A funny thing happened on the way to the psych ward...

(Excerpt from my latest book, "Help I'm raising kids while doing ministry" by Josh Mayo)

"David Roshenhan illustrates this principle in a study he conducted with a group of psychiatric patients: Eight mentally stable people, including three psychologists and one psychiatrist, were asked to pretend to have symptoms so they could gain admission into the psychiatric wards of several hospitals for treatment. During the initial interview, they falsified only three pieces of information: their name, their occupation, and the admission of hearing voices. All other questions about their personal background were answered truthfully. All were successfully admitted.
Once diagnosed and admitted, the eight people stopped faking all symptoms, but the staff never detected their deception. They continued to relate to the eight volunteers as bona-fide psychiatric patients. Embarrassingly enough, many of the real patients could tell the difference. At times they voiced their suspicions strongly: "There's nothing wrong with you; you must be checking up on the hospital."
Rosenhan's point was clear. Once a diagnosis was made, even normal behavior was reinterpreted to match the clinical diagnosis. The people who evaluated the disturbed patients labeled them incorrectly. In the same way, prejudices regarding P.K.'s (Pastor's kids) can result in them being treated as if they are going to rebel, whether or not it is a reality. These labels can come from other pastors, teachers, leaders, and parents. Usually those closest to a P.K. know the truth, but it's hard to convince the rest of the world."


This particular chapter was SO interesting and full of good information for parents in full time ministry! As a P.K. or just a ministry kid prejudices and labels are most definitely put on the kids and false expectations are also part of that deal. Why can't people understand that pastors and ministry leaders are human too and no one is perfect and everyone WILL make mistakes? By EXPECTING a child to act a certain way or do certain things you speak over their life -for words have the power of life and death so as a Youth Pastor and a Parent do me a favor and speak life over your ministry leader's kids. Please.

LOVE THE PIE party entry!

FRENCH SILK PIE
(a special recipe from my BFF Jaci Laney)

Pie:
1/2 C. Butter (softened, NOT melted - very important)
3/4 Sugar
1 oz. Semisweet Chocolate Square (melted)
3 TBLS Cocoa
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Pie Crust (Pillsbury frozen kind is an excellent flaky one to use)

Topping:
1 C. Whipping Cream
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/4 C. Powdered Sugar

Bake pie crust so it can be cooling. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add semi-sweet chocolate square, cocoa and vanilla until very well blended. Add 1 egg and beat on high for at least 5 minutes. Add the 2nd egg and beat another 5 minutes. Make sure your chocolate has turned a lighter color. Then pour it in baked cooled crust and refrigerate 2 hours (I sometimes freeze it to make sure it sets!). Meanwhile in another bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to whipping cream. Pour over pie. Garnish with your choice - I take another semisweet baking chocolate square and shave off some onto the top.

(Because I didn't know about the awesome LOVE THE PIE party until today I didn't have time to make the pie and take pictures as I usually would so this picture is courtesy of BakeMeMore.com - just click the photo for link)

10 Reasons I DO and DO NOT drink coffee...

Yes it is an oxymoron. But my life has a lot of oxymoron's so I just roll with it. So for a moment I ask you to do the same. If you are OCD and can't take reading an oxymoronic (and no it's not a real word) post then exit your screen now and go back to reading the latest Thanksgiving recipe you just found.

So I found this idea from Twitter - one of the gals I follow posted a funny sounding tweet and in the next tweet she said something about a Writer's Workshop so I checked it out in curiosity. I don't know the blog but the assignment sounded fun so I did it anyways! It's from Mama's Losin' It! blog and it's Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. There are several prompts to pick from and I picked the one of list 10 reasons why you do/don't drink coffee. Okay so I DO occasionally drink coffee but I by no means drink it on a regular basis so I wasn't sure what to do with this and it occurred to me the reason I will drink coffee is for a few reasons but why I don't drink it regularly have other reasons so I'm combining my list to allow you to see my dilemma!

Ten Reasons Why I Do AND Don't Drink Coffee:

1. I DO drink coffee because it is a delicious warming beverage (or cooling if it's the iced version) to indulge in.

2. I DO drink coffee with lots of creamer or should I say I drink creamer with a little coffee. And it MUST be the real deal liquid creamer - milk, sugar, half and half or powdered will NOT work and I've tried.

