Day 6

Day 6- favorite super hero and why.

Ok, it's been a week since I blogged, but the 30 days of blogging idea didn't necessarily say 30 days in a row, right?

Favorite super hero?  That would be Samson from the Old Testament.  I've posted the story below, so if you want to know why... read on :)  I copied and pasted from LDS.org and it didn't copy everything the way it should have but it's good enough.

Chapter 13

Israel is in Philistine bondage for forty years—An angel comes to Manoah’s wife and promises a son who will begin to deliver Israel—The angel comes again; he ascends in a flame from the altar—Samson is born, and the Spirit of the Lord moves upon him.
1 And the children of Israel did aevil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the bhand of the Philistines forty years.
2 ¶And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
3 And the aangel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art bbarren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and adrink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any bunclean thing:
5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no arazor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to bdeliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6 ¶Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an aangel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:
7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
8 ¶Then Manoah intreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.
10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.
11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?
13 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
14 She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
15 ¶And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.
16 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord.
17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
18 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is asecret?
19 So Manoah took a kid with a ameat boffering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.
21 But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.
22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have aseen God.
23 But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.
24 ¶And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Chapter 14

Samson slays a young lion with his bare hands—He marries a Philistine wife, propounds a riddle, is deceived by his wife, and slays thirty Philistines.
1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a awife of the buncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the aLord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had bdominion over Israel.
5 ¶Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the aSpirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
7 And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
8 ¶And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.
10 ¶So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a afeast; for so used the young men to do.
11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
12 ¶And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty asheets and thirty change of garments:
13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.
14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.
15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, aEntice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we bburn thee and thy father’s house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?
16 And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a ariddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?
17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she alay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.
19 ¶And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.
20 But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Chapter 15

Samson burns the grain of the Philistines—They burn his wife and father-in-law—Samson slays a thousand Philistines at Lehi with the jawbone of an ass.
1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
3 ¶And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and aburnt up both the shocks, and also the standing bcorn, with the vineyards and colives.
6 ¶Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and aburnt her and bher father with fire.
7 ¶And Samson said unto them, aThough ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 ¶Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are arulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
14 ¶And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands aloosed from off his hands.
15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi.
18 ¶And he was asore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 aBut God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof bEn-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
Chapter 16

Samson carries away the doors of the gate of Gaza—He loves Delilah, who delivers him to the Philistines—He destroys a building, killing himself and 3,000 others.
1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they acompassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
4 ¶And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, aEntice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us beleven hundred pieces of silver.
6 ¶And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven agreen withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast amocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.
11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were aliers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the aweb.
14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.
15 ¶And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast amocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him adaily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was bvexed unto death;
17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a arazor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought amoney in their hand.
19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he awist not that the Lord was departed from him.
21 ¶But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto aDagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.
24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
28 And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.
30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

Day 5

Day 5- a picture of somewhere you’ve been

This was hard!  There are a lot of cool places I've been!  So far my favorite is NYC December 2009 with some of my favorite people.

Our week in pictures

Looking through my phone, I found a few pictures I thought were blog worthy so here they are.

Adam using self checkout at Smith's

He's a pretty good little cashier!

 


The nice guy in the meat department let Adam watch as he sliced our turkey





Bobo decided to help with laundry today



Day 4

day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have

I bite my lip until it bleeds.  And when it does bleed, I pick at it.  I either bite it or pull at the skin with my fingers and then it takes forever to heal.  When I smile, the yucky dried blood part cracks and bleeds again.  It's not very attractive and it's somewhat painful!

Day 3

Day 3- a picture of you as a child

Kevin, Tyson, Stella, Becky, Brianna, Me

This is the best I have right now since all of my memories are in storage in California.  I'll post another when I get them, but really my whole childhood was a blur of nerdiness.

Day 2

Day 2- the meaning behind your blog name

I had another blog before this one and it was titled "The Meager Family" but when my husband at the time left me, I was always reminded when I read the title of that blog that we weren't a family anymore.  I changed my last name back to Sadlier and started a new blog (this one of course).  Amber and Co. was for me and my kids because the last thing I wanted after my divorce was pity, and I rarely referred to myself as a single mom.  If I'd named the blog "Amber and kids" it was pretty much screaming that I didn't have a husband and I didn't want to focus on that fact because being single did not define who I was, who I am, and who I will always be.

