PRAISE GOD for His tender Mercies!!

I got the results from my biopsies yesterday.

I DO NOT have cancer!!


Amazing thinking of all that could have been. What a relief.

Our van is done. Our mechanic looked us square in the face and said, "this is when you don't drive it anymore."


My husband was made full time AND given a raise (both of which were not "possible.")

Life is such a constant mixed bag.

I don't like not having a vehicle. Not being able to go to church as a family and going to the grocery store at midnight when everyone else is asleep. But right now. I am so thankful that I can. So grateful. We were given this vehicle. We were also given the truck that my husband drives to work. Even in this we are so so blessed. We were given a van (that we bougth for a dollar) and we drove it for 4 years. I don't know what comes next and I don't want to ever expect anything from anyone or demand from God.

My husband was working this Sunday and we weren't able to go to church. My daughter and I made a double batch of crescent rolls. It was our first really baking, having fun in our kitchen. We actually had a plug to plug in my Kitchen Aid mixer and didn't have to kneed by hand. We had this amazing Food saver to freeze the food after. Both gifts from an amazing woman that God has put into our lives. We have been in this house for 4 months now and it is still so amazing to us. "Our" warming drawer and oven actually have a "proofing" feature. I got the recipe from an amazing blog and looked at it on my laptop at the little desk in the kitchen. The whole time astonished at how very very blessed we are.

Giveaway! Alisons Garden

I was beyond thrilled when Toni from Alisons Garden contacted me about a giveaway. She is such a sweetheart and coincidentally ALSO the mother of 5: four boys and 1 girl (sound familiar,) We went to the same junior high AND her creations are adorable and must-haves (not to mention PERFECT gifts for birthdays and holidays!)
Don't ya love her already? Wait until you see the beauties she creates:

Toni has a great Etsy. Alisons Garden is aptly named because: "Every little girl needs her own flower garden!"





She explains her reasons for selling her interchangeable flower adorned hats, headbands and beanies:
"We finally had a daughter after having 4 boys and I was making them for her. I started to notice that she had way too many for just her little head so I decided to start selling them. I make sets to donate to The Ronald McDonald House as well. I love to see the joy that a huge flower on a little head can bring to so many people!"



We all want cool flower adornemnt for ALL the little girls in our lives and THIS is just the person that we want our money going to:)


WIN IT


many lucky little girls have been blessed by Toni's generosity through The Ronald McDonald House and now lucky for YOU, Toni is giving away this set of four flowers, a bow and two bands:
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to enter: please go by AlisonsGarden on Etsy and let me know what you MUST HAVE and who its for:)

For EXTRA entries you CAN:
~follow this blog
~like AlisonsGarden on facebook
(Please leave a separate comment for each.)

I will ask random number generator for a winner on June 7th:)

Playtex Bra Makeover

I know we have all heard the statistics about how many women are wearing ill-fitting bras( seven out of 10) I know that 99% of us have looked in the mirror in horror knowing that does indeed apply to us:)

Have you seen the new contest with playtex?

A BRA MAKEOVER!

10 women will be flown to New York for a bra fitting with Style and Fit expert Alison Deyette. They will also each be featured in their own webisode. Very Cool.

We all must enter! BECAUSE Real Women Have Real Bra Problems!
www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com

AND my blogging freinds, the first 100 bloggers to post about this event will recieve a free bra from Playtex:)

I was not compensated for this post and my opinion that you should enter is just my opinion. I was not promised a bra but really hope I am one of those first 100:)

Cover Girl Olay-$2.00 coupons!

Been feeling pretty old and run down and realized this weekend that I don't even own any makeup.

Guess what I just got in the mail to review?


Cover Girl& Olay--Simply Ageless


And even better is that I have 5 $2.00 coupons! YOU my virtual friends can check this new product out with me!! Leave me a quick comment saying anything you like and 5 people will get $2.00 off coupons to try this new product out right along with me!
Fun times ahead!!

Dishes

I really like dishes. If I had my way I'd have many many sets. Many many sets. o mix and match and make me smile.

As it is, I buy a set every few years. plates and bowls for 8. usually at Big Lots or the 99 cent store. Somewhere under a dollar a piece. I bought some gorgeous red plates at Mervyns when I worked there one holiday season. They cheaped too easily. I bought a pckaged set of Better homes and Garden dishes on clearance at Walmart. They chipped way too quickly. It would seem that cheap dishes don't last long--that it takes dishes of quality to stand up to life in our house. My 13 year old and 11 year old sons do all the dishes, and ironically, it is usually I who break the dishes.

