Day 28--Supportive Friends.

You and you and you, and probably you too. For all of you, I'm thankful. Things are about to get crazy. I can't share all the horrid details, but you know. And you've stayed quiet, you've shared your thoughts, you've sent your prayers, you've brought over much needed items, and you've listened. I pray this is forever, but even if it's not, I know you'll be there to hold me up when I'll need it the most. So for all of you, I'm thankful!

Day 26--Fantastic Nurses (that are better than any 'doctor')

When I had my anxiety attacks last November, I had a horrid doctor. I felt like he saw a hysterical women. He threw drugs at me and away I went. Well after ended up in the ER, I went to OB for a scheduled appointment. Even though anxiety is not her specialty, she sat and listened to me. She set me up with a therapist appointment and told me not to take the drugs that Dr. Doesn't Care prescribed. She did give another prescription, but only after listening to me first. After that episode, I found a new doctor. A friend at church is a NP at another office. The doctor she works with is listed in another county, he never popped up in my insurance listings. Well, I found out that he is covered and so is she. So I officially got to go see her. I know for a fact that my attacks wouldn't have been so severe if I had been able to go to her first. She actually called me from Sunday School to explain a few things to me and to calm me down during an attack! She's been awesome. I've even switched the kids to her office as well.

So, TMI alert. My period was 8 days late. I am never late, to the minute 28 day cycle. I had 6 negative pregnancy tests, so I called my OB, she is an RN. She tested for baby again, and nothing. So she immediately drew blood. I have an elated Prolactin level. It's the chemical that is released when a woman nurses, delaying their period. (Ironically, I never missed a period while nursing) So it's a pituitary gland issues. Most cases is a benign tumor on the gland. I have a MRI scheduled for next Tuesday. The point of all this, is that most doctors won't test blood until a period is missed for 3 months. My doctor saw my concerned and knew of my anxiety and tested right away. I tested at 3pm yesterday and she called me at 8:30am with the results and had my MRI scheduled by 9:30am. I'm so thankful and she took that time to call herself. I'm thankful for these two women who really care about me as a person and as a woman. They are both amazing at their jobs. I'm thankful that they seem to love their jobs and their patients. I'm so blessed and thankful to have them taking care of me!

Day 25--Memories

Yesterday, I was dusting and moving things around on the fireplace. I picked up my rocks from La Push and those amazing little things still smell like the ocean. They still smell like that amazing beautiful place! I was uploading pictures to snapfish.com yesterday and I came across a previous album from Forks. It had over 1,000 pictures. I loved that trip. I love the memories of that trip. I love that my rocks still smell like ocean. I love that Paula is painting a huge picture of First Beach for my room. I am more than thankful for that trip and the memories I have of being there!

Day 24--Brave Little Boys

I have a fear of frogs. Big ones, little ones, tree frogs, and toads. Ick! This all stems from a sweet 16 birthday party. My friend Brandy's boyfriend thought it would be funny to put a frog down the back of my shirt. It peed on me and permanently traumatized me. Point: I do not like frogs. So this morning, I was going about my daily chores and had a basket of laundry. I was heading upstairs and right there in my kitchen about 3 feet from me was a huge frog. (huge, in my mind, it was probably only egg sized). My cat was standing next to it, about 1.5 feet away. He never noticed, never made an attempt to save me. Cat Fail!

