Now, on to today’s blog post. Natural consequences.

Mickey and I have been working on teaching the girls about natural consequences. We believe that this is a good method of teaching valuable life lessons – when taught within reason, of course. For instance, we are teaching them that if they don’t eat what they have for meals, they will probably be pretty hungry when the next meal rolls around again. This teaches a few things, actually. One, Mama is not a short-order cook and this is not Waffle House. If you don’t eat what I’m serving, well, you’re going to have to wait until the next meal to see if you like that one better. We’re also teaching the girls how blessed they are to have three good meals (not to mention snacks) per day. This seems to be working well because although neither of our daughters are what I would label as “adventurous eaters”, they will definitely try what we are having at mealtimes. To be honest, I don’t cook much of anything that is extravagant anyway. So, when I prepare a meal, I expect them at try it and I always make things that I truly believe our whole family will like. If they choose not to eat much of it, then they know that they won’t get anything until it’s time to eat again. To me, that’s a good natural consequence. They certainly won’t starve, right? It’s all about keeping things within reason. We wouldn’t turn them loose into a crowded parking lot in some ridiculous effort to teach them the natural consequence of THAT, but we will certainly use natural consequences when appropriate.

As simplistic as this seems, as I was thinking recently about natural consequences, it occurred to me that God lets us operate on natural consequences as well. The choices we make that are of this world warrant us the rewards or consequences of the world. If we choose to do that which is right and faithful, the reward is our’s. If we choose to deviate from the path of faithfulness, we suffer the consequences. Pretty simple, right? I think that on the surface, it seems simple, but, like anything with faith, it goes far deeper. Because God allows us free will, we have these choices to make and we aren’t always going to make the right ones. Try as we might, we are all bound to fail in our humanness. It just happens. Just like we do with our children, God allows us to experience natural consequences in life so that we might learn and grow. However, while we are training our children to eventually be independent of us, God is always calling us to drawer nearer to Him and depend more fully on Him. Even when we fail Him, God is always faithful to us. It’s out of love for us that He allows us to make choices and give us opportunities to learn and grow from the choices we make.

Using natural consequences as a parenting tool is a model that we feel will benefit our girls in many ways. We want to instill an anchor of faith for them so that as they grow and make choices in their lives, they are equipped to make faithful decisions for themselves. This won’t always be the case, but as long as we have taught them well, they will have a faith basis on which to grow and learn. So, while it starts with something as simple as choosing to eat a meal and be thankful for it, hopefully this will bloom into life lessons that carry them through with faith.

Blessings,
Kelly

Direct your children onto the right path,
and when they are older, they will not leave it.

Proverbs 22:6

This is going to sound crass to say and I know it, but sometimes there is nothing you can say about cancer except that it just sucks.  Cancer has found its way into my family a few times and the last two times it’s been close to home. Over the summer, my awesome step-mom Dorothy (aka MiMi to the girls) was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s undergone the torture of chemo and is now going through radiation. Praise God, she’s a trooper and is handling it all with grace and faith, but to say it’s been hard is the understatement of the decade. And, now my sweet Gran is about to go through chemo treatments too. She had her port placed today and a protocol should be decided tomorrow so that she can start her treatments. It’s going to be a hard road, but I know that, like Dorothy, she will face it with faith in God and strength from His grace. It hurts my heart that they are going through this. Cancer claimed Mickey’s beloved Grandpa Frank last year and his Grandma had overcome breast cancer several years ago before she passed away this past fall. It touches too many families. I dare say that there aren’t many people out there whose family hasn’t been affected by it in some way. And, like so many others out there, we wait and hope for a cure.

I’m asking for prayer for Gran, Pop and the family as she goes through this trial. I’m also asking for prayer for Dorothy as she goes through radiation. These are two women that mean so much to me and my little family. We trust in God’s plan as we pray for healing and peace.

