Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. I totally believe that holidays such as these are what you make them. We invite everyone over make homemade doughnuts, treats and crafts. I love the feeling of my house being full of life, love and happy faces. There is really nothing greater to me than being surrounded by the ones I love and enjoying this life to its fullest.
We had Luke Skywalker and Aurora this year. They were adorable as usual.. Especially my Elliot because he so serious about his costume it has to be just right. Well unfortunately he left his costume belt out and the puppy ate it so at the last minute we had to to talk him into wearing a regular belt and Brian fashioned him a "ammo belt" out of any empty cantine holder. In the end of course it was totally cool and he made some grenades for his ammo belt:) Kolby and Savannah were here to so we had Darth Vadar and the cutest little girl pirate you ever did see. The boys even treated us to a light saber show in the living room with all of the lights turned out.
This was the first year Brian had to work on Halloween(and the last) so my did and Jaime took the kids out trick or treating and my Mom, Kristin and I finished the doughnuts so the kids would have a warm treat when they got back. Bill did the door answering and MomL did the dishes.
These are really what memories are made of and that is what we are going for these days.

Olive Hope

Lately my heart has been really heavy in prayer for some friends of mine and their oh so tiny little one Olive Hope. She is the child of Rusty and Lynette Polinder who are missionaries in Thailand. Their baby was born about 2 months early and is suffering from many complications. As a mother I can not imagine the heart ache Lynette must be feeling right now. I am going to include their blog address(which is public) so if you wish to pray for them you can read about their journey and follow them in order to know exactly what they need. It has been amazing to watch God work in their lives.
The Holy Spirit has been keeping little Olive at the forefront of my mind and I just thought what better than to get everyone I know to pray for her as well.
http://rustylynette.blogspot.com/

He Got The Job...

Some of you already know this but for those of you who don't....he got the job. Praise God!! They made the offer yesterday and after some negotiating we were able to arrange a salary we could deal with and woohoo its done.
Now we are negotiating a start date and wouldn't you know they have come up with a rule that people can't change positions within the fourth quarter.? I had some interesting words and thoughts when I was presented with this news, however that won't do us much good. It looks like best case scenario he will start on the 1st of Dec.worst case scenario it will be the 1st of the year. Really?? Uhhhhh...didn't they know this momma was really counting on her first year of holidays without 12 hour shifts and working until 11pm or midnight.
Now that I have that off of my chest I will sit back, relax, wait, breathe and pray that we will get the soonest start date possible. But he got the job woohoo!
Thanks to all of you who were praying along with us for the change it is much appreciated!! Brian is so excited and I think a bit relieved for a change of pace. And after 8 years of retail (although don't get us wrong it is an amazing job with amazing benefits and compensation!) we are pretty pumped.

Our Last Preschool Pumpkin Field Trip.

Grace invited me to go along with her class to Stoney Ridge Farms today. We had so much fun. This is my fifth trip as a mom on the field trip so I know the presentation fairly well:) Grace did so well and it was great to watch her learn and as always she is the first one to raise her hand to answer a question. I don't have a whole lot to write because I have done this post so many times but I did get some cute pictures:)

I want to be four again!!

Grace is such a girl..I know I have said this before but I will say it again! The other night after dinner I had her in the bathtub and she told me we needed to make a recipe (oh man she is so my daughter) she said we needed some ingredients...water, powdered sugar, curls and some sunshine. This make rainbow princess water in case you want to try it out sometime:)
Today she had her friend over and they were playing princesses as usual. Aren't they cute in there matching purple dresses and Bindi stickers?
I love my four year old girly girl!

Pumpkin Time!

Its Fall and that means its pumpkin time. We got lucky this year..Granny had a pumpkin patch full of pumpkins. We were able to get 3 orange ones and 4 cute little white ones. We spent the afternoon carving them out and picking designs for the orange ones. The kids carved out the insides and much to my surprise Elliot even joined in for the cleaning. ( You see he has a major issue with getting his hands messy so he really never wants to clean out the pumpkins.) They turned out pretty cute. We also decided to use the battery operated candles this year to keep them lit longer.

Excuse my bags full of beautiful apples in the pic.

Double Booked???

