Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful...

• for the sweet moments when my boys get up and still like to snuggle in my lap...haven't figured out a way to keep them small enough to fit though!
• for the way Xavier says, "yeah, sure {pronounced 'shore'--apparently, he is part Canadian}" and the way William says "we-ell" to every question you ask before launching into his answer
• for two little boys who love each other and play together.  Xavier comes up to William who was sitting next to me in the chair kisses him on the cheek and says, "I love you, brudder!"
• for colder weather, I love being able to snuggle up under covers and not feel like I need to peel off every item of clothing and have the fan blasting to stay comfortable--of course, that may be because of the hot flashes, and that may be entirely too much information.
• for my sweet husband who is working so hard at this med school thing and is doing awesome
• for God's Word, I know that I say this practically every week, but seriously, I love it and am so thankful for the fact that I have it in many translations in my heart language and the freedom to read it as often as I want to--oh that my heart would long to read it more!

Life is good!  What are you thankful for today?

Random

http://masonymelissa.wordpress.com/I thought I would do a random list of happenings at our house:

• Sometime in the last couple of weeks, the 'on' switch has been flipped with William and the child talks non-stop.  Literally, telling stories, repeating what he has just heard, senseless babble, you name it, the child is saying it.
• I really think that both boys are coming down with the nasty cough/cold thing I had going on a few weeks ago and William when he got up this morning, was coughing and said, "we need to pray for me."  So, in an effort to teach them that we can always pray, I asked Xavier if he would like to pray for his brother, and he very sweetly said a prayer for his brother to feel better.
• We are gearing up for finals at our house.  Micah told me this morning that the library was going to be open until midnight during finals and that we most likely would not be seeing much of him those days.  It is hard to believe that we have already reached this point, I remember when he started there were like 17 or 18 weeks to the semester and we were celebrating when he reached the end of the first week and had survived.
• It has definitely gotten cold here the last couple of days. We even turned our heat on, which is fine, but I was really enjoying the practically non-existent gas and electric bills because of our mild weather! 
• This morning, I have an appointment to get refitted for my compression sleeve and glove for my lymphedema in my arm.  I am not super excited about it, but you have to replace them once a year, so it is about that time.
• I have been reading through the Chronological One Year Bible and have been a little behind for several reasons and so I have been trying read a few days in one sitting for the last week or so.  I am in the gospels right now and am enjoying it so much. Maybe it is because I love to read how Jesus interacted with people, how people responded to Him, what His disciples said, and I also think it is because I often find myself wondering how I would have responded to Him--would I have believed like those that He healed? or would I have been more on the side of the Pharisees?  I am sure that two books (Crazy Love and Blue Like Jazz) that I have been reading recently have been affecting my thoughts and making me consider where I am in my spiritual journey.  My Thursday morning ladies group is reading Crazy Love together and it has been so good.  My friend Melissa let me borrow the other book and to be honest, when I started it, I wasn't really into it, I didn't like it very much and was actually contemplating quitting reading it.  But....simply because I was in the airport with nothing else to read and not wanting to spend money on a new book, I persevered and decided that I really DID like it quite a bit.  It made me uncomfortable and challenged my thoughts and beliefs and although I don't agree with everything that he said, it was definitely a good book and a very interesting glimpse into someone's pursuit of God.  So,  all of that to say,  if you are reading it and haven't decided whether or not to finish it, read it through to the end, you will be glad that you did.  

Okay, well, I maybe should have just gone the paragraph route because that last bullet point is pretty long, but I am too lazy now to go back and change it.  I had better get going for the day.  I am kind of excited to try out my GPS today, even though I already know where I am going!  Maybe tomorrow, I will have some pictures for you.

Did you know....

....that next Thursday is Thanksgiving??????? Seriously, am I the only one who feels like the month of November has just gotten away from her?  I think that I thought that I had another week to go, but sure enough, in 9 days, we will all be eating our turkey dinners.

I had a really wonderful trip to Alabama. It was definitely a quick trip--barely 24 hours there at the retreat, but I had a really good time meeting so many women.  We shared a lot of laughs and tears and then we all hugged! I loved that after each time that I spoke when women came up to me, they would just automatically reach out to hug me. I am definitely a "hugger" and it just did my heart good.  It was great to get home and see my boys.  It certainly strokes my ego when I haven't been gone but about 36 hours and the boys are just over the top excited to see me like it has been days.

