I grew up with only one sibling…a brother…Kevin. We are only 14 months apart in age so he and I were pretty close growing up (even though he tortured me sometimes). :)

He married a girl, Michele, who was one of my great high school friends, which has been such a blessing to me…having a sister in law that I’m so close with. 

And now they just had their fourth baby!

When Kevin sent the pictures, I emailed him and asked if I could put them on my blog…because I NEEDED to show him off! Of course Kevin responded that it would be fine….just have my people get in touch with his people. (I didn’t know the baby had an agent already.)  :)

So here you go…my newest nephew…Austin Lee. He was born Tuesday, August 12 weighing in at 7 lb 9 oz and 21 inches long. (And by the way, Michele felt her first contraction at 6:30 am and gave birth at 7:30 am. Her story pretty much rivals my story of giving birth to Elias. Must run in the family. Is that possible with sisters-in-law?!…)

Here’s Austin with his biggest sister Kailey (6).

And with his big brother Troy (4).

And with his 21 month old sister Renee.

Isn’t he so sweet? I can’t wait to meet him, hopefully sometime in September. 

And yes, between my brother’s kids and our kids, when we get together…it’s pretty much a big party! Whew!

I’m so excited to be able to share this with you! And I’m so grateful for his safe arrival and that he is healthy and strong. New babies are such a blessing!
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Please share with us!!!!

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Yes, it’s official. Matt and I are oldy-weds. It’ll be fourteen years this Wednesday, August 13. Fourteen years. 

Can I first just say how thankful I am that my husband asked me to marry him fourteen years and nine months ago? At age 20, I had a lot of growing to do. I’m so glad he loved me anyway.

And can I also just say how thankful I am that after 14 years….four babies and several other life changes…my husband thinks I’m more beautiful now than I was when I was 20. He really means it.  Even though my face now sees make-up pretty much only on Sundays and my hair is usually in a ponytail. And at the end of the day when he comes home my ponytail is usually half way in and half way out. 

And there’s bread dough in it. ;)

I’ve read that one of the best ways to make ourselves attractive to our husbands and to show our respect and appreciation is simply to smile at him. Often.

Matt makes that easy for me. He is good. He is godly. He is kind. He is consistent. He is real. He loves our boys. He loves me.

Yeah, he’s easy to smile at. 

And this weekend we’re both smiling because we get to go on a wonderful anniversary date. Probably out for dinner…maybe on a walk…doesn’t matter really.

And we were blessed with the offer of free babysitting!! Way back many months ago, several teen girls came over and learned how to make mozzarella cheese with me. (Yes, I’ll share details of cheese making some day.)  Their thank you gift to me was to be a night of free babysitting…and between our schedules and theirs, we’re just now able to take them up on the offer.

So, our boys will be here having a blast with the attention of three awesome teen girls, and we won’t be sitting on our date calculating how much longer we should stay out so that we don’t go broke! Blessings all around!

(Maybe I’ll even put on make-up for our date…even though it isn’t a Sunday!! :) )

What are you grateful for this week!? Link up and share so that we can all be encouraged!
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One night last week…Matt and I were working at the computer. It began to get quite late. A time or two (but surely not more than that…because I would never nag) I looked at the time and said, “Well, we’d better stop and get to bed.”

But we continued to work on and on until it was really, really late.

I was feeling frustrated with myself for not just going on to bed because I knew I would pay for the lateness of the hour. This mama needs her eight hours or it ain’t pretty. 

Suddenly out of nowhere we heard a strange sound coming from the kitchen. Matt went in right away to investigate…and found the craziest thing. The ice maker in our refrigerator/freezer had suddenly just starting spewing out water. A lot of water. Like a small faucet. 

I stood there just staring at it for several seconds because (a) I don’t have great brain function after midnight and (b) I truly couldn’t come up with anything that I should do — see (a).

Matt was of course trying to turn the thing off and he kindly said to me, “Do you think you could get a bucket or something to catch that water?”

Ah, good idea. Why didn’t I think of that? 

The large amount of water forming around us on the floor didn’t clue me into that idea for some reason.

Anyway, so we (as in Matt) got the thing turned off and then we (as in we) got several towels and started to wipe up the floor and the inside of the freezer.

It was amazing to us how many towels it took to mop up the water that really was only spewing out for about one minute.

Which is why we couldn’t stop being thankful that we had stayed up so late. :)

If we had gone to bed back in the hours where I was nagging suggesting that we go…we wouldn’t have heard the weird sound and we (as in Matt) couldn’t have stopped it. And we would have woken up to a VERY, VERY bad flooding problem in our kitchen. Our pretty wooden floors could have warped…the water would have worked it’s way into other rooms…it could have been VERY, VERY bad. 

Yes, we are very thankful that God protected our home from such an ordeal. 

(But I still really shouldn’t stay up that late very often in the future!)  :)

What are you grateful for? Blog about it and link up with us here!
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The older I get, the more I appreciate people who are older than I am. I love their wisdom, their encouragement, their smiles.

I have several “older lady” friends at church that I grow to love more all the time. They care for me and my family. They encourage me as I mother my sons. They offer advice when I need it. I love them.

