Going down down down...

Here in OK, we have been having some of the most beautiful warm sunshiny days! Yesterday was just that ~ sunny & warm UNTIL around 4:30 in the afternoon. The wind turned around to the North and my oh my did it ever blow! By the time we went to church @6:30 the temperature had dropped 15 degrees and was still going down! When we got home, guess what??? It started snowing!! HARD! Everything was covered except our streets which were still warm from the day!

It's funny how anytime something happens like that, Facebook is chock full of status' about it!lol Everyone - kids and adults alike get so excited and Joy is spread from one to another!!

I have Beans in the crock-pot, and I am getting my hair cut & colored after workout today! I CANNOT WAIT - it has been 3 months.... YES THREE... since I got it done last!! That is WAYYYYY TOOOO LONGGGGG ;0)

So on this Thursday I am a thankful girl ♥ God is sooooo Good! I pray yours is blessed!

Love to you all

So Very Proud of my Son

My Son Jantzen is such a sweet and kind-hearted young man. If you spent any amount of time with him, you would experience his inquisitive nature. He LOVES to hear all about you! If you don't know where to start, trust me, he will ask you MANY Questions! Questions may be about your past, your dreams, or if you happen to have been in a War, then this will leave you talking for as long as you have time for :)

On Monday, I picked him up from school and he was hungry, as usual. (aren't they always hungry @ this age?lol) He asked if would take him to eat @ Waffle House. He absolutely LOVES Waffle House. He says they have THE BEST Waffles in America. (I choose my battles and this is not one that I will fight heehee b/c I am not in agreement with this opinion!) As we walked in, he IMMEDIATELY saw an older woman dining by herself. She was having a burger and fries. She gave us a very sweet smile as the waitress walked us to our table.

The second he sat down he said "Mom, I want to pay her ticket and I don't want her or anyone else to know!" "I will spend my Christmas money!"

I explained that he needed to get our waitress over and to let her know quickly as I noticed she was almost finished with her plate. Now, Waffle House is NOT a very big restaurant. So being able to do this could prove to be somewhat difficult!
The waitress brought her ticket to our table and shortly there after we see her stand up and ask for her ticket.
Our waitress who was also her waitress told her "Your ticket has been paid in full!" She said, "What? By Whom?" Our waitress told her it was a secret! She just kind of stood there and you could just see the smile on her face!

Not only could you see her smile but you should have seen the one on Jantzen's face!! IT. WAS. PRICELESS.

A few years ago I attended a Joyce Meyer conference. One of the things I took home with me was this...

There are times the Lord will reveal that HE wants you to pay for someone else's dinner, or maybe even their groceries! It might be that HE wants you to give them something from your closet, or possibly go out and get their favorite meal. The list is endless. BUT, Joyce shared that "at times" people will "wonder," "Was that really God asking me to do that?"
They do this over and over and before you know it, they talk themselves out of giving. So, Joyce shared that God will give us creative ways to bless others and only HE truly knows how others will receive the "gift" She also said this...
"Even if you didn't hear correctly, it is probably safe to say that the Lord is def. not going to be upset with you for giving to someone!!"



Thank you Lord, for allowing me the privilege to be Jantzen's Mom! Thank you for his precious and tender heart! Thank you that he brings glory and Honor to you !

Don't cha just hate it when....

Question: When you begin a diet or maybe a weight-loss challenge @ church or work, do you find yourself the day before eating everything in sight??? LOLOL

I shared with you all that I will be starting a weight-loss challenge today. This means I will be weighed and measured!! YIKES!! Yesterday it seemed as if I ate everything I could! I spent some time planning our meals and getting some healthy snack ready so that I won't get past that point of hunger and eat more calories than I am allowed. I made sure my app was on my IPhone where I log my food intake. I really am ready to go - I've done all I can do to make this a success...

Thank the Lord for new days, for start-overs, and for GRACE! I know that I can't do this without HIS help and without the Holy Spirit prompting me to get my exercise in 4-6 times each week, and to eat the right portions sizes and only when I should!

