Thursday, January 29, 2009

Twenty-Third Psalm

Twenty-Third Psalm

1 The Lord is my Sherpherd, I shall not want,

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteaousness for His name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is a passage that is generally said at funerals, I know for me it has been said at every funeral that I have gone to. You're probably thinking why is she blogging about the 23rd Psalm. Well...

My Mom gave me a bookmark that the funeral home had given to her after my Grandfather, her Father, had passed away.(It's only been about a month and a half since his death) On one side is his picture and his obituary(what was wrote up and put in the paper), on the other is the 23rd Psalm. I have the bookmark on my bedside night table, and I picked it up and was once again looking at it last night. I read the 23rd Psalm again and I suddenly looked at it in a different sense than I usally do.

You see, my Grandfather had been in the Hospital for severl weeks until one night, he stopped breathing and died. He was still in the Hospital when he died. I thought of him while I read the 23rd Psalm.......The Lord was/is my Grandfather's Shepherd, to all of us He is and we are his sheep. When we allow God our shepherd to guide us, we have contentment, and that is what my Grandfather had in the Hospital. Death casts a frightening shadow over us because we are entirely helpless in the presence of death. Although we struggle with things such as pain, suffering or disease, strength and courage can't overcome death. Death has the final word. Our shepherd, Our God, is the only one person that can walk with us through death's dark valley and bring us safely to the other side. Christ offers us eternal comfort, life is uncertain, are you following The Shepherd? I know that my Grandfather was.

God is seen as a caring shepherd and a dependable guide in this passage. We MUST follow God and His commands. He is our ONLY hope for eternal life and security.

Peace be with you.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Wii Fit

OK, so I now that most everyone knows about the Wii. We got one a few Christmases ago for the kids. Since then there have been a lot of games that are now out for the Wii. The "new" thing and high in demand is the Wii Fit. We finally found one and bought it on Saturday. Now....we are all addicted to playing the Wii Fit. It's fun to do your fitness workout using the Wii Fit and sort of Challenging each other at the same time. You can set goals for yourself and it graphs your weight and BMI everyday. I love it because it also measures and tests your balance everyday. It tells you if you are putting more weight on either of your legs than the other.

There are many things you can do on Wii Fit; first you can pick your personal trainer( a guy or a girl), then you can do yoga, strength training, balance games or aerobics. It also keeps track of your favorite games. After finishing a session in strength training or yoga, your trainer lets you know how well you did and what you need to work on and rates you. Your score goes on a score board along with everyone else's Mii(this is the virtual you that you create) that is in your home. It is a good way to exercise and a fun way to do it while competing against members in your family.

If you don't have a Wii.....go get one and get the Wii Fit also. If you have a Wii already, what are you waiting for........go get the Wii Fit!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Adjusting

Well, we have now been in the states for about two and half months. Seems like we have been here longer than that somedays. It's nice to be back! I can't really say that I miss Italy itself, but I can say that I miss the friends that we made and of course our Chapel Family that we had their.

You know, moving takes a lot out of you, it doesn't matter how many times you move, it's always draining! This made our 12th move! And it certainly want be our last, we'll probably end up moving 2 more times for sure. At least we will be here for 2 1/2 to 3 years. This move was the move where I have probably gotten rid of the most things! I cleaned house in Italy before we moved getting rid of lots of "stuff"! It was nice unpacking when our things arrived and all of the "stuff" was already gone! Now my next tackle job is our attic! I need to go through things that were in storage for almost 6 years! Mostly it's Christmas decorations and other seasonal things.

Our kids have adjusted so well with this move. It was alittle, a lot harder, on the Princess to move this time. She made some really close friends in Italy. It doesn't get easier as you get older either. I am sure that the next move will be just as hard when it comes around. The Bookworm, was ready to move, so it didn't bother him! Boys will be boys! We Homeschooled at the start of the school year because we thought that we were only going to be living here for 6 months, but of course we all know that that changed, which we are so happy that it did! So after getting our house and really looking at the schools that our home is zoned for, we decided to put the kids back into Public School. We figured that it would be a way for the kids to make friends, plus the kids are able to walk/ride their bikes to school(yes, it's that close to our home). So the kids started their schools 4 days after we moved into our house. The Princess came home after the first day and had instantly made friends, a good group of Band Kids! Band Kids are such good kids!! The Hubby and I were Band Kids! The Bookworm, well, it took him a few days to make friends,as it always does, he is very cautious about who he hangs out with. But needless to say, he now has lots of friends and lots of neighborhood boys that he plays with as well. So they have only been in school for about 4 full weeks, they got put in when the schools were half-way through their second quarter. They got their report cards on Friday. The Hubby and I had already decided that if they brought home a "C" that it would be OK this time because they were getting adjusted, etc. Yes, a "C" in our home is an "F" to us, especially to the Hubby, because we know what our kids are capable of, especially after Homeschooling for several years! Anyway, the Bookworm got all A's and 1 B on his report card! And the Princess got 3 A'S and 3 B's on hers! We were so proud of them! Needless to say we knew that they were smart kids and were capable of getting the Honor Roll. Even under the pressure of moving from one country to another, moving into a new home, going back to "real" school and all of the other things that have gone on during our move, they managed to adjust.

