Just a lil update on our lil fam!

Hello Friends!  It’s been a while.  I’ve missed you.  I hope all is well since the last time I blogged.

I have had so much to say, yet I didn’t want to bore you with the little goings on of my life lately.  God has given me several things that I wanted to write about, but I would start to write, and he would stop me.  I don’t know why, but I was obedient.

Let me just tell you where we are all at right now:  Jeff is counting the days down until his last Chemistry class.  He has done well, but dearly misses us as he is gone 3 nights per week.  God has been speaking to him pretty regularly which just amazes me.  Sometimes I wish that God would speak to me even half as much as Jeff hears him.

Emmitt is doing well in 3rd grade.  He LOVES his teacher and his classmates.  His favorite subject is Science.  Who knows, he may be on Mythbusters one day.  (one of his favorite shows).  He’s definitely growing up and his personality is changing.  He’s also getting very tall, and he’s almost right under my chin. 

Carleigh is currently home sick from school today.  She hardly ever gets sick.  She’s my healthy eater so I think that contributes to her health.  She was recently asked what she didn’t like to eat, her response was “everything”.  Meaning she likes it all.  She is doing okay tonight, so I think that she’ll be going to school tomorrow.  She has to get well because she is having her first Sleepover Party for her 7th birthday on Thursday night. She is SO excited.  She’s been asking for a sleepover forever.  I think the girls are finally old enough to handle it.  We’ll see…I may be making some phone calls to parents about midnight of little girls wanting to come home to sleep.

Delaney is loving ballet still. I’ve had several comments lately from parents and children about how “good” she is already.  I thought that she would be more of our gymnast, but she may be on Dancing With The Stars one day.  She is as feisty as ever.  Here is a sample conversation she had last night with her daddy:

Jeff: “I love Ariel”

Delaney: “No you don’t, you’re a boy and boys like Prince Eric….Pssssht.”

How does a three year old learn to say Pssssht?  Who knows, but you just have to laugh at her.

 

I’m teaching a lot at Jazzercise lately, and keeping busy with volunteering at the kids school.  I figure I better do as much as I can now before I start back to work when Delaney starts school.

I also celebrated my 33rd birthday this month.  I had a pretty amazing birthday I must say.  Jeff spoiled me (as usual) by taking me shopping and baking me the best Pecan Pie that he’s ever made.  I celebrated last week with my sister and her husband and we had a blast just being together (as usual). I had a few lunches with friends and was really overwhelmed by all the love that was shone to me on my birthday. 

I had several birthday wishes by friends and family on Facebook which made me tear up more than a few times.  One word kept coming up and it was the word LEADER.  I hardly think of myself as a leader.  I fall daily.  But, I guess I do what we all do..I just get right back up and keep on walking.

Here is an email that just made me cry all over the place:

“I used you today as my example of an Inspired Leader. You are a great positive example to all who know you. I am honored to know you and hope some of your character will rub off on me!”

Guys, I’m not trying to toot my own horn, I wrote that to say this…whether you believe it or not, people are watching what you say and do all the time.  Our children watch us when bad things happen to see how we react.  My HOPE is that everything that I say and do be pleasing in God’s sight.  Before I get out of bed each morning I pray, “God, let everything that I say and do be pleasing to you, I want to walk in your will today, and always”.  I mean that more than anything.  Please let that be your prayer tonight.  You never know who’s watching you.  I’ve had my share of ups and downs in the last 3 years, but my prayer is that I was a positive example for my children in the face of adversity.  It majorly overwhelms me to think that some people think of me as a leader, but if they do, I better be the best that I can be, right?

That’s all for now folks.  I have to get kiddos ready for bed!

Blessings,

Marsha

Happy Fall Ya’ll, or is it Merry Christmas?

 

So we’re a few weeks into my favorite time of the year.  Fall going into Christmas.  I love it when the weather gets a little cooler, the leaves start changing colors, and life starts to slow down a little from a crazy Summer.

