Thankful.

I'm Thankful for...

1.  My Savior Jesus Christ

2.  Forgiveness unto SALVATION!

3.  My Husband 

4.  Our precious baby boy

5.  Our amazing family

6.  Our health

7.  A home

8.  Transportation

9.  This time of year:)

10.  My job

11.  Food to eat

12.  Clean water

13.  Our crazy, full of life, Honor

14.  The opportunity to be a mommy

15.  Prayer

16. A heavenly home

17.  Church family

18. Friends

19.  Fresh air

20.  Sunshine

21.  Snow

22.  God's word

23.  Old people

24.  Kiddos

25. Laughter

26.  Fresh flowers

27.  My Aunt Karen Cookbooks

28.  Christmas Cards

29.  The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

30.  Turkey & Dressing

Can I only go to 30?  No way.  These are things I rattled off in about 1 minute.  If I tried to do a comprehensive list... we'd be here all day!  I could go on forever baby.  As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, may we remember to take the time to thank the Lord above for all of his blessings.

My mom shared a wonderful lesson on the ten lepers for our youth at church from Luke 17: 11-19.  Jesus healed TEN lepers and only ONE came back to thank him...  ONE.  It makes me so sad to think about how often I am like the other nine.  Going on with the everyday cares of my life, forgetting the one who made me whole. The one who life is all about.  The one who selflessly saved my soul by making the ultimate sacrifice.  I pray that I can be more like the one who fell on his face at the Lord's feet, giving him thanks.  This was such a wonderful Thanksgiving lesson from God's word.  Thanks Mo:)

 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Happy short work week, everyone!  Did I mention how thankful I am that it is only 1 more day until we get to see our sweet Daddy?  :-)

Toast or Turkey?

In the words of Charlie Brown, "I can't cook a Thanksgiving Dinner.  All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast."  I'm all about food experimenting, that is my middle name--but unfortunately, I am no cook!  When the Charlie Brown is asked to cook a Thanksgiving-esque feast for Peppermint Patty, Snoopy gets to work and cooks up a little something similar to what the Mr. might say is somewhat similar to the meals I serve up.  Popcorn, pretzels, jellybeans, and toast...

Given that Cam and I eat early suppers, we are always in the mood for an evening snack.  Since A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is an everyday thing around here in November, I thought we'd just have a late evening picnic in the living room with Snoopy's menu for Thanksgiving while we caught our 123,465th viewing.  I think Cam approved...and may have also began wondering what in the world was happening to his momma.  Hey.  It's the holidays guys;)  I smell a new tradition.

This lovely idea was inspired by these sweet cupcakes in a post from Just Jenn Recipes on Pinterest.  Check it out!

And you can't forget to tune in for the ABC broadcast of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 26th (8-9 pm ET).  Might want to throw together your own bowl of randomness to snack on while you watch...Can't wait!:)  Happy Friday, y'all!

4 For everything God created is good, and nothing (even toast, pretzels, and jellybeans) is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4-5

A Wednesday in November

So I was driving down the road early this morning before work, on my way to take Cam to my grandparents house, and everything just seemed to stop.  The moment froze long enough for me to sweetly etch it into my memory for the long keep (I hope).  

Silvester's heater was working overtime to fight the 11 degree chill outside his doors, leaves were twirling around in front of him as we drove alone the dark road.  Cam was calling for his" "fra fryer" (pacifier), it started off soft and then became a fierce roar followed by "mommy, mommy," and "pease, pease" (please). Honor sat quietly staring at Cam for once in her puppy life, all while my Christmas music softly murmured in the back ground.   I smiled quietly to myself and, though cliche, realized these truly are the days.  The ones I never want to forget.  The days that I know I will always want to relive to get that warm and fuzzy feeling back again.  Okay, maybe I want to forget my lion mane hairday, but other than that...what precious moments I hurry through every. single. day.

It's times like reading a book, giggling over putting one of Cam's play hats on Honor, or chasing Cam in a game of "I'm gonna getcha!" that I know God reminds me of why the stress is worth it.  Missing Cade, waking up early, going to bed late, and running around like a headless chicken actually end up making sense when you reflect on the big picture and have faith that all the loose ends will tie up soon.

As we're a mere week away from Thanksgiving, I can't help but think about how bad I am to rush through every part of the day, including failing to take time to notice moments like this.  

