Our Eye Opening Day

Yesterday was a day of running errands for us and it really turned out to be a great day. I did figure out that I don't think I will be shopping at Target anymore. You wonder why, well I will tell you.

We started our day out at Goodwill and found some great deals. Praise God. Everything went fine there, the children behaved, not too many people, and everyone was really nice.

We then moved on to Target. Now that was a totally different story. It was about 10:30 in the morning so the only people really out shopping were moms with little ones or elderly people. I have no problem with either one. The only problem was the fact that all of these moms looked at us like we were not good enough to be shopping there. I don't think Target is that upscale of a store but these women looked at us like we had just crossed into their territory. I got the dirtiest looks and no one tried to discreetly count how many children I had. Then came lots of eye rolling and disgraced looks like we were overpopulating the world because you could tell they all were trying to live "green". Now I know I may sound bitter and that is because I probably am. I will not frequent this store anytime soon because I guess in other peoples eyes we are not good enough.

The positive that came out of this was I was able to talk to my children about what a blessing they all are and how special God made each one of them. I told them that every gift from God is a good gift and that is how we see children as a blessing not a burden.

We finally headed to Wal-Mart and what a wonderful experience. No one looks at you weird because they are just as strange as we are. I think I will continue to shop at my favorite Wal-Mart and fit in just fine with all the other strange people in this world.

Please don't get me wrong if you shop at Target I am sure you are not snotty I just happened to run into that group of people yesterday. The same with Wal-Mart if you shop there I am not saying you are strange either.

Thankful Thursday

I have seen other blogs who do this on Thursday and I believe with my attitude lately this would help me to see how great I have it. I will make it simple and short.
This is what I am thankful for today and everyday
-A God who loves me
-6 healthy children and one more on the way
-a husband who loves me and adores his little girls
-and last but not least, living in a country where I am free to worship my Lord and Saviour anywhere and anytime. I am so blessed.
Have a great and Thankful Thursday.

The Ranch Family

My sister wrote a post yesterday about how our family loves Ranch Dressing. This is not an understatement in any way. The kids love ranch and want to eat it with about everything. When I read her post yesterday it made me chuckle because she made the comment that she wonders if it is hereditary in our family. I believe she is right because by the time the youngest one can talk they are asking for Ranch Dressing.

The other day we were eating sloppy joes for lunch and the baby starts saying, "Ranch, Ranch, Ranch."
I look at my husband and say,"What could she possibly want Ranch with?"
We gave her just a little bit on her plate and she proceeded to dip her sloppy joe sandwich in the Ranch dip. I now that sounds crazy but at least she ate her lunch.

Here is a list of items my kids would dip their Ranch in if mom let them:
Hot dogs
Apples
Green beans
Ham
French Fries
Pizza
Orange slices
Watermelon
Basically anything you can pick up with your fingers they would dip in ranch.

Dusty just wanted to let you know that your mom fits right in with the Jensen Girls.

Happy Birthday Baby B

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Baby B. She is four today and I can't believe how these past four years have flown by. She is such a sweet little girl with a very strong personality. We celebrated her Birthday on Saturday with her Great Grandma. That was such a joy to see my children interact with their Great Grandmother. What a blessing to still have her with us and watch her enjoying the children just as much as they enjoy her. It was a great day and Baby B had a great time.

Today is her real Birthday and I think we are going to let her pick where she wants to eat for dinner tonight. Boy is she going to think she is cool two birthdays in one week. Well that is about all I have for today hope all is going well for all of you out there in blog land.

I DID IT!!!!

I did it. I am so excited I achieved all of my goals yesterday. I read to the girls and we all laughed and had a great time. I took my much needed nap and thank you all who have agreed that you have seen the rule that it is o.k. to be lazy when you are pregnant. And I went grocery shopping. We have a house full of food and I feel great.

My oldest daughter and I drove 45 minutes to go to Super Wal-mart. We loaded two carts full of food and toiletries and had a great time just the two of us. Now our drive home was little different. It was nine o'clock and I was tired so I stopped and got myself a cheeseburger and fries. I tried to get her to talk to me but she was just as tired as I was. We decided to look for landmarks that would let us know we were getting closer to home. That was fun because we would get all excited a bout a grain elevator, or someones green house but it really did help.
We finally arrived home and boy were we excited to see our driveway.

We then proceeded to unload the groceries and leave them in the mud room. She put all the refrigerator and freezer items away and everything else stayed on the floor for the night.
Well we got the shopping done and this morning all the groceries have been put away and everyone has a full tummy and we are off to a great day.

Thanks again all of you who have encouraged me and let me know that I don't have to be Supermom and it is o.k. to get tired. Have a great weekend everyone and I will see you next week.

Pretty Boring

These past few days in our house have been very uneventful. I sit here and think about what we have done this week and I am sad to say that we have done nothing. Man would I die if I had to live in Alaska. I just can't get motivated to do anything.

Today for breakfast each kid got two fried eggs and that was it because I have nothing else in the house but can't seem to get my rear to the store. For lunch my oldest found three cans of tomatoe soup and fixed those along with some quisadillas. Yeah, I am glad I have a creative duaghter who is willing to help.

