The Reason

Well, last night my husband was kind enough to bring home some chocolate! Brownie-points for him. Then the reason I was craving chocolate showed up. Yippee! But at least the mystery of the choco-craving is solved.

I had a running dialogue of blog material earlier this evening and now I cannot remember a single thing. So I will just take a minute to list some things I love about my hubby.

1. I love that he loves God with all of his heart.

2. I love that he loves me. He and I have known each other for half my life. We met when I was 14 years old. He went home that night and told his mom that he met the girl he was going to marry. So sweet! He asked me out but since he was 21 and too old, I had to say no. Four years passed, I called him and the rest is history.

3. I love that he loves our two little boys. They joy that I see on his face when he is with them lights up my heart.

4. I love that he is a hard-worker. He takes his supportive role of taking care of our family very seriously. While he can work too hard sometimes, I never have to worry about him doing his best for us.

5. I love that he is a caring, compassionte, kind, and giving person.

6. I love that he is a good listener. And he is a great secret keeper.

7. I love that he still melts my butter after almost 8 years together.

8. I love that he doesn't mind helping me out around the house. He actually is better at cleaning than I am.

9. I love that he has introduced me to things that I might not have ever had an appreciation for otherwise. Things like the outdoors, fishing, riding tractors, etc.

10. I love that he supports me in my choices, talents, and plans. It means so much to have him by my side.

I can't believe that we have known each other for 14 years and have been married for almost 8 years. There have been ups and downs but we still stand side by side only by the grace of God.

I look forward to many years ahead. Oh! And the fact that he is tall, muscular, with piercing blue eyes doesn't hurt either!!!

Needin some chocolate!

Just got done eating lunch with the kiddos. And I am so wanting some chocolate right now. I did not buy anything sweet at the store last time ( you know to help me eat healthier) but I am about to go nuts. What really sounds great is a Brownie with Buttercream icing from The Cake Shop. Maybe if I think about it hard enough, I can imagine eating it. Nope, not working.

Ratatouille

The new favorite kid friendly movie that has captured the attention of my two little guys is Ratatouille. It is about a rat that loves to cook. He ends up in a resturant in Paris helping a young man with no cooking skills whatsoever. It is a cute little movie. Anyway, last week I was telling my hubby that I needed a chef, you know to cook really nutritous and wonderful tasting meals for my family. It is not that I can't cook, it's just that since I am a rather picky eater, I am not very imaginative with meal planning. Therefore I get stuck in a rut. Sorry, I digress. Well, this morning as I am fixing breakfast for the munchkins I see a mouse run across the kitchen floor. Of course I freak out and yell for my hubby to come quick. I do not want that germ infested rodent running loose in my house. And do you know what his response was?

"There is your chef".

He did not offer to find the mouse, he actually told me that they are cute and just "passing through". I told him to remember that when his bread for sandwiches had "cute" little teeth marks on it. YUCK!! Is all I can say. I hope that little mouse keeps on going because if I see him again I am afraid it will be the death of one of us.

I was thinking about how to kill it and then I got all paranoid thinking about Bunny Foo Foo and her demise. If your curious, look up Uncommon Blonde for the full story. So now I do not know what to do. Maybe it will decide to just not come back. I hope so. I would hate for the little guys to see me squash a mouse that looks like their new friend Remi on Ratatouille.

Feelin A Little Hostile

Alright, I am sick and tired of all of these "scary", "gorey", basically "demonic" previews for upcoming movies plastered across our television airways. Now don't get me wrong, I do watch television (probably too much, I always have a quote form some show or movie to share in answer to lifes questions) but I do not want my little guys brains distorted by all of the crap out there. I won't even go off about the practically naked women or the blatant sexuality. That is a completely differnent blog. But these terrible images flashing across the screen before you can turn the channel is about to make me go batty. And I am not talking about movie channels, or local channels either. They are on ABC family and Discovery to name a few. I realize that I am the police of the minds at my house but come on. The reason I watch those channels is because I feel they are relatively safe. UH!! NOT ANYMORE! Yes I know that is a ploy to corrupt our children younger and younger. But I hesitate to think about what kind of people we are grooming here. Personally I do not want desensitized, uncaring, unfeeling people being responsible for my well being as I grow older. Do you? I am actually mad enough to pull the TV out of the house. It looks like a huge idol anyway. We have a humongous big screen TV and a matching entertainment center. It basically takes up one whole wall of the living room. I will have to convince the hubby so we will see. Ok, I guess I have vented enough.....breathe Praise Junky, breath.