I've got to get this over with, hurry here, and make sure I do this before I do that...completely only surviving life on autopilot.  Sometimes I let work and the other things I am consumed with generate an anxious feeling of making it all seem impossible.  Which then almost always dampens my spirits and overwhelms me enough to give up on the day and fall asleep.  Yep, that and this daylight savings time hoop-la are to blame for making me take naps and go to sleep by 8pm.  It's enough to make a person feel crazy and sad all at the same time!  

I have good news though.  My God says all things are possible through him and that he will never put more on us than we can handle.  I think I am going to trust Him with that little reminder and live in the moment more as I so long to do.  I think this is a great area for us mommies to lift one another up.  Do you ever feel overwhelmed and like you can't do it all?  Do you ever think... man, I wish she would just shut up?  Okay, okay.  I have rambled enough.  I will leave you with this.  There is no place better to go than to the rock!  Care to join me in praying over this?:}  Share comments/requests/stories/bad hairdays below...

Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. 24Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 25And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? 27Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.32Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Matthew 6:22-32

Weekend Tales: Thankful Countdown

Ooooooshhhh!  MAN, is it cold.  Snowflake flurries are dancing around everywhere outside my window.  Days like this really can put one in the Christmas mood!  And the early darkness has been torturous convincing me to fall asleep oh, I don't know, at around EIGHT O'CLOCK every evening.  In fact, I kind of feel like dozing off for a long winters nap with Cam, but thanks to my new sleeping habits, I have major house work to catch up on.  That's where a big cup of coffee comes in handy and I may or may not be double crossing my fingers for a dusting big enough to be considered worthy of a snow day.  Hey, a girl can dream!  Speaking of an unexpected day off, I wouldn't mind a little repeat of our weekend!

I finally sat down and actually considered making a Christmas list.  I officially wrote down everyones names....and that's about it.  Why am I always such a procrastinator?  I really started to get in the Thanksgiving mood this weekend.  It always brings such warmth to the year when we can just sit back and reflect on our blessings and consider how thankful we should be every second of our lives.  

When I first learned I was going to be a mom, one of the first things that I got the most excited about was all of the magic I wanted to recreate for my own kids during the holidays.  Similar from the kind I recall from my own childhood.  Some of the sweetest memories I can remember involved this time of the year.  Maybe that's why I love it so much.  And as much as I love Christmas, I never want to skip the special celebration of Thanksgiving.  This weekend, I decided to figure out some Cam appropriate Thanksgiving fun to speed up the countdown to joining daddy for a chilly, thankful feast we are sure to never forget:)  Since then, we have pulled out some turkey books, created some festive felt characters for our magnet board, strung some leaf garland for the tee pee, and made a few interesting hats...

Whew!  Well, I am ready to call it a day.  After all this Thanksgiving talk, I may just skip Dancing With the Stars for Love at The Thanksgiving Day Parade...just maybe.  Good night!

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalms 136

Thanksgiving Favorites

Happy Saturday, everyone!  I am soooooo happy to be able to say it's the weekend.  And even more exciting?  Yesterday, the Mr reminded me that it is only a week from this Wednesday that Cam and I will be flying to see him for Thanksgiving!  Those 11 days can't get here soon enough.  Speaking of Thanksgiving... do any of you have any special Thanksgiving traditions you are looking forward to?  Ours typically go a little something like this:  bake an Oreo cheesecake the night before, wake up early to catch the Snoopy blimp and Santa in the Macy's Thanksgivings Day Parade, and then we hit the road to share the day with the rest of the family.  After all that fun, we usually brave the crazy Black Friday crowds purely for the entertainment, but this year, since we are traveling to North Dakota, things may be a tad non-traditional.  I'd at least like to squeeze in the parade while we eat a little something festive...fingers crossed:)

Besides being completely swamped with IEP's, potty training a Golden Doodle, and keeping a toddler entertained...we have been slowly decorating our Christmas Tree and dreaming of all of the fun things we'd like to do during the holidays.  Not that we are rushing Thanksgiving or anything, we just had to have the Mr. help put up the tree before we left for Florida since he won't actually be home til a week before Christmas:(  The decorations are slowly but discreetly making their way on the tree.  It seems Cam thinks the round ornaments are balls, so he plucks them off and chucks them into the ground in hopes of a bounce or two, but instead...the glass crystals fly everywhere.  We must work on this.

Here are some of my favorite things for Thanksgiving this year.  Have you ran across anything?   Please share:)

 {placemats} {candle} {gobble gobble} {thankful} {pancake turkey}

Have a great weekend!

Monster Needs A Christmas Tree...and a Puppy!

