No resolutions for ten

I started blogging more regularly about this time last year. Needless to say the past few months I have not been very active but I promise dear readers I plan to change that. Not that blogging more regularly is a New Year's Resolution. That was last year's resolution. I succeeded until about October- with that resolution and a couple other ones. Then I have partially felt awful about not 'completing' the year, and I wonder why I'm allowing myself to feel such guilt. Typically, guilt is associated with conviction for me, but I know the Lord isn't convicting me of not posting more to the blog ... right? Of course not. I believe the guilt is more aligned with the typically "mommy guilt", guilt of not being able to do it all.

So, for 2010, in an effort to banish an attempt for mommy guilt to set in, I refuse to make New Year's Resolutions. Merriam-Webster refers to resolution as the "act of resolving"- or "to reach a firm decision about". Most anything you read on goals says to break your goal up into smaller goals, and work your way up. That is much more attainable, don't you think? Don't be surprised if you see posts from me referring to monthly goals. One thing '09 taught me, is to aim low and if you reach higher, then "yay!". In 2010, I shall have smaller goals each month, and by the end of the year, we'll talk about how they all laid the foundation for the more further out, higher end goal I see in the horizon of my mind.

With that, I realize what a blessed woman I truly am. I have seen numerous references about what a bad year '09 was, and I don't see it for us. 2008? oh yeh, that was bad. Jordan died in April, and I don't think I got out of bed much until July. We made the heart wrenching decision to pull the kids from our beloved private school and put them in a public / charter school (financial reasons only). We went through that heart wrenching transition, but God is good, even when your kids are not in the preferred school. We watched them struggle, but God is good, even when we struggle. He provided a way for us to get them back in private school by the end of the school year. The next month, Jay was demoted and the school funds were blown out. I spent the summer wondering how we were going to pay for school, but right as school was ready to start, Jay was offered a new job with a pay increase that covered the school bill. He took the job, and it has been the challenge of his career, but God is good. He carries us through.

He gives grace, where grace is needed. While I would never recommend public school to anyone if they have an option like ours, the trial we went through with our children was a "necessary trial" that I know God led us to- because we learned so much about our children. We ended school year '09 with a deeper relationship with our kids that we might not otherwise have had, if we had not worked through the trial together as a family.

My migraines have been more intense and frequent this year, but I have not seen that as a major issue necessarily- grace. This Christmas, our kids said it was the "best Christmas ever". Jackson doesn't like singing in children's choir, but his favorite day of the week is Monday night visitation when he goes out with a couple of early 20-something "preacher boys". I could not be more proud in that regard! Not only that, but for some reason he has busted out of his desire to dress casually for church, and is wanting to dress up now. While I realize it is the condition of the inside that is more important when it comes to worship, to see my soon-to-be preteen boy decide on his own now, that he wants to dress nice on Sundays is a HUGE blessing for me. (Now people will see we do buy him nice clothes!) The grief issues Hannah was experiencing regarding Jordan have passed. In '08 she was not able to hear his name much less see a picture of him without crying. In '09, she has worked through that. In '10, I plan to put his pictures on the wall. (That's big for her and me.)

2009 has presented its own challenges, but the blessings have far outweighed them. We've both done our own fair share of soul searching and pondering; there have been circumstances that, while it would not be big to others, was big enough for us- but we have been able to adjust to with the Lord's guidance. I believe 2009 has been a year of trust. For me, I have begun learning that if we trust the Lord first, and move forward second, life's trials are ten times more bearable. In my church-notebook (the diary sized journal I keep in my bible bag to take notes in Sunday School and during services...), last January I made my 2009 "theme verse":

"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God" -- Psalm 20:7

I don't know what my '10 theme verse will, be, but I do know, if I continue to remember the name of the Lord MY God, 2010 will be just fine.

