Thoughts.....

I am in such a strange place lately. Not sure how to explain it. We haven't been to church in a while because of sickness and such so I am feeling disconnected from my church family. That is always tough.

It seems that everyone is going on vacation and we will not be doing anything this summer since George is laid off and that makes me feel bad for my kids. I wish I could take them somewhere really cool.

I guess I am having a bit of a pity party. I am just ready for this season of agony to end!

Sorry to be such a downer, just needed to get my thoughts out of my head.

Our story......

In 1996 a man named George Bingham called me and asked if I would like to go out with him. Let's rewind a little.... Years before this my brother, Daniel, worked with George and told me that if George didn't have a girlfriend he would fix us up. Well, I worked at Target in 1996 with a woman whose husband worked with George. She said that George had recently ended a long relationship he had been in and she thought we would be a good couple. So she gave him my number. And now we are back to the beginning of the story.

We met in July of 1996, he met me at Target when I got off of work. We went to a movie and then to Arby's to eat. I had no idea that day that my life was gonna change so quickly. By October he asked me to marry him. And In January of 1997 I became Mrs. George Bingham! Yes that is 6 months after we met.

The funny thing about this is that most people that knew me though I had lost my mind. But it is now 12 years later and we are happier than I could have ever imagined! I love this man with my whole heart, soul and mind.

I am posting a few pictures for you to see.

This picture is from the day that George asked me to marry him. I was SO excited and happy that God had finally sent me "the one".

This picture is from our wedding day. Aprille from Clay In The Hands Of The Potter was my maid of honor. And my brother Daniel was George's best man.

And this is the most recent picture of my love and I. 12 years later!

I LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!

Potty Training Success!!

First of all I would like to say Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you all have amazing times with your families and enjoy the true meaning of the season, God sending His son Jesus to die for our sins.

OK now to the potty training!

We have been playing with teaching Nathan to pee in the potty. The first few days he would wet his underwear several times, but now he has gotten to where he is staying dry most of the time. Well, today he did #2 in the potty!!!! YAY!!!!
That is really good because it isn't fun when he does that in his underwear. It was so funny though. I think it scared him, he screamed and cried the whole time! Then once he was done he was excited. So I guess we are way on our road to being finished with diapers in this family. So exciting!!! That is gonna save us a lot in cash.
But it is a little sad too. My last baby is not a baby anymore. :0(

I guess they have to grow up sometime.

Well, I am gonna go for now. I just wanted to update all of you on what is going on in the Bingham home.......

POTTY TRAINING SUCCESS!!!!!!

It has been a while....

I haven't posted in FOREVER!!! Sorry.

The holidays bring business. And this weekend is no different. Tonight our neighbors are coming over and having dinner with us and they have gifts for the kids. They are a young newly married couple that don't have children yet and we have adopted as family. They love our kids and our kids love them. It is great to be blessed with such great friends. So I will be cleaning the house and making it guest ready. :0)

Then tomorrow I have to be at my church at 9 AM for dress rehearsal for the Christmas musical I am singing in. I am in the choir and we had to learn 11 songs, it has kept me busy. That will probably last until 12 or so.

And then Sunday we are singing in the morning service and the musical is Sunday night. I am so excited!

In the mix of all this my hubby is working 12 hours today and tomorrow. He is usually off on Fridays so this is not the norm for us.

I have also been doing crafts and fun holiday stuff with my kiddos. I am ready for Christmas to be here so my hubby can be off work and we can spend some good time together as a family. Enjoying what the holidays are really about and being able to reflect on God.

Well, I hope you all have a blessed weekend and maybe I will get to post again before Christmas........ ;0)

Yesterday was one of "those" days....

Hello all my bloggy friends.

I am so glad that today is a new day! Because yesterday was a TERRIBLE day!

