PRAY ~N~ WASH

It's Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

It's Valentine's Day, not a day just for you and your helpmate to share, but a day for you to share with everyone that you come into contact with for the day. Today, share a smile with everyone you see, help someone by holding a door open at a store for them. You get the idea, make today about everyone!

The two teens were shown love by this proud Mom this morning when I made heart shaped cinnamom rolls for them for breakfast before they left for School. It was a simple thing to make and do, and an easy way for me to show my two teens how much I care about them and love them. I find that chocolates don't always get eaten in our home and usually they'll still have Halloween candy when Christmas or Easter rolls in, so I bought them each an i-tunes card, this is something that they will definately use and something that they love to get!

Need ideas for a cute and fun Valentine Dinner....pizza! I plan on making heart shaped mini pizzas for dinner tonight with the teens "decorating" their own with their favorite toppings! So easy, yet so fun and so yummy! Dessert....I think we'll make heart shaped sugar cookies and the teens can decorate with either red sprinkles or white icing.

All of these ideas are easy, cheap, quick and fun, but most of all it involves family and time together.

Although we can show love to our helpmate, children, family, friends and strangers in so many ways, remember....

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

You Are Loved

2012-02-06T18:34:00.000-05:00

This beautiful arrangement of flowers was delivered to me today. A wonderful surprise from the Major for no apparent reason at all but to tell me that he loves me, misses me and thinks that I'm beautiful. It put a smile on my face and made me feel warm on this very cold, winter day.

Telling or showing our spouse that we appreciaite them, love them, care for them and adore them is very important in a marriage. It is very important that we express heartfelt appreciation and love. This doesn't mean that you have to constantly buy your spouse flowers, or other things, but it does mean that they need to feel loved. Just saying that you love them and that you care about them and appreciate them can mean more than you'll ever know.

Years ago, the Major and I each read the book, The Five Love Languages. He had his own book and I had mine.(actually it was 5 years ago when we were going through deployment number 2) After we each finished the book and completed the study at the end of the book, we sat down and discussed what our individual love languages were.

Believe it or not, I am not a gift person, nor do I like acts of service, or words of affirmation.(if you have read the book then you know that these are all love languages) I am a quality time type of person, with a little bit of physical touch thrown in. My favorite thing in the world is spending time with the Major, quality time, throw in the Major holding my hand and/or giving me a gentle kiss on the forehead and you have one happy girl! The Major knows what my love language is, and he knows that I love his undivided, focused attention. Quality time for us is taking a walk around the neighborhood together, sitting in our swing in the backyard, or sitting on our deck drinking a cup of coffee. Somethings in life are still free, and spending quality time with your spouse is one of the best free things in the world!

The Major is most definately a words of affirmation type of person, this is his primary love language. When he has done something for me, or something around the house or for the teens or for work or for someone else, I make sure to make the effort to let him know that what he did meant a lot to the person that he did it for. That his acts of service do not go unnoticed.
We are to be an encourager to our spouse. When I give words of affirmation to my husband I am giving empathy and seeing the world through his perspective, because I know what is important to him. Love is kind and so must also be our words. Words are important.

Although knowing your spouse's love language is very important in a marriage, the one thing that is of most importance is PRAYER. Praying for your spouse is the most important thing that you can do for your spouse. If you and your spouse have never read, The Power of A Praying Wife/Husband, then I want to strongly encourage you to do so. Your marraige and your spouse and yourself will thank you for doing so. When we lay everything at the feet of God and allow God to transform us, our spouse, our circumstances and our marriage, you and your spouse will receive the greatest blessing. When spouses prayer for eachother a oneness is made and the enemy doesn't like it. When the strength of a husband and wife are joined together it is a lot stronger in God's sight than when we are individuals.

When we pray for one another, something happens in our hearts, it melts our hearts and shows us love for one another. When I pray for the Major, my love grows deeper for him and my walk with the Lord grows stronger. There are many times when I pray for the Major about a particular situation and he has know idea that I am praying for or about it, and many times he has said to me, you've been praying about that haven't you because I felt your prayers. When he tells me this, I know that he knows that I love him, because friends, LOVE is the ultimate love language.

Do you know your spouses love langauge? If you do are you acting upon it, are you speaking their love language? If not, don't you want to? Don't you want to know your spouses love language?

Do you pray? Do you lift up your spouse and earnestly pray for them? My friend prayer is such a vital part of our life, it's how we communicate with God. If spouses do not lift one another up, then who will help you when you fall down!

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up." Ecclesiastes 4:9&10

Spontaneous, Independent and Self

2012-02-02T14:50:00.000-05:00

Spontaneous, this describes the last 5 days in my life. A very good, spontaneous last 5 days too!

With the Major's deployment, he makes lots of trips everywhere around the world(and can't tell me where he's going until he gets there or comes back) and this last trip just so happened to bring the Major to the States. His first stop was El Paso for a quick day and a half with the remainder of his trip flying him in to DC. With much surprise the Major asked me to come and spend a few days with him in DC. Cost to us, nothing thanks to frequent flyer miles :)

After changing a few appointments and getting the two teens ready for Mom to leave for a few days I began to get excited about my trip to spend a few days with the love of my life, the Major.

If you don't have a frequent flyer card I encourage you to get one, with our points on Delta, I didn't have to pay anything for my ticket and I had wonderful seats on all of my flights. It was a bit strange traveling alone, I'm not use to traveling alone, to say the least, flying alone either!

So on Friday night I reserved my seats on my flights and let the Major know that I would be able to join him in DC, even if I was only going to get to see him in the evenings. But that was good enough for the both of us, we've been missing each other desperately so it would be nice to see each other, even if it was only for alittle bit.

Saturday consisted of me getting everything ready around the house for me to leave, clothes washed for the teens, groceries bought, cleaning, getting notes and things ready for my Mom and of course, me packing!

Sunday morning came rather quickly and I found myself getting up and kissing the teens goodbye before 7 am. 7:15 and I had already loaded up my suitcase and was headed to the airport. By 8 am I was checked in at the airport, scanned through security and waiting at my gate for my flight to board and depart to Atlanta. By 11 I was in Atlanta and waiting for me 1 pm flight to DC. I had great flights and it was great weather. Of course my nose was planted in my Kindle reading the whole flight. Upon landing in DC my heart and stomach had butterflies in the anticipation that I would soon be seeing the Major in only a few short hours after his flight got in from Houston. Between our flights in and out of airports the Major and I kept texting each other. This was quit a previlige considering that we can not text when he is not in the States. Whenever I was landing at one airport he would be taking off and by the time I would be taking off at my next destination, he would be landing!

By 3 pm I had landed in DC and had found my way to the the baggage claim, grabbed my bag and went to find my shuttle to the Hotel. Another nice perk of my trip was that I didn't have to pay for a Hotel room because the Major already had one that was being taken care of by his work. After a half hour of waiting, my shuttle finally arrived and I was off to the Hotel. When I got to the Hotel, the staff new that I would be arriving before the Major(he called and let them know) and they let me go on up to the room. Having not eaten anything all day and knowing that it would be a few hours before the Major arrived, I ordered the best salad that I had ever eaten from Room Service! By the time I was finished and had freshened up it was a few hours later and when it was 6 pm, the Major came through the room door! It was such a warm and sweet feeling to see each other and to feel his hand grab my hand. A quick hello and he was back out the door by 6:10 to go to an hour meeting, then it would be time for us to finally spend some time together and go get some dinner together and talk. I think I talked his ear off every evening when he got in from work!

His days started before 6 am every morning and lasted til 6 or 7 in the evenings. I filled my days with riding the DC Metro and touring. The first thing on my agenda for Monday morning was taking the Metro to Arlington to find a dear friend of ours headstone and gravesite. This friend was killed in Afghanastain and I really wanted to go and see where he was laid to rest. I was able to find his gravesite and was very touched when I visited it, a few tears were shed and I stood there and prayed for his family, his wife and two daughters. I also prayed for our Country and our Government and for all men and women in our Military, including all spouses and children.

Next stop after Arlington, the National Gallery of Art! I love art and I spend well over 3-4 hours in the Museum! Finding my favorite art, and buying a cool book, 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, even though I did pay $36.oo for it! Close to 5 and I made my way back to the Hotel to wait on the Major to get in from his day of work at the Pentagon. 6:30 and he arrives and it's dinner time, and just spend quality time together.

My second morning I found myself up, dressed and waiting on my breakfast to come that I ordered via Room Service. After taking my time and eating, I then made my way once again to the Metro to begin my venture for the day. What was going to be my adventure....the Ford's Theater. I have been by the Ford's Theater many times in my life, but I have never had the opportunity to go inside and actually see where Abraham Lincoln was shot. This is a great time of the year to tour DC, I found there was only myself and about 20 other people in the Theater at the time that I was there. It was also nice because I got to here the Park Ranger talk about the Theater and the day that led up to Lincoln being and shot. I was also able to go into the building in which he died. I really loved being able to see this, because now I can say that I have been to Kentucky where Lincoln was born and lived as a child and now where he was shot and died. Next venture of the day was going and just walking around the Lincoln Memorial and walking across the Potomac Bridge, which ended my day back at the Metro stop at Arlington and I found myself on the way back to the Hotel with hopes that the Major was going to be done early this evening. An early night rung true and it was nice being able to spend a few last hours together before we both had to fly out the next day.

Wednesday morning was another early morning for the Major which held for his last day at the Pentagon and an early 10 am flight for me to head back home. Good-byes were said and hugs and kisses were given on the Major's way out to work, and I let go of the hand that is my helpmate and best friend eagerly waiting till my hand would be held once again by his.

Wednesday afternoon and I had landed back at home and I hit the ground running making it back home by the time the teens were home from School. I was greeted with hugs and "hey Mamas", yep, I was back, back to holding down the fort at the Cottage while the Major was away, back to being the constant in the teens lives and back to putting spontaneous and self on the shelf..........until next time! :)

Everyone needs to have a little spontaeous, independant and self in your life. What have you done that's been spountaneous, when is the last time that you put yourself first for once in your life?

Self-Absorbed, Self-Centered and Selfish People

2012-01-26T11:49:00.001-05:00

If there is one thing, one person, that really gets under my skin it's a self-absorbed, self-centered and selfish person. A person whom only thinks of themself. A person so full of themself that they don't care how they act around others or how they talk to others.

Self means a person's character, their nature, personl interest. Self-Absorbed people are people that are draining to the other people in their life and to those that are around them. Self-centered is someone that is engrossed in their ownself and their own affairs. All three describe a person who only thinks of themselves. This person also constantly reminds others about "their" good qualities and "your" bad qualities! Yeah, they do things primarily for themselves. Did I hit a bone? Do you know anyone like that? Are you like that?

First of all, if you are a self-absorbed, self-centered and selfish person I'm praying for you. And if you know of someone like this, than I want to suggest that you pray for them. We are to put others before ourselves. We are to exemplify J-O-Y!

A person that is so caught up in themself cannot be living a life that exudes Christ and exudes Christ in all that they do. This brings me to my life verse: 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?" Our job on Earth is to spread and share the Gospel of Christ. I don't know about you, but how can you do that if you are a self-absorbed, self-centered and selfish person? I have a big heart and I find that most of my life I have given, it's natural for me to give. I would rather give than recieve, the same is for the Major, maybe the Lord saw this in him and that's why he called him to go into the Ministry.

How do we feel when we are around these types of people that only see "themself" in the world? I feel sorry for the person and then at the same time, I feel embarrassed. How can someone not notice they are so wrapped up in themself? I just feel sorry and embarrassed for them! Then I lift up a prayer that God would open up their eyes and clear the clutter in their heads!

Does this mean that we are never self-absorbed, self-centered or selfish, of course not! We all have alittle of the three of these in us, but it's our choice wether we want to unleash them and if we want to reap what we sow!
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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

2012-01-25T11:53:00.000-05:00

How many times have you heard this? Or how many times have you said this? Maybe you can say yes to both questions, I know I can! The phrase to me is true, actions do speak louder than words and this particularly makes me frustrated when someone tellls you they are going to do something and they never do! Don't tell someone you're going to do something if you're not going to follow through with your WORDS. Because ACTIONS do speak louder than words.

What is really frustrating is when kids, especially my kids are involved. It's best not to tell a kid that you are going to do something unless you really are going to do it! Don't say that you're going to go to a School Program, Band Concert, Foot Game, Wrestling Match or other activity or event if you're really not going to take action! How would you feel if someone told you they were going to do something and they didn't follow through? I know that it really frustrates me when people do it to me and it especially frustrates me when it happens to kids.

Basically when people do not follow through with actions on words that they say, they are basically say that they care more about themselves than others. We are to live a live of JOY, we are to put Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last!

So think about it, where would we be if Christ would not have put us first? Next time you open your mouth and say that you're going to do something think about it and make sure that you are going to follow through with what you say because you can save a lot of heart ache and hurt.

Wrestling a Fall, Another Episode and Mom is Down:Not a Normal Week at The Cottage

2012-01-14T22:21:00.001-05:00

This week at the Cottage has been far from normal, if there is such a thing as normal! I have found myself repeating Psalms 34:1 lots of times this past week. This is a verse in which I leaned and clinged to many many years ago when I struggled with anxiety and stress. "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." This held true this week as our week unfolded starting on Tuesday....

Tuesday started with the kids going to school and Mom going to the Doctor for a follow-up about my severe allergic reactions that I have been having. If I haven't mentioned it before, blood testing(I had 11viles of blood taken) showed that I am severely allergic to TURKEY and I am also severely allergic to CARAMEL COLOR. Yep, this came as a shock to me! Do you know what all has caramel coloring in it!!! Yogurt, ham, beef broth, most soft drinks, just to name a few! So, what is a girl to do!?! I have to read the labels on everything! But I must admit that I have been looking at the labels so much lately that it is now second nature! So my appointment turned into more than just a follow-up. I showed my Doctor a place on my left leg that was red and very tender to touch and she immediately said that I had a severe bacterial infection, yep, she said that if I get a fever or it gets worse that she will have to put me in the Hospital on intravenous antibiotics, but for now she said that she will put me on a very strong oral antibiotic and to come back next week and if it's still the same she will admit me!! Ummm, this can't happen, the Major is deployed and I have two teens to take care of!! Praying that it gets better because this Mom doesn't have time for the Hospital!!

Our Tuesday wasn't over yet....the Bookworm came home from wrestling practice and what appeared on him....the cuts from a terrible fall from running where the pavement definately won! So we have been nursing two really scraped and cut knees, one palm with a deep wound, the other hand with knuckles all cut and one left shoulder that is really really cut and messed up down to the meat! Yep, the Bookworm has been wrestling a fall, and how did it happen....they were running for wrestling practice and a team mate that was running behind him stepped on something that went in his foot and it made him fall into the back of the Bookworm making him fall on the pavement! Ouch!! Praising God that with our doctoring it is getting better everyday.

Tuesday also held a wrestling match, as well as Wednesday night. Thursday was a nice day because we all three got to sleep in a little longer than usual. The Bookworm had Wrestling practice and the Princess had an appointment with her Cardiologist, an appointment that we were ready to go to because of the episodes that the Princess had been having. Her appointment turned out well, her heart is healthy and well! So this confirms that she suffers from atypical migraines which can cause all of the symptoms that she has at least once a month which are nausea, headache, paleness and temporary loss of sight. After her appointment we had errands to run and a casual wear outfit to buy for her School Pagent that she is going to be in. What better place to shop than Belk right? So we're in Belk and we finally found something that she liked, we are getting ready to walk out of the dressing room and she says that she doesn't feel well, that she feels sick and her head was starting to hurt. She knew that she was starting to have an episode, we both knew what was next, she would feel real light headed and have a temporary loss of sight. Needless to say, it happened, there we were in Belk and I had to literally drag/tote my daughter out of the store! Once out the store doors to the outside the cool air hit her and she didn't feel hot anymore, but she was very cool to the touch and very pale. I sat her down on the curb with her nearly falling back on her head, finally she was able to sit up and put her head between her knees. I ran to get the van and put her in and high tailed it home! Once we got home she immediately got in the bed to sleep it off. After a few hours she woke up and was very exhausted and fatigued from the episode. Next week there will be another visit to her Doctor to change her medication because the preventative that she is on isn't preventing anything! I had never been in such a state of shakiness and scared and nervousness in all my life, I felt helpless!

Thursday night, although it was one in the morning for the Major, he skyped me and it was the first time that I broke down crying. Sometimes you can't help but show how you feel on the inside. His words of comfort and encouragement helped. Almost two months gone of this deployment and 7 more to go!

Moral to my quite interesting and unusual week here at the Cottage: Military wives usually go with the flow, don't ever spend the extra time or energy wondering what:when:where or how: they just do it, they're use to being alone for months on end, that no matter how hard it is they keep going because they have to and they keep the Faith, they learn not to sweat the small stuff, to be a listener:an encourager and remind theirself that they are strong, and they pray pray pray!

In Our Home

2012-01-04T16:37:00.001-05:00

Funny to think that many of the sayings mentioned on the above picture are practiced in many homes. How sad. What would life be like without second chances, thank yous, realness, sorrys, love, mistakes, respect, happiness, dreams, faith and family.

When you start talking about homes, there are so many different types of homes to talk about. Not everyone grew up in the same kind of home environment. This is true. Lots of times we notice this when we marry. I know that is true for the Major and I. His upbringing and mine were not the same, in fact they were total opposites. Together, we have come together and we have a foundation set for our own home and family.

I was born in SC in the 70's and reared in a home where my Father worked and my Mom stayed at home. It was nice having a Mom that was at home. She was there with us to get us up in the mornings and take us to school, she was there to pick us up from school. She helped with homework and took my brother and I to our extra-curricular activites, and she had dinner ready and we were ready to eat when my Dad got home from work. I grew up drinking sweet tea, and most everything was fried!

I grew up in the country where my brother and I went to a country elementary school where everyone knew everybody and our middle and high schools were considered in the city because of the distance we drove to get there. We would enjoy swimming in the pool during the summer time, riding our go carts and four-wheelers. We would hunt and go barefoot. We even, at one time, each had rabbits, and goats and ducks! It was a fun childhood. We were also very fortunate to have both sets of our Grandparents living within minutes of us and even my Aunts and Uncles and Cousins. Family vacations were to the beach or mountains or Disney World, and my Granny would most always travel with us.

I went to a Southern Baptist Church, in fact, I went to the same Church my whole life and I accepted Christ as my Savior and became a Christian when I was 10 years old. It was a rural country Church, but it was full of some of the most loving and wonderful believers that I have ever known. Many are gone now and they are in Heaven, and I will never forget them and the impact that they each had on my life. This is the Church were I grew up, this is the Church where I was Baptised, and this was the Church that I said good-bye to when the Major and I married over 17 years ago.

I grew up with one sibling, a brother whom is 3 1/2 years younger than I am. We are completely night and day. I have brown hair:he has red, he is tall:I am average height, he never had to study:I always had to, I have kids:he doesn't. It was fun growing up with a little brother and it was fun to dress him up too with make up and heels! We had lots of fun times swimming, riding bikes, go-carts, four-wheeling, hunting, playing video games. No, we were not always nice to eachother, we were like all other siblings, there were times where we would argue and tease eachother. One of those times ended with me getting a broken arm!

I grew up in a home where my parents married young, and had me when they were only 19 and 17 years old. They had known eachother for every and fell very much in love and still are, and have been married for 37 years. My parents have gone through many seasons in their life. There are no kids at home as my brother and I are both married. My parents still live in the same home and city in which I grew up in and which I never moved or left until I married. My brother is married to my sweet wonderful sister-in-law and they recently moved to Georgia after living in Illinois for the past five years. It is so nice having them a few hours away now. The Major and I have been stationed in SC going on four years now and it is very nice being close to my family and it's especially nice that our Princess and Bookworm have their Grandparents(my parents) only alittle over an hour down the road.

The Major was also born in the 70's, but he came from a Military family and lived lots of places as he was growing up. He has lived from the East Coast to the West Coast and like me was born on the East Coast, even though he was born in Rhode Island and is a notherner(yankee)! But I will say that he is far from a northerner, he is very much southern. Unlike me, the Major was educated in private Catholic Schools, although I will add that I did go to a private school during second grade, until he moved to SC and was in a public High School.

He was raised Catholic, had a Dad and Mom whom both worked and he lived in the city. Unlike me being the oldest, the Major is the youngest. He has two siblings, a sister whom is the oldest and a brother who is the middle child. There is a 3 year age gap between each of them. His siblings are married and now have children of their own just like us and they all reside in the same state close to where the Major's parents live. The Major wasn't only the baby in the family, but also the last one to marry and last one to "leave the nest".

Although the Major was raised in the Catholic church, he never accepted Christ until was 17 years old, but never fully understood the feeling and understanding of being a Christian until months after we were married, where he fully gave himself to Christ and was baptized. Every since that day he has given himself completely to Christ and is a God strong and a man of faith. Funny how God called a boy who grew up Catholic to be His servant and go into the Ministry...The Major continues to work on his Master of Divinity at Liberty University. I know God has great plans in store for the Major. Who knows, maybe we'll end up starting a Church or being Missionaires!

The Major and I met our Junior year of High School. We were both in the Band and we knew eachother, but we didn't really know eachother. It was on a Band trip that we started talking and we got to know eachother better. After the trip we started dating(dating almost 2 years) and we have been together ever since. We gradutated from High School, we were engaged the year we graduated, I went to College while the Major went in the Army and then we were married after he completed AIT. Our wedding day was on the Thanksgiving long weekend because we knew that the Major would have a four day and would be able to come to his own wedding :)

We were young when we married, we were both 19 years old. We were criticized by some because they thought that we were too young. We were in love and knew that we wanted to be together, the Major had a great job in the US ARMY and we knew that we wanted to be with eachother for the rest of our lives. We didn't care what the "few" people thought about us or our age. All I can think or say about it is, look at us now! Happily married with two children and we've been married for almost 18 years! Alot longer than some people and other people our age!

We had a most lovely and beautiful wedding. My parents spared no expense. It was rainy the day of our wedding, which is said to be good luck, and was held in one of the biggest Churches in our city. We had a traditional wedding, and no, it was not in a Catholic church with a mass, etc. Neither of us wanted that( I wasn't Catholic and that wasn't us), so we were married in a Church that was neither mine nor the Major's. The Preacher that married us was one that had watched me grow from being a little girl into a woman, he was the one that baptized me and he was the one that I wanted to marry us. The Major met him on several occasions before we were married and he agreed, he thought that he was very nice and had a fun personality. My Dad walked me down the aisle and gave me away. And my Mom, words can't describe what kind of a Mom she is, she helped with everything that had to do with the wedding and made sure that everything was perfect! So on November 26, 1994, the Major and I were married and we began our life together.

I'll never forget when the Major found out where his first duty assignment was going to be in the Army. I asked him where and he said Fort Rucker. I thought that sounded like a cool place, at least it had a neat name. Then I asked him where that was, and he said Alabama! For this country girl that had never moved before I thought that we would be getting stationed somewhere out of the south, so I was a little disappointed with Alabama. Yet, we loved the years that we spent in Alabama, it was a wonderful first assingment, still close enough to SC to go and visit family. It was where we had our first house and where we started our family. It was where the Princess was born. Now it's almost 18 years later, 13 moves, 8 duty stations, 3 deployments and two teenagers in the Cottage, and we're in the best season of our life!