Encouragement

"My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. ...it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works." --- Psalm 73:26,28

End of an era

A new chapter is beginning at our house. God is so good. I spoke about it a couple of weeks ago in a Gratituesday post. Four - five months ago, Jays boss of five years was "thrown under the bus" so to speak and let go from the company as regional manager. This is the same person who got Jay's position approved, regional warehouse manager. Jay loved his job. He enjoyed it immensely. Stressful at times, and a big commitment, but he was good at it and he knew it. Less than two months of that boss being gone, they demoted Jay, doing away with his position. He was again a local warehouse manager. Cold unhappy winds through this house did blow. God is good though, they did not mess with his salary, though we lost a large chunk of change from his traveling expenses / benefits. That chunk of change is what we were budgeting the kids being back in private school again, on.

I've been sitting here for a few months now wondering how we are going to manage keeping the kids back in private school this coming year. Book fees have been due, wondering how we'll have first months tuition ready, all sorts of things. We were sitting here one night eating dinner and Jay's phone rang. It was his old boss. After dinner he went outside to call him back, and come back with a huge smile on his face and said "that was the call I've been waiting for...". I didn't realize they had still been talking regularly. Apparently he, his former boss ("C") left Jay's company and got a "promotion" with another company doing the exact line of work, except its local to NC, SC and VA whereas the other one is known nationwide. There was an opening, and C was calling to offer Jay the job. A promotion(!!) from where he was at. A BIG promotion! A BIG raise! No really, like a 27% pay increase, with the potential of it being 40%! They pay 50% of whatever your private insurance monthly premiums are (WOW! we get to choose our own plan!); and he gets a company vehicle AND gas card! That would add another 3% to his income, PRAISE BE TO GOD!! I cried. Yes, I did. Tears of joy, for sure. (My first thought is we can now "afford" to have more kids, LOL!)

So today marks the end of an era. He is very excited about this new job (and getting to work under C again), and I could not be prouder of him. No longer will we be in the red in our budget, as long as we continue to seek God's wisdom and not waste what He has given to us. We have the security we've never had about where the kid's tuition money would come from. That has been why for 3 years we've went without health insurance, it was that or private school and we took our chances. God is giving us so much I am soooooo excited to share with others. I already have a laundry list of things I want to do with any windfalls we have after our (small in the grand scheme of things) debt is paid off.

He called and said he was on his way home right before I started writing this. He's officially gone from the company he's been at for five years, moving on to greater things this coming Monday. To God be the glory.

It deserves it's own post

My cousin called this morning and told me she was coming home today! Praise the Lord! I even mentioned it on my birthday wish-list that her coming home was one of my wishes, but that was between God and I. Thank you Lord for this most perfect birthday wish! :O)

Continue praying for her. She has along recovery ahead of her and she needs a lot of grace to get through it.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is the fourth anniversary of my 30th birthday. It's been a wonderful day so far. Yesterday was equally good, if not better. Yesterday morning I posted on my personal Facebook status:

"It's so nice and quiet here. Hannah's quietly on her computer and I'm doing my bible reading on mine. No TVs, only the sound of the bible audio (not playing *right* now, but ..), the ceiling fan, and the bug sounds from outside."

The TV was not turned on until 4pm! Hannah and I spent an hour playing on Pixie Hollow, and that was an easy hour, too. Today has almost been like that. It's a beautiful day. I got up and grabbed a shower first thing. I called our Pastor's devotional line and listened to that before calling my prayer partner. This month I'm paired with a "Titus 2" lady that I have not had an opportunity to really get to know beyond "hi, how are you doing?" and a few short conversations, so this is nice. We just started this week for August. Technically, the prayer calls are supposed to be five minutes for the Pastor (it's the Pastor's Prayer Team) but we talked 30 minutes this morning (which was very nice!) and prayed for a number of things.

I have a certain frame of mind, or mood, that I like to have set when I sit down to do my bible reading and somehow that has gotten off course today, though. The phone has rang a lot more than normal, but I welcomed one call, an answer to one of my birthday wishes! It was my cousin telling me she is coming home today! Praise the Lord! She still has a long road ahead of her as far as her recovery, so please continue to pray for her. I got a call yesterday from my BFF asking for my address. When I told her I asked if she was sending me a card and she said no she was getting me one of the magazine subscriptions I wanted :D What a great friend not to question the fact I'm overweight but enjoy reading fitness magazines, LOL!!

Another call today was Dad wanting to know if 6:30 was good for my birthday dinner, tonight. I told mom the other day we would do it tomorrow because that's payday, but they're buying all our suppers tonight Applebees, yay! What a blessing! I just love their Quesedilla Burger, it's awesome!

I am so blessed. Thank you Lord!

The improvement is amazing

I spent a good while at the hopital yesterday and my cousin is doing SO good. She walked around her unit twice in a row right before lunch, and she had already walked three times before I got there! I cried a little, she cried a little, then a counselor from cardic services come in and talked to her for a while explaining what to expect in coming weeks. He was very helpful. I'm glad that they have someone like that on staff. All he does is counsel with cardiac patients on the floor. It's sad when you think about it though because, he has a full time job doing that- that means there are that many people sick each day!

My other cousin who works in the cath lab and was there with her when she had her heartattack come in for a visit while I was there. She had a printout of her heart when they took the first couple of pictures at the beginning of her procedure. It showed the blockage and she explained it a little and WOW~ definately a HUGE difference between what it was supposed to be and what it was.

Keep praying. She might get to go home today!

Cousin update 7/27

I went to see her yesterday. She was awake and talking, praise the Lord! They took the tube out and had her sitting in a chair beside her bed Saturday night. She just keeps getting better and better. She's not out of the woods yet, we're awaiting an echocardiogram to see the true condition of her heart. They are expecting a certain degree of damage to her heart.

I am SO thankful the Lord had His hand in all of this. She was supposed to go in second Friday morning, at 6:30 thereabouts. The first patient's doctor was running late, so they took her early. It was only a few minutes into her procedure when she had the heartattack. Because of the abnormal circumstances in the lab, a lot more people were available to work on her during her heartattack, including another cousin of mine on my dad's side of the family. She had already seen Tree before she went into her procedure. She said there were about 20 people helping. She was able to sit with Tree and talk to her through everything that was happening.

Only God could make that happen.

more to come :)

495: Gratituesday: July 14th

click here to read more Gratituesday posts

Today is huge. Just HUGE. Many months of prayers was answered last night. Unexpectedly, no less. Not an actual specific "God make this specific thing happen this way ...", no, I've learned not to limit my God that way, with my personal expectations. I know he can exceed them and part of the joy of being His child is waiting to see what He will do in our lives- even when we do not deserve it. That's the bigger praise today. God chooses to bless us, even though we continually fall short of what we want to be for Him! He brings a peace upon us that ONLY he can bring. You can walk into an easy situation believing it is God, when in reality, it is fleshly security that our minds find in situations that we dismiss as God's peace. So right now, even though I am positive God answered a ton of month's worth of prayers last night, and I am so grateful for the opportunity that's been presented before us, I'm still seeking his total peace on the situation.

Have you ever heard the saying "if it's to good to be true... then it is"? That's what's happening right now. Our kids are back in Christian school, despite a recession in the economy. Our bills are being paid, despite Jay's being demoted a few months ago. We have WONDERFUL landlords. We had an awesome turnout at our yard sale last week to meet school bills. The kids and I had a terrific vacation last week for a lot less money than we expected. What more could we ask for? Then a call comes in last night. Traditionally, I would chalk that call up as too good to be true. There's a catch somewhere. Truly, I would. However, I see God's hand in this. I see what he's done over the past number of months. I see how he has placed every piece of this puzzle perfectly in place for us, and even though I know I see this, it seems like I am outside of myself asking "is this really happening? why us? we've done nothing to deserve this." and we don't, but by the grace of God this is happening.

What's happening? I can't tell :p~~~ but rejoice with me, you'll find out in due time! It's HUGE!

Meanwhile keep an eye out, I have a GREAT giveaway coming up. Do you like mystery books? What would you think about a Christian murder mystery?

How are YOU doing?

I have quite a day ahead of me! Lots to do, too little time. If politics and activism interest you, I've been blogging a bit about current events and such on my political themed blog. Hop on over and feel free to comment if you'd like.

