a blessing

Many of you know that Chris has been working some LONG hours the last few weeks (goes through spurts). These past 2 days he has been off at his normal time. Yesterday when he got home he said, "Because I am So Awesome, My work decided to Give Me A HUGE Bonus & an Awesome Annual Review!" I Praise God for A Hardworking Man & I also Praise God for Blessing Us So Much!!!!!!!!!

What Chris also told me last night is a person who is a MUCH HIGHER pay level & who has been there a long time got the 'lowest' amount for the bonus & Chris who is a lower pay level & who has been there 2 years recieved the 'highest' amount!!!!

He IS a VERY hardworker, which Is NOT common for 'our generation'! I am really proud of him!

And Once Again...All Praise Does go to God.

Like I said in my blog post 'My Heart...'

"Praising God for our Blessings Extends them. Praising God for our troubles ends them."

A Farewell

This past Sunday we had to say farewell to one of our Closest friends, Tim & Meagan P. So sad to see them move but So happy that they were able to find a job. I considered Meagan my best friend/one of my closest friend. I really did not want to say 'fare-well'!!! We said 'fare-well' a few times on Sunday...every time was harder (for me at least).

We met about a month after Chris & I were married. Funny thing is...Meagan & Tim had the SAME Wedding day picked out as us-DEC 20! But, there was something going on on the 20th so we had ours on the 19th & Tim & Meagan's wedding had to be moved because of Snow(in MI) so they had theirs on the 21st!!

When I look back over the past 2 1/2 years....a few things come to mind...
laughter, cake baking, joy, tears, pregnancy, doctor appointments, farmer's market, scrapbooking, driving, shopping, cooking, The Bible, trips, library, encouragement, asian food, pooky, hi-chu, cleaning, guns, babies, discussions, laughter (opps i said that one all ready), sewing, instruction, moving, birthdays, car rides, love, embarrassment, sun burnt, discovering, movies, walks, trust, pictures, fire wood ash, phone calls (long ones)......the list could go on...and on...hehe.

All in all...we have gone through a lot together over the last 2 1/2 years. With Chris in school & working & Tim out to sea we were with each other a lot. I thank God for Meagan. I pray God continues to bless her & her family as they begin this 'new chapter' of their life. Meagan, if you ever read this know, I Love you & I Will Always be here for you. I hope we will stay in touch & that there will be visits in the future!!!! =)

Friday Night Fun!

On Friday Night we went to the Houston's house for fellowship. They invited all the 'younger' couples of the church. Chris & I have been married the longest out of all the other couples that came (3 years in Dec). There have been A LOT of weddings in the past almost 3 years (Praise the Lord)! Which means there have been LOTS of babies born (Praise the Lord) in the past almost 2 years(in Oct)!

I totally spaced & did not take photos of anything after dinner was ready. (oopss)
But, here are a few photos below. The first one was a Yummy Salad I made & brought. The other ones are of Bud & Zeke playing on the trampoline! (fun)! The last photo is of Bud...he climbed Into the baby bouncy! ha!

My heart...

....to be honest (I hope I can be honest & not be 'judged')....has been aching. It seems like every month, week...more like every day, I hear someone has 'good news' ;)


WHAT A BLESSING!!!!!!!

I am truely excited & happy for them. But, deep inside my heart, there is a sharp pain, then later tears flood my eyes. My heart becomes heavy. FLOODS of questions fill my mind. Am I doing something wrong? Is my Walk with God not how it should be? Am I having a bad attitude? Raising Obadiah wrong? Am I 'too' hard on him? Am I 'too' soft on him? What Am I doing wrong.?? Is there something wrong with me? Am I sick? What is going on..??!

The Answer is Nothing.
I Am doing Nothing wrong. It is Just 'not meant to be'. I can not see the reason why. All I know it is just 'not meant to be'. In the future? Maybe? Maybe not? Am I fine with that? Honestly, my heart hurts & my eyes fill with tears (again) BUT If it is not meant to be. It is just not meant to be. I just have to remember. God has a special plan for our lives.

I do Not want to become bitter. I can Truly say I am REALLY excited for ALL the people who share their GREAT news with me. Do I wish it was me sharing GREAT news like that? Yeah! It is my desire to have More little blessings running around. BUT, I don't want to resent people, envy or have jealousy & bitterness flood & consume my life.

So...I stop . Think. Talk myself through (I will spare you the thoughts).

Ask God to HELP me. Some verses come to my mind..

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Philippians 4: 11-13 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

"Praising God for our Blessings Extends them. Praising God for our troubles ends them."

"Diamonds in the Dust"-Can I find a diamond in the dust of my difficulties??

