MOODY

It has been awhile since I last posted. We have been really busy. Either with the Flu that just won't go away or family gatherings. We literally have a family gathering for the next 4 weeks STRAIGHT!!! Every Saturday and every Sunday. CRAZINESS! I am in one of "those" Moods today. I have been dragged into the middle of something that has made my stomach in knots for the past well actually the past week. I hate drama and I know some of you will laugh because sometimes my life is full of it but this drama is different. It is something that does not or should not have to do with me but because someone else decided to bring me in on it I am wrapped up in it. Why is it I can't just let it go and give over the situation to God? I always struggle with this and I don't know why???? Anyways if I do not get a chance to come back on here before Christmas I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Oh and Nathan and I won tickets to a Pistons game on New Years Eve so this will be the first one in like 5 years that we have gone out so we are very excited. A fully paid for date and great seats by the way!!

My Godson

I love being a Zia and I love love love my Godson Nolan. He is so adorable I know I am a little bias so you guys can be the judge. Enjoy the pics!!

He is sooo sooo cute!!!!!!!

I think I owe a BIG Thank you to Rachel and Tom for this hat! It is a MSU hat and my sister and her husband are big U of M fans so this is payback for all the outfits for my kids lol!!

So Handsome!!

At his Baptism!

He is such a ham already!

Always have to sneak in one of my kids into the mix!!

COFFEE

So I need help getting off of coffee lol!! No I am serious I think I had too much tonight and I always said that it never affected me at night but if you see what time I am posting this blog you will notice that it DOES effect me. It is 2am and I have to be in 4 hours for work and I can not stop!!! Seriously I am out of control I have been surfing the net for like (does anyone even say that any more "surfing the net") 3 hours no joke. PLEASE HELP ME!!!

A mean and Nasty BUG

NO this is not another post about bugs well at least the creepy crawly kind anyways! My weekend was rated as one of the worst. I know I always have drama but I promise it is not brought on by me. Thursday afternoon Sammy started throwing up at my Mother-in-laws house and then Jordan started at 230 in the morning. I started at 6am and things got worse from there. Nathan was not allowed to leave work to come home and help me with the two sick kids and myself (not to mention a very hyper Mariana who was not sick.). Once Nathan got home from work at 730pm he started cleaning while Sam and I slept the evening away. Sammy kept me up all night moving all around moaning in his sleep. Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty good and Jordan (as she said) WAS ALL BETTER. Sammy on the other hand spiked a fever and slept from 10pm the night before and did not wake up (but a few times to drink some water) until Saturday evening. At around 5pm Saturday things seemed to be getting better I was praising God that Mariana and Nathan had not gotten sick and Sammy finally ate something and kept it down. Well I should always know not to speak too soon because Mariana started getting sick all over her bedroom. About an hour later I started AGAIN!!! I was in the bathroom all night and no joke it was like the Exorcist. I slept all Sunday and finally ate some homemade soup (that by the way my wonderful husband made with my instruction of course lol) and prayed that I would make it to work on Monday. Well this morning came and I was unable to eat much but a small bowl of soup but I made it to work but much to my surprise my husband did not. Nathan was here all alone getting REALLY sick all day. All we can do is Praise God that all of us did not have it at the same time. I am very thankful that I have a husband who would literally clean all day and into the late late late nights to keep the germs from spreading..........oh wait all that and he still got sick!! I am praying that since we have already had the Flu bug that this Christmas will be the first without it!!

Christmas Time

I have to say that this is the first year that I was actually really excited to start listening to Christmas music. So on my way to work the other day I put 100.3 on and this song by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra came on and I cried! It is so beautiful you have to listen to it!!!

No title

I always say this before I write a blog that I know might be one that a lot of you may totally disagree with me on but remember this is MY blog and you can close it if you don't like it!!
Also I do not have great writing skills or grammer skills so please do not get out the red marker!!

