Honey from the Creek

My dad and Clara Ruth brought some honey by this week. They robbed their hives and shared the bounty with us:) Clara Ruth and Dad have designed little labels and the honey looked so pretty when they brought it! Tonight we had breakfast for supper. Our dessert was biscuits and honey. GREAT honey:)

People sometimes ask how I cook for my family....I always say "The same as everyone else, just bigger pots:)" In actuality we ate (only 15 of us), consuming 4 dozen eggs, 32 huge biscuits and 2 pounds of hash browns, and 1 1/2 gallons of milk (for drinking). We do love to eat:)

Sisters

Chelsea was home yesterday and decided to make some pictures to hang on a blank wall in Mary Lita and Victoria's room. This is my favorite. They all had "sister" quotes. Pretty neat to have a big sister do something so sweet:)

I have found that sisters can be very good companions. They are usually brutally honest with you ....except when they see that you need encouragement...then they have been known to temper their words:) Just barely.

I have also found sisters can be harsh. Perhaps too critical at times. Living in close quarters can do that to someone.

But, if you are really lucky? You get a nice medium, a center line to walk by. Sisters will be with you longer than anyone else in your life (if you are fortunate). Take care of those relationships, cherish them....the day will come when their value is immeasurable! They already are...I am pretty sure my big girls see that and love each other greatly......now if my little girls would just stop and look!

getting better everyday!

These three kiddos really played hard tonight. Michael and Mary Lita ran the entire night! They were everywhere:) Great teamwork!! Daniel scored for our team and we won 2-0. The other goal was made by a player on the other team(good for us and bad for them). It was a beautiful night to play soccer!

Tasha

The child of mine is really unique. I know they all are, but she is the ultimate in good sportsmanship. Silly, funny, happy go lucky, aggressive, hard working, competitive....that sounds like an unlikely list. But, with Tasha? She is wide open and crazy talented when it comes to sports. She loves the high level of competition. BUT, she is not an "angry, hateful, spiteful" player. She plays hard (and I do mean hard...the pictures above show it) and she jumped up after this tumble, laughed, straightened her clothes, then was off down the field. She is really fun:)

moments:)

Tonight I sat at church during an Area Wide Youth service and watched 3 of my teenage boys participate. I love moments like that!! John and Doug both led singing and Caleb offered the closing prayer. I read my friend Cindy's blog earlier. Someone asked if she ever regretted adopting. I so agree with her answer. I wish I could change the drug and alcohol abuse of some of my children's birth moms. I regret that I did not have them sooner. But those regrets are fruitless. I love all of my children. I want to see them be great servants in God's kingdom. I can tell you that as my boys stood there tonight I felt like yelling "YES!". This is one of those moments parents wait for....the kind that sneak up on you and have you in tears. I was so very proud of my guys!!

Little helpers

Our little helpers can sure do a lot of work! Anyone who has a few able bodied (and more importantly? willing) kiddos sure can get a lot done. This afternoon Scott and my little guys worked outside. They did a lot of work. Good work ethic begins very early in life. The confidence in a job well done is universal...no matter what age it feels really good!

Our last first tooth:)

Today marked the last time we have a "first lost tooth" in our family. Seth has been wiggling for a while now and today asked Jacob and Doug to help pull it. It took a little while, but Seth is now holding his very first tooth:)

Remembering the oddest things....

Tonight I watched "The Last of the Mohican's". I love that movie. I do not watch it to very often, I do not watch sad movies to often as a rule. But when I do, I can't watch it and not think of my sister Stacy. While Stacy was in the hospital in Memphis having her stem cell transplants she was in an isolation room. There was a nurse that sat outside her room 24/7. There were two such rooms, yet the entire time Stacy was there no one occupied the other room that I can remember.Stacy had two nurses that shared the weekday shifts. So we became great friends with the nurses who cared for Stacy. One of them was a young male RN from Ashville, North Carolina where "The Last of the Mohican's" was filmed. As I watch the characters run up and down (but mostly up) all those mountains I think of him telling us that one of his best friends in college, a natural athlete, dropped out of college a semester to play Madeline Stowe's body double. She did all the running parts. Isn't it funny the things we remember? I cannot remember that RN's name but can see his face as he told about her and her adventures while acting. Stacy and I really were impressed:)

Funny the things we remember.

Maintaining vs Succeeding

Maintaining. It's that stagnant word? It doesn't imply any forward action, no success. I am all about success. Not in a worldly sense but with self in mind. I am not very crazy about the world "selfish' either, but a person's personal growth is about self.

I have a host of different children. All at different places in life. Age alone separates so many of them. But all do have one thing in common....self. They each are personally responsible to be the best "self" they can be. They each need to be selfishly concerned about personally moving forward. Never satisfied with maintaining. Maintaining, is to me, like hanging onto a life preserver. There is no rescue in sight, no salvation, just hanging. The only positive thing is that you cannot drown, well not immediately.

For this crazy mom, the biggest huddle is helping my children to find the strength to be "all they can be". It is a strength of character I wish for them. A strengthened self. If I had some wishes, about 21 of them, it would be for my children to each find the unique motivations for themselves that would lead them to be the very best person they can be. To find their strength in God and through Him to find the motivation to meet their dreams and lives head on, no maintaining, no selfishness, just pure strength of character...the ultimate in "living large".

I truly believe I have met my dreams head on. I have lived large, am living large, doing what I love and what I feel God wishes for me with my life. I am not through. I also realize that dreams flow. Dreams move. Dreams take us places and I have lots of travel left in me:) My wishes are not pipe dreams. They are right in line with God's hope for my children. For all of his children. He and I want to be there to see my children succeed. He and I want to see them grow in Him be with him in Heaven!

