CHRISTMAS PICTURES

So excited about Christmas!

I'm very happy that we decided to stay here in KY to celebrate Christmas together by ourselves. Sometimes you just need to focus all your love and attention on your immediate family. Sure I love the rest of my family SO much, but there's nothing like waking up at your own house, watching the faces of your children as they tear open their presents. It just brings so much peace, being able to stay home in our pjs all day if want to, eat whatever we want for dinner, whenever we want to. I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year!!! Today I took the boys to the mall for Santa pictures. Grisham just stared at him and was very content in his lap. Then we got their Christmas pictures taken. I know it's kind of late for that, but that's ok. I didn't buy many this year and I kept it simple. Trying to simplify a lot of things in my life. I want to keep the reason for this season close to our hearts. This is a time to reflect on the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ and to remember all that He went through so that we could be saved. It just makes me smile to think about how much He loves us!

From our family to yours, Merry CHRISTmas and a happy New Year!!! May God richly bless your life in 2010 and always!!!

I'm feeling really good right now! I am healed in Jesus name! My mom and cousin came for a visit and stayed the night and went to church with us this morning. I had a great Scentsy party yesterday and will have another one next Saturday! I made SuperStar consultant last month. :0) I feel closer to Jesus than I have in a really long time. I am SO thankful to feel this way again and it's not just because things are going well. I am just able to focus more on the positives again BECAUSE of my relationship with Jesus Christ! I am thankful to be so blessed and to be able to be a blessing to others!

This is what the sky looked like while we were Trick-or-treating on Halloween. I commented on how it looked kind of freaky. Then Gavin said, "No MAN, don't come back yet. I need to eat my candy first." Anyone who is a Christian will easily understand what he was referring to! ;0)

He can't even walk yet, but he can get ANYWHERE!!!

Stinky Face's One Year Pics

Would you like to earn more income and have fun doing it?

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Need more time in the day? Put God FIRST and see what happens!

Yesterday was a very productive day for me. I went to Gatti Town to support other like minded people who don't want our children brainwashed by a president who has done nothing but take "hope" away from us. Then I stopped by a friend's workplace to show her the new Scentsy catalog. She ordered 2 warmers and a bar, so I was VERY happy with that visit! Then we went to Hamburg to search for some tiered plant stands for my event displays and for small cases to have more basket parties going at the same time. Good news: I found the perfect basket tester cases. Bad news: No such luck with the plant stands. I also stopped by a couple of places about putting my warmers in their business for a display for a week or two. I was exhausted when we got home, but continued to be productive. I wrote out invitations for my cousin's party coming up next weekend, made rice crispie treats, made some business calls, spent a little bit of time with my family (not much, I'll sadly admit) and then got on my team training call at 9 (while trying to catch some of America's Got Talent Semi-finals). Caught up on my e-mails (kind of) and forced myself to lay down at 11:30. It was close to 1 again when I finally fell asleep.

After ALL that I did yesterday, there is still SO much left undone. And then I think about the Bible verse about seeking God FIRST and all these things will be added to you. MAN, I didn't get it right at all yesterday did I? How many days do I get it right? Not enough! It's SO hard to put God first when there is so much here that you think needs done. Can you agree with that? Maybe if we really start putting God FIRST, then everything else will somehow fall into place. It's amazing how things change when you start following the principles in the Bible. It's just like tithing. God says to test him and see if the windows of Heaven will not open up and pour out more blessing than you can imagine. It's true. God has never failed us. There are times when we have felt that way, but when the situation changed (after we thought it was too late, but God was right on time), we could see that he had a plan all along. He was making us stronger. He really tested our faith in Him. I'm asking you to join me and start putting God FIRST. Read your Bible in the morning while you are eating breakfast. Pray more! Have you ever fasted to pray for a great need? Maybe you should give it a try. Go to church! You don't have to, but it's great to be surrounded by loving people and getting fed the Word of God by a highly anointed person. If you don't have a church home, I would love to have you join me at ours. That's enough for now. Hopefully my next blog will be about all the breakthroughs we are having because I'm trying harder to put God first! Let me know your stories too!

Yay for Friday

I am so glad that Friday is finally here. It's been a more challenging week than last week. I've had my fair share of sleepless nights and cranky mornings, but it's Friday and we've made it through another week of homeschool! So what's new? Gavin started karate on Monday. He loves it. He loves his uniform and he's now a white belt. This week we studied 2 Kings 6:5. His Bible verse was "Bus as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, 'Alas Master! For it was borrowed'." We learned that God is not only concerned about big miracles, but small miracles as well. He finished his story about what his life would be like if he were a pirate. He takes his spelling test today and he got a 100% on his math test that he took yesterday which reviewed all of the skills he's learned so far. In Social studies he is continuing to learn the state capitals. He knows them all from Alabama to New Mexico. In Science he is learning about clouds and a little more on the water cycle. He learned that evaporation leaves pollutants behind by freezing blocks of ice with food coloring. When the cubes melt and the water evaporates, the color is left behind on the paper. In reading he read "An Oregon Trail Diary" and learned about compound words, drawing conclusions, categorizing words and interpreting graphic information. He continues to do great with cursive writing. Next week we will be spending some time updating his blog, so be sure and check that later in the week next week. www.worldofgavin.blogspot.com


White Belt Gavin

Gavin and his karate instructor

Gavin's science experiment

Gavin with his science experiement

2 great websites

I just found 2 great websites today to help with homeschool. One is just for spelling, which I was in desperate need of. It is www.spellingcity.com. You can enter the spelling list and it will teach them the spelling and sound, play games with them and even let them take spelling tests. It's great! The other one is for various types of worksheets and help. It is www.superteacherworksheets.com. I hope someone reading this will find it as handy as I did!

