Back to School With DaySpring
How can the Summer already be over? This has been one fun and exciting Summer with all our travels and a cross state move to Raleigh, NC.
Since Summer is coming to an end, then that means the girls will trade the swimsuits for the backpacks. This year, the girls will have something very exciting in their backpacks to share with all their fellow classmates. DaySpring school products! Our faith in our family continues to grow and grow and to know that my girls can be a witness for our wonderful Lord Jesus is just an honor to our whole family.
We recently went on an shopping trip for Back to School products and also filled a bag for a special little boy. Take a minute and view our journey through our Whrrl Story!
Now you have to admit the products are just so super stylish… aren’t they? It really means a lot to me to know that my girls can share their faith in Christ Jesus with all their classmates and do it in a genuine way. Schools have put faith on a back burner over the last few years, but if we just keeping moving forward and thinking positive… we can bring faith back to our school systems. The Lord Jesus Christ just shines right through these DaySpring products and it is just icing on the cake to see the awesome designs on the products.
My girls are just so excited beyond belief in using their new DaySpring products this year!
No tags for this post.Letter to my Grandma in Heaven
Summer here at One Moms World has finally arrived. I am pretty stoked about this and so ready to have fun times this summer with my girls and hubby. As a tradition, (started last year with M) I am taking a picture on the last day of school to compare with the girl’s first day of school pictures.
M on the First Day of School
M on the Last Day of School
L on the First Day of School
L Last Day of School
Both Girls First Day of School
Both Girls Last Day of School
The girls at the beginning of the school year with my Grandma. I know she would be so proud of them!
Grandma,
You would be so proud of L. She really dived in this school year and came out of her shyness stage. She would fold her arms and tell the teacher to go get her mommy at the beginning of the school year and now as we end the school year, she LOVED talking to the teachers and all her fellow classmates. You didn’t have anything to worry about Grandma. L really likes when you bowl those strikes up in heaven. She teases you and tells you to stop getting strikes Grandma. She is so artistic and very detailed in her art. She is always drawing such beautiful art. The teacher says she is really smart and already showing some strong math skills. We are so proud of our beautiful L.
Grandma, you would always say how smart M was and she didn’t let you down at all this year. She is reading on the middle of a 3rd grade year and and writing on a middle of a 2nd grade year. She mastered all the math skills including geometry and algebra that they now do in 1st grade. That is a little crazy isn’t it? She got voted Best Personality in her First Grade class. Her teacher said that M is friendly with everyone and loves to help everybody. I wonder who she got that trait from Grandma? You passed it on to daddy, then he passed it on to me and now our beautiful M is keeping the special trait alive. We are so proud of our beautiful M.
Grandma, I finished out my college year with another 4.0 GPA. I know you always wanted me to finish and guess what? I only have 3 classes left. I know you are smiling down on me and so proud.
Grandma, we love you. We are all trying to heal and miss you so much. We are all sticking together as a big large extended family and keeping the memories alive. I have our picture of all of us together sitting here in the living room and look at it several times a day. I just miss you so much.
The girls are so excited to start out their summer and be able to sleep in each morning. I’ll keep you posted and can’t wait to listen for those bowling strikes.
Love,
Your Granddaughter Jennifer
No tags for this post.Life Comes At You Fast
Have you see Jen?
Jen, we have looked high and low for you? Where did you go girlfriend? Did you leave country? Did you get lost on the Blue Ridge Parkway? Did you go into hiding? Did you change your identity?
:::Jen running::: “I’m here… I’m here… I’m here…”
I wish I could say that I was on this awesome adventure, but that isn’t just the case. I was actually hooked up to an IV here in the mountains at our local hospital for 7 long days. It was a scary time for sure and one that I didn’t see coming.
When I went into the ER a week and half ago now on that Friday, I had no idea that they would admit me for 7 days. I knew something was terribly wrong though with the pain I was experiencing and my stomach swelled up like a pregnant lady. My hubby was really worried as my legs were swelling really huge as well and with tears in his eyes, he did not leave my side until the DR came with a fast diagnosis. All the ER DR needed to do was take one look at me and say, I think this is your pancreas. After a quick job of giving blood, the ER DR was by my bedside to say that I was under a pancreatitis attack. My pancreas enzymes were over tripled than the number they were suppose to be.
The big question was though what was causing it? I don’t drink… I don’t smoke… and I already had my gallbladder out. After numerous tests and calling in specialists, they never figured out what caused it. All they could do was to keep me off of food for 6 days and on an IV drip to get my pancreas back to normal.
I’m not going to lie you all, I was scared. Very scared. I was in so much pain those first 4 days, that I did lots of crying. Wondering if I was going to live? Scared that I was going to be taken from my girls as their mother at a very young age? I will tell you now that if it wasn’t for my trust in the Good Lord and knowing my guardian angel Grandma was looking after me, I don’t know how I would have made it through those days.
