My dear blog it has been so long......

Well it has been approximately 5 months since I last posted on my poor neglected blog! Sorry about that life has gotten a little crazy so this blog is just to get you up to speed.....

• Clare turned five in April
• Became the Director of Children's Ministries at QSUMC
• SURVIVED VBS (I think it was a success no one has told me otherwise)
• Moved into the cutest cottage house you have EVER SEEN I LOVE IT SO MUCH BETTER THAN APARTMENT LIFE!
• Carolyn turned 4 in August
• Clare started Kindergarten
• Went back to teaching prek with a new group of prek kiddos!
• Carolyn started PREK

Well its official I am no longer the mother of a baby, or a toddler I now have "big kids" it makes me sad I never thought I would be done having children after two but its like I tell my kids when they ask for a baby. WE DON'T HAVE A HUSBAND! Carolyn is convinced we should just be able to pick one up at Walmart but I think we would have better luck at SEARS! But alas it wouldn't be the great adventures of the curly haired momma if there was a husband!(JK)

So you are officially up to speed so I will sign off BTW my goal is to write at least twice a week so you should get tired of me soon!

Remember if you want to feel Gods love today HUG A CHILD!

Be Blessed

Linds

The curly haired momma

The week from the "hot place"

Have you ever had one of those weeks when nothing goes right? The kind of week that makes you ask what in the H*** am I doing and why am I doing it? Well that is exactly the kind of week I had this past week and I ALMOST let it get the best of me. I put the financial stuff, the stress of being employed by a church, and the day to day grind of being a single mom ahead of all of my blessings. You are probably saying with that list what on earth could be your blessings. Well I am here to tell you I have a lot to be thankful for I have the two most amazing kids in the world. I have a job I love that I don't have to leave my children with a babysitter to go and do. BUT the biggest blessing of all is the person I became going thru this divorce. When you hit rock bottom in your marriage and you realize that you are going to lose the person you stood before EVERYONE and vowed to love till you die, you begin to do some reassessing in your life. For me that was the AHA HA moment I did not like the person I was, I did not depend enough on my faith in God, I was selfish and was only out for me. You know what? I am not that person anymore I might not be as well off financially BUT spiritually I am so full. I finally realize I can do all things thru CHRIST and without Christ I am worthless to myself, my children, and the church I serve. So you see Tyler did me a favor thru all the turmoil I learned to depend on God and that's the biggest blessing of all.

Be Blessed

Linds

My Oldest: Clare Judson Johnson

So far on my blog we have heard a lot about Carolyn, and her sleeping habits, or lack there of, but only a small amount about Clare. Mainly that she can sleep thru Carolyn. Today I am going to change that, I am going to talk about Clare Judson Johnson and her amazing sweet spirit.

Lets start out at the beginning. The VERY beginning. When I found out I was pregnant I was Shocked to say the least. I had only been married two months and was taking care of my very elderly grandmother. That along with the fact that my husband and I had said we had never wanted kids made everyone a little worried when the found out about our pregnancy. Well nine months later on April 28, 2004 she was born. When the doctor handed her to her daddy I knew I was in love. It didn't matter I had been in labour for 9 hours and then the had to do a C section the pain just went away and in its place was the MOST BEAUTIFUL baby in the world. Clare is named after two very important people in her parents life's. She is named after my Great Grandmother who I adored Clara Marie Lawson. She is also named after her daddy's Grandfather Sam Judson Granberry who passed away weeks before she was born. Trust me she got both of these fine peoples excellent qualities.

The main way to describe Clare is sweet. She has a sweet, sweet spirit, she is the kid who will go and play with the new kid so they are not alone. I have never seen a child so in tune with other peoples feelings, she misses nothing. She doesn't like movies when an animal is hurt, it makes her cry. She has a smile that can light up a room. She prays when she sees an ambulance or a fire truck go by, that the people they are going to help will be okay. God gave me the most amazing gift when he gave Clare-bear to me. He gave me humanity, humility, love, peace and joy.

So see when I remember how wonderful my kids are being a mom is "easy breezy" I hope everyone remembers to praise God for the kids in your life cause even on bad days they are still your greatest blessing.

Be Blessed

Linds

GROUCHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it is 10 pm and guess who in the curlyhaired momma's house is not asleep? Yep you guessed it Carolyn Denise and she is making the curly haired momma GROUCHY! Is it to much to ask for her to just SLEEP? No Hannah I can not drug her or at least I think I shouldn't. The next question is how on earth does Clare sleep thru all of this??? She is loud and Clare is just snorin away. Please pray for me that I don't resort to duck tape and a gag.

Be Blessed

Linds

The bible verse I constantly need reminded of.......

For those of you that don't know along with being the curly haired momma I am also the interim Children's Director at Quail Springs United Methodist church, and I teach PRE-K at a christian school. So all in all most of my days are spent thinking about kiddos fifth grade and under. This is a tremendous blessing for me and MOST OF THE TIME my jobs renew my faith. BUT there are other times when I go from MISS HAPPY OPTIMISTIC TO MISS MEANY PESSIMIST in 2.5 seconds flat. This is something I seriously need to work on, it doesn't happen all the time but once in a while on a crazy day it happens. Those are the times when I need to remember a verse that our Club 3:5 (a kids group I teach at church) is based on:

Proverbs 3:5 & 6

"Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding: but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight"


I need to hear this verse over and over again so I remember I can do all things thru Christ. Just thought my ponderings might help someone else today.

Be Blessed

Linds

WHY WON'T YOU JUST GO TO SLEEP!

This is what I asked my three year old Carolyn probably 100 times tonight. My girls bed time is 8 pm a reasonable time when you are three and four right? NOT if you are Carolyn Denise Johnson! She thinks it is much more reasonable to jump up and down on her bed like it is an indoors trampoline! This makes the CURLY HAIRED MOMMA ANGRY! The Curly haired momma being angry makes Carolyn LAUGH.

The reason it bothers me so bad that she is up two hours past her bedtime is
1. she will not want to wake up in the morning and she will be CRANKY!
2. she shares a room with her sister who apparently can sleep thru a tornado but still if Clare wakes up she won't go back to sleep.
3. I am tired of her and want her to go to sleep. Doesn't she know SILENCE IS GOLDEN!

As a single mom doing it on my own I have to remember that I am not doing it on my own I have GOD who always gets me thru even when I don't think I can go another step. The main reason I am writing this is to show that no ones HOUSE IS PERFECT and some days it will not work out and you will be angry but if we GIVE it all to GOD he will restore our calm and get us thru the day and the next day will be even better!

Be Blessed

Linds