November 4th

I'm thankful for our boychild

1}  I'm thankful that he is so full of life and humor.  He has the Chambers humor like his father, uncle & grandfather...funny men!

2}  I'm thankful that he has music in his body.  The boy hears music and he must dance.

3}  I'm thankful that he is a cuddler...yep just made that word up!...and just an overall physical touch guy.  I love that he hugs his friends, at 7 years old has no problem giving his friends a full on bear hug, because that's how he show his love and he loves his friends.

4}  I'm thankful that he is passionate.  Even if parenting a passionate child is harder, I'm so thankful that he know what he wants in life and will go after it.

5}  I'm thankful that he is an early-bird like me.  I enjoy our mornings together, just the two of us.  I have learned so much about him in our early mornings together.

6}  I'm thankful that he's a thinker and a processor.  His brain is always going and he asks questions I have never thought of before.  Accepting that things just happen because they happen is not an answer for this child.  He needs to have answers and that has caused me to grow as a parent and a person, I have learned because he has asked!

7}  So thankful that he has God in his heart and knows how to pray for God's guidance in his life.  I'm thankful that he has a Godly father that he loves and that he wants to be like.  He thinks his dad is just a 'regular guy' and he wants to be a 'regular guy like his dad' when he grows up.  He has no idea that having a father who seeks God is not the norm.

And of course I could go on and on...but I'm past my 3 thankful for the day...so I'll stop.

November 3

I'm thankful for my girl child

I never imagined myself as a mom growing up...and I never imagined myself to a girly-girl child.
God gave me the best gift I never knew I wanted & needed when he gave us Madison.  I'm thankful for her in so many different ways.

1}  I'm thankful that she has taught me to love the girly-girl in myself.

2}  I'm thankful that she has taught me that your heart is way more important than your intelligence. 
     She is a very smart girl, but school hasn't always been easy for her, she's not an academic person.  But her heart knows so much more than most people.  I would way rather have a child that struggles with reading, writing, and arithmetic than a child that struggles with love.
     I have a sermon that I heard 7+ years ago that bounces around in my head & heart all the time...
a short summed up version...  
When Christians are faced with a situation/person that they don't have an answer for their default mode should ALWAYS be love...but instead most Christians default mode is judgement.
My girl child, her default mode, is LOVE!  She was born with the switch in the right place and I pray that the world doesn't change it for her!

3}  I'm thankful that she embraces who she is.  That she laughs with her whole being.  And that she can laugh at herself.

4}  I'm thankful that she's willing to step out of the box and try new things.  The girl that didn't eat for 8 years...now will taste anything...she'll try any new food you offer her.  It's fun to take her to different ethnic restaurants, she loves new foods!

5}  I'm thankful for her love of family and friends.  It doesn't matter if she sees them every day or once a year.  The moment a friend or family drives out of the driveway she turns to us and says, usually with tears in her eyes,
"I miss _fill-in-the-blank_ already!"

6}  I'm thankful for her love of babies!  She has never seen an ugly baby (Yeah...I said that, we all know there are some not-so-cute babies out there!).  She loves them ALL and gets giddy just thinking about the opportunity to hold a baby!

7}   I'm thankful that she's 100% a daddy's girl!  I'm thankful that she has a father that shows her God's Love and is teaching her what true love looks like.  This girl will never settle for less than she deserves in a man because from day one, she's known the love of a true man and has a healthy loving relationship with her father.  And bonus...she talks to him about all her 'girl issues'... {not his favorite, but he listens and usually says, "um, I think your mom might know all that."}....

I'm going to stop, because I already went over my list of 3, but I could go on-and-on...
I am so very thankful for my daughter!

November 2

I'm thankful for being healthy.  

Even if I do have a slight head cold/allergy thing going on, and I'm not feeling 100%...hey, I'm pretty darn healthy.  I'm not bed bound, I'm not in a hospital or feeling like I should be in one. 

I'm thankful for new running shoes.

I'm thankful for a running buddy!...

November 1

short sweet & to the point...
that's what my November blog is going to be about.
I plan to post 3 things I'm thankful for everyday and not duplicate during the month...
so by November 30th I should have a list of 90 things I'm thankful for.
{check out my math skills}

On the weekends I plan to have my kids add their 3+ things they're thankful for and if I can get him to join me we'll see if Beau will add his thankfulness to the list....he may even do his own list over at his blog...hint, hint, hint!

...as I've stated before...
this blog is for fun and to not take away from my family...
yet I plan to post everyDAY in November...
so, these posts will be short...
they may be 3 paragraphs, they may be 3 sentences...
they may be one sentence, or just 3 words...
the point is just for me to jot down what I am thankful for...

and...the list will be a variety and is in NO particular order...
I'm sure there will be deep, meaningful items on the list...but I'm starting at a very human level today...
these are the 3 things that were in my frontal lobe when I started to type...

I'm thankful for coffee, hot showers and a cozy bed.

p.s. don't google images for hot showers
{especially with your 7 year old son standing next to you!}
...I should have known better!!!

