:: Fly-Beau, The Bachelor ::

:: So as you I'm sure guessed, I saw the season premiere of "The Bachelor" On the Wings of Love {what a corny name!} with Jake. Let me just say that Jake is lovely, he's sweet, sincere and a little bit of a loner {this worries me a bit}. At any rate, he's an all around good guy, not sure what the producers were doing by setting him up with a whole bunch of girls that were less than classy {can I just say landing strip!?!?} and filled with plastic {don't get me wrong, I have no problem with plastic..it was just everywhere on the screen on Monday night!} ::

:: So here is my synopsis, Jake is great, some of the girls not so much...he knows what he wants and he wants a wife. Now I don't know if he really knows what that means or looks like, but that will be determined in the next few weeks ::

:: My top picks for the girls {in no particular order} are these three {sorry the pics are so small, my computer revolted while I was uploading them}, you can find full size ones here ::

:: Ali, 25, Advertising Account Manager -- she's home sweet home ::

:: Tenley, 25, College Admissions -- She's easy {not like that!} but she's confident and sweet, yet perfectly humble - I really like her, she's from Oregon - I have lovely girlfriends that live in Oregon, their just good girls! ::

:: Elizabeth, 29, Nanny -- She's the girl next door on steroids, not sure how confident you would have to be as a wife/mom to hire her as your Nanny! Yikes! ::

:: It'll be a bumpy ride to remove the baggage on the runway of love for this Fly-Beau, but once the runway is clear for take off, it'll be a lovely smooth flight! ::

:: Oh, and did you hear about the scandal on set with one of the producers and girls in line dating??...ah, the drama of living real life on t.v. - nobody said it would be peachy! ::

:: 243 ::

:: 243, that's how many posts I have to weed through to get up to date on my google reader. Seriously lovelies, I am so way behind it's not even funny! Let alone, the 6000 things I want to write about and post here - but that's what January is for, catching my breath, at least that's what I'm trying to do! :::: I'm going to do a brief review of my thoughts on the bachelor {new season started tonight} but I can't promise it will be highly detailed. I just don't have the time, but you'll know who I'm pulling for and who I'm throwing in the gutter {don't worry most of them have their own flotation devices so they won't drown!} ::

:: And like I said, I'll be updated {and back-dating} my posts about our birthdays {all three of us} our celebrations for Jesus' birthday & maybe I'll even get our Las Vegas post posted {all the way from June!}. In between all that I'm busy trying to line up all the wedding cakes I have this upcoming Spring/Summer as well as trying to pull Mr. L away from his job so we can take a few family vacations ::

:: Happy New Year Y'all - I have GREAT expectations of what 2010 is going to look like, and I'm sure by the end of January I'll come up with a key word that I want 2010 to be for me, so stay tuned for that, I know y'all are on the edges of your seats - I'm sure! ::

:: Today I'm off to take the biggest little boy to school, run to Costco and pick up a new day-timer...I did get my much desired Blackberry for Christmas, but I just can't do life without a paper trail, so I'm going to have to get one. I've tried Lovelies I really have - but it's now the 5th of January and I already feel lost without my best friend, I mean, day-timer ;) ::

:: Happy trails today and if you're still living out there in cyberspace please let me know you stopped by, I love visitors and the comments! ::

:: XO, *Shawna ::

:: Merry Christmas! ::

:: Ha Ha Ha --- I can't believe I'm doing this but here I am wishing y'all a fabulous Christmas and it's January 5th 2010! Oh well, my intentions were to have posted this a long long time ago, but I was too busy doing plenty of other things, of which I hope to update y'all very soon ::

:: Love to you all and Happy New Year! ::

:: 9 years ::

:: As I said before, November is a big month for us. We have Cole's birthday, Paul's birthday, then my birthday -- all within the first 11 days of the month ::

:: We also have a quiet celebration of sorts, just before November. I say quiet, because we don't really do anything to celebrate it, it's just a day as any other. But it's not. It's the day 9 years ago that my Daddy had a severe seizure and collapsed in a hotel room with my Mom. They were away on a trip for the family business ::


:: Dad ended up in the hospital as this seizure was not in anyway expected and he had no real signs of showing the reason of the seizure. Obviously upon an MRI scan of his brain, they knew the cause and it was pretty much the most horrible news you can get. My Daddy had a brain tumor ::

:: Nine years ago, around this very celebratory time, my Daddy was told that his life would change - it affected everything. I took a leave of absence from my job at the time in the Big City to help take care of business with Dad because Mom still had to keep the "show" going with the family business - it was a crazy time ::

:: None of us really talk of that time nine years ago, as it's truly a distant memory - a pang of desperation to see your Dad in that situation, but good reigned. God fixed it all, if you don't know yet, we are a family of great faith in our Heavenly Father. This is how I remember it {it's the Cole's notes version}, Dad went into the hospital for another scan, it was there and forming and growing, not giving him any other side affects but still there. The doctors were neglectful to remove it as it was so close to the, well the rest of his brain - and SO many other side affects could be caused by removing it. Then we had a prayer meeting at our house one of these Fall nights in November and prayed for complete healing over my Daddy. A few days {probably more like weeks} later, Dad went in for another scan - the doctor couldn't believe his eyes, the tumor was gone ::