What started this was I went to my Facebook and opened a message that I thought a friend had sent me and it was a virus. So from that point on I began to have trouble with my computer. Well, by 3:00 we couldn't get it do log onto anything hardly. So I called emachines. They give me the news that I have to restore my computer to it's original state. Which means that I lost everything I had on my computer. Pictures, documents, folders, recipes, EVERYTHING!!!! She made me erase all of my personal things on my computer. Well, I guess it was for my own good. I have never saved anything to a backup disk. Well, let's just say that I will be learning how to do that real soon!

So while I am talking to the nice lady that is helping me erase all my personal things from my computer, She tells me to turn it off and unplug my printer and internet. While I am doing this my little Nathan decides to turn it back on. It is at that point that she asks me how old my children are and how well behaved they are....wonder if she was hinting to something?

After I get off the phone with her, I am finishing up the wiping away of all my personal things on my computer(I am dealing with this, really I am!) Amber comes in the living room screaming at the top of her lungs that Nathan had thrown a toy and hit her in the head.

Now let me just tell you that we have had so much trouble with this little 2 year old throwing things, we don't know what to do! If he doesn't become a famous pitcher for some baseball team I will be surprised!

But back to my story... I lean down and hug my little Amber and rub her head and I feel something wet. I begin to panic. I pull my hand up and there is blood. I take her to my bathroom about 12-15 steps away and blood is dripping into the floor and she is screaming louder. I guess God stepped in because I don't handle those situations well. I cleaned her up and found the wound. It is pretty deep but I decided not to take her to the ER. It stopped bleeding pretty quick. But when I got home from choir practice last night(George stayed home with the kids) it was still bleeding a little. So I am not sure if I should have taken her or not. Any tips on busted heads would be appreciated so I will know what to do next time.

So today I am reinstalling my printer, trying to find all of my home school sites that I used, finding all of the kids favorites and I may close my Facebook account, haven't decided on that yet.

If I am not on here for a while it is because I am getting tired of spending time with the computer. I am beginning to feel like it is a 4th child that doesn't know how to behave and the other 3 children are being punished for it.

So there is another day in the real life of a home school mom.........

Pray for Obama!

Before you read this know that I will not be bashing anyone and please keep your comments positive. Now we shall move on!


OK, I voted for McCain. BUT... Obama is now my president. This was my very first time voting. I am 32 years old and I finally realized the importance of my vote. Some might say that it doesn't matter if they vote or that one vote will not make a difference. Well, my thoughts are that if we go and vote then we can say that we did our part. So I did my part.

I have to honestly say that when I first realized that Obama won, I was sad and had some mixed emotions. But I have been taught by my pastors that WHOEVER our president is we are to support and pray for them. That is our job as Christians. I trust God and I believe that if it weren't God's will for this man to be our president then he wouldn't be. Too much prayer went into this election. And I believe that when we pray, God hears us. And my prayers were for the right man to be in office, not who I wanted to get it.

So in closing this post, I want to say, please pray for President Obama and support him. He has a tough job ahead of him and he needs our support. And I believe that God EXPECTS us to do this!

I wanted to let you know...

If you are a little down today or just need a little pick me up remember a few things...


When you are cleaning the toilets, you are making your home a safe and clean place for your family.


When you are cleaning the kitchen for the 100th time today, you are supplying the needs of your family.


When you continue to step on the same toy each time you walk in the living room, you have made your home a happy place for your children to be children.


When your little one(or big one) wants to sit in your lap for a little attention, you are holding the future and what you say to them matters more than you could imagine. Who knows, they may someday repeat your words to someone in Africa when they take their first missions trip.


When you look in the face of your children and feel that you are not getting through to them, know that God has trusted you with those children and you can do ALL things through Christ who gives you strength.


When you feel like everything you do may be for nothing and no one appreciates you, YOU are loved and adored by all in your family and your home would not be HOME without you!


Be encouraged today and know that every moment of your life is worth it!

Why do I do these things?

OK so about 3-4 weeks ago I bought my kiddos a new TV for their room because theirs went out. It is one of those with the DVD player in it. Well, now the DVD player won't work. And guess who didn't keep the box OR the receipt? And they won't let me take it back.

UUUGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so frustrated at myself.

How do you overcome?

This could be a pretty deep question. It is one that I have thought a lot about lately.

How do I overcome?

Well, let me give you a few examples of how I have overcome in the past.

~overeating

~calling a friend on the phone

~throwing a fit

~getting angry

~having a pity party.....

You get the idea. Well, I am learning that not only are these not really ways to overcome, they are very unhealthy ways to deal with problems. In the past when I have tried to overcome by these examples, I only hurt myself. And I was not really accomplishing the task of trying to overcome.

I just googled the word "overcome and here is what I found-

over·come

1.to get the better of in competition, struggle, etc.; conquer
2.to master, prevail over, or surmount to overcome obstacles
3.to make helpless; overpower or overwhelm

WOW!!!! Reading that was a moment for me!!!

To get the better of in a struggle, to conquer, to overcome obstacles, to make helpless! So this to me means that when we truly overcome we make the enemy helpless!!!!

Now back to my original point.

The way that I now overcome is to praise through the storm, in the midst of a battle I sing praises to my Daddy God, instead of getting angry or depressed I choose to be happy and positive. And just to make this clear, I have NO power in myself to do any of this. Yes, I do have a choice each day to either be positive or negative BUT GOD is the one that gives me the power to make that choice.

So in closing this post, really think about this question, How do you overcome?

Praising through the storm

Hello all!

If you are just now checking out my blog, scroll down and read the post from last night. It is good stuff!

Today my family didn't go to church because of my 2 little ones being very sick. Me, my mom and Jacob will be going tonight but we had to miss this morning. I went to get our groceries for the week since I didn't go to church. I didn't want to go tomorrow while George is at work so I took my chance while I had it. Anyway, while I was at Wal-Mart getting my groceries I noticed that gas there is down to $2.86!!!! Praise the Lord!!!! It has been getting higher and higher, I was beginning to think it would never go down.

Jacob is still coughing, Amber and Nate are both coughing something terrible and they both have a fever. Amber was vomiting this morning because her cough was so bad. And Nate has had 3-4 watery diapers. I guess it is all from the crud they have. Amber and Jacob have also complained with their heads hurting. Earlier I was holding Amber and it had been about 45 minutes since I had given her fever medicine and she was still burning up. So I prayed for her and had to remember my post from last night. I chose to be thankful that it isn't any worse and praise God through it.

I know that God will get us through this and we WILL praise Him through this storm!!!!

Out of touch.....

I have been having a hard time keeping up with everything. I have yet to make a schedule so I feel like I am just barely getting by from day to day.

We started school yesterday and it is going pretty good. I am slowly figuring things out and getting things set like I need them to make things go easier. Today was better hands down!

I want to say I am sorry for not replying to any of your comments or for commenting on your blogs. I have had a few minutes here and there to check stuff and I quickly read and move on. I don't want to get too far behind so I am trying to check in as much as I can.

I will not be blogging as much but I will be blogging when I have time. I am sure I will get all of this smoothed out in time and have the time that I need. And as soon as I remember to get a picture of little Zoe I will post it on here, please continue to pray for her.

I will talk to you all soon!

Quick hello...

I am still here. Just getting used to our new schedule and our new Zoe. She is so precious!!! And the best baby. Right now she is sleeping and so is Nathan. Rare act of mercy from my daddy GOD!! LOL

It is getting easier to do this with each day and we are all settling in. Zoe is an only child so this house is a whole new world for her. All the noise and 3 kids, she loves them and laughs at them all the time.

I hope to get a little time over the weekend to post something wise, LOL, and maybe a picture of little Zoe. We will be starting school on Monday so I will have to focus on the last few things that need to be done for that. We also began soccer practice last night.

Lots of changes going on at the Bingham home and we are moving right along! Change is good, truly good! Lots of excitement going on here right now.

I have gotten up early every day this week and worked out and drank my water. I am eating when I get the chance, usually on the run. I forgot about that part of taking care of a little one.

