He’s talking

Not long ago, I blogged about how God still speaks and He’s speaking to me. I get a daily devotion via email and I also pull up biblegateway.com from time to time to read scripture…everything that I’m reading tells me “Read your Bible!” So, even though I’m not reading my Bible as nearly as much as I should, God is still talking to me. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that love?

My prayer life and Bible reading time are lacking and pretty much always have been. It’s easy to make excuses that I don’t have time with two kids, working, trying to cook good meals for our family, etc. But, those aren’t good reasons. What would it hurt to get up 15 minutes early to read some scripture? I bet I would feel better losing those 15 minutes of sleep to gain so much more from spending time with my Dad.

So, that’s my goal. Spend 15 minutes each day in the Word. I wonder what great things He will tell me…

ezra and wisdom

Up until now, I have avoided posting my child’s name on my blog, but now I feel it’s time to share. My precious two-year-old’s name is Ezra and it came from the Bible. I didn’t like it when my husband first suggested it, but it’s been the perfect name for him and everyone says it’s so pretty and uncommon. We’ve picked out another uncommon boy name for #2 (if it’s a boy), but I’ll wait and share that when this baby shows up. We have a girl’s name picked out as well – Charlotte. That’s what I had picked the first go round, convinced that my baby was a girl. I was wrong, so I kept it for #2 just in case. Anyway, I digress.

The other day, Ezra insisted on wearing his dog toboggan backward, with his boots and undies in the rain. He claimed the hat would keep his head from getting wet. Smart kid, eh?

Our little Ezra has been such a blessing these past 29 months. Even in the throws of “terrible twos”, he’s not terrible at all. He’s sweet, loving, energetic, healthy, funny, talkative…We just can’t believe how blessed we are (“we” being my husband and I). Our other family members feel the same way.

I was thinking of some of the funny/interesting stuff he’s done here lately and wanted to share:

• He’s been mesmerized by the poison oak all over my arm and the other day I said, “It’s awful.” Now, every time he sees the remainder of the rash (which thankfully is going away now), he says, “It’s awful.”
• Last night, I went to check on him before I went to bed and I always creep into his room in the dark and feel around in his bed until I find him. I grabbed something I wasn’t expecting – a naked butt! He had removed his diaper and was sound asleep on his belly. Thankfully, he hadn’t wet the bed, so I was able to diaper him up without waking him (a skill we learned when he was around one).
• Speaking of potty training, he’s not there yet, but I’m not pushy about it. I figure it will happen when he’s ready, but we’ve been encouraging him to go outside since it’s nice and warm. The other day, he actually went twice outside in a row (no accidents in between), then he actually performed a #2 while standing in the yard! I hadn’t encouraged and wasn’t expecting that one, but it made me laugh so hard. We’re just standing there and I hear this “thud” and there’s a nice little present on the ground. It was a hoot.
• Yesterday, he scared us to death when he almost ran his battery powered tractor over the bank. Thank God (literally) that this stump stopped him or we would have had a mess on our hands. Needless to say, we’re making some changes as far as that tractor is concerned.
• This morning, I went to lay with him when he was waking up and one of the first things he said was, “I want to feel the baby move.” That was very sweet, because he really hasn’t shown much interest up to this point.

I could go on and on about my kid, but who couldn’t? Each parent is so amused and in love with their child…it’s just something hard to explain.

Last night, I picked up my Bible and read a little in Ezra. My favorite verse thus far was 7:10 “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” I think I’m going to frame that and hang in his bedroom as his life motto. I think it’s befitting.

On the subject of wisdom, that’s what our Sunday school lesson was about this morning. I actually got to teach the ladies’ class, which I haven’t done in some time. The verses were Proverbs 2:1-6; 3:5-7 and the point was “God will give me wisdom when I humbly seek it.” Notice the last part of that conditional statement that I bolded – we have to humbly seek it.

I liked this lesson today because I feel like I need and desire more Godly wisdom in my life. Knowledge is easy to obtain, but wisdom comes from God alone. I asked God for His wisdom recently in something that I just didn’t have the mental energy for and He’s really helping me out. However, I can’t be lazy and make Him do all the work. I still have to put some effort into it.

