Day 22 of 30 days

Today I am very very very thankful for IT people.  Computer people that can help me on the phone.  I have this class I am taking that uses Medisoft.  I figure I would be done by Sunday.  Until I load it on my computer and it won't open.  Of course it was Thanksgiving weekend so everybody was gone.  My teacher is on vacation until today.  SO Sunday night when the people at Magraw Hill could walk me through and magically I can now finish.  Of course I cant start my new class until I get the materials so no biggie but I will be done with it this week.  You computer techie people, I love you.

day 21 0f 30 days

Today I am just thankful that God knocks my socks off.  He just blesses me when I am not expecting.  He answers prayers when I think they never will get answered.  there is so much going on in our life right now.  Changes are getting made in good ways.   things I have prayed on for years have been answered.  Things I pray for recently get answered almost instantly.  Even things that I have not prayed about, I get a blessing.  The crazy thing is:  I don't deserve any of it.  I don't do anything on my own to even merit an  answer to prayer.  I get busy.  I get focused on me.  I treat God at times like I would not even treat my dog.  Yet he still loves me Yet he still blesses me to let me know "you are my favorite" (He favors everybody. but that is what is cool about God.  every child is his favorite.)  I am just in awe today.

So this was 1 year ago today. this baby turns 1 today.  This is what I am thankful for today.  This is a baby that I never thought we would have.  After Hannah I was done.  I wanted no more children.  So for seven years we watched the older three grow.  We enjoyed the freedoms you get when children become self sufficient,  then in 2009 God put it on my heart we would have another.  I brushed it off as craziness.  I argued and said you are not talking to me.  I then started to like the idea and told my husband while he was at AIT (school for his job) He said I was thinking the same thing.  Well that confirmed it.  So we decided to just go with it.  We didn't actively plan but we did not prevent.  It took about six months.  We got pregnant almost two years to the day the same time we did before my miscarriage in 2008.   We found out the end of March there would be another one.  This pregnancy was completely different than the others.  I was convinced it was a boy.  nope.  It was different because I was pregnant in my mid 30's.  Her due date at first was the exact same due date as when we were pregnant in 2008.  That got changed but was not surprised it did.   She came fast and furious three days early.  I always labor light for about 24 hours and then have a good few hours of intense labor.  (Don't hate)  So I thought it would be the same.  It started the same but I didn't believe it because I don't have babies early.  they are late or on their due date.  So I thought Nov 24th were Braxton Hicks.  Surely this baby will come after my husband is already here.  He was coming home for R&R.   Well I got woken up at 4:30 with consistent contractions. I cleaned a little and then at 6:30 got my neighbor's teenage daughter to come in.  I thought like always I will go in, they will tell me I am at three cm, send me home and I will go back in 6-7 hours.  I was mostly right.  everything but the 6-7 hours part.  I cam home about 7.  I went to bed and then woke up about 8:45 with intense contractions.  I was in denial and thought they would stop.  Nope after 5 sets about 5 min apart., had the neighbor come over.  I drove myself -by a miracle of God.  I was too prideful to ask anybody to take me being Thanksgiving.  A nice happy couple in the parking lot that was pregnant and there for a stress test got me a wheelchair.  She got to see what labor is like and rumors also almost started because I was asked if her husband was mine.   My husband mind you still has no clue.  HE was on his way home but had no way to tell him.  I got checked and was at 6 cm.  I walked across the hall and got in the bed and said get the doctor now and I was at 10.  HE came in  and barely got his gloves on and I pushed her out.  She was here at 9:39.  All 6 lbs 11 oz of her.  All natural birth. I do that on purpose.  the husband finds out on the phone.  Even if her were here he would have missed it if he blinked.  So it has been a wonderful year.  I cant imagine my life without her and daily look at her and say " I can't believe god gave us you."

day 19 of 30 days

Today I am thankful the smells that will be flowing from my kitchen shortly.  There are pies to bake today, apple and pumpkin.  There are side dishes to prep and get ready for tomorrow.  This year I am thankful I an not doing it while having contractions.  Last year I thought they were Braxton Hicks because in no way do I ever give birth early.  Little did I know the next day Charlotte would be here.  I am thankful the parents will be coming tomorrow to spend it with us and that we just get to enjoy the time together.  We will watch the Macy's Day parade and have pancakes for breakfast.  We will watch the dog show after while I cook the turkey and cook the other goodies.  Christmas music will also be played and we will just be thankful for everything we have.  It will also be bittersweet again because many people that we love will not be here or us there to enjoy together.

