Just an update... :-)

I hope everyone is doing well. We are doing ok!

We've been staying busy with homeschooling and still trying to get the house in order. We are loving the new house and especially love living closer to family. DS and I have been able to get out a lot more since we moved than before. It is so much easier to keep the car these days. Of course, I am still praying that it won't be too much longer before we are a 2-car family again! :-)

As for homeschooling, DS is doing very good and I am still having a lot of fun, too. It's amazing that I had forgotten so much over the years, but thankfully it all comes back to me very easily. We are going to start a homeschooling blog soon so if anyone's interested, I'll be posting the link on this blog as soon as we get get it going.

I have started another blog for my Weight Watchers so if you are interested, you can find the link by clicking on my profile link. I decided to start it as another way of keeping myself motivated and so those who are trying to lose along with me can keep up with my progress and prayerfully be motivated by it as well.

As for other things, church has been awesome! Our Pastor hosted Nite Line last Wednesday and some people from our church were also there. Sadly, we weren't able to go, but we did get to watch it from home. The program was great and we can honestly say that the presence of God was heavy in our home!

It was during this time that DS told us that he felt God calling him to preach when he was grown. If you know DS, then you know that he likes to be go into detail when he tells you something and it usually turns out to be very entertaining. This time was no different!

After he said he was going to be a preacher, he said that God was calling him all over the world except for Antarctica. When we asked why, he said that it was really cold there and that there were hardly any people there anyway because everyone was afraid of the polar bears!!!

He then told us that the only way to get rid of the polar bears was to use a bow and arrow. With that being said, he requested to take archery lessons just in case he ever needs them. :-)

Why DS is NOT a Falcons Fan!!!

If you know us at all, you know that DH is a HUGE Georgia football fan!!! He loves the Bulldogs and the Falcons. The first time I felt DS move when I was pregnant was when the Falcons won the playoffs and were headed to the Super Bowl. (Yes, believe it or not the Falcons went to the Super Bowl!!! LOL) Anyway, DH was yelling so loud that he scared our puppies and apparently freaked our child out!!! :-)

Now that DS is older, he is beginning to like his own teams instead of just going along with Dad. I'm not sure if he really does like them better or if this is an early form of rebellion - I'm praying that it's just that he has a mind of his own!!!

The fact that DS prefers the Tigers (Clemson) and Carolina Panthers has been causing quite a stir at our house lately. It's really funny, but a few days ago, it became hilarious!

DS got a Falcons sweatshirt from his cousin and when I showed it to him, DS made the comment that he couldn't wear it! I was kind of surprised that he was serious about not wearing so I asked him why.
He said very seriously, "I can't be a Falcons fan! Big cats eat little birds!!!"

And the war continues... :-)

And A Child Shall Lead Them...

Last night we didn't make it to church because we only have one car and DH ended up working late. I thought this was a good reason - until we sat down to eat.

I said our blessing and when I finished DS added a prayer of his own. He thanked God for the food and then asked Jesus to forgive us for not going to church.

When he was finished, I explained to him why we didn't go. He replied, "You know, Mom, when we don't go to church we're abandoning the word of God."

OUCH!!!

A New Year!

I am officially one year older now!!! Surprisingly, I wasn't depressed at all about having a birthday this year. I guess I am getting to a point in my life where I am getting more excited about what God has planned in the upcoming year!

I had a really great birthday this year. I asked everyone NOT to make me a cake this year, but I did have a couple of scoops of ice cream... chocolate ice cream to be exact! I have to admit earlier tonight I was craving at least a bite of birthday cake, but I'll be so glad I didn't have any later this week!!!

I spent the first part of my day with my parents and DS. Around 3 pm, I picked DH up at work and we met with a very nice couple and signed the paperwork for our new house. That's right! We are moving this weekend!!! What a birthday surprise!!! :-)

We are so looking forward to living in our new house! We absolutely love it!!! DS's even excited about the move this time. Last time we moved, he ended up having a really hard time with it (totally unexpected!) and even made the comment that we left his whole world back at our old house. He thought nobody would know where he lived! It was really sad, but he finally managed to get over it. So when DH and I decided to start looking for a new house, we thought he would be upset again, but much to our surprise, he was all for the idea. I am sure part of it is because we will be living a lot closer to one of his favorite people in the whole world! :-)

We are just looking forward to beginning this new chapter in our lives. It's awesome how God allows you to go through really difficult things that make the good things in life so much sweeter! We are amazed at how everything fell into place for us concerning this house. We had people praying with us and as soon as the request was made, miraculous things started happening. I am still in awe of it all! Isn't it funny how we walk in our faith and we believe with all that we are that God will do it. And when He does it, we can't believe He did it??? (Does that make sense at all??? LOL)

I am so glad that our house hunt is over!!! I do want to personally thank my sister, who is the one who sent me the email with pics of the house. (I haven't forgotten about that finder's fee!!! LOL) And of course, I want to thank God that He allowed everything to fall into place as only He can do!!!

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UPDATE ON WEIGHT WATCHERS:

As of this past Saturday, I have lost a total of 17 lbs!!! God is so good!!! :-)

This Week At Our House...

