Thankful-God is Good!

I know that up to this point, I have included things that I am thankful for in my posts in November. A lot of those things so far have mostly been the “little” things in life that I appreciate. However, tonight as I was rocking Tayva at bedtime, I was thinking about the things that I am TRULY thankful for; the things that shape who I am, and who I want to be. I was thinking about the things in my life that make a difference to me—not just make my life more convenient, but those things that touch me to the inner core.


When I think of my life, I wonder, “What things am I so thankful for that if I didn’t have them, it would really rock my world?” Well, to start out with tonight, the first thing most definitely is my Lord, Jesus. Every day when I approach the throne in prayer, I am in awe that He would take the time to be interested in me. I wonder, “How could you love me, and keep pursuing me even though I am a filthy sinner?” It is amazing to me that the creator of the universe wants to know me. I mean, really know me. God, who knows the stars by name, also knows my name, and hears my prayer.

I am thankful for my husband who is my knight in shining armor and the love of my life. God knew exactly what he was doing when he paired us together. He balances me out just right. When I am weak, or have lost my voice of reason, he IS my voice of reason. He has taught me what “taking a step of faith” means by living it out in his own life. He is the rock in our household who makes sure our home is built on our faith in Jesus Christ. He can make me laugh like no one else, and is a blessing to me beyond compare.


I am thankful for Tayva, of course. This little girl is straight from the hand of God, and she makes me marvel at his handiwork everyday! She is an absolute ham already. She makes me laugh on a daily basis. She leans over to give me a kiss for no reason, other than just to say “I love you”. She loves to perform for people and her favorite pastimes are laughing, dancing, talking, singing, and making people laugh. Her and her dad have a special “rough-housing” bonding time when he gets home from work every day, and that is her ultimate favorite pastime. She is a tender-hearted little girl who, I believe, has a heart sensitive to the Lord. She has taught me so many things already in her young 1 ½ years of life, I could never put into words what I have learned from her.

I am thankful for family. My world in so enriched by the family I have in my life; not only family members that are living, but also family who have come before me, and blazed a trail that has deep roots in Christian heritage. What a blessing to have generations before who have served the same God that I serve today. Today, the family members that I have are priceless to me. Of course, my parents have played a huge role in my life and my salvation, and for that I could never repay them. Having grown up in a stable, Christian home is one of those gifts that not only affect the immediate person, but the generations to come. I now feel that I can pass that on to the next generation in my life due to the work of my parents.


Thank you God for being so good to me.

Thanks to Military

Today I made spice cookies for my cousin's husband who is a Marine serving in Iraq. I don't even know how many times he has been deployed, but it has been a lot. So, I have had a care package sitting on my counter for the past few weeks, just waiting for some ginger/spice cookies to add to it. I FINALLY got it done. Tomorrow, I will make a trip to the post office to mail it to him. This brings me to what I am thankful for.

I am EXTREMELY thankful for our soldiers both here and overseas. I can't even imagine the sacrifice they and their families make. I don't know what I would do if Bob was deployed for a while. I am also thankful for the families they leave behind that support them while they are gone. I often think of my cousin's husband in Iraq, and pray for him and his family. There have been several times that Tayva and I have been driving, and the Lord brings him to mind, so Tayva and I pray out loud in the car together for him and his family. Thanks to all of you in the military or who have family in the military!! When the Lord brings these people to mind, please pray for them!!

This is what my kitchen floor looked like after I made the cookies. Tayva had pulled all my kitchen towels out along with oven mitts and some of her toys, and scattered them on the floor. Whatever keeps them busy! Thankfully, she is a "good helper" and had just as much fun putting it all away.

Great New Recipe

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! I tried out a new recipe that my family loved. It is whole wheat pancakes. Tayva really liked them too.
I know this is a short post-I will write more later. Bob was sick yesterday and part of today. He didn't even get to go to his parents' house with us for the Thanksgiving meal!! Fortunately, he is feeling better today.
Enjoy the recipe!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got this email from a friend, and thought I would post it here. It is good to think about these things sometimes, just to give us some perspective. We have lots to be thankful for!

