one down...one more to go :)

Well, I just really want to start out with a HUGE THANKS to those of you who were praying for us over Thanksgiving! We could definitely feel your prayers. I had a few moments of tears, but for the most part it went really well! Seeing the Plaza lights were a great help too!!



Most of the McHenry gals!



Brian and Laurie with the girls!



Brian and Laurie :)



Michael and Myself! :)

Here some of the fireworks, it was so pretty and a ton of fun!! Lots of people too!! We saw a small dance performance, and heard TONS of great Christmas music! It's just a fun time!!











All in all, it was great to share this with Michael's brother and his family! We enjoy traditions, and I feel this will not be the last time we venture out for this event!!





Brian, Laurie and their girls, have been very gracious to open their home to not just us, but to our dog Cooper as well!! It's been fun staying with them. Laurie and I get much joy out of watching the guys have their brother time!! So refreshing!!

We had a wonderful meal before heading out to the Plaza Lights, which Mom Mac prepared!! It was DELICIOUS!!! She does such a wonderful job making sure EVERYONE has an item of almost favorite on the table!!! Thanks for the wonderful meal!!

Welp, that's all for this post!
Thanks for reading!!

Being Thankful!!

This morning, well it started earlier than any other morning for this gal! Cooper needed to be in Ames by 7:30, for a haircut, and I needed to get some last minute stuff for Thanksgiving. Welp, Michael left around 5:30, meaning it was pretty much pointless for me to go back to bed. So, I got out my women's devotional bible, which I finally found what box it was packed in just 2 days ago! I was encouraged as I looked at the tabs I had put on some of the pages, because they contained verses that I found very helpful, MANY years ago!
The passage that REALLY brought me to tears was:
Romans 5:3-5
3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance' 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

God has really been teaching me so much about myself, more so in the last week. I have never realized how prideful I was, both in my relationship to God, and my status as "married". It's almost as if I thought that was a pass to all things good, no problems, or hurdles, especially when it came to having a family. I would find myself getting angry, not at people, but at their situations in life, and wondering why it worked for them to have what I though I should have. God has really been humbling me, changing my mindset when I see a young girl pregnant, or finding out people I know who are not married, or who are but have no desire for children, are having kids. It's amazing what God will use to change one's heart. Oh how I wish I could have learned this a different way, but as I read in Romans, this 'suffering' will not stay a suffering, but will ultimately produce HOPE!!

As we head into the holiday season, I pause to give thanks for MANY things!
1- My God!! He's SO big and he sees the BIG picture, and is daily revealing new things to me.
2- MICHAEL!! God sure knew what He was doing when He lead us together! Michael has had SO much compassion and patience towards me. I am SO grateful he CHOOSES to love me daily!! even when I know it can be tough! :)
3- Family!! Where would we be without them?!?!? I wouldn't want to know!! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!
4-Friends! God has greatly blessed us with AMAZING people to love us!! and to allow us to fellowship with!!
5- Work! I really do love my jobs!! My kiddos, teens, teach me SO much!! The more I do long term shifts, as in overnights for my family, I have a much more appreciation for them! These parents do so much to ensure their kids have a great life, and it's just amazing!!
6- Health! Don't know what to put with this! :)
7- Church Family! Our church, which is where Team McHenry debuted, has been such a blessing to us! Striving to minister to us, and allow us to give back with our time! We enjoy working with the older 3 year-olds!

We have so much more to be thankful for. Christmas, and what it symbolizes is a BIG one!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!
Please keep us in your prayers, especially has we enter the holiday season, I will be seeking out prayer, particularly in the next few weeks!!

~Team McHenry~

oh the anticipation....

