Motherhood Is Not For Wimps!

A few years ago as I was putting together a Mother's Day card for my Mom, I came across this website called Above Rubies.  I was just awestruck at the encouragement that they have for those of us who are called to be wives, homemakers, and mothers.  As I was reading through the articles, poems, and stories on the website I came across this poem that Nancy Campbell, the founder of Above Rubies wrote and shared on the website.  I am so glad that I took the time to copy and paste it into my documents because they have revamped the website and I can't find it on there any more.

We mothers are not alone in this journey of motherhood!  We have God on our side who is helping us in this journey of training the next generation for His kingdom.

MOTHERHOOD IS NOT FOR WIMPS!
By: Nancy Campbell

There are those who would spurn the vocation of mothers
And say it's inferior to the career of others,
I'll have to admit that it's not easy work,
It's relentless and from it you cannot shirk.

It takes all your energy to be a mother and wife,
It requires daily commitment and a disciplined life,
It demands all your resources of patience and love,
Long-suffering and wisdom from God above.

It takes self-control and continual endurance,
It needs constant and faithful perseverance,
It is total sacrifice and forgetting your self,
You may sometimes think you are left on the shelf!

And what about time?
It's no longer yours,
It belongs to everyone else who comes in your doors.

Can you claim your own rights?
No, they're gone too,
Like your right to sleep the whole night through!
It's not so easy to crawl into bed with a book
Or go off and dream in some quiet little nook.

It seems like you're totally losing your life
To be a good mother and a godly wife.

But oh, dear mother, please do not despair,
In God's great vision you have a share,
You are fulfilling your destiny planned before creation
Which is to nurture children and BUILD A NATION!

You are walking in the footsteps of Jesus your Lord
Who lived a life of sacrifice out-poured,
He didn't cling to His rights with selfish futility,
He didn't claim any privileges but walked in humility.

He gave up His own life to save millions of others,
This same principle is at work in the lives of mothers,
When you lose your own life you'll find it again,
Glorious life - His life - even in toil and pain.

So lift up your head, embrace your calling so high,
You're in God's perfect will so you don't have to sigh.
You may sometimes feel worthless - don't listen to this lie,
For your influence will go higher than the clouds in the sky!

As you nurture and train your God-given seed,
As you sharpen these 'arrows' by word and by deed,
You shape the nation, you determine its course,
Your mothering is not wasted, but is a mighty force!

As your children leave home and go into the world
The stamp of your training will be unfurled,
Your influence will reach countries you've never been
And down the generations its extent will be seen.
Your work is so powerful, no wonder it's tough,
But God is behind you, He's the GOD WHO IS ENOUGH,
His strength and wisdom are available to you,
He'll stand behind His promises which are totally true.

He'll always be with you right through to the end
As you follow His leading and deny the world's trend,
Each morning you wake, your strength He'll renew.
He'll fill your home with His presence and His blessed peace too.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

**I originally posted  this in August, 2007

Looking Ahead--2010 Goals

While I look at the following list of goals, I see potential in reaching every one of them by the end of the year with God's help and my determination. I realize that some of the goals are not very measurable right now so there will be some tweaking going on in the weeks and months to come.  However, I wanted to take some time to set some goals so I can develop my vision for the next year.  I divided the goals up into categories(thanks Toni for the inspiration) to help me sort through all the ideas floating around in my head.  I also did not prioritize these goals because a lot of them are dealing with being consistent in things every day.

2010 Goals:

Spiritual:

• Continue to be faithful to the weekly Woman’s Bible Study.
• Memorize at least 100 Bible verses. (that is 2 verses per week)
• Read my Bible daily and work at growing closer to God.
• Realizing and praising God each day for the gift of life and to living each day to the fullest with Him in control!

Personal:

• Exercise 4 times a week—bike riding, walking,  weights or aerobics.
• Drop my weight by 50 lbs.
• Have a consistent morning and bedtime routine every day.
• Read at least two books a month.
• Spend quality time via date nights with my husband once a week.

School:

• Get previous school years papers in binders for each child.
• Work with my daughter to get her fluently reading by June.
• Do hands on activities with my children at least twice a month.
• Be done with formal schooling every day at 3 pm. --I have two that like to drag out the day's work!
• Declutter papers and books that we have never used or are no longer using.

