beauty....

so, when i was in high school i couldn't wait to get out of Tomahawk. seriously, i was just so ready to get out of here, sure i would never come back. i even thought when i visited why do people stay here, why do people want to live in tomahawk? it's so small and in the middle of nowhere, and to be honest, i judged people, i thought if they stayed here it meant that in their lives they were doing nothing and going nowhere......
and then i lived all over, well not all over, but i lived in vancouver for years and i LOVED living in the city, walking down commercial drive, getting a coffee, picking up fresh fruits and veggies for dinner and it costs me barely anything. i loved the music, the people, all the little shops.....all the coffee shops....that was probably my favorite part, you could see the mountains, take a short bus ride or sky train down to the ocean..lovely, it was lovely....
but we left canada and moved back to the states to madison, and i never loved madison, not at all. i made a great friend and so did kael and mike in our friends Katie, George and Georgie, and they were really the best thing that came out of madison, but nothing about the city itself left me satisfied..
and now we live in tomahawk again. And today i was just struck by the beauty of this place. the trees all around you, in our backyard we have birch trees, maple, lilac bushes, crab apple trees, apple trees and many plants plants....it's gorgeous. i sat in my back yard this morning and breastfed owen and no one could see me, the air was fresh and crisp and it was relaxing. now that i have kids and i'm in this place n my life this is the spot for us. ( i'm not saying we won't ever move) but I could make my mom dinner tonight to celebrate her birthday....kael could play outside today while i made dinner, the breeze is wonderful and i feel refreshed. and i feel also like i am a part of what is doing, that there is a place for me here. a spot to fill, where i am needed and where God will use me to reach people. i am sorry to anyone i judged for living in their small town, i love both city and country and right now , this is the place for me and my family and it's beautiful. the nature around me awakens something in me, let's me breathe deeper....feel closer to God. i love it here. and i never thought i'd say those words.

feeling good

i know i haven't blogged in awhile. But lately...
I have lost 10lbs We are eating healthy and feeling great.
I also am moving forward with our Restoring the Foundations, was able to pray with one person and another one interested.
I ate asparagus tonight for dinner from my own garden....soo yummy!!!! it is my favorite veggie.
Me and the boys play outside all the time and i love it.
last weekend i went garage sale-ing and got a great picnic table with benches or $5 and got a free table and chairs among other treasures. i love summer and spring. my backyard is turning green, things are beginning to bud, we have a blossom tree, and lots of other beautiful trees.
i love my kids and husband.
i have connected with an old friend and it's so awesome, we hang out every week now and she has a little girl that is afraid of my son...boy vs. girl
And our business is still going really well and i am so excited about it, we are making money and helping other people make money. that's me lately.......

today

Most of us look at our days in the wrong way: We overexaggerate yesterday. We overestimate tomorrow. We underestimate today. The truth is that the most important day you will ever experience is today.
Make today your masterpiece.

Grandma and Grandpa Bailey

My Mother-in-law and her husband were here last week visiting ( from louisiana) So i thought i'd post some pics of their time.
we had a great time with them and so did the boys....oh and there is a pic of the house we are renting right now. the outdoor pics are in the backyard as well, (except the barn door, that's at my parents)
We also had a dinner here and a fire one night cause my brother and his wife were in town, so it was all the family hanging out at our house and we loved it!!! especially being the only with kids we were able to put them to sleep and enjoy the fire until late at night.

contest

so, me and mike are doing two competitions at once right now.I'm pretty excited about them because i feel like change is coming and this is what i need to kick start my life in these areas. I feel as if God has been speaking to me alot lately, it seems like when i read something in a book, i hear it later that day on a cd, on tv or thru a friend. So i feel as if God has been doing some work in me and it's not always easy but God's blessings are showing up in my life because of it. One thing was that i was praying for a crib for owen, and my mother in law and her husband took us to Target to pick out a crib and mattress for him. I was very very blessed. Especially since the week before i felt as if God was saying, that i had this attitude that i deserved things and really i don't deserve anything, anything and everything we have is a gift.