I AM THANKFUL:
FOR THE WIFE WHO SAYS IT'S HOT DOGS TONIGHT,BECAUSE SHE IS HOME WITH ME, AND NOT OUT WITH SOMEONE ELSE.
FOR THE HUSBAND WHO IS ON THE SOFA BEING A COUCH POTATO,BECAUSE HE IS HOME WITH ME AND NOT OUT AT THE BARS.
FOR THE TEENAGER WHO IS COMPLAINING ABOUT DOING DISHES BECAUSE IT MEANS SHE IS AT HOME, NOT ON THE STREETS.
FOR THE TAXES I PAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM EMPLOYED .
FOR THE MESS TO CLEAN AFTER A PARTY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN SURROUNDED BY FRIENDS.
FOR THE CLOTHES THAT FIT A LITTLE TOO SNUG BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.
FOR MY SHADOW THAT WATCHES ME WORK BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM OUT IN THE SUNSHINE
FOR A LAWN THAT NEEDS MOWING, WINDOWS THAT NEED CLEANING, AND GUTTERS THAT NEED FIXING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE A HOME.
FOR ALL THE COMPLAINING I HEAR ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT BECAUSE IT MEANS WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
FOR THE PARKING SPOT I FIND AT THE FAR END OF THE PARKING LOT BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM CAPABLE OF WALKING AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TRANSPORTATION.
FOR MY HUGE HEATING BILL BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM WARM.
FOR THE LADY BEHIND ME IN CHURCH WHO SINGS OFF KEY BECAUSE IT MEANS I CAN HEAR.
FOR THE PILE OF LAUNDRY AND IRONING BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE CLOTHES TO WEAR.
FOR WEARINESS AND ACHING MUSCLES AT THE END OF THE DAY BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF WORKING HARD.
FOR THE ALARM THAT GOES OFF IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS BECAUSE IT MEANS I AM ALIVE.
AND FINALLY, FOR TOO MUCH E-MAIL BECAUSE IT MEANS I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE THINKING OF ME.

Firsts

I had a "mommy first" on Saturday. We were at a fundraising auction and Tayva had a dirty diaper. I looked and looked, and there were no changing stations anywhere. Almost every room in the building had cold tile floors and the rooms that had carpeting where locked. SO, I improvised and went in the woman's bathroom, and changed Tayva's diaper in the bathroom stall while she was standing up. Fortunately, the wipes package had Winnie the Pooh characters on it, so she held on to that while I changed her diapper and that kept her busy. She was pointing and saying "Pooh", "Eeyore", "Piglet" while I was doing my motherly duty and changed her diaper. It was successful! New diaper, happy girl!

Tonight was "bath night" for Tayva, so Bob took Tayva's clothes off to get her ready for bath time. Tayva decided she wanted to run around a bit before her bath, so she went to the family room. We saw her pause a minute, and right there, she peed on the family room carpet! Another "first" in our household!

I am thankful for a toddler that provides us with many "firsts". Some of the "firsts" are funny, some are challenging, and some are downright precious. She makes our lives intersting, that's for sure!!

Red Riding Hood

My daughter LOVES her shoes. It is pretty hilarious. Whenever someone comes to the door, the first thing she does is bend down, points to her shoes and says "shoes". It is so cute. Almost everyday, after I dress her, she goes to her shoe drawer and pulls out the shoes she wants to wear for the day. Most of the time the shoes do NOT match the outfit, but that is OK. Like you see in the picture above, she is wearing teal socks and pants with red shoes. These red shoes are particularly her favorite as of late.

Today I am thankful for food and clothing. Really, isn't God so good to us? We not only have the clothing we need, but we have waaaay above and beyond that. Sometimes I think, as a society, we are overindulgent with the amount of clothes and shoes we have. (Just look above-does a girl really need that many shoes?? [**Just so you know, they are all hand-me-downs or gifts, but I digress.]) Here I sit in my heated house in a comfortable pair of sweatpants, when someone else desperately needs a pair of pants. Even the "little" things in life are "big" things to be thankful for--like clothing and food. I am thankful for God's provision in this area of my family's life.

