The Business of Being Born

*Remember to pause the music on my blog before you watch...


Wow, there is alot that I could write about with this movie. When it comes out on DVD, which I think it has already with Netflix, (which we don't subscribe to) I am for sure going to be watching this documentary.

Now let me start off with a disclaimer here. :) I am not against hospital births. I had one, and I *needed* it. How do I know that I needed it? Because I, from the start I *wanted* a home birth. We aquired a mid-wife, and made our plans. Unfortunatly, those plans didn't work out they way we had hoped. The reason I knew I needed the hosital birth, was when I said I couldn't take the pain anymore, my midwife agreeded. But I'll share with you why on another day. :)

But, if I didn't have a mid-wife and went with a doctor right away, I know for a fact that I would of had a C-section. Maybe in the weeks to come, I'll share my birth stories with ya'll. But lets just say that, everything that the movie was showing in the clips is pretty true.

When I was transfered from home to the hospital, after a while I was given pitocin. The nurse told me it was because my contractions were pretty strong when I arrived, but then they started to peeter out. She (the nurse) gave it to me when I was sleeping! I didn't even say they could give it to me!Grrrr... Unfortunantly at that point, I could care less. I was tired, and I wanted that baby to get out!

After my hospital birth I went on to have two more totally natural births at home. With Tiny Boy my contractions "peetered"out for about an hour. I realized later, that my body just perhaps does that to rest itself.

In the long run, I *almost* had to "have" a C-section. If I hadn't had my midwife to begin with, I would of been a classic C-section candiate. Why? Well, most Dr's. break the bag of waters right when you get in the hospital. Once they do that, you are not allowed to be in labor for over 24 hours. Then if you are in labor for that long with your waters broken, they would say that you are "failor" to progress, and you "need" to have a C-section. And many times, because the baby doesn't have any more fluid, the baby becomes distressed, cause an "emergency" C-section.

At the time I arrived at the hospital, I was 4cm, my bags of water had not broken, but I had been in labor for 24 hours already. If I had entered the hospital as a planned birth, they would of broken my waters, I would of been in labor over 24 hours, thus needed the C-section.

Thankfully the doctor my midwife recomended as a back up doctor for transfers had a natural birth mindset, and he wouldn't allow them to break my water. I was in labor 12 more hours after that. The Dr. was worried at one point that I would end up "needing" a C-section. But thankfully, he didn't rush it, and at the last minute, I began to progress.

That Dr. stayed at the hospital all night to make sure he delivered my baby. I believe that rarely happens. Or they come to the hospital when the nurses call him and let them know that they are almost ready to push.
He knew my midwife (as he was the dr. that my midwife trained under) and he learned a few things from her about natural child birth.

One thing that really is a pet peeve of mine is, that women blindly follow their doctor's advice, and just do what the doctors tell them to without thinking one thing about it. I really could care less that woman choose to have hospital births. There are times when I believe it is absolutely needed. There are times when pain relief is needed. (Hey I asked and took that opition when I was in labor with my first. My midwife agreed with me.) And there are "true" emergecy situations that do require C-sections.

But the majority of the time, women just follow the dr's orders and don't research their options or statistics on their own. And if they do, they get frightened by "horror" stories, and "what if they were not at the hosipital, when they were giving birth?" by well meaning friends and relatives. Thus they greatly increase their chances of having an un-needed C-section.

I am really trying not to sound judgmentle here over women that have hosptial births. I am not trying to make it sound like I am better than you. I really don't think that way.

I just wish that women would research more. We all must choose for oursleves and what is best for our own families. What I want to do, is inform you, so you can make that decison based on facts, rather than emotional manipulation that the medical community often does use. I know because I too have been subjected to that. ;-)

Anyway, please don't take this the wrong way. I'll still love you if you had your baby the conventional method. ;-) But at the same time, try to reasearch your options based on facts. :)

A Valentine Day

Well, I know I said that I would have a new post. There were two things playing into why one wasn't up sooner. One, I took pictures *all* day yesterday, and somehow they got lost in technology. They weren't on my disk when I went to upload my camera. I was sooo upset, because I had some really nice ones to share! :( Oh well, that can't be helped.

The second reason was, I was too tired to, and then my hubby got home from work.

Our day went very nice. I made the children a heart shapped breakfast. I took a heart cookie cutter, placed it on a plate, and filled it with scrambled eggs. It looked soooo cute, but alas,, my camera wasn't behaving.

After breakfast we did some chores. Then we made cupcakes with pink icing. I also packed a basket filled with tea items. We planned on having a suprise Valentine Tea Party with my Grandmother. After that, and getting dressed, we headed to Chick-*-A. The girls most favorite fast food resturant. ;-)

One message board that I am a part of had a Valentine Day Card Swap with the children. So after our lunch, the girls opened their cards. It was lots of fun. :) They then played on the playset for about 10 more minutes.

After our lunch and opening of cards, we headed out to go visit my Grandmother for afternoon tea. She was very suprised to see us, and I believe her spirits were lifted. She is a sort of a shut in. She can't drive, and she doesn't get to go out much. We live about a half hour away, which means we don't see her very often.

