Family Photos

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family, laughter, turkey, stuffing, pies, and joy.  My family had 3 houses to visit on Thanksgiving, so we had our bellies more than full by the time we got home.

The day after Thanksgiving, I took family photos of Kalin's family (myself included), which was a total blast! Trying to keep up with 9 people in the middle of the forest was quite the adventure, as was trying to find something we could each wear that wouldn't clash completely!  But the pictures turned out great, and it's obvious we had tons of fun taking them!  

My Family

Kalin's Sisiter, Jordan

Kalin and his brother, Ashton

Kalin and I

Micah

Kalin with the boys

Jordan, Micah & Elijah

My beautiful boys!

Jordan and I

Ashton and Christian

Ashton

Christian

Ashton

Ashton and Pennie, Kalin's mom

Micah and I

Jordan, Pennie and My feet!

My little lovebug and I

EVERYONE! Elijah, Christian, Micah, Me, Kalin, Jordan, Ashton, Eric, and Pennie!

  I think these photos make up for the days I have missed in my "30 days of Thankfulness", but if not, I'll catch up one of these days! :

Until then, I've got Christmas music playing, and tonight Kalin and the boys and I will be putting up all our Christmas decorations! I'm super excited!

Hats for Little People Ministry

Hats for Little People Ministry

This is a new ministry opportunity for Pickles & Ice Cream Designs. We will now be crocheting newborn, preemie, and micro-preemie hats, and donating them to a local NICU, Christus Santa Rosa Children's Hospital in San Antonio. This is a ministry that will affect many, many people. So many new parents have their children in the NICU due to premature birth, undeveloped organs, or other birth defects, like heart murmurs and tumors. Many of these babies do not survive, but these hats, small as they may be, may help the parents see a small bit of light in the darkness that is watching your newborn baby struggle for life. Many times, these hats are one of the few items not hospital issued that their baby gets to wear.

If you are interested in all in supporting this ministry, please contact me. There are many ways you can reach me - here on this blog, on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/picklesandicecreamdesigns), on my website (www.wix.com/dnall1986/picklesandicecreamdesigns), by phone (830-305-2115), or by e-mail (picklesicecream@att.net)

There are many ways in which you can help support this ministry, also. Firstly, you can help by crocheting some hats and bringing them to me for donation. Secondly, if you do not know how to crochet, you can donate money for supplies, or the supplies themselves.

I hope you'll share this new ministry, and I would love to hear your feedback on this concept.

Thanks for reading!

P.S.  Today, I am thankful for new ministry opportunities. :D

Family

I spent the day crocheting coffee mug cozies and looking for new fun patterns to try.  I came across some really cute ones that I'm looking forward to trying out!  Tonight we have our friends, Chris and Courtney, coming over for dinner adn some fun, along with their adorable kids, Josiah and Jocelyn! Courtney is a very talented photographer, and a good friend.  We haven't been able to hang out much lately, though, because she and her family lived in San Antonio for a while, but they recently moved back to Seguin, and Kalin and I are really looking forward to hanging with them again!

We are making chicken burgers for dinner, and they're going to be super yummy because Kalin has been marinating the chicken in his delicious jack daniels bar-b-que sauce all day!!! I can hardly wait to eat one!!


Today, I am thankful for my kids, Micah and Elijah.  They are adorable kids, and for the most part they are well-behaved.  I know at times, I want to strangle them (as any good mother does), but they are so cute that I just simply can't!  I know they cause me a lot of stress and they test my patience daily, but I honestly don't know what I would do without them.  They are the world to me.  They make me laugh at the silliest things, and they somehow seem to know when I'm feeling down, which has always amazed me.  I remember when I was pregnant with Elijah, Micah was just 2, and when I had really bad morning sickness, Micah would go play in his room for extended periods of time, and come out just long enough to give me a hug and a kiss, and then go back to his room; like he knew I was feeling icky, and he was staying out of my way while still letting me know he loved me no matter what.  I have seen Elijah do the same thing when the whole family had a stomach bug except for him (because he had it two days earlier). 