Second Week of Homeschool

This is our second week of homeschool and overall, it's going great. I love having Aaron here to help me with Grisham. It's really helping Gavin and I focus more on schoolwork. I am doing all that I can to make this year the best one yet and keep things interesting for him. One thing that he really loves is "The Wheel of Destiny". I took the spinner out of the Twister game that never gets played and I put all of his subjects on a circle and added a couple extra things like re-spin, student's choice and teacher's choice. He spins before each subject to see what subject we'll do next. He is working on his own blog. You can check it out at www.worldofgavin.blogspot.com. We began homeschool last week. He had 3 full days of school and a field trip to the Frankfort History Museum. In math, he is learning a variety of new skills like coordinate graphing and calculating area. Spelling is his weakness. I am trying hard to keep that fun so he doesn't get too discouraged. In Science he is studying the water cycle. Social Studies, he's still working on his state capitals and he's doing an excellent job! In reading he read the story, "The Lion and the Mouse". He learned about irregular verbs, onomatopoetic words and also did some pages on sequencing, synonyms, categorizing words that describe character traits and recalling details and relating to personal experiences. He's sharpening his cursive handwriting skills, and I must say that his handwriting is the best handwriting I've ever seen from any child! Last, but certainly not least in our book is Bible Study. We began last week with the verse, "Work at everything you do with all your heart as if you were working for the Lord, not for human masters" Colossians 3:23. He had this verse memorized by the first day! We made mac and cheese the lazy way, by pouring everything in before the water boiled and not letting it cook as long. We didn't really read the directions well, so it wasn't very good. The next day we made brownies and followed the directions exactly. Gavin learned the lesson that we are greater rewarded when we do everything with our WHOLE heart!

THE WHEEL OF DESTINY

People

As my 30th birthday has passed and Grisham just celebrated his first year of life, I am beginning to realize who the important people in our lives are. They are the people who are there for us. The ones that always have been. They are not the people who make excuses at every corner. They are not the ones who have filled my heart with brokeness so many times. As I realize this, I feel good and bad. It's great that I know without a doubt that I have a few good friends and a handful of family members who would drop everything to be here for us in a moment of true need. But at the same time, it hurts. It hurts to realize that the only thing I can do about those who don't care about us like we care for them, is to let them go. I will continue to uplift them in my prayers and pray that they will have a change of heart and realize how much hurt they've brought to my life. I pray that they will feel so bad about it that they will have a change of heart and want to be a bigger part of our lives. But I can't change other people, only God can do that. So from this day forward, I am going to try really hard to just let them go! I know it will be a daily challenge, but I'm sick of getting my heart broke. May the next tears I cry be tears of joy, when these people open their arms to me and my family and treat us the way God treats all of His children!

The Big Day

Today was Grisham's 1st birthday party. Tomorrow is his actual birthday, but we celebrated today to make it easier on our friends and family who came from out of town. Thank you all for coming on his very special day. I can't believe that it's been a year since I was taking long walks, trying so hard to start my labor. It seems like just yesterday. And now we have a special little boy who brings so much joy into so many lives. He's smart, sweet, funny and SO handsome. He has started his life adventure and he doesn't hold anything back. He loves to learn all he can about the world around him. He loves his family and friends and already has a special place in his heart for God. I believe that he has a special annointing on his life and that even as a child, he will help lead others to Christ. I thank God all the time for our special little guy. One year ago, I couldn't imagine how life would be when he got here, and now, I can't imagine our lives any other way. He's such a special blessing to us. I thank God all the time for giving us our healthy, loving baby boy. Happy First Birthday Grisham, Love Mommy

Grisham's First Haircut...

Below are the pictures. We went to Kiddie Kutters. While waiting his turn, he climbed stairs on his own for the very first time, trying to get to the slide. During the haircut he sat in a toy airplane and watched 102 Dalmations. For the most part, he was pretty still and he didn't cry at all. When he was done he got a certificate with his picture on it and a lock of hair in a tiny ziplock. He also got a balloon and a sucker...which he didn't eat of course. He does look a little more grown up, but we are all very happy with the cut. Our baby is growing up way too fast!

One of my new favorite pictures of him!

Climbing stairs for the first time all by himself. He's going to love to climb!

The airplane he sat in.

A look from the back.

He's SO cute!!!!

During the haircut...