Visit to Santa

Christmas

Christmas, what has it become? Getting presents, buying presents, wondering what to buy, the birth of Jesus, Santa, what is it to you? I so want it to be about the right thing, the birth of my wonderful Savoir, but it always ends up being about the presents or the lack there of. This year like most years we set a budget for each child. I just got out everything we bought for Alex and it seems like so little. As I sat here thinking it was not enough, I wondered how I had let the birth of my Savior become how much I had bought for my children. There are many children who would take a mom and dad that loves them over the gifts that I have bought. I am sad that I feel like it is not enough, that is not what it is about I know, but then why do I feel like I should some how do more? I hate what I have let Christmas become. I know there are many children that will only get only what is donated or nothing at all. My children have so much more than material things. I made the comment today that Christmas was a hassle, wow, that is just truly sad.

I've been Tagged

I have been tagged by Christy. I have to find 7 interesting things about myself, and find 7 people to tag. I am not sure I know 7 people she has not already tagged, but I will give it a try.

1. When I was 12 I got to ride in the Goodyear blimp, and I sat next to the pilot.

2. I can make my eyeballs shake lol.

3. I am married to my best friend, Terry was my best friend for years before we were
married. And, he still is my best friend after 10 years of marriage.

4. I Tivo Biggest Loser each week, if I am not home, and I usually eat junk food
while I watch lol.

5. I love iced coffee so much I learned how to make it at home. I have my own
espresso maker. Terry and I both have an iced coffee each morning, and it is
yummy.

6. I have one child in Kindergarten and one a senior. So, I have one starting and
one finishing.

7. I collect carnival glass I have about 10 pieces(I have the set in this picture) and if I had the space and money I would have much more.

Ok now for 7 people to tag.

1. Jared (before his mom does)He is one cool teenager so it should be interesting to see what he says about himself.
2. Kristen I met here at church, and I love talking to her at Walmart lol.
3.Candy, one of my best friends in the world, she knows all of my secrets, and is always there for me. The thing is she has not blogged since July lol.
4. Mandi my new blog friend that has the same name as me. She also shared her bible study with me.
5. Kelly, we worked together at the hospital and go to church together, and she is an amazing woman.
6. Tina, I love this girl, she is amazing, I love to hear her sing, and to talk to her always blesses my soul.
I can't think of anyone else so 6 will have to do.

Give Away

Many of you know I am involved in Safe Harbor Ministries. There is a giveaway on this site. It is a study for women who have had abortions. On Melinda's site she says this "Did you know that one in every three women has had an abortion? In fact, 43% of women of child-bearing age have this secret." Wow, so think of all of the women out there hurting. So, if you are interested in getting this for our chuch, go and leave a comment and a link back. I hope some of you do this and we can get this for Safe Harbor, it would be great to win this.

Rutherford Parent

I am becoming quite the celebrity. I am in this months Rutherford Parent. This is pretty cool because it is free advertising, and I did nothing to get it. The lady from the Rutherford Parent emailed me and ask if she could interview me for the magazine. God is so good, I give Him all the credit for this, and it is not a minute too soon. We need the advertising and we do not have the money to invest in advertising right now. I love how God just works everything out. Now I just pray I get so much business I have to post on here for help lol. Don't you just love the goofy picture of me? I am not sure what was so funny, but it must have been, maybe it is the beans lol.

Prayer

When you blog you end up following stories of people you do not know. So, I do not know this family, but please pray for them. Misty lost her battle with brain cancer. If you go and read you will see an amazing love story. Darren's love for Misty and God is truly amazing.

GNO

I love that I go to a church where you can sing Pat Benatar, and line dance. It was a night of fun. I went to dinner with my bff Kitty, and not once did I tell anyone to sit down and not do that, it was wonderful. Then I got to hang with a bunch of great girls, it was a great night. I should hang with my girlfriends more often. I love that my church does these kind of things for the women, and I love that I am not working nights anymore and I got to go.

Pray for Haiti

This morning I was reading Aaron Iveys blog and I just want to ask every one to pray for the rescue mission in Haiti where there children are. Because of the storms they have no clean water. This sure makes me think about my life and what you have and what I whine about not having. My heart just breaks for these sweet children. I sit here and take oh so for granted the clean abundant water I have. I know this is hard for Jamie and Aaron, to be so far away from their children. So, today lets just lift them up.

