Legos, Dragons and Fantasy Land

I have three kids.  Three blessed little people with three very, very, very individual personalities…and each one of them spicy as the day is long.  Whoever said God doesn’t give you more than one strong willed child is full of it. I am living proof.  The spiciness is specific to each one…. but ghost peppers ain’t got nothing on these 3 rascals.  And I love it!  I do.  For as much as it makes me want to dive head first into a half gallon of Blue Bell each night, and then sit in the corner rocking and drooling…. I love it and wouldn’t change the spice level in my house at all.  BUT, that being said I have always sought advice from other mothers of spicy kids.  I have gone to moms groups and MOPS and parenting sermons…you name it and if given the chance to ask a question mine is always “How does one survive raising 3 spicy people?”  I’m telling you..no lie..I get blank stares.  I have had people tell me that they aren’t possibly ALL 3 really strong willed and spicy.  I must be imagining the spice level.  God wouldn’t do that to anyone. I kid you not…well meaning, grown women who are wise and I trust have said this to me.  Well…..spend a day in my house..heck, spend an hour in my house…spend 10 minutes in my house… and you see I may be crazy but I’m not stupid and I know my kids and I ain’t lying…these kids are hot!   Unbelievably no one seems to be able to relate to the off the charts strong willed levels in my house.  So where do I go?  Where do I go when I’m ready to lose my ever lovin’ mind and no one seems to understand the true insanity of the spicy Big Top in which I reside????  Yep….God.  He gave me these blessed fools.  In His infinite wisdom He thought Gregg and I would be the perfect parents for them (a decision I have questioned Him about many times). So I am quite sure He can give us the tools to raise these rascals to be decent human beings. 

So let’s talk about my spicy kids.  I could go into the compassionate but highly argumentative teenager (kid could be a lawyer with the arguments she can throw down…and has been that way since she could talk) or I could talk about the 6 year old who kicked his brother in the nuts this morning and took him down like a sack of potatoes ( can’t go into him today…my head just might explode)…but this morning I would like to talk about Zack.  Zack Man is my enigineer.  He is my absolute minded, sees everything in black and white, brilliant kid.  But he has also been given amazing artistic skills which he uses to create all kinds of inventions, most of which he likes to explain to me in the morning pre-coffee (anyone see smoke coming outta my ears!).  When Zack finds something he likes he FALLS for it, falls hard and lives in the fantasy world of that specific thing for quite some time.  There are days that one look in his eyes tells Gregg and I that he’s gone!  He is off in fantasy land living with Toothless from that dragon movie, or being Tony Stark, or creating an entire new Lego movie plot.  He lives in a very interesting world and often needs to be reminded to come back to the real world. With fantasy land vs. real world boy we tend to have issues with self control.  Yep, remember this is the kid that stuck his head in the toilet for no good reason what so ever.  I’ve talked to people about kids and self control and gotten all kinds of advice, but you wanna know where the best advice came from?  The Bible.  I kid you not… Sometime in early 2nd grade (he’s 3rd grade now) we were having vice principal phone calls…yeah those are fun!  For those moms of non school aged young ones, when that caller ID comes up with the vice principal’s number there is an audible mom groan and the phone is usually answered “Hi.  Who did it and what did they do this time”.  Well, young Zack could not seem to keep his hands to himself and self control was out the window…Heck it wasn’t even in state lines.  Self control had gone to Hawaii for vacation.  As parents who really would like to raise kids who will make functioning, decent grown ups at some point, we understandably got upset…he got in trouble…he got privileges taken away…etc…etc…etc.  Nothing worked.  So one particularly difficult afternoon, Zack and I went upstairs to get away from the circus and we got out the Bible and looked up verses on self control.  Yep…they are in there.  Check this out….. Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self control”  Are you kidding me….AWESOME!!!  It’s like it was made for my then 8 year old boy who loved battle scenes.  We talked about cities in the Bible and how they used walls for protection and if those walls were down the city could be attacked.  We talked about how self control helps keep those walls up to protect his city…his heart, mind, emotions.  It clicked.  It was amazing!  He got it.  I e-mailed his teacher and asked her if he could keep it written on a card in his desk to reference during the day.  Public school y’all…she loved it and said “yes”.  When needed he would take that bad boy out and read it and remember.  Now if his self control has decided to take a vacation, we just ask him “how’s your city” and he remembers.  

