Thankful Thursday-Chakanooga

I'm so excited for tomorrow. Jenna and I are going to meet my Mom in "Chakanooga". That's the way she says it. It's so cute. We're going to the aquarium then on to Kentucky on Friday, Kentucky Derby breakfast on Saturday, and my niece's graduation from the University of Kentucky on Sunday! Melanie was 5 when she was the flower girl in our wedding-Jenna's age-yuck! How time flies. I hope to post a picture of her at our wedding when I get back. Mom is bringing us back on Monday for a very busy birthday/Mother's Day week.

Thank you Jesus for family and for the opportunity to spend time with my Mom and beautiful daughter!

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” ~ Colossians 3:15-17 (ESV)

Cinco The Tree

Since Jenna was born on May 5th the doctor commented she was a Cinco De Mayo baby. I had no idea what that was. Yesterday Jenna called me to say she had planted a tree (crepe myrtle) with her Daddy and named it Cinco. How cute! Our Cinco baby turns 5 this year on 5/5. What a cute idea! It will be fun each year to take her picture by Cinco.

ScreamFree Facilitator Training

Friday we wrapped up our 2 days of training. It was totally not what I expected but in a good way. The 2 days focused on the participants as a leader of ScreamFree parenting. We didn't really go over the book or DVD's or even HOW to lead a group. It was about us and the skills we needed to be a coach/faciliator. It's so hard to explain something like this when I was the one experiencing it. All I can say is that I will be forever changed. I am so pumped to get the word out and my eyes are opened to wherever the Lord leads me with this. One thing is I will do for sure is partner with ScreamFree Living to get the word out that there is also a Christian version of the book. I will be starting my own blog/website where the books can be purchased. This is all in the works and may take a while but I am so excited about it. For now, head on over to ScreamFree Living and check it out. If you would like a Chritian version of the book just leave me a comment and I will help you out!

O M G!!!!

That is all I can say about my day today. Only 8 people were there today for this training with Hal Runkel, founder of ScreamFree Living. I also did not know that his wife joined the team in June. We had some great talks today. So, we had 8 hours to listen to Hal, very casual, all of us sitting in chairs (even Hal), very personal. I LOVED every minute! There is a man (Jonathan) there from GHANA! I couldn't believe he came this far for this training. Margaret is from California. The Lord is doing amazing things all over the world with this book. It would take me forever to put into words all that I learned but here are a few things:

1. We are not responsible FOR our children, we ae responsible TO them.

2. It is ALWAYS, ALWAYS easier to complain than to change.

3. The unmotivated are netoriously impervious to insight (from "Freedman's Fables")

4. Give up the need to make other people feel comfortable and focus on being comfortable with yourself.

5. Children need a shoulder to shoulder guide. Go along beside them not toe to toe.

6. We can't set up a system that's asking parents or kids to give up their integrity.

There is so much more but hard to explain. You can get the book and everthing is explained in there! Check out the link below. I am so excited to go back tomorrow.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am headed to a ScreamFree Parenting certification class. This means I will be certified to facilitate this class for groups of all kinds in our community!

About 4 years ago I first read the book and I knew then the Lord had something in store for me. It changed the way I looked at parenting and has changed my life. This book takes the approach that we must focus on ourselves first and not just getting good behavior out of our children. I don't know about you, but I really struggle with yelling. Sometimes, it seems the only way to get our point across. I am the last person on earth that should facilitate this class. Isn't it great that God uses our weaknesses too?

I am also so thankful to my church home. They are paying for me to go and there is no way I could have gone otherwise. I am so excited to see what the Lord has in store. Take a few minutes to go to theri web site!

ScreamFree Parenting: Calming the world one relationship at a time. Start with yours.

Happy Birthday Melody!

Wednesday is my friend Melody's birthday. Melody is a dear "new" friend of mine who I have known for a long time. I am so thankful we have had time to get to know each other (and her precious family) more lately. There are many things I have learned about Melody but here are a few:

1. She LOVES the beach!

2. I call her miss Know-it-all because she knows everything-ha.

3. She loves the Lord.

4. She loves her family.

5. She loves her Blessings Unlimited business.

6. Do not call her Melanie! Ha

7. She loves Starbucks. I'm sending her the bill for my favorite sugar-free
breve mocha.

8. I can't call her if I am in a hurry. It takes us at least 45 minutes to get off the phone.

Happy Birthday Friend!

I'm Gonna Show You!

