Playing in the rain.

I can not believe it! Tanner is napping in his big boy bed. He has always been a great sleeper since birth but ever since we have moved him into his big boy bed he has not been napping. I was still making him go in his bed every afternoon for an hour and have quiet time but he never would fall asleep. I knew he was tired. I could not tell if he was just getting close to dropping his naps (he does turn 3 in November) or he just was not napping because all the excitement of a new room and new bed. Well I am happy to say after lunch today at exactly 1:30 he went down no problem. He is sleeping soundly. YAY for the little things I can findly make time for my blog. He sleeps so beauitifully at night. Even in his big boy bed he waits for me to come get him in the morning before coming out. At least so far. :) So while the house is clean and quiet and I am relaxing after a wonderful morning at MOPS I thought I would blog. I wanted to write about our playdate Friday night. Aimee' has been such a great friend and our boys are the best of buds. In the fall my husband is the FCA Chaplin for North Marion High School and he is always at football games on Friday nights. I have tried going and taking Tanner but he is still so young and has no interest in sitting still and watching the game and there is entirely too much going on for me to go just to chase him around all night. So we stay home. Aimee's husband is a personal trainer and has clients on Friday nights. So a couple of times now we have gotten together and had dinner and playtime with the kids. It has been a blast. Tanner and Asher are only a few weeks apart and they truly love each other. We were going to meet at the park last Friday and then grab a bite to eat but instead we ended up coming back to my house after picking up some chicken and sides from publix. Aimee' has two little ones. Aleena is almost 5 and Asher is almost 3. Well it was raining. After dinner the kids kept begging us to go play outside. Finally Aimee' looked at me and said "What kind of parents are we if we can not let our kids go play in the rain?" And so we did. They were having so much fun!!! I tried to get some pictures but my camera kept fogging up and getting wet. So I only got a couple. It was so fun watching them play and see how much they were enjoying themselves. The slide was so slick from the rain and the kids would FLY down and laugh the whole time. There is nothing like hearing small children laugh. They were having a ball. I love getting together with these guys. After the fun in the rain we threw them all in the tub and put on a movie. Great memories with great friends!!

A diverse world.

I am posting tonight about JOY!! My life is full of it. I am thankful for such a full life. I was riding home Tuesday night from the women's prison and I called my sister. She and I chatted about life. She and I have boys very close in age. Tanner and Tristan. We were talking and I was telling her about that night's visit to the prison. She says"You should blog about it." So I decided I would. I am clean off drugs and alcohol 8 years now. I am a stay at home mom and pregnant with my second child. Because of God's grace and a wonderful 12 step program I have a life today. One that I am so proud of and brings me joy daily. I have people who believe in me and love me. I have a funny strong and loving husband. This week alone I had lunch with my mother-in-law and a nice visit from her, a wonderful visit with my grandmother Janet who is camping out on my brothers property on the NW side of town, and Sunday my dad came up with my nephews and I finally was able to cook him his birthday dinner. I love doing things for those I love. This may seem like no big deal to some people. For YEARS I missed out on all these things. From the time I turned 15 until I was 30 I lived a life of a using addict. I spent alot of that time behind bars. That is why Tuesday night I was overwhelmed with emotion. I have such empathy for the women in there. One woman shared that her parents never loved her and her mom resented her. She never felt worthy. My heart breaks for her. The best thing that God has given me is freedom. Freedom to give others HOPE! It is nothing I have done. I finally just surrendered to God's plan and took some suggestions of those recovering before me. I am so grateful to be an active member of my own life. For a very long time I wasn't. I still fall short and the beauty of that I just ask God for help and he gives it. I read recently in the book I am finishing up (Grace Based Parenting) that God doesnt care about what school our kids go to, if they dye their hair, or how they dress. He cares about their heart. Jesus did not stay in a protected bubble. He traveled! He visited the sick, the hurting, the broken, and those in prison. I love in the book where he talks about raising children in evangelical hideaways and creating a spiritual Disneyland works directly against the development of an empowered relationship with Christ. He is pretty blunt about putting kids in highly protected spiritual enclaves and how this isn't a good idea. Those who think that the wiset way to groom a child for spiritual maturity is to isolate him from the evil corrupted world system or airbrush his childhood environment so much that it exposes him only to the good and never teaches him how to process the bad(Counterfeit) will set a child up for a life of mediocrity at best and spiritual annihilation at worst. I know God has given me a heart of understanding. I have no idea Why most of the women I talk to on Tuesday are there and it doesn't matter. God's world is diverse. We are all sinners. In our western culture it is easy to get caught up with what life looks like on the outside and now everyday I strive to be a light for others. I have friends with all sorts of beliefs and politcal stands and back grounds. I am grateful for that!! I hope I can continue to grow and continue to LOVE others with grace the way GOD so generously love and saved me. I was raised loving the Lord and had bible trophies and loved Jesus. I turned away from him and toward drugs later in life. God always had his hands on me and is using the worst most degrading part of my life to glorify him. I am so GRATEFUL!! I am grateful that I can live a life of freedom today. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) It has been a good and busy week. Tanner has been in his big boy bed for four nights now. I am so overwhelmed with joy as the arrival of Holden is getting closer. I can not wait to meet this precious little one who is moving inside me right now as I type this. I look forward to all the days ahead. Tanner and I worked in the yard today and it was so fun just being outside and watching my 2 year old stand under my plants as I watered them. He was soaking wet and so cute helping me pull weeds and pick up limbs. I know I said it before but i am going to say it again. My life is full of JOY! :)

Cozy day at home!

