Mia: Future blogger

I opened my eyes. The bright light shown upon me it was my mom. Her face was like the sun blazing through the wind. My first breath felt wonderful. The second person who held me was my dad he was perfect both were perfect mom and dad were perfect. And now I’m seven-years-old my name is Mia. My family is Mom, Dad, Codi, Richie and Linsey . I love my family and now I have my cat Wall-E he is new I LLLLOVVVVE HIM he’s funny and cute Richie is funny too. Richie wrote a poem that WaLL-E a secret agent. I live in a small house my next door neighbor’s are Edward and Efrain I LLLLOVVVVEE MY LIFE !!!!!!!!

My 7 year old daughter wrote this today. It brought tears to my eyes. She has such a beautiful heart and soul!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

A few days ago Shannon and I had a really sad conversation. We ultimately decided that we wouldn't have a Christmas tree this year. With the entire house being flooded and having to move everything out, and the repairs being so close to Christmas it just wasn't feasible. If we did put up a tree we would probably have to take it down just before Christmas, only to have to put it right back up, and if we did put one up after the repairs it would only be up for a few short days, and what if the repairs aren't done? So, we decided that we would spend Christmas at my parents.

It is kind of depressing to think that my kids will not have a tree with all of their presents wrapped under it. Which was something we all knew, when we decided to do the room remodels for Christmas the kids knew they wouldn't have many, if any presents at all. Well, as Christmas gets closer I really feel like it was a bad idea. I still intend on buying them presents. Shhh, don't tell. And then there was the flood..........errrrrr. The rooms are getting remodeled anyways. Double eeerrr!!!

So, let's go back in time about a month ago. Long before the house flooded. Long before we decided that we weren't going to have a tree.....

My son had to do an Atom model for Science. I took him to the Dollar Tree and low and behold they had a million and one Christmas decorations out on display. We decided that he would make his Atom out of Christmas Decorations. We were so excited. We knew this would be great! How many other students will use Christmas decorations for their Atom??? None! That is what makes it so great. You see, in the land of Middle School, you never want anybody to ever be like you, or have clothes on that are like yours, or have projects that are like yours, and if your child's backpack is like somebody elses....."Mom I need a new back pack" will be what you hear the very next day. In fact when we were picking out the ornaments to decorate this Atom we had to steer clear of bells. Somebody else was using bells.

Ok, rewind to today.....

I went over to the park to grab my sons stuff so he could train for a half marathon that he is running in early February. (Yay, go Rich!!!) And there it was.......My Christmas Tree!

It was an image from God. My son walking towards the park, with his very unique white back pack, in his running attire holding my Christmas Tree. It was magnificent!

I held myself together for the short time I grabbed his stuff and then as I drove away I began to cry. I laughed, I cried and I prayed.

I told the Lord "You knew didn't you? You knew that our house was going to flood, and you knew that I was going to be really sad about not having a Christmas tree for my children? You knew that I would need this, didn't you?" I must say, this God of mine takes care of me. He looks out for me and protects me from all of the ugly out there. What family doesn't have a Christmas tree at Christmas? NOT US!!!

We have the most beautiful Christmas Tree around. It is so beautiful because it is a gift from God. He made it long before Christmas was even a blip in my mind.

And, it was only $15.00 decorated and all!!!

(Don't worry Mom, we will still come to your house for Christmas.)

.....

I've been told several times that I should write a book. Apparently I have a talent. A talent that surprises me. I'm a pretty insecure person and I just don't see my self as being talented in much of anything. I know I can dance, I know I love my children, I know I can push a vacuum pretty well. But write a book! That is a task that seems unreachable to me.

