Here are some pictures I wanted to share.
This is George & Nathan having fun.
Here is my sweet little Amber.
Here is my handsome boy Jacob.
Here is Nathan, I think he looks so big here!
And here is a before picture of his curls, yes we cut them.
He still has long hair and curls just not this long!
My words of wisdom for today are:
TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES OF YOUR KIDS!!!!!!!!!!
You can NEVER get these days back!
Because He lives...............yesterday in church at the end of our praise and worship we sang this song. It really changed my whole way of thinking. There are a few different things I will touch on in this post.
First, our children. My husband and I were talking this weekend about how society has become so "stuff" focused that people are setting goals that are unattainable. Young people fall in love, get married at 20 years old or so and expect to have the big 2 story house by the lake, the 2 cars, the boat, all the outside toys like 4-wheelers and jet skis, and all the inside toys like wide screen TV's and a computer for each person and the list goes on and on. What ever happened to starting simple and working our way up to having those things? So our goal as parents to these 3 little people is to help them see reality. We need to instill values in them that will keep them out of debt and help them start simple and work their way up. If they start their lives setting unreachable goals they will lose the concept of "because He lives I can face tomorrow" because they will be so blinded by the overwhelming feeling of debt and probably not being able to get out of it that they will not be able to hear God and his direction that He has for their lives. And then they will begin to feel like they can't face tomorrow. We do not want that kind of bondage for our children.
And I want to be clear that I am not saying that our children should not have any of that stuff. I hope that they do have all of that stuff! But I want them to do it the right way and have good jobs and save their money and get one thing at a time. An 18 year old going into thousands of dollars in debt is a bad thing!
Another thing we were discussing about our children and our home is what is the "feel" of our home to our children? When they are grown and gone I want them to smile when they think of home. I want my home to always be a place of rest for not only my children but anyone who enters it. I have hopes that when my children have homes of their own they will still come to my home to just get away from it all when life seems to overwhelm them.
Another thing I realize about "because He lives I can face tomorrow" is that a lot of people do not have that revelation. We can not assume that all christian people know this. I know a family that just lost someone who was a christian, loved God and took his own life. He battled depression and didn't think he could face another day. We have to realize that just because someone is a christian doesn't mean they don't struggle with things like this. Depression is real!!!!
If you know someone who is struggling please don't just assume that they will just get over it. Help them. This family took his depression very serious and did everything they could to help him and they still lost him.
My words of wisdom for today are:
1.Look at your homes today and see how inviting they are. Ask your children what they think of when they think of home. They will be honest with you! Make it a place of rest and restoration for your family.
2.If you know someone with depression pray, pray, pray for them!!!! Be active for them and don't let them be forgotten. Help them to help themselves.
Hey everyone! Just wanted to update on my weight loss. I am at a total of 9 pounds lost!!! YAY!!
I am really working very hard and it is nice to see some progress.
Have a great day!!!
I wanted to share with everyone what is going on with my mom. She has been addicted to prescription drugs most of her life. Her husband, my step dad, died in September and she has almost met death twice since then because of overdose.
She has finally gotten into a rehab. She has to be there in the morning. It is a 6 month program. It is state funded so it is free for her. That is a blessing since she has no income. It is a very strict program. She will get 2 six minute phone calls a week, after 30 days she will get one visit a month for a few hours, she will have to go to 3 or 4 meetings a day, and it is about 2 hours away from us. So I know all of this is really good for her but I am still having LOTS of mixed feelings about it. I feel bad for her because to be honest she now has nothing. She is getting rid of all her stuff because she doesn't have any way of storing it. She will have to start all over when she gets out.
Please pray for her. She needs God to help her get past this addiction. That is the only way this rehab will work. I am believing that this is her turning point and she will only go up from here!
Good monday morning all. I hope you had a good weekend.
I am glad to report that the Bingham house is finally over all sickness!!! YAY
It has been a long road and a lot of medication but everyone is finally better. It was nice to have a full day yesterday of taking no medicine.
So now to my little Amber. We have rented a movie from the library about a girl and her horse. She has watched the movie no less than 10 times. Now she wants a white horse named Stormy!
As a little girl I never had a desire to have a horse. I am wondering if this is just a fleeting thing or when she is turning sweet 16 and still has no horse will she be devestated? She really likes that horse. Her 4th birthday is a month away and I am so afraid that she will ask for a horse. How do I explain that one away? Maybe a really big stuffed one will do for now!
