Kristy Dorminy

What a full life we have! I’m thinking a bit of a photo dump is in order to try and keep up with recording life here on the blog. It’s a great (and more realistic) alternative to scrap booking. I know that won’t be happening, so here goes some randomness. Hopefully it will make sense….

Have I mentioned that Josh and I went to Mexico? Playa del Carmen. It was nice. And warm. It happened between the two winter blasts that Woodstock was in the middle of. It was a nice reprieve.

Once back at home, to pass the time during the snow, I really finished my table in the dining room.

It was a lot of work, but I am pleased that I redid the table and chairs instead of giving it away or selling it.

Let’s not talk anymore about the snow.
I will say that the mail couldn’t keep up with it’s duty in the less than desirable weather conditions, so the Valentine’s gifts I ordered with prime amazon did not come on Valentine’s Day. That was a big, fat disappointment…but I didn’t seem to mind because I was quite preoccupied with strep throat. I don’t recall ever having strep. It was AWFUL!! I started having symptoms early in the week of the second snow, the symptoms got worse and worse. I thought I was going to die by Thursday but my doctor’s office was still closed because of the weather. FINALLY, I got medicine Friday and felt like new Saturday night.
So here are the Stuffies that we got the kids for Valentine’s Day:

Interesting little creatures….they have pockets every where to stuff things in. Kids love them.

Ruby tried out for Kidzplace one day last week. She isn’t sure if drama is her thing, but she enjoyed trying out! I’m so proud of the sweet little girl she is.
I sat next to her in church today, and I love hearing her sing praise songs. She belts the words out and isn’t inhibited by any one.

We took the kids skating the other night

They absolutely love skating.

We started a commission system around here. This dry erase board holds their responsibilities. They initial when they complete the requirements. I erase their initial if it wasn’t done right, and I usually give them one more opportunity to do it right. Josh had a talk with them. He explained to them that we don’t pay them for brushing teeth or getting dressed….those are just part of life.

Pay day was fun for the kids, even though they didn’t get full pay since they didn’t do everything with excellence. But they were able to put some cash in their buckets and get out a tithe for Sunday morning.

Let’s see…what’s next?

Mack got his Bible from Pastor Johnny. Every first grader gets presented with a Bible, Pastor preaches to them, and then they all get a picture made with him. There’s also a pizza party and tons of fun games and stuff in the basement. We have enjoyed this night with each of our kids…this night was bittersweet because it was our last one!!! I was playing around with Mack and pretended to be crying while I said, “My baby is getting his Bible!!!!” He thought I was crazy. And just like Mack, he didn’t want to walk across the stage at first, but once the time came, he loved every minute of it!

I may or may not have paid him $1 to wear khakis instead of jeans. 😳

I pray Mack will take The Word of God (his sword) and wield it as he walks through this life! I shudder at the thought of where I would be without the living, active, powerful Word of God working in my life.
And I am eternally grateful for the local body of Christ we have gotten to be a part of for the past 13 years! Only heaven knows the people who have influenced me, Josh and my kids during our time here. Not the least of which is Pastor Johnny. He is the greatest Pastor ever.

And there you have it. A bit of catching up! Let’s see if I can stay more on top of things around here….

We had what I would call a “work day” around here today. Laundry, cleaning off the stairs (which seems like a silly thing, but it’s necessary if we don’t want to fall and break our neck going up or down the stairs), picking up every Lego piece that has landed in all the wrong places, ironing for an hour and a half, and much more. The house is straightened, which makes me happy. Tomorrow I’ll pull out the vacuum cleaner and dusting spray to finish off what we started today.

We also worked hard on school. Maps, verses, math facts, spelling words, grammar, and more. We finally finished THE APPRENTICE, which I enjoyed. Ruby read the last three chapters to us while I ironed. Molly was obviously not paying attention. She would ask at every break for food or for Ruby to tell her how many more pages. Mack, surprisingly, listened and answered some questions extremely well! So tonight when I asked what they liked the best about the book, the responses were:
Ruby: “I loved how it was about art and it was also a little bit of a mystery.”

Mack: “I am glad that Arduino was able to prove that he wasn’t the one who said that about the Maestro.”

Molly: “I love that it’s over.”

And there you have it. Bless her heart.

You know the old saying that your mom told you when you were growing up…”If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Yes, I realize this is true. However, I AM SO SICK OF THIS WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!

I read some wholesome post on Facebook about how maybe God is trying to get our attention and remind us to slow down and enjoy time with our family and stay in our home together, soaking up family time. I get that many schedules are full and not many families spend a ton of time under the same roof all week. However, this is what we do almost every single day!!!! We stay home, do school, read books under blankets, bake cookies, play with our toys, and much more…all under the same roof. It’s nice to throw in a library trip or a grocery run. We really feel special when we eat out during the week day.

