Dandelions, sticks and mud....

I went on a nature walk with around 30 kids this morning.  It was supposed to be my job to keep the children on the trail and make sure the kids could find special items along the way and put them into their paper sacks. All the children were excited to go on this adventure!  I, on the other hand, couldn’t quite figure out why so many would be so happy to walk along a SIDEWALK and find things. These children were wonderful; they looked “outside the box” or the sidewalk to find their gems of nature.  One child took my hand and led me to a tree with leaves on it that even I thought were huge. We folded it and put it in his bag.  Another child was excited to see some bark had fallen off the tree. She rubbed her fingers along the rough spots and then handed it to me to feel too.  As I felt the bark she pointed out to me all the colors on it.  It didn’t take me to long before I wished I had a bag of my own.  The children found beauty in everything.  Things that I look beyond everyday!  Dandelions, sticks, grass, rocks, mud and the list could go on forever. Infact everything to them, had a perfect beauty.  Those children will never know that it was my lesson this morning. It was my job to make sure they found special items, but they didn’t need any help, I did! I will never see the world as I had before.  I love working with children, they bring you a little closer to the Lord everyday!

“Blessed are pure in heart, for they will see God.” – Matthew 5:8

This is for my friend who ALWAYS puts others first….

I had a friend ask me to write another blog…I was surprised, but I thought about this friend and what I could write to help her along, here is what I came up with.

2 Chronicles 15:7

But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

I have always admired those who could run long distances.  Some people just seemed to have the ability to do so.  I had REALLY admired those who could do a marathon.  It REALLY sounds cool to me when someone says “Oh, I ran a marathon just last week and beat my time from last year”. Girls would just say that like it was no big deal. Well, I wanted to be that person too!  So, I started running. 

Man, at first I couldn’t even run a mile. NOT ONE MILE!!! I couldn’t stand to listen to myself breath so I turned up the ipod. I couldn’t get out of my mind how much farther I HAD to go.  It was a struggle to get there.  Keep in mind before this I had NO running experience at all.  I got some e-mails and ran some with a group from the Y. Well, now after much running and some more running I have trained myself to run the half marathon in Norfolk on June 18. Now, I’m no racer, but I know I can make it that far and that was my challenge in the beginning.  The funny thing is, I LOVE running now. I don’t listen to any music, I just run.  That one mile that was so hard to do in the beginning is easier now and I can go so much farther.

I have met up with some REAL racers for some long distances runs.  It just takes a few minutes and this group is nowhere in sight! I’m left there on my own to figure out the path we had previously sketched out in our minds. I kept up my rather slow pace, enjoying the quite neighborhood. About 20 minutes later I heard “the fast group” coming from behind me and was wondering how this happened. I ran a little faster, the feeling of “the fast group” BEHIND me was great! For that second, I felt like a fast runner and it was great for that second…then they past me! After they were ahead of me, someone shouted back to me that they had actually took the wrong path. I just kept on running and at this point in my training even walking a little, but I finished.  My two legs took me the same distance as “the fast group” just so much slower. I enjoyed telling people later that day for a little while I was ahead. 

So, to my friend who doesn’t need advice but will get it anyway from me. It’s ok to put other first; in fact it is the way God intended. They may even need you to show them the right path!

Give thanks to the LORD

First of all I would like to say thanks for reading this. I’m not much of a writer (or speller for that matter), but I do have this vibe to write every now and then, so I thought I’d try it. After all, the Lord is my strength where I am weak, right!!!

1 Chronicles 16:8

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

I am feeling a little OVER blessed today. Do you ever have those days too? Thank you Lord for our wonderful family, friends and all that you have given us today and everyday!

Let me tell you a little bit about our family.  Russ and I got married in August of 2004, right after we both graduated from Wayne State College. 

It wasn’t long after that that we found out we were pregnant with our first-born. William (name coming from my madden name and Russ’s middle name was born in early January 2006 just missing our tax break! We were excited to have him, although I was a little nervous he was an easy (and is) child to take of.  In fact I began wondering soon after why some women didn’t want more than just one because it was just so much fun taking care of him.  Wasn’t long after that thought that I became pregnant with our second child.  Levi (this was the name of all my boy dolls growing up) was born in May of 2007.  The boys are now BFF’s and I love that they can play (and fight) so well together! I was still hoping for that girl and so we decided to try one more time.  That pregnancy didn’t go so well and we had a stillbirth in the 20^th week. Ivan James (this was the name Russ had picked out within the first couple weeks of pregnancy, James was his Grandpas name and just seemed fitting now that Ivan was with his great grandpa). It was meant to be. This took place March of 2009.  Trying to fill my heartbreak we got pregnant once more and had our baby girl Faith Kathleen in January 2010. Her first name needs no explanation and her middle is my mothers first. I remember my mother-in law saying to me after she was born…Heather, you gave birth twice in one year!  All I can say is… I guess we have to go out with a bang right!??

While I was pregnant with Faith Russ and I had decided to purchase a lot and build our dream home. I can remember while we were in college and we filled out some book that Oprah had said if you planned on getting married you should read this together…..so I made Russ sit down and do it with me once.  Anyway, in this book it had asked what your future goals were and one of Russ’s was to own a house on lake before he was 30. Well, we moved in at the end of October and Russ turned 30 in May. I’m not sure why everyone thinks building a house together is a death to your marriage, Russ and I enjoyed picking things out and working together to create a place for our family to grow and build memories.  My brother-in-law worked as our contractor and did a fabulous job. He did a great job of playing the role of “finding a middle” . He also was wonderful at being so kind with my wild imagination!!!  I remember bringing him magazine spreads and making up ways he had never heard of doing things.  Really though, the house looks beyond our wildest dreams! It sort of has a rustic feel to it!

Russ works at a small door company in town. He works very hard and hardly ever takes vacation so when he does take an afternoon off I get excited to spend that time with him.  This was his first job out of college and he his fantastic at what he does. Without all his hard work we would not have the many blessing we have today!  God works though him in many ways to help us along everyday!

I am mainly a stay at home mom.  I like to spend my time with the kids and learn form them the way life should be enjoyed.    I like to help out at a fitness centers daycare a couple times a week and enjoy teaching swim lessons in the winter months. But mainly my heart was designed to be a mother and just absorb the love children have in their hearts.

Yes, we are truly overwhelmed with blessings!