There's a little Disney in all of us!

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Disney World? Well if I haven't let me just tell you right now that I love the place, could go every year, seriously! I know there are those out there who can say been there, done that and bought the t-shirt and would never care about returning for the rest of their lives. Me on the otherhand, I'm just the opposite. My first visit was between my 8th and 9th grade summer vacation. Just got a taste of Disney then. But as an adult, I returned in October of 2000 for the millenium celebration with my oldest son Jonathan, who was at the time 7 yrs old. It was so much fun to see Disney through the eyes of a child. To have several days there and really get to see the "big" things. Since then I have been several more times (2002, 2003, 2007) and will be going again in just a week! I can honestly say that I have not seen everything, so this trip I plan on riding a few of the rides that I have missed in the past (The Tea Cups, Soarin' and I know there are still a few others) , but still ride my favorites (Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Bugs Life, Test Track, Aerosmith's Rock-n-roll roller coaster). This time we will be taking Sara our soon to be 2 yr old daughter for the first time. I can't wait to see her expression. This will be Noah's second trip, he was just 10 1/2 mo old the last time, so he will really enjoy this trip. We also will celebrate Jonthan's 17th birthday while we are there. We will get to spend a week this time over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I have never been down there this late in the year and I am excited to see how Disney does Christmas, I'm sure it park will be decked out in wonderful decorations. Hopefully we will get several Family Christmas picture opportunities and will be able to share them with everyone when we get back.

As for Christmas and birthday presents, I think we got it covered!

T minus 1 week and counting, watch out Orlando the Bodiford's are coming to town!

Christmas Time is here....

I just love this time of year when you can start to pull out all the Christmas decorations, yes you heard me right. The sooner the better, if you ask me! We have officially had our Christmas tree up since Nov 6th, at the begging and pleading of our soon to be 4 yr old Noah. Which is fine by me, because yours truly has been know to put her tree up before Halloween in the past. Crazy, maybe to some, but not in my family. We are genetically inclinded to put our decorations up early. But thankfully we do take the lights down after Christmas and do not leave them up all year (we may be of hillybilly decendents but we are no rednecks!)

My biggest splurge was two years ago when I bought a prelit 9 ft Christmas tree from Sam's Club, let me just tell you, these prelit trees simplify everything. The person that came up with this idea should get like a Nobel Peace Prize or something! I pull the tree out of the big storage bag its in and put the stand together, then put the three sections up, fluff and plug in the the lights and voila.....instant gratification! Saves you like 2 hours or more of wrestling with lights. This year my splurge was the 100 count unbreakable orniments from Sam's for $34, I dediced to get these mainly because I have a soon to be 4 yr old Noah and a soon to be 2 yr old Sara who hand like to touch, grab and pull! And I must say they look fabulous!

But I am a bit snobbish when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree:
You only use white non flashing lights, no tinsle (hate that stuff), orniments should have a color scheme, prefer no garland either but have been known to use it ever now and then.
See I am crazy!

I'll have to post a picture later of this years tree.............

Been a little lacking in the posting department

Wow, can't believe it has been several months since I posted anything to my blog. Amazing how time flies and just life in general just gets busier and busier, leaving very little time for the simple things. Well today is one of those days that I am reflecting and just enjoying the quietness. You see, "quiet" is a very rare thing in this house these days. With four busy children its a commodity by any means. So when a quiet day presents itself I take full advantage of it.

This day was not planned, just happened by circumstance, you see, I have been fighting a cold for the past several days and have not felt up to par, so when my work called this morning and asked if I wanted to be on-call, I gladly took it. My wonderful husband was nice enough to get the little ones ready and took them to the sitter so I could stay home and rest. It was nice to get some extra sleep without any interuption, can you believe I woke up at 11am? I was shocked too! I finally manage to get some motivation and decided to go downstairs and wrap some Christmas presents while I do not have prying eyes interupting. The only sound being made is coming from my computer, playing Christmas music and the sound of wrapping paper being cut and folded around presents. Then I manage to go under the stairs and start pulling out Christmas decorations to put out and on the tree. This is like a walk down memory lane for me. I see decorations from the years gone by, those handmade by a tiny child who is tiny no more, that bring back warm and fuzzy memories. Look at old Christmas cards that have been sent over the last 20 years from family and friends. Ornaments that have been given to me by my dear sweet grandma, who is no longer with us. These hold a very dear and special place in my heart. My grandma was a Christmas baby and she loved the holidays like no other, it was always a time to get together with family, talk and catch up on all the things going on in everyone lives, eat and open gifts. Christmas just seems like such a magical time, I love seeing my two littlest children getting excited at all the lights and decorations. I can only hope as my children grow up that they see the importance of family and not the importance of the gifts. That they look back and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas: CHRIST! The birth of our Lord and Saviour, the One who loved us enough to lay down his life on the cross. How lucky we are to have a God that loves us THAT much!

Pondering the last 39 years......

