10 Things I'm Grateful For

I was having my quite time yesterday, and I started to think of all the things I’m grateful for.  I’ve had a very good year so far, and it keeps getting better and better.  For myself, my relationship with the Lord has made a HUGE IMPACT on how my year has played out thus far.  I’m not a “bible beater” by any stretch of the imagination, but I am now no longer afraid anymore to state how I feel about the Lord or my faith. 

Before I only prayed when I needed something or wanted something to go my way.  How selfish is that?  I know we’re all guilty of it, we just don’t’ like to admit it.  Now, I never forget to pray every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up….because God doesn’t forget to wake up in the morning.  To me when I pray, I give my concerns to the Lord and ask for forgiveness for my faults, no matter how small or big. 

I know this is a popular topic to do around Thanksgiving, to say what we are all thankful and grateful for, but we need to remember to be thankful and grateful everyday of our lives.  So I encourage you all to do the same, you don’t have to share it, but just make a list for yourself!  Makes you feel amazing!  J

I’m grateful:        (in no particular order, just the way my brain spewed them out!)

1.  For my unborn son.  He is the biggest blessing in our lives, and in 4 short months we’ll be able to see his beautiful face and be a family for the first time.

2. For my beloved husband.  He is my rock, my shield and my provider.  He eats the meals I cook when they aren’t so good, with a smile. 

3. For the AWESOME relationship I have with my one and only brother.  He is my best friend.  He will always be there, no matter what.    

4. For having a job, in this economy they are hard to come by these days.

5. For being introduced to the Wives On Duty, a faith bases support group for LEO wives.  It has made a big impact on my communication with my husband.

6. For starting my blog.  I don’t have many followers, but I hope that this reaches the people it needs to reach, whether it’s for a good laugh, or if it touches their lives.  :

7. For all the faults and bad decisions I’ve made in life.  For if they had never happened, I wouldn’t have learned from them.  I wouldn’t have changed to be the person I am today.

8. For my Mother and Father.  They have helped me in many times in my lives.  They will love me unconditionally.  They have loved me through my many faults.  They are indispensable. 

9. For having all the amenities I need to live a comfortable life.  I have a home, cars, food and enough money to get by in life. 

10. For my two labs Bella & Chloe.  Funny thing about dogs, they never get mad at you and they always want to love and be next to you.  They got me through some rough times, when a snuggled is all I needed.

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

It's a BOY!

We found out at 10a.m. on May 30, 2012 that our lil' nugget is a sweet little boy!  :)  Kenny is over the moon, and I am as well.  We would have been happy with either gender, but just finally knowing is all the more better!  Now we get to battle over names and I get to decorate the nursery!  YAY!  Can't wait!

Here are a few of our sonograms of our lil' fella we took that day, and one of my chalkboard signs for that week!  :)

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

My Baptism

        I got baptized on Sunday May 20, 2012.  This my own personal choice, and  I know this isn’t for everyone.  I’m not writing this in my blog to tell everyone to go out and get baptized by any stretch of the imagination.  I just wanted to share my story; because maybe one day someone will read this blog, or maybe even share this blog and read my story and it will help them on their personal journey to their relationship with God.

          I won’t go too much into detail of how I came about to my decision to get baptized, because this would be a really long blog, and too much to write.  So I’ll give you the downtown (fast) version.  I had a few incidents happen in my life at the end of 2012.  Nothing I am proud of and something that I had to deal with.  It affected me, my husband and my family.  So in January I had I guess “seen the light” for lack of better terms.  I just saw life in a different perspective, I thought about things differently than I ever had before, and I saw that I needed to turn my life around and work on my relationship with God.  I had one, it just wasn’t as rock solid as it should be.  So in turn, I started to read the bible, actually read it and understand it.  I had my bible reading plan that I got of www.biblestudytools.com  After reading the bible more and working on my relationship with God, I decided getting baptized would further help me on my journey.  I would be sharing my testimony with the world and making a statement by living my life for the Lord.

          Below is my faith statement that I read.  I hope this speaks to some people and I hope this helps people out.  I put my soul into this, and I meant every word of it.  Feel free to share this with those you think needs a push in the right direction,  I encourage you to!

Valerie’s Faith Statement

          Before I surrendered my life to God, I was insecure in my faith, I didn’t know how to talk to God, I was dishonest more than I was honest with myself,  my family, my friends and my dear husband.  Most of all I felt separated from God because I thought I had made too many bad decisions and hurt too many people in my life.  I was portraying this persona of a person I wanted people to see on the outside, but inside there was turmoil and confusion on what I was doing with my life, knowing what the outcome would be if I kept making the same bad decisions and choices in my life. 

          My husband Kenneth and I made a decision that we wanted to join the church and become members.  At that time, we meet with Scott for the new member classes, and he asked us “if you were to die tomorrow, do you believe without a doubt that you’re going to heaven?”  My husband said yes, very confidently and with every ounce of his being, I however didn’t have an answer.  I felt ashamed and embarrassed.  My husband looked at me, took my hand and squeezed it and he gave me a big hug.  Trying to hold back tears, I knew I wanted to have a relationship with Christ and be able to answer that very same question like my husband did, with confidence and courage.

