Word Web Vocabulary

I never knew it was possible to love such small people, so incredibly much.

I never knew it was possible to go from feeling absolutely crazed out of your mind 

because of the crying, the whining, the tattling...

to being overwhelmed in love goo.

You're going to have to mop me up off the floor, 

because I am crazy in love.

Crazy I tell you.

After losing my first 2 babies, when Wesley (my first) was born, 

he was obviously my EVERYTHING!!

I was beyond thankful to have him here, alive, healthy...

He ABSOLUTELY completed me. 

There was NO WAY I would be able to ever love anyone as much

as I loved Wesley... How could I? Right?

When my daughter, Jada was born...she of course was all eyelashes...

and beauty...

and she was my first girl. 

I remember the first thing I said when my husband brought her to me

after my cesarian...

I said "Look at her eyelashes. She looks like a girl."

Wait, no, SHE completed me!

It is beyond fun, to play house with your daughter..

to dress her up, shop with her, fix her hair..

oh wait, I wasn't playing house.

 I was DOING life.

I couldn't believe this was MY life..

a boy, a girl.... perfect.

Who could ask for anything more?

and I was pretty sure that I couldnt.

When I found out I was pregnant with Leila,

I confess, I actually cried.

and they weren't tears of Joy.

I wasn't sure I wanted more kids...

and IF I did, I definitely did NOT feel ready yet.

But GOD had other plans..

well, that...and our hmmm...how shall we say...

failure to be responsible family planners? ;-)

BUT  LOOK AT HER!!!

oh...wait...thats me... today . ..tickling her foot..

at ALTERRA, the hip Milwaukee based coffeeshop, 

in which she became popular .

She made me tickle her feet while drinking my frappe.

that's ok...

because somehow SHE now completes me..

HOW is this possible?

side note:

(Last week I took a pic of her at Alterra. I posted it on Instagram and hashtagged it #alterra.

I got a tweet from Alterra asking if they could use it for their FB wall..

and they called it "the cutest Alterra fan in the world"

I knew she would be a celebrity!! haha..

here is her famous picture below..)

I don't know how it happens.

I don't get how you can love someone so much...

and then someone else comes along in your life..

so different...

but you can love them just as much?

The blonde hair and blue eyes captivate me, 

because neither myself, nor her dad have them...

When she smile, laughs, cries. whines...

whatever she is doing...

she has me wrapped around her finger little sweet nailpolished fingers.

I am so completely in love with this little person

that I once was so unsure of.

God knew what I needed in my life at that moment in time...

and it was Leila.

Leila is the diva princess of all divas..

She WILL NOT leave the house without a dress on..

and it usually has to be a Christmas or Easter get up.

(hence the Alterra christmas dress above)

She does NOT like when the wind blows her hair,

because "it's NOT pretty."

and she most certainly does not like when Mommy walks out of the house with 

pants and a t-shirt on...

she's pretty upfront about it with her "mom, you're not pretty."

It's ok though, because she has a plan.

Her plan is to drag me to MY closet and she picks out what is "appropriate"

for me to wear...

which includes one or ALL of these: a dress, pink, or ruffles..

Maybe it's because God knew at that time, I needed her...

so NOW I still need her just as badly.

or MAYBE it's because with my other 2 kids, I was a working mother...

and now I stay at home, so she is the only child 

that has ever spent her first 3 years with Mommy 24/7

or maybe it's just because she is my daughter...my child...

but I confess...

I am in love.

I am so totally and completely 100% in love with all 3 of my kids.

It's just alot easier to take a million pics of her,

on a daily basis.

since we are together ALL the time.

i just had confess...

when she was throwing her tempter tantrum tonight about her tights being on,

and telling me "I can't stop crying. please make me happy"

in that moment, I wanted peace...

but in that moment I fell completely in love with her...

all of them...

all over again.

how is that possble?

ya know?

just sayin...

Linking up with  Inspired By Family Magazine and The Hollie Rogue for 

the Photo A Day Mommy Moments Photo Challenge.

3 1/2 months into blogging.

I now have 100 followers on Google Friend Connect.

145 "likers" on Facebook.

16 Bloglovin Followers

and several followers on Twitter and Instagram

And sometime within the next week or so,
I will have my FIRST guest on my blog.

I'm psyched.

And I am JUST NOW officially introducing my hubby of 15 1/2 years.

I actually told him the other day, "I wish you'd dress a little nicer. 

I'd like you put you in my blog, 

but you always dress so sloppy, so I can never take pictures of you."

Haha. How mean am I?!!

Well, I figured it was time, just to say a little something about him.