I’m still a little confused as to where 2009 has gone?  I cannot believe that it’s October already, and there is only 3 months left in the year.  It seems like we just celebrated the new year, then Valentines Day and Delaney’s Birthday, March was celebrating Emmitt’s Birthday, April was the month that we celebrated Elijah, May marked the end to another school year, recovery time from having Elijah, and Mia’s Birthday, June was spent running around trying to do all the things that I wanted to with the kids for the summer, July was Fireworks, and Jeff’s birthday, August was the beginning to yet another school year, and September honestly seems like a blur.  So that leads us to today, October 2, 2009. 

Has your year went like you had hoped?  Did you start 2009 with hopes to loose that last 10 lbs. of baby weight?  Or maybe you had hoped that things would start to look up for you and your situation.  Did you set a goal and start working towards it and then the bottom seemed to drop out?  Did you start the year with a healthy family, and then to your surprise, someone was diagnosed with Cancer or another serious illness?  In my case, on January 1, 2009 I was sick with morning sickness.  We had just found out about Elijah, no one new yet, but I JUST KNEW and BELIEVED and PRAYED and HOPED that he would be born to our family and that everything would change for us.  I thought that what had happened in the past with Jordan and Mia would be just that, the past.  But you all know that my year went terribly different that I had hoped. 

My question to you and to myself is “What are you going to do about it?”

I guess that we could become bitter, or loose hope because everything is different now.  We could become mad at God because things are not like we wanted and after all, isn’t he Santa Claus?

Today, as you read this I want to challenge you to make a difference in the rest of 2009.  It’s not too late.  It’s not too late to start eating better and exercising.  It’s not too late to work on that goal.  It’s not too late to positively change the rest of the year.  We sit around waiting on the world to change, with the lack of knowledge that we can change the world. 

You and I can help others through our circumstances. Maybe you are 6 months into a bad report from the Doctors, and you know someone who’s life just changed because of a bad report.  What are you going to do about it?  I guarantee that I’m not going to let someone walk the journey of loosing a child and sit idle, waiting for them to ask me for help.  I’m going to be in their face, encouraging them, telling them what God’s word says, listening when they just need an ear, and most importantly LOVEing them.  Maybe you can take a few minutes today to sit down and reevaluate the rest of the year.  What do you want to accomplish in these last 3 months?  I’d love to hear what you come up with.

A few of my goals for the rest of the year include:

• Continuing to stay on our budget, so we can get the Doctor bills paid off (hopefully by the end of 2009)

• I want to be a better servant, mother, wife, daughter, friend, sister, and follower of Christ

• and I want to take better care of my body.  Since Elijah was born I have not had an appetite whatsoever.  I go days with just a couple bites to eat.  The baby weight has come off (but that’s not why I haven’t been eating), and now it’s time to start putting those nutrients back into my body, and start being healthy for my family, so I can be around a long time

What brings all of the questions you might ask?  Call it shock.  I had a strange but awesomely amazing night last night.  Those who know me know that I LOVE Christmas.  But it just seems so early to start thinking about it.  Last night Carleigh tried out for an amazing Ballet production called The Mystery Of Christmas.  It’s a twist on the Nutcracker Ballet that tells the story of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas.  She had a small role in it for the past 2 years, but this year was a big deal because she had to “try out” for it.  It’s a much longer dance and she gets to dance with a boy. Ha.  (She told me that she wished that Emmitt was a dancer, because she didn’t want to hold anyone else’s hand but his). 

So…I spent the entire ride home humming the Nutcracker songs in my head, and out loud as well.  Then I got home and realized that I needed to send Vivian (my mother in law) a list of ideas for the kids for Christmas because they are planning on shopping for them today.  And then when getting ready for bed what do I hear on T.V.?  Jeff had turned up Christmas Vacation really loud because he knew that it’s my absolute FAVORITE holiday movie.

Wow, it’s October, not December right?  Are you sure?  Because as cold as it was yesterday in Kansas City, I could have swore that it’s the Christmas season!

So, that’s all for now.  I’ve typed your ear off.  A lot has happened since I last wrote, but I’ll save that for another time. 

Hope you all have a better end to 2009, than the beginning!

Blessings,

Marsha