I wanted to let you know...

If you are a little down today or just need a little pick me up remember a few things...


When you are cleaning the toilets, you are making your home a safe and clean place for your family.


When you are cleaning the kitchen for the 100th time today, you are supplying the needs of your family.


When you continue to step on the same toy each time you walk in the living room, you have made your home a happy place for your children to be children.


When your little one(or big one) wants to sit in your lap for a little attention, you are holding the future and what you say to them matters more than you could imagine. Who knows, they may someday repeat your words to someone in Africa when they take their first missions trip.


When you look in the face of your children and feel that you are not getting through to them, know that God has trusted you with those children and you can do ALL things through Christ who gives you strength.


When you feel like everything you do may be for nothing and no one appreciates you, YOU are loved and adored by all in your family and your home would not be HOME without you!


Be encouraged today and know that every moment of your life is worth it!

Just a reminder...

I have found a great website about Halloween candy safety for allergic children thanks to Jane Anne at Gravity of Motion.

It is Allergy Free Halloween .

For those of you that pass out candy, please go and look at this site and get some ideas. They have a list of safe candy that you can pass out. As a parent of a child who is allergic to nuts, it can be a very scary time when candy is ever involved. For the parent and the child. And if your child is allergic, PLEASE check the labels that your children get. Just because it is usually safe doesn't mean that it will be during Halloween. Sometimes it is made and packaged differently during Halloween or different holidays.
This is the first year that we will not be going trick-or-treating. We will be enjoying a Fall Festival at our local park on Nov. 1st, but there will still be candy and we will still have to be careful.
Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Family....

Hello everyone! Tonight I went to a birthday party for my niece Kassie and my nephew Jonathon. They are 2 of my brother's 5 children. And we have just found out that they have another on the way!!! YAY!!! That will be 6 kids for them and we are so excited for them.

It is because of this family that my family homeschools. They have homeschooled for a long time and all I can say is that I am sure a day in the life of this homeschool is VERY interesting!

All of their children are so great and in love with God and we are sure that this one won't be any different. So I wanted to share some recent pictures of all 5 of them with you. Kassie was in the drama I posted the other day from the youth group at my church. She is so amazing! Here come the cousins!(That is what my kids say when they all come over! LOL)

Kassie-just turned 15

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Jonathon(Jon)-just turned 11

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Joshua(Josh)-8 years old

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Joseph(Joey)-6 years old

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and baby Jessie-2 years old

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And this is all 5 of them together. I love these kids!!!

Peanut allergy info

I have found a blog that had a guest on her blog talking about peanut allergies and I wanted to share the link for any of you that want to become more educated about Jacob's peanut allergy and how serious food allergies are. I apologize for not knowing her name but here is the link to her blog. Go and see, read and be educated!

AWESOME video!!!

OK So this video is from the youth at my church, First Assembly of God-Milan TN. They are so anointed and amazing! My niece Kassie is in it and I love that kid so much! She just turned 15 yesterday and I want to be just like her when I grow up! LOL She is the one on the left standing up covering her face when it starts.


Just click on the link and watch the video. You will be blessed!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIk08qs2sVQ

Too cute!

Even though I homeschool this was too cute not to share. I got it in an e-mail.

I hope you enjoy it too.

A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him.

She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe.

So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her.

She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it woulde a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.

The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor girl he knew.

She did this for the whole week. As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week. Finally she said to Timmy, 'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?

'Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.'The little girl; said, 'Well, who is she?

''That's just Shirley Goodnest,' Timmy replied,' and her daughter Marcy.

''Shirley Goodnest? Who the heck is she and why is she following us?

''Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life',

so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'

Peanut testing...

Well, we are home from the appointment. We didn't get the answer we wanted but God is still good.

First the bad news- Jacob is still severely allergic to peanuts.

Good news- the test was negative for all other nuts. PRAISE GOD!!

We will be experimenting here at home with him soon with some walnuts or pecans. The doctor said to give him a slither of the nut every hour until he gets a whole nut. We need to get his Epipen filled first.

The reason he ate the cereal and had no reaction is a little complicated but I will try to explain. When he goes for a long time(8 years) without any peanut in his system his body builds up antibodies against the allergy. Once the peanuts get into his system, the antibodies slowly die away. So had he eaten a few more bowls of the cereal he probably would have reacted. There was some doctors trying to make a vaccine for peanut allergies but it didn't work like it needed to so they have had to start over. So I guess the prayers now need to be for the doctors to find what they need to to help these kids that are allergic.

More good news is that we found out that peanut oil that is used to cook with is not dangerous for Jacob. So he can eat at places that use peanut oil. Today he ate fries at Chick-Fil-A and he was all smiles! LOL

Once we found out that he is still allergic Jacob just cried. He was very disappointed. I told him that God brings good out of everything and he looked at me with his broken eyes and said,"Momma, there is nothing good about this." That was tough my friends! I can convince myself that God can bring good out of things all day long but looking at my little 9 year old in his sad face, how can I convince him? Today it was hard being a momma. After a while of talking about the positive, he is feeling much better.

So thank all of you for your prayers. Continue the prayers for the doctors with the research. And pray that Jacob will find God's good out of all of it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Let's recap...

~OK, September the 5th my mom came to stay with us. The next week Jacob spent most of the week sick and had pain in his stomach. We went to the dr and got that resolved, now he is doing better.

~September the 20th my mom and I both got sick, me with an EVIL stomach virus(thought I might DIE!) my mom with what we thought was the virus.

~September 21st took mom to ER and find out she has bowel obstruction.

~September 23rd, one year anniversary of my step dad's death(mom's husband) and the day she has surgery.

~October 5th(or around there) Jacob begins to run a fever and cough terribly. He still has the nasty cough 12 days later. (Allergies?)

~October 9th mom throws up all day, I take her to the ER that night. While there I have a severe panic attack and have to leave her there while I come home to figure out if it really is a panic attack or if I am getting sick. They can't find anything wrong with her and my panic attack goes away after a while. We get home and as I am about to go to bed I see the hugest spider I have ever seen. I hit it with a fly swatter and hundreds of baby spiders go everywhere!!!

~October 10th Nathan and Amber begin running a fever and coughing. This is still going on. Yesterday we find out they have bronchitis. Along with the fever and coughing comes throwing up from coughing too much, not wanting to eat, BAD runny diapers for Nate and potty troubles for Amber, lots of crying and bad attitudes and lack of sleep. During this time George has also gotten the same crud that the kids have.

~October 16th(early this morning) George and I both wake up at the same time throwing up and me having bad stomach pain. George is ok after he gets sick but I am still having some times of bad cramping in my stomach. Thank God that my mom was here. She let us sleep in and took care of the kids. George and I were laying in the bed and I began to sing the song from church,"This Is How We Overcome". And I asked George how we were supposed to overcome from this. He said to stay in bed! LOL

Even though we seem to continue to get hit with trials and sickness, I know that God is in control. He loves us and wants the best for us. We will get through this and be stronger in the end. We will praise Him in this storm! And THIS, my friends, is how I overcome!!!

(And by the way, George fixed the kids TV/DVD player!)
:0)

We went to the doctor...

FINALLY! LOL

Amber and Nate both have bronchitis. They now have antibiotics and a very strong cough medicine. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. Maybe tomorrow will be an easier day.

On Friday we are taking Jacob to be retested for his peanut/nut allergy. Please be praying. When he was 1 he had 2 severe reactions to peanuts and we had him tested. They said he had a lifelong life threatening allergy to all nuts. Mainly peanut though. Well, a few weeks ago we bought the new Cocoa Puffs Splits(I think that is the name). They were chocolate and vanilla. The regular Cocoa Puffs are safe so I didn't check the new ones. Well, after he ate them I saw that they are made with peanut flour. And he had NO REACTION!!!!! So we are very hopeful that God has healed him and that will change his life! I will keep you updated.

Updating on stuff....

Good morning all!

Well, the Gooey Butter Cake was REALLY GOOD and gooey and VERY rich! We all loved it and I am looking forward to eating more today! ;0)

While we are on the subject of food I wanted to update on my weight loss. I weighed this morning and I have lost another 2 pounds for a total loss of the year of....

