Blessed (Happy!)

Today is a great day!! This date, 28 years ago, my amazing hubby was born!! David and him were early but they stuck it out and made it through! I am so very lucky to have both these men in my life!! David brings the sarcasm and the facts out. He is always willing to spend hours talking and is an amazing listener! I am so thankful to have him around!! Of course there is Michael! I love that man more than words can say. I am not one to talk about my lover (lol) 24/7! I appreciate all he does and I am extremely lucky! He may be a kid and a baby at times, but all men are at some point! He is a fantastic father and the most amazing husband a woman could ask for!! I am so very lucky! Happy Birthday Babe! I love you babe! You are amazing babe and you complete me babe! (Sorry, Office inside joke!)

Also today was a happy day!! Jeff got a job!!! Woot Woot! lol. He got an offer and he took it! AND IT'S IN DES MOINES!!! I am so excited!!!! I love their family so much plus Jana is my sister from another mister! I am so excited they are stuck with us for a little longer! We also have some friends returning this week! The Axtells have been gone for a month and that is way too long!! Plus Beth and her babe went traveling down to the big TX for a few days.

Recently we have been feeling extremely blessed with our family and friends. Yes, we have had our fair share of hardships this year, but we are making it through. We do not know what will happen in the future, only God does, but we are smiling and laughing through. I feel so at ease that there are so many people we can go to for concerns and prayer right now! We have so many people in our lives that we can honestly say we love to be with! God has given us some amazing people this year and I am so grateful and thank Him everyday for them!

To our family and friends:

This past year you have all been so amazing to us. I cannot say how much we appreciate the people that have been through this year with us. Each one of you has touched us in a very special way. All the walks, talks, night events, this could go on forever but you get my point! We are just so blessed and extremely thankful!! We look forward to 2010 and what that has for us!! I am sure it will be exciting and loads of fun!

Adventures in holiday travel

Well today started off great! Woke up, got ready, got everything packed, light snow falling...what could go wrong?! We had everything loaded in the car, ready for our trip to SC. Michael gets int he car turns the key and....nothing. Tries again, nothing. Not even a click. Everytime he turns the key though, certain things come to life. The radio would come one, the dome lights would brighten up, and then some gauges would flip to where they were suppose to be. After a half hour of jumping the SUV, it started. We got on the road. We hit 86th street and all the lights and gauges turned off. Talk about scary. By this time the weather wasn't the greatest. It happened 3 more times and each time something wouldn't come back. We got off on Merle Hay and headed to Firestone. I called my parents immediately and they came and picked us up. Our heroes! Now the trip up to SC, not the greatest. I had to drive my parents car. A car, I haven't driven a car....well in a while. Plus my mom, well, she tends to freak out and boss you while you drive. Oh well. We made it, alive.

The rest of the afternoon was spent over indulging and 4th helpings! It was a lot of fun being with the whole family. This is the first time in a while that all grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandkids were all able to be together. It was a full house. We did attempt a family photo...that should be interesting to see how those turned out. We just aren't sure what is ahead in the new year for our family. I hope at this time next year, we will be the same. You just never know.

Jake was very good. For not having a nap and with all those people, he was extremely well behaved. That kid always pulls through! He made bank with kisses and gifts! We are so blessed with our family!

On our way home we were able to pick up our car. All fixed! Turns out our battery was dead! All better now!

Only 1 or 2 days of work this week. We will see I guess!

Hi my name is Sarah....

and I am a blog neglector! It has been 10 days since my last blog. I have entered a program and I am now in recovery.

What have we been up to? Well what haven't we been up to would be the best question.

1) All Christmas gifts are bought, wrapped and organized according to the days/places they have to be. Pat on my back for not having to go out this weekend to shop. I had to run to Super Target just for one thing and I was over the moon excited that I didn't have to wait in those crazy lines!

2) I have all of Michael's birthday presents bought and wrapped also! It is extremely hard to get things bought and wrapped when someone is around you almost 24/7. I had to make up errands to run or there were a few times I deliberately forgot an ingredient so he would have to go back. Mean? I think it's ingenious! They are in the back of the tree so he has no idea they are there! Another smart move by myself! Double pat on the back!!