Blessings,
Kelly

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:11-13

The girls have this week out of school and we haven’t yet had much of a chance to have any family adventures during this break. So, on Sunday Mickey and I cooked up a plan to change all that. We decided to take a day trip up to Chattanooga, TN and visit their kids’ museum and aquarium. I am SO thankful that we came up with that plan because we all had such a GREAT time!

Chattanooga is a really fun place to visit. We went a couple of summers ago and have been wanting to go back for awhile now. We really didn’t want to be gone long, so a day trip was the perfect family get-away. We left on Monday morning and arrived in Chattanooga in time to have lunch at Big River Grille &  Brewing Works. It’s been awhile since we’ve been to Big River (the last time we went, Macey was less than two) and it was just as good as we remembered. After lunch, we made our way to Creative Discovery Museum. This is one awesome children’s museum, y’all! We were there for about two hours and never once did the girls get bored. We didn’t even get to everything, to be honest, but the girls had a blast with the things we did. (We didn’t miss much – I think just the outdoor play area and it was COLD, so that was okay.) I would highly recommend this museum to families. I have heard great things and it lived up to every bit of the hype. Well worth the trip just for the museum.  After we played at the museum, we hit up Chili’s for some quick desserts and then checked into our hotel. I had booked online through Hotwire and gotten us a room at the beautiful Sheraton Reed House. We stayed there the last time we went and really enjoyed it, so it was nice to go back. The only bummer for the girls was that I didn’t pack swimsuits, so they missed out on the great indoor/heated pool there. The hotel is right downtown and is convenient to great attractions, so it’s a fantastic place to stay in Chattanooga. Once we checked in and freshened up, we were ready to set off on another adventure. Chattanooga has a free electric shuttle bus system called CARTA that runs downtown and we took the shuttle bus down to the Tennessee Aquarium. The Tennessee Aquarium is always a lot of fun. We all enjoyed it. I can safely say that the girls’ favorite exhibits were the butterfly garden, the penguins and the octopus. We also loved seeing the sharks! The whole aquarium experience was a lot of fun! We had dinner at Mellow Mushroom after the aquarium and then headed back to our hotel where we watched Rio and had some good chill time together. It was a great little day trip full of adventures for our family!

If you’re looking for a great family vacation spot, consider Chattanooga. There is so much there for families to see and do together. We only hit two of the highlights, but there are MANY more nearby attractions such as Coolidge Park, Lookout Mountain/The Incline Railroad, Ruby Falls, Rock City and more! If you stay downtown, think about catching the CARTA shuttle buses when possible because they are free and energy efficient. It’s an easy way to get around downtown Chattanooga. There are great places to eat in Chattanooga too. It’s really a fun place to hang out and have fun as a family.

I hope everyone’s week and year (wink) are off to a great start!
Kelly

I decided that this year I’d rather set goals for myself that to come up with a list of resolutions. I thought that 12 goals for 2012 would be attainable, but challenging in all the right ways. As I started to think about these goals, I thought it would be really cool to come up with goals that challenged me and helped me grow as a person in three ways – mind, body and spirit. So, here’s my list:

Mind

• Read more - I absolutely love to read and I always have.  Lately, I haven’t done as much reading as I like to and I’d like that to change in 2012. I won’t set a number for myself, but I will definitely make sure I read more. There are classics I’d like to read in addition to more recent books. I can’t wait!  I’d like to share book reviews on the blog as well.
• Photography – I have really gotten away from having a camera in my hands like I used to and I miss it. Photography is something I enjoy, but a variety of things have pulled me away from doing much with it the last several months. I’ll remedy that in 2012.
• Back to School – I started taking online classes in 2010 and finished two semesters (with three As and one B). This school year I have taken time off from my own classes to focus on being PTA co-president at the girls’ school in addition to other commitments. So, this will come later in this calendar year, but I will get back in school again for myself.
• Blog More Often – It goes without saying that this little blog got neglected for far too long. I’ll work on that in 2012.

