Happy Thanksgiving

Today was a good day. We spent the day with Josh’s mom, his step-dad, brother and nephew.  It was a day of firsts.  

It was the first time in 6 years that we have been with family for Thanksgiving.

It was Micah’s first Thanksgiving ever! He enjoyed a meal of Turkey and Sweet Potatoes (Gerber baby food) and then some of grandma’s squash and pumpkin pie with cool whip.  He enjoyed it all, especially the cool whip!

It was also the first time that Josh has ever deep fried a turkey and our first time ever trying one.  It was actually pretty good. And for me the best part would have to be that it does not take as long as the normal method. So you get to eat sooner! He also deep fried two venison (deer) roasts. They turned out pretty good too, although i didn’t eat any of them. I am not a big fan of venison.

And the weirdest first of all, Sarai ended up covered in a rash that was literally from head to toe! Not sure how she got it or what it is but hopefully it goes away on its own. If not, guess we will be visiting the doctor.

Josh keeping an eye on the turkey.

The beautiful turkey! It was yummy.

Sarai playing in the space ship in grandma’s yard.

Micah enjoying his first thanksgiving meal.

I am thankful…

I got the idea for this post from someone else (thanks Shanna!).  Here is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving season, A-Z. Some may make sense to you and some may not, but thats the great thing about doing this. Some of them may seem pretty trivial.  They are my favorite things and reasons for being thankful!

A- America, I am glad that I was born here and not in another country. For all the problems, i am thankful for all the freedoms we have. 

B- books, i love to read all the time. pretty much any kind of book or story is good to me (within reason). and the Bible. it is a great book to read and has some wonderfuly true stories and wisdom in it. brothers, i have 8 of them and they are all great.

C- church, i love my new church and church family. it is a great place where i truly feel that i belong and am accepted. come visit if you get the chance.  chocolate chip cookies! especially when they are warm from the oven with a glass of milk! my computer.

D-dogs, they are one of my favorite animals. dreams, i usually like mine and they are normally good, sometimes they can be weird. Dads, yes I have two of them and i love them both very  much and am thankful for both of them. dove chocolate (well any kind really) is my favorite

E- e-mail, it makes keeping in touch with distant friends and family easier. eagles, i think they are a very majestic bird. education, i am thankful for mine.

F- friends, new and old. they are very important in my life. my faith in Christ. family near and far.

G- God’s grace, without it I wouldn’t be here. Grandma Nina and Grandpa Lawrence, they are and were great role models and taught me a lot about love and acceptance.

H- home, i am so grateful to Josh’s mom for providing us with a home for the last 6+ months when we had no where else to go or the money to go there. 

I- ice cream, i love love love ice cream! especially when it is cold outside, not sure why but i do! in-laws, brothers and sisters.

J- Josh, he is one of the people that I am most thankful for in my life. without him I am not sure i would be the person i am today. i love you!

K- kids, i love spending time with them and watching them learn new things, they amaze me. 

L-love. i am so thankful for love. whether it be God’s love for us, our love for God, or our love for each other.  Love is the greatest of things and very powerful!

M- Micah, my little boy is such a great blessing. i am thankful that the Lord gave him to us

my mom, she has been and will always be one of my best friends. i love her and am so glad that she is a part of my life. she is very important to me and is and was a great mom. music, i love all types of music and just enjoy listening to it

N- nursing, i am breastfeeding Micah and i am so thankful that I have been able to do so and that it has gone as smoothly as it has. NICU, without this place I am not sure where my two little miracle would be today. the nurses and doctors are a God-send and played a huge role in the beginning of both my children’s lives.

O- Outback Steak House, it is my favorite restuarnt of all. 

P- Patty, she was my first sunday school teacher and instrumental in me coming to know the Lord and growing in my walk. prayers, for others and others for me; they really do make a difference. parks, i love to go there and play (with my kids or by myself!)

Q- quilts, i have always wanted one. quiet time, i love that time i spend with God and the stillness of it

R- rain, i love to be in it and just listen to it. warm rain is the best. 

