The Journey to Jumping FUN!!!

Since we moved into our house in May of 2009 the girls have been BEGGING for a trampoline! Once we started paying our own bills I realized I had done a great disservice to my kids by not teaching them to turn off the lights!!

Misa made an agreement with them that if the electric bill was under a certain amount he would put that much into a trampoline fund but if it was OVER that amount then he would take that out of the the trampoline fund. 

Since living here now for a year and half they are getting much better at this and I saw in Walmart's "Black Friday" ad an amazing deal on a 14 foot trampoline with enclosure. Misa had never really been "Black Friday" shopping for anything specific so he had never experienced waiting in line on "Black Friday". 

This year Walmart started their "Black Friday" at 10:00 p.m. so I convinced Misa to go with me at 8:00 pm (although he thought that was WAY early).  Our Walmart had their "Big" items line winding through the lingerie section and I felt like a bit of an amateur without my fold up chair like the "pro-black Fridayers" had but I thought Misa would not even come if I did that!

He did seem a little bothered by the American materialism and said "Honduran people only stand in line like this for FOOD!" but he loves our girls and agreed it was a great price! They had 8 trampolines and I was NUMBER 7!!  We got it home and Misa hid it in the garage until Christmas! Because we were going to be at my moms for Christmas, we debated taking it there and finally decided to cut out the picture on the box and wrap it! They were VERY excited!!

 Misa set it up when they came home from Tulsa and they have lived outside ever since!!  Oscar even LOVES it!!

Lesson Learned:  My favorite thing about the trampoline is that there is finally something that has bridged the gap between my 12 year old and 8 year old.  There has not been any fighting in the last 2 days and that was worth EVERY penny and sitting on the floor in the Walmart lingerie section for 2 hours!

2011 Peaks, Pits, and 2012 Goals!

I once heard it said that "the difference between a goal and a dream is a timeline!"  I know some people think that "New Years Resolutions" are cliche but I like the idea of a new year and new goals!

I also think that before I really set new goals it is good to look at the year in review with its peaks and pits!

PEAKS:

• Chloe started middle school.
• Misa's job moved to Weatherford and he moved into more of a supervisor/office role so he is home every night.
• I joined the Celebrate Recovery Ministry TEAM at Memorial road church of Christ as the Female "E" (encourager).
• Allie went to school without her Big sister for the first time!
• We added "Oscar the boxer" to our family.
• Misa and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary!
• I got the privilege to go to California and attend the CR summit! It was life changing.
• We bought a camper!
• I started eating healthy and for the first time in my life I feel free from the chains of a scale! My food choices are based on what will make me feel good and not what I can get "away" with eating or what I think I can get "away" from by eating.

PITS:

• We suffered another miscarriage.

I am really excited about the goals I am choosing to set for 2012! So here they are in a nut shell!

• I want to run a 5K in April at the OKC Memorial Marathon! So I am going to start a Couch to 5K before 2012.
• I hope that we can have a successful pregnancy in 2012.
• Make a lot more family memories with camping fun!
• I hope to be a more present mom and let the "little things" go!

Lesson Learned: Reflecting over the last year is encouraging to see all the good that has occurred as well as the tough things that make us a stronger family.
 
Setting goals is good for me!! Working toward something that makes me healthier and/or a better person, or brings me closer to my family helps me get through the tough times of life!

A HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS!!

This Christmas I found some fun ways to make some special gifts!
For their stockings I made the girls "Christmas Coupons"!
I printed them on 4x6 cards, then took them to Kinkos and had them bind them!

 

Some of the "coupons" were:

• 30 minute bedtime extension
• ice cream for breakfast
• Sleep with mom when Misa is out of town
• Get out of one chore

I also made a "reciepe book" for my sister that has some of our families favorite recipes in it!

I found this idea on pinterest!  It is a "Mom and Me" journal!  The idea is that you write a note to your child and then put it under their pillow and then they write you back and put it under your pillow and you keep it going until the journal is full!

I made these "T-Shirt" scarves (another pinterest idea) for the girls and for Chase and Cole! It was a great way to make old favorites new again!

