Thankful...

Thankful! What an easy word to say but a hard word to put in action at times. Mortgage payments, bills, crazy schedules and daily life take control and distract us. The past year and a half has really taught me what thankful is about. I am thankful for the mortgage payment that comes each month. My family has a home. I am thankful for the bills. We are able to have the luxuries that some don't have. I am thankful for the crazy schedule. My kids are healthy and able to participate in sports, plays and birthday parties. I am thankful for daily life. God has put amazing friends and family around me to share this rollercoaster ride! Next time you have something that completely overwhelms you, try to let God show you the part to be thankful for!

What are you thankful for in the midst of the stresses of life?!

~Donna Galderisi

Change things up!

Mommy & Me Thursday!


I was VERY happy when Jen asked me to do this Blog and the first thing that came to mind was how many different things I love to do with my kids and the different traditions we have!!

We do our best to make sure they do EVERYTHING possible that they can!! We always take *Free* into consideration when we do things.

We LOVE to take them to Jumonville, Nemacolin Woodland's Zoo (you basically drive around the resort and can get out and look at the many different types of animals they have!) ,CoopersRock, and Freindship Hill Mansion!! Just a few ideas of unique things we can all do with our children!

We all know that some of the traditions for holidays are really silly. So this year, I've decided that I was going to do everything to make sure the kids knew that there are alternatives to the the more "worldy" traditions of Halloween.
For example: We have decided to carve pumpkins but put sayings instead of faces like :"Shine for Jesus", "Smile God loves you", "Jesus is the way!", and "Faith" with a cross!!
We also are handing out our church's cards (we attend Cherry Tree Alliance) along with candy to our trick or treaters! We do wear costumes but not anything scary.
I just try to include the word and God's message in all that we do so that my kids will be able to pass the word too!:)

Also to those of you who attend Cherry Tree, I just wanted to add how GREAT it is to teach your children and how AMAZING the children really are!!Sometimes I think they teach me quite a few things!!I feel like its a priviledge to get to work with them and I'm very pleased at the growth of some of them!!I would also like to say I'm very happy for the little ones who have decided to have the Lord in their hearts!!;)

~this post was written by Telina Piper! Telina attends our Cherry Tree MOPS group and is the mother of three children!
(Edited by Jen G.)

Flap Jack-o-Lanterns

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
3 tbsp. melted butter plus 1 tbsp. for frying
1/2 cup cooked and mashed pumpkin or canned pumpkin

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and milk. Add 3 tablespoons of melted butter and the pumpkin to the wet ingredients, and whisk together. Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir just until blended a few lumps are okay.
Heat the remaining butter on a griddle over medium-high heat. Then pour 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. When the flapjacks bubble on top, flip and cook until brown on other side. Makes 20 pancakes.

Question Tuesday!

Ok, Ladies! I'm remembering my dad long ago (and frequently) telling me "Nobody ever said that life was going to be fair". While I hated that, it did give me a re-direction from the tendency I had to feel entitled to whatever it was I was feeling entitled to at the time. This quote doesn't give my answer to the question, but it does resonate in my mind a lot as I go though life because he was sooo right!

So we're wondering today, What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? It doesn't have to be about parenting, but it can be!

Harvest Festival

We had such a NICE time on Saturday!!

Perhaps at moments a WILD, but NICE time!

Thank you to ALL who were able to come out!!!!!!!!

I am curious as to HOW the tie dye shirts turned out once washed?!

Our's turn out GREAT!!!!!! I cannot wait to do that again.

We need to add a second color this time!

I would also like to thank Neely Bender & Mike Buccheit for their extra special help on Saturday!

I cannot wait to do something like that again!!!!

Perhaps we are in need of a Christmas tie dye party!

*R E M I N D E R *

Friday...is Mom's Night Out...at Jen's house!!

Thankful Friday!

Trains... trains, trains, trains, trains.....

Did you know that there are steam trains, electric trains, and diesel trains (which are technically "diesel and electric" trains) and they all have different whistle sounds? And there are 4 major freight train lines in the U.S.: CSX, Burlington Northern (Santa Fe), Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, also one national passenger train line called Amtrak. When a train is long and there are engines at the end, those engines are called "kickers" and they help add power for heavy trains up steep hills. In addition, there are so many different kinds of freight cars- passenger, hopper, coal, vehicle, tanker, log haulers- shall I keep going? Because I can...

