Softest Face You Will Find on a 3 Year Old

I got this new Mary Kay cleansing brush thing that my children are slightly obsessed with. It spins. There is a button. They are three. I've had it a few weeks. I thought the obsession had worn off.

Last Thursday, Jude broke out in this weird rash all around his mouth. It was just flesh bumps. I chalked it up as viral. In three years, I have paid enough co-pays to know that until there is snot for ten days or more or a fever spikes, we aren't going to the doctor. Viral=$30.00 down the drain. So, I ignored it. Yesterday, it was almost gone. There was a period where I thought that maybe he was allergic to the beautiful weed flowers he picked me. He picked them again and it didn't spread or get worse so that theory was shot.

So, yesterday Jude goes missing while I was cooking. Asa said he was in our room. I go back there. My door was shut and the bathroom door was shut. I open it and he starts backing into the closet with something behind his back. I grab it. It was my Mary Kay brush. He also had something all over his face. One swipe of the finger and I knew the gritty feeling. He was getting a nice microdermabrasion treatment. I quickly and as gently as possible rinsed the remaining grit off.

So, my child will now have the softest face of any three year old....as soon as the rash from the cleanse goes away.

I like to Move it, Move it.

On Being Imperfect

We are all imperfect. By 8:00 some days I wish I had a redo button. Some days before I get out the door I need a do over. I FINALLY finished reading my book that I have been reading forever.

Before I read this one,I read Give them Grace and Glimpses of Grace. You would think that I would get grace by now. I don't know that you ever fully understand that word and all that comes with it, but those glimpses throughout life are amazing.

Yesterday, I heard something profound. Friday night, friends had this conversation. We have a generation of people who call themselves Christians but are so very confused and misled. There are various reasons for this.

I once knew this girl that got "saved" like every month. I am not being funny. She really did. She was baptized four times that I can remember. I can't judge. Growing up anytime anybody said the "sinner's prayer" I did too because I didn't want to get left out of heaven and that prayer was my ticket. Only big people knew the right words and all I had to do was say them right after they did. It was difficult to mess it up. I prayed it every time somebody said, "repeat after me...."

Then, I started wondering if there was a limit to how many times you could pray it. Eventually, it all came together for me and I figured out it wasn't the prayer saving me.

Grace and the sinner's prayer are two areas that I was "misled/lacked understanding." Just like I thought you had to pray it all the time, I used to really struggle with when grace would run out. In life, your grace with people/relationships tends to run dry or out completely. People leave. They give up on each other. Love fails. It took me a long time to truly understand that God's love doesn't fail. It doesn't leave. It doesn't just go away. Neither does His grace. Everybody has the real you and the secret you that nobody can hear, but yourself. I guess like the little devil on your shoulder type deal.

The real you is out there for everyone to see all the time. The devil you is there for you, God, and the ones closes to you because usually that you shows up with those you love most. God loves the whole me. The whole you. The good and the bad. The broken and whole. He loves all of me. I can't make him stop. I don't control the situation. I am not in control. It is about just me.

I think women tend to struggle with this a whole lot more than men. I guess it is like a hormonal situation or something. God's grace and love are not limited.

In the book I was reading, the author talks about Eve. You hear the story of Adam and Eve and you think God kicked them out of Eden because his was giving them what they deserved. He was disappointed. Nope. I have never looked at it past this.  He did it not because they ate from the tree. It was the other tree. The Tree of Life. This tree gave life. No death. No disappointment. No heartache. No aging. No fear. No sickeness. When they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world. It was corrupt. It was evil. God's love and mercy sent them out of the garden. Not his anger. Not his disappointment. If they had stayed in the garden, they would have kept eating from the tree of life and lived forever. They would have just been stuck there rolling in sin all the time, but living forever. God wouldn't allow that for people that He loved. His love and mercy sent them out. His grace and love sent Jesus to rescue mankind. Redemption. Rescued. Mercy. Grace.

I never saw the story of Adam and Eve about God. Of course I didn't. I tried to make the Bible about me. They were the reason I sinned. It was about me. It was about Adam and Eve, they were the first characters in the Bible. Lowly me.  Sinful Adam and Eve. I learned segmented Bible stories growing up that were about cute characters that I viewed as Bible heroes. I didn't see them as characters in a huge story of a Great Rescuer. I didn't see the whole picture of a huge redemptive story. I didn't see them as sinners, they were in the Bible. We are selfish selfish selfish. By we, I mean humans. We attempt to make everything about us. We even try to make the Bible about solely us. When we go through the Bible and miss the Redeemer piece in each story, we create holes. Holes that we try to fill with more us. It is a very scary thing to watch happen. Unfortunately, it leaves room for doubt, confusion, wrong thinking, and false teaching just to name a few.

