Monday, May 9, 2011

Blessings

357. a beautiful weekend spent with family
358. character building
359. morning coffee...it's a new thing for me =]
360. a hair cut
361. browsing my absolute favorite antique store
362. one of the best days of my life
363. having my best friend by my side, raising our children together. i love that man!
364. kids riding bikes and playing in water
365. teaching 2 year olds about God
366. uplifting words from friends
367. serving my family with clean clothes and good food
367. finding wonderful curriculum!
368. a cool house after being out in 90 degree weather
369. being showered with breakfast and homemade cards...and songs on Mother's Day/Birthday

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day

I have been so spoiled over the past few days...because today is my Birthday! Yay!
The boys picked out gifts for me. They piled them all in the car as we headed to meet my in laws at Chili's. J got me a balloon, Brighton got me a water squirter and a CARS puzzle, and Tibby, my sweet little guy got me candles and a green (my favorite color) lei. He looked at me with those big brown eyes as I cheerfully put it around my neck, and said, "mom, it's for your wedding". He was SO proud, and I melted. I don't think I will ever throw that thing away.

My husband spoiled me with a date (he wanted to teach me to shoot...I think I knocked his socks off with my skills ;)) Then we headed to 6th street to do some antique shopping and ate at a place called Cowboy Gelato...man was it gooood!

I am so very thankful for my life. . God graciously reminds me of how rich I truly am!

To my boys who made me a mother: You are more than enough. You are beautiful. You are my joy, my life, my gifts. You are precious. You are so loved.

To my sweet husband who is my partner. I could not be the mother I am today without you by my side. Your love amazes me. You bless. You gave me our gifts, I will forever be thankful.

To my momma: You are my most wonderful friend. Your strength inspires me. Your thoughtful and giving heart blesses. You encourage me to give the shirt off my back if needed. Your love for God encourages me. You are more than wonderful.

To my mother in law: You raised the most wonderful boy in to a man that a woman could ever ask for. You taught him hard work. You placed a desire in his heart for a family, and he loves us fiercely. Thank you for loving us.

To my grand mamas. One in heaven, and one still here with us: You are the definition of love. You inspire me to work hard and serve my family. Your example lives in me. Your time and patience grace us. Thank you.

To my beautiful godly friends: I am so encouraged by your friendship. I am blessed to be here by your sides, training and watching over our children. I love how you each passionately love Jesus. I love how he placed each of you in my life.

Happy Mother's Day!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Well, Hello

May is here! One of my favorite months of the year because of my birthday, Mother's Day, and we'll be celebrating our 9th Anniversary! I guess you could sum it up to a whole lot of spoiling for me *grin* but don't worry....I don't mind. haha

I'm not sure what exactly happened last month?! I wrote a post at the beginning of the month stating my 30 day plan with Jillian Michaels, and turned around and it's May 1. All that embarrassing stuff I didn't want to say, well, I pretty much have to now...
No, I did about 1/2 of the month. For some reason, my body senses exercise and decides to get sick. I'm NOT kidding. Every year I stay well through the winter (getting nice and plump while I'm at it). Then, when I finally get the motivation to workout, I get sick. This year was no different, except that right when I felt better and jumped back into my workouts, I got sick again. I have now had the worst cough I've ever had, along with no voice for over a week now. I sound like a frog.

I have decided though, I will not use that as an excuse. I will tell you, the days I did 30 day shred, I felt wonderful all day long! I lost 3 lbs, but still have a ways to go. So, I will continue to push through this month because,  well I just have to. I refuse to enter the pool, lake, vacation without haven't worked my bottom...and tummy off! Or at least, made a habit of working out.

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I have spent so much time with God. I am at a place in my life I've always dreamed of. God has faithfully brought me here. I remember doing a Beth Moore study years ago, and she said she had gone through her spiritual life like a yoyo. Never consistently with God. She longed for a consistent walk with Him. Then, she had the worst year of her life.

When I heard her say that, I wanted to pretend I had never heard her say that, because I just knew I was in the same boat. You see, she had some things in her life that needed dealt with, and God wanted her and Him to deal with them together. It took about a year for her to get out of the pit she was in, and start living a life of joy and freedom. A consistant life with God. Now, her life isn't perfect, but she has a relationship with her Creator that the had longed for. 

As, I stated before, I wanted to pretend I never heard her say that. And I did for a while. I avoided "dealing" with anything as long as I could, but I still prayed for and longed for a closer relationship with God.

Well, guess what? Our God is such a faithful gentleman and honored my request for a closer relationship with Him, but just like any daddy, He helped me deal with and put away my past bit by bit. I have found why this is totally necessary. The inconsistency in my life WAS my past. My past thoughts, guilt, shame. I couldn't have such a divine romance with my King with my past still linguring over my head. After all, this was all about Him. Not me. Not my sins. Not my shame. And when those things brought me down and filled my mind, they pushed Him away.

