Beach trip and a little more.....

Last Saturday June 21 was the first day of summer.  It was also the first time we were able to make it to the beach.  Being 28 weeks pregnant I was hesitant to go.  Larry doesn't like the beach too much so he was trying to find a way out too.  I told him let's do this for the kids.  I certainly wasn't going for me.  That's just how this parenting thing works.  We had promised them we would go back at the end of May and one of them ended up with a fever on the day we were planning to go.  We probably could have still went but he would have been miserable and so would all of us because who wants to take a fevered child to the beach.  Heh!  Not I!

So we ventured off to the beach on Saturday morning.  We went to Jekyll Island.  It was nice and breezy but got really hot the closer it got to lunchtime.  We left pretty early and got there around 9:30AM I think.  Jekyll is about 2 hours away from where we live.  We had a few chairs and a blanket to set up and we did that, sprayed sunscreen on everyone and off they went.  There was low tide so there was a sandbar pretty far out.  There were people on it but because we thought the tide may come up while we were out there we didn't go out.  Walking down the beach Caleb found tiny hermit crabs in a puddle, a muscle in a pretty shell, and a dead jelly fish(yuck!)  I decided to walk out into the water because Noah and Caleb were out waist deep and not five steps into the water I stepped on something and started bleeding bad.  It hurt.....bad.  Then Larry tells me that it's squirting blood.  I was just going to keep walking but ended up having a foot that was tingling to my toes.  The cut was on my heel.  Caleb ran up to our chairs and got a beach towel and brought it back to me so I could put pressure on it.  The only thing is I didn't want to sit in the water with the towel because the waves were just going to wet the towel.  I had Noah go get me a chair to sit in out in the edge of the water.  I finally got it to stop bleeding and got back up to where all our stuff was.  The kids played in the water for a little longer.  By that time it was lunchtime.  They had ate a few snacks but it just wasn't filling.  Larry went to the truck and got the cooler while we waited on him under the pavillion with the picnic tables.  It was just too hot to eat out on the beach.  Poor Sarah got too hot, got a headache, and threw up.  Bless her!  After she threw up she was fine though.  She's like me. If I get too hot that happens to me.  I hated that she got sick because I know how she feels but I was glad it wasn't me and I was glad that it was short lived.  Everyone was tired from being out in the heat so we left after eating lunch and headed to Waycross.  We looked up movie times and figured out we could go walk around the mall for a bit and then go to the theater to watch a movie.  We watched How To Train Your Dragon 2 and afterwards went to eat at Rodeo Mexican Restaurant.

Overall the day was fun.  It wasn't overly stressful and I wasn't too terribly tired.  That was surprising to me since I was 28 1/2 weeks pregnant at the time.  I'm unable to upload pictures at this time.  Maybe another day when my internet is loading them faster or I may share them on FB.  Not sure why they aren't loading.  Frustrating to say the least but that's ok.

I will always leave a Bible verse to close.  May you have a blessed remainder of the week.  Thanks for reading.

Psalm 34:8
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. (NIV)

Wow!  It's been a while.  We now know what the gender of our baby is and we have a name.  Of course we found this out a few months ago but I've just not taken the time to type up a blog post about it. Of course those on my Facebook and Instagram know all about it.  It's just easier to share on there as opposed to writing a blog post about it.  LOL!  Well here goes....for those who don't know we already have  2 boys and 1 girl.  We thought it would be nice to have another girl to even things out.  That would be ideal.  Well God has answered our prayer.  It's a GIRL and her name will be Hannah Ruth. We are very excited about the arrival of this sweet baby girl.  My daughter is very excited about having a sister.  I am thrilled to give her that.  She admitted a few months after we found out we were pregnant that she had prayed HARD for a baby sister.  Well all i have to say if the faith of a child is much more than us adults.  The lack of faith that I had in God to help me with a 4th child was nothing compared to the faith that my child had in God to give her a sister.  She ultimately won with that faith.

