Summertime

WOW, June is flying by! I love summertime. Although I have never had the sought after golden tan I still enjoy many summer activities! Also, my birthday is in the summer, so who wouldn't like that??? Last week we had VBS...........so fun. We attend a smaller church than we used to and it was very special for the children and I to be involved with our new church family. The girls absolutely LOVED every minute of it and we actually didn't have too much trouble arriving at 7:45 a.m. every morning! The children rotated through various fun activities learning about Jonah and his adventures. I learned a lot myself! We have a very special, loving church.

On Tuesday we all went to a friend's house to enjoy their wonderful swimming pool. The children really had a BLAST. Gabe and Hannah both jumped off the diving board. We stayed about 4 hours so of course we all got a little burnt with a side of freckles! Our friend had a pack-in-play for Gabe to take a nap. The room was in their bonus room above the garage which was easily accessible to the pool door. He of course cried at first when I laid him down, but then got quiet and I was watching from the door. I thought he was asleep so I went back out. After a few minutes I thought it wise to check on him again and when I came in I found him sitting innocently at the top of the stairs. I figured I would try one more time to lay him down and he did go to sleep, yeah more pool time!! Well.............the next morning at VBS we discovered that our sweet little, almost two year old had destroyed a 1500 piece puzzle that the family had been working on......GREAT, I should have known that a two year old doesn't escape the pack-in-play and then sit quietly and innocently on the stairs waiting for mommy....ugh! They still want us to come swimming again; they are a very forgiving and gracious family!!!

Gabriel, our soon to be two year old, will really turn TWO on the 21st. It is an adventure having a little boy. I am thankful to have him, very thankful. He adds a lot of spunk to our little family.

That is all for now...........I made the mistake of telling the children last night that we are going to the Y with a friend to go swimming today and lo and behold the rain we have so desperately been needing is falling today. Hopefully we will be okay by this afternoon or it is going to be a very disappointing day for the Jeter's.

OH, one more thing. The scripture verse we learned this week is from Psalms 48:14. "For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to the end." I can not even put into the words the joy that fills my heart to hear our children hiding the word of the Lord in their hearts. That is what it is all about.

PMS and Bee Stings!!??

Years ago I made this really dumb statement to my husband, are you ready for this one?......"I don't think PMS really exists, I think it is all in a woman's mind." Can you believe I would say something so insensitive?? You must also know my husband pretty well and know that his mind is like a steel trap to know how much that statement has come back to haunt me as of late. Well, four children later, I am singing a new tune; I don't know anything more about PMS now than I did then except that right around that time of the month I get down right mean, mean, MEAN!!!


This morning (Sunday) of all mornings to wake up feeling grumpy...............as soon as I open my eyes I hear my sweet princesses fighting, whining and fighting some more in their bedroom. I make some grunting noises and hope that Daddy is feeling up to the call this morning. He doesn't make a peep. Now I hear them picking on our poor, sweet chocolate lab-mix Lexie who has been FORCED by my eldest to sleep with her. Last straw...........that's it I am up and watch out because Mommy is grumpy............."girls, pleassssseee go downstairs and quit fighting!" I send them off as I stomp back into my room and huff down heavily onto the bed..........GUILT sets in and now I am really getting mad at myself, mad at EVERYONE! I glance at the clock and figure out, okay maybe 15 more minutes to pretend to sleep (while stewing) and then get up and get ready for Sunday School and Church. I know deep down I really need to be on my knees asking the Lord to forgive my horrible childish display........but NO I justify my actions because well, I
didn't sleep well and so on...............

That's pretty much our morning until we whisk off to church, with hair bows and smiles plastered on all our faces..........especially MINE! Pretty much through out our drive to church, while at church and our drive home I am continuing my pity party to which Andy asks if everything is okay, "I'm fine" I say with a little smile. This happened to be the kind of day that I was quiet grumpy instead of complaining grumpy, poor Andy and children, hmmphh!


Okay so fast forward to the afternoon, children sleeping and Andy and I head outside. He decides to mow the grass and I sheepishly follow him because he has just told me he has had about ENOUGH of my bad attitude, which I totally do not blame him, I am surprised he put up with me for so long.


I sit down to feel the warm sunshine and look out to watch my sweet, loving , patient man push the mower around! I stand up to put Lexie on her lead and "owww, oww, oh my goodness, AAHHH" something has STUNG me through my crocs (Tracey another reason NOT to wear them, ha, ha)..............I jerk my shoe off and pull out the stinger, which my sweet neighbor tells me later you aren't supposed to do and sit down on the steps and cry and cry..........it HURT. Now I've been stung before, but not in a very long time. This time though this stinger pierced my heart and conviction seeped through to me as quickly and as hard as the pain throbbed through my foot. I told the Lord right there how sorry I was for acting like the biggest baby ever and please, please forgive me AGAIN for acting this way and treating my family so horribly.


I don't know if the Lord "allowed" that bee to HOP into my shoe and STING the fire out of my foot or if it was just a coincidence, but in my little pee-brain head it seemed like a pretty obvious lesson to me, one I don't want to repeat anytime soon.


I found myself thanking the Lord more often the rest of today and finding the joy in things He has given me:


a loving, supportive husband who always challenges me to just BE


four healthy children;


a daughter who challenges me to be STRONG


a daughter who challenges me to LOVE


a daughter who challenges me to LAUGH


a son who shows me how to fall down and get right back up with a SMILE


I am so THANKFUL that I have the family I have always "dreamed" of having and the kind of life that many would love to have!!!


Thank you JESUS!