Thanksgiving Blessings!

Thanksgiving Blessings everyone!

Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving!  I hope you all have a day filled with family, friends and wonderful memories!  Eat and laugh lots and lets make sure to keep our Lord at the forefront our minds always praising God from who all blessing flow. 

Safe traveling everyone and have a wonderful day!

Blessings,

Heather

Baking, new jobs and a 2 month birthday!

Hey everyone!

Well is tuesday and I meant to get on here yesterday but I was on a roll getting caught up on housework and stuff.  So I'm on here today to catch you all up on what's been going on around here the past couple days. 

Let's see, on Saturday the kids and I had fun baking.  We made our first batches of sugar cookies and I made a pecan pie.  It was my first time making one from scratch and it came out really yummy!  So that was a lot of fun and such a good way to get in the spirit of the season. 

(decorating the cookies!)

(our first batch)

(the finished product!)

(the first cookie of the season!)

(my first pecan pie...Mmmmmm.......)

Sunday, we went to church and after that we got the hooks up on the house to hang lights.  So hopefully in the next few days we'll be able to get the lights up.  I'm also planning on decorating the day after thanksgiving.  Yay!  I also made our own Thanksgiving dinner on sunday night.  Since were not having Thanksgiving here this year and I love cooking it so much I thought it would be fun to have our own little Thanksgiving feast.  It was so yummy and now we get to look forward to having it all again.  Hey it's only once year, why not right?  :-)

Yesterday, was a good day too.  The kids and I got a lot of yard work done and I caught up on the housework too.  Then we played catch outside for awhile.  And while we were playing I missed a call from Chris.  And when I called him back he had some great news.  He had gotten the call from Northrop Grumman saying he got the job!!!!  Such a huge praise!  God is so faithful!!! And never, ever fails His kids.  He would've been praise even if Chris didn't get the job but how wonderful that he did!

And today my Joseph is 2 months old!  So super bittersweet for me.  I am so in love with him and enjoying watching him grow and starting to interact with us, but time really goes by too fast and I sure wish it would slow down a bit.  I've had to put away so many clothes that he's grown out of already and I hate that.  But such is life with growing babies. 

(Happy 2 month birthday JoJo!  Mama loves you soooooooo much!)

Anyway, I've got to be off to make lunch for the kids.  Have a great Tuesday everyone!!!

Blessings,

Heather

Divine Romance

I am sitting on the couch listening to the music from blog page.  Loving the quiet time I've been given to sit there with my eyes closed, holding my baby against my chest and sing.  And let my heart open and receive love as I give my heart over to worship.  I was really hit when "Divine Romance" started playing.  One of my favorite all time songs to worship too.  But for some reason this time was different.  As I sang the Holy Spirit gave me something.  Before I go on here's the words to this beautiful song:

"Divine Romance" by Phil Wickam

The fullness of Your grace is here with me

The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied

For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love, to show my love

A deep deep flood, an Ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life
In Your presence God I’m completely satisfied

(Its probably playing right now, since its first on my playlist :-) )

So, as I am singing softly, with my baby against my chest, I am struck with Love.  Not love like I am normally used to experiencing.  But the overpowering love that I feel for my infant.  My innocent helpless child that is sleeping against my chest listening to my heartbeat as he rests.  And is in complete peace.  And how much I love him.  I love him with a love that hurts.  It's so overpowering that the thought of him in pain or suffering pains me greatly.  Yet to hold him and listen to him breathe is enough for me.  To look at him brings tears to my eyes.  What kind of love is this?  Something that only God can create and give to us. So how much does God love me?  His word says:

"For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother's womb. 
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in the secret place. 
 When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Your eyes saw my unformed body. 
All the days ordained for me
 were written in Your book before one of them came to be. 
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake I am still with You.
                                                              Psalm 139:13-18

That is on another level.  I love my children with a full love that God has given me.  I think maybe a form of the love that God has for us.  But not the same.  Because were not the same.  Were made in His image but were human and our humanity puts limits on even our very emotions.  However, it gives me a taste, a glimpse of the God's love for me and his Son Jesus.

