Proud mommy moment

I just had to take a moment to reflect on this past week with Nathan. The day after he turned 3 he got moved up to the next class at church. He now has "homework" that is optional but gives you stuff to discuss at home, activities for him to do that revolve around that discussion and a bible verse to memorize. I can't really put into words how neat it was spending the week talking to him about how we are kind to those who are unkind because Jesus loves them so we need to also. He had to draw a picture about how he would be kind to someone who was unkind and he responded, "I would hug and kiss them." Still makes me giggle because it's so cute:) I wasn't sure how he would do with memorizing a Bible verse but he has always been great at picking up songs really quick as well as things he sees on tv so he got it really fast. We did hand motions with it to make it more memorable and even Jordan does those along with us now! So Nathan has officially memorized his first Bible verse and I couldn't be more proud.

1 John 4:19 ~ We love, because God loved us first.

Daily Deals

Alright all you deal lovers! Wanted to share a great site I found. I have recently been introduced to woot.com which is a daily deal site that presents 1 item at a deal everyday. I began to wonder if there were other sites like that out there. After a little research I found 1 site that displays all daily deal sites on one page. You can scroll down and see a picture and description of what every site is offering that day as well as how many of those items are left and what you are saving. There are probably over 30 sites displayed and you can access any of them from this one site. The offers range from kids toys to outdoors gear to jewelry. You never know what you will find. As Christmas approaches (yes, I realize it's only early September!) we like to start slowly shopping and finding the best deals so we can get the most for our money. This is something that I can quickly scan over each day to see if there is anything of interest. Hope this helps you all out as well!

www.dodtracker.com/oneaday/

Awarding filth

Are you aware that Family Guy has received an Emmy nomination for Best Comedy? Really...that's award winning comedy? I am sorry but I find that show to be filthy and degrading. I can totally appreciate some off color humor once and awhile but this show is constantly pushing the envelope for being offensive and vile. If you would like to speak out against this, visit this site to send a prewritten letter to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences:

http://www.onemillionmoms.com/IssueDetail.asp?id=335

What a great day!

I am such a lucky girl! My boys were so good to me yesterday and it made for a great birthday. They attempted to let me sleep in, but I think I have become incapable. As soon as I hear them I am just up. But I obliged and stayed in bed awhile. They were sweet enough to make me breakfast and Jeremy took care of the dishes. They sang to me, so cute! Then I got to open my presents. I got a compact bible which I have been wanting so I can have something easier for church. It is leatherbound and came with a carrying case and mini tabs. They also got me a Brandon Heath CD and a game for the Wii. We went out to a nice lunch at Tomato Street and while the kids were down I went shopping at Michaels. The night before we had gotten together with all the inlaws for another birthday and I received several gift cards, plus the money from mom and dad and grandma so in the afternoon we dropped off the kids at gma and papa's and went shopping. I got a great deal at Borders, 6 books for $50! Then to Bath and Body Works which was having an awesome sale so I made a haul there as well. I debated getting shoes, but passed them up for some new clothes, Gossip Girl season 2 (my guilty pleasure!), and Sex in the City the movie. Then Jeremy took me out to Twigs for a great dinner. All in all a great day. I feel so loved and extremely blessed:)