I then beat on the bathroom door. Jermaine (Brandy's husband) was in there. I was completely gender bias and assumed Army Strong man would save me from the frog. Nope, no help at all. He stood in the kitchen with my Tupperware for some reason. I then called in Jackson (thinking he was the frog lover). He chased the frog into the pantry and with some squealing, managed nothing. At this point I was on top of the couch shaking. I yelled for Sam. He came in with a "I like froggies!" He moved the trashcans and in two seconds flat "Got Him" and took Mr. Frog outside! So for my sweet, gross, frog-loving little boy. I am very very thankful. Otherwise, I might still be on the top of couch. Jermaine might still be frozen in the kitchen with Tupperware. And Brandy would still be sleeping. :)

Day 23--Randomness

Well today started with randomness at 1:30am. Brandy and Jermaine were on their way here and the car broke down 70 miles away in the middle of nowhere. After about an hour, thankfully, a police man found them a tow and they got here at 4:30am. Just as I was deep asleep, the phone rang. I'm was needed to babysit sweet Baby A for a few hours while mama is at work. So it turns out I'll be taking 5 five to the library this morning! More tidbits of random fun this morning? My cat is blue. His white fur around his ears and head are blue. A phrase I never thought I'd say "Does anyone know why the cat is blue?" No one copped to it, so for now it's a mystery why the cat is blue! Also I found out a few more of my block art is ready. Check out The-Abstract-Bedouin for her cute little blocks and her amazing paintings. My collection will be complete (ha, sure) with Love, Charity, Hope, and I have a Faith block! So today and all it's randomness, I am thankful!

Day 22--Sunrise Service

Until 3 years ago, we never had gone to a sunrise service. Now I sincerely hope we never miss one. Our church pairs with 1st Presbyterian and use a beautiful field over looking Ware Neck River. There is a rustic cross in the field and the sun blazes up behind the cross. There is also an amazing old house on the property! It's just so beautiful. This year was really nice. Easter is late this year so it was nice and warm! A few years ago, we froze. I'm thankful for this day, the sacrifice of Jesus and my beautiful church family!

My boys this morning...yes we changed before church.

Perfect!

The amazing old house.

Loved this.

I heart old windows.

Day 21 Part 2---My kitchen window.

So I have another blog in mind for tomorrow. I realize I could save this blog for another day, but usually the idea for a particular day comes to me during that day. It's been really cool to see something that I see everyday and realize that "hey I'm really thankful for this, it would make a good blog." I've really enjoyed the daily discovery! So for part two of today's blog, I'm thankful for my kitchen window. You have to know the back story. I've lived in two houses before this one (as an adult) and both times when I washing dishes I was staring at a wall. The apartment had a beige apartment wall. Boring. Our first home had a fake brick panel and an inset with a little shelf. Ick. One of my hopes for our new house was a kitchen window over the sink. Well I got two!!!

View to the right.

View to the left

I love my kitchen window. We have a dishwasher (finally) so I don't actually wash dishes that often, but the windows are so big that I can see the yard whenever I'm in the kitchen, which is often. My azaela bushes are huge and are at the height of the windows. I have my little knickknacks on the sill. Over the windows I have my 'collection' hanging. I love finding cool things to hang. I have a few mobiles from La Push, a few that were given as gifts, and a few fun thrift store finds.And above the window are some of my primitive signs. So for my amazing kitchen windows, I am thankful.

Day 21--Scent of Summer.

I love the scent of spring and summer. A bonfire, a grill going, fresh flowers, and mowed grass. What started as a cloudy day has turned into a breezy warm spring day. The weather is wonderful and we're not going to freeze at sunrise service tomorrow. The smell of the grill is wafting in my kitchen windows and the hyacinth is making the dining area smell delightful! 

Day 20--Sales!

I rarely go to the mall. When I do I'm loaded down with coupons. Today I walked out of Old Navy with a reusable bag, 2 adult flip flops, 3 pairs of kids flip flops, and a shirt for Johnny, FOR FREEEEEEE! I got two large candles at Bath and Body Works, 2 shower gels and a body spray for $20. One candle is regularly $20. A pair of $10.50 panties from Victoria Secret for FREEEEEE! I went to Good Will and got a house pillow, a bat for Shane, a pair of cleats for Shane and three pictures for the girls room for $9.00. Then we went to Tuesday Morning and I bought 2 Christmas gifts and a wood block with sayings for $5. Then we walked past the National Guard place and Shane pointed out the Dale Jr. poster and the guy called us into the store. He gave each boy a National Guard Dale Jr. hat and a car for FREEEEE! Trader Joe's had hyacinths just started to bloom for $5! So all in all it was a good day. And I got to have lunch with Stephanie!!! 

