Thankful Thanksgiving

We are leaving tonight to go to Georgia to see Chris' family for Thanksgiving. We haven't seen his extended family since we moved here, so they are anxious to see the girls. Before we leave I wanted to update my blog with some things I am thankful for, since I didn't do very well with doing my thankful status on Facebook.

Of course I thankful for so many things that I can't even list.

I am so thankful for my saviour Jesus Christ and that he died on the cross for my sins. Life just isn't the same unless I am walking with Him side by side. He is there to carry me when I can no longer walk through the trails in life and He is there to cheer me on when I am succeeding in life. As our pastor said on Sunday you can have a great life without Jesus, but you will have the BEST LIFE when you have Jesus. That is so true. God has answered so many prayers in my life and He has revealed to me so many ways he has been working in my life. I am so not worthy of His outpouring of grace, love, mercy and blessing, but He says I am and loves me unconditionally. And for that I am truly thankful.

I am thankful for Chris and my girls. Each day brings new adventures and obstacles, but I know there is no one else I would want to experience life with. They each bring joy into my life in a different way. Chris, it is just knowing he is there with me each day. I have him on my side no matter what. He is the spiritual leader of our family, the person who prays for me and with me. Always gives me the encouragement I need. Katie, her personality along brings joy to my life. She has the most compassionate spirit about her. She truly cares and feels for others when they are either happy, sad or hurting. It is amazing to me that she understands these things at only 4 years of age. Her bedtime prayers are so sweet and when I sit and listen to her it is so heart warming to hear her pray for others and thank God for things in her life. Bree, she is just a little ham. She loves to play and giggle. The moments I get with her to snuggle and love on her our beyond words. I love to hear her talk and try to explain things to me in her broken words. I love it when I ask her where is Jesus she says" Jesus in my heart" That just makes me smile.

I am thankful for my parents. Not only for raising me in a christian home, but for always being there for me. They have always wanted to have an active part in my life and now in the lives of Katie and Bree. I can't tell you how much it means to know that they have grandparents that I can completely trust to take care of them. It has been a blessing to have them help so much with the girls even though we have always lived far away. Mom and Dad thanks so much for being the loving parents you are. I am blessed to have you in my life.

I am thankful for all of the friends that God has blessed me with in my life so far. I have old friends that are always there for me even though they all live in other places. These friends have been a rock in my life when I lived in places I had no friends. They have always been there when I need to talk and always let me know that I am loved by their emails or phone calls. God has also blessed me with many new friends here in Oklahoma. Before we moved here I earnestly prayed for God to let me meet some good friends. He has answered that prayed and beyond. My second family here is my Church family. It is a blessing to know that I have people here that I can call at a moments notice and they would be more than willing to help us out if needed. I truly believe that if you go where God wants you to be he takes care of the rest and my concern moving her was not being close to family. God knew that concern and He provided a way by leading us to Arrow Heights.

I could list more, but I have to finish packing for our trip. I pray each of you have a Happy Thanksgiving. Lots of love!

Introducing Theerawut

Chris and I have been sponsoring a child in Thailand for almost a year now. His name is Theerawut and he is five years old. We give money every month that helps support him and his family. It allows him to have food, clean water, better education, etc. When I was looking through all of the children that need a sponsor I was overwhelmed, thinking it was so hard to just pick one out of all of these kids. But then I came across this sweet little face and he kind of reminded me of Chris' baby photos and he lived in Thailand so I just knew this was the one for us to sponsor. Over the past year we have written and sent packages to Theerawut and he has also sent letter back to us. We have learned about him and what his life is like in Thailand. We recently received a progress report from him on how he is doing in school. The picture here is the one he put in there for us. Sorry it is so small but I had to scan it in. All I know is he is a cutie and he has now become part of our family. The cool thing is that if we are able to every visit Thailand we can actually set up a meeting with him and his family. If you are interested in checking out any children to sponsor yourself you can got to http://www.worldvision.com/. I know it has been a tremendous blessing to us to get to know Theerawut and to be able to sponsor him.

My New Ride

Last night we traded in our Explorer for a "new to me" car. The explorer has been good to us but over the past year we have had the transmission replaced three times so we knew that the car wouldn't hold out for too much longer. We decided to trade it when we could get more value for instead of waiting for it to break down again. Even though we hated the thought of having a car payment again, I guess it was inevitable. This car was a great deal for the low miles and all the extra's it has. So here is the new ride. Katie is absolutely in love with this car. She was so excited that we bought it. Bree's only question was if she could watch Dora in it. You can see where her priorities are at. I have to say I am excited about it myself.

2006 Saab 97x - I just SUV has I have no idea what the 97x stands for. We always seem to end up with black cars.

The interior

Does Santa Give Money??