The thought of any of my kids suffering in any capacity pains me. To look at Joseph so helpless and dependant.  And to think that was Jesus when he was born.  Helplessly dependant on His mother to feed Him and care for Him.  That He left the right of God to come into the world helpless and God allowed, no not allowed it, but planned it just so I, you, all of us, could be with Him.  I dont think I could love someone so much to allow my son to be brutalized and tortued before my eyes just to show how much I love my other children.  That's even hard for me to say outloud but I dont think I could.  Although God knew that that's why He did it. 

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends .  John 15:13

There is no greater love.  And God is love.

So as I sing those words,  I am struck that God allowed all that just for this.  For worship in its purest form.  That doesn't have to include a worship team, and hundreds of people.  It doesn't have to magnificent, I dont have to sound wonderful (thank Him :-) )  Just a moment of pure worship.  Where my heart is with Him.  My mind is thinking and trying to grasp what kind of Love is this?  And when that's all I need.  When I realize even for a moment that everything can be taken away, but you cant take away my God.  I can be alone, with nothing and no one, I still have that.  Him.  That is what the Holy Spirit gave me today.  Peace.  And a greater understanding of what that means.  That no matter what I am going through, no matter the trial, the fear, the pain, the worry, the anger, the guilt, the end result is always Him.  So why do I stumble on the path and get worried and scared when I know the end is and will always be Him? 

"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" Matthew 28:20

I wrote yesterday about worry.  I came again today.  But instead of feeding it I closed my eyes and listened to the music. I didn't give room to the enemy.  And this is what God gave me.  A deeper look at Him and who He is.  A treasure to hold on to.  And none of this is me.  Will I mess up again?  Sure.  Will I doubt and worry again?  Probably.  But God will be the same.  There.  On the throne.  In control as always and faithful to lift me up when I call to Him.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us
but to Your name be the glory,
because of Your love and faithfulness.
                                        Psalm 115:1

Everything always points back to Him.  Even my failings and mess ups.  Because I can still call on Him and He will be there.  Faithfulness.  When I repent, he forgives.  Grace.  When I deserve death and grave, He gives me life and that more abundantly (John 10:10). Mercy.  And those all add up to Love.  Him!

Love and Blessings,

Heather

God's Grace (right in my face, as always...)

Well  the first half of today was not the greatest.  Nothing specific happened.  Just my own weakness and lack of faith I guess.  You see everyone I think has their weak points.  Mine happens to be worry.  I tend to be a pretty cheerful and optimistic person.  But sometimes Satan finds that window of opportunity and really goes to town in me.  Mine is worry.  So everything is going great, a nice morning and I'm in a great mood, getting excited to hang the christmas lights this weekend and stuff.  But when I go to check my email I decide to check our bank statement, which I ususally dont do because hubby takes care of the finances (I used to but because of my worry he took that off my shoulders a while ago).  Thats when is started for me.  A downward spiral of worry and "what ifs".  I know its wrong and is shows a tremendous amount of lack of faith on my part but its like it takes  life of its own and I cant stop it.  I did pray about it but instead of waiting on the Lord I call Chris to vent and he was busy and not able to give me the reassurance he usually does.  So I hang up the phone feeling worse.   Does this happen to anyone else?  I should not have called him.  I cant expect him to give me the faith that only comes from the Lord.  I felt so bad afterwards too.  And to top it off he send me a text saying he was sorry he didnt reassure me and that the Lord was going to see us through like always and that were being refined.  The troubling part for me is one, that I shouldn't put unrealistic expectations on my husband that I should be bringing before the Lord and two, that I need to stop focusing on the miniscule "what ifs"  and enjoy the hope set before us.  Like the job offer that Chris recieved.  Were waiting on the the background check to come back.  I dont know why I allow myself to get so caught up the negative when the positive is jumping up and down right in front of my face.  The Lord always, always, always proves Himself faithful to me and I never seem to get the message.  Or I do but when the next attack from Satan comes I fail.  But I need to remember constantly not to give Satan the chance.  The next time I fell worry setting in I need to approach God's throne with boldness, knowing and believing that He is in control of everything and that His plans for me are plans to peace and a future.  How blessed we are to have His word to bring us comfort and any time!  So being that were days from Thanksgiving heres some of what I'm thankful for~

~Jesus.  His sacrifice gives me the promise of eternal life in Heaven.  Even on my worst of days I know I'm going to heaven.

