thanksgiving day with the fam

Like I stated earlier...my mom and dad hosted Thanksgiving, so luckily all we had to do was walk across the street for some family time and yummies, but we did put in some time before hand helping KeeKee get everything ready!

We were so thankful to have everybody here with us to celebrate everything we are thankful for!

Mom made a blessing tree for people to write their blessings on...

Who could say no to this turkey shaped butter?  (I think they actually still have them! :P)

Some people have a "ham family" or a "turkey family"--we actually are BOTH!  =)

...and three different types of dressing!  We've got your covered!  =)

And it felt like a good day to make smores! 

Uncle G playing trouble with his nephew and little cousins!

All the cousins (and R's first cousins) Me, Garrett, Cooper, Ben, Stuart, Dawson, Carson, Sterling, Karleigh, Devin, Aiden and Ryder.

We had a fantastic day and feel SO blessed for everything we do not deserve!  Thankful for time together with family to make memories and eat good food!  

R's first time on an airplane!

Last year, we decided we were going to go to Atlanta for Thanksgiving this year.  It had been a good 5 years since our last visit out there for Thanksgiving and Luke & Tonya had just bought a new house last year, so it was time!  Atlanta is full of all sorts of things to do and I wanted R to get to experience some of them while we were there...and to do that we needed to head down there earlier than my parents and my brother.  My uncle just happens to fly for Delta, so I asked if me and R could use some buddy passes to get there early so we could start the party sooner!  I was so thankful for the opportunity with my little guy!  I didn't quite freak out about flying with a four year old alone until the day of...but he's a good kid and once I got him to talk to in a whisper voice in the gate and plane, it was all a breeze!  ;)

 KeeKee dropped us off & said see ya in a few days!

 He had a million and one questions to ask...and I am thankful for that but it got a point where I told him he just had to be quiet because the whole gate did not want to listen to a four year old ask their mom a million and one questions!  :P

 I told him that was our plane...and it finally started to get real!  :P

 It was dark when we took off...so he didn't get to see a lot.  This was seriously the newest plane I had been on...everything was new and updated, it was very nice!  We were in a row of three seats and it was just the two of us so we had plenty of room which was nice!

 He insisted on buckling his dog in.

 Thank goodness for iPads right?!  :P I did forget his earphones so that was kinda a bummer...

Getting our luggage off the baggage claim!  He was such a big help!  He carried his own backpack and his own rolling suitcase which helped me out a TON!

Aunt Kathy & Uncle Sam picked us up...but let me drive home in Atlanta traffic for practice & look at the truck that was in front of us on the way to Luke & Tonya's house!!  How random huh!?

 Glad to be in a warm bed with my sweet boy & glad to finally be in a Atlanta!  =)

We had the cutest little room for the week with the best hospitality!  So thankful we got to stay with Luke & Tonya and enjoy their cozy house!

...He is faithful.

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did You leave us on our own...

You are faithful, God, You are faithful.

Those three lines of words hit so hard to home to me...

As I look back at the things I've been thru in the last 3 or so years of my life, those words couldn't be any more true.  During the most trying times of my life, He never left my side, He never turned His head from me & He never made me face things all alone.  

This just amazes me.  No matter how big or how bad the sin is that we commit, He is faithful!-He is right there!  He held me up during some of the most difficult times in my life!  I may not have realized it then, but I realize it now, more than ever & am so thankful for that.  My dad has always told me & my brother that "We can't do it alone"...that is SO true!  We have to lean on Him & believe that He will take care of our needs.  This is so hard for me sometimes being super Type A, & a planner!  But it really does make life easier when you quite wasting time worrying about things that you can't control!  Give it to the Lord & let Him take care of it..& He will take care in ways you may not have ever dreamed!

He has been faithful to me & my family in so many ways...just to name a few.

-Allowing us to find out my dad had prostate cancer when he was just trying to get more life insurance for his family just in case something every happened to him.  If he hadn't have been getting more life insurance, & hadn't have had to get his blood drawn for the process, he would have had the cancer for probably years living & growing inside his body, before it would have shown up else where. He is faithful.   (Just a little did bit of my incite...if you don't have life insurance & have kids, GO GET IT for you & your spouse TODAY--BEFORE you get diagnosed with cancer!  Once you have cancer, you can't get any life insurance or any additional, for 6 or so years.  Yes, I'm only 22, but I have life insurance!  I would rather get it now, while I am able to because I am young & healthy rather than waiting till I'm "older" to get it, but it being too late because I have been diagnosed with some kind of cancer, & can no longer get it to make sure my son is taken care of when I'm gone.  It can cost as less than $10 a month.  JUST something to think about!  I'm not expert...but my parents have taught me a thing or two over the years! :P)

-Even though I made the choices I did, & got pregnant before I was married, He allowed me to carry a healthy little boy to full term (& then some...) & was perfectly healthy the day he was born & we haven't had any problems since then!  I feel SO SO SO undeserving of this, it's something I often struggle with.  But...He is faithful.