I love the fact the not only am I doing a weight-loss challenge that will help me physically and mentally, but more importantly, I grow Spiritually. I treat this time in a sense, like a Fast. When I am hungry and it's not time to eat, I go to the Word or just pray! I remind myself over and over - when I am weak, HE is strong! HE is my strength and my shield~ Lord knows I need a shield to cover me so I can't see my Son's cookies, or that Chocolate candy from Christmas.

If you guys have any suggestions of good healthy snacks or low-fat dinners...PLEASE SHARE! or any words of wisdom for me... I would truly appreciate it :)

Have a Happy Tuesday my friends!

Confusion

Happy Monday everyone ♥ How was your weekend? Got anything planned this week??

I have to take a moment and tell on myself :) Last week as I was posting.... I realized I was totally off on my days!
So, like on Thursday, I posted "Wordless Wednesday." hee hee Coming back from Christmas break is my only excuse LOL or is it that I am just getting old and more & more confused ;P

Our sweet grand babies came and spent the night with us on Saturday! Just when you think you couldn't love someone anymore than you already do, you find that your heart is just overflowing with MORE L♥VE. Rylee is just a hoot and keeps us laughing pretty much all weekend. She also LOVES to read! She will go grab a stack of her books and crawl in my lap and we read over and over :) Such a precious gift. Bentley will be 1 in just 10 more days! He has begun taking steps and no doubt he will be walking everywhere by his birthday! He is Papa's little buddy for sure! Soo sweet!

I was trying to think of something new to fix for dinner, and also make sure it was something we ALL could eat while our grandkids were here. I decided I would make Chicken and Dumplings! I haven't eaten Chicken & Dumplings since I was in junior high school. I loved them way back then! Anyway, Brian and I worked together to make them. When making a chicken soup I am one of those that will boil a whole chicken instead of doing just chicken breasts. Anyway, I did the soup part while Brian made the dumplings. Wow Wow Wow ~ it was soooo delicious! Both grandkids and our kids LOVED it and scarfed it down :)

I am so thankful because We have a four day school week this week, AND next week too! WOOHOO :) Because of Teachers meetings! I am sooo thrilled!

Last night, We said goodbye to our Jen as she headed back to college. She & I were changing out some clothes (summer to winter) and memories just flooded my mind of that August night we spent talking to her, calming her fears, and trying to convince her she needed to go the college. She was having second thoughts about going, and really not wanting to leave home AT ALL! Now, As she begins the Spring Semester, she has adjusted and doing awesome! She's happy and loves college life! Her grades were excellent and we are so proud of her!! Oh what a difference a semester makes :)

Tuesday I will begin a weight-loss challenge! It will last for 6 weeks and I would like to lose about 3 lbs. per week.
That would get me pretty much to my goal weight. I am not sure I told you guys how God orchestrated a situation with the owner of the gym... I have been going since last August and just loving it! Well, the owner Lori, approached me asking me if I would be interested in managing their Facebook page. Putting up posts, announcements, etc and in exchange I would receive a free membership for myself & my family! WOOHOO! God is sooo good :)

Don't forget to tell me how your weekend went~ I Hope your week is blessed! Love to you all ♥

How many times have I said "I trust you Lord" only to pick that burden up again and try to do something about it On My Own??? I have encouraged others as well to just Trust the Lord, HE is in Control, and then I step in and completely get in Gods way! I am definitely NOT a good Holy Spirit Jr. :) nor do I want to be!!!

I have been known to spend a day saying these very words at every situation that arises!


"I TRUST YOU LORD"


I encourage you to try this! See how your burdens become less stressful and your mountains begin to shrink!

Thank you Lord that we CAN TRUST YOU IN ALL THINGS! When we cast our cares upon YOU, You is there waiting!

Today I am joining WFW here

Resolutions ... NAH!

Tis the Season for New Years Resolutions! Or Maybe you have a list of goals for the year that you would like to achieve?

I have always considered myself a fly by the seat of my pants kind of person. You know, those that "go with the flow" or do better "under pressure" or a "having to meet a deadline."

UNTIL ....

Years ago, I sat across from the table from our Life Coach. She had begun teaching us the specifics of our Personalities. (Fascinating stuff!!) In sharing with her that I wasn't one who "planned" anything, or sat down and wrote out my goals, whether they were financial goals, fitness goals, etc. Heck, I didn't even Plan our family menu! LOLOLOL

She said these words to me and they hit me hard!!

"IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, THEN YOU PLAN TO FAIL"

WOAH!!! I never ever thought of it that way! After more time was spent learning numerous things about myself, my family and how best to work together as a team, I slowly worked into "planning." A started off by just planning our family menu. We would have our family meeting each weekend and the kids would participate in planning the menu. It is AWESOME!


As the years have gone by, I am still learning different parts of our life that definitely need to be scheduled or look at in regards to "this is how we have been doing things, NOW THEN, how can we make that better?" Being open to change and accepting that we all have room for improvement is key!

Isn't that really what creating Resolutions are? Taking those areas in your life and saying "Hey, I am not doing this either AT ALL, or, not in the way that I should so I am going to have to change some things to make them happen or make them better!

If you are like me and countless others who have sat down and created a New Years Resolution over the years, only to forget them all in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th week of making them, I have a suggestion.

Say these words to yourself - including your name in the sentence.

"Loren, If you Fail To Plan, then you are planning to fail" None of us want to fail! None of us want to disappoint ourselves or anyone else by allowing yet another year of New Years Resolutions be long forgotten by March.

Sitting down to plan has changed so many things for myself and our family ~ it has given us more time to be together, enjoying one another. It helps things from being forgotten...like, house or car maintenance! Planning can be fun especially when it is for a vacation :) Planning your budget for the year is awesome! I know we are all different and for some resolutions work great! Either way, we all need to learn what works best for us and GO FOR IT!


And Remember....

With God.... ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE and.... HE is a God of "Order" NOT "Chaos!"

You can do ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS YOU :)

MY MOTTO this year is ... NO EXCUSES! NONE! ZIP-ZILCH!!

Hello Friends ♥ It's Me, Loren :)

I've been gone so long I might should introduce myself to you guys... hee hee!

I hope each and everyone of you had a very blessed Christmas and that 2012 proves to be the best EVER! We have been blessed with such precious family time. Our oldest daughter, along with her husband, and of course our grand babies spent the night with us before Christmas. Such a treat!! We had fun decorating cookies

We opened our gifts...while Bentley decided he would rather wear the packaging ;).... This is His
Bo-HoHo-Hawk LOL

We went to see my Nana (Dads Mom) She is 90 years old and just sooo cute! We took her out to eat @ one of our favorite restaurants ~ Fred&Reds Chili House....OHHHH EMMMMM GEEEE!! IT IS FABULOUS!!! Once we got back to her house, Nana allowed me to go through her recipe box. What a true gift. To have a copy of recipes that I have grown up LOVING and now I can share them with my kids and grandkids! Isn't that awesome!

We had a wonderful Christmas with my Mom and Stepdad! My Mom always pours everything into making sure everyone feels special. Her house is decorated just BEAUTIFULLY, the food is absolutely delicious, and seeing her special touch throughout her home never ceases to amaze me!!

As it all began to wind down we reluctantly began taking down all the Christmas decorations. We decided we should go through a lot of the stuff and clean out/organize things. This led to cleaning out the attic, cleaning out every Christmas box we had. Finally, After de-cluttering we then began to organize. It only took us 2 days and the last day was a STRAIGHT 16 hour day! We were EXHAUSTED but, boy oh boy, does it feel soooo good to have a nice clean and organized house!!

Then.... Our College Football team ~ The Oklahoma State Cowboys played in their Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game! We were #3 and Stanford was #4. We all knew it was going to be an amazing and very close game. Let me just tell you...we had NO IDEA how GOOD or how VERY CLOSE it would be ALL NIGHT!! I got so nervous at times in the game I had to leave the room!
We went back and forth, back and forth! At halftime we were tied. At the end of the game, we were still tied. So in Overtime we finally scored and WON THE GAME!! It was SOOOO EXCITING!! 41-38

Today my Honey will go back to work and then Jantz will return to school tomorrow. We have Jen for just a bit longer as they don't return to school until next week, so I will treasure these days for sure. It has been a WONDERFUL Christmas Break!

I wonder.... Will this next year fly by as quickly as 2011 did? I am sure it probably will... *sigh*

I am so glad to be back and to catch up with all of you!