Gobble, Gobble!

So it is that time of year where we all sit down to a meal with family and give thanks. This is something we should do more often than once a year. A tradition around our table is each of us goes around and tells what we are thankful for. This is also something I think we should do more often. I personally am thankful for the Lord's perfect timing. This year has brought a whole lot of things my way and none of them were expected but yet they were all timed perfectly by the Father. We only think about being thankful once a year? C'mon! Every day before we lay our heads down for the much needed rest, do we say thanks? Do we tell the Master how thankful we are for all the blessings He gave us? For the overlooked miracles? I admit I may not always do this but I am certainly trying. I do my best to wake up every morning and thank the Creator for the gift of a new day and end my evenings thanking Him for the day again. So today I am thankful for the following reasons (in no particular order)

My husband. We may not always see eye to eye or even be on the same page, but, he is the most wonderful man in the world. The Lord has truly blessed me with such an amazing man. It is a miracle to find someone to share the rest of your life with. Think about it...one...just for me...perfectly picked by my loving Father who knows my needs and wants. The perfect man for me. Yep that's my husband.

My 3 precious children. They may test my patience and I may be called "the worst mom ever" sometimes, but, they are the most loving and precious people in the world. Children are miracles no matter how you look at it. They started so microscopically yet they are people! How creative is He who made them. Their quirks, strengths, weaknesses, and their personality. Each one individual. He gave these 3 perfectly created humans to my husband and I. How blessed am I? Very!

The health of my family and myself. We are whole. Just because I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's doesn't mean I am not a whole healthy person. The perfect timing of God lead me to be diagnosed in time to get started on meds so that when I start taking my college courses in January my mind is clear and not foggy and I can have better memory. We are all healthy. That is a blessing in and of itself.

Our new home, my immediate and extended family, my friends, a new day to spend with those I love, and above all else I am thankful for that Baby who was born all those years ago who would grow to be a man who would die for me and my sins.


What are you thankful for today?

Pear tree in fall

Here is a picture of our ornamental pear tree so far this fall. That's not our house in the photo. Isn't she a beauty? For her first fall with us I am happy to see her behaving like she should. Our redbud on the other hand hasn't had leaves since the first month or so. I hope to have beautiful spring photos of each of them.

It's update time!

Okay so it has been a while since I have written anything on here. Yes I am still alive and here. So since I am here I suppose you expect me to update huh? Okay you don't have to twist my arm! Geesh! lol

So my hubby enjoyed his trip I gave him. He said it was exactly what he needed. He took a few pictures to show me what it was like. Once he knew where he was going he didn't stop talking about it. He still hasn't! I am glad I was able to give him something he not only needed but wanted. He says he will have to do that once a year. I explained to him that I'm not going to be the one to foot the bill though. He makes a lot more than I do.

As for me I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease. This is an auto-immune disease in which your body attacks your thyroid as if it is not supposed to be there. At first it bothered me and I had a hard time dealing with it. Mainly because the thought of this body that God gave me wasn't supposed to attack itself. But through prayers of many of my online friends and those in my family I have told, I am okay with it. Right now my endocronologist is closely monitoring my dosage of Synthroid to make sure I get a dose that will work for me. He is slowly upping the dose every 3 months. He says this gives my body time to adjust to and react to the new dosage. I am slowly getting less forgetful, becoming less fatigued, getting a clearer mind, and just basically getting better. I have a whole lot of symptoms that I didn't think were symptoms until I read about it. There is a family history of thyroid disorders but I am the first to be diagnosed with Hashimoto's. But no big deal. I have God on my side and so I have nothing to worry about.

I begin taking classes in January to start my way to become a nurse. I am taking the pre-requisite courses a little at a time. I am in no hurry and thankfully this college nearby let's you learn at your own pace. Perfect for this stay at home mom who also has a part time job (until shopping season begins in a few weeks then it is closer to full time) and a new home to deal with. I am excited about this new adventure.

So I guess that is all for now. I will try to be a little more frequent in my posts.

Surprise?

I am thinking of getting my husband a 3 night getaway for himself for an anniversary gift. I am really nervous about this because I have never done anything like this before. The getaway would be to a place that we have been to before many times and it would give him time to get away to go do some hunting. I just don't know if this is something I should realy do or just a bad idea. If anyone has any input now is the time please. I am getting the pricing together and so far I am saving $100 from normal rates. Which is a lot! I can work the extra hours while the kids are in school and can pay for it myself so that is not an issue. I guess I am just mostly nervous. I am terrible at keeping these kinds of secrets and my hubby is rather picky about stuff so ....I guess you can see why I am nervous. I have been wanting to do something like this for him for a while but never had the guts or the money to do it. This year I have the ability to make the necessary money to pay for his trip and all. *sigh* Am I wrong to be nervous? Would any of you men please speak up?

Enough already!!!