We have a home where the Major is the head of the household, where God is our foundation, where our faith and trust are in God and God alone. A home where we give second chances, where we say thank you, where we're real and not fake(you either like us and love us or you don't and leave us alone and we'll leave you alone too), where we say I'm sorry, a home where there is much laughter and love, a home where we all make mistakes becauae we are not perfect, a home where respect is given, a home full of happiness, a home where it is okay to dream, a home that believes in faith and stands on it, and a home where we are family.

My Year's Theme and Life Verse

2012-01-01T22:15:00.000-05:00

At the end of each year I pray to God to reveal to me what He wants me to focus on for the coming new year. As we are going through a Deployment, I was very anxious to see just what God wants me to focus on. Our last Deployment God showed me the word "anxious". I use to be a very anxious person and during the last Deployment I prayed that God would take away all anxiousness in my life. God does hear us when we pray! I was apart of PWOC(Protestant Women of The Chapel) in Germany and the Bible study that we were starting when The Major deployed was.....Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. God knew what I needed and He knew how to give it to me! By the time the Major redeployed, all anxiousness was gone! Thank you Lord! Those that knew me before we moved to Europe noticed the change when we moved back to The States six years after living in Europe. To this day when someone tells me that I am stressed or anxious it really bothers me because I know that I no longer get anxious or stressed, I simply say to the person, no, I think that you are :)

This year I heard not one but three words from the Lord. The Lord has given to me: GIVE, GO and NO. These are the words that I will focus on during this new year. I will give to what the Lord shows me to give to, be it time, money or self. I will go where the Lord wants me to go. And I will not be afraid to say no. No to things that I do not want to do, no to things that I may have said yes to before. I will not be anxious.

Many of my friends have life verses, I too have one. If you do not have a life verse I encourage you to find one. Read your Bible and pray to the Lord to show you a verse that He wants you to focus on, a scripture for you to meditate and dwell on, a scripture that will inspire you, challenge you, and remind you to live your life day to day for Christ because we were put here on this Earth to be a witness for Him and to share and spread His Word.

My life verse: 2 Corinthians 2:14&15"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."

Blessings to you in the New Year, challenge yourself to pray and ask God what He wants you to reveal and meditate on in your life this year!

A Month that Flew By and A New Year

2011-12-31T19:26:00.000-05:00

The Major has been gone for one month and that one month has surely flown by. We've still got eight more to go. The key is to stay busy, those that aren't familiar with military life and deployments do not understand that being busy helps with not missing your spouse as much because once you stop and sit, it gets lonely and you start to really miss the one that you love. We got an action packed month for the kids and I in January, we're starting the New Year with a BANG!! They both have Region Band Auditions, the Bookworm has another Wrestling Tournament and the Princess has her High School Pagent. Add regular School with their homework, tests, exams and studies, practices and lessons, the days fly quickly.

In a few hours, we'll be welcoming in another year......2012. Many will be making New Year's resolutions and as I have posted before, I do not believe in or make resolutions for new years. What I am doing is kicking habits that have worn me down for years out the front door of the Cottage! If it hits you when I throw them out, oh well, you should have ducked!

God has many things awaiting for us in the New Year. Things for us to explore, learn and wait for. Happy 2012 to you!

Habits

2011-12-28T23:30:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been thinking, and I've been thinking about a lot of things. A lot of things that have been floating around in my head and heavy on my heart. There are many things in my life that are a habit. What is a habit? A habit is something that we do consistently all the time. It's something that we never take off and something that we never(rarely) change, the same old same old.

I have a habit of reading every night before I go to bed. I have a habit of taking my medicine every morning time I get up before I awaken the kids and my day begins. I have a habit of washing all dirty laundry on Mondays. I have a habit of having my devotional time with the Lord after I have taken the kids to School. I have a habit of having pizza on the menu in our home every Friday. I have a habit of tucking in my children and kissing them goodnight and telling them I love them every night.

A habit, something that we wear, it's worn.

Like clothes, a habit can become worn and wear out. If we never do anything different in our lives, how can our lives bloom. How can our lives be revived. Like bulbs need the earth in the winter and the sun during the spring so our lives need change and newness, a refreshing.

Do not get me wrong, not all habits are bad.

A heart can become heavy with the burdens of habits, but not all hearts are heavy because of our own.

We can have a habit of continually being in a place where we know we should not be but yet we continue to go. It could be a place where we cannot grow and our seed is stunned from growth and needs light to emerge and grow, but yet we continue in the habit of going.

Habits of not wanting to deal with the people in our lives that are stunning our growth or those that have a habit of wanting to be around when it is only convenient for them. Yet we have the habit of allowing them to have the habit of treating us however they want to.

Habits of eating foods that we know we shouldn't eat because we know they're not good for us.

Habits of not exercising because we're just too lazy to get up and go!

My heart is heavy and my heart says put on new habits, to throw away the worn. Cut the habits that are stunning my life, my growth, my light. If we change habits, we change our life, we are refreshed, we are renewed. Our hearts are lifted, our hearts are lighter, our hearts are joyful.

What habits do you wear? What habits are worn?

What The Season is Really About

2011-12-23T16:46:00.000-05:00

Nothing annoys me more than seeing people all wrapped up in shopping and gifts this time of year. Do we enjoy getting gifts, you bet, is it great to give gifts, yes, but it's not all about gifts and shopping. It's about Him. Yes, Him, Christ.

It amazes me that so many people like to decorate for Christmas, but yet is surprises me at how few of their decorations are Christ centered. What type of oranaments are on their tree, what is the outside of their homes decorated like, what about the inside of their homes? Our home is decorated both inside and out, and we have an artificial tree because the Princess is allergic to real Christmas trees. Even if you do or don't know our family personally, you'll know that we are Christians because we display our faith at Christmastime. Our front yard has the nativity scene with Jesus, Mary and Joseph with a wooden cross lit with red lights directly behind them. Inside our home our tree is not only decorated with ornaments from all over the world and ornaments that the kids made when they were little, but it is also decorated with ornaments of faith. Also in our home we have our Nativity displayed on our coffe table in our living room. The word JOY is displayed on our fireplace mantel to remind us and those that enter our home that we are to display and observe JOY all the time(Jesus, Others, Yourself). We also have a Jesse Tree displayed in our kitchen. Some of you may better recognize it better as an Advent Tree. We enjoy spending time together in the evenings after dinner around the Jesse Tree reading the days readings and remembering and recounting the numerous accounts in the Bible that led to the birth of Jesus our Savior. If you've never had a Jesse Tree in your home I encourage you to make one with your family, it's a great way to grow deeper in your walk with the Lord as well as a great way to come together as a family and lift eachother up.

If someone were to drive by your home or walk inside it, would your faith be displayed? I have many friends and family whom are not ashamed to display their faith. Yet, I also have many where their faith is not displayed. Isn't that the real reason why we are on this earth, to be a witness for Christ and to reach others for Him? How sad it is to go into homes and not see the real reason for the season displayed. And you know what, it shouldn't just be at Christmastime that we display our faith, it should be everyday, everyday of the year.

What have you done this season of your life for someone in need, for someone that is less fortunate than you, what have you done that was selflessness of you? For some all they want is a smile, for others a helping hand. Bless someone that needs a blessing in their life. You don't have to do anything that costs a lot of money, some things take no money at all. Yesteray the kids and I baked all day, after baking we made up 5 boxes of treats and took them to people that we knew that were sick or widowed. The smile on their faces when they received the treats from us were priceless. This morning I placed a small gift in our mailbox for our mailcarrier. How many times do our mailcarries go unnoticed. They are always there delivering our mail to us through storms, rain and snow. I wanted our mailcarrier to know that our home appreciated her. These examples didn't cost much, but to the ones on the receiving end, it was the world.

This season, meditate on what the season is really about and this season of your life will be one of the best seasons of your life.

Listen to All the News, Not Just What You Want to Hear

2011-12-20T21:21:00.001-05:00

That is my tip for today! If you watch the news or read the newspaper, how about watch and listen to all the news, and read the entire article in the newspaper! Why do I say this? One word: IRAQ

Yep, this has been my life for the past week! I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been asked if the Major is coming home now because the troops are coming home. I think if I'm asked this just one more time I think that I might seriously scream! It's IRAQ only, not everywhere else. The mission is complete there, not everywhere else. The Major isn't there, so it doesn't affect him and it doesn't affect troops that are deployed other places either because it's only IRAQ.

And while I'm on the subject, what about Afghanistan, seems to me that since all eyes have been on Iraq people have forgotten there is still a war going on in Afghanistan. We still have troops fighting. Troops are still defending our Country and there are still troops being deployed everyday. There are many countries in which troops are deployed to, it wasn't just all about Iraq.

This leads me to another problem. I love it when people ask me where the Major is deployed, because I know the response that I am going to get back from them. Here it is: "Oh, he's there, he's got it made." Yeah, my response, I just smile and walk away! Here's what I am thinking in my head as I walk away: "Really, you think he has it made? What about being away from your family for 9 months, what about working from sun up to sun down, what about missing your children's birthdays, Christmas and every other Holiday and special occassion that falls in between. What about all the everyday things such as sitting at the dinner table as a family and praying and talking about how your day was with eachother. What about flying into those places in which you know you're going to have to wear your combat gear and all you can do is pray that you're going to be ok and that you'll be able to call your wife and tell her you're fine." Yeah, that's what I feel like saying.

The Military life isn't for everyone. We've known many that have gotten out because they couldn't take it anymore, we've known many that have divorced, we know many that have marriage and family problems because of the constent moves and deployments. It's a hard life, but at the same time it can be very rewarding. It's a hard life to understand unless you've lived or are living a Military life. FAITH, this one word is what our family lives by. Faith in God. Faith that He will take care of us. Faith that He will provide for us. Why do we have FAITH, because we forsake all and we put our trust in Christ.

So what do I think would be nice, if people would really think about what they are going to say, especially to a Military Spouse, and especially a Military Spouse whose Husband is deployed, before they say it. Choose your words carefully, because unlike the old saying, words do hurt.

A Birthday and The Nutcracker

2011-12-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Friday was the Bookworm's 13th Birthday. It's hard to believe that 13 years ago he was just a little guy weighing only 7 pounds and deciding to coming into the world a whole month early. He was born at 2:34 pm on December 16th. It just so happened that on Friday they only had a half day at School, so he was home at the time that he was born, I was able to run into his room at 2:34 pm and cover him with hugs and kisses! He has grown into a wonderful young man, he loves the Lord and has a huge heart. He has gone from playing with toys to playing video games, riding his bike and wrestling on the School Wrestling Team. His favorite food that he can't live without is peanut butter! This is consummed by him on a daily basis! So glad that he doesn't have a nut allergy or we would surely be up a creek without a paddle! We celebrated his birthday with going to eat at his favorite Restaurant. Poppy and Nana came up and spend the afternoon with us, it was nice. After dinner he wanted to open gifts. He got many things but his favorite was the new bike from the Major and I, second best was the money that he received from others. Give a teen money and they are happy, they would rather have money than anything else! Cake and icecream followed opening gifts. His request for his birthday cake was my Granny's chocolate cake recipe. This is the cake that he requests every year and I enjoy making it for him. It's not a hard cake to make and it turns out really well and is quite yummy. Hard to believe that we now have two teens. I must say that I am enjoying this season of life.

Saturday was a very early morning. The Bookworm had to be up at 5 am and at the School by 6 am to leave for an all day Wrestling Tournament. Then, the Princess had to be up at 6 am and out the house by 7:30 in order to be at her High School to work the High School Wrestling Tournament all day. She has to get so ten volunteer hours for her Sports Medicine Class, so the Wrestling Tournament was the perfect opportunity for her to get all of her hours. After she left the house, I left the house to drive 45 minutes to the Bookworm's Tournament. I was very anxious and nervous to see him wrestle, this would be his first match! He did very well both times that he wrestled at the Tournament. The first match he made it all the way through till only 1 second was left in the 3rd period! I was so proud of him, he did awesome! The second match he lasted all the way to the 3rd period as well. Needless to say he was very sore yesterday when he woke up to get ready for Church. I kept tylenol and motrin in him all day! I am so proud of him wanting to venture out and try a new sport this year, I never would have imagined that he would have been interested in wrestling.

Yesterday was Sunday and it was a day that I was looking forward to. Not only was it Church, but I officially deemed it the start of the kids' Christmas Break! We all three deserve a long break after the past two weeks that we have had. We have had something going on every night for the past two weeks and on some days and nights we have had two or three things going on! It's been crazy! We started the Break with going to the Nutcracker yesterday afternoon. The kids have never seen the Nutcracker so I was excited to be taking them. We had a most wonderful time and the kids really enjoyed it. Afterwards we swung by the Blockbuster kiosk and rented the last Harry Potter(the kids had seen it this Summer, but I hadn't seen it yet) and went home got in our pjs, wrapped in blankets and watched the movie. It was a nice way to end our day.

With all that's been going on here with us, the Major has been under the weather where he is. He has been sick all week. It all started with him getting a fever almost reaching 104. He went to the Doctor and he was severely dehydrated, so they gave him fluids, medicine and put him on quarters. He sounded terrible on the phone whenever I talked to him. With him not improving that much, he went back to the Doctor yesterday and they put him on an antibiotic. He said he is feeling alittle better. I know it's no fun being sick when you are away from home. Despite the Deployment, we are all four doing well and taking one day at a time. We miss having the Major at home with us, especially during this time of the year, but we carry on and keep the traditions going and whenever the cell phone rings we jump and we're eager to see if it's him calling.

So it's Monday morning here at the Cottage and as I sit here on my laptop typing this, the dogs are cuddled by me and the two teens in the Cottage are still in bed sleeping in, something they haven't been able to do in a long time!

7:45

2011-12-15T23:05:00.000-05:00

Tonight, the kids willingly wanted to go to bed at 7:45. That just goes to show how busy our past two weeks have been! We haven't had a day to rest, tonight was the first night in two weeks where we haven't had something going on, tomorrow will be the same and I am looking forward to it. Saturday is gone before it starts and Sunday is Church, but Sunday afternoon will be enjoyable and relaxing when the kids and I go and see The Nutcraker! Oh, and tomorrow starts Christmas Break for the kids, sooo looking forward to sleeping in!

I finally heard from the Major today after not hearing from him for a few days. He has been really sick and has been on quarters. He said his fever was 103. He sounded really sick and tired when he called. Praying he is well soon! We sure do miss him around the Cottage.

Fun for me today was getting 11 viles of blood taken out of my arm! Yep, you read that right, 11 viles of blood! Last month I had a severe allergic reaction to something and it landed me in the ER. So now, I tote around in my purse by little pills to take when I start to itch. I've had allergy testing done and it showed that I wasn't allergic to anything. For the past week I have been off all of my medicine, along with not eating anything with red or orange dye, seafood, nuts and fruits. Didn't work because I had a reaction on Sunday and a small one on Monday. Today was my follow-up with my Doctor and while I was sitting waiting to see her I had another severe reaction. It was perfect timing because she was able to see it. So, next step was to take blood to see what in the world I can be allergic to and totally switching detergent in the house to a perfume free and dye free one! As for now, I'm praying that the blood tests reveal what I am allergic to.

For now it's bed and in 55 minutes the Bookworm will be 13 and I will officially have 2 teenagers in the Cottage :) This season of life is a blessing.

Enjoying the Unexpected

2011-12-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

The kids and I just said good-bye to the Major again this morning. We enjoyed an unexpected week of having him home. He had to fly back for work, at least he got to sleep at the Cottage and we got to see him for an hour or so each night.

The Major got to attend one of the Bookworm's wrestling matches and the Bookworm's band concert. He also got to see the Princess and her Boyfriend go to the Winter Formal. I am glad that he was able to be a part of the kids' special nights.

Now, it's time to get back into the routine that we had for the week that he was gone. It's funny how the kids and I have managed to get into a routine that fast. This week has been so busy in our home. I've had a lot that I have had to do and most of it involved things that needed to be done for the kids. Although I did manage to sneak a trip into our busy calendar to see my Doctor. I've still been having a severe allergic reaction to something so I had to go see her so that we could figure out what is going on. So for the next week, I am off all of my medicine and I can not have any nuts, fruits, seafood or anything with red or orange dye in it. I don't know if I'll be able to make it without eating any fruit! We just got the Princess's Band fruit in and the tangelos are so good!

So today, what we thought was going to be a full day has turned into a day with just one evening event instead of the evening event along with an all day one! So, what are the kids and I doing, finally taking advantage of some long awaited down time. We are just hanging out, doing nothing. I'm sure that the Major will call when he lands at his destination and at his connecting flights. Other than that, I am sure our phone want ring, the doorbell want sound and our day will be restful.

It's The Thought That Counts....Really

2011-12-08T14:48:00.000-05:00

I know you've heard someone say it before, "It's the thought that counts". Really? I use to think that too until I started really thinking about it. Sure no one is perfect, but come on, it's more than the thought that counts!

Take gift buying for instance......sure time goes into buying that perfect special gift, you look and look finally finding something that you believe someone will like, then you give it to them. Yep, I can see where "It's the thought that counts" counts here. The other thing that counts is how you present your "thought"/ gift. Do you just leave it in the bag in which you bought it and give it. Most times that would be a negative. Do you just give it away not wrapped or with no ribbon, etc. In some cases you can, such as flowers, fruit, a car(I think you get the picture). Or do you wrap it in beautiful wrapping paper, or place it in a gift bag with tissue paper that matches. My vote is for the second of the two sentences. When we take the time to carefully package our "thought"/gift, we are telling the person that we are giving it to that we really care about you, we took the time to put care and love into how we wanted our gift to be presented to you. If we just throw a gift in a bag and cram tissue paper into it that doesn't even match the bag, what is that saying about our character? What is it really saying to the person that we are giving our gift to? Sure the "thought counts" but how you present it counts to and sometimes it counts more than the thought does.

God gave us the best gift of all and His name was Jesus. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Jesus is our gift and He is the BEST gift that we will ever receive. Give yourself the BEST gift this Christmas and accept Him, ask Him to be Lord of your life.

Living for One Purpose

2011-12-08T09:06:00.001-05:00

I was in car line the other day waiting to pick up the Princess from School when something dawned on me. What is our sole purpose of being here on this Earth? I mean, look around you, we have homes, go to work day after day, have a car, buy the things that we think that we need to "survive" and get get get. What is the purpose of all of that. I mean seriously, think about it, what are we accomplishing. Then throw in the ignoring people and it gets crazier! But what is our day to day, everyday life accomplishing? NOTHING! We know when we die, we leave everything behind. We can't take anything to the grave with us. So why does so much material "stuff" matter! Why must we sleep, go to work or even go to School? For one thing.....to accomplish our mission. Our mission, if you are a Christian, is simple, to share Christ with EVERYONE. That means, your neighbors that live in the house by your house, your coworkers at your job, your friends at school, the people that bug you to death, and even family. Even that person that bugs you to death needs to know what Christ did for them, and even that family member that is very distant needs to know that not by works are we saved, but through Christ Jesus. Will you share even though you face the risk of rejection by family, friends, neighbors or coworkers? Jesus was ridiculed and rejected, yet He died for our sins. He loved us so much that He gave His life for us.

So today, I want you to think about the REAL reason that you live and why you continue to wake up every morning day after day.......

One Week Down and Saying Thank You = Many More

2011-12-05T09:41:00.002-05:00

We are one week into Deployment, wow did the first week fly by. I guess time really does fly by when you are busy! Today is our down day for this week, all the other days and nights of this week are booked! Booked with Wrestling matches for the Bookworm, marching in the Parade for the Princess, Band concert for the Bookworm, Winter Formal for the Princess, Church, Choir and so much more to even mention! My down day today is going to be used to run lots of errands that I must run for the kids. Things that they need for this week for the things that they are involved in. Somewhere along the way I need to find time to drop by the grocery store, and maybe somewhere along the way I'll also find time to breath!

So, I've been thinking alot lately and the one thing that has been a constant thought in my head is this: we are to thank God in every situation;the good and the bad. I know what you may be thinking, the bad? Yes, the bad too. We all know that it's easy to give God thanks in the good things in our lives, but give thanks in the bad? 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says,"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."(KJV) A great example of this is the story of Job. Job lost everything and what did he do, he praised God and gave him thanks. If you've never read the story of Job, I encourage you to do so.

How are we suppose to give thanks for the bad that happens in our life? How can we give thanks for a death of a loved one in your family? We thank God for the time that we had with them, for knowing them, for special memories that we have, for the impact that they had on our life, for the things that we learned from them that we will be able to pass along to others. In a span of 6 years, I lost all four of my Grandparents. I lost my Dad's Dad, whom I called Papa, in October 2002. He died right before my family and I moved to Europe. He was in the Army, served under Patton and survived being blown up in a tank during wartime. My Papa had so many stories to share about his time in the Army, I am sure that he would have been thrilled knowing that we were moving to Germany. Three years later in November of 2005, when the Major was deployed, I lost my Grandma, my Dad's Mom. The kids and I flew to the States to stay with my parents for the Holidays, from Thanksgiving to the New Year, my Grandma was barely hanging on. Everyone in our family had seen her except my brother(whom lived in Chicago at the time) and I. Once we both got to my parents home from our flights, my Dad took us to see my Grandma. Even though she wasn't coherent, she could hear and she knew that we were there. About an hour after we had left from seeing her and got back to my parents' home, we received the call that she had passed away. Did she wait to finally let go until she knew that my brother and I had seen her? I can't say, but my heart feels that she did. December 2007 was probably the most shocking December in our family. Bright and early on the 14th of December I received a call from my Brother telling me that our Granny had died, my Mom's Mom, the night before, which just so happened to be on my Mom's birthday. What a shock this was to hear! I had just talked with her on the phone the day before and she was doing well. One of the most wonderful ladies in my life had now passed away, here I was in living in now Italy and now I was flying back to the States to attend a funeral and to say good-bye to woman that had blessed my life from the time that I was born. I was also flying back to knowing that my Mom had to be completely in shock and devastated knowing that her Mom had passed away not only on her birthday, but while she and my Dad were on a plane flying back to the States from visiting us in Italy. One year and one day later, my Grandaddy passed away, my Mom's Dad. We had just moved back to the States from Italy in early November, a week after we moved back my Grandaddy was hospitalized for his breathing and he stayed in the Hospital until he passed away in December. His dying was so unexpected, death knows no boundaries, no one is ever ready to deal with death. He was a great man, very shy, but if he had something to say, he would say it. In a time span of 6 years, four of the most important people in my life were now gone. Four of the most wisdom filled people that I knew were no longer here. Why do I share all of this with you, because I thanked God. I thanked God when they died. I thank God because he had given me so many beautiful and wonderful memories and years with these four amazing people. I thanked God because all four of these people were there when my children were babies and they got to see my children grow and my children know who they were. I thank God because my Grandparents knew the Lord and they each had a personal relationship with Him. I thank God because when I look at my Nativity set in my home every Christmas, I know that my Grandparents are seeing and living the real Nativity.

Would it have been easy for me to not have thanked God when they each passed away, you bet! Here were four precious people in my life that passed away, I could have been mad, I could have asked God why, I could have been mad because here I was living in Europe and I didn't get to see them and spend as much time with them as the rest of my family got to, but I didn't, I thanked God. It was His will.