We have been going non-stop since I got home and have just sat down to get my head together. I know that there are things that need to be done, but I am having a hard time getting motivated right now.  We had our church's annual food drive and pie auction on Sunday night, so I spent Sunday afternoon with a friend making Pumpkin Praline Pies for that.  Yesterday was busy running some errands and getting work stuff done.  We were supposed to go to one of Micah's classmates' house for dinner and I had promised cinnamon rolls, so I did that as well.  Unfortunately, they had a meeting at school so dinner was postponed, but his friends still got their cinnamon rolls.  Then, this morning, I headed into Tulsa with my mother in law to run some errands and go to the mall.  Since it is my birthday month, I had all kinds of coupons for free stuff at various stores, so I decided to tackle that today as well.  And I wanted to pick up this new Casting Crowns CD that I had pre-bought a few weeks ago.

My slightly exciting news for me is that the GPS that I had ordered with some birthday money showed up on our doorstep when we got home, so now I am armed and ready to go places without getting lost.  For those of you who know me, you know that I have a tendency to get lost, to "intuitively" turn the wrong way, so on and so forth.  We will see how accurate it is, but I can't help but think that it is going to be better than all the mapquest maps I have printed off and think of how many trees I will be saving! :)

I have attempted to scrap and have absolutely no mojo in that department. I am hoping that I will get inspired soon, because I desperately need to get our Christmas card done, but we will see what the week holds.  I think that I am going to go and cut coupons now...wow, my life sounds exciting!

Thankful Thursday

I have lots of stuff in my head to write about, but unfortunately, I have no time.  I am off in the morning to the Southern Alabama women's retreat and really don't have much time, but I am sitting here all weepy because I was getting together some things to take as visual aids for tomorrow night and I opened the massive box that hold the cards and letters that were sent to us while I was going through treatment and it is just overwhelming to sit and read and remember.  So, for my thankful Thursday today, I just want to say thank you to every single person who took the time to write us a note, send an email, say a prayer, think about our family during that very difficult season.  Your words are precious to me and encouraging me even now--two years later!

Will hopefully update the first of the week, I get back Saturday night and there are all kinds of activities on Sunday and Monday, so I will update when I can!

feeling better

I have felt much better today, the only problem right now is that it is currently 1:21 in the morning and I am wide awake.  So, I thought I could at least update my blog with all of the pages that I have managed to scrap this weekend.

        

Although I was feeling much better today and really wanted to get out and get some things done, I forced myself to stay in and just rest and I do think that has helped although being up until 1:30 in the morning makes it seem like I am a little too well rested. I am sure that tomorrow morning may not feel so restful, but, alas, I hate laying in bed wide awake!

The boys made it back home around four this afternoon and although it was nice to have the house to myself for a couple of days, I was ready to see their sweet faces again and I think they kind of missed us as well.  Xavier (who is definitely the more affectionate of the two) pretty much stayed in my lap the entire evening--giving me lots of hugs and kisses and declaring passionately, "I love the mess out of you!"  which completely cracks me up every time he says it.  I knew that they were tired and so we got their pajamas on them and had them clean their room and at 6ish settled in on the couch together to watch a Planet Earth.  Around 6:30, I noticed that Xavier who was cuddled up with me, seemed extra relaxed and sure enough that child had fallen asleep on my shoulder. I honestly don't remember the last time that happened.  He never even woke up when Micah picked him up and carried him to his bed.  William on the other hand, although he was tired, he kept a running commentary the entire show, repeating whatever the narrator said, telling us what she said, pointing out the different animals, etc.  We really could not keep him from talking which in turn was frustrating and hysterical to us.

This week should be rather busy.  I have obvious catch up things from the weekend and then on Friday and Saturday, I am headed to a women's retreat in Southern Alabama where I will be speaking twice. I am looking forward to it and was able to spend some good time this morning working on it.  I do feel like God has given me so many opportunities to share how good He has been to us and I am so thankful for that, but it is also hard for me to go back and visit those difficult places in my soul.  Even though, I see His care and provision, there are still definitely deep emotions that go along with it all and it is not always easy for me to go "there."

