Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wishing each of you a Happy Thanksgiving!!


GO GREEN BAY ! :)
VS.

Another Christmas Movie for our family

Last night we watched Deck the Halls. It's a pretty funny movie. For some reason we've been watching Christmas movies already. Usually my husband wants nothing to do with Christmas movies or music this early, it has taken me by surprise. I asked him last night if he was in the holiday mood, but he didn't reply :) I'm am excited for Thanksgiving though, it's one of my two favorite holidays. It's one holiday that hasn't been too commercialized and one that doesn't put pressure on family for the most part. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving in a few days can't wait! Family and food, yeah! Then on Friday the whole family is coming over here to make and decorate homemade Christmas cookies. I'll have to post on that later. Should be fun!!

Here are a few pictures from my nephew's ball game that we went to this weekend. Some pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked because the batteries were dieing. I'm not sure who won, I don't even know if they keep score in third grade :) Good game Shawn!!

I caught this squirrel sitting on my neighbors fence the other day. Wow is this squirrel stuffed! Either it has already stored up for the winter or it had it's Thanksgiving Day meal already :) It was sitting there for quite awhile, too full to move :) Hope you're having a wonderful holiday week!

Is it that time again?

We just finished watching the movie Christmas with the Kranks tonight. My husband bought it on Tuesday. It's a funny movie but it has me thinking that I can't believe it's that time of the year already. One of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving, is a week away and then after that the count is on until Christmas. It's too bad that people are made to feel pressured in one way or another to buy a ton of gifts and to get the latest and greatest for their loved ones. When in reality what they're doing, in my mind, is robbing others of the true meaning of Christmas and filling it with worldly possessions. I purposely, well actually my husband and I, don't buy our kids a ton for Christmas because we don't want to fill their heads with a false notion that that's what Christmas is all about. We want to keep our family reflecting on Jesus, He is the true meaning of Christmas not what's under the tree. It's sad to see so many shoppers out there trying to beat the hustle and bustle of shopping in order to get the best deal. I say get what you wish for those you love and if they don't appreciate it, then they're missing the meaning behind it in the first place.

I truly wish each of you a wonderful, safe and peaceful holiday season as it is approaching us ever so quickly! May each of you seek to find Jesus as the true meaning of the season and to keep Jesus as your main focus. What a wonderful gift God has truly given us in Christ Jesus our Lord! Blessings to you!!

This day which the Lord had made

It is that time for me to update my blog. This time honestly I really don't want to and I'll tell you why later but for now I have my nice hot mug of milk (don't say yuck yet, I have added a tad of malted flavor to zest it up) so here is how the day went....

The day was dreary here. Sunshine wasn't out like it has been. It looked like it was going to rain all day but didn't until around supper time. I had a very lovely and rather unusually lengthy conversation with my mom-in-law this morning. No worries, I just had an absolutely wonderful conversation with her. She cried and shared and oh how I related!! I appreciate her and I thank God that He gave me her as my mom-in-law. I truly couldn't imagine any other woman to be my mom-in-law. She is very special to both my husband and myself, and she's also very creative. She was going to come over earlier today to do an art craft with the kids but other plans came up so perhaps some other time soon she'll be able to make it.

I finished up school with the kids, had supper and then took them to Awana at our church (Bible school for the kiddos on Wednesday nights). I took them by myself as my loving husband stayed back home to study and for some quality time with Katie our youngest. While at church I played basketball with Sarah, Emily, Andrea, Chaeli and Michelle. Three on three. It was a good game until Chaeli hit her head against the wall rather hard, very hard. By the time we all left she seemed to be a little better, I called her on my way home and she sounded better. Poor Chaeli!! I feel so bad, I hope to call her in the morning to check on her. I can only imagine what kind of headache she'll have tonight.

