Hyssop?

      It is 1:30 am on a Saturday night and I can't sleep so I get up to see if we are getting any of the snow they were predicting. To my surprise our front yard is already covered in a beautiful blanket of fresh snow. That is one of my favorite things of all time is to see the ground covered in freshly fallen snow that is untouched and so clean.
      So has a am watching the snow fall I figured I would look up bible verses to see what the bible said about snow. I Google bible verses about snow. The first verse that comes up is Psalm 51:7. I open my bible and read the verse and can't believe what I read. Psalm 51:7- "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow." Now according to everything I read this was David talking to God after he had been caught  in a sin. Nothing big about that except for the mention of hyssop.
      For over 3 weeks now that word has been brought to my attention in many different ways. First a friend posted she had read about it in her morning bible study and had looked into what it was.Hyssop I have found out is a plant used in cleansing rituals in biblical times. That exact same day Bailee's Sunday school teacher gave them their new memory verse that mentioned hyssop. Then 2 weeks later we have bunko and I won a prize, and I open the prize and it is a candle that is scented like hyssop. Then tonight 3 days after bunko I look up bible verses that had to do with snow and here is the word hyssop.
       So of  course I am now up at 2:30 in the morning researching and reading about hyssop. I have been in what I call a "Momma funk lately." Where I have just been so stuck in a routine and been such a debbie downer lately I feel like God is saying wake up!! Cleanse your heart and mind of all things negative open your eyes and enjoy your daily blessings. I am so stuck in my daily routine of how things are supposed to go I have not enjoyed the small things in life. My heart has been so full of ugliness and always finding the bad in everything instead of being open and looking for the good in all.
       Have you ever just had that moment that you realize what in the heck have you been doing? I look back over the past few months and think; now did I celebrate that special moment with my kid enough, did I let my kids know how much it meant for me to see them even doing something so small as sharing a toy, and did I let Kurt know how blessed I am to have him in my life. Heck, I know I have not been the daughter that I know Christ wants me to be. How can I go into "Momma Funk" over a few small bad things happening when I have a Father that's Son was hung on a cross and died for me. What would have happened to us if God went into a "Father funk?" We are blessed more than we ever deserve here in our Earthly lives and we take so much for granted.
      So tonight I burn my hyssop candle to cleanse my heart and mind of all my "Momma Funk" actions and praise God and thank him for the blessings in my life. I also pray and ask him to give me the strength I need to get out of this funk. What makes us here on Earth think that our problems are to big for our God that created the very ground we walk on? Sometimes we just don't give him enough credit.
     

Crafting is so much more fun with a friend!

Today I got to do something I don't get to do near as much as I would love to do. I spent the afternoon at my friend Brandi's house crafting. She learned I do have a crafty side and I can actually be kinda good at it(if I may say so myself!).
    A week ago we went to Amarillo to Hobby Lobby and bought all the things we might want to make a fall wreath. Then today while all of our kids were at school we got together and made our wreaths. I think they both turned out pretty darn cute. We both made burlap wreaths. We kinda found ideas we like on pinterest and then once we went to Hobby Lobby we used many different ideas and joined them together to make ours.

This is my wreath. The chevron burlap I found a few months ago at Hobby Lobby and it did not work with what I was doing at the time. So glad I did not end up giving it away to Bobbi Jo like I had planned. My wreath is a wreath made of straw that I just covered with the chevron burlap and hot glued in spots to hold it in place. The flowers we watched a tutorial on YouTube to make the flowers. The buttons in the flower actually were given to Brandi by her Grandmother. She had a bunch and said she never knew what to do with them. I think we found what they were meant to be used on.

This is Brandi's she made for her house. All of her stuff was also found at Hobby Lobby. The "W" in the middle she painted to match the red burlap ribbon she found. I think it looks great again her green door(soon to be black). LOL! This wreath is just as easy as mine was but is more time consuming. The only thing not from Hobby Lobby on here again is the buttons from Brandi's Grandmother that we placed in the middle of our flowers.
 We are pretty happy with how our wreaths turned out and have that crafty itch we are going to paint some pumpkins with some ideas we found on pinterest. Happy Fall!!

