A Day To Mark Down In Skinkle Family History

Today is a special day for our family. It is a day that we will not too soon forget. It is a day that we have been waiting for and working towards for a while now. What is so special about today? Well, as of 10 am this morning, Professor's dissertation was copied and in the mail to the seminary! That's right! IT IS DONE!!!!! Officially, the dissertation work is OVER!!! There are only 2 more steps in this process. Professor will go to the seminary one more time, either in Feb or March, to present his dissertation and then we will all go in May to watch Professor graduate and put this school thing to rest.

I will say that as I stood there next Professor put his dissertation in the mail a bunch of emotions came over me. But, the one that stood out the most was the sense of pride that I had for him and the fact that he is my husband. He has worked so hard to see the day come and I am so excited for and proud of him. He has accomplished something huge by finishing this PhD. When he graduates in May, he will have completed the whole PhD process in only 4.5 years. Just so you know they allow 7 years.

Okay, I am done bragging. :)

John 3:16 Princess T Style

Happy New Year

As I sit here on my couch thinking about 2009 and what this year has meant for our family, I become overwhelmed with joy. God has been so good to us this year. Not only did HE meet every need we had, He gave us more!

Highlights from 2009:

• Our family went to Disney World in September
• Wild Man started Kindergarten and is having a great school year so far
• Wild Man asked Jesus into his heart over Christmas break - PTL!!!
  
• Princess T started Pre-K and loves it!
• Princess T continues to learn how to express herself - she is very dramatic now :)
  
• Manders has lost 40 lbs since April and Professor has lost 35 lbs.
  
• Professor got finally approval on his dissertation and WILL graduate in May 2010
• We DID NOT move!!!!
  
• God continues to bless my Initials, inc home business
• Professor continues to LOVE his job!!
• We welcomed our first niece on Professors side of the family in the to world in November
• We have been blessed to spend more time with Professor's family this year since distance is not as much of an issue
• We bought a Mini Van!!!! This moved us back to being a 2 car family!!

What we look forward to in 2010...

• Watching Wild Man grow in his new walk with the Lord and maybe loose some teeth :)
  
• Professor and myself each have about 15-20 lbs we want to loose
• Princess T turns 4 - this is so hard for me to believe
  
• Professor and I will celebrate 8 years of marriage
• Professor WILL be graduating in May

I am ready to see God move in our family this year! Happy New Year!!!

Under Construction

I have spent entirely way too much time working to update my blog tonight. I am farely pleased with it, but am no where near satisfied. However, I just don't have anymore brain power or time to finish tonight. So please excuse the unmatching colors and other imperfections on my blog. I will fix them before the weekend is over.

Also, we had a fantastic trip to Disney. I will post some stories and pictures from the trip as soon as my blog is finished with it's make over.

Lessons Learned This Week

This week has been a lesson learning week for me. I have learned a lot about myself, and I wanted to share the top 5 with you...enjoy!

1. I hate that my kids are growing up! I mean HATE! I am so glad that they are able to do more on their own now, but seriously they can stop growing. It is hurting my heart to watch them grow up so fast. Okay, I need to quit writing about this or will start crying.

2. I chew "Old People" Gum. You can thank BB for this, because apparently since I do she does too :) This issue has been corrected and I am no longer an "old peoples" gum chewer. Thanks Katrice for bringing this to my attention so it could be corrected. :)

3. I am way too OCD for garage sales. We are having a garage sale on Saturday (please stop by and say hey) and I am making it way too hard on myself. I know this fact, yet I can not keep myself from organizing everything!

4. I will do anything for Professor! You are thinking, "Shouldn't she know this already...I mean they have been married for 7.5 years". There are things I have refused to do in the past...those days are over. I spent 1.5 hours fixing an ice cream cake for him, because that is all he wanted for his 30th birthday. If I ever make this ice cream cake for you...then you are extremely special :)

5. School supply shopping is stressful! I LOVE school supply shopping, so you know I was very excited about taking Wild Man on this adventure for the first time. However, unclear (or I should say "unclear to me") lists made this event a little stressful. It was also stressful to realize that we are way too close to the day that I allow my baby to go to go somewhere all day long without me. At least, he will have the right school supplies, we hope.