I have been watching 20/20 tonight and it has kind of affected me a little. I am not really sure how I am feeling but it has just brought up questions in me but also some sadness. In case you did not see it the show was a special on "The Pregnant Man" . I have heard so many people say some pretty horrible things about this man and his wife and the choices that they have made to have a family. This all as you know really (even though I do not know this person) hurts me like really hurts me so much that I am almost crying while typing this. I really get angry at people who judge and make horrible comments about others. Every time I seen this couple on TV all I saw was a happy and very much in love couple. They both were glowing and just full of smiles. I can not believe the horrible messages and letters that they receive from people, people that share the same faith as me. It really sickens me that some one who says they have a heart for God and HIS people and then they turn around and call a complete stranger and leave a message saying in a voice full of hatred and anger "God does not make mistakes" and (paraphrasing here) you are evil and I hope your child gets taken away.

My best friend Lisabeth (I hope you don't mind me saying this) but when I first met her it was at a church group that her and her husband Jon led and I was giving my testimony. She came right up to me and said don't worry I have gone through some things in my life too and you will do fine. A couple months later she started working at Handprints as the lead teacher in the walker room and I was the lead teacher in the infant room. After one of our open houses we realized that we would both be going to California with Celebrate Recovery to Saddleback Church and we started talking. She started talking about how her family and how she has an older sister and a younger sister that is going through the transition to be a man soon. I will tell you honestly that I was caught a little off guard only because I have never known anyone who has been through this or even someone who knew someone who has been through this. Lisabeth though made it seem like no big deal. As we became closer and I listened to her talk about her brother I could tell how much she loved him and how accepting she was of him making this choice to do something to finally make him what he truly believes he was supposed to be. I have to say I am still torn because I do not get it but I will never ever HATE someone because of it. Lisabeth has taught me so much with issues like this because I do not have to agree or understand I just have to love them. I do not need to preach to them or shove God down their throat I just need to love and accept them and maybe they will see that ,here is one more person who has a heart for God but also loves me.

What if we all did that? What if we all loved them and accepted them? What if all of us that say that we love God show that to others that maybe we do not agree with their lifestyle? What if we see them as people and not as "THEM" or "THOSE PEOPLE"???? That is the kind of world I want to live in!

Again you may not agree with me or even question my walk with God or my faith but honestly I do not care because I only answer to one person and that is my Heavenly Father not YOU!!!

Thanksgiving

I am very excited because this Saturday (before my jewelry Party) we are having Thanksgiving Dinner with Nathan's family. His parents every year go to his sister's house in North Carolina so we do Dinner early. I am in charge of making the Green Bean Casserole which is fine with me. It is going to be one of those crazy weekends but I am excited! Nathan and my brother are taking the girls to go see the new Madagascar movie on Sunday after Church so Sam and I will have a lazy afternoon probably sleeping on the couch!! Have a great weekend everyone!! And if you have no plans come hang out with me on Saturday night!!!

It is not too late

As you know I lost our camera and so I am just now able to post some pics of Halloween so enjoy!!

Please Pray

My little sister Jessica 18 was in a car accident last night. She was speeding through my moms neighborhood and crashed into a house! Luckily no one was seriously injured in the home. Jessica was injured though and has been in the hospital. They are almost positive that she has a fractured neck and possible some internal injuries. Just pray that she recovers quickly and that her spirit is not too broken. I am praying that she learns from her mistakes and realizes how serious driving is and that it is not to be taken lightly and she could have killed someone or herself!