Happy Birthday to me

Well, to celebrate my birthday, the entire digital scrapbooking community got together and decided to have a HUGE celebration and call it International Digital Scrapbooking Day--there are sales and freebies and games galore!!  Actually, this happens every first Saturday of November and it just happened to fall on my birthday this year.  Since I have been scrapping, I have always had something going on on this day and have never really gotten to fully enjoy it like I have wanted to.  So, a few weeks ago, I told Micah that my perfect day would be to have his mom watch the boys (since I knew that he would have a test!) and I could spend the entire day in front of my computer.  Who knew that I would get to do just that, partly for my birthday, but partly because I am sick and not feeling so great.  I have been fighting a cough for several days and it has just continued to progress until starting last night, my voice is much lower than normal and as long as I don't move too much, I don't feel too bad.  Fortunately, no one else has gotten sick and I am hoping that it stays that way!  Micah got up this morning and fixed me pancakes and his mom brought a cake over to me, I have gotten sweet phone calls, emails, and Facebook messages, and am feeling quite loved on this birthday!

It feels like it has been so long since I have updated my blog that I don't even know what I have updated and haven't updated.  So, I will keep this short and just share a couple of layouts that I have managed to get done.

Some scrapbook pages and news

Two page layout using some of those great pictures from the park!

Songbird Avenue is scrapbooking website owned by a group of designers whose desire was to use their talents as designers to raise money for charities.  Each month they have a different group of designers that design a huge kit whose proceeds will then go to a specific charity.  This past month, I applied for and was offered a spot on their creative team. I am very excited to be a part of a team to help raise awareness for non-profits and charitable organizations.  This month's kit Toys in the Attic is raising money for Toys for Tots--it is a huge kit and I had a great time working with it!

And here is my layout with it:

More fall layouts! Who knows how much mileage I will get out of those Woodward Park photos! :)

And a few random layouts that I haven't posted on here:

October Roundup

Since I first started scrapping, I have admired others' pages that did a little monthly summary for their kids, especially in the first year or at different milestones.  I kept thinking...'ooh, I so need to do that, but I don't have time right now, I am sure that I will remember in a few weeks what was going on!'  Well, that was just a futile thought because most days I have a hard time remembering what we did yesterday, much less what specifically the boys accomplished or milestones they reached when they were 8 months old!  So, as I was catching up on some blog reading this week, I read this post over at the Daily Digi about doing a monthly round up to help ME remember what we did each month, what was accomplished, not accomplished, what books I read, what fun things we did, etc.  So, here goes with my first one and hopefully not my last.....I can't make any promises though.....those of you who have been around for awhile know that it is really only recently that my Thankful Thursdays have been popping up with some regularity.  {Right, Kari?  BAG!!}  <----that would be a little silly joke with Kari!  We were instant messaging the other day and were coming up with new little IM acronyms.  BAG is the new LOL in our world because we used to always say 'busting a gut' (i.e. BAG).  I don't know if it will catch on or not, but she dared me to put it on my blog and I'm not really one to ignore a dare like that that will just make me laugh or BAG (i.e. busting a gut).

Whew! That really got me sidetracked!

Here is my October Review ( I can't bring myself to say Round Up any more because it feels a bit Okie/cowboyish and I like to think that I am anything, but Okie!):

