17 years.....

Today I am grateful that 17 years ago, I said yes.

You see 17 years ago today, my hunny and I  had a long talk and I told him I would date him. I had actually put a lot of thought into my decision. We had dated the year before and things ended awkward and so this time I wanted to make sure things were right. We were good friends and I didn't want any of that to change.  We joke about this all the time but I ended up giving him a list of questions for him to answer.   I can't even remember one of the questions but he must have answered them well. I can still remember sitting in the library of our church talking with him.  

I never could have imagined where we would be 17 years later.  I never imagined we would be spending our lives together. The beautiful children we would have together. I am so grateful for this man who has put up with me all these years. I love him now more than ever. 

Things my girl says.

It's no wonder I keep forgetting to post daily. This week I have been tending to "J" and her chicken pox. At the same time trying to get the boys ahead in their school work so that when they get the chicken pox, they won't get behind like "J" did.  Anyway, I've been cooped up in the house and may start to go crazy soon!  I think the kids are getting a little squirrelly too.  Yesterday I was grateful to have a friend visit and a chicken pox twin for "J" to play with for a while.

Here are a few of the things sweet pea has said in the last half hour.  

"I've got to get to the changerator!"

"Now I am a dancer girl! Booyah!"

"Not on my watch, perp! On the ground now!"

"Ahhhhh my hair appointments been cancelled!"

"Don't be cray cray!"

"You are fully articulated?"

She also had a meltdown because she wanted to change her name to Ariel. 

That's my girl and I love her. 

Today I am grateful for our pup Lollypop who made us all take an unexpected break and laugh at her. Laughter is fun. 

Again!

I forgot to post yesterday again. Oh well can you blame me really?  Yesterday I was grateful for a sweet friend who brought Pox girl something to cheer her up. There were many tears yesterday and it sure lifted her spirits to know someone was thinking of her.  

Today I am grateful for Sweet pea's silly antics that can bring out a smile even on pox girls face! 

This is gonna sound horrible but....

Today I am grateful that my oldest girlie has come down with the chicken pox. I sound like such a mean mom. You see when she was a baby the chicken pox vaccine had just come out and it was too new for me to consider injecting my baby with. As the years went by, I followed suit with the rest of the kids. As my big girl got older, I began to wonder if I had made the right choice. With so many kids being vaccinated against it and with her being homeschooled, I worried that she wouldn't have a chance to be exposed to it while she was still a child.  Then we heard of one of her friends that had it. There was our chance!  We made plans to have dinner together so that all the kids would be exposed. Big girl of course was dead set against it.  That dinner happened tonight but instead of them being exposed, Big girl and her friend could commiserate together because randomly 2 or 3 weeks ago, they both came into contact with the same person in two totally different environments.  What are the odds.  While I am sad to see my big girl so miserable and itchy, I am grateful that we have to do this now and I no longer have to worry about her getting them when she is an adult or worse when she pregnant with her own baby. 

Now we pamper her for a while and then we wait for the rest of the kids to get them. 

Big girl and her friend with their pox day cake!

Headaches

Today I woke up with a terrible headache that persisted all day.  It reminded me that I haven't had a headache like this in about 2 weeks.  I am grateful for that fact.  Now off to bed I go...

Snow day!

Today I am grateful for blizzards that bring my hubby home at lunch time so he can snooze on the couch surrounded by kids and be rested.  Also grateful that Sweet Pea did not fuss one bit about the eye patch today!  An answer to my prayers!

Grateful project #20

Its been one of those days. I am worn out. Tuesdays are out busy days with the boys going to Karate and "J" has musical theatre class and I have life group. I am grateful that I have life group on this night. After the busyness of the day, it's nice to come to life group, talk to other people and relax.  I don't usually feel so worn down. I get to share the day with one of my best friends and her family but today I am tired. It might be that Sweet Pea hates her patch and while she didn't fight it like I expected, she cried and whimpered almost the whole hour and a half that she had it on.  I tried to get her to watch a show or anything but she refused saying she couldn't see it anyway.  I think for this momma heart, fighting would have been easier. It nearly broke me in two to see her refusing to get off the couch and crying because she couldn't see.  So yes I am grateful that I get to come to life group and get filled up again.

