It's almost time

Christmas is almost here! Where did the month go? I am not quite sure. It has been pretty crazy. But it's almost here.

We finally did our Christmas picture. We attempted to do it on our own with the tripod, and that was a bad idea. It was the hottest day of December and it ended up with Noah sliding off Hannah and smashing his face on a rock. Poor guy, (he was ok) but it quickly ended our picture taking. I was pretty much over sending out a card, until last weekend, I thought I have to send one out it's Noah's first Christmas. So we did, I called Chela and we went out right behind our house and got some great pictures. I am so thankful for her. She was so flexible and squeezed us in. So after Jacob did some editing I uploaded to Walmart and cards were printed.

Last week Hannah and I decided to bless our neighbors. Well, it was a process that took a couple of months but we did it last week. Between pintrest and Ryan's service messages, I got a bright idea. I saved all our coffee cans for months.... and I mean months. I looked like a coffee hoarder. I cleaned them and then glued pretty wrapping paper on them over the coffee logo. Then we baked, well Hannah and Noah slept and Mama did the baking. And we filled the cans with cookies, chocolate covered graham crackers and rice krispie treats. We took them door to door and introduced our selfs to our neighbors in our circle and gave them out. Hannah even greeted all of them with a Merry Christmas. It was wonderful. We have lived in our condo complex for almost 5 years, and most of our neighbors we have never met. We have 12 in our circle and 4 neighbors are new the area. It was a great moment to soak in, showing Christ's Love in the form in baked goods. It stretched me a person, I am not the outgoing type, and as a parent, these are the moments that I want to instill in my children. It was great.

So it is almost here, the presents are wrapped, the tree is up, the cards are out... we are just about ready. The elves will come tomorrow to bring us new jammies for Christmas, we will take communion as a family on Christmas morning and read the story of Jesus of birth before we open presents. All preparation and gifts aside, he came as a child, in a manager, to save us all. This really hit me the other day, when I was holding my sleeping Noah..... only 4 months old, that is how our savior came as a child.

Thankfulness in the craziness

These last couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Shopping, lots of birthdays and getting ready for Christmas. We waste no time, after Thanksgiving we put up the tree and deck the halls. It looks like Christmas in our home. We figure why wait, we only a tree in our home once a year so we should make the most of it. It was so much fun decorating with the kids. Hannah loved to put up the ornaments and then take them off and redecorate the tree again. She worn the stockings as slippers and of course the Christmas music was playing. The little Mr. and I sat of the floor playing as Hannah and Daddy decorated the tree. It was great.

I am so thankful for Gods timing. He really knows what he is doing even when I can't see what his divine plan is. I was able to go out and do nearly all my Christmas shopping on black friday. I am so thankful that I was because last week my hours at work were cut.... drastically. I took nearly 30% right before Christmas. My initial reaction was, what an answer to prayer because work was taking up so much of my time during the day that I felt like that I was not here for the kids. (although still so very thankful that I am still the one with them and they don't have to go to daycare) But after the reality started to sink in of how that much less income will effect our family panic set in. I was ready for anything, if we had to move, sell a car, whatever. I KNOW that God has a perfect plan, a plan for me, for my family and he will use this for HIS purpose.

So I am thankful that he knew that I would be getting a cut and he allowed me to get all the shopping done at amazing discounts. We also sat down and did the new budget, and yes it will be tight, but not impossible, I am so thankful we don't have to move. We still owe a great about in medical debt, but I have to trust that God knows what he doing. He knows our needs. He will use all of this for his purpose, after all its Christmas time, when you really think about it, he was born in a manager. It puts thinks all in persective. I think that is what I really need this season, new perspective, new hope, built faith. I have four little eyes that are watching my every move, my every reaction in this crazy season. We will get through this, it will get better, and if it doesn't, that is ok too, we are happy and healthy and have the love of Jesus...... that is all we need.

