New Address...

My new blog address is...

http://www.shadygrovebiz.blogspot.com/

Come on over and join us!

Changes????

I may be moving the blog...

What would this mean for you?

It would mean a new blog address (url)...

That's all.

I will update more on this later.

Momma's Day!!!

Mom...



You Done Good :)

You give out more love then anyone I can ever think of!!!

You have taught me everything I know!

You have taught me to be silly...

To give...

To Love God...

To Be Loved...

And Most Important...

To Love Back...

People always say you are crazy for having so many kids...

And that might be true :)

But you give all these many kids something that lots of kids dont get...

A Mom who CARES about us...

A Mom who KNOWS us...

A Mom who is a GREAT example to us...

And a Mom who is a REAL Mom...

Even when we mess up you still give us a hug and Love us :)

Im not too good with words...

so I found this poem for ya :)

There is no love like a mothers love,

No stronger bond on earth...

Like the precious bond that comes from God,

To a mother when she gives birth.

A mothers love is forever strong,

Never changing for all time...

And when her children need her most,

A mothers love will shine.

God bless those special mothers,

God bless them every one...

For all the tears and heartache,

And for the special work they've done.

When her days on earth are over

A mothers love lives on...

Through many generations

With Gods blessings on each one.

Be thankful for our mothers,

For they love with a higher love...

From the power that God has given,

And strength from up above.

We LOVE you Mom!!!!!

Thank you!!!

I Know You're All Wondering...

What is happinging in this photo.

A little brother/sister bonding time...

Can you tell this is a house filled with girls?

The one boy is in desperate need of his big brother-n-law to come and get rough and tough with him.

Daddy and Grandpa can only do so much!

January can't come soon enough...



Let Me Just Say...

The last 3 months have been something out of the ordinary for me.

Deep, Deep, REALLY DEEP DEPRESSION.

Why?  You ask...

So many reasons that I can think of and even more that I haven't begun to discover yet.

What I have come to realize is how we, as humans, don't like being confronted with others dark sides.

The fear, anger, sadness, anger, quiet, anger...

Did I forget to mention the anger?

And then, if you are the person going through this dark valley,

you start to feel guilty that you are feeling what you are feeling...

Which makes you feel even worse!

Does that make any sense at all?

This is the place I have been in.

Dark, dark, d.a.r.k.

My family didn't know what to do with me...

so, I think the tried to ignore that it was happening.

For me, this just added to my feelings of loneliness and self hatred.

It really wasn't until 2 members of my family,

who live far away (from me and each other),

acknowledged what was going on with me

and gave me advice and a

chance to "talk it out" that I started to feel better.

Sometimes when we know someone is feeling down, we avoid them. 

 Or we avoid talking to them about what they are going through.

I am soooo guilty of this.

We don't want them to bring us down.

Or...

We don't really want know what lives beneath the surface.

For the person facing those dark days,

 it feels like you just jumped off a cliff

 and you know the landing is going to be rough...

really rough

and yet you are falling, falling, falling...

Knowing the landing is coming...

But it hasn't hit yet...

And it's coming...

You're anticipating it...

Where is it...

When will this end...

Why won't this just END!

And Yet, the falling continues.

All I can say is thank God that I seem to be on the upside of things... for the most part.

I am having more up days than down.

I seem to have a bit of my smile back.

I have a bit of my sense of humor back...

(although my husband may not see that as a good thing... lol... He does tend to be at the butt of the joke more times than not.)

Sitting here this morning, writing about this dark place, it would be easy to sweep it under the rug and act like it never happened.

Infact, that is what I would normally do.

I don't like to share those kinds of things with people.

I don't like to show my vulnerable side.

It did happen, though.

It did.

Thankfully, when I felt at my lowest, I knew that God was with me.

I didn't have anyone else I could scream and yell at...

But he allowed me that liberty.

Just as David cried out to God asking WHY?

I did the same.

Yes, I felt guilty for what I saw as my lapse in faith...

but now I can see that my loving Heavenly Father was with me the whole time.

He never let me out of his sight.

He stood beside my while I cried and held me in his arms to comfort me.

 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.  Psalm 77:1

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 

Psalm 107:6

How blessed we are when we have that friend that never leaves us.

No matter how dark the place is where we are.

No matter how low we think we are...

