Serving my family

"You are as much serving God in looking after your ownchildren, and training them up in God's fear,and minding the house, and making yourhousehold a church for God, as you would be if you hadbeen called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts."
Charles Spurgeon

I needed to hear this today! I pray that it speaks to you as well! 

Breakfast of champions... oh wait that's Wheaties...

Well it only took me 3 weeks to figure out what to do for Hannah's breakfast before school, but we finally did it! She is the child who likes to wait until she's been awake for a few hours to eat breakfast. So trying to find something that she would eat before school has been a real challenge. She's not a picky breakfast eater (lunch and dinner though are a different subject), she just isn't hungry. I'm not really sure why it took me so long to fix her this breakfast since we have routinely had them for breakfast, but that's when all of the fresh fruit is in season and it's right in front of me just begging to be used.


Ok what is this breakfast you ask? A fruit/veggie smoothie... I know not original... but I'm oh so glad that I remembered these tasty little treats as a breakfast option. We usually use fresh fruit, but I had some frozen so that worked. I also throw in a little yogurt, whey, honey, spinach or something green (shhhh don't tell...), carrots, and milk or fruit juice. The girls favorites are when we have blueberries, strawberries and bananas. But Hannah will drink any kind I make.  


So if your kid isn't a big breakfast right out of bed eater, consider the smoothie option! And if you're family are already smoothie drinkers, what are your favorite combos? :o)

Sorry, I can't today...

Maybe I'm the only Mom that this happens to, but when one of my babies is sick my world stops. I haven't accomplished one thing on my list today, nor did I complete my daily routine either. Work even called to ask if I was available for a few hours tonight and I had to turn down the extra cash (Christmas is coming came to mind.) It wasn't even a tough decision. That's because when one of my girls is sick my needs/wants/duties have to be put on hold. And hey guess what world? I don't mind telling you no! My girls are a precious gift that we treasure dearly, they're my priority. 


I currently have a 10 month old little girl who has been either crying or sleeping on me all day. She has a fever and is generally cranky. (Thankfully Daddy is home from work and can take a turn with her.) Conventional wisdom would say that it's probably just related to teething or a virus. But my nurse brain kicks in whenever one of the girls is sick and all of the what if's crop up. Just about every day you hear about someone who's child is really sick, weather its on the news, or a friend, or a friend of a friend... you're always hearing about something terrible happening to someone. Then when my child gets sick my mind always wonders... what if?  Well I'll tell you what if. If my child gets really sick we'll do everything that we're supposed to do and we'll just have to be ok with putting the rest in God's hands. We'll have faith for healing and we'll get the best medical care we can. And we'll believe that our God is big enough to handle it.   


So in any situation that the what if's enter your head, remind yourself that your God is big enough to handle any situation. And if you don't know this God that I'm talking about, He knows you and all you have to do is reach out to Him and he'll be happy meet you right where you are.  No matter what situation you're facing, He can meet your need. You don't need someone to lead you in a fancy prayer, you can just talk to him like he's your friend. But if you want someone to pray with you, please feel free to contact me anytime! 


Ok Mommy duties call... sorry I can't spend time tonight on my projects or in blog land... my baby needs me. All prayers welcome! 

Firsts

My big girls have both started school. Hannah started kindergarten and Bekah started pre-school. I must admit that I had a little separation anxiety today with both of them gone. Every time I got out of the car or went into some place I felt like I was forgetting something. I don't think they missed me nearly as much as I missed them. 


So this isn't an original idea but one that I thought was cute... We took pics of their first day holding up a sign to mark the occasion. And hopefully we'll do it each year and have a sweet book to make at the end to show how much they've grown up. 

Now that I have all of this free time... maybe I'll eat bon bon's or paint my finger nails. Or maybe I'll actually tackle all of the projects that I have lying around that need to be done. (Shhhh.... don't tell John! ;o) )

Teacher Gift

Ok for most of you know that among my friends I'm known as the super crafty, highly talented one... ok not even in the least. I routinely put myself in the un-crafty category when I see the amazing creations my friends can make. However, I recently ran across a craft from How Does She that even the scissor challenged can handle.

Hannah and I decided to make her teacher a box of goodies to start the year off right. So we bought a bead box from Wally World, decorated the top (Thanks to some help from the Amazing Toni!) And then filled it with supplies that Hannah thought her teacher could use. We finished it off with a card signed by Hannah. She is so excited to present her teacher with this little gift on the first day of school.

I'll let you know what Ms. Buyalos thinks! Happy September everyone! 

For all things craft related check out my friend Toni's blog:

http://amillerkindofworld.blogspot.com

Gratituesday

Gratituesday: Every Tuesday at Heavenly Homemakers is Gratituesday. So what are you thankful for today? I'm especially thankful today for such a fun filled summer. I'm thankful for a summer filled with giggles and swimming and play dates and luaus and sunshine and most of all 3 healthy children that I got to spend it all with. So here are a few pics of the last couple of weeks of summer.

SG chillin' at the pool while the big girls have swim lessons.

                                     Swim lessons with Ms Julie

Peek A Boo!

 

                                                         

 A special thank you to our friend Jamie for letting us borrow her pool for swim lessons!

SG playing with the toy Bean let us borrow 

 Walking with that toy obviously unassisted...

Bekah insisting that she needs help...

                                                     All ready for Brittany's wedding!

Now the count down to fall is truly on... Happy Tuesday everyone!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

He Cares!

My two older girls couldn't possibly look more different. The oldest has dark brown curly hair and hazel eyes and looks more like my side of the family. The second daughter has straight blonde hair and blue eyes that are the exact shade of blue as my husbands mother. So when we found out we were expecting a third girl I jokingly said wouldn't be funny if we had a red headed baby? And then I actually started thinking about it and really decided that I thought it'd be really neat if 3 children from the same parents looked completely different. I mean what better way to showcase how amazing our God is than to have 3 children with the same genetic make up have different genes expressed? 


So I earnestly prayed that God would use our children to showcase his awesomeness in this way! I believe that God uses nature to reveal himself to us daily and it's the little things like this that totally make my day! Well wouldn't you know it, our third little girl's hair has a slight tint of red to it. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't born a carrot top. But when the sun catches her hair, it definitely glows red. And her eyebrows look red. Recently my father in law commented that he thought her hair was coming in red. My heart jumped with joy when he said this because it reminded me of my prayer. You see even if her hair isn't red, just the slight hint of red, I know that God hears my prayers and loves to give us the desires of our hearts. He loves to give good gifts to his children! This might seem so insignificant to you. But I could tell you probably a hundred stories just like this where I prayed for something seemingly mundane and the Lord answered my prayer. 


What's so awesome about this is that on a day when I'm feeling low or unloved, I can remind myself of these little things that God cared about and know that He cares about the bigger things in my life too. And I know that I don't have to try to overcome by myself because He's with me always! Be encouraged friends... He cares about me and He cares about you too! 

Matthew 7:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!