Body

• Improve overall fitness-  I’d like to drop a few pounds, sure, but rather than focusing on any numbers, I really just want to focus on the big picture of better fitness. This means getting to the Y more, running more, etc.
• Try new fitness classes – I really REALLY like going to Zumba. It is so much fun! So, I want to do that more regularly, but I’d also like to try some other classes and find another one or two to do regularly. Spin has always intimidated me for some reason, so it’s on my list to try. Might as well go for it, right?
• Run a Half Marathon – Right now, the plan is to sign up for the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville. I’m pretty sure that’s the one I want to be my first half, but we’ll see. At some point this year, I definitely want to run a half, so training has to start STAT.
• Keep my fingernails in good shape – This seems like a simple thing, but let me say that habits are HARD to break. I’ve always been a nervous nail-biter and it’s a habit I detest. Gross. I have grown my nails out many times, but when they start to break I give up. Well, they are growing out again now and I plan to get semi regular manicures to keep them up and looking nice.

Spirit

• Read my Bible daily – I know that being in the Word is one of the best things I can do for my faith walk. I shamefully admit that too many days go past without me picking up the Bible. So, I plan to read my Bible daily. I have also purchased One Year Daily Insights (co-authored by our awesome pastor, Ike Reighard) and I think that will be a wonderful daily read in addition to my Bible.
• Maintain a Family Thankfulness Journal – We want to teach our girls to find things to be thankful for each day. We are blessed beyond measure, even on days when things don’t go quite right, and it will be a nice reminder to think of something each day that we can all offer thanks for.
• Be a Giving Family – We want to be the kind of family that finds ways to give whether it’s through our time, talents or finances. There are many ways to do this and I want us to explore ways to give through this year. One idea off the top of my head is instead of birthday presents from friends at the girls’ parties, we can collect books and toys for the children’s hospitals in our area. We are also praying about becoming a foster family. There are many ways to give and we want to live that out.
• Volunteer Through Our Church – I have been wanting to volunteer in the church nursery for ages and due to various circumstances, I haven’t gotten to…yet. But, I will. Our church is very active in our community and I want us to find ways, individually, and as a family to work through the church to connect and get to work.

So, those are my 12 goals for this year. I definitely thing some challenges are presented, but I feel up to the challenge. I can only see how attaining these goals will work to the good in my life. I’ll post and update on progress and such.

Here’s to a great 2012…
Kelly

(This photo was taken at our church’s Home For the Holidays celebration in December.)

Over the summer our oldest daughter, Macey, learned the truth about Santa Claus. The way this came about was that little miss detective figured out the Tooth Fairy deal and then that lead to a conversation that involved everyone’s favorite jolly ole elf.  You see, in our house, the Tooth Fairy leaves glitter quarters. I got this idea from a friend several years ago and loved it. You simply paint quarters with glitter nail polish and leave them from the Tooth Fairy. Easy and cute, right? This worked like a charm for the first several teeth Macey lost. She got her glitter quarters and some cash. Win/win and fun. Last summer, Macey had to have a tooth pulled at the dentist. So, out came the glitter quarters that evening. Only, I left the glitter nail polish out on my vanity. Didn’t occur to me that Nancy Drew was in the house. The next day, Macey saw the glitter nail polish out and noticed that it was the same color as her glitter quarters from the TF. When she asked me about it, I will admit, I tried to dodge the question at first, but when it was clear that she wanted a real answer, I told the truth. Instead of redirecting her with questions such as “Well, what do YOU think?” I was up front and honest with her. I told her that the Tooth Fairy isn’t real, but it’s something fun for parents to do for their kids to celebrate losing teeth. She was perfectly fine with that. No tears, no drama – just an understanding. I couldn’t have asked for a better revealing.