So my words of wisdom for today are:
Sit down with your children and watch a movie today, even if it does make them want a white horse named Stormy! ;^)
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write " For Smuggling Diamonds"
7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
8. Dont use any punctuation
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat...with a serious face.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme?
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.
16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name......... Rock Bottom.
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"
18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."
So my words of wisdom for today are:
Send This To Someone To Make Them Smile. It's called THERAPY!
eat Valentines Day!!!!Ok everyone, I told you that I would update when I had some progress so..................
I HAVE LOST A TOTAL OF 8 POUNDS!!!!!!
It feels really good to know that I am doing something good for my body. I tried Tae-Bo for the first time yesterday and let me just say, that is a workout!!! I have muscles that hurt that I never knew it was possible to use!!! So hopefully I will be able to report pretty soon that I have lost a lot more and a lot of inches! I will be measuring again soon. I am still losing about a pound a week so I think I am doing pretty good.
My words of wisdom for today are:
If you don't already exercise regularly, make an effort to do so. Even if you don't need to lose weight it is good to exercise just to stay strong! GET MOVING!!!!!
This is post #2 for today, so check out my other one too!
I wanted to shed some light on Valentine's Day. And share what I am doing with my children.
Every year I ask my sweet husband what we are doing for Valentine's Day and I can see him cringe!!! So this year we had a discussion. I asked why he feels so blah about that day. He said that it is so much pressure!!! He doesn't know what to do. Everyone else has plans with their Valentine. So we can't get a sitter. So we made a deal.
I told him that until our Jacob is old enough to watch the little ones, Valentine's Day will be celebrated with our children. I told him that while he works that day we will have fun Valentine stuff all day and then that night we can all go to dinner(so at least I don't have to cook dinner) and then we will come home and make a yummy dessert together. He was really quiet for a moment, I think he thought it was a mean trick! Then he said, "Are you sure?" And I said yes because I want him to look forward to Valentine's Day and not dread it. I know he loves me. He shows and tells me that every single day! So why shouldn't we both look forward to this day of love! This really comes from a moment that God and I had the other day.
Let me share....
I was feeling a little down about V-day and wanted a cool date with my husband and I wanted him to woo me. Then God said to me,"You are blessed to have him every day. Some women have lost their husbands and would give anything for just one more moment with them. Don't be selfish Michelle, enjoy him just the way I made him!" WOW that did NOT feel good at all. But it is so true. I don't want to be selfish. And each moment is what I make it. So I will make sure it is great for him!
Now I will share the plans that I have for my children.
Breakfast-heart shaped pancakes, pink milk
snack-we will make pink cupcakes together and decorate them(they LOVE this kind of thing)
lunch-heart shaped homemade pizza & presents of candy & a small gift
snack-valentine sugar cookies, sparkling grape juice
supper-Chili's(the kids love this place)
snack-mini chocolate molten cakes YUM
Our lunch will be our party. Red table cloth, valentines plates,cups & napkins. Red forks & spoons. The WORKS!!! Red punch. I have gift bags for all 3 of them. They will have candy, new journal for 2 big kids, Grips crackers. We did this last year and it was a BLAST!
We will also do crafts on V-day. Still working on this.
Feel free to steal any ideas. Our children are also the loves of our lives and we should make them feel special too. Make it a day they will always remember. Start a family tradition now for valentines day including your children in those plans.
So my words of wisdom for today are:
If your husband has nothing planned for Valentine's Day, let him off the hook and tell him you will take care of it. Knock his socks off!!!! Enjoy the day and remember how blessed you are to have him and fall in love with him all over again!!!! Expect a blessing from being unselfish! Because it will happen. Don't do it just to expect something in return. But know that if you are unselfish with your husband and put his needs first then you WILL be blessed for it! I learned this lesson a long time ago and I can say that it is true!!!(thanks Misty for this reminder yesterday!)
Hey everyone! Head's up-this is a long one and female content! Sorry it is long but I think it needs to be said.
It is a wonderful Tuesday morning and yesterday was such a Monday!!!!
I want to start by saying that I have a new idea of what P.M.S. stands for.
Probably
Made by
Satan!
