God's Blessings

What I'm thankful for today. . .
A warm bed
My beautiful children
A roof over my head
The cabinets have plenty of food
That my God will provide all my needs!

Fall Mums

Oh! Last night I cut all my mums to put in vases in the house. They are gorgeous! I was so excited I took pictures. They look very homey on my kitchen table!

I'm so glad I did because we had an early snow today! The earliest I can ever remember! They would have all been dead!

I love when my house is all homey and stuff!

What happens when...

What happens when you suddenly wake up and realize that things are quite as you have thought them to be? What happens when someone breaks your heart, stomps on it and goes on like nothing happened? How do you move past it in a way that honors God?

I have no idea, but I'm trying to learn. Prayer is my only answer right now.

Christian Character

Work done correctly is just one of many character traits we have tried to instill in our children. It seems quite a daunting task at minimum-how to teach them our values with out brow beating them or literally thumping them with a Bible? Honesty, integrity and of course our Christian values seem outdated or invalid to them. We seem to be in a constant battle for our children against the pull of the world and it's ruler.

I've noticed lately that I seem to be slipping in my prayers for my children. I want to do more but life seems to get in the way for me as well. If I have to fight for my time with God, how much more do my children have to struggle? We have been doing family devotionals to help give them more time with God and to encourage them in their faith and walk with the Savior. I think it helps to solidify us as a family as well. We all share and join in making it more of a benefit to everyone. Mikey (3 years old) even joins in. He likes to pretend to read the Bible.

It has greatly helped us to accomplish the goals of teaching our children about the Father and helping us grow together as a family. I am thankful for our special time with God!

Taz Goes to the Parts Store

The other day Mikey got to go into the car parts store with me. This was his first trip inside the store. Up to this point he had only admired it from the outside. As soon as we entered the store, I knew I was in trouble!

Immediately upon entering the store his little eyes lit up and got as wide as saucers and he procliamed "ohhhhh this store is beautiful!!!" He wanted to know what every part was and every tool. I was sent on a mission by my dear husband to pick up 2 items. I had a list and no need to think about anything-just go to the counter and tell them what I need, pay, and leave. The end. I was totally out of my element in this particular store.

With Mikey in tow, I proceeded to be "drug" around the store being asked a million questions as Mikey saw more and more things that he just loved and couldn't live without and I of course had no idea what they were. The entire store was filled with the sounds of "what is this?" "OHHHH this is cool mommy! I want one!" "what do you do with this one mommy?". The gentlemen at the counter were having the time of their lives as I answered. "I don't know," to almost all the questions! I was able to tell him that one item was a hitch. His answer, "oh for our campburger!" (his version of a camper) After closely examining all the items in the store we made it to the counter-Whew! Now what do you think they had at the counter???? Matchbox cars!!! What did he do??? Just as he had done with the other items in the store--"I want one" "these are cool". My answer-"NO". So he proceeded to ask the gentleman behnd the counter to give me some money so I could buy it for him!!! The men in the store just laughed. I'm sure my distress lightened everyones day! lol

We managed to get out of the parts store with only the 2 items I was asked to pick up-and a whole lot of prayer and laughter! Dad gets to take him next time!

Man I feel like a woman

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in life and trying to take care of my family and any others that may pass through that I forget sometimes that I am, in fact, a woman. I know that my calling is in my home and I can get so Martha like that I forget some of the little things we do make a difference. Things we never would have thought made a difference to our families. It really is a fine art-being a wife, mother and woman and doing it all in a godly manner.

My day started out like any other day. Get up, MAKE COFFEE, do some Bible study, get everyone else up, get ready for church. This morning my sweet husband blessed me by making breakfast for everyone while I took a shower. While I was in the shower a dear friend from church called and told my husband to make sure I see her before I left church. I thought that strange because I try to see her every time, but I just said OK and went on with my morning. I didn't really have time to think about it because I was already running late.
My husband suddenly came out of the kitchen to let me know someone was at the door but he didn't know who it was. It was my cousin that I hadn't seen for years! As soon as I opened the door and saw his face I knew something was wrong and my heart just broke for him. As I went out the door he started to cry and I just grabbed him and started praying in the spirit. I knew that someone had to have died and assumed it was his father. The obvious choice since he was in poor health. By the time he had gathered his composure my husband had joined us and I was telling him what was happening. It wasn't his father that had died but his brother! Wow! I almost fell out of my chair!
We sat and talked and tried to comfort him for as long as he needed. We offered to stay longer but he felt like he needed to get home due to the tremendous amount of preparations and plans they needed to make. After he left, we went to church. We were late but were still blessed by the message on honor.
After church my dear friend found me and gave me a beautiful gift! A nice satin and lace nightie with a robe! Wow! It was beautiful! I didn't take it out of the bag until I got in the van. (I couldn't possibly wait until I got home!) It was gorgeous! The kids all oohed and awwed, my husband just smiled. All I could think about is I hope it fits! She is so much smaller than me I thought there would be no way, but I was blessed by it anyway I thought. Such a gift that just lifted my spirit. I got busy thinking of all the things I needed from the store so that I could prepare a meal to take to my uncle's home. (typical me-Martha style) I wasn't sure I had everything I needed and I wanted it to be a special meal for them.
We went to Sams and made a huge purchase of course. Who really gets out of there for less than $100.00? Then went home where I went to work preparing homemade bread, stuffing from scratch, and roasted chicken. My husband and kids went to work in the basement getting things together for one of my daughters whose school band is having a yard sale and putting all the rest of the junk in the trailer to go to the dump.
After dinner, my husband and I delivered the food and came home. . . Time to try on my gift!!! wooohooo!(hillbilly style) I was so excited I could barely contain myself! I took it out of the bag. Examined it, felt how satiny it was, admired the lace, then ran to the door and closed it! Wow! It fit! I twirled in it and looked in the mirror just as my door burst open with 3 out of 4 kids standing at it! I knew I should have left the door open!! They would have seen that I was changing and they would have went back down the hall! I stood there with my mouth open while they looked at me with their mouths open! I wasn't quite ready to share my gift with the world yet. I hadn't worn such a thing in years and I was shocked by how it made me feel! (I wondered if it was a sin) So they were happy and excited and I think surprised. My three year old couldn't stop rubbing it. He has never seen me wear "pretties" before. I went into the living room and showed my husband. He thought it was very nice he said but I could read his expression.
I guess I said all that to say that sometimes life takes a different turn than we expect. I never expected to receive such a gift from my friend. I had forgotten that wearing "pretties" to bed made me feel like a beautiful woman. It is one thing to know that you are a beautiful child of God but it is an entirely different thing to feel like you are a beautiful godly woman. I had forsaken the wearing of pretties because life was so busy that I didn't feel I could afford the luxury. It took a wonderful, precious sister in Christ to remind me that a small luxury that blesses my family and me isn't really a luxury! It's a blessing! And my friend blessed me more than I could ever express to her!

Mikey & The Tractor Store

Today we went to the "tractor" store. Mikey, who loves tractors from the bottom of his little heart, thought he had died and gone to heaven. He went from tractor to tractor, pushing all the buttons and moving all the levers and most importantly buckling his seat belt on each one! Just to be safe. He was so excited about all the tractors that he was almost in a frenzy of movement! The gentlemen at the tractor store were most gracious and allowed him to sit on all the tractors and push all the buttons even though his father and I were both trying to wrangle him in. He loves tractors and anytime we are shopping and there is a toy tractor he always wants one. He was able to understand that he couldn't have any of the "real" tractors but he had a blast today.