One of the challenges in the lesson is to seek God’s wisdom by reading one chapter of Proverbs every day in the month of July – there are 31 chapters and 31 days. I asked my husband if we could do that together and he agreed, so we’ll start tonight. I figure we need a jump start since we’ll probably get off track a few days in July with this new baby arriving. I look forward to what God is going to reveal during this exciting, yet challenging time in our lives. I’ve not yet read this article, but it’s a suggested reading in the Sunday school book that I hope to get to soon – http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/stripping-the-veneer/.

This week, spend some time in God’s word and see what wisdom you find…

budgeting and generous giving

I told my husband the other day that I want to create a real budget since we now have a house payment (something we’ve not had in our 11 years of marriage). Sure, we’ve had other payments, but none as big as this mortgage and none that will last for such a long period of time. The past several Sunday School lessons at our church have been about work and money management, so this comes at the perfect time.

After teaching my spin class yesterday, I got into a conversation about budgeting with one of my students, who has been on a budget for quite sometime. She follows the Dave Ramsey principles which I’m somewhat familiar with (thanks to my cousin who gave me that book many years ago!). I need to pull that book back out because I only made it to the second or third step in the plan. Either way, this gal was so helpful and emailed me the neatest spreadsheet on budgeting that she uses. I plan to get into the meat of it this weekend and figure out our budget for next month and see how it goes. I don’t think our house payment will start until May which is nice so we’ll have a month to practice.

This week’s Sunday School lesson is about “Our generous giving should glorify God and reflect Christ’s giving.” My mom raised me to understand the importance of tithing (giving the first 10% back to God) and over the past several years, I’ve really practiced this. I’m a good tither, but I’m not good at “offerings”, so I plan to work that into the budget. I was proud to hear my sister say she gave a good chunk of her earnings to the church last year. I guess mom’s words DID sink in after all!

Some points from the Sunday School lesson this week (2 Corinthians 9:10-13):

• The Lord is the One who provides our necessities of life and more
• The reason for multiplying our material resources is to increase the harvest of our righteousness
• God prospers us not so we can move on up and enjoy a bigger piece of the pie but to enable us to do more to bless others
• Our generosity will result in people offering thanksgiving to God, thus bringing glory to Him
• Generosity supplies the needs of the saints
• Generosity expresses thanks to God
• Generosity confesses the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone

So, I’m praying over our new budget and asking God to guide me in creating it and following it. I know it won’t be easy to change some of our habits (like eating out WAY too much), but I know we can do it. One reason we got a house is to stay here and enjoy it, so I plan to work on meal planning on the weekends and this gal is going to be grilling out a LOT more this spring and summer!

On another note, I got me some Starbucks Veranda Blend Blonde Roast at the grocery store the other day and it sure is tasty. I had been drinking my favorite Jamaican Me Crazy blend, but I was almost out and was ready to try something new. Plus this was half the price. Yes, I’m pregnant, but I don’t worry about one cuppa joe a day.

Have a blessed day!

A pretty sunset one evening this week

count your blessings

This week has flown by and I’ve been a silent blogger. There’s been a lot going on! I wanted to share with you the blessings I’ve been bestowed this week.

There’s a song we sing in church that goes like this:

Count your blessings name them one by one
Count your blessings see what God has done
County your blessings name them one by one
Count your many blessings see what God has done

It’s a sweet little song and it really makes you think about how blessed and loved you are. So, here are my top blessings of the week…

1. A healthy child – even though he’s had a fever, snotty nose, and sneezing since Thursday evening, he’s still a healthy kiddo in the grand scheme of things. He’s not been sick in forever and he’s such a happy boy. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC last Sunday & Monday (which we loved) and there was a girl there who obviously had Down’s syndrome. She seemed to be having a great time in the water, but it just made me realize how fortunate we are to have a healthy child with no afflictions. It was interesting because later my husband pointed out the same thing to me.
   

