whackadoodle coconut

Our little family had a rough one this year.  I am pleased to say that despite all of the heartaches and trouble, we are in the Christmas spirit and enjoying the holidays.  We are looking forward to what the God has planned for us in the year to come.  I am thankful for what he has already done for us and how he has changed our lives and how all things glorify Him. So what have I been up to lately?  Coming out of the forest has made a big difference to what I have "felt" up to doing.  I've taken up a "hobby" if you can call it that helping out a friend restore his WC35 ( I think).  It's been a learning experience as to what goes into restoring a historic military vehicle.  I also have learned a lot of its engine parts and how to clean and paint them for installation. I've knitted a partial mitten and then discovered it would be too big to wear and realized the yarn was most of the problem.  I also knitted a purple monkey for a friend who asked...

Tomorrow is shoulda woulda coulda day.  Unfortunate as it is, my husband and I lost our first child at 19 weeks pregnant and the 16th is the day he would have been born if everything were normal and went as planned.  It has been and still is difficult.  I won't say much more.  I saw this graphic and thought it was appropriate.

and sometimes what you want isn't what life hands you.  tomorrow will mark one month since we lost our sweet son Christopher.  it has been a very difficult time for my husband and I and our faith that God will use this situation for his glory has been a comfort to us.    for now, I'll leave my post with this.  we have learned that many parents have lost their children and that we are not alone. we have learned which of our friends have come through for us and a deeper relationship with each other. below is a blog post that has helped me remember God's timing - http://www.storyofthislife.com/blog//a-big-family this organization helps families through photography to heal through the loss of their infants/babies - https://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

That's right! This Fall, the first Slider will be born to our family.

2014 was quite a year. my best girl buddy and I have challenged each other to write out what we accomplished during 2014.  and looking back, there have been some significant changes in our lives. specifically, the way we view ourselves, progress towards being happier and more confident.  there we didn't set a goal to make these changes, we really just saw things that we wanted to do or do differently after meeting other people and then made those changes. I didn't have the opportunity to meet a lot of people or growing up, so seeing how these new people behave and the kind of warm and mushy feelings I got was the primary motivation to making changes.  once I shared that with my buddy, we both decided we need to make a few adjustments.  we decided to work on the things that scared us (actually try things we wanted to do) but didn't have the courage. and have a better grasp on those things called feelings and then expressing them appropriately. funny how this ...

today was a wonderful day as Christmas eves go. I shot an awesome two rounds today at 20 yards, enjoyed the company of friends/family and still "working on it" of which I have made excellent progress. happy Christmas, to you and yours.

Early morning day two at the range. This past weekend John and I traveled to Orange County to participate in the NRA’s Personal Protection Outside of the Home course.  In OC they are passing permits out like candy, unlike SB County.  This course satisfies the training requirement for a CCW permit.  Needless to say, it doesn't do us a lot of good to take the class and not receive the “reward” or the permit.  However, more training is just that. Big city range. We were shooting in the bay on the far end.  The two day course (max 16 hours) was incredibly valuable.  I have trained with TJ Johnston previously, but John had not.  This was his first class with TJ and his first formal training opportunity (after our basics class last year).  As he said in the “was the course what you expected” portion of the class, all I told him was that it would be challenging and you would have to work for it.  All true.  Even in my case, h...