Thankful Thursday

Wow, I'm actually posting this on the day that I'm supposed to! This week I am thankful for:
1. My mom finally joining the texting world. Now I don't have to call her SO much. Or maybe I still will ;-)

2. The sweet little voice that speaks through that passy every morning that says "Momma!" when I stick my head in her room. How I wish that could never end!

3. A husband who still flirts with me :) Even though I was a little irriated when he poured cold water on me in the shower this morning, I realize he's just being my "junior high boy." I love him for that because things would probably be pretty boring if he wasn't that "boy."

4. The urge to mop my kitchen floor this week. Something that should be done probably every week with a toddler around yet I don't. I can't stand it. I think it's more so the preparation before mopping and having to move stuff. It's almost as bad as ironing.

5. The sunset Tuesday afternoon. Did anyone else see that? Thank you God for your beautiful creation!!

6. My garage last night when I came home from bible class in that heavy down pour!

What are you thankful for this Thurday?

"This is the Stuff"

Yesterday I heard Francesca Battistelli's song "This is the Stuff" for the first time and I loved it. I immediately downloaded it on iTunes. The first 2 lines reminded me so much of myself. I can't count how many times I've had to search for my keys. And one time I actually had to get on Facebook and tell someone to call my phone because I couldn't find it! Here is a link to the words and song on GodTube. It was a great reminder for me of how God works in our lives. The little "annoyances" that drive us insane are the very things that God is only trying to help us with. "Might not be what I would choose. But this is the stuff You use to break me of impatience, conquer my frustrations. I've got a new appreciation. It's not the end of the world!" Today at Kroger I had to remember this song in my head as I experienced one of my biggest pet peeves!

After a very DISTRACTING shopping trip with Brylee, I got my groceries in the car and then put her in her seat. After putting her in, I was standing outside the car rummaging through the coupons that I didn't use that I carelessly threw in the diaper bag during our trip. As I'm trying to find all of them, I get this whiff of coffee. Ironically, several of those coupons I didn't use were coffee coupons and for a slight second (remember I just said a slight second!) I thought to myself, "Mmm, I'm guessing some companies are scenting their coupons now!" I had NO clue where the coffee smell had come from. That is until I went to PUT MY BASKET WHERE IT BELONGS. I saw that "Mr. or Ms. Lazy" had not put their basket in the little "doodad" (what are those things called anyway?") Note: Whomever "Mr. or Ms. Lazy" was, was obviously only about 5 feet from the "doodad". So you're asking yourself, "What about the coffee smell?" Well, while I was rummaging through my "coffee scented coupons", "Mr. or Ms. Lazy's" basket ran into my car. "Mr. or Ms. Lazy" was also too lazy to throw away their coffee cup that was still FULL of coffee and coffee spilled down the side of my car. Note to self: They are in fact, NOT making coffee scented coupons. I was highly frustrated. Yeah, sure it's no fun when a basket runs into your vehicle and it's certainly no fun when you get coffee spilled down it but that's not what I was frustrated about. It was the simple fact that this person could not walk 5 more feet to put that basket where it belongs!! "This is the stuff that drives me crazy!"

When I got home and started thinking about that song, I realized I just needed to thank God for this situation. Because in this situation he was only helping me "conquer my frustrations" and realize "it's not the end of the world" when someone doesn't put their basket up! Thank you Lord!

Thankful Thursday (on a Friday!)

Once again, I slacked on my "Thankful Thursday" blog. No sick husband or daughter like last time. I just simply wasn't at home pretty much all day yesterday, and if I was, I had no time to sit down at the computer. I had women's bible study yesterday morning and after that, most of us stayed around and ate lunch together. Right after that, we went and helped out a couple with their house. They had their baby 10 weeks early so they didn't have everything ready. Several of us went to help so that their house can be ready to welcome that sweet baby girl in a couple months. I'll just tell you, if you ever need your doors painted, remember me because I am a professional now ;) By the time I got home, it was time to make dinner (grilled cheese sandwiches that is!), catch up on American Idol, and go to bed. So I thought I'd just do it this morning and not completely skip for the week like last time. So this week I am thankful for

1. First I must say, this beautiful weather that we have had all week long. Couldn't get any better! Thank you God!! I love not having to stuff my child into a car seat like I have to do when she has a coat on! And we have enjoyed playing outside!

2. Women's prayer breakfast we had last Saturday. Such a great time to stuff our faces with good food and talk to our God together!

3. For my bff, Chelsea, getting to come over and work out with me Tuesday. So good having someone to work out with.

4. For Brylee not having to get tubes at this point. So relieved! "No Tubes for Now!"

5. Moments when you realize just how blessed you really are. My moment this week was when Ben, Brylee, and myself were all in the bathroom Sunday morning brushing our teeth together. Sounds cheesy but it was such a sweet and fun moment for me!

What are you thankful for this Thursday.....I mean Friday!

No Tubes for Now!

For those who don't know, Brylee is the "Queen of Ear Infections." Yes, that's right! Not to mention the queen of many other things! ;-) She had one back in July, another one in October, and a double one in December. Not to mention the others before July. This is just since she's turned one. Her doctor always told us that as long as the antibiotics were working, she should never have to get tubes. In December, we had to see a different doctor. This was when we found out she had the double ear infection. He told us that as long we we could make it through January and February without getting one, we shouldn't have to look into them. Well so much for that because she got one this month! We finally went yesterday to see an ENT.

