THANKFUL- 2010

There are so many wonderful things that I am truly thankful for in my life right now. This has just been a wonderful growing year for our family of 3 & God has truly had His hand on us in a great way!

I wanted to go through a few things I am thankful for before this wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday & share some things that have changed in my life in 2010 that I am thankful for.

FAMILY:

Without them I am nothing. I am so blessed to have married into a wonderful family who I also call my own. Even though I have only been married to Chad for 5 years, I feel like I have always known them. I feel like it's always been this way. It's such a great feeling to enjoy your in-laws & love being a part of their lives.

I am so thankful for my relationships with my sister in laws. I have 3 total, (& practically 4 because I am so close to my sister in law's sister, Crystal). We all have a special bond & have grown into such mature young woman who truly love our lives, our homes, our families, & God. Family is forever so this friendship is very valued to me. In 2010 my relationships have forever grown close with my sister in laws. So many things have been overcome, & so many joys have been brought into our lives. Blessed.

My family is such a blessing. My Mother has been a rock during this first year of Avery's life. She has grown to become my best friend & taught me that the little things don't matter. What matters is family, & your child who is first, always. She has taught me to see brighter days & helped me through some challenging times when I didn't know if I would survive being a first time stay at home Mom. My Dad is also a best friend. He is the leader of our family & without his words of wisdom we are truly nothing. My brother is amazing. We haven't always seen eye to eye, but through this past year as I have now become a Mom I look at life a little different than before. I value the small things & cherish each second with him. Seeing the love in his eyes for my daughter is something I can't even explain.

My husband is my life. Having a child has changed our lives. We have such a strong love for each other & it seems as the days go by & Avery grows a day older, we learn something bigger about life & how much family is truly our first priority. We are both just so thankful that God blessed us with a child after miscarrying in 08'.

My daughter. Avery is one of the biggest parts of my entire life. I eat, breathe, sleep, & think about her. She is my # 1 priority & job since I am a stay at home Mom. She has changed me in so many ways & molded me into woman of God & into a person that wants to be the best I can be, for her & our family. I am so blessed with a wonderful 1st child- she truly has brought so many joys into our lives, and lots of laughs!

HEALTH:

I praise God daily that I am healthy & that most of our families are too. I know illnesses will come & go but I am thankful for my good health at this time of my life & try my best to do what I can to take care of myself each day.

FRIENDS:

My friends have been SO stinkin' good to me this year. I truly feel like you know who your true friends are during important stages of your life. It seems like my friends haven't missed a single beat; as well as me with them. I have really grown to know who those true friends are in my life & who truly deep down cherish our friendship. So many of them have grown with me through Avery's 1st year & have been there during times of turmoil or when I just needed to cry out in confusion to one of them on when I had no clue what I was doing- whether it be in person or even over the phone. Some days when I was sick a friend would drop off some food & a card, or even try to take Ave from me for an hour. There are days when I just needed a "moment" & a friend would call & take me to coffee. One of my most valued memories is when a friend would just drop in with a diet coke; or when my best friend called immediately after my Uncle had passed so worried about me & I could feel her hurt through the phone for our family.

These moments to me are what true friends are all about. Someone you can trust, laugh with & be yourself with, someone who is unconditional until the end of time. God has blessed me in the area of friendships this year & knew I would need them during the new stage of being a SAHM. I look forward to growing with each of my friends in all areas of our lives; near & far.

My JOB:

Coming from someone that has worked full time since I was 17 to now being a full time Mom, I can honestly say that both are incredibly hard & both have their ups & downs. It's been a change for me. I am such a people person. I love going into the office, getting some coffee, chatting about my weekend, telling funny stories, reading e-mails.... my life now consists of coffee alone, reading FB e-mails, chatting to myself, or mainly to Avery. Sounds exciting & so easy, right!? WRONG on the easy part! Being a SAHM is the hardest most rewarding job- to me anyway. I am 110% responsible for another person 24 hours a day. No lunch breaks, no 15 minute breaks, no nothing. I change 50 diapers a day, feed about 6 times a day with snacks, change her outfits twice a day, (and mine after I get pooped on), & chase her which means I probably burn about 1000 extra calories daily. I sweat constantly & sometimes don't even get a shower. Hats come in handy these days. I laugh constantly but find myself at times crying in frustration then pinching myself saying, "you are blessed"!