It was total craziness here for a while yesterday morning. We have had sickness here for almost a month and my 2 youngest are fighting a virus with fever, coughing and just feeling really bad. So there hasn't been much sleep to be had. Well, Sunday night they all slept all night long!!! WOW you say, I bet Michelle woke up ready to face the day, ready for anything! NOPE-WRONG!
That is the time that the ugly P.M.S. reared it's head. All of the kids were up around 5:50. My alarm clock goes off at 6 so I was not happy that I wouldn't get my few moments of quiet with God before our day started and the chaos began. So I sit down and read my morning devotional with Joyce Meyer and I did not like what she had to say. The first line of the devotion was,"It is not good to feel grumpy when we wake up." How dare her read my mind and know that I was grumpy!!!! So I tried to get an attitude change and have a good morning. Did it work? NOPE!
Let me share how the morning went. I felt as if my nerves were totally raw. Everything my dear children said or did just rubbed me the wrong way. I was really snappy with them. And in turn I got angry at myself because I couldn't make it stop! So I tried to do my workout in hopes that it would relieve some of the tension. Well, my little Nathan decided about 10 minutes into my 30 minute workout that he wanted me to hold him. I was determined to get my workout done though! So I just walked around him whining and following me and pulling on me. I know, I probably should have just stopped and held him but remember I was determined to have my workout! My sweet Amber(who will not be happy when she gets older that I shared this on the WWW) pooped in her pants. Had to clean that up.(she is potty trained, just sick) Then at snack time my 8 year old spills grape juice all over himself, the table, my fabric white chair and the floor.( I know I was crazy to get white chairs!)
It just felt like everything was going wrong and I had no control over anything!!!! And anyone who knows me knows that I need to have at least SOME control over my day! (I know, something else that needs to change)
So I had decided to tell 2 of my friends EXACTLY how I was feeling by e-mail.(thanks!) I just needed to get it all out. ~And let me just say that it is VERY important that every woman have a female friend that they can call and be "real" with.~ Not that we need to be fake with others, but there may be days that you need to get some things off your chest and talk to someone that will not judge you or think bad of you for your flaws. We can not air dirty laundry to just anyone!!
Yesterday I needed someone that I could tell some things that were not acceptable to myself much less anyone else. I had feelings that I knew were not of God and I couldn't shake them and I needed to hear raw truth to get past it. Not all of your girlfriends can be raw with you and speak truth to you. So we all need at least one that can be that! (the "things" were just bad thoughts about myself and how I was feeling, not any terrible sin or anything)
So on to my time of revelation!!! First of all, one friend got my e-mails and responded with some good stuff. Stuff I really needed to hear. The other friend had not gotten my e-mails and called me and said that she felt like she was supposed to call and pray over me. That was like God calling and saying,"I am here Michelle, you are not alone!" I was talking to her and she said something that I should have already known but it hit me pretty hard.
When we are in the midst of this P.M.S. thing we begin by feeling aggrivated then angry then lonley then hopeless and the list goes on and on. And when the other feelings rise up it is on top of the previous ones, not in place of. So then we are feeling all of this JUNK at one time! And none of it is from God!!! That is the key! It is from the enemy!!! Not really saying that pms is from the enemy but those feelings.
She said to me that we can NOT go by our feelings! I have heard that so many times before but in that moment I realized that no matter how I am "feeling" God is still right here and loves me just as much if not more because I am needing Him in that time more than ever!!! When we allow Him to help us that is when He can do the most with us. We allow Him to mold us into what He wants us to be!
I am not making light of P.M.S. at all. It is a very real, hard, consuming thing to go through at times. I had all of the bad stuff that comes with it yesterday. It seems that I get to where I could just crawl out of my own skin. My nerves are so raw and the waves of emotion just overtake me! Some women have no trouble with this and some women have to lock themselves in their room for a day or two. So there is a very large variation of it.
In spilling my guts out for the world to see I hope that someone gets that P.M.S. is real and it is a very hard thing to deal with at times. Because it makes us feel like we are not who we know in our hearts that we are. It makes us feel and think things that we are ashamed of and it makes the ones we love the most MISERABLE at times. I told my pastor's wife yesterday that there needs to be a sermon preached on P.M.S. and how to deal with it. We usually skirt around issues like this and then we as Godly women feel ashamed when we don't know how to deal with it. Well, no longer!!!!! We deal with it just like we deal with any other issue, we go to our Daddy God and say," Help me Daddy with this P.M.S., I am out of control!!!!" And He says,"Ok daughter, let me hold you for a while and make it all alright!"
