Sunday, December 30, 2012

New Year's Resolution

At this time of year everyone is making resolutions, and sadly most will be failed and forgotten by this time next month. However I am hoping and praying I can really apply mine to my life and not just 2013. My resolution is:

To become better at the job God has called me to- a wife, mother, and homemaker

I struggle at all three, and my problems with depression some days are hard. I need to be more faithful in taking my medicine. I am also beginning to learn where I am weak in each of these areas.

I want to be a wife that my husband to be proud of. I want to have a home and children to be proud of. We also need some time just for us. Something we have not been focusing on. My last date with my husband was Valentine's Day (10 months ago!).

I want to be a mother my children will love. I want to be point them towards God. I want do more crafts, play more, teach more, laugh more. I need to enjoy the blessings God has given me more and to do a better job of raising them. I want to leave a legacy!

One of my Christmas presents was an amazing book called Large Family Logistics. I am hoping it can really help me in the area of housekeeping. I am a terrible housekeeper! Now with 3 children (3 and under) in a 900 square foot apartment, I need help with how to keep up on things and get organized. A little while back I posted aboutthe projects I am working on. I am hoping as I complete each room I can post pictures.

I am hoping to write more posts on how I accomplish these goals, so I hope you will come along for the ride! Tell me some of your resolutions.

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! While we enjoy our time with family remember the baby who came into the world with the only purpose to die for our sins.

Also, remember to pray for those who are without a family member today, whether that family member is away in another part of the world or has left this earth, they need comfort on holidays.

6 weeks old
May God bless you on Christmas day! (and for those of you down south with me stay safe through these storms!)

Friday, December 14, 2012

Blog Title

My blog is called "Not Taking It For Granted" because I do not ever take one minute of my time with my family for granted. I think the sad Events of Today only make us more aware that we should take nothing for granted. The Bible says "life is a vapor" and it is never more true than when a child dies. These times remind us to hold our family close because we never know when ours (or sadly a family member's) time may be up. Pray for these parents and families who are healing.


May each of us....Not Take It For Granted

Thursday, December 13, 2012

That Amazing Moment

Up until about a month before Cathy Belle came I had been "homeschooling" my two other children. Now when I say homeschooling I mean 2-4 times per week we were working on things like learning the alphabet, counting, colors, shapes, and other concepts. I have a strong desire to homeschool my children and I am hoping to learn what works and does not work for us before it really counts. My son was my main student (Emmie has just turned 2 in August, so she was learning what she caught) and he knows shapes, colors and counting. Recognizing the letters and numbers, oh my, was hard. I felt like I might as well be teaching the cat sometimes.

We tried games, flashcards, chalk, paint, activity books, coloring pages, and anything else I could find. Nothing seemed to work, and I was beginning to doubt my ability to homeschool and whether or not my son would ever learn. He started to pick up on a few letters and I would get so excited at the thought of progress, only to be disappointed again.

The other day we were at my in-laws house and my mother-in-law had found some alphabet flashcards. Ray-J decided he wanted to play with them, so we pulled them out and he begins to look at them: "A for Apple. B for Ball. C for Cat. D for Door. E for "Elphalet". F for Flower. G for Goat. H for Hat. I for Ice Cream. J for Jack in the Box. K for Kite." At this point he got bored and started putting the cards all over the floor, but we quickly made him pick them up (because, of course, that is not how we treat our things), and as he was picking them up we identified the rest of the letters. Yay!!! I was proud of my brilliant son, and I was also having a proud mommy moment. I imparted knowledge and it stuck!



I will admit in the past week I have felt well enough to do some school with him, but I have not for a couple of reasons. One, it is so close to Christmas I feel like learning about that is more important. Second, I was discouraged about his learning and my capabilities as his teacher. Now I am ready to go, we will spend the next week learning about Christ's birth, and making our traditional Birthday cake for Jesus, but after Christmas has calmed down we will be back to doing school :) 

Friday, December 7, 2012

They need your prayers

If you could take a few minutes and pray for this couple. I went to college with them and Kathleen was one of my bridesmaids. If you are willing to write, e-mail, or call at lease one of these Congressmen, anything we can do to reunite this sweet Christian couple! They now have a sweet baby girl, who needs to have her daddy. My heart breaks for my friend, and I just ask that you take a few minutes to listen to their story and pray.Here is their Story


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Checking In

What I have been up to......

 Getting to know a little girl

Enjoying my children enjoy each other...
 
Thanksgiving

 Taking care of my husband and his broken toe...

 
YUCK!

 Dealing with Croup and Strep (both of my bigger babies had strep), and I was trying to help them avoid touching, breathing, or looking at their infant sister

Also dealing with them feeling better.....

This is what happens when your children get into flour
I am also trying to get a video of my mobile 3 week old. She started rolling over in the hospital, but now she is trying to push herself up and kick her legs. She can get places.....scary! I have always heard when a baby progresses quickly it is because they are making room for the next, so we will see.... :/