this week

sunday,frankie talked to Pastor Felber about baptism. i suprised myself when i started welling up with tears while listening to him explain how he felt about wanting to learn more and his take on how Satan attacks us: "not in the same place where we could maybe build up an immunity, but he keeps attacking us in different places where we least expect it. he plays dirty!" so happy my son "gets it" and wants so desperately to fight for God. afterwards, while discussing his baptism, he asked "mom will there be an applause afterward?" i told him, probably not but there sure would be alot of AMENS!!

Also found out this week that a dear, dear friend was diagnosed with lupus. not sure of all the details, but she is a young woman with a promising future and i certainly will be praying for her.

Tried a new recipe this week. always nervous to do that! i am not a fan of instant oatmeal, i want to be, but i just can't get passed the texture. however, i do like oatmeal cookies and i love the smell of oatmeal! lol so i tried a recipe for baked oatmeal and added some diced apple to it. we all thought it was ok. chris and i felt it needed more apple, the kids said NO apple! so i will probably make it in two different pans next time, one with lots of apple and one without, maybe add a few choc chips in theirs for them! will definetly be good on a cold winter morning and it really tasted better heated up the next day anyway!

have been having a hard time with gracie sleeping wise. she keeps wanting to sleep out on the couch. we have been struggling with her sleeping habits since birth! i talked to chris about possibly getting a day bed for her so it would be more like a couch, but he did not want to invest that much money on a "possibility". i can't blame him, we have tried so many things in the past that did not work. so we moved her bed right up against the wall in a corner so she had the hard wall against two sides of her bed, then i went and bought 2 $10 bodypillows and made the "back of the couch" and her regular pillows for one end of "the couch" she uses her soft body pillow to block her in on the open side......so far she says it has really made her feel comfortable and has slept through the night in her room. yea! also while out getting the pillows i saw an asian woman wearing a red and white stripped sweater with tan and black plaid pants, gave me flashbacks to the mismatched patterns my grandma used to wear! i loved it! i would never wear it, but i loved it! lol

so far i have gotten all our bedrooms, living room, dinning room and kitchen decluttered, organized and clean! a huge task for a girl who was not taught how to clean your house other than a mad dash right before company comes.....even then i was only given the tasks to clean my room and dust! lol even those things didn't take! lol i have been a hoarder and an unorganized, messy one at that! so this has been a huge triumph for me. i can remember my mom coming and cleaning my room as a teenager, if i was gone for a long enough period. i was fine with it as long as i didn't know or realize what she threw out, however when she threw out the plastic easter egg that held chris armstrong's chewed up gum (yes i was boderline stalker!lol) i could about have died! now i go into gracie's room and see she has become worse than i was!! lol and she's not even a teenager yet!! i really hate when my mom's words "how can you live in this mess" or something to that effect come out of MY mouth! lol oh well, maybe i can break the cycle! lol well i better go cover the bird's cage and plan my chores for tommorow.....