Day 18 of 30 days

Today, I am thankful that I was born with common sense and have the intelligence to decipher when our elected officials do things based on votes or money and not what they are supposed to do, which is govern.  Something I believe that has been mostly forgotten due to greed and self preservation because they don't really care about the people.  I think there are a few out there that do want to do what is best for us and really have their heart for what we want, but, they are few.  I also think most start out with good intentions but lost it along the way due to lobby pressure and campaign fund pressure and "if you do this, then I will do that." which sickens me. so why my rant?  Here :pizza is a vegetable  Of course reading this it is realized tomato paste is what they are declaring as a vegetable, not pizza itself.  Well,  OK then.  Now I can serve cookies for breakfast since they contain grains and dairy.  woo hoo.  my kids will be excited.  I have seen school lunches.  I have eaten school lunches.  I can assure you they are not "good food"  When my kids were in school they only occasionally got to eat them.  It is a bunch of processed nonsense with ingredients that nobody can pronounce and call it food.  Then wonder why kids are diagnosed with ADHD and cant concentrate after eating.   Seriously people.  Anybody that voted on this should be voted out.  These are the things that annoy me, especially when we have a budget that needs to be balanced.  I think if you are in Congress and waste my tax dollars voting on stupidity then you should not get paid that day.  Maybe then they would concentrate on what really is important instead of acting like two year olds in a sandbox.

Day 17

Today I am thankful for when my girls want to spend time with me and I stop what I am doing to do so.  I a lot of times, say I can't or after I do this.  I want to be more concentrated on putting whatever I am doing to the side and just spend time with them.  Sometimes saying later is necessary but a lot of the times I am, it is just out of my selfishness.  I only have a few more years left with them and I need to grab every opportunity and hold tight on to it to create great memories and bonds now.  These teenage years are coming as well..  I don't expect them to be to bad.  Some bumps along the way but I am holding fast to God protecting my girls and the respect they have for us for them to not become "typical stereotypical teenage girls"  I know crazy.  We do this crazy concept of being on the overprotective side and dare I say it, discipline. WE stick to consequences when they disobey.  We discipline what seems like little things now so we won't have huge things later.  We don't back down when tired or it would be easier to just give in.  There are days when they break my heart and rip it out of my chest and stomp it with words they say or looks they give me or disobey what has been asked.  There are days they don't like me or the rules we have.  There are days they don't understand why my no has to be the only answer they get because they are not ready for a full explanation.  there are friendships we have cut off because they are not a good influence and will drag my children down a path I don't want them on.  (Thanks mom for doing that with me.  Which I can only say now that I have children of my own because I now get it.) We played hangman last night and the phrases the younger two thought of had to do with me being the best. It melted my heart.  I also should blow it up and frame it for the next time I tell them no and they roll their eyes at me.

day 16 of 30 days

Today I am thankful for Sundays.  It is one of my`favorite days.  There is a church we love that has great worship and is not afraid to preach the bible as truth, even when it is not popular.  There are chicken wings to be enjoyed and family time together watching football.  Hopefully we can say we are thankful that the Giants win. There are good books to read and yarn to make into things I never thought I could.  there are children's laughter and listening to them play with each other. (there is also listening to arguing but I am thankful for it because one day this house will no longer have children in it and I know I will miss it.)  today is just a day to breathe sighs of relief and just ponder on what I have to be thankful for.

day 15 of 30 days

Yup I am behind...AGAIN.  I am too busy these days.  If I don't do this first thing, then it wont get done.  Life gets crazy.  So I am thankful for a friend who lent me their carpet shampooer and thankful that I had the speed of the Road Runner in scrubbing my floors today.  the carpets were in desperate need of it.  somehow, (it is undetermined at this moment, but, we think it is the invisible child "ididntdoit") chalk paint got put all over the carpet in a child's room and tracked down the hall down the stairs.  thankfully it mostly came out but some stains are left.  I have resided we will replace the carpets in that room anyway.  I also am thankful I was able to scrub the floors so I can concentrate on thanksgiving menu items and getting things prepped for my favorite day of the year.  It is my absolute favorite holiday.  I adore it more than Christmas.   I have things I love about Christmas but I what I love about Thanksgiving is the focus is family and being thankful.  Not who got what presents and the stress of who gets presents, who doesn't, how much gets spent, trying not to feel guilty when you can't do what you want for others because of the commercialism of it all.  that is a blog for another day and will come after Thanksgiving.

