thankful...

today i am thankful for...

a little boy who finds playing in the backyard so much more fun in his rainboots and his diaper...



a beautiful house to call home...

a job that provides for our family's needs and for financial freedom (almost)

for good friends... long walks... inspiring conversations... and double strollers...

my life is full... my heart is happy... god is so good...

having one of those days...

a day when things don't work out the way i had hoped
a day where i have to choose to get out of bed
a day where i have to choose to trust
a day where i have to choose to love
a day where i have to choose to be thankful for the blessings i do have


a day where i have to look to Him and Him alone
                         ... to trust what He has in store for me is greater than I can imagine

a day where i need to rejoice in my trials
                        ... no matter how hard it is... no matter how much i don't want to

a day where i need to choose to be happy for those who things have worked out for
                       ... and not to wallow in my own self-pity or self-doubt

a day where sweatpants and chocolate can't soothe my pain...
                      ... although it does help
a day where my heartbreak and frustration can be more than i want to think about.

Today... 

i will cling to His word
i will love on my husband
i will teach my son something new
i will accept my situation and be grateful for everything i have
i will get dressed and put my make up on
i will clean my house


i will be still and know that HE is God...

just to hear you laugh....

my little buggy has quite the laugh... he has several of them actually...

he has the "growl, laugh, growl" laugh.

the "i am hot stuff" chuckle... i love when he is watching tv by himself and all of the sudden just starts cracking up.  

the "pity" laugh

the "am i happy or sad" laugh/cry

my favorite of all is his full on belly laugh. that undeniable, can't breathe, can't speak, all out chuckle.

your mama loves you my little bug. you will never know the amount of laughter you have brought to our life.

halloween 2010

This is the first year eli had even the slightest interest in a holiday. and by "interest" i mean SCREAMING until i give him more candy...

            my little tiger... rawr...

mama and her boy

meow!

my beautiful boys...

buggy with grammy, auntie, and poppy

trick or treat

please meet:

(from right to left)

joey, ava the cow, chachie with baby girl, scotty, and scotty's mustache

he makes me melt...

the only decent picture of those little stinkers

good friends, good laughs, good candy

my heart is full... my cup runneth over

refurbished faith

life is full of changes:
        -fashion changes
                            -jobs change
                            -homes change
                            -people change
                            -relationships change
                            -our children change   (too quickly)   
                            -churches change
                            - blogs change


change can be good. change can be bad. change can happen in an instant or be slow over time. some people love change others hate it. change can happen so often that it is our only constant. sometimes all we long for is change, other times it can be the thing we dread most. either way change is something that life always throws our way... wanted or not.


the past year change has been my greatest friend and my most hated enemy. i have been on the rollercoaster of my life. (here is a quick recap of the last year or two)


    |2009| *take state nursing boards* eli born * james parents separate / get back together* leave our home church (tears still come when I think aboutt hat one)* start working my first full time job of my life * start new church* james gets hired at said church * james starts full time bachelor program * james starts a new restaurant job.
        |2010|  (all since august) * i quit county * start working per diem at kaiser* james gets full-time job at an amazing church * move into a beautiful house * move to san diego county * james quits yardhouse*


each one of these changes could be a blog post in and of themselves and has an outrageous myriad of emotions associated with each. as you can see 2009 is vastly different from 2010. 2009 we were taken to our knees in every aspect of our life
           |emotionally, physically, financially, relationally |
we prayed in january 2010 that god would show mercy on us reveal his perfect plan for our lives. we felt things couldn't really get worse and that was a relief but we felt like god had so much more in store for us. **fast forward to summer** through a series of events (most details too long & boring to write about) we were brought to New Commnity Church of Vista. after a long interview processjames was hired as there full-time worship leader. we felt immediately connected tot eh staff and congregation. we moved to a beautiful community in vista (ten minutes from the beach) there is no way to explain how amazing this transition has been. for the entire time james & i have been married we have always held down multiple jobs, while balancing full-time school and what sometimes would amount to full-time church responsibilites. add a curly haired boy to the mix and you've got one crazy time in our life. we had just enough time & energy to only give 10% to all of our responsibilites. nothing felt like it was thriving -- everything in our life was suffering. we cannot begin to express our graditude for the amazing changes that have happened over the last few months, and for the life lessons and character- building trials we went through in the year before. 


now... that brings me to my blog. you may have noticed the new name & new look. a consistent, fun blog is something i have wanted to do for a long time. (thank you molly for the beautiful makeover) i want this to not only be documentation of our life but of my recent projects & opinions on funky finds & fashion.


so... now its your turn... follow me on twitter (www{dot}twitter {dot}com/mrsdoezie)  and facebook and now my bloggity blizog...