Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Truth

From Daily Wisdom for Mothers

"A gentle answer turns away wrath." Proverbs 15:1

I recently saw a T-shirt with the printing "Love is my final answer" on it. I thought that was pretty good.Think about it. When you answer with love, you give strife no place to go.

The other day, Abby wanted to go boating with her friend. Normally we would say yes to this request, but this was a holiday weekend. And, according to the news reports, there would be many alcohol-filled boaters on the lake. We just didn't have peace about it, so we told Abby, "No, not this time."

Abby really wanted to go, so she began retaliating in a big way. It was ugly. As she huffed and puffed, I decided to try out the "love answer." So I said, "Abby, honey, we love you too much to let something bad happen to you. There will be lots of drunken boaters out there today, and we just aren't willing to take that chance. You are too precious to us." To my surprise, she was okay with that answer. While she was disappointed that she couldn't go to the lake, she understood our reasons and resumed normal behavior. Wow! I didn't even have to raise my voice or threaten to ground her!

Let love be your final answer today. It really works!

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Though it isn't always this easy with little ones, reminding yourself to answer with love is always a great thing to strive for. If I tried to explain something like this to Libby, she wouldn't fully understand. What she does understand, however, is my tone and my face, and whether I am speaking in love or in frustration or anger.

What a great reminder! I encourage you to make love your final answer, hard as it may be sometimes. For me, it may mean going into my pantry, sticking my head out the window to breath in the cold air and praying for a few minutes, and then coming back to answer with love.

How do you make love your final answer?

Is it a bad Mama...

Is it a bad Mama who, upon hearing her wandering baby boy's, "Help, I'm stuck" cry and subsequently finding that he has fallen victim to the empty laundry hamper trap, rushes downstairs to grab her camera and takes a few pictures before freeing him? Is it a bad Mama who does that? Hopefully not. Is it a bad Mama who then posts those pictures for everyone to see? Maybe.

Monday Menu

Sorry about missing last week's menu. It was a good week, but a week where I didn't have much time to sit down at the computer. Like I said before, we watched Fireproof last Sunday night, and once I missed my opportunity to sit down and make the menu, I never got back around to doing it. That resulted in more eating out then we wanted (or could afford), and my renewed determination to menu plan. I can see the difference even this week. I didn't get around to making a menu last night, but I made myself sit down and make one up this morning. So, here it is!

I am making an effort to make every other meal without meat. I have never eaten or cooked vegetarian before, so I am lacking in meatless meal ideas. If anyone has any good recipes, please share in the comments section!!

Monday: Marriage Monday (I'm taking tortellini with pesto and feta cheese)
Tuesday: Grilled chicken with roasted brussel sprouts (the sprouts are from our Farmer's Market; I've never made them before or even tried them, but I want to grow some this Fall, so hopefully I like them!)
Wednesday: Bean burritos with rice
Thursday: Toaster oven baked tilapia with roasted brussel sprouts & asparagus
Friday: Vegetable and barley soup with biscuits
Saturday: Dinner in a package
Sunday: Dinner at my mom's house for my brother's birthday

I hope you have a great week! We are having a snowy start, but hopefully it will warm up again by the end of the week.

Tell me, are you ready for Spring yet? Since I have some green coming up already, the countdown to blooms has begun. I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Our week in pictures

Oh my, we have had a wonderful week! We have had a week full of friends! Yay! We had friends over to our house Monday and Friday, and we went to a friend's house Tuesday (to pick out our seeds for this year's garden!!). So, this week there was...

Lots of little ones walking, running, wrestling around...



Lots of dress-up...



Lots of interaction, even with the littlest ones...



Some walks, and bird watching...



Some little girl minds planning together...



And some tired tired little feet...




Some more of Libby's photography...



Some enjoying Daddy being home...


And look! Look at this!!! Can you believe it? (Look, Kendra, do you believe it?)



After I took these pictures I had to gather up the mulch around these cold little green beauties. I can't believe they are coming up already. I didn't even notice them until I pulled the car farther up the driveway than usual to make room for some friend's cars.

What a week full of love, laughing, and so much play.

How was your week?

Those eyes

They tell so much.

Octamom issued a challenge of sorts, to shed some light on your eyes. She has some amazing green eyes, and her husband has blue. This resulted in a beautiful array of color in the eyes of their children. You should hop on over and check them out.

Scott's eyes are green, but when I enlarged the picture of his eyes, I discovered some hidden brown.


I come from a family of crystal blue eyes, and my eyes also have a hint of green.




When Libby was born, her eyes were so dark blue that they almost looked black. They lightened up to a clear grayish-blue, with that beautiful dark blue ring around the outside.


Hudson was also born with the almost black eyes, and now he has the bright bright blue.

Alright, let's see yours!

Wordless Wednesday