Twelve Terrific Years

On Saturday the 29th of March, we celebrated a momentous event. Matthew David Beam turned twelve years old. I realize that in a family of almost five children that may seem like no biggie, but it is. You see, David is special. Some of the people here in Charleston have only met him in the midst of his pre-teen angst period but you others know what I'm talking about. Out of all the babies I have had, when I close my eyes he is the one I can still feel in my arms. I don't mean that I love or even like him more than the others, he is just David, that is the only way to explain it. I took him to a nursing home visit when he was 11 days old. We walked into the room of a 96 year-old blind woman. She immediately reached out and asked to hold the baby in the room. I gave him to her and she knew he was a boy and asked his name. I told her and she announced to all that he would grow to preach the word of God but she would not be around to hear it. Every time a visiting pastor came to our church, they would point to him and ask who he was. They all announced that he had a special anointing over him. We used to do a hot dog give-away in an underprivileged area. David chose to go from home to home praying for the shut-ins instead of playing with the other kids. I guess I can sum all this up by telling my Lord how very thankful I am for the gift of David in my life. I love all of my children, I'm just taking the time to honor David on the anniversary of his birth.

Achy Breaky Heart

Oh, I know, everything has a song reference. Deal with it! I am pondering a very important question this evening. How much heartburn does it take before your heart and or stomach actually disintegrate? To be quite frank with you, lately milk has been on the spicy side. I craved some cheetos the other day and on a whim picked up the flamin' hot ones. It turned out to be a 4 tums moment. To make matters worse, I am eating things that I can't stand. The Cheetos were bad enough, I think that is the first time that I ever ate one voluntarily without a game of truth or dare involved. I can't stand eggs. I mean, I avoid them like the plague. Matt walked in on me the other day while I was eating a hard-boiled egg. He looked startled and asked me if I was alright. I think he thought my head would start spinning while I threw up pea soup. For the non-horror movie fans out there, that was a reference to "The Exorcist". This baby has already got me jumping through some pretty bizarre hoops. A word of advice for the recession minded, but stock in tums, I think it is going up, up, up!!!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Yes, sports fans, it is that time of year again! March madness is upon us and the baseball diamond is heating up. I know about the basketball thing because I hear Dick Vitale in my sleep. I think I heard Seth say "daddy" when he heard him on the tv. I have first-hand knowledge of the diamond heat because I am washing "cups" and baseball pants daily. Those of you who read my blog know that my anniversary was last week. What you don't know is that the first night I spent as a blushing bride was at a hotel as close to Chapel Hill as the basketball schedule would allow. I have been told since my nuptuals that I should be so proud of Matt for the date he LET me set, because it fell on the ACC tournament weekend. Does this make me feel a little less valued? On the contrary, I have seen the games the man has given up for me. I can assure you too, that there was no basketball on the tube that night. I do have my charms you know. Think about it, the man gave up a Dean Smith game just for me. Gotta love my sports fan!!!!

Holy Tormado Batman!!

In the immortal words of my six-year-old son, we had a "tormado" incident Saturday night. We were watching the skies and the news when we heard the warning. We were told to prepare for a tornado by getting into a safe room or space. We did all the responsible mom and dad stuff, we cleaned out a downstairs closet, we packed a bag with medications and wallets, we made sure the kids all had shoes on. We were feeling pretty ready for the impending disaster when the weather man suggested putting helmets on the kids. We did just that, being the fine upstanding folks we are. We got in the closet and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. We finally came out when the air ran out and we all agreed that breathing was better than safety. Matt had the idea to take pictures of us in our "gear". Yes, we ALL had helmets on. Being the mom means never having to post an unflattering photo. Side note, we had some rain but not even a heavy wind. I am pretty sure that I heard someone break wind in the closet though. I'm pretty sure that that would not count with the national weather service.

