If you are just tuning in, I am counting down the top 20 blog posts this week, in honor of 4 little Fergusons blog turning 1 tomorrow!
Get caught up here:
Today we count down 9-4:
9) Welcome to Tonya-land
When you visit my blog, you have crossed under the rainbow and entered “Tonya-land” where the weather is mostly sunny, the birds are always singing, lemons most often come in the form of lemonade and we all throw our arms around each others shoulders and sing “Kumbaya” at that end of each day.
Now Tonya-land has its bumpy roads, don’t get me wrong, but when you try to keep your glass half full, you usually can just keep on trucking, despite a pot-hole or two. But, every once in a while, my journey through Tonya-land comes to a screeching halt.
Recently, my rainbow tipped over, my lemonade tasted a bit more like straight 
lemons and a series of pot holes made me trip and fall. The birds are still singing though, and the sun will come out tomorrow, right Annie?
Apparently, this blog is a little too sunshine-y for some folks, a little too “fake” I believe was the word…
8) Confessions of A Stubborn Child of God
It’s Mother’s Day week. Once again I am bombarded with emotions I can’t always sort through. This may be the epitome of bitter-sweet.
I wonder how many years the sad will collide with the happy this week:
I am the Mommy to 4 beautiful little miracles here on earth.
I am the Mommy of 4 little ones in Heaven.
It was the Thursday before Mother’s Day, when I lost my 4th baby.
It was the Thursday before Mother’s Day that everything changed for me.
It was the Thursday before Mother’s Day, that I became free from a heavy heavy burden I had strapped on my own shoulders.
It was the Thursday before Mother’s Day, that my arms were freed from the buckets of cement I had been dragging for 2 long, emotionally exhausting years of ‘trying’.
Trying to make a baby.
Trying to keep a baby.
Trying to let go of all my preconceived notions of what I “deserved”, what I had dreamed of my WHOLE life, but never really doing it.
I spent nearly 2 years operating within my own will.
Read more here and please continue to parts 2 & 3 or click the links below.
7) Date Your Mate, Even If It’s Tuesday
When you have little ones, date night starts to naturally take a back seat to the chaos called ‘life with kids’. In fact, the MORE little ones you have, the less you even think about date night. It’s a thing of the past, a distant memory of days gone by. Besides, how could you want to leave a face like this?????
Heck, even if you WANTED to go out, you are often too exhausted to even think of making the effort to take off the spit up smelling sweatshirt & coordinating sweats. 
You know, the ones with snot crusties about knee height? Yup, those. (This is precisely why there is an entire “Home clothes” section of my closet!) And put on full makeup?? What’s that? IMPORTANT, that’s what. No, no, not necessarily JUST the makeup part, the whole shebang…you know, the getting fixed up and going on a date part!
As a stay at home mom who lives in baggy shirts with snot crusted pants and house shoes, its important, even if I am too tired, to get fixed up once in a while, get a sitter and go out to dinner with my hunny. Yeah, it’s a lot of work and effort. Yeah, we usually sit and talk about the kids anyways, but I am investing in Dale, in my relationship with him outside of the children we share. I am giving him my full time and attention. I am reconnecting with my best friend. I am dressing up and leaving the “home clothes” section of my closet behind! 🙂 And, even though he says he doesn’t care if I do makeup or not, I know he appreciates it, that when we go out together, I get fixed up for him. I want him to be proud to have me on his arm!
Read more here….
6) “The Rod”
This one got a lot of hits due to it’s contraversy. It’s actually part of a 3 part Seires on Discipline, linked in order below:
Starting Discipline: Part 1
Paxton
Avery
Tylan
Destiny
In our family, starting solids is not just a new stage for our babies to experience. It’s not just funny faces and messy mouths. We take it very seriously, because as soon as our children are old enough to sit up in a highchair to eat their baby cereal, we start a WHOLE new chapter in their lives……..
We start teaching basic manners and we start to discipline them.
“The Rod”: Part 2
Meet “The Rod”….
You know, as in “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”
(Adapted Proverbs 13:24 “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”)
Phase II of our Discipline is introducing “The Rod”. This occurs when a spank on the leg is no longer affective.
Here’s how it goes down at our house:
#1 The child makes a wrong choice and needs help making the right one. Or needs help getting wrong behavior or bad attitude under control.
