You might remember me asking for prayers for our littlest guy, Malachi, and his struggle with his eczema. I’ve appreciated all of your comments and emails expressing concern as well as your prayers for him. I know some of you also have kids who struggle with severe eczema. It is SO NOT FUN.

We’ve continued to work with our chiropractor who has been so gracious and kind. We’re currently working to get to the bottom of some food allergy issues, and just continuing to work to get to the root of the problem.

In the meantime…now that the SUN is shining…we’re throwing Malachi outside as much as possible. It is AMAZING how much the Vitamin D from the sun helps him. Really amazing. (Go God!)

His neck was completely and miserably broken out, inflamed and itchy all winter long. It is now totally clear. His legs are usually covered…and they are mostly better now. 

It has provided sweet relief for our sweet boy…as he usually doesn’t sleep well at night because he is so itchy. He’s had several nights recently that he has slept all the way through without waking up. That is one big deal for this three year old. (and his parents) 

We’ll continue to pray and seek answers for Malachi. But for now, I’m super grateful that he is feeling better and has been given some relief. :)
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What are YOU grateful for? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here! Or leave a comment sharing with us about how God is working in your life!
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I just needed to take a Gratituesday and appreciate blogging with you. 

When I began my HeavenlyHomemakers website back in October…Char, who helped me with the whole thing, suggested that I also have a blog.

Laugh if you must (because I’m totally laughing)…but I had to ask her what exactly a blog was. <Roll your eyes here>  I’d been living in a non-computer world for a while…and I’d heard of blogs, but I didn’t really know what I’d do with one. (“Will I need to feed it every day? Does it require daily exercise? What happens when my blog gets wet? Does it stink? Will it create extra laundry? ‘Cause I don’t need extra laundry.”)

Finally Char convinced me to begin a blog. It took writing about two blog posts for me to decide I LOVE blogging!!! And it’s all been exciting and wonderful since then!

The absolute best part of blogging has been getting to know all of you!!! What a wonderful way to be a part of a community of people who can encourage one another and laugh together and give each other tips and pray for one another and share the ways God is working in our lives.

I can’t imagine not having this. I can’t imagine not having this opportunity to get to know you. 

Suezque would not have been such a big part of my life had we not been blogging friends as well as cousins. 

I am just so, so grateful for this blogging world we are a part of. Thank you for letting me be a part of your blogging world. What a joy!
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What are YOU grateful for this week? Write aboout it on your blog and come over and link up! If you don’t have a blog, just leave a comment here to let us know what God’s been doing in your life.

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 On Friday night, my cousin Gary and his wife Kim were driving from Colorado to Kansas to be with family. Only about an hour from their destination, they were caught in a tornado and killed.

They had been so excited about this trip. It would have been the first time they were to meet their newest nephew. I’ve been reading on Kim’s and her sister-in-law’s blogs for the past several weeks about how excited all of them were to get together to see the baby and have a “sister lunch”. Kim, Jayme, Sally and Crystal all have had wonderful relationships and loved being together. 

Gary and Kim had been married just over one year. They were absolutely perfect for each other and absolutely in love.

Both Gary and Kim loved the Lord and followed Him. Thank you God, thank you God, they are with Jesus now.

Gary worked as a chef at a Boy’s Ranch in CO. His dad, my uncle, used to tease that Gary and I had the same career…we both cooked all day for a bunch of boys! 

You probably have met Kim here on my blog, but you would have known her as Suezque. She visited here and left comments all the time. She was a regular poster with Gratituesday. She was one of my biggest fans. I always loved hearing from her. I wonder how long until I stop watching for Suezque’s comments. 

Kim was working to begin her own website called http://suezqueathome.com/blog. Her goal with her site was to encourage young married women as they worked to keep a home and work outside the home as well. She emailed me often with ideas…and mostly just with her excitement over beginning her own site. While I was wrestling with disbelief that this tragedy had happened, I went to her Suezque @ Home site to just try to be with her one more time. It was then that I realized that truly, she is now at home and it gave the name of her site new meaning. And I praised God.

I have many, many things I am so grateful for this Gratituesday.

I’m grateful to you and for your prayers. I am comforted by you.

