A lil update

Hello! Thank you to everyone who sent and continue to send congratulations to Chad and I about our new baby! I'm 6 weeks and Thursday had my "You're Having a Baby in Germany" class. It was sadly disappointing and not at all informative. So that was a waste of 1 1/2 hrs in not very comfortable chairs, but it's mandatory and I got through it! I have picked out a dr and on Wednesday will call her when her office is open and make an apt!

One of the great things about German drs is that they do ultrasounds (u/s from here on out) at every appointment. So hopefully soon I'll be seeing our new little gift with my own eyes.

Now as far as the pregnancy goes, it's early on, but I'm definately dealing with exhaustion at different times during the day (wish I could say it over took me at night, but so far it hasn't) and Thursday I got my first official "morning sickness" oh the joys of throwing up! It really was not bad and honestly the nausea is what I'm dealing with more than anything. It looks like I may not be cooking meat much during this pregnancy since the sight and smell of it about do me in while it's cooking. I can eat it, just can't be in the kitchen while it's cooking (and that includes in the oven...the smells). A couple things have just been thinking of them and I was worried I'd have to run to the bathroom! I'm desiring fruits, peaches to be specific! Oh yum!!! Normally I'm not much of a peach fan, but this baby seems to be! LOL I'm thrilled it's healthy foods.

The boys are really excited! I don't know if Jack really gets it, but I think so because he's had a few moments of jealousy where he says "I'm a baby"! I will hold him and cuddle him and we talk about how he'll always be my baby, but that he will be a big brother soon and that he'll be an awesome big brother! Jacob's just thrilled! He's wanted me to have a baby the day after Jack was born! LOL

Chad and I have a ball coming up. This will be the first ball we attend in our nearly 10 yrs of marriage in the Army! Sad but true! I'm so excited and really hope that the dress I'm bidding on, I win it! We'll have pictures taken there and I will be sure to share them on here!

God Bless

 

I got this from Dona (THANK YOU!!!)

 

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to the blessings that 2007 will be bringing to us. The most important and obvious is our new baby that will be making her or his entrance into the world in Mid August! Another is my parents will be visiting us in the spring and we'll be traveling a lot!

I have wonderful friends who will also be welcoming their 3rd children (one will be welcoming her 3rd in almost 4 yrs while another will be welcoming her 3rd biological child, although she also has a beautiful step daughter and I know she feels this is her 4th child!).

 

I pray that this year is wonderful for each of you!

 

God Bless

Guess Who's......

Having a Baby?

 

Me! We found out officially on Monday! I KNEW on Thursday when I didn't end up getting that monthly pest! LOL It was really nice to see the positive written out on the computer screen as well as on the paper work I had them give me! I am due August 22, but since my previous 3 have all been c-sections this one will also be a c-section so "SHE" ( :) ) will come the week before! As you can tell, yes we are hoping for a girl! We will love this baby boy or girl, but I've put my request in with GOD! I know he'll give us exactly what our family needs though and have complete trust in him!

So far I feel tired, but that's it and I can handle that!

 

 

Christmas Pasts

While over at Barbara's :Life & Faith in Caneyhead her lastest post about Christmas Pasts inspired me to this post! :) I definately recommend going and reading about Barbara's Christmas's growing up! There's something so peaceful about simple Christmas's where stress was ultimately not the focus of the day!

While I was a child we normally woke up at home Christmas morning. Quite often Christmas Eve was spent either at home with many of my dad's siblings there (my dad is #5 out of 12 siblings!). We'd often bake cookies. Many years on Christmas Eve at my Grandma's, my Aunt J will be making no bake cookies, and sugar cookies and getting all us kids involved, then she'd load us into her little Honda car and we'd drive around singing Christmas Carols and looking at the Christmas lights. Some years we'd get to open up a gift on Christmas Eve from a relative that wasn't going to be around on Christmas Day, but it was rare.  I loved waking up on Christmas morning when we believed in S.C my brother and I would lay there whispering (because on this one night we'd get in the others bed and wait and giggle just dying to get downstairs!) Far too many Christmas mornings my parents could not have been in bed more than an hour or two and we'd be dashing down those stairs, running to my parents room and waking them up and running into the living room and of course being thrilled with what ever Santa left! We'd open the gifts and haul our treasures upstairs and we'd either play quietly upstairs or go back to bed for a couple more hours while Mom and Dad went back to bed! Dinner was always a full house of my grandma, parents, aunts, uncles, lots of cousins varying in ages from adult to babies, some would even drag a friend or two along (those poor souls! LOL) Because of so many people, once Grandma said Dinner was ready you ate or you went without! After dinner we'd exchange gifts, then it was off to football watching, card playing, and kids outside playing. On my dad's side of the family it was never a get together with out game after games of the card game Pitch. Sadly I don't know how to play, one day I will have to have my parents teach Chad and I. Every memory of mine with my dad's side of the family has them playing Pitch. They would play late into the night as well, well after midnight and often times the next day we'd get together and there'd be more pitch playing! There was never a quiet time during the holidays! There was always a housefull of people, lots of food, us kids always seemed to be cracking nuts and eating them, running around to play with our new toys, playing tag, hide and seek, cuddling the babies, and lots of laughter!