What about other situations in which it may be hard to give thanks to God. What about people that hurt you(we can't change people), unanswered prayer(remember God will answer in His time), family situations(let go and give it to God, and sometimes you just have to step to the side and walk away), medical conditions(you may learn to lean more on God), moves especially Military moves(the blessing of new friends and a new place to live where you have never been before), Deployment(look forward to what God may want you to learn and teach you during this deployment), new job(you can share your faith in your workplace be a sunbeam for Him). There are so many things that go wrong in our lives, but one is always good and always remains the same......God! God is there for us all the time. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

Many ask why bad things happen to good people. The fact is that bad things happen to everyone, good and bad. God doesn't give us anything that He knows that we can not handle. Did you hear me? God does not give us anything that we CAN NOT handle. God may let bad things happen in our life so that we can grow closer in our walk with Him, maybe it is to open our eyes, maybe it is to teach us a lesson, maybe it is to draw us closer to friends and family, maybe it is to draw us more into spending time in prayer and in His Word. Whatever the situation is that you are going through, God knows why. We must have FAITH-Forsaking All I Trust Him.

What are you thankful for: the good and the bad.

Cleaning and Scrubbing and Trash "Oh My"

2011-11-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

This is in tune to Dorothy's famous line..."lions and tigers and bears oh my." Yep, that's what I did today, day 3 of the Deployment! Funny saying that it is day 3, wow, it is Wednesday already? And I am a happy girl today, I got 2 phone calls from the Major today :) I am all smiles here, just hearing his voice made my day!

I decided that this Deployment I am keeping busy, very busy at the Cottage. I plan to reorganize everything in the house, everything in closets and cabinets, etc. I am even labeling things such as; drawers that tape, scissors, gift bags, ribbon and birthday decorations are in. That way there is no guessing from anyone in my household where anything is!

Not only do I plan on being organized, I also plan on being very very frugal! Yep, you heard me right, FRUGAL! We are doing Financial Peace and I must say that you, yes you, should google it and check it out! So go, go right now and check it out! Then come back to my Blog!

So, some people call being frugal cheap, others call it thrifty, some may call it stupid, others may call it canny, but here is what I call it: SMART! I plan on saving saving saving where ever I can. I am looking at any and all new ideas that I can adapt for our household that will save us on time, energy and money, yet be very efficient, good and a great deal! The first place to put a cap on saving is the grocery store. Yep, and I have been doing this for quit awhile, but I think that I can do a lot better than I am already doing. Three words coupons, sale papers and store cards(I could even add two more:freezer and stock-pile), if you are not using all three of these then you are not saving the most that you can be saving at the grocery store! Next is thermostat setting. If you do not have a digital thermostat, go and buy one now! This reduces your electric bill. Also, set your thermostat and leave it do not change it! Did you know that changing it when you are gone and then changing it again can actually increase your bill! Now lets talk about lights...if you are leaving lights on when you are not in a room, that's not good, turn them off, conserve electricity and save on your power bill! Open the blinds in your house when you first get up in the mornings and use the natural light that God provided for us...the sun! It's Christmas time and we have up the tree and lights outside, yes the power bill will go up, but you can minimize how much buy using a timer and only allowing your lights to be on for a few hours a night rather than all night. Who wants a high power bill? Not me, so timers it is!

With all of this being said I feel that I was very productive today in my cleaning and scrubbing. I cleaned that kids' bedrooms, their bathrooms, the fridge/freezer, and a huge upstairs closet! I did a lot of labeling and reorganizing and threw away a lot of stuff! I had 2 huge bags full of trash! Yikes!

So now I am off to helping the Princess with English 2 and then off to the Bookworm's wrestling match, and then it's off to Church and Choir!

Tomorrow is another day with more cleaning and more things to organize and yes, label!

Blessings-

Deployment, It's Begun

2011-11-29T10:02:00.000-05:00

Deployment, if you're a Military Spouse that's the one word that you don't like to hear, but unfortunately, it's quit the norm these days. For our family, yesterday was "D" Day, in other words, Deployment Day. We all four new it was coming, but nothing can ever prepare you for that last hug, kiss, good-bye and wave. Nothing, no matter how many times you've done it before.

We've had a very good past week. We went on a small family vacation, celebrated Thanksgiving, put up the Christmas tree and lights, and spent alot of time just hanging out as a family acting goofy together! It's been great family time together.

So now, we start our ticker for the count down to the end of the Major's Deployment. He called a few hours ago to let me know that he had made it. I praise God for his safe arrival there. I miss him already, as do the Princess and the Bookworm. Night time is the time of day that I hate, when everyone is in bed and it's quiet, I don't like it, it's the only time that I feel lonely so I stay up and watch TV or read or get on the computer. We had rain last night, it was nice to hear the rain coming down, I love the rain.

What else do I not like? Thinking to myself, wow it feels really cold in the house....walk to the thermostat and realize that the air is on! Turn I heat is what I do and put on a jacket!

So on with my day. Today I plan to finish our Jesse Tree for Advent so that we can begin tonight, if you do not do this in your family I want to encourage you to do so. Here is a link that you may find helpful: http://www.aholyexperience.com/ .

Blessings

2 Weeks and Counting

2011-11-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

We're gearing up and getting ready in our house, if you're a Military Spouse you know what I mean, Deployment. This daunting one word has been hanging over our house for around 4 months and the time for it to appear and take it's affect starts soon, too soon. If you've been through a Deployment you know what I mean, it seems as if the things that need to be done and the things that you would like to do before your Spouse leaves is all of a sudden getting down to last straw or down to the wire! YIKES...where did the days go!

Lists have been made for me by the Major for bills, etc. Wills and Powers of Attorneys have been done, major things around the house that needed to be done are done with a few last appointments getting done this week.

Time together as a family during these last few days are priceless, you as a Spouse want to spend your every waken hour with your Spouse before he leaves while your two teens try not to talk or mention the word Deployment because they began to fill their eyes with tears. You find yourself eating at all of the Spouse's favortie Restaurants because you know that all he'll be eating for the next months will be the Dining Facility where he'll be deployed at. You suddenly find yourself liking to wash clothes because you know that you want be washing his for awhile and when you make the bed in the morning you realize that his side want be untucked for much longer. You sit by him whenever you can and hold his hand whenever possible because you know that in a few days you'll long to touch him, and you want to remember his touch for as long as you can. You look at the coffee pot when you are putting up the dishes out of the dishwasher and think that there will not be a lot of coffee making going on because unlike your spouse you don't have to have coffee in order to survive your day, but you also know that you'll miss that little bit of coffee that he leaves in the pot every morning just for you so that you can have a cup. You begin to think of all the things that he'll miss while he's away and you automatically begin to add them up and start charging up the video camera.

You've been down this road before and you remember what you've learned through the last Deployments: You've learned to be more independent, you've learned to have more grace, you've lost anxiety and gained patience, you've grown a much closer and special relationship with your children, you've gone through something that not everyone gets to experience, you've gained more self-esteem and you're not afraid or ashamed to ask for help if you know you can't do it on your own.

Deployment, who knew that one little word could be so big and mean so much.

Month of Giving: Day 14

2011-10-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 14
Monday, October 24, 2011

This morning I waited from 8-11 thinking that the Time Warner person was suppose to be here....not...I called and it's tomorrow morning! So I wasted a few hours this morning waiting :(

On another thought, I decided what I was having for dinner this morning after taking the Princess to school. I don't like figuring out the menu each day thinking of what to have for dinner! Tonight we had hot wings and rice-a-roni and broccoli, it was yummy!

Today was nice today being able to pick up the Princess right after school. There is no more Band Practices right now because Competitions are over, so she'll be home right after school from now on, which is huge because we want have to wait till 7 to eat dinner anymore!

So today I pick her up from school and she's telling me about her day, then she tells me that she needs a book,"Lord of the Flies"for English Class and that she needs it by Friday. Note: she did not ask me to go and get it today for her. So I tell her, get my phone and look up the number for Books A Million, she does and she calls to see if they have the book. They do, so I tell her that I will drive right now and get it for her. She looks at me and smiles, then says, but I don't need it till Friday you don't have to get it now. I drive and we get her book.

My gift today was driving the Princess straight from School to the Book Store to get her book for English Class. I didn't have to go and get the book today, but I did.

Have you started your giving challenge?

Month of Giving: Day 13

2011-10-24T09:13:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 13
Sunday, October 23, 2011

Today was a wonderful day in the House of the Lord! I love Sundays! The morning started off with my Sunday School Class, I love my Middle School Sunday School Class, they are a great group of Teens! After Sunday School we had a wonderful Worship Service! Then, after Church, it was FAIR time!

Our two kids have never been to the State Fair. And NO it isn't because we just would never take them, it's just because we lived in Europe for say, umm, 6 years!!!! So after Church, we came home and changed, ate lunch at McDonalds(more monopoly pieces....go ahead and laugh, when I hit it big I will NOT share with you!!), then we made it to the State Fair! And I must add that it was FREE admission for us Military people!!! So nice, it saved us $40.00!! We walked around, the kids rode some rides, they played some games, ate funnel cakes, bought a candied apple with nuts, etc. etc. etc.

So my giving today was to The Princess. We all four played the game were you roll the ball into the holes and your horse moves and if your horse makes it to the end first, you win! So, yes, we all four played, family time! And it was fun! And guess who won....yep, that's right, Mom did, I did!!! So they asked me what stuffed animal I wanted and I turned to the Princess and asked her which one she wanted. She of course picked the red angry bird :) And if you are thinking that it wasn't fair because I didn't win anything for The Bookworm, it's ok because he had already played another game and he won his own self something :) The Princess smiled when the game person gave her the angry bird. I have to admit, the angry bird it cute!

Today I gave to my Daughter.......what was your gift to someone today?

Month of Giving: Day 12

2011-10-24T08:59:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 12
Saturday, October 22, 2011

Today was Saturday and what a nice Saturday it was! The day was beautiful and the weather was awesome! It was a nice Fall day today and the perfect day for raking the pine straw that had fallen in the front and back yards of The Cottage.

Not only was raking done, but picking up of pine cones and sticks was also done along with mowing and planting a few plants. It's amazing how the yard takes on a whole different scene after you do yard work, it's like a different canvas! Beautiful and a sense of accomplishment!

Today my giving was not only picking up pine cones and sticks in my yard, but also in my neighbors' yards as well. I extended my pick-up in the yards of both of our side neighbors. I know that our one neighbor fosters children and as of right now they are foster parents to a special needs child, so I know that they do not have a lot of time to work in their yard, so I decided why not extended my pine cone and stick pick up into their yard, so I did. The neighbors on our right are a dual working couple with 3 kids ranging from 8, 6, to 2. They live a very busy family life, so I figured why not extend my pine cone and stick pick up into their yard too, so I did. What was really cool about extending my work into their yard was that neither neighbors were home, so it was a giving in disguise! I love giving secretly and in disguise!

Have you given to someone today?

Month of Giving: Day 11

2011-10-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 11
Friday, October 21, 2011

Today the kids had NO School, it was the end of the first quarter, so they had a day off. We started the day by being able to sleep in. We then got up got dressed and went and ran a lot of errands! First on our list was to drive to Post and get The Bookworm his flu shot and to pick up The Princess's medicine. Then we had lunch at McDonalds(we wanted Monopoly pieces :) ) Then we got pumpkins, got Halloween costumes, and got groceries. I would say that we had a pretty productive day, and we even ended it by going to the Princess's High School Football game.

Today I sent a get-well card to a Church friend. I hope it blessed her when she received it in her mailbox. Even though she didn't have a big procedure done, just a little one, I still felt the need to send her a card saying that I was praying for her and that I hope that she would be up and out soon.

It is the little things in life that counts. Our giving does not have to be BIG, the little things in life are the things that make more of an impact on our lifes than the BIG.

Month of Giving: Day 10

2011-10-20T21:10:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 10
Thursday, October 20,2011

Today was our Friday in our house...why?...because the kids do not have school tomorrow. Tomorrow morning = sleeping in!!! I am looking forward to sleeping in and so are my two teens!

I am realizing that the more that I give, the less I think about my own needs and problems. No matter how bad we may think that we have it at times, there is ALWAYS someone worse off than you!

Today I bought a mum and a sympathy card for a friend/neighbor of ours. Their family lost their Uncle, they were really close to their Uncle. I wanted to do something for them, so I decided to get them a mum. Mums are such a wonderful plant because you can plant them and they come back year after year after year. I thought that it would be an awesome idea to get them a mum because when they plant it year after year when it blooms it can remind them of their Uncle. I have a plant that I got from my Grandfather's funeral and it is still living. Every time I see it, it not only reminds me of my Grandfather, but also of my Grandmother. It makes me smile and remember.

Today my gift was a mum........what did you gift today......who's life have you touched........who have you made feel important..........who have you made smile?

Month of Giving: Day 9

2011-10-20T08:22:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 9
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Today was a nice day, the weather was a beautiful Fall day with lots of wind in the evening. What could be better than a day of grocery shopping, cooking, going out for yogurt as a family and Church. I can't think of anything better!

For the last couple of weeks I have been a really wonderful Non-fiction book called the Deacon's Wife. It was one of those books that I couldn't put down. It gave lots of wonderful information, tips and ideas. I thought that the book was so good that I wanted to give a copy of the book to a new Deacon's wife and friend at Church. She is also an avid reader so I new that she would be greatly for the book and appreciate the gift, I even wrote a little note to her in the front cover of the book. Last night after Church I walked up to her and gave her the book. She was very appreciative. I look forward to her reading it and getting her thoughts on the book.

So today my gift was giving a book that I enjoyed reading to a friend. Not only did it make me happy giving it to her, but it made her happy.

Have you started your giving challenge yet?

Month of Giving: Day 8

2011-10-19T10:39:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 8
Tuesday, October 18, 2011

This morning was a usual morning in our household. The Major left for work at around 6:30 am, the Princess was up get dressed for school and I woke up the Bookworm at 6:30, with him finally getting up at 6:45. He is my hard one to get up in the mornings! I, as usual, pull up the lunch menu on the computer to see if I need to make the Bookworm's lunch or not, of course it's items that he want eat, so I'm off to the kitchen to make his lunch. Once I finish making his lunch, I remember that I saw a slip of paper in his room that said that he had an over due Library book at School. I reminded myself that when he came downstairs from taking a shower that I needed to tell him that he needed to get $1.20 of his money and pay his fine and turn in his book. I wasn't going to pay it because I didn't forget to turn it in.

I then got dressed and started thinking.....you know what, we have change, let me look in the Major's change jar and my wallet for coins. So I rounded up $1.45. When the Bookworm was getting ready for School I gave him the change and told him to pay is fine with it. He smiled and said thank you and then left for School. After I got home from taking the Princess to School, I noticed that the Bookworm had left some of the change on the bar. Oh well, guess he figured he had enough to pay the fine and he only needed $1.20 and didn't want to take the extra 25 cents.

When the Bookworm got home from School I asked him if he turned in his book and paid his fine. He said yes. He then told me that the Librarian told him that his fine was 5 cents more than what he had. He said he told her that he didn't have anymore change and she told him not to worry about it that he was fine.

My gift today was to my son, me paying his Library fee and through this small act of kindness, he also saw it multiply even more to him though his Librarian. Acts of giving can be a catchy thing ;)

Month of Giving: Day 7

2011-10-19T10:25:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 7
Monday, October 17, 2011

I went to bed last night thinking that I would have nothing to do tomorrow except washing clothes, I was wrong! At 5:00 am the Major and I awoke from our bed with the Princess standing in our room shouting MOMMY,MOMMY, MOMMY! She was having one of her dizzy, nausea, stomach pain, diarreha,etc. She hadn't had an episode in quit a long time, so this was unusual. I spent the next 30 minutes tending to her, finally getting her back into the bed. She slept for 4 hours and then awoke feeling better but feeling exhausted and weak from the episode. The rest of the day consisted of her staying home from school and the two of us heading on Post spending it at the Doctor. Not what I had planned for the day.

By the time we saw the Doctor, got flu shots, waited for ever at the Pharmacy(which if you are in the Military you know how long you have to wait sometimes, and to top if off, it was MONDAY!), and pulling through the drive-through at Chick-fi-la to get her something to eat....we finally arrived at home at around 2:30. The Princess went and got straight in her bed to take a nap. I threw in a load of laundry, checked my messages, did some dishes and then decided that my gift today would be to myself. My gift to myself was going to be for me to lay on the couch and take a nap! For those that know me, you know that I never take a nap, so this was def. a gift to myself. Do I feel guilty for giving a gift to myself? Def. not.

Month of Giving: Day 6

2011-10-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 6
Sunday, October 16, 2011

Today was an AWESOME day in the House of The Lord! Our Region's Awana Missionary came to our Church today and spoke during our morning worship service. I enjoyed hearing him speak. He spoke on the importance of Children's Ministries.

Tonight we had the pleasure of having him come to our Awana's Program. He didn't just come and watch, he came and jumped right in! He listened to kids say their verses, participated in my lesson with my T&Ts, sang praise songs with us and prayed with us. All of the kids loved him, and he spoke to every one of them, he took the time to get to know everyone. He is a very personal person and he loves being an Awana Missionary, you can tell.

I have a total of 14 kids in my T&T group. On the first night I asked all of them if they had their own personal Bible. One of them told me that he didn't have a Bible, so a couple of weeks ago I went out and bought a Bible for him. He hadn't been there in a few weeks and he was back tonight. So, when everyone else rotated to Music, I kept him and told him that I had something for him. I wrote his name in the Bible that I had bought him and told him that it was his. A huge smile came across his face, he told me that he had never had his own Bible before. I was happy that I was able to get one for him. I told him that now he had his own Bible that he could look up verses in and he would now be able to study and read God's Word any time that he wanted to. He smiled again and said thank-you. That was enough for me :)

My gift for today was the Bible that I gave to one of my T&T boys. I pray that through him, God will allow this boy to witness and minister to his family that they all may come to know Him.

Month of Giving: Day Five

2011-10-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day 5
Saturday, October 15th, 2011

Today was The Major and I slept in! We then got up and got dressed in our shorts and tee shirts and we then went and got breakfast which was included with our stay at our Hotel. After a wonderful breakfast The Major wanted to go for a walk on the beach. We went back up to our room to change into our swimsuits and heading down to claim our spot(not that we needed to because it was off-season and there were many many lounge chairs to pick from)where we sat and sunned yesterday. Although I really did not want to walk on the beach and get all sandy, I agreed and we strolled the beach. We walked up and back down the opposite side that we walked last night(Last night the walk was nice, there was a full moon and it was beautiful!)we walked 20-30 minutes and then we headed back to our "spot" and then we headed to the hot tub. We soaked in the hot tub for awhile and then lounged in the sun talking. I was amazed at the number of butterflies flying around, they were everywhere and they would fly as high as the hotel!

At 12:00 we checked(we requested a late check-out) and we headed to find the Bass Pro Shop. We looked and shopped for about an hour then it was time to decide where we were gonna eat for lunch......California Dreaming it was! And it was good! We both got their famous Californina Dreaming salad and it was delicious! After lunch we filled up the van, and ran an errand for my Mom at a Shop called the Christmas Mouse. Then we headed home stopping at McDonald's for large carmel frappes on the way!

Today my gift was to my husband, The Major, the love of my life! My gift to him was walking on the beach this morning with him. Even though I really didn't want to walk on the beach because I didn't want to get all sandy, I knew that he did. I knew that walking on the beach would make him happy, so I put my own feelings aside and I thought of him. I am glad that I did.......the wet sand on the bottom of my feet with the cold water hitting my toes felt wonderful and The Major's hand holding my hand was priceless. We were just one couple lost at sea :)

Month of Giving: Day Four

2011-10-15T20:40:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day Four
Friday, October 14th

It's 9:00 am and The Major and I are on our way to Myrtle Beach! We got the kids off to school, loaded up our luggage in the van and we're now on our way! We pull into McDonald's for breakfast, hit the drive-thru and ate in the van on our way. We shared great breakfast together and had great conversation too! We got into Myrtle Beach around 12:00 and we were both famished, bet you'll never guess where we decided to get lunch.....yep, McDonald's!! This time we went in and ate, afterwards we went to Hudson's Flea Market and walked around for awhile. Then we went to our Hotel. Check-in at the Hotel wasn't til 3:00pm, it was only a little after 2:00pm, so we were hoping that our room would be ready! To our surprise it was! What a nice room the Major found us, right on the beach, with a balcony over looking the ocean! So nice!! We put everything in the room and changed into our swim-suits and went to the pool. Yes, the pool! Believe it or not, it was 80 degrees at Myrtle Beach, it was very beautiful weather. This Hotel had 5 heated pools, 2 heated lazy rivers, 1 heated kiddie playground pool and 3 hot tubs! We got into the lazy river and we decided to be lazy in it for almost an hour! We both had floats/tubes and we just floated and talked and talked and talked! The we got into the hot tub for awhile and then we lounged on the lounge chairs suning, talking and drinking coffee! Around 4:30 we decided to go up to the room and get ready for the Show that we had booked to go see that night at 6. We were dressed and out the door by 5:20 and at the Show at 5:45.

Before we went in to see the Show, I texted my Brother to let him know that we were going to dinner afterwards and would he like to meet us for a late dinner. He said sure and after our Show we met him at the Restaurant. We had a wonderful time talking, laughing and eating all you can eat crab legs with my Brother. It's very rare to spend time together like that together, I enjoyed it very much. After we were done eating, I told my Brother that we would pay for his meal. He smiled and said thanks, that the food was really good and that he would definately have to come back and eat there again!

My gift for the day was paying for my Brother's meal. I know how it feels when somone says that they will pay for your meal. You're surprised, happy and grateful all at the same time! A few months ago some friends of ours from Church asked us to go to a Christian Concert with them, they said that the couple that was suppose to go with them couldn't so they had two free tickets to give to someone and they asked us to go. We said that we would love to go, so we did. We enjoyed the Concert. Afterwards all four of us were famished so we decided to go eat. When the bill came, the couple payed for us. We were not expecting them to pay. We were very grateful for their giving that evening with the tickets and the meal. It made me feel very pleased and happy to pay it forward to my Brother. I love you J!

One Month of Giving:Day Three

2011-10-15T20:17:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day Three
Thursday, October 13th

Today was a great day, the Major took a day of leave!!! We went to lunch at Red Lobster, took his truck to the repair shop to get an estimate for the insurance(from the wreck that he was in, not his fault), got a caramel frappe at McDonalds(boy do I love caramel frappes!), and make a return and purchase at Lowe's.

The Bookworm got home from School at around 3:15 and I helped him get his clothes packed for Nana and Papa's for the weekend. I also helped the Princess get her things together when she got home from Band Practice. I also got Sandy and Daisey's(our two cockers) things together for Nana and Papa's too! I put all of the Bookworm's bags on the barstool and put a birthday gift for my Aunt on the bar, along with a piece of my homemade apple pie for my Dad to take for when he picked up the Bookworm tomorrow after School. My Dad loves my apple pie, so I new that he would appreciate that I saved a piece for him. The Major and I are going to Myrtle Beach for the weekend and The Bookworm is staying with my parents and The Princess is staying with a friend that's in Band with her. It was a busy day of making sure that everyone had everything that they needed for their sleepovers, not to mention the several loads of laundry that I also did and dinner that I made :) I was pooped by the time the kids went to bed!