3. I DO drink coffee because it's a great excuse to meet up with my busy working BFF!

4. I DO drink coffee because our church staff is addicted so everywhere we go we automatically pull into the Green Round Sign!

5. I DO drink coffee because it seems to just be American to do so!

6. I DO NOT drink coffee because I know many of the reasons it is bad for your body

7. I DO NOT drink coffee because I get jittery

8. I DO NOT drink coffee with my hubby because he hates it.

9. I DO NOT drink coffee in the mornings - I'm avid about starting my morning right nutritionally so Green Tea is for me when it comes to the AM!

10. I DO NOT drink coffee on a regular basis because I remember as a child my dad's heart starting skipping beats at one time and the doctor's told him the number one thing to do to get rid of the problem was to stop drinking coffee or at LEAST reduce the amount dramatically (he was drinking around a pot a day at the time) Ever since then I decided if he likes it there is a good chance I will and I don't want my heart to start skipping beats so I will not allow myself to drink it regularly, ever.

So there are the real reasons why I don't drink coffee and yet the reasons why I love to and do.

Hidden Blessings

Around holiday time things get hectic. Stressful. And down-right nuts. Which allows things such as forgetting a backpack at home or realizing you don't have a clean bra because you haven't done laundry in...well awhile, to happen. The other day was a day just like that. Yet God gave me the grace to see through the oops'. It started like this...

We have dropped my son off at his school and my daughter and I are headed to our school (she attends and I work as a Teacher's Aide). I had realized by this point I forgot to put the bills in the mailbox this morning before leaving and had just missed calling my hubby to do it for me (and they HAD to get out THAT day) The radio was off and so the car was quiet and out of nowhere my 3 year old starts singing "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and she sings it all the way through perfectly. I was smiling away in the front thinking that sound makes every care disappear, even the mail oopsey.

Then after getting into the school I realized we had left her backpack, yes with her lunch in it, at the front door! So I frantically get someone to cover my work for 40 minutes or so and run back out to the car and proceed home totally flustered. On the way home I'm talking to God about the lovely start to my day and He reminds me - now I can mail my bills. Because I'm headed home. Okay so a smile came once again to my face and I realized even though I could have REALLY let all that chaos of the morning get to me (cuz you know when your morning begins like that the rest of the day is set...which some other things did come after) yet I chose to accept that God works around our silliness and sometimes offers us huge blessings and grace THROUGH our seemingly bad circumstances.

So this holiday season when something seems to be going wrong - look for God's grace and blessing in it because I guarantee it's there!

Starbucks in Heaven

Starbucks. For a lot of people you just say that word and it brings relaxation (and perhaps a sudden overwhelming craving). For me it means special time with my daughter. You see I love enjoying a good mocha or if I want to be good a hot Tazo Green Tea, however I'm not a daily coffee drinker by any means. Mainly because I know it's bad for me and God has told me not to drink it regularly. Pretty good reason if you ask me. And this is for me - not you so don't worry you can indulge if you must. But this year as you know 9mainly from my absence of posts) I started working a couple days a week at my daughter's Day School. We get done with our school an hour before we can line up (yes LINE UP) for car-rider line at my son's school to pick him up. So with not enough time to get home and actually get out of the car before turning back around a Starbucks right near the Day School has become our special mother-daughter time. I cherish it and I encourage you to find simple little treats for you and your kiddos for some one-on-one time. However what does this have to do with heaven?

Well lately the kids learned about going to heaven when you die if you have Jesus in your heart in Sunday School. So of course it was weeks of questions over that one. I loved some of those convos: "Mommy I want to wear a Cinderella dress for the big party in heaven" (when explaining in kids terms about the Wedding Banquet when we all get to heaven). and of course my son in sobbing tears, "But mommy I don't want to have to go to heaven, I like it here in Texas". Oh good times. And too cute and funny!

