it's monday and "they're back!"

Who's back you may be asking? Well, for one, that cute little man over at MckMama's site that we've all been praying for, Stellan! Yes, he's home with his family where he belongs. Praise God!

What else is back? It's Not Me Monday! created by MckMama. Of course, for selfish reasons and just because I love it, I'm participating again. And you all get to be the recipient of my confessions, ahem, I mean declarations of what I did not do.

It's been a while since I've done this. Where do I start? Maybe by telling you the things that I did not do this week.

How about the fact it was certainly not me that went to an-all-out birthday party at a banquet hall in Miami this weekend, only to be seated at a table where there was one empty seat left, next to sweet hubby. Do you know what this means? This means that the waiter had no clue that there was not a person sitting there and he put down their salad. It was certainly not me that was starving since it was almost 10 p.m. and they had not served dinner yet, who decided that said salad should not go to waste and proceeded to ask sweet hubby to pass it to me. Sweet hubby looked at me with an "I-can't-believe-you-are-doing-this" look and handed me the yummy plate, that I quickly devoured before the waiter noticed that "the person" sitting there was really not there.

It absolutely was not me that kept putting off paying the cable bill because I pay it online by check and did not know the next check number without going to my purse and getting the checkbook, which I keep in my purse in the car (that of course is in the garage). I also did not proceed to keep forgetting to bring my purse into the house for way beyond the due date, only to be forced and nervous as hec that sweet hubby would come home to no TV to pay it when I clicked on the TV set and it had a message to please call customer service. No, that would not have been me because that would be the epitome of laziness and irresponsibility and yours truly is neither of those.

There's no way that it was me that took a picture of my MIL sitting at the computer playing games, while eating her lunch, only to show sweet hubby that she really was playing computer games all day. That would me really mean and I am not a mean person. No. I'm not. Really.

I absolutely did not yell at sweet hubby and Amanda for having a play-fight with coffee grounds (yes, coffee grounds!) in my just-cleaned-kitchen! It certainly was not me that told him he was completely immature and for both of them to clean up the huge mess of coffee all over the counters and floor. I did not walk away laughing at their craziness (and my spur of the moment mania) making sure that I was not seen after all my hollering.

it's a triple!

As a big 'ole thank you for all of your prayers and in celebration of Kai's recovery and healing, IT'S GIVEAWAY TIME....and it's a TRIPLE!

This ain't no run-of-the-mill giveaway either. I've decided to make this giveaway a little "fun", because, you know, I'm sorta crazy like that!

Are you game? Cool!

This giveaway is kind of special to me because I'm giving away three things that I own myself and LOVE them all! Of course, you get new ones.

Ready? Here we go!

The first item is something all of us adopted Mamas love. A Steven Curtis Chapman CD!

Yep. And not just any SCC CD, but the Cinderella Edition, with 2 versions of the hit song, Cinderella! Definitely something every Daddy needs to dance with their little girls to in the living room.

The next item I've been wanting to give away for a while. Remember THIS now infamous AJ story? Well, I just knew that a Ped-Egg had to be on the list of items. This particular Ped-Egg is pretty cool because like SCC's CD, it's a Special Edition. It's Pink! And it helps raise money for breast cancer research! WOOT! WOOT!
And last but not least, I really wanted to give something away that might change a heart or a life. The book, Gianna: Aborted… and lived to tell about it, was the perfect item to bring awareness to what our country is going through right now with Mr. Ultra-Extreme-Radical-Liberal Obama at the helm. (Sorry, I couldn't help slipping that in there!)

This is a true, gripping story about a baby, Gianna Jensen, who at 24 weeks gestation was injected with high-concentrated saline solution with the intent to kill her. After hours of suffering, she survived. She is now an advocate for those that have no voices. Her moving story cannot help but make you think twice about the reality of abortion.

There you have it!

Now the rules! (This is the part where you have to pay attention!)

You have the opportunity to win any of these. The first winner will get first choice, the second winner will get second choice and well, the third winner will get whatever is left. :)

It's easy. All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment! If you do not have a blog, make sure you leave me an email address so that I can contact you if you are a winner.

WAIT!

DON'T GO RUNNING TO COMMENT YET!

THERE'S MORE!


BONUS:

You can get a SECOND ENTRY by answering this question correctly.

"What was the name of the song that Scott, my Mom and myself sang with a Christian Chinese man when we were invited into his house as we toured Kai's birth city?"

DOUBLE BONUS FOR A TRIPLE ENTRY!


I noticed that my little "Follower gadget" on the side has made it to the number 100!!! I am in awe of that! I remember when I first put it on the sidebar and wondered if anyone besides my Mom, sister or Scott would read my blog! As a thank you to all of you that have added yourselves as a follower, please leave me an ADDITIONAL comment telling me you're a follower and you will get a THIRD ENTRY!!!

Anyone can enter, but do so fast because there will be no more entries accepted after midnight next Friday, May 8.

The winners will be announced on Saturday morning, May 9th!!!

the visit

Wow, it sure feels good to be back in blog land. I don't know. Something about being able to stop and put my days into words makes me a better person. It allows me to think about my actions and thoughts. I guess that pretty much means that blogging is in my blood, to stay.

It's been almost a week since my last post. For those of you that aren't on my nemesis Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you may not know that sweet hubby's Mama was down here visiting us for a week. While I squirmed, fretted, and had complete anxiety attacks about her Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond's visit, I have to admit that I'm glad she came. My own cherished grandmother went home to be with the Lord over 6 years ago and I miss her dearly. It's important to me that my kids know both their grandmothers the way I knew mine, and that they create treasured memories with them. The bottom line is that I'm pleased with the fact that she was able to spend some time with her grandkids and her son.

I was happy that she got to see how funny Kai is, what a snuggle bug AJ is, and how sweet Anna Grace is. I loved watching how the kids made her smile and most of all, loved hearing from her, "what nice kids you have" or "you and Scott are doing a great job with them". Those are things that I already know, but as a Mom and a wife, there's just something about having that approval from the other side that makes it just a tad bit sweeter. It's comforting to me for her to realize that her son and grandchildren are well loved and taken care of.

The kids may have been overwhelming to her at times, but I just know that at some point when she returns to her quiet, senior-citizen lifestyle, she's gonna be sitting around one afternoon and will stop and think, "Boy! I sure do miss those little ones."

Most importantly, knowing that their love was etched, even if only a small amount, in her heart is well worth the extreme mental agitation that I bring onto myself prior to her visits. It was a good week.