Let me tell you about... Pecoraro road trips

Our family just got back late last night from our Thanksgiving trip to Spring, Texas. I know a lot of people travel more than we do with their families and I'm sure everyone has little quirks that make their trips interesting, but I'd like to take you on an adventure with our family. It's not that I think anyone would actually ever want to come along or that you have ever sat around wondering what it is like, but still...Let me tell you about...Pecoraro road trips. The first part of the adventure begins before day 1. Before we ever set foot in the van, we have to pack. Before we are able to pack, we have to wash clothes. Before we are able to wash clothes, we need to remove all of the dirty clothes from the middle of the floors of our rooms. (I say, "We," because I am the queen of the pile of laundry on the floor of my room.) And so what usually begins with, "It's a short trip, so it shouldn't be too hard to get ready for it" becomes "Here's another load of laundry to fold and I am not going to wash another thing... Oh, you forgot to wash your favorite jeans? Well, put them in and we'll try to get them done." Ten loads later, we finally get the suitcases out. Do we pack together in several big suitcases or do we each take our own small one? We look at the pros and cons of each and decide to each take our own, except for Destiny. She shares with me. We finally start packing. We can't decide what the weather will actually be like, so we pack for hot and cold weather. Now, after our suitcases are packed with double the amount of clothes that we need, we must all pack another bag for our carry-on stuff (you know, everything that didn't fit in the suitcase because we opted for the small ones). Next, it all has to go in the van. In comes Hunter to save the day. He starts packing the van. Everyone brings out their bags and then comes the important stuff...eight pillows (so we are all comfortable in the car), eight or more blankets (so the car can be freezing to keep the driver awake and comfortable) a biblical amount of stuffed animals (two of every kind, so they won't be lonely, of course),  And then, 3 huge box fans (because my husband taught our whole family to sleep with fans blaring in their ears all night). Several bags of junk food snacks (so we don't spend too much money at Buccee's) and then, finally, the eight of us (it used to be 9, but Emily got married).   We are now finally all in the van...What's that? You forgot to go to the bathroom? Stop the van. Give them the keys to the house. You need to go, too? Oh, my, we will have to finish the trip in a later post. I'm exhausted!

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about...a family tradition: "So, here I am again. This blogging thingy is addictive. It's like with every thought that comes through my mind I think, 'Oh, I could write ..."

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about... being thankful.

About Life4Him-skits, scripts and stories: Let me tell you about... being thankful.: "So, my family and I are on a trip for Thanksgiving. This year, like most years, we are in Spring, Texas where John and I first met and where..."

Let me tell you about... being thankful.

So, my family and I are on a trip for Thanksgiving. This year, like most years, we are in Spring, Texas where John and I first met and where we began our journey together. We go to see his side of the family and also to see some very special friends. It is always a great trip. We always feel so loved and encouraged and pampered when we go there. We offer very little in the way of help to any of our hosts, but yet John's sister nor our friends ever treat us like we have been a burden to them. I'm so thankful for that. I'm one of those people who feels very inadequate in the kitchen, so, although I love Thanksgiving, I would just freak out if I had to be in charge of it. (In fact, I think we are going to be at our own home for Christmas and I'm pretty sure we are going to order out.) Thanksgiving is one day out of the year that is dedicated to being thankful. It's good to have that special day, but a few years ago, we began another family tradition having to do with being thankful, so....Let me tell you about the Pecoraro family "thankfuls." At night before we go to bed, we often say what we are thankful for before we pray together. We don't do it every night and I wish we still did it as often as we use to, but anyway, here is how it works... We simply go around the room and everyone has to say something they are thankful for. It can be something very simple or something big, but everyone has to think of something and they can't "steal" someone else's thankful. They are each just supposed to say one thing, but usually it ends up being several things. I love it. I love hearing about what is important to each of them. I love having a chance to end our day with our eyes off of ourselves. Being thankful is remembering that there is someone to be thankful to. Our God blesses us and blesses us, but sometimes we barely notice the blessings because we forget to be thankful for them. Saying our "thankfuls" is a reminder to me that thankfulness is part of our character and thankful people are happier people because they know and recognize that they have been blessed.  I hope that my family and yours will be blessed this week and that we will notice all of the blessings we have been given and remember to be thankful for all of them.