Well, I hope you all are having a good week. Hope to talk to you again soon!

His Mercy Is New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22-24

22 Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

"Therefore I hope in Him!"

I have to apologize for being so weak lately. I had gotten my focus off and let a little stomach virus bring on the whining Michelle. I do struggle with this. When things get tough my old person would curl up in the fetal position and give up. But my new person knows that His mercy is new EVERY morning! No matter what we are going through, His faithfulness is great and we have to let Him be our portion and trust only in HIM!!!

I want to thank you all for your prayers. I truly have felt them today. I took my shower and felt so much better! I cleaned some on the bathrooms and cleaned my kitchen and living room. So now I have a head start on my Monday cleaning and getting all the germs out of the house.

I hope you all have a great Monday morning and awesome blessings all day!!!

The evil strikes again!!!

Well, it has happened. I now have the dreaded stomach virus.

I guess that's what I get for taking care of my children.

Please pray for us, I was up most of the night and my hubby doesn't feel too great. He fights it off. He will curl up into a ball and hold off hurling. Not sure how he does that, but I can't. I tried. Didn't work. So now the kiddos have to take care of us today! :0/

Evil strikes again!

It is 1:45 in the morning and why am I up you ask?
Because the vomit has reared it's ugly head once again. I don't understand it though. The last time Amber got sick was Thursday night around 6. She went all night Thurs. night without getting sick, all day Fri. and then gets sick again tonight. She didn't eat much on Fri. but her daddy(the one who got to sleep while I gave her a bath in the middle of the night again because she had it in her hair, I'm not bitter!) gave her water to drink with her cheese crackers right before bed. I think I remember that you aren't supposed to drink water if you have been sick. Am I right on that? Someone please give me an answer that may save my dear husband grief!

So, now Amber is back in bed, in my room, because once again her bed had to be cleaned, in the middle of the night, by me. I AM NOT BITTER!!!! No really, not bitter, just tired of this. And just tired. I think I am a little crabby. Maybe, just a little........

It's a new day!

Well, the vomiting has finally stopped! YAY!!!

Last night we slept 10 hours!! April you nailed that one!

My hubby is off on Friday and it was nice sleeping in with him. I love all that fun family time with all of us piled in our bed.

Right now Nathan is asleep for his nap, Jacob & Amber are in Jacob's room watching T.V. and George is on the couch resting.

All is well at the Bingham home......

A day in the life of Michelle....

I think this may be Monday!

I was way into a post and my computer just logged off the internet. Lost it all! uuuurrrrgggghhh!!!

Now, we rejoin my post.

We were up most of the night with sick children. Amber got sick in her bed around midnight. Had to give her a bath because it was in her hair. Got her settled in my bedroom floor and Jacob woke up sick. In the mix of all this Nathan was crying for me and fully awake! I got Jacob settled on the couch and rocked Nathan in the recliner, he finally went to sleep around 3. And during all this George wasn't feeling well either. He went on to work today. The kids are not spewing today, just have tummy aches. So this woman who needs at LEAST 8 hours of sleep is going on about 5. Not a good mix!!!!!

SO I get an e-mail from my good 'ol sister friend April (go check out her blog, click on her name and it will take you there- it is great!) and I have got to share it. It is scary how many of these things apply to my friendship with April. I hope it doesn't offend anyone, I thought it was great and needed the laugh after last night. THANKS APRIL!!! Everyone needs a friend like this!
Hope you all enjoy!


Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality?
Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship. You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this one—
Just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.



1. When you are sad -- I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on mountain dew.

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you are scared -- I will rag on you about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining.

6. When you are confused -- I will use little words.( This one is my favorite! LOL)

7. When you are sick -- Stay away from me until you are well
Again. I don't want whatever the heck you have.(This one is great too! LOL)

8. When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your clumsy self.

9. This is my oath.... I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask; ‘because you are my friend!’



Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth…

The Mayonnaise Jar & 2 Cups Of Coffee

***I got this story in an e-mail this morning. I wanted to share it with you all. It was sort of a revelation moment for me. I changed a few things in it to put my own twist on it. I hope you enjoy it!***

(I have posted a blog before this one with pictures from Nathan's birthday party, if you are just now checking out my blog for today make sure to go and see that one!)

