I'm still here - sorry I haven't checked in..

I feel like a college kid again... you remember those days when you finally paused long enough to remember "eek, I haven't called home in a loooooong time!" Well, it isn't that I haven't thought about blogging, I have... I just ahvent' taken the time to sit down and write. So, here goes :)

We had a wonderful time in Kentucky the week of Thanksgiving! The drive up went much better than we hoped. The babies did great - somehting about riding in the car they easily go to sleep! and for Nora, she did great too! She didn't even have a DVD player to watch and didn't even ask about it until after it got dark the 2nd day in the van. We were very lucky to see some fall colors still on the trees thru places in TN. It made me remember Judy L's Leaf Season pattern she gave us last year for the Quilt for an Hour Project.. and I am determined to get it pieced in 2008!

Several of the bloggers I read daily have mentioned that they are list makers and several of you post list on your blogs. I have a list in the sidebar, but that isn't what I am talking about.... you know posting list each week as goals? Well this week, I forget who's blog I commented this about on... but I read that they were a list maker and had made a list of UFO/projects they wanted to gt done next year... and I commented saying I had started a list too during our drive up to KY on a couple napkins in the van.

Yes a couple napkins! :) I will have to hunt them up and type them up on my blog but I had a list fo UFO's and HESY - (haven't even started yets) which my husband thougth was crazy... men! LOL :)

Also while I am at it - I will make a list of few goals/resolutions for 2008. (both quilty adn not quilty)

Here is one I will go ahead and post today and I am also gonna begin it today and not wait until 2008. ;)

Blog more often!!! Since I love reading what everyone else is doing, I need to spend more time reporting in myself on my blog. I am going to limit my computer time and one way to do that is that I will not allow myself to visit and comment on others blogs until I have posted one on mine. Each day I will first come here and make an entry.

Well, I betterwrap up for now. Gotta go pick up Nora from Preschool soon.

Love from Texas! ~Bonnie

(PS, I'd love to have a handwritten signature like some of you.... any hints on how to do that? and while I am asking for help... most everyone's blog at the bottom has a link that says "older posts" how do i get that to show up for me??? so new readers can read my previous posts?)

Thanksgiving

We are leaving Saturday morning to go to Kentucky for Thanksgiving and won't be back for a week... so I wanted to leave any visitor that stop by a special Thanksgiving message. It’s not often I forward emails but recently I received a GREAT one and forwarded on to all the moms that I know and love. Each of of the Moms I sent it to have inspired me in one way or another.

And although I have not met any of my blogger friends, I think you will also enjoy this following message if you are a mom or perhaps it will remind you of your own mother. This comes at the perfect time too of Thanksgiving and it was a great motivation for me to “keep on keepin’ on!”

I really needed to hear/read this!Happy Early Thanksgiving & Love to all of you from Kentucky,~Bonnie

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I know it’s long, but all of you moms need to read this!

I'm invisible. It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible!

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more:
Can you fix this?
Can you tie this?
Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being.
I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'
I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?'
I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going ... she's going ... she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

(1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
(2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
(3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
(4) The passion of their building was fuelled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

God Bless You as you build your Cathedrals! (Author Unknown)

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PS - I did a little searching and even found some photos to add from our local Cathedral! :)

I'm back and getting ready to go again!

We're back from Savannah - actually I have been back a full week... and have tried a few times to post and lost everything :P I wanted to share the photo that David took of me and the babies in our friends' nice swings they have on their back porch overlooking the neighborhood lake. Nora of course loved her swing too! ;)

I am am very busy this week trying to get ready to pack up and go again!! We leave for our trip home to Kentucky for Thanksgiving on Saturday. We will be driving this trip and that means 2 days in the van and get a "hotel" room half way. Then repeat the road tirp agin on the way back home.. I have a story about the Holiday Inn Express we stayed in while in Charleston the first weekend of November - but don't feel like going into it right now... let's just say I was on the phone with the manager today and will now be contacting higher ups...

I just got caught up with the laundry monsters today. Monday's are my stay-at-home days... and boy it sure is a relief to have everything clean again. The last load is in the dryer now. However, before I can pack us up agian, I have to change out the babies clothes - the closet still has all the 0-3 month hanging up and that has to be folded up and stored and put out all the 3-6 month sizes... then pack for colder weather. Yesterday and today it was near 80 and I was very comfortable barefoot outside... however Daddy said they are getting frost in the mornigns there already!

Then to add to my hussel and bussel, I found out this weekend that both sides of the family wants to exchange Christmas gifts while we are there!!! Ok that is great for Nora but not for me!.... eek, I had some ideas on gifts but I am not ready! Where am I gonna find the time to go shop? Take all 3 kids out of town to the mall, I think NOT.... go at night, well that will never happen. David works late and by the time I get them in bed, I am whiped out! I am thinking gift cards... I hear that Kroger and CVS both have a variety of gift cards from all sorts of places that you can purchase there at their store.... that will save me time and gas. I can buy them all at one place!

let's see ----- Daddy loves the steaks at Red Lobster ---- David's sister just bought her first home this year... a LOWES card should work nice for her.... my nephew just got a job with Southwest as a flight attendant...so an American Express card should work for anything he wants/needs.... see, I am already making my list. Now, off to the store tomorrow while Nora is in preschool. ;)

Most likely i will not post agian until we return after Thanksgiving. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Love from Texas,

~Bonnie