Shopping with my Mom

Day #5 - Today I'm thankful to have some one-on-one time with my mom. After my dad picked me up from work, we picked up my mom and Amaya and met Steve at Panera for lunch. After lunch, Mom and I went to "The Country Life" store in Plainview for their annual Christmas Open House. Mom and I have gone every year for quite some time now and usually find a few things. I picked up a couple ornaments and some berries and popcorn garland, but there wasn't really anything that I had to have. I love getting decorating ideas from my mom because she has such great taste. I only wish I had the bank account to go along with her style. I also enjoyed spending time talking with my mom without being interrupted by that sweet daughter of mine. Every day I'm thankful for my mom, but today I'm especially thankful for our special time together.

Bible Study

Day #4 - Amaya and I just got home from Bible Study, so today I'm thankful for the group of women that I meet with weekly at our church. It's a diverse group of women ranging from college age to mid-sixties and I enjoy listening to the different perspectives. Even from all different walks of life, we carry a common thread - our relationship with Christ. My heart aches for the struggles some of these women have gone through and my heart aches for the struggles yet to come. But the Lord willingly carries our burdens and gives us rest and for this reason alone, we find comfort and peace. I'm thankful for our leader who was obedient to God's calling to teach and who faithfully prepares for each lesson and prays for us. And I'm so thankful for each woman for their vulnerability, honesty, understanding, and encouragement. It's refreshing to be able to meet with a group of women whose hearts aren't guarded and are open to God's purpose and plan. Already this group of women has been such a blessing in my life and for that I'm thankful.

Amaya

Day #3 - Amaya Hope... After the birth of 9 nieces and nephews on both sides of the family... we wondered when it would be our time... When would we be able to bring our little bundle of joy home? In God's perfect timing, we welcomed this little piece of heaven into our family on January 20th, 2008.

Her smile alone lights up a room and fills our hearts with such joy. Even on days when she doesn't get her way, refuses to put on her socks and coat, doesn't get enough candy corn, doesn't eat her supper, refuses to lay still to get her jammies on, or whines for no reason, she stills fills our hearts with so much laughter. I love her sweet voice - she sings all the time! I love listening to her talk to her stuffed animals. I love that she's full of energy and jumps all the time! I love that she's almost always willing to give me a hug or a kiss - even if it is on the run. I love it when she asks me to "rest for a little bit" while she's trying to go to sleep.

Amaya motivates me to be a better person... to be a better mom... a better wife... a better daughter... a better sister... a better friend. She is a precious gift from God and I'm so thankful God blessed us with her.

Steve

Day #2 - I am thankful for my husband of almost 6 years! Steve is my long-awaited answer to prayers. For as long as I can remember... from those boy-crazy years between kindergarten (yes, kindergarten) all the way through college and beyond... I wanted to be married. Both my sister and brother got married shortly after college and I expected the same for me. But it didn't happen. I had my hopes set pretty high in college only to find my heart shattered in smithereens. I couldn't stand for my heart to be broken or trampled on again, so I prayed that God would spare me the pain and keep all guys away from me UNLESS I was going to marry him. And so the search for Mr. Right continued. As a new nurse, I thought maybe I'd marry a doctor. Maybe I'd meet someone at church. Maybe one of my old flames from college would come to their senses and realize that they were wrong. Or maybe... on a quiet night shift at work, my friend would sign me up on an internet dating website (Match.com) and for only $19.95 I would finally meet the man of my dreams. After countless prayers and petitions, I met Steve 3 months later (and $59.85 plus tax poorer), and the rest is happily ever after!

Steve is my answered prayer. Steve is my rock, my comfort, my laughter, my joy. God knew that I needed him just as much as he needed me. Looking back, God knew that I just needed to have a little patience and He would be faithful in picking out the best person for me. I'm so glad I waited for him!

What I admire most about Steve is his heart. God knew that there was so much more in store for Steve than the four walls of his cubicle at Pemstar. God knew that there were people in this world who needed to be touched by Steve. I see evidence in that every day when Steve comes home from his internship. Steve genuinely cares for and helps those that others would turn their back against and ridicule. Amaya and I just read the Bible story about the sick man left on the road and how several others had seen him and instead of helping him said, "He's not my neighbor. I won't help him." Steve is like that last man... he saw the sick man... picked him up... took care of his wounds... carried him toward help. And this is why I married Steve... because of his heart. And this is why I am so thankful to be able to be called his wife.

Happy Halloween!

Since Amaya was born, each holiday/occasion has become more and more special. This year, I'm not sure who was more excited - me or Amaya. I enjoyed trick-or-treating as a kid and getting loads of candy, but not nearly as much as I enjoy getting Amaya dressed up and watching her trick-or-treat.

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at the Medford Outlet Mall looking at winter boots for Amaya and not only did we find a great deal on boots, but we ended up finding some cute Halloween cookies at the Harry and David Store.

Since we had a late lunch, we decided to carve the pumpkin before we ate supper. For whatever reason, we haven't carved a pumpkin together as a family, so this year was especially fun. Here is Amaya posing next to our pumpkin.

Steve diving into the pumpkin!

Amaya checking out the inside.

