I Don't Care How Old They Are...

...when a boy is sick he wants his momma (or wife if he has one) to take care of them!

My husbands phone rings at 2:30 A.M.  I was out.  In my subconscious state I thought it was his alarm clock, until I hear him talking to it.  Then I was like no wait, he's on the phone, (or else he's crazy and trying to answer his alarm clock.)  It took a moment to register, then fear kicks in.  That's what happens when your phone rings in the middle of the night.  It usually means someone died or is about to die...or some other SERIOUS emergency. 

I hear my husband say, "I'll be there in a few minutes." ..."No I'm leaving right now, as soon as I get dressed."

By this time I am sitting up on the bed.  He hangs up the phone and says, "Firefighter's sick.  I need to go pick him up."  Firefighter was at work.  He was doing an overnight 16 hour shift.  He had awakened dizzy, light headed, throwing up and feeling like he was going to pass out.  I said, "Well I will go with you so we can go ahead and  bring his car back."  So at 2:30 A.M. we throw on whatever clothes we can find and head out the door.  We get there and he is about to throw up again.  He heads to the bathroom and waves for me to follow him.  I do.  We get in there and well lets just say you know he's sick if he says, "Please don't leave me.  I feel like I'm going to pass out."  (but that's what a mother does.  She is there for you at your best...and your worst.  She would have it no other way.)

Well, that was the beginning of a LOOONNNGGG night.  For him and I both!  This virus is violent and hateful!  He was throwing up every 15-20 minutes for 3 hours!  He laid on the couch, I was on the loveseat....praying!  I would try to get him to drink some peppermint tea, or anything really, just because I think it's easier to have something to throw up than to just dry heave.  He couldn't do it.  So I kept watching the poor guy dry heave.  There is something about a mother watching her child be sick.  I don't care how old they are, it breaks your heart...esp. when there is nothing you can do for them except rub their back, get cool wash cloths, wipe their face, bring them pillows, blankets, water, empty the "puke bucket"...give them love. 

As I do all these things I wonder, How in the world could a mother kill or seriously hurt her child on purpose?  I can't stand to see him in this pain of just having a stomach virus.

After 3 hours he had about an hour break.  That was the last time he threw up.  About 6:00.  I still laid there until about 8:00.  I thought, I better go see if the others are going to go to church.  "yes, are you?"  I said, "there is no way I am leaving him here by himself."  I'm thinking what if he passed out?  What if he needs me to get him something?  Besides, I've been up all night long there is no way I could make it through church.  So here I stayed...and slept.  We both slept.  We are both feeling better, me somewhat rested and he is calmer.  He is sore from dry heaving and just laying.  Asking for Gatorade.  His dad will bring him some home.

As a mother, yes, I hate when my kids are sick, but I will stay up all night and make sure they are comfortable.  Or stay close by them in case they need anything.  And I'm reminded...If I love my child(ren) that much, how much more God loves me...and them.  When I worry about "things" and wonder what is going to happen...I need to just remember God is right there, he is close by in case I need anything.  He will be right there, ready to give us whatever it is we need.  No matter how old we are...we need God to take care of us...all the time!

(Now hopefully this hateful thing doesn't think it needs to go through everyone of us.)

Lessons of,

White Elephant

I told you yesterday that I would do a separate post on the White Elephant game...Well here it is.  :)

How to play:
A $$ amount is set and everyone brings a gift in that amount.  Example:  Ours was set at $5.  Everyone that wanted to participate was to bring a $5 gift...wrapped.
Everyone's names are put in a jar/hat/bowl/cup.  A name is drawn.  That person picks a gift and unwraps it.  The next name is drawn.  2nd person can either choose another gift to unwrap or may take the gift from another person and give them a new gift to unwrap.  And so on, until every name has been drawn.  Our family goes through all the names twice.  The second time everyone knows everything that is out there.  It's a lot of fun.

Well, this year I decided to do "gag" gifts.  I attached chocolate to most of them so they still got "something".  For some reason (I think I was in a hurry) I failed to take pics of what I done.

