I have a secret...

Averrie is sick once again, yes I know she stays sick ALL THE TIME!! Not sure what is going on with her. So Aleeyah comes to me and tells me that she knows why A-ray is sick.

Aleeyah: Mom, I know why a-ray is sick.

Me: What do you think is wrong with her?

Aleeyah: She has all-er-jesus!!

Me: What?

Aleeyah: All-er-jesus

Me: you mean Allergies?
Aleeyah: Yea, you know those things that make your nose runs, and grandma always says that is what is wrong!!
Ok, I thought that I was going to die!!!

I have a secret!!

I told her that since Friday was daddies 30th birthday, that mommie was going to bake him a cake. When Sam gets up Aleeyah runs over to him. "Daddy, I have a secret." she tells him. "You do?" Sam said. Aleeyah said "yea, and you can't get it out of me." So Sam goes on to tell her that he won't try and he just wanted to ask her if she was willing to tell him one last time before he went to work. She said, "NO daddy, I am not telling you what mommie is baking you for your birthday!!!"......

Leave it to Aleeyah to KILL my surprise LOL LOL LOL LOL.....

Award Time!!!!

I am SOOOO excited that Kim at The Posey Family has gave me an award. Thank you Kim, it is my first award......yeaaaaaaaaaa....

The rules of this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

I nominate:

Kelly at Kelly's Korner

Aimee and Adam at Kayleighs Story

Kim at Life with the Poseys

Kristy At the Hall Family

Shauna at MyLife, My Story

Holli at the Plunketts-our story

The MccLenahans at The Macs

Thanks Kim :-)

The ripple effect!!

That is what the economist keeping saying..."it is a ripple effect!" One business goes down and eventually takes another with it. I think about all the people out there that have lost their jobs and can't feed their families. They don't have a home, and really don't know what will happen from day to day. Some of them have the faith of the Lord, but some are just lost in this world. Well, the truth is, that it is a ripple effect. It has rippled right down to U.S. Motors. The plant where my husband works!! What does this mean you may ask? Well, they have said that the plant will have to probably go to 4 days a week to be able to maintain business through this terrible time. 4 days a week, not even a whole work week!! Who knows if the town of Mena can sustain this type of economic down turn. The mayor says that most of Mena is in good shape, that "tourism" keeps Mena striving. Well, tourism don't pay "my" bills!! It don't feed my children, and keep the electric on!! Though I know that we can "financially" make it, there are so many here in Mena that can't. I have to rely on the Lord that he will take care of us. Some may think "how can she think that the Lord will bring them through?"

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You see, my father-in-law owns a car business here in Mena. There have been times that no car business has been selling a single car, and my father-in-law just puts all his trust in the Lord and sells them left and right. He never questions if the Lord will be there, he just knows he will in his own time. A friend of mine sings a song on her cd that says "isn't it great when he (the Lord) is four days late, yet he is still on time." The story of Lazarus is a story that relates to this, they waited for days on Jesus. In his own time he came and rose Lazarus from the dead. I know that if I have enough faith that the Lord will take us under his wings.

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1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16. Rejoice evermore

17. Pray without ceasing

18. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

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I know that times for our family are going to change. We will not be the only family facing hardship, and I pray that the Lord takes control and helps all of us. Mena strives on Motors, it employees over 500 of Mena's citizens. It feeds their families, and many other families. The restaurants will hurt, everything in Mena will hurt. Families can't spend what they don't have!! You begin to see the "ripple effect" taking place. People leaving for work, which means less money here. Children leaving schools which means less in our schools. More poverty and families loosing homes. In a grim picture like this, some may say there is no silver lining. I have found the silver lining. His name is Jesus Christ, the Lord our savior.....

I pray that many will turn to him and not away from him as this economic "recession" hits way to close to home. Right here in Mena!!

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Philippians 4

Therefore, brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.

2. I beseech Eu-o'-di-as, and beseech Syn'-ty-che, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

3. And I in treat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women, which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of life.

4. Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice.