So with that in mind out of the blue the other day we are in the bathroom at Starbucks (of all places to be) getting ready to head out and my daughter says, "Mommy can we live in Starbucks when we go to heaven?" (Because yes I had explained we would have beautiful houses to live in.) Now this is not the funniest part - I then of COURSE had to tweet and Facebook this funny quote and in a response back from a dear friend of mine she wrote:

"OK, now we just need to rewrite the song.

This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.

Starbucks is waiting for me too, somewhere beyond the blue,

the angels beckon me through Heaven's Drive-thru door,

and I'll have a Venti Mocha Extra Hot No Whip in my cup forevermore!

lol, I'm likin' Gracie's thinkin'!"

P.S. here is a pic of my fave Starbucks drink - Peppermint Mocha, steamed to 120 please!

Messy Fun

Need some good messy fun with your kids? Just keep reading...

She finally arrived: Our long awaited guest. She has been highly anticipated since early June and we love the time she spends with us, the time never being long enough. Several times we thought her flight had arrived only to be disappointed with another flight delay.

Who is this wonderful and joyful guest we are so pleased to entertain and host?

Our dear friend Autumn. (And yes I mean the season, not a person - just in case anyone was lost.)

Before Autumn came the kids and I decided to make some preparations! Because we needed everything ready when she DID arrive. And what better way to start prepping for a guest than to BAKE! Woohoo! Typically sugar cookies wait until Christmas but hitting the %50 off Fall items at Hobby Lobby my eye glanced upon a package of cute Fall Cookie Cutouts and I couldn't resist. Plus - during the course of my college class most evenings consisted of homework and I figured I owed my kids some good quality (and messy) time.

So out with the ingredients:

Recruit some help...

Since I owed them I let them do it all - from step one to step...100? (Although I did crack the eggs and ice the cookies. There had to be SOME limits to these youngin's!

My kitchen paid for it. Dearly.

I think I "cut" out ONE cookie, the rest were ALL theirs...

Candy Wonderland!!! I had three bowls of icing, 7 bowls (yes SEVEN) of sprinkles, and two dozen cookies for them to do. (By the way have you noticed that we started in daylight and by this photo it is pitch dark out?!)

I love my hubby - he graciously captured all of us on film for me!

These kids had no rules with the sprinkles.

Should I have re-thought that one?

Nope. Never. Even though that first photo in this post was the "leftover" sprinkles off the cookie trays and my table. (No not including what little was left in the bowls. And NO not including the new sugar floor my kids gave me) But all totally worth it. Have you done something messy with your kids lately?

Class Auction Project

Little Tree Red Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

College Hill Bed and Breakfast

An account of our late summer travels, part 1:

On our way to retrieve our kiddos from the grandparents we decided to make our last night without kids special. We would be stopping in Wichita, Kansas and so I googled the city and found numerous B & B's. This one caught my eye with the private outdoor hot tub and my husband liked it because it was SO close to the Insterstate and we wouldn't be spending forever in the dark trying to find our way there. So reservations were made for College Hill Bed and Breakfast. (Oh and we got a 10% discount for being full time clergy!! This also applies to active military I believe)

When we pulled up we found the cutest country-style house with bright blooms and bountiful foliage everywhere! I love Bed and Breakfasts because it feels like staying at a friend's house versus the "I'm just a room number" feeling you get from hotels.

Here are the owners, Jerry and Suzanne who are originally from Dodge City. They are a delightful christian couple that were incredibly inviting and hospitable. They even easily worked around our getting in late and my husband's food allergy.

Here is the dining table where we sat and had the most delicious breakfast EVER! My mouth waters just thinking about it - it was Banana Stuffed French Toast (I think is what they called it) and of course sausage, eggs OH and who could forget their homemade pecan syrup. I think the syrup, with crushed bits of pecans in it really made the meal for me! The inn keepers sat with us as we all relaxingly chatted about this and that. Oh and I was delighted to know they had REAL coffee creamer not just the powdery stuff. I think Suzanne realized my delightment because she offered me a refill in a To-Go cup knowing we had a long day of travelling ahead. Here are a couple more pictures from around the dining room:

Our bedroom was the Library Suite. It had a soft, plush king size bed, our own dining area, sitting area with HD TV and a small collection of books, and of course the private outdoor hot tub! Here are a few views of our room:

And Nick and I can't just visit a place without exploring it a little bit! So we ventured off to Downtown in HOPE of eating at a quaint Italian restaurant but arriving too late settled for the local sushi place. Hand in hand we strolled around the Downtown square and seeing an ad for a Music Festival going on that very weekend I wished we could have stayed two more days and enjoyed it!