Powerless

We have all the power on our side to protect those little children who need a home because of lack of parenting. We have certificates and letters of recommendation. We have classes under our belts and background checks. We have finger print checks and social workers on speed dial. We have a beautiful little girls room. We have all the power and ability to take care of a strangers' child and yet we're powerless to save the two little girls that mean the most to me.

Send for an emergency visit and you'll find a spotless house and a stocked pantry. You'll find two sleeping angels in rooms filled with toys. You'll see a  pretty young mother that will smile at you and convince you nothing is wrong. And to your eye, these children are well taken care of.  See the thing with emotional abuse you can't see it and save them from it until it's done it's damage. You won't see what has happened. A little girl forced to curse out her grandmother, a little girl told horrid things about her family that she loves, and a daddy that has to leave the house just to hear some silence.

So here I sit at 2:30am thinking of those precious girls and wondering why with all this power to help the helpless, I can't help them.

Day 19--Countdowns

I am a counter downer. I love having a count down to something exciting. When we went to Forks I had a 9 month countdown. For movie and book releases, to vacations, to visitors, to just about anything. I love a good countdown. I have a few exciting things headed my way. Tomorrow is a mall day and meeting my cousin for lunch! This is very exciting seeing as she wants to move away (insert teeth gnashing sounds). And I get a pedicure with my favorite Charity. Then Brandy and Jermaine and Sadie are coming for a day!. Next week my mommy is coming to visit for a few days. The following week is a FIRST. My daddy is coming to stay all on his own. Said cousin is graduating with her MASTERS (yay Steph) and my daddy is staying with us while my mom, my aunt, my uncle, my cousin, my other cousin, and roommate all stay at Steph's house. This is probably why he's staying with us, so he doesn't go crazy, but still. He's spending the night all by himself and coming to Shane's game on Saturday! Then there's the Scholastic book sale in Richmond, up to 80% off!!! We know I love a a good book. Then Memorial Day mom and dad are coming back again. It's a month to look forward too and that makes me so happy and thankful!

Day 18--Open Windows

just one of my windows

I am thankful for this house and all its windows. Our old house had a huge picture window that didn't open. It drove me crazy for years, besides that there was a sliding glass door, one kitchen window, one bedroom window in 3 rooms. So only four windows all together. There are 6 windows in just my living room in this house, plus french doors, two kitchen windows and two bedroom windows, just downstairs. I love open windows. I love fresh air. I could never be a person that kept my house locked up tight. Curtains blowing in the breeze make my heart happy. I keep my windows open until the last possible minute before closing them for summer and the A/C and open them the minute it's fall and keep them open until it's just too cold. There's just something so welcoming about open windows, it makes a house seem friendly. I love hearing the shouts of my children waft in through the breeze and the sounds of neighbors mowers or music. This is my most favorite time of year! A few candles going and the breeze comes in and spreads the aroma around the house and it seems clean, even if it's not :)

Day 17--Volunteers

Our tiny town is in shambles. There are trees down, roads closed, houses are gone, one of the schools are gone, and three people are dead. When the stormed cleared, this town rallied! The officials had to turn away people willing to help. People were willing to risk their own safety to get to their neighbors, through trees and downed lines. A suggestion in Sunday School? "We can just kayak the gas over to him if they won't let us through." Today, volunteers are out in mass! We drove past the school and it was horrifying. I've never gotten chills at a sight before. I had goosebumps up and down my arms and my hand clasped over my mouth and thank you prayers being sent up. Oh, Lord, thank you that it wasn't a school day or a game day! I've not seen such damage since Hurricane Andrew in Florida, and I was just a child then. Facebook has been amazing. There have been at least a half dozen places to drop off items in needs, places to sort said items, people offering their homes, people offering their time, and people collecting. Our town is going to recover and I think we'll be even better for it. It's pretty amazing to watch when "God shows up." So to this town in recovery, I am thankful!

