Its the Little Things...

  Okay so to start off this is way random but Jt came to me this evening and said "Hey I know what your next blog post can be about" so of course me being the blonde that I am totally got caught hook line and sinker. So Im like "for which blog? Professional or Fun?" He says "well whatever... You should blog about how you told your Husband at the dinner table that you were upset with him but you just couldn't figure out what for yet!!" LOL. Ok so yeah thinking back it sounds hilarious and honestly it was quite funny when I first said it too. But really am I the only women that has had that feeling? Where you are upset with him and you know you have a legit reason as to why but you just cant seem to remember for the life of you what it was? Well yeah I had it... I call it "Mom Brain" and you are more then welcome to borrow that for yourself anytime you like!! ;) If you are wondering I still have yet to figure it out.

   Alright but now to the true point of my blog this evening. I have talked before about how amazing I believe God is and this idea does not come from the clear blue sky. There have been real and absolute life changing moments in my life. Moments when you know it could not have come from any where else but the Savior in the form of the Holy Spirit. Some people may think I sound ridiculous and that is fine with me I refuse to deny when it is for sure no doubt in my mind that I have had a God moment! So I just experienced one this past week that I would like to share because this particular God moment happened to be quite small compared to the man in the Bible who was a cripple and walked again thanks to Peter and John having Faith in the Holy Spirit. But none the less it was definitely a God moment and I want to share it because I think all too often as christians or believers of God we tend to think if its not some HUGE miracle it just is not God. Have you ever felt all alone bummed out down in the dumps and think to yourself wow I really feel like no one cares. Then out of no where you get a random text from a friend saying "Hey just felt like I needed to say hello" or " random but we haven't talked in a while wondering how you are?"believe it or not these are God moments. God knew in that moment you needed a friend and so the Holy Spirit put it on your friends heart to text. Or have you ever been the friend... had that feeling, man I really just feel like I need to text this person, so you do and when they respond they say "wow, that meant a lot I really needed to hear that right now!" I have had moments where I felt like I needed to do something but didn't I was too busy with my own agenda only to find out at a later date how bad my friend needed me back a few days ago. This is why I have lately become VERY open about what I feel like saying, but you do have to be careful if you feel the urge to say something that will probably hurt someone else or break them down it is more then likely coming from another source! So back to my most recent God moment... if you follow my professional blog willwork4hair then you know I have been blogging in fives!! In my last 5 blog I even mentioned "for some reason I am REALLY liking this whole 5 theme!!" LOL No really thats exactly what God was doing!! So I blogged this on friday (I think) with no preset idea at all! of what church was going to be about on Sunday. Uh, yeah, so the title of the sermon? 5. Oh it gets better God basically (through Matt Brown's sermon of course) told me "So you know Liz how you have really been all about the number 5? "... "well I have too! and what I need from you is your attention!"..." in short the sermon was about 5 minutes 5 minutes of conversation that changed so many more things. So Matt asked his church to pray for 5 minutes a day, for God to move through his people at Sandals. He also asked for us to pray about 5 lost people God would like for us to invite to church on easter sunday in 5 weeks. The goal for Sandals is to share the gospel and Gods love with 5000 people on Easter Sunday!! Yeah so I'm sorry but for me to pass this by and not think it a God moment would be me denying that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and THAT I simply cannot do!! So God has got my attention but I would be lying if I said "oh man I just cant wait to see who he puts in my path". To be as blunt and honest as I can be I really have avoided this call up until this moment and God knows my heart he will have to make it clear as day! I like to pretend no matter what I do it will all work itself out. Which to a point is true but God wants more from me! He wants me to step out on my blind faith so he can continue to reveal himself to me in these small moments. I think of it like this... I am looking out across a gapping hole in the earth and God says "Take a step! I promise I will put the bridge there if you will just take a step!" So I do! I take a step and just as I think I am about to fall POOF! a plank appears! and with each step of Faith God continues to place planks beneath my feet and before you know it I look back and I am half way across this gapping hole! I suddenly hear Him say " You see I promised I would be there! I PROMISED and I WAS!" This is how I have used these small moments in my life... correction... GOD has used these small moments in my life to build up my Faith in Him! I know that one day I will be FREE I will have no doubts or fears nothing holding me back from running at any deep gapping hole God put in my path because I will know its NOT a gapping hole it is actually filled in with the blood of Jesus!! and it has a bridge I just cannot see it!! But I know it is there and so is MY GOD!! Even as i write this blog my eyes fill with tears of joy at His awesome power! So next time you have a "feeling" that maybe you would usually brush off remember even God can use the little things!

                                                    LT

Swoosh Crazy Hits the house!

