An awesome GOD moment

Ever have one of those God AHA! moments, where you know the situation in front of you was only planned by God and no human could have timed it any better on their own? Yup, I had a moment like that yesterday!

A few months ago my cousin messaged me and asked what size clothes my boys were in. She had two Christmas outfits that were a 2 and a 4 and wanted to know if I wanted them. Not knowing what they looked like I said yes and completely forgot about the conversation.

Things have been 'tight' lately and I've been trying to cut back on what I buy that I dont need to buy. Christmas outfits was one of those 'cut backs' I figured I had enough cute clothes I could figure something out for pictures without spending a fortune on new outfits. Yesterday I was having a rough day' and was thinking about skipping Christmas cards this year. (I would wait until the baby was born and do a birth announcement/christmas card in one)

Yesterday afternoon I went outside and saw there was a package on the steps.... didn't come with the mail at normal time so fed ex must have brought it..... Inside was two Christmas outfits.... complete with dress shirt, sweater vest and pants.... as well as two little cars, a box of crayons and a coupon for a free photo book.

Can I just say, God is amazing how He times things. I didn't expect this package and truthfully, I forgot about the clothes coming.

So, what I'm trying to say, don't stop doing what you feel God wants you to do. You never know what a blessing you will be to someone else. I know I felt blessed because of her simple actions. You never know how much of a blessing you can be on someone unless you try.

A month.

Isn't it funny how long a month can feel when you are anticipating something, like the birth of a child? Now, a few months from now I"ll look back and wonder where the time has gone once my little one is 3 or more months old. Right now, however, a month feels so long.

Instead of viewing it as 30 painfully long days, I'll chose to view it with joy. Instead of complaining how uncomfortable I am each and every day (and its getting worse!) I'll choose to focus on what is right in front of me.

1. I have three amazing children who love my attention. So, I will get down on the floor (may not get back up) and play with them.

2. I will enjoy the independence my children each have (some more than others) to do little tasks. Once baby comes I'll be pretty much connected to this new little life for a few months.

3. I will enjoy working with Sophia's homework, doing crafts with her, and spending as much time as possible with her when she is home from school.

4. I will enjoy a few dates with my husband (almost) kid free.

There is a whole lot of 'yuck' in the world that can drag you down. The world we live in can be a very depressing place. But you can choose not to let it drag you down! You can start each day and say no to those yucky thoughts and make the most of the days.

Instead of me viewing the last month of this pregnancy in a bad way, I can choose to rejoice in the baby growing in my womb, the little life that he/she will become. Am I uncomfortable, absolutely! Will I let that rob my joy, no way.

At the exact moment.

Last week I had a morning where God provided at the exact moment I needed. I'm not sure I could have timed it any better left on my own.

Randy has been getting up and getting to work early, leaving me to get the kids up and out the door to take Sophia to school on my own. Sophia is like a turtle. She is just so.slow.to.get.ready. It really drives me crazy. she never wants to get out of bed, never wants to get dressed, always has her own things she wants to do. It was the one day I didn't have clothes laid out the night before leaving her to choose what she wore that morning. She had 5 outfits on, no joke before I just said she was wearing whatever she had on. We were 'late' to get out the door but we weren't going to be late at all ,just not early like I like to be (Seriously, I have a problem)

Get the kids outside and realized I didn't have my keys. As I got closer to the van I noticed they were hanging on the gear shifter of my van, no problem, thats where I usually leave them. Only to find... Randy locked my van the night before. Keys inside, doors locked.... NOT good. He was of course gone at a breakfast meeting 20 minutes away. Tears filled my eyes as I dont have a spare key for my van.

Just as I was about to panic my neighbors garage door started opening and she was walking out and heading over to say good morning and goodbye to Sophia. She was a God send, she truly was. I asked her if I could borrow her car and of course she said yes. She kept the boys and I just took Sophia to school and came right back home.

If I would have been any earlier getting out the door, I probably wouldn't have thought of using my neighbor, but the fact the moment I came out she was also coming out.

Everything happens for a reason. Sophia's pokey morning turned out to our advantage.

While I was taking Sophia, Randy called our insurance and had someone on the way to unlock the van doors for us. By 9 AM, I had my keys in my hand and was ready to really conquer the day. (which I did and had a great day!)