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "YES".

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now", said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your God given passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your spouse. Spend time with your children. Visit with family. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Go fishing. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked. The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Don't sweat the small stuff!

7th Heaven..........

Not the show, even though I do love the show. I am speaking of the 7 children I had overnight last night counting my 3.

I kept my 3 nephews and niece overnight for my brother & his wife. And I have to say they are good kids.
BUT...........................

7 kids is A LOT for anyone! Any of you mom's out there that have more than 3 kids(because I have 3 and handle that pretty well, so more than 3 seems like a lot to me) you deserve a crown every day!

It was like a circus at mealtimes, we went through at least a gallon of milk, we won't even talk about how crazy bedtime was!

And to top it all off, most of them were up and playing by 5 A.M.!!!!! Crazy I know! So it has been a bit of a long day. I tip my hat off to my sister-in-law! She is AMAZING to handle 5 kids every day of her life!!! They are all precious but that is just a LOT of people!!!

They also have a little one, Jessie(almost 2) that I was supposed to keep but he started running a fever at the last minute so she kept him with them.

I wanted to share the ages of all the children with you.
Youngest to oldest:
Nathan(mine)-almost 2
Amber(mine)-4
Joseph(nephew)-just turned 6
Joshua(nephew)-almost 8
Jacob(mine)-almost 9
Jonathon(nephew)-10
Kassie(niece)-14

So it was an interesting night to say the least! I was gonna take pictures and post them but it just didn't happen!

So my words of wisdom for today are:
God calls certain people to have children, and then He calls other people to have more than 2 or 3 children! If you are not one of those people, by all means, DO NOT HAVE THE CHILDREN!!! We are not all equipped to have lots of children! And after last night I have learned, I am one of those that are NOT called to have more than 3! LOL
I am now off to get my 3 little children to bed, I am exhausted!
Good night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

Hey everyone! My birthday is not until Saturday but I am not going to be posting until after the weekend. So I decided to post while everyone is in bed and I have a moment.

This week has been a little tough. Nathan has had bronchitis. It began last Thursday. He didn't sleep for 3 nights. We were SO tired! I took him to the doctor on Monday. They gave him some kind of cough medicine and it is heavenly!! He has slept all night the last 2 nights in his bed. Usually he gets up in the middle of the night and gets in our bed, every night! So I hope this puts him in a habit of sleeping all night. It has been true bliss to wake up the last 2 mornings and be totally rested! I now remember what is like to have a normal nights sleep! LOL

I have had my alone time with God in the mornings and that has been so peaceful.

Another bliss that I have encountered this week is cable! Yes I think cable is bliss. We normally don't splurge on that kind of thing but a company here in our town had a deal for phone, internet & cable for the price that we were gonna pay for just phone & internet. It is a year deal so we took it. The kids have been amazed to be able to watch Disney and Dora and all those shows they normally don't get to see. And my hubby is really enjoying the man shows. I have watched a little. My bliss with it will come on a weekend when George is gone fishing and I can watch a movie without going to rent one! YAY!
And I am not one to use TV as a baby sitter but I have to say the last few days it has been WONDERFUL to let Jacob & Amber watch TV while I deal with a sick Nathan. Usually they all 3 are under me when one of them is sick. So it has made it a little easier. I have made it very clear though that I can unplug that cable quicker than they plugged it up! So we are still staying active and doing other things.

I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy Father's Day with your families.

So my words of wisdom for today are:
Sit down, leave the dishes and the laundry for later, send the kids to do their own thing and watch a movie that doesn't have a cartoon as the main character! Take some time just for you, it will do you good and you will be a more focused mom and wife because of it!