1.  Put batteries in a bag, with a sign that said, "Gift not included."
2.  Put bubble wrap in a bag with a note that said, "Stress relief, pop 3 bubbles every 4-6 hours or as needed.  If symptoms persist see your physician."
3.  Put dry beans in a container with a label that said, "Bubble Bath, make your own bubbles."  I attached a bottle of tobacco sauce to it.
4.  I went to Lowes and asked them if I could possibly get about a 1/2 a sandwich bag of sawdust. (I even took a baggie to put it in) "OF COURSE!"  But of course they were curious.  I told them what I was going to do with it and they were dying!  They thought it was hilarious!  I attached a label that said, "Expert Level Jigsaw Puzzle".  Now what is even more funny about this is, my husband ended up with it, and didn't even realize we were the ones that took it!  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  I had even asked him last week if he had any sawdust or knew if Lowes would give me some.  He had worked like 56 hours and was so tired he didn't even remember me asking.  So I now have this baggie of sawdust...I should make someone make something out of it and take it back to Lowes!  LOL

And last but not least...gift number 5.  Pilot, my inventor, made this one...I had shown him this pic a few weeks ago...

Of course he thought it was hilarious, and his uncle, jokingly said, you should make one out of roller skates.  Well that got Pilot's mind going...and here is what he came up with:

I love this kids brain!  He's hilarious!  Then of course you seen yesterday where my cousin got this gift...(my brother actually ended up with it.)

The other thing my family does is vote on the best, most creative, or whatever gift and the person that brought it wins a prize...any guesses on who won the $25 gift card for Texas Roadhouse?  Yep...Pilot!  Unanimous vote!  LOL  I told him he could take him mom on a date...he said, "I'm saving it for my first date."  Mom:  It will be expired by then!  LOL

 

Enjoy our life of,





The Boys

Growing up in a house of MOSTLY females...my brothers had to endure a lot of "girl talk".  Well now in a home of being the ONLY female, I am having to endure laugh my way through a lot of "boy talk"!  ...well this post is totally "boy talk"...CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!!! 

One day last week, school (college) was out, no clinicals, no work hours...and Firefighter was b-o-r-e-d!  So what does he do when he is bored?  Picks on everyone...esp. his little brother!  (In all fairness, LegoMan often comes "asking" for it, and enjoys it...the testosterone levels in this house are out of control...lol!)  Firefighter was giving LegoMan Charlie horses all day long.  (If you kick or punch someone hard enough on the outside of their upper thigh you can give them a Charlie horse...I did not teach you that!) ;)  Well, since my boys are ALL BOY, it becomes a contest to see who can catch the other off guard and cramp their leg!  Well LegoMan seemed to be the target this day.

I do not know how many times it had happened, and every time LegoMan would try to get Firefighter back, but was being unsuccessful.   After a while LegoMan disappeared.  He comes in from the garage in a few minutes sporting a pair of knee pads...with the pads on the outside of his upper thigh.  We were dying at this point.  Too funny!  I grab my phone, b/c this needs a pic.  He catches me before I could get the picture and tries to hurriedly take them off.  In the process of taking them off so quickly he gets them turned around so the pad is on the inside of his leg. 

About this time Pilot walks into the room.  Following conversation takes place.  (everyone is laughing...)
Pilot:  Why are you wearing knee pads on the inside of your leg?!
Firefighter:  He's never heard of a cup.
LegoMan:  I know what a cup is.
Firefighter:  What's another name for a cup?
LegoMan:  It's a crotch protector.
Firefighter:  crotch protector...it's called a jockey strap.
Mom:  You know to protect the boys...(pause...) You do know what the boys are, right!?
Firefighter: (at the same time as mom) you know your DNA...genes...your future...
LegoMan:  The boys...yes, if you are talking about Firefighter, Pilot and me...yes I know what the boys are.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  UNCONTROLLABLE LAUGHTER....OH MY GOODNESS!  ARE YOU SO SERIOUS.  Laughter so hard, mom is sitting on the floor in front of the fridge with tears streaming down her face.  Firefighter is punching his own leg, Pilot...I don't know.  We were all laughing so hard. 

Poor LegoMan seriously had no idea.  He had never heard it referred to as that.  He was a really good sport about the whole thing.  We did decide, however, that it was probably time for him and his dad to have a chat...bless his heart!

In all seriousness though, I am so grateful for his innocence!  One of the blessings of homeschooling...they can keep their innocence a little longer.  He is a tender, sweet, fun loving boy and I love it!  I hate that it's time (probably past time) for his father/son "chat".  I want him to keep that innocence...They grow up so fast!  He still enjoys his legos...I hope he does for a long time yet!  But I am afraid...this is the first Christmas he didn't give me a long list of legos that he wanted.  In fact, in his initial list he never even mentioned them to me.  I was so sad.  I looked at my husband...about to cry and said, "this is the first Christmas that none of our boys asked for toys"...I mean like toys to sit on the floor and play with toys.  Yes they all asked for "toys"...bigger toys, but you know what I mean.  Eventually LegoMan came to me and said, "I want this lego set."  You so know I got online and bought that thing like right now! 