19 Pounds!

My goal for this year was to lose 50 pounds, I don't think I will make it to the goal but I am slowly getting closer!

I am taking Amber and Nathan to the doctor today. Still coughing and running fever, this is day 6 of the sickness. Hopefully they will feel better soon.

Have a great Wednesday!

Gooey Butter Cake!!!!

Tonight I am making the most wonderful sounding dessert. It calls for powdered sugar and, you can't laugh at me, it is the first time I have EVER bought powered sugar!!! I have 3 kids, my oldest being 9 and I have never had powered sugar in my house!!! I have always just used regular sugar or just made plain cakes and stuff. So I am excited about making this.

I found it on Traci's blog-Nothing More or Less Than Myself. Here is the link to the recipe.

Stay tuned and I will let you know how it turns out.

Thanks Traci!!!!

Why do I do these things?

OK so about 3-4 weeks ago I bought my kiddos a new TV for their room because theirs went out. It is one of those with the DVD player in it. Well, now the DVD player won't work. And guess who didn't keep the box OR the receipt? And they won't let me take it back.

UUUGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so frustrated at myself.

How do you overcome?

This could be a pretty deep question. It is one that I have thought a lot about lately.

How do I overcome?

Well, let me give you a few examples of how I have overcome in the past.

~overeating

~calling a friend on the phone

~throwing a fit

~getting angry

~having a pity party.....

You get the idea. Well, I am learning that not only are these not really ways to overcome, they are very unhealthy ways to deal with problems. In the past when I have tried to overcome by these examples, I only hurt myself. And I was not really accomplishing the task of trying to overcome.

I just googled the word "overcome and here is what I found-

over·come

1.to get the better of in competition, struggle, etc.; conquer
2.to master, prevail over, or surmount to overcome obstacles
3.to make helpless; overpower or overwhelm

WOW!!!! Reading that was a moment for me!!!

To get the better of in a struggle, to conquer, to overcome obstacles, to make helpless! So this to me means that when we truly overcome we make the enemy helpless!!!!

Now back to my original point.

The way that I now overcome is to praise through the storm, in the midst of a battle I sing praises to my Daddy God, instead of getting angry or depressed I choose to be happy and positive. And just to make this clear, I have NO power in myself to do any of this. Yes, I do have a choice each day to either be positive or negative BUT GOD is the one that gives me the power to make that choice.

So in closing this post, really think about this question, How do you overcome?

Praising through the storm

Hello all!

If you are just now checking out my blog, scroll down and read the post from last night. It is good stuff!

Today my family didn't go to church because of my 2 little ones being very sick. Me, my mom and Jacob will be going tonight but we had to miss this morning. I went to get our groceries for the week since I didn't go to church. I didn't want to go tomorrow while George is at work so I took my chance while I had it. Anyway, while I was at Wal-Mart getting my groceries I noticed that gas there is down to $2.86!!!! Praise the Lord!!!! It has been getting higher and higher, I was beginning to think it would never go down.

Jacob is still coughing, Amber and Nate are both coughing something terrible and they both have a fever. Amber was vomiting this morning because her cough was so bad. And Nate has had 3-4 watery diapers. I guess it is all from the crud they have. Amber and Jacob have also complained with their heads hurting. Earlier I was holding Amber and it had been about 45 minutes since I had given her fever medicine and she was still burning up. So I prayed for her and had to remember my post from last night. I chose to be thankful that it isn't any worse and praise God through it.

I know that God will get us through this and we WILL praise Him through this storm!!!!

weary no longer...

Psalms 63:1

1 O God, you are my God,earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you,

my body longs for you,

in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live,

and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

It seems like the last couple of months I have been in a funk. You know, when you pray and you feel like there is a glass ceiling above you and your prayers are just bouncing off. A lot of this feeling is because I have allowed myself to grow weary. In all of the well doing and just living my life I have allowed the enemy to sneak in with weariness. Well, no longer!!!!