A long one.

Today I am grateful for two things.  The first is doctors who know how to work with kids. Sweet pea says that the 1st doctor she saw was indeed the funniest doctor in the whole wide world.   He certainly made what could have been challenging appointment smooth sailing.  He had her giggling so hard she could barely breathe. I still don't know how he did it because usually she doesn't crack a smile at other doctors antics (the peds dr we saw for a bit was hilarious according to the other kids but for her? She burst into tears and refused to cooperate). Anyway,  I think it won't be as worriesome to her for our next appointment in two months now that she knows she likes him. 

 The other thing I am grateful for is that because these doctor appointments were in another city, I made arrangements for the other kids to play at a friends house. This meant that Sweet Pea and I got to spend the whole afternoon together. I love one on one time with my kiddos. There is always something different about them when it's just us and sweet pea was no acception. She was in an exceptionally good mood even though she woke up very cranky. After her appointments we stopped in to a few stores that we don't have at home. She was delighted when I told her she still had money in her piggy bank if she wanted to pick out something small for herself. She said "I am going to buy myself a toy because I was soooooo good at the doctors."  Haha. Then when she had her eye on a particular new princess doll, I informed her that she could get it but it would take up all her money. She wisely put it back and said " well I don't want to use all my money so I will get something on sale". She was quite happy with her purchase of two small "Sofia the First" dolls.  Anyway, we laughed and were silly and she even laughed and joked at the fact that she couldn't see well with her eyes dilated and that usually makes her very cranky. Anyway,  I am always grateful for time with my kids. 

In case you don't know what's up with our Sweet pea, just as she turned two we noticed her left eye turning in a bit. Both boys had this exact problem and so in denial, I prayed that this wasn't the case with her but proceeded to call the eye dr for an appointment. It turned out that yes her eye was turning and she needed glasses. So she has had glasses for two years now. At her yearly appointment in September the dr noticed that her eye was still turning even with the glasses on, so she upped her prescription lense and made a follow up appointment for December. At that appointment we found out that the new lenses weren't helping and it was time to see a specialist. Fast forward to today, we got to see those specialists. The first doctor did all the vision tests and evaluated her. The second doctor is a surgeon and he just checked out her eyes as well. Looks like her left eye muscle has completely shut down so we will be changing the prescription again and patching her good eye for a couple of hours a day to get that muscle working again. If that doesn't work, she will have to have surgery on the muscle.   So that's that. We will see in two months what happens. 

Oh and by the way, I have been posting these posts from my phone so if you see a misspelling or something weird, it's the phones fault, not mine. Just so you know! ;)

Family time

Today I am grateful that my husband has the kind of job that means he is home on the weekends. Especially on Sundays. We spent the afternoon rehanging the location of our wall mounted tv and bookshelf.   As I know most women are apt to do, I rearranged our whole living room.   The previous layout made me feel claustrophobic. I feel much better now. "J" took some before pictures but I am not sure if she has taken after pictures. Once she does, I will post. Anyway. Off topic. My dear husband and my wonderful father humored me and set to work mounting the tv and bookshelf.

Now we are spending the evening snuggled on the couch with freshly bathed kids watching a movie.  Perfect evening.  Grateful for family time. 

So it has almost been 3 weeks of grateful. I find myself thinking of it several times a day and constantly being grateful.  I was right. Being grateful every single day has changed my life.  So now I propose this question. What are you grateful for?

A little late.

****Disclaimer***** I originally wrote this post at a little after midnight on Friday night but for some reason it didn't publish then so it really is late.


Today.... Well technically it's not really today but tomorrow but since I haven't gone to sleep yet I can say today.  Today I am grateful for babies. My sister came to visit with her three little loves including a brand new nephew. Little guy is only a month old and so sweet. There's nothing like holding a warm little baby in your arms and have them staring back at you with big blue eyes. Well that and the fact that when he cries, I can hand him back to his mama!

Ok now let's gush over this sweet little face.

