Thankful

Today is a beautiful day outside and we've spent much of it out enjoying it...but now Gregory's napping and I want to blog. There haven't been many days where I've felt like blogging lately...I guess nothing noteworthy enough is going on either. So whenever I'm outside I tend to let my mind wander and today I was reminded to be thankful and to see the awesomeness of God by my devotional...so here are some things I am so thankful for...and I'm sure I'll need these reminders later on when I'm not so thankful :-) Yes, there are those days too.

- Thankful for Christmas gifts that last through the years - I made some bread dough for breadsticks in my bread machine that my parents bought me quite a few years ago (more than seven for sure).

- Thankful for the talents God has given me - I'm in the middle of making dinner for a mom from MOPS that had her baby 10 days ago - I LOVE to cook/bake - I also made banana bread as a treat today for us and them.

- Thankful for a way to earn a little extra money for things like the tangerine bridesmaid dress I need to by for my best friend's wedding - My friend Carla is getting married in July and I'm gonna be a bridesmaid - oh and I earn my extra money babysitting our pastor's two kids.

-Thankful for the AWESOME mountains I get to look out and see EVERY DAY! WOW they are beautiful and with an amazing blue sky too!

- Thankful that Gregory is a happy healthy boy who's almost TWO - and learning more and more everyday. We've been teaching him to hold up two fingers and say "I'm TWO!" He's getting there - so hopefully by April 27th he'll be able to do it :-)

- Thankful that my husband has a job and there's no chance of him getting fired or laid off. The steady income and great health care is nice to have in these days of economic struggle.

- Thankful for wonderful memories - yesterday I helped put on a babyshower for our youth pastor's wife who is expecting their fourth baby in a couple of weeks...this all reminded me of the baby showers we had when we were expecting Gregory...good memories.

-Thankful for love - last night Tom and I were going through pictures trying to find some for a particular picture frame we have...of course there were many memories there, but also a love that Tom and I share is traveling and we've gotten to go so many places.

-Thankful for my husband - I can't imagine being without him and I'm so glad he's here with us. There are so many soldiers and airmen deployed and we've been so blessed to have Tom home...oh and I love the little bouquet of flowers he brought home to me recently...just because.

-Thankful for coupons! I know it's silly, but God has really blessed us financially and given us the means to save money with coupons and it's a fun thing for Tom and I to try to find the best deals around :-)

So there you have it - TEN things I am thankful for - there are sooooooooo many more, but I'll save them for another time.

Beautiful weather

Our weather here in Colorado has been UNBELIEVABLE! Today it was over 70 degrees! So Gregory and I took advantage of it and went to the park. Parks are such great photo opportunities. Enjoy.

Gregory

We had a great relaxing weekend so nothing really to blog about but I wanted to share a video of Gregory and a cute picture too.

Fun with MOPS

Sorry for the lack of posts, but Gregory was sick most of this week and not too much has happened since the last post. So today we had MOPS. I had such a wonderful time! It really is making me wonder about what to do about next year. The two top leaders are stepping down because their kids are going to be school-age and that's how MOPS works. I've been asked to step up and lead. If I don't take the lead, there doesn't seem to be anyone else who wants to run the show. Today it made me wonder how I'd feel about not having MOPS at all - I would sure miss the fun times. But then also with all of the organizing that goes on behind the scenes would it be as much fun for me if I was in charge? More to think about...

So more about today...we had what is called workshop day...there was a gal who came and taught us some basic cake decorating tips (we each made our own clown cupcake) then there was a gal who taught us about grinding your own wheat and gave us some ideas for giving our families healthier food (she gave us each a bag of wheat to grind in our blender--and a recipe to make pancakes with it) and lastly we made first aid kits with ziploc bags, a little scotch tape, some embroidery floss, a button and a POTHOLDER! What a great time! Oh and I got to enjoy holding a precious little girl part of the time (Ella, whose about 4 months old or so).

Here are some pics from the day.

Time with an old friend

Oh how I love catching up with friends...especially in person! One of my friends from my church youth group has been in Denver for the past week and a half and we finally got to see each other. Sarah Reynolds (VanBruggen) is in Denver for therapy for her youngest son, John. He had a stroke when he was about 1--he's now 2. So Sarah and her two boys (Malachi-3 1/2 & John 2) came down here to the Springs. We had a wonderful time catching up, enjoying some pb & j and watching our boys play together. We also went out to Focus on the Family where the boys enjoyed playing at Whit's End. Special times.

Here you can see how pregnant Sarah is! :-) She is about 7 1/2 months pregnant right now too.

A testimony

So a few of you have heard of our wonderful testimony that happened last weekend...for those who haven't here it is...

Last weekend we were with our youth group at a winter retreat. Gregory went along--yeah we're crazy people just because of that...on Saturday night Gregory was scooting down the stairs. Of course he wasn't looking where he was going and he scooted right off the edge of the stairs (under the railing--that had a good 6 inch gap between it and the stairs). He free fell about 8 feet onto a linoleum floor. Neither Tom or I saw it happen, but one of the other adult leaders did--he said in his mind he caught him but in reality he didn't get there in time. So Todd picked up Gregory and brought him to me. He was bleeding out of his mouth and crying like crazy of course. After all of this it ended up that he just had a small cut on his chin and somewhere inside his mouth he was cut. After just a day or two he was completely back to normal and the small bruise on his cheek was gone as well. Such a miracle that nothing more happened to him. No concussion, no broken bones and hardly any bruising. Praise the Lord that the angels kept Gregory safe.

This is a picture of where Gregory went off the stairs...he was maybe down one or two steps from the top.

MOPS craft

Today everyone LOVED the MOPS craft...me included. They turned out so awesome! They were domino pendants and here's what they look like. And here's a link to some instructions too... http://www.theenchantedgallery.com/dominoes.html