Merry Thanksgiving!!

We gathered together at MeMe and Pops' house for Thanksgiving this year. Last year was full of so much prayer and worry in our family. I am thankful for so much this year, and I think I have made that clear on this blog, but I think our all time extreme thankfulness is for Tonya's healing. Life's not easy or perfect. I have been told my facebook status is always too happy. I don't want to come across as a fake happy person. I guess I just try to focus on the good things in life. I am an extreme overreactor. I HATE when things don't go my way. I want everyone to always get along, but that's just not life. I have a tendency to get a big angry at times, but that's just me and if you love me then you can deal with that. So, instead of being sappy about my family and how thankful I am for everyone, I thought I would just post a few pics and say that I love you all. I am glad I have each and every one of you in my life. I am one very blessed girl. I am the only girl in between two brothers. My job has always been that of a "middle" child. One of the things that is MOST important to me is for us all to be together. So of course, I bossed everyone around and forced a family photo. It's memories that are so very important!!

With my brothers :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

THANKS

To my precious children,

This blog is written all for you. It's to give you a diary of your childhood. I have found myself so incredibly busy chasing the two of you, that I have not made time to blog! ;)

Here's what been going on.....

I got a phone call from the pre-school a few weeks ago, "You are going to need to come get Whit, now don't worry, but he had a little spill. He is probably going to need stitches." OMG! 3 hours in the er with an open wound in his head, we were home all glued back together. He's a tough kid.

Kennedy had her first field trip without me! She rode on a real school bus! She had a blast and I had a hard time realizing she is growing up too fast.

I went on Whit's fall field trip. Last year I went with K and it was fun to do the same thing with him this year.

K is busy practicing for 2 dance performances. She is having her winter recital in a few weeks and is also dancing with the "big" girls at FBC's christmas program. She is besided herself with excitement about it. I love how much she adores being on stage. It makes me proud.

Whit's indian name at school was "Running Deer." I found this hillarious because they know he is ALWAYS running! And the boy is obsessed with deer and tractors. I caught him hunting my reindeer in the house last night. ;)

I love these children. There are so many times that parenting is frustrating. It is tiring. Yet, it is the sweet precious moments that stay with you. You remember holding them that first time, or they look at you with such adoration and you realize that those moments are what matters. We have friends who are fighting for their daughter's life right now. She has Leukemia and is currently going through chemo. I can't help but think of her each night, as I tuck my kids into bed. We always pray for Anna Hays. I pray a million times a day for cancer to go away. I pray for it to leave Anna Hays and stay away from Tonya. I never knew I would be such a prayer warrior. I must have evolved somehow through the years. God is teaching me about THANKFULNESS. He has also taught me how to pray for healing in HIS name. So everyday I pray away cancer and I give THANKS for my life. I give THANKS for the mundane moments, the frustrations, the happiness, the sweet times.....I give THANKS for all of it. It's the life I have been given and I should enjoy every single moment of it. So,this year, as our time of Thanksgiving approaches again, I am going to enjoy time with family and be ever so thankful that we can be together. I am one blessed girl.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

You ever have one of those days where you just completely stop and are thankful? They are my favorite kind of days. They don't always come as often as I want, but when they do, I am so incredibly happy. Today, we made it to 9:01 church at 9:01. I know, I know, we should be on time every Sunday. One of my former student's mom gave her testimony today. I love when God speaks through people. I needed to hear what she had to say today. Then we went to our new Sunday school class. We are helping to start a new class at our church. I have felt God calling me to do this for a while now, and I am so thankful for the people that have also felt that call. We helped start our FBC class that exploded into a million people after we had been there for a few years. It is neat to see how God works in all of this. Then we went to lunch, brought the kids home for Whit to nap. Kennedy had been terrible this am. She was whiney and I told her she was going to sit in her room when we got home. She totally served her punishment and we had a very good talk about listening. It is hard to get through to her sometimes, but today it was the perfect lesson. I know it will happen again tomorrow, but at least I won that battle today. ;) Then we went to K's practice for the FBC Christmas program. She is dancing in it. She was so nervous when we got there. Then they started dancing and I can't describe the smile she gets when she dances, but it seriously makes my heart sing. I know it seems silly, but the love she has for it makes me so proud. She just lights up and dances her heart out. My little baby, the one I birthed 4 short years ago, can follow a whole routine and dance with the big girls. It helped that she was dancing with Kaylie, Allie, and Chandler.(all of the big girls she knows) Then I came home and went for a run. I ran for 30 straight minutes!!!! I finally accomplished my goal. I can't believe it!!! I have come so far since I began the Couch to 5K! I didn't think I would actually ever be able to run that long!