After I remember these Verses I feel A little better.

So For now....
...I try to drop the thoughts of what could have been, should have been...

....And....

I focus thoughts on Obadiah.

Our sweet Obadiah. I love this boy. He is growing up so fast. It amazes me how much he is growing...and learning. He brings tears of Joy to my eyes. Makes me such a PROUD moma.

Turbo!

(I can't take credit for the photo above-I found it on google)!

Chris has been working A LOT of Overtime...Last Thursday to Saturday he worked from 6 am to AT LEAST 630! By the end of a Long Tiring week, when it comes to his 'last day of the week' He is usually feeling....sick. Sunday he was just feeling sick. His body in general-Sick. He couldn't really 'pin-point' He said, "I'm feeling off today'. He rested on Sunday....all day. He also watched a movie called-Fat Sick & Nearly Dead. This movie, I guess in a way, Inspired him. He isn't doing the whole 'diet' as the movie showed BUT...there are going to (has been) be some drastic changes (drastic to me)!

After watching the movie, Chris went off to the store to search for green leafy veggies. I made baked chicken & potatoes for lunch/dinner. Chris chopped them up & put them in a salad! For breakfast on Monday he had orange juice, banana & nuts. He brought the left over chicken & potatoes along with a salad (he added raspberries to this salad-he said is tasted REALLY good with them in it). He said he bought a turkey wrap & since he worked over time his boss order pizza (he had 1 slice).

You would think....
If he woke up at about 4:30...got ready for work, left at 5:30 to be to work at 6. Worked until 8:30, got home at about 9 he would crash (that's what he usually does). He stayed up an extra hour. Got back up on time (4:30) and WAS MR TURBO. Oh. My. Word. No Joke. He asked if I could get up & help him make his salad this morning (5:00-I was...a zombie.) It felt like he was running circles around me. He had SO much energy...

He wants me to start feeding bud more of what he has been eating. He said, "He will probably start feeling better & will probably not need to sleep as much." NO NAP...I guess THIS MOMA.....NEEDS to start this 'turbo-diet' too!

Today, I am hitting the local farmers market to check out their fresh produce, see how their prices are. I have been to the farmers market before, but that was last year (before fall/winter months set in). Sometime this week I would like to go Berry Picking, So, If any of my family/friends would like to join me (I don't want to go alone) Please get in touch with me!

{sigh} I have had 'one of those weeks'.


I will just leave it at that.



Bud & I Watching Blues Clues & playing games at nickjr.com!

Items

I am currently uploading items to my Craft Corner Blog that I will be selling! Be sure to Check it out!

Acitivities, Acitivities, Acitivities!! Oh My!!

Many of you might have noticed that there have been A Lot of new posts! I have been posting about 'inexspensive' activities we have been doing over the past few weeks (I labeled them as 'activities'-if you click that below this post it should pull up ALL those activities, so far there are about 2 full pages of posts)! I decided to blog more about our recent activities to hopefully inspire & give ideas for family fun!! Hope this helps a least a few people!

Kitsap Lake

Another Recent Place we went to was Kitsap Lake. Around Kitsap Lake there are tons of little 'parks' you can stop at. We stopped at the park directly across from 'Dockside'! Chris & Bud had fun skipping/throwing rocks!

Bug Museum

Last Saturday we went to the FREE Bug Museum in Bremerton. I did not take much photos. I guess I was keeping my eye open to make sure BUGS didn't crawl on me ;) I am relieved that we went on a day when they did not have a 'hands on' workshop (where you can hold the bugs)! We will probably go back to this Bug Museum, when Bud is a little older. IF You have BOYS, I Definitely Recommend taking Your Boys to this---THEY WILL LOVE IT!!!

Clear Creek Nursery

Last Friday we went to The Clear Creek Nursery! We have never been there before. I was Very impressed. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! We will probably be going back in the future. They have a little 'trail' as you can tell by the photos below. They have a 'shark reef' (we only saw 1 baby shark & A TON of Tropical fish). They also had Koi ponds. Indoors they have different 'pools' ranging from baby to big, then in the pond outside they have BIGGEST...The BIGGEST Koi Fish I have EVER SEEN!!! If you ask one of the employees If you can feed the fish, they will give you a cup full of fish food! Bud was a little....unsure about the fish (at first), then he stood a foot away from the pond & threw fish food in! He probably thought they would eat him because they were SO HUGE!!! Our camera is water proof, shock proof & something else proof (I call it TODDLER PROOF-HA)! We never used the 'under-water' setting, so Chris tested it out, he was able to catch a photo of the fish (I believe that is the last photo on this post). **Please excuse out 'family' photo in this post....It is VERY Candid...ha!**