazy like I hadn't since middle school. That girl can sang! I don't mean sing, I mean sang! That girl can SANG! She is unbelievable, and her heart for Jesus comes through loud and clear.

I had seen her sing a year or two before she was on Idol, and seeing her live at the Beth Moore conference, I was blown away. Enter Season 5 of AI. I yelled and screamed and jumped up and down and was a complete nut when I found out that The Beth Moore Singing Girl was MANDISA on Idol! Did I mention she has some PIPES??!!? After she was voted off, after I threw things at the tv, and after I yelled at all of American for being complete morons, I ordered a Mandisa cd off ebay. It had every song she performed, and some of her chit chat with the judges and Ryan, too. I have it all completely memorized. All that to say, I LOVE ME SOME MANDISA.

Her book Idoleyes was just released. And it was in my mailbox today. And my Bethie wrote the prologue. And it is wonderful. And now I'm reading my girl Mandisa's own words. And she is fabulous-o! And I am still giddy. And I wanted to bust out singing, but I'm no Mandisa, so I thought I'd blog it instead. :)

I'd love to write more, but there are still 230 pages left. O. MY. WORD. When I just went to check and see how many pages were left, I saw that there are PHOTOS! WHEEEEEEE! I gotta go now to study every inch of them.

I'll tell you soon if I like the book or not. Chances are, I will. ;)

Fraps-Good for the Heart

It's been a tough day; a tough couple of weeks; a tough month in some ways. I haven't felt like myself, some icky stuff has happened to make me feel alone and like a loser and I'm weary.

BUT I have two new recipes for making your own frappuccinos at home. So all in all, I've found that fraps can help brighten the yucky times. A frap and my Jesus. And maybe a hug.

Frap A
3/4 C chilled coffee (double strength)
1 C milk
3 T sugar
1/3 C chocolate or caramel syrup
2 C ice

In blender, mix coffee, milk, sugar and syrup. Add 2 C ice and blend. Makes two large glasses.

Or, here is a second one. I think I like this one a little better. It is sweet. :)

Frap B
1/4 cup instant coffee granules
2 3/4 cups water
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Heat water in microwave, whisk in the coffee and then mix in the condensed milk. Freeze until solid. Pull out of the freezer at least 1/2 hour before serving. (Or chop it up a little with an ice pick.)

Try one of these...they are yummy on both good days and bad!

Sweet Sixteen

Sixteen kids. One house. One slumber party for the birthday girl. Five hours watching a friend's three preschoolers. Two graduation parties. One peach cobbler exploding all over the kitchen. Thousands of pieces of glass spraying everywhere. Everywhere. One of my all-time dearest friends. Her seven children. Ten popsicles. Two cakes. Three full dishwasher loads. Four loads of laundry still waiting. Fifty-six limbs slathered in sunscreen. Fourteen wet swimsuits. Two babies, two toddlers, two preschoolers, two kindergartners, two first graders, one second grader, two third graders, two fourth graders, one fifth grader.

Sixteen kids.

I have no photos from my day. Why? Because there were sixteen kids.

Sixteen healthy, beautiful kids. I am so, so blessed. And so, so tired.