President Obama

I know I am a little late blogging about this but it is still fresh on my heart. I have to say that I was very emotional all Tuesday night. As I said before I love to Vote! I feel so blessed to live in a Country where we have freedom and where we get the chance to vote for who runs our Country. If you read my blog then you read the entry that I posted after the Democratic National Convention about how after watching it I knew that Obama was going to be our next President. There was just something about him and what he stood for that made me think. This came to a big surprise to me considering I have always been very much a conservative. His speech started to bring up feelings of really wanting change. I had so many people though that I felt like if they knew that I voted for him would question my faith. I struggled with this and thought God does not say anywhere in the Bible that we are to vote Republican. In fact he created our Country to have the freedom to choose who we felt would make the best decisions right? I went and voted at Bethany Lutheran Church first thing Tuesday morning sure of who I was going to vote for and was very proud that I was making my decision based on all the research I did and checking a site that a friend had given me to rule out all the rumors that were swirling around.
I planned on staying up late to see who was going to win and I have to say that I was not surprised. I also have to say that it was a very emotional win! I (if you do not know already) am a White Female so I will never understand what anyone who is African American goes through on a daily basis but I just kept thinking WOW it must be so amazing to see some one of your race become President. I have to say (it saddens me that I even know people who would say this) I heard a lot that Oh every person who is black is going to register so that a black man can become President! That sickens me and what is cool is that more White Americans voted for him than anyone else. I kept thinking wow look at all of these young kids who have been given hope not only African American but Asian,Mexican,Indian that they too can one day be President!!
The best about this is that look how many people did not look at President Obama's skin color but saw what he could do for our Country. I really hope that those that did not vote for him will at least respect him and I really hope that this starts our Country down the path of getting rid of Racism once and for all!! God created all of us and we are all his children and any disrespect to any of his children is disrespecting him. So now we all have to keep President Obama and his family in our prayers that he makes wise choices and keeps his promises and that his family is protected from harm. We also should pray for our Country that people start to see people and not color!

Party Time

Hey Everyone! If you did not receive an Evite from me it is probably because I do not have your email! If you want come out for a kid free night click on the link below and come over for a Jewelry Part at my house Next Saturday! I have been trying to figure out a way to get all the girls together and I thought with the Holidays coming up this would be a perfect way to buy gifts! Even if you can not afford it or have too much Jewelry come any way!! Copy and Paste the URL to view the Evite!!
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=RRKAKICYUXVDJYDFRQMX

What an Awesome God We Have

I have not had much time to come on here so I apologize for not responding to emails emails or reading any blogs. But I have been meaning to re post this because it is so powerful! It reminds me that I need nothing NOTHING else than God. It reminds me of where I have come and all because of his sacrifice. I love watching this because so many of these things I myself have dealt with and to think that he cares so much about ME plain old ME that he takes on all the bullies of the world PRAISE GOD!!!Please Please comment and let me know what you think and how this clip affects you........

Very Sad

We lost our Camera!!! I am very upset about this. We have looked every where and narrowed it down to a couple of weekends ago we took the kids tot he mall to hang out I took lots of really cool pics in the play area and on the Carousel then we left. That is the last time I saw it. I remember putting it in the diaper bag and have not seen it. I called the mall and it was not turned in so we are without a camera. AHHHHHH!!!

VOTE VOTE VOTE

I was watching TV last night and saw this AD that the celebrities are doing that I thought was pretty good. I found it on YouTube and thought I would post it. I feel so strongly about voting and always have. I was so excited that only 9 months after turning 18 I would get to take part in my first election in 2000! I feel so honored that I can cast a vote for who I believe will be a good President of our Country and YES ONE VOTE DOES COUNT!! I have gotten in so many debates lately about how because of how our government tallies the votes one vote really does not count. This AD even if you do not agree with some of these actors watch it because it is pretty good every time I do I get chills!!!

NKOTB

I just have to say that the NKOTB concert was so much fun. I was too young to go the first time and was very sad that my sister did get to go. When Lisabeth called me months back asking me if I wanted to go I was so excited. Immediately I started remember back to the days of rewinding my tapes to listen to them over and over again and watching all the videos that they made. I also remember having all the memorabilia. I had the pins,games,pillow,bedding set,dolls,every single poster made and a ton of shirts and jackets. I was in love with Joey!!