My pregnancy has been typical.  I had the nausea on and off and then aches and pains when I grow.  Finally started feeling Miss H move a good bit around 22 weeks. At the end of May we had planned a trip to the beach but a fever and sore throat my youngest had stopped us from going.  It probably would have been cooler than this coming weekend however, our plans are to go on Saturday. I've been having severe back pain and have started some pregnancy yoga and ball exercises to help relieve that.  Hopefully that works.  I just started it yesterday.  It really works on me to not be able to participate in stuff and just be there with my kids for everything.  Yesterday I took them to the library summer reading program and left early.  A friend kept them there and took them bowling for me and I came home and was able to rest and cook supper.  Other than the back pain, I have been healthy. I am now 28 weeks and glad to let baby cook for at least 10 more weeks. My pregnancies last anywhere from 38 to 39 weeks so I am anticipating an end of August birth however, my DUE DATE is September 10th.  My prediction is August 27 in which I will be exactly 38 weeks just because my body has went quicker and quicker with each birth. I am doing different things to prepare my body for a nautral birth that I did not do with any of my other 3 pregnancies.  It's funny what you learn when you are older and how you want to do your own thing as opposed to what everyone else is doing.  I breastfeed but I will not be cloth diapering.  I wore my daughter with a ring sling but didn't wear my boys.  I've already bought a cotton/linen wrap, moby wrap, and sling to wear this baby.  The difference between then and now is the fact that I homeschool.  I feel like it will just make it easier on me to wear baby.  I can't wait to wear her.  I've done a lot of research and it seems so beneficial to their development and security when they get older.With that said I also have a stroller and will be using that too if she will let me. If not, then that's okay too.  I have a lot of plans in how I want things but one thing I've learned from having children is the fact that I can't plan too much because they will for sure change my plans.

I never thought that I would be given a baby shower for my 4th child.  Wait....I never thought I'd have a 4th child so I just feel so blessed.  My good friend is hosting a baby shower for me in July and I am excited.  I've mainly got the bigger items but the smaller stuff is what I have waited to get at the shower.  We have a crib and pack and play.  I've bought her some outfits.  I just couldn't resist.  LOL! We have a relative who makes clothes so she has made her several pieces and they are just darling.  I can't wait to put her in them and take tons of pictures. This child will be the only one I had as a baby with my new SLR professional camera so she is going to know what a camera is early on.

My plans for schooling the children haven't changed as far as whether I will home-school them or not.  There were relatives who put their two cents in and told me different things such as "you're crazy for having a baby AND homeschooling" and "don't make life hard for yourself.  Just send them to school"  Well I feel like I would make it hard if I did send my children to school.  Having a new baby and then sending my kids off to school like the baby is the cause of me taking away the very thing that they love which is to be with me and for me to be their teacher would be a huge adjustment and would result in them resenting the little one.  Both my husband and I never questioned whether we would continue to homeschool after finding out about our surprise blessing.  It was just a known.  I am so thankful we are united on this and pretty much everything when it comes to running our household, parenting our children, and spiritual beliefs.  I know this is what makes our relationship one that isn't easily broken.  Now mind you we get on each others' nerves but we never let our children see us fight.  We never even argue in front of our children.  And for a hormonal pregnant girl this is hard when he does something that rubs me the wrong way.  I've learned though that a gentle reminder of our goal for our children after they go to bed is what works best.  Loving, constructive criticism and not yelling at him while I am still irritated and waiting until I've thought it through to talk to him definitely works better. We never talked about whether or not to put the kids in school because the new baby is coming.  I am so thankful for his support in teaching our children according to the Word of God and according to our calling as a family.