Fishing Fun

Since we all had the day off today we wanted to do something fun and cheap. So, we went fishing. This kind of thing is not my idea of fun, but it turned out to be alot of fun. First we went and got fishing poles from Brian then Terry and Bri got there day fishing licence then we had a picnic and off we went to fish. Terry and the kids fished while I read a book and watched. Alex had a blast, we did not catch any fish, unless you count to tiny little one Terry caught. It was nice to just hang out as a family, and to just enjoy each other. I think this will be something we do again. Bri enjoys this kind of stuff she is not like me at all in that respect. My idea of fun is indoor stuff lol. I am not much of a outdoor kind of girl, but when you have kids you do things you normally would not do. And, like most times it turns out to be fun. Wonder how many other things in my life I miss out on because I do not think it is my kind of thing.

1st day of school

Well, today was the day, both of my kids had there first full day of school. It went well for both. Alex got to go to the treasure chest, so that is good. Bri is happy with her schedule. I think it is funny I have a Senior and a Kindergartner. It should be a fun year. I do have to say I missed them today. It was very quite at work, I did get lots of food made, there was no one to distract me. So, we are back to early bed time and getting up early, both of which Alex does not like. At least I don't have to worry about dinner :) I have that covered. You too could have dinners in your freezer ready for dinner, just come see me. (just a small plug for the business lol).

One down one to go

Finally, both of my children go to school this week. I just dropped Alex off for his first day of Kindergarten. He did Kindergarten readiness last year so it was not sad like last year. He was ready to go,and I was ready for him to go lol. I would post a pic but the digital camera had dead, so I had to take pics with my other camera, so I will post one later. And, Bri goes Wednesday (Woo Hoo), that sounds bad, but it is time for them to be at school and not with me at work, or at home fighting with each other. It is hard for me to believe that this is Bri's last year of high school, this time next year I will be helping her off to college, wow, that is hard to believe. Time just goes by so fast.

12 Years ago today

12 years ago today my sweet niece Kiera was born, and 6 short months later she was gone (She had RSV). In many ways it seems like it has been a hundred years, since I stood outside the door and heard her first cry. I was in love from the minute I laid eyes on her. She was such a sweet baby girl. She had a smile that would lite up the room, she was always so happy. She spent most of her young life with me or my mom, we adored her.
At the time she died I was not following God, I had a hard time with this. I was very angry with God, when my moms preacher tried to talk to me I was not very nice to him (I am ashamed of that now), but I just did not want to hear what he had to say. I would be lying if I said that I understood why God had to take her, but I do know now that there IS a reason and that one day I WILL be with her again. There is much more to this story, but today I just want to focus on the good not all of the ugly stuff. I have been very weepy today, I still miss her, she was only with us for 6 months, but she was my sweet little pudding. Happy Birthday Sweet Kiera.

My First time in the Paper

We had our first sampling last night, and Sara from the DNJ was there and she did a great article on us. I am not so happy that my picture was in the paper. I hate pictures of myself, but it was a great article and I pray it will bring business. So, I guess it is ok that there was a pic of me.

Update

He is out of prison. I talked to our attorney today and he is going to sent a new court date as quick as possible. I will keep you updated as I know more. Thank you for your prayers.

Random

I really don't have too much to blog about, just thought it was time to post something new. The business is going OK just slow, I feel like it is going to pick up. There are two new business opening next week in our complex, that will bring more foot traffic. I know that God has a plan for my business, but boy has satan been all in my head, making me doubt. It is a daily battle to fight him, I loved the sermon Chris gave Sunday, it has helped me, so everyday I put on my armor and go into battle. And, I can truly tell you it has helped me this week.

On another note, here is a update on the adoption, the bf is getting out of jail this month. I think it could even possibly be tomorrow. So, I have no idea where we go from here. Once he gets out he will not have a free attorney, and there is always the not being able to find him once he gets out. So, I have no idea what is going to happen, but I can tell you that I am through worrying about this. I can truly say for the first time I have given this to God and left it with Him, no more picking it up, no matter what happens. I can not do it anymore, I know that no matter what happens Alex is not going anywhere. I want so desperately for him to legally be my son, but he is my son, and I do not need a piece of paper to say that. I will keep you updated as I know things. Just pray, this has gone on for a long time now, and we just want it to be over.

Well for a post I said I did not have much to say it turned out pretty long lol.

No Court.....Again

We were scheduled to go to court tomorrow, but I received a call from our attorney to let us know that it has been put off again. They are now requesting a DNA test, are you kidding me. He is the one who would not sign the papers because he wanted to be a father. Now he is requesting a DNA test. I am so confused, just SIGN the papers and it will be over. So, I have no idea where this is going. I would do a happy dance in the street if he turns out to not be the bio-father. He is suppose to get out of prison next month, so that means he will not have a free attorney. And, he will have to pay for the DNA test, because I am not. So, that is where we are at with our long adoption.