Today my gift the piece of homemade apple pie that I saved for my Dad. Knowing that he would smile when he saw the piece on the bar for him when he picked up The Bookworm made me happy. Even though The Major and I wouldn't be home when he picked up The Bookworm, I knew that my Dad would have a smile on his face when he saw it sitting there and he would be grateful, and even happier when he got home and was able to consume it!

One Month of Giving: Day Two

2011-10-15T20:04:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day Two
Wednesday, October 12th

Today was my second day of giving. My brother stayed with us last night on his way to Myrtle Beach for the Mini Gold Master's Tournament, he got in at around 11 pm and crashed on our couch. I made homemade waffles and sausage for breakfast this morning, everyone enjoyed! Own his way off to Myrtle Beach, my Brother quickly grabbed a sheet of paper out of his bag and asked if I could mail it for him. I asked him if he had an envelope already addressed with a stamp on it, he said no, so I told him that I would take care of it for him. He showed the address of where to mail it and I told him not to worry that I would get it in the mail for him today. He was then off to his Tournament....hope he wins!

The Princess had an orthodontist appt. today and we had Church and I had Choir Practice. I was elated when the love offering basket came around at Choir tonight because I finally had spare dollars in my purse to give! I eagerly grabbed the basket, reached in my purse and grabbed the only money I had, $3.00, and happily threw it in the basket. This money is used to to put towards fruit baskets, etc. for those in our Choir that may get sick, have surgeries, etc. We also had an awesome Choir practice tonight, we practice our anthem for Thanksgiving, and it sounded terrific on the first(and only) run through!!!!!

So today, I count addressing and mailing my brother's letter, and my $3.00 contribution to the Choir love offering as my gifts for the day.

One Month of Giving: Day One

2011-10-15T19:50:00.000-04:00

Giving:Day One
Tuesday, October 12th, 2011

Today I decided to make a homemade apple pie for my family. We went to the mountains a week ago and today I finally had free time to make that apple pie that I had been promising to make them. I decided that this would be my gift for the day, a gift to my family. It made me feel so happy to see their happy, smiling faces when they walked in the door from School and Work and Band and noticed that Mom had made a homemade apple pie just for them!

One Month of Giving

2011-10-15T19:36:00.000-04:00

I just finished an very wonderful book, "29 Gifts" by Cami Walker. I give this book 5 stars and I highly recommend that you read it!

The short of the book is this: Cami, at the age of 33, was diagnoised with MS(multiple sclerosis) one month after her wedding day. She knew her life would never be the same. Always having negative thoughts about her condition and what her future would now hold, she was given a strange prescription from a friend: Give 29 gifts in 29 days. Her friend told her that by giving she wold be focusing on others and what she had to offer others. She told Cami that the gifts could be anything, but that the giving had to authentic and mindful and at least one gift had to be something she felt was very scarce in her life. During the 29 days, Cami was amazed at what unfolded in her life. Her health and happiness changed and so has her whole life.

I encourage you to either go out and buy the book, download it on your kindle, or go to the Library(like I did) and check it out!

For the next month, I will I am going take the GIVING challenge and I will Blog everyday about my days giving.

Are you up for the challenge?

A Week Full of Happenings at The Cottage

2011-09-24T10:41:00.001-04:00

This week has been a week full of happenings at the Cottage, despite our busy, normal week, it got a lot busier with Mom going down! And you know when Mom goes down, the whole house goes into chaos and overdrive! Surprisingly, things continued on the norm....

Sunday was busy as usual, Breakfast at Church, Sunday School, Church, lunch, Choir Practice and AWANA. Sunday night, I start to feel not well and start slowly getting what I know is a migraine. Monday, normal school day and starting to feel worse in my abdomen, plus the headache is actually a migraine. Tuesday, feeling much worse and still a migraine, but life continues at the Cottage. Tuesday night, I'm in so much pain that I can't move, the Major wants to take me to the ER, I say no, lights off and I try to sleep hoping that pain meds I took will knock me out! Wednesday, I am out not knowing that the Major has gotten the kids up and off to school and has made me an appointment to go to the Doctor and that he has called work and told them that he will not be in today. 10:00 and we are sitting at the Doctor, 11:00 and the Doctor thinks I may have a busted ovary. 11:10 I receive morpheine in the form of a shot, between the hours of 11:15 and 12:30 can't sleep even though I am tired because I have to drink so much water to have an ultrasound done at 12:45. 1:00 finally get two ultrasounds done and in so much pain while getting it done! 1:45 on way back to the Doctor to get results from the tests. 2:00 tests were fine, next step Doctore calls Hospital ER to tell them I am on my way and suspects diverticulitis and a possible burst. 2:15 arrive at ER. 2:30 blood is taken, another urine sample is taken, IV is put in and more morpheine is given into my IV. Pain is still there... Must drink white chalk "berry tasting" for CT scan. Hold my nose for 10 minutes while I drink two huge cups hurridley so I could just be done with it, mission accomplished and feel like throwing up! An hour later taken for CT scan, two or done one normal and one with ink injection in my IV. 6:00 and Doctor comes in says CT was normal, is sending my home and diagnosis is "abdominal pain". The Major and I look at eachother and then the Doctor and say, "we knew that when we got here!" Pain meds given, come back if still have pain or if it gets worse.

After 7:00 at night, we are finally home and I get in the bed and I am no better than I was when I left my bed 10 hours earlier! Bed rest on Thursday and a Doctor appt. for my plantar fasciatis(heels) yesterday morning where I got a shot of cortizone in each(fun!) and new meds. to try for pain, today is Saturday and equals staying off my feet as per orders of my Doctor. Tomorrow is Sunday which equals another busy, yet rewarding day in the Lord's House.

No pain in my abdomen today, the heels, that's a whole other story!

Thanking and praising God for a wonderful, loving and caring husband and for friends that prayed for me on Wednesday and for those few, that called, you know who you are and you are always so faithful in checking on me, I love you guys! God is good and He gives us nothing that we can not happen and when I thought I could handle the ultrasound no more due to such an increase of pain while it was being done I just kept quoting Philippians 4:13," I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me."

September

2011-09-08T14:32:00.000-04:00

Can't believe that it is September...a lot has happened in the weeks since my last post! Summer is over, the kids have started school, and we are in our new groove at the Cottage.

The Princess started 10th Grade and the Bookworm started 7th Grade. They are both doing well thus far and are very excited about the classes that they have. The Princess is still going strong in Marching Band and the Bookworm hopes to be on the Wrestling Team this Fall at his school. This marks the first year in 9 years that the Bookworm has not played Fall soccer! I don't know how to act not having to go to soccer practices at least twice a week! This is a Season of change for him this year I suppose, time to venture into the anew.

The Major is enjoying his new job at the AFB. My van has become his since the drive is 45 minutes long and the van doesn't use as much gas as his truck, thus with that being said, his truck is now mine during the day. I prefer my van, but oh well, at least I have something to drive. The deployment that was suppose to happen hasn't and even that has changed several times. We have our FAITH in God and whatever happens, happens, when and if it happens. The Major is still taking classes and pursuing his Seminary Degree, he is much closer to the end now than he was. God has great things planned for him!

As for me, I am still the wife, mom, taxi driver, dogkeeper, maid, errand runner and cook that I have always been, yet I wouldn't have it any other way. I enjoy doing for my family and the silence that is in my house during the day while the kids are at school and the Major is at work is broken with an array of giggles, doors shutting, fridge and cabinets banging, and dogs barking in excitement once they arrrive home in the afternoons. The silence is gone and it's a wonderful feeling to hear the busyness of our family rumbling through the Cottage.

Summer to now Fall brings an end to a wonderful garden that was in the back yard at the Cottage. Both front and back gardens in the back yard are now pulled. Leaves are beginning to fall off the fruit trees, the water in the pool is cool and the air is beginning to have that little bit of crisp in it. Soon it will be time to rake the leaves and decorate the yard with mums and pumpkins to add just that little bit of Fall pop to the Cottage.

So, good-bye Summer and white shoes, and hello to the memories and lessons that are to be made as Fall is beginning.

School Supplies = Feminism

2011-08-12T10:01:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the Bookworm and I went "back to school" shopping to get all of the "necessary" school supplies that he needs for the new school year. After shopping for his school supplies yesterday I am on my soapbox more than ever and I am on a roll with this Blog Post, so I hope you're sitting down and drinking your coffee while reading this!

I have to admit that before we even stepped into a Store yesterday to shop I was ready. I had my sale papers in hand and had everything circled that was on sale that he needed, and I was prepared that we may have to go to multiple stores to get all the supplies that he needed.

First stop.....Target. First thing on our list were 2 pencil pouches for his binders. The Bookworm immediately spotted the pencil pouches hanging on a rack and went to them to look for 2 that he wanted for his binders. Much to my dismay, there were none for him. Why you ask......they were all "femine". They were all aimed for girls. Pretty pink and purple and teal colors, flowers and circles and dots, cute little kittens and puppies and birds! You name it and it was all for girls! We looked at eachother and said, NEXT!

Next on our list was binders and he needed 2. So we went to the aisle with the binders, and by the way we are still in Target. He begins looking and automatically says I will get a black one, so of course we immediately find a black one. Then he's looking around and the only other color he saw that he could get was white, but unfortunately they didn't have the size binder that he needed. So we look at eachother and I tell him to just put the black binder back that we would go to Office Depot to look for binders. If any place is going to have binders, it's going to be Office Depot. Once again when looking for binders if you were shopping for a girl, you would have had it made! Binders in pretty pink and purple and yellow, with kittens and puppies and birds, and of course there were those with flowers and circles and dots! Yuck! Come on companies that make this stuff, GET REAL, there are boys in this world too! NEXT!

Next on the list was pencils. We automatically found the traditional woodend pencils and colored pencils and threw those in the buggy, what took us awhile to pick out and find were the mechanical pencils! We couldn't just grab a pack of mechanical pencils because most of the pencils were once again femine! Colors of pretty girly purple and pink and teal and yellow and mauve. Gee!! Finally and I do mean finally after much searching, we found a Target brand of mechanical pencils that had red, blue, green and yellow. Solution to the yellow pencils, give them to his sister The Princess! NEXT!

Next on the list was a new book bag. It didn't take him long to scan the aisle with the book bags and the Bookworm immediately say that he didn't see anything. Why didn't he see anything..........once again they were aimed for girls! Pretty colors of pink and purple and teal, kittens and puppies and birds, circles and dots and flowers! We looked at eachother and said lets get out of here! NEXT!

The second stop on our School Supply Marathon shopping trip was Office Depot. Immediately upon entering Office Depot we went to the binder aisle and mind you we needed not 1 but 2, so on the hunt we went for 2 masculine, not femine binders. Of course there were all the pretty femine colors! What colors was the Bookworm able to come out of Office Depot with: Navy and Black! Seriously companies start thinking of boys too! NEXT!

Another item was a hand held pencil sharpener. Now how hard do you think it is to find a masculine pencil sharpener? Answer: Obviously we found out it's pretty hard! After much looking we walked out of Office Depot with a green one. Seriously ready to get home by now! NEXT!

Remember those 2 pencil pouches that he needed, yeah, we found them at Office depot, the only 2 masculine colors that they had navy and dark green! Why is it that girls have so many other options?!? NEXT!

Another item on our list was 3 packs of 5 tab dividers for his binders. Let me just say that we always get these each year at Office Depot because all other stores are ALWAYS out of them! We found them, but of course most of the colors in the pack are once again femine. By this time I was really dismayed ay all the options that girls are offered and very disappointed at how boys are thrown to the back burner. And I must add that while in Office Depot we ran into a Mom and her Son and they were having the same problems as the Bookworm and I were! NEXT!

Last stop on our great adventure in looking for school supplies was Walmart, yep Wally World and if you know me Walmart isn't exactly my favorite store! On the agenda for Walmart was disposable gloves for his Science labs, tissues, paper towels, cleaning wipes, hand sanitizer and notebook paper. (Sorry teachers, but all of the optional items on our list, you can get them yourself because after spending almost $100.00 on supplies for 1 of my children only, you can get your own dry erase board markers!) It was quick and easy to find all of the items that we needed, except for the hand sanitizer, they were all out. In fact the 2 previous stores that we had went to were out of it as well. My plan is to just get it this weekend at a Grocery Store. Oh yeah, and we had luck at Walmart with a bookbag. Not much of a variety of colors for boys like girls when it comes to bookbags. Gotta love that beautiful color of black and gray that the Bookworm picked out!! Wow he had so much variety and color to choose from he couldn't contain himself, so he got a black and gray one!

So, what's my point to this Blog? Companies need to wake-up and realize that there are not only girls in the world but boys also. Why do they make so much stuff for girls and aim their items toward them? Answer: Because they know that girls want cute and pretty and colorful things! And they know that Mom will buy it for them! So that makes money made for Companies. My take, companies need to add more masculine colors to their items. If you are a Mom of boys I know that you are right there with me! How many times have you gone school supply shopping and you've noticed how everything is femine? If you have never paid attention I encourage you to go to your local Target, Walmart, Kmart, etc. and just walk around in the School Supply section.....you will be amazed! I know that I am not alone! So wake up with me Moms of boys, it's time boys are heard and who is the best person to stand up for our boys than us Moms!

My plan, although it may not change the world, but my plan is to write or call the companies that are making these products and tell them to go masculine and cut the femine! Who knows, maybe I'll get some freebies out of it, but best of all I am taking a stand! And taking a stand for my BOY!

Moms of boys....unite with me!

You Had Them.....You Raise Them

2011-08-07T16:39:00.000-04:00

It's amazing to me to see people that have children and they don't take care of them. I mean, they don't attend things at their children's schools, or go to their extra-curricular activities, or the parents don't cook and the family doesn't eat together, or they don't go to Church together or they don't watch their kids. Sad, just sad.

There is an old saying: You had them, you raise them! It really annoys me to see "parents" not doing for their children. Some want to be their children's "friend", let me say one thing, we are not our children's "friend" we are their parent! There is a difference between being a "friend", and being a good parent that has a close relationship with your child. God said that we(parents) are to train up a child and to train them up in the Lord.

Can you believe that sitting down to dinner at night is almost null and void! Yes, it's true! Why would anyone not want to sit down to dinner at night and eat as a family?! I cook every night and we sit down to dinner every night as a family and eat together and talk about how our day was and then we have a 5 minute devotion. Who wouldn't want to be apart of that with their children? It saddens me to see parents going through the drive-through every night and not eating together. Oh yeah, and lets not forget that they don't even stop before they eat and thank God(say the blessing)!

And talking about the blessing, lets talk about those parents that don't go to Church! Seriously people, how can you make it the whole week without going to Church and worshipping God! How can your children grow up and not know God! My heart breaks for those that do not go to Church and for those that don't walk with the Lord. It is not just to go to Church only at Easter and Christmas or for "special occasions". I have always wondered what goes through the minds of those that only attend Church at Easter and Christmas or those special occasions. I would be embarrassed, you know, that they know, that they should be in God's house every Sunday. This also makes me think of those that send their children to a Christian/Church School and they don't even go to Church........really......what is the point?

Then there are those that just don't want to watch their kids. Yes, there are those that work and have to put their kids in day care, that is understandable, but then you have those that don't work and they just throw their kids in day care or off on others at the drop of a hat! Oh, I need to go to Sears, can you watch my kids, oh, we want to have time by ourselves, can you watch my kids, oh, I need to take a nap, can you watch my kids. Or better yet, there are also those that put their kids in things and expect others to take them to what they put them in......really? I am not saying that there is something wrong in having someone watch your kids, but get a sitter, yes, everyone needs a break, but do they need a break everyday!?!

I have seen a lot of this from living all over the world, and right here on the East Coast.........I could go on and on, but to be blunt, You had them, you raise them! And raise them in the way in which they should go!

Surgery and Sickness at The Cottage

2011-08-01T15:01:00.000-04:00

The most anticipated day finally arrived on Thursday, this being the day of my hand surgery. It started out with my surgery being at 12:30, then moved to 2:00, then the morning of with me getting a call to come as soon as I could to the Hospital. That being said, I called the Major on his cellphone and told him as soon as he got home from registering the Princess for her Sophomore year of High School that we needed to leave for my surgery.

We arrived and I was taken back and pre-oped for surgery, the Major was able to go back and stay with me which was nice. For me having to hurry and get there, it wasn't until alittle after 4 pm when I was finally taken back to have my surgery. The Major hadn't had anything to eat all day as well as myself. God provided in the form of an Angel named Erica. She was the head nurse in charge of surgery and she came in at 3:30 to meet us and to see how we where doing, she asked the Major if he had eaten anything and he said no, but that he would wait until they took me back to surgery. She left saying she would be right back and when she returned she called the hospital cafeteria to see what time they closed then she handed the Major two 5 dollar vouchers to the cafeteria and told him to go get something to eat and that he could bring it back up and that if they tried to take me while he was gone that she would make them wait. The Major later told me that he was worried about eating up until that point because earlier he said that God told him that he would provide food for him. What an awesome God!

Not longer than 20 minutes after the Major returned they came and took me to surgery. What do I remember........nothing! I remember being rolled into the operation room and seeing the light above me and asking the anesthiasologist if he had given me something and he said yes, and that was it! We were home at around 6-6:30. It was an all day event! I got home and was in the bed, and then the Major started not feeling well adn he was in the bed too! Friday found the Major going to the Doctor and then home and in the bed resting all day with me still in the bed as well sleeping and resting with my arm propped up. Saturday found the Major returning to the Doctor yet again, still very sick and back in the bed along side me! With ear infections, sinus infection and blisters all in his throat he was not able to eat anything and barely able to drink anything too. So life at the Cottage has been quite interesting since Thursday!

Thanking the Lord for my parents! They came up yesterday and checked on us. My Mom brought homemade chicken and vegetable soup and they took the kids to lunch. Thank you Mom for calling and checking on us during the day as well! Also the Princess has really been taking care of the Major and I too! It hard with only having one hand to use until the 9th! She has helped by opening up pill bottles and things for me. Saltine crackers and coke have been my friend for the past 4 days, finally yesterday I was able to eat without feeling nauseous. The Major started feeling somewhat better late last night and he was finally able to eat some of my Mom's soup even though he was very much in pain trying to swollow, Praise the Lord he was able to becuase he had to eat something besides jello and vanilla yogurt!

I thank my parents for constantly calling and checking on us and for the two people from our Church that called checking on us, and for the one friend that sent a card. It really doesn't take a lot of effort to pick up the phone and call someone and see how they are doing, or send a card. Sometimes people just need to know that others care about them and that they are being thought of and prayed for.

Happy 15th Birthday Princess

2011-07-20T10:17:00.000-04:00

Happy 15th Birthday to the Princess in the family! It's hard to believe that 15 years ago today you were born at Flowers Hospital in Dothan, Alabama while we were stationed at Ft.Rucker. You were born on a Saturday at 1:49 a.m. and you weighed 8 lbs. 11ozs. and 21 1/2 inches long. You were the first child that Mom and Dad had and because of you, we were given the names Mama and Daddy(maybe I'll also mentioned that you said Mama first!).

God had His hands on you right from the start. You were diagnoised with having a VSD heart defect when you were released from the Hospital after being born. For one year we visited your Cardiologist and prayed that the hole in your heart would close. After one year of waiting, there was no closure of the hole and you had open heart surgery when you were 18 months old. With your strong will, you were only down for the time that you were in surgery and recovery, a day after, you were pointing to the wagon in the Hospital wanting to get in and go on a ride! God saw you through and He has continued to see you through. It's as if you never had a heart condition at all, no meds have ever been needed only yearly check-ups with your Cardiologist. Praise be to God! And lets not forget the scar on your chest that provides you with an amazing testimony to share. And although you do have a scar, it has never bothered you and you are not ashamed. Who would be ashamed of what God did for them!

Dad and Mom have been so blessed through-out your 15 years of being in our live and family. We have watched you from the time you were born to the first time you crawled to the first time you walked to the first tooth that you got to the first time you rode a bike to the first day of school. We've seen you when you're happy, we've seen you when you're sad, we've seen you through disappointments and we've seen you through the celebrations. You are a sweet and wonderful daughter and a blessing to us. You're not only a daughter but you are also a wonderful big sister to your little brother. Not only are you his sister but also his friend. Our lives wouldn't be the same without you and we cherish you and the memories that we have made and will make.

So on your special day today, your BIRTHday, may you remember that you are not only our daughter, but you are first and foremost a child of the King, our Lord, Jesus Christ! "You are fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:14

15 Years Ago Today

2011-07-19T09:39:00.000-04:00

Fifteen years ago today we were stationed at Ft.Rucker in Alabama and the Major and I were expecting our first child, the Princess. Fifteen years ago today I was at Flowers Hospital in Dothan, Alabama being induced because a certain Princess didn't want to be born on or around her due date, she wanted to be 2 weeks late! She was even late for her own birth, after being induced for 21 1/2 hours and 3 hours of pushing, she wasn't born til the following morning at 1:49 a.m.

She topped the scales at 8 lbs. 11 ozs and our lives have not been the same ever since, she is a blessing to us.

Regulated

2011-07-12T18:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my usual 3 month check-up for my thyroid. It was time to see my Doctor and get my blood work done. I have to admit that I have been feeling pretty well lately. Not cold all the time or tired or anything, so I was praying that the news would be good. Plus in April she put me on the name brand thyroid medicine Synthroid, taking me off of the generic brand.

Sooooo, today I got the call and for the first time that I started the battle with my thyroid, for right now my levels are regulated! You can not even begin to imagine how wonderful and how awesome the news felt! I give God all the glory! Thank you Lord for your faithfulness!

The next challenge is my carpal tunnel. I saw the specialist/surgeon on Friday and he said that I def. need surgery. Sooooooo, on the 28th of this month I will be getting surgery on my right hand. This will put Mom out of commission for about 10 days the Doctor said. I will def. have to humble myself and ask for help because the Princess will be starting Band Camp that week and I will not be able to drive her to and from. Right now, I am just praying that the Major doesn't deploy before I am able to get my surgery. He reports to his new assignment on Friday, and we are praying that he finds out when he'll deploy or if he'll even have to deploy, once he gets there Friday.

Our house is happy today, and I thank God for his love and faithfulness!!

Vacation=Relaxation

2011-06-29T19:04:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday we got back home to the Cottage after being gone for a week. We were gone on vacation to the beach, Myrtle Beach. We had a very relaxing vacation. No agenda, just to sleep in, get up, go to the beach, and then do whatever else our family felt like doing for the afternoon/evenings. One word: VACATION

What is a vacation? Or leave? Or holiday(as called in Europe)? All are a time of rest, relaxation and pleasure. That is exactly what our vacation was too! The first time in awhile that we have been away on vacation as a family just the four of us away without going and visting family along the way. It was nice to just focus on the four of us.

I must say that if you want to have a really nice vacation, and a really inexspensive one as well, and you are an active military family, Myrtle Beach is the place to go! We received huge military discounts everywhere that we went. For example:

Ripley's Aquarium....the general price here is $21.99 for an adult(ages 12 and up). We paid only $21.00 plus tax for the 4 of us! Awesome deal! And to be truthful, it was not worth the regular price of $21.99 a person, thank you Lord for the huge military discount and thank you Ripley's!

