Surely Goodness and Love will follow me

Psalm 23

¹The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the quiet waters.
³He restores my soul;
He guides me in paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
⁶Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

So proud of my boys, they memorized this Psalm along with The Lord's Prayer. Our whole family has been singing/practicing Psalm 23 everywhere we go, morning, noon and night. I had it memorized from when I was younger, but now Justin and even Miah have most of it memorized because they've heard it so much. It has also led to some really great discussions on what it's all about. Way to go Cameron and Jalen!!!!!!!

What's been going on.................

Cameron did a project for the Science Fair. He worked really hard on his project and had fun doing it.
Justin took the boys skiing for the first time. They went to Swiss Valley on Sunday, they all loved it! The weather was great. They moved to the big hills quickly and both boys caught on right away, Cameron even did some jumps and was able stop by turning to the side. They came home smiling from ear to ear.
Jalen has a part in the school musical "101 Dalmatians". He is patch and has 3 lines, plus all the dancing, acting and barking. It is a really cute play and Jalen does such a good job, we are very proud of him and so happy that he got to be a part of this.
Besides all those things, Miah was sick for a couple days, but we attacked her lungs with Silver through the nebulizer and I crushed up raw garlic 3 times a day for her to eat, and she recovered really quickly.
Justin is abundantly busy this month, Five Star is going through an "Extreme Office Makeover" at the office building in Elkhart and Justin is heading it up, so that is a 7 day/night a week thing, very cool, exciting and exhausting at the same time.
I am loving life. I teach a few classes a week at Peakfast Fitness Center. I help out at the Five Star office about 10 hours a week, I volunteer at the school often (too often....) and I am the general manager at home, which I excell at and I think I am due for a raise (my floors have never been so clean).
I recently finished the book, "Love Your Life" by Victoria Osteen, and I must say, I truly do love my life, the up's, downs and all the in between.
We have a big trip coming up and I have a feeling it's going to be life changing. I can't really explain it, I just know God is up to something and it's so exciting and peaceful and I will tell you all about it when we return.
One last thing............ I signed up to run a 1/2 Marathon!!! I am really excited, I have wanted to get into more races for a few years now, so when my brother said he was coming to South Bend to run in the Sunburst, I said "I'm in".

My baby girl is growing up

Miah told me yesterday that she doesn't like dresses anymore. She said they're itchy and not comfortable and she'd rather wear pants and jeans. She said that mostly grown-ups only wear dresses for really special occasions like once a year, and that most of the girls at her school don't wear dresses.
Miah has always been a very girlie girl. For the past 6 years she has LOVED dresses and skirts. I figured she would grow out of it someday, but now that the "someday" is here, I feel sad.
In December at her 6th Birthday party she had on this adorable dress with tights, and after her first friend showed up wearing jeans, Miah disappeared into her room and came out wearing jeans. I was shocked, but then realized what had just happened.
Miah and I have this special thing we do often, it's called cuddle time, but we talk, she begs me to do this with her. We cuddle together and then I say a series of "What do you like better" and I give her two things to choose from, she loves it, and she often responds, "both of them". Like do you like cereal or toast? do you like movies or books? do you like painting or soccer? etc.............
So yesterday when I said do you like skirts or dresses, I was expecting her to say "both of them" and she said, "neither, I like pants and jeans". So we talked about it for awhile, and she was so mature about the whole thing, I can't believe some of the amazing conversations I have with a six year old.

Shopping

Okay, so most of you may know, two things I am not is a SHOPPER and a DRESS-UP person. Especially when the weather is freezing! So last week we had an event to get ready for and I knew I could just wear black pants and a shirt that I already have, but I knew I should wear something nicer, so I had in the back of my mind to try to find something at Goodwill or a 2nd hand store. So Thursday night I bundled up and went to Goodwill and a Re-sale store. I tried on about 10 dresses, and there was some that were okay - but they cost between $25 - $50. This was for used dresses and some had stains on them........ I wasn't impressed.

So Friday morning, the snow was still coming, the boys had a 2-hour delay, Miah had no school, so Miah and I went to the Mall. Now for those who don't know me, I really dis-like the Mall. I am not a Mall person at all. But, I went. I got into JC Penney's and fell in love with about 25 dresses. Miah helped me try on dresses for about an hour. I couldn't believe how many cute dresses there were. I really think the last time I really dress shopped was about 12 years ago.... So after Miah and I narrowed it down, I called in for help. Justin's mom came to help me decide, but I bought 2 cause the ones I liked were both from the Clearance rack. I bought a pair of shoes, and 2 little black dresses for $60 total. I was impressed with myself.

So after Justin heard of my great deals and helped me decide between the 2 dresses, he said that he would really like a new outfit to wear to this big event. So Saturday I went shopping for him. I looked for the sharpest tie, shirt, pants I could find. I think I looked at 3,000 ties, so many boring ones out there. I ended up getting him a really sweet black, gray, and hot pink tie, which he ended up wearing a suit coat which covered up most of the tie.... anyways, he looked great (as always).
So today I had to return the dress I didn't wear and the shoes I didn't wear and the jewelery I didn't wear, (I'm weird, I bought 2 of everything and then decided at home what I liked better). So as I returned stuff, I say that JC Penney had more dresses on the Clearance Rack. So I thought let's just see what's there. So many cute dresses, I am not even a dress person and I ended up trying on 6 more dresses and I am really wanting to go back and buy 2 of them. I have a coupon for 35% off, and they are already on Clearance so I could go get 2 dresses for $36 total.

But, How often do I wear dresses? Once a year, twice maybe... It must be the time of year, I am never excited about buying dresses. I feel like a teenager getting a prom dress, which by the way, the prom dresses that are in style right now, remind me a lot of the prom dresses from the early 90's.

So if you run into me at Target or Walmart wearing a black dress and high heels, don't laugh, I'm just having fun.

Dancing with the Stars

Justin and I got to attend a really fun event for the 2nd year in a row. It's a fund-raiser for the Plymouth Community. It is also the way Plymouth is able to fund having Five Star in their middle school. So we were there to represent Five Star and we enjoyed every minute of it.

February 5th was also our 20th year Anniversary of being together, not married, we've only been married for 15 years, but exactly 20 years ago (2/5/1991) Justin and I stood in the Laker High School Gym after a basketball game and we were both so nervous we stared at each others feet as Justin asked me to be his girlfriend. It was so nice to be able to celebrate it together and spend the whole evening all dressed up at a really cool event.