The Golden Compass

Please beware of this movie. You MUST go check this out. Especially if you have kids, please take note of this. The goal of the movie is to hook kids into liking this, so they will want to get the books. The books are a trilogy written by an avowed atheist with anti-god themes. Here is the link to check it out!

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

At Last!!

OK people, I finally got it! I have a place to input my recipes. I have the Honey Whole Wheat Recipe ready for you like I promised. Scroll down the screen to "Shaunna's Recipes" (on the right sidebar) and click on "Pinch of Love". There you will find the bread recipe and additional recipes as I add them.
I went to a cooking class tonight at one of the gourmet restaurants in town. It was lots of fun with great new recipes. Believe it or not, the theme was "stress-free holiday cooking". I was pretty impressed that it would be possible to make "gourmet" food stress-free. Of course, we got a sampling of the food--delicious!!
Enjoy the bread recipe, and let me know if you have questions!

Ah--CHEW!!

Today, I am thankful that my husband watched Tayva ALL DAY for me yesterday, so I could scrapbook with some friends. We had such a good time. I loved showing him the pages that I finished. I'll tell ya what though--scrapbooking takes a LONG time! I like to do it, but boy is it time consuming. It was a great break for me. I sure did miss Tayva and Bob by the end of the day. I couldn't wait to get home!

I had an interesting trip to Target today. First, I pulled into the parking lot following a car with a bumper sticker that said "Just another soulless atheist striving for world peace and unity". Nice. I then head into the photo center because I placed 2 orders on the internet over the weekend, and Bob went to to pick them up for me, and there was only one of the orders when he got home. So, I figured I better go back and pick up the other order. Apparently, the second order mysteriously disappeared (even though I have the order confirmation email). So now I have to re-send the order. Then I had to pick some other things, and Tayva was desperately trying to stand up in the cart. Obviously she wanted to see just what it would feel like to drop 4 feet to the hard tile floor. Thankfully that did not happen. So, I thought I needed something to keep her busy. I cruised down the dollar aisle and picked up a few books for her to look at (just to look at, and not to buy), then headed to the cracker aisle and picked up a box of crackers. Now, before I had a child, I would have never dreamed of opening up a box of crackers in the middle of the store before paying for them. Not any more--I whipped open those crackers so fast without a second thought. OK, so I was set--Tayva had a few books and some crackers to keep her busy. I picked up some of the things I needed (including nose drops for Tayva as she has a stuffy and runny nose) and started to head toward the check-out. I had one last stop to make. I needed to pick up a new wallet. (I was severely traumatized a few weeks ago when Bob and I were out to eat with some friends and I pulled out my wallet to pay, and my friend looked at me and said, "Shaunna, you need a new wallet" and started to laugh. Then, my loving husband chimes in and says, "Honey, you have the George Costanza wallet" (I don't know if I spelled his name right, but he's the guy from Seinfeld--you know who he is) OK, I really wasn't traumatized, I totally admit that she was right--besides, she is a good friend of mine and can tell me those things. She has also the friend that told me that a pair of my jeans gives me "saggy butt". Every girl needs a friend like that--really!!) SO, I was just deciding which wallet I wanted, and Tayva had a HUGE sneeze. I looked down, and there was half-chewed crackers, snot, and saliva all over one of the books I had given her. So much for that idea-ha! I quickly wiped her and the book up (I think every mom always has a wipe of some sort in their purse or pocket) and headed to the check-out line. I had to end this shopping trip before Tayva decided to sneeze all over the other book or really DID climb out of the cart.

Pictures and Toast

OK, so I have 2 questions.