Homemaking:

• Keep consistent with menu planning. The last 3 weeks of  "flying by the seat of my pants" planning has not worked very well!
• Shop for groceries twice a month(other than for fresh items like fruits, veggies, milk & eggs). (more on this goal next week)
• Update and keep up with my household binder
• File papers every month.
• Work at sewing/mending twice a month.
• Work at doing more baking from scratch and cut out the processed foods.
• Try at least two new recipes each month to increase my “family favorite meal list”.

Financial:

• Pay off all three credit cards. (total $3825)
• Work at building a three month emergency fund (approx. $8100)
• Pay cash for the two major house projects (carpeting the rec. room/office & finish the 4^th bedroom) that we have planned for 2010.

 Blogging:

• Be consistent with writing posts (other than weekly Meijer deals) at least 4 times a week.
• Keeping a list of blog post ideas and schedule posts.
• Finish “ABC Parenting”  and “Kindergarten through the Alphabet” series
• Continue to keep a balance between computer/blogging and family.

This post is linked to:

• Goals Link-up at The Happy Housewife!
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

Home Looks Like Christmas!

Welcome to my home!!!!

This is a fresh swag of greens and berries that is gracing my front door. 

Here is our nativity set.  We have it on shelf over our window in our living room.  It is one of the first things someone would see walking into the room.  

Here is a poinsettia flower arrangement that I put together myself that I have setting on my desk.

Here is our fresh cut tree.  We get a fresh cut tree every year. We decorate it with white lights and various silver, red, and gold ornaments.  We also have several special ornaments, like Hallmark's baby's first Christmas that are adorning our tree.

We have snowman that are starting to appear on our tree too!  The snowman ornament on the left is a snowman family that we got when we just had four kids!  The snowman ornament on the right is a glass ornament and it came in a set with five others and they are scattered around on our tree. 

Here is another swag that we have setting on our entertainment center.  Also on the entertainment center is our stack of Christmas CDs that we listen to often during the holidays.

Phillips, Craig, and Dean's Christmas CD is one of my favorites while hubby loves the Ray Coniff singers!

I love having the simple decorations around the house! The basket of pine cones and the winter scene tins are just few of the simple decorations that you will find around my house.  These decorations are such that I can leave up through the winter months without feeling like they are just "Christmas decorations".

This year I add a few things to my decorations in my living room.  These items are on the top of a bookcase.  There is the ceramic Christmas bell that I made with my Grandma, who has passed away, when I was five. There is a bunch of poinsettia flowers and snowman.  The ceramic church in the picture was my hubby's Grandma's, who also has passed away and it was given to us because we were the only other ones in the family that actually went to church. The picture of the man in uniform is my hubby's Grandfather who served in World War II.  This picture was taken back during the war. I love having this picture part of the decorations because it reminds me to pray for our current men and women in the armed forces that are at home and abroad!


Thank you for stopping by my home today!  I hope that you enjoyed your visit!

This post is linked to: 

• Christmas Tour of Homes with the Nester  at Nesting Place!
• Home for the Holidays at Southern Hospitality!
• Holiday House Tour  at Hooked on Houses!
• Christmas Tree Party at Thrifty Decor Chick!

PRAISE the Lord!!

If you didn't catch my previous post, my brother had open heart surgery today!

Just a quick update...

My brother made it through his surgery! My dad called me about 2pm this afternoon to let me know that he had made it through the surgery and they were taking him to the recovery room and then on to ICU.

Thanks for your prayers!  He has an uphill battle now in the recovery phase. Continue to pray for him!

Calling for Prayer Warriors!!

If it seems like I haven't been around too much lately here posting it is because not only is it time for a weather season change and all the readiness that needs to happen for the long winter months but I have had a "life season" change as well.   Being the oldest child in my family, I have taken on the responsibility of caring for my aging parents. They are still able to relatively live on their own but they need help with making sure that the bills get paid and that the every day upkeep of their home is done. Two weeks ago, I was officially made my parents' power of attorney so that I am able to help them.  So I have been concentrating on getting the mess of their finances cleaned up and a monthly budget working for them on their fixed income.  Just about the time I see the light at the end of the tunnel some other bill or circumstance pokes through the piles of papers!  So I have had to put aside some of usual free time activities(yes as a mom I try to have free time!) and work through my parents' financial matters.