          My husband is a man of God and has been my biggest supporter and confidant.  Kenneth never shies away from a question I have to ask him about the bible, his faith or his relationship with God.  Kenneth has been right in front of my face for the past 9 years of my life, with the same beliefs from the day I met him.  I however have had a roller coaster of a ride with my relationship with God.  It just took me 9 years to realize that having Kenneth in my life and having him supporting me while I build my relationship with God has been biggest blessing, and I will never forget it. 

          I now am proud and confident to say that I have a rock solid relationship with God and I don’t feel separated from him anymore.  On this journey I have learned that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   The Lord has gotten me through some very tough times in my life recently, and I know He will get me through anything and everything I am faced with.  Kenneth and I are expecting our first child in October and I am happy to be able to say that our child will be raised by two parents who live through Christ and who know Christ.

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie       

Weekly Pregnancy Photos

17 Weeks = Onion Size

I have been taking weekly photos of my growing belly since I was 17 weeks pregnant.  I wanted to start earlier, when I first found out I was pregnant, but didn't think anyone wanted to see a 5 week belly, with no belly to show.  lol  So I decided to start documenting when I had a belly to show, and that happened to be right around 16-17 weeks.  I went to Hobby Lobby and got a little chalk board that was I think $4.99 and went to a local store that teachers buy all their classroom products from and got a package of of 24 assorted colors of drawing chalk.  Now I'm not Picasso, but it isn't really that hard to draw if you put your mind to it.  I then researched "pregnancy week by week" to see what the baby was measuring at in comparison to fruit.  I then kept a word document of it, and on the 17th week I drew a picture of an onion and the date that I turned 17 weeks, and took a photo!  Pretty easy!  So below I'll post the pictures I have taken from 17wks-19wks.  I will post every week my weekly photo, instead of a whole weeks worth in on blog.  I also post these on my Facebook, so family that doesn't live close by can be involved in my pregnancy growth as well!  :)  I have my husband take your photos, so it's a sweet gesture that he gets to be involved in it as well!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

19 Weeks=Mango Size

18 Weeks=Sweet Potato Size

Lady-Like In Labor

As of this past week I've been doing some “research” online about maternity hospital gowns.  I was all ready and excited to go and buy these pretty hospital gowns I saw on all these different websites, then I saws the price!  Please excuse me while I gouge my eyes out!  $50-$60 per gown, and that’s not including shipping!!  NO THANK YOU MA’AM!  So I decided…..I’ll make my own.  Well, let me re-phrase that, I’ll have Kenny help me make my own.  I am not one with my sewing machine, and Kenny Crocker, my dear husband is quite the sewing machine coinsure.  So I found one website so far with a free pattern, and one lady actually made two gowns with two different materials and showed her mistakes along the way, and how she corrected herself. 

I’m gonna do some more research this week to see if I can find any other info on DIY maternity hospital gowns.  I am 6ft, so I want the gown to be at least mid-calf on me (just my personal preference) and I want to be able to find a pattern that allows you to either lengthen or shorten the gown.  I can’t see any patterns not allowing that because we are aren’t the same size, but I’m not Martha Stewart, so I’m not assuming anything when it comes to sewing.  So, I’m off to find the pattern that suites my needs and my likings.  I think I might even have it monogramed!  J  Now I’m getting real fancy people!  I’ll be sure to post later this week what I find and put the links to the sites I’ll use, etc.  Stay tuned!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Weird Dreams

I dream a lot…almost every night.  Sometimes I dream more than one dream in a night, and I remember them when I first wake up, then forget them throughout the day.  But since I’ve been pregnant I have had nothing but CRAZY way out there dreams!!  The other night I dreamt Kenny and I took a train ride up and over a mountain that was over a river/lake.  So once we are on top of this mountain, I step down to get off the train and I don’t’ step onto a platform, I fall right down into the river!!  So once I am in the water, I am now fighting off catfish to get my shoes that fell off when I was on the way down.  LOL  Talk about crazy weird.  And some of the other dreams I have had have been very sexually orientated, and I wasn’t even in the dream, I was just dreaming about.  I won’t go into detail, but they were crazy!  ;)  So I guess I’ll just keep track of them to see how much more weird they get….and it will be funny to look back on and read with the lil’ nugget one day.  I’ll just keep it PG for the nugget’s sake.

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Go Grey or Go Home!

I’m not new to having a few grey hairs here and there…..but over the past year it seems I’ve sprouted a TON more grey hairs.  I’m 31, and it’s not uncommon for women my age to have a few grey hairs, but I’m sure all of us 30 some year olds out there who have the few grey hairs wish we didn’t.  My hair is a really dark brown/black color naturally when I don’t highlight it.  So if you’re taller than me you can see the top of my head and see all the greys.  But I’m 6ft, so I don’t often run into that problem, but when I’m sitting down I see myself making sure no one walks behind me to where they are able to peak over my head.  I know it’s all in my head and I’m more worried about my greys than everyone else, it’s just me being paranoid someone is going to make a comment about how much grey I have!  Oh the whoas of being a woman.  Whomp whomp!