As far as the school year goes we will start July 7 and finish up August 8.  After that we will await the arrival of our baby and I will take 6-8 weeks off after the birth of the baby.  If I feel like I want to start back before then, I will.  I am telling the kids they will begin school again in October after baby is born.  They aren't too happy about the July thing but I try to remind them every time that while others are in school in September and possibly some of October they won't be because they are starting in July.And there's always different stuff they can do besides their curriculum that we call school.  It's not just limited to school books and organized instruction.  School is everywhere for my children and I plan to use a lot of real life lessons on the weeks that we are off to teach them.  We are working in a routine for our school days and a schedule for chores and such.  We shall see how that goes.  My 10 and 8 year old should be fine but my 5 1/2 year old isn't too keen on doing chores.  He is getting better but still not a fan of them but he is all boy so I know I can expect that however, that doesn't make me not still make him contribute.

Next week all three of my kids will be in camp from 8-4, 9-3, and 9:30 to 3:30. Then they will be gone from 6-9PM to VBS down the road at a friend's church.  I am looking forward to having the time to plan for the two older's schoolwork for the July 7 to August 8th period.  I'm sure I will have plenty of time to plan for Oct-Dec while having downtime with the baby.  I'm taking it one month at a time right now though.  So much can change so I am not planning past August 8th on planning.

So there's an update on everything.  By the way my next appointment is Friday June 27th.  I see the doc every 3 weeks now.  I'm in my 3rd trimester.

I will leave you with a verse.

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:19

Not as it appears.....

I see these blog posts with these wondrous homeschooling days and pictures to go with it. I'm guilty of only posting positive pictures with ALL smiles.  It's not always like that.  Don't be decieved dear mothers and anyone who reads my blog or looks at my facebook with envy.  What you don't see are the struggles that as a homeschool mom I know every mom who homeschools goes through.  There's no pictures of the daily meltdowns of my child with Asperger's or the kids when they are in time out because they wouldn't be quiet when asked to be or after they have been spanked for doing something when I told them to stop or just for being defiant.  There are no pictures of me losing my patience when they just aren't getting it.  There's only pictures of smiles. All smiles.  I choose to share these pictures of positive smiles because it's a very dark blog post when you post other types of pictures. Who wants to read a negative blog post? Not me.

When in a conversation about homeschooling with my non-homeschooling friends their #1 reason is "I could never have enough patience to do it."  Well I don't either. Quite honestly I have very little patience but God gives me the grace to get through teaching my children.  #2 reason is "I'm not confident enough to take on that task."  Yes I understand but aren't we all a bit hard on ourselves and don't see ourselves the way others see us.  I didn't have much self confidence to begin with and the years were a bit rough and we just got by in the beginning.  I take that as experience under my belt and move on.  At the time, I was surviving.  Having God as my guide has proven to be the most effective confidence booster to date.  He has been there and when I felt like nobody understood the way I was feeling. God understands.  He also doesn't call us to do something that He won't equip us for.  I love to be an encourager to fellow homeschooling moms but I also love to be an encourager to those moms who feel like homeschooling should be an option but they don't have that confidence to do it.  The longer you wait to homeschool your child the less confidence you will have because you will think they are fine.  The classroom teachers that you withdraw your child from may tell you that the school classroom is the best option for your child. Only you know this.  For some kids they thrive in a classroom setting.  For many though, they just get by.  The educational system in American is failing us.  Non-homeschooling mom if your child is struggling, failing, or just hates school and you feel for them and have considered homeschooling, then I am here to help. I don't know everything but I happen to have a support system that I can connect you with if you need it.