Let me tell you about...a family tradition

So, here I am again. This blogging thingy is addictive. It's like with every thought that comes through my mind I think, "Oh, I could write about that." It is really a funny, new thought process. Today is the beginning of the week of Thanksgiving and I have so much to write about thankfulness, but first I want to tell you a little bit about Sundays at our house. Yesterday was Sunday. Sundays are very special days in our house. We all look forward to them. We look forward to seeing friends. We look forward to singing and worshipping. We look forward to being taught from God's Word. We even look forward to Sunday naps. One of my favorite things about our Sundays is a tradition that we began many, many years ago. So...Let me tell you about our Sunday morning drive to church. Years ago, when the children were young, I would always hear about how so many families would fight and argue on their way to church and then put on a fake, happy face when they got out of their cars in the church parking lot. I did not want to be that kind of a family. I wanted us to be real and honest about who we were, but I also didn't want us to have bad attitudes on Sunday mornings. John and I decided that we would give the children something specific to do on the way to church, so... we taught them to "pray on the way".  We would begin at the back of the van and each of us would pray out loud for our Sunday School teachers, our pastor, the worship leaders, our attitudes and our ability to stay focused and learn what God had to teach us. We would also pray for all the people that were trying to decide whether or not to come to church that day. Praying on our way to church has become a great family tradition. An unexpected blessing from it is that it has even taught our kids not to be scared to pray out loud. I think every family could benefit from this tradition.  It's never too late to start "praying on the way". Now that most of our kids have gotten older, we don't all ride together to church anymore, but I'm pretty sure we all still remember to pray.

Let me tell you about....

So, I haven't written on here for a couple of days, but this blog thingy is definitely being talked about at my house...a lot. We keep checking to see if anyone has made a comment or become a follower (which both, by the way, make us very happy). One of my kids keeps begging me to write about him, so I thought I would make him happy and tell you a little about one of the two greatest sons in the world. It's ok for you to disagree with me if you have your own sons and think that they are the greatest, but, since I'm writing this, I get to consider mine the best. So.... Let me tell you about my Hunter, my 15 year old son....He keeps telling me what to write about... "tell them I take out the trash, tell them that I make up games for my sisters and I, oh, and don't forget to tell them about my hair". He even adds, "Wait don't tell them what I'm doing right now. (he was crocheting). He is cracking me up. I would have to say that out of all of his wonderful qualities, his humor would be at the top of the list.  My husband, John, just finished making 5 cans of cinnamon rolls for breakfast/lunch and you should have heard the shriek come out of Hunter when he found out how many he would get to eat. One of the things about having a big family is that everything has to be counted out so that everyone gets their share. Hunter got to eat 7 and then ended his meal by licking the icing container. It takes so little to make him happy. ..Hunter is a huge joy to me. I hope you all have a Hunter in your life-someone that makes you laugh, someone that makes you take yourself less seriously, and someone that gives great hugs whenever you need one.

So, since I'm new to this blog thing, I'm not really sure how often is the right amount of time to wait before putting a new post on. Do I wait to see what the response is to the first one or do I just keep writing them in hopes that people will keep reading? There you have it. My constant dilemma of not being able to make decisions. I second guess just about everything. That's why I've avoided this step of writing for so long, I am basically insecure and afraid. Does anyone else ever feel that way or am I the only one?

Now, what I really want to write about was last night. It brought back good memories. Emily, Sam, Loressa, Halton, Bethany Hunter, Mackenna, Destiny, Daniel, Tonia, John and I were all here after church to just hang out. It was so much fun for me. I love having people over. Until recently, people coming over to our house on Wednesday night after church was a standard activity. Students would start piling in and our house would come alive. People would play games, sing, talk and laugh until very late and I would go to bed happy that we had a special time. Sometime, not too long ago, people stopped coming over as much. Some of the ones that had faithfully come have grown up. Some have moved on. For some, Little Elm seems too far away from The Colony and everyone wants to have a more convenient place to hang out. It makes me sad, but fortunately, when you have several kids, you can have a party even if no one else comes along to join you. My hope is that a new crop of students will start coming over and hanging out. I want our home to be a place that people feel welcome. It may not be the coolest or the cleanest or the closest, but I hope that people that come and hang out here will be glad that they did.

Now comes the second guessing. Should I really post this? Is it too personal? Did I say everything right? The second guessing could go on and on and on. I guess I'll just...click...publish.

Stop Talking and Start Doing

It's 3 am. My favorite time of the day, or maybe I should say my favorite time of the night. One of my daughters is sitting beside me memorizing scripture while one of my sons works on some music. Everyone else is in bed where they should be. Usually, we are all in bed, too, but sometimes, for some reason, I am awake at this early hour and I always think I should be writing something. When I'm working on writing one of the musicals for the youth and children's choirs at church, it's easy to stay up all night and work on the scripts. I write and then rewrite and then sometimes I rewrite it all over again, but tonight I am beginning this blog. I'm extremely nervous about this writing adventure because it is something I have been thinking about, talking about, and doing nothing about for years. I have known God was calling me to be a "writer" for around 20 years. I have talked about my desire to write for almost that long, but putting it off has become a way of life. I have been writing the scripts that our students at our church have been performing for several years, but I only recently realized that by doing so I was actually "writing". I know that sounds silly, but it took a dear friend stopping me in the middle of one of my "poor me I'll never write anything even though I know I'm supposed to" rants and asking me why I never considered the scripts I had written as fulfilling part of that calling. A light went on in my head and I realized for the first time that maybe, just maybe, I could stop "saying" that I wanted to be a writer and just be one.

Hopefully, through this blog, I will be able to share links to the scripts I have written in order to sell some of them-I've been talking about publishing them and selling them for years, too. I'm am hoping to stop talking and start doing.