Enjoying the present

There always seems to be something I'm looking forward to...

Spring weather 

My kid's birthday parties

Summer fun

Fall weather

Date nights with the hubby

Shopping time

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Spring Break Vacay

Easter

End of the school year 

Beginning of the school year 

This list just goes on + on...

But for those times when there is not really anything in particular to look forward to...it's kind of a let down. I'm not going to lie.

Like when your special thing you're looking forward to is...over? Then it's on to the next thing. 

For example it is so exciting to prepare for a vacation. Getting it booked. Dreaming about the scenery there and how relaxing it will be. Getting clothes for the trip. Thinking about all the fun things you will be doing. But when it is over, it's kind of sad that all that planning is done and the vacation is over. However, I do always enjoy coming home. Because I love being home with my family.

Or I can remember to my wedding day. My beautiful wedding :). All the planning, preparing and excitement prior to and during. Then the day after we went on our honeymoon. Which was full of even more excitement. Returning to our real life in our new home as a couple was also exciting. But the big fancy wedding and honeymoon was over. And it seemed like forever that I was waiting for it.

 Not all the time is this true. For example I love preparing for Christmas and looking forward to spending time celebrating Jesus' birth and being with family. Not to mention seeing my cute kiddos excitement when they open their gifts. I actually enjoy the day after Christmas, too. Because generally it's a relaxing day and fun to reminisce. And it's my sweet Mom's Birthday! Which is very fun to celebrate.

With all the exciting things that will be happening in the FUTURE...what about the PRESENT. 

The today? The NOW? 

My sweet and amazing friend from Bible study posted this recently:

I Was Dying

First I was dying to finish high school and start college.

And then I was dying to finish college and start working.

And then I was dying to marry and have children.

And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work.

And then I was dying to retire. 

And now, I am dying. .. and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.

Anonymous. Submitted by Nicole Zablocki
Find it HERE 

How true is this? It is definitely a great reminder. I remember when I was in H.S. looking forward to college. Then being done with college and working as an RN. Then I had babies and all I wanted to do was be with them as much as possible. And now that I have one in 1st grade and another headed to Kindergarten next year, I want to spend as much time in the "now" as possible. I want to soak in the time at home with my littles. Because before I know it they will be having littles of their own.

Live in the moment. Be excited about the day you are living now. Make the most out of it. Love who you are and what your calling in life is. I know I need to work on this and remind myself daily. 

Jamie :)

Airplanes and Blessings

I am guilty for doing just about anything to make my kids happy and quiet on the airplane.

 This past week when we were flying home I was not exactly prepared. In my carry on bag I had books and coloring books with crayons in the front pocket. However, that bag got checked on at the gate to go under the plane during the trip. Whoops! I completely forgot to grab those things. 

When we were on the plane I was digging through my bag finding things for my littlest ones to play with. Hey, I even let my youngest color in my new book because I didn't have any paper! The book which I purchased at the airport in hopes to read. My sweet Mom even had Smarties suckers for the kids as a last resort. They definitely came in handy at the end of the flight.

The reason I tell this story is because if we can OPEN our eyes and hearts and see other people we can experience huge blessings.

 In front of us sat one of the MOST wonderful Moms I have ever met. She had a beautiful, calm, sweet and thoughtful voice. And she was very prepared...unlike I. Next to her sat her very pretty daughter who had Autism and mostly communicated with her I Pad. In which I learned from talking to the Mom. Watching that Mom (and Dad) interact with her daughter was amazing to witness, they were such awesome parents.  Her daughter would peek through the middle of the seats and look at myself and my kids with delight. And my kids were so happy to see her as well. Across the hall sat the Mom's husband and in front of the Mom sat her other daughter and son. 

When one of my kids started getting fussy that sweet Mom let us have 2 pages of Disney matching cards to play with. And how helpful that was because the kiddos were intrigued by them. She was like an angel. She spoke to me and wanted to find out more about where we were from and how our trip was. She had her own family to care about but out of the goodness of her heart she wanted to show us love. 

