Turning 34

I had a great birthday this year. 34 is looking good so far. I hope to learn a lot this year and spend lots of time with my family and friends.

Sister's Retreat

I hope this is a yearly trip. This retreat was a truly uplifting, spiritually fulfilling weekend.

Kids and Eggs

The cousins got together to hunt eggs again this year. We are blessed to live close to our family.

Spring Break 2008

I am catching up on my blogging today. Some of the cousins, Jake and Gracie, got to spend a few days with us over Spring Break. The kids had fun.

Snow in March

We finally get some snow last week, on Tuesday and Friday. The kids loved it. It was a wet sticky snow, good for snowballs and very small snowmen.

I can SEE!

I am so thankful to God that my vision has been corrected. I waited a long time for this day and I am glad it is over and everything turned out so well. My vision gets better each hour. Wow!

The One You Feed

This is cool and closely relates to Galatians Chapter 5.

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them: "A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil - he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too." They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win, Grandfather?" The Elder simply replied, "The one you feed."

The First Half

I started in training in October for this race. I wanted to run the half marathon in 2007 but, I was not able to dedicate enough time to the training and I ended up doing the 5K. This past year, with Stella being older, it was easier to dedicate the time that I needed in order to train properly for this race. I ran the first 3+ miles with Marria and then she took off. Her time was 2 hours, 24 minutes. My time was 2 hours, 38 min, 39 seconds. Mile 7 was tough and miles 10- the end of the race were the most challenging. My hip flexor muscles started to cramp up at mile 10. So, at that point it was a mental race instead of a physical race. There are times in real life when we have to overcome physical challenges, but most of our daily "race" is a mental one. I think that God has blessed me with a stronger body physically and through that training - I am stronger mentally. Here are a few pictures.

Galatians Chapter 5

This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.
Verse 19 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) Idolarty, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, (21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance (or self-control); against such there is no law."

This says to me that hatred will keep you out of God's Kingdom just like adultery. Envy will keep you out just like murder. Let us all to be careful and do not let envy start in our hearts, so that hatred will not be there to stay. Let us work hard to get rid of the hatred in our hearts.

Verse 14 of this chapter talks about the most important thing. "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Love is what life is all about. Love will get us into the Kingdom of God. Loving others and God loving us. What did God do for us because he loves us so much?

Motherhood

Why do we think that being a parent will be an easy job? It is not. It is the hardest job that I have ever had. It is harder than hauling hay in July, it is harder than bathing a dog that has been sprayed by a skunk. It is harder than dealing with a boss that is mentally ill and a drug addict. It requires ME being in control of MYSELF at all times. I must be honest. I must work hard. I must be uncomfortable. I must do what I say I am going to do. I must do things that I DON'T WANT TO DO. I must move and do when I think there is no way for me to move or do another thing. It is a very physically demanding job but mostly it is an emotionally challenging job. It is the most rewarding job I have ever had. It is amazing how a laugh or a smile can mean more than any amount of money I could ever earn. Levi got it this morning, he got up by himself, got himself dressed, brushed his teeth and combed his hair and came downstairs, ready to eat breakfast. I did not have to tell him to do one thing this morning. WOW! So, all of the mornings of Kindergarten and First grade (so far) that I have told him to get up and get ready finally paid off. He was SO proud of himself, you could just see the self esteem grow. I am so thankful for my healthy children, my hard working husband and this amazing journey of Motherhood that I am on. Praise God!

40 years

Randy and I want to congratulate his parents, George and Mike, on their 40th wedding anniversary. They eloped when they were 18, in 1968, to marry each other and vow to spend their life together. They are a great example and remain committed to each other, in love and best friends. We love you Maw Maw and Paw Paw!

Quilting, cheap therapy

One of my favorite things to do is to quilt. I bought myself a sewing machine for my 30th birthday (almost 4 years ago). I knew very little about sewing at that time, much less quilting. Over the past 4 years I have learned so much. One of my best friends, Anna (Quilting Genius), has taught me everything that I know. She is a great teacher and very patient. We have a quilting group that meets every few weeks. We have a lot of fun together, talking and laughing and learning from each other. Here are some pictures of the quilts I have been working on in the past year or so.

Like Father, Like Son

Levi sees what Randy is doing on Saturday, comes in the house, gets a bucketful of warm water and a rag and starts doing the same thing. Without being asked. Our children are watching us and doing exactly what we do!!!