Just an update!

       Well, we survived our first stock show season. Bailee had a great first year and can't wait to start buying her new animals. It was so hard to say good bye to the ones she raised this year but she has learned it is all part of life. What is kinda funny is how sad the whole family was to say good bye to her steer. Astro was an adventure for us all!! If you would have asked mid summer if we thought he would be the hardest to say good bye to we would have all agreed and said no way but that big ol baby some how became the family favorite. Bailee is excited to go to lamb camp this summer and begin the whole process of teaching her animals and becoming fast friends with them all.
     Kurt has finished 3 of his 4 classes for his first semester back in school. It has been hard on us all but we are making it and can't wait for Daddy to be finished with them all. He has enjoyed 2 or the 3 so far and really seems to enjoy what he is going for(electrical linemen for those of you that did not know).
      JP and I are enjoying the days getting warmer and lots of outside time. If he could live outside I think he would. He can be out there for 5 mins and look like he has done nothing but rolled in the dirt for days. Guess that is just a boy for you.
      I have finished 3 of my 13 5k's for the year. I have not been to great about training for them like I should be, resulting in some super slow times. Really need to get re-motivated and get on the ball and get back to where I was when I ran my first race last year.
       Well, that is about what we have been up to. Nothing to crazy and exciting right now. Kinda enjoying not having tons of stuff going on. Just trying to enjoy each day we are blessed with.

Goals!!

       I have been on a journey for the past few years to become a runner. Have I been great at it? Not at all!! I go through spurts of running every day and craving running then I get burnt out and don't run for months at a time. Don't know why I do that to myself. Then I have to start over getting back to a descent pace and building up my endurance.
       Last year I found a group of amazing ladies that are all about being healthy and many use running as one of their many work outs. They are some of the most encouraging women I have ever meet. Well, I have not really meet them. It is a online group of women. Many are mothers,some are young ladies working on getting their degrees and many are both just like me. Never thought I could build a friendship with women that I have never meet and find them so encouraging.
       After spending many months getting to know this group of women and the new year starting someone mentioned a challenge. So here I am Feb 9th and trying to get my running shoes running again after taking a few months off. Well, kinda I have ran here and there but not like I need to be to train for anything. So after finishing my first 5k last year I feel in love with the thought of the races. The challenge set before this group of ladies was 13 5k's in 2013. Sounds crazy to some but I figured when I trained for my 5k last year I was running a 5k four times a week. So why not. I could handle 13 5k races in a year. Right?

Everyone after my first 5k in 2012. Set a personal best time!!

So I am putting this out there for all my family and friends to hear and keep me accountable. When you see me ask me how my training is going, ask how many 5k's I signed up for and sometimes if I need tell me to get my butt in gear. I promise it wont upset me, I will need it.

I would love to have some of my friends and family join me in some of my races!! 

:)

JP is 4yrs old!!

    In all of our craziness  Kurt and I both starting school and Bailee's stock shows we got to have some fun and celebrate JP's 4th birthday. Can't believe he is 4 yrs old. Where has the time gone? My baby is no longer a baby and he informs me of that every day. He is such a big boy now and changed so much in the past year. 
    After many weeks of changing his mind on what type of party he wanted he decided on a Texas Longhorn party. Then began the search of Texas Longhorn themed party goods. Can I just tell you how much more that stuff cost than Disney Birthday party stuff. Wow! 
     The party was great fun with family and friends. Thanks to everyone that made it out JP said he cant wait until he is 5 yrs old for another party(slow down please!!). 

JP with the spread. He was so excited!! Look at that smile. 

He loved his cake. Don's pay attention to how he desperately needed a hair cut(like I said we were crazy busy, but he did get one the next night.) 

The kids table(a pinterest find!). 

Having some fun with friends and family. 