Now I know I’m not the only one with spicy kids.  You may have one or two or five.  Doesn’t matter.  What I’ve learned in the roller coaster ride of parenting is that it is good to ask people for advice.  It is good to have friends who love you and love your kids…even if they are rascals.  But you’ve heard good, better, best?  Go best…when those parenting challenges come…and believe me friend…they will….go to God.  Go to His Word.  You might just find a brilliant answer that even the toughest kids can understand :-).

Ehud

If you know me, you know that the Bible often cracks me up. The characters are so….real (real here meaning not made to look too overly holy but to shown how they are… just like you and me)…and real can be very very funny. Yes, I know it’s God’s love letter to us. Yes, I learn so much from reading it. Yes I know it’s Holy…but come on….if we were made in God’s image and we have a sense of humor then you know God has one…and the Bible totally shines with it. So I was reading in Judges the other night. Yep…Old Testament…and I read the story of Ehud. Lemme set this up for you. So there was Moses who lead the Israelites out of Egypt and he had this guy Joshua who was his helper. Joshua took over leading the Israelites after Moses died. Then Joshua dies and God give Israel a series of judges to lead Israel. Basically when Israel got too big for it’s britches and started doing stuff they weren’t supposed to do God would allow them to be whooped up on by other countries, tribes, nations…then God would provide a judge to lead Israelites and while the judge was alive God would save them out of the hands of their enemies. When the judge died the people would go back to their naughty ways. Ok so now we are on the same page….Our story….

So God sends this judge, Ehud. Ehud is left handed (that is a big deal in this story) and he makes a kick butt double-edged sword…totally Avengers style! He goes to the king of Moab who is currently whoopin’ up on Israel. Another fact in the story…this king is gifted in the fluffly side of life, i.e. was “a very fat man”. Long story short, Ehud takes his kick butt Avengers style knife and plunges it into the king (the king is not expecting it because the knife is in the wrong hand because most people were right handed) and the king is so fat that the king’s fat closed in over the sword…ew….that’s a fluffy boy! Then the kings helpers notice the doors are locked to his room but they don’t go in because they think he is peeing…yep…peeing..bahahaha. While they are waiting for him to finish Ehud escapes.

SERIOUSLY???? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It sounds like a scene in a movie to me! Now, I totally believe that nothing is in the Bible by accident. There is something we can learn from every written word in the Word. So what in the world am I supposed to take away from this story? Left handed sword makers rock and can stab sneaky style??? Don’t be a fat king??? We should be kick butt Avengers style sword makers??? If you stab a fat king just leave the sword in there and the fat will hide it??? Don’t assume someone is peeing just because their door is locked??? I am sure there is a lesson in there and will continue to sit over my cup of coffee and ponder and listen….but I have a thought now… maybe…just maybe…God has the great sense of humor and He threw that one in just to see if we are paying attention…and to give us a good laugh.

A garage cheer for moms

I grew up in a house where when you had something “big”, you got a garage cheer. Big was a big test/finals, a big game, a big speech, a job interview, etc. A garage cheer consists of a parental unit standing in the garage screaming and cheering and yelling and making a total fool of themselves as you drive away to put the whoopin’ on your something big. Garage cheers rock! To this day Sister and I still get garage cheers over the phone and over text when something big comes along. AND we have continued this tradition with our own families…and friends. So as a friend and mom…I send out this garage cheer to all my mom friends. “Big” is relative. Today if your something “big” is getting a shower, I give you a garage cheer for that. If your something “big” is cleaning your house, I give you a garage cheer for that. If your something “big” is what is traditionally called “big”, I give you a garage cheer for that. (At your own risk you may imagine me standing in the garage…screaming my head off cheering for you. If that will scar your inner momma for life you have permission to just read ;->).

