Too much~

The kids had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my father~ I dropped them off in the morning and they spent the day cooking with my mom and watching the parade with my dad. Grandma was unable to come..after getting her ready she started to cry and said she could not come out...she would not leave. So I settled her down and tucked her in and put her to bed. It was extremely hard and by the time I got to my parents; I was spent. Friday I got up extremely early and hit the stores with Chris to do some Christmas shopping. Wow~ I got some very good deals..so much better than last year at this time when I couldn't go Christmas shopping early. So I really count myself blessed and our family truly blessed when I think of where we were last year at this time. Tom...thank God! has gotten a part-time job that will start Lord-willing after the 15th. I am so happy! My dad is back in the hospital after falling and breaking his leg and possibly both ankles. I continue to lift him up in prayer. This has been a very difficult road for him and my mother. Meanwhile I tried to take grandma to the doctor with Tom on Friday but she would not go~ I think I need to take a step back when it comes to worrying about grandma's health...I don't mean this in a disattached way but that I need to really place her in the Lord's hands. She doesn't want to keep these appointments and I am causing myself a great deal of stress by trying to force her...so no more. I will stay on top of everything but I need to accept that there may be nothing that I can do but love her in her present state. God will give me the grace to get through..He always does~

Grandma~

She looks like a million bucks! We converted grandma's room today into a beauty spa...my aunt and I did her nails today...I gave her a haircut and did her hair color. Grandma is a dark blond again and she looks at least fifteen years younger. I went shopping today and got her a new dress and she is all set and ready for Thanksgiving. She is so excited about seeing her family. She has not seen my father since August and I am hoping that she will remember him and my mother. I have entrusted her into the Lords hands..she seems to be on the mend mentally much more lucid than she has in weeks. I will be seeing her in the morning for coffee and than I will go back in the afternoon to get her ready for dinner. It will take time to get her ready and I do not want her to be rushed. Tom will go back with me so we will be bringing her together to my parents we have a wheelchair ready for her and a ramp. I am praying that the transition goes well. I am so thankful for her and everything that she taught me as a child, young women and continues to teach me with her attitude toward life. She loves life...loves those around her and more than anything she loves her Lord and Saviour.

"It is not what we do that determines who we are. It is what we are that determines what we do."
~Neil Anderson

My pastor read this quote in church...it really got me thinking~ Am I really living out my Christian faith in every aspect of my life? I am determined that I will try to be the wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend that God has called me to be~ Nothing in life is easy I have at least have found this to be the case...but it is not the circumstances that surround us that should dictate how we live but rather we need to remember to respond and live the way that the Lord would have us too~ This really speaks volumes to those around us. This is our true testimony ...when things are not the way perhaps that we would want them to be...how do we...or rather I respond? As we are approaching Thanksgiving this Thursday...I am going to really try to remember to be thankful for all the Father has given me rather than looking at the things that I don't have..or wish I had~

