A Blessed Birthday!!!

Today was such a wonderful day.  It started out as me and my sweet friend, Kristan, skipping out on PTO workday and meeting.  We went to Fort Smith and went shopping and ate at Cheddars (so yummy)  It was a good day!!  I have had so many facebook messages, I counted up to 100 and then I lost count.  I have received birthday cards, a sweet gift from my sister in Texas, and flowers from my parents, that are still at the florist because I wasn't at home. But I will call them tomorrow!!! 

But still there were eventful things happening today.  Caleb has been wanting a haircut, so after school I took him to the barber and Mr Richie found a tick on Caleb's head, buried I might add, so we had to pull it off and didn't get it all, so we left there and went straight to Kristan's house and she nursed him and got some more of it out, but now we are going to the Dr. tomorrow just to make sure it is all okay.  I am concerned as any mom would be, so better safe than sorry!! So from Kristan's I left Kaitlyn there and brought sweet Ella home with me and Caleb.  Eddie, me , Caleb and Ella went to the Bulldog diner for dinner, and there was the barber of all places and told Eddie about the tick, because when I called Eddie I was a little in panic mode!!  LOL

And not forgetting to add that today is also Justin Beiber's birthday, sorry, but I do not have the Beiber fever.  LOL  but it is a funny note to add!!  He may be famous and blessed, I am just happy to be blessed!!!  He may have fame and fortune, but I am just happy with my simple life!!  So for what its worth Happy Birthday Justin Beiber!!!  LOL
Also, while at dinner Bro. Ronnie called to wish me Happy Birthday.  That just made my day even more special, so thank You Bro. Ronnie!!!  Then after dinner we met Kristan and swapped kids, and headed back home!!  And then Trisha came by and brought my favorite cookies, Oreo's!!  Though I keep saying I need to start a diet, so maybe tomorrow!! 

Today I may be 40, but I feel so young at heart!!  And it is just a number!!  I use to think 40 was OLD!!!!  But I really do think it is very young, and as I type this Caleb is asking is the tick still there and can it still suck his blood and did it reach his brain and he can still do math so he says he is ok and then he is off to saying momma  momma momma why is rutger part maltese and part yorkie and can we change his name, so I am beginning to wonder, maybe it did suck part of his brain, or maybe I am getting old.  Caleb is always asking a ton of questions!!! So if none of this makes no sense, it is because Caleb keep saying momma momma momma, I know he should be in bed, but he is such a night owl!!

I feel so blessed today to have such amazing friends and family!!!  I didn't have a big blowout party for my big 40, and that is just fine with me, I think today, this birthday, has been a really great birthday!!  God has truely blessed me and my family and I just thank him everyday for all the awesome friends he has put in my life!!  God is just amazing!! And I can't wait to see what God has planned, God has plans, from the very beginning he knows it all.  And he doesn't make it all perfect because then  we wouldn't learn anything at all, but God does know your plans, but you do have to be willing to let God work in your life, he sets the path in front of you, it's up to you to take the right path.  God loves you, he loves me, his love is soooo big!!  And I am so glad he loves me and has blessed me with an awesome Birthday!!! God has plans!!!

Jeremiah 29:11 

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

Cats, cats and more cats

This is seriously a story about keepin up with the Jones'.   We told the kids when moved in this house that they could have a cat.  So we back in the fall around September, we started search for "FREE" cats in the paper.  We found some and called about them.  We went to Fort Smith because our microwave oven stopped working and we HAD to have a microwave.  So we decided we would let them have one of cats, and the lady had 5 to begin with and was left with 3.  They were all siblings, so Eddie had said to just get all 3 of them so maybe they would stick around the house and not run away.  And let me not forget to mention that Eddie is "HIGHLY" allergic to cats.  Oh what did we get ourself into is what I kept asking myself. 

So with a microwave in the back of car and groceries, we stopped by this ladies house and got all three cats.  Eddie told me to drvie while he helped hold them.  The car started and that was it.  Cats don't really like a car ride, so the cat he was holding crawled up this front side and down his back and headed to the back of the car, scratching him of course and leaving whelps on him immediately.  I, of course laughed, but he wasn't.  The kids were freaking out because the cats were all over the car.

Finally, we got home and we all piled out and got the cats set up OUTSIDE. And things were good.  Then we went out of town at Christmas and left them plenty of food, but apparently, their forest friend, Mr. Possum, was enjoying their food.  We had a friend feeding the outside dog and checking on the cats and they were all there until New years day.  We came home to only one Cat. The kids were so sad.  I mentioned it all facebook and they never appeared.  We had the understanding that something like a wild animal had gotten the cats.

So then a sweet friend gave us another cat a couple weeks ago and the kids again were so excited.  Then just this last Sunday, a neighbor friend called and said she had our cat so she drove up here and I came out to see her.
She said I brought you your cat and it has a collar right?  No ma'am, I said, it doesn't have a collar.  The neighbor said oh boy who's cat did I bring you?  And she mentioned how it loved to scratch on the door and it did have a special marking with its stripes,  It WAS our cat, once again the kids were even more excited. Our long lost cat missing since New years day had come home.

So once again, a facebook message was placed on there about the cats, and I mentioned we had one more cat missing and Angel, the daughter of the neighbor said there was a black one down there too, so the next night Mr. Ceisla, Angel's husband and the Assistant Superintindent(however you spell that big word) brought the other cat home, so now we have 4 cats all OUTSIDE!!   There is the phrase that people say all the time.  Are you trying to keep up with the Jones' .  Well, this is one time, that I hope you are not, because having four cats is just pretty crazy.  We will see how long they stay around.  Just call us CRAZY OR STUPID!!

I thought this was a great post seeing how it is titled "KEEPIN UP WITH JONES'"   So here are some pics but not all the cats are in the pics, but oh well, maybe later

A special Story!!!

I don't have any pics to go with my story today!!  I just want to share a special story with you and it has been on my mind all day, so I felt this was a great Blog.

When we lost our baby Kelsie in Oct.  we had people from church and friends bring us meals and they had a care calander set up and it was such an amazing blessing to us.  We were truely overwhelmed with this.  People brought us food from the middle of October to almost Thanksgiving.  Normally when people bring food for something like this it is only for about two weeks.  We still today thank God daily for the wonderful people that he put in our lives.  We learned real quick that we had a lot of people whom cared and were praying for us.  AMAZING!!!  God is soooo AMAZING!!  And we will never forget just how wonderful everyone has been to us.

So on with my story.  my friend I had just briefly met at MOPS had signed up to bring me food but had to wait until almost the last day.  Well, I had been getting back on facebook to get my mind off of things and reading all the comments and posts people had put on there to us.  again we were overwhelmed.  So my friend, Jessica Scantling, had started posting pics of baby bedding she was chosing for her baby due in Feb.  She had posted pics of many things and they were all so similair to what I had looked at for Kelsie, so I kept thinking about it and thought I have to share with her where I bought mine, because I thought she might get a good deal too!!  So I posted the website for her to go to and she posted she would check it out.  But prior to me posting the site, I thought about it and thought what if  just WHAT IF.  And I came to a conclusion that there were so many different beddings that there was no chance that she would pick the same.  So the next day, she started posting pics again of baby bedding, and then there it was, my sweet Kelsie's baby bedding.  As I stared at the pic, tears streaming down my face, but yet smiling in my heart, I was a mixed mess of emotions.  What was I to do, I had to post, but what would I say.  I wasn't mad she had picked it for I had already gone through the what if's.

So I posted that I really liked it and I would send her an inbox, and I did just that and I told her about the bedding and how I knew it was so pretty because it was still on (and still is at this very moment) my baby bed in the room I had prepared for my baby.  I told her if I could sell it I would, but I couldn't part with it.  and that I wasnt mad and I was happy she had picked a special bedding.  And I still have this message on my facebook page.  I can't delete it.  She sent me a message back and just didn't know what to say, but she had already ordered it.  She had mentioned she already had one picked out, but she kept going back to this one and she couldn't figure out why, but there was something she really liked and so she went with it.  I told her I knew God had a hand in this, because coincidences just don't happen.  So she kept me posted with when it would be in and she couldn't figure out why she was on the list of food at the end, well, again, it was GOD!!  I already knew I had to show her my room(only if she wanted to). 