My mom has also been diagnosed with progressive dementia so that has put some challenges into the mix of things as well.

Along with all of this, today my 24 yo brother is at the hospital for all the pre-op appointments along with getting admitted to the hospital. Then tomorrow(Oct 13th) around 8am he is going in for a 10-12 hour open heart surgery.

He was born with a 3 chambered heart and has had open heart surgery before(back when he was 2 1/2yo). The surgery is to do a repair on the repair that he had done when he was 2 1/2yo. Basically medical technology has changed enough over the years that his doctors are confident that they can make his heart work in his adult body as a 4 chambered heart.  He also has transposition of the great vessels so the option for an artificial heart or heart transplant are out of the list of possibilities.

Also this will be like the 6th or 7th time that my brother has had his heart medically stopped and restarted again. Each time this happens it is one less time that the heart can be stopped and restarted.

My dad is at the hospital(which is out of town for us) with my brother and my mom is home and alone for the majority of the next 48 hours!! I still have a unmarried 35yo sister and mentally impaired 22yo brother that still live at home so my mom won't be alone all the time but during the day today and some of the day tomorrow.

The reason for calling the prayer warriors....pray for my family at this time it is a very stressful time with my brother's surgery. Also pray for strength for the 3 doctors that will be operating on my brother tomorrow.  Also pray for patience for when I am working with my parents on their financial mess!  They have made some unwise decisions and it has left them with not a whole lot of money to work with in their pockets.

TIA for the prayers!  I will post an update on my brother when I know more after his surgery tomorrow!

Caring for Elderly Parents!

If it seems like I have been a little quiet around here lately....

I have reached that part of the climb on the mountain of life where I am having to care or at least check on my parents on a regular basis. My parents will be 70 next year and I am the oldest of eight children in my family. I am also one of the closest siblings. I have a 35 yo sister and a 22 yo handicap brother that still live at home, however, my sister actually cares about herself, her romance novels, and her soap operas than she does in making sure that my parents have a meal on the table. My other siblings either live out of state, or are too busy with their own affairs to be of much help! So that leaves me!

Over the 4th of July weekend, my hubby, kids and I went over to my parents' house to help them get some landscaping and other outside chores done around the house as the weeds and moss had pretty much taken over their flower beds and yard.

My family has been going over there on a regular basis since the beginning of July to finish up the outside work.

On top of the outside work, we have had to help them realize that one of their bank accounts was getting scammed!! So far they have lost $500 over the last 5 months!!! They have been able to get some of that money back but they will not get all of it back due to the statue of limitations.

We have had to deal with my mom being in the emergency THREE times in the last 2 weeks! The third time was due to her not being able to handle the pain well from being bruised up. She actually told the ER docs that she had fallen again when in reality/according to my dad, she hadn't fallen again! My mom is suffering from dementia! The docs have ruled out alzheimers through tests but as far as I am concerned it might as well be alzheimers!!

My dad has problems with dyscalculia so him working with bank accts. and finances is quite difficult for him! So right now they have all their bills automatically withdrawn from their accts. and their SS and pensions automatically deposited. This is the best route right now as my mom and dad are pack rats!! They get their mail and bill statements and literally have it dumped on a dining room table. I was helping them one day work through some of the paper debris and found bill statements from over 5 years ago in the piles!!! Down in their basement they have boxes of papers that they moved with them to their current house from the old house...the move was over 25 years ago!!!

Needless to say, I am just overwhelmed so I am scaling back my blogging efforts to a few posts each week!!! I need to work at getting my parents' affairs in order so that life can be running smoothly over there and here!

Summer Blues or the "Mom, I'm bored!"

Summer is coming! Which means our children will be on summer break and inevitably they will come to you saying that they are bored!

Here is a list of 13 free or low cost things that you can do with your children to help combate the summer boredom blues:

1. play board games together
   
   
2. go for nature walks--we have several area parks with nature trails.
   
   
3. bake goodies
   
   
4. visit grandparents(or if they are too far away, visit to a nursing home or senior assisted living center)--my parents live twenty minutes from us and they live in on an acre of land, which is great for exploring!
   
   
5. pretend we are at the movies---stick in a movie and do up some popcorn.
   
