Perspective

In my quest to become an optomist, I have come to realize something.
It's all about perspective and the way you look at life. You can really be in a horrible situation, but finding some good in it will turn it around and help you see the bright side. What did you do? You changed your perspective.

The other day I had a bad afternoon. Thankfully it wasn't the whole day, but a good part of my afternoon was spent sulking and having a pity party for myself, crying on and off about our house situation. I was a stressed out about the thought of packing everything, living with someone else, not knowing exactly when we were going to have another place of our own. I argued with Nate about it over the phone and it was all in all a bad few hours.

It carried over into church that night and I was still having a hard time with everything and feeling extrememly sorry for myself when I walked into the house of God--something else that my dear husband has taught me is not a good idea. So the Lord had to change my heart while I was there. So my bad attitude continued.

Until a friend told me that she recently had blood work come back that was positive for a possibly fatal disease. She's not been married long, pregnant and the disease could pass on to her child.

Suddenly my life wasn't so rough. Suddenly everything that I was going through--if you could even say that--seemed so small in comparison. I cried the whole way home from church and this time it wasn't for myself. It was for the pain that she and her husband were experiencing.

My perspective changed. I looked at it in a different light. There were worse things that could be happening to me right now and this one was nothing to complain about!

More tests were taken and after much prayer, she got more results: Negative! Praise the Lord! If anything, I learned a lesson from this that no matter what comes your way, someone else always has it worse.

The glass is either half full or half empty. May we always live our lives to the fullest that they can possibly be!

Recent Pictures

I took the kids to the park and tried to push Foofer in the swing but she did not like it at all and that didn't last long!

The first "REAL" macaroni and sauce! Yeah!
The little girl I watch now. I also watch her brother who is 2. I do it 2 days a week--learning what it's like to be a Mom of 3! We have a blast!
Brookie and Trinity are 6 months apart but just about the same size! Trinity is so happy and smiley and cute!
Havin a bad day!
At Veronica's bridal shower. We had an Italian theme with the BEST food. It was so much fun! And I won't even TALK about the chocolate cake cause you will be mad that I didn't save you any! :)

Don't Whine, SHINE!!!

My husband recently told me that I am very negative and always look at the down side of situations. I told him thanks and that he was right and then really began to notice for myself how whiny I really am! It was hard to take because I like to think of myself as a happy, upbeat person, but I don't come across that way when I am always complaining about the one minute, tiny, bad thing in a circumstance. I know how much I despise negative people, and I hate to thing that people would feel the same way about me!
I listen to Dr. Laura and she has recently written a book called, "Stop whining, start living." If you listen to her I am sure you have heard of it. It's a book that I am going to invest a little money and time into.

(Disclaimer: I know that she is not Christian, but her opinions are RIGHT and morally based. If you don't believe me, read one of her other books "The proper care and feeding of husbands," and you will see that the principle of it runs all through the Bible on the way that wives should treat their husbands.)

Anyway, back to the whining.
When we were younger we had this little contest one time that my dad did with us. He picked out our main weakness and we couldn't "do it" for a week. I remember now--mine was complaining! So this is something that I have been sinning in (not struggling with--it's a sin) for pretty much my whole life!
I am really working on it. I am trying so hard to look at the bright side of everything, and have even got a compliment from my hubby once for it! :) The feeling of opening my mouth to whine and the shutting it is fabulous (when it happens) and I know that it's God helping me get the victory!

And I thank God for an honest husband! I wonder if I would have gone through life being a true whiner if it were not for him! Praise the Lord.

Adam's AIT Graduation

This weekend we traveled to Fort Sill, OK where we spent the weekend for Adam's graduation. This was a second phase of training (more like school) that he had to go through and passed with flying colors! Praise the Lord! We had an awesome time being able to spend Saturday and Sunday together until he graduated on Monday afternoon.

Serious and all ready to go Adam and the Pastor at the Army center where he has pastored for 6 years. It is a great work and the Pastor and his family are a huge blessing! Adam was so blessed to find him while he was there!
I was with Nate, Danny and Adam for 2 days before my Mother-in-law got there. So you can imagine what I had to put up with! The smells! :) But it was so much fun and we were really crazy together. It was a blast!
Crazy...as you can see!
We matched on Sunday! We haven't worn these outfits both at the same time since we were first married so it was really fun!

Dad Simpson treated us all to Olive Garden on Sunday afternoon! I pigged out and do not regret it! :)

Enjoying delicious cornbread at Cracker Barrel.

Being congratulated by a fellow solider

We are so proud of him! It's been a rough road but Adam is doing really well and graduated with honors at the top of his class. He prayed at the ceremony, led the soldiers creed and was given special recognition. It was great to see and made us very proud, despite how he has gotten to this point. The Lord can work through anything and knows what is going on when we think that all is lost!

