Just some thoughts...

This little girl:
Is the sunshine of my life. Yes I know I have 2 children, and I do love them both, for their different personalities. I just have to take a minute to say how special this little girl is. She loves her family, so much. She tries extremely hard to make everyone happy. The last thing she wants is to get in trouble or have anyone think bad of her. She cares very much about what her sweet teacher thinks of her......

We had parent teacher conferences, and her teacher loves her too :) She told us how incredibly sweet and good she is, and showed us her wonderful grades that she has made. We are so proud of her. I just cannot express in words how much I love this child, and how much she means to me! She helps me to remember how important it is to just stop and take a breath and relax, and remember that she is always watching me and everything I do affects her sensitivity. She has started asking a lot of questions about God and heaven, and I am trying to do my best to answer them right. She loves church, loves her friends there and her teachers.

Here's both my sweeties on their first day of school:

Jos is in Mrs. Ashley's class at MDO, and she is learning sooooo much! Ashley is the most amazing teacher and i'm so glad that Joslyn is in her class. She needs someone who can accept a challenge! Jos is more spirited than Jaycee for sure, and she is funny, smart, and keeps me laughing every day. She likes to test her bounderies, and give a big grin and see if she can charm you. She is the cutest thing you will ever see, but a handful for sure! It's a challenge every day to keep her out of trouble. She definitely keeps me on my toes, but it's good for me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I think she will go far in life with her outgoing personality and determination to get what she wants. She is also going to Mrs. Becky's house on Wednesday so that I can have a little break and time to get things done. She loves getting to play with Piper and Mrs. Becky is wonderful at teaching her new things! J

I'm teaching 2 yr olds at MDO again this year, and loving it!! I have the sweetest kiddos, and an awesome co-teacher who is amazing. I am also still leading the 2 yr old ministry at our church, though I've been struggling with it. Justin is working in Little Rock during the week, and only home on weekends, so things are a little hectic, and all these other responsibilities on top of taking care of the house and kids alone are wearing on me! I can't seem to get ahead in anything. And not to mention the whole reason Justin took the job was to improve things for us, and they (military) messed up his pay and he hasn't been paid in over a month, and there is nothing we can do about it, which is really frustrating! We are just praying that God will provide and take care of us and of course so far he has. I always beleive there is a reason for everything, maybe this is to make us more appreciative of what we do have, even though it often doesn't seem like much!

As for my health, it's so-so right now. I don't feel great, but i'm making it. I'd love nothing more than to feel great, but since that's not likely, feeling ok will have to do for now. I have too many things to take care of to stay down, though sometimes I want nothing more than just to stay in bed all day and rest! I do still have this weird infection in my hand that won't seem to clear up, that my dr's say could be affecting the way I feel. I will see my rheumatologist this week and hopefully find out something new.

God bless and have a good week everyone :)

A picture I took of a picture we were given of Jaycee, taken by a team mom. Great isn't it?

Jos in a tinkerbell costume memaw got her!

Daddy and his girls on fathers day

Jos in the boat waiting for a ride!

The girls in Raras lake cabin waiting on bobber and daddy to finish workin on the boat!

Jos at church eatin a popsicle

Jaycee rock climbing with uncle possum (my brother, who was given the name possum in the army when some guys found out he was from arkansas)

Outside mermaids waiting for lunch, it was hot!!

My younger brother Jordan and my cousin steven. 2 adorable sweet guys!

Jaycee and uncle possum

Jos fell asleep like this......




Jaycee ready for ball!

And now sadness. A couple of weeks ago, we lost our beloved doggy elvis, who we often called boo. Justin and I cried for days, it was terrible. He was a very special dog to us. We got him right after we got married, and then when I was sick and going through being diagnosed with lupus, he stayed by me the whole time. When Justin was deployed to Iraq, he kept me company. He moved with us 11 times and always came happily as long as we were there. I still miss him terribly and know i'll never forget him.