   
6. play hide n' seek
   
   
7. read books together--don't forget to find those different summer reading programs like at the public library or at your local bookstore like Barnes & Nobles.
   
   
8. brush up on the Math facts by quizzing each other. It always seems that my kids do a "data dump" when it comes to Math facts so we play the game who can get the most facts right in 2 minutes. :)
   
   
9. if we do any traveling, I like to make up a backpack full of goodies for them to do on the trip. I use some of the many ideas over at Mom's Minivan as well to fill the pack.
   
   
10. do a craft project together.
    
    
11. when stuck inside due to the weather, using our imagination to play games from tea parties to hide n' seek to I spy. An article of ideas to have fun indoors.
    
    
12. create an obstacle course or water park or a carnival in your backyard and together with your kids have a fun afternoon playing at the "park".
    
    
13. work in the garden.
    
    
    

These are just a few things that you can do to help keep the "Mom, I'm bored!" saying at bay. There is also a few more suggestions here!

I am always looking for more ideas! I would love to hear what are some things that you do with your kids to keep the boredom at bay??

This post is linked at:

• 3 Moms Thursday Thirteen at Happy to be at Home!
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

That Did NOT Last Long...

So what did not last long???

Life with one vehicle!!  

After hubby wrecked his Explorer truck, I was resolved that we were going to be a family of seven with just one vehicle for a while, despite going in several different directions every day and needing to take hubby to work in order to go the different directions.   However, after just one week of one vehicle, hubby was having major withdraws and started looking for another vehicle for us.  He was looking for something that would manage all of us and had low mileage. 

After looking for a couple of weeks, we had narrowed it down to several vehicles, actually trucks!  

After test driving and having our friend who is a master mechanic look at all the trucks we were interested in...we settled on a 2003 Chevy Suburban!  It has less than 80,000 miles on it! The only thing that our mechanic found on it was that it needed an alignment!  It has enough seats for all of us!  Granted it doesn't have an entertainment center in it like we have had in our other vehicles(including our current van) but that is something that is easily fixable if we so desire. 

So now life can go on like it had been before frightful snowy day when hubby wrecked his Explorer.   

Matters of the Heart

Dear Faithful Readers, 

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing you this letter.  I want to let you know that I am pulling back in my blogging until I can find the balance I need between my blogging and my life.  I have allowed my time on the computer to overtake my life, so I need to pull back and refocus my life, my marriage and my relationship with the Lord!

My hubby and I went away this past weekend on a church sponsored marriage retreat.  I was having the greatest time in the world spending time with my hubby and getting to know other couples in our church when I had a "bombshell" rock my heart and the world that I had known.  I feel hurt, betrayal and anger right now from the "bombshell".  I need to heal my heart and emotions from the "bombshell" and get the proper focus in my life.  

I need to have limited time on the computer when my hubby is at the homefront.  

I need to work at strengthening my marriage, and my walk with God before I put myself in front of this "idol"/computer. 

Despite sounding vague, I would appreciate your prayers as I work through this time of hurt and healing!  I am praying that I become stronger in my walk with my Lord and Savior and even love my family, esp. my hubby more through this time of healing. 

Thank you for your understanding and prayers!!!

Your Friend, 

Sonshine

P.S.  I still plan on doing some blogging but it will be limited and not everyday.  

The Baking "To Do" List & More Part 2

Whew! What a day!! You can read about my "to do" list and what I accomplished this morning here.

When I left that post, I was needing to check on my Jewish Coffee Cake. Here is the results...

Once the Jewish Coffee Cake was complete, I had ready a double batch of banana bread with nuts(3 loaves and 12 muffins). After the bread was done, I had this single batch of cookies to put in the oven. For the cookies, I used my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe for the dough and for the chips I used 1/2 white chips and 1/2 chocolate chips.  Basically using up a couple of open bags of chips that I had in my fridge!
Once the cookies were done, another double batch of banana bread without nuts(3 loaves and 12 muffins) was ready to go into the oven.  While the banana bread was baking, ds#3 and I worked on getting our dinner ready.  Dinner tonight was a Taco Bar!  Ds #3 put the finishing touches of spice into the chicken and burger meat that I had cooked up this morning while I cut up some lettuce.  We had our choice of beef or chicken tacos with all the fixings(lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and rice).  Here is my plate...
Before I cleared the table, I took a picture of the bounty I had baked today!  In the bags ready for the freezer are the cookies, and banana muffins with nuts. The rest of the items will either be eaten in the next few days or once cooled put in the freezer for later breakfasts or snacks.  The only thing missing from the picture is the 3 loaves of banana bread without nuts which were still cooking in the oven!
The only thing on the baking portion of my "to-do" list was a batch of brownies. I will do those some time next week! So now all that is left on my to-do list is emails and blogging for here and for Happy to be at Home, where I am contributing writer.

