Thursday, October 30, 2008
Blessings
First of all, I am now a buisness owner! After much pondering, we have decided to open up my private practice. This is coming after a week of very painful decisions and seeking of God's will. I was offered a wonderful job opportunity last week that sent me into a tailspin. I've been wearing my family and friends out for their advice and prayers on what to do. I finally asked God on Sunday to speak very plainly about what I should do. Monday was full of his overwhelming answer. Within hours of each other, I got a call that the job offer was not going to be as good for our family as we originally thought, that my position in Grand Prairie would not continue after Christmas and my builder in Granbury called to say that he could set me up with a small office, for half of my original price, including a month to month lease. It became very clear to us that God was trying to tell me to step out on faith and start my practice.
So, I've signed all the papers and have already placed an ad, for what from now on will be the Agape Family Center. The Center will provide individual, group and family therapy, play therapy, parent training and more to the children and families of Hood County and beyond. Thanks for all of your prayers and support, I'm so blessed to have such great family and friends who continue to seek God's will for my life.
Now for a blessing list of things I'm thankful for this week:
1. Brian, he has been unswerving in his support for me and desire for me to succeed in my career.
2. Feeling the presence of God so close to me this week. I literally feel like as I'm walking he's holding my hands above me, leading every step.
3. Email and text messaging. Monday was full of communication with my family & friends deciding what to do. Love living in the 21st century!
4. My new doctor in Granbury, she's a Christian, is super sweet and has a great plan to help my infertility.
5. Thursday night TV & the premiere of 30 Rock
6. Sonic Rt. 44 Vanilla Diet Cokes half off during Happy Hour
7. The warm sunny days and the chilly, starry nights here in Granbury.
8. The Beth Moore, Psalms of Ascent class I'm going to on Wednesday nights.
9. My new curtains and mirror in my dining room, and again my sweet husband for helping hang them up!
10. FALL!! Complete with 1/2 off decorations at Hobby Lobby, high school football (Brian's 10 year High School reunion tomorrow) & an 80's Costume Party with our Bible Class Saturday! (80's and Costume Party are consequently two of my all-time FAVORITE words, so you can guess how pumped I am about that!)
I really have felt so at peace about everything going on in my life right now. For the first time in a long time, I'm not worried about when I will be pregnant again. I don't know when it will happen again, but I feel so blessed to have been pregnant this year at all, it was a special gift that my Father gave to me. I'm not worried about the future and I feel so safe having God so close.
Isaiah 40: 29&31
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Here's some pics of the dining room curtains and some of my fall decorations!
I haven't hemmed them yet, but they're beautiful to look at until then! Look carefully at the dining room table. This is the emptiest it will EVER be. It's right by the garage door, so it becomes our dumping ground when we walk in.
I love my pumpkin!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
My Fun Friday!
Now Marcus and Becca, two of my best friends, are married and live in Memphis. Becca and I have been through so much in our friendship: boy drama, sickness, family problems, marriage, grad school, careers and now parenthood. Marcus and Bec have a beautiful baby girl, Hadley Rene, who is the most fun, happy little thing you could meet. At first, I thought she looked like her Daddy, and I still do, from the nose, up. But Hadley's smile is all her Mommy's. She has a beautiful smile that lights up the room and brings everyone joy.
I am so blessed to have a friend like Rebecca. I love our talks, whether they be about the little stuff like sno cones and Christmas music, or big stuff like relationship problems and career decisions, Bec always listens, is always concerned and is always there with great advice and strong support. I love you so much Rebecca and I can't wait to come see you in November!!
Here's some pictures of yesterday:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
I love your blog!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Hangin Tough, 1987 to "Summertime" 2008
Rachel, Kara, Manda and me, rockin our New Kids shirts
Oh my gosh, are we the cutest sisters EVER?? As adults, we're best friends. When we were little, New Kids was pretty much the only thing besides God and the same parents that we had in common.
The five of us at House of Blues (thanks for the discount Holly!)
Manda and Me basking in our concert high in Victory Park
Ooohhhh, they're still sooooo good!!
There's the boys, singin in a circle in the middle of a mob of screaming girls my age acting 15 years younger.
The final bow after an Encore of Step by Step and Hangin Tough
I've got some video that I tried to post, but it took FOREVER to upload. So, if someone wants to see video, tell me an easier way to put it on here than just uploading it through blogger!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Welcome to Holland
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
Emily Perl Kingsley
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
In the Savior's arms
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Psalm 139:13-16
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
My rock
Back to the rock transplanting: Yesterday I was mostly in charge of picking up rock, as Brian was trying to seed the ground that had just been "tilled". He came over and observed a load I had just dumped into the pit, picking up one rock after another and claiming: "This isn't a rock, Amy, it's clay. We don't want to put this in as the foundation of our patio. Clay shrinks and expands, rock stays firm. We don't want all of the gravel, sand and then flagstone to buckle under us, or the patio to not be straight."
Yesterday, I got frustrated with that statement. Why can't I just leave all those Rock-imposter clay lumps in there? They're hard like rock! But I was tired of bending over for 10 straight hours, so I was a little grumpy.