So I counted the days until the concert with many people making fun of me for going. I do have to say that the day of I got a horrible migraine and Sammy ended up getting rota virus making me almost cancel. But I sucked it up and got in the car with Anita,Lisabeth,Alexandra,Cherie,Jenny,Amy and Liz and prayed that my migraine would go away.

It was so much fun to be out but to be reliving my childhood was even better. When we first got there it was packed but once New Kids came on and the lights came on a bit at the Palace is when you really saw how many people were there. I don't think there were many seats available. And every women in there was over 24 and screaming like they were 15! It was a blast! I loved every minute of it and I have to say that they did really good for being out of the business for 15 years.

So be jealous if you did not get to go!!!

Favorite Country Music Songs

It has been a long time since I have listened to country but whenever I hear a song from the past it brings me right back. I loved country! It started when I was younger and my dad would get us for the weekend he would only listen to it. Since I was searching for something that we had in common I became a huge country fan. So here are just a few (ok maybe more than a few)some of my favorites...........

My Best Friend Tim McGraw
Don't take the Girl Tim McGraw
She's My Kind of Rain Tim Mcgraw
Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me Tim McGraw Faith Hill (was one of our wedding songs)
It Matters to Me Faith Hill
Take Me as I am Faith Hill
Wild One Faith Hill
There You'll Be Faith Hill
Independence Day Martina McBride
Cowboy Take Me Away Dixie Chix
Strawberry Wine Deana Carter
Forever and Ever Amen Randy Travis
Look Heart No Hands Randy Travis (my grandpa slicker loved Randy Travis it always makes me think of him)
Thunder Rolls Garth Brooks (Nikkie I will always remember sitting at dads and playing this CD over and over and over again until we had all the songs memorized)

There are so many more so I guess I have been caught! I am a closet country music fan!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Pics are to come but we had so much fun at the Westview pumpkin patch in Romeo yesterday! The weekend started great we were supposed to have dinner with some friends and 1 hour after frosting the dessert I was to bring Mariana threw up and had a fever. So we had to cancel then 1 hour later I got a migraine. Mariana was fine once the evening came but I was out until Sunday morning. We had plans to go to the pumpkin patch with Nathan's family and I refused to miss Sammy's first time. So I pushed through and I am glad I did.

Sammy had so much fun trying to lift all the heavy pumpkins and Mariana had fun picking up the small ones and throwing them :). Jordan loved playing with her cousins and picking out a pumpkin to carve with daddy. We then went and sat down in our usual spot to have cider and donuts. This is our families favorite time of year with all the beautiful colors how can you not praise God!!

Sorry Lisabeth to Copy this one was just the best one to use!!!

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Mariana's Turn

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Here is Jordan

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Thanks Lisabeth SOOO Funny this ones for Sammy

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For Nathan

Since this is our family blog I guess I can let him tell me one entry to post!! We have stumbled across a show on Disney that I am sure everyone has heard of by now. Imagination Movers it is a great show but one of those really good kid shows but really annoying for adults. It is not good when you are at work and break out singing a little kids song about brushing your teeth or the days of the week!

Well a couple months back we saw a preview of this show and Nathan freaked out because a tech that he works with at SAAB who they call Red looks just like one of the characters on this show. Watch the video and it is the guy with the cowboy hat!

Thank God for Home made Crafts

Today was a rough day I had no sleep at my sister's last night and Nathan had no sleep because Sam was up a lot so we were really really tired. So I was trying to find things to do that could occupy the kids with little fighting. I was reading my friend Amy's blog a couple weeks ago and she made Play dough with her son. I do not know why I have not done this myself in school we were given so many different recipes for this and I made it my self for the kids class rooms or even in the infant room. So I looked in my cupboards and sure enough I had everything but the Kool-Aid. So our Play dough was very boring looking but lots of fun. Jordan of course went right to work on a piece of Art and Mariana had fun pounding it or laying on it to see how flat it would get. Sammy would pull apart pieces and then eat it and then spit it out and repeated this at least 10 times I think he thought one piece was bound to taste good!!

Best Daddy in the World

We finally got the bunk beds a couple of weeks ago and it has taken a lot of work and patience on Nathan's end to get these put together. Last night while us girls were babysitting Nolan Nathan and Sammy hung out! They went to Home Depot (Nathan loved that Sammy sat in the Nascar cart and pointed at everything and made lots of grunting noises!) to get some screws for the beds and Sammy watched Nathan put them together all night. So when we got home this morning I went into the bedroom to catch the girls faces when they saw their new bed all finished.

This is for you Jill

A friend of mine who just started visiting our blog made a comment that I do not have any pictures of me on here. I do not like the camera lately I am not looking for any comments about that please. So here is one from my friend at another friends wedding recently. It is all I am going to say............

Time for my middle child to get some ATTENTION!!

I felt so bad that I brought the camera for Sammy's teachers to take some pictures of him in his class and not Mariana's. So I let her bring the camera to school and take some pictures herself. I can only show one because I do not have permission to post other people's kids on my blog. She loves her class and is always talking about her friends and teacher. I love hearing all her stories about school and her adventures. She gets so excited that when her other friends are napping she gets to stay up and listen to books on tape (If she falls asleep she will be up til midnights so they help me out by keeping her up). She loves her friends Emmy and Rachel and talks about them all the time. She is learning so much already. She is counting to 20 very good and when she started she only recognized her name as May but since we started only calling her Mariana and writing it that way she recognizes that too! She also is learning so many songs and I love the way she interprets them. Like this one that goes:

This is the day

This is the day

This is the day the Lord has made.

Mariana's way:

This is the day

This is the day

This is the day the Lord had me!!!

I am moving

Maybe some of you do not know my phobias but I hate all things that crawl,slither,wiggle,hop well anything that is not human!! I once left our house because there was a huge spider crawling around. I picked Jordan up (who was a baby at the time) without shoes and socks and ran out of the house to my mom's until Nathan got home hours later to kill it. I make Nathan spray our house at least twice a month with bug killer so I will not see anything in the corners of my house. I shake towels out when I am in am getting out of the shower so in case there is a little spider in there hiding I am not surprised.

Now that you know how deep these fears effect me you will understand why I am moving..........We have some furry friends!!!!! Not in the house (as far as we know) but lingering waiting to attack me outside. I am sorry Lisabeth I know that you care about them and captured him and let him go out in the field far away but I am different lol! I want them dead! And I do not feel guilty about it!

It started a couple of weeks ago and we thought it was just one and we caught it. Nathan saw another one two nights ago and I am freaking out! He caught another one this morning and I am going to really freak if we catch more. I know that (why am I typing in Italics??) they are outside and I should just leave them but I will not be able to sleep. I actually dreamt the other day that I woke up to a big one in my bed!! Last night I was coming in from outside and thought I heard little feet running so I started screaming and running only to learn that it was my laces on the ground lol! I guess I need to take my own advice that I give to my girls when they are scared of something.........Pray to God and he will help you with your fears!!

But I still want them GONE!!

Toliet Inspecktor

Well my little man is walking and loves to get into everything. He loves going into drawers and pulling out clothes or opening and closing the DVD player and even loves to try and sit in the fridge. The latest obsession is the TOILET of all things. He is constantly running in there to play in the water. This past weekend Nathan said he was reading to the girls and he kept picking up their toys and taking off he didn't know where he was going so he decided to follow him. Sammy was getting ready to put the stack of toys in the toilet. The next night the girls were getting a bath and Sam found a bottle and put it in the toilet but this time a little girl (who shall remain anonymous) did not flush yet so you can imagine the mess.

The best is last night I got some time to myself to go to target and Nathan calls me on the cell to tell me Sammy's latest. He put Mariana's entire outfit from the day in the toilet!! Why??? What is the fascination? It reminds me of my brother who would put pencils, bars of soap, and just about anything else he could?