Steve left the kitchen as soon as I started taking out the "pumpkin guts" and Amaya was pretty grossed out too! She certainly wasn't going to help me take the seeds out for fear of getting messy. Guess from now that's going to be my job.

I drew on the face and Steve began carving again.

Me and Amaya waiting for Steve to finish up.

The end result! Isn't it cute?

After Amaya's nap on Sunday afternoon, we ate an early supper and got Amaya dressed up ready to trick-or-treat at all her grandparent's houses. This year, she was a fairy - and the cutest fairy I've ever seen (not that I'm biased!)

Here she is getting ready to ring Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Struckmann's doorbell!

Next stop... Grandma and Grandpa Horning's!

Some of their friends even had a special goodie bag for Amaya too!

Grandma and Grandpa gave Amaya a HUGE bag of Reese's Pieces!!

Next stop... Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson's house!

We met up with Mike, Arwen, Ben, Annika, Lydia, and Miles and trick-or-treated with them.
Amaya was a little scared of Mike and Ben's mask... and I'll have to admit I was too!

Steve wins "Husband of the Year" award for taking Amaya trick-or-treating during the tail end of the Vikings game.

It was pretty cold out, but Amaya didn't complain at all. We only went to the houses on my parent's block, but she still got quite a bit of loot.

Think she'll share?

She did! And very willingly too! The rest of the night, she helped me pass out candy at my parent's house! A great night and a lot of fun!

Thankfulness Challenge

One of my "blogger friends" has challenged me to blog for the next 30 days about what I'm thankful for during the month of November. I'm up for the challenge, but a little unsure if I can hit all 30 days, but I'll try....

Day #1 - I'm thankful for my salvation and relationship with Jesus Christ. I accepted Christ when I was 8 years old and what a journey it's been walking with the Lord. Sometimes I've walked ahead of Him when I think I know what I'm doing only to realize that He has a different plan. Sometimes I've walked behind Him when I have no clue what He's doing and question and doubt and worry. Sometimes I've gotten impatient and have drifted off course. Sometimes He's carried and comforted me. Sometimes I rejoice while we're walking and other times I mope and complain. But the one thing I know for sure is that He is faithful and has always been right by my side. It's during those peaks and valleys though that I've matured in my faith and come to know God and depend on Him. This past year hasn't been the easiest one and God certainly didn't promise us an easy life. However despite the challenging year, it doesn't mean that it hasn't been filled with His blessings. We are constantly reminded of His provision, of His love for us, and His comfort. And so, we press on with hope of a great future and of a life everlasting and for this, I am thankful.

Star Student

Each week in preschool, one child is chosen to be the "Star Student" and this past Friday was Amaya's day to shine as the Star Student! We worked diligently on a poster to capture some of her "favorites" - favorite food, favorite books, favorite things to do in school etc. I wrote out her answers and put the pictures on, but other than that, she created this masterpiece on her own. I had a difficult time "letting go" and wanting it to be "perfect", but in her eyes... it is perfect and that's all that matters! To celebrate, we bought some pencils the night before to hand out to her classmates. Her teacher ended up giving her a great big star sticker and she wore it with pride! AND - she also learned her first Bible verse by memory! Here a few pictures my dad took before taking her to preschool.

With her poster...

Congratulations to our favorite Star Student!

Night Off...

The past few days I haven't been feeling very well.... tired all the time... weakness... muscle aches... low grade fever... sore throat. I've been able to manage to go to work drugged up on tylenol and ibuprofen and finally, last night I felt great! So great that I was excited to get back to Bible Study after having a week off from MEA. Amaya and I were eating supper (Steve had grad school) and I told her we were going to Bible Study tonight... here's our conversation...

Me: "Amaya, after supper we're going to go to Bible Study."

Amaya: "No!"

Me: "Don't you want to play with your friends?"

Amaya: "I want to play with you!"

Me: "How about we play tomorrow?"

Amaya: "I haven't played with you in forever! I want a night off!"

Me: (suppressing laughter) "Okay, sweetie... we'll play tonight."

Amaya: "We can study the Bible at home too!"

And so... we took a "night off" just to play and I'm glad we did! (And we studied the Bible a little bit too!)

Sekapp's Apple Orchard

Welcome to Sekapp's Apple Orchard! We haven't come here together as a family, but maybe I came here as I kiddo, I just can't quite remember. Anyway,this year we put this on our list of things to do every fall because it was a lot of fun and we got to sample some mighty tasty apples!

Amaya tried several different kinds, but overall Honeycrisp is still her favorite!


Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!

They had a small hay bale maze. Nothing quite as exciting as the corn maze at Tweite's Pumpkin Patch, but it was still fun.

Nearing the end!

Gorgeous Apples... next year we may pick our own!

Another great shot of Steve and Amaya.

We ended up getting 10 pounds of Honeycrisp apples and we've enjoyed each and every one!

How to Make a Leaf Pile

1. Rake the leaves in a big pile.

2. Put more leaves on top of the pile.


3. Throw some leaves up in the air to make the pile soft and fluffly.


4. Test it Out! Get running start and jump in the pile!

5. Bury yourself in the leaves!