Once that conversation started, my wheels started turning and I really wanted to address Santa. I have long wrestled with the Santa dilemma. (See my post from November 2008.) I conferred with Mickey and we decided that the time was right to talk to Macey about SC. So, once we talked about the TF and she was obviously more than fine with that, I segued into the Santa conversation. I asked her if she had any other questions about real vs fun/fantasy and, sure enough, HoHo came into question. So, again, I was just honest. I told her that Santa Claus aka Saint Nicholas was a wonderful legend that had been told and enacted for many years. I told her it’s about giving and how the legend showed that Saint Nicholas was always happier to give than to receive. I emphasized how much fun it is for kids AND for their families. And, once again, she was perfectly fine with it. No drama whatsoever. What a relief!! In fact, she was happy to know the truth. She and I talked about what is real (God) vs fantasy (Santa) and she had a very clear understanding about all of  it. She was also happy to keep the magic alive for her sister and be in on “the secret” with us.

I know some people think that innocence is somehow lost when children no longer believe in Santa, but I’m here to say that isn’t the case. Macey enjoyed a wonderfully “magical” Christmas this year. Not one ounce of joy was diminished for her. In our home, we emphasize the birth of Jesus as the main celebration of Christmas, but we also include secular traditions like Santa, of course, and Elf on the Shelf. This year, Macey helped Mariana (our youngest) write her Santa letter. Once the letter was done, Macey took it to the mailbox to mail and sneaked it back into the house so we’d know what was on the list. When our elf  ”arrived”, Macey was there cheering about it and getting her sister all excited about it too. Macey then went to a laptop and printed out a letter from the elf and got excited when it magically appeared on the printer. She never once let on anything to her sister. She loved being in on it  all. So, there was no loss of innocence or fun. It’s simply a new phase in her life and one that she fully embraces with happiness.

We aren’t yet sure when we’ll tell Mariana about SC, but I’m sure the truth will reveal itself in the right time, just like it did with Macey. I always had a fear in the back of my mind that finding out the truth about Santa would cause Macey to have doubts about God, somehow, but that has not been the case. I can’t take any credit for that, but I’m hopeful that our keeping Christ at the center of Christmas was what helped her when she found out about SC. I worry less about Mariana finding out now since her sister has done so well with it all. After all, we are teaching our girls the truth of the Lord and that’s the main thing. We always said that when they came to us for the truth, we’d tell it and that’s what we did. I don’t mind redirecting their questions back to them at a young age, but when they are old enough to know, then it’s time to cease the redirects and come out with the truth. We always want our girls to know that we’ll tell them the truth, even if it’s not always what they want to hear.

I just had to share this story because I know that other people out there have children that are “of age” to find out about Santa too. And, you might have the same or similar worries as I did. My advice would simply be to tell the truth. The legend of Santa Claus is a fun one, so we enjoy including that in our Christmas. But, Jesus’ birth is first and foremost what we believe and celebrate. I’m so thankful that our big girl took the SC news as awesomely as she did and also thankful to know that she realizes and believes that Jesus really IS the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I look forward to blogging more in the new year.

Kelly

Today has been a great Mother’s Day for me. I “slept in” and got up at around 7:45am. Mickey and the girls gave me a great new flat-iron which I have really been wanting and was HAPPY to receive! I was taken out to breakfast at one of our favorite places. We went to church and, as usual, the message from our amazing pastor was just wonderful. I chose to spend time cleaning out our nasty vehicles this afternoon after lunch, so I am happy to report that my Explorer is quite the clean machine right now. Mickey took our girls to the pool this afternoon while I lazed around and watched last week’s Grey’s via DVR. Then we had a delicious dinner followed later by homemade brownies for dessert. Now, obviously, this is the abridged version of the day, but it highlights the best points and that’s the main thing. It was a really good day. At the end of a day like today, I am tired and happy all at the same time. These are the good times.

I feel so blessed to be a mom. It’s a dream come true. I know I’m not always the best mom in the world, but I always love my girls more than life itself and I am always and forever grateful that God chose me to be their mom. I’m also thankful for my awesome husband because without him, I wouldn’t be a mom at all, let alone a stay-at-home mom. I am grateful for the blessings and opportunities of motherhood. My prayer is that our girls will grow up knowing they are loved most of all by the God that created them and entrusted them to our care. I also pray that they will be secure in their faith and in themselves as a result. As one of our pastors at church likes to say, I hope that learning about faith now places an “anchor in their hearts” to keep their paths steady on Christ their whole lives long. When I am sometimes asked what I do, I don’t ever say I am “just” a mom because it’s more than a “just” statement. I’m a mom and it’s a dream come true. I could not be more thankful.

