My Peeps

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. 17:17,NLT 

Friendships are such a blessing from God. Genuine friendship is hard to come by these days. So many of us are focused on the exterior, that we never get to know the person that is inside. Or we are so worried about what others will think of us we keep everyone at arms length.

True friends share their most private thoughts with each other, we protect what is said and are the tie that binds and builds trust. When we have been hurt we forgive and get over the wrong. We are not fair weather friends and stick together through thick and thin. Friends tell you what you need to hear rather then what you want to hear. It can hurt but afterward you realize how deeply your friend cares for you.

To all my true friends out there, and you know who you are.  I seriously could not have made it through this year with out each and every one of you. The support and love you have shown me is beyond words.  This journey with diabetes can be a rough one at times and you are my rocks.  You keep me sane and can bring a smile to my face on the worst of days.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I love each one of you so very much. 


I pray that each and everyone of you has a someone that you call a genuinefriend or will in your lifetime be blessed with someone you can call a genuine friend.

Thank you Lord, for the friendships that you have blessed me with. May I always remember what they have done for me. Help me to be there for them like they are for me. In your precious name, Amen.


Happy New Year Peeps!!!  

D-Feast Friday - New Years Edition

Here are a few of my favorite New Years Treats. 

Pickle Wraps

Ingredients

• 8 kosher dill pickles, patted dry
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 1/2 ounces thin-sliced beef luncheon meat

Directions

1. Spread or pat cream cheese around each pickle. Wrap 2 sheets of meat around each pickle. Refrigerate pickles overnight, slice before serving.

Sticky Corn

Ingredients

1 stick butter 

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup Karo Syrup

1 tsp Vanilla

Directions

1. Boil butter sugar and syrup for about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla.  Pour over a Extra large bowl of popcorn.  (about 3 bags popped) Enjoy! 

Black Velvet  (just got this recipe this morning off the Early Show but I will be using it!)

Ingredients

 
Champagne or sparkling wine (the recommended Brut Champagne)
Stout beer

Directions

Fill a Champagne flute halfway with chilled stout beer (they recommended Goose Island Bourbon County Vanilla Stout) the top off with your favorite chilled Champagne. 

I hope you all have a Wonderful New Years Eve!  

The Good Life...

So what is your "definition" of the good life?  I know I have my ideas.  I read this a while back but came across it again the other day and it hit me like a ton of bricks. (kinda wish I had read it BEFORE Christmas) Read on and see what I mean...


"When you hear talk about "the good life," what comes to mind? A new car every two years? A spacious home in a well-to-do neighborhood? Fortunately for us, God’s definition of the good life is much better than that. It’s something we all can have—something we already have, whether we realize it or not.The good life is simply a life showered with God’s goodness. Psalm 116:7 says, "Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you."

Regardless of your income or social status, God has showered and will continue to shower his goodness on you again and again. You don’t have to fret if your piece of pie doesn’t seem as big as someone else’s. You can rest in thankfulness and appreciation for what you do have, knowing that God has been good to you. On some level, this tendency to define the good life by worldly standards is a hindrance that entices us all. How easy it is to get caught up in unhealthy comparisons. But remember what Hebrews 12:1 tells us: "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." Ingratitude is a grievous sin when it causes us to look at our lives through deprivation-colored glasses. But when we change our perspective on what it means to live well, we soon realize that nothing stands in the way of our living the good life—no income shortage, no financial hardship, nothing—except our own attitude toward whatever circumstances we face. In our fifteen years of marriage, Michael and I have experienced our share of having very little. Most times we have chosen to view our cup as half full rather than half empty. But I can remember a season during which I struggled with this.

It was during the Christmas holidays right before our daughter was born. Our businesses had not done well that year, and with the added expenses of a pregnancy without insurance coverage, our budget was even tighter than usual by the time the holidays rolled around. "I wish Christmas would just go away!" I told Michael in a moment of frustration as we talked about whether we should buy a Christmas tree that year. We could barely afford inexpensive presents for everyone on our list; how could we justify spending even fifteen to twenty dollars more for a small tree? I felt poor, and I didn’t like the feeling one bit. Intellectually, I knew Christmas was not about how much we could spend or whether we had elaborate decorations. I also knew we had more than our share to be thankful for—not the least of which was a beautiful baby on the way. Yet in my heart I couldn’t shake the feeling of being deprived because our holiday celebration would be much simpler than that of our relatives and friends.

