Black Friday

Thanks to my "friend" Michelle, my kids got the idea to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Thanks to their dad, my kids found out the outlet store opened at 12:01am.

So, at 11:15 on Thanksgiving night, we all piled into the car (with friends, Mark and Laurie) to experience the madness. It was crazy! We effortlessly took the back way into the outlet mall, but saw never- ending headlights on the freeway both directions. Passengers were getting out of their cars on the freeway, walking to the mall, and standing in parking spaces to save spots. The outlet was packed. Luckily, we didn't need anything bad enough to stand in the hour long lines.

After about an hour we headed back home. Cars were parked on the sides of the road almost a mile away. One truck we saw was a little too far in the ditch and one of his tires was actually off the ground. (I wished I could have stuck around to see how that turned out.) Neighbor, Kyndra, said she was one of those on the freeway waiting to get to the outlet for over 2 hours...madness!

A quick trip home and back into bed...for two hours. Yep, the kids wanted to go back out and hit the sales. So being the good mom that I am, blurry-eyed I drove them to 5 more stores. We were back home and in bed by 9:30am and slept until 3pm.

But it was all worth it. We saved at least forty bucks! Thanks Michelle! (Live)

Counting My Blessings

Today is Thanksgiving. My gut is stuffed, I've visited with family and friends. I've organized my Black Friday shopping list, and I've watched Christmas Vacation (a family tradition on Thanksgiving night to kick off the Season of Christmas). What better time than now to recall all the many things in my life that I thank God for. Since there are too many to write in one blog post, I will attempt to scratch the surface of all that He has blessed me with.

Above all, I am thankful that God has given me a Savior. I am thankful for His patience and forgiveness and unconditional love. And that He gave me Brian, my husband, who taught me what patience, forgiveness, and unconditional love means.

I'm thankful for...

• My kids and their unconditional love...they teach me how to be a mom everyday



• My parents, for staying married through all the difficulties and challenges in their life


• Brian's mom, Penny, for teaching me to dote on my husband and kids


• Brian's dad, Larry, for teaching me to be encouraging and proud of my kids


• Larry's wife, Carolyn, for teaching my kids (and me) to be excited about and find adventure in everything


• My friends, for their laughter, love, acceptance, advice, shoulders, and so much more


• Leslie, for listening to my parenting advice (solicited or not)


• Michelle, for being a role model and older Christian influence/friend to my daughters


• Laurie, for being the big sister I never had

It seems to go on and on...I'm thankful that...

• I have a church family and a place to worship and learn more about God freely and openly


• My kids, husband, and I will live eternally together in Heaven. whoo hoo!


• My kids love to serve others


• I have a warm bed to sleep in at night and a warm hubby to put my cold feet on


• My daughters can drive themselves (and sometime their brother) to all their extra curricular activities


• I can pray for God's protection around my kids instead of worrying about them when they are driving to all their extra curricular activities

And I'm thankful for the little things too, like...

Good health, clean water, a warm shower, electronics, warm slippers, a cozy fire, coffee, Diet Pepsi, riesling, Italian food (esp pizza), Mexican food, and CHOCOLATE!

And of course, I'm thankful for best friends and Thursday nights.

What are you thankful for? (Love)