Tuesday, I had the pleasure of taking my son to the Waterfront in Pittsburgh following a doctor's appointment and we watched trains. We saw 7, which was a record for us. We put a dime, a nickel and a quarter on the track and gleefully picked them back up post-squashing. Every time a train came, it was like the first time my son had ever seen one. The joy and delight that came over his face as the headlight approached, the gates dropped and the whistle blew (ears covered, of course!) made it feel like Christmas morning!

Before we had him, I knew nothing about trains. Steam whistles sound different than diesel whistles? Who knew? And certainly, trains at the Waterfront were a nuisance. Likely when I was there, I'd shopped for hours, had a yummy meal which was anesthetizing and wanted to get home when invariably, a train came and delayed my exit. My thought used to be: "Man, I just missed my chance to get out!" Definitely not: "Wow, a CSX!!"

What happened? Someone I love so much loving something so much happened. My son lives, breathes and eats trains, and I love them with him. I think I am almost as thrilled when one comes as he! His first precious prayers that he has spoken to the Lord have included thanking him for trains. And so, Lord, I thank you for trains, too.

I am so grateful that I can enjoy something with him that he loves. What a great time we had on Tuesday! I am so blessed to be able to enjoy this sweet, innocent time in his life, and the changes he has brought. And when this obsession with trains has passed him by like an 87 car-long Norfolk Southern with 5 engines, and 2 kickers, I know I'll always acknowledge train's presence much more happily than I did way back when.

Falling

 It is fall, which I recently learned is technically different that autumn, though currently it is autumn as well. Fall refers to the time in autumn when leaves fall to the ground.

So what can we do with all of this amazing color laying at our feet?

• There is always walking through the leaves creating a kid made tornado of color.
• One can also rake them into a pile and jump into all the crunchy color-ness while howling with laughter. (It works best if you howl too. No giggling, only howling.)

Don't forget leaf rubbings. Abigail has especially enjoyed these this year.

• If you want to get really creative mix your media. First do the leaf rubbings with a crayon (only a crayon will work for this particular activity). After the leaves are rubbed get out the water colors (again only water colors will work for this particular activity) and paint over your leaf rubbings. Since water and oil don't mix, the rubbings will stand out and the watercolors will fill in the empty spaces. You can get all science-y with this one--art and science what could be better.
• Tonight, for family art night,we are going to use our leaves to create pictures. We will be using colored pencils as I think it will be easier to draw over the rubbings this way. The nasturtium leaf rubbings will be the beginning of a pond of lily pads if we don't forget the frogs. And the yellow poplar leaves will make great cat faces with the addition of a face and whiskers. I am thinking of thumbprint fairies with leaf rubbing wings.

Last year I got ambitious and we waxed leaves. I have thought about it this year, but think I am going to pass. There are a couple of methods.

• The first uses an iron and waxed paper. Sandwich your leaves between two sheets of waxed paper. Put a towel over the sandwich and iron till the paper melts together preserving your leaf. Cut out the leaves. This is safe and fun, but the leaves aren't as pretty.
• The other uses hot wax melted on your stove and poured into a shallow tray. Last year, I used Gulf wax and shallow disposable aluminum pans. Cover your table with newspapers and waxed paper (so the leaves let go) and dip leaves into the hot wax. Let them dry. You can see how this may have been overly-ambitious with a three-year-old, and why with Simon so very mobile we will be skipping it this year. But the leaves are so beautiful!

There is also stenciling, where the leaf shape comes into relief.
Cut the leaf shapes from construction paper (or use the waxed ones) and string together for a garland.

So what are you waiting for this autumn, celebrate fall!

***Don't forget, today is the last day to RSVP to the Harvest Festival on Saturday! 

We do need to know one way or another.***

Recipe

FAST, easy, FRESH Tomato Salsa

3 tomatoes (1 lb.), chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped or green or red pepper if you don't like it too hot!
1/4 cup KRAFT Italian Dressing

COMBINE ingredients.

Makes 2 cups of Salsa. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This post is especially for Melissa!

(This is not a canning recipe, just a fast one!)