On a positive note, my family is feeling much better after a week of not feeling well. I will spare you the details. Your welcome. Anyway, I would like to offer thanks to God for His healing power and health. He is so good.

Is anyone else cold?

Well, this weather is about to drive me crazy. I am not a huge fan of "freezing" temperatures but I think they would be more tolerable if they were not sandwiched between days and weeks of "hot" temperatures. I mean, you get comfortable with the cool days and then it gets hot. So you go from running the heater and humidifiers to running the A/C. Then just as you break out the flip-flops again it drops to 20 degrees. What gives? Oh well.......at least I don't have to wade through stacks of snow everytime I need to go somewhere. For that I am grateful.

An update..... I am still loving the new guitar. It is amazing how enjoyable playing is. I only know 8 cords but I am learing. I am also enjoying my new camera.

My two little guys are doing better. Thy have had colds for what seems like forever. They both had well-check up appointments yesterday. Everything checked out fine. The oldest is still rebelling with the "poopy time". So we are dealing with constipation problems. Yippee! But it will get better soon. The littlest one is in to EVERYTHING!!! Somehow he finds his way into just about everything. He gets into things that the oldest one never even touched. But at least he is more pleasant these days. I was really worried about his disposition during the first 9 months of his life. He was just awnry and screamed alot. No fun for the rest of us. But since he is walking and able to get where he wants he has just gotten to be so much fun.

Well, my sister is going to have a baby. I am so excited!!!!! I am going to be an aunt. I am having to fight my nature. I am a peron that wants to tell you how to do everything and usually think my way is the best way. I know, I know, your shocked right? Anyway, I am trying to let her experience this without a constant commentary from me. I figure if she wants advice she will ask but it is still hard to not overload her with my own opinions. So we will see how that goes.

The church search is going well. I think we may have decided on one. The hubby and I both like it. And the kids love going. We are both really enjoying the sermons. The Word of God is definitley preached (is that the way you say it?). And I like the music alot. So that is good too. And I thought I would miss our old church more than I do. But I don't, at all. But I guess the Lord has released us from there. Time to move on. I know that God has new plans for us. So it is time to "trust in Him and not lean on our own understanding".

Well, I guess I have rambled on enough today. Have a good day!!!

Gotta Hand It To Em'

I do not know who is in charge of making sure that Wal-Mart squeezes every possible dime out of the consumer....but he/she is doing a great job. Today I needed diapers. Ok, the should have been $17.88, right? Nope, as I am walking to the baby section I pass the office supply aisle. And since it is a new year I need a new accordian file to stash all of my bills, right? So I grab it. Another $9.96. I keep walking and come to the calendars. It dawns on me that I don't know what the date is because my calendar has not been updated. So I grab one of those too. $4.48 spent. Then I am walking past the unmentionables and I get a wild hair and decide to buy some pretty underthings. $5.58 gone. At least they were on sale. Anyway, I still have not made it to the baby section. I keep walking and before I turn into babyland I see a display with bulk diapers on sale. Wow! I can get 116 diapers for $28.00. So I grab the huge box. Now at this point I look pretty silly because I do not have a cart. I was only going in for diapers remember? Then it occurs to me that my oldest son needs Pull-Ups too. So I grab a pack. There goes another $14.88. So off I go back to the front of the store to check out. I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with all of my items. I had to stop twice to readjust so I wouldn't drop anything. Then as I am standing in line I see the candy. Yum! Yum! So I grab a Rolo. But wait, I need something for the kiddos. But this aisle doesn't have fruity things so I grab Tic-Tacs. Anyway, the personality challenged employee rings up my purchases and says "that will be $79.80" I look up and think "for diapers?" How am I going to figure that in the budget?

Has anyone else noticed that they put the things the we need the most on the back wall? Need milk? Go to the back.......past all of the other food that calls your name. Need toilet paper or paper towels? Trek on back to the farthest corner in the store.....past the cleaning supplies. Need diapers? You have to go to the back.....past the clothes, office items, etc. You get my point.

