Attitude of Gratitude

Ok, that is totally neat and amazing. I was nominated for an award. This will be my first ever. Pretty cool, huh? I was nominated by Funk Squared and here is what she said:

Momshiway- I think this is one of my friends here in Lubbock! She is a home
schooler, a very sweet young woman, and has a heart of gold. Besides doing
foster child care she has been a teacher and loves Disney too! Give her blog a
view.

Pretty cool, huh!! I have never been nominated before for anything. Anyhow, now I need to repay the favor, so here goes...

The Rules:

1. Put the logo on the your blog.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs that show an attitude of gratitude.

3. Link to your nominees within your post

4. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received this award.

5. Share the love and link to this post and the person who nominated you for the award. Tell us how you've come to have an attitude of gratitude. Here we go, in no particular order!!

And the blogs I nominate (This is hard to do, because I read WAY more than 10, and most people probably don't know I read their blogs, but I will try this out anyways):

1. Wyld and the Crazies: This is my husband's blog. He post sometimes and I am very glad that he is back blogging again. I missed his blog posts when he took a "leave" from blogging.

2. Those Wacky Boyettes: This is a friend from Fort Worth. We used to teach together and now she is a stay-at-home mom. I love being able to keep up on her and the cute little kids. I miss our girls night outs....this was pre-kids. LOL!!

3. We're Blessed: This is a local homeschooling family. Her girls and Anna have a great time and we have a great fellowship when we're together. She is an amazing person. (You won't be able to see hers.)

4. West Texas Country Life: Another local homeschool mom with 5 kids. That a lot and how a family with that many ever finishes school is beyond me. LOL. I don't know if I would ever finish. (You won't be able to see hers either.)

5. Bohemian Sherryle: Another local homeschool mom. She was going to the same church too, but life changes and such. She hasn't posted in a long time, but I love her blog when she does post. Absolutely amazing and insightful posts for the most part. She is quite the writer.

6. Hannah Daze: This is my husband's cousin's blog. :-) Did I lose you yet? I love reading this blog as well as looking at all the great pictures of her daughter Hannah. (Side note...Hi Hannah, from Anna.)

7. Just Me and My G: Here is a blog that I have been following for a long time. I watched her struggle and fight for her foster child and she got her. I am so happy for her. Now she is caring for an elderly mother. She is an inspirational person. We have some similarities too, although I have never met her, I know she drives out this way sometimes.

8. Lori's Lines: A blog I read. She has adopted both her children and has amazing trust and faith in God, even through all the difficult times. Her recent posts show Him and his amazing work!!

9. Too Blessed To Be Stressed: Another Foster Care blog I follow. They have triumphed and praised God, even in the midst of a tragedy and now have a new baby. I truly love to read this blog and see God hard at work for this family. It is quite amazing.

10. My Charming Kids: This is the blog for Stellan, the cute little baby we have all been praying for. She has amazing faith as well and I love to read their updates. Please continue to pray for their little baby.

Ok, I read WAY more blogs than this, but, it says 10, so I limited it to 10. I hope everyone enjoyed and thanks Carrie for my award. Have a good week all.

A Little Better

The pain meds I took all day finally seemed to make a difference about 10pm last night. 10pm!! That was just in time to relax a little before bed. Yes, I am very glad I called in. I would have been useless to them. Today I hurt, but it is not the unbearable pain from yesterday. I can move a bit without feeling like I am falling apart literally. Still not up to usual, but a heck of a lot better than yesterday, so I'm heading in today!! YEAH!! I hate how some days I feel fine and other day I feel like someone ran over me with a truck for the whole day. Down to 17 days now!! LOL!! The countdown is on and I CAN do this!! Anyhow, I better go and get ready. I need to catch up a little from yesterday. LOL!! Have a good day all. God bless you and thanks for the prayers yesterday.

Called In

Today I did something that I have only done 1 other time in 2 and a half years...I called in sick. I'm not truly sick, or maybe I am. I am in so much pain and I am so swollen that it hurts to move everything and to top it off the left ankle is swollen up yet again. This might be attributed to working last night without pain meds or it might just be part of this never ending flare up. I'm not sure which, but I would have been useless to them today. I am barely moving from place to place and I hurt so bad. 18 more days till I see the specialist. I am praying that he sees it for what it is and allows me to get some much needed relief. UGH! I am barely making it today. Pain meds did not help at all and I took two this morning. 18 more days! 18 more days!! Praying for some relief. I need it today!!