When we left Grandma's the kids were all high on sugar; some were grumpy. Some were crazy. Some were sleepy. ;-)

We arrived home, andI gave the girls their baths, then put hot water on the stove for Spaghetti. I made Garlic Green Beans, and Garlic Toast to go with it.. Sweetie ate all of hers. Bean was picky as usual.

The children to went to bed after supper, and I browsed around some blogs. My husband has been having a more than normal workload for the past month. His manager got a position at another company, and the lady that shares his work load in on maternity leave, so he was late in getting home.

When he did get home, he had this beautiful card for me.

This is really funny. It *is* handmade, and I thought that maybe, perhapes, he actually did make it. (Like he went online and tried to find a tutuorial and made me one.) But then he explained that a lady at his work made a bunch of these cards, and sold them to all the men who forgot to buy their wives a card! LOL! I told him that I thought that he made it, and he said, "No, I bought it, because I am not *that* guy." LOL. If you watched the Dream Guys video on my blog last week, you would understand what I am refering to.

But it really was a nice card, and when I read what he wrote in it, I started to cry. I forgot all of what the card had said, but then after hugs and kisses, I remembered he said, "I hope you like these gifts". So I asked him what that meant. He then went outside, and brought in two big bags from Ma*y's I could hardly believe it! What was inside? Well....

This is a rice cooker. I have heard all sorts of wonderful things about these. To make matters even better, the same lady who made the card above, always raves about her rice cooker. So my husband was very familiar with these. He was joking with my mom about a certain fancy shmancy resturant that my Dad should take her to for Valentines Day. He has been there for work functions and really enjoyed it. I then turned to my mom and jokingly said, "See mom, he gets to have all the fun, while I sit at home and eat Peanut Butter sandwiches." Hubby then said, he would take me there someday. He then starts telling me the prices, and I said, "Forget it! I can think of *alot* better things to spend money on, then to spend that kind of money on food." So my husband asked me what kind of things. So I then begin to list all these wonderful things. Including a rice cooker. Which he rememebered. I never believed that he would of bought me one!

He also gave somthing "un-practical" too, LOL! When we were courting he told me he liked perfume. (He likes all kinds of good smells. He even loves candles!) I hardly wore perfume, so I asked him to pick something that he liked. This is the fragrance he picked. Ironically I just ran out of my orginal bottle. (I was *very* frugal with it LOL) But whenever I smell this fragrance, I always think of my husband, and our courting time. :) Now I love it!

So we had a fun day yesterday. :)

To see more show and tell items please click on the Show and Tell Button at the beginning of my post. Have a wonderful day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Romans 5:7-8
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet preadventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.


I John 4:9-11&16
In this was manifested the love of God twoard us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Table all decorated with everyone's Valentine's Day goodies


A girl M&M candy thingamajig on top of a small box of chocloates. Sprinkled with heart confetti, and home-made Valentine cards nestled beside the candy for a the little girls valentine.

A boy M&M figure, same as girls for tiny boy.


Good morning everyone, and Happy Valentines Day! This morning I was pondering how the world really miss-uses the word LOVE. This misuse can be so damaging too. People expect LOVE to be the way that the world protrays it to be. And when "love" isn't dished out the way one expects it to be, disapointment follows. And many times tradedy. Before you think I am being mellow-dramatic, I have seen what this type of worldly "love" can do.

The "only" love that is "true" and real, is the Love of God. No person has ever done for us what God has done. And no person could! Instead of growing discontented over how we are not "loved", (like the world defines love) let us look to the cross. That is where "true" and the only kind of love was demonstrated. You are loved! With the deepest, truest love there ever was, is and will be.

The verse above then says, because God has loved us with this kind of love, we should love one another. It doesn't say we "deserve" this love. We need to focus on God, then on others. And be glad that we are loved so deeply by our creator.

We are designed to *need* love. But only God can truly fill that need. People can try, but we will always end up disspointed or hurt at some time or another with people, and even our loved ones. But God is always love. He is always faithful, and His love never ends.

If you are reading this, and want to know more about the love of God, please email me, and I will be happy to tell you more about it. :)

Come back latter this evening or tomorrow. I will be posting what I did with the children. Have a Happy Valentines Day!

And Happy Birthday to Great Grandma K.! Today is my husband's Grandmother's birthday.

*The Spell checker isn't working right on blogger. *Please* forgive me for my bad spelling. I wasn't the best speller in school. I am slowly getting better as I get older, but I still make mistakes.

I'm Getting Better!

I have been playing around with making more banners. This time I desgined the banner for my other blogging friend Being Mrs. Momma.

She told me that she liked Black and White and Bright Colors. I wasn't sure what to do with that. But as I was looking for black and white pictures, I saw brightly colored Tulips. I knew exactly what to do after that.