But this being iced-in business is just about to send me to the looney bin. And there is nothing I can do about it but wait for things to thaw out.

I have a horrible sore throat and need to see a doctor once the sun shines again.
My retainer is cracked, so I need to do see the dentist when the sun comes out.
My roots are horrid, and if I can’t make it to my hair appointment tomorrow evening, I’ll be very sad.
We still have some food to eat, but it won’t last forever.

Oh, I really shouldn’t complain, but since this my blog, I suppose that is up to me. Anyone can stop reading any time.

Here are some pictures of what we’ve been doing. I was productive enough to stain my dining room table, so at least that project is about done.

The girls were playing doctor. Mack has played Legos for hours upon hours. I’ve written cards to Sunday School folks, ironed many clothes, and of course, we’ve done our school work. We don’t really take snow days, but we will take a sun day when it decides to join us again.

Molly made some fabric book marks that are super cute.

So, there you have it. We are hanging on to our sanity by a thin strand around here. Make your judgements about me if you will, but it’s the truth. 😁

I was going through my pictures on my phone, deleting ones I ordered from PostalPix app. I’ve come to love this app, so check it out if you want to easily and quickly order pictures from your phone camera roll.
Anyway, I spotted these pictures that being out the difference between girls and boys. Ruby and Molly pose so sweetly….Mack prepares to throw a snowball.

Having girls and a boy is so much fun. I never tire of noticing their major differences.

We found friends early this morning sledding down a hill behind their house. We were out walking the neighborhood to just see what we could see. The people who were in their cars driving down the road were not smiling or waving, so I assume they had been stuck somewhere through the night. How awful for them. I felt so bad for so many who, more than anything, just wanted to be HOME. Josh was brought home by a great friend. So thankful for his 2:10 am arrival!

And here were some cars that people had abandoned so that they could just get to their houses.

My mom, who hasn’t seen the movie FROZEN, asked me if we were going to build a snowman. I told her if she ever sees that movie, she will never be able to just ask that question…she will be compelled to SING it. “Do you wanna build a snowman? Come on let’s go and play……”

Well, I’ve decided that even though I don’t enjoy the snow so much, I should still document how this day went.
I woke up the girls for school this morning, even though I sort of had a feeling I should just keep them home. They only go to a few classes each Tuesday morning as part of a home school co-op…I was kind of hoping a snow day might come when I had them at home anyway…but whatever.

Mack and I came home. He played Legos and on his iPad. I also sat and did some reading of my own for about an hour with pauses for switching laundry.

Then, we got an email that told us to come get kids from Timothy classes. I left immediately and was home by 11:00. I had no idea how awful things would get in the next hour! Schools closed early, parents left work to get them, buses tried to take kids home only to turn around…it was a mess. And even now (almost 8pm) my neighbor (two of them!) don’t have their spouses home yet. They’ve been trying to get home for hours!!
The “dusting” started like this:

And then it really started coming down! And neighbors started coming out to play!!

We came in and the kids took warm showers and put on warm, dry pajamas. I played Legos with Mack and Ruby read our chapter book out loud.

All the while I was channeling my inner Caroline Ingalls….see, Josh was in a meeting in Atlanta. He was headed the way of home around 1:00, I think. By then, the world had gone crazy. Traffic was nuts, and he realized he wouldn’t be doing himself any favors by getting off 400 and on to 92, which was at a total standstill.
The kids were concerned about him…”Is he hungry?” “Will his truck slide?” “Is he going to have to sleep in his truck?”
This is when all of those Little House on the Prairie episodes came in handy. Caroline always smiles and remains calm, knowing her Charles is smart and strong and capable. So, I tried to put on my best Caroline Ingalls in order to not worry the kids. I think it worked. Seeing him safe and warm in his office on FaceTime really helped them most though.

Caroline Ingalls might have lived ten more years if she had some of our technology to help ease her mind from time to time. 😊

So we have tried our best to enjoy this snowy day with friends and chili and apple cobbler dessert! Legos and books and movies also helped us.

Snow, snow, Go away. I personally don’t care if you come back any other day.

Today was a fun day! Josh sent me flowers for our anniversary.

They’re were a sweet surprise. And the cute little delivery lady made it fun with, “Flowers for YOU!!!!” when I opened the door. The kids loved it that their dad was so thoughtful.

And then we got several cards in the mail and kind texts. I appreciate each and every one; however, I wanted to highlight this one:

It’s from Coach Ron Polk, Josh’s baseball coach at UGA in ’99-’00. From what Josh has shared about him, he is the most disciplined coach he ever had (and he had a different one each college year, not to mention all of his high school sports). Let me just say that this man has sent us an anniversary card EVERY year and even keeps up with how many years we’ve been married. He sends Josh a birthday card EVERY year. He sends us a Christmas card EVERY year and all of them have a personal note inside. It’s quite impressive if I do say so myself.

