Life with my sister

  He had jokes, always It’s been a year this week since my daddy left this earth to take up residency inside his mansion in glory. I love to laugh at the thought of anyone thinking Bob Skutt is dressed like cupid, Casper or flying around in angel wings. Y’all, Bob, isn’t fluttering about watching over us! "Ho Ho Ho it's the Grandmonkey" My father in costume for eternity is a strong “nope”. One time he dressed like an elf for the Santa float in the Fort Smith Christmas parade. I was too old to think that was cool. It was a tragic day for the offspring. He ran around Garrison Ave. and threw candy while in an elf costume. Photos were taken and distributed about town. One was even framed inside the trophy case at the field house of our beloved Northside High School. I walked past it for years and moaned every time. Never a dull moment with him and I am positive that was the last costume he ever wore on earth or in eternity. It was truly something. King of the wild frontier My...

One word to describe this year: Overwhelming. In every sense of the word. Recovering from all the ways 2019 overwhelmed me will take a minute. Overwhelmed in both the good and bad ways. Overwhelmed with disappointment, loss and frustration but also overwhelmed with goodness, love, grace and much hope. Joy always comes in the mourning and morning. This year was proof of it. Best thing I did for someone this year: I fought for my child through what felt like a minefield at times. I fought for his best interest in school, in his faith, on the field, at the table, in the gym and in the loss of a grandparent. He is 10 and unaware of how much we do to feed his success, help him thrive and protect his heart. Randall and I get to enjoy the joy in the journey. That's parenting, right?! Favorite movie of the year: Toy Story 4 on opening night with my people. Favorite show of the year: Dallas - all 14 seasons watched again. Most embarassing moment of the year: That's hard ...

Oh, for the love of the game. Can we not just let kids play ball when they are little and not try to shape them into who we wanted to be and never were? I'm just sayin....I could easily fall into that trap with my child because I was never the best at anything physical, but thankfully I don't engage in such behavior because what I lack in athletic talent, I'm off the chart in good sense. Being a parent is one of the hardest jobs on earth. I mean, if you want to do it it right and with all your might. Watching your kid struggle and succeed all in the same breath is an experience like none other and cannot be expressed with words really. Moms just know and have this look they give each other that basically says "yep, I see your baby. shine on, mama." Henry and his best buddy (2017) My son has the character that many grown men could only wish to have. He has done well accepting the fruit basket the Holy Spirit has given him (aka- fruits of the spirit) ...except...

 I really do. I have all sorts of chalk tricks to ward off calluses. Pansies wear gloves (ha...truth is. Mine were stolen at the gym and I always forget to buy a new pair). Chalk is my friend.  I am a crossfit woman. Sounds funny, but this image is truth. I posted about it months ago and haven't updated about it (not that anyone cares but my mother). I have actually been doing crossfit since last November. Some months I slacked worse than others, so I am not progressing like I should for the time I have in it.  I also refuse to eat like a caveman. The "real" crossfitters eat a Paleo diet. I tried it. It puts me in a bad mood and since soybeans, corn and pesticides put the good meat on my table...I caved!  I am more aware of what fuels my body now because of crossfit, but I have had my fair share of ice cream and french fries this summer. More than I care to admit.  I am trying to step it up a notch now and work on reshaping my body. It is HARD WORK but the...

Isn't she lovely?! Here she is at home in her recliner. God loves this woman, that is for sure...and so do we. Our mama is now back in her place recovering by herself, with visits each day from loving family and sweet friends who live near by. Praise Jesus for this smile on my mama's beautiful face. She did it!! She has had a rough month but the bad is over and only good is to come from here. Her strength is better with each passing day due to her determination to get well and do for herself. We never anticipated her to be at home without help at this point. What a praise this is. Mama told me she is doing so well because she is loved. She needed to be reminded how precious she is to so many, and that has been accomplished through this for sure. I spent the weekend getting her comfortable and secure at home. It was fun to spend quiet, quality time with my mama. I worked hard, rested well and loved watching her prove to herself she could do this on her own. I am the one who pu...