I know this is a good thing. God has a perfect plan and I just have to be faithful for a bit longer. God is in control of this not judges, attorney, DNA test, only God. So I have no worries, just frustration and to be honest some anger. Thank you for your prayers, lets just keep them going. I will update when I know more.

Happy Birthday to my baby girl

Seventeen years ago I gave birth to my sweet baby girl. At that time I had no idea how blessed I would be by this event. Briana has brought such joy to my life. I am daily amazed by her, she is such a wonderful young woman. I am equally amazed that someone who came from inside of me is this amazing. Briana is a young woman that knows what she wants and is not afraid to go after it. She loves the Lord and seeks Him in her life. The proudest I am is when I go by her room and see her in the word. She truly wants God in her life, that is so different than where I was at her age. She is so much smarter than I was at her age, and that makes me so proud. I have always been honest with her and tried to tell her that a life without Christ is not a life at all, and thus far she has listened. I am a very proud momma today of a very special 17 year old daughter.

Kitchen 2 Kitchen

We have a website!!!!!! Go check us out. I am so excited, and proud of my talented husband. Terry has put lots of work into our new website and it looks great. He is not finished, but it looks great already. So, go check us out.
kitchen2kitchenonline.com

My mind wont be still, so I blog

Here I am sitting up when the rest of the house is sleeping. I do this alot, it seems like lately when I lay down in the bed my thoughts just go crazy. I can not turn them off long enough to go to sleep, any one else have this problem? I usually get up and go to bible gateway and read. Don't you think it is amazing how God can give us a word just when we need it? I love how that always happens, many times the same verse will come up in different settings, I just love how He speaks to me.

I have been struggling lately with faith, knowing that God is going to take care of everything, but convincing myself of this has been a battle lately. I feel like Peter and if I take my eyes off of Jesus I will sink and he will say to me "ye of little faith, why did you doubt" I know that doubt comes from satan, and I have to be careful not to let him have a stronghold on me, so I am trying very hard to keep my eyes on Jesus. I want to stay on the water walking towards Him. I do pretty good most of the time, but satan is persistent and he tries to get me at 1:45am. So I fight him by reading the word and right now blogging lol. I know the things we go through make us stronger, we mature and sometime even learn the things that God wants us to learn. I know that I am right where God wants me and that no matter the outcome of everything, the one thing that will with out a doubt stay the same is my wonderful God that I am leaning on and becoming closer to every day, moment by moment. OK I feel better, I am going to give the bed another try.

Ten Years ago today

Ten years ago today I married my best friend. I can not believe it has been 10 years. I will never forget the way Terry ask me to marry him. He took me on a trip to Gulf Shores on New Years, and under a beautiful full moon, at my favorite place, on one knee, he ask me to be his wife (and might I add with a beautiful ring). I remember being excited, scared and in shock. I had no idea, and if you know me, you know how nosy I am, and how hard that had to be lol. This was a second marriage for both of us so we talked about what we wanted and did not want. We decided against a big wedding(been there done that), we would just come back to Gulf Shores and get married on the 4th of July. We did not want it to be a big deal just family. We told our friends and everyone wanted to be a part of our day. So, by the time it was all said and done over 30 people followed us to the beach. We were going to get married on the beach, but the more I thought about the weather that time of year I decided it was a bad idea, and boy was I right it was over 100 degrees that day. We got married at the Gulf Shores Wedding Chapel, and it was beautiful. My mom gave me away and Briana stood beside me. I wish I had a pic to put on here(only have real live pics), it was so simple and so pretty. Everyone that was important to us was there. After we were married we went to lunch, and then that night we had a party at the pool and watched the fireworks, it was magical.

Over the past 10 years there have been many ups and downs, but I can tell you one thing that has only grown stronger and that is my love for Terry. Through everything that has happened the one constant person in my life has always been Terry. He has always been faithful, hard working and my friend through all we have been through. So many couples give up when it gets hard, it has only made us stronger as a couple. And, I am so proud of that. The most important thing that has happened in this last ten years is that Terry gave his life to Christ and I rededicated my life to Christ. We did not start our marriage seeking God, but we are daily seeking Him, and want to have a marriage that brings glory to Him.

Terry, I know you will read this(you are one of my few readers lol) and I just want you to know how much I love you and I am so blessed to have you in my life. Thank you for loving me and our children. Thank you for always supporting me, and being my very best friend in the world. And, most of all thank you for showing Briana how a woman should be treated, and Alex how a man should treat his wife. Thank you for putting up with my crazy self. I can not wait to watch you grow old since I will not be doing that (ha!ha!). I can not wait to see what God is going to do in our lives, I am ready for the ride good or bad I am going on this ride with you. I love you, happy anniversary.