My children are growing up differently in many ways. Being in the Army we don't always live near family. Up until last year we lived about 1 1/2 hrs from my family and 13 hrs from my husband's. We'd often to go my side of the families for the holiday, although a couple of those years we'd try to make it up to Ohio in between Thanksgiving and Christmas and they'd have a large meal and we'd all exchange gifts.

Something important that I want to be the norm for my children is waking up in our home Christmas morning and so far we've done that almost every year. I want my boys to feel like the day is simple and relaxing, that no one was stressed out, that most importantly the focus was on Christ.

 

So tell me what was your Christmas like growing up and what's it like now as an adult?!

Hiding God's Word Week 3

How are we all doing in memorizing God's word? Last weeks verse was Proverbs 3:5-6 it was a long one.

All week I've had a verse in my heart that I knew was to be this weeks memorization verse. You'll be happy to see it's a short one and for those who have a history with Awana, namely Sparks you'll know this is the first verse that must be memorized!

John 3:16 “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.

Ok sorry about the previous entry which will not for some rediculous reason it will not delete. I'm not sure what's going on with it. Very aggrevating!

 

 

DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got the boys finished today. I have one last thing to get for Chad, it's actually from Jacob, but we know exactly what it is he's getting him and where the little booth in the Christmas market it is, so that'll be easy to run down and get since we're already going down there this week with my friend Michelle. Chad is currently downtown at the Christmas market having the boys get my gift and he's also picking up a gift for our friends Michelle and Matthew. Now it's time to start wrapping! Yippee! LOL Gift wrapping isn't my favorite thing to do, but Chad really likes doing it and does it beautifully, so between the two of us we'll be able to get everything wrapped up fairly quickly. I'm hoping that by tomorrow night we can get a good majority of our things wrapped up and by saw Wednesday we'll be all done!

So out of you, who's done, who has a few more things, and who's not even started? :X

 

 

Our Day

We're part of a home schooling group. Today we had our Christmas Party. There's just 3 families who participate, but we really enjoy our weekly get together's at the library. Over the summer a lot of the other families who Home School moved, so hopefully in the next few months more will come!

We did a Secret Santa gift exchange among the kids. It worked out well since we all bring 2 of our children (one family has 6 children, 1 is about to graduate college over Christmas break). The kids all liked their gifts and had fun! We had a light lunch that my friend Michelle brought. I made dessert: buckeyes, choc. chip cookies with and without nuts, and oat meal chip cookies again with and without nuts. Lunch was great and the kids had a great time!!! Here's some pictures of the kids opening the gifts....

 

 

 

 

Hiding God's Word: Week 2

 

 

Hello! How many of you memorized Eph. 1:2? I did! If you have not, I encourage you to go back and read the verse, write it down,and memorize it.

This weeks verse I prayed over once again and God is so good to show me amazing verses of his to hide in my heart and for you to hide in yours! So here's our 2nd week's verse!

 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

 

I know it's longer, but I know I can do this and believe you can too! So get that pen and index cards and write down your new verse. Place them all around your home so you see his word everywhere you go!

 

God Bless BTW, I'd love to hear if you did get the last/1st verse memorized!

 

Sunday Morning Thoughts

It's 2:22 am. I was born not today, but in Feb at 2:22 pm! Sorry it just made me smile. My dad always thought it'd be neat if I'd been born on Feb 2 (I was born on the 9th) because then it would have been 2-22 at 2:22! LOL

So anyways, I hope you all have gotten your bible verse memorized! I did! I'm so excited that I can say without a doubt I have one verse in my heart hidden, to pull out anytime! Later today I'll pray and see what the 2nd verse is to memorize!

