"Guilt"

"Guilt"- it is such an overwhelming feeling. It can creep 

in and get ahold of your thoughts and pierce your

 heart like nothing else. During the day there is 

usually something I do that I will feel guilty about

at the end of the day. Whether it is yelling at 

the girls, spanking out of frustration, ignoring my

husbands needs, complaining about what I "don't have",

indulging in self pity, not saying "sorry" when I needed to..

the list can go on and on. 

The problem with guilt is when it is not healed with forgiveness.

So often I will let the feeling of guilt weigh me down day

after day instead of facing it and asking for forgiveness.

God is so willing to forgive if I just come to Him with 

an open heart that is willing to accept his forgiveness and 

move on. But, to "move on" is not so simple as it sounds

often times. To "move on" in God's eyes means to forget

about it just as he did when he forgave us. This is when

the enemy creeps in and keeps reminding us of our

mistakes. But, God wants to turn our mistakes into ash.

We just have to be willing to come before Him at the end of 

each day and ask for forgiveness. I teach my girls to do

this yet I often do not even do it. When I see their little

heads bow to ask for forgiveness, it humbles me. 

God is so willing to forgive if we just ask!

thankful (30)

I am especially thankful for my mom since it is her

birthday today! I was able to go out to lunch with her and

my sister (without kids) and it was so nice. I am thankful

for her in so many ways and here are a few:

* she is a strong godly example for me to follow

* she is willing to listen and give advice when I need it

* she loves her grandkids beyond description

* she is a motivation for me to stay in shape

* she is so understanding of everything
* she is an example to me of motherhood
* she loves my dad first and invests in their marriage

I love living on the same side of the water as her now!
The girls love being able to go over there more often and
love having her stop by:)

Ever so thankful for my mom!

thankful (29)

The dishwasher is a simple thing in life that I am 

very thankful for. In our previous house we didn't 

have one and I always dreaded washing the dishes.

Now I am able to hit the button on the dishwasher at

night and have clean dishes in the morning!

thankful (28)

 This year we are talking more about the true meaning

of Christmas. The girls are beginning to grasp what 

Christmas is all about and it makes me and Nathan so

happy! We want them to know that Christmas is not

all about presents and how much you will get, but rather

it is about the birth of Jesus and God's gift to us.

Thankful for the true meaning of Christmas!

thankful (27)

We have been in our current house now for a little
over 2 years and we couldn't have asked for better
neighbors. In our old house, where we lived for 5
years, we also had the best neighbors! We still
like to go and visit our old neighbors.
We have neighbors that we can count on and
know that we are safe with. They are there to help
with cutting our grass, fixing our cars, letting
us borrow things, watching our girls and letting
them play in their yard.

Very thankful for good neighbors!

thankful (26)

I am thankful for the sunshine! I was watching

a show about Alaska last night and how there are

only four hours of daylight. I don't think that I could

live there for that very reason. I love to wake

up and see the sun coming out for the day. 

I love to just sit on the porch and soak up

the sun rays on a fall or even a winter day.

I especially love the summer with all of the 

sunshine. After it has rained for a couple

days, I look forward to seeing the sun come through

the clouds the next day. 

Thank you God for the sunshine!

thankful (25)

We just had a "date night" and the picture that 

we took turned out really blurry and too dark:( So, this 

picture will have to do. This is where we wish we had been 

able to go on a date night:) 

I love when we get the chance to go out on a date. 

We try to go out somewhere, anywhere, by ourselves,

twice a month. Recently it has been once a month and

was less then that around the times that we had a little baby.

Now our youngest is 14 months old so we are looking

forward to more date nights:)

When we went out last night, the girls were asking me

why I was all "dressed up" and where we were going. 

Then Natalee asked me how I met "daddy." I 

 told her a short version of our long story version of how we met.

 Then Lydia said, "how old do I have to

be until I get married?"

 Nathan overheard the conversation

and quickly said "36."

 Lydia said, "Well, mommy was only 19

when she got married." 

Nathan, "That was different. I guess you have to 

be at least 23 until you get married."

I love being able to tell the girls our story and how

God brought us together. Nathan and I both felt that

night the urgency to pray for their future spouses.

It seems so far away for that time to come but

yet we know it will come so fast. 

I love our date nights for...

*uninterrupted conversations

*peaceful dinners

*time to talk about "us"

*time to have fun and laugh

*walk through wal-mart without having 

to do my grocery shopping

*get in and out of the car without carseats

*check off some things sometimes on our "errand" list

*coming home to girls sleeping in their beds

It is a lot of work to set up a night for us to go out

and sometimes the girls are not all at the same place. 

Once we do leave them I have to focus on not 

worrying about them while we are gone, but I'm hoping

that will get better as they get older....it should:) 

Extremely thankful for date nights!