Well, the holidays are quickly approaching, and now the emotional waves are back, almost fierce now. All of our plans for the holidays are now VASTLY different!! We were going to host Thanksgiving, because I would have been 35 weeks pregnant. Now we are not expecting, and we have decided not to stay home. I really wanna see the lighting of the Plaza down in Kansas City, something BEAUTIFUL to help with the way I am feeling. I think that the worst part of this is just anticipating what each day will bring. I hope and pray I don't become an emotional basket-case and ruin what should be a fun time with everyone. I really almost feel like staying home, but I also want to be around people. I just REALLY DO NOT want people treating Michael and I like we are fragile, that sometimes makes it worse. Sometimes I feel like people are just waiting to see me cry. Now I know that's not true, it's just how I feel sometimes. I am really hoping and praying that when people see us, especially during the holidays, they don't try to ask us how we're doing and coping, I would rather people just wish us a Happy Thanksgiving, Great to see you!, Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!!! This will help out TREMENDOUSLY!! I understand people are curious, and they care, and want us to know they care, but during this time, being around people we haven't seen in a while, I don't want to have to hold back tears because I am trying to talk about how I am coping. It's already going to be hard.
I do enjoy getting little notes of encouragement. I understand it's tough for people to know how to engage, but just a hug or a pat on the back, speaks VOLUMES!!! We don't need heavy words, or people trying to console us, especially when they have no idea what's going on in our heads. Just letting us know you're thinking about us, and praying is great!
Today has just really been one of those days. Tons of emotions, had to stay home from work! Granted it was a SUPER short work day, we're talking maybe 2 hours :)
Thank you to those who have and continue to lift us up in your prayers, please DO NOT stop!! We need them! At least I know I REALLY do!

I just LOVE when God speaks!!

So, last week I blogged a small bit on Michael's hours, or maybe it was 2 weeks ago. Anywho, that VERY night, he was offered DAY HOURS!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!! We are now in Day 2 of this new schedule, and it's kinda weird!! But I love it!! I am not a huge fan of an alarm going off EVERY day at 5a, but if it means spending the evenings with Michael, then I will learn to adjust!! We got more of our pictures uploaded, not at home but on facebook and a friends blog. We are very excited to get prints ordered and start decorating!! I had called my friend Nicole and suggested a service swap!! She would take our family pictures, and I would cut/color her hair!!! Gotta love having fun skills!! Here a few of the pictures!

In our backyard...


In front of our New House!!




My 2 favorite guys!



Family picture...maybe even the Christmas card photo! :)




Hope you enjoyed those, we sure have!!
We had the privilege to host Michael's parents this weekend. I ended up working some of the weekend, trying to use up hours for my families due to the holiday and everyone traveling, so they won't lose their hours for months to come!
We celebrated Dad Mac's birthday, out to dinner, cake and ice cream, and playing Phase 10!
I really got to work on my domestic skills!! Good thing I enjoy cooking!! I would love to host more often!!
Michael just laughs at me, because I always say something to the fact, "well, when we have people over..." or something to that effect, because our old place wasn't fun to host in because it was a bit tight!
Welp, we love filling our home with laughter, and voices, so if you wanna stop by just give us a call!! Now that Michael has evenings off, we're more available!!

WOO-HOO!!!

God is just SO AMAZING!!!
We have been praying for almost 4 years for Michael to be put on a different shift. Well, starting NEXT Monday, HE NO LONGER WORKS IN THE EVENING!! This is ONE excited BRIDE! I have been trying to redo my own work schedule, since i had been staying at work later, just so the evenings weren't so lonely!
This timing is just WONDERFUL! Just in time for the Holidays, so we don't have to use up PTO, its just great! Although, I will miss our mornings, I will thoroughly enjoy having him home in the evenings even more!
Speaking of the holidays, we have a busy couple of weeks, or shall I say next two months ahead of us! Mom and Dad Mac are heading to our place for the weekend, so that will be fun to spend some time with them! And then I get to meet up with the May gals for some shopping and fun time spent together!! I just love our families!!! We are so blessed!! I even really appreciate all of the wonderful people who continue to reach out to us and love on us. This afternoon, my adopted-in-church grandma Jo came down to see our new house, and to join me for lunch!! She is such an amazing woman, and I so enjoy her company! Who would have thought, that so many years ago, when the church's youth group put on a dinner for the 'old faithfuls' that a wonderful friendship would have been formed!! And all because this particular 'old faithful' thought it would be funny to untie my shoes during a devotional!! It's been a ton of fun ever since! :)
I do get one laid back weekend before we head to Kansas City for Thanksgiving! I am so excited to see everyone! Cooper is excited to meet his new dog cousin Happy! Should be a lot of fun watching the 2 of them run around!
Welp, that's all...
I must say, I've been doing pretty good at blogging lately! :), ooh and if you look at my previous post, I figured out how to add a picture!! So if you look, that is one of our favorites...so far!
Please excuse the RANDOMNESS!! It's just how I'm wired :)

Getting back in the groove...

