Making Time 4 Home

Can you believe it...its almost Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving people...How did that happen? Was'nt it the beginning of summer just a few days ago (lol ok it was more than just a few days ago). With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I have seen numerous posts on social media on how thankful people are, and I have put a few on there myself. I actually got on here to write a post on what I am most thankful for and I came up with the usual family, friends, church...and while those are GREAT things to be thankful for, and I truly am, this year I wanted to post something deeper. Something that I may not say I am thankful for on a daily basis. So like any other person, I started looking around to "find" what I was deeply thankful for.  I looked at my home, which we rent and I LOVE but it was not what I wanted to write about. I looked at our vehicle, and while we have two, one is not running at the moment...so nope, can't write about that. Thought about writing about m...

Kids these days are very social media advanced...I still remember having to wait for AOL to dial up on the family computer that was located in the living room of my childhood home. Now, every time I look around I see kids with a cell phone, laptop, or tablet.  My own daughter has a phone, and while she has begged me more than once for a facebook account, she will not have one until she is old enough (read more mature and responsible) to have one. I did give in and let her have Instagram, but only because it gives us the option to link our accounts together...which is an awesome feature (thank you Instagram). it allows me to keep tabs on who wants to follow her, who she is following, and what she and others are writing on her Instagram page. While this does mean that I have a TON more dings on my phone, none of which are for me, it's all good, because it allows me peace of mind. While I have had some who disagree with my choice of letting my daughter have Instagram, for the mos...

The flu bug has hit my family....my daughter got it first, and just as we were celebrating her 1st day of being fever free...it hit me. It hit hard. I had cold chills followed by hot flashes, a sore throat that felt like I was swallowing razor blades every time I attempted to drink or eat. My body ached and I couldn't for the life of me get comfortable, which made it nearly impossible for me to sleep. My family rallied around me and has been amazing in taking care of me. My hubby has made food runs, cleaned the kitchen, and basically has done everything that I have asked of him. He even took her to her Ice Skating lessons so I wouldn't have to get out. I LOVE that man...poor guy has started to have a cough and sneeze issues...please say a prayer he doesn't get this. My Daughter has also been a great help. She has kept the house straight, made me cards, given me hugs right when I needed them the most. mostly she has just been here...making me feel better as much as she...

Confessions of a Fan Girl: When You Fall We are works in progress…we will fall, we will bomb, and we will feel like the worst Christians in the world. Trust me I have been there. More often than I would like to admit. When I first started my journey, I was flying high...you know the feeling…nothing in the world could bring me down…and then I fell…HARD!   I didn’t think I would ever be worthy enough to even ask God to forgive me, let alone Him do so. Now before you say “you felt like this because of a show/book/fandom? Let me just say this…NO I didn’t feel like that because of those things. I felt like this because my heart was full of sin and self-doubt. I was not where I personally wanted to be with God, and I didn’t think that I ever could be. I questioned everything, I had isolated myself not only from my family and friends, but also from my church family. I felt alone. I wasn’t…but I sure did feel that way. It was very hard for me to confess this to my husband...

I'm waiting for a prayer to be answered... I have been waiting for quite a while now. Everyday I whisper the same prayer over and over again in my mind. I have "talks" with God about how this prayer being answered will CHANGE my life. I sit and try to figure out what I can do to make the situation better...you know cause that works, right? I even talk to my hubby about the "what if's" of this prayer.... I believe with my whole heart that we serve a prayer answering God. There is no doubt in my mind that He will answer my prayer. And yet, I still lay awake worrying about this "unanswered prayer." Have you ever done that? laid awake worrying about a situation that you have prayed over and asked God to take care of? Why do we worry about something that we have already placed in Gods hands? Why do we stress out when it is not answered right away. Let me be honest with you...Yes I believe in prayer, and yes I know that God is going...

life... It happens. Even if we wish we could slow the world down, and just rest in the moment we are in, life will continue to slip on by. I realized that I have spent over 1/2 of my life wondering what people will think about me. I am 37,and I still worry about how people will react to something I say or do. recently my husband and I,  after much thought and prayer, decided that taking a step back and letting go of somethings/relationships was the right thing for us and our family.  But with this decision, came the "what if" game. A game I loathe. There are so many variables and to be honest you NEVER know what the other person is thinking...its all what you perceive them to be thinking. That's the problem with playing this game, there are no winners. People will talk about you, they will speculate as to why you made certain choices, which is only human nature...how many times have we all done that? Sometimes, giving something up and walking away from ...

A few days ago I freaked out....seriously I had true moment of panic. And when I panic, I start trying to figure things out for myself, instead of letting go and letting God take control. For more then a few weeks, my husband and I have been feeling the need to attend prayer at our church, only problem was that it fell on a day I was working. Every time we would go to Church we would hear about how awesome Family Prayer night was, and how God was moving and answering prayers, and I would feel like I was missing out. that we were not faithful to the house of God, and that we NEEDED to be at Family Prayer, as a family. It was a feeling that kept getting stronger and stronger and finally we both decided that no matter what our family was going to start attending Family Prayer! I talked to my boss, gave them two weeks notice about my availability and started the 2 week count down....really, I was counting down the days. Then the last day came, and while I was jumping for j...

