Bok Bok Thankful!

Well happy Bok Bok Gobble Gobble Thanksgiving Day! I haven't blogged daily but I've been thankful daily! Picking up from the last blog...

Day 12 I'm thankful for quite times - You know those times when you just can't think, and there is too much going on which causes you to be frustrated? This is where my quite times are most valuable. I either need to take one, or I've missed having quite time for a while. Its essential for us to rejuvenate our selves with sleep and meditation. I find that I have the best days when I've started them peacefully. Even if the day gets challenging having that quite time in the morning really helps me not to be so up tight about things that shouldn't mean a lot. So I am thankful for quite times.

Day 13 Ideas - I'm an idealist. I think of these little inventions and products daily. Some times my thoughts are silly and some are really good. My husband gets the pleasure or annoyance of hearing a lot of them. I usually start out with an enthusiastic "Honey! Wouldn't it be cool if..." It makes for interesting discussion. We'll try to figure out if it's something we'd spend time on. I've got so many things in my head that I want to do it's impossible for me to remember all of it if I don't write it down. I've found myself getting frustrated at not being able to actually make any of those inventions or products. Some of them I've forgotten. It's in my head and gone the next. I am thankful for my mind always being in a creative state. Some times it can get irritating but I am thankful that God gives me these colorful ideas.

Day 14 Possibilities and vision  -  Everything we create is first visualized mentally. Everything is possible with the Lord. So when we depend on him to work out the vision He gave to us, the possibilities are endless. Just take a look at the world around us. It's full of beautiful nature and beautiful people living out their visions and believing it's possible. I am thankful for the visions God gives me and the endless possibilities when we trust in Him.

Day 15 Surprises- I don't like surprises that I know of. I like complete surprises that are pleasant. I love those little surprises in life that give you a smile. It doesn't have to be this grand surprise party or huge expensive gift. I'm talking about the times when you realize it's Thursday instead of Wednesday which puts you closer to the weekend or the oh look what I've found or the Oh great I don't have to go to the store because we already have that one important item I needed sort of surprise. Those sort of things make me days brighter. I'm thankful for surprises.

Day 16 The bed - It's so nice to be able to slip into a bed and lay down comfortably especially after a long day. I love to feel that relief of rest at the end of the day. I do know it is a privilege as others aren't as lucky. It's a blessing and I'm thankful to have a bed.

Day 17 Our home- Having shelter from the unpredictable weather and a family to live with is a blessing I'm thankful for daily. I look around at my home and I'll complain about things being dirty and messes being every where, but I've got to change my prospective on it. I know it will help me to destress. A home is a blessing. It can be clean or dirty but if love resides there, it's a blessing. My husband and I got to design our own home with architects. It was a good experience. It taught us many things. It is rather neat to see and live in the designed space we thought of. Well we thought of with the help of home builders, architects, our kids, etc. We have things we would fix, add, change, and completely take out. My husband has learned to listen to me and more importantly I've learned to listen to him. Our home teaches me to be thankful for the blessings I have.

Day 18 Warm weather - Oh man am I a warm weather person! It's getting cold now and I'm not liking it. The only thing I can think of that I like about winter is there are no bugs! Warm weather makes me happy, I thrive in warm weather. It brings out a different happier person in me. I am thankful for warm weather!

Day 19 Baby cuddles, laughs and coos. I am so thankful to hear Baby Fia cooing. Her little voice is so touching. I love to see her smiley face. She's such a cuddly baby. When I hold her it's just something that warms my heart and makes me feel comforted myself. My toddler Helaina is such a hoot with her laughing now it's contagious! I can help but to laugh when I hear her laughing or running around laughing. I love hugs from my older kids as well as hearing them laugh and being able to laugh with them. Although they aren't cooing cute baby things, I enjoy ever bit of fun conversation time we get.

