Big Blessings!

I didn't ask - He just gave.

I SAW my brother this past weekend - on a whim, Brando flew to Wichita, 2.5hrs away, and with no one around to watch the dog and Jake's family coming to watch the TU game I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it did! I totally believe it was a God thing. Brandon deploys in less than 1 week, and I truly believe God knew I needed and wanted to see him. I know he will be safe and he will come back. But even when he does, living in Spokane, I don't know when I will see him. So, this my friends was God's special surprise for me.

My loving husband gave up 1/2day vacation and we boarded Wilson for the first time as our neighbors were gone...and we took off shortly after noon on Friday. It was less then a 12 hr stay in Wichita. But it was pure fun - only the kind you have with Brandon. Where you really do nothing but you laugh the whole time.
Reminds me that I miss him, being so far away. Made me a tad scared to think he was going off to war - but proud - he is very excited about it. And I realized that I am truly out of control - only God can keep him safe and his family back here in the states "calm and collected".

Anyhow - I think our God is a good God, who knows just what we need when we need it and makes the most seemingly impossible things, possible. And as we follow "Crown" and our financial plans and had not "planned" for this trip. I knew we'd have to cut a little here and a little there this week to make up for it, all the while thankful that Jake went along with it. And then today, we get a check in the mail as a thank you for some referrals for our mortgage guy in ID. More then enough to cover our trip to Wichita. And you tell me there is no God? Try again - I don't believe you.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Prayers for Brandon and Erin this week, as they spend the week with each other, just enjoying each other's company and preparing for his departure next week. May she know that we are all here for her and thinking of her and may he know that prayers of safety surround him as he leaves and thanks to those who serve to protect our freedom. I am the proudest sister in the world!

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them!

Not completely, but almost...so, two families, two weeks, two TV's GONE. They are not going to be replaced. Not only did these two examples speak to my already convicted heart, but they also spoke to OUR Crown Financial STUDYING hearts. We are going on our 4th week of Crown. Wow, it is amazing - just learing all about God and His idea of finance. Did you know he is like the finance guru. Yep, in the Bible he answers all your questions, how to spend, save, give - everything. Hard to imagine you would learn how to invest there, not from your Edward D. Jones broker. But, this is exaclty where Jake and I are learning, and as of last night, I think we are feeling a little boost in our confidence as we had one dear friend, 5 Mondays from retirement tell us how proud she is of the changes we are making in just the last few weeks, our teachers/mentors said we are so transparent and that they love how we are honest. Well, guess what? God is convicting the you know what out of us, and giving us a swift kick and loving us all at the same time. And instead of feeling beaten down and dark and dreary, I feel hopeful, alive and I bear a lighter load - b/c I know if I ask, God is here, just like with everything else, he is here to bear the weight of debt too - is it good? No, but neither is watching porn, or lieing, or eating too much, or getting drunk. But he still loves us and if we ask for help for a problem bigger then us, he is right there!
So - back to the TV thing, this is TOTALLY GOD - Jake and I literally - today - emailed/called within minutes about the same thing. Now nothing is wrong with our tv...so we aren't ready to just give it away. But we just said, why do we have cable. We don't need it. And so, it is gone, like that. The box goes back tomorrow, and it isn't just the box, it is the DVR too. No big deal. It doesn't PAIN either of us. And I kid you not, just two months ago, money or not we were thinking of a 40" plasma as a Christmas gift for each other. RIDICULOUS! I can't even hardly say it now. I have NO DESIRE.
I have so many other BETTER things to do with my time.
So, Sarah F. and Carrie P. - we still have our TV's, but only the channels that filter through the antenna, and should we miss an episode of Grey's, we have the internet - YEAH! or, I have a dusty VCR and I can probably afford a brand new, blank tape!
We went from over 200 channels and a DVR to about 5 channels and a VCR and know what, I am happier today then I was last week.
I am saving over $70 a month that is going towards DEBT and that I think God will bless.

Fall Pictures

Well folks, that is all you get for now - blogspot is having issues and I don't have patience to wait for it. I will post the rest later.

