Jeremiah 1:5

After Mass, we took the long walk to the graveyard like we do every Sunday.  We made it to her grave and stopped.  We bowed our heads and prayed like we always do and then Dan stooped down to remove  some fallen leaves from the stone and Sarah asked, "Why did you chose that verse?'

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,    before you were born I dedicated you. - Jeremiah 1:5

I took a deep breath and said, "Well, it brought us peace knowing that God knew Rebecca even before we did and that...."

And then the tears started to flow.  I couldn't finish my sentence. Sarah gave me a hug and then we all headed to the car.

I never finished my answer to Sarah because I typically can't talk about Rebecca without crying.  But I wanted to try to put into words why we chose this verse.

It's simple really. These words bring me comfort, peace and hope.

It brings me comfort to know that God knew Rebecca and his plans for her from the beginning of time.  It brings me peace to know that he set her apart as a saint and that she would share eternity with him.  It brings me hope to know that God had a plan for her even if I don't know that plan or purpose.

Knowledge that Rebecca was God's before she was ours helps me when I question Him about her life and death and ask him "why" like I do so often.  Because yes, 3 and a half years later, I am still questioning him, still wondering what it was all for.

Even though he hasn't revealed those answers to me, I know she is His.  He knew her and loved her before me. He continues to know her and love her and that brings me solace.

And that my sweet Sarah, is why we chose that verse.  

Thankful Thursday - Edition 2

It's Thankful Thursday - week 2!  I will say that I have been much more mindful of things to give thanks for knowing that I will be coming here to list them.  So that's a good thing!

1. The weather - Here I go again talking about the boring weather.  While I do not like cold weather at all, I am thankful that while we have had these abnormally cold temperatures here, there was no snow, sleet, or freezing rain.   And, it has been above average for the last few days so I'm actually able to go outside without a coat on! 

2. No pain - It struck me this morning in the shower that it has been around 4 year that I have been free the horrible MS pain that I suffered with for almost 10 years. I try to remember as I am taking my daily pills to keep this pain away to thank God for the medicine and the lack of pain but lately that has slipped my mind.  So, on the list it goes!

3. Dinners with my family - We are in one of those wonderful periods where there are no evening practices and with the holidays and weird weather, we haven't even had Scouts. It has been so nice to have dinner together as a family every night for several weeks straight with no one missing from the table.  I love to hear about everyone's day and we all enjoy a good story. Sarah has had a couple of good ones lately that have kept us quite entertained.  When the food is good and the laughter is great, it makes me happy.

4. Exams are almost over - By the time you read this Peter will be done with his exams!  Thank you, Jesus!  This has been quite the week.  The schedule has been weird and I think Peter has learned a lot about what it takes to prepare for exams and how he studies best. 

5.Peppermint coffee - I know I posted about this one last week but Aldi had their seasonal peppermint coffee marked down this week.  I got 5 packs of it.  A box of 12 pods was only$1.99!!  Sarah was making fun of me for buying so much but I informed her that if they had any left when I go next week, I will be getting more.  I love a good sale price!

6.  Beth Moore's Portrait of Devotion - I'm only 6 days into this one but I am really enjoying it. She gives a passage of scripture to read and then there's a nice devotional to go along with it. She is focusing on the lives of Jesus, David, John, and Paul.  Beth Moore is always good at breaking things down and this little devotion is no different. I saw it in Wal-Mart, hemmed and hawed about getting it but decided to do it.  I'm glad I did!

7.  Having Dan at home - We've gone through a long stretch with Dan at home. It is so nice!  I know travelling is a part of his job but I don't have to like it!  It's been several months since he's had a trip and it has been heaven. Hes got several long ones coming up in the near future and it's making me really appreciate it when he isn't travelling!

8. Parents who enjoy carpool duty - I am so thankful to have my parents next door.  And one of the benefits is that if I am in a crunch - they can do drop-off or pick-up duty!  I've used their services several times over the last couple of weeks and their love of helping me and spending time with Peter and Sarah is just one of the many things I love about them and about living next door to them!

