The little Thanksgiving blessings...

I'm grateful for every minute with my two kids- yes, even the kicking under the table moments, the cranberry sauce spilled moments, the "you better eat or no dessert" moments, the fingers in the Cool Whip moments. Here's why this Thanksgiving I am appreciating the "little things in life"

• Thanks for the eternal mess. Kids are the quickest cure for perfectionism I know. Have a kid or two, and nothing will ever remain where you left it, your floors will be re-encrusted in crumbs, and stray socks will go forth and multiply like rabbits.


• Thanks for the hard questions, even the embarassing ones. "Why is that woman/man so fat"? "Why do you have lines on your face mom"? "Why do some people not believe in God"? They help keep our minds quick.


• Thanks for the misdeeds behind my back. The stuck out tongues? The sneaking one more cookie after being told not to. These are the moves that keep us young.


• Thanks for running me in circles. There's nothing like the daily gallop through meals, dishes, lunch packing, laundry, gymnastics, homework, bedtime, etc which leads only to the next day of more of the same, to remind me that life isn't a destination, it's a journey.


• Thanks for taking 10 minutes to put on socks when we should've been out the door 10 minutes ago. I'm so rushed all the time that I automatically get impatient, even when the 10 minutes don't really matter. It's good to be reminded to stop and smell the dirty socks that were wore yesterday that will be worn again today.


• Thanks for all manner of bodily extrusions- their sights, smells, and their sounds. Enough said...


• Thanks for the constant chauffer duty. I now know what my mom meant when she said, "I just love being a taxi"!


• Thanks for annoying Barney, Spongebob, Hannah Montana, Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Jonas Brothers and Wow Wow Wuzby. My kids obsession with these shows have infected my brain with some really mind numbing jingles that I can't shake. But Hey... their built in babysitters that give me some peace sometimes. Free!


• Thanks for clutter. From all the stuffed animals residing on beds and shelves, under beds, in closets, school papers and artwork and clothes, and Lord help me if your famous artwork happens to end up in the trash. Guilt trip city.


• Thanks for the empty bank account. Where did the cash go? To school, clothes, toys, medicine, dentist, gymnastics, food, food, food, etc. I consider all that a pretty good investment! Hey... and when they grow up and become doctors, and lawyers, they can take care of us in our old age! (Yeah, right I know)
• Thanks for my alarm clock that goes off almost every morning. I am thankful to have a job to go to everyday that I love!


• Last but certainly not least!!!!Thanks for my Savior! My All Mighty, All saving Savior for giving His life to allow me to have all I ever need. No worries, No stress, just a friend forever and a mansion in Glory!

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving! I am so thankful this year and I can't even begin to tell you how this year I am seeing things in a different light. No hassle, and rush, like a kid who is just soaking in everything they see and hear. I am enjoying the many wonders of this and future holidays to come.

Just give it away...

I have a prayer request that I would like everyone to be praying about please. I have a situation that I am in and I don't know what I need to do. All I know to do is to give to God and let Him take care of it. Please pray that I can give it fully to Him and that I will follow exactly what He wants me to do.

I hope everyone has a glorious weekend!

Panpaw...

Please continue to pray for my father n law, Jerry Donald. We found out Saturday night that he had gotten burned pretty bad that afternoon while burning trash. He went to grab the gas can to put it up and it exploded on him. Thank goodness he had the hose pipe lying there already running so he was able to put it out fast. He has 2nd degree burns on his face, head, both arms, and both hands. He is still in a lot of pain and has a long road ahead. He is also diabetic so he is swollen really bad and his sugar is really high right now. He is such a sweet, kind man and he always thinks of everyone else before himself. When he got out of surgery yesterday he was bandaged all the way to the waist, swollen beyond recognition, hurting really bad and he looked so pitiful, but the first thing he said was, "I am so sorry y'all had to come all the way here and see me like this." He was worried about us driving back and worried about the girls. Such a wonderful, christian man. We love him so much.

Thank you all for your prayers, calls, emails, and texts. It is so nice to know that we have such wonderful friends and family there to pray with us.

Love y'all!

Truly priceless...

Eve had her second meet of the season today and well I have been praying for God to give her confidence in herself bc she doesn't see what we or others see. She has been blessed with capability but in her eyes she just sees it differently. WELL... God stepped in today and let her shine to her fullest and boy did she shine! When they called her name for first All Around the look on her face was truly priceless! I wish I would have gotten that picture but I didn't. Eyes huge, mouth open, I never seen her smile so much!!!! I am so thankful to have a God that hears little prayers and things are never too small to answer! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for her. I know this will help build her confidence.

Spring cleaning in November...

