Peak, Pit, Praise, Prayer

Saw this idea for a journal on Pinterest....since I blog now rather than journal I modified....

PEAK- My 27th year is coming to a close here in the next week and it has been great. So many new adventures, new baby, SAHM, preschool fun with MJD, so much to be thankful for.

PIT- Knowing my mama was sad on Thanksgiving cause she couldn't be here with the boys.

PRAISE- Tim has been getting several inspections on his side job which is really good money, helps out a little bit with Christmas around the corner.

PRAYER- For Nena and Papa to be home with us for Christmas this year.

Spoiled Rotten....

So MJD has this aunt.....Tia Gabi, a.k.a. T. She spoils him rotten. And they both love it!!!

Getting movie tickets to see the Muppets.

Getting money to ride the tots at the mall....

Plus the toys, trip to Toys R Us and the Elf....gotta love our T!!!

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First Chicken

After consuming a lot of Chick-fil-A in utero, Bean finally consumed his very own CFA meal....well at least the strips part of it.

While he usually likes to be an independent feeder and put the food in his own mouth, he was not about to risk dropping any and he gratefully allowed me to feed him like a little bird.

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Brothers and Cookies....

We have now reached the era of two little boys in the race car shopping cart while they each enjoy a sugar cookie....my oh my!

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Elf..

Our Elf on the Shelf (named Theodore by MJD) arrived this week, along with Tia Gabi's arrival.....and he brought with him breakfast from the North Pole, white powdered donuts, and presents, new Christmas jammies to wear on Christmas Eve.

Thanksgiving 2011

How we celebrated this year.....
Fancy china......
Tia Gabi......


Tio Richard.....
Sparkling grape juice....

Big, yummy, honey glazed turkey.......
Big, silly turkey bibs for little boys on their First Thanksgiving......
Brother in law using the dessert plates instead of the dinner plates.....silly Richard!
Eating real turkey for the first time.....yummy!
Lots of love and smiles......

Cousin Crew

My SILs wanted to get a group picture of all the little cousins in order to make a Christmas gift for my MIL.....so we tried to get 6 small children to smile nicely for the camera.....right in the middle of the littlest one's morning nap nonetheless.....but we got one good shot.

The entire posse
Alexander & Sophia

Jeremiah & Lana (They would not smile for photos :( )



(Yes, I know there is not a photo of MJD....He was moving too fast and not interested in my taking shots of him....I'll get some of him solo later on.)

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast

MJD had his preschool Thanksgiving Feast earlier this week. I was more excited about it this year because I knew what was coming as far as the show, I wasn't running to see him from work, and I was able to record and photograph the event this year. (Well I took photos, my friend Melissa videoed for me.)

Daddy and Bean waiting for MJD to go up on stage.

The 3 year old turkeys :)
My turkey....who of course for all his "performances" at home, hardly performed on the big day!
Family photo while we enjoyed Thanksgiving lunch at school.


The little turkey bunch!

Real Housewives of Charlotte County

So aside from not having our own t.v. show, fancy cars, millions of dollars and the fame and fortune of those t.v. housewives, we are very similar......eccentric friends, girls night out, and sparking creativity. We had a great time celebrating some beautiful ladies' birthday and getting ready for some new babies to join the posse.

Work

Conversation to melt my heart yesterday.....

MJD: "My daddy at work?"

Me: "Yes baby, your daddy is at work."

MJD: "Some daddies work."

Me: "Yes baby, some daddies work."

MJD: "Some mommies work too?"

Me: "Yes baby, some mommies have to work too."
"Where does your mommy work?"

MJD: "At home for me."

Me: "That's right baby, mommy works for you."

Rough Week?

When you think you have had a rough week....remember it could always be worse.....like this poor dude...

His life is spent in the arms of others all the time, someone has to bathe him, he gets his butt wiped for him several times a day, gets away with wearing silly animal clothing, is escorted all over town in a personal limousine. The poor chap doesn't even walk on his own in the stores, he is wheeled around in a carriage.
He naps at his leisure, cries at any whim, is attended to by ladies, is constantly told how good he looks and when he awakes he will be consoled for his smallest squeak.....all the while not fully appreciating all he is enjoying and will never remember how good he has it.

