About ME

Welcome to the Potter's Wheel! We are so glad to have you stop by! Although one may be tempted to think you are on a blog about pottery, don't let the title fool you! This is a collection, a chronicle so to speak, of my world as a piece of lumpy clay on the crazy spinning wheel of The Potter. It is my view, as I see it, while spinning wildly in what sometimes feels like an out of control ride at the county fair. Although it appears that way to me and to the casual observer, the wheel is under the full control and guidance of the One. The One who can take a lumpy piece of clay and eventually turn it in to something beautiful in His eyes. My stories will cover so many topics that I have tried to break them down in an easy manner with the tabs below. Look down now!!!! You will find tabs that cover FAITH, FAMILY, CANCER, HOMESCHOOLING, KIDS ACTIVITIES, AND ADVENTURES ON THE ROAD. The posts are best read under the guise of each tab instead of in chronological order. It is part of my LUMPY ADHD, so you will have to deal with it! I hope that something I write will provide you with a "golden nugget" to put in your pocket for your own journey. Get out your motion sickness pills...It is going to be a crazy ride.
Love ya, Lumpy


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LUMPY FAMILY

My collections of thoughts and experiences in my lumpy, lovable family are found here.  Our homeschool experiences, lifes joys and frequent mishaps will also be gracing the page!

 

My first boast, I mean POST, about my children....hee...heee....


When I started this blog, my intention was to write about the many facets of my life from my view on the potter's wheel. My intention was to have some humor to go along with my many stories of being a VERY lumpy piece of clay. However, due to the death of a friend and some other VERY DEEP insights (smile), I have gotten somewhat side tracked. I have been shocked at the sheer number of hits I have gotten already on this blog from 9 different countries, even though I only have 13 likes on my face book page (hint, hint...there is a link at the top of the page). I haven't posted anything yet about my children, home schooling, being a military family or being the crazy ADHD woman that I strive to be! So in light of that, tonight I am just going to brag on one of my brilliant daughters!

Unfortunately I have seen first hand on other blogs the negative consequences of posting pictures of your children and their real names. So on my blog, you won't ever see an actual picture of my children or thier names. They will be known to you, as we call them in our house as the Bug and the Monkey. The Bug is my oldest daughter of 10 years of age and the Monkey is 4 years old. They could be identical twins if not for the 6 years of age difference. However, looks are the ONLY thing these two wonderful creatures have in common!

Bug has been an all out tomboy from the moment she could voice her opinion about her utter distain for dresses or anything in the pink family. Since she was two, she has played with legos, trucks, worms, mud and weapons (ones that are safe for children under 5 LOL). She would rather put a frog on her head (which she has done), then to ever wear a dress. However, even as a die hard tomboy, she has the most gentle and caring spirit of anyone I have ever met. She will do just about anything for anyone to make someone happy. She is a senstive soul, who would rather sit and snuggle with any member of her family then to watch a TV marthathon of the Power Rangers. Well............hmmmmm.....maybe not, I will have to rethink that last staement. She currently has her green belt in karate and will often be seen performing kempos, combos and forms while we are grocery shopping. She is extremely small for her age and has struggled with many learning issues. Those learning issues and how we have worked them out, will be discussed on another post. She also is a very talented artist of many mediums, and recently has developed a love for cake decorating and puppetry. I believe if I had to pick only one thing that I love about home schooling Bug, is that I have the opportunity to explore these hobbies and interests with her. I am so blessed that I can take the time with her, to develop these skills and to watch her face as she pours her heart into a project. I will admit NOW that I am so boldly SHOWING OFF as I post these awesome pictures of her latest cake designs!!! Everything you see on the cakes are edible because they are sculpted out of chocolate or fondant. Brag, brag, brag....yes, I am!
 

