The Best Kind?

Today is Friday...the favorite day in the Cook house. Friday's are great because the girls don't have school, David is off work and we get to play pretty much all day. Well, since the tornado most Friday's have been full of relief effort stuff (even though it has slowed down considerably! :)). Today is no different. David had to go to the church to take care of the car that was bought for a lady who lost hers in the storm. Both the girls wanted to go with him of course, and because Iwas doing the dirty job of paying bills and doing laundry, David agreed that they could go with him. Tatum got all excited and said, "Mom, you get to be a stay at home mom with no kids today.....that's the best kind!!!" I just laughed at her. She has such a way with words! But now, I sit ....and it's awfully quiet. Is it the best kind? Sometimes. ((hehe!))

The girls are taking advantage of the new, NICE, weather. A few days ago I went outside to check on them and this is what I saw. They were having a snack and watching the clouds on the driveway. Grapes and Fruitloops. What a combo. They didn't seem to mind. I love those two!

Being Transparent.

Today's post is actually kinda hard. I have spent the last few months trying to overcome pride issues within myself. Some were easy to overcome, and others.....well, not so much. I think part of the problem is that you can't overcome some pride issues without airing yourself out. So today, to all my cyber-friends, I am kicking the cobwebs out of my soul.

The majority of my life I have been a little hesitant to follow authority. It's not that I don't respect authority, but I ...for some unknown reason.....feel like I know an even better way to do things. I believe that is called "Strong Willed." For years I have felt like I am a bad person. And on occasion, been made to feel like a bad person. Only after having my own strong willed child have I come to understand, and even witness, that there is a special responsibility given to those of us with strong wills. Tatum is my strong willed child. She makes me crazy at times trying to convince her that MY WAY IS THE RIGHT WAY! (There it is again! :)) But only through being her mom have I had to accept and work on my un-bendable will. I have really had to search for God's will and bend mine to fit his.....the hardest part, btw. I am so thankful that all the "tiffs" that Tatum and I get into are only helping me understand where I fit into God's plan.

Another area I am trying to be better in is prayer. Our Sunday morning ladies class has been talking about prayer, and I thank Kim Trujillo for taking on this sometimes daunting task. Kim has been encouraging us to pray in different ways and to get out of our prayer ruts. I am SOOOO guilty of the generic "Thanks for all you do" prayers. I have spend the better part of the last few years, telling people I would pray for them, and then forgetting to actually do it. One of my "not-so-new-year- resolutions" was to stop telling people I was praying for them, and actually do it. I want to be better about lifting others up to God....for no reason. I don't want to wait until someone is on their deathbed to ask God to give them peace. I want to pray about people as they pop into my head. I have been doing just this for the last month. I can't even begin to tell you the mood it puts me in. There have been people that I dedicate the day to praying for, that later on either that day or that week, have said that they were sure someone was praying for them, because there was no way they would have made it. ( Little goose bumps? That would be God.) I am so thankful that God has made me aware of this downfall in my life, I have really been enjoying my time with my Father.

Kind of along the same lines as prayer for others.....I want to be a "Bedside Prayer Warrior." I want to sit beside my children when they are asleep and put my hands on them and pray SPECIFICALLY for them and things in their lives past, present and future. This is THE only time they are still and I should take advantage of this time to focus on them.

I wanted to put this post out there for everyone to see so they can keep me accountable. Please ask me how my prayer life is. Ask me if I am allowing myself to bend towards God. Ask when the last time I prayed over my kids was. I am changing for the better. My hope is you will recognize areas in your life where you might need to change a little (or alot) and tell someone.

When the inside is whole then, and only then, can I be complete.

Long time no post....

I'm sorry that is has taken so long for me to update. We (as always) have been on the go and honestly it has just slipped my mind. I am going to just list some updates....

* We are back to the drawing board on our house plans....because of the slope of our land, we are having to include a basement. Which in turn, turned our modest 2000 sq ft home into a whopping 5,000 sq ft home!!! Yowzers. Obviously, on a preachers income we can't afford that gigantic of a home. :) Stay tuned! We'll all be surprised together!

*Tatum has her first loose tooth. Yeah! (The heaven's rejoice!) She has been wanting a loose tooth for over a year. Keep in mind that it is BARELY loose...but it moves and that is what counts.

*I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Mississippi this past weekend. My friend Renee was Sister Mary Hubert in a play called "Nunsence." I drove over there to see it. It was nice getting all caught up on my Mississippi friends. ( Glad to be back in Arkansas though! :))

* Spring weather is much loved around our house. We have enjoyed the last two weeks of sunshine! Hope Spring has sprung wherever you are!

* We are anxiously awaiting our end-of-year Branson vacation. We have never taken a family vacation with just the 4 of us....that's all about to change. We just booked our trip for May. The girls are so excited to re-visit the indoor water park! (Actually, we all are!)