I also feel truly blessed for my husbands job. He just got promoted at another company & will be doing some neat stuff! He is really excited & we are so thankful that God opened a door. We prayed for months & he so openly gave us the assurance that it was what He wanted for Chad, so here we go! I am thankful that my husband is able to provide so that I am able to stay home with Avery.

PATIENCE:

I am not normally a woman of patience. I can tend to have a temper & fly off the handle- especially when I whole heartedly disagree with something. I have really been seeking God's hand in this area of my life & basically in forgetting the simple stuff & focusing on the BIG PICTURE of life. I'm so grateful that after years of dealing with this I have developed quit a bit of patience & find myself not worrying about things that don't make sense like I use to. Thank you JESUS! Having a child has helped me develop this nice little feature as well because you have to have ALOT Of patience with an 18 month old!

BLOGGING/BLOGGERS:

SO thankful for this. I have developed SO many close friends through my blog & through their blogs. I have learned so many things about myself & about others & their lives. I have grown in so many areas simply through blog reading. I have been given some amazing advice that no one else could tell me, I have cried SO many tears, & laughed out loud a million times. So refreshing for my soul.

It is so neat that some peoples blogs I have read for years & I am now just meeting them & some even live in the same town as me. It's amazing how we all seem to link together & know each other. Again, friendships... thankful!

During this Thanksgiving Holiday remember this:

In happy moments, PRAISE GOD. In difficult moments, SEEK GOD. In quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD, & in painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment- THANK GOD!

Avery Tuesday!

It was totally an Avery day, & ALL ABOUT HER. We stayed inside all day. I had plans to run errands, go to Sam's to buy some things for Thanksgiving, & hit Wal-mart on my way home.

Instead, a friend came over with her girls to play, & we stayed in. I kind of enjoy these type of days although by 5:00 I am itching to see Chad & breathe a little. Or even take a bath! ;)

She was so sweet all day playing around the house & just being her cute self. Her word of the day was, "Mummy, cookie"! Gotta love that sweet voice- I eat it up & cherish every second I get to hold her in my arms; normally when she is watching Dora.

I can't believe she is almost 18 months old. In 6 short months I will have a 2 year old, YIKES!








And these sweet little pictures then turned into this at dinner time. I walked into the Kitchen & saw this lovely sight of food everywhere. Luckily we have a dog so he ate all the goodies right up! BONUS for Pickle tonight!



Happy Wednesday!

Blogger Dinner & Movie!

Several of my girlfriends in the area & some bloggers that are from out of town planned a date night! We enjoyed a nice dinner & a movie. Chad got a picture of me before I left & I am actually holding a purse; so excited! Funny I know, but I haven't carried one in forever. I am always carrying a diaper bag so I was excited to actually carry one tonight & go on a date with the girls!

Can I tell you that it has seriously been MONTHS upon MONTHS since I have seen a movie! I could hardly wait for this night out & believe me, enjoyed every second of relaxing in the theatre & laughing at the hilarious movie we saw. All of us girls were piled on 2 rows, it was fun!




Go check out this movie, you will love it & giggle through the entire thing!



Thank you to some wonderful ladies for a fun night out! This momma has needed it!

Weekend

Our weekend began with Papa Bill's funeral. We first had the visitation on Friday evening with the family & then the funeral was Saturday morning. It was such a beautiful service. At the burial they had 2 officers there that served in the war to present a flag of honor to Grandma Betty. It was so touching. As we left, I picked a flower off of the arrangement that was from all of the grandchildren for Chad to put into his Bible in remembrance of the special moments he shared with his Papa.

