RELIGION

It has clearly been too long since I have written and the topic of the day is a heavy one...RELIGION !

For those of you who know me, you know that religion has been a struggle for me since I was old enough to make my own decisions. For those of you who are just starting to get to know me, this will definatly be one of those times when you learn a little bit more about me. :o)

I was born and raised into the Catholic religion. I made all of my sacraments, minus annointing of the oil obviously or I wouldn't be here writing this now. I never really ever felt like I belonged in a Catholic church. Nobody ever knew I was there and if I wasn't there, well it just didn't matter. Even though I attended only two churches from K-high school graduation, when I went to get married and have my children baptized, they did not recognize me, they had to pull my records. I guess I should add that I am not a soft spoken person (in case you didn't know that) and I don't keep to myself, I really do branchout or at least try. Church was something that I went to for an hour on Sunday and then left. I saw some of the same faces week after week but never knew their names. Fellowship was not something that REALLY happened there. The people who knew each other already would stand around after church and chat and the others would go on their merry way. The Sunday masses were the same. I could have conducted them myself. Same words, same motions, same rituals. Not a lesson on God in my opinion. The homily was supposed to go with the Gospel reading so that you could understand it better but many times I would leave wondering what one thing had to do with another. I also attended Catholic school from 1st grade through 8th grade. All this and I know less about the Bible than anyone else.

In realizing that maybe the Catholic religion wasn't for me, I decided to start trying to find where I did belong. I attended Baptist, Evenagelical, Protestant and Non-Denominational churches all in hopes of finding one that made me feel as though that is where I was meant to be. I even studying with Jehovah's Witnesses for a couple of years. Actually, that is where I learned most of what I know about the Bible. I also learned that many of the typical stereotypes of them are wrong. They are very amazing people and kind people with a great deal of faith in their religion. I went along that path until I found that I could not and would not follow them any longer. Like most religions, I get to a point where it no longer feels like The Truth. So I stopped following. I came to a point in my life that I just decided it was better to have the faith that I do and not belong to any "organized" religion.

Since I mentioned my faith, I feel that I need to expand on that. I believe in God. God is a huge part of my life. I have an incredible personal relationship with God. I speak to Him daily, several times a day. I ask for His guidance when I don't know where to go. I ask for His strength when I don't have any more. I ask for His forgiveness when I fail. And most importantly, I thank Him each and every day for all the wonderful and amazing people and things in my life that would not be possible without Him. I believe that your relationship with God is personal. I don't believe that it is black and white. I don't believe that a church has a right to tell you that God will forgive a murderer or a rapist and not a divorcee or someone who loses their way in their religion. Your relationship with God will determine your forgiveness. It is not a priest or a pastor or a reverand's decision to make if someone is forgiven or should be disfellowshipped or banned from a church or religion....that is Gods decision (that is my opinion) ! I understand that from the organized part of the religion, they want to have rules and consequences but the Bible clearly says that God will forgive those who repent for their sins. Only God REALLY knows if you are sorry and nobody else. Human beings can not possibly speak for God. They can help teach God's word from what they study and they believe and through God's guidance but then that makes them no different than you or I. Religion is in the interpretation...hence why this has always been such a big problem for me. I am really bothered by people claiming to be really religious and then they do things that just blow my mind like have affairs, hurt people and have no regard for life whatsoever. My godfather (God rest his soul) used to say that the people who went to church the most were there because they had that much more to ask forgiveness for. They were there out of guilt he would say.

My godparents are another reason for my huge belief in God. He sent them to me. I am sure of it. He guided me through them. They were amazing people who are with God now. They are looking down on me each day. I love my godchildren in the same way that they loved me and I expect no less from the godparents of my children. God has led me to amazing godparents for all my children. They are a huge part of my life and will continue to be. I love you all.

So here I am on in the south, the bible belt and I have no religion. We have been asked to attend many different services while here. I have had some interest in them but not enough to go. I think that I have truly just accepted that there might not be a religion out there that I feel comfortable enough to be a part of. With that being said, my faith is strong and I do believe that God has a plan for me. I only wish that He had a way to share that plan with me...lol. In all honesty, I know that whatever is meant to happen, will happen. He will guide me and I will allow Him to guide me.

Recently, Jose and I were invited to attend another service with a co-worker of his and her fiance. I am still toying with the idea. I want to go because I feel as though this may be God leading me in this direction. I did some quick research on it and I am not sure how I feel. They have meetings for the men of the congregation, kids services, Sunday services and not sure what else. This is going to sound really selfish but I don't want to spend my life at church. To me, church is simply a building. I don't need to be in a church to talk to God or pray to him. I do that each and every day in my house, in my car and in my bed...even at work. I don't need to be there 4 days a week to worship him. So I am not sure where this will lead me. The parish is Methodist. I am not even sure what Methodist people believe in, nevermind if I agree with their beliefs. All I do know is that this could be yet another learning experience in my life so I don't want to look away.