Hopefully it just means he will be a plumber??

International Blog

It is crazy to know that people who do not know me find my blog but it is even crazier that readers from other countries have been on here reading and commenting on my crazy life stories. In the last week readers from Argentina, Brazil, United Kingdom, India,China, and Ireland! Not to mention other places around the United States! I would love to hear from some of you from other Countries and pass along a link to your blogs so I can read about your lives!! Thanks for reading!!

A New Path

Back in February I left Handprints and was offered a job cleaning a women's house from Church it was such a blessing then and the schedule was perfect so that I could be with the kids and still help out in Jordan's school. I established a great relationship with Cindy and loved watching her daughter Jamie in the summer but Financially I needed to have something full time and was unsure of what to do. I started applying online like crazy I didn't care where just as long as I could find something. Then one night after a neighbor and I cleaned up the mess from our garage sales we decided to go out afterward. She invited her friend Ashley along and we went to the Great Baraboo in Sterling Heights. It was nice to get out and have some girl talk. Well not even a half hour into things Ashley starts talking about her job and Jill (my neighbor) Suggests that I would be a good fit there. So then the night turned into a mini job interview and I left there with a job interviewed scheduled. With in two weeks I had the job and started the day the kids started back to school. I was also still cleaning for Cindy on Monday and Thursday mornings and then would go to Attendant Care in the afternoon on those days. I love it! It is such a perfect fit for me I love being in an office and it gives me time to be something other than a mom and wife. Well it did get a little hard to do both. So on Thursday Ashley asked me what I would have to make in order to leave cleaning and come on full time and still be able to afford daycare. I am so excited to have gotten my first raise already and only one job. Although I will miss Cindy and the relationship we have established God is always faithful and provides things just in time. It is exciting to be making new relationships and seeing what else God has planned for the future!

I wonder if my kids need therapy part II

Tonight as we waited for Nathan to put the bunk beds together the girls and I were in the living room making up stories. This is how it went:

Jordan 's Story:
"Once upon a time there was a girl and her parents took her to Disney World in Florida. She was so excited to go on all the rides and meet all the characters. Then she came home and told her friends all about it and she could not wait to go again."

and now here is Mariana's Story (BRACE YOURSELF):
One day a girl was crossing the street and she ran over a car because she was not looking and she was bleeding really bad all over the place and her parents were on bacation (Vacation) and no one could help her so she had to go to her house by herself and bleed all over the house so much that she was swimming in her blood and then her parents came home and saw all the blood!"

WHAT!!! Should I be concerned lol!!!!!!!!!!

Saab Adventure

Nathan gets to bring home a different Saab almost every night of the week. Most of the time it is usually the 9 7 an SUV but this weekend was different. He got to bring home a Saab 9 3 Aero Convertible! It is so nice and I was excited to be able to be in a convertible since I never have been. I begged and begged to let me drive but he really could get in a lot of trouble (so I guess props to my husband for following the rules). I probably really embarrassed him but I took lots of pictures of my cute hubby in the driver seat! It was nice to drive just the two of us in a $50,000 car. It helped that the weather was perfect! So no one tell him that I posted these I just could not help myself :)

Slumber Party

We finally sold the girls trundle bed and got them new bunk beds. So last night we had to take the beds apart so the family could get the bed today so instead of the girls sleeping on the hard wood floors we decided to have a slumber party. We put their mattresses on the living room floor and watched some shows On-Demand. Sammy loved tumbling back and forth from bed to bed. Here are some cute pics of them all!!


Say Cheese
Either best of friends or worst of enimies!!
Helping Daddy move the beds out!
She is working hard!

Busy Busy Busy

Things have been pretty crazy since I started working full time. I am lucky if I get on here once a week! But I am loving it!! Here are some cute pics that I had Handprints (Sammy and Mariana's Daycare at our church) take of Sammy in his class!

Eating at the little table!

He sleeps on a cot and actually stays on it!!