-I thought I was doing the right thing by getting married when I found out I was pregnant.  But that was obviously not what God had in store for me, or my little man.  This may sound totally wrong to you...but God allowed me to get out of that marriage I wasn't supposed to be in, in a short amount of time, allowing me to restart my life before it was too late.  He is faithful.

-If I hadn't have gotten a divorce when I did, I don't think I would have ever gone back to school...& that is something I am so thankful for.  He is faithful.

-After me & Ryder had lived with my parents (& brother) for 6-7 months, a house built in 1962 at the front of my parent's neighborhood, that we had never even noticed before went up for sale.  We looked at it the day the sign went up in the front yard & bought it the next day.  It was cute on the outside & even cuter on the inside!  This was totally a God thing, & the fact that he allowed my parents to be in a place where they could buy it for me & Ryder to live in.  Not to mention walking distance from parent's house.  I can see their house from my kitchen window.  I don't think I have to say it...but...He is faithful.

Those are just a few things that I can think of to name right now.  This post has been on my heart since Sunday & I have just been putting it off because I didn't know if I would have all the right words to say.  I know this is just a blog, but sometimes I think it helps me by just being able to have some where out on the WWW that's "mine" to voice my thoughts & opinions--has taught me SO much.  I love that I can get on here & write how I am feeling & the things on my heart, & the things God is trying to teach me.  I hope I didn't just totally bore you guys to death!  

Matt Redman's Never Once video on youTube

Thankfulness...

Today isn't just about eating as much food as possible & visiting with family we don't see very often, but it's about giving thanks to all we have been given.  We should take time every day to say a simple "Thank you" but that's not always the case...

I know I can't list everything I'm thankful for..but I want to remember the things on my heart that I'm thankful for this year, as well as a flash back or two of my sweet lil boy!

 {Thanksgiving 2009, 2 & a half months old}

That I get to go to school, I don't have to.

For my wonderful parents, always being supportive even during the most difficult of times.

For my parent's jobs & all they do for me & Ryder.

For Ryder's wonderful grandparents, Mimi & PawPaw--they are beyond good to both of us!

 For wonderful friends, old & new!

For a wonderful roommate that loves my little boy!

For me & my families health, & the access we have to medicine & doctors.

 {Thanksgiving 2010, 13 & a half months old}

My church family & being able to live in the best country in the world, allowing us to freely worship whenever we want.

Of course my little boy & all the joy that he brings to my life every single day, as well as his sweet & perfect personality & health.  I never knew I could love someone the way that I love him & I can't ever say thank you enough for God trusting me to raise this little boy & be his mom.

My town...I seriously do LOVE where I live!  =)

For blogging & the outlet it has allowed me to have, as well as meeting new friends!

I'm also thankful for Apple products!--Maybe cheesy, but it's true!  They have made so many of our lives easier & I'll always be a Mac girl! =)

I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a Independent Scentsy Consultant!  I love my job & the people I have met through it!  

I know I haven't covered everything...that's just a glimpse of my thankfulness!

I hope you enjoy time with your families today & remember what this "day full of food" is really about!  & don't just be thankful today, but everyday!  

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:17

Thank you for...

Just a few things Ryder is thankful for this week & every week...& in the own words of my lil man-

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for school...

...thank you for Chick-E-Tah cows, big cows & little cows....

...thank you for MiMi & PawPaw, & Hannah Grace... 

...KeeKee & Pops, Dah Dah,

 & Uncle G.

Thank you for Mama & thank you for gummies.  In Jesus name, Ryder, amen."

thankful for our Healer...

Tonight was the first night of antiochNOW & I think it was a huge hit! With so much going on in my life & always feeling like I'm "behind" & always have so much to do....I have to step back & make myself realize how blessed I truly am.

• I get to go to school. I don't have to.
• I have great parents who support me in everything I do.
• It may not be a "real" job, but I LOVE selling Scentsy & it gives me a little extra money every month I wouldn't normally have.
• My child will be two next week & has never been on antibiotics (& after learning about them today & what they do to your body in Chemistry in Society...I am oh so thankful!) I hope I didn't just jinx myself.
• I have a car to get from place to place. So many times I think I spend way to much time in my car, or way to much money on gas, but I am thankful I have a car to put gas in!
• Just to name a few...

Tonight we sang Our God is greater...by Chris Tomlin & I was brought to tears at a certain part thinking about sweet little baby morgan. It's probably not hard to figure out which part either...

Our God is greater, our God is stronger

God You are higher than any other

Our God is Healer, awesome in power...

Our God, Our God...

That's about as direct as it gets. I just stood there & poured out those words & I believe them. He is all those things, even when things of this world seem like they couldn't get worse. He is a Healer & can do more things than doctors on this earth can imagine. I love when doctor's say, "Well, that is truly a miracle." It's not a miracle...it's the work of God. Our God. Our Healer. Our God who is great & stronger, & higher than any other, & awesome in power. He.is.OUR.God.

the "a" word...