But none-the-less we left the next morning South Dakota bound - but if we ever return to Wichita most likely we'll be back to see our new friends Jerry and Suzanne!

This is what college does to you

As stated in my last post I have recently started back to college (FINALLY!!!). I am SO excited to finally be finishing up yet when you get into your homework and have to focus all your attention on a certain subject it can mess with your head.

Case in point: I am driving in the truck (by myself - rare occasion) and on the regular christian station that I listen to, KSBJ, was a talk show. They have talk shows every Sunday night and I will listen to some of them but this one was of NO interest to me. So I flipped the station to some country music and was enjoying hearing some old favorites and a few newer ones I wasn't familiar with yet. The radio switched songs to "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. I really begin listening to the words, you know listening, not just hearing and before I can catch up with my own thoughts I realize that I am comparing the similarities between this country song and Robert Frost's poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".

Okay I mean come on! Seriously brain! Although to give my brain credit they really are similar in theme and I could probably write a whole other paper on comparing the two...but still.

This is what college does to you.

(Click on the link to hear the poet, Robert Frost, recite this poem)

To Do List #5, Check!

I know it has again been a long time but just get used to it. I have just in the last two weeks - got a new job, started back to college, and signed my son up for his first team sport ever! Phew - it exhausts me just listing all those newbies! HOWEVER - I still plan on popping in to update with some fun and exciting things. First on the list was a thing that has been on my "To-Do" list for forever! I did a post this early spring of what were your spring cleaning goals. Mine didn't ALL involve cleaning, although I got a LOT of cleaning and organizing done, they also involved projects. So I went from Spring cleaning to Summer Projects just like that. And this one was a ton of fun!

It was mainly fun because I absolutely LOVE to create things and I also LOVE bold beautiful colors. Since I was a child I always remember walking into THOSE houses and thinking, "Wow how brave and yet SO beautiful for someone to paint their kitchen this color!" Or "Ooh that is SO different!" I always remembered them and so since I own my very own home now I wanted to BE that bold beautiful home that most people not DARE try to put on their walls! Hehe - can you tell I like to be BOLD?

So here was my order that I made from the paint counter:

I first did a test square with the small tester containers. I left it up for about a month so I could stare at it and make sure I liked it! I highly recommend the "test paint containers" before any major painting job. They are super cheap and you can look at a color in different lighting's before making the big decision and the big payment!)

And after cranking tunes and having to sing along to "I feel like a woman" we got the job done!

Don't you just love paint??!!

The return of the infamous Ivy!!!

I needed a break.

I didn't have time.

This summer has been a whirlwind.

Take any of the above three facts to answer the question of: "Where have you been?" Did I forget about my blog? No. I actually had SO many ideas for great awesome posts throughout the entire summer but it just never happened. I would go almost a week without even checking my emails it got so bad. So after a few weeks of wanting to blog and never finding time or when I did I was way too tired I decided I would just accept reality and take a well-needed break.

BUT - my kids are off with their grandparents staying with them for a couple weeks to give my husband and I a "oh-so-needed" break and thus...I have returned to my blog! Yay! I know I can hear the shouts of praise from here. Yes all 24 of my faithful followers and maybe a straggler that accidentally stumbled onto here by accident.

Anyways, so you ask what is my first post back going to be about? Well....how about a little bit of this and a little extra of that? I figure I owe you one.

First off is another "Spring Cleaning" idea. That WAS what my last post was about and I'm proud to report that I have come a LONG way in my cleaning and organizing this summer! My house hasn't been this organized in quite awhile. One particular day of organization I found myself in my craft closet. Although honestly I'm not sure I could define it that way because it holds quite a few other things but they are all holiday/craft related. Back to the point. In the top of this closet was my kids Easter baskets along with a couple other cute baskets I had received at one point or another and I never could find myself throwing them out. They were good baskets. I had become tired of trying to get them not to fall every time I rooted around up there so my ingenious idea was to use the clothes bar in that closet which was currently not being used for clothes. I really liked the result and it cleared up SO much room! What do you think?

