Santa Claus is coming to town!

The Little Man is enjoying himself so much these days. Three years old is the perfect age to fully appreciate the excitement of Christmas. When you're three the lights are so much fun to see and it makes riding in the car so much more enjoyable. Three- year- olds truly appreciate all the hard work that goes into decorating your house and lawn. Three- year- olds put a lot of thought into just the right things to ask for from Santa. What other people have or may be getting has no bearing on what they ask for. Three years olds love the idea of the different animals and the baby born in a barn. Three-year olds love to sing at the top of their lungs and make up their own words to those little known carols we sing once a year. Really, CHRISTmas is the most wonderful time of the year, most especially when you are three.

14 years

Happy Anniversary to The Knight. Fourteen years of fun have flown by! I cannot believe how lucky I am to have you! I hope we have many, many more!

Mom took care of things here while we went out for a nice lunch at City Range and some shopping. I went for a check up at the doctor too and everything is healing up nicely Dr. Bishop said. The Little man had his Christmas Program this morning and it was just adorable and so much fun to finally hear all the songs he's been practicing around the house.

I am having a great time having mom here. the Knight loves it too and even commented today that he wouldn't mind if she stayed. Isn't that was the ultimate compliment from a son-in-law? She and I had fun shopping together and she is doing all the cooking. She takes the girls to school for me and I've introduced her to my favorite coffee places. She is just so easy to be with and I am so glad we have this time together. She's been able to see all the Christmas programs at the kids school and at church, she went with us to see Santa and the lights at Roper Mountain Science center. She watched Allison at gymnastics and has met a lot of my friends. She's learning her way around town and loves our church. In the back of my mind I think it would be wonderful if she would move here one day, but I just don't think that would ever happen. She said she will be coming more often and staying longer, so that makes me happy. I know this is where God wants me to be, but I've wished many times over the years that I lived closer to my parents. Now that Dad is gone, I wish I could do more for Mom and have her be more involved in our lives. But she has her own life in Florida and will also be spending more time in Arkansas taking care of her mom.

That's it for now. I have to look on the Internet for a farm for the Little Man!

A year Ago

A year ago today I went for my yearly mammogram. I was preparing for a busy Christmas with three children. As room mom for Allison's class I was trying to come up with a craft to do at her Christmas party. I was hoping to get my shopping done on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 and 12 while the little man was in school. Dad had a mysterious cough he couldn't seem to kick. The Knight had just started his new job at St. Jude. The girls were hoping Santa would bring them a cell phone. Life was normal.

Here it is almost one year later and life is not normal. My life has been changed way beyond I could have ever imagined. The only thing that has not changed is God. He is still the same now as He was one year ago. But me, I am totally different. I have learned so much, experienced so much, been under anesthesia so much.

I fear God. I'm not afraid of him;I just respect him and love him SO much. Sometimes I do fear that I haven't truly expressed to Him just how thankful I am for what He has done for me. I don't want to be like the nine leapers that Jesus healed and just go on my way without thanking him. I want to be like the one who did take the time to go back to Him and thank him for giving him his life back. I want to be more thankful than Noah when he realized he and his family had been saved from the flood that destroyed the entire earth. I want to be more thankful than Abraham must have been when he found out Isaac was not to be the sacrifical lamb. I want to more thankful than Sarah when she realized she was pregnant when she was really old. I want to be more thankful than anyone has ever been. He has given me SO much.

I'm thinking about that today.

A year Under Construction

I have not felt at liberty to blog about my reconstruction until now. I am pleased to tell you that my surgery on Novemeber 30th was a success. After 3 days in the hospital, I am happy to be at home recuperating under the watchful care of the Knight and my wonderful MOM! Because I do not know who reads this blog and because I do not want this to be a place for rumors to start, I will not be blogging about the details here. If you would like to call me, I would be happy to tell you all about what I had done.
First and foremost I am praising the Lord that I am on the way back to normal again and looking forward to a new year. I took my time in having this reconstruction because I wanted to be sure God would have the final say and I believe with all my heart, He has given me his blessing. This is a very exciting time as I reflect on how the year has been the worst ever for me, yet I can see that the Lord has done many good things and has many more good things prepared for my future. I have truly been under construction this past year-God has changed my life in many ways and I hope you can say you have been witness to them.

I have forever been transformed.

99 reasons I am thankful

Except for the first few, these are in no particular order....