Frog Family Cake
A Sushi Cake
A cake for Karate Demo Team



A cake for our First Fruits Celebration


                                                            










My post about Linda:

Proverbs 31: 28
Her children arise and call her blessed;



Image from www.thestarlitecafe.com


I was lost in my thoughts, tears streaming down my face. "When I die, I hope my children will feel that way about me. Will they? Will they be able to say those type of things about what I (Mom), taught them?" I know, it is probably a little morbid to be thinking about the day my children are standing before a podium in front of a crowd (well I hope there is a crowd anyway), saying good bye to me at my memorial service. As morbid as it sounds, it was one of the many things I was thinking about during my friend Linda's memorial service yesterday. As I described in my last few posts, Linda passed away from cancer on June 24, 2012. Yesterday was her memorial service. Linda and I had that special bond that only people who have been battling cancer together can have. I can't say we were really close. I can't say that I knew her as much as I wish I did. I am closer to her adult children, then I was to Linda. However, after listening to her daughters describe the intimate relationship they had with their mother, I truly wish I took more time to get to know her heart.

They described the feisty, rebellious and intense way about her, but also all the things that she pressed into their hearts. As the above scripture describes, her children arose and called her blessed. Her daughter Liz listed so many things that she learned from her mom, I wish I had written them all down. She taught them to always wish on a shooting star, always get down on your hands and knees and play with little children, to find a child's laughter contagious, to never worry about things because God is in control, to never grow up or take life to seriously, to always share and give your everything to others, that their beauty is on the inside not outward appearances, to always say "I Love You" and to be strong and courageous women. Wow.

After the service, one of Linda's cousins described her to me; "she had an image in her heart of how she was going to raise her children, and she could care less if everyone on the planet disagreed with her". She was an early rebel of the traditional education system, and home schooled her children before home schooling was thought to be kind of "cool". Whatever rebellious ways that society thought she had, in my opinion, she certainly did it right by her children and the Lord.

As I listened, I was making mental notes. I want to be that kind of mother to my children. I want to make a lasting impression on their hearts. I pray that God uses me while He is molding, throwing, shaping and spinning my two little lumps of clay. I pray that every day I press love and lessons into their little beings. However, don't get me wrong, I know that Linda was not perfect. I KNOW that I am and always will be a FAR, FAR cry from the "perfect Proverbs 31 mother". As I am typing, I am reminded of my recent Facebook post:
"Seriously....if someone video taped me today, they would lock me up in a straight jacket and force an IV drip of Ritalin and Xanex!!!! Wow..."

It is true. There are many days that I exist on chaos. I wonder if I am making a difference in their lives? Do the daily challenges and the mundane tasks of motherhood prevent me from being the mom that they deserve? There are days when I fail at "playing" with my children, because my ADHD and chaos keeps me occupied in daily household chores. Existing in my ADHD and chaotic world does not always lend itself to being anything that remotely resembles the "Proverbs 31 wife and mother". I often find that I put the pancakes away in the silverware drawer instead of the refrigerator or spend 45 minutes looking for my cell phone only to find it was in my hand because I was talking on it. There are more days then not that my girls are wearing mixed matched socks and a dirty shirt. How can I teach my girls how to be GREAT, when I am barely I can barely get out of my own way?

Then there are days that I am chasing two laughing lumps of clay down a sandy beach and playing in the salty waves. There are days that I lose count on how many times my girls throw their arms around my neck just to tell me that they love me. There are days that I watch their little faces brighten when the "light bulb" goes on during a lesson. There are days that I KNOW that God hand picked me to be their Mommy. I know that this is where the Lord has planted me. I will be committed to "blooming" where I am planted. If making endless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is what the Lord has called me to do, then I will make the BEST PB & J's that I am capable of making in this season of my life. I am the gardener and they are the seeds, and I will tend to the garden that the Lord has entrusted to me. I think that is what my friend Linda got right. I think she raised her children as she believed the Lord led her. She might not have been the perfect mom, but she was committed to instilling a love and a faith of Jesus in their hearts. It is because of that love and faith, all the other things were absorbed like water in a big sponge.

