Thankful Thursdays- 29

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. - James 1:19-20

This week I am thankful for so so so many things...like,
261. that even though I have my own problems (everyone does) they aren't as bad as others.
262. for my family.
263. that Allison made it to Texas safely, despite the complications she had along the way.
264. that school is overrrrrrr!!
265. for friends who will sit there while you cry and when you're done, reassure you that everything will be okay and that God has a plan.
266. for the common sense that comes naturally to me.
267. for the self assurance I have within myself.
268. that I dont have to leave my house next week if I dont want to!
269. that even when things get tough for us we still help the needy.
270. that I know in my heart that no matter what anyone says EVER, I have God on my side.

What are you thankful for this week?
Talk to you soon,
J

Thankful Thursdays- 28

The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still. --Exodus 14:14

When times get tough, the weak will run or cower amongst themselves. I am not weak so I will not run or cower anywhere. I will stand still and I will tell the Lord what I need and wait for him to fight for me. Everyone goes through hard times, they just have different ways of handling it. I will stay thankful for what I have every day of my life, even the hard ones. I will stay positive and remind myself of all the good in my world.
Here are some things I'm thankful for this week.

251. For a husband who will do anything for us.
252. For our soldiers.
253. That I have a bright outlook on the future.
254. That we are finally finally finally looking at houses!
255. That we were able to book our tickets to Tennessee! (more on that in another blog)
256. That there is only 6 more days of classes left.
257. For my brothers and Allison who babysit my kids (for free) so I can go to these classes everyday.
258. That sometimes time flies. It's not always a good thing....but sometimes it is.
259. That I have a video camera to catch the kids dancing and Bella saying "wafffffllleeessss" like the girl looking for her dog on that one commercial, anytime it comes on the TV.
260. That I'm looking at my parenting style in a different light and hopefully making some smart changes.

What are you thankful for this week?

Talk to you soon,
J

Thankful Thursdays- 27

Life is crazy! That doesn't stop me from being thankful for everything I have so even though I didn't do a TOAT last week I wanted to do one today. I'm thankful for every second of every day for things like...


241. my ability to keep myself busy. Allison is leaving soon so I know I'll be spending most of my time with just my kiddies, keeping us busy will come in handy.
242. Bella's love of shoes. She is so much like her mama!
243. Max's ever expanding imagination, give him some Legos and he can tell you a whole story about whatever he creates with them.
244. the friendships that have recently come into my life.
245. for the quote "This too shall pass." I dont know who said it but it's amazing.
246. that the last installment of the Harry Potter movies is coming out this weekend instead of in November like they normally do.
247. that after today I only have two more weeks of my chemistry class and one more week of my sociology class.
248. that I can overlook some things...
249. when a prayer gets answered.
250. most importantly, the health and happiness of my children.

What are you thankful for this week?
Talk to you soon,
J

Another Fave is On The Way!!

I have been DYING to talk about the newest fave thats on the way!
Evette and Nick are having their first child together towards the end of this year and tonight was their gender reveal party!

Evette had a sonogram done on Wednesday and had the technician write the gender down, put it in an envelope and seal it. From there she took it to The Cake Shop and had them make a cake with blue and pink on it and instructed them to take whatever was in the envelope and dye the color of the cake inside the appropriate color. So the only people who knew the gender was the ultrasound technician and the people who made the cake.

Evette and Nick arranged to have all of their closest friends and family over to watch them cut the cake and be there to share in the joy of finding out if they were having a boy or a girl. I thought this was the most genius thing ever!! I will most definitely be doing this with my next pregnancy.

So I really really wanted to share this with everyone because the pictures that I got are so beautiful. I love to see people genuinely happy and thats exactly what I caught.

Mommy & Daughter share a moment right before the cutting of the cake.

Everyone was soooo into it!

These faces are priceless!

PURE elation!!

Blue for boy!

Mr. & Mrs. Sisneros

So...IT'S A BOY!!!!

I have already been planning the heck outta this baby shower but now that I know the gender its going to be even better!! ANDDDDD I cannot WAIT to meet my newest fave. He's going to be GORGEOUS!

Talk to you soon,
J

It's Independence Day

LET FREEDOM RIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGG

Sorry for that haha. Everytime I think about Independence Day I think of the song by Martina McBride "Independence Day". The song is about a woman who gets freedom from an abusive relationship. I just love it. Youtube it and listen, its so good it'll give you chills!

Anywhoooo, We spent most of today with my mom and brothers at her house. We played in the water with the kids and ate a yummy Baked BBQ Chicken dinner that my mom cooked for us. We just hung out after it got a little too windy for the kids to be in the water and my mom, Ryan, and I watched HLN for more information on whats going on with the Casey Anthony trial. Its so fitting that the jury went into deliberation today on Independence Day/The 4th of July...hopefully we will start the new work week with a GUILTY verdict for that coo-coo bird. I dont really want to go any further than that because I can seriously type forever about the trial and what I think should happen to that loser. On a different note, we are also remembering a woman who touched many peoples lives. Today marks two years that her family lost their mother, sister, auntie, cousin, and friend. My heart and prayers are definitely with them. 

Tonight we will be watching fireworks from our driveway. This is Bella's first year that she will get to watch them since last year she was already asleep, and Maximus loves fireworks so it should be a lot of fun for him too.

I was so happy to be able to spend the last 3 days with my kids and my husband with no where to go. It was super relaxing. I did have homework to do but it wasn't too much so I got it done. I had a lot of fun painting me and Bella's nails to match. I did blue and red on our hands and feet. Its one of the many perks of having a daughter that I cherish so very much. Max and I spent some time watching 3 (yes THREE) Harry Potter movies in one day...we would have watched a fourth one but Ryan came home and he isn't into that haha. We also surprised Max and took him to see Cars 2! He was so pumped to see it, it was all he was talking about for a few days so we finally just took him. Ryan and I watched the movie A-Team one day while Bella was napping and the movie Fighting another day.

Overall I had an amazing three day weekend. I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow but I do. Luckily its almost over and I'll have a little break before the next classes start.

Here's a few pictures I wanted to share =)

Happy Fourth of July!!!

***UPDATE***
Unfortunately we didn't start the new work week with a guilty verdict for the child killer Casey Anthony. Instead we watched in horror as a murderer was essentially set free and a child's murder went unavenged. Its things like this that make a mockery of America's justice system. The saddest part of all of it is that for Caylee no one will ever have to pay for the things she went through in her short two years of life. The only thing we can do is pray that she is being rocked to sleep by Jesus and that she hasn't a care in the world. Casey Anthony will have her day of judgement in front of the one person that matters, God. He will be sure to give her the sentencing that she deserves, spending her eternity in flames with the devil.


Talk to you soon,
J