   Our son loved the wave pool at the Great Wolf Lodge

2. A new home – we are SO close to moving in to our new home! I’ve been silent about this for a while, because it’s been hurry up and wait, but I really hope this week is our move in week. I really hope to wake up on the first day of spring (Thursday) in our new house. It has been an experience I do not wish to repeat….ever. Our new home is nothing elaborate, but sometimes I feel guilty knowing there are folks that have no place to live at all. I count it a huge blessing that we have somewhere to live that’s safe, warm, and nice.
   

   Our new house we hope to move into this week!

3. My weight loss team won! I had lead a group of 5 ladies for 6 weeks during this weight loss contest at work and they lost the most of all three teams. I’m so stinkin proud of them! One lady on my team lost 25 pounds in 6 weeks. Granted, normally we don’t want folks losing weight that fast, but she did it by healthy habits she can keep up after the contest ended.  I made some great new friends with these ladies and feel like they will continue on for years to come.
4. Helpful family – I can’t say enough about how helpful our families have been during this home building/moving process. Someone is always pitching in to help us plant grass seed, build a porch, buy some materials, or whatever it may be. My younger sister told me yesterday, “I’m sorry I’m not there to help you. You helped me paint my apartment.” That was probably 8 years ago and I don’t even remember doing it. But, she was sweet to think of helping me and I plan to put her to work next week when she’s home for a short visit. He he he
   

   My in laws came up and helped us Monday with the new house.

   

   And my dad came to build our back deck with the help of my husband and his friend.

5. Fetal movement – I’m 22 weeks along in this pregnancy and I’m feeling that baby movement on a regular basis now. Most of the time, it’s when I’m sitting still or laying down. It’s the most amazing feeling and I remember missing it after our first son was born. I think I actually started seeing some movement on the outside of my belly yesterday, but you have to look closely.
   

   Holding my son with baby #2 in the oven

6. Loving husband – I thought this home building process would really test our marriage, and there have been some tense moments over the past few months, but my husband is a trooper. He’s stepped in there and got things done as well as put up with his pregnant, sometimes demanding wife. I’ve been very particular about colors and most of the way things are going to be in the new place and he’s been very accommodating. I wish I would have had him on my weight loss team because he’s made some healthy changes and has lost about 12 pounds! I told him that his belly is getting smaller and mine just keeps getting bigger.
   

   My boys getting ready to go play in the pool at Great Wolf.

7. Spring weather – this weather has been completely crazy so far in March. One day, it will snow and be 30 degrees and the next day it will be 70 and sunny. I’ve soaked up all that warm weather I can stand and there are green things coming up now! I’ve seen little flowers popping through and my willow tree has tiny green buds on it. I feel like this winter has lasted forever for some reason, so I’m ready for the new season.
8. Another birthday – I turned 32 last Monday and was showered with lots of cards, gifts, and love. My husband got me the best card…when you open it up, it has a lit up candle that you blow on then it plays the Happy Birthday song. It was so neat. I felt very spoiled and got to buy lots of new stuff for the house, plus some maternity workout clothes, which I desperately needed. All my shirts were turning into belly shirts and no one wants to see that from their group exercise instructor or personal trainer!

Well, I think that sums it up for now. I have so many more blessings, but I could blog for days and days and days and never cover everything. My prayer for you today is that you have a place to go and worship and get in touch with God. Thank Him for what he’s done for you.

a glimpse

My dad and my son playing at dinner tonight

I caught a glimpse tonight of what my life would be like if my parents were still married. They divorced when I was about 18 (so about 14 years ago, I guess). At the time, I was bummed, but it didn’t really bother me like it does now. When I had my son, I realized how nice it would be if my parents were still together. Not only would it make the holidays easier, but it would just be nice to have two sets of grandparents…not three or four. I don’t have hard feelings toward either of my parents for the decision they made to separate, but I guess I just feel sorry for myself wishing circumstances were different. I should just be happy they are alive and well and actually get along.

