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I won the best first chapter award at UpAuthors! Contest

Being Humbled By My Readers

When my book was released it was scary. It was like stepping on a stage naked. But the response has been overwhelmingly wonderful (thanks mom). I am blown away by the people that I don't know that contact me and share their stories with me and tell me how they were so affected by my little story. I am clothed again, but in humility. When people tell me that they have grown spiritually from the truth that the story is woven around, makes me humbled to realize that God used this to reach someone. I thank everyone who took the time to write me and share with me, it means more than you know.

I am working on my next book and have been blessed with some free help! My beautiful website was designed by Faron Designs and I have the wonderful Kitty Morrisson editing for free, I tried to hire her to no avail. You are angels in the best sense of the world. I humbly thank you.

Check out my page and hit 'like', I will return the favor!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brandie-Lagarde/126284677431059

Free Is Better

I detest suffering through comercials. I love to DVR things I want to watch just so I can fast forward through them. The toilet paper commercials are disturbing to me and those red and blue bears don't make the content palatable. I do love the Geico ones, especially the woodchucks chucking the wood and the drill seargent therapist. They make me smile and I can tolerate watching them. I don't know what company they are advertising in the ones where they ring up purchases and everything is free, but it made me sarcastically think to myself that there isn't anything free in this world. If there is, there are strings attached. Gifts are free. Are they really? Maybe I'm feeling all pesimistic or I just don't like commercials or gifts.

The pastor at the church I attended on Sunday spoke from the gospel of Mark about the rich man who wanted to know how he could obtain salvation. The pastor told how Jesus always cut to the heart of the matter when speaking to a person and directly addressed the need or error in that person's life. He also loved them, no matter the outcome. I like how Jesus cut to the chase, I like his direct approach. There are no commercials for Jesus. He isn't selling anything. So, the commercial that made me rethink my idea that there isn't anything free in this world is the Free Is Better one. I was wrong(and yes to my husband, I did actually just type the words, I was wrong). I was right too. There is one thing that is free, but it isn't of this world. That is the gift of salvation that Jesus freely gives to those that ask. No strings attached, because you can't earn it. You can't be good enough to save yourself. He already paid for you, its free.

Of course, when there is a true heart changing event, your life begins to change. Is this strings? What does one have "to give up"? Confessing your heart to Him, feeling that forgiveness and the peace that envelopes you as you lay down your worries and fears and hurts, if that's strings, then it's the ties that bind you to a loving Father and a life redeemed and filled with His wisdom and grace. Giving up the things that oppress you, you receive joy and peace in exchange. It is truly a win situation and I am constantly amazed at the wonderful works that He can do through a willing individual that will humbly step aside and allow God to lead their life. This gift is free and free is always better.

Where Did All The Silly Bandz Go?

In the past year my kids joined the silly bandz craze which was fed by their Mimi who would buy them every shape known to mankind. At first I was disturbed by how much they wanted me to buy them, but mostly by how they hoarded over them, stacking and counting them like Ebeneezer over gold coins. They traded with business savvy that could only be comparable to the likes of Mr. Trump. Sometimes I would see their little arms lined with them to the point that they couldn't bend at the elbow and their fingers took on a nice blue hue. They are made of stretchy rubber, right?

My children each had a stash, even the three year old, that they kept in special containers and just the thoughtof a fellow sibling even considered touching another siblings stash would bring a fight on that made Holyfield and Tyson look like amateurs. Then another strange twist of events began to immerge. I began finding a few stray bandz on the counter or table. I was completely amazed by my children's abilities to inform me the shape and owner of this small thing when I would hold it up in the air and ask whose this belong to. If only they could answer that fast when we do flashcards. At least my fears that they could actually learn were put to rest!

The following weeks soon revealed that their obsession was wearing off because I began sweeping the little colorful bandz up from every crevice of our home and when I asked who the owner was, they didn't know. Were these things multiplying on their own? Maybe not, because now when I sweep, I'm only left wondering if they actually got any food into their mouths. I see no silly bandz anywhere. It kinda makes me sad. Is it one more step to them growing up? I'm glad I kept a few bandz to reflect on later and show to my grandchildren one day. They will probably laugh and show me the little colorful light orbs that will encircle their wrists without touching their delicate skin. I will be sad again because you can't sweep up light orbs.

I think on Christmas Eve night, when I finally get them all nestled in their beds and I watch their sweet sleeping faces as they dream of sugarplums and toys, I will wonder what is a sugarplum as I will lay a pack of silly bandz next to them on their pillows, kiss them and go to sleep for the ten minutes before they come and wake us up, with silly bandz stuck to their faces, and hope the craze will last a little longer.