Another place that we enjoyed was Mt.Atlanticus putt-putt. This is one of the coolest putt-putts in Myrtle Beach. It has high tiki huts and a high-rise tiki torch. The regular price at Mt.Atlanticus is $10.00 per adult and children up to age 12 are $6.00. We all four played for $24.00! Wow what another awesome military disount! We had a fun time playing at Mt. Atlanticus and I must say, if you're wondering who won, it was I....MOM!!

Another place where we enjoyed going was to Crabby Mikes to eat. We love going to Crabby Mikes! It's an all you can eat seafood restaurant with crab legs, along with over 200 other items! They gave us a 20 percent military discount. And we were stunned when the Bookworm tried fried shrimp and loved it! He ate two plates of fried shrimp!! Here's a pic of their infamous van!

Another place was Wild Water and Wheels. Wild Water and Wheels is a waterpark. We spent all day there, and had a great time! Once again we were given a nice military discount. Regular price per person is $29.95....our discount was $18.40 a piece! Awesome discount! Thank you Wild Water and Wheels! The Major and I enjoyed lazying in the lazy river for most of the day, although he did ride the slides with the Princess and the Bookworm too. Mom even rode some slides as well! It was a relaxing day. At the end the kids fed the turtles that were there, there were sooo many different sizes of them! They were all cute!

If you are ever in Myrtle Beach and you want to try something different than putt-putt then you must go to Maze Mania! Maze Mania is awesome, it's a maze, you must find the cheese and then find your way out. If you find the cheese and get out in 5 minutes or under, you win a free t-shirt! And if you're wondering if we won a shirt, no, but we did get out in under an hour, 40 minutes to be exact! We had a fun time!

The Major and the Princess enjoyed building a sand-castle. The Major and the Bookworm enjoyed playing football on the beach. The Bookworm also lived in the water enjoying his boogy board.

And of course we enjoyed going on the beach everyday. How can you not love the ocean. It's an awe to look at the ocean, and think that it is one of the most awesome and wonderful creations that God has made. There is nothing like sitting on the beach and reading a good book, and I must add that I read and finished two books on my kindle! It was also nice to get into the ocean water as well. I am usally one to not get into the ocean water, but it felt really nice.

The Major spending time with the kids. It's days like this that I'll miss when he's deployed.

VBS,Father's Day,Vacation and A Birthday

2011-06-28T14:47:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I have blogged, but I do have a good excuse as you can tell from the title! That's right, we've been pretty busy around the Cottage and not until today have I had some free time to sit down and even look at my Blog.

Alot has gone on.......we had VBS at Church(our family was in charge of Recreation time, and boy did we have fun), then it was Father's Day, then we had vacation(we left after Church on Father's Day), the ending the Vacation/last few weeks with the Major's birthday being yesterday. Whewwww......and now here we are and we are on a Terrific Tuesday.

I have lots that I want to blog about, but I think that I'll split it up into separate titles and blog about them each individually. That should keep me busy with blogging for awhile! So for now, I'll bid you good-bye and leave you with a must read book. If you have not read "Heaven is For Real" I strongly recommend that you get this book and read it, it is a MUST read!

Summer Thus Far.....

2011-06-16T15:29:00.000-04:00

Summer thus far at the Cottage has been quite busy, but it has been a good busy. This week we are helping with VBS at our Church. Our family is in charge of Recreation, it's been fun doing the Recreation part of VBS, I think we'll stick with it and do it every year!

We're gearing up for our family vacation, it will be nice to getaway for a while and just concentrate on us, our family. It's hard for people to understand how it is during a deployment, I get tired of trying to explain it, unless you've been through one, you have no clue! I could keep writing about this subject, but I don't want to, on to another.....

I picked my first tomato out of my garden today. It's exciting when you see the harvests of your hard work! I have put lots and lots of hours into my garden. I enjoy gardening, it's my passion.

I also love my children and the Major. I don't look forward to the Major leaving, my heart will be half empty when he is gone. In a month from now, we'll be on the countdown and I am not looking forward to it. But I do plan on staying very busy!!

For now I wish you a fun summery day :) Go make some memories!!

Officially Summer at The Cottage

2011-05-31T22:34:00.000-04:00

Today is the official start of Summer at our Cottage. The kids and I actually got to sleep in.........it felt wonderful!!

We took the day easy and decided to go pick strawberries at a local Strawberry Farm. Just the three of us went and we enjoyed it, we had fun. We picked two big buckets full! Actually we picked one bucket full first, then we decided why not pick another one! I put up 6 freezer bags of sliced strawberries and four bags of whole strawberries up in the freezer. Yet, I also had enough left to just eat!! The strawberries are so yummy and juicy, no sugar is needed.

Tomorrow, tomorrow is the second day of Summer at the Cottage what are we going to do? Well, the Major has a class graduating, so we may go and watch his class graduate, it'll get us out of the house and who knows, we may go to lunch afterwards :)

Hope that you are taking advantage of your Summer and if your a SAHM(stay-at-home-Mom) like me, take time with your kids, spend time with them, don't let them veg or sleep all day, get up and get moving!

Still Here

2011-05-22T21:27:00.000-04:00

As I "predicted" we are all still here. I do not think that I need to say anymore. If you need more, refer to the post before this one ;)

End of the World....Really?

2011-05-20T09:20:00.001-04:00

I have seen the samethings that you have probably been seeing lately......clips on the computer, on the television and even signs that say that the end of the world is tomorrow, Saturday, May 21st. Really, because the last time I looked, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Matthew 24:36.

If you are believing someone saying that the end of the world is happening tomorrow then I advice you to look at Matthew 24:36. NO ONE knows when the Lord will come, only the FATHER. So should you believe someone, some ordinary person, saying that tomorrow is the end of the world? NO!! But if you are believing it I want to advice you to look at this scripture, Isaiah 46:10 "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." NO ONE knows that day of, only God the Father.

I do not put stock in to the idea that tomorrow is the end of the world/judgement day. There have been so many people over the years trying to predict the exact day of the end of times and guess what.....they were obviously all WRONG or else I wouldn't be sitting here typing this I would be in Heaven right now! And on that note I will say.........

If the end of times were tomorrow or today or in 5, 20 or 30 years(which we know that it could happen at any moment at any time) don't you want to make sure that you are ready. And I don't mean making sure that you have a stock pile of food, or a generator, or tons of bottled water stored, or going crazy and doing whatever you want to do because you think that tomorrow is the end of times, I mean don't you want to make sure that you are ready. Are you a Christian, have you accepted Christ as your Savior? John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." See, if we are a Christian, we are not to worry about the end of the world/the end of times/the world coming to an end because we will not persih, we will be taken to heaven where we will live with our Heavenly Father forever. I get chill bumps just thinking of that, don't you? I can only imagine what that day will be like. Can you imagine what it will be like standing before our Heavenly Father? "Let your hearts not be overly concerned. Believe in The God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s House there are many abodes. I am leaving to prepare a place for you. I will Return and will receive you home to me, that where ever I am you also will be." John 14: 1-3.

On the other hand, if you are not a Christian, or you are wishy washy(is there a God, am I Christian, do I believe and have never asked Him into your life), I would be very afraid. Very afraid as to where I am spending eternity. And people, being a good person doesn't count! There are a lot of "good" people. There are many "good" people that treat others as they would like to be treated, those that would do anything for anybody, those that give of their time and money, but here's the catch with "good" people: being a "good" person is not going to get you into heaven, the only way into heaven is to accept Christ as your personal Savior. It's that simple, because do you want to hear our Father say these words to you: "I never knew you." Matthew 7:23, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

So to put it simple, let's look at the facts:
(1) Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15).

(2) Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny (Hebrews 9:27).

(3) Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16, 36, etc.).

Ok, now let's look at some other facts:
Hell facts:

(1) Hell was designed originally for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).

(2) Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8).

(3) Hell is conscious torment.

Matthew 13:50 “furnace of fire…weeping and gnashing of teeth”
Mark 9:48 “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”
Revelation 14:10 “he will be tormented with fire and brimstone”

(4) Hell is eternal and irreversible.

Revelation 14:11 “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”
Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death, the lake of fire”
Revelation 20:15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

Get what I'm saying? Hell is irreversible! There is no second chance, and the thing about universalism, you know, that all are eternally saved, yeah, that is wrong also. Look at John 3:16 again and also look at John 3:36. It's simple, a person either trusts in Christ or doesn't and rejects Christ and goes to hell. Then there are those that believe that if God is such a loving God that He would not send people to a horrible hell. Wrong again! God is just(Romans 2:11). God has provided the way of salvation to all(John 3:16). Simply put, God doesn't send people to hell, they choose it(Romans 1:18,21,25).

What about you heaven or hell? And as for the end of the world tomorrow......I'll see you right back here on Sunday :)

Out Live Your Life

2011-05-16T17:05:00.002-04:00

Can we out live our life? The answer is...yes. How? Simple, by making a difference. God made us to make a difference. Sure we are going to live forever and out live our life if we are a Christian because God has promised us Heaven as our eternal home. What I'm talking about is here on earth. We can out live our life here on earth as well.

We as Christians are to reach out to others in need. We were commanded to love thy neighbor as thyself. Well, lets face it, there is a whole globe full of people, we are not to only love thy neighbor, but everyone else in the world as well.

Think about it: what was the last thing that you held in your hands the past 24 hours? I'll tell you what I've had in mine; money, food, fresh vegetables from my garden, clean clothes, a warm cup of coffee, a cold glass of water, a brush, a toothbrush & toothpaste, a bar of soap, a warm washcloth, the steering wheel to my van, the handle to the stove and refridgerator. You get the picture, right? Now.....think about those in the world that have never held those items in their hands and never will.

We as Christians should be rockin' our world with Christ's love. We are to reach out and help others and we can start right in our own neighborhood and community. Scared you say? Walk by faith and not by sight. Don't be afraid to start rockin' your part of the world showing Christ's love through you! Put some miles on those shoes of yours, and some dirt on those hands and start getting busy doing what we were made to do!

Think of ways, creative ways, to get out and help those less fortunate than yourself. Think of ways to reach children and adults. Widows, the disabled, seniors and orphans too. Get those engines going, it not too late to out live your life!

Did you ever dream of changing the world? It's not to late!

(I invite you to get the Bible study "Out Live Your Live" by Max Lucado)

The Cottage.....Finally

2011-05-11T13:42:00.000-04:00

It seems as if I have been living in the road lately, and when I say lately, I mean the past 2 1/2 weeks! Between the Princess and the Orthodontist and the Bookworm and I at Doctor appts., I have lived in the road! Today is the first day that I have been home, and I want have to go anywhere until I pick up the Princess from School and then Church tonight.

So finally this morning I was able to go outside at around 8 and work around the cottage and the gardens and pull weeds. Finally!! I have had severe withdrawls from not being able to go outside and work in the yard and my garden! I love being outside, but now I have to start paying alittle more attention as to when I go outside......

Monday I had allergy testing done and I was not allergic to anything, which is a good thing. But, still, there was one more test to do to see why I have a cough that want go away when I get sick. So, yesterday I had a test done to see if I truly have asthma like the Bookworm. I had a breathing test done where they give you medicine to see if an asthma attack is triggered. On the third dose my chest started feeling tight and I started feeling really light headed. That was all of the test that I had to do, I didn't have to go up to step 5 because I had now tested positive for asthma. Finally I have some answers on why I always can't get rid of a cough and why somethimes I have a hard time breathing while I am coughing!

Through all of the not knowing and the testing I have kept my faith in God and have had patience in waiting. What good would it have done to not have faith or patience! We are to trust God with everything!

So, this morning I was outside and got all of the weeding done around the back of the Cottage and around our shed and in both of our gardens, I even hoed the gardens too! But for me, early morning and late afternoon are now the times where I can go outside and work and not get too overheated and start coughing. Praise the Lord that I wasn't allergic to grass or weeds or something else that is outside because I don't know what I would do then because I love being outside!

What I Think

2011-05-04T10:54:00.001-04:00

I have been reading a lot over the past couple of days about what others think of the death of OBL. There are a lot of different views going on. There are many questions that people have, there are those wanting to see pictures, there are those that are rejoicing and dancing in the streets, yet there are those that shed tears, there are also those that believe that it is all over now and troops can come home, while there are others that feel that this is just the beginning of bad things yet to come. Different views and opinions, that is everyones right, so here are mine to share.

Here is the scripture that I immediately thought of, “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live." Many are rejoicing in the death of OBL, I will not rejoice. He was found, shot and killed. I will not rejoice because he has followers and they know what was in his mind. How do we know that they will not retaliate against us, America, or even worse, our troops. This is so very different from Sadam, he was found, taken into custody and put on trial. His exucution was a result of being found guilty.

What I do know......I know that security levels are up on all Military Bases around the World, even here where we live. There are terrorists cells all over the world, we must keep open ears and eyes all the time.

What else do I know.....I know that my husband is deploying soon. Like another Blog that I read, I hate it when people ask me where he is deploying because this is what I hear, " Oh, at least he isn't going to Afghanistan." Let me just say, how would you feel if your husband was deploying to a country where there are people that don't like our troops and that want them dead. Afghanistan is not the only country with people that do not like our troops! Many do not understand how it feels to say good-bye to your husband and while you are saying good-bye, you are praying and hoping that it's not the last good-bye that you say or the last time that you see him. Do you know how my stomach feels to have an empty pit in it? Do you know how my heart feels to be broken and in half? If your husband has never been deployed, then you don't know, you can't understand. And no, your husband going out of town for a "few" days is not the same. When your husband left, did he wear body armor and carry a gun 24/7, even when he went to the bathroom?

What else I know......I know that it is hard being a one parent home when your husband is deployed. Mom has it all, the bills, the kids, the meals, the errands, the pets, and everything and anything else. You wait for that time everyday when your husband gets home from work so that you can tell him how your day was and you can ask him how his day was, you know, that adult conversation instead of teen talk, but you know that it will be awhile before that happens again. Instead, you say a quiet prayer that he is doing well and staying safe, and you continue to keep the faith.

What else I know....that this is our third deployment and it doesn't get any easier. The last deployment was when we were living in Germany and the Princess was 9 and the Bookworm was 6. They were both much younger then. Now the Princess is 14 1/2 and the Bookworm is 12. I do know that I am glad that the kids and I are in the States for this deployment and that we are not that far from family. We have a home in a nice neighborhood with great neighbors, the kids have great schools with many friends, and we have a great Church and Church family. But even though we have all of these things, I do know that it want be any easier, the kids have even said so, they say that it will be harder. Why? Because they know how it feels to not have Dad at home, eating dinner with us, tucking them in at night, going to Church as a family, going to their school and extra-curricular activities, to have Mom be the sole caregiver, attention giver and discipline giver. No other kid can understand a Military kid, to say they understand is not true. While there are those that can not begin to imagine how a deployment is, we have many many friends that we have made all over the World that know exactly how it is. Many have walked in the same shoes that we have and many are on their third, fourth, fifth or sixth deployments. How do they make it, the same way that we do, they have faith in God, we know that God will watch over us and our spouse/father while he is gone. The Bible verse that I cling to is Matthew 4:6, For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." I pray this daily for the Major while he is gone. I also pray my life verse for him as well, 2 Corinthians 2:14"But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes knownthrough us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place". Where ever we are, we can still be a witness for our God.

What else I know......I know that I will miss living in a solely Military community, with lots of other Military spouses and friends going through the same thing. During our last deployment we were living in Germany and we lived on Post, therefore we were solely with other Military spouses and kids going through the same thing as we were at the same time. It was comforting and gave someone to talk to and someone to do things with. This will be one of the hardest things to adapt to this deployment, not living in a predominately Military community. What I plan on doing, driving to our Post each week and getting involved once again in PWOC(Protestant Women of The Chapel) so that I can be in a weekly Bible Study with other Christian women that are also Military spouses, many of which are going through deployments or have gone through deployments, and also making some new friends.

What else I know.......I plan on keeping the kids and I busy. I found that keeping busy is what kept the time going by fast during our last deployment. Staying away from the news is another plan that I have, not that I watch the news now anyway! When we moved to Europe watching the news flew out the window because all you had was CNN or the country's news that you were stationed in which was in their language, so ever since then, we don't watch the news. And a side note on that, we hardly ever watch the television at all! I do know that I will probably be reading a lot again. Not that I don't read now, which I do, I just mean that during the Major's last deployment I read at least 1, if not 2, books a week for the whole year he was deployed! When he redeployed our bedroom looked like a Bookstore! This time I have a Kindle so there shouldn't be that many new books laying around!

What else do I know......that the Major will miss our first Christmas in our new house. But I also know that it will be fun decorating with the kids. I also know that it will be interesting getting the tree down from the attic by myself....I guess I'll just throw it down in parts to the kids! This should be a sight! There will be birthdays, and other Holidays that will also be missed, along with the Princess getting her driver's permit and the Bookworm turning 13.

What else do I know.....that God does not give us anything that we can not handle. During our last deployment I asked God to help me with my anxiousness. Before the Major deployed, I use to be so anxious all the time. It was only a few weeks after the Major had deployed that the Bible Study that was being offered at the PWOC evening Bible Study was, "Calm My Anxious Heart, " by Linda Dillow. Totally God!! That is all that I can say! It took that whole year and when the Major redeployed, my anxiousness had left. The Major noticed a difference in me, and to this day, I have no anxiousness. I also learned to be more independent. Things that I "could" do, but that Major "would" do for me, I learned that I could do it! I know God has something new that He wants me to learn during this deployment as well.

What I know.....that we are still fighing Wars. That I have friends that have lost spouses, sisters, brothers and children because of OBL, and I know that we can not begin to understand how they feel. I do know there is one less bad person in the world. And I do know that I felt a sense of relief when I heard that he was no longer a threat, but a sense of "oh no" when I heard that he was killed. And now, I pray that God will keep His hand on our Nation and every Country in the World where our troops are serving and fighting to protect us and to be with me, my military friends and all of the other spouses as they give part of theirselves to serve our Country and to hold down the homefront while they wait on the return of their soldier.

There is so much more that I could say, but I am not a dweller, so I will end here. Remember, these are my thoughts and opinions. If anyone takes offense, I am truly sorry, but keep in mind that my thoughts and opinions are not directly directed toward anyone. Smile at someone today, for I am sure that you will receive a smile back.

Easter

2011-04-27T16:29:00.000-04:00

The four of us had a wonderful Easter. Easter was such a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Like every Sunday we went to Church to worship our Lord. It amazes me how people feel the "need" to go to Church on Easter when they don't go any other time that the Church doors are open! Really? Do you think that God just wants you to worship Him on Easter? Or Christmas? Hummmm..

After Church we went to my parent's home and enjoyed a nice lunch of grilled burgers and hot dogs. My parents had their pool uncovered so the Bookworm and the Major went swimming. It was too cool for the Princess and I to get it! Of course the kids had to ride their 4-wheelers and we ended the day with our annual Easter egg hunt. The winner: the Princess.

Thank you Lord for sending you Son to die for my sins. God I know You because YOU live within my heart!

Saturday

2011-04-23T22:11:00.000-04:00

It was nice being able to sleep in this morning and then getting things done that needed to be done. Operation DECK for the Major today. He got the railings up and now has to just put the spindles in and the under-skirting. Boy oh boy is it looking really nice! He worked really hard on it all day today and is exhausted!

It was Operation get GROCERIES for the Princess and I this morning. We left the house at 10 am and got home at 2:50pm! We went to CVS, Lowes, JCPenny, Home Depot, Bi-Lo and Walgreen's. We were on a mission to get the deals and use our coupons! And what a success it was, I saved $185.00 at Bi-Lo just by shopping by the sale paper and clipping coupons!!! I saved half of my ticket price at CVS and more than that at Walgreen's!

Our trip to Lowe's was to pick up more hex bolts for the Major for the deck, while there the Princess and I scored two free trees to celebrate Earth Day. Home Depot was a run that we had to make for me. I had to pick up some more green chicken wire fencing for my second garden that I planted in the back yard by my asparagus. I am so excited....I planted my 2 rows of corn on Tuesday this week and it is already coming up!! Thank you Lord for the rain that you sent!

We enjoyed steaks grilled on the grill tonight by the Bookworm, they were yummy. After dinner the kids dyed eggs and I bake some chocolate chip cookies for them and the Major. Now it is off to bed!

Today Was A Good Day

2011-04-22T23:28:00.002-04:00

Today is Good Friday, the day when Jesus died on the cross for my sins, not only my sins but all of man-kinds sins. Thank you God for sending your Son Jesus and that He died for a sinner such as me!

Today was a good day, the kids had off from school, we slept in, and then went shopping. The mission was to find Easter clothes for them. Mission was accomplished and there was no whining or complaining :) Thank you Lord for teen kids :) I am so glad that we are out of the baby, toddler, and elementary phase in our family and our children are able to take care of themselves, follow directions, do what they are told, have manners and are two terrific kids!

Today was also a good day because my tietze syndrome is starting to get much better, my ribs are not hurting as much. Plus I am not coughing nearly as much as I was. I think that it is safe to say that the asthma medicine is working. Thank you Lord for a Doctor that new exactly what was wrong and new how to fix it because 1 month and a half of coughing has driven me crazy!

Today was also a good day because the Major called and said be ready when he got home because we were going to the Melting Pot for dinner, just him and I :) He said that he knew that I was starting to feel better and that we hadn't been out by ourselves in awhile. I love going to the Melting Pot, it's one of my most favorite places! And I love going there with the Major :)

Thank you Lord for the rain that you provided for us today, my garden was blessed to receive the liquid sunshine and it was nice to get the rain because it washed the pollen away.

Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

First Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

Thank you Lord for today, it was good, very good.

Spacers and Tietze Syndrome

2011-04-21T14:53:00.000-04:00

The Princess has started her braces adventure. Yesterday she had her spacers put in. One came out at dinner last night so after school today I will be taking her to get it put back in. She gets her braces on Tuesday. She is excited about getting them. She texted me earlier and said that her mouth is really sore from the spacers, I told her just wait until she gets her braces on!

I have still been fighting this terrible cough! It has gotten better, but still isn't gone yet and now my left side and left front and left back kill me! So back to the Doctor I went. The diagnoisis: from coughing I have developed Tietze Syndrome and my Doctor says I have asthma. Guess the Bookworm had to get his asthma from somebody! So, hopefully the flovent that the Doctor put me on will help. I just want relief. Anything that I do hurts so badly, even just breathing regularly is painful.

Praying that I am well soon. I need to have my carpal tunnel taken care of before the Major deploys and I don't want to do anything until I am well with my arm. A huge blessing is my heels! My heels have not hurt at all since I got the cortizone shots in them. I am enjoying my new shoes that are specifically for plantar faciattis too! My heels are happy and they feel like normal!

Another change is my thyroid medicine. My Doctor took me off of Levythroid and put me on the Brand name Synthroid. I am praying that this name brand medicine works. I am ready for my levels to regulate. Of course when you have Hashimoto's Disease it's a balancing act when it comes to your levels regulating. Sure does make for interesting days, weeks and months! I am praying that my levels are much better when I go back in...July! Yeah, July I go back, that's the month that the Major leaves too.