Can I get that in a bottle?

I want to bottle today and keep it around for the bad days. The weather is perfect, the breeze isn't too strong, the sun is shining, but not overpowering. It's just wonderful. This is the kind of day that could cheer up most people. I want to bottle it! To top it off we even have a baseball game tonight, perfect ballpark night.

Day 16--Crafy Ideas

I love crafts. I love ideas for crafts. Check out The Dream Box that my friend Brandy made. She's full of crafty ideas. I browse blogs all the time and see amazing ideas. Here's the thing. I AM NOT CRAFTY. Oh, I try really hard, but I can't bring ideas to life. Also, I have no artistic talent. The best I've done is turn a picture frame into a chalk board. It's sad how proud of that I am. I love the distressed furniture that people make. I have quite a few pieces of yard sale furniture waiting to be painted and distressed, but I don't know how. I see ideas for the kids all the time, but they stay in my head. Despite all this, I love crafty ideas and I adore crafty people. I'm in envy of those with artistic talent. Check out my Paula's work. I own quite a few paintings. At least my house looks crafty, I just have to pay a lot more than if I could do it myself. I'm thankful for my talented crafty friends and their amazing ideas!

Before

The after.

Day 15--Ollie's

So I just wrote a blog about being thankful for our safety during the storm last night (and a bunch of other stuff) so I'm going back to the little things that I'm thankful for. Today, it's Ollie's Bargain Outlet. If you've never heard of this fabulous little place, it's great. It's similar to a Big Lots, but way cheaper. Our Ollie's always has great books. But today it's about the food. You do have to watch the expiration dates, but most of it is "good by" dates and not "you're going to get ill if you eat this" dates. The other day I decided to grocery shop for two weeks. I went to Ollie's for their snack foods and cereals. I got 5 boxes of Chex Mix granola bars (30 bars) 3 boxes of mixed Nature Valley bars (36 bars) 3 boxes of Pop Tarts (36 tarts) 3 boxes of fruit snacks (30 packs)  3 boxes of cookies (30 packages) a box of snack pack Teddy Grahams (10) a box of Teddy Grahams, 3 boxes of cereal, 2 boxes of pasta mix, and a bag of Ziploc sandwich bags, for $33.00. It's going to last more than two weeks! I have to hid some of it to last until the next week or they will eat it all, but I was so thankful for the good deals to feed my ever starving crew!

