Guess what! The real new member of the family I wanted to talk about has arrived!  I’m an auntie again!!!!  

New life is precious. Always. ~~~ New life is beautiful. Always.

New life is amazing. Always. ~~~ New life is awe’ing, mind blowing. Always.

Only by the grace of an amazing Creator God do we get to experience new life, are we allowed to value and appreciate new life.

Baby is a girl. A sweet, beautiful, amazingly cute newborn baby girl.

I now have 4 nieces (2 sharing a birthday) & 1 nephew. I am blessed.

For being a week overdue, it was a FAST process. Less than an hour from knowing something might be happening to baby being born. After we all saw baby & mom and knew all was well, we just kind of sat there stunned, comparing notes. Checking texts and phone call logs to even try to piece it all together.

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Here are my flowers – together. As a beautiful bouquet :-D. Aren’t they pretty?

I don’t hold firmly to not working on the Sabbath, in the sense you might initially think. I do, however, make sure Sunday is set aside for a day of rest. In this crazy, busy, social anytime of day or night culture, this is hard.

I’m not legalistic about this, but I do try really hard to keep Sunday as a day to do only what I really want. If I don’t feel like checking email, or working on the computer, or doing laundry. Then I don’t. But there are times that doing something plain, simple, and normal – like doing laundry – is relaxing to me, then I’ll do it on Sunday. Sometimes I get to Saturday morning and absolutely check-out. then my day of rest becomes Saturday. Sometimes I need two days – one to start relaxing and one to feel relaxed – when that happens, I’ve gone too long without taking a break. I’m at that point.

I actually have been here for a bit. Unfortunately there are many side effects of too much stress for me. One of them is, I am learning, the whole gluten issue is very related to stress. I have wondered if this was true for the last three weeks, this weekend it has been confirmed. When I am stressed, tired, not had enough rest, and just done. I can’t handle gluten, as in I can’t even touch it! Three weeks ago, I opened a package of cookies and moved them from their container to a plate. Over the next couple hours I remember thinking I didn’t feel great, but thought it was because it was a Friday night and I’d been at the church with lots middle schoolers. [total reason for a headache, don’t you think] Anyway, the next morning my face was puffy and my eyelids were swollen; over the last three weeks I’ve had lingering headaches, that icky all-consuming tired feeling, my elbows ache, my hands, hips, and ankles hurt; I’m crabby; my words don’t come out of my mouth correctly; and my stomach is just icky. Vince asked me repeatedly the first 3 or 4 days if I’d eaten gluten. I was sure I hadn’t but didn’t understand what my problem was, he was sure I had. I had a doctor appt and asked – she said she didn’t want to believe it was true, but she has noticed if she’s run down that gluten in the air/touching hands briefly tends to be a weak spot. I still didn’t want to believe it. Well, today is the end of the three weeks. There are symptoms & body signals I have learned that happen at 3 weeks after I get gluten. I believe it now. UGh! How dumb!!

The up side to this. I do not have a choice, I have to figure out a way to reduce stress. I don’t want to live this sensitive to gluten. It’s in too many places. I’m actually pretty excited about this. I always feel guilty for wanting to slow down; but there is a “valid” reason now. :-D.

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It is already the LAST Sunday of October – how is this possible?! Today’s post is about an important question. What is God’s will for me? 

I often wonder what God’s will is for our life. My children and mine’s life. What is His plan, what does He want me to do? I tend to get paralyzed with options and fear. I forget how incredibly simple His commands are. Here is an example:

It’s pretty simple. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. The doesn’t mean we have to rejoice about all circumstances. We can rejoice in our gift of grace; praying keeps us communicating with our Father; and choosing to give thanks IN all situations, doesn’t have to be for all situations. So – when we find ourselves in an “impossible situation” — make sure to choose to rejoice; stay praying and communicating with your Provider, constantly; and choose to give thanks for what you do have.

Have a blessed and restful Sunday. I intend to rest – [mightily!]

Today is day 28 of the 31 Days Series. My series has been about 31 days of Life and today is about a question.

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I am once again reminded how thankful I am for heat, blankets, warm clothes, my socks. My home. I believe this is self-explanatory, I don’t need to explain what or why.

My home is not big, but it is ‘my space’. A space to call my own. I can’t imagine having it all ripped away with little to no notice. Many on the East Coast have lost their homes. While losing their home and all belongings is huge, overwhelming. So many are barefoot and just wishing they had a pair of socks. I’m in Alaska – nearly the furthest US state you can get away from the East Coast (Hawaii wins by 500 miles) – I feel a bit ‘out of the way’ to be of any help. But, this is a way I can help and I’m excited to have something tangible I can do. Almost like a giving a virtual hug. or a warm cup of tea. with warm feet. I am also giving thanks for this opportunity.

Here is something requiring action, now. and most of us can help. Due to the nature and urgency of this particular need, please mail by Friday, November 9th. Go to Laura’s blog to learn more about the situation, and to get her mailing address. There are also directions for how to donate easily to the Red Cross.