My point is that my kids can never be replaced.  I realize one day they are going to grow up and go off to college and get married and all that, and I'm not quite sure yet how I'm going to handle not having my kids with me for the majority of the day, but I'm sure I'll figure it out in the 13 years (or more) before Micah can move out.  My heart melts when they run up to me and give me hugs and kisses, my heart breaks when they fall down and get "owies" and my heart stops for just a moment when they jump off something I think is too tall or when they go running away from me in a crowded place.  And I believe it always will do those things.  I am looking forward to the next however many years we will have together before my kids move out and make families of their own.

Freedom

We had a total and complete blast at the races last night! The kids all enjoyed it, and so did the grown ups! I was a beautiful evening full of laughter.  And even though we got home late, we got an extra hour of sleep (Praise Jesus) before of Daylight Savings Time ending!!!  We got up and went to church this morning, like we do every Sunday morning, then had lunch, and did some window-style shopping, and we are now back at the church, getting ready for Kalin's middle school band practice to start in about 10 minutes.  After this, we are going to wait around until about 6:15 because I am meeting a friend to borrow her external camera flash, so that I can go shoot a wedding on Friday with another friend of mine.  I'm really looking forward to that!  It will be the first wedding I've ever shot, so that's really exciting. 

So, what I'm thankful most for today, is the freedom we, in this country, have to come to church and worship God.  Many countries do not have the same freedom of religion that the US does, and I am so thankful for that.  I can't imagine living in a country where you are persecuted for reading the bible, or even having a copy of it.  I can't imagine being in a place where you are forced to worship whoever the government tells you to worship, and only at the allotted times.  But that's the beauty of living in America; we have the freedom to choose how we live our lives. 

I realize that Christianity isn't always well-liked, even in America.  There are plenty of places where Christianity and Christians are shunned because fo their morals and beliefs.  But no one, as far as I know, in this country, is put in jail for believing in God, or that Jesus died on a cross for their sins. 

I also realize that a lot of people don't like Christianity because it takes away their control - the bible calls us to "pick up our crosses and follow Him", and to "lean not on your own understanding" and "trust in Him, and He will make all your paths straight".  A lot of people don't like letting someone else, especially someone they cannot physically see or touch, be in charge of their lives.  They don't want someone else to pick what their career is, and when they are going to get married and have kids and get a promotion and buy a house and move to a different city.  People like to feel like they are in charge of their own destinies, and that's simply not what Christianity teaches, and therefore, people don't like it.  And, of course, that's their own perogative - to believe whatever they want to. 

Some people may even feel like Christianity has too many rules and regulations - too may guidelines to follow, and too high of a standard to meet, so they just don't bother with it, because they realize they will never be good enough.  I mean, really, only one man to ever live reached the standard that is set by God, and that man was the Son of God.  But what people don't realize is that, while we as humans will never be good enough to get into heaven on our own righteousness or good will, Jesus has paid our debt for us.  He took the punishment that we deserved upon himself, so that we didn't have to.  Because he loves us that much. 

Friends

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot
I know of no reason why gunpowder, treason,
Should ever be forgot" - V for Vendetta

Since today is the fifth of November, Kalin and I thought it fitting to watch this movie, as we do every year on this date. 

Today is also the first Saturday in November, and the last weekend of live horse racing at Retama Park in Selma.  Since my grandma had some free passes for us to use there, we decided to use them this weekend, and take a couple of our newer friends with us.  We will be taking 8 people alltogether, so this ought to be an awfully interesting evening.  I don't remember the last time I went to the horse races, but I am really excited about going tonight! 

So, today, I am thankful for our friends, Alex and Hannah.  They are a wonderful, Godly couple who have been together for 2 years (today) and have been married for 10 months.  It is so nice for me to have another girl around my age that I can talk to about just about anything. Hannah taught me how to crochet, and has encouraged me in more ways than one.  She is so much fun to be around, but she can also be serious when she needs to be.  She loves to laugh and have fun, and I have to admit, that I have been a happier person since we have become friends. I love having someone to share my ups and downs with and get another woman's opinion on my ideas. 

I will be posting pictures from tonight's races on tomorrow's blog, so keep an eye out! I'm hoping to catch some good motion shots, but we will see!

