Grandma

Today was a very sad day for our family. My precious Grandma left us for heaven this afternoon. My heart aches for her, but I am also proud of the life she lived and for the reward that is now hers. I thank God for her faithfulness because I know that my knowledge of Jesus started with her teaching my dad.

Grandma loved the song "My God and I." The last verse of that song is now hers.

"My God and I
will go for aye together.

We'll walk and talk
like good friends should and do.

This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.

This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly."

Sick baby........

Jacob has been running high fevers since Thursday.........we have been very worried. These things seem to always happen on a weekend when you can't get into see a Dr. We have contemplated the ER, but the on-call Dr. hasn't seemed to worried. He did put him on a different antibiotic today, so hopefully that will do the trick. I hate having my baby sick..........the not knowing is scary. Here are some pitiful sick pictures..............the child loves to have shoes on????

The Laundry Wins!

I was getting ready for bed last night, and it hit me..........."Laundry, I surrender. You win!" No more guilt or empty promises. "I'll fold that tomorrow night after work and after Jacob goes to bed." (Yea, RIGHT!) "If I just complete one load a day; wash, dry, fold, and put away, I can stay caught up." (WHATEVER!) After 10 years, I finally get it: Women who stay caught up on their laundry are FICTIONAL characters. Somebody invented them to make REAL women feel guilty. Well, NO MORE! A few dirty clothes on the floor or a pile of clean clothes the size of Mt. McKinley next to your bed never killed anyone. So, now that I have come to grips with reality and faced my weaknesses, I am going to go push all that clean, wrinkled laundry onto the floor, crawl into bed and read my book club book. Good Night!

Budget Day!

I feel so accomplished tonight. I sat down for a couple of hours and completed our household budget for April and an allocated spending plan for each pay check. Ryan and I have been working so hard to eliminate all of our debt, and we couldn't have done it without Dave Ramsey and his website, www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com. I love not having to figure out what to do on my own......Dave has already figured it out for me. We just have to stick to the plan and get serious. And that is what we are doing! I can't wait to call Dave Ramsey's radio show and yell on the air, "WE'RE DEBT FREE!"

Real Moms.......

Wow, this post was probably the furthest from my mind 5 minutes ago, but after visiting my best friend Laura's blog and reading about her loss of an unborn child...I felt compelled to share, too. We lost our unborn baby almost 6 years ago, only a couple of weeks after finding out we were going to be parents. We were not prepared for the grief of that loss, nor were we expecting to spend several years of our early adult life battling all that goes along with realizing that you will probably never conceive. To this day, Ryan keeps a picture of us in Tortola taken during our very short pregnancy. Those were the hardest years of my life. And, they seem to have taken place a lifetime ago....For today, I am a mom. A REAL mom! Jacob's mom. I didn't know it then, but God had a better plan for us, and I am still in awe of how he brought together our little family of 3. I will never forget the first time I was alone with Jacob.......he was just hours old, and I got to rock him for the first time. And that was just the beginning! Praise God!

Bread Day.......

Well, tonight I embarked on my 3rd baking of Amish Friendship Bread. My bestest friend, Laura, gave me a baggie of starter about a month ago, and I have been squishing, baking, and sharing bread ever since. My latest apprentice, my mom, called tonight as she eagerly waited for her bread to bake in the oven........nevermind that she only made 3 baggies of new starter instead of 4, used a METAL bowl, and used cook and serve pudding mix instead of instant. Needless to say, she hasn't called back to let me know how it all turned out. And, she had big plans for this bread. Poor Don is expecting some WONDERFUL bread to eat for breakfast each morning.........Good Luck, Mom.........I still believe in you. This is all from the same woman who makes THE best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a whole bunch of other yummy things. All of which, she has not made for me in quite awhile! So, watch out! YOU might be the next lucky woman to receive a bag of Amish Friendship Bread.............it is more than the joy of baking fresh bread every 10 days for your family. It's the joy of listening to people freak out and gripe about having to squish and use all the ingredients in their house.

My Stockpile.......

These are pics of my Stockpile (groceries I buy at dirt cheap prices)!