Thankful Thursday‘s-Plus a Prayer Request

I have gotten away from doing these and the past few weeks have proven to me just how much I truly have to be thankful for. Tomorrow is not promised, health is not promised, and perfection is for sure not promised. With that said I can say that I am oh so very thankful for my amazing life with a healthy and happy child, spouse, parents, and siblings.


The area we live in is a pretty close net place. Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating since pretty much everyone knows everyone and anything that happens pretty quickly becomes public knowledge. But there are for sure some pretty amazing things about this area as well. The most amazing to me seems to be that in times of need all the communities in the area rally around one another. I have seen this first hand over the past week.

With no warning, other than flu-like symptoms, a little boy just 12 year old in our area was recently diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer. In addition, the cancer was tagged as being very rare, having almost never been seen in children. That’s right a healthy active little boy, is now it in the toughest battle, the battle for his life. As a parent this is your nightmare coming true, you should never have to face the big “C” word with your kids. But this is the hand that was dealt to this family. Ayden for sure doesn’t know me and I really don’t know if his parents remember me but I do remember him as a toddler going to church with him. I was always impressed with his parents they appeared to be the most caring and committed parents. The kind of parents I had and the kind of parent I wanted to be. What I have seen through this is these parents are giving this to God and fighting with all they have got.

Over the past week I have watched people from all over our area come together to try and help this family. There has been a Porch Light Prayer on Facebook set up, that has touched nearly every country. A Give Forward Fund has been established to help offset the astronomical amount of medical bills this family is facing. Bracelets are being made, a benefit dinner is planned, a local photographer is doing a shot for Ayden. And above all else more and more people are offering their prayers to this family. Because prayer is a powerful powerful thing.

So today I am so thankful for health and I am very thankful to live right where I do. I ask that if you have a moment to please say a prayer for Ayden and his family. Every single prayer helps!!!

If you are interested in joining the Porch Light Prayer (for Ayden)- Click HERE

If you have it in your heart to help this family financially (every penny helps) - Click HERE

Again please just pray and pray some more.


Charlot supporting Ayden in her Purple and Green!



Thankful Thursday's....Oh RaRa

                                     

Oh I am so very very thankful this red headed lady came into my life many many moons ago!!! RaRa as Charlot has named her is the hubs baby sister and someone I consider to be one of my best friends. Tomorrow the hubs is helping her move across this great state to start the next journey in her life. She starts her new job as a high school Ag teacher on July 1st. I want her to know I will miss her as my constant como lunch date, and weekends at home but I know she is going off to do amazing things! Also seriously she is only a bit over 2 hours away so a call for anything and this lady and little lady are across the state n no time flat!!! Thank you for being an amazing sister, SIL, aunt and most importantly friend! Be ready for this troop to head to your house soon!

Thankful Thursday’s…For Everyone Being Ok

A bit of a storm hit out small little town earlier this week…ok so it wasn’t just a bit of a storm it was a very scary storm. One that you probably won’t hear about on any news station but it did happen.


The hubs said to me as we were going to bed Tuesday night “there’s some pretty ugly weather out there on the radar (he’s a farmer watching the weather is his life), set your alarm for around 1 a.m. so I can check it again.” My response “sure hun I’d love to be woke up in the middle of the night to wake you up!” Ha said no one ever! Anyway I did what he asked and we both woke up for him to check the weather. He looked and thought we still had a little while, back to sleep I go! Well about a half an hour later I feel him shoving me out to bed to take cover.

At this point it looked like a laser light show outside, our windows were rattling, I heard a pretty big crash outside our window. We needed to get somewhere safe.

After the storm passed we went back to sleep, and morning came a bit too quickly. I headed out to see if we had any damage. Not too much lots of limbs down, a missing gutter, Charlot’s swing was crushed, Charlot’s play set was pinned against the garage by a limb. I thought we really go off pretty easy. Come to find out we did many other homes had much more damage.

The hubs got up we cleaned up what we could before work, Charlot came outside she was crushed because her stuff was ruined. As I was taking her to daycare we saw some other kids cleaning up their toys as well. I said “See Charlot other kids had their toys messed up by the storm too.” Serious as the world she say “Yea mom but why my stuff, it ALWAYS happens to MY STUFF.”

Leave it to my kid!

So this Thankful Thursday I am so thankful that everyone is ok and that I live in the small town I do. I have seen and heard about so many people helping each other clean up after this lovely little storm!

Thankful Thursday’s…for Father’s and Daughters

I have always had a close relationship with my dad one that I could never and would never replace. And I never really realized how a relationship between a dad and his daughter could form almost instantly but watching my hubs and Charlot I see it all the time. Pretty much from the moment they told us we had just had a little girl she had him wrapped around her finger. I just love to watch their interactions, I love when she lights up when he walks in the room or the way she wants to do so much just like him. These are a few of my favorite daddy/daughter quotes.

I sent this picture to my dad and told him this reminded me of him teaching me to drive

“Daddy you have loved me since I was born, but I have loved you my whole life”

“I never knew how much I loved your daddy until I saw how much he loved you”

“You’ll be her first kiss, Her first love, Her first friend, Forever she will be your little girl.”