He is with us...

waiting for us to call out to Him.

Maybe...

With a new deck being built on to the front of the house, my little guy has been spending a lot of time hanging out with Daddy and his tools.

Hammering is the big thing.

I am surprised that we haven't had a major smashed finger catashtrophe yet.

Yet....

This little guy is so intent on learning to use these tools...

whether real or play.

I am proud of his initiative.

Maybe we'll get lucky and not have any big disasters...

Maybe...

In the photo above you can see what has become our path out of the house.  A series of plywood slabs that keep us from hitting the ground.

But...

Below is the beginning of a beautiful deck.

Beautiful.

We are using the old barn wood.

Planed.

Planed.

Planed

and then trimmed to size.

This is gorgeous stuff!

The photo was from a few days ago...

so the deck is about half finished now.

Hooray!!!!!

My man is working hard at it...

and he loves every minute of it.

What was I doing while this work was being done?

Only making the most gorgeous french bread!

It really did turn out beautifully.

No.

You don't understand.

I have been making the transition from an electric stove to a gas stove.

It has been years since I used gas...

It is a much bigger change than you would expect!

Some things haven't gone so well.

There may or may not have been some burning of certain items...

maybe...

This bread...

This very bread turned out amazing!

I think I am finally getting the hang of this stove!

Maybe...

Barns and Firepits...

I've been noticing a trend.

The men...

Out in one of the back fields...

While we girls sit at the firepit.

Sometimes, it is really good to just sit at the firepit...

and enjoy watching two men try to take down a barn...

with ropes, chains and a truck.

My excuse for not being out there

(ummm I don't think they invited me, thank you Lord)

is that I have to document the process.

Taz is smart.

He doesn't get too close.

He stays  in the yard with us.

Good boy, Taz Miraz!

Okay...

I'll admit it.

These photos are from last week, when the weather was still warm.

Today...

FREEZING.

But, trust me, I'm not complaining.

This has been the easiest Fall I've spent in years.

There is no snow.

Mild days.

I can handle this!

Have a great day.

I know I will!

What Kind of Day Am I Having...

Great!

Wonderful!

Full of hugs and kisses.

Thanks for asking....

I have run out of photos for you guys... that don't seem like repeats. 

I love them...

but for you they seem like the same old thing... and are.

So...

I decided to prove to you that we made slab apple pie To celebrate Cadi's 21st birthday...

even though she is far away.  Sad.

Sad

Sad

Sad...

I miss you, Cadi Lady!

I may have posted these photos before...

I honestly don't know and I am so tired this morning that I am not going to go look...

Some pretty severe storms came through last night and Momma was up making sure all was safe.

This morning, things are beautiful.

Although I did find visiting Raider in the basement and a broken window where he had managed to get in... again.

He just wasn't meant to be an outside dog.

We spoiled him.

He needs Uncle to come back from his trip and take him back to his warm house in Arkansas.

So...

now that I have rambled a bit...

Enjoy the pictures and have a great day.

Choice...

I took Aubrey out for a quick photo shoot the other day. 

She is such a special girl. 

She is beautiful inside and out!

I am really tired this morning.  Hopefully I wake up soon.

I plan to make this day great. 

It's my choice, right?!

I had a great chat with my second oldest last night.

I love when we really share from our hearts.

She is an amazing young lady...

just coming into her own.

She is just starting to figure our who she is.

I love it!

We have lots and lots of sniffles going on around here.

Hopefully, that passes soon.

Well...

That about sums it up.

Go out and CHOOSE to have a great day!

Personality...

I sat down this morning to do some editing of photos from the past couple of days.

I was planning on doing a whole post on the excitement that took place when we received a box from Galen and Cadi...

but I couldn't resist posting this picture!

This is a perfect example of crazy attitudes in this house.

Take special notice of the little one on the left...

Do you notice anything... strange about her face?

Click on the picture to get a close up...

She thinks this is hilarious!!

It is definitely a true representation of her personality...

Crazy Face!!

My Wish...

... that all the little ones

(who have runny noses and nasty coughs)

 would wake up in the morning feeling GREAT!

The Road Not Taken...

I'm feeling good today.

Wait.

Did I just say that?

Was that me?

For a second there...

I thought I...almost... recognized myself.

