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Breanna is 9!!!!

Breanna isnt officially 9 until tomorrow but we celebrated today. She had a blast! We had dinner and a small party at Nana's house. Breanna requested that Nana cook her a birthday dinner. Nana made (by request) Ribs, devilled eggs, green bean casserole, roasted potatoes and rolls. It was delicious. We then had cake and ice cream. We were all stuffed by the time we were done with that :-)

No update on my health, everything is about the same. Im still off all meds but most days wish I had them again! Oh well it is what it is at this point.

Jimmy found a job, not the one he wanted but God knows what is best and when given the opportunity we knew he better take it. He seems to really be liking it. I however HATE it. Oh well thats also part of life :-)

Thats all the news that I have for now. Remember to keep Courtney and baby Tripp in your prayers!~

I can't believe how long it's been.....

I haven't been feeling up to doing much of anything lately. I haven't blogged since Aug 26th so its about time that I get to it.

So, from that last sentence you can tell that I haven't been doing very well (health wise.) Jimmy and I are walking at the park when I am up to it. Not everyday like I had hoped but it's a start.

I'm not able to comment on any of the blogs that I am subscribed to and that's irritating me lol.

So random today. My head isn't on right but I wanted to get something on here.

I have been on the "freebie" sites and really enjoying getting freebies in the mail. Its kinda like Christmas lol. I have received 3 full size Atkins bars, 2 samples of Huggies diapers, breathe right strips, some stickers, perfume and coloring pages for Breanna and my nephews. I have ordered SO much stuff but it takes a while to get here 4-6 weeks on average. I'm thinking about starting to blog on that too lol. Who doesn't love free right? Especially if you are wanting to try before you buy or if you are like me and like to have extras in case you run out. The diapers I will NEVER need but I thought it would be good to give to the nursery at church.

The weather has been fantastic! I haven't had my air conditioner on since Saturday!!!! If you know me, you know that I can NOT live with out it but its truly been beautiful! Makes walking really nice in the evenings.

OK well that's all for now!

Now is as good a time as any.

It's 1232am and I cant sleep so I figured it would be good to blog a little. Jimmy and I were a little slow out of the gate to get walking but we did finally start today! We got up this morning and got Breanna ready for school, we ate breakfast and immediately took our Koda boy for a walk at the park. We then returned home and decided we really need to get some yard work done so, yep you got it! We got the weed eating and mowing done in the front and sides of the house. We also used the leaf blower to clean up the dusty garage! I'm so glad that we got that done. Tomorrow we are doing the same thing except tomorrow it will be the back yard. I'm so glad that Jimmy has committed to this with me. I felt SO good today.

Jimmy has been looking for work for a while now. He has had a few interviews but that is really about it. I'm happy to say that he was called to do some pre-testing for O'reilly's Auto Parts. He went yesterday and passed that with flying colors and went back today for an interview. He feels like it went well. We wont know for sure until we get the call. Please keep us in your prayers. Its a tough time for so many right now looking for work.

Breanna has had a wonderful start to the school year! She has been spending a lot of time on her school work, as she always does. She takes school so seriously and truly enjoys it. I am so proud of her, she always works so hard and never accepts less than!

I don't really have much else to say. I will keep everyone posted about the weight loss and any other adventures that come up!

This is the beginning of a New Beginning!

Starting 08/22/11 My hubby and I are on a journey. To where you ask? A healthier life. What does that mean exactly? I'm so glad that you asked.

I  have come to realize that getting better is harder then I thought. I just thought "Mind over Matter." I was wrong. Emotional and physical well being cant solely dictated by my thoughts.

I was taking 6-8 meds at a time and multiple times a day. I have come off of all the medications that I am able to at this time. I do still take an anti-depressant as depression has been a horrible demon for me since Jimmy deployed to Iraq. I have lowered the dose tremendously though. I am also still taking my thyroid medication. I am told that I wont ever be able to come off of that. I'm still not completely sold on that. I also take vitamins and some other natural herbs.

As most of you know, I have gained a lot of weight since 04/2009 which was when I had my hysterectomy. I am now taking control of that. I have gained somewhere around 65 lbs. Yikes! I am very dedicated to lose the weight, I am going to start slow but I'm not going to stop. I had a very candid talk with my husband this morning and we decided that we are going to take our puppy Koda for a walk every morning at the park. I am also dedicated to coming home, showering and getting ready for the day. Even though I do not have a job, I know that this is absolutely necessary.  I will also begin my Pilate's in the evenings again.

My husband is so amazing, I told him that I was going to be resistant at times but that I need him more then ever right now. I told him that I wouldn't want to go walk and work out every single day but that I need him to make me go. That the end result will be well worth it. He has always believed in me and grabbed my hand and told me "I'm in if you are." So simple yet so meaningful. I love him with all my heart.

I will be taking pictures to show my progress. Don't worry I wont be posting them right now. But when I feel ready and that there is enough progress to show then I will start that as well.

Please keep me in your prayers!

<3 The Mrs.

And so it begins...

Wow where do I start?