I have finally gotten every thing we need to start our school year in two weeks... I think I have almost everything!!! I am really excited about the new year, but after seeing how much more work there is to do compared to last year I think I may need to take an extra month off to fully prepare!!! I am amazed at how much more there is to learn this year. God help me!!! LOL

DS is looking forward to being in the third grade, but he has told me that he really likes summer vacation, too! LOL He's excited about all of our new books, folders, etc - I don't think reality has hit him just yet... that's probably a good thing! :-)

Besides getting ready for homeschool, I reopened my online store about a month ago so I've been really busy with that the last few weeks. It is going even better than before so far and I am having a lot of fun with it. It's always a little bit of work trying to get everything set up and going, but I know that eventually all my hard work will pay off. It's already picked up a bit just in the last week. I shipped 12 packages off this past Saturday!!! Praise God!!!

We are also in the process of finding a new house. If you pray today, please remember us during our search. We have found several houses we like, but we are really interested in one and hopefully if it's God's will we'll be able to get that one. It's a lot closer to hubby's work and would cut out over an hour and half of driving every day!!! We'll be able to see him more and the money we save in gas will be awesome, too!

Oh, did I mention that we have a new pet bird!!! I've never had one of these before, but honestly they're not much work at all. He's a blue parakeet named "Blue" and he's adorable. He was my mom's bird and she decided to give me an early "birthday present" so I ended up bringing him home a few weeks ago.

On a funny note, when we first saw the bird, my Mom had him in one cage and had another empty cage sitting over to the side. DS asked her why she had the empty bird cage and being silly, I told him that she had an imaginary bird. He seemed to be ok with that answer and I didn't think he had taken me seriously.

The next time we were visiting the empty bird cage was gone and DS asked my Mom what had happened to the invisible bird. Laughing , I told him that she had gotten it an imaginary cage and once again I thought he knew I was kidding.

Well, on the day my mother gave me Blue, DS asked her if she would be keeping the invisible bird and she told him he could have it! To this day, about a month later, he tells everyone that we have 2 birds and his bird sits underneath my bird cage. I didn't realize how serious he was until one day I put the bird food and grit underneath my cage and then he got upset and reminded me that his bird cage usually sat there!!! I moved the food and apparently his imaginary bird, Crush, has been sitting there ever since!!! LOL

Update on Weight Watchers...

Well, it has been 2 months since I started Weight Watchers. After 8 weeks, I have lost a total of 12.6 pounds. I know that may not seem like a lot to some people, but when you're only 5 ft 2-1/2 inches it does make a big difference! LOL
I'm already fitting into smaller clothes and my BMI level has gone down over 2.5 points!!! And I'm on my way to being healthier and more fit!!! :-)

I am so glad that this actually works. Even if you don't exercise one week, if you stay within your point range, you still lose! Of course, if you do exercise you lose even more. I upped my two mile walk to a three mile walk twice this past week and I lost 2.4 lbs!

This program is a Godsend for me!!! Of course, alot of people will probably never realize the time it took to reach a point where I was disciplined enough to even start something like this. I actually prayed and fasted for months beforehand asking God to give me self control and the discipline I needed to get into better physical shape. I also asked Him to show me what to do and how to do it. And as always God came through for me and directed me to people I knew who got back into shape through WW and also He allowed me to discover Leslie Sansone videos and DVDs!!! These are actually the best workouts I've ever done and I actually enjoy doing them!

As for the reasons why I decided to seek God about getting back into shape, I believe it's His will for us to be healthy and physically fit. I know that God has big plans for me in the future and I know that there's no way I can do what He's called me to do if I am always feeling bad about myself or having physical problems that are caused by being an unhealthy weight. I do know that it's going to be a process, but now I am well on my way to reaching my goal simply because I stepped out in faith and did something about it.

I am loving Weight Watchers, exercising, starting to feel better about myself, etc. But as with any journey I go on, there have been a few bad days when I ate a little bit more than I should have or I started feeling like it's taking too long and I want to lose faster! I've noticed that these days only come around when I lose my focus and instead of looking at the big picture, I focus on that moment. I have learned that when this happens if I just remind myself of the reasons why I am doing this and I ask myself where do I want to be this time next year, I usually refocus and everything starts going smoothly again.

One thing that I've heard that really keeps me motivated is this: You are becoming today what you will be tomorrow! So when I want to sit down after walking only a mile, I remind myself that if I can hang in there for another 30 minutes or so, I will reach my goal even quicker. If I sit today, I'll still be sitting in the same place a year from now. But if keep on going today, only God knows where I can be tomorrow!!! :-)

Reflections

I am beginning to realize how much of a reflection of God we are as Christians. If we claim to be a Christian, our lives, regardless of how we live them, are always a reflection on Him.

As Christians, aren't we supposed to reflect God to others, especially those who don't really know Him. If that is the case, then I wonder how others see God when they look at me???

Do they see a kind and gentle God or a God who is mean and harsh???

Do they see a God who is compassionate and forgiving or an uncompassionate and unforgiving God???

Do they see a God who is approachable and trustworthy or a God who will push people away and can't be trusted???

Do they see a God who sees the best in others or a God who is judgemental???

Do they see a God who will help those in need or a God who doesn't care???

Do they see a God who uplifts others or a God who puts others down???

Those are only a few of the questions I have been asking myself lately. But, the big question is when others look at my life, do they even see God??? Am I living a life that reflects Him or am I just another face in the crowd? Does the way I live my life make others want more of Him???

My hope is that my life would be pleasing to God and that I would be a wonderful example of God's heart. My prayer is that I would be used to draw others to Him and not drive them away!