A Life of Gratitude

On Monday during the Creative Writing class I teach at High Point Home Educators, I showed the class a whole bunch of different items. The items were very random. A bib, a cook book, an ice cream scoop, a candle, salad tongs, a calculator, etc. Our lesson was about asking questions and answering questions so, the kids had to write questions about the objects and their peers would answer those questions. I realized how young these students are during this class. Or rather, how old I am! One of the objects was this.... You know, its a mouse... the kind you use for a desktop computer. The kids had no idea what it was. Absolutely no idea, especially because it had a cord attached. Another item, however, they all new very well. It was the one item I didn't think they would recognize.  It's a K-cup for a Keurig Coffee machine. They new exactly what that was! I had no idea that a bunch of 6-8 year olds knew what a K-cup was! I've been thinking about that all we

This evening, at dinner, Evan said the blessing over our food. He usually says the same thing over and over again but not tonight. This time he was very specific. He said, "Dear God, thank You for the nice day we're having. Thank You for this good food to be so good. And thank You that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. Amen." I love that He knows that Jesus died for him!!    His prayers have really matured over the past few months! I absolutely love listening to my boys pray. I know our Heavenly Father must love hearing those little voices talk to Him as well. One thing that Evan always says when he prays is "thank you." He even says "thank you for Mommy to feel better" instead of "please help Mommy to feel better." I've thought a lot about that and I'm inclined to believe that as adults, we should be bold enough to pray in such a way. We should have so much faith that when we pray we are already saying "Thank You!" 

We were supposed to get 3-4 inches of snow last night but it ended up being about an inch of snow with 2 inches of ice on top! Still, this counts as Tyson's first snow and our first snow in our new house! So we enjoyed some time outside this morning. The boys got to go sledding with some friends in our neighborhood. This was a special treat for them because in our old neighborhood there was no where to go sledding and no one to sled with. They really enjoyed themselves. Tyson got to touch snow for the first time today as well.  He made some funny faces as I put the snow on his hand. I think he prefers to be warm.  Our new house all covered in snow! Tyson's first snow! He wasn't too sure about the cold stuff! Daddy and his littlest buddy! My little snowbunnies Dylan and Jackson Me and my new neighbor and friend, Jennifer Today I am thankful for the "firsts" we got to celebrate today. I continue to praise God for our new home. Every

During our family devotions tonight, we read a story about a little girl going to the dentist for the first time. The story sparked a very interesting conversation that started with this question: "Have you ever told God thank you for your teeth?" Well, I hate to say it but no, I don't think I have thanked God for my teeth. And as we discussed with our boys, our teeth really are blessings. We wouldn't be able to eat most of what we eat without our teeth. Plus, we'd sound funny and look pretty silly too. That question lead to several other questions and thoughts. Do we thank God for our eyes? For our ears? For the ability to walk? For our fingers? For how healthy we are? For how amazing our bodies are? I have to be honest, that simple conversation really started a snowball effect in my mind. There are SOOO many things that we take for granted! I mean, even on the worst day of our lives, we are still living miracles. Our bodies have over 300 bones at birth

I'm not sure what we were thinking. I guess 3 little boys, 1 elderly dog, 2 guinea pigs, a fish, and a turtle weren't enough. So, we added another dog to the mix! And can I just say, I'm still the only female in this house! Oh well.... We got our (close to perfect) dog, Mitch, at the animal shelter 15 years ago. He is now 17 years old. He has been the most amazing dog. He is well behaved, never barks, loves our kids and lets them love on him, doesn't tear anything up, and is always a joy to be around. He is still living but he doesn't have too much energy these days. He actually sleeps about 90% of time, bless his heart.  Bryan and I have been thinking that our little boys need a dog to run and play with so we've been visiting the animal shelter for a while now. We've been looking for a dog that really stuck out to us. Honestly, we were probably looking for another Mitch! We found one last week that we really liked. We almost adopted him but someone