So when we as adults think that we are the only ones that have all the adjusting to do, think about your kids, it's a lot harder on them most of the time than it is on us.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

SNOW

Yes, we have snow at our house! The kids and I awoke early got dressed in our snow decor, put our dog Sandy's coat and snow shoes on her and we went for a walk in the snow. We had a nice walk in the snow with the nice, crisp fresh air. When we got back from our walk, the kids made snowballs and were throwing them at....yes ME! And of course Sandy was going crazy in the snow, she always does! She runs and eats it like a mad dog!

Last night the phone rang and it was a recording from the School District saying that school was canceled for today. I guess they wanted to go ahead and be prepared so that there wouldn't be any confusion on if kids went to school today or not. So my kids are happy, hanging out, their three day weekend has turned into a now 4 dayer, who knows, if it keeps snowing like it is, it could be a 5 dayer!

The kids are excited about a snow day, but lets face it, after living in Europe where it "really" snows, this is nothing! But still, it's snow and it's pretty and it doesn't snow in SC all the time! The last time it snowed was in 2003 before we moved to Germany and the kids were only 6 and 4 and they were both sick with pnemonia! The poor things couldn't even go outside and play in it, so the Hubby and I went out and made a two sided snowman for them. One side so that they could see from our front door and the other side so that the people passing by our house could see. Pretty unique.......yes it was!

Monday, January 12, 2009

My Favorite Words....

If you know me, you know that a few of my favorite words are: Cheap, Discount, On Sale, Reduced and FREE!! I think that most of us like it when we come across a really good deal, and boy do I have one to share with all of you today, but first I have to give credit where credit is due...........THANKS MOM!

I talked with my Mom at lunch time today, like I do most every day, yes people you heard me, I talk to my Mom like everyday(even when I lived in Europe I called her EVERYDAY)! Anyway, my Mom told me that she had been online registering with a variety of different restaurants. She said that you could go to restaurant sites online and subscibe to their e-mail/newsletter and that you could get great deals such as FREE dessert, appetizers, or meals just for signing up, oh yeah, and most will even send you a gift coupon on your birthday too! How cool is that!

So this afternoon I have been online checking out my most FAVORITE restaurants and signing up! It's easy to do. I think I signed up for about 15 restaurants! So check it out, why not, it's free. Here are some restaurants to get you started(sorry folks that are in Europe, it want help you out any!)Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, Ruby Tuesday, Red Robin, Chik-fil-a, Cracker Barrel, AppleBee's, Olive Garden, Captain D's & Zaxby's just to name a few.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

It's A New Year

Monday started our "new year". The hubby went back to work after being off for nearly 2 months since we moved from Italy.....not complaining, he needed a break after having command! The kids went back to school on Monday after having 2 weeks off for Christmas break. They had a great break, they spend half of their time at their Poppy and Nana's house......we couldn't get them to come home! Poppy and Nana bought them both each a brand new 4-wheeler for Christmas! Needless to say the kids want to go there and spend the night whenever they can! As for me, it's just me and the dog and cat during the day. Monday I cleaned all day, yesterday I went to look for a desk for upstairs. We need several pieces for our Bonus Room; a new computer desk/hutch, small entertainment center for Extra TV/Wii/X-Box and I would love to have two nice over-stuffed chairs and an ottoman for upstairs as well. I am finding that it is very hard to find "traditional" furniture stores anymore! Oh well, I'll eventually find something that will work and please my taste and budget!

As for today, it is rainy off and on, I plan to stay in and organize the garage as much as I can without the Hubby's help. There are somethings that he has to help me with. I have several boxes full and overflowing of things to get rid of.....I see a yard sale in my future in the Spring! My dinner is already on the stove cooking slowly for tonight, it should be done at around 5:30;dinner time. As for now, I am going to get off the computer and get busy!