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Showing posts from 2014

Yes, I am making them again! New Year's Resolutions!

  I wanted to post is about some things I am aiming to do this year for my resolutions!! I make them every year with things to challenge myself with in hopes that I might complete a goal.  And I know that today is New Year's Eve, but I am hoping that tomorrow I will feel better and be too busy to blog :0)  So, I wanted to make sure I got these on here today!      The first thing that  I resolve to do is continue -- and I say this which MUCH excitement - my Bible study and Bible reading.  I have struggled for years with the mentality that if I couldn't do it every day, then I shouldn't even try!  Sad attitude for sure!!  So through much prayer and counsel, I have determined that I should read as much and as often and study as much and as often as I can.  I have had one of the best years in my study and Bible reading time this past year.  I am really excited to see what 2015 is going to bring!!   This year I really would love to get back into my walking.  Whether it is out
  We have eight more days to the Big Day -- it is the news and on everyone's lips.  Yet, that day, Christmas, is always in my heart.  I am what my mom calls a "Christmas Girl."  I LOVE that!  I have been one of those people who could have - and almost have - kept the Christmas Tree up all year -- my family as tradition would use an artificial tree.  One Christmas we got a REAL tree.  Our family cat had a fit.  She didn't know how tree got in the house!  Anyway, we loved it so much.  We didn't want to take it down, so it stayed up longer.  One of my good friends from school came over, and he said that it was February and time for the tree to come down!  I was sad, and I still am today, when we have to take the trees down.   Even though the decorations come off our mantels, houses, doors, and throughout, we don't have to get rid of Christmas in our hearts.  The Lord came down in a moment - a most holy, wonderful moment.  He came so that we might live an eternal

Thoughts On Decluttering!

  I feel like I am always in a state of decluttering - part of my problem is that I don't ever want to let go -- YES!  Now, right now, I am suppressing the urge to burst into song!  I really want to sing full throttle, "Let It Go!"  But I won't :0)  Instead I will leave you with a link that I just read on Sandi Patty's website.  It is really worth the read!   Things I’m Learning From Decluttering | Sandi Patty   It made me think about my life and my choices.  We all have things we wish we could have done or said differently.  My husband reminds me that it is so important to think through things before you say them.  I have learned over these past 20 years to not let everything that people say hurt my feelings.  That is a very powerful feeling!  It took me a long time to stop being super-sensitive when people said things without thinking.  It makes me remember that same hurtful feeling I have experienced can be felt by someone else by my words or my actions.  

Thanksgiving!

  Yes!  I am on a mission -- I am having our Thanksgiving dinner for our family of 7, and my mom and dad will be at our house this year.  This is the first time that it will be at my house and my parents  are coming.  We usually go up to their house, but my mom has business in Atlanta, so they are going to be here with us!  I made our first Thanksgiving dinner last year - I will add pictures.  I remember the menu, so I will get Sarah to write it out for me -- writing assignment!  We homeschool, so I like to "Kill two birds with one stone!"   Since this year is flying by and I seem to be forgetting to do things, I wanted to get my "Thankful List" done so that I don't forget!   What in my life do I have for which to be thankful?  Well, more than what is on this list, but here is one for each day of November!!   Jesus' salvation gift!!! God's unending love and mercy!! The Holy Spirit's comfort and conviction!! My sweet husband, Benson! My five

Good Morning!

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  Well, I am up and have read my Bible and am on my second cup of coffee :0)  I do believe this is going to be a good, yet hard day - good because I have an early start. Hard because I am TIRED!  I went to bed a little earlier than normal but playing catch up for all those days that I went to bed later.  Prayers will be said throughout this day, "Lord Jesus, give me strength!!"   I have always had a struggle with devotion time - you relate?  I have had a recent conviction to read my Bible first before reading anything.  That has proven to be a challenge because I have started reading this series by Liz Curtis Higgs!  I mean this is the type book that you can hardly put down.  You have to know what is going to happen in this family and these individuals.  The realization of the need for forgiveness in this first book has moved me to tears!   Anyway - that is not the purpose of this entry - but before I move on, the series is the following --  Thorn in My Heart Historical
 Today has started off pretty well.  Seth, my 3 year-old, has had a good morning.  Instead of his getting into things, he walks up to me now and holds the item behind his back and says, "I have present for you!"  He gives me the item and then runs away laughing!  It is heading into the lunch hour, so I am going to get off an fix lunch.  I actually know what we are going to have, and it is simple to fix!   Lunch today will be chicken alfredo over bowtie pasta.  I love an easy lunch, especially when we have had a busy day before.  Yesterday was our trek to Greenville for a visit to Sully's nephrologist (kidney doctor).   Sullivan is our fourth born and has cerebral palsy and leukodystrophy. He cannot walk on his own, stand on his own, talk or eat solid foods - for now.  Anyway, with his condition he has many doctors - neurologist, ophthalmologist, orthopedic, gastroenterologist, nephrologist, geneticist, cardiologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech the
  I say it is my birthday!  Happy birthday to me :0)  I am 41 today - I remember when my mom turned 41.  As I am typing this, I am listening to the song, "Birthday," by the Beatles - which I didn't know they wrote and sang.  I learned something new on my birthday!  It is a fun rock 'n roll song.  I think it should be on a runner's/walker's list for sure.  What a great beat!   Happy Birthday Funny Dancing Cartoons - YouTube   Yesterday, Seth, our littlest kiddo, turned 3.  So here we have me at 41 and Seth at 3.  We are both in a challenging time in our lives.  I am experiencing "Mommy Meltdowns" while he is having his "Toddler Meltdowns."  "What fun this must be for the rest of the family!" I can hear some of you say.  Well, it isn't.  I find myself apologizing and crying while I gather my wits back together again.  I was wondering about these and how I could work through them, helping both Seth and me.   Why do we, and many