I thought it would be awhile before I could stand to get another dog. But soon, I started to feel lonely, and like the house just didn't feel the same! I started kind of looking around on petfinder to see if I could find a dog that interested me.



This picture caught my eye........

and I just had to meet him! I went to Mt Ida yesterday and fell in love. He is an extremely sweet dog, though a little timid b/c he hasn't had the best start to life. We love him already though. Here he is after we got home:

The girls are gone this week to TX with Justin's Mom. They are having a blast! They went to sea world yesterday and Joslyn called and told me all about meeting "Chamu!" Sweet girls. I miss them a lot, but i'm having a good week of rest. I took off from the different jobs i've been doing (babysitting, teaching programs at church) so I could just stay home this week and it's been so nice. Today I have lunch with a great friend, tomorrow is my Rheumatologist appt then lunch with mom.

We are enjoying summer, but it's going by quickly! Jaycee has really come along in her swimming, thanks to a sweet friend who lets us swim in her pool. Soon she will be able to swim at rara's house, as rara is building a big pool!! Jaycee has decided she wants to have her birthday party there, though it might be a couple weeks late as we wait for the pool to get done. I think that's a splendid idea, as a party at rara's house will be free!

Jaycee is really getting excited about going to kindergarten. She voluntarily does her workbooks saying she wants to be ready! That may change once its a requirement instead of just fun ;)

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Playing catch up again...

So much going on here, not much time to update! But at least I can share a few pics:


Jaycee's preschool grad pic, she's so big!
Hunting easter eggs at Jaycee's school

First tball game!

In Conway for Spring Break, spending time with Becca and her sweet kiddos

Little Rock zoo, and a perfect representation of my kid's personalities!

By the penguins.....she's so pretty......

At bre's baby shower, another one to give you a good idea of who they are!

Wye mtn flowers

Gorgeous girl.......

Pretty baby.....

We are doing well, just busy busy!! I am loving all that i'm doing, working with kids through the church, and trying to show them christ's love for us. I recently was blessed to go to a conference for the church, and it was wonderful! So refreshing being around all those other people that knew my joys, my sorrows, everything I feel when I put my heart into serving kids. And also I was reminded why we do what we do. I got a lot of helpful information and learned a lot of new things. I also was able to spend some time with some pretty great ladies. They have all been doing this longer than me, and they are doing an awesome job of trying to lead me on the right path to d a job like this. I am so blessed!

The girls are great. Jaycee is playing tball and loving it. Her team is adorable, all the kids so sweet and excited to be there. They are both taking a beginer dance class that ends this week with a little performance. They have loved it! I think we will definitely be persuing more dance lessons in the fall.

Justin has been very busy with working, drill, other national guard duties. Still looking for new job oppertunities and praying that one will come. I know that God knows what's best for us, and we just have to trust that we are on the path he wants us to be on.

I'm doing ok, besides my funky left hand. First the surgery, now weeks after it cleared up, I had a tiny little cut on my finger and it got infected (that's kinda what happens when you have no immune system left) and caused some major swelling in lymph vessels in my hand. Infection is getting better, swelling is really not. Hopefully it will eventually!

Gotta run and get dinner fixed, kids fed, tball game, make lunches for work and school tomorrow etc etc etc. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

God Bless-Jasmin

Gymnastics and, "What is it??"

Mom and I took the girls to see the Lady razorbacks gymnastics team last week. It was so fun!! What a talented group of young ladies. Wow, that made me sound old!! But seriously, I could only dream of being so awesome. The girls were so impressed. I didn't think we would ever drag Joslyn out of there! She threw a fit at the end of the night when she found out she wasn't going to get to perform and get flowers.

Mom has decided that she needs one of these adorable jackets. How cute right??

High point leaders, all rbacks of course :)

Joslyn was all about meeting and greeting anyone and anything!

Oh, and she insisted on performing her own routines anytime music was playing.

She kept saying this little blond cheerleader was her favorite.