• The boys had their 2nd annual Halloween Party at Dale and Linda's house where there was a bounce house, a cookout, a search for ghosts, cupcakes, juice boxes and goodie bags
• We had the 2nd annual Hale Fall Break Reunion by going to my grandparents' houses along with my mom and dad, sisters and niece and nephew. Micah had to stay here and study this year, but the horses got to come along with my parents and we spent a busy three days laughing, playing, and riding horses!
• On that same trip, we got to spend a couple of days with our dear friends Sean and Jill and the boys had a great time playing with their daughter Lola who is just a few months older than them.  They loved dancing to music CDs together, playing dress up, and got to enjoy their very first tea party, after which they declared, "this was a really fun tea party!"  
• Our friends CW and Loren got married and the boys went to their very first wedding. I was coordinating, so I was a bit nervous about them sitting still with their daddy and grandparents, but they did great, announcing that Loren was wearing a white dress and basically charming the entire place--which really is no different than any other time.
• Micah and I got to go to the U2 concert which was a first for me and completely won me over.
• My parents came for a quick visit so that my dad could do some business with Dale and we had a great time going to Shepherd's Cross pumpkin patch.  The boys have so much fun with my dad and it just delights me to see their faces and hear their giggles.  We went and flew kites at  Micah's school and then ended the afternoon at Woodward Park where the leaves were in full color.
• I finished up my ladies' Bible Study at church Me, Myself and Lies and then my friend Angela and I cooked for the ladies luncheon which was a ton of work but great fun!
• The boys continue to love Awanas on Wednesday nights. I love to hear them ask if they are going to Cubbies every time we go to church.  They can never decide if Mr. Fred in Wee Worship (on Sunday mornings) or Miss Janna in Cubbies (on Wednesday nights) or Miss Edna (their Sunday School teacher)  is their favorite class to go to. They are learning so many Bible verses and I am so proud of what they are learning.
• One of my favorite stories from this month is when we went to the zoo.  We went into the Rainforest building and that is where they kind of have birds and little rodents running around and Xavier really got freaked out by it all.  I decided to make it a teachable moment and taught them the verse that my mom taught me when I was a child and that I STILL repeat whenever I am fearful:  When I am afraid, I will trust in God.  It is SO incredibly sweet to hear your child say those words and then you just pray that they WILL trust God in everything.
• Tonight, we are headed to Trunk or Treat where the boys are dressing as cowboys.  There is no doubt this year that they completely know what is going on and are pretty excited about the candy!
• They are continuing to learn their letters and are love to spell everything that they see, every sign, every store, every billboard.  
• Xavier especially is obsessed with coloring lately. I think that he could spend hours with his box of colored pencils or a pen and just scribble all over it, trace his superheroes, anything.  
• Probably the most common phrase I hear out of their mouths these days is "what that makes?"  Up to this point, I feel like we have pretty much escaped the "why" question, but I have decided that "what that makes?" just might be their own special brand of that.
• My arm is swelling with lymphedema again which is just frustrating. I am wearing my glove and sleeve faithfully in an effort for it to get back to normal.
• I am reading Creative Correction and Revolutionary Parenting both of which are challenging and encouraging me.

So, I wrote the majority of this post on Saturday and it is now Tuesday afternoon.  Craziness!!  Hope you had a wonderful October and are looking ahead to a great November!

Thankful Thursday (Friday edition)

So, I completely forgot to post a Thankful Thursday post yesterday.  Our Bible study wrapped up last week and this week we had our traditional lunch to wrap everything up and this year, I helped my friend Angela cook for everyone.  We had so much fun doing it, but it was definitely a bit of work and when I got home around 2 in the afternoon, I was exhausted and basically didn't do much the rest of the day.  We were supposed to go to a little Halloween carnival thing that they were having at Micah's school, but to be honest, I was so tired and didn't really want to deal with it, but was willing to go if Micah wanted to so that we could meet some of his classmates, etc.  BUT,  I was rather thankful that Micah called and said that he had way too much studying to do and he would only go if we really wanted to.  So, yay for everyone on that account!

Here is my Friday edition of Thankful Thursday:

• Good books that stretch my thinking, challenge me to grow, and enrich my life.  I have been trying to do better about reading more and have been reading a book called Revolutionary Parenting recommended by my sister and it is so good.  We also have a little book club that is going to start next week at church.  We are going to read Crazy Love together and I have heard such great things about it and am very excited to read and discuss it with other women.
• My dear husband who is working so hard at school--I don't think that I have it in me to do what he is doing and I know that it is so not easy, but I am so proud of how well he is doing.
• The laughs and giggles and sweet hugs and funny things that my boys say (Xavier just came in and said "dude, you're killing me!")--they are a blessing and joy and I am extraordinarily blessed to be their mommy.
• I am thankful that the majority of my obligations are over for a few weeks and we can focus on just life here at home (which is never boring, let me tell you!)

