Happy Thanksgiving!

Father all-powerful,
Your gifts of love are countless
and Your goodness infinite.
On Thanksgiving Day we come before You
with gratitude for Your kindness:
open our hearts to concern for our fellow men and women,
so that we may share Your gifts in loving service.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.


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For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


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Do not get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.
- Galatians 6:9

Thank you for your service!

This year the kids and I 'adopted' a soldier and sent a care package out. They had fun shopping with me and choosing different items to include in the box.

I think the boys were trying to wrap the idea of a 'girl' soldier around their brains. They only think of G.I. Joe.

Picking out the items was an eye opener for them because many things we selected are things we take for granted like baby powder, chicken noodle soup, gum and playing cards.

Thanks to all who serve in the armed forces. God bring you home safe and sound - SOON!

My other first baby.

Twins are fun.

Mine taught me how to be a momma and how to hug. I wasn't much of a hugger before I had kids, but I am now. :)

This is my FIRST baby!

I can't believe she's 13! (See the monkey in the background?)

That's not just a t-shirt she's wearing. She IS a super girl.

The Boy.

You can see the tail end of an orca and great white shark that I painted on the boys' bedroom wall.

This January I plan to start finishing my bedroom projects. The boys need some kelp, sardines, a manta ray and maybe a gray whale in their room.

The girls have a pirate theme going. We have some posters to frame and hang up...and a little touch of this and that should complete the theme in their room.

Sugar Booger's Spongebob walls are complete and a friend just made her some Spongebob curtains, so those will need to be hung up.

Pray for JD (above). He's having a hard time dealing with his sister's illness. Outwardly he seems to be the same old kid, but his thoughts are full of bad things...Becca being sick and dying, the death of a cat earlier this year. He's worried that more bad stuff like that will happen, that maybe other people in the family will die.

Bad stuff happens, I told him. But good stuff happens, too. So we will get through it all together...and with lots of hugs.

Speaking of monkeys...

Here's a pic of Aiden back in June when Grandad and Nana visited.

He's busy and bossy and into everyone's business. The boy can't stand still, he has to hop in place.

He's a lot of fun. :)

Boogs is holding her own.

She's still having more seizures than we'd like her to have, but for now she's holding her own so long as she gets her medicine at the exact times every day.

No doubt, though, that she will need to have her dosages increased or start a whole new medication.

These cards are fun & educational!

My kids love them. I do, too! Each GoFish for Wildlife card has a stunning photo of wildlife and the name of the animal in English and Spanish. The WILD Cards packs and the Amazing Places card pack also have stunning photos with info about each subject.

With each deck you can play Memory, Old Maid or Go Fish and learn something about the world and wildlife.

Read all about them here.

New column up!

Check it out: www.JellyMom.com

Boo Update

So far so good. We're adjusting meds for now to see how that goes. Part of it is that she needs three doses a day to keep it in her system (we weren't doing that, yet she had done fine for a month or two), the other part is old fat Boo had gained those ten pounds, remember?

:)

Ms. Chub-a-wub is kicking back in her bean bag watching angels...what we call it when she looks up at nothing and satrts cooing and smiling. :) :)

Pray for Boo!

She had a really big seizure last night that hit her very hard. It lasted for about 15 seconds and we think she had one early this morning in bed.

She's only had very small ones and the medicine had (up to this point) prevented those. So these are quite a surprise and I will be calling her neurologist today.

Keep her in your prayers. She is otherwise, happy and bubbly, cooing and singing/talking in her own little way.

5,127 words and counting!

The hardest thing is getting up everyday at the same time to write for two hours, but I made it this far. That's a big deal for me.

I'm writing a children's novel. I just have to ignore the inner voice that says, "Give up now!" I'm going to finish this.

So far I'll bet I have more to cut than keep, but the first draft is supposed to be rough. So I keep going.

Boo update...and everyone else :)

She's doing well. Had to battle with a wimpy flu bug, but it was enough to upset her tummy. She seems to be picking up her calories again. Woo-hoo! Go, Boo!

We're brainstorming things we can get her for Christmas. We think a VCR would be great because then she can watch all the Disney videos that we have.

Aiden, of course, wants everything he sees on television and in the newspaper ads. He's definitely the target market.

JD has a modest list, but I am going to surprise him with something he didn't think of.

Rachel's list might be more difficult to fill. Have to stick to a budget, but also have to think of what to surprise her with that she will like that she never thought about.

Nicole has a good list. I'll still try to surprise her.

Been having fun throughout the year picking up little gifts here and there. Did a lot of baking earlier this week...but I can't tell you what I baked. It's a SECRET!

This year I WILL send out cards. There was too much to handle last year. I think we had Boo troubles then.

How is your holiday shopping going? Or is it too early to think about that?

Argggggh!

I need to get on a scheduile again. I need to stick to the plan. Why is this soooo haaaaarrrrd?

Sometimes being the boss of myself is NOT an easy job. I refuse to listen to myself. I rebel. I should fire myself.

*Sigh*

On the bright side. I decided to switch from non-fiction to good old fiction with the novel-in-a-month deal. I'm a little slow out of the gate, but not worried. I'll catch up. :)

Anybody else giving this a try?

In the beginning....

There was the word...there were 421 words to be exact.

That's my tally for my first day, but I am very happy with that because I know what I am writing now.

As my husband would say: WOOT!