I'm Thankful 2012: Day 6

Today (Tuesday) I am thankful for the right to vote for the President of the United States today. This is a right that our forefathers and the fathers of our children today are fighting for half a world away.  The right to choose our leaders and our laws through the power of the vote. Thank you for allowing me to feel a strong civic pride by and giving me a voice in my government. Thank You for fighting for our right to vote!

Have a great day and God Bless!

I'm Thankful 2012: Day 4

Today (Sunday) I am thankful for the freedom to worship my God.  I live in a wonderful Country where without persecution I can publicly worship my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I have been blessed beyond measure, and through nothing I have or could ever do had my sins washed away and been filled with the precious Holy Ghost.  I do not have to hide that I devote my life to Christ nor is there any law preventing me from sharing that news with anyone and everyone I come into contact with. I am truly thankful for this freedom. 

I dont know where you may be as you read this, I do know that I have followers from across the globe, but wherever you are I hope you are at liberty to practice your religion as you see fit and as often as you choose.  

Have a great day and God Bless!

I'm Thankful 2012: Day 2

Today I am thankful for the wonderful family I married into. For my Mother and Father In-Law, my Sister and Brother In-Law, My Grandparents In-Law, Aunt and Uncle In-Laws, and Cousins In-Law.  I can NOT begin to tell you how wonderful and supportive they are each and every day.
From Nanny and Pawpaw who refused to allow me to put me now seven year old daughter into what they called "the nursing home"  (daycare) when I had to go back to work after Maternity Leave.  Seven years later and that still means so much to me that they committed then and there to love, protect, and care for my baby while I went to work no matter how long that may be.  Turned out I only worked 6 more months before God stepped in and made a way for me to stay home with my baby, but they didn't know that when they came to me expressing their desire. They still love to keep my children for a day, and occasionally overnight.
Then there's MawMaw the Matriarch or the Rogers family who will suddenly appear on my doorstep wanting to know if she can help me out in any way. She comes in like a whirlwind folding the pile of clean laundry, hanging what needs hanging, and putting it away.  If I'm not watching she will sneak doing dishes and sweeping and mopping by me too.  Making it look as if little elves have been hard at work in my home, and one has: a tenderhearted kind lady who loves to help out a busy working mother of three, making my life so much easier.
Next is the Aunts and Uncle In-Laws, and they are all a fun and crazy lot.  One set in particular is more than just an Aunt and Uncle  In-Law they are friends, and great help.  At least once a week Nena has my girls or son to stay the night or they just take them out to dinner.  My kids love to spend time with them.
Next is my cousins In-Law who I love to get together with just to have fun.  One in particular has become more than just family, she is a best friend, and more like a little sister.  There are times she stops by and I know its going to be an all night gab fest just because we can talk anything to death, and part wishing we had more time.
Then there is my Sister and Brother In-Law and their sweet baby boy. What can I say other than I really don't have to add the "In-Law" tag to them DeAnna is truly a sister and Josh a brother. There is an ease of friendship and love between us that is deeper than just a bond forged by marriage.  We worry about, help out, care for, and love each other day in and day out.  We can completely be ourselves around each other, and know that there will be no judgments passed just acceptance. I would trust them with my children any day hands down, and know they would love them and care for them like I do, no doubts ever, and I'm pretty sure they would say the same about us for their son.
Finally there is my Mother and Father In-Law who also really don't need the "In-Law" tag.  We are family through and through. They have been there for Kenneth and I from day one. They have worried, prayed, and supported us through our many life and ministry decisions always standing by our side whether they completely agreed with us or not.  They are AMAZING!  If either of them sees a need we have, before we know it, they are working to provide it, or helping us acquire it.  I can honestly say I do not have to buy my children clothes because my Mother In-Law loves to shop.  Before I can even get to the store to get school clothes she comes in the door loaded down from all the sales she has hit.  It is an amazing blessing that I probably don't thank her enough for.  There is not a holiday or birthday of mine that can go by that they don't acknowledge, and want to celebrate with me, and I know that is not the norm.  I take them for granted far too often, but I am truly thankful for their love support, and for accepting me into their family as if I had always been a part.
So to say that I am blessed and thankful is an understatement.  I have cried through typing this, because it is a matter of the heart, theirs and mine!  That we are able to get along so well and love each other so deeply is a rarity.  I truly thankful for and blessed in my extended family by marriage, and I wish this blessing up every married family.

I would love to hear about your relationship and the blessings you have found in your In-Laws so leave me a comment!

Have a great Day and God Bless!!

I'm Thankful 2012: Day 1

November 1st is the beginning of a new holiday season and a new month. This month I am going to blog everyday until Thanksgiving about something I am thankful for. I hope you enjoy reading about it as much as I will enjoy the journey of thankfulness.