These are SO GOOD!

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I want to say that it is no secret that I am working on weight loss.  I have been doing that since I was an older teen.  Now that I am almost 41, I am battling the wonderful slow-down of my metabolism.  I have found a book that has a neat way of helping you make great choices while eating REAL food.  I am not having to give up any food group, so that is a plus - cause I LOVE bread :0) Anyway, I was in the store with my girls and Seth - who was asleep, so that made it easier as he is almost 3 - not going there LOL!  We went to look for some healthy snacks, when we came upon these -- I had one today with a cup of hot tea that only had a teaspoon of sugar, and it was HEAVENLY!  I don't say that lightly.  It was so good.  I am excited about finding this snack - Dollar General, 6 for $2.50!  Above you can see the nutrition information.  Now these are not huge - smaller than a computer mouse.  However, with them being only 90 calories, if you had a tablespoon of peanut butter with i

Summer is Almost Over

  Summer of 2014 is almost over.  I ran across a list I had made of things I wanted to get done -- I wanted to get organized - ha ha!  Don't we all!  I wanted to exercise more -- does chasing Seth count?  I wanted to spend more time reading and scrapbooking - I did get to do those, and I had such fun!  I wanted to spend more time with the children doing fun things - since our car's transmission tore up, we had to be more creative.  I have to say that I think we had more fun and time together.  I wanted to spend more time outside.  Even though some days were hot, Seth and I were outside a lot!  I pushed him on the swing, watched him swing, watched him play in the dirt -- you know, that typical outside stuff!  I wanted to get Sully's exercises done - did that thanks to some help from Aunt Baretta!  We really accomplished a lot o   On August 18th our summer time ended.  We officially started school.  We homeschool the girls. Siler attends a small church school that his Grandm

Sully and His First Steps Without Help (except his walker and PT and favorite toy!)

I AM EXCITED!!  I AM BLESSED!!  I have witnessed, again, answer to prayers!  If there was ever a doubt in your mind that there is a God that hears our prayers -- well, you need to talk to me :0)   I won't write now about how our journey has been with Sully from the beginning - that would be a long entry, and I need to get packed for the beach!  However, I will say that the video that is attached to this just shows that the Lord has heard our prayers.  Sully was not a very active infant, so I didn't know what his outcome would be regarding walking or anything else for that matter. The Shriner's Hospital in our area and our PT, OT, and Speech therapists were and still are encouraging us that Sully may walk one day.  Well, this past Friday, September 5, 2014, was a day that I got to see him do just that - he did have a walker, encouragement from his therapists, and his two favorite toys. Sullivan is such a  blessing to our family!  Please watch this and be blessed by this

Experiencing Mercy and Love

  Today was an unusual day.  Benson had the day off, so I took Siler down for school. Since both our little guys were feeling a little yucky - due to the lovely, early fall flowers blooming - and we were not going to therapy, I decided to do a little grocery shopping. Okay, big grocery shopping since we have a big family :0)   Benson had gotten paid and given me some money to deposit.  I mentioned to him that I would use some for groceries.  He said that was fine and deposit the rest.  So here I had some money.  I should have put it in my wallet, but I put it in my pocket.  I know most of you are saying to yourself, "Oh no!"  for you already have guessed what I am about to share with you.  Yes, I did buy our large amount of groceries.  I felt good being able to walk around the store and getting our needs and some of our wants.  I went up to the front and paid for our groceries.   This is where my story gets really sad.  I unloaded my groceries in the car.  When I went to ge

Robin Williams

  When I found out about Robin Williams' death, it immediately took me back to his movies and humor.  I was like alot of kids that watched "Mork and Mindy" when it came on tv.  I don't really remember it as much as I do his other movies.  I know as a teen I watched "Dead Poets Society."  That movie, while controversial, made me think about being a passionate teacher and enjoying being a teacher.   "Dead Poets Society" was a movie I saw as a junior or senior in high school.  I look back and now can't remember all of the movie, so I am speaking mainly on the inspiration that I do remember from watching the movie.  Robin Williams' character was a teacher who went against the appropriate ways of teaching in the school that was in this movie.  I don't think his intentions were to encourage disobedience or being a rebel.  I think he was trying to inspire and show passion for teaching and for his students.  As a young teacher, I wanted to hav