Now onto what my heart is feeling the need to write about. Disobeying GOD. Our tv's are full of junk. It's full of psychics, foul language, soft porn, adultry, witch craft, the list goes on and on and on. It's not just on our tv's, it's on the internet via websites, blogs, myspace, etc. We seek joy from the laughter Satan provides for us and turn away from GOD, because it's too serious, not nearly as funny, not entertaining enough. We spend our times reading smut magazines, books, authors who deny God, who deny Christ.

When we do this, it goes in deep. We don't often realize it at first (well a little won't hurt). But the truth is, even the tiniest drop will hurt. We are WEAK. We're humans. GOD's ways are the right way. It's plain and simple, yet we turn our back on him. Why?

We seek advice from psychics either irl or on tv or via books, etc. They're telling you lies. God tells us we're not to seek them. Yet even people I know who profess to be a Christian seek them. 

I have been reading blogs and myspace tonight and just left so disheartened. Most of the ones I've been on tonight are from professed Christians. I just don't understand that if you believe in Jesus, why isn't he enough for you? Why do we seek approval and love from everyone else, but him?  

Happy Birthday Mom

My parents don't read my journal, they don't have the address and that is ultimately how I want it, but I still want to celebrate my mom. Today is her birthday. She is 50 today. She had me when she was 20. I called her tonight when we got home from a Welcome Home Celebration for our soldiers and the 2 other units who were deployed at the same time (they all left about a week to a few days from each other). The celebration was great! (More about that later).

Mom took the day off of work and went shopping with her best friend! She was thrilled that I called her and the boys talked to her!

My mom and I have a much  better relationship when there's an ocean between us. I love her, but well as it happens she drives me crazy at times. I'm not perfect and don't help at times.

Growing up my dad worked different hours. When I was a toddler until I was 5, his job would at times take him away from us for weeks at a time. Nothing like the deployments us military face, but it was still more of a single parent home at times. Throughout most of Junior High/Middle School my dad worked 2nd shift, for those who don't know those hours it's 3 pm to 11 pm. He worked about 30-45 minutes away from our house so he wouldn't get home until after midnight, he'd normally eat a little something, watch tv to wind down, and be in bed by 1 am. My brother and I only saw him on the weekends during the school year. My mom pretty well did it all. She loved/s us, and I know we were not always easy. I can remember every morning before she left for work, she'd leave my dad a note and it always started off one of two ways either his name or "Babe". If an issue happened with my brother and I and the discipline was something she felt he needed to be involved in, it was there in ink (my brother and I knew we were in deep trouble!).

Mom came to nearly every single sporting event I was in, unless it was during the middle of the week and was just too far away for her to get to by the time she got off work. She came to every vocal music event and band. She came to football games to watch me perform, even though she's NOT a football or any sports fan. She did it because she loved me, and that's what a mom does.

She grew up without knowing what a mother's love is like. Her mother died when my mom was only 2 yrs old (her brother was 1). My grandpa remarried with in a year, mostly out of fear of raising two small children alone, feeling they needed a mother.Sadly Grandpa didn't find a good woman. He found a witch. (She died when I was in 2nd grade). My Grandpa is a wonderful man though. He made sure my mom and her brother had a close relationship with their mom's family, so my mom spent her summers and many holidays and weekends, etc at her grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Her step-mom once told my mom that "If God wanted me to have a daughter he would have given me one". She was too stupid to realize GOD did give her a daughter. My mom was the only girl. Her step mother came into the marriage with 4 sons and then Grandpa and her had another son together. Mom always knew my grandpa loved her, but never felt the love of a mother.  I can't imagine that pain. She loved her step mom, but wasn't loved in returned.

She married my dad (high school sweetheart) at the age of 18. I know without a doubt he's the love of her life and vice versa. She's about to retire from over 20 years of working for Wal-Mart. She and my dad live in their dream home. She will soon get to enjoy gardening (flowers) not just in the evenings, she can work on her fish ponds, sewing, and embroidary anytime she wants. She retires on my Jacob's birthday!!

I love my mom. I'm sure she sacrificed a great deal for my brother and I. Although we don't have a perfect relationship, I love her and I'm thankful for her.

 

Happy Birthday Mom, I love you.

Week 1 of Hiding God's Word

Well, I prayed and asked GOD to show me which bible verse was to be the verse. I am excited and hope you will join me in this!

The verse for the week of Dec 3-9 is:

Ephesians 1:2

Grace and peace to you from GOD our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So memorize it. Write it everywhere and post it everywhere you can, so you constantly see it!

God Bless