30 Days of Being Thankful...days 25-30

Day 25)  Warm clothes and shoes. With the cold temps we've had, I'm very thankful for warm sweaters, fuzzy pants, and slippers. Knowing so many go without these simple things, reminds me to be very grateful for what I have.

Day 26)  I'm thankful for my daughter. From the first time I held her in my arms until now, I have learned so much and never imagined I could love someone so much. Lady Bug is a wonderful young lady and I am proud to call her my daughter.

Day 27) I'm thankful for my middle son, my Wild Thing! He is a ball of energy with the sweetest heart. He makes me stop and look at my children and life in a whole new way. Without him, I would still have a very limited and boring view of life and children in general. I love him very much and am happy to be his mama.

Day 28) I am thankful for my youngest son. He is a perfect mix of his brother and sister with a streak of his own silliness. I love that he is also a very loving and cuddly little boy. He is my baby, and always will be. I am blessed to be his mama.

Day 29) I'm thankful for the family and friends I have been blessed with.

Day 30) And I'm thankful for you all. I have enjoyed sharing our lives, the good and the bad, with you all. Many of you have been faithful readers for a long time, and I have come to feel as though I know you as well through your own blogs. Blog friends from all over the world, for this I am thankful.

30 Days of Being Thankful...

Day 23) I'm thankful for Internet connection and my computer...when it decides to work. I never thought I'd say that but it's true. For a long time, I was so against video games, still am for the most part, and anything techy (is that even a word). I had no interest in the computer or any of the fancy new tech toys. Sadly, I now enjoy the Internet a bit too much. I try to keep a good balance of time on the computer and time off. Now it has become a way to keep in contact with people I would not be able to otherwise, and a way to share with family and friends pictures and stories of our family. It is also now a way for me to once again, begin preparing and putting together a portfolio of photographs for my photography business.

Day 24) I'm thankful for good friends. I am blessed to have a few truly great friends, who have been there for me time and time again over the years. They are there without judgement, without question, and without hesitation. These great friends, know me well and have blessed my life with their friendship.

To have many friends is wonderful, but to have that one or two special friends who are as family, is priceless.

30 Days of Being Thankful...

I'm obviously not very good at keeping up with these posts. In fact I believe I started the 30 day of being thankful last year and didn't do so well then either. So tonight, I'm going to okay catch-up, but I'm not promising that I will do any better in the week to come.

30 Days of Being Thankful...

Day 12) With this very cold weather today (10*) I am thankful for a home, and heat within my home!

Day 13) I'm thankful, even though times are tough for many, us included, we never go without.

Day 14) I complain about having go to work, even though it's not very often (it's more of a dislike of getting dressed up) yet, I'm very thankful to have a job, and to have a job that works with me and basically allows me to come and go as I am able.

Day 15) I am thankful for my safety.
A co-worker of mine, is from the Philipines, and talking with her I have learned that her village, where she grew up and where all of her family is, was wiped out in the typhoon. And since it is a very small village, they have yet to receive any help from the outside. Along with the obvious struggles of living though a typhoon, after a prison was destroyed, now they are not safe as many convicted murders, rapists, and others are now loose and roaming the area.

Day 16) I am thankful that I get to have my children home with me each day. I can't imagine how much I would miss, if they were gone all day.

Day 17) I'm thankful that my youngest still comes and climbs in bed with me. He is very cuddly and as he is my last, I love that he still wants to snuggle with mama!

Day 18) A working wash and dryer. I'm thankful that, at the moment, my washer and dryer are still pluggin along. Each time I put a load of laundry in either one, I wonder if it will be the last. They both have their issues and only work if you bang on the left side twice, lean to the right, and balance
on one foot, just before you turn them on. :-)

Day 19) I'm thankful I have a great man as my husband. He treats me well, and loves all me even with all my craziness.

Day 20) I'm very thankful that my children have a wonderful father! I couldn't have asked for a better man to be their father. He loves them deeply, spends times with them, and is a very involved daddy! Oh, and he spoils them rotten, which they could do without. (smile) Yet, I would rather he spoil the kids then to not be involved or distant.