I’m grateful for my husband. When I got the phone call, he was home with me. When we were trying to figure out if we should go to KS to be with everyone and I said, “Matt, I don’t think I can stay away. I need to go.” He just said, “Okay” and started packing.

I’m so grateful to be surrounded by family…to be able to hold people and weep with them. I needed to be here.

I’m grateful for blogging…as it brought all of the sisters closer, and helped me to get to know all of them so much better too. I loved being able to get to know Kim. And to get to know Gary better because of Kim.

I’m grateful for Marie and the friendship she had with Kim. Marie, I know you miss her so much. 

I’m grateful for loving people and for how they have cared for the family during this time. I love watching how people have just stepped up everywhere and taken care of everything from casseroles to toilet paper.

I’m grateful for the life of Gary and Kim. God brought them together and they completed one another. Their love and joy for each other and for God was evident as they served Him together. 

And now, they are truly experiencing life. The life we all long for. The life we are given hope for because of Jesus. 

I thank God for life. Life lived for him on this earth and life lived with Him in Heaven. Oh how much we all have to look forward to in Him!
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Experiencing death of loved ones makes you realize how much we should all be appreciating the little things. I’d love it if you’d share with us. Please leave a comment or link up to let us know how God is working in your life. God is so good.
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Have I ever told you how smart my husband is?

Matt is quite visionary…he’s business minded and has a wonderful entre…entrepren…entrepreneurial spirit. (sorry…I never can pronounce that word without stuttering over it three times…and then I still can’t say it.)

He works so hard to provide for our family…and is always praying and dreaming about things to do that will help our family financially, as well be a light in our community. He comes up with ideas that I would never think of. 

So, here’s the latest idea that he’s been working hard to get off the ground…

On June 1, we’ll be opening a “Shaved Ice Shack”…just down the road a few blocks from our house. We purchased a shaved ice machine (which is SO cool), and we’ve been experimenting with different flavors of 100% juice. (It’s a tough job, but the boys and I have tried not to complain.) (SLURP!)  :)

He’s hired three responsible teen-agers to run the “Shack” for us this summer. He’s spent hours on the phone and computer working out all of the legal stuff and details. 

I’m just so proud of him…and excited about our new business venture. And I wanted to share the news with you!

This Gratituesday, I’m very thankful for my smart husband and his great ideas. Come on over for a shaved ice sometime!
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So what are YOU grateful for this Gratituesday? Leave a comment and tell us about it! Or…if you have a blog, please write about it and come on back and link up with us here! We can’t WAIT to hear how God is working in your life!

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While every month of the year is great in some way or another…I am reminded now that it is May…of how much I LOVE THIS MONTH!

I love it because we finish our school work…the garden gets planted, but the hard work of watering, weeding, harvesting and preserving isn’t happening yet…the weather is usually mild…we get to play outside a lot.

I feel like May is sort of a month of down time for me. (relatively speaking, of course!) :)

It’s a breath of fresh air. I feel more like I can take the time to play games with the boys. I get to hang clothes on the line for the first time.

And there aren’t many bugs yet!! 

AND…all over my yard…these sweet little wildflowers pop up!

So yes…today I’m grateful for the month of May!
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Join in! Share something that you’re grateful for on your blog and come link up with us! Don’t have a blog? Tell us about what you’re grateful for in the comments section! Share what God is doing in your life!
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As we celebrate women this week…I MUST tell you about my own mom.

Her name was Bettye Jo. She would have turned 59 this Friday.

She was diagnosed with ALS in 2002, and finished her fight…and won the race on July 10, 2004. 

She was smart and funny and pretty. She loved to cook, read, cross-stitch, quilt and make cards using rubber stamps. She made the best salsa in the world, hands down. 

She loved my dad and my brother and me like crazy.

She taught me to cook and to be a homemaker and to organize and to plan ahead and to serve others.

(She tried to teach me to quilt…but oh…I just never did learn to enjoy it! At least she taught me to appreciate the work and love that goes into making a quilt!)

My mom thought her grandkids were terrific. She loved playing games with them and reading to them. She made them a new ornament each year for Christmas. They are treasures.

She loved the Lord and served Him well.

My mom really, really loved me.

I was her favorite girl. She was my biggest fan. I always knew it. I miss her.

I’m so thankful that she was my mom.

God is good.

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Now it’s your turn! Share something that you’re grateful for on your blog and come link up with us! Don’t have a blog? Tell us about what you’re grateful for in the comments section! Share what God is doing in your life!
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I know, I know… 

You’re thinking, “Really Laura. Can’t you think of ANYTHING that you’re thankful for this week? You had to fall back on your dirty fingernails?”

(Hey, it was either that…or my smelly trash can…) (Just kidding.) (My trash can is never smelly…)  ;)

Okay, really…

I’m REALLY thankful for my dirty fingernails this week!

Know why?! Because that means that I FINALLY got to go out and work in my garden!!

It seems like any time I had free to work…it was raining. And anytime it was nice and sunny…I was busy with other things.

So finally, this weekend I got to go play in my beautiful soil…and dream about the fresh peas and lettuce and spinach….and all the other yummy things we’ll be eating soon. 

And that night…I noticed how dirty my fingernails were…and I thought, “Well, here we go!”

This is the season when my lovely manicured hands look like a farmer. (Um, that was a joke… I had to go look up how to spell manicure…. I don’t even know how to spell it…much less give myself one.)  :)

So right along with all the perks (like dirty fingernails) that come along with gardening…I’m loving all of the fresh air and sunshine…and even the hard work that my garden provides. Ah yes…and the promise of fresh vegetables!

I am so grateful for these dirty fingernails.

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So…what did God do for YOU this week?! Leave us a comment….or…  Blog about it and come back and link up! Share with us how God is working in your life…even if it’s “just” a simple thing! Simple things are worth praising God about! Let’s encourage one another this Gratituesday!

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Remember when you were a kid…and you were given a lump of clay or playdough…and you just sat there molding it and shaping it until you had the form of what you were wanting? I used to LOVE doing that!

Last week, my two oldest kids were able to go to an art class. When I went to pick them up…they were sitting there having so much fun shaping their clay that they didn’t even know I was there. (You know…kinda like when they are watching a movie?)  We got to bring the clay molds home and bake them and paint them so that we can keep them forever.

So…I have a couple of thoughts this Gratituesday.

First, I’m thankful for my kids…who are healthy and able to sit at a table and be creative and just enjoy life. I really am amazed at their creativity. They are so much fun to watch.

Second, I’m reminded that I should sit down with my kids and enjoy simple things more often. Rarely do I want to sit and play with clay…because it gets my hands messy…I have dishes that need to be done…and I forgot to put the clothes in the dryer. I need to just sit down and play more. 

Third, I can’t look at clay without thinking about how God is continuing to mold and shape me to be more like him. I’m so thankful that He’s still working with me. What a great thing to talk to my kids about while we’re sitting down together playing with clay. A perfect teachable moment.

Here’s the recipe for the clay if you’d like to give it a go with your kids…and here are the creative projects my kids came up with!

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So…what did God do for YOU this week?! Leave us a comment….or…  Blog about it and come back and link up! Share with us how God is working in your life…even if it’s “just” a simple thing! Simple things are worth praising God about! Let’s encourage one another this Gratituesday!

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I am constantly reminded that God will always give us enough.

Enough to eat…enough to wear…enough to pay the bills…enough.

Last week…because of rain and…um…more rain…Matt was unable to work for a day and a half. (He works construction…and…it’s not a good idea to install someone’s windows when it’s raining… Yeah, homeowners don’t really care for the open hole in the wall while rain is pelting down…silly, I know.)

So, while we REALLY enjoyed having daddy home during that time…we were cringing just a bit by the lack of income. (Because getting stuff done at home just doesn’t pay as much per hour…)

But, Matt has been doing quite a bit of soccer refereeing (is that a word?) this spring…and we knew he had a few games over the weekend, so we thought…”well, that will help some.”

Well…guess what?

When he showed up to referee on Saturday…they ended up needing him for an extra game…plus he did a couple on Sunday afternoon.

Guess how much he got paid for all of his games over the weekend?

Yep, exactly what he would have gotten for his day and a half of missed work during the week. 

Exactly.

God always gives us enough. Always.

:)

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So…what did God do for YOU this week?! Leave us a comment….or… Blog about it and come back and link up! Share with us how God is working in your life…even if it’s “just” a simple thing! Simple things are worth praising God about! Let’s encourage one another this Gratituesday!

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