Why, when we went to have Tayva's 18 month pictures taken this morning, did Tayva want to play and smile everywhere EXCEPT on the area where she was supposed to be to take the pictures?? Really, she was in such a good mood and she was smiling and laughing, but when she went to sit by the backdrop, she wouldn't stay there, and she got so serious. It was almost comical. I couldn't get her to sit on the props, or even stand in front of the backdrop for anything!! Luckily, a friend of mine (she has 2 girls of her own) does all of Tayva's pictures, so we decided to call it a day, and went upstairs and ate crackers! (Yep, that's what toddlers and mommies eats--crackers!)

My other question is: Why does Tayva only eat avocado OFF of toast. I give her toast plain, and she thinks it is OK. I give her toast with avocado on it, and she eats off all the avocado, then maybe takes a few bites of toast. So, I figure, why waste all this toast? I'll just mash up some avocado, and put it in a bowl for her to eat. NOPE, she wants the avocado ON the toast! She won't eat it unless it is on toast--even though she doesn't even eat the toast--she eats it OFF the toast. What do ya do? Life is always interesting and full of laughs with a toddler in the house.

So, basically today, I am thankful for avocado-toast or no toast; and I am thankful for other mommies to eat crackers with!!

Hello???

Hello? Can anybody hear me? I am drowning in all this laundry! Maybe in the next few days, I will be able to come out from under the piles of clothes! Hopefully, we left some loose change and dollars in our pockets, so after I wash all these clothes, I'll have just enough money to get an ice cream cone as a treat for washing ALL the clothes. Add a little hot fudge on top, and I'm game!! (you have to read the previous post to understand this one)

Wash, Wash, Wash

If you walk into my laundry room right now, you will find hampers full and piles of laundry on the floor. Why?? Because I have been without my washing machine for 1 1/2 weeks. That is waaaay too long! (the transmission was broken, so fortunately it was under a 10 year warranty, so the transmission was covered. We only had to pay for labor to install the new one!!--yeah for warranties!!) So, for the past week and a half, the laundry has been accumulating. I am so excited to have my washing machine fixed, but at the same time, I now feel overwhelmed because I have SO MUCH laundry to do! I feel like it is going to take forever. I have already done 2 loads so far, but have a lot more to go! (not to mention having to put all those clothes away) Having gone through this, I have come to the conclusion that we have too many clothes! We may have to make a trip to goodwill soon :) Anyway, today I am incredibly grateful for my washing machine! I never thought I could get so excited to be able to wash clothes!
This morning was MOPS, so my mom watched Tayva for me. I told my mom to give Tayva avocado on toast for breakfast. When I came home, Tayva was wearing a different shirt than the one I had on her when I left. My mom held up the shirt that was originally on Tayva, and it had green avocado smooshed all over the front of it. Yep, green all over the front of her WHITE turtleneck sweater. I bet you are thinking "Oh no! The sweater is ruined!" Well, first of all, I need to preface this by saying that I have told all the grandparents and Bob that I have "declared" all Tayva's clothes as "play clothes". Even the nicest clothes are "play clothes". I mean, if I tried to keep her clothes clean every day, I would drive myself crazy! If Tayva goes outside and plays with grandma and grandpa, I don't want them to be worried about keeping her clothes clean! I would rather have Tayva have fun outside and be able to go down the dirty slide with grandma and grandpa and ruin a pair of pants, than for her not to be able to play because we are worried about her clothes. (I suppose it is easy for me to say this because most of Tayva's clothes are hand-me-downs and rummage sale buys.) So, back to the avocado story. I saw the sweater and didn't worry a bit. Nope, the avocado smooshed in the shirt didn't worry me. Bleach Pen to the rescue!!! I LOVE my bleach pen. That thing has gotten out more stains than anything else. LOVE IT!! So, that sweater was in one of the 2 loads of laundry that I did tonight, and it looks great!!! Everyone needs a bleach pen!
So, my washing machine and bleach pen are two things I am thankful for today, but mostly I am thankful that my hubby is back home! He was out of town for a few days, and I am soo glad he is back. Above all, that is what I am most thankful for today. Good to have you home honey!

Digital Photos, Chili, and New Friends!