My mother is completely grey and she is in her early 50’s and she went completely grey in her late 30’s early 40’s  She embraced the grey for a while and didn’t color her hair and stayed grey, then she went back to coloring her hair a lightish brown color, close to her origional color.  I love her hair both ways, she is able to pull both colors off well.  She has what I call “pretty” grey hair.  I’ve seen different variations of greys, I've seen salt and pepper grey, some that looks like it has a yellow tint to it, and some that are very dark grey.  My mother has what I call "silver grey" hair, it just glistens in the sunlight and looks soooo pretty!  People have asked her if she got her hair colored to that color grey!  I think that is so funny!  I guess my only hope is that I have that kind of grey hair if and when I go all the way grey.  I will make it look fierce! 

Now that I’m 15 weeks pregnant I haven’t done anything to my hair other than get a trim, no root touch ups, no highlighting.  I know it’s “safe” to color my hair now because I’m in my second trimester, but honestly I’m still scared.  I don’t even take anything for a headache b/c I’m afraid to hurt the baby!  I know, I know I’m just a scared first time mom to be, and I’m ok with that!  lol   So I don’t know if I should just start to keep up with touching up my roots, or just highlight over the greys so the blonde and grey can mix together and won’t be so obvious?!  What’s a going grey girl to do…..I’m giving myself this week to make a final decision on what I plan on doing and I’ll keep ya’ll posted.  I might even show you how grey I am, or how not to grey I'll be after highlighting.......stay tuned!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

We're Pregnant.....Now What?!?

So approximately 10 weeks ago we found out we were pregnant….yup we gots a bun in the oven!  Sound the alarms; get the marching band in order, time to party!  What’s even more exciting is that this is our first child!  We have thus far only been parents to two furbabies, our two labs Bella & Chloe.  So this baby will be a whole new venture for us.  So as I mentioned in my first blog, to do the math for ya’, I’m 13 weeks pregnant, we are due in October.  After finding out, we did the appropriate thing and told both of our parents first, then the rest of the family and friends, yada yada.  We were engulfed with a million congratulations, we're so happy for you.....then with a bunch of “it’s about time” or "took ya'll long enough" and “now it’s your turn” kind of sayings…..which made me a little nervous to say the least. Yes we're "older" parents in lots of peoples eyes per sey, I'm 31 and Kenny is 32.  Since we were married everyone and their mother kept hounding us on when we were gonna have kids, so those little comments were old and busted by the time they actually came around.  haha!  Well I know I wasn’t always the best kind of kid growing up, and I’m sure my husband had his days too, so is it true what my Momma told me?  That my kid will give it to me tenfold on how I behaved as a child?  I’m pretty sure that is accurate because, as they say Momma knows best. 

So knowing that, I guess I might know a little bit of what to expect when they are growing up, but that’s neither here nor there.  Now for what to do with our little nugget after he/she is born….I ain’t got a clue…..watching someone else’s baby and living with a baby are two totally different worlds I imagine.  I’ve never cared for a newborn before, I’ve only held all my friend’s babies and then handed them back when they were crying or needed to be fed laughingly thinking “here ya’ go, he/she wants Mommy” and that was my queue to get the hell out of dodge. Now the shoe is on the other foot, or it will be in 6 months.  Most of caring for a baby is common sense I know, and I got some of that, and I know Kenny has a lot of know-how, so I think we’ll be ok.   We are excited, scared, and nervous and most of all anxious to find out if our little nugget is a boy or girl.  Doc said we can find out at 19 weeks, so we only have 7 more weeks left, which will fly by!   *Squeal*

Brightest Blessings,

Valerie

New Kid on the Blog

            The moment we've all been waiting for. And when I mean "all" I really mean me and maybe two other people who will actually read this blog.  Since deciding to start a blog, and seeing how many other people out there are doing it, it can’t be that hard…..right??

         I have a vision when it comes to what I want and think this blog will be. Let me share it in the form of dos and don'ts. I do want this to be a hip and a well-balanced blog with bits and pieces of my life in general.  I know how up-hip the word hip is and that my street cred just went out the window.  I don’t want this blog to be a one way road.  For instance, I’m 12 weeks pregnant with our first child.  While I’m super excited we’re pregnant and want to write about it, but hope to steer clear of posting every crazy thought that pops into my head about pregnancy and what I’m obsessing about that day.  However, I do know that what content I put in this blog is solely up to me and my responsibility to keep it popping (there goes more street cred…again). 

            So what this all boils down to is you’ll read about my next 6 months of pregnancy, my day to day life while I’m at home or what happened at work, and just maybe some DIY crafts.  So if you’re still reading this by now, I appreciate it!  Hopefully you’ll keep reading in the next few weeks/month and join me in my journey of what I can one day look back at and laugh and what I thought I knew about life in Haus of Hughes.

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie