A Life of Gratitude

Lately, my family has been watching the nature series, "Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth." If you've never seen either of these Netflix series, you must! They are both award-winning and absolutely incredible! Everyone in our family enjoys them because not only do we see the most amazing creatures but we also learn a whole lot! Every time we watch an episode, Bryan's jaw ends up on the floor.  Seriously, we are both floored by the unbelievable animals God has created. Each and everyone points to His creativity! These photos and GIFs don't even begin to do these creatures justice but I just have to show you a few of the ones that have blown my mind the most! This is called the Bird of Paradise. What you see here is its mating dance! After it clears out a pathway, it changes its appearance dramatically to woo its mate. How incredible is that?  This Cuttlefish literally lights up, changes colors, and hypnotizes its prey. It's like a l

Christmas was so exciting this year! (Having a 10, 7, 4, and 1 year old makes every day exciting, actually.) Honestly though, I had so much fun watching my children enjoy all the traditions and festive activities. Experiencing Christmas with our kiddos makes it so special for us.  It occurred to me that the sense of magic they experience won't last forever and that this could very well be the last Christmas that all of our children experience it. It makes my eyes well up with tears even now just to think of it but, it's true because our oldest will be 11 years old next Christmas. A lot changes in a year for a growing boy! Knowing that this year could be the last entirely magical Christmas caused me to be more present and more aware, and for that I am grateful.  I loved every minute of this Christmas with my babies! Today I am grateful for the magic of Christmas and the excitement I witnessed in each of my children this year!

Luke 2:6-7 When they arrived in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor, and there she gave birth to her firstborn son. After wrapping the newborn baby in strips of cloth, they laid him in a feeding trough since there was no available space in any  upper room in the village. Early in December, I came across this photo and absolutely fell in love with it. I love how realistic this illustration is. Most photos that depict the birth of Christ make it seem as though the journey to Bethlehem, the unsuccessful search for a room, and the natural childbirth had no effect on Mary and Joseph. In most cases, they both look fresh and rested and unscathed by the exhausting experience. This picture, however, captures the ordeal in a way that most mothers can truly relate to. Giving birth to a baby is one of the most amazing events of a woman's life but it is also entirely draining, emotionally and physically. Although Mary was probably filled with joy and awe as she looked at her precious baby

Recently, my kids have become a little obsessed with screens. Big TV screens, little Nintendo DS screens, tablet screens, phone screens, and so on. We limit screen time in our home but even when they didn’t have their eyes on a screen, they were asking every 5 minutes to watch or play something with a screen.  Bryan and I took some of the screens away as a punishment because of disobedience and it broke our children’s hearts. They were absolutely devasted. This felt like a HUGE warning to me.  Since the boys were so broken hearted over the loss of a small screen, I thought it might be good for them to take a peek into the lives of other kids around the world. I looked up Youtube videos that showed the life of children in Guatemala, parts of Africa, and Haiti. I shared the videos with my kids and I was blown away by the impression it made on them. They couldn’t believe the way other children lived. They quickly realized that we have so many privileges and gifts that ot

It's been 6 months since I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. It hasn't been an easy 6 months but it has been filled with peace. Although I would have never asked for such a despicable disease, I know I'm right in the middle of God's will for my life and there is nowhere else I would rather be. I am grateful to finally know what's going on in my body and have a doctor that understands my condition and is working with me to help me feel better. I've been on multiple medications and had some pretty horrific side effects to some of those but my doctor has recently decided that I am ready for the next step in my treatment plan which is infusion therapy. It took a while to figure out all the mumbo-jumbo with the insurance but, I will have my first Remicade infusion tomorrow.  Remicade is a  chimeric monoclonal antibody  biologic drug that w orks against tumor necrosis factor alpha . (That's the scientific way of saying it will suppress my immune

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is all the baking and craft making! It's just so much fun! My kids really enjoy it too. Each year we make several ornaments and gifts plus tons of cookies and yummy treats. The big boys have still enjoyed helping this year but Tyson just can't get enough! He has helped with every project, craft, cookie, and gift. In the mornings he has been asking, "Well, what are we going to make today?" So far this Christmas season we've made homemade Moravian cookies, Stained Glass Window ornaments, Ugly Sweater Cookies, Puppy Chow (or some call it Muddy Buddies), Chex Mix, Oatmeal cookies, a footprint penguin painting, snow baby ornaments, and Stovetop Potpourri Gift bags. Tyson has enjoyed helping with each one! Look at that sweet face! He's really such a good a listener and so excited to learn how to make things. He loved making the oatmeal cookies! Painting Snow Baby Ornaments! Applying t

I have recently been finding little ladders all over my house. I know that sounds silly but seriously, everywhere I look there's a ladder or something very similar to it. There was even a ladder on our Jesse Tree ornament recently. As we read the verse on the back, I was reminded of Jacob's ladder in the Bible. The same story also showed up in our children's Bible storybook soon after that. Now it seems there is a ladder of some sort in every room of the house which brings Jacob's story to mind! By the way, I had no idea we even had these little ladders! This is just the ones I found downstairs!  I've learned over the years that God does this from time to time to get my attention. Sometimes its a song I hear over and over again or a verse that seems to pop up everywhere. This time, its a ladder. So, I said, "Lord, the ladders are perplexing me, please help me understand what you're trying to teach me." I don't normally go into full-o

Last night, while we were all asleep, it started snowing like crazy and it hasn't stopped all day. We literally have a foot of snow! I don't remember seeing this much snow, ever! Being stuck inside for most of the day gave us a lot of time to make cookies, play games, watch movies, and spend quality time together. I think snow is beautiful but honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of it, but being able to enjoy a relaxing day and do fun things together as a family all day, makes me love the snow! We spent all morning making homemade Moravian cookies like the ones I made with my Grandma Davis throughout my childhood. This is one of our favorite Christmas traditions. I had fun with my fellas!  So many yummy Moravian cookies! The kids ate a ton of them too. And Tyson made at least 20 for Santa Claus! We also played in the snow, just for a bit. It was like a blizzard out there so none of us stayed very long. Allison didn't like it one bit so I brought he

Yesterday two of my dear friends and I went to Blowing Rock, NC for a "Moms Day Out." It was a rainy, yucky day but we had a wonderful time shopping, eating, and laughing! (The laughing almost never ended!) The best part of the day, for me, was our visit to the Prayer Garden next to an adorable little shop called, Take Heart.  As walked toward the garden I felt my heart swell up. All of the little white tags hanging from the trees are prayers! There are thousands of them! Right here, in the middle of a quaint little town, is proof that God's children are crying out to Him. I can assure you He is there, hearing each one of those prayers and all the others that weren't written. His Presence can be felt so fully. There is a breath-taking heaviness in that garden. It was a very emotional experience for me. It is honestly one of the most beautiful places I have ever experienced. Not because of the aesthetics necessarily, but because of the atmosphere.