Thanks for joining me on productive day!

The Baking "To-Do" List and More!

So this morning after fixing hubby's lunch and getting hubby out the door for work, I sat down and wrote out my "to-do list".  Knowing full well that if I didn't write something down, I would sit and veg and not get anything done!  And that my friends would be a bad thing in not getting anything done, because hubby and I are going on a marriage retreat this weekend(Thursday afternoon thru Saturday afternoon)with other couples from our church.   So I have to stay focused today to accomplish anything!

Now that I have a list...time to get busy!

First to do was a batch of Muddy Buddies/Puppy Chow.  I needed something "snacky" to take with us to share and this was the perfect item because I had all the ingredients on hand to make it up.   Yes, you are seeing correctly....it is in a paper shopping bag!(more explanation coming later as to why I used a paper bag!)

Next up was cutting up the fruit that was in my fridge.  Better to cut it up and have it available for munching on rather than having it sit and get wasted!  It is not strawberry season in my neck of the country but these store bought California strawberries sure taste yummy!  While cutting up the cantaloupe, I realized why I do NOT usually buy out of season fruit!!!  This melon was still green so it was like cutting up an apple!! UGH!  Oh well, it still tastes good and the kiddos are eating it up!  I could have combined these two to make a nice little fruit salad but some of my kiddos would have strong objections to the combination!  So this momma keeps the fruit separate and if you want to eat the fruit together like a fruit salad you can do so in your own little bowl.

Now that lunch is over, here is where my list stands....



***off to check the Jewish Coffee Cake in the oven and to accomplish more on my list!*** Will update my progress later!

Thursday Thirteen--States

"I have lived in Michigan my entire life."  With saying that statement, one might think that I have never travelled outside of its borders, like what I did for our last family vacation.  But that is not the case, I have travelled to many of the fifty states and even taken the time to sit in front of their capitol buildings. 

For a few summer vacations as a teen, my family would do a family vacation.  Our goal for the vacations was to visit states that we had not visited the year before and to go through the capital city to find and see the capitol building.   

So for today's list of thirteen, I am going to share 13 of the states along with the capital cities that I have visited.

1. Lincoln, Nebraska
   
   
2. Jefferson City, Missouri
   
   
3. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
   
   
4. Sacramento, California
   
   
5. Phoenix, Arizona
   
   
6. Denver, Colorado
   
   
7. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
   
   
8. Nashville, Tennessee
   
   
9. Boston, Massachusetts
   
   
10. Monteplier, Vermont
    
    
11. Concord, New Hampshire
    
    
12. Hartford, Connecticut
    
    
13. Lansing, Michigan
    
    

Well there is thirteen, however, I could list TEN more(if you include our nation's capitol building)!!

My family did a lot of travelling around the country!  We financed our trips with collecting pop cans and bottles from alongside the roads so that we could cash them in to redeem Michigan's 10 cent deposit that is on those cans and bottles. 

For more lists of thirteen, head over to Happy to be at Home.

Gratituesday--The Love of my Life

After the event of the weekend and the fact that I don't talk much about my hubby here, I felt lead to do so today!

I am so grateful to the Lord for the man I married because: 

1. He is a great provider!
   
   
2. He loves me for who I am! (even with all my little quirks!)
   
   
3. He loves the Lord!
   
   
4. He is my best friend!
   
   
5. He loves our children!
   
   
6. He helps me figure out the wording to insurance policies and other fine print on important documents! (I can handle the every day financial matters but making sure we have the right coverage on things is "over my head"!)

There is more that I could say about the man, who I affectionally call "honey" but I don't want to get all mushy on you so I'll save that for another time. 