So, today, it is one of those days. I accomplished something I never thought I would. I watched my daughter beam with joy over something she loves. I watched Whit giggle with laughter and fall asleep with a hoodie and gloves on just because he wanted to. My babies giggled their hearts out in the bath and it was the sweetest sound I have ever heard. I am healthy. I have a wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally. I was given two precious children to raise. God is good. He's blessed me beyond what I deserve. Praise God from whom all blessings flow........... I hope tomorrow I wake up just as thankful. I hope you do too.

BUSY! BUSY!

I'm still here! I promise!! :) We have had a very busy month! We traveled to TN to see the cousins. Every moment of that weekend was special to me. I love having my family all together, or a least part of it! I have always been the sappy one about that. We've been to the aquarium, had a visit from Aunt Courtney, the kids went to the fair, fall festival at FBC, Red Ribbon week with lots of dress up, football games for LCMS.....I could keep going! :) It has been busy, but fun! Here are a few pics from this month!

K's class is dressing up as Pirates tomorrow. She is super excited about it!

Red Ribbon Week: It was camo day at my school and Tacky day for K!

Whit was SO excited I had on camo. It is totally against my religion! ;)

Fall Festival:FBC

PUMPKINS!

And my sweet babies! Happy FAll!!!!!!

Dead Birds???? EWWWWW!!!!!

I love Greg Olliff. I sometimes laugh at how I fell in love with such a country boy when I am the complete opposite. Whit is obsessed with all that is Greg. This is after his first bird hunt. G killed a bird and gave it to Whit. For the next three hours that bird (the very dead bird) was his pride and joy. He was SO excited to show it to me. By then the poor thing was barely hanging together. EWWWWW!!! I am going to have a hard time with all of this! Today he says, "Mommy, did you know that you can shoot an arrow at the deer and when it hits him, blood comes out!" OMG! What are we teaching him? Greg turned out fairly normal.....I'll just have to trust this is ok!

A few days later, "Hey Mommy! I killed me a turkey!" AAAAHHHHHHH!!!

I love you my litle redneck. Mommy is proud of whatever you love to do. Just don't ask me to come with you. I am going to draw the line somewhere.

ME!

Just thought I would prove we exist! :) I am always behind the camera chasing my kids around. We had a chance to go out on a grown up evening last night so I decided to document.

Chad and Jen

And our best photo yet.......;)

33!!!

Tomorrow I turn another year older. Birthdays used to be on a countdown. I could not wait until mine got here! Then I just realized how old I was getting! ;) Then I had kids and realized how special a birthday really is. It is celebrating a life that is such a miracle in itself. I cry each year as my children turn another year older. I am so very thankful for each year that I get to spend with them. Birthdays turned from being about how old I was to how thankful I truly am. I have been on earth 32 years and 364 days. I am thankful for each and every one of them. In all those years, I have been so blessed. We've had ups and downs through the years, but in the end, I wouldn't change a moment of any of it. It's made me who I am. Thank you to each of you who have been a part of my life. I am SO very thankful to have such wonderful friends and family. I am one blessed girl. So, tomorrow, I'll take 33. I'll take it with joy and happiness and look forward to what the future holds. God's blessed me beyond anything I ever imagined. I hope and pray I have many, many, more happy years to go! Love to you all!