What is it about bread and milk?

There is a storm a brewing. It is January in Northwest Arkansas which means it's time for winter weather. There's a phrase around here - "if you don't like the weather, stick around a day or two and it will change". Two days ago it was 70 degrees and we played outside ALL DAY LONG. Tonight we are expecting ".25 to .5 inches of ice topped with 4-10 inches of snow with power outages likely, significant tree and limb damage likely and treacherous travel conditions" per Garrett Lewis, the local meteorologist.

In the south, the threat of a flurry causes mad chaos. Everyone gets prepared for the worst. I am no exception. I cannot drive in ice. I have tried twice.....I have wrecked twice..... I am grounded from driving in inclement weather per my husband. So I am more prepared than the average Joe. There are two propane tanks with the gas cooker and iron skillet ready to cook meals on. Major groceries have been purchased. Flashlights are in every room. We have extra batteries. The candles are lined up on the counter. I am currently deciding on multiple snow day activities...... we.are.ready.

This afternoon after school I took the kids to Chick Fil A to run off extra energy and have an outing before we're cooped up for a few days. While there, I overheard a woman on a cell phone having a discussion. It was clearly with her husband and it went something like this:

Woman: "I'm at Chick Fil A now across from Wal-Mart and if you saw this parking lot you would not ask me to go in there....."

My guess is that husband said something to the effect of "it's going to storm - we HAVE to go to the store......"

Woman: "You can go"

guessing the husband said "......what do we need....."

Woman: "well don't most people pick up bread and milk? I guess get that"

I find it hysterical that there is all this peer pressure to go to the store when it's going to storm. I find it very funny that milk and bread are ALWAYS the staples. Why does the brownie aisle not run out of brownies? How does the liquor store not run out of wine? You don't hear about the stores running out of lunch meat or peanut butter - what are we putting on this bread that we just have to have? I also find it hysterical that if this week had not been my major grocery shopping week, I would have gone to the store anyway....and I would have bought bread and milk, because I was raised in the south, there's the threat of a flurry and that's just what we do.

Happy Snow Storm!!!! Stay safe!

Could I leave my nets behind????

I love a good thought provoking sermon. I love those sermons that I'm still pondering over on Wednesday. The pastor at First Christian Church in Rogers is totally fabulous. He's a young guy with more energy than my 2 year old. He can flat preach a sermon. He bounces around, slaps the podium and gets a wee bit noisy. I love it! I recently learned that he was the mascot at TCU. That explains his bounciness (the Horn FROG).

He makes me think about my Christianity. His sermons make me realize I am not doing enough. Yes, I know that we all fall short of the glory of God, but most days I fall way short. As hard as it is to know that more and more every Sunday, it's also a blessing. As Dr. Phil says, "we can't fix what we don't acknowledge".

Today the sermon was on leaving our nets behind. There were 4 different scriptures highlighting followers that would do ANYTHING to follow Jesus. Some of them left dying relatives, some of them were willing to offer a burnt sacrifice with the sacrifice being their only son and others left their jobs, their financial security....their nets. He ended the sermon with "would we be able to leave it all behind to follow Jesus?"

If God said, "Courtney, leave everything behind - your house, your car, your stuff, your friends, your husband and your kids.....and follow me" Could I do it? If God said, "Courtney, I want you to take your son and kill him, in my name" Would I do it?

Would I? Forgive me, God, but no.....not yet, but I'm working on it. I'm working on trusting you enough to know that you've got me no matter what. I'm working on believing that if you said, "offer your child as a burnt sacrifice...." it would be for good reason. I want to have that trust, Lord. I want to be able to walk away from my nets if you called me.

Help me find that trust, that trust that lies so deep in faith......Trust that I never knew I didn't possess.....

Amen

Playing Baby Dolls.....it gives me hope

I love being a mom. I love, almost, every thing about it. Sometimes I think I'm not very good at it. I once told my husband (in a, ahem, "discussion" we were having) that I go to bed every night and wonder if I did "enough". Did I spend enough time with the kids? Did I do enough to create new business to help with the family income? How did I do as a wife? Did my kids end the day with a feeling of happiness and love in their hearts? That last one is what is really important to me.

Sydney has always "played baby dolls". She loves playing mommy. It's been very entertaining to watch how her play has changed over the last few years. When she was 2 or 3 her play was almost always "mommy and babies" now it has transformed to "teacher and students" I was able to watch an older video of her the other night and while many of her mannerisms are exactly the same she's changed so much in just a couple of years. In the last few months she has taught her baby sister how to play baby dolls. It's currently one of Harper's favorite things to do. You can count on hearing this request numerous times a day: "mommy wanna pay babies?"

Whenever I begin to doubt my performance as a mommy I watch my kids play babies. There is a lot of holding, rocking, kissing and hugging. Lots of "shhh, it's otay sweet baby" and "wan some milt?" (milk). There is the occasional "No banging on the door, no milt in da night, go to seep cazy baby!" (I'm not sure that I have ever called her crazy baby as a derogatory remark - it was in jest, I promise). But all in all, my kids show nothing but love and respect to their babies. It is my hope and prayer that they are learning this from their dad and me and that this is an illustration of how they will interact with their own children.

God, thank you for allowing me to be a mommy. Thank you for three of the most precious children on the planet that I call my own. Thank you for a most amazing husband - I would not want to go on this journey alone, that is for sure. Help me to continue to show my children the love and respect they deserve and when I think I haven't done "enough", help me to see it through their eyes. Thank you, Lord, for showing me how to "play babies" and for showing me that my children are listening, learning and soaking it all in. And help me always to remember that these precious lives are a gift from you and that my job is nothing more than to teach them your love, your message and your salvation.