So, in the exact moment I needed God to provide, He did. Not a moment too soon, or too late, but at the exact moment. Thats why my God is an awesome God. (that and MANY other reasons of course) It was just incredible.

All about E

As many of you know, I have three children. Sophia, Elliot and Andrew. We are expecting our 4th little one in December. Today, I'm going to talk about my first born son Elliot. I will back up a few months to his three year check up. He completely freaked out at the doctors office. I dont know if I didn't prepare him for the visit like I should have or what exactly but he just was not having it. The nurse couldn't touch him to do any stats, he wouldn't stand on the scale. He was screaming. The doctor went to check him over and he kicked her. Thats when she stopped the visit and said "He may have a touch of autism". I was so taken back by her quick assumption of my son. I was in shock honestly. I knew he was shy and more reserved than my daughter but austistic? I didn't see it. We took him to our family doctor about a week or so later and he thoroughly checked him over, talked to him, came to his level and asked him questions. Didn't try to come in the room and rush right to him, but gave him space to let him know he was safe. Thats what Elliot needs. About a week after the visit, the doctor sent us a letter (I believe it was written by himself) stating how he thinks Elliot is a perfectly fine 3 year old that dos not have autism) Fast forward to present day. He really has opened up at home and is talking all the time. He still is reserved when in a group but that could just be his personality. Randy has an ipad that I have filled with educational games for the kids to play. Elliot has been playing this one, LetterSchool app and let me tell you, its amazing! He will sit and play and learn his letters. I'm amazed at how well he is doing. While I am sharing about Elliot, I will share one more story. We decided not to send him to preschool this fall. I really feel he needs to be home with me one more year. As 'easy' as it would be to just send him to get him out of my hair (doesn't that sound awful) I wasn't ready and felt he would hate going anyway. It would probably have been a fight every day to get him there without crying and why put him through that stress? So we un-enrolled him and I geared up to 'homeschool' him this year. He was all pumped to have ME as his teacher and when we talked about going to school next year he always started to cry. Until yesterday, walking Sophia into school he spotted the playground at the preschool we sent Sophia too. He perked up and asked about the yellow slide. I told him that would be the playground he could play at next year when he went to school and for the first time didn't object to going. He said "You be my teacher this year and next year that will be my playground with a new teacher" He seemed ok with it too. I can see growth in him every single day. Not just in his vocabulary and his abilities but his confidence as well. He is a tenderhearted, kind little boy who is so sweet. I'm excited to watch him grow into a little boy and eventually a man. Today, we are going to the library for story hour. He is excited as he is now the 'big kid' going without Sophia going with us. How cute is that?! I'm sure I'll have more updates on just Elliot, as well as all my children individually. Just so proud of Elliot and how far he has come since turned 3.

Here is a picture of him and his newest face, his cheesy smile. For the longest time if you asked for a picture he would scowl at you and look away. Now it seems he smiles for pictures all the time.

New Beginnings.

So, I created this blog thinking I would update all the time and that has been a big fail! But I am hoping now that we are back in a routine, I can keep up. I would really like to share the happenings with my family here and less on facebook. I'm so tired of hearing all the time "You post so much on facebook" Yes, I do, but I have all my family living far away and its nice to have them stay connected with us. With that said, I want to update on our first day of school! I was a mess going into Tuesday, so much so, I didn't sleep the night before. I was just worried for her. I was afraid I would over sleep or we would be late or something would happen and tramatize the girl and her school start would be tainted forever. Why do I worry? It all worked out FINE. Sophia was excited and couldn't eat breakfast so I made her eat an apple on the way to school (at least it was something right?!) I took Andrew and Elliot with me as Randy had early morning meetings. Honestly though, it helped me not be as sad (aka, bawling) because I had to focus on keeping the boys by my side. After many pictures and a few almost tears, we left Sophia in the hands of her teacher, student teacher and 19 other students. Walking out to the van I fought the tears but held them in. I knew this day was coming, can't keep them babies forever, but it just came so fast! The best part of the day was watching Elliot and Andrew establish 'alpha dog' status. Elliot is not a take charge kind of kid. He is laid back and willing to compromise, especially when big sister wants to do something. He started bossing Andrew around like he is so much bossed around by Sophia. Lets just say the new boss was struggling bossing someone around who wanted nothing to do with being bossed. Andrew was just not having it. He kept saying "No Elliot" and running away which would only make Elliot mad. This brother bond may take a little longer to form than I thought. Day 2 of school so far went ok. I packed her lunch and made sure her folder and name tag was clipped to her shirt. As we walked up to the doors she said I could just leave her there and I insisted I needed to take her the entire way. (100% NOT ready for that yet). I feel though, she has her wings and she is ready to fly. Sophia is a confident little girl. I've been told her independence would be a good thing and I'm starting to see it. She may be bossy around her brothers but she's not like that in a large group of kids. I see her as a quiet leader, that leads with her actions and good choices more so than a loud voice. I can't express how proud I am to be her mom. First day of school picture.