Up and Thankful

Too much caffeine tonight. Too much drama. Just as we were getting ready to head out to church for the candlelight vigil for little Kimberly, that warnings on t.v. started going off. We then spent the next hour glued to the set watching the news. I just had Jackson and Sam home with me. Johnny and Shane were in Richmond holding a vigil at the hospital. My boys all have a fascination with tornadoes. About 3 years ago, we had to hide in a closet with my brothers' Doberman! It was an adventure for sure. Mattress and all. They've been obsessed ever since. They watch the videos on You Tube and any time there is a warning beep on t.v., they freeze and watch. They are always scanning the sky when the clouds are thick. So now, we'll never get back to normal. I've told them that tornadoes rarely happen in Gloucester, and tonight our town is damaged! "Gloucester" was said on the news over and over and over. They were scared. We couldn't find the cat, it was an ordeal. I knew the storms had passed over Richmond and that my boys were okay, but I was worried about their drive back. There's been so many stories already. Our one of two middle schools was destroyed. The parking lot is used for school buses and the buses were overturned and tossed on to each other. The back side of the school is gone, including the cafeteria. I'm sure the school board never had a back up plan for something like this, the likely hood it ever would have happened is so small. There are only two middle schools in the county, and only one high school. I'm not sure where these kids are going to go. Our pastor was at a church members house. The house is in really bad shape from what I've heard and trees landed on all the cars. The family is safe, thank God. They have three small children! There are a few we haven't heard from, but I'm praying it's just because power lines are down. We are on the hospital grid, so we rarely go out, and if we do it's not for long. The hospital was on the news, over run with patients. They were sending people to Newport News, but the south bound lanes were shut, so people had to be rerouted, I can't imagine how long it took. Our town really only has one way in and out. The reroutes take hours. From the reports coming in, there are at least 3 dead in our tiny community. It's so sad.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Johnny prayed over sweet little Kimberly. I'm so proud of him. He has such a hard time with children in the hospital. He can't even watch the St. Jude commercials. When Sam was 5 weeks old and had RSV, he had the little heartbeat sticky things on his chest and Johnny couldn't stand it. As soon and they said we could leave, he pulled them off causing all the machines to start beeping like crazy. He just can't deal. He was one of only two that managed to go back to the room to see her. I just can't imagine what her poor family is going through. That poor baby must look so small in that bed. She's had a few surgeries. She has a rod in her spine, her femur is a now a rod. She had surgery to fix her punctured lung. She is off the ventilator now and breathing on her own, but I believe she's still sedated. I'm so proud of him for being there for the family and able to do that for them. It's one of those times you just want to shout out "WHY!" She was just following her brothers across the street. I asked "isn't she improving?" and he said that the improvements seem so small compared to the damage done. I just can't imagine. I'm so thankful to the people that went up there to bring practical gifts and to say prayers over that sweet baby!

I'm so thankful we are safe at home and my family is safe and my home is sound! I'm praying for our church family affected and all the others. I know we'll never here the end of the storm stories from my little ones, but at least they're able to tell us all about them, safe in their home.

Day 14--Books

My overflowing bag!

I can't describe how thankful I am for books. I love all kinds of books and most genres. I do judge books by their covers. I have too, otherwise, I'd be in thrift stores and yard sales all day long. I love sturdy paper back with tattered page edges. I hit a library book sale today. I bought a library bag for $15.00 and was able to fill it for free. I got 47 books, mostly for adults. A few kids books too. I love getting lost in a good book. Fiction is not my favorite, but I'll by them when they are really cheap, that way I don't mind if I don't like it. As a homeschooler, I love find history books or any type of learning book for kids on the cheap! I love biographers, I think I'm a kind of voyeur. I love taking a peek into others lives. I get very discouraged when a book just ends, I like to know what happens. I love series for this reason, following a set of characters until their journey is complete.

Everything spread out.

     
I try really hard not to over collect books. I've gotten much better about donating any books I've read that I didn't love or underline it. I try to have the give one get one rule. I very much like underlining and highlighting books. I think it's a rebel thing "hahahaha I can write in my book." It's from years of poor public schools. I had one school that didn't even have paper for copies, so we had to write everything off the board for half the year. So I love a good book with good ideas to highlight and love for years to come.  Anyway, I love books was the general point of this blog :)

Rollercoaster Day

Well, I went from my own three children, to the mad pre-placement rush, to my own three children. All within a few hours. It's been an emotional afternoon. Whenever I've gotten a call for a child (both have been babies) I run around like a mad woman. I want to get in the shower right away for some reason. I guess it's left over knowledge that moms of babies don't get showers as often as they'd like, or for as long as they'd like. I fold all the laundry, so that will be out of the way, run the vacuum (no bits for baby to put in mouths), a prep a quick dinner. When the baby comes, I want to focus on the baby. I don't want to think about chores. I was stressing a tiny bit, I don't have much baby stuff left, I have equipment, but no bottles/diapers/wipes/formula etc. I was staying calm and hoping he would come with some of that stuff.