 

S-  Sarai, my first miracle, you are the light of my 
lie and i am so proud to be your mommy. i love you.

Sunflowers! they are so happy and vibrant and are my favorite flower. they make me happy

Sisters, i am so thankful for my 4 sisters and look forward to spending time with them and getting to know them so much better

 

 

T- Trials, yes I am thankful for them and for God bringing me through them and teaching me the lessons that He wants me to learn from them. Tulips, they are beautiful and one of my favorite flowers ever. i would rather receive a bunch of them than a dozen roses.

 

 

 

U- underwear, do you really need an explanation?!? 

V- Valentines Day, it is a great holiday and probably my 3rd favorite. 

W- work, I am thankful that my husband has a job when so many are losing theirs or are looking. it is also a blessing that his job provides enough for us so that i can stay at home with my children. and it is a rewarding job for him as well.

X- xtra helpings, i love food. 

Y- youth group teens! you know who you are. you were and are very important and special to me. although i don’t see you or talk to you everyday, i still pray for you and the things God is doing in your lives. you will always be a part of my (and my families) life.

Z- zoo’s. i love them! all the wonderful animals that are so amazing to me! i can’t wait to take micah to the zoo for the first time this summer! st. louis has one of the most amazing zoo’s i have ever been to and it’s free!! check it out if you are able!

Out of all of the things listed, I am sure there are at least a hundred more that I did not list.  Of course the ones that mean the most to me and that I am most thankful for out of all of these are my salvation and faith in Christ, my marriage to Josh, and my 2 precious children. Plus my immdiate and extended families.

Wordless Wednesday

The Nearest Book

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your blog/wall.

I actually have about 4 different books within reaching distance. So i just chose one randomly.

“I wondered if it was after he had lost her that the look of pain had settled into his eyes”
~I Heard That Song Before (Mary Higgins Clark) 

Fun Monday

The theme for this week is High moments…in our lives! Head over to Mariposa’s site to see all the participants.

If you could share to us 3-5 high moments in your lives…this could be funny moments…the you can’t believe you did it moments…the “I told you so” moments…or the times we asked the ground to go open and eat us moments! You need not write a book to explain them, the highlights will do. 

I am actually doing 6 because these are the really big moments in my life.  So here they are, enjoy!

1. April 1997- when I accepted Christ as my Savior.  It was a truly life-changing moment and one that will never be forgotten.

2. July 6 1996- when Josh and I got married. Of course this high moment began about 3 years before this and continues today but that was the day that we will always celebrate and never forget.

3. November 30 1999- the day our daughter Sarai was born. She was 10 weeks early and weighed 3 lbs 2.9 oz but is as healthy and happy as any almost 9 year old today! She is our #1 miracle baby

4. January 12, 2000- the day Sarai came home from the hospital. It was both exviting and scary at the same time.  Many time during her hospital stay we weren’t sure she was going to come home but she did. God is good!

5. October 26, 2007- the day that we found out we were pregnant. He had waited 6 1/2 years for this day and it was sweet.  God is faithful!

6. May 19, 2008- the day that Micah was born! Our second miracle had arrived 7 weeks early but was very healthy and only spent 8 days in the hospital.  Praise God! 

So those are my high moments!  Hope you enjoyed them and maybe learned something too!

Baptism at the Lake

During the summer months our church hold our baptisms at the local lake here in town.  Here is the video to one that was held this summer.  You may recognize one or two of the people in it.  Josh got to share in the baptizing of his nephew, Nathan.  It was a great moment and as a whole the baptisms are usually emotional for me.  And I love the song they chose as the music for it.

Since we have been attending this church in June to the present, they have held 3 baptisms (2 at the lake and 1 in church) and have baptized 60+ people!! It is amazing to see people go forward on Sunday mornings to accept Christ as their savior and then follow him in believers baptism.  It is just one sign of the thriving church that Macon First Baptist is.  I have really enjoyed the 6 months that I have been attending the church.  It is nice to actually wake up on Sunday mornings and look forward to walking into the building.  I will post more about the church in another post.