I hate to say this, but all that dealing took me over a year. The worst time in my life. But worth it. Absolutely worth it. And He makes things turn out beautiful for those who love Him.

I know you maybe wondering what this has to do with exercising? Nothing really. I just wanted to update you on that, but as I sit here typing, I realize that it kinda has a lot to do with that. You see, I struggle with that. I'm not a really active girl. I'd rather read than go to the gym. I'd rather watch a movie or cook than workout. I pretty much rather do anything than run for any length of time...*grin*

But, I'm not opposed to swimming, walking, biking, or hiking. It's just actually getting me to just do it is the problem.

I think God cares about that. He cares that I have a desire in my heart to be healthy and active, and I think He wants me to know that just because I've never been successful in the past with these things doesn't mean I still can't do it. Remember? He is showing me how to LIVE. Every step we will take together. So, no,  I didn't finish my 30 days, but they aren't over....I just have to do what He's shown me when it gets hard. Let Him lead me right through and we will finish together!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Simply Gratitude

341. weekends with friends
342. digging deeper in His word
343. much needed Monday. a time to fall back into routine.
344. celebration of our Savior!
345. waiting on a spring thunderstorm
346. afternoon nap
347. Sunday roast at parents'
348. amazon packages at the door...=]
349. mornings at the park
350. saving money on groceries
351. rest after a long, hard day
352. feeling inspired again
353. pulling out shorts and flip flops
354. dresses...for me
355. a wonderful parent teacher conference
356. getting back on the rails

 

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Weekend Reading and Plans

Our weekend starts today! I'm am so overwhelmed with today, I'm very excited to have my sweet husband home.

Today I baked my sweet friend's homemade bread bread. It is wonderful!
I also made some jam to go with it. Yum.

I surfed blog land a while and found some of the most fun ideas! All posted in my ever changing list of fun and inspiring things------------------------>

Tonight the boys are watching Nascar, while I retreat to my room with good books and movies!!

I have a special blog post, that I can't seem to get posted. Soon.

Tomorrow is rather busy for us. I think that's okay on occasion. I am one who purposely keeps our schedule open to practice the art of doing nothing. Slow living. But tomorrow is busy for us. *Volunteering in the nursery.* Church after that. *Jaiden's invited to a party from a kid in his class!! This is the 2nd time for him! *And possibly a Gospel Meeting with my cousins in the evening.

Monday? Date night with the love of my life!

I hope you all have a great weekend, and check out my sidebar if you need some extra reading.








Autism Awareness Month bloggers who are joining together to make you aware of autism:

Organizing Made Fun

Earth Monkey Moms

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Hello House, Goodbye Home

Pieces of My Heart

Caffeinated Autism Mom
Mom's Flight School

This Journey Through Life

Helping My Boys
My Thirty One
Life with Lissy
Frou Frou Britches
This Journey Through My Life
Endless Crafting
Loving In This Life with 5

Saturday, April 2, 2011

A 30 Day Challenge

I'm always up for a challenge. I hardly ever finish them, but this year my goal is to finish what I start. That's maybe why I've hesitated to actually say anything about this challenge....subconsciously I'm not sure I even want to start this one...much less finish it!

BUT after reading Meg's post this morning and the link she shared, I thought NOW is the time. You see when I think about working out, I feel I'm the only one having to do this or  the only one dreading it every morning, but after reading her post and comments I realized that almost everyone feels the same as me. The difference is the ones who actually push through that and stick with it aren't the ones who just LOVE to work out, they're the ones who...well pushed through!

I want to be one of the ones to push through. To finish.

30 Days. Finish.

So here I am. April 1 (well the 2nd). I already own 30 Day Shred. So that's the one I'm using. I will wake up every morning and drag myself  happily shred. And if I don't...well I get to tell you all on May 1 how I just ignored Jillian and turned the dvd over as I walked on past her every morning stuffing my face with blueberry muffins. And that would be embarrassing.

 So here we go. A 30 day challenge. An opportunity to change and challenge my body...oh and ride in my handsome husband's boat while he stares at his rock star of a wife! I think I'm up for that *grin*

Let's do this!

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Friday, April 1, 2011

A Nature Walkin' Kind of Day

I haven't updated on our home school lately. Some weeks we seem to average 2-3 days instead of 4... We love spring and have been studying birds, trees, clouds, and butterflies.

We got our caterpillars in a jar and the boys just LOVE watching them and learning more about the life cycle of a butterfly. (I will take and post pictures of that next week)

While doing lessons with Tibby, I let Brighton work on trays I have with activities on them. I set up 5 trays but sometimes one just seems enough.
Using different color objects to put in our kaleidoscope.
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Sharing with brother.

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This is what we saw!
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We read some books.
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Checked on our plants.
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After science, writing, and math we headed out for a nature walk.
Bella checking out the falling blossoms.
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We were on a mission! The boys enjoyed searching for the items on their nature walk scavenger hunt.

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All the colors were breath taking!

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And a lovely pose from the nature walkn' scavenger hunters!

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