Very Thankful!!

Well, I told you the whole thankful blog everyday in November thing would be a bust.  We've been SOOOO busy this month and we've all been sick with colds and stomach bugs and I have lost the charger for my camera and yada yada yada......... So..............I'm just gonna do one BIG post about some of the things I'm thankful for!


I'm thankful for:
1-Salvation provided by a gracious and loving God!
2-My best friend... my childhood sweetheart... the love of my life... my husband.
3-My fun big boy Caden. 
4-My sweet little boy Jaxten.
5-A healthy family.
6-My job.  Even though I would rather stay home with my babies, I am thankful to have a job in this economy.
7-A warm and loving place to live.  There are many things I would love to change about our house, but it has heat and air and it stays dry in the rain.  It is simply HOME.
8-Reliable cars!  Last year around this time BOTH my and my husband's cars had to be replaced within one month of each other because the motors blew.
9-My mom.  She's my best friend (besides my hubby).  We haven't always had a great relationship but we do now and I'm very thankful for her.
10-My daddy.  I always have been and always will be daddy's girl.  I still feel like a little girl that just wants her dad to hold her sometimes when I'm around him and I think that's ok!
11-My granny.  She has ALWAYS been there for me no matter what and I could never thank or repay her enough.
12-The best in-laws ever!  I have no awful mother-in-law jokes to tell because mine is wonderful!
13-A great country like the USA to live in.
14-My church.  Hanes Baptist Church is the greatest!  I feel so at home when I'm there and that is really important to me in a church.
15-Wonderful friends.  I love having people I can turn to when I need to talk, or cry, or shop! or eat at Olive Garden! (that one is for my girls at work ;)  )
16-COFFEE!! And my new Keurig!  Need I say more?!?
17-Music and the ability to sing a little bit.  I'm certainly not the greatest singer but I sure do enjoy trying!
18-Heat.  It's getting down-right cold outside!
19-Soldiers in foreign places fighting for our freedom.  If it weren't for them I probably wouldn't even be able to have a blog to post my own feelings and thoughts.  (Love you Aaron and hope you can safely come home soon)
20-The beach.  I love the beach and the ocean.
21-Mercy.  God's mercies are new each and every morning whether I deserve them(trust me, I don't) or not.
22-My dog.  I know it seems a little silly but I love our dog Pacey.  He's a Shar-Pei and he's so cute with his wrinkly little self!
23-Chocolate.  (I never said all these would be serious or inspirational.  Just things I'm thankful for and chocolate is one of them! LOL)
24-Time off to spend with our families.
25-Thanksgiving and all the good food that comes along with it!!!
26-My new camera that we bought the day after Thanksgiving!!
27-Caden's school.  He goes to a christian school and they are helping to teach him so many things about the Bible and Jesus and he amazes me everyday at how much he is learning.
28-The Bible, God's Holy inspired word.  It holds so many truths and promises and can help in any situation you are in.
29-Vacations, like getting to go to Gatlinburg, Tenn in a few days!!
30-Christmas and baby Jesus being born!

So there you have it.  A lot of thankfullness in one swoop!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Jaxten is 8 months old!

Jaxten, you are 8 months old!

(Picture coming soon, can't find the charger for my camera battery :(  )

You are growing so fast and changing or learning something new everyday.  Here are some fun facts about you this month.

*We have not been to the dr this month but I know you have to weigh close to 20lbs!  My arms can feel it!

*You are wearing some 6-9 month clothes but they are getting kinda *snug*.  You wear mostly 9 month or 6-12 month outfits.  It just depends on the store they come from.

*You are still in a size 3 diaper.  It seems like this might be the one that sticks for a while.

*You go through phases where you really like to eat, and then you don't.  Not sure what that is all about because I LOVE to eat!  You take mostly formula now, only nursing at bedtime and in the morning usually.  I have made some baby food at home (Yay, me! Had to throw that in since I really don't cook much!) and it's actually pretty good.  So far I have made sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, applesauce, pears, pears with raspberries, and bananas.  You eat all of it really well. 

*You still absolutely will have nothing to do with a sippy cup.  Couldn't care less about drinking any juice or water!

*You have not been such a great sleeper for the past SEVERAL weeks which is making mommy and daddy a little crazy!  You wake up at least 2 times a night, and sometimes it's more like 7-8 times a night!  You don't wake up screaming or anything and you usually go back to sleep fairly quick.  But once or twice a night you wake up and think it's time to play or something because you won't go back to sleep for at least 45 minutes!  Sometimes in the wee hours of the night when I'm deleriously sleepy, I just bring you to bed with me and you scoot back and forth between me and daddy.  You crawl up on our chest and get right in our face until we open our eyes.  Then you flash that huge gummy grin and we can't help but smile.  I just wish you would only be cute during the day, not at night!  (I know this is awful but you are still in a bassinet in our room and I think we will be moving to the crib very soon!)

*You are halfway crawling now.  You move a knee and then a hand and then you lunge forward. 

*You still love to take a bath.  I am hoping this sticks too!

*You make all kinds of noise now that you have found your voice.  We have started putting you in the nursery at church because you can get louder than the preacher!

