good thing I don't get paid for this

I am sad to say my blogging is not regular. But that is life. I tend to forgot about the blog until I go over and read my good friend at the Greenhouse than I remember to blog. I have a facebook and a myspace and to be fair, I am equally irregular there.
Kids are growing up, hubby is retired from the military currently looking for a job. Life is going on as usual. I am so glad the summer is here. I have a load of projects to get done before school.

Well helllo again

I know my blogging is very sporatic, but I am a busy busy woman and by the time I get here, I am out of words and energy. But I kind of like this outlet, so again, I will try.
My baby turned two last week. He is an adorable little chum who can be happy one minute and a fireball the next.



My toddler turned preschooler this Fall. He is a funny little guy and oh so smart. He keeps us on our mental toes on a regular basis.
I am constantly amazed at what comes out of his mouth. Sometimes we laugh and others cringe. But he is a joy to us. He lives up to his namesake which means "strong foundation" He is strong willed. We pray God uses that for His great purposes and that he is on the right side of those purposes.












My "baby" who was my baby for 11 years is now about to turn 15 years old. Erik is growing into a quite a young man. He is on his way to being an Eagle Scout, hopefully he will be done by the end of this summer. He aspires to be a lawyer one day. He is quite the editor of media on our Imac upstairs. He had to write a radio play script this week and record it. He used the Imac for the whole thing and had a blast with it. I am very proud of both him and his older sister. Though they have their times when they argue and both can be difficult to want to be with at times. They are truly great young adults to have as my children. I thank God for them often but don't tell them often enough how much I appreciate them. This picture was taken this past year at our church's Youth Valentine Banquet. I can't believe those two were once the ages of the above two at one time. How fast they grow. Hey you can always do what I do, when they get too grown, just have more of them.
Well I need to get to sleep. It is 1AM and I have to get up early for co-op. Erik turns in that awesome radio play of his and Elise turns in her assorted work.
Blessings,
Tracy

Faith is a gift,

Faith is a gift of God. The Bible tells us it is a gift so that no man shall boast and this I completely agree with, but I see it as a gift for another reason.
It is a gift because some times I just do not have faith, faith in God, faith that things will work out when evil is being done. BUT God is the author of faith, He is the giver of faith and when I have none, He gives it to me. He gives me the amount of faith to endure the current situation. It is like manna in the desert, not to much and never left over but plenty for the day. His mercies are new every morning and so is the daily faith I need when my own reserves are gone. Yes, so no man shall boast for if I boast, it will in Christ who saved me, loves me and will continue to love me. My identity is in Christ, not in what people think, not in what man can do to me but in Christ. I am a daughter of the King of Kings and an inheritress of Heaven.

So I might appear to be blathering on, but let me tell you when you have been brought to the quick of your soul and your very being, the above things become more real than any other time. He becomes the very next breath you take for the world can suck the life out of you. BUT God is the giver of life and even more importantly, Life Eternal forever and ever, Amen!

my ugly ugly tongue

E1 and E2 are at a mission trip in Austin this week. chaD their youth minister decided that this year they will serve instead of being at camp. I pray that God will show them something powerful this week. It is bound to happen after Sunday. Our pastor Mark Smith of Fellowship Bible Church delivered a powerful sermon on James and the power of the tongue. I don't think I have been hit that hard with a sermon since I saw my sin for the very first time. Let me tell you , it was an ugly thing. God showed me sin I have been committing for many years. He showed me how ugly it is to him all the more that I am a believer and yet still "murdering" those I love with my biting tongue. Ouch, ouch ouch!! I so needed to hear that. I have been struggling with so many things lately, this was the tip of the iceberg. Now I try to figure out how to conquer this and live with some victory. All I could see while he was preaching was the looks on the faces of my older two children as I slice and dice them with my words. And why, because for some reason their behavior or lack of obedience made my life uncomfortable. Now granted I do need to train. But I was not training I was acting out of frustration with being asked to stop what I was doing and deal with them. Shame, shame on me! I had a very hard time keeping myself composed. I know the Apostle Paul struggled with his sin in Romans 7, but how do I keep only fresh water in the well instead of allowing the salt water to flow as well. I want to be fresh water. I don't want to continue to shame my God with my continuous sin. Lord be that which I can not in my own strength.

Some updated pix of my blessings

I haven't attempted pix yet on the new and updated blogger so I will try. Ah that isn't so hard, much easier than before. My children are growing so fast. E1 is now 16, E2 is 14, E3 is 3 and E4 is 1. What a year we have had, many blessings, many trials. I do say that I am hoping 2007
is better than 06. Below is my hubby and I. We have had quite the year as well but with trials come growth.

I am kind of back

I find my time on the computer tied into a few sites and email. But I still like the whole concept of blogging. We shall see what comes of it this time. This weekend my hubby and older kids are camping with the scout troop and I chicken... I mean decided to stay home. It is a good thing I didn't plan on going as my one year old, who was exposed to chicken pox by his 3 yo brother, decided to break out on Thursday. He has quite the case the little darling. Hopefully it is true he will now have a life time immunity to the little boogars. His three year old brother is rather amusing. He too recently suffered from "chicken-spots" and noticed Evan now has them. Well I asked him last night if he would like some chicken nuggets and at first he was going to say yes. But than, a sudden shocked and concerned look on his face, he shook his head and said "no no chicken, don't want chicken spots again" so now we will call them nuggets for a while and hopefully he won't put the two together.

When my oldest had chicken pox she called them chicken pops. Well when we offered her corn pops for breakfast one morning, a few months after she suffered, she had quite the same response. Nope, no chickenpops please. Children say the cutest things. They never cease to amaze me.

a good year

Well today was the official end of our school year. We had a final party at our co-op. It in itself was bittersweet. I am so looking forward to a break so I can get some stuff done around here. But I will miss the fun and anticipation of Wednesday. The ladies in the co-op are my sisters in Christ and in education. They are my friends. My goal next year is to get to know someone I didn't know this past year.
My oldest will be 16 in November. Where did the time go. Here I have a young woman in my home and an infant and in between two other young boys. It boggles my mind how God trust me with raising all of them. I am so inadequate for the job, yet Christ calls me to train them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Lately I have been challenged in my parenting attitudes and philosophies. I do not want my children leaving my home needing years of therapy but knowing that they are loved and cherished. I want them to have the confidence that they will become what Christ has set out for them. I feel like this summer is a time of refreshing and revitalization. Last summer, we were preparing to move, to have a baby and start a new curriculum. I am praying that we will all prepare our hearts and lives for what God will bring.

todays fun

The older two, left, are going to the movies with my mom, they are most likely going to see the Sentinel with Kiefer Sutherland. Oh yeah, there are some other people in the movie but they are going to see Kiefer.
We are all big 24 fans here. Ok, fan is light. Last year we bought cable tv and the dvr so that we can see it. They changed nights on us and we had to chose Scouts. But we got both by doing the cable and such. Well this year, we didn't do the dvr through the cable. But we did buy a dvd recorder so that we could actually get the whole season on dvd. Of course we are missing the first four hours. But we are waiting for our friends to buy their dvd burner so we can get it off of their dvr. I guess if we get desperate we could take ours over there and burn them our selves.
I want to go see the Sentinel as well, but maybe Barry can take me later before it goes out of the theater. It has been so long since I have been to the movies. It would be nice to go some time soon.