Of all days, Brylee, decided to not take a nap whatsoever! I wanted her to be well rested because I knew they'd be checking her hearing and all that other fun stuff and I didn't want her to be so completely miserable. I must brag on my little "queen" because she did awesome. I must also thank my mother-in-law for going with us too. That helped out tremendously. We had to wait around FOREVER because the doctor was in surgery so they were way behind on appointments. I only had to spank her one time and that was because she kept wanting to color on the play table out in the waiting room! When it came time to check her hearing, she just sat so still and didn't freak out. (By the way, her hearing was perfectly normal. Thank you Lord!) And by the time we got to see the doctor, she was still just as good. She LOVED the doctor and so did I! She played around in the room as he talked to me and she would walk right up to him and rest her hand on his knee and he'd pick her up. It was the cutest thing because she never does that with doctors! He was great with her!
Side note: For any of you whoever have to look into an ENT for your child, I highly recommend Dr. Jeff Cunningham. He is the same guy that did my mother-in-law's thyroid cancer surgery.

I was going into this appointment thinking to myself, "Okay let's just get this appt set up to get tubes so the chances of my baby suffering with another ear infection will decrease." I have to be honest though and say that I was quite relieved when he advised us to wait. Wait and see how she does with spring and summer coming up. He was also on the same page as Brylee's doctor with the whole antibiotics clearing things up and that being a good thing. She just got off antibiotics Saturday and when he checked her ears yesterday they were perfect. He also said that another good thing is she's not getting them every month.

So we are going to put this off for now. I am praying that she will not get another one anytime soon. If she does, he said to bring her back in. And if not, he would see us in May for a check up.

::keeping fingers crossed from here till May!::

Here are 2 pictures my precious girl yesterday. Playing in the waiting room and waiting like a big girl for the doctor to come in.

Devotion 2011

In 2011, I have been working on being more prayerful and digging into God's word daily. I'm on a mission to read through the entire bible in a year. So far, all is going well, even though I am about 13 days behind. I have decided to start a little log to keep up with my reading/thoughts/prayer/etc. I think this is going to help me to be more disciplined when it comes to my reading/prayer life. I think it will also help me to actually meditate and think about what I have read rather than just read through it just to get done with the reading, which is what I've done in the past. This is going to help me out a lot when it comes to praying for others/events coming up. As you can see, there's a spot for both of those. On Sundays or Wednesdays or whenever anyone says, please pray for "whomever" or "this specific event" I can actually write it down and not forget, which I am notorious for. Or I'll pray for that specific person one day and then for the rest of the week I've already forgotten. I can now actually pray for this person or that person all week long or all month long or however long I need to! And then of course, thanking God for my many blessings that week. I also like this idea so that a year from now, I can look back and see what I've studied, what I was praying for at this time in my life, etc, etc. Guess you could sort of call this a bible study/prayer journal. We'll see how it goes! I have also added Ben, Brylee, and my name to the bottom. This is for specific things going on in our lives during that week. Then I have a seperate sheet with our names on it. I gave an example of Brylee's. I have added specific things that I want to pray for each of us consistently every week. Of course, you can see some of these things I don't have to worry about for a while but I want to start praying about it now. I have this saved on my computer so if you would like a copy, let me know and I can email you an attachment. I actually tried to upload the document to the blog and it wouldn't let me so I just took a picture.

Thankful Thursday

For any of you folks out there that actually read my blog, you may have noticed that I did not have a "Thankful Thursday" blog last week. My sweet sis-in-law, Natalie , told me how much she enjoyed it and actually asked me last Thursday night at girls' night if I had done my "Thankful Thursday" blog for the week. At least I know one person enjoys it!! Haha Thanks Natalie! Last week was a rough week. Ben got the flu (or at least had flu like symptoms) that started Wednesday night. Brylee ended up with yet again, another ear infection and she was completely miserable last week. I took her to the doctor Thursday morning and the doctor suggested taking her to an ENT after this round of antibiotics to talk about tubes. Something I wish we would have gone ahead and done a long time ago. So to say the least, I really didn't get around to the computer on Thursday. So this week, I am thankful for:

1. Psalm 139 I read that this morning and it was a great reminder of how AWESOME my God is!

2. This week's episode of Parenthood.


3. My husband and I discovering our new love.....Monopoly. We played it all last weekend while he was sick and stuck in the house. We are addicted now!


4. On top of number 4, those laughing moments with my hubby.

5. Turkey-ronis. That would be turkey pepperonis and I could seriously eat the whole bag!

6. My super cute planner that I got in the mail this week that I spent less than $4 on. I just can't seem to keep up with everything in my phone. I have to have it on paper. Call me "old school!"


7. The moments when I am talking to God and I get really emotional. I never feel closer to Him than times like that.

8. The snow. Although I am so sick of it (never thought those words would come out of my mouth living in the Midsouth area) and so ready for spring, it was so beautiful coming down yesterday!

So...what are you thankful for this Thursday?