Have you ever experienced a similar situation? Are you feeling that life has dealt you a bad hand compared with that of someone else? Here are some things I did that you can also do to help move from feeling sorry for yourself to feeling grateful within your circumstances: 

Refocus on your blessings. 

Although we couldn’t afford expensive gifts, we could afford to give each person on our list something. Although we couldn’t buy a tree, we had an ample supply of decorations to make the house look festive. What can you be thankful for in your current circumstances? Instead of focusing on what isn’t as you’d like it to be, focus on the blessings to be found when you choose to look for them. Put your creativity to work. I worked hard at finding out-of-the-ordinary ways for us to give of ourselves while still giving within our means. Instead of feeling bad because I couldn’t buy expensive gifts, I focused on using my time and talents to express my love for each person on my list. Likewise, you will probably feel much better about your situation if you approach it with a healthy dose of creativity. Look for ways to enjoy simple pleasures and make the most of what you have. Let go of preconceived expectations and ideas. Having a good Christmas that year required that I let go of any expectations about what an enjoyable holiday celebration was supposed to be. I knew that if I busied myself with being thankful and resourceful, there wouldn’t be much time left for feeling sorry for myself.

You too may have to let go of some preconceived notions about what it means for you and your family to have a satisfying life. Ask God to help you let go of worldly definitions of success and accomplishment so you can embrace his definition of living the good life. Has the habit of comparison held you back? Have you allowed ingratitude to sneak in and steal your joy? If so, it’s time to get rid of any faulty perceptions of what it means to live well. Choose instead to live with gratitude, and rest in the clarity of God’s goodness."
[Excerpt taken from: From Clutter to Clarity: Simplifying Life from the Inside Out © 2007 by Nancy Twigg, published by Standard Publishing (www.standardpub.com). Used by permission.] Nancy Twigg is an author and speaker who loves inspiring women to live more simply. To learn more about Nancy’s speaking and writing ministry, visit her online at www.keepitsimplesister.com





My life is NOT how I pictured it, at all. (okay, maybe some parts of it, like the terrific husband I am married to!) This is not what I pictured for me and my family, especially not for Lovebug.  I need to remember that God's definition of a good life is so different then what the "world" thinks it should be.  I don't want to be the "scrooge" that always looks at things half empty.  I want to be the half full kinda woman who has a smile on her face despite her circumstances.  


So in the new year I am going to: 
Choose to look at the glass half full. 
Choose to be grateful.  
Choose to live joyfully despite my circumstances.  


This doesn't mean that I won't have bad days and I won't ever complain. (Lord knows I am FAR from perfect)  But it does mean that after the complaining is done I will look at the sunny side of things and remember to be grateful for the things I have been blessed with.  

Our Christmas

Ours was different this year.  Normally we have the hub bub of driving from here and there and everywhere but this year, we decided to stay home.  Since this was our first year just the 5 of us I decided that I had to finish my Christmas shopping that morning.  (I would not recommend this nor will I do this in the future.) I ended up spending all morning and part of the afternoon shopping.  I love shopping but just no on Christmas Eve. 

We had a very relaxing evening though.  I made a virtually carb free dinner of Chicken wings, carrots, cucumbers, cheese slices, brown n serve rolls and pickles.  (the pickles  were supposed to be Pickle Wraps but I forgot the meat for them and didnt' realize it until I went to make them...) 

We let the girls stay up late and we watched The Chronicles Of Narnia (the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) with them.  This was one of my favorite books growing up and the girls just love the movie.  ( I can't wait to see the new one that just came out!) 

After the girls went to bed I wrapped presents and stuffed stockings for Christmas morning.  I finally made it to bed at 1am Christmas morning! 

I had dreams of how Christmas morning would be this year.  Well, you all know about dreams and the fact they rarely come true....

It wasn't that mine didn't come true but it all started out much different then I would have liked.

I didn't wake up to the sound of the girls asking if we could open presents yet, I woke up to Lovebug telling me that Dexie was broken. HUH?  I shook my head.  Did I hear her right?  Dexie is BROKEN?!  As I look at Dexie, she isn't broken.  (thank God!!)  She does need a sensor change though. I wanted Christmas to be free of site changes and sensor changes.  Thanks D.  That was a great way to start Christmas morning off.  

Needless to say I did not want the girls to have to wait any longer then they already had to wait to open presents.  I decided to wait until bedtime to put a new sensor in and go without Dexie for the day.  Normally, this would have sent me into a panic but for some reason, I just went with the flow.  

We decided to make it a tradition to have breakfast before the girls open gifts.  Although I read somewhere among the many blogs I caught up on today that someone leaves a few unwrapped so they have something to play with while breakfast is being made.  I thought that was a great idea!  We might have to try that for next year.  