I designed it without more information from her. She said she would look for pictures that she liked. But I had the time today while the kids were taking their rest, so I just played around and came up with this. If this isn't what she had in mind, that's ok, I'll just change the title. ;-)

Playing Around with Blog Design

Ok, this is totally addicting! But how could it not be, since it is soooo much fun?! I made this banner (just for fun), for a friend's blog. She doesn't have to use it if she doesn't like it, but it's hers if she wants it. ;-)

My husband helped me out with the special effects this morning. I did the layout out, so I am learning a few things. Hopefully, I can play around with the special effects in the days to come.

So here it is!

My New Look

I am ashamed to say I have spent hours upon hours playing with this template. I wanted to do a Valentine theme. If you visited during the day, you may of noticed the craziness going on here! :)

Well, anyway, it isn't complete yet. I am working on it. But this is the basic idea. :)

I've Been Tagged!

I have been tagged by Heather at Being Mrs. Mama. This looks like a fun tag. I had a lot of fun reading Heather's. I hope you'll have fun reading mine. ;-)


Rules:Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written.Link 1 must be about family.Link 2 must be about friends.Link 3 must be about yourself.Link 4 must be about something you love.Link 5 can be anything you choose.Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.(Readers - don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments.)


Link One~ About Family Snow Play

Link Two~ About Friends My Last MOPS Meeting of the Year

Link Three~ About Myself In *Everything Give Thanks*

Link Four~ Something I Love My Curious Georges

Link Five~ Anything I choose Firm Foundations Lesson 1~ Introducing the Bible


Now I am supposed to tag five people. If you want to participate please do this. If not, I understand if you don't. There are some tags I haven't done. But it sure is fun when I do!

Now here are my "victims", LOL!

Mary at Mary's Writing Nook

Mrs. C. at Riverbend Ramblings

Heidi at Ruth's Hands

Deborah at A Cup of Joy

Diane at Tomato Soup Cake

The Lord's Provision

Philippians 4:19

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Often times with this verse, I get slightly confused. Sometimes I think it says my God shall supply all my wants. ;-)

But God's Word is very accurate because many times, when I think I have *needs*, they are actually my wants. Then I get frustrated and depressed thinking God doesn't care about this *need*. The Devil really wants me to believe that lie too.

Well, last week, the Lord let me test this verse out. ;-)

Our van is kind of old, and when we fix one thing, another thing soon needs fixin'. Three weeks ago Bean woke up with an ear infection, and so I toted her to the Dr. After the visit we made an appointment 10 days later to see if the infection had cleared.

We went to the Dr's and the infection had cleared up nicely. As I got into my van, I sort of had a moment of discontentment, and sort of started to covet for a new car. But then, I decided not to be so ungrateful. Instead I decided to thank the Lord for a vehicle to even drive. As I was doing this and turning the ignition, the van turned on, and just as quickly it turned on, it shut off.

"Great!" I thought. I tried it again and again. The kids were hungry now, and to make matter worse, over Christmas I washed my cell phone. Yup that's right. So I didn't have a cell phone, and my husband works an hour away from our home. So it isn't like he could quickly run by to save me.

So I prayed. I hoped that I would just turn the key and it would start. Nope. Now I was beginning to loose some faith. I dragged the kids out of the van, went back into the Dr's., and asked if they would let me borrow their phone.

They were very kind and allowed me to. Once I got my husband on the phone, he asked me various questions about the car. Then he wanted me to go out there, and try to do something to it, then come back in and call him.

The ladies at the reception desk were very nice and offered to watch the girls while I went out to do the experiment that my husband wanted me to.

I went out there, did what he wanted me to do with no success. As I was walking back in the Dr.'s office I ran into a lady from our church. After she said hello to me, it just sort of hit me that this was the answer to my prayer! So I promptly asked her if she had room for 4 more people, and she did! She had a nice big SUV!

So I got a ride home, and got to have some adult conversation at the same time. ;-)

Then, I decided to take Sweetie out for a mother daughter outing; five days later. We went to the fabric store, and then a thrift store. We were about to head to Target when my van did the same exact thing!

This was really cute so I must share. I said, "Oh, no, Sweetie, or van broke again!" Sweetie replied matter of fact like, "Well, I guess we are going to have to call Jesus again." So guess what? That is what I did, and as soon as I opened my eyes, and turned around to look for someone, I saw the lady who gave me horse back riding lessons when I was a little girl walking in the parking lot!

I ran over to her, gave her a hug. I told her that I was praying for help, and would she please help me? She and her husband tried to jump my car, but it wouldn't work. So guess what? She also gave me a ride home, and I got to visit with someone I hadn't seen for a long time. :)

Another "funny" thing was that she had a very small car. If I had all the children with me, there would of been no way for me to get home. God looks at *every* detail doesn't He?

So, this really got me thinking. Each time this happened God didn't leave me high and dry at all. He truly did supply my needs. Sometimes we have wants, and I believe God delights in giving us those too. But the above verse says *needs*. Sometimes we don't *need* our wants, it wouldn't be good for us. Thank the Lord He doesn't give me everything I want, but He will always take care of me!

On a side note, we figured out that our battery connection was loose. There was nothing wrong with the car. I think God was just testing out my faith. :)

Having a Little Fun...

My Internet friend Heidi at Ruth's Hands showed this virtual makeover of herself on her blog. I myself have been *really* thinking about getting my hair done a bit differently.

