My new favorite website...

Or maybe its another pick of the week. Anyway, my favorite show on the Food Network is Ace of Cakes. LOVE IT! They crack me up. So I was bored tonight and went on the charmcitycakes.com website. Amazing. You can see all their cakes, they are just as funny on the website as the show, and they tell you details about ordering cakes, which I will never do. Besides the small fact they they do not ship, the minimum price no matter how small the cake is, is $500! Mary Alice has a blog on there where she talks about what is going on, and that is so cool. She is one of those people that if you saw them on the street, you just know they would know you personally because of how they just seem to join you in your home when you are watching the show. Check it out!

Once a month Wal-mart trip

I was going to just add to the comments on my post where I said I go to Walmart once a month, but its too much. So I thought I would post how I can only go once a month. First of all, its not because I just want to, or am trying to avoid the place. Its financial reasons. Once we pay our mortgage, there is not much left, so I need to do the majority of the shopping on the paycheck where we don't pay mortgage. So I made a list of about 99% of the things that we buy, in order of where they are in the store. I keep the list on the fridge and check them off throughout the month when we need them. Then I make a list of about 20 meals a few days before I go, and add that stuff to the list. It takes me a couple of days to double check the list, make my menu and organize my coupons, but its worth it. On that other paycheck, I might go buy milk, orange juice and produce, if we need it. But I try to buy more than one milk and freeze the extra (we don't drink much milk) and buy a few loaves of bread and freeze it. We do have an extra fridge in the garage, otherwise I wouldn't have room for it all. It takes me two to three hours, so I wear my Ipod and just try to enjoy myself. I really haven't decided if coupons are worth it. I do save money, but it takes me longer to figure out if its a good deal to use them or just buy a cheaper brand. I also have to run to Krogers once or twice a month to buy the organic stuff that Cooper eats because, although Walmart is getting better about having organic, they do not have organic pop tarts yet, which he would eat two boxes of a week if I let him. So that's how I do it. It has positives and negatives, but we are making it work. I wish Jason would go with me one day because I don't think he gets it. Oh, you also have to figure out the best time to go. Don't go on the weekends or Monday morning, there is nothing there. It is picked over. And I don't go at night, much busier and I don't feel as safe. So right now I go on Wednesday mornings. Sunday mornings are very quiet if you are skipping church, but again, its kind of picked over. (That is the best time to get pictures taken with Santa and the Easter Bunny, Sunday mornings! Yes, the ministers wife has skipped church to get pictures taken, I think one of my kids was sick, I had a legitimate reason... I think.)

Christy's Pick of the Week 3/What God is Talking to me About

Pick of the Week- Casting Crowns The Alter and The Door
We saw Casting Crowns on Friday night in concert, SO GOOD! Very worshipful, very convicting. Their newest CD is very good. When I listen to the lyrics that Mark Hall has written, I get an understanding of how the Bible was written. Only God sending those lyrics down to a man who is really listening could explain his songs. They are deep, very blunt, and very honest. So, in the middle of the concert, I was reminded of one of the sermons that I heard at the Fusion conference a while back by Voddie Baucham. He reminded us that the gospel is not about us. We, especially Americans, are very narcissistic, we think that the gospel revolves around us. We look at the Bible like a yearbook, looking for things about us. He said that if the gospel was about us, then when we became a Christian, Jesus could come back. Obviously, He didn't. We sang a song in church last Sunday that Voddie referenced, "Above All". Lovely line in the chorus "On the cross, He thought of me, Above All". NO HE DIDN'T. He did think of the nations that He wanted to save. Jesus came to save the nations, the world, not just me. The great commission says to go out into all the world, and when you see who Jesus was talking to, all the world includes America. We aren't the center of Christianity!
I'll get off my soap box about that. Crowns sang a song off their last album that added to those thoughts, "I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind. Still you hear me when I'm calling, you catch me when I'm falling, you told me who I am. I am yours." So, God has been telling me, most importantly its not about me, because I am very prideful and selfish. But also, He does care about me, even the little things that I don't bring to Him because I think I am big enough to take care of it by myself. I am so small in the context of what God is doing. Mark Hall said, "God doesn't need us. But He does want us." We are privileged to serve a great God. And we need to get off ourselves (I'm talking to myself) and see where He is working and join Him. So much to think about.

