Our New Roommate

I already spilled the beans on Facebook as to who our new roommate is. Not like it was a secret or anything, but you know... Anyway, isn't he/she the cutest thing ever?

We went to the Walk For Life this morning, and then came back to this little one. According to our neighbor he must have arrived and gotten comfy right after we left.

Babykins didn't even notice him at first, but once she did she fell in love. She has called him "da" "dee" and I swear a couple times I heard "Bambi" and "Deer" come out of her mouth too. She got as close to him as we would let her. (We'll teach her about fleas and the like later...)

We think we know who Mama Deer is:

But if she is Mama Deer, I'm just going to say that I am a MUCH better mother than her... I think it would be horrible for a baby to be left by her mama all day long, especially if baby is only a few days old... I know the whole animal kingdom does things differently than us humans, but I still find it heartbreaking! Mama Deer walks around the baby but won't get closer than 20 feet to her little one. I would think the baby would need to nurse!

So needless to say, deer are extremely stupid but that's a whole other blog post.

We like our new roomie- he/she's really cute and doesn't make any noise, but don't know what to do with her. Currently Mama Deer (aka Dopey) is walking around the neighbor's back yard while baby is in the front yard. And just so you all know, herding deer is impossible! And they say herding cats is hard...

I am thankful

Someone told me recently to write down all the things I'm thankful for. It's been hard for me to get started because my mind has been thinking, "But I don't have this, or this, or this..." I know once I write those things down my mindset will change its focus. So I have decided to write down all the things I'm thankful for and share them on my blog. That way it will be harder for me to go back to that place of un-thankfulness because, well, it's posted online for crying out loud! :)

So here it goes:

I am thankful for my husband. He's my closest friend, takes very good care of me, supports me, loves me unconditionally, and is the one person I can act like a complete dork around and he's fine with it. He pushes me to seek God more and takes care of baby when I'm ready to go completely crazy from her Terrible Two Tirades. I love him!

I am thankful for my babykins. She's the cutest thing ever, full of personality, super funny, makes the best faces, teaches me so much about everything, and fills my heart with joy. She's not a half bad workout either...

I am thankful for Jesus. Even though I struggle to completely follow Him and be more like Him, I'm thankful He doesn't get frustrated and leave me where I'm at. I'm glad that no matter how much I screw up, He'll still be there to forgive me as long as I ask Him. I'm thankful I have hope and am loved beyond measure, even if I don't feel like it sometimes.

I'm thankful for us being able to afford everything we need and not have to rely on outside assistance.

I'm thankful for my Mary Kay business. Although I may not work it like I should, I am grateful that I have the flexibility to work as little or as much as I want and that I can transform it into whatever I want it to be.

I am thankful for my Mary Kay sisters. They mean so much to me and are the best support system. They push me to be better, love me where I'm at, and will always be there.

I am thankful for my daughter's Terrible Twos because it tells me she's normal.

I am thankful for all the mold, water damage, rot, who-knows-what-else that is consuming our house because it means we can make our house a better place to live.

I am thankful for trials and tribulations because it makes the seasons of abundance that much more abundant.

I am thankful for my husband's job because it provides for us and I believe it will lead to something much better in the future.

I am thankful for the job I had for 2 1/2 years because of some great friends I made there and the hilarious memories I have. Side note- just in case you all didn't know, FedEx has boats... hehe!

I am thankful for the rain, snow, sleet, hail, and wind because it keeps life from being too boring. Not to mention I truly love rain and snow and could probably be happy in Seattle. :)

I am thankful for Dayquil, Niquil, Tylenol, Motrin, Claritin, Benadryl, and Kleenex. I've been sick and allery-y so these things have been on my mind a lot lately...

I am thankful for friends who I can vent to and they still love me anyway, even after I've dumped all my garbage on them. (By the way, if you're one of those friends- my apologies for dumping on you...)

I am thankful for instances that are not so pretty because they make me realize just how good I have it.

I am thankful for all the stuff we have that we don't need and/or don't deserve. Which leads me to say I'm thankful for garage sales/craigslist so I can get rid of a lot of that stuff and someone else gets a bargain!

I am thankful for all the leaders I have.

I am thankful for all these things and so much more! I am blessed beyond measure and Lord knows I don't deserve it.

Afternoon Walk

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, won't you be mine?"

I miss Mr. Rogers.

He was one of my faves as a kid. One of my husband's too. I just loved his grandpa-ness. My husband loved that he was Marine...

Anyways, how's that for an attention grabber? :)

What I really meant to blog about today was the gorgeous weather (hence my little singing at the top of the page) and how we've spent the time outside.

It wasn't obnoxiously windy today which was wonderful! We went on not one, but two walks. And we left the stroller at home. Yep, babykins walked all by herself!

Here are some pictures of us out walking a couple weeks ago. Not that we went much farther beyond the driveway...

She takes that snuggle lamb everywhere!

Today the only picture I got was the aftermath of the walk...

Since she insisted on walking herself, she kind of had to deal with some consequences. We learned that walking down a really steep hill can be tricky. And that you got to keep your balance or else you face plant on the sidewalk.

Thankfully she only cried for about 1 minute, then acted like nothing was wrong. Let's just say, she won't take after me in that respect. When I hurt myself, I would cry all day, all night, get sympathy from everyone and anyone, and throw a big pity party. She's a daddy's girl, all the way.

Was Discouraged, Now Stilled

Oi-vey! That's what I have to say after today.

It started out very well. We all slept in. One of my oldest and dearest friends came over- and we had a blast! Maybe I should of had her come over this evening- that way my day could have ended on a much better note.

I think sometime around nap time I got the mail. (Side note, getting the mail is pretty much the highlight of my day, although I'm not really sure why.) In it was a Netflix movie (yay!) and our annual letter from our homeowners insurance company. Now our premium does tend to fluctuate, but this was just ridiculous! They upped it by $200!! (Another side note, what happened to the "no new taxes" thing Obama? ah-hem... I better stop before I get REALLY riled up... 638 days left!) So needless to say we spent a good portion of the afternoon shopping for different homeowners insurance.

Again, babykins decided to put on her cranky pants this afternoon. Why she feels the need to even keep her cranky pants is beyond me. So I had a whiney pumpkin on my hands. Love her dearly but when she follows me around for hours, tugging at my legs, and whimpering- it's draining. She went to bed at 7- a good half hour/45 minutes earlier than normal. And she went right to sleep so I guess that's a very good sign.

I prayed at least 3 times this afternoon for patience with her.

I listened to a recorded conference call for my Mary Kay business. That was great, minus that babykins wanted entertained the entire time so I kind of half listened to it. 

I put on Facebook that I really wanted to go to our church's Good Friday service tonight. I wasn't even sure how I was going to do it because it was a family service which means they don't have childcare. I was picturing me chasing her around the sanctuary for the entire hour and a half and not getting a thing out of the service, other than a good workout. Around 6 I realized we weren't going due to the extra dose of cranky pants. Was I disappointed? Yes and no. In a lot of ways it was nice to just put her to bed and then have the evening to re-group, but I still would have liked to go. I even tried to listen online, but for some reason they didn't broadcast it. I was more disappointed about that...