day 14 of 30 days

Day 14 was yesterday.  Yesterday, however, I was brain dead.  Doing everything I have been doing and burning the midnight oil and trying to get up at 6:00 came to abrupt halt yesterday.  All day I could not think and was cranky.  At 9:00 I was in bed falling asleep.  Those that know me, know I am up until midnight usually.  It has become too much and will no longer be doing so.  I so badly wanted to blog yesterday  because it was about the one person I share my life with.

So on Day 14 (yesterday) I am thankful for my husband. Yesterday we celebrated 13 years of marriage.  It is a milestone I can assure you being three years ago it was practically over.  (That story is a blog for another time but it truly is an amazing story of what Jesus can do to fix a marriage and two broken people if you let Him.)  We are stronger than we have have ever been and I love him more and more everyday.  It is so different when you get out of that infatuation stage and truly realize what loving a person means.  He puts up with my quirks and sometimes impossible type A standards. He puts up with neurotic behavior.   He deals with me leaving all my kitchen cabinets open and then me yelling at myself for doing it.   He just puts up with me.  The me nobody else really knows.   Yet, he still loves me and tells me everyday.    He works hard and in a job that is not so fun most times so I can stay home with our girls and be a homemaker.  A job I love and would not trade it for any other job in the world no matter how much I would get paid.  He is a wonderful Dad and hope that the girls will find a husband that compares to him.  He shows affection all the time and is all around a good man.  He makes me feel safe.  He is what I am thankful for today.

this is one of my favorite pictures

Today I am thankful for these:

pomegranates!!!

If you have not tried one of these yummy delicious fruits, you are missing out.   They are tasty and they only come out during the fall/winter season So we snatch up as many as we can.  They take work to enjoy but are worth it.  I am also thankful to the person who told me to put them in a bowl of water to get the jewels out.  They are really messy otherwise. You can do everything with them.  I plan to make cookies this week with them and chocolate chips.  yummy!!!  We just eat them the way god made em usually.

Day 11 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

I always wait to see what God puts on my heart to be thankful for.  Today there was nothing specific.  he just reminded me that I am blessed.  I am thankful for the blessings I have today.  I am blessed with a hard working husband who knows my hearts desire is to stay home with the beautiful girls.  I am blessed with a 4 bedroom house that while my husband is a soldier I never have to worry about having a place to live.  I am blessed with friends here and in far away places who in just the right moment can make me smile.  Here is an example:

from Barb because she loves me

I am blessed with children who are obedient and a joy to be around. (Ye,s there are times when they make me crazy but that comes with living with different personalities.  That is what babysitters and play dates were invented for.)     I am blessed with a great church that is not afraid to preach the truth of the bible and has great worship.  I am blessed with a relationship with Jesus that knocks my socks off on a daily basis.  I am just thankful for the life I live and the opportunities I have that I never thought were possible.  I am thankful for every trial that I now know was a blessing because it molded me into I am and will continue to mold me into become more like Christ even when the process at the moment may hurt.  I would not change any of it.  My life in general is just something I am truly thankful for every single day.

day 10 and 11 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

I missed yesterday.  It was crochet and cleaning craziness.   SO here is what I meant to post yesterday and then following is today:

Day 10:  I am thankful for answered prayers that come out of no where.  Abby is in gymnastics.  She is naturally talented and taught herself cartwheels and such.   In proper form, mind you.  We could not let this natural ability go wasted.  This also means the further you go, the more expensive it gets.  She is on competitive team.  This means training two days a week for a pricey monthly amount.  This also means uniforms, dues, meet fees, etc.   SO we were thinking this would not be happening anymore due to the financial strain it was putting us in.  It was heartbreaking.  There were lots of tears.  Then there was the answered prayer sitting in my garage.  We got some gymnastics mats.  Professional ones they use in the gyms.  They get used here but she does not need all of them.   We asked if we could trade the mats for tuition for a couple months.  We get approved for FOUR MONTHS.  Which is exactly the time we need until the tax return comes and we could be able to afford to put her back in. Yup, God is cool like that.  He also likes to make things happen for us very last second.   SO when we are about to give up, HE comes in and makes it happen.