Demonic Oppression

In researching for my next book, The Myth of Lilith, I came across this list of things that a person can endure when being oppressed by a demon, which is different than being demon posessed. Oppression is when the demonic problems becomes personal and interacts with the victim and the demon's goal being to put a strain on the victim emotionally, physically, and psychologically until the victim feels like they should "give up" more control to the demon. The list is as follows:

Affecting the emotions of the victim
Affecting the thoughts of the victim
Affecting the sleep of the victim
Causing the victim to think they may be hearing voices
Taking over the body of the victim, but not permanently
The victim may think they see things that aren't there
Touching the victim
Scratching or biting the victim

This sounds like how my children sometimes makes me feel! Now, I don't think my children are demonic or anything, but the similarities are amusing!

Thanksgiving

I have learned so many things about our country's history since I began home schooling five years ago and love how patriotic the curriculum I use is. It has taught us to be in awe at how hard it really was to come here in face of all the dangers and hardships and to be thankful they did. That Mayflower was a very small ship that carried 128 people! It wasn't built to carry people, only cargo and the passengers stayed in the cargo area and rarely got to come on deck! People were sick and the smell had to be unbearable. I couldn't imagine being a mom with small children there, I rarely allow my children to play on indoor play stations at a certain fast food establishment. I will bring them to the park and not obsess over the fact that only my children will be able to discover a new strain of bacterial infection. I think it's the open air that helps to ease my mind and the fact that at least these playthings gets rained on.

So, I am thankful to these brave pilgrims and other people who suffered many losses and waged many wars and constructed the most amazing document, The Constitution. I am grateful for the freedom I have been granted to be able to worship as I choose and home school my children and pass on this wonderful history to them. I thank God that He has blessed us so greatly as a nation and as a family.

I am thankful for this time with my children and will be sad as they choose to go back to school, one by one our little school will get even smaller. We use our large windows in my kitchen as dry erase boards and as I sit here at the table and write this, I am looking through mathematic equations at their toys in the yard, I know I will miss my windows looking like a kindergarten version of A Beautiful Mind. I will even miss all the toys in the yard, even though they constantly hear me fussing at them to pick them up, I think they know the truth. I really am thankful for hand prints on windows, messy playrooms, bathtubs full of toys, half melted popsicles on counters, crumbs everywhere, endless streams of questions, running in hallways, loud laughter, and even louder fights...because one day all too soon,these will be only memories.

More Time Please...

I seem to wake up and hit the floor running, except recently it's been straight to my coffeemaker with one of the books I am currently reading in hand. Though to my credit I do carry my empty glass of milk from my nightstand with me to put in the sink on my way, old cleanliness habits are hard to break, no matter how you try. Sadly, I force myself to except the fact that the bar that I set for how clean my house is has lowered with each child that I have birthed. I use to watch Oprah when I first got married and finally stopped when, well let's leave that for another blog one day when I'm more hormonal or in a bad mood. I did learn one thing from an Oprah show that has taken me at least ten years and four of my six kids to almost put into practice, and that was if you want to obtain a stress-free, blissful home-life you must let it go and allow your family members to help you. Yes, your children can make their beds and do all sorts of chores with happy smiles, because they really do want to help their wonderful, over-worked mom out. Even husbands will pitch in and do whatever is asked and it is a truly wonderful family bonding experience, unless mom acts like she is the last person left on earth that knows that towel companies expect you to fold their products with the decorative side showing, face-up and placed lovingly in the linen closet with said decoration facing outward so the towel can actually dry you off better. The lesson was you can't have it only your way and happiness. I, of course, was in denial at first and with each child that came along, I realized Oprah was correct and I have slowly began to let it go. It has taken years and I still fight bouts of my compulsive cleanliness disorder, but I did learn to not go and remake their beds, only if we are having a party do I do this now, because I have learned that with age and more advanced coordination skills they are finally getting pretty good at it, just in time for me to have mellowed enough that I find I miss the way the blanket and sheet were all bunched up into a large lump at the bottom of the bed under the comforter that was always put on sideways, so it never completely reached the top of the bed and draped on the floor.
I still only drink half a cup of coffee at a time because I run around multi-tasking home schooling and cooking and cleaning and errand running and while heating my coffee up throughout the morning, I wish for more time. But I find it's not for more time in the day so much now, as it's for more time to really savor those ordinary moments of my children being little because they grow up way to fast and I do understand what Oprah's guest that day was saying and that great country song by Trace Atkins, "Your Gonna Miss This" says it all.