So when you look at me, my facebook page, or read my post please know that with the smiles I post or with the fun activities that I share there is also a world of struggle behind the scence.  We rejoice when there's a breakthrough of knowledge.  We celebrate when they finally get it.  That celebration gets us through the next struggles.  Last but not least, I get up every morning before my children and I read my Bible and I pray for me, for them, and for others.  At 7:45 every morning my children sit in the couch next to me and they bring me the devotional and we read a devotion.  We discuss things going on around us.  They share prayer requests with me and they share their fears.  Children have fears.  As much as I've tried to keep their little eyes and ears protected they still have fears of the unknown.  THANK GOD they are not exposed to public school.  I couldn't imagine the way they would be affected had they so far been in public school. I base everything around the good Lord and living a Christian life for my children.  They see me mess up every day and so many times a day now that I am pregnant and hormonal.  They know mommy is not perfect and that's what I want.  I want them to know that when they can't rely on mommy to be there for them or daddy that God is ALWAYS there.  They just need to pray.  

I hope that this has helped someone in some way.  I want to be transparent.  I don't want to be deceiving when it comes to posting pictures. I struggle just like everyone else.  I just choose to take it to God first thing in the morning and shake it off. I encourage you to do the same.

Surprise!

Wow it's been a little while since I've written.  I need to get back to it.  I'm sure that I am going to have a lot more to share with you all now that we are SURPRISE!....expecting #4.  What a blessing!  We found out January 1, 2014.  What a way to start the new year off!  I have to be honest.  I didn't take the news well at first.  It was very selfish of me but I think I would be doing a disservice to my readers to not be honest.  I also want to look back and read this when I am holding this precious baby in my arms and be so thankful that God gave me the blessing that I so did NOT deserve.  Discussions were made a few months ago with hubby about #4 and it just never went anywhere.  I was scared.  God knew the deep down desires of my heart but my human mind and my lack of self esteem and the lack of believing in myself kept me from acting on those desires.  Also the logical reasoning going through my head too as well as coming out of others' mouths.  There was the comment that I have three healthy, smart, beautiful children.  I should be thankful for them and move on.  There's different stages of life.  There's a little kiddo stage and then for my oldest there's a raising tweens/teen stage.

One other thing that held me off from acting on this desire is that two people very close to me had a miscarriage.  My sister who has been battling with infertility and does not have any children as of yet had a miscarriage in September.  Then in October one of my best of friends had a miscarriage.  She has three children but that didn't lessen the pain any more than it was for my sister.  My heart hurt and I truly mourned with them.  I tried to help them through this horrific time in their lives.  In the end I am so proud of them for moving on and being the Godly women that they are choosing to move forward with their lives.  I pray daily for them to get the desire that they have for another precious baby.

My first appointment with the doctor is on January 30th.  That's next Thursday and I am excited.  My mom is coming over to go with me so the kids can go to my first appointment with me.  I am 7 weeks today and have already battled tonsillitis and a double ear infection.  The antibiotics are causing nausea.  Please don't hate me for this but I don't usually have "morning sickness" with my pregnancies.  I think my mood swings make up for it though.  I sure have had my share of those this past week.  I guess that's a good sign that baby is growing and thriving.  Hopefully my kids won't end up hating me before the end of the first trimester.

So there that is.  Happy New Year!  Happy 2014 to us!

Our End of Summer Mini-Vacation

It was a busy weekend.  Our Labor Day weekend started on Thursday.  Due to the kids making such great grades and completing their units early this month we made a trip up to north GA where my husband was working last week.  Our choice of destination was LaGrange, GA.  We did however, go to Pine Mountain and Thomaston as well.  Thursday was just a day of getting ready for the trip and then we were able to leave mid afternoon to venture on up.  We took AnnaBelle by to be boarded.  This was our pooch's first time being boarded so this pooch mama was a bit on the nervous side for her.  We got to the motel and we were exhausted.  Thankfully ole Dad was there to pick up the slack where this mama was tired.

We rested well on Thursday night.  We got up and went to IHOP for breakfast.  That was DELICOUS!!! We headed to the Explorations in Antiquity Center in LaGrange.  That was very informative for my husband and I.  Noah(9) enjoyed it.  Sarah our 7 year old little diva was hot.  All of us were hot.  Most everything was outdoors with this center but like I said it was a wonderful place.  We are doing Mystery of History Volume 1 this year for our history and this was a perfect place to visit to get myself more knowledgeable about the time period we're studying.  Here are a few pictures.