Day 21) I'm thankful for the freedom to choose my religion and worship as I want. And I'm thankful
that I have the freedom and am able to teach my children about our Chirstian beliefs in our  homeschool.

Day 22) I'm thankful for sweatpants! Yep, sweatpants! I'm one that likes to be comfortable!

These were in no particular order.

Back to normal? And 30 days of being thankful!

One of these days I'm going to stop saying, "When things calm down we are going to (fill in the blank)" because things never seem to calm down. I am beginning to think, I would not be able to function if life was calm and easy. But, on the bright side, I am fully capable of functioning, although not happily, when life is throwing us all kinds of drama. 

With that said, I'm not sure I should put into writing that, I think, maybe, possibly, hopefully, life may be somewhat slowing down for us. That doesn't mean that everything is super peachy and life is perfect. It does mean that, for the moment, we are slowly moving back into a more, dare I say, "normal" lifestyle. 

It seems as though some of the serious medical issues we have been struggling with for nearly two years are subsiding.  My daughter's health issues are finally improving greatly, and I am praying daily, that they continue to improve and not resurface. We are still working to improve these issues, but we are far from the incredibly scary place we were this time last year, or even 4 months ago. I'm not quite ready to share the details of our struggle just yet, but in time, I will be. At that time, I hope to be able to reach out to families dealing with similar issues and be a support for them, as we found it very difficult to locate others going through the same thing.  Talking about our family struggles with our daughter's health to others was helpful, yet, as they had not dealt with the same or even similar issue, it was very difficult for them to understand what we were going through and they just could not relate. Everyone was very unsure of what to do, and many we looked to for help and guidance were just as unsure as we were about what to do and how to help. Including the medical team we worked with. 

Yet, with the Lord's help and guidance, we have made it through this far and continue to move forward each day. 

Along with the improvement of our daughter's  health issues, we are equally as thankful that our 9 year old son is no longer dealing with the health issues he had to deal with last winter. He was found to have what can be a rare and very serious skin condition, that at times is known to affect the internal organs and other things. As it goes, our family never does anything "normal" so our son showing up with a very rare condition, sadly, was not too surprising. We weren't even too concerned until we talked to the doctor, and he mentioned he hadn't seen it (the skin condition) in 15 years, and that the other doctors in his office had never seen it. Then, we worried, and made the terrible mistake of researching it online. I will tell you, please don't research a medical condition online, without choosing your reference sites very carefully. 

After days of research, I was a complete wreck! Not only were we smack in the middle of dealing with my daughter's serious and incredibly stressful health issues, I was now convinced that my son's health problems were going to be life altering. Even though it really was a possibility that he could have some very serious problems, the doctor wasn't ready to be too worried, yet. Luckily, we had a great doctor who took this on and hit it as hard as he could with the meds he felt would make a difference. Thank goodness they did. After only 6 months, Wild Thing (9 year old son) was much better and now has no trouble at all, and will hopefully never deal with it again.  Though it can return, we are not looking too far ahead. Day by day is our plan! 

Which means, that other than Wild Thing having asthma, my kids are...healthy! 

Yay! It's such a blessing to be able to say that I have pretty healthy kids once again. 

I know many families, and read many blogs where so many parents are not able to say their children are healthy. So many of these families worry each day if there will be a tomorrow for their children, and so many have to sit by and do the little they can as they watch their child suffer through medical issues and pain. For these families, I pray for peace and healing. 

After the last year and a half, I no longer take for granted the health of my children. I am very thankful for the three little blessings I have, and for their health and happiness

I am counting this all as day 6,7,8,9,10 and 11, of my 30 days of being thankful! 

 

30 Days of Being Thankful...

Day 5) I am thankful for my health and for the health of my husband and children.

At the moment I have both family and friends with some serious health concerns. It's scary to stop and realize, again, that as amazing as the human body is, it's also very fragile. As I spend time praying for loved ones health to improve, I am reminded that I am blessed to be as healthy as I am.

30 days of being Thankful...

I did this last year, or most of it anyway, and wanted to do it again. I'm a little late getting started but it's better late than never. 

I don't get a chance to post each day, but I will post when I can. 