Well after all that was said and done, I got the call that he wasn't coming after all. His grandmother is going to take him. This is good news. One less baby in foster care and one less disrupted placement for us. I'm excited they called us so soon after we reopened the house, I thought they might be upset with us for closing it so quickly. I guess not! This call was proof to me that we did the right thing in opening the house back up! And it made me conscious of keeping up with the laundry, I've gotten a little slack lately. I've always said, one good way to keep your house in order is to know that a social worker can show up at any point. This was proven to me today. I was actually shocked at how quickly I whipped the house into social worker shape! And now I have a clean house and no laundry for the weekend! I hope everyone enjoys theirs! Also I'm crazy thankful that I didn't mention any of this to the kids. I was waiting for the 100% yes call. Whew!

Day 13--The Ringing of the Phone

Well after attempting grocery shopping for a two week time frame. I drug in dozens of bags, the boys helping. I put half away when I heard the "beep beep beep" of the answering machine. (Yes, I have a machine and not a voice mail account) So I listened and my social worker is sounding all rush "call me if you get this soon, if not call the supervisor" So I called, of course she's not there. Fingers trembling, I dialed wrong and had to try again. The supervisor comes on the line and says "what do you know?" I KNOW NOTHING. So long story short, there is a five month old coming into care. They are trying to find his grandmother, so it'll only be short visit with us. (probably) But it's our first call since we opened the house back up! So he said they have to wait to the end of the work day for grandma to call back. So in about 3.5 hours, the phone will be ringing and I may or may not have a baby boy for a few weeks (probably). So I'm waiting for the phone to ring, it's rang three times since that first call. I'm jumping every time. And shouting "QUIET PLEASE IT'S IMPORTANT." Oh, never mind. So for my very loud ring tone, I'm thankful!

Day 12--Tire Swings and Tree Houses

Technically two things, but it's all on one tree. :) When we moved into this house, I was in love with the HUGE maple tree in the back yard. It was perfect for kids. It now hosts a small tree house and a tire swing, a regular swing, a board swing, a climbing rope, and a teeter swing. It's a great place for the kids to hang out. I love looking out my window and seeing all three boys playing away on there. Of course, their new favorite game is to crash the swings into each other, but they're happy and giggling. When I see them playing, I feel so blessed that we're able to have this house and that tree (allergies and all from it) for my boys to make childhood memories of tire swings and tree houses.

Day 11--The Story

I just love this song and I love this version of it! Her voice is great. I can listen to it all day. So I'm thankful for the song and "the one I was made for." And I just uploaded the video and I'm super impressed that youtube.com has made it so easy to share videos. Wow. :)

Day 10--Quieted Thoughts.

Well after a long time of thinking and praying about our adoption situation, we finally came to a conclusion. We have opened our home back up to foster care. After A left, we decided to close our home and focus solely on adoption of a waiting child. NOTHING was coming from that. After 2 months there had not been one lead on the over dozen children we looked into. Maybe because we were out of their state, they didn't consider us. I don't know the reasoning, but even my social worker was upset at the lack of contact. Meanwhile our brains (mine especially) has been whirling every night with thoughts of foster care. I hadn't mentioned it to Johnny since we had made up our minds. So ever so slowly I said something. He said "I never wanted to stop, I just supported you." Well now. So with the support of him, I called the social worker and the house is open again! My hope is that the child we've been waiting for is not yet a waiting child. Maybe she's the next child to come into our home. I will not set myself up for that again, but it's my quiet hope. I know the odds of the next child leaving again are very real most likely probable. But, it's what we're here to do, help while we can, and hope someone gets to stay forever. And for now, my thoughts are untroubled and I know we made the right choice. And so once again, we wait.

Day 9--Bulbs

I'm hopefully thankful for my bulbs. When we moved it was October, so everything was dead. By spring, we were amazed at home much there was growing in the flower beds. My favorite was the Elephant Ears. I loved it. It grew right up against the kitchen window. My dogs, however, thought they were an enemy to be destroyed. Needless to say, I no longer have Elephant Ears. Well, today I planted a half dozen bulbs. I'm so hopeful that they will grow. I also am going to plant over 60 bulbs of Gladiolas. I'm thankful for my big yard and fertile soil. I'm also very hopeful everything takes and will be gorgeous until the frosts start to come.