I am waiting for Jose to decide whether this is a journey that he wants to take with me or if I will be doing this solo. Religion is SO not Jose's thing. Either way, I feel as though God is pushing me to search once again for a place to belong, a place that can help me learn more about him. Things that I could not simply learn on my own. I will keep you all updated on the next phase of the religious part of my life. Oh, that is one more thing... I don't believe that religion should be an hour on Sunday. Religion needs to be a part of your life. It should be there in helping you with all decisions in your life. That is probably why I am so particular with making sure that the beliefs are so in line with mine. Once again, sit tight and stay tuned and I will let you all know what I decide and how it goes.

Thank you God for all of these amazing friends and family that you have blessed me with !

Bad Habits Die Hard

I started out the year, like most people, with the intention and desire to cook healthier, eat healthier and be healthier. My life has been a whirlwind since the beginning of the year and we have gone through many changes. I could use those changes as an excuse for not following through but the truth is that the only person who can control this is me and I allowed things to get in the way.

So I am trying to get back on track. We are getting settled into the new house. We are getting back to some kind of normal routine...as normal as you can get with three kids and four cats ! Seriously though, things are going really well. The house is turning out to be everything we wanted and more. We are getting to know more and more of the neighbors and they are all very welcoming. Nathan has not only adjusted to his new school but loves it. Larissa is finishing out the year at the school she is at and will switch for the next school year. With all that being said, things are falling into place and it's time to get myself back on track.

All this packing, moving and unpacking had us eating more fast food than I care to even admit on here. I guess it was a choice but it was the best choice at the times I was faced with it. I have started cooking again and remembered how much I love cooking. I have already tried some new recipes but they are not healthy ones. Don't get me wrong, they are not unhealthy but they don't have any veggies and they are loaded with calories. I am sure however, that is still better than grabbing fast food. So I will begin the search for healthier recipes that I know the family will eat.

I am going back to making meal plans too and trying to incorporate more veggies again. I will continue to buy whole wheat when possible and try having more healthy snacks on hand. The long term goal is not just to get myself healthier but also the whole family. So wish me luck as I try to get back on track with my goals to get healthier this year. It is never too late to break old habits !

Pics of the new house !

I know that many of you have been asking and waiting patiently for pics of the new house. So here are some that I have taken with my phone so please excuse the quality. I also want to make it known that I am not done unpacking, far from it. I am trying to pick the better pictures to show you since obviously, that is what I want you to see...lol. I will try to update pics as I get things done. The dining room is filled with my mother's stuff that came to new house by accident. So that wall of boxes will be gone and that alone will make that room so much better. I don't have curtains up yet, not even the rods actually...lol. But I still wanted to share with you all what I do have so here it goes.

This is my front porch where me and the girls got to hang out on Sunday afternoon. Thanks ladies, I had a great time !



Here is the bathroom. Nothing special really. Not even sure that I like the black after I got it up but it is staying for now cuz I have way too much to do already.



Here are a few pics of my kitchen. If you remember (if not you can search through my old posts) I wanted to use the pic of the retro kitchen as my inspiration and I think that it is already taking shape. I love to spend time in here. The boxes piled up next to the stove also belong to my mother by the way and I am trying to get all her stuff to storage but there is so darn much !





This is my dining room. As I mentioned, that wall of boxes behind the table all belongs to my mother. Hopefully we can get all that out by this weekend and then I can take more pics.



And last but not least, here is my living room.




I have pics of the kids rooms but they are awful and I decided not to share them until I can do more work on them. I also for some reason forgot to take a pic of our room that is much on it's way to being done. I will get more though and post them later on this week. I hope that you have all enjoyed looking at our new home and I hope that all of you get to see it in person !

Read this, loved this and had to share this...

Mommy Bloggers
I miss the days when Martha Stewart was the only woman who could make me feel like a slacker. Martha, with her perfect hair, her effortless style, her brilliant ideas, her ability to find a use for everything and give everything a use. Between her estate gardens and her glue gun acumen, she was my go-to gal for inspiration, ideas and instruction.

I knew I could never quite accomplish her amazing feats of craftiness, but that was okay. After all, no one can really be Martha. She has personal assistants, stylists, gardeners, wealth. I could laugh at my attempts to "channel Martha" and just have fun.

Now, however, I've discovered a rabbit hole of blogging mommies who make Martha Stewart look like she spends her day watching soaps and eating bon-bons.

No nannies.

No assistants.

No stylists.

Uniformly, they are cute - slender, stylish, trendy. They have the ability to look at a dress in a thrift store and restructure a work of art suitable for a black tie party. They create their children's clothing and sell the patterns. They are creative enough to make every birthday party, every holiday look like something out of a magazine. Their photography is professional, their writing is interesting, their interests are complex and varied. They recycle, reuse and look fabulous while doing so.