However, I was watching Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations and the show that was on was an episode called "How we got here". Basically the show was about Bourdain's journey to becoming a writer and chef. He said something that made me think. He said something like: most writers are socially awkward, Most writers are introverted and don't enjoy being surrounded by crowds of people. Apparently writers do much better on paper than in person. So basically he was describing me. On facebook people think I am a hoot! In my blog people tell me that I am so funny. Well, I'll tell you the truth....when I can sit and think for a minute or two I can think of something very clever to type. There is also that magic "delete" key. It erases words that you really don't or shouldn't say. When I am in a conversation I am completely awkward and trip all over my words. Things never come out right, especially when I'm around new people. After I walk away from a conversation I always think to myself "Man, why didn't I say______" I frustrate myself sometimes. Let's just say, my social life has opened up since social networking has been invented.

I often sit around and wonder what I would write a book about. I have been told to write a book about Mia. I would just have to come up with so many adjectives, and that seems to be too much work. I could definitely write a book about my family. The Guidry family.......boy would we fill a book from cover to cover with so much entertainment. But let's just say...let's just say this book becomes popular? Because this family is quite interesting. Do I really want to smear this family's business all over pages of a book? I could write about my own personal journey to happiness...........I'm boring. I'm pretty much what you would call a statistic. Pregnant at 16, found the man of my dreams, raising a patchwork family....blah blah blah...... I once picked up a book about a woman that had 3 teenage boys. The book was all about her and how she raised these very diverse young men. It bored me. I don't want to be her. I can't do fiction. Yes, I made up plenty of doozies as a child, but I don't think my adult brain words that way any more.

So here in lies the question.....What do I write about????

the great flood of twenty ten

I'm sitting in my living room, with my feet up on my bed. Why you might ask? Well you see, on the last day of Thanksgiving break my house flooded. This day was supposed to be the last day before I "hit the ground painting". I was planning on re doing the kids rooms for their Christmas present. I was in town, purchasing a few last minute room decor items and I received a phone call that now when I think back it was very underplayed.

Shannon called me and said "Hey (very calmly) when you get home, you need to rent a rug doctor, the toilet flooded our bathroom and bedroom"

I immediately began thinking about all of the possibilities. You see, sometimes (most of the time) my dear husband exaggerates. But, there are times that he underplays situations. Like "it only cost $100.00" Sorry dear, but $129.99 is $130.00. So I'm driving home, with chatty cathy in the car chatting away.........not knowing what to think.

When I got home this is what I saw......

Rich approached me at the front door with a look of terror on his face. His first words to me were "I think I cleaned your bathroom up pretty good"

Shannon yelled, "Rich wash your hands, you were handeling sewage"

Codi and Linsey had just gotten home from their moms house, and seemed to be sort of disappointed that this was how their home coming was. Rightfully so.

And the cats didn't seem too happy about the whole thing either.

Oh crud!

I kicked off my shoes, I had on my gold flats, didn't want to ruin them, and I ran into my room. The hallway was wet, and when I got into my room my carpet was a sloshy mess. The baseboards were stained, already, and the room stunk. It stunk bad! Shannon and rich did a great job of soaking up all of our towels in the mess, and they moved and tried to save as much as they could. Bless their little hearts. They tried to save the house.

How did this happen you might wonder, well, this is how:

Shannon was sitting on our bed, 2 feet away from the bathroom with his headset on dictating notes for work. He went to the restroom, not the big job and no toilet paper was needed (TMI, you might say, but that is a critical point). He flushed and went back to work. 2 hours later he stood up to make himself a cup of coffee and found him self ankle deep in water. The rest is history.......

Shannon and I stood in the room in disbelief. For the next hour I was in a horrible state of shock. You know when you pet goes missing and you walk in circles, you pick up the phone and try to dial somebody to help, you start sentences but don't really know what to say to finish them........multiply that by 20. We had never felt so helpless. The water was so bad. We weren't sure what to do, or how to fix it. Where do you start when your room and bathroom has been flooded?

We were able to get out hands on a rug doctor (a huge thank you to the Smart family) and we began to suck the water out of the tub. We worked for an hour sucking the water out of the carpet and eventually after filling the tub with 3 inches of dirty water and still sloshing around in our room we realized that this was way beyond us and our capabilities.