Recipe from Kraft.com posted by Jen Genovese

"I am so embarrased!"

Very enjoyable discussion group time last week at MOPS, don't you think?!

Well, because I am curious (as I know many others are), this week's question is a repeat of one Wendy asked us in discussion groups on Tuesday.

What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?

Big Enough

So today's the first day. The first day of my husband being officially and undeniably unemployed. As in, no 9 to 5, no pay day every other Friday, no company picnic. Yep, that's unemployed with a capital "U." Unemployed when the unemployment rate is 10%, its getting harder and harder to find a job, and former CEOs are flipping hamburgers. (Okay maybe it's not that bad. The CEOs probably get to work the counter.)

But you get my point.

For some reason, God in all of His wisdom has decided that this is a good time for our family to embark on a major life transition, to move from here to there, to step out in faith. And really it's not so bad, right? I mean change is good, especially when you got the whole world in front of you, nothing holding you back, and a whole lot of dreams to live on. Carpe diem etc. etc. etc.

But the truth is I'm a mom and being a mom changes everything.

The good becomes better, the bad becomes worse, and, as in this case, the uncertain becomes terrifying. Being a mom means not only carrying my own fears and worries about the future, but protecting my three little ones from theirs. Being a mom means explaining why we have to move and why daddy "works" in the basement now.

So not surprisingly, there've been a lot of times I find myself struggling with fear and worry and disbelief. Not so much for myself, but for my kids. I mean, sure, I believe God is big enough to take care of me, but is He big enough to take care of them?

What I could really use right now is a God who understands how hard it is to care for children in the "in between" times. What I could really use right now is a God who knows that I feel lost and don't know which way to go. What I could really use right now is a God big enough to take care of a mommy and the little ones who are looking up to her.

Maybe a God something like this:

"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that are with young." (Isaiah 40:11 NIV)

Yeah. A God like that. That would work nicely.

~Guest blogger…Hannah Anderson. Hannah is a wife, and a stay-at-home mom of three children. She is also a friend to many in our MOPS group!

Thankful...

Thankful... that waiting brings great rewards!

At the moment our family is eagerly awaiting the birth of a baby boy who will make my husband and me grandparents, our son and his wife parents, and our other children aunts and uncles. It's hard to think of anything else and our phones are always right near us as we await the news that labor has begun and Liam John will be making his appearance. I am very thankful that nine months of pregnancy does come to an end!! I know my daughter-in-law is very ready for this waiting time to be a memory and to be holding her baby son in her arms. Waiting is never easy, but it's incredible how often it brings good things to our lives. I've always felt that the nine months of pregnancy prepared me in so many ways for parenting my babies. There was something about the patience and perseverance it required that stretched me (yes, I even have some marks as evidence!) so I was ready for sleepless nights and all the demands a new baby brings to the life of a mom.

It's been the same in so many other areas of my life! In marriage, my husband and I have not always understood each other, but our willingness to stick with each other has produced the precious reward of a deepening closeness and rock solid relationship. In disciplining our children, we never saw instant results, but over the years we are amazed - truly amazed - that our kids have become caring, loving, well mannered, independent individuals! In my personal life, I have so often fallen short of who I long to be, but I have forgiven myself over and over, and with time, am becoming the person I had hoped to be! Most profoundly, I have found that as we waited through times of heartbreak, light and hope eventually conquered the darkness and allowed us to become stronger people.

The waiting is intensely difficult and we wonder if we will break under the pressure at times. The rewards are indescribably, exhilaratingly worthwhile. As we experience the rewards of waiting, I find that I become more comfortable and patient in the waiting process. There is always a lesson to be learned if I am willing to take time to just relax and reflect. Time, even when it seems like it is moving too slowly, becomes our friend as we accept waiting as a gift. I also become increasingly thankful for God's patience with me as He molds me into the person He created me to be.

Soon I will be cradling that darling grandson in my arms and I'll be whispering to him that he was worth the wait. As I seek to invest in his little life, one of the qualities I hope he will see in me and emulate is a patient acceptance of waiting.

~Written by Joy Herman

Fun!

" 'round the world baseball!"

I have two children.

You can play almost any outside game with three people. What outside game can you play with only two? One of the two being four years old, full of energy and pure boy. The other being 32, out of shape = no energy, and maybe 3/8 tomboy.