3) Cooking. Baking and cooking. Wowza! I swear we could open a bakery! We invented this new treat and made way too much of it! We took pretzels and dipped them in Andies Mints....talk about being sinful! They are amazingly delicious and you just can't eat one, or five or ten. Today alone I made Nicoles amazing oatmeal caramel bars, a dumpster size batch of puppy chow, caramel bugels, chocolate bars topped with peanut butter, popcorn balls, and a few more. Most of this will be gone in a week! That is what is so sad! We have a few Christmas and parties to dump these off at! Currently I have my pasta salad noodles cooking. Oh the joy of the holidays!

4) Videos. My parents got us a video camera for our early birthday gift! We have spent hours, just hours, or taking useless footage. We did get a few good ones of Jake saying the alphabet and counting to 20 and back from 10! We did get the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" out of him today. I just happen to love that child more than anything! He is so adorable, most of the time!

5) White knuckles. I had a 5 day span of gripping the steering wheel with all my strength to and from work. The interstates weren't too bad but those side streets and Meredith, wow. I really love snow, but I do not like driving in it. I would rather just call in sick. Which leads me to....

6) Work. Bah humbug work! We have been so busy, we just can't catch a break. It's been really getting on my nerves also. It's just upsetting leaving, working your butt off all day, just to have the same amount or even more the next day! Plus they also locked the vacation calendar. I have 2 days left. I emailed my boss 3 times to find out what days, half days, extra hours I could take off. He never said a word back. Then people all around me are switching days so they can take half days, or are getting half days approved, or just calling in sick. It drives me nuts! I put blood, sweat and sometimes tears in that place! So aggravating! I know I am not suppose to care but I do. I just can't follow through with stuff. It's just part of who I am. Sometimes I wish I could care less.

7) Energy. Now that it's starting to get cold, I have 3 rugrats in my house that need to let their energy out. Jake for starters. I usually can get him to dance for about 45 minutes straight and then we play chase around the island in the kitchen for another half hour. He then likes to try to run up and down the stairs with different objects to see how difficult it is to do it. He is odd, I know. We have been doing a lot of crafts. Takes up time and energy! Hawkeye and Zoey. Hawkeye is just frisky. It's the weather. He is a lazy dog but he does get cabin fever. Now, the little one. The trouble maker. The one that is the root of every catastrophe that happens....Zoey. That rat A) really needs a hair cut. B) cannot sit still for more then 2 minutes. She is in the tree or watching the lights twinkle on the tree and then try to attack them. She is unwrapping gifts by digging at them. She is standing right underneath you at every move you make while cooking. Just waiting for you to drop something. I usually drop it on her. Then Hawkeye licks it off. She is just everywhere in everything. Not only does she have the cat on her payroll, I swear she has hired Jake and Hawkeye. The 4 of them....man, watch out if they have a plot against you!

8) Reading. I have been all over the place. I am in three books right now. Two of them I have read before. I am in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince again. I think it's because we just bought the movie and it irritates me a little. I still can't get over the death of -------------. (For people who don't know, I won't ruin it for you.) I just feel like maybe a few more minutes could have been added for it. I am also reading Eclipse again. Yes, yes, yes...I need to go to therapy. It's fine. It's my favorite book. I think seeing New Moon didn't help either! The third I have to take breaks from. It's emotionally exhausting! The Christmas Sweater. It's a very good book and it is great for this holiday/winter season. It really makes you think and figure out what is important in life. Man though, I have to bring tissues every time I read it!

Well that is all the things we have been up to! We have already attended two Christmas parties and have a few more to go. We also will have everyone back soon from TX and OK so we can have our "holiday" party. Beth says no ugly sweaters...I say yes!

Snow Day

Nationwide was on my side this morning. Work was called off! Definate A+ in my book. The downfall is we can't go outside and we have to keep a 2 year old occupied during the day.

We started off by making waffles! They were amazing! Whip cream and strawberries for toppings! We all had a nice cup of cocoa also.

