Happy Birthday Elijah!

Today is Elijah's 4th birthday! He is getting to be such a big boy. He out of all of our kids has had the hardest time letting go of being a baby. Just recently he decided 4 is big so he has started to act bigger. He is such a cutie. He loves to hang with all the adults and be a part of the conversation. Especially at home group, he always has so much to tell everybody. He is pretty convinced he will be a T-Rex when he is grown up, or a speedracer! HA!HA! I love kids at this age. Funny thing I dreamt last night that i got to do his pregnancy all over again. I had him at 40 weeks and he was over 7 lbs. and healthy. The truth is in real life I had him at 37 weeks and he was a little over 5 lbs, and very sick. We didn't get to bring him home for 3 weeks. I geuss a part of me still harbors guilt. Anyway, he is quite alright now. He keeps you running. I am excited to watch him grow and become the man God wants him to be.

New dance

The first dance and the third dance were great! Definately some of my favorites.

The "Box"

Here is a subject that has been heavy on my heart for awhile. I had the pleasure of having an in depth conversation with a friend of mine, and later on with my husband. I did not tell my friend at the time, but this subject has been brewing in my heart and mind. Homesexuals. Yea, this a touchy subject. So. we were talking about the fact that christians in general, have built this box and they choose who fits and who doesn't, now this not the way God loves us, but we choose to do this to people around us. We let the alcoholics, the drug addicted, the abusive, the porn addicted, and occasionally the prostitute come as they are God will change them, but never the homesexual. We pretty much tell them your going to hell in a handbasket! They are noy welcome in our churches, and if they are and they don't change on our time table they get the boot. I do not believe that they are going to hell, now don't get me wrong, they will have to accept Jesus as their saviour and let God fill them up and they will not be able to contain his love, they will change, just like any of us, if we truly get in his presence the things thst are wrong inside of us will eventually come out. Our sin is no different than theirs. i think everyone has a Sodom and Gomorrah mindset, but for every other sin grace is applied, that is not right.
Whenever I hear stories of gay men being beat to death or people rallying how disgusting they are it makes me want to cry infact I have cried many times. If you were so deeply hated would you want to change. No wonder they never come and be a part of our body. I pray that God opens our eyes and helps to love the world the way he does, it is time for a true change, let's stop givingGod a bad name. The best way I can put it is: Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who should come!

The three D's of Discipline

A long time ago a good friend of mine introduced me to a great way of knowing when to discipline. The three D's. If they are Defiant, Dishonest, or, Diobedient, it requires discipline to help them learn and grow in their character. We believe in spanking a child, not beating their is a huge difference, also do it in love, never in anger. Our goal is to teach and lead not scare the crap out of them. The older some of my children are getting the more spanking is not effective and now you must take a different route. Plus you know every child goes through certain stages of difiance at different ages. Like when they are between 2 and 3 everything is NO. It seems to also hit around 5 and 6 the let me see how far I can push you stage. Now my oldest he is 9 and me and him are about to go round and round on my merry go round! It won't be so merry though. Since we are a big family we have certain rules when we are out in public. First of all they have to walk in a line in the store. Their are many reasons for this, like we don't want to be all scattered all over the aisles, other people are shopping their is a lot of us, we need to stay together and be respectful of others. Most imnportant in my book, I have 2 eyes and 6 kids if they are in a "tight" line I can keep a better eye on them. When they walk its youngest to oldest the older help keep an eye on the younger I tell them don't ever let anyone break our line. And if someone does and trys to take someone they will all be screaming because they have all witnessed it, if we all are scattered we mat not see someone be taken. Anyway, it keeps us all together and taking care of one another. So last night I had to go to the store to get hamburger buns, I put them in a line, they did great they walked with me and were respectful of others, except for Mario. He kept trying to walk beside Maya and move her behind him, he would walk off to look at something else. Now I know he'e getting a little older, but he is being right out disobedient and telling me I can do what I want. He was mad at me the whole time because I wouldn't let him have his way. I swear when they get older they throw fits just like when they were 2. Anyway, me and his dad had a talk about what to do. So we have grounded him for 3 days from T.V. and while everyone else is watching a movie he has to write me an essay on why it is important to litsen to your parents. You should have seen his face. I think this may take good effect. O, and while I have my 9 year old pushing is me my 2 year has decided to use the word no for everything. This started like 2 days ago. It can be so exhausting being a parent, but I know it will be well worth it in the end.

Our trip to Grand Prarie

I know I haven't been on here for awhile. Our lives have been super busy lately, I'm not getting much me time these days, okay its pretty non exsistant. Anyway over the weekend we went To Grand Prarie to visit our really good friends the Stauffer's. We our like best friends our husbands I think sometimes have a love/hate relationship. Overall they have a good time together. Anyway, we all love playing games, so when we put the kiddos to bed we're up for hours playing games. Our main game is pitch, we love it! While we were there they taught us how to play 42. That was a lot of fun. April and I got to go shopping for a little while we both desperately need clothes. It was fun but also very frustrating, I only found one pair of jeans that fit me good. We both didn't walk out with very much. On Sunday, we visited their church. We loved it, it was a wonderful church. A lot of really big family's go their, and a lot of them homeschool, I felt like I belonged there for that Sunday. I have to say, I feel like the odd one out at my church most days. Not that anyone treats us badly or anything I just feel like the one that doesn't belong. Anyways enough about that. All in all we had a really great time. Did I mention they've got great kids. They're awsome!! I'm glad to have them in our lives.

New dance Twitch and Comfort

These two were not my favorite, but this dance was one of my favorites. They could do hip hop really great. This dance was a lot of fun. Anyway, its cool hope you like it.

Painting

We are going to paint. I'm so excited. When we moved in here we we're like, cute house, but boy is it ugly. Our kitchen is brown with Texas star border. Yea, I know gross. So, I went yesterday and picked out a pretty green color. I can't wait to get started. Plus we will be doing the bathroom that is mainly for our kids and guests when we have them. It is hiddeous the carpet was nasty I already pulled that out and threw it away. I know what your thinking who puts carpet in a bathroom? Exactly my thoughts, not smart especially with kids. Hopefully in the next month our house will be much nicer. Yea!!