Joy

Even though it was extremely difficult to understand the priest last night, I did walk away with two very important lessons.

1. We are called to be humble and simple.
2. In order to experience JOY, we need to remember what the letters stand for.
J= Jesus, always comes first.
O= Others, we must think of others.
Y= Think of yourself LAST

Merry Christmas!

Living in Grace's World

1. Grace is love with the nativity that sits underneath the tree. The other day, we overheard Grace talking to baby Jesus. "Baby Jesus, this is your mommy. Listen to your mommy."

2. A picture of Mary was in the church bulletin. Matt's mom told Grace that was Jesus' mommy. Grace studied the picture and finally said, "Jesus Mommy doesn't have shoes. Grandma, she needs shoes. We need to get her some." Matt's mom asked Grace is she had any money. Grace's response, "At home, but Grandma do you have any now? She needs some shoes."

3. The ornaments need to be rearranged daily.

4. Taking a bath at 2 in the afternoon and spending the rest of the day in pajamas.

5. Pink, pink, pink, pink.

6. Singing to random strangers in stores. So if a toddler comes up to you and starts singing Jingle Bells....well, it just might be Grace.

7. Princesses....man, oh, man...the princessess

8. Reading her Christmas books before bed....all of them...and sadly she knows when I try to hide some.

9. Playing powders...also known as playdough.

10. Running and running and running like a crazy girl.

Moving with a Toddler

Moving with a toddler = nonexistant progress

It all started with a box of books. Grace helped me pack a shelf of her books into a box. It went relatively easy until I tried to tape it shut. She told me not to give away her books. We decided not to touch her stuff until the last possible moment.

Then Matt decided to pack up the stuff under the kitchen sink. She's not even allowed under the kitchen sink, but as soon as she saw the box, she started screaming and hyperventilating and crying uncontrollably. We decided we wouldn't pack when she is in the house.

The boxes are piled everywhere. In fact, one box has become her personal car, but she still finds things that are "missing". Take the clock on the wall. Matt packed it one day when we were out of the house. Grace came in and repeatedly asked where the clock was. It got to the point where we had to unpack the clock and put it back on the wall.

This packing stuff is not all it's cracked up to be.

One more week. I wonder if Grace will let us pack. We're down to the wire now.

30 Days of Gratitude

Well, the calendar now says November, and Grace and I made three crafty turkeys today, but the seasons have not changed in my house.

Grace is still wearing her Halloween costume. She's worn it just about every day since the beginning of October, and we're still counting. Her handprint spiders and painted pumpkins still decorate the fireplace. And the candy. Oh, the candy. And Grace has a wicked sweet tooth. It's so bad that she'll have meltdowns over not being allowed to eat candy for breakfast or lunch or dinner.

I think Snow White will remain with us long past Thanksgiving. Well, at least until that costume is nothing but threads, so in the meantime, I'm trying to get our household less focused on Halloween and more so on Thanksgiving.

We started with making leaves of gratitude. I originally was going to make a tree, but then I found a turkey on Pinterest, and now we are in the throws of packing our house up because we finally sold it, so who knows where these daily gratitude leaves will end up. All I know is that daily Grace and I (and Matt if he is home) write down what we are thankful for on that day. Grace was first thankful for leaves. I'm hoping this trend brings me out of my stressful funk.

Last week, I read this during my daily reading:

Whoever wants to embrace life
and see the day fill up with good,
Here's what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful;
Snub evil and cultivate good;
run after peace for all you're worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
listenning and responding well to what he's asked;
But he turns his back
on those who do evil things.

Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless - that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Wow! Right?

I read that last week. I tried to be mindful this week to focus on the positive. Let me tell you the negative won quite a few times, but I'm not giving up. I'm going to remember the blessings in my life.

1 - Listening to Grace sing "Jesus, loves me"
2 - Getting moments to snuggle and rock Grace again just like when she was a newbie.
3 - Hot apple cider
4 - Signing a contract to SELL THIS HOUSE
5 - sleeping in just a little bit longer on a Saturday because my wonderful husband got up when a certain little person started yelling Mama, Mama.
6 - Grace (Every.Single. Thing about her)...even the constant why? why? why?
7 - Being a parent. This is one of the greatest gifts.
8 - Bars behind the vents in my car, so when my child tries to use it like a cash register, the coins don't actually go all the way in the heating and ac vents.
9 - Knowing that my patience is restored each and every day.
10 - Dora Band-aids for $2 at Big Lots. We go through a lot of band-aids. (Grace uses them as accessories. Lots and lots of accessories.)