So, if you had a rough week, think about this poor guy who is living the best years of his life and will carry no memory of it :-)

Blessings

I was going to post on Blessings the other day and then after a recent phone conversation, it felt more fitting tonight....As I some days struggle as to the why of God's timing, why He doesn't do things a certain way, why things haven't worked out easily for my parents to come home, why all these difficult struggles in life I am reminded to count my blessings.
So as my perspective has changed, and I've changed my viewpoint away from myself and more onto His sovereignty this song and these blessings keep coming to mind and strengthening my heart.....



As I think about the blessings that have come from the season of life I've had without my family near by I have learned....

How to work our marriage problems within the safety and security of my marriage without running to "tattle" to my family.
How to raise children on my own with my husband.
How to be confident in myself as a woman without living in a shadow.
How to extend mercy and grace to others because I have learned how desperately I need it.
How to go outside of my comfort zone to make friends because I don't have family to lean on near by.
How sweet it is to have a support group of friends.
How much I value and appreciate my parents' wisdom and guidance because I don't have to then near to help with things all the time, so when I do get wisdom or words of encouragement from them it is so much sweeter.
How to be a mother on my own.
How to step back from being a mother and let my own mother simply be a grandmother.
How to depend on my husband to provide, protect, and care for our family without the security of my father.
How to document and savor memories and events.
How to slow down and enjoy what really matters.
How to be grateful for gifts that my parents give us and the boys rather than feeling entitled.
How to care for my parents rather than then always caring for me.
How to be a friend with my mother and not just a daughter.
How to trust God to care for things.
How sweetly I can feel His presence around me.
How aware I am of His love for me.

I don't know why our prayers for them to return haven't been answered yet. I know that they will be though, in His time and in His way. I know He desires good and perfect gifts for us. I know He loves us and will direct our paths. I know He is faithful and good and trustworthy. So when my weakness grows greater than my faith, I remind myself that He is always blessing us, even when what we're walking through doesn't feel like a blessing. Being without my family these past 5 years has hardly felt like a blessing at times, but if I look back at what He has done for me, I can see how clearly He is blessing me.

Do It Afraid....

This link was posted on line via FB today on several people's pages....so I clicked and I'm glad I did.

DO IT AFRAID

So much of the last 7 months has been done while I've been afraid. Yet, in spite of my fear, God has been doing some amazing things. I wish I had the words to list all that my heart years to say, but it's not coming at the moment. So I'll leave the link for you to read if you want and I'm going to go spend some time in the quiet with my Jesus, just to say thank you for helping me do it afraid.

My little pumpkin

Kara made Bean this adorable pumpkin hat....while my first desire was to carve out a pumpkin and place him in it, our friends who usually do our family photos weren't able to do them as we had thought so I didn't venture that project on my own....instead I decided to just put him in front of pumpkins.

Not quite magazine cute worthy, but certainly steal mama's heart worthy.

Halloween 2011

We're not super crazy, spooky, big on Halloween fans, but Tim and I both had a lot of fun growing up and doing the trick or treating and dressing up, so we want our boys the same opportunity. So we do the costumes and the church events and even the Halloween night ritual of going door to door and getting candy....(always supervised and in a safe place, of course!)

This year, rather than brave the chaos that has been the PG downtown district, we decided to head out with some friends to their neighborhood, which has quite a few more homes that are candy friendly than our area.

And with Halloween being on a Monday, we were able to maximize costumes and candy by doing something every day starting with the weekend.

Our first holiday stop was at MJD's preschool....
(I have to stop and put in a plug. They do a fantastic job at every and all events that they do. The staff is always inviting, they really reach out to the community, share the love of Jesus and have a heart for children's ministry that is sincere, genuine and life giving. I am always pleased to support their efforts and have been abundantly blessed that my child loves it there.) I decided for this event Bean would sport it new pumpkin hat from Kara and forgo the costume. MJD had a great time and we enjoyed candy, dinner, bounce houses and games.
We also visited my in-laws' church for their event, but we forgot the camera and since it started raining we didn't stay long with the little ones. But it was fun while we were there.

Halloween night we met up with our friends and did trick or treating....Neither boy knew the other one was also going to be Spiderman, so they were both excited!
Here's our little monkey....he was so great for all we put him through. Too bad he doesn't even get to reap the benefits of Halloween yet :)
This is not a great photo, but about as good as it's going to get in our season of life, especially with costumes on and candy waiting to be collected :)