This is what homes looked like back in Old Testament Times

Old Testament burial

Noah checking out New Tesament burial practices

Noah was sitting in the judge's chair.  Mosaic law was very strict. This seat was sitting just inside walled cities and a judge would be sitting and waiting on anyone who entered the city.  Thank God for Jesus and Him being the one and only true judge now.

On Friday when we were done at Explorations in Antiquity Center we went and rode to Camp Thunder and to the Flint River.  We waded in the river full of rocks and it was a stream and absolutely GORGEOUS!  It was very peaceful too.  More pictures. :)

When we got done at the river we rode up to Camp Thunder.  My husband's uncle works there so we rode around and found a house with a cute little sign that said Gooden.  We knew we were at the right place.  Hubby went and knocked on the door and his uncle came and answered.  We got out.  We've not seen hubby's family in several years.  I would say it's been 4 years because I know our youngest was very small.  We had a nice visit.  We left and went to Chili's to eat.  About half way through us eating another relative of my husband's walked in.  His Aunt Peggy and Uncle Ronnie.  We enjoyed talking with them and we planned a visit to their house the next day.  The next day we went and spent the morning there fishing.  Caleb caught a 6lb largemouth bass in the lake behind Aunt Peggy's house.  He thought that was just the coolest. I don't have a picture on my camera's memory card but I did post one on Instagram.  I will see if I can post it here or at least a link.

After we left there we ate a sandwich lunch on the way to the Wild Animal Safari.  I would say apart from the big fish catch this was the highlight of our weekend.  This was very neat.  I recommend parents of young children to take their kids to this if they live closeby and even if they don't.  This is an unusual and not so common experience to have.  What we did when we entered the park is we rented a van. We had to wait approximately an hour to get our van.  Then we went on a mile long excursion.  The van had open windows with bars so the animals couldn't completely put their heads inside the vehicle.  The mile wasn't this straight road.  It was up and down hills and so you couldn't see what was on the other side of the hill.  It was awesome and just very interesting.  Here are some pictures.

We had a lot of fun.  When we left the safari we rode up Pine Mountain.  We rode to the highest elevation and stopped.  The kids have wanted to see mountains.  We've decided that we aren't taking our usual family vacation to the mountains this year.  We're saving so that Larry can work at home at the beginning of the year.  Here's a few when we stopped on top of the mountain.

I look rough but in my defense we had just left the un-airconditioned safari and it was mid 90s.

We headed back to the motel.  We stopped by and got a pizza.  Then we let the kids swim while Larry and I ate pizza by the pool.  Kids ate later.  They were tired and rested well that night.  To some this will not be a lot.  The most important thing to me is #1-I was with my family who mean the world to me.  #2-Not far away from the house but a change of scenery.  Makes me thankful for my home! #3-Refreshment to start a new month on my toes with renewed strength from the Lord.

So thankful for the sweet little family I have and the caring, considerate, supportive, faithful, loving, CHRISTIAN husband I have.  In a world where there's so much unfaithfulness to spouses, arguing between spouses, bickering and bringing children into the affairs of the mom and dad I am very thankful that we have a no drama family.  I pray to God that it stays this way for the most part.  I realize that with teenagers it won't be completely drama free but Bless God it won't be because I haven't tried.  I strive to keep a peaceful home full of mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  In order to do that we must have Jesus at the center.  We're not perfect but we surely strive for Jesus to be at the center of it all.

I am reminded of an awesome song called "Jesus At The Center of It All" and I leave you with that.

