Now who's sleeping in my bed??

OK, so once upon a time, my son Sean (who is now four) used to sleep in his own bed at all times. He was very easy to "sleep train"...in fact, at around four months, you could practically hang him from his toes, and he still wouldn't wake up. But, then, the Army stepped in and moved us to Hawaii when Sean was around 18 mths. old. During our two months of hotel living, Sean learned how to climb out of his crib and discovered the fun of sleeping with Mommy and Daddy. Three years later, we still have issues with him sleeping in his own bed throughout the whole night. He'll always start there, but about once every other week or so, I will wake up and my arm will be asleep from his heavy head curled up next to me. The little sneak doesn't even try to wake me up anymore. (Or maybe I am just too tired to notice...=} ) He just crawls into bed with me.

Anyway, it wasn't a huge surprise for me to wake up this morning and find a little brown-headed boy curled up next to me. (He actually was taking up half of the bed.) So being the wonderful mom and wife that I am, I woke up Jamie to take him back to bed. Now, in my defense, Jamie can get up, take all three kids to bed, get me a glass of water, and still not remember anything in the morning. This brings me to the conclusion that he must do all this stuff in his sleep, and therefore is much more capable of nighttime trips than I am. =)

Soooo, Jamie picks up our boy and carries him back to his bed. He returns to bed, and tells me that our little brown-headed boy in bed with us was actually Josh rather than Sean. How did he discover this? Well, when he laid "Sean" down in Sean's bed, he almost squished the actual Sean. Now how weird is that? In all six years that Josh has been alive, he has never tried to crawl into bed with us. In fact, I can remember maybe two or three times, as a baby, that he has slept with us and those were naps.

When asked by Josh why he ended up in bed with us..... a possible bad dream, although, to be honest, I don't even think he remembers. Oh well, guess we'll be more careful next time before returning a child to his or her own bed. =)

House of Thoughts

As many of you know, I am not the decorating sort. As an example, until a few months ago, the main item of decoration in our dining room was five cupcakes colored by each member of our family with our birthdays on them. Currently, the cupcakes have been replaced with four gorgeous paintings done by my three children. Although priceless to their mother, they will doubtfully be hung in the Louvre.

Nevertheless, I do have one house that I am constantly decorating, and that is my House of Thoughts. During a women's Bible study at our church, one of the leaders discussed how our brains are like a house with four rooms. We even have a roof (our hair), although some shingles are a tad grayer than others.....[On a side note, I received my first gray hair when we joined the Army. I now have one gray hair for each year we have been in.....Coincidence? I think not.=)]. Anyway, our four rooms are named the "Poor Me Room", the "If Only Room", the "What If Room", and the "Room of Faith".

Now, obviously, we are supposed to live in the "Room of Faith". After all, Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to "Trust in the Lord with all our heart.....". Jeremiah 29 tells us that God has planned our lives, and those plans are for good. I mean, if the God who created the universe cares enough to ponder and think about my little old life, then I should be sitting pretty in my room of Faith picking out wallpaper and knick knacks to decorate right?

Unfortunately, if you're like me, you tend to wander from that room of Faith into other rooms. Like maybe the "Poor Me" room. You know, the one where you just feel sorry for yourself, how much of a victim you are....or how tough life is and everyone is picking on you. Yep, I have been there. Just recently, actually. I've even picked out furniture for that room. Chosen my paint color.....decided on carpet instead of wood floors. Even got to the point where I thought padded walls looked nicer. ;-) Yes, the "Poor Me" room was one of my favorite hang out spots for a time.

No problems feeling sorry for yourself? Well, have you tried the "What If" room? If you're in the Army, this one has probably been a resting spot for quite a while. It's the one where you get really worried over the future. Me, I used to worry about EVERYTHING. When we were first married, I worried about Jamie getting in a car accident, not having the money to pay for rent, are car dying, not getting pregnant [I can now see that THAT one was a definite reason to be worried. =)]...as I grew older and wiser, I worried about the kids getting hurt, losing my children, their school, Jamie being deployed. Honestly, there were nights that I became so anxious that I just laid in bed worrying. Sometimes, I would even worry about people, because I felt that it would make them feel more loved. Yep. I definitely lived in the "What If" room too. I think pink makes a nice color for padded walls, don't you?

Ohhhhhh, I spent quite a bit of time in those two rooms, but I have to say that the "If Only" room was a gem. You know, the one where you just know that life would be better, "IF ONLY".......that loser didn't cut you off making you late to such and such or your childhood had been better or if your hubby just got it together. It's the room where you are just filled with such anger at others, yourself........God. If only, Lord, if only you had done it this way or if you had just allowed me to......Sometimes, I wonder if the "If Only" room is the most painful room to get out of.....

Here are my four rooms. Three of which I discussed in great detail. The woman who presented this lesson told us it was ok to stay a while in each room but not to begin decorating. It made me pause. Stay in the "What If" room? Really? Is that right? Hmmmm, I suppose it is good to sit in the room rather than ignore the problem. You see, I have seen many people completely ignore issues in their lives and pretty much live in denial. It's like having a giant elephant in your room. All is well, as long as you ignore the big giant smelly elephant "decorating" your room of Faith. Unfortunately, many of those people (I being one of them) spend so much time ignoring their big elephant that they miss out on seeing the ONE who matters the most: Jesus. Nope, don't want to be them. I want to face my issues, and I suppose if that means spending some time in the "What If", "If Only", or "Poor Me" rooms than so be it.

