Goals

WHOA!!! 2 Posts in one day?! This is a first! In light of my last post I thought I need to take the time to write out some goals.
1) eating healthier - If Id like to eat something unhealthy, I will make sure the thing I ate before that was healthy and the thing I eat afterward is healthy. (To keep the unhealthy foods at a minimum!)
2) workout when I can - TRY to workout 3 times a week at least.
3) stick to a budget - skim through Financial Peace again with my husband Shaun and come up with a budget for December and STICK TO IT.
4) keep up with friends better - call one friend a week that I havent seen or talked to in a while.
5) Reach out to other ladies at church. Talk to someone new each week.
6) be more prepared for Praise Band practice. Listen to the songs ahead of time and practice on my own time.
7) put clothes away at the end of the day - dont let them pile up all week.
8) Pray daily! Set aside time to get quiet and just talk to God.

Hopefully by the next time I write I will be able to say I am doing well at 3 of the areas.

large and in charge

Although I'm not at the point where I should call myself large (although, yes - I am in charge - of some things I guess), I can definitely see myself fitting that description in a few months. I'm not sure how much I've talked about it on here, but at a couple different points in my recent years I've eaten extremely healthy or at least mostly. I have followed the Maker's Diet and I still try to some degree. However, I find myself eating Eggo waffles for breakfast and throwing away rotten celery and carrots and plums that I never ate. I have only gained 3 lbs this pregnancy (Im 17 weeks along so thats pretty normal I think) I feel SO out of shape! Im surprised I haven't gained more although I guess chasing kids around every day is my saving grace. Dont get me wrong, I know it's probably annoying for pregnant women to complain about gaining weight because its supposed to happen, right? But the fact is, I have nothing to complain about if I've only gained 3 lbs...I just FEEL so out of shape! And I definitely notice area's on my body that are fatty. I LOVE being pregnant and I know its possible to feel beautiful even when you have a huge belly! With Wil, my second boy, I felt so skinny even though I had a huge belly because I was working out a lot since I worked at a gym. I'm not a morning person, so getting up early to work out sound horrible to me and my boys nap at different times, not to mention I watch kids almost every day at my house, so working out while the kids nap is not practical either. by the end of the day, Im way too exhausted to work out! ugh...I guess I will have to either push through the procrastination and just find time to do it, or wait till life gets a little less crazy. I guess for now, I'll just have to make healthier choices with what I eat. How do you guys stay feeling beautiful, and healthy?

This is my story and I'm sticking to it!

^Hebrews:1 "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. ² And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe."

I'm EXTREMELY happy to announce that today was the first good day I've had in a long time! I finally confessed to the hubby that I think this (stress/depression/anxiety) is a very serious issue and he prayed over me and I asked him to remember to pray for me during the day while he's at work. I also talked to some ladies from our church last night and I'm sure some of them were praying for me today too. Have you ever felt like someone was praying for you and God was reaching down and giving you peace, or comfort or whatever you need in that moment?? It's an amazing feeling and I have really felt peace today. Not stress like I usually feel (almost every moment of the day). I can't say I have felt stressed at all today. Sure, there have been instances that didn't go the way I wanted but I didn't let it ruin my day. There have even been instances that Matthew and I have really bonded.

Thank you God for surrounding me with your presence and peace today! I love you!

Stress

Well the stresses of having kids, or really having a 3 year old, is really catching up to me. Something I haven't thought about till now is how all this stress is affecting the baby growing inside me. That is my real motivator for trying to have more patience. I'm sure part of the stress is not being able to keep up with cleaning the house. I feel guilty about it, and I really don't enjoy having it messy. I wrote out a time to clean every day, depending on what we have going on, but I haven't been good at looking at it. When I have free time cleaning is that last thing I want to do. I know it makes me feel better so I just have to force myself to do it. Am I the only one that has a hard time keeping a clean house?

Another thing I have to be better at is reading in my Bible and praying. I know it would help my morning to go better if I could just peel myself out of bed a little early. I'm really not a morning person so this is hard to do. I occasionally am good at reading and praying in the afternoon when the kids are napping but I've already lost my patience and had a negative attitude all morning. Maybe I also need to only focus on the positives and humor in life instead of always complaining. Which I must add that I've NEVER been a complainer. If I complain about something, I've probably already forgot an hour later what it was about.

