Thankfulness

I sit here on the Eve of Thanksgiving, the fire crackling beside me, my husband snoring on the couch, and my baby sleeping peacefully in his bed. I have a full heart. I love Thanksgiving I love that it forces us to stop and see the good, to count our blessings big or small, to take a deep breath of thankfulness. There are oh so many things that make my heart thankful, isn't it amazing that when you sit down and think about it there are just so many amazing gifts life offers us. My biggest one being that little boy who just makes my heart explode with happiness, Im thankful that he allows me to grow and stretch and become better, that he exposes my weaknesses. Im oh so very thankful for my husband a man that works his fanny off, a good man, a man that when I think I might just kill him makes the stupidest joke in the world and makes me laugh. Im thankful for the ability to stay home and raise my son, its a gift I don't take for granted and I work tirelessly to be the best I can be in that area. Im thankful for my heavenly father who gives me grace, who lights my dark path, and who truly loves me for me. Im thankful for parents who still make me a priority, who sow into my life and Brysons life, who are always here to help, who care enough that it makes me feel special, makes me feel loved, makes me feel important. Im thankful that I live in a country that we can have free enterprise, that we can walk outside and feel safe, that we can raise our kids the way we want to and worship what God we want to. Im thankful to grow up in a time where information is everywhere and you can learn anything you want to learn. Im thankful for good food, for good knowledge about food and for the ability to buy good food. Im thankful that I live in a place that will be 70 degrees tomorrow and I can wear shorts. Im thankful for my health and for my families health and I pray that I will always be thankful for that. Im thankful that I could keep writing about all the things Im thankful for. What a life, what a great life.

Happy Thanksgiving friends may your hearts be over flowing.

nite nite

Gratitude

2013 was not our year for financial success, in fact it was doozy, but man Im thankful for that struggle. Im not a believer in everything happens for a reason in fact I find it so fu fu and gag worthy and quite frankly demeaning of any great struggle in anyones life. I came to this realization when I was in Africa 6 years ago. I to was like so many spoiled Canadians who grew up with a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, loving parents, and a full tummy day after day. So of course when I didn't get that job, or so and so dumped me I would insert the line " Well I guess everything happens for a reason so that just wasn't meant to be".  Sitting in a huge open room with rows of cribs with no sheets, I sat holding this sweet baby Awa who I so desperately wanted to take home and make her mine. I was angry I was heart broken, a part of me hated this world, it was unfair, it was cruel. This sweet baby girl and so many other babies and children were dropped off at these doors either because there was no one to take care of them or no one could afford to take care them. It was in that room that I realized that no things don't happen for a reason, but we as resilient human beings can most certainly make a positive or negative lesson out of it.  This year threw struggle Ive been pulled and stretched and given a choice and opportunity to learn for the better, to make a crappy situation a positive one.
Months ago Brett received a phone call that our biggest client who we depended on for 80% of our income was moving on to find cheaper labor, no warning, no apology nothing.  The saying "Life can change in an instant", never felt more real when my husband called me to tell me the news. We had to let our employee go, he had 2 kids and a wife and just like that in one day we had to tell him he had no job. Ive never seen my husband suffer so much over the next 5 days the feeling of failing his family of total guilt for not "digging our well before we were thirsty". The feeling of "what the hell are we going to do". After 5 days we got another phone call that My husband can go back working on the airplanes there but instead of 40 - 50 hours a week it went down to 5- 10.  Over the next couple of months we lost 2 other contracts, I have to say Im so unbelievably thankful that married someone who is persistent, and who is not afraid of hard work. My husband made phone call after phone call he talked to everyone he could to try and get more clients, he hustled his butt and took care of us.  We have learned some major lessons this year that will change the way we live our lives and quite frankly the loss of money was worth it.
1.We learnt for one don't put all your eggs in one basket, nothing in life is guaranteed plan for that.
2. Manage your money or it will manage you (budget, stick to your budget and respect your budget)
3. Plan, Plan, plan and invest for the future it is coming faster than you think it is
4. Be content I used to think that being content meant being complacent and not wanting more out of life but in actuality it means having a peace, it means not caring what the world thinks of you or your situation.
5. The "stuff" doesn't matter we are scaling back our life clearing out the garbage of useless meaningless "things" and simplifying it. We are so over marketed in this country that we place worth in a pair of earrings, or a new cell phone its really bogus.
6. See the positive find the lesson and apply it. Otherwise you might just have to learn it again
7. Team work makes the dream work and husband and wives work so much better as a team
8. Work like it depends on you, and pray like it depends on God. Hard work is not over rated neither is prayer.
9. This too shall pass, not much in life is permanent, so work threw it.
I have a giant chalk board on our living room wall it says : "Gratitude turns what we have into enough" That is my motto these days