Still, how much time should I or a friend stay there? I mean, if I see a friend in the "Poor Me" room should I yank them out? For me, it reminds me of Job's friends who told him to just curse God and die. No, I don't want to be like them. And, I certainly don't want friends like that. Hmmmm, you know, I think I want to be like Job's friends were in the beginning....quiet and supportive. '

So my friends, if you see me in one of those yucky rooms, would you sit and have some coffee or cocoa with me. Pray with me as I face the elephants? BUT, if I start taking out the wallpaper samples or choosing the knick knacks.....yank me back to my room of Faith as fast as you can. I promise to do the same for you.=)

Some "Room of Faith" verses:

Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Psalm 131:1-2
"Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul...."

Psalm 46:10
"Be still and Know that I am GOD."

Some updates

Hi everyone,

Now that I have joined the blog world, I thought I'd give you all a quick update on life in the Sproul house. Jamie is doing well. As you can see below, he has been working hard in the rear detachment. The last of his unit comes home from Iraq soon, and then things will return to somewhat normal. Meanwhile, he is working on correspondence courses to get some more points toward his promotion. The points have dropped low enough that he may be promoted in December. (YEAH!!) Be praying that they stay down.....the extra money will be helpful when we head back to Virginia.

Josh is doing great. He just received "Student of the Month" for September. He has just begun to REALLY love reading. Before, we would have to force him to read, but now, we catch him reading to Sean and Kyla. Joshua spent the first few weeks of being six wishing he were seven. Apparently, most of his classroom friends are seven or soon to be seven, but, yesterday he came home telling me about a boy who was still just five, so he seems okay with it now. =) Joshua is our "jock" and adores anything that involves a ball. We finished our second season of soccer (first where Jamie coached), and I must say, although you don't keep score in his league, we were undefeated. ;-) I am planning his soccer scholarship as we speak. =)

Sean is my music guy. He desperately wants to go to school, and I am already praying that Virginia does a waiver for him, so that his wish will come true. He misses the kindergarten cutoff in Virginia (not here) by two weeks. Sean is already trying to put letters together and sounding out just a few small words. His favorite show is "Super Why", and I credit his love for reading to that show. It is awesome!! Sean also loves to pray at church and is always one of the first to volunteer for anything. Anyway, Sean loves anything music, and I can picture him at 16 with his guitar and asking to have long hair. ;-)

Kyla continues to think she reigns supreme in the Sproul house. Today, she has managed to dump two glasses of milk on the floor and stand ON the table and dance. She is twenty-one months old and will let you know through a very high pitched screech that she is either happy or annoyed. Still, she, too, loves music, and it is cute (when she is not on the table) watching her bop around to the radio. Plus, she does such sweet things. Last week, during a playgroup that I facilitate, she took my Bible out of my purse, sat down in the middle of the group of ladies, and started "preaching" to us in a language that I am sure only God knows. She then bowed her head and started to pray. =)She is definitely a keeper.....now, if I can just get her to keep her feet off the table.

I am doing well. I have been a little scatterbrained lately....but I am getting back on track. Remembering to stay focused on what is important....hmmm, maybe we'll save that for another blog. =)

Miss ya all,

Love,

Me

For your viewing enjoyment =)

Just as the title says...

OK, all. I have finally decided to take the plunge to blogland. I actually dipped my toes into it a week or so ago with my first blog on myspace about Jamie's MSM, but decided that I wanted to be less exclusive with my blogs. So here it is.....life in the Sproul household......the good, the bad, the boring, and the insitefully exciting. =)

Note to self: Change layout.....way too pink. ;-)

MSM and no, I do not mean MSN: the news channel

OK, so I have played with the thought of blogging for months now....ever since reading other friends' blogs (a plug for you Suzanne =) ), and enjoying them so much. But, alas, I have been a giant chicken. Now, though, I am so bursting with pride (yes, I know I told some of you my "pride cometh before the poop" story, but this is better....for those of you didn't hear about it, don't worry, I'll get to that another blog).

Anyway, I digress. Wihout further ado, I shall announce my news ( and no I am not pregnant, please this is good news...not the being pregnant is bad news....I would be quite happy if I heard about others being pregnant.). Boy, I sure do like tangents. ANYWAY, my story is this: My most wonderful husband was invited to a ceremony this morning. It was invitation only ( I believe my invite was lost in the mail...), and he was told that he would be receiving a letter of recognition from Colonel Ryan. Now, I thought little of this at first. I knew I had heard Colonel Ryan's name before, but I assumed it was my memory confusing television (the tv show: The Unit has a Colonel Ryan on it...fairly good show...one my husband and I can actually watch together without him falling asleep or saying the words "chick show") with reality. Alas, Colonel Ryan is a rather important gentleman...both in tv and here. It turns out he is the Rear Detachment commander of the 25th ID. At that realization, I profusely apologized to my hubby, and furiously started to look in the mail for my lost invite (ok, who am I kidding, I knew they didn't invite me, but it is kind of funny thinking about it).

Anyway (remind me to consult my thesaurus for a synonym to anyway for future blogs), Jamie was not given a letter of appreciation, but was instead given the MSM, also known as the Meritorius Service Medal. The MSM is one of the highest noncombat related awards that can be given, and is usually only reserved for field grade officers (whatever that is) and E7-E8s. (see Wikepedia for more info). He was also given a coin from a Major General (the name escapes me......sigh.....Colonel Ryan is so much easier to remember) with his (Jamie's not the general's) name engraved in it. Most importantly, Colonel Ryan said some wonderful things about my hubby, most of which he cannot remember due to shock, although I shall be trying hypnosis later to help with recall. One thing he did say though which is almost better than the reward (except the reward gives promotion points which means more money which means more food) was that Jamie is the face of this division. I am so proud of him. The Army couldn't ask for a better...or cuter ;-) face.