Just Being Honest

So, it is 2 am and I am wide awake. I am pretty sure it has everything to do with the 2 diet cokes I drank today (one being around supper time). I have not had much diet coke since I started my salt-free diet, so I am certain that 2 in one day totally messed up my sleep tonight.

But, at the same time I do have a lot on my mind, so that may be why I am awake. So, I have decided to share what it weighing on my mind, hoping that maybe once it is out in the open I can sleep.

As most of you know in October 2006 I felt a strong calling to be a full time mom. I was working full time at the time, Wild Man was 3 and Princess T was a baby. I loved my job (even though at times it was very stressful) and had been promised a promotion if I stayed on for a few more months. I also felt a huge obligation to be there, since the lady who hired me was now at this time extremely sick and given only months to live. For some reason she felt at peace about being at home when I was there, I guess because she knew I would take care of things the way she wanted me too. Anyway, I was given an assignment (by my boss' boss) to do some research and present it to the team at our next meeting. Wouldn't you know Princess T got sick the day of our meeting. I spent the morning at the Dr's office, praying that she was well enough to go to daycare when we were done, so I could be at the meeting. Sure enough she had an ear infection and no fever, so the Dr wrote a note saying she could go to daycare and off I went. Dropped her off, ran to my office, gathered all my notes, and headed to my meeting, where not only was I completely ignored, but when I tried reminding them I had the stuff they wanted, was told we could talk about it the next week. The rest of the meeting was blur. I remember looking around the table at all my co workers and coming to a very harsh realization. I was the only mom in the room. Not only that, but I was a mom who sent her daughter to daycare sick, so I could impress the people in the room. WOW!! As soon as the meeting was over I marched myself to Professors office and told him I was quitting. I had a reached a point where my job was more important than my family and I was done. So we decided as a family that I needed to be home. I went in the next day with my 2 weeks notice in hand and never looked back. I will tell you that is a decision I will never regret. And, it is one I never had to tell my boss, who counted on me so dearly. She passed away the next week.

Why is this weighing on my mind now...I am getting to that. I am now at a very difficult point in my life. When we moved to Jackson a year ago we knew money would be tight and we knew the decision would mean that I would have to contribute financial to the family again. However, we also knew this is where God wanted us and so we came trusting He would provide (and He has). My Initials Inc business at the time was doing GREAT. I mean I was making well over what we knew I was going to need to contribute and so we didn't think there would be a problem. We knew the first few months would be tight as I tried to rebuild my business here, but since it did so well and I knew I had family and friends here who would help me, I didn't see a problem. Boy, was I wrong. It is amazing how quickly people change the subject when I talk about Initials Inc. It is like I have a disease or something. Even, family. Don't get me wrong, I have still had steady business being here, but not enough to cover what I need to be contributing.

So, here is the deal...here is why I have so much on my mind. Unless, I can prove that Initials Inc is going to do as well as it did in Fort Worth again, I have to find another job. I do not want to find another job, because there is not another job that can offer me the benefit Initials Inc offers me and that is to be with my kids. So, I have to get serious about Initials Inc. Initials Inc can no longer be a hobby for me. It has to become my job so that I do not have to find another one. So, I am not going to apologize for talking about it. I am not going to apologize for posting things on Facebook about it. I am not going to apologize anymore. I love my job and I am going to fight to keep it. Here is where I am going to start....

I need your help. And, no I am not going to apologize for asking. Here is how you can help me....Host a party...plan and simple. I need ladies to open up their homes to their friends (it doesn't have to be a lot of friends - somewhere around 10) and feed them. I do the rest!! I need to holding and closing 8 parties a month. Right now I am only around 1-2. So I have my work cut out for me.