GO MOMMA!!!! You can do it! Today will be a good day! It doesn’t matter if your day consists of cleaning up poopy diapers, wiping snotty noses, and cleaning up the 5 millionth Cheerio to be thrown on the floor. It doesn’t matter if your day consists of shopping and cleaning and organization. It doesn’t matter if your day consists of getting your kids to school or day care and rushing off to the office outside your home. It doesn’t matter if you get to spend all day snuggled up on the couch reading. It doesn’t matter if you got to get up at the butt crack of dawn and drag your kids down to the doctor’s office for more testing or more treatment. It doesn’t matter if your day consists of teenage drama…what ever your day looks like it is going to be a good day!!!! You can do it…one step at a time! Don’t try to do 8 billion things at once. Don’t try to do it like your friend does it. Don’t worry about what is to come. Do today. Own it today. If you are doing laundry…do laundry and be thankful that you have a family that wears clothes and you have the clothes to give them. If you are shopping be thankful that you can get your groceries. If you are cleaning, be thankful you have a home to clean. If you are at the doctor’s office be thankful there are doctors to help. If you are reading a book, be thankful for a quite day. If you are at work outside your home be thankful that you have a job and can provide for your family. If you are dealing with hormonal teenagers be thankful that you are no longer a teenager and be thankful that you can remember the drama tonight and have a good laugh ;-). If your house is a mess and you just can’t bring yourself to clean it, be thankful you have a house and stuff to make it a mess. Whatever you are doing today…be thankful. You can do it! You can do today! Focus on today. No wait! That’s too big…focus on this minute. You can do this minute! If you’re day is a bright, happy day…own it and have a BLAST! If your day is a hot mess..own the minute…then focus on the next one. Before you know it, it will be a new day and you’ll look back and go…I did it! I did yesterday…and today is all new. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! GO MOMMA!!!!!

Can you identify?

One of the scariest questions asked….Who are you?  What is your identity?  Seriously, think about it.  Who you are defines everything.  It defines what is important to you.  It defines what you do with your life.  It defines your beliefs over a myriad of issues.  It determines how you tackle your day.  It defines your purpose.   Who are you?  These days there are a billions way people define themselves….

Relationally: man/woman, married/single, parent/no kids, single parent, son/daughter, brother/sister, aunt/uncle, grandparent, great grandparent, orphan, adopted, gay/straight, loved/hated…etc…etc…etc

Physically: white/black/hispanic/asian, tall/short, fat/skinny, blonde/brunette/red head, pretty/ugly, old/young, smart/dumb etc…etc..etc….

Vocationally: work outside the home/homemaker, blue collar worker/white collar , worker, full time/part time, volunteer…not to mention all the billions of careers we use to define us…I’m an audiologist, I’m a teacher, I’m a financial planner, I’m an engineer, etc…etc…etc

Nationally: American, Canadian, French, Spaniard, English, South African, Australian…etc..etc..etc

Economically: , steward/consumer, capitalist/socialist, rich/poor, upper class/middle class/lower class…etc…etc…etc

Socially: friend/enemy, neighbor, co-worker,  party person/stay at home kind of folk, introvert/extrovert, etc…etc…etc

Politically: Conservative/Liberal, Republican/Democrat/Green/Tea Party, etc…etc…etc…

Emotionally: happy/sad, timid/brave, strong/weak, depressed, hyper, angry/mild mannered, etc…etc..etc…

Spiritually: Christian, Evangelical Christian, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Islamic, Atheist, Agnostic, New Age, etc…etc…etc…

And that’s not even close to a complete list.  There are a billion things in this world that identify us.  Example: I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, neighbor, homemaker, tall, brunette, non-practicing audiologist, fairly conservative, volunteer, extrovert, American, fairly athletic, white, happy most of the time, angry some of the time, Follower of Jesus, and that’s just the short list.  If I sat here and thought for a while I would come up with more.

