Thankful Thursday Surprises!!

Oh how I love surprises!! I knew one was coming in the mail from a good friend of mine Nicole... the wait is finally over!! As I came home this morning after taking care of my nieces and nephews last night, I stopped at my mailbox and discovered that a package had arrived!! I quickly went upstairs to my apartment and opened it... oooohh, pure and unstoppable joy filled me... I saw the cutest most adorable little ghosts... I kept digging and found a little candle light, bags of corn candy, and two soda fountain glasses... (Nicole is super crafty and artsy talented)... I then find directions and the website she referred to in making these adorable halloween decorations... www.mypapercran.com ...I am blessed to have a friend like Nicole who is so giving and artsy and is willing to share her talents and bless my heart with surprises!! Here's the pictures of these super cutesy ghost cozies.. Thank you Nicole!!







Happy Thursday Everyone!! :)

Needed some pep in my step!

So you see how happy this girl looks? I think it must be that she loves her hairstyle!! I am in need of some happiness caused by a great hairstyle! I will most likely be calling my hairstylist soon and making an appointment... because I am feeling kinda flunky about my current state of hair.. Oh how I love feeling of a new do!

With our current financial situation and me not working we have had to cut a few things from the budget and one of the things we could cut was my every 6 weeks hair appointments... it was a hard decision for me, I love getting my hair done and I need to dye my hair because I am very grey.. but I knew that not working would come with some sacrifices.. so I stretch my time between haircuts and I have started dying my own hair... it's going okay, but I miss Kelly dying it for me! ... Michael has actually dyed it a few times and he's done okay too.. although it makes him nervous that if he messes up it would be devastating to me and I'd be really mad at him.. but he has not messed up.. although at times he has picked some very purpley hair colors. :) So I am browsing hairstyles and hoping that in the next week I will have that new hair do pep back! Here's some fun hairstyles I am loving!

Thankful Thursday

"It's the beauty of simplicity
that brings me down to my knees
I'll praise You for eternity
and lord I love You
Because You
You first loved me
It's the beauty of simplicity
that fills me with eternity
I've tasted Your divinity
and, Lord, I love You
Because You
You first loved me"
-Telecast Lyrics "Beauty of Simplicity"

I have been finding that lately I am most caught off guard and amazed by God's beauty and love when I notice the little things...

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Robert Brault

These are the little things that make me thankful today..

1. Smiley faces... if you know me you know that I use this symbol :) in my writing all the time.. something about this little symbol that makes me smile so when you see it in my writings know that I am smiling along with it! :)

2. Caleb's laughter at the dinner tables that involves hitting the table when he gets going.. he will laugh and then that laughter creates a reaction that causes him to hit the table.. it's so funny that it makes me laugh even harder...

3. Faith's laughter that is inaudible.. she has the kind of laugh that when she gets going will become silent.. you know the laugh that is just so exuberant that it becomes silent.. it cracks me up!

4. Fortunes in fortune cookies.. it's kind of a family joke with us.. let's just say that I do a really good angry Chinese-American accent... probably not politically correct, but silly to my kids none the less...

5. The morning routine with Michael that when the alarm clock goes off we hit snooze and decide who's turn it is to snuggle.. I know you are probably gagging.. but it's something that has defined our morning routine for almost 14 years now... love it

6. the smell of Faith's room in the morning.. I love the fact that my girl is very girly.. she loves good smelling lotion and every morning her room smells so amazing when you walk by it, that smell lingers on during the day.. I know that someday she will be off on her own and I will miss this smell....

7. High-Low... it's this game we play at the dinner table that Elizabeth taught us.. You tell your high part of the day and your low part and then pick the person who will go next.. it's just a great way to get topics rolling at the dinner table and really see what impacted your kids' day...

8. Nacho Night.. I love Nachos.. :)

9. Changing seasons... I was in the car yesterday and noticed the start of leaves changing colors... how I love watching things turn to different shades and knowing that we are entering a new season..

10. pedicures... I had one yesterday with my sister-in-law Natalie and it was just so amazing to take some time out and be pampered... so relaxing..

Quiet Please

—Synonyms
2. See still1 . 5. calm, serene. 9. unmoving. 14. still, hush, silence. 15, 17. lull, soothe.

—Antonyms
2. noisy. 5. perturbed. 9. active.

Do you remember taking those tests at school where they would ask you to pick the word that best describes you? I don't think I would have ever picked the word unmoving to describe myself, or still.... noisy- probably :) I love talking! Perturbed is an interesting antonym though... wondering if this is how noisy makes people feel.. I tend to think so. I enjoy noise, hustle & bustle. I don't mind running around all day for no particular reason, just being out among the crowds at the stores around Christmas time is actually kind of exhilarating to me.

However, I hate background noise when I am trying to sleep and I really don't like having the TV on just for noise sake. I love the sound of nothing when I am trying to get things done. I don't know that I hear the sound of nothing very often.. but I am feeling convicted that God wants me to slow down a bit to hear Him and that what He hears from me sometimes is silence in regards to me spending time alone with Him. Sure, I pray.. in the morning with the kids before school, pop corn prayers throughout the day, lunch, dinner, bedtime prayers with the kids... but there are days that go by when I don't take time to sit down and really pray through things and wait to hear from the Lord, I just go about my usual routine and plug my day with lots of noise and don't think about being still with God.

Looking at the list of synonyms I know that calm and serene are often feeling I don't feel, words that I would not pick off a list to describe myself. However I know that scripture says, Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God." Yet, how often I am neither still or showing the world that He is God over me, because my own noise is distracting others and myself... praying that the noise I make today, the words I utter, the way I communicate would show God's peace; may I quiet myself and know that He is God.

