Posts Tagged ‘Family’

Posted on November 12, 2009 - by Mary

26 Years Ago Today!

26 years ago today I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl, Trisha Marie. I wish my scanner worked so I could scan in some of her baby pictures, but it does not (Boohoo). However, here are some of my favorite memories and fun facts about Trisha.

• She was 2 days late and has been late for everything ever since. Yes, it is one of the things I love about her…we can count on her being late.
• She came out screaming and her voice has been heard ever since. She is strong and doesn’t take any bull from anyone.
• She began walking at 10 months old.
• One of her favorite foods is peanut butter, though I got sick on it when I was pregnant with her. Peanut butter pie is still her favorite dessert today.
• She learned to ski at like 3 or 4 years old.
• Trisha got glasses in 3rd grade.
• She broke her arm playing softball. I don’t remember what grade she was in but I think it was 4th.
• We used to fight a lot when she was growing up. She was is very strong willed, but now we get along very, very well.
• Trisha “went out” with Ben in the 8th grade. When they broke up she called me sobbing (I was at the hospital with my best friend who was having her first baby). I felt so bad for her, but I always knew she and Ben would get married.
• Trisha has always been great with kids. When she was in school, she was a TA, and the kids just loved her.
• She had a few nanny jobs in high school too.
• October 22, 2005, Trisha married Ben.
• September 3o, 2006 Ethan was born.
• September 11, 2008 Dylan was born.
• Trisha is an awesome mom, wife and child of God.

I love you Trisha, my firstborn! Happy Birthday!

Here are some photos I have on my computer. I really need to digitize my old ones.

Posted on September 18, 2009 - by Mary

The Real Me

My good friend, Tishia, recently posted a blog entitled “Who Am I” and in it she talks about not knowing who she really is. Sure, she’s a mom, she’s a Christian, she’s a work at home mom, but those don’t really describe who she is. I think many of us struggle with knowing who we really are. The reason I named my blog “Being Who God Created Me to Be” is for the very same reason…every day I’m growing and searching and learning to be the woman God created me to be. I’m no where near being that person yet and won’t be until heaven, but while I’m here on Earth, I want to be as close to it as possible. I do believe God created me, and you, for a specific purpose here on Earth, and I think that’s what most of us are trying to figure out…just what is our purpose, why are we here at this very moment in time? Of all the other times we could have been born, why now, why here, and for what?

Lately, God has been laying on my heart that my first mission is my family…actually God has laid it on my heart for a while, but He has to remind me of it every so often. I wrote a post not too long ago entitled “Learning to be Content Where you are” and I wrote about being content in singleness and where you are financially. Not too long after I posted that (a day or two) God laid it on my heart that I’ve not been content where I am living. You see, we currently live in a small village which we moved to the first year after we got married…which was 3 years ago to be exact. We moved here because this is where my kids have grown up and have gone to school and we did not want to uproot them and make them switch schools. Plus it was easier for them to go back and forth between our house and their dad’s. Well, now since my baby is a Senior in high school this year, she will be graduating at the end of the year, and I really want to move back to the town where we go to church, all our friends live and where my husband works. It’s only about 23 miles away, but still, I feel so disconnected from everyone over there. Our church friends rarely come to visit because it seems so far and out of the way, plus we would be able to interact more with the youth (we are youth leaders in our church) if we lived in town. So, I’ve been praying and praying for God to provide the means in order for us to move as soon as my baby graduates. I’ve even got my eye on a house, right in town, just a mile or so from the church…it would be perfect…or so I think. Then God basically told me to relax…be content here where I’m at…He will work it all out…in His best timing. I so know that’s true, and He’s never let me down before…yeah, I may not be able to actually see God working it out, but He always does.

So, I’ve quit pining for that house, and quit allowing my spirit…or maybe it ’s my flesh…to be unsettled where we are. Now it’s my prayer for God’s PERFECT will to be done in my life, in our lives…not just His permissible will.

The real me…the real me is being who God created me to be…always growing and learning and following His direction…not my own.

Do you know who the Real You is? Are you tired of living someone else’s life? Do you desire to be the Real You, the person God created you to be? Click here to discover the real you today!

