Randomness

I'm so behind on EVERYTHING! My having a sinus infection of some sort for the past week and then various children being sick off and on, has just thrown my schedule off.
I had a mini-freak-out last night around 12am. Yes, that's right around midnight! I've been taking Mucinex and the past 2 nights I took it right before bed and hardly got any sleep. Well, one of the possible side affects is sleeplessness....so yeah, that's been me that past 2 nights. So on top of not feeling that great, I'm exhausted and have so many things to do, I don't know where to begin.
Ok, back to my freak-out. I realized that Christmas is 2 weeks from THIS Friday. So that brings me to my yet to be done Christmas related list.

1. Decorate tree.
-We've got the tree but can't find our lights and all the stores (4 of them) we've been to are all out of the lights we need.

2. Christmas Cards
-address them
-write letter
-picture of kids (we took some over the weekend, not real thrilled w/ any of them, but at this point it may be as good as it gets)
I'm so tempted to just do the letter and picture this year and skip the actual cards....something I said I'd never do. Although, at this point if I don't skip something they're going to be New Year's cards.

3. Bake Christmas cookies
-I'm at least starting them this weekend. My sister's coming over Sat. morning to make some...yay! :)

4. Finish Christmas shopping
-I'm almost done with the kids, but still have plenty left to do

5. Decorate the house
-got the decorations pulled out of the garage, but they're still sitting in containers in the living room.....with our bare tree. :)

6. Order bows to match Blueberry/Lulu/Lu-Berry's Christmas dress(es)

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I've had a few "Scrooge" moments where I've felt like throwing my hands up and saying forget it, but I just can't. :) I am SO looking forward to feeling better again, I know that'll help a lot....and the kids all being healthy again will be wonderful too!

As for non-Christmas related things, well, it's mainly the day to day things. Laundry, cleaning, cooking, feeding kids, driving kids, keeping track of kids and all their many "events", being a wife, and the list goes on.....

Off topic we went to a Chris Tomlin concert on Sunday night, and I was so blessed and refreshed! I want to blog about it, but I want to do it when I'm more awake, so I can collect my thoughts better. I believe the "theme" for our Christmas letter was "born" during the concert. :)

Anyway, I wanted to get on here and just get a few thoughts out and I guess make an unofficial list for myself. :)

Need to go get lunch ready.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

5 Question Friday....giving this a try....

Ok, so here's my attempt at "5 Question Friday". I have no idea how to link back, so I'm not going to try. :) My main reason for doing this, is I wanted to post today and thought this might be more interesting than me talking about our new furnace and who's still sick. :)

Here we go...

1. Favorite gift you are GIVING this year?

Hmmm, I'm pretty excited about what I've gotten for the kids so far, but I think right now I'm most excited about 2 ornaments I'm giving.

One is for my hubby (E). It's Hallmark's "Remembered With Love" ornament (and if I knew how to post a pic of it, I'd do that:) ) E's mom passed away in '96 and this ornament has an opening for a picture and under the picture is says, "Remembered with love." Then on the back it says, "The true testament of a life well-lived is the love we leave behind." I think he's going to be very blessed and I know he'll cry. It'll be a precious addition to our tree and another way for the kids to remember their "Grama who's in heaven". :)

I'm giving another one of these ornaments to a sweet friend who lost her Grandma earlier this year. It's really a gift for their family to enjoy and I'm looking forward to watching them open it tomorrow!

2. How many parties are you attending between now and Christmas?

Do school related "parties" count? Right now I'm not sure. Probably a few (including school get-togethers). What an exciting answer. :)

3. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Hands down, "O Holy Night". I don't have a favorite artist who does it, for me my favorite renditions are done by individuals who have a "big rang" and a "strong or powerful" voice (make sense?).

Another favorite is "O Come, O Come Immanuel".

My favorite type to listen to is the "older" renditions, you know Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin....mainly because my mom's collection consisted of the records, yes records, with those singers on it....I grew up listening to them and all the "oldie" renditions. :)

4. Who was your favorite elementary school teacher and why?

Hmmm, this one's a bit tricky since I didn't attend a public school. The school(s) I attended through 8th grade were like one room schools with several teachers, so I'll just name a few. :)

Mrs. Bryant (Kindergarten)

Mrs. Evans (3rd-ish)

My Mom :)

5. If you had a choice to live in any other period of time (other than now) what era would you choose and why?

I have a few that I think of...

The Civil War era.

Why? I love the dresses in Gone With the Wind. And I know I'd probably be sick of them in a weeks time, but it's fun to imagine. :)

The 40's-50's

Why? Things seemed a lot simpler and more wholesome back then. Everyone knew and were friends with their neighbor, you could let your kids play outside along and not have to worry about them being gone.

I guess like I said, just simpler and more wholesome, more family oriented. :)

I hope all of my answers made sense. :)

My littlest is up from her nap so I need to go.

Have a great Friday!!

Thankful Reflections

I'm a few days late in getting this up. My "idea" was me sitting alone after the kids were in bed, with the house quiet on Thanksgiving evening, reflecting on all the things/people I'm thankful for. Well, by the time everyone went home and the kids were in bed I was too tired to create complete sentences, so I thought it'd be best I wait. :)

It's Sunday morning and I'm home...not at church. J3 woke up with an ear infection (I'll be taking him to a walk-in clinic this afternoon to confirm) and Blueberry/Lu-berry/Lulu (still deciding on her title) :) had a touch of croup which now is just a real phlem-ee sounding cough. We decided the other parents at church would appreciate it if we kept them home today. :)

What am I thankful for? I've been think a lot about this the past, well, close to 2 months now. Our family has had one sickness after another the past 2 months with no break of us all being healthy in-between. I must admit, in the past week, I've had many moments where I've been quite the complainer about our situation, not so much verbally, but in my heart. There have been days where I've gotten sick of myself being such a complainer. I mean, good grief, I know families going through much worse right now, and I'm sitting here complaining about having to take someone to the Dr. again for the 2nd or 3rd time in the past 2 months, when there are others who would kill to only have to take themselves or their children to the Dr. for an illness that's easily cured by antibiotics. Where am I going with this? I'm learning that each of us has our own storms or battles to go through, and for each of us these storms/battles will vary by severity. So for me, one of my storms/battles at the moment is dealing with my family being sick for an extended period of time. While I'm tired...even exhausted at times, I need to continue to pray and trust the Lord. He's still in control, He IS the great physician, and I want to learn what He's trying to teach me through all of this.

