My Favorite Song

We had one of those church services yesterday morning where you never want to leave!! Our pastor preached for an hour and it seemed like 10 minutes. And at altar call, I would say 95% of the people there were at the altar!! God was all over that place, it was all about HIM, and it was amazing! We sang my most fave song too and there were hands everywhere raised in worship, it was a little tiny slice of what Heaven will be like, I can't wait!

My fave song is "In Christ Alone", so I thought I would share the lyrics. Reading them doesn't even begin to do them justice, although there are some mighty powerful statements in them. But I urge you to download the song, if your tech savvy, or buy a cd, just somehow get your hands on this song, it is anointed!!!!

My favorite part of the song is in the second verse where it says, "Till on that cross where Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, For every sin on Him was laid, Here in the death of Christ I live". WOW, gives me goose bumps just reading it. Hallelujah!


In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay.
Light of the world by darkness slain,
Then bursting forth in glorious Day,
Up from the grave He rose again,
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine,
Brought with the precious blood of Christ


No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me,
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand'
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

It's too early.

I am watching a little girl for a co worker of my husband's this morning. Her daycare providers had a funeral and were closed today. Her dad dropped her off at 5:55 this morning! I think I might have gotten up that early twice in the last year and one of those times was to go "Black Friday" shopping, I'll do anything for a bargain. Anyway, this sweet 2 year old girl had to get up before 5:30 this morning to get to my house, that's early! She took up with me right away, didn't cry or anything, and is sitting in the recliner watching Blue's Clue's.

The point to all of this is, I am so thankful to God and grateful to my husband that I and my children get to sleep in to the last possible minute! And during the summer we can sleep in til we're up! And I am here when the kids get home. There are so many wonderful sets of parents where both of them work and have to get themselves and their kids up at the crack of dawn every morning and God bless them! Those working mom's are nothing short of miraculous! And their children will learn a whole different set of life skills that mine have! We haven't had to do that, yet! I may some day and then I will learn what it is like. For now I am so blessed to be a stay at home mom and I don't take want to take that for granted.

Kuddos to all you working moms, and dads, out there, hang in there! Kuddos to all you stay at home moms, and dads, out there, it's not like we are eating bon bons and taking bubble baths, huh?! Neither job is easy, but both are rewarding!

Pleasantly Surprised

To find out that I had lost another few pounds! I mentioned that I have been working out again, well I kicked it up a notch this week, just trying to build up my endurance and strength, and whadya know I've lost another 3 lbs, just in the past week! So excited. Who would've thought it, the old fashioned way of losing weight really does work! If I can lose another 8 lbs. I will be the smallest I have been since before getting married! I'm working fast and furious toward my "Hot Mom" status, HA!

I'm addicted.....

to Nutella! This choclatey hazelnut goodness is so yummy, if you haven't had any you MUST try some. I like it on toast and biscuits, but my fave way to eat it is on croissants, mmmmmmmm! Just thought I would share. And if anyone has any other yummy ways to eat it please let me know!

Happy Fall Ya'll.

I cannot believe it is fall already! And Christmas is a mere 2 months away! I'm freaking out right now!! I have bought nothing and money will be in somewhat of a short supply this season. However, kids are easy to please, even with little money! Note to self, start shopping in MAY next year! We try to focus on the "Christ" in Christmas, not the commercial part anyway, so not much money probably isn't a bad thing!

My life is a monotonous flow of identical days that seem that they will never end!!! Wake up, get breakfast, take 2 kids to school, work out, shower, pick up 4 year old from preschool, make beds, do laundry, clean up kitchen, make lunch, clean up kitchen again, break up fights, put 4 year old in "time out" 5 million times for being mean to his sister, vacuum, laundry, laundry, laundry, pick up 3rd grader from school, break up 10,000 fights, start preparing supper, eat supper, clean up kitchen, over see homework, bathe 3 children, break up 15,000 fights between the 9 and 4 year old, finally put fighting children to bed, read for a bit (maybe), then fall into an exhausted, like the dead sleep! Sometimes throwing errands into the day. I KNOW I need to be enjoying these days, but sometimes I feel like I am barely making it through the days without turning into the "Joan Crawford" mother. The bickering is sucking the life out of me!!!!!!!!