Sorry, I can’t get it to embed into the post, so you will have to click the link below to watch it.

Baptism at the lake

Broken to Beautiful

This is the title of the series our pastor, Tim, is going to be preaching on over the Christmas season.  They are going to be taken from the family line of Jesus and will show us what happens when Jesus breaks in.  In the church newsletter that we received this week, he prefaced this by talking about the genealogy of Jesus and how the account given in the gospel of Matthew is his favorite. And then he went on to tell us why.

It is kind of funny, because I am huge in genealogy and family ties and the family line shown to us in Matthew is my favorite as well.  And not surprisingly for the same reasons that Pastor Tim put forth.  If you haven’t ever read it or it has been awhile since you have, go read it.  It is full of people who will surpirse you.  This lineage shows us the reason for Christ being born; he does take the broken and make it beautiful.

Matthew 1:1-17

One of the reasons I have always been drawn to this account of Jesus’ lineage is becuase it includes the women.  These are not ordinary women, they are women who had the odds stacked against them, were broken, hurting, looked at as no good but yet they stilled played a large and important part.  Women like Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.  In our world from a human stand point these women would not have been chosen or used for something as great as bringing the Son of God into this world.

I am looking forward to this series.  It always amazes me how God can take something that is broken and ugly and make it into something that is beautiful and can be used by Him.  My own life included.

One of my favorite artists is Todd Agnew and one of my favorite songs by him is Something Beautiful.  Listen to it and watch a video.

Forgiveness- Stolen Post

Yes, I stole this post from someone else and I hope they will forgive me for it! LOL!

I am sure that some are not aware and i am sure there are those who would disagree, but my husband is a pretty intelligent and insightful guy.  Especially when it comes to scripture, teaching the word of God, and applying the Bible to your life.  Sometimes his insights really astound me. And he is pretty good at wording things (minus some typos and missed puncuation).  So that is why I stole this post from him.  It is a great post that really speaks of his heart.  Hope you enjoy it!

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  I spent the day seeing patients for the first time and spent the day with several people.  I had a good day it was fun to spend time with some people yet at the same time difficult knowing that these people are in the last days of their lives. 

I enjoyed my time with one patient in particular.  We took time to look at an old car magazine together and I read to him about some of the cars.  We looked at the prices of some of the cars when they first came out and I shared with him what the horsepower was.  Even though he could not speak well enough fro me to understand him I could see in his expression and in his eyes that he liked the fact that I took the time to be with him.  It saddened me to know that perhaps this guy had a very little interaction with men now that he was in a nursing home and more then likely he was lonely and wanted a man to just show some interest in him and who he was.  I knew he liked cars because he had a picture of an old car hanging on his board.  My time with him was valuable.

However, this got me to thinking.  What would it be like to talk to someone and to know that they can not understand you.  I know his mind works but it must be difficult to know you can not communicate in a way that people understand you.  For some reason my thoughts turned to forgiveness.  What would it be like to want to say to someone “I forgive you yet not be able to”.  How difficult that must be.

My thoughts have turned to my father.  My father was alcoholic and that is really all I knew him as.  In fact it was a rare moment that my father was sober.  I remember the yelling and the screaming I remember the violent way he behaved when he was drunk.  I could not stand it.  I wanted an escape a way out.  Eventually my mother and father were divorced and I rarely saw my dad.  It got to the point where I never say him and in fact did not even know where he was.  I remember when my dad first found where I was and I m in that first letter he wrote and asked if I would ever be able to forgive him.  My response was “dad I forgave you long ago”  It was barely a year later that my father was murdered on the street of Arizona for a measly 11 dollars.  But what if I had never had the opportunity to tell him I forgave him and what I he never had the opportunity to ask.