What happened when you read my list?  Did you get an idea of who I am?  Did you form an opinion of me based on those things?  Did you think…oh…I know people like her.  I didn’t like them very much.  Or I know people like her. I totally love them.  If you don’t know me outside of this blog or as just an acquaintance, does that list tell you who I am?  Well…yes and no.  It tells you what I am about…but not who I am .

Here’s another question…Do any of those things that I put onto my list answer the questions “why am I here” and “what am I supposed to do with this gift that is my life”?  Dare I say…nope…not a one.

May I be so bold as to suggest that there is only one identity (that we ALL share) that really makes a difference and if we started and ended our identity with this one thing it would radically change us as individuals which would radically transform our world for the better?  Ready???? Here is it….I am a daughter or son of the King.

What???  Yep…I am a princess (or prince).  I am a child of God.  I am a creation by God.  IF I was created THEN I have a purpose.  What is that purpose?  In the end…it’s to have a relationship with my Creator and then individually we all have things that we were also made to do.  But if THAT is your identity then all the other things that make up who you are and what you are about…that whole list like mine… all those things originate in the fact that you are a son or daughter of the King.  All those things that make up what I am about were given to me by the one who made me.

Here’s another thing…identity theft is not new.  People pay for identity insurance these days.  Friends, identity theft originated in the Garden of Eden.  Why are so many people searching for meaning, searching for truth, searching for who they are, searching for their identity?  It was stolen from us a long, long, long time ago.

What if everyone knew that they knew that they knew that they weren’t an accident.  No matter what anyone tells them.  No matter if mom says you were never supposed to be here.  No matter what the science books tell us.  No matter if people tell you that you are worthless and a waste of space.  What would happen if everyone really knew that they are a beautiful creation, that they were made for a purpose, for a reason, for such a time as this.  What if people knew that God created them to do something and be someone right now…in this point in time and space… to do something that no one else ever created or that ever will be created could do.  What if everyone knew that they are loved by their Creator…no matter what anyone here thinks of them.

My friend…if you have never been told before…you are loved!  You are a beautiful masterpiece!  You are a creation!  You have an identity!  You are a son or daughter of the King!  You have a purpose and a reason for being here..right now..today.  Can you feel it?  Can you feel it in your gut, your heart, your mind?  Take away everything that you look like, you act like, you feel like. Take away your friends and family.  Take away what you do for a living.  Take away what part of the world you live in or what side of the “tracks” you are on….you have an identity.  Can you identify with that?

 

Mondays

Monday…oh Monday how you irritate us!  And especially foggy and cold Mondays.  Mondays like these lead to grumpy Marsh Monkey Monday Mornings which are just not fun!  I was thinking about Mondays as I was walking home from taking the boys to school this morning and realized something.  I think we look at Mondays all wrong!  Monday is a fresh start!  Monday is the start whole new week.  Yes, Monday means school and work and cleaning and doing all the stuff and things that happen in the week, BUT Monday means new!  Think of it…everyone LOVES New Years.  Why?  It’s a fresh start!  2013 not too good for you…hooray for 2014 showing up!  We even get happy when it’s a new month.  It’s February…YAY!  Let’s celebrate love and it’s one step closer to spring!  But I have a hard time thinking of anyone I know who really, truly loves Mondays (with exception of parents who had a super rough weekend at home with the kiddos and are SO ready for them to go to school ;->).  But let’s try something new…let’s think of Monday as a fresh start.  Let’s think of Monday as…boy last week was rough (and it was in my world) but THIS week…this week is brand new.  This week will be better.  This week is an open door to a whole host of amazingness.  This week I can make a new resolution or try to hold on to the one I made at the beginning of the year.  This week I have a clean slate. This week I can put last week behind me. Today is Monday…HOORAY!