Just Under 3 Weeks

I have just under three weeks to go until my doctor appointment that I have been waiting for. Nineteen days to be exact. I am trying to be patient and make it through. Really, I am. I am actually more concerned about having enough money for the appointment. I won't have all that I need, but hope to have most of it. I want them to at least get started on some testing and such. I am ready for a lifestyle change. We are waiting for this appointment. Please continue to pray that God provides the needed means for this appointment and that everything works out. No much new in our house, just trying to make it through. Week is half over. It is hard to type in the dark, so I better go. (Yes, the computer is in our room and my husband is sleeping. Its late. LOL!) Have a good rest of the week. Take care.

Cupcakes!

YUM!! Sounds good, doesn't it! Well, as a few days ago I picked up a cake mix and icing for "Spring." Anna has been dying to get in the kitchen and cook. I have made her wait a few times, but decided that yesterday was the right time. Anna thoroughly enjoyed herself. She loves to cook and bake in the kitchen. (She also likes to clean...when will that change...I don't figure we have too much longer.) Anyhow, here are some pictures from the fun day.

Mixing:

The batter:

Ready for the oven:

Cooling cupcakes:

Let the icing begin:

Four of Anna's Completed Cupcakes:

Now what do you need to do with completed cupcakes?? Why you eat them of course!! Here is a picture of Anna with one of her completed cupcakes. Yes, lots of sprinkles!!

First bite:

Mmmmmm!!!

As you can see Anna and I had a great time. She loves cooking and we both love to eat what we cook, so we both had a great time. Hope you enjoyed. Have a great week and God bless.

Maybe its a good thing....

Maybe its a good thing I was at work when the severe storms hit us yesterday. It was apparently bad enough that they had people taking cover and taking cover is exactly what my husband did with Anna and our nephew, Aydin. They holed up in the hallway with doors shut and a mattress or two against the open wall. Anna read a book to Aydin. Anna said that they stayed there until it stopped raining and hailing. She wasn't worried int he least bit, but my husband was. They said take cover and he did. Way to go honey. Sorry I wasn't home when they said to take cover.

Uhm. At the store, we were all clueless apparently and we were standing by the big glass window watching the storm and hail. I don't think we would ever know when to take cover. LOL!! We would be those crazy people, like yesterday saying "oh, that's pretty cool" and "wow those clouds are dark" and "look at the size of that hail." Please tell me that in the event of something severe enough that we would take cover. I mean good grief. They told the rest of the city to take cover, wouldn't that include shopping places as well? Apparently not. I pray in the event of a true emergency that I am at home. I would never have a clue at work. I mean we got a bunch of phone calls from worried spouses, but none of us was in the authority to do anything about it. Anyhow, all is fine and we are all safe and sound. We have a bunch of leaves all over everything at the house, but we are all fine and that's what counts. Have a good weekend all.

OK, Easter...

Sorry for waiting all week to post this, but I do most blogging in the morning and mornings are when I am at my worst. Here is the Easter bit at last.

Saturday night we colored eggs. Literally. Mommy failed to buy any egg dye this year and Daddy still wanted the tradition of coloring eggs, so we used markers and literally colored them. I have to say, not only was this cheaper and easier, but it was more fun. Here are a few pictures for Saturday's egg coloring:

On Sunday, I was awaken to this sweet and very excited girl saying "Mommy!! Mommy!! He came last night! He filled my basket!!!" At that very moment I was ready to tell her to go back to bed until the sun was shining, but when I turned over, the sun was already shining and my husband was gone. Hmmm. Okay. So I got out of bed and made her wait until Daddy came home from the store. That was a long wait. LOL!!

When Daddy came back, I let him have the privilege of taking our Easter pictures, because his pictures always turn out better. Here are a few of Anna getting ready to hit her basket:

After a traditional pancake breakfast, we went to hunt the eggs that the bunny had hid the "night" before. LOL!! It was all wet, but we went outside anyways. Here are a few pictures of Anna hunting eggs:

I just realized when posting this, that these are the only pictures we have of her in her cute Easter dress. I forgot to have her pose for me and take a few good pictures. Oh well, that's in the past now. We at least have these cute pictures.

After church we went to my step mother's mother's house for lunch. (I know that was way confusing, but try to stay with me.) We had a great lunch and then a little while later the kids did an Easter egg hunt. It started to rain at the end of that hunt, so we quickly relocated indoors to sort through the prizes. Here are a few pictures from that hunt:

All in all I would say it was a good Easter. We had fun and Anna enjoyed herself. Thank all for being patient and waiting. Have a great weekend. God bless.

Easter is Coming....

LOL, OK, so it is a funny title as Easter has already passed, but the Easter post I plan on doing is coming, it just may be tomorrow. If you want to see the pictures and video my husband made, you can go to his blog. It is really neat. More to come. Stay tuned...

It's BAAAACK!!!