So the time came for her to bring food and I was so nervous about her coming, she came and knocked at the door and left Payton her daughter in the car and came in and said oh payton would love your Christmas trees(yes christmas trees before Thanksgiving), so she went back out andgot her and then Eddie came home and we talked, The timing was just perfect(only God's timing is perfect) and so Iasked if she wanted to see it and she said yes. and so we went in there and immediatly she said oh I have this same cross in Payton's room,  a cross with the verse "For we walk by faith, not by sight"  again  a God moment.  and so she loved the bedding, and spoke of how she needed another valance for her window and so I gave her one of mine.  I would have given it all to her if my heart would have let me.  We stood in that room and talked for a long time.  Payton played with Kaitlyn and Caleb like they had always known each other and when it was time to go, she cried!!  She wanted to stay and play!! Then she realized her car had been running the whole time, which was probably an hour or so. 
Then we had her and her hubby Lucas out for dinner one night and we all got along perfectly . It was all a plan of God.  God put her in my life so I could open that door of the baby room and share something so sweet.  Something that was very hard to do.  She invited me to her baby shower and I prayed hard about this and I stood strong and went, it wasn't easy, but I talked with a sweet friend, Tamera, and she kept me busy with converstion.  Me and Tamera only knew each other there and of course Jessica, so yet another yep God's plan!! 

I gave her a sweet cross just like the one I have for baby Sawyers room and I found a perfect round hat box, that were all the nursery colors and fixed the gift so sweetly.  Kaitlyn even went with me to the shower.  She tagged me in a photo on facebook of the cross hanging on the pink walls of her nursery.  Pink just like mine. Even the white beadboard just like my nursery.  The picture made me smile inside and out!!! My nursery is still the way it was only now maybe more of a mess, everything baby has been shoved in this room, but we have been praying about going in there to pack things up. 

We have kept contact and today she had her baby.  I told her she had to wait till my birthday to have her, but she just couldn't wait, and she is perfect.  I haven't gone to see her yet and praying about this, as it will be soo so soooo hard for me, but I pray for strength.  God has had his hand in this and I am certain he still does.  Jessica and her family will forever me a part of me.  and so you see( or I hope you see) just how special this is to me and how I know this was a plan of God because I don't believe in coincidences.  I felt this was a perfect blog for me today because I have been thinking of her all day!!!  She called me tonight to talk to me and it made me smile!!  God is just so good.  So this is just another story of keepin' up with Jones'.  I hope you enjoy my story and as I tell everyone, God has been with us everystep and people tell us we are amazing  but I tell them it isn't me at all it is all God. He is the amazing !!

I decided I would put pics with it because this story is so special it has to have pics with it, so my hubby has helped me with the pics.  I love him!!!  Below is a pic of the baby bedding, please note this is from the website and not either of our actual nursery. 

This is a pic of the cross that I had bought for Kelsie's room,  I love it because we named her Kelsie Faith and it had the name Faith in Green.  And I loved the verse because for me and Eddie everything about our house and our pregnancy was on Faith.

This is a picure of the hat box that had Jessica's gift in.  Perfect colors for her nursery

And this is a picture of Jessica and her sweet baby Sawyer and I had to put this picture in here and I pray that God will give me strength to go see her because I still love babies, but it is still hard to see one so small!! Only God knows my plans and so I leave it up to him!!!

I hope you have enjoyed this post of my blog,  it was important to me that I make this blog and this is a part of mine and Eddie's life. And as I type this I just realized that Eddie spells his name E d d i e and we spelled Kesie with and I E .  Hmm.  Just another God moment.  We thank God daily for our many blessing.  Thank you for letting me share this story.  May God bless you!!!

Snow Day 2011

It has been a crazy last 2 weeks,  One week the kids only went to school for one day, the rest of the week they were both home with the flu.  Then the next week we only went to school on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were snow days, they went Thursday and out on Friday for winter break.  And it really snowed on Winter break.  How awesome is that?  Just perfect!!  So we played in the snow and had fun!!  I hope I get the pics on here just right as I am still trying to get this blogging down.  So let's see how it looks..

This Is Caleb rolling around in the snow.  Looks like he is making a snowangel face down.  He loves the snow!!   And Caleb and Kaitlyn in their club house they have built with rocks and twigs and branches.

Caleb, still rolling in the snow.  Like I said he loves the snow!!

This is a picture of the front yard with the pond in the front.  I thought this made a pretty pic!!  I loved it!!