With Laura’s permission from The Shed – I copied the picture and her thoughts directly from her post. This picture is the neighborhood near hers. She is taking gloves and hats too, but other clothing items are in sufficient supply at this time. The shortage is for warmth – socks, gloves, hats.

Imagine it being your child(ren), father, mother, brother, sister, or other extended family member without socks, gloves, or hats, a way to stay warm. Items most of us have lots of and take for granted.

I couldn’t get the socks thing out of my head. People needed socks. People were walking around barefoot. But it was more than that, this sort-of obsession about socks. Putting socks on cold feet signifies warmth and comfort – a small bit of goodness during what will be a long and difficult road. It bothered me all night.

Yes, we live at the shore. Going barefoot goes hand-in-hand with living at the beach. But after this storm? It is much chillier around here. And the forecast is for another possible storm to arrive in about four days. People need socks for warmth. Now.

I am thankful for my warm items of clothing. As an action of my thankfulness, I will be sending a virtual hug to provide warmth. This is how I will be giving thanks this week.

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Daylight Savings & Sleep: I believe these are self-explanatory. I can not begin to adequately describe how the extra hour of sleep is heavenly.

I realize not all states do this, but I am thankful we do. It is wonderful to go to bed and have it actually be an hour earlier. I learned when I was doing school online, to not use that extra hour the night before. I tend to naturally be a night owl – I used to stay up an hour longer and just “claim” I was going to bed at the same time. It never really worked, and I never learned. However, because I was doing school via University of Phoenix and Arizona doesn’t observe daylight savings…my assignments had to be turned in two hours earlier than the midnight deadline, instead of the 11pm deadline I had when we changed back in April. Ya, I learned quick – had 3 cycles of daylight savings in those 20 months. Thankfully, the first cycle was just two short months after I started.

I hope you are able to have a rest-full Sunday. I am looking forward to a day of rest after a refreshing week :-D. It has been a long time since I’ve been able to look forward to the new week ahead. This continues to be the verse I’m hanging onto this week. I know I will need the constant reminder. In particular with elections this week – He is in control! No matter what our circumstances look like. 

I will Give Thanks in ALL circumstances.

I’m not often political on here – but I will say, it is imperative to vote. This is why we live in such a great country, with freedom. Because our forefathers felt our freedoms were important. Worth giving their lives so we could have a better life. For those of you reading who are Americans, don’t ignore that portion of your heritage. If Tuesday doesn’t work for you, look for your local Division of Elections offices, some have the option of early voting.

I’m linking up with Fresh Brewed Sundays with Barbie over at My Freshly Brewed Life. Come join with others sharing a scripture with each other. What a blessed way to spend time with blog friends!

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Each day for the last week I’ve planned to “take” some types of learning tests about my kids & I.  I haven’t tried this since they were too little to really answer for.  I figured I’d like to see how the curriculum I’m planning to make use of fits {or not} before starting.

Well, you learn really interesting things when you check some of those things out —  I’ve always known I had to see it, hear it, & do it in order to “get it”.  So what did I learn?  I learned we are all visual learners; Christine and I were really close with Kinesthetic & Visual and Auditory was no where close. {her: strongest in Visual; me: strongest in Kinesthetic} Vince was so strong in Visual that it was 19 points to Auditory for him, and almost no Kinesthetic.  Interesting.  I love this kind of thing.  What will I do with the info?  I.have.no.idea.  However, I do have a little more understanding of what those three terms mean now. 😀

For example:  I know now why I frustrated Vince soooo much when he was in Kindergarten {uh, yes that was 10 years ago!}, oh bless our contact teacher’s heart for stopping me.  She did it so lovingly I didn’t even know I was the problem.  She blessed our family with the gift of continuing homeschooling because she encouraged me to let him be.  Let him learn by what he is interested in.  I was “doing” Thomas Jefferson education before it was the popular way of doing things.  Much to the dismay & speculation of many around me.  I’m here at the other end to tell you – IT WORKS!  Because I restrained myself, he doesn’t hate school.  Because I didn’t force what he “had” to learn, he wants to learn.  Christine isn’t quite to the wanting to learn stage, she’d still draw and listen to stories.all day.every day.  However, she doesn’t have a ton of self-discipline…so we’re working on character building.  Some days, that just looks like — “is this the best use of time?”  Also, I’m super excited to use Well-Planned Day’s software this year.  I anticipate a whole lot less of my asking, “did you finish…?” – because they’ll have the power to pre-answer me by finishing & checking it off……oh, I love lists. 😀

So….a little bit of update since I wrote the above.  Vince is totally into his education this year. It is awesome! We have a new member of the family {more on this later}. The schedule for the school year includes 3 music lessons, 2 youth groups, 1 math class, 1 science class, 1 gymnastics class, and I’m in a Bible Study this fall. We are running. A lot. {Even with 2 piano lessons & the science class here at the house.} This is way more than I like for us being scheduled, but that is the time of life we’re in I guess.  We’ll see what next semester will hold – I believe we’ll be down the extra math class.  We’ll still be out 2 nights/week and everything other week is 3 nights out. I’m a serious home body, this has been an adjustment for me.