Nite nite friends

Bomb Chicken soup

I don't know about y'all but my household has been full of the cold virus, Ill be thrilled when I no longer have to wipe Bryson's faucet of a nose, and stop hacking up my lungs in the middle of the night.  To desperately try and make my throat feel better i made this soup and it was BOMB and healthy and warm and the perfect november food so enjoy :)
P.s I don't measure anything in my life so I apologize :)

I used the leftover chicken from a whole chicken meal from a couple days before

1. Sauté onion and garlic with a nice heap of grass fed butter in a large pot
2. Add bone broth (you have to use homemade broth or it just won't taste the same) I made enough to freeze another meal it was 2.5 large mason jars full it also fed us lunch the next day
3. Add potatoes and sweet potatoes turn to medium heat and let simmer
4. Add spices (I let bryson help me out so we added a lot of them :) ) Oregano, basil, Thyme, celery salt, turmeric, sea salt, dill, pepper.
5. Add carrots, celery. I like hearty soup so I added lots so it was nice and thick
6. Let simmer until carrots are tender
7.  cut chicken into chunks add and stir
8. EAT

Enjoy

nite nite friend

My son.....

I sit here  tonight with a heavy heart..... My baby is going threw his 1st really hard experience, and my heart feels like its being pulled right out of my chest. Halloween night as i was rushing to get dinner ready I burnt the potatoes, the dame potatoes. The fire alarm blasted threw the house, for a second I thought a police car was in my living room (it was that loud).  I looked over at my son across the room and he was in full blown terror, screaming like Ive never seen. I scoop him up and try desperately to turn the stupid thing off. Nothing was working, I put him down grabbed a chair and pulled the thing from the ceiling and it STILL kept going off.  Finally I got some sense in me and ran outside, we waited there until it shut off. My son was paralyzed with fear, he sat wrapped around my body squeezing as tight as possible, repeating over and over again " Noise, Bryson sad" :( I hugged on him, loved on him, spoke life into him ........nothing helped. My husband came home and loved on him some more but all he would say is "Noise, Bryson sad"  Getting his costume out and painting my face finally got some smiles out of him and my son was back. We had a great night, he was a pro trick or treater, and the cutest Charlie Chaplin you ever did see. Once we got home and got ready for bed, he REFUSED to go to sleep unless it was on my chest, he woke up multiple times in the night screaming until I touched him and let him know I was right beside him. He has woken up like that the last 4 nights, he wants to nurse all night long and today he woke up screaming from his nap. He refuses to go anywhere near the hallway where the alarm is, he buries his little head in my neck and refuses to look up until we are in a bedroom. The look on his face before I walk into the hallway brings tears to my eyes, so much fear.  Tonight he was playing with his cars on the floor so I got up to go to the bathroom when I returned he was sitting staring blankly into the ground. I said "buddy whats going on?" He looked up at me with eyes filled with tears, ran over to me and buried his head in my neck, squeezing me with everything he had. Ugh my son, my son my heart cant take your pain.  I sat there telling him, how much I loved him, how I would do everything I could to protect him, if he needed to cry this was a safe place. I prayed over him, I squeezed him back, I cried silent tears.  Ive said it many times before my son is fragile, my son is just like his momma. As hard as it is to have a child this sensitive it is such gift, like Rachel Rainbolt says: the reward is big. They love so BIG!! I will shed many tears over my son, as I watch him grow, I will worry A LOT, but that boy will change the world with his heart. Writing in his journal tonight I told him " I promise to honor your spirit, to respect it, and to water it so that it grows into a great strength, you my love can change the world with your fragile heart.... you really really can."   Im thankful I get to be this boys mommy, he will allow me to stretch, grow, and become who I am supposed to be. This kid is a gift, a beautiful gift.

nite nite friends