I am doubled booked for the first time. The Angry Blueberry has booked two gigs for tomorrow. They do not overlap but they are back to back. Exciting times in the life of the blueberry these days lots of doors are opening with lots of new possibilities. Look for news on here for word on a new blog that is strictly for The Angry Blueberry and her escapades as well as tips for menu planning, recipes and much, much more. It will take the place of the recipe blog and be full of so much more. It will also be public so you can tell your friends. Let me know if you have any ideas or things you may want to see included in the new blog:)

Picking The Scabs Off....

How do you like the title of the post? Gross right?

Well the last five lessons of the bible Study I am doing have focused on this subject alone. It talked a lot about the wounds that have been inflicted over the years and what we can actually gain from them. Wounds inflicted by ourselves and wounds inflicted by others. And the feelings that come with the wounds.
One of the main themes being, It's tough being a woman in a world where beauty is a treatment. Again I am blown away by her thoughts and the things that have moved her. They are moving me as well!! It is interesting when you change your perspective the tiniest bit God has a way of bringing thoughts into your mind that have been there all along.

In the 2nd Chapter of Esther it tells the story of Esther winning Hegai and King Xerxes "favor". The back story being that all of these girls (they were probably only 14 and 15 yrs. old) were gathered up and given beauty treatments. This process of beauty treatments took a total of twelve months. It says they were fed special food and covered in special oils. The bible also says when it was a girls turn to meet with the king she was given whatever she desired to bring with her in order to win the kings approval. When it was Esthers turn she simply asked Hegai-the girls caregiver- what he thought she should bring. In doing this she did gain King Xerxes favor and became queen.

You may wonder what this has to do with today, however if you think about it how much do we rely on to make us beautiful when most of our beauty is actually on the inside. How often are we trying so hard to fit in that we forget about being who God has made us to be. So often I think we get caught up in parts of our bodies instead of the whole picture. Lately I have creases and wrinkles and stretch marks that I have never noticed before, which bugs me a bit. But Brian reminded me that if I didn't have these it would likely mean I would have missed out on something that makes me who I am. Like my stretch marks, I would never trade in my babies for the lack of those. Or my smile lines that are becoming more and more apparent around my nose would I give up my smile likely not. Bottom line I am realizing that we spend way to much time worried about our outward appearance when in the end it is just like everything else God has made me look the way I look for a reason.

But we are not just talking about outside appearance though, there are so many internal scars as well where I can apply the tid bit Brian gave me. And with this comes hurt and anger. How many times have I been hurt or been let down my friends and relatives and people that I trust? Hundreds. Has it hurt? Yes. Do some of these things hurt still? Deeply! Does it make me angry? Sometimes, however I am learning that moments of anger are often turned into the best opportunities that we can be given to show grace. And in showing grace I have found that even though the hurt still lingers at times, the anger most often disappears. In no way am I saying to be a doormat you need to stick up for yourself but anger isn't helping you gain anything it is holding you back from moving on to greater things that God has in store for you.
Esther had plenty to feel slighted about. She was a Jew that had been exiled, and she was an orphan who had been raised by her uncle. Yet the Bible describes her as being lovely in form and feature.She was able to put her own agenda aside and keep her eye on the prize. I hope to be more like Esther as I go on. To be more focused on the now then on the past. There are going to be many more times that point to less of me and more of Him!! Many more times that demand subservience and make me leave my own agenda by the wayside. And boy am I excited:)

There are so many situations that I would have rather not experienced. So many choices I have made that I wish I would have taken the straight and narrow instead the s-curves. Each choice and each path has lead to where I stand now and has formed into the woman I am now. I am learning to love myself and accept each chapter in my life as just that, a chapter. A chapter that is bringing me to a place that really symbolizes the true beginning.

Fall Fall..I Love Fall!!!

I love fall!! It is my favorite season. September is painful for me because the anticipation for fall is so strong I can hardly handle it. I love leaves, pumpkins and the desire the cold, crisp weather brings for baking. This year I wanted to make my own leaf wreath and although it took some time it turned out totally cute and the best part was it was FREE!!

What you will need to make your own-
1- Wire Hanger stretched out straight and then formed into the shape you want your wreath to be. I made mine a circle but I saw a square one recently that was adorable.
2- A tree full of leaves you need quite a few.
3- A monkey in the form of a small child that can climb the tree and shake out the pretty reddish colored leaves that are the best.
4-Some free time. I did half of it as the monkeys were shaking the leaves out of the trees and gathering them off of the ground. I finished the other half after the monkeys went to bed and I was watching some mommy tv.