And I know what some of you are thinking...."why don't you just go to Target?" Well, if they would put one on my side of town I just might. But seeing that I already drive 30 minutes to "town" I just do not get jazzed about driving further than that. And while I have seen some nice clothes on sale at Target everything else seems priced higher than Wallyworld.

So, again to the person in charge at Wal-Mart........."your plan worked.....you squeezed an extra $60.00 out of this consumer. How do you sleep at night?

New Everything

As I begin this new year I am adjusting to new in just about every area of my life. While on one hand it can be exciting to contemplate the possibilites of the future, it is also scary and uncertain. I realize that in the major things of my life I am extremely blessed and that has not changed. So, a part of me feels guilty for feeling anything but thankfulness.

We visited a new church this morning. The praise and worship was great. I can honestly say that I felt the Lords presence in the service. The sermon was about FAITH. It was almost like the pastor was talking straight to me. I know that others felt the same thing. Anyway, I needed to hear what he was saying. I think that over the past year I have become a bit self-absorbed. And in my life that always leads to discontent and regret. There have been alot of changes lately and I hope that I have responded in the "right" way but I realized this morning that I have tried to "deal" in my own strength, not Gods'.

So, I wanted to share a little bit about what I learned today. Granted, I have heard this before but I still haven't learned the lesson, obviously....

4 Types of False Faith:

1. Head Faith - you think you know the Lord but you haven't surrendered your heart, your will and your life to Him. You know that Jesus was a good man and you live a moral life but your life is not centered around Biblical priniciples.
- this type of faith is not true faith that leads to salvation or the fullness of Christ
2. Feeling Faith - trusting on your senses and what you can see to tell you what to do. Being directed by emotions, or lack of emotions to determine your walk with the Lord and where He is leading you.
- this type of faith is not true faith because it is centered on us and how we are feeling.
Our feeling are always changing and most of the time our flesh does not line up with Gods'
Word. To rely on ourselves is not true faith.
3. Crisis Faith - only crying out to God when things don't go our way. We seek His blessing and relief from our problems but we are unwilling to be obedient to His commands for our lives. After the pressure is off and we are comfortable with our lives again, we stop seeking Him.
- this type of faith is not true faith because it is once again about us and what we can get out
of it.
4. Dead Faith - faith with our words but no actions to back it up. We talk a good talk but fail to produce any lasting results for Gods kingdom.
- this type of faith is not true faith because it is more about appearances and our own
comfort that stepping out and doing something significant for God

* I realized this morning that I have displayed and walked in every one of these. I have been raised in church my entire life. And it is easy to put on an appearance of godliness and still be lost inside. Yes, I am a Christian. I was saved when I was 7 years old. I am going to spend eternity in Heaven with my Heavenly Father. But I want more than that. I want to make a difference on this earth for God. He has done so much for me. Shouldn't I be more concerned with what I can do for Him? I don't want to be the same person I am in a year. I want to grow in Gods Word, see more of His presence in my life, and truly make an impact on the world around me. I know that there are many out there right now reading this that feel the same way I do. So, here is the definition of FAITH that the pastor gave this morning.

F - find out what God is doing.
A - align your life to what God is doing.
I - It is impossible to please God without faith.
T - trust and depend on God. only God.
H - hoping for the promises of God to be fulfilled. in my life.

I am ready for change even if it scares the crap out of me. I heard someone say that if you want something different, you have to DO something different. You can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results. So, I want to do and be something different. For God, for myself, and for my future. Faith in His plan for me is the first step. Then comes faith to take the first step. With Gods' help I can do it. I know I can. And so can you.

Lets make this next year the best year ever. I am trusting God for miracles, direction and a new passion for God, His Word and life.

An explanation

Ok, it has come to my attention that my alter-ego "Praise Junky" is somewhat misleading. To me, it makes perfect sense. I love to praise the Lord and therefore am a junky ("junkie" was taken). But apparently some think that it means that I love to get compliments and thrive on praise from others. While an occasional compliment is nice I am not one to seek them out. In actuality I usually don't feel comfortable with others praise. But that is a totally different blog.
SOOOO, I hope that clears it up for you.

Bleu

Ok, here is a pic of the new guitar. I love it!!!!