I had a grand breakfast planned but the girls would have nothing of it, they wanted to eat cereal for breakfast.  Well then, eat cereal and mom will enjoy the cinnamon rolls! So cereal it was for the kids and eggs for mom and dad.  

The girls managed to spill on their pajamas during breakfast so we had them get dressed before we opened presents.  A very typical thing for them.  We usually by them pajamas to open on Christmas Eve so they get to wear them for  Christmas morning, well good thing I didn't do that this year!  

The girls loved all the gifts. There wasn't a lot but as you can see they had a few favorites!  

Princess and her new Dora spinning toothbrush

Princess loves her new Tag Reader, and the Miss Spider book!

The look of exhilaration from receiving princess lip gloss and body glitter! 

Lovebug opening her Fancy Nancy Doll

You can't tell she is excited about it or anything...

The Fancy Nancy blanket that I made her.  The front of it looks just like her doll. 

I don't think she likes it at all....

My Hello Kitty fanatic! 

A large Hello Kitty to go with the new Comforter.

A better picture of "Hello Kitty". 

Opening the Wii, Peanut got it right away. The other two took a minute! 

We spent the afternoon playing Wii, watching TV and making crafts with the girls. It was a pretty relaxing afternoon.  

This was the first year we have had Christmas dinner at our house with just our family.  It was really nice but for some reason, I had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. (that is a whole other blog post)  It really didn't hit me until a couple days before. Then I was just overwhelmed with things to accomplish. Christmas dinner just didn't end up being my thing this year.  I decided to make one of my favorite Chicken dishes this year rather then try to pick something new.  I really wanted Prime Rib, but that stuff isn't cheap.  I am saving up for next year though!  I made a few of the family favorites, like my mashed potatoes and rolls.  Nothing too fancy this year but I have 12 months to think about next Christmas!  

Even though this Christmas was different from years past, It really ended up being one of my favorite.  I will remember it and cherish it forever. 

A few of My Favorite things...

I feel like we started Christmas early around here this week!  

 Here are a few of my favorite things from this week, so far. 

My pod ornament that I got from Laura.  
I have had to stop my hubby from taking it
 apart!  He is fascinated about how it works. 
 Lovebug also will not leave it on the tree,
 and now wants one too, but only if they 
come in pink. :)

My  Hope ornament I received from    

my friend Cameran.I cried when I 

received it. It was just what 

I needed for Christmas this year, Hope.  

 Lovebug made this ornament for me at 
preschool. I will treasure it always.  

Lovebug's teachers made this 

for her for Christmas.Super 

adorable, I just love it!

Christmas card from my D Mamas all around the world! I have received so many I had to put cards on both 

sides of my door way this year!  I 

feel so blessed!

A calendar that Lovebug made me
at preschool!

Lovebug's 1st Christmas present this year, her very own
Fancy Nancy Doll!  She is in LOVE with it!

Last but not least!  My favorite Christmas gift, so far!
A new food scale!  

I hope that everyone is enjoying the Christmas Holiday so far!  

I know that I am.  

All I want for Christmas

This time of year always gets me thinking.  Okay, I know....but thinking more then usual about what life should be like.  What life used to be like.  What I wish life was like.  


People are always talking about what they want for Christmas.  Of course I would LOVE an iPod or and iPhone.  I new digital camera would be nice and so would a new wardrobe.  I could use a new coat and a couple dozen pairs of shoes.  While I'm at it I might as well add a laptop in there.  


I really would LOVE all those things but now-a-days., those things just don't seem to matter as much anymore.  Not since Diabetes entered our lives.  Yeah, they may make life easier. Even get my mind of things but they don't make diabetes go away.  


I want Lovebug, and our family to be free of this disease.  I just want our family to be "normal" again.  Whatever normal is....


I want to be able to go out with my hubby. I want to be free to go away for a weekend and not worry.  (what am I saying. We haven't even been away for a weekend since Lovebug was diagnosed) 


I want to be able to make Christmas cookies and goodies and not have to tell Lovebug that she can't put her finger in the batter or eat too many cookies, because they can reek havoc on her blood sugar.  


I want to be able to go to a Christmas party or any Christmas event and not have to bring along a extra bag of supplies to keep my daughter alive.  


I want her to be able to enjoy her Christmas party at school without having to pay for it later in high blood sugars.  


I want to be able to fill her stocking with fun Christmas candy instead of toys every year.  


