Category : just a note

August 8, 2013 / 1 Comment

Grateful

Grateful

I’ve been thinking about all the recent blessing in my life that I’m grateful for for a bit and a recent comment on one of my posts prompted me to share this today. I so easily forget to stop and “count my blessings” and foster a grateful heart. God has been so generous to us and has graciously given us so many blessings. Rom 8:32 say that if God didn’t even withhold His only Son, even to death, will He not along with Him Graciously give us ALL things! We didn’t deserve salvation through Christ and we don’t deserve His daily grace, but because of Christ’s sacrifice, His death on the cross and His resurrection and defeat over death, we can be counted as a child of God with whom Christ lavishes good things on, small and large, seen and unseen!

I know I need to update everyone on how I did the rest of July on my frugal and money making goals, but I felt it was more important to share this with you first.

 

I want to list some of the blessings God has given us lately that I am overwhelmingly grateful for.

 

  • Finding an amazing, Godly midwife that is willing to not only deliver in my home, but who also has the equipment for me to have a water birth in my home, which has been a dream of mine since our first child.
  • God has open the door for us to start a small missional community through our church. We had been sorely missing the fellowship and community after we moved from Nebraska. It’s so wonderful to personally connect with other believers and grow with and encourage each other.
  • Our pastor had some issues with their family freezer and had a lot of beef that defrosted and needed to me cooked right away. They graciously gifted us with quite a bit of ground beef that will last us for several months, possibly the rest of the year with how little meat we use. We had been out of ground beef for a couple of months and it really wasn’t in the budget to stock up.
  • We had a family in our church gift us with their surplus of pickling cucumbers as well has their pre-school busy activities. They are a homeschooling family and their youngest is too old to use them. They saw that we were just starting in this whole process of homeschooling and felt we would be a good home for their pre-school stuff they no longer needed.
  • We accidentally over paid last month on one of our utilities and was credited back the money on this month’s bill.
  • I’ve been getting up early to walk in the mornings so that I can hopefully start labor earlier than the previous three children. I’m starting now to build up stamina, plus it’s just good for me. The bonus is the awesome times I’ve been having praying for the day, my family, my church, and my city. I’m then awake enough when I get home to have a quick devotional and get started for the day. I’ve still been tired when I get home but it’s been nice to already be awake when the girls wake up and get a few minutes to talk with Joel before he starts his day.
  • We had several meetings at the church which have had potluck dinners. What a blessing to be able to bring something to share, but not have to worry about the whole meal. Plus, because of smart shopping, what I brought cost us only $2 plus my time to make it, which is half of our budget for a meal.
  • Our Zucchini and squash are doing quite well and I’ve been able to start processing and putting them up for the rest of the year as well as enjoy some yummy homemade sweet bread! Over all the garden is doing well for our first year. So far I have frozen enough zucchini and squash for 62 loaves of sweet bread! I can also add it to soups as well.
  • We had VBS at our church last week and Joel and I taught the lesson two of the five days. The other three I had the evening off and Joel had two of the three evenings off (her ran sound for one of them) I was able to go grocery shopping by myself one night, do some catching up on house work in the peace and quiet (Lucy went to sleep and Joel was at church that night), and spend some time with Joel the third night.
  • This may seem silly, but Recycle bank added gifts cards to their redeemable items for points, one being a $5 amazon gift code. We have the program with our city recycling but I hadn’t found anything that was worth spending my points on that would be beneficial to my family. I have already redeemed a $5 gift card and am working on another one. This will help offset the expense of pull-ups that we still need to purchase for night time. Yes I see this as a gift from God. Nothing goes on without His knowing and He knows my needs and desire far better than even I do.

There is so much more, but I will stop there. It’s so wonderful to see God’s hand in our lives and I look forward to see what else He has in store for us. We have some big things we are praying for that only He can make happen. It’s exciting to wait and see how He is going to work all thing together for His and our good.

 

What are some of the blessings God’s sent your way recently?

I’m linking this to encourage one another Wednesdays!

July 25, 2013 / 12 Comments

How Do They Do It?

How Do They Do It?