Should you choose to help me here is what I promise you....you and your friends will have fun. NO ONE will feel like they HAVE to buy anything. Everyone will leave saying "we should do this more often" and you will have a peace about it because you know while you are having fun you are also helping me stay where I want to stay...HOME!! If you don't want to host, but still want to help....then come find me I will give you a stack of my business cards and you can pass them out to everyone you know.

Thank you for reading this and thank you in advance for praying that I maintain job security once again and hopefully being a part of how God answers that prayer.

Princess T + Scissors = New Haircut

On Friday I was in bed all day sick. Professor was the amazing husband and dad he always is and kept Princess T up front so that I could sleep (Wild Man was at BB's house). Later in the day he brought her back to my room and told me that she was banned from the scissors for a while. I could not even imagine why. He proceeded to show me her dress that now had some fun fringes on the bottom. I just though "Oh well - it's a walmart dress - who cares?".

Later that day I got up and went into the living room to change scenery. When I sat down on the couch I noticed a pile of hair on the end table. When I asked Professor about he had no clue where it came from. However, my mind went right back to the dress and figured very fast that Princess T had also cut her hair. And, boy did she cut it. She cut in several places and cut it short. When I asked her about it she said, "It was in my face."

So, today, the first day I felt like dealing with it, I took her to get a haircut and help blend some of the places she cut in with the rest of her hair. She was GREAT and sat so still the whole time (if know Princess T you know why I am so amazed by this). Hopefully next time she will just tell me she wants a haircut instead of doing it herself. Here are some pictures of her new hair cut. Enjoy!!

What will you celebrate?

So, I know that it has been a LONG time since I blogged and a lot has happened in our family since then. However, I don't have enough time or space to share everything, and my guess is truthfully you don't want to read it all. So, I am not going to share it at all. No, I am moving forward with my blog.

As many of you already know, because of Facebook, our family is taking another trip to Disney this year. We are so excited!! It is going to be so hard to wait 90 days to go, but we will make it some how I am sure. On the main Disney World page they have a link (some where - not sure where - but it is there) that says, "What will you celebrate?". I think it is their motto this year.

The Professor and I have been talking a lot about this and here is the answer.....

Professor's 30th Birthday, the completion of Professor's dissertation (if all goes well he will be done before we go to Disney), Professor's weight loss (he has lost 15 lbs so far) and new healthy lifestyle, My weight loss (I have lost 30 lbs so far) and new healthy lifestyle, Wild Man learning to swim and starting school, and last but certainly not least Princess T being potty trained.

We have a lot to celebrate and we can't wait to do it at Disney!! Let the count down begin!!!

"The Talk"

Okay, so we had "the talk" last night at our house. Not the birds and the bees talk but the other one. You know the one that all moms at some point have with their children after they have slaved over a yummy meal or forked over tons of money at a restaurant and the child looks at his/her plate and says, "I don't like....(whatever you cooked or bought)." Yeah, that talk. The starving kids talk. The one that as kids we promise we will never have with our kids. We had that talk and here is how it went down....

Wild Man was extremely grouchy yesterday. Apparently, I made huge mistake and made him come home right after school to eat a McDonalds Happy Meal with his mom and sister, instead of making him stay late for lunch bunch and eat a PB&J. In retrospect...I should have just made the lunch and let him stay, but that is beside the point. Anyway, this totally ruined his whole day. As we got closer to supper I saw some hope. He began to smile again and cleaned up a good bit so he could ride his bike. He even helped get the table ready for supper. However, when his plate (that had some yummy grilled chicken and yummy pasta on it) was put in front of him the "grouchies" returned. He looked at me (the person who slaved over making the yummy supper) and said, "I told you I don't like chicken!" As you can imagine, this did not sit well with me. I was tired of hearing him complain about the nice things I had done for him. So, I looked at him and said, "Wild Man there are children all over the world who don't have money to have a meal like the one you have sitting in front of you or they do not have mommy that will cook a meal like you have in front of you. So, I suggest that close you eyes and thank God that you not only have a yummy supper to eat, but you need to also thank him that you have a mommy that will cook you yummy suppers like the one in front of you. " You should have seen his face. He immediately closed his eyes and thanked God for his food and his mommy who cooked his food. Then, he ate every piece of food on his plate. The talk might not always work, but it did at our house last night!