This morning, I was thinking about it as I was looking at the 16x16 hole in our ground that will one day soon be a patio, complete with fire pit. I'm looking forward to the end result of patio furniture, some potted cactus, roasting marshmallows on a chilly evening, singing devo songs under the stars. Then a song popped into my head:
Jesus, You're my firm foundation. I know I can stand secure.
Oh Jesus, You're my firm foundation. I put my hope in Your Holy Word, I put my hope in Your Holy Word.
I have a living hope, I have a future. God has a plan for me, of this I'm sure.
Your Word is faithful, mighty with power, God will deliver me, of this I'm sure.
Jesus you're my firm foundation. I know I can stand secure.
Oh Jesus, you're my firm foundation. I put my hope in Your Holy Word, I put my hope in Your Holy Word.
Building this patio is a lot like building my life. I can be like the wise man, who built his house on the rock: lining my life first with God's word and constantly communicating with Him. Or, I could be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. I can line my life with what I think looks like religion, or being holy, or even with comforts that I enjoy every day. But when the rains come in and the floods come up, my little life is just going to go SPLAT.
I feel like God has carried me through a SPLAT. He has given me a second chance to rebuild my life on what is important: HIM, my husband, my family, my church, my friends, my job. My priorities were out of whack and I was using building materials that were not going to stand the test of time. I only feel alone when I am not looking up at Him. I only feel lost when I'm not responding to His hand on my shoulder, guiding me. I only feel like the ground from underneath me is cracking when I have not stood on the ROCK.
Once again, my sweet husband has taught me an invaluable lesson, even though he was talking patio. I'm so grateful for that man, God has blessed me so much by putting Brian in my life by using him to speak to me.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
The Clean Dream Team
Today was my deep clean day. I got tired of "spot" mopping. Bec taught me this art form when we lived together in college and I've tried to perfect it ever since. But today was the day for the mopping. I HATE HATE DOUBLE HATE mopping. But in Canton, Heather told me about the Swiffer Wet Jet. She said it makes mopping wayyy easier. Today was also the day for the shower to be cleaned. I HATE HATE DOUBLE HATE cleaning the shower, (really the whole bathroom). My mom told me about the Mr. Clean Magic Reach and that it changed her life in bathroom cleaning.
So yesterday I packed into Walmart and purchased what would soon change my life in regards to house cleaning forever. May I introduce you to, the Clean Dream Team:
Dottie Dyson, Slick Swiffy and Baldy McClean
We got Dottie when we lived in our last house. It got old really fast using two different floor tools to clean carpet, hardwood and tile. It was the best investment in a cleaning tool we've ever spent.
A close second is Slick Swiffy. Thanks Heather for telling me about him! He's given me new hope in clean floors!
And Mom, I LOVED LOVED LOVED Baldy McClean! Sweet Goodness did my shower look fantastic after I was done!
Welp, that's what I did today! Hope everyone had a great Saturday!!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Fun with Bunnies
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to:
FLOPSY (surrounded by his two new best friends)
MOPSY
And COTTONTAIL
Needless to say, the bunnies have gotten a lot of attention. Lewis just wants to be near them non-stop. They always stay in their cages, but Flopsy (the boy) gets to have his cage on the grass when we're home. So Lewis likes to lay next to him and watch him. We got Gracie again last night, and she's just down right obsessed with them. She cried for 30 minutes last night when we went to bed because she wanted to be out with them. And our neighbor dog, Emma, Lewis's girlfriend, comes over all the time to hang out in our little stockyard.
Today we're having the "Bobcat Man" come over and scrape the back half of our lot so we can lay out grass and form flowerbeds, build a fire pit, patio and gazebo. So, Brian and I were out surveying the lot and laying out stakes for Bobcat Man. Usually the dogs are at our heels chasing the millions of rocks that are the reason for our inability to mow and thus our weedfest in the backyard. But they were so into the rabbits, they didn't even care what we were doing.
Here's before pictures of our backyard. I really regret not having a catalogue of before/after pics of our last house since we did so much work to it. So, we are making sure we do that with this house. Though, there's not much to do, thankfully. And I threw in a picture of our front yard too since so many have asked me about it.
WEEDFEST '08!
For those who've stuck with this ridiculously long post to the bitter end, I'm taking a poll and need your votes. I've been debating on whether or not to paint our bedroom and other rooms in the house. I'm not painting the living/dining/kitchen area because it's all one big room and already a great color. But the rest of the house is the same color, on the walls, and ceilings. It's pretty and I don't mind it (I love art and bright colored curtains as you can tell), but also don't want to be boring. So, vote please...to paint or not to paint??
Monday, October 6, 2008
Some wonderful things...
And for another wonderful thing...I finished my kitchen curtains!! Yay!! I'm really happy with the way they turned out, since I have never made any curtains like this before! Brian was a little unsure, he didn't know those qualified as curtains since they weren't long. I guess we learn something new every day! Enjoy the pics of my kitchen, I'm super excited!!