Back in Black!

Ok so maybe I am just back in a black t-shirt, but none the less I am back in black!

Lots of new around the home front... Cannot wait to share but right now is just not the time.

I'm sorry that I disappeared. I know I was rude to hide... I was rude to not tell you... One day I hope I can disclose just what I was going through but right now isn't the time either.

This is next weekend I am going to be heading to Columbus with a group of girlfriends. I am super excited. I love Women of Faith. I love the fellowship and the praise and the worship and the meeting of Jesus and living for him.

Last year, Steven Curtis Chapman was there. It was hard to listen to him. They had just lost Maria less than a year before and his heart and story were so touching. It was great.

I'm not real sure about this line-up this year but a couple things that I do know...

1. My friend Nancy and I will be driving and NOT listening to Veggie Tales.
3. I will not only be eating one but FOUR meals without grimy, cute little fingers touching all over it.
4. My food will most probably be hot!
5. I will be able to use the bathroom without little fingers running between the bottom of the door and the top of the carpet, all the while saying "Mama, whatcha doing?"
6. Unless there are some unforeseen problems, I will only have to wake up and dress myself!

I am sure that there are many more but those are enough to make my jump up and down and shout for joy! What about you? What are some of your favorite things to do when you get away for some Mama Time? Wanna see some more things people love? Here you go!

Random Thoughts About Infertility/Miscarriage/Wanting a Large Family

Where have I been you might ask... Well go ahead and ask!

I have been in a horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad attitude of late. I have been hiding. I barely want to be around myself so therefore, I conclude that others probably don't want to listen to me either. But who knows, maybe there is someone who loves a negative, irritated friend? If that's you, please forgive my absence! :)

Anyway, just a quick disclaimer. If you are looking for a light-hearted, go-lucky post, this is not the one today. Stop reading and come back with the RSS feeder indicates I have written a new post..

As many of you know, I recently had my 7th miscarriage. Now please don't start the "oh my, how terrible thoughts." I know this sounds cold, but I am getting used to it. Doesn't that sound cold and horrible?

Well here are some of my random thoughts about it:

• I know that God can do amazing things.. Just take a look at two of my best friends, Courtney and Misty. It has been incredible to see the Lord work and now they are both pregnant. Just looking at them I should know He can make it happen.
• I was talking to my friend Tanya a couple of nights ago and she gave me a new prespective. It sounds a little morbid and wacked but it gives me a little comfort. The Lord has given me the special job of being a vessel to get seven precious babies straight to Him. They are in the best hands of all.
• I keep thinking if I could just be pregnant one more time and relish in being pregnant, I would never ask for anything. As I was sitting here thinking about that, I began to think about how I should be relishing and delighting in Lincoln and Dylan because they could be my last. Why am I wasting the precious seasons of the boy's lives wishing for another? Pretty messed up Jodi, pretty messed up.
• If  two boys is the number for our family, I will do the best by them I can.
• One day, after reciting and telling myself all these things, I will believe them whole heartedly and not question the Lord's plan for my family. One day I pray that my will lines up with His. Until then, I will just fake it until I make it.

"There is hope for your future" declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:17

A Rant on Food

Ok... As you read this, please keep in mind that I am NOT losing my mind, I am just a bit overwhelmed with life and please, please, please don't throw tomatoes at me or stop reading my blog. PLEASE. Also, if you haven't had a chance, take a look and please take part in my 300th giveaway!

Here I go... I am very interested in all the things and opinions on food and nutrition. I have really taken to the whole foods, traditional foods, Weston A. Price, Nourishing Traditions type philosophy about food.

There are so many awesome resources and ideas and blogs out there that deal with foods. Now I have got to be honest, I am struggling when it comes to whole foods the whole time.

I get very overwhelmed if I am busy that morning, look up at the clock and it is lunch time. What am I going to feed my kids?! I know most of you might be saying.. "Peanut butter and jelly, you idiot!" but it's just not that easy for me. My kids have different food allergies and honestly, I get overwhelmed and I shut down. The "simple" answer is often lost to me.

Therefore, I get into this horrible pattern. It goes a little something like this... (This is the conversation in my mind..) "I have NO idea what I am going to make the kids for lunch. It's already past lunch time!" --> "I live a block from 14 different resteraunts, let's just go grab something quick." --> "Tomorrow will be different. I will figure something out tomorrow." I get home, get the kids sat down and we eat the food. I hate how it tastes, but at this point I am so emotionally, metally and physically tired that I just sit in blessed "I didn't have to make lunch" solitude. After a while, it hits me. It hits me that I took part in the dreaded what it takes out and puts in cycle. I took valuable money OUT of my purse and spent our valuable money on putting IN crappy foods in our body. I then begin mentally beating myself down. Do I not care about my heath, my family's health, my wanting a baby? Do I care more about not cooking and being tired more than my family?

On and on it goes... Let me tell you my friends... I am done. I am done with this  vicious cycle of being stressed and overwhelmed about our foods.

I. am. done.!

 I am not going to stress over wheat gluten or not being able to get pregnant due to eating bread (which I was this morning! stressing, totally stressing like crazy over it!).

I am not going to stress over whether my children can eat a peice of cake made from a box for their birthday.

I am not going to stress over feeding them chicken nuggets from a bag or hot dogs once in  a great while (it's got to better than running to a resteraunt for Pete's sake!).

I am not stressing over this anymore. I am going to continue to put the best foods and most natural, whole and nutritional foods into my family but I am not stressing anymore.

I can tell you one thing... If this keeps up, my husband won't have to worry about what he and the kids are eating, he's going to have to worry about finding another wife because I tell you, I am going to have a stroke from high blood pressure due to worrying about what we are eating!

