My week

Welcome Company Girls, friends, and family. It has been a crazy week at our house and I'm trying to get some last minute chores finished this Friday afternoon.

I worked a few more hours than usual this week, but extra money is always helpful this time of year. I attended the staff Christmas party for the YMCA on Sunday evening and had a nice evening of food and fellowship. On Monday, my normal 3 hour night shift at the Y. Wed. the boys had their last day of preschool and on Thursday morning we attended their Christmas concert. It was their last day with their friends as we have removed them from that program. That is a very long story, but essentially we were very unhappy with some things going on at their preschool and decided they were better off not continuing there. I have since found out that we are not the only ones and no less than 5 other children from the two classes are also not returning after Christmas.

Last night Jared and I were able to attend a special sneak preview of the movie, Marley & Me. I recommend it to anyone except maybe small children. It was a very funny and heartwarming movie and not just for women, my husband also enjoyed the movie very much.

Today we found out that our middle child, Seth, will be having surgery on Tuesday morning. This summer he closed his hand in the back of the sliding door on our minivan and it froze the top joint of his thumb in a bent locked position. It is an outpatient surgery to release the tendon in his thumb, but it does require him to be put under anesthesia because of his age. If I might ask for your prayers for this surgery. None of my children have ever required surgery and the unknown and typical mother anxieties make me nervous.

My favorite small things this week were getting points for lighting a candle, something I love to do anyway, and today's small thing of getting points for doing something of my choosing, especially since this has been a very busy day/week. At least, I'll get some points for getting all of my laundry done today or was that scrubbing the bathtub.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I will update everyone next week on the outcome of Seth's surgery.

My wish for you this season.....

Many words come to my mind this time of year; joy, love, happiness, merry, wonder, and my favorite PEACE. This is my wish for my family and yours this holiday season. Christmas here is hectic: there are parties to attend, cookies to bake, cards to mail, presents to buy, and general mayhem. Peace is what God offered us with the birth of his Son. Maybe not peace meaning no wars or other problems, but peace within our own lives. The peace that comes from taking a moment to remember the real reason for this time of celebration. The peace that happens within our souls when we rest in Him instead of the worldly aspects of Christmas and the peace that comes with knowing and loving our Savior.

This Christmas I wish you all a season full of peace, love, and joy. May we all take a few moments to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Company Girl Coffee

It's Friday again and time for Company Girl Coffee. It's been a great week, and as always I was very excited to get the verse for the month. I love the artwork Rachel Anne puts with the verse and I love the new verse and the way it always seems to speak to me.

My favorite Small Thing this month was spending time with my baby. During this season of my life, spending time with each child individually is a challenge. I try my best to spend some time each day with each child, but with 3 kids with the ages of 4, 3, and 2, it is not an easy task. On Tuesday I was able to spend some great time one-on-one with Noah. While the younger two kids took their naps, Noah and I finished a Lite Brite picture and finished a puzzle. It's amazing how relaxing these activities were with only one 4 year old and not the whole gaggle that usually participates. We finished our time alone with a shared cup of hot chocolate, a great treat on a cold afternoon. It was a great afternoon and I loved having that time with my first baby.

Out of the mouths of babes

I coudn't resist posting a conversation I had with my 3 year-old son earlier this week. First a little background information for those who do not know us personally. I am 5'2" and am considerably shorter than everyone in my family of origin. My husband is 6'5" and the shortest of the three boys in his family, his mom is even 6'1". Our boys are tall and skinny and according to their doctor will be well over 6 foot, while our daughter will probably be closer to my height. Now that you know the details, the story...

Seth: Mommy, that's me when I was a baby (looking at a picture in our bedroom)

Me: Yes honey it is.

Seth: Mommy, God grew me to a big boy.

Me: Yes he did, but He started you as a baby.

Seth: But He grew me to a big boy now.

Me: You're right.

Seth: Mommy, when is God going to finish growing you?

Me: He already did honey, this is as tall as I'm going to be.

Seth: But you're little, God needs to finish growing you.

At this point I was out of answers but full of laughter. It's true, you never know what they are going to say, but in our house you will almost always get a laugh out of it.

Company Girl Coffee Dec. 5

Welcome. Sit down, enjoy a hot drink with me and we can talk about our weeks. It's been a relatively quiet week at our house, I know, I'll pay for that comment later.

I've done good this week at finishing the Small Things at Home Sanctuary every day this week, hopefully I'll be able to keep that up this month. I really enjoyed doing something for my Real Self on Tuesday and I happily went to my Mom to Mom group without one moment of guilt and enjoyed my evening of bible study and girl talk.

Today's Small Thing is to "Wipe the Slate Clean" be it a counter top or relationship, and while relationships can always be improved and I did clean off my buffet this morning, doing the "Small things" everyday is a kind of Clean Slate for me. If I didn't get the task done the previous day I get to start fresh each morning with a new Small Thing and every day I get to work at making our home a sanctuary for my family. I'm also trying to wipe the slate clean with myself, too often we beat ourselves up for not being good enough, not being perfect wives, daughters, friends, MOTHERS!!!!; but more often than not we are much harder on ourselves than our friends and families. Today I'm trying to let go of those things and just enjoy all of the many blessings in my life.

Pictures

The weather on Thanksgiving here was fantastic and since we were going to be at Jared's parents house we took the opportunity to get some great pictures of the kids. It was the best experience we have had so far in trying to get everyone's pictures (alone or together). Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Noah, Seth, and Riley


Seth


Noah


Riley, this picture was taken at Seth's birthday party.


The next picture was taken at the beginning of October when my brother was visiting at my parents house from MT. I like the picture and thought I would share it with everyone.