In the past few weeks I've added this saying to the right of my blog title:

If you've read my previous blog entries you know that I've planned my future several times and several ways and found myself "lost" every time.  And I've found a better way, plain and simple :)

Day 1

Day 1- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

Here are two pictures.  One with my girls, one with my Adam



I'm washed out in this one, so it hides the wrinkles :)
Seritta on the right, Camilla on the left



Me and Adam

• My favorite interesting fact about me is my birthday.  I love my birthday.  It's February 29th, which is Leap Year so I only get a birthday once every four years.  Of course I celebrate every year because I love birthdays!
• I'm a Pisces.  I don't know much about the Zodiac but I do like the Pisces profile :)
• I've survived bites from a black widow spider and a brown recluse.  I have a really cool scar from my brown recluse bite.
• I started menopause at the age of 27 (TMI, I know)
• I have more than 30 pairs of shoes, and at least two thirds of them are heels.  I would be happy wearing heels every day of the week if my arthritis would allow it.
• I have the body of a 70 year old between my arthritis, ulcers, and hot flashes.
• I would die without my cell phone.
• I would rather spend a week with teenagers than adults.
• I'm on my 3rd marriage.  That may not be interesting to some people, but considering my religion and my stance on families, I think it's very interesting.
• Shopping, chocolate, and girl gripe sessions make me happy.  Like, really truly happy.
• Even though I have pretty low self esteem, I'm also sorta stuck on myself.  I love having brown hair and brown eyes and skin that tans instead of burns.  I love being tall enough that a good pair of stilettos puts be as tall as half of the men in this town.  I complain about myself often (stretch marks, baby flab, gray hair, breakouts, etc.) but really, I love who I am at least half of the time and usually remember that I have my own personal value that no one has but me.
• I often live in the past and allow others to rule my life.
• I don't deserve my  husband.  Some might say this is an opinion, but it's my blog and I say it's a fact.  He's way too good for me, but I'm keeping him anyway!
• I have a birthmark in my eye that makes it look like that eye (can't remember which one) is always bloodshot, and a scar under my right nostril where I cut myself shaving when I was 6.
• I'm way too excited about the MAD DASH I'm helping to head up this fall.  It's a huge blessing that a grade school friend got me involved in and I love her for it.

30 Days of blogging intro

I've toyed with the idea of the 30 days of blogging challenge that everyone is talking about and I've decided to try it.  It may end up being like the November Facebook challenge where you're supposed to put something you're thankful for as your status every day in November up to Thanksgiving Day.  There were 24 days and I fizzled at day 19.
I've found several lists and they're all different, so I played eeny meeny miney mo and ended up with this one, which I will most definitely "improve" on a few of the questions.  (day 12- write a poem to someone I love?  Um, no.)

30 Days of Blogging challenge

day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

day 2- the meaning behind your blog name

day 3- a picture of you as a child

day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have

day 5- a picture of somewhere you’ve been

day 6- favorite super hero and why

day 7- a picture of someone/something that has had the biggest impact on you

day 8- short term goals for this month and why

day 9- something you’re proud of in the past few days

day 10- songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad

day 11- write a bucket list of things you want to do before you die

day 12- write a poem to someone you love

day 13- your 5 favorite books and why

day 14- a picture of you and your family

day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play

day 16- a picture of yourself

day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have

day 19- write about a sweet memory from your past

day 20- write a letter to someone

day 21-a picture of something that makes you happy

day 22- what makes you different from everyone else

day 23- something you crave a lot

day 24- post your favorite quote or verse of scripture and why

day 25- what I would find in your bag

day 26- list 10 things that you are thankful for

day 27- my day job verses my passion

day 28- cruise a thesaurus and pick out 10 words you like the sound of

day 29 - favorite tv shows and why you like them

day 30 - movies you can watch again and again

No more love notes, Mom

Because I suck at being a mother, I try to make up for it from time to time by leaving notes in the kids lunches that say I love you and have a good day.  This morning as Iwas making Adam's lunch, he looked at me with the look that says "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but...." and said (like he was walking on eggshells) "Mom, could you not put notes in my lunch?  It's really embarrassing." 
I pretended that he hadn't just broken my heart, smiled and said "Sure, I don't want you embarrassed!" then he sighed in relief and went to get ready for school. 
My baby boy is embarrassed by me.  Crap.  I just realized I'm not cool.

My life is better than yours. For reals.

Check out the title of my post!  I'm not joking when I say this is the most syrupy sappy and sickeningly annoying post ever.  I could stop there, but I sorta feel that anyone so rude as to say that out loud should at least explain why their life is the best.  So, here I go.
My life is the best because.... well, pretty much for the same reason most women think they have the best life.

The day I met George.