If you follow me on instagram, you have already figured out that Cam had an early Christmas present just before we left for Florida.  You see, this little boy is in love with animals.  Especially dogs.  Everytime we see one he yells, "dooooooogggggssss," while simultaneously pointing and waving hello.  

We haven't had the best of luck with our sweet furry friends lately.  Since our last tragic pet experience in June, we have been isolated from the pet world (besides our current waning population of goldfish).  For almost two months, I have been reading, researching and trying to find the best dog for our family in hopes of finding one just in time for Christmas.  Well, our little fur ball came a little earlier than expected----try the week before Halloween.  But not to worry, we put up our Christmas tree just in the nick of time:)

After all that reading and research, everything pointed me toward a Golden Retriever to be the best family dog.  Only one problem...they shed like it's going out of business and the Mr. is allergic to dogs.  I was devastated to stay the least, but still had a gut feeling in one way or another, this was the breed for us.  I also favored the Golden because of their popularity in the therapy world (I would love to get certified in pet therapy).  There I go with my wild dreams and crazy ideas...

One thing that was brought to my memory from this experience?  Even in our smallest cares and concerns, the good Lord provides.  It turns out, as I was browsing Facebook with a friend. we found a litter of Golden Doodle puppies right in our area!  We had played around with the idea of a Golden Doodle, due to their Golden Retriever look without the shedding (and they're hypoallergenic).  I just had to convince the Mr. that the name wasn't so bad (he hated the doodle part).  Such a man!  Cam and I decided to visit these puppies two days before we were supposed to leave for Florida to pick her out and make a deposit.  In the end, in true Cassidy fashion, we couldn't leave without her...Meet Miss Honor Adams:)

All of this took place before Halloween, so the only logical thing to do in order to explain to Cam the early Christmas shenanigans was via book.  Monster Needs a Christmas Tree explained everything...I think:)  Maybe by Christmas this little girl will be potty trained?  The perfect gift for mommy!

Weekend Tales: Frozen in Flordia

This time change, though the more favorable of the two, is giving me a run for my money!  I feel like I should be in bed at 7pm every night...the early darkness has me very confused.  Especially after such a action packed week in Flordia.  Shouldn't they offer some kind of special day off from work for that?  Like a special holiday.  Anybody out there hearing me?

Anyway.  I can't believe our week with the Mr. has already come and gone.  I really let myself get spoiled to his corny jokes and giant bear hugs.  I can rest easy in knowing that we definitely soaked in every moment we got to spend with him this week.  And also in just 3 more weeks until we will be jet setting back to North Dakota to spend Thanksgiving with him.  I think we can make it until then...

If you missed it (and actually care) I already shared Halloween here.  Again, it was everything I had hoped it would be leaving me even more excited for how much Cam will love it by next year.  What to be next...what to be next...;)

Would you believe me if I told you that the outdoor wedding we got to be a part of this weekend in Flordia was basically a frozen tundra with bone chilling winds?  Well, don't stop believing because I have never been so cold in all of my life!  Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little...but it was cold, people!  

Rehearsal, Halloween 

Not to worry, the whole thing was beautiful, especially the bride and groom.  And really...how can you ruin an outdoor fall wedding?  Holiday weddings are my favorite.  As for Cam?  He would tell you that he especially loved the bright lights and boogie.  We literally had to drag him off the dance floor screaming.  Is this my kid?  

He wasn't exactly the best ring bearer.  He looked adorable, but had a major toddler melt down when it was our turn to walk down the isle.  Turns out...the swinging game isn't the best thing to do on the way to a wedding.  I know, who knew!?  When we sat him down to head down the isle, he remembered our earlier little game of swing, and casually reached up and grabbed our hands to walk down the isle (leaving me very excited as this is NOT characteristic of him) then to my terror and amusement, I heard him shout, "2, 2, WHEEEEEE...."  Pause.

Cam thought:  I have their hands, I counted, WAIT a minute, they're not swinging me!  I refuse! He then turns to me reaching up and screaming in rage and fury.  Ring bearer FAIL.  Sorry, Jacob and Savannah!  At least he was cute?

Aren't they adorable?:)

I'm pretty sure I have a million funny stories I could share about this week, but for the sake of my sleep, sanity, and the Hallmark Christmas Movie Marathon...I will start wrapping it up.  We laughed until we cried, scramble shopped for things we could never find (only to end up buying another stuffed animal), let Cam watch Double Double Toil and Trouble one too many times, and got to be a part of something very special.  I always feel good when I can look back at an experience and feel certain wonderful memories were made.  God is good, God is GREAT:)  Have a great week, everyone!