Please understand I'm not trying to make less of what anyone else I know is going through...my heart has been broken time and again for friends I know going through much worse, and I'm continuing to pray for them. This is just where I'm at in my own struggles. So what does this all have to do with being thankful? Well....

I'm thankful that I'm slowly learning that I don't want the Lord to just bring me out of a storm/battle/struggle because I'm too wet or too tired of fighting. I want Him to walk with me through the hard times, but bring me out only when I've learned what He wants me to learn. Again, this is very much a work in progress. :)

I am thankful for my wonderful husband!! He is truly the man God chose for me. Sure, we have out struggles, but I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else!

I am so thankful for our 4 beautiful children! Each one is a beautiful treasure that the Lord has entrusted us with. So often I feel so unworthy, but their lives are daily another opportunity to trust the Lord and cry out for His wisdom and direction!

I am thankful for our home! It is beyond anything I could ever have asked for, the Lord has blessed us above and beyond!

I am so thankful for our church body! I can't express how blessed we are to be a part of the church we attend. To have pastors who love God first and place Him first, is such a treasure!

I'm so thankful for my extended family! I married into a wonderful family!! I do miss my mother-in-law at times, but I'm so thankful I will see her again one day....her and my Grandma! :)

I'm thankful for my immediate family! My parents are wonderful! Are they perfect? No. But who's parents are? I'm so thankful for them and how they raised us!

I am thankful for my friends! My dearest friends I don't get to see as often as I'd like. My friends I see weekly. My newer friends who are becoming very dear to my heart. My internet friends that I've never met in person, but are thankful for them just the same. :)

I also, cannot begin to express how thankful I am for Jesus! For dying for me, for loving me, for being so patient with me, for being so faithful to me, for saving me! One day, I will see my Savior face to face....what a day that will be!

I have much to be thankful for! Now that we are entering into the season of celebrating Christmas, I want to keep a thankful heart and encourage my children to be thankful, especially for the "little things" that are so often over-looked!

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

Seriously???

This post is pretty much going to be a vent. I am frustrated right now, but I'll be fine.

Today is day 4 of me being on antibiotics for strep throat. The night I went into the Dr. my ears had been hurting a little off and on that day (Tuesday). My Dr. didn't see anything, and I thought, if I'm on antibiotics, it'll be fine, they'll knock out an ear infection (if I'm getting one), no problem.

So, when my Dr. told me I had strep, in the midst of my feeling absolutely miserable and needing to take some more meds for my fever and body aches, and then getting shivers/chills while walking to the car because the wind was so cold, and then my husband thinking something was wrong because I was shivering so bad once in the car....I was giddy on the inside knowing that the antibiotics were giving me, an end in sight to my being sick.

Fast forward to toady, after yesterday being the first day (day 3) of taking the antibiotics that I could swallow without wincing. I woke up a couple of times through the night feeling pressure in my ears and when I woke up this morning it was worse. I don't know if it's sinus related because the pressure/pain kind of goes down into my neck. Or if I'm getting an ear infection?

Can you get an ear infection while on antibiotics....something that, well, would knock out an ear infection???

Although, my strep got worse on the antibiotics before it got better. So the optimistic side of me is thinking, "it got worse before it got better with the strep, so this must be the same thing with my ears." The other not-so-optimistic side is frustrated that I'm still not feeling better and now I have another "thing" to deal with.

We've had viruses and/or sicknesses running through our house for the past 4 weeks, so right now in this moment, it's hard for me. I'm discouraged, I just want my family to be healthy again and to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas, healthy (and not just because we've got a ton going on next month :) )

I do know I need to keep praying for myself and my family to be healthy! I know that my prayers are not falling on deaf ears, and I know that this is another opportunity to Praise the Lord in the current storm I'm in, even if to others it doesn't seem that big. I need to praise and thank the Lord! He's worthy!

Wow, I'm sorry that got so long. :) Like I said, I'll be fine, it just felt good to vent a little. :)

Enjoy your Friday!!

Testing 1-2-3

Well, here it is. My second (and hopefully more successful) attempt at a blog. I originally set up a blog in the hopes of documenting some of the day to day happenings here at home, but also hoping to stimulate my mind at the same time. By that I mean, learning to once again enjoy writing and hoping that what I wrote looked like it did come from someone who successfully finished high school and even did some writing in college. :)

Right now I can't promise much, I have 4 kids and while I normally have lots of blogging topics floating around in my head, to actually take the time to sit down and type them out, may not happen as often as I'd like.

For now I'm going to keep my blog public, which means I'm not going to use our real names for privacy sake, so I'm asking those of you who may read this that know me and our real names to refrain from using them. I'll have to work on coming up with some fun ways of identifying ourselves. :)

As for pictures, another area not to get too excited over. All the pictures end up on my hubby's computer. I'm sure there's a nifty way we could share files so I could just as easily access those pictures on my computer, however, until I figure that out, the picture department will probably be lacking. :)

Now that I've got you all wanting more... :)

My youngest is waking up from a nap so I need to run. Enjoy your day!