Saturdays

Today I am grateful for Saturday morning sleeping in. Love it. 

Oops

Hey I forgot to post yesterday!  Busy day I guess. The kids let me sleep in until 9:30 and then brought me breakfast in bed and wouldn't let me out of my room for a while. When I was finally allowed out of the room, I found that they had cleaned the kitchen, bathroom, porch and living room. They also got "I" started on his school work and "J" was done. Awesome. Then when Jeff came home from work, he brought me flowers. No it wasn't my birthday but I sure felt loved. Lots to be grateful for.

Today I am grateful for my mother in law who babysat my kiddos while I spent the afternoon at the dentist and then fed my family and I a delicious ham dinner. Love you Momma!

This is gonna sound like a commercial

Today I am grateful for great stain fighting inventions like oxy clean and bleach. Let's just say that 6 year old boys + rain/mud + white Karate Gi = a tub full of soaking laundry.  There are three outfits in there. I had changed "I" into another Gi but when he and his friend came back they had mud splattered all on the back of them as well so three it is!  Such is the life of a mom I guess

Here's to old friends!

Today I am grateful for old friends. I had a visit with a dear friend and her adorable son. We have known each other practically all our lives and though we have not always been in the same place or stage of our lives, when we get together, it's comfortable. We talk, laugh and even sometimes get silly. I like that.  Thanks for the visit Linz, it needs to happen more often!

Sunday thoughts

I love worship. Just listening to the music, letting the words wash over me, basking in his presence. Worship is precious to me. It's a time when it is just me and God. It's when I really feel him speaking to me.  I love our time together.

Sitting here on the couch, worship music playing, puppy sleeping at my side, it's only Sweet Pea and I in the house. I have time to reflect on what Gods been speaking to me.  2013 has been a year full of Gods calling and persuing me. I feel like the theme of my life is obedience. God calling me to obedience. When I have been faithful and obedient, I have received so much blessing. Not that God doesn't love us anyway when we haven't been obedient but I have just found that when I abide in him and trust in him, he does something totally unexpected.   Obedience is so hard isn't it?  Even though I know that I want to obey, I still find myself arguing with God when he asks me to do something I don't feel like I am ready to do. God's voice is constantly saying, "trust Me"  Trust is such a hard thing. It is so hard to just let go and let someone take care of you.   Trusting someone you can't physically see?  Even harder. But trust is the best thing I can do. God is constantly showing me that he is in control and he knows me better than I could ever know myself. For that I and thankful. 

Grateful #9 my Father in heaven who loves me. 

Psalm 56:3-4 NLT

[3] But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. [4] I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?

Extra money

Today i'm grateful for GST cheques. Every January/April/July/October when the GST cheque come we take a portion of it and do something fun with the kids. Usually it's going out to a restaurant or to the movies. Tonight we took the kids out for supper at Pizza Delight.  They were super excited and I loved just being with my family and enjoying them. So I am grateful for that extra money that the GST cheque brings... Also considering our car insurance is due this month, it helps in other ways besides a chance to take the family out. 

In other news, my big girl  was invited to a friends birthday party and miss sweet pea was super jealous that this friend got to have a birthday and she had to wait until all the snow is gone and we have lots and lots of beach days (that's what I tell her to explain when her birthday is)

Yesterday she started talking about having her birthday and I said "sweetie it's not your birthday, you have to wait." And she lamented " how come "A" gets to have a birthday and I don't??"  Haha. Such is the life of a four year old. Knowing you have a birthday but not realizing it is 7 months away. 

Making me smile

Today I am grateful for a dime. I found one just resting on the edge of the washer when I was changing the laundry over.  When I went to put it on the ledge next to the washer, there was another dime there. When I see a dime, I am always reminded of Gods presence in my life. Dimes make me smile. 

Middle of the night

Its hard to feel grateful at 2 am after having to bath a screaming child because she has puke in her hair while the whole bathroom needs to be cleaned. I was going to write a blog post earlier but I forgot. Since it is technically tomorrow now, here is a two for one. 