Making Pancakes With a Twist :0)

I am making pancakes for lunch today.  I am trying this recipe,  Good Old Fashioned Pancakes Recipe - Allrecipes.com .   I will post on here later how they turned out.  I don't have my camera or a smart phone, so I can't put pictures on here.  Oh well - I guess you can look on the site address above and think that is what mine look like :) LOL! Well, I am going to have to try that pancake recipe another time because I didn't have flour.  I only had cornmeal.  I tried a recipe on the back but had to tweak it because we had just run out of milk.  So this is what I ended up making -- 2 cups of cornmeal mix 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. oil 1 tbsp. vinegar 1 cup peach yogurt 2 cups of water Now, mind you, I know this is not your typical pancake mix, but it worked given that I lacked 2 very important ingredients.  The children had mixed reviews - 2 like them and 2 didn't.  I licked them fine, and I actually think the batter would also work well f

My Stinkin', Rotten Attitude

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  You ever have one of those days where you begin with a really rotten attitude?  Well, Friday was one for me.  Let me begin by briefly sharing that our transmission in our main vehicle is not 100%.  I can get around enough to get to grocery stores, drug stores, my in-laws to borrow their wonderful car that has the BEST ac, and of course church.  In any case today, I kind of - don't ask me how - but I forgot that my car will only go 40 and takes extra time to get down the mountain.  I also forgot that I was having to unload two babies, a purse, a therapy bag for Sully, and my larger-than-life diaper bag!  And, mind you, I had been functioning this way for almost 6 weeks, so it wasn't like an all of a sudden thing!  In any case this is how my morning was starting.  Plus, it was raining.   Now before you start thinking, "Wow!  This is one negative, very Eeyore-like person ," I am not. It just so happens that I am the complete opposite.  I am probably one of those cup

Praises and Prayer

    I just posted about how I appreciate the prayers from my friends.  I am huge believer that prayer changes things.  I believe that the Lord gives us His Word and prayer for communication with Him.  Sometimes we pray, and He is silent.  Other times it is like in your face what He wants you to do.  Then there are those "wait a little bit" times that can be more than frustrating.  I have been experiencing many neat things in my Christian walk when it comes to prayer.  This week I experienced a quick answer.     This week held appointments for us.  Two children had dentist appointments, Sully an MRI, and then of course Friday, is our typical therapy day.  Whenever we had Sully get an MRI, he was intubated.  That is when you have a tube put into your windpipe to help you in the case you stopped breathing or had breathing problems.  We had always thought that was unnecessary, but we would let them anyway.  The experience always meant a night or two at the hospital while the swe

Shadow

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Today is a sad day for our family.  We lost one of our sweet dogs, Shadow.  He was hit sometime over the last couple of days.  We found him, and his injuries were fatal.  I loved that dog. I have spent more time outside this summer, so I have spent more time with our two dogs, Scooby and Shadow.  My favorite memories of him will be how he chased sticks and ropes.  He enjoyed chasing sticks, but I couldn't often get him to give them back to me.  It was also fun to watch him chase our rope swing.  He would grab hold of it and every now and then swing in the air.  Oddly enough, the only thing to get him to let go was a stick. Shadow was two this past February.  He was sweet, and he will be missed.  We were thankful for our time with him.

Nutella!

So, on Sunday nights, we like - or I like - to have easy suppers.  You know, leftovers from lunch, cereal, soups, and sandwiches.  Tonight is a sandwich night.  Benson has had a great garden this season, so he brought in some green beans to go with our tomato sandwiches.  Savannah is not a fan of tomato sandwiches or tomatoes.  I say to her, "How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"  She opens the cabinet, turns the peanut butter jars around, and replies, "You don't have crunchy.  I only like crunchy or Nutella!  I LOVE Nutella!"  This is the part where I get tickled!  She then says, "Why don't you Nutella me why we don't have crunchy peanut butter!" You gotta love it when your kids say funny things!  That made me laugh!! Humorous times help us get through some really hard times!  I am thankful for my funny family!! Blessings and {{hugs}} Chandra

Biltmore Estates!

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Back in 2001, Benson and I celebrated our third anniversary with a trip to the Biltmore House.  I was beyond excited.  I had waited years to get to see this magnificent place.  It did not disappoint.  Now, I understand that some people think that is a gross use of one's money to build such a place.  But I look now and think of the provision to the Asheville area that it not only was in that time period, but how the Estate contributes to the area today.  I am putting a link on here so that if you want, you can take some time to look at it online and see what an incredible place this is to visit -  Biltmore Estate .   And, no, I am not a paid representative for the Biltmore House, although I would LOVE to be :0) Now, onto our 3rd wedding anniversary.  I asked Benson if I could plan our trip.  Now mind you, this was before I had internet.  I think that is so funny how weird life was without it.  But I think I will write about that another time -- anyway, sorry I rabbit-trail