These are good pics of each of “my” kiddos this year. I love them so much. So much it hurts. I know there are not such great days, but in the grand scheme of life – do all those petty issues really matter? I am reminded again, how very fortunate we are.

We have a warm house.

We have food on the table/in the fridge/pantry.

I have a reliable van, and gas in the van.

We have our family.

Yes, we have so very much to be thankful for. There are so many things in the wings I can’t wait to share, but I have to wait for the right time….

I can say I have decided to drop the idea of having a web design business – I HATE the technical side. I just want to do the design part. I broke down & just bought a theme, rather than trying to figure out how to edit the original one I bought {that I really didn’t like, but thought I’d be able to edit}. I’m still doing lots of messing around with the looks {why are there double headings?!!!!} & cleaning up all the posts converted over from Blogger — that whole category vs tag thing, what a mess!

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For those who don’t know what I’m referring to…. The Nester is hosting 31 Days. As I mentioned in my last post, I know I can’t focus on one topic – so, it’ll be about life.  Yes, I’m cheating.

This is what I feel like life is right now. A rushing river. With LOTS of bumps.

The river {time} = rushing, rushing, rushing. Whether you are ready or not. Whether you want it to or not. Never stopping. There is nothing you can do about it, except relax and CHOOSE to enjoy the journey.

The rocks {life circumstances} = expected but not always completely seen. Sometimes looks different than it really is – depends on your angle. Always directing the flow. If you hit one hard enough, it ALWAYS hurts. If you bump one {aren’t as rigid in expectations}, it just changes your direction, flows easier, hurts less, and you enjoy the journey more.

So thankful my Heavenly Father is in control. Absolute control. At ALL times. When I choose to “let go and let God”, it’s more like being in a rubber raft and the rocks just guide me through the openings. Some parts might be scary, but it hurts less and the journey is more enjoyable.

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It is time for BIG changes.  {Part of my motivation for taking on this challenge.}

Posting for 31 Days. {Day 3, we’re on a roll!  :-D}

Seasonally we are changing. {for us fall is basically over; we’re headed into the crispy winter air.}

We’re headed into our first year of high school home school. {a whole different game. we have to log hours!}

Music: Lessons are set up. There will be 4 sets of lessons (3 official) & 4 practice times happening. Each day!

I’m still trying to get my business off the ground. {It’s not that I haven’t done work – it just keeps being not paid work….I NEED to get this figured out.}

I’m so thankful God has a plan. It is ALL in His control; His time – NOT mine.                 No matter how hard I try, it just doesn’t work.

These are photos from a couple days last week. On my way to a meeting, a week ago today.  After a day when I felt overwhelmed with God’s planning, timing, and provision. A day I felt in awe. A day I experienced the feeling of the absence of fear {I believe for the 1st time in my life}. On top of the overwhelmed feelings.

I was driving to a meeting, by choice, by myself,  I didn’t know who else would be there. I had never been to the area, subdivision, or house I was going to. I didn’t even really know what the meeting was about – other than some kind of missions support group for the missionaries sent from our church. For this hard core introvert {as in extreme, all-the-way-to-the-end, not an ounce of extrovert type of introvert} normally, I would have been sick. Physically ill. Headache. Stomachache. Shaky. It {absence} was the oddest sensation. Honestly, it was. I think the time has come for me to step out and take some risks. Risk doesn’t come easily to me {above mentioned physical symptoms, usually precede any thought of risk; which then changes my mind. Out of fear.}

Then Wednesday happened: Started with Ortho appointment changing some major future plans. But I keep reminding myself, He has a plan. He has a good plan, for my future. For each of our futures. He knows the whole plan. His timing is perfect. I just need to trust.

This was at 6:30AM, a couple days later.  {LOOK at that glowing sky. The sun was trying to peak out. It didn’t make it, but it’s effort sure was BEAUTIFUL!} I was heading into town for a seminar on Google+/Places/Local. Again, by myself, not knowing who all would be there. I did know one sister-friend who was going to join me – but we hadn’t actually talked. Only text’d a ‘YEA’ a couple days prior. No plans for meeting up. No parking together. No walking in together. I did it. Alone. I even walked in on my own, by myself, knowing she wasn’t coming for another 15 minutes or so.

You may really be wondering about my sanity. Really, I’m not insane. These are huge hurdles for me, but it’s because I’ve allowed fear too much of a foothold. This has been a constant prayer for several years – “Please, Lord, give me the strength to….” is not a new prayer for me to ask God for the strength to work through. It must just be the right time. His time.

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