One of these friends, Lorna Mae, was spending time in Texas with her daughter earlier this summer when she began having some health struggles. She went to the doctor there and found out that she had cancer on her bladder. They did surgery right away and removed her entire bladder. She then went through several treatments to prevent more cancer. She spent several weeks of slow recovery from her surgery in Texas with her daughter taking care of her before she was able to return home last week.

Much to my surprise, she was able to be at the church service this Sunday morning! I was so happy to see her, that I went over right away to give her a hug as gently as I could so that I wouldn’t hurt her.  I’ve been so concerned for her this summer and missed her so much.

She hugged me back…with much more strength than I thought she would have! I was overcome with joy that she was just as happy to see me as I was her….and that she was strong enough to give me a hard hug!! It was a wonderful reunion!

Before we knew it, right there in the church foyer, we both began weeping together as we talked about the loss of my cousins, her illness…and the fact that we’d missed each other so much. How truly wonderful to have such a lady in my life that cares so much for me. This certainly wasn’t the first time she’s cried with me. She’s been one of the first to comfort me and care for me during other losses and changes in our lives during the past few years.

I am incredibly thankful for the friendship of this woman who loves me so much and I am so thankful that she is home and recovering.

I need women like her in my life…and I am so thankful that God has provided these godly women for me to lean on and learn from.
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday?! Please share with us!

I don’t have anything profound or deep to share with you this Gratituesday…just something sweet and simple.

Three years ago we planted a peach tree in our yard. It has grown bunches and bunches in the past three years, and we were excited this spring when blossoms began forming all over it! (We had heard that it usually takes about three years for a new tree to produce fruit…so we were really hoping for peaches this year!)

Now, we have cute little peaches growing on our peach tree…and we are SO EXCITED for the day when we can actually try one!

I LOVE God’s goodness. Whether it’s in the form of something “big” when he provides a blessing to you…or whether it’s just a simple thing like a yummy, sweet peach. 

God’s goodness is just so…..good.

What are you grateful for this Gratituesday? Please share with us!
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Remember back in mid-June when we opened our Shaved Ice trailer? It’s been going well, and although cars and people haven’t been lining up for miles to buy shaved ice…business has been decent and all of our customers have enjoyed the shaved ice.

Then last week the city began doing road construction right in our area, making it very difficult for people to see our little business. For a couple of days, they blocked off one of the streets that gave people access into our lot. And then, to make matters worse…they began parking their big, huge equipment in our lot. Our lot. The one we are paying rent on.

We got very little business last week…and knew that this road construction would not be ending any time soon. Obviously, we were getting quite discouraged.

We spent a lot of time in prayer over the situation. Did God not want us to pursue this business after all? Was this not something we should be spending our time on? We’ve spent lots of time and a fair amount of money on our new venture…was it going to be all for nothing?

Did I mention we spent a lot of time in prayer?

We recalled that a few weeks back, some friends of ours had called and asked how things were going. They own a business right downtown and told us that if we ever needed to use their lot to park our trailer on and sell our shaved ice…they would be happy to share it with us. At the time they called…we appreciated their offer, but told them that we had already signed a lease and were paying rent for the other lot. 

Now, we decided that even though we were already paying rent on another lot…we really should take our friends up on their offer and move to their lot. At least people would be able to see us there, instead of only seeing big piles of dirt and gravel and huge machines.

And then guess what?! The very day we made the decision to move, the guy in charge of the construction project approached Matt and said, “If I pay for half of your rent, can I use half of your lot?” (Hey, if they were going to use it anyway…it was nice of him to offer to pay us for it.)  Then Matt said, “That would be fine…but would you rather have the whole lot?” And the guy said, “That would be great.” 

Soooooo, now we are in a lot that is open and does not have huge machinery blocking the way….AND our rent for the original lot is being paid for by the construction workers who are using it. What a huge financial relief (because we thought we’d need to move, but still pay the lease on the lot we weren’t using anymore…). AND how blessed we are to have friends who were pulling for us and willing to help us out by letting us use their lot. You’d better believe…they’ll get all the free shaved ice they want! (That’s a hint, Tanya…bring the kids on over!)

Again God has proven to us that He always works everything out. Always. :)

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How is God working in YOUR life? Blog about it, and come on over and link up with us!

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Pardon me for being a teeny bit materialistic this week, but I really must take time this Gratituesday to appreciate my dishwasher. 

It’s just that I didn’t realize how much I appreciated my dishwasher until I was so sick for several days. At one point when I had about two minutes worth of energy, I took the opportunity to load a few dishes into the dishwasher. At that moment, I was so grateful to have a dishwasher, I thought I might weep. How wonderfully nice to have a piece of machinery in my kitchen that is happy to be overloaded with as many dirty dishes as I can fit into it…and then with the push of a button it will make my dishes all sparkly and ready to eat on again.

I suppose that I certainly can’t be grateful for my dishwasher without first and foremost being grateful for my father-in-law, who bought it for me. 

For all of our married life I was used to not having a dishwasher. When we moved into this house six years ago, the house came with a dishwasher. Hooray. I didn’t care that it was 436 years old. It was a dishwasher. 