Thanksgiving

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that Christmas is taking over Thanksgiving.  Not that Christmas is bad, but I don't like the fact that it's the 4th of November and there are already Black Friday ads out.  That's a bit ridiculous to me...  Thanksgiving is a great holiday that should be recognized as such; a time where we get together with family and friends, and take the time to be thankful for everything that we have.  But it seems the corporate world doesn't want anything to do with that.  My guess is that they have decided that there is more money in selling Christmas presents than there is in people being thankful for what they have.  But what they are really doing is teaching this nation and this world to want more stuff rather than be thankful for everything they already have. 

I mean really, how many of us out there don't have the basics in life - food, water, a roof over our heads and clothes on our body?  Granted, there are those who are homeless and are in need of some, if not all, of those basics, but the vast majority of us have all of that and more.  We have more than enough food in our fridges and cabinets, more than a weeks' worth of clothes in our closet, electricty and water to heat our homes and wash our bodies and clothes, we have TV's, computers, cell phones, dvd players, and so much more.  But the big companies are telling us that that isn't enough - that we need more STUFF to make us happy.  We need bigger and better TV's; we need name brand clothing; we need the newest and hottest phones and apps and home appliances.  We need all the new game systems and the games to go with them and we need yet another DVD to add to our collection. 

We are told that we are helping the economy, and that's all fine and dandy, if us buying junk we really don't need is going to help, but what about those homeless people I spoke of earlier?  Who is helping them?  Maybe there is a homeless shelter in the town they are currently sleeping under a bridge in; maybe there is a job training center in that town, too.  But what if there isn't?  Take Seguin for instance - we don't have a homeless shelter, nor do we have the jobs to support the homeless people that would flock to the shelter if we did have one.  So what do the homeless people of Seguin do? Where do they go when the cold winter wind blows and the rain pours out of the sky? 

I guess I am passionate about this subject because my brother is, in fact, mostly homeless.  He is one of the lucky few that can usually find a friends' or relatives' house to crash out at when the nights get too cold, but for the most part, he sleeps in a cemetery.  I will say that this was mostly his doing;  he burned his bridges and he understands that he is paying the price now for it, but it doesn't change the fact that he's homeless.  I truly can't imagine spending a night like tonight, where it is supposed to get down to 39 degrees, without a heavy-duty coat, or a blanket to keep warm in, or even food in my belly to help my body stay warm.  I'm not sure anyone could, unless they have experienced it.

I read a Facebook status a few weeks ago that read, "What would happen if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"  That really got me to thinking: What did I thank God for today?  It was then that I realized I didn't often thank God for what I had.  More often than not, I was asking God for help here, and can you do that for me over there, and that sort of thing.  I realize that if I had woken up with only what I had thanked Him for the day before, I wouldn't have much.  I have now made it a point, in my nightly prayers, to thank God for the most important things in my life - my husband, my two boys, my parents, grandparents, and friends, and health for all of the above.  Everything else is temporary.  We can't take all our accumulated stuff with us when we die, can we?  I don't think so.  So what's the point of buying all this new stuff at Christmas time, or asking people for gifts that we know we can't take with us?  There isn't one.  I mean, sure, it's nice to buy things for the people you love in order to show them that you love them, but is it really necessary to spend hundreds of dollars every year buying things for people that in a months' time, probably won't remember who gave it to them?

My point is, that it's time to stop focusing on what we want for Christmas, and start focusing on what we have that we wouldn't want to live without.  And not just at this time of year.  I believe that if the people of this country were more thankful on a daily basis for what they have, instead of lusting after something they really want, but obviously don't need, this world would be a much happier, more optimistic place to live in. 

So here is my pledge:  For the next 30 days, I am going to post a picture, either here or on my facebook page, of something that I am thankful for that day.  Today shall be day one.  I am thankful for my husband (who isn't here at the moment for me to take a picture of, so I'll just post one from the other night).  He has gone above and beyond for me and my kids, and I will never be able to thank him enough for the unfailing love he has shown me.  I would not be who I am today without him, and I haven't done much to earn his love for me; but he's still here, and I am truly thankful for that each and every day.