Lets start off with my family.  I'm not going into the feelings I have for my husband because if you follow my blog at all, you've heard plenty about him, being that we're newlyweds and all.  If you've not been following, you can read about how he was worth breaking all of the rules in an earlier post.  Now that I've said that I won't go into my feelings, I WILL give some examples.  I think of the things I get my feelings hurt over and I feel like a hag (The husband isn't allowed to call me that, because it's what he calls his ex-wife.  To him I'm The Bag).  Yesterday I said something and he looked at me, made a stupid face and said "nehnehnehneh..." with his tongue sticking out like a child.  (I would have said blahblahblah but I'm a girl).  It was 7 pm and he'd just had one of those days where he was up at 3 am for work and walked through the door at 6:45 that night and here he was teasing with me instead of being a bump on a log as I'm sure I would have been after working all day.  When he does silly childish things like that I call it "Rig mode George" because he's still winding down from work and has spent his day with stupid childish family-less boys who joke and make fun of each other.  So, he was still rig mode George.  And I pouted.  He spoils me and on the rare occasion he makes me feel stupid , I know he didn't mean to. 

Our 5 month anniversary was last week.  I wrote on his Facebook wall that I love him and happy 5 months.  He never replied.  He checks FB on his phone every day and jumps on there occasionally at home but really, the man is gone 15-16 hours a day... I think the last thing on his mind is commenting on a post.  But he didn't and I checked every day for a comment until I finally got mad, commented for him, and then deleted the whole thing.  Childish?  Oh ya.

I thought he might kill me for bringing home Mutt #2 right before Christmas.  But he didn't.  And he's helping train the annoying thing.  Not many men would do that with a huge puppy they didn't want in a 3 bedroom house with 8 people and one dog already.

Basically I have the best husband ever.  He's being patient with his super high mantainance moody hormonal menopausal wife and loving me with all of my faults (and there are A LOT!)

Seritta and Adam

My children.  I have the best teenage daughters by far.  I couldn't ask for better.  And the craziest boys.  The oldest is so serious (it even says so in my sidebar to the right so it must be true) and the twins are crazy and wild and break things and fart and burp and, well you've heard all about them already.  Vanessa is just Vanessa and I love her so much because she is who she is and she loves me even when she shouldn't.
The dogs.  Jack is a human trapped in a dogs body.  I swear he understands English.  Bobo is adorable.  And annoying.  And he's also learning very fast.  And we love them :)
The house.  I love my house.  I had a hard time at first, knowing George lived here with Stephanie.  But then I realized it was never their home.  She didn't change anything when they moved in... not the hideous wallpaper in the bathroom, the depressing green paint in the kitchen, the grandma curtains all over the house.  She even left the tacky plastic on the stairs.  But I am making it our house with our big backyard where the boys play and the girls and I jump on the trampoline in the rain and huge master bedroom that houses 3 girls.  Since I moved in, the curtains (I made new ones for the bay window) and stair plastic are gone, the wallpaper in the bathroom is halfway off, the carpet is being replaced.  And in 5 months this house is more mine than it ever was hers.

Me and Kelly, the kids stepmom,
 Ice skating.  Those are
Vanessa's fingers

Even the ex's.  My ex's love my kids.  No absent fathers, no withholding child support.  They are of course, ex's and I have plenty of animosity over the marriages but thats over with and as far as ex's go, they aren't bad.  Camilla and Jarom's stepmom is just like a sister.
I could go on forever really.  My job and my boss.  I love my job.  George's job with 26 weeks off a year.  My family here within 10 minutes of me.  My friends who are like family.  My in-laws who love me. 
So as the title of my post says, my life is better than it's ever been and I wouldn't want anyone else's.