Day 11:  Veteran's Day.  I am thankful to all that serve.  especially my husband.  I am thankful for the sacrifice made and that has been made so we have the freedoms we have.  It is because I can freely blog, I can read whatever books I want,  I can proudly say 'I follow Jesus, read my bible, and go to church" without fear of death.  I am thankful I can wear the clothes I want, that I can vote, that I can drive, that I got to choose who I could marry.  I am thankful that as a woman in America I am not treated as less than a man.  I am thankful I can take a vacation where ever I feel like all over the world.  I am thankful for the opportunities this country has and  that even if we were homeless and without a steady income I most likely will get to eat everyday, somewhere.   So I am grateful.  I am grateful for the men and women who go out there everyday and don;'t even think twice about themselves but what the mission is to accomplish and if that means their life ends that day, then so be it.  

Day 9 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

today I am thankful I have the opportunity to stay home with my children and home school.  I would not want to do anything else in the world.  I love my "job".  I get to be the one to raise them.  I get to be the one to teach them without all the other yuckiness that comes with sending them off to school.  There is no bullying,  There is no keeping up with the latest fashions.  There is no pressure of fitting in.  There are no mean girls.  There are no standardized testing pressure where if they take it they fail.  There is no 3 hours of homework.  There is a pass only with a 100% policy, so we have the freedom to stay on a subject until it is understood completely and not have to move on because the school board says there are standards that need to be met in a certain time frame or can't move on pass that for the same reasons.  We also are not hermits and stay home and never go out.  My kids do get some of the real world with friends and have dealt with issues of kids being kids and girls being girls. There have been lessons on forgiveness and asking for it.  there have been lessons on how Jesus would want them to be when they are not treated the way they should.  I get to be in control of who they hang out with though, mostly.  If a child influences mine to behave opposite of what we teach then they are denied interacting with them  as much as possible.  Sometimes group setting prevent this.  But sometimes it is necessary being throughout life we all have to interact with people that are not a good influence.  That way they are not shocked into reality when they go out there on their own.  I am OK to be the mean one. I am OK if they get mad at me when I tell them no.  It means I am doing my job as their parent.  They have friends.  I am not in this season to be theirs.  Friendship with them will come when they are adults.  I am thankful for the values that were instilled in me growing up and parents who parented me and told me no.     It helped to mold me and be able to parent my own children more effectively.

Day 8 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful I started running again after two weeks and still was able to run 2.1 miles in 31 min.    I am also thankful for what helped me get started running.  couch to 5k  My sis- n- law, Barb, did this a few years ago.  I thought to myself i have always wanted to run but running anywhere was tiring.  I tried cross country in high school.  I have always admired marathon runners.  Then I tried it myself.  Then after two weeks I my knees.  I pulled some ligaments.  Then I found out I was pregnant with Charlotte.  So after she was born, after my six weeks. I decided to give it a go again.  I wore knee braces to make sure I didn't cause damage again.  The first three weeks were torture.  I hated it but you know me with a challenge.  I had to complete it to say I did it.  Then I was going to stop.  I then started week 4 and liked the way I felt while running.  I have been doing it ever since.  I don't run 3 miles but I run 2.1 and I am good with that.  (This ties in with my challenge next month to run every day for 30 days)  So for now I am going to be doing every other day.

Day 7 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful that my Medical Terminology class is OVER.  I got an A overall and I now pretty much know what a disease is if somebody says it.  That class was going to be the death of me.  I started during block leave back in July and got off kilter is getting it done in a timely manner that it took forever.  I am also thankful to get an extension on my scholarship for another six months so instead of having to be completely done in February,I have until August.  I won't take that long since I am back to being disciplined and everyday I am doing a lesson.  This school has been wonderful and is perfect for my crazy life.  One class at a time, at my own pace.  Which is good and bad. Good that I don't have the pressure to get things done by a certain.  Bad that I can sit in a class for 5 months.  Now The class I am taking is medical office procedures.  That will take me about two weeks to get through.  easy easy easy.

