Saraina's Maternity Pictures

 

Only three weeks left until Little Lady arrives!  It was a gorgeous day out so we decided to go ahead and get pictures just in case Little Lady came early!

 

Little Man was a little grumpy and did not want to smile so Chandler and Saraina tried to get a grin out of him.

 

His smile in response to them is so cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the pictures turned out so cute

and we are so excited for Little Lady to get here!

 

 

Will You Please Cook for Me

Tonight was water night with the teens and they had a blast!

They ran and slipped and slid and wrestled in the water and by the time

they were done they were soaking from head to toe!

I had made a couple of crockpots full of hot soup to warm them up

because I knew they would be cold after all the water games.

The teens loved the soup and ate every drop!  One of the teens came up to me and told me how good the soup was and asked if I would come to their house and cook for them every night.  They said with their mom working, all they ate was frozen pizza and other stuff out of the freezer.  Sadly over the last few years a lot of the teens have said this to me.  With so many women working outside of the home now a days, women are too busy and tired to cook after a long day but kids and teenagers have growing bodies

that need the nutrition of a good, solid, home cooked meal every night. 

So sad to see this basic need not being met in so many kid's homes!

On Wednesday after church I treated my husband to a shake

at Sonic with a note telling him how thankful I am that he is always

so careful with his hygiene and appearance.

Last night I wrote him a note thanking him for being my rescuer!  I lost my keys inside the mall and although I walked around everywhere, I couldn't find them.  My husband dropped everything and came to give me the other set of keys to the van.  Right as he was pulling into the mall parking lot I found my keys at the wall office where someone had just turned them in. 

 My sweet husband was not mad that he came across town for nothing but just gave me a kiss and said he would meet me at home. 

I gave him a bottle of Tabasco because it is his must have for all meals. 

Cut my husband open and he will bleed coffee and Tabasco sauce!

Tonight I gave him a shirt to wear on his birthday next week and gave him a card and told him how much I love that he is so compassionate.  He is tender and caring and is helping when someone gets hurt, listens to their sad stories and just overall listens to people and lets them know he cares about them.  He is just such a sweet, sweet guy and I love him!

Bees!!!!

 

The flowerbed at the church entrance was looking very overgrown

 and undercared for.  One of our ladies sweetly offered to come and spruce it up and make it look better.  As she started pulling weeds and overgrowth she noticed a few bees start buzzing around her.  And then a few more.....

and a few more.......  She called me to come look and when

I stepped outside I got stung on my nose!

 

My husband and Mason went out to find where they were coming from and found them swarming from behind the panels on the church building.  Mason started pulling off the boards to see what was behind the panels. 

What a brave guy to put his head there!

 

Of course he soon ran into the church and shut the door as the bees came after him!  Notice the electric tennis racquet he has in his hand.  He used it often as he chased bees that were buzzing around his head!

 

This is what he found inside, bees and their hives buried in the insulation.

 

See the pod clusters?  Gross!

 

Chep, Mason and one of our teen boys pulled all the insulation

out from under the building and threw it in a bag.  They then doused the area with water and will keep dousing it down a couple of times a day for the next couple of weeks to make sure the bees have decided to build their hive else where!  Our teen did not get stung at all, mason only once and Chep got stung almost ten times!  Glad that task is over!

 

 

 

I am continuing to give Chep a note and gift each day this month.  After a long day out with the guys, shooting on the shooting range, I gave him a note saying I love how manly he is in all his thoughts, words, deeds and actions.  So glad I am not married to a guy who is feminine in any way!

 

I get Chep a tea every Sunday as he works in between services going over his message.   In this note I thanked him for preaching the Word of God. 

I truly think my husband is an excellent preacher and when I'm away at another church I really miss his preaching! 

 

 

He says the Swedish Fish are his favorite gift so far. 

He is such an easy guy to please!  He had been gone all day ministering

at the hospital, helping a church member in need, picking up kids for teen night and then helping our son fix his car.  I told him how much I appreciated him giving his time to others.

 

 

 

I gave him a new thanksgiving journal and told him he needed to write, Thank you God for not allowing me to be allergic to bees!  I wrote and told him how thankful I was to him for being faithful to me.  Staying by my side no matter what we've been through and staying faithful to our marriage.

 

Last night I gave him a new pack of socks because he goes through socks

so fast.  My dear husband is clean and will change socks several times

a day if his feet sweat at all.  I told him thank you for loving me no matter

if I was mean or grouchy or not just not being nice. 

Through thick and thin and all my moods he has loves me. 

 

I truly have such an awesome husband and I love telling him!

 

 

Do You Know Your Husband's....

Love Language?

 

 

I knew my husbands love languages before we had even gotten married. 

 A few months after we started dating I went over to his house

 on Christmas.  The tree had so many presents under it and I will never forget when his mom pointed at an unwrapped pillow and told my husband that was his Christmas present. My husband barely glanced at it and told his mom thanks as we headed out the door. As I asked him if that was his only Christmas present, he said yes and explained that all the other presents under the tree were for his little brother and sister.  He told me that on his 11th birthday he received a bag of candy for his birthday because his mom said she didn't know what else to buy him.  Every birthday and Christmas since then he had received a bag of candy or other little article while his brother and sister received loads and loads of toys on the holidays.  Needless to say he loves when I give him presents.  Doesn't matter if it's his birthday

or Christmas or just because, he loves to receive gifts!