I have so many things on my mind all the time. Sometimes I feel like my mind is in overdrive and I just want to shut it off all together. Got to do this, need to do that, haven't done this, need to go here, etc, etc. I never feel like I have accomplished all I need to accomplish when I lay my head down at night. I am always thinking of things that I didn't do, or should have done and then plop, I am so tired I am asleep in 2 seconds! Lately, I have came to the conclusion that some things are more important than others. You should see the pile of coats, and jackets that have accumulated on the back of the couch by the front door. They almost made it to the coat closet to be hung up and then I thought, this is where you are going for now, got better things to do! If you only knew how I use to obsess over cleaning my house you would be amazed at how much I have changed. I would sweep probably 6 times a day, and mop 2 or 3 times a day, and now... I am lucky to mop once a week! I have reached a time in my life where I want to live in the day. I am so sick of letting crazy little things get in my way. Reading my friends blog today, it really sank in. I have been saying that I am going to surrender all to God, and be of use for Him whatever that is but I really haven't done that 100%. Things are still not freely open to drop everything and do His will. I keep thinking, what if He wants our family to be missionaries, are we ready to up and go? No, we are not. Sometimes I think, maybe we should take all the things that we love so much and get rid of them, so those things don't consume us! For instance, our home, Eve's gymnastics, they are both things that consume most of our money and time. Should we get rid of the things that might be holding us back? Eve's gymnastics is very time consuming with her being on the team, and sometimes I feel like it takes priority over other things that we could be doing. Does this make sense? I don't want to take something that she loves so much from her though. She has worked so hard to get where she is. I know I am rambling but this is just got to come out. Last night before church I was in the bedroom closet looking for my other shoe and I about started crying. Yeah, over a shoe. I started fussing to myself and then when I walked into the hallway Jason was standing there laughing. I get so frustrated because every Wednesday night it is so hectic and hard for us to get to church. The devil does all he can do to prevent us from going. Someones sick, we have practices, we have meetings, etc. Does he do that to you and your family?

So my point of all this rambling is.... today I think I am going to live today. Make the best out of today and quit worrying about tomorrow. Quit worrying about what I should have done and just do all I can to make it worthwhile. Open my mind, free my heart so I can be susceptible to what God might show me. Get all that clutter out so I can have a free spot open for Him to come right in. So what if my house is cluttered right now, or we are in debt, bc as long as my heart is clutter free and debt free, I will be good to go!

Can you pray for us that God will show us what we need to get rid of to do a better job as His servants? Can you pray for us that we will have an open heart and mind so we can see what He is showing us? I can't do this without your prayers. I need them more than ever!

Happy 10th...

Happy 10th Birthday Ally-Cat! We love you very much and I hope you have a great day!

No winnings here but wait...

So it turns out that I didn't win the big bucks with McDonald's playing Monopoly! Darn it! I was really wanting that. Oh well... I might not have much on this earth, not a lot of money, no extravagant home, we might live paycheck to paycheck but I do know one thing... I have a mansion waiting for me in Heaven! God takes care of us and provides for us all the time. He knows just what we need and He never lets us down. I deserve to be homeless living on the streets, with nothing to show for myself, but He sees differently. So I guess you can say, I won something way bigger than any million from MickeyDees! I won eternal life and what better prize could you ask for? I'M LOVIN' IT!

Don't worry, just ask...

I am so glad that I have a God that can take all my worries, frustrations, and make them disappear! All I have to do is go to him in prayer, and tell Him exactly what is bothering me and before I know it, there is a piece that overtakes me and that concern that seemed so big becomes so small. Isn't that amazing? He knows just what we need.

On another note, Eve told me the sweetest little story the other day. I picked her up from school and we were driving down the road and she starts in this mature little voice of " Okay...you're so not going to believe what happened to me today?" So she begins to inform me. She starts telling me about how a friend at school gets upset with her when she plays with other people and with people that this friend doesn't like. So Eve tells me how she asked her if she goes to church? The little girl said yes. Eve said, "well then you know that God wants us to be a friend at all times then". She said the little girl looked at her mean and said "whatever". Then, Eve asked her if she was saved? The little girl said no. Eve told me the sweetest little thing. She told me how she told that little friend to meet her under the rock slide at recess and she would show her how to get saved. (precious) The little girl hugged her with excitement and told her how she was the best friend ever. Eve sighed and then said, "Mom, I was so excited all day and I couldn't wait until recess so I could show her and then she didn't show up, wonder why mom"? I quickly said, "well maybe she forgot, or maybe she got nervous, you should pray for her". Eve sat there just soaking it all in like the little sponge that she is.

Again... wish grownups were this excited over spreading the word. I wish I would quit being worried about making someone mad at me and just bite the bullet. Pray for me that I will be a shining light to many friends and co-workers in my life.

I just love Halloween...

Saturday was a great day for us! I just love Halloween. It is one of my favorite times of the year! I don't know why really, but I just love the fall weather, candy, costumes and the excitement of kids loaded down with sugar! We started off the day by going to the Clemson Homecoming game and it was so much fun! Even though it rained on us the whole time we were there, we all had a ball! Jasy wasn't too keen on wearing her poncho, but other than that the girls were tickled orange! We left at halftime bc we wanted to go grab a bite to eat and get the girls all dressed for lots of Trick or Treating! The girls loved dressing up. Eve was a clown and Jasy insisted that she was a Pinkalicious Genie! They got lots of candy and mom and dad enjoyed munching on it too! After Trick or Treating, we went to my sisters for a spooky Trail! It was spooooooooky and I enjoyed seeing Matthew and Julia dressed up like 80's people! Too funny! Last night we got to enjoy a nice evening with the College and Career class from Church and got to chat with some wonderful people there. I hope every one had a great weekend like ours!