The toilet story

So I have had a request for the head in the toilet story.  Yep..gotta share it once again because it is so UTTERLY ridiculous and so….have you got to be freakin’ kidding me insane that I do believe I should share again.  Let me first say for all you parents who read this for the first time…please, feel free to use this story to allow yourself to feel better about the shenanigans in your house.   You know, those “at least MY kid didn’t do that” moment.  Yes, we are not supposed to compare ourselves and ironically I just listened to an Andy Stanley message this morning on how we are not to compare ourselves…but that being said, if I was reading this about someone else’s kid…I have to say it would make me feel so much better about mine ;-).  And just as a teaser….you will get the benefit of the pooping in the red neck toilet story as well.  So here we go…..

The Marsh boys attend Rangers at our church.  Think Christian boy scouts.  Kayla teaches Missionettes (Christian Girl Scouts) at the same time so on Tuesdays when Gregg is in town, he and I get a coffee date.  This particular Tuesday however was not a coffee date night.  Gregg was out of town and I just hung out at the church reading while Rangers was going on.  I was downstairs (where the kids meet) about 15 minutes early to pick them up…just minding my own business…hanging out…enjoying the “quiet”… when all of a sudden my first born son…my engineer….my science minded, smart kid comes out of the boys bathroom and his hair is SOAKING wet.  Our conversations goes as follows….

Mom: “Zack Man, why is your hair wet?”

Zack: “I stuck my head in the toilet” (said as matter of factly as humanly possible)

Mom: with a look of “holy crap” on her face:  “WHAT?????????  Why did you do that”

Zack: (again, totally matter of factly): Well, another kid did it.  There wasn’t anything in the toilet, Mom”

Mom: with steam coming out of her eyes and ears: “Um, you know that people have been pooping and peeing in there ALL DAY, right”

Zack: eyes wide as dinner plates: “WHAT?????”

Mom: by this point twitching and drooling “Why in the world would you do that”

Zack: “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to.”

Yep….kid stuck his head in the freakin’ toilet.  You know those things that as a mom you know you will have to tell your children…”Don’t run with scissors”, “Don’t touch a hot stove”, “Don’t run in the street”, even “Don’t sit on your sister/brother’s head” can be expected…but “Don’t stick your head in the toilet”?????????  I have to honestly say, never once crossed my mind that I would have to discuss the issues that come with sticking one’s head in a toilet.  Seems pretty cut and dry to me…the toilet is used as the receptor for things that smell and come out of the backside of you…really not a place you want to consider washing your hair.  Apparently, I was wrong.  Apparently my precious children are more “throw caution to the wind”  or “pee in the wind” kind of kids and need it explained out in detail why some utterly ridiculous things are just not good ideas.  God love those rascals…and God knows I do too, but…seriously…you have GOT to be kidding me!!!! 😉

So I send that blessed little fool back into the bathroom MULTIPLE times to wash his head and face and hair and hands and neck and any other exposed body parts with soap and water and then we came home and he took a nice, long shower. Oh, but campers…that is not the end of our fireside story. No, no, no…..  So I am sitting there, twitching, drooling, muttering nonsense to myself as Zack is washing down and this other dad I know comes down and asks me how I’m doing.  Now, I know this man – nice guy.  We’ve seen each other at church some, we’ve attended a birthday party for a friend, we chat from time to time but he’s not someone I talk to just tons – doesn’t know all the inner workings of the Marsh Big Top.  BUT I was desperate to talk to another grown person and it was obvious I wasn’t in the best place in my life right then…so I throw caution to the wind and share what my offspring has done.  He laughs and then says to me “Wait, didn’t one of your kids poop in a toilet on your side yard once?”  WHAT??????  OMG, HOW DID HE KNOW AND REMEMBER THAT?   So I do believe that the Marsh family goes down in infamy for the crazy life.  YES!  I do have a child that pooped in a red neck toilet stored in our side yard.  Oh, you want to hear that one?  Yep…will make you feel even better about your precious ones. 🙂