Day 20 My electronics - LOL I know it's silly right? Wrong! I do a lot of communication, learning, research, work, and shopping online. My laptop is one of the most used electronics along with my iphone. These two things have been quite helpful. I appreciate technology in providing convenience with our electronics. Some times my laptop is my only connection to the outside world when I don't have time to get out and about. It's not a crutch or a replacement for face to face communication though. I think people have to be aware that electronics can be crippling to the real social part of life. I wouldn't like to live my life behind a screen. I do appreciate the convenience though.

Day 21 Integrity - Wow what a characteristic to have! A person with integrity is priceless. I am trying to teach my children to have integrity. Honor your word, and do what is right regardless if anyone is watching. Integrity is such an important quality to have. I am thankful for those that possess that quality.

Day 22 - Grace. I am thankful for God's grace. God has been so gracious to me. I know I'm a nut case but God still tolerates me. Not much to say here other than Praise God for his grace upon my life!

Day 23 - Quality time and Acts of service. Those are my love language. When someone takes the time out to come visit me, talk to me or think of me I feel like they really care. It speaks volumes to my heart. When someone does something for me I feel as if I'm not worthy. I feel like they have gone above and beyond what they had to. It makes me feel special. I also speak these love languages. I love quality time with my family most of all. When we sit and talk, shop together or play a game together it makes me feel loved. I'm always doing something for one of my family members. It may not be a huge thing, more than likely it's something they may over look but in my mind, I feel like I'm telling them I love them. I do have to speak to them in their love language as well as mine. So I'm thankful when people spend quality time with me and do things for me.

Day 24  My in laws - I am thankful for my "Mum and Dad", not to be mistaken for my parents who are "Mom and Dad". For those that don't know my husband is English. So my in laws I refer to some times as Mum and Dad, or to the kid Granny and Grand dad. They have been such a blessing to me. They have come into town to see Baby Fia for the first time, visit with all their grand children, and celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Mum is forever helping me clean and care for Fia and Helaina. I don't think she knows how much she's spoiling us! I am enjoying having them here. They are so caring and good hearted I know I'm blessed to have in laws that are such a pleasure to be around. I'm so glad to be able to spend Thanksgiving with them.


Day 25 I am thankful for the time we spend with friends. I love to enjoy people. The strange thing is I have this anxiety issue right before meeting with people. I worry like crazy! We had a Thanksgiving get together while my in laws where here visiting. Boy that night was something strange for me internally. I loved having people over, but inside I was worried. I worried if people were ok, did they have a good time, was it boring, are we boring, I bet they won't come back etc. However, we have some great friends and I truly appreciate them all coming. It shows me that they care enough about us to spend some of their valuable time with us. I feel honored when people make that effort. Anxiety aside time spent with friends is a great thing. The problem is the time goes by so fast when we visit with friends. It doesn't matter if it is a party or just having coffee one on one. I get so much out of it. The anxiety before hand can be dealt with because in the end I find out that I had a great time.

Day 26 I am thankful for My husband's understanding. My honey is such an easy going guy. He has
his hot points for sure but I know that usually comes out of frustration. My girls and I went out "Black Friday" shopping. Well we didn't really get a lot of bargains. They are 13 and just wanted to shop. I took them out at 8 am. We weren't about to do the midnight or early morning thing! Of all places they wanted to go to JcPenny for clothes. They didn't really know the whole point of Black Friday was to shop the sale items. Well not just sale items the hugely discounted sale items. Nope they had no clue and I just went along with them to spend time doing something they wanted to do. So I'll skip the shopping part and head straight for the check out counter. The bill rang up way over what I expected. Oh my word! I wasn't expecting that. I made the mistake of trusting they were checking price tags. Why I didn't double check I don't know. DUH parenting moment for me! I clearance shop and if I don't have to buy anything full price I won't! Cheap? Frugal yes I am. :D I call it wise spending. This time wasn't very wise at all. So I pay and mentally try to justify that they needed clothes, and that we shopped for all 5 kids, mostly the girls. So I get home and have to tell my husband who was putting up the Christmas lights on the house. lol Uh um honey...Well guess what he did... nothing. He smiled and told me it was ok. He wanted to see with the girls got and just went on about life. I was standing there thinking well aren't you going to be upset? Nope. He wasn't bothered. I love him. He's such a great guy. After seeing his reaction a huge weight was lifted. Now we still have to budget for that spending but at least I don't have a mean dragon husband breathing down my neck.