Amen

A New Year.... A New Me.....Again!

I love New Years. I love the feeling of something fresh, a chance to start something new or begin again. I'm aware that most Resolutioners are back to their old ways by February, and yes, that includes me for the most part, but I love the idea of changing something to make yourself better or create a new habit. I have the same resolution every year: I want to pray more diligently, to read my Bible more often, to become more organized and to get in better shape. I'm aware that most of these things will have fallen by the wayside by February (except that I have no choice than to get in better shape or buy a whole new wardrobe in the next size up....not an option). Right now I start my day in deep prayer, followed by a workout and fit a few verses of the Bible in sometime during the day and have a whole organization plan. By the time February gets here I will probably fall into bed at night and pray to God in Thanksgiving as I fall asleep, I'll read the girls their Bible stories and call it good, I'll consider the game Hullabaloo my workout for the day if time did not permit otherwise, but isn't two months of something better than nothing. What can I gain by praying more diligently in 2 months? What can I gain by really reading the Bible on a daily basis in 2 months? How will 2 months of constant organization effect my life and my business? How many days do I add on to my life by really living an EXTREME healthy lifestyle for 2 months only to fall back on a pretty normal nutrition plan with the occasional splurge and the occasional missed workout? I think 2 months is better than nothing, don't you? I think you should set yourself up to succeed, but if you happen to fail then you look at the bright side. What did you gain while you failed? I hope that my children and I continue to be one of the resolutioners every year because I just don't think you can call your resolution a failure if you had minor successes along the way.
That's all for now - I've got a P90X yoga workout calling my name followed by some Bible reading.

Happy New Years!!!!

Time to Post again!

Wow! What a whirlwind couple of months we have had at the Arrant house. As you all know, we welcomed Baby Remington into this world on November 11th. He has been an amazing baby and at almost 8 weeks now, still really loves to sleep (most of the time).
Harper has truly risen to the challenge of becoming a big sister, is sleeping much better at night and has even started trying to potty train (only sometimes).
Sydney is as helpful, sweet and mature as always. She pitches in to help ALL the time (sometimes when I would rather just handle it, but she's definitely trying). She is a fantastic big sister and I continue to watch the bond between her and Harper grow stronger every day. Harper misses Sydney so much when Syd has gone to school and is constantly asking when she's going to be home. With Harper's tomboy ways she is becoming more and more of a daddy's girl every day. That girl loves her daddy and wants to be like him so much. It's completely precious.
So...the end of the year brought the holidays. Instead of sending Christmas cards, I blogged them. Instead of making a ton of candy, I made a small batch and handed it out to neighbors - everyone else got homemade jelly that I made this summer. I did my Christmas shopping really early, but continued to find things throughout December that the kids "needed"....so I accidentally went over budget...oh well :). We had an awesome Christmas and spent a TON of time in the car - lucky for us, my kids are awesome travelers.

On the 17th of December we made a trip to TX to visit my grandparents. This trip should have taken us 8hours....it took 10 1/2 - we.were.exhausted, but we had a wonderful visit with all my TX family and the two grandmothers got to feast their eyes on 4 of their great grandchildren (my niece accompanied us). The trip home went a lot faster.

The very next weekend was Christmas and it was WONDERFUL! Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love sharing the story of Christ's birth over and over with Sydney, who seems to really be taking it in more and more every year. I love candlelight Christmas Eve services and FCC Rogers did an amazing job as usual. I love the lights, I love that St. Nick really was a wonderful man who gave gifts to boys and girls who were in need. For some people they can't stand that this true story has blossomed into this crazy commercial aspect of Christmas. Yes, that part is tough to swallow sometimes, but I see a lot of good things come around Christmas. I see people get into the true spirit of giving and love - yes, there are those who take advantage of giving people and those who have a rough time with Christmas and get angry and make it tough for others, but all in all, I think there are enough good spirits out there for the rest of us to really feel the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas Eve held our usual family traditions: Buck and Bourbon Stew, followed by church, then home to open presents, leave out cookies for Santa and go to bed. Gigi and Papa were able to make it this year since there was no ice in their path and got here just before bedtime. Christmas morning brought sheer delight to the girls faces when they saw their new bikes and when Sydney saw her new journal that had an "S" on it and a pen with a plume. There were lots of great stocking stuffers and we all had a wonderful morning. Gigi and I cooked a big lunch and then they headed home. Then it was time to do laundry and pack because we headed out at 6:00 am the 26th to go to NE Arkansas to spend time with Minky and Unky. The girls had a blast as usual and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner and saw lots of family there as well. The 29th brought us home (another 7 hour trip). We were home one full day then it was back to Russellville to do Christmas with Uncle Bubby, Aunt Tara and all 5 of our cousins and then 2 hours back home that afternoon.

All in all it was a wonderful 2 weeks. Now we are on to a New Year with new beginnings, new resolutions and new plans. My New Years Blog will be a different post - cause I've got a lot to say about that!!!

The decorations are down now and we are back to normal, back to school, The Pampered Chef business is up and running again. I can't wait for Christmas next year - the Christmas story, the lights, the irritated people, the commercial aspect of it and the spirit of Christmas that comes out in people when you least expect it....every last bit of it - I can't wait!