Tonight I dropped the two oldest kids off at their bible group and had a luxurious 1 hour all to myself. All I did was run errands but I was by my self which is rare. I could run in and out of stores with ease not having to wait for kids to buckle or unbuckle, not having to constantly look around me counting heads to make sure no one has been left behind. It was nice and while I love being with my kids, I am grateful for those alone times. 

As for today's grateful?  I've already got it. I am grateful for my husband who gets up out of bed, even though he has to work in the morning and waking up is super hard to do, and cleans the puke off the floor and strips and remakes the bed while I handle cleaning up the child.   I am grateful for the fact that we are a team. We help each other out and are there for each other. 

Well it's going to be a long night for me I believe so it's time to close my eyes and get as much sleep as possible.  

#6

Today I am grateful.....  That's it.  It has been a busy day full of friends and activity. I am grateful for life. I am just grateful.

Still grateful

Today I am grateful for smiles. Can you imagine what kind of world this would be if we didn't have smiles?  One smile can lift the worst mood. It's like they are magic.  

It's Monday and we had the pleasure of having two extra smiles today. A friends girlies are joining us every Monday for the next little while.  I loved watching my boy who is six play with the two year old. She was giggling like crazy at him and he was doing his best to be as silly as possible. Later when they were getting ready to watch a movie, she says, " 'I' sit on the couch beside me!" And then she snuggled right into him.  So cute. I was going to take a picture but I didn't want to disturb the moment. :)

In other news, we started school today. It was a slow start though because the kids are still catching up on sleep. But the kids got a great devotional book for Christmas and we started reading it today.  It's called "Jesus Calling: 365 devotions for kids" I really liked it. It sparked up some good conversation between us and I would take a slow start in school if it means that every morning.  All in all we got most of our school done and we are ready for tomorrow. I was sneaky and had them do today's work before Christmas because I was anticipating a slow start so we are still on track anyway. 

Grateful day 4

Today being Sunday, I am grateful that I have the freedom to worship God.  I am grateful for my church and our corporate worship time.  I found this picture on my phone this afternoon.  Sweet pea decided that she would skip kidz church and come to big church with us. She got a hold of my phone and had great fun taking pictures of her boots, our hands, her pants, a nice close up of daddy's ear and apparently some of me praying. 

Here is another cute one that I found. 

Grocery store blogging

Iam currently in a horrendously long line up at the grocery store and I fear I may be here forever with my frozen pizza no longer frozen. I didn't forget about my 365 days of grateful yesterday. I even took a picture but alas I forgot to blog it. So here are two things I'm grateful for.   My sweet pea  who always keeps me on my toes,

Who is quick to hug but also quick to fly into hysterics. She is loving, kind, and spunky. She's my kind of girl. 

Today's gratefulness comes from looking at my grocery cart full of food and the realization that I can get food whenever I want. Some people don't get that much. 

And there you have it. A full blog post and I'm still waiting in line. At least there are only 4 people ahead of me now. 

2014

Well it's a new year. Time for those resolutions that never make it past the first week. Time to reflect on the things of the past year.  There are a lot of things that I hope for in the new year.  I hope for health for my family and myself. I hope for happiness. I hope that I can learn from past mistakes and so better next time. I hope to spend more time building my children up to be outstanding people. I hope to spend more time one on one with them. I hope to spend more time soaking in the presence of my Father in heaven.  

 I saw something on Facebook today that I thought I would like to try. It is to find something each day that I am grateful for. You can see the video here www.365grateful.com 

Now I am horrible for remembering things so I am just going to take things one day at a time. I think taking time to reflect on my day to find at least one thing that I am grateful for will not only change my life but the lives of my family an the people around me.  The winter time is such a hard time for me emotionally. The lack of daily sunlight really causes me to be down. I think making a conscious decision to be grateful will push away those feelings. So one day at a time, one week at a time...  Sometimes it might just be a picture. Sometimes only a word but I will try to write somwthing each day whether it be on this blog or my journal. 

Today. Day 1. I am grateful for Lego the one toy that makes my kids play so well together that I can have some quiet alone time to spend time reading God's word and reflecting on His promises.