 Okay so today was Jts first day back to work he just finished up a 4 day. Which means I have been lazy about my schedule because I have had him around to help. Well Sundays are crazy with him to help let alone without him. He did throw hay for the horses before he left which might not seem like a lot but when I am trying to get me and 3 girls ready and out of the house at 9 a.m. this little chore feels HUGE! So I am getting the girls ready to leave (we have to be at church by 9:30 because I am the head teacher in our 0-6 month room for the 10 a.m. service) I had the older girls each get their breakfast for themselves while I put myself together then I got them all cleaned up. Alisa was being a big help today so I let her get Daisies food dish fill it up and put it in Daisies dog run on the side of the house. She comes running inside and yells "MOM I need you!!" Now she can be quite the Drama Queen so I "rushed to help" ;) lol I very calmly asked "what do you need?" her reply, still freaking out mind you is " there is a SNAKE on the side of the house I need you to catch it!! well actually it's something in the bushes!!" Mmm Hmm, well I am at this point sure its nothing scary so I tell her to get over it and please put Daisy in the dog run. I really thought it was a blue belly lizard we have those things everywhere but looking back on the morning I should have thought its too cold out for reptiles! So I get back to my thing at this point I am getting dressed and the girls are all set to go just playing in Abigail's room until I give the green light to jump in the car. So Im half dressed both Alisa and Abigail yell "MOM... Daisy just killed something!!!" Alisa says "I think its a gopher" so I obviously thing back to the previous conversation with Alisa and think wow guess I should have listened! Then Alisa confirms.... " No mom its a bunny! Daisy killed a bunny" :(

      Now of course this had to happen A) when Jt wasn't here to deal with the mess for me and B) right before it was time to leave for church. Hello seriously it never fails... Jt leaves for work and some crazy event comes up that creates a bit of chaos!

      Now we watch a lot of hunting shows so no if you are thinking the girls were all freaked out or sad for the bunny well think again! Abigail walks out of her room saying "yay! now we can have bunny for dinner!!" LOL. Her big sis was quick to jump in and shoot down the idea but added "maybe we can make rabbits feet" OMG!! Yeah thats right this is the conversation going on in my house right after our Yorkie kills a bunny!! HELLO... these hunting shows are ruining my girls!! Dude! It was so hilarious! I mean I was sad for the bunny but to hear my girls talking like that?!! So I had the girls run and jump into the car I grabbed the baby and put her in the car so everyone was safe while I went to handle the mess! I was really lucky though Yorkie's were bread for killing rodent's if you didn't know but they will not eat them. They actually leave it for you as a present :) and they simply shake the animal until they have broken their neck. Its the craziest thing I think I have ever seen! She has killed mice who have got into the house and at night during the winter sometimes I will put her in the garage to sleep and each morning I will find her and a dead mouse! TRUE STORY!! So needless to say I just grabbed a plastic bag turned it inside out grabbed the bunny and wrapped it up in the bag and was off to church. But of course this fiasco made me nearly 20 minutes late!

     So yeah... thats my life and the reason why I started this blog. Jt is home and life is boring none eventful most of the time. Then as soon as he heads back to work swoosh crazy hits the house!!

Stubborn is as Stubborn does...

   So a few weeks ago I was cleaning and building up frustration about the long list of unfinished projects I was finding all around the house. If me and my husband have a recurring argument this would be it! I am constantly bugging him about my "Honey do list" this poor guy never gets a break. Truth be told I have high expectations! If he isn't going every minute of the day working on the house in the house or around the yard I start to freak a bit! Okay I actually freak a lot! Now this particular day I was being extra sensitive and he happened to be at work and unavailable for me to call and yell at him (sad but true). Well when this type of situation occurs my stubborn streak tends to hit! I was also quite independent before meeting him. The kind of girl that didn't shy away from "heavy lifting" and I still am to a degree but with him around I have definitely given myself some space to relax and let the man do his thing so to speak. So I am stubborn and like to pretend that I can also be independent! Not a good combination at all! Well one of the unfinished projects was moving the babies furniture into her bedroom. She slept in our room until she was about 10 months. So me being the stubborn hard headed women that I am thought to myself Ill show him! I then made an attempt to move the crib on my own to the babies room! I start by taking off the front of her crib so that it will fit through the doors. This goes by with little fuss, cool first step... check. So I take the front part to the room and come back to get what now looks like a toddler day bed if you can imagine. I then start scooting it going back and forth from one side to the other as I see fit. Pushing, pulling, scooting I get the crib out of our room and into the hall way. Now, her room is around the corner, I have to try to get the crib past the 90 degree turn and in about 4 feet of space turn it into the door of the babies room. Do you know the kind of hallway I am talking about? At this point it is obvious to me that this crib is NOT going to fit without me completely dismantling it. So tell me then why I tried anyway!! Hard headed is being polite. I pushed and scooted pulled and shoved this crib was stuck! I had "Austin Powersed" the crib very very tightly between the corner of the door and the hallway closet! Can you picture it? OMG!! I bet God was having a good laugh!!! I then thought ok fine Ill just back it up... ha wrong again!! I had been trying to move the crib into the babies room for a good hour now! Really? Why didn't I just wait for my husband?!! I still refused to dismantle the whole crib so I took off another side. So I have the front and a side taken off. The back, one side and the mattress spring are still together and still stuck in the hallway! I had to push, pull and shove some more and I FINALLY had the crib where I wanted it but we did not walk away without a scratch... the whole side of the crib has white paint rubbed all over it and I am pretty sure I bent the mattress spring. If only I had just waited for JT my crib would not be ruined and I could have spent my hour doing something way more productive but nooo I had to be stubborn and prove to him I could do it all by myself!! Lesson learned! ( at least until ;) tomorrow ) Thanks for reading!