As I stated before today is the first day of many things, but most importantly it is the first day of the 10th year of marriage with my adorable hubby.  We celebrated nine wonderful years together today.  So I am thankful for those nine years and what they have meant to me.  The security of knowing that there is someone walking side by side with me through this life.  Someone who shares my hopes, dreams, and goals in life.  Someone who makes me smile by walking into a room, giving me a sweet kiss, or with a simple quirky comment.  He knows me in all my silliness, craziness, and faults and still loves me, and knowing all his, I love him still.  It is a wonderful marriage that is blessed by God.  Notice, I never said it was perfect.  That's because God allows us to continually grow as individuals and as a union of one.  I am grateful for every day of life that I have to share in this marriage. 

If you would like to join me in this challenge I have posed myself, please feel free to. I don't have a button, or any large number of bloggers that are doing this with me as a group. Its just something I would like to do to remind myself each and every day how truly blessed I am, and would love it if you did to.  Please leave me a comment if you do join me in this challenge.  I would love to hear from you, and follow your thankful journey as well!!

Have a great day and God Bless!

A Whole New Beginning

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Not only are we at the beginning of a new year, but each day brings a  new beginning.  Will today be a day I procrastinate away and get not enough accomplished? Will today be a super productive day that I when my head hits the pillow it will be with a sigh of satisfaction that I squeezed every bit of my time and effort into accomplishing all that I intended?  For most of us the majority of our days are actually one where we go to be having accomplished some of our goals, but still have some undone.  Now here's truth time for me...Lately I think I have been in the procrastinating camp just a little too much.  It is time to get my rear in gear!  With this being the beginning of a new year and month I am setting goals for myself.  Some Daily, Monthly, and Yearly ones, but for now I am going to touch on one of my monthly goals.
This year I want a different room to be de-cluttered and organized each month.  Counting bathrooms, bedrooms, living, cooking, creating, and dining spaces that will be 10 rooms which equals 10 months.  I will take the month of June off since I am gone the majority of that month, and December because we all know re-organization will NEVER happen in that month (Well at least around here)!!!!
I think My first room will be my Master Bath.  It needs a good scrubbing/redecorating/painting.  It has multiple problems that need to be addressed.  As for the color scheme it is currently and interesting combination of mint green (tile the old kind that goes halfway up the wall and isn't going anywhere unfortunately),

(Sorry for the flash, but in order to see the true minty greenness it had to be used)

tan walls that have water lines from water dripping down them due to a combination of no venting in this old house and a hubby who likes to wake up by showering for at least an hour in a steaming (literally) hot shower, old gold hardware that I have been meaning to replace since we moved in a year and four months ago, cream trip, and bronze and chocolate accents.

I forgot to mention the ugly old (the silvering is starting to come away on the bottom of the mirror. Not bad, but enough to drive me crazy) contractors mirror and florescent bare bulb lighting fixture.

Since I am intending to turn my Master Bedroom into a cool welcoming oasis of gray, black, and white the Master Bath is going to be gray walls, mint green tile, and black and white accents. Other improvements are going to be a fan/vent to combat the whole steam issue, new towel racks and light-switch plates,  a new mirror or frame in the current one (I'm leaning toward framing the existing due to I'm cheap monetary issues), and a new lighting fixture (A MUST!!!).  Also going to improve storage issues with some additional shelving. I think it's going to look really great, and I cant wait to get started!

Oh yeah, I got an AWESOME Christmas present that my hubby was so excited that I asked for (its one he actually enjoyed shopping for).... drum roll please.... a Jigsaw!!

I cant wait to make so many things with it!  One of the first is going to be some decorative shelving for my reworked Master Bath!  This saw is AWESOME!  It will cut through just about anything, cuts angles, and decorative curves.  I cant wait to get started!

So with all this built up excitement and anticipation lets see how this month of organizing the Master Bath goes, and move on to the next room.

What are some of your Yearly, Monthly, and Daily goals for this new year? I would love to hear all about them!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Christmas of Giving Challenge: Day 3

Last night our Scripture reading came from Luke 2:8-11.  We discussed what it must have been like to be a shepherd sleepy after a long day of shepherding sitting around a warm fire, dozing slightly, only to be suddenly startled out of your musings by a bright light from the sky with a human form* floating in the midst of it.  Today we are used to seeing all kinds of things in the sky from airplanes, banners pulled by planes, blimps, jets, helicopters, and all sorts of things, but I have to say if I were sitting around a campfire in my backyard and saw a human form* hovering in the sky surrounded by a bright light I do believe I would be scared speechless (and that's saying something for me!)!!  So I can only imagine how afraid the simple men who watched sheep graze all day while protecting them from vicious animals must have thought to see such a sight!  My girls and I acted out how they must have reacted and we all dissolved into fits of giggles!

