Lesson of the Week:Life is short-don't sweat the small stuff and my weekly mission

Last week there was a very tragic accident in our town and 3 people lost their lives because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  A teenage daughter lost her parents and was left alone at a very crucial age.  My heart breaks for this girl!  I hear a lot of tragic stories but for some reason this one has stuck with me and I have not stopped thinking about it all week.  Maybe because people I know were friends of the family who suffered the loss.  It made me realize how very short our lives may be.  God had my life planned out up to when I take my last breath even before I was born.  Psalm 139:16 "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.  Every day was recorded in your Book!"  How scary and awesome all at the same time!  I cannot change when it is my time to die-but I can change the way I live.  I realized this week that I can't control everything.  I don't need to worry about everything, try to perfect everything, and try to control everything.  There are so many things out of my control but God has them under control.  I am where He wants me to be right now and I have realized that He is in control.  I am going to savor each moment with my husband and children, love them like they have never been loved before and let them know how much I love them as often as I can.  I don't know when it is my time but I don't want to have any regrets.  I want my family to know how thankful I am for everyday that I am given to share my life with them.  I don't want to worry about the trivial things that come tomorrow won't matter anymore.  I am going to live for today.
 
This is my mission for the week-I'm not going to lie-I have been a pretty negative person lately and I don't want the negativity to consume me any longer.  I want to be more positive and be able to see the good things even though there may be a lot of not-so good things going on.  I want to yell less and love more!  I want to be the positive influence in the lives of everyone around me.  It is a constant battle with me to win out over the negativity-only God can help me get past it.  So this week I am going to ask for His help daily to find the positive in everything and hopefully this will help me to be a more positive person overall.       

Jackson is 4 Today!!!

Well today is my baby's 4th birthday.  It is unbelievable that a little less than 4 years ago we became a family and were off to meet our baby.  Our lives have been forever changed.  Let me tell you a little bit about our Jackson.  He was a happy baby who really did not like to sleep much at all.  He was an early talker but a really late walker.  He hated tummy time and as much as I tried to get him to be on his stomach he would scream (little did I know that this would turn into pure stubbornness as he got older).  This not liking tummy time turned into not wanting to crawl like other babies so his famous move became to sit on his butt and use his legs to "scoot" around the house.  It was really quite a site to see him scoot around the house to get what he wanted!  Once he started walking at about 16 months (actually he started running, there was no walking about it) he did not stop!  He is too smart and so funny and is very athletic.  He is constantly on the go!  He says the funniest things sometimes and he adores his momma (which I love).  He loves to play cars and pretend he is a super hero and wants constant attention and someone to play with.  He is such a blessing and we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves if he was not in our lives!  We thank God everyday for our children and the blessings they bring us!  We are so lucky to be able to share their lives with them!

Happy Birthday Jackson Ryan!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are so proud of the boy you are growing into.  We pray that you continue to grow up to love God and trust him and that we can instill in you the values that our parents instilled in us!  I hope you have an awesome birthday!  I am so glad that I get to spend the whole day with you today!!!

May every year get better and better!!!

"This is your life"

Every time I hear this song it pulls at my heart and I feel like it is speaking right to me.  It ties into my first post but I heard it again today and wanted to share it. 


"This is your life" by Switchfoot
Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you've got now
Yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
Don't close your eyes
Don't close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be?
When the world was younger and you had everything to lose

I have to ask myself if I am who I want to be.  The simple answer is no.  I am not the person I want to be, not the person I should be and not the person I could be.  I was created for so much more.  I think I sell myself short thinking I am just a wife or just a mother.  I want to be so much more and need to be reminded that I was placed on this earth for a reason.  I love my kids and my husband but something seems to be missing at times.  I feel like there is a greater purpose for me that I have not discovered yet.  I seek to find out what that is...with a greater help of course!


       

Germs, Germs enough already!

This has been a very difficult fall and winter as far as keeping our family healthy goes.  Since my oldest Jordan started Kindergarten the family has gotten almost every illness known to man and with 5 of us it spreads around  like wildfire.  Once again yesterday the germs won the war!  Most people who know me know how big of a germaphobe I am so me and sick children don't go together very well!  The can of Lysol quickly becomes my friend and I follow the sick kid around spraying the Lysol hoping it will work magic.  Why can't you germs leave us alone???  I am still not completely over the last run that went through and now my paranoia will get the best of me until another one of us gets bitten by the bug.  Need prayers of health for the family today so that the rest of us stay healthy!  If only I could get over my fear of illness so I can be a somewhat sane person :(