I am thankful for digital cameras and pictures. I am gearing up for a big scrapbooking day on Saturday, so I have been spending some of my evenings trying to get my pictures organized and printed. I am so glad that I have digital photos, that way, I know the exact date the pictures were taken. I have not scrapbooked one photo since Tayva has been born! Being that I am completely behind, I am thankful that my computer knows the date that all those pictures were taken! Whew!!
I am also thankful for a big bowl of warm chili and new friends. That is what we did on Saturday night. We went to some new friends' home, and the wife made us homemade chili. I brought the side dishes and dessert. It was wonderful! We had a good time, and Tayva loved being around their kids. (they have 3 children.)
So, digital cameras and photos, a big bowl of warm chili, and new friends--that is what I am thankful for today!

Halloween Candy!!

Today is November 1st, and I am going to start a series in my blog that will go through the end of November. This series is one in which every day that I write a blog entry, I will name and talk about one thing that I am thankful for.

So, to start off, today I am thankful for leftover Halloween candy. (or should I say leftover “Harvest” candy or leftover “Family Fun Fare” candy—that’s for those of you who aren’t too keen on celebrating Halloween. The jury is still out on this issue at our house.) We didn’t go trick-or-treating last night, but we went to the Family Fun Fair at our church. It was lots of fun! Leftover candy is always a good thing. Although I am glad that we didn’t get too much candy, otherwise I would be eating it all day!

Here is my day yesterday in a nutshell:

After I woke up from Good-N-Plenty of rest, I changed Tayva’s clothes and hopped in the shower. Of course, the phone rang, and I felt like I had Butterfingers as my fingers were still wet. We got ready to go, and walked out to the garage. I could hear the sound of the leaves under my feet going, Crunch, Crunch. We drove to Target (by way of the Rocky Road by our house—gravel) and got many regular household necessities. I had to get so many things, I felt like I was on a shopping Spree (or at least I wished I was. If I were on a shopping Spree I hope it would NOT include toilet paper and diapers!) After that, I had to run to the bank. I wish it would have been Payday, so I could have made a big deposit in our account (100 Grand would be nice-ha!). Oh wait—I guess I don’t get Paydays anymore as I no longer have a job outside of the home—shucks.
Bob called with Good News; he was going to be home early-yeah!! We returned home so Tayva could take a nap. The appliance repair man called and said that the parts for my washing machine are in, and is going to come tomorrow to install them. I was so thankful as I am drowning in Mounds of laundry! (We have been without a washing machine for about a week now!) As Tayva was sleeping, my Big Hunk came home. I was so glad to see him!
Grandma and Grandpa came over and dropped off some treats for Tayva. They gave her a necklace—not a candy necklace, but a flashing pumpkin necklace. Tayva really liked it! They had to leave and head to M &M’s house (Mike and Melissa’s house-Bob’s brother) to drop off more treats. We got Tayva dressed in her costume and headed to the church for the Family Fun Fair. She was a pioneer girl-bonnet and all. She wore an outfit that I wore as a little girl. I have to say, she looked like a Bit-0-Honey and absolutely adorable. There were lots of costumes to be seen: princesses, cowboys/cowgirls, the 3 Musketeers, ladybugs, and I even think I saw a Jolly Rancher! It was pretty warm in the church gym, I felt like an Atomic Fireball. They had lots of games for the kids. Tayva and Bob Skored at the basketball game. As we were driving home, I told Tayva that she was such a Smarty because she was telling us that Turkeys say “gobble, gobble”, and counting “one-two-three” (that’s right, she now has counting down. No more “two-two-three”). We got Tayva ready for bed, said prayers, and looked up at the stars and saw the Milky Way. Of course, we gave her lots of Kisses before she went to sleep. Today was a great day; we had lots of Good Times together!

p.s. Did you know they actually make Chocolate Covered Insects and call it candy? I couldn’t figure out how to fit that one in my story (Snicker).

By the way, Tayva is feeling much better. Thanks for your comment Seth!