Happy Free-Candy-From-Strangers Day

why, hello there!

l-r Wilson's "jack", my curly "C", Madison's Cat on a fence
and then my worty pumpkin with poka-dot holes (hard to see)...
also a plastic golden pumpkin in the background looks like it might have eyes, it does not!

yep, I've been blog absent for a whole month...life just got busy, and as I wrote at the beginning of the year, this blog is for fun and it will not take away from my family...so I have been present with my kids and husband and working, and yes, the blog has taken back seat...

Wilson as his Father & Madison as a 6th grade student in 1988!

but I wanted to do a re-post for ya'll on this day...my post about 'Celebrating Halloween' as a Christian...

enjoy!
http://chambersmade.blogspot.com/2010/10/celebrating.html

payday

what happened to this world...

yesterday was our payday...which in our home = allowance day for our kids...

I was thinking this morning as I packed the kids' lunch...

I remember there used to be a time...

...blog note...not in my time...

but at one time...in the not-so-long-ago history of this nation...

that parents didn't pay their kids for being kids...

rather, the kids paid their parents...

kids went out and got jobs and a portion, if not all, of their paycheck went into the family bank to just help the family meet their needs...

then the government went and got involved 

....and made laws against frowned upon kids with jobs...

I'm thinking of starting up a petition 

....maybe not kids working 

{child labor laws might be hard to reverse}

but for the kids to pay the parents rather than the parents paying the kids....

[editor's note: I can be paid in Jelly Beans.  Beau]

who's with me on this...

just sign your name below!

walking for life

a week ago my daughter and I walked for life.

a lady at church had asked me over a month ago if I'd be interested in sponsoring and/or walking for the local CareNet Pregnancy Center's Walk For Life...
I instantly said yes and that Madison would do it with me.

my girl loves babies...
she is my baby whisper'er...

I knew that she'd want to support this...
I also knew that she had no idea what the Pro-Life movement was...
the thought of a baby being un-wanted is so unfathomable in her heart!

I asked her if she wanted to walk to support babies...and without even thinking about it she said, "Yes!"
we talked about how much money we wanted to raise, we decided to try for $150 each or $300 total...

then we went along our lives not really getting ready for the walk, it's just a walk...no biggie...
I asked around, posted on facebook like a crazy person, and made a few calls and ended up with our goal of $300...

then the day before the walk...last Friday...
life took a twist...
the concept of babies that die too early hit hard, a huge punch in the stomach.

our friends lost their sweet 4 1/2 month old baby boy to SIDS.

when I went to bed Friday night I wasn't sure if I would get up and do the walk...
Then when I woke up on Saturday,
after what I can only describe as the crappiest night's sleep E.V.E.R!
I knew I had to do the walk.
I needed to walk for all babies!
wanted or unwanted...
I needed to walk for LIFE!

on the drive to the walk Madison and I talked about lots of stuff.
I knew this was a pro-life event...
but I wasn't sure if there would be anti-abortion things
(although it seems like they may be the same thing, and yes their end goal is the same, saving babies, pro-life 'propaganda' is easier to have your child see than anti-abortion 'propaganda")
so not knowing what we may see or hear at the walk I had a tough talk with my baby-lovin' girl child.

me-Madison, do you know what we're walking for today?
Madison-for babies
me-yes, for babies. but for babies that people don't want.  have you ever heard of an abortion?
Madison-no
me-did you know that sometimes women get pregnant and they didn't want to?
Madison-no
Me-They are too young to be a mom, or they don't like the dad they choose for the baby, or they're just scared?  
Madison-okay
me-so there is an operation called an abortion that takes the baby out of the woman.
Madison-and then where does it grow?
me-honey, when they take the baby out it's too young to live outside of the mommy and it dies.
Madison-how, why, what?  so the baby dies?
me-yes, they are usually scared young women that feel like they have no other option and can't imagine any other thing to do.
Madison-so they just end the life of the baby?  they let it die?
me-yes
Madison-do they know it's alive?
me-well, so people don't think the baby is alive until it's born? 
Madison-but the baby has a heartbeat! {she still remembers hearing Wilson's heartbeat when I was pregnant!}and it's always moving!
me-and that is something that we are walking for, the Walk For Life helps teach those scared women that their babies are alive and then they help them either find someone to adopt their baby or help them get what they need to keep their baby.
Madison-don't they know that there are mommies like Karen that would give anything to have their baby alive? {Karen is Erik's mommy}

 wow...my baby girl gets it...
me-Madison, that's why we're walking today.  We want women to know that they are loved and their babies are loved and that people want to help them.  We want them to know that every life matters!

...
right before the walk someone said a prayer, during the prayer people were handing out balloons.
Pink & Blue balloons.
When the prayer was over I noticed that both Madison and I had blue balloons...
my girl child is just that 100% pink sparkly girl!  pink is her color!
I also notice that a boy a few feet away has a pink balloon.
my daughter loves pink, this boy probably doesn't...

me-Madison, I bet you could trade that boy your blue balloon for his pink one.
Madison-mom, I want this blue balloon.  I want it for Erik.  I love baby boys just as much as I love baby girls!  I want us to let our balloons go at the end for baby Erik!

wow...my baby girl really, really gets it.
to me, it was just the color of a balloon...for Madison she knew that we were walking for all life...baby girls and baby boys.  babies yet to be born and babies already born, but left too soon!