I don't have it all together ...

Pinterest inspired artwork for Father's Day 2014.

Did I mention I don't have it all together? If I seem like I have it all together it's a great coincidence, I'll put a big fat gold star next to the imaginary tiara I wear everyday. Oh wait, yes, I actually did buy a tiara because it was a good day about a week ago and I felt like the King's (Christ the King) princess, that I am. I've yet to put it on my pretty little head. I feel unbalanced to put it lightly. And all untogether, which I'm pretty sure isn't even a word, but describes me perfectly … at least today. I don't think there are really any mommy fails. There are mommy mishaps and stellar mommy temporarily lost her cool moments, but fails, not so much. I really and truly believe that, "All things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. - Romans 8:28. When there's a big gap between my posts … I'm trying to keep it together. Today I'm writing in my untogetherness. This is a new thing for me. Guess what? Turns out untogether actually is a word, meaning disorganized; confused; chaotic … yep. That pretty much sums it up. All things were working together for good this morning when I lost my patience with my son, paused for a moment to really soak up the guilt and walked into the next room sinking down to his level to ask for forgiveness, which he gave immediately, because he'd forgotten what had happened just five minutes earlier. The life lessons we're both learning here is not only forgiveness, but learning to let go of the guilt involved with our mistakes. The lovely gift the enemy freely gives in huge amounts attached to acts when our sinful flesh becomes weak. The enemy intrusively planted countless thoughts of failure and unworthiness. And when I rebuked the enemy he fled - period, because he has to. Sometimes I'm really just tired of battling. It's like, enough already! This is exhausting, but the war will wage on whether I fight or not. I choose to keep fighting.

Volcanic action,
hand's on science experiment.

The past three weeks we've worked on h, i, j, k, l, m, n and o. We've also learned a great deal about volcanoes, constructing one ourselves out of the Crayola Air-Dry Clay. Creed carefully measured out the baking soda and I waited for his expression as he poured in the white vinegar, knowing all along the bubbly action soon to happen. It was, of course, a big hit. He learned about chemical reactions during our hands-on science experiment. Deep inside the Earth, between the molten iron core and the thin crust at the surface, there is a solid body of rock called the mantle. When rock from the mantle melts, moves to the surface through the crust, and releases pent-up gases, volcanoes erupt. Extremely high temperature and pressure cause the rock to melt and become liquid rock or magma. Liquid rock. Can you imagine the heat that would turn rock into liquid?! When a large body of magma has formed, it rises through the denser rock layers toward Earth's surface. Magma that reaches the surface is called lava, which we can buy in bags at our local hardware stores for landscaping. The red lava rock, technically called scoria is formed during eruption due to the oxidation of iron.

We took a field trip to another great aquarium in search of sting rays, among other aquatic wonders. Through the vast majority of ocean wildlife we saw the Creator's detail and beauty he put into these sea creatures and fish made on day five of creation. Also, members from day six, penguins. We all watched in quiet awe as a penguin created some pretty fancy footwork, coloring canvas, that they sell donating the proceeds to wildlife preserves. 

We bought five new chickens and Creed had his fourth birthday (sniff sniff) and his first visit to the dentist as well. All of those books really paid off because Creed was not anxious at all. He was telling the dental hygienist and dentist what things were around him, how the chair went up and down, etc. I sat quietly listening to the banter. At the end the dentist blew up a balloon with the air hose they use during examination and made him a yellow dog. The hygienist completed the trip with a goody bag filled with a transformer toothbrush, bubblegum toothpaste and a prize from the treasure chest. Big inward sigh of relief from mama. So I guess these past three weeks have been pretty busy. So busy, in fact, that I hadn't had time to stop and really think about what had taken place.  When do we slow down? I don't know about you, but I've got to take the time to do it because the non-stop really wears on me, I think it wears on itty bitty too. It's very nice to stay home … and do absolute nothing, of course that really doesn't happen, but staying home really is nice. If we could stay in our warm bubbly home for a while longer, I wouldn't mind. 

Pinterest inspired artwork.

At the prompt from a loving friend, Creed created footprint butterflies and I'm glad, because they turned out precious. There are always these really great "pins" from Pinterest that I want to do, but never seem to make the time for, because I have the time, I just haven't slowed down enough. This inspired me to go on to make a Father's Day present for daddy from mama and Creed, another great idea from Pinterest. Thanks mama friend, you're a great inspiration to me and I need that constant encouragement. We all do! 

If you haven't seen, "Moms' Night Out," a movie starring Sarah Drew from the TV Series Grey's Anatomy, Patricia Heaton and Trace Adkins, you should put it on your to-do list, because you know you've got one. Moms' Night Out is an American faith-based comedy film directed by Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin and written by Jon Erwin and Andrea Gyertson Nasfell. I was nodding along with the other mamas in the audience and laughing because it's all true. It felt good to laugh about what usually makes me want to cry - you know, the laundry that never ends, piles of dishes, clutter that doesn't go away just shifts from one place to another. Despite all of it, all the mess, I still would have signed up for it. Because being a mom, I signed up for this and I'd do it all over again!