Ramblings.....

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted something or anything with substance. I have been SO crazy busy and tired lately.

I have discovered that ME + working FULL time = TIRED, CRABBY, and FORGETFUL

*note to self, quit working!.......yeah right!

You may wonder, why on earth am I working full time? Because I can (it is a blessing), and because my wonderful hubby has been layed off since the start of December. So the good news, it has only been temporary. Thank you Jesus!!! Ken is back to work this week, and has a few weeks of work lined up, so I get to take it easy again:)

I miss being home with my little fellas. I miss having a memory. I miss cooking dinner every night for my hard working husband. I miss sleeping. I miss having a clean house. Ahhhhhh.......

You know it's bad when you realize that you forgot when you last showered!!!!! Or what day of the week of the month of the year it is!!!! Or the last time you slept more than 3 hours at a time!!!! Yikes, I must look CRAZY to everyone around me:)

Anyways, enough with the pity party. I am getting my schedule back and I am REALLY looking forward to it. Even though the last month and a half has been a blur, it has been a HUGE blessing, and God is reminding me of His faithfulness to us and our family. HE is awesome.

You see, if this would have happened to us at any other time up to this point, we would have been....not prepared to say the least. God has blessed me with a good paying job and the ability to pick up more hours, even when it seemed as though there were no hours to get. God has also blessed our finances in making them stretch further than we thought possible. Since we have started our Total Money Makeover, God has really shown Himself to us. We finally started honoring Him in that area of our marriage and lives, and I have imagined, a time or two, Him saying to us, "Can you see NOW the plans I have had for you, the plans to prosper you, the plans I have had all along.... I was just waiting for you to let ME in....I was waiting for you to say 'enough of my way, let's do this God's way'....just know, there is more to come.....".

So instead of getting behind in bills, and picking and choosing what to pay this month, which is what would have happened in the past if one of us was out of work, we have been able to pay above and beyond our monthly bills. We still have an emergency fund, we are still attacking debt, and we are still learning how to let God lead us. I feel beyond blessed:)

I can't tell enough people how freeing this whole money makeover process is. We have started taking the Financial Peace University class too, which is also offered by Dave Ramsey. It is a 13 week course that covers in more detail, the biblical based steps to achieving financial peace and honoring God with you finances. So far, so good:) I highly recommend both of his books to anyone who is tired of being a slave to debt.

I have so much more to fill people in on, but I will save it for a later post. This one got a little longer than I expected.

Oh, and props to Miss for telling me about her Total Money Makeover and recommending the book!!!!! Thanks for the life changing advice!

Prayer Request

-----UPDATE-----

I am sorry this is so late, but here is the scoop. She went home over the weekend. She IS doing better. High dose of steriods for a while. No more breathing problems. Still having hives. Hoping it is hormone related (since just having a baby) and will just go away when things go back to normal.

Thanks to ALL of you who were praying for her!! She is very thankful and happy to home:)

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Please pray for my really good friend Amanda. She keeps having some kind of allergic reaction to something and is in the hospital now. They don't know what is causing this. To make things even harder for her, she has a sweet little 3 week old baby at home that needs a healthy mama.

Please storm the gaits of Heaven for a quick recovery for her and her family.

I Just Have To Post This!

So our dear and wonderful friends Doug and Amanda and their brand new Christmas blessing, Sally Grace, came over after church on Sunday for lunch. So of course there was a LOT of baby holding going on!!! I think that Jaden may be in love!!! He was SO good to her and ever so gentle:) Eli did well with her too, although he was not interested in holding her!

Sally sleeping on Jaden

Jaden giving kisses to the princess

Here is Sally with her mommy:) Cute!

It was SOOO fun having a little baby in the house again, especially a little girl!

My Baby

Three years ago today I lay in the hospital imagining what he would look like. What he would smell like, sound like, and feel like. If he would have hair or if he would have rolls for me to pinch. Three years ago today I wondered if it was possible to love another babe like I had loved my first. I wondered if I could do it. If I could be a loving mommy to another little boy. If he would steal my heart like his older brother had.

Well, three years ago today, my heart was stolen all over again. A precious little babe, perfect in every way, all 7 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches of him. I loved him before I ever knew him, but that love exploded on December 27, 2005 at 10:31pm when I held in my arms my handsome adorable Elijah Jake.

And today, three years later, I love him more than I ever have. And I know that one or three or even ten years from now, I will love him, in that very moment, more than I ever have.

I love you baby boy. More than you could possible know. Because you will ALWAYS be My Baby!

Short and Sweet

it will be......
God is good, really REALLY good. He continues to encourage our Total Money Makeover with blessing after blessing. The kids are good, the hubby is good, I am better now that I have antibiotics in my system:) I haven't posted for a while because I have been SO busy, as usual this time of year! Ken is layed off from construction for a while, but God continues to provide. All is well in the Carlson world:) Except I still have not gotten Christmas cards out yet!!! Maybe you all will have them by New Years! Oh and I finally started writing my anger letter that my counselor assigned me. It feels BEYOND good to vent sometimes:) And I am continuing to read this great book called Trapped In The Mirror which is opening my eyes to some really interesting things.

I guess it isn't exactly short and sweet!

Blessings to everyone:)

This is HUGE!!!

This is big people. Really really big! You have to go to MCKMAMA's blog and check out this post.

You can also check it out by clicking on the Rebel for A Cause icon on the right column of my blog!

Help the cause and maybe win big while doing it!!!!!

The Truth

It speaks for itself. You HAVE to watch the WHOLE thing!!!!