A whole lotta catchin' up to do...

Thanks so much to those of you checking in on me. Things have been truly crazy. As I sit here writing this the dryer is buzzing but I am fighting off the urge to save my clothes from wrinkles in order to actually finish a post.

The last several days I have laid awake in bed writing various posts...in my head. What is wrong with me. I had some really good ones but because I never wrote them down, they will probably never be.

Instead, I am going to play a little catch up on some posts that need to be updated a bit and tell you a little bit about what has been going on in this busy life of mine.

First of all, remember this post. I dropped the ball and forgot to follow through. That'll show me.

Here is what that mysterious picture really is.

Introducing.....my attempt at being more of a girly girl. If you have read some of my previous posts, you know this is something I am working on. I NEVER carry a purse. Having two children, I needed something. My dear friend Rhonda and I get together on Monday nights and this is something we came up with. The pattern is loosely based on a pattern we found but there were a lot of things we did not like about it so we adapted.

What do you think?

I am not a big Eiffel Tower person, but, this fabric I LOVE!!!!

I love black but I wanted a little bit of "happiness" inside so I went with a beautiful pink for the inside. It doesn't show well in the picture but there is some green in the pink fabric so I went with green pockets for a little more "happiness". No one will really ever see it but me.

I love all my pockets. Different sizes and depths. Skinny pockets on the sides for pens but I sewed them shorter so nothing falls in deep that my fingers can't reach.

We also cut a piece of plexi glass for the bottom and made a sleeve for it so that the bottom looks better. I can pull the plexi glass right out of the sleeve and throw the whole thing in the washer.

Cool, huh?

One of my favorite things about this purse is that I happened to find a Bible that matches the inside of my purse. It is even my favorite version. This is perfect because I love having my Bible on hand but I have a heavy monster one that isn't really conducive to traveling with.

I would love to hear what you think. I am currently making one for my mom who requested patriotic colors. I love her!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BECKY FROM Infarrantly Creative. She had the correct guess for the contest. Go check her out and send her some love! She has fabulous crafts and tutorials. Not to mention, she is an adorable red headed stylin' mommy, with two fantastic children. She loves her husband, and more importantly, loves the Lord. Yeah!!!

I will be posting an interview with her as soon as I get the questions to her and she responds back.

Well, I need to go ahead and shut it down here for now. We have some crazy lightning going on right now and I would hate for anything to happen to my computer.

Off to fold some laundry.

Love you all,

Brandy :)

Matthew update

Just wanted to share a quick video to show Matthew's progress in speech after only two weeks. This is just a small sampling. The best thing was the morning he ran downstairs (was carried down the stairs) and then straight to the back deck yelling "Play..Play...Play!!!" That was not even a word we had worked on. I love it. Enjoy!

I will be back with more soon, including a post with pictures of all the craft projects I have been doing lately. Life has been extremely busy but, after 2 1/2 weeks, I finally have the leaks in my house fixed and am able to use my own washer and dryer. Hooray for the little things.

PLEASE PRAY!!!!!

Things have been completely chaotic at my house the last week or so. I will get back to writing very soon but until then...please lift Bentley and her parents up in your prayers. She is currently undergoing heart surgery at a tender 9 months of age. Go HERE to read her story and follow the twitter updates as the surgery progresses. Most importantly, pray!!!

Lord Jesus,
We thank you so much for sweet Bentley. The miracle you performed in her life is so evident. Lord, we ask that you guide the human hands that are working on her today. Touch each person in that operating room and give their hands undeniable calmness that can only come from you. Be with Bentley's family, especially her parents. Let them feel your arms around them and give them a sense of peace that is so strong they cannot help but KNOW You are with them. Finally, place a hedge of protection around sweet Bentley. Heal her body Lord Jesus. You are the Great Physician and we thank you for that. I ask that your will be done in this situation. Thank you for all the prayers going out for Bentley today. Bless each person that takes the time to lift this family up in prayer.

In your sweet precious name,
Amen

Not Me Monday

Oh my goodness, I am so thankful for this Not Me Monday. I have so much to get off my chest of things that happened this week, that is, if they actually did happen. I mean, seriously, if these things actually happened, I so would not be telling anyone about them.

If you would like to join this crazy carnival, head over to MckMama's site. It is really great therapy...trust me.

So, this week started out as any other...yeah right!

I did not wind up taking my beautiful 2 year old son to the emergency room, the pediatrician, and the surgeon in a span of 3 days so they could all see that he ripped the stitches in his scrotum. He does not have a gaping hole there. We did not spend $130 in co-pays for each doctor to tell us, "YIKES! That's not good!" (Gee, ya think?) We do not have to continue to deal with this gaping hole as it heals on its own.
We are not 100% THANKFUL TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER that our beloved son does not have to go back into surgery. Ahhhhhhhh!