Although I am battling a lot with me health lately, I know that God does not give us anything that we cannot handle. Maybe, just maybe, God is telling me that I need to slow down and rest, that I don't have to be busy with the house chores or trying to everything for everybody under the sun! Trust me, I have listened and obeyed. Monday I was in the bed ALL day resting, per the Major's request. I mush needed it.

Blessings to you today, smile at someone, it'll make them smile too!

Gearing Up, Getting Ready and Giving Praise

2011-04-19T22:13:00.001-04:00

The Major is gearing up, gearing up for another year long deployment to the sandbox.The picture above is when the Major redeployed from his first deployment in Heidelberg, Germany. He found out on my birthday last month that he will be deploying this Summer. He didn't tell me on my birthday, he waited until the next day. No tears were shed when he told me, I guess because we knew that he would more than likely have to deploy again before he retires. And being that he can retire in less than 3 years means that another deployment could be alot sooner than later. We told the kids their last day of Spring Break when we were eating dinner on the way home from the Great Wolf Lodge. They had always said that if Dad had to deploy again that it would be harder the second time around. The Bookworm was the first to shed tears, followed by the Princess. They know how hard it's going to be because we've done it before. The Major is gearing up starting to get all of his military gear and paperwork all together. That means we'll be updating wills, making a master list of things for me, getting power of attorneys done and all the other stuff that must be done getting ready for a deployment.

We're getting ready for the Major's upcoming deployment. The Major has some things around our Cottage that he wants to get done before he leaves. Our deck is almost done, and wow does it look good! It's a great feeling to know that we built it ourselves(with a little bit of a third eye from our retired, farmer, neighbor Joe). The only thing left to do on our deck is the railing and the skirting underneath. Next on our getting ready list is to put up a backyard fence. This is going to be great to have for the dogs! Not only for the dogs but for that added protection and privacy. We're also getting ready by taking advantage of what few months we have together. I believe we have 11 weekends together before the Major leaves. We are cautiously filling up our family calendar, by making sure that we spend as much time "together" as possible. We've already decided on our vacations, and the kids have opted not to take part of camp this year because they want to spend those weeks with Dad before he goes. We'll be going to the beach for a week and possibly the mountains for a week. The Major is also talking about taking the kids back to Disney World. We are no stranger to Disney World or Disney Land Paris!

We're not only gearing up and getting ready, but we're also giving praise. You are probably thinking why would they give praise! The Major and I had been talking ever since we moved into the Cottage that if he had to deploy that now would be the perfect time. Why? Because he wouldn't miss anything significant in the Princess or Bookworm's life. No High School Graduations or getting their Class rings. And if he leaves when he thinks he is suppose to, he will leave before the Princess's birthday and be back for her 16th birthday. Yes he'll miss the Princess getting her driving permit and the Bookworm turning 13, but it could be worse. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In everything give praise: for this is the purpose of God in Christ Jesus for you." God gives us nothing in our lives that we can not handle. We as a family and as individuals will praise God and have faith.

Will another deployment be challenging? I am sure that it will have it's ups and downs, but there is nothing that we can not do without God's help. I praise Him that we are now living in our own home and that we are now living in the United States during this deployment, my parents are only an hour and a half away, we have wonderful neighbors, the kids have wonderful friends and schools and we have a wonderful and loving Church family in which we can turn to for support. We know that we are not alone and that we have others that we can turn to for help, guidance and support.

So, during the next few weeks when you pass by our Cottage you'll find our yellow ribbon up and tied around our front pine tree and our one star banner on the front door in support of the Major because we'll be gearing up and getting ready for another deployment, but while we are gearing up and gettiung ready we will be giving praise to our Lord and God because He gives us nothing we can not handle.

Innkeeper and Disciple Maker

2011-04-15T09:02:00.003-04:00

If you are a stay at home Mom you may think of yourself as the following: Domestic engineer, Wife, Mom, taxi driver, tutor, cook/chef, maid, laundry cleaner, innkeeper, dog watcher, lunch maker, grocery buyer and menu maker. You could probably name some others, this is just a few ;0) Innkeeper? Yes, you keep the house going right? Right! Have you ever thought of yourself as a Disciple Maker? Well you are, you are a Disciple Maker. We are to teach and train our children to trust God. Deuteronomy Chapter 6 tells us how. 1. We are to first; Establish and live by God's standards. This means that we, as parents, are to know and obey the commands that God has given to us and to apply them in our lives. 2. We are to pass it on to future generations; We are to know and obey God's law and to be an example to our children so that they may know, learn and obey God's commands so that they can apply them to their lives, thus passing it on as well. 3. Know the need and be conviced of God's blessings; Children are a gift of God. Everything thing that we have is a blessing of God. When we apply God's teachings to our lives we will be blessed. 4. We must give our undivided attention to the Lord; We are to worship God and only God, not wealth or material things. In fact Jesus said that we are to love only one, Him or wealth(Matthew 6:24). We are to commit to and worship the Lord as a family. Your children will see that God is top priority. 5. We, as parents, must be devoted to God's Word; How many times during the week do you study and meditate on God's Word, the Bible? We(you) are fooling ourselves(yourself) if we(you) think that we(you) can raise Godly children without having a passion for God and His Word ourselves! Are you keeping God's Word fresh in your heart and mind? 6. We are to be committed to teaching our children; The father is responsible for diligently teaching his children(Deut. 6:7). Note that it doesn't say the Pastor, the friend, the neighbor, the elders, the Sunday School teacher, the teacher at school.....the father! Children observe their parents, and when they do this they are learning and we are teaching, teaching in an informal way. When we talk to our children and teach them diligently, we are provided formal teaching. 7. We are to display God's Word; If someone were to walk into your home right now, what would they find on your walls or lying around? Would they be able to tell that you are a Christian? We surround ourselves with things that we love. If we love God, shouldn't we want to show it, wouldn't we want to be surrounded by God's love? Of course we know that the best place to store God's Word is in our heart, therefore what is on our walls and in our homes should reflect your heart :) Great idea on getting started......family devotions! Yes, it's that easy! Eat dinner together and right there at the table before anyone gets up or you start clearing the table have family devotion time together. There are many things that you can use or do. Bible story books, the Bible, songs, memorize verses, devotion books and prayer. Be creative because you are the DISCIPLE MAKER! Blessing to you and your FAMILY :)

Beta Club

2011-04-14T14:40:00.003-04:00

This morning the Major and I had the honor of attending the Bookworm's induction into the National Beta Club at his Middle School. He was one of 12 candidates for induction which included 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Out of the 12, the Bookworm was chosen to give a speech and to represent the candidates.....we were very proud of him, he did an awesome job! We are not only proud of him for now being n the Beta Club, but we are proud to be in a school district where the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag is still said every morning, followed by a moment of silence. Not only this, but at all ceremonies, even the Beta Club Ceremony this morning there was an opening prayer. And yes, God's name was mentioned! Thank you Jesus for still allowing this to be in our kids' school district. And I am proud to have two children that are not ashamed to share the Gospel and talk about the wonderful and loving Savior that we serve! What about the school that your children attend, do they say the pledge, are they allowed to pray?

Spring Break Is Over?

2011-04-11T08:53:00.002-04:00

Today is Marvelous Monday. Did you think that I should have said, Mad Monday? I probably should have, but to me, it's going to be marvelous! Spring Break is over? Yeah, for us Spring Break is over. I would have to say that the kids had a very wonderful Spring Break. I kept the kids busy and entertained. Everyday, we did something. We went to the movies, bowling on Post, got yogurt at our Town's yogurt shop, went and spent the day and night at my parent's home where the kids rode four-wheelers and the go-cart, then we left on Friday with the Major and we went to the Great Wolf Lodge getting back last night,Sunday night. We had a wonderful time. The kids had fun, it was our second time going to Great Wolf Lodge. The Major needed a break from work, I needed to get out of the house and the kids, well, they just needed to have a little fun :) I think that the kids would rate their Spring Break a 10 out of 10! A Marvelous Monday too because both kids were up and ready to go this morning. Usually the Princess is up before I go and get her up, and once I wake-up the Bookworm he usually sleeps for 15 more minutes, but this morning, he was up :) He'll get signed out early today so that I can take him to the Doctor for the cough that he has had for over a week now. I am still holding on to my cough too, although it is better, I still have it! So, today I want be able to do much outside since I have to take the Bookworm to the Doctor, looks like I will groom the dogs. I need to get the pine tar off of the Bookworm's dog Daisy that she got on her while she was at my Mom and Dad's while we were gone. So, a thought to leave you with for this Marvelous Monday: This weekend I finished the book I had been reading on my Kindle, so I downloaded another book called, "The Yadda Yadda Prayer Group". This book is really good so far, I recommend it. But here is what I want to leave you with.....have you ever thought about your purpose, yes, your purpose, what is your purpose in life and is God in it? Think about it....

Hummmmm....

2011-04-10T21:55:00.001-04:00

Just five little words to blog today: Actions speak louder than words.

Spring Break Thus Far

2011-04-05T17:12:00.003-04:00

Officially our Spring Break started at 3:00 on Friday for the Bookworm and at 3:15 for the Princess. With that being said, the Princess had softball practice on Friday afternoon at 5:30, so we decided to meet the Major at Chili's for dinner at around 4:15 since he had to get off early and go pay the taxes on the new truck. It was a great family dinner laughing almost the whole time while we were eating, and for me the chronic constant bronchitis cough!! I am wondering if it is ever going to go away....on the bright side, my heels don't hurt :) And of course the day and night wouldn't have been complete without the Major working on his deck! Saturday, was our neighborhood yard sale. We were all up at 6 am putting out all of our "stuff", yep, "stuff". We had so much stuff that it covered the driveway and most of the front yard. Obviously people really wanted some of our stuff because we only had 5 small boxes of "stuff" left and one box of books to donate to our Town's Library :) We made a profit of $327.00!! Not too bad for getting up early and having nothing but "stuff" to get rid of and me, the Mom constantly coughing still with the bronchitis cough! URG!! And of course the day and night wouldn't have been complete without the Major working on his deck! Sunday morning and this Momma finds herself sick, still, so Mom decides to stay in bed while the Major, the Princess, and the Bookworm go to Church. Kudos to the Major for taking over and teaching my Middle School Sunday School Class. The rest of Sunday for everyone.....a day of rest :) Monday and the Major is off to work. The Princess, Bookworm and I sleep in, awe it felt nice to sleep alittle later than 6:20 am :) I decide that I can't stay in the house anymore, I have already been confined in the house sick for over a week now and I MUST GET OUT, I MUST ESCAPE!!! So, I load up the purse with mints and cough drops and we're off to the Movies to see "Diary of a Whimpy Kid". We had all seen the first one, so we thought lets go see the second one, plus the Bookworm loves reading the Whimpy Kid books. I coughed in the movie but not to badly, it was a good movie, then we ran a few errands and came home and crashed. Breakfast was made for dinner, the Major had been urging a BLT sandwich(which he got) and of course the day and night wouldn't have been complete without the Major working on the deck :) Today is Tuesday, and it was a Terrific Tuesday. I am still hanging onto the cough, it's not as bad as it was, but it is still lingering. Today the kids and I went to Post and went bowling. We played a game and then the Major met us there for lunch, after lunch the three of us bowled another game. It was a fun time had by all. Made me realize how much I miss Homeschooling the kids, I think they even miss it alittle too! So now, dinner is done and I am awaiting the arrival of the Major from work. The Bookworm has a friend over whom will be staying the night and the Princess has softball practice later this evening and while I am with her, you guessed it, the day and night wouldn't be complete without the Major working on his deck :)

Still Sick

2011-04-02T22:03:00.002-04:00

Day 7; Still Sick....Bronchitis is no fun, add wheezing and coughing and you have a field day! Cough Cough Cough, wheeze wheeze wheeze....yeesh! So in the bed, again, I'm glad that I have been able to rest this week, I had no where to go and no major housework or things to get done. It was raining most of the too, so The Princess's softball practice got canceled. The only things I had to do this week was to take care of me, my trying to get well, which consisted of taking care of my heels by going to the specialist, taking care of my sickness by going to my PCM and getting meds. to help with the bronchitis, and finally taking care of my right arm by seeing another specialist, which led to me finding out that I have severe carpal tunnel in my right hand. I have a feeling that once my PCM receives the results from EMG test I will be having surgery. I constantly wake up every night, all night long with my right arm going to sleep, this is not something that I want to continue happening. If surgery will eliminate the problem I am up for having it done. One to two week recovery time, I can handle it! Next thing after I'm done, eye exam, it's past time to get my eyes checked and new glasses are definately in the near future! But that will have to wait until I am well, and I can go out without constantly coughing! I'm praying I am better in a few days, it's been 7 days with this and I've been in the house all week! It's the kids Spring Break this week and I've gotta get out of the house and enjoy the week with them :) For now, it's time for a dose of robitussim with codiene...night night!

One Thing I've NEVER Tried

2011-04-01T11:41:00.003-04:00

There is one thing that I have NEVER tried. I know you are dying to know what it is.....and I'm dying to know what you think I've NEVER tried! The one thing that I have NEVER tried is smoking. I have never, ever tried smoking. Why would I want to inhale something into my body that is not good for it! Time you take that first puff, you have already poisoned your body, and you have done something that can become addicting and very, very costly. And I must also mention, that those that are everyday smokers, those that smoke a pack or two a day, they smell like smoke, their clothes smell like smoke, their hands and their breath, their cars and their homes all smell like smoke. One word GROSS! Why have I never tried smoking? I just haven't, my choice, I just haven't and I never will. And I pray that my children never will. If you are a smoker, I pray that you would read and take heed the following verse from the Bible, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 We need to glorify God in our daily lives, and to me smoking does not do that. Our body is the temple of God and we must be careful where it goes, what it does, how it ponders and how it reacts.

Faith

2011-03-31T14:38:00.003-04:00

What is faith? The American Standard Dictionary defines faith as: Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea or thing. Belief that does not on logical proof or material evidence.

I say faith is a complete trust and confidence in God, not only trust and confidence but also a reliance on Him as well.

I teach the Middle School Sunday School Class at my Church, grades 6th-8th and this is an Acrynom that I gave my class to remember what Faith is.

F-orsaking

A-ll

I-

T-rust

H-im

When we have Christ in our lives we put everything, our all, all of our trust in Christ. Faith is believing in the unseen. We can't see God, but we know He's real. And we know that He loves us, and that He cares for us, and the He hears us when we speak to Him.

Matthew 17:20, " I assure you;even if you have faith as small as a mustard seed....nothing will be impossible for you."

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? A mustard seed is very small and tiny. We all have days when our faith seems small and when it does, we need to refer to the verse above. If we just have as much faith as a mustard seed is tiny, we can move MOUNTAINS. Isn't that an amazing thought...you gotta have FAITH!

Day 5

2011-03-31T08:49:00.002-04:00

Today is Day #5 that I am still in pj's and still sick! Yesterday was the first day since Sunday that I have been out of the bed and that was because I had to go to the Doctor and on Tuesday afternoon when I had to go to the Doctor. Started feeling sick on Saturday evening, just with cold symptoms, by Sunday morning that had developed into a cough, stuffiness, etc. So Sunday, Monday and all day Tuesday until I had to go to the Podiatrist about my heels, I was in pjs in the bed...sick! I was looking so forward to going to the Podiatrist on Tuesday afternoon about my heels, that I made myself go, I was not going to cancel no matter how sick I was and I'm glad that I didn't! I loved him, I believe that I may be on the road to feeling a lot better in my heels, which he diagnoised me with extreme plantar fasciitis. So, I have two exercises to do with my heels, inserts for my shoes, I new presciption for the intense pain, and he also gave me two shots of cortizone in my heels. I go back in one month. My heels are in no pain today!!! Praising the Lord, thank you for a Doctor that knew what to do! God is so good!! And I ordered two pairs of shoes Tuesday evening that are specifically for people with plantar fasciitis....I can't wait to get them in the mail, they look just like normal shoes, so I am so excited about trying them! Yesterday morning, I woke up took the Princess to school and made up my mind that I was sick of being sick! So, I called and actually got an appointment with my PCM and off to the see her I went! I knew that I would get taken care of when I saw her. I love our Doctor, God surely sent her to us, we needed her! It is so nice to have a Doctor that is Christian and isn't afraid to profess it! Love, love, love her! So, wheezing was heard in my lungs, which means bronchitis, which means almost pneumonia, which means I am now on an antibiotic, prednisone, and an inhaler along with my other two daily meds. and my new med for my heels! Plus throw in the tylenol and robitussion with codiene that I have to take at night and that is a grand total of 8 meds.!! I don't care how many meds. I have to take I am just ready to get well! Still raining here and is suppose to rain through tomorrow. I figure it's the perfect week for my body to decide to get sick because we all know that I love to work outside in my garden/yard and that wasn't going to be an option with the rain this week! Praying I am better for our Neighborhood yard sale that we will be participating in on Saturday, if not I will chug through it! Be blessed friends, do something for someone else today that will make the Son shine :)

Rain, Rain and More Rain

2011-03-28T09:14:00.003-04:00

It's been rainy here since Saturday afternoon, and there is no sign of it stopping until Saturday. I am not complaining, I love the rain, and it is especially good for my garden. The grass will def. need to be cut this weekend after our neighborhood yard sale on Saturday. We have a garage full of stuff to sale at our yard sale! It will be nice to get it all out of the garage and be able to claim our garage back! I'm still sick, this makes day 3. I am praying that it is just a cold and not the lymphnoid infection that I had a few months ago. I'll give it a few more days, then I'll go to the Doctor. For right now I am just going to continue resting, although I may make a batch of my Granny's chicken-n-dumplings for dinner tonight, this rainy, cold weather puts me in the mood for them, although I can't taste or smell! The kids start their Spring Break this weekend, it looks like they will start their Spring Break with a break in the rain, which will be nice for them. The Major and the Bookworm are planning on camping in the backyard this weekend, we'll probably build a fire in the firepit and roast hotdogs and marshmellows. I know that both of the kids are ready for alittle break from school.....Summer will be here soon! They only have two months of school left, their last day is the last day of May. We'll probably take some vacation soon after they are out. This year we are staying close to home for vacation, we will go to the beach for a week and the mountains. It'll be nice not to have to travel far. And of course the kids will be going to their Christian Summer Camp as well. The Major and I will probably take advantage of the week that the kids are gone and we may go somewhere ourselves. As for now, I am enjoying the rainy day, thanking the Lord for today and the blessings in which He has given me.

The Cottage

2011-03-27T11:08:00.004-04:00

Our home, we call the Cottage, is slowing taking on much added TLC and extra features. We are proud to own our own home again, it's fun being able to do things to it and add things as well.

Front of the house has had many updates since we have moved in: shutter replaced, mailbox and post painted, house numbers added to mailbox post, flowers added around mailbox, gutters added, boarder grass added along the front huge flower bed, and up along the sidewalk and around the front flower beds, basketball goal cemented in the ground by the driveway, front porch painted and the trim on the garage, peep hole added to the front door, and the whole house pressure washed and cleaned(by us). I would say that we are finished in the front :) And we are proud, it looks nice and has a very nice curb appeal.

Not only has the front yard taken on a new look, the backyard has been transformed as well: flower beds added along the whole back of the house and shrubs and flowers planted, gutters added to the back of the house, back of house pressure washed(by us) and back porch cleaned, garden fence up and garden planted, asparagus beds cleaned out and border put around them, swing put up, all fruit trees cleaned up around and pine straw added, blackberry and raspberry beds cleaned and border added, shed cleaned out and flower beds added around shed with shrubs and flowers planted, tons of trees and shrubs planted from my Mom's and Grandparents homes. View of the back from when we bought the house to now.....PRICELESS!!

So now on with the new projects! Exciting.....deck was started yesterday, should be done, we are estimating next Saturday :) And of course once the deck is done, flower beds will be added around it to give it alittle punch! After the deck will be the fence for the backyard. Can't wait, it will be nice to have a fence so that the dogs can stay out without us, although they are pretty good about not running off, they usually stay right in the back with us. I also want to paint the white trim around the shed and spray paint the hinges black. Later, we would also like to tile the back porch, maybe we will do that when we are done with the deck ;)

Love, Love, Love being outside! And Love, Love, Love our cottage!!

Danke Schon, Merci Beaucoup, Muchas Gracias, Thank you

2011-03-22T08:52:00.004-04:00

Every one in the world knows the phrase, "thank you". If every language can speak it, then why doesn't everyone say it? What does thank you mean?

Thank you: An expression of gratitude.
An acknowledgment of appreciation.

Please and thank you are two things that parents start teaching their children when they are very little, along with yes and no. Or in our case we teach yes ma'am and no ma'am, and yes sir and no sir. I can't stand to hear children say yes or yeah, or no or NO. To me, it's rude and shows no respect, but that is just my opinion. So if we are teaching our children from an early age to say these things, shouldn't we be incorporating them into our life as well? Shouldn't we be an example to our children? If we want them to use manners, we should be using them as well.

I am a strong believer in thank-yous. A thank you is a showing of apprection to someone. A thank you can be verbal or written. Lots of times many have no trouble at all giving verbal thank- yous, but many have trouble giving written thank-yous. This is another big pet peeve of mine. I believe strongly in written thank-yous. I have always sent written thank-yous, I believe that it is an important acknowledgment. Why? A written thank-you is especially important because it is showing the person that did something for you that you value their time and consideration.That you noticed what they have done and that you are very appreciative. I send thank-yous to people that have helped me with projects, or have brought a meal over to our family if one of us has been sick, or if one of us has received a gift say for our birthday or Christmas, etc., or if someone did something like check our mail for us while we were on vacation, etc. You get the idea. Many people receive gifts, etc., from people that don't live close to you. It's especially important to acknowledge that person with a thank-you note, why, for two reasons: #1 it lets the person know that you received their gift, etc., and #2 you are giving a note of gratitude and appreciation. If the person that sent the gift, etc., never hears from the person that they sent something to, how will they know that you received their gift, etc?

Many complain of not having anytime to send thank-you notes. Sorry people, but that is no excuse! We are all busy with our daily routines and life in general, and if we can't take the time to acknowledge what someone else has taken the time to do for us, we are in the wrong. And this is the day of technology.....hello, send an e-mail! We all check our e-mail daily and send e-mails, send a thank-you by e-mail, or text. The most important thing is to send a thank-you somehow.....just do it! Preserve what little traditions we have left, I want my children to learn from me, and when they are out of mine and the Major's home and own their own, I want them to continue carrying on the tradition of sending an old fashioned thank-you note.

There are many references of "thank-you" in the bible:
2 Timothy 1:3 "I thank God for you".
2 Samuel 2:6 "May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this."
Ruth 2:12 "May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done."

It's My Birthday, It's My Birthday, It's My Birthday

2011-03-21T21:39:00.003-04:00

If you haven't guessed, today is my birthday. It was actually a nice, warm, spring day today. Usually on my birthday it is cold and rainy. You can never tell what they weather will be like from day to day in the spring here where we live, but today was a really nice day.

I had a really blessed birthday today. The Major woke the kids up this morning, packed the Bookworm's lunch and took the Princess to school. My Mom came up and we went to lunch at the Olive Garden and then went shopping at too many stores to name. We had a fun time hanging out together. I love my Mom!

