Saturday, October 30, 2010

Competitions

As a kid I participated in several different competitions between band and 4-H. Each one was different depending on if it was individual, as a team, or on a horse. I am sure I was nervous, but honestly that is not what I remember now as an adult. I remember being confident in what I was doing and doing the best I could do. I remember my parents were always there cheering me on, and supporting me whether I did good or not so good. They are great memories. Now, I am a Mom and it is completely different being the one in the stands watching my child competing in something. I am learning things about myself that I did not realize. Just one more area for the Lord to teach me about and show me how to handle my thoughts, words and actions.

Okay, now for the reason this all has come up. Saturday was my daughters first trampoline and tumbling competition. She did great! She was so nervous, but went out there and did her best. Honestly, I think her performance was the best I have seen her do so far! First she did the rod floor. This is where she does two passes, a front roll pass and a back roll pass. Out of 9 girls, she got 3rd place!



Second she did the double mini. This is a small trampoline where she runs up to it and jumps on it 3 times before she lands on the floor. She has two passes where she does tucks on one pass and straddles on the other one. Out of 10 girls, she got 2nd place!

The last event was on the trampoline, where she has a routine that she performs. It is hard to explain, but out of 9 girls, she got 3rd place! I am just so proud of her. She looked so cute in her outfit, and just lit up when she got her trophy. Her next competition is in December and I can't wait for it! Watching her compete and do such a great job makes it so easier for me to go and work hard selling food at a Blue Jackets game to earn money for her fees. Princess, I love you and keep up the good work!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Struggles

For many years now I have struggled with my weight. It started when I began infertility treatments and has been a never ending battle since then. It is not something I am proud of, nor something I want to pass onto my children. More and more the Lord is showing me that the kids are eating what I am eating, and that is not good. I do not want them to be overweight or learn bad habits from me. So, He showed me a bible study that is geared to changing the way I think about food and helping me to focus more on Him. In the past 2 months, I have started over twice because I have just not been focused or really wanted to. Well, it is time for the change to happen. I need to do it because He told me to do it. There is no longer an option. He has given me what I need and now if I don't do it I will be in disobedience. Well, I don't want to be there so tomorrow I am starting over again on day 1. I am going to be dedicated and not beat myself up if I have struggles. I am going to do the best I possibly can and completely rely and turn it all over the Christ, because I can do all things because Christ is my strength. I am sharing this on here because I need to be more transparent and open in my life. I know I am not alone in my struggles with the sin of gluttony. I want my life and testimony to be an encouragement and maybe even a motivation to someone. I will post my journey with on here, the goods, the bads and the uglies. In doing this, as the Lord leads you, I ask that you would pray for me. This is not an easy thing to do, but with His strength, I can do it! Thank You Lord for such great friends to help me through this journey. Thank You Lord for loving me so much that You won't leave me where I am at. I want to be a living testimony to You and I WILL give You ALL the praise and glory!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Growing up

My daughter is getting so big. She is on a trampoline and tumbling team and her first competition is this Saturday. She does not really understand what is going to go on, but I do. I am so excited for her. She has been practicing since March and has improved so much. Her leotard has not come in yet, so we are borrowing one from one of her team mates that has one they out grew. She tried it on today and she looks so cute and grown up all at the same time. I cannot wait to take pictures of her on Saturday so I can post them for you to see. I am so proud of her! I love you my dear, sweet baby girl. Don't grow up too fast for mommy!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

following...

Well, so many thoughts.... where to start? I have to say that God is so amazing! I have been praying for a schedule and a routine for a while now. I did not realize how much I needed one. Well, one day I was sitting here, frustrated and He began to show me how my day should be going and how to plan it out. I got a piece of paper and began writing it down. He totally gave me a routine for my day, from the time I need to get up to the time to go to bed. When to teach school, when to do work around the house, when to play with the kids, all of it. It is so cool! Now, I just need to kick my butt in gear and follow it. What He is showing me now is that I have no more excuses. He has given me what I need, now I need to follow it. So, I am making no promises, but I am asking for His strength and desire to follow it. I am not beating myself up when I don't follow it, but those days are not the best days for us, so I really want to follow it. I figure He is the One who gave it to me, so He is the only One who can help me follow it! Thank You Lord for loving me so much!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Prayers please!

I have so many thoughts running through my head right now that I don't even know how to start this. I hate how the enemy can just slip in and take what was a great day and totally change things around. My heart is very heavy tonight and I am fighting fear, but I know that greater is He that is with me than he that is in the world. I had a great day with my family today, which I will share with you in another post. Right now I must confess that as the night came to a close we dropped of a very dear little friend of ours. There was a comment made by someone at their door and I have been having a very hard time dealing with it. I know this is not easy to follow, but for right now I am not able to share all of the details. I guess, right now, I am asking for prayer from you. I need you to step up for me and pray as the Lord leads you for the next 3 days. My husband and I are going to be talking with this family on Wednesday evening and I am just having a very hard time with it. I am battling fear and trying not to let it win, but I must say that I am not doing very good with it. This is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I am trying with everything in me to hold onto promises that the Lord gave to me a couple years ago, but I am struggling. I am trying to turn my thoughts and emotions over each and every time they overwhelm me. Please, if you will, pray for me. I would greatly appreciate it, more than you know!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Kids :)

We had my nephew and a little girl spend the night last night. So we had 5 kids in our home last night and it was full of excitement! We went on a hike at a park and made some smores there too. We figured we would load them up with load them up with sugar then take a 2 mile hike to burn it off. It worked too! Came home, showered them down, got in their pajamas and watched a movie. They were nice and tired for bed so no rough playing while they were in their rooms. Today has been another adventure! It has been very interesting watching them all play today. We had some inside play time and some outside play time in the pool. My nephew and our little girl friend are both "only" children, so they don't always know how to play with other kids, if that makes sense. The really interesting part is the little girl lives with her "Grandparents" who are 87 & 91. It is fun watching her transform into a little girl. Today they broke out in dance as we finished a movie. Now they are pretending to be zoo animals and are crawling around on the floor making very unusual sounds as they are trying to escape from the zoo. Time with kids seems to go so very fast, so it has been such a precious time watching and enjoying these children play together in my house. I can't wait for the next time!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Keep finding more...