Sue E. Pig was so sweet!

Oh, and just for fun, a shot of Joslyn giving us a glimpse of the future and her "sullen teenager" expression.


So I've had a lot of people ask me " what is lupus?" It's a very common question, one I asked when I first heard the word! Of course I wish I never had, but now that I deal with it every day, I know a lot more than I ever thought I would. And I've learned the best way to help people understand who I am, is to help them understand what I'm dealing with.

The word lupus literally means wolf. No one really knows why it was originally named that, but many speculate it is b/c wolves have a patch of discoloration along their face that looks similar to a lupus facial rash in a person. The facial rash is one of the most prominent symptoms of lupus, and many times leads patients and Dr's to suspect that is what they are dealing with. It is the least of the worries for a lot of people with lupus. For some reason, the immune system of a person with lupus is highly dis functional. It is actually too active, and instead of sitting and waiting on some illness to come into the body, it decides to start attacking healthy parts of the body, damaging them. The areas affected vary widely. For me, personally, my biggest problems are joint pain, head/neck pain, chest pain, hair loss, rashes, and liver damage. So essentially, all these parts of my body are being attacked by my immune system. The only way to treat lupus is to suppress the immune system, so it will quit the attack. But of course, then you run into to problem that when an actual illness does come along, the immune system is so suppressed it cannot effectively fight it off, so a person with lupus often ends up with a more complications from everyday illness like a cold, flu, etc. Most people with lupus seem to have problems with their Kidneys, often ending up with serious kidney problems. Mine has never attacked my kidneys, but decided that my liver was a better place to go! Also lupus is made worse by sunlight. So going outside in the sun is usually dangerous for a person with lupus, unless we take a lot of precautions. My skin is so extremely sensitive, that I mostly am not able to go into strong sun at all, at least in the summer.

I take a nice little cocktail of medications each day, including steroids, which I have been taking for 5 years now. Unfortunately they aren't the "make me look all buff and bodybuilder" type, they are the "save my life but puff me up like a marshmallow" type. It's a pretty cruddy choice at this point, take a disgusting medication that is harmful in other ways (weight gain, osteoporosis etc) or not take it, and not function at all. As in, if I go more than 3 days without the meds, I cannot even get myself out of bed b/c my joints are so stiff and painful. And, I'm not so naive as to think that this couldn't kill me. That if I don't take care of myself, it could take over me. We only have one liver after all, right :)

One of my favorite things I have read about lupus is called the spoon theory. It's about a woman who tries to explain to a friend what it's like to have lupus, by saying a person with lupus starts the day with so many spoons, and when they are gone, they are gone. Things that take up a spoon can be anything from a shower to cooking dinner. If you are interested the story is here: www.butyoudontlooksick.com if you know anyone with any kind of chronic illness, it's a great story to read to try and understand what they are dealing with.

All of this, of course, is not b/c I'm looking for sympathy. In fact, I love it when someone finds out I have lupus and says "really? I would never have guessed, you seem to handle it so well!" B/c even though I don't ever really feel normal, it's nice to know that maybe I at least seem normal. this post was purely educational. I'm not good at explaining on the spot, and usually when someone asks me what lupus is I can only manage to splutter something about immune systems.

I do depend a lot on God to help get me through the worst times. When I go to the Dr, I pray on the way in, and pray on the way out over whatever complications were unearthed. I also pray, that even though I will probably have to deal with this every day for the rest of my life, I am alive. I am able to be a mother to my beautiful children. I am able to show God's love to other children that I teach. I have a purpose, and maybe that purpose is to show others that even in the face of illness or other hardship, we can still have faith in God and that he knows what is best for us.

www.lupus.org is the best site for learning anything and everything about lupus, if you are so inclined :)

Thanks for reading, have a blessed week!