Then we discussed how my children had given of themselves through the day yesterday.  Macey gave the same answer she gave the day before "I didn't give nuthin" (I roll my eyes at her 5 year old-ness).  Madeline did give of herself for her teacher I think.  To be honest I didn't really understand what she was talking about, but she seemed proud of it and I was proud of her for being aware and trying.  My sweet hubby definitely gave yesterday.  He gave of himself for me!  I was sick in the bed for most of the day, and finally got out of bed to cook an easy dinner and to get my girls (who had been at my  mom's all day after school so I could rest) ready for bed.  He was so considerate to help me out with the dishes of the day and to be as quiet as possible so I could rest.  He was a gem of a hubby (he is often, but since he's human he does have his not so gem like moments for sure!) and i was extremely greatful!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas holiday season so far.

I hope you have a great day and God Bless!!

Disclaimer**  I am only supposing that the angels were in a human like form I can begin to tell you how an angel looks because they exists on a plane that we cant usually see, but the episodes I have seen recorded Biblically and in recent times of encounters with angelic beings have always been i the form of human therefore my assumption.

Christmas or Giving Challenge: Day 2

Okay yes, I am missing two days...I know, I know I KNOW!!!  See, what had happened wuuuzzz, my kiddos were supposed to stay the night with their Aunt Friday night, and instead conked out in the car on the way home from our community Christmas Parade about 9pm.  ALL THREE AT THE SAME TIME!!!  WOW!!  It is so rare for any of them to fall asleep that early much less all three!  So needless to say they were put straight into bed and stayed there the whole night through.  Which meant no family bible reading...Booooo.  Then last night they got in super late from going to see the Nutcracker Ballet with their aunt (yes the one they were supposed to have stayed the night with), and since Sunday mornings are killer around here if they don't get their sleep (not to mention they were whiny tired little things from a full day of being spoiled rotten) they went straight to bed.  So tonight after we got in from church, with one already asleep from the ride home and carried to bed, I was determined to have our nightly Bible time with the remaining alert groggy half awake kids.  We read Luke chapter 2 verses 4-8 (to catch up from missing the nights before) and discussed what it might have been like to go to the place Josephs family was from just to pay money to the government.  To get there and not even have a room to sleep in, and, to top it all off, for Mary to go into labor.  How much more of a humble beginning to life could one baby have???  I think that was kind of the point though, don't you?  Macey was the half awake child, and when asked what she had done the last couple of days to give of herself I got a resounding "nuthin"... fwweeewww five year olds!  So I will tell you what she has done in spite of her conviction that she has done "nuthin"   Tonight when her sister had lost a toy at church (which I want to add she was told not to take in at all!) Macey started crying in sympathy with her, and said she wanted to go look for Madeline's toy cause she was sad she had lost it.  That melted my heart of course, but in the true spirit of honesty I have to say that she did follow that up with the comment  "I liked hers better than mine too!!!".  So maybe her giving was a little self serving, but hey she's FIVE folks, and the fact that she was willing to help her sister find a toy is HUGE!  Then there is the instance on the way home tonight where Macey was being a little magpie and yakkity yakking.  Well Kent wanted to talk,and couldn't get a word in edgewise (just like a male wanting to take up a females perfectly good talking time!!).  finally, I told Macey that Kent wanted to talk could she please let him have a turn.  So she promptly closed her mouth,and let Kent have his say without any fussing about it...AH. MAZE. ING!  She ALWAYS has something to say about not getting to do exactly what she wants to do.  I was quite impressed with her desire to let him have his time with nary a comment on her part about not being finished or something else that she always seems to come up with.  So giving is abounding in my family, and we are dearly loving this Christmas reading Challenge even if we have really only done two nights of it.  I hope we can get back on track, and do it daily...maybe if we move it to the mornings before school....hmmmm something to consider.

I hope your season of giving is going well!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Christmas of Giving Challenge: Day1

December 1st marks the first day of my family Christmas of Giving Challenge.