Well the family has come and gone, the county fair is over, both parties I hosted at my house are past, and I’m exhausted. The fear that my house is going to fall back into shambles is looming over my head. I worked for a week to get it in ship shape and another week maintaining it until all was said and done, and once my siblings pulled out of the driveway Sunday afternoon I collapsed. I was done. The last two weeks had caught up with me and my body would do nothing else. There was no nap though because baby girl slept through lunch at the pizza place and was now wired, though Joel offered to watch her I had a new laptop to check out (Joel surprised me with a new one on Friday!) Now I have spent my whole week playing catch up and I feel like I’m not gaining any ground. It seems like the only time I can get ahead is if the girls are out of the house and I can just plow through.

The problem is, I want to be able to maintain my house without having to send my kids away. I want to be able to spend time with them and have fun and still have clean clothes and dishes to eat our meals on when we need them instead of washing them as we need them. I want to be able to blog, and volunteer, and read, and nap, and garage sale, and sell things online, and make my own bread, and garden  without feeling like the house and the laundry goes to hell in a laundry basket. I don’t expect a perfect house, I have three girls five and under after all.

So my question is “How do they do it?

How do these mom’s manage to keep their house running, enjoy their kids, homestead, and work from home and still sleep?  This isn’t a pity party, I’m just trying to be real. I’m searching for answers. I know if I started reading some blogs and such I could find the answers but let’s face it, I don’t have the time to just sit and search. I really don’t have the time to be writing this blog post right now but I’m doing it anyway because I need to get out of my own head space for a little bit.

I’ve thought about what I can cut out but most of what I’m doing is just life. I’ve just added in getting up early and walking in the mornings because my new midwife informed me that the best way to induce labor so I don’t go so long ( Lucy was 43 1/2 weeks) I needed to be walking 4-5 miles a day by the end of the pregnancy! Obviously I can’t just jump into that at the end when I’m huge and tired, so I’m starting now with 20-30 min or about 3/4 of a mile. It’s something I NEED to do and I’m enjoying the alone time in the morning before the girls get up, but it’s one more thing.

I sometimes wonder how mother’s back in the day managed to wash all their clothes by hand and hang them out, tend the animals and the garden, churn the butter, grind the wheat and bake the bread, preserve all the food, make their clothes, and so much more, all while caring for their small children and no technology to entertain them. I’m sure their children became involved, even responsible for some of the smaller chores at a much younger age then we would with our children, and I’d like to start involving my girls more, but the question is how? And since I don’t have time to stop and create a game plan, the cycle continues.

What’s going to have to happen is the girls are going to need to go away for a couple of nights so Joel and I can regroup before the fall and get some bigger projects done that are much harder to do when you have children interrupting you ever 2 minutes. We need a breather with each other. We don’t need to go away, just feel some sense of accomplishment and get on the same page. We need a new game plan before this baby comes and we need some time to pray and seek God as to where He is leading us next. Hopefully that can happen next month, after VBS is over.

Now it’s your turn. You can either post a question in the comments below or you can generously share with the rest of us a tip or two (or three, or four, or five), big or small, that helps make your life less crazy. Any and all suggestions are welcome!

February 16, 2013 / Leave a Comment

It’s Finally Done!

Here it is my friends, the new blog design. It’s been hours of work on both Joel and I’s part, but we are very happy with the results! There will be more new stuff rolling out down the road, but for now we are up and running and writing again!

If you would like to take a peek at the photos scrolling in the background just click on the black up arrows on the left navigation bar and the top right of the main body, and they will pull everything up and you can check out the cool pictures, when you’re done, just click on them again and everything will drop back down! Cool huh?

Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of the new design. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

P.S. I’m so glad to be back!

November 6, 2012 / Leave a Comment

I am a Hypocrite

I am a hypocrite, plain and simple. I am right up there with Peter and his denial of Christ. Once again I chose fear over conviction despite the Holy Spirit’s STRONG nudging. I suppose you could add coward and faithless in there as well.

I have talked this whole election about how voting one side or the other is simply voting for the same thing, just with a different name, and I still believe that. I kept say that I was going to vote according to my conviction instead of the lesser of two evils. But when it came time, I was more afraid of 4 more years only without re-election holding him back. I fear for our country either way mind you, a party change is ever so slightly less scary.