-Jasmin

Birthday parties and shoes

How cute is this?? Jaycee's class took a field trip to city hall and got to tour the fire station, police station, see police cars, and tour the mayors office and city council meeting room. The mayor (who happens to be Jaycee's teacher's husband!) set up a mock city council meeting for them and it was so adorable. They had to campaign and vote for their favorite candy, then the one that had the most votes, they all got a piece. Jaycee was in charge of holding the sign for the votes :)

Look at this outfit that rara got Jaycee!!! Gorgeous right?? She was all dressed up to go to a birthday party for a boy and she was so excited. How did she get to be so grown up and gorgeous?? Someone tell her to stop! She was so excited about being invited to the party. She really hasn't been invited to many parties yet, so it was a big deal to her. I really fear for her, that she is going to turn out too much like her mama, letting her heart get broken too easily, when no harm was meant. She doesn't understand why every single person she knows doesn't invite her to their birthday party. It's been interesting, trying to explain it all to her!

Miss pattycake came to our church!! The girls loved meeting her and had a great time at the show. Mommy had long hours working at it! But it was fun. She was an amazing woman to meet, so much love in her heart for God's children!

At a Mcdonalds birthday party on Saturday. Aren't they funny? After the party we went shoe shopping and I think we bought a total of 6 (!!!!) pairs of shoes!! Can you believe that? All 3 of us needed 2 pairs. I needed some for church that wouldn't hurt my feet so bad, and some new tennis shoes since mine were really old and the runner/foot health boss in this house (ahem, Justin) said I really needed new ones to make my feet stop hurting. Both girls also needed new tennis shoes/school shoes, and summer shoes. Thank heavens for target, and their abundance of cute cheap shoes! Oh, and I have to say my husband rocks for cleaning the house while we were gone. He's been doing a good job lately of piccking up my slack on cleaning and cooking. I just can't seem to get a handle on this working and being a mom/wife thing. My house is always a mess, we don't have many home cooked healthy meals. But we are trying!

I've spent the last hour searching for bible verses to help me cope with a particularly difficult situation. I decided that maybe someone out there needed one of them as much as I do, so maybe I should share and slip in a few pics of my cute kiddos :)

How do we begin to handle being treated badly by someone that is supposed to love us? Well, if I ever figure that out I'll let the rest of you know. All I know is, when it gets almost unbearable, I just have to remind myself that God loves me, no matter what. He always has, he always will, and nothing will ever change that. People in my life who should love me, who should lift me up and encourage me, who should want to spend time with me, don't always meet those expectations. I know, no one is perfect, and I shouldn't expect that. But when it happens over, and over, and over again, it gets harder and harder to deal with. But that is what God is there for, to be the one that does love us, every single time. The one I can always depend on. The one that knows my heart, and knows I don't deserve to be treated like I don't matter. That my children don't deserve to be treated that way. And, to remind me that when these things do happen, the best thing I can do is try to be more like him, and forgive them. Love them despite their hurting me.

Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave thee or forsake thee"

Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

John 14:1 "Don't let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God"

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.......

I could go on and on. But you get the idea :)

A "hand" full of a week

I don't know about the rest of you, but these 2:
suuuuure did enjoy a few snow days at home! I think we all learned the true meaning of the phrase "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and will highly benefit from some time away from each other this coming week, along with our budget benefiting from going back to normal hours at work!

Do you ever feel like you are wandering through life with a giant target at your back, and the rest of the world has their weapons of mass destruction aimed right at you? I feel like that a lot. Or, maybe it's just my kids that are out to get me? I don't know about the rest of you, but so far 2011 hasn't been exactly been a year full of sunshine and happiness. And I'm not even talking about all the snow, which I actually happen to love. I am convinced I must have been a penguin in a former life, as I certainly have the same body shape as a penguin, and I happen to love the cold and snow.