2 Cor. 5:17
Therefore, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone and the new is come!

Busy Busy Busy~

My goodness have we been busy as of late~ ok...we have been busier than usual. The girls and I left for Melbourne for a meeting I had on Thursday..it went well and the girls were able to earn a little spending money as well~ Thursday night I took a tumble trying to save a friends dog from running out into the street. It looked as if I was flying the way I tripped and fell...gave my friend a heart-attack. I had to take gravel out of my hands~ Ouch! I am on the mend. Friday I found out Glen Beck was coming to town and the girls and I went and waited along with a thousand others to see him and have him sign a book for Austin's birthday. We got number 683...yes that's right! Since I can't be in the heat and sun...yes I know funny that the Lord has me in South Florida~ I went to sit inside...this was not allowed without management approval...anyhow, a gentleman asked me what number I was...told him and he was nice enough to give his extra number of 473...much better. Glen was great~ We mentioned to him that we home school and he went crazy...his family homeschools~ He had us meet with his producer and he is going to be getting in touch because they are planning on doing a show on homeschooling! The kids were beyond themselves with excitement. So we had a very busy two days. Saturday I spent the day with my ankle and knee up and Amanda and I watched the service online while Tom, Gabby and Austin went to church. Today Chris made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for all of us...she will not have the children for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Divorce is tragic...everyone suffers...Chris will be spending Thanksgiving alone because we will be visiting my parents. Grandma did really well with my being away overnight~ this is such a blessing because I need to be able to get away once and a while to simply distress. Just overnight was wonderful! I spent the evening with her tonight and her color was good...she ate today which is wonderful because I really would love to get the feeding tube out. We are going to be coloring her hair this week and doing her nails for Thanksgiving. She is going blond again! I am so happy that she wants to do this~ she hasn't wanted to have her hair done in a very long time. She was very lucid tonight and we had a really great conversation. I am praying that the family is sensitive to her on Thanksgiving and makes allowances if it is not one of her good days. I will be praying.

Our Soldiers~

May we never forget those who have served our nation. May we never forget those who have given their lives. May we always honor them. We need to as a Nation take care of those who have given everything that we can remain free. I hope and pray that we remember to be thankful to those in our armed services.

Mondays~

Today has been quite the busy day with lots still to do~ the kids have told me that there is Nothing in the house to eat! Don't you love it when they say this?! I have a cupboard full of things that simply don't appeal to them because it requires some cooking....but they have a point...so off to the grocery store I will go this afternoon..along with laundry and visiting grandma and cooking dinner...and did I mention I took my closet and drawers apart today? I don't know what got into me.....hahaha I guess I just could not take it anymore~ Tom had an email from Minnesota about a job interview for tomorrow and no sooner did he get this email than he got another cancelling but God is in control...and it is extremely cold there! He is waiting to hear back from the job interview from last week...and I believe they are speaking on the phone as I type...the kids are all doing their schoolwork but it is definitely a Monday and they are having a hard time getting into the swing of things. My brother is calling me and even said I could see the munchkins this week while he had them....go figure. I am a little leery given all he has been into but I am the older sister and the Christian so I will proceed with caution but I know I need to show him the love of Christ...after all I have been praying for an opportunity to minister to him for two years. This week will be a crazy one with having to go to a board meeting on Thursday and not returning home until Sunday. I will have family members checking in on grandma. I am hoping that she will be fine without seeing me for that many days. Last night I read to her and prayed with her but she is still not where she was~ It is so hard at times to sit there and not have her be able to converse as she once did...I really miss her. It is extremely hard for me to accept that this may be something that continues something that will not go away...that the person she was is lost to me forever...I know that all I can do is continue to trust the Lord. Continue to place her daily in His hands...like every other aspect of my life I need to remember to turn it over to Him.

Happy Birthday Haley!

We spent a wonderful afternoon with Chris and the munchkins~ it was Haley's birthday on Thursday and we had the absolute pleasure of spending part of the day with them. I hadn't seen the kids in weeks with them being sick or with them being with their dad and colds floating around here too~ I miss them so when I don't get to see them...they are too much! They were as happy to see us as we were to see them...we had a great day...Haley decided to have taco's and tostada's it was delicious. Chris is an excellent cook and she made Haley a lovely birthday cake. Eddie watched the football game with his uncle Tommy and played with Gabby the girls roamed from person to person and Amanda kept Chris and I company. It was a wonderful afternoon and just what we all needed.