So now I sit, quietly in my house, debating on taking Tylenol for my headache. I am then realizing something. 2000 years ago Jesus hung on a cross in excruciating pain. In all kinds of pain even! Physical, spiritual, and emotional pain. He didn't have the luxury of painkillers. He endured the pain. For us. All the sin of the world He took upon Himself because He loves us. In His great love, he took on the yuck I dealt with today. He took on my frustration, my impatience, my anger, my unforgiving spirit, and my downright grumpiness. He's willing to take it away, but I have to release it. I have to say, "Lord, take it. I am sorry for living that way today. Help me to be more like You. Take away the parts of me that are sinful, destructive to me and others, not glorifying to You, and please replace them with the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, PEACE, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL)." I added the caps to those 4 specific ones because boy do I need those today! I need all 9 of them of course, but those 4 were really lacking today.

I am now deciding to give today's yuck up. Circumstances come and go. Ups and downs happen. Life is cyclical. The bad and the good are going to come. So do I panic about the bad? No! I am now choosing to have a stilled heart and spirit in the power of Christ. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature..." Galations 5:24

I am crucifying my sinful nature.

This has been a good Friday. A very Good Friday.

Walk For Life 2011

EEEK I'm so excited! I absolutely love this time of year. The sun is out, the trees are blossoming, the snow is melting, and it's a great time to be outside! And now on top of all that awesomeness- The Walk for Life is only 2 months away! It'll be the perfect time to get outside, get some exercise and support an absolutely amazing cause!

We walked last year and it was so awesome! Our daughter was only 5 months old and slept half the time. This year, I picture her wanting to play with terrorize the ducks at the park while we're walking, swing on the swings in the playground, and run around in the grass until she falls over a dozen times. She absolutely loves the outdoors! Now, she may be overwhelmed by the 1500+ people at the park all at once and all the tables and games going on... but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Click here to go to my fundraising page. It has lots more information about the ministry and pictures of my wonderful family. I have a great incentive for all my Mary Kay customers when they chip in!!! For every dollar donated, you will receive 50 cents in Mary Kay products FREE!!!!

Before I leave you all to my date with my laundry, I just want to ask for your prayers with this ministry. God does amazing things through this and I just ask that you'd intercede on behalf of the people who are in need of this ministry. You and I will probably never meet the people that it serves, but they will be truly blessed!

Thoughts for Today

I really don't have anything awesome to say. I know, shocker right? So we'll just wing this like I kind of always do. :)

I have become obsessed with Glee. I am seriously thinking of cutting our Watch Instantly part of our Netflix just so I can not be glued to it. First it was all 10 seasons of Stargate, then Stargate Atlantis, now I'm going back in time to high school with Glee. And it's funny because there's so much of Glee that I absolutely cannot stand! But I love the music... that part of me will probably never die. Maybe it's that I wish I could be in some sort of group like that, although I'm almost positive I won't be. So I get to live it through Glee. :) The other stuff that I hate about the show I'll just suffer through, although I'm pretty sure I shouldn't... Netflix has become my obsession, and yeah... that's not such a good thing.

My kid is the crankiest of the crankiest. Nothing seems to make her happy anymore! The only thing she seems to really like is going outside which we'll do fairly frequently. She has discovered dirt as well. She ate the potting soil out of one of my plants the other day and then discovered pebbles at the park. For being a girly girl, she really likes dirt!

The house renovating is almost done. We just have to put new baseboards on and other border things down and then re-organize the house. The problem is that we've been so worn out from all the other stuff that we've just got the house back to being functional and we're leaving it like that. We haven't even put back the covers that go over the cold air intakes, which is proving to be an issue, because my child took my body wash and threw it down in there. So whenever we decide to  have our air ducts cleaned out they will find some really old body wash... Of course, then she tried to put herself in the cold air intake... the big issue with that is that she fits in it and would think that our air ducts are the coolest thing ever and they made them just for her!

My husband went to work today with the only carseat we have right now. My parents have the other one. This means I am stuck at home when I need to go to the store to get stuff. Oh well, tomorrow's another day. Here, I'll be positive for a minute, I will be able to get all kinds of stuff done at home that have been nagging me.

Well I'm off to do housewifey stuff. If I can find the screws I may put that cover back on the air duct... we'll see. :)

Almost Done

We are very near the finish line with our D.I.Y. project. I took some pictures, but you know me, I won't post them for a good month or so. Just trust me on this that it looks 1000 times better than before. And that's still with carpet padding still being used to protect the new floor, boxes holding our canned goods/spices/cleaners, piles of trash that need to go out, and an ever growing stack of dirty dishes.

Talia is finally getting to move around a little bit more without being confined to her room or the downstairs family room. I have no idea how she would last on a road trip or, worse, a plane trip... It would probably consist of a lot of screaming and shrieking. I would probably spend the time praying for sanity and telling her "no" and "be quiet." Wonder if they make baby Benodryl... That could make a possible vacation, well, possible!

I remember telling myself a 2 weeks ago that I was bored and needed something to do. I am so exhausted now between all the random fixing-upping we did that I won't even look at any home improvement stuff for at least a good 6 months. I am far from bored- ready to keel over is more like it. I think my husband has keeled over a few times by now. I think he's liking his job more right now so he can escape the insanity here. Between working on the house and making it back to normal and taking care of Talia I am beat- and I can't imagine how my husband feels. He's working full time and working on the house full time. I'll be glad when this is all over and I go back to just maintaining the house with basic stuff like laundry and dishes and diapers.

Remember how I said I have an ever growing stack of dirty dishes? Why, Sarah, why don't you put them in the dishwasher and make yourself a little less crazy? Oh I would.... but we don't have a dishwasher anymore. I can just hear the gasps, see the eye brows raising, and the shock coming from all of you. We took out our dishwasher to realize that we had a ton of mold growing underneath it because of the wonderful rednecks who installed it. It was constantly leaking and whenever you would open it during a cycle it would smell like seaweed. Yep, seaweed. So we opted to take it out and replace it with cabinets. If you've ever seen our kitchen you know we have been in desperate need of cabinet space. So the extra drawer and cupboard won to the modern convenience of a dishwasher. I'll let you know how the whole washing by hand constantly thing goes...

On a side note 653 days left! Praise the LORD!

More Random Thoughts

Today was absolutely beautiful! I think I got the start of my summer tan, and yes farmer tans totally count! I was loving having all our windows wide open (which reminds me I need to close them before it gets any colder in here...hold please... phew alright done) and we took a stroller walk. We also swung in the back yard and then Daddy took baby outside and when they came back in a little someone was covered from head to toe in dirt and grass. I would have been slightly irked that she was dirty, but she was too happy. 

I keep breaking my "no TV" rule. I decided way before she was born that I wouldn't let her watch TV very much at all. My husband was worse- he didn't want her knowing what a TV was! Well for about the past week I've had the TV on about 1 hour per day... and I'm going crazy because of it! I love that she likes the shows and they keep her entertained so I can get stuff done, but I hate that zoned out look on her face when she's super engrossed in Word World, Veggie Tales, or Sesame Street. It's not that the shows are bad, but I didn't want the boob tube to become the babysitter... The up sides to this? One, I'm liking the shows too and end up watching them with her... ah-hem... Two, some classics never die like Sesame Street! Three, she's going to Grandma and Grandpa's house tomorrow for 2-3 days!!! YAY!!!

Okay and the reason I'm so excited about pawning my beloved child off on my parents is this: We've been renovating our home and trying to do that in a timely manner while keeping a 15 month old toddler entertained is entirely impossible! She's been under lockdown. The lockdown is consisting of either her room, her playpen, her highchair, or downstairs in the family room. She'd be fine with most of these if she had 115% of our attention... that's the problem. Grandma and Grandpa can be much better attention givers for the time being and she will have the run of their house instead of being confined. This is also why I've had to put on Sesame Street and Word World to distract her from the banging of hammers and such. Word World rocks by the way... just saying... "it's time to build a word, let's build it, let's build it now!" k I'm done.

