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Momma Roar's Kitchen

Show & Tell

Kelli is hosting Show & Tell today! Head over to her site to see more!! Thanks for hosting this again today, Kelli!!! Today, I'd like to share some of my angels.

This first one was given to me by a good friend of my mom's. She gave it to me for my HS graduation and I took her to college with me! She still rests on my dresser! She's aged and lost some of the dried flowers, but she's still praying! She reminds me a lot of Susan's angel that she shared here.

I just love these Will*w Tre* angels. The taller one was a gift from my sister. It is the Sprit of Christmas, she gave me this in December 2004, when Elle was born. And the little one, mi casa, I purchased for myself when we were building our house. I marked 2005 on the house!

This last one is a 'thank you' angel. She is the reason I wanted to show my angels today. I just received her this week - in the mail. Well, lol, actually, I had to go pick her up at the U*P*S store. Why, you ask? She was mailed to me by Aisha (Just Mom) as a thank you for an Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition type thing! And she was mailed to the store because that was the return address on the package I mailed her when she won one of my birthday contests! Apparently, they didn't like mine!?!?!?

I must admit that I was a little confused as to why I had to go to the store to pick up a package - I wondered if the drivers were on strike! I didn't realize that my address didn't show up on the package - and fortunately, Galen, the nice man working at the store, took the time to look me up in the system and give me a call! What a treat when I arrived!

UPDATE TO ADD: I wanted to add that the evening I received my angel, I called Aisha to thank her for it. It was a treat to talk to her as well - and she doesn't have much of an accent! :) Thank you again Aisha!!

Along with my show and tell about my angels, I'd love for you to come back on Monday as I'm planning to share a story about my angel...who saved my life.

Blessings for a great weekend,

Need a laugh? I do!! :)

Top Ten Things Only Women Understand

10. Why it's good to have five pairs of black shoes.
9. The difference between cream, ivory, and off-white.
8. Crying can be fun.
7. Fat clothes.
6. A salad, diet drink, and a hot fudge sundae make a balanced lunch.
5. Discovering a designer dress on the clearance rack can be considered a peak life experience.
4. The inaccuracy of every bathroom scale ever made.
3. A good man might be hard to find, but a good hairdresser is next to impossible.
2. Why a phone call between two women never lasts under ten minutes.
1. Other women!

Aaah, this is so true - and I'm so glad we understand each other! Thank you all for your comments yesterday and for taking the time to share yourselves with me. I truly appreciate it!

Edited to add: After I published this I found it ironic that the relationship I mentioned yesterday, is with a woman....sigh....

Help

I had a blog quiz up here earlier and decided to save it for another time. Bloggers, I'd like your sincere help. I need to learn how not to take things so personally. There is someone in my life that I just can't set aside what they say as their opinion - I take it to heart and it is hurting our relationship.

Doing a quick go*gle search (yes, I do love go*gle), this online bible study came up: Do Not Take Things Personally: Escape the Trap of Hurt Feelings (c) 2006 by Do*ug Brit*ton. Does anyone know anything about him or this study?

What do you do?
Do you have any advice?

I'm tired of hurting and I don't want this relationship to suffer anymore.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Mary @notbefore7 is hosting Tiny Talk Tuesday - head over to her site to read more!!

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Quintin told me last week I wasn't allowed to go out for supper with my girlfriends. He threatened with, "I'll plug you in so you can't go anywhere!" (He looks so much like his dad with that smirk!)

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"I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men, if you follow me."

I always giggle when Elle sings 'fishers of men' because she can't pronounce fishers - it sounds like "fifuu."

"I will make you fifuu of ma, fifuu of ma..." :D

Last night, I was close to hysterics when I heard the end to her song, "I will make you pancakes, if you follow me!"

Two things

Just wanted to share two things with you today.

Click the 'interceding for our children' button on the left.

And, this video has had a huge impact on me since I saw it last week. I must share it with you all. It is about 5 minutes long - if you can't take the time now to watch it, please come back - and watch it until the end.

And, Jessy - if you are reading - I pray you are, know I love you and I really want you to see this video too!

**Update**

Update to the post below! If you haven't read it, please do so first. It is extremely crucial that you read them in order (It's really not, I just feel like being bossy, lol)



Everything is now right in the World of Roar!

And, NO, I don't need an intervention - I can stop drinking it anytime I want. Just not today, and, tomorrow doesn't look good either! (The same is true with my blogging addiction opportunities!)