Received a birthday card from my mother the other day and she wrote a quick little note on the inside and one thing stuck in my mind that she said, it was simply "Where has the last 39 years gone?"
I too wonder where all that time has gone, if you stop and think about it, that is almost 4 decades ... a meer 2,028 weeks ....14,244 days (give or take a leap year) .....341,856 hrs ......and a whopping 20,511,360 minutes. Kind of puts a new perspective on when you say you'll get to something next week or maybe tomorrow or in a few minutes. Time is ever continuing, we spend our childhood waiting for summer vacations and Christmas or that next birthday, seems like as children they took forever. But now as an adult, they arrive way to fast. I look back and think about all those little moments that I took for granted and now wish that I could have lingered there just a bit longer. I will never get a chance to hug my daddy or tell him how much I love him again, well at least not here on earth. I will never get to talk to my grandma on the phone again and hear her voice, the one that praised me every step of the way in my life.
You often wonder along this journey that if you might have made different choices, would you have ended up in a similar place in your life that you are now? I don't believe that things happen by chance, but that God put us where we needed to be at any given time. We have choices to make, some good and some not so good, but hopefully we have learned from our mistakes. I can say over my last 39 years that I have made some poor choices along the way, but I am happy with where I am now. I have a wonderful family, a husband that dearly loves me, four uniquely wonderful children, who all have something special about them, a job that I love doing that has blessed me with more "moments" in others lives then I can ever count and a wonderful God and savior, that with Him I have nothing to fear.
I can only hope that if I am blessed with another 39 years that I can look back over my life and say it was good!

Shoes of Grief

I am wearing a pair of shoes.

They are ugly shoes.

Uncomfortable Shoes.

I hate my shoes.

Each day I wear them, and each day I wish I had another pair.

Some days my shoes hurt so bad that I do not think I can take another step.

Yet, I continue to wear them.

I get funny looks wearing these shoes.

They are looks of sympathy.

I can tell in others eyes that they are glad they are my shoes and not theirs.

They never talk about my shoes.

To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable.

To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them.

But, once you put them on, you can never take them off.

I now realize that I am not the only one who wears these shoes.

There are many pairs in the world.

Some women are like me and ache daily as they try and walk in them.

Some have learned how to walk in them so they don't hurt quite as much.

Some have worn the shoes so long that days will go by before they think of how much they hurt.

They never talk about my shoes.
To learn how awful my shoes are might make them uncomfortable.
To truly understand these shoes you must walk in them.
But, once you put them on, you can never take them off.
I now realize that I am not the only one who wears these shoes.
No woman deserves to wear these shoes.

Yet, because of the shoes I am a stronger women.

These shoes have given me the strength to face anything.

They have made me who I am.

I will forever walk in the shoes of a woman who has lost a child.

Author Unknown

Would have been 4 yrs old now!

Today I reflect back and wonder how different today might have been had the precious little baby I was carrying would have been born and what he/ she would have looked like on his/her 4th birthday. Unfortunately that little life was not meant to be here on earth. My precious baby left us on Oct 4th 2004, but today would have been the expected due date...May 20th. It's one of those days that I anticipate every year with a sadness. Instead of having a birthday to celebrate, I have a day to reflect. This time 4 yrs ago me and my husband planted a beautiful maple tree outside of our bedroom window, each year I have watched it grow, I have noticed a robin or two use it to build a nest and lay eggs, I have watched the beautiful flame red and salmon colored leaves in the autumn fall to the ground...that tree may not represent much to the common passer by in the neighborhood, but to me, it means a lot. I know one day I will be able to see and hold that little baby in Heaven, but for now, I have a tree to nuture and watch grow.

God did bless me with two more beautiful, vibrant and healthy children and for that I am thankful. But for now I just want to say Happy Birthday my Angel!

Try Me!

It's a known fact that there are some sermons from church that really stick with you. Well this past Sunday was one of those. Pastor Mark preached out of Malachi 3:10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try Me on this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be enough room to receive it.” This really spoke to me on Sunday. I know in the past I have not always tithed accordingly, but I at the beginning of the year I challenged myself to do so. It is always amazing to see the blessings God sends your way when you do what is asked of you. I am one of those people who feel like they HAVE TO have a safety net of a certain amount set aside just in case. I have survived through some difficult financial times as a single mom in the past, it's amazing to see where I have come from in the last 10 years and to now be in this place due to God's grace. When you put all your trust in the Lord, He will always provide. Just this past week I took a leap of faith and paid off my last credit card in full....do you know how amazing that felt? The only outstanding balances I have are my home and my vehicle. God is good and has continued to bless me financially when I least expect it.

What an amazing God we serve!

The newest addition to our family.....wrinkles!

We have added a new addition to our family, his name is Sullivan "Sully". He is super cute and very playful. The kids really enjoy him and I think even our old dog Donut, is excited to have a friend to play with too! We have had him for about 4 wks now and he is growing fast. I'll have to add some new pics later as he grows into our family.

Big Bro and Lil Sis

It amazes me that so many people think my youngest two are twins, would you believe they are two years and three days apart? Well they are. We thought we were done when we had Noah, but seriously thinking about it knowing the older two (who are 16 and 10) would be gone and out of the house before we know it, and leaving him all alone. So we decided to try once more and were blessed with our beautiful daughter Sara. They are so much fun to watch together, she tries her hardest to keep up with him. Soon she will be bigger then him. They are like Mutt and Jeff, ketchup and mustard, always together. I hope it remains that way through all the years to come!