On a much lighter note....I did not go to change out the laundry (put the washed clothes into the dryer) only to smell a strong urine odor. I did not discover at the bottom pile of clothes a used dirty diaper that had been washed along with our "clean" clothes. I did not spend a good 15 minutes cleaning out said washing machine because the diaper had completely fallen apart in the washer. There was not diaper particles ALL OVER my "clean" clothes. I did not have to rewash everything again. I AM NOT happy that there was only urine in that diaper. Sheeesh!

I did not fall up the stairs holding my beloved two year old and injure my back, shoulder and elbow. My middle name has not become Grace. I do not have a serious issue falling UP the stairs.

I know there is so much more that I could share, but I am feeling exhausted by all of this honesty (you know, telling you about the things that really did not happen). I think I need to go take a nap.

Oh, one more thing, I did not sleep in until 10:15 this morning on accident. My children were not still sleeping. I did not completely panic because I have so much to do today, including getting my 6 year old on the bus. I am not writing this post instead of doing the things I need to do in hopes of getting somewhere in the top 200 of MckMama's list this time so I have new readers leave me comments. I absolutely do not heart comments from my readers.


Love you all,
Have a blessed day!!!
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD OF ALL!

Macey, this one's for you!

Everyone else, don't forget to enter my contest here.

Wanna see my latest project????

Any ideas what this might be? Leave me a comment with a guess. If you get it right, I will feature your blog on my page and do a mini interview with you. But, you have to leave me a comment with your guess. And, if you do not already follow my blog, click on the link and become a follower.

This is the first "contest" I have done but if I get a lot of response, I will continue. I have some fun stuff to give away, so, "Let the games begin!"

Not Me Monday....IT'S BAAAACKKK!!!!!

I am so very thrilled that everything is back to a sense of "normal" in MckMama's household. In celebration she has restarted "Not Me! Monday". I am so excited...and you should be too.


This is the time where you get to share all the things you "did not do" over the week. It is great therapy and helps remind us that we are all in this "life thing" together.


Enjoy today's post and make sure you check out all the other wonderful Not Me! posts over at MckMama's site.


And....off we go!


This week I most certainly did not allow my darling children to eat red jello in my living room for dessert. One of my children, who shall remain nameless....okay, really it was me (shhhh! don't tell) did not spill red jello on the light beige carpet. It is most certainly not still there several days later. I am much more neurotic than that and would never leave food, especially liquified red jello, on my living room carpet. I sure hope it comes out.



I did not laugh hysterically at my 6 year old daughter when she chose her own outfit for school last week. She absolutely did not put on her baby brothers 18 month size jeans and a 2T jean jacket. She did not look absolutely adorable. And, of course, I did not allow my darling daughter to actually wear that outfit to school. I wish I had taken a picture.



Finally, I did not take my beautiful 2 year old son to the hospital on Wednesday for three different surgeries, thankfully all at once, and then come home and blog about said surgery complete with pictures. The blog did not include the word "testicle". I would never blog about my son's "man parts" so that one day he would be completely embarrassed. Nope, not me! I did not contemplate taking pictures of the swelling, bruising, stitched up lower area to show family and friends. Who in their right mind would do that? ( I seriously did not take those pictures).

Hope you enjoyed all the stuff I did not do, because if I really did do these things, I never would have blogged about it. Let me hear the crazy things you "did not" do this week. It's really great therapy.

UPDATE:
After reading a few of the other posts, I remembered something else I did not do this past week, or so.

At our somewhat formal MOPS Tea and Testimony 2 weeks ago, I did not actually dress up like a girl. Beautiful flowing Spring dress and new 3 in heeled shoes. I was not completely miserable in those shoes and could not understand why I was in so much pain because I had worn the shoes the day before and they were fairly comfortable. I did not finally look at the bottom of my shoes while showing one of the ladies on Steering. (We just decided that the shoes looked like they didn't fit me well) I did not then discover that the shoes were on the wrong feet. Oh yeah! See the pictures so you can see what I saw. I was not completely mortified and did not laugh so hard that tears began pouring out of my eyes. I was definitely not the "comedy relief" for my MOPS table and Steering group. Nope, not me!

Can you see how these shoes just don't look like they fit me right? Hmmmmm! Should have been a clue?!?

This is a view of what I saw (re-enacted for picture purposes). Can you see how half of my foot is hanging off the side of the shoe....no support. I can not tell you how much better my feet felt after switching the shoes to the right feet. What a relief.