Well thats all for now. I need to fold the mountain of laundry I've been putting off. Kids are starting to run out of clean clothes.

Birthday!

Today is my brothers birthday. They are 32! I can't believe we are getting old. Scary. I always thought it was cool their birthday was on Flag Day. Growing up, I thought it was random their birthday fell on flag day every year. Yeah, I was blonde. My mom is pretty much amazing for birthing twins. She knew she was having a baby and even though she was getting very large she just expected another big baby. My brother and sister were both big babies and so she just asumed she was growing another large child. She got to delivery day and my brother Robert was born only then to find out Nathanael was fast on his heels. I think that would be the shock of a lifetime. I'm not sure what else could be more suprrising than to find out after you just had one baby that another was crowning and to get ready to push again. My mom is superwoman, and I'm not kidding. She would always make two birthday cakes for each birthday, a chocolate and vanilla. One year, my brothers being big jokers teased her that they each only got one cake and everyone else got two. So one year my mom made FOUR cakes. Lets just say we ate a lot of cake for a few days until it was gone. My brothers were 3.5 years older than me and I loved them so much. They picked on me and were sometimes heartless to me, but if anyone else ever tried to hurt me in any way they didn't tolerate it. THEY were the only ones allowed to pick on me. Even though we hardly talk anymore because how busy life is, its so nice to stop and think about how fun it was growing up with older brothers. Robert (Rob) and I had track and cross country in common. I always felt he was proud of me and my running. Nathanael ('thanael) and I became close after he graduated high school and stayed home to attend community college for a year. It broke my heart when he left for northern Wisconsin to attend bible college. We were so close and I was so sad to see him go. I am blessed to have them as brothers and I only hope and pray my chidlren have similar relationships with each other as they grow. That they value having each other and use each other for support.

Being a part of a family

Pretty much my entire adult life I have been in a church because my husband has worked at it. We dont choose each week where we want to go, or if we want to try a new church, we have the same church, and it becomes our family. The only times I have ever felt 'out of place' was the first few weeks at a new church. Then, after a few weeks, we start to get used to the people and the routine and they beomce family to us. This week, I am taking the kids to VBS at a local church in our community. I had never been inside this church, but I had only heard good things about it. I figured it would be fun for the kids to try out and have something to do. Monday morning, I loaded them up and took them over. Walking into a church where no one really knew me, or expected me to be there was a new experience. I had this idea in my head what it would be like to not really know anyone, walk into a church and hopefully be greeted and felt welcome. It was such a strange feeling to not be needed anywhere. There was no childrens class that needed a teacher, the nursery didn't need someone to cover for anyone, I wasn't needed anywhere. After my third and final day today (rest of the week wont work to take the kids) I have to say, I'd rather be a part of a church family and be involved than to come in and out un-noticed. Its not that the people weren't friendly, because they were, and its not because the size of the church, as it was a rather large church, it just wasn't familiar to me. This is the part people will agree/disagree with me. I dont see how people can come to church, sit through the service and leave without being 'noticed' and not want to be involved. I"m not an extravert. I dont typically like to be on stage in front of a crowd of people, but I dont mind teaching a room full of children. What good is being a part of a church family if you aren't helping out in some way? I'm not trying to guilt people into getting involved, you have to want to, but after the last three days of being un-noticed and slipping in and out. So, if you a reading this, and are one of those people who go to church but dont really get involved, consider helping out! There are probably lots of things you could do that you wouldn't even think need done. I know at my church, we are in need of sunday school teachers, junior church teachers and nursery workers. Seem scary to be around kids? Well, they aren't scary! I probably learn more from the kids on a given sunday than I teach them. Children are such a blessing and a great gift from God.