I asked my pure boy this past Tuesday (MOPS Day!) what game he would like to play. "Baseball mommy!"

We go get some pieces of wood to make the bases, home plate, first base, second base and third. We begin to play. I soon realize this is not going to work well. He doesn't have a teammate and I don't have help in the outfield. He is going to have to hit a homerun each time for this to work. As good as my son is, he cannot do that.

We stop and think. We come up with a plan. We invent our own version of baseball. We call it " 'round the world baseball."

Here are the rules:

Set your bases up. Just as you do in regular basebal.
The youngest goes first, of course.

Since there are only two of you, you are on opposite teams. So one team is pitching and outfield, the other is hitting and running bases trying to score.

Two strikes = 1 out.
A foul ball = 1 out.
3 outs ends an inning.
There are six innings or a score to eleven (which ever comes first) to win/end the game.

The tricky part...
If you get a hit and are able to make it to a base, say 2nd, then the pitcher pitches to you at 2nd base. You get another hit but only make it to third, the pitcher pitches again to you at third, until the runner reaches home for a score.

That is why we called it " 'round the world baseball!" You are literally spending most of the game in rotation from base to base!

If there are no outs, but the current batter's score reaches 5 then it is the other persons turn to bat.

We had alot of fun playing this.
I have to tell you ladies that I was sweating by the end of our game.

So for those of you who may find yourself with only one child at home on a warm fall, summer, spring day...consider trying Ethan and his Mommy's " 'round the world baseball," or invent a game of your own!!!

If we can do it so can you!!!!

Crockpot Beef & Noodles

This week's recipe is from Neely Bender...

Crockpot Beef and Noodles

Ingredients
1 pound beef for stew
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup

Directions
Mix all in crockpot, cook on LOW all day. Serve over noodles.

Question Tuesday!

What is your favorite thing to do this time of year?

Please share with us a family tradition or fun thing you enjoy doing in the fall!

~Donna Galderisi

Why Come?

Before I became a mom, I worked for the YMCA as the supervisor of an after-school program in an inner-city environment. I could mother a building full of children ranging in age from four to seventeen! I thought motherhood would be a breeze. I didn't realize one very important, even crucial factor--

those children went home after three hours.

Nor did I realize how much I relied on the staff of five that worked with me creating this program. They had ideas and the ability to clearly communicate those ideas. They listened to stories and helped with the daily ins-and-outs of being surrounded by children. On rotten days when I was less than I wanted to be, they
helped me feel normal,

because they had those sorts of days too.

Then I became a mom. I had it down.

• Till Abigail hated to eat.
• Till I tried to get her to enjoy eating, every day for the past four and 5/6th years, 1764 days (Yes, I did the math.)
• Till Simon came along and searches for ways to create a new and boy-kind of chaos.
• Till . . .

Really, I was a great mom. I had it together for all of two hours and 30 minutes (the recovery time for a C-section). While I was lying in the recovery room imagining my little girl, chatting with the nurse, waiting for my toes to react to my brain, I was with it.
I didn't stay "with it" very long. I moaned with a pillow over my head instead of getting up. A little girl we had waited and prayed for became a burden, a heavy burden I did not enjoy and wasn't bonding with. And I faked it. There were many people who prayed with us for this child, and I didn't want to disappoint them by being remotely insufficient for this task of raising children.

Then I started talking, and I've kept talking ever since. See, this motherhood thing is hard. It is hard to wake up to little voices in your head before your own voice is in your head. It is hard to remember that mommy is also woman and wife. It is hard to not swear when the toilet is so clogged that it overflows onto the bathroom floor. It is hard to make dinner everyone can enjoy and to insist that children try everything. It is hard to hear the good and the bad about everything that comes close to your child and to then make some sort of decision about it.
This motherhood thing is also lonely. It is why I keep talking when my mom needs to take her call waiting. It is why I still get a little pouty when my husband leaves for work. It is why at odd and random parts of the day I hurry to the computer to check blog updates when I know everything is updated by 10 AM.

