Yes, Yes, Yes

My husband is the BEST EVER!! He actually took apart the treadmill and fixed it last night. No joke! He fixed the thing and got it put back together and completely working before I got home from school. He is amazing. I am so excited that I didn't have to buy a new one.

My second big YES for today is that Mikayla actually got to go to school today. She has been home struck with the sickies all week. She is back in school today and I am so glad that she is finally doing a lot better again.

My third big YES for today is that God is good. He has saved me and He loves me unconditionally. He is for me and no one can ultimately stand against me. He is my Savior and my Friend. He is the Alpha and the Omega and I know he will be my End. I have the Peace of a Comforter and occassional nuggets of wisdom from my Creator. He is my Sustainer and he will always be my Joy. I am completely in love with Him and I pray that He continues to show his favor and mercy over me. I am His and He is mine! What promises His Word holds for all who believe and recieve.

Have a great day!

It's a sad day...

My poor poor treadmill. The poor thing decided to stop working after 36 long minutes of running this morning. I have had this treadmill since Jordan was about 5 months old. (So about 7 years) It's like a friend of the family. The kids have done some pretty neat up side down tricks on it over the years. I remember Jordan getting on it when he was 11 months old and walking on it (he was my early walker). It has put up with some serious fits from me and has been there with me through a lot of ups and downs (weight wise that is). Greg is going to do his best tonight to try and figure it out. (mainly because I don't want to have to spend the money on a new one.) SIGH.........

Who knew?

Who knew that movies and the webkins would grow to be so liked by me this week. Unfortunately, Mikayla has contracted some "bug" that has knocked her out. She is on day 4 of fevers. I am definitely one of those moms that really tries to control tv/video/webkin time. I do appreciate the value of imagination and playing with inatimate objects. But, when one is sick and has a lot of fevers, I have to say that I love our dvd player.

So far today, we've had the Spiderwick Chronicles for Mikayla and now Barbie Diamond Castle for Isabella (although all three seem to be enjoying it). Check back with me tomorrow and I'll let you know how many we end up watching today!

Date Night with Family

It just doesn't happen often enough. A great date with siblings and their spouses. We had the priviledge of hangin' out with Greg's brother and his wife tonight. We went out to dinner and then got to go to Starbucks and play games for a couple of hours. Their company is so wonderful. We laughed and laughed. There were a couple of times where Matt would say something profound, like "These were made in Nicaragua by many midgets" speaking of a blueberry scone of course and I would lose it laughing. Now, don't be offended, you had to be there. But it was really funny. Matt is so good for that. I always get great delight watching Greg and his brother hang out. The two of them are amazing and Denise and I are two very blessed women. Speaking of Denise, she is one special lady herself. Thank you to you both for such a great date night and time to relax and have fun. Love you guys.

Teacher Conferences

Today was Jordan and Mikayla's teacher conferences. When we arrived Jordan's teacher was finishing up with the student's family that was before us. So we waited in the hallway. Jordan's walk to read teacher, Mr. Heagle, came out and I got to talk one on one with him for a bit. Then it was time to meet with Jordan's teacher. Mrs. Whitehead is wonderful. She is kind and soft spoken. It turns out Jordan is doing a fantastic job. He has become quite the little "techy". Whenever there is a problem with the computers in Jordan's classroom his teacher asks him to go and take a look and 99% of the time he is able to fix it and get it working again for the students. He is the go to kid for class and I couldn't be more proud of him. This just thrilled my socks off. We chose to go ahead and homeschool Jordan for Kindergarten because his birthdate was just past the cut off date (by days). Everyone warned me that it could end up not being a good thing emotionally. So today was a checkpoint for us to see how things are going. I am happy that he is thriving.

Then it was Mikayla's turn. Her teacher unfortunately was running about 30 minutes behind. He had looked at the wrong day and didn't have any of the student's stuff ready for today. So, it didn't quite go as I had thought it would. It was more a fly by the seat of your pants kind of conference. Not bad, just different than I had expected. Mikayla is my helper bee. She loves to help others. She is definitely a first born which is shining through in her desire to be in charge and keep people in line! Oh, the joys of being nine.

