thankful (9)

One of the things that we have a lot of in our house is "Laughter." 

Almost every night we have to tell the girls to stop laughing so much

so that they can go to sleep. Whenever Natalee and Lydia get in a giggly

mood, it is hard to get them out of it. It is a good thing except when we are

trying to put them to bed:) I am thankful for laughter!

 I have to remind myself to just laugh about things sometimes instead 

of stressing. Like, when we are on the way home 

from church and 3 out of 4 of the girls are crying, each having their own individual

reason as to why they are crying...and the one that is not crying is complaining 

about the noise. The last time this happened I just looked at Nathan

and started laughing. It helped!...I knew that there was nothing I could say

that was going to change the situation so we just laughed. It was good! 

thankful for laughter!

thankful (8)

Last night I looked something like this in bed....after Nathan got up for

work early in the morning. Usually one of the girls will come

in our room at some point during the night whether it is to go 

potty or because they had a bad dream or just because they want to 

get in our bed cause it is "warmer" then their bed. 

Julianna is famous for getting in our bed without us even 

noticing. The other night I felt a little foot next to my head

 and saw that Nathan was about to fall off the side 

of the bed. Last night though, we didn't have any interruptions

 or any of the girls come climb in bed during the night and it was

 won.der.ful!

When I was living at home, the last two years I got my own room. 

I didn't have to share a room with any of my sisters and most 

of all, I didn't have to share a bed. I loved getting in bed at the end of 

the day and having all the space to myself. Now that I am married

I don't mind sharing a bed since it is with my husband:) I do love

those rare times though that I can just lay in bed with no children and

no husband and soak up the uninterrupted sleep! 

feeling thankful today even for a bed to sleep on and when it 

is uninterrupted sleep I am even more thankful!

thankful (7)

Dark chocolate is an obsession love that I have! 

I am thankful for the days that Nathan brings me home one 

of these bars and says, "here honey, this is for later, I thought

you might need this." I feel like I "need" some dark chocolate

every day but it is not always around so I am thankful for the times 

that I get to enjoy it! 

It is a good thing that I don't have chocolate in the house 

all the time or else I would eat it for breakfast and all throughout the day.

It's crazy how much I love it but I do:)

a look at a snowflake and us..

                                                                     “Perfectly Imperfect"
                                                                       

We have all heard that no two snowflakes are alike. 

Each snowflake takes the perfect form for the maximum efficiency 

and effectiveness for its journey.

 And while the universal force of gravity gives them a shared destination, 

the expansive space in the air gives each snowflake

 the opportunity to take their own path. 

They are on the same journey, but each takes a different path. 

Along this gravity-driven journey, some snowflakes collide and damage each other, 

some collide and join together, some are influenced by wind... 

there are so many transitions and changes that take place along the journey of the snowflake. 

But, no matter what the transition,

 the snowflake always finds itself perfectly shaped for its journey. 

 We are all individuals taking different journeys and along our journey, 

we sometimes bump into each other, we cross paths,

 we become altered... we take different physical forms. 

But at all times we too are 100% perfectly imperfect. 

At every given moment we are absolutely perfect for what is required for our journey. 

I’m not perfect for your journey and you’re not perfect for my journey,

 but I’m perfect for my journey and you’re perfect for your journey. 

We’re taking different routes, but we’re both exactly perfect the way we are. 

 How strong our relationships would be if we could see and respect 

that we are all perfectly imperfect for our journey.” 

thoughts taken from...

― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

thankful (6)

The running trail

When I was in middle/high school I ran track and cross country.

I developed a love for running but now I am even more

appreciative of the times that I get to go running. I love going to 

the trail in Smithfield for a run through the woods. It is such a stress

reliever for me to go drop the girls off at the ymca then go run by myself 

or sometimes with a friend. I put my music on and zone out for a few miles! 

I like to set goals and challenge myself! With running, I can do this.

I love the feeling after a run when I know that I 

have accomplished my goal. It is such a great feeling!

It is not always easy getting into a run but once I get past 

that point where it hurts then I am in the zone:) 

Whenever Nathan sees me reaching my level of stress capacity,

he tells me "you need to go run." He knows that I will 

come back in a much better mood afterwards:) 

thankful (5)

The Word of God will never change. I am thankful for this steadfast truth in my life!
 Despite all of the changes in this world around us,
there is one thing that stands true and that is the
BIBLE!

I like waking up early in the morning before the girls get up
and sometimes before the sun breaks the horizon...
to sit down and open up this book.
Whenever I start my morning like this
I do not regret it!

God's Word gives me truths to rely on when i just want to give up,
when I feel like I am just not making a difference anymore,
when I don't feel beautiful,
when I don't feel content and
when I want to give up on doing the right thing.

God's Word is there for me!
I love that the truths are always there
even though I walk away from them so often,
because of God's grace
I can come right back to them!

thankful (4)

I didn't think that I had anymore room to love another girl the same way that I loved Natalee, Lydia and Julianna. In fact, when I found out that I was having a girl with our fourth, I cried. I wasn't sad, but I just didn't know how I could do it again and have the same kind of love that I had for the other three. I must say that I really did feel this way and just wasn't sure how I would feel when she was born since we had hopes of having a boy. But, she was born....and it was indescribable!

The labor leading up to her arrival was drug out for the first 4 hours since I was just waiting for iv's to go through me with medicine for being strep positive. I had time to relax as much as I could and I was getting anxious to finally meet her. When my water was broken it was just one hour later and she was born! That one hour was filled with lots of intense pain but I just kept thinking about the end! 

Alyssia was born and somehow, only by God's divine power, my heart was filled with even more love for her then I had imagined!

The girls were so proud of her!

With our other girls we were able to send them to the nursery if we wanted to during the night. With Natalee we didn't know any better and kept her in our room the whole time:) With Lydia and Juls we sent them to the nursery during the night so that we could get some sleep in between feedings. With Alyssia, the hospital no longer provided a nursery for the infants. She was with us from the moment she was born and I even gave her the first bath!

So we were ready to leave the hospital by the second day
and we were so thankful for a healthy little girl!
We couldn't wait to see what her little personality was going to be like!

At 10 months she was full of energy and happy!....
constantly wanting to get down and crawl or move around.
 There was hardly ever a moment where she would want to just sit
still in our lap or sit still to read a book. She just wanted to keep up
with the other girls all the time:)

Before we knew it, she was turning a year old!
It was a big adjustment when she was born but we certainly could not imagine our family without her. She is full of joy and is the sweetest little girl. She loves her momma but is starting to become a daddy's girl more and more now!

We went to chic-fil-a on Alyssia's birthday and she had their ice-cream there for the first time:)

Alyssia Sadie, 

me and daddy are so thankful for you!
You have found a special spot in each one of our hearts!