5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7. And the Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

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Through this I know that Christ takes care of those who are his faithful followers. Who knows what he has in store for my family. I will not be afraid of the things to come. Mena, will endure many hard things in the next couple of months. All I can do is pray that Motors will withstand what is happening. If it don't then I have to put my families life in the hands of the Lord our father.

Squirrel? I think not!!!

OK, we got up this morning and done our normal routine. We all got dressed and went to church. Rusty wasn't able to preach this morning, so we had a new preacher who was really fired up. He was preaching a WONDERFUL sermon speaking about having so little, yet having so much. At the end of the service, he asked us all to stand and pray. I had Averrie on my hip and we were all standing, when Brother Minton gets to the end of the prayer and asked if any wanted to except Christ as their savior for the Lord to come into them that they may make a joyous noise. Well at that time Averrie said something, so I opened my eye to tell her to quite down. When I did, I see the BIGGEST BAT flying in the parish hall. I squealed (preacher probably thought that I was CRAZY) preacher said AMEN and I YELLED BAT BAT BAT!!!!!!!! OK, I know I over reacted but I hate birds and anything that flies. To think that a bat was in the parish hall between me and the door was the scariest thing in the world. Of course my little brother who is on crutches is the tallest in the congregation so the bat wanted to dodge at him. I am yelling "hit him with the crutch, hit him with the crutch!!" If you have ever heard that Ray Stevens song about the squirrel in church, I now know what he meant by the people screaming "HALLELUJAH"!!!! HA HA HA HA

At that time, I look at Sam and asked where the preacher was at. Needless to say he did not like flying things any more than I did, he was already at his truck!!!

Luckily, Rusty's oldest son Coltin is not scared of animals. He got a box and took a broom in which he caught the bat and took him to his mom's van. I sure hope they made it home with NOTHING getting out of that box. 5 kids, 1 scared mom and a bat locked in a van is not a good scenario!!!!! In case you have never heard the Ray Stevens song, here are the lyrics to it!!

Mississippi Squirrel revival

VERSE 1

Well when I was a kid I would take a tripevery Summer down to "Mississippi," to visit my Granny and 'er "Auntie Belluam World."I'd run barefooted all-day long, climbing trees free as a song; One day I happened to catch myself a squirrel. Well I stuffed him down in an old shoe box, and punched a couple holes in the top; When Sunday came I snuck em' in the Church. I sittin' way back on the verylast pew showin em' to my good buddy Hugh,when that squirrel got loose and went totally buzzerk.Well what happened next is hard to tell;some thought it was Heaven others thoughtit was Hell, but the fact that something was among was plain to see. As the choir sang " I Surrender All", the squirrel ran up Harv Newman's coveralls, and Harv leaped to his feet and said something's got a hold on me yeeeooow!CHORUSThe day the squirrel went buzzerk in the First Self-Righteous Church in that sleepy little town of Pascagoula. It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival. They were jumpin' pewsand shoutin' "Hallelujah".

VERSE 2

Well Harv hit the aisles dancin' and screamin'.Some thought he had Religion others thoughthe had a demon, and Harv thought he had a weed-eater loose in his fruit-of-the-looms.He fell to his knees to plead and beg, and the squirrel ran out of his britchy-leg; unobserved to the otherside of the room.All the way down to the AMEN pew, where sat "Sister Bertha Better-than-You", who had been watching all of the commotion with sufistic glee.But shoot, you should have seen the look in her eyes when that squirrel jumped her garders and crossed her thighs. And she jumped to her feet and said,"Lord have mercy on me."As that squirrel mad laps inside her dress she began to cry and then to confess, to sins that would make a sailor blush with shame. She told of gossip, and church desention, but thing that got the most attention was when she told of her Love Life and then she Started naming names.

CHORUS

VERSE 3

Well seven Deacons and then the Pastor got saved, and twenty-five thousand dollars got raised, and fifty volunteered for missions in the Congo on the spot.And even without an invitation there were at least five hundred rededications, and we all got rebaptized whether we needed it or not.Now you've heard the Bible stories I guess of how he parted the waters for Moses to pass. Oh the Miracles, God has wraught in this old world. But the one I'll remember till my dying day is when He put that church back on the narrow waywith a half crazed Mississippi squirrel. CHORUS (x2)

Decorations...