Bittersweet,

Friday Weigh In

Yes, I am still doing THM.  Life has been so crazy busy it has been hard for me to get on here and post!  Some days I'm like, "wait!  Just stop for a few minutes!"  Things just keep happening!  For example, Tuesday...I had my day all planned out.  I was going to get all my baking done.  I had to briefly leave to go visit a sweet new momma and her baby at the hospital.  (And I'm so glad I did...for various reasons.)  Of course I held that sweet baby!

While I was out, someone had contacted me that a couple older Saints wanted to come by and see the boys before we left the next day for an appt. in another state...5.5 hours away.  I had gotten home got the butter in my mixing bowl, and the door bell rang.  These 2 sisters just love my boys for some reason!  LOL  They actually stayed and visited for quite a while, which was nice and sweet, but needless to say I did not get done everything I had planned.  Oh well...

 

Today I am hoping to get the baking done...guess what!  I just got a text...a dessert order for TONIGHT!  MAYBE I won't get mine done today!  LOL 

 

Rewind.....bbbzzzzzttttt...ok...WEIGH IN:  I've lost a total of 14.8 lbs!  I had hoped to hit the 15 mark today because my 10's digit would have gone down a number but it is stubbornly stuck at the .2!  I have a strong suspicion that I have Candida...(The home test came back positive, so I am trying really hard to not eat any sugar/carbs until Christmas day. (Yes and people keep wanting desserts...LOL).  But I'm also doing some other Candida fighting supplements.

I am feeling better so that's what matters!

 

Since I already mentioned it, I guess I should give a brief update on the boys.  They did have a checkup/clinic appointment on Wednesday.  Both their PFT's were good...at baseline for them.  Which was a huge relief since Pilot's was SO bad last time!  Dr. could hear a little junk in his lungs, but felt we could just do a round of oral antibiotics for now. 

 

The most exciting part of the visit...He gained 14 lbs!!!!!!!  He is now in the 42nd%ile with his BMI.  Goal is 50th%ile...the highter their BMI the better their lung function.  But the absolute most exciting thing????  For 11 years they have fussed and fussed and fussed about LegoMan's weight.  They pressured us for a g-tube and everything over the years.  We kept putting them off...we really just didn't want to go that route!  For one thing he didn't look unhealthy, and he was eating like crazy.  For another, the males in my husbands family were always "small" until they hit puberty and then they seemed to take off overnight.  I really wasn't concerned, but the dr's look at numbers...and they have to report numbers.  I didn't care about what it looked like on paper...to me that's a dumb reason to do some things.  Anyway, any of you that know LegoMan know this dude has grown like a weed out of control over the last year.  But height with no weight only makes BMI look terrible.  We have been praying, the Saints have been praying...This visit, I don't know exactly how much he gained, but LegoMan hit the 54th%ile!  EVERYONE was so excited!  The dr. was hugging me, and asking "what did you all do?  Tell us so we can share it with others."  Well, I believe prayer is the biggest thing!  God has always helped these sweet boys.  We have beefed up the exercise which also causes them to eat more.  Anyway!  It was an awesome answer to prayer!  A decade of struggling and resisting the dr.s (in all fairness, only one of the 3 Dr.s was very pushy...we have been extremely fortunate and blessed with great dr.s that listen to the parents, and children...hence the reason we chose to keep driving the 5.5 hours to keep seeing them!) 

 

Anytime they have a significant weight gain, the clinic issues them Walmart gift cards.  The Dr. told them they were the only ones that got gift cards that day! LOL  We are thankful!

 

Need to go get busy on my order and baking for the day!

 

Still,



If you can read...

...you can travel anywhere!  Right?  We've all heard that.  But my Lego Man has struggled, for YEARS!  And because of that he hated reading.  He has been behind on his reading level.  I was determined that this year we are catching up.  If we learn nothing else this year he will be reading...at the level he should be at. 

He has a condition called binocular dysfunction.  Meaning his dominant eye changes.  If he is looking at something and looks up when he looks back the dominant eye changes and he loses his place, making it difficult to follow a story or thought.  He went through eye therapy for this and was pretty much finished when we moved to another state, and things kind of got away from us.

While trying to figure out how to make this year be "THE" year...I was spending a lot of time praying about this situation.  I then remembered a set of small chapter books I had as a child.  Each book only has like 4 or 5 chapters in them.  I thought these would be perfect.  Not too big to "scare" him but no pictures and fun at the same time. 

