It's been way too long...

I completely forgot about my little blog....I decided a while back to take a break from blogging so I could focus on more important things and I realized today it has been exactly one year since my last post. So many things have happened in the last year I don't even really know where to start. The kids are older, the hubby's older, and I, of course, have stayed young, amazing, and....oh, who am I kidding...I'm getting older by the day.

Since Thanksgiving is approaching soon, I feel it's necessary to reflect on what I am thankful for, once again. I'm finding that it is very difficult to narrow it down to just a few things, if I don't condense my list I'm afraid this post could wind up being several pages long.

Of course, I am forever thankful for my children, and for my wonderful husband. I love them all more and more each day. I'm thankful for my parents, and my extended family as well, I truly love each and every member of my family so much.

I am thankful that God has blessed my family with a wonderful church family. We have been blessed with great friends that are nothing less than brothers and sisters to us and we love this part of our family, and appreciate them greatly. Our pastor and his wife are two of the most amazing people and have shown us so much love and have helped us in so many ways.

Thank you, Jesus, for our home....as much as we may dislike it and complain about it (which I know we shouldn't do) we are thankful to have a comfortable home. We know God has better things for us and He has a plan for us and for that we are continuously thankful.

Thank you, Jesus for our vehicles, for food in our bellies, for the clothes on our backs, shoes on our feet, and for Your Word in our hearts. Thank you, Jesus for the small things, for keeping us safe and healthy....and for Your mercy and grace.

Thank you, Jesus for the jobs you are going to supply us with in the near future.

I pray that all of my friends have a wonderful and safe holiday. I pray that each and every person reading this remembers to thank God for His many blessings. Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless!

I am thankful....

I just happened to be reading something earlier about people who sit around before their Thanksgiving dinner and tell their family and friends everything they are thankful for. Actually, I read this twice today on two different sites, so it really caught my attention. My family doesn't do this, mostly because they aren't that type of people. We get together and gorge ourselves on good food and chit chat while the tv is on and no one really spends any time together. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love spending the holidays with my family and I'm very excited to be seeing them tomorrow. I just think it is important for us to stop occasionally and think about WHY we are spending time together and to realize that we won't be able to do this forever.

This year I am spending the holidays with my parents, my aunt and uncle, grandfather, sister and brother in law, niece...etc. The highlight of the day has always been the meal, as I'm sure it is in every home, but this year I think we should remember what we are thankful for. My grandfather is 88 years old, and is living in a nursing home. We will be picking him up tomorrow and he'll be able to spend the whole day with us, and that is one thing that I am very thankful for!

I am, of course, thankful for my beautiful children and my amazing husband. They are the most precious earthly gift God has ever given me! I will forever be thankful for this gift!

I thank God that we have a beautiful home, and also for the small things, like beds to sleep in, and shoes on our feet. I am thankful that God has provided us the means to heat our home, and to have electricity, and water! None of these things would be possible without the blessings of Jesus Christ!

I thank God for being right next to me for the past year while I've gone back to school to pursue a career. I was not a good student in high school, so it amazes me when I see my grades now, but I know that I owe every bit of that to Jesus! I can't even tell you the times I've been terrified that I would fail a test, and I prayed right up until the time the test was placed in front of me....and I aced it. That was Jesus!

I am so very thankful for our awesome church, and my wonderful pastor and his wife. We are so blessed to not only be a part of this amazing church, but also to see it grow and grow and grow. God is moving in a mighty way at Liberty Tabernacle, and I know without a doubt that we are in the midst of a revival!

My list goes on and on, I don't think I could ever stop thanking God for what He has done for me and for my family. I pray that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you can enjoy this time with family and friends! God bless!

I need a vacation......

Oh my goodness, I actually have a few short minutes to sit down and post a new blog! This hasn't happened in a few months, I don't even know where to begin.

My school schedule is pretty crazy this quarter, and will be crazy like this until I graduate. The school decided that because of gas prices this past year they would change their normal routine so that students would only have to drive to school three days a week instead of four. This has worked out well so far, I have Wednesdays and Fridays off right now and it's nice to have an extra day off every week. This does mean, however, that the days I do go to school are longer than before. On Monday and Thursday I don't leave school until 3:00, but on Tuesdays I am home by 1:00. I know it seems like this allows a lot of free time for me, but in all honesty I feel like I have less free time than before. Maybe it's because I was spoiled last quarter and only had two classes, one of which was online! I just feel like things have been really hectic around here and I need one day to relax. I don't think it's going to come any time soon though.