I am not the artsy type!! I can not paint, draw and sure don't have time to do allot of arts and crafts. I decided though when I started to re-do Aleeyah and Averrie's bathroom, that I wanted a certain art piece on a long wall that we had. So I began looking around and found that there were LOADS of them out there but I was going to have to be willing to pay for them. So I started up the photoshop, time to "DRAW" something I might like. Like I said, most arts and crafts projects start and end rather quickly. So I was unsure of what this would turn out to look like. I went online and found the Tiddlywinks decor at Target.com. I loved them, and knew right then that is what I wanted the girls bathroom in. OK, got that part just had to decide what to do about that one piece of "art" that I wanted. I was setting looking at the photoshop trying to figure out my next move, when it hit me!! Take 10x10 canvases and paint them with polka dots in the same colors as the shower curtain and rug, and hang them on the wall 1-1/2 inches apart. It looks like a picture, yet it has dimension and is TOTALLY different!! So I have finished them and just have to paint my walls which will be a darker beige brown color and hang the picture that I can proudly say is MY own master piece LOL... Around the bottom and sides I am adding brown ribbon to each canvas, and to cover any staples. I hope you guys like it!! I mean at least it didn't get tossed like everything else I try LOL LOL....

Episodes

Aleeyah woke up with one of her what I like to call "episodes" yesterday morning. On occasion, Aleeyah will wake up and feel so bad. She will be extremely tired, and won't be able to play or keep her head up. She does not run a fever with this, but simply is EXTREMELY tired. I thought that yesterday was due to me making her get up early so that she could play with her cousins who were coming for the day. Every time these end with the same thing, she jumps up, vomits and then is better. She is not really herself all day, but she is better. Not laying around everywhere. I mean this child can vomit faster than any child I have ever seen. We walk into a Mexican restaurant **vomit**, she eats the food at a Mexican restaurant **serious VOMIT**. Really she does not even have to eat the food, she has recently decided that just walking into one was enough to make her sick. ANY other restaurant in town and she will be fine, Mexican does her in. It scares me really bad that something is wrong with her stomach. If so, why would it not be doing this on EVERY type of food???
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If you have heard of this before (and it was OK) let me know. I just sometimes wonder if there is something that I can do to make it stop... Well all of you guys have a wonderful v-day and a great weekend..

Tears & Memories

Bethanie Nichole Frost

Born: March 29th, 1999

Jesus called her home July 21st, 2000

I was reading Kristy's blog like I do everyday, and of course went to Kelly's Korner to check on her baby girl, when I noticed that she was saddened by the loss of a little girl named Cora. Being curious, I decided to go and check into this little girl. That is when the tears began. For a mother to endure the loss of a child is beyond words!! To watch them be hooked up to the tubes and ventilators and deep within you don't even recognize them. This mother has strength beyond any I have seen. She watched as little Cora went through chemo, she watched as Cora could not eat. Still yet she never turned her un-dying faith from God. Tears just continued to roll down my face when I realized, I have been there. I have set where she is setting. I have watched as they tried with everything they had to save my daughters life. The tubes, the vents, the heart monitors. To have your child leave this world before you. To know that you will not see them grow into young adults, and into a mother, and a wife. This mother who now has to bury her daughter needs our prayers!! We should never, as mothers, take our children for granite. Never think that you can tell them you love them tomorrow, there may not be a tomorrow. Laugh with them, act like a child with them and NEVER under estimate them. Children can and will do things that we don't think is possible. My 16 month old unlocked a door, went down a porch, walked down a path and fell in the pond!! They can do things we don't realize they can do. Go to Kelly's Korner, read about Cora and I ask you to please donate money to the Cora Fund. This is going to build a playground in Cora's name. One last thing, HUG your children and let them know you love them.......we are not promised tomorrow!!!!