Mommy Math

Following is a mini math quiz to see how many of my friends and family check in at Denitra's Den, even when I do so quite sporadically! If you do, I promise a sneak peak at the bottom of this post, but you have to do your math first!


Solve the following word problem:


After 16 1/2 years of marriage, Mom has had 5 pregnancies. Sadly there have been 2 miscarriages. Happily she has 1 daughter who is 13 and 1 son who will be 11. How does that add up?


You do the math!

See answer key below:)

Back to the Bible

The new year is here which means a time for new resolutions and goals, or perhaps reviving a few of the old ones from last year!

Both of my lil' cubs declared to me the other day that their new year's resolution was to have devotions more often, maybe even reading through the Bible in the year. So we discussed how they might accomplish such a task.

I told them that I too had resolved to be more diligent with my daily devotions, already beginning to work through a one year book given to me for my birthday. They were surprised, and responded, "But you already do devotions with Daddy every night." I reminded them that it is still important to read the Bible and pray on my own as well and that was something I felt I needed to get back to doing more regularly.

The whole conversation was a really good reminder to me about how much our little cubs notice without us telling them - like our daily evening devotions. And that through church, school and our guiding they have a personal desire to read the Scriptures on their own. What a delight to our ears!

All this was to preface the fact that it was high time I revived our Monday Morning Memory Verse! Since reading the Bible and committing God's word to memory is a vital tool in our spiritual belt then we best get back to it. To see what the Proverbs 31 wife has been up to check out some of the previous posts here.

The next verse is:

Proverbs 31:20 - She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

This one is pretty self explanatory, but a good reminder nonetheless. What we have seen with the Proverbs 31 wife is that she is pretty selfless, isn't she? Everything she does seems to have a distinct purpose of serving others whether it be her husband, her family, her household and now those residing outside the realm of her home.

Up to this point we have seen what she has done and the tasks to which she has striven in order to provide for her household. Now we see her outward focus toward the poor and needy. With "open arms" she embraces her calling to serve others. The phrase "extending her hands" continues to give us a picture of a woman who is welcoming, caring and loving toward those in need. The implication to me seems to be that she is down at the proverbial soup kitchen getting her hands dirty. What'd ya think?

This brings to mind several women in our church who can always be found in our church kitchen. No matter what the event, from our monthly Food From The Heart lunches (which feed the poor and needy of our local community) to the banquets or church functions (which serve the members of our congregation) these women are always on hand to do the job. Serving others through the culinary arts is a particular talent, gift and calling to which they readily respond. It is a good example to me of some real Proverbs 31 women that serve their families, their church family and open their arms and extend their hands to the poor and needy in our community.

100th Post

Here it is, my 100th post! I figured that would be the most apropro time to come up with my list of 100 things about myself. So here goes...