Rough week

I have had a rough week, if I can complain for a second. Ok, really it hasn't been that bad at all. I have just been tired I guess and had no patience, and that makes everything seem a little worse when you have preschoolers. I can't even complain now that I'm trying. It all seems silly. Tuesday my babies were wacked out! It was the hardest day of the year so far. And when I vented to my assistant director, she said I was the fourth teacher to say how bad the day was. We decided that a cold front had moved in, and believe it or not that makes a difference, as does a full moon. Wednesday I did my monthly shopping at Wal-mart. Yes, I only go grocery shopping once a month, or at least 90% of it. It took me three hours, but I had my Ipod on (see my pick of the week 2) so that helped. But it still took a lot of physical and mental energy. Men would probably think that was silly, but women understand my pain! I'm sure there are some men who grocery shop, but none that read my blog. When I got home I realized that the cashier had not done a few of my precious coupons correctly and had jipped me out of at least $6! Irritating! Focus on the good stuff Christy! Focus on the good stuff! Monday was good. We have started some community groups and I had my first one Monday night. I had two ladies, but we had a good time together and this coming Monday promises to have some more attendees. Tomorrow night we are going to see Casting Crowns in concert with some good friends! Looking really forward to that! None of my children are sick. My husband was not out of town. And we have electricity, hot running water, air conditioning, and the money to buy groceries! So all in all, I guess it was a good week. Its all in how you look at it, right?

Christy's Pick of the Week 2

David Crowder Band, Remedy. So much fun! There is nothing better than putting in a worship CD in the car, turning it way up, and hearing your preschoolers sing from the backseat. And this is the perfect CD for that! It is also great to put on your Ipod and use it to make house cleaning and exercising more fun. Its hard to be in a bad mood when you are singing about how we are here for God to get glory and He is "Everything Glorious"! Another favorite, "Never Let Go", is certainly a remedy for those days when things are really tough. My only complaint about it is that there isn't enough of it! Only 10 songs, and two of them are older. The really different thing about Crowder is all of the cool sound effects in the background of his songs, you have no doubt its him. I highly recommend it! Enjoy it turned way up!
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=cd8432&event=1002NR#curr

Christy's Pick of the Week!

A new addition to my blog, I will post my pick of the week, hopefully every week! Either a book, music, a tv show or movie, or something special for the preschoolers we all love and adore. I had a hard time deciding what should be first, but I just finished reading this book to my boys, and Cooper and I really enjoyed it. Its called The Genesis of it All, by Luci Shaw. It is a beautiful description of the way that God created the world and the artwork is amazing! The two artists who illustrated it are members of The Community of Jesus, a monastic community in Orleans, MA, in the Benedictine tradition. Here is a small example of the thought-provoking and uplifting poetry. "Something was missing. In all the sea or sky or dry land God hadn't yet breathed into being any creatures to be friends with, with God's own ways of creating, and loving, and thinking, and feeling, and acting out the thoughts and the feelings." One question is raised in my mind, which has caused me to think about how big our God is. It says more than once that the job wasn't easy, creating the world. And I asked myself how easy it was for God? He spoke it into being, breathed His breath of life and it was there. Sounds easy to me! All and all I would highly recommend this book, I think the adults in your home will enjoy it as much or more than your children. I found it in the children's section of our great library. Enjoy!

I tried for 20 minutes to get a picture of it on here, couldn't do it. Any ideas? If you want to see it, here is a link to my library page. http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=119DU61171K01.75666&menu=search&aspect=subtab13&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=webcat&ri=&term=&index=.GH&aspect=subtab13&term=Genesis&index=.TH&term=shaw&index=.AH&term=&index=.SH&x=6&y=13

How do planes stay in the air?

I have always wondered that. I mean, people have explained it to me sometime in my life, but it just doesn't make sense. This weekend was the Wings Over Houston air show, which takes place about 2 miles from our house. So we get a great view from our front and back yards. I am not really a "planey" (I just made that up, I figure if people who are really in to food are "foodies" then people who are really into planes are "planies")I don't care what kind they are or how old they are or how fast they go. However, when a group of nine planes flies over your house so close together, you just have to be in awe. I didn't get much done this weekend because every time I heard a plane coming, I ran outside. Sometimes my family would join me, but they weren't into it as much as I was. The jets would buzz our house and it would hurt our ears they were so loud! It was awesome! On Saturday I tried to take a bunch of pictures, but then I realized I was missing out on the awe of it trying to keep the camera on the plane. I knew there had to be some kind of spiritual lesson in that, and I came up with one. Sometimes we are so focused on trying to see the details of what God is doing in our lives, that we miss out on the awesomeness of the big picture! So Sunday afternoon, I got out in our tree house by myself and was blessed with the most awesome sight of the nine Canadian Snow Birds flying over, twice, closer then they had been all weekend. I felt like I could reach up and touch them. Is was so incredible! Next year, you can come watch from our backyard if you want.