Enough of my rambling, and back to my Target. The happenings of the past week were actually set in motion weeks ago. For awhile now, I've had this painful bump in my left hand. At a routine appointment with my rheumatologist, I asked him about it. He sent me to a surgeon, who wasn't sure what it was, but concurred that it needed to come out. We scheduled the Surgery for Tuesday of this past week, the 8th. We had everything all set up, and ready to go, until the surgery center decided that it would be way too easy on me for things to go smoothly, and changed the time of the surgery at the last minute. Oh, sure, I can just change my whole schedule around, including getting my children shuffled here and there. Yeah, no problem! Thankfully, I have some awesome friends and family who were willing to help us get everyone taken care of. It turned out to be a benign tumor in my hand, and they were able to remove it successfully. I have had my hand in a sling for most of the week, and will have my stitches for another week then should be back on the road to normal! I am so thankful for all the wonderful people in our life to help us through difficult times. My father, with his generous heart, who always seems to step in and make sure we are taken care of financially. My mom, who's always willing to help with the girls. My friends, who offered well wishes, helped with the girls, and kept us fed all week. I honestly don't know what I've done in my life to deserve such wonderful friends and family. I am blessed beyond measure!

So, just as my heart was overflowing with joy, my children decided they better reign me back in to humility. Starting this morning, when I woke to a crashing sound, and a lot of yelling. I went into the kitchen to find the whole floor totally covered in what Jaycee called a "food celebration!!" They took every single piece of play food, dishes etc and threw it all over. And they didn't leave out the ceramic tea set, oh no, they threw it all over as well, shattering every piece in the floor and leaving tiny slivers behind. I should have taken a picture, but I had to leave the room as soon as I saw it, and I walked away angrily proclaiming that when I came back in the kitchen it better all be cleaned up. I retreated to my room and tried to concentrate on getting ready for church, as I'm pretty sure there's some sort of commandment somewhere in the bible about not dismembering children on Sundays. After I managed to dress myself, as I'm walking through the small space between the end of our bed and the dresser, the bottom of the shirt I'm wearing (that just happens to be my favorite) catches on the drawer knob and rips. At this point, I'm running so late I don't have time to even think about changing, so I go on about my day hoping that no one will really notice :/

We did finally manage to make it to church, bandaged hand and all. Both children were whiny and clingy, driving me nuts of course. Like I didn't have anything to do. Since I was cooped up in the house all week, I wasn't able to make it up to the church to get things prepared for my 2's classes this morning, so I'm running around like a crazy person trying to get everything set up before all of the children arrive. Thankfully, everything went smoothly, and I think some of the kids may have actually learned something.

I was relieved we all made it home roughly in one piece, and needed more than anything just to lay down for a bit and rest. My hand hadn't gone so long unelevated all week, and was throbbing heavily. Somehow though, between the time we got home and the time I fed them lunch, they managed to shatter the large piece of glass covering the top of the furniture in their room. This furniture was mine as a child, and has been moved more times than I can count, each time taking very good care not to break this glass. I didn't hear, or see the glass break. But when I went to check and make sure they were getting their church clothes off, I noticed the glass. According to Jaycee "I climbed up there to get a ball down and knocked that (jewelry box) down and it broke it." !!!!!! I was seriously about to lose it at this point.

So, I set the girls up with some lunch and a movie in their room. They looked tired, and I was sure they would watch the movie and rest while I just lay down for a minute, rest my eyes and my hurting hand. Well. Of course that's not what they did! And of course, as I should have known I would, I fell asleep. Yes, that's right, I fully admit my part in all of this. About an hour later, I awoke to a loud banging sound. Justin, who was also in bed asleep after working 14 hours overnight, jumped up to see what was going on. He comes back into the bedroom, and tells me "the police are here, they want to talk to you." I'm freaking out of course. What is going on??? I run to the door, and sure enough 2 of greenwood's finest are standing there waiting on us. Apparently, my children just thought it was too nice of a day to stay inside and watch a movie, so they dressed themselves in ill-fitting non matched clothing, and proceeded to go outside and play while we were resting. Apparently, the next door neighbor is either a highly paranoid individual, or just is out to destroy me, and decided to call the police and report that my children were outside playing by themselves. According to Jaycee, she told the lady that "my mommy and daddy are named Jasmin and Justin and they are tired and we wanted to play outside." At any rate, we received a stern lecture about how they are too young to be out by themselves, and were told we really should get a deadbolt lock for the door. Heh, um, yes sir, we actually have a deadbolt installed at the top of the door, my hard-headed child stacks up toys and furniture and climbs up and unlocks it. Which is exactly what she did today. They probably think I'm crazy, b/c I was trying really hard to stifle giggle throughout the whole ordeal. First of all, the kids were in the yard, not wandering around town unsupervised. Second, anyone who knows us well, knows we are far from "neglectful" or "uncaring" parents. No, I'm not perfect and I make mistakes, but my kids are my life. Kids in general are my life! My strength in life is loving and taking care of children, and keeping them safe. I know, I know, these men were just doing their job, and didn't know a thing about me. Still, it makes me giggle when I replay the whole scenario in my head!

At this point, since it was about time to get back to church, I proceeded to dress the girls in clothing suitable for public. As I'm looking closely at Joslyn, I noticed something looked sort of funny. I asked Justin if he thought her hair looked funny, he said no. But I could just tell it wasn't right. We were in a hurry, so I didn't have much time to deal with it. A few minutes later as the girls and I are in the car on the way to church, Justin calls to tell me that he found chunks of red hair in the trash can. I knew she cut her hair! Sure enough, I asked her and she admitted it right to me. Somehow, she managed to get the scissors off the top of the bakers rack, and cut her hair.

It's actually not nearly as bad as it could be. It's hard to tell in the pic, but she took a good chunk off each side. I asked her to stand still so I could get a picture of her hair, and she posed like this. She looks like she really feels bad about it, doesn't she?? Hopefully this week we can try to get a cut so it will look somewhat normal.....

After church tonight, the first thing I did was call my mother. My first words to her were "I bet no matter how bad your day was, mine was probably worse!" And upon telling her everything, she fully agreed that I win the mega award for bad days. Which, essentially, is why one of the first thoughts that came to my mind after all this, was that I wanted to blog about it. B/c ya know what?? Your day could always be worse. There is always someone out there, somewhere, who is enduring something far more difficult than you. And, even though this day made me feel like I aged at least 10 years, now that it's all said and done, I'm pretty lucky. We are all here, safe and healthy, cozy, fed, and happy. Somewhere today, someone lost someone they loved, was in a terrible accident, or received some sort of devastating news. Hmm, yup. I got it pretty good.

My therapist (yes, I fully admit to seeing a therapist, most people with lupus do in order to learn ways to deal with the feelings and emotions that come with being diagnosed with chronic illness) once told me that she is totally amazed at the outlook I have on life and the struggles it presents me. She says I have a wonderful sense of humor. I see it as a huge blessing to be able to look at struggles and hardships and be able to laugh, or smile, or find the good somewhere. When God made me, he surely knew I would need such a disposition, and I think my job is to spread it around. Just call me Pollyanna!

I encourage you all, to have an absolutely wonderful week, and remember to give thanks for all of the blessings in your life.

A new year, full of new things!

First, b/c I forgot to show them last time I blogged, here is a pic of the little project the girls and I did as christmas gifts for the grandparents this year. So cute, right?? Not perfect by any stretch, but it's not supposed to be perfect when made my 3&4 yr olds :)








We have been having a lot of trouble with getting Joslyn to sleep. We finally made her this little pallet in our room, so on the nights she does wake up, she can still come to our room but not in our bed! They were both in it one morning, so I snapped this pic :)

This just cracked me up. I was folding laundry on the bed, and looked up and what do I see? Joslyns fur real kitty, "lulu" was spying on me. Life is never boring around here :D

Since we have had so much trouble with escaping dogs around here, I finally got smart and ordered tags. How cute are these?!?!