Looks like he is flirting with the photographer

Eating his snack with Lilah!!

I am Forgiven

Well today's service at Church was pretty intense but so worth it! I am going to let all of you know that if you already don't know some of my story and you feel that you can not be open or read this without judging leave now! I know that some of my family reads this and they do not know some things about us and would be pretty shocked. Lets remember that I am forgiven and my life is not for you to judge. I live my life for Christ now and I never judge others because I know what it feels like.

I was approached by Rick (one of our pastors) last week and asked if Nathan and I would help out with the service for this Sunday (along with about 40 other people). Celebrate Recovery was the topic actually it was how God has used Celebrate Recovery as a tool and how he has changed many of our lives. I began Celebrate Recovery one week after Mariana was born looking for healing from my past. I not only found healing but I found God! I found the real God not the one that people explained to me in my past but a loving, faithful, gracious and merciful God. I learned that all that I had been through and all that I had done was gone and I was made new. I walked around for a lot of years looking at "those" Church people and laughed at how they lived their lives and thought they are missing out on all this fun. I AM one of those people now! I love my life that is drug and Alcohol free. Some make fun of me or question me but if they saw the pain that comes from those drugs of choice then they would know why I have chosen to live my life this way. But I did not join CR for drugs or alcohol I joined for physical,sexual and emotional abuse. This was my main struggle but I soon found out that along with that came real anger and despair that I needed to give over to God. I also came to terms with some pretty horrible things that I had done in the past like being promiscuous, lying and stealing.

To get back to the reason we were asked to help out was a friend of mine was going to give her testimony and then they wanted people that have walked through CR or are going through it now to give a Cardboard Testimony. This is where on one side you write what you have struggled with and on the other side you write where you are now and what God has done to you. After my friend gave her very emotional testimony one by one close to 40 of us went up on stage and held up our cardboard's it was amazing! I am in awe of the work that God does on a daily basis. You do not have to be a murderer or a drug addict or a victim of abuse to need God and his forgiveness. You can be the man who pretends that he is perfect but goes home and drinks every night or the women who struggles with perfection or one who is very judgemental or filled with anger or is very critical. All of these things are sinful and hurting ourselves and others. I will let you know what my Cardboard said and if you want you can let me know what yours would say. And if you want feel free to call me or email me if you ever want to talk. Also come out and see what Celebrate Recovery at Rockpoointe is all about. We meet every Thursday night at 7pm and Child care is free!! Maybe I will see some one on Thursday!

I used to have:
Guilt and Shame
From
Abuse and Abortion

Now I have:
Freedom and Joy
In The
Arms of Christ

Thanks Amy

Thanks to my friend Amy she recently posted a blog about a new girl friendly website called Precious Girls Club. I just was reading some of her blogs that I had not gotten a chance to and came across one where she was talking about this website for little girls! It is great a site that has games and print outs and all sort of fun things for girls.
This is great because I struggle with what is out there for my girls right now! All this Hannah Montana stuff is great (nothing against those that like it) but I am finding my four year give me attitude that I don't think I would get if she did not watch the show! So that leads to the games online they want to play. And have you ever read Junie B. Jones books? My daughter Jordan was introduced to these in Kindergarten and they are cute but I have to substitute words like: Dumb, Stupid, Idiot, and many other and these are meant for 5 years and up!! Amy was doing a give away for some books (a series of 4) from the Precious Girls Club and I am very bummed that I did not get to get in on that but I am so glad I stumbled across her blog. I have been searching for a series similar to Junie B. but faith based and have yet to find any! I am so excited I will be heading out hopefully this week to purchase them. I also registered my girls on the website and added it to my favorites. I encourage any one who knows anyone that has little girls to check this site out! And while you are at it check out Amy's blog she is always giving away really cool stuff!!