Jesus At The Center Of It All

In His Grip,

Jennifer

Schedules and Routines

I have schedules and routines that my family and I follow.  The kids and I thrive off this routine.  We wake up at the same time every day.  We go to sleep at the same time and we eat at the same times every day.  Yes there are days we may get up a bit later or go to bed later.  It all works out.  I have a "no later than" bedtime for them on the weekend.  It depends on our activities as to what time they go to bed.  I am not one that just lets them stay up until they go to bed on their own.  I'm not one that will let them sleep in until they get up.  Some say I'm crazy.  Some say that THEY want to sleep so they let the kids sleep.  I say 8 hours of sleep is enough for me.  I go to bed at 10 every night and have recently changed my wake up time from 5 to 5:45.  5:45 to 6 I get up and woke up.  I get "dressed to shoes".  This is a flylady thing.  I make my bed and either sit on my bed or go out on the front porch for my devotion.  It just depends on my mood.  This morning I sat on my bed.  By 6, I am equipped for the day spiritually.  I take care of doggy duty and then by that time it's 6:30 and I go in the kids' rooms and turn their lights on.  This signals them to wake slowly and they have their clothes laid out and they get dressed and come join me outside on the porch for a time of prayer and devotion.  This one particular thing just makes the day go so much smoother.  I've tried it both ways.  The days with starting out my day at the feet of Jesus and then encouraging my children in the Lord turn out to be a lot more filled with joy,

The kids must do their morning chores.  They are assigned by age appropriate items.  All three of them are supposed to make their bed, gather dirty laundry and take to laundry room, and keep their rooms picked up.  Noah unloads the dishwasher, responsible for doing two loads of laundry per week, and he feeds our outside dog Ginger.  Sarah wipes down the bathroom daily, changes trash, and keeps the living room tidied up.  She also hand washes any dishes that may need washing at any particular time.  Caleb feeds our outside dog Rocky, makes sure they have water, gathers dirty laundry, and makes sure the trash cans in bedrooms are always emptied out.  They do all of this and eat breakfast before 8AM when they start school.  While they are doing their chores, I am doing my morning routine and prepping for school that particular day.

8AM Sarah does workboxes, Noah does his math teaching textbooks(on computer and self led), and Caleb and I do his phonics and math.

Caleb does workboxes, Noah does LA and workboxes, and Sarah and I do her LA and math.

We take a break and have a small snack.

Noah and I review his LA and Math that he has done and we correct anything he got wrong and take spelling tests then if there is one

Bible

12: Lunch and piano/guitar practie

Science

Free time on Mondays, Tuesday free time, Wednesday baths for church and then free time, Thursday is music, Friday free time.  Free time includes outside playing, movie(if weather doesn't permit outside play), board games playing the wii, playing the kindle, playing on Time4Learning, Xtramath.org, ABCMouse(Caleb), extra practice on anything they may need

Chore time/Fly Kids task and I work on zone work on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays-Thursdays we're at piano/guitar and karate

Bath/shower time for kids while I cook dinner

Dinner, eat, and dinner clean up

7:30PM: Devotion, read to Caleb, teeth brushed, tuck kids into bed and pray with them

8PM: Lights out, no exceptions

8-10PM: This is the time that I take for myself.  I read, watch TV, put in a routine for the next day if it's different from the usual, and look over the agenda for the next day, and take care of the usual bedtime routine....I take my shower at night so I don't have to wake up earlier in the mornings.

10PM: In bed no later than this time!!!



Monday: Karate at 4:30

Tuesday: First Tues of every month CCCHE mtg at 3, Karate at 4:30, and Girl Scouts at 6

Wednesday: Church at 7PM

Thursday: Guitar/Piano at 2:30 and Karate at 4:30

Friday no extracirriculars!!!  Yay!  Hubby is home so we spend LOTS of time with him Friday and Saturday!!!


