Being a mom…

I came across this today and just had to share: http://www.theflourishblog.com/2013/05/power-in-process.html

As I deal with an emotional 5 yr old, a tantrum filled 3 yr old and a needy 9 month old today as well as struggling with some other things....  I realize that God is working in my heart through all of these circumstances.  Yes, it would be "easy" to fast forward through the hard times but look at what we would miss.  I'd miss my 5 yr old growing and maturing in his own way, my 3 yr old learning to be a big brother to his baby sister and my baby girl getting excited about all the new things in her life.  So today, I'm am trying to be thankful for this crazy day and look forward to those special moments that make it all worth being a mom.

I often remember Proverbs 3:5-6 because that was our wedding text, but now looking at all of Proverbs 3, the entire chapter is speaking to my heart.

My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
² for length of days and years of life
and peace they will add to you.

³ Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ So you will find favor and good success
in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Waiting…

We are awaiting the arrival of our baby girl.  I honestly thought she would have been here by now.  I am trying to be patient..not something that comes easy for me.   I thought she might be a 4th of July baby, but maybe she wants to share her birthday with her daddy (July 6).  We’ll see what God has planned for our little one. 

In the meantime, we are enjoying staying at Joe’s parents and being extremely spoiled.  Mom V is an awesome cook and it has been wonderful to have a pool to jump into with how hot it has been lately (over 100 degrees almost every day this week).

We’ve done lots of fun things. Went to Brookfield Zoo, swimming almost every day, out for dinner with my family, a maternity photo shoot by my sister in law, I got to meet friends for dinner, Joe & I went out for a wonderful dinner to Asparagus to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary which are all in July, Grandpa DJ took the boys on a tractor ride, Joe & Isaac went to a Sox game, and 4th of July spent enjoying yummy food and homemade ice cream (if you’ve never had homemade ice cream you are missing out!).   Our boys are loving spending all this time with the relatives.  Every time we leave Grandpa & Grandma’s house to go somewhere the boys ask if we are going to go back there.  It’s going to be so hard to say good-bye when we do have to leave.  But for now we are enjoying our time here. 

Hopefully soon I can announce the arrival of our little girl.  I’ll try to be patient…

Yummy Salad

Well, it seems my blog is becoming a recipe blog...not what I intended, just what I seem to be posting lately :) I just had to post this salad recipe before I forget to write it down somewhere. Thanks to my SIL for sending the recipe. It's quite delish!

I don't even have a title for what it's actually called, so I'm just going to call it...Yummy Salad.

Ingredients:

1 bag spring mix greens

Candied Walnuts (or I used candied pecans because I prefer pecans and I couldn't find any other candied nuts at Walmart)

Thinly Sliced Apples (my favorite are Gala Apples)

Craisins (Dried Cranberries)

Honey Mustard Dressing (I used Newman's Own Salad Dressing...Light Honey Mustard).

Mix the above ingredients, drizzle on however much dressing you like and enjoy. Such a yummy combination for a salad. I've become addicted to it. Especially since Aldi is selling a nice mix of small lettuce heads in their veggie section only for $1.99. It stays fresh longer than the bagged stuff.

Other than that, it's been an interesting week here. The boys have had colds and I finally took Seth to the doctor on Thursday morning. Turned out he has a double ear infection and has now been diagnosed with bronchitis/asthma. So he's been on breathing treatments every 4 hours and the morning and evening treatments will continue indefinitely. So that was a bit more than I expected when I took him in. The treatments make him all hyper afterward. Joe & I just laugh because he's running all over the place with this big grin on his face. It's quite funny to watch. Thankfully when I have to get him up for his nightly treatments he doesn't wake up much and actually falls back asleep while I'm giving him the treatment. I'm exhausted to say the least. Being pregnant, getting up 3 times a night and oh, Isaac's cough is back and he ended up throwing up last night in bed...so that was a nice thing to add to the evening. Basically it's been a long week with not a lot of sleep for this prego momma. Thankfully I just have the sniffles since Joe has gotten the cold too. Hopefully mine doesn't get worse.

Well, I'm off to make sense of the pile of medical bills since we just got another one that wasn't on the insurance statement. I get to call the insurance company again on Monday and find out what's going on because this bill has put us way over what we should have to owe. Oh the joys.

I shouldn't complain so much. I am so thankful to have my health back. I know it could be so much worse. We are definitely blessed beyond measure. Just some days it's hard for my human mind to see that. Thankfully God shows me in His way that He is a gracious, good, loving God that is in control of all things. May I strive to keep my eyes on things eternal where in the end there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more health issues, etc. Where we will be one day worshiping and praising our Lord.