1. 5 ' 2"
2. eyes of blue
3. to my hubby I am the little curly redheaded girl
4. married June 13, 1992 to a guy named Phil
5. I am exactly one foot shorter than him
6. until I left for college I had lived on the same street all my life and yet had moved once...across the street
7. in our first 8 years of marriage we moved 8 times
8. have lived in our current home since 2000
9. graduated from Springfield High School in 1986
10. was active in our church youth group and community Young Life – even worked at Saranac Lake one summer
11. graduated from Grove City College in 1990 with a triple degree in Christian Ministries, Sociology and Religion
12. graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1994 with a Masters of Religion with a concentration in Biblical Studies
13. prefer Hebrew over Greek any day
14. absolutely loved archaeology with Dr. Pratico
15. have only lived in Commonwealths
16. born and raised in Pennsylvania
17. lived 4 years in Massachusetts on the North Shore
18. lived 15 months in Charlottesville, Virginia
19. returned to Pennsylvania when I was 9 months pregnant
20. we were plowed out of the Blizzard of '96 so we could get to the hospital 13 days after the baby was due
21. my daughter, Darla, was born on Jan. 13, 1996 - weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. after 14 1/2 hours of labor.
22. I will officially be a parent of a teenage daughter very soon. . .yikes!
23. my son, Micah, was born March 3, 1998 exactly 81 years after my Grandmom Busza
24. he was my 10 pounder, weighing in at 9 lbs. 16 oz. - delivered in 1 hour 20 minutes . . . ouch!
25. I expect that either my son or daughter will pass me in height within the next year or two
26. I was born on Dec. 22, 1968 – Yup, I'm officially 40
27. weighing in at only 5 lbs. 4 oz. yet I came home on Christmas Eve. . . quite a Christmas present, eh?
28. I said my first word, "light" the next Christmas
29. I love having my birthday at Christmastime - everything is all decorated:)
30. snowmen are my favorite wintertime decoration
31. winter has always been my favorite season
32. nickname - "the ice princess" because I freeze people out of my car with the AC
33. I am usually very hot and prefer cool weather
34. Fall is beginning to be one of my favorite seasons because of its beauty
35. Rockport, MA was my favorite place to live
36. New England winters are AMAZING - I love a good Nor' Easter
37. taught 3rd & 4th grade at Covenant School in Beverly, MA
38. created and taught the Bible curriculum for my master's thesis
39. worked at Christian Book Distributors in Peabody, MA in customer service where it was proven that missionaries are indeed the most patient and kind people to ever register a complaint.
40. was a hostess at Schooner's in Gloucester, MA
41. also painted and cleaned houses while in school - but you certainly can't tell by the current state of my home that I ever did that professionally!
42. McD's was my favorite summer job down the shore
43. spent my summers in North Wildwood, NJ
44. waitressed a summer at the Triangle - best garlic bread ever, but concluded that waitressing was not for me and have never turned back...
45. enjoyed 2 summers on staff at Baptist Camp Lebanon in NJ
46. love campfires, mostly because of the s'mores
47. unfortunately hate being outside in the summer since I seem to be a prime bug feast
48. love kitty cats
49. have owned 6 cats: Topaz, Peanut and Parfait, Peanut, Swiffer and Shadow
50. had a dog growing up named Buffy
51. love movies
52. Elf is probably my favorite Christmas movie
53. Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of The Rings, James Bond, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Batman, and Spiderman are some favorite movie series
54. actually own a life size cardboard cutout of Data
55. prefer to watch a movie before reading the book, so as not to ruin my movie going experience
56. also love reading the Harry Potter series or listening to the book on tape
57. have watched all six Star Wars movies one after the other
58. invented glow ball
59. the previous two items are results of years of working with teenagers at our church
60. volunteered with the youth 7 years and was Director of Senior High Youth Ministries for another 3 years
61. enjoyed flamingoing teens' homes when the had great accomplishments
62. between 3 different churches I have invested 13 years in youth ministry
63. had to quit youth work when I came down with chronic vertigo and officially became a dizzy dame
64. have suffered with fibromyalgia for more than 11 years
65. have been able to get off of all my medicines for fibro with healthy eating and vitamin C therapy
66. have lost 12.2 pounds with Weight Watchers since March 2008
67. am extremely nearsighted with astigmatism, so I actually prefer to wear lightweight glasses with my contacts
68. consider myself a procrastinating perfectionist
69. have made a special decorated cake for each one of my kid's birthdays
70. used to have a craft business, Denise's Delights, with homemade candies and decorations
71. always forget what I came to buy whenever I walk into a craft store
72. Cinderella is my favorite princess
73. been to Disney 3 times with our kids and maybe half a dozen times before and would go every year if I could!
74. our family may have been the first to be kicked out of Disney World the year it opened when we were escorted to the gate because my brother was diagnosed with chicken pox
75. I got the chicken pox soon afterward at the age of 4 – even under my eyelids. . .yuck!
76. have made teddy bears out of old quilts - a lesson learned from my Grandmom McNulty
77. finished a quilt hanging for each of my Grandmothers and have many quilt squares still waiting to be put together after 14 years
78. enjoy the idea of scrap booking:)
79. was co-editor in chief of both my high school and college yearbooks
80. twirled rifle in marching band for 7 years
81. sold Discovery Toys and was able to get loads of great stuff for the kids
82. love to play games with our family
83. enjoy having a pool in the back yard, because I am not a pool person and dread the idea of dragging the kids to the local pool day in and day out for hours and hours in the scorching sun - this way I can lifeguard from the comfort of my air conditioned home or wonderfully shady deck:)
84. I don't have freckles, I've got teeny tiny tans!
85. was excited about sun block 75 spf hitting the market this past summer
86. chocolate peanut butter cup may have surpassed mocha chip ice cream as my favorite flavor
87. venti non-fat decaf iced latte - light on the ice please
88. chocolate is my favorite food group
89. prefer gold jewelry
90. 1/2 Polish, 1/4 Irish, 1/8 English and 1/8 German
91. Clara Barton may just be a great, great, great, great Aunt of mine
92. always wanted to be an actress. . .still secretly do. . . shhhhh!
93. the frizzy red hair must have played a role in my being type cast as the evil stepsister or wicked stepmother in children’s theater
94. when joining Netflix they assessed my movie interests as War Movies or Musicals. . . they nailed it on the head
95. love a good war movie at the shore with my Dad, especially We Were Soldiers about his college buddy Jack Geoghegan
96. at the end of the day enjoy a good episode of Psych with hubby or perhaps 24, The Unit, NCIS, The Bachelor or Dancing with the Stars if hubby's working late
97. absolutely hate country music
98. however, must admit to childhood crush on Glen Cambell, c'mon after all he is the Rhinestone Cowboy!
99. favorite music is Contemporary Christian Rock: Relient K, Jars of Clay and Switchfoot top my list
100. As a Christian I am indeed a Princess, daughter of the King of Kings!