Waiting~

Waiting~ No one likes it...at least no one I know but it is an important skill...one which I have tried to teach my children and one which our heavenly Father is teaching me. "Wait on the Lord and be of good courage"~ Tom and I are waiting on the Lord. It has not been easy but God is ever faithful. He has provided our needs along the way in many different ways. When we began this journey this season in our lives..I was a person who had to be in control..someone who liked to know what lie up ahead...not that I wasn't flexible but this is a new and different flexibility..one that has required much of me. I've stretched and grown in ways that I did not think were possible~ Do I like this season in my life...Not really but I cling to the fact that God's word tells me that we are strangers in the land and that while we are here there will be troubles for God's people But! along the way the Lord has given us joys..many joys! Our children, our friends, our family..many cherished memories and I am sure many more will be made. I have learned that many of the ways I had before...I will never repeat..the little things I took for granted I will no longer~ So though this is a hard road God's grace is more than sufficient and He will never leave us nor forsake us. We as a Christian community need to pull together and be honest and be there for each other..when times get tough not only do we need to hit our knees but we need to reach out and be sensitive and loving and kind~ I know that I have been guilty of getting so wrapped up in what is going on in my life that I think I don't have time for anything else but the Lord has taught me to look outside my problems... and reach out and help others and in doing this I am taking my eyes of my problems and focusing on serving. God has blessed us and taken care of us most when we have done this~ It is not a magic formula but simply living the way we have been commanded too~ I don't know the next chapter the Lord has for us but I am constantly reminded to trust Only in Him.

The times are a changin~

Things here at home have been quite hectic~running to and fro...from grandma to visiting with family....taking care of the kids and Tom. I am wiped out! Tom had an unexpected call today...someone saw his resume posted somewhere on the net and called..turns out he is looking for someone to manage his print shop and the funny thing is what he liked most on the resume besides all the years of experience was the fact that he went to church....small world ....he also goes to our church though we have never met! So tomorrow afternoon Tom will be meeting with him..bonus the job is only thirty minutes from home. So it's in God's hands~ We want to be where He wants us. Grandma is not doing so well..she continues to decline in her mental health and it is really very disconcerting. Grandma went from conversing with me to not be able to this last week. She continues to be very agitated and only settles down when she sees me and we pray and read the book of Psalms. It's been so hard especially since no one else wants to see her in this condition...and now until she settles down it is very hard to take the children when she is so very upset. So I go everyday and visit and pray and trust that the Lord will take care of her. Well, tonight is Tuesday which means it is my Methotrexate night so I am off to a long evening~

Long Week~

It has been a long week..filled with visits good and bad and through it all God has been merciful enough to give me the strength to see me through~ My week started off with taking grandma to the doctor with Tom to only find that she was very sick. I found her in a deep sweat and her pulse racing extremely sick to her stomach and with extreme vertigo. So needless to say she did not make her eye appointment and I sat with her through the afternoon to make sure she was ok~ We gave her two day to recuperate and went finally on Wednesday to the doctor this time they placed her in the van from the facility so that she could stay in her wheelchair....well, they put her in facing the wrong way and once again she suffered vertigo and ended up sick...very sick but we kept the appointment since we were there already...the doctor cannot figure out what is causing her eye pain but prescribed some medicine anyway~ so we are really in no way closer to helping her..it is frustrating because I don't like to see her in such pain. We have been trying to spend a great deal of time with my parents as my father's still no in top shape..but he continues with the dialysis treatments and is really a testimony to everyone around him. We have had several cookouts and I have been cooking up a storm for them...it is really something that I enjoy~ and something everyone around seems to enjoy so if I can do this little thing to ease some of the stress around us through good family time and dinners....Tom continues to apply across the country for jobs...near and far. I am hoping that the Lord would give him favor with one of these companies so that he can find work. Men need to work and I need him to work...he is beginning to feel as if he is useless and this is not good for a man....the kids have had their highs and lows as of late and of course being teenagers this is to be expected but the added stress certainly does not help. We celebrated our anniversary last week and it is bittersweet....so much has happened this last year...God has seen of through a great deal and continues to meet our needs....I am just praying for some down time from the pressures and stress. We so need it...We both feel that we need a fresh start and this is what we have been praying for~ It will be a year in January that Tom has been unemployed we are praying as it approaches that he has a new job and that we are settled.