There are also stresses with my family. Mostly with my older sister and sometimes with my little sister. My brother is really the only one without issues, haha. I think I could also use a weekend getaway with Shaun. I think we will try over Thanksgiving break when he'll be off of teaching. To be honest, I've been sleeping well though. I fall asleep on the couch around 10 give or take go up to bed around 10:30 or 11 and usually I get up around 6:45 or 7 to get ready for the kids coming over that I babysit. That's 8 hours give or take. I think my body would prefer 9 hours but 8 is pretty average for what they say the adult body needs.

Anyways, I'll try to make the next blog more positive. I just had to get that all out of my system.
Hope you all are doing well! :)

ooops!

Wow, it has been a while, hasn't it?! I've been super busy with the boys, getting over a cold, watching kids almost everyday at our house, enjoying time with family. Did I mention we are expecting baby #3 around May 4th?!?! Yup, it's true. Wil and baby#3 will be 18 months apart which is my minimum for being sane. Anything less than that and I would be stressing out! We are planning on this being my last pregnancy and we would like to adopt when our kids are older. Maybe when Matthew turns 13, baby#3 will be 9. We think we will adopt a toddler. I like the 3 year old age even though its difficult, they say the funniest things and toddlers aren't adopted as much as babies. Anyways, on a personal note I'm very torn about what to do to prevent getting pregnant again. I obviously get pregnant pretty easily. Any suggestions? I have my opinions but didn't want to go too personal and turn you all away from reading my blog ever again :) Maybe I'll open up if anyone else has input.

I've really been enjoying the boys lately. Its really funny how Matthew likes soccer and karate even though my husband and I have never been into those sports. We drove past a soccer game yesterday and Matthew was shouting "SOCCER!". First of all it was impressive to us that he knew that's what they were playing and second of all it's pretty interesting that he is so into it when we have never talked about it or watched it. My hubby is into football, basketball, baseball and tennis, and I would like our boys to be into any of those (no more than 2 sports - don't want to overwhelm them). If I had to pick a sport for our boys to play that neither me or Shaun were into, I think I would pick hockey. I don't know why, I just see it as still being a 'manly' sport with potential of being successful. I don't think it's too dangerous, is it!?
Wil has been fun to watch now that he is almost one. His personality is really coming out, in good ways and bad ways. Today I noticed if he doesn't get what he wants he throws himself on the floor. The tantrums are being already. But he is a lot of fun too. He has this cheesy smile he does which just makes me crack up! And he loves to be tickled and is climbing on everything. I just love him to pieces. Matthew has been harder to love lately. He has really been a brat lately and is always trying to wrestle with me. Sometimes I would just like my space, especially with being pregnant again, I don't want him jumping on me and when I was going through my nauseous phase I didn't even want him sitting on my lap. He is just so loud too, and always shouting commands at me. Like at this exact moment he is demanding "drink, momma!" He always asks me for things as soon as I sit down. He sure is a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. He says the funniest things and I love when he want to cuddle with me. I love when he kisses his brother and shares things with him and I sure do wish I had his energy!
Anyways, just wanted to catch everyone up on what's going on since I know it was a while. Hope you all are doing well!

# 6

Challenge Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.

" Oreo is a very sweet boy, about 3 years old. He was already neutered and declawed when his owners surrendered him because they could no longer keep him. We had him vet checked,updated on shots, and flea treated. His adoption fee is only $20. Can you give this very friendly guy a home?"

I want a kitty very badly. I want a dog even more, but I think a cat will be a little lower maintenance. You do not need to come home in the middle of the day to let it out to go to the bathroom like a dog, but pregnant women can not clean out littler boxes :/ yikes! Don't tell my husband that one.

Shaun and I have a deal (because he HATES the idea of having a pet) that if his high school football or basketball team (boys) can win states then we can get a pet! Oh boy. luckily they are the biggest high school in Ohio but they still seem to get beat in the finals.

Do you have pets? If not, what kind of pet do you want?

Day #5

Day 5 – your favorite quote :

hmmm...I don't really have a favorite quote per say, but I do have a favorite bible verse.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

I think this is so encouraging especially when you're going through a drought in your life or a hard time. It means that God will bring something positive out of whatever is going on; that He will bring glory to Himself in the end. And...if you love Him and obey him through it, you will be blessed!

Jesus Culture - Rooftops

I love this song!! :) :)

Anniversary

Thought I'd take a moment to put up some pictures since we celebrated our 4th anniversary this past week! (couldn't find our professional pics on our computer. I know I do have them on facebook though)

(below:) at our wedding shower

It looks as if we danced a lot but we really didn't, we aren't really fond of dancing - except slow dancing - and I really hate being the center of attention, so we mostly walked around and talked to our guests.

