Thankful

 Thankful for our new dog, Hudson!! We got a dog at the end of August. He's a perfect fit for our family.

 Thankful this girl begged me all summer, even wrote 6 page reports on "Why we should get a dog". She knew every kind of dog, if it was a good family dog and just about anything about you could possibly think of. Finally, one Sunday she showed me the "perfect" dog at a shelter. I just kind of smiled and didn't give her an answer either way. (I am not an animal person) A little later, I noticed she'd been crying, so I asked her why and then realized it was because of the dog. She said, "Mom, you said you'd pray about it and you still have not said yes, so we must not be getting a dog!" You see, I did tell her I'd pray about it, but I hadn't really done much more than that. Like I thought magically a dog would appear that we'd want. SO I decided to post something on Facebook, something to the effect of "Does anyone have a medium size dog that they don't want?" (think FREE) Within a 1/2 hour a friend messaged me and we had been the answer to her prayers. Her father in law had passed away in November and "Hudson" was very lonely since. Her Mother in law just couldn't take care of him anymore and so he was in much need of daily walks and play times! SO we took him! He's 6 years old and very mello. He loves the kids and being around someone all the time. He loves walking so we walk him a lot.

My 11 and 13 year olds have taken over everything, they walk, feed, bathe and comb him. He waits outside the bathroom door in the morning when they take their showers.

Thankful for the joy this dog has brought to our family. And the responsibility it has taught my children.

 Thankful for backyard fun, boys and sticks and fall campfires with s'mores and kids

 Thankful my little kids have the love of older siblings and that the older siblings get to enjoy younger kids around. There is just so much love. Is there fighting? Yes. But love always wins and it is the love I remember.

 (teaching her little sister how to balance on the Rip-stick)

 Thankful Tom and I celebrated his 50th birthday and my 48th birthday the next day.

Thankful this is happening now. Our 5th student to take piano lessons with our beloved teacher Mary. My little girl loves piano. It amazes me, because I have no musical talent at all. None. My kids? They're naturals. Now, I know I am biased a little, but I think my oldest daughter has an awesome voice and her beauty comes out even more when she sings.

 Thankful this happened. Yep, license, car, job. He's a senior this year. I now have about 2 1/2 hours of free time each day where I am not driving him to school, work or any activities! (which is partly why I have the time to blog today!) When people say to you that the days are long but the years are short, they are serious. It's what makes me so very Thankful for where each child is right now. I don't wish it away. I try my best to love them right where they are.

 Thankful for prayer time. Pray. Pray. Pray. Wherever you are, pray. Make everywhere you go HOLY.

 Thankful these kids asked if they could play on daddy's truck. I loved watching them. And who doesn't want to play on Daddy's truck? (Daddy may not know about this....Shhhh!!!)

 Thankful for children that love to read!

 Thankful for something small and simple like this in my window sill. This thing blooms and blooms all year.

 Thankful for teenagers. These teenagers and their friends are all amazing. They are really good kids. Here they are ready to go try out for the fall play our Homeschool Theater is having. They all got in. My 13 year old, the one in the middle got a big role and is SO excited!

 Thankful for fall baking! (these were for our Kids Pro-Life Club bake sale) I baked 5 batches.
Recipe HERE I use mini-chocolate chips and the recipe makes 2 dozen easy.

 Thankful, well, the kids are Thankful our yard went from this

 to this. The snow has melted now but it's still pretty dang cold.

Thankful for new friendships! This sweet girl and her family go to our church and she gets along with my girls and we love her! We love her family. And one of the biggest and best things is I love her mama!! We hit it off immediately and feel as if we've known each other all our lives. I'm so Thankful for this new family we are getting to know!

 Thankful Halloween is over OK kidding. My oldest went with his friends to see a movie! (they also brought my oldest daughter) For Trick-or-treating we had Salt and Pepper, a cowgirl and a knight!
It was pretty dang cold this year, so we went to Grandma and Grandpa's and then to a few homes we know, short and sweet.

 Thankful my husband was able to go to a football game with me (we took some kids to one of their friend's games) He's not been well in a long time and so this little thing was a big thing for us.

Thankful. 
Thankful  for the good and the bad. The happy and the sad. The hard and the easy. Thankful  for messes and for organization. Thankful for busy times and quiet moments. Thankful for struggles, for sacrifices and for faith. Thankful every day. Please don't look at these pictures and think my life is perfect. It is so far from anything anyone should be jealous of. I'm showing you the good. These are some of the things I search for each day to be Thankful. God's blessings are all around us. We need to look for them. Funny how the bad finds us and we struggle to see the good. Look for the good and be Thankful. 

Thankful

 Thankful we are HERE, in the warm air and sunshine!

We decided we needed to leave Minnesota for the winter.

We will be back March 1st

 Thankful I was able to get all the things we needed packed for our 3 month trip away from home.

 This was not an easy feat...now, take note of those black suitcases there.

Mine is on the left, packed full, carrying three days worth of clothes for three days of travel,

for myself and 3 of the kiddos,

Simeon's baby blankets, his favorite books, my 5 year old's favorite pink cowboy boots,

extra jammies and any extra last minute things I'd forgotten.

Tom's suitcase on the right there, his has his clothes for 3 days,

along with 3 of the older kiddos clothes for 3 days, including jammies,

Tom's work laptop, all his meds and vitamins, checkbooks, his i-pod,

all our Star Wars DVD's, and many other things.

