MY FAVORITE PLACE TO VACATION

Today is day 7 of the NaBloPoMo challenge and I want to write about my favorite place to vacation.  When my husband and I married 22 years ago, we chose to spend our honeymoon at Williamsburg, Virginia.   We enjoyed visiting Busch Gardens, Jamestown and Yorktown.  My favorite part was visiting the glassblowers.  As a gift, my husband bought me a beautiful green pitcher that the rim was in the shape of a heart.  It was a perfect gift for our wonderful honeymoon.

As the years have come and gone, children have been born (4 to be precise), I still love to return to Williamsburg.  Only we don't stay in hotels now.  Instead we stay in the cabins at Fort Eustis, and we still typically go as close to our anniversary as we can.  The whole family goes with us - the four children plus my mother.  We try to stay a week, but sometimes the unforseen happens - like the year we left early because a hurricane had decided it felt like visiting Williamsburg.

Coming to Williamsburg towards the end of August is a wonderful time to visit.  The crowds don't seem to be quite as bad at Busch Gardens.  My children love to ride the rollercoasters and other rides.  Plus the shows are amazing.  I also enjoy the shops and food as well.  We always make it a point to visit OKtoberfest for at least one meal.  
I realize there are many people who might think we are strange for taking our family with us on our anniversary, but I love my children.  I realize all too soon they will be moving on to making their own memories and my husband and I will be left on our own.  But after all, that is how God intended things to be.  He intended for parents to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord; and then those children would have families of their own and raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  

So where is your favorite spot to vacation?

THANKFUL THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2014 #NaBloPoMo

So today is day 6 of the NaBloPoMo challenge.  Today's post is a thankful Thursday post. 

Today I am thankful for:

1)  My husband and his job that allows him to take off like yesterday to drive us to renew a military ID card for one child and take another child to an appointment about 2 hours away at Hershey Medical Center.

2)  I am thankful for the doctors and staff in the Genetics department at the Hershey Medical Center for their willingness to take the time to answer any questions I might have had during the appointment, plus to explain why what our son might have been diagnosed with was not present in our son.

3)  I am thankful for my childrens' sense of humor.  All four children have the ability to make me laugh.  They come up with some of the craziest and best things to say.  They keep things lively and interesting around our home.

4)  I am thankful for good friends.  For the past two Sundays, we were able to have different families over to our home to share food and fellowship with each other.

5)  I am thankful for Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Studies.  With four children that I homeschool, a husband in the military and everything we have going on in our lives, it is nice to be able to fellowship and spend time in God's Word with other ladies - but when it is convenient or anytime I just need to be with ladies who can lift me up with prayer.

So what are you thankful for today?

DREAMS

Have you ever had a dream, something you just really knew you wanted/had to do, have or so forth?  Over the years I have had a lot of dreams.  Some dreams became reality and others disappeared into a pool of impossibilities.  Others I realized needed to wait for a different time.

The one dream that did come true is that I wanted to become a wife and mother. I love being a wife and mother.  My husband is my best friend and the love of my life.  He makes me whole.

My children are wonderful. They make me think.  They challenge me.  I love them.  It is quite interesting to live in a home with 3 sons and a daughter.

So what makes you complete?  What dreams do you have?

NaBloPoMo Day 4 - My Favorite Holiday Memory

It is day 4 of the NaBloPoMo Blog challenge and today I am writing about my favorite holiday memory.  This memory is one we try to make every year and have since we were married.  It did not necessarily occur on the same day every year. But it was something I loved doing.  We would load up in our van (or it is possible we would do this on the way home from somewhere) and just drive.  The sole purpose was to see the Christmas lights on all the homes.

For me, what color the lights were wasn't what was important.  What was important was to see the lights.  My husband always found the most beautiful displays of lights for us to see.  Back in North Carolina, there was an older neighborhood that you could drive to the very back of and find magnificent new homes that were huge.  These huge houses wound up having beautiful light displays.

As the years went by, we  tried to add some things to our routine.  One was to visit our local Christmas tree farm.  This farm had grown from just selling trees to having a Christmas store, a restaurant, a hayride, farm animals and other things.  But our favorite part was the hayride they introduced that took you all around the farm and had various displays set up to look at.  The lights were spectacular.  They had Christmas music playing throughout the display.  So all in all, it was a wonderful experience.

So this is my favorite holiday memory!  What is yours?

Day 3 of NaBloPoMo

Today is day 3 of NaBloPoMo.  The weekend is now over and it is Monday morning.  There is so much promise and potential for the coming week.  After all, it is not written yet.  It can become whatever I make it out to be.  If I decide it is going to be a wonderful week complete with fulfilled promises, that is what it will be.  On the other hand if I decide it is going to be a week full of disappointment - then that is probably what it will become.

This morning I woke up and began my day with my husband and daughter.  This is a great start to my day/week.  Then I spent time in God's Word - another great start to my day/week.  It is amazing how spending time in God's Word and in prayer in the morning affects my day.  When I take the time to be with God first, He spends the day with me.  I feel His blessings flowing down on me.  That is not to say everything is perfect.  But the challenges I wind up facing don't seem to be completely unsurmountable.

So praying blessings for you today.  How is your Monday/week beginning.  I would love to hear from you.

Sacred Sunday - A Discussion about Music

So today is Sunday again.  Normally we make it a point that everyone goes to church together.  However, there are times that does not work out.  Some days we have ones who are sick.  Other days Dad has drills with the Army Reserves and can't make it to church.  Other times other things happen.  Today was one of those times.  My oldest son, daughter and I attended services at the church we found right down the road from where we moved to this past summer.  It was convenient for us to do so because we are having friends over for dinner this afternoon.  It allowed me to make it home quickly to get started on preparations.

My husband, and our younger two sons went to the Salvation Army Corps today.  They went there because they were playing in the band during the service.  This is not my choice for us to be separated.  Twenty-three, well actually almost twenty-four years ago now, I made a decision.  I made the decision to attend church where my husband was attending.  I feel this is important to keep the family connected and of one mind.  It also makes for less confusion.

So how do you spend your Sundays and what things do you try to do together typically?  I look forward to hearing from you!  This is day 2 of NaBloPoMo challenge for November.

SATURDAY SAYINGS PLUS A WEEK IN REVIEW

So this past week, I completed several things that had been going on during the month of October.  The first thing I completed was the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  Yes, I actually managed to post something every one of the 31 days of October.  I feel a sense of accomplishment.

Another thing that finished was Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Study for The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst.  I led a small group on Facebook for this study.  The book was amazing.  One of my favorite things was the discussion about saying a small no in order to be able to say a "Best Yes".  I really enjoyed this book and learned so much.

At the same time these things were ending, new items were entering the stage.  For one thing is the NaBloPoMo November challenge, which I decided to participate in for the first time.  I am looking to really stretch and challenge myself.

Now onto Saturday Sayings:  We are a homeschooling family and are in our ninth year.  We often have interesting conversations.  So one of my sons earlier in the week asked a question.  And it was a very good question, if I do say so myself.  In music, why are there both sharps AND flats.  If you know anything about music, you know a sharp raises a note a half-step (and if music is not your thing, now you know this too).  A flat lowers a note a half step.  So really you could use one or the other and not need both.  But this child has really been coming up with some really good statements.

I hope you will come back next Saturday to hear more "Saturday Sayings".  Feel free to leave me a comment.  I would love to hear from you.