First things first....my kids! The kids are doing great, they are also pretty busy these days. Braeden and Hannah joined the Franklin College Children's Choir and have had a few performances. Their final performance is a Christmas show in December. Braeden was also chosen to be in the Franklin High School musical production of Cinderella. He is playing a townsperson and will be a peasant in the first scene and then a guest at the ball and wedding in the remaining scenes. He doesn't have any speaking parts, but has to dance a "waltz" with a little girl, and play games with some other boys. He will also be singing and doing a few other things throughout the play. This is a huge honor for the elementary kids who were chosen and Braeden is extremely excited and nervous all at the same time. I don't blame him I would be too!

I've been volunteering every Friday morning at the kid's school in the first grade reading groups and I love it! These kids try so hard to read well and you can see how proud they are when they finish a book and when you tell them how awesome they are. I love going in there just to tell these kids how smart they are and make them feel good about themselves. I think a lot of kids really need that, especially the ones who can't read as well as others. There are some kids in the first grade that can read anything you put in front of them and there are a few who can't read anything...but I try to make them feel as smart as the rest of the class! Anyway, this works out well for me because I go in and eat lunch with the kids on Friday anyway so I end up spending my whole day there. Braeden and Hannah's teachers don't like to have visitors in the classroom unless they specifically ask for help from parents....which never happens. This is very frustrating to me because I'm not used to it, and I feel less involved in what is going on with them. Of course, that is probably a good thing since they are getting older. I did get to go in and help with all three kid's fall parties so I was happy to be able to do that.

Mike was laid off about a month ago and so far hasn't found anything. Things seem to be going alright though and we are doing pretty well....which is only because Jesus is taking care of us! My husband and I have been able to spend more time together and it's wonderful! I love simply being with him and having this time to get to know each other all over again, kinda. He is just the best, and that's all I can say. He is amazing.

I have been jogging a lot more lately in the early morning. I LOVE the way I feel after a really long jog through the park and the cemetary here in town. I can't do it much when it's hot outside, but in this cool weather it feels great! When I come home I feel like I have fresh air coursing through my body for hours....and I probably do!

School is going great, I am taking Pathophysiology, Surg Tech I, and Microbiology. I love my patho and surg classes, but micro is quite boring. I am currently working on a paper for that class on furunculosis....which is a condition of boils on the skin. I have to have pictures, it's gross. I'm learning a lot in my surg class about the different surgical instruments and so far have aced all of my instrument tests! I am working my butt off these days, and still hope to graduate at the top of my class. All of my classes are with the group of surg techs that I started with and will be graduating with and we've become very competitive!

My sign choir has been working hard on some new songs. We will be performing two songs in a few weeks, and are preparing work on a new song that we will be doing when we move into our new sanctuary. We are hoping the new sanctuary will be finished before the end of the year, it is beautiful! Go to http://libtab.com/ and click on 'building project' to see pictures.

I have so much more to say, but I have to go run errands of course. Then there is the laundry...then the phone calls I have to make....then dusting....sweeping....cleaning bathrooms....washing bed sheets......then it's time to start dinner.....then church..... I know all of you moms out there are feelin' me!

Something I've come to realize about myself....

Not many people are aware of this, but my in laws have decided to get rid of their home to move closer to church. They are getting older and the thought of making a 35 minute drive to church a few times a week is really unappealing to them so they have moved closer to us to shave a good 20 minutes off of their drive to church.
Now when I say they moved closer to us, I mean REALLY close. In fact, I don't think they can get any closer than they are right now unless we start sharing a bedroom. That's right....they've moved in downstairs.
This really isn't a big deal, we can all get along alright as long as we aren't all up in each other's business and as long as we can keep our cool about things. I have realized something, though, since they have moved in here.
Let me start by saying that I have always considered myself to be pretty laid back. I've never really thought that I cared much about the way things are done, just as long as they are done and I don't have to worry about it anymore. I've realized in the past few weeks, however, that I am VERY particular about pretty much everything that goes on in this house. From the way the dishwasher is loaded, to how my laundry is folded, to how much stuff is sitting on my countertops, to how my eating utensils are laying in the drawer....I just want things to be done a certain way. I think I've always assumed that everyone does things the way I do them, and it wouldn't be a problem.
I've also realized that I HATE stuff! I prefer to have bare walls rather than to have something hung on every wall. I'm not criticizing my in laws in any way, believe me. The thing is, I'm so used to having bare walls (because that's how I like it) that when things get hung on the walls I start to feel really claustrophobic. Then we have had to move their furniture in because they ran out of room in their storage unit, so I have twice as much furniture in my living room and I feel really closed in and almost like I can't breathe when I'm in there.
I'm so wierd. I like bare rooms. Honestly who actually LIKES to have mostly empty rooms? I sure do, I can tell you that.
I never really thought I was someone that is so particular about anything, but I've come to realize that I am pretty bad. Maybe this is God's way of revealing this to me, and this will be a good opportunity for me to change this about myself. God help me......