9.This ridiculous cat - Is it weird to be thankful for this cat?  Probably but this cat brings Dan and the kids (and me to a lesser degree because her care falls to me since I'm the one home all the time) so much joy.  I overheard Dan calling the cat "his butternut squash" last week.  He is smitten.  And the kids love him too. I feel bad for our other less playful and fun cat so I'm trying to give her extra attention but she's over Wally.

10. Social Media - And before you go shaking your head and thinking that this one is crazier than Wally, hear me out.  While I don't like a lot of what goes on there, I do give thanks for all the times that it brings us together in prayer.  There are so many people and issues I would not be aware of that I can pray for because it's posted on social media. And I really do feel like when we storm heaven with prayer for a particular person or cause, he hears us and it moves him to respond. 

I am also thankful for the people that share their "God moments" on social media.  To read about ways that God has spoken to them or helped them, strengthens my faith and keeps my always looking for Him as I go about my own day.

What are you thankful for today?

All over the place....

It is only Wednesday!  How can that be?  When I am out of my routine, I lose all track of time.  Peter going in to school late and getting out early for exams has caused my poor brain all manner of chaos and confusion. 

And I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something or someone. And I guess I am because yesterday my plan was to take my laptop and devotional book with me so that after I dropped Peter off at the carpool, I could go to Dunkin Donuts and write a blog post and catch up on some reading.

Well, I got to Dunkin, got my coffee, set-up my laptop and it immediately died.  The battery wasn't charged and I left my cord at home.  No worries, I thought.  I'll just do some reading.  Guess what else I left at home? 

So I spent the next hour and a half mindlessly scrolling through my phone and eavesdropping on the conversations of a small group of businessmen who sounded like they were preparing for a meeting with a customer.   They kept looking at me nervously as if I was a spy for this company.  Nope.  Just a bored SAHM waiting on time to run the taxi service.

Last Friday, in between getting my hair done and setting up for the winter dance, I had a doctor's appointment.  I was having a physical which is something I've never before.  Shocking, right?  Especially at my age.  In my defense, though, I go to my neurologist twice a year and my gynocologist once a year and my dentisit 2 a year like clockwork so I only see my regular doctor if there's a problem.

My neurologist always does bloodwork and I've never had a problem until my last visit.  They called and said my liver enzymes were elevated and I needed to have my bloodwork redone with my regular doctor.  So I did and while I was there, the PA suggested that I come back for a physical.  So I took her advice and scheduled that.  And luckily, my liver enzymes were back to normal so I didn't have to worry about that. 

Anyway, I had my physical last Friday and while I was there, she had a long health questionnare that we went over.  One of the questions was how many times I had been pregnant.

"Four times," I replied to the PA.  (This PA is new to the practice, very sweet and very young.)

"So you have 4 kids," she replied confidantly.

"No, only two," was my response.

"Oh.  So you had two abortions," she responded matter-of-factly.

"Um, noooooooooooo.  I had a miscarriage and a baby that died when she was 5 days old," I calmly replied while inside I was screaming TWO ABORTIONS?????

"Oh, how sad," she said.

And the whole time I was thinking that what was really sad was that her first assumption when I said I had been pregnant 4 times but only had 2 kids was that I had two abortions. 

Moving on.....

It turns out that all my bloodwork was normal except that my vitamin D is low and I need to start taking a supplement and go back in 3 months for a recheck. I think I can handle that. I'm not going to lie though, I'm still steaming about the abortion comment though.

On a lighter note, last week I saw this meme:

I loved this so much that I was telling the kids and Dan about it at dinner and after I said, "So basically y'all are highfiving when somebody dies," Dan and I exploded in laughter. 

The kids looked at us like we were insane.  Peter said, "That's not funny at all.  And besides, I think I saw that meme like 3 years ago."  Sarah just rolled her eyes and shook her head in embarassment for her poor stupid parents.  And then they both excused themselves from the table while Dan and I were still rolling with laughter. 

And in other news, (this post is really all over the place, isn't it?) I got new glasses

This is the BEFORE:

This is the AFTER:

It's hard to tell in this picture but the frames are a purply/browny/pinky color and they are metal.  Yikes!  What was I thinking?  They are smaller and lighter looking on my face but I'm having a hard time getting used to them.  Add to that the fact that Sarah didn't seem to think too much of them has me wondering if I should have stuck with dark brown.  Oh well.  

