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Oh, heartburn. No fun. Tot seemed to have a trifecta tonight: Stomach, heart, and head all aching.

A gave her a Gas X.

And at 9, she finally did it. I had to turn around so I wouldn’t watch, but she was so proud to announce: I DID IT!

Now, let’s get ready of the gassy pains, my dear. I’m so sorry this is happening tonight. I don’t ever want you to experience what I have had for so long. I LOVE YOU

Up at 6:30am, Tatum and I have been enjoying our Bible Study and learning a QT routine. (We are on day 5)

Today’s topic was Worship, and she enjoyed singing the song: God is SO GOOD!)

Here are some of the days’ entries: (Day 4, Day 5)

And, I tested her on the memory verse. She got it!

Luke 6:27-31

It came in with a roar, this new day. 1/1/22. We are so grateful, and we are ready for 2022!

In the meantime, I look forward to a new year because of all I learned this last year.

I would never have experienced true love. It takes conflict in some form to bring out the best or worst in someone. For our family, we grew immensely. You either became BITTER or BETTER through hard times. For me, my health took a downturn, and it forced our family to literally nest (and become BETTER!). I became unpredictable in my ability to plan things because I had so many gut issues that it was so hard to go places. This meant my family would suffer also because they would stay home with me. But what else did it mean? My family would spend a lot more time together. Good? Well, it was amazing because we spent so much time in prayer and focus on HIM> They would pray over me constantly, and my health would be a conduit to a closer relationship for all of us. (to God and to each other)

I also experienced the POWER of the Holy Spirit. I am tapping into His power more than ever; it’s changed me. I’ve learned how much I am loved and how I am truly HIS child. No more self deprecating thoughts. No more, putdowns to myself.

Finally, I’ve learned to be content with so little. Just the daily sunrise; the smell of our fresh flowers; the cloud formations; the meals to savor. So many LITTLE things I have taken for granted in the past. No more “future” living. No. I want to live in the present of HIS presence. Now that is a present for the NEW YEAR!

See my smile? This is now my new normal. Keep smiling, fighting, and living in love.

Gratitude day. Our family met early for a mini-meeting so we could talk about our final day.

First, we are grateful for new friends. Across the street, there is a lovely family, and Tatum has befriended the two boys, Hussein and Ali.

Later, I attempted to make fortune cookies. Not because of the “fortune” part, but because of the note inside part.

Again, attempted. Here are the notes they found in them.

I showed my family our gratitude box with notes inside.

Now, we fill out anytime we want to just express our gratitude. This year, we are going to focus on THE GOOD (Romans 8:28)

We headed to Feed My Starving Children to make food packs for children. One in five children in the world die from starvation. FMSC sends manna food packs (vitamin, dried veggie, rice, soy nugget mix) to many countries where food is scarce. How fun this will be to help! We are ready!

We showed up, and guess who was there? Shannon and her girls, Riley and Vivian.

We were assigned station one, and we each had a duty. Tot scooped vitamins and dried veggies; Vivi and Riley scooped the rice and nuggets; Doug and I weighed and packed; Shannon sealed! We were an efficient team.

How cute we look with our lovely hair!

After we finished, we prayed over the Manna packs, and learned how many children we would feed/save.

We can’t wait to go back.

We have so enjoyed this so far. Wanna see?

She’s ready!

Day 2!

This is growing not only our (HER!) relationship with God, but our relationship with each other. AMEN.

I came upon this website: notconsumed.com, and I fell in love with the MOM who created all of these products. She is a homeschooling mom who has created Bible studies and tools for families and young minds to get into the Word and grow in Christ.

So, I bought.

We got the first batch:

Tatum and I would start our new habits. She will be having a devotion/ quiet time on her own, but for the first week, we’d do it together to get into the habit.

She has her cards set up at her desk

We start with the acronym, GROWS. She had a formula on how to start the QT:
Greet God

Read and Respond (we are doing a Bible study on HABITS and Developing a QT)….so we are digging into the Word.

Open Hearted Prayer: Let’s pray with the ACTS formula now: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication).

Worship: We skipped this…but just sing a bit or listen to a song.

Scripture Memory: We are memorizing Luke 6:27-31

It is so much fun to do this with her and empower her to grow in her relationship with God.

She truly is GROWING! Love this.

With Llama!

I love you, Tatum. Investing in time with God is the best use of your time.

This year, we would do limited service days since I had surgery right before Christmas. So, it would look like this: So, this year it’s 7 or so…days of Christmas!

Day 1 we did already!

Day 2: Tot made a card for Vera. She is a lovely lady who we see every week at church (she serves/greets) with us. Tatum and Vera have become very close, and she just adores Tot. We wanted to bless her, so Tatum sent her some fun pics and notes.

Then, if my cup could not be more full, Daddy and Tatum disappeared before dinner and made me a card (since I had surgery!)

And Daddy’s

We are a grateful family!

LOVE THIS!
Now, Day 3, we’d deliver cookies to our neighbor, Justin.

And I made a TON of shortbread for my mom!