Now I know what you're thinking!  I could NEVER do that!  Well are your kids always cranky?  Are they always hungry?  Do they stress you out? Are your kids' behavior bad?  Are you unfocused?  Find yourself drowning in housework?  How's that working for you?  You should give this a try.  Now with that said I tried to do what others have told me they do and it's obvious it's not working for them but they seem to not want to change it.  I tried sleeping a little later and just waking when I fully wake up.  Then I tried staying up until I was sleepy and go to bed.  Yeah that totally did not work for me.  Plus doctors tell you that a good 8 hours of sleep is healthy.  Eating your meals at the same time every day and eating a full meal or eating 6 small meals a day which I have to do because of sugar level drops for me.  Maybe you need a routine.  I'm not saying this is the solution for everyone but I do know that this has worked for me for years.  It's taken a while for me to get on it just because I had 3 kids under 5 years old.  I've at least tried and when it became something within reach I was able to do this.

I get the "I don't know how you do it" comment all the time.  Wanna know something?  I don't do it.  It's not me.  I completely rely on the Lord to help me through every single day.  I am daily dying to myself and letting Jesus shine through me.  Dying to self is a hard thing to do because we humans are SELFISH.  As Joyce Meyer said on the program I was watching this morning, "God doesn't ask you to do something that you can't do."  He equips the called.  He doesn't call the equipped.  I never had any goals when I was younger.  I just wasn't taught to have goals.  I never dreamed of being a bride.  I never dreamed of being a mommy.  It wasn't that I didn't want children.  It's just that I was never taught to dream and make goals for myself.  When the time came to be a wife, it was a great experience and God has blessed me with the most amazing man.  When it came time to be a mommy I just took it and ran with it.  I had no guidance.  I had no clue.  One thing I knew though is that God provided everything that I needed to be a wife and to be a mother.  We have to follow that path though.  He makes the path for us.  It's our choice whether we choose the world's way or God's way.  What you may think is God's way may not always be but it will look like it.  You see I don't do this alone.  Some would comment and say that I have an amazing and supportive husband.  I would say that even though I do have that for sure I don't totally depend on him to make me happy.  I look to the good Lord for guidance and then if it needs to be presented to him, then that's when I will ask him what he thinks or even his permission if that's what the situation needs.  I do put him before myself a lot but that's what we're supposed to do.  We are selfish beings.  We have to be INTENTIONAL about putting others before ourselves.  This is what God commands us to do.  I live to be an intentional wife and mother.  For me it's working.  It may not be the solution to everyone's problems.  We can be for certain if we were a little less selfish and a bit more compassionate towards others, we would all be in a better place spiritually, mentally, and even physically.

We must die to self for God to use us in the way He intends for us to be used.

Gifts Week 2 Part 1

As said before I am reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  I really highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to appreciate the small things in life and I mean really appreciate them and get the fullest affect from them.  It's really sad we can't do this on our own but I think the human minds we have just won't allow naturally for us to do this.  We have to be intentional about it.

Week 2 Gift #1: My vehicle affords me to go places that my not so long ago ancestors weren't able to go.  I think back to us going to the mountains and to the beach.  Not so long ago it was a big thing just to go to the river for even my grandparents and parents and we lived almost on the river.  So I am thankful for the vehicle I have so that I can take my family and I on adventures to enrich their education and help them to learn by seeing and not just reading about it in a textbook.  All three of my kids are visual learners so going and doing is their thing and this is the best way that they learn.

Week 2 Gift #2:  Sitting on my front porch in the early morning I am able to watch the sky light up blue and then pink and orange.  I am thankful for the eyesight God has given me so that I can enjoy his gift He gives us each morning and evening as the sun rises and sets.  Thankful for my good vision as well.  I see almost 20/20.  I don't think we realize what a gift good vision is until we know and love someone who has almost no vision.  My son is almost legally blind.  One eye is very weak and the nerves to it are shutting down.   We do  daily therapy on the other one to keep it from going that way.  And.....we pray for a miracle of healing.  We receive it.  Now we look for it to manifest.  In the meantime he(my son) goes on about his life being thankful for the vision he has.

His mercies are new every morning!  Praise God!