And then about a year after we moved in, the dishwasher stopped working. I was bummed, but not bummed enough to do anything about it. In my mind, a dishwasher is a luxury, not a necessity. We didn’t have the money to replace it, and I knew that I could certainly wash my mountains of dishes by hand.

And so I did. For two more years.

Then Matt’s dad came for a visit. While he was here, we fed him well….and he fixed some odds and ends around the house. It was great. He noticed that I wasn’t using my dishwasher and asked me about it. I told him that it had broken quite a while back and that if he wanted to look at it and see if he could fix it while he was puttering around fixing things that it would be fine with me. If he couldn’t fix it, I was okay with that too.

He looked at it and saw that it wasn’t fixable. The very next night after dinner, he took us all to an appliance store to pick out a new dishwasher. Wow. I was not expecting that. 

So now I have a dishwasher. And it works. Very well. I don’t even have to rinse the dishes much before I load them to be washed. It’s awesome.

My father-in-law’s goal was to make my work load lighter. He knew that it would help me, and that the boys would be able to help load and unload it too, which would make my work load lighter yet. And he was right.

And so, as I was standing in my kitchen loading my dishwasher last week with my tiny bit of strength…I recognized how much I appreciated my dishwasher. 

I do believe I need to call my father-in-law once again and tell him how grateful I am for it. I just bet he’d enjoy hearing how much his gift means to me.
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I can’t wait to hear about what you’re thankful for this week! Write about it on your blog and come over and link up!
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First of all, if you didn’t know this about me already….my maiden name was Hamm. (This is where you get to elbow each other and grin when you think I’m not looking and say, “Hamm? Her maiden name was Hamm?!”)

(If you think that’s funny…listen to this. My brother married a girl who’s last name was Egging. Yes, brought together in Holy Matrimony…Hamm and Egging.)

Anyway, none of that is important except for the fact that for the reunion we’re getting together with the Hamm side of the family, and the event has been named the “Hamm Bash”. 

And that is what I’m very grateful for this Gratituesday! The Hamm Bash!

It’s a reunion of my dad’s siblings (he’s the youngest of nine) and all of their families. So there are aunts and uncles and cousins and kids and babies all over the place. It’s a blast.

We have a pinata every year for the kids, an auction, we sing together, eat tons of yummy food, catch up on the year and do a lot of laughing. 

I’m so looking forward to it…and also so sad I can hardly stand to think about it. There will be two empty seats this year where my cousins Gary and Kim were supposed to sit. 

Between last year’s Hamm Bash and this one, I’ve become so much closer to my cousins Kim, Jayme, Sally and Laura through blogging. Starting about March, I began looking forward to the Hamm Bash SO MUCH…picturing how we’d all see each other and run to each other and hug and scream and start talking about silly blogging stuff.

And then Gary and Kim were killed…and all the rest of us got to see each other a month early. While we did run to each other…it was a much different kind of reunion than the one I had pictured. 

Because the Hamm Bash is where I met and got to know Kim…the thought of her and Gary not being there hurts so badly my stomach aches. 

So this reunion will be different. Being together with our family will mean so much more. The hugs will be tighter. The songs will be sung with more feeling. The conversation will mean more. 

I have the most wonderful family in the world. Being with them is always so encouraging.

I can’t get there fast enough.
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Please link up and share what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday!

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Looking back, I don’t think I’ve really rested since we got back from my cousins’ funeral in May. 

Since then, we’ve been on the go and running like crazy. I never really like telling someone, “We’re so busy.” Who’s NOT busy? I’ve always felt like that was just a silly thing to say to people. 

But yeah, we’ve been busy.

And my body finally had enough. I have asthma, so anytime I get sick, it hits my lungs and knocks me flat. 

So now, I’m doing just what I need to do:  rest.

I’m so thankful that I am able to rest. Matt and the boys know that rest is just what Mommy needs right now. They are SO the greatest. 

The boys keep saying things like, “Is there anything I can get you Mommy?” and “Do you need me to re-fill your water Mommy?” And then sometimes….”Can I just lay down for a while with you Mommy?” 

Pray for Matt to get the rest he needs while he tries to juggle all of his work and mine too…

This Gratituesday, I am so thankful to be getting the rest that I need so that I can soon be the wife and mama that I need to be for my family.

Please share what YOU’RE thankful for this Gratituesday!!
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Well…after having to work out several kinks and having to push our opening date back a couple of times…we finally opened our Shaved Ice stand on Monday! 

My stomach was a little bit in knots as the time approached for us to meet with the health inspector to get our food license. But, indeed we are now licensed and open for business!!

Here…check out our set up:

Here’s a nice view of the concession trailer we bought:

We’re excited…and exhausted…and we’re open for business! Now we’re working hard to get the word out by running all over town handing out “Buy one get one free” coupons. 

This Gratituesday, I’m so thankful that after all of our hard work and dreaming and praying…we now have launched our new business. What a fun adventure!
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We’d all love to hear about what you’re grateful for too! Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here! Or, leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

God is good!

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