Sunday

I have been up since 4am with my back "out". I hate it when I wake up early with back pain. Not fun at all. We had a really relaxing day yesterday. Went out and bought some concrete floor paint for the basement, which will hopefully be done early this week. We thought we might put hardwood lamenent on the floors, but I simply don't want to fork out a lot of money to put it down. We decided to go with just painting it and then putting a big area rug down. It will be cold, but it is way cheaper. We wanted to finish the basement so we could have a place to go and hang out, watch TV, play videogames, scrapbook, etc. It will be nice to come up the stairs and shut the door on the mess if we need to. I am really excited!! While we were out at the Home Depot picking up the paint, we bought our Christmas tree. Mind you, all my Christmas stuff is in the basement and I can't get to it until the contractor is done, but we went ahead and got the tree. Hopefully, I will be able to decorate it before Tuesday when "Joy", our elf, comes. She is coming and I have a plan of some mischief she can get into. I think this might be my last year for the magic of Christmas so I went ahead and decided to do it. I will post pics when all the magic unfolds. You might even get a few more updates than normal with all the Elf Magic. If you would like to get your own elf or would like to sponsor a child to have an elf go to: www.hostanelf.com
Under CatieElf. They donate a part of their proceeds to CURE childhood cancer research.
Today, is going to be a relaxing day too. I am skipping church today since my back is out. Hoping to get a little laundry done, Christmas presents wrapped, and some homemade chicken stew for lunch prepared.
Enjoy your Sunday!!!
Wendy

Elf Magic?

Hello friends,

Things are much more calmer here in now. I am thankful for that. I feel so blessed to have great BFF's that are there for me. Thank you Tammy and Marsha. We were able to get away Sat. for a shopping trip, which really helped my spirits out!! Things are still going to come up and my mom has an appt. on 12/3 with her pulmonologist so I know it is just the beginning of more things to come, but my mind is much better and I think I will be able to handle what comes. I needed to be able to set my ownself up for dealing with some future stresses when they do come. I am not really *worried* about my mom's appt. after getting my focus where it needed to be, but I would appreciate some prayers on her behalf when we speak to the doctor that day. We might consider putting her on hospice (not bc they think she will die necessarily), but to help my sister and I with her care. We have had lots of experience with hospice in the past and very recently with my grandfather in April and we were so much better equipped having them. I am a nurse, but I have my own family, stresses, full-time job, etc. and so does my sister. All the care falls on us. It might just help us not to have to bathe her ourselves, get her out to the doctors (especially in Winter months), and such. I will still continue to fix her meds, but a nurse would be able to come in weekly and monitor her and a tech could come bathe her for my sister. We will see......

Now, the real reason for my post is in regards to our Elf, (her name is Joy). If you have been following my blog for any length of time you know how this goes. A couple of years ago I read a blog about a little girl that had cancer. I still follow her site. She died after a long battle with the beast. Anyway, her mother always blogged about how in the month of December, Katie got to ask Santa for an elf to come visit with her for the holidays and all the fun and mischief that the elf got into. They were raising money for CURE, childhood cancer research. Tori-bug wrote a letter to Santa at Elf Magic and requested an elf. She came that first year, two years ago, named and with a box of oatmeal flakes and jellybeans. The letter from Santa said that she could stay her for the month, but on Christmas Eve she had to be placed under the tree to hop back on his sleigh to go back to the North Pole. Sometimes though, the elf gets into things at night and creates mischief while the family is asleep. If you don't care if she gets into mischief, you "feed" her a jellybean and if you don't want her to get into mischief she has to "eat" oatmeal flakes. The first year, I did really good and was really creative to come up with mischief. Last year, not so much. I only allowed Tori-bug to "give" her a jellybean two nights a week b/c sometimes she made a huge mess and I simply didn't have time to clean it up. Other nights, we would just find her in the freezer (bc it reminded her of the North Pole) or she would sometimes be laying in front of the TV, like she was watching a movie all night. Not too hard.... This year, I was considering her sending a note saying she was not going to come here and maybe she would go help someone else spread the magic of Christmas, with another family. My sister-in-law said I couldn't do that bc I had gotten it started way back when and I couldn't stop now. I just don't have any creative ideas for the "mischief" this year. Can you help me come up with something? If you have time, go back over last years posts from around this time of year and see what she has done before. I don't really want to do the same things over again. I have *some* ideas though. I think she might bake cookies one night and ask Tori-bug to take her and the cookies to the nursing home and pass them out. One night or day, she might make homemade dog treats and have Tori-bug drop them off at the vet or animal shelter. She is not only supposed to get into mischief, but help spread good cheer too. I want Tori-bug to learn the magic of Christmas and doing for others. It is fun to watch her wake up in the mornings and start immediately looking for her to see where she is. Last year, Joy (the elf) put a 4 ft. Christmas tree up in Tori-bug's room with ornaments all over it that said "Joy" and she was at the top, like a tree topper. That was really cool. She will show up this year on Dec. 1st. with a set of Christmas pajamas so i need at least 10-12 ideas. So, if you have anything creative for me to help spread good cheer or do something mischievous (without me getting caught), post it on here. There are websites that I have looked at for ideas, but some of the things are just not do-able for me. Come on, help me out..... and say a prayer for my mom's visit on Dec. 3rd if you remember.

Ready for the "magic" to begin,
Wendy

Peace and Understanding

I am feeling emotionally better this week. It was rough last week, but I am making progress. I had a good week to take off. It was absolutely gorgeous in Georgia every day last week. Mid 70's and warm Fall temps. I wallowed in pity on Monday. Tuesday my husband met me for lunch. We went through the drive-thru of KFC and took chicken plates to Fort Yargo where we ate lunch by the lake and took a nice stroll down a nature trail. We were able to talk about a lot of stuff that was burdening us. I went to work on Friday feeling much more at peace.