 

He also loves words of affirmation.  Growing up he had many, many negative things said to him so he loves it when I thank him, lift him up or encourage him.  That's one of the reasons I have chosen to give him a gift with a note, card or letter each night of his birthday month.  He has said over and over how much he is loving this and actually anticipates his gift and note each day!

 



 

On Tuesday I gave him a Big Hunk bar and wrote him a love letter

telling him his was "my hunk".

 

On Wednesday his throat was still hurting and he mentioned that he wished he had a watermelon to eat as it would be easy to swallow.  I ran out and got him one and wrote a card telling him thank you for working so hard all these years and being our families provider and giving us all we need and more.

 

Tonight I wrote and told him how I love his spirituality. 

How I have loved watching him grow in the Lord, how I love him sharing with me what he is studying each day, what he is being convicted of and what he is struggling with.  He is the spiritual head of our family and I love him leading us!  His two favorite things are licorice and watermelon, so when

I saw watermelon flavored licorice I knew he'd love it!

 

 

Selfie Love

I love getting onto my phone and find that Little Man has

left me a bunch of selfies.  Such a cutie!

 

 



A Voiceless Preacher

 

My sweet husband came down with a cold on Thursday and we

 had been praying for him to be able to preach this past Sunday.  When he woke Sunday with a voice sounding scratchy and hoarse, I told him I was praying for him to get through service.  God gave him a fiery message

 and he preached it and preached it loud!  Everyone said it was just what they needed to hear and it was such a good sermon but by Sunday afternoon he was sounding really, really hoarse and I knew when he woke up

on Monday he would have no voice left and I was right! 

Today he has been whispering and trying to be silent in order that his voice will recover for services on Wednesday. 

 

 

Yesterday I wrote him a card telling him how much I loved and appreciated him because he loves to shop!  He truly, truly loves to shop and will go up and down every aisle in the craft store with me, spend hours in Target looking at cookware, at Ross he goes through all the racks with me as I try to find something I like.  The only store he refuses to go into is Bath and Body Works as he thinks that is way to girly of a store for him.  I also thanked him for not being a miser with our money but trusting me and allowing me to spend what I want, when I want.  He has never put me on a budget because he knows I will not overspend.  Finances are not an issue and we never fight over them.  He is always encouraging me to go spend money on myself or do something special for myself. (He knows I rarely spend money on myself and would rather spend money on him or the kids or our precious grandbaby!)  For his gift I gave him a sun catcher for his office window that looks just like the last deer he shot and when I gave it to him he said, "Look, it's the deer I shot!".

 

 

 

Today we had an errand to run for a church member and we were only supposed to be out for about an hour but ended up being out for almost five hours instead!  I knew he didn't feel good but he never complained and once he mentioned that he wished he had a popsicle for his throat.  He was thrilled when I gave him a box of popsicles and was so happy I heard his comment earlier in the day!  My card today told him how much I appreciate him for letting me be a stay at home wife and mom.  We live in a two income society so we have been through some rough times where it would have really helped for me to work but he wanted his boys to be homeschooled and raised in a godly environment.  Even now that the boys are grown he would rather I stay home to see to his needs and wants.  I am not the most perfect housewife and do not get up early to get his morning coffee made and sometimes I do not have dinner on the table at a decent time but he still loves me and says me working would be more of a hindrance than a help in so many ways. 

 Plus who else could he get to do all the church office work for free? 

 

I am loving seeing the smile that lights up my husbands face when he sees the card and gift for the day.  Praying he feels totally loved and cherished!



A Month of Thank You's



 

August 20th is my sweeties birthday!  I truly love this man with all my heart and am so grateful that God allowed me to be his help meet!  I recently read "Choosing Gratitude" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and I am finding so many areas of my life where I am not showing my gratitude and thankfulness for all the blessings God has surrounded me with.  One of those areas is my husband, who I am thankful for in so many little ways but do not tell him.  Since this is his birthday month, I decided to pick one thing a day I'm thankful for about him and then write him a love letter centered on that one thing. 

I also decided to give a little gift to go with each letter or card.

 

Yesterday, on the 1st, I wrote and told him how thankful I am for his faithfulness to church and God.  In the last twenty years our family has not missed a church service.  There have been a few times when one of us has been sick and had to miss but the rest of the family went to church.  I have seen my husband be on spiritual highs but also seen him be on spiritual lows but still, no matter how he was feeling emotionally or what he was struggling with spiritually, he has always made sure our whole family has been in church every week and to every service.  Being faithful to church has made our family stronger and each message has helped us to grow closer to our Lord and Savior and I am so thankful for my husbands consistency in this area our lives!  I gave him a pen that when  squeezed the eyes pop out of the bear.  Kinda silly but if you knew my husband you know it fits him perfectly!

 

Today I wrote to him and thanked him for his joy and happiness.  My husband amazes me because he is rarely ever in a grumpy, mad or agitated mood.  He never wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and he never mean or snappy!  He is always, and I do mean always happy!  In fact he makes me mad because he is always so happy and joyful!  If he is ever grumpy or acting irritated, I know he must be sick or something is really, really wrong.  Those very rare times he does act grumpy, mad or irritated, he tells me what's wrong and goes and prays about it and within minutes he is happy again!  He just can't stay grumpy for more than a few minutes.  It is a quality that I love about him! 

Of course because I was thanking him for his happiness and joy I had

 to get him an Almond Joy bar which he so sweetly shared with me!

 

After I had given him the card and he read it, he told me

 that my letters the last two nights had been so encouraging to him

and he told me thank you and gave me the sweetest kiss. 

 I definitely like how this is going and we are only on day 2!