We're doing well. I got a new dishwasher last night- for free! I'm very excited. I'm on a mission to get routines back in every aspect of our lives. I believe it would greatly help with the stress levels in our home. The kids are doing soccer now, tonight is our second practice. They're both very excited about it. I'm Twittering now, if you can't tell ;o) So follow me!

I'm going to be doing a giveaway soon here on the blog. Maybe next week- we'll see! I'll have to think more about it. It will be my first giveaway so I'm hoping it will go over well.

How is your bible reading going? How about my Bible in a Year pals? Amy? (looking around) are you out there? I'm keeping up. I have some "back reading" but it's not too bad. The routine thing will help a lot in that area.

Something to pray about:
We're desperately wanting to get the kids back in private Christian school next school year. Please pray that we will see any open doors the Lord has for us, and that His will be done. I truly believe it's His will for them to be back there next school year. Jackson needs it, badly. Also pray for Jackson. The Lord knows his needs.

Link me to your updates if you've already posted a personal update on your own blogs I have not commented to! (((group hugs))))

Gratituesday 2-17

Jay got a truck! We've been working off of one vehicle for a good while now. He drives 30 minutes to work one way, but he's needed his own vehicle to be able to do the traveling that is involved with his job. It's hard with one car cause we have to depend on others to get the kids to and from school, and I don't like really having to call on my parents much for help.

SO! after much praying for the Lord to open the right doors, he led Jay to the perfect "little pickup truck", exactly what he wanted. As you can see the body is in great condition (it's a '96 model, so I was very impressed!).



It was a little more than what we were wanting to spend, but it was exactly what Jay wanted. Jay went to talk with the man at a local used car place close by our church. He come down $500 and offered to finance $1000 interest free for six months :-O Jay took the deal then the Lord provided the $1000 from out of the blue, so we literally got the truck for the price we were praying for! PTL!

and it has a back seat for the kids, and the interior is impeccable (10X better than my '05 model!)






The engine, this is supposed to be really important. It's very clean. I'll admit, for an engine, it's very pretty ;) but he made a big deal about it so I took a picture, lol



and it has a bug guard (which, I'm thinking will be a good thing going out through "the country" (lol) during hunting season?); the back has a bed liner, too ... I got so tickled at Jackson. He said "Now we don't have to stuff the deer in the trunk anymore daddy!" LMBO!
Later Jay went to assure me he has never put a deer in MY trunk, which I knew, but he forgot his former car in which they did- indeed- carry a deer in the trunk to BIL's house one time when they went hunting together. :p



I like the wheel covers myself-


The happy couple~

(I did not realize how red my hair looked in the sun! now I know my photo editing sharpened it a little but even before that ... whoa! it's darker in other pics...)

Update on us

It's been a bit crazy here since Christmas, really. You might remember my waking the day after with a sore throat resulting in a doctor's visit that Saturday for them to say, strep throat. That took its toll. I thought I was doing better for the pain to come back horribly the next weekend, along with a migraine.
The next week Hannah started getting sick, but we thought she'd be ok. Days after, she started a cough, and I started feeling bad again. We went to the Dr later that week, for her to have an upper respiratory infection, and me to have both ears "this close" to being infected, and a sinus infection.
A couple days later, Jay started feeling bad, resulting in a very sore throat and fever. That was last week- Jackson started feeling crummy Saturday, running a low grade fever Sunday, and 102o fever Monday (yesterday). Hannah was home today with a belly ache and chesty coughing.

We've been a little busy ;o)

As a result, my blogging has suffered. For that, I apologize. This week I hope to do better. Not only my blogging, but I have been unable to spend time on the forum I host, Frugal Kitchen. If this is a topic that interests you, please come by and chat a little with us. It's been somewhat quiet lately! You'll need to register with iVillage, but it's free and they don't bite *g*
Not only has my online stuff lagged, but the house looks horrible (again!) Just as I was getting things straightened again, I'm in bed for a weekend and it looks like a tornado ran through it. Does this happen to anyone else? Or is it the fact the house isn't organized enough as it is that it only takes the slightest negelect for all the blocks to come falling down?