Either way, my son and I took my dad out to dinner tonight for his birthday. After dinner, my mom came to pick my son up so he could spend the night with her. She came into the restaurant to get him and on the way out the door, my dad was in front of me carrying my son and my mom was behind me. At that moment I thought, “So, this is what it would be like if they were still together.” It broke my heart to be honest with you. After we parted ways, it was all I could do not to cry while driving home. Dad was still with me and I didn’t want to have to explain my tears.

I don’t write about this to get sympathy or make my parents feel bad. I believe that I’ve learned a valuable lesson from my parents about what it takes to make a marriage successful and how important it is to work at a marriage so you can be a family when your kids are grown…and when your grand kids come along. I love my parents dearly and appreciate all they do and have done for me. I feel very blessed. I just pray that my husband and I have a long, happy life together and get to see our grandchildren one day.

Sunday school lesson: enjoying work

Just a few days ago, I was telling my husband how I feel like I’m actually helping people in my line of work now. For years at my other job, I felt an emptiness – like I wasn’t helping better mankind in any way. I didn’t dread going to work much, but I just didn’t feel there was much purpose. I think that if I would have been paying more attention, I would have seen that God was opening doors for me earlier than I did.

I’m currently employed as “Executive Assistant” at a local fitness facility. My job is to be the director’s right hand woman and help with whatever she needs. The position has morphed into not only helping do small things like keep our website updated, create signs/flyers about happenings in our facility, etc. into personal training, group exercise instructing, and being a lifeguard. I wear tons of different hats, but I was used to that from my old job and I really like it. I’m one of those A.D.D. type people, so I need variety.

Either way, I’m really excited about the new Sunday school books we got at church this week. The cover has a pretty picture of plants and it’s for SPRING 2014! I started reading the first lesson this morning and it’s really good. I won’t get to attend church this weekend, but I can study the lesson and still get a blessing.

Here are some of the points I picked up from my reading this morning. The scripture comes from Genesis 1:28, 2:8-9,15:

• Work is a gift from God, not a curse
• God created work BEFORE sin entered the world
• He expects us to be faithful in doing our part and to let God be faithful in doing His
• We’re not to sit around expecting blessings and to be taken care of while we’re lazy – we have a job to do
• Without work, how would we meet the needs of our families?
• Genesis 2: 8-9 points out:
  • God placed Adam and Eve in a specific location to do a specific job
  • God caused the land to flourish
  • God blesses you where he places you

STOP right there for a second and re-read that last bullet: GOD BLESSES YOU WHERE HE PLACES YOU. The question posed is “If we’re not being blessed, why not?”

• In verse 9, the Bible says God caused all the various trees to sprout up but he still told Adam in chapter 1 to work the land. Even though God gave Adam a task, it was still God who gave the blessing of growth.

The key question of this lesson is “Why has God given me this particular work?”

Let me clarify something before I go any further…if you are a stay at home mom/dad, you ARE working. I’m a firm believer in the important work you are doing. I honestly used to look down my nose at you all, but once I had my own child, my outlook changed. I think it’s one of the most important jobs in the world.

Secondly, if you are disabled and truly unable to work, I understand your situation and I don’t have any negative feelings toward you. In the same sense, if you’re not able to stand on your feet for hours at a time, for example, there could still be work for you to do! If you have a stable mind and the ability to sit and listen/talk, you could volunteer or work with elderly. Just keeping them company and helping them feel loved and appreciated is a very honorable job.

I do feel God has a purpose for me in my current job and I feel He had a job for me in my old career. Here are a few things that have already happened in my current career in less than 18 months that I really feel He had in mind for me:

• Yanked a kid out the swimming pool to keep him from drowning
• Helped a lady pull out of her depression and intervened when she was talking about suicide/depression
• Brought a cheerful, positive attitude to my workplace (I’m annoyingly happy)
• Am currently helping a group of 5 ladies lose weight during our weight loss contest (which helps them feel better and make a bigger difference in the lives of others around them)
• Talked about my Christian beliefs to members and co-workers

Yesterday was my day off. Granted, I normally have Saturday and Sunday off as well, but Monday is my weekday off. I love only working 4 days a week and I really try to spend as much time with my son on Monday as possible. That was one of my biggest intentions of changing jobs was to spend more time being a mom. Sometimes on Mondays, I feel so guilty that I’m not at “work”; but then I think, “THIS is work, too!” Going back to my comment above about stay at home parents, it’s one of the most important jobs in the world. My goal is to instill in my son (and future son/daughter) my beliefs and values before the world out there starts trying to tear his little world apart.