I want to wake up Christmas morning and just let the her eat whatever she wants. 


I want Lovebug to enjoy all the things I enjoyed about Christmas when I was a little girl.  


I want my to be able to look at Christmas pictures and not think of before and after.  


I want Lovebug to know what it is like to not have Diabetes. She won't remember her life before diabetes.  


What my hearts desires this year,  what I want  more then anything.....is a cure. 

C-H-I-C-A-G-O

You NEVER guess what I got to do last weekend?  


Okay, so I kinda gave it away in the title.....


I got a weekend AWAY (shopping!) in Chicago to hang out with a couple of my D Mamas!!!


Let me tell you, what a weekend it was!!


I got to meet up with Misty from Life is Like a Box of Chocolates and Lora from My Diabetic Child.  I had never met any of my "friends that live in my computer" before but it was like we had known each other for years.  

I started out Friday morning with my first train ride.  LOVED it.  It was very relaxing.  So nice not to have to worry about the weather and traffic.  After talking with a couple people on the train,  I decided to take a taxi from Union Station to my hotel.  It was a good move, but I ended up with a stupid Cab driver who didn't speak very good English. He took me to the wrong Hotel.  I didn't notice until I was out of the taxi and he had drove away. Yep, I got there and was staring at a sign that said Swiss Hotel. Seriously how can you mess up The Hilton Suites on Delaware Place and the Swiss Hotel?! Even if you don't understand English that well, (which in that case you should NOT be a taxi driver) those words don't even sound a like! I ended up asking the door man about the hotel. I must note that the doorman was a VERY large (not fat, large!)  black guy. I was a little intimidated.  He turned out to be super nice though. (probably how a door man should be) He flagged down another taxi for me and while putting my bag into the cab told the driver to make sure he got me to the Hilton Suites. (in a slightly stern voice, I might add!)  I gave him nice tip, he was polite and treated me with courtesy. I know that is their job but  I really appreciated it!  Especially after that fiasco.  And I did get dropped of at the right hotel the next time!

Misty arrived next.  We got checked into our hotel room and then headed out for some lunch.  Not having a clue where to eat we just wandered over the the Water Towers building to look around.  We found a cool place in the basement of the Water Towers building, World Food Place, or something like that.  Basically it was a GIANT food court with ANYTHING you could ever want to eat.  There was even a wine bar.  It was awesome and little overwhelming.  

On our way back to the hotel, found the Aveda store and Misty made her first of many purchases there! :)  Although, I have to admit that I am STILL wishing that I had also purchased some of the hand cream she did. I LOVED it!   Lora arrived later that afternoon and we went and met up with Marc from Jonathan's Journey and his wife Bobbie. They brought their two super adorable children with them, whom I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know. 

Dinner at the Rainforest Cafe

We made a dinner date for Rainforest Cafe that night, a place their kids would enjoy.  I loved the White Peach Sangria I had with my dinner!  Yum-O. It was cute to see the kids get all upset with the "Thunder and Lightning" in the Rainforest.  

We got  to see all the store fronts on Michigan Ave lit up at night on our walk back to the hotel.  It was pretty gorgeous! One of my favorite sites that we walked by was this Christmas tree outside of the Hancock building. (it's a little blurry because I took this picture with my cell phone.) We also did a little window shopping on the way home.   We were scoping out our shopping trip for the next day. Oh, yeah and we found the Walgreen's we had been looking for! 

Misty, Me and Lora before heading out shopping

On Saturday we got around, after heading down to the lobby to get some Starbucks!  We were a little disappointed that it wasn't an actual Starbucks. They just served Starbucks coffee.  Didn't have all the flavors either!  At least we could get some coffee though.  On our way over to the Water Towers Building we decided to grab a little bit to eat.  We stopped at L'Appetito.  Oh my goodness was that place FILLED with goodies!  I decided to try a Chocolate Croissant. It was heavenly!  

Shopping on Michigan Ave

Our first place at Water Towers was the American Girl Store! I loved the American Girl Doll Store!  The kid in me wanted to buy ALL those dolls!  My girls love them but aren't quite old enough for me to be spending that kind of money on a doll for them.  Misty on the other hand...well I'll let her explain.  I think walking up and down Michigan Avenue was the best.  It was so beautiful with the Christmas lights and the snow coming down.  We tried to get into the Ghirardelli store but it was SO crowded I didn't even attempt it.  I'm pretty surprised people could breath in there.