Day 6 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

Today I am very thankful that a trip to the ER last night for our youngest Charlotte was nothing.  Yesterday Abby had her first gymnastics meet and I get a call from my 12 year old that Charlotte was possibly choking and making weird noises.  Her Daddy was there but she was afraid she would get in trouble because she was put in charge while Doug went to do something in the garage.  I told her to get him now.  He monitored her and then decided after some wheezing noises to take her to the hospital and I met him there.   It was intermittent wheezing noises which reminded me of when Hannah was a baby and swallowed a penny that got stuck.    I am also thankful that our experiences at the ER here on post have been good ones.  We were in and out relatively quickly.  OF course, possibly choking is a true emergency so I am sure that is part of the reason.  When I got there I let her nurse and after that she seemed fine.  She was her happy joking self.  She really liked the DR.  She laughed at him and kept saying "ow ow".  To which I thought really?  HE is not even doing anything.  She was just being her silly self.   they took x-rays and they came back clear.  So if she was choking it went down and will turn up later.  

day 5 of Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful that my van keys were found.  This may seem silly.  But it is not.  they had been missing for almost two weeks.  Today's cars are not just a simple make a new key fix.  It is an expensive fix.  You have to go to the dealership to buy a key that can be programmed for your car.  This costs anywhere from 150.00-500.00.  I vote going back to horse and carriage.  You can get cheaper ones on the internet but you still have to have them programmed which costs extra.   I also don't care if my next car has automatic windows and door openers.  I have three of them  They are the walking, breathing minions that live in my house.   Here is how it can work.  This may be a crazy concept.  I look at child and say "roll down the window"  or  "open the door so I can put the baby in"  I know, insanity.  So we, for two weeks,  were down to one car.  We survived.  We were able to do it.   Minor inconvenience, yes.  Is it nice to have two cars, yes.  Is it a need, no.  In our family it is not.  Some families it is.  So please don't think that if you are reading this that I think if your family has two cars that is is not a necessity.  I realize work situations and medical situations sometimes require more than one vehicle.   Soon we will be going to one car.  We are looking to sell both of ours and pay off debt and hopefully the next car we get will not have a car payment.  It may not look pretty.  It may not be new but it will serve its purpose of getting us to where we need to go and on that day I will be thankful that money used for a car payment can be used for a family vacation or things that our kids want to do.

DAy 4 of Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful that our eldest daughter Janessa has been practically cured from her ADHD tendencies.  She was cured through going gluten free.  Some things are still the same but that ids from years and years of her brain being trained into doing things a certain way.  She can still only focus on one task at a time.  She can not multi task.  I need to make sure she is looking at me when I am giving her tasks and I only give them to her one at a time.  In other words I can't tell her go get dressed, put on deodorant, brush your hair and teeth, and clean your room.  I tell her go get dressed then come see me.  Now go brush your hair and teeth then come see me.  She will be one who will need to be a diligent list maker and follower.  This is not a bad thing. I love lists.  I am lost without them.  there have been times when I have asked if changing her diet actually was effective and when I do somebody will tell me how different she is.   Latest example:  Her teacher from church on Wednesdays tells me how different she is than last year.  She is more calm.  She no longer has loud outbursts out of excitement.  She is more engaged and focused. ( I was also told she holds her own with the older boys so if they mess with her like boys do with each other  (typical wrestling and tagging stuff) she will not hold back and becomes like "one of the boys"  her teacher tells them they don't know who they are messing with and she will take em down. )  It made me realize she is stronger than I give her credit for.   I am thankful for what I call the gift of gluten sensitivity because I have been able to help others because of it.   If we are having to have this and it leads to helping others find out what their issues are then I welcome it.

30 Days of Thanksgiving.

There are a few bloggers doing this as a theme and I have decided to as well.  I am not exactly behind, I just have posted it here.  So here are things that I have been thankful for the past few days

Day 1 Nov 1:  I am thankful that God has blessed me with a new business with doing something I love.  Crocheting.  I am blown away constantly with people messaging me about things they would like me to make.  It has come at a time that we have a need for some extra income.

Day 2:  Nov 2.  I am thankful for meds that I can take while breast feeding, Sudafed has been my friend the past two days

Day 3:  Nov 3rd  I am thankful for colds that end quickly and a husband and children that will let me get the rest I need and help with the baby.  I totally believe getting the rest needed helped to speed up the recovery process.