That is, until we moved in here. our sink is now in an island made of marble. Apparently when you bump a dish into marble, it breaks. Our kitchen floor is travertine tile. It is very tough. My kids were playing a board game and dropped a die on the tile. It shattered. Seriously. We have broken melamine like crazy.

SOOOO I was feeling sorry for myself on Mothers Day and when we ran out of diapers I headed to the store and stopped by Goodwill. Something caught my eye.

Not really the color scheme I would have chosen but... Have you ever had that feeling of recognizing something as good quailty and a good deal and knowing it has to be? This was one of those moments.

I bought nine of the cereal bowls and nine of the salad plates for....49 cents each. Apparently they are Vallarta made for Pier One 2005-2006. They sell for quite a lot elsewhere. They did have more pieces and now I'm wondering if they are still there:)

How often do you buy dishes? Do you have a a pattern/style that you love? Where do you shop for dishes?

I'm linking up at:



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2nd time around Tuesday
9

Thankful that He's Still God and i'm Still not:)

I've been talking alot lately about staying home and focusing on my little ones, on feeling overwhelmed and not being able to get everything done. I've also been pondering how ministry and friendship fit into this conundrum. Been feeling I have nothing to offer, nothing to give and no room for friendship or outside ministry.

A dear dear friend of mine has been blessed with a great family and a hard working husband. They have been such a blessing to us. He recently lost one of his full time jobs. He is still working but they cant amke their mortgage or live on half of his earnings. We prayed and watched God's amazing provision in their lives. They discovered they were pregnant-- They were overjoyed and felt so honored to know God is continuing to bless them. They lost their baby. We cried and cried. They named her and buried her and mourned her loss. I mourned with them and searched for something to offer. I tried to crack jokes--not good. I prayed and cried. Again nothing to offer.

My son's Scleroderma continues to frighten us. My biggest fear is that his eyebrow will be affected. Nate has started to read too much on the subject and is worried about his eye. Again, nothing I can do.

We Have been praying for good friends for our daughter. We met a sweet neighbor who has been such an encouragement and good freind to our daughter. Her mother asked if the daughter could go to church with us last Sunday. Of course. Duh. Why hadn't we realized that we had that to offer?

When we moved here 9 plus years our toilet broke. The man sent to fix it was a great man of God. I loved him instantly and just knew in my heart that he was a Christian. My husband thought that a little odd until he met him and thought the same thing. Our paths crossed alot and has been a great encouragement to our family. I later met his wife and LOVE her. They have been blessed with many kids. Great kids. I found out recently that he as totally gone off the deep end in so so many ways. I ran into this friend yesterday and cried. and cried.

A dear friend and I went to run errands yesterday (not a "normal" thing for us. My 22 month old has grown a straggly mullet. She fixed it (and even saved me the hair) My 13 year old has a ton of hair that has been drving us all crazy. People assume that he wants his hair long and wont cut it. In actuality, he would rather have it shaved but none of us can do that and we shy away from spending the money to do it. On our way out the door we decided to shave his head. All went well until ALL of our combined 13 other children decided that they wanted to see the head shaving. My friend was bumped, the razor caught on my son's eyebrow and the attachment came off. Half of his eyebrow is shaved. It was funny. Mostly because this is sooo not like my friend. It wasn't a big deal at all. Didn't phase my son or I at all. Its just an eyebrow. This is the same son that I have been crying and praying over losing his eyebrow. WHen he did (albeit temporary and not the same) It wasnt that big a deal.

I have been soo overwhelmed lately. You'd think that these large burdens that my friends are struggling with would somehow be too much for me to wrap my mind around. Somehow, it isn't. I KNOW that I cant fix it for them and I know that I don't need to . Somehow knowing that we aren't alone in any of it is extremely comfortng. We can bear one anothers burdens even thoughwe cant solve them. God uses us despite ourselves despite all my inadequacies and quirks and huge shortcomings because these are His ways. He will comfort the fatherless. He will be the husband to the husbandless. He will hold that baby that He created and knows. He will provide me with ways that I can minister and be encouraged and I will continue to be in amazement of Him.

linking up at:


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