Change is good

Maybe you've noticed a little change around here. Maybe you've noticed a new catch-phrase if you will. Maybe you've noticed A NEW TITLE. Yes, you are no longer visiting The Mommy Diaries; you are now visiting the blog Stirring Up Dust. I decided it was time for a change, time for something a little more original. There are other blogs out there with "The Mommy Diaries" as a title and I really wanted a catchy title to go with my subtitle. If you have ever been witness to anything close to a stampede, you know that the dust gets stirred up quickly. I felt it was appropriate. Everywhere we go, we stir up dust. So, going forward, this place, this blog will simply be called "Stirring Up Dust". I would ask that you continue to follow the Hawthorne Herd as we go Stampeding through life. Stick around, it promises to be entertaining.

Silly Saturdays

Having four children, three of which are three and under, makes for interesting attempts at family photos. My husband and I recently took the herd off into the woods for the ever-coveted Fall foliage family picture. We were gonna use them on our Christmas cards. Let's just say I'm working on plan B. Please note that it was raining that day and we had to run between the van and the photo-op spot during periods of let-up. Here are the resulting photos. The Hawthorne Herd is entertaining at least.

This was one of the better ones.



This was me trying to figure out the timer on the camera.



Not bad, if I hadn't been off in left field by myself, and if Scratchy had smiled.




Cheesey grins and a frown, not to mention Sean was really distracted.




Itchy had put her hand up in her face and we were moaning because we just knew she had been caught in the picture....looks like we were the ones caught.

There is still candy corn in the bowl...

And if there is still candy corn in the bowl, then it must still be Halloween, right? Well, maybe not, but I thought I'd share some of our pictures from this year's trick or treat fest.

One of the most important jobs we have as parents

I recently read an article on CNN's website that truly makes me sick. The entire story is disturbing. There are other reports that the school had the nerve to blame the girl's parents. REALLY?? The criminals in this situation are sick individuals and will pay their due. The school is already receiving bad press and will ultimately pay in reputation and community anger. But what happens to the onlookers who did NOTHING for over 2 HOURS??
As parents there are many things we must teach our children. Reading, Spelling, tying shoes, brushing teeth. We teach them about Jesus, about being nice to others, but are we failing to teach them to watch out for and avoid "mob mentality"? Are we teaching them by words and examples to never stand by and watch someone be wronged? Are we teaching them that sometimes the "right way" is also the "hard way"? Have we taught them to have courage to ALWAYS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES stand up for what is right, regardless of consequences? I have found myself having the "not my problem" syndrome. My example teaches my children.
At some point we have to hope the world will look out for our children. We can not shelter them for life. As a parent, I would hope, if my child were a victim of a crime, that some other parent, somewhere had done the hard thing, the right thing and taught their kids to stand up for what is right ALWAYS. I know I'll be trying to do a better job of that myself. May God shower love and grace on this poor girl and her family.

Name that poet

Here's a little challenge for all my blog readers...

My family and I recently took a little journey. I love Missouri. There are really four real seasons here. Not like Texas where we have two...summer and notsummer. I took a few(dozen) pictures of the trees and while going through them (got my computer to work, see last post if confused) the beautiful scenery brought to mind a little tidbit from my past...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And I, I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

So, name that poem/author. I couldn't help myself. I saw this picture and those words came flooding back. I believe, although might be mistaken, Mrs. Klepper's 8th grade English class??? Leave me a comment, name that poem, name that author, name that English class. I'll brag on whoever does it first!

While you scratch your head or think about all the (good, bad or ugly) memories that have come flooding back, here are some more pictures for you to enjoy and be jealous of. These were all taken about 5 miles from my house! There are advantages to being stuck out in the middle of nowhere Missouri.

Grand intentions

I often have the grandest intentions of doing things, but for some reason can't seem to get around to following through on those. This time is different, I promise. I had grand intentions of sharing pictures from a particularly wet thing my family did recently. As I sat down only moments ago, to load the pictures from the camera to the computer, I realized my computer would not read my SD card from my camera. Now, I have done this exact thing a million times and never had a problem. My husband sat down last night and messed with it and now it doesn't work. Now, I'm not pointing fingers or laying blame or anything......but, if the shoe fits...you get it. So now I must spend time trying to figure out what is wrong with this piece of junk, I mean wonderful computer....wish me luck.

The Many Faces of Marin