Her she is at seven years old officially.... Her inner beauty radiates all the way through to the outside. Now, if I could just get her to listen to me.......

Tomorrow my little girl will turn seven. It was seven years ago that I went into labor and anxiously awaited knowing if I had been carrying a little boy or a little girl. It was seven years ago that Emmaline entered my world and changed who I was. It was seven years ago that Emmaline made me a mom. The best way to show my little girl is through pictures. So here it is. Emmaline as she has grown... Emmaline at about two months old Emmaline's First Birthday Emmaline's Second Birthday Emmaline's Third Birthday Emmaline's Fourth Birthday Emmaline's Fifth Birthday Emmaline's Sixth Birthday Emmaline a few days shy of her Seventh Birthday You have grown from a baby to a toddler, to a little girl and now a young lady. I have watched you go on this journey for the last seven years. It has been an honor and a blessing to be your mom and it always will be. Happy Birthday Baby Girl. I love you.

Mark sent me a link today to a sermon by Pastor Alan Shelby . Alan leads the Career Class at KCBT and right now since we are doing Financial Peace University , we are not in a Sunday school class. Mark has always enjoyed Alan's preaching. For me it is a bit rougher because he uses a lot of big words. But he is an intelligent man and if you listen with an open heart, you will get what he is saying. I follow the link . It is the sermon from 2/25/2007 Defeating the Enemy Called Average: Message Three: Above Average Childrearing. I gear up. Not only is this Pastor Alan Shelby's teaching but it is on raising kids. Double whammy for me. I find that there are notes available. I can print them off (and after a few weeks of not getting my printer to work for me, today it did. Funny how that works.....) and follow along and fill in the blanks. I print the sheets and click to listen. I have to pause a few times to tackle the kids, but I listen and follow along, jotting extra notes in the ...

I was riding in the car today and heard a song I have heard a few times before. I was listening to Calvary 88.5 . It is a Christian radio station. I had heard this song a few times and thought it was catchy. Today I listened to the lyrics and it really struck me. It is Big Enough by Ayiesha Woods. You turned water into wine - how extraordinary Gave sight to the blind - and still I carry My own load when you told me To take your yoke ‘cause yours is easy And I don't wanna box you in You've been doing big things since the world began Sometimes I just don't wanna believe That you're big enough but you're big enough yeah! I don't wanna box you in You've been doing big things since the world began Sometimes I just don't understand that you're big enough But you're big enough Jesus You turned darkness into light Keep my lamp burning And you are my everything There's no denying, your love is so amazing And even though my problems seem typical Nothi...

If I knew where I had been, I would let you know. Not here obviously. Life seems to go in spurts. I get into lulls and seem to have a lot going on in my mind and then I get into busy seasons and it seems my mind does not have time to think. I have been around but crazy. Crazier then normal. If that is possible. I was thinking the other day about life and e-mailing a dear friend about it. I was thinking of all the sayings used to describe life. I took one that is often used but I thought of it in a different light. Most of us have heard that Life is like a roller coaster, full of ups and downs . I challenge that. It is usually seen in a bad light. Life is the going up and crashing back down, horrific ride of your life. What if we look at it differently? What if instead of this awful up and down, making us feel sick from it, we see it as we did when we were young? I will assume that most of us at one point loved to ride roller coasters. If you never did, stick with me anyway. Most of us ...

My boy yesterday was looking tired. I picked him up and held him and in a matter of minuets he was fast asleep. The bad news is it was five o'clock in the afternoon. Before you ask, he did not sleep through the night. He took a five hour nap. About ten or eleven he woke up and it was close to one in the morning before he finally settled back down. I did however get to take a picture of Emma holding her brother while he was sleeping. Her brother that is almost as big as she is. Sweet children. Even more so when one is sleeping.........

Wahoo! I got linked people! Yes it is for loving New Kids on The Block. Hey, at least I am honest about it. Check me out. New Kids on The Blog. Now, if you want to make fun of me for still rocking with the new Kids, that is okay. I am not the only one. At least I am woman enough to admit it.

We needed a new toilet seat. Our old one was one of the soft cushy kind and it has cracked in few places. It was time for a new seat. We purchase one a couple of weeks ago. Today I decided to go ahead and try to install it myself. I read the directions for the new one backward so I could figure out how to take the old one off. I am sure some of you are by far more handy than I am. After a bit, and some help from my mom, I was able to remove the old seat and put the new one on. Might not be a big deal or a feat for any of you reading, but for me it was! Here is the new toilet seat..... Since I am already shameless, here is a picture I took of Emmaline a few days ago. She is so beautiful. I try to not say these sorts of things to her often because I want her to know it is about more than what she looks like. But every once in a while, I take a shot like this one, I download it and I am amazed that Mark and I made her. She is ours and wow....

I was frustrated at trying to figure out what the plural form of Lego was. So I Googled it. I found my answer. Question: What is the plural form of "LEGO"? Is it LEGO? Or LEGOs? Answer: LEGO is a trademark name and not a noun. So, the correct plural would be "LEGO bricks". Hence why the posts now say Lego bricks. Just trying to respect the Lego bricks.........

Per Mark's comment I ventured into the attic again. I proceeded to very carefully open the top Lego box and this is what I found: People it is true. Each baggie also has the booklet inside. It was downright scary. I tried to find a copyright date but was unable. Pardon the glare on the booklet.... My children saw these Lego bricks and instantly started to hyperventilate. I told them that they do not respect the Lego bricks. As the ones from this morning are still all over Davis' floor. And not one of them is in it's own separate baggie, complete with instruction booklet.

I am going to tell my story of why I hate Lego bricks with pictures. You will only be able to feel me if I tell the story with pictures. It started out innocent enough. A box of Lego bricks here, a box of Lego bricks there. But when you put all of those boxes together, which to date equals six of all three varieties, it makes a huge mess. These are only the Duplo variety out here. Four boxes of Duplo blocks. As if the mess were not enough, let me assure you I really do possess that many boxes of Lego bricks and they really do come in three different flavors. First we have the Quatro Lego bricks. HUGE blocks as you can see for the 1-3 age range. The next step is the Duplo Lego bricks. For the 2-5 age range. Here is where we are vomiting Lego bricks. We currently possess three large boxes of Lego bricks not to mention about four-five sets. The sets are the ones like to build a castle or to build an airport. Lastly we have the regular Lego bricks. Four and up range. Do you see how many th...