We Are A Sappy Love Song

Do you remember the hair bands of the 80's and their awesome ballads? I can't get some of them out of my head tonight. There is a reason for this, and no, I'm not quite over the edge. You see, tomorrow is Matt and my wedding anniversary. "Love bites, love bleeds, it's all I need." See how well that fits? Through the years things have not always been easy, but there was always the need for one another. "More than words, are all I need to tell you how I feel" I could go on and on, I have a million of them. All those years ago, all I knew for certain was that I would still be with the man I love. We have had different homes, lots more children, a new town, new friends, new churches, and this is still the constant I rely on. The best thing we ever did was invite God to our wedding and into our marriage and He has been better than superglue!!! Thank you my Father for the Life and the man. I owe you everything.

Potty Mouth

Josiah has hit the "is this a bad word?" stage. Oh, how I love this one(not). At all times of the day, he will come to me with those killer green eyes of his, as wide and innocent as he can get them, and present me with some nugget. I know these words or phrases come straight from the mouths of his brothers or the tv, but still. The words aren't really bad in themselves, just not something I want my 6 year-old to say. He wants so badly to be like the big guys, that the only way he thinks he can do that is to imitate them. I suppose instead of complaining, I should be thankful that the older boys are polite and don't say anything ugly. This too will pass and then I'll miss it too.

Sudafed Stash

Did you know that Sudafed cold medicine is an ingredient in Meth? Did you also know that it is one of the only cold medicines you can take when you are pregnant? I have a cold, a killer, got a fever, measure me for the casket kind of cold. I went to Wal-mart today to try and help myself out. I picked up the little tag, took it to the register, presented my id, signed away my first-born (sorry Josh), and got a funny look from the cashier. I realize that I look haggard. I know that I look tired. I'm sure that to the uninitiated, a sick, tired, and make-up free stay-at-home-home-school-mom may look a lot like a meth head. I realize that these regulations are in place to stop all the would-be drug makers, but lets face it: They are still making and selling it at an alarming rate. I only wanted a few tablets so I could actually close my mouth to breathe. In my humble opinion, the only people affected are the hurried, harried sick people out there who either don't have the time to stand in line or are already too sick to stand in line or who can't sign away their children. Either way, the system is flawed!!

How Cool Is Old School

Matt and I are closet singers. Yes indeed, when we are in the car or in the house, we can rock it out with the best of them. I don't want to brag, but we do have a groove thang goin' on. This has always been a source of contention with our offspring. I should have known that we would have trouble when Josh preferred rocked-out lullabies to real rock music. They usually roll their eyes and ignore us or turn the movies up in the car. I have found myself gaining new respect lately in the wake of guitar hero. My sons will start singing some of the hard stuff that Matt and I love and say "I bet you don't know this song." Well, not only do we know it, we can sing it and tell you what album it was on, half the time I can tell them about seeing them in concert. How great is it when the generation of tomorrow discovers something new? What did we ever do without the Police or Pat Benatar? I for one am thank full to the young ones for introducing us to good music. Puhleeeze!!! Maybe one day I'll find the photos of myself when my sole goal in life was to be a groupie for Poison. I wonder if the big hair, concert t's, and ripped up jeans would scar them for life? Oh well, it would be fun. Come on and hit me with your best shot.... Fire away!

Honey Time

I spent this past weekend in the company of the man I love so much. Matt and I went to Gatlinburg for an early anniversary trip. We met friends of ours there and had a wonderful time. We used to go on lots of trips with our friends Andy and Heather Gardner, but through the years we have accumulated 8 kids between us. I guess that makes the logistics pretty overwhelming when you think of a couples weekend. Nevertheless, grandparents came to the rescue and we pulled it off. Matt and I don't have an absence makes the heart grow fonder kind of marriage. The more time we spend together, the more we both want. I pray that we will both always feel that way. The boys have come through with no lasting damage from being left, I'm sure the guilt trip will be over any day now. I suppose that if it is hard to find a babysitter for 4 then it will be next to impossible when there are 5! Oh well, we are glad to be home.