Our naked Christmas card

Hubs has officially named this "the naked Christmas card" and it makes me laugh every time.
I didn't think a thing of it when I chose it for our card, but I probably could have chosen something a tad bit better......with more clothing.

I used something cheesy like "Warm wishes to you this Christmas season." Clever is my middle name.

Sooooooo......

I hope your Christmas is full of fun, laughter, joy, and HIM as you celebrate this week!!!!

What a gift you are to me!!
Hugs and blessings~
Fran

I wasn't ready for porn to be in my house

One thing I've always prayed for and told my kids I prayed for was for them to get caught when they were doing something they shouldn't be. Ok. Not so bad right? I mean we learn from our mistakes when we get caught, right?

I think our violations thus far have been....lying, someone cheated on a test in 3rd grade, saying words they shouldn't say, and well.....that's about it.

Until......

This past Thursday night, I was doing something on my computer and glanced down at the history that showed up. Thank goodness I glanced. I think. Because here comes the part where my prayer was answered.

Gulp. Someone was just caught.

Reminder.....I have 3 boys. We are in the throws of middle school with the older two. They are 13 and 12. And people wonder why I smother precious son #3?

Gulp again.

I quickly glance on the history and there it is. My heart all but comes out of my chest and I'm not sure if I want to scream cuss words or cry or be sick or all three. And for the record, I did two out of the three before it was all said and done.

I pulled up this website and thought I would just die. Y'all, it is exactly what you think it is. It was disgusting. There is nothing mild about this site. This was horrific and the images are still in my brain. My youngest son confirmed to me that one of his brothers was on the computer after school for a little bit.

Cuss words inserted here.

I died. I knew what had happened.

Shortly there after, we talked to the son and he said he was looking for song lyrics and this website showed up. I believed him. I think.

Come to find out.....there were 2 other sites on my history. So, at this point I'm thinking this had nothing to do with song lyrics. Great. I'm sick again. I want to shelter my babies and go back in time. Please? Can we find a way?

So, son and dad have another conversation and this time we learn that a kid at school told him about these sites and he wanted to see.

Gulp.

And, yes he saw. And, yes I want to cuss again. And, yes I want to scream at the "world" and tell them to leave the kids alone and let them be kids. And, yes I want to scream at parents and the adult world that we better be on top of our kids lives or we are in for a rude awakening. And, yes I want to cry for the next week.

Some wonderful and sweet conversations have come out of all this and I'm grateful for that. However, his eyes have seen what no person should see in my opinion.

I have added a filter from AFA and I highly recommend you doing so. I've told my son that I failed him. It was MY responsibility to protect him and I didn't. I kept saying I would put the filter on, but didn't. My kids aren't really computer kids so there is excuse #1. There is no excuse.

The world is all over our kids. We can't protect them. We can have them in the best schools, church, social settings, and the world IS STILL GOING TO HIT THEM. Unless you are in a bubble.

Sometimes I want that bubble.

So, when I pray for them to get caught and they do........it's a hard place to be. I wasn't prepared to deal with this emotionally. I had not planned a reaction or what to do if "this" occurred. If you pray for your children to get caught, you may want to pray that you are prepared to handle the "caught." ;)

And, if you don't have a filter on your computer, please go buy the filter now!!!!!!

I'm begging you.

And, I love you and your kids too much! I'm anxious to hear your thoughts or experiences.

Hugs and blessings~

What I said was......

This is what I "tweeted" today. I was obsessed with rain and food. And, I'm sidetracked with this thing called Christmas and working and family and dealing with teenagers. So, it's all I got.

Here we go.....


Lives are changed and that is why I love the Biggest Loser.

I LOVE THE BIGGEST LOSER!!!!

RT @perrynoble: Two powerful weapons the enemy will use against you is discouragement and distraction...keep your eyes on Jesus!

We have to have 5 things in a bag that go with our paper that explain the character we chose. Not as easy as you think.

Oh goody....i'm going to help a child write a paper. Where is @teributcher when you need her? She's the expert. ;)

Trying to explain a typewriter to my 13 year old. HA!

Wonder where the dogs have gone to the bathroom today since it has POURED17INCHES??!!

Still monsooning

I am gonna kill a kid over the fact he doesn't have his phone and the world is coming to an end!!!!

Big fat yawn

We ate. I am full. I am sleepy. It is raining. Zzzzzzzzz

Ummmmm its seriously raining.

Well....child #3 staying home today. Could be strep? We shall see.

"We conquer--not in any brilliant fashion--we conquer by continuing"....George Matheson

Feel free to follow me on twitter.com/franthomas because we do have so much fun!!

Hugs and blessings~