Journey Through Life: Mother and Daughter: So Much To Be Thankful For!

Wow, I cannot believe it is already the last few days of September. Time just seems to be passing me by so quickly. Amy is 6 and half months old already and it just seems so crazy. It seems like yesterday that Laurie and I were driving to the hospital that morning. It just still amazes me how God has taken my life and just turned it around so much. He took me from a life of sin, despair and darkness to a life full of happiness, peace and joy. He has shown me that there is more to life than what I was doing. It has just been so amazing to see how God has been working in my life, the past few weeks. I do not think we always take the time to stop and reflect on how God has worked in our lives. Every day I learn something new. It is not always big and many times, it is small, but God is continuing to teach me every day. Over the last few weeks, I have just seen the joy in trusting God fully with everything in life and trusting that when he closes one door he opens a window. He does not leave us in a rut and he is always faithful making sure we are taken care of. I am doing a bible study with a wonderful group of women on the book of Colossians and it has been amazing so far. It has taught me how much we have to rely on God for life. How important prayer is and how much God truly loves us enough to bring us out of darkness into light and into his kingdom. I feel so blessed that God has just given me so many good people to surround me. There are people that have come into my life that I cannot imagine not being there now. They have all influenced my life one way or another. All these people have just helped me to grow stronger in my Faith in some way or another.

It has been an amazing experience just to watch my little girl grow. She is 6 and a half months already (yeah I know I mentioned that already). She has now started to be able to pick up finger food and get it to her mouth, which is a huge help when she eats lunch because I can get something done while she eats. She has started to get into EVERYTHING now and I feel like I am always saying no that is not for you. She's definitely gotten on this kick of chewing on paper, which is hard sometimes because it's hard to keep an eye on her twenty four seven. She is scooting herself around on her tummy and gets to the other side of the room rather quickly. It is crazy to think that she is probably going to be crawling in the next few weeks. I do not know that her mommy is ready for that stage yet. I am not sure that I am ready for her to be getting into things even more. It was funny today though, I went into the living room to see what she was doing and she was taking the plant our of the pot by the fireplace. Let’s just say she had dirt all over the carpet. I finally decided to tie the fireplace doors together because she keeps opening them and closing them, in the process pinching a finger or two. She is doing a lot more of sitting up when I put her in the sitting position. She actually sits and plays with her toys instead of lays and plays with her toys. It is just a blessing every time she advances into something new; before I know it, she is going to be all grown up on her mommy. However, I do not want to think about that quite yet.

Tomorrow is my last day at Heidi's Farmstand; it is a joyous yet very sad. It is always a joyous moment when you submit yourself fully to the will of the Lord instead of trying to get around it. I am definitely going to miss working with the awesome people I work with and seeing the sunrise every morning. Although I am not sure, I can say I am not going to miss the early mornings. Tomorrow is also the first day of my FAVORITE season...fall. Fall has just so many happy memories, yet sad memories in it. I am definitely going to miss not being able to look out my window at the combine and tractors going through the fields. Being surrounded by trees is an adjustment for me, but I am slowly adjusting to it. It helps that this is the second year in a row that I am going to be missing harvest around home. I am definitely longing right now to help clean out the combine at the end of the season. Yeah, that might make me seem like a slight dork, but I can honestly say I enjoy making sure the grain tank is all cleaned out and make sure all the crooks and crannies are blown clean. My greatest memories of fall will always be riding in the combine with my grandfather. I miss those times. I even rode with him during high school when most kids would rather be doing other things. One of the greatest things of fall is that you get to wear sweatshirts and jeans. I have to say I love my sweatshirts and jeans (although I am starting to become more comfortable in skirts). With the slight chill in the air, a sweatshirt is just a great addition to an outfit. I get to cuddle up on the couch with Amy wrapped in a blanket and just sit snuggling with her for hours.

The thing that seems the craziest about this year is that my mom will have been gone for 8 years in about a month and a half. It does not seem like it has been that long ago, but at the same time it seems like it should be so much longer. I have wonderful memories of my mom and the time we spent together. I always enjoyed cuddling with my mom, especially during storms (which I used to be highly afraid of). Having Amy just has reminded me of the joys I had with my mom when I was a kid and makes me want to make sure Amy has those same great memories that I have of my mom. I was just thinking the other day of how I am going to explain to Amy that he grandma lives in Heaven. Someday when Amy is old, enough I will take her to see her grandmas' tombstone. I just want to make sure that Amy knows her name comes from a truly wonderful woman. A woman who was the definition of strong, I look forward to telling my daughter all about her grandmother; how someday she will see her when she gets to Heaven. I was talking with someone Wednesday about my mom and I was telling him that a few weeks after she died, I saw her standing in the living room clothed in white, just glowing. Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that she is in Heaven looking down.

One of the fruits of the spirit is love. I got to see firsthand the true definition of what I see as love, when I headed back to Illinois Labor Day weekend. My grandparents are the epitome of love. My grandmother had back surgery back in July. My grandfather just stepped in doing the cooking, helping her get ready in the morning; he even puts her shoes on for her. True love is someone who is eager to take care of someone without expecting something in return, no word of complaint, just joy and happiness. Talking with my grandma the day I was leaving to come home, I was amazed to hear that they have never yelled at each other. It just floored me to hear that, even in time of irritation and anger they never got to the point of yelling at each other. Shows how love endures all, even in the hard times. If I am not mistaken, they have been married for 56 years this year, maybe 57. I have a horrible memory. Anyways, they have just showed me a lot just through example how one should act.

This is Love!

Best Friend

and Aunt!

It will be a year that I started going to Alto church Columbus Day weekend. It is somewhat crazy that it has already been that long. I have to say I have met some wonderful people since I have been here in Alto. I have to say one of my greatest influences is my best friend Moonlight. Yeah, I know you are jealous of her name, lol. We became very fast friends. I went to church the Sunday of Columbus Day weekend and definitely hid by my aunt. Moonlight never once if I remember how she said it even saw me and she sees everyone on their first Sunday. Well I skipped the next weekend, and decided to come back the following weekend. From what I understand, she was encouraged to call me up and see if I wanted to hang out with her for a bit. That Saturday night was the start to a great friendship (sounds a little cliché I know). I remember that Saturday night quite distinctly. Playing through her ringtone list, seeing how much it would take to annoy Aaron, giving Aaron a horrible time (yeah believe it or not we did), don't really remember seeing much of Ben at all, but to say the least we had a good time. I remember the Sunday Moonlight asked me if I would be available to be a bridesmaid in her wedding, it was about two weeks before her engagement was announced. Let me tell you that was a long two weeks of waiting. We lived with each other for about two months and it was always said if you see smoke coming from Lansing Moonlight and Kasi got into some type of mischief. We were not that much of trouble I promise. She just showed me a lot by actions of what a life with Christ can be like and how much happier I could be. I could not say enough about Moonlight and how great of a best friend she is unless you wanted to read a three-page post about it and I am sure you all do not. So we will just say life would not be the same without our craziness and quiet conversations telepathically (which her husband will never understand). God has definitely blessed me with a great best friend and Amy with an amazing Aunt.