happy belated thanksgiving!!

lol..

that's all i got for you.

ha!

i've been sOo busy with what seems to be NOTHING. it's incredible. rest is sOo needful!!

sO, i'll run you through my busy weekend..

thursday - we had a GREAT hangout time with all kinds of wonderful people.. i LOVE our thanksgiving day dinners cuz it gives us an *excuse* to hang out with people we wouldn't normally spend time with. we ate a disgustingly hunormous amount of food. (yes, i said hunormous)

friday - rest. LOTS of rest. and crafting. did i ever tell you that some crafting sucks?  (yes, i said sucks.)
oh yea, and leftovers.

saturday - mO rest. mO and mO. felt good, too.. (yes, i said mO) oh yea.. and mO leftovers too..

sunday - rest, then church.. then a muppet movie. lots of GOOOD laffs. i recommend this movie.

best muppet movie. ever.

(yes, i said ever.)

oh yea.. there are STILL leftovers. O_o

i'm grateful, right?  i feel like if i see another piece of ham i'll vomit. but i am grateful. lol

so, yea.. happy belated thanksgiving.. heh hehh..  ;)

"i come in peace pieces..."

thankful #4027..

i'm very thankful for sleep. i'm tired. long day.

zzzzz.

thankful #37

i'm sOo thankful for a home where there's peace..

yea, we have our difficulties, but there's PEACE here.  God's peace.  & i'm grateful.

^.^

important stuff. <3

thankful #9

i'm sOo thankful for sushi.

^.^

yummy. 

i will now write a haiku (cuz haikus make everything cooler)

Wet, yummy fishy
You taste sOo good going down
My esophagus. O_o


(u never really realize how many syllables a word has until u start haikuing it)

:D

photo cred here..

thankful #438

i'm thankful for my church.  :)

i've been goin' there for a LONGGG time.. & the consistency of the spoken word is pure awesomeness..

the where & the when..

wanna watch a short video about it?  click HERE!

thankful # 73

i'm sOooo thankful for my Jesus.

nuff said. ;)

he replaces darkness with LIGHT..  :)

1 John 1:5 God is light. and in Him there is NO darkness at all..  <3

pic details here..

thankful #238. (cuz 238 comes after 237)

i'm thankful for my lil' people..

i have three.

they're funny.. creative.. and sweet.  & i like 'em.

this is a pic i took of them in the park.. i didn't even hafta ask them to hold hands..

thankful # 237

sounds better than #1.. lol

friendship that turns into love.. that remains sweeter as the years go by..

that's what j-boy #1 & i have.. <3

if you haven't seen UP, you might want to..
the pic makes more sense if you know the story..

pic credit here..

thankful tuesday..

cuz sumtimes thursdays ain't enough.. lol

i dug out all of the kids' winter/fall clothing today..

honestly, this is NOT my house.. but i felt like the pile at my house
 was about the same size as this one..  o_O

TONS of jackets.. a ridiculous amount of stuff for just three lil' people..

but as i'm takin' care of such a tedious chore, i'm reminded that there are children without enough clothes..

children without enough FOOD.. children without enough LOVE..

& then i realize how grateful i should be that i can't see the floor.. i'm not even close to being done finding a home for all of their things & did i mention that out of the humongous piles of abundance, i think i could spot maybe THREE things that i purchased??

THREE things.  o_O

crazy, right??  

i'm sOoo grateful.

i had a rough day. lyrics from a Sara Groves song sum it up best, "woke up on the wrong side of the bed, the wrong side of the room, the WRONG side of the world.."

(just in case you wanna hear it yourself..)  

:)

what a funk..  & sOo.. instead of start writing to you about how much my life sucks, i realize i need to put down sum gratitude on my virtual paper. cuz life is full of lemons.. sour, but with sweetener, they make yummy lemonade.. & full of roses.. that have sum very painful thorns, yet they smell pretty sweet..  & full of stank feet.. that if you just wash 'em, they'll smell ok again..

nevermind. i'm delirious.. lol

God certainly does provide..  & i'm grateful.

photo credit here..

thankful thursday!!! with update*

i'm officially a goober.

i knew this already. but now i REALLY know it.

lemme ask YOU a question..

have you EVER mistaken somebody for dead??