Shame on me.

Many men and women fought for my right to be free and to vote, and I chose fear instead of freedom. I serve a God who is wholly in control and is bigger than any president, and bigger than any one vote. What if…. What if God wanted to do something bigger, then Democrat or Republican? How many others like me voted out of fear instead of conscience?

Regardless of the outcome, my God is in control. Regardless of what the next four years brings, my God will care for me and my family.

The guilt that will probably continue to sit on my chest for a little while longer will serve as a reminder, to obey no matter what the odds. You would think, after all the messages at church lately about trusting God and how much bigger He is, that I would have gotten the message, but alas, it was a little late sinking in. Hopefully this will serve as a reminder for many years to come to obey the Spirit when it prompts me.

 

Thank you Lord for the reminder.

July 16, 2012 / Leave a Comment

Our Move to Kansas: We’re Here!

The month of June was a long and full one. First my youngest brother’s wedding, and then we left the very next day for vacation with Joel’s family, then three full weeks of packing.

Joel and my brother loaded up a truck full of our belongings and drove them down a week and a half before the actual move, with the hopes of being able to do some work on the rental to get it ready before we move to go on the market after the renters moved out. Alas, we still had more packing and errand running to do before we left so we didn’t get to it. We’ll be making a trip back this week to hopefully finish up the house and get in on the market. By then my brother and his roommate will be completely moved out and we can blow through the work!

For now, and the next couple of months or so, we will be staying with Joel’s parents while Joel starts the business and we look for a house to rent that fits our needs (and our budget).

We still have some belongings in Nebraska. We were going to rent a trailer and haul it down when we came done but decided it was too hot and would put too much strain on the engine. So it is staying for now and we will bring it back this week when we return and drive home at night so that it will be cool enough.

We also left our other car in Nebraska. We are trying to sell it and it seemed less complicated to sell it in Nebraska versus licensing it, drive it down to Kansas, sell it here, and then return the plates to the DMV in Nebraska to get our refund. We’ll see how it works out. We may end of driving it back to Kansas anyway.

For now, we are settling in as best as we can. Most of our stuff is in storage, with just the essentials with us at the house. I look forward to having our own place and getting to see my things that have been packed away for the last two years. I also look forward to getting rid of a lot of stuff. We sent boxes and boxes to the Goodwill when we moved out to my parents, but I think I will find the makings of a decent garage sale when I start unpacking everything!

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Do you have anything exciting happening in your family this summer?

I’m linking this to:            &   The Morris Tribe Blog Carnival

May 23, 2012 / Leave a Comment

This Crazy Life

So as I shared here, baby Lucy joined our family almost two weeks ago. It’s been kind of crazy around here. Not only have we been making the adjustments to having a baby back in the picture, but in less than two weeks my baby brother is going to be getting married here at the farm! There has been lots of hustle and bustle trying to get everything ready for the wedding. They will be getting married in front of the barn in the “forest”, so there has been a lot of clearing of trees, weeds and misc. trash left by the previous owner that was never taken care of. It is looking amazing out there. There was also lots of busyness in the house as well. We are doing all the food ourselves so we spent the weekend baking cupcakes and cooking pasta and throwing it in the deep freezer.

Yesterday was my mom’s last day of work, so after that we will be spending lots of time cleaning the main floor for the wedding.

There is still so much to do! The girls’ dresses are ordered but they still need shoes, Joel still needs a tie and socks, I still need to get my dress (did I mention that four of the five of us are IN the wedding! Lucy gets to hang with Grammie during the wedding.)

Then the day after the wedding we leave for vacation with Joel’s family. Are we crazy? YES! But after all of this I am looking forward to vacation and having lots of family who want to play with my girls. I’m hoping to get caught up on some of the lost sleep I’ll have accumulated over the weeks leading up to vacation.

 

Tell me, what kind of craziness do you have going on at your house right now?

May 22, 2012 / 1 Comment

And Now There Are Five!

Just a short 11 days ago we welcomed Lucy Annabell Terrell to our family. It was 10:29pm on May 11th, and after 14 hours of labor, our 10lb 4oz, 23 ¾ long baby girl joined us earth side! She is such a beauty and a joy! I will share the details of her birth later, but I wanted to take a minute and properly introduce her to you.