Seeing my girls so sad that their mommy was in so much pain and couldn’t get out of the hospital bed or seeing L just cling to my bed each night she had to leave, it was killing me on the inside. Taking my heart and stomping it all over the ground. Seeing my hubby cry at my bedside, I never ever want to go through that again!
I am home now, trying to get back into a normal routine. The pain comes and goes but today has been a MUCH better today with hardly no pain at all. I am on the mend, I finally can say 
.
I have to thank so many of you all for the wonderful tweets, video blog posts (I had to spend my birthday and Mother’s day in the hospital), beautiful facebook posts (most days people couldn’t even see updates on me due to all the wonderful prayers and wishes wrote), phone calls, visits, gift cards to take care of hubby and girls food, all the help with the girls and Prayers! It all got me through those 7 days that were my darkest point.
God healed me and for that, I am so thankful. God is good!
I am a fighter and so happy to be given the chance to heal and be back to write this blog post! Life is amazing for sure
Amazing Grace Through a 7 Year Old
I was sent this YouTube video by email from a former co-worker of mine. It is amazing to see God’s work shine through this little girl’s vocals. Listen in and you will be blown away by this rendition of “Amazing Grace” on this beautiful Sunday Morning. God Bless!
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We Can Make a Difference on this Tax Day
Yes, it is Tax Day… but we can turn this day into a really big positive day for a wonderful Charity – Make a Wish. Let’s all take this day and help children with life-threatening medical conditions to bring hope, strength, and joy to their lives. These children go through so much fighting for their lives and what joy it brings on their faces to have a trip, a special toy, a playground and etc. to take their minds away from all the medical things they are going through.
How can you help? So glad you asked!
* Support the Make-A-Wish Foundation® online while saving on your favorite Betty Crocker® products through the Give $5, Get $5 promotion. Just visit StirringUpWishes.com today April 15th to donate $5 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help make children´s wishes come true and get $5 worth of downloadable Betty Crocker coupons.
* Simply purchase your favorite Betty Crocker® products this spring. For every specially marked package purchased, Betty Crocker will donate 10¢ to the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, with a guaranteed minimum donation of $250,000 and a maximum donation of $500,000.
Betty Crocker has made a three-year, $250,000 annual commitment to the Make-A-Wish Foundation which, with your support, could be doubled in 2010 to $500,000. Will you help today please? Skip that lunch take-out today or that special coffee and give just $5.00 to make a difference on this Tax Day.
In addition to the Give $5 and Take $5, Blog Spark and Betty Crocker is making a $25 donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on my behalf. They would also like to make a $25 donation on one of my reader’s behalf as well and offer the above prize pack. How cool is that? Go ahead and leave a comment below about the Make A Wish foundation such as if someone in your life as experienced a Make A Wish or just a good through about the program itself. You can read stories on the Stirring Up Wishes site. They are so inspiring for sure. I will pick a random winner using random.org tomorrow.
Will you please help? Thank you so much. We can all make a difference!
Disclosure: The prize pack and the donation were all provided by Blog Spark and Betty Crocker
Congratulations to Nan… comment number 5. You are our winner.
He Is Risen
He is Risen Indeed!
What a beautiful and gorgeous weekend to celebrate our Great Lord’s Resurrection! He is Risen everyone… he is Risen. I am so happy to be a child of the Lord and let me tell you…. you could feel the spirit in the church as we ended the great church service with us all singing Because He Lives.
My precious little L, was so happy to be singing this with her mommy. She would hum along as I was singing. Just melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. She would get louder and louder all the while just smiling away.
A cute L story was we were sitting in church and mommy forgot to bring a snack for her. She said “Mommy, I am hungry. The bible says you have to feed me.” Oh how it was all I could do to not bust out laughing so loud in the middle of the service.
We had such a wonderful Easter weekend with family. My step-daughter and her boyfriend were able to join in with us all weekend. We started out the weekend with a night of egg dye.
Saturday, we all gathered with the ever big Houck family and had so much fun. We all have been so sad since my beautiful Grandma’s passing and it was all so wonderful for us all to be together. This is how she would of wanted it exactly! There were lots of water pouring on people, silly string, water balloons, food and egg hunts. Such a glorious time.
Sunday, the girls were so excited to jump out of bed and see what the Easter Bunny had left for them. We so enjoyed a great morning service at church and then fun and fellowship at my parents house. Grilling on the grill for the first time of the year was just divine. The girls were so lucky to get to participate in Yay-Yay’s great egg hunts as well with some really cool prizes.