I made these "PJ Scarves" for a lot of people (and a few for myself) they are so cozy and warm!!

For Ava I made her a "personalized" jacket!! Once again this was a pinterest inspired idea! I bought a purple hoddie and some heat n bond. I cut letters that spelled AVA out of the heat n bond and then I ironed them on the hoddie. Then I filled a spray bottle with bleach and water and sprayed the hoddie and let it set an hour, then I did the back, and then I dried it in the dryer and they washed and dryed it! This was the end result and I really like it!!

One of my FAVORITE gifts I got though was this homemade gift from Allie!! It is a reindeer made from her foot!

Lesson Learned: Gifts made my hands are so fun to give and to recieve!

CR BLOG POST!!

I had the priviledge of writing the CR blog post this week! You can check it out here: http://celebraterecoverymrcc.blogspot.com/2011/12/night-to-remember.html

Pain, Denial, & Realtionships

These past couple of weeks have been full of self examination in my relationships with others. As when I always try to look at myself it is painful because coming out of denial is tough!

I really struggle with relationship and closeness with people.  There are few people that know the real me, but since I began my Celebrate Recovery journey 3 years ago I have slowly began to try and have connection and closeness with people. I think one of the main things that keeps me from this is the fear of hurting others. With my perfectionism tendencies, it is very hard to connect with people and try to always say and do the right thing but I know it is important to surround myself with people who love me through the good as well as the bad. For me, two of the most painful things in my life are when I hurt those I love and when I am hurt by others. I have ALWAYS struggled with living in "extremes"  and I am still learning to trust myself and my ability to make healthy boundaries so that I CAN have healthy relationships in my life instead of trying to get through life without them. So for a long time it felt safe to keep everyone at a distance and do things myself BUT God did not design me that way! He designed me for relationship.

On FACEBOOK I am a "fan" of the Celebrate Recovery page and this week there were 2 very powerful posts that spoke to me. So I thought I would share:

Pain - God's megaphone to get our attention!
"To deny your pain is to refuse God's power to help you recover. How bad does it have to hurt before you are ready to face your denial and admit you can't handle it on your own? Remember, if you could have handled that problem on your own it wouldn't still be a problem." LHC's Choice 2
Why don't you make today the day of surrender? That's right, give up and give it to God. And then make sure you are plugged into His family because none of us are strong enough to do it alone. CR is a great place to make this a reality! Mac

"As strange as it may sound, pain is God's antidote for denial. Pain is God's way of letting us know something is seriously wrong." LHC's Choice #2

God loves us to much to allow anything to destroy our lives or relationships. So He sends pain to let us know there is something that needs our attention. Then when we think, finally, I have worked through all my denial issues, here comes the pain again. God's letting me know I have not arrived and there is something else I need to work on. Are you experiencing some pain in your life? Very possible God is trying to get your attention.

"New" Cars!

Over the last few weeks we have sold our cars and bought "new to us" cars. I was surprised about how I was attached to "Madame Blueberry" (1997 Honda CRV). She was a good car! I got her with the help of my grandparents 8 years ago. She got us where we need to go. She never broke down! She traveled the turnpike to Tulsa and back many times, made 4 trips to Michigan and back, and got us around town!

I did sell her to a wonderful person! Yves is a Rwandan Student that is studying Engineering at OC! He also works with Rwandans for Water and helps to drill clean wells in Rwanda. This is him in Rwanda at a drill site:

I cannot say enough good things about Yves!! He is a natural born leader and has a passion for his country and people! I cannot wait to see the how God uses this young man to change the world!

Misa has discovered car auctions and purchased a little 2005 Kia Spectra!  She needs some TLC but Misa has already put on new brakes, did a tune up, put on new windshield wipers, and got her some new tires! We still have some cosmetic things to do but she runs great and most importantly gets 30 miles to the gallon!! As is the tradition in our family she has a named and Allie was so distraught over selling Madame Blueberry I promised her she could name the next car so "Senora Oreo" it is!