#2 We send said child to their room, to think about their actions, while they wait to be disciplined.
Good-bye Pushover Parenting, Hello Happy Kids: Part 3
As Destiny has gotten older, we have started giving her the responsibility of choosing her punishment. One especially difficult evening, Dale had enough of her disobedience, and told Destiny that she had until the end of supper to make a decision:
- Lose a new Christmas toy for an undetermined amount of time
OR
- Get a spank
Her meal was spent in silent contemplation, as she considered her choices. And boy, did that last bite sit on her plate for a looong time. We could really tell she was struggling with her decision. Dale decided since it was a first offense and the first time we had offered such a decision, to show her grace, this time. He told her so and clearly layed out what would occur the next time around.
Later, she left him this note:
To Dad:
It was a hard decision. Thank you for showing me grace.
Love: Destiny
5) Seeing God’s Provision: Part 2 of 3
It’s funny to me how one post in particular of a 3 part series, draws substancially more than the rest.
Seeing God’s Provision
When I ended yesterday, God had just provided Valentines and Laundry detergent for our family. He was teaching me to rely on Him and Him alone to provide for ALL our needs, and even some wants, like the Valentines. Something that seemed so trivial to me, but something that screamed PROVISION on the Lord’s part.
During month number 3 of waiting for our check, and choosing to continue to refrain from grocery shopping, the supplies in our pantry and deep freeze were rapidly diminishing. Again, God provided in a way only HE could. He is SO good to provide for my every need before it even crosses my mind to ask Him for them!!!!!!!
I owed a promised photo order to a friend and had to call her and apologize that I was unable to place my order with her or pay her, until we received this illusive check. She was very gracious and gave me an extended time to take care of it. We hung up, and I felt much better about it all.
Not 5 minutes later HER MOTHER shows up at my door toting bags and bags of groceries for us.
I was blown away.
I just stood there and WEPT, as she brought in load after load of food for us.
Here this precious woman, who only knew me through her daughter, was allowing God to use her, to provide for a need of ours. She told me that just yesterday, she was looking in her cupboards wondering why she had so much food for just her husband and herself? She instantly knew why, when she heard of our situation. She was going to share her food with us, asking only for prayer in return. What an amazing moment! It was food for my soul as much as for my families tummies!
It was right after this that the Lord started showing me verses about the Sparrows not worrying about what they will eat, or what they will wear, yet my Father in Heaven cares enough to feed them. He also reminded me that He wanted me to rely on Him to meet my needs for today and today only.
Period.
Part 3 of the series, God Loves Me Too Much To Leave Me As I Am is found right after it by clicking to the next post.
4) Once Upon A Time, Part 1 of 4
I can hardly believe it, but today is Dale & my 9th Anniversary! Time flies when you are having babies, I mean fun!
Happy Anniversary, Dale! I am so blessed that God allowed me to marry you, the man of my dreams! Just when I think I couldn’t possibly love you any more than I already do, I see you scoop up one of our children in a giant daddy bear hug or stoop down low to kiss an owie knee. When you loving stroke the cheek of our baby as you lay him in his crib, or come up behind me and kiss my neck while I am doing supper dishes, my love for you grows a bit more. Not just any kind of love, the forever and ever, till death do us part kind of love…… A love that lasts a lifetime. Happy 9th Anniversary, honey! I love you! xo ~T
In honor of our 9th anniversary, and seeing as how this is my blog’s first year and we are all still getting to know each other, I’d like to tell you the story of how Dale and I met.
Let’s start waaaaaaay back at the beginning………..
Once upon a time, when I was a little girl, I loved fairy tales, LOVED them, as little girls seem to do. I played bride and princess and dreamed of my very own Happily Ever After………..
My little brother, Chad, made such a lovely Maid of Honor! 🙂
But more often than not, I played Mommy……
Look what still lives in Dale’s wallet 11 years later…The Original Phone Number. 🙂
The rest of the story may be found by clicking the next post after you are done reading. (They are also linked below if you’d like to access them that way instead.)
Letting God Write Your Love Story: Part 3 of 4
My Very Own Happily Ever After: Part 4 of 4
Tune in tomorrow for the TOP 3 Blog Posts from my 1st year of Blogging…
~T
4 little Fergusons 