Thanksgiving Day 2011

First thing this morning Tanner woke up and wanted to ride his power wheels. I grabbed my coffee and we headed outside. It is a beautiful morning and the weather is perfect. I have so many things to be thankful for. Here are a few. I am thankful for my sister who calls me often. My sister is my girl. I love her humor!! We laugh often. And she is not only my sister but my best friend. I am thankful for my nephew Tristan who loves to come to aunt mi mi's house. What a sweet boy. I am thankful for my mother-in-law(Tanner's meme) She is so generous and helps us with Tanner when we have meetings and commitments. She is a blessing to us and we are grateful for all she does. She loves us so. I am thankful for my father-in-law(tanners Grampy) who comes and removes tow trucks from toilets at our house without complaining. ;)He also is one of the kindest people I know. I am thankful that my beautiful sister-in-law Elaine is cancer free. She is beautiful inside and out. I am thankful for the most awesome nieces and nephews who are a blessing to my life. Rachel-Kate is gorgeous and outgoing! Lauren is so sweet and adorable with her strawberry blond hair. Vanessa is very helpful and kind. Alson is so funny and loves to play. Lissy aka Ali is very talented in music and art. What a blessing all of them are. I am so very thankful for my mom who writes me and sends me comic strips all the time that totally brighten my day. She is so kind and loves us so. I am thankful for my aunt Leah who sends Tanner savings bonds and sends me lots of yummy recipes. We've been writing back and forth for years. I am thankful for my dad who is very hands on with the kids. He takes them swimming, bike riding, and to the park. I am thankful for my brother Scott and his wife Lisa who want to spend time with us and make the effort to come to Ocala whenever they can. I am thankful for my Grannie Elsie who is 92 and taught me strength and how to Trust God. I am thankful for my Grannie Janet who made Billy and I the most beautiful handmade quilt in the world for a wedding gift. She also made one for Tanner. What a lot of time and love she put into them. I am thankful for my brother Steve who loves us and looks forward to seeing us. I am thankful for my brother Seth who is finally having the life God intended for him. I am so proud of him. I am thankful for my brother Josh. He is my brother and I pray for him and God's will often. I am so thankful for my friends Ashlee and Aimee who love to run! I am thankful for running and can't believe we are up to running 18 and 20 miles. I am doing my first marathon in like 6 weeks. I am thankful for my aunt Brenda who we practically were at her house every weekend growing up. I love being at her house for Christmas Eve. We eat, read scripture, we tell favorite memories, we laugh, we play the Chinese gift exchange, and enjoy being together. I am most thankful these days for being a mommy and wife. Billy and Tanner are my world. Here are a few things that are special about both of them. Billy is super smart. He is very strong and not to mention he gets better looking the older he gets. ;) He is very thoughtful leaving me notes often, getting my coffee in the morning, and calling during the day just to see how my day is going. He also is very supportive of anything I do. He has been my biggest fan with my running, he helped me in school when we were first married, he works hard so I can take care of Tanner, and he helps me with the MOPS newsletter that I have to do each month. He makes me laugh and loves Tanner and I and that's awesome! I am extremely thankful for my son. It took us a lot to get pregnant and Satan lied to me often and told us we would never be parents because of our past. God answered our prayer. He is so fun. He loves snuggling with me, he randomly hugs and kisses me throughout the day, he loves people, he has beautiful blue eyes, and every single night since he was an infant I have my special time with him. We read, pray, rock, and cuddle. He will bring me books some nights if it's getting close to that time. He loves it as much as I do. He is very smart and loves hanging with me. Yesterday he went to Fran's shop with me and he loves all the attention and it is natural for him just to go with me. He cracks me up when he gets excited and runs to tell me something. I am thankful to be home with Billy and Tanner and enjoy a day with them. I am most thankful for Jesus and I am blessed he cares about me and I get to talk to him and he has his hands on me and my family!

Tanners Party

What a beautiful day we had yesterday at the park. Even feeling under the weather Tanner did awesome. He is a blessed boy to have so many people who love him. He is going to have so much fun with his Legos, aqua doodle, cars, crayola set, puzzles, and all the other stuff he got. I realized yesterday it is not about everything going smoothly or the way I think it should. It is about family and friends. It is about enjoying the moment and celebrating Tanner's two years with us. I am so so blessed and so grateful.