Misa has always looked online at cars so when he said he wanted sell his truck I really did not take him seriously becuase he has always said that at least every few weeks since he purchased "The Beast" (2009 Dodge Ram). But this time he actually started to go and look at cars and then he traded in his truck for a 2007 Tahoe!  After going through a few names, we have started calling it "TAHIE" because Allie thought that was what kind of car it was and Chloe and I thought it was funny!

Because Misa has a work truck so we are only use "TAHIE" for long trips.  The great thing is she can pull "Big Bertha" (our camper).  

Lesson Learned: God is so good!! He has taken care of us and kept us safe and given us the ability and means to buy these cars to get us from A to Z!  

FAMILY PICS 2011!!

I have learned with my international people experiences that Americans take A LOT of pics of themselves so the idea of "family pics" has been a little different for my Honduran born and bred husband.  After some prompting from his Grandma Dorothy Misa said "I guess we can get some family pics" (even though he thought we would just be taking one picture... haha). I contacted Judson Copeland (we grew up at BAcoC together and now he works at OC) and we met at a park in OKC.  Misa was a GREAT sport and when we got done he even said it was not that bad! Below are some of MY favs!

Lesson Learned: Memories and Families are not made by photos BUT I know I love having them and looking at them but NOT having them all the time really helps me appreciate them that much more!

Trash to Treasure Inspirations!!!

SO, a new show on TV called "Picker Sisters" has really awakened something inside me.

"Starring best friends and renowned interior designers Tracy Hutson and Tanya McQueen ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"), "Picker Sisters" reaffirms the classic saying “one person’s trash is another’s treasure” by following the design duo as they crisscross America in search of rare relics and materials to create stunning pieces for their Los Angeles home décor pop-up shop."

I also have recently joined Pinterest!!

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.
Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

So between the two the last few weeks I have started going to LOTS of Thrift Stores finding "Old things and Making them new again!"  I was not good at taking "BEFORE" pics but I will be from now on.
The one of the first things I bought was this wood box that I INSTANTLY knew I was going to do a crackle finish on and set it on our large fire place with some firewood in to tie in with the a mirror I had bought at a thrift store in Tulsa for $5!

ALL TOGETHER THESE PROJECTS COST $16!

I also "rescued" this lamp. When I brought it home it was 1970s brass and I spray painted it silver and picked up a new lamp shade at "Ross" for $7.99. The lamp was priced $10 but it had a blue sticker on it so that week it was 1/2 off so I got it for $5! I bought a $4 can of spray (which I have since used to spray paint two other lamps).

The search for these treasures has lead Misa and I to some interesting places!



There we found a GREAT milk jug for the corner of our dining room! Misa's expert negotiating skills got it for $8!

At Marys, Misa spotted this GREAT mirror that I put in our dining room and once again with his negotiating skills he got it for $5!



We also went to what is one of my favorite places now!

This place is AWESOME but PRICEY!! I like to get ideas here! Which inspired the hunt for this next pic!

I did not find this but I told my "estate saleing" friend-Diane if she saw a farmhouse lantern I WANTED IT!

I also have enjoyed making some of my on "Pinterest" projects! You can DO SO MUCH with chalkboard paint!

The Girls LOVE their new chalkboard door!

This was a fun idea to paint the side of a cabinet with chalkboard paint and have your menu for the week displayed!

This was an organization tip to hang your spray bottle on a tension rod under the sink!

This was a cheap "put it together yourself" walmart bookshelf.

I popped the back off and bought some FUN fabric and spray on adhesive and put it on the back piece I had popped off and then nailed it back on! I am going to do some other things with this fabric with the curtains and bedding.. pics to come!

LESSON LEARNED: I have had a GREAT time doing all these projects and instead of saving up a ton of money for things I have learned to see the beauty in pieces others have given up on and recreate something more modern, fun, and unique! I find myself not really wanting "cookie cutter" decorations anymore!  I am excited for my next TREASURE hunt!!



 I am currently on the look out for old shutters, an old multi-pane window, and an awesome old door!  I wish I had a trip planned soon to dig through my Aunt Elaine's BARN!