And this is the street leading up to our house and that little person is Caleb at the bottom of the hill.  They had fun sledding down, but climbing back up was not so much fun!!  Even Eddie couldn't make it up the hill in his little blue truck, so he left it parked at the bottom and walked home. Wish I had a pic of that.

This is the little snowman!!!!Caleb the Snowman!!!

Yes, this is a pic of eggs, I know nothing looking like snow in this pic, but Eddie wanted to make homemade pancakes for dinner last night and we were out of eggs, so when we went to walmart to buy groceries, the only eggs they had were a box of 5 dozen eggs.  Not sure what I will do with that many eggs, but we will evetually use them all.  Eddie said eggs last a lot longer then the date on the box.  So now he has enough eggs to fee the whole town with pancakes. 

Wow!! Not sure where to start!!

So I wanted to tell you a little bit about the Jones' family without taking up too much of your time.  This Jones family was established June 1994. We were marriend in Jonesboro.   We have lived in Berryville, then moved to Tennessee and then to South Georgia, then middle Georgia, where sweet Kaitlyn was born, when she was 18 months we moved to Springdale, then to Dequeen, and while in Dequeen Eddie worked in Oklahoma, and Caleb was born in TX.  Yes lived in AR worked in OK and baby in Texarkana, TX.  An hour away!!  Whew!!  then we came to Greenwood and he works in Waldron.  So you see why I titled this Blog "Keepin up with the Jones'"

While living here, we have made a lot of friends, and going to church with a sweet friend occasionally at FBC, well then Caleb started playing upward and we started going to church frequently at FBC!  We love it there.  I see now that God has placed us there and with so many great christian friends. We have no family here, they live 5 hours away in the state of AR.  We bought a house when we moved here but longed to live somewhere with more space, but finding that was hard.  As of December 2009, we started watching this foreclosed home and we started praying about this and for other things, and so many things happened with getting this house we knew it was God.  We took a hugh leap of Faith and God took care of us.  AMAZING!!!  Well in the midst of buying the house I was getting very emotional.  Didn't want to close on the house, wanted to back out, but we went FORWARD!  I found out not long after closing that I was pregnant, which is another thing we had prayed for. Once again.. AMAZING . We sell our house and move in to the foreclosed one and things started coming together.  I was really having a hard time settleing, but was making it.

So we found out we were having a girl, and we started working on names and the  nursery, and it all started coming together even more, the kids were so excited.   October 14 came around and it was time for me to do my glucose screening at the dr.,  Eddie took off that day and thenext,  not sure why at that time, but I tryed my best to say no don't go, I really wanted to go shopping after appt.  Well he went with me, and all I can say is God knew!!  The dr. could not find a heart beat and my heart I thought had stopped beating too. My heart was broken.  We went to hospital and was induce and delivered my sweet little girl Kelsie Faith.  I was only 28 to 29 weeks pregnant.  From there I guess there is no need to tell amymore other than the earth still spins, babies are still born, babies are all around, but our world stopped.  The church, my friends, people I barely knew brought us food.  Going to the funeral home to pick out stuff and plan a service was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  That day I felt my heart breaking in a way I have never felt before .  But God still picks me up and says you must move on.  I could go on and on about how I know God was with me all along, but that might be a book itself, so today is Jan 29 2010 and we are still moving on, it is hard. I miss her everyday and think of her everyday. But God is with us everybit of the way.  I should have a 1 month old baby in my hands today, but God needed her more. I am a person who has always loved babies and now I find that I keep my distance but I pray God will let me heal.  I can't believe I am telling my story through a blog, but I had to start somewhere and for me to move forward then I had to start at the beginning.  Through Prayer and Faith in God we are able to keep going. I am not saying it is easy, it is tuff, but I have no choice but to go on.  Afterall, the world is still spinning.  God is my strong tower.   Enough on my sad stuff, now on to happy stuff, that will be my next blog.

I am new to blogging

Ok, so this is my first post, and I am still trying to navigate aroung this crazy thing.  Thanks to Erin, she came over and got me set up, and now the rest is up to me.  So the first couple , maybe weeks or months worth of post, could be very interesting.  I hope I can figure this all out because I love Erin's books she prints from here.  I am very excited to get started just not sure where to start , so here I go.  Let's see how this post looks and I will go from here.  LOL  Please bear with me, this is a work in progress.