28 Things About Me at 28

1. I have been married 6 ½ years now.
2. My oldest son turned 3 last weekend and my youngest son will be 2 in a month.
3. I have my degree in Education but am blessed to be a stay at home mom.
4. I drink a pot of coffee a day (with almond milk, yum!).
5. I still talk to my mom almost every day when they aren’t with a missions team in Mexico.
6. I love to knit and make my own cards and would love to start scrap booking more.
7. I am thankful to live in a country where I have the freedom to worship my God. I do so proudly at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho.
8. I love to cook. I subscribe to three cooking magazines and I try at least 3 new recipes a week.
9. I love to read, mostly chic-lit because it is light and easy and most of the characters make me feel better about myself! I have also started reading a lot more Christian Fiction.
10. When it comes to a date night, I love getting to go out somewhere nice to eat but I am just as happy ordering in sushi, getting a bottle of wine, and renting a movie.
11. I have shamefully fallen of my healthy living plan that I started in January and the weight is slowly creeping back on. This must stop, I REFUSE to keep taking the same weight off over and over again.
12. 28 feels dangerously close to 30... I may have to start freaking out early.
13. I would love to own a home. If only we could decide where home should be.
14. I have become obsessed with cutting and finding coupons. I get a thrill out of seeing how much I can save us.
15. I want to make sure I travel to Greece and Italy one day.
16. I went to Eastern longer than WSU but still feel like way more of a Cougar.
17. I love that my kids love me even though I am a complete goofball most the time. I am soaking that up before they decide I am too dorky:)
18. When my mom was 28, I was 8. I thought she seemed very mom like…old if you will (don’t kill me mom!). I wonder if my kids think that too?
19. I think everyone has the right to their own opinion. I would just like it a lot more if it was the same as mine!
20. I have written in a journal since high school and still have them all. Pretty glad that I left most of the beginning years of college out since I was so stupid then. I wonder if any one will bother to read what I have wrote one day when I am gone? And will they be surprised by the “real” me?
21. I have had cats my entire life but don’t remember a time I have really had to change the litter box.
22. I still haven’t finished my kids baby blankets, that is a must for this year!
23. I am getting wimpier in my old age, I used to love roller coasters and scary movies and they are both starting to appeal to me less and less. Being scared out of my wits no longer creates the thrill it once did.
24. I worry that 10 years from now I won’t have changed some of the stuff I don’t like about myself now.
25. I have had many a best friends but I am pretty positive that the one I have now will still be my best friend 50 years from now.
26. If I could change one thing about myself…I wish I had smaller feet. These jumbo size 10’s have never been practical. All the cutest shoes come in way smaller sizes and I have never been able to share or trade with any of my friends or my mom.
27. I wish I could go back and tell my younger self all that I know now. Maybe if I heard it from myself I would have really listened!
28. I hope that the next 28 years are as much of a blessing as these first 28 years have been.

Taking a stand

I feel like I am coming to a place in my life where I am ready. Ready to stand up for what I believe in a way I never have before. But this scares me! I don't want to be one of those people who is pushing my beliefs down others throats. I don't want to be offensive. I HATE confrontation. But I feel like more than ever before it is necessary to know what I believe and be prepared to defend it. Here is where I ask for your prayers. I need strength. I need wisdom. I need to learn to discern God's will from my own. I think only when I truly hand it over to Him will I gain the confidence I need to stand firm. I want to learn to not just have an opinion about something because it's what I feel. I want to KNOW why. I want to be able to articulate that. Lord help me!

A new kind of parenting class

I have recently joined a new networking site that is just for moms (I know, like I need another reason to be on the computer:). There are a lot of women on there who are new moms to young children and are venting about there marriage. I see a lot of anger from women who are exhausted and overwhelmed and feel like they aren't being understood by their husbands. By what they write, I see husband's who feel neglected and pushed away by their wives. Men who are still trying to be who they used to be when their life has obviously changed in a big way.

Don't so many couples go through this when they first have children? That initial shock to the family dynamic. It goes from being a two person household where each person has a certain amount of freedom to do whatever they want at any given time. There is endless alone time for the twosome. Now there is this new little person whose demands must be met and who makes alone time nearly impossible. Priorities change, freedom is at least temporarily lost, it is no longer about the marriage. I can see why it is so easy for many to crumble under this difficult situation. I can honestly say that the roughest time in our marriage came during the time our sons were first born. I think any existing communication problems are magnified when you have a baby. All the selfishness you still have now effects things in a major way. I know that I was still so selfish in our marriage until recently. And I think the kids are what really brought that to light and helped me realize where I needed to change. We both had to change.

What I wonder is why they don't make this a part of the pregnancy process. We read every book on what is going on in our body while we are pregnant, how to prepare our homes for this new little person, how to care for a new born. We take a 6 week class to prepare us for 1 day of labor. But what do we do to prepare couples for the change a baby will create in their relationship? I think that this should be a top priority. So many marriages end because people stop putting time into each other and soley focus on the kids. They never work out that communication that can break down once a baby enters the picture. I think it would be worthwhile to start making this a part of the education that takes place when preparing for a baby. It definitely would be more valuable and lasting information then much of the other stuff we bother to learn during that time.