I had to add that if you do suffer from severe P.M.S., there are things that help. Last month I had totally cut out caffine drinks, had 60-70 ounces of water a day, exercised 5-6 days a week. It really did help. My husband did not even realize it was that time of month. He was amazed! This month we had been dealing with sickness and other stuff so I had not exercised but maybe 2 days last week. So it really does make a difference to take care of yourself!!! Push through the exercise even if you don't want to, it makes a difference.
So my words of wisdom for today are:
1.When we have PMS, don't determine our worth on our feelings! God still loves us just as much when we feel CRAZY!
2.At that time of the month, plan ahead and take a day to rest if you can. Or at least lighten your load a little.
3. Go ahead and eat that extra piece of chocolate, and enjoy it!
4. Last but not least, spend some time in the presence of God. Rest in Him and let Him determine you mood, not your feelings!!!!
I was tagged by my good friend, Joanna.
A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
10 Years Ago:
I was 21 years old, I had just had my first wedding anniversary and I had no children yet. I worked at Target full time and had a Dalmation dog named Max.
Things on my to-do list today:
Went to church, started on laundry so I would have a head start tomorrow and finish cleaning my kitchen.
What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
I would pay for a new building for my church, buy a home in the country, buy a van or SUV, buy George a new Bass boat, pay this house off and let a struggling family live here until they get on their feet, college money for my children, buy or start a cool business for me and George to run so he can quit his job.
Three of my bad habits:
1.eating too many sweets
2.having the need to be organized in EVERYTHING
3.biting my finger nails
Three places I have lived:
1.Humboldt, TN
2. Milan, Tn
3. California
Five jobs that I have had:
1. Cashier at Piggly Wiggly
2. cashier at Target
3. daycare teacher
4. supervisor at Target and
5. a homeschool mom(best job yet!)
Five Things people don't know about me:
1. Even though I am very organized my closets and cabinets are usually pretty messy.
2. I like to eat ketchup on scrambled eggs.
3. I can take a shower, put my make-up on, fix my hair, get dressed and be ready to leave the house in 30 minutes, if I try really hard!
4. I have to wash my hair every day(crazy I know!)
5. My favorite candy is Laffy Taffy.
I would like to tag:
Aprille-my great friend since high school
Misty-my great friend & pastor's wife
Terri-my great friend I met on a message board
This was SO FUN!
My words of wisdom for today are:
Do something fun!!!
Good Wednesday morning all. Last night was a long one. We had terrible storms and tornadoes. It has put some things into perspective for me. We truly never know when our last day on earth will be. We have to be ready to meet God face to face at all times.
The people who died from the storms yesterday had no idea that it was their last day. I can't help but to think about those people and wonder how they spent their last day. Did they care for their children all day and have happy moments? Did they forgive those who had hurt them? Did they make any wrongs that they had done right? Did they spend their last day alone or were they surrounded by family and friends? And most important were they ready to meet God? If they had not ever accepted Jesus as their personal savior, did they have one last moment to cry out to Him and ask for forgiveness? I pray that they did.
We need to remember as we go through our day to pray for all of the people affected by these major storms. All of the children that have had to suffer loss way too early. All of the people that may have lost their child. All of the people that may have lost a spouse. We just need to remember.
So my words of wisdom for you today are:
Make things right between those who you may have hurt.
Make that phone call to the friend or family member you haven't made time to call because you didn't have time.
Make time for that neighbor that has noone and is lonley every day.
And most important, make sure you are ready to meet God face to face.
If you don't know Jesus and want to accept Him as your personal savior so that you will be ready to meet God face to face, pray this prayer:
God, I pray that You will forgive me of my sins.
I accept Your son Jesus as my personal Savior. I realize that he died on a cross to save me from my sins. I allow You to live in my heart to cleanse me and make me whole. Help me to live a life for You from this point on. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus' name, AMEN!!!
Now if you prayed this prayer you can contact me through this blog if you need to know what to do from this point on. I will answer any questions that I can for you and if I can't answer them I will ask my pastor and he can answer them. If you don't want to contact me and you have prayed this prayer then please find a church and talk to someone and ask them to help you learn more about God.
Have a blessed day!
