Thankful Thursday!

Is it Thursday already? This week has gone really fast!

Fly by highlights of the week:

Laughter with friends. Isn't it wonderful to have people in your life who get your crazy humor and who make you laugh? So blessed.

Lunch dates. Had a couple this week. One with the hubby and one with a girlfriend.

Short school week. It's parent/teacher conference week at our kids' school. So half day Tues. half day today! And NO School Friday! Yay!

Rearranged furniture. I thoroughly enjoy doing this, or I should say, that my honey does this for me! We changed beds around in our house and got the foreign exchange students room all set up!

Helping a friend decorate. I love decorating and am always excited when I get to help someone else!

Football game night. Heading out to a football game tonight and looking forward to the fellowship and cheering on our Lincoln Christian Crusaders!

Ordered a corsage for my son's date on Friday. It's fall bash and I love going into a floral shop and picking out something unique for his date to wear. What an exciting time!

Those were a few highlights of the week. It's been a wonderful, fantastic, and immensely great one!

Embracing Life

I had a day that was really wonderful. Wanted to just list out all the little things that make life so good.

1. I feel really good, my allergies are getting less horrible! :)

2.  I worked with 3 and 4 year olds today with an amazing group of people. 

3. I had lunch with my sweet friend Amy and went to this fun little restaurant called Pepe's the environment, food and conversations were just amazing!

4. Got to do some shopping by myself tonight because I took Faith and her friend Hannah to a football game.

5. Took my lovely daughter out for a date night while our boys were at school.

6. And we are making it a family movie night! 

This day was so wonderful! So many days just zip by and I forget to stop and take in each moment, to really enjoy the little things.. What a great day! Thankful! 

It's not really ours...

In church yesterday they showed a video of a couple who sold their house and downsized, and I will paraphrase here on what I heard... they felt convicted that the life they were living needed an overhaul. They wanted to give more of what God had blessed them with back to others. This story of sacrifice inspired me in that we should be willing to give up and share what's not really ours anyway, it's God's.

I feel that this is our season of doing just that, our season to open our home to foster children and to a foreign exchange student. We are blessed to have a 5 bedroom house. A house that is such a blessing in so many ways; one of my favorite reasons is that we are only 2 minutes from our kids' school! What a wonderful opportunity to open our home up and use the bedrooms that we have, not just for ourselves, but for others. I am so excited to see what our story will look like, what amazing things will happen at our dinner table, people we've not yet met who we will come to call family, and I am thankful that we have room to spare! We are planning on welcoming in a young man from China soon. They are just waiting on his visa to get finalized. Pray that goes quickly for him. Hoping to have him here with us in a few weeks! I look forward to getting to know him and I know that Caleb and he will enjoy being sophomores together at LCS.  Missions is still a passion in our hearts and God continues to use that passion in only ways He could foresee.

 I am also excited to begin taking in a foster baby soon as well. We are waiting on the State's final seal of approval and should be licensed in about 2 wks. Can't wait to welcome in a new little one to our lives. Feel so blessed that we can step up and help. There is such a need for good foster parents in our state and city. Thankful that we have the room to take in a child for as long as needed. So we will converge on these very awesome opportunities at about the same time.

Thankful for the road we're on, for the many blessings we have, for a full heart as God expands our family in some unexpected ways, it's such an answer to prayer...stay tuned for details on all these moments ahead!

Thankful Thursday!

Today is a good day. Everyday holds something to be thankful for and today I am going to share a few happy things that are happening in our life.

1. It's Date Day! Thursdays have become the day that Michael and I take a day to catch up with each other and have a date.  Today that included rearranging furniture in our house, going to the mall to look around, eating lunch at Wendy's, and meeting with our social worker Beth and signing our paperwork to begin our foster parent journey. I love that my husband makes me a priority, that he chooses to spend time with me doing little things, and that he still likes to date his wife!

2.  It's Nacho Night. I don't know if I can accurately describe how much I enjoy this dinner. I love that its simple and oh so tasty! Tonight I am changing it up a bit and using chicken instead of beef.. that's a fun change.

3.  My parents are coming for a visit tonight. I know that they just moved back to their own space, but they have a few things here still to get and they get to enjoy Nacho Night with us too! It'll be nice to hang out tonight and catch up.. cuz you know it's been like two days since we've seen each other.. ;)

4.  The house is totally clean. In doing some rearranging of furniture our house has been cleaned from top to bottom. That's always such a great feeling. I can enjoy some relaxation tonight and not worry about a single to-do!

That's just a few happy little things going on in my life this Thursday! Thankful for so many blessings!

Am I pretty?

I've had a few moments lately where I've struggled with the age old question.. am I pretty? Ugh, that's hard to even say without the fear of people trying to reassure me that, "of course you are." and the last thing I need right now is comments like that adding to my self doubt... because then the reassurance in my head sounds like, "we have to say this..." and this is not my point at all. My point is I hate when I have days like this. I hate feeling like I'm not acceptable... but the real issue is that I feel like I am lacking something and I know deep down that I am acceptable, I am loved.. I just need to go to the One who can cover me in truth about who I am and not go searching for an ego boost from anywhere else.

