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Reflecting on 2009 ~ Faithfulness

Our fabulous and fairly frugal trip to the Outer Banks.


I planned on taking a break from blogging this week, but then I realized that Laura was hosting her end of the year Gratituesday. Even though I don’t participate every week, this is one of my favorite blog carnivals because it causes me to stop and reflect on all the blessings in my life.

I cannot believe this year is almost over, it seems like yesterday we were celebrating New Years with a large group of friends from our church. So much as happened this year and there is so much to be thankful for, it is hard to put into one post.

March 2009: The Lord provided a new (to us) van that we were able to purchase with cash. We bought this van one day before I unexpectedly went on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy.

April 2009: Cora. For those who have followed my site over the past year, you know how thankful we are to have her sleeping in a crib next to our bed every night.

May 2009: My husband’s promotion. I never thought this day would happen after dealing with his injuries for over a year and a half. I am so grateful we had a promotion party and not a retirement party.

July 2009: The big move. I am thankful the perfect house found us this summer. I don’t miss living on base at all, and I love being closer to so many of our friends.

August-October 2009: I am thankful that we survived my husband’s constant traveling during this time almost event free. We had one broken arm, but that was it. And in our family that is definitely a victory!

November 2009: My son shot his first and second deer. I am so proud of that young man and am excited to see what God is doing in his life.

December 2009: England (SQUEE!) and being able to spend Christmas with my parents for the first time in 10 years.

As I reflect on 2009, the word faithfulness comes to mind. Even though we had no idea what kind of year 2009 would be, God was faithful to us in every circumstance, good or bad. As I look ahead towards 2010, I have faith for the future, no matter what lies ahead.

What are you thankful for this year?

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Meeting Friends Old and New

This Thursday I will board an airplane alone, headed to Nashville. It is not very often that I board an airplane without a car seat and a diaper bag. This weekend I am attending BlissDom, which for those of you who have not already heard is a blogging conference.

I am so thankful I have the opportunity to attend this conference. My husband and oldest have offered to take charge of things around here for a few days so I can meet other bloggers and learn more about this whole blogging thing I have grown to love.

And, I am extremely excited and thankful that I will be meeting Joy and Kate for the very first time! Joy and I started reading each others’ blogs about 11 months ago, and then I met Kate via Joy. In June we launched Happy to be at Home which was a spin off of our 3 Moms Kitchen series. Over the months we have chatted, emailed, and talked on the phone, a lot, but have never met in person.

From our initial phone conversations we joked about meeting up one day, but I am not sure if any of us thought it would really happen. Now we are only 3 days away from our first meeting!

A few years ago I would have laughed to think you could actually make real life friends from blogging! I am so thankful for my friendship with these two women I have never officially met. They are always an encouragement to me! It seems as if we have known one another for years, sharing ups and downs, triumphs and failures.

I now realize that this is probably the first of many more meetings we will have over the years. BlissDom here we come!

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For more Gratituesday visit Heavenly Homemakers.

by admin -

What I am thankful for this week….

Usually I try to think of one specific thing I am thankful for each week for Gratituesday. This week there are so many I decided to list them all, well at least the ones I am thinking of right now.

  • My father’s heart procedure was a success.
  • Warmer weather for our cookie frosting party.
  • Good friends who care about us and always lend an ear to listen.
  • A loving church home.
  • A well stocked freezer.
  • Six wonderful kids.
  • A husband that survived a week of homeschooling on his own.
  • My great bloggy friends.
  • My sister’s upcoming visit.
  • A short commute for my husband.
  • Our upcoming vacation.
  • That my piano will be repaired soon.
  • Our newest happy baby arriving in April.

What are you thankful for this week?

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Our Thanksgiving

I am thankful for the wonderful time we had during our Thanksgiving vacation. We were able to see lots of old friends, play games, eat too much, cut down our Christmas tree, and stay up way too late. My husband and son were able to hunt and my husband got his first buck. (no pictures, I understand not everyone is hip to the hunting photos) We were also given another deer from our former pastor. Our good friends help us process both deer and we came home with 50 pounds of meat.

We had an extremely eventful Thanksgiving dinner and I was trying to figure out a way to write it all down and share it with my readers. Thankfully I don’t have to, one of the ladies we shared Thanksgiving dinner with has already written her version of the story, and it is almost exactly like my version, except her version is much funnier. How she has time to write anything with 4 children 5 and under is a mystery to me! Anyway, if you want to read about our Thanksgiving adventure stop by Elizabeth’s blog for some good old West Virginia entertainment! Here is a preview….

Now, I have been told that borrowing a man’s gun is like borrowing his underwear; it isn’t something men like to do, but they’ll do it in extreme situations. Is this situation extreme enough? Apparently so because as Mr. Have-A-Gun-Haven’t-Had-A-Deer-Yet-Today gets his weapon, Mr. Gunless chooses to borrow the gun of Mr. Already-Shot-A-Deer becoming Mr. Underwear Man. Perhaps we’re witnessing something akin to women going to the bathroom together; it just can’t be done alone.

For more Gratituesday visit Laura’s blog.

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Provisions

Don’t you just love it when God provides an unexpected blessing? Last Thursday at church I was chatting with friends about our camping trip and a friend offered to loan us Therm-a-rest camping mats as well as warmer sleeping bags. I followed her home from church and picked up the supplies. Those camping mats made a huge difference in our trip. We were very warm inside our tent even though it dropped below freezing the first night. The extra sleeping bags allowed the kids to double up and they stayed warm as well.

After our camping trip we had planned to stop on the way home to pick apples at a farm. We were all so dirty and tired we decided to skip the picking. The kids were disappointed but they all understood. Then on the way home we came across a pear tree. There were lots of pears just laying all over the ground in perfect condition. We took them home, but I am not sure about eating them. Can you help me identify these pears? Also do you have any good pear recipes?

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I came home from the weekend and had an email in my inbox regarding free Colonial Williamsburg tickets for veterans. I am so excited that we will be able go again and we will all get in free.

After our perfect camping weekend I couldn’t have dreamed that it could get better and yet now we have a trip to Williamsburg planned for next week. The kids are already counting down the days until we leave!

For more Gratituesday visit Laura.