There are certain people who are a blessing to those around them each and every day. These people love without ceasing, give selflessly, and inspire others to persevere. My grandmother is one of these people.

My kids are blessed to have the chance to know and love my Grandma. Of course they’ve given her a name of their own. They call her G-ma. I like to say it’s her rapper name. She totally deserves a rapper name. She’s a bad-ass like that.

And in honor of her birthday this weekend I just wanted to take a minute and say “Thank you.” Thank you for loving your family more than yourself. Thank you for sharing your heart with each and every one of us. Thank you for all the ways you make our lives fuller, richer and more meaningful. We love you with all of our hearts. You are truly a blessing.

For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom!

Sometimes real life is harsh. I have this post all queued up about how great my weekend was at Type-A Mom Conference. And I’ll post it tomorrow. Because it was great. And amazing. And energizing.

But, for now, I’m finding myself overwhelmed.

Don’t you hate it when you have blissful moments where you’re feeling all happily ever after about where you are in  your life and then…the other shoe drops. I don’t just mean it drops lightly. I mean it plummets into your sphere with the speed and force of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Yeah, me too.

We got home today to two completely unwelcome surprises. First one: A house that smells like someone doused our entire home in stagnant water and left it sitting for a week. Why, you ask? Because someone did. The floods (did you hear a little about the rain storm we got last week in Atlanta?) managed to flood our basement with 5″ of water right before we left for the conference. The basement that, incidentally, we converted a corner of into a closet for me. A closet that houses (or should I say housed) all my clothes, shoes, bags, etc.

Not a single thing in the basement was spared from the water. Except our family pictures which were stored way up high (thank God for that). So before we left we took a shop vac down to the basement and got rid of the water. We ran the dehumidifier for days. We threw away rugs, bedding, clothes & anything else we could find that was covered in water. But, we must have missed some things. Because our house smells musty and gross and damp and horrible. Especially horrible when you’re pregnant and even things that smell nice smell horrible.

That on it’s own I could handle. I’m used to things smelling bad in our house. But, there is more. And let me start by going on the record as saying I think CPAs should not be allowed to work on Sundays. I think they should never ever ever email their clients to let them know what their tax liability is on the weekend. Especially when said tax liability is hugely huge and completely impossible to pay by October 15th. Yeah, especially then. Even more so when the client in question is unexpectedly pregnant with a baby that MUST be born by a C-section that will not be covered by insurance. That having a baby in the bathtub idea is looking better and better.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Geez, and here I thought the worst thing I was coming home to was a messy house. There is no way I’m checking the mail today. I’ll leave that for another day…

Are you at Type-A Mom Conference this weekend? If so, I’d love to meet you in person! I’ll be wandering the halls so please come say hi.

I’m looking forward to hanging out with fellow moms, bloggers, & social media addicts and letting Thomas hang with the kids on his own. Pray for him.

No, seriously, pray…

For more Wordless Wednesday head over to 5 Minutes for Mom!

I can hold a grudge. I know, I know. It isn’t very Christian of me. But, despite my love of Jesus I’m not exactly the bestest Christian ever so I live with it. And keep working on it.

But, there are times in my life when I really wish I could learn to let go. If you know me IRL, then you know one of my favorite phrases is “it’s the principle of the matter” when describing my anger toward a perceived injustice. I’m a principle crusader.

Nine years ago Thomas and I went to pre-marital counseling. Which turned into counseling between us, my parents, & my sisters. All of us saw the same counselor. At different times in various combinations. At one point (I’m not even kidding) she talked to my parents about starting counseling at their manufacturing plant with their employees. She had quite the racket convincing all of us to come in several times a week at $90 an hour. The whole thing (I think) was a bit unethical of her. She was (in my opinion) a terrible, terrible counselor. And my husband and I chose to elope as a direct result of our counseling sessions and the chaos created by all of us seeing one counselor and getting conflicting advice & stories. Our family relationships were not restored until we all got out from under her “care” and actually talked to each other without professional help.

Okay, in case you were wondering, that is me holding back. A LOT.

So, since then I’ve moved on. (Can you tell?) Yes, I’ve called the church that referred us to her and informed them of her unethical practices. And they called & let her know I complained. She assured them she couldn’t think of a single reason I would have been unhappy. Thankyouverymuch, oh unnamed church, for the way you handled that.

Fast forward 9 years and when I let myself think about it I’m still a bit sore about the whole thing. Yes, I’ve moved on. My husband and I are happy. We have a beautiful family. My parents & sisters and I have wonderful rich relationships. I should let it go. But, it’s the principle of the matter.

God, however, is a funny guy. Because last week I went into Kai’s homeschool academy for a mom meeting and sat down right across from one very familiar face. (And it wasn’t a friendly one.)