Both kids are doing great. I am so pleased with them. There are things that they are doing well, things that they can focus on, and ways that they are growing by leaps and bounds.

Test Scores are in

Well, last night was the big reveal for my latest big test scores. I studied so hard for these but when I left on Thursday night I wondered just how I might have done. I am relieved to say that it went well.

It was a very good lesson in waiting this weekend. Waiting is very hard. I wanted to know what I got right after I had taken it. I am possibly not so aware of how many times God asks me to wait on Him. To wait for that timing, or to wait and be silent while He works something out. I am thankful for a God that waits for me when I am less than punctual about responding to Him.

For those of you who are wondering, it was a 94%. So now, on to today. There are no tests looming tonight or tomorrow so today is all about playing with my kids and I think making homemade playdough is on the agenda today!! Should be messy. Just what the mommy ordered!

Simple Mondays

FOR TODAY...October 19th

Outside my window... Gray couldy skies that invite me to make a hot cup of Peppermint tea today.

I am thinking... "How blessed I am to have a washer and dryer that works"

I am thankful for... a husband who fixes lunch after church so that his wife can get a run in the sun.

I am wearing... Running clothes

I am remembering... how much my grandmother loved Jesus

I am going... to give Isabella a bath this morning

I am reading... The Return of the Indian with Jordan

I am hoping... for a good return on my test and success on the new ones this week

On my mind... trying to decide if I will get the tetnus shot this week like I should

Noticing that... the grass is not growing anymore!

Pondering these words... It is what it is

From the kitchen... Grilled Salmon tonight with some baked baby red potatoes and salad

Around the house.... A lot of clothes that need to be taken to the goodwill (if I ever get them bagged up!)

One of my favorite things this time of year... Corn Stalks decorating the front of the house

From my picture journal.. Isabella in the pile of leaves off of our tree yesterday

So Very Hard

You just don't know how hard it is for me to write this tonight. I am on a women's ministry team and we set up tonight for a brunch that we will be doing in the morning. I will be a host of a game show and we got to practice tonight during set up. Everything went wrong. I lost my note cards with all the questions on them, there was a power surge that blew out the projector, and the interruptions just kept on coming.

I don't FEEL like doing this tomorrow. I don't know what to expect or even if the projector will be working so that we can do it. After all that craziness, I came home and my kids just weren't listening. They ended up having mommy explode at them about disobedience and then go to bed.

So where do I go from here? Where do I pick up from? Obedience.....don't I struggle with that a lot where my walk with God is concerned? But he doesn't explode on me. He patiently waits for me to return to Him and he lovingly embraces me every time that I do. He also doesn't tell me to be obedient because I FEEL like it. He expects me to be obedient because I love Him.

"It is what it is" is a saying that I have seen on a lot of stuff lately. But really, it is what it is. I have a friend that was just talking to me about circumstances this week. I had this cute saying on my blog a few days ago about not letting your circumstances define you and how you FEEL. Then she said that she was challenged in her devotionals to be content in whatever circumstances she was faced with. She followed that up by sharing how it's really about the heart and not the circumstances at all.

Well, I am not going to dwell on my circumstances. I am not going to sweat the details. I am going to trust God to work it all out and bless all the effort that is being put forth. I hope that I don't ever stop trying to be better. I hope that I always strive to do my best. But I also hope to continue to be molded into a person that can accept what is going on around me and make the best out of it at all times.

Yes....I will be kissing my babies again before I go to bed tonight and I do thank God that they won't remember every time their mom failed. And yes....I will be there tomorrow with a renewed sense of the love that I have for these women and why I do it to begin with. And yes.....I would love your prayers. Not for me, but for the women whom God is preparing for such a time as this tomorrow morning.

Thanks.

Moving...?

