Coffee

I just have to tell everyone about my new coffee pot! For our birthdays(mine is April and Brett's is May), my parents bought us a "Keurig" single cup coffee maker. I am LOVING this amazing machine! Today we got the coffee in the mail (it takes "K cups"-they are little cups that you put in the maker and INSTANTLY, you get a cup of fresh, hot coffee!! ). We got seveal boxes of coffee-every flavor imaginable! Tonight, after supper I enjoyed a cup of "german chocolate cake" coffee and Brett had "sugar bush maple". YUMMY! My daughter (Brooke) said "Mommy!, it is JUST coffee" when she saw how excited I was about this new coffee experience! My reply? "It is NOT "just" coffee!" I guess you'd just have to love coffee, the way that I do, to really understand! So, while my daughter MAY make fun of me for squeeling with excitment over my birthday present-I will remember a compliment I recently recieved when someone told me "No matter WHAT you are doing you always seem to be having so much fun!" and I will enjoy every "drop" of my life (AND coffee)!

God's promise

As you know, God has been doing so many exciting things in the our lives lately-this morning while driving home from taking the kids to school I was just thanking God for everything He has done. When I pulled into our drive way, I looked up and saw a beautiful sky-with the clouds covering the sun and there were several beams of sunlight escaping. I was thinking to myself "wow", what a beautiful God we serve!! Then, God spoke to my heart in such a real way that it brought tears to my eyes! The words I heard were "Those beams of sunlight are like the blessings I have been pouring out upon your life, soon, the clouds will clear and the sun will over take you". I am amazed at the mercy and grace of our God. I know that it was God's MERCY that gave me my insurance. I remember one night in particular that I cried out for Mercy-pleading out, in pain, for God to have mercy on me and grant me favor so that I could get health insurance and get relief. I knew that night that He heard my cry-I felt that I touched His heart with my plea. I am so grateful that we serve a LIVING God who chooses to communicate with His children! Thank God for His mercy and grace!! I took a picture of the sun-but the picture does not do its beauty justice.

God's goodness

If you have read previous blogs you are aware that we have been going through some struggles in my health and in our finances. What I have yet to blog about is another struggle we have been having with our oldest daughter, Brooke. Thankfully,God has blessed all of our children with "wisdom beyond their years" (what Brett prays over them every morning) and they all excel in school but when Brooke was getting ready to start middle school her 5th grade teacher requested that we have her tested for the "gifted" program (our elementary school does not have this program). She took the test over the summer and she got into the program, I was so relieved because I figured that it would mean that she would be in school with "good" kids who are serious about their school work ( I was terrified over putting her into public middle school). Well, we soon learned that "gifted" kids were not anymore "angelic" and Brooke has to deal with and experience a lot more than any 11 year old should have to! (She is still getting straight "A's" -Maddie and Spencer are also doing very well too!). Brooke has no real friends at school because her standards are much higher and she doesn't "fit in". It makes her feel lonely and it breaks my heart. Ok, now to the part of how God has recently poured out His blessing upon this family!! Over the last couple of months we have seen God answer prayers and give us things we have been praying for-for YEARS! First, He has given us favor and lined everything up for all three of the kids to get a scholarship to attend a Christian School (of OUR choice!) next year!! Second, God answered our cry for medical insurance for me. We have been believing God for a healing but we trust that He knows what is best and He has chosen to heal me through modern medicine. Doctors told me (years ago)to get on "medicare" so that I can have the surgeries and treatments that I need. It took three years but God lined everything up and gave me favor! He also gave me favor in getting a Medicare supplement that will cover ALL of my copays!! It is my plan to get healthy and get off of it and get back to my photography business.God is good! Blessing #3 is that God provided the money to pay off almost all of our debts!! By the end of the year we will only owe on our house and car.We had doctor's bills, my camera and photography equipment($$$$$$), my laptop (I "worked" from bed-editing pics),my bed($$$$) (LOVE it! Dormia adjustable bed), the desk top computer................ALL paid off-this month! I truly believe that we are coming into a new season in our lives and that a complete breakthrough is on the way!

Cross City

We just got back from spending time with my family in Cross city. We had an amazing vacation! We had fun fishing in a pond, ridding the 4 wheeler in the woods and just being together! My sister has 5 children and her youngest 3 are the same ages as my 3 kids so they love spending time with each other. Alexis and Levi are (almost) as crazy as we are and we laugh so hard that it hurts!! Here are some of the pics from this weekend.