As for my thankful list - I have a creative one - reasons why I am thankful to be married to a Kimberly Clark employee:

1. I have not purchased paper towels in over a year, but I use them like crazy.
2. I have not purchased toilet paper in over a year, but my bum is best friends with Cottonelle
3. I have purchased only 2 small bags of wipes in the last year
4. I have what seems to be an unlimited supply of travel pack wipes (like 10 or so in a pack) - didn't pay a penny, have had them at my disposal for over a year and have plenty left
5. Jake works out 5 times a week and we do not pay for his gym membership
6. Their customer service, if you need them, is really nice, employee or not and I have a free jumbo pack of diapers coupon waiting to be used and also had one given to me shortly after we had Bo - how thoughtful - his plant doesn't even make diapers!
7. I have so many paper towels stored up, select a size, flowers, disney characters etc. that we hand them out to make friends and it works great - how do you think we got Matt and Jennifer (new as of April next door neighbors to like us so well)
8. I have only purchased 3 of the small upright boxes of Kleenex in the past year and this plant doesn't even make kleenex!
9. Huggies KOREAN wipes are the same as the ones in the US, so if you aren't picky and they are free then stock up! And look how far it got us.
10. Jake has to wear a uniform and lets face it, I like men in uniform. aka - football uniform, work uniform, doesn't really matter...just the uniform :)

Just Try It

Okay, so I sent this email out to a few people, just a few. Here is a copy of it blank:
Where did we meet:

Take a stab at my middle name:

Do I smoke:

Color of my eyes:

Do I have any siblings:

What's one of my favorite things to do:

What's my favorite type of music:

Am I shy or outgoing:

Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules:

Any special talents:

How many children do I have:

If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I
would bring:

Okay - so now you fill in the blanks.
Within about 5 minutes, I got 4 replies. I seriously laughed, because all 4 of them are from totally different stages of life. I will tell you who I sent them too, then reveal the answers but not who said what. Sarah F. got one - I've known her all of HER life. Sarah Coffin, we met in college - sorority sister, Katie Jewett - we were neighbors in our first subdivision in Boise and are now friends for life (she lives in MN now and we live in OK, we moved out of Boise the same time, weird huh?) and then Connie, met her at our church here - first person I met..we'll call her my soul sister, so she has knowin me the LEAST amount of time.

All but one new my middle name, everyone knows that I don't smoke and that my eyes are brown. All knew I had a brother and I think 3/4 threw his name in, which means I must talk about him a lot, how embarassing! Just kidding. There was a wide range of answers on favorite things to do ranging from scrapbooking, to hanging with my family, to playing on the computer - I admit that none ranks above the other - although "playing" on the computer makes me feel like a gamer and I am not...playing refers to me blogging etc. so, good job girls. Favorite music - okay no one missed this COUNTRY! Shy or outgoing and follow the rules or rebel. My favorte and most accurate answer is this: Follow the rules (I think you may have been a little rebel back at TU)
That was sooooo right on the money and that came from someone that DID not know me then :) see the stories follow you all over the world. ha!
And most said I start out shy then get to be outgoing, which is how I usually FEEL, so I guess it is how I portray myself too.
Special talents? I got being a mom, skiing (that is my favorite, thanks for the compliment), Did I just dis being a mom? Sorry it wasn't intended to sound like that - either way good answers.
Children answer is a GIMMEE.
And then the Island question. Oh my heavens.
I am so honored that everyone said they thought I would take my Bible. Wow - I am humbled. Then there was something funny added to each.
Something SOOOOOOOo appropriate - i.e. my "blankie", Starbucks complete with baristas (but then I wouldn't be alone), my Tivo - oh so true, and Family (as an entity)


On the blankie note, now it is quite possible that this person was kidding or that this person remembers that I do have a blankie and it might be much to her dismay that this blankie still exists and I still sleep with it. I do not travel with it any longer, but in my MASTER BED it lays. So, parents that tell themselves "he won't go to college with that paci, he won't go to college with the silky" watch out, he just might, and then he will get married and....before you know it that blanket is still in full action baby. My mom got that at a baby shower for me. I have cared for it like really only a girl can. Now my mom might be embarrased that it went to college with me, and frankly who is to blame that the thing never got taken away? However, as credit to her, she raised me with enough confidence that I am A. publishing this and admitting it to the world and B. I have no issues that I went to college, got married, had kids and C. was even asked by my husband to consider giving it to my daughter/using it as a blanket for her and selfishly said HECK NO, it is mine!

HAHAH!
So, there you go, some insight into me.

Thanks gals for your contribution to this blog.

Love ya.

Some Pictures

Bowman loves his bananas!


Mommy and Anna at the Taylor Family Reunion


Daddy Date Night






Link to Pictures from August
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYs2zVw4btWy-


Link to Pictures from September
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYs2zVw4btWzJ

Good Gravy!