Day 27 I am thankful for late nights with Baby Fia. LOL I know you might be like, you lie! Well let me say I'm not saying I look forward to them. I certainly like my full night of rest. Fia is quiet when she is up late nights. She wants our attention and will cry if we aren't cuddling, holding her or near by. So while we are sleepy our little smiley face baby is too cute to be crabby with. She likes to coo at you and she basically is satisfied. She's filling those late nights with love for us. While we like our sleep, I'd rather be up with a content happy baby than a fussy one. So I'm thankful that baby Fia is a happy night owl.

Day 28 I am thankful for a loud house. Well I guess if you can't beat em' join em'! Well not in all situations but this one applies well. With 5 kids, our house is always busy. When it's quiet I think they must be sleep! Kids kids ever where! Its loud and you know what, it's no yelling and screaming at one another (momma don't tolarate that mess), most of it is the kids playing. The teens on the Wii, or running around with the toddler. There are times when I want nothing but quiet. They are respectful and give me that for 5 minutes lol. If I forewarn them that I'm a bit on edge they usually try to be low key. They try, not always succesful but hey what more can I ask for. So when they are loud I know everyone is well.

Day 29 I am thankful for God's plan. I have no idea what it is for my life. All I know is the here and now. I am thankful though. I know God has a plan for me because I'm exisiting. I know God is leading me, and he is there for me. Being able to pray for guidance and not being completey lost and without hope is a blessing. I am thankful God has a plan.

Day 30  I am thankful for the future. Again, I have no idea what will happen but I have hopes and prayers that is is well. I often wonder what my children will choose as their careers, what sort of interests will they have, where will they choose to live, where will their spouses come from and be like, what sort of things will they do with the life they have been given. I see small remnents of it now, but they change their minds so much now I haven't got a clue! We were just talking with them the other night about this. One of the kids asked what did we see them being when they up. We enjoyied telling them what we saw them as. They were thrilled to talk about this. I think they were comforted by us "knowing" them and being able to talk in debt about it. Now I don't know if they will choose the careers we said or different ones but we let them know we'll support their choices. We they will listen to the Lord in their choices for the future. I am thanful for the future.


I hope your holiday season is blessed!

Day 12 - Shhh!

Day 12 I am thankful for quiet time. I know it may seem simple but the older I get the more I appreciate it. I can think, relax, read, pray, and refresh during quiet time. I look forward to it. I'm less tolerant of noise on some days more than others. Having 5 kiddos in the house, there is always something going on. Today I found myself on edge with every bit of loudness that was going on. I kept it together though! It was challenging not to get snappy and short but I did ok. At least I think I did. So right now 4 out of 5 kiddos are sleep. My dear husband has baby Fia cuddled on the couch. She's still awake, but I'm off to bed soon. It's quiet.. Shhhh! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Thankful...just thankful

I've noticed some of my friends on Facebook have been posting the things they are thankful for during the month of November. I like this idea so I think I will blog mine. I hope I can do daily posting! :)

Day 1- I am thankful for an magnificent God. It's amazing to have a God that words can not describe how wonderfully creative He is and how deep His love is for us. God is magnificent is countless ways. He has saved me from harm and allows me to have free will to do as I do. Even when I have run a muck of things God is there showing me the detours to get me out of it. So much to say but my words are so minimal in comparison. So just know, today and everyday God is magnificently working in our lives. I don't brag about my love for Him because I will fail Him but I can say He loves me and you anyway. He is greater than me and I am thankful for that! lol I bet you are too ;). Today and everyday I am thankful for an magnificent God.