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes as we waited for Lucy to join us!

April 20, 2012 / Leave a Comment

Getting Ready for Baby #3

Anytime now baby Terrell #3 could decide to make their grand entrance (like, literally ANYTIME). After a trip to Kansas, a week of battling a full blown sinus infection, and then finding out that baby is beech and dealing with that whole situation, I am feeling just a little behind the ball. So what do I do when I have more to do and remember then my poor prego brain can handle? I make a list of course. And this time I am prioritizing the order of what goes on said list. I’ve marked out the things that I’ve recently completed. I like seeing what I’ve already done. That’s why if I do something that wasn’t on the list, I add it and then mark it off!

To Do Before baby is born:

Clean the girls’ room

Clean my room

Clean my bathroom

Pack to go bag

-my stuff and the babies stuff is in there. Joel still has to add his stuff and the toiletries will be added last minute.

Cook/bake for the freezer for after baby is born

-I have 3 meals in the freezer, two loaves of breakfast bread, and a meals worth of pancakes ready to go.

Buy New Born diapers

Get all laundry caught up (including folded and put away. NOT just cleaned and sitting in a basket!)

-I only have a couple more loads of clothes and a load of diapers to do. If the baby comes in the next few days I will be set. If it’s longer then that then I’ll have to start over.

Pull out pack and play and clean it.

-I’m hoping to get this done tomorrow afternoon. It shouldn’t take too long.

Rewash baby blankets and burp rags (these have been in the closet for a while and could use some freshening up)

-I washed enough for the first couple of days. (mostly gender neutral of course.)

Wash and re-assemble car seat

-The cover has been washed. I just need to clean the plastic part and the buckles and then have the hubs re-assemble it (he so good at it). This will get done probably tomorrow.

 

 

Obviously some of these will happen at the same time, but you get the idea. Knowing this baby could come at anytime puts the pressure on, but thankfully the baby has started to drop so I’m having a little easier time getting around.

 

Do you see anything I’m missing? Let me know, I can use all the help I can get!

April 12, 2012 / 1 Comment

Baby Update-40 Weeks

Let me just start by saying that I am so glad that Joel and I have decided that a move to Kansas can’t happen until June. Not only are we getting ready to have baby #3 but my youngest brother is getting married the beginning of June and we leave for a family vacation with Joel’s family the very next day! I was getting a little frazzled so when we made the decision to wait and not be super parents, it took a huge load off my shoulders.

It ended up being perfect timing too. Two weeks later we discovered at a midwife appointment that at 38 weeks the baby was in a Frank Breech. There was immediate talk about c-sectioning if the baby didn’t turn and sending me up to an OB-GYN to have a Version done. Here’s the thing, c-sections are great for true life and death emergencies, and a Frank Breech is not one of them. I have delivered two babies already and I don’t like having someone tell me that I can’t even try and push my baby out and that I MUST let them cut me open. The issue with the version is that they use a non FDA approved drug (for this purpose) to numb my uterine, oh and by the way, we might rupture your uterine and have to do an emergency c-section anyway so don’t eat anything after midnight, um k pumpkin! Ya no.

So we started on exercises we found on the internet and began the search for an OB-GYN who would be willing to deliver a breeched baby naturally. After two strikes we found an amazing Dr. who is more than willing to do it, is as naturally minded as we are and openly says that God is in charge, not him. A wave of relief came over me as the meeting with him progressed. I did a little happy dance as we left the building. Joel even mentioned that he didn’t realize how unexcited he was to have the baby until after the meeting when he became overwhelmed with excitement. It’s hard to be excited about something that goes against what you believe. True the end result (a beautiful baby) is worth it, but to have your choice taken away from you as to how you meet your child is very disheartening. To have the choice given back and know that the only reason we would end up in surgery is if there was a true emergency is so awesome and empowering!

Now I don’t find myself talk to the baby, telling it to wait until it turns. Baby T. can turn whenever its ready and that’s ok. I will continue to do the exercises to encourage baby to turn and I will continue to pray for God’s timing. And now it can truly be God’s timing, not the doctors’.

March 8, 2012 / Leave a Comment

Love

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