This is not how it is SUPPOSED to be. I am suppose to blog more often - instead of blogging IN MY HEAD, I am to do it on the computer. However, it hasn't happened that way - I guess a lot like life - doesn't really go as you plan, right?
So, I have like 15 "blogs" in my head and about 5 min of spare time to get them all down here for you to read and out of my head so it can stop spinning. RIIIIIGGGHHHTTTT.
I'll just cut to the chase.
We are good, mostly healthy, no major illnesses to report. Anna is doing well in school, I am enjoying having no other "job" other than mothering, which seems to keep me far busier than EVER before. I am involved in 1 Bible study, MOPS, play dates when they arise, regular MOM stuff and then Jake and I just started a small group called CROWN - or Crown Financial that our church does. It is a 10week commitment, and when I say commitment, I mean commitment. This is where a lot of my "free" time is going - to reading, for one Bible study or the other. So much so that my DVR is filling up with TV shows I have missed. Hmmm, is there a lesson to be learned here? I think so. Perhaps I am spending my time .........................................................I began this post on Oct. 11, It is now Oct. 16.................

Let me see where was I??
Oh yes, perhaps I am now spending my time more wisely these days - even if it is kind of being "forced" - I don't want to fail or let my "peeps" down in these studies, I don't want to let God down, so I am doing my work. With the time that is left I am really trying to keep up and or at least GO to the gym which some weeks means 3 times, some two and at least ONCE. No less then once. We have MOPS every other Wed. which is an entire morning and then the afternoon Bo sleeps and Anna and I do projects around the house or play, depends on what is going on. Last week we spruced up the outside for fall. It looks quite nice if I do say so my self.

So, Anna - school 2 1/2 days a week, MOPS every other Wed. Bible study on Tues. Crown study on Sun. night. Church Sun mornings. Our Saturdays have been filled with TU football (they are away this weekend, thank goodness), but that just means we sit here like goons listening to them on the radio. ha!

Life is in full swing! It is an amazing life, it is just busy.

Since Oct. 11 - we have been struck with illness #1 of the season - Bo and Bronchitis. Diagnosed yesterday - breathing treatments and antibiotics. Now, I don't know if the child remembers last year or not, but he saw his inhaler coming at him and laid down, nice as could be and let me administer, no issues. Is that weird? The antibiotics, not so easy. Oh well.

I have a ton of cute pictures to share, but I am thinking I will just have to post them all to shutterfly or something and post the link - too many to catch up on. Sorry. I will be better. I have missed blogging TERRIBLY!

I have found out that three friends are pregnant with their 3rd babies since my last post so congrats Carrie P., Rachel M. and Melanie W.!!! And Amy, my dear Amy is days away from giving birth to #3!!! So, we can all say a prayer for her. Her other two are 3 1/2 and about 21 mos.

I get to go to California at the beg. of Nov. for a wedding of a dear friend from Jr. High, he was actually like my first boyfriend - we used to meet by the tennis courts after school to "hug" - seriously, we never kissed, we just hugged. Isn't that hilarious. We tried again in high school, went to a dance but it just wasn't there - best friends we would be. Funny. I am so excited cause I get to stay with Sarah F. yahooo! See the Prince clan and Erica and hopefully meet her little one. Just a short short trip but hopefully full of lots of hugs and fond memories of my "home".

What else....um, I am madly in love with this guy Jake. haha! He continues to bless me and my little ones each day. Probably one of the best things in a long time, okay the best thing since my bday present was last TH he took Anna on daddy date night. And I have pictures and it was just awesome. My bday you ask? No, I wasn't even here for it, but did I tell you he got me an Ipod? The new 4GB Nano? I am so obsessed with it, okay maybe that isn't healthy, but music, sermons, daily doses of scripture, and now, yes now folks, I have a dockig station in my car, so now I get to listen to all that hoo haw in my car. LOVE IT.

I am getting off the subject - I will close now. I am here, I am well and I apologize for not "blogging".
You can rest assured I am NOT watching TV unless it is Grey's Anatomy, the Bachelor or Desperate Housewives....folks I haven't even seen an episode of General Hospital in over 2 weeks. This is a soap I have watched since I was 17!
Oh I do religiously watch the making of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders haha!

Okay - so I leave you with this little list:

1. My friend Connie, for a million reasons that I neglect to tell her - so I am just putting this out there as number one so she knows I love her to pieces

2. My Ipod

3. The hint of fall in the air

4. God's ability to reveal himself to me in the quiet of the night, if I just sit still

5. Learning to be content - really I am learning and it feels good

6. A yearning to be a steward of worldly wealth so I may inherit the true riches

7. Conversations with my brother and then separate and girly conversations with my sister in law Erin

8. Anna telling me she loves me and that she just might need a hug

9. My next door neighbor Jen and our bachelor dates

10. Daddy date nights that I know Jake will do b/c he wants to not b/c preschool "makes" him :)