Next up on my list is an idea for someones birthday. Or anniversary. Or Christmas. You get the point. It's multi-functional. Have you seen those window markers that teens love to "tag" other teens vehicles with? Or the occasional adult too :) ? Well it says on there you can use it on windows OR MIRRORS. You there with me yet? If your husband is like mine and doesn't eat breakfast (I know - it's a crime) then breakfast in bed for his special day isn't really gonna work. So instead I surprised him with a fun birthday greeting on our bathroom mirror!

It still was a surprise and made him smile just the same! It's cheap, and washes off pretty easy, I mean why NOT do it?!

Speaking of my husband, he took some of the cutest pictures of our daughter this one summer morning right after she had woken up. She wasn't hungry quite yet so instead she crawled up in this chair I have that sits right by the bookshelf and I always stack our latest checked out library books on it (so as not to be mixed with our books and impossible to find when they are due). She sat there so quietly and went through book after book.

It was so adorable and heartwarming to know that my kids are developing a love for books! It did this mother's heart good. Summer is a great time to encourage your kids to read because:
1. They have TONS of downtime that will at some point be vocalized with an "I'm bored".
2. Your local bookstores and libraries give great incentives to get your kids reading!

My kids did the BORDERS Bookstore Summer Reading Dare! If they read 10 books they got one free! They have specific books you may select from and yes my kids are toddlers and no the selection is not toddlers books but we got them anyways to keep for when they are older and to reward them so they felt happy about it I bought them a book each from the discount shelf! So they were happy and I was happy! AND I got two free books that are both excellent reads for when they grow up.

Also if you have a child between about ages 6-10 my Summer Reading Recommendation is the Magic Tree House Series!! I have already started reading one or two chapters a night to my son and he LOVES them! they teach about all kinds of places and people in history and with my son LOVING locations and where everything is he is IN to these books! And for my princess toddler well you just can't beat a good Fancy Nancy book!

Okay last thing has to do with school since yes it is already fast approaching. If you happen to be a scrapbooker or at least a mom who likes to record your child's events in some way this idea is for you. I myself am an avid scrapbooker and HATE to throw anything away. I want it all as memorabilia for my albums but some things are just too big or too bulky or the pile can just become ridiculous. So as my son would create the COOLEST things at school I had to come up with some way to scrapbook them without actually scrapbooking ALL of them, ya know? So is what I did was I hung up a cork bulletin board in his room to display all his school art work and projects. It would hold one month's worth of stuff (STUFFED full...but it did) and then at the end of the month I would take a picture of the bulletin board.

So instead of having a year's worth of art (I did save I think two of my favorite's though) to scrapbook I now have 9 pictures of that month's school projects! Cool huh?

I thought so at least. Well hopefully this will make up for being gone so long. And I promise another post to come SOON! Until then, thanks for allowing me my break (although you technically had no choice) and see ya next time!

Spring Cleaning

It is Spring. Which by social commonality means you should be doing all those cleaning jobs that you only are required to do once a year. Such as clean out your closet, or organize your cupboards, or move your stove and suck up all the dust bunnies underneath! EEK!
However there was a pressing matter this year that desperately needed my attention and it became one of my many Spring Cleaning projects.

Okay do you see this filing organizer?

It wouldn't close. Not because I wasn't strong enough to force it together but literally it COULDN'T close. Why you may ask? Because this is holding three years of my paperwork! I know. That's bad. So I set out to make this right again.

Fresh file organizer - ONLY holding 2010 papers! YAY!! Which by the way - writing your own names for the tabs really helps cut down confusion between husband and wife of where something goes or is located. I highly recommend it!

And here is my big finale! After about an hour and a half I finally had them sorted out year by year. and yet what are those extra papers on the floor? Believe it or not they are from 2007-2005. How they got out of their proper filing and ended up in my current one is beyond me. But then again, these things happen when you commence Spring Cleaning.

AH. Feels good. So how bout you? What are you tackling this season??