unNormal

Ever feel like you are one of the oddest people on earth? Ever think "I bet no one ever does this." These are my thoughts on a daily basis. Some people may think it's an insult but I don't. I quite like being the odd ball God made me to be. I favor the off beat life. It took me a long while to figure out the desire to be "normal" was like chasing the wind. Maybe its more like following a tornado. The moment you think something is normal, society changes it's out of style, so last year, yada yada... it's not the norm. Things and lifestyles get old, times change, people change. Chasing "the norm" or what's in is tiresome and here is why:

Once I realized that it's not society that should determine who I am, but God, I found peace. Now it's normal in my world not to fit the mold that people would assume I would. I find there is no gain in being accepted into social circles or having the approval of others. There is such a blessing in being accepted into the Lord's kingdom and having His approval. Let me just say, His way isn't always reflected in man's behavior. Sounds all great right? Well it took me a long long while to realize that. I had to experience a lot of serious life mess ups to get here. In fact I still have to deal with past decisions due to not obeying God but doing what man said I should do. I've found that when ever I do try to do what man said, I end up rejected anyway!

Honestly, rejection hurts, but the degree of hurt depends on who is doing the rejecting ;).  I've learned over time that I won't fit in a mold. Even when I tried (several times) I was eventually rejected, left in a bad way, and ended up learning a valuable lesson I had to recover from. It was difficult but I learned! Now I have preteens going through some of the same things I did at their age. I've got no miracle solutions other than to live in God's word (talk the talk and walk the walk), pray pray and pray some more, and be an excellent listener. That listener part is hard. I find myself wanting to explain more than I they really think they absorb. If you've got a parenting manual can you pass it my way?

Normality is relevant I guess. Like I said, it took me a while to like being Un-normal.
I sure like it now.

Ahh yes, God is Good... all the time. :)

You know I'm Bad! Bad Bad-really, really Bad

Friday I went out to Whole Foods to get a couple of things for my daughter. We had a good drive there and were in good moods ready to find a new product we wanted to try. While shopping and minding our own business, a lady comes up and wants my 15 month old to smile at her. Why!?? Well first off this lady is a total stranger and wants to get someone new to this world to smile at her. While my toddler was comfortable with us, she was in a new environment which made the situation a little odd for her I'm sure. I mean really if you were in a unfamiliar place and an excited stranger approached you speaking words you didn't quite understand how would you react? I'd be a little alarmed and leery myself.  It's an invasion of space and has got to be some what scary for them. When I see a baby in public I smile while on my merry way. I will not invade their space. If I want to pay a compliment I'll talk to the parents in passing. I won't touch the child. I'd hope they are getting enough cuddles and such from their parents. It's not a strangers job to do. Ladies remember when you were pregnant and a stranger would want to touch your belly and it gave you the creeps or felt very invasive? Imagine what children feel like!

So this lady continues on while my toddler is looking at her like she's an alien. The lady still doesn't get a clue.   I needed to get this lady away without causing a scene. I don't know her and I want to be aware of how my words can effect others. So I said, "Oh she's just had her immunizations." Well that did it. Before I could finish my sentence the lady backed off like we had a disease, her expression of excitement turned to one of disgust, and said, "Oh don't talk to me about those things." She pointed and shook her finger as she said, "Bad! Bad! Bad!" and walked off. Well! How about a little insult and judgement from a stranger for you there mom!

I realize that people have very strong opinions about immunizations. People are allowed and I appreciate different opinions in life, however I feel that we have a responsibly to convey our thoughts in a respectful manner. By the way, I've heard the arguments about immunizations and it could have been a good conversation. This lady obviously had an opinion about immunizations and an opportunity (a stolen one at that!) to inform me of her reasons why immunizations where "Bad! Bad! Bad!" in her own words. Instead she planted seeds of negativity and left a mother feeling condemned with out reason. I don't like to let people ruin my day but this one put a little rain cloud out there for some time. I really didn't relax until later on that day. So I took that shade and water from the rain cloud and used the situation as an example to my girls of how not to behave.

Listen, I have my own opinions in life I'm passionate about. There are things I wish would change too but I will not degrade myself and others in voicing my opinions. I've had this happen to me on a number of occasions from friends, strangers, and family. People get really irate when others don't agree with them and they can't seem to control themselves in a mature manner. Instead these adults lose it, insult others and ultimately lose the person or audience they desire to change.  Why not respectfully inform others? You will not get a person to change their minds by insults. It only makes the person look hateful and plants negative things to reap in the future. Is it worth reaping in the future? Keep in mind it's going to yield a harvest greater than what you planted.