Needless to say...I sent him with a lunch to school today.

A little bit of nothing...

So, I am home today AGAIN with a sick Wild Man. I say AGAIN because since the first of the year one of us has been sick with with something. I have Lysoled until I am blue in the face. I am just so sick of sickness. I am so ready for all four of us to be well at one time. It would certainly make life easier.

Being sick has helped in some areas. I have lost almost 15 lbs since the first of the year and I have been able to keep up with the shows I am interested in this season. I also have a little more time to blog.

I am getting sucked into The Bachelor more than I thought I would. I really think Jason is a great guy who is doing this show for all the right reasons. I can not stand Megan and I hope she is gone soon. I LOVE Stephanie and would be so excited that is who he ends up with. But, it is still too early to tell.

Professor and I have started making remodeling plans for our house. Not sure when we start the work, but the plan is to redo our kitchen and master bedroom/bathroom area this year. So, hopefully we will start soon. Until we decide exactly when and how we are going to do everything, we will probably be spending a lot of time at Home Depot or Lowe's. If you have redone a bathroom and/or kitchen, I would love any advice I can get.

Okay, well I have run out of things to say, so I am signing off for today.

Historical Day

I told myself I was not going to blog about this. In fact, after just watching The Bachelor, I really have a lot of thoughts I want to share on that topic, but the truth is today is a big day for America. I know there people all over watching something take place today that they never thought would ever happen. That is right, whether we voted for it or not, today in will go down as the day the first black man took an oath to serve our country as President. I have to admit I am not watching the whole thing on TV, mainly because the kids are home and they are easier to deal with when the disney channel is on. I also have to admit that while I appreciate how important this day is, I have no desire to watch it. I did not vote for him and to be honest I am not real thrilled he is our new President. I think that the days we have ahead of us will be difficult and I believe that he will make decisions, that will impact the future of our country greatly. I believe, as a Christian, it will most likely become increasingly harder to live our comfortable christian lives. However, I also believe that God has a plan through all this. I believe that He will use this time for His Glory! I think that no matter who we voted for or what we believe about the new president, we do need to sit back today and think about how far our country has come and then we, as Christians, need to make a strong commitment to pray for our new president and our country more than ever. We need to pray that God will use Obama to lead this country exactly where He wants our country to be, and the scary thing is, that might be right into some of the hardest days we have seen, but we need to be ready for that. God uses EVERYTHING for HIS GLORY! So, today in front of the whole blog world, I am making a commitment to appreciate the meaning of today and use it as a reason to become serious about praying for our country and our new president (whether I like him or not!).

First Blog of the Year

Well it is official...I have not blogged since last year!! :-) Okay really, it has only been two months, but I could not resist with it being a new year and all. I could give all the excuses in the world about why I haven't blogged, but it all comes down to the fact that at the end of a day, when given the choice between bed and blogging, I cave. I choose bed. However, the Holidays are over and we are finally somewhat getting into a routine in our new house, so there is a great possibility that I will resume the frequent blogging.

Last year around this time I blogged about my hopes and dreams for 2008. I had no clue that my year would be as wonderful as it has been. I set some high goals for myself, and to be honest, didn't achieve any of them, but that is what 2009 is for, right?

2008 highlights:

• Professor finished the course work for his PhD
• We moved 3 times
• We bought our first house
• Wild Man started Pre-K and turned 5 (this was a hard birthday for me - not sure why)
• Princess T's vocabulary went from nothing to everything almost over night
• I promoted in my business from Partner to Leader (this is a great thing!)
• Professor's sister got married - Professor performed the wedding, Wild Man was a ring bearer, and Princess T was a Flower Girl (who I ended up having to carry down the aisle because she fell asleep)
• We were able to host Christmas Dinner at our new home and we had everyone - Professor's family and my family - it is possibly the best Christmas I have ever had.

