'Happy Thanksgiving'

In honor of Thanksgiving I decided to post a blog of just a few of the things I am grateful for. I am a truly blessed woman and am thankful for all of the people and things that God has given me. I encourage you to write down all that you are grateful for this Thanksgiving..it definately helps you to see that sometimes things aren't so bad after all...

1. I am thankful that I have sweet, beautiful, healthy children. I wouldn't trade these girls for nothin!! I love them so much!!

2. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who provides a christian home for us and that he puts up with all my shortcomings and craziness! :)

3. I am thankful for my family (all of them!) So many people do not get the priviledge of growing up in a christan home. I thank God that I have. I have an enormously large family (so big in fact that I don't have one of the whole gibson clan..) and I am grateful for the good times that we have.

4. I am thankful that I get to be a stay at home mommy even if we do stuggle with money sometimes.. it is sooo worth it! A true blessing.

5. I am thankful that I have a God who loves me no matter how many times I fail and for His grace..

6. I am thankful that all four of my grandparents are still alive (I love them dearly..I couldn't find one picture of my granny on my computer..sorry..)

7. I am thankful that I have a neice or nephew on the way!! Yea!

8. I am thankful for dirty dishes because it means we have food to eat and so many don't have enough food for their family...which brings me to another thankful point...a disherwasher (those aren't my dishes by the way..just a visual aid..)

9. I am thankful for my parents. They have showed me what it is to be a family and to survive through any situation. I am thankful that they stayed together all these 28 years because so many of my friends have divorced parents!

10. I am thankful for the opportunity to teach my girls about God and watch them grow in their faith (Sadie just recently started closing her eyes to pray and Laney knows that she can pray about every problem..even stolen pumpkins...such a blessing and so sweet to watch!)

this is when laney first started praying (**tear**)

and here is Miss Sadie praying before lunch (aww...)

11. I am thankful for the bad times I have went through because it's brought me to where I am today and that I can pray openly and freely and go to my Father when I need him...

12. I am thankful for all that laundry that piles up even if I do complain about having to do it because it means that we have plenty of clothes...

13. I am thankful for my great friends (the old ones that I've known since I was born and the new ones that are just as great) It's awesome to know that I can count on any one of them no matter what I need or when!

15. I am thankful for all the dirty diapers and peed in panties and for the almost constant dirty house... because it means I have healthy children and so many people wish they did.

16. I am thankful for my brother and sister. They are the best even if we do still have our fights like children! (how many people can say their siblings are their best friends?)

17. And last but not least I am thankful for my life that God has so graciously given me. For the gifts that I have and that person that I am!!

I will end with the prayer Laney likes to say before we eat;

"Thank You for the world so sweet, Thank You for the food we eat...Thank You for the birds that sing, Thank You God for EVERYTHING,

Amen."

Restaurant Review

Ok so today we went shopping. It was FREEZING! We actually seen snow!! I absolutely loved watching Laney watching it snow...aww..it was sweet. The shoppers were me, my girls, my mom, my sister, my cousin Sarah and her daughter Kelcie...

Anyways so we decided to meet up at Boston's in Bentonville for lunch. So I think I mentioned on my facebook the other day about how I attract rude people/bad service? Well let me tell you this "restaurant" was absolutely HORRIBLE today! Sarah gave it rave reviews and so we were like yeah sounds good..

We get in there about 12:05 and our waitress takes our drink orders. My mom asks "do you have diet dr. pepper?" (this is a question you hear quite often if you go anywhere with my mother. ha) And so the waitress told her they did. So she brings out our drinks and tells my mom that she's sorry but they are out of diet dr. pepper (this was the first upset of our lunch date) How does a restaurant run out of a drink? Anyways that's not the point...so we order our food. I added a side caesar salad to my calzone and so we sit there to wait for our food... At 1:00 we are STILL WAITING! I am not even kidding!

Sarah finally decided to "get some balls" (haha..it's an inside joke) and gets up to tell the manager our problem and could she at least get the kids food out there. The manager comes to the table and apologizes and says she will go check on the food for us. She also has to get us refills because we have been out of drinks for about 20 minutes at this point. Mom's was still halfway full but she was mad her ice had melted. ha :) The kids are getting totally restless by now and we are getting extremely irritated. The manager comes back to the table and tells us that there are two tickets in front of us and then our food will be up. An hour later and we're still 3rd in line? She tells us that there was a big group that came in..So we are totally feeling unimportant after that statement.