The bottom line is that He loves His children. He loves me when I am ugly and sinning. He loves me when I am broken. He loves me when I throw temper tantrums. He loves me when I blow my top. He loves me, all of me, all the time. He loves me so much that he won't leave me stuck in those ruts. If I just trust Him, He walks with me through the journey of being imperfect. He's not leaving.

Where Do We Live?

David and I could completely live up north if we were loaded and could afford a jet to the beach a few times a year. I love the beach, but I love the snow too. All these people are like, "I am over winter." "Bring on Summer." In Spring I feel like "bring back winter or bring on summer." I have mixed emotions.

Summer brings bugs, grass, and weeds. Now, while I love flip flops, sun, and grilled food I dislike majorly the first three things mentioned. I am not ready for winter to be over. My great-grandmother used to say "if it thunders in December it snows in March." I am holding out for one more snow this season. I love the stuff. My kids are learning to love it. It has snowed every year that they have been born and we live in Alabama.

We have been snow skiing a few times in the past few years. We love it. I love getting all bundled up, spending a day in the stuff, and then thawing by a fire with friends that go with us. It is wonderful.I can't wait until the boys are old enough to go with us. The big boys already love the snow and Titus just loves life so I know he will like it.

Now, prepare for photo overload.

So, it snowed in Alabama in January:

It snowed in Alabama in February.

Happy Valentine's Day

Let me start by saying I absolutely hate this holiday. I have never really understood it. Then I worked at a florist for the ridiculous holiday. People spend crazy amounts of money on stuffed animals that know grown person wants to sleep with, balloons that lose their helium in a few days, and flowers that will die probably before the balloons run out of helium. Then you have the men buying for multiple women and that about sends you right on over the edge. My personal favorite was the phone call we got the week after Valentines. "My husband sent me flowers and our card was build twice." Um, well, "he also sent _________ the same flowers and that is why you were charged twice." Happened all the time.

Valentine's should be really easy for my husband, we could just skip over it all together. I am completely ok with that. However, he insists I am the hardest person to buy for. I don't want anything. When I say that I really mean it. He stopped and got me some petit fours from Savages earlier this week. Done. That is good enough for me. I love and enjoy the little things. Just bring me treats on a random Tuesday (bus duty) and I will love that so much more than any man made holiday that makes me want to scream.

I have NO desire to go to an overcrowded restaurant on Valentine's day and wait for hours on end for food I can eat the next day with no line no waiting. I am excited we are going to eat with friends kid free Sunday. That is like a celebration in itself. No kids. No floors to pick up. No chicken to shred and blow on for 50 minutes. No ketchup to squirt. No drinks to share. No knives to take away. Peaceful dinner. Ahhhh I can't wait. Don't get me wrong I love our kids and they are really good in restaurants, but it will be nice to go without them.

So, there you have it. Valentine's is NOT a big deal around these parts. We love each other all year and show it most days. So, I really dislike this holiday. If you do, I am so truly happy for you. We will be laying around our house tonight doing nothing.

This was the boys loot from my parents, Lindsey, and Nanny and Poppa today. They have been begging for these flashlight friends for weeks. Hello age of paying attention to commercials. However, they do truly love them. 

Other than that I have very FEW Valentine's Day pictures. The ones I do have were from the age before digital... I guess that is the film era? I don't know, but I am too lazy to go remake the picture on my phone just to put here. 

Happy Valentine's Day to those of you that do Valentine's!

That Time My Blog Was Taken

So, I have a new blog. It is not by choice. There was some major hacking of accounts in my life. They stole my whole blog, emails present and past.No worries, my email is fixed. jaeskinner1@gmail.com and it has all new passwords so you shouldn't be getting spam mess from me. It is all gone as far as the blog. Just gone.  All 591 posts from the last 6 1/2 years. Just like that. Can't get it back. I have tried, people who know what they are doing have tried, google has tried. It isn't coming back.

I am starting over. I was really upset. It still bothers me but I am pretty much over it. I will just start here. In the grand scheme of life whatever. It would have been nice to have, but I don't so we are moving on. I hope the big boys don't ever want to know about their life in details before 3 and 1/2 because I won't have it to read to them. Hopefully, my brain doesn't fail me. Poor Titus didn't have as detailed of an account of life anyway so he will get more info since he isn't even one yet. I have big plans of backing up this baby somehow this time.

So, here we are new blog, new stories. Follow along...

http://www.jaeskinner.blogspot.com/