What does 2009 hold for the Skinkle Family?

• NO MOVING!!! For the first time in a long time I can honestly tell you we will not move this year. We will break our trend of moving once a year and stay here for a long time.
• Wild Man will start Kindergarten and go to public school - this scares me out of my mind, but I know it will be great and he will love it!!
• Princess T will be potty trained - "Diaper Free before Three!!"
• I would love to promote to Senior Leader with my company (I am very close)
• I would love to end 2009 wearing the same size clothes I wore when I met Lee
• Professor is set to graduate December 2009

Okay, so here is to another year and hopefully more blogging. :-)

I am thankful....

I am thankful that God gave me a husband that can do things like this....

Isn't he amazing??!!

So much to say....so little time to say it!

Okay, so I am still alive and I have had so many things happen that I have wanted to blog about, but truthfully just no time to blog. The only reason I have time today is because I am home sick, but am honestly tired of sleeping, so I decided to catch the blog world up on the Skinkle family.

So here is what we have been up to since the last blog...

1. We moved from Texas back to Mississippi
2. Prof started a new job
3. I also started a new job (part time)
4. Prof and I bought our very first house
5. Wild Man turned 5 and got his first pet - a hermit crab named Crabby
6. Princess T started talking all the time in sentences I might add
7. We moved into our new house
8. We went to Disney World where Wild Man got to meet Buzz Light Year and Princess T got to spend time with her fellow Princesses
9. Princess T is potty training herself - sort of
10. Prof's sister got married - He performed the wedding, Wild Man was a Ring Bearer and Princess T was a flower girl (who feel asleep 5 minutes before the wedding and had to be carried down the aisle)
11. In the middle of all this we have all been sick at some point
12. Oh and my camera is offically dead - I know SAD!!

So there it is....that is where I have been. Hopefully I will be able to post more now that life is settling down a little.

Lost Boy

Well, today (Saturday) Prof and I had a first as parents. This afternoon we decided to take a trip the mall (this is not the first I am going to talk about - Prof and I have been to the mall a lot in our lives). Honestly we have not been to the mall just to browse in a long time. Normally we only have time to run into one store at a time, just to get what we need and leave. However, we were having a fun family day, so we went to the mall to walk around.

We had been at the mall for a while and Wild Man was beginning to get hungry for supper. So, we began making our way towards the car, so that we could go eat supper. On the way out we saw a Gamestop. We decided to just check and see if there were any games on sale for our Wii. So, we went in and began to look. As always, Prof and I split up. Prof took the stroller (Princess T's throne for the afternoon). Wild Man was playing the video games right next to Princess T and Prof, so I headed to the back to check out the games on the back wall. A few minutes later Prof and Princess T come back to show me a game they found. When I looked up I realized Wild Man was not with them. Prof very calmly told me that Wild Man was still up front playing the video game, but when we looked there was no Wild Man to be found. As you can imagine, both of us went nuts looking for him. Prof stayed in the store, just in case he came back, I on the other hand, was a wreck. I just knew someone had taken my little boy from me. I saw a security person and began describing what Wild Man looked like. As I was telling him, in a most frantic voice I must add, a man came up to me and said, "That lady over there has your son." I immediately began running in that direction. The lady was so nice and proceeded to tell me she saw him walking around the food court crying and she asked him where he had been and he remembered something about the game store and so she was on her way to game store to see if she could help him find us. I immediately picked him up and hugged him. Then I asked him. "Why did you leave the store?" His answer was simple, "I couldn't see you and daddy so I started looking for you. " Needless to say, the walk to car happened sooner than planned and as the night went on we had lots of conversations with Wild Man about what to do if he realizes he doesn't know where we are. I don't think he will be wondering off from us anytime soon, if ever again.

