A Life of Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving! As I have been preparing and looking forward to Thanksgiving day, I felt challenged to be BIG with my gratitude! So, I decided to think of as many things as I possibly could to be thankful for. Through out the day I have been making notes on little scraps of paper as well as mental notes of things I am grateful for. So, here it goes.... (in no particular order) 1. My relationship with Jesus Christ. 2. A husband that loves me unconditionally. 3. Three healthy children. 4. Quiet moments together with my family (even though they aren't usually all that quiet with 3 boys!) 5. The many promises found in God's Word. 6. Hearing Dylan read. 7. So many amazing friends. 8. Modern Medicine-in the past 7 years I've really seen what a blessing modern medicine can be! 9. Baby snuggles with my sweet Tyson. 10. The ability to travel with my family. 11. Hearing Evan sing. 12. Handy-me-down clothes. When Tyson, our surprise boy, came along we

"In giving freedom to the slaves, we ensure the freedom of the free." -Lincoln We spend every Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania with Bryan's grandmother. We love driving up north to spend time with family. We also usually try to make it an educational trip as well. We've gone to NYC to see the Freedom Tower, to Washington DC to see our Nation's capital, and today on our way up we stopped at Gettysburg. Anyone who knows Dylan knows that he LOVES learning about the Civil war! He has been anticipating this trip for weeks. As we toured the museum and drove through the battlefields, Dylan was our own personal tour guide! He told us all about the different battle sites, the union/confederate positions, who won each battle, who died and who lived, and how many casualties there were. He also named the generals, the privates, and even the rifle boys (I had no clue about any of this, he has taught me so much!) He also recited most of the Gettysburg Address! Learning so

I heard some of the most amazing advice this morning at Mom2Mom while sitting with a group of ladies in different stages of motherhood. So many wonderful things were said but one thing keeps replaying over and over in my mind. The Mommy that was sharing said, "Be kind to yourself."  Wow!  Now I know that doesn't seem like an overly profound thought but for me, it's really something I've never considered. I'll just be honest, I am incredibly hard on myself, all the time for every reason I can come up with. I am mean to myself about the way I look, the way I feel, the things I don't get done, the mistakes I make, the opinion others *might* have about me, the lack of healthy meals I make, the mess around the house, my impatience, my parenting and so on and so on. Everyone has that inner voice that talks to them, well my inner voice is a mean girl. Not about other people, just about myself. I would never talk to anyone else the way I talk to mysel

As you can probably tell by reading this blog, I think gratitude is pretty important. Since starting this blog 3 years ago, I have learned to look for God's blessings through out the day. Even on the worst day, I have found that there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for even though it isn't always easy to find. I want to teach my boys to be thankful for all they have. I truly believe that learning to be thankful can help you to get through any situation in life. I want my boys to see all that God has blessed them with and loudly say "Thank you!" Today I taught my two older boys a lesson on Gratitude. I wanted to make sure they really new what that big word meant. They began telling me things they are happy about and things that they're glad they have. Then we talked about people and circumstances that we're happy about. We ended up discussing that every good gift has come from above (James 1:17).  The boys realized that our family has sooooo many thing

All weekend we've been decorating our new house for Christmas! Other than the big Christmas tree, we're done. It has been so much fun finding places for the different Christmas trinkets, especially since we have so much more room and so many more places to put things. We have three Christmas trees this year, too. In the past we've only had one. I also got to decorate a mantel for the first time ever! I'm just waiting on my new stockings to come in so the Christmas mantel will be complete! Tonight I let the boys decorate "their tree." It's at the top of our stairs and it has all the handmade, personalized, and vacation spot ornaments. They had so much fun decorating it. I helped some because all of he ornaments were hanging on one or two branches and I was afraid it would topple over. They did a really good job. "Their tree" turned out so cute! Today I am thankful for an exciting weekend decorating our home. All of us en

Our old house had the tiniest yard. The kids could play outside but not without me holding my breath because the cars were so close. In our new house, we have a wonderful yard! The back is fenced and has a deck with a pergola. The front yard is in the cul-de-sac that we have all to ourselves. There is a pond beside us and woods behind us so we can have science lessons outside and see all types of animals and insects. God truly blessed us with this house for so many reason but today, I am overwhelmingly grateful for our yard that the kids can play in. Earlier today the boys were outside in the back yard playing for hours. I sneaked a few pictures of them because they were just so cute! I loved hearing them talking and laughing as they played. Dylan informed me later that they were playing Civil War but apparently they stopped to "eat lunch" during the war. Their imaginations were going strong!  Sitting while grilling... He's just too cute! Playing Civil

This morning we celebrated our sweet little Tyson as we dedicated him to the Lord. Friends and family watched as we dedicated our third son to our Heavenly Father. He has given us these precious children and it is our joy to promise to point them toward Jesus.  "Children are a hertitage from the Lord, offspring are the children born in one's youth." Psalm 127:3 Today I am thankful for family, friends, and a church family that will support us as we raise our boys to love our God. It is such a blessing to know that God is pleased when we dedicate our children to Him. He will go before us and behind us, and provide all that we need. He will help us to lead them to Himself. I am also grateful for our precious baby, Tyson. God has blessed us with another little boy and we are forever grateful!

A few years ago Bryan and I started a journal to record God's activity in our lives. God is always at work, of course, but we like to record the situations and circumstances where it is obvious that God has been active. We call it the "Works of the Lord" journal. We began the journal at a time when we were praying for God to increase our faith. The journal builds our faith as we recall all that God has done! It reminds us of His faithfulness! We recently started using this journal as a part of our family devotions. We flip to the day's date and read what has happened in the past on that day and write any new activity in it as well. It is so much fun to see what we've written because most of it we have forgotten. It's also neat to share with our children what God has done in the past. Tonight, during our devotions, we read that on November 8th in 2013 we signed the contract for our little house to be sold. It had been on the market for 2 and 1/2 years so o

It's been 5 and 1/2 years since I suffered my back injury. I've had spinal fusion surgery, countless injections, a temporary implant, hours upon hours of physical therapy, taken probably 10 different medications, and the pain remains. Today, as I laid upon the chiropractor table, I found myself oddly grateful for the pain. I've come so far since the day I was pushed down and a disc in my back was punctured and my spine fractured. Instead of teaching in the public school system, I am now teaching at home. Instead of having only one child, I have three. Instead of living in a tiny little house, I have a beautiful home in an amazing neighborhood. Instead of having an average marriage, my husband and I have grown closer to one another than I'd ever imagined. Instead of "going through the motions" in my Christian walk, I have truly learned to lean on my God and trust in Him on a daily basis.  After having my back aligned today and discussing my pain with Dr. M

I stole a few minutes in the bath tub earlier tonight (thanks hubby!) and I got to read a couple of chapters in a book that I've sort of been reading. I say "sort of" because I have been reading the same book for 4 months and I'm only on the 5th chapter, haha. The chapters are really short, too. As a homeschooling Mommy of three boys I barely have time to take a shower, so I can forget finding time to read a book! Anyway, I got to read a couple of chapters in Lysa Terkeurst's book "Am I Messing Up My Kids?" I know God intended for me to read this chapter right now. (Maybe that is why I haven't found time to read it previously.) I needed to read this tonight! Lysa shares her perspective on stretch marks. Just wait, it's so much more than that! She says, "It's the mark of the ultimate servant who gives their life to make new life possible for others. Not that I actually died in the process, but the way my body looked before I had chil