I am just so grateful that despite his accident, he was not hurt where he could not be with me and the kids today!  

Thank you, Heavenly Father for keeping a safe hedge around my hubby on Saturday!  We can eventually replace our material losses but we can't replace a husband and father that you have put in our lives.

To read about more gratitude, stop by Heavenly Homemakers! 

When Reality Hits...Truck Meets Concrete!

After 12 years of marriage and five kids with just one vehicle, we were graciously given a Ford Explorer by my mother-in-law in the fall of 2007.  She was getting a new vehicle, so instead of trading in the Explorer to get her new vehicle, she blessed us with the Explorer.

The Explorer has been my hubby's vehicle for his trips back and forth to work and for those times when we have needed to be in two different places at the same time.   The Explorer only can seat four people out of the seven family members, and it wasn't a 4x4 for using in the Midwest winters, but it still worked for when we needed it most. 

Well this past Saturday, hubby took it to go to an appointment along with going to Menards to pick up more supplies for our basement playroom "face-lift" project.   He left while the weather wasn't the greatest!  We were under a "Winter Storm Warning"!(for those of my readers who don't know much about "winter storm warning"--it actually is NOT the type of weather to be driving in unless absolutely necessary!!  There usually is LOTS of snow and the snow is usually coming down so fast that road crews can't keep up with the roads, hence slick roads aka "slip n' slide roads"!  But here in West Michigan, that warning usually doesn't stop people, including hubby and me, from going out on the roads even if they don't need to be there!)

Anyway, he called me to let me know that he had completed all of his errands and was heading home.(awww isn't that sweet!?) We hung up and I continued getting lunch prepared....I flipped one grilled cheese sandwich on my griddle and my phone rang again with his "tune".  I picked up the phone half heartedly thinking "what now?!", but said "hello!". His response was....
"Honey, I have been in an accident! I am okay!  I am on the highway in the hammer lane and I need to get to the shoulder of the road."  We hung up and I started shaking!  I do NOT handle this kind of stress very well!  Praise God he is okay!!
He calls again telling me that he is sitting on the side of the highway. The Explorer is not driveable to home because it is leaking fluids and he has 3 out of 4 lights smashed!  So I need to come and get him!  REMEMBER...it is snowing like crazy!!!! There are parts of area highways CLOSED because of accidents and he wants me to come and get him! OH and don't forget too I am still shaking from the news!!

I told him I would be there shortly!  I hung up and took a few deep breaths!  I prayed for calmness while driving and told my 12 1/2 year old son I was leaving him in charge for about a half hour to go get daddy from the side of the road.  I grabbed the camera, my purse along with bundling up and got in our van and headed for accident scene. 
I found him with no problems and hugged him right there on the highway!!  The police was already there and was in the process of writing him a ticket for "not driving with care".   Hubby was just merging on to the highway and the truck lost traction in the snow! 

Hubby called the court today to contest the charges. So for now he is waiting for his summons for the hearing and he doesn't have to pay the ticket.  The truck is only worth around $3,000 but the repairs are going be close to $5,550 so the insurance company is claiming it a "total loss".

So long life with two vehicles!!!  Back to the life, I led for 12 years of taking hubby to work a couple of days a week so that I could have the vehicle to take kids to appointments or to the library, or even to do grocery shopping at less busy time of the day.

Life will go back to two vehicles but first we will pay off our debt that we have been working on diligently!  Oh what a weekend!

For those interested....Hubby's version of the action on the highway...

Was merging on the highway, a car coming up on me fast so I gave more gas to get moving.  Rear end got loose the left, then to the right, shot me across 3 lanes of highway and into the median wall on passenger front corner, spun around hit passenger’s rear corner then spun the rest of the way around to be facing the direction I should be driving in the fast lane.

When I came to a stop I noticed my foot was wedged between the gas and the brake.  Waited for traffic to clear then nursed it to the shoulder.

 

Just in Case...

Just in case you are wondering where in the world am I...

I have been here but not here this past week as my hubby has been home on vacation. When hubby is home that means there are projects that need attention and computers that don't! So I have been working with hubby to get the projects completed and also keep up on everyday things like keeping bodies fed and clothes clean!

Things will be back to normal around here come Monday, January 5th! So in the meantime, enjoy your weekend! And I will see you all here on Monday with Meijer deals, menus and more!