So, think on it today. Are you happy with your job? If not, you best start talking to God. Maybe you have blinders on and are missing what He’s asking you to do. Maybe He has a different job in mind for you.

easy pasta

I wish I had a picture of what I ate for lunch – it was pretty served in a red pottery bowl. But better than that, it was tasty and easy to make. I just cooked up some whole wheat penne pasta then I tossed in some sun dried tomatoes (packed in oil), olives, chickpeas, olive oil, and grated cheese. Yummy! I had leftovers, so that will be my lunch tomorrow. I always feel happy after eating a simple pasta meal.

On another food note, I went out for dinner with a Catholic friend last night. Before eating, I asked if she would like to say the blessing, to which she replied “No, thanks. I’m good.” At that point, I should have said my Christian blessing, but what did I do? I started eating instead. What the heck? I’m supposed to be strong in my faith. I was just a little dumbfounded I guess. I asked for forgiveness last night when I prayed and I will definitely say grace before eating the next time that situation arises.

I guess I just like to think that if someone had a gun to my head and said “Do you believe that Jesus is God’s son and that you will go to heaven when you die?” that I would proclaim “YES!” even though it might be certain death for me. But, I can’t even say a blessing over my meal with a friend? What is that? I would say “human”. Point is, I learned a lesson and will do better in the future.

monday challenge

If you read my Sunday Challenge post, I had a goal to spend 3 hours on Monday working on an assignment from our Sunday school lesson this week. It was a good day, but I ended up only spending 45 minutes on the task. My goal for the rest of the week is to finish the other 2 hours and 15 minutes in dedicated Bible reading and prayer. I wanted to share what I accomplished in my 45 minutes. Maybe it will inspire you to take the challenge, too.

How well am I following God’s purpose for my life and how might I be more faithful?

What is my purpose?

• To follow God’s will for my life

  • Which is what?

• To give praise and glory to God in all that I do

• To lead others to Christ by witnessing and leading a lifestyle that is pleasing to God

• To raise my children in a Godly way

Bullet points from the Purpose Driven Life (Day One) – http://purposedriven.com/day1/

CENTER YOUR LIFE AROUND GOD: (Worship)

• “Love the Lord your God with all your heart …and soul and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” Mt. 22:37-38

• “A sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”

TO CONNECT WITH OTHER BELIEVERS: (Fellowship)

• “Let us not give up the habit of meeting together… instead let us encourage one another.”Heb. 10:25 (GN)

• “Those who believed… were baptized and added to the church… They joined with the other believers and committed themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship… They worshiped together regularly at the Temple… and met in small groups in homes …”Acts 2:41-42, 46 (NLT/LB)

TO CULTIVATE SPIRITUAL MATURITY: (Discipleship)

• “Let us go on… and become mature in our understanding, as strong Christians ought to be.”Heb. 6:1 (LB)

• “By now you should be teachers. Instead, you still need someone to teach you…!”Heb. 5:12 (GW)

TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION WITH YOUR LIFE: (Service)

• “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other.”1 Peter 4:10 (LB)

• “What can I give back to God for the blessings He’s poured out on me?”Ps. 116:12 (Msg)

TO COMMUNICATE GOD’S LOVE TO OTHERS: (Mission)

• “Through Christ, God has made peace between us and Himself, and He gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with Him… So we have been sent to speak for Christ!”2 Cor. 5:18, 20 (NCV)

Questions I need to answer:

• Do I really love the Lord with all my heart?

  • I feel my love growing all the time, but it’s easier for me to love my earthly family sometimes because they are actually here with me.

• How often do I put my own wants before what God wants me to do?