I know that today is a hard day for some people and my heart goes out to those of you that are hurting today. There are those that have lost their moms, those who have strained relationships with their moms or those who really never knew a mom. There are also those who want more than anything just to be a mom and haven’t gotten that chance as of yet. For those, I hope that today wasn’t a hard day and that some joy found its way to you on this day.

Blessings,
Kelly

Isn’t she pretty? I have never had a red vehicle prior to this one. I should admit that when we were initially starting to look, I didn’t think I wanted a red one. Figures that it’s the one I wound up with, right? But, actually, I’m loving it. It’s a nice red. It’s not blaring, but is nice and fun. And, hey, you can definitely pick it out in a parking lot.

Our poor old van was getting on up in years and miles and since we do a lot of traveling, we knew it was time to take the plunge and trade it in. I have to admit, it was somewhat bittersweet. We got our van a couple of months before Mariana was born. Prior to that, I had been driving what was my dream vehicle at the time – a taupe colored Jeep Grand Cherokee. Man, I loved that Jeep. I had always wanted one and we found a honey of a deal on a used one when we moved back from Alabama. But, with an almost three year old and a baby on the way, a mini van made more sense at that time. So, when the Jeep started to have issue after issue, we knew it was time to trade.  We found our van at CarMax and made the trade. I  will say with all honesty that going from the Jeep to the Windstar was a great move for us. The ease of getting the girls in and out of the van was incredible. Having two auto sliding doors? LOVED it! Everything about the van fit just right for having two little ones. And, for right at four years I was a mini van mama even though I never imagined that I would be one.

Of late, the van had started to show signs of her age. We knew that we were approaching the “now or almost never” stage for trading because we wanted to make sure that at least some value was preserved in the van. So, we’ve been watching rebates/cash incentives and finally contacted our favorite “Ford guy” late last week. He called yesterday to say that he had an Explorer for us, so we took our sweet old van in for a trade. Like I said, it was bittersweet. That was our first family-of-four vehicle. We brought Mariana home in that van. It was time for it to go, but the memories were sweet.  We went and picked up our new truck yesterday and we all love it. The girls think it’s great. It’s so nice to drive also. I love that it’s roomy, but it doesn’t feel like I’m driving a tank. I’m so happy and feel so blessed to have this new vehicle and can’t wait to make many fun memories along the miles.

~Kelly

Ever since Mariana was an infant, whenever she would also get terrible coughing spells. Her first pediatrician insisted that she had asthma as an infant. I had never dealt with this with Macey, so I went along with the antibiotics, breathing treatments, allergy meds, etc. You wouldn’t believe the amount of meds she had Mariana on at once as a baby. A red flag went up quickly for me at that point. So, we changed pediatricians and the new ped confirmed what I long suspected – Mariana was prone to sinus infections which caused post-nasal drip and contributed to the constant coughing. She also had recurrent ear infections that absolutely plagued her, so we had ear tubes put in her ears. The ear tubes helped tremendously. The first set went in when she was 19M old. She didn’t get another ear infection for about a year and when one tube came out, the infections resumed. At that point, the ENT wanted to also take a look at her adenoids because she continued to be plagued by sinus infections and snored also. Turned out that her adenoids were huge and he felt they were contributing to the problem. So, last March (2009) Mariana had her adenoids removed. At the same time, the ENT replaced the ear tube that had come out and cleaned up the remaining tube. That procedure helped her and she didn’t cough or have any colds, infections, etc. for months. When fall came and a new set of allergens popped up, she had a flare. At first, I was disheartened and worried that we were back on track for antibiotics, etc. This was NOT something we wanted for Mariana, of course. I took her to a chiropractor that I had met in Bible study over the summer. Dr. Jamie adjusted her and recommended putting RC essential oil on her feet for the coughing. I’m not going to pretend like I wasn’t somewhat skeptical, but I was more than willing to try it because it was all-natural and worth a shot. So, we took home a sample bottle of RC and used it on Mariana’s feet at bedtime that evening. I kid you not, Mariana didn’t cough once the whole evening! She got a full night of rest! The oils helped her tremendously. At that point, I started to see just how amazing essential oils really are!  I went from being skeptical to very optimistic about oils at that point.