Day 8--KLove's Word of the Year

At the beginning of the year, KLove radio station had a 'resolution' for us. It was to pick one word that you could think on, pray on, and live by for the year. At the time, I thought our word for the year was "adoption". Then in March they had a 3 month check in on people using their word. Our word has changed. Our word is "waiting" I bought a copper bracelet with the word "waiting" stamped into it. We're waiting for our forever child. We're waiting for God to bring at least one child out of the system and into a real home. So, it's not an impatient wait (though it can try my patience sometimes), but when I look at my bracelet, I say a prayer for our child out there somewhere. I would love the phone to ring tomorrow, but this 'wait' is for a reason and it's a lesson in patience. So for KLove and it's brilliant idea, I am thankful!

Day 7--Old Papers!

Johnny is researching the history of our Cub Scouts Pack 175 for their 50th anniversary. He brought home two boxes with that smell. You know the one, that box of old books/paper smell. There are tons of pictures from the 80's and paperwork dating back to the 60's. I love diving into personal old history. My dad used to find newspapers at his office from the 60-70's I still have all of them. I like seeing the prices of items, I love finding real treasures, like letters. When my cousin died, she had saved, what looked liked, every letter she'd ever received. As a letter hoarder, even then at 18, I had a hard time tossing them. I have to be careful now to just save the important letters and sentimental cards. I fear when I day, my kids will hate me for the amount of papers they'll have to go through. :) I'm not the best journal/diary keeper, but I've saved tons of cards and letters since about my 8th birthday. (it started in a New Kids on the Block lunchbox) Maybe I'm a voyeur and I like sneaking a peek at someone else's life. Maybe I just like history. The true find is a letter tucked into an old book. I've only found that twice. I'm thankful for boxes of papers and old books. 

Day 6--God's Timing

I've been running an idea around in my head for awhile. I have such a heart for this this shelter. Our foster son, J, came from this shelter. His mother needed help and agreed to give him up, in turn we got to have J in our home for 8 months, a joy I wouldn't exchange for anything. It's a shelter for abused women and their children. It's an amazing place and they do good work. I've been wanting to help out there for some time, but the volunteer training is every night for awhile. It's just nothing something we can work into our schedule right now. So I've been buying items from their wish list that they need. We take a bag once a week. Shane took cupcakes on his birthday to share with the residents. (We don't actually go to the house, there's an office we use). Okay, all that to say: I've been trying to figure out a way to do more. Enter Ladies Bible Study.

Our Tuesday night group has started back a few weeks ago. There are two new ladies that are actually in the shelter. They are amazing women of God. And such an inspiration. Today our wonderful group leader asked me to be in the lead for a way for our Bible study to help out at the shelter! I love God's timing in this whole thing. So I went today to drop off a bag of donations today at the office. I asked the woman in charge what we could do as a group. She kind of chuckled. This afternoon is their monthly meeting where they discuss what is needed and how volunteers can help out. So I'm waiting for the call to see what we can do as a group. I just love how I've been thinking about this, Heather emailed me asking to head this up, and today is the meeting where they discuss it. I'm so excited to see where God is moving with all of us working together!

Day 5--Things of Warmth!

Day five, yesterday, was a perfect spring day. I love sunshine after cold. I love not freezing! I'm not a cold weather girl. So I was thinking yesterday of all the things I could write about. Then I looked around. So I'm kind of cheating here, because it's a few things in one blog. I already wrote about flip flops, but here are a few more.

Jeep Wranglers with the sides off. I've never owned one or even been in one. They make me smile. I just think of all the adventures the people inside have seen. They are usually tan with surfboards or kayaks attached. They just put me in a happy mood.

