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so thankful and blessed, celebrating 20 years of marriage..

so thankful and blessed, celebrating 20 years of marriage..

Ephesians 5:22-33

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Last week was pretty amazing and memorable for me.  My husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on October 3rd.   Now a days, you don’t see marriages lasting for this long.  We started dating when I was just 15 years old and a sophomore in high school.  He had already graduated high school and was attending a local community college.

We went to the same school and were in the band together.  He and his mom had even started coming to our church when he was a senior in high school.   His mom was also my English teacher in middle and high school.  We saw each other around and even hung out at youth nights together at church.  I always thought he was cute and did have a little crush on him, knowing that we would never date because I was younger than he was.  You can only imagine how surprised I was when I received a single rose on Valentine’s Day at school on Feb. 14th, 1991.  That day was the beginning of our life together.

Has it been easy?  No.  We married when I was 17 and expecting our first child.  I was a senior in high school.  I had people disappointed in me.  However, I knew that he was the one God had sent to me.  Yes, we have argued and have had many disagreements.  The important thing?  We put God first in our life.  We should have done it sooner than what we did, however, you learn from your mistakes.  On occasion, we get a little selfish and God sends us a reminder that we have slipped.

I am thankful and very blessed to have him in my life.  I know he loves me unconditionally.  However, I know he loves God even more and that is what is important.  As long as he keeps God first in his life, then I know our marriage will last.   As long as I keep God first, I know our marriage will last.  I am looking forward to many more years with this wonderful man.

Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for and I give God all the glory for all of the many blessings He has given us.

1011. 20 years of marriage to my husband.

1012. the 4 blessings (children), that He has given us.

1013. a faithful husband.

1014. a God-fearing husband.

1015. a husband who helps around the house.

1016. a nice dinner and evening out with my husband.

1017. the changing of the seasons.

1018. the cooler weather.

1019. older kids watching the younger kids so we could enjoy an evening out.

1020. family drives and time spent together.

My husband and I on Mother’s Day is 2010.

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.

traditions, family drives ~ Guanella Pass

traditions, family drives ~ Guanella Pass

One of our favorite things to do as a family is going a on drive around the area.  Since we have moved to Colorado, we have a lot of new areas to explore.  One of those areas we went to recently was the Guanella Pass.

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Guanella Pass is located in Clear Creek County, west of Denver.  It was also named after a worker who had worked for the county for 50 years.

We started the drive in Georgetown, CO.

All along the way, there are places you can pull off the road and hike.

There are also places you can camp.

I see this as being a road that we take often on drives.

Not only do we get to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  We get to enjoy the special time together.

We leave our phones off, and music softly playing.  We enjoy just talking and visiting with one another.

I love this special time with my family.

Do you go on family drives?  How do you spend time with your family?

Views from White Ranch Park

Views from White Ranch Park

While my oldest daughter was at her riding lesson, we rode to White Ranch Park in Golden, CO.  It is a beautiful Open Space.  A lot of great trails to walk on.  We didn’t have time to go hiking on any of them, but were still able to take in the gorgeous views that the park offered.  I see us coming back here for a field trip to do a nature walk for science.  The kids have already said our next time to the park, we will need to bring a picnic lunch. I can’t wait until next time!

Homestead Road, Golden, CO.

Homestead Road, Golden, CO.

Homestead Road, Golden, CO.

White Ranch Park, Golden, CO.

White Ranch Park, Golden, CO.

White Ranch Park, Golden, CO.

White Ranch Park, Golden, CO.

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

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.

My Well Planned Day Software Review and Giveaway!

My Well Planned Day Software Review and Giveaway!

When I first started homeschooling, I tried using several different planners to help me plan our day.  With in a couple of weeks, I always stopped using them, either because they didn’t fit our needs or I got behind trying to write everything down that I wanted to keep track up.

At one time, my husband even created a weekly excel spreadsheet that I could right lesson plans in and I could print lessons for the day or even for the whole week on it.  I used it the longest for a couple of years.  However, it still did not have everything I wanted to keep track of on it.

As the years have gone by, I have turned more and more to the computer and online world to make up different plans, spreadsheets and calendars to help me keep track of our busy life with four children.  I have yet to find anything online to keep track of everything, until now.

When I went to the 2:1 Conference back in April, I had the pleasure of meeting Jenny from Home Educating Family.  We got to talking about the Well Planned Day Planners that Home Educating Family offered.  I had seen them before, but never bought one because it was paper and would have required me to write everything in.  Knowing my history with this, I knew it wasn’t the planner for me.  I asked her if Home Education Family had plans for making there planner online.  She said yes!  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to try it out when it became available.  Jenny contacted me about a month ago and asked if I would love to give it a try and I just couldn’t pass up this offer!

The My Well Planned Day software is amazing to me!  One of the things I love most about it, is that it combines School plus Household activities and events.  I can use the software to make lesson plans and assignments plus make a menu and grocery list!  The best of both worlds that I wanted together!  You can add the textbooks on here that you are using and keep track of the Literature that you are reading.  What has really gotten me excited is that I will soon be able to sync my Google calendar that my husband and I use, to the calendar on this software!

I really feel like the My Well Planned Day software is going to help me out so much.  I can already see areas that it has helped me in.  I would like for you to have the same chance to see if this awesome software will help you as much as it has me.

Home Educating Family is offering the readers of My Home In The Smokies  $15 off the MWPD software retail price of $65. The code is case sensitive, no spaces, and expires on October 1. Your personal code is: 31wpdblog12.

Also, thanks to Home Educating Family, you have a chance to win a 1 year Subscription of the My Well Planned Day Software!!  Just use the rafflecopter below to enter the drawing.  This giveaway will end on September 5th, 2012.

Due to international sweepstakes laws, this offer is only for U.S. entries.

This giveaway is not connected to any social media sites and none of the social media entries are mandatory.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway