Feeling Blessed

I started this week out feeling challenged in my thoughts.  Most of us sent our kids back to school on Monday after the Newtown, Connecticut devastation this past Friday.  It was certainly heavy on my mind and my heart, knowing these children and parents would never see each other and innocent lives taken way too quickly.  I was a bit anxious about sending Corey back to school As I am sure most parents were.  I was then reminded to pray for our children before to have safe travels on the bus and at school during their day.  We have a grandma that takes her grand daughter down to the bus every morning and she prays over the children every morning.  I am now praying for them every morning also.  I should have already been doing this, but most importantly, I am doing it now.  I encourage others to do the same.  I had already made plans to volunteer in Corey's class for this Monday morning before we ever learned of Friday's tragedy.  It was wonderful to go to school and experience the children just as happy and normal as any other day.  They made gingerbread houses that morning and I was asked to come help with their project!  It was a very fun morning full of frosting and candy everywhere.  It was neat to see kids sharing with their friends who didn't bring much candy.  Such a great group of kids!

Here is Corey's gingerbread house!  Keep in mind it made a trip home on the bus and it is now Thursday and they made these on Monday.  It still looks cute, although some candy has fallen off and the frosting isn't at thick as it once was.

Monday was a blessing.  It was wonderful to see and know how the children were doing and how well the teachers did with the first day back to school after Friday's news.

Sunday we were blessed at church as always.  Our pastor talked about Newtown, Connecticut and we prayed for them.  It was such a blessing to be together with our church family and to also hear our pastor and his reminder that God is still in control.  We have also been learning the history and biblical insights on Christmas songs we sing as the sermons for December.  This brings more meaning to the songs we sing every year at Christmas.  That to me is another added blessing.  I hear these songs on the radio and they mean more to me now than they ever did before.  Oh come, Oh come, Emanuel,  Do You Hear What I Hear, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night, Holy Night.  If you would like to hear the meanings for yourself, here is a link to a few of the recorded sermons.  http://www.christchurchva.org/Sermons.aspx

This week I was kind of slow in getting much of anything accomplished, but what I did do, I was very blessed in.  Spending time helping with Corey's class was so much fun and I enjoy all of the kids.  Getting gifts for the 2 families that the kids in children's church have adopted for Christmas this week and just knowing they will bless two families, both single moms with quite a few children.  Also this morning, I headed back over to Corey's school to deliver gifts I had for Corey's classroom teacher, special ed teacher who helps him for an hour each day, his para and his therapists.  I got to have some time with the special ed teacher and it was such a blessing this morning.  To be honest, I didn't really care for her at the beginning of the year.  We had a lot of things to get worked out for Corey and it was tough and I felt she wasn't very knowledgable of what Corey needed and not very helpful.  It was a tough time and I really struggled in my communication and acceptance of her at that time.  Since then, we have come a long way and we really appreciate each other.  We have been through some adjustments, both of us.  So today when I took in the gifts and she was in the front office, she came and gave me the biggest, warmest hug and told he how much of an honor it is to work with Corey and how wonderful of a child he is and how she loves working with me too.  It made my day!

I am thankful for a great week with many blessings!  I have far more blessings than this!  Heading in to Christmas, I feel joy and peace even with knowing that there was still a tragedy on Friday this past week.  God is good :)

Martha Stewart doesn't live here.

Ok, so I have to admit that I had big plans for this week.  Plans to really get the house in great shape before our Progressive Dinner with our neighbors this coming Saturday.  I did in fact get the house in great shape, but not in the way I had planned.  I had these Martha Stewart plans also for getting everything all decorated and for the desserts I planned since we are hosting the dessert part of the dinner at our house.  I started out with a to do list.  I had things for each day of the week to get done with the idea of a few fun things each day and then the real work that needed to be done.  In my procrastination, I saved all the work and harder things for, you guessed it, yes, today.  I got myself in gear today because I didn't want to spend the whole day on Friday doing all of this either.  I still have a few things to get done tomorrow, but most of the hard work is done.

Plans to make cake pops aren't happening.  I have already spent enough time in the kitchen and let's just say my cake pop trial run was just a hilarious outcome.

  I baked Christmas sugar cookies last Saturday and also made cookies Tuesday for the cookie exchange I participated in.  I made cookies that I remember making with my grandma.  Lot's of good memories making them and I remember them being very tasty.  They were anything but delicious.  Sure they look good, but they just do not taste good.  So I am thinking that the recipe I found online that was pretty close to grandma's was maybe not even the same recipe?  Who knows.