Azra

Far too many days are spent reading despressing, heartbreaking, and negative stories in the newspaper or on the news. Tonight, for once, a story brought tears to my eyes.

A two-week old newborn was pulled from the rubble created by that earthquake in Turkey. Her mother was pulled out alive next. And her grandmother was pulled out alive as well. Wow! Three generations...alive!

Please pray her father is next.

Life, Celebrated Daily

Today while driving back Sam's Club (note...always check the checkbook first to make sure there are actual checks in it.), I saw Life, Celebrated Daily on a license plate cover. And I stopped. Well, not literally because traffic is already chaotic down here without me stopping at a busy intersection. I stopped because I was and have been in one of those ruts in which I feel like I'm complaining and/or whining about something all the time. When in reality I should be celebrating life. So without further ado....

Today, I'm celebrating...
1. My family - I so grateful for Matt and Grace. Our home wouldn't be complete without them.
2. Daily Gracisms - A day does not go by without a saying from Grace that just leaves me laughing out loud. This child always brings my stress levels down each day. We never know if her rantings will be about the giant pink egg also known as a cement truck, or her desire for a pink school bus, or pumpkin candies.
3. Grace calling me "Mama Lady." It just puts a smile on my face.
4. Patience. Patience. Patience. When I feel like I have absolutely nothing left, I find some more.
5. Pinterest - Grace and I have found some fantastic craft ideas here.
6. Fall Sports - Who would have thought I'd have the Tigers and Lions and Michigan all on winning streaks?
7. KLove - I love that radio station.
8. that my 2-year old sometimes still needs me to fall alseep with her at night. Now if only I could get her to cuddle with me.

And We're Back

I can't believe my last post was in July! JULY! July was also the last time I uploaded pictures off my camera. Again, I keep asking myself why did I let it go so long? Well, here is a quick fly by on what we've been doing since then.

1. Grace and I made a trek to the U.P. For the first time, she actually acknowledged without tears my dad. She ran right up to him and jumped on his lap. I think he also won her heart when he took her for a spin on the riding lawnmower. Grace and Landon were inseparable yet again. The two of them together just crack me up.

2. School is back in session. I KNOW this is where all my time has gone. There are a lot of changes for me this year (new curriculum, new lesson plan format, new schedule, new class, new everything). I'm still trying to find my groove. I don't like it when I feel all out of sorts. And to top it all off, piles have already formed. I usually don't get massive piles until November. How many days until a teacher workday?

3. Football season is in full swing. Grace LOVES the entire atmosphere of high school football. She packs a bag with a snack, her pompoms, and her football. What girl doesn't carry a football? She loves her "football boys" as she calls them. She loves looking for Daddy. She loves the cheerleaders. This fact does not go unnoticed by Matt. Her babysitter has made her the cutest little Hawk cheerleader outfit to match the girls, plus replica hairbows. She now refuses to wear other hairbows. On Friday night, she told me she needed white cheerleader shoes, so we had to dig out her almost too small shoes so she could have her white shoes just like the cheerleaders. She also loves the band. I think love isn't a strong enough word. As soon as she spots any sign of the band or music she gets all excited and says, "Oh, my goodness. My band is playing my music." (special emphasis is on my)

4. We also have been on the hunt for a specific giant pink egg. One morning, we saw a cement truck painted pink for breast cancer awareness. Grace instantly coined it the giant pink egg. She asked for this egg repeatedly for days. A co-worker spotted it last week in a subdivision, so Grace finally got her pink egg again. (Note: Grace says it is a really big chicken inside. This chicken is brown, and will eventually lay more pink eggs.)

5. We've been crafting and reading and making trips to the library and playing Purplicious and playing Pumpkins aka Starfall and watching Dora and cooking and having tea parties and playing dress up and watching Cinderella and going to the park and many more.