During this renovating process we're discovering things about our child. She is terrified of our shop vac. It's been dubbed "The Big Scary Monster" that mommy and daddy have to turn on from time to time. She also REALLY wants to play with the ripped up carpet, loose nails/screws, carpet padding, and piles of junk that are laying around. She hates that we have to tell her "no." 

Some tips for house fixing-upping: (yup made that phrase up too)

1. Don't throw carpet padding away until you're absolutely completely done! Why? It makes a great barrier on your floor if you're painting the walls. It protects your hardwood floors from scratches if you're moving furniture back and forth like we are. We've had to move furniture a lot because we're working in sections. We finish a section, then put carpet padding down so our couches don't tear up our nice new floor. Plus the padding stuff is really comfy to stand on while you're working.

2. Don't EVER EVER EVER put multiple layers/rows of carpet tack strips down. I currently have a grudge against the people who did this to my home... We've been poked in the feet countless times because they never heard the phrase "less is more." They thought, "Hey you know what this house needs? MORE nails, tacks, screws, and staples! We won't fix the problem, we'll just put more screws and nails in and it'll be good to go!" UGHHHHH!!!! I think we pulled a good 20 screws/nails out of our banister that we took down. And at least 80% of them were bent, broken, stripped, etc. I swear the people who "fixed up" our house before were very closely related to the Beverly Hillbillies. 

3. Don't use 3 inch nails for attaching baseboards and don't nail them in every 2 inches!! Again, here's my rendition of our builder's thought process (read this in a very redneck accent- it'll help get my point across), "We better nail these here boards on real good! You never know when one of 'em might just jump out and bite you! Heck, they may even raise up and start a riot- maybe even beat us to death in our sleep! Better nail 'em on there so they don't get any sneaky ideas." I swear they could have had better results using all those nails on voodoo dolls... oooh... OR I could take all my baseboards with nails galore sticking out of them, tie some fishing line to all the nails, and make the world's largest homemade guitar!!!! HEHE!! That's my next project.

Okay so now I'm just going crazy and a little Mad Hattery-ish... So I'm going to go now before I turn into Dr. Evil or the Joker- for my safety as well as yours... Good Night!

Highlight of My Day

We had my brother-in-law and his son over today for a BBQ and games and such. Yes, the BBQ was very cold. Most of it was done inside and then my husband burned the ribs to boot, but it was still fun and tasty.

After we had hung out at home for a long time, we went to Coldstone for ice cream. My nephew had a chocolate ice cream cone and was prancing around outside while we enjoyed the last bit of sunshine. Us adults were jokingly wondering how long it would take for the ice cream to fall to the ground. Well, my nephew decided to jump off a little landing and he ate it. He completely fell on the cold concrete. We all asked if he was okay and he says (he's crying as he says this), "I'm hurt, but my ice cream's okay!" We all look at the ice cream cone and it is indeed in one piece!!!

I, being the could-be-better-aunt that I am, start busting out laughing while my brother-in-law is trying to console my poor nephew. Whoops...

But at least he's got the concept of not making a mess and save-the-dessert/snack/drink-above-all-else mentality down! Way to go little man!

Great New Schedule

I know there are those of you out there who are super strict on having your kids on a schedule. Others couldn't care less as long as they sleep through the night. I have always fell somewhere in between.

My philosophy has been for my girl to go to bed at a certain time and take naps at general times. If she is on a set schedule great, but if not I'm not going to pull my hair out over it. For example, I was fine (while I was working mind you) as long as she went to bed at 8 pm, woke up after 12 hours-ish, took 2 naps- one in the late morning and the other in the mid afternoon. Well that didn't work so hot when she started going to daycare 2 days a week because my husband had to drop her off at 3 pm so he could get to work. So she moved to this crazy schedule of sleeping in the morning, then sleeping again at 1, then taking a third nap at 5 pm... Needless to say it wasn't ideal. Yes, it worked out just fine and it did serve it's purpose but it was way too hard. She was tired and only sleeping for an hour at each of those times. So on our days off it was near impossible to get anything done. Plus some days she would go to daycare and other days she wouldn't so that would add more inconsistency to her naps.

But it did work. And we went with it. Sometimes you just got to go with it. I don't think there's anything wrong with that either. Society wants out kids to be formed into this nice little Jello mold and that just doesn't work. You do what you can, don't stress yourself out about not having the ideal schedule, and make it work for your unique family members. If that requires you to just "go with it" then great! If it requires you to have a strict and scheduled time for each and every activity- great!

But I have to say, after months on end with a crazy schedule for not only her but us as well, this new schedule is great! I'm not working so I was able to devote the effort to putting her on a more set schedule. My husband and I aren't running between work, home, and daycare and hardly seeing each other (side note- we didn't see each other from the time we went to bed Monday night until Thursday morning when we woke up and then only spent half days together the rest of the week- and we did that for months!). We are doing great as a family and I think the whole not running around like headless chickens helps. :)

She goes to sleep at 8 pm. She wakes up between 8 and 9 (I know, I'm spoiled for getting to sleep in that long!). Nap time is now at 1 pm and she sleeps for 2-3 hours! We've been doing this about 4 days and it's been wonderful. She doesn't just sleep whenever and for however long she feels like. I make sure to get her good and tired in the morning and also have her tummy full of a tasty lunch before nap time. Then she's out like a light!

Now granted she is 14 months old now and one nap is completely sufficient for her. Obviously a 2 month old isn't going to work this way. This wouldn't have worked at 9 months either. Plus, to make it even more difficult for us parents  I do completely believe that you have to work with what you got (i.e. your child, their personality, their activity level, etc.) and mold a schedule that fits your needs and still gives you kiddo the rest they need.

She still doesn't wake up at an exact time but that's fine by me. I feel if we get too scheduled, we'll turn into robots or something (okay there's the sci-fi nerd in me coming out...). Nap time at 1 also ranges from between 12:45 and 1:15 so that's not set in stone either. But she has a mommy who takes care of her full-time, is able to keep her on a somewhat set schedule so she gets her play time, her eating time, and her rest time all in at reasonable times. And my husband and I get to actually see each other!! 

I need to post something...

.... But I don't know what to post! I have about 6 half finished posts. None of those is really good reading right now though... I guess this will be another random post. Here's our morning currently:

I am currently listening to Travis Cottrell's version of "In Christ Alone" and I think this is one of my favorite songs ever! And the fact that he works with Beth Moore makes it all the more better!

Baby girl is doing baby yoga and taking our canned tuna out of the cupboard. Wait... now she's going for the pledge. Hold please... Okay we're back to the tuna.

Husband made waffles this morning. Let me expound on that. He mixed up the batter, most of the batter actually. He let out the egg. I also have a sneaky suspicion there was more missing but I can't prove it. I put the "batter" in the waffle iron and once they were done we had waffles. But really, they were more like waffle crumbs. Baby liked them, but then again she will eat anything unless it's chicken. She hates chicken.

