Fish and Chips Story — The Story of Us

Heather and I bought our heirloom seeds last night. I can’t wait to get them, we can begin planting our greens as soon as next month. It is amazing how quickly things have come up on us.

I heard news reports today about the price of food going up next year and it is good to know that we will at least be able to grow some of our own food and save our money. Between the vegetables we can grow and Heather looking at buying ingredients instead of packaged food we will be able to not only save money but eat healthier because I know what I put in my soil and it will all be natural and organic.

So does Baby Abbie look like her Big Sister Alora? You tell us If you’d like to see more of our soon coming arrival click the link to the right titled ” Our Family Album”

It’s hard to think that as of today I have been a Christian for 11 years. When I first got saved, I assumed within these 11 years I would change the world, travel to Africa, and be all sorts of busy in God’s work. As I’ve searched for perspective this week to not feel like a failure within my 11 years, my husband said the most profound thing “You’ve made it 11 years, that’s allot more than most Christians can say.” Now granted that’s not taking over the world and winning everyone for Christ, but when it comes down to it, it’s true, 11 years is a great accomplishment. Within those 11 years I’ve changed peoples lives, I’ve changed my life and I’ve become stronger in my walk with Christ. Now I can’t look back on a scrapbook and see all of my major achievements (I actually know someone who does that each year just for there spiritual walk with Christ) but I know within myself I’m not the Christian I was 11 years ago. It’s not for me to say I’m better, but it is for me to say I love God more today than ever. He has given and blessed me with so much. The list is huge but it’s sometimes good to look at it and realize what you are thankful for: my family (my husband, my daughters, my mom, my dad, my brothers and in laws and nieces and nephews) my surrogate family (without whom I could have never made it 10 years in Ohio) my life, my health, my home, everything God has blessed me with the ability to call mine. It’s pretty miraculous when you stop to think about it. God is all around and always there for us whether we say thank you or not.

So as tomorrow I lay down on my back and have cold goo squirted on my tummy to see a 3D picture of my newest daughter I will remember more than ever to thank Him for all that He has done and as He smiles down on me I’ll be smiling at Abbie!

So this is a small short post just to say that I realized this Friday I will be an 11 year old Christian. Now to some this isn’t a huge deal or many don’t even remember a date. I am fortunate in that I not only have an I came out of my mommy birthday to celebrate, but I also have an I gave my life to God birthday too!

These next couple of days will definitely have some pondering involved.

Heather and I have been reorganizing our family goals recently and I though it may be good to share some of those goals with you and maybe inspire you to do the same.

Simplify our life — We have been cleaning out our house little by little to eliminate all the extra ‘stuff’ we have in doing this we hope to have house that is easier to clean and move as well as focusing on those things that are more important.

Purify our life –  We are also looking at purifying our life.  We want to focus less on TV and more on family and friends.  Heather and I have a big collection of games that we love to play and we would much rather have friends/family over to spend time with them.  We are truly blessed that although we are hundreds of miles from our families we have people locally that have become our family.

In the spring we are going to be starting an organic garden.  I hope that we can supply all of our vegtable needs in our own garden because.  We will be using heirloom seeds and organic methods to help us to know exactly what is in our food.  We began creating a compost pile a year ago so that we can add organic matter to our soil and begin to rebuild it and make it more productive.  I hope to blog a lot on that as the time approaches.

We decided a long time ago that our new baby would be named Abbie, but we don’t know much else.  Do we go with Abigail, Abigale, Abrielle or what?  And don’t even get me started on her middle name, we have no idea.

We were set on Abrielle Ryan but I am not sure I want both of my daughters to have the initials ARF.  Any ideas?

The wonders of being a mom: It truly is amazing the things that make you excited as a mom. Now whether this is because my life is too boring or because I can’t believe my little one is growing up on her way to being a big sister i’m not for sure. But on Tuesday Alora went poop on the potty for the first time. What a huge step, now has it been a recurring event? No much to my chagrin, but it happened and once is all the start I need. And as for the polish part of this blog, yesterday my daughter opened my hall closet and pulled out my nail polish and said “mommy do nails please.” Now who could refuse that? So she picked out a pastel pink and I did her nails, followed by her toes, followed by my nails. In an odd way what a truly girlie bonding experience. Now granted she still sucks her thumb so her right thumb nail didn’t stand a chance of keeping the polish on, but come on who’s checking that closely any way. For the 15 part Alora counted totally unprovoked to 15 3 different times on Wednesday and Yesterday. Which is so strange since I haven’t been working with her on any numbers past 10. My how she is growing, but then so is my belly with baby Abbie.

On Tuesday night I had an experience that almost brought me to tears, but I couldn’t embarass myself or my friend. Tuesday night was girls night so a bunch of ladies got together to go see 27 dresses (great movie by the way, for a chick flick). When the movie was over it was late but girls just can’t say goodnight with at least a good 20 minute conversation outside of the theater under the awning while it’s pouring the rain. So as we are all standing there and unsolicited unexpected hug comes flying out of the blue. I turn to see a good friend who used to be in our youth group and game with us. As he hugged me I suddenly realized the importance of being me. Now this may sound all deep and philosophical but as the introductions were made, small talk followed and then he walked away with his girlfriend I realized that after all I had been through that I had stayed true to myself and in the end whether they knew it or not they appreciated that. As life changes so quickly, especially for people in school, it’s amazing the need they have for real people that stay true and constant. Someone that they know in the end is going to give the same answer a year ago as they will today, because even though they don’t know who they are yet, you know who you are. So as I look back on this week and think of my theater visitor, my myspace friend requests, and my messages on my phone (all from old youth group kids) I realize that I will always be there for them and God will always be there for me.

Heather and I have been spending some time and effort in cleaning out our house I don’t simply mean shifting around the mess from one room to another, we are throwing things out.  We sell what we can and we are donating the rest, it is very much like one of those shows you see on the TLC or something.  I got rid of 1/3 of my library and will probably get rid of more in the future.  We got rid of all of the CD’s that we hadn’t listened to or ripped to the computer already, that was actually about 200 CD’s.  We still have much more to go but we believe it will be best to simplify our life in many ways.  I am even contemplating getting rid of my cell phone.

I have been reading a  blog lately called Zenhabits which has helped a great deal in finding ways to simplify my life.  I can’t suggest it enough.

My goals for this week:

To be up to date on my Bible reading
To do all the things with Alora I’ve been meaning too! (library time here we come)
To be the person I know I’m supposed to be in every situation. (regardless if I’m pregnant)
To get the shared to do list with Jason shrunk just a little bit.

So if anyone out there can cheer me on that would be great! I figured the only way I can be held accountable is to ask for help.

The following is a message I sent to myself on my cell phone while sitting down with my daughter while mommy shopped.

It is amazing as I sit here on a couch in a store watching my daughter as she pretends to sleep. She makes snoring noises and I tell her to close here eyes. She scrunches them up very tightly as the fake snores continue. I remember that I tried to do that exact same thing as I tried to sleep at a baby sitters house, not realizing that your eyes only lightly close when you sleep. I wonder if all kids do that or if this is just another moment where she reminds me of me. Now she is awake and watching me as I record this message, I wonder what else she will do just like me.