Molly Bea's

On my way to school this morning, I was absolutely starving because I worked out for about 2 hours and hadn't eaten anything yet (dumb, I know!) So I stopped at the store to get a clif bar, and just happened onto a bag of Asian trail mix with wasabi peas! I can guarantee that you have never seen someone get so excited over a small bag of wasabi peas....but I was overjoyed!

When we lived in Chesterton there was a WONDERFUL little dry ingredient store called Molly Bea's Ingredients and I visited this store several times a week. I loved this place! I would go in and stock up on wasabi peas, pepitas, raw nuts, dried fruits with no sugar or sulfur added, carob chips, carob covered raisins and nuts, salt free tail mixes, and gluten free foods. The great thing about Molly Bea's is that you can buy things in bulk, or you can buy a tiny scoop just to try it out in case you don't really take a liking to it.

I fell in love with the wasabi peas (dried peas coated in wasabi) and pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and also the dried strawberries. Unfortunately in this fat and grease town there is not much of a variety of healthy foods (have I mentioned this before??) so I haven't had any of these things since we moved here. I bought this Asian trail mix and picked out all of the wasabi peas and ate them with my breakfast. I think I counted about 15 peas. Now I'm sad again.

So what is my point, you might be asking, after reading my ranting and raving....my point is this: I would like to see if one of you lovely northern ladies would be willing to go into Molly Bea's and BEG them to put a store in down here. Bribe them if you have to! In the meantime I will be bombarding them with e-mails, phone calls, and letters. Thank you for your assistance in this matter! :) Love ya!

Back to School

I find that I have a little bit of time to sit down and get some things out this afternoon....because I am kid free for another half hour! Yes, the kids started back to school today and I have had to stay away from the house all day, because for some reason I was feeling a bit lonely....hmmmm, wonder why? It's so wierd to be here and not hear the kids laughter coming from the next room, but I'm sure at some point in the next week or two I will be thankful for the quiet!
I can't believe my kids are growing up so fast! My sweet little baby boy, Braeden, is now in the 4th grade! Honestly, where did the time go? I've always been told that I need to cherish every minute with my kids because it goes by so quickly, and I'm really starting to feel that these days. This is Braeden's last year of elementary school, and next year he will go to intermediate! I don't even want to think about that. This sounds so cliche, but it seems like only yesterday that he took his first steps, and would put his little baby arms around my head and try to bite my nose! Just yesterday Hannah was a little bald headed baby chasing her big brother all over the house. Just yesterday they were sitting in their little porch swing trying desperately not to fall asleep. Where did the time go?
Carson is six years old now and I'm not kidding you....just last week he was a baby! No joke, ask my husband...it's true! My husband almost cried this morning when we left the school! He was snapping pictures of the kids left and right, and he has been this way every year since Braeden started kindergarten! I love it! He is almost worse than I am actually. (I SO hope he reads this!)
This is why I find it so necessary to take time out each day from my extremely busy schedule :) to sit down with the kids and talk to them, and listen to them and just make sure they know that I am interested in what is going on in their lives. I have one year left of school and then after that, there will be less school parties and field trips and lunches for me! So depressing....I am going to have to make the most out of this year, who knows how things will be after this. All I can say is that their teachers are going to really get sick of seeing my face.....
Now, the kids get off the bus in 20 minutes, and I am going to get some fruit ready for their snack and meet them at the bus stop. I will leave you with this....

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings.

When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become.

To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.

Before you were conceived I wanted you
Before you were born I loved you
Before you were here an hour I would die for you
This is the miracle of life.
(This one seems more appropriate when we think of Jesus saying this to us...doesn't it?)

Malachi 3:3

Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

The following is an excerpt from the book The Shelf of Life by Ruth Harvey. My pastor's wonderful wife gave me this book as a secret sister gift, and I have to say that I am LOVING it! This is just one of many little 'snippets' from this book that I find to be very profound, and I feel that I must share!

The story is told of some ladies who met for a Bible study. While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable statement in the third verse, "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." One lady planned to visit a silversmith and report to the ladies about the subject. She went accordingly and, without telling the object of her errand, asked the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he fully described it to her, she asked, "But, sir, do you sit while the work of the refining is going on?" "Oh yes, madam," replied the silversmith. "I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace. If the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."

At once, the lady saw the beauty and comfort of the statement, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." When God deems it needful to put His children in the the refiner's furnace, His eye is steadily intent on the work of purification. Trials are not randomly introduced into our lives, but His wisdom and love are always engaged in the process that will be best for us. We can rest assured He ever let us be tested beyond what we can endure. Removing the impurities of pride and self-will, the furnace of affliction will enable you to shine with the purity of His purpose.

Before leaving, the lady asked one final question, "When do you know the process is complete?" "Why, that is quite simple," replied the silversmith. "When I see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished." What a beautiful picture of God's work in our lives! While we are enduring life's testing fires, God will sit right beside us. He will not take His eyes off us until His image shines forth in its purest beauty.