One thing I don't recommend- do NOT read 15 chapters of Isaiah in one sitting and do NOT make that sitting at 10 pm. Big mistake on my part! I just kept reading and reading... Not really sure why because I kept telling myself to stop because my brain was frying, but did I listen to myself? No... Oh well, I got 3 days worth of reading done in 45 minutes. Yay! Did I get anything meaningful out of that reading? Yeah... the section I read was about various kingdoms being destroyed so after reading verse after verse about doom and gloom it did get kind of depressing, but then I noticed that Isaiah himself was distraught over the destruction of the nations. Which made me think. Maybe God Himself was sad over the destruction as well. Yes, He was the one who was judging the nations but I do believe that He didn't really enjoy it. He is a loving God after all. Something to think about today.

Well Mommy-duty calls. Enjoy your Wednesday everyone!

Praying

I admit that I am not the best at praying on a regular basis. There are days where I will pray for a long time, with my whole heart, and I will totally feel the power of it. Other days will feel like it will take all of my energy to even say "hi" to God. I have been creating a new habit of reading my Bible, journaling, and praying and it is doing great things! I have a much better attitude, it stretches my brain, and it's making our family function a whole lot better. Being in fellowship with God releases so much power that it's mind-blowing and I, personally anyway, don't know why I haven't spent more time with Him before. Well, I know why I didn't, but I guess the better way to word that is I wish I had spent more time with Him before and made the sacrifices to make it happen (like waking up earlier in the morning, turning off the TV, etc.).

There have been so many answers to prayer lately, and not only my prayers. I know I'm always promoting her blog, but Renee has a story that I think so many people would be inspired, encouraged, and flat blown out of the water by! It showed me just how BIG our God is (well, not exactly because we can never know just how big He is on this side of eternity, but you get the idea...). He is truly out of this world AMAZING! In addition to that phenomenal story, He has completely taken care of us since I have quit my job and have been a stay at home mom. Our family is thriving- and not in a financial way. Our marriage and our parenting have skyrocketed. We have been able to minister to other people and we have grown so much as a family. I really believe that God has shown us how we need to live our lives- GOD first, family second, career third. In this country that philosophy is not popular at all and is really hard to live by. But with Christ all things are possible!

Be encouraged- even though you don't see the results you want in your life right now, just believe that you are sowing seeds and working the ground so that they may come to be a full harvest one day. It may not happen overnight, but I truly believe that God truly will do remarkable things as long as you involve Him in your plans. Talk to Him, tell Him your concerns and fears, laugh with Him. He wants what is best for us and although it may be hard it will definitely be worth it. We may not even see the results of our hard work in this life, but we will definitely have something beyond-our-comprehension-awesome that we can look forward too.

In This World

I was over reading Renee's post and she and I apparently have a lot of the same thoughts. In this post she was talking about how she lives in a hole (read her post for all the thought-provoking details). I COMPLETELY relate to that. We don't have TV or listen to secular music or anything like that and so I'm lucky to know if it's supposed to snow tomorrow or not. I just kind of take it day by day and hey, if it's something huge I'll get it through the grapevine. The downside to our joint hole-living is that we aren't informed about the big things that can affect our lives. 

Politically I am very conservative and I don't like hearing about the things going on in America. I personally imagine our country's forefathers rolling in their graves. I don't believe they worked as hard as they did to gain our freedom so we could take it for granted the way we do. Even the non-political stuff I don't want to know about. I don't need to hear about the murders, burglaries, debt, illnesses, etc. that are plaguing the world. I know they exist, but I don't want to be brought down by them.

So here's the question: How do I gain the knowledge I need to so I can be compassionate and an advocate for the victims of the evils I see and not be sucked into the hype, the drama, and the "mud" that is the media?

Jesus calls us to be in this world but not of this world. That's a fine line for us Christians to take care not to cross. There's so much that's being flung at us and pressures are so great to become like the rest of the world. We can't look at the rest of the world in a haughty I'm-better-than-you way and ignore the evils surrounding us. But we can't have a if-you-can't-beat-'em-then-join-'em attitude either.

My personal opinion on how to possibly overcome this? Be like Jesus. Follow Jesus. Look to His Word for how. Jesus Himself came to this fallen world and dwelt among us. He knew what was going on in the world, but rose above it and provides the only way to get out of the world. He is bigger than anything in this world, no matter how ugly it gets. I believe that if we just look to Him and adopt a WWJD type of attitude then we can find the balance that many of us struggle with.

Random

Okay, first off I'm super frustrated! I am so mad at Hotmail right now! They locked/closed/shut down/blocked my email account! They didn't tell me why, and I can't talk to anyone. I have to rely on their stupid message board type of correspondence to even see if they will let me back in it... GRR! Okay done on that rant- here's the positive in the situation:

Positive #1: I have a secondary email that I can use.

Positive #2: I still have my facebook and blog.

Positive #3: I was wanting a different email anyway since the one I had was from middle school...

Positive #4: I get a new beginning!

Positive #5: No more crazy junk mail (for now anyway).

Ahhhh that feels much better. I'm so glad I just got that out of the way and now I can move on from Hotmail. Of course, I won't be able to access a lot of my contacts... wait I'm being negative again... Time for a subject change.

Let's see- Talia is either teething, sick, or both. I can't tell for the life of me! It's either REALLY bad teething or a slight head cold. Maybe I'll never know... 

Talia also started walking 2 days ago! I'm so excited! She's the cutest when she does it. She will stand, grin really big, take a few steps and giggle so hard she falls down. I LOVE IT! She does too obviously and I think she'll be up and running in a very short time. I thought I would be all sad when she would reach these new stages (like my baby is growing up... sniffle sniffle) but I'm actually (and surprisingly) very excited and happy! I can't wait (well really I can... but you know what I mean) for the next things she'll learn and do. Like talking- she still jabbers on about who knows what. Some of her words are "eesh" and "ah-ooh" but I think she just likes hearing herself "talk." I really don't think she associates things with words quite yet. Maybe Mama and Dada but that's about it. Of course she knows A TON! She knows exactly what her Snuggle Bear is, her Snuggle Lamb, her shoes, her sippy cup, cheerios, her Violet dog, her puppy (it's actually ginormous- about 3-4 feet long... best $20 my  mom ever spent), her Bible, MY Bible, "no"- not that she listens, but she does know what it means... ah-hem.

So I'm probably boring those of you without kids, so I'll try and wrap this up.

Three closing remarks tonight. These are super profound by the way... ah-hem... well I guess 1 out of 3 ain't bad...

#1: God is SO good and loves us more than we could ever understand.

#2: Organizing your office (after you've done taxes and there are papers everywhere) while a baby is crawling around is IMPOSSIBLE!

#3: White Cranberry Strawberry juice is positively delicious!

#4 (yeah I know- I told you there would only be 3... my bad) This is from Talia- packing peanuts are great to tear apart and super tasty too!

Good Night!

My Couponing Adventure

I think I should really call this post "My Almost Couponing Adventure." 

 My reason? Because I think I used a grand total of 4 coupons today. I know some of you out there probably use 50 coupons- and kudos to you! I think that many would make me crazy and I would just pay the extra money so I wouldn't have to deal with the many slips of paper running around my purse.

I am super excited tonight though!!! We went to Albertson's and King Soopers and spent right around $180 for about $280 in groceries! A lot of that was because of various sales at both stores- sales that we took advantage of a lot! We would have saved about another $10 had my husband not left his military ID at home... Oh well. Just let it go, Sarah, let it go... 