Shannon googled something like "emergency water clean up" and found this great company. This man came to our house with his two grandsons and immediately started pointing this magic wand that told him where the water has flowed to around the house. Let's just say there was a lot of beeping coming out of that magic wand. The water managed to seep into parts of that house that we didn't even realize it would go. That water, it's a tricky little mover. The men began ripping out our carpet and linoleum. They also had to cut huge holes in our walls. That was scary! But 4 hours later we found ourselves standing in a cement house with 5 blow fans and 2 humidifiers and we had strict instructions to leave everything where it was and leave the fans ON!!!

All of my belongings are in my garage, my dresser with all of my clothes, my end tables, my books, my pretty decorations.....everything!!!!! I was swiftly moved out of my house, while expected to still live in it. A very sad day for me. I love my cozy little home. (sometimes)

This nice man from Clean Master told us that we definitely needed to call home owners. He said this is a mess you can't handle on your own. No kidding!

When the inspector came to check things out he is in a state of shock as well. Apparently he hasn't seen toilet damage this bad. Well, if he knew my family, he would know that us Guidry's do nothing small. He wrote his estimate out saying that we will get all new floors, baseboards, paint, and of course patch the gaping holes in my walls.

Great you might say! Yes, I am excited to get new floors and base boards and paint, and especially excited to have those holes fixed but.....yes there is always a but! My dog is scheduled to have her precious little puppies December 11.

Like I said, us Guidry's do nothing small. Including our animals.

The cats refuse to go out side any more. They would rather romp around on my bed, that is placed to nicely in the middle of my living room. The kids would rather have wrestling matches on my bed, and I am going to go insane.

One with Nature

This weekend we are going camping. One of our families favorite things to do. We have a very secret place we love to go. In fact, we haven't camped anywhere else in the 8 years we have been a family unit. I couldn't imagine pitching my tent anywhere else.

This morning I have been preparing for the trip. The first thing I do when I prepare for a camping trip is print out the "Camping List".

This list has everything one would need out in the wilderness. EVERYTHING!!!

I scanned through my list as I do every time I print it. I cross off certain things we might not need on any particular trip such as the fishing poles, or 4 cots instead of 6 cots.....and as I read through the list today I started laughing.

The list in in alphabetical order, and some of the items that are listed next to one another read pretty funny: Tongs next to toilet paper, Ax next to air mattress. It just makes me laugh.

I thought I'd share my list for your entertainment, or for your use, enjoy........

Camping List
o Air pump
o Air mattress
o Ax
o Baggies
o Batteries
o Bee-bee guns
o Blankets
o Camp table
o Can opener
o Card table
o Citronella candle
o Coffee maker
o Cook set
o Cooking spoons
o Cups
o Dish soap
o Dust pan
o Fingernail clippers
o First aid kit
o Fishing pole
o Flash lights
o Foil
o Garbage bags
o Hair brush
o Hot plates
o Knives
o Lanterns
o Lawn chairs
o Lintels
o Lotion
o Matches
o Measuring cups
o Mirror
o Napkins
o Off
o Pans
o Picnic table
o Pillows
o Pitcher
o Plates
o Pocket knives
o Pots
o Propane
o Rags
o Rake
o Razor
o Rope
o Rubber mallet
o Scrubbers
o Shampoo and conditioner
o Shovel
o Silverware
o Sleeping bags
o Smokey Joe
o Soap
o Stove
o Sunscreen
o Table cloth
o Tackle box
o Tarps
o Tents
o Toaster
o Toilet paper
o Tongs
o Toothbrush
o Toothpaste
o Towels
o Wash rags

Food
o Bacon
o Barbecue sauce
o Beans
o Beer
o Bread
o Butter
o Buns
o Cheese
o Chicken
o Chili
o Chips
o Chocolate
o Coffee
o Creamer
o Eggs
o Grahams
o Hotdogs
o Ice
o Jelly
o Juice
o Ketchup
o Marshmallows
o Mashed potatoes
o Mayo
o Relish
o Snacks
o Tortillas
o Sugar
o Veggies
o Water

Many blessings....