Posted on August 15, 2009 - by Mary

My Busy Summer

I just thought I’d needed to do an update here on my personal blog since I’ve been so busy this summer that I haven’t had time to maintain it. I’ve been keeping up on my other blogs by scheduling posts ahead of time, but this poor one has been so neglected…lol. When I logged in I had 5 plugins to update, plus I needed to update to the latest version of Wordpress. Now that that’s all out of the way…

This summer has been crazy, fun, but crazy. Let’s see. It started around the end of May when we had the Chosen Youth Conference in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario, which was amazing. You can read all about it here.

The day before we returned home from Canada, my sister and her family arrived at my house from New Mexico. They were here for almost a month! It was so great to see her, the kids and her hubby. While they were here I set up a Wordpress site for my brother in law’s finishing business and taught my sister some things about working from home, Wordpress and social networking. My sister and I have a blog called Open Talk Mom. You can read about the visit here.

Let’s see. After my sister left, we celebrated the 4th of July in Mackinaw City, which was new and different for us. Then at the beginning of August, my hubby’s family from Oregon came to visit for a week. The day they left, my very best friend of 15 years came to see me with her 4 kids from Missouri.

Both visits from Jeff’s family and my BFF were GREAT!!! I really enjoyed getting to know Jeff’s sister and brother in law a little better. The only time I’ve met them was at our wedding, almost 4 years ago. We had a great time chillaxin’ here at the house with them and Jeff’s parents, as well as hitting the Polish Festival near the end of their trip. The weather was pretty cool most of the time they were here so we didn’t go to the beach with them, although they did go one day on their own.

My BFF’s visit was fun! It was so great to just hang out with here and get some Rhonda and Mary time. She just had surgery (a hysterectomy) and needed to get out of the house. Her hubby had to work so she brought the kids up to Michigan. Her family is all here, so she started her vacation in Alpena at her grandparent’s. Then she came west and spent 4 days with me. This is the first time she’s been able to stay at my house when she’s been her, so it was nice being able to spend ALL the time with her. I feel bad that she didn’t get much sleep; the air mattress kept deflating in the middle of the night and it was hot.

We also hit the Polish Festival while she was here, went shopping, and I got my nose pierced. Yes that’s right, I got my nose pierced. I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time and she was the one who finally convinced me that I’m not too old. Ha!

Speaking of too old, I will be 45 next month. Aaaaaggggghhhhhh! I hate saying that. It’s half way to 90!!!! Mine and Jeff’s 4 year anniversary is the day after my birthday and I’m really hoping to do something fun, romantic and exciting. One year, Jeff and I won a night’s stay at the Chippewa Hotel on Mackinaw Island, so we used it on our anniversary. It was sooooo nice!!! It was romantic and very relaxing. I doubt we will be able to do anything like that again since we can’t afford it, but some sort of little getaway would be great! We will see I suppose.

So, now I am getting back into the work mode. I have some client work all lined up and my other BFF Tishia will be coming over Monday to work as well. She is in the process of moving back up here from downstate and her place doesn’t have high speed Internet yet. That will be fun!

Other than that, Ethan (my almost 3 year old grandson) is potty training. He is doing quite well at it! Sometimes he waits till the last second to tell us he has to go and then runs to the bathroom, but at least he knows when he needs to go.

Dylan (my 11 month old grandson) has been taking his first steps and since I haven’t seen him in a couple of days now, I bet he’s doing even more. They grow up way too fast!

Karlie will be starting her Senior year in high school this year. Booooo. My baby will be graduating. I wonder what it will be like not to have kids in school anymore?!? Weird.

I guess that’s about it for now. Below are some pics from Jeff’s family visit and my BFF’s visit. Enjoy.

Posted on May 10, 2009 - by Mary

The Best Mother’s Day Gift

Well today is Mother’s Day. I must say so far it’s one of the best Mother’s Days I’ve ever had and the day is only half over. 

Today my 18 year old son, who lives with his dad, came to church with me, on his own free will!  I didn’t ask him to come or anything. Out of the blue last night he texted me and asked what time church was. I told him and he said “See you then”. It was nice having him there again. He used to attend with me when he lived with Jeff and I, but since moving to his dad’s over a year ago, he’s not been in church at all.

Then when we got home, he made everyone pancakes for lunch. Yummo!

Tonight my oldest daughter, her two boys and hubby are coming over as well. We are going to grill burgers and play games. 

The best Mother’s Day Gift, for me, is spending time with my family!