Jeff and I have known each other since we were very young.

I was about 6. He was about 9.

Our parents were friends and involved in ministry to some extent together.

Then we moved away to Michigan. 

So when I saw Jeff on occasion at a church camp or quick 

visit to Milwaukee for some reason,

it was generally a 2 second run in...

where he would nod at me and say "Hi Julie."

Then my family moved BACK to Milwaukee...

and one day in 1995,  

the church my dad pastored opened up a christian venue called

The Light Club.

The Light Club was a venue that brought in christian concerts, etc.

Jeffs mom became the "manager" of the Light Club.

Jeff, at this point was going to a different church.

BUUUUUTTT, he decided to help his mom out as she was preparing to 

open this venue... and I was helping my dad.

Yada, yada, yada...(thanks to my recent Seinfeld episode)

we giggled, we flirt.

the cowboy with the tight jeans (in 1995 skinny jeans were NOT COOL)-Jeff

and the alternative skater wannabe with the GINORMOUS jeans-ME...

hooked up.

I will admit, I was embarrassed that I liked him.

And when he first asked me out, I said "Yes,"...

then I changed my mind and said "Actually, no..."

OH MY GOSH!! So mean, right?!

I guess I just thought I was too cool for him.

2 days later, I got over that. and 3 months later we were engaged.

It still creeps me out to this day, that we have "known" each other for

an eternity, and ended up married. =)

BUT, I love him more than anything in the world.

Jeff has been behind me, for me, with me in everything.

I have not been an angel.

Our marriage has had it's share of struggles.

But his number one concern has always been my well being.

He has been beyond understanding in more ways that you can guess...

And it's because of this, I know HOW MUCH he loves me.

Its has been over 15 years now,

and the longer we are married.

The more I see struggles in other relationships around me,

and hear the ghastly (yes, ghastly) stories of other men and how they 

treat and disrespect the women they are supposed to be loving...

the more I realize how thankful I am to have such a good one.

He acts like a 40 year jr high boy.

He doesnt always dress the most stylish.

I'm not going to say he is the most romantic man on the planet,

or the most creative.

and I usually have to fix his hair for him and dress him,

if I want him to look "cleaned up."

Because he really has no desire to do it on his own.

He is all about wearing a hat, shorts, tshirt.

hat. hat. hat. hat. hat. for 15 years.

whatever can get him out of fixing his hair...

sometimes a shaved head.

But, he loves me. He is always behind me.

I can't stress that enough.

He loves our kids.

He makes me laugh with his jr high-ish jokes.

He massages me every single night...

EVERY NIGHT...

and sometimes morning and afternoons too.

and he doesnt complain about it.

He loves to snuggle me and spend time with me.

And his cowboy ways have even rubbed off on me quite a bit.

The struggles in our marriage have only brought us to a point

of deeper communication

 we never were big fighters.

he annoys me so much, but in a way that i have to laugh.

you will hear alot of phrases like "shut up" or "knock it off"
or "get out of here"

accompanied by a kick to his stomach

or a slap to his chest...

and lots of laughter between us..

because he is just soooo annoying.

but I love him. so much. and i dont know what i would do without him,

loving me, comforting me and supporting me...

always defending me..

and fighting for us.

i love you, jeff...

 For those of you who dont know me personally, or haven't read this at some other point,

I am a PK. And I gather that if you didn't already know what a PK is, you do now, 

because of the title of this post.

being a PK has no guarantees, 
other than these 2 things

#1) As I was growing up, I went to church every time the doors were open,
whether I liked it or not.

#2) I constantly felt as though I was being watched.

And while I maintained MY behavior quite well, I'd say,
compared to what road I could have taken, I always did it for the sake or someone or something else, ~~in particular to save face for my parents...the pastors.

Now that I am older, I look back and am thankful for the qualities and
behaviors and beliefs instilled in me.
And as all parents do, we remember when we were young, and we think, "ok,now I get why my parents did that.." or "yep, never going to do that with my kids..."

But really, as far as PK's go,
I think we (preachers kids) have a generalized reputation for
rebelling against our strict upbringing...
doing our own thang..

because nobody is going to tell us what to do...
or who to be, right?

Wrong, Not Me. I was a sweet angel. Still Am... Haha

But in all seriousness, I was never that rebellious PK.

However, my disadvantages lie in the fact that I took for granted so much.

I took for granted being raised in such a loving family.

I took for granted "knowing" God, without ever really knowing him.

I believe I loved God as far as I could understand.