After getting trash tags from the store, the kids and I managed to make it home. I sang alot of lullabies to the girls, prayed with the family and got the rest of the kids in bed. I know the day doesn't sound like much but if I added every little bit, you'd get the picture fast and would probably fall asleep :)

That brings me to the reason why I didn't want to update my blog. Just about around 4:00 this afternoon I received a call from my sister. She was at the veteran's hospital here in town. That was where my father had received all of his medical care at. She told me that she was trying to obtain his medical records. She informed me that the nurse indicated that he had an appointment on Wednesday October 14th at 9:50 in the morning and that he actually was there for that appointment. That means that he didn't die on the 13th Tuesday like originally thought. No he was out and about on that Wednesday to go to his appointment. The death certificate states that he died on the 13th and was pronounced dead on the 15th. Well that is all wrong now as we now know he was still alive on the 14th Wednesday morning. I called my mom and brother immediately and told them the news. They were pretty wowed by it. It was comforting to talk with them. This bit of news makes things somewhat harder. In the midst of funeral arrangements and things, your mind and body are trying to grasp what is really happening, what really happened to your loved one. Another words things don't "hit you" until a few weeks or so afterwards and the dust settles per say. Then after a few weeks you're trying to cope and move on, piece the puzzle pieces together and go forward. Then when news arises like this, you shift your whole idea of what you thought happened and try to cope with the information that has just been given to you. We don't know as of today when he died for sure or what the real cause was. We have have no closer in that matter and that hurts a great deal! We now know he was still alive a day longer than we had thought. My sister and brother were crying on the phone to each other and I've been crying a great deal tonight. It's hard and us siblings are now voicing to each other that we each have some major regrets. I regret the fact I didn't involve myself more in his life, I regret the fact that I felt inconvenienced when he would stop by unexpectedly. I regret the fact that I didn't make sure he knew I loved him ever so much. I regret the fact that I don't know for sure if he was saved and is now spending eternity in heaven or in hell. I regret the fact that he died all alone in his alone apartment on his couch perhaps wondering if his kids cared or loved him. I miss him and I would love to have another moment with him. To go back and tell him I love him. To hug him. To tell him I do care and to have more time with him. 33 years with your father is really not that long especially when your parents divorced when you were 5 and you hardly saw him growing up. I want my daddy back and I want all of this to go away because it hurts. I know that won't happen and I rest in my Lord and Savior. I rest in His goodness and His plan for us in every detail. I know this is His plan and I am ever so comforted by that. If I didn't have His love I couldn't get through this in the very least. I am comforted knowing that God IS in control of all things and this was planned before the foundations of the earth. So dear blogger friends, whether you read this whole thing or in parts, please do yourself a wonderful favor and tell those whom you want to know you love them that you love them. Death is real and it happens to everyone. Once your loved ones are gone, you can't go back and change a single thing. Tell them you love them and don't let a minute go by without knowing the Lord as your Savior!

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Sorry I wrote so much but I needed to, to heal and to continue moving forward. Please bare with me as I'm still grieving. Thank you for your prayers and concern! Blessings to you!!

Remembering

Here I am at the computer, I haven't woken up the kiddos yet for the day. I've decided to update my blog for the moment before the day starts and gets away from me.

This past weekend I found myself remembering my father more. This past Friday marked a month since he passed away. On Saturday I went out to the cemetery to visit his grave site and found myself not wanting to leave. I watered the grass with my tears as I put my hand on the grass as to reach out to him. I'm still in awe that he has passed away. I'm still adjusting to the fact that I'll never be able to see him again nor give him a hug. I'll never be able to have a normal conversation with him. I'll never see him taking pictures of my kids at their birthday parties. I'll never hear that hard knock at my back door when he would stop by unexpectedly, I would go to the front window only to find that he had backed up into my drive-way with his black dodge truck and he was standing at my side door. When someone has been taken away from you all of a sudden, you long for them all that much more. Some days I find myself stronger than other days, I guess that's to be expected they say. While at the cemetery on Saturday I also visited my daughters grave site. My husband and I had twin daughters that we lost back in 1996 so I visited them and also visited my grandfathers site as well. What a beautiful day it was on Saturday all in all, thank you Lord for that!