This will be my last hospital post. I promise. Lesson 1: Mom was freezing us out in her first room. We were dressing warm just to sit in her room with her. The first night I stayed the night, I was free-zing! A nurse came in, saw me shivering and brought me, get this, a heated blanket. I was warm the rest of the night. It blessed my soul (it really warmed my soul too) to have a heated blanket. If you have to stay the night at the hospital, ask for a heated blanket. Lesson 2: The nurses have access to popsicles . They don't always tell the patient they can have them, and most patients, even with the strictest dietary concerns can. The best thing is patients family members can have them too. They also will give you a coke. This is great for those of you that can eat and drink in hospitals. I, however, didn't partake of free popsicles or cokes. I can't seem to eat or drink where sick people have been. I tried. I spent quite a few dollars on Sonic drinks before I realized t...

Henry Patton running into school this morning with his Razorback t-shirt on and ready to shout a little "Woo Pig Sooie" with all his little friends. Abby

The kids enjoy dyeing Easter Eggs every year. Since I am far from being OCD or a type A personality, the kids get to dye the eggs anyway they want. They can use every color for one egg or just one color. It doesn't matter to me. Their creativity gets to shine! We were at Aunt Janet and Uncle Mike's house this Easter weekend and Aunt Janet was so sweet to let us use her kitchen to dye our 3 dozen eggs. And to let us use her refrigerator to store them in. her frig may never smell the same again! I spent Easter morning with Mom at Aunt Janet's. The kids and Stephen went to church and then joined us for lunch. I missed being at church (It makes 2 years in a row. Last year Daniel was sick.) but enjoyed being with Mom for the last time for a while. We had Whole Hog BBQ for lunch. It was Mom's choice, but it is our favorite BBQ restaurant. I made a cake and the kids had a couple of Easter egg hunts. We spent the rest of the day in front of the tv watching The Masters. I hav...

Our little bunny boy started Good Friday excited about going with mama and daddy to see the Easter Bunny at the mall. He was SO excited and proud to get dressed in his bunny sweater and go. Look at that grin on his sweet little face! And then he saw the bunny. It was terror and horror and huge loud screams. I made him sit there anyway and get his photo taken. I had other mothers in line giving me looks of shame as their kids started to scream and cry in unison with Henry. It was truly a mother moment I will not forget. Randall and I walked away laughing. I am sure the other mothers did not find us amusing. It was like a comic strip moment. Randall insisted we purchase the overpriced photo for a keepsake even though he captured it on his phone. It is so precious, really. Poor little bunny of mine. He got his red sucker and bunny ears and became proud. He told all those we passed in the mall "I saw the Easter Bunny!" with a big proud smile. I am sure they heard him and knew the...

Planting season has started for our little Daddy so this past weekend Henry and I flew solo. We loved the sunshine days and took advantage of the pollen-filled air. Henry ate his supper Friday night on his new picnic table. He was yelling "more mama!" because he was out of his beloved chicken nuggets. Saturday was St. Patrick's Day so we had to pose in his Henry shamrock shirt, of course. This is my 3rd St Patty picture of him in this same spot. I was going to post all 3 pics together but they are on my old computer and I am too lazy to walk upstairs and get them off that one and put them on my laptop...just imagine or go back on the blog and look! Randall has never been at home on March 17th since Henry was born...I realized that Saturday and thought it was sort of funny. Planting season always starts at this time. Saturday after we ran our errands we ventured back outside. I put a pair of flip flops on Henry. He had never had a flip flop on nor had anything between his ...

It is a joy for our family to serve the Lord in full time ministry. We're joining up with Kelly today. She is linking up with ministry wives and as you know I am one. When Stephen and I were married I knew that he was going to be a music minister and I was just fine with that. I even looked forward to it. I was excited about serving in a local church and attending church so often that I would know all the words to all the hymns in the hymnal. Oh, my lofty goals! After being a music/youth minister for eight years, Stephen knew that he was being called by the Lord to be a preacher. As much as I didn't want to be a preacher's wife, I knew he was also being called. God is so good to let both of us know His plans. Now, we are in a different season. We are planting a church. We won't be serving in an established church with all that they offer, good and bad. We will be seeking people that don't have a relationship with the Lord, showing them His goodness and provid...