Geesh! I am getting so sick and tired of all these E.D. commercials! I have 3 kids and no matter what we watch the television is bombarded with them. We are watching a wholesome game of football on Monday night and here it comes.....the inevitable E.D. commercial. Try explaining this to your 7 year old daughter what erectile dysfunction is. Come on already!!!!! Enough with this! Who cares if you are having problems?! You have obviously seen enough commercials by now to know to talk to your doctor so why do the drug companies insist on bombarding us with these commercials? Excuse my rant. It just makes me soooooo very mad. I can't go and watch something family without one of these commercials on. Even the news shows. Come on already. I am not being biased either. I am not fond of all the female monthly product commercials either. I understand the reason behind advertising but there are some things that shouldn't be advertised.

Creepy Critter!!

Above is the critter himself. Don't know what he is but I'm not too fond of him. Below is this creepy critter next to a quarter. Don't care what he is and hope to never see him again. He's free to a good home!!! If you can find him you can keep him!!! *shudders* ooohhhh he's creepy!

Fuzzy stuff

Lookee what I found on the underleaf of my crimson king. This fuzzy little guy was trying to get some much needed shade on a hot summer day. Can't say I blame him either. He sure was hard to get a clear picture of. Even though it was really hot we had some wind too. So I ended up holding the leaf still and looking up from the bottom. I came back later to see if he was still there and he wasn't. I was hoping to find him but he apparantly had other ideas.

The tree pics

Here are a few of my trees. The first is my pear tree before it was planted and the second is my redbud. Can't get a pic of the crimson king just yet without capturing info (lisence plates, cars with phone #'s, etc.) on it. I like to remain unlocated if you could say that.

My trees.

Well we had our trees planted on Tuesday. They arent the flowering crabs but we like them just the same. We have a Crimson King maple tree out front, an Ornamental Pear tree in one corner of our backyard, and a Redbud tree in the other corner of the backyard. I am rather excited to see their fall colors and certainly their spring flowers. I might take some pix and show them to all of you. Silly like a kid is how I felt when I saw them planting them.

Flowering crab trees

I may be planting 3 flowering crab trees in my yard. I'd post a picture of one but there are so many that I can't decide on which photo to link to. A friend of ours has 3 that are 10-12 years old that we intend on planting soon. I am so excited! My aunt is worried that my neighbors (I have one kiddie corner in the back and another on one side) might not like my trees due to the shedding of the flowers and the fruit. We were told by our friend that these don't bear fruit. I don't know if that is possible but that is what he says. Well I did a quick search just now and apparantly there are some that don't bear fruit. They are called Spring Snow. I shall check this out further. They sure are pretty. Once we get them in I will take a few pics to share. But I just thought I'd share this good news.

Busy as a Bee!

Now that we have been in the house for a month things are slowing down a bit but I am still busy as a bee. Between helping my mother in law get everything in order to move into an apt. nearby (and a nice one at that), keeping up with my house (as far as getting it put together just the way we want it), cleaning my house, keeping the kids somewhat entertained, working and just doing the regular things you could say I am one busy little bee. It's all good though. I'm not complaining. The Lord has truly blessed us and I am so grateful.

I came to the realization that fall is coming upon us soon. YAY!! It is my favorite season. What brought this realization on? The fact that places are starting to put out some fall type stuff. Now if we could just get through summer.

So I suppose this is all for now. I am hoping to get back to this more often. Maybe with real content! lol

I've got grass!!!

It has taken a little over a week of watering seeds day and evening and we finally have grass! Not a lot but we have some. I am praying for rain. I have sunburnt my shoulders from being out early in the morning watering. Okay I know this isn't the best post but I am excited! It may sound so little of a thing but I just wanted to share. Blessings to all.

All moved in!!!

Well we moved into our new house on Thursday morning. It was a somewhat trouble free transition. We currently live in a fish bowl due to our blinds not getting here until Wednesday or Thursday. I LOVE my new house! The kids love it too. They are excited at all the room they have to play. Which means more room to cause trouble but that is just a fact of life. We have a nice yard (once they put our grass seed in). The only major hiccup was our new furniture not arriving on time (2 days late!). I am finally starting to feel a little rested. I never knew buying and moving into a new house could be so tiring and stressful. But overall we are truly blessed. The Lord blessed us with a nice house in a nice neighborhood. There are a lot of nice things about this house. So anyway...just thought I'd give a quick update. I hope to be blogging more soon.

Mother's Day!

First of all I would like to say "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!" to all you mommies or mommies to be out there.

So far today has been pretty good. The day started with me waking up early (5:30) to the sound of the kids having a good time in their room talking and giggling. After hubby got up things got a little better. From him and the kids I received a bottle of Jessica Mclintock perfume (smells like lilies!). I love the smell! Then the kids each gave me a card. My oldest gave me a vase he made in school, my middle one gave me some candy he bought at the store yesterday (they didn't make anything at school) and my youngest gave me a place mat with her picture on it and a coupon for a local restaurant. I then went and picked up my MIL and we took her out for lunch then brought her back here for a while. I drove her past our new house (yes we finally got one and I love it!) and asked her opinion of the color. She says it looks light gray and my husband says it is a green. Oh well! It doesn't matter. Now my husband is taking his mommy home and I am here listening to the kids brush their teeth and sing. Overall it has been a pretty good day. I hope all of you had a wonderful day as well.

