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so thankful and blessed, I made it to #1000!

Written by Joy
so thankful and blessed, I made it to #1000!

On July 19, 2010, I started reading this wonderful blog named A Holy Experience. On it, Ann Voskamp talked about being thankful and how you can always find a blessing. She suggested keeping track of those blessings. I am so glad she did. I have noticed a big change in how I look at things. I don’t worry as much as I used to either. By looking at what all God has blessed us with during the good and the bad time times, I know that God is always with us no matter what. I have been putting my faith and trust in God so much more since I began this back in 2010. I plan on continuing counting my blessings every day for as long as I can.  While she had suggested counting a 1000 gifts in one year, it has taken me a little over two years to reach 1000.  I am excited about reaching this number and looking forward to counting many more.  Some of these I have counted before, but feel like they should be counted more often.

991.  Having the freedom to homeschool my children.

992.  Being able to stay home with my children.

993.  My husband of 20 years. (We celebrate 20 years on October 3rd of this year)

994.  My four children (Michael-19, Sarah-14, Samuel-8 and Claire-6.)

995.  My parents for raising me in a living Christian home.

996.  The Word of God to live by.

997.  Hubby’s job with great insurance.

998.  God providing us with a place to live.

999.  His mercy and grace that He gives me daily.

1000.  Jesus, dying on the cross to save a poor wretched person, like me.

I would love for you to join in counting the many blessings that God gives. Stop by A Holy Experience and visit others who are also sharing their many blessings.

2012, blessings, multitude Mondays, , , , , , ,

blessing bags and boxes

Written by Joy
blessing bags and boxes

As you know, moving can be rough one the family, especially the children.  There is so much to do, that sometimes the kids can get looked over when you start going through the belongings in the house.  I have 4 children and they are all at different stages on their lives at this moment.  Our oldest son is 19, oldest daughter 14 and then the youngest two are 6 and soon to be 8 in just a couple of weeks.  The oldest two do understand why we are moving and are handling things pretty well, considering.  However, the younger two kids are having a little more difficult time with the move.  They  do not understand why we have to leave our home, their friends and this area.  They have especially become a little clingy to things as we have been trying to purge and lighten the load before packing everything up.  This is how the blessings bags and boxes have come in handy!

So what is a blessings bag or box?  It is just a simple garbage bag or a cardboard box filled with items that we no longer need and want to bless others with.  My youngest daughter is a girly girl and loves her clothes.  However, we just had way too many of them.  Once I explained that we would be giving the clothes to other little girls in need, she had no problem with sharing her clothes.  The same happened with her shoes and toys.  Our youngest son would have given everything of his away if we had let him!

So far, the kids and I have given away 7 boxes of books, 6-7 bags of clothing, a box of shoes and a couple of boxes of toys.  We have felt good unloading the items we no longer need, in hopes of someone else possibly needing them for their children.  This has also been a good way to include the kids in the move.  It is tough to begin with, with so many changes going on, yet when you let them help, it helps them feel good about themselves.

How do you help your children with a major change in their life, like moving?  I would love for you to share your ideas with us.

2012, family, , , , ,

an early birthday party…

Written by Joy
4 Comments
an early birthday party…

Our youngest son will be turning 8 in a few weeks.  When he found out we would be moving, he was sad that we wouldn’t be here to celebrate his birthday with his friends.  So what is a mom to do?  We had an early birthday party!

Singing happy birthday to him! He was so shy and was trying to hide his face.

Thrown together in less than a week, we had cake, ice cream, chips and drink at a local park.  Our son had been sick the week before and still wasn’t feeling all that great.  He didn’t even eat any of his cake or even go to the playground to play, but that didn’t stop his wonderful friends from hanging around the pavilion and talking with him.

He will miss this group of friends.  He has grown and been homeschooled with this kids for the past 7 years.  However, we will always have these precious memories of days like this.

Sammy and friends.