These last couple of months have been, well a little rocky to say the least. For the most part, we are doing pretty good, but we do have days where all I wanna do is cry, and Michael just wants to fix something!! :) We decided to have a good friend of ours come over and do a family photo session!! We had fun, and are excited to see the pictures. As much fun as we had, getting ready to create our Christmas card, which I say I am going to do every year, but it WILL happen this year, I still felt as though something, or someONE was missing from our family picture. I am so glad we have Cooper! He sure brightens the mood most days! He actually did a pretty good job during the session. When he had decided he was done, he went and got his bone and just laid down in the backyard.
God has blessed us these last few months, in placing Michael in a class for work, and granting me random Friday nights off, that we were able to meet up with some amazing brothers and sisters in Christ! God has been so good to place special people in our lives, who want to love us and fellowship with us. It's been good to be around those families, and have the interaction even with their children as well. We have recently started helping out in the Older 3 Year Old room at church, and boy do they keep us on our toes!! But we are glad to be serving together in such an amazing ministry.
I am going to start only working overnights on Fridays after October, and I couldn't be any happier!! That will give us Saturday evenings to spend time with just us or anyone else looking for something to do!
Today is the 3 year anniversary of our engagement. It's sometimes crazy to look at our relationship in TIME. Some days it feels longer, other days shorter. We had a fun morning before Michael headed into work. I do enjoy our mornings together, but I am really praying God will lead him to a new schedule.
Speaking of rough days, yesterday was one of those. I had just put in a 48 hours work weekend, and had Monday off. I had felt so alone since I was working and hadn't really seen Michael, that just about EVERYTHING yesterday made me cry. I just really needed to spend MORE time with him. So Michael did want a noble husband does, he called into work, and expressed his desire to stay home with me because I needed him here. We enjoyed our time together, running errands, he took me to a meeting and then we went out for dinner, rented a movie, and ended the day snuggling, which is my favorite :)
I am so GRATEFUL for Michael and the blessing he is to me. Praising God for another year, and another day with the KING OF MY NEVADA CASTLE :)

Owning a home....

Well, Michael and I have been in our FIRST purchased home for about 3 months now! Crazy how fast time goes by! We have done many projects. Someday, when I learn how, I will post pictures on here in the posts. :) The first project was the gait on the deck. Since we love Cooper SO much, we decided it would be best for the stairway to the driveway to have a gait so he can't just take off. Since the yard is fenced in, Cooper doesn't wear his collar unless he is going for a car ride. He just loves his yard!! Michael keeps saying we should build him, or buy him a dog house. I would be to nervous to see what else would crawl in there with him! He seems to be the ONLY male dog around, so he's in high demand with the lady dogs! Some of them try to come over and get in the yard. It's actually kinda funny. Sometime we just let him run the neighborhood with his "girlfriends" and he just loves it. Sometimes I actually forget he's even out there!

We ended up giving one of the younger trees in the backyard to our neighbor, and a ton of hostas. Which I have no idea how to spell :) The yard looks more open now. Michaels parents are going to take the other one soon. We already have 2 mature trees in the back, so we don't need anymore! We had 3 in the front, but my dad and Michael took one down. Boy was it a process, but it sure makes the front yard look larger.

Lots of painting, and I am kicking myself now for not taking any before pictures. Truth is, I disliked the bedroom soo much that I wanted to forget that it was SUN YELLOW!! I also painted the living room window frames white to match the baseboards. It looks amazing! It makes the room look larger! We are looking to do more painting projects this winter, when we don't feel like being outside. So for now, Michael has been dominating the outside!

He worked with our neighbors on their shed, and then they came over and went to town building a work bench and a storage area up in the garage. We have certainly been blessed with great neighbors! This is DEFINITELY where God wants us.

More upgrading posts to come!
~Team McHenry~