It's The Little Things

40 years ago my mom and dad got married in San Antonio, Texas.  While they have faced lots of ups and downs over the years, they are still together and are still in love!  We should all be so lucky.

I have been thinking lately about how it is the little things that make a big difference.  Don't get me wrong.  I love a big surprise or gift!  But if I look back on the things that have brought me the most happiness and joy, 9 times out of 10 it's something seemingly small.  The bookmark my 5-year-old made me because she knows how much  I love to read.  The invitation from my 8-year, after tasting my homemade brownies, to work in the restaurant he wants to have when he grows up.  A fun evening spent with friends I dearly love.  You can't put a price on these things and no amount of money in the world can buy moments like these. 

Recently my husband, Myk, and I were out on a date.  After a lovely dinner, we ended up where everybody in our small town ends up...Wal-Mart.  We had been contemplating purchasing a certain item for a while and we had decided to go for it.  We were so giddy going into the store to buy it and even more excited to get home and put it up.  We had first seen this thing during hotel stays over the last few years and knew that we had to eventually have one.  I am pleased to say that we have been using it for a little over a week now and it totally rocks!  Curious?  Scroll down to see a picture of.......

.....our new curved shower rod!!  As you can see, I wasn't kidding when I said it was the little things that make me happy!

Nothing To Lose

Greetings and welcome to my first post on my first blog!  I have all of one follower (Hi Cheryl!) and that is OK.  I've tossed around the idea of blogging for a while now but didn't really know what to say.  I know that people blog for different reasons so I searched for my reason. 

In high school, I hated to write anything that wasn't a note to a friend (and that got me almost beat up one day but that is another story for a different time!)  I was more of a math girl.  Love me some algebra!  The dislike of writing followed me into adulthood until the birth of my third child, Melia.  Two months before Melia was born,  she was diagnosed with a rare and complex congenital heart defect.  I felt as if I were sitting inside of a video game as I listened to the pediatric cardiologist go into great detail of the half a heart that Melia would be born with and of the surgeries and procedures that she would need.  My life and who I was changed that day. 

With all of the drama that surrounded the choices we had to make and the trauma of giving birth to a very sick child, I quickly realized that I needed an outlet.  I set up a CarePage in order to keep family and friends up to date with all that was going on.  My first posts were probably mostly jumbled thoughts and random things because I was still in shock.  Once I got going, though, I found comfort in updating the CarePage.  It was very therapeutic for me to write about what was going on with Melia and how I felt about it. 

I recently realized that I enjoy writing about what I am passionate about, like our heart journey with Melia.  So this blog will be filled with whatever I am feeling particularly passionate about at the moment.  Product reviews, recipes, cute kid stories, homeschooling things, what makes me happy and sad, my walk with God, whatever I need to get out will end up here.  It doesn't matter if I have 1 reader or 1000, my heart is full and this is its outlet.

I couldn't end without posting a picture or video!  This is Melia talking about what she thinks would be a funny April Fool's joke to play on her dad.

In case you couldn't understand her, she wants to get something shaped like an apple, paint it red and give it to her daddy!