  • a lot…seems like I don’t really ask God what he wants me to do. I need to spend more time reading my Bible and praying so I will know His will.

• What am I doing right in my current lifestyle?

  • Going to church most every Sunday – not just to go, but to receive a blessing and be part of a church family

  • Reading the daily devotional with Mike most nights before we go to bed

  • Raising our son in a Christian home and taking him to church regularly

  • Praying over our meals

  • Standing up for things that are right in God’s eyes and opposing those which are not

  • Sending birthday and other notes to church members, family, and friends

  • Not watching shows or listening to music that has questionable content

  • Tithing on a regular basis

• What obvious improvements need to be made and ideas for each

  • more time reading the Bible

    • get up 30 minutes earlier at least 4 days each week

    • take breaks throughout the day to read scripture

  • more time praying

    • get up 30 minutes earlier at least 4 days each week

    • specifically for my family and our relationship with God

  • more time serving others

    • be a better neighbor and reach out to those immediately neighboring us

    • serve at the soup kitchen once a month

    • propose and help organize a one day vacation bible school at church

    • send more “thinking of you” notes to church members who request prayer or that come to mind

  • offering my testimony more easily and often

    • revisit my written testimony and become more familiar

    • become familiar with scriptures and action steps to help lead people to Christ

    • plan a gathering at our house around Easter to show the Billy Graham DVD and follow that plan to invite others to Christ (since I didn’t do it last year)

  • spend more time educating our son on God

    • find some biblical cartoons and books

    • talk to him more about his God, creation, God’s love and will for his life

  • teach during Sunday school

    • bring the adult book to the kid’s class and review the scripture and points

    • teach the kids songs to sing in front of the church

  • give more offerings in addition to tithes

a sunday challenge

[I started this post yesterday (Sunday), but didn’t have a chance to finish it, so I’m up at 4 am on Monday wrapping it up.]

Each week, I try to read over the coming Sunday school lesson so I’m prepared. I’m technically a Sunday School teacher for young adults, but we rarely have a class at our small church. Normally, we moms head into the kid’s class to help reign in the toddlers. Either way, we’ve had a great book of lessons in this book. This week’s lesson was about creation and how we can be sure God in fact created everything.

The scripture came from Genesis 1:1-3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 26-27. We had a good discussion during Sunday school class and the following points were brought up:

• Most of us know creative people. The difference between their creations and God’s are that they create things out of materials that already exist.
• Some people argue that creation didn’t take place in 6 days – that those “days” were actually longer spans of time. I choose to believe they were actual days that we experience now. If God can raise people from the dead, surely he can create the world in 6 days!
• There was a “digging deeper” section about the “Image of God” and I’d never thought too much about it before. I always thought humans were created in the physical image of God, but this points out that there are at least 5 ways humans are like God: rational, emotional, spiritual, social, and volitional (ability/need to make choices).
• The lesson also pointed out again that God created MALE and FEMALE – His plan was for marriages and families between a man and woman.
• The uniqueness and sanctity of human life was also mentioned since we are created in the image of God.

The title for this post originally came from a command in the Sunday school lesson. It said “Set aside three hours one day this week to reflect on how well you are following God’s purpose for your life and how you might be more faithful.” For some reason, this jumped off the page at me. My initial reaction was “Three hours! Are you kidding me?! Where am I going to find three hours for this?!” God was quick to point out that I do have Mondays off from work and my son normally takes at least a 2 hour nap. Instead of napping too or finding something else to do, I plan to light into this today. It didn’t say spend 3 consecutive hours, so I’m going to try to break it up into parts, starting in a few minutes. My challenge to you is to do the same thing! Doesn’t have to be today, but sometime this week. If you complete the task, let me know!

