Today's My Birthday

Today is my 43rd birthday!  Yes I am 43 and to be honest there are days I feel like I am 18 and there are days that I feel like I am 81!  This year I hope to do some soul searching and changing.  I want to be closer to God, I want to do more and be more, if that even makes sense. I want to be, I want to see, the person God sees when He looks at me!  Am I even close to being that person?!  I don't know but I want to be!

I'm 43 years old and this is what I know for sure...

1. Life happens when you aren't watching!
2. Time really does fly by!
3. My family is EVERYTHING to me.
4. It really doesn't matter what happened in High School or what didn't!  Heck it really doesn't matter what
     happened or didn't happen in college!  Make the best of every day you have!
5. My parent's mean the world to me. I appreciate their sacrifices even more now that I have children.
6. When my kids say or do things that I did as a child that hurt my feelings, I now realize how it must have
    hurt my mom when I did or said the same things.
7. "If you can't say something nice don't say nothing at all!" is more understood as an adult than as a child!
8. Money may not buy happiness but it sure does take some stress off your shoulders.
9. Do what makes you happy!  Only one you need to please is God! Be real! Be true! Fake is not good!
10. Most important....God is everything to me!

I am sure there are other things I could share and maybe I will but right now those are the top things on my mind.

RIP Pip

Last year Kris was chosen by his teacher to become the owner of the class pet, Pip, a gerbil.  Three weeks ago Pip died and we had a very sad little boy.  Kris was very heart broken.  Being that he doesn't talk about emotions or feelings and sometimes has a hard time showing the appropriate reaction to things. I wasn't sure how this was going to affect him.  Last year two weeks before he got Pip his little turtle Rocky died and getting Pip helped greatly.  This time around we allowed Kris time to mourn over Pip before even suggesting a new little buddy. 
    Well he decided rather quickly that he needed a new buddy to love and care for and so we set in action our plan with a friend to find him a Holland Lop Bunny.  Welcome Kris' new buddy, Bugz!

Kris and Bugz

He is very curious about our guinea pigs and they all get along great!

He apparently didn't like all the pictures we were taking. LOL!

Bugz is a great little bunny.  Everyone loves him, including our two dogs.  Kris still misses his Pip and we have told him that is normal.  Of which he tells us that he doesn't like missing him. He is taking great care of his bunny and loves him greatly.  I am thankful we chose the right pet for him.  It helps him to express love even thought he doesn't tell us he loves us he does tell Bugz and we know eventually one day he will express his love for us without us prompting him.

Game Day

Sometimes you have to go off road, do things differently, add a little fun to the day.  That is exactly what we did today.  Actually I have noticed that the kids have gotten sucked into the technology world and despite doing school work, reading books for 30-60 mins a day they spend quite a bit of time playing games, mainly Minecraft on the computer.  It has bothered me a lot lately so we made the decision to spend some money on some board games.  We bought quite a few of the classics such as Monopoly, Life, Yahtzee, checkers/chess, Jenga and then added Clue, Blokus and Doctor Dreadful Scabs and Guts ( a science game).  So today instead of doing the typical school work we had planned we had a game board day.  We played Monopoly (math), Scrabble (spelling), Doc. Dreadful (science) and watched a video about President George Washington.  Three hours of Monopoly was enough for me but the kids had a great time today.  It helps to change things up not only for them but for me as well.  We were all learning new things about the human body while playing Doc. Dreadful.  What a neat game that is!

    I believe we may make one day every couple of weeks a board game day.  We spent a total of five hours playing different games to day and all of them had a great time and it was a fun way to learn as well.   Try it with your kids some time!

Valentine's Day Blessings

Life is moving along and I am barely hanging on and definitely not been anywhere near writing.  I miss writing daily.  I know that this blog is not informational or even for anyone else but family and friends that care to stop in.  Last week we celebrated Valentine's day and I wanted to share a few of the blessings I was surprised with.

Beautiful flowers from my husband.

My wonderful card made by my Kris! 

Breakfast in bed, made by Kris and Sara.  Love them so much!

Sara's card.  It included little activities for me to do as well.  Made me smile every time I looked at it.

Ended the night with a nice surprise from one of the youth kids.  Ellie brought us white choc. covered strawberries and sodas.  Totally surprised us and made our night!  We love working with the youth group!

Big Brother Teacher

Best part of homeschooling for a parent is to watch the older brother step up and jump in and help the younger brother with his school work.  Eli was struggling with understanding what a new word was and Jaron, without being asked jumped in and helped.  Made me smile!  BTW, yes this is a staged picture...only because my camera refused to turn on immediately, but it is what I saw when I looked up from grading Jaron's history papers.

It's January and all I can think of is SUMMER!  People talk about spring fever...usually happens about March for me...not this time.  I am so wanting to be on a beach, sipping ice cold water and enjoying the sun!  I can not wait for summer to get here.  I plan to live at the lake with the kids this year or in our small pool.  I can't wait to get things started for the garden too.  This year I plan to do straw bale gardening.  It will be interesting to see if it works as well as I have read it does.  I sure hope so, I hate wasting money on new things but I think this might be a great new adventure!  While I think and plan what I want to garden and sit here looking out the front window, there is a lite dusting of snow on the cars and I hear the roads are slick with ice.  Sigh! 
   We are having a snow day and I have spent the day talking to friends on Facebook, searching for school curriculum for next year and just enjoying a quiet day to relax.  This week has been packed full of birthdays.  Eli and Sara turned 9 this week.  Oh how I miss those baby/toddler days.  I miss rocking them to sleep while they snuggle up with their noses against my neck.  Gone are those days but having older children has it's benefits too.  I want to capture every day and cherish each moment because I know before long I will be longing for them to be 9 again.  "All my days are written in His book," Ps139:16

Check out "Not Short on Anything"

My dear friend Martha (Marty) has started a blog.  She and her husband Michael are some of our closest friends.  They were part of our wedding party and have walked with us through many things and us them.  Marty is the mother of two wonderful children, Lucy and Jay. Both have been classified as autistic but it does not define them!  Just like autism does not define our son Kris. 
   I share this because she has started her own blog called, "Not Short on Anything."  Funny thing is God gave her the name and their last name is Short. Marty is a very talented writer and honestly I don't think she knows how talented she is.  Can I ask that you go over and check it out.  It is so encouraging!  Book mark it because I know you are going to want to come back and read her posts!

It's a New Year...

...full of promise!   I haven't posted in while.  We were busy with a surprise visit from my brother and his family for Christmas! Which makes our holidays happy!  The new year is upon us and does promise the best of possibilities.  I am trusting God and believing for so much this year! I believe this is the year we will harvest all that God has promised us as a family.  We have been sowing for years and I have hope and faith that this is the year of reaping all that has been promised. The Lord has directed me to pray specifically  certain scriptures such as "Oh that you Lord would bless us indeed and would enlarge our territory, that Your hand would be with us and that you would keep us from harm." 1 Chronicles 4:10.  I believe this year He will increase our finances (despite what the media says will happen), I believe He will increase our living space, He will increase our health.  I believe He will open doors to ministry that we have never thought of or see coming.  I believe that this year God's favor and blessings will REST upon us.  Yes REST upon us.  One definition would be a place of resting...or LODGING!  I love that!  Let his favor and blessings LODGE over our family! 
Just a few of the holiday festivities... Cousins = FUN!

Lexie, Eli and Sara...8 yr olds.

Kris and Tim....10 yr olds.

Jaron and Maddie...12 yrs old.

 Waiting to ambush!

Attack!

Cookie decorating fun

My brother Ron, who hates having his picture taken.