Five Years Ago...

I found out that I was pregnant with #4 in March of 2003. At 22 weeks, I had my ultrasound and measurements and growth were very good. We did not find out if we were going to have a boy or a girl.

The pregnancy was very uneventful other than me having gestational diabetes diagnosed at 27 weeks. I changed my diet and went on with life as normal. Once Thanksgiving came around, I started getting into the full "nesting mode" so I thought that the baby was going to come early like what my three boys had. However, I carried the baby right to the due date...December 27th!

Labor started around 8am and I got to the hospital around 9:30am after dh stopped at McDonald's for a couple of breakfast biscuits!(yes he went thru the drive thru with me in labor in the passenger's seat!)

I got hooked up to the monitoring device and the nurse could not keep a good reading coming on the baby's heartbeat. So I had to stay positioned a certain way in order for her to get good readings. Labor progressed along and I started noticing that they were contacting extra help(NICU nurses) being on standby before baby was actually delivered. I thought it strange that they were really not saying anything to me other than saying things like we are having trouble monitoring the baby.

The doctor broke my water around 1:30pm. I delivered a girl at 1:40pm!! She weighed 9lbs 12 oz. and was 22 inches long. She had the cord around her neck. Along with the fact that, she was delivered so fast that she wasn’t able to expel any of the fluid in her lungs naturally and didn't start breathing on her own upon delivery. After about 16 minutes of alternating between suctioning her lungs out and pumping her with a breathing tube, she was able to breathe on her own. She was placed on oxygen for 6 hours and earned herself a stay in NICU for observation. I was able to see her about 3 hours after she was born and hold her(tubes and all) for the first time. She was the biggest baby in the unit!

The doctors had to give us the run down as to what might happen to her negatively. The doctor also said that as long as her white blood count stays down she would be able to come home quickly. We had the faith that God didn’t give us this little girl to have her taken away from us so quickly. We got the prayer chain at our church going and other friends praying for our little S! She ended up not having any of the negative effects (like seizures, or stop breathing) happen to her in that first 24 hours! Amen!

Today she is a normal 5 year old little girl! Looking at her one would never guess the “scare” that she gave us coming into this world!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, S!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I want to take the time to wish all of you and your families a Merry Christmas!

I am going to be taking the time to enjoy my family over the next couple of days along with enjoying the season and remembering the true Reason for the Season!!

I will be back on Friday!  

Christmas at Sonshine's

Welcome to my home!! 

This is my front door! A fresh wreath of greens!
My living room is the only room that I have my holiday decorations. I still have a two year who loves to sneak around and mess with the decorations so I keep them in a room that I can keep an eye on or block off so that he can not be in there without supervision. 

We have two windows in the living room and over those windows hubby made shelves for holiday decorations.  He made the shelves such where the shelf supports are also used to hold our curtain rods.  Over our smaller window is our nativity.
Over the larger window is just some various Christmas decorations.  Up there this year is baskets with Christmas trees, fake holly and poinsettas and cinnamon scented pinecones. 

Here are the decorations on my desk....
The angel was just made by my daughter in Sunday school yesterday.  The little smore snowman angel was made by one of my older boys a few years ago in Sunday school! I put this on my desk as a little reminder of how I am to treat each day through the holiday season. 
My hubby decided this year to keep the branches that needed to be cut off our tree to fit in the stand and he decorated the top of the television. 
Here is our tree with a lighted star as the topper.   We get a fresh tree every year. We decorate simply with red, gold, blue, and silver ball ornaments along with special ones that we have gotten over the years.
Here is a few of our special ones....
To celebrate hubby's German heritage we have an ornament that says "Fröhliche Weihnachten" (Merry Christmas)
We also have several ornaments reminding us of the "Reason for the Season". 
We have five different Hallmark "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments for each of our kids. This one is my youngest son's.   Hubby and I also have a Hallmark one for our first Christmas together as a married couple. 

Merry Christmas!! Thank you for coming into my home to see my decorations!  If you would like to see other Christmas decorations head over to BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes.

On Notice!

Just putting my readers(the five of you! LOL) on notice that I might not be around here much this week!!!