Tank tops make me so happy. I love them on myself and on my kids. My kids do have some weird phobia of them. When Jackson put one on after a long winter, he cried "my shirt is broken" They are just now coming around to wearing them. I have odd children.

Reading outside in the sunshine. Nothing is better than a cold drink, a warm sun, a comfy chair, and a good book. I'm sure there are many more things, but that's it for now. All of these things make me thankful for the coming summer!

Day 4---Surprises

Okay, I realized I dropped the ball. As I usually do with these types of things. However, I was thinking about the things to write about, so I'm just going to go ahead and do each day, one blog at a time. So on to day four, which would have been April 6.

I am thankful for surprises. My husband has been feeling off for a few days and overslept today. He decided to take the day off. He told me at 6am that he was staying home. Now usually I sleep until around 8, but I'm not really sleeping, my ears are open to hear the noise downstairs. But once he told me he was staying home, I pulled the covers over my head and fell deep into sleep. I woke up refreshed at 9:30!!! When I went downstairs, the kids were dressed for the day, fed, the dishwasher was going, the kitchen was clean, the laundry was going, and the floor was swept. My husband had the kids heading out the door for much needed haircuts. I got over an hour to myself in quiet. After they go back we went to the ball park for awhile and then went to get some new fish for the empty tank. It was just a beautiful day in the middle of the week and I had my family whole. It was a great surprise!

Day 3--Birthday Fun

Today is my first born birthday! He is NINE. I cannot believe it. It's all going by so fast! (so cliche, I know) We try not to do parties anymore. I want to make their birthdays more of an individual thing. We started this about 3 years ago. We've done D.C, museums, zoos, and bounce houses. The birthday child pretty much gets to be king for the day. No chores, no school, they get to pick dinner and their choice of birthday cake/cupcakes/ice cream. Today we'll be having lunch at Salsas (thank you for 1.99 kids food!) and then to the Bounce House. We're making cupcakes and Shane wants to take some to the local shelter for abused women. Once he found out there were kids there, he was all about giving them some of his birthday cupcakes. We do have a rule that you have to wait until daddy gets home to have presents. So tonight that will be our fun! I like spending money this way rather than for a party. Some years there might be a sleepover, but nothing big. The kids all look forward to their whole day of birthday fun, rather than have a party.

Day 2--Flip Flops

I love love love flip flops. I wear them until my toes turn blue and I'm forced to enclose them into shoes. I hate shoes. I don't know. I don't remember wearing flip flops as a kid. I specifically  remember "no open toe or backless shoe" law in high school. I think I started wearing them when I was pregnant and as big as a whale. My hot swollen feet went from a 7.5 to an 8.5 and I didn't want to buy new shoes. So flip flops it was! Last year towards fall, I hit a sale at Old Navy and got over a dozen pairs for .45 cents each. I was so thrilled!!! The second part of this is that I love to be able to wear flip flops and not be freezing! Today it's going to be 80! I cannot wait. I also love that I live in a little town where flip flops are a perfectly acceptable form of footwear. No need for designer brand shoes around Walmart :) I'm off to enjoy this perfect day. I hope you enjoy yours as well.

Stealing an Idea.

My friend over at Simply Complicated has been posting 30 days of thankfulness. I really like the idea. I did try this back in November, but I got sick and life got away from me. Also, who says we can only be thankful for stuff in November. So, here's day one. Oh, a sidenote. I'm totally thankful for my husband, my family, and my friends. That goes without saying. This will (hopefully) be about smaller things that go unnoticed some days. So here goes:

Day 1: Sunday dress clothes. I rarely dress up. I don't even always dress up for church. But some days I love my nicer shirts and heels. I love my little men in polo shirts. I like seeing the older members of our church in their Sunday best. I know God doesn't give a hoot if we're in jeans or a gown, but it's nice to see anyway. So there we go, day 1 down. :) Have a great Sunday!