I thought I would share some photos of Henry I have taken recently and failed to post. I seem to be so busy lately. I have over-extended myself with obligation this spring. I am participating in Wanna Dance, The Reebok Crossfit Games, and then all my regular stuff...I can't keep up. Randall has reminded me that this is not the season for me to be over-extended since he has to be (it is time to plant!). Oh me...what fun this should be for us! Life with a two year old is so much fun... and exhausting. Most nights Randall and I are dead to the world by 9:00. We fight to stay awake until 10:00 but it is a struggle, I tell ya. Henry Patton wears us out. We get up before the chickens with Henry, then we work all day and when we get home we go in fast forward all evening. We try not to miss a beat with Henry. I hope to remember at least some of this later in life. I worry I will forget because it moves so fast! Henry loves his Nana and Papa. They came to visit him after church last week. ...

I'm writing this days ahead of when you are reading it. I'm not even sure I'll even be posting this, actually. Today I saw on facebook something that angered me so badly I had to take a deep breath, close my eyes and say a prayer. I texted Abby and asked her to pray also, and could hardly type the words correctly because of my anger. I've done pretty well the past few weeks and really thought I was over the town we used to live in and the people we served. But this one comment threw me right over the edge. Nothing was said directly, but what was implied hurt my feelings. It seems that some people tend to think that their opinions are always correct. That they aren't opinions but facts. I am quite insecure and never want to hurt anyones feelings. But, some people are just evil. I don't know what kind of person you are. I don't know if you are meek and mild, or harsh and opinionated. But if you are the latter please think before you speak or post. If you are m...

Grocery shopping sometimes becomes a necessary evil for me on the weekends. Lately it has become an outing for us because of Henry's love for the red car. Our Kroger has red, blue and green car carts. He only likes red. My fear of arriving to only blue car carts haunts me, so sometimes I leave him with his Daddy during nap time and champion the shopping trip alone. Kroger is our place. He begs for Kroger. I took him to Harp's one week recently and they only had green car carts and he refused to get in one and instead laid down in the regular cart on top of the groceries out of protest. We quickly returned to Kroger. It is frustrating and cute. Last week I ran into a sweet friend and she shared a little cookie and balloon secret. Thanks to her, this past weekend's Kroger trip was an event. We scored a red car cart, so it started out super. It got even better when we got to the bakery and got Henry's complimentary iced sugar cookie. He was sweet and told the lady "...

I was asked to participate in Wanna Dance this year. It is a fundraising event for the Woman's Discovery Center here in Jonesboro. I was asked when I moved to town in 2008 but the job I was in dictated my every move and they would not allow me to represent them in this event, so I had to bow out. I love that I now have my life back and can represent my company in such a fun event for a great cause. They team up 16 women and 16 men in the community who can potentially raise a good amount of money. The winner is not who dances the best, but who raises the most. As the website and Facebook page gets up and running, I will share the links so you can see what it is all about and donate! My partner is Barry. He works at our local Chamber. He is a hoot and a half. We are gonna have some serious fun I am afraid! This is Barry and me together at our planning lunch. We met with our dance instructor Libii. We are going to mimic our dance after the video below. We will of course modify it quit...

This photo is not the best quality. I took it with my phone. I had to capture the moment and it is what I had at arms reach. My boys love to race dump trucks every night before Henry goes to bed. Henry takes the little one and Daddy takes the big one. They race all through the house, scream and say "Boo Yaw" real loud over and over again. It is fun times. This particular night they found sombreros in the guest room that I have been meaning to return to a friend. They wore them while racing. Henry's kept falling onto his face but he didn't seem to mind. It was so funny to watch. I try my best to stay out of the way because they will run over mama without flinching. I have sore toes to prove it! It is simple times like these that I try my best to cherish and hide in my mama heart. I know the day will come when he does not want to play with his dump trucks or his daddy. For now he loves begging his daddy to race with him and says "DO GIN, DADDY!", while Randall...

I have three prayers I have prayed daily for the last three months. Two of them will be answered continually but one of them could only be answered once and was beyond my control. Stephen and I have prayed that our children would find salvation in Jesus Christ at early ages. With our boys that prayer was answered. They were all saved before the age Anna is now. In the last three months I've seen a marked difference in Anna and prayed fervently that God would draw Himself to her and she would accept His forgiveness and salvation. She has been the most affected spiritually through all of this and I couldn't bear to see her turn from Him, although it is what she seemed to be doing. Saturday night after I had tucked the kids in for the night (they all were sleeping in the same room for some reason), Anna came into the kitchen where I was. She began talking to me and I realized where the conversation was heading. Stephen had talked to the boys about salvation, this was the first tim...