My Photogenic Girl

Out of my seven children, I have two who are very photogenic. My 4-year-old, Lydia, is by far the most photogenic of them all. The camera just loves her. I'm slowly teaching myself photography, and I hope one day to make a little money on the side doing portraits. I get a ton of practice with Lydia. Sometimes I worry that the other kids might think I favor her, but in reality I know they completely get that she takes great pictures and makes learning so much easier for me. I remember being young and taking tons of pictures of myself hoping to get just one good one. Talk about expensive! We didn't have digital cameras back then. Lydia, on the other hand, takes tons of pictures and might get one bad one in the bunch if at all. What a blessing for her!

Besides the fact that Lydia is so photogenic, she's just a great little girl. She's a little spitfire! She definitely has attitude but can also be the sweetest girl in the world, and she's a GREAT big sister to Phoebe. She just loves her! When I was pregnant with Lydia, I really wanted a boy. Now I'm not sure why. I'm so blessed to have her.

Dining Room Update

Things are coming together. The walls are a pretty shade of light yellow, and the new blinds and curtains are up. Hopefully in the next few days we'll get the border up then I'll just be waiting on Mike to sand the floor, which looks horrendous, and put trim around the bottom of the walls and archway. My dining room definitely looks much better. That's a blessing! Oh, and Phoebe was a little angel for me while I did the painting. She sat in her swing and barely made a peep. I love her!

The Ugliest Dining Room in the World

Our dining room is atrocious. It's just ugly. I'm one of those people that has no knack for decorating. Our wooden floor, for starters, needs sanded. It's simply a mess. We have absolutely no trim around the bottom of our dining room walls because when we moved in we had to remove it because cats peed all over it and stunk up the room. We have to replace it all. Anyway, the walls are, well, I don't even know. I can't describe the color, yet I'm the one who picked it out. The curtains are burgundy. We have no blinds, so our curtains are always closed. The room is as dark as can be and looks like a cave.

Tomorrow it all changes. The walls will be painted light yellow with pretty sunflower border going around the center of the walls. Our new curtains are off white, and we'll finally have blinds. No, it won't be finished tomorrow; but I'm excited I'll very soon have a dining room I don't have to be completely ashamed of. I can't wait!

Back from a Brief Hiatus...

I've been so blog lazy lately. I haven't completely forgotten about my blog. I'm just so tired at the end of the night that I can't bring myself to even log in. I need to do this, though. I'm determined to "count my blessings" every day. Here goes.

I spent more than the first half of the day hanging out in bed with my baby. We played, and we slept. I read a little and watched some TV. It was relaxing. Later we went to Walmart where we made the decision to buy our six oldest kids each a netbook. No, we don't have money to just throw around; and we don't make a habit of making big purchases like this for our kids. We decided to use some of our tax return to buy them a very early Christmas gift. Every year a Christmastime I go way overboard. I work extra hours and stress over finding things they'll like. I always end up buying them way too much, and they never end up using at least half of what I buy them. This year will be different. They'll have their own little laptops many, many months in advance. Other than that, they'll probably just get some clothes or a few other small things they NEED not WANT. I like this idea. So, yes, in a sense, they're still having a "big" Christmas; but after this year I really do plan to scale back quite a bit. I can see now I've "ruined" Christmas buy basically teaching them to expect a huge amount of gifts under the tree. I spend the entire season stressing over making Christmas big. By the end of Christmas day, without fail I ALWAYS feel let down. I can't do it anymore. It's time to change how this family celebrates Christmas. Even though they got a big gift early, there will be far fewer gifts under the tree this year. I'm looking forward to it.

My Thoughts on Tithing

To be honest, I don't know for sure whether Christians are "required" to tithe. In a sense, it doesn't matter to me. I still do it. I don't do it in the way most do, though. I give my tithe to organizations that feed the hungry and help those less fortunate, specifically in third-world countries. I know most would say I should be tithing to my church, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that because I know the full 10% won't go to helping people who really need it. Face it. Churches have bills to pay and a pastor that receives a salary out of our tithes. To me, church bills and the pastor's salary should come out of offerings. The first 10% should go to doing the Lord's work, and He wants us helping those who have less than we do. He wants us helping the helpless, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping the sick to receive medical care. Just imagine how much of this would be accomplished if every Christian tithed their money to a Christian organization whose purpose was to provide these services first and foremost. The whole world would change! It would be a much better place. I know 10% is a lot to some people; it is to me. I've decided, though, to trust that God would provide all of our needs after that 10% is gone. He hasn't let me down.

Spring is Here!

There are many signs of spring in the air: The warmer temps, a few buds on the trees, longer days, etc. This isn't how I know spring is here, though. How I came to realize spring has finally hit was tonight at my mother-in-law's house I was minding my own business when all of a sudden a gigantic black spider came running at the speed of light out from underneath the couch. I screamed, and Phoebe miraculously slept through it. Where's the blessing in this, you ask? My brother-in-law saved the day and smashed it, thank God, but now I feel like I'm going to have to inspect everything out there for spiders before getting too comfortable in any one area. Happy Spring!

Coloring is Exhausting!

Apparently coloring can wear a girl out. This is how I found Lydia this afternoon when she ditched me downstairs for my bedroom.