Poetry Thursday

I have decided to start sharing some poetry that I know or come across on Thursdays. I hope you enjoy.



This is a poem from the book "Footprints of a Pilgrim: The Life and Loves of Ruth Bell Graham"
In this particular poem she is talking about her children and raising them for the Lord.

Five I have:

each separate, distinct, a soul bound for eternity:

and I--blind leader of the blind--

groping and fumbling,

casual and concerned,

by turns.....

undisciplined, I seek

by order and command

to discipline and shape;

(I who need Thy discipline to shape my own disordered soul).

O Thou Who seest the heart's true, deep desire,

each shortcoming and each sad mistake,

supplement and overrule,

nor let our children be the victims of our own

unlikeness unto Thee.

by: Ruth Bell Graham

Psalm 23

I caught the end of a sermon on the radio the other day and he was wrapping up a teaching on Psalm 23. Of course most Christians know and have memorized this verse.

Psalm 23

¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

He was only speaking on the first 3 verses at the time I was listening, but it stood out to me very much. He was talking about how we always want this or that. Not necessarily material things, but we wish we had this in life or we want certain things to not have taken place in our lives. The he read the first verse:

Psalm 23:1-- The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not WANT.

I know in my life, maybe not always out loud, I wish for things to be different. I have a hard time just being satisfied with my Lord and the place he has me in right now. I tend to look towards the future and what may be instead of living and being blessed in the place and time I am currently placed.

The pastor then went on to verse:

Psalm 23:2-3 -- HE maketh me to lie down in green pastures: HE leadeth me beside the still waters.

HE restoreth my soul: HE leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

I feel I need to be more diligent about letting my heart/soul wander. As we know from "Jeremiah 17:9--The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? " I think in our own selves it is hard at times to know if our soul is being selfish or if we are really choosing the things God would have us do or desire. I think that is where verses 2-3 come in. We need to allow God to lead us in all ways. He will always bring us to a place of rest. He will and does restore our soul. He will always lead us down the right path. We can never trust our hearts in and of itself to do that. When we choose that way we always end up taking a selfish route and end up tired and worn down because we try to get where "WE" want to go in our "OWN" way. This will always leave us exhausted and never resting in peace.

Cousins, Zoo and Grandparent fun

We had a busy few days. We left Friday and headed over to Houma to visit James family. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. James' brother has 4 kids and we have the two so far, so the house was full. James' was able to visit with his brother while cooking BBQ.

Last night my parents came down to visit for a few days, they are staying over with my brother, but today they took us to the Zoo then out to eat for lunch then over to Chucky Cheese's for game time. It was fun filled, but very tiring, so we are home now resting.




Here is Boog and my Dad on the play equipment at the zoo.















Boog and Baby Girl playing.















On the fake alligator head, Baby Girl really did not want to be on there.















My dad with the kids.















My mom and Boog looking at turtles.















The only animals I took a picture of. I really like the Gibbons and they were cute grooming each other.















Here is the baby of the cousins. He is called Big Boy by the family, since he is only 5 pound lighter than his 5 year old sister at 18 months.















Here is Boog, Baby Girl, Jayonna, DaShawn and Daunte'















Baby Girl and the other girl in the family Jayonna.















And just one of my precious babies, who are growing up so fast.

Controlling our Emotions

I have been thinking about this for a while now. I have been very emotional this pregnancy and at times find myself treating the kids or Gus not so well. These actions are mostly based on my emotions at the time. I have also talked recently with Gus and a few friends about how women can tend to use their "emotions" or "hormonal" times to validate saying not so nice things to people or treating them in a way they would not normally treat someone. I don't think it is acceptable that we allow ourselves to get away with this and be able to blame our emotions or hormones. God has given us the power to have self control in every area.

Now I am not saying that we should be emotionless, I believe that our emotions are God given and are a very important part of us being women. I do think if we find ourselves using our emotions or hormones as a weapon then we need to be praying and seeking God for help in that area. I would love to hear from anyone who has had trouble in this area and overcome.

Cloth Diapers

I started buying new small and newborn size cloth diapers for the new baby today. I did not use them with my son, I actually did not know much about them. With my daughter I met a few people online who used them and got interested. I did tons of research and started buying some. I have used all types. Prefolds, Prefitteds, and Pockets: they first two require a cover the Pockets have a waterproof outer. I have found that I prefer prefitted and prefolds. I use my pockets as well, but use a prefold and then use the pocket as the cover.

There is so many different types out there it can be overwhelming if you are thinking of giving it a try. I just bought some different ones used off a great site diaperswappers and that way I did not spend the full amount if I decided I did not like them.

Coth diapers are really not that hard to use and not that gross. There have been so many great inventions is this area. One is the diaper sprayer, a cool gadget that hooks to your toilets water line and you just spray the poop into the toilet with out having to really handle it. I wash every few days. The cost of water and electricity to wash is minimal compared to the cost of diapers for 2-3 years. I have seen different quotes on the amount you can save. Most state between $1,200 and $1,800 a year. Especially if you end up using them for multiple kids you can save tons. Of course they are a thousand times better for the environment than disposables. I am not a total die hard "green" person, but like the idea that we are not creating as much waste as we could by using cloth.

If any of my readers would like to know more specifics please ask away, I will try to get information together for you. :)

Update, since it has been so long...

I just realized it has been about 2 weeks since my last post. The time has flown by. I am now a little over 13 weeks along in the pregnancy. I am now getting into the second trimester and starting to show already. My last doctors visit went well, was able to hear the heartbeat and received a blessing. Our insurance does not cover vitamins and I was telling my doctor this and he told me he would keep giving me some from his sample stash as I needed them.

The kids are doing well, getting big. Baby girl is talking so much, it surprises me everyday. Boog did not talk as well, until he was a bit older. We have hit a mile stone with him as well, he is officially out of pull ups at night. I am so proud of him, he now holds it all night or will get up and go in the night. Now on to potty training Baby Girl, hopefully before the new baby gets here.

I have finally made a decision on a kindergarten curriculum for Boog. I am going to use My Father's World. I have done tons of searches and it has gotten great reviews. I am just waiting for our refund to come in and I am going to go ahead and purchase it. I also think we are going to go ahead and start after it arrives, since the new baby is due around the start of the "school year" we can get a head start and I can take time off once the baby is here.

I hope all my blogging buddies are doing well :)