Because I Had Children

I don't care for chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream or most chocolate all by itself. I like it sometimes but I have to be in the mood. I don't like to be cold unless I'm camping, sitting on my chair cuddled up with a good book and blanket, or when it's drizzling and I'm bundled up going for a run but not cold enough to see my breath. I'm very picky about my cold. Right out of the oven. I'm also picky about my s'mores. I like them when my sister makes them into bars using chocolate chips, little marshmallows and graham cereal so all their goodness is contained. I love roasted marshmallows all by themselves. I like them burnt, I like them golden brown and frankly I could eat a bag of uncooked marshmallows if it was placed in front of me. I also love graham crackers. So, you can see how I might have a problem with S'mores the way they are traditionally made. Plus, I hate it when I roast my marshmallow perfectly then mash it between the graha...

Last night I had the opportunity to travel 80 miles to meet an amazing person. I'm so glad I brought my husband with me to record some of our visit. The video is the short version he gave us right as we arrived. We stayed much longer and I certainly wish we would have kept the camera rolling but here are more of the details. Cliff called 3TV on Saturday morning after seeing this clip while I was there with my cheer squad performing. He said he didn't have a computer but he wanted to donate and asked if I could possibly drive to Sun City West to pick it up. My first thought was "that is way too far" and then I thought if I contacted someone in Far West Pop Warner near his home, they could drive over to pick up the check and mail it to me. But, Cliff said he was going in for surgery on Monday and we needed to pick it up before then. Something about that phone call made me want to meet him. I'm so glad I did. Cliff joined the Marine Corp. when he was 18 years ol...

I saw your recent speech on the news and while I would like to be surprised at the things you say, I am simply numb from all the things that have come from your time in office. I have kept fairly quiet about it because I don't like to make waves with my friends who support you but I can remain quiet no longer on this topic. In regards to your statement that being a stay at home mother "is not a choice we want American's to make," I have to assume that you mean you don't want us to have to accept lesser wages because of our choice. I get you. I just wish you would have worded it better because that isn't how it was taken. As for me, there is no price that can be placed on my choice to stay home. I'll never get into the work place and make the kind of money you think I ought to but let me tell you something about my job that you will never understand. Like most mothers, I'm teaching my children to be good citizens, have good manners, learn to serve...

August 2014 Dear kids, I went out to lunch today with my dear friend. It's not the first time I've gone to lunch this summer while you've been stuck at home watching television for 10 hours in a row, but it was maybe my second. You gave me this look like, "what?" and I saw in your eyes that you wondered why on earth I thought it was a good idea to do something without you or not for you. I'm sure that over the last several weeks you have wondered why I keep pestering you to pick up your stuff off the floor in the playroom, or return your dirty dishes to the kitchen (when they aren't supposed to be out of the kitchen in the first place), or get your chores done for the day. I know for a fact that it has bugged you when I asked you to do something that wasn't "your job." I do appreciate you feeding lunch to your siblings or even making an easy dinner when I wasn't around. I don't think I've asked that much more of you than y...

Recently, the topic of sacrifice has been something crossing my mind nearly every single day. I see it in Facebook posts of those who want better jobs, want to make better life choices, or even those who want to lose weight. To get what we want, there is a cost. Sometimes we have to give up something we like in order to have or do something we like more? I'll give you an example. Ben is a great employee at his company. He works hard and has the potential to move up the ladder if he wants but he keeps taking new jobs at work that aren't promotions, they are more like lateral moves. Why? Because he loves to coach football. There have been many times when he was up for a promotion (including a significant raise in salary) but chose not to take it because it would conflict with his ability to work from home and have the time needed to coach. Some would call this a bad choice but for our family, but always the one we knew was right. We may never be rich and he may never have the...

My girls are back and we're off to a great season already! This year we have four returning girls and two new ones! We had to grow our coaching staff to provide some more one on one for our girls so we also have 5 varsity cheerleaders who coach with us. AND IT GETS BETTER! One of our girls last year turned 18 and is now my assistant coach! How lucky can we be? That makes 7 coaches and 6 girls, woot woot!! Our squad has been working hard since the beginning of August learning our cheers and chants for the football games. We have been perfecting our jumps and our tumbling as well. This year we are with the Flames football team and we couldn't be more excited about that because Coach Marc loves us as much as Coach Larry does. Photo Courtesy Kim Skinner www.kimskinnerphotography.com I've mentioned before that my heart grows every time I'm with my girls. At a Varsity football game recently, one of my cheerleaders was sitting in the stands and saw her coach (who is a ...

There seems to be a decline in the amount of volunteerism these days. I understand there are lots of double income families and by the time you both get home from work and take care of your house and family, the last thing you want to do is volunteer. I get it. I really do. I've come up with three reasons why you need to get out and serve more. 1 - IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO STEP OUTSIDE YOURSELF and think about others for a while. Serving someone else in need helps us find perspective regarding our own struggles. This last year I was the coach of a cheer squad made up completely of special needs girls. They were eager to learn and we always had so much fun. But after my hour of coaching was done, I thought about those parents who went home every day and worried and prayed and sometimes struggled with caring for their precious daughters the other 166 hours in the week. 2 - FRIENDSHIPS. I have made some of the best friends through my years of serving through children's sports. ...