And here are pics from this summer. One from each month.

MAY: Wil - 6 months old

JUNE: Matthew - fun on the slip-n-slide at Grandma and Papa's house. (This should be on a funny card!)

JULY: My birthday boy - he's 3!!

AUGUST: eating a cupcake. It was chocolate if you can't tell :)

Day #4

...your favorite book:

Well, I'm not sure I can pin-point my favorite book but I can talk about the books I have read.

My favorite book in the Bible is Acts. I really love Paul and all of his adventures and how he is so courageous. I love toward the end when he gets shipwrecked. Not that I love this happened to him, but its just and exciting story that sounds like it could be made into a movie. It just really held my attention which is sort of hard to do when you're reading the Bible. Right now I am reading through the Corinthians. I am half-way through 2 Corinthians. Sometimes my husband and I read it together and sometimes I read it by myself. I haven't been reading it everyday like I wanted to, but it's still always uplifting and helping me to grow in my relationship with Christ.

In High School I used to love romance novels. My aunt would give my sister and I Christian romance novels when she was done with them. Then after I graduated, I was more into 'self-help' books. I really like Joyce Meyer's books. We have The Ransomed Heart by John Eldridge and some of his other books too. I kind of want to read 'The Case for Christ' and 'The Case for a Creator' but I'm not super motivated because I am back into the Romance Novel phase!

I have 3 books that were made into movies...'A Walk to Remember' (long time ago), 'Water for Elephants' and 'Breaking Dawn'. All really good books. I remember that the movie 'A Walk to Remember' was a little different than the book, but I liked them both. The book 'Water for Elephants' was a little boring to me at first and it took me a while to finish it, but once I got to the climax I was hooked. I loved the movie especially because I love Reese Witherspoon. I did really like Robert Pattinson in it too! I was worried when I heard they were making it a movie, that it would be rated R and would be a little inappropriate but they left the parts of the book out that I was appalled by. I loved 'Breaking Dawn'. It was the only book I read of the series, but I'd seen all the movies. I can't wait for it to come to theaters in November!!! I'm sure I'll be going with a group of ladies :)

Well, I guess that about wraps up my reading experiences...well a summary and the highlights at least. I can't write about EVERYTHING I've ever read.

Day #3

So...My hubby deleted the list I had saved of the 30 day challenge (probably didn't know what it was), so I figured I'd take different questions/suggestions that I like from random ones. Here's day #3 of one I liked:

A picture of you and your friends: (Please take note that I look way different in each photo, haha...they are all from different points in my life and I tend to change my look)

This is me and my bestest friend (besides my hubby), Missy! She is one of the few people that is always there for me and does so much for me and my family! She is also one of the best, most generous people I know! I'm so glad to know her! This was taken last weekend at the beach!

This is my lifegroup from 707 (minus Heather :( ) Kristin (our leader) just had her baby so we all gathered for a photo.

These are my old friends from youth group. We were such a fun group, but unfortunately I don't see them much anymore. I try not to let it bug me and cherish the times I was with them.

This is me and Holly. We have been friends since 6th grade! We see each other every once in a while and I love hanging out with her! She's a lot of fun!

This is my older sister on the left and my cousin on the right! We were in florida (visiting my cousin and family)

This is my husbands cousin Angie. love her! This was at a murder mystery dinner at church! She was quite the actress

This is me and my little sister Madi. She is one of my best friends! We have so much fun together

This is Kelsey...we dont see each other much, but when we do, its like we're best friends again! Wish she lived closer!

Well, that about wraps it up! I have a lot of random friends from random times in my life and although sometimes I get kind of depressed and angry with myself for not being a better friend, I really appreciate all the friends I have!

Day #2

DISCUSS: WHERE YOU'D LIKE IN 10 YEARS

Hmmm...10 years from now, I will be 34. I will have been married for 13 (almost 14) years. Matthew will be almost 13! (his birthday is July 31st). Wil will be 10 and we will most likely have one or 2 other kids. Hopefully they will be 8 and 6 (a girl and boy...I want one girl, but mostly boys). I know its not up to me, obviously, but just wishful thinking. If it was different I'd still be happy! I'm a go-with-the-flow type of person. Hopefully we will be in our house we have just purchased. Haven't moved yet though. Our close date is Monday! (Super super excited!!). I will be a doula, having maybe 2 clients a month and most likely watching kids at my house for extra money. Shaun will hopefully still be teaching at Cardinal Middle School in Middlefield and coaching basketball in the winter. Maybe Shaun will be the pastor of a planted church. Our pastor (Shaun's uncle) and the congregation are very passionate about planting churches in different cities and towns instead of expanding one church building to be huge. We feel like it's hard to get plugged into church activities if it's too big. Its just overwhelming then. Maybe I'll even be on the praise team and provide them with input on more modern songs. (Our praise team tends to do older songs, around 10 years old, and they don't introduce new songs very often).