And of course we did use a few coupons at King Soopers. They tend to give us coupons that say, "Save $3 off your next shopping trip" and I love them for it! We shop there so much it almost feels like an obligation for them to give us some sort of discount... :)

I've noticed from websites and coupons in the mail and coupons in the stores that they are mainly for name brand items (or for items that I don't even buy). Tonight I even tried to use a coupon for Special K cereal- get $1 off if you get 2 boxes (side note- it had a note on the coupon saying "do not double"). Well I looked at the Special K prices and they were about $3.50 a box. So times that by two and minus a dollar and I would pay $6 for the cereal. Well I also noticed that over to the side the store brand of the exact same cereal was going for $2.50 a box or so. So say I get 2 boxes of that (which I did by the way) I would be paying $5 and that's without the coupon! Yeah the box isn't as pretty or colorful and is probably harder to open, and the taste may be slightly different- but hey, it kept me from having to carry yet another coupon around in my purse that I'd have to fish out when checking out. Not to mention it saved me an extra dollar! And that's just one example- don't even get me started on the frozen veggies... 

I hear the stories of people going to the store and leaving with $500 worth of groceries for only $50 (or something like that anyway). I really want to know how they do it. Do they buy generic products like me? Or do they use a gazillion coupons for name brand items? If so, how do they keep their sanity with all those coupons? I want details people- if you are one of those extreme couponers, then please comment or let me know in some way, shape, or form how you manage to do that. I'm highly curious!

Journaling

Ever have those moments when you think, "Oh I'll remember that!" But then you never do? Yeah... I have lots of moments like that. I even told my mom once that someone should invent a camera that attaches to your eyelashes. That way every time you blink, you'll have the moment captured forever! Of course there is a downside to that- I'd end up with a lot of really boring pictures that I wouldn't know what to do with... So I guess journaling and taking as many pictures (with my husband's not-so-high-tech-been-to-Iraq-and-back Kodak) as I can will suffice.

I have been journaling for about the last year since Talia was born. I journal in a way where I write to her and she can go back and read when she's older (if she wants to anyway). It does help with the whole remembering thing, but I find myself running into some walls with that. I will procrastinate and procrastinate. Just now I realized the last time I journaled was a month ago... Do you know how much stuff goes on in a month in my life?? I'm blessed to remember the last day or two clearly... So now I'm stuck with trying to think of all the random many things that have happened. It's so hard to keep up with! Renee even reminded me in her blog how hard it is to stay on top of recording everything.

Intermission: my computer just crashed with a blue screen of death... But now we seem to be back to normal. Not that any of you notice, but figured I'd fill you in. :)


So needless to say, I am committing myself to journaling more. Maybe it'll be a little bit on my blog and a little bit on paper, but I will document my life and my baby's life as best I can. Who knows what kind of fruit it will produce? Maybe a laugh on a day where I feel depressed, or encouragement when I need that extra push, or a reminder that God is on His throne no matter what- especially on those days when fear and doubt creep into my mind and decide to not leave. I'm sure that someone someday will benefit from reading what I am currently writing, be that me, my baby, my husband, a friend, or a stranger.

This, That, and The Other

This: I have entirely too much to do today. I have taxes to finish- I promised myself they would be in the mail tomorrow. I do have a ways to go on that. I also have to work my business a little bit more today and that's overwhelming me too. Not to mention my house could always use more cleaning... 

That: I have completely fallen in love with my life lately! Being able to focus on the things that I've been longing too has been such an amazing blessing! I think the last time I had the chance to focus on my home, my business, and my baby was when I was on maternity leave a year ago. And let's face it- when you're on maternity leave you just don't have the energy to do anything except the bare minimum. So other than maternity leave- I really can't remember the last time I was able to focus on all the important things in my life. 

The Other: I have talked a lot about being able to be home with my baby and be a housewife. I LOVE those jobs probably more than I should. I say that because my husband has really shown me that I have neglected my most important relationship- God and me. And the sad part is that I know it, but I  haven't done anything to change it. Jesus has done so much for me, so much more than I realize. I am ashamed to say I take it all for granted. Just admitting that is painful. I mean, we're all human and we are sinners and we make mistakes and that's where Jesus comes in- to redeem us from those sins because He loves us SO much! I can't exactly expect to be completely perfect 24/7. But I do have to make an effort to be more like Him and follow His ways. My ways just don't work and end in nothingness, disappointment, and sometimes even disaster. Solution? I need to read His Word more, talk to Him more, and act on what He says. Why that's so hard for me to do, is beyond me.

 Thanks for listening... Apologies for dumping my heart on you all... :)

What I've been up to

I'm going to do my best to summarize all my goings-on in the past several days. I said I'll do my best- no guarantees!

Well this last Friday was my last day at work. I have several mixed feelings about that. I am going to miss the people I've worked with over the past two and a half years like none other! I've already made a ton of promises to keep in touch and visit so I think they will forgive me for leaving... someday... Am I going to miss the actual job? Uh- no. I'm very excited to be working 2 jobs now that are way more fulfilling, way less stressful, and pay a whole lot better! :)

I've been trying to get my taxes done as well. For those of you who don't know me- I DESPISE taxes with every ounce of my body and soul. I pretty much can't stand anything that is this complicated and has the government involved and involves my money. My opinion? My money, my business, enough said. 

K done with the ranting on that- for now at least. :)  I know I shouldn't complain... My favorite Scripture is Philippians 2:14-16. It says, "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, as you hold out the word of life- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." That whole first part saying don't argue or complain- yeah I need to work on that... I need to remember that I still need to submit to the authorities in my life, even if they're stupid, for the sake of Christ and that it will work out for the best if I do. 

Best for last! Friday night I was at Renee's house for a video chat with McMama who was in Africa. We got to meet some of the villagers and they told us their names and, I have to say, the children were precious! I never thought I'd be able to say, "Hey I met someone in Africa tonight" and now I am able to say that and I feel so blessed! Those people were so sweet, and it's absolutely mind-boggling to see "first-hand" (via Skype anyway) what the Lord is doing in Africa.

I'm the one on the far right- tired as all get out but I'm so glad I was able to be there. 

And here's the video of the actual chat. Just listen for the children saying their names- it's amazing!

It's Been Awhile

Apologies to my blog. I have completely neglected you lately. And sorry to my small group of readers for my absence. I have definitely been preoccupied.

First off, I have put in my notice to quit my job. That terrifies me to no end. My last day is next Friday and I cannot tell you how scared I am. I know I shouldn't be, but I really truly am! I should be super excited to be home with my baby girl. Like I've said before it's been my lifelong dream to be a mom and wife, but now that it's actually happening, I feel like having a heart attack. I'm sure it's just the unknown and my earthly security blanket is going away. But I am called to not hold onto anything of this earth... Need to remember that! I need not look at the many MANY things I am losing by quitting, but the many MORE things I'll be gaining by quitting. A lot of those things I'll be gaining will definitely be treasures stored up in heaven- I am convinced of this!

So needless to say, there's been a lot on my mind lately, just not much of it has been written down. Plus, last weekend was our 5 year anniversary and the entire weekend was devoted to my husband.We had a blast just being baby-less (she went to hang with grandma and grandpa), eating out, relaxing, hiking, sleeping in way late, and just remembering how much we love each other.

I have also been planning a lot of how I'm going to be working my business again and getting it back off the ground. I'm highly detail oriented so I have been going over a million different things of when I'm going to work, how I'm going to work, etc. I could probably spend a lot of that planning time actually working... ah-hem...

Well I am working on my next blog post. It's kind of a follow up to Renee's post. Stay tuned. Hopefully I won't leave you all hanging for weeks on end again. :)

TV

So I'm outing myself when I say that Nick and I... don't have... a... TV. 