                                                                 LT



  

Cant Seem to Pick Myself Up...

     I have seemed to work out a pretty good schedule for our days that Daddy is gone. We wake up at or around 7:30a.m. most every morning. I get the girls dressed and ready for their days. Feed them breakfast and while they eat I pack Alisa her lunch for school. I run down feed the animals and when I get back up we then all pack up in the car at 8:30 a.m. to get Alisa to school before the bell rings at 8:47 a.m. This is usually the time when Alisa will throw some pretty serious conversation my way. Like one morning last week when she said (as we are pulling into the parking lot of her school mind you) "Mom, I really think Justin Bieber is cute! and Vanessa, we are in the same class, she likes him too! But Isa she doesnt like him because he is gay!". Yes you read that right this is what my eight year old daughter wanted to through out there two minutes before she was due to hop out of the car and run to school. So of course my first thought was shock but I didnt say anything out loud and just as I started to think to myself Liz calm down she probably doesn't even know what it means she continues with "You know Mom, he likes other boys!". Now let me say this before I continue... I am a Hairstylist and I have many gay friends, I do not judge them nor do I condemn them I myself am a sinner just because it does not come in the form of being gay does not make my sin any less wrong! I love my gay friends with all my heart just as God calls me to. So back to my story :) I calmly told Alisa that I am positive that Justin Bieber is not gay because he had recently been interviewed and in his interview told them that he believes in God and is a christian. I then told her the Bible teaches that being gay is a sin. She said oh and went on her way! Phew! So now back to my schedule while JT is away. After dropping Alisa off at school I bring the younger two home settle Abby in on the couch and tend to Anabelle and her needs. Feeding, bathing changing, and playing. She eventually tires back out and by the time Abby's movie is over Anabelle is ready to go down for her first nap. I then get myself a second or third (depends on the morning) cup of coffee and get started on my daily chores. Abby is so good she will either go play outside or in her bedroom quietly. I do the dishes which are from dinner the night before and breakfast that morning. Straighten up the rest of the kitchen and then I begin walking around the house picking up any stray messes I can find. I give myself a short break to check my email, twitter, and blog accounts then get right back to work. I will try to get a load of laundry going because we all know this is a never ending chore when you have 3 kids and a husband. By this time its usually about 12 o'clock and hopefully if I am lucky Abby is ready for her nap. If so yay! this is my "quiet time" I get about 1 more hour before Anabelle will wake up. So I tuck Abby in for her nap, I change out of my regular clothes and into my "muckers" these are my dirty jeans, T-shirt, belt, cowgirl boots, ponytail, sunglasses and Baseball Cap. Once Im "All Dressed Up" ;) I go back down to the horses to "muck" their stalls. This usually takes me the hour of quiet time I mentioned a few sentences back. So I come up get out of my dirty clothes take a quick shower and get back into my normal clothes. Anabelle is usually awake and ready to be fed so I set her up for lunch and try to grab myself a bite while I am at it. She finishes up pretty quick and when she gets done I set her down to play and try to get Abby's lunch together before she wakes up. When Abby wakes up she eats while watching another movie and as soon as she finishes up its time to head out and pick-up the girls. Now I am really lucky I have worked out a carpool schedule with a friend. I get the kids on Mon. Tue. she gets them Thur. Fri. and we switch back and forth each week on who gets Wed. So if its not my carpool day this is my second little break I will let Anabelle and Abby play while I sit on the couch and vegg for about a half an hour waiting for Alisa to get home. When she does get home I make her a snack and she gets a half an hour to play or relax whatever she chooses until its time to start on homework. Alisa is a very smart girl but she could care less about homework so at 4 o'clock when its time to start homework she sits down and "the night begins" we go back and forth arguing trying to explain things, she'll come out of her room a hundred times to ask questions that make no sense at all! This makes for a very very long night! At 5 Anabelle is ready for her second nap this one happens to be a "power" nap. While she is down I will cook dinner and try to get Abby in the bath. We eat around 6 p.m. I get Alisa in the shower if she didn't take one that morning and then we start the bedtime routine Pj's, call daddy to say goodnight, make our beds, prayers, hugs n kisses and lights out! I am usually dragging but at this point and all I want to do is sit on the couch turn on Netflix and curl up with a glass of wine to watch my new favorite show Desperate Housewives... Im on season 3! But I cannot do this until I run back down to the horses to feed again. I call Jonathan back to chat and say goodnight when my show is all done and I usually make it to bed by 12.