Well, that's all I can think of discussing for this topic.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IN 10 YEARS???

30 day(?) challenge

So, I stumbled across this 30 day challenge when I was looking at random blogs today. I think I would like to use it as a guideline for what I write about, but I KNOW I will not be able to write everyday. Maybe over the summer, when my husband is done teaching in another week, but don't want to make any promises since I'm a busy mom. Okay, so here's #1: "Discuss your current relationship..."
Shaun William Spence is my husband, best friend and the best Daddy to our 2 boys!
Want to hear the (short) story of how we met? :) Of course you do!
Well, it was 2005, the fall right after I graduated high school. It was his last year attending the local community college and my first semester. He was the Campus Crusade for Christ bible study leader and I was very intimidated by him at first since he was so smart (and serious). I was used to dating guys who were 'jokesters', if you will, and so I can't say I was immediately attracted to him, although now we joke with each other all the time. The 2nd or 3rd time I came to the bible study, I was the only person to show up besides him, so we just sat there and talked for a couple hours. We soon found that we liked some of the same bands, both love to play tennis, and even loved the movie 'Clifford' with Martin Short. (I know very few people who have seen this movie from the 80's, and if they have seen it, they usually hate it for some reason). Then we found out we had some mutual 'friends' we knew. The rest is history :)
Here are some pictures of us over the years:







Thank you God for blessing me such a godly man who serves You and puts others before himself! I am truly blessed!

Living

I came across a strangers blog today that really inspired me. It was about all the hype about the rapture. The writer didn't say whether or not she believed the rapture would happen yesterday or not, but she used it as a moment to teach her sixth grade son. She talked to him about how we should live as followers of Christ on a daily basis. I hope that this will be me in 9 or 10 years when my older son is that age.

I leave you with this scripture from my devotion:

The scriptures say: “Do what your king commands; you gave a sacred oath of obedience. Don’t worryingly second-guess your orders or try to back out when the task is unpleasant. You’re serving his pleasure, not yours. The king has the last word. Who dares say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ Carrying out orders won’t hurt you a bit; the wise person obeys promptly and accurately.” (Ecclesiastes 8:2-5, MSG)

Osama bin Laden

I know some of the hype about Osama bin Laden's death is over, but will it truly be over? His name and story will forever be in history textbooks. So, since I haven't blogged in a while, I choose this topic. I know it is a difficult subject for Christians, so my husband and I talked about what we both thought about his death.
First of all; is it really fair to expect God to extend grace to us, but not to someone else who was created to bring glory to God? I know you and I never have and will never will kill innocent people, but what if, what if you had a family member who was a murderer (or did something else horrifying) and they confessed at the end of their life that Christ is Lord and they were extremely sorrowful about the things they have done. Would you also think that God should not extend grace toward them? There are rewards in heaven for those of who have done God's will for most of our lives. And I'm not saying that Osama confessed Christ on his death bed, or toward the end of his life. I'm just saying that it isn't fair, or Christ-like to judge others or celebrate someone's death when God mourns their life here on earth. We should be mourning because we know that he isn't with our Heavenly Father. In an article I read (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/25463-should-christians-celebrate-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden), the author says we should instead be relieved that he cannot harm anyone else. After all, he was responsible for so many deaths. The author's last sentence is this: "Yet even as our spirits lift knowing that this man will do no more evil, our eyes should burst forth with weeping knowing that bin Laden will likely spend eternity like he spent his life: separated from the true God. " Let us leave justice to our all-knowing, holy God!

P.S. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT read the comments after the article on relevantmagazine.com unless you want to get very angry at some people. I just did. Why do atheist and Christian haters have to comment on things like this?? Im pretty sure that most Christians, or at least REAL Christ-followers would never seek out atheist articles and leave nasty comments on them! I know people are going to disagree in this world because of sin, but can't we all just have respect for each other??

Sorry to get all serious on everyone :) I'll try to make the next one a light-hearted fun one.

January

My cousin Brittany and her new husband dancing

My beautiful little sister

My cousin Christen with Wil

Our friends Kelsey and Micah got married!

Wil is 2 months old!!

Matthew and Uncle Baxter at the airport on our way to Florida for the wedding