Now let me explain:

Those of you who have been to our home know there's a TV in our home because it's gigantuan and near impossible to miss- it's about 5 feet long by 5 feet tall by 3 feet deep. But all we use it for is movies. Yes, it's sad. Our poor TV has been demoted and now lives a boring life of just movie playing and doesn't get to share any fun new commercials with us or depress us with the evening news. It really has been quite traumatic for the TV. We would have slowly weaned it off of the commercial and news addiction that it had gotten it self into, but unfortunately we didn't have that option. We had two options: upgrade to the digital and keep feeding our TV's addiction to commercials and news or just let it go cold turkey. We opted for the cold turkey. We couldn't allow our precious TV to follow in its past ways- it may have never gotten out of the rut that it was in. 

There's a happy ending though! Our TV has been able to battle the withdrawal symptoms and has (I'm proud to say) come out on top! It is now a proud movie only playing TV and if it could talk, it would tell you that it is the better for it. It no longer fills itself up with the garbage of the world and then shares it with us, but rather only shows us the stuff we wish to see (although sometimes that does tend to be garbage anyway, but we're a work in progress just like the TV). 

So for my friends who are happily watching the Super Bowl, I am sad for now. I do wish our TV could share that with us, especially the commercials. But for now, we'll find a movie. Or maybe no movie at all. Perhaps we'll just play together as a family tonight and enjoy some yummy food. 

P.S. I do want to know who wins!!! :)

Blogging

So here it is. I have no clue how to blog. I know how to type, and obviously that's as far as I've gotten. I should put up pictures or make a fancy design, but I don't know how and I don't have the time either... So apologies all around for having the most boring blog ever. I promise it won't last forever! For now, you'll have to listen to my rambling... No complaints yet, so that's good.

There's not too much new here, minus our car troubles (more on that later- going to try and focus on the positive for now) and we're all doing better. Talia is FINALLY eating again and doing much better with teething and being cranky. We actually had a wonderful night tonight! She and I ate and played (pictures to come of the eating...) and she was laughing all night long. It's been a long time since I have heard her crack up for hours on end and I LOVE IT!!! It was a blast to just hang out with her, eat some yummy grilled cheese, and crawl around together. I swear, she's the most fun kid ever! ;)  Thank you so much for all of your advice and prayers. I really appreciate you all!

Also, I am SO grateful to my friend and coworker who gave me a ride home from work and even went out to Talia's daycare and back to my house. I don't know what I would have done without her! She was such a great blessing and I can't thank her enough. Maybe lunch will be in store for her tomorrow... She deserves it!

I think the rest of my night is going to consist of strategizing, a little worrying, and calling various people to figure things out- so for now I'm off. Hopefully I can squeeze some relaxing in there too.

Night everyone and God bless and stay warm!

Why I look forward to Heaven

1. No more tears. In particular baby tears. And this is for two reasons. One is that it tests my patience and sometimes, regrettably, I snap. Two, it really is heartbreaking when my baby girl screams and there's nothing I can do to fix it.

2. No more need for patience. That just lets out a big "wooosawww" in my soul. Working all day outside the home in a place that requires a ton of patience (for patients! HAHA sorry I couldn't resist...) and then coming home to a baby who can be either sweet or screamy. I can't imagine being able to be around people and we'll never have to have patience with each other ever again.

3. No more worry. Whoot! That's exciting! There will be nothing to be worried about... Nothing! :)

4. Walking by sight, not by faith. Being able to see everything instead of having to trust is going to fantastic!

5. No more being sucked down into yucky stuff. There won't be any temptations to gossip, curse, be lazy, lie, cheat, cut corners or any of the like. No temptations to fall or fail. That's such a huge weight off my shoulders. I have a bad habit of falling and failing and to know that it's only temporary is great!


Good night all!

An Update or Two

Well I got a new comments system down on this blog thing! Now anyone who is a living, breathing human can comment. Unfortunately since I changed it the prior comments have been deleted. So I apologize greatly for that, but at least I did it fairly soon...

About me not having pictures on here, I am sorry for that too. Honestly I try to find enough time to write and adding pictures would take up more time. Plus, I blog on my husband's lap top and all the pictures that aren't currently still on the camera (I download them about a whole whopping 4 times a year... ah-hem...) are on my old, ancient, prehistoric desktop. So basically, the short answer is- I'm LAZY. :)  But I really do want to share pictures with you all, so it will happen, just be patient with me...

Let's see. Today I was so incredibly bored at work! I was watching my life pass before my eyes... Plus I really needed to go grocery shopping and was going to go after I got out of work and with all those hours just ticking by... well it was just uber-painful. I could have had all my shopping done by the time I normally clock out... So what did I do in my time while I watched the computer clock change from minute to minute? I cut my hair. That's right! I cut my hair. Does it look good? Eh... not bad per-say. But I had a million split ends and there was LITERALLY nothing else to do. I tried to play email tic-tac-toe with a coworker (who is also one of my best friends), but she was busy... Or I could have watched TV in the waiting room, but nothing good was on. Or I could have sat there and counted how many ceiling tiles there were, but that would have only made me cranky because I would have lost count... So hair cutting it was! One of my other coworkers even said she was pleased with my thriftiness. Her words were (or close to her words... I forgot her actual words), "You saved time by not going to the salon, and didn't have to pay for a haircut, but rather GOT paid to cut your hair!" Once she said that, I realized, "Hey I'm not half bad when it comes to thrifty- and I wasn't even trying! Imagine if I actually tried to be thrifty... hmm..." Of course, I did just get a Great Clips coupon in the mail... So what am I going to do with that now? Bad timing, Sarah, bad timing...

In response to Talia's sickness and other random things that are troubling her, she's doing better today but still not back to normal. She won't eat much, but is at least hydrated. I think the teething will just have to run it's course for now along with the anti-eating thing. But I have gotten some good advice from a couple people and I really REALLY appreciate it! Thank you so much and you know who you are!

 Well, tis Friday night and I have some Stargate to catch up on... oh wait, did I say that out loud? Dang it! Now the whole world knows I'm a nerd!!!!

Talia's Troubles

The 2 main reasons of this post are one, to complain, and two, to ask for help! 

The lowdown is this: Talia has been sick off and on for about 2 months now and has been teething severely. Then on top of that she's entered the Terrible Twos early and has become so rambunctious that I can't keep up with her. She's constantly moving, won't ever sit still, and always wants her way. There's lots of these things that are definitely positive and I am so thankful for this stage because it is really a ton of fun. I absolutely LOVE feeling my heart leap when she gives me that cute little, almost sheepish, smile or when she wants to play Point or Baby Race down the hallway. But I am exhausted. My back is actually hurting because of having to chase her around constantly, move her from danger to safety, and calmly try to calm her down/"explain things to her" when she's throwing a tantrum. I need some good, practical help!!!

Her latest shananigan is refusing to eat. She won't eat! She refuses pretty much everything (except for yogurt or sometimes cereal in the morning) and then merely sips at her bottles and juice. It's a miracle if she finishes her dinner! I caught her today mushing up her food in her mouth but she refused to swallow it! Ai-yai-yai!!!