4 Things I cherish about JP: 
1. I love that he loves to make people laugh. 
2. I love how he loves his big sister and looks up to her. 
3. I love how much he adores his Daddy and looks just like him. 
4. I will always cherish how he still loves to cuddle with me in the mornings. Going to miss that one day!!

A Wild and Crazy start to 2013

Wow, the year is going by so fast already. We all have had/are making huge adjustments with the new craziness going on in our house. Kurt and I both are going back to school along with Bailee's stock shows and basketball is starting up again. We have made it through almost 3 weeks now but it is taking a lot to get used to. The kids don't like not having Daddy around as much seeing as he works about 50 hrs a week and goes to school at night Monday-Thursday. We just keep telling ourselves that is will all be worth in the end we just have to hang on for a little while longer.

Bailee's first year of stock showing has gone better than we could have ever asked for her. That little girl works her butt off with her animals and she finally figured out at our County stock show what all that hard work is for and how it pays off. She did really well at our local Happy show and had a great experience with her steer which is what we wanted. So that she would go into the County show the next weekend with confidence. That she did!! She showed her steer like a champ and was called back for jr. showmanship. She of course was upset she did not place in showmanship but we told her what an honor it was to be called back. She will learn on day what an honor it is to be called back for showmanship and learn why we were so excited for her. The next day she placed well with her lambs and then was called back for jr. showmanship in the lambs also. She again did not place but once again we told her how proud of her we were for even being called back. She also placed well with her pig at the county show and showed him really well.  Then Tuesday night at the sale she was honored with a belt buckle for Outstanding First Year Exhibitor. WOW!! This Momma cried like a baby because I knew how hard she had worked and to be named outstanding first year exhibitor is an honor. I don't think she fully understands now what an honor that is but she sure wears her belt buckle with pride.

There are so many people to thank for helping Bailee this year with her animals. Momma and Daddy could not have survived without you all because you know Momma and Daddy really don't know too much but other people can tell her the same thing and she understands. LOL! So THANK YOU!!  Bailee has such a love and passion for her animals and I can't wait to see what is in store for this little girl and her showing future.

We also had JP's 4th birthday the same weekend as the county stock show will post more on that later this week.

White Christmas!

   We woke up Christmas morning with presents under the tree and were blessed with a white Christmas for the second year in a row. The wind was horrible this year so there was no sledding but without the crazy wind the roads would have been horrible and we would not have made it to our family get together with Honey(my Mom).
   Bailee was up by 7 am like normal but poor girl had to wait on her brother to wake up and he did not do that until about 8:30. So she was in our bed trying to talk us into going and waking him up. The kids both got exactly what they asked Santa for this year. I love being blessed with such a hard working husband that we were so excited for Christmas to get here so he would not be so busy. For those of you that did not know Kurt builds toys(will add a link at the bottom to check them out.) so from Thanksgiving until Christmas he works lots of hours. He worked so hard this year and not only made others kids Christmas wishes come true with the toys he builds but our our kids were able to get a little more than they usually get. Bailee got her first American Girl Doll and JP got his spider man boots. Bailee has asked for almost 4yrs now for and AGD but there was no way possible and this year that dream came true. The doll has gone everywhere with us. I loved seeing her face light up when she discovered it was an actual American Girl Doll. JP was so excited to get his spider man boots he has been asking for them for over a year. One reason he has not gotten them is his foot was not big enough for the smallest size they make but finally he has grown enough that they finally fit. I think he hugged them more than Bailee hugged her doll.
      We had a great time with both of our extended families. Bailee and JP love cousin time. Watching them with their cousins reminds me of the excitement when I was young of the holidays and spending time with my cousins. Love seeing my kids making the same memories with my nieces and nephews. Oh, to be a kid again and to have that Christmas magic light in your eyes.
       Tomorrow we will ring in the New Year with some friends. We have been blessed to grow closer to so many friends this year. There is nothing better than having friends you enjoy spending time with. Makes life so much more fun.
      Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and prayers for a Blessed New Year!!  http://www.thehappytoymaker.com/