Life

Although there have not been many frequent posts on my blog lately, life is still going on. As always the Lord is teaching me much and one of those things is living life productively and joyfully. I have not been making good use of my time lately and thanks to the Little One growing inside me, my emotions have been on a roller-coaster over the past month which makes me happy one moment and then "down" the next, for no specific reason at all (that is to say, that my reasons usually don't merit such an emotional response). But God is at work! As of late, I have been very happy indeed! Why? Mainly because I am working on turning my entire focus onto the Lord! What a difference it makes when we are wholly focused on God and living for Him.

Since my last blog post I have been to Harkness two more times with my darling Hubby! A week ago we went for a picnic and here are a couple pictures....

It was a beautiful, warm day and we had so much fun walking and taking pictures. Scott took a lot more than I did though as he's practicing with a new camera he got for a wedding he's doing later this year.

God's creation is so beautiful! When I look at the ocean, I am amazed at how big it is, especially as I think about how what I'm seeing is such a tiny, tiny, part of it!

My birthday was last week and I had a great day! My wonderful, sweet, loving husband bought me the nicest locket! I tried to take a picture of it, but this is the best I got (see below). It has a pink flower on it with the words "I Love You" beside it. It is so pretty, I just love it!

My wonderful Husband also bought me some slippers which I was hoping for as I wear my slippers ALL the time! Last year my Mom found some pretty white slippers that said "Just Married" on them, and by the end of the Fall I had completely worn them out! About a month before our wedding I had bought (didn't know about the other slippers) myself some pink slippers similar to the ones below because I knew I would wear them frequently. Well, after a year of wear, those also have gotten pretty worn out and DIRTY! I wore them a LOT on our trip and by the time we got back they were pretty worn out. So I got new slippers for my birthday! I love them and they are very comfortable!

This week I have been trying to finish a baby blanket that I started crocheting back in February! I could have had it done before March, but did I? No! I am nearing the end, so I am trying to actually finish it and start (and finish) another as well before another month is up!

The pregnancy is going well. I am now 24 weeks, 1 day! I'm measuring perfectly and am very much enjoying all the movement that I am feeling! I know I've been saying it for close to 20 weeks now, but it still amazes me how intricate God's design is and that there is a little human being growing inside of me. It can hear me, it can see the difference if I were to shine a flashlight on my tummy, it's lungs are growing, and it is moving it's little legs and arms and I can feel it! It is just so amazing, it brings me to tears!

I will end here for today, but if you'd like some more great encouragement, go check out my friend Shayna's blog and the great post she shared here.

Our Trip So Far - In Pictures

We arrived safely in Sunman, IN at 7:30 last night after doing 2 book signings en route. We so enjoyed our stay at the Richardson's house! I've made new, dear, friends, and we can't wait to go back. I have taken lots of pictures since we left New Jersey, and so I thought I would do a post about our trip so far, in pictures! :) So, here we go:

We left New Jersey Wednesday morning at 9:00. As we were driving through Pennsylvania, we drove through several tunnels. Here is our view as we headed into the first or second one (I can't remember which one)

Here is our view, driving through the tunnel. Scott loves to drive through tunnels, but I have yet to experience it myself, so I just take his word for it, for now at least. :)

We arrived safely in Pennsylvania, however it was raining constantly. Here are a couple pictures from the concert.

Shane Barnard (Bethany Dillon's Husband)

Bethany Dillon, singing and playing. She and her Husband are very talented on the Guitar!

This was during the Intermission

After taking a nap when we first arrived at the Richardson's on Thursday, I taught the younger girls how to play Parcheesi and from that point on, when anyone had a free moment, Parcheesi was brought out. :)

On Saturday, I stayed "home" while Scott went back to the book signing he was at the night before. We played Apples to Apples (Bible Edition) and took lots of pictures :)

All my new, dear, friends!

I didn't get any pictures :( but, Susannah, Jessica, and I played Monopoly, and the game lasted a total of 6-8 hours. We had a blast playing!

Sitting around the dinner table, our last night there.


On our way to the second book signing on Sunday, waiting for a train to go by... :)

At Kelsie's!!!

Sunday was Scott's birthday, and Kelsie (and her family) helped me surprise him with a celebration after we got to their house. Scott had no idea. The poor guy, thought he wasn't getting a cake or anything other than birthday greetings, but "little, did he know." :)


That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!!!

Attitude and Challenges

I apologize to all my blog readers that it has been so long since I last posted. The past week and a half have been quite full and I have not spent a lot of time on the computer (which, contrary to what some believe, is not necessarily a bad thing).

Last Friday (November 6th) I took my sister Ice Skating to celebrate her 13th birthday (which isn't until December, but since I won't be here, we had to celebrate it early). We had a blast! There were a couple people on the rink when we got there, but they left while we were putting our skates on, and we had the whole rink to ourselves, the entire time we were there! We had such a great time!

Yesterday Scott spoke to over a hundred students (4-8th grade) at a school. As always, I was amazed at how good my husband is with kids and how well he spoke. I wasn't surprised, but once again, I thanked the Lord for giving me such a good man, for my Husband. I am truly blessed.

If anyone is interested in a 30-day challenge, I encourage you to go to the Revive Our Hearts website and consider taking 1, or maybe even 2 of the challenges there. I have taken the Husband Encouragement Challenge, and the Choosing Gratitude Challenge. Every day I get an email from both challenges with encouragement and goals/challenges for the day.

The Lord has been working in my heart on having an "Attitude of Gratitude." I have no idea how this all started, or even when. All I know is that the Lord has slowly been laying on my heart different things to think about or to work on, and it's brought me to where my goal is to have a thankful heart.

Here are a couple of questions that you can ask yourself to see where your attitude is at:

When something unexpected (or unplanned) happens, how do I respond? Am I able to switch gears, be flexible, and eagerly "go with the flow"? Or do I feel resentment or bitterness that my plans now have to be changed?

When a child breaks something (just by accident), that perhaps was even very dear to you, do you scold them and send them to their room after insisting they clean it up by themselves? Or do you bend over to help them, letting them know that it's okay, you understand it was just an accident, and it's not that important?

Our heart attitude effects how we respond. Look at how you respond to "big" things, and then you'll know how you're responding to little things. I've written more on attitudes here. I have found that it is very easy to let little things bother me, or to let my attitude be effected by the attitudes around me. So I have worked very hard on not being bothered by little things and not letting others determine what my attitude is going to be.

Therefore, one of the things the Lord has been teaching me, is that keeping my focus on Him and on being thankful, taking every situation (even the smallest ones) and finding something I can be thankful for, keeps my attitude, and my heart where it needs to be, with God on the throne!

3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21 Days and I will be married!!!!!!!!!

Mrs. Scott Appleton! That is who I'll be!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I can't wait. Everything is coming together so nicely. The last BM dress is being finished today and then my Grandmother and Mother will be all done with their wonderful, faithful work! This wouldn't have been possible without them.

My Dad took me out for my Birthday last night and we had a lovely time enjoying dinner and then I showed him the apartment with some furniture in it since he hadn't seen it since before I painted. It was a great night with my Dad. :)

I would write more, but today is a very busy day. Pick up Mana, book signing, and then a PartyLite show tonight. Busy, busy, busy. :)