On another note, I had a different “Sunday challenge” yesterday evening. Our son was happy all morning and went down for a nap in a good mood. He slept for 3 hours and let me tell you, that kid awoke on the wrong side of the bed! He’s rarely grouchy so I was worried that he was sick when he got up and acted ugly like he did. At first, he just seemed in a sleepy fog, but then about 30 minutes after being awake, everything made him upset and angry. I had fixed dinner and had our plates on the table when he decided to walk by and throw his in the floor. I was so mad! I got down to eye level and gave him some speech about how he knew that was wrong and how bad it was of him. Those little two year old eyes were as big as saucers, then his little face contorted and you could see he felt bad about what he did. After he cried a bit, he finally came around and had a big spoon of peanut butter, then he ate some supper. I think he was hungry when he woke up and he just ended up getting grouchy instead of just eating. He ended up fine about an hour after he woke up and went to bed last night a happy kid.

My husband and I rarely experience this behavior from our son, so we talked about it last night while going to bed. I made the comment that some parents experience that on a daily basis. I’m glad he had the same thought as me…”Because they allow their kids to do whatever they want” which is exactly true. Some parents would have spanked and some would have had time out when their kid acted the way ours did yesterday, but I’ve found for us, a talking-to and time for our son to cool off works just as good as anything (at this point). Eventually, we’ll get to the time out thing if we need to, but for now, he respects us and we can avoid it.

The funny part is that I was in a weird mood yesterday, too. I called it cabin/spring fever. I am so ready to get out of the house and do something outdoors! Yesterday was just so cold and windy that it wasn’t enjoyable at all. Today, however, is supposed to be a bit warmer and we’re going to see my dad for a bit since he’s off work for the holiday. We’ll probably spend some time out in the snow during our visit. This week is supposed to warm up into the 50’s so I’m going to try to get out as much as possible.

fantabulous two days

The past two days have been wonderful! I hope the week continues at this pace, cuz I’m a very happy gal.

Yesterday morning, we took our son for his 2 year old check up and all was well. He was 80th percentile for his height and 60th percentile for his weight. He did really well while the doc listened to his ticker and all. The only thing that upset him was leaving the fish tank in the waiting room. After that, he cried on and off the entire time we were in the exam room. He wanted to go back and see those fish! The doctor said a lot of talking at this point is a good indication of intelligence, so we’re on the right path with our jabber mouth. And, she thinks he’ll be left handed. The only left handed person in either family is my husband’s great aunt, so she’s thrilled.

Our happy two year old cheesing it up today

After the appointment, I bought myself a treat. A new piece of art for our new home! I saw it last week and loved it, but talked myself out of buying it. After thinking about it for days, I broke down and spent the 20 bucks. I think it was a good buy.

My neato piece of artwork for the new house

The coolest part of yesterday, though, was when they DELIVERED OUR NEW HOUSE!!! It seems we have waited forever for it to arrive and now it’s finally here. Right now, it’s just parked in our yard, but hopefully it will get set up very soon. The day ended with a great yoga session that left me a bit sore today.

The back of our house!

Today started with my one hour glucose test to check for gestational diabetes and I actually passed! It was an early test (I’m 18 weeks along) so they’ll do it again at 28 weeks, but for now I’m in the green. Baby’s heart beat is in the 150s and it’s moving around a lot, even though I’m not feeling it much yet. We go back in two weeks for the ultrasound to determine the gender, but we’ve already determined we’re going to be surprised again this time. It’s so much fun not knowing and waiting till Baby arrives.

I ended up taking the entire day off work and running a million errands, then spending quality time with my son. We played outside for over an hour in the cold sun. Tomorrow, the snow is supposed to move in and cover us with anywhere from one to twelve inches. Let’s hope it’s one. I’m thinking in the 4-6″ range will be more like it. I hope it melts fast so they can continue with our house set up.

The huge oak in our temporary yard. My favorite tree around.

One random note…if you have never tried San Pellegrino, you need to do so TODAY! My friend Nancy turned me onto this (she’s part Italian) a while back. She drinks the orange ones and I tried the blood orange one not too long ago. It was good, but I thought I would try the lemon this time. I gave up soda back in November, but this is different. It has real sugar and actual lemon juice. It’s heavenly. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but this is my guilty pleasure. 🙂

My description? Summer in a can!

Overall, I feel extremely blessed. I always feel blessed, but more so this week. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!

What wonderful, exciting blessing(s) have you experienced this week?