Gifts of Gratitude Day 1

          I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog. (Oops..) But I am newly inspired to start afresh. Through several different influences- mainly a friend's blog, and a life situation I find myself in- I thought of doing a "Gratitude Gifts" blog. Each day I will post a picture or something that I am grateful for. I find that lately I am focusing more on what's going on that I'm struggling with. What better way to counteract that then to focus on what I'm thankful for! After all, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to "give thanks in all circumstances". So here's my two cents on that :)

Day 1

This little man of mine is almost always my first riser of the day. 6-6:30 am every day I can hear him tromping down the stairs, blanket in tow & ready to eat! My other two are often not awake until an hour (or two) later. So L and I get some time together every morning. He is a jewel. This kid knows how to make me laugh! The things he says and does are priceless. Last night, in the bath, I couldn't help but just crack up at his laugh! He's so adorable it's not even fair (I know I may be a bit bias about this, but others have said the same thing so...;) )! Anyways, I'm so grateful for this precious middle child of mine. He can drive me up a wall, and at the same time make my heart explode with love. What a precious gift he is to our family!

Life update:)

i just realized how long its been since i've written on here! wow! i'm not so good at keeping up! haha! SO much has been going on here! its crazy! my beautiful SIL is now engaged to her fantastic fiance! they are adorable together and the wedding planning is in full swing! SO fun! i was SO honored when she asked me to be her matron of honor! this is my first time, and i had no idea how much was involved in that role. but i LOVE it! its going to be a beautiful wedding! nothing gives me more joy than seeing two people united, in Christ, committing to each other their hearts and lives for the rest of their earthly lives. marriage is the best representation of our relationship with Christ. and to celebrate a union like rachel and ryan's, is nothing but exciting and joyful!! congrats you guys!!

on another note, i had another checkup and am still cancer free!!!!!! praise GOD!!!! its has been 2 1/2 years now since my last relapse. i'm really hoping and praying that this is all behind us now! that was such a good feeling to come out of that office with that news!

life is getting ready to get busier for us. summer is the busy season in farming. i'm also undertaking my first garden this year. that will be interesting considering i have a "black thumb" :) haha! i'm glad i will have help though! i'm getting ready to start a new curriculum with savannah this next year too. we did classical conversations this last year. it was a great introduction into homeschooling for me. and i got to meet one of my closest and best friends now! its crazy how quickly we became friends! i'm really sad though because they are moving to montana here this month. but i'm thankful for technology and skype! haha! it makes it much easier to keep in touch. i'm very excited about the upcoming changes in our schooling and lives. i'm actually a person who has grown to love change. it gives a fresh new perspective on things and can often be fun! i never used to be like that, but i think through all of our moves and changes, i have grown to love it. God always does something cool through the changes and its exciting to see that! you have to find the positives in change or you will constantly be weighted down. we live in a constantly changing world, so its impossible to avoid it. so why not embrace it? :)

A Daily Life Lesson

Yesterday was a CRAZY day! We finally hit what is a true Wisconsin winter- and its the middle of January! We have definitely been spoiled this year. Of course the freezing rain/crazy snow had to hit on the only morning of the week that we have to travel to school! I contacted my director and she said they were still planning on having school, but that it was up to each family if they wanted to tackle it or not. Well being the crazy woman that I am, I decided that we would tackle it! I loaded everyone up (which was a task in itself!) and we took off into the winter wonderland. We live in the country, so the roads out here tend to suffer a lot because of blowing snow. And it was very windy!! I was determined though and so we literally plowed through:) I was already tense and a bit stressed because I didn't want to be late and I knew that we would have to travel slow. I didn't get left as soon as I wanted and I knew I had to be calm behind the wheel. Afterall, I had 3 extremely precious cargo sitting behind me! So as we got onto the highway, I thought to myself "calm down heather...calm down...". I just couldn't get the tense feeling out of my body though. Then I was hit with a divine revelation. Worship Me. I love music. Its my favorite way to worship our Almighty. So, I turned up the radio and right at that time one of my favorite songs was playing. I kid you not- as soon as I started to sing, my muscles relaxed and I could feel the tension seep out of my pores and float away. As I was worshipping, I thought about how true this is in life as well. When we are in the midst of a "storm", the best thing to do is to worship our Creator. We are told to be thankful in everything. I don't know about you, but I often have a hard time being thankful during a dark (or just even gray) storm. Call me crazy, but I don't think that the Lord is calling us to be thankful for the circumstances, but He's wanting us to be thankful IN the circumstance. Despite whatever I or you are going through, we ALWAYS have something to be thankful for. If you can think of nothing else, focus on the gift our great God gave us over 2,000 years ago. That alone is enough. So when you find yourself in the midst of a storm, worship Him. When things are bright and sunny- worship Him. When you feel like you can't pull yourself off the floor- worship Him. There is no better place to be than on the ground, at the feet of our Lord. Turn your focus on Him and it will change everything, even if nothing changes. :)