Finally the waitress brings out my salad (don't you usually get salads right after you order? kind of like an appetizer?) There is like no dressing on it whatsoever so I ask for another cup of the caesar. 10 mins later she comes out with a cup of dressing and proceeds to tell me that they are out of caesar dressing. (another thing that they are out of...grr) I had the last of it so she brought me italian to put on with the caesar. Are you kidding me? Sarah..haha...it was hilarious she asks the waitress if we need to split the salad with the kids or are they going to bring their food soon? haha Man the girl is funny!

So then 3 hours later...not really but it seemed that long...they bring out our food. I know this is going to sound like an exaggeration but our food was cold. I promise! My mom ordered a club sandwich and I don't know if you guys have ever had a club sandwich but don't they usually come with some kind of mayo or honey mustard? and don't they have lettuce and/or a tomato? She got a slab of chicken with some melted cheese on it. (it was cold also) the waitress informs her that the veggies are coming out soon. 10 mins later...no veggies so she asks again...still no veggies So I get the manager again and politely (really I was) told her that our food was cold, our waitress had been outside on the patio for a very long time and we were waiting on tomatoes/lettuce for my mom and our waitress just plain stunk! She apologizes and says she understands that we are frustrated and she will talk to our waitress..so the waitress comes back and I tell her that my mom is still needing her veggies and she finally brings them out (on a very hot plate?) and says that she was sorry she had to cut them up herself because she couldn't get no one to plate them for her.

Then she spends an awful lot of time at our table trying to be nice. Ugh! The manager must've really talked to her. We were so frustrated. Needless to say, we didn't leave a tip. The manager did give us our food for free and gave us a gift card for $50.00 to come back! I don't know why we would want to go back there..haha but I'm sure we'll try it again and hopefully we have a better experience! We should've ate at Rib Crib because I know that's where Sarah and I really wanted to eat :)

Oh, what a day! We had fun though. I got a lot of cute clothes for the girls and Holly got a lot of cute maternity clothes. Oh and I bought a Christmas present today!! First one for the season..haha.

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

My Little Hunter

Laney Beth got to go on her first hunting adventure yesterday! She was so "basided" (excited). Friday night we took her shopping and got her some hunting clothes. She talked all night about getting to go hunting in the woods with her daddy and her Pepaw. So we get up super early Saturday morning and dropped Brandon off at the Coger Farm in Huntsville and us girls went back to Brandon's Granny's house to get ready for Laney's big excursion. I'm gonna tell you she was the cutest little hunter I had EVER seen! I even bought some hunter orange ribbon to make hairbows for her. Of course I had to make her look a little girlie..couldn't have my babies looking like tom-boys! :) Anyways I also dressed Sadie in some camo and put ribbons in her hair. She was adorable as well..



So we go to Wal-Mart and of course EVERYONE had to stop and talk and say how cute they were. (if you live or have lived in Huntsville you know that a trip to Wal-mart takes a while because you know everyone and everyone knows you and you have to visit with every one you meet. ha) So then we are off to the big ole' town of Pettigrew. Laney is really impatient at this point and asks every few minutes if it's time to go hunting yet. Poor thing had to wait for a while because Grandma had not even started cooking "dinner" (dinner means lunch in my dad's family..it's a little confusing to me sometimes.ha.). Another first for Laney yesterday...she ate her first deer meat.. if you know me, you know this sickens me because I am not a meat lover but I'm glad my kids eat things I don't! She really liked it with ketchup though!!


So the time finally came for her to start getting her
gear (face net,toboggan,gloves,shoes,jacket) on..it was FREEZING outside and really windy so Brandon decided that I should drive them down to the end of the field and they would walk down to their hunting spot. Well Laney did NOT want to get in the truck..she just had to ride on the four-wheeler with Pepaw. Sadie and I get in the truck and take Daddy to the end of the field. Laney and Pepaw went in front of us and she looked so cold!





