1-The Father
2- The Son
3- The Holy Spirit
4- my salvation
5- my husband
6- my children
7- my family
8- my friends
9- my church
10- freedom to worship
11- The Bible
12- my Christian upbringing
13-my dog
14- my education
15- my health
16- my middle school class
17- awesome in-laws
18- music
19- good neighbors
20- chocolate
21- my beautiful home
22- good food
23- caring doctors
24-being born in America
25-my children's teachers
26- salvation for my husband and 2 children
27-my preacher
28-happy childhood
29-wedded bliss
30- warm cozy bed and perfect pillows
31-a washer and dryer
32- mammograms-yes, really!
33- the Knight's job
34- good insurance
35- no more diapers
36- flip flops
37-vacations
38- pizza
39- wrinkle cream
40-drive thru windows
41-worn in jeans
42- laughter
43-encouraging text messages
44- comments on the blog
45-babysitters
46-date nights
47- good water pressure
48-a closet full of clothes
49-a sound mind?
50-heat and A/C
51-Christian role models
52-that my children love school
53- that Dad didn't suffer long
54-that Mom is incredibly strong
55-that I didn't have to have chemotherapy
56-that I can stay at home with my children
57-that the Knight is not critical of my cooking
58- that I haven't forgotten to meet the bus
59-that I haven't bounced a check in 15 years
60-99% of my Christmas shopping is done
61-frozen mudslides
62- Tuesday morning Bible study
63-cards/letters
64- Christmas cards with pictures
65-warm hugs
66- homemade presents
67-funny stories to tell about my kids that make people laugh
68-caffeine
69- Target is coming! Target is coming!
70- my van
71- drought is over
72- a new year is approaching
73-reconstructive surgery
74- grace
75- mercy
76- that God is who He says He is
77- that God will do what He says He will do
78-that I will get to live forever in Heaven
79- that I can help others
80- The Knight helps me around the house
81- the love of my children
82- school lunch
83-positive people
84-good teeth
85-my hysterectomy :)
86-when I cannot cry or pray I can just sit and let God love on me
87-a good nights sleep
88- living in the south
89-sweet tea
90-forgiven and forgotten sin
91-missionaries
92-the military
93-my kids aren't bad enough to warrant "The Nanny"
94-that my children still love to be read to
95-that my husband is not at all like me
96- that my mom is my best friend
97- that my brother is not the favorite
98- that my third child was a boy
99- that I have so much to be thankful for

This Thanksgiving

Do yourself a favor.

This Thanksgiving, let it be about spending time with family and friends and not about the food.

This Thanksgiving, have real, meaningful conversations with the ones you love.

This Thanksgiving, ask your loved ones to tell you stories about their past.

This Thanksgiving, share, love, laugh, make memories.

This Thanksgiving, make sure you tell the special people in your life that they are special.

This Thanksgiving, take it all in and don't be in a hurry.

This Thanksgiving, remember to be thankful.

I know I will. This Thanksgiving.

Not a road block, just a detour

Thank you for helping me pray. I thought I had run into a roadblock, but God has turned it into a detour. I am amazed everyday at how God works. I have been thanking God today and laughing at the same time, because not only did He work my situation out, He did it with a sense of humor. He has reassured me of several things through this-1) God honors obedience 2)You can't outgive God. 3) He takes care of our needs and even our wants!


There's a quote I read that I cannot get out of my mind. It says "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose." As we are entering this Christmas season wrought with stuff and things and the pursuit of more, I want so much to teach my children about the fact that life isn't about "things". We have so much "stuff" we had to rent a storage unit to get our house uncluttered enough to put it on the market. Have we missed anything? Nope. I guarantee you we could fill up two more storage units and STILL not miss anything.

All of our needs have been met- a roof over our heads, food on our table, shoes on our feet. Yet I'm constantly thinking about things I want or wish I had. Clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc. I love to look at catalogs and think about decorating a new house. But the reality is this- One day, perhaps not to long from now, I will stand before my Heavenly father. He will not look at me and say, "You had such stylish clothes." He will not say,"Your home was so nicely decorated." He will not say, "I love that purse." or "Didn't you enjoy those automatic doors on your Odyssey van?" Those are things. Things that we cannot keep. Things we will not take with us to Heaven. My prayer is that when I meet my Savior he will say "Good job, you had such courage to witness." Maybe He'll say "Your home was so welcoming to others." "I love that you cared for others." "My how you enjoyed living your life for ME and how you put your relationship with me before your possessions." And "Here are your rewards in Heaven!" Those are the things I cannot lose.

I need to store up as many Heavenly rewards as possible and quit my pursuit of storing up earthly things. Because really, if you can put it in a storage unit, it's just not important.