This has been on my mind.  Forgiveness can be a powerful thing and I am so thankful that I have been forgiven by Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful for the grace that is experienced through the blood of Jesus Christ.  It took me a long time to get to the point where have forgiven some in my old congregation and how things were handled.  In fact if I am honest bitterness began to take root in me.  Do I agree with how things were handled?  The answer is a resounding no.  Do I forgive how things were handled the answer is yes.  I did not want to forgive but God began to break me and I got to the point where I knew without forgiveness my life would eventually be useless in the hands of the potter.  Now perhaps there are those that think they have done nothing wrong but regardless of the fact I forgive, and have forgiven those that have hurt me.  I pray God’s grace may abound.

I also know that in my life I am not so naive to think that I do not need forgiveness.  I know I have screwed up many times and many times my errors have hurt others maybe those I have hurt will forgive me.  This I know without forgiveness we are not following Christ.  It would be a terrible thing to want to tell someone you forgive them and not be able to say a thing.  

Tomorrow I will spend some time with a man that will most likely be dead very soon I am responsible for his spiritual care.  What would it be like to pass away without forgiving; I pray I never know.

 Obviously this post spoke to me as well, otherwise I wouldn’t have reposted it here for you to read.  Forgiveness is an issue that my husband and I have been dealing with for some time now. Sometimes it is really easy to forgive someone else for something they have done to you and sometimes it is really easy to ask for fforgiveness for your offense. And sometimes it is not.  

Thanks, Josh, for your insights and wisdom. I love you and thank God every day that you are a part of my life.

6 Months

Yesterday was a special day around here! My little man turned 6 months old!! Somedays it is hard to believe he has been in our lives for 6 months already and some days it is hard to believe that it has only been 6 months since he joined our family.  Here are some pictures of him at 6 months! Enjoy

Micah John Monda
May 19, 2008
4 lbs 9 oz

November 19, 2008
14 lbs 9 oz

Wordless Wednesday- Another reason I love this man!

 

Gotta love a man who irons his wifes clothes. In a towl no less!!

Fun Monday

Here is the assignment

Do you have a piece of jewelry or other item that holds great personal significance for you, and that you wear or keep with you every day?  Show us a photo of your talisman, and tell us why it is so important to you. 

Don’t forget to visit our host, M and check out the other posts.

And here is my entry.  I typically only wear my wedding rings and my watch. Even though they contradict each other. I prefer silver jewelry but my orginal wedding ring (not below, long story) and the anniversary band (below) were bought in gold.  You will notice only one ring on in the photo below; my plain gold band is missing.  Usually I wear neither the anniversary band, the gold band or my watch unless I am going out or to church or something like that.  Ever since getting pregnant, my fingers swell and have not returned to their normal shape and size so I usually can’t get them on or off. Even the watch is tight.  At this point the gold band doesn’t fit at all.  Maybe one of these days.

 

My ring and watch are the only jewelry that I typicall wear.

Visiting Grandma

On Saturday Micah, Sarai and I went to visit my mom.  We have been living in Missouri since the beginning of June and this is only the second time that she has gotten to see Sarai and Micah.  And the first time was at my step-brothers wedding, so she was pretty busy.  Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have not had the opportunity to get up to that area of Missouri and visit my family and our friends there.  Thankfully that has changed and we will be able to go visit more. I am really looking forward to spending the holidays with our families! This will be so exciting for us.

Yesterdays visit went really well and i was thankful that we were able to go.  My mom had been in the hospital this past week and although it turned out to be nothing serious, it was still upsetting to me.  I have missed her so much the past 9 years living in Pennsylvania.

Here are some pictures from our visit. Enjoy!

Grandma Roxi with Sarai, Jasmine, Jordan and Micah. He are missing Cianna and Jackson.

Micah’s cousin

Grandma, Sarai, Jordan and Micah

Comfortable?

 

He would find the weirdest places to sleep. I miss him.

Fun Monday

It’s FunMonday again and the post today is to honor Veterans Day:

Since Next Tuesday is Veterans Day, I thought it would be nice to salute our Veterans and show our appreciation. Photo requirement of something patriotic.