I sat through the whole meeting barely hearing the teacher and marveling at my dumb luck. And then went out to meet Thomas & the kids and got ready to tell him all about my discovery. But, I was interrupted by Kai telling me all about her new bestest friend in the whole wide world, B—–. We knew she’d been playing with B—– for the last few weeks. What we didn’t know was B—–’s name. And that day we’d promised her a slushy if she would go to school learn her best friend’s name and report it back to us. (We think it’s important to remember the names of our best friends around here.)

“Mommy, mommy! I remembered my best friend’s name! It’s B—–!”

In case you’re wondering, yes, that is the name of the dreaded counselor’s daughter. My daughter’s bestest friend is the friend of my enemy. Oh. the. irony.

I’ll admit. The first thing I wanted to do was tell Kai not to play with her new best friend. (Yes, I know that is yucky of me.) But, I resisted the urge to spread the poison to my 5-year-old. I like to call that progress.

But, this lady & I are going to have to learn to coexist in this tiny class of 12. Which means I’ve got some forgiving to do. And that just doesn’t come easy to me. I don’t like letting people off the hook. (Though please feel free to let me off the hook whenever I commit some wrong against you. I’m nice & hypocritical that way.)

I’m going to learn to be bigger than this thing. I’m going to take the high road. Because, after all, that is the principle that actually matters.

This forgiveness thing is SO a work in progress. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more before this school year is over. In the meantime, if you have forgiveness stories and advice to share, I’m all ears…

Just in time for the Type-A Mom Conference I’m moving my blog over to WordPress. And getting a super cool redesign!

So, check back Wednesday for the details. I’ll be unveiling the new look & domain name.

Same content. Same blog. But, with much cooler digs.

I’m heading to Type-A Mom Conference less than one week. Which means two things. First, I’m giddy about hanging out & meeting some of my awesome online friends! And second, I’m going to have to crawl out from behind my computer screen and actually see people. In person.

Which is why, unless everyone wants to see me at Type-A Mom Conference in a yucky ponytail and pajamas, something must be done here. Because that is how I spend the majority of my blogging time. (Fine. It’s how I spend the majority of my time. Period.)

And so now I need a mommy make-over. Unfortunately, Stacy & Clinton, Carson Kressley, Tim Gunn, and Trinny & Susannah have all failed to return my calls. So I’m on my own.

Which is why I’m asking you guys for help. Give me your best make-over tips. What do you do when you need to update your look?

I’m looking for some good ideas that are inexpensive, easy to implement, & will make me feel like something more than a zombie mommy.

Any advice?

** Be warned. This is one of those picture-ful posts that come about because this blog also serves as my kid’s only documentation of their childhood. I lapse into virtual baby book mode every once in a while! **

This weekend we held Traveler’s baby dedication at our home. It was a really special & personal experience with family & some friends from our Bible study.

It was a day that reminded us how truly blessed we are to be surrounded by so many wonderful people in all areas of our life. I think one of the best gifts we can give our children is a rich community of people who love and pray for them. This day really illustrated the power of such community to us.

Thanks to our friend, Dewde, for taking pictures. (The first 6 are his. They also prove my husband’s point about buying a better camera.)

For more Wordless Wednesday from people who actually manage to keep it, you know, Wordless head over to 5 Minutes for Mom!

I don’t even know how to build up to this slowly so here goes.

Remember my confession about peeing on sticks? Well, I peed on a stick again. And it was positive.

Actually, it was more like 5 sticks. And they were all positive. But to be extra sure I broke them apart. And held them up to the light. And looked at them for days. 5 days. And they never changed. So….it looks like we’re having a(nother) baby!

To say we were surprised would be an understatement. I’m still nursing Trav. We’ve taken “precautions” every single time but one. I’m dead serious. In four months, we’ve thrown caution to the wind ONE time. ONE.

We’re very excited about having another little one to love and snuggle. And though this wasn’t exactly our plan it was (quite obviously) in Someone’s plan. So, we’re going to go with this and enjoy the crazy ride we’re about to be on.

I’m more than just a little bit nervous about the logistics. Because:

1. Trav is only 5 months old. FIVE MONTHS!!
2. We are still paying off the previous C-section because my insurance won’t cover me on maternity.
3. I have no idea how we’re going to squeeze 4 kids into this house.
4. Did I mention we still don’t have maternity insurance?

Let this be a cautionary tale for teenagers everywhere. Because, as it turns out, it only takes one lapse with birth control to get pregnant and it isn’t some sort of cumulative process. Just. so. you. know.

On a very serious note, we could use some major heavy duty prayers offered up for this situation. I know one way or another this is going to work out just fine. Even if I end up birthing this baby in the bathtub at home. Which, when compared to another $12,000 C-section, is looking like a distinct possibility.

At least I’ll have plenty of blogging material, right?