So ALL of you lurkers out there, PLEASE (pretty please) post a comment and let me know what you think! ;-)

If you want to play around with your hair here is the website to go to. :) Make Over Solutions

Also, I don't know if this is *exactly* the color that I want. But my hair is extremely fine, and I have heard that highlights makes it look a bit more fuller. When I was playing around with this site, I found that darker colors looked better on me.

All Dolled Up

Last Night was My husband's work Christmas Party. This is the first time that my husband and I have purposely tried to match each other. :) It was alot of fun shopping with DH trying to help him find the right shirt and tie.
The party was held at some fancy hotel; but the food wasn't five star that's for sure. But it was still tasty enough! This party was very fun, because we played games to win raffle tickets to win some great prizes.

My husband did well, because we won three prizes. One of which was this bike! However there is a story behind how he got this bike, because it wasn't the original prize that he won.
There were five groupings of prizes. My husband put all, so he thought but one of the raffle tickets into a group of prizes that had a video camera. That was what he was going to try to win. The other ticket he put in for this bike which was the last grouping of gifts.

Well, we won something from the group of prizes that the video camera was in. Guess what it was!???? A $100 gift certificate to a spa. Guess what I get! A whole *hour* of deep tissue massage. My husband was happy with that prize, because I kill his hands when he gives me a massage. Of course I will be getting a lady to do the massage. ;-)

The next grouping of prizes, DH told me he didn't put any tickets in the box. So we were waiting until the group of prizes with the bike. We were enjoying seeing what everyone was winning. Then the XBOX 350 was next in line. This was a *highly* coveted prize. *EVERY* man, it seemed wanted this. The number was called, and I was looking around seeing who would win. All of the sudden my husband got up, and walked up there! I was like, "Where is he going?" He won the XBOX! He tells me he does *not* remember putting his ticket in that grouping. I guess he did though somehow. And that is what he won!

So as we sat there discussing his prize didn't know what he was going to do with it, because our TV is so small. And he likes computer games mostly. He said he didn't need another time waster either.

When the bike came up, we looked at our tickets, but another man got it. But when he went and got it, he yelled out, This bike has J's name on it! So J went over to him and traded the XBOX for the bike, *and* guess what else?.........

1/2 karat diamond earrings!!!!

We really came up on top with our winnings. I wish I could post a picture of the earrings, but I can't get a good close up of them. Wow, real diamond earrings! I am soo excited. I am not a big jewelry person. But I like simple elegance; and that is exactly what these earrings portray!

It was a very fun evening!

Posting Comments

Several people commented and told me that they were having a hard time finding the comment link on my page when I post a "permalink".

I am very new with playing with HTML codes, and I don't really know how to fix the color on that. Can someone guide me as to how to do that?

Also, I haven't been able to visit around my favorite blogs like I would like to because I am really busy with preparations of Christmas. I was up til 2:00am last night making pajamas for the kids. I still have to finish them today.

I also have to make a tepee and and two quilts with matching pillow cases. These are Christmas gifts for my kids. I am trying to be less commercial in my gift giving with the kids this year. If I get those things done, there are a couple of other sewing projects that I would like to do before Christmas. If they don't get done, it is no big deal, but I would really like to.

So I am afraid that visiting all my blogging friends will be sparse. I will try to stop and visit, but the time that I usually spend reading blogs, will be spent in sewing. It might be quiet around here for awhile. :)

June Hannah

I am kind of late getting up my show and tell today. Things are kind of busy around here. I also had company from a good family friend come last night and we have been talking and visiting. :)

Today I would like to show you my *original* Cabbage Patch Doll. This was my ninth birthday present. Ever since the first time I had visited The Baby Land General Hospital in Cleveland Georgia, I had so wanted to adopt my very own *original* Cabbage Patch Doll.

This little girl is named June Hannah. She was born on June 9th, 1990. So she is now 17 years old. ;-) The funny thing is that my first born was born on June 9th, so they share the same birthday. :)

Adopting a baby from the Baby Land General Hospital is quite an experience, and I vividly remember adopting June Hannah. First you go into the waiting room of the hospital and tell the nurse that you would like to Adopt a baby. She will take you through all the rooms showing all the babies available for adoption. She then informed us that there were many Cabbages in labor at the moment, and we could wait for one and watch one be be born.

That is what I decided to do, because I thought it would be exciting to watch a baby being *born*.

Pretty soon it was announced that a mother cabbage was in labor and that she was six leaves dilated. ;-) The nurse was working on the cabbage and pretty soon she a a full ten leaves, and out came June Hannah.

After she was born she was taken to the nursery to be cleaned up. I got to watch this process as well. The nurse "cleaned" her up, put a diaper on her, a T-shirt, a baby hat, and then wrapped her in this cabbage leaf blanket that you see her in now.

I was then given my June Hannah, and we headed into an office and signed the adoption papers. I took a pledge that I would always take care of her. Then we went into the gift shop where there was all sorts of things for sale to help take care of her. I bought her some more diapers and an outfit.