Self Cleaning Oven

Info found on TLC website... self-cleaning ovens use an approximately 900 degrees Fahrenheit (482 degrees Celsius) temperature cycle to burn off spills leftover from baking, without the use of any chemicals. A self-cleaning oven is designed with a mechanical interlock (patented in 1982) to keep the oven door locked and closed during and soon after the high-temperature cleaning cycle, which can be approximately three hours. The door stays locked to prevent burn injuries. You can open the oven door after the oven cools to approximately 600 F (315 C).

Weird title I know, but while the smell of my self cleaning oven fills my apartment I am reminded of God's refining fire. I wish I came with a warning that while God is cleaning me up, don't open the door... this would help because I know that while I am being refined, it's not always easy for those around me.. they may get burned in the process, because I resist the work the Lord needs to do and react in a way that is so not loving.. I should most definitely come with a WARNING some days!!

Isaiah 48:10 (New International Version)

10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

I feel like right now. I am in that furnace being refined, there are so many areas of my life where I am stubborn and won't let go. Michael and I have wanted to add more children to our family for the past nine years of so now, we have prayed, been prayed for, done fertility, seen the best of the best fertility Dr., and still have been unsuccessful in our attempts. I have this burden on my heart and this immense desire to have more children, I have prayed that if it's not God's desire, that He would take it away from me, yet the desire remains... that desire is something that I have laid before the throne so many times... I know that God hears me, I know that He loves me, I know that I know that He has a plan for this desire.... it just might not look the way I think it should... In the past few days I have cried about it, wrestled with my own self pity and realized that although at times I feel angry at God about it, He is so gracious and good... this fact about Him never changes no matter how I am feeling... He is refining me, showing me that my heart for children is not lost.. I have been graced with two wonderful kids, I also have the privelege of having a group of girls that I minister to through our youth group ministry...the doors to have more children are not shut forever, there are options that we are exploring and praying through...my hope is not lost...I am just being refined, I have gone through things that I know will come into play in the ministry we do in Italy and even here as we prepare to go... I have been able to sit down face to face with women already and share my experience with infertility and encourage them as they go through some of the same questions I faced... God uses our brokeness and refines us so that we may reflect His Ever-Loving face... May I continue to let him work in me and do so without needing the WARNING sign!

Thankful Thursday

(New International Version)
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.


Another Thursday has arrived again and I am thinking about what I am thankful for this week... God's blessings overflow in my life, I know they do, but sometimes it's hard to pinpoint just what to say in regards to that blessing. As I have said before, I can get caught up in the busyness of life and forget to stop and enjoy the moment, to recognize the simple joy found in it. This world is full of God's glory, it's all around us. I've decided to show you what I am thankful for in nature... things that we see out our window or on our drives to work and home.. glimpses of God's amazing blessing...

Sentimental Sounds

I have felt especially sentimental today. Sounds have triggered in me the memories of days past, how quickly my children have grown up and I am appreciating the sounds that they are creating today. I think it's the distinct sound of Lego's that has taken me back to days gone by. Caleb is inspired today to build back an old Lego castle he had... hearing the clink and clank of Lego's being poured out onto his floor reminds me how quickly he has grown up. I don't often hear this sound anymore it's been replaced by video games or music... I am glad to see him slow down a bit and enjoy his childhood.

Faith is playing in her room with her dolls and is organizing them as usual but the sound of her voice as she talks with them is so cute. I remember coaxing her to talk when she was little. She was such a quiet child, she didn't talk much unless she had to, so hearing her have conversations with her dolls is so precious. I know that these kinds of days of dolls will not last forever, soon she will be too old for such things, but I am thankful to still hear her playing!

Every now and then I slow down enough to catch the simple things that make being a mom so amazing... I am blessed beyond blessed to have two children who grace my home with the joys of parenthood... toys all over, clothes left on the floor, tooth paste left in the sink, dishes, shoes and socks left all over, books and book bags scattered here and there. These reminders show me how truly privileged I am. So many blessing are found in these sometimes frustrating events... my cleaning the mess up is short lived as well... soon they will be out of the house and out on their own and I won't have these messes everywhere... I won't hear the sounds coming out of their rooms, their little voices won't echo down the hall forever...

I praise God for the simple sounds that touched my heart today and reminded me how short these things are... putting it all in perspective helps me to not be frustrated when tonight I am tripping over Lego's and Bratz dolls... take a moment and listen to the sounds that echo in your home... it's the sound of blessing!

Ten Thankful Things Thursday

1 Chronicles 16:8 (New International Version)

8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.


It's Thursday! I was thinking about other ways to be creative about making each Thankful Thursday a bit different from week to week. I have yet to come up with anything substantial but I will do my best to be creative. :) Here's my list of ten!

1. Football season is here! Go Big Red!


2. My fall decorations have made it out and are placed around my house! I have a thing for weird looking halloweenish decorations.. vintage :)


3. Vitamin D milk... I found out I love it on cereal and in my coffee... Mike has tried to convince me for like 14 years now that we should buy it and I finally did.


4. Rainy days... like today which motivates me to clean


5. Hair dye.. without it I would be almost totally grey... seriously!!


6. Magazines.. especially those geared toward Small Places.. living in an apartment has made me appreciate pretty storage accessories.


7. Being a Stay at home mom... I can't thank my hubby enough for giving me this opportunity to be home... it's such an amazing joy to me!! This picture and text make me laugh!! :)


8. Books.. I am an avid reader and always have at least two different books that I am reading (thankful that my mom is one too and she supplies me with all the books she reads)


9. Art... I made some this week using scrabble pieces ... I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't create...


10. Corn Candy & Peanuts... it's fall and this is a staple in our candy dishes... so yummy.. :)


So, these are my random thoughts of thankfulness this morning...