:: Beyond anything else that we had gone through we knew that Dad had been healed by the Great Physician - our Heavenly Father. So, it's been nine years since that great ordeal. The other day, I had to just say to my Mom "it's been nine years" and she knew exactly what I was talking about. See, it's not that far from our minds and certainly not far from our hearts, everyday I am reminded that God's promises are true and we are blessed to know personally the healing hand of God ::

:: Daddy - Grampie - Bobob * we celebrate you and the life that you have nine years later ::

:: Love Love Love ::
*S

:: Celebration ::

:: Today is my Mr's birthday - he's 30 and holding ;) ::

:: I've got a few things up my sleeve for his celebration tonight, just the two of us ::

:: Since, three out of the four of us have birthday's in the first 11 days of November, we have plenty of celebrating going on in the next few days {or weeks!} ::

:: Happy birthday my love, to think that 10 years ago, I celebrated November 4th for the first time...it was the first year I had an excuse to celebrate November 4th. You're a good reason to celebrate today ::

:: All my love ~ Your Gurl ::

:: A new post, posted ::

:: You just can't see it here -- remember I said I was WAY behind on blogging and I was going to be playing catch up? Well, I still am! ::

:: You can find my anniversary post here - hope you enjoy...I'm off to finish up the cake and hopefully get my house cleaned today so I can enjoy a semi work free weekend with the family. We'll see if the boys decide to play along and let me get it done! ::


:: Happy Friday Lovelies - hope you have a fabulous and safe weekend! ::

:: *Ps. Pictures a la Jamie Delaine. Jamie, can't thank you enough for capturing us {yet again}* ::

:: Pumpkin Patch Family Time ::

:: We had a great day this last week out and about and more specifically at the pumpkin patch. It looked like it was going to be the last sunny autumn day that we had left before all the leaves would drop to the ground. So we took full advantage and wandered around the pumpkin patch and the harvest of fresh apples - specifically our favorite Honey Crisp apples...did you know that some of the VERY best apples {known world wide} are produced here in BC!??! And this is one of our BC jems, it's amazing! Local girls, they are on special right now for $59/pound @ Ralphs ::

:: The boys loved running through the maze of pumpkins at the farm market, what a perfect Fall day! ::

:: Here is our little family - picture a la the 10 second self timer ::

:: Look at all those pumpkins! What a beautiful site! And look at that crazy Cole saying "cheese" - seriously we took five tries to get him to look at the camera and he would just put his head back and scream cheeeeeseeee! ::

:: Driving back home we hit some traffic and so I snapped some shots of a local farm, this farm is right beside the plantation house I plan to own someday...well, maybe. Isn't it a beautiful site?!!? ::

:: Happy Fall Y'all! ::

:: Bigger then my Dilemma ::

:: This is a call for prayer for a sweet blogger "friend" {using that term very loosely} - I've followed McKmama for a couple years now and walked through her struggles and joys in marriage, kids, babes and just life ::

:: With that said, McKmama's family needs your prayers right now. If you have read before, Stellan is her youngest child, and he has SVT, he will be celebrating his first birthday tomorrow, of which the doctors NEVER thought he would make it to! ::

:: Stellan went into a severe state of SVT on Monday night and has had to be intubated and sidated to try and control the SVT. As well as a neck line to insert his medications into his system and more closely to his heart ::

:: Please take a moment to pray for this family - specifically McKmama, her husband, Dr.B and of course Stellan - It sure makes me appreciate that I was getting up to deal with my kids who wanted to come and join me in my bed last night, not sitting beside my son's hospital bed wondering about the what-if's of my son's condition! ::

:: God you are a great God and can overcome any sickness on earth - I pray that you'll be with all those families right now that are facing the great unknown ::

:: You can go here to see McKmama's twitter updates ::

:: Calendar Dilemma ::

:: Morning y'all! Boy oh boy am I having a hard time keeping my eyes open this morning! We've been go, go, going all week long and obviously it's caught up with me! ::

:: I'd love to get your opinion on something...I have a calendar dilemma. If you remember back in January I did this to my typical daytimer calendar, to which I have received plenty of sweet compliments about as I take it everywhere {even thought it ends up being a bit bulky}. I use it to keep phone numbers, to write sermon notes, to obviously keep commitments & appointments. Every year when I am finished with it, it gets added to the box of calendars that I have been keeping for the past 9 years. I love having a calendar to write in, I'm a bit of a book girl, so having a pen and paper on me at all times is a necessity - for some people it's not, but for me it is ::