Jay's busy as ever working up a storm. He was home for two days last week (or was it three with the holiday?) so he's been playing catchup there. It can take a lot out of him too bless his heart. I can only imagine coming back to my inbox to find 400 emails, and know I couldn't go through and delete half of them right off the bat! :-O We've been discussing health insurance and I did not realize just how cheap his company is, but they really are!
We cannot afford to be insured through their carrier, so I'm going to have to look for a private family policy that is within our price range- that would actually cover maternity as well. We could probably afford private insurance without maternity, but who really wants to get into that kind of bind knowing your births cost $30k+? Then again, what are we doing now?

Jackson is doing better ... sort of. His perspective is getting better. He's had a lot of trouble adjusting to their new school. (They started a charter school after attending a private Christian school every year beforehand.) His grades have went from straight A's to Bs and Cs on average :( It's not the material, it's obvious he knows it because he aces all of his tests. His "NWEA" testing is high as well.
{NWEA's is the tests his school has to give students at the beginning of the year to measure where the student are academically, then they test mid year and end of year to prove they're actually teaching the students and accomplishing academic goals. If they cannot prove this, they lose funding and the school is closed, basically.}

It seems like he has a large workload, at home. So our challenge has been trying to find out the balance, and keeping him motivated to do his work at home. His health is showing his stress over this, in that his attendance has suffered due to him getting sick more often than usual. We've had some problems with him having hours worth of work at home, and he's been spent on the topic of homework. I've been spent at the idea of him being at school all day and coming home to have to work for two hours on homework! But after watching him more closely, he's not using his time wisely at home so that's our focus right now- keeping him focused.

I've counseled with a wise sister in Christ about this problem and she suggested incentives last week. I've never been one big on incentives with school work because my view generally is, they should do well in school because that's their job. Daddy goes to work every day for a paycheck, that's his job. Kids go to school each day, to get an education, so one day they'll be able to get a job and make money. BUT~ at this point, I'm open. So tonight, I told him if he got his homework done in an hour or less, we'd give him $3 a day. (I realize that might be excessive, but I figure after the good habit is formed, we'll work extra duties into the $3 total.) Whaddya know- he done it tonight. Score! Praise the Lord. He didn't have time to really complain, either ;)

He's made me proud, though.
He has really held up his standards at the new school and refuses to lower them. SO much, he's friends with everyone, but close with none of them. There's one girl in his class that went to the old school that was in his k4 class, and he talks to her, but since he's resolved not to really have girl-friends (as buddies), they only talk so much. He's talked to all of the boys enough to conclude NONE of them are saved, so while he talks a lot with one boy, his discernment tells him a close friendship is not possible because they don't share the same values.
This is all him- all I've done is listen to him. I give God the glory for this! Of course this is not to say when he gets older he might become close with a child that is not saved and following Christ (and be able to handle it), but his convictions right now are different.

Another area of growth I've seen in him is music.
He's gotten an interest in skateboarding, and is an avid youtube fan. Looking up youtube videos related to skateboarding, apparently some are clips put together to music. We were watching some the other night and he was looking at the titles and said "This is good but let me turn the volume down because I don't like the music" ... when the opening credits come up, the music was "TnT" by AC/DC. He was right, the video was really neat, even without the music. Same with his video games. He got a new skateboarding game, and looked up in the owners manual how to turn off the music and the talking. The speech wasn't profane, but had "filler" phrases he knows are unsuitable and he knew so.

My heart has been so blessed to see him make these decisions and guard his heart in this way. He is however ready to go back to private Christian school and has said so many, many times. The main thing he says he misses is Bible class each day (and chapel). I told him we could do something similar at home and he assures me it's not the same ;o) I pray the Lord will give us discernment and open some doors so at least he can get back there for next year- even if I have to drive to two schools each day!