So the two contests' we are doing...one is related to our business. Motivating us to do daily things to grow personally and to see our business grow.
the other is one my mom started with some ppl at church and it's '40 Days to Prosperous Living'
and the goal of that one is to be healthier in our life, physically, spiritually and emotionally. With both of them you get points for doing things ( or not doing things) Like the healthy living you get a point if you don't watch tv, if you don't drink pop or alcohol, etc..You get points for eating so many servings of fruit and veg, glasses of water etc. Spending time with God, exercising.
So Today is the first day of the healthy living one and i feel great already. Me and mike are also counting calories so hopefully i can lose some of this baby fat and he wants to get lean and work out to get muscle. I've already done lots of the things today and that feels great. The hardest one might be the getting 7-8 hrs sleep....:)
wish me perseverance.

the boys

warmer weather

this weekend was gorgeous weather. warm enough for kael to be able to play outside for hours. which was great for me since i was sick over the weekend, mike was able to take kael out of the house for hours and so i could get some downtime. i'm feeling a bit better today but not 100%. i'm excited because this weekend we have our business Conference and John Maxwell is speaking, my favorite speaker. If you haven't heard him or read his books He is fantastic. Also i get to see one of my best friends ever! Jamie is flying in to babysit my boys...which is such an answer to prayer. i'm so grateful she could do it and also soo excited to see her. I don't anticipate i'll be getting much sleep this weekend but i'm looking forward to it!!!

christmas

i know i haven't really posted lately and i didn't really post any pics from christmas..and i found a few that were pretty cute that i thought i'd post anyways.

vision

so.....i have been feeling great lately.I feel like my old self. and it's funny cause i feel like i am coming out of a coma or something, although obviously not as extreme, i'm feeling renewed energy for life. I completed the second half of the training for Restoring the Foundations issue focused Ministry. So, now i (with a partner) would be able to take people through a 3 hr session ministering to them regarding one particular issue in their life. Under the mentoring/teaching of my mom and Diane who have been doing this ministry for awhile now. So i'm excited about that but this is where i feel like the old me. I'm ready to go for it, to jump right in and in my mind i want to jump ahead and see the potential of all of this, what we could do here in the city. I'm also excited because i've been asked to join the worship team at church and it would working with one of my oldest friends again. I am excited about singing again, i even had my guitar out a few times this week.....i feel as if i'm ready for life again. i think because we had kael, left ywam and moving to Scotland at the same time it was really hard for me. i was a new mother, i just left a ministry i had been with for 7 yrs and was kind of burnt out anyways.....now i feel like i've had time to rest, even though i have two kids, it's soo much easier this time, i'm enjoying it more. owen is such an easy baby, he's so undemanding and soooo happy. and i have a community around me and i'm pursuing things i feel passionate about I feel soo much more alive. So of course i'm wanting to be off and running, I feel as if i need to have a balanced life, of being a wife, a mum, being myself, having hobbies, and also pursuing ministry in certain capacities right now....so that's where i'm at. if anyone has any advice on anything i'm all open to hearing it....i feel as if i need to realy talk it all out with someone and maybe think it all through myself what it is i want..what is important etc....how to go after the things in my heart.

New pics below

time is moving fast

So...it's been awhile. i'm not sure if i have any readers anymore and i'm not even sure i want to keep blogging. it's fading......but i thought maybe i'd do another post and see if anyone is reading..
this is what i've been up to....hhmmm....two boys keep you busy. owen is a very easy baby though, easy and smiley, so fun. i'm loving having a baby again, sometimes i just hold him and smell him and just love being his mum.
kael is into everything and so funny, he loves to brush his teeth, although i'm pretty sure it's the toothpaste he loves more than the brushing. ( don't worry i don't let him eat it) and his new thing is using little chairs..he hauls them all over the house to help him get onto the counter of his choice to get whatever it is he's wanting...vitamins, cookies, toast....toothpaste, and the hand soap is now kept in the cupboard as well as he likes to 'wash' his hands.

i've been sewing, i've finished two baby quilts, one for a friend and one for kael. Thomas and then a girl one. also some smaller projects, like a curtain, pillow, small baby blanket, i even hemmed a pair of pants,

i'm still unpacking my house,

connecting with old friends, and making new ones. i'm going a small group on the book Captivating and my two dear friends Shelley and Mary are in my small group as well as other friends in the big group

i am taking a small course that my mom is leading with her friend Diane. they are both trained in a ministry called Restoring the Foundations, which incorporates a few different counseling/ministry/prayer things and i'm attending training so that i can do short ministry sessions with people on specific issues. and so i've attended one seminar and plan on finishing the next seminar next week. it's lots of reading and then three days of teaching and training.

Also some of you know me and mike have our own business and things are really going well and taking off. We are excited about it

So, that's what i've been up to. the baby is now awake so i should go get him

moved

ok. so it's really weird but we've moved to tomahawk and the weirdest thing is that it feels like home.
i'll post more later, still very busy unpacking ..just got home from vacation. our new house is great and i have sooo much to do...we have lots of room so anyone can come and visit me!!!!