A Life of Gratitude

One of the joys of Bryan's job is his ability to work from home. He is able to work from home a couple days a week so, he was home with us today. Since he was home, we decided to go to a pizza buffet for lunch. While we were eating lunch, Dylan told Bryan that he was sad because there weren't more of his Mommy. We weren't really sure what he was talking about but after some discussion, we realized he was saying that he wishes there was one of me for him, Evan and Bryan. Then he looked up at me with his adorable eyes and said, "but there will only ever be one of my Mommy!"  That little boy just steals my heart!  Sometimes I wish there were 2 or 3 of me also. I could get a lot more done if  I had a few clones but, that just isn't possible. So, I have to make sure I'm making the most of my time and focusing on the right things in life. Dylan's comment puts thing in perspective for me. More than anything, I want to grow in my relationship with Christ

This morning the boys and I were running errands when Chris Tomlin's new song, "Whom shall I fear" came on the radio. If you haven't heard it, you need to right away! It's an amazing song. As I was singing along, I looked back and Evan was clapping and "singing along" too. It was obvious that he was really enjoying the song. During those moments the chorus was playing. It says, "I know Who goes before me. I know Who stands behind. The God of Angel armies is always by my side. The One who reigns forever is a friend of mine. The God of Angel armies is always by my side." As I watched Evan clap and heard Dylan singing, I said, "I guess that is something worth clapping about." So, we all started clapping! Today I am thankful that I know the One who goes before me and the One who stands behind. The God of Angel Armies (wow, imagine that!) is protecting me. He is always by my side. What do I have to fear? NOTHING! I'm praising God

We've had a wonderful day of decorating. Bryan was off work today so w e listened to Christmas music and made a huge mess.  Our home is now officially ready for Christmas!  Dylan had so much fun too. He could barely contain his excitement! He even had to bring all the presents out in his little wagon. It was adorable. Evan got in on the decorating also. It is much more difficult to decorate with 2 little ones "helping" but it sure is cute to watch their little eyes light up! Today I am thankful for the fun time we had decorating our home for Christmas. This is my favorite time of year and I love having our little house spruced up!  I enjoy seeing my boys have so much fun as well.

While looking on Pinterest this morning I came across an article entitled "Mother and Son Date Night Ideas." As I read the article it occurred to me that "date nights" with my little boys don't have to cost a lot of money or take a lot of planning. Spending a little while playing with them or building a tower of blocks means just as much to my little guys as paying for an expensive trip or dinner out. So, this evening I spent some quality time with Dylan. It was an "impromptu date night." Dylan's grandmother recently gave us some adorable gingerbread men ornaments to make for our Christmas tree. Dylan and I spent a while tonight making them. It was wonderful to talk with him one-on-one. He is so smart and absolutely hilarious! He did a very good job with gingerbread men too. Tonight when I was tucking Dylan into bed he said, "I love you Mommy, you're my best friend. Tomorrow, let's do lots of fun things together!&quo

We've had a wonderful time visiting with Nana Smith over the past couple of days. It has been such a joy to see her with her great grandsons. Today, we also got to spend some time with Millie and Jim. Millie is Nana Smith's neice. Her and her husband are such a gift to Nana because they visit her each week and bring her coffee and cookies. Since all of Nana's family lives out of state, people like Millie and Jim are precious gifts from God for Nana! Millie also prints out copies of my blog for Nana to see. She has made a notebook of the blogs called "A Scrapbook for Aunt Pearl." Nana keeps it in her room. Yesterday when we took Nana back to the nursing home, she asked me to bring the notebook back to our hotel and read it. So, of course I did! It filled my heart with joy to see how Millie has compiled my blog posts for Nana, along with pictures and even quotes from facebook.  As I read a bunch of my old blog posts, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I've s

"Its not happy people that are thankful, its thankful people that are happy!" Its been 2 years since I began my "gratitude journey" and I can honestly say the quote above is true! Since I begin actively searching for reasons to be thankful on a daily basis, I am a happier, more peaceful person. I think I'm more peaceful because now that I am recognizing God's gifts each and every day I realize that regardless of the situation, God is at work and He loves His children. Even as I look back over this day, I can point out at least 10 reasons to be thankful in this day alone!  So, in honor of Thanksgiving...here it goes! 1. We took the boys to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade this morning. Yes, it was cold and we had no idea where we were going but it was so much fun! I am so thankful we decided to spend a couple of hours in the cold! This is a a precious memory that I will never forget! Awww...our sweeties at the parade. 2. We only arriv