Well, this morning I need to vent a little bit. I need to release this frustruation somewhere so today, it is going here. There are times that you get work done on your house and things go so easy that you are thrilled. This is not one of those stories. About 3 or 4 months ago a storm came through here with some heavy hail. We were one of the fortunate ones to have damage to our house, our siding to be more specific. So it begins, we call the insurance company and they come out to estimate the damage and quote us a price. We got more than we thought but not as much as we needed to replace the siding on the entire house. So we hired a contractor to do the work, signed the contract and then waited for it to begin. And we waited, and we waited. Finally, about 3 weeks ago, they came! They brought the siding out to our back yard on a tuesday and we were told that they guys were going to start on the house the very next day. They did too! However, there were only 2 guys working on our house. So, by friday, they had only finished one side of the house and began working on another side, but were not going to be completed by the end of the day. Week 1 done. Monday morning came and they came back, and worked hard every day that week. By friday they were done with 3 sides of the house. Week 2 done. Monday morning came again, and they came to the house to begin working on the back of the house... finally! After they tore all the siding off, they realized that they did not have enough siding to finish the job. They finished what they could and left. Oh, I should say, they did not leave this night until almost 9pm. Tuesday, no workers. Wednesday, no workers. Thursday we were finally told that they had to order more siding and it would be there Friday morning. Oh, after we called the contractor to get on him that it was taking WAY TOO LONG! So, Friday morning came, and workers came and began to finish the back of the house. I would like to tell you that they got it done, but I cannot. Week 3 done. Now, we enter week 4 and monday the come and actually finish the job. Well, the siding that is. The gutters should be here by friday, we were told. Yes, thats right, they still are not done. Now here is the exciting part. We have been keeping the kids inside for this entire time because they are in the back yard and they cannot play because of all of the equipment and nails, which are still there! Also, we have been working on the inside of our house, painting walls, fixing up things, putting in a back splash in the kitchen. Now, we get to go around and fix all the damage that was caused by them banging on our siding so hard that it knocked dry wall nails out of the dry wall. Yes, it is true, I now get to put the nails back into the walls, patch them up and re-paint all of them. Some of the walls will just need touched up because I just painted them. One of the walls was still in good shape from when I painted it a couple years ago so I was not going to paint this wall. The catch is, now that a nail has come through it, I have to fix it and I don't have that same color of paint anymore, so I get to repaint the entire room. Oh, this is my bedroom too, so not looking forward to that at all. I guess it just seems like every time I enter into a room I find more damage that I have to fix from the workers. Lastnight, I went down into my basement to discover a huge leake somewhere. I think it was from the dishwasher, but am wondering if they knocked something loose? All I know is that I am very frustruated with this job and very much ready for them to go away and never see them again. Thanks for listening to my story. I feel better just getting it out there even though there is still much to do in my house!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Psalm 37:4-7a

"Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and our judgement as the noonday. Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him." This is where I am at right now and I wanted to share the verses that is ministering to me. Psalm 37:4 is a verse I have held on to for about 8 years. It is a promise that the Lord gave to me and He has been fulfilling it in various ways for the past 6 years. He is not finished yet, and it is overwhelming and amazing all in one breath. I don't want to make any moves or decisions with out hearing from Him first, so I am resting patiently for Him!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Random thoughts...

I have several things running through my mind tonight as I sit here thinking about what to write. I have been praying that the Lord would give me dreams for some time now. Not silly ones, but ones that mean something to someone, or to me. Well, last night He gave me one! Although, I am not able to share the details, I can say that not only did He give me the dream, He gave me the meaning of it too! I don't completely understand it, but I am excited none the less and can't wait to see the final results. Mostly, I am just excited to have just one more way that the Lord speaks to me. I don't know about you, but sometimes I question if I really do hear from the Lord or if He even speaks to me. I know He does, but sometimes I listen to the enemy too much and then begin to believe the lies that he plants in my head that I don't hear Him and He is not speaking to me. Anyway, I want to encourage anyone who is reading this to keep on pressing in and hang in there. He is listening to you even if you don't "feel" like He is. He loves you and you are His favorite!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Kids...

Kids are so precious. Sometimes you forget just how much they have changed, or grown up. Today I had the privilege of braiding a new friends daughters hair. She did a great job for a 5 year old. It reminded me of when we first got Joyona and how hard it was to get her hair done. All of the emotions we had in the beginning are now just grunts and groans. Joyona has come such a long way and is turning into such a beautiful young woman so fast. She is also starting to really get "into" boys, so we have begun talking about what that means. So not ready for that yet!!!

Tra, well his stitches are out and he is back into being a high speed little boy! We still keep a band aid on it because it is still healing, but he is thrilled to be able to play again and take a bath. He did not like taking showers at all!

Elijah, well he really wants to pee in the potty. His head does anyway. His favorite movie to watch right now other than Thomas the train is Elmo's potty training video. He loves the idea of pulling up and down his pull up, however the rest of his body has not gotten in sink yet. They are all so precious and they are growing up so fast. I thought I would share a brief update on what is going on here in our house right now