Friday, July 12, 2013

A Handful of blessings

 I know I haven't talked about changing the name of my blog in a while, so here it is.  After much searching (via your suggestions which were great!) I found that a lot of blog names are taken. But one was perfect.
 A handful of blessings
 I wanted to share this with you first, b/c I had a situation at Walmart this week that really shook me.  I have never been offended when people stare at me at the store or say things like "wow, your hands are full."  I know that 99.9% of the time, people are really just noticing my beautiful children and don't know what else to say. 
So I have to admit, on the last post I realized that the fishing pic was of Jude and Thomas, our friends son, but I loved it so much I kept it up.  Here are my boys!
 I mean seriously, I only have 4 children.  It's really not that many at ALL!
 My response is always the same, and I stole it from someone else.  I hate that I can't remember the article or the mama that wrote it - b/c it is well worth reading.  I always smile and respond with "thank you, a handful of blessings for sure."  My children know that they are a blessing from God, a gift, and they know that I know that also!
Hey Jude!
like I said, I'm not put off when people say stuff.  Most people down here in the south are actually usually really sweet and are truly just being nice and saying hello.  And anyone who knows me, knows that I don't mind attention.. and neither do my children.
Stephen had a blast skiing, he never got all the way up - but he didn't care!
 But this past Wednesday we had a rough morning.  By the Grace of God we made it to daily Mass, the kids were pretty good, but then we had to drive to daddy's work to help him out and then back again to Walmart (we live in the country so we were in the van for a bit before getting to Walmart).  That begin said, the kids were wiggly, it was a rough morning, I'm sure I was looking a little frustrated, and "you've got your hands full" comments were coming out of the wazoo.  
 But what got me was this: two moms decided it was their place to truly let me know how they felt.  One with a "man, I thought I had it bad" comment that my children heard, and the other with a very nasty look.
This is Abby's kinda skiing! 
 It is what it is, and it was a rough morning, these moments just made it harder - and yes at some point I cried. 
Poor Abby, mommy thought you wanted to go a little faster :(
 But why tell you all about it?  See at the end of the day, crazy, loud, rough, joyful, whatever it turns out to be, my family is a blessings and that's that.  I feel that way to the core of my being, and I make it a point to let my children know everyday how amazing they are and that God gave them to us as a gift.  Every once in a while I need a reminder of this.  I need to step back, in the midst of my frustrations, negitive thoughts, and desire to just have a "do over" for the day, and remember that God gave me each one of these miracles for a reason.  
This is captioned "ahh, guys I think I just got up on one ski on the wrong foot, let me take a minute and switch to the other and show you how it's really done ;0"
So that's the deal, you wanna let me know that my hands are full, and I'll remind you that they are full of blessings!  And if I ever get my credit card near my computer I'll actually buy that web address and officially launch it! :)

Not that it's any surprise that I won't blog for a bit, but I will be out of town for a family funeral.  Please pray for the repose of the soul of my Uncle Bob, he has been sick for a long time and died very peacefully Thursday morning.  Thank you for your prayers!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Do you remember me?

 At the beginning of the summer I warned you that I would not be blogging very much.  I was hoping that I was wrong; but I was not!
 This has truly been a crazy busy summer!  Full of old friends (technniqly Alan calls this guy his "new" friend b/c he moved to vancleave in 6th grade)
 Alan's 20 year high school reunion (we didn't have to drive far :) )
 Silly re-do's of pictures from childhood

 More silly times with childhood friends 
 Royalty came to visit us also!
 they brought their own security :)
 Maybe not - haha!  Love this!
 And we have spent some wonderful moments together as a family!



I promise to get back on my blogging... I hope!  I hope I have something inspiring to write about, something you might want to read.  We'll see!  Until then, God Bless!