Ok. I am done. Please don't hate me and please don't send hate mail and hate comments. I hope y'all still love me and my crazy psychoness! :)

More ideas of what works for more sane people than me.. click here!

Gratituesday: Just What I Needed

If you haven't had a chance yet, click here for an awesome giveaway opportunity!
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This past weekend was just what I needed. It was relaxing... It was resting... It was a total gift from God.

Friday night, we went over to a game night at a friend's home. It is not normally something we would do but we decided to go anyway. Early that day when I found out this event was happening, I contacted my cousin and she was available to watch our kids ( I am totally weird about who watches my kids but that is a whole different post!).

I fed the kids and Catie came in. Andy and I snuck (is that a word?) off for a dinner date at Panera Bread. We sat and we chatted. We relaxed. And most important, we got on the same page. It was great!

We then went to the game night. It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed getting to meet knew people and play games. We stayed for a while and then headed home. We came home to an quiet house. The boys were asleep!

After a good night's sleep, we all got up gradually and had a yummy huge breakfast. This was the first Saturday in a while that we didn't have to rush off to basketball. After lounging around, we ran a few errands. We decided to have my aunt and uncle over for dinner to eat, play games and let our boys watch the Kids Choice Awards together. Once again, another great evening!

Sunday morning we went to church and praised and worshipped. It was a great service. After, we went to my Grandmother's for family lunch and then home for Sunday rest time.

That evening we went to see the African Children's Choir at our church. It was a great experience! The boys loved and it, as well as Andy and I! Then we went home and had dinner and began to prepare for the week.

God's love and His attention in the details is just amazing to me. He knew the relaxation and rest that I needed and He provided.

We are truly blessed and grateful around here! Have a story of gratitude or just want to read more -- click here!

menu plan Monday

If you haven't had a chance to check it out.... Click here for an AWESOME giveaway!

I was truly blessed this weekend. I have had one of the best weekends that I can remember. I cannot wait to tell y'all about it Tuesday!

For now I have a menu for you!

Monday: hamburgers, oven fries, fried apples

Tuesday: French toast, sausage

Wednesday: homemade pizza, carrot sticks

Thursday: chicken alfredo, salad

Friday: soup, grilled cheeses

Saturday: chicken and dumplings, green beans

For more great menu ideas click here!

Frugal Friday: Groups

If you haven't checked it out yet, I am having an awesome giveaway in honor of my 300ish post! Take a look and take the time to enter!

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photo : Riley Children's Hospital

Have you found a local women's or mom's group? Do you have a play group?

It took my FOREVER to finally take the plunge into groups. I am ALWAYS worried about joining them. I am always wondering if .... I'll get everything that needed to be done, done. Will my kids behave? Will the other kids treat them nice or like them? I have some quirky parenting ideas and some not so popular interests... Will the other moms like me?

A few weeks ago, my friend, Kelly, invited me to a women's group. I was so nervous, but then decided to go. The night of the women's group, Kelly invited me to her play group the next morning. Once again, I was nervous but still went. I had an awesome time! I even met some great ladies (Take a look at Janelle's blog! She is one of the encouraging women I met! She is an inspiration and EVEN a rock climber! Can you say "wow!"?)  and learned that some of the SAHM struggles I am dealing with really aren't as far out crazy as I had thought.

In the past couple of weeks, the groups I have began taking part in have gradually taken over the trips to Targer that I took out of boredom and just wanting to get out of the house. And guess what! When you don't go to Target, you DON'T SPEND MONEY! Isn't that just a novel idea?!?

Take a look around  your area. Are you in a mom's group or women's group? If not, I encourage you to find one. Most groups are free or minimal cost and they save a ton of money by taking your time away from Target!

For more money saving advice visit Frugal Fridays over at Life as Mom.

Around my 300th!

300 POSTS!

That is just unbelieveable to me... I have written 300 (ish!) posts! AND.... Many of you have read my 300 posts!

I have lots of things to share with you all but I wanted this to be an upbeat and not so serious post, therefore I wanted to throw a few things out there!

I wrote 150 things about myself a while back and TRUST ME, that was something else! Therefore, I will not try to attempt that again!

So instead of writing a list of crazy facts about myself, I am going to give y'all a chance to ask ME the questions and I will answer them. I think this could be a lot of fun! AND I am also doing another giveaway!

I started an Etsy business and I love to crochet dish clothes/wash clothes, so let's give them away!

Here's what they look like:

If you want to check out the details, here is my Etsy page. Take a look! Also, when I contact you to let you know you have won, we can discuss your color choice!

Now I haven't decided how many I am going to give away yet so enter as many chances as you can! (Please leave me a comment with each thing  you do.) Here's how!!

1. 
   
   Write me a comment welcoming me back to the wonderful world of blogging!
2. 
   
   Go to my Etsy site and tell me what you like, what suggestions you have, or just well... Go! :)
3. 
   
   Follow One Blessed Mama.
4. 
   
   Follow me on Facebook.
5. 
   
   Follow me on Twitter.
6. 
   
   Tweet and/or Facebook about the giveaway.
7. 
   
   Post on your blog about it!
8. 
   
   AND here's the biggest one... For every friend you get to come and check out my blog, if they visit and comment (with a comment that they found my site from yours), or do ANY of the above from learning about this from you, you will get an extra entry with every entry they do! (WOW! Does that make sense?!?)

So let me reiterate... I have NO idea how many I am giving away so enter as many times as you can! I know you want to!!!

On your marks... Get set! BLOG!!!

Oh... and you have until TAX DAY to enter... April 15th, right?!? :S