Hannah auditioned last week for the school talent show. She sang the"Cuppycake song". She got a callback for a second audition. However- the note said the chosen song must be 2-3 minutes long. Cuppycake isn't! Oh no! We're trying to find a song she has sang in the past she can sing for the second audition. The only one we can think of is the song from the '06 CCS Heritage Program theme song "America, turn back to God"- but she's forgotten the words right offhand and we'd need to get the music somehow- by next Tuesday! Any Calvary friends reading this- any ideas?
Other than that, she's doing GREAT. She made all "4"s on her report card, and it comes so naturally for her. She really loves her teachers, and the assistant has said she really shines, and is an excellent example to her friends.
I was playing in Photoshop with a picture I took of her right after Christmas and it turned out really good, don't you think? I'm using that graphic as my signature on Frugal Kitchen :o)

She made me proud this weekend. She spent the weekend with my mom and dad, and they went shopping. Mom told her to pick out a Barbie video she wanted so she was choosing very carefully, looking at every one, mom said. She does this, too- she's not a child who when let loose in a toy store picks the first flashy thing that catches her eye! Mom pointed out a newer one, 'Barbie Diaries', and mom said she looked it over, and was looking at the back of the cover when she said "Maw maw, I don't want to get this one. It says it has rock music in it and I don't listen to rock music" and she handed it back! My parents had no idea of the kind of music the kids preferred, and seeing I used to constantly listen to rock - mom apparently assumed we still did. It floored her but she didn't push. (Just like when they went clothes shopping, my parents have learned- Hannah will NOT wear pants! ;)

So the Lord's showing me, that if we just pay attention, we'll know how our kids are really doing just through the little things. Praise Him!!

I must go, Jay just brought food in. Hope everyone is well!!

Don't forget! and a praise

The Bible in a Year challenge starts today on CGDevotions, hop on over and join us! (link in sidebar)

After I initially posted the reminder, I toodled down my blog to start visiting people. One of my friends had some praises on her blog, and it's such a (personal) answer to prayer! But wait! he didn't stop there, check out what was NEXT!!

God is so good to us :O)

When a door is closed, a window is opened!

Friday, May 4th, 2007, 6:46 pm

Yesterday I asked for prayer for one of Jay's friends from my prayer warriors on Christian Family Life. Well, I didn't get the anwer I was initially wanting, BUT, God is better to me (and us!) than I can think of.

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I'm linking to the posts so you will know what all is going on and I won't have to copy and paste, but you will need to go read them before going on with this post to appreciate "everything".

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Today, in a nutshell, "C" come back by work today and took all of "the guys", their "gang" out to lunch. When he got ready to leave, he asked Jay for "a couple bucks". Jay didn't have cash on him so "J" (Jay's best friend) handed it to him. "C" then gave Jay a big envelope. (I'm ready to cry again, this is why it took me 2 hours to post the last post!) ... the envelope contained a bill of sale to the car he's been letting Jay drive ... and the title, and the insurance information. He sold the car to Jay for two dollars. The loan value on this car is $3k!!! God is soooo good to us, we are so undeserving!! I told Jay this morning before he left that God was gonna take care of us with my being out of work for so long. God wants us to look to him for our needs, if we'd just quit trying to run our own lives and let him take the wheel! PTL!!

Update on his friend job wise- it looks like he's got that other job, they're just working out the details *g*

Thankful Challenge (TC): Saturday

Sunday, March 25th, 2007, 12:13 am


Today I am thankful for:

The many prayers that were offered on my behalf here today.That she was not at the party (seriously!)The lessons the Lord brought to my mind today.

That I have a daughter who cares so much for her brother's friends that she wanted to be sure SHE gave her a gift, and not a gift from them both. She was excited to GIVE, that blessed me.To see my son put so much thought into what to get his friend. and for it to be a girl, he really showed today just how much he pays attention ("Hannah, she doesn't like regular girl stuff like you. She doesn't like princesses, she doesn't like Barbie ..." lol)

The fellowship we had at the party.
The good pictures I was able to get.Jackson agreeing to let our pet store friend keep the frog he found at Kristi's apartment last night (like I needed another animal).
Getting to know our pet store friend better.
MIL contacting her vet office and getting Temone an appointment for today- his mouth is WORSE than it was last week :o(
MIL's 'friend', for insisting that they go to the Clinic in the next city that MIL's dog for her chemo treatments from ... because what their vet's partner that saw Temone today, said, was not sufficient enough for L.That Temone does not have anything blocking his airways.
That L is covering our vet bills up front and is not expecting us to pay him back (although we're going to budget payments to give him at least some back, the vet bills are already up to $700!).