Lately I have realized that even though I have lived in this house for more years then my parents have been gone, somethings still remain the same. Sitting on the shelves above my pantry are my moms cake stands, special pie holders, and her box of spoons from her "Kid's Spoon Band." A few of our cabinets still hold her Christmas decorations. My kitchen wall holds a mural that she started painting before she and my father moved, and we moved in, it is unfinished, but I love it all the same. Sometimes I just walk over to it and lightly place my hand over it...it is something she created, touched, and loved. In my living room I have a buffet they they used, a piano that my mom would sit and play at while she and my father sang together, oh how I miss listening to them sing together, they harmonized so beautifully! I also have a record player, that no longer works, but will always have a place in my home, because I remember how excited my father was when my mom bought it for ...

10 things I Learned This Week! 1. I am not the best driver in the world...even though I think that I am. Apparently the people in the surrounding cars, with that look of absolute horror on their face would beg to differ and would appreciate a warning the next time I decide to take a drive. 2. I dont have house elves....this actually surprised me. I mean there must be someone else besides me that picks up, but alas there is none. When something gets dropped on the floor and I am not magically there to pick it up, the same item will lay on the floor until I turn into a monster and demand that it be picked up. I really must look in to getting a magical creature to live in my home. 3. My family thinks I am crazy...ok to be honest, I already knew this..but I look at it like this, I may be crazy, and do crazy stuff, but they have to keep loving me...lol they are my family! 4. My hubby lets me makes mistakes, even though he wants to scream "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING,...

Today is Heart rehab day in the Gregory household, which is why I am up at 5:30, popping Milk-less muffins into the oven. They are quick and easy to make, I can control what goes into them, and they will give my tired family something that they can grab and eat on the way.  Baking for me is an outlet, one I have had to curb since my hubby's heart attack. Gone are the days of Cinnamon rolls, cakes, special cookies, and loafs of homemade bread. Instead we have been eating more whole foods, and trying to watch everything that we bring into our home. It has been hard, and I wont lie, I have slipped up and failed. just the other day I thought, "one meal won't matter"...unfortunately everyone in my family started feeling icky after eating that one meal. Its just not worth it. For someone like me, who Loves to bake, and cook from scratch, who finds joy in making something that her family loves, it has been a struggle. One I have cried about, talked about in great lengt...

It is almost midnight and I am so ready for bed! As I sit here and contemplate if I have enough energy to walk from the living room to my bedroom to change clothes, I realize that I really dont care.  I will more then likely end up crawling into bed, not caring about the fact that I am still wearing my work clothes....Please tell me that I am not the only person who does this. Tonight was a long night....I had a less then perfect shift at my part time job...which made me cranky, and no one likes me when I am cranky! Seriously,  I dont even like me when I'm cranky! I was feeling overwhelmed by my job,and I was to the point that I wanted to leave my shift early...yeah that's how well my night was going! I try to put my best foot forward in everything, and I have been looking for blessings in others and in the situations I find myself in, but tonight,....I just couldn't find ANY Until I came home, that is...My family knew I was having a less then stellar night, and my ...

It has been a while since I have posted... Our family has been crazy busy these past few weeks, and while most of the craziness is over, I still feel like we are constantly running around like chickens with our heads cut off.  If you have ever read my blog before, you know how much I value peace and calmness, and having a home that is centered around that ideology.  However the past few weeks have been anything but that!! While it was very fast paced, with a few late nights (OK there were a LOT of late nights), and I did have moments where I felt like nothing was going right, we did have a lot of fun, and we did get to make some great memories along the way. The following are pictures of our past weekend, where our daughter got to be involved with her Figure Skating Clubs, Spotlight on Ice, and she had so much fun. The skaters did a great job, and we were so proud of them, and our Little Miss, for working so hard to put out a great show! SOI practice Olivia goof...

Have you ever given something over to God, and then wondered why He wasn't taking care of it? Ever feel like you need to do something, Anything really, to make something happen? How many of us need to be in control of EVERY aspect of our lives? I know that I am so guilty of this! I pray that God will take care of something, and I lay it at his feet, but then I worry about that same issue. I fret about "what can I do to help this situation" I do CRAZY things when I feel like nothing is working out the way I want it to...then I obsess over how I can fix it, what I can do to make things better, and then I cry out to God asking him why He hasn't "fixed" my problem. Then I am gently reminded that I never left it with Him....I placed it at his feet, but before I turned to go, I picked it back up! How awesome is it that He GENTLY reminds of us this....its not a SMACK to the head, although sometimes I am sure that is just what I need! He Loves us so muc...