Long story short, we bought a trashed short sale house when we moved to Denver and did some MAJOR fixin’ up.  Being do it ourselfer kind of folk and because I have an excessively handy hubby…we did our fixin’ up ourselves.  So a few years back Gregg replaced one of the toilets in our house and put the old toilet in the side yard so we could throw it away at bulk pick up.  Now, bulk pick up only happens twice a year but it costs a lot to throw things away at the dump and bulk pick up is included with our trash service…so often our side yard it a red neck’s dream land…and yes…we had an old toilet in our side yard for a few months.  Young Brock (maybe 2-3 at the time) comes walking in from playing outside one afternoon and announces “Mom, I accidentally pooped in the potty outside”.  Ok…so I get it.  You’re little….. you need to go….there’s a toilet outside…yep, we’ll ignore that there is no toilet paper and you just can’t flush (they never do any way so why start then) and just go for it…I DO…I get it!  BUT “I ACCIDENTALLY” pooped????  There ain’t no accident about pullin’ your drawers down and laying one out in a toilet outside.  JUST SAYING!  So that lead to a conversation about what “accidentally” really does mean.

Oh, there are more stories…there are always more in our house…Zack giving our and our neighbor’s mailbox his own personal rinse…and then again doing it to the garbage can out front of the house because he had to go.  Brock screaming out in a public women’s restroom “Mom!!!!  Why do you pee out of your butt????”  (yep, 60 year old woman in the next stall just about fell off the toilet with that one).  Kayla pooping in the backyard when she was like 3 or 4.  Kid did it because she saw a boy (no ours thank you very much ;->) pee outside so why couldn’t she go potty outside…..Why is it always about potty stuff in this house?  Seriously!!!!!

But, when it comes down to it…. my kids make me laugh and drive me crazy and make me drool more than the average parent…but here’s what I know….I remember ALL these things and you better believe these stories will be told for years to come! 🙂

A crazy idea

So for the last couple days I have been reading about and studying Hezekiah.  If you want to read about him, his stories are in 2 Kings 18-20, 2 Chronicles 29-32 and Isaiah 36-39.  There’s a ton of crazy good stuff in there!  It says in 2 Kings 18: 5-6 “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel.  There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.  He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.”  So I figured if that can be said about this guy then he is worth studying.  I also find it fascinating that his story is important enough that 3 different books of the Bible spend a lot of time talking about him.

Like I said…there’s a lot of amazing stuff in his stories but I was stopped in my tracks in 2 Chronicles 30:18b-20.  Basically the story goes that the people of Judah are once again not following the Lord so Hezekiah has the Levites go in and purify the temple.  Then he sends messengers out to the land inviting people to come and celebrate Passover (which had not been celebrated for a long time).  A bunch of people said nope “but the people scorned and ridiculed them” 2 Chron 30:10 but many “a very large crown of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feats of Unleavened Bread” 2 Chron 30-13 decided to join the feasting and festivities.  So…..here’s a lot of folk who ain’t been to church in a LONG time who are now taking the time to travel to Jerusalem and get themselves to church.  But wait!!!!  Problem…”many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves” 2 Chron 30:17 WHOOPS…they didn’t get cleaned up and scrubbed up for church!!!!!!  Oh My Goodness!!!!! You mean they just showed up, when others flat out refused to go….but then some of those folk who did show up didn’t have the decency to get cleaned up before showing up? And then……”they ate the Passover”  OMG!!!!!  They came in partook of God’s goodness and deliverance….and they weren’t cleaned up???????  Ok, so we got what’s going on….Here’s what stopped me in my tracks….

