Giving Thanks

You can't really see too much of our new bedding, but the kiddos are having a great time taking turns playing the video game. This is my niece and nephew!

This is a picture of my new nephew, with his big cousin!

This is a picture of some sweet cousins! Dev and Gauge!

Today was a whirlwind, but I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to find many things and people to be grateful for their presence in my life. I am so glad that I was able to start my day with Holy Mass! Being able to recieve the Eucharist really helped me keep a handle on my emotions today!

I still got a little assertive with my MIL today, but I tell you that woman does know how to kick me when I am down or where I hurt the most. It is just her nature and for many years, I have just turned the other cheek, but that is no longer the case! Everyone in the family has just allowed her to do and say whatever she likes, but I do not think that I am doing her or God any favors by looking the other way when her words injure the spirits of my relatives or myself. I try to choose the words I say carefully, but I just don't have that censor on all the time like I used to do!

I am currently on CD 18 and my peak was on day 16. I little late, but one day earlier than last cycle. I am finding that my pattern this cycle is very similar to last month's and the only difference is that everything is one day earlier. It looks really promising so far. I am really wanting to conceive this month and am fully aware that this can happen or it could not happen. Today, I wrote in my jornal "Dearest Abba, please knit a beautiful, happy, and healthy child within my womb and bless all that we are doing to be open to life. We want to raise a child to know and to love you! Amen." I am not asking for too much, am I? God says He is the great I am! I am placing my trust in Him and His word!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I will share a few pictures for the highlights of my day!

Thanksgiving Prep

Today was wild and great! My kitchen has not seen so much action in forever. My Mom came over today and will be spending the night so that she will already be here for Thanksgiving Dinner. She worked on preparing her cornbread dressing and this is the first year that I paid enough attention to learn some of her tricks to getting to taste so yummy!! We will do all the final work on the cornbread dressing in the morning. My husband and I are hosting the dinner at our home and we are cooking three turkeys! I know it sounds excessive, but I love turkey and I love to eat it for leftovers and it is on my diet!! One thing that is not on my diet is pecan pie and I made four of them tonight! They are almost finished cooling. Our house smells wonderful and it really feels wonderful having my mom working beside me in the kitchen. My mom and I have not always had the best relationship, but we have come so far in the last few years! I try really hard not to focus on the past and just live for the present and hope for a bright future! She is currently in Chemo for breast cancer and so I do not take one moment for granted these days! She is doing well with the chemo, but has other health concerns. I just really hope that she will be around for a long time to meet all of her future grandchildren!
Well, I hope that our families are able to enjoy the dinner we prepare and find themselves full of thankfulness this year! Happy Thanksgiving to all, I will pray for you all!

Celebration of Christ the King

The feast of Christ the King is such a spendid feast day. I found that the scripture readings really ministered to my wondering heart. I wonder how Christ will care for me in the future, how he will supply for all of my needs! The first reading, which is below reminded me how God will always care for me and provide for all of my needs.

Ez 34:11-12, 15-17Thus says the Lord GOD:I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flockwhen he finds himself among his scattered sheep,so will I tend my sheep.I will rescue them from every place where they were scatteredwhen it was cloudy and dark. I myself will pasture my sheep;I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out,the strayed I will bring back,the injured I will bind up,the sick I will heal,but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,shepherding them rightly.As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD,I will judge between one sheep and another,between rams and goats.

My favorite line that refers to God coming to rescue me from wherever I have scattered when it was cloudy and dark! The days in the past eight years have certainly had their fair share of sad and cloudy days and it reminded me how easy it is to scatter away from God at these times. It filled my heart with deep peace to hear his promises when He tells us He wil seek out the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and heal the sick. I realized that God recognizes that there will always be those who will stray, be injured or sick, or lost . . . but that is not where the story ends. He acts when all hope seems gone. It is at this time that he performs his miracles. So now, I am ready to say "God, I am ready for your miracles to tranform my life!" But as I am writing this, I realize that God is already bringing me healing and hope!

God is so good to me at this time and I suppose, I am blessed to even see His hand in all of this. Today, my husband and I ran into a lady we know from church. She has a special story and it just reminds me that God does all things for the good of those who love him. She and her husband had been married for many years and tried for a long time to have a child. At some point in their journey, they chose to adopt a baby boy. They were just living it up and praising God for the miracles he placed in their lives. Six months later, came a huge surprise. She was pregnant and they had a little girl nine months later! The children are now in their 20's and doing great and it just reminded me that God is full of suprises. I don't know what God has in mind for me and my husband, but I will just trusting him with my todays and tomorrows.

Lately, I have been reflecting on the brief whisper of life from the first child that we were to only know for the briefest of time. The holidays always bring this about for me. Our little one would be seven years old and as I buy gifts for my niece, who is seven years old, I am mindful of what our child could possibly have wanted for Christmas this year. I also ask this child of God, who I know is in heaven, to pray for their mother and father. I am feeling their presence so much in the last few days. I have also just discovered that the name we chose for him/her, Sam, means, name of God. I can't imagine their being a more appropriate meaning. Well, I did not intend to share these thoughts, but I am grateful that they came to me in this way. With each passing year, I keep finding more aches and pains and wonder how I will be chasing the little ones I am praying for today!!!!
On a side note, I was able to take a fabulous nap today and now I am wired up trying to finish laundry for the week ahead. Sometimes I think that I have been so spoiled only having to care for myself and my husband, that I am going to have a hard time adjusting to the endless needs of new baby! Yet, I am willing get ready for a baby! We met a guy on Saturday and he said that he was the youngest of five boys! I just looked at my husband and just grinned! I had a cousin who had several boys in a row and kept trying for a girl, only to end up with five lively boys! At five, they decided they were content with their boys and felt no need to pursue the goal of having a little girl. I just want a healthy baby! May God bring us the desires of our heart. I trust that God is already working on it!