Heaven is for Real!

    I will start by saying I am a devout Christian who was raised in the Methodist church. Growing up, I was extremely involved at church from Sunday School, to youth group, all the way to choir and childcare. I spent the majority of my weekends volunteering at different church affairs, with my best friend and the time who's father was the church maintenance man. I've been to huge conferences, brimming to the rim with youth that were on fire for God's love.   My faith has remained steady through my life, even after losing my mother far too soon  in a shockwave of events, I remained persistent, knowing that God wanted me to be stronger, and this was his plan.
   Now, with a two year old who doesn't like to be quiet, and absolutely refuses any type of childcare where I am not present, regularly attending church is just not an option for me right now. I suppose, although I hate to say it, I have put my faith, and God, on the backburner. It is so hard to admit, but true. The person who listens to my prayers, my struggles, and my frustrations 100% of the time, I have pushed to the back of the list. This changes here. It has to. He has blessed me with too much to not simply take the time to wake up early, struggle on a hard pew with a noncooperative toddler, and send him my praise.
   All of this is my response to reading a book written by a pastor, and a father to three well, four children. The story starts with the father reminiscing through a few health scares he had personally. Then it gears up to get emotional, and his four year old son's appendix bursts in his body, and doctors give the family the run around doing test after test to finally make this diagnosis, five days later. The boy is on the brink of death as he is wheeled in to emergency surgery where he "dies for 3 minutes and visits heaven". The book goes on to describe his trip in detail.
   I'll leave it at that for those of you who plan on reading it, which I strongly suggest you do. The little boy is eleven today, and going around teaching people God's word, which he was fortunate to hear from the lips of God himself. I am almost jealous. No, not jealous, because now I KNOW factually what Heaven is like, and that God will be waiting to take me home. Of course I have always believed that when we die we go to heaven, but somehow a then 4 year old's account of how it all works, makes it that much easier for me to grasp. I would love to meet the family, especially that little boy who said he "sat on the lap of Jesus".
   I look forward to teaching Lily more about the love that God has for her and that if she should need guidance in her faith, that she will be able to come to me and we can grow in God's love together.
To read a little more about the Burpo family go to www.heavenisforreal.net

also google : Akiane Kramarik who is a child prodigy, is to have believed to have also visited heaven and claims that she recieved the Holy Spirit and paints portraits of heavenly figures. She painted a portrait of Jesus  which Colton, the boy from the book, recognized as being what he remembered Jesus looking like as well. These stories are just so compelling and life changing that I had to share!! Hope you get a good ponder from it!

When you get the clutter out of your home, you will not have to struggle with the guilt of a messy house

     This thought is genious, and makes keeping the house straight practically effortless. I have struggled with piles of crap building up everywhere and a lack of organization, and have finally found a tool I can use to help me with that, and maybe you too!! She has made lists and lists of things that should be accomplished throughout the day, but in small spurts, and encourages breaks!!! WOW is this the way I need it to be lmao. Breaks are great, but the "breaks" are most useful to change the activity for the little hawk who's circling my clean floor (with freshly made chocolate covered strawberries in hand unfortanately!). LOL... It started with small steps each day adding something easy to do.. 1 is shine your sink.. really? thats it? DONE! and ill say, my kitchen looks twice as clean all the time by simply drying my sink after use. I'm not losing my mind I know I can not prevent messes. It's gunna happen, I'm gunna clean it, and that's how it's gunna be...thank God for FLYlady, at least I can now look at this as effortless(endless cleaning)! Go check her site out, www.Flylady.net!
   I made fudge last evening, the chocoholic of the group LOVED this activity and has been downing it be the spoonful!! Needless to say this is a once a year activity, and all I can do is hope she doesn't get chocolate fever...or a tummy ache from the stuff! I added too much marshmallow cream and it is more like icecream fudge than, hard, typical fudge...oops, still SUPER yummy and easy for strawberry dipping!!
    I've had to back out of playdates lately and I miss everyone of Lilys usual playgroupers and moms!!!!! Every single place that we go in the car she repeats her little friends names over and over hoping that will convince me to take her to them, its heartbreaking! Things just keep coming up and we havent made it to any in the last few days :o( I did however get Lily all up to date with the doc until next fall!!! We were in the room and Lily heard children being picked off one by one, and suddenly a new kid would start shrieking for dear life every minute or so. It was horrible. She had NO idea what was coming but could feel that it was going to be bad. She is getting to be too smart for me! She was also looking throughout the office for her friend that she looks for while we're in the car, it is true separation anxiety! I think she thought maybe the friend would come around the corner to save her lmao! So here's the stats for 2 yrs old:: 27lbs-(60th%)::34.5in. tall (75th%)To me doctors visits are a big deal.. I feel like the doctor is the only true "judge" of how I'm doing as a parent..and visits to him are like end of year finals... you know you're going to pass, you just don't know if you're going to get a curveball or exactly how well you'll do, just nervous! Luckily this "final" is a clear and obvious pass or fail... well to fail would be a tragic horrible fail... and yes well, clearly we passed with flying colors! lol. i just hate doctors. the end.
   I made a meatloaf today that was mushy like sloppy joes...that right there is a classic example of a tragic horrible fail...lol my husband ate a lone plate of instant mashed potatoes for dinner and skipped the slop!
Night girls!