After walking in and out of stores for most of the morning I saw someone walking with with a Sanrio bag.  Um..Hello Kitty!!!  Peanut LOVES Hello Kitty.  I knew if she could see that store she would go bonkers. Anyway we went looking for it because I couldn't catch the person with the bag to ask.  We couldn't find it and finally 

found someone else with a bag and asked them. 
Can I just say it was little bit of Hello Kitty! overload?!   The Lego store was in there too!  I should have taken pictures of all the Lego sculptures. They were pretty amazing.  We ate lunch in the food court in that mall.  Lora and I ate at a really great burger place called Coast Burgers.  The hamburger was AMAZING! They had many different burgers to choose from. It was actually hard to decide but the one I got was AMAZING!! Just wish I could remember what the name of it was! We of course continued our shopping spree on Michigan Ave before heading back to the hotel before Dinner.

We decided to head over to Giordano's Pizza for dinner.  Everyone had told me that was the place to eat.  Oh my goodness they were busy!!!  Maybe busy would be an understatement!  We had to wait almost 2 hours to get a table and order our pizza ahead so it would be done when we got to the table. It was a little insane.  I seriously wished that we had called ahead to see how long the wait was.  We were freezing and Marc and Bobbie's kids were with us.  They were super well behaved for waiting that long!  Did I mention that my feet were KILLING me from walking around in high healed boots all day?  Okay, seriously, KILLING me would be an understatement.  They were getting numb they hurt so bad.  And I had to stand in one place for a almost 2 hours.  *sigh*  But I have to say the pizza was SO WORTH IT!!  Next time I go to Chicago I am going to have to try going to Gino's East to compare. (and too see all the graffiti on the walls!)  :) 
Sunday morning, we slept in!  Misty was meeting her relatives for brunch so Lora and I headed out to get some breakfast.  We went decided to stop into L'Appettito to see if they had anything for breakfast. At the least we could get another Chocolate Croissant! We found they actually had a pretty nice breakfast menu.  Lora and I both decided to try the Breakfast Panini.  Oh was it yummy!! It was Ciabatta bread with eggs cheese and bacon.  SO delicious.  And only $3!!  I also decided to grab another Chocolate Croissant take home with me.  

A street performer we saw on Saturday

Lora and I decide to do a little more shopping before heading home. (like I could ever get sick of shopping!) We went into H&M and decided that we could have done some serious damage in there if we had stopped in on Saturday. I never did make it over to the Kate Spade store, but I was shopping on a budget so probably better that I didn't. Although I would've LOVED to have gotten a purse there. We stopped at one of my favorite stores to get something I had been thinking about the day before and decided I just had to get it. (no, I can not say what store..what happens in Chicago stays in Chicago!) 


I would of had all afternoon to go shopping since my train didn't leave until 5:20. I  got a lucky break that day though because Marc and Bobbie offered to give me a ride home so I wouldn't have to wait around all day in Chicago by myself. (if I hadn't of had to lug my luggage around with me all day I would have LOVED the idea) I was able to get a refund on my ticket and took them up on the offer. It got me home around 5pm rather then at 10:30pm when I would have gotten home riding the train.  That ended up being a nice surprise to the girls! 


I had a really wonderful weekend.  I have only been away from Lovebug overnight one other time since she was diagnosed, that was for a Women's Retreat with our church. (Tim and I haven't been for an overnight since she was diagnosed) It was refreshing.  I didn't have check a single blood sugar for 3 days. It felt a little weird not having to make sure I had all her supplies with me every time I walked out the door. I didn't have to stop and check Dexie or a blood sugar. I didn't have to touch a single glucose tablet or juice box.  It was one of the best weekends I have ever had with friends.  


Meeting Misty and Lora didn't feel like meeting them for the first time, it felt like old friends just catching up and ended much too soon. I will cherish that time together for a long time.  Lucky for me Misty is driving distance away!  Lora isn't but it gives me a good excuse to go to Florida. I need to take my girls to Disney World anyway! 


We all agreed we wished we would have planned more time. Not just to spend together but for shopping and Chicago. There is SO much to do in Chicago. I think we should have another D Mama meet up there, but in the summer when we can go to Navy Pier and a few other places that we didn't have time to go to.  I want to meet more of my sweet D Mamas!!  


Now be sure to go check out  Misty and Lora's blogs for some more fun stories from our trip!

Time Flies!

I realized today as I was getting ready to write some new posts that it has been almost 2 weeks since my last post!!  That is craziness!!  


I have been pretty busy though....


But if you want to hear all about it, you will just have to come back over the next week or so and check out what I've been up to!  


 I have missed you all and am so glad to be back!