A long week

This has been an incredibly long week. Not a bad one, just long. I substitute from time to time at the school. I manage to work days into our schedule when I can. Several weeks ago Seth's first grade teacher asked me to sub this whole week. I agreed. I really did enjoy being with Seth and the children in his classroom are just perfect. Perfect as in a nice representation of a classroom. I got up earlier than normal,which is a little early:) Packed Daniel's lunch (and a couple others on the days I had enough lunch food). My Daniel was having a hard time with self-control in the lunchroom. Eating two meals a day. So he is now packing a lunch (or rather mom is packing a lunch) to help him with that control. I think he will decided to be reasonable when i get sick of packing lunches. Right now he believes he will never again get to have school pizza with ranch dressing (his favorite...sounds a bit yuck to me!).

Seth, pictured above, went to the game a little early with me to get some "daylight" pictures made. I really enjoyed seeing him in his classroom this past week. He is such a neat little guy. Well behaved, smart, kind, and he loves his momma (it just doesn't get any better than that...lol)

I had some kiddos leave on a youth group retreat this weekend....or rather after the football game. Chelsea and Dustin are going too. I imagine they will have fun:)

For me? This weekend just needs to include lots of rest! I have another busy week coming and I have to get it all back together!

Tonight as I walked from room to room saying good night I was reminded once again of The Walton's. I always laugh as I run through the good nights. And I always hear "Goodnight Johnboy" in my mind:)

It's Friday night football again:)

Another great night for our football team! Another great night for Caleb:) Caleb was named player of the week by our Rotary this past week. He is now 23 for 23 on extra points and 2 for 2 on field goals. Caleb is having an awesome Senior year! His holder was injured in a B team game earlier this week and a new one has taken his place. I was a little concerned about Caleb's confidence with a new holder, but I must say that right after thinking that he went onto the field tonight and kicked 6 extra points tonight! I think his confidence is just fine:)

My neat guy Doug!

Doug did really well today at the Hardin Country Cross Country meet at Horse Creek. He finished 19th and in 19 minutes. The number one runner on our team he is having a great year. His best time is 18 minutes so he was off a tad bit today. This is one of the few meets I get to attend. So many of our meets are immediately after school and over an hour from home. Logistically it just does not work. Nearly everyone was able to be there today:) Doug in turn came to Seth and Tori's soccer game. Seth was so tickled to have hm there! He told Doug over a quick dinner "You won one and I'll win one for you tonight!". To Seth? Doug is a winner11 Seth is so very blessed with a wealth of big brothers whom he loves so greatly and who so individually give him unique examples!

Yellow team

The yellow soccer team is predominately Smotherman(Rosie, Tahsa, Michael, Isabella, Mary, Daniel and Ryan). Ryan and Daniel both were moved up even though they are not yet old enough for the league. The league needed more players. So we comprise 7 of the 11 teammates. It has been an incredible year for my yellow kiddos! Tasha had 4 gaols to bring a win to the team on Monday night, and last night Tasha, Daniel and Ryan all had a goal. I have a strong bunch of soccer kiddos:) What a fun and "great for your health" game:)

Blue team soccer:)

Victoria and Seth are both on the "blue team" this year. It is the 7-9 year old division and while Seth is still 6 he was so ready to move up. He is right on level with the average and Tori is at the top of her game:) My grinning silly girl is tough as nails! She is a competitor! They are really looking forward to a great year! They are undefeated so far:)

Soccer Refs

These three guys have been referees for years on the inter mural soccer fields. Caleb and Jacob are in their 4th year and John his 3rd. They all playing soccer and if we had a team would likely all be on it. But, we do not, so they will spend this season enjoying being paid to run up and down a field refereeing a sport they love:)

Faith?

Last night a friend asked me to speak on my "faith" during our ladies Bible class. I was stumped for a minute. I decided I needed to search my blog, surely I had something written already to help me. After searching I decided the problem with "finding" my Faith is simply that it's not lost! Faith is not a "thing" I should have to search for. It's in every single footstep I take each day.

I sometimes think that in my old age I have lived through so many tests of Faith. My sister died of cancer and my mother of Alzheimer's, both while I was in my 20's and 30's. Now, in my terribly aging 40's (lol), I have found that those events did not stump my faith, but merely shaped it, honed it, strengthen it. I found that my Lord is an incredible friend. My faith in Him is what sustains me each day. My Faith is in the here and now, not a talk.

I didn't get to talk, as class got underway Seth's teacher poked her head in the classroom door. Seth was sick and we needed to go home. As I left, not getting to hear any of the other ladies "talks" on Faith I smiled at myself. Isn't that just life? Those are the disappointments we have to guard ourselves against. Luckily for me Denise and I talked tonight and she shared the stories told with love and faith. Not as good as being there, but certianly nice!

Those ole pictures....

If a picture is worth a thousand words and all that....then these little ole pictures are worth thousands:) This is "Chelsea". If you see her you will likely see little ones hanging all over her. She is a female pied piper (lol...only a good, kind and sweet one!). I sure do miss her!!

The last picture is with her boyfriend Dustin:) Dustin is our children's minister and just like Chelsea is usually surrounded by little people, medium people and big people! It is really kinda rare to catch them together and alone. Although this picture was taken before a devo in the middle of about 150 people...lol...not to "alone" but definitely together!

Happy 12th Birthday Tasha!!

Today is Tasha's birthday. The last of my crazy September birthdays. She is always my "happy in whatever state I'm in" child. Today is absolutely no exception!! She is loving it all! Even the screaming rendition of "happy birthday"...lol:)

What's cookin?

My silly cooks:)