We then had a little fun and made a ginger bread train! It came out of a box but it was still a load of fun and it kept Jake busy for 2 and half hours!

 

All done!

We then made cut out ornaments tags for gifts!

We did eventually make it outside for a bit

 

He loved the snow

Her, not so much

All in all in was a pretty good family day off! Now, I would like the temperature to raise up to the 40's!

Let the Holidays begin!

Oh the weather outside is frightful

Snow.

Snow..

Snow...

more Snow....

We have been hit with the "storm of the century." That is per the weather experts! It has also been labeled by the weather channel as "vicious and unforgiving." I would like to say, driving...it is just horrific. A friend of mine felt guilty for not coming in to work today...I applaud them! These conditions are not worth cubicle life. I left early today but then we got out at 2:30! It still took me an hour to get home! Good grief! It was the most stressful I think I have ever been in the car. I witnessed people sliding off the road. That alone is heartbreaking. I did see someone slide with style into a pole. Again, pulled on the heart strings. Not to mention the numerous cars that were already in the ditch, on the side of the road or facing a completely different direction. I white knuckled it most of the way. When I got to that lovely stretch of Meredith...I just wanted to close my eyes and pray my car would make it! I love not being plowed! Makes my life. Here is a photo of what the main street aka Meredith looked like. 4LO was used to get home at this point!

Not Cool!

As someone who use to drive a compact car and now has an SUV, I would like to say to the people who think they own the road...look out for the little guys! Be considerate for your fellow drivers! Here are a few tips.

1) Turn your lights on. I don't care if it's cloudy, it's snowing, turn on your lights

2) Please clean off your front AND your back windows. I do not understand how you can drive "safely" with just your windshield cleaned off and none of your side or back windows cleaned off. You can't see me.

3) While I am at cleaning your car off. Clean the "poof" off. Cars do not need bump-its! They blow off on the interstate and I do not like having to dodge huge chunks of snow/ice as they fly off your car!

4) Be considerate for the people around you. Little cars can be intimidated by SUVS and Semi's. Something I have always done, is if you are in two lanes that turn, let the little car turn first. It keeps them less nervous and if they slide or you slide, you won't slide into one another.

5) Try not to fly by people. No matter what size vehicle they or you have. When you fly by everyone on the interstate going 75 when everyone else is going 55, one, you look like an idiot. Two, you spray all sorts of crap up on everyone.  Three, I will not feel that bad for you if I see you on the side of the road a mile down.

6) Stay away! The rule is what, 3 car lengths in normal conditions? Double that in snow! Do not tailgate me. I had someone tailgate me all the way in on Tuesday and I was not a happy camper. Not only then I am watching out for my car, I am now watching out for yours. I do not want your car to become BFF's with my bumper!

I have a few more but these were my main requests! Now if the snow would just be done and it would maybe go up to 35 degrees!! 0's!! We are in the 0's tomorrow! Crossing my fingers that we get out of work!! Be on Our Side Nationwide!! Be On Our Side!

Even when you fall sometimes

If this doesn't make sense, I am sorry ahead of time.

How do you turn something around that you can't really fix? What if, no matter what you do, someone always remains the same. Even when you try and show them their ways may be a little out there. I am not one to try and make someone act or behave differently, but there are some times that it's taken to far. Things are done and said that never should be. You can't ever take them back, they are there, burned into the soul of the other person. Especially when you have hurt them over and over. I am by no means perfect, but I at least will take criticism and try to change. How do you tell that person, who is scorned and bruised, from the other side, that it's okay? How can you show them, prove to them, that no matter how they handle the situation or how they "fix" it, you are behind them. Everyone has a breaking point. What would you do if you reached your breaking point more then once a week? Maybe once a day? I can't even think of it. But then again, I can. No one deserves to be treated like this. I sit here, I think about maybe people who have hurt me in the past, I would never wish this upon them. To me, there is something really wrong. God put us on this earth to praise Him and be servants to Him. Not to be servants to others. Don't you think that God would also want you to be happy? If you were in a situation, where you were not happy, had no where to go and not very many people to turn to about it, what would you to change? Here is where the whole "Christian Like" thing comes into play. I do believe we have commandments to obey and some things are just common sense but again, what if it's honestly the best fix for everything? What if something that could be wrong in some people's eyes, could be the right thing? To me, being frustrated with life, isn't something you should take lightly.Especially when health comes into play. Even if you end up with nothing, you can always start over. I wish I could express how I feel better. It's just that, this person, I love you. I am behind you in everything you do and I will support you in everything you choose to do in the future. I just want you to be happy and enjoy your life. I know who you really are and I love when that side of you shows! 