And yes, you'll notice one has already been removed. Please note that I did wait until I returned from the grocery store - it is best served on ice!

Vlogging reflections

Thanks Tracy and Mac for that new term - vlog - I hadn't heard of it before!

Reflections -

~My camera speaker creates a lisp.
~My eyes don't always look so droopy.
~As T started watching it, the first thing he said was "You're tired" and I don't think he meant my eyes!
~I believe he saw similarities to an "I want to thank the academy" speech.
~We desperately need some pepsi in the house (I've had a headache for the past 24 hours - and NO, I'm not addicted)!
~I was sitting on the floor with the camera on my bookshelf - so normally, I am talling than the knobs on my closet doors.
~I could handle going to bed after midnight much better in my younger years!
~Yes, there were parts of it that made me cringe as I watched it, but your comments were great! And, if I brought a smile to someone's face - it was totally worth it!
~And, did ya hear, Just Mom is doing a video blog - at least that is what the rumors are! lol (I'm so bad, aren't I?)

The Challenge...(cue music)

It was a best of nights, it was the worst of nights.....you'll see what I mean when you watch. I was inspired by Ginger and Kerrie! Enjoy!




I also posted here today:

A challenge?

Ginger's comments yesterday started a sort of challenge - but I'm too chicken to do it, lol!

After posting the kids this week, she wondered if I was going to turn the camera on myself.

I thought about it and here is what I decided:

I will if she will!

My inchworm

There has got to be an easier way! lol :D But then, Mom wouldn't have to put the "nuk" (pacifier) across the room making him work to get it! Notice my other two siting on the couch - don't I have them well trained? lol ;-)





Ok, I'll stop with the videos now!! :) Hope you enjoyed "meeting" my children this way!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

It's Tuesday and it time to hear what the Tiny ones are Talking about! Head over to Mary's at Not Before 7 to play along and/or to read more.

The Wooden Bowl

After reading Diana's Sunday post, this story came to mind and I wanted to share it.

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and a four-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass often milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about grandfather," said the son. I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor. So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the dinner table. Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather's direction, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work. The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.



Diana left us with this challenging task: "To think about who you are honoring, and who you are not."

May I add to her challenge, to think about, as parents, the building blocks that are being laid each day for our children's futures? What actions and attitudes of our's will they imitate?

Homeschool Open House 2007

I'm joining in on the Homeschool Open House 2007 hosted by Tiany at Less of Me~More of Him. Thank you for hosting this Tiany, I think it is a great idea!



A short intro about you, how many blessings?
I'm Momma Roar (aka Leigh Ann) and I have a 5 year old son - Quintin, a 2 1/2 year old daughter - Noelle (Elle [rhymes with belly] for short) and an 8 month old son - Colin. Quintin is beginning kindergarten this month.

We home'pre'schooled last year using Weaver's Interlock program. We loved it. It was a 37 week program that covered Genesis 1-11. It formed an excellent foundation for Quintin with the days of Creation - I really enjoyed it too.

Your Homeschool Day, what does it look like?
Our schedule is still being "discovered!" Last year, when I was pregnant with Colin, I would work with Quintin first thing in the morning, while Elle was still asleep. Now, Colin is the first to wake up and I've been trying different schedules this past week. We spent some time reviewing from last year and experimenting with different times to work together. We did it one morning while Colin was down for his morning nap and the next day we did it while he was in the pack n play in the next room. I'm sure we'll have some other variations, but it was nice to know it still worked and it doesn't have to be the same each day.

Our lessons will be Bible, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, Phonics and Math - we won't be starting with all of these, but gradually adding some in each week.

My plan is to finish before lunch, unless we have a crazy day - then I'll work with Quintin while his brother and sister nap.

What curriculum will you be using?
We will be using Weaver's Vol 1 this year and I am looking forward to it. It is set up differently than their Interlock program, but I think I've gotten myself prepared!!

We'll be using RightStart for math and Spell to Write and Read for phonics. I also want to go through Gregg & Joshua Harris' The 21 Rules of This House with Elle and Quintin.

Anything else we add will just be a hodgepodge of this and that, lol!

Do you schedule your day to the minute or go with the flow with no real structure?
I like to have a plan, but "to the minute" is too difficult to do - I have a goal in mind to complete each day. I was an elementary PE teacher before having children and that taught me to always have a plan B - some days I would have the gym to teach in and some days, there would be no janitor there to clean up after lunch so I'd have to move elsewhere (those were the days!)