It is so funny to me how Katie's mind works sometimes when she is trying to get something she wants. So I thought I would share something that happened over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, I took Katie out shopping to find her a couple of dresses for church. We went into JCPenney's hoping to find some good sales. Well, Katie saw a dress and for some reason just fell in love with it. If you know Katie, this little girl is all about clothes and when she finds something she loves she will wear the heck out of it. I took a look at the dress and the price tag and it was not a price we would normally pay for her clothes, and the price was a sale price but not one I really wanted to pay. I told her let's just keep looking. We went to other stores and at the end of the day no other dresses were bought and Katie was quite upset that we were not buying the dress she just "fell in love with". The walk to our car was quite interesting as it was filled with whales of "why, mommy, why can't we get the dress" " I promise mommy, I will wear it all the time" all of this was intensified because it was 4 in the afternoon and no nap. I tried to explain to her that the dress was a little too expensive for a girl her age, but it feel on deaf ears or more likely she couldn't hear me over her own words she was screaming. We got home and of course Katie tried to turn on the charm for daddy in hopes he would cave, and when he didn't he got a rerun of what I experienced in the store. After, oh, about an hour she finally gave it up and stopped talking about this stinking dress that I wished was never made. I thought, okay, it's over she has moved on. But that would be to easy. So on her way to school this morning she asked if Chris and I would get her that dress for Christmas, I again explained why we didn't want to buy the dress and praying underneath my breath that this wasn't going to start scream fest 2, but it didn't she was calm. She then says she will just ask Santa for the dress and then I said that Santa has to get approval from mommy and daddy before he buys their presents. So then she sat there for a moment and then asked me, does Santa give money. I kind of laughed and said why. She said well I ask him to give me money and you can just approve the money and then I will go buy the dress. I looked at her, gave her a big kiss and told her she is one of the funniest people I know. After I dropped her off at school I called Chris and told him what she had said. He laughed and man that girl is persistent, and his next statement was, so I guess I am going to buy a dress at lunch today. Like the good daddy he is, he went and found the dress. It will be waiting for her on Christmas morning.

Just Stuff

So here are some things that have been going on in our lives lately. Nothing major just some random items to post out here.

We have been having awesome weather for the past week or so. It has been in the 70's and sometime up to the 80's. Katie has been loving it because she still gets to wear short sleeve shirts and her capri pants and of course her flip flops. This girl is definitely a summer girl. She would have never made it in MN if we still lived there. Just goes to show God knows what He is doing when he moved us here. Katie wanted to wear her shirt we got her in MX and as in true fashion of Bree whatever big sis does she wants to do. So Bree wore hers today also. After about four attempts to get them both to stand together still enough for me to take a photo, Chris had to intervene and hold their hands.

I have mentioned before that I am the shepard(teacher) for the 12th grade girls and my friend Stefanie is the shepard for the 11th grade girls. In our classes we have a lead teacher and then what is called a shepard for the tables. In our class Steve and Terri are our lead teachers. Stef and I are the shepards for the girls and Chris and Jeremy (Stef's husband) are the shepards for the boys. The below picture is one we took this last Sunday to send to one of the girls that used to be in our class. She had some very hard living circumstances and because of those she now has to live in a place called Owasso Baptist Home, which is pretty much like a foster care place. So as a class we try to send her things from time to time and this week is her birthday so we made her a care package and took a picture of all of us to frame and send to her. So I thought I would post the picture of the girls we teach each week so you can put faces to names I sometime mention. These girls bless my life more than I could put into words. I am so thankful that God has allowed me the opportunity to work with the youth at our church and especially these girls.

Back Row L to R: Lindsay, Lauren, Sarah, Adrienne and Terri (lead teacher)

Front Row L to R: Hannah, Stefanie and me.

Hallo-Zoo-Ween

On Halloween we had great weather it was in the low 70's all day and then was in the high 50's that night. I was excited for the great weather as we were taking the girls to the zoo for trick or treating. Trick or treating isn't as much fun if you don't have some friends to go with. My good friend Stefanie and two kids Braeden and Lydia came along as well as some new friends Todd and Sheila and their two kids Candi and Cole. all of our kids are the same ages so they had fun hanging out together. Before we headed to the zoo we made a stop by Braeden and Lydia's dad's job to trick or treat. Their dad, Jeremy, is a fireman and had to work on Halloween so we got to stop by the firehouse for a little while. The kids loved it. Jeremy gave us all a tour and let the kids play on the fire truck, ambulance and other vehicles. It was even a little exciting for them as they got a call when we were there, so the alarms went off and they heard a lady over the speakers tell them all the info. It was only an ambulance call so Jeremy didn't have to run off but the kids got to see the guys leave in the ambulance and they turned on the sirens for them and gave them a little show.

Gabriella (from High School Musical) and Little Red Riding Hood. Bree decided on Halloween that she wanted to dress up. This whole month it was no...they scare me. But once I mentioned Lydia was going to dress up she was all for it so, this was the only one she would agree to wear.

All excited to get their first round of candy at the fire house.

Candi, Braeden and Katie getting ready to go on the tour and play on some fire trucks.

Katie, Candi, Braeden and Lydia... checking out their new wheels. Cole and Bree were not at all interested in playing on this one.

Watch out....firewoman Katie to the rescue

Candi and Katie at the zoo, waiting in line to get some candy

Lydia trying to push Bree around....Bree took over Lydia's stroller about halfway through the night. Lydia was so sweet...she didn't mind at all. What a good friend.

An attempt to get a family photo at the indoor hay maze....but my lovely camera decided to start acting up and so this pic and some others are kind of dark.

Stefanie, Sheila and me getting a quick photo will all the kids were entertained by the huge world globe floating on water.