Because of that Mom this airplane ride went more smooth. She was an absolute inspiration and I feel completely blessed to have met her and her beautiful family!

Lovingly,
Jamie

Worship or Worry?

I was driving in the car after I had dropped Troy off at PreK. I made an appointment with the Audiologist for Troy to have his ears checked. He had his 4 year well child exam 2 weeks ago and didn't cooperate for their hearing test. So, the Doctor (along with I) felt it would be good to get his ears checked. I was feeling so worried: worried that I had possibly missed a potential hearing impairment all 4 years of his life and that it could be the reason for his speech difficulties...

(tears) 

During my worrying I was listening to KTIS (98.5 FM, Christian radio station) and they were talking about during problems that arise do we WORSHIP or WORRY. That spoke directly to me! I was worrying away! At that very moment I could feel God speaking to me...telling me to stop worrying and give it to Him because He can handle it. 

{joyful tears now} 

During the whole time I was worrying I wasn't even giving it to God. It hadn't came across my mind because I was so stuck on worrying and trying to somehow control the situation on my own. {Impossible} God is the very FIRST person I should be turning to. 

The next song that came on the radio was Chris Tomlin's "Whom Shall I Fear (God Of Angel Armies)" and I absolutely love the lyrics as follows:

"I know who goes before me

I know who stands behind

The God of angel armies

Is always by my side"

We are never alone when we have God going before us, behind us and by our side. So refreshing to hear those words in that song and be able to worship. I will choose to WORSHIP instead of worrying about something I have no control over. 

Fast forward to Troy's appointment this past Wednesday. I prayed that it would go smooth regardless of the outcome. My amazing Bible Study group was praying for Troy as well. {I am so grateful for those wonderful ladies!} And I can say that I hadn't worried about that appt. I felt completely at peace.

It started and ended a great morning! Troy was cooperative in repeating the Audiologist's words through the window below with headphones on his ears. He was also cooperative in raising his hand when he heard the birds chirping. And he sure was adorable!! :)

Based on the testing done the Audiologist confirmed that she saw absolutely no problem with his hearing. Praise God! I was so grateful! And extremely proud of my sweet boy for being so goodl!

Here we are after the appointment with Troy's very special Wreck it Ralph sticker that he got :).

The reason I am telling you this personal story is to encourage YOU. If you are in a tough place in your life please choose worship over worry. It is such a relief knowing that we aren't alone and that our almighty God can handle any situation we are struggling with. He is there for you just as He was there for me and continues to be. Choose to worship Him in the midst of struggles. 

Jamie :)

Mommy-Son Date

Troy had his 4 year well child exam last week and I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to spend some one on one time with him!

It was so much fun to have him all to myself! 

He did so well at his appointment and is getting very tall. Our Pediatrician is amazing and he always has fun ties on to get the kid's attention. I just love that! Troy hadn't been feeling the best the weekend before and was diagnosed with an ear infection. His first one ever. He's almost done with his antibiotic now and has taken each dose like a champ! No complaints there! He actually told his Grandma "Not you get medicine! haha!" Like it's a big treat :)! I love him!

After his appointment we went to Walmart to pick out some toys/movies with his very own birthday money. We even ran into my Dad there!

And he wanted to ride the motorcycle when we were finished. So cute with his little feet up on the back like a lil pro driver!

Here was the toy he wanted! One very happy boy! He also picked out a Scooby doo movie, The Nut Job and The Chipmunks 1, 2+3. And HE wanted to give the cashier his money all by himself like such a grown up.

I didn't get a picture of us at The Bakery but that's where we had lunch. He didn't want any of his sandwich but he devoured his {massive} Cinnamon Roll and milk. His day...His way!

And he fell asleep on the way home! What a fun day with my Troy boy!