That my baby (Temone, lol) is home tonight with us.
My house.
Jesus.

Thankful Challenge (TC): Friday

Saturday, March 24th, 2007, 11:58 pm


Yesterday I was thankful for:

An employer that is empathetic to family things that pop up that can cause you to be late. (I was late again) A workplace that treats their employees as well as mine does- they brought biscuits (and fruit, coffee, juice) for breakfast, and had lunch catered by this Mexican Restaurant that is just awesome. We had a staff development day yesterday so no kids were there and it was all day training.) The day of on the clock, regular schedule training we had yesterday. I learned a lot.

Getting out of work an hour early yesterday, it was such a beautiful day it was nice to get up to the kid's school early so they could play on the playground for a little bit. I got to visit with a friend while they kids played on the playground with her girls ;o) She's so sweet, I am glad we've been getting to know each other.

We went out to this Japanese Steakhouse last night with Kristi, her dd, and Jay's best friend Jon. It was awesome, much better than past experiences that I remember. It was a first for Jay and I, we have never went to one together! YES! 13 years and this was a first. Hannah didn't care for the fire and I dare say if we asked her next time if she wants to go, she just might say no. Although she ate very well and even used the chopsticks. My MIL. She's always there when we need something .. well, within reason ;o) The beautiful day we had, it got up to 81o!! Falling asleep at 10pm, I needed the rest! The kids going to sleep right when I put them to bed.

Thankful Challenge (TC): Wednesday & Thursday

Friday, March 23rd, 2007, 12:24 am

Yesterday I was thankful for ... Hannah's good spirit while she was sick. That Jon got to come over and play with Jackson, they both needed that. That I learned quickly I could find books on Jon's reading list online and reserve them for us ... saves some legwork, I tell ya! The good game of checkers Hannah and I played, she's getting good, it's so funny to play with her! She'll scoot all her pieces over as far as she can, until you just cannot go anywhere else! she'll start to move one and go "no, if I move there you will jump me ... mom I'll pass this time, you can go" ROFL!! I was able to help my good friend get her nursing license verified. Her computer is messed up and I have not been able to go fix it for her yet. So we done it over the phone together, with my using our internet. Today I am thankful for ....

Getting to spend another day at home with Hannah, just vegging out. She ran a fever last night, ad our school's rule is 24 hours no fever with no meds before returning. Come to find out Jackson had it first, then their friend Joel, and then Hannah. But Joel went home today with tummy troubles, poor guy! As gross a sounds as he is making, I believe the new antibiotics are working for Temone. He's supposed to go for a checkup tomorrow to verify if the infection is indeed going down. I wonder ... Jay's had work issues pop up this week, does he remember? Grey's Anatomy is not a repeat tonight and I am about to go watch it on DVR ;o)

I got all of our laundry done tonight at the laundromat. two week's worth! I got 99% of the trash in the kitchen picked up. No we're not yucky, we just eat take-out a lot. LOL!! My ratties, they're so sweet. I took some pictures of them today but it was through the cage so I'm afraid they won't turn out that good. Maybe this weekend we'll get them out and get some good pics of them. I'll have to show them off on the Small Animals board when I get them, too.

Thankful Challenge (TC): Tuesday

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007, 10:14 pm

I'm thankful my boss took me seriously when I said "I wanna gooooooo!" when I found out the 4/5 yo class was going to the children's museum this week- I got to go today (for free!) They have this new special effect / virtual game thing Jackson is going to LOVE. We WILL be taking the kids soon! I'm thankful my imitrex worked this morning or I would have been HURTING after the field trip! I'm thankful Jay cleaned the house while he was home today. I'm thankful Sis seems to be appreciating my involvement in dn's reading challenge. I'm thankful Jackson is so excited about their achievement testing this week, he's totally stoked!!