I am amazed at how much you are growing and learning.  I think you must be the smartest baby in the world (besides your brother at that age ;) )! Mommy and daddy are so very proud of you!

Month of Thanks: Day 6

Today I am thankful for my granny (my mom's mom).  She has been a constant rock in my life and I could never repay her for all she has done for me.  She took me in when I was little and hauled me back and forth to school (in another school district) and band practice.  She put up with me during those awful teenage years.  She bought my school clothes, my first car, and my second, and actually my third too!  (For some reason she bought me two of those cars before I even turned 16 so my mom ended up with those 2).  At any rate, she has done a lot for me over the years.  She has taught me some very valuble lessons about life along the way too.  She's very wise, although I have not always thought she was (like through those awful teenage years!).  I would have avoided some big mistakes if I had always listened to and taken her advice! 

Thank you Lord for my granny who means the world to me.

Month of Thanks: Day 5

Today I am thankful for my mom.  She is by far my best friend.  She is the person that I can go to about ANYTHING and she'll listen.  She will just listen and let me vent, or she'll offer advice if I ask her.  She allows me to be just "me".  She takes the good, the bad, and the ugly and still loves me when it's all said and done.  I really cherish my relationship with her, but I fear I take it for granted sometimes too.  We haven't always shared this closeness for reasons that I can't say and they are in the past anyway.  But I'm so thankful that the right choices were made and we can have this bond now.  She helps me in so many ways.  She literally takes care of my heart all day while I'm at work... my boys!

Thank you Lord for a wonderful person in my life to be my friend and my mom.

Month of Thanks: Day 4

Today I am thankful for my job.  I had always envisioned being a stay-at-home mom at least while my kids were younger.  I won't lie, I would still be tickled pink if I got the opportunity to do this.  But right now, the best thing for our family is for me to work full-time outside of the home.  Even on the days when I feel like pulling my hair out at work, I remember that there are those who are searching for a job.  They are doing everything they can just to make ends meet and keep food on the table for their children.  I'm working so we can have extra to take a vacation every year and buy Christmas gifts when lots of children don't get ANY gifts much less a vacation! 

I am very blessed to have a steady, reliable job to help provide for my family.  Thank you Lord for your blessings.

Month of Thanks: Day 3

Today, I am thankful for my husband.  We have been together (dating/married) for over 14 years now, which is 1/2 of my ENTIRE life!!  I met him when I was 13, he was 16.  We met at Bible School (great place to meet!) at his church which is also where my dad went to church.  We exchanged phone numbers and addresses (back in those days we didn't have texting and email, haha).  It was literally love at first sight.  I was asking my friends who that cute boy was.  He came to find me every night after service was over just to talk.  He even sat down with us girls while we were working on our class craft and helped us embroider!  He poked his finger and I had to get him a tissue because it was bleeding.  This is awful but for at least 5 seconds I contemplated keeping the tissue when he was done! (I know...seriously gross and possible dangerous but I was smitten!)
(BTW, I did NOT keep it!)
Anyway, we dated for 6 years...was engaged for 2 of those years...and we've been married for 8 years now!  We have had our ups and most definately our downs like everyone else, but one thing has never changed through all the years and all the fights and all the times where we just plain didn't like each other.

Love.

I have been in love with this man since the day I met him, I'm more in love with him today, and I'll love him for all the days yet to come.  He has been a wonderful husband and an amazing father to our boys.  I can't imagine not having him in my life to grow old with.

I love you Scottie, and I'm forever yours faithfully!

Month of Thanks: Day 2

Fun Boy!!

 

Happy boy!!

Today, I am thankful for healthy children.  I have the 2 most wonderful boys anyone could ask for. 

There are so many children out there that have health problems and it breaks my heart that they have to suffer.  Several blogs that I follow are about these brave little souls and the struggles they have.  There is a great lesson to be learned from those precious children.  Most of them just smile right through all the pain.  It humbles me to think of them when I'm complaining about being stuck in traffic or when McDonald's gets my order wrong.  I'm ashamed to say that sometimes when I watch Caden running around the house like a wild monkey my first instinct is to get aggrivated.  But quite often I catch myself before the mad, angry yelling mild words of correction start.  In that moment I am so overcome with joy that he is able to run around and act like a monkey that I can't even be mad about it! 

I thank God for my children.  They are wonderfully healthy and perfect to me!  They are so adorable, and very smart if I do say so myself!
;)
 

Month of Thanks: Day 1

I want to try something on here, but I'm going to be completely honest and up front right from the start.  I want to post one thing I'm thankful for every day in November, but my blogging track record doesn't make this look promising! 


But....I'm gonna give it a valient effort anyway because I have SO MUCH to be thankful for.


So here we go! (These are in no particular order either)


Today, I am thankful for my salvation.  I have a wonderful, merciful and loving God who sent his only son to die for me.  He did this knowing how awful and sinful I would be.  He loves me that much!  Sometimes it's easy to take this for granted but we should be careful not to.  It's really a big deal when you think of spending all of eternity in Heaven which is greater and more beautiful than our minds can comprehend!


Thank you Lord for loving even me enough to save my unworthy soul on March 30, 1997!