My aunt was currently borrowing my set so I got them back from her.  On the first day of school I introduced them to Lego Man.  I said, you have to read 1 chapter a day.  That's all...one chapter, then you have to tell me what that chapter was about.  The first day he spelled...out loud...about every other word and asked what it was.  It took him all day long to read one chapter...bless his heart.  I was feeling a bit discouraged by the end of that day.  The next day wasn't much better.  The third day, I was like, "Lord, I can't do this!  This is insane!"  But I felt strongly, just keep doing what you are doing.  Don't quit, just keep going.  I honestly feel that God was encouraging me to just keep going.  So that is what we did.  When he started on the third day to ask every other word, his older brother, Firefighter, and I had a discussion with him about context...and all that.  He asked a few words but not nearly as many.  The next day I think he only asked about 2 words.  Friday-one word.  Now he very rarely if ever asks!  There are 23 books in this set and he is on book 14.  He is enjoying them!  He often reads more than one chapter a day...some days he reads the whole book and asks for the next one!  Brings tears to my eyes!

 
One day he brought his book to the table for family game night.  Firefighter was like, "Whoa!  I never would have gotten away with that!  Bringing my book to the table!"  But I was like, "Leave him alone!  I'm so happy to see him reading AND ENJOYING it that I don't even care!"  When he is done with this series I will give him a bigger chapter book, but I am so elated!  So thankful!  So thankful that I kept plugging on!  Like it was some kind of test or something and I passed!  THAT made ME feel good!  And to see him reading and loving it!  He gets so excited about some of the stories he is so funny!

Love my sweet boys!  Yesterday I fell off a chair and landed hard on my backside.  Kind of stoved my back a little.  When the boys found out, they hugged me and said, "I'll pray for you momma!  I'm praying for your back, hope it gets better fast!"  Just hearing them say that made my eyes quickly fill with tears...and suddenly my back didn't hurt so bad.  These boys could be giving there momma a rough way to go, but they are praying for me!  I have much to be thankful for!  So much...

Thankfully,

Smile big!

Finally!!!  After a little over 2 years the braces came off yesterday!  I can not find the before pics right this moment, but trust me when I say it's drastic!  Especially for Firefighter!

 
 

 
 



 



 After we left these dudes, were hilarious!  They gave them "goodie bags" with all the chewy candies in it they weren't allowed suppose to eat.  They are popping that candy in their mouths and say, there take that Dr. _______.  "Look what I'm eating!"  LOL  They keep me laughing!

 

Then last night we are sitting here and the boys are talking about their "braces removal experience". They were talking about the drilling process of removing the glue and how much they hated it. I said yeah and you looked like you have chalk dust all over your faces. Their dad being concerned about Pilot's lungs points to him and says, "didn't he have on a mask?!". Firefighter looks at his dad and says, "are you serious?!" FF then says, "Job security."  Oh how I love my family!  These boys make life so much fun!

Part of,
 

These boys say the funniest things...

Since this blog is a journal (of sorts) of our little lives, I have to include all the funnies...so I don't forget them!  This is a super great place for me to put them until I can catch up the scrapbooks!  :)  Here are September and so far through October...and Heaven knows there were a bunch I forgot to write down!  These boys keep me laughing!  And I love love love it!  Enjoy!


9/18/14
I am in trouble! Firefighter and Pilot are keeping track of how many calories they are eating today. .. started out as they just were curious how many they eat. .. Well now it has turned into a contest to see who could eat the most. ..I think I need to give them some more chores!
 I made homemade pizza for dinner and had no idea how many calories was in one slice...so I just made something up. Pilot looked at Firefighter and said, "Dude you just ate a whole week's allotment for a moose!" Bwahahaha...they crack me up!

10/9/14  So Firefighter's township was in a homecoming parade tonight. He came home and said the parade was in T. City! Bwahaha. .. Hubby wanted to know if the parade got a speeding ticket. Lol Firefighter said there were more people in the parade than there were spectators. Love hearing him tell his stories. .. he's so funny.


10/9/14
These boys are on a roll tonight. Firefighter: (sitting on the couch) hey Pilot bring me some carrots and water.
I'm sitting here like are you serious?
Me: Pilot, are you seriously waiting on him?
Pilot: no he's waiting on me.