Tanner is taking his nap and our dinner is cooking slowly and beautifully in the crock pot. I am making "Crock Pot Chicken" A recipe given to me by my friend Ashlee. You put in all white meat chicken breasts and load it down with whatever veggies you want really and dump in a jar of your favorite marinara sauce and serve over pasta. I put in zuchinni, plum tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, minced garlic, yellow squash, and green peppers. Season it and slow cook until the chicken falls apart. I love using my crockpot. I can not wait to make some other yummy dishes in it this fall. I love feeding my family and myself healthy dishes. I don't stress about organic or low fat or anything we just try and do a lot of fresh stuff and a variety of different things. Fresh produce and lean meats. We shop Publix so Greenwise is good for meats and they always have the best produce and dairy. I have to brag about Tanner for a minute. He is an amazing little eater. He wil try anything. I mean anything. He loves cantaloupe, strawberries, cut up apples, corn off the cob, broccoli, turkey, pasta, brown rice, green beans, sweet potato fries, steak, yogurt, whole grain breads, honey dew, watermelon, pancakes, oatmeal, red grapes, blueberries, and he has even tried grilled red peppers and salmon too. This is amazing to me and my hubby because NEITHER one of us was a very good eater when we were little. My mom tells me how picky I was and Billy's mom said he would not eat anything but meat and potatoes for the longest time. We eat good and I love cooking. Some of the joys of staying home are being able to cook every night. Another gift of staying home is being able to work on my digital photo books. I love working on my books. Now a days with digital photos we take SO many pictures and beside putting them on the computer I mean how many do we print and put in books?? Well I work hard on putting together these books and my favorite web site for making them is mixbook. I am slowly working on 2012. I finished my 2011 and just waiting until a good deal pops up and we have the extra $ to purchase it. I may just ask for these two books as part of my Christmas. :) We have so many other things to spend our money on right now. We went after church a few weeks ago and picked out Tanner's new furniture. We are going to need his crib and changing table for our sweet new addition Holden soon. It is bitter sweet having him move to a big boy bed. Lots of activity at the Spivey house in next few days. I am so excited that Mops starts back on Thursday mornings. I love Mops and it has been such an encouragement to me in raising Tanner and now in raising Holden too. After Mops we will be moving furniture and getting organized. Well hubby will be moving the furniture. ;) Him and whatever friend or friends he can recruit for the job. I am going to be busy getting Tanner's room ready and then not long until I start filling the nursery with tiny newborn diapers, newborn clothes, and new baby stuff. We had fun picking out Tanner's furniture and buying it. I can not wait to set up each of my boys rooms. I am happy to be home today just hanging out with Tanner. We read books, played with toys, made pancakes for breakfast, and watched a veggie Tales movie. Great cozy day at home. I am so excited fall is here. It is my favorite season. Can not wait to pull out my fall decorations, light some pumpkin candles, and drink a pumpkin latte from starbucks.

Encouragement!

It is quiet at my house this morning. Tanner stayed the night with his Meme and Grampy and My hubby went for a long run and to football practice. We had a nice kid free evening last night. We went out for frozen yogurt and then watched a movie at home. I had a week that was a little overwhelming in the begining. Tanner was regressing with his potty training. He was having tons of accidents. That by itself would have been fine to deal with but we are preparing the house to switch three rooms around, coming back from being out of town, and dealing with a toddler who was peeing everywhere. (it felt like) Monday rained all day so no going outside, my house has been in complete disarray waiting for Tanner's Big Boy furniture to get here, and Billy stays late in Gainesville every 4th Monday of the month. So for me it was a very overwhelming day. Did I mention I am 28 weeks pregnant aka 7 months? I was exhausted. I think that is a time when are defenses are down and life seems so hard. I finally got Tanner to bed and my mom and some friends were the ones who lifted me up and gave me lots of encouragement! My mom knows alot about preschool age children! Not only did she raise me and my five brothers and sister but she worked at a daycare for over 20 years. She now stays home and takes care of my two year old nephew while my sister is in school. She was very encouraging and reminded me lots of children regress. For me I was feeling like I was failing at my job. I am thankful for my mom. I am also very thankful for my father-in-law and mother-in-law. They love Tanner and graciously keep him and are very hands on grandparents. It is true what they say it takes a village to raise a child. This week God has comforted me a lot. I spoke with Ashlee, Aimee, and Katie all this week too. All with different age children and all with different challenges going on. Each age brings new challenges and new adventures and blessings but when I rely on God it doesn't seem as tough or overwhleming. Our week got better. Some friends gave us a few sugestions. Cheerios in the toilet and rewarding with m&ms so we are back to guiding and teaching. The biggest challenge for Billy and I is to remain patient and consistent. I want to raise strong boys but I want to be a gentle mommy. I want to not crush my kids spirit in the process of guiding and teaching. Tanner is such a joy to my heart!! I could not be more proud to be his mommy. As you know I am pregnant and all along Tanner has always said he was going to have a little brother. We can wait to meet our son Holden. I am grateful that we have such a wonderful home and able to close in our garage for more space.(We are going to need it) Yesterday's sermon was all about parenting. This new series on Modern family is teaching me alot. Billy and I are asking God to help us in specific areas of parenting. The five points we are praying on right now are: !) Start disciplining early 2) Provide a predictable environment 3) Balance high standards with lots of acceptance 4)Don't let anger be part of the process 5) Let ALWAYS be keeping the heart of your child be the goal. God is a God who loves and helps me. Thank you Father for your unfailing love this week. 2 Samuel 7:18 "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?" Picture is me at 28 weeks pregnant with our little blessing HOLDEN!