God Knows Our Needs

Dearest Friends, it has been a rough few days.

I do not know how many of you know this but for about five months now I have been having female issues. I chalked it up to having a new baby, being overweight and unhealthy, and just stress. So I did not go to the doctor or tell them about it. Yesterday morning, it all hit the fan. The agonizing pain I was experiencing sent me racing to the doctor. When I called the doctor they said that I needed to come straight in (exact words were- "Jodi, this is an emergency. No dilly-dallying!) and that I would most likely be heading to the hospital for an emergency hysterectomy. Friends, I am 24 yo!! An emergency hysterectomy?!? To say I was hysterical would be an understatement!! In my mind, I just kept saying... "God I'm only 24. My family is not yet finished! Lord please, WHY ME?!?"

How selfish can one truly be?!? As I sat in the waiting room, this young girl came out crying. She looked at her husband and said, "It's ectopic. I am headed to have surgery." My heart just broke for her. She then turned to me and said, "We just moved here, we have no family or friends around, this is our first child, and we have no insurance!" Oh sweet sister. My heart yearned for her. How can I be so selfish?!? I have two healthy beautiful boys and this sweet young lady was yearning for one child. The Lord taught me a lesson. A lesson on being content, being grateful, and trusting that he knows what I need.

I did not end up having a hysterectomy but I did have to have a little outpatient surgery. It was hard. I was in pain for a couple of days, but once again God provided and knew my needs.

Today has been a hard day for my mom. She is just heading back to work this week after her surgery. She is still in a lot of pain. They are having their next round of lay-offs and some very near and dear people in her heart were cut loose. She is the person that takes care of the computers so she has to go in and take care of things as they leave for the last time. These people have been at the company forever! I have grown up knowing them. They are part of our family. It's really hard to see someone you care about lose their job, knowing how hard times are right now.

As I sit here thinking about this just the littlest thing popped into my head. My husband and I have been working diligently at getting our garden together at the family farm. It has been hot and dry around here. We were out the other night looking things over. The meteorologist kept saying it was going to ran and yet none came. As we left, I prayed in my heart, "Lord if it doesn't rain, we're going to end up losing everything. Lord, money is tight. We are depending on this food to help lower our grocery costs. Lord, I cry out- bring on the rain!" Do you know what it has done the past two days? RAINED! God knows our needs.

As I prayed "Lord bring on the rain". I think about how the rains of life come and toss us around, but you know what? Our sweet and almighty savior knows are needs and will always deliver us. It is just up to us to hold tight to him and have faith.

Half-Way Through...

So we are half-way through our "get back on the horse" day and things are just not turning out as they should.

Now let me tell you, this is hard to put into print, especially since so much of my family and friends read this blog...I am not perfect or close to being...

I have failed in my goals. Today just has not turned out... I have gotten nothing but two loads of laundry folded, a load in the washer, the dishwasher ran, emptied, and ran again, and a lot of anger on my part.

I feel horrible. I just should not be this frustrated with my kids, but I am. How am I going to home school? Am I going to fail? I can't stand failing!!

How the day has unfolded...
9 A- get started with my day, feeling semi-productive

10A- Dylan dumps a big of popcorn on the baby's head. I am rushing to clean it up before Lincoln chokes. While I am cleaning it, Dylan decides he's not getting enough attention and starts banging his head on the ceramic tile floor. On about the fifth time of my saying, "Dylan please stop, Mama will be done soon." He bashes his nose... Blood is pouring at this point. He is screaming, the baby is in the popcorn that I dropped again as I am running to get the blood to stop oozzing....Two hours later his nose is no longer running like a faucet.

12P- I make lunch and set Dylan down to eat. He has not been eating good for weeks and I know it is a phase but my husband is starting to get worried and upset. So I force him to eat. Almost done he decides to spit a mouth full of spaghetti at me. Here's where it gets the ugliest. I have never wanted to discipline a child out of anger like I did at that moment. My blood was hot!! I did not beat him, but I was not very kind at all either.

The rest of the afternoon he just picked on people and now he is just in bed. Why question is... When does a good intentioned day go bad? Is it too late to start fresh when the boys get up from nap time? Why do I treat my child like an adult when I am not adult enough to not act like a child? Will I ever get my act together and be the mother that the Almighty has called me to be? Will I ever be good enough? Please my wise older mothers who read this, give me something... So as I finish this, I have decided to go and ask God for forgiveness. Then I am going to read a little bit and get some things picked up for this mornings fiasco. When the boys wake up, I am going to grab them in big hugs and begin my plan for today all over again. Because let it be said, that with my Sweet Jesus' help, we will make better memories than this morning. Now go hug your babies and make sweet memories...

Back in The Swing of Things

Today I am thankful that I can stay home with my boys and I am able to get back in the swing of things. As I said yesterday, I am very bad about getting overwhelmed and then letting things fall apart while I'm focused on something else. So I am using today, the first official day of summer break, to get things back in order around here. I just can never imagine how a working mother can keep everything together. I really do give her a pat on the back. BUT, that just isn't for me. While I am a SAH mom, I still feel that I cannot get everything done. I think about the blog that Laura wrote about her super-mom cape. Just how true is that? Why do we as moms feel we must be perfect in everything?

So today is being used to spend time cleaning, running errands, and most importantly dancing to silly music in the living room with my babies and planting kisses on their cheeks. And I am truly thankful that I can be home to make sure days like this are set aside to get back to the important things of life.

