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

Back to School

Well this was a crazy week getting back into the routine and starting new things all together was very exhausting. Jordan had a great week at school she was very excited that her little friend Abby from church (who is in Kindergarten) gets to play with her at recess every day. She has said that she is getting the new girls to be her friend which makes that four friends that she has! I love little minds view on things.
I started back to work on Wednesday and it is going great. I need to get used to going to bed early and Caffeine in the morning or I will end up with a headache everyday!! It is exciting to be back in the workplace and having things that are just me ya know??
Mariana and Sammy went back to Handprints on Friday (they will usually be there on Tuesday and Wednesdays) and well lets just say it was rough. Mariana was back like she never left. I am sure she ran the class room and the other kids were wondering who this chick was (just like that too lol) she was very good and she even said that they let her use markers and she did not color all over herself lol!
Sammy on the other hand cried hard when I left and for a while after that. He would not eat his snack or Lunch and cried on and off throughout the morning. I did as well:( I cried the whole way to work and then whenever I got an update on how he was doing. This is my baby and although Handprints really is the next best thing it is still really hard know that he was so upset all day. When I got there to pick them up Sammy was playing and very happy. His teacher said that he did so much better after his nap and ate a ton of Goldfish (poor guy was so hungry). His teacher was amazing I could tell that she took extra care of Sam and loved on him like I asked. She even called Nathan at work to let him know how Sam was doing since she missed his call earlier. HUGE HUGE in our family. Let us know that you are loving our kids the way we do and you are in for sure!!
So thanks to every one's prayers that got us through the week

.....................

I am unsure what to title this and sometime I don't think a title even matters since it is my thoughts anyways right?? My best friend who has a blog as well has been blogging about some things that God has put on her heart lately and all of them seem to be what I have been walking through the last couple of months. We do not have a lot of money at all which would not surprise some of you but some of you would not believe how much we really struggle. I am telling all of you this not to get pity or even handouts because our God is providing for us and always has. There are weeks when we are praying driving on empty hoping that we can make it to our jobs to only put more money in our gas tanks. There are some reasons that we are at fault for our situations but most of the time it is just hard to pay things. Some times we go all week with out any new groceries if you looked in our fridge and freezer you would wonder what we eat. I am telling you this because we are always full and always happy. I am not saying that there are days where I feel like things are never going to get better and why can't we catch a break like others do? But I am always reminded that God provides. We lost our home,our car,EVERYTHING and he provided a way for us. I am convinced that he is working in us and changing our hearts every day. But this is not what the point of my blog is the point is that I have had giving on my heart for a while. We do not give what we should God calls us to give with a joyful heart and to sacrificially give to others and him. So when I worry when I give or when I do not give at all then I am not doing what he has called us to do. I want so bad to do some volunteering somewhere with abused women and children or help the homeless. I am itching to do it and at the same time my life is very crazy with very important things: the kids, being a wife and keeping up my responsibilities in the home and my new job. When do I have time to volunteer? Today while I was pumping the last ten dollars to my name in my already empty gas tank (to only be on empty again once I got home) a women came up to me and asked for some money to get on the bus. I had to tell her that I used my last ten dollars for my gas tank and I thought man how many times has she heard this thinking that because I have a vehicle and three kids that I probably am well off (in her eyes anyways) and here I was telling the truth but it made me feel sick. I got in the car and Mariana asked me who that lady was? I started to cry and said that she was a women who did not have a home and she was asking for money but that mommy did not have any to give her so I said how about we pray for her instead? The girls were both excited to do that and so we prayed that this women would find money for her bus ride and that if she did not know God already that somehow (in only the ways that God could) he would show himself and that she would see that he loved her. We prayed that she would be safe and that she would feel Gods arms around her protecting her and giving her food and a place to sleep. I cried all the way to my sister's house in New Baltimore. I have so much (in your eyes maybe you think I think you have more and maybe I do) I am not talking about anything physical because in our house we know that the riches of this life go no where. We are the wealthiest people because in Heaven is where our riches are. I would not give up anything that we have gone through or anything that we are about to go through in this life because I know that it is all part of his plan for us.

Favorite Comedy Tv Shows

Oh this one is fun for me because I love to laugh more than anything and I have some shows that make me laugh so hard Nathan can hear me outside (windows and doors closed)!! So here they are and again I am not saying they are appropriate by all means and a lot are British humor so this is just me..........



1. Friends
Okay so who doesn't like friends? Don't tell me because than I might think of you differently lol! I love this show for so many reasons that maybe I will do a blog just on this show........I have every episode memorized if you do not believe say any quote and I guarantee that I can tell you who said it and most of the time the episode. I laugh at every joke (seriously) Even if I have seen the episode 20 times I still laugh sometimes even before things happen because I know what is coming.

2. Coupling
If you have not seen this and you like British comedy (that is raunchy which really is all British comedy :)) then you have to watch it. If you want to and have comcast on demand than rent it for sure! It is hilarious and I am forever thankful that Lisabeth told me about it!!

3. The Office
I love this show. I am just getting into it but have seen almost all of the episodes on rerun and I laugh almost as much as I do watching Friends.

4.Big Bang Theory
This show is new and it is hilarious! Thanks again to Lisabeth

5.According to Jim
I love Jim Belushi and he is hilarious in this show. His BIL played by Jonathan Stark is great too!

6.King of Queens
Lets just say I am very sad that this is no longer on the air and I am getting really sick of seeing the same ones played. I love this show I laugh out loud every time Doug and Kerry are so funny. I love how they get themselves in situations that they try to get out of in very sick and wrong ways!!

7.Seinfeld
This is a classic that everyone has to have one their list and I once met someone similar to the soup Nazi that we at MDM called the Fritter Nazi lol

8.Perfect Strangers
BALKI!! This show brings me back to watching TV at night with my family on my Mom's lap. My brother would always do impressions of Balki and crack us up

9. Americas Funniest Home Videos
Our little crew watches this every Sunday at 7pm and love it. We all crack up every time I hate to say it but I love the ones of people falling HILARIOUS!!

So I can not think of a number 10 and I am upset I think I am forgetting a big one and if someone remembers for me please tell me!!

Just a Quickie

Today was the first day back to school and it seemed to just fly by! I picked my mom up and we brought Jordan to her class she found her seat and then said Good-bye :(! I am not ready to give up all of this control, yet I have to!? She had a good day and by 12 we were home for lunch! She is my 1st grader now and it is crazy!
On to my baby we went and had a visit to his classroom at Handprints (he starts Friday)! Every time I walked away he cried this is going to be hard not only on him but me. I know that I will be a basket case on Friday at work but at least I know that he is in good hands next to me and my mom (mom in law too) this is the best. Mariana was at my moms today and will start her class on Friday as well so things will be full swing by the end of this week.
CRAZY times but good to be back in the routine.

Pain in my Neck (er Head)

I have suffered from Migraines since I was young and have gone through times of many and times of few. Well here I am on Labor Day recovering from my latest one and I feel like I have been hit by a train. In the last 2 weeks I have had four Migraines. And when I say Migraine I mean bad ones that have put me out and every thing seems worse. I sat crying the other day for fifteen minutes at the table unable to move. I am getting frustrated and especially today when it is a day to relax with my family who is gone now. So I am stuck inside watching reality TV (which we all know I love) with a pillow over my head and the volume really low please tell me how this is any fun at all???