stop whining and count your blessings

    Today there was a HUGE fire 10 miles from my house, and 2 from a dear friend's. I have to be honest, it lit the fear of god in me. To see a massive black cloud, bellowing from the groud, imagining the houses being devastated at it's base. Fortunately, the fire was a "wildfire" within a large park, in the city limits. These wildfires have been starting all around in the neighboring counties, and yes I've considered all of this before, but it becomes extremely real when it is all happening right in front of your eyes. So, tomorrow I will be going to the dollar store and buying hygiene items, and taking them to my local dropspot... and you should maybe consider taking a load yourself :o) 
    Also today, we hosted a playdate at our house! We did sliced fruit stamps, and it was a big hit with Lily! She has now been begging for apples all night. Daddy didnt understand why when she requested her apple, her true intention, and was dearly confused as to why she continued grunting after given the apple. Too funny to watch. I love them so much and am very lucky that I get to stay home every day and do these activities with her. 
    These are the blessings I speak of. My house has not been threatened, I live pretty comfortably (except the days that I've maxed out my credit card and carry quarters around and my friends sport my mcdonalds habbit lol thanks friends) my family is healthy and SO happy, and we have amazing friends and family who love and support us. So EVEN on a day when I've been on two playdates, cleaned house, and then make dinner while I shake a 2 year old off my leg, I really have NO reason to so frustrated with my husband.  There is no real situation besides my aching feet, and I need to appreciate all that he is doing behind the scenes to make it all possible. I watched my mom work SO hard her whole life, and I almost feel guilty for not having to work the long hours and tend to a child. She worked two jobs up to the day she had her heat attack. I was taught better. I will strive for better, and to be more like her. No more whining and complaining about getting on my hands and knees to scrub the spots out of the carpet, because that is MY job. It's not glamorous, but it is important, and it's mine!
    On a lighter note, Lily is saying new words EVERYDAY!!!! I need some new vocabulary building exercised for my lovechild if anyone has any good ones! We've been doing flashcards and she can now say all 90 plus other randoms! This is a huge improvement over just a month ago! The cutest of her new words were "pretty" which is a word every girl needs... and "football" which she learned from her uncle. Her uncle comes over every weekend and asks her daddy to "play football" and now every weekend she gets a new lesson in football from uncle dan. It is so cute to watch, and she LOVES every second of it! My girl is one tough cookie, just like her momma! 

meal planning is so much easier!

http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/easy-dinner-recipes.html

this page made the lightbulb go off in my head! I just have make a plan, and list the groceries and EVERY part of the whole feeding/ grocery shopping process becomes thoughtless. genious. consider it done!

I love momswhothink in general but this was just genious, now I don't even have to plan the recipes...well at least if I dont want to :o) 

p.s. the hub is now LOST in the air somewhere... he was at the airport ready to go, didn't mention a delay... but is now 2 hrs lost and phone not back on. SOO QUESTIONABLE! if this goes on too long ill be phoneing homeland security ;o)

Great Website for parents who like to travel with their kids!

I just found this site, and I'm completely obsessed. Printable workbooks, songs, and kits for purchase all perfect for any kid to be entertained for hours! I will definitely be going to be making an order next week!

https://www.travelkiddy.com/category_s/111.htm

and on another note, just to share... my hub is STILL out of town, so me and my sweet daughter woke up and had her uncle over for breakfast. I made pancakes and a huge omlete, and have to say I may have outdone mysef... totally delicious! We are now cuddling watching Saturday morning cartoons, and playing online games. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than in our pjs having an amazing morning in our home. God has blessed us with so much, I just need to take moments like this to sit back and appreciate it more often!

Blogging could be healthy for my mind

    Seeing how all of my friends are now blogging, I feel like my life would feel unimportant if I too did not blog! So, this is me, candid and uncensored. Motherhood is draining! You wake up & start with the whining because your 2 year old saw the cupcakes when you went to get her juice, and now MUST have a cupcake for breakfast now. So what else can I do but give her the damn cupcake!?
    I have moments like this all day long, but carefully choose which to say a stern "NO" to, and which to let slide for both of our sanity's sake. The way I see it is that she will end up having a cupcake some time throughout the day and if we get it over with first thing, she just won't get one later. We have recently put a big push on potty training. I've given it two weeks, leaving for errands with no diapers, and only wearing one when sleeping. I am SO proud of my little girl, she has really caught on quick. I took her out to lunch the other day with her aunt and the place had a petting zoo and sandbox, pretty cool huh? Not so cool when your child wanders over to the sandbox only to stand there, spread her legs, and let a stream of urine flow splashing straight down to her feet. Completely embarrassed I hustled her away to get cleaned up, but definitely was a story that I will one day be telling her. 
    This is why I am blogging, so that one day we can look back on this and remember all of the fun, amazing things she is doing right now! She is learning new words and using them everyday!! This week the favorites are "stuck", and "thank you".  My sweet girl says thank you for everything, and sometimes just says it to say it because she knows mommy will smile if i say thank you, lol.
   My husband is amazing, he works extremely hard and esures that we have every single thing we could ever want for. I just got a new car, a Cadillac! I could not be more happy with it. It has a large interior and three rows of seats, which is perfect to fit the new baby I have been dreaming of having : ) I suppose I'll have to wait for the hubby to get back from his one day business trip to miami to get that one goin tho! lol
    Tonight we went on a playdate with our awesome mom's group. These women are really amazing, they always seem to understand exactly how I'm feeling because our children are exactly the same age. I love them and their kids and am SO glad to have met them!!! We played for a while, had a snack, and then went to the park. It has been WAY too hot for that lately so it's really nice that we are able to go again comfortably! 
    I hope to use this site to not only share what we're going through and our daily adventures, but also cool new products, recipes, and activities!