We went to "Meet the Teacher Night" at school on Tuesday! I was nervous. It turned out to be good. Breanna got a few old text books that she could bring home to play with or that we can keep as a reference if she needs help through out the school year. She came home and was ready to start working on it. She loves school work! Here are a few pics of Tuesdays events.



Ready to go!




Breanna and my nephew Kaleb..




Again........




Breanna was starting to get nervous.....




Breanna and Mr.Nickols




PTO BBQ~~Oreo's and Hot dogs lol

We made it through "Meet the Teacher Night." So glad that all went smoothly. Breanna had 1 day of play left before she started back to school. This morning is Thursday and YES it's the 1st day of 3rd grade! Breanna was so excited, up at 7 getting ready! Here are a few pictures of Breanna ready for 3rd grade :-)



How Great is Our God?

I don't have a whole lot to say tonight, I have been sick with a summer cold (eww) and haven't really been feeling very well. I was determined to make it to church this morning. So with the help of some thera-flu I made it! Cant allow anything to keep me from God. One excuse is always as good as the other.

PTL my nephews and my sister went with us :-)! My sisters husband works 3rd shift so he wasn't able to attend. However I do believe that they had a good time and I am very excited to think that today was the beginning of a new life for them as well.

Long story short, our church which was TBD didn't exactly have a home :-( We were renting a cafe to use on Sundays. With lots of prayer, God provided a home! It was an amazing day at Bellview! We didn't make it to breakfast but there was breakfast and then the praise and worship and even lunch following. Around 1 pm today it was voted on for both churches to become 1! 100% voted YES! AMEN!!

I am so excited to begin this journey. If any of you need a church home or would like to check it out just let me know! We would love to see everyone! I am so blessed to be a part of this merging (if you will) I cant wait to figure out what God has in store for me at this new church. Teaching opportunities? I don't know but God does and I cant wait to let you know where I will be starting!

"Back to School!!"

We are all so excited for school to start back. Of course, mom and dad are definitely ready. We have already went shopping for school clothes and shoes. My grandma was so sweet and bought all of the kids their school supplies! What a relief that was. I'm not a big fan of being out in the crowds for "back to school." I can not believe that Breanna is starting 3rd grade. Yes you did read that correctly! 3rd Grade!!! She has received all A's up until this point and very happy that she is committed to doing good in school. Breanna is such a good girl. She is so kind hearted and sweet. I worry as she gets older but I know that God is in control and that he will protect her and help us guide her. Well that is all for now. Just had a few things on my mind that I wanted to share~!

God Bless <3

Danger!!!!

If you know me then you know that I am not an organic/herbal freak, however I have been doing some research into what we are eating and using in our houses. I know that a lot of people say things like "my grandma is 90 and it never killed her so I'm sure I'll be fine." If you truly think about that, its not entirely true. When our grandparents were our age they had to make most of what they ate (growing, canning, butchering etc.) Do you realize how much of a difference that makes? Another thing--Keeping house (as my grandma would say) She had to make her laundry detergent and soap. The chemicals that exist now didn't exist then! There are so many natural remedies instead of using chemicals. I bought a SHARK steam cleaner, its great. No chemicals on the floors anymore. I'm also now starting to use vinegar and baking soda for almost all cleaning. My mom used to clean our walls with vinegar (I hate this stuff, it stinks!) and she didn't have to have a whole cabinet full of chemicals to keep our house clean. My family wasn't sick and had no major health issues. My thought then, is that we stop using so many chemicals (I know people wont stop completely) and start using what God gave us to clean more naturally. Now don't get my wrong I'm not going to stop using shampoo, soap, deodorant etc but I do think that there are many other things that we can do naturally and may I add cheaper!! I hope you all take the time to really think about this and research it. I'm going to start a small garden next spring and I'm so excited to have home grown fresh food to feed my family. I know that it will be a lot of work but very rewarding. There are so many recipes for all the fresh veggies, it will be a great reward!  

I'm not a Pastor.

So as you know I have begun to read my bible. A lot of lessons that maybe we don't think about (at least I haven't thought about) the way that we should. Did Jesus die on the cross for OUR sins? YES. But God also gave us his word to live by. There aren't any excuses, all that we need to know is right there in front of us. Is it hard? ABSOLUTELY!  Being raised in a secular world is hard BUT, I am now learning that just because I have asked Jesus Christ into my heart as my savior DOES NOT mean that I can go about life as nothing else is new. Accepting Jesus Christ is so much more then that. Most of us know the story of Eve eating the BAD APPLE and about Noah building the Arc, but do we realize the reasoning behind that? I'm not going to go into additional detail. Maybe just something to ponder that I have been pondering. Its NOT OK to just have Jesus Christ in our lives when its convenient or when we think it will do good for us and just hanging on the sidelines when we don't want him there. Either we are in or we are out! Hard lesson but I have learned that for sure! Praise the Lord for that, AMEN! I know it can be a little overwhelming to think about reading the entire bible but its like any other good book, once I got started I just couldn't put it down. Take it day by day and lesson by lesson. Just my 2 cents for the evening......