REMEMBER THIS, THERE IS MORE TO THE STORY!!

 Thankful we have 12 lives at the Lake + 1's son living in our home while we are gone!

(He's awesome by the way)

 OH, my gosh, look at that snow and those gray skies....

Thankful we loaded up the U-Haul and drove off to the Twin Cities and

spent our first night at Tom's folks home.

Now, I have a "God Story" for you.

The next morning, we left around 5am from the Twin Cities.

Within 15 minutes, Tom noticed something fall of the U-Haul in his side mirror.

Now, it was dark, and he wasn't sure, we stopped along side the freeway.

Cars were zooming by at 70-80 MPH.

Sure enough, the back of the U-Haul had come unlatched

and we lost our luggage.

Thankful we did not lose everything.

The luggage must have exploded or a semi hit them,

because by the time we backtracked there was not much left.

Jedi had a pair of jeans that had $75 bucks in, and those were beside the freeway

(he was freaking out a little about his "worked all summer for that money" money)

Simeon's baby blankies were lost.

Along with his favorite books.

(I had plans on reading those in the hotels at night)

OH, those hurt this mama's heart.

Something black flew up when a car zoomed by,

it ended up being my 10 year old's Tee.

"Got Jesus?"

was the Tee.

Wow.

We were feeling pretty defeated at this time,

no clothes to wear for the next 3 days,

the laptop, Tom's meds...we lost so much,

but you know what?

We have Jesus.

WE HAVE JESUS!!

And He is all we need.

Now, if that was not a direct sign from God,

I sure don't know what would be!! 



 Traveling with 6 kids was not fun.

Thankful it is over.

Until February.

We planned 2 very long days and one not so long.

Thankful we learned our lesson

and on the way home plan to stretch that out to

3 1/2 not so long days.

An extra stay in a hotel will be so very worth it!

 She does have her seatbelt on here...but not the arm strap...Hmmmm....

 We took turns driving.

His back was killing him, the whole time.

It didn't matter if he was driving or riding, it hurt no matter what.

OH, I wish that could just go away for him.

 I have to say that Iowa was pretty boring....

But Kansas, was beautiful!!

And

once we got to Texas,

there were cactus's and palm trees everywhere!!

And it was SO WARM!!!

Look at the beautiful street!!

Thankful for the scenery changes from state to state!  

Thankful for our view from our patio.

The pools and the ocean and the beautiful sky.



 Thankful every morning, I get up to walk the beach during the sunrise

and before I do, I go to our patio and put on my shoes,

and get to look at this!

It's like the clouds part the way for the SUN to come up!!

It's amazing.

 The sunset over the bay is not so bad either.

 Thankful for lots of beach time

 Thankful for 5 year olds that sing while they play.

OH, I could watch her all day.

Oh, yeah, I do.

I'm Thankful for that!

 Thankful for hot tub time and swimming pool time!

Free Vitamin D!!

 Thankful for big brother moments like this.

 And little brother toesies moments like this.

 The big girls said they were not going to go in.

They ended up getting soaked.

We have a hard time staying out of the water!

 Thankful for shell searching!!

And buckets

And these 2 cutie pies!!

 Thankful for soft sand under our feet

 And for our hands to dig in.

 Thankful there is so much to do here, he is back to taking naps.

(wherever he can)

 Thankful for our little tree for our simple Christmas..

 Thankful for these cool pool chairs!!

Wouldn't you love to have one of these?

(I'd have to add some pillows though)

 Thankful for sunny beach days

 And cloudy beach digging days

 Thankful for the most amazing scenery.

Thankful for busy boys exploring a new world.

 I'm going to end this with a HUGE thank you to

Charlotte--Waltzing Mathilda

She made Simeon his original baby blankie.

that he lovingly called, his "Quack-Quack"

It was lost when we lost our luggage

and you know what?

She made him an exact replica

the day she found out

and sent it out.

He was so happy when he got it,

he rolled around the lobby hugging it and smiling and dancing with it.

 He got into his carseat

(why yes, he does have a hand-me-down carseat from his sister, why do you ask?)

and laid his Quack-Quack duck side up

and was the happiest I'd seen him since we left the morning we lost the luggage.

It was like having a little of  "home" again.

My mama's heart was happy.

Now, this blankie is even more special than before.

Thank you Charlotte!!!

Thankful for the sun on my face,

the sand under my feet, the smell of the salty ocean air,

the breeze in my hair and

for a God so BIG

He created it all.

Now, don't look at these pictures and think we have it all perfect and all.

We've struggled to live in tighter quarters than we are used to.

We've got anxiety issues and fighting and unappreciative kids.

We are 8 very different personalities with constant wants and needs.

Just like you.

I'm not sure how much blogging or blog reading I'll be doing.

It will be here and there, but my main focus

is my family at this time

I don't want to be distracted from what God has given me.

I have a little girl begging me,

"Mama, find me something to do!"

(in a very whiney voice)

over and over and over.

I have an almost 3 year old

 at my side wanting me to "weed to me mama"

(Read to me mama!)

 I waste the precious time given me with my children.

while I look at this rectangular thing.

I'm losing so many opportunities

for joy and grace.

Balance

All in balance

God bless you!