So my goal for the rest of the day is to read to the kids, take a nap(I know pretty selfish), and go grocery shopping tonight when hubby gets home so I don't have to take all of the kids. O.k. as I read this I see myself not even trying to be a Proverbs 31 woman. I will seek God today and try to do better tomorrow.

Dreaming about Food

My children have this strange obsession with food. I knew that my oldest one from the day she was born loved to eat but I didn't understand to what degree. The other night at dinner my kids started talking about different dreams that they have had lately. The little ones of course I could tell were making up their dreams and that is o.k. at least I know they have an imagination. But then my oldest began to tell me about her dreams.

Here they are: The first dream she had about a week ago was that she was a big piece of bacon and she could nibble on herself all day long and the size of this piece of bacon never got any smaller. (O.K. I have to ask myself what child dreams about being a piece of bacon)

The second one is that she is in Rain Forest Cafe and a monkey comes to life and begins to chase her. Instead of running to her family she tells me that she tells all of us that she loves us and runs off with her big plate of nachos.

I sat there and couldn't help but laugh. My eleven year old loves food so much she dreams about it. She is not overweight and is a very active child, thank goodness because this dreaming about food could become a problem if it got out of control. Children and their imaginations are so amazing.

It's Still Winter Here!!!!

How boring the weather. Don't you get tired of it when all people talk about is the weather? Well I sure do and here I sit this morning and all I have to write about is the weather.

It is still winter here in Iowa and to be honest with all of you I am completely finished with this winter. Every time I watch the news and they say it is going to get cold again I can feel myself inside wanting to jump out of my skin. Then thye have they audacity to show you what the temps are in other places. Most of you know that we moved here from Phoenix and yesterday their temp was a high of 72 degrees. now that just made me cringe and think to myself what am I doing here?

This season I know will pass it just is taking longer than I would like. My husband jokinly said to me last night,"You know a couple of weeks into Summer and you will be telling me it is to hot and you want it to cool down." You know what is sad, He is right. Then in all of my craziness he asks me if I want to go back to Phoenix. Well that was the wrong thing to say especially at that time. I looked at him and said," You know how badly I want our children to live near their Grandparents and for the first time my parents are actually going to live near us." He looked at me a little shocked and I know it wasn't very Proverbs 31 of me but he just caught me off guard. I so badly want my children to grow up with Grandparents close to them and have what I had as a kid so if I have to suffer through the winters here and in return I have family close by I can do that.

So after all of that drama I will close for now because I feel like I am just rambling. But I sure will be happy when this winter is over.

Phil. 4:13

Lately I have been kind of negative and complaining a lot about everything. Last night while I was laying in bed and couldn't sleep my mind started to wander and think about silly things. I began thinking about labor and delivery and started to have that fear rise up inside of me which I know is wrong. Then I began to pray and I immediately began to feel peace. I know you probably think it is silly for me to be worrying about the birth already but when you lay in bed at night your mind can play lots of tricks on you. As I was praying I was reminded of the verse that I said last time, as I was pushing.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

Very basic but very powerful. We can do all things through Christ. This is so basic but when we have an understanding of this simple verse it can set us free to do many things that we thought we never could do. I read my friend Tanya's blog today and she had quoted this same verse so I felt like God was trying to keep my eyes focused on him. I am going to get through this first trimester and no more complaining. The only change I am going to make is that I am going to get through it on Christ's strength and not my own.

An Exciting Announcement!!!

Well I have an announcement to make. I am sure just from the title most of you have already figured out what our exciting news is. Yes, that is correct we are excepting a BABY.

I am about ten weeks along and am starting to feel better so that is great news. I haven't blogged lately just because everytime I went to sit down at the computer I would rather have been lying down taking a nap or running to the bathroom because something didn't agree with me.

We are all very excited in our house and can't wait for these next 7 months to fly by so we can meet our newest little bundle. Thank you God for blessing us again with such a precious gift.

Wisdom

My friend Becki @blessedwitholiveplantsaroundmytable has a wordless Wednseday and this week it was the best. Thank you Becki for inspiring me to remember this truth. She quoted THE LORD IS KING FOREVER AND EVER Psalm 10:16. This is so true. We worry about everything that is going on in hte world and wonder what is going to happen but after reading this we should not worry. I know this is a crazy election year and talk of recession scares people but man did this little Word of Hope make me open up my eyes and remember who I serve. Thanks Becki for letting me steal this word of wisdom from you.

An Award.

I got an award!!!. I am so excited because Becki @ blessed with olive plants around my table gave me an award. I really was surprised since I have not been around for about a week. I just feel like life was a little more hectic that normal and the best thing for me to do was stay away from the computer. Not because I don't love reading everyone's blog but because sometimes I get a little too involved and can't get off. So I want to say Thank you Becki for this award and let you know that I have really enjoyed getting to know you lately.

I would like to give this award also to Nana C, Tanya, Heather , Lisa, And Allison, You all have excellent blogs and I love reading them.