Like Mother Like Daughter

When I was pregnant with Mariana and found out we were having another girl we were so excited! We played around with names not sure what to name her. We went back to the list of names that we have liked but not used with Jordan and nothing seemed right. One day I asked Nathan if we could name her Mariana Lena (my middle name is Josephine) after my Nana? He was unsure at first saying that it is weird to have a daughter named after her mother. So I begged and begged him for weeks because no other named seemed right. She already seemed like a Mariana to me. Finally he caved and my Nana could not be prouder to have another Mariana in our family. It is funny to see people's reaction when they find out that she has the same name as me.

Well all I have to say is the name fits!! She is exactly like me in every way! Her temper,her laugh, even her short little legs are like mine! The funniest was tonight when I was trying to get her to sleep I was laying by her tickling her arm (if any of my family is reading this they will crack up because I would beg everyone to tickle my back and my arm) and she started talking about her birthday! Which is in February (mine is the 6th and hers is the 9th)! She started saying that on her birthday we can go to Chuck E. Cheese and then her BIG party with her friends can be at Plaster Playhouse and then another day Nana can take her to Splash Village and then Grandma and Grandpa can take her somewhere too! There it is another reason she is my twin!

I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY the day but I make it my month! I love getting cards and messages on my birthday! I count down to my birthday and I am already hinting that a surprise 30th birthday would be nice (4 years away!!). It is so funny because she has been talking about her birthday for about a month now! I am sure that I will have more reasons why we are so much a like but I am praying that they don't all show up in her teenage years YIKES!!

Soccer Mom

I am the definition of a guilty Mom! I feel absolutely horrible that Sammy has not had any professional pictures of him yet and he is 18 months old. I tried but every time I had an appointment at My Photographer we had to cancel cause Sammy was sick. I had to call the store and ask if the gift card we got a year ago could be extended so it would not expire! That aside there are many more things that create guilt in me.

One big thing is extracurricular (WHEW big word Lisabeth did I spell it right?lol) activities. Jordan has been asking for a couple years now to play Soccer and wants to do Karate and dance. Mariana says when she grows up she wants to be a Ballerina so she needs to take Ballet. There are a lot of reasons that they are not doing those things

1. It is very expensive! Soccer alone just to join is like 60-70 then you have uniforms and gas to get to games. Dance is 30 a month and costumes are like 70! My little brother teaches Karate but even with his discount it is still aver 30 a month.

2. Time
This is a big one these activities take up a lot of time! Practice sometimes twice a week and then games or recitals my head is spinning just writing about it.

3. School
I feel like right now in our kids life school is very important and that means a proper sleep which puts our kids in bed at 730 when I get out of work at 5 pick the kids up and eat dinner it is already 630! How is there time to add activities especially when you add homework to the equation.

So my problem is that everyone is always talking about their child's soccer team or dance class and I always feel guilty when heads turn to me and I say my kids are not in anything right now. I feel like I am less of a mother because I am not allowing my child to explore their creative sides! I just feel that other things are more important right now! Am I depriving my kids of exploring their creative side or am I just being practical????

You may say Luck I call it GOD

In the last 24 hours some pretty cool things have happened and all I can say is God really does know the bigger picture. All day things have been happening that I have been praying for and it proves that God does provide the things that we need only when we are on our knees and praising him even in the storm! Sorry it is so short but I am really tired! BYE

Dream Vacations

I love being a Mom and this time (as crazy as it is) in our lives. I love that our kids depend on us for everything right now and I love taking care of them. But I have to admit that I am excited for the day that my kids are grown and in college or out of the house and we are still young. We will be in our early 40s when our kids have graduated from high school and this is so exciting for me because we will still be young enough to date again. We never had a real dating stage in our relationship at 19 we were pregnant and married then 4 months later Jordan was born. I have all of these plans (dreams) of places to go and see maybe they will happen or maybe they won't but it is fun to dream! In no particular order......

Scotland

Alaska

Greece

Hawaii

Cancun

Italy

Ireland

Japan

Sicily

New York

Paris

India and stay at the Taj Mahal