In March Shannon was offered a new job, and a new career path. Something our family has prayed about for the last 8 years (our entire marriage). This new opportunity, little did we know, would really change our lives. Shannon's income would be cut in half. We really struggled with this change because we are raising four kids, and we had a hard enough time financially already. But we put all of our trust in the Lord. We also decided that we should start tithing regularly. Tithing is something that we always felt like we needed to do, but giving that money away, and not spending it on ourselvs was such a hard thing. However, this tithe was our way of telling the Lord that we trust him, and we have faith that he will provide for our family. And, oh my goodness has the Lord provided!

We are raising a family of 6, paying a rediculiously large mortgage, feeding our family, paying every bill ON TIME, sending our kids to summer camp, and taking family vacations! We are doing all of this on......wait for it.......$13.50 an hour, with no over time pay. (praying for the overtime to kick in soon, but Shannon's program is still too new to be able to afford paying over time)

Can you believe that! That is nearly minimun wage. How incredible and awesome is our God, that he has made it work. This is unheard of!

Now, that income isn't paying for everything, but the opportunities that are being laid down in front of our family is amazing. The Lord is providing for our children, and for Shannon and I.

I was really afraid that our children would suffer from this paycut the most. Shannon and I can go without financial perks, and understand, but when you tell a child that they can't get new school clothes, can't play sports becasue we can't afford the team fee or equipment, or that we have to stay in the house all summer and that we can't go anywhere because we can't afford it.......now that hurts. There is nothing that a mother hates more than to dissapoint her children.

But, once again the Lord provides. Below is a list of the things our children have done this summer:
We have many friends with swimming pools and they allow us to come over and swim whenever we want
The church has a scholarship fund that paid for Mission Springs Summer Camp
Free Movie Rentals
Movie theaters have Free movie days
Free trips to the water park
Discounted hotel rooms allow for a fun weekend at the beach
Visiting the lake is always free
Our most favorite place in the world Blue Canyon, is completly free
Coupons online allow for me to buy their favorite snacks such as gogart, ice cream, and candy
and, my most favorite one of all.......I have a mother that loves to spend money on my kids!!!!!
(this is the short list of all of the amazing things the Lord provided, and Summer is not over.....)

So, the moral of my story is Trust and Obey! For there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey!

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now......

This morning when my sister walked in my house she said the litter box was very stinky, GASP!!! Well, not really that shocking. I've been so sick that I have let a lot of things go, and the litter box was one of them. I can't smell anything right now due to a major sinus infection so really, the stinky things have been at the bottom of my priority list. Probably not one of the best choices I've made, but.........I'm only human.

I had Codi take the box out and dump it. I walked into the garage to get litter and.....OH NO! No more litter! So I threw all the cats out and decided I had to go to the store after taking the kids to school. I really needed to go to the store anyways, we needed milk, and a few other things.

When I got home I noticed the box needed to be sprayed out....thanks to dear old Grandma, I now check this stuff. So I sprayed the box let it air dry, and kept the cats out.

About 30 minutes later the box was dry. I brought it in and called in the cats. They came in like a heard of buffalo being chased by a lion!

I had three cats very interested in what I was doing. They all three ran over with me to put the box in it's place, I open the bag and Lucy screamed at me the entire time. As I poured it in the box Toots did circles around me. Blue sat on the table and watched me with his usual cross-eyed look.

Once I had the litter in the box the three of them fought over who got to use the box first!

Apparently Toots was doing the pee pee dance around me, and Lucy was yellin at me to "hurry up" and Blue must have been in so much pain he couldn't do anything but sit and stare at me cross-eyed!

You'd think the dirt field across the street would have worked, but I guess they don't want to do their business where they play! Stinking up my house is a much better idea!!!!