Give Thanks and Praise

It's all about perspective in life.  You look at life through your perspective glasses, you see life through your attitude.  
So 2010 has been a year full of lots of ups and a lot of lots of downs.  Our family has been though so much this year yet through it all we have keep a clear perspective and that allows us to give thanks and praise for each and everyday!
We spent today the last day of the year in our Pj's for half the day.  Later this afternoon we took the kids outside to ride their bikes and play with our neighbors.  Then before the sun went down the kids and I went out back to access the damage form the storms.  I haven't even looked at our yard since Nov and it is a mess!  The kids loved it.  I neglected out cute garden and yet it is doing amazing on it';s own.  We have some broccoli, Brussel sprouts, 2 types of lettuce and some peas growing and since it is all organic there were a lot of leaf damage from the bugs. 

Some of my new year resolutions will be to be grateful for every moment and day I have to be alive and to share it with the ones I love, make more date nights, spend more quality time with the kids, keep the garden up, run another marathon, and to continue to build up my photography business.

Happy New year to you and yours! 
With Thanks and Praise,
Melissa

Babies and more babies

I am not sure who even reads these but you may or may not know I am the oldest of 5 kids.  To sum it all up my childhood was NEVER boring and there was a lot going on in our home.  My dad came from a family of 6 kids and 4 of them including my dad ended up having children.  My dads sister had 7 kids.  Wow is right.  They are all amazing and wonderful people and I love them all so much.  All but one are married and today my aunt has 11 grand kids one with one the way all under 6yrs old.  I may have gotten that wrong.  But today we were lucky to have some of them over for a quick visit.  I took my camera out to get some shots and yes all but one were of the babies.  There were 3 of the 11 grand kids (2nd cousins over) here today.   I can only imagine how many grand kids my aunt and uncle will have in another 5 years.....lol

28 years together

  Today is Christmas Eve and I am filled with a lot of mixed emotions.  Joy, happiness, peace, sadness, gratitude, and most importantly love.  I am remembering a lot of good and bad memories from my childhood. 
  I have been so blessed to have such an amazing family and friends.  Yes there are hard times and I am not going to lie we disappoint each other but besides that we are fully known by each other and loved no matter what!!!  That is the reason for the season.... Christ.  He loves us no matter what and when we are fully known by Him we are loved and that is an amazing promise. 
  Yesterday I spent some time with my 2 childhood friends.  We have known each other for 28 years!!  We have been in an out of each others lives but we are connected to each other no matter what we have shared so many great memories, bad memories and most importantly we have accepted each other regardless of our choices!  I Love them and 28 years is just the beginning!  Alyssa is off to travel the world with her boyfriend for a year,  Erin is married and has little McKenna and is also going to school and I am so grateful to be a stay at home mommy/photographer and married to a man so amazing and we have 3 kids all healthy and happy.  We are so different but we love each other no matter what!  So much to be thankful for.

Here are some pics from yesterday:

Who invaded our gingerbread house?

So we made gingerbread houses at Mema's house the other night with my sister and her 3 little guys and it went really well.  The girls we excited more about eating the candy then building the house.  Ari sat and sneaked as much candy as fast as he could before I removed him completely.  We brought our house home to have as decoration but now all the candy has seemed to disappear and I noticed  something new on our house?

It was Darth Vader??  Kaela put him here and I couldn't help but laugh and actually I love it there!  We are all Star Wars fans and why not put some of Star Wars flare on our gingerbread house??

We are having some good family time lately gearing up for Christmas.  Last night we all watched Christmas Vacation, made cookies and ate some yummy food.   And the night before we went and admired some Christmas lights, eating home popped popcorn in the car then went and ate some fro yo.
We have had a lot of snuggle time and we are just celebrating our family and how blessed we are to have each other.   I can't believe Christmas is in 3 days.... Merry Christmas to all of you and enjoy each moment!

I bet you had no idea....

So a month ago I became aware of a coffee shop that will be opening in Rocklin early 2011.  It will be called Origin Coffee & Tea on Park and Sunset right next to Big Spoon.  It is an amazing yet different coffee shop.  It is a non-profit which will use all there proceeds above overhead cost to help rescue and free sex trafficking victims.  I bet you didn't know that is a modern day slavery problem we struggle with worldwide.  And most importantly there employees will be ALL VOLUNTEERS!!  Yes Not Paid!  They all will be serving coffee, giving their time and all to make a difference in the world.  And yes sex trafficking is happening right here even in Sacramento.  It is a world wide problem that is bringing bondage, pain and death in some cases.  So I am passionate to see such a great thing coming here locally!  Chad & Mark are the founders of this coffee shop and I had the pleasure to meet Chad this week and go visit the shop and see how the process of construction and it was amazing and inspiring!
Here is some info from CBS News:

Nationwide, between 45,000 and 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States, according to a 2001 report by the U.S. State Department. But Williamson noted that the problem is hard to quantify because of the underground nature of human trafficking, and studies often rely on estimates. Even the Ohio study, which analyzed law enforcement and government databases, is limited, she said.

A special report last year by CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric examined the worrying trend in the U.S. of more American children and teens being lured into the sex trade.

"This is not the kind of problem America thinks it is," Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children told Couric.

Allen said prostitutes in this country are younger than ever, and they no longer all come from impoverished or broken homes.

"What we are seeing now is an increasing number of middle class kids and up - many of whom do it originally on a dare, or because they think it is interesting or different. And then find themselves trapped," Allen said.

So sad but there is good news... YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Check out there website:  http://www.origincoffee.org

 Some of the Construction Crew......

 The Front entrance

 Where the Coffee Bar will be... front entrance to the left

 Shot from the Entrance

 Entrance

 Address

 Front street view

 The amazing ceiling

 Chad one of the owners

4:23

My Beautiful Mara.  

Today I am sitting back and taking in all the things in life to be thankful for.  I have been focusing on my heart these past 4 weeks.  And today I looked at Mara our 2nd and she gave me joy in my heart.  We don't love her any better than our other 2 but today I am looking at her and acknowledging all the things I love about her.   Here are some things I love she is a snuggle bug, she encourages other with her words, she says I am beautiful every day, she is an artist, she is random with what comes out of her mouth, she makes others laugh, she helps others, she loves babies, she has beautiful blue eyes, she is a great artist, she loves to sing, she loves to dance, she is not a good liar, she sucks her thumb when she is tired, she has a huge heart and she loves it when I sing to her even though I think it sounds bad.

Today I am thankful for Mara and I think I may try and focus more on what I am thankful for than what is going wrong around me.  It's all about the positive perspective and it's all about the joyful heart.  

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23

Spauldings bring Joy!

So today I was thinking about how amazed I am by the Spauldings.  Emily has been such a joy and blessing to me in my life.  She is so great with kids and has such a generous heart.  She works so hard and puts others first and it shows through the way she lives her life.    They have become part of our family here are some pictures of some fun we have with them in their front yard.