This topic was created by Janice

Here is mine.

This picture was taken at a professional football game during the pregame activities.  This is the largest flag I have ever seen.  Everytime I am at a game, professional or non-professional, and they play the national anthem, honor our military, or anything similar I am filled with a deep sense of pride and usually I get teary-eyed.

Thank you to all of the brave men and women who have ever served, are serving now or will ever serve.  Thank you to their families.  I have been part of a military family; there is a lot of sacrafices made that most people don’t see or know about and it can take a toll.  Your service means a lot to me and my family.

I don’t have pictures of them, but both my dad and my brother have served in the Navy. Thank you both!

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite patriotic songs.

Some Gave All

I knew a man called him Sandy Kane
Few folks even knew his name
But a hero was he
Left a boy, came back a man
Still many just don’t understand
About the reasons we are free

I can’t forget the look in his eyes
Or the tears he cries
As he said these words to me

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue 
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

Now Sandy Kane is no longer here
But his words are oh so clear
As they echo through out our land
For all his friends who gave us all
Who stood the ground and took the fall
To help their fellow man

Love your country and live with pride
And don’t forget those who died America can’t you see

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall, yes recall
Some gave all

Some gave all

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Pictures as Promised

Please Go VOTE!

It is very important, the future of our nation depends on it. Not telling you who to vote for, I am hoping that you have done your own research and gotten past the media hype surrounding both candidates.

But please just go VOTE!!!!

Are You Guilty?

Just curious if you think that in our churches pastors/leaders today tend to use guilt/emotional manipulation to get their church members to do what they (the pastors/leaders) want/think they (members) should do?  Is this something new or has it always been this way? Can you get people to do something without guilt or emotions playing a part?

I guess this could really apply to anyone in authority, even our political leaders and such. But I am wanting to know more about church leaders.  There are times when I feel that they do use guilt or emotional manipulation to make someone do what they want. Of course you could say this about anyone in general. There are even husbands who use it on their their wives and vice versa, parents and children and vice versa.  

In the past couple of years I have dealt a lot with emotional manipulation and the guilt card being played, so when i see someone doing it, it kind of upsets me.  Sometimes I will go to the person and say something. I do it kindly and try to get them to see what they are doing withoutaccussing them of anything, but sometimes you have to be blunt.  I have learned that it would be better to speak up when it starts to happen and maybe lose one friend, then to allow it go on and on and cause a lot of people hurt and pain.

 

[It has come to my attention that people/friends from my previous church have stumbled across my blog and have read my posts. Just so they know, this post has nothing to do with them or that church.  It is something that we have been discussing in my house due to a speaker we have listened to.  So don't worry, I am not talking about you or your church.]

Fall Family Festival

This year for Halloween we are at a new church.  What this means for us is a couple of different changes and things.

The biggest change for me is that I am not in charge of organizing and running our previous churches Harvest Party.  This was an event that I loved holding and doing in our previous church as I felt it was a great way to reach the families in the community around the church.  It was a lot of work for me and it did cause me to get stressed, but it was all worth it every year.  Sadly, I don’t think our previous church held the Harvest Party this year and that really causes me heartache. 

The second change was getting the chance to experience a Fall Famiyl Festival (similar to the Harvest Party) as a participant with my children.  I didn’t have to plan anything or worry about handling any problems or crisis that arose.  That was very nice.

The third change was that at our new church they allow and encourage the children to come in their customes and they also encourage their workers to dress up.  It is really a site to see.  Also this year in school, they have a Halloween parade.  So Sarai got to dress up for the first time in her life (8 years)!  I really debated with this for a long time. At one point I even explained to Sarai what they did at her school and that she would not be taking part and my reasoning behind this decision.  Then I thought abiut and debated some more.  Then I asked her again what she thought about it.  In the end, I agreed that she could dress up for school and for the festival.  I even made Micah a pumpkin custome after I couldn’t find one to fit him (I even tried a dog costume!).

We had a great time.  I will post pictures after I pull them off my camera.