~The Bible.  Gods word, living and true that I have access to at anytime.

~My family.

~My kids.

~My husband.

~Church

~My Health

~My kids, husbands, and family's health

~My home

~My husbands job

~Food on our table

~Clothes on our backs

~Transportation

~Laughter

~Nature, Gods masterpiece, the sky, stars, galaxies, the sun, rain, snow, trees flowers, animals, the ocean.....it goes on and on....

I have too much to be thankful for, there shouldnt be any time for me to focus on the negative when the positive is endless!

Love and Blessings,

Heather

Oh what a week!

Hey everyone!  I am still here.  What a week its been too!  I never realized how dependant I am on the computer until I was without it...kind of. 

The kids spilled water on the keyboard a couple days ago and half the keyboard wouldn't work.  So I was literally forced to not be on here, being that I couldnt type or anything I felt it was just easier if I didn't even come on and check things because if I wanted to respond I couldnt have.  But thankfully my hubby, the thoughtful man that he is, bought one last night.  So I am able to get back on here. 

Monday morning before the keyboard incident, we awoke to find Chris' car broke into.  Thankfully no damage was done, they took his radio, speakers, cell phone charger and ash tray, (yeah, I know, weird).  But like I said no damage just irritating I guess.   But so thankful to the Lord for watching out for us as we slept. Things could've been so much worse.  Chris said, hey I could've awoken to a severely damaged car, or no car at all.  Or worse even someone breaking into the house.  So were grateful that it was as minimal as it was.  But frustrating none the less.  But such is the world we live in, but for a short time only I hope. 

Anyways, just wanted to let you all know I'm still here.  I'm off to take David to school. But I"ll be on later this afternoon with some pics of the kids stuff.

Blessings,

Heather

November?

Hey everyone, I was outside yesterday looking around my yard and was struck with the thought that it's November!  Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away and from the looks of things, you'd never know it.  At least here in Southern Cali.  Anyways, I just thought I'd put a few pics of what is growing around here still even in the middle of November! 

Love ya!

Heather

Jeremiah's 4!!!

Hey all!  Yeah, I know, I'm a little behind on blogging this week.  I dont know why, but for some reason I just never got to it!  So here I go.  Monday was Jeremiah's birthday so after we took David to school we went to Albertsons and picked out his cake.  It was really cute because the ladies behind the counter were talking to him and he was telling them he is 4 and today is his birthday.  He also introduced them to his baby brother Jo Jo.  So she put some extra embellishments on his cake for him and gave him two cookies.  And as were shopping we hear them on the intercom announce a special happy 4th birthday to a special customer Jeremiah who is 4 years old today!  It was soooooo cute to see his face light up when he heard them say his name.  Those kind of moments are priceless and I was so thankful for the ladies for giving him that!

So then after waiting all day for his daddy to get home, he finally gets to open his presents. He was so excited he was literally jumping up and down.  He loved what he got and was super hyper, it was funny.  Then we ate dinner, of his choice, spaghetti and meatballs (Jeremiah's favorite) and had cake and ice cream.  So we had a really fun night.  And not long after he was crashed out the couch.  Still a lot of excitement even for a big 4 year old!

Joseph is 7 weeks old today and growing so fast.  Just about as fast as time seems to be going.  Chris and I weighed him on Tuesday and he was 10 lbs 2 oz.!!! I cant believe it! He's very alert now when he's up and really starting to make some sounds other than crying and he's even trying to smile.  So I"m anxiously awaiting that.  He perfect in every way to me and I stare at him still all the time.  I'm amazed at God's handiwork!

Chris went to do his drug test and sign papers for the background check this morning.  When he gets back were going to pick up the kids from school.  I have a conference with David's teacher and after that we'll head down the hill to pickup the pictures from JC Penny's!  I'm excited I cant wait to see them! 

Anyways here's a few pics of the last few days around here~if you want to view them all just click here and here!

