Thanksgiving

I am very excited for Thanksgiving. I love the time that we get to spend with family. The main dishes, the sides and all the desserts. I really love getting away from home. Spending relaxing a relaxing day eating, playing games and catching up with the family.
To be honest though, this year I am having a hard time staying on this holiday. I keep thinking about Friday. I keep thinking about all the fun that I have on black friday. I love the crowds and the shopping. I love finding the very best deals, and knowing that I have done well. I love walking away at the end of the day having finished most of the Christmas list.
To make matters worse, this is the first year that I have had a child that understands that Christmas is coming. She knows about Santa and presents; she love the Chirstmas tree and the idea of snow.
But tomorrow is a very important day to me. We get to spend time with people that we don't see very often. I love that!!!

The plan for Paige's 4th Birthday Party!!

I have taken a bold step. Every December my husband and I have gone round and round as to what to do for Paige's Birthday party. He says the house is too small. I say it is only 2 hours and maybe everyone won't come. And every year we end up doing what he has wanted to do and we have gone somewhere. But this year, I said no way. When we do the party somewhere else, it always ends up being more expensive. Not this year. We are going to do a simple party. And because of when we scheduled it we don't even have to plan a meal. Cost is now down in half.

The theme... Christmas. No decorations needed, the tree will be enough. We are going to decorate cookies, gingerbread. The kids are going to listen to the story about the gingerbread man. Everyone is going to drink hot cocoa with marshmallows and we will offer some homemade Chex Mix and popcorn. We might have homemade play dough that smells like peppermint for the kids to play with. Goody bags will be Christmas themed; filled with candy canes, a pack of crayons and one small coloring book. Top the party off with a homemade cake and we are good to go!

I feel good about the party this year, it will be fun to have Paige open her birthday presents by the Christmas tree. And it will be the first time some of these people have been to our house since Paige was just a newborn.

Now I just have to step out of my comfort zone and follow through by actually finishing cleaning the WHOLE house and KEEPING it clean until the party! This is going to be a huge stretch for me but I am just taking it one step at a time!

The Passing of Sid

This morning started like every morning has started this week. Paige came running into my room asking if she could play with Sid. I gave her my normal answer, she could after breakfast. This is followed by a rushed breakfast and then asking for Sid to come down again.

This was however, the first morning that Paige didn't ask if Sid was still alive. The day we brought him home we warned her that Sid could die quickly, it was followed by her getting up from her nap asking if he was still alive; And rejoicing that he was.

I stood to reach for the mouse cage from the top of the bookcase but I realized quickly that something was wrong with the situation. The mouse did not move as I picked up the cage, and continued to lay still as I brought it down to eye level. Sid was not breathing.

Thoughts started to race through my mind. How do I tell her? What do I do? What is the quickest way to remove him with out making it a big deal? What is she going to say...?

Paige is a quick little girl. Before I could do anything, she figured out what had happened and started to cry.

My little Paige has a broken heart. Even Elizabeth realized that something was wrong. She has been easy to cry following the discovery of a still Sid. I am not sure when Paige will be ready for a new friend, but she is already asking for one. Funny how that happens.

A Mouse in the House!!!

We have let Paige adopt a pet mouse. It is creepy and weird... I am not going to like having it smell up my house. But it was for Andrew's lesson this week, and now apparently Paige's special pet. She has named him Sid, or Sidney... if it is a girl... we can't tell. I am so nervous that in just a few weeks we will have more than just this one rodent in the cage.


Paige is very excited. What a way to brighten a little girl's face! Oh, but it has put a damper on mine. Here is me pretending to be a happy parent.


It amazes me just how much she can fall in love with something so quickly.


I am so not thinking of this rodent as a blessing... at least not now.

Blessings

I seem to have come out of that funk that hung over me these last couple months. It seems that when I was bothered before by my house guest that it was the only thing that I talked about.... and sadly the only thing that I thought about. I think I need to focus more on the good things in my life. I need to remind myself of the things that make me smile.

Counting my blessings...

Well, first of all I have a husband who loves me. He thinks of me first; and goes out of his way to make me happy. Take today, I made a passing comment of how a certain thing sounded good for lunch and he found a whole different reason to go out right away and come back with my favorite lunch.

I have two lovely daughters. I love them so, they are the reason I get out of bed each day. They fill me with their questions, wishes and desires. They come to me with their stories and ideas. They look for me to celebrate with them with each of their successes; whether it is climbing to the top bunk by themselves or making up a new dance. They are my sunshine each day. And both for their own reason.

I have been provided a nice house to live in. It is more than just a shelter from the cold. It is fully equipped. No repairs seem to be needed, at least as of now. (I should knock on wood here.) It is a small house but even that is a blessing, no one gets lost in my home... I am aware of what is happening in each room. And we have a space all our own, no noisy neighbors above us or sharing a wall.

I have a working car. More than just working, it is nice. Yes, it is something we have had to pay for and make sacrifices for but it is here when we need it.

I have been adopted into a great family that loves me vary much. They instilled in me a good work ethic. They have tried to teach me the value of family, even if it is not what you were first born to.

I am also so thankful for the family that I have married into. They have been their for me as I transitioned into living far away from my family. I am not sure how many evenings they allowed me to just sit in their living room, so that I did not have to be home alone.

My mother-in-law has become one of my best friends, without her I am not sure that I would have made it here. In her I have a shopping buddy, an advice giver, a listening ear and a helping hand.

I have a loving church family here. At first I was not interested in going to this church. I hated it, resented going because I didn't like the way they did things. But in the last five years I have come to learn about why they do things the way that they do. I have come to get to know each of these people. Not only just a passing hi, but a friendship, this is more than I ever had with some of the people from my church growing up.

I have a needed place in the church. I have a role to help bring our youth to Christ. It isn't always clear cut where I should be helping, but I think with time my role will be more clearly defined. It is just a matter of both Andrew and I growing in Christ and our ministry.

We always have enough food. I remember being hungry as a child but in my married life that has yet to be a struggle. There are times that I feel we are not going to have enough to eat or that there is nothing left in our cupboards. But just when I have decided that there is no way, that is when God steps in and provides.

I am a blessed woman. I have a full life. Yes, it is hard to be the full time parent, wife and servant of God. But I would not want another role. I could not imagine doing anything else with my life; not after knowing what I know now, or after having done what I fill my days with now.

I have a rewarding life. Just in the results that I see with each passing day. Even though there are days that I forget just how much I love my life and how rewarding it is to live it.

I have adjusted back to life with only my family. Man, my house feels so big. It might have helped that I moved the toddler bed out of the girls room. Or maybe it is just that when I clean up a mess it takes longer than 10 minutes for a new mess to happen.
I love my girls. I love that they listen to me.