I knew all the right songs.
I am a c. I am a c-h. I am a c-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n...

or The B-I-B-L-E, yes thats the book for me...

and don't forget

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine,

(hide it under a bushel, NO, I'm gonna let it shine)

What's a bushel? And why would I hide the Light of Jesus under it?

It wasn't until I grew up and had MY life and MY family and struggles of MY own...

that I really solidified MY faith in MY GOD.

I have had financial struggles, health struggles...
spiritual struggles..

 but my upbringing had taught me so much about faith, 

and taking God's promises at his word about such topics..

It seemed easy for me, when Jeff and I had financial difficulty..

or when I was dealing with horrid eczema for months on end,
 covering almost my entire body

to take all those scriptures on health, and prosperity and God's goodness towards us...

and apply them to that situation.

As big as the battle seemed at the time, I maintained my faith in MY GOD.

Many of you have read or heard me talk about my battle with depression
in the recent years.

I have to say, emotional and mental instability, 
by far outweighs any physical or financial battle I have had.

When there is NO peace of mind, it is nearly impossible to function properly.

The constant cloud, (even when you are laughing and smiling) is hanging over (and very close to) your head. And while I have come far...and a great deal OUT of this state of mind,

unfortunately it has become very very easy for me to slip back into it.

I hate it. I really do, 
because I never used to be this girl who could get so overwhelmingly sad or anxious.
I was always little miss happy girl.

Now, JOY is a constant pursuit of mine. I pursue joy, peace, & contentment...

when before I pursued things...a husband, a family, health, finances.

Joy and Peace is all I really want
(while maintaining those other things).
(i want a perma-grin, and not because of some happy pills)

I was crying to Jeff last week, telling him " I feel like this feeling will never go away."
 I have moments where I am glorifying the name of God,
because I can see victory~
(a light at the end of that tormenting dark tunnel)

when at one point, I saw none, and simply wanted to escape this life.

Yet, in between those victorious moments,
one thing may happen that hurts me, upsets me, or offends me...
and I suddenly feel like giving up on life again.

It sounds silly, but maybe if you've dealt with depression, 

you know what I am talking about??
It's a weird cycle and it's easy to NOT really get what I mean,
 if you haven't been there.

Anyways, it wasn't until I start making my way out of this horrid battle,
that I realized how badly I need God.
This God that I took for granted, as I grew up in a preachers home...
now was my ONLY hope.

In my desperation of trying different things to find tranquility,
I FINALLY have come to realize I need to go back to my original source of love,

because He was my ONLY real hope.

No doctor, no medication, no self help strategy can help me the way HIS presence can.

I am not saying those things don't work, because they do help many many people maintain some stability when their mind is complete chaos.

But I was raised to know a peace like know other,

I just never realized how badly I needed that until recently.

I've never really been one to sit down with my Bible for hours on end and study.

Generally when God speaks to me,
He will drop one thought, one scripture in my heart sometime during the day...
and I will meditate (think) on that for days,

then usually I will write about it in some form or another.
This morning I was reading Jeremiah 29.
Yes, the famous scripture is 29:11-For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you and expected end.

But that is not what caught my attention.
It was the verses before that where he was speaking to those who were held captive,
and he was telling them after soooo long of being held captive,
he was going to cause Good towards them.

Wow, that spoke to me like nothing else.

After crying to Jeff about "how long will I feel this way?" Basically feeling captive to my own emotions and thoughts, wishing I could escape, it was as God was telling me, 

after being captive, he was going to bring me good.

This is what I mean.
One simple passage, or thought, can set the mood for your day, your week and your life.
It was after I read that, that the story of Mary and Martha popped in my head.

When Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, and Martha was so busy...

and Jesus told her "Martha, Martha you are troubled about many things...

but one thing is needful (Luke 10:41).

We often used that scripture in light of the busyness of our lives, to calm ourselves down
and take time for our creator...

BUT our minds can be busy too.

And in the midst of chaos and confusion and pain in our mind and heart,
Jesus tells us, ONE thing is needful.

...to sit at his feet. find peace in his embrace. rest is his arms.

and find STRENGTH in his joy.

As hard as life has been for me personally the past few years,

there is a part of me that is thankful that I had some experiences...

because I know MORE NOW than I ever have about who I am.

what I need. and who I can rely on.

All those years being a PK, 

and it wasn't until now, that I am solely dependent on God...

some days just to wake up and take care of these kids, BECAUSE I HAVE TO...

but more often than not, it's because I want to touch lives.

I want to love people. I want to change the world around me...

with HIS love.

It's Tuesday!!

So once again I decided to LINK UP with SARAH from Yes Teacher Crafts for her 

Tickle Me Tuesday Link Up.