And MOPS is a place where we can come and be and share and talk and take care of ourselves and each other and get ready for the next day. You see, we weren't meant to be moms alone. For centuries, communities were built in such a way as to encourage womanly togetherness--going to the well, front porches, quilting bees. I can hear the chatter as they went, sharing the joys and burdens of mothering children.

And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. 

A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. 

Ecclesiastes 4:12

God knows we need one another; He created us. (It gives Him the inside track). I will admit that one little one can do me in and two can make it that much more difficult. But drawing on the strength, experience, wisdom, and joy of other mothers equips me to enter into the lives of my children as a whole person. That is why I seek out other mothers. That is the meaning behind our trips to the library and play dates. It is why I come to MOPS.

Reminder:

MOPS 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

6:00

Cherry Tree Alliance Church

With Thanksgiving

I've prayed many desperate prayers this week. When I've felt at the end of my ability to rejoice over another picture for the fridge, or to soothe yet another bump from the pursuit of another interest. I wait for God to answer, to give me the desire or the joy, to make me a happy mother as Joy said earlier this week.

The verse I cling to, that I've memorized, that I've highlighted and made bold says,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

 The bold is my own doing. You see, so often I forget the with thanksgiving in my days. Then I wonder why I am less than happy in this motherhood adventure. Do you ever struggle with with thanksgiving in your days? If so, would you join me in making a list today?

::husband at work::

::ladies welcoming little girls::

::the way Operation Christmas Child turns her heart to compassion::

::squash in a pot::

::fried cabbage::

::sleeping late::

::pulling out fall quilts::

::white cats purring on laps::

::black dogs joining us for tag::

::hitting the two year mark with big black dogs::

Thankful

What I am Thankful for this week…

Rain
I absolutely love the rain.

Washing machine repair man

A peaceful week, with little to no drama
Yes, I am extra thankful for this!

Tears caused by hurting… that need fixing only by snuggling, not snuggling and the ER

Shop-N-Save for having Libby's Canned Pumpkin

A little girl who is really liking school and told her teacher... "Mommy is my hero!"

A little boy who really loves his mommy. He told me so.. . "Mommy, I love you. I just wanted to tell you!"

The above two very special "mommy moments!"

The fact that I don't understand the formatting on this blog and that I am really, really, trying to be okay with that! = - )

A Heavenly Father who has His hand in all of the above!

A Blog full of "quotations"

Mommy and Me...Thursday!

The past two weeks Brenna and Ethan have been playing school. Not once in awhile, every day!As soon as Brenna comes home from school, it's time for "school".

Last week she called for me to come into her room to "see something." She had her stuffed animals lined up on her bed at their "desks" and all had matching "folders" (pictured above)in front of them. Their "folders," were handmade by Brenna. She took the time to take 5 sheets of paper and make each the same.

(Those of you that have children in Kindergarten or First Grade will appreciate this.) Miss Brenna also made a weather chart, school days chart, counting chart, and has the alphabet hung in her room for her students. Everyday she stands in front of those charts and goes over each one. The weather has to be changed to the current weather, the school day number has to be correct, and she better be able to find her pointer! Sometimes the pointer is in Mr. Ethan's class room across the hall. Yes! Mr. Ethan has started teaching his own class now. Brenna also made charts for his room.

It amazes me to see my children doing this. It truly does. Brenna asked me to make her some "tests" 5-1 = __, 5+3=___, etc. I had to make 5 the same.

A light bulb went off while i was doing this. I looked at my husband and said, "I use to do this. I use to do this! She is being like me! I had tests, folders, and papers! I was the teacher!!"

Last night Brenna asked me to help her make an "answer book." I had been in the kitchen all day long making dinner, and canning salsa. I really did not want to do anything else, but plop on the couch. However, I remembered what I read in the newsletter what I wrote, "take time to make those moments." I then remembered my "light bulb" moment, what I told my husband only 4 days ago "I use to do this!"

Brenna and I sat down and made her "answer book." The joy in her face coming straight from her heart;the joy I felt in helping her; the two of us bonding over something we shared in two different generations, now that is a mommy moment if ever there is one! Placed in my memory box and I hope she placed it in hers!

"Sometimes you see yourself in your child and you know what, that is pretty cool!"

