What Legacy are you leaving your children?

I read this post in a mommy group I am a part of on facebook. It Touched me and I hope that you find encouragement from it as well. 

Yesterday I was emergency shoe shopping with Alea and Myles, and at the shoe store the young man at the checkout and I had this encounter:
Young man: "You look like the woman to ask. Can I ask you a question?"
Me: "I love questions. Shoot."
Him: "How much money should you have saved up to have a baby?"
Me: "You asked the right person but my answer will surprise you. See, I have NINE kids." (Waits for shock to wear off as I show him a picture). Kids aren't expensive in the way you think. You don't need all that crap from Toys R Us. Babies need a set of boobs, diapers, car seat, a few outfits, and loving arms. Other things like a swing, baby carrier (I was wearing Myles of course) pack n play- not a crib, and bouncer are nice. But all those fancy toys just take your money and space. Buy used whenever possible. "
Him: "It just always seems that babies are expensive."
Me: "Babies aren't expensive. Lifestyles are." (Mic drop moment)
Him: "Whoa"
Me: "We walk around with $700 phones in our pocket and $100 shoes wearing $50 jeans. That is expensive." I continue "How many couches did your grandparents own? What kind of TV did they have when they were in their 40s? What about the car your grandparents drove when your mom was born?"
He shakes his head, not knowing, but the girl next to him sees where I'm headed and starts smiling.
Me: "We don't pay attention to the material stuff of our grandparents because none of that matters. What matters is that they had your mom who had you and THAT is a legacy. Not stuff. People. So babies aren't expensive. They cost money, but we spend that money anyway. Babies should force us to allocate it into a purposeful spending instead of superficial. Invest in PEOPLE, not things. My nine kids means I may never go to Europe or have a fancy car. But it also means my life is dedicated to something higher than such fleeting materialism"
He stood there with his mouth wide open and said "I'm very glad I got to talk to you. I've never thought of it that way."
I smiled.
He smiled back.
#GodShot
#BeApproachable
#IJustSayItLikeISeeIt

Family time in the pool

This afternoon was one that I would have loved to go on forever... <3 :) We dropped by one of Daniel's cousins place after church like usual, bringing them a bunch of pizza for dinner and then stayed for a few hours before heading home. Daniel tinkered on the van a bit while I fed Tabitha and did some house stuff, then I headed for the pool, Matthew joined me, then Daniel, then Isaiah and finally Seth (Seth is terrified of water like his older brothers were and to some extent still are).
We played and played in the water for almost 3 hours, by the end Seth was willing to hold the side or our hands and try to walk through the water, and he would hang onto Daniel's or mine life jackets as we moved around the pool on our stomachs or backs, laying on us. :) That's really a big step for him as he didn't even want to be in the fenced in area with the pool when we first got it. :)
Matthew was actually floating and trying to swim, Isaiah was crouching down up to his neck and walking around the pool. :) I think the pool's a hit. :)
It was an amazing family time... Daniel isn't much of one for water, he stays out of it most of the time. But when we got home and it was so hot I didn't want to try to weed or pick cherries or anything really, I asked him if he'd come into the pool with me and he agreed... which not only was great for us as a couple and spending time together, but also the boys were more adventurous when their daddy is with them. :)

I'm still here!!! Yay!!!

So apparently all I had to remove was all the posts about the health supplements that I take... rather random but it is what it is.
I will now begin posting again... and hope to get back into sending out emails as well. I had to dismantle things a bit so it'll take me some time to get things back into tip-top running order. 😊
So please bear with me as I walk through this... technology is not one of my strong points but I will continue to do the best that I can. 😊

Removal of my blog

Due to apparent compliance issues (which I was unaware of till 2 days ago) my blog has to come off the web as it is not compliant with Plexus standards. I will be changing the blog address to:

www dot littleolmeandmyfamily dot blogspot dot ca

I will be removing all the current posts and leaving this last one for several days till I can create a new blog which (Lord willing) they will not shut down.
Thank you to my readers/followers who have been reading and watching me post for several months now. I hope to be back up and running soon.