Boys

Boys

Sunday, October 28, 2012

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Sunday, October 21, 2012

A New Place Called Home

While we are on a search to find our new church home, today's sermon at The Village Church was just what we needed.  It was titled, "Traits of 'Great' & 'Growing' Churches".

Do you know how to tell if a church is "great" or "growing"?  Is it the massive stage on which the pulpit sits?  The number of cars in the parking lot?  A lot of times how we judge if a church is right for us is the convenience.  Do I like the music?  Is the service too late or too early in the morning?  How big is their Revival?  But even the smallest of churches can be doing great things.  We studied the early Christian church in Acts today and looked a few of traits that we can use to compare to today's churches.


  • Deep unity
  • Uncommon eternal perspective
  • Unashamedly Jesus-centered
  • In God's favor
  • Obvious absence of poverty
  • Remarkable generosity
  • Whole-hearted confidence in leadership
Do you recognize these traits in your church?  Or are they at least goals to work towards?  

Today's service gave us new things to look for in a church home.  I'm not as concerned if I don't find people my own age or have children of the same age, or if their welcoming committee is bending over backwards to get us to return.  I need a church that will help me deepen my faith, challenge me, and remind me to make Christ my number one priority.

But we have to remember, we are the church.  What can we do to keep Christ center of it?

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Happiness Tip: Don't Pat Your Own Back

Happiness Tip: Don't Pat Your Own Back

Birthday Dinner of Combos and Water

Had a pretty good birthday weekend, but boy, did it go out with a bang!  Rick came up to me about 5:00 and said, "Ok, I'm going to tell you something, but you aren't going to worry, say to me, you're not going to worry."

I'm wondering at this point, did I forget about a bill that needed to be paid?

"Ok, I won't worry..."

He had been having chest pains and cold sweats since the night before.  DON'T WORRY?!  I keep calm, have our doctor paged, who said he didn't think it was an emergency but we can go to the ER just to be safe.  

At the ER, they took care of him promptly, had an EKG done in triage, blood and urine tests done immediately in the room.  They brought the xray machine to him within 15 minutes for a chest xray.  He had an episode during the xray, but still able to keep calm, after all, we're AT the hospital.

The doctor was very nice.  She was very thorough and friendly.  She was concerned, because of Rick's recent broken foot, that it could possibly be a blood clot that had travelled to his heart, so she ordered a CT scan.  

Now the past two years have been a whirlwind of complicated pregnancies, three premature babies.  Now I'm on the other side of the hospital bed.  Granted, Rick had me and a baby to worry about each time, but I'm starting to understand what he must have went through.  Thoughts of my mom's heart attack at 50, called a widow-maker, and losing her two years later to pancreatic cancer, losing Rick's mom in April at 58 to a heart attack.  I didn't hear until last night that his paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother had both died young of heart attacks.  Yes, I was starting to panic.

Our Erin was so selflessly there for us to watch the babies AGAIN, but this time for Rick.  But what if he had to have surgery to remove a blood clot right now?  What would I do with myself?  How would I be able to visit while he's recovering with three babies at home?  What if he didn't recover?  I did not like being in this position.  I love him.  I don't want to lose him after only two years of marriage.  I don't want my babies to lose their daddy, whom they adore.  I want them to grow up knowing him, not just hearing about him.  

Finally, after three hours at the ER, all of his tests came back normal.  He will be getting a stress test on Friday with our doctor.  This changes our priorities.  We will be active in the new church we found, we will be on the electric cigarette.  Our diet will be the hardest, but we will be eating healthier.  If my 37th birthday wasn't reminder enough that we are getting older, the ER trip confirmed it.  We've been talking a lot lately about retirement and the babies' college funds since watching the vice-presidential debate.  Now I don't care what we have to do to make it there.  We are going to change the way we live in the present, in order to make it in the future.  

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Our Erin

This post is dedicated to someone who is so special in my life, I cannot express how much her support has meant to me this past year.  Besides being the one of two people who actually read my blog, she has been my biggest cheerleader and my strong shoulder.  I can see the love she has for my children in her eyes.  She gets as excited about their triumphs as I do, and just as concerned about their struggles.  She has schooled me on Words with Friends, but has really taught me what selflessness is.  She makes wish I could adopt her as my sister, even if she does move away, I'd still do it.  While I've had two very special ladies to call my best friends almost my entire life, she was there to hold my hand at my weakest moments when they couldn't be.  There are no "bests" anymore as you grow older, there are moments, and sometimes you are blessed to have someone there in those moments, and I have been truly blessed beyond measure.  

Happy birthday, I love you, and thank you for being there for me and my family!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Oops...

This blog post is meant to be a public apology to my husband for my lack of time management lately!  I was getting such an awesome system down with my family planning binder, and I'm finding myself leaving a chore off here and there every day, not able to hold a conversation without checking facebook, not able to keep a coherent thought.  I have had so many ideas and projects going in my business ventures and blog posts that everything else has fallen to the wayside.  My main priority is my home!  I just need a little leeway on the start up, and the blog reading I have done is a good thing - it is helping me organize and come up with ideas for simplifying (I just need to practice them!)  If only everyone else's hours could be the same as mine I wouldn't be so tied up all day and night :)

I would like to give a shout out on a blog I found, her latest post was so inspiring and just what I needed in my life right now!  Please visit Ramona Dishes, which ranges in topic from recipes to crafts to topics on life.  I was so excited to be able to subscribe by email that I put a "subscribe" button on my own blog! 

I will end my post with a plug:

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Friday, October 5, 2012

Do You Feel That?

I've been putting more on my plate recently.  A lot more.  I've started with a new company in direct sales (and here is my plug, visit my Facebook page to see what I'm doing).  I'm rockin' my family planning binder, I've never felt more organized or gotten so much accomplished at home.  I'm the person who loves to check things off, I find myself doing extra just so I can cross more off!

Part of my "daily list" includes my devotional.  I'm currently reading "Discouraged Moms' Devotions to Go", which you can find on Amazon here for only $3.50 for a kindle download.  I love this devotional!  It really touches my heart.  I normally have a hard time relating to the author in a lot of devotionals, but this one is different, this one is real.  She recognizes discouragement, resentments, sometimes the laziness we all experience.  It's so good that I didn't even skip the "physical health" portion like I usually did.  Not that I'm exercising or anything, but it is included in my goals to start shortly.  Today was the story of Judson W. VanDeVenter, who I had never heard of before today, but he wrote the song, "I Surrender All".  He felt God nudging him to leave his position in the public school system for FIVE years before he surrendered.  So I'm wondering, what is He nudging me to do?  I have plans for my new business, I'm promoting it, I'm signing up new people and spending time on online parties, attempting to start a blog about it.  Am I spending this time in vain?  Am I supposed to be using this time to "promote" Him instead?  Would anyone even listen?  I don't feel qualified for this sort of position, but maybe that is the point.  Now to re-prioritize my binder and spend more time getting qualified, in His word, with other Christians.

What is God nudging you to do today?