Following Him

I don't usually post much about myself here, it's mostly about my children.  My beautiful, smart, hilarious, reason why I breathe, children.  ;o)  And today's post is about them as well in a round about way.  I know that my faith affects their faith.
When the Lenten season came around this year, I felt the tug from the Lord become stronger.  I used to go to church when I was younger, not steadily I might add.  But, from time to time I would go.  My parents nor my grandparents were active church goers, but they supported me in going.  I also attended a Christian school from Kindergarten to 8th grade so He was no stranger to me.  But, as I grew older and especially after I moved to Oklahoma, I seemed to have lost my way to church.  The past year or two I had been wanting to get involved again, but didn't know where to start.  I kept saying how much I wanted to go and get the kids going, but I never followed through.  Not sure what I was waiting for!?  Maybe someone to come drag me in? lol 
Anyway, the night before Ash Wednesday, it just hit me.  I HAD to go to church.  So the next night, my 9 year old and I went to the Methodist Church's Ash Wednesday service and were greeted with much excitement and friendly church goers. ;o)  They were so warm and welcoming, I knew that I wanted to see what Sunday would be like.  This was it!  This was what I would be doing for Lent.  Instead of giving up something, I would be adding the Lord along with this new church and church family.  What better way to become closer to God?  Sunday morning came and I loaded up my two older kids and we headed to Sunday school.  As soon as we walked in the door, we ran into a lady from Wednesday night who gladly showed us around and gave us a mini-tour.  On our rounds we dropped Brayden off in his Sunday school class, went upstairs and dropped Raylee at her 1st and 2nd grade Sunday school classroom, and finally ended up where I would be attending my Bible study.  I met so many wonderful, Christian people that day.  I felt so close with the Lord, closer than I had felt in a long time.  It felt just awesome.  The following Sunday, my husband and youngest son joined us.  They have a nursery for him, he loves to go there.  And Brayden has cried every Sunday when we have to leave.  lol
I have found several great blogs written by extraordinary Christian ladies.  Almost daily they inspire me!  Today, one of them wrote a wonderful post, that really made me think.  I am so thankful for her and her blog.  She is so relatable and has been through a lot in her own life and seems to just be all the more stronger in her person and her faith for it.  This is her button, I hope this works!

Anyway, thank you to Aimee.  You have helped me in my journey back to the Lord, in more ways than you know!

Wordless Wednesday

My SIX Year Old

Yes, I have a six year old now, and I did not get a chance to post on his birthday which was on the 21st of October.  I made him a Space Shuttle cake, at his request.  He loved it, as did all of the cousins that were here with us to celebrate.  (Caydence is the one in the picture with him).  Daddy is off working, but we had a party out of the in-laws before he left, so it wasn't too bad.  Bray did mention once how he wished daddy was here.  :o(  I told him that Daddy wished the same thing.  So, all in all he had a good birthday, I think!  I can't believe how fast the time is going now.  Ever since I had Grayson it just flies by.  It's a little sad sometimes to think about.
And to update about Brayden's dental appointment, he did great.  We took him and and he drank the sedation juice, we waited OVER an hour to go back.  Daddy went back with him and they were gone maybe 30 minutes.  Joel said that it didn't take long to pull it at all and Brayden did well.  He healed up quickly and he never needed any pain medicine at all.  I kept asking if he was hurting and he'd say no, so I didn't even give tylenol.  Thank goodness.  I think it all may have been harder on mommy. lol

Parent Teacher Conferences 1st quarter

The kids had PTCs tonight. Raylee's was at 5:15 and Brayden's was at 7:30. I was unable to get them together unfortunately. Raylee's teacher said that she is doing so great this year, and is right where she needs to be. I'm so relieved to hear this and could see a change in her comprehension and maturity already. She has a 97% in Math, which is just incredible. Her teacher also noted, with enthusiasm, that Raylee is talking more, participating and is one of the first ones to finish up her work. As far as speech goes, she only has one sound that she is still working on, and that is the r.

Brayden, academically is awesome. He has Mastery in everything, which is as good as you can get. But, he has difficulty keeping his hands to himself, following directions, and listening. We recently started using computer time as a reward. If he gets good comments from his teacher, he gets 30 minutes of computer time each evening. This has been working, and I'm hoping that it will continue to improve as time goes.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Fall Break for us. The kids will have a five day weekend. So, after Bray gets his tooth pulled tomorrow, we will have to find stuff to keep us busy! Maybe we'll be able to go to the pumpkin patch. ;o)

Pulling It Out

I wasn't going to write about this, but I've been really working myself up over it and thought maybe it would help just to get it out there.

Tomorrow, Brayden will be going to the dentist to get one of his molars pulled. It had gotten infected, so he's been on antibiotics in order for them to do the procedure. I know it probably sounds like no big deal, but for me it is. Anytime my children have to have anything done, I freak out. It's like I just can't NOT stress about it. For one thing, they are doing an in office sedation. On the form it says that he cannot eat or drink after 8AM tomorrow morning. Well, his appointment isn't until 2:30. :o( So, I know he's going to be miserable even before he gets into the dentist. On top of that I'm just worried about how the sedation will go, as things happen sometimes. And all I can do is pray that those "things" don't happen to my child. And when all goes well, the pain he'll be in afterwards. I'm just so upset about it, and of course my dear husband doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. So, I'm making him go back with Brayden, so he can keep an eye on him. Bray will do better with him anyways. But, I feel like a terrible mother for letting his tooth get that bad.

I wish I knew how to cope better when things like this come up. As much as I wish they wouldn't happen at all, they are bound too. I hate worrying like I do, and I hate being upset. I just pray that everything goes as smoothly as it can tomorrow.

Flashback Friday and I'm Back!

Yes, two months have gone by since I have been here. Life has been a little crazy lately, and I'm hoping to just hop back onto the blogging wagon like those quiet months never happened. ;o)

I got Flashback Friday from one of my fellow bloggers, and thought it was a great idea! (Thanks, Mindy!)

And since it's October, which is the month of Brayden's birthday, we'll start will him. Here he is on May 1st, 2005. On this day his cousin Caydence turned one, so Brayden is 19 months old in this picture. Look at those short, stubby legs!!! lol

Wordless Wednesday