I think I am in need of a long bubble bath and maybe a bit of pampering in the form of painting my nails and toes. That always perks me up! The struggle with my outward appearance will always be a struggle in the world we live in, I will always see someone thinner, better dressed, and more pulled together than I feel.. but I know that as it says in 1 Peter 3:3-4 "your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gently and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." I also need to remember Psalm 139:14, I love how the Message says it; "Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb. I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day."

Needed that reminder that I am marvelously made and getting it from the One who created me... nothing beats that!

Healed and Heading Out

Really thankful that my dad is fully healed! The recovery of replacing his ankle and fusing it is complete and he is wearing a shoe on both feet! No more boot!

I went to Omaha with my dad today and got to see the x-rays and was amazed yet again that doctors can do what they do.. all the screws and rods that are holding my dad's leg together and ankle in place. Amazing! Really grateful that he's not in any pain anymore! That's a huge blessing!

So tomorrow is moving day for my parents. They've been with us about 4 months and we've all settled into our routines... but tomorrow we will all have to settle into new routines.  They'll be back on the road come October and heading back down to TX, so it was quite a treat having them here for the summer! Thankful for the times we spent together and the blessing of having room for them to stay and recover. I'll miss the full candy dishes and many options of coffee's. Also, the running all over Lincoln shopping with my mom and finding treasures together. We've shared lots of laughs and experienced life together, both the good and the bad days; it's gone both fast and slow, but tonight it really does feel like it flew by. I can honestly say it was a wonderful experience, life goes by really fast and I am thankful for the moments we shared together these past months.

My kids will remember this summer forever, they've gotten to know their grandparents better, so many memories and life lessons they won't forget! So many funny things, life experiences, and good conversations that came out of living under the same roof together. Tomorrow they'll set out and move back to their home on wheels and we'll look forward to hearing about their adventures on the road!

Making it official

Tonight I received a call from our social worker, we are setting the date to finalize the paperwork to become foster parents. I am feeling a lot of emotions as we enter this next journey of our lives. I don't know if I can put into words all the little things and big things running through my brain, but I will do my best to tackle a few of them.

Anxious. Anxious about all the unknowns. I feel like that kind of sums up our life most of the time though. We make big decisions and take some risks without too much anxiety, but there are times in our near past where that's caused some heartache and honestly, I know that there will be heartache involved as we journey the foster care system as foster parents. We've been prepared in classes about how hard this will be. But we can do hard things! There is so much good that comes as you push through and deal with difficult situations, so much growing takes place when things aren't easy. I am ready for this.

Excited. I really am looking forward to having little one(s) back in our household! I can't wait to hear their little voice and hold a baby again. We've set up the room and put up a crib, gotten out some of our kids' little baby toys. I know that it will be a wonderful experience in so many ways and look forward to adding to our family and watching a new little one learn new things and love on them!

Hopeful. I really like Cedars Foster Care Agency. They've been wonderful to partner with and learn from. The workers are great and I feel confident that they will give us the support we need and will lead us to the right fit for us and the child(ren) we will take in. I have such hope that things will be good and that the outcome will always be what's best for the child. I know that may sound naive, but I know that God has this whole thing in His hands and that we will do our part in opening up our home and taking care of the children who will be placed with us and the rest is in His hands.

That last sentence really takes me back to my first emotion... I know that the truth is God's got it all under control... letting go of my worries is hard, I tend to worry... but truth is taking hold..
Philippians 4:6 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Yet here I am being anxious. May the words of my heart be filled with thanksgiving as I lay my worries down and know that the God of the universe has my heart and He's got this! He's got this!

Little Ones

Phew! My morning was filled with the usual get the kids ready for school, packing lunches, and then because it's Tuesday I am off to work with three and four year olds at church for a few hours. This was the kick off day for Fall Women's Bible Studies and we had lots of little kids to fill our classroom today. It's such a blessing to go to a church that gives free childcare while the parents are taking a class. Lots of eager moms ready for some adult conversations!

I have the privilege of working with the same wonderful people from last year. I have such fun with Jeff, Evan, and Sharon. We held down the fort with about 25 little kids today... I don't know how kindergarten teachers do it everyday.. wow, they are a busy bunch! We do story time, gym time, snack time, and of course a craft. Which today involved gluing with glue bottles... I am thinking we need to get some glue sticks. You should have seen the amounts of glue it takes to glue down construction paper to a lunch sack to make a puppet when a 3 year old is in charge.. I think we went through more than expected.  Next week we need to revamp the craft so that they can have more independence in the craft without all the teachers hovering over them.

Anyway, I am home and taking a breather until I need to pick up my own kids from school. I am thankful for some quiet time! Wonder if I should get out of the house for a bit before then? My mom is upstairs and I know it won't take much to convince her to go running. Thinking a good thrift store sounds like a perfect afternoon adventure. Off to treasure hunt!