Yesterday marked a month since we actually found my father passed away. It was two days after he passed away that we found him alone at his home. And now today it's his birthday. He would have been 63 years old.

I've chosen a song for you. It's called "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. This is the song we danced to at my wedding. We both love to dance.

I love you dad, I always have and I always will. You will always be remembered!

So...Wonderful Father, I'm thinking of you, missing you dearly and still dancing with you in my heart.

Love you Daddy~

Me and my daddy dancing in the kitchen.

Feel free to click on any picture for a better view.

Cat, Coffee and My Dog Tanna Mae

I'm brewing myself some coffee and I've decided to enter another entry on my blog. The kids are wrapping up school, the littlest one is down for her nap, my oldest girl is watching Curious George out front, my husband is working hard at work and my golden is literally laying right behind my computer chair. Life is full and pleasant. I'm sharing this cup of coffee with my blog friend Audrey. She has informed me that she enjoys coffee and she especially likes pink, and anyone who knows me knows I love pink as well, alot! She asked me if I had any pink coffee cups. So Audrey, I'm sharing this one with you especially. I've just added some coffee mate hazelnut creamer to my coffee, that's always a nice treat but I don't have any whip cream so this will have to do, and now I'm ready to type away.

Our family (mostly my husband and I) are trying to make a decision on something. A couple of weeks ago our friends through church brought in their little kittens (yeah I know you must be thinking kittens at church?....yeah, we never turn away anyone, or thing, that comes to church including kittens, no one is exempt from hearing the gospel-can I get an Amen? :) Anyway we've had kittens in the past,...way in the past and one has died and one we had to put down because we thought it had a stroke but come to find out our vet told us it had no skull, she's never seen anything like that in her whole career and neither have we!! So with that said, we've done the cat thing, been there done that.

So our friends have their kittens at church and my husband throws out the idea..." do you want to take home a kitty?" I was floored seeing since he said in the past no more kittens for us. So we mention to our friends that we might be interested in a kitten or two but let us think about it. They agree.

Well the following week, my husband and I agree to get a kitten. A cute little gray and white one, too cute. We wanted a gray and white one because it looked like Rose the cat my mother-in-law has. We both like how Rose looks. (I'll show you a picture of Rose later). Anyhow, we go back to church the following Wednesday for Awana and had the thought that we would be taking home a kitten that night. Our friends come to tell us that they have the cat there for us but it has fleas. Anyone who knows me knows that won't be happening at our home. No fleas for us no thank you especially with my golden retriever. The fleas would have a ball on our golden and poor Tanna would be itching like crazy. The kids were all excited about getting to take home the kitten, but my husband and I both agree that we just can not tolerate fleas no room for discussion. We aren't closed to idea of a new kitten, we just didn't want the baggage.

So the decision we're trying to work through is still get a cat?, if so where?, will it mesh well with my golden? and can we find one with no fleas? We're thinking that with Christmas coming up soon, maybe we can try to get one for the kids then. So friends what are your thoughts, do you think my golden will handle a new kitten well? My golden follows me EVERYWHERE! She loves my attention, she knows she's mine, but what will it be for her if we add a new pet? Oh the decisions in life. I know it will make our kids happy but am I willing to go through with it knowing my house might get torn up with my dog chasing the cat? To get a cat or not to get a cat...that's the decision. Would love your input~

Glad to share my cup of coffee with you. Until next time....

Here's Rose my mother-in-laws cute little cat.

Pictures of this week.

Here is last nights beautiful sunset out our back window. The tree branches hide it alot but you get the idea how pretty it was from the pink and purple colors.

A few shots of my dogie Tanna Mae watching the kids and I rake up the yard. She's such a beautiful dog, so well behaved too!! (for the most part) The sun was so welcoming!! I think she's enjoying it too!

Here is our front yard with no leaves and a little dead grass. No leaves for the moment anyway until the rest fall. I'm so thrilled that in the second week into November we can get out and pick up most of the leaves. Thank you God for the wonderful weather! I'm loving it!!