Behold Your Little Ones

During church today I kept thinking about an incident that happened in my house a month or so ago and when I can't get something out of my head, it ends up in my journal.  Since I don't have a journal right now (I haven't written in one since I left California) this story goes in the blog.
It's been five months since my family of four became a family of 8 and we're starting to figure each other out and really act like a family.  I've mentioned in a previous post that describes all of my children how I worry about Vanessa and I clashing. 
I'm not sure if "clash" is the right word.  To put it in plain english, daddy's princess has been spoiled.  She has never been expected to abide by the same rules as the other kids and she's always been treated like a small child, I've seen it with both George and her biological mother.  She sometimes ignores us, once in a great while lies to us, and cries when she's told to do simple things.
She's not a bad child, she's very loving and usually sweet.  She helps me and often plays quietly in her room.  She's so beautiful and innocent most of the time but she's been treated like a 4 year old since her parents divorced and I can't expect her to change overnight and start acting like a 7 year old when it's never been asked of her.  She's trying, and she's getting better and growing up.
This post isn't to bash my 7 year old, in fact it's just the opposite.  I don't think she knows (I hope she doesn't) how frustrated I get at times.  I know she's trying, and I know she gets frustrated with me as well.
Back to the incident I mentioned at the beginnning of this post.  I generally don't yell at the children.  Ok, that's a lie.  I am a yeller and I do yell at the children but it's usually all of them, and not individually singling any of them out.  One day I was frustrated over some of the crap George's ex wife has left (really, crap that she didn't want that now we have to get rid of) and some of the things she's put me through.  She's been unkind and unfair and put me in situations I didn't deserve.  On this day, George was getting rid of her leftover junk and it did absolutely nothing to help my mood.  I was making dinner and trying not to look at the things George was carrying up the stairs and out to the trash but my sweet Vanessa felt the need to tell me what he had in every trip.  I asked her to stop.  She ignored me.  I told her she'd said enough, stop now.  She ignored me again.  I told her very sternly to stop again.  Of course, she didn't.
I finally hollered (not an all out yell, but definitely not a soft motherly voice) "Vanessa!  Stop it!"
She looked up at me and with her little chin quivering, walked to the table and quietly started to cry.
When George tired to comfort her I turned on him, telling him it wasn't his job to make it better when I was disciplining her.  He told me she was crying and I very rudely said "A lesson is being learned.  Next time she won't ignore me."
Five minutes later I hugged her, told her it wasn't nice of me to yell, and that she wasn't to ignore me again.  She headed off to play in her room.
That night we called all of the kids down for scriptures and while they were gathering, George and I went back and forth about something (I have no idea what it was), me telling him he was wrong and him telling me he was right.  We were teasing each other, joking about whatever it was and trying to convince the kids to take sides when Vanessa bounded down the stairs, jumped into my lap, looked at her daddy and hollered "I'm with mom!  I'm ALWAYS with mom!"  Then she put her arms around my neck and smiled her sweet smile at me.

My heart nearly broke.  This child had every reason in the world to be angry with me.  Just a few hours earlier I had been harsh, to put it nicely.  But to her I was deserving of forgiveness and love.  While I had mulled over the situation the rest of the afternoon, feeling really bad for reacting the way I did but also feeling just a little justified in disciplining her, she had forgiven, forgotten and loved me still.  I realized that she truly was meant to be mine.  I'm not here to replace her mother and I never will, but I have her 50% of the time, and during that time she's mine to love, and to mother, and to protect.
Christ has told us to "Behold" our little ones.  According to Webster, to behold is to "See with attention; lay eyes on; perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight".  Not to glance at them breifly or occasionally take notice of them, but to behold, to watch and truly see them.  And when we watch them, we learn from them, just as I learned from Vanessa that day of forgiveness and unconditional love.  I believe she's here to teach me and that I have more lessons to learn from her than she has to learn from me.

“And he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
“And when he had done this he wept. …
“And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones” (3 Nephi 17:21–23).

Bobo means stupid in Spanish

A few days before Christmas I took the girls to Walmart to pick up a few groceries.  Much to George's suprise (and chagrin) we came home with this:


How can you resist those eyes?  I couldn't :)

At the time we got him (about 2 weeks ago now) he was an 8 week old Great Pyreneese/Black Lab/Jack Russel mix.  In the last two weeks he's been anything from cute and adorable to annoying and frustrating.  Housetraining... ugh.  When he's with just me, he does fine, but with the kids.... my, oh my!  I very nearly took him to the pound the other day (after very nearly killing him for pottying in my bathroom) but decided to list him in the paper instead and when my anger subsided I ended up giving him just one more week.  Jack hates him, the kids love him, I have a love/hate relationship with him and George, even after saying NO when he saw me walk through the door with him, has simply fallen in love.

George with Jack and Bobo



He's cutest when he's sleeping. (The puppy... not the man)

 The kids and I decided to name him Coal being that we got him at Christmastime and all but then we thought if we let George name him, he'd be more likely to let us keep him :)  Aren't we sneaky?  Unfortunately it backfired a bit because he gave the poor thing a hideous name.  BOBO.  Google translate has a list of words that Bobo would mean in English and here it is:

fool
silly
stupid
booby
idiot
sucker
boob
moron
ninny
dolt
sap
dunce
goof
half-wit
mutt
mug
gawk
loony
dumbbell
nincompoop
noddy
saphead
yo-yo
noodle
Simple Simon
juggins
numbhead
lemon
ninny-hammer

I sometimes wonder why we even gave him a name because when George calls him it's "Hey Stupid!" or "Come here Dumdum!".  Somehow, I find myself smiling whenever I hear him call the new puppy, and I seem to fall in love with George a little bit more when I see him sleeping with "the baby" on his lap or catch them playing together.  I have to admit though, I'm more than a little bit scared of how George will react when he sees my phone charger.



My first thought was, too bad he didn't get electrocuted.



He had to go to jail after the assault on the phone cord