Right now she's on her third set of antibiotics due to ear infections. She's on tooth number 7 (she has gotten all of them within the past 2.5 months) which adds to the crankiness. Please pray that God will heal her little body and give Nick and I the energy to deal with all this. Speaking of energy, I am so exhausted from working and then having to take care of her in the evenings by myself. I feel like I can't even enjoy my baby because I'm so tired! I know, I wrote about being a stay at home mom the other day, but we're still not there yet. But I guess with all these other things Talia's going through that God is trying to tell me that working isn't working (hehe, no pun intended there...). I think I'm trying to do too much. There's too much on my plate. I don't have time or energy for the things or people that really, truly matter. I spend it all during the week on people who, most likely, I won't ever see again but then have nothing to give to my Lord, my husband, and my daughter. I should be flooding those three with my energy, attention, and love, but I have it all backward... I am draining myself, but rather should be seeking God. I need Him to help me with these situations and for Him to show me the way, but I only seek Him for some things, not all things, which is not good... Okay we're getting off topic here, but that's okay. I needed to write all that out stream-of-consciousness style to help me on a therapeutic level. Sorry for the detour... :)

So, fellow mommies, here's the list of things I need help with! Comment below with any/all advice!

1. Teething

2. Sickness/Infections

3. Not eating

4. Tantrums

5. Diarrhea/Rashes

Night and Day

Me, like pretty much everyone else on the planet, have two completely different sides. One is the side that tries to do good, be nice to people while the other side is just plain yucky in every way. A lot of the time I can go from one to the other throughout the day. Except yesterday I think the entire day I went being yucky and then this morning I was trying to do damage control from yesterday.

Yesterday I was just depressed, lazy, exhausted, and frustrated. To add to it, my child I think sensed it and was just cranky Terrible Twos-like all day. My husband had told me to pray, read the Word, and ask for help and I knew I was supposed to do it and I know that it would have helped. But I refused. I just wallowed in my yuckiness, complained, and acted like my cranky baby. (Side note- I think God gave me a kid to really show me up close and personal how I act towards Him. It's all very humbling.)

Today I woke up in a much better mood, and I think solely by the grace of God. Naturally I don't think I would have changed and done a 180 all on my own. (Another side note- I am so thankful that we don't have to do things for God in order to earn His love or grace! We're so unworthy but still He loves us!) But, nevertheless, I woke up and wasn't frustrated or angry anymore. I got up, did my normal weekend morning routine, even did my makeup for church but didn't make it there... Talia decided it was nap time when it was time to leave... So here I was, all done up, and hanging out at home. My husband had encouraged me to go to church (he's out playing Marine this weekend- aka Marine Reserves) and I didn't really want to disappoint him (I'm a people pleaser- especially with certain people I'm married to) so I decided to listen to the message online. Our church is gigantic so if you miss, you can at least stay up to date online. (Another side note- we go to Rocky Mountain Calvary- rmcalvary.org.)

Today the pastor spoke on Luke 10:25-42. It definitely highlighted my personal yuckiness with the story of the Good Samaritan. Two of the people walked right by the beaten up man and I just felt like God was (nicely) showing me that I have been like that. Uncaring, indifferent, and cruel (just what you like to hear about yourself right?) and maybe not openly, but definitely inside.

Don't worry, there's a happy ending! Once God pointed that out, and thank God He doesn't point out of issues just to make us feel bad, but rather to fix them. I decided to step across that yucky, muddy, most likely radioactive stream of myself and follow God. Now I just got to work on not going back...

What about you? Do you ever find yourself just completely bleh and hate it? This is mainly a rhetorical question, but hey if you want to answer it in the comments section- go ahead! I'd love to hear reactions!

Here's some encouragement- God can fix it. He can take away the bleh and replace it with something only He can- His love and grace.

Wednesday Night

Well I have two blog posts in the making, but neither are ready for publishing yet. They need some revision... And I really am not sure what to write about. So here's the reader's digest version of my day.

Basically my day went something like this:

Woke up at 6, got out of bed at 6:30, got ready in 20 minutes (I am the queen of always being just a little late to work every day), worked, ate lunch, worked, watched it snow from work, left work, went to pick up Talia at daycare, got her home, ate birthday cake, fed Talia dinner, watched Talia feed herself dinner, ate pasta, watched her try and play peek-a-boo with herself, stared at the computer wondering what to write about, read about Obamacare being repealed (whoot! sorry to you who disagree- no personal offense, and I still love you all!), and then decided to just write about a whole lot of stuff that probably nobody really cares about, but too bad. :)

Talia did do some fun baby games tonight that are truly unique. She has three particular favorites: Baby Dentist, Point, and Upside Down Baby. 

Baby Dentist involves her prying open my mouth and examining my teeth, along with my tongue. And yes, I do let her do this. I know, I'm asking for it. Oh well, it's too dang cute! Plus I love watching how fascinated she gets with my teeth. I did discover a little issue with Baby Dentist tonight... I put too much garlic in her dinner and when she's that up close and personal it's a little overpowering... That girl needs a mint!

Point is basically that, pointing. She sees something, points to it, and then I have to point and touch her finger and say, "Point!" She cracks up every time. Kind of like the dogs in Up, but I don't like that analogy because (and I'm going to make a whole lot more enemies now, more so than the Obamacare statement) I really don't like that movie. Okay I said it, please don't crucify me! I just think that was the biggest Epic Fail movie ever! They made it all epic, but failed... miserably... Okay please still be my friends! It really is okay to disagree... I promise...

Upside Down Baby is also self-explanatory, except that we also tick-tock back and forth while she's hanging upside down. Or we spin upside down. Or we dip up and down while spinning upside down. And apparently the world is super awesome upside down when you're 1, and for some reason it's even more awesome after dinnertime... 

Alright there's my quickly put together post for the night. Maybe some of you can fall asleep to it... I'm sure it's sleep worthy. :) Night!

Conversation with my husband

So I'm going to preface this post by saying that my husband and I are greatly in love, have a good relationship, and what I'm about to say does in no way "de-man" him and he knows it. I'm not sure you can "de-man" him- he's a Marine!

History: My husband is THE cook of all cooks. Yes I am biased, but once you eat something he's made, you'll be biased too. He can make the BEST food out of frozen veggies, ramen noodles, and left over chicken and it will taste like you should be paying $25 bucks for it. Me on the other hand- I have burned canned soup, and grilled chicken breast for 50 minutes... At least they were both done!!!

Lately: My last post was about me being able to stay home with my baby very soon (he has a very promising job that will God-willing allow him to quit his current job, make more money, etc. Plus God reaffirmed my need to be a stay at home mom/housewife/work from home gal about 50 more times today).

So, the conversation:

Him: "You know that when you stay home you'll have to cook more right?"

Me: "What? You can still cook..."

Him: "Yeah on occasion but not like I usually do now."

Me: "But... but... I'm not as good as you and I don't enjoy nearly as much..." (I can be so selfless, don't ya think? LOL)

Him: "Yeah... too bad. You'll get better the more you do it. I have faith in you."

So now everyone, I will be taking on a new career in addition to about the other 5 I got going on. Wish me luck! :)

P.S. I'm really not complaining. The times I have cooked it's gone fairly well. I just lack his imagination and love of cooking (I have more of a like for it...). He went to school for it and works in a restaurant now. I think I'm more afraid of not being as good as he is. His are hard shoes to fill in that department!

P.P.S. If anyone has any quick, easy, preferably healthy (not required though) meals they would like to share with me- let me know! Oooh, I could go over to http://www.miqueridacocina.blogspot.com/. I bet Renee has some good stuff.

Happy Saturday Night all! Enjoy!

Promises

Warning-Very Long- I'm sorry! But it will be worth reading- I promise!

