My Family!

Here is my family! All five kids, and their spouses, and the kids! All 18 of us!

We have from the left, Joe, me, Jamie and Faith. Then Dan and Katie. Then Brandon, Julie, Gavin (little curly head boy) and Ashlyn. Next is Scott, Laura, and their two girls, Jordan and Tatum. My youngest brother, Justin and his wife Merideth are next to my mom and dad. We will be joined by Baby Sarah this year in February. And Scott and Laura are trying for a boy. That should round out the grandkids, barring any unexpected blessings. :)

2008 Grattitudes

Wow! What a year! I have been here in Phoenix for 4 months, and will be going home in 4 1/2 more months. I'm looking forward to that! It has been a hard year, but I will try to remember the positive.

1. Joe has a job! And they seem to really like him there. He is in Holland helping a new machine build. That way when they come to the US, he can service it when they install them and when the machine needs to be fixed.

2. I have a job too! I'm working .5 part time. I love it! If I can keep this up in the future, I will. Leaving at lunch is so awesome!

3. Jamie is an awesome student! She's getting all As and Bs in school. She enjoys school and reading.

4. Faith has grown so much in her reading ability. It is a struggle, but we're working very hard and hope to have her caught up by the beginning of 3rd grade.

5. I'm grateful for the help I've been getting from my mom and dad. I would probably have had to quit my Master's program without their help.

6. I'm doing well with school. I have a 3.95 gpa. It is so much easier to do the online thing than it was to listen to lectures. I'm glad I found a teaching style the is compatible with my learning style. :)

7. I'm so happy that I have a beautiful house up in Idaho waiting for me. And awesome neighbors who look in on my house often. :)

8. I'm happy I have great friends: in Idaho, in Arizona, and all over the world on the internet. :)

9. I'm grateful for a Church Family in Idaho as well as a nice Sunday School class here in AZ.

10. I'm grateful that I have the support of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without him I would have had a nervous breakdown and would have stayed in bed for the last 4 months.

8 Things

I've been tagged by a good friend, Jennifer. So here we go. This is a neat one.

8 Things

8 TV shows I watch

Life
Mentalist
ER
NCIS
CSI
Burn Notice
Law and Order
Privileged

8 Favorite Restaurants

Chick Fil A
Olive Garden
Paradise Bakery
Red Robin
Applebees
Fudruckers
White Water Pizza
NYPD Pizza

8 Things that happened to me today

(I'm going to use yesterday, because I just got up)

Went to walmart to pic up pictures
Joe hugged me, more than 8 times! :)
I felt baby Sarah kick me from Katie's Tummy
I skipped lunch
It rained on me
I cleaned my bedroom
I hugged Katie
I tickled Ashlyn, my niece

8 Things I look forward to

Joe, the girls and I living as a family again
Going home to my own house, bed, etc.
Christmas morning
Christmas Eve services at Church
Seeing my sister's baby, Sarah
Seeing Dan, my bil, that I haven't seen for so long
Going to The Scottsdale Resort with Joe in a few days
Spending time with my family today

8 things I wish for

to be 35 lbs lighter
To live as a family under one roof again
another doggie, preferably a Westie
to play the piano well
to play my flute even better
to have time to read and do cross stitch
for my master's to be done!
for my family to all live closer

8 people I tag to complete this

Katie
Laura
Carrie
Julie(you'll have to use a reply to do this.) :)
Angela
Amanda
My mom (you'll have to use a reply as well)
I can only think of 7

:)

Baby Booties!

My girls can be so funny! I was making cupcakes for my sister's baby shower. I told them I was putting baby booties on them. They both looked at me funny. Jamie asked if I was putting socks on them. I said no, baby booties. They both said, "Gross!" I realized they thought I was going to put baby bottoms on the cupcakes, not baby booties, as in little crocheted booties! LOL! You can see that I didn't put baby bottoms on the cupcakes. hehe!

My little sister is here!

My little sister is here! She's very pregnant too! And too cute! Love the belly! No stretch marks on her belly, it is perfect. I'm so glad to see her. It has been a long time since I've seen her.

And 2 days and 19 hours and 19 minutes until Joe comes home! If his plane is on time, that is. :) I can't wait to see him. I miss him so much!

Single digits!

Joe will be home in 9 days! Wahoo! I'm so happy. I just wish it was for good. I'm grateful that he has a steady job. A job with security in this unstable time. I know that this is hard for him and for us. But with the economy like it is, a steady job is very important.

I guess I'd better get busy on some Christmas cards and gift wrapping. I have just about all of my shopping done. I just need to wrap. Amazon was my main store this year. I rarely go out without the girls, so I had to shop another way in secret. :)

12 days to go!

12 days to go, not counting today! I'm to excited to see my love. And the girls can't wait to see their daddy.

There is so much to do this time of year. I just want to remind you all to rest. If you don't, then your body will force you to rest. A loved one of mine didn't rest enough, and now she is stuck in bed. She even rested all day yesterday. She tried to do too much with little sleep and now she can't do anything. So just remember, early to bed, but not early to rise. :)

Merry Christmas and Praise to God for sending his Son away from Himself, so that he could come to earth and save us from our sins. I can't imagine being away from my kids for 33 years, and especially knowing what was going to happen at the end of that time.