Saying Good-Bye

I've never really had a difficult time saying good-bye. When close high school friends moved away I told them "See you later" rather than "good-bye".

When I left my "family" in France after being a nanny for one year, I gave hugs and said good-bye. I'm sure there was a tear or two that I wiped away, but no full out crying. I was too excited to be returning home.

When I leave my kids or husband for the evening or weekend, I give a hug & run! Yay! Freedom! I know that I love them with all my heart and if anything ever happened to them that was permanent, I would be devastated. I guess I know that (most likely - God willing) I will be seeing them again soon.

Today I am saying good-bye to a precious little boy who has really touched my heart and I've already had one cry about it! Why?! Is it because he's just so darn cute & hasn't reached the "terrible two's" yet? Is it because he has been living with his Grandma & uncles this past 13+ months because his Mom & Dad haven't been able to care for him? Is it because I know he's being returned to his Mom's today and the living standards in his new home are going to be very different than mine or his Grandma's? Is it because I see the sense of loss in his Grandma's eyes as she knows she must surrender him back to his Mom? Is it because I know my kids will miss him & his silly antics?

After my little cry this morning, I put the kids' music on; how fitting! They are listening to the "Music Machine" CD these days. The songs on the fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness & Self-control - were very fitting. Once again, God used just the right thing to calm my spirit.

Family Time

A couple Sundays ago, we went to The Apple Barn here in town. Daniel had been in Kindergarten for a field trip but the rest of us had never been. We met some friends there from our new church and had a great time!

The kids went up and down the slide and through the little maze over and over again. We laughed and cheered so hard when Jeremy & our friends went down a very steep, windy & not-so-wide of a slide! I was wise and decided to stay on firm ground (okay - I was probably a little scared & I'm not that adventerous!).

It was a beautiful sunny, October day. It was good to be out in the fresh air and enjoying some time with new friends. It felt like old times (hanging out with people we know)!

Here are some picutres from our outing!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am combining Thankful Thursday with Jeremy's weight loss update because, well, I forgot to post his weight loss results yesterday AND I really am thankful for him working so hard at losing weight!

Thanksgiving put things out of whack a little, but after getting back on track, Jeremy lost 1 lb this past week putting him back at 230 lbs.

With only 2 more weeks to go before our anniversary (can it really be our anniversary so soon?!), Jeremy & I are hoping that he will lose as much weight as possible (at least be securely in the 220's). Our goal is for Jeremy to get a new suit for our anniversary and we don't want to have to have him change sizes after we buy it.

So stay tuned over the next couple of weeks to see how Jeremy does!

Weigh In Wednesday

Jeremy has changed his weigh in day to Wednesdays now.

With Thanksgiving this past weekend and an uneventful fishing trip filled with junk food the weekend before Jeremy's weight decided to reverse itself. As of this past weekend, he had gained 5lbs. But after getting back on track these past couple days, he was excited this morning when he weighed himself and found he had just lost 4 of those 5 gained pounds!

So as of this morning, Jeremy's weight is 231 lbs. I must say that he is definately more encouraged to be back on track for this next week.

As a side note, I just have to tell you about a meal I made last weekend. I cooked up some salmon with some prepared tzaziki dip on top. It was SO good! I love easy to make meals that taste delicous and are healthy! Now I can't wait for the next time I make salmon!

Do you have any healthy meals that you want to share? Click on the "Comments" to leave your tips, recipes or comments.

Thanksgiving Weekend!

It was Thanksgiving this past weekend. We don't have any family near us so at first we weren't sure what we'd be doing. But last weekend, I asked my parents if they wanted to come join us & everything worked out for them to do so from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon. In the end, there was Jeremy & myself & the kids, my parents, their home-stay student (also named Daniel!) & a friend of my parents who has been staying with them.

Friday night after Jeremy got home from work we went shopping at Costco and had supper there. Gotta love the cheap meals at Costco! Where else can a family of four eat for $15 or less? We did our Thanksgiving meal shopping as well as food for the next week.

Saturday morning Jeremy went out to do some "errands". He had a few things to work on for our anniversary get-away in November. I stayed home & relaxed with the kids. Later we did a little house cleaning, but mostly just relaxed, so much so that Jeremy & I fell asleep on the couch! Later in the day we decided we should probably get out of the house and finish our shopping.

Because of the lazy day, our meals weren't really on schedule. The kids were hungry while we were shopping so we bought them a slice of pizza each. When we got home, I put some salmon in the oven for supper. It was defrosted and needed to be cooked so even though I was the only one hungry, I cooked it anyway.

Sunday morning we headed off to church (it's so nice knowing where we are worshipping now). After church we headed home and had a relaxing afternoon cleaning and doing food prep. My parents were bringing some leftover turkey so we didn't have to worry about that. I made a pumpkin pie, an "apple" dessert (it turned out that I didn't have a second pie or enough apples plate so I had to improvise - thank you, Karen for the recipe suggestion. It was delicious!). Then we made garlic mashed potatoes, mashed yams, steamed cauliflower & broccoli, a "loaded" green salad (we like lots of stuff in our green salads) and our famous stuffing balls. They are so good and really quite easy to make.

My parents arrived just before 6pm and within about 15-20 minutes of them arriving we were ready to sit down and eat - just like I had planned. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and delicious pumpkin pie (did I mention I made the crust; desparation calls for desparate measures). We put the kids to bed shortly after as it was getting late. Then we sat back and watched some good old "Mr. Bean" dvd's. The laughter helped to burn off a few of the calories we ingested earlier!

Monday morning Jeremy & my Dad went to Jeremy's work to put the dropped-off rental vehicles into the yard so they wouldn't get stolen then went out for breakfast. The kids were up early (as usual) watching their cartoons. The rest of us grown-ups slept in to some degree or another. After a relaxing morning and a lunch of left-overs, we played some card games & relaxed. It was so nice to just have time to play together. Usually our time is so rushed that it go-go-go. By the time my parents had to leave, I felt like we had spent some quality time together. Jeremy & I and the kids enjoyed a relaxing evening after we said our good-byes. And that was the end of our Thanksgiving weekend!

I thought I would leave you with a few pictures (most of which were taken as we were saying our good-byes).

Prayer Requests Update

Thank you for praying.

Please continue to pray for our friend's husband who had heart surgery. The surgery went very well. Please pray for his body to heal quickly.

Please hold my friend in your prayers. She received the results of her biopsy today - she has breast cancer. She is pregnant with her 6th child (due this month, I believe). She is in shock and is asking for prayer. She and her husband are Christians.

Thank you for praying!

Perfection!

The sun is shining, the air is brisk, the kids are playing outside, it's quiet inside & I'm enjoying a cup of hot Mulled Cider! What could be better than this?!