May God be glorified in our health and in our sickness...

Came across this quote today on Ann Voskamp's blog:

We give thanks to God not because of how we feel – but because of Who He is.

Exactly what I needed to hear today as I lay here in bed with a migraine headache from the spinal tap I had for surgery on Friday. I've been dealing with this headache since Friday evening and if I lay on my back and drink caffeine (as doctor recommended) it eventually lessens and does go away for a bit. I keep thinking how so many others have it so much worse than me and I am so thankful for all those who are helping me care for my family through all of this. I hate not being able to take care of them. But if I can't at least others are there to help. It's been a long month between Seth and I being sick with rotavirus and then 2 weeks later I get a kidney stone and have to have surgery. I keep thinking....even in my sickness God is being glorified in some way, some how. I am trying to learn patience in all of this...it is so hard for me. And then I read the above quote today and see..God is glorified because of WHO HE IS! That is how he is glorified. It has nothing to do with me or how I am feeling. That is so true and I am so thankful.

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving...

Isaac turns Four!

4 years ago today this sweet, little boy made me a mom. I’ll never forget that last month of pregnancy and the lllllloooooonnnnnngggg delivery (15 hours) and then the 4 days in the hospital afterward, due to my high blood pressure, and the 5 weeks after that of trying to get it back to normal. Through it all, he was a trooper though. The picture above was my favorite way to hold him. He loved to snuggle. He was a big boy, born 8lbs 14 oz. But I loved all his chubbiness and until he started to walk, he kept getting chubbier. I remember when we got home from the hospital, Joe & I looked at each other and said “Now what?” This little baby was ours to take care of and our responsibility. What a great calling it is to be a parent. I am so thankful God is the one who is leading and guiding us along because He is the only one who can work in the heart of our little boy and turn him to Jesus. I pray that God will be in our little boys heart and that Isaac will live his life glorifying our Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord for this wonderful, sweet boy that you have given to us.

Full of smiles

Here is on his first day of school at LMPC MDO (in Joyful Giraffes).

I love this kid.

He is very energetic, full of energy, a loud talker, talks non-stop about anything and everything, loves and adores his baby brother, loves going on outings with daddy, he’s quite the social kid and always has been, loves bugs and dinosaurs and cars, has quite the imagination and often thinks what he’s saying is true even though it is not even possible, he loves school, and most of all he loves Jesus.

For his treats tomorrow we are going to make cake pops. Check out the recipe here. You can actually make little animals out of them, but I’m going the easier route since this is my first time making them. Check out this site for more cake pop ideas. Also, here is a helpful video on how they are made.

Happy Birthday, Isaac!!!

We're goin' on a trip..

My boys have been watching Little Einsteins lately and this song is in my head right now. We are leaving for Fall break to go visit our families in Indiana/Illinois. Then since my brother is getting married next weekend, Joe is traveling back home by himself while the boys & I go with my mom to NW Iowa for the wedding. We will then drive back to Illinois and then fly back to Chattanooga. I'm praying my boys travel well with all the long drives we have ahead of us. We will be traveling 9 hours to IN, then 4 days later traveling 10 hours to NW Iowa, then 4 days later traveling back to Illinois, then 2 days later flying to Chattanooga with a 2 hour layover in Charlotte. Yikes! I may have a lot of interesting stories to tell about my boys when I get back :)

Thankfully I'm feeling better after having the flu for the past 3.5 days. Honestly, I thought I was going to die..no joke. It was one of the worst flu bugs I've ever had. I couldn't lay down at night without having to throw up. It was bad. I carried the Lysol can around with me and sprayed everything I touched hoping that my boys and Joe don't catch this bug. Thankfully, so far they haven't gotten it. I'm praying none of them get it while we are traveling either...oh, that would be bad...ick.

Well, I'm off to pack since I have to have it all ready to go today because tomorrow I have to work and then we are leaving right when Joe is done teaching at school.

Isaac has been so excited about this trip because we are celebrating his birthday with the rest of the family. He's been talking about this trip since we left from visiting them this Summer. So we can finally tell him, only 1 day til we leave!!! He's so excited.

See you all when I get back!!

CrAzY Weather...

We've been living in NW Georgia since the 1st of the year now and I have to say that we've had some crazy weather while living here. Tornadoes, wind storms, hail, August was the driest month on record and now September has begun and we've had a record amount of rainfall. As I sit here and listen to the rain falling and the house creaking I am thankful. Thankful for all the many blessings God has given me. My family, our home, our jobs, etc... God has blessed us. It's been a long year between moving two times, being far from family & friends, having some financial strains, me having a miscarriage, yet through all of this we can be thankful. It is now getting quite windy outside and it's kind of like life.... ups and downs, twists and turns, yet God is in control of it all. For that we can be very thankful.

Back from our adventure...

We just got back this past Wednesday from a 3 week vacation. It was wonderful. 4 of those days were spent traveling. We stopped half way to/from Indiana since on the way there we took the boys to Dinosaur World (yes, it is very much a tourist attraction!). For boys who love dinosaurs it was awesome. We stayed at my in-laws, which is better than staying at a hotel. They have a pool, and my mother in-law is one of the best cooks I know. Plus the cousins come over quite often, so Isaac loved having his cousins around to play with most of the time. We filled our time with lots of fun things. We went to Brookfield Zoo, Shedd Aquarium downtown Chicago, White Sox baseball game, met friends at the park, my sister and her kids came out from Iowa, a wedding shower for my soon to be sister in law, out for dinner a few times, cookout at my brother's house, Sunday dinner with all the family at both my in-laws house and my parents house, went to see fireworks on the 4th, got to see 3 of the boys great-grandma's, and days just spent relaxing by the pool.... the list goes on and on. Every time we got in the car Isaac would ask, "Are we going back to grandpa & grandma's house?" He wanted to make sure we weren't going home yet. It was really hard to say good-bye when we had to go. But it has been good to get back into a normal routine again (I guess) :) We will be back there in October for Fall break and also for my brother, Kurt's, wedding. I'm so thankful my husband is a teacher and has vacation time throughout the year where we can go home and see family.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get done editing them. I'm currently working on a couple of photo shoots that I did and once those are done then I'll get to the 3 weeks worth of pictures that I need to edit :) Plus we took our final load of stuff that we needed to bring back to our new home. So I've been trying to get all that put away where it needs to go.

It's good to be back and see our friends here, but there is something about being with family and just enjoying time together that makes it so hard to say good-bye. But thankfully we'll be back there again in a few months

Fun Times...

Summer is almost here. Well, the weather is already here and has been for awhile, but summer break will be here after this coming week. We are already enjoying more time together as a family since my husband has not been as busy as normal. I am so thankful for school breaks. My husband is so busy during the school year that we don't get to see him very much and when he is home is quite exhausted. So today he planned a bunch of things for us to do. We went to Coolidge Park, where Isaac had a great time running in the water fountains. We all took a ride on the carousel and Isaac & Joe rode twice. Seth loved it too. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A where we enjoyed delicious chicken sandwiches and Isaac got to play in the play land. After that we went home and enjoyed a nice nap. It's so wonderful to do things as a family. We are all looking forward to our family vacation in a few weeks when we head back to Indiana to visit family and friends. Ahhhh..... I LOVE Summertime!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am surrounded by some great women in my life. I am so thankful for my mom. She is the best example I know of how to give yourself up totally for others. She is best described as one with a servants heart. She puts others first always before herself. I honestly think that she wouldn't know how to put herself first and I can't think of any time when she has done so. We usually need to encourage her to go out and do something for herself. Or have her friends take her out. Otherwise she would spend all of her time serving others and putting herself last. I thank God for her and that she has shown me how to have a servants heart.

I am also thankful for my mother in law. She is a great example of how to be a Godly wife and mother. She cooks the most awesome food and always does it with such grace and elegance. I'm always impressed by what she does and how she does it with such a kind and loving heart. Whenever we stay at their house we all feel so loved and welcomed into their home. Isaac has been asking when we will go see grandpa and grandma lately and we are very excited that we can tell him we will be leaving in 6 weeks!

God has blessed me with a wonderful family. He couldn't have given me a better husband that compliments me and knows how to calm me when I'm frazzled or upset. I can be all in a tizzle about something and Joe can come and hug me and immediately I am much more relaxed. I am blessed with the two most amazing little boys. It is so fun to watch them grow and see their little personalities. The way they interact as brothers and love to wrestle...yes, already. I don't always understand it, I guess it's a boy thing :)

We also have some exciting news. Baby #3 is on the way. Due to arrive around December 8. We were a bit surprised by this little ones arrival. Not expecting to be pregnant so soon and Seth will only be 20 months old. Although I am encouraged when I see others who've had children much closer in age. A friend at church has a 3 yr old, 14 mo old and a newborn. So I know it can be done. I'm just nervous to have a baby in a new location, with a new doctor, at a new hospital and without family nearby. Thankfully the Lord has blessed us with friends right in our neighborhood and just not one family, but LOTS of friends we can depend on if we need help. It's amazing to see how God is taking care of us. He never lets us go. I am so thankful to Him for all He has given us. We are truly blessed.

For moms who need encouragement, this blog has really helped me focus on the little things lately.