10/15/14  Legoman: hey mom, have you ever had your hands, face, and stomach tingling at the same time?
Me: yes its called hyperventilating. .. we're you breathing weird while doing your treatment?
Legoman: yes (and proceeded to demonstrate)
Me: you didn't do your treatment properly.
Legoman: I didn't? ...
Me: um. .. no. .. I'm pretty sure hyperventilating is not the goal!
That boy!


10/16/14
Pilot wants to know if the truck will run on speedy freeze. .. $.99/gallon... you know maybe mt. Dew speedy freeze fuel... lol

10/17/14 
The boys have a "braces off" date, and they said, "We need to start a grocery list for THAT day!" List: doritoes, snickers, popcorn, sunflower seeds...a HUGE bag!, pretzels...LOL! Me: but you've already been eating some of those things. Boys: yeah, but we had to be super careful...we want to ENJOY them! They are so funny.

Still,

  

From a Mother's Heart

As the mother of boys I have tried very very hard to teach them to be respectful of women. Their father also has taught by example! I teach them to NEVER EVER degrade women, especially the ones you love. It is ugly and hurtful. Women are not stupid, ignorant, whatevers. I teach them that ladies are first...to open doors for them...to help carry their things...etc.  After all whether today's women like it or not we ARE the weaker vessel.  I think too many times we try to be the stronger vessel and that has gotten us in trouble.  I also do not allow them to say anything about "women drivers".

I also on the other hand, do not degrade men, and especially not my husband. I NEED him, I LOVE him and have absolutely no desire to tear him down.

That being said, it is very disturbing to read/hear people degrading the opposite sex. We DO need them. God created them, He created it to work that way. Men are different from women, they are suppose to be!  That does not make men weak.

It is very heartbreaking when one of your boys, that is endeavoring to live right, has a desire to be a Godly man/husband/etc. looks at you and says, "momma, are there really any good girls out there?"  And this is said after a girl blatantly put men down on a facebook post.  Girls you so need to be careful what you say!  It REALLY does matter!  You want to be treated like the Princess, or the Queen, you have to treat him like the King!

Now, this momma has a hurting, disappointed heart to tend to.  I don't want that heart to become hard, and build a resistance to love.  Love is beautiful, if done right!  And it is not done right if it is tearing each other down!

All part of the life we are,

 

Lego Man

I have all these ideas, but just finding the time to set down and put them into "blog format"...  Some of my "stories" have to wait...for the right time.  I do have "drafts" just waiting to be posted!  I can't wait to share some of them!   I know I keep saying I'm going to do better at this, and I truly hope I do, because I want to do this!  I want to share my experiences...God has been so good to me!  For today though, I am going to "backtrack" to my youngest's past birthday.

Lego Man!  This child LOVES his legos!  For his birthday this year I "done" his room.

 Curtains, rug, quilt...

 I was a little excited...I made up the pattern for his quilt all by myself!  (Pat myself on the back...lol)

 My first attempt at a no-sew rag rug!  So easy!  Have a feeling this will become a new favorite thing to do with all my "scraps"!

 Not my best cake ever, but hey, it tasted good and he liked it...so that's all that mattered!

 

Blow, blow, blow!  Just like at CF clinic...try to see how long you can blow!  Lung Function...blow all the candles out!

 

Oh let them be little!  Where oh where does the time go?!  My baby is 13!  But he still enjoys his legos, and I'm not going to make him "grow up" any faster!

 

I will enjoy him while we are still,



Who done it?

Our family likes to set down sometimes in the evenings and play a good game...sometimes that game is Clue.  Who, where, and with what?

Today, my husband and I came home  from the grocery store, and it looked like someone had viciously murdered the loaf of zucchini bread I had just taken out of the freezer that morning!  There was only about 1/4 of the loaf left, and there were literally crumbs EVERYWHERE!  I was like, seriously?  Well, I know WHERE...Kitchen, and I'm pretty sure on the WITH WHAT...large knife laying beside sink...but now the WHO? 

(Mom thinking)...Hmmm, hubby was with me.  Oldest son is at college classes...that leaves Sons number 2 and 3.  Do I even dare ask which one of them it was?  (Although , I'm 99.99% sure I already know.)  But then again...wait just a minute!  There is someone I completely forgot about!  Of course!  It wasn't son 2 or 3 either!  How could I forget this most important creature!  He has lived at our house for 17 1/2 years!  But yet somehow I always forget to blame him!  I always take the long way around the board, go through every single room, blame every single person, when it would just make my life SOOOO much easier if I just went to him FIRST!  You all know him well!  At least you should if you have children.  Because I guarantee he lives at every single one of your homes as well!

WHO is it?  Why None other than......

