You gotta Celebrate!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!! On Friday we held a party for Cameron. He picked about six friends and then we invited family, friends and neighbors, ordered pizza, made a cake and blew up balloons!!! Now I love parties, and I enjoy hosting them, and like to plan them, but every time, I am so so glad when they are over. For some reason all the details just consume my mind for the three days prior to the party and then the day of the party is a blur, and the day after is recovery day, and so it is really a four day process. But.................. The reason I will always throw a party for the ones I love, is because I believe in CELEBRATION. I heard a speaker say once, that we should celebrate every chance we get. And I loved the whole message and that thought stuck with me. Life has enough problems and struggles, why not celebrate every good thing we possibly can. So one thing I want to do in our home is celebrate every thing we can. All those little and big successes that happen we try to celebrate one way or another. Now Birthdays and Holidays are of course the BIGGEST. I want our kids to look back when they are 30 years old and have great memories from their childhood. I want them to always know how special they are and how much they are loved! So all in all, it is worth it! The stress, the expence, the time, the energy, the sugar..... it is all worth it! Celebrating the life of someone you love! It is definitely worth it. The smile on Cameron's face was truly priceless!

Rest

Rest is one thing I long for, but I am not very good at it. I'm not talking about sleep. I do that great! I mean resting, relaxing, just happily doing nothing. There is always something to do and usually not enough time to get everything done, and yet resting is so nice. I love to read, that is my big treat to myself. If I can work really hard and get a bunch of "stuff" done, then I can sit and read for awhile. Getting absorbed in a great book is undescribable. I also enjoy a good movie (those rare finds that leave you feeling inspired and happy about life). And sometimes a good TV show can make me laugh or cry and just sit down and relax for awhile. If I love the "idea" of resting/relaxing, and I see the need for it, and I see the value in it, then why is it just so hard to really do it.
At church we learn that God worked for 6 days and then on the seventh day He rested. So most people take that as okay you should work Mon- Sat and then "rest" on Sunday. I love that idea, and my family (the five of us) do that quite well. Sunday's is like family day, so for the most part we don't "work" (except making meals and cleaning up the kitchen)
I find that I need more than just rest on Sunday. (maybe because with three amazing, joyful and high energy kids... it ain't no book) So I try to have some down time each day. Just to chill out and re-group my thoughts, priorities, to-do list, meal plans, etc. I guess it is a way to stay organized and not go crazy. Raising three children and running a home requires a level of mult-tasking that is beyond me. I used to think I was a relatively organized person, with a decent memory and able to multi-task alright. But I prove myself wrong everyday. This job I call "being a mom and wife" is way beyond my capabilities. But by God's grace and with His help things keep going. I am reminded daily that I can't do it alone, and my prayer everyday is for God's wisdom on what choices to make, God's strength to get through the challenges, and God's love to flow through me. The Bible says that "Love covers over all wrongs". And that gives me peace. I may do a lot of things wrong, but I will continue to love no matter what.
I write all of this to you as I sit on the sofa, resting, (I pushed myself too hard yesterday at the gym, and my back is suffering today). So my husband went to a soccer game with the kids, and gave me instructions that I must REST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Blog is sensored

Justin is sitting right here beside me, so I am unable to really speak my mind, if you know what I mean. He gets a little freaked out about who might be reading this....... so I will just say.......... what a great day, $200 dollars later and I look pretty normal, at least temporarily. I get more work done on my tooth in a couple weeks. Kids had a wonderful day, made some new friends..... always cool.
Tomorrow I am planning a birthday party for my soon to be six year old. Any suggestions? The skys the limit my husband says, so let me know what you think. I was thinking 6-8 little boys, cake, and balloons. (I think I need a few more ideas.......) Please help!
Off to bed I go, getting up again at 4:55 am, if anyone wants to join me, let me know, I would love to have a "work-out buddy". Trust me you would love it!!!!

What's Up?

Well, I must say we had a GREAT weekend!!! Did I say Great, I mean REALLY GREAT!! We went to visit some friends in Grand Rapids. Such great friends and just lots of laughs! God blesses us all with friends through out our life-times, and these friends are true gifts from God. And the kids had a great time too! I really can't say anything bad about the whole weekend, it was one of the HIGHLIGHTS of my year so far!
Monday morning............ back to the routine of life. My day starts at 4:55am, and it feels like it never ends, but Monday night was a special night, Justin took the kids swimming, while I did so shopping. Yes he took all three to the pool!!!!! They all had a blast, especially Miah, since last year she was too little to go, so she would stay home with mommy.
Tuesday started out as a great day, I volunteered at Justin's office in the morning, took Miah home, and then things turned south a little for me. I was enjoying my lunch when I quickly noticed something weird in my mouth, and so I spit everything out to examine what was going on. My top front tooth had shattered/broke and so I became a hill billy instantly. Now this is nothing new to me, This tooth actually broke about 7-8 years ago, and the Dentist was able to just "cement" it back together. And then about 3 years ago, it fell off again....... and a different dentist was able to "glue" it back together! Well this whole time a big part of the tooth is dead and not attached to anthing but glue, so it became quite frail and brittle. So TODAY was my lucky day, for it to give way and collapse. So off to the Dentist tomorrow for some over due work that has needed to be done for the past 7 years, but we put it off as long as we could. If I had a camera, I would love to post a picture of my mouth! It looks hilarious!