Hubby was to have just Thanksgiving Day & Friday off this week but last week he decided it best to take the WHOLE WEEK off!!! We have projects around the house to do and our church is the final stages of building additions so he(and I) will be quite busy this week! Hopefully in the evenings when he is working at the church I will be able to get some blogging done! However, I am not to sure so I am putting everyone on notice now!

My week is pretty much planned out for me this week with him home!

It looks something like this....

Monday: help hubby paint the bathroom(the only room in the house that is barely big enough for TWO people to be in at the same time!!)

Tuesday: baking for Thanksgiving dinner & laundry!

Wednesday: Family field trip to the Air Zoo (if you have never been you need to go, especially if you have boys!!! good place to stop if you are planning a trip to West MI)

Thursday: Thanksgiving Day spending the day at my parents' house! (their house is bigger than mine hence the best place for 11 plus people to gather!)

Friday: with hubby home it is anyone's guess what we might be up to after the busy week!

Saturday: another round of household chores including changing and washing sheets to 6 beds!

Sunday: Church day and hopefully a day of rest before a work week!

Sooooo should you see me here it will be a rare treat! Hopefully I will be able to get new posts scheduled out on Tuesday or in the evenings.

Should I not be around I want to wish you and your family a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Busy Day!

Got up at 7:30 am to start on my day that went like this...

8:15am ~~ called the doctor's office about my daughter who has a sandpaper type rash all over her body for the last three days. She has also been complaining about a sore throat.

8:30am ~~ the nurse calls me back to say that my daughter should be seen to have a throat culture done to rule out strep. Okay, fine no big deal! I tell the nurse that I was on my way to the doctor's office with ds#3 at 10:20am for his yearly physical. She replied can you come by 10am to see a nurse. Sure no problem!

8:45 am ~~ I make sure that the kids are dressed and get through their morning routine before we leave.

9am ~~ I get through the shower and get dressed myself. I get my hair done and clean my glasses. As I am wiping the water off my glasses I notice that my glasses are pivoting funny. I have frameless wire glasses, so when things start to pivot funny it is not a good thing! I need the glasses to see clearly. I can go without but GREAT headaches ensue! So I literally run downstairs to get my hubby's needle nose pliers and work at squeezing things back together. I seem to have fixed them for now! I think they have been "broken" for several days as my youngest son smashed into my face over the weekend and caught the corner of my glasses and smashed them into face! Anyway by this time it is 9:35am and no one is in the van!!!

I was suppose to leave no later than 9:30 am so that I can swing by my parents' house to drop off those that were not being seen today at the doctor's. It helps not to have extra bodies in the exam room!!

9:40am ~~ I am finally leaving the house! There is no way that I can make it to the doctor's office and to my parents' house by 10am!! UGH!

9:50am ~~ call my parents as I am going by their exit and tell them I am not coming til after appointments.

9:55 am ~~ have gotten to the doctor's office for my 10am appt! We only wait about 3 minutes before we are called back. The nurse gets the history on my daughter and then swabs her throat says it will take 7 minutes to know results. We wait! She comes back...it is negative! Yeah! Well she wants to swab her again just to make sure because the rash is very similiar to what you get when you have strep/scarlet fever! Second test comes back negative! Toss it up to a viral infection. We start to head out to the waiting room for my son's appointment only to be told that we need to head back the way we were to another room. Fine! We get done with the doctor's by 11am.

11:20am ~~ We make it to my parents' house for a visit. We stay til noon!

12:20 pm ~~ We are home but my youngest son is having a temper tantrum because he can't go outside to play in the rain. He is upset enough that he is coughing and next thing I know I am hearing the other kids hollering that he just vomited all over! UGH!

I get that cleaned up and get him a small lunch along with getting lunch for the rest of us. Youngest son eats and then goes down for a nap! Ahhhhh...quiet!

1:30pm til 3pm ~~ I run out to the stores to do some shopping. Oldest ds holds the fort for me during "quiet time".

3pm ~~ unload groceries and put them away. Get dinner going!

And the day is not over....I still have several things left that need my attention! And despite fixing my glasses I don't have them exactly like they were and I have a nice little headache brewing.

So I say all of this to say...what a day! I now know what I am getting for an early Christmas present...new glasses!

Too busy to do Weblink Wednesday and Works for Me Wednesday....I'll be back with those next week!