Thankful Challenge (TC): Monday

Monday, March 19th, 2007, 10:03 pm


Courtosy of the TC Challenge on Christian Family Life~

I'm thankful that I only got to work 10 minutes late this morning. It's been worse the past few days!!I'm thankful that the 3 yo's I subbed for today had a good day compared to other days I've been with them. Both teachers were out, and I was the main teacher for them today ... all day!!But thankfully, they ALL went to sleep at naptime (rare), within 30 minutes of going down, and had a GREAT nap!!I'm thankful we did not have recess AM or PM with the older classes today.I'm thankful for the new recess schedule that was implemented this week that will limit the time this class has with the older classes, because one of the boys in there ..... I believe will be more successful in class away from some of the older boys.

I'm thankful the weather has turned warmer, because the gas company apparently did not receive our payment last week. The gas was cut off today!I'm thankful for the couple at the restraurant we ate at tonight asking if they could pay our bill, what a blessing! It was just the kids and myself. The kids were being great, we were having a good time being together after our long days. The man turned around and asked "Would you object if we paid for your bill m'am?" my mouth dropped to the floor!I'm thankful Temine's dog food was 50% off at Petsmart tonight, woo-hoo!!I'm thankful our vet's co worker did not mind meeting Jay at the office yesterday, Temone's mouth has gotten a severe infection on the left side and it had spread to his sinuses (poor baby!!)I'm thankful it's going to be 70o here tomorrow, that means Jay can pick the kids up early and spend some outdoor time with them before I get home :o)

I am in awe

Hannah and Jackson spent the night with MIL last night. When they got home this afternoon, as J was taking Hannah's shirt off changing clothes for her nap, I noticed a few marks on her back. They had been playing with MILs cat / kitten, and had just moved onto playing with bubbles. Hannah had jerked her bubble wand back like she did the little stick-with-the-feather on the end thingy, and Miss Kitty jumped for it. Miss Kitty has claws. Yep.

So Hannah gets up from her nap, and as I'm in here on the computer and she's in the bathroom I hear "the breathing". I knew it was plain as day, she was running a fever. When she come in here, she was burning up, and talking her head off. I mean that kid was rambling oonnn and oonnn ... she was running a 103.7 fever! OMGoodness the first thing I thought was she'd gotten cat scratch fever from Miss Kitty (BIL has had it before, not from that cat, it was about 12-14 years ago...). So I jumped on iVillage and looked it up, and the timing and symptoms weren't matching.

So as I am getting ready to shlep to the hospital, J calls one of the other sound guys at church to tell him we won't be there. Our friend says to stick her in a tub of lukewarm water (we'd heard of that) and pour half a bottle of rubbing alcohol in it (had not heard of that). So J did, and I'll have you know within an hour she was down to 100.5 and holding! :-O God is so good! She has never weathered a fever this good! Yes we missed church but PTL no trip to the hospital tonight!

Our lesson in sunday school this morning was on thankfulness- I have a lot to be thankful for, that's for sure!!

**SHOUT IT OUT SATURDAY***

I'm shouting out cause I got hired for the hostess job at the restaurant! It will be Thurs - Sat from 4-9, regular schedule, so we'll be able to appropriately plan ofr things. I had initially planned to homeschool Hannah for k4 this fall. Then when I found out about the hostess job I told B to tell them I was interested. That extra income will be enough to cover Jackson AND Hannah's tuition this coming school year, taking that burden off of Jay, Praise God!

So I go to school the other day and tell them I need an enrollment packet for Hannah, and the secretary said that k4 was already maxed and had four already on the list (open enrollment started that day!). Though she said that the odds were high that some kids would drop off, I wasn't feeling well about things, but told the Lord it was in his hands. We got a call the next day, they said they were holding a spot for Hannah to get the registration packet and fee the next chool day. So she's in! PTL!!

What are you shouting about this weekend?