The Sister Bond

For my birthday, Claire got me this page a day calender that is titled "sisters". I love the sayings in it and have put one on my fridge that says
"I could never love anyone as I love my sisters." It's so true. The other people I love (mainly, my husband and daughter) are loved by me with a just-as-special love, just a different love. It's a love just as true, pure and strong, just in a different way.

This post is dedicated to my sisters, and to all of you who are and have sisters that know exactly what I am talking about! These are some of the favorite sayings off the calender that I have loved so far. I love you Claire, Anna, Deb, Mary, Julia, Lydia and Nicolea!

"My Sisters have taught me how to live."

"The sister bond if often greater than that with a friend..."

"I recognize how crucial my relationship with my sisters is in the definition of myself."

"You keep your past by having sisters. As you get older, they are the only ones who don't get bored if you talk about your memories."

"When Sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?"

"There isn't an outsider anywhere who wouldn't appreciate and envy the tremendous advantage that sisters have, if properly utilized, against all odds."

"When we fought...we knew the most tender nerve to strike. But when we decided to cooperate, we became a force to reckon with."

Benefits of H2O

I have finally started drinking 8 glasses of water a day. I have always loved water, but knew that I never drank enough. Now I have been drinking more because I know it is so good for me. To drink the right amount of water a day, you really have to make a point of it.

Drinking 8 glasses of water a day (or 1/2 of your body weight in ounces) can help:

• Hydration of internal organs, enabling them to function properly
  
• Hydration of skin, keeping it looking fresh and healthy (I like this one!)
  
• Weight control
  
• Increased energy
  
• Alleviating/preventing a variety of ailments and keeping the immune system healthy
  
• Regulating body temperature
  
• Flushing out waste and toxins
  
• Maintaining overall health
  

We are made up of 70% water, so water is vital to our being! When you drink something caffeinated, drink an extra glass to rehydrate your body. Caffeine can dehydrate you, so make sure you drink extra water if you have a Starbucks or even a tea!

"Uh-Oh"

We've been hearing a lot of that around here. It just popped out of Foofer's mouth one day. Nate dropped something and said, "Uh-Oh" and she repeated right after him, clear as day, "uh-Oh!" So Nate and I have never laughed so hard in our lives. The hysterical thing is, she knows what it means. She sees a hanger on the floor in a store: "Uh-Oh". She drops her toy: "Uh-Oh". She throws her whole sandwhich (all 3 million pieces) all over the floor: "Uh-Oh"--3 million times, to make sure she accounts for each piece.

In this video she doesn't say it very clearly. But this is just to show you what she's been doing ad some of her little antics. Hope you enjoy! :)

From a very proud (and I'm sure annoying) first time Mom!!!

I Love "Firsts!"

I love all of Brooklynne's firsts. I don't love them as much when they are not the way I expected.

For example, eating spaghetti out of a can is blasphemous to the Italian people, and that is not something that I do on a regular basis. Come to think of it, that is something that I never do (unless it's free).

My daughter ate her first macaroni and sauce yesterday--a big milestone for Italian babies. I mean, this is a big one: pictures, video camera, memories of the little cute face splattered with tomato sauce.

Hers was out of a can.


I do have a reason, though and I can explain. I was grocery shopping yesterday and they were handing out samples of these frozen meals and one was spaghetti and sauce. I gave Brooke a few bites, and when she started screaming uncontrollably when it was gone, I figured she was hungry since she hadn't eaten at lunch.



When your kid is screaming her head off at the store and you feel like everyone is staring at you, you have to get out of there fast or else take care of the problem.

So I am literally flying to the baby aisle, grab a container of "Spaghetti and meatballs", pop it open, leave the saucy lid on the shelf for someone else to pick up and proceed to stuff it in her mouth.



Relieved that she has finally shut up, more relieved that I was somewhere that they sold food, taking deep breath's and forcing my heart rate to go down. Not the way I imagined her first experience with the most famous and delicious food to the Italian people.



Thankfully she didn't eat all of it, so we were still able to experience the tradition when I got home in a very "Med-i-gaan" (broken English for "American") sort of way. We got the cute picture and took a video that will bore us to death in a few years when we watch it.



I have to admit that she loved it, so I can't imagine how it will be when she tries Mommy's for the first time--or grandma's, or great grandma's and grandpa's for that matter!

Thank God for FAMILY!

Here are some pictures of our family night last night. The Simpson's started a family night every Monday a few years ago and it's definately something that we all look forward to each week! Verity and me. After this she proceeded to take a bunch of pictures all by herself!

Everyone sitting around talking to Adam and doing the webcam. The kids loved it!

'Riah and Brookie playing together :)


God has blessed me with fantastic in-laws. Nate's Mom and Dad treat me like their own daughter, Joanna and I are like sisters, and the guys...well, they are ordinary guys...but we love each other to death and are always teasing each other! And of course, the kids are a blast. It's amazing that Jo has 3 now! I am so happy here and am so thankful for the way the Lord worked it out for me to have such an awesome family here seeing that I am away from mine.