Dear Juliet (aka Buggy Bug),

One day you’re going to be older and will probably not say these sweet things as often.  SO, just in case you forget you ever did this, I’m going to send a link of this post to you so that you remember.

Last night you said this:

Buggy Bug: Mommy, I love you.  I don’t ever want to leave you.  Give me a kiss.

I gave you a kiss and a big hug and tucked you into bed–snug as a bug.  If you ever forget how to make me smile, just read this and say those words.

I Love You So Much,

Mommy

For August, I went through the books of Luke, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Proverbs.  (I’m also almost done with 2 Chronicles!!)  I totally forgot there were the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, so I’m glad I got to read them.  I’ve been getting so much out of all of them and I actually see how they go together.  Well, at least they are all speaking to me on the same subject, but from different angles.  Let me explain:

It’s no secret that Amel loves to preach.  God-willing, one day, he will be pastor of his own church.  Until then, he is studying hard and serving faithfully, wherever God places Him.

This month, God spotlighted the area of disciplining our children.  Here are a few of the verses that pierced my heart regarding this topic:

Prov. 29:15 – The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.
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Prov. 13:24 – He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.
                    -for this verse MacArthur says, “a parent who has genuine affection but withholds corporal punishment produces the same child as a parent who hates their child.”

These next verses are particularly important because of what Amel hopes to be one day.
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1 Tim. 3:4,5 – He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.  If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?
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Luke 16:10 – Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
                -I came to the conclusion that if you are unfaithful in little, you will be unfaithful in much.
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These are all verses that God has showed me this month.  In the end, I really don’t want perfect kids who act perfectly ALL the time.  I just want them have soft, obedient and teachable hearts.  I also have to remember that I need to be patient with my children as God is undoubtedly patient with me.

Sometimes it’s hard when God shows us the areas in our lives that we need to work on, but in the end it’s for our good and His glory.

I’m not sure if I posted this already, but I’ll just do it just in case.  When Buggy was two years old, this is how she said goodbye to Amel when he left for work in the morning.

Buggy: Bye Daddy!

Amel: Bye-Bye!

Buggy: Have a NEXT day!

I don’t know how she came up with that, but four years later, we are still wishing Amel a “next” day.  So to all of you reading this, I hope you have a NEXT day too!

Amel came home from work today and asked Joshy for a kiss.

Amel: Hey Joshy, come here and give daddy a kiss.

Joshy: Kiffs.  Daddy kiffs.

I just love Joshy’s kiffs.

I just had to post this up right away. 

Joshy: Mama, mama, (pats me on the arm), uppy!  Uppy!

Me: No, Joshy.  Mommy’s busy.

Joshy: I yi youuu.  (Gives me a sweet smile and walks away.)

If I’m not mistaken, he just told me he loves me!  I love you too, my sweet baby boy.  BTW, I just realized that it was around this time that Zokey started talking a lot.  Stay tuned for more Joshy quotes!

The month of July found me in full vacation mode.  I’m too embarrassed to admit how many times I opened up my bible for a quiet time while I was in California, so I won’t.  Though, I will admit that I had major catch up to do if I was to stay on track with my bible reading plan.  The great thing about the plan that I’m on is that it’s scheduled for 25 days out of the month.  And yes, I’ve had to use the last five days to play catch up…every month.

I’m kind of disappointed that I did not finish 1 Chronicles and therefore have not even gotten to 2 Chronicles before the month of July was over.  So, in addition to the reading I’m doing for August, I added the remainder of Chronicles to my list.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Anyway, it’s amazing that God has been spotlighting a certain area in my life every month.  OR, maybe He always has and I’m just paying more attention to it now that I’ve been blogging about what I’ve been learning regularly.  This month, God showed me that I needed to work on my Home Organization.  This is something that I’ve struggled with my whole life.  Don’t get me wrong, my house is presentable, when it NEEDS to be (i.e. when guests come over), but I want to go one step further than that, I want it to be just as nice EVERYDAY.

I could totally use my kids as an excuse as to why my house is not spic and span every day, because they ARE the main reason the house is messy, but I won’t.  Thankfully, they’re getting older and so I’m able to delegate certain chores to them.  Yes!

I’ve drafted numerous cleaning schedules over the years.  But, for some reason, I can’t seem to stick to it.  I have not been able to stick with any schedule for even ONE WEEK!  I guess I just haven’t found a system that works for me. 

Well, I had a lightbulb moment last month.  Why don’t I stop trying to reinvent the wheel and ask the friends whose homes I admire and ask what they do?  Duh!  Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

I actually asked three of my friends who I consider “neat freaks” what their cleaning schedules look like.  Their homes are ALWAYS presentable and even though they say their house gets pretty messy, I really don’t believe them.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that their “messy” is usually MY “clean.”

Two of my friends gave me schedules that were pretty impressive.  I’m going to start following it in September.  We’ll see how that goes.  My third friend?  Well, she doesn’t need a cleaning schedule and I’m jealous of her.  You know who you are.