Precious Moments

Yesterday was a day filled with memorable precious moments. It was just an ordinary day that became extraordinary. Not because anything major happened....but because of the little moments that I will now treasure forever. There were two things that really stuck out to me yesterday. The first was seeing my precious daughter dancing with her daddy. She is completely enamored with her daddy. A daddy's girl through and through! Dave and I had the privilege to see the movie "Courageous" a while ago. That movie rocked our world in a major way. There was a song in the movie that the little girl was dancing too. It became significant (but I won't say why in case you haven't seen it yet!). Dave had found the song on YouTube and the two danced together to it yesterday. I was in the kitchen doing what every mom would do if you saw that- blubbering. :) Hundreds of thoughts were zipping across my mind during those 2 minutes. Thoughts of her now and soon to be a woman. Past memories and future ones. How time goes by so fast and is yet so precious. Thank you Lord, for such a wonderful and precious memory to tuck away.
The other memory I have from yesterday was my movie date afternoon with Savy. She was so sad that daddy had to go to work (tears were shed). So I popped some popcorn, made chocolate milk, got out The Sound of Music, and we cuddled up on the couch for a quiet afternoon of girl time:) She told me later that that had helped her feel better after being so sad about daddy. I love that she loves her daddy so much!
We've had a shift in our family dynamic lately- a good one! Dave and I have both been challenged to become better and more intentional parents. We've had so many reminders that life is short and that the Lord has entrusted us with these precious vessels of His, to care for and love them, and teach them of His love. What a tremendous responsibility! One that I don't take lightly. Its not always easy, but it is definitely a privilege and DEFINITELY an adventure!! :)

Season of Blessings

Today I was reminded of how incredibly blessed I really am. It started as a simple phone call to my dad, as I was on my way to do some shopping BY MYSELF!! (Thanks to my fabulous sister-in-law!) THAT is a blessing all in itself!! :) Anyways, I decided to call my dad to check in. The conversation began to stray towards the direction of reminiscing. As we started down memory lane, we began to recall details of my diagnosis, almost 12 years ago. My dad reminded me that according to all of the stats, I shouldn't be alive today. The most amazing thing in all of it, to me, has always been seeing the Lord in the details. The simple fact that had we decided to go to Chicago first, they would've put me in a clinical trial. They would not have done surgery first. They would've done chemotherapy to try and shrink the tumor (which we found out later that my cancer was non-responsive to.). That means that they wouldn't have found the tumors heading towards my brain and by the time they would've found it, it would've been too late. God was in the details guiding my parents in the right direction every step of the way. That is just the first of many details where He clearly had His hand in it. I'm so grateful my parents listened to the gentle quiet voice of our Healer and followed His guidance. After we hung up the phone, I was listening to the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. I had tears in my eyes as I quietly worshiped and thanked our amazing Father for His faithfulness and mercy. I know so many others that have had a completely different outcome than I did, which I have often wondered why. But because I know I will never know that answer, I take comfort in the fact that He is in control and no detail goes unnoticed. Thank you Abba for being in the details:)

*From A Friend

A friend asked me to post this about her sister. Touches my heart because we thought we would never be able to have children either! Adoption is such a beautiful thing! Thanks for checking it out:)

Here is a link to their story:
http://waitingforyou.weebly.com/our-story.html

Here is a link where you can donate if you wish!
http://faithfulsavings.weebly.com/2/post/2011/12/baby-stanley-adoption-fund.html

Fall 2011

 Here's a few snippets from our lives over the last couple of months! :)

Asher started crawling!!

Nana & Papa Mick came for a visit

Visit to the pumpkin patch with the Sarbackers

She had a blast pulling the wagon around:)

The Olson's & Sarbacker's Pumpkin Patch Adventure
(minus the babes!)