Then they were off..I will have to admit I teared up watching her go off into the woods...for a variety of reasons...my baby is getting so big and I can't believe she's old enough to go hunting, I worry about her when she's not with me (especially in bear country), and I wanted to go too :( So I head back up to the house and wait rather impatiently with the walkie-talkie (that wasn't working) glued in my hands! I can't even tell you how many times I walked from the couch to the back porch watching for a little orange speck to appear letting me know that they were on their way back! About 20 minutes after dropping them off we see my dad's four-wheeler making it's way up the field..finally my baby is on her way back up!! Brandon and Dad said that she got out there in the woods and sat down and said "OK I'm ready to go back now" haha From the pictures that were taken, she looks really cold and really unhappy..oh well she had a lot of fun and was really excited to tell me all about it. (there are more pics on my facebook if you want to check them out..)


















I think she was pretty tired too because while I was getting Sadie down for her nap she laid her head on the computer chair and put her feet up on the recliner and fell asleep..it was too cute and i took one after i moved her to the couch (she is praising God in her sleep!) :)

Then Grandma cooked another delicious dinner..i mean supper..ahaha...and we all played cards and watched Laney perform for us on her stage (she was practicing for her Christmas program at church!) Sadie started getting really cranky..she was getting sick..It didn't take the girls long to fall asleep on the way home!

Funny story..I just had to add...About halfway back to Huntsville we see blue lights and got pulled over! Brandon had to buy a new truck for work (he got promoted to outside sales! so proud of him!) and we haven't had it 30 days yet so we didn't have tags..Well he bought it in Oklahoma and on the "fake tags" they put the date the vehicle was purchased whereas in Arkansas on the fake tags they put the date that you are required to have your tags by. So the cop thought he had us because the tags said October 15th which was the date he had actually purchased it. haha. The funniest part was that he got asked about 10 times if he was drunk..(Brandon is a lazy driver and tends to cross lanes sometimes..) I was like good grief just have him get out if you think he is drunk. Honestly! He didn't even look in the backseat or anything! I was like if you think someone is drunk..wouldn't you check out everyone else in the car? Also Brandon forgot his license at home so he told the cop that he could give him is license number and the guy was like 'just give me your date of birth" haha what? why wouldn't he need his license number? Gotta love Madison County deputies and their backwardness (although Brandon used to be one..he was a smart one though!) :)


It was a fun, exhausting, great day even if we are all know snotty nosed and coughing now from being in the country and around a wood stove all day! But it was awesome and I'm sure it was a day Laney Beth (and Daddy) will never forget!

It's been a while..

Ok.. so I have to admit, I forgot I even have a blog! I was looking at my sister's blog and it had a link to mine and I was like, 'oh, oops!' :) I have so much on my mind today. The presidential election last night has weighed heavy on my mind all day. I know that God is in control but sometimes it is easy to get a little scared of the things that are happening in our world today. I was challenged today while reading a post on my old pastor's blog.

It doesn't matter (in the big realm of things) who our next president is. God is and will always be God. He is always in charge. He is always working his plan. I do not agree with things that Obama stands for especially when it comes to the topic of abortion but it has challenged me to do my part to help change the world....

I can't figure out how anyone (especially 'christians') are lead to believe that abortion is not murder. I was thinking last night while watching election coverage and again today that I really need to stand up in the fight against abortion. Since we obviously can not depend on our government to take a stand against it then we ourselves have to do the work. It starts with us. There are many organizations and groups that you can get involved with. I was invited to a banquet (thanks Holly and Lindsay) for Loving Choices (www.lovingchoices.org) last week. I was shocked and outraged at the statistics and the facts involving abortion. So I have made it my mission to fight against the issue and to pray for and educate those that are pro-choice. I really feel like God has spoken to me about this. We are all called to be soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3) so we have to fight, fight, fight!

I challenge all of you to do the same! Find something that you can be passionate about whether it be abortion, same-sex marriages, prayer in school, etc. and shine a light in this dark world.
"This is war, and there is no neutral ground.

If you're not on my side, you're the enemy;

if you're not helping, you're making things worse.

-Matthew 12:30

It's funny that when you feel God is talking to you, he sometimes confirms it to you whether it be through a verse, a person, a preacher etc... I was actually done writing this until I went to church tonight. We had a fill-in for our Pastor and his message was about how there is no substitute for victory. It really challenged me that we are not fighting against man but against satan. We are all more than conquerors. This verse sums up my feelings about all of this....

Despite all these things,

overwhelming victory is ours through

Christ, who loves us.

-Romans 8:37
So no matter what happens, no matter who our leaders are, no matter who attacks us, if you are a child of God then you win. period.