Death is never easy, but the assurance of knowing you will see your loved ones again someday is what truly makes life a little easier.




Avery gave a kiss to Papa at the visitation & it was so special to Chad as we both broke into tears. I snapped a picture of her before the funeral while we were still at home in her beautiful dress for Papa.




The past few days have consisted of so many tears. My eyes have been swollen & I haven't slept much as I have worried so much about Chad. During lunch after the funeral a few of the cousins decided to all get together & make plans to go see the "lighting of the lights" on the square that evening. I thought it was an excellent way to put a smile on every one's face, so we did just that! Several of the group couldn't make it but a few of us enjoyed being together.
















The HOGS were playing after the lights so my sister in law & niece came over to watch it. The girls played & just had a good ole time. I already have Ave in Christmas jammies so I had to capture a few shots. She loves them!

Chad was really stressed when the game went into OT, too funny!






Sunday was an excellent service at Church. God never ceases to amaze me. The service was on, "When you die". Some MORE reassurance of what all I have been dealing with on death lately. Pastor hit it hard in Psalms & the Lord knew exactly what both me & Chad needed to hear. I have never felt closer to my husband. He is such a leader, & true man of God. I am amazed daily by his love for Christ & it truly shows through his leadership & unconditional love in our marriage.

The church handed out these shirts today & asked us to wear them everywhere we go! So, Avery & I put ours on tonight & off to Wal-mart we went!



The rest of the afternoon Chad helped me do some deep cleaning. Him & Avery were in my bathroom cleaning & I went back there to do something & saw that she too had her little vacumn toy. She was just cleaning right next to Chad the entire time & it was too cute. She loves to do everything that we do.

...And a husband that helps me clean- F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S - RIGHT LADIES?



My weekend ended helping my sister in law Kara put up her Christmas tree. We pulled everything out, & went to town! We aren't finished yet we are adding some fun gold things to hang out of the tree & on top of the tree & then it will be finished tomorrow. Isn't it just beautiful?



I hope you all had a wonderful weekend & great start to a Holiday week. It's almost TURKEY DAY & we all already have the menu's going & the plans nailed down. I can hardly wait!

Thursday Talk

Thank you for all your sweet support & prayers for Chad's family while they are going through a difficult time. I can't tell you how much that means to our family. The funeral is Saturday.

Earlier this week Chad was off because he came home early from hunting to be with Papa. We decided to get out a bit & have a lunch date with Avery & I snapped some pictures. She is just growing up too fast. There is never a dull moment with her. Chad & I are ALWAYS laughing!










A few weeks ago I found this beautiful crown with rhinestones in it & it had a little cross on top. I love nothing more than those 3 things together, so I bought it! I wasn't sure where I was going to put it, until I found the most perfect spot! On the wall above my couch by my verse. I thought I would share.




And speaking of Christmas, remember this fun crazy bouquet of suckers I did for Avery's 1st Birthday?



I knew I made the right purchase getting this fun green vase, because I found another fun way to re-use it for Christmas!



So my Christmas Decor is completely finished besides the outside. I love sitting in the living room at night with some Apple Cider & enjoying the lights. I thought the other night my dining room was so warm so I had to snap a pic! I love my table the best, it has crowns all over it & crosses throughout mixed with all the fun Christmas colors.

I will do a post of all my decor sometime next week or so once I finish outside.



Tonight I made a big dinner for Chad, meatloaf! One of his favorites! The other day he was saying how much he wanted Peanut Butter Balls so I made a batch for him. He was excited, it was a nice surprise!



After dinner Avery brushed her teeth & got all warm & cuddly in her jammies. She loves her little house shoes too! We have wood floors so I try to keep those toes covered up!

I can't get enough kisses from my little diva! I love her more than WORDS & just smooch on those cheeks ALL THE TIME!




I hope you all had a great day!