Whew! It is official. Greg's boss, for the first time in 4 years, is just here to say Hi and do a check in with everyone. It looks like we are going to break our record of no more than two years in a house for us! It's been less but we've not yet made it to three in any one house in 13 years. YIKES! No moving for us. Sorry Erin. Although, for the record, Greg was just planning on Matt hooking him up at McKinstry if need be.

Circumstances

Are you interpreting God's love by your circumstances lately instead of interpreting your circumstances by His love? When we are tempted to question whether or not God cares, we are reminded that, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." God does care!

Simple Mondays

I saw this on one of my friend's blogs today and thought it was nice so I decided to do it too.

FOR TODAY...October 12th

Outside my window... A rose bush that is blooming again in October

I am thinking... "I should be doing homework right now"

I am thankful for... God's forgiveness

I am wearing... jeans, red comfy socks, a shirt with christmas penguins on it (yes, it's time to break out those fun clothes) and a fall looking jacket that is really warm.

I am remembering... how the ribosomes are used for protein synthesis in the cells

I am going... grocery shopping at some point today or tomorrow

I am reading... a lot of children's books lately with Isabella

I am hoping... that this sore throat and congestion doesn't turn really bad this week

On my mind... wondering why Greg's boss is really coming into town tomorrow.....the last three times we've been relocated!

Noticing that... it's really cold this morning

Pondering these words... Mikayla said last night, "Mom, you could have chosen to do homework on the computer tonight but you chose to come and do bible study with me instead. I love you."

From the kitchen... Tater Tot Cassarole tonight

Around the house.... lots of crafts from this weekend

One of my favorite things this time of year... Hot Peppermint Tea

From my picture journal.. the kids with grandpa on Halloween last year

Pumpkin Patch X2

Now that's a lot of people!! Today it was off to the Schultz Farm with the Pumpkin Patch Crew. It was fun as usual. There were lots of favorite things to do. We got some pumpkins and can't wait to roast some pumpkin seeds this week. Although that was a lot of pumpkins for one weekend it was so great to have the sunshine and good weather. Bring on the rain this week! (well, maybe not for those who might be putting a completely new roof on their house this week!)

Brothers and thier families

Craft Time!

If you happen to read my last post about the pumpkin patch being the first half of our day today then you'll understand when I say this is about the 2nd half. We got to go over to our neighbors house and continue our very fun Fall party over there. First we ate way too much food and let the kids play for a bit. The kids had such a great time as did the adults. We decided this year to order some easy crafts for the kids to do. It was so much fun. They made these cute monster pillows (although I haven't sewn on the eyes and mouths yet), they got to make some photo frames for those cute pumpkin patch pics earlier, and they got to do some bat hand prints. Daddy even jumped in with the tie pillows and helped Isabella out. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture that on film. You'll have to take my word for it. Thank you God for such great neighbors and a fun day of celebrating one of my favorite seasons!!

Spooner Farm Pumpking Patch

I couldn't help but run home and put these pics on my blog. I absolutely love the family ones in front of the big pumpkin! What a fun day with neighbors. Actually, it's only 1/2 over so far. We went with our neighbors to the pumpkin patch today. The corn maze was crazy!! Greg said that without a map you would never make it back out again. It took about an hour to get through. The carmel apple slices were yummy. The animals were fun and the "Pumpkin Huck" was a blast. Greg thoroughly enjoyed himself as did the kids. His first shot hit the bar holding the target. He has a great eye!

The Dentist

The kids had their dental check ups yesterday afternoon and I am happy to report that all three are in the clear!! It was actually Isabella's first time at the dentist. She did fantastic. She talked the hygienist's ear off. She only gagged once when they tried to do the bite wing x-rays. Too much stuff for a little mouth. But at the end she told her that this was the best day of her whole life. I guess that means she enjoyed herself. But who wouldn't with a personal t.v. to watch with headphones and the nicest dental staff ever. At the end, they get tokens for a machine that spits out a little trinket or toy too. Not to mention the new toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss!