13 years of December.....minus 1

I was encouraged when reading one of my favorite bloggers post, 9 years of Decembers.....

she is intentional about looking back through her blog posts and remembering 

so i decided to do that same.

i have been blogging for 13 years with one of those years only having 8 blog posts the whole year and that last one that year was in May so there was no December that was blogged then.......

My Decembers have been full of some of the same things like posts about the books that i have read every year.......chances to see best friends......

thoughts on life.........52 adventures that we experianced.......myself expressed in words when i can think about the answers later and not spur of the moment answers............celebration of new life..............funny kid experiances............



the gift of hearing................vacations................





Christmas pictures...................mom advice..........first home purchase..................before kids.................



sentiments on friends....................Three Things Thursday

It has been so fun to go back through the Decembers of blogging past.

Twenty-Five

i am reading a book right now called Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist (you can download a sample chapter of the book at her website here.)

I have really enjoyed it, even though i am still early on in the book. 

these last few years i have been devouring non-fiction books, which are usually not my favorite kind of books.

the chapter that i am currently on in the book is called twenty-five. i was't sure what to expect when i started this chapter. what did twenty-five mean. Age, was not what i was thinking when diving into twenty-five.

i started thinking back to twenty-five.

i was married

no kids yet

living thousands of miles away from anything familiar

becoming familiar with new places

meeting new people

having adventures i could have never imagined
it my have been the poorest time in our life
but a time that changed and shaped and grew us the most

her chapter about what twenty-five is different and somewhat the same from my twenty-fifth chapter in life.
i was married young so there was no decision to be made about a relationship that my be good or bad for me.
i worked to pay the bills
i didn't have a season of space from going to church, in fact we jumped into finding a new church when we moved to WA state and we fell in love with the church and the people who attended that church. There was much community there.

Twenty-five was great. But over ten years later......so is the now. There is lots we have learned from twenty-five. Lots that is better  because of twenty-five. Equally lots that we miss from being twenty-five. Surprisingly the no kids is not one of them. They have made life interesting and added to an adventure like no other.

Hands Free

It all started when a friend posted the simple question on Facebook of "What is your favorite Bible verse?"

The chasing started......the being sought out.... and then is came in and in and in. from different places and in different forms........

for weeks now i have felt stuck in a rut, frustrated, unsettled, discouraged.

everywhere i turned though, He was there, He is showing me He loves me, that i need to let go, that i need to continue to forgive. He shows up in random posts from random places on social media. He shows up in an elementary fiction novel. He shows up in a nonfiction book i read. He shows up in a Facebook live video i watched about family, He shows up in a Sunday morning sermon. 

this is what it looks like......

"And if not He is still good."

From the story in Daniel about his three friends telling King Nebuchadnezzar, that even if God DOES NOT save them from the fiery furnace (even though they believe that He CAN) that He is still GOOD.

that one right there popped up multiple times.

then there is the book "A Wind in the Door" by Madeline L'Engel

"If someone knows who he is, really knows, then he doesn't have to hate."

and

"Love. That's what makes persons know who they are. You're full of love, Meg, but you don't know how to stay within it when it's not easy."   

Then there is......"There are so many beautiful things to see, but when we spend too much time fixating on what other people want us to see, we miss them all."

"We must be ready....to surrender the desire to please everyone.....to surrender to the hope of being liked and accepted by everyone.....to surrender  the fear of making mistakes. we must be ready to release our words, choices, dreams-into the atmosphere knowing we cannot control other peoples reactions to them." 

I need to focus on the beautiful details right in front of me, instead of fixating on that which i cannot control.

Quotes from the book "Hands Fee Life" by Rachel Macy Stafford

Facebook live video......

"in humility count others more important than yourselves......" Philippians 2

Gary Morland posted the video here.

Then at church yesterday......sermon here (sermon starts at 29:20)
guess what he preached on.................




Philippians 2
yep
see the chasing......

here are just a couple of things that i made note of in the sermon:

Our toxic mentality can then be lived out with one another, if we do not have the mind of Christ.
When you value people you show them that they have the priority.
What value does Jesus place on this person?
Making yourself low so you can lift others up.
Am i wanting something from this person or for them!
How are you going to treat people who you have power and influence over?
What is your identity wrapped up in?
Are you willing to serve even when it hurts?