Day 2- I am thankful for my husband. He is an handsomely amazing man. His heart is home and that is an irreplaceable blessing. He provides, he cares, he supports and he encourages us daily. He tells me I am beautiful everyday. Yes even when I am "comfortable" in sweats and worn out t-shirts with spit up down my back,  he tells me I am beautiful :). He is always there when I need him. He's great father to our 5 children. He makes no separation between his step children and biological children. They all proudly call him dad. I look forward to growing old with my honey. God has really blessed me with an amazingly loving spouse. As we  grow older each year together we get to know one another even more. Marriage is amazing. Marriage Rocks! You'd think you would know a person you've been married to after a while but God is amazing in renewing our relationship, letting us find out new things about ourselves through out the years. I am proud and delighted to say my husband is very intriguing and I'm so blessed God chose him for me. Today and everyday I am thankful for my husband.

Day 3 - I am thankful for my children. They drive me nuts at times but they keep me grounded. My life would be boring with out them. Each of them bring something special to our family life. Ashley has this quirky personality that adds an element of delight. She's such a creative fun girl. Our house is awakened but her huge laugh that's heard throughout. She's got an incredible quirky gift creativity and voice. God has blessed her with this soulful singing voice that is beyond her years. Angela is our family's "Legally Blonde" character. No she's not blonde but she is such a "pink princess" but has a very business woman attitude when needed. I know if I ask her to take charge she will. If there is something that needs to be address, Angela is front and center taking care of business. In the same essence of the business side, she is such a princess. She loves all things girly and pink. She and her sister both have this amazing sense of humor. They play off of one another and have me laughing daily.  Adrian, wow, God sent me a boy!! He's our only boy and holds his own pretty good. He's a very shy and interesting young man. Adrian is such an intelligent kiddo. He has a slight perfectionist streak in him which makes him take his time with what ever he is doing. Adrian is creative and likes to invent and animate things. He's growing into a gentleman in helping his mom around the house lately. Helaina is a little bundle of toddler joy. She's got some tell all expressions. Everyday she's learning something new. She loves to run and laugh. She's a smart girl too. Her older sisters and brother have enjoyed watching her grow. I remember when I had an ultrasound with her in the 1st trimester. They all looked and asked, "Is that it??" They are now amazed at how she's grown and growing. They talk frequently about how they can't imagine her being older. She's got these big brown/hazel eyes, curly hair and cute dimples that are hard to resist. Right as I was typing this, Adrian who is supposed to be doing his school work can't seem to resist goofy around with his little sister. I do admit she is a fun kiddo. Baby Fia....awwww! She's so cuddly, so precious and heart warming. She's smiling and cooing now. We'll drop what we are doing to come over to see her flash a smile or coo. She's quite a serene kid and loves to be held. We don't mind it. She's got these big blue eyes that we love to gaze into when she'll let us. Fia being 2 months old sleeps most days. The moments she's awake she's got our undivided attention. Even Helaina likes to give baby Fia kisses and hugs. She's tried to feed her and brush her hair too.
I have so many great memories with them and we are always making more. As the kids grow it is a bitter sweet experience. They are growing more independently and I find my self doing a tug o war with their independence. One minute I'm like no way no how! The next I'll enjoy their independence because I find I'll have freedom. My heart longs for them to grow into honest, God loving/fearing adults. So far they seem to be on that path. My heart smiles when I think of how God has blessed me with them. Today and everyday I am thankful for my children. - Oh my word! God made me a MOM!??

Day 4 - My past trials. Why? Because God used them to make me stronger. I am thankful for the wisdom and strength it has brought me. I didn't and don't like to go through them but I am thankful for the end result. I know that if I had not gone through so trials or challenges in life, I wouldn't appreciate the value of Life as much.