Do you homeschool in a homeschool room, at the kitchen table, at a desk, in the park on the grass?
We homeschool everywhere - the kitchen table, at a table in the playroom, outside, in the truck...everywhere!!

Do you have any “must share” tips?
I recently purchased Ruth Beechick's "A Biblical Home Education" and I am finding it so refreshing. Here is an excerpt that I really needed to hear:

"Many new homeschoolers, and older ones too, buy too much curriculum and then cry for help. They worry about "gaps," about not covering everything. It is a myth that there is an "everything" standard that we all should know. Graduates who are good thinkers can later learn whatever they need. One whole generation had to learn computers on their own. Schools like Mass*achuset*s Insti*tut*e of Te*ch*nolo*gy hired self-taught men to teach computer until they could raise degreed computer professors. Who knows what your children may need to learn in the future? There is no way to "cover" everything. Aim, instead, to teach your children how to think and learn in whatever content you are using."

Thanks for stopping by my Open House! Blessings to you all for a wonderful new school year!

Sand and Stone

Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument; and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: Today my best friend slapped me in the face.


They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: Today my best friend saved my life.


The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?”

The friend replied, “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand, where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in stone.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person,
An hour to appreciate them,
A day to love them
But then an entire life to forget them.

Do not value the things you have in your life, but value who you have in your life.

images made at http://www.imagechef.com/

Friday's Song

I awoke singing this hymn and as I kept signing, this simple graphic came to my mind - I had to make it and share it. I've been listening to this song on Jars of Clay's Redemption Songs CD. This song is blessing me today, I hope it blesses you as well.

You can hear the song here.

Blog virus

There's a blog virus that has been imbedding itself in the html code causing blogs to load much more slowly. My friend Amber posted about it here. If you notice your blog is loading slowly, you can follow Amber's instructions and get rid of it. If you aren't sure about how to change it, let me know and I can try to help. I found it on all my blogs - almost lost the template for the prayer blog in the process - but now they are loading faster. I understand even if you delete it, it can come back.

What color are you?

Saw this over at Dawnelle's.

You are most like: You are Yellow
The clouds part and the smell of daffodils and daisies fill the air when you are around. Your sunny disposition cheers most, and makes others (the jealous and bitter ones) wish you'd never gotten out of bed.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

So, what color are you?

2 Great Contests

Multi-Tasking Moms - if you haven't signed up for this one yet - get over there - the winner will be announced tomorrow!

This gift includes:
Papaya Puree Body Lotion (250ml),
Papaya Bath & Shower Gel,
& an Ultra Fine Bath Lily (coral color)

And, a Back to School Giveaway with Gymboree.

This site is giving away 2 $250 gift certificates to Gymboree. I'd love to have this one!

Button for Prayer Blog

If you've been blessed by the prayer blog, will you please consider adding the button to your sidebar?

Right-click to copy and then paste into the html/java script page element on the template section of your blog.

Thank you!

<a href="http://liftinghands.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="a parent's prayer blog"><img border="0" style="WIDTH: 130px; HEIGHT: 134px" alt="a parent's prayer blog" width="145" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qa-ZVQXlQ9c/RrYzqtMXT9I/AAAAAAAAAxs/vL8r1i4rg_E/s200/interceding+button.jpg" height="115" /></a>

How are my kitchen drawers?

I want to say thank you to each of you who shared such sweet comments last week on my kitchen drawer post. Your heartfelt comments mean so much!

A few of you asked how my break was so I thought I'd share. Also, last week Susanna at Mommy Inc tagged me for an 8 Random Things post (as did Ghost Girl some time ago, sorry MA) so I'm combining the two into a "8 Things I did over my break" kinda post! You know, like the first writing assignment when you get back to school - What I did over the summer? lol :)

1. One drawer that needed cleaning out was the sewing projects I started but never had the time to finish. Last Friday, I finished this for Elle.

2. And she wore it here on Saturday.

We went with my hubby's company for their 70th anniversary. We had a wonderful time. It was a very hot and humid day (we have heat warnings today). We invited my parents along for the day too - I think they had fun - it was hot, did I say that already?