I'm sure we will all get used to them as the days go by and then when I put on my old ones everyone will be like "Oh my gosh!  That's old glasses are horrible!"  At least that's what I do whenever Dan pulls out a pair of his old glasses.  He has some from about 10 years ago that are ridculously large and round and, what the heck was he thinking?

I'll check in with you guys tomorrow for another round of Thankful Thursday.

Weird week, weather report, and weekend update.

It's Monday and it's a weird one.  Well, actually, this whole week is going to be weird.

Peter has exams Monday - Thursday and is off on Friday.  There are two exams each day and they start later than the normal school time and end earlier which means my whole schedule is thrown off.

And add to the mix that they are calling for sleet this afternoon and Sarah's school (as well as alllllllll the others) are dismissing early.  It is sunny outside right now and around 34 degrees.  The school systems are expecting that IF we get the afternoon precipitation they are expecting it will immediately freeze on the roads because it has been in the teens for the last two weeks.  The teens!!  That is abnormally cold for around here.

But, have no fear, if we can make it past today, it's supposed to be into the 50s tomorrow and a blessed 63 on Friday?!?!

Now that I've got the weather report out of the way, let's move on to the weekend update.

Sarah's school had their 7th and 8th-grade dance on Friday night!  As the 8th-grade room parent, I was in charge of decorating.  We had a bunch of large snowflakes (thankfully purchased from Amazon) hanging from the ceiling and 5 of those lights that project on the side of your house (thankfully purchased from Walmart after Christmas and marked way down).  These lights projected snowflakes and it looked really cool. 

And of course, my girl looked beautiful:

She couldn't find any dress she liked, so we compromised.  I would get her these little booties and she would borrow a dress from Cheyanne.  The dress was perfect and Sarah's excited that she has these booties that she's been wanting for a long time.  

And she wanted a picture with Wally.

On Saturday, Dan helped my brother fix the door handle on his truck and we went to lunch.  When we got home, I made this delicious dessert for Sunday lunch:

It was Lemon Blueberry Cream Pie and everyone gave it two thumbs up!  Here's the link to the recipe I used.

On Sunday we went to Mass and had lunch at my parent's house.  We watched the Panther's game and then before I knew it, it was Monday.  

Have a great week!

Thankful Thursday - Edition 1

One of my goals for 2018 is to be more thankful.

I know it's not a revolutionary goal but at the beginning of December, I read Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado.  It was an excellent book and I feel like I underlined every other sentence.  One of the  main takeaways for me was in order not to be anxious about all the things that aren't the way you want them to be, focus on what God has done for you and thank Him for those things.

So, in order to do this, I am planning on keeping a list each week of all the things I am thankful for (big and small) and then I'm going to post them here every Thursday.   My goal is to have 52 lists by the end of the year.

Here we go:

1. Health - we have been relatively healthy so far this winter and when Sarah did have the flu, she only felt bad for 24 hours.

2.  Heat, blankets, the fireplace, coats, hats, gloves - it is  unseasonably cold here right now but we have everything we need to keep us warm.

3. Peppermint coffee from Aldi - I discovered this last week and it is really yummy.  There's just a light hint of peppermint in regular coffee but it's just enough to make it extra tasty.  I bought a couple of extra boxes of it this week because it's a special item that will be gone once they sell out.

4. Rainbow colored notecards - I bought a big box of notecards and envelopes at Target a couple of years ago and we use them when we are writing thank you notes. They are solid colors but the box included red, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple and pink.  I just mailed all of our Christmas thank you notes this morning and had to smile at how pretty they all looked.

5. Online banking - I just finished paying some bills and depositing checks right from this computer.  I gripe every time I have to do it but it's so nice not to have to write a check, address an envelope, use a stamp etc.  or even go to the bank!

6. The high school carpool - I'm very thankful to have friends to share this duty with.  It's nice not to have to make this long drive every morning (once a week is plenty!)

7. Finding recipes my whole family enjoys - these are few and far between but I came across a winner last night.  I made these low carb enchiladas last night and they were great.  I served mine on lettuce cups but the rest of the family put the filling in tortillas and gobbled them up.  This one is a keeper!