It's a quick easy post, with not alot of thought needed.

Who wants to think anyways?
Just a few random time sucking things that have been tickling my fancy!!

thing 2 that has been tickling my fancy!

2. BEING SUPERFLIED

So, a few days ago, my hubby took this photo of my daughter, in which he looks like she is a tiny person or he is just a giant... his name on instagram is superflysmith...since then myself, and several of our friends have #superflied their photos as well. It's getting a little out of hand, but its pretty funny. I even had two of my sweet blogger friends KATIE at The Lee Family Happenings and JENNA at The Life Of A Wife do one this morning..
Try it! You will definitely tickle MY fancy...and my hubbys.
Don't forget to hash tag it #superflied

 here are TWO of the #superflied photos I took =)

thing 3, this band...
3. XOHEART
In 2010, my brothers wife, Taylor made it to Hollywood on American Idol (yes, my whole family followed her out there. ~~good excuse to go, ya know?) While she was there, she met Stephanie, another Milwaukee survivor making it to Hollywood.
They (along with my brother, Jonathan) formed this band XOHEART and just a month ago, they took it to the road in Nashville (they left us, snif snif) pursuing, of course, Music! I saw this video my brother posted this morning. They do alot of COVER songs on youtube, but of course have their own AMAZING music releases as well...
Please go check them out and "Like" their page, if you "like" them.. hee hee..
HAD to post this video, because it DEFINITELY tickled my fancy. Anberlin is one of my favorite bands of ALL TIME... so when they covered one of my FAVORITE SONGS, you know that I had to feature it =)
Taylor is the one in middle, and of course, my brother, Jon is...um the guy =)





click HERE to "like" XOHEART on facebook!


And last but not LEAST whatsoever..
4. Draw Something App
BIG time sucker that tickles my fancy...

this is a picture i had to guess. my son guessed it as "Jesus" ...haha.. let me know if you want to "draw something" with me. I will let you know my name =)

Have a great tuesday everyone. If you're photos are #superflied, leave me a comment and let me know =)

an Instagram photo of my living room wall, because...I can

Ok, I am going to do this, and I am going to do this quick

there is NO rhyme or reason to this blog post...

Apparently I have been in no mood to write...

so there is no big announcement to what i am going to blog about

since I dont even know.

I am writing a month of randomness..

the last few weeks I have been dealing with an ulcer.

i had to go off medication for it, so they could test for some bacteria called h. pylori.

i was in tremendous pain, despite the bottle of vicodin and percocet I had consumed.

the test is now done, the paid meds are gone, i am back on my "regular" old boring 

ulcer medication,

and I'm not gonna lie, I'm missing the narcotics.

I can definitely see how people get addicted, and I dont judge them at all.
I feel like my legs are going to fly off if I dont keep moving them,
a horrible case of  RLS which I used to get when I was pregnant..
I've been crying, irritable, anxious, depressed, jittery...
I could NOT figure out what my deal was...
Then I realized, after only 3 weeks of taking that garbage every 4-6 hours..
I had NOW not taken anything for over 24 hours..
and my body and mind were freaking out on me..
It's horrible. I dont wish that on anyone.

See, I told you this was random..

But at least now I am not doubling over in pain several times a day.

Thankful for that! Since I am back to my regular schedule...

On another note, I was finally introduced to the smart phone about a month ago.

Aside from MY inability to text and type on it, I love it.

Who needs to text and type when you have Draw Something and
Words With Friends to keep you entertained, anyways???

And who needs to be able to log into Facebook 32 times a day...

I gotta say, messing with "APPS" is quite an issue with in itself..

I remember the good old days of searching for Facebook on my phone,
logging in every time,

and waiting for it to load before I could check Facebook.
OR better yet, having to WAIT until I got home to log into MYSPACE on an actual PC!

Now, no such thing...

As long as my APP is working properly and NOT logging me out after 2 seconds,

I'm all good. Right? Wrong...

My app spent several days frustrating me as It was NOT letting me log into my Facebook,

it was then that I realized not only are narcotics addicting,
but checking Facebook was an addiction within itself!

I gotta say, I realized that LONG ago (if I am honest with myself)...

Anyways, smartphone, apps, blah blah blah..

so android apparently just got Instagram, which is my new addiction..

I hear the iphone people are not happy about this..

I also hear that people are not happy that Facebook and Instagram are merging..
Probably the iphone people, since they have had Instagram longer.

well, let me ask you, have any of you had "THIS" happen to you???

check this out below... 

CRAZY!! I tell you! Crazy!