Since toady is the 4th  I'm going to play catch up. 

30 Day of Being Thankful...

Day 1) 

I'm thankful for the Lord and thankful He loves me, even with all my faults! 

Day 2) 

I'm thankful that I have an amazing husband whom works so hard to care for his family and so that I my stay home and care for and raise our children

Day 3)  

I'm thankful for my three amazing children. I am so blessed to have been given such great and wild kiddos. 

Day 4) 

I am thankful for my wonderful family and friends. I have so many great people in my life that I don't deserve. 

Weekly Wrap Up

 

In our home this week:

As this is the week of Halloween, the kids were talking about, thinking about, and dreaming about Halloween costumes and candy!

This year instead of my making them a costume, they each had a store bought costume. Though it was nice to not have to frantically finish a costume the night before the trick-or-treating frenzy, I did somewhat miss making something special and unique for my kiddos. Even though I didn't enjoy spending the money on their costumes, it was nice to just buy them and be done. The costumes didn't cost a great deal but I'm cheep and would have rather spent a bit on material and made a costume that would last a little longer than a few nights. Even with store bought costumes, the kids had a great time trick-or-treating and now have much more candy than should ever be allowed in the house.  

In our homeschool this week:

There actually hasn't been much school going on this week. Lady Bug and Wild Thing did each have their day at the homeschool enrichment program they attend as well as their fencing lesson earlier this week.

Yet, with one little one not feeling well, daddy home from work, and too many errands and projects going on, school was set on the back burner for the week. Believe or not, no one cried one bit about missing school. Imagine that, homeschool kids happy to play hookie from school too!

Next week, we will be back to our normal routine of school and chores.

Projects we worked on this week:

While hubby was home and the weather was still nice we took the time to get some house projects done. The backyard finally was cleaned out and it no longer looks like the field overrun with dry weeds as tall as the fence. The kids are now actually spending time out back and I'm not worried about them getting lost in the jungle of dead weeds. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it felt like it.

Hubby also finished the sliding glass door we put in earlier this summer. The walls around it are now smooth and painted to match the rest of the room. 

I even sat down and decided on the kids' Christmas gifts from me this year.

Wild Thing has been asking for more camo pants since he has about worn out the last pair I made him. I have just enough material to make another set of pants complete with multiple pockets and maybe a hat or bandanna or camo pants for his stuffed bear. He will also get another pair of properly fitting church pants. Making pants for him is just about the only way to make sure his pants stay on. I can't find pants long and thin enough for him, so luckily I can sew and make him a few each year.

Lady Bug is getting a pink and green polk-a-dot blanket she's asked me to make for her for awhile now, as well as some more doll clothes for her Madame Alexander dolls. She had a dress pattern picked out but decided to wait until spring. Whew, thank goodness. It was a doozie of a dress, so I'm happy to have that off my shoulders until after the holidays.

My Little Man, is getting a stuffed bear and some pants as well.  I found the cutest stuffed bear pattern recently and can't wait to see how it turns out. He's excited about the bear too, so I really hope it isn't too difficult.   

What I am reading:

Not much other than a few blogs and a page or two of a book here and there. My brain has been going so much, I just can't seem to settle down long enough to really focus on what I'm reading. You don't even want to know how long it's taken me to write this post so far. I just can't seem to focus on any one thing for long.

What the kids are reading:

We actually have a few books going at the moment. We are reading, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Apple and the Arrow, and the boys and I just finished, The Sword in the Tree.

Little Man has been reading very well and picks different books to read each day. I love that he is still excited about reading and that he tries to read everything

Wild Thing is reading Halloween Fraidy-Cat at the moment. He still struggles somewhat with his reading so we are trying to find things he enjoys to read about and can get excited about reading. 

Lady Bug has been reading a variety of books, but not as much as normal, so we are going to have to get back to our daily quiet reading time.

Thought for the week:

"What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude tword it. Every oppourtunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an oppourtunity."

-J.Sidlow Baxter-

*I am working on a computer that is very grumpy and keeps turning off. So just blame any spelling or grammar errors on the computer, not on the half-awake mom who is just about to crash right here at the table.