I named her June, because she was born in June, and Hannah which was name that mom liked and she convinced me that I should name her Hannah. :) I like the name Hannah to this Day. I have met many Hannah's since then and they have all been wonderful people. :)

There are rumors that Cabbage Patch Dolls are not *safe* toys for children. If you know what kind of rumors I am talking about, I am just not sure if it is true or not. Sometimes I wonder if people make a bigger deal about things than they should or not. If you don't know what I am talking about, comment about it, and leave me away to contact you and I will explain. Otherwise it is best to not invoke arguments over. ;-)

If you would like to know more about Baby Land General Hospital, click here. It is kind of fun to read about.

To see what others are showing and telling about, click on the button above my post. Have a wonderful day!

Let's Get Honest

I really don't know why I am posting this on my blog. Last night I lost it. (no not my mind; almost, but it is still here) I lost my emotions over something so dumb and stupid. (Could be that AF showed up yesterday) (For those of you who don't know who AF is, comment me, and I will tell you. ;-) )

Anyway, I lost it over the girls toys. I had posted about this on a backwards Works For Me Wednesday day. I still haven't found the solution. People gave wonderful ideas, but I've tried them all. Or they won't work in our situation. The girls really don't have that many toys comparably speaking. But yet, it gets soooo out of control.

Yesterday because AF visited me, I wasn't feeling very good. So I helped them pick up. Like I *always* do. After it was all done, I told them they could play, but to take one thing out at a time. Later on, their doll house was open, there were a minut amount of toys on the floor, and one of their toy buckets (still full of toys) was slightly pulled out of the closet.

When I saw that I lost it. I burst into tears. *Why* can't I figure out a solution? I hear in my mind all these voices and see all these flash backs of years gone by. And I see the future too.

In the past I see a mother; one I was glad I didn't have. She was my neighbor's mother. I sounded just like her.

The voices that I hear, are "You are a terrible mother"

And the future that I see, I am arguing with Sweetie over some boy she isn't allowed to date.

All of this because of TOYS!!

I cried out to the Lord about this. And all this other stuff came pouring out of my heart. This morning as I was visiting some blogs I came across this. What perfect timing!

Drudgery

"I must admit I feel a lot of pressure with two children under two years of age. I am committed to do it until they are in school, however, and feel it is God's will. At times like this--when I wonder if I will even be able to finish this letter with both of them screaming for something--or when I miss going to lunch or getting dressed up, everyday life seems a drudgery. I worked hard to get through college--to be a scrubwoman, ha!"

I understand this mother's cry. So does the Lord. He has given us this word: "No temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. But God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13, PHILLIPS).

"A way out," I can hear her say, "What mother has a way out?"

The New English Bible translation throws light on this: "a way out, by enabling you to sustain it." Think, too, of Jesus' words, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29 AV). He is willing to bear our burdens with us, if only we will come to Him and share the yoke, His yoke.

I saw this principle in operation when I visited the Dohnavur Fellowship in India. There, day after day, year in and year out, Indian women (most of them single) care for little children, handicapped children, infirm adults, old folks. They don't go anywhere. They have none of our usual forms of amusement and diversion. They work with extremely primitive equipment--there is no running water, for example, no stoves but wood-burning ones, no washing machines. In one of the buildings I saw this text: "There they dwelt with the King for His work." That's the secret. They do it for Him. They ask for and receive His grace to do it. I saw the joy in their lovely faces.

So this is my encouragement from the Lord that I cried out for. Thank you Lord. God will give me the grace. It is sufficient. Just keep plugging on Mommy. :)

I got a blog award!

Being Mrs. Mama blessed me with this blog award. I found her blog through the Thanksgiving Meme, and discovered that both she and I home school, and like to use learning folders in our homeschooling adventures.

I would like to pass this award out to some of my bloggie friends also. :)

First off, I would like to give this award to my sister in law, Proud to Be A Mommy. She just started blogging, and so far she is doing great at it. She is also a real life friend, and a sweet person to boot. :)

Second I would like to give this award to Mary at Mary's Writing Nook. She was the first person to add me to their blog roll, and was a real encouragement to me in my blogging adventures. She commented on a post that wasn't apart of a meme; it just tickled me to death that a complete stranger would like to read my blog. :)

Third Person I would like to give this award to is my new blog friend at A Cup of Joy. I "met" her also through the Thanksgiving meme at Kelli's House, and later found out that we had a lot in common. We both know some In Real Life people that we are friends with, and she also knows my Mother In Law's cousins that were missionaries with New Tribes Missions. Meeting her brought me much encouragement. We both have an understanding of the importance of giving a clear gospel message.

And the fourth person I would like to give this award to is Mrs. C. at Riverbend Ramblings. I knew Mrs. C. from a church that we both attended before we both moved away. Mrs. C. was one of the first people that knew about my blog. Unbeknowning to me, she also had a blog. I emailed her letting her know I had started a blog. So she has been reading my blog from the first post.

She also has been a big help to me in learning how to do special things to the blogger template. And she has been a great encourager in my writings. She is really good at English. I am not, and for her to compliment my writing meant a lot to me. :) .

So those are the lovely people I would like to pass this award on to. Enjoy!

2007 Campfire Traditon

This past Saturday we had our Campfire Tradition. Originally, we had made plans for my pen pal to come, but her little boy got sick suddenly the day that they were supposed to come. :( The girls were so disappointed, but we had had a good time anyway.
My Grandma who is almost 90 years old, got to come too, which was a special treat for the girls. They really were happy that she could come, even though their friends couldn't.

Grandma, me, and Little Tiny Boy. The face on Tiny Boy just cracks me up! :)
Daddy Stoking the fire.
For lunch we roasted hot dogs over the fire. For sides we had chips, and macaroni salad. For dessert; it wouldn't be a campfire without samoores. ;-) That is our good family friend that has been at each and every camp fire helping Bean roast her hot dog.
Bean thinks she isn't allowed to have these. She grabbed them, and went and sat in the corner to eat them. These were her favorites. She called them the yellow chips. She also stuffed my Grandma, (who the kids call G.G.) with these chips. Hey, at least she was sharing! :)Tiny Boy trying to see what is going on at the table.Here he was being camera shy, but I caught him just in time!

Everyone gathered around the fire.Tiny Boy, trying to bribe his Nana of some chocolate! :)
Sweetie telling Nana that everyone was a baby except Adam and Eve. Nana's new little doggie also came to the camp fire. Isn't she cute? :)

The neighbor kids showed up, which turned out to be a big blessing. With my pen pals little children not being able to come, this made up for it. They had a good time roasting marshmellows and hot dogs too.
A bit of exploring is being done by Sweetie and Tiny Boy
Nana spotted some grape vine growing in our back yard, so she made tiny grapevine wreaths for us. :)

And just a cute picture for the road. After everyone left, Daddy and I roasted more hot dogs for dinner. Then we gave the kids a bath. After that, we went outside and sat around the fire some more. We had a nice relaxing time talking with the kids for an extra 15 minutes before we put them to bed.

After bed, Daddy and I went back out to the fire, and enjoyed each other's company for an hour longer. At one point, Bean came back out and asked for a cup of water. When Daddy got back, he said that Sweetie was crying because she saw us sitting by the fire from her bedroom window, and it looked like we were having too much fun! ;-)

My Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

A few days ago I posted about a favorite Thanksgiving tradition that we have have. Now I would like to write about my favorite memory.

It was the Thanksgiving that I was 16 years old. I will be honest in saying that before, when we had Thanksgiving, it was sort of boring. Just having turkey, and boring adult conversation. That year my sister was newly married, and my parents decided to break the mold, and we didn't do the usual Thanksgiving.

I was allowed to invite my best friend who lived a few hours away for the WHOLE week. I had horses at the time, and we both had fun riding and playing with my horses, and just doing "girl" stuff.

My parents also invited our good family friends, the M's to eat dinner with us. Mr. M is now gone to be with Jesus, and Mrs. M is the same lady you saw sitting with me at the picnic table at our camp fire.

We ate dinner as usual, but then we got really bold and daring. We broke molds that had been built over the years. I wouldn't say "traditions" because they weren't fun for me or anyone else in our family. It was more like the "expected" thing of what you did on Thanksgiving.

After dinner, My friend Amy and I got a video Camera and made my parents, sister and brother in law, and the M's play the "Newly wed, and not so newly wed game." Amy and I came up with some bazaar questions; I held the camera and Amy was the hostess. What fun we had! Everyone was laughing their heads off to the point where we had to take breaks and get fresh air. :)

The next day we got the idea to make a silly video by doing a News Cast. We came up with our stories. My sister and her husband were the anchors, and Amy and I were reporters. My brother in law and sister were also reporters, but they would change costumes and make themselves look different.

My friend Amy tried to make herself look like an Asian reporter by taking black eyeliner to her eyes and wearing bright red lipstick. She reported a traffic jam on our infamous interstate. We lined up all of our cars, and each of us each got into a car; honking and throwing our heads out of the windows and shaking our fists! The funny thing was, it looked pretty real!

We reported about an abandoned dog that needed a new home. We did a sports cast, and a weather report.

It was sooooo much fun. And after we put it all together, we watched it laughing our heads off. It was great!

That was the "best" Thanksgiving I have ever had. And this year as I read about the history of the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving, I saw that they too just didn't have a feast, but they also had fun and games. I realized that our out of the mold Thanksgiving wasn't exactly "nontraditional" Just a bit more modernized. :)

See what others are writing about Thanksgiving at Kelli's by clicking on the Give Thanks Button at the beginning of my entry. Have a wonderful day! :)

In *Everything* Give Thanks!

I Thessalonians 5:18

In *everything* give thanks: for this the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Today I may get a little long winded with this post, but it something that I have to remember to remind myself constantly, and something that God has blessed me because I have given thanks to him.

So, I will tell a little story. :) To make an extra long story short with too many details to bore you with, my husband and I finished up our last college credits after we married about six months into our marriage.