I ended up making a whole new batch of 4 dozen cookies Wed morning, the morning of the cookie exchange.  These are Apple Jumbles with Brown Sugar Frosting.

 What a busy, crazy, chaotic morning trying to get the cookies baked, cooled, frosted and packed up and ready by 10 AM and also have myself ready.  I pulled it off though.  I arrived at 10 AM and I was the first one there.  It was a good chance for me unwind and visit with Liz while the others trickled in over the hour.  My second batch of cookies were delicious and they were from a recipe I found online while I was finishing up some things in the kitchen and getting ready to take Corey out to the bus before 8 AM.  Of course, somehow I missed the whole ornament exchange announcement somehow in the invite.  I don't recall hearing about it.  Thankfully, Liz graciously took care of it. She had extra ornaments in case anyone forgot.  That is a well planned hostess.

I got home Wed afternoon after a visiting at the cookie exchange and I realize how many amazing and delicious cookies I had.  I decided that instead of cake pops, these cookies and the other dessert I had planned would work fine for the desserts at our progressive dinner.  This now was a plan about simplifying things and not spending so much time on doing things that would impress people.

This week started out hectic and I dreaded the cleaning.  I clean all week long, but we make messes all week long and I don't clean in detail every week.  It feels like everything gets messy as soon as it is cleaned.  Heading in to Friday and in to the weekend, I feel refreshed and glad I dropped some of the unrealistic expectations and plans I had made.  I am after all Michelle Wentz and not Martha Stewart.  There is a bit of anxiety and craziness that comes with trying to take on big projects that really would only make me happy in the long run and most likely no one else would notice.

Just a little reminder to myself.  I don't really need to impress others.  I am looking forward to our neighborhood Progressive Dinner now that I have become more realistic and practical and focused on just making our house nice and clean and keeping it simple :)

A great day!

Today was a great day! The weather was so nice!  It was a little chillier than yesterday, but still very beautiful and enjoyable.  One of the first things on my to do list today was making a trip over to Corey's school book fair.  At school they have a chance to write down what books they would like or are interested in and then bring the list home for the parents to look over.  I appreciate that the paper is small and not much space for a long list :).  I do see books as very important and I don't think children can ever have too many books.  Some of Corey's favorite books are along this theme of dinosaurs love underpants and aliens love underpants.  They are quite funny and we were able to add to that collection today.

Here is Corey's new book!  Aliens in underpants save the world!

He is pretty happy to have another of these silly books!  They are funny and we laugh a lot when we read them.                

After school today and homework was done, I made some amazingly delicious cranberry orange muffins!  The recipe called for fresh cranberries!  The picture does not do the muffins justice.  I already ate one before I took this picture and now I have eaten a second one.  Corey had one with his dinner also.  I am sure there will be one going in his lunch box tomorrow as well.

                                                                        &

With it still being quite sunny and beautiful out in December, I thought now would be a perfect time to post a picture of the beautiful front door mat my mother in law and her sister sent us last week.  I had no idea it was coming.  It was a wonderful surprise!  They had sent it as a house warming gift!  It was so very thoughtful and I just love it!

I am really appreciating living in a real house.  It is so expensive to live here and although there are plenty of people whom I know that live in single family homes, there are a ton of town homes here that families live in.  I love having our own space and this house suits us quite well.  The neighborhood is small, but friendly and Corey has a hand full of friends to play with.


                                        Our Home!      

And did you notice?  Our grass is still green in December!

Blessings to you all and hoping that your day was great too and I am curious, what are some of the foods that you love having during the Christmas season?  Some sort of cranberry orange bread is a craving of mine and now it has been satisfied.

Just for today

I had all these plans to post something fun, light hearted, happy and exciting today. Instead this will be  short today.   I had a hard decision to make this week involving a friendship and yet God knew what I needed as he always does.  I am so blessed.  Sure, I knew I needed to make a decision that was done with much prayer and really thinking through everything.  But in these times of letting go or making challenging choices, God always has a way to bring us encouragement and the drive to push forward.  I know the choice I made was necessary and God lets me know I am loved by him, I don't need anything else :)  That is quite re-assuring to me.

I was in the car out doing errands this morning and listening to Christian Radio. Lysa TerKeurst whom is so easy to relate to has a little moment of truth that she shares.

This is what Lysa had to say this morning.
Have you ever felt betrayed? Hi, I’m Lysa TerKeurst with Proverbs 31 Ministries. Many of us live with a fear of betrayal everyday. I know this hurt very personally.But I’ve learned whether I’m a little girl terrified by the absence of her Daddy, or a grown woman fearing history will repeat itself - there is power in remembering that God will always be with me. Sometimes I just have to say it out loud: God loves me and He will never leave me or betray me!God never intended for us to look at others and demand they give us love and security. Being overly dependent on others for these things allows fear to keep a hold on us. Instead, because of God’s love for us, we have the beautiful opportunity to give love and we don’t have to live in fear. For more, click on Lysa’s blog when you visit Proverbs31.org.


This doesn't really speak of my personal decision this week in friendship, but it speaks to my heart about God always being there and never leaving us.  I love that!  I needed that!

I visited the Proverbs 31 blog today and the devotion today was about baggage that we carry along with us and how we try to carry things that God was intended to carry and not us.  In fact at times we need to be carried and to let him do it.  I do know this is a time to let go and let God take care of things!  I am thankful that I am doing that.  I am thankful that God loves me so very much!

I needed this tidbit on the radio today.

Our Weekend

Yesterday Corey and I took Pat to the airport in the afternoon as he is going to be gone for a week to Africa.  I always try to think of some fun things to do to help the time go a little quicker when Pat has to be gone for a week or two.  We have been so blessed with amazing weather here.  I don't know if this is typical weather for the D.C. Metro area, if it is, I am happy to be somewhere that gets chilly, but not down right cold.  We have had some very nice warm afternoons here and the first 2 days in December have been so very nice in the afternoon.  Yesterday we went to Frying Pan Park.  It is a Fairfax County park, but they have horses and other farm animals.  They have a carousel and they were doing a hay ride, s'mores, there were seniors singing Christmas carols in santa hats.  Santa was there.  It was just a nice, fun time out in the country.  Best of all, it was a really cheap, fun afternoon.  I can see going there for more events in the future.  It was really quite close to the airport, so it was very handy yesterday to add that to our plans.  After we got done, we went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner.  I am not sure if that was a wise food choice for me as I am trying to get rid of some extra weight I have put on in the last 6 months.  I tried to make the best food choice I could and enjoy my time with Corey.

Today we went to church, we go to the 9:30 AM service which works quite well for our family.  We typically don't sleep in, so I love having this earlier option.  This afternoon Corey and I went to George Washington's Estate in Mount Vernon.  We have been there one other time and we had bought a year long pass for each of us when we went the first time.  It is beautiful and peaceful there.  They have some Christmas Trees decorated up very pretty that are on display for a short time, so I felt like it would be a great chance to go and enjoy the nice weather and see the Christmas decor.  While we were there, we saw a camel.

I think the camel is a special visitor during the Christmas season.  I do not remember seeing him before.

This is a short blog post today, but I am thrilled we got out and enjoyed the weather yesterday and today and only spent a whopping $9 total between the two adventures.  I think we did pretty good!  I was appalled that a drink at Mount Vernon, just a 20 oz fountain drink cost $3, but we had been walking around quite a bit and Corey was really quite thirsty. 

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog.  I will be typing away throughout the week, so feel free to stop by and see what we have been doing.

I am thankful for Corey!

Today I am going to write about our son Corey and how Thankful I am for him.  Corey had a rough start to his life as he was born with seizures and was later diagnosed at 3 yrs old with periventricular leukomalacia which is damage to the scar tissue in the brain that was caused by the seizures he had for the first few months of his life.  Because of this, Corey has had may obstacles to overcome, the two biggest ones being a major speech delay and learning delays.  Corey has overcome so much in his 10 years!  I am so very proud of him.  We came from not being able to say even two words to now being able to say his own name "Corey" (this was an accomplishment within just this last year!), being able to express his thoughts and needs and actions in words has been a huge step for Corey.  It is quite awesome to hear him say that he is "cool" and to hear him talk about his friends and what he did at school, etc.  Corey can talk about his own world now and just as recently as a year ago he could not express all of this.  I see Corey excited and happy to be able to share his thoughts, his feelings, his world with us in ways he couldn't before.  He has always been very social and he has always had a an easy time making friends, but to see him be able to express so much more with words has been an awesome transformation to be a witness to and to be a part of.

Thankful for Corey!  Check out his Turkey!