This is my niece-Gillie, she LOVES playing with
the fish!



The fish that I caught were tiny-Spencer caught the biggest fish (a bass)!




Good Byes are tough on the kids. :(

Alone time

Tonight-I have the entire house to myself. My girls went to Cross City with my parents and My "prince charming" and son are camping with the "royal rangers" (church group for boys). I took a long, hot bath, edited some pics (for my Mom) and I am about to watch a movie. I am enjoying my time alone-but I am glad that my house is not always this quiet! Tomorrow I will be going for a long walk and then I have to get this house back in order!! I am so glad that I have been able to have some time to just kick back and relax but I am looking forward to being on vacation and spending time together as a family when the boys are back from camping. We are going to be staying at my parent's 2nd home in Cross City-out in the boon docks, away from it "all", my sister and her family live in that area and my kids are looking forward to spending time with their 5 cousins! I will blog about our vacation and post some pics when I get back!

Fishin' with Daddy

Today my "daddy" took me and the girls fishin'. Spencer will be so jealous when he finds out what he missed! (He is at "Pow Wow"-camping with Brett). We had so much fun actually catching fish-as opposed to sticks! I caught SIX fish!! The girls each caught one and Brooke almost caught a crab! We made lots of memories and it was "time well wasted" as Brad would put it!

Below-my 6th fish (that is "6" in sign language)

Field day

Today was "field day" at the elementary school. Here are some pics from our day! I am so grateful that God has allowed me to be a "stay at home" mom-I love being able to support my children and attend their school events.

Date night!

Last night I had the honor of going out on a date with my "Prince Charming". We try to go out on a date once a month but sometimes life and money prevent us from being able to. April is my birthday month so we sold some books on ebay so that we could go out and celebrate! Our date started out by my husband taking me shopping to buy some new clothes (I LOVE new clothes!!). After stopping at a couple of stores, and buying a pair of capris, shorts and a top, we were off to dinner. Brett surprised me by taking me to the "melting pot" (my FAVORITE-but very expensive, restaurant!). We had a beautiful, candle light dinner in a cozy little corner table that Brett requested. We then had to stop by walmart to pick up some shipping supplies (to mail the books to our ebay buyers)-while we we deciding on the size of the box we needed-Brett points up to the "bubble wrap" and says so sweetly "I need to wrap you up in bubble wrap because you are so precious" (what can I say.... The man really does try! :) From there we went to the beach and watched the sunset-it was a beautiful night, the weather was perfect and the sunset was breath taking! Then, we went to Starbucks and we sat and talked while we had our coffee (we lingered over our coffee, trying to time it so that by the time we got home the kids would be asleep :) ). I think it was one of the most amazing dates that I have ever been on-it was just perfect! I had such a good time with my price charming! I am so happy that, after 13 years of marriage, we still love to spend time together. I still miss him when he is at work, he still comes home for lunch everyday so that we can eat together. Brett has stood by me,through all of my health issues,he never complains about having to sometimes do more than his share of housework(he does laundry,dishes,scrubbing....) he works 2 jobs, takes time EVERY night to play with our kids and help them with their homework, (he is an amazing daddy!), he gives me a full massage EVERY night, he leaves me love notes, calls me during the day to tell me that he loves me and that he misses me, brings me my coffee and breakfast in bed EVERY morning...........I am so blessed to have him in my life. Sometimes, I think to myself "God must love me just a little bit more than all the other women in the world-because He chose to give Brett to me".

