This is not what I want to post today.  In fact, the thought of it makes my heart as heavy as it has ever been.

Yesterday, my sweet sister-in-law, Sarah, was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  She is a mother to two small children, wife to the ever-so-awesome, Pat, and a crazy-good-at-her-job speech pathologist at a local high school.  I don’t get the ‘why’.  I know God does, but it’s one of those things that, when I see Him, we’re just going to have to sit down face-to-face and have a long talk about.

Surgery will be in Sarah’s near future.  The doctors believe they can remove all the tumor without damage.  Pray for that.  And you know what… just pray. Pray for her.  Pray for their kids.  Pray for Pat.  Pray for peace and complete. and. utter. healing.

If you know her… text her, Facebook her, “tweet” her… Let her know that she is not alone in this and that prayers are constantly going up to the one and only ultimate Healer in her behalf.  For anyone who doesn’t believe in the power of prayer, start believing.  I’ve seen it work miracles.  Believe it, and pray.

For anyone who knows Sarah, you know she likes to laugh.  And she does.  A lot.  Leave it to me to crack a “Where in the heck is Derek Shepherd  when you need him?” joke last night.  I told her I knew it was probably completely inappropriate, but I tend to crack jokes when I’m nervous.  Of course, she cracked one right back.  That’s Sarah.

I believe with all my heart that God is going to do great things in her life.  Today I’m asking you to pray.  And I’ll probably be asking more, so get ready to get on your knees for Sarah. And know without a doubt that she would get on hers for you.

A week or so ago, the kids and I ran by Matt’s grandparents’ apartment at a local retirement community.  The girls immediately noticed that several of the residents had Valentine decorations on their doors, but Gran and Grandpa didn’t.

This did not settle well with them.  We needed to fix that.  And fast.

I had seen these over at the Idea Room and loved them.  So I drew upon that inspiration and came up with this heart-shaped wreath.

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The Jeb Man got into a little trouble at school recently. The boy hates nap time. He refuses to nap anywhere other than at home in his own bed. I knew he wasn’t napping at school, but his teachers assured me he was staying quietly on his nap mat.

That all changed yesterday.

His teacher met me at the door and told me he had some “issues” at nap time. Apparently, not only did he refuse to stay on his nap mat, but he also hurled his duck at other sleeping children, trying to wake them up so they could play. (I mean, it was a good plan…)

I. Was. Mortified. (more…)

I apologize for my elusiveness over the last few days. As I mentioned, we were on a mini, no-child, no-snow vacay in Dallas over the weekend with friends. And it was amazingly fun. We went lots of places and did lots of things, but the one I want to share here, of course, makes fun of me. (more…)

Matt and I outran the snow with a couple of dear friends to spend the weekend in Dallas. I am reduced to blogging from my iPhone, but I had to share my deal of the century. (more…)

The following documents life this past week according to my iPhone.

The girls picked out some super cute shoes at Target. (I would totally wear them if they were my size.)

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Do you Twitter? Or is it, do you tweet? Either way… do you?

I’ll be honest. I love Twitter. When Matt first told me about it (years ago), I laughed and told him it sounded ridiculous to me. Who needed Twitter when we lived in a Facebook world? I have officially eaten my words.

Here are some of my recent tweets….

Kids playing hide-n-go-seek. Dru hid under blanket. When Belle found her she tried meowing to throw her off–the old pretend-to-be-a-cat trick.

Wldnt let girls watch Wiz of Oz. Snuck arnd & did it anyway. Now begging to sleep with us. Belle: I shoulda believed u abt the monkeys, Mom. (more…)

1.) My house is a wreck. If you came over, I wouldn’t consider opening the door. Because I would lose friends. And respect.

2.) Yesterday when I put Jeb in the car, he said, “I no watch iCarwy.” (The girls’ iCarly dvd was in the dvd player.) I was thrilled. Yes! He wants a tough, boy movie. I started looking for Thomas or Diego when he said, “Hey Mama. You got Barbie?”

3.) I really want to make this. Doesn’t meant that I will.

4.) Still working on book number two. I have put Matt is charge of deciding who to talk to/what to do/where to go in efforts to get number one published. It is brutally hard to get published, just in case you were wondering. One of the agents I really like posted her stats from last year. Out of 10,000 unsolicited queries (people like me who have not been referred) she received in 2010, she took on NONE of them. That’s 0 out of 10,000. It’s going to be hard. But not impossible. (more…)

I’ll be honest. We are strict parents. We aren’t trying to raise “free spirits.” (I’ve read the Bible front-to-back and have yet find that passage–”Thou shall raise thy children to be free spirited, and thou shall discipline rarely while meeting their every desire.”) We are trying to raise well-behaved, disciplined children, grounded in faith, and who realize they are part of a big world that does not revolve around their every want and desire. Because it doesn’t.

And I make no apologies.

That said, my kids are loved. Crazy loved. And they know it. Some days, yeah, I wish I could give them their way more or give in to their selfish little wills because I love them and want to make them so happy. But it’s because I love them so much that I rarely give in. I realize to some that seems over-the- top, but ultimately, I’m raising my children for the glory of One. If I don’t obey what I know in my heart to be the calling He has for me and for the lives of my children, I will have failed myself and the three most precious gifts He has ever given me. (more…)

Yay! SNOW DAY!!

I prayed it here. I am quite certain. All me. My prayers. You’re welcome.

The excitement in my house this morning was fever pitch. Every Slaughter kid was chomping at the bit to go outside. I knew it was a bad idea. I knew the outing would maybe last two, possibly three minutes. They are their mother’s children. We don’t do cold.

But Daddy came to their rescue, even with my warnings that, “This will not end well.”

We bundled them up, a process that took approximately 35 minutes, opened the door, and out they went. Three steps later, two of them lay crying flat on their backs, having fallen on the ice. They recovered without much drama and ran into the yard. (more…)