If I can share some observations that I’ve noticed about all my neat freak friends:

1. They are ALWAYS tidying up.  When I’m over for a meal, they clean up as they’re preparing the meal and they clean up right after the meal is over.  As for me, I like to put it all in the sink and wait until guests leave.

2. Their homes are ORGANIZED.  What I mean is that everything in their home has a place.  As for me, I have piles of stuff that needs a place to be.  My neat freak friends NEVER have piles of stuff lying around.

3. They have cleaning schedules put up somewhere in their homes.  It’s usually on their fridge or neat bulletin board.  Me?  I’d like to think I have it all in my head.

4. They are never or hardly ever on Facebook…AND their lives are busy with kids and ministry.  Me?  All I can say is that Facebook is on my phone!  *Ahem*

Looking at this list makes me feel motivated to get cracking on this area of my life and how much I love my neat freak friends.  : )

It just hit me that it has been six months since I joined the 5am club.  I’m so thankful that God has allowed me to be consistent because I’ve certainly been blessed.  I look forward to  many more months in this club.

Joshy is turning into quite the character.  Not to be left in the shadows, he’s making his presence known in this family.  He’s so much more vocal.  His babbling now contain actual words.  They don’t make sense, but at least they’re real words!

He did the cutest thing this morning.  I just could not wait to post this.

The phone is ringing.  On the caller id, it says it’s some company in New Jersey.  Of course, I don’t pick it up, so I just let it ring.

Well, Joshy enters the room and hands me the phone:

Joshy: Mama…mama… (I take the phone from him)

Me: Oh, thank you Joshy!

He smiles at me and leaves the room.  As I hear the call getting picked up on the answering machine an automated person starts talking and then I hear:

Joshy: Hello?  HELLO!  HELLO!

It was Joshy trying to answer the call.  Oh, he’s so cute.  This little boy sure knows how to melt my heart.  Haha…as I’m typing this, I hear the phone ringing and it’s another unknown caller.

Here on the island, one of the stations that’s set in our van is 95.5.  I think it’s called the Fish.  Anyway, this morning, I heard an amazing story.  I guess the station had a contest where the listeners had to fill out an online form, then submit it.  If their form was picked, they would win a laptop computer.

The DJ said that she prays before each of these contests.  She said that she’s aware that everyone would LIKE a laptop computer, but she wanted to give the laptop to someone that really NEEDED a computer.  So she prayed for that specifically and picked out one of the folded forms randomly from a container.

She pulled out a form submitted by Kitty.  Now, she could have stopped there, but she said it was her unbelieving heart that caused her to pull out another form.  She prayed that out of the two names that God would make it REALLY clear who would get the laptop.  When she unfolded the form, it was Jose….Kitty’s husband.

The DJ was in disbelief and simply said, “now if that’s not divine confirmation, I don’t know what is!”  She went on to say how she felt like Gideon when he put out the second fleece.  She had one other example, I don’t remember what it was, but I think about how Moses hit the stone to produce water instead of just speaking, like God had asked him to.

I told Amel that I KNOW that God is real, but it’s times like these that I KNOW He’s REALLY real.  I’m so happy for Kitty and Jose.  And I’m so thankful that I have many similar testimonies of faith myself.

I first tried Spumoni at this long forgotten ice cream place at the Sunvalley Mall in Concord.  I asked the worker, “What does spumoni taste like?”  She answered, with an attitude, “Spumoni tastes like….spumoni!”  I didn’t catch her, but I’m sure she rolled her eyes.

Anyway, tonight, my family and I had some spumoni.  Dreyers makes a yummy version of it.  Just in case you don’t know what spumoni is, it’s chocolate, cherry, and pistachio ice cream all in one container…kind of like neopolitan.

Zokey: Mommy, what is your favorite flavor?

Me: My favorite flavor is pistachio.

Zokey: Oh, like the one with the big, big nose?

Me: No, Zokey, not Pinocchio, Pistachio…it’s a nut.

Zokey: Oh, haha.  I thought it was peeee-no-key-oh.

Where do I even start to tell you about our summer?  I guess I should start from the beginning.  Well, before we headed to California, we had to check in at the airport.  Because we are *ahem* thoughtful, we asked our friend Norm to drop us off at the airport 4 HOURS before our flight.

It wasn’t as bad as you would think.  There was a little garden area that we let the kids run around and around and around in.  It helped a little to get them tired on the flight.

Ricky and Joshy

                                                                                                           Not one to be outdone, Buggy had to get a pic with Joshy too…

Amel led them through some exercises to get them even more tired.

Did all this activity help?  Kind of.  It was the DigEplayer that occupied Ricky and Buggy.  Zokey slept for a bit.  As for Joshy, let’s just say, it was the worst 4 hours of my life.  My only consolation was that Amel felt this with me AND I’m never going to see the people on that plane ever again.