I have told some of you in person that God has made this GARGANTUAN  promise to me on Wednesday night. Well now I'm announcing it! Announcing it for 2 reasons: 1. Because I am so super excited that I can't keep it to myself. 2. Because I need it for faith building of not only myself but for you all too. I  know that if I tell the whole world about it I'll be less likely to get discouraged and hey, it may help a bunch of you in your circumstances. So Win-Win!

I was reading my devotional- "From Faith to Faith" by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland (here's their website: www.kcm.org) and it was (and I'm summarizing and using my own words- and yes I do use a lot of parentheses) talking about basically stepping out in faith, allowing God to be our sole provider, not look to this world for satisfaction/hope/trust, and to take that leap of faith and believe that God will be there to catch you and help you fly. First off, I bet that's what any one of us would love to hear any day of the week! It really does put you on cloud 9. But for me, that day, it might as well have sent me to Heaven in a rocket ship!

Here's some history:

I have been praying, and praying, and praying, and my husband has been praying, and praying, and my family and friends have been praying, and praying, and we've all been praying for a very long time (about a year give or take) that God would allow me to be a stay at home mom and housewife. Sounds crazy to some of you, but that has seriously-no joke- been my lifelong dream since I was 4. I have never wanted to be anything else deep down. There have been other things that I dreamed of and that I do want, but none of those things have been rooted in my heart since childhood and have refused to be withered like this particular dream. I have a sneaky suspicion that someone Upstairs had a hand in not allowing that dream to go away.

Unfortunately I have had to put that dream on hold. When I had my baby girl, I went on maternity leave, pleaded desperately with God not to make me go back to work at my J.O.B., but ended up going back after only 10 weeks of being home with her (which about 8 weeks of which involved me either being super busy or still healing up from giving birth). I have since been at my job back full time now for about 10 months. Those whole 10 months I spent praying God would let me quit. Well maybe more like 5 months... the other 5 months consisted of me screaming, yelling, arguing, complaining, bawling, and tantrum-throwing about how I couldn't be at home... Yeah that's more accurate. I tended to act more like my Terrible-Two's-starting daughter... my bad...

I digress...

So I was reading this devotional and it was just flat out amazing like I said. Well I wasn't paying attention to the day that you're supposed to read it on. I'm really kind of OCD so if I skip a day or a week and it ends up not being in order- it makes me utterly crazy and I have to go back and read it so it's all in order. It was on a day from last week which I had skipped so I was making up for it. Once I was done reading I prayed and thanked God for this amazing insight. Then- here comes the good part- I looked at the date on the top left corner. Ready for this? It was MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Well that was a HUGE confirmation that God will allow me to quit my job! If I just trust in God to take care of all our other needs (bills, insurance, childcare, etc.) and not tie myself so tightly to this world then my dream really will come true. I don't know exactly when, but I know it will be soon and it will be so amazing! God NEVER EVER breaks His promises- and He made me a humdinger of  a promise!

And if that wasn't enough of an amazing realization... I go into work today and while my coworker and I are getting ready to leave she says (paraphrased), "You know Sarah, I was telling someone the other day that you probably won't be here much longer. I'm going to miss you so much, but I just have this gut feeling that you'll be home with your baby here soon."

First off, I stared at her in disbelief. Does she have nanny cams in my house? Did she read the same devotional I did? Did she talk to my husband? How in the WORLD can she possibly know this???

Next, I told her all about my eye-opening experience I had had on Wednesday night. Then she looks at me and says (again paraphrased), "That was the same day that I had that gut feeling and was telling someone that I didn't think you'd be there that much longer."

HOLY MACARONI AND CHEESE!!!! The same day??? Talk about a confirmation!

Oh my gosh God! You work in so many crazy, weird, mysterious, but so stinking awesome ways! I just can't comprehend how these flood gates are opening up. I can see the water starting to pour out from the heavenlies- and I cannot wait to feel the water falling on my head like a sweet rain and then turning into a mighty holy flood! Praise You!

Overnight

So most of the time I try to get myself to NOT panic over the fact that my baby girl is growing up. Sometimes my little pep talks help and other times not so much. For a long time a few months ago I would just bawl at the fact that she wasn't going to stay my baby forever. There are still some times like that now... Thank God they aren't as often.
I would be so sad over seeing how she would discover new things, learn to say words, crawl, walk, stand... Oh the list goes on. Well I have some good news! I'm no longer so incredibly sad over the fact that she is turning into a toddler (by the way, the terrible two's are not around 2 at all I don't think...).
In fact I'm so incredibly overjoyed that she is learning these new things! It makes it so much more exciting to hear her say "Daddy!" for the first time, sit at the big kid table for dinner, feed herself her food with a spoon, and charge down the hall like a rhino (all the while holding onto our hands for balance- and I like to think for comfort as well!).
Now we have this cute little bundle that we can rough house with, play games with, and have "conversations" with. She teaches me SO much about God everyday, in particular His patience... ah-hem...
She may have changed from this sweet little baby who didn't hardly move anywhere to this rambunctious (that could VERY easily be spelled wrong, and I'm an English major so I'll take the blame for it...) 1 year old that is giving us all a run for our money but blessing us immensely at the same time. But at least my heart has changed right along with her. I'm no longer trying desperately to hold onto the newborn that she was a year ago but rather embracing the little monkey that's swinging through the trees! Love ya babykins!

Greetings!

Hello there blog-land! I am officially incorporated into this whole crazy online world now. :)  Don't worry, I will eventually figure out a way to make the graphics better and all that technical stuff... eventually...

Well I'm Sarah and I have a wonderful husband and sweet baby girl who just turned 1. They are my life (and God too of course). I have been wanting to write for such a long time. It took me a long time to find a blog name that wasn't already taken- hence the delay in my starting this blog. Well, that's one excuse anyway... There are definitely others.

There are a few main reasons I have wanted to desperately to start this.
One- I want to share with people my heart. I have a really hard time doing it with my mouth, so I figured an online mouth could definitely help me past that hurdle- at least for now. God has been really pressing to me that I need to share my experiences and current situations with people. I'm assuming so I can make people feel like they CAN get through whatever. I guess I have something to offer somewhere in this mess. It kind of reminds me of a family garage sale... You bring out all your junk, but if you look hard enough there's a few treasures. There's many times when God reveals something to me and I desperately want to shout it from the rooftop but haven't. One reason is that it's WAY to cold to be up on the roof shouting at night (which is usually when God shows me stuff) and also because everyone who I think to call is either in bed, at work, or otherwise occupied. But hey, online's always awake! :)
Two- I wanted to have yet another way to document my current life experiences for my baby girl. I have her baby book, two calendars that I record info for her in, a journal that I write to her, and of course pictures. But, even with all that, it's hard to make it feel like I won't forget something. I want to insure that she gets lots of the details to help her with her future experiences (you know, don't let history repeat itself and such). Plus those things get filled out here and there. Hopefully I can make this a much more consistent thing.

About the name? Well it came partly from a devotional I was reading (more on that later). It's called "From Faith to Faith" by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. It was talking about "stepping across the faith line" and following God and not caring about the natural realm or this world or about anything we can see or touch on earth. I had been trying to think of a name along the lines of "Stepping Up" "Serving Up" "Stepping out in faith" etc. So when I saw Stepping Across I was pretty excited (and it was AVAILABLE for a blog name- another miracle). Again, I'll explain more of that experience later.

I am also in the middle of hand writing in my journal to my daughter right now so gotta go! Can't wait to get to know you all!