Joslyn finally got to start gymnastics last week!!! She was so excited about it. I went back and forth a lot trying to decide whether or not to let her. But in the end, I cancelled my own fitness center membership, and we made it work. It was so worth it, to see this smile on her face:

In other news, my dear friends Wendy and Tamara, and myself, have started the couch to 5k fitness program. Yes, that's right, my fat behind gets out there in the cold and runs. I admit, it is not in any way enjoyable. I hurt, it's cold, I'm sure I look ridiculous. But for some reason, I just had to do this. I haven't done any sort of strenuous exercise (well, besides chasing after 2 kids) in the 5.5 years since I was diagnosed with lupus. Yeah, I've been scared. I mean, just taking a shower sometimes leaves me in pain, I didn't want to know what it would be like to really push myself. But ya know, for 5.5 years now, things haven't really changed. I haven't gotten any better. So maybe this is just how i'm going to feel for the rest of my life. And if so, does that mean i'm just going to be scared to do anything strenuous, for the rest of my life? My dream is to take the girls to Disney world. I have never been, so I admit it's a bit of a dream for me too. A very far off dream of course, as half the time we can barely pay the bills. But say we do get there by some chance, do I really want my kids to see me have to drive around the park on a scooter? No way. I want to walk, I want to ride, I want to enjoy every bit of it the way people are meant to. I may never run a 5k. But, I can prove to myself that I am not helpless, and that I am still at least a little bit strong! I am just so thankful to have some amazing friends at my side.

Oh, in other new news, I got another job! Well, job is a relative word here. Position might be a better description? Our church is just overflowing, with big people and little people! Our preschool area is huge and includes kids from ages 2-4. The church decided that the 2 yr olds, being the neediest among them, needed their own "leader" to take care of planning etc of the classes. I was approached by the director and asked if I wanted to take this position, and I said yes! I'm still pretty sure she only asked me, b/c she knew I was the only person crazy enough to accept such a task :) I also work with this age kids at MDO. I feel good about it though. These kids deserve to have the absolute best care, and I hope to be able to help give them that. We have a lot of new ideas that I am so excited about! The only bad thing is I will no longer be able to work with the babies in the nursery. I will miss the nursery crew a lot! I had been working there for about a year now and had gotten used to being around all of them.

Random tangent time:

I know, that to some, my blog probably seems a lot different than others. It's not all just pretty pictures of my kids and home, or cute stories about the things we have done. I totally see some people's reason for wanting to have that kind of blog. To be able to look back and see all these happy things. For me, personally, my blog is a way to share all aspects of my life. My feelings, good and bad. Things that we go through in our daily lives. Things that make me smile, laugh, cry, and scream. I don't think I have really ever been a "put on your happy face!!!!!" type of person. Yes, I believe in being positive, and I trust in God to take care of me and give me what I need in life. But I also believe that life can be very frustrating, and that sometimes, it just feels like it downright stinks. I was reading my cousin's blog today, and her words just summed up my thoughts so well. She wrote that "believing in God doesn't constitute a perfect life, but one that gives us hope." And "it's OK to not appear to the world to have a squeaky clean slate. We will never be squeaky clean if we believe God is constantly molding us, shaping us, and loving us the way we are right now." She said all this to say yes, someday I will show my children this blog, and they will see that things were not always perfect. We had good times and bad. But her children will know, that their parents loved them so much, that they were willing to fight through whatever they had to, to give their children the best life they could.

All that to say, I'm sure some read my blog and think " wow, she's really saying that publicly? Doesn't she know what people will think????" Yes, and yes :) B/c this blog is my truth. This blog is my real life. And I am thankful that anyone at all is interested in reading it! :)

Love to all-Jasmin :)

PS: ummmm, it has been brought to my attention by several people that my blog does not allow comments. Being the not technologically savvy person that I am, I have no idea how to fix that. Eventually, when I feel the urge, I'll change my layout and hopefully that will fix it?