Here is a picture that my daughter drew on her etch-a-sketch the other night. It's of her and myself. At least she has me smiling, that's hopeful : ) A drawing on the etch-a-sketch from your daughter.....priceless.

Then there is my coffee cup that I'm enjoying this morning. My secret sister pal through church gave it to me this past weekend. Hmm she must know I like coffee cups! I DO!! I'm enjoying my harvest cup. Thank you secret sister!!

Happy Veteran's Day to my husband and to every man and woman who have served our great country!! God Bless America!!

Glad to share my cup of coffee with you! Until next time.....

A Woman's Call to Prayer ~ Part One

I'm currently in the middle of reading two books, (actually three considering the Bible) but right now I want to focus on exploring the book A Woman's Call to Prayer by Elizabeth George. In our Sunday school hour at church we're talking about prayer. I have had this book from Elizabeth George for some time and haven't picked it up to read it cover to cover. Well, I'm setting a goal to do just that and I figured that if I set out to tell you about the book bit by bit, I can read the whole book while sharing it with you.

In an opening statement titled An Invitation to...Become a Woman of Prayer she writes~ If you are like most women (and like me!), you can always use a little helpful motivation for improving and refreshing your commitment to pray. I'm hooked!...She goes on to say in the first chapter~ Prayer. Just say the word and I begin to yearn and squirm at the same time! As a woman after God's own heart, I yearn to pray. My soul longs for it. My spirit craves the communion with my heavenly Father that only the act of prayer provides..... And yet I also squirm at the thought of prayer. Why? Because even though I know praying to God will most definitely be rewarding and a blessing, I also know it is a serious undertaking. Approaching our thrice-holy God, while both a joy and a privilege, is an awesome and almost fearful consideration.

That's just the first paragraph and already it makes me think and want to evaluate my prayer life. How do I look at prayer? Does my soul long for it like King David of the Old Testament?, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God...My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You" Psalm 42:1; 63:1 Is prayer a bargaining tool to help me through my daily struggles? Do I pray only when under pressure from this or from that?

I'm saddened to say that my soul doesn't long for deep communion with my Heavenly Father like it should. Sure I want the rewards and blessings from being in deep communion with God but often times I am quick to bring forth excuses....I'm tired, I'm never having the time, I'm too busy, it's been too long...blah blah blah the list of excuses continue. What do I do that takes me away from praying? I enjoy praying. I do pray everyday, just not enough as far as I'm concerned. I want more time with my God and Savior. All the time in the world with Him is not enough. I desire more! Some of you know what I am talking about and can relate.

What about you though?....Do you pray?....Do you believe in prayer?....Have you said "Hello" to God today? Have you taken the time to show your gratitude towards God? Is it time for you to evaluate your own prayer life?

Other highlights in her first chapter are Hearing God's Call to Prayer, Making a Commitment and Checklist for Prayer. In her second chapter she titles it Ten Reasons Women Don't Pray-Part One. I'm excited to read that chapter and share it with you. I'm sure I will find myself in that chapter as well. Praying for my prayer life and yours! It's never a wrong time to be in communion with God!

Glad to share my cup of coffee with you!

Until next time....

A few books I'm enjoying

Here are a few books I'm currently in the middle of reading. I want to explore them a little further with you but unfortunately I can't go into them tonight. Being a home-school mom, I still have papers to correct and lesson plans to finalize for tomorrow...some things are never done :) I suppose you'll have to wait until tomorrow's cup of coffee when I share what these books are about. I hope time allows me to share tomorrow. Feel free to click on the pictures for a better view of the books. Until next time......

Sunday Sports News

Just a little Sunday Sports News. I forgot to mention that I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. Today was a unique game to say the least for the packers. They played Minnesota which stars their former quarter-back Brett Favre. Some fans cheered, some fans booed during the game. I wasn't able to watch the whole game, (went to evening church) but I knew it wasn't going to be good when I left because the packers were already behind. Packers lost 26-38. Here are some pictures of the game. Here's hoping the packers will get em' next time! Go Packers!!

Glad to share my cup of coffee with you. Until next time.....