My sweet little family arrived in Philadelphia late yesterday evening. We come to Pennsylvania every year to celebrate Thanksgiving with Bryan's family but this year, we decided to come a day early so we could spend some time in the "City of Brotherly Love." We enjoyed a great day of sight-seeing! We started off by touring Independence Hall and the Mint. The attention span of a 1 year old and a 4 year old aren't the best for guided tours but Dylan loved seeing how money is made! Next we visited the Federal Reserve Bank where the boy's were given bags of shredded money. Dylan loved that! After that, we made our way to the subway and took the train to the Reading Market. We had lunch at a little Diner inside the market and then rode the subway back to the Historic District. (Dylan absolutely loves trains so we had to incorporate the subway somehow!) We spent the rest of our afternoon at the Franklin Institute. The boys really enjoyed playing in all the science exhi

 I am on a medication that really helps with the aftermath of my spinal headache. Although this medication is a miracle drug for me, it is really expensive. Seriously...8 pills is $370! Worker's Comp doesn't want to pay for these pills and my insurance doesn't want to pay for them either. As you can probably imagine, we really can't afford these pills but they are really helping with my headache. Thankfully, my doctor's office has given me enough samples to last 25 days and they have offered more samples. Without these pills, I would probably be on bedrest again so I am very grateful for these samples. I realized today, God has provided me with $1156 worth of these pills and a shot in case the headache gets really bad again. WOW! Not only did God provide the doctor I needed for healing, He has also provided all the medication so far, absolutely free! Today I am thankful for God's provision. In the past couple of months, I have become abundantly aware of all

Dylan has had a cough and a little bit of a fever for the past couple days. Tonight, after taking his "yucky tasting medicine" as he calls it, I laid on his bed with him for a few minutes before turning off his lights and tucking him in. As we laid there he said, "you know Mommy, sometimes God touches us and we don't even know it. Will you pray that He will touch me tonight and help my cough to go away." So, of course, I immediately begin praying that sweet prayer for him. When I was done he said, "Oh, oh, now let me. Dear God, please touch all of us tonight. We love it when You touch us. Oh, wait, I know! You must have 2 legs and a whole lot of arms because You can touch us all at the same time. That's pretty cool, huh? Amen" I just squeezed him as he talked with God. I love hearing his sweet voice talk so openly with his Heavenly Father! It just warms my heart. As I listened to his words, I couldn't help but ponder the truth that he was

This morning I was able to get up, have my quiet time while feeding Evan breakfast, get both of my boys and myself ready and go to MOMS! It has been weeks since I have been able to do these "normal" activities. I already felt overwhelmingly blessed to be on my way to MOMS when I heard one of my new favorite songs on the radio. As I listened to Mercy Me's song, "The hurt and the Healer," my eyes just filled with tears.  This song perfectly describes how I feel about the trials I have recently endured.  Here is my favorite part: " Breathe Sometimes I feel it’s all that I can do Pain so deep that I can hardly move Just keep my eyes completely fixed on You Lord take hold and pull me through So here I am What’s left of me Where glory meets my suffering I’m alive You take my heart and breathe it back to life I’ve fallen into your arms open wide When the hurt and the healer collide" That is exactly how I feel. The hurt I felt collided

I felt better today than I have in over a month. I'm still pretty weak and get easily worn out but overall, I am feeling 100 times better! Now that I am able to get off the couch, things were somewhat back to normal for our family. Today I was able to change Evan's diapers and put his clothes on him. I got to feed him breakfast and make my own coffee. I cleaned the kitchen this morning and the bathrooms this evening. Dylan and I did a little bit of home-school and made cookies together. I went to dinner with my fellas and then to Hobby Lobby by myself. To finish the day off, I gave my boys a bath and put them to bed. I know all of that is just basic and ordinary but this was such a great day for me! Today I am thankful for the little things. Spending 3 weeks on bed rest makes the simple things of life seem absolutely wonderful! I have never been so grateful for the opportunity to take care of my family and clean my house. I have often taken these things for granted and

" This is the confidence  we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.   And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know  that we have what we asked of him" 1 John 5:14-16 I've been praying for over 2 weeks that I would feel well enough to go to the "Love Worth Fighting For" conference hosted at our church tonight. I felt a lot better yesterday afternoon  because of the medications I recieved from the doctor but by dinner time, I felt horrible again. I was really starting to worry that I wouldn't feel better by today. Dylan knew that I was feeling bad again so he said the sweetest prayer for me last night. He said, " Dear God, please help my mommy to feel better, it's your turn now. The doctors haven't been able to help her so now it's up to You to make her feel better."  Well, God must have been listening to my precious little boy because I was able to attend our worship servi