So today I am taking an extra special moment to say how thankful I am for the relationship between my dad and I and my daughter and her dad also the special relationship between my daughter and my dad. I will always cherish the special moments. These pictures describe a few.

Thankful Thursday...Prayer Request

       

I am so very thankful that I have a job that allows me to take time off when I need especially when it comes to time with my family. Yesterday I took a day off to chauffeur my papa to see my grandma in the hospital. He used to say when he drove me everywhere that he was driving Ms. Daisy, I told him yesterday the roles had reversed. It really was a simple thing for me to do but I know it meant the world to him. And I seriously couldn't think of any place else I would have rather been than with him. I got to hear all his stories, and hear him tell me how much he love my grandma. And if I heard him say once I heard it twenty times that family was so important and that he was pretty lucky to have a family he was so proud of. So this Thursday I am very thankful for ease of getting time off and spending the time with my papa. 

Now it isn't real often that I ask for anything on my blog, that isn't really why I started it. I normally want to share recipes and our stories, but today I do have a request. If you have an extra minute tonight I would ask that you say a small prayer for my grandma. As tomorrow she is having heart surgery, a pretty routine one but still heart surgery. 

My grandma is one of the classiest, kindest, most creative women I know. And of I had the patience that she has in her little finger I would have more than I could ever need. She is a source of calm and strength in my life and I can only hope to be half the woman she is. Again I ask that you say a little pray for my grandma Kathryn. Thank you. 

Thankful Thursday's..

So due to the overwhelming amount of posts on Facebook telling me it was Natioal Siblings Day I decided to jump on the bandwagon!

I truly am thankful for my brother he is such a blessing in my life I am not real sure what I'd do without him. But not only am I thankful for him today I am so very thankful for all memories I have from us growing up together...here are just a few 

On the paper route we shared (we were the definition of cool) we had a game to see how many political signs we could hit in the yards.

Washing sheep together at the state fair with zero water pressure, then getting yelled at by dad for the lambs not being clean.

You ditching your truck multiple times with me in it. 

Nearly wrecking my truck in our parents drive way.

Going to the jackpot show in Higginsville by ourselves because we made dad mad, woops

Three words Cards Kathryn Cards (sorry this is totally inside, story another day)

Walking pigs for hours on end. Oh wait we still do that.

I know I was super annoying at times and I still am, but I have never looked up to someone quite like I look up to you...one final memory...

The night they announced you would be serving as the 1999-2000 State FFA officer for area 6 and they put the duct tape on your jacket to read Association. I had never wanted to be more like you than I did on that moment.

Love you big bro!

Now these two are not my blood siblings but they have been in my life for so long I can't imagine life with out them. There have been ups, downs, cheers and tears but through it all I am very glad that when I married your brother you became my sisters.

Don't think I won't go Down memory lane with you two as well...

Mer swimming through corn

Rach sharing a bed in Des Moines

The crazy after thanksgiving shopping trip

Mer when does oil boil

Rach prom dress shopping, heaven help me

Ther are many more but I'll save those for later as well. I am very proud to have you in my life and I pray you feel the same! 

Love you two

Thankful Thursday’s…

Why can I not get a decent image of both of them!

I am incredibly thankful I married the man I did he is funny, smart, sweet and annoyingly honest to me all the time! But I didn’t really realize what an amazing man I married until he became a father. I have a quote on a canvas in Charlot’s room that describes this to a tee! “I never knew how much I loved your daddy until I saw how much he loved you.” The hubs would walk on water and walk through fire if he knew that’s Charlot or I needed him to.

Last weekend in true hubs form he came up with the plan to go “camping” with Charlot. Camping in her room to be exact. So I am thinking ok we will get out some sleeping bags and play in her room until she falls asleep. Oh no that isn’t what the hubs planned, he instructed me to fix something with hotdogs for dinner and have supplies for S’more’s, so I did what any good momma does. I fixed pigs in a blanket and Charlot and I made the S’more’s in the oven while the hubs prepared the camp site.

We walked in to a tent (a tarp covering most her room), blankets, pillows, books, and a lantern to round it all out. It was a great night playing in the tent, the sleeping on the floor part well I think I am still paying for that!

I have no words for this picture, except I love it!

She is totally my daughter! The love of S'more's is officially passed down!!

So thank you hubs for being you and for loving me!

Thankful Thursday’s…

I received the above picture of Charlot from the hubs the other night. She is basically overseeing all the pigs and directing her father on what to do. They were spending some quality time in the pig barn, picking out her pigs for the summer.


I am so thankful that I have this picture, not just for the cutie in it. But for the fact that her dad and I are able to raise her in the area we grew up so that having livestock with our families isn’t a dream it is a reality. Good or bad it is the amazing dream I had as a young adult and it is now my reality. I am so thankful she will grow up knowing what the joys and sorrows associated with being in this industry. That she will know what it is like to clean a barn, care for sick animals, and she will realize the pork chop on her plate is something she and many others worked very very hard for.

I couldn’t be more thankful to share the love of showing livestock with her. To raise her in 4-H and to watch her grow into FFA those are the small things I am so thankful for. Earlier this week we celebrated National Agriculture Day, I couldn’t be more thankful to celebrate the industry I love and I am raising my child to love!