8.Chip and Joanna are pregnant! - I know this is a weird thing to put on a thankful list but for some reason this news made me very happy so it's going on this list.

9. A beautiful sunrise - I love snapping pictures of the sunrise when it is especially beautiful.  Taking the time to enjoy one is also a good time to remember Lamentations 3:23: Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

That's my list for this week!  Feel free to join me in creating and sharing your own thankful list. 

"I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” Ps. 9:1

Hikes, weird woods, Buche de Noel, fear of heights. Just the usual.

I loved having the kids home for Christmas for two weeks and I loved having Dan home for a week and a half.  However, I also enjoy routine so I'm happy that everyone is back at work and school today.

Just like any other Monday (although it's really Tuesday, looks like I'll spend another week not knowing exactly what day it is), I went grocery shopping and I've got some laundry going and I will be paying bills and all the other fun stuff that comes along with my job.

But first, I thought I would share some highlights of the last few days of 2017 with you lovely people.

Last Thursday, we had planned to go on a hike.  But the weather that day was really cold and Friday looked to be a little warmer so we switched gears and did the hike Friday.  But my husband isn't one to just sit around so we did some googling to find something else to do and I came up with a visit to The Devil's Tramping Ground. 

One of the gifts Peter got for Christmas was the Atlas Obscura and when I was googling things in NC I came across the Atlas Obscura website.  The Devil's Tramping Ground popped up and Dan was very intrigued.

He said he can remember as a small boy in Massachusetts reading a book of weird places/ghost stories.  This book mentioned an odd place in North Carolina where the grass wouldn't grow and legend claimed it was because the devil had been dancing around on it.

Totally obscure but something that would definitely stick with a little kid.  So off we went to find it.

It was about an hour and a half from our house and the ride was pretty.  We were basically in the middle of nowhere but our GPS took us right to it.  It wasn't marked but it looks just like it looks in the pictures here - so not very impressive!

We walked a little further into the woods and it felt creepy to me.  Dan kept commenting on the fact that the ground felt weird and the woods looked weird.  And when we got further into the woods, a giant owl that swooped in front of us and rested in a tree above our heads 

It was really creepy and totally not worth the hour and a half drive but it was nice spending the afternoon with the family.

So the next day we went on our hike.  It was still chilly but there was no getting out of this hike.  When Dan decides he wants to do something, we are doing it.  And did I mention that Dan does not like to sit around the house?  Did I also mention that one of my favorite things to do is sit around the house?  I guess it's a good thing I'm a stay-at-home mom!

Anyway, we headed to Hanging Rock State Park which is only an hour from us.  We had decided that we were going to hike the loop trail to Moore's Wall.  It was a 5-mile hike and it was steep.  The trail was marked strenuous and it really was - for me anyway.  I have gained a lot of weight over the last 6 months and I could definitely tell it during this hike. 

But we persevered to the top and the views were gorgeous.  At the top, there was Moore's Tower which we climbed as well.  Because it has been so cold here, there were very few people at the park.  It was nice to be able to take pictures without a bunch of random strangers in our way! 

The total loop took us 3 hours.  I think if I hadn't been there, Dan and the kids could have finished it probably 20 or 30 minutes sooner but my girth slowed us down!

And after the hike, we were all starving so we had Mexican for lunch.  So much for my girth!

Dan was restless on Saturday as well and would have been very happy doing another 5 mile hike.  I had to put my foot down on that one.  We compromised and went to Quarry Park which is less than 20 minutes from our house.  Basically it's a huge quarry that the city bought and turned into a park. 

There's an observation plank that's been built over the quarry.  There are great views of Winston-Salem on the horizon.

We headed out onto the observation plank until I realized that it was made of metal grates.  My fear of heights took over and I froze.  I made it about halfway out before I panicked and had to turn back.  I think I might have been able to make it to the end of the deck but people were coming and I didn't want to look like an idiot.  I think if the deck had been solid and I couldn't have seen through it, I might have been okay. Although, I will admit that when I was climbing Moore's Tower the day before (it was about 2 stories) I got panicky. 