I really do love my children and my life, just feeling very overwhelmed right now. Trust me, I know I only have three, and lots of moms do it with many more than that, and God Bless 'em, they are saints! But right now my 3 feel like 6!

Weighing In and a Giveaway

I was reading back through some of my old posts and realized I never did post my weight loss to date. If anyone remembers I started a weight loss regime waaaaaay back in March, my starting weight was 181. By May I had lost.....drum roll please........30lbs!!!!!!! I reached my first goal! I am very excited about it. I took the summer off, didn't work out or do any special eating, BUT monitored my weight closely to make sure I didn't start creeping back up. There is NO WAY I am putting that weight back on, losing weight bites and I am not letting myself, barring anything out of my control, get back in that position again.

So now I have 10 more to go to reach my ultimate goal. So two weeks ago, now that school has started again and we have a routine going, I started walking/running on the treadmill again. Even if I don't lose any more weight, as long as I can keep the weight off I just lost and get in great shape I will be happy.

I have never been a runner. Even in high school when I weighed 120 lbs soaking wet and could play intense volleyball for 8 hours straight, I never was a runner. I have always admired runners, envied them really, they always seem to be such athletes! So I have decided at the ripe old age of 35, almost 36, to give running a go. My goal is to be able to run a 5 or 10k in the spring. Hopefully it will be a 10k, but I also want to set a realistic goal, so we'll see. Are there 7k's out there? Anyway I'm giving it a go.

If anyone remembers waaaaay back in the spring I promised a giveaway when I reached my goal of 160 lbs, well I reached it! So I am going to do a giveaway sometime real soon. So my one reader should have a pretty good chance of winning, ha! So stay tuned!

Puberty, yuck.

So my oldest just turned 9 on Tuesday and she has started puberty! Yes I am talking about a sensitive subject, so read with caution. I realize this might mortify her if she knew I was posting this, but she will never know. I just feel the need to share, and since I am pretty sure only women read this blog, and we've all been through this, I think we will all understand. About a year ago she started getting breasts, not much, but alot for an 8 year old. We had her checked out and they do an xray to check for what is called "bone age" in children and if that is the same as their biological age they are fine, and she was. Well in a year she has gotten quite larger breasts and started showing other signs as well. Took her back to the dr. and her bone age is now 11, which means she has entered puberty, and it looks like she is running toward it full boar. ~sigh~

She is only 9! Now granted she may not actually start menstreuating (sp?), for a few years, but then again it could be not that long either. Regardless, kids that young shouldn't have to deal with this. She is getting an MRI done in October to make sure there is nothing abnormal there causing her to start puberty at this age, just as a precaution. But that is going to be a real fun day. She probably is just an early bloomer, so we aren't real concerned right now. I know there are lots of women who started their periods at 11, even some 10, but I have always thought that was soooo young. I was 14, quite the late bloomer, and I loved it.

I was really hoping she would be a late bloomer too. But Kayleigh never does anything like a "normal" child, lol. She has had her share of struggles in her life and it just seems that when it rains it pours. I know she will be fine and that this is a part of life and cannot be avoided, and it's natural, blah, blah, blah. But she's 9 and she's my baby and I don't want her to have to deal with this until the last possible moment, I'm asking alot, I know.

I am not going to tell anyone about this right now, I don't even want to tell my mom or mil. I just really don't feel like having to tell people something else our daughter is having "issues" with. I also don't want to hear anyone tell me this is just a fact of life and I need to deal with it, as one of my friends, actually a good one, said in so many words. Because I might punch them, seriously. I needed to share though, and thought this would be a safe place. My family does not visit this blog so I'm good, lol. And you guys are not in physical reach of a "punch" at the moment, haha.

I know there are so many worse things out there that could be wrong with my daughter, trust me. And my heart goes out to those parents whose kids face things much tougher than this, and I apologize to any of them if this seems trivial. I count my blessings daily! But it doesn't make the struggles she has faced hurt any less.

Thanks for "listening".