Overall… it was so great to not worry about work and just enjoy some good ole fashioned family fun all the while remembering our wonderful Lord! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. If you blogged about your weekend… please let me know in the comments below so I can visit your post
Tribute To My Grandma Nellie Houck
I have spent day and night of the last week with my wonderful Grandma. I am going to miss her so much. It has been so hard to see her struggle each and everyday but I am so thankful I had each and every day with her. Her last words to me was “I Love You Jennifer” and I will treasure that always. Her last night here on Earth was just her and I in the room. She was so peaceful and I am so happy we had that one on one time. I am speaking at her funeral today and wanted to share with you what I will be reading. It’s going to be hard the days to come but I am just praying for God’s strength to get me through these days! Thank you all so much for the kind words, prayers, messages and phone calls. It really has helped me so much.
Nellie Houck
July 30, 1913 – February 20, 2010
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” from Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV.
That bible verse reminds me of my Grandmother for sure! She just loved life and all the people that were involved in her life. Inspiring… Motivating… Hero! Those three words are just some of the adjectives that I would use to describe my wonderful Grandma.
It is no secret that my 96 year old grandmother was my best buddy. I am her youngest grandchild and so you know how that goes… the youngest is the baby 
. She spoiled me in so many ways with all the baby dolls she would buy me or all the clothes she would buy me. It didn’t matter if it was blue plaids with yellow stripes going down the sleeves, she wanted me to wear them and I would do so with a smile! If mom and dad would jump on me, all I had to do was call Grandma. She would say now Bill and Jean, Jennifer is too cute to do that! I had her wrapped around my finger and she knew she was the apple of my eye.
I spent my summers as a little girl at her house way up in the country with no stores very near. I didn’t care, because I was with my grandma. We had flowers to water, vegetables to pick, long walks to make across the old wooden bridge and cold watermelon to get out of the cold creek behind her old mountain house to have for a summer snack. I would raise my head in the mornings and always hit the ceiling because I was jumping out of bed so fast since the chocolate gravy aroma was filling the air. There is no doubt she knew how to make some mean chocolate gravy.
Grandma and Grandpa decided to trade the country roads for the big city roads of Lenoir, NC. Once they got settled in, most Friday nights you would see me having sleepovers with Grandma. She always said she loved me having the sleepovers but she didn’t love all my kicking her . Hey, I was just trying to let her know that I loved her with all my love taps! I would wake-up to the never-ending pancakes each Saturday morning. My cousin Shana can vouch for this one as she came up and had a sleepover with me at Grandma’s. She kept bringing out the pancakes and it was all Shana and I could do was to eat them. At this point, I was wishing there was a doggie in the house to help us eat them because as we all know there was no telling Grandma you did not want anything to eat. You could say no 20 times, but she was not taking no for an answer. So you just kept on eating right? When I was in high school and would get a break for lunch before I headed to work, I would go to Grandma’s every day. She would have the biggest lunch for me prepared each time. Food and Grandma went hand in hand for sure. The thing is though, the food was going straight to my hips and Grandma was not shy letting me know that I was getting fat. Over the years she would say Jennifer you are getting way too big and at one time asked if I was pregnant because my belly was so big. That is what I loved about Grandma, she would tell you like it was. If she thought you were fat, she would tell you, if she hated how your hair was cut, she would tell you, if she thought your clothes didn’t look right on you, she would tell you. That was just Grandma. She was blunt, but she was still my best buddy.
With all her bluntness was still very much jokiness. She could make one laugh so much and there would be so many times the things she would say, that would just make you want to roll in the floor and laugh. She would call my work and she knew my extension but every time she would get the numbers transpired and end up calling the President of our company. At times to, she would end up back at the operator and just carry on conversations with both of them. Luckily I was really good friends with the operator and she knew every time that it was my Grandma, and would just go right along with the conversation and eventually Grandma would get to my extension. She would say Jennifer, I don’t know who I have been talking to but they were the nicest people. It didn’t matter who you were, she was going to do her some talking. For example, we would be in a grocery aisle and she would just walk up to some random person and ask them about the nutrition facts on the back of the can or ask them if they ever had tried that particular food. She never met a stranger that is for sure.
I have told these little stories to make you smile and remember Grandma, but there is one thing everyone knew for sure. Grandma, was a huge believer in the word of God. Growing up she would read me to me from the Bible and the Guideposts magazine. Just last month I started my own subscription to the Guideposts and going to pass that tradition on to my girls. She was a big believer in prayer too. I have definitely learned from her that prayer works and God has a plan for all of us. We need to make sure we follow his lead and stay on his path he has for our life. Grandma would not want it any other way.
I am going to leave you today with a little poem that I have written just for my Grandma Nellie Houck.
G is for the greatness you gave to me all through my life.
R is for all the rejoicing you would give me with every milestone that I would hit in life.
A is for amazing me so much.
N is for the noteworthy Grandma you were always to me.
D is for the determination you had each and every day.