Then presto you have a beautiful wreath for your front door.

I also worked on Elliots room today spray painting and such blog post to come soon:)

New Job Posibility?

What I think was 2 months ago now Brian heard of a position that was opening within the company. It is a position that he has wanted for quite sometime and also comes with some perks that we do not have at the moment. The perks would include but would not be limited to - Better Hours - More Flexibility - Less Management of Employees - More Relationships with Indirect Dealers - No Crazy Holiday Hours That Leave All Of Us Drained Especially BJ - We Would Have Much More Ability To Take Our 6-8 Weeks of Paid Vacation Each Year -He Would Be Able To Make It To More Of The Kids Activities

The news came a very specific time when Brian was feeling a bit burnt out and almost felt like God was pushing him in a different direction work wise. We really felt it was a "God Thing" that the position came up at all. Now this has happened before only to have us be very excited and then not have it work out in the end, however it feels different this time. We have been waiting 2 months for an interview because the company issued a hiring freeze. In the meantime Brian kind of pulled some strings and got himself a chance to shadow someone that was already in the position, he got paid for it and everything. He was reassured in his mind that he did want the job. So he proceeded to contact the Woman in charge of hiring for the position (he is so forward it freaks me out) to express his interest and so on and so forth.

So over the last two months we have felt a melting pot of emotions, wonder, excitement, defeat, confusion. But I am proud to report that my husband got the interview it is on Thursday. She also went onto to tell him she enjoyed that he was familiar with the area that he would oversee and that she felt he had more than enough experience to prepare him for the position. Now we are trying not to let these comments excite us or tantalize or anything like that we are simply taking the comments as compliments:) But we did find out that she is only interviewing one other person and hes not from the area. We are trying to not let this excite us either its really just an extra piece of info. You can tell I am really trying to be obedient to God's Will in this situation I am not going to lie though it is tough for me!

I am just asking if you have room for an extra prayer item if you could pray that God's will will be done in this situation and that my amazing husband will see that so vividly in whatever decision is made. He works so hard for us and never complains, however I know he could really use a change of pace and scenery right now.

Thursday is the big day I believe at 11am I could be wrong on the time though.

I will keep you posted:)

Quarantined...

So I came down with the flu this weekend!!I have never felt this sick before. I have never had it before so on Monday I went to the Dr. where they tested me for flu and swine flu. Thankfully I don't I have swine flu! However the Dr. ordered me to be quarantined for 3 days. So here I am stuck In my room with food network, tissues, inhalers, ibuprofen, and tammiflu. Thankfully my mom, mother in law and friends have come to the rescue to help with any loose ends.
So in order to improve my attitude I am pretending my bedroom is a cabana on a hot beach somewhere:)

Its Tough Being A Woman....

I just finished the first two weeks of a new bible study I am participating in for the year. The Bible Study is by Beth Moore (love her, love her) and follows the book of Esther. The title is its tough being a woman. So far it has dealt with a lot of issues that are relative to my own life such as, obedience, respect in my marriage, comparing traits between women (physical or otherwise), etc. This first chapter actually focus on a specific scenario, Its tough being a woman in another womans shadow. Bold statement I know! It was interesting to hear other women in my group struggle with the same things I do and it was also interesting to hear and think about how much women measure their own worth and description based on another woman's gift or qualities.

The last year and a half have come with a lot of learning for me on this subject which makes it even better that I am involved in this study. I have noticed even more lately from being so involved in Elliots school with other Moms that God has given each of us different gifts and qualities. But instead of feeling like I am less I just realize I am different and I am so glad there are other moms around to do the things that I am not good at. It is so fun to sit in a room with 10 other moms and here all of their ideas and be inspired by what they are able to accomplish. I love it.

The last thing that I am learning and finally realizing I am ok with- By nature I am a clumsy, cluttered, emotional, totally broken and sometimes stubborn red-headed women. But its pretty amazing that with God I can overcome most of these things:) And the more amazing part is he still uses me.

The last line of the last page of the study this week was- God builds a woman she'd never otherwise become.