Easter Pictures! ... and The Real Deal

It is technically Easter still as I make this post. My husband is off Monday & Tuesday so I'm trying to make all my posts for the week. I'm trying to make this my Sunday thing. That's my goal anyways. :)

I woke up early Easter morning because I needed to finish out my week 2 in the Couch to 5k program. It was such a beautiful day and as I was running I started thinking. Thinking of all the events in my life that led me to this point - running in North Carolina on Easter morning. Last Easter I was hoping and believing for healing in my kidneys and bladder. I remember knowing that I would have full restoration, I just wasn't 100% sure if that restoration would be on Earth or in Heaven. I knew it was coming though. I knew that whatever life had ahead for me, He would be with me always until the end. ♥ I received the news and seen my insides with my own eyes at an amazing facility the day after Mother's Day that my kidneys and bladder where made like new! The doctor said exactly what was prayed over me the day before "it's like nothing ever happened"! For some time I didn't understand or know why God chose to save me and then heal me completely. I thought "I'm nobody". and I still am. But it's not because of who I am, it's because of who He is! He is merciful and gracious beyond measure. What really hit me was as I was thinking of all this, I was running, 1 year later!! running with brand new kidneys and bladder! 1 1/2 years ago it took me 5 minutes to walk from the hospital bed to the bathroom and now I'm completing week 2 in a running program!! GOD IS GOOD!!

Motivated by Carissa's honest post a few days ago - I'm going to start including what I'm calling "The Real Deal" at the end of applicable posts! Make sure to scroll to the bottom of the Easter pictures to check out The Real Deal for Easter 2012 with the Cartes. :D

Baskets:

Breakfast:

Church:


Egg Hunt:


The Real Deal: My husband got stressed out while getting ready for church and yelled at one of the boys, since we've lived here his schedule is wed. - sun. 8-8. he was able to get the morning off so he's working 2pm-2am today. He left right after the egg hunt. Our lunch was McDonald's in our van. My two oldest got into 3 or more fights. Nathanael didn't care about 1 thing in his Easter basket, he cried and pitched a fit for most pictures, and I could not get him to pick up 1 egg!! (don't let the pics fool ya ;) I spent the afternoon keeping him from playing in toilet water (that may or may not have been used) and putting crumbs and little findings in his mouth. (yes, he's 19 months, but has some developmental delays and is probably somewhere between 9 - 12months mentally and physically) To this day we have NEVER had an "Easter meal" due to my husband has worked every Easter. HOWEVER - This Easter As a family we ate breakfast and lunch together, we went to church and talked about our service together on our way home, I played with each of the boys one on one and Chris was able to do so too before he left. We prayed together and we read the Easter story. We remembered God and what He has done for us. We had a great day mixed, as always, with real life. What more can ya ask for?? :D

Happy Easter!!

Homer Price

We absolutely loved this book! This is a read aloud for Sonlight Core 1. I just can not rave enough about it! Seriously it is that good! My husband is not a big reader (i being his wife have my own theories on that LoL) and he fell in love with this book! My son, Chris, who this reading is technically for loved it as well. I can safely say that this is by far his favorite read aloud ... so far!!!

I'm not going to lie - some mornings I woke up and while making breakfast, couldn't wait for after dinner! My husband was quick to grab this book b4 anyone went anywhere to start reading after dinner. And not so much because he wanted to have this family time of reading but more so because he had a need to see what was going to happen next!

IT IS THAT GOOD!!!

*pic. is linked to amazon page.

2012 Goals Quarterly Check IN

Memory Keeping:

• keep up with Project Life (i actually just got my 2012 PL materials like 2 weeks ago. I have my pictures taken. I just need to print)
• keep shutterfly updated and have an ongoing photo book
• record something once a week and have a yearly video folder *ongoing*doing this!
• turn VHS videos into DVDs
• finish Nathanael's baby album (almost)
• finish Zack's baby album

Personal:

• Read through the Bible in a year and do weekly check ins *ongoing* though I have not done any check ins
• Read through 29 planned books. ~ So I was doing this and then realized how much this goal did not work with my personality and changed it. Now my goal is to read 30 books this year. 15 being any book that I owned b4 2012 and 15 being any book (library, new, old, etc). This fits my reading goal, still forces me to read older books I've collected while having much needed freedom. So I've read 6/30. 5 owned b4 2012 and 1 new. I like this goal SO much better.
• Listen to extra books on my kindle in speech to text format while doing hands on, brain free activities. ~ so far I've listened to one book and some of my Bible reading but I've not been very good with this.
• make a 30 by 30 list ~ 17/30
• make, do, or whatever something from my saved resources once a week *ongoing* doing this!