Family, Turkey

We had a great Thanksgiving. It was stress free and drama free, the best kind. We drove out to my sister's house, hit no traffic, ate way too much good food, and had two very well behaved kids. On the downside, we didn't take any family pictures :( boo.

Family has been a very "hot" topic for us/me lately. I have been reading some really good books, and the more I learn, the more I want apply it to my family/ children. When I was a child, my parent divorced at a young age, I lived with my mom and she played the role of both father and mother. Jacob on the other hand, parents are still married. He had a great example of how a family should ideally work. Finding balance on how Jacob and I were raised verses how we want to raise our children, and how we can be the best parents is a process.

I really do enjoy learning the different ways and styles of parenting. I do have to remind myself not to compare myself and my style to others. What works for me, may not always be the "right" way for someone else. I still don't even really know what I am doing. But I do pray for wisdom and guidance on what to do and how to do it.

Letting go of the little things has been so challenging and yet so freeing for me. I decided if it is going to have the same outcome, why stress over it. Like walking to the car: Hannah loves to stop and enjoy life, look at the leaves, jump off the steps and say "bye bye" to EVERYTHING. Bye trees, bye leaves, bye house.... so cute, but when we need to go somewhere and I am carrying a heavy baby Noah in the car seat it doesn't make for a very happy mommy. It was making me stressed out just trying to get from point A to point B. But I started to think about it, does it really take sooo much more time for her to stop and enjoy life, why does it stress me out, it was just silly. I have embraced Hannah for who she is, and let her take the time to enjoy life, and it makes me slow down a little bit too.

I think there is a reoccurring theme of my life... Slow down and enjoy it more.

We are getting our tree soon, so hopefully some pictures will be up soon. Enjoy!

Fall

Happy Halloween.... and now onto November

Wow, Fall has come so fast this year. Well it seems that everything has come and gone so fast this year. We had a great year so far. We went trick or treating on Halloween. Hannah had fun being meme or Minnie Mouse. Mr. Noah man was a football. He mostly slept once we going. Hannah totally milked the system, she would let the people put the candy in her bucket and then stick her hand in the candy dish and take another handful. She has enjoyed some candy and her mommy has enjoyed way to much candy. I am going to take the rest into work to get rid of it. I am still trying to lose the Mommy weight that Mr. Noah has blessed me with. Its a work in progress.

I Love this time of year. The changing weather, cold mornings, hot coffee or hot chocolate, warm dinners on a dark night, comfy jammies and a blanket to snuggle, its even better having two little munchkins to snuggle too. It is also a great time to stop and reflex on Thanksgiving.

I have been reading some blogs on how people using this season to give back to others. I think that is such a great idea. But being a little low on funds, I am going to use this time to reflex on what has been given to me, and be thankful for all that I have and have not been given.

Today is day two. I am thankful that God has been providing for us. We have had a little bit of a rough time finically since I have had Noah. Living on a much lower income is sometimes a challenge, I don't get to shop like I used to, or even buy the preferred groceries at times. But in exchange I have got to spend some awesome time getting to know the little blessing that God gave me. There was a time a couple of years ago when I longed to have a baby. I felt like I would do just about anything to have one. And now I have been given not one but two. I prayed and he answered. It was a long time waiting for the answer, but here we are. And he is still faithful. Even with the money seems to run out and it is a day or a week late, he provides, sometimes in an expected way, but has always provided for us.

Entry from my journal today: That you love me, you hear my prayers and you answer them. You know my needs and meet them.

Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this and he answered our prayer.

Unplugged. Unprocessed. Challenged.

Family:

I have been really challenged lately. I really want the best for my family, for our life. I am really sad that my time off is slowly coming to an end, I go back to work in two weeks. I know that it is the best for our family at this time. And I am so very thankful that I get to work from home, but there is a great deal of time that I spend working at home and not playing with my kids. I do pray that there will be a time that I can stay at home and devote my days to my children. But until then, I will go and work. And use my time that I have and make it quality time.