The Major got home early today and fixed dinner. It was nice not having to cook and being waited on :) We had cake and icecream after dinner followed by presents! The kids got me two beautiful ferns to hang on the front porch. The Major gave me a new Bible cover(which I desperately needed) and a tiller! Yes! I have been wanting a tiller! I can't wait til tomorrow so that I can get out in my backyard and till some spots in the garden!!

Thanking the Lord today for wonderful Christian parents that had me. I am honored to be their daughter. I am also thankful to the Lord that He blessed me with a wonderful, Christian husband. I love the Major with all my heart! I also thank the Lord for my two precious children. They mean the world to me and I love them both, the Princess and the Bookworm, with all my heart.

I praise the Lord because, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made", (Psalm 139:14).

St. Paddy's Day(Luck of the Irish)

2011-03-17T16:11:00.002-04:00

Go green people, go green! Hope that you have on your green today because it's St. Patrick's Day. I remember back to when I was little and in Elementary School, I always made sure that I wore green on St. Paddy's Day because all of the mean kids would definately pinch you if you didn't! Mean bully kids, wonder what they are doing in life now!

Our St. Patrick's Day is so nice here, the weather is so warm and beautiful and it's suppose to continue through the weekend. I'm going to definately be outside the whole weekend! I'd rather be outside than inside any day!

This morning I was up and out early, right after the kids were off to school. I had to go back and see my thyroid doctor to get my test results from Tuesday's bloodwork. The Major and I prayed for our Doctor before we went in, we know that he isn't a Christian, it's pretty obvious. We prayed that he would treat me, adjust my meds. so that I can get on the road to getting better! I went in and picked up my lab results prior to my 9:20 appt., so I knew that my levels were off. I'm called in to see him and the Major and I pray we get answers to why I have been feeling so fatigued and so sensitive to cold. So sensitive that I have been having to wear a jacket when I sleep at night! So, my Doctor looks at the results of my plasma and sees that my TSH Sensitive is way too low and that my FT4 is alittle higher than it should be. He said that my FT4 will never be within the normal range and will always be alittle high, but it was higher than he would like for it to be. My TSH was so so low. It was to the point of almost nothing! And if it were to go to nothing, that would not have been good! I think maybe that is why I have had trouble recently when I go to speak and it's hard for me to say things or remember what I want to say or hard to get words out of my mouth because I know what I want to say, I just can't say it. I left seeing my Doctor with a word of caution to not take any thyroid meds. until Monday when I start my new dose. I am praying that my new dosage regulates quickly so that I can start feeling normal again, whatever normal is!

After the Doctor I decided to go to the Commissary....I have not been to the Commissary in like 2 years here! I was dreading it, because there are so many retirees there all the time, but to my surprise it was not bad today! Maybe it's because I went on a Thursday! Anyway, I picked up some groceries which I had about 40 dollars in coupons for....yes! And for now I am watching the show Four Weddings with the Princess. The Major has an engagement with work tonight after work, and the Bookworm is on a field trip(in which his chartered bus broke down and now he will get back 2 hours later), so the Princess stopped and got a yogurt at our Town's yogurt shop on the way home from school, now we're just hanging out spending some Mom/Daughter time together.

Thanking the Lord for answered prayers today :)

Daylight Savings, Decks & Doctors

2011-03-16T08:59:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday we set our clocks up an hour, fourtunately, it hasn't affected us in our home. No one has complained about the time or has wanted to sleep later. I know that the Major enjoys getting home with daylight now. Before he left for work in the dark and got home in the dark.

We are starting a new project at our home. The new project for us is putting a deck on the back of the house when you come out of our screened-in porch. The Major and I are so excited about getting this done, it will be nice to have a deck where we can put the grill and patio furniture. Although the patio furniture is in the screened porch as of right now, I can't wait to have it out and on the deck. Ground breaking,I believe the Major said, will be on Saturday, gotta feeling we will buy the wood Friday evening. Next project after the deck will be a fence, and hopefully we will have it up and done before the kids are out of school and before Summer :)

Doctors: Yesterday I spent the majority of the day on Post seeing my Doctors. I called yesterday, "Mom is taking care of herself day", and that is exactly what I did. Starting out the morning I saw my family Doctor and addressed the issue that I have been having with my heels. My heels have gotten to the point that I dread to get up because I know that they are going to hurt me so badly, it brings me to tears. Luckily I have a Doctor whom has the same thyroid disease that I do and she also knew exactly what the problem was with my heels because she has the same problem: advanced plantar fasciitis. What do we do about it? Podiatry consult, which will then in turn give me inserts for shoes/shoes/surgery and possibly a device in which to help my heels at night when I sleep so that they are not so painful when I get up. We will see once I go to the Podiatrist. The other thing that I addressed with her was my hands. Both of my hands have been going to sleep at night when I sleep. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night trying to wake-up my hands. She believes it could be one of two things: carpal tunnel or a reaction to a medicine that I am own. We will see, in the time being, my Doctor has put me in a 24/7 arm splint for my right arm(since my right arm fingers are still numb when I wake up and are numb most of the day) and I got blood work done too, so we will see. At least we are on the road to get answers :) Then after lunch I went back to my Thyroid Doctor, Dr. Blue. I wasn't suppose to see him again until September, but I am sick and tired of being cold all of the time and tired of feeling fatigued all the time too, my thyroid medicine is suppose to be taking care of those problems! So, more blood work was done on the other arm! On Thursday we will see if my levels for my thyroid are off or not. If they aren't then I am supposing that I could be having a reaction/side effect to my thyroid medicine as well. All in all it was a good day, and such a blessing to have a family Doctor that has two of the same problems that I have! It is nice to know someone that stays cold all the time(because you have a thyroid disease) and has to wear a coat or a jacket all the time like I do, and who also sleeps with a jacket on and has layers of blankets on their bed. Someone that knows how painful it is with my heels, someone that knows first hand! And did I mention that she is also a Christian?! What a blessing it is and a difference it makes to have a Christian Doctor.We talk about the Lord and His blessings together, so wonderful! Def. a blessing with being able to see her, because my thyroid Doctor is obviously not a Christian and there is a huge difference when I see the two. The Major and I prayed together for him before we saw him yesterday and we will pray for him again before we see him tomorrow to get my results.

A cloudy, dreary day here today. Hopefully the sun will shine just alittle today because the Princess starts softball tonight. Be a blessing to someone today, be an encourager, be a listener, be a helper, be a friend, be spontaneous, be doer.

Spiritual Tsunami

2011-03-11T11:35:00.005-05:00

God is powerful and His love for us is unchanging. I awoke this morning to the news of Japan being hit with a tsunami and a 8.9 earthquake. I immediately began to say prayers for Military friends of ours that are stationed there, then I immediately got on FB to see is they were alright. Praising the Lord that their family is doing well, and I am continuing to pray for the people of Japan. There are so many that lost their lives and belongings. It is a huge devastation.

Not only had Japan been hit, but Hawaii and it's islands were in jeopardy as well. I immediately beginning praying for our Military friends stationed there as well. We have many many friends stationed in Hawaii, and once again I jumped on FB to see if they had posted that they were OK. It was nice to see that a few had posted that they were doing well, but I have still not heard from some. Still praying.

When things like this happen, it humbles us to re-realize how mighty our God is.

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

though it's waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at it's swelling.

God is always with us, no matter where we are, He is always there.

As I saw on a friend's FB page this morning, what we really need here in America is a "spiritual tsunami." Many have lost sight of Christ. It is so sad. Wake-up America, we're dying. When we start knocking God out of government, society, schools, our lives, we will die, America will crumble, we are already crumbling. Take refuge in the ONE who died for you, the ONE who shed His blood for you, the ONE who died for our sins, the ONE who sits at the right hand of the Father waiting to come and call His bride home.

Christ's return is close, closer than it was yesterday, are you ready? If you are, then pray for those that aren't and lift up those that were affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday(Shroud Tuesday),National Pancake Day, Ash Wednesday, Lent & Easter

2011-03-09T08:18:00.007-05:00

When March hits we know that we are entering the season of Spring and when Spring is in the air, we know that it is getting close to Easter. I have many friends from all over the world(an advantage to being in the Military), and although we may have different views on some things, we still are friends. Lately, I have been intrigued by some of my friends views or traditions and today I am going to address some of them and what my views and beliefs are.

First, Mardi Gras. What do you think of when you here, "Mardi Gras"? I was talking with the Major about this and the first things that I think of are drinking and rawdy people. Yes, that is what I think of because really what is Mardi Gras, and how did it start? Mardi Gras( known as Carnivale in Italy or Fasching in Germany) dates back 1000's of years. Mardi Gras is a prelude to Lent, the forty days of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. So, traditionally in the days leading up to Lent, people would binge and eat all of the meat, cheese, milk, eggs, etc. in their homes. Why? Because they knew that for several weeks they would only eat fish and fast. Thus, making the day before Ash Wednesday, Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday or Carnivale or Fasching) . What does carnivale(carnelevarium) mean: To take away or remove meat. Regardless of what country "Fat Tuesday" is celebrated, it is still celebrated with drinking and rawdiness. I have lived in Italy and Germany and I have seen this first hand. Crazy! Not only was yesterday "Fat Tuesday", it was also National Pancake Day! Did you have pancakes yesterday?!?

Next, Ash Wednesday. Today is Ash Wednesday and it marks the beginning of Lent. This is usually the time when some will prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting. Many hold Ash Wednesday services, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican and Roman Catholics are some that do. During these services, the minister or priest, will rub the sign of the crosss with ashes on the foreheads of worshipers. Why? To show a sign of repentance, mourining, fasting and spiritual discipline. Baptists do not believe in this tradition. Although it does mention repentance and mourning in ashes(Esther 4:1, 2 Samuel 13:19, Job 2:8, and Daniel 9:3), it does not mention Ash Wednesday or Lent.

Next is Lent. What is Lent? Lent is a time when some prepare for Easter by fasting, repentance, moderation or spiritaul discipline. Do all oberseve Lent, no, not all religions or Christians or Churches do. My family and I are Baptist and we, nor our Church observe Lent. Many of my friends observe Lent and I have enjoyed seeing what they are giving up/fasting til Easter. Things such as: chocolate, coffee, internet, FB, tv, sweets, etc. What is fasting? Some connect it or call it a spiritual discipline. Some connect it with prayer, Bible study and meditation. We do not fast or observe Lent. Do we believe in fasting, yes, but as an individual private spiritual matter, not as a centralized church authority commanding worshipers to fast over a certain period. We believe that each individual is responsible and accountable individually to God.

Palm Sunday and Good Friday.....Palm Sunday is the Sunday in which we remember Jesus' triumphal entrance into Jerusalem the week before his death and resurrection. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and many threw palm leaves on the ground as he rode through and waved palm branches as he passed. Good Friday is observed the Friday before Easter Sunday. On this day we, as Christians, remember the passion, suffering, and death on the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Finally, Easter. Easter is the Sunday in which we, Christians, celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus rose from the dead 3 days after he died and we celebrate His resurrection at Easter. Easter is also the one of the two Sundays of the year (the other is Christmas) when you will see your Church packed with limited seating. Very sad to see all of those in Church on Easter that "feel" they should be in Church on Easter (or Christmas) and no other Sunday of the year! Sad, very sad. If we can not attend Church when our Church has services and worship the Lord, then what do you think heaven is going to be like (if you are a Christian)?!?! Heaven is going to be our heavenly home where we will worship the Lord constantly, and praise Him with dancing and singing. Yes, I said dancing! Many Baptist do not believe in dancing, but I am not one of them, it says that we will be dancing in heaven. Don't believe me? Get your Bible out and go to Psalm 149:3, Psalm 150:4, Psalm 150:1-6 and Jeremiah 31:13.

I talked about a lot of things today, but it's things that I have really been thinking about lately especially since we are entering the Spring season. Can friends of different faiths, traditions and religions be friends? You bet they can! If we were all made the same the world would be a very boring place. The only important thing in life is the one very importand decison that you need to make in life, and that is: Where are you going to spend eternity, heaven or hell? Have you invited and asked Jesus into your life? If not, I encourage you to do so. It's so easy to do, as easy as A,B,C.

A: Admit that you are a sinner.

B: Believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son and He was crucified, died and rose again on the third day.

C: Confess that you want Jesus to be Lord of your life. Trust Him to be your Savior and Lord.

Blessings to you!

The Princess

2011-03-07T09:47:00.005-05:00

The Princess has had a lot fun lately, and has been enjoying being a Freshman this year in High School. She has always been out-going and this year has been no exception for her. A few months ago, she decided to participate in the Junior Miss Pagent at her School. She had so much fun participating in it and is already talking about doing it again next year. She was so beautiful on stage, we are so proud of her!A few months ago the Princess had Region Band Auditions. She did very well and made 8th Chair Flute in the the Clinic Band for her Region, Region 3 in the State of SC. She is the only Freshman flute player from her School that made it! Last weekend we were honored to hear her play in the Clinic Band Concert. She was so excited, and you could tell she was by the expressions and smiles that were displayed on her face the whole time she was playing. Congrats Princess....Mom and Dad are proud!

The New House: Inside Our Cottage

2011-03-05T09:26:00.016-05:00

The inside of our house is finally finished and decorated, it has been for a few weeks. All of my time lately has been devoted to the outside, especially the back yard; pictures of the back yard to come later. I must say that thus far, the back yard has been turned upside down from where it was, it is looking great!

This first picture is of our living room when you first walk in from the front door and are standing in the foyer. You can see Sandy, our dog, we call her the Queen since she rules over the new puppy. My Grandfather's flag, that was draped over his coffin, displayed on the mantel of the fireplace.

This shot is looking at the living room from standing in the kitchen. You can see Daisy, our newest addition, the Bookworm's puppy. The yo-yo quilt, that my Mom made for me when I was a baby, adds that punch to the living room that we needed.Our dining room, as looking at it from the kitchen.

A picture of the kitchen as looking at it from the living room. All of my enamel ware that I collect, most which I found while being stationed in Europe, is showcased from my pot rack. We thought that it would look great hanging from the pot rack since the rest of our house, the walls, are full of painted color.

A couple of views on the way upstairs. You can see Milo, the Princess's cat. My Grandmother's hutch is the piece of furniture pictured here, it was just the right size to put here on the landing go up the stairs.

Next we have the Study upstairs. This is where we have our computer and where the Major does his studying for Seminary. There are a lot of special items in this room that mean a lot to me and the Major. My Grandparents' furniture is pictured here, and his Grandfather's cuckoo clock which you can see hanging on the wall.

Next we have the Hallway upstairs which leads to the Entertainment Room/Kids Upstairs Room.

Finally the last room is of the Entertainment Room/Kids Upstairs Room. This room is one of our favorite rooms in the house. It houses all the kids video games, board games, their computer, tv, etc. It even has a little fridge that is hid away in a cabinet! This is a wonderful place for the kids to hang out with their friends, as you can see in one of the pictures, the Princess is hanging out with her friend.

We love the house and thank God for providing it for us. We had faith and held tight while we patiently waited for it. It was a roller coaster, but in the end it was all worth it! Oh yeah, we do have 3 full baths and 3 bedrooms, but I wasn't up for taking pictures of those, my camera battery died anyway :) Pictures of the outside to come soon!

The Golden Rule: Luke 6:31

2011-03-02T09:57:00.004-05:00

The Golden Rule, I am sure that you have heard it before: "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31

Although you have more than likely heard this from the time that you were very little, did you know that it just isn't a saying, or a rule, it's scripture? Look in your Bible in the book of Luke, chapter 6, verse 31.

Wow, yep, right there in the Bible, God's manuscript for us.

We're going to look closer at this verse today. I would say that it is fair to state that all of us would like for everyone to be nice to us and to treat us fairly, but lets face it, it doesn't always happen that way. We are to treat others as we would want them to treat us. Lets get real about that too, sometimes we know that we should treat others the way that we would want them to treat us, but there are lots of times when we don't want to be "nice" to people, but we are anyway. Then there are the times we say oh forget it, they never treat me nice, so I'm not going to treat them nicely.

Don't just sit there thinking I'm never like that, be honest with yourself, yes you are!

If the world was a perfect place, no sin, everyone would be nice and sweet to everyone all the time. But let's face it, because of sin, there is evil and hate in the world.

So what is one to do:

This is something that I have had to deal with, is it easy, NO! Can you prevail, YES YOU CAN! How?!?

I generally try to treat others how I would like for them to treat me, but there are those that can get on your last nerves and whatever you do they don't care how they treat you or others. My answer, try to be as nice as you can to everyone, even the meanies! Usually overtime, they will notice that their actions toward you are not bothering you. What if this doesn't work, and trust me there are those that will be mean to you forever, in this case, remove yourself from the situation. This is what the Major and I tell the Princess and the Bookworm. If there is a problem, then remove yourself from the situation, even if it is a person. No one deserves to treat anyone in a way in which they would not want to be treated or disrepected or talked to. Sometimes it isn't just words, it's actions as well.

We all know that saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Ummm yeah, not true! Whoever made this statement is wrong! Words do hurt and so many people abuse their words, and many do not even realize what they say and how they say it.

The Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Luke 6:31

Think before you talk, and listen before you act. How simple, now to put action behind it.

March? Really!

2011-03-01T12:17:00.002-05:00

Today is March 1st! Wow...can't believe it is already March!

Garden is done! Wooohooo!!! I have my garden ready to go. Planted beets yesterday, today I plan on planting amy lettuce, onions, carrots, brussel sprouts and whatever else I am forgetting. These have to be planted now, all the other: tomatos, squash, peppers, cucumbers, can't be planted until later.

Give me dirt and I am a happy girl! There is nothing else or anywhere else that I would love to be doing than out in the yard!! Fresh air and God's wonderful nature and earth!

Of course March is my favorite month because I was born on the 21st of March. I love March because that means that Spring is really near. The beautiful flowers and trees start to bloom. All of the bulbs that have been hiding all winter start to emerge and showcase their beauty. This Spring is especially special because we are in our new house and outside holds surprises for us as we eagerly watch as our yard wakes up in front of us. We have no idea what will have flowers and how everything will look. Can't wait! Our cherry trees have already bloomed, and they are beautiful. And yes, they are the ones that you can eat, they are not ornamental :)

New beginnings is what March and Spring is about....with that said, I am changing up my Blog. More to come on that later.

So Many Blessings

2011-02-25T09:14:00.003-05:00

Our home has been quite full of many happenings and blessings lately.

The Bookworm has once again started back into his Archery, their first Competition will be soon, which will be the SC State Competition. If they place they will once again go to Nationals in Louisville,KY. The Bookworm also got selected for The United States Achievement Academy: Who's Who Among Honor Students. We are very, very proud of him! Plus, he also got an invitation to join the National Beta Club. His induction will be at his school in April. SO VERY PROUD OF HIM!!!

The Princess has been very busy as well. She just returned on Monday evening from Disney World in Florida. She along with the Band, were invited to march in the Disney parade. What an honor! She had a wonderful time despite that two of their three band buses had blow-outs going and coming home! A month ago, the Princess auditioned for the State of SC Region Band and she made 8th chair flute! Today she has practice up North all day until tonight. Tomorrow she will also have practice until mid afternoon, we will meet her up there and listen to her Region Band Concert. SO VERY PROUD OF HER!!!

The Major gave the Sunday sermon at our Church on Sunday. After he preached our Church voted and he is now Licensed to preach. He was so excited about preaching Sunday morning, I thought that he was going to float away! I would have been so nervous, I told him that he is definately called by God to go into the Ministry since he wasn't nervous!

As for me, I contine to Mom and Wife. The weather has been very nice here since this past weekend, and if you know me, you know that I have been outside as much as possible! Warm weather is my best friend and I love to get outside whenever I can! I have really been doing a lot in the yards.....I went to my parent's house and my Mom and I dug up tons of monkey grass and trees for me to plant at my house.(thank Mama, I had a fun time!) I planted monkey grass up our sidewalk out front and I planted a few trees in the front as well. I also painted our mailbox/post, it looks awesome! In the back the Major plowed my garden for me, tomorrow morning we plan on getting the posts the rest of the way in the ground so that I can plant! Also in the back I dug up all the grass along the back of the house and made a flower bed on both sides. I added monkey grass and pine straw, WOW, what a huge difference it made out back! I also planted a TON of trees and bushes that I got at my Mom's, they look great and really added to the back yard. My fruit trees are already blooming: cherry trees, pears, plums and peaches! I was also told by our neighbor, Farmer Joe, that there are also red raspberries planted too. He showed me where they should come up at, I can't wait to see them! I am anxiously waiting for my asparagus to start sprouting, should be any day now(there is TONS of asparagus). It is raining here right now, but as soon as it clears, you'll find me out in the dirt!

It is a wonderful feeling to have our own house once again. It's an even nicer feeling to have everything in the inside done and finish, and now be able to be outside. Of course there are a few things that will have to wait to be done when it is alittle warmer such as; pressure washing the house and shed, and painting the white trim on the porch and back porch.

Lord thank you for your blessings.

Let the "Son" Shine

2011-02-17T09:05:00.003-05:00

I am sitting here in my living room looking out my window seeing the beauty of the sun rise which makes me thank the Son, our Heavenly Father, for allowing me to see the beauty of the sun shine today. Thank you Lord!

It's suppose to be in the 70's here for the next couple of days. I believe that I will venture outside in a few minutes and start tilling up my plots for my garden. I need to get the soil ready so that I can plant in a few weeks. I am so excited about being able to plant in my own back yard this year! Can't wait to see how the garden will turn out. I would rather spend my time outside than inside any day. I love to garden and spend time outside with the dirt!

Give God praise today for allowing you to see another day and the "son"shine!

The Dinner Table

2011-02-11T11:21:00.003-05:00

Our family eats dinner together everynight around our dining room table. It's a time when we not only eat together, but we talk about how our day was. We each give an up and down for the day. It's interesting to see how everyone's day was. Dinner time is our time to talk, encourage, and listen to one another while enjoying a wonderful meal together, be it one that I fixed or take-out or something that the Major grilled. Lately, we've been letting the kids take a turn once a week and cook. They get to choose want they each want to cook, and then they cook....it gives Mom a break and they have fun.

What really amazes me is the number of families that do not eat dinner together. They eat going throught the drive-thru or they just fix dinner and everyone eats where-ever they want or they eat at different times. I say....how sad! Where is the family time!

Our family enjoys spending time together we not only eat dinner together but we love to play board games together. It's not hard to spend quality time together(away from the TV which we do not watch a lot of). We also love to go to our local Yogurt shop in our Town and get yogurt together. We also like to walk around our neighborhood or hang outside together. Lately we have been spending a lot of time together as we try to finish moving into our new house. It's been fun working together arranging the rooms.

Think about it: what you do as a family is what your children are going to do when they have their own family one day, so make a great impression now because later it too late!

Wear Red

2011-02-04T13:14:00.003-05:00

February is the National Awareness month for Women's heart disease and today is wear RED Friday. I am wearing RED today in honor of my daughter. It was 13 years ago that The Princess had open-heart surgery to prepare a VSD that she had in her heart. She was just 18 months old. Praise the Lord that she has had no complications and does not or has never had to be on medicine. Her heart is healthy and she is healthy. She can do whatever she wants to do without any limitations who-so-ever.