(Jeremiah's birthday cake that he "lubs")

(LOL! that's my miah)

(his "wabber" toy)

(my little man)

(looks a lot like a smile to me....)

Shalom,

Heather

Weekend wrap-up

Oh it's sweet monday, this Monday is sweet because it's my Jeremiah's 4th birthday today, but I need to catch up the weekend first!

Hmmmm...let's see, Saturday was pretty much a lazy day for me and the kids.  We just stayed home and I caught up on some house work while the kids played outside, especially since were still enjoying almost spring like weather here in So Cal!  Yesterday, Sunday, was a busy, busy day.  Since Jeremiah's birthday is on a Monday this year and Chris works and the kids have school we decided to do something on Sunday.  After church, which was great, we went down the hill and ate lunch at Red Robin, then we went to Bass Pro so Jeremiah could see the fishys.  After that we went to toys r us and Jeremiah picked out a toy with his birthday money and then we headed to the park and the kids and Chris played baseball, I even hit a couple times in between feeding Joseph.  So needless to say it was a busy day but a lot of fun family time. 

So today being Jeremiah's offical birthday we are going to have cake and ice cream when Daddy gets home and then Jeremiah can open his presents, so I'll have pics of that tomorrow.  But for now here are some pics of our day yesterday~

(The face of utter joy holding his balloon while they were singing Happy Birthday to him at Red Robin)

(Mmmmmm.....yummy birthday sunday)

(Baby Joe Joe at the park in his stroller)

(daddy coaching David)

(steeee-rike, good try Nathan!)

(Jonathan ready for some action)

(go Miah!!!!)

(good swing David)

Love and Blessings,

Heather

Oh wow its friday, again

I seriously cannot believe another week has just flown by, and I'm still trying to adjust to the time change.  You'd think the extra hour would have helped but when its pitch black outside and it's only 5:00 pm, that's hard to get used to, although I am enjoying the early morning sunshine.  The morning person that I am really loves to wake up to sunshine and not darkness. 

Well yesterday we went down the hill to JC Penny's and had Joseph, Jeremiah and David's pictures taken.  We got some really cute ones and I am so excited to see how they all turned out.  We pick them up next week so I'll definately post my faves. 

Joseph was 6 weeks old yesterday! I cannot believe that!  His little life is flying by already and I wish it would slow down a bit.  He's grown out of clothes already and that's a hard thing to face.  I dont want to pack cloths up for him already.  Although he's starting to respond socially and make other noises aside from crying, I'm still waiting for my smile though.  I'm sure its coming because he's really focusing on our faces and follows the direction of my voice, so it'll be soon.

Other than that, everything is pretty much quiet around here, thankfully.  Have a happy friday everyone!

Love and Blessings,

Heather

The new me, or should I say the natural me!

Hey everyone, I decided to go natural.  On Sunday, I dyed my hair back to my natural color! 

(Sorry about the quality of the pic, its an upload from my phone.)

So funny that almost didn't remember how dark my hair really is.  It's dark blonde, but seems soooooo much darker compared to how light I was doing it.  But there's something about going back to the way God created me.  It's a nice change, and Chris loves and that's always nice.  He kept telling me yesterday, you look so pretty with your hair like that.  It was the first thing he said when he woke up.  Oh that man can be so sweet sometimes. I'm very lucky to have a hubby that says things like to me!

Have a great day everyone, I'm on my way to the store!

Love and Blessings!

Heather

Halleluia Party

Okay guys, I cant believe I'm already uploading pics from last nights Halleluia party but maybe that extra hour of sleep is helping me out!  It was so nice to wake up at 6:30 am and have the sun up already.  It sure makes for an easier start to my day. 

Well we went to the Halleluia Party last night at Calvary.  The kids and I got there right when it started and Chris met us there. (He had to work until 5:00).  They had alot of games and face painting, even free popcorn and cotton candy. They also had hot dogs, nachos and drinks for .50 cents.  The weather was great too, not too cold at all, we stayed almost the whole time and then got some dinner and were home by 8:00 pm.  Very thankful that we all had a great time and got there and back safely.

Well as usual I took tons of pictures, here are a few, but if you'd like to see them all just click here!

Love and Blessings!

Heather