Ok, so I loaded the above pic on my twitter or facebook or something, and apparently I "liked" the picture, but when I was looking at my profile from my phone, it said I "liked" photo...

I was thinking, whats "photo?" 

Because it didnt actually show a pic of said "photo."

So I clicked on it, and this is what I see...

My Instagram photo of Jeff's butt had its own profile page on Facebook!!!

What the????!!

Right?!

How weird is that? Apparently his butt photo joined Facebook

on Tuesday Night at 6:51pm...

Please, Facebook and Instagram, work out your kinks before merging, because I don't need all my photos creating their own Facebook profile pages...
the 4 FACEBOOK accounts I run are more than enough for me to deal with.

on that note: here are a few more pics from my new obsession.

my friend, Sue's 30th birthday party. you are welcome for letting you see UP my nose

the kids, opening their easter gifts

need i say more? or anything?

alterra, milwaukee based coffee shop that my hubby is "addicted" to

easter sunday at our church, people responding to the altar call.

jada at a birthday party with one of her bffs, eric

my goodness, they are cute.

Side Note: I dont have a link up for my Instagram yet, but to follow me I am "funnythingblog"
=)
Or let me know if you want to challenge me in Words With Friends or Draw Something!
I will let you know my name...

I have always been a big fan of being a fan.

In other words, showing your support, some LOVE for the people you love.

If anyone should be cheering you on it's the people that love you, right?

I am an avid believer that if you see a someone hurting, love them.

If you see someone rejoicing over something wonderful happening,

don't be jealous, rejoice with them.

If you see gifts and talent in someone, praise and encourage those talents.

I gotta say, not many things feel worse than being excited about something that you love,

telling your family or friends about it, 

and feeling insignificant as their response is less that supportive,

or perhaps they even down right make fun of you for having that passion...

simply because it's not THEIR passion.

so they don't get why you are so LOVE it so much.

God gave us each talents, gifts, abilities, in such a WIDE spectrum of...

well, things to LOVE doing.

NO gift is insignificant. Each is given for a purpose, whether that be musical, creative, artistic, business, medical, scientific, ministry, communicative, writing, acting, fitness...

the list goes on and on

of the passions that drive us to do what we love doing.

And ALTHOUGH we do them because we love it,

the support of people who love us can continue to steer us in the right direction.

My Aunt Pat is the reason I am doing this blog.

After reading my facebook status's that touched her and made her laugh over and over,

she kept encouraging me to write. Probably for a year or two, she would keep bringing it up..

Finally, I am here, doing it, and she is still one of my biggest encouragers...

and you have no idea how I sooo appreciate the people who have encouraged me in this journey..

and have made it known how much my writing has touched them 

or made them laugh.. or made them cry..

Hearing that makes me want to continue what I am doing even more so.

SO, be that voice in someone else's head. That voice that says
YOU CAN DO THIS.

Or that says 

"Wow, I never realized how talented you are. What a gift you have."

Don't be the friend that stands back, not paying attention
 or taking interest in those you love.

I know we are all busy, but take time to love BIG on some people
 that are crazy talented!!

That's what I love about all the bloggers,everyone is so supportive.

Yes, of course, we all have our own thing going, 

but everyone still takes the time to cheer one another on.

This is also the reason for my "I HEART PEOPLE" page.

Simply to recognize people that deserve it.

Today I wanted to do two things.

1) BRAG on my little sister Joanna and her fab photography skills. She took up photography just a few years ago, just because she loves it so much. She is always searching for models and make up artists to work with. And she is doing fabulous and I am so proud of her. And I love her so very very much.

2) ALSO I can take this opportunity to show off some of the pics she has taken of me and my lovely family (mostly me and the girls, since we are the cutest...haha). I live less than a block away, so whenever she is wanting practice like...NOW... she calls me up and asks me to take pictures.

and hey, I'm not gonna say no to free photoshoots!

***to read a little letter I wrote to my baby sister, click  HERE

 Below are some of my favorite pictures she has taken of me and my posse..
there are literally hundreds more...

but it if you like THESE ONES...please check out   Joanna Photography facebook page and "like" it.

She's got some AMAZING PICS on there.. maybe a little less "impromptu" than mine are...

bands, models, engagements, weddings..etc...all completely fab!

...go love my little sis =)

click here!

i normally hate smiling with my mouth open, unless its natural and i am laughing. you should see the things i have to do to make myself laugh during our photoshoots. it ok though, it's just my sister xoxo

workin it.. haha

pretty sure this was christmas 2010...i always shoot a text to joanna before the holidays saying "can you bring your camera and take a few pics of us?" =)

the train tracks. always one of my favorite places for a photoshoot.