:: So I found these super cute "momAgenda" and I fell in love...I love the look of them, but not so sure I love the design of the pages - it's not a steal of a deal like my last years Costco daytimer..but it's seriously SO cute! ::

:: Here comes the first part of the dilemma -- I keep track of all of our families events, appointments and details not only in my daytimer but also in my outlook calendar. I love outlook calendar, I can input the details of the event/function and then email it to Mr. L so he knows what is happening in our lives {HA!}. He then receives it to his Blackberry and it updates his calendar immediately, so we are on the same page - to a degree {HA, again!} ::


:: I have a flip phone, not only a flip phone but my girlfriend Trisha's old flip phone {her hubby is our local phone dealer}! When she got her Blackberry -- I got her old phone! So obviously I don't have email or calendar capabilities on my flip phone, so I've asked for a Blackberry for my birthday {coming up in November} so I can receive my emails on my phone as well as keep track of our lives on my calendar. But I'm afraid {after years} of having a "real" daytimer that I'm going to miss having my paper copy in my purse...I obviously know it's so much easier than copying things down in two places, but I'm just not sure I'm ready to be done with the daytimer. Thoughts, opinions??? ::

:: Currently the below momAgenda is on sale for 40% off - so it's just $24.00 -- I probably wouldn't get the pink one, I'm just not THAT cool! ::

:: Okay, now on to the next dilemma: Blackberry or IPhone, our carrier is coming out with the IPone in the next month or so, and I'm torn between which one I should get? ::
:: I know the blackberry will be "free" as my contract is finished, so I'll be starting a new contract -- so the IPhone will cost more, but it may be worth it as it's the latest thing {however only for the next three months!}. So any thoughts on the phone dilemma? I can't wait to hear what your thoughts are! ::



:: I better get to doing something productive around here, I've got a cake to design, floors to clean {more on this later} and babes to tend to! Happy Hump Day - oy, does it ever feel like it?!?! ::

:: Kids Clothes = Provision ::

:: Okay, so obviously this isn't "Sunday Provision" -- I'm a few days behind on the "Sunday" part...and this is why I was so delayed on my response from my bloggy birthday contest. My Saturday was a complete write-off! ::

:: So my girlfriend Lisa & I headed out early Saturday morning to our local kids swap -- We were there for door opening and had to pay an extra $4 over the regular door charge {we got in an hour early}. And boy was it so worth it! Both of us had lists of "needs" and individually we each prayed about our lists and asked God to meet our needs {now this isn't the first time, nor the last that I'm sure we will do this and find that God has met our needs}. So we discussed what we each needed to find and went on our merry mission ::

:: We encountered many other friends and they were amazed out our piles of clothes/shoes that we were gathering. We were just as amazed! ::
:: I arrived at the swap meet with $59 dollars in my pocket and a zip lock bag full of dimes, nickels and pennies. I spent $5 on the entrance fee, so I'm left with $54 in my pocket {and my cents}. I owed Lisa some money roughly $9 and so when she was out of money she borrowed some of mine, I knew I still had a $10 bill in my wallet, plus my lovely {humbling} bag of cents. So I offered my cash to her, and I gladly paid back my debt ::
:: The morning continued on and we both continued to find the specific things we had asked for, and we were finding them for GREAT deals in AMAZING shape! We felt so blessed. When I went back in my wallet to buy probably my last purchase for $7 - I found a $20 bill instead of a $10 bill. Now, I know I had pulled out 2 $20 bills, and I had the $4 change in my pocket, so where the heck did that extra $20 come from. Now lovelies - it is a rare thing for me to have cash let alone an extra $20 bill! ::
:: However, I welcomed it and continued to be blessed over and above. I know that I was shopping with Lisa, but I also felt like God was right there with us guiding our paths and saving exactly what we needed until we got to it! What provision I felt! ::
:: So all in all for $54 {or less} dollars this is what I went home with ::
1 pair of snow boots for Jacob
1 pair of rubber boots for Jacob
1 pair of slip on OldNavy shoes for Jacob {never been worn}
1 pair of BusterBrown boots for Cole
4 pairs of pants for Jacob {OldNavy & Gap}
4 pairs of pants for Cole {OldNavy & Gap}
2 dress shirts for Jacob
2 sweaters for Jacob
1 long sleeved tee for Jacob
1 pair of P.J.'s for Cole
2 pairs of P.J.'s for Jacob
1 pair of HotPaws mittens for Jacob
1 pair of winter wool socks for Jacob

Almost all of these items are from stores that I usually can't afford {or don't want to afford} to shop in so I make due at the cheaper stores, but when I can get all of this in incredible shape for such a small amount of money, how can I go wrong & how can I not acknowledge that God is showing His faithfulness through this small tangible act?!!? ::

:: So blessed, I am, so blessed! ::

:: I'd love to hear from you any provision stories you have as of late, it's such an encouragement to me! ::

:: Happy Tuesday Y'all -- We're off to pre-school and running errands for Women's Wednesday Christmas event! ::