So beware space invaders when you decide to impart your uninvited words to another, you may want to make them positive because your "harvest" will come.

What in the world are Yo-Yo's?!

We like crafting but honestly we aren't pro's at it. We enjoy it though. I like it because it's great bonding time with my favorite girls in the world. I've got a few favorites but my 3 girls are #1 on my list ;). So my oldest (by 30 minutes) "Comedy Crafts" went with me to Hobby Lobby. As we were browsing about OoOohing and Ahhhhing at the different things, wishing her twin "Everything Pink" was there, Comedy Crafts saw something called a Yo-Yo Kit. Not a Yo-Yo toy but a fabric round thing. I thought "What in the world!?" She was quite drawn to this $12.99 kit. I was thought no way no how was I paying $12.99 for that! I didn't think she'd remember the kit once we left anyway. So I circumvented having the dismal preteen who didn't get what she wanted with mom's cheap tip, "Hey let's research that online first. I bet we can do that cheaper!" I'm all for looking things up first and seeing how you can do it for less. I knew we had the supplies at home. So thankfully she agreed and went on to gawk at all the other alluring things we wished to have.

The next day I thought she had forgotten all about the little round things. Nope Comedy Crafts didn't forget. As a matter of fact she researched it, found a tutorial and made them herself with no reminders from me. I was quite proud of her determination of making the Yo-Yo's. I had no idea what to do with these things. She on the other hand had a vision and enlightened me. Here's a photo of her Yo Yo's. She make a necklace with them. These little things are really easy to make. 


We searched the net that day and found some cute crafty sites. One site we were really happy to find was http://www.heatherbaileystore.com She's got a lot of great ideas and beautiful creations. So inspired by her flowers I made my own and put it on a headband for our toddler. Crafts, sewing and knitting have been on the scene in our home. I'm still knitting and my next craft project later on today is to make another pair of needles. I like my wooden ones because the metal ones are just too smooth. I'm off the the library now! Have a wonderful day!

October Crafty

We've been crafting and doing some fun things at home. October has been a pretty easy going month as far as being busy. We've had our things on the calendar but nothing like trips around the world :). I do miss England though. I won't go on however I still need to complete the blog draft of our trip.

So we are doing things great at home. This past weekend we went pumpkin picking! This was the first for our whole family! It was quite fun and exciting. I had no idea what to expect but Ekert Farms is a great family place to visit. We truly enjoyed ourselves. We ended up with 6 pumpkins! We took them home and actually carved them. This was also a first for us too. We found out how hard pumpkins were to carve without a kit. We fought through it. Now let me state our beliefs here, we don't celebrate halloween. As our faith is not to glorify death and the scary image of halloween, we don't participate in it. We just don't participate, nor do we judge. We have friends that enjoy the whole thing while we don't. Everyone has their own right to live their life the way they choose. For me, Halloween has never been a day I've enjoyed. I didn't like the scary stuff as a child and I still don't as an adult. Spiders and scary faces aren't fun to me in any way. I've been told that my kids are missing out, um no the kids don't miss a beat. They don't care much for the image of halloween either. They do love costumes though! We don't do witches, skeletons, mummies etc. Our kids get their fair share of sweets and dress up through out the year. So what are we going to do with the carved pumpkins? They are shriveling up right there on the fireplace lol! We carved 4 of them, cooked 1 of them and left the biggest one alone. We also got some neat gourds too. I really like the various shapes and colors of gourds. So we've used them for a little home décor.

We made pumpkin pie! Yummy!! It was the best pumpkin pie we have ever had! My husband who rarely updates his facebook status actually posted a status about the pie lol! The great thing about it is, the only thing I did was cut the pumpkin in pieces and puree the pumpkin. Our girls did the rest and it turned out great!

My latest thing is knitting! I've learned to knit! I'm so proud of myself because I've always wanted to learn to knit. The two needles were always so neat to see. A great friend of mine gave me the site Wool and The Gang. They've got some wonderful clear videos. I tried the videos on YouTube but I didn't find any good clear ones. My first project was a scarf. Easy right? Yep! My little one got a hold of it and claimed it as hers. The next project is a big soft blanket. :)