Every night i have been praying to Love like He loves, to see people like He does. to get rid of any bitterness in my head and heart. He is drawing me near to Himself, stretching me and continuing to reach me. Wherever i am.

Mom moments

stages of life are strange and fun all at the same time. i am not in a stage of life anymore where i am diapering and changing and bathing children. I still help little girl in the bath but my son is completely independent in the showering department, and has been for awhile. however, this whole showering thing is going to give me a heart attack, i just know it. i will die running to the bathroom to check on golden boy. why? you may ask. it has nothing to do with my worry of his safety but realizing 5 minuets into his shower that i forgot to take his hearing aids out. i haul to the bathroom, heart pounding, shower curtain pulled aside and check to see if they are out.

funny thing about growing up, they grow up in more areas than just being independent with showers. he has become more and more responsible for the care of his hearing aids. i get messages from his hearing specialist at school saying how proud she is that he is advocating for himself when it comes to his hearing aids. he lets them know when they aren't working correctly or needs new batteries. he has been so great about all of that and i love hearing about it from the ladies at school that love and care for him.

i need to calm down and realize that he is growing up, becoming more responsible, and caring for his hearing aids. i still will probably run to the bathroom, heart pounding, worried that he has forgotten to take them out a few more times (i am mom) but it is getting better and i am realizing what a sweet, grown up, responsible, guy that i have. he makes me smile and makes me proud.

Bathroom Updates

Bathroom update and the headaches that come with living in an old house.

don't get me wrong, i love our old house. it has grown on me over the 10 years that we have lived here. (that wasn't always the case) but doing a remodel on an old house can be a bit challenging.

we had plumbers come out and give suggestions on what we should purchase, like brands and all. so we headed to a local plumbing supply store (not Home Depot or Lowes, although we did go there too)

we were looking for a toilet, toilet seat, replacement knobs for the shower and vanity and a new vanity.  We looked around and were a bit over whelmed at the cost of some of the items. someone asked us if we needed help, my initial reaction was no we are just looking. then my hubby says to me, well maybe we do need some help. but we continued to look. we started with the toilets and found the brand that the plumber told us to get, Gerber (not to be confused with the baby food)

then we looked at the faucet items that we needed. we searched and searched for something to replace these three knobs but weren't able to find them anywhere. this is where asking for help came in. we had a gentleman that first helped us with the toilet selection and answered come questions about the Gerber brand toilets, there were three (good, better, best) we decided to go with the better model. he did talk about the no slam seat and i was hooked. especially after hearing my friend Lindsay talk about loving her no slam seat in her new house. that all seemed to go fairly well. then it was deciding about faucets. the gentleman that was helping us said that they don't really make this kind of faucet anymore. that he could probably get us one in a chrome and glass knobs but the circle ones were code now. of course then we had the problem with what to do about the other tow holes then. he showed us a conversion plate that he had to go onto the tile to hide the holes and then you place the on off controller over that. see the picture below.

during this whole buying stuff process my hubby called the plumber letting him know about some of the changes, like the face plate for the shower (mainly that)

the next morning he got a call from the company saying that the plumber that was assigned to our job had called out sick and would be out all week. my hubby asked for another plumber to come out and the guy who came out basically said that the first plumber was a new plumber and under quoted us and got in over his head on this project. WOW! what had we gotten into. 

back at the plumbing supply store: 

the gentleman showed us which sink faucet was the matching one to this shower set up and we got it to replace this old thing (that was really my main reason for doing any of this)

the kids had a hard time turning it on and turning it off and it would drip or run all the time.

you can kind of see the back splash in the picture above. i will get to that in just a bit.

so we have our toilet covered (and the toilet seat, sheesh)

the shower and sink faucet now on to a vanity. here is the old one. it use to be white or maybe ivory is a better word, or even better yellowed ivory. shook i don't know.

it was ugly. when we repainted and went with the Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse theme for the bathroom (embracing the yellow tile) i painted the cabinet black on the outside.

since we were changing some things out we decided to go with a new vanity as well. we measured the width and went looking. we really wanted some drawers and not just the double door cabinet.

what it looked like once the vanity was removed.

the tile was a mess

my wonderful husband did a lot of cleaning and scraping there and when i got home i just had a bit more scraping to do with the blade.

 we found this vanity and really liked it (it apparently came with a solid white top (which i think that i would have liked better) but by the time we knew that this one was already installed)

Remember that picture of the old sinks backsplach? HERE IT IS! another thing we didn't realize was that the back splash was there to cover up the four holed in the tile that is behind the sink. we researched what to do about that. this company doesn't have the same marble (or whatever it is) in a back splash but they have it in a side splash. however, they cost a little over $30 and they are about 4-5 inches short for the back splash. we thought that we could buy two and then cut them each to fit and then just have a seem down the middle where the faucet was but we really weren't willing to drop $60 on it with the cost of everything else. i think that we decided that we were going to get a small piece of composite trim and cut it the right length and put it there.

 that wasn't the extent of our bathroom vanity woes. the plumber told us that the drawers weren't going to work because of the piping. we went back and fourth on what we were going to do and came up with keeping the drawer system but cutting the bottom drawer to fit (thinking that was going to be the only one with the problem. or we thought about taking it out and putting in a basket) well come to find out it was both bottom and middle drawers, once it was installed and we were now looking at cutting both of them. 

here is what the drawers looked like out.

we removed the silver piece

my father in law cut the back end off

we measured from the front of the drawer, 12 inches (we cut about 4 inches off of the back of the drawer)

this is the back piece that we gorilla glued back to the drawer

we let them sit overnight and then next day i attached the silver pieces back on and slid them into the vanity

here is the top drawer opened

and here is one of the bottom ones. ( i think this may be the middle one but i had the bottom one opened too.)

needless to say we have it pretty much all completed.  there is still some major shower cleaning to do but i just don't want to do another thing right now. it is crazy how messy the whole house can get over one room being in disarray. things are slowing getting back in there but like i said s-l-o-w-l-y.
we like the look of everything (even though i told  my hubby over and over, we should just rip out all of the tile) again we are embracing the look of the yellow tile and the colors of everything else work for now. i don't think we will have the Mickey and Minnie theme forever. If you have some suggestions of themes that could go with yellow tile i would love to hear it.

when life just seems overwhelming and you wonder if the choices you are making with parenting....

are the correct ones

if they are worth it

if they are making a difference

if your child/children gets it

if they are benefiting from it

when you con't understand the things your child does, because they are so different from what you would have done and a friend reassures you of what may have been going through their head....perspective

when you feel as though all you are doing is for naught and then you get an email from the teacher saying, not only are they still doing well, behavior wise today but they came straight into class this morning and let the teacher know what we discussed last night.

you sigh out all that wonder

you feel the tears well up

you realize that it was all worth it

they get it

it is a process

the process can be beautiful, even in the ugly

it is COMPLETELY worth it

we are not trying to raise just moral children, we are aiming to raise Godly children who love the Lord with all of their hearts and souls. Praying for these children of mine and that they learn to depend on Him and to chase after Him with all of their hearts and souls, even in the difficult times.

Too Old!

My  mom recently gave me some books that were mine growing up. I guess technically they are hers since she bought them but she gave them to me. I read them in  high school, maybe in college too, but I think mostly in high school. I loved them but I rarely re-read a book and, lets be honest, I don't really have the space that I dream of having when it comes to books. I LOVE BOOKS! YES! I DO! If I had it my way I would have a room with wall to wall book shelves that go from floor to ceiling. These shelves would be lined with books upon books and not these "how to style a book shelf" shelves, thank you very much pinterest.  (I'm sorry pinterest, I really do love you) but really fully book shelves, like a book store or library. Yes! I would have a mini library, in-my-house.

Side by side by side books would sit and a rolling ladder, YES please! This would of course be to get the books all the way on the top and to look pretty. Of course this makes no sense in my current house because my ceilings are short and normal, not high and beautiful (I am completely fine with my normal, 1960s house ceilings but this being my dream, book room, the ceilings need to be taller than my existing home.)

so, since this is not going to happen, my love for books and the ability to keep....E-V-E-R-Y
S-I-N-G-L-E one that I read in not feasible. I mean we already have a plastic bin full of books that aren't on shelves and more books in my closet that I will not get rid of (they are dear to my heart.)

So back to the books that my mom gave me, to take to the used book store. It is 2 series of 4 books. (8 books total) they are by the author Lori Wick. I loved reading these books. they are so good and not like the books now that tend to be all dark and twisty (that's right Meredith Gray-not that dark and twisty is all bad but back to the point) Yesterday I took these books to the used book store for credit to buy more books (I know, nuts) and the lady told me that she could not take the Lori Wick books because they were TOO OLD! 