M is for the magnificent legacy that you left behind and I will carry with me each day.
A is for the angel that I now have always looking after me!
I love you Grandma! You are my hero!
No tags for this post.Inspiring Motivating Hero
Those three words are just some of the adjectives that I would use to describe my wonderful Grandma. She is a wonderful 96 years old and just loves life and all the people that are involved in her life.
She is going through a rough patch right now and it really breaks my heart. I worry about her all the time. My grandma and I are super close and always have been. I love that I can still pick up the phone any time and say hello to her and carry on a full conversation. Sometimes just hearing her speak is what motivates me to have a better day.
She is such a sweetheart and is always worrying about me. She doesn’t like me traveling on airplanes and she just told me yesterday that she worries herself so much until I get back home. She is such a gem. She is a believer in our almighty Christ and is always praying for everyone. That warms my heart so much to know she has me in her prayers.
Like I said she motivates me! She stayed on me and stayed on me to go back and finish my degree in college. I made that step last year and will soon be done with my degree this year. I wanted to do it for her as much as I wanted to do it for me. She loves to motivate us to do better all the time.
The above picture was taken at this past Christmas celebration. She was worrying herself so much over my gift. Jennifer she would say “I just wasn’t able to get to store and get anything, it is worrying me so much that I do not have you anything.” I told her… Grandma please do not worry. You just being here celebrating with us for Christmas is the best gift I could ever wish for. She got a smile on her face and turned to her freezer where she whipped out a loaf of banana bread. Growing up, she has always given me banana bread loaves and oh my goodness does it make me smile. Her loaves are so delicious and I always keep them all to myself to eat when she gives them to me.
Even at 96 years old she is still warming my heart with the things she says and the banana bread that she makes sure I have all throughout the year.
It has been on my heart and mind lately since she has had some health problems, that I am going to be faced one day that she is going to cross those pearly gates and be with our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ forever. It just brings me to tears. Yes, I am selfish and always want her hear with me, my girls, my family! I want to keep those thoughts in the back of my mind and just enjoy her each and everyday I can. She inspires me, She motivates me, She is my HERO!
I love you Grandma…always and forever, Your Youngest Grandchild – Jennifer
We had a real rarity too this Christmas…. we have 6 generations in our family now. I just love our Houck Family and just will always treasure this picture!
6 Generations in the Houck Family
Its Been 2 Years Baby
January 2008
December 2009
Together 8 years… Married for 2 Years! Happy Anniversary to the love of my life Scott .
It all started here on the blog and then a year later I blogged about how could we honestly make it through that first year? Now, here we are January 2010 and I have to say the 2nd year of marriage ROCKED. We had the best year.
Random Thoughts of 2 Years of Marriage
We are much cuter since we are carrying around less pounds now
We still had our tiffs, but we didn’t let it stop us from still showing our love for each other
He is really my best friend!
We can so tell when we are pushing each other’s buttons, and will give each other that smirk
He has made me into a huge coffee drinker
He will have coffee waiting for me in the mornings!
He is such a great hands on daddy that loves taking the girls to Chick-Fil-A
He is so humorous and sometimes he can be over the top but I still love him
He hates talking on the phone!
He loves Fox News
He hates when I let the gas get to right on empty
He loves to do laundry (haha or maybe he just wants clean clothes to wear!)
He is my biggest fan with my work
He builds my self-esteem up so much since I don’t think I’m all that
He loves God and shares his faith openly!
He loves to sneak up behind me and give me the biggest hug (heart melts)
He loves to drive (thank goodness since I love to travel)
He loves to surprise me with my special foods!
He LOVES my cooking
But Most Important: He LOVES me and our girls!
Happy Anniversary Scott. What, Where and How will our 3rd year of marriage will bring us? I for one, cannot wait to find out.
I love you Honey Bunny (he so hates me calling him that). Here’s to an awesome year :::cheers:::
No tags for this post.Mommy Jesus Brought Him Back
Last night in the super cold weather, our little Kingston decided to dart out the door when I was bringing in groceries. My girls immediately started crying. L said, mom we have to think about this. She went and got me the flash light since it was pitch dark outside.
So we go trekking through the snow and ice down our road to see if we can grab him. He is super fast but
1) It was too cold for him to stay outside (below zero wind chills)
2) I was afraid he would get hit by a car
We all three are walking up and down the road calling his name. I hear M behind me whispering something but couldn’t make out what she was saying. All of a sudden we see car lights… thank you Lord. Those car lights were shining into a yard and there was our precious Kingston. He came running straight to us.
We hurried and got inside and M said “Mommy, do you know who brought Kingston back to us? It was Jesus. I was saying a prayer while we were walking.” Melt my heart. That was the whispering that I was hearing behind us. She said see mommy prayers really do work. Yes, they do indeed my beautiful girl!
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