Day 5- LIFE! I am thankful for life! Life is a wonderful thing. It's so fragile and so important. We aren't promised tomorrow so making everyday worth living is ideal. Not always achieved but ideal lol.  I do hope with the life I've been blessed with I have encouraged others or simply made them smile. I hope with this life I'm given that I don't hinder others but help them in a positive way. I don't want to be an example of what not to do, although I am. I am striving to be a great example for good. I want to be remembered as a great person. I don't want people to see me coming and dread it thinking or saying, "Oh no here she comes." I hope to be a person others are glad to know. Life is a gift. Each one of us different and special. I find that I love those who are very different from me. Those that are out of the box thinkers, those that reach out and achieve, those that don't live to what the world has labeled them as, I want to know more and experience a bit of their world. God gives us life, it's up to us to live it. Today and everyday I am thankful for life.

Day 6 - I am thankful for those who I call friend. Those that are in my life now I thank them for spending time with me. I'm thankful they care enough to look over my goofy and strange ways. I am thankful they like me for me. Thank you for keeping me company, giving me a positive word, encouraging me, building me up and sharing a laugh or several. I thank you for being there during my dark times. Only a few have seen inside of those times. Others have only seen the outside. I appreciate my friends who truly rejoice with me in my achievements and blessings. Notice I said truly, because I know there are those that snare, smirk or say rude things instead but still call me "friend". lol Don't worry I don't intend to return the behavior. There is no blessing to them or me in that. To my friends, old, new, close, soon to be close, and distant... Thank you.

Day 7 - Modern science. When I think of how easy my life is compared to those who lived before electricity, advanced medical care, washing machines, igagets, coffee makers, showers, toilets, etc, I appreciate the hard work and innovation others before me have done. I appreciate those who worked and achieved despite how difficult it was. Our lives are made easier by the perseverance and sweat off another's brow. I'm thankful for the failed attempts that lead to success. I'm thankful they had determination not to quit but to achieve the goal and vision that God set in their hearts. Today and everyday I am thankful for modern science.

Day 8 - I am thankful for homeschooling! Some days lol, just kidding. Even on the hardest days when I want to flag down the nearest school bus to put them on, I am thankful for the option. We get up each day with a flexiable schedule. We have the pleasure of teaching our children in the way they learn, in their own timing, in safe environments, and in comfortable setting.  We have the privilege to skip the bullying, peer pressure and stress that seem to infiltrate the public schools. We socialize with ease and learn as we please. I'm proud and thankful today and everyday for having the privilage to homeschool.

Day 9 - I am thankful for our health. Health is a priceless gift. I often wonder why I was the one to be a "chronic asthmatic" in my family. I remember days of being sick and lying in hospital beds. I was frequently in the hospital. They would come in and tell my mom that my lungs were full of fluid and I had a 50/50 chance. I never really knew what the other 50% chance was. All I knew is I could get better. All I had on my mind as a child is playing and seeing my friends. I didn't really know my mother's fear and struggle behind having a sick child. Now as a mother I know a little about it but not to the extreme of my mother's experience. My children have had 2 episodes of ER trips for asthmatic symptoms brought on by allergies. I was never told 50/50. They were discharged the same day. I've read about the cancers and various life threatening diseases that have invaded lives, only to take precious loved ones. It saddens my heart and causes me to say a prayer for them. Health is precious. I am thankful for my family's health. We have been blessed with no hospital ER trips since 2008. We pray to keep it that way! Today and everyday I am thankful for our health.

Day 10 - I am thankful for comfort. I am thankful that I have had a comfortable life. Even when we didn't have much growing up, we still had shelter in a safe place. We had clothes and food. We may not have had a lavish lifestyle but I sure know that God blessed us with what we had and do have today. Today and everyday I am thankful for my comfort.

Day 11- I am thankful for our military, and those who serve selflessly. I am thankful that even though I have no idea what they go through, have been through or what they are going to go through for me, they choose to do it. I am forever grateful for their big hearts. May God bless each and every person giving selflessly, Veterans and active duty. It's a blessing that someone we probably will never know cares so much for our freedom and our lives that they will put themsleves in harms way to protect us. I proudly Thank you.