Happy Sunday! I hope you are all having a wonderful day with your family and are excited in anticipation of the big game. Even though not all of us are football followers I think most of us will be watching the game today so I wanted to share a picture of A ready for the game along with a page I did for Ch since he wants the Colts to win. Have a great day!
Happy Thursday! I hope you all are getting excited to the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend! I don’t have a normal A story today because I would like to talk about a subject that was discussed in our bible study this morning. The speaker Jaimie is also a fellow blogger whom you have to check out at The Wonder Years. She is a mommy of two boys, ages 4 1/2 and 2 1/2. She spoke to us today about Finding Joy.
The first thing she told us was that there are 4 things that cause us to lose our joy:
1) Comparison
-We compare ourselves to other moms constantly. When those moms walk in with their breakfast dish hot, styled hair and clothes, and their 4 kids in tow you start comparing your cold dish, messy hair, sweat-wearing self to her and put yourself down. To make up for it we start putting them down in our minds any way possible to lift ourselves up. We all compare on a daily basis. I compare all the time, especially when it comes to living situation. “My husband is without a job so we have to live with his parents.” This is what I think about my situation. What I should be thinking is “We are lucky to have a roof over our heads and food on our table.” Instead of comparisons, choose contentment!
"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Philippians 4:12
2) Isolation
-As most of you fellow moms know we have the tendency to isolate ourselves from the outside world. We have those days when all we want to do is stay inside because it is too much work to get our kids dressed and ready to go let alone ourselves. Another time we feel isolated is when we are one of the only ones out of our friends who has a kid. This is especially true when you are my age (24) and most of my friends are not even married. What we need to do is force ourselves to get out of the house and participate in activities such as MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers). This is such a wonderful place to interact with other moms who are going through the same thing as you now or have already done it and get guide you! Instead of isolation, choose involvement!
“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24
3) Mommy-Guilt
-Oh boy how we all have mommy-guilt! We start blaming ourselves for everything bad that happens to our children whether we were there or not. “If I had been there, she would not have been hurt.” So many of us think this on almost a daily basis and we are driving ourselves crazy!!!! We cannot sit here and blame ourselves for things we cannot control. With that being said, we can also not protect or children from everything bad in this world. Sometimes children need to get hurt to learn not to do something. What we might want to stop. God wants them to learn to become wiser. Instead of fear, choose grace.
“The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” 2 Corinthians 2:9-11
4) Fear
-I think Jaimie saved this one for last because it is the most relevant to all moms. Fear: a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined. I think that sums us mothers up pretty darn well when it comes to our children. We fear for their safety, we fear for their well-being, we fear for their future. Fear, fear, fear! That is a scary word when you think about it and that is how it sometimes overwhelms us. If we walk around fearing the unknown we will never learn to appreciate what is in front of us. All we are seeing is the fear of our child falling off the monkey bars instead of realizing their “big kid” accomplishment. Think of how fearful the Mother of Moses was. She had to hide Moses for 3 months and then place him in a basket in the reeds of the Nile to protect him from being killed by Pharaoh. She had to place her child in God’s hands knowing he would protect Moses, which he did. He was found by Pharaohs daughter and grew up to be a great man of God. Instead of fear, his mother chose faith.
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. “Proverbs 29:25
“For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13
So instead of those 4 things that take away our joy let’s make sure we have these four things to keep our joy: Contentment, Involvement, Grace, & Faith. Stay strong in your trust in God and turn to other moms when you are losing your joy. Together we can find our joy!
“There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a great one!”
Here is a video I made about my daughter and those days where I need to make sure I find Joy:
So I have a favorite blog that I look at everyday! This is the blog where I get ideas, recipes, and my adorable fonts that you see all over my page! This blog is called Kevin and Amanda where Amanda is the most creative person ever. She is what I strive to be at someday and the thing I love the most is her scrapbook/sewing/craft room! I am so jealous and hope someday (when all my kids have grown and moved out :/ ) I can have a room like this:
Hello!!! I could sleep in there! I think just standing in there would make anyone feel like sitting down and doing a craft or a scrapbook! I am so jealous but now know why Amanda is so crafty!!! So maybe someday (30 years from now) I will be posting a picture of my craft room just like this one...hey a girl can dream! But in the meantime, Mom and MIL who I know are reading this blog, your kids will move out sooner than mine! Wink Wink! Enjoy!