A New Look!

Really excited about the new changes that I had the privilege of working on with my friend Amy Bowman who's blog is amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com! She's amazing and she helped me make my blog easier for my readers to get around and showed me how to label my blog posts and make pages! So thankful for her help!!

Although not everything is done;  it's still a work in progress I look forward to puttering around and getting it cleaned up. Loving the fresh look and excited to share what's going on in my life. What do you think of it? Any other suggestions or tips you've found that have helped you? Let me know!

Room to grow

My heart is yearning today for the children I've never met. The foster care process is complete, we are just waiting on final paperwork and I am ready to embark on the next step. Ready to grow our household and very ready to see and hold the little ones who's room we've prepared.

My struggle of infertility and training and preparation through foster care gives me a unique perspective at times. I see the parents of these children in the foster system and wonder how they could take for-granted the blessing that they have. How could they make choices that damage and destroy flesh of their flesh? Michael and I have prayed many times as we've walked through infertility that God would bless us again with flesh of our flesh, but God had better plans and we are finally seeing what that plan was... it was that we would pour ourselves out and open our hearts to the children in our city who need love and family for however long or short the amount of time, there is a need. And we are willing and able to fit that need. I can now honestly say I am grateful for the struggle of infertility. I have a softness to my heart when it comes to others walking the same road, I also have seen the miracle of pregnancy against odds that seemed insurmountable... although that wasn't our journey through fertility treatments, we remain joyful in the Lord that He knows more and we trust that His way will be far better... So we are anticipating good things, knowing that the road of fostering will not be easy, but it will be rewarding, that God is already preparing our hearts and home for the little ones who will be in it and we are praying that we will have permanency with them, that we could adopt more children and grow our family.

Multi-generational living

My dad is healing well from his surgery and I am happy to post that my parents and their dog will be moving back to their RV on Sept. 18th. We've enjoyed many wonderful, challenging, funny, and creative moments together. They will have lived with us 108 days by the time they move out; that's about 1/3 of a year. Some days it feels like it went fast and others it feels like its been forever. I will miss many things about them not being here. I've enjoyed shopping with my mom, her eye for decorating, and always having a willing partner when I run errands! I will miss many things about my dad too. His ever present sense of humor, greetings when I walk out of my room in the morning, talking politics and drinking wine or beer on the deck with him, and his jewelry making skills!

It's been a summer of memories and my kids will always remember the time their grandparents spent with us. They've really gotten to know them better, we've learned new things about them, they've learned new things about us. I am sure that they won't miss my constant insistence of a clean kitchen. My mom will be able to go back to her normal routines without having to think about mine. She'll be able to wash laundry whenever, not worry about all the hair her dog sheds and my constant vacuuming... :) I will miss their Dyson vacuum soooo much! I think I need to head out right after they leave and buy one! It was amazing!

All the funny quirks that make your family your family, my parents got a front row seat to ours and we also got a front row seat to their marriage. I am grateful for that, that we know each other better after they've lived here and that we survived it and still have a wonderful relationship. God is Good!

Feeling down and out

I love football season. I enjoy the time spent with my family and friends in front of the TV rooting on my favorite teams. It's football Saturday and I felt down and out.. my allergies are bugging me and I think I am battling something more on top of that.

Needless to say I spent most of the day dozing on and off on the couch catching the Huskers here and there win the game. Michael and Caleb had an amazing opportunity from my brother Kraig to go to Memorial Stadium for the opening game of the season. They sat on the 40th yard line about 15 rows up.. super fantastic seats!

Michael was generous and made a pot of chili before he headed out to tailgate before the game and I was so grateful that I didn't need to plan the menu due to the fact I am feeling ucky. If you know me, I love a clean house, I work really hard keeping on top of everything, I vacuum almost daily, mop at least every other day, dishes are done right away, I am not trying to sound all uppity about it, it's just my usual routine. But today was not my usual, I feel sluggish and I didn't do the usual. My husband comes home from his day away and the dishwasher hadn't been started, it was pretty full I guess, the kitchen was kind of messy, and he was upset. He likes a tidy house and usually that's the way it looks. I was hurt by his frustrated comments about me leaving things a mess, and I cried. I am still fighting tears as I write this, I hate disappointing people. I struggle with letting someone down and I feel like I don't really have an excuse to just let down for an afternoon. Am I painting a stark picture of my husbands response to me? I don't mean to make him out to be some demanding perfectionist, he's not and he is incredibly helpful, he does almost all the cooking and I so appreciate and love him. But our marriage isn't perfect, we mess up, say the wrong things, don't apologize, and so on. This is just one of those moments, those days where my husband is not being sensitive to me. Hate nights like this, hate feeling sick and really hate knowing that my natural response is to just push myself to the extreme and clean every nook and cranny tonight, even though I feel feverish and icky. So, what should I do? .. I have no good response... so, off to bed; this girl is tired and moody!