Every Thursday morning my boys and I go to MOMS (Mothers of Many Seasons) for Bible Study and fellowship. This morning Dylan asked if he could stay home since Bryan works from home on Thursdays. I didn't think much about it and agreed that he could. So Evan, Tyson, and I went to MOMS without Dylan. When we arrived back home I found a beautiful, sweet, thoughtful surprise. It blew me away! While I was gone they made me chocolate covered strawberries as a Valentine's Day surprise! They planned for Dylan to ask me if he could stay home and then once I left they went and bought all the ingredients and made these sweet treats for me! They had to do it today because this is the only day I'm out of the house. It made me feel so loved because they went to so much trouble to surprise me! They know how much I love chocolate covered strawberries and the fact they were homemade, just made my heart smile so big! The strawberries are pretty and yummy too! You know I had to s

Awww, my littlest sweeties! When I was pregnant with Tyson (although I thought it was Allison) I really worried about how Evan would adapt to being the middle child. He is such a sweetheart but he needs a lot of attention. I was nervous that homeschooling Dylan and taking care of the baby might cause Evan to feel left out and possibly dislike the baby because of it. I could not have been more wrong! The first month or two Evan just occasionally interacted with Tyson, but now that Tyson's personality is starting to emerge, Evan is his biggest fan! He enjoys talking to him, "playing" with him, giving him a bath, holding him, pushing him around in the walker, taking care of him, and singing to him. He hasn't helped change a diaper yet but I won't hold that against him! After church on Sunday I found Evan on the couch singing to Tyson. It was so cute, I just had to video it! Here it is... While Tyson was jumping in his Johnny Jumper today, Evan was chee

Our Pastor said something during his sermon today that has crossed my mind numerous times today. He said, "The ultimate aim and goal of your life is not for you to be satisfied but for God to be glorified." Hmmm.....that little sentence says a whole lot! It is our tendency as humans living in a fallen world to care way too much about our own personal satisfaction. Regardless of how others feel, what others do, or how it affects others, we usually want to be satisfied. In fact, I think most of us believe that we are entitled to satisfaction. We act as though we deserve to have our every desire fulfilled and to never have anything horrible happen to us. But in reality, the goal of our lives is not our own happiness or satisfaction. God didn't put us here to to live happy, pain-free, rich, beautiful, easy, satisfied lives. He created us so that we could glorify Him, no matter what it takes. If we truly consider that thought, it can change how we approach almost

So a little over 3 weeks ago I fell down the steps. I was mostly okay. My foot was bothering me a little but my neck was hurting pretty badly. For 2 weeks I could barely move my neck. Over the past few days it has gotten much better. My foot, on the other hand, has gotten worse and worse. I had a hard time walking for the past 2 days. So, I gave in and in went to the doctor. I had an xray which showed no fractures. My doctor is pretty sure that I have a torn ligament or tendon. Without a CT scan she can't be sure which. She prescribed a beautiful black boot that I have to wear for at least 2 weeks. If the pain hasn't improved, I'll have to have more tests.  Pretty, huh? I just have to share the ridiculous time I had while picking up my boot. Apparently they are only sold in weird little places that make prosthetic limbs. I tried to get one at a pharmacy but they no longer sell them there. So, after being at the doctor for 3 hours and then waiting for an hour for my

Tonight while Bryan and Dylan were at Cub Scouts, Evan, Tyson and I snuggled on the couch and watched a movie. Out of nowhere Evan pops up and says, "Mommy, I just love God! He gives us food to eat and you know what, He even gives candy. He's so nice to us!" I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear! I just love it when my babies have these little revelations!  After making that comment Evan bent over and tried to kiss his belly. Then he said, "I gave God a kiss cause He's so nice to us." (I've mentioned this before but in case you've forgotten, God is in Evan's belly!) I've been thinking about that adorable little epiphany that Evan had tonight and I believe it is a good reminder for me and you. Every little thing is given to us by our Creator. We think that because we work and go to the store and use our money to purchase groceries that we are providing the food for our families but in reality, none of it would be possible witho