What does the tooth fairy bring to your house?

I’ve heard this question a lot from other parents.

“What does the tooth fairy bring for a tooth?”
I’ll tell you what she brings at our house.
If she remembers to visit. (She has forgotten a couple of times in the past, but she always remembers and visits…eventually)
So, for the very first tooth it’s a whopping $2. 2 whole dollar bills. Nothing super exciting. And, yet we are always really excited to see that she has delivered.
For the second tooth and every tooth thereafter, she pays $1 per tooth.
For 4 kids that comes to roughly $22 per child or $88 total.
That’s plenty, in my opinion and these kids couldn’t be happier with the tooth fairy (at least when she shows up) 🙂

Lucky for us, she will make an appearance tonight as Trinity lost her second front tooth today. I think she looks adorable and can’t wait for her to sing “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!”

What does the tooth fairy bring to your house? is the 20th post this month from El Momma .com where I am blogging every day for the month of July. Follow with the hashtag #elmomma31 Thanks!

Turning Five is Fine

Does it seem like we celebrated Leeland’s birthday all week? Well, we kind of did. 
Saturday was Leeland’s party day. 
Our house was hot. See yesterday’s AC post. 
He wanted to see a movie – The Minion Movie. We invited our cousins, a couple of friends and met at the movie theatre first thing Saturday morning. 
Some cousins were out of town, but with 3 siblings and 4 cousins in town, it was already a huge movie watching party! Add in a couple of friends and their siblings and it was a whole lot of fun!
Here’s the whole Minion movie-watching gang!
Afterwards, we planned to have Leeland’s grandparents and Aunt and Uncle and baby cousin come to the house to celebrate. (Those who were too little to sit through a movie or wouldn’t want to and wouldn’t miss celebrating their Leeland) This part was really important to our Leeland. In planning his celebration he wanted to celebrate with Grandma and Jiddy and Grandmother and Grandfather. Unfortunately, with no AC, that part of the partying didn’t look like it was going to happen. Luckily, we have great friends who offered us another solution! A very COOL solution. So, we picked up the cupcakes and balloons and had a quick little party. 
With lots of minions and a very happy Leeland…
And, Grandmother’s “L” cookies! Leeland told her “I finally figured out why you make cookies for our parties. It’s because my mom is your daughter.” 🙂
The giant balloon…as big as LeeLee

After the family celebration, we went home…to a cooling off house. The AC guy made the repairs late in the afternoon. (Praise the Lord!) So, we watched Astros baseball and Leeland opened presents. He loved them all and sends many thanks for all of the birthday wishes. 

Leeland on his fifth birthday.

Hooray! I’m FIVE!

Forgiveness in the Church

I’ve thought a lot about what forgiveness looks like.
In our culture, it’s pretty brutal.
Look at just a few of the celebrities caught up in scandals of the last few years:

Paula Deen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Deen see “Racial epithet controversy”

Lance Armstrong http://time.com/2822189/lance-armstrong-forgive-oprah/


Brian Williams http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-politicians-brian-williams-lie-20150214-story.html#page=1

Of course, you can find those who are well known who seem to have been forgiven for their transgressions and welcomed back into successful careers: Rob Lowe, Christian Bale, Hugh Grant, Chris Brown, etc.


But, when our culture decides that enough is enough, we won’t forgive. That transgression is too far. Too much. Too bad. And, we write the person off. That’s all. Until we forget.


On the flip side, what is the picture we get of forgiveness from Jesus?


In Paul’s letter to Ephesus he writes 

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment–to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.”


I think it is hard for us to accept these words as truth and let them pour over us. But, let’s try. Read this again:
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

We have REDEMPTION through his blood

The FORGIVENESS of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…

God’s word gives us further evidence of true forgiveness in Jesus’ teachings. He says in Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins

Whoa. So, God’s Word teaches that we are redeemed because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. He paid the price for our sins and we are forgiven. But, Jesus tells us we must forgive others. To be forgiven, we must forgive.

So, the church’s response is clear- we must forgive. We want to have this unfiltered, direct connection with God that comes through Jesus Christ. And, we are promised that connection. We are promised redemption and forgiveness and we are commanded to forgive.

It sounds simple, but forgiveness, though easy to receive, can be hard to give.




Let Freedom Ring!

Happy Fourth of July, Y’ALL!
We hope you have a wonderful day. 
We hope you will enjoy celebrating with family and friends.
We hope you will be safe.
Don’t get too close to fireworks.
And, uber if you have anything to drink.
Enjoy the best freedoms that being American brings.
For our family, the best freedoms are the ones that allow us to be together. 
To be safe together.
To pray openly together.
To eat ribs and gluten free pizza together (because we can). 
To love each other. 
To be unique.
To be American.
Let Freedom Ring!

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Living in My Reality

Love this family of ours.

Days like today remind me just how much.
Our second oldest was invited to a birthday party for one of his classmates.
The invitation included siblings.
So, when we found out that the DH had the day off, we headed to the beach.
It was an hour drive, door to door.
It’s not our first Texas beach trip, but the ELs still seemed pleasantly surprised at just how close we really are.
I won’t speak for my husband, but I am admittedly a beach snob. Southern California ruined me for our local Texas beaches. I love beautiful sand, beaches where there are no cars, and the sweet smell of the ocean. 
But, in spite of my snobbishness, we went and had a great time. 
Sometimes we have to let go of our preconceived notions about how we think things should be and live in the way they are. 
And, it may be quite different, but beautiful all the same.