I wasn't going to share this story because to some degree I felt like a bad mom for letting this happen today. However, God used this to teach me something and that I needed to share. The ironic thing about this whole story is that Prof and I never left Wild Man. In fact, if he had just said, "Daddy, Mommy where are you?" in even an indoor voice we would have heard him...that is how close we were. However, when Wild Man looked up and didn't immediately see us he began to look for us and in that process got lost. Isn't that how we are as Christians sometimes? God is right there by us. He is always near us. Yet sometimes, we don't feel like He is, or we don't "see" Him so we begin to look for Him and in the process get lost.

Master Movers

Prof and I have decided that we need to start a moving service. I think we would make good money and who better to move someone than someone who has moved a million times themselves, right?! We could name it "Master Movers".

On a serious note, Prof and I are moving, AGAIN! The CARES program has been cut from our apartment community and we have to be out of our apartment by June 30 (not because the community is making us leave, but because we would have to pay rent after that date and since rent is more than house payment, it is not an option). We have an apartment lined up back on campus, for which we are very thankful for, even thought it is a good bit smaller.

As many of you know, we were hoping to stay in the apartment we are in now until we are able to "settle". Prof has had resumes out for a while, but God has not chosen to reveal the next step to us yet. Our prayer now is that God will reveal the next step soon so that we either can move straight there or within the next few months.

We ask that you pray with us, that His will be done in our lives, even if it means living in a tiny apartment a little longer. We will keep you posted.

Are you addicted to Facebook?

Are you addicted to Facebook? Not sure? Here is an informational video that will help you decide. Enjoy!

Facebook Addiction

Sassy Bag Sale!!

All Sorbet and Notingham Fabric Styles are on sale for the month of June.

Jubilee - $38.99 (reg $61.99)

Swag and Baguette - $39.99 (reg $62.99)

Tote - $41.99 (reg $64.99)

Wallet (Sorbet only) - $29.99 (reg $36.99)

Click Here to view the complete Spring/Summer Catalog.

Email Me (askinkle@aol.com) to order!

Notingham (left)

Sorbet (right)

Beaver Dragons and Gaggle Pups

Wild Man has a very vivid imagination. We love it, most times, because it keeps us laughing. One thing he loves to do is make up words or names. Two of his latest inventions are "Beaver Dragon" and "Gaggle Pup". Both are types of animals. I asked him to draw both of them for me, but they would not scan well. However, they are a mix of a lot of things.

Here is what I know now about both...

Beaver Dragons live in the trees along I-20. I am assuming that is the only place, because that is the only time Wild Man has seen them. Sometimes, if there is water they like to swim and when they can, they love to fly. They are yellow, blue, pink, red, and green. They like to eat berries, dragon berries, and sometimes their own poop (this straight from Wild Man - I guess it is a boy thing). They like to keep dogs (but not bulldogs) for pets and they love to garden.

Gaggle Pups are baby beaver dragons. They are little, black, spider-webby looking creatures. Wild Man said they just lay around in their boxers all the time. They like to eat nails, berries, and carrots. They have turtles and cats as pets and they really don't do anything.

Wild Man says he is the only person the Beaver Dragons and Gaggle Pups like, so if you see one, I would stay away or call Wild Man. They sound scary to me.

The Porch

On April 4th my parent's house was hit by a small tornado. Thankfully no one was hurt, but it did cause some minor damage to the house. After they assessed the damage, they told Prof what needed done, and asked him if he could do the work. Of course, being the awesome guy that he is, he stepped up to the challenge. One area of the house that needed to most work was the patio area. The tree that fell took out the covered patio area mom and dad had. So, Prof decided to replace the covered patio with a screened in porch. After several weekend trips and one really long week, Prof has finally almost finished the screened in porch. Here are some shots of what it looks like. Please keep in mind, there is still some minor work left to be done and lots of clean up. So, don't look too closely (that was for BB - who I am sure is real happy I am putting these pictures up).