*This seems to be the year for fun vacations...Last August David and I decided that this summer we wanted to go on a cruise. ( Keep in mind that when we decided this we didn't know we would be in the throws of home building!) Anyway, we bought a cruise vacation to the Bahamas for August of this year. Lindsay and Steve decided that they wanted to go with us, so the 4 of us are going to the Bahamas and then meeting my parents and all the grand kids in Orlando for a few days of Mickey Mouse! Whaahoo!! We can't wait!

*David has been on the hunt for a new truck for months. We have driven so many, but when it's all said and done....we don't want to spend the money. Well, while I was in Mississippi, David went to an auction with Steve Allen to look for a car for a tornado victim we are helping. It must have been his lucky night. Not only did he find a car for that lady....he bought himself a truck too! It's not a "fancy" one but it will be great for what he needs it for. It's a silver Chevy S-10. (With NEW tires! :)) Yeah for him! I am excited that he is finally getting his truck. And we paid CASH!!!

I think that is it for now. I will add more later!

BIg Sale Weekend!

Today was the first day of my two day "What's left of Palazzo" sale. I really didn't know how many people would actually show up for several reasons:
1. It's still too soon after the tornado and most people are still in recovery mode.
2. The icky weather.
3. I forgot to advertise....I know Marketing Minor and I forget advertisement! Duh.
(Well , I did have one VERY small ad in the local paper...once.)
4. It was at a bank and not the normal shop.

For all those reasons I had NO idea what to expect. Nor did I realize how much "stuff" I still had left. When the shop was being packed I had 20 people or more helping me pack and haul it off to storage. So what I actually packed didn't seem all that much. Also, I have done several trunk shows since the storm that got rid of a LOT of merchandise. However, when we were unloading yesterday, it kept coming and coming and coming. ( I was worried we wouldn't have enough room!) Alas, this morning at 8:45, the doors were opened and people flocked in and opened their wallets and their trunks!!! I sold SOOOO much stuff today. I am so happy. I have had several sweet customers actually pray over the merchandise and ask God to send people to buy it all up so I didn't have to pack it up and stress over it anymore. The nice thing is I believe that He will do it. What doesn't sell this weekend will be going to the Consign and Design Sale in Judsonia next weekend. ( A little plug for that one! It will be good!!) I am so grateful that God gave me this store. I have met some wonderful people along the way and have formed lasting friendships because of it. It was so nice after two months of not seeing anyone...today I got to catch up, shed a few tornado tears with friends who lost it all, and laugh about how now they are buying Christmas stuff in April when they don't even have a roof over their heads! :) I love my customers. I will miss seeing them in the store all the time, but now I get to see them at Walmart and stop and chit chat! ;)

I guess tomorrow will be just as fun! Yeah!

Off to the theatre!!!

My mom went on a field trip with her class a few weeks ago to go see If You Give A Mouse A Cookie at the Little Rock Arts Center- Children's Theatre. She was so excited that she called me, while still on the field trip, to tell me that she was buying tickets and she was bringing the grandkids. So she did. For crowd control I decided that I was going to go too. When the ticket buying was done, David and Steve were going too! ROAD TRIP!! So we loaded up in the Trailblazer and headed to Little Rock.

When we got there I just laughed because we were rubbing elbows with the "creme de la creme" of stay at home moms in LR. All the Jack and Sally's running around with thier finest theatre attire on. I turned and looked at my kids and they were pretending to be "art" on the sidewalks....striking poses and such. It was REALLY funny. ( I have some adorable pictures of that too!! Darn USB cable!)

Right before they let us into the theatre, they had a "craft" for the kids to do. It was decorating a cookie. I am not sure if any of the cookies made it into mouths though. Icing, sprinkles, candy toppings....oh my. Too cute!

Anyway, we got into the theatre and got perfect seats. Front and center! The set was so cute in that it made you feel like you were a mouse on the floor and the kitchen was HUGE. The whole show was just a little over an hour...and I don't think any of the kids blinked the whole time. It was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. Then after the show they had a question and answer period for the kids in the audience to ask questions. Piper, my niece, asked a question....."Can I hug the mouse?" Of course the answer was yes, and she got to go up on stage and hug the mouse. Precious. When we were leaving, my girls got on stage and I got a really cute picture of them with the mouse. (Again....USB!) I loved this show! It has made me want to keep track of the Children's Theatre schedule and go to all of them! :)

The next show is Ramona Quimby......I LOVE RAMONA! I grew up reading all about Ramona and her big sis Beatrice! I can't wait!

If I find the cable I will post the pics! So cute!!

My head is lost.

I am kinda bummed because I can't find my USB cable that connects my camera to the computer. (Me thinks its in a box! With everything else.) So in an effort to still stay in touch I am going to have to have pictureless posts until I can find it or do the whole Walmart picture CD
thing....whatever comes first. I am beginning to be thankful that my head is attached. :)
Sorry for boring posts. (Maybe I can back track and use some pictures that I forgot about!)