It's been a long time since I blogged about my weight. I started this blog about a year ago to help keep me accountable on exercise and losing weight and got very bored with it quickly! Last year I went for my one year check up a complete mess. Hormones crazy, that-time-of-the-month wasn't normal, etc... What followed at my doctor appointment shocked me. She wanted to put me back on the pill. Did not asked what I was eating, drinking, if I was exercising, nothing! She told me I had probably hit my "adult body". What? My adult body? I'll show you, I thought to myself. Well, I did lose about 9 lbs and gained it back. I started again in January trying to lose and exercise. I was talking to my friend Jodi about the South Beach Diet and decided to give it a try again. I can't wait for this 2 weeks to be over but I really like it. I wanted to get off of so many carbs and reduce my cravings. Oh, I also did not go on the pill but went on over-the-counter estroven and it has helped so much! So, here are the results from my doctor visit this week:

4 pounds lost
mood swings better
regular cycles again
overall feeling much beter

My goals are:

lose 6 more pounds
continue exercising
continue with vitamins and supplements
continue good meals for my family
laugh more
play more
don't sweat the small stuff
find another doctor-ha

My First Bed Net

I was so happy to get an e-mail that my friend Cheryl purchased a bed net for my birthday! Only 99 to go! Thank you so much Cheryl! This is going to be fun.

Thankful Thursday-Malaria No More

This will be an unusual Thankful Thursday post but I am trying to get the word out as much as possible for Malaria No More.


Two years ago David and I were on our 15 year anniversary trip. I was reading a magazine on the beach (oh, how wonderful that was) and read an article on insecticide treated bed nets you could buy for $10 each to help prevent malaria in Africa. (Mosquito's that carry malaria come out at night while children sleep and the nets help keep the mosquitos away.) I lost the magazine and kept wondering how I could get the information. Several months ago I was flipping channels and saw where Melinda Doolittle (American Idol)was involved in getting people to give for bed nets. I immediately looked it up and found the info. If you were watching American Idol last night they also had a segment on the bed nets. I am so excited about this because I am taking this on as a personal project to somehow get 100 bed nets donated through my friends and blog. You can even send e-cards and donate for Christmas, birthday, etc... NO MORE GIVING USELESS GIFTS that just sit on a shelf! I have had the privilege of going on 2 mission trips and you are never the same. They changed my life. Now I want to help children in some small way and this is what the Lord put on my heart.

Please, please donate! I was so thankful tonight when I tucked my children into their warm, safe beds.

BLOGGERS FOR MALARIA NO MORE! Click the link for more information and please feel free to post a link on your blog and leave me a comment if you donate.

Top 10 Struggles

Digging For Pearls is taking a survey on the top 10 struggles Christian women face. She is going to write a book about it. If you have a few minutes head over to her blog and give her your 10.

Here are mine:

1. Consistent quiet time and IN DEPTH bible study.

2. Keeping my cool with the kids.

3. Balancing work, husband, mom, home, etc...

4. Family devotions and prayer time with my husband. He is a fireman and does not have a consistent schedule.

5. Sharing my faith-2 different things going on here:
a. I'm not really around anyone but Christians. Would like to be able to
share my faith with people totally lost.
b. I am finding out that just because someone is "churched" does not mean
they don't need encouragement and a shoulder to lean on. They may even
need discipled. I'm praying the lord will lead me to those people.

6. Time with my husband. Not just at 10:00 at night when everyone is tired.

7. Feeling lonely. With so much to do I still feel lonely because I am by
myself so much.

8. Consistent exercise and getting at my goal weight. Keeping up with all the
"women stuff" that my body is going through at my age!

9. Organizing my home and pictures. I'm a pretty organized person I just don't
have time to do it!

10. Relationships-finding couples that we can hang out with where everyone clicks
(husbands, wives, children).

My Dad

(Picture taken right before going to Dad's Desert Night at Jenna's preschool.)


Monday I took Jared to the dentist so Jenna was home with daddy. When we got back home I noticed her fingernails. I told her how pretty they looked and she said, "Daddy did it". I just laughed and wished I had been home to get a picture of that. Apparently they had quite a time. They played Poly Pockets, Cinderella match game, and other "girly stuff". One of the cutest things they do is a dance "routine" that they call Dancin' With the Stars featuring Dad and Jenna. Momday night she was in her Belle costume doing her routine. It was precious.

So, I knew it was going to happen. We were at Jacob's game last night and someone commented on Jenna's nails. She said, "Thanks, my Dad did 'em." I looked over at David and have never seen his face so red. How sweet that Jenna is so proud of her Dad. It's such a joy to watch David with all our kids. I'm so blessed.