Balance and a Menu Plan

So there are three different things that I struggle with 1) self-discipline, 2) patience, and 3) balance.

As you can tell, I keep popping on here and saying "don't worry, I've been busy but I'm back". Then something happens and I cannot find the balance. I started my Shaklee business and all my attention was thrown into Shaklee. When I first started blogging, all my energy was thrown into blogging. I am not very good at balancing multiple things and interests. So here is my whole-hearted attempt to begin balancing. To begin balancing, I am going to make a list of priorities and then go from there. I will begin with the most important and move down the list.

1. My relationship with God
2. My relationship with my husband
3. My kids
4. Making my home, family, and self healthy through exercise and nutrition
5. My family
6. My friends
7. Becoming Debt Free
8. My Shaklee business
9. Gardening, Cleaning, and Cooking organically and frugally while being healthy
10. Blogging- as a venting and information means

So as you can tell blogging is at the bottom of the list but it's in my top ten. So I will be doing my best to put a good healthy balance to all.

So now getting to my menu plan. Once again this week is going to be crazy. I am hoping that my friend Toni can come in from Indy and spend the weekend with us. So with that comes cleaning the house and preparing a menu that will feed multiple people. So I will be home cleaning and hopefully cooking and getting back on track with money and my home-making skills. So here goes the menu...

Monday: Hamburgers with Oven fries

Tuesday: Bourban Chicken with Rice

Wednesday: Church

Thursday: Pork with carrots and green beans

Friday: Sloppy Joes with Oven fries

Saturday: Chicken enchiladas with spanish rice, tortilla chips, and salsa

Sunday: Roast with potatoes and carrots

So there you have it... I nice little menu plan and a plan to get back on track beginning this week. How about you? Are you trying to regain momentum in your home? Are you trying to regain balance in your life and family? Have any tips and ideas? Leave comments- I would love to hear! For more menu plans head on over to Organized Junkie.

My Dream and Shaklizing

*For all of those who are wondering, my mom is doing fine. She is feeling much better since her surgery.*



So since I have begun learning to sell Shaklee, I have really been thinking about my dream. They want to you to look ahead and see what you are working towards. I have big dreams. So here are the basics of them in the next 20- 25 years:

* I want to live on a paid for farm.


* I want to have begun breeding horses.


* I want to have a ranch hand to help me.


* I want to be totally debt free with my kids have gone through college or on their ways.


* I want to have enough land to build houses for my kids and their families to live on the family farm.



I really hope that beginning the Shaklee business will help achieve those dreams and make them a reality. So with that said, I have been Shaklizing my house. It's hard to sell healthy home cleaners and health products when my house is disgusting. So I have been cleaning and putting Shaklee products out.



So now to the new product I love: Shaklee Basic-G.

It is now known that household cleaners are the cause of 75% of respiratory problems. Shaklee's cleaning products are non-toxic and are easy to use. They are also a great economical product. A 16 oz bottle of concentrate makes more than 5000 bottles of windex! Incredible, isn't it? I love the fact that I can hand my 3 yo this cleaner and let him help without being worried about how it will affect him. These are truly awesome cleaning products! If anyone is interested in doing a review on their blog about Shaklee cleaning products just contact me and I would love to send you a sample to try out! For more Things I Love Thursday head on over to Diaper Diaries.

I'm doing so bad....

at this blogging thing lately. I have had a lot on my mind and a lot going on. This week is going to be crazy! Here's a quick little look:

Monday: I am here at my parents waiting on a package for my dad. I also bought a ton of flowers to plant for my mom (more on that later). So I will be planting flowers and waiting for a package that is important to my daddy so its important to me! After I get done waiting on the package or doing the flowers whichever comes last, I will be heading out to the garden to put the rest of it out and weed. I am going to be tired!!

Dinner tonight: Grilled chicken sandwiches, hotdogs, or hamburgers with green beans and oven fries.

Tuesday: In the morning I am going to be doing whatever I can to get the house picked up a little then in the afternoon and evening I am going to be at the hospital with my dad waiting on my Mama to come out of surgery.

Dinner: Tacos

Wednesday: In the morning I am once again going to be trying to get my house in order and then in the afternoon and evening I am going to be taking care of my Mama (she doesn't want me to, but I am giving back for all those years that she gave :)) . My anniversary is today!

Dinner: Pancakes and Sausage

Thursday: School in the morning, cleaning and meetings in the afternoon.

Dinner: Pasta and sauce

Friday: Oh sweet Friday: I am going to be cleaning and getting my house presentable. I will probably have afternoon meetings with Donna and Sandy.

Dinner: Meatloaf with baked potatoes and carrots

Saturday: Doing something for my anniversary! I refuse to cook or clean!

Sunday: Church and for meal time, something in the crockpot!

So there you have it! A busy week. Head on over to organized junkie for more meal plans. The reason I am doing a lot of cleaning and trying to make my house presentable is because I have started a Health and Wellness business. I am really excited but when people come to meet at my house and we are discussing home care products and my house is trashed- that does not send a great advertising message! So here is my quick advertisement... Please contact me if I could at all tell you about the products!

Friends, do you know why a healthy home and family are so important to me? My family is my reason. Do you have a reason for a healthy home and family? Do you know how easy it is to get your family on the road to better health? Do you know how easy it is to make your home a more healthy environment? I invite you to come and hear or ask me about my story - how Shaklee has transformed my life already. I am excited to share it with you. I hope that you will head over to Shaklee.net/ajdavis and look at the wonderful products that can help achieve a healthier life, family, and home.