A quote from one of my favorite books, Mothers of Influence says this, "Our mothers are our first teachers. They teach us to eat with a spoon, wash our hands and share our toys. But first and foremost, our mothers are the keepers of the flame of our faith, teaching us to know, love and serve God. Their influence in our lives is too valuable to calculate. The ripples of that influence through the generations are inestimable".

Thank you Lord for Linda's legacy of faith and love that will forever dwell in the hearts of her children and her grandchildren. May her lessons ripple through the generations of her family line. Thank you for entrusting my precious children to me, even though I am a lumpy, bumpy, chaotic, ADHD piece of clay. May I seek the Lord's guidance every day, in even the most mundane tasks like matching socks.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is calling to be made....so until next time...Lumpy Out..


BLESSINGS???


"Mom, Mommmmmmmmmmmmmm.....Mommmmy, I need milk. Mom, Mommmmmmy I need popcorn!!! Mom, Mommmy, Mom I have to go poop! Mom, she is not sharing! Mom, MOM, MOM, MOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMY she took my toy! Mom, mom, I want to watch Dora. Mom, I changed my mind, I want to watch Pinky, Dinky Doo! Mom, Mom, Mommmmmmmmy!!! Mom, can we have ice cream?" " I am picking up a wet towel and bathing suit off the floor for the tenth time, vacuuming the rice from the rice table spilled on the rug for the 100th time, and making a peanut butter sandwich. Then watching my ten year old up on the counter emptying the snack cabinet of good sugary treats, spilling them all over the counter and while the tea pot is boiling over on the stove. "Mom, is this a dinosaur??? Mom, is this a dinosaur tail? Mom, why is there a dinosaur in here? Mom, can I have milk now?" I remembered that I promised my husband a bowl of ice cream 20 minutes ago, I take the ice cream out but the door of the freezer didn't close for some reason. Suddenly there is a crash and the sound of 50 frozen chicken nuggets falling on to the floor. I scramble to beat the dog to the pile of frozen "doggie goodies"! I don't make it. The dog is swallowing frozen nuggets as fast as he can wrap his little doggie mouth around them. I believe I have reached my limit. I am done, cooked, fried, baked like a potato. I decide it is time for a mini retreat to my throne room of somewhat solitude. I can at least lock the door. They can still knock. I can still hear the M word through the hollow wood door. However, I am alone, even for a brief moment. I am alone.

I reach for my a book from my private stash in the throne room. It is not often I get to look at anything other then home school text books or level 1 readers. I pick up a pick with a rather long title "Hanging on by the Scratch Marks My Nails Left Behind(Raw Faith)," by Elizabeth Chalker. Elizabeth is a woman who has been plagued by debilitating illness for many years, she is often alone in a dark apartment, confined to her bed. The book I am reading is a book of devotions of sort or her memoirs. I randomly open to page number 402, I see the bold text FAMILY . I chuckle. Ha, ha....family. Then I read these words, "What it must be like to have a husband and children-to love and be loved, a cohesive unit, connected by Him with a three braided cord where such oneness makes the ache of missing someone and wanting to be with someone so profound that the only remedy for such pain and emptiness is to be with the one who creates such to begin with. I get such a "crisp, winter day with a clear blue sky, sun shining brightly, and fresh clean air feeling, as I imagine a family of my own. I wonder what it is truly like to have children - these tremendously wonderful gifts-to love in that way-soaking in all of who they are and being part of who they become. What a glorious blessing and miracle-of which I wonder if I will ever have the opportunity to receive."

I sigh. I look up. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" I ask. I already know the answer. Of course He did.

Psalm 127:3-5Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

I close the book. I thank Him for my reminder, for my children and my husband. When I open the door, I step over the balled up towel on the floor. I find my two girls engrossed in a bey blade battle in the playroom. I crunch over the rice that has found its way to the floor again, and sit next to them. "Can I play with you guys?" I ask. "YES, MOMMY!!!"

If you are familiar with bey blades....."3, 2, 1 LET IT RIP!!!"

Lumpy Out!


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