So go RED today, and the rest of the month to support Women's heart disease.

The Time of Our Life

2011-01-31T09:55:00.002-05:00

Hard to believe that less than 3 weeks ago we started moving into our new home. The house is 90% done, the last 10% would be the attic and yard sale things that need to be moved over. That will probably be accomplised this coming up weekend, if it is not raining. Snow and ice didn't stop us, but rain is different....can't move things in the rain!

All of the rooms look so nice in our home. We finally hung up pictures and the piano was moved over yesterday. It looks really nice in the dining room and today I will hang pictures in that room. Yesterday was such a beautiful day and after Church we spent a few hours outside placing our gutter drain guards, moving my Granny's patio furniture to the front porch and putting up my bird house in the back yard. I love having a front and back porch, it's nice!

We had a busy but fun weekend. The Princess was in a pagent at School. She did well and was so beautiful on stage. She is one of our miracles(the other is the Bookworm) and on of our blessings(the other is the Bookworm). She and I had a wonderful time Saturday morning as we had Mom and daughter time getting her hair and make-up done. It's very important in a family to spend one on one time with your children.

This week is relatively slow looking on our family calendar. The Bookworm is excited....he found out last weekend that he can still be on the Archery Team as a 6th grader, he of course is thrilled and yesterday he was outside practicing. He starts practice with the team on Wednesday after school and he is anxious to start so that the team can qualify for the State Tournament that will be coming up soon.

We're having the time of our life being a family and living one day at a time. Am I being silly saying this, not at all. You should also be having the "time of your life". Why? Because Jesus says do not worry about the things of tomorrow. We are to live in the present. We are not to worry or stress, live in the now. This is easier said than done a lot of times, but with prayer and putting God first and all of our trust in Him, it can happen. This is the best days of your life, so have the time of your life :)

A Full, Busy and Unusual Week

2011-01-17T09:13:00.002-05:00

This past week has been far from normal! The kids have had out of school since last Monday, the 10th and will not go back until tomorrow, the 18th. The last time that the kids and I have been out of the house was last Sunday! Explanation.....last Sunday night it started snowing and continued all day Monday with ice also. This was excellent for the kids since they had off from school last Monday and Tuesday anyway :) So their snow days where school was closed was Wednesday through Friday! Thus making a full week off from school. Plus today is a Holiday so everyone has off, even the Major! So today is def. the kids last day off, they will venture back to their meeting with the books tomorrow morning.

As for today, the dish guy is here hooking up our tv's and the Princess and I will be going to her MRI appt. later. Then it is back to more moving. We need to clean some over at the other house, and move somethings over here. It is hard to believe that last Saturday we started moving and we are completely done...almost! All that is left are the bathrooms, our closet and the Bookworms closet, the piano, and the attic things. The kids were a huge help moving when the Major had to go back to work last Wednesday. We moved 12 loads in the van on Wednesday, on Thursday the Princess and I moved her entire room(and she already has it all put back together), Friday was to be the day that the Bookworm and I moved him room over, but I became very sick(still sick) thus having to go to the Doctor and put on bed quarters for a few days for flu like symptoms and a lymphoid infection(boy does it hurt like crazy when I swollow and talk!) Not to mention that the Bookworm started being sick on Wednesday with vomiting and diarhea and wasn't well until yesterday! FUN week!

Hats off to my Mom with coming up yesterday and helping me move the entire kitchen over, even putting con-tac paper in the cabinets :) Love you!

A Winter Wonderland

2011-01-10T19:46:00.002-05:00

We awoke this moring to our own winter wonderland, everything was covered in snow. So beautiful!! This afternoon it started icing, so now the snow has a layer of ice on it. As of now we still have our phone, internet, and power, hopefully it will all stay on, we havn't had any trouble with any of them yet!

We played around in the snow with the kids when they woke up and then we got busy packing up the upstairs. Snow nor ice kept us from taking advantage of the Major having a snow day! The kids cleaned out their rooms of things that they no longer wanted, and the Major and I were able to move two trailer loads over to the new house. One load of filled boxes and the second with furniture. Who says you can't move in ice and snow.....all you need is a big tarp and tie-downs!

It's starting to shape up at the new house. The upstairs is almost complete, and I venture to say that after tomorrow, it will be, along with another room too I am sure! The Major has another snow day tomorrow too! The kids already had off today and tomorrow, so we'll take advantage of our time and utilize it to move!

I am not quite sure which other room we will move tomorrow, mabe we'll start on the living room? All I know is that it is awesome moving into our own home where we have already painted and there is new carpet!

Bunkering Down

2011-01-09T16:24:00.002-05:00

The forecasters have predicted that we are in for a major Winter Storm, the Winter Storm of 2011.......

We have stocked up on food, gas in the cars, a basket full of pinecones and dry fire wood for our fireplace, candles and matches, flashlights, our coleman stove and gas, clean washed clothes and lots of blankets all in case we are slammed with a lot of ice after the snow and have no power.

Til the storm passes over......

A "MAJOR" Day

2011-01-09T16:12:00.002-05:00

Friday was an exciting and special time for our family. The Captain was promoted to Major, he pinned on his gold oak leaf. (I will now call him the Major on my Blog) The Princess and I put on his Major shoulder boards and the Bookworm pinned the gold oak leaf on the Major's hat.

I was very proud of the Major and held tears until he got choked up. I think back of all of the things that we have been through in our 16 years of marriage and all I can say is that I love him with all of my heart. I would have to say that some of our best years were when the kids were born, and the year that we moved to Europe to now.Not only is he my husband, but he is my best friend. I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else.

After the promotion, we had a reception in which we hired caterers. It was nice that the Major and I did not have to worry about fixing food and getting a cake and drinks, etc. It was nice to be able to show up after the promotion and it was all done!

The day was shared by family and friends, our pastor was even a part of the Ceremony, it was nice to have our Pastor and not some Chaplain that we didn't even know. God was definately honored and given the glory on Friday. If those that attended the Promotion could not see that God is first and foremost in our family's life, then they must have been asleep!

Praising God for HIS greatness and the life in which we have been given.

The New Year

2010-12-31T11:04:00.003-05:00

Today is New Year's Eve.....hard to believe that 2010 is almost over and tomorrow will be the first day of the year 2011. Our New Year brings about some wonderful things: New Home and Promotion for the Captain :) Today brings about finishing the painting in our new home and working outside a bit. We will shoot some fireworks with the kids tonight as well. My ham is thawing for a nice dinner tonight and tomorrow dinner will consist of the traditional New Year's Day food.....yummy!

I do not believe in New Year's resolutions, as always I will continue to put my trust and faith in God. With God, all things are possible. I challenge you to do the same this year too, drop the New Year's resolutions because let's face it, they are silly, all you need to do is put your trust in God. It is funny hearing people talk about their "New Year's Resoltuion" and then you hear them again in a few months on how they "broke" it......silly, just silly to me!

We have a tradition, I guess you could say, in our family, my Father-in-Law always says,"I wonder what the new year will bring." He may or may not realize it, but we look forward to him saying it at the end of each year, it's become a tradition.

2010 in review: I had a couple of out-patient surgeries, the Bookworm was re-diagnoised with Asthma(now it is under control), The Princess started High School and Marching Band, the Bookworm started Middle School and started playing the trombone, The Captain was instructor of the Quarter at work, and then won instructor of the year, the Captain was in a wreck and our car got totaled and now has the truck that he has always wanted, I was finally diagnoised and learned that I have Hashimoto's Disease and finally put on meds., and we bought a house! Through everything that has happened, good or bad, we have always put God first and put our total trust and faith in Him.

We look forward to the New Year and all of the things that God has planned for us, because no matter what the circumstance, God gives us nothing more or less than what we can handle!

The BookWorm Turns 12

2010-12-22T11:18:00.002-05:00

The Bookworm turned 12 on the 16th. It is hard to believe that our youngest child is 12! He had a wonderful birthday. He wanted Mom to make Granny Granny's thin layer chocolate cake, and that is what I did. He received lots of wonderful gifts, of course his favorite is getting money!!! He had the choice of doing what ever he wanted to do for his birthday, so he chose eating at CiCi's Pizza and going to the movies to see the the Narnia Movie. We had a great day with him, focusing just on him and his BIRTHday :)

Youth Christmas Program

2010-12-22T11:08:00.005-05:00

The kids had their Christmas Program at Church two Sundays ago. They both sang in a group with 3 other friends and they both played in the Youth Orchestra in which the Captain directed. I was very proud of them, they did a wonderful job. The Princess even played a duet with our Organist. If you have talents use them, and use them to glorify the Lord!

Paint, Paint and More Paint

2010-12-22T10:52:00.002-05:00

Well, the Captain and I(soon to be Major and I come the 7th of January) have been painting in the soon to be new home of ours for the past two days. We are really getting a lot done and it is looking nice and fresh. We had already painted the kids rooms and last night we finished our master bedroom. It looks really nice, we painted it a color called pale daffodil, it is a real pretty yellow. We even started painting the living room down stairs last night as well. It is a color called tawny birch, it is a real pretty tan color. I managed to get all the trim done and the entry way, today we will walk over and hopefully finish the room. Next on the list will be the kids bathroom. We picked up a real pretty blue color that was in the clearance bin for $5.00, can't beat that! After the kids bathroom we will probably venture upstairs and paint the landing up the stairs and the office upstairs. It really feels rewarding working in the house, especially since we know that it will be ours on the 29th! We are still praying that we will be signing the papers then!

This past week has been very busy! It all started last Tuesday and we had something everyday/evening til this past Sunday! It is nice to finally have a break and to have no commitments except family! The only thing we had going on this week was the dental cleanings for the kids and that went well, no cavities for either and great reports! Yesterday the Princess saw the Neurologist, and her EEG was normal, next step is to get an MRI. We go next week to set that up. This morning she had another blackout episode, she has been in the bed since. She will be there all day, usually when she gets like this that is where she stays until the next day. I really think that she is fine, I just think that this is something that she is going to have to endure and live with.

So glad that all of our Christmas shopping is done! There is NO way that you would catch me out shopping now!! Although I do need to run to the grocery store, but I will do this in our town, it want be as hectic here. The Princess cooked dinner last night all by herself while we were over at the new house painting. We were so proud of her. Homemade spaghetti and meatballs and a delicious tossed salad......yummy! Tonight the Bookworm wants to cook and he wants to cook homemade pizza.....we can't wait, we are sure that it is going to be just as tastey!

Tomorrow we will make our sugar cookies and gingerbread houses and chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter balls rolled in cashews. We do this every year and we always bake on Christmas Eve Eve. I love baking with the kids! We'll probably sit and watch Christmas movies all day as well.

So, if you don't have to go out and brave the crowds, don't! Take time to relax and stay at home and enjoy the simplicity of doing nothing. Wrap up in a blanket and read or watch Christmas movies while sipping hot chocolate and eating popcorn!

Marvelous Mad Monday

2010-11-22T09:00:00.003-05:00

Another Monday is upon us....the weekend flew by yet again :) The Captain and I enjoyed a great Saturday with the Princess and the Bookworm. We spent it about an hour from our house, at a wonderful Mall that we had never been to. We had a great day and ended it with watching the new Harry Potter Movie, which by the way, was awesome!

Today will be a full day in our household. The Princess has her EEG done today at the Neurologist. I am glad that we will be getting this done today, Wednesday she had her first migriane headache that constituted going to the Doctor the next day and getting medicine and a shot in the rear. After three days of having it, it finally went away....poor Princess.

Christmas lights outside are on the agenda for this evening for us. The four of us love putting up our lights outside each year. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, with the Captain's wooden cross that he made, will be the center attraction in our yard. Tomorrow night will be our tree/trees. We always put up two. One in the family room and one in the dining room, which, by the way, was the Captain's idea.

The kids have a two day school week this week! Nice!! Wednesday night will be a time of fellowship at our home with wonderful Christian friends of ours. Dinner and fellowship, can't think of anything better than that!

Turkey Day is Thursday! This Thanksgiving we will enjoy being at my parent's home. It will be the first time in almost 2 years since we have all been together. My brother and his wife will be down from Chicago, it will be nice to see them. As I think about Thanksgiving, and this week in general, I remember that last year this time the Captain and I were on a Cruise for our Anniversary. We had a wonderful time! And speaking of our Anniversary....we will celebrate 16 wonderful years together on Friday. I am truly blessed, and have the most wonderful, Christian husband in the whole world!

Black Friday! Yes, black friday is Friday! I will be out getting some certain things that are going to be great deals! I usually don't go out too early on black friday, but this year I am, and one of the stores that I need to be at starts their sells at 12:01, so that is my first stop!

The Holidays, a truly wonderful time of the year........Christ, the most wonderful person that you can ask to be a part of your life : 0 )

Rainy Weather

2010-11-16T14:34:00.002-05:00

Today is a rainy day here, but I love rainy days. Showers of Blessings from the Lord above, even in the Fall/Winter time, we still need rain. Gets you thinking about this time of the year doesn't it? Showers of Blessings? Have you thought about the many "Showers of Blessings" that God has given to you in your life? I guarantee you that once you start listing your blessings, you can't stop! God is good and He is good ALL the time! He gives us nothing that we can not handle, and He gives us nothing more or less than what we need.

Why is it that many only think of their blessings and count them at Thanksgiving? It this is the only time of the year that count your blessings, or thank God for your blessings, then I encourage you to stop, and begin thanking God everyday, not only for the good in your life, but also the bad. It is through the bad too, not only the good that we grow closer to God. Many only lean on God through the bad. Why is that? I suppose that many believe that they don't really need God or need to lean on Him through the good because everything is good. But when we go through the bad, He is the first one that many reach to. God cares, not only in the bad, but also in the good. God cares ALL the time! He cared so much for us that he gave his ONLY son for us! If that isn't care and love than what is!

I encourage you to stop....at this moment stop.....stop talking....stop reading.....stop complaining...stop ignoring and start thanking.....start listening.....start praying....start loving....start putting God first.

Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

A Splash of Color

2010-11-14T15:09:00.002-05:00

It has been a very busy week! It has been so busy that I am canceling the kids' dentist appts. tomorrow and rescheduling them for when they are on break!

The new house is still in progress, praying praying praying that we close this week! If not, I am not even going to worry about anything until after the Holidays. I am not even thinking about Christmas and buying gifts yet! Christmas has gotten way to commercialized! What happened to the real meaning of Christmas....CHRIST. Of course, I know what happened, so many people leave CHRIST out of their life all year long, why bother to celebrate HIM at CHRISTmas!

In the new house this week we were able to get the kids' new rooms painted on Friday when the Captain was off from work. It only took us a few hours, and the rooms look awesome and fresh. The next room on the agenda for this week is our bedroom, then we are going to go ahead and paint the sitting room downstairs. Can't wait to close, everytime I walk in the house I love it more and more!

Fall....November

2010-11-08T11:30:00.003-05:00

It is hard to believe that it is November, seems like it was just Summer. It is already colder here this year than it was last year this time. I am feeling the cold air this year a lot more than I did last year, one word, Hoshimoto's! My coat is my best friend, along with a blanket! I know that we are going to have a really cold Winter, and I will def. be bundled up!!

So last week was the first week in November, and last Tuesday was Election Day. I crossed party lines and voted Democrat for our State Governor, he didn't win, but I surely did not want to cast my vote for the Republican candidate. It was quit funny when reading the ballot and voting in reference to questions that they have on the ballot that pertain to your County or State. One that made me chuckle pertained to beer sales on Sundays. As of now, there are no beer sales on Sunday. This bill would lift the ban on beer sales on Sundays if it passed. What I find interesting is this: if people do not think that beer should not be sold on Sundays because of Church, then what makes it right to be sold any other day of the week? In other words, if it's not good enough to be sold on the Lord's Day, then why sale it or even have it to begin with? Hummmm, just a thought.

So another question that was on the ballot to be voted on was for our County in which we live pertaining to Blue Laws, you know the law where stores can not open until 1:30 on Sundays. I for one am for this law being passed. If grocery stores and restaurants can be open on Sundays in the mornings, then all other stores should be able to. I do like the fact that if stores are closed it allows the workers to go to Church, but there are so many Churches now-a-days that have so many different times for Worship Service. There is more Worship times begin offered now, than the traditional 11:00 a.m. Service. Another thought....

First part of November, voting, second week of November, waiting on our new house still. We are continuing to be patient, and we have our faith in the Lord that everything will work out and we will be able to close on our house in His timing.

Another thought, guess I am on a tangent today! It is hard to believe that in two weeks we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that there are those that only sit down together to eat on a Holiday such as Thanksgiving, and this Holiday is the only time that many are "thankful" for all that they have. What ever happened to family dinners together? What ever happened to praying together? What ever happened to spending quality family time together? We as a family eat dinner together every night, we say grace together every night, we spend time together every night. We love to play board games together, and go to our local yogurt shop to get a yogurt and hang out talking. I love it when people give excuses for not eating together as a family, or not cooking at home and eating on the go all the time. What is their excuse? I am to busy! Wow, when people give that answer they are saying that everything else is much more imporant than their family! How sad, but this is so true. And what ever happened to Church and the Lord? Oh it hurts me so badly to see those that are not in Church, and to especially see those that are not in Church if they have children. The Lord is def. not the first priority in these families. Our family could not imagine not being in Church and serving and worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There are many times when I think about the future of our Nation and I just want to cry, what this wonderful Nation was founded on is crumbling away, and unless we do something about it, it will fade away.

JOY: Jesus, Others, Yourself

If we put Jesus first, Others second and ourselves last, how can we go wrong?

Halloween

2010-10-31T15:59:00.006-04:00

We had a wonderful and spooky Halloween! We decked our house out as usual with ghosts in the windows, tombstones in the front, and our witch that made a crash landing into the ground by her cauldron. Spooky...
We started out our evening by deck out the van as a "hippie" van and we participated as a family with Trunk or Treat at our Church. We had a great time and we had over 100 kids come through. We had flower that I had made out of bright colored paper, and ribbons hanging all in the van, plus our parachute that added some color as a blanket. We also had our bubble machine going. Our hippie van went along with the theme for me and the Captain this year. We dressed up as PEACE and QUIET. It was fun. I dressed up as QUIET and the Captain dressed up as PEACE. I have to admit that I did a pretty good job on his costume, he looks like a real hippie with long hair and the clothes! Our dog was a Clown, even though she could have passed as a Jester. She went with us and sat on my lap the whole time while we passed out candy, she was so good! The Princess went as a Love Bug, and the Bookworm went as a USC Fan. We had a great time together as a family. Now, on to thinking about what we are going to be for next year. I think that we will go with a theme for the whole family, even Sandy, our dog!
After Trunk or Treat we came home and the kids went around our neighborhood with some friends from Church Trick or Treating, while I passed out the rest of the candy that we had left. It was a great night, and all of our candy was passed out! Of course in our neighborhood that is not uncommon because we are the most popular neighborhood in our town to Trick or Treat in.

Hope that you had a Fabulous and Spooky Halloween :)

Turned Up-Side Down Tuesday

2010-10-26T17:37:00.002-04:00

Our morning did not start out like any other morning. The Princess got sick right when we were getting ready to walk out the door for school. I took the Bookworm, left her home, returned and made her appt. with our Doctor on Post. This made for a whole day on Post at the Hospital because we already had an appt. for 3 today for a CAT Scan for her. So we spent from 12-3:30 on at the Hospital :(

By the end of the day the Princess had a visit with the Doctor, blood test(6 viles were taken), urine test, shots and an CAT Scan. What a day! Prayerfully it will not take long to get results in from all. Poor thing, praying we find out why what happens to her every month happens. I can only imagine how scary it is to get dizzy, and completely not be able to see!

On the other hand......the last football game is this Friday, and that makes for the last time this year the Band will be marching as well. Can't wait to see the Princess and the Band march Friday night with their full uniform on. We have had a great time going to the games this year and cheering her on! It truely is Fall here, minus it not being cold here yet! Many are still in shorts and I have to admit that we are still wearing ours some days too! I am sure that Fall will be in the air at the Football Game on Friday night too.

Holding Out For The Long Haul

2010-10-24T19:22:00.002-04:00

Well, we looked all day this afternoon after Church at houses. A few had the many things that we want in a house, but then there was always a few things that bothered us. Either the nieghbor was so-so or there was more room needed in the house. Long story short and 10 houses later, we decided to stay in the contract on the original house. We are stepping out on FAITH and praying that it will not take too long. Until then, thank you Dad, for letting the Captain borrow your truck! Why? Because we can not get any new line of credit until we close on the house. And, no using credit cards, except our bank card until we close. But that is okay because we didn't realy use our credit card anyway.

So, please keep praying that it want take too long on the house. It would be nice to be in it before Christmas, but if not we are fine where we are until it all happens on the house.

Thundering Thursday=Fabulous Friday(I hope)

2010-10-22T09:58:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was quite some Thursday, around here we call it Thundering Thursday! Not that anything bad happened, just one little thing that we have been dealing with for well, about a month now, our new house........yeah, that, we found out some more info. last night. So we learned last weekend, that the lady that is selling the house never did take it to Probate when her husband died and her husband did not have a will. So, in order to move forward, she had to go to Probate, which she did on Wednesday. Well, here is the kicker, he had two sons, so now that have to get a disclosure from those two sons. We were told that there still was a possibility that we could close next week, well, as of last night that changed from 1-2 weeks to 30-45 days!! The Captain and I are going, WHAT! (Geeewheez)

So, now we are thinking.......do we hold out for 30-45 days, or do we find another house? Thing being we have until the end of the year(hopefully) to get out of this house. Do I want to be moving during the Holidays!!! No I do not! I want to be in a house and settled by....Thanksgiving. The Captain and I have been praying for the Lord to show us the way, to give us a peace about what we should do. If we pull out of the house, we will eventually have to take the owner to small claims Court to get our VA appraiser fee & Home Inspection monies back. I have no doubt that we would win since she put a house on the market to sell that isn't legally hers! Gee, never in my days did I think that something like this would happen. And this prolongs our buying a new truck for the Captain as well, as we can not open any new credit or buy anthing on credit until we close! We're praying, we know that God has a plan, we just don't see it yet.

On another note, The Captain will no longer be a Captain as of January 1st!! Hurray!! The Captain will turn to Major!! Finally....it's been a lonnnnnnnggggg wait!

So today is Friday, and I am praying that it will be fabulous. The kids have a half day and get report cards today. The Princess has a Doctor appt. this afternoon, so I will pick her up from Band Practice early. Her throat has been hurting for two weeks now, she was on antibiotic, but it did not help, I am thinking that it is her tonsils :( Tonight, who knows what we will do, maybe rent a movie from the redbox.

Tomorrow....busy....the Princess has the Upper State Band Competition tomorrow and we will being going to see her and the Band march. Say a prayer, if they place and get a Superior, they move on to the Finals which will be held next Saturday, although the Princess has mixed emotions about it. She wants to place, but yet, she wants to be able to enjoy the Halloween weekend too! If they place, then she will have to miss hanging out at our Church's Trunk or Treat next Saturday and a bonfire that one of her friends is having. Humm

So, off I go to get ready to start my day, the Bookworm will be out of school in about and hour :)