So, again, I appreciate every card we got…I just thought I would highlight this man’s consistency. And thoughtfulness.
Maybe I’ll be like him when I grow up.

Monday marks 13 years of wedded bliss for Josh and me.  I could not possibly be happier.  He is an amazing husband.  I never knew how much fun marriage could be.  

We entered marriage filled with love and lots of naivety.  We had fun at the beginning as we got to live with each other and learn how to work through matters of life. Some people say the first year is really tough.  It wasn’t for us…I remember it as a lot of fun and quite care-free.

We bought our first house after two and a half years of marriage.  We actually signed the papers on January 27, 2003 (our 2nd anniversary) and then waited five months while they built it.  I remember the agent leaving the room and us looking at each other and saying, “We don’t know what we are doing.”  The Lord was most definitely helping us!

While having kids was a bright spot in our marriage, it was filled with some of our most challenging moments.  Josh had to figure out how to live with a mad, sleep-deprived pregnant lady (three years in a row, basically). And for that he deserves an award.  But then again, so do I…since I was the sleep-deprived pregnant lady for three years in a row.  Those days are now a fog, but I know we had to exercise much forgiveness and grace as we tried to figure out how to parent together.  Adding three other personalities so quickly can really strengthen one’s prayer life and change the dynamic of everyday life.  I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Then there was that two year period when we built a house, moved and sold it and felt like things were spinning out of control.  Our marriage was strengthened as we faced hard circumstances together…and we realized and said out loud that even if we didn’t have a single material item at the end of our episode, we would still have each other and our faith and that was more than enough.  We made it through those years, and I was more than certain I had married the best man in the world.  

We have had an exciting past couple of years in our family.  We feel extremely blessed with the way the Lord has led us so graciously. Josh and I enjoy being together more than ever.  Marriage is hard work.  It requires effort and love and tons of forgiveness and mercy and patience…and much perseverance!  I hope and pray that each of my kids will one day find marriage to be as fulfilling as I do!  It really is so much fun to be married to your best friend.  

Happy Anniversary, Joshua Lee!  I think you are the best.

I’m plugging along in my Chronological Bible Reading Plan. Today I read several chapters in Leviticus, which I’ve heard referred to as “the graveyard of yearly Bible reading.” It’s not the easiest book to read, but I’m learning a gracious plenty.
Today, in chapter 13, I read about the test for leprosy. I was tempted to just scan over all the talk of swelling and infection and bald heads and white hair. But I read each verse and noticed a repeating phrase. Over twenty times it says, “the priest shall look.”
Look…not touch.
Leprosy is “a disease of the blood itself, which is the life; it’s manifestations are most terrible and loathsome; and it is incurable.” (G.C. Morgan)

In Mark 14:3 we read that Jesus was at the home of Simon the leper, reclining at his table. Jesus wasn’t looking from afar.
In Matthew 8 we read these words, “And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.’ Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

Here is more from G.C. Morgan’s LIFE APPLICATIONS FROM EVERY CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE:
“In light of these considerations, we remember that there came in the fullness of time One Who could not only look at, but touch the leper–One who could cure. That is also the story of his dealing with sin. ”

I’m overwhelmingly grateful for the love and compassion of Jesus to draw near to me, a sinner. I need His grace and mercy so desperately every single day.

HE TOUCHED ME

Shackled by a heavy burden,
‘neath a load of guilt and shame;
Then the hand of Jesus touched me,
And now I am no longer the same.

He touched me, O, He touched me,
And O, the joy that floods my soul.
Something happened, and now I know,
He touched me and made me whole.

Since I met this blessed Savior,
Since He cleansed and made me whole;
I will never cease to praise Him,
I’ll shout it while eternity rolls.

I never knew. I truly didn’t realize how addicting Legos could be. Mack has shown me that they are, indeed, addicting.

This basket has become home to most of Mack’s Legos. He is way more into the people, but he has recently been into creating his own stuff with different pieces.

Today we were in Target, and he spent some Christmas money on more Legos. It cracks me up. He wasn’t interested in anything else. Just Legos.

Ruby also has a fascination with the girl Legos.

I will admit that I enjoy helping put them together (and so does Josh). But I would love to organize all these pieces. I’ve made myself NOT buy the cute Lego organization sets. I did buy a carrying case for the people. It worked for about 20 minutes, but then he took them out to play with them and never put them back into their “home.” Evidently, throwing them in a basket works best for him.

Do Legos seem to take over other people’s homes as well? I suppose one day I’ll miss having the Legos scattered around. ❤️