Abortion.

This is what was preached on this morning at church.  Uhh...such a depressing word. As Jason started stated facts about abortion, I literally got a knot in my throat, & almost grabbed my coat, purse, Bible & Starbucks drink & walked out to go pick up Ryder from the nursery where I had just dropped him off, & go to Target to do some shopping.  I didn't want to be depressed the rest of the day or week, thinking about all the facts he was telling us.  But then I started thinking. I needed to hear these facts & didn't need to just ignore them because they were what was going on in our world today.  This is a REAL thing that is happening every day around us.  Sometimes I think if I just ignore something, then it really isn't a problem & I don't really have to know about it. No big deal.  So...I decided to face it & be a big girl, because THIS.WAS.REAL.

Abortion was legalized in 1973 with the case of Roe vs. Wade (one thing I CAN remember from college).  :P  About 1.5 MILLION abortions take place every year in America.  This is about the same as the casualties of the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea & Persian Gulf combined.  That seems so OUTRAGEOUS to me. America's definition of a human life is someone with a beating heart & someone with active brain waves.  Well, you know what...babies have a detectable heartbeat around 6 weeks & brain activity shortly there after.  So why isn't an abortion the act of killing or murder?  Something seems awfully messed up with our system...but what's new?

As a mom, it made it even harder for me to sit & listen to Jason's sermon.  I couldn't imagine my life without my little man!  Being someone who didn't get pregnant at just the ideal time or age, being in the middle of college, not being married & just a child myself, abortion could have been an easy out for me.  No one would have known that I had sinned & I could have just stayed in school, gone on to graduate with my starting class & no one would have ever known what I had done.

I knew that abortion was wrong, but being in the situation I was in & dealing with everything I was having to deal with, I would be lying if I said that I didn't think about it.  It just seemed like it would be an easy way out.  As Jason said today, when we sin, we shouldn't try & cover up that sin by committing another act of sin, which is what an abortion would have been.  I am SOO glad that I knew it was wrong & knew that it would be a mistake.  I choose to face the battles ahead of me & do what I knew was right & I am SOO thankful that I did!  :)

We all sin every day, I just happened to sin in a way that would really show for 9 long months, & even after that it would continue to show every day for the rest of my life.  Luckily, not all sins are that way, but what if they were? Would you be out doing some of the things you are doing?  What if you had to wear a beer bottle around your neck every day, every where you went to show that you had been out partying the night before?  Or  what if you had a bottle of prescription pills tied around your neck that you bought off the street last week to get high when you felt down?  What if....?  Just something to think about (little off subject!  :P)

I knew I had to write after walking out of that service today.  I had been there, when I used to tell myself that I would never dare think about getting an abortion!  Luckily, I had been taught that it was wrong, & sadly not all woman are taught the same.  I can't imagine having to live with myself after making a decision like that.  On the outside, it might have seemed like the "easy way out" for me, but on the inside, it would have only made the situation worse.

I am so happy & proud of my decision today & I wouldn't trade all my heartache, hard times, tears & fights for not having my little man asleep in his crib in his bedroom right down the hall.  CANNOT.IMAGINE.

Thank you Jason for being real with us & helping me to not ignore the facts of life today, as sad as they may be.

So much to be thankful for...

1.  Me & my sweet baby boy's heath.  We are truly fortunate.  I don't want to jinx it, but at almost 13 months old, we have not yet been to the Dr. for a sick visit.  I am SO thankful for this, & dread the day we have to make our first visit.  

2.  My parent's that have ALWAYS been there for me every step of the way through this thing we call life.

3.  My friends (even though most of them don't live in the same town as me).

4.  That I GET to go to school.  There are so many kids that would do ANYTHING to receive and education, & here I am complaining about it all the time.  "Having" to go to class..."Having" to study..."Having" to right a book report.  I don't "HAVE" to do anything...I "GET" to.

5.  A roof over my head.  This is so cliche, but it's so true.  I've grown up "expecting" it, when so many kids worry about not having a roof over their head tomorrow night.

6.  For being able to wake up this morning.

7.  That my dad survived prostate cancer & is here to tell about it & still gets to watch his grandson grow up.  

8.  All the troops serving our country all over the World.  This is another thing we've just grown up "having" so we "expect" it.  But no...those are people's sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands & mommies & daddies out there FIGHTING for our country & what we believe in.  THANK YOU.

9.  Ouachita.  Even though I didn't get to graduate there, it's still a HUGE part of me & my family (& friend's) lives.  Words can't describe it to someone that hasn't been a student there them-self.  I made many lifelong friends there & more memories than I could count.  It's a very unique place that holds tight onto SO many people's hearts.  

10.  The lil boy that wakes me up from the room next to mine every morning.  How happy he is to see his mama in the mornings & how he instantly puts me in a good mood.  For all the laughs, tears & memories that he provides for me every day...all.day.long.  I never knew I could love someone the way I love him.