2012, family, Uncategorized, , ,

a few tips to help you, when you move…(things I am learning)

Written by Joy

Since we found out a few weeks ago that we would be moving across country, I have learned a few things since I began packing.  I thought I would share a few of those things with you.  You know, for when God tells you that you need to move. 😉

The first tip I have for all of you is to start purging now.  You know, get rid of those things that you really don’t need.  Like that pile of Christmas wrapping paper sitting in the corner of your bedroom.  {ahem} Or those clothes that you keep thinking you will be fitting back into, one of these days.  If you don’t need it to live, then it isn’t necessary to keep.  Yes, I am figuring this out.

My next tip I have for you, especially if you are homeschoolers, go ahead and box of your curriculum and books.  Be sure to label exactly what is in the box so you will know which ones to grab first when you get to your new home.

The next tip I want to share with you (which I am finally learning to do), is ask for help.  You know when your friends ask if there is anything they can do to help you?  Yes, take them up on it.  If they ask if they can watch your kids for you, do it!  If they ask you if they can bring a meal to you, take it!  It has always been hard for me to ask for help, but I am finally getting the hang of it now.

My last tip for all of you mom’s is to get plenty of rest.  Yes, I said rest.  I know that you have a lot on your plate right now.  You are trying to get estimations on moving companies, locate a rental for you and your family to move in, keep up the basic housework every day.  There is a lot to do and it will still be there tomorrow.  However, if you over do it, you can hurt yourself or even get sick by not getting the proper rest.  So please take a  break every now and then, drink plenty of water and most of all get plenty of sleep at night.  Don’t be up writing posts at midnight, giving tips to help others out.  😉

 

 

2012, family, Uncategorized, , , , ,

an amazing Easter weekend with blessings #803-816

Written by Joy
an amazing Easter weekend with blessings #803-816

We had the most amazing weekend.  It was a weekend of celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It was a weekend of celebrating family.  God has been so good to us.  He has been so good to our family. We are alive and healthy.  We are together.  Yes, it was a good weekend.

Blessings have been so plentiful to us.  We have so much to be thankful for.  I haven’t shared them in a long time and thought it was fitting to share after the weekend we had.

Starting on Friday, we woke to it being my birthday.  I am 37 years old and thankful that God has given me the life He has.  We woke to it being a cloudy day, but headed to a birthday breakfast at the Waffle House.  I was told the day was mine and I could do whatever I wanted.  I was also told that the housework was off limits to me.  It would be taken care of.  So I definitely had a day off.  Supper was chicken wings and chocolate cake.  I couldn’t of asked for a better day.  But the day did get better when the kids asked about Good Friday.  Telling them of Jesus’ love and why he died on the cross and them understanding, truly made it the best day ever.

Saturday morning came early.  My son had a basketball game at 8:00 am.  My daughter cheered at 9:30am.  after a wonderful morning of seeing them have fun, it was nice to come home to do nothing but relax and be with one another.  Something my family and I have learned is family time is most important in the world we live in.  While we do enjoy activities outside of the house, it is even nice being able to come home to one another.  We want to make sure out children know we love them and more importantly, God loves them.

My favorite day of the weekend came next.  Sunday.  The day the tomb stone was rolled away and it was empty.  Jesus had risen just like it was foretold. We woke up  and started getting ready for church.  Oh what a glorious day it was!  The song and worship service was amazing.  The preaching was just beautiful.  I love our church and how they try so hard to make sure everything is scriptural and encourage us to hold them accountable if we find they missed something.

We then came home to a wonderful lunch and we hid eggs for the kids to find.  It was amazing to have all of my kids outside together, laughing and joking with one another.  We don’t have our kids for very long and I am doing my best to soak  up all the time I have with them.

Yes, blessings have been abundant for me and my family.  We are truly blessed.  While I spoke of a few blessings above, I want to share a few more.  I have missed sharing and hoping to get back on a more regular schedule.

803- My health

804- My families health

805- Having my brother stay with us

806- my children’s laughter

807- family time together

808- celebrating another year

809- chocolate birthday cake 😉

810- seeing my children learn something new

811- a massage and adjustment

812- hugs and kisses from my family

813- a chance to go to the 2:1 Conference (Thanks See The Light!)

814- birthday cards sent with love

815- An awesome blog makeover from Honeycomb Design Studio

816- Celebrating the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ!

 

Luke 24

The Resurrection

24  But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,

7  that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

2012, , ,