As you all know my Ch, A, and I live with my in-laws, so we are limited to our room. Now our room is about 11 x 11 feet so there is not much room to do anything but I love a challenge. It all started with my hubby getting a little more than irritated when he would come in to go to bed and all of my scrapbook supplies would be on our bed since I did not have a space to scrap. He decided enough was enough and we needed to make a space for me to scrap, craft, sew, etc. but did not know how with such a small space. Well I love a challenge so I started brain-storming! Here is what the room looked like before (sorry the pictures are with Christmas decorations that is all I have!):
And here is the big reveal:
Bed is now against the back wall (I hate beds against the wall but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make for my craft area!)
My new craft area! A large piece of wood held by our two nightstands and two center brackets for support.
Look at all that space!
That's over 7 feet of work space!
All of my supplies are nice and organized
My new saying!
So there you have it! And all we had to buy was the wood and brakets! Pretty good for 11 x 11 feet. I hope you enjoyed my bedroom makeover and I look forward to having you all over for some scrapbooking!
On Tuesday, January 2, 2007 I married my love, my life, my best friend. We were married at a Church in Redondo Beach in a beautiful intimate service with 100 family and friends. Our reception was held in El Segundo which had a beautiful indoor and outdoor space. It was a beautiful wedding and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
Each day I wake up and thank God for my wonderful husband. He is the best husband a girl could ask for and he is my best friend. I am so happy we have been together for 3 years and can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together! I wanted to share some pictures of our special day with you! Happy Anniversary Babe!
I was so excited to marry Ch!
Now introducing for the first time as husband and wife.
Our Wedding Party: My Sisters, Ch Brother, Ch Cousin
Wow! I have not posted in awhile so just to warn you this might be a long one! Lets see, where to begin? ***Thinking*** Lets start with our Hons Household Holiday Happenings! I know thats a mouthful but it is so much fun to say! So as most of you who read this blog already know we had 7 Christmases. I know it seems like a lot but we have so much fun spending special time with our entire family and A loved seeing all her cousins! I wanted to do a cute poem/song titled "The 4 Days of Christmas" but my brain has been fried since Christmas so it is not very clever but it gives you a re-cap of our wonderful time!
On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a Mexican Dinner with the L Family.
On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave two me, an Italian Dinner with the Vi Family.
On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, Hons Christmas morning, C Family brunch, and a Christmas lunch with the O Family.
On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, brunch at the P and a traditional dinner with the rest of our family. (too many last names to list)
Sorry I don't have many pictures but I did not get my new camera until the 3rd day of Christmas. Thanks Mom & Dad for my awesome camera!
Now on to the exciting news! After Christmas, during this week off, we decided that it was time to move A into a big girl bed. I so did not want for this to happen because I am not ready for my little princess to be an even bigger girl! I want her to stay a baby forever! Wishful thinking, I know. So even though I was putting it off I have actually had a toddler bed for about a year now. (My mom and I were shopping one day and stumbled upon a fantastic deal that we could not pass up which is why we have had it so long.) So you could say that I was a little hesistant but it was time before she ended up flipping herself out of her crib head first onto the floor. We decided this the night before so I snuck in and took a picture of her in her crib for the last time!
We started by telling her after nap she was going to get a big girl bed and that she could help us take down the crib and put up her big girl bed. So after nap she got her tools out and helped take down the crib, she was so excited to help like a big girl. Once we finished taking down the crib we brought in the big girl bed and made it with her new princess sheets! She ran in and jumped on the bed and exclaimed "Look at my big girl bed!" It was so sweet to see the look on her face and see her jump up for joy!
I was a little nervous about the first night but after some talking to she did go to sleep about an hour later and has been great ever since! And of course being the mom that I am I snuck in and took a picture of her sleeping in her big girl bed! Enjoy!
On Tuesday S and I took A to Disneyland to see the Christmas parade, fireworks, and snow! I was so excited to see her reaction. It was a fun day, even though it was crowded. I don't want to say much because I just want you to look at the adorable pictures! Enjoy!
Watching Dora on Mommy's phone while waiting for the parade to start.
Tigger & Pooh in the Christmas parade.
Trying to get a picture of Princess Aurora
The adorable reindeer.
Watching the adorable fireworks. Isn't that the cutest face?!
Standing in the snow...even though you can't tell it is snowing in the picture!
Mad that the snow is over. Lol.
Princess Aurora's Castle...she is sleeping in the top haha
Someone was so tired she passed out sitting up on the way out!
We had such a wonderful time and I am glad we were able to go one last time before Christmas!
Welcome to my blog! This is a place for me to brag about my wonderful hubby and our beautiful eccentric, intelligent 11 year old princess and our stubborn, unique, handsome 7 & 3 year old princes. They surprise me each day and are always 2, 3, or 10 steps ahead of me. Every day they remind me that there are more important things in life and we always need to cherish Life's Simple Pleasures.