Anyways, so to wrap up this week. I do feel like I have been put to the test a few times this week. I also feel that I passed. Lol. The week has been all over the place and I am really just ready to stick my head up and move on.

Weekend - Where does time go? I swear, the weekends just fly by! Friday, I don't even remember. Oh, yeah, Christmas shopping!! I think we checked almost everyone off the list!! We only have 2 people left! =) Such a relief! I even managed to get a few of Michael's birthday gifts with out him knowing! That is good!

Saturday. I didn't spend much time at home. I woke up early and headed up to SC with my parents. It was good to spend time with my grandparents! Normally I have an energetic 2 year old with me. It was nice to spend time talking and especially talking with my dad! That will never get old. He will always be my sun in a stormy day! We went a little over in the time we were suppose to be there. Sorry Mikey! It was a good trip!

Today. We went to church, went grocery shopping and then just hung around here. We have been extremely tired this week and we just needed a mental health day. I'm getting sucked into Falala Lifetime and all the movies on the Hallmark channel and Fox Family! I'm such a sap but they usually have adorable endings and leave you with smiles! It's also snowing! Lets hope it slows down and I can drive tomorrow! =) That is the only thing I do not like about snow!

Well off to get a few more things done before this head hits the pillow and zonks out! To keep it going, I heard this song 3 times on the radio during the work week and then twice this weekend. It really sums up this past week.

That's What Faith Can Do

*Kutless*

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don't have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise 

I am seeing a trend

Ironic. I am not sure. I was reading "Death by Love" last night and it had a reference to Matt. 15:17-20. For some reason I noticed that my new Bible has what Jesus speaks in red. I have only had this Bible for 6 months and only read it at least 4 times a week. Goodness Sarah. I realized though, that when I read a passage with Red letters, I tend to read it more then once and take it in a completely different way. I believe that I take more notice because it's words coming directly from His mouth. I also feel like, sometimes, He is saying them to me directly. Yes, yes I know He is and that is the point but, sometimes I feel like he is starring at me saying "Hello, get it?" Back to my "Woah" moment, again, I came into work, turned on my computer, logged into my phone and turned on my iPod. I am still in my "Love" playlist. Two songs in I came upon "Red Letters" by DC Talk. I sat there for a short moment and couldn't believe how the night before I sat there, dwelling on the fact I took these Red letters differently. This song completely wrapped up what I was feeling. The best part, I kept bugging Michael last night, trying to remember this song. I guess it was meant to be.

Red Letters

Pages filled with a holy message
Sealed with a kiss from heaven
On a scroll long ago
Phrases, words that were bound together
Now have the power to sever
Like a sword evermore

Heed the words divinely spoken
May your restless heart be broken
Let the supernatural take hold

(chorus)
There is love in the red letters
There is truth in the red letters
There is hope for the hopeless
Peace and forgiveness
There is life in the red letters
In the red letters

One man came to reveal a mystery
Changing the course of history
Made the claim He was God
Ageless, born of a virgin Mary
Spoke with a voice that carried through the years
It's persevered

Heed the words divinely spoken
May your restless heart be broken
Let the supernatural take hold

What You say moves me, revelation, come and take me
The more I look [the more I look] the more I see [the more I see]
The Word of God [the Word Of God] is what I need

Oh yeah, oh yeah
Yeah, it's the book of love
Yeah, yeah, yeah
It's the book of love
That moves

Speak to me, breathe in me new life

Let Him in your heart