Lovingly,

Mama Jamie

Most Embarrassing Moment

I'm linking up with Momfessionals for: 

Here it goes:

I went to our local grocery store/gas station last year with the kiddos. After paying for my groceries (with some excellent coupons by the way) I realized I had a coupon for $0.05 off per gallon of gas. I get them all the time but you need to go inside to use the coupon. I usually have the kids with me and really haven't wanted to bring the kids in just to save some change on gas. But THIS time was different and I was determined to use that coupon. So I asked the sweet lady since I was already in the store if I could use the coupon and prepay for gas. She said that was fine. We looked for an empty gas spot and decided on #3 as long as no one would take it by the time I could get my groceries in the car and drive to the spot. Sure enough, some one got there before me. Parking lot was BIZ-EY. So I tried to motion to the lady that I 'd take #8, then that spot was taken. 

So I just drove around and finally found one open. I tried to wave at the lady behind the glass to ask if that one was fine while I struggled to finally park there. I was almost making a scene because the man next to me pumping his gas was laughing at me. The lady looked so confused and worried. I thought she'd just smile and nod as an "OK, use that place" but nope something was wrong. Another girl came outside and said screamed 

"Your gas cap is on the OTHER side of your car!" 

WOW! Just wow!

To my defense, I'm use to the side my past car's gas cap was on.

I did all that maneuvering to get into that spot for nothing! And when my gas cap was actually on the other side of the car. Then that man told me (while grinning) "They have this all on video." LOL not. 

I finally found a spot and saved a whopping $0.45. I'm not so sure I'll do that again...

Now I can laugh about it :)

This is what I should've done...

Have a great day!

Jamie :)

Silver Lining

Have you ever had one of those days where some things are just going wrong?

I felt it yesterday morning a bit. 

I brought my first son to School and was going to wait in the car until it was time to bring my second son to PreK but realized I forgot my phone. And didn't want to be without it in case while grocery shopping afterwards the school needed to get a hold of me if something came up with my boys.

So I went home quickly to get it.  

After grocery shopping, I came home and hauled everything into the house. 

In one bag there was a carton of 18 eggs which was a little too close to the stairs.

These eggs just so happened to fall down not just 2 stairs but 7 stairs!! 

Oh boy... 

I squinted as I opened up the bag to see the mess. Yup, ooey gooey egg yolks all over all 18 eggs and inside the bag. They looked like they were all cracked. 

But friends, there is a silver lining in all of this!

1.) The bag did not break nor did it have a hole.

2.) When I went to actually see if I could salvage any of the eggs I came to find out that only 4 eggs were cracked which meant I still had 14 eggs to make cookies and banana bread with (which was my plan).

Now my eggs breaking story pales in comparison to other actual big problems or difficulties.

But it still helps bring my point across in all of this...It could've been so much worse.  Look past the yucky ooey gooey stuff going on and try to find some sort of positive. My attitude changed when I discovered that not all my eggs were broken. And realized I needed to be grateful!

Look for a silver lining! 

Jamie :)

Sweet Baby Shower

I forgot how much fun it is to help throw a baby shower!

It was exciting preparing for the shower by picking up little things here and there.

It was fun thinking about it.

It was fun creating decorations.

And it was super fun deciding on games to play.

It was such a special girl's evening honoring my sweet friend, Jen, and the {very soon} grand debut of baby Nora Grace!!

I'm very excited to hold that beautiful baby girl!

We had it at a local Pizza Pub and it was delicious. My co-host helped so much. She got the cake and it was amazing.

 She had gotten the cutest party favors ever, too!

We played some really fun games...

1.) Baby food guessing game.

 2.) Celebrity baby match up. Did you know that Jason Lee named his child Pilot Inspektor?

And Carrie Underwood just had a baby recently named her son Isaiah! Cute name!

3.) Changing baby doll blind folded and timed!

The last game was hilarious!

 One person could do it in 18 seconds and another did it in the longest amount of time-->50 seconds.

They both got prizes.

The person whom did it in 50 seconds for being so thorough ;).

And loved seeing all those pretty faces!

Jamie :)