WHAT!

TOO OLD! Yes that is right.

How can a book be too old?

 

 

I did find a solution though. I remember my friend Amber telling me that she was reading some Lori Wick books and really enjoying them. She wondered why we never spoke about her books, when we had all of the conversations about books, when we lived closer and would devour books from the library.

 

 I messaged her and asked her if she wanted me to send them to her. She sais YES! I am so glad these "too old" stories will continue to be read.

 

 

OH!

Amber.......she is my age.

We aren't too old!

Not yet anyway!





Currently................December Edition

Listening...............Christmas music.......lots and lots of Christmas music. some of my favorites are: How May Kings by Downhere
Just a Girl by Brandon Heath
You're Here by Francesca Battistelli
there are many, many more that I love but these are just a few that have been really awesome this year.

Eating.....................yummy sweets. brownies, cookies, cakes, bread puddings, petite fores. seriously I need to stop but it is all so very yummy. I think some peanut butter fudge may be in my future.

Drinking............still coffee. every morning coffee, water during the day and sometime apple cider with the hubby at night

Wearing..............sweaters and boots (and leggings, I never thought I would be wearing leggings again but I have two pair (about to have three) fleece lined leggings and they are soft and comfy and I love them. it is winter time here and while I probably won't be liking it in a month or so I am ok with it right now.

Feeling...............a bit yucky. whatever I have has decided to hang on for the long haul it seems

Weather..............cold as previously mentioned and the past couple of days it has been a bit gray. it will be nice to see some blue skies among this cold

Wanting................to feel better

Needing...............to feel better

Thinking................about spending Christmas with my family

Enjoying................the Advent Study that I am doing

Reading................. Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist

Questions?

in Sunday school this last weekend we were all asked to share when was a time that we felt close to God? my brain immediately went to one thing and I stuck with it.

let me just say my introverted self hates questions like this. really, just group questions in general. I don't like speaking I groups (even our Sunday school class who I know practically everyone and is not overly large) that is my issues though.

I want to be able to think about it longer. I definitely had a good bit of time to think about my answer but my brain said its answer and instead of wording it well I soaked in everything else that everyone was saying, their answers, and I loved it all.

my answer went something like this. "missions trips. I went on a few when I was younger and one with this guy(as I pointed to my hubby.)"

I probably sounded like a dork. it is true......the times I've felt closest to God was on missions trips. meeting the people wherever we are, going to new places, building things needed to help others, VBS camps, medical/dental work, sharing God's word with others. most of the time stretching for me but always good and wonderful and life filling.

that was the big times for me. but as I listened to others speak I realized that I can daily experience His presence and usually do. in nature. the sun rise in the morning, the sunset at night, stars bright and shiny, puffy clouds, ocean waves (well that isn't a daily experience but that sure would be awesome.) mountains, wind. huge trees.

then there is my children's face, my husbands love. and the beauty I find around me. a picture, photograph, painting, song, words read, time spent, arms wrapped up and held.

I love that I can daily experience Him in what sometimes is called the little or small things but they are not. they are the big things in life and they are the important and they are some of the best experiences and ways to draw and be close to my Savior.

Currently.......November Edition

Listening.............Pandora stations when I run.

Eating.................yummy warm breads

drinking..................apple cider and seasonal lattes from Starbucks

wearing....................jeans and long sleeves/sweaters with thermals under them. it is low, low temps here. this is suppose to be the south too

 feeling..................ready for thanksgiving and time with family

weather.................like I said way, way too cold. low temps, cold feet

wanting.................some warmer socks and a new pair of slippers

needing................Thursday to be here so that I can watch parenthood

thinking.................about my sweet friend who is going on a missions trip

enjoying...............making elf tutu's

 reading................. a million little ways by Emily P. Freeman  only one chapter in but loved that chapter so much I am ready for the rest of the book

Old Homes

one thing that comes with owning an old home is small closets. every spring we pack up the fall/winter clothes and pull out the spring/summer clothing. same thing come fall. all our spring/summer clothing gets packed up.

this happened last night. the hubby went through his clothes and made a donation pile and we packed things up. usually I don't looks forward to this event, wishing for bigger closets to hold it all. and my initial thought when we started was that I didn't want to do this. however when we got started it wasn't so bad.

It made me realize our blessing in clothing. I reminisced about certain things that we wore, when. the blue polo that he wore when we took family photos when golden boy was one.  the pink polo he purchased to wear on the way our little girl was born. the shirt he purchased when he attended the funeral of one of our favorite professors.

so many memories held in my hands last night in clothing. pictures usually get me all sentimental. I didn't expect it to happen with a couple of shirts.

unexpected blessing. my heart is happy in the remembering.

Inspire

i believe that I have heard "what inspires you?" at a womens event at our church. it wasn't a question that we had to directly answer but just the idea of having to answer it made me nervous. questions like that make my palms sweaty and my mind go blank. I don't really know why. I mean there can't be a wrong answer in that question, can there be?  no matter I still feel like retreating when some questions arise. 

it has been a little bit since I had that question posed to us as a group. for some reason that word popped into my head again today and along with the word, something that inspires me.

first let me share the definition on inspire:
1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.

2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion

3.

    a. To stimulate to action; motivate:

    b. To affect or touch:

4. To draw forth; elicit or arouse:

5. To be the cause or source of; bring about:

6. To draw in (air) by inhaling.

7. Archaic

a. To breathe on.

b. To breathe life into.

 

when I think back to when I was younger some things that I remember enjoying were reading books and worship music. I think that something that inspires me is "words"

 

I remember keeping a quote book when I was younger, in fact I still have it. (now my quote book is on pinterest) but I am still collecting quotes. WORDS 

 

I absorbed books. one of my favorite authors, then and still now is Robin Jones Gunn. Her words are beautiful and true and lovely. WORDS

 

Praise and worship music.  Things have changed and continue to change in the music industry but there are songs that speak life into my soul, make me well up in tears and shout the words at the top of my lungs. a few recent are: Fix my Eyes by For King and Country, Oceans by Hillsong United, Multiplied by Need to Breathe, Overwhelmed by Big Daddy Weave. WORDS 

 

Scripture. I attempt to read Jesus Calling by Sarah  Young daily and try to read the verses that go along with each day. I also have a collection of daily verses on Pinterest that are so great it makes me smile knowing that God put them there for me. WORDS

 

and some of the new ways I read (I still love to hold a book in my hand and feel the pages) but blogs, websites, social media, encouragement from other people, most I don't even know. there is just so much goodness. blogs like A Holy Experience or Under the Sycamore and a blogger that I do know, she is my cousin and she amazes me with the words that she has inside of her and the things that she writes. I love to read her blog Such Small Hands and Two Sore Thumbs

instagram feeds like @bobgoff (I read his book Love Does but love seeing his words coming through my ig feed, it re-reminds me of Love and how to give it and share it with others)

and @Bottle_of_Tears an ig that I just started to follow after purchasing one of her bottles for a friend of mine. she is brave and strong and I love how she is using her life and story to help others.  WORDS

 

New, Fresh, Life altering, Life giving, Awing, Lovely, Graceful, True, Beautiful, Astounding, Amazing, Overwhelming, Inspiring........WORDS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently........October edition

Listening.............Pandora stations when I run.

Eating.................nothing exciting (yet!) feeling board actually in what I am eating

drinking..................coffee of course and water but coffee in the morning is so great. in fact I had some the other day with a bit of pumpkin spice in it and it was AWESOME

wearing....................still shorts and flip flops. I think I am tricking myself when I put on jeans but I am not. I end up getting way to hot

feeling..................excited for fall break

weather.................still hot. it will get cool, I know but I am so ready for it

wanting.................the book Bread and Wine and Authentic

needing................to slow down and take it all in

thinking.................about way to much

enjoying...............this phase of life

and just because I love to read I am adding another on

reading.................on the last chapter of Love Does by Bob Goff. I have thoroughly loved this book. I think I don't want it to end and that is why it has taken me so long to read it all.  still stuck in Anna Karenina. I don't think I will make book club this month. in fact I know I won't I will finish it thought. I WILL. and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (another book club read, enjoying it though)

Currently......

i saw this on pinterest of course and thought that I would try and implement "currently" on the blog. any other people who would like to join in please do. it looks fun.

listening.....the Wailin Jenny's Radio on Pandora

eating....hummus and chips and greek vanilla yogurt and granola

drinking.....coffee and water, almost always coffee and water

wearing.......comfy t-shirts

feeling....this song running through my mind, body, heart and soul.
The chorus:
I'd love like I'm not scared,
give when it's not fair
live life for another
take time for a brother
speak out for freedom
find faith in the battle
stand tall but above it all
fix my eyes on You
(song by for King and Country)

weather.....getting better but still hot.....I am ready for fall my favorite time of the year

wanting.....this shirt, like really bad.

needing......more time spent with God

thinking...........I sometime wish that time would stand still

enjoying............the books that I am reading.
forever with you by Robin Gunn (love catching up with my friend from when I was 12 Christy Miller Spencer

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (for book club) I was at part 4 when I stopped. picking up and trudging on)

A movie review, well maybe not but just thoughts

my husband and I watched this movie together the other night. from the moment it started I was thinking.....wow I feel just like Allison and as the movie went on I could relate so much to how she was feeling and what she was going through. I am probably not nearly as germ-aphobic as she is but almost everything else, yeah that can be me. I really enjoyed this movie.

I think there is a lot of pressure on us as moms. and I believe that a lot of it is put on ourselves. it is hard not to though. now that we are in the swing of this mom thing and we are out in public and one of our children (or maybe even both, or quite possibly all three, or more) are pitching a typical kid fit, and we are embarrassed. it's hard to remember when we didn't have those children, or even when we were single, the things that we may or may not have thought about other people whose kids were acting out in public. I will be honest I thought those things like, wow can't they control their child, or what is wrong with them, or man their kids are bad, or mine will never act that way. crazy thing is we can't control our children. they have their own free will. sure we can raise them the way that we want them to be and pray that with God's help and guidance that they grow up to honor and love Him and respect and obey us, but there has to be some consideration for the child's own free will and maybe that mother you saw out in public was doing her very best at the time.

so when I am out and one of my two children act out I think sometime the image that I am seeing, the judgmental image, is just a younger, child-less version of myself. it's hard not too.

so after watching this movie I am clinging to the reminder that I am one of His masterpieces. I don't have to be perfect, have everything perfect or seem perfect. motherhood is hard. but God sees me. He loves me. He walks beside me, carries me,  holds me and loves me. I was made for a purpose.

Mom's out there remember to stand beside other moms. help them out. hold them up. encourage them through out this motherhood journey that you are on together. she is the only other person who understands what you may be going through. we are all in this together and we have a purpose and calling by the One who loves us.

A few of my Favorite Things......

crackle fireworks-the way they look and sound

shopping for greeting cards

the smell of books, ink, sharpies, and gasoline

the sound of water running over pebbles

books

coffee

blue eyes-not that any other eye color I dislike but there are these two pair of blue eyes that I can fall

into every day I love them so much

baby feet

baby smells

nail polish

shoes

chocolate

baking

hoodies

pumpkin (almost anything)

wall calendars

online ordering (but I hate paying for shipping)

photos

pinterest

nutella

corner brownies

holding hands

foot rubs(not feet thought) (except baby feet as you may have noticed in the beginning of the list)

waking my children up in the morning (even when they are grumpy

candy corn

wildflowers

cutting our grass (but I have no method, I like to make, what I call crop circles around the trees that we have in the front yard)

bluegrass music

most music in general (my ipod as a crazy mixture of music on in....I mean crazy)

My Mother's Day

So while i wrote about Mother's Day i didn't include that in my mothers day experience. When my golden boy came home from school the Friday before he had a big smile on his face and said "I have a surprise for you mommy."

I closed my eyes and waited for what it was that he had for me (completely forgetting that mother's day was coming up and that it
may be something mother's day-ish.)
The hot plate and card were just wonderful and made my day.


during our camping trip i came across several heart shaped rocks. i thought it was cool when i found the first one. then i found another one and it became my mission to find more. the kids knew that i was searching and they would find some sometimes too. here is my collection of smallish heart shaped rocks.

on mother's day morning after waking up late (my husband got up with my daughter after his attempt at convincing her to snuggle with him in the tent didn't work and they watched the river for a while and then headed to the store and got me a cup of coffee.) when i woke up they were gone so i got some time sitting by the river.
  later on in the day as we were packing up they kids were playing at the river and i heard golden boy call out, "momma! momma! look what i found for you." he was hauling this big heart shaped rock up the hill and to our camp site. it was so sweet. i just love my babies and how sweet they were to me on mother's day.

my heart was happy and full. blessed with this awesome family that God has given me. as a little girl all i wanted to be was a mommy. i played babies and house probably a lot longer then most other girls did. (but maybe not, i don't know) i wanted six kids then. baby dolls don't make as much noise as real babies do.  :)  now i have two kiddo's and i have so many feeling on being a mother and having children and thoughts about their future but have a hard time verbalizing all of those feelings and wants. i came across this blog post and just love everything about it. i want to "win my children's hearts."

Books Read in 2012

at the beginning of every year i post a list of all the books that i read in the previous year. i have been keeping track in a notebook since 2004. i think that year was the most books i've ever read in one year bit i have gotten close in other years. here is my 2012 list

Blessed Child-Ted Dekker and Bill Bright
Thr3e-Ted Dekker
Here Burns My Candle-Liz Curtis Higgs
Safe Haven-Nicholas Sparks
Loving-Karen Kingsbury
The Short 2nd Life of Bree Tanner-Stephanie Meyer
One Thousand Gifts-Ann Voskamp
The Last Summer (of You and Me)-Ann Brashares
Kidnapped-Dee Henderson
The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire-Suzanne Collins
Mocking Jay-Suzanne Collins
Larkspur Cove-Lisa Wingate
Chomp-Carl Hiaasen
Blue Moon Bay-Lisa Wingate
Waterfall-Lisa T. Bergren
The Lightening Thief-Rick Riordan
Cascade-Lisa T Bergren
Looking for Alaska-John Green
Torrent-Lisa T Bergren
Bourne-Lisa T Bergren
Coming Home-Karen Kingsbury
Seven-Jen Hatmaker
Between Sisters-Kristin Hannah
Finally and Forever-Robin Jones Gunn
Mr Darcy Broke my Heart-Beth Pattillo
Parables from the Backside-J. Ellsworth Kalas
The Dashwood Sisters Tell All-Beth Pattillo
The Pioneer Woman Black Heels to Tractor Wheels-Ree Drummond
Last Light-Terri Blackstock
Night Light-Terri Blackstock
True Light-Terri Blackstock
Mine is the Night-Liz Curtis Higgs
Dawns Light-Terri Blackstock
Tributary-Lisa T Bergren
Firefly Lane-Kristin Hannan
Kisses from Katie-Katie Davis
Lost December-Richard Paul Evans
A Wreath of Snow-Liz Curtis Higgs
Cape Refuge-Terri Blackstock
The Road to Grace-Richard Paul Evans
Souther Storm-Terri Blackstock

next i will try to post my favorite quotes from these books that i have read this year.  so fun.

Blogging Through 2011...

this is the 6th year that i have done blogging through.....
i went to the first post of every month the wrote the first scentance or line from that post. (not the title...unless there is no text.)
i love looking back and remembering what the beginning of each month held.
here goes....

Janurary: Sweet Dreams by: Robin Jones Gunn

February: usually i post a picture of her looking right at the camera because her eyes are so amazing, but i just love this one

March: 9 months old

April: the only word to describe for how i am feeling today.

May: my hubby and i love to go to festivals.

June: paper....she is facinated with paper.

July: Webster says Liberty is: 1. the quality of state of being free a. the power to do as one pleases b. the freedom from physical restraint.

August: this is one of our favorite groups to "jam" to.

September: this is a photo of my grandparents on their wedding day,

October: it apperars that all of these people are just standing around watching the train that is passing, but in fact, they along with my family were attending the Madison Street Festival.

November: these two kids are the light of my life.

December: this is one of the things that we bought for little guy for Christmas and it is probably one of my favorite things too.

so there you have it Blogging Through 2011. What in the world will next year hold? We shall see.

Seriously

where has this child come from. my son never did stuff like this (not that he wasn't a mess and into other things) any my niece and nephew didn't do this climbing stuff either. notice the little red bowl on the ground, i guess she used that to climb onto the trash can and i guess she wanted cheese it's. i'm glad my camera was close by. the other day we found her with a stool in front of a door at my mother in laws house trying to get in. like i said, none of the other kids did this......where is she from? :)