"The more extreme your circumstances, the more likely you are the see My power and glory at work in the situation. Instead of letting difficulties draw you into worrying, try to view them as setting the scene for My glorious intervention. Keep your eyes and your mind wide open to all that I am doing in you life." -Jesus Calling Today has been such a blessing! My appointment with Dr. Moser went very well. He believes there is a chance the leak in my spinal column may have already healed but the blood vessels and nerves in my head are very aggravated and causing the horrible pain I'm still having. It makes sense because I've been like this for over a month! So, he tried a shot which gave me some immediate relief and I'll be taking 2 medications every 2 hours (as needed) to try to get this pain under control. I also have epi-pen type shots to give myself in case it gets really bad again.  Its been 5 hours since I had the shot and I'm still hanging in the

According to Wikipedia.com, hope  is defined as the  emotional  state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. I've also heard hope described as, "seeing a light at the end of a tunnel." Well, I am overflowing with hope today! I believe a positive outcome is within reach and I see an enormous light at the end of this long tunnel I've been camped out in for the past month.  My Bible Study teacher this semester "just so happens" to be married to a neurologist. My friend, Keri, previously told her of my spinal headache and all the problems I've been dealing with. She offered to help me then but because of the worker's comp issues, I couldn't accept the help. Well, now that my worker's comp doctor refuses to help me, I am able to accept any help God throws my way. So, yesterday, Keri called her again. I was able to talk with her and her husband about this long journey I've

I finally had the CT myelogram and spinal tap done yesterday and I saw my doctor today. I was really hoping that I would leave his office with a game plan for feeling better but instead, I left with absolutely no answers. The tests didn't clearly show a leak in my spinal column. My doctor is taking the stance that he didn't cause a leak so, he is unwilling to help me with the problem. The symptoms that I have are typical spinal headache symptoms and no other headache has these same symptoms. So, that leads everyone (but my doctor) to believe that there is a leak, it just didn't show up. According to John Hopkins University, "sometimes we can be quite certain there is a leak lurking somewhere, we are just unable to find it with any tests."  It is highly likely that my leak was just not seen on the tests.  So, after dealing with this headache for over a month, I am back to "square one." Or am I? I keep thinking that since I know God isn't shocke

After a week of playing phone-tag and basically begging someone to complete my CT Myelogram and Spinal Tap, we finally have an appointment. This afternoon I received a phone call with my test information and then 20 minutes later, I received another phone call with more test information. Somehow, someone accidentally made not one, but TWO appointments for me at two different locations. I immediately felt God whisper, "I've got ya covered!"  I was blown away by my two appointment times because, until now, it seemed like we would never get one appointment scheduled. I was really shocked by one of the locations because its at a facility that my worker's comp case manager never even mentioned to us. To be honest, I'm not even sure who made that appointment. I found out later in the day that the appointment my case manager made would not work out, so I have to go to the mysterious appointment. If this appointment had not been made, I would have ended up being sent

I spent another day on the couch. I have to say, it was nice at first but now, I just want to get up and take care of my family! My precious husband has had his plate full and I really want to take back all of my responsibilities so he can relax a little.  The boys were here most of the day so it has been pretty noisy. I've really gotten a "hoot" out of listening to the boys and Bryan play. I think he has as much fun as they do. Its also adorable to see Evan learning to play with his big brother. This evening all 3 of them were racing garbage and recycling trucks down the hallway. Sweet Evan wasn't quite as fast but he sure did try to keep up with his daddy and big brother! They also enjoyed playing with space ships and transformers. Some of my favorite quotes from this evening include: Dylan: "Come on, Daddy, lets get out of the space ship, you know there is no gravity on the moon, right?"  Bryan: "You go ahead, I heard those space walks can

 A few days ago I asked a friend to suggest a Bible study for me to start this week. She suggested As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur. As soon as I read her suggestion, I looked it up and since it was only a couple of dollars, I ordered it (and promptly forgot all about it). When Bryan and Dylan checked the mail this morning, they handed me a package. It was the book I had completely forgotten that I ordered. God ordained this, I just know it! As I read lesson one in my new Bible study, I agreed that this is a wonderful study for me as I endure a time of suffering. The first lesson focused on the "fire" God uses to refine us. He refines us because we are His silver. One of my favorite passages that I studied this morning is 1 Peter 1: 6-8 which says, "   So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.     These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—

As I write this, I am honestly amazed by the peace I feel after another long day of painful waiting. Every possible thing has happened and it seems like these tests will never be scheduled. My doctor labeled the needed tests as an emergency but 2 days later, worker's comp hasn't even scheduled them. At times throughout this experience I have been very angry but tonight, the peace is overwhelming.  Where does this kind of peace come from?  Well... I have had lots of people praying for me over the past couple of weeks but today was very special. Two of the pastors from my church and the preschool director came this morning. They laid hands on me and prayed over me. This afternoon, two of the leaders from MOMS stopped by. They knelt beside me and lifted me and my family up in prayer. Dylan was laying with me during their prayer. He listened so intently and prayed with them. It was a precious experience.  Of course, I love to hear people say they will pray for me but there i