 NOT ME!!!  Of course!  Shew!  I'm so glad I remembered to blame him before going through the others first!  Sigh...clean up the crumbs...close the bread bag...and go on with my day!  I suppose one of these days all too soon he will leave my house and I will miss him something terrible!  So for now...I'll (try) to enjoy having him around. ;)

 

We are still,



Do you ever wonder?

If your children REALLY are listening to ANYTHING you are saying?  Do they really care?  Or do they just "endure" your "talks"? 

Well, I do!  And sometimes it deeply concerns me.  Do they even care at all that I really do care about them, about their futures, about their choices, about their hopes and dreams, their desires, their fears, their everything, their spirituality.

Spirituality...now THAT is MY number one care and concern.  I do care about ALL of the rest very much, but I care more about their souls, and where ALL the rest of it, their futures-choices-hopes-dreams-desires-fears-everything, lead their souls...for their final destination.

I have told each one of my boys, that I really don't care what profession in life they choose, what career choice they make and that I will support whatever path they choose, so long as it is morally sound.  I will support your decision so long as it is approved by God.  Now if I feel that it would affect you spiritually I will fight you tooth and toenail about it.  I will hound you, I will pray for you, I will beg God to change your mind, but otherwise, I will support you.  I want my boys to seek God about all their decisions...allow Him to lead their life path.  One thing I have stressed to them, is to choose a career they would enjoy.  To me it seems like the silliest thing to have a job you absolutely hate.  You live life one time, ENJOY as much of it as you can.  And you will spend a large part of your time at work, so choose something you enjoy.  If you hate your job it will affect everything and everyone around you.

That being said, and this all really does tie together...My dear oldest is a senior, and he has been trying to settle on "what he wants to be when he grows up".  He thought he had settled it.  The path he thought he was going to take, I was a little uncomfortable with it, but I thought part of that was just the "mother" in me.  But there was one thing that I was concerned about and I did talk to him about it.  I realize that God may/will need some of His people in certain positions, if our world keeps going the way it is going.  But I felt the need to address it with my son.  If things keep on the way they are, I can see some treacherous times ahead for the Christians.  So I "created" an incident that COULD happen with the career path that my son was deciding on...and asked him, "If THIS happens, what would you do?"  I just felt that he needed to be aware of what he may have to do.  And I left it at that.  Because, I don't know what God's plan is for him...I left it with him and just prayed for him.

Well, it was getting down to the wire.  He had taken his ACT test, and scored a 31 on it!  and for the college he was looking at he wanted to meet the early consideration deadline.  But the closer it came, the more stressed he became, and he was somewhat irritable.  Finally, one day he came to me and said, "Mom, I was looking into '-------------'.  I just haven't felt good for a while about the 'other'."  (I am inside rejoicing!  THANK YOU GOD!)  And after a certain situation that had happened it kind of sealed that choice for him.  "But I want to feel like I am making a difference, I want to help people."  He is now pursuing his choice, and although it could be dangerous (just about any job really could be).  I am ok with it.  And honestly it probably makes more money than the other anyway.  I don't care if he scored a 36 on his test, I am not going to push my child to get a 4 year degree, just for the sake of going to college.  If he needs to go to college to get where he wants to be, fine.  If not then what's the point?  He does not need a 4 year degree to get where he wants to be and honestly I feel a bit relieved.  College could be detrimental to a soul.

So back to my original question.  Do we ever wonder if they listen?  I was so happy and thankful, because him coming to me and saying "I just wasn't feeling good about it."  Was so encouraging to me.  He really does care what God wants from him.  I felt he did, but I sometimes worry that they want something more than what God wants.  It was a ray of hope I needed during a particularly dark week.  Then for him to look at me and say, "I really want to make a difference, I want to help people."  What more can a mother say?  What more could a mother want?  Yes, I realize that you can help people and not be a Christian, but he's on the right track.   (He is saved, by the way, I don't mean to make that impression.  Just sometimes you wonder what is really going on in their minds.)  So I don't know what God's plan is for his life, but I will keep praying for him...praying for him to follow God's plan.  I am proud of him.  I am proud of the wonderful, handsome young man he is becoming!

I have my days when I just want to cry.  I can't believe my oldest son is a senior.  How did we get here?  How did he become a man?  How did he grow up so fast?!  Sometimes, It's exciting, sometimes it is scary.  I just hope and pray I don't well enough...amidst all my failures...in instilling enough in him to seek after God for his life's direction.  So seek God first.  Because, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the TRUTH." (3 John 1:4)

We are Still,