Please scream my name to wake me up.

Sorry, I wrote this on Tuesday and just never got around to publishing. Which only further drives home the point of my whole post- I can't keep on top of everything.

I'm thinking today is not a good day to forego the coffee in lieu of tea. My eyelids are already hurting from the toothpicks that are supposed to be holding them open.

What I would love to know is how I'm supposed to get everything done if I don't stay up until 1am? The piles mountains of laundry my husband had promised to help me fold weren't moving on their own, and I didn't finish working out till 10:30pm. How do moms out there ever get any sleep? So instead I resort to folding laundry as I watch the two-hour premiere of Dancing with the Stars. Sitting there on the (dirty) floor folding endless pairs of underwear and mismatched socks almost made me feel as glamorous as those size 0 dancers with their fake tan. Almost.

Baseball has taken over our lives and I won't have a free moment again until at least May. Seriously, I am so glad I only have one child in sports right now. Those moms that have 3, 4, 12 kids in sports must never leave their car- or if they do, it's to live in the laundry room. A mom on Mikey's team told me the other day that she saw a shirt that said "I have no life, my son plays baseball." That sounds eerily accurate.

While it's not as bad now as it will be when Mikey is older (a day I'm not sure I'll survive to see), two games plus one practice a week is wearing me out. When you add on top of that Awana, church, choir practice (for both me & Mikey, so that's 2 1/2 hours out of our Sunday), Big Hunk's baseball games and our regular homeschool responsibilities, well I'm no expert at math but I think that *may* have something to do with my lack of sleep. I feel like I have no right complaining though because at least one mom has to be reading this thinking "You have no idea."

Mikey is doing so awesome in baseball, and he loves it so much. He's in the AA league which means after his practice games are over, no more coach pitch, they'll have umpires for the first time ever, and actual outs. It's the big leagues people. Okay, bigger. Last Saturday Mikey was having a great day. He hit two homeruns (ie. a great hit followed by tons of defensive errors that gave him enough time to make it home) and all three outs of the last inning were all him, unassisted. *Proud mommy here!* He did so great. Seriously- all three outs all by himself? :-) I am so proud of him. He definitely inherited his daddy's athletic ability. Thank goodness, because it's not rare for me to fall down the stairs for no reason at all, or to pull a muscle waving goodbye.

Other than 3 games in the course of 4 days this weekend, Mikey and I each had choir practice on Sunday, Big Hunk had his baseball game (which I missed) and I was able to go shopping for a couple hours with a good friend of mine, in search of the Perfectly Beautiful, Yet Extremely Affordable Dress for Easter (PBYEADE). I did not find a thing, unless you count my headache from trying to actually shop for something affordable and cute. More on that later.

Now as I start my day, I pray for the energy to make it through to at least noon before I pass out at the dining room table (deja vu). This is where that coffee would really come in handy. My handy.

Kingdom Assignment

Because this post is so dear to my heart and one I've been mulling over in my head for a month now, (remember me promising to write it "today"? About a week ago? Yeah. That one), it's been such a seemingly daunting task that I haven't even tried to tackle it. I suppose I want my passion over this to be so stinkin' visible that you can't help but be passionate with me. And I am afraid that I won't do this justice, so I haven't bothered. These words come to you as the result of much prayer.

Well over a month ago, our pastor introduced us to something called Kingdom Assignment. I had never heard of it, and I'm pretty sure most of the people in attendance that day hadn't either. The foundation for Kingdom Assignment stems from the Parable of the Talents in the book of Matthew. If you're not familiar with that parable, I would encourage you to read it here.

Simply put, we need to use what God gives us. He gives us all talents and abilities- He gives us all a voice. But what do we do with them? Do we hide them away like the third man in the story? Or do we invest them in any way we can, not worrying about how it will multiply and just trust that God will use it how He wills?

Do you use your voice? Or do you keep silent, hoping someone else will speak up?

When I signed up for Kingdom Assignment, we were given $50 to fund our assignment. Our prayer was that God would multiply that money in great ways for His Kingdom. I had so much passion, but little vision. I knew that God would somehow use our project to make big things happen. But what?

Well I prayed (lots) and contemplated. Big Hunk & I talked about it lots and would toss ideas around. But when we really thought about it, it was such a huge commitment and I wanted to be sure we were listening for God's voice and not our own.

It's not all hammered out yet, but we are really hoping to be able to hold a benefit concert. We are still waiting on the go ahead from the band we've invited to be part of this (friends of ours), but we are praying this will all happen in the next month or two. All proceeds are going to Morning Star Foundation in Ch!na (they don't even know yet! I'm so excited!), a home that provides care and love to orphaned children that have severe medical conditions- some of which are in need of life-saving surgery. Below are a few pictures of children Morning Star has in their care right now. Just try not to fall in love with those faces!

Luke

Josiah

Matthew

And here is a beautiful  post my friend Sally wrote about her recent trip there. We had been praying about using this concert to benefit Morning Star when I read this, and her words were completely God speaking to us, confirming that this is what He wants.

I covet any prayers you could offer on our behalf, and on behalf of Morning Star. We have NO doubt that God has big plans and is going to work in mighty ways through this event. We are so excited to be part of this! We just can't wait to bless the socks off of those precious babies over there, clear across the world. And of course we want to bless Bill & Lynsay, the couple that runs Morning Star, like crazy too. :)

bo to the ring

Okay I haven't disappeared. And we survived The Great Teenage Flake Out of 2010, despite the dramatic post that appears to be the last thing I'll ever write again. ;)

I get bored with my own thoughts and never feel like typing them out. But there's cool stuff going on and I'll hopefully share today. <3