Live a Meaningful Life

Well, I just have to tell you all what happened today.  The boys and I went to our homeschool group's Halloween party. We all had a really good time! Here we are: After all the fun, we had a few errands to run.  We stopped at the Health Food Store to restock on some delicious milk from Brown Dairy Farm.  Then, off to the bank.  John Gannon had figured up how many eggs he needed to keep his current customers supplied. After a little more math calculations, he decided he needed to purchase 10 more hens. He was withdrawing money to go purchase the chickens.  It was here that that today's episode really begins... First, you see above I am wearing a costume, right? I didn't mind at all wearing it right on into all the places I needed to go. I mean, it is Halloween, and my kids love it when I dress up.  However, they did not exactly have ALL the details about my costume. My skirt required a little ingenuity this morning.  It is actually one of those ...

Because we lived the entire summer without running the air-conditioner (we cut it on maybe 10 times for a little bit), I am in a quandary. What am I going to do this winter? Right now, I am freezing! The temperature has only dropped a few degrees. I suppose we will keep the windows up until the late part of fall to condition ourselves to the cold like we did with the heat!! Johnny just let me know through the screen door outside--it is 70 degrees! I have seriously been considering having one of those cooking marathon days.  You know, creating those pre-bagged crock pot meals, etc. If you have some good recipes, let me know. A few month ago, I ran out of my home made cleaning supplies. I did not have the ingredients I needed to make more. At the store, instead of purchasing the supplies, I just grabbed a couple of cleaners, one of which my friend just raved about how great it is...I gave $4 for one bottle of stuff!  Anyway, every time I have used them, I have been angry...

I must admit, I wanted to start this post off by listing everything I have got going on right now.  However, when I thought about my motive for doing so, here is what I discovered: Self-pity I wanted others to feel sympathy for me and offer nice little encouraging comments like, "You can do it!"  I wanted people to be impressed by what all I have going on There--the honest truth.  You know when we really consider the motive/intentions behind what we say (and write), sometimes the truth does not look pretty. We try to cover it up and make it look a lot better than it does.  We offer ourselves these silly little justifications, and it all feels better.  You know, it is kind of like cutting the ceiling fan on so no one can see the dust covered blades. When the fan eventually gets cut off-the dust is still there. So it is with my soul. As long as I continue to make justifications for my behavior, the ugliness is still there.  To be honest, when I st...

I have no clue if this is possible or not. I am trying to write this blog while listening to a Ted Talk-A Rich Life with Less Stuff by the Minimalists. We'll see how this turns out. Yesterday afternoon, we shared a good laugh in the Cox house! Our neighbor's son came and visited for a little while.  The three boys were upstairs playing, and Johnny and I were sitting in the chairs downstairs talking.  I thought all was normal and fine.  After a few minutes, our neighbor came to get her son who had come to visit.  She came into the house, stood in the kitchen and talked to her son who had come down the stairs along with our boys. In the meantime, Johnny swiveled his chair around more toward me making a few weird eye moves at me.  "That's a little weird." I thought.  A few minutes pass. The neighbors are gone. The boys are wildly running around the living room.  Johnny is laughing-the belly hurting kind of laughing. "What is wrong? What are you laughing...

First, I just want to say "Wow!" I was completely overwhelmed, humbled, and encouraged from all the responses (public and private) regarding my last post.  I am so grateful that so many of you took the time to read something I wrote-it is indeed humbling. I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am for the calls, texts, private messages, emails, and social media comments that were sent my way.  I want to put them all in one place to look back over in the future. I still hope that by openly sharing my struggle and pain that others will continue to be encouraged. So what about today?  I guess it all began last night. Johnny attended a training at work recently and received a book.  He has read it and was telling me about some of the principles, etc.  It is about preparing for the ACT/SAT.  He tossed me the book and told me it wouldn't take me long to read it. So, I started reading.  I read half of it last night and finished it up before John woke up th...

I looked out the paned door as I was humming the song, Yearn, that played in the background. I thanked God for my aunt and that she is able to celebrate her birthday today. I saw the trees' images reflecting all along the bank of our pond.  The green grass was shimmering from the dew and the bright light of the sun was peeking over the horizon. I was flooded with memories...a little girl staring at pictures of her (my aunt) on the shelf, visits in Jackson, TN, a little silver stick-shift car, a foster mom, a changed a heart, a giver...a ragged pillow with Annie on it. And it was there I was reminded... I knew this little girl once. She was full of life and energy. Innocent. Her only concerns were dolls, school, and whatever the moment brought.  She was confident. Her parents, though divorced, were both supportive and encouraged her to be herself, work hard, and love others. She was carefree-just living life. However, all that seemed to change one day.  She fell aslee...

Guess what? We survived the budget this month and had enough money left over (along with a surprise gift) to go on a trip for the extended weekend!! Whoo hoo!  Oh--and I can't WAIT to buy groceries this month!  We only bought fruit, milk, bread, and ice cream last month!  We ate what was in our pantry the rest of the time... We hit the road around 4:30 or so Friday evening.  Our destination: our favorite campground--Thunder Rock.  We planned to paddle the Hiwassee and Nantahala rivers as a family and Johnny would paddle the Ocoee.  This was the first picture I snapped.  About an hour into the ride, our boys were laughing and playing with each other so well (this doesn't always happen).  I was in one of those blissful mom trances in which I looked at my children and just swelled with positive thoughts about them.  I wanted to capture the moment so I would never forget! And just so you moms that are reading are aware-it wasn't long before ...