Thankful Challenge - Day 6

- Watching my children play together
- Baby boy smiles and giggles
- Being able to stay home with my God-given blessings
- Having my hubby home on the weekends
- Getting more appplesauce canned and pumpkin pureed and frozen
- The smell of apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast
- The smell of chicken and potatoes roasting in the oven
- Fresh vegetables - crisp and tender
- The fact that I have given up soda - and have not indulged in any for at least a month :)
- Knowing our church is praying for our sweet baby girl
- The babblings of an infant as he discovers and toys with his voice and tongue
- The willingness of my hubby to help with the preservation of food and preparations for this week's school work
- The gentle but firm guarding of the children by our loving and loyal dog
- And tonight, for the upcoming warmth and comfort of my bed, blankets and pillow, as sleep takes over the wanderings of my mind

Thankful Challenge - Day 5

What a hectic day - yet productive at the same time :) Even with today's trials, we have so much to be thankful for!!!

- Fresh 20+ lb turkey for Thanksgiving in my freezer
- Butter from grass-fed cows in the refrigerator
- 11 quarts of applesauce canned
- two fresh pumpkin made into pumpkin puree for pumpkins
- the smell of apples mixed with cinnamon simmering on the stove
- sweet friends that stopped by and visited this morning
- wonderful phone conversations with one of my dearest friends :)
- a bouncy seat that entertains my youngest
- a hubby willing to help me preserve our fresh foods
- the opportunity to join the CSA for the winter as well
- a daughter that loves to read - including to her younger siblings
- the joy of my children talking with their aunt on the phone
- knowing I get an extra hour of sleep tonight :)

Thankful Challenge - Day 4

What a day!!! S had her procedure today. Getting up at 4 AM was just not fun (especially after not going to bed after midnight). She did wonderful taking her versed and going back, though coming out of the anesthesia was not fun!!! She was extremely unhappy - as in screaming - and then got sick. Thankfully, after that, she slept. As for results... well... we still do not have answers of what is is, but we do know that it is not cervical cancer. We are thinking our next step is GI :( On to being thankful...

- An infant that slept for 4+ hours so I could get a little sleep
- little traffic on the road this morning
- a happy 2.5 year old
- nurses that worked wonderfully well with our daughter
- NO cervical cancer
- friends that took wonderful care of our other children - THANK YOU!!!
- family nap time :)
- leftovers so that I do not have to worry about cooking tonight
- a church full of people praying for our family
- friends that truly love us
- a God that knows all and sees all... that has everything for our baby girl planned out and can heal her in a blink of an eye

Thankful Challenge - Day 3

While I am posting this a day late, I wanted to do so anyways :)

I am thankful for:
- friends that are willing to run/walk with me
- an older daughter that can and is wiling to do her school on her own :)
- the opportunity to plan for fun field trips
- friends that I can trust to watch my kiddos over night
- the excitement I see in my children's eyes as they learn they get to spend the night with said friends
- friends we can spend HOURS talking with, on a regular basis

Thankful Challenge Day 2

Wow! What an incredibly relaxing day :) I spent my day enjoying friends via the phone and in person. Today is one of those days I do not need to "search" to find what I am thankful for!!!

I am thankful for:
- trusted friends that think of my family when they know we have "stressful" days planned
- said friends that call the following day to see how things went
- said friends to vent to, that I know will not repeat what I am saying
- leftovers so that I can quickly throw lunch together without cooking :)
- friends to craft with
- creative people that come up with incredible ideas that I can then copy or tweak enough for my needs, since I cannot come up with such ideas on my own
- this challenge, so that I can really reflect on what I truly have to be thankful for, especially in times where there are a lot of uncertainties
- an older daughter that desires to learn how to cook and sew; that enjoys helping with her siblings
- a hubby that doesn't think it is wrong to do the "womanly" chores in order to help me out

:)

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 1

I have been challenged (gasp) to write what I am thankful for, each day, for the month of November. Knowing how hectic life is, and how pitiful I am regarding writing on my blog in any consistency, I realized the monumental task I have before me. At the same time, however, with the busyness of life, I also realize the NEED to remain thankful and to count my blessings, so to speak. And yet, here I find myself already a day behind, hahaha.

Day 1: Looking back on yesterday, there are definitely certain things I am indeed most thankful for:
- my hubby is not deployed, so though he may work crazy hours and is on call at all times, at least I know he is home safe with us
- a daughter that loves to read and write stories - I love her creativity and desire to learn more and improve herself
- sons that love to wrestle with their grandaddy and be boys - no matter how trying some of their antics are, I love that they are boys to their very core
- a father that enjoyed wrestling with his grandsons - what an immense amount of pleasure we all got watching them wrestle and hearing the laughter throughout the house
- a little girl that is not hospitalized this year.... this time last year, we were spending our days and nights at MUSC... this year she still has stuff going on, but we get to have her home with us, sharing her joy of life and love with each of us
- a sweet baby boy that loves life in general and is almost always happy - his smile melts any sadness or frustration away

:)

Giveaway over at Confessions of a Homeschooler

In recent months, I have become quite intrigued in reading other's blogs. I enjoy crafty blogs, cooking recipes, and education centered blogs the most. One of my favorite education centered blogs is "Confessions of a Homeschooler" at http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/ It is her Expedition Earth curriculum that we supplement our geography curriculum with for K. She also has a phenomenal Letter of the Week curriculum. Now through June 3rd, she is giving away a "Sneaky Squirrel Game" from Educational Insights. You can head over there and check it out!