Corey with school!  That is another amazing thing that totally took me by storm!  I really do love the way God works in everything, even when we can't see it.  Corey has always been in a special education classroom until this year.  We moved in the summer and he started at his current school in a regular classroom.  It was really quite a crazy beginning, as it actually started out with them not knowing what they needed to provide Corey.  I had his IEP turned in to the school plenty of time in advance, but they still didn't have a plan.  Corey surprised all of us and I was surprised by a the director of the special education, Jean!  She is a gem for sure!  She had been watching Corey from the beginning and noticed some pretty special things about him.  We went and visited another school that had a special education classroom and then discussed what should be the plan for Corey.  He had already spent a 1 1/2 months in his current school.  I was concerned about switching to a different school all the way across the city.  He would have to re-adjust to everything after having just moved this summer.  Jean was right on target.  She saw Corey's social abilities and the importance that it played in his life.  She saw how he had already built his own little world of friends and those he trusts.  She also had noticed that Corey scored very high on some IQ testing that was performed a few years ago.  He scored extremely high in visual learning and visual memory and she felt he could really thrive in the regular classroom with the help of a teacher's aide that would be assigned to him.  I was a nervous wreck trying this option, but he had already been managing this way for a while.  Corey has proven that he is quite capable of handling this new school arrangement.  He is brining homework home for the first time ever.  Wow!  Homework.  But I am very thankful that Corey is moving forward and it is a pleasure to help him move forward even in homework!  He is happy, thriving, and learning in his new environment.  Special Education in Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth gave Corey what he needed and his educators taught him a lot, but Corey is showing he is ready for more!  It really did grab my heart to be at that place where my child was entering a regular classroom for the first time.  They are treated normally for once, I feel like I am looked at more normally for once.  Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of love and devotion that goes in to the special education departments and I love and respect everyone who as worked with Corey, but it feels so good to be on this side of the fence now!  We still have challenges and we will continue to have them, but I am ready to take them on.  The challenges come with lessons and also come with growth.  Without Corey, I wouldn't have experienced the things I have or learned as much as I have.  My heart would certainly not be as full as it is with Corey in my life!

Making Lemonade and Being Thankful!

lemonade stand!, a photo by amy.gizienski on Flickr.

What better way to finish out November and head in to December.  I am on a new way of thinking, not something that is uncommon to me, in fact, it is rather how I hope and pray to live every day and I really strive to already do in my life.  It is time to think of the blessings that I already have and how truly green the grass is that I already live on and that I can make lemonade when I am handed lemons, because not every day will start out that way.  It is a choice.  I choose lemonade and green grass!  I choose to be thankful for the blessings God has given us and live life to the fullest.

In starting out this blog, I wanted to recap on what I feel my family and I really have to be Thankful for this year.  We have so much to be thankful for that I can't possibly put it all in a blog.  This summer we finished out our 2 yrs in Fort Leavenworth, KS with the military.  Pat really enjoyed his job and we had a lot of family time.  It was a blessed time for our family and much needed rest for Pat.  This summer we moved to the D.C. Metro area.  Wow, what a change and an adjustment it has been!  Kansas is pretty quiet and peaceful and it takes quite a bit to get lost in the wide open area where we lived.  The D.C. Metro area on the other hand requires a GPS & lots of patience.  Pat is now riding the metro to work, something that is a foreign concept in KS.  We are blessed in our new location as well.  Pat was promoted in April of this year and although it is quite expensive to rent a home in this area, we were able to find a house in our budget.  I am thankful to be in a house and not a town home.  We appreciate having a house with a fenced in yard for our dog Mitch, a nice, small, friendly neighborhood.  Corey has made friends quite easily in our neighborhood.  There are 6 other kids and 3 of them are Corey's age.  He has had a blast playing with them and he is so happy here.  God definitely had his hands in our location for living out these several years in this area.  Corey is in Cub Scouts and we have found a church home.

Other things to be thankful for this year, we had a great time going on a Disney Cruise with our friends, The Hohing Family from Pennsylvania.  It was a wonderful time, we all had a blast.  I know that is something we will always remember as a very special vacation.  I am also thankful for Corey's new school situation (something I will blog about soon).  I am thankful that God took wonderful care of my sister, she went through emergency surgery while she was on vacation.  God had all the details planned out.  She is recovering and doing well now.

I feel I have so much more to be thankful for, so much more.  As this being my first blog post, I am going to end right now with this, but you will see snips of my thankfulness and also making lemonade out of lemons and enjoying the green grass we live on.  I am sure to post some of our weekly happenings, granted, it might not be an every day post, but hopefully weekly.  I plan to share the blessings, challenges and how God has grown me through our loving son with his special need challenges.  He brings a new perspective on just about everything and reminds me of the simple things.  You will also see me post about making healthy eating/lifestyle choices and recipes/pictures from time to time.  So get ready to come along and join me.  I am ready to let the sun shine on me no matter what comes my way!