My Tori-bug is practicing hard on her gymnastics. She only has about 6 weeks of practice left before the first meet. All of her skills are shaping up nicely. She was struggling with not wanting to jump to the high bar a few weeks ago. Now she is jumping with absolutely no problem. Her dismount still needs work. She is not getting enough height on it and is sometimes squatting or falling on the dismount. If her hands or bottom hit the mat it is counted as a fall. 5/10th. of a point off her score automatically. The rest of it looks pretty good. Her floor looks really good and she is mostly spot-on with the music. It needs to be tightened up some, i.e. hand placement and such. Her front handspring doesn't look as graceful as she needs it to, but she is landing it. Beam she was struggling on the full turn, but finally has it now too. A lot of the girls are having a hard time on beam with their cartwheels. This is our (parents) biggest event of concern. We know the girls will do well at meets on the other events, but since so many are struggling on beam we are worried. The girls have worked so hard and will continue to work hard until the meets. Hopefully, they will get the skills they need. I am so proud of every one of them.

Thanks for stopping by!
Wendy

Gratitude List

I took the time this week to sit down and write down a Gratitude List. I often have to remind myself how blessed I am. I know it, I just have to be reminded of it. I did un-link my blog from my facebook page for personal reasons. The people that read my blog know almost everything there is to know about me anyways so I unlinked it. The ones that choose to come here and read are the people that I have relationships with anyway. I started this blog for myself as a way to write down my thoughts, but by no means want people to think it is more than that. The people that don't want to read don't have to stop by. I was informed that the whole world (meaning facebook users) don't want to know all my personal issues. Oh really? Don't read it..... it is for me. So in saying all this, I now won't be able to receive comments from my link to FB and that is where I was receiving most of them. Please, feel free to comment me on here, but I won't know that you stopped by unless you do leave on a comment. If you don't have an acct. just leave it under anonymous and sign your name to it so I will know it was you. Okay, moving on to my gratitude list......

1. My husband-- for 18+ years he has been my rock. The other half of me that tells me, "everything is going to be okay". He is a great husband, father, and provider. I honestly couldn't have asked God for anyone better. He and his girls have a very special relationship. He still makes my heart go pitter-pat. I am blessed to have him in my life.
2. My beautiful girls---- Lyndsey is a good big sister. She has a smile that can light up a room. She is sweet and loving. Tori-bug is my sweet, high-spirited girl. She has the biggest dimple in her right cheek (thanks to her daddy!) She "rocks" at gymnastics. I am blessed to have them in my life.
3. My four-legged children. They love me unconditionally and I can tell them anything. *smiles* I am blessed to have them in my life.
4. My job and co-workers---- I work with some of the sweetest people. My bosses and office manager are Godly people that are always willing to lend an ear and Godly wisdom. It makes it easier to show up to work everyday. I am blessed to have them in my life.
5. My best friends---- Marsha and Tammy. Without even having to know what I am going through they are there for me. I know they are praying and when I get ready to talk they will be there. Friendships like these are hard to find and without looking for them we found it!! I am blessed to have them in my life.
6. My sister, Monica--- we haven't always been super-close but all the things our family has been through has pulled us together. We have a family bond and loyalty that is hard to beat. I am blessed to have her in my life.
7. My mom--- we have always been close and she is my world. I can't imagine my life without her but know that her health is not good. I am very protective of her and will always strive to do my best for her. I am blessed to have her in my life. Before I got married, I always thought that I could never love anyone more than I loved my mom. Then I met and married Kevin. Then, I thought there was no way I could ever love anyone more than I love him. Until, I got pregnant and had Tori-bug. I know that I really couldn't love anyone more than I love her, but I still love my mama A LOT!! All different kinds of love, but another thing on my gratitude list.....
8. LOVE
9. My daddy--- I've always been closer to my mama than to my daddy, but there is a special bond between daddy's and daughter's. I am blessed to have him in my life.
10. My Faith--- Thank God for faith. I became a believer on April 9, 1984. Right before I turned 10 years old. I asked Jesus into my heart at a youth retreat. It was a day I will never forget. I am thankful that God doesn't keep score and allows us to make mistakes or sin, ask for forgiveness, and then wipes our slate clean. I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit that nudges us to ask for that forgiveness when we do wrong. I wish that I could forgive and forget that easily when people wrong me. I am blessed to be able to be called a daughter of the King!!


I am doing better the past couple of days. I continue to strive to be the best me I can possibly be. I read a quote somewhere the other day that I totally needed and thought was extremely helpful. Here it is......
Faith is not necessary when you know how things are going to work out- that's knowledge. It's in the time of unknowing that having faith is what sees you through to the other side. Faith is what gives you strength. Faith is that light in your heart that keeps on shining even when it's all dark outside. Now is the time to keep that faith alive.

Wendy

Here, but struggling

I have a ton of mental and emotional junk in my head and heart. I will get through this, but I am struggling. I asked to take a few days off of work to be able to clear my foggy brain. Thanks for praying.

I am reminding myself how blessed I am. I have so much good in my life. I am thankful that I serve a risen Saviour who is in control. I am grateful that I can leave my burdens with Him, but I keep trying to figure out HOW to leave it. I don't want to be a "whoa is me" person. I don't want to be depressed. I don't want to be worried, but I am.

Hopefully, if you check back here next week I will be in a much better place emotionally and mentally. Going to talk to someone this week will help. Until then.......

Wendy