Pictures

So, I have finally gotten through some of our pictures from the weekend.  Honestly, some days I take what seems like 15000 pictures and not one is good, much less really good.  But, the pictures that I have from this past weekend have completely made up for some of the not so great photo outings.  I got so many good pictures.  Maybe it has something to do with taking photos outside with a beautiful background, but I have just been so happy with them.  So, without further ado, here are some of my favorites!

These first ones were at the pumpkin patch which was out in Claremore about 20 minutes from us at a place called Shepherd's Cross.  I thought it was a pretty good place, it wasn't too fancy or anything, but it was free and there were fun things for the boys to do.  If it hadn't been so cold, we would have definitely stayed longer, but it was definitely worth the little trip out there and we will go again next year.

Mom and the boys showing off our pumpkin!

The boys playing corn arrow darts--I love mom's expression.  The boys just throw themselves wholeheartedly into whatever they are doing, and it is a miracle somedays that no one gets hurt!

Dad showing the boys how to play horse shoes.  Fortunately, these were simply plastic horse shoes because this would have certainly been a classic case of someone getting hurt!

Bowling with baby gourds and corn husks

Looking for a squirrel at Woodward Park

Xavier and Micah

Completely posing for pictures, but I thought they turned out cute!

My sweet boys (you would never know that they have been terrors this week from looking at these pictures!)

Me and my mom

Mom and dad

This one might be my favorite one--it just sums up my life right now--craziness climbing on my lap all hugs and smiles and laughs!! and even though it is craziness in my life right now, I look at this picture and I know that I am blessed beyond measure!

I have been busy working on work stuff and the house and tomorrow is our Bible Study lunch that another lady and I are preparing for everyone and Micah has another huge test coming up next week (I am waiting for a test NOT to be huge, but I think I might be waiting awhile!) so there hasn't been much time for scrapping. I am working slowly on a two page layout with lots of these pictures, and I need to be scrapping more for my creative teams, so I should maybe quit blogging and get to working on something!

Happy Wednesday--guess what tomorrow is....Thankful Thursday!

Monday

We had a really great weekend with my parents, it just went by way too fast in opinion.  This morning, Micah is off to school, I am up trying to get my life in order before the boys get up. I am planning on doing laundry and some work stuff this morning and then will just wait and see what this afternoon brings.  I haven't even downloaded pictures from my camera from the weekend yet, so I am eager to do that as well.

On Friday morning, mom and I and boys headed to Homeland to get in on a good sale that they had.  We came out with several bags each of groceries and each spent about $25 so we felt pretty good about that.  I do have to say that going to the grocery store like that with two 3 year old boys does feel like its own special brand of torture!  That afternoon, we picked up my dad and headed to a pumpkin patch outside of town and we had a ton of fun there. I will give more details when I post the pictures, but the boys had a blast even though it was slightly frigid outside.  Saturday, mom and I headed to Sephora for a quick trip while the boys were sleeping then we went and met Micah at school and flew kites with the boys.  That was so much fun. I really don't remember the last time I flew a kite and the boys had a blast.  Again, pictures and video to come!  Then, we headed over to Woodward Park in Tulsa to see some of the beautiful fall colors and take some pictures.  Apparently, we were not the only ones with this idea because everywhere you looked you saw people taking pictures.  I probably saw at least 20 professional looking photographers, plus just families like ours.  It was beautiful and I am hoping that we got some good pictures, although the boys were being pretty persnickety and did not want to have their pictures taken.  We came home, made homemade pizza, and pretty much collapsed on the couch.  Their visit went by way too fast.  It was so much fun for me to have them here.  Mom and I got up Friday and Saturday and walked while the kids and dad were still sleeping.  Dad played with the boys almost non-stop--there is absolutely NOTHING in this world like hearing your little ones laughing hysterically and playing with your parents.  And we had lots of good laughs and talks with mom and dad in between.  I am just so incredibly grateful for such godly parents and that we have such a sweet relationship. I do wish that we lived closer together and could see each other more, but for now, I will be content with enjoying the times that we have together.

Now, it is back to somewhat normal, although I really don't think that life is ever normal, there are always things going on.  But that is okay, I am learning to take life as it comes and remember to take the little moments to enjoy family and friends!