Our dogs

We have three children and three dogs. We did not exactly "plan" it that way (the DOGS! NOT the children! :) ). Pooh bear, we got when we were first married-so, of course he is the oldest and our oldest daughter, Brooke, claims him. Second, we have "Scruffy". We got him when Spencer was 2 weeks old and Brett and I stopped by the pet store to pick up some dog food. The humane society was there trying to adopt out some dogs. There were all these adorable little puppies there, but in the same pen was this scruffy little dog that no one wanted to pet. We heard people saying "look how ugly that dog is!", but no one would pet him. This broke Brett's heart and he talked me into adopting the dog that Is SO ugly that he is actually cute! Next, we have "lady bug"-she followed me on a walk one day (about 4 years ago)-I kept yelling at her to "go home" but she just kept following me! When I approached a main highway, I picked her up so she did not run out infront of a car-it was then that I fell in love with her! She put her head on my shoulder-just like a little baby, and she was ours. (Of course, we put up flyers and advertised in the paper that we found her but no one claimed her.) When I came home with her that day I said to my husband "Look what I found, Honey!" and he laughed and said "Whose yard did you find her in!" (insinuating that I took her!). She was beautiful, well groomed and housebroken! Spencer immediately took to her and she became his! It is funny how each of the dog's personalities match up with the child that "owns" it. Brooke, is kinda quiet (NOT around us though! :) ) and she is the "head child" of the home. Pooh bear keeps to himself most of the time but ALWAYS keeps the other dogs inline! Funny thing is that he is the smallest but the other two dogs "listen" to him! He knows what each of the dogs are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do and he will bark at them when they are stepping out of line!Scruffy-is "different", he is very lovable but he he is just a little different. He will let you do anything to him! Maddie dresses him up like a baby all the time!Maddie is very lovable and she is very different-she is a creative soul! Lady bug-is LAZY and spoiled! Now, I would NEVER say that Bubba is EITHER one of those things, BUT............. (Truthfully,Spencer is really not lazy, but he NEVER wants to leave the house-even for "fun" things!). I really believe that Lady Bug was sent to us by God. Spencer was so young (3 years old) and with the problems he was facing he needed a "friend" like Lady! She loves him just as much I believe! He drags that dog around the house on a leash-he makes her lay down and then covers her up with his beloved "baa boo" (blanket)......... . So, while our house is very crowded, and our dogs are a lot of work-We love them all!

God's Provision

Let me start this blog out by saying that when I created this blog I decided that I would be REAL-completely REAL when sharing my life. Sometimes I think that God has allowed so many trials in our lives so we can share our experiences with other people and I do not want to "waste" an experience just because of my pride or my fear. With that being said-some of what I am going to share is personal and I DO NOT want ANYone to respond to this blog by sending us money or sympathy! That is not my purpose! Please respect that. Here goes.....Yesterday morning we were out of gas, almost out of food (OUT of toilet paper!), and out of money! Prayer got us to Brooke's school in the morning but my "faith" was not strong enough to attempt to pick her up without getting gas first! :) So, my plan was to hunt through the house for change and hope the convienent store clerk did not laugh her head off when I handed her .75 cents for gas! So, after we got the kids off to school I started out on my walk-I just kept praying for a miracle-I pictured walking up to my house and seeing that someone had left us bags of groceries, or finding a $5 bill beside the road, or the mail coming early and there being the check that I have been waiting for for months! I just kept talking to God the whole walk begging Him to show us if there is something we are doing wrong that is keeping His hand from our finances. You know, I do not understand why we are in this spot-I can not pretend to comprehend it. We have been faithful in our tithes and offerings-we give when God says "Give". We WANT to give more and there are so many ways that I can think of to bless other people. So, we I hear on a "podcast" (I LOVE MY ipod!)what I already KNOW-"God wants His people to have MORE that enough so we can be a blessing to other people" I just get confused. Anyways..... I believe -REALLY believe that although we have been here for so long-it is not where we will stay!! So, back to my story-yesterday morning, when I got back from my walk, there were no groceries on my doorstep, I never found that $5 bill. But, before I could hunt for change I got an email from someone wanting to buy something we were selling on "Craig's list"(http://www.craigslist.com/) (love it!). And a few minutes later someone else emailed me about a seperate item we were selling! So, with in one hour of having to go pick up Brooke (on .75 cents worth of gas!) I had $90.00 cash in my hands! Both items sold within an hour! I filled my gas tank, picked up Brooke, bought TOILET paper (sometimes, ya just gotta laugh to keep from crying!) and food and I was still able to meet my friends to celebrate a birthday (which I thought I would have to cancel! It was our monthly "GNO" Girl's Night Out-a group of us "Moms" take one night off a month "catch up" on life outside our homes and we talk for hours over "Starbucks"!)! So, while I did not get an angel knocking at my door with money( I DO have some of those stories to tell too!), I DID get a miracle! God provided, once again, for my family. And, one day, I believe that we WILL have "more than enough" and I can put all my ideas, on how to bless other people, to good use!

Egg hunts

Today, Brooke, Maddie, Spencer, Noah and I went to 2 different egg hunt events at a couple of local churches. The kids had a great time! I wanted to share some of the pictures I took.