“But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying ‘May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God – the Lord, the God of his fathers- even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.’ And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people” 2 Chron 30: 18b-20

Y’all….the king didn’t look down on the people because they weren’t clean and didn’t follow the rules….He prayed for them and saw their hearts….he saw that those folk were there seeking the Lord. So here’s where God got me…..do I do that?  Do we as the church of the living Jesus Christ today do that?  When someone new shows up and they don’t act the right way, or look the right way, or smell the right way, or live the right way…..what do we do?  Sadly many places look down their noses…”You’re not clean enough to be part of OUR church”….”Go get rehab and get cleaned up and then you can come to OUR church”….”Go put on acceptable clothes and fix your hair and cover all your piercings and tatoos and then you can come to OUR church”….”Learn to talk the right way, worship the right way, act the right way and then you can come to OUR church”…  “Live the right way and then you can come to OUR church”.

What if we were like Hezekiah…what if we looked past the outside and saw those who show up to God’s church (because we are foolin’ ourselves thinking it’s ours) and whose hearts are set on seeking God and what if we prayed for them….and what if God heard our prayers and HEALED them??????  Oh my goodness!!!!!!  What if we were the place and the people known around town….”You know I’ve never been one for church…but one day I felt like I was supposed to go….I showed up at this one church and I’m tell ya……If you go there looking for God…those people will love you and pray for you and then crazy supernatural stuff happens.  I don’t know….they are just totally different than those hypocritical Christians you see around”.

So I’m going to go back and keep reading about the Hezekiah….all the good and the ugly (because he was human too) but for now….what if we were like Hezekiah at that moment in time…what if we love and pray?  And then what if we watch…..God heal!

The Big Top

For those who know me, you know I live in a circus tent.  Elephants and tigers we do not have but we do have the entire clown core and the crazy dancing circus dog.  I live in, as my sister so rightly named my home, the Marsh Big Top.  I live in the world of the ridiculous. I live in a world where God will in fact give a loving couple 3 very, overly, you have to be kidding me… strong willed children.  I live in a world where the words “No wrestle dancing first thing in the morning” do actually come out of my mouth.  I live in a world where we laugh a lot and honestly yell more than we should.  I live in a world full of attention whores (that includes all 3 kids and the dog…and maybe even the parents in the house too ;-).  I live in a world where my boys shout at the top of their lungs “Our wang wangs are the best”.  I live in a world where my teenage daughter has become eye roller supreme but secretly still loves to come and talk to Gregg and me about stuff.  I live in a world full of school and sports and activities.  I live in a world where I have to tell my children, “I do not have time to go to the ER today”.  I live in a world where my stubborn as a flippin’ mule 6 year old son will hold a bite of chicken in his mouth for over an hour until it is totally liquefied and then will find dried chicken bits in his bed the next morning because we sent that fool to bed with the chicken still in his mouth.  I live in a world where I am totally and completely twitterpated over my precious husband of almost 17 years even if he is a total morning person and I have been compare to a wookie in the morning. (The sounds that come out of my mouth first thing in the morning are very Chewbacca-esque 😉  But most importantly I live in a world where Jesus is the center.

I can’t imagine living this crazy, ridiculous life without having Jesus in the center.  Seriously y’all….I would be a mom on the news or drinking 24/7.  I love my life!  I love that God thinks enough of Gregg and me that He gave us the kids and life that He did.  To be honest, sometimes I wonder if He didn’t make a mistake and maybe He should have given it to someone stronger, because OH….MY…GOODNESS! But nope…He gave it to me.

So that’s what this blog is about…my crazy world and Jesus in the center.  Believe you me…there will be stories out of my house that will make you laugh so hard you actually pee a little…anyone remember Zack sticking his head in the toilet at church? And there will be even more times when I share things God is showing me.  Whether I am doing this for myself as a way to remember my world of ridiculousness or whether I share with tons of other folks who live in a big top too…I do not know.  But I do know…this is gonna be a crazy fun and wild ride!