Marriage:

• have a monthly date night ~ this so has not been working out with moving. we don't have anyone to babysit here yet! 0/11
• have a weekend just us ~ planned this! reservations made and paid, days off requested, grandparents coming down, everything planned!!! I can not wait for this!!

Kids/School:

• Swim & Tennis lessons for Chris (he did these last year and they fit him well) ~ there are no swimming lessons here! but he has been doing Tennis lessons and will continue through the summer.
• Join Cub Scouts
• Join the science museum once settled and money available
• attend the homeschool convention in VA
• Join a homeschool co-op once settled
• start a chore system back up and have everyone an assigned night to help with dinner and evening kitchen routine
• do any activity from resources once a week one on one with each child *ongoing* ~ still not consistent with this

Ministry:

• start our weekly family night back up
• host cook outs weekly or bi-weekly in the spring - fall, inviting everyone we know within reason
• reach out monthly to someone however God directs *ongoing*

Financial:

• set up a budget and use the cash envelope system *trying - this is hard for us, but we are improving*
• start/open our Disney 2016 fund
• open a vacation account
• get life insurance for Nathanael
• combine all kids life insurance and do auto pay to save $
• make a will

I would just like to give my little spiel on yearly goals and goal setting in general. Goals should help not hinder you toward any short or long term goals. They should reflect your own personal priorities (not what others say your priorities should be) and work with your personality, life style, and phase of life. Otherwise they are unattainable and not worth your time and only going to stress you out. If I finish all these goals then awesome! If I finish half my goals then awesome! I consider it all an accomplishment! That I didn't just allow the daily rut of life to take over me. In some years I've considered a fourth of goals completed awesome! Because life that year was tough and had many hurdles but I made it through and not only did I make through but I was still able to work towards my life plan and goals! That's amazing to me!!! A lot of my goals are about consistency. I don't want to just have a weekly family night right from the start and be able to say on Dec.31 we had 52 family nights. While that is great, I would be just as happy as if we didn't get to work on this until let's say November and we only accomplished 8. By the end of the year we are consistently having a family night - I'm happy. I feel that way about every single goal I've set for 2012. :D

Learning (Bailey Flanigan Series)

This is the second book in the Bailey Flanigan Series.

Main Characters - Bailey Flanigan, Cody Coleman

Side Characters - Brandon Paul, Cheyenne ?

Extremely Side Characters - Ashley Baxter Blake, Landon Blake

Summary - This book picks up where Leaving left off. Pretty much you are following the details of their journey. Bailey is working on Broadway and Cody is a high school football coach. They get closer to their new "love interests". and every once in a while you hear about how the Blake family is doing.

My Personal Thoughts - This book seemed to focus more on the love drama part of the story line than the first book did. I think/felt like the author spent way too much time talking about football and Cody more than she mentioned Bailey.The football was interesting sometimes but boring to me a lot of the time. I had a hard time getting through this one and put it down often for a few days at a time. The Baxter family was mentioned so little that I feel they either should be mentioned more or not included at all. In addition, I'm finding some of the characters to be fake. It seems to me like the author is dropping in some foreshadowing leading me to believe that Bailey & Cody will end up together in the end. And I certainly would not like that! I think Cody doesn't deserve Bailey and Brandon Paul is a much better fit for her. I guess none of us really deserve our spouses though, right?

*picture is linked to Amazon

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Leaving (Bailey Flanigan Series)

I bought this book at BJ's last summer (2011) for $9.99. I read it that summer as well. This was the first fiction book I've read by Karen Kingsbury. I don't know if I'm titling things right or doing the review right. Just take my review for what it is for ~ so you can decide if you want to read or check out this book. :)

Main Characters - Bailey Flanigan, Cody Coleman

Side Characters - Brandon Paul, Cheyenne ?

Extremely Side Characters - Ashley Baxter Blake, Landon Blake

Summary - Bailey graduates and is trying to "find her way". She leaves her hometown to work on Broadway in Chicago. Cody gets his first real job as a high school football coach. He was in the Iraqi wars and his buddy died. He meets at his friend's mother's house once a week for dinner as way to honor his buddy by keeping his mom company during this time. Bailey & Cody dated in high school and then he just vanished and didn't speak to her or her family anymore. Brandon Paul & Cheyenne are the characters that each are starting to have feelings for. Landon & Ashley are married with children and he is struggling with a lung condition that is possibly from helping out with 9/11.

My Personal Thoughts - I found the book fresh, uplifting, and inspiring. It was a fun read, getting to know everyone and what their situation is.

Just So You Know- Karen Kingsbury includes things like facebook, twitter, 9/11, the Iraq wars, etc. in the Bailey Flanigan Series. It's like everything is happening now in our time. ~ which I personally don't care for. People think Bible verses in their heads, hear God speaking to them, pray, and go to Bible studies. ~ that's cool and different.

*picture is linked to Amazon