Tonight we read Luke Chapter 2 verses 1-3.  Then, as my Hubby and I explained to my children what we were going to be focusing on this Christmas holiday season (the girls were listening intently and my lil man was listening with half an ear as he tried to snag a chip without me seeing since he had already been told no two or ten times...boy does he try to sneak!!) , and how we were going to have nightly bible reading over the story of Jesus's Birth I thought it would be prudent to go back and read where Mary first learned she would be a mommy.  So we read from Luke chapter 1 verses 26-38.  There were quite a few questions fielded during that reading from my six year old Such as "Whats a virgin?" my answer "Someone that hasn't been married".  Next was "Whats Barren mean?"  my answer "Her body couldn't have a baby live inside it ever, but God healed her so she wasn't like that anymore"  Whew sometimes there are tricky waters to navigate as a mommy!!
Anyway, I went on to say, since we were focusing on giving of ourselves this holiday, that each day I wanted them to try to find a way to give to someone else, and to tell about their experience every night.  I posed a few examples like helping a friend out who drops something, or joyfully sharing their things with others, or any other way they can give of themselves without expecting anything back for doing a good thing.  I also told them about things I had seen them doing just today that were very giving. Such as sharing their toys with their friends.
Overall they seemed excited about it, and I hope this will open their eyes more to the needs of those around them, rather than just focusing on their own desires and needs.  I also told them about a few family giving events I have planned for us that will impact not just them, but some of our neighborhood and community as well.
So, as part of this challenge, I said that I would report to you the ways we are giving as a family...as stated earlier today my kids shared their toys with their friends who were at our house today.  Also they started watching a video with them during calm down time that they really didn't want to see, but was the choice of their friends.  And Kent, who was still his rough tough-boy 2yr old self through the day, and even though he had very much been his normal assertive/defensive/on the offense self (note: don't try to make him do something he doesn't want to do...he will react with force! even if you are 9 yrs older and outweigh him by at least 30-40 lbs!! as one such youngster and several others re-learned tonight), as soon as he saw his cousin come through the door he ran up to him, and gave him a big ole hug.  He was so happy to see him!
As for my husband and I, we were pleased to be able to open our home, and barn, to all that were helping decorate our church's Christmas Parade float.  I loved being able to feed a hungry group of people my taco soup (yes, I will share the recipe later).  My hubby, who has found his favorite season for grilling (the cold season), fired up the grill to make yummy hot dogs and hamburgers as well.  We had a great time of fellowship before they all trooped back out to a COLD chilly barn to finish up their work.  I can't wait for the parade tomorrow!  I just know our float is going to do well in the judging, and even if it comes in dead last, everyone has had such a good time finding costumes and decorating, that its the Grand Champion in my book!!!

Please forgive my rambling on and on in this post, I just can seem to stop the flow tonight.  I hope you find many opportunities to give more than just gifts this season, and  I would love to hear all about it.  So please leave me comments telling me all about it!

Have a great day and God Bless!

Goodbye Thanksgiving Hello Christmas

Well the wonderful time of Thanksgiving has come to an end.  Our family traveled to Texas (with a side trip to Oklahoma for my hubby who has never been to that state just so he can say he now has...he is so funny!) to spend time with my dad's side of the family.

It was a ton of fun and a ton of food.  Every time you turned around someone else was whipping out another goody.  I took my shifts at cleaning and cooking and relaxing while others had theirs.  There were roughly 56 there with well over half of those being under the age of 18.

My eldest making homemade salsa with her cousin (yes they are using CLEAN hands)

So much fun for my kids and especially wonderful for me to know that my kids are getting to know my family, during  their childhood, even though we live so far apart.  My kids talk about going to visit their cousin-friends (that's how they say it, all one word) and I know they will treasure these connections and memories for the rest of their lives like I treasure my time spent on the farm running and playing with my cousins as a child.  My family may be a 10 hour drive away but they are always in my memories and my heart.  So to sum up Thanksgiving, I know it was a wonderful holiday for us (minus the horrendous drive home, and that is a horror story all on its own), I hope you and your family and loved ones enjoyed celebrating the holiday and giving thanks for your many blessings.  God has truly blessed us!

Now to move on to Christmas, I am tickled pink (and at least half the time stressing out) about all the upcoming frivolity!!! The next four weeks are going to be outrageously busy, but I have made a commitment with my family that starting December 1st we will read at least one scripture a day from the story of Christs birth, as found in Luke and then Mathew where the Wise Men's journey is told.  Culminating with Christmas Eve when we will start back at the beginning and read the story in its entirety.  I have enjoyed reading the story every year, but this year I want to really get my children involved in realizing the importance of the season.  That its not about getting.  Getting gifts, getting to go to parties, getting, getting, getting seems to be the commercial view and sadly much of societies view of this holiday.  Rather I want my children to learn the emphasis of giving. Giving gifts, giving time, and most importantly giving of themselves as Christ gave Himself to us so that we should have an example of how we should live and ultimately dying for our sins.  So along with this commitment in my family I am committing to you my readers to post the scripture we read each day as well as share a way myself and/or my children gave of ourselves.  Some days it may be simple and hopefully there will be days with some grandness involved in our giving to really impact them.  I hope that I am able to recognize each of them daily and point out a way that they have given.  That is my goal.  I will also be posting numerous Christmas crafts and recipes as well as my usual around the house every day of the year crafts. So here we go lets start the season right by giving of ourselves!

Merry Christmas Everyone lets go give!
Have a great day and God Bless!