Food:

Wanting what is best for my family, I have been really watching what we are eating. We have been eating less processed foods. I am feeling great, and eating the way that God intended it to be has been really good. After learning about what some of the ingredients that are in our foods that we eat everyday it is kinda scary. It makes me want to make everything from scratch. But that is unrealistic, so I have been trying to make better decisions for our family. Jacob was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 4 years ago. Ever since then our food world has been totally turned upside down, we did really good at first, the slowly faded back into the life of processed. It is really easy to live processed, it is convenient and much cheaper, but not so heathy.

So with a little planning and reading of labels, we are making some progress. It has been over a week since we have eaten out, with the exception of frozen yogurt, my weakness ;). Bottom line, it is worth the extra time in the kitchen.

Tv. Internet.

In short, I am going to unplug more. Spend time where it really matters. I was pouring milk for Hannah yesterday when I suddenly realized, I am not going to get back the time I wasted today. Life is soooo short, and I do waste so much time watching tv or online or doing whatever. That being said, I am still going to have time for myself, wasting it away online and sitting in front of the tv. Just not when I could be doing something more fun with the kids or going outside and enjoying God's beautiful creation.

The World.

I want to make the most of today. Not living for tomorrow. I recently listened to a sermon by Pastor Barry that really brought new perspective in my life. I am no longer going to wait for tomorrow before I start living. If I wait for tomorrow to start serving, or doing the work of God, it is NEVER going to come, there will always be a distraction or hindrance, or I will never be good enough. So today is the day. Ministry starts at home, and that is perfect because that is where I am. I have thought that life would be so great if.... we had a house, a large lot of land, lived in the county somewhere, had all our debts paid off, had more time, but all those if's have been holding us (me) back from living for today. Today is the day that GOD gave us (me). So TODAY is the day to live for. Sure it would be great if we had all those things, but it is no reason to NOT live for today. Make the most of each moment.

Life starts today. Why wait. Be challenged.

Blog a Log

Life is feels normal for me, again. I feel adjusted to having to little munchkins. And I LOVE it.

I also Love pinerest. It has so many ideas for food, decor, style, ect. it's so much fun. I have done a couple of projects with the ideas that I have found on there.

I made a pumpkin spiced latte. It was good, but not quite starbucks. I am not sure how to make it extra creamy, but am working on it.

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I also made a door wreath. It came out ok, I used a tube to make the wreath. I think next time I will use a bigger tube or stick wreath.

So aside from little projects here and there I have been trying to change my life style on food. That is one thing that I love.... FOOD! Jacob was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago. When he came home from the hospital we completely changed our lifestyle with food. We both lost a lot of weight and felt great. But over the years we slowly let some bad foods back into our diets.

He recently went into the Drs and was told that his sugars aren't doing so well. In effort to get him healthy again, and to lose the rest of this baby weight, I meet with a dietitian. She is has such a great passion for health and gave me some great pointers on eating. So for the past week or so, I have putting her wisdom to practice. And what a difference.

I am feeling great, eating better, and losing weight. I haven't measured a thing, still eating whenever I am hungry, and haven't even counted a calorie. It has really made me think about what I am putting into my body. What God intended for me to put into my body. When did the world turn into everything packaged and processes. That is not how it was meant to be. Jacob and I have both lost weight. I am praying that this new life style sticks. It really helps that we are both on board and that I want my children to know what real food is.

So that's it for now.

I have found some balance in this crazy mommy world of mine. Hooray! I am still only getting about 3 hours of sleep at a time but Hannah has been sleeping much better so for now I will take my 3 hours and not complain.

Noah is now 7 weeks old. He is so chubby, and Happy. I love him so much. He is so easy going and just goes with the flow.

Hannah is still a great big sister. Hasn't tired to kill him. I started taking her to the library for story time. She really seems to like it. It is just enough structure to help her prepare for school but fun at the same time.

Well it has been about an hour since I have started this entry, and that is all I have been able to get done because I am constantly interrupted. And I am being summonsed once again. Until next time.