Happily Ever After...

~I am thankful for my God who has forgiven my sin, draws me to Himself, and who sacrificed His son for my sin. Who am I to deserve death but be saved through His unmerited favor? ~I am thankful for my hardworking husband. He has had 3 jobs this year, and the Lord has graciously taught us many things through each one. He now has a (fairly) stable job and as long as we don't have to move, it is perfect! He is a rock in the storms of life and protects me from a lot of the drama. ~I am thankful for my oldest son. God has grown him this past year through adversity, and who he is today is a much wiser man. He is happy and he has a very sweet girl in his life that we love. What more could a mom ask for? ~I am thankful for my second son and the heart he has for missions. He is an inspiration to me to give more. He is planning to minor in Chinese to further his ministry opportunities. He is a sweet boy! ~I am thankful for a gentle, shy girl named Aria Dawn, who wakes up singing every mornin...

My sweet husband regularly surprises me with gifts, flowers and romantic dates. Not because it is my birthday, or our anniversary, but "just because" he wanted to surprise me. Since this is my 40th year, he has surprised me with gifts all throughout the year, so I can celebrate being 40 all year long. (It sure takes away the sting of being OLD and makes forty FUN!!!!) Yesterday, he came home from a business trip and surprised me with a little blue box from Tiffanys as part of Fun and Forty. Who doesn't love a little blue box??? Inside was a beautiful necklace from one of their newest collections and I LOVE IT!! After 24 years, I still am amazed at each thoughtful gesture, and cannot thank the Lord enough for blessing me with such a wonderful, Godly man! I love you handsome!

I am not the wild outdoorsy type. I know it comes as a great shock to those that know me well. But every now and then, my inner "I love s'mores" self will rear it's ugly head and demand to be fed. This weekend was just the perfect time for what I like to call "Cristy Camping." You roast hotdogs, run inside for the ketchup. You get chilly- no problem, just run in for a sweatshirt. Tired of the dogs begging for your food? Send them inside. Need more marshmallows? Second shelf of the pantry. And when everyone gets cranky, we all head to our soft, fluffy beds. I think you get the point. This weekend we had a rare night when ALL SIX of us were in the same place at the same time. A perfect time for a Cristy Camping night! The babies of my bunch. Sigh... The master at s'moreology. Seriously. They are better than the rest. Gianna loves s'mores. She hates being dirty and sticky. She is the perfect child for Cristy Camping. God is good like that. My oldest tw...

Remember the story, "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf"? Let me introduce you to the sequel: "The Girl Who Cried Tampa." "Once was a family who was told they had to unexpectedly move to Tampa just 10 days after their daughter had surgery. The family was NOT happy about the situation, but tried to see it as a new adventure that was orchestrated by God. They went to Tampa to begin the house hunt, only to become discouraged at the lack of affordable rental homes in nice areas. On the second day of her husband's new job, and alone in a hotel room with no transportation, the 'Girl who cried Tampa' stopped perusing the Internet for homes long enough to realize that her child was running a temperature of 101. She rushed to the phone to call Shriners, fearful of a post-op infection and was told to head to the ER immediately. Without a car, alone with 2 little girls and a puppy, she did the only reasonable thing.... .......She cried. A...

So maybe , just maybe , the thought of driving 7 hours to Tampa on Saturday, meeting with just 3 realtors and finding a home to rent was just a tad ambitious, even for us. The first home was BEAUTIFUL, but the locals had warned us that although the area was safe, it was a heck of a commute for Greg. We had high hopes as we whizzed past suburbia and all the conveniences I have come to enjoy. It became rural, more rural, and then we started to laugh as we turned from road to road, convinced that GPS had failed us and gotten us lost. All we saw was strawberry fields and run-down trailers used by migrant workers. Oh and pitbulls. Lots of pitbulls guarding the shacks. Nothing says "welcome to the neighborhood" like pitbulls. And then, right smack next to a row of rusty trailers and barking pitbulls, was a BEAUTIFUL home. With a fenced yard. A pool, and a covered lanai. Ahem. Needless to say, we didn't even get out of the car. We called the realtor and told her not to bother. ...

Okay, I'm about to pull a skeleton out of my closet. Serious confession time here folks. I have this terrible, annoying quirk that when I am totally overwhelmed, I become very unproductive and focus on silly little things that don't help me in any way whatsoever. So it makes perfect sense to me to update my blog, peruse face-book and paint my girls toes instead of focusing on the tasks at hand, which includes: Copious amounts of washing/drying/folding of laundry. Unpacking fall clothes and re-packing summer clothes to take to FL. Did I mention we leave in 36 hours??? Canceling telephone/cable/and various other services, which will only take 12 hrs on the phone on hold. Packing my house. Deciding what to take/what to toss/what to donate/what to leave. More Packing. Ordering boxes and packing supplies. A shower.... that is much needed at this point. Maybe a making a meal to feed the fam? Nah, who am I kidding, I will be calling to order more take out. I DID start the dishwashe...