You wanna know what the best thing in the world to me is right now???? Well, here is a picture of it:

LOL!!! I have my freedom back. No, its not clean, (never really is) but its mine again. It cost me a lot more than expected, but runs better than I ever think it has before. There are more new parts than old under the hood. After 4 and a half months (or was that 5 months)of being stuck at home, Anna and I can finally get out and do things! No, it wasn't in the shop that long, only 2 months in the shop. YEAH!!! It is so nice to have my car back again. Now, guess what I'm doing?? Sitting at home and waiting on people to pick up sale things. LOL!!! OK, so the thing is I CAN go out if I want, today I just need to wait. Hope everyone has a good Easter and I will see you next week. Take care!!

Allergies

I took Anna to the doctor yesterday to have them check and make sure she didn't have a sinus infection and she doesn't. My darling daughter has severe allergies and the Zyr*tec she's been on for over a year, possibly two years has stopped working and she has a lot of drainage. UGH!! So, they switched her to Clari*tin and added in a 30 day course of Singul*air, to go along with her Naso*nex. That really seems like a lot of medicines for such a young girl, but the doctor wasn't worried. She said that if this doesn't help clear her up we may be in for allergy testing. UHM, nope! Not going there with a 7 year old unless absolutely necessary. Hoping this new combo works good. I'm sure our constant weather changes and blowing dust are not helping her either. Anyhow, that's all for now. Have a good day.

Mommy Bragging Time!!

LOL!! What a title, but that's what I am doing today. I walked out to the living room today and my 7 year old, first grader is reading Charlotte's Web. Do you know that is usually a 3rd or 4th grade book? My child was reading it. She is doing one chapter at a time and then she switched to another chapter book. LOL!! How she can keep the stories straight is beyond me. I was just excited that she is reading such a high level book!! (I would get a video of her reading it, but she said its embarrassing. LOL!!) She is doing very well at reading. VERY, VERY well. She even picks up the Bible and read random things out of it. She likes to read. I am so glad that I could instill good reading habits to her!! YEAH!! OK, I'm done bragging!! Thanks for letting me. Have a good day all and God Bless.

Nothing New

Well, so far there is nothing new for today. I am still stuck at home for the most part, my car is still not done. Sunday he said it is 90% done, but not done yet. Should be done this week. YEAH!! I sure hope it's this week. I have been a long time without being able to do what I want. I know my husband is ready too. He is the one having to take me to work and other events during the evenings. Other than that, I ask my mom a few times to take us and borrow a car once or twice, but nothing significant. The cost of getting my car repaired is the killer, but it would have cost me at least double or triple at a bigger car repair shop, so I guess patience is the name of the game.

Nothing new other than that. We school, I work, we sort of clean and we go to church. That's pretty much it. Yes, I said sort of clean. My house is lacking some major cleaning. Its only been a week, but what a difference that one little pill made. UGH! My house is unfortunately a wreck. Yes, in a week it became a huge wreck. Imagine that, we LIVE here. LOL!! We don't go hardly anywhere. So, yes our house would be a wreck. Oh well. We have clean clothes and dishes and food, so what more can we ask for? :-)

OK, I better get on with the day and go put the heater up a little more because you know its 25 degrees right now with a windchill of 15. Beautiful April weather we're having here. Can we get back to the nice 70s now? I like that much better. OK. Time to go. Take care and have a good day. God bless.

OH!!! Go to my husband's blog to see the latest video of our last field trip to Safety City!!

Pray for Jonah

Yes, two posts in one day, but these babies need our prayers. Jonah was born with a skin condition that causes him to blister bad. He is a miracle baby. He just went home, but needs a lot of medical help as well. Please add this baby and family to your prayers as well. Thanks and god bless.

Praying for Stellan

I have been following this blog for quite some time and I am trying to gather more prayers for this little baby and his family. If you haven't read the story, please do so. It is heart-breaking to me to watch this family and their day-to-day struggles to keep their baby boy alive. I am very thankful to have a very healthy little girl. Please pray for this family and this baby. That's all I ask. Follow the kink and read the blog. There is also a news story about half-way down the page. If you watch that, you will get to know the whole story. Thanks all and God bless.

April 1st

OK, so it is April 1st. The day when people play practical jokes and all. Why would they give people an actual day for this. I can guarantee you my husband doesn't need permission or a special day to play a practical joke. Its like giving him permission to act nutty. LOL!! He has enough practical jokes pop into his head without an actual day devoted to it. I wonder what he will come up with for today?

I, on the other hand, am not a practical joker. I don't mind one every now and then, but in general I do not do a lot of jokes. I am more of a serious type of person. I leave the jokes to my husband. Thank goodness Anna doesn't know about "April Fools" jokes or I would be bombarded with them today. LOL!!

OK, its time to move on. We need to get started with our day. Take care all and God bless.