Here are a few pictures from the quarry of me and my sweetie because the kids wanted to stay home.

This picture was NOT taken at the end of the observation deck.

See the grate?  I could not bring myself to walk across this thing.  Scared much?  Yes!

On New Year's Eve, we went to dinner with friends and watched the ball drop but not before I helped Peter with an extra credit project for his French class.

His teacher had given the class a recipe for Buche De Noel in French and the class had to translate it and make one. 

I had to send the teacher a picture of Peter with the finished product and verify that he did at least 50% of the baking.  He basically did it all with me barking orders at him (I'm such a fun mom).  But I think either something was lost in translation or he possibly left the baking powder out because the cake was so flat and thin.  It was more like a crepe. 

Yesterday we took the tree down and had a traditional New Year's lunch at my parent's house - it included collards, black-eyed peas and pork. But I didn't eat the black-eyed peas or the collards because gross!  I guess I won't have good luck or big fortunes this year. 

Happy New Year!!

Christmas 2017

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! 

I'm not sure whether it was the fact that Sarah started the Tamiflu within 12 hours of having a fever or because she had the flu shot in the fall, but by Friday morning her fever had broken and she was starting to feel much better.  By Saturday morning she felt fine.  It was as if she had merely had a cold instead of the flu!

Dan's sister and uncle arrived on Saturday afternoon and the Christmas festivities began!  We went to Mass Saturday evening and then came home to a dinner of pot roast that had been in the crockpot all day and a delicious apple pie made by my uncle (who is an excellent baker!).

 I spent a lot of the day Sunday preparing for our little Christmas Eve party.  We attended a Lovefeast and Candlelight service at the church my parents and brother go to.  My friend Jennifer and her family went as well.  Afterwards, everyone came back to our house for appetizers.  (Appetizers are my favorite food group!) We had a great time and as usual, I did not take pictures.  I always forget to take pictures when I'm at a party.  But trust me, there was a lot of food and we had fun!

When they left, we cleaned up and then put out the presents and went to bed.

I always wrap the kids presents in a different paper so I know whose is whose without having to put name tags on them.

If you look closely you can see the Grinch behind the tree.  Okay - so maybe he's not the Grinch but an elf!  :)

 We were going to mass at 11:00 so in order to unwrap the gifts and have time for breakfast, I had to drag the kids out of bed at 8:00.  They would have slept until 10:00 or later if I would have let them!

After Mass, we  came home and had Christmas lunch at my parent's house where there was tons more delicious food and we unwrapped more gifts.

But before we unwrapped gifts, we took our annual Tesh family Christmas picture.  This was the 20th year that we've taken it.  I have a photo album with all of the pictures in it.  It is so much fun to see how we've all grown and changed over the years.  We always do it on the couch and whoever is celebrating with us isjj included in the photo.  

Merry Christmas everyone!

The longest and shortest week ever.

I'm sitting here asking myself two questions.  How can it already be Friday?  and Is it only Friday?

This has been the absolute longest week and the absolute fastest week.  How can that even be possible??

I guess because I've done a lot AND I've still got a lot left to do!  But, isn't that the way this time of year?

And to top it off?  My sweet Sarah woke up yesterday with a low-grade fever.  I was monitoring it all day and was planning on reassessing right before our doctor's office starts their drop-in hours (this is a huge plus for this practice Y'all!) but even before that, Sarah said, "I need to go to the doctor."

And, as I feared it was the flu.  I'm hoping that we got the Tamiflu in her soon enough that it will really show a good benefit.  And yes, we all got the flu shot.  I guess with everything going around her school (flu and stomach virus) she was bound to get something.

On a positive note, I've wrapped every single gift for every person on my list except the one item that hasn't come yet.  And of course, it's one of the things I bought for Peter that I think he will be most excited about. 

Also on a positive note, I've done all the planning and shopping for our Christmas Eve party!  Now today I need to spend it getting Peter's hair cut, cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning.  Because Dan's sister and uncle are coming to spend Christmas with us and this place is a mess. 

And before I forget.  Now that everyone on our list has received their Christmas card from us, I would like to show you some of the highlights from our fall photo shoot.

 I hope you guys have a great weekend and a very Merry Christmas!!!