Mariana continues to be the subject of my oils testimonial because in the fall she sustained injuries to her face which required stitches. I contacted my friend Christi who has a lot of knowledge about oils and she recommended that I get helichrysum to help with the scarring. She also recommended Super Salve from Nutritech because it is WONDERFUL and made using essential oils also. I used Super Salve until the wounds started to heal nicely and then we started putting helichrysum on the wounds. I have to say that both the Super Salve and the helichrysum worked WONDERS!! Mariana’s wounds are now light scars and it has been about four months since she was injured. We have been using the helichrysum daily and we are amazed at how wonderfully she has healed! It’s been incredible and we are SO grateful for her healing!! (As a side note, Super Salve is great to have on hand because it’s a great healing agent! Way better than things like neo-sporin and such.)

I could go on and on about essential oils. We have purchased a home diffuser and use it daily. I have used peppermint oil in the diffuser when I have had a bad headache. I’ve used Purification to help with allergens too. And, for Mariana’s coughing I’ve used melaleuca (great for sinuses!!) and the RC I mentioned previously. These oils really help and work beautifully and naturally! I know that some may be skeptics and I can relate because I was there too. But, I can vouch that they are incredibly helpful. God’s products work best, that’s all I can say.

I have become a Young Living distributor now, so if anyone is interested in purchasing any oils, I’d be happy to help you with that. I am still learning, so I rely on Christi (my dear friend who has been using oils for year) and I also sign onto Oils-Testimonials for recommendations and guidance. The thing I value the most about the oils is that they are natural and Young Living oils are all therapeutic grade oils. The more I learn, the more I appreciate oils and what God has given us in them!

God bless,
Kelly

Here they are putting the finishing touches on the snowman:

Love this one – can you see Macey? She discovered that I had come out with the camera:

Posing with their TALL snowman:

Mickey shows just how tall their snowman really IS:

Snowman huggers:

An adorable Miss Macey having fun in the snow:

You might wonder where Mariana was during all the snow fun. She was inside. Somewhat surprisingly, she wasn’t interested in going out to play in the snow today. She’s a little like her mama that way. We already played in it once this season, after all.

Macey and Mickey had a ball building this big snow guy. When Macey came inside as I was uploading photos, I asked her the snowman’s name. She didn’t hesitate before she said “Ed.” So, he’s Ed…the tall snow guy. Hopefully he’ll still be standing tall in our front yard in the morning. I’ll keep y’all posted.

I am not normally so “weather fixated”, but it’s been a cold winter by Georgia standards and this Southern girl is more than ready for some good ole sunshine. Today it’s cold (again) and we have rain and snow mixed. Mickey is bummed because our forecast originally called for up to 4″ of snow, but now we are maybe going to get a dusting or possibly an inch of snow. That’s nothing as far as he is concerned. As far as I am concerned, it’s more than enough. Brrrr. I just may hibernate today. It sounds so appealing, actually. I woke up at 1am and was awake for at least two and a half hours last night, so I’m tired and crawling back in bed to hibernate this cold day away sounds pretty good right about now. I won’t do that, but I just may sneak in a nap sometime today.

In other news, it’s “spring” picture day at Macey’s school. Oh, the irony of this crazy weather. Spring pictures in long sleeves – go figure. She looks adorable, I must admit.

I have to give a shout-out to Southern Savers because after hearing Jenny speak the other night, I’ve been back on the coupon wagon. I saved a LOT at Publix yesterday, so I am geeked up on coupon love again. Woo hoo!!

Off to do something productive around here. I think.

Happy Tuesday,
Kelly