We sold our little home, and moved back into a college dorm with no air conditioning. When we did this I was four months pregnant. This was fine at the time. I wasn't overly huge, and the weather was nice. But as the months progressed closer to the summer, and as my belly grew, the heat became uncomfortable. As graduation neared, and temperatures sored into the low to mid 90's it became *very* uncomfortable. The mornings were not too bad, as I was in class where there was air conditioning. :)

However, the afternoons were pretty bad. So I got this wicked idea in my head to ask the Lord to have someone take pity on me, and have them offer me a cool place to stay (like their home) while they were at work. That way, I could do my homework in comfort and relax. My legs were beginning to swell from the heat in the last stages of pregnancy, and it was just plain hot in my dorm. So I prayed, then I hung around in the afternoon hoping someone would ask me how I felt, and I could tell them all my woes, and hopefully they would take pity and offer me a room.

I was pretty disappointed that no one did so. Discouraged, I went up to my hot room. As I was sitting on my bed with only the bare necessities on me, in front of my fans, after I had taken a cold shower; I *decided* that instead of dwelling on the uncomfortable, I could be thankful for what I did have.

So I began to thank the Lord for the cold running water, for in some countries you have to walk a long distance and carry the water. Then I thanked the Lord for the fans that were blowing on me, because I could have no electricity for fans to work!

I fell asleep, and forgot all about my prayer that the Lord would have someone take pity on me. One day, when the heat was especially bad, I stayed in a school building and sat in a comfortable chair, and tried to take a nap.

A teacher walked by and asked how I was doing, and I said fine. She asked me how my feet were (because they were really swollen) and I said that they were fine. Then she asked me if I would like to have a dorm room that had air conditioning. A few students had left during the semester, and there were rooms available. I said Of course! So I went and choose a room that had really cold air.

As I got in that nice and cold room, I realized that I had given God Thanks despite my circumstances, and He probably took pleasure in that. He probably won't do that every time we are in a tough circumstance. After all, there are more problems people face than not having air conditioning. But it showed me that God does care about our comfort and all the "little" things in our lives. I didn't complain about my circumstances, and He blessed me in a way more above than I could think. Instead of staying in someones house and having to leave, I could sleep overnight in a cold room!

So this Thanksgiving remember to give God Thanks for everything, including your tough circumstances. As I have progressed into our marriage, there have been much more "important" things come up, besides having air conditioning. And I must admit that I haven't responded to each situation as I did above. I wish I could say that I have; because it is so freeing when I do!

With that said, I would like to list some things that I am Thankful for.

#1. That Jesus died on the cross and took my sins and placed them on himself. I should of died, but He did instead because He loved me. The only way that I could pay for my own sins is death. I have sinned against a Holy God, and he cannot let me into Heaven because of this sin of mine. His justice wouldn't allow it, even though God is compassionate and does not want me to go to Hell, his perfect justice demanded it. God would not be God. I broke the law, I must pay for my crime.

But God had a plan. He is a loving God. He doesn't want us to go to Hell. Just as much as God is a God of pure justice, He is a God of pure love. So He sent His Son, Jesus Christ (God himself) and placed our sins upon Jesus. Jesus died instead of me. God's Justice was satisfied in behalf of my sin. I do not have to work for my salvation. I do not have to be good enough. All I must do, is agree with God, that I have sinned against Him, and trust that Jesus has made the complete payment for my sin. Jesus has paid for my crime. I don't have to go to Hell! Jesus will credit his righteousness to me if I just believe and bet my eternal soul that that is true! What a wonderful God!!!!!

#2. I am thankful for my husband. Here he and I before we began our courtship at the Christmas banquet at our college.

I was pretty young when I got married. I was two months from turning 20. Marriage is a big decision is life. I was pretty picky about men. My husband was the first one that I "dated", the first one I gave my heart to, and the first one I kissed on our wedding day.

But as I sit and think about our marriage in hinds sight, I am soooooo grateful for such a wonderful husband. He isn't perfect; neither am I. But of all the guys out there that do what they can to "catch" a girl, and then turn out to be crazy lunatics afterwards, I am very blessed indeed! ;)

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for him. I am going through a tough time with various issues, and he has been there right beside me. He has been the "strong" one in the family. He listens to me with an understanding heart, and tries to make me feel better by bringing me my favorite flavor of ice cream. :)

God knew what he was doing when I choose this man and allowed me to marry him. My husband has caused me to grow in more ways than I could of imagined. He is my best friend, and I cannot imagine life not being married to him. Being married is tough work for sure! But it is a good work. I love and respect my husband so much!!! Look at what he did for me on his day off.

He cleaned my van from top to bottom! He took the seats out, and vacuumed the floors, he took upholstery cleaner and cleaned the seats. He got all the sticky juice spills out of the cup holders. He worked on the van for about six hours!! If anyone knows my husband well, they know that cleaning isn't one of his specialties; although he has many other great ones.

Yet he did it, and I didn't even ask! When Sweetie saw it she said, "Our van is clean! I have never seen such a clean van in my life! I just can't believe my eyes!" That shows you how bad our van was. I tried to clean it as much as I could, but with three children, it is quite difficult. So anyway, I am thankful for such a wonderful husband!