Homemade Rainforest

My daughter has a project due on Monday about a creature in the rainforest. She chose poison dart frogs. So today we sat down and put this together. Mommy did all the hot glue type stuff (which is most of it) and she did the strategic placing of the frog stickers and the yellow frog in the log and the bug stickers. It was rather easy to do and she is so proud of it. It is amazing what you can do with toilet paper tubes, a paper towel tube, a frozen pizza cardboard thing, hot glue, crayons, stickers and some fake plants from the local hobby store.

And the Search Continues!

We put an offer in on the house and they didn't take it. We offered what it was worth and they told us it was insulting. So our search continues. The house had no upgrades or anything that makes it worth what they were asking. So the walking shoes go back on. For those of you who have been praying for us I thank you so very much. *hugs*

Spring Break

Since when does Spring break come with snow? Between kids who are itching to go outside but can't because of the nasty weather and all the house hunting this Spring break stinks! My poor kids are being drug around from house to house and now it is snowing. Have I told you that I hate winter weather? If not I am saying it now. I HATE WINTER WEATHER!!!! I can't let the kids outside to play because my neighbors (those who have dogs) refuse to clean up after their doggie poo. So they are stuck inside. I may need that wig earlier than I originally thought. On the brighter side I think we have narrowed the house search down to one but then hubby asked me to see if there were any others in a specific neighborhood. I contacted our realtor and she is going to look into it for me. We had it narrowed to 2 this morning but we found out the house we were thinking of sold but there was a similar one in another neighborhood. We decided against that one because it was too close to the train tracks. So I may know by next week where we will be moving to. That makes me happy.

Anyone got a wig?

Does anyone know where I can find an excellent quality wig? I am going to need one soon if we don't find a house! This home search is causing me to go out of my mind. I know it is in God's hands but I am getting a little impatient. I called and scheduled the mover so that we at least have the mover for the day we are supposed to move out. Where are we going? I dunno. Most days I have a peace about the situation knowing that God will provide us the right house in the right location for the right price. Then there are times like right now. I am so frustrated and irritated that we don't know were we are going to be 2 months from now. I am always organized and prepared but this time it is completely out of my hands and my control. That is fine most days. I know...let go and let God. Sometimes that is so much easier said than done.

Daddy

On St. Patricks day this handsome young man would've turned 63. This is my daddy. He died in 1986 of suicide. This is my favorite picture of him. I sure do miss him. Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like to know him as an adult. No this is not a pity party but I wanted to share with all of you this handsome man. I have no idea what that thing is he is on but he sure thinks it's cool so apparantly it was.

A Humble Request

We found out on Monday that our apt. manager has decided not to renew our lease. We have lived here for 4 years and have payed in full on time. We feel that this is a personal thing (we complain more than she would like about things that need to be dealt with on the property). So this means we have to move. We are going this week to speak with somebody about a mortgage and purchasing a new home. My humble request is prayer for us during this process. That the Lord will put the right people in the right place and direct us to the right home for us.

Stolen from Flannel

I'm dubya!

You Are Most Like George W. Bush

So what if you're not exactly popular? You still rule the free world.And while you may be quite conservative now, you knew how to party back in the day!

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

Forbidden Fruit

I was sitting here earlier and a thought caught my mind and hasn't let go. Eve and the forbidden fruit. In Genesis 3:6 it states:

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."

Now the common portrayal of the forbidden fruit is depicted as an apple. What if it was more like a pineapple? Stick with me here.









Apples are easy to eat. You just wipe them off and they are ready to go. So if Eve ate something similar to an apple the choice to eat the fruit took minimal effort on her part. She just took a bite. Some sin today is like that. Easy to swallow and taking minimal effort.

Pineapples are not as easy to eat. You have to take your time and energy to get to the fruit of the thing. You have to actually think about it and concentrate on it.

So what if the forbidden fruit was something like a pineapple. Let's say it was. She would have to be constantly thinking about the fact she was preparing this forbidden fruit and that she was going against God's wishes. For Adam it is still easy to eat because she just hands the fruit to him. She was willingly and knowingly going against God and it wasn't bothering her (nothing in this verse suggests that she showed any emotion when partaking of the fruit).


So some of our sins are like the apple. Easy to swallow and take minimal effort and easily accessible. Some on the other hand take effort. We know it is wrong but we knowingly partake in it even if it isn't easy. Why? Why is it easier to think Eve ate an apple than a pineapple? With the apple there was little time to back out but with a pineapple there is plenty of time to back out and change your mind. Isn't it a little possible to think that maybe the forbidden fruit wasn't an apple type fruit (easily eaten) but maybe a pineapple type (more difficult to get to the actual fruit)? Some may not get what I am saying here but to me it makes sense. Please let me hear your comments on this.