~JL Genovese

"While we try to teach our children all about life,Our children teach us what life is all about." ~Angela Schwindt

If you haven't time to respond to a tug at your pants leg, your schedule is too crowded. ~Robert Brault

Apple Betty

This week's recipe comes from Neely Bender...

Apple Betty

Ingredients
4 cups thinly sliced apples
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup butter

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate.
Mound sliced apples in the pie plate. Sprinkle with orange juice.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Scatter over the apples.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Tell Us!

Silly question this week! What is the most creative or yucky substance that has been put on your body or clothes (from your children) since you've become a mommy? :-)

Happy Moms??

Happy Moms??

There's a beautiful promise in Psalm 113:9 that I regularly pray for my friends who long to conceive and have children - "He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children." As I've reflected on that verse, I have often had the words "happy mother" grab me. I am one of those women who has been blessed several times over with amazingly wonderful children, but does the "happy" part describe me?

I would more often describe myself as a "busy mother", a "worried mother", a "weary mother", and even a "proud mother" or a "loving mother". Happy is a little more challenging! There's just so many things that can rob me of my happiness - disappointments, loss, pressure, unmet expectations of others and myself, unwelcome change, and of course, just the daily stresses of life.

I know I'm not alone in this struggle to be happy and stay happy, because every time I open a woman's magazine, I find a self help article on how to de-stress, how to manage a busy life, or how to be happy. I've read enough of the same hints about carving out time to relax, lowering expectations, and getting organized to make life more manageable, that I feel like I should be the most carefree mom ever! Many of the tips are wise, but they still fall short in allowing me to consistently be a happy mom!

Although I have certainly not arrived in this area, I have found an answer to my quest for happiness. (Having the name "Joy" has definitely added to my intensity in this quest!) I can best define it through another verse from the psalms (146:5), "Happy are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God." Each morning, usually before my eyes are open, I give my day to God and ask Him to help me. Sometimes this is a calm, cheerful request and other days it is a desperate plea, "Please help me!!" As I ask Him for help, I choose to believe that the One who created me also knows what I need, how much I can take, and what the best plan is for me. My circumstances are not always what I might choose, but my happiness goes deeper than that. My life is safe in the most capable, loving Hands there could ever be! Depending on God, my Heavenly Father, fills me with hope, and allows me to be that "happy mother" that I so want to be.

~written by Joy Herman

A Day of Thanks

Wendy asked about a time we found out we were pregnant in this post. I commented,

I don't do pregnant well. Before Simon I had been pregnant several times and all but one ended badly. (I am looking forward to meeting them in heaven.) We were going to adopt and while there was no true guarantee that we would get the first one offered us, it felt much more secure. Then there was a test and two lines, and five more tests with two lines on each. I was thrilled and scared and angry all at once.

I was going to write more Tuesday but it would have turned into a post within a post, so I want to take time to explain now.

Yes, I was angry, more than the raging hormones of pregnancy angry, truly angry at being in this position. All the safe and secure plans I had built in my head to protect my heart were replaced with this new plan that held such uncertainty and potential for pain. I felt God me owed certainty for once in the roller-coaster that was family building for Chris and I.

I remember the Christmas night we were returning home from a family dinner, I was complaining about the foot this baby had in my kidney. I have a good husband who was, I am sure frustrated with my resentment of this life growing and changing me remind me that a healthy pregnancy was a blessing for us. I shut up right then and I wrote in my journal and I was shocked by my own words.

But I wasn't treated as my attitude demanded. I was treated with extreme grace. I was given the baby my heart longed for, the baby who belonged with us, to was created for this family at this time.

And, I am so thankful!
for so many things--

the husband who loves me when I'm angry and who speaks truth because he loves me

the pants-less boy who wanders through our house creating chaos

the intense little girl who insists on school every day

the dog who is always happy to see me

the cat who is loved by the girl (please pray the boy isn't allergic to it)

the house that is a home

the memories of times redeemed by His great love

Jen posted earlier this week about running low. About His offering of grace and peace in our struggles. Simon, and Abigail for that matter, are living moving examples of the grace poured out over the life of a sometimes angry, often ungrateful life.

How grateful I am that He loved me first and that even when I am looking at a gift as a burden He loves me through it. Oh, that little boy walking around the house experimenting with our collective patience is such a picture of His love!

What this week has stopped you in your tracks with gratitude?