#3. This will be my last thing I write about what I am thankful for. There is so much more to list, but this entry has gotten way too long. I am thankful for my children. They bring so much into our lives, that I can't begin to write about it here. That was one of the main reasons I started this blog; so I could write about my adventures with them.

I am going to post their baby pictures, because this is how I received them from the Lord; as babies. :)

This is Sweetie I don't have any new born photos on the computer. She was about six or seven months here. This is Bean
Here is Little Tiny Boy.

I told you that today was going to be a little long winded. If you have read this far, be sure to stop by Kelli's and see what other's are writing about Thanksgiving.(If you have the time after reading mine!) Just click on the "Giving Thanks" button at the beginning of my entry. Have a wonderful Day! :)

Thanksgiving Campfire Tradition

Today is the second day of Giving Thanks, hosted by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home. Just click on the button above to find out more.

For the second day I would like to share a tradition that began when my oldest, Sweetie, was just a baby; about five months old. My parents and other family were gathered at their home for the "usual" Thanksgiving weekend. My parents at the time lived on about two acres of beautiful wooded property.

By Friday, I was getting stir crazy cooped up in the house with too much turkey, so I persuaded my dad and the men to build a campfire. As they went to build the fire, my mom and sister also got a bit inspired, and we found some hot dogs, marsh mellows, chocolate, and Gram crackers.

We made our way out to the fire that the men had built, all bundled up, and stood around the fire making our food, telling stories, singing, and laughing.
The older children (my children's cousins) thought this was so neat that they wanted to do it the next year. So we did. And the year after that, and the year after that. This will be our fifth year doing the campfire after Thanksgiving.

Sadly the cousins won't be around this year. However, I have invited my pen-pal who moved to the same state as I live, and now only lives a few hours away! (Yippee!) She, and her husband, along with their children, Lord willing, will be coming and doing the campfire with us. We will also have my mom and dad, and our good family friend. Perhapes we can persuade my husband's brother to join us also. (hint hint) It is something that started four years ago, and I would like to continue this tradition as long as we can

This is the campfire from the year 2004 up at my parents place. After they moved away from their property, they moved into a very nice trailer park that allows camp fires in an outdoor fire place. Those are my nephews and niece pictured there.
Me with Bean and our good family friend enjoying good conversation. Bean was about 10 months. Look at how long my hair was! After seeing these pictures, I am debating if I should let my hair grow that long again. What do you think?

Well thanks for reading and have a great day. Please stop by Kelli's and read about what other people are doing for Thanksgiving. :)

Kim Anderson~ Peekaboo I Love You!

Today I would like to show you what my husband gave me for my birthday during our courtship. It is a Kim Anderson figure that says on the bottom, "Peekaboo I Love You!" Sorry for the picture being so blurry. I need new batteries in the camera, and so I get what I can before my camera shuts down.

There is a little story to this figure that means more to me, than probably my sweet husband remembers, LOL!

Hubby and I met in college. During my first semester, he made hints that he was "interested" in my "friendship" but took it really slow. Many people teased me about him being my boyfriend, but we were not really. Finally he asked me to go the Christmas banquet.

During Christmas break, my "friend" came and visited my parents and asked my father for permission to court me with the intention of marriage. There was a long talk with my future husband, and my parents gave him their approval of such a relationship.

The second semester was spent getting to know each other on a deeper level. What our goals in life were, what we valued the most etc. The relationship was moving along pretty fast.

By Summer time, my future husband started hinting about marriage. What I thought about that, and so on. The thing was, he never declared his love to me. He just told me that he liked me "a lot".

Well, that wasn't enough commitment in my mind for him to be talking about marriage! I went to visit his family to meet them for the first time. Many of his Aunts were asking what our intentions were, and I had no clue what to tell them. I was very aloof, and I am sure many of them thought I was snobby. But I really didn't know what to tell them!

It became a huge delima to me. Here he was talking about marriage, but I wasn't sure if he even loved me. Someone finally told him, what turmoil I was in (ha!) and he told me that he loved me when I went back to my home state.

Dummy me, I later found out I ruined everything for him. He was going to tell me he loved me when he proposed. Because he really hadn't proposed; he just was talking about the idea of marriage with me. But in a girls mind, when I guy does that, she needs to know that he really is meaning what he is talking about! LOL!

Anyway, a wise older man told him how important for a girl to know these sort of things, when he begins to talk about something as serious as marriage.

So off I went to home 1000 miles home, with my head in the clouds! Two months later I received a package from him. It was for my birthday. Inside the box were a number of items, but this was the main one. And it was the Kim Anderson figure that said, "Peekaboo, I Love You!"

Oh, how my heart did a million flutters when I saw it. To this day it is very special to me.
By the way, he proposed to me five months later. :) He worked hard all summer to save up for my beautiful diamond. (Of course I didn't know that until later on) I also picked out my wedding gown before he proposed! :) I guess I was pretty confident that he loved me. :)

For more Show and Tell stories click on the show and tell button at the beginning of my post. Thanks for reading!