Message of encouragement.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
New International Version (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

I got up this morning and read my Joyce Myers devotion about encouraging and blessing others. It is something I have been really wanting to do. BLESS others. Then as if God was talking directly to me, when I got to MOPS Linnea talked about women, children, and the need in Africa. We had another speaker that spoke of the need right here.( as in the lady at the check out. )As I was leaving MOPS i pondered about these people in poverty and their needs but as a person who loves Jesus and lives in Ocala I wondered what that specifically looked like for me. I can pray for specific villages, specific needs, I can pray with my son about these needs, and I can encourage others to pray. Also we sponsor one specific child and she writes us. We write her back and send her things. She gets money from us each month which feeds and clothes her. Maybe it does not sound like much but to her and her family it means everything. I do not write about this to brag but to encourage us to pray for others. To encourage others. We think missions is flying to Haiti and staying for a week to help there and then come home and live our life for ourselves. I think the toughest challenge is loving right where you are. I can not say that I am doing this. I want to. I am asking God to show me where I can encourage others. I try to call people and lift them up in their day. I want people to know even in our busy schedules I have thought of you and YOU are important. I LOVE when people call me to just say Hi and see how I am doing. It is tough. People are crabby sometimes. [EVEN ME:) ] People are negative. That just means they need the love all the more. I want my son to love ALL people. The biggest thing that I want Tanner to see is it does not matter how much we have or do not have but JOY does not come from things. TRUST ME I AM GUILTY OF WANTING MORE. I struggle with it all the time. But I have a gentle Savior who is molding me and I see how truly he loves me. He reminds me often where I was 10 years ago. It is good to give money when you can for what you feel led to, BUT oh how important is a phone call to a lonely mommy, a prayer for a bitter cashier, a helping hand for your elderly neighbor, a kind word to your spouse, a little note to your parents, and lots of smiles to people around you. LIVE INTENTIONALLY! I am. WITH GOD'S HELP OF COURSE! God encourages me so I figure you can NOT keep it unless you give it away.

Halloween Weekend

I am so blessed! What a great weekend we had. Tristan stayed the whole weekend with us and we had a blast. The boys
dressed up as Buzz and Woody. Pretty popular characters. Tanner just loves them SO much. I love that he is active and outgoing but will also sit and pay attention to an entire movie and he is not even two. I think that is great. He has all three Toy Story movies and both Cars movies. He just got Cars 2 yesterday. I love Disney!! Woody is such a great character. Tanner made a great woody. He also absolutely LOVES his cousin Tristan. Friday night we took the boys to his Meme's and Grampy's house for pizza and Sat we went to the pumpkin patch and Halloween party. The best part was just having the boys here and watching them laugh together and play. Tristan is a lot like my sister and Tanner is a lot like me. Tanner looks more like Billy but he sure acts like his mama. When my sister came to pick up Tristan on Sunday we all had lunch and then Whitney and Tristan left. Tanner cried for them and was saying "CAR, TRISTAN, CAR" He wanted to go with his Aunt Whitney and cousin Tristan. Then he went down for his nap. First thing when he woke up he went looking for Tristan. They are less than 5 months apart and I am so glad they have each other. We are teaching Tanner about getting outside of ourselves and loving others the way Jesus loves us. It is SO EASY to obsess on things and our material objects. I have to say it was nice just enjoying the boys this weekend and sitting on the porch while they ate Popsicles and ran around chasing Nani. The weather is beautiful. I love to sit on the back porch and look at the moon. It is so sweet how Tanner says MOON!! God has given me a beautiful world to enjoy with amazing people in it. I am in a very busy season of my life but oh how it suits me. I love taking care of my family. I love cooking new things and going on trips. Running races and our long DISNEY weekends have been one of our favorite things to do this year. Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Mickeys-not so-scary Halloween have been great. Life for me is fun and I am enjoying it to the fullest. Grateful to be taking care of Tanner full time and also earning some extra income while only having to work two or three days a week. Yes it is true the days are long but the years are short. While Tanner is yes in fact turning two next week he will not start kindergarten until 2015 so we have lots more time of enjoying the preschool years. I already am looking forward to his birthday party, photo shoot on the beach and dinner out. All three happening next week. FUN FUN FUN!!