       Now this schedule seems to work out pretty well with juggling the baby and Abby getting most of the house clean, animals are fed and alive! But ever since baby number 3 who I affectionately call squishy :) I cannot seem to find get my energy back! I am constantly feeling tired I have body aches all the time I am an emotional basket case three weeks out of every months. I have lost my appetite and worst then anything I've lost my drive! My ambition! I used to be so on the go always happy go lucky I could take on the world I had energy to spare I could run circles around my husband when it came to anything that had to do with the house! I was optimistic and luckily in this department still am most of the time! But it is really starting to get to me this whole down in the dumps mood. My hope my prayer is that it is only a faze, a stage in my life. I pray that I can have the old me back soon because this version of me is really hard to carry around! It doesn't help that Jonathan has been working insane amounts of over time AND was in a two week long class so the schedule I keep was repeated daily for 14 days!!! I felt like I was stuck in that movie with the ghostbuster guy... Ground Hog Day. You know the one where everyday just keeps repeating itself.

     So maybe if any of you out there have been through something similar but have seen the light at the end of your tunnel you can be the light at the end of mine and let me know it will all be ok! I am so lucky to have the husband that I do. He has put up with this mood change by helping anywhere he can when he is home! He even cooks! This is one of the perks of having a FireFighter husband :) or at least mine! He learned how to cook because they live away from home for their 24 hour shifts so they all pitch in money and cook a meal together! I have yet to find anything to help me through this slump other then my pot of coffee in the morning. I did take a yoga class for a little while and this was just lovely mostly because I had a whole hour to focus on relaxing! Needless to say I am still here stuck in my slump and cant seem to pick myself up. I will end with this... if any of you are wondering how I have made it this far I only have one thing... I am in constant communication with God throughout my day. He tells me through his word that he is all I need that he will never forsake me, never give me more then I can handle and when I think to myself how am I ever going to make it through another day like this I think of my favorite verse Phillipians 4:13 I can do ALL things through CHRIST who STRENGTHENS me. I dont have to do this alone I have my creator on my side! and if I ever forget this I have a handful of great friends to remind me :)

About this Blog

    Hey friends,

           So I quite often have things happen in my life that while they are happening are not at all funny or entertaining but when I look back on them I either laugh at myself or the situation. Often these things happen to be part of the "package" that comes a long with being the wife of a FireFighter. But since my other blog is all things hair I don't think posting a story about something that happened during my day would go with my theme. So here it is my little space to share the laughs, sadness, struggles, and joys that come with being married to a FireFighter.

          My life revolves around my husbands random schedule every other day he works a 24 hour shift until he has worked a total of 4 shifts then he is off for a "four day" or "six day" these are exactly what they sound like. He is off 4 days in a row or 6 day in a row so in short he works a total of ten 24 hour shifts a month. Oh but I should mention its never the same days of the week its a rotation says on/off days are ALWAYS different. Sounds awesome, right!? Well it sure would be if we could stick to that but of course there are over time shifts "mandatory" or "forced" days which are "like it or not you are coming back to work" or if you were already at work "like it or not your not going home this morning like you thought". These days are NOT fun or funny days for any of the family involved. Now, don't get me wrong being married to a firefighter definitely has its perks, and I love my FireFighter with every ounce of my being but I often get (mostly from younger women) "wow your husband is a FireFighter!? How cool!" and I hold back but sometimes want to say "well babe it ain't always a fairytale ;)". Our life is nothing short of an adventure though and I cant wait to share all of our ups and downs with you my friends!

       Somedays, well most days you will be laughing your butt off other days you might sympathizes or totally get where I am coming from and other days I might have you bawling your eyes out. For privacy reasons I will never say where my husband works exactly or use real names but you will always get the full story outside of that! Hope you read and hope you enjoy!

                                                                        LT