Headed to DC

I wanted to let everyone in blogland know I won't be posting for a few days. I am headed to DC with Big T for a National Youth Forum on Law. She is such a smarty pants and already has the desire to be an attorney. (nothing wrong with a little motivation from a teenager these days) I am so proud of her. My mom is headed on the trip with us, so we are looking forward to a great time together.

Pray for J who remains at home with all the kiddos.

Thanksgiving Day is a Happy Day, and we Say thank you God!

Okay, I must explain the title, when I was a little girl, my mom would sing this tune, "Thanksgiving Day is a happy day and we say thank you God". This is such a vivid memory, among others when she would sing to us. So I felt I must start this post with that song.

As you can see, our day was full of lots of family time and time well spent at the dinner table enjoying a wonderful feast. As I was looking at all of the pictures I posted, I thought of all the families all over America that had a large table, a kid table, TV trays, bar stools, or whatever they could find to sit on to gather with families to stop and say thanks. The tradition of Thanksgiving as we all know started hundreds of years ago when the pilgrims literally went without for so long, then after a wonderful harvest felt the need to stop and say thanks to God for all of their bountiful blessings. Words cannot describe the awesomeness when we stop and think of the power of this day and all it means in rich tradition to our country and its starting foundation.

We ourselves enjoyed a huge meal with lots of yummy food, good stories, and a show by little J which included lots of laughter. We have also loved the many leftovers this weekend including little turkey sandwiches at every meal since!!! After years of only cooking a 15 lb turkey, and never having leftovers, I decided to splurge and cooked a 25 lb bird and one 7 lb fresh turkey breast. Needless to say, we have had lots of leftovers and I got what I wanted, lots and lots of turkey. My theory is, if I am going to cook a bird that big I want to enjoy it for days to come.

We have had a great weekend and enjoyed relaxing, being together, lots of fires, including one outside with smores!!! Thank goodness it is finally getting cold so we could enjoy a bonfire and "smoes" as little J calls them.

Thanksgiving and ALL it includes!!

Our Thanksgiving festivities began with an outstanding performance at the preschool Thanksgiving program. J and ME were a turkey and an indian, as you can see, they were quite little cuties on the stage!!! I was as proud as a mom could be. J just stood on the stage throughout the performance and yelled to his teacher, "Ms. Sarah, look there's my PAPA". We all just laughed hysterically, he never even sang one song, he just repeated that over and over. ME was a beautiful indian girl and did an outstanding little indian dance. She was given the name "medicine bear" because she is always running to assist her little classmates when they get hurt. Maybe that means she will be a doctor one day? All in all the program was precious and quite a special memory.

It all makes me realize how thankful I am for my two youngest. They definitely exhaust me of most of my energy, but oh how thankful I am this Thanksgiving for them, they are healty, beautiful, and precious darlings.

I am Thankful For:

-a free country
-a home
-a family
-many precious friends
-a church family and a wonderful church to worship in
-my Bible Study groups
-11 children
-my husband
-a wonderful christian school for my children to attend
-lots of yard space to run around in!!
-food (how blessed I am, when we need groceries, I just get it, so many go without DAILY)
-Jesus Christ and His gift to us
-my relationship with God-He is my sustainer and provider daily
-for the daily struggles that constantly bring me back to HIM!!!

I am slowly learning that a heart of gratefulness helps the daily journey so much more than the complaining. Why is it we must remind ourselves of this daily? Thanksgiving helps us stop the madness and look around at what we really have that so many others do not. A heart of thanksgiving should come at all times. We are reminded in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus". That's it, pure trust in God's will and thanking Him for EVERYTHING. That's not that easy on a daily basis, but so much easier once we surrender it all to Him and thank him for what he's given us. Thanking Him is part of the understanding process, it changes our heart and our attitude in the process.

Take a moment today to thank God for everything, even the junk, you'll notice a change in your attitude, trust me I know!!!

Operation Christmas Child

Behold the chaos it took to pack 7 little shoeboxes!!! I absolutely love this project we do with our children every year. Please visit www.samaritanspurse.org. to find out more info on how you can do this project with your children as well. Basically each shoebox that you pack yourself is sent somewhere in the world to a needy child that will not receive Christmas this year. Just think about the magnitude of that concept. A gift packed by my children will actually be received somewhere else in the world to a child that will not have any Christmas!! I cannot imagine for one minute Christmas in my entire life that I or my children have gone without. What a lesson involved when we teach our families to think of others before we even start Christmas in our home.

The kids took great pride in packing each box just so carefully for each child. My husband and I help our church coordinate the local collection center for all churches in our area. We then pack the boxes in larger boxes and have them taken to a town nearby, where they are then collected and taken to a larger town and so on and so on. We love, love, love this project and please if your church does not coordinate this event with another church in your area, you can still participate. Simply go to the website mentioned above, plug in your area code and find a drop off site near you. This week is the nation wide collection week. NOW GO PACK THOSE SHOEBOXES!!!!!

Taking a Break

For those of you that didn't know, I had a cyst removed yesterday from my chest area. This was just an in-office procedure and the cyst was removed simply because it became infected and was in an area that was causing lots of discomfort. Of course my initial mind went to "is it cancer", but it wasn't. It was just simply a nasty cyst that needed to be out. The procedure went great and I am glad I went through with it. ( I really wanted to do it at the hospital under outpatient surgery, but really it was no big deal)

Here's the problem, I don't do pain!!! I willingly took my pain pills on schedule before any pain set in and enjoyed a quiet day on my bed with the door shut. (this also meant I was a little loopy from my medicine) It's sad that a mere cyst removal is the only way I will allow myself to take a break from our busy life with 11 children.

I am so proud of J and the kids, the wheels still turned, dinner got cooked, laundry got done, and life went on without me. Sure, there were a few messes left out and beds not made just right this morning, but I loved my mini-break from being fast paced 15 hours out of my day. Thanks to my sweet family for giving me my quick break!!!

New Day, New month, New Post, New Life

I am very excited today as I write, and I can't explain why. It is Sunday and I loved worship today in church, that has to be why!!! I just noticed I hit New Post on my blog page and this is my first entry this month. It's the first day of the week and I have been in God's house!!! I love, love my church family and we are on the dawn of hearing the announcement of our new Senior Pastor (is to be next Sunday after church) It will be new era in the life of our church and I am so fired up about it.

What is it about newness? The concept got me thinking. J and I went on a date last night, and as I was looking through my closet I wanted to find that special something to wear (we have not been on a "date" since our anniversary in July). I really wanted to look and feel special. I thought to myself, "oh yeah, what about that fun, new jacket I bought on sale a couple of weeks ago". I pulled it out, slipped it on and felt, well, NEW. It feels so good and special to wear something saved for a special occasion and something that is new. What is that feeling and why do we as humans crave it? New house, New car, new babies, new clothes, new whatever? It's always something we crave and want isn't it?

I believe we are designed to want that, but really it is the Lord we are craving. HE makes all things new!!! There are 38 references to NEW in my concordance, but this is my favorite. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2Corinthians 5:17

Doesn't that just speak life into your soul? We get to be new every single day.
Dear Lord, help me remember that each and every day. I don't need anyTHING to feel new, you have already done that for me. Thank you for making us new in YOU, the old has gone the NEW has come.