Even if it was only a second...

it was nice to see myself...

for a bit.

I miss... me.

Now, I'm off to make this day...

Wonderfully Dreamy.

The Road Not Taken

~Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Ups and Downs...

We are in the process of building on a new front deck.  There was a teeny tiny little cement step (two steps really) that you couldn't even stand on while opening the door...

Hmmmmm.

Weird.

Anyway, we finally got tired of knocking people off the step and started building a deck.  Eventually the deck will wrap around the house, but for now it will just be a large section of the front.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, because this means that there are planers and saws and drills and such taking up space all over the front of the house.

Really ugly?

Yes.

Necessary?

For now, yes.

This has brought a few new ideas to the kids, however.

Kids imaginations are always at work.

They managed to convince Grandpa to let them "use" a sawhorse.

They "borrowed" a long board.

Now, they are trying to figure out how to make this a permanent feature...

And...

When Daddy has time to make this new project a little safer...

Permanent it will be!

By the way...

I'm sorry for all of the whining and complaining lately.

A lot of emotions and feelings have been brought up with this move.

And...

I am a "stewer"...

It takes me a little time to work through some of this stuff...

I am getting there, though.

I think I have more good days than bad...

I think...

For those of you who are praying for me right now...

Thank you and I feel it!

Really.

You are appreciated.

Someone sent me a facebook message yesterday that just made me feel loved and thought of...

and, well...

not crazy!

lol

Everyone needs to know that they matter, I guess.

This process has really made me do a lot of thinking about how many times I may feel like someone is hurting, but I move on and don't take the time to just love on them.

I am not someone who gets down often...

Thank God!

I will say, that the next time I feel like someone is feeling extra lonely and just needs a listening friend...

I will be so much more understanding!

Now, let's get over my ups and downs and prepare for the onslaught of seesaw photos...

I have a ton of them people...

A ton!

All Things...

I Would love to say this is a Wordless Wednesday photo...

I just don't seem to have anything to say.

All I seem to feel these days is anger...

At what?

Who knows.

Everything.

Anything.

All things...

So, since I don't want to drag anyone down with me...

I will just leave you with a photo

of a couple of amazing little people

on a beautiful Fall afternoon.

Curls...

 Anyone who knows our Ari...

knows that she has some of the most naturally curly hair around!

This girl has no hope of growing out of it...

as if we would want her to.

I think it is absolutely beautiful.

My hair is also curly...

but where she got amazingly beautiful curls that frame her beautiful face, I got weird tight curl here... loose curl here... wave here... poke straight out here...

So I straighten my hair frequently.

She got the best of the curls!

We have been talking about straightening her hair for the past year or so.

You know... someday we should...

While dad and I were out the other day I received a picture text.

It showed that the girls had been busy...

straightening Ari's hair.

This is a photo of our Ari...

It doesn't even show how tight her little curls are, but you get the idea.

The following photos are of some strange girl with straight hair...

that none of us recognized.

We took photos to remember this strange girl...

and popped her in the shower to get her curls back!

Curls or not...

You can see her spunk!

Beautiful baby girl!

Scenes From This Big Boys Day...

Brysen turned 5 yesterday...

People!

He IS 5!!!!!

Oh My!

The end of the baby years has come and gone.

He is a big boy now.

Awwwww....

For those of you who couldn't be with him yesterday...

here are a few scenes from his day.

And...

You were GREATLY missed.

The doctor pepper in a football bottle was one of the two things he asked for.

He opened it right before bed, but mean old mom made him put it away.

This morning... right after breakfast... it is out and being sampled again and again and again...

If it were in any other bottle he wouldn't care.

LOL...

 Talking to Bampa and Grandma...

He hasn't put this thing down since he opened it!

Seriously...

 I had the normal plan of catching the perfect shot of him blowing out the candles...

but he blew the darn things out before the cake was even on the table!

He just couldn't wait.

What a great day...

What a great boy!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday...

Today is Brysen's 5th Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful boy!!

I can't believe so much time has passed already...

This will be a very busy day with cake baking... and eating.

There will be presents to open and games to play.

So...

I will leave you with some beautiful photos of our evenings so that you won't feel to depressed when I tell you that the cake was wonderful...

He wants chocolate.

Now, off to bake.

Birthday photos will come soon...