I love them.

I hate them.

I so want to be them.

I think it's time to go back to Martha. My self-esteem can't handle the collective creativity.

Unpacking

It's official. We are in our new home. It is so wonderful. I have so much to unpack and so much to do. I think that even with all the wonderful help that we had, and we had a lot (thanks everyone), this was one of the hardest moves that I have been through. I have a ton of unpacking to do and I still haven't put together the boys dressers yet so the clothes is all over the place too.

I know what you are thinking...we have only been in our new place for a couple of days and I can't expect to get it all done so quickly but yeah, I did expect that...lmao. I hate having things all over the place and not knowing where things are. I really should have taken some time out of work to do this but I didn't so I really need to dedicate time to get things in order. I may be crazy but I don't like it when my house is crazy. :o)

So I just wanted to let you all know how happy we are in our new home. We already got invited to the neighbors house for drinks. Life is good !

Tomorrow is our big day !

This is it! The day we have been anxiously counting down to. Tonight will be our last night sleeping in this house and tomorrow night will be our first night sleeping in our new house !

I am beyond exhausted. I did the family room from top to bottom, the playroom is ready to go even though I had orignially planned to do it tonight. CJ was cooperating so I went with it. We took apart our bed and took out all the garbage...it was garbage night.
Tonight we have to drop off Nathan at boyscouts for a BBQ. Then we have to run to Bj's to turn in our water bottles and get vouchers for after we move and one water bottle. We have the water system in the car already and we are going to the house to drop it off after work so that tomorrow we at least have cold water for everyone to drink.
Then we have to finish packing the kitchen, which is just the few dishes we have been using, the pantry and the refrigerator. We have to finish our room, which is mainly just bagging up clothes (and not throwing them out...lol). And that is pretty much it I think. Jose is going to take apart the computer tonight so that it is ready to go too !

I hope that the rain holds off until we are done. Keep us in your prayers if you are not helping out tomorrow. I will send pics of the new house for sure !

Cooking...Back to Basics

Saturday is our big day. Finally the much anticipated day. I am hoping that the predicted rain for the evening really does wait til the evening. With this move and all the packing and madness, it has been forever since I have cooked. I miss good old fashioned home cooking. So starting Monday (I hope), I am going back to cooking dinner again.

I have been doing lots of research on cooking meals and freezing them and having prepared meals for days when the time to cook is just not that great. Right before everything went bazerk because of the packing and moving, I was getting stressed with being away from the house three nights out of a five nights during the week. I hated not being home to cook dinner and sitting with the family. Being able to leave instructions for Nathan and Larissa to take something out of the freezer and put it in the oven would be ideal and much more yummy than the crap that we have been eating non-stop. Although they like to cook too, it gets hectic with their schoolwork and timing so I don't want to put that on them every night. I will still dedicate each of them a night though because it keeps them involved in the responsibility of things in the house and they really do enjoy cooking too.

Do you know that there are tons of websites and blogs dedicated to spending one whole day a month cooking for the month? That is crazy. I don't want to do that, I like variety and randomness sometimes. I do want to go back to planning out the week though. Planning for the week has always worked for me. It allows me to know what to buy at the store instead of buying everything. It stops the kids from asking over and over again, "what's for dinner?" and it stops me from having to go crazy on my way home trying to figure out what I am going to make. Although this is my plan to jump into right away, I am always looking for other options.

I am actually also trying out a cooking co-op. I am just "trying" it because I am not convinced that it is for me but I am willing to give it a shot. You are probably wondering what it is exactly, well this is the description that she sent to me:
Everyone brings 4 recipes of things they would like to cook to our meeting. The group then decides together which 2 dishes each person makes. They then make enough for each family, and the next month each family gets one dish.
For example, our group used to have 5 women. The largest family was 6 people, all others were ok with 3 serving dishes. So say I am to make baked ziti and Minestrone. I will make 10 3-serving dishes of baked ziti and 10 3-serving dishes of minestrone. When we swap the food, every woman receives 2 3-serving dishes of baked ziti and 2 3-serving dishes of minestrone.
I also receive 2 3-serving dishes on what everybody else made, so at the end of our swap I end up with 20 3-serving meals (10 different dishes) in my freezer, ready to be prepared.


Like I said, I am not sure that it will work for me. I have no idea what the other dishes will be and if it will be things that my family will like to eat. Buying in bulk is def cheaper so it's gotta be worth the try at least. The first meeting is on the 28th and I will have to keep you all posted as to what happens and how it comes together. I have actually always wanted to try something like this so I guess this is a great time. I just don't know how much I will enjoy making that much of one dish but maybe the rewards of all the other different dishes will balance it out...lol.



Ok...enough about my cooking escapades. I really do miss cooking and can't wait to have everything in it's place so that I can get back into my normal routine ! Talk to you all later.