3. I made some yummy recipes I had been wanting to make but never had the time. You can find those recipes here.

4. I decided to let Elle cut her pacifier (nuk) Friday afternoon - right before bedtime. I wish I would have done it sooner, but it was one of those things that wasn't a problem for me, because she was good about keeping it in her room and using it only for her nap and at nighttime. Except on Friday. She was running around upstairs with it and I told her before I would take it if she continues to do that....so, we cut it, well, I let her cut it. The rest of the weekend she kept telling me, "Next time, no me cut nuk!" :) Her drama is beginning to settle down now and I'm happy it is gone. I seriously thought she was gonna sneak into Colin's room and take one of his. :)

5. I spent time in prayer and in the Word. I also used the time to pray God's will over my children and to bless the new blog.

6. I spent time with the man I love!!

I love this guy - he is an awesome husband and a wonderful father!!! He works so hard for us and I'm thinking about him and his employees a lot today because of the heat warnings outside.



7. I spent time with a great group of kids!!!!! :)

Colin is 8 months today - I can't believe it! He is finally sitting up - this seemed to take longer for him than the other two. I realized he was enjoying playing on his belly and didn't mind being on the floor. Every time I would sit him up he would throw his head back so he could lay down. Now he is sitting up and he is also starting to crawl - in army crawl fashion with a touch of inchworm thrown in for style!! It is so fun to watch. Why must he grow up so fast?






And, that would be batman on the right - he was kind enough to push his mask up for the picture - gotta love his sidekick!! I'm not sure if she is his sidekick or the one causing the trouble for batman!






8. I came away feeling refreshed and acknowledging that I need to do that more often, (my hubby acknowledged that too) especially with kindergarten starting soon. So, you will be seeing a little less of me in the blogosphere as I try to cut back on my posting on this blog.




Oh, and, that bottom drawer, with the boxes of sandwich bags and plastic wraps?



I still can't get it to close - no matter how much I rearrange it! I guess that just goes to show there will always be drawers that we can't get closed and projects that won't get finished, right?

Introducing...My new project

"We try to do the best we can raising our children. Then, just when we think we've got the parenting terrain all figured out, we suddenly find ourselves in new territory again as each new age and stage presents another set of challenges. Sometimes we sail through smoothly. Sometimes we encounter tempests and tidal waves. Sometimes we get so tired that we just want to give up - let the storm take us where it will."

"We don't have to be tossed and turned by these winds of change. Our children's lives don't ever have to be left to chance."

"We don't have to pace the floor anxiously, biting our nails, gnawing our knuckles, dreading the terrible twos or torturous teens....Nor do we have to be perfect parents."

The good news is, we can start right now, this very minute to make a positive difference in our child's future.

"At every stage of their lives our children need and will greatly benefit from our prayers. The key is not trying to do it all by ourselbes all at once, but rather turning to the expert parent of all time - our Father God - for help. Then, taking one step at a time, we must cover every detail of our child's life in prayer. There is great power in doing that, far beyond what people imagine. In fact, don't ever under-estimate the power of a praying parent." From Stormie Omartian's The Power of a Praying Parent

After beginning this book, the Lord stirred up a desire in me to share this burden of prayer for my children with other parents.

Out of this desire, came a blog - a become a place where you can come and say a prayer for your children (old or young). To read more and begin to pray with me for our children, click below.

"The battle for our children's lives is waged on our knees. When we don't pray, it's like sitting on the sidelines watching our children in a war zone getting shot at from every angle. When we do pray, we're in the battle alongside them, appropriating God's power on their behalf." (S.O.)


Blessings,

My kitchen drawer

Did you ever have a drawer that won't close because something is stuck in it?

Last night, I couldn't get my bottom kitchen drawer to shut - the drawer with the boxes and boxes of plastic bags, plastic wraps, foils. I kept trying to rearrange everything to make it go shut - to make it all fit.

I thought, what about my life? I have so many drawers open with things spilling out of them, but I can't get any closed - I have so many things going on in my life and can't seem to finish any of them so I can never get the drawer shut. I. Can't. Make. It. All. Fit.

I'm feeling like this

While I know I could have stuffed these drawers for a more dramatic effect - I didn't want to come across that everything is out of control. I know that my Lord is holding me in His hands and taking care of me. And I need to listen when He calls me to rest - because I can't seek Him when my drawers don't go shut.

So, I'm signing off for a few days and hope to be back next Monday, with my drawers organized and shut - and a new project to share with my friends!

God bless,

boi

Blogs of Interest

*Check out this new blog and get the word out! It is there for us moms trying to juggle everything life, and our children, throw our way.



*I'm in the process of a new project I plan to introduce Monday. Stay tuned!