A Treasure

I have not been feeling very loveable lately. I have been in a huge funk and have been so grumpy. I was hoping the nicer weather would help my mood but nothing has! I have been praying about it a lot because it is affecting my family and other relationships because I feel like I say the wrong things and put my foot in my mouth a lot because of it.

It is amazing to know that despite what I feel God loves me and that is the most important thing. Romans 8: 38-39 says "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I tell my girls that I love them no matter what and I know that God feels this way about me, even if no one else does.

There is a song by Sanctus Real that I love that makes me realize this.

"When I don't fit in
And I don’t feel like I belong anywhere
When I don’t measure up to much in this life
Oh, I’m a treasure in the arms of Christ"

Wow. I'm a treasure in the arms of Christ. What is better than that!

Juliana is 5!!!

My big girl just turned 5!! These 5 years have just flown by! It seems like yesterday that I was staring into her eyes for the very first time. She is such a joy and a blessing to us! She is such a good girl and an amazing big sister. I love how excited she gets about going to school and how much she likes to read. She loves to jump and run and play outside. She is so smart and is going to do awesome in kindergarten! Juliana made me a mommy and I am so glad that God gave her to me! I love you so much!!!!

red hair

Before I had children I never really paid attention to babies or kids. If I saw a cute baby, I might have thought what a cute baby but I never went to the mom and said anything. I certainly never paid attention to hair color until I had a little girl with red curls. Every single day we go out and Natalie gets so much attention. She gets people of all ages and men/women who stop and go on and on about how precious she is and her pretty hair. This is great, what mom doesn't like to hear that about her child? But when Juliana is also there my heart just aches for her. Sometimes, the person complimenting Natalie will say something nice about Juliana. Most of the time, though, it is all about the red hair. Who knew this would be such a big deal?? I just hope that I can build my big girl up so that she doesn't grow up feeling like she needs to have red hair to be pretty.

Count Your Blessings with Shutterfly's 2010 Holiday Card Collection

I love Shutterfly! I have always used Shutterfly for photo books and for prints but I have never gotten my Christmas cards there. So, I was so excited to look through all of the choices for cards this holiday season because I signed up for the "Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly" promotion http://bit.ly/sfly2010. I am so impressed by all of the options that are on Shutterfly's website! They are so colorful and can include one picture or many more! It was so difficult to pick but my favorite card is:

This card can be found at http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/count-your-blessings-christmas-5x7-folded-card.

My choice is a 5x7 folded card but they also have 5x7 stationary cards. These two cards are so colorful and fun!





Go here to see the Christmas photo cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery.

Go here to see New Year's cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/new-years-cards

I can't wait to start taking pictures of my girls to create my cards! Go to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards to get started on your own Christmas cards! Have fun and look for codes for shipping and discounts before you order!

Giveaways

I have to admit it. I am obsessed with giveaways. I spend way too much time on Twitter and Facebook and other blogs going through a list of time wasting things to get another entry to some random giveaway that I probably won't win. It is ridiculous and I know it, but I still do it! My goal this year, because we are so low in cash, is to win all of our Christmas presents. So far, I have won a couple things for my girls and some things for the nieces. That isn't too bad but I have a long way to go to get everything I hope to give my kids. So, I guess I will continue to waste my time filling out form after form in search of the next Christmas present! I should probably just get a part time job and earn the money to buy the presents. Wait... don't tell my husband that!

former teacher

I was a teacher for ten years before I became a happy SAHM. Every once in awhile I get hit with a wave of missing my teaching career. Today was one of those days. I went to J's first preschool parent teacher conference. I have never been the parent, only the teacher in the whole conference thing. It went well but I was kind of sad because it made me miss it, only the good part of teaching of course. Not the teaching to the test, bad kids, bad parents, etc. So, when both kids were asleep I went through some of my teaching materials. I was determined to find books to teach J to read. Did I mention she is only 3? I just felt compelled to be apart of that world again. It was good though because it got me to look at the mound, extremely humongous mound, of teaching supplies that are sitting rotting in the damp molding basement. It was good to remind myself to do something about it or I won't have any materials to use when I do go back to teaching someday. I removed exactly 4 books, 1 binder and 1 shoebox. That really helps. But maybe I can get J to read or maybe I will get myself in gear to do something with the basement....you never know!