Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. We will be leaving tomorrow to travel to the St. Louis area. Please say a prayer for our safety. I am sure the interestates will be full of people.

This will be my first Thanksgiving away from my family here in my hometown. While I am happy to be with my husband's family, I am going to miss lunch at my aunt's house. It is my favorite "large" family gathering of the entire year. We always eat, then play cards or spoons, watch football, and at the end of the day the ladies gather around to look at all of the next day's shopping ads.

For the last couple of years I have always gone shopping with my mom the day after Thanksgiving. We usually get up at 4 am and are at the stores by 5 am. I know most of you probably think that is crazy but we have SO much fun doing it. We get a quick breakfast in the car and then eat lunch together and call it a day by noon. Then it is nap time. This year I am probably going to take advantage of sleeping in and watching football. If I haven't mentioned it, I LOVE FOOTBALL!! I hope the Hogs win on Friday...doubt it but who knows???

I know that my husband's family is very excited that we are coming. We don't get to be with Rick's sister very often so it will be a great time!

I better get to Wal-Mart to get some things before we leave. Love to you all and I am so thankful for each one of you! May God's blessings pour out on each of your families, friends and especially those who have no one to share this Thanksgiving with.

Thankful

Hello to you all! It has been a while since I have posted. I have been so busy it seems. If I look back, I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what has kept me so busy...maybe work, kids, church, etc. I will tell you that I am blessed to have a full life. I am excited about the holidays coming. For those of you who don't know, I work for my church. We have just finished decorating it this week and it is SO beautiful! I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet but you have to find time to decorate and early is the best way to handle it. I think both holidays wrap into one...aren't we thankful that Jesus came into this world???

I am feeling blessed to celebrate all of the things I am thankful for. Most of all I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Him, nothing is possible in this life. To just have a relationship with Him is all that I need in this world. Anything else that I receive is just icing on the cake. I am blessed with a wonderful Godly husband who I am very proud to call mine. My children are precious...you know it's funny how God makes each one of them different. One thing I can say about mine is that they are both uniquely different but are both such very good kids, compassionate and sweet! I have the greatest parents in the world. They are SO unselfish and loving. I have a wonderful brother and sister, a great family and friends. I am so thankful for all of the people God has placed in my life. If it is for a season that is great, then I am blessed for that time.

Times are very hard for almost everyone these days. I pray God's blessings upon you and that you will pray for a "thankful" heart. May the Lord open your mind and heart to help someone this holiday season. I don't know if you listen to KLRC but they have been having "Pay It Forward" for the month of November. When you go through the drive thru next time...pick up the person behind you's order. If you can't give money or buy someone something, donate your time, give a hug, pray for them. That is truly what Jesus would want us to do.

May God bless you this weekend and begin to prepare your heart for time with family, friends, and loved ones!

Halloween

I haven't posted in a while. Life has been CRAZY!! Anyway...I had to post some pictures of Halloween. You can see in the picture below that Loren was Cleopatra. She was SO pretty! I think it was my favorite costume yet. The only thing is that when you buy your costume at TARGET you should expect other little girls to buy it too. Well, let me tell you - they did. That's ok though. She was the only Cleopatra in the 2nd grade at her school.

This is my VERY sweet son Jacob. He decided at the beginning of October that he was too old to go trick-or-treating. Well, on Friday morning (Halloween), he decided he wanted to dress up. I am not very creative with making homemade costumes but my Mom is. I was very proud of what she threw together for him. He has always wanted to be a werewolf. We didn't have a good wig for him but she did pretty well with the makeup, nails, hairy chest, etc. Ha! Boys will be boys so he is giving his best scary face here.

This is a picture of Jacob and Loren together. Can you tell that Loren was afraid of her brother? Look at her face...hilarious! My mom and I couldn't get her to stand closer to him. I guess she thought he was a real werewolf.

This is better. She is warming up to him a bit. We had a lot of fun this Halloween. The kids didn't get too much candy. It was actually stuff we will all eat. Yipee!!

I just want to thank God for the family he has blessed me with while on this earth. I am so proud of my children. They are really good kids. Hopefully someday I will look back and feel as if I've done a good job being a Mom. I pray so anyway....God bless you all and have a wonderful evening. Don't take one minute for granted, time flies so fast.