I am going to earnestly seek Him no matter what I FEEL. I am tired of being in this dry and weary land where there is no water! My soul thirsts and my body longs for Him. And I have so many times seen Him and beheld His power and His everlasting glory! He is so much better than anything I have EVER experienced or ever will. His love is better than life itself and I will praise Him and my lips will sing praises to Him!!!!

I have to say here that all of this sounds great and all but in the midst of trial and the dry lands when I am no longer feeling Him what will my response be? Well, it will be a choice to still praise Him and realize how amazing He is, no matter what.

I want to make it clear that it is a choice I make every day. It is not some miracle feeling that makes me serve my Daddy God each morning when I get up. It is because I owe Him my life! As of right now I am in the midst of the dry lands still but I am choosing to reach up toward His hand and allow Him to pull me out of the dry lands. And in all reality it is a choice I am making every minute, not just every morning. When I get up- I choose to be happy and grateful that He has given me another day, when my kids are sick and crying- I choose to praise Him and believe that the fever will go away soon, when I have too many people calling my name at once and I feel like I am going to have a panic attack if I hear my name one more time- I choose to allow Him to be my peace.

God is my everything and living for Him isn't just something I do, it is who I am. I feel like if I go one day without my best friend, God, I might just die. He is the breath I breathe, He is the calm in my storms, He is the love I have in my heart for the people around me that may not be so nice to me, He is my everything!

This post has gone nothing like I had planned when I got on here so I hope and pray that whoever this is for, you will allow God to speak to you through my ramblings and that I have been used to help get you to the next place God has for you.

I have slacked in my posting and I am really going to try and get back to this. In the last few weeks I have felt like there were things that God put in my heart to post and I just didn't find the time. It is also a great tool for me to get things out of my head and see them so that God can show me things that I may have been ignoring.

Well, that is all for tonight. I pray that each of you have a blessed Sunday and that God will use each of you to change the life of someone who needs you.

Amazing song......

This is a song that sums up the last several weeks in my life. Please listen and read the words and let God bless you. It is an amazing song! Go down and pause my music player and play the video from YouTube. (Once again my blog will not keep the spaces inbetween my lines, sorry it is jumbled up!)

Sanctus Real - Whatever You're Doing

It's time for healing time to move on

It's time to fix what's been broken too long

Time to make right what has been wrong

It's time to find my way to where I belong

There's a wave that's crashing over me

And all I can do is surrender

(Chorus)Whatever You're doing inside of me

It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace

It's hard to surrender to what I can't see

but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone

Time to begin again

Reevaluate who I really am

Am I doing everything to follow Your will

Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills

So show me what it is You want from me

I give everything I surrender...To...

(Chorus)

Time to face up

Clean this old house

Time to breathe in and let everything out

That I've wanted to say for so many years

Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me

It feels like chaos but I believe

You're up to something bigger than me

Larger than life something Heavenly

Whatever You're doing inside of me

It feels like chaos but now I can see

This *is* something bigger than me

Larger than life something Heavenly

Something Heavenly

It's time to face up

Clean this old house

Time *to* breathe in and let everything out

Maybe????

I think I like what I have put together. I wanted to see what all of you think about my new look.

So leave me a comment and let me know!

Have a great week!!!!!

Under Construction

Hello all!

Just wanted to let you know that I am in the process of looking for a really cute Fall look for my blog. Until I find it things may look a little crazy on here. Just bear with me and stay tuned for the final look that I choose!!!!

Have a great Sunday!

Hello!

It has been a while since I posted. I have been SO busy!!! I have tried to keep a check on all of your blogs, sorry I haven't been commenting though. My mom is doing great and appreciates all of your prayers.

I wanted to share real quick some pictures that my friend Aprille took of my Amber the other day. She is so precious in these. When we are outside she will play with these sea shells that we have collected over the years. On this day, she had a rock that was her baby egg and the sea shells were her babies. She has buried them somewhere in the yard to keep them safe. I have so enjoyed watching her play and seeing her childhood innocence blossom.

Hope you all have a great Sunday!!!!!

Totally unaware she is being watched!

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OH hello there!!

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Showing off one of her "babies".

How PRECIOUS!!!

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