O___o

wait.. lemme ask you again.. cuz you probably think i'm playin'... 

have you EVER mistaken somebody for dead??

o___O

well, i did..
yesterday, actually. lol

*no joke*

mind you, this is NOT sumthin i'm proud of. it just kinda happened..  & i felt like such an idiot for it.. that's probably what i am.

not a goober. an idiot. yea, that's it. o_O

my friend has been sick for a very LOOOONGG time. & the other day she posted a fb note via someone else. apparently cuz she's gotten just that sick. at the end of the note, her signature was "i'll see you on the other side.."

well.. the note IS circulating as if it's an obituary..

whatever. i'm not gonna keep goin' on this one.

i think this blog is my *venting* post right now..

shame on me.

she ain't dead. (at least i don't think she is..)

anyway, this WHOLE fiasco of an ordeal got me thinkin'..

WOW.. life is SHORT. first Steve Jobs & now an old friend from grade school (who's not dead, but sick)

people need to act like they KNOW.

am i doin' what i'm supposed to be doin'? am i being SALT & LIGHT (Matthew 5:13, 14)
am i living the way i should?
...

i'm a work in progress if i've ever seen one. i screw up EVERYday. but my life belong's to Jesus Christ.

i don't EVER wanna belittle my allegiance to the ONE who died for me.

better yet, HIS allegiance to me.

& yet, i see in myself, just as Peter & EVERY other believer does, this battle with my ugly self.

to try to get my way..

but then i remember that this life is not MINE. & i give it back to Him. cuz really,

nothin' else matters.

i'd be a fool to return to the vomit of an existence i used to know.. i've put myself in some predicaments that i shouldn't have only to get what *i* wanted.

pretty much sucks.

i was reading in Genesis tonight about when Cain was given the boot (you know... out  of his home). never to return to the sweet family life he once knew.. (the garden was already jacked up, but at least he had two parents that loved him, right?)

anyway.

he moved to NOD. that word means vagrancy. & vagrancy basically means "wanderin' without purpose"

i'm sorry, but i've been to NOD. 

BORING.

makes ya nod. lol..

& i'm done. i got better things to do. like LIVE.

kinda like my friend from grade school.. the girl ain't dead yet.. & neither am i. she attempted to share a lil' encouragement about her suffering & the Lord.

i *think* this is what this is 'spoze to be. (an encouragement) heh heh..

like Dory said in Finding Nemo.. *just keep swimming, just keep swimming..*

great advice from a lil' blue fishie. (i'm takin' it..)

& i'm *thankful*

UPDATE** my friend died three days after my big oops..

life is short. Jesus Christ is STILL the ONLY answer. 

another *thankful* thursday!! yay!! ^.^

TOMORROW....

dunh dunh dunhhhhh...

i get the stitches removed from my *ahem* pit of despair where my good 'ol wisdom toof used to be.

i'm thankful!

u know why?  cuz since i had the wisdom tooth extracted last week, the stitches have left me with a weird discomfort.

u know why?  cuz my CHEEK is stitched to my GUM where my TOOF used to be. (read last week's thankful thursday post for THAT story)

heh.

sweetest half grand ever spent. lol..

just kidding.  O______o

anyway, i googled it.. & apparently, this is a NORMAL fail procedure.. LOTS of people complain of it..

O_o

honestly, i don't know.. maybe it REALLY is standard procedure.  everyone has guesses of the reasons WHY their moufes iz jacked up, yet from what I can tell, no one bothered to ask their dear ol' maxillofacial surgeon. lol...  those are fancy words for *the person who jacked up my mouf*

sOoo.. u know what MY *first* question will be tomorrow to the person who jacked up MY mouf at NYU?

WHY is my cheek stuck to my tooth pit??

*somebody* better have a GOOD reason. O_o or i'll probably start crying. 

& guess what?  i'll post the response, cuz i've had a few days of terror when i look at that area in the mirror since the swelling went down.

can't wait to see if i have *permanent* cheek in my toof pit.
this is eXciTingg!!  ^.^

just kidding.. 

well, at least my mouf doesn't look like this, right?  O_o right?

honestly, i've learned a VERY valuable lesson of forgiveness thru all of this..

FORGIVE.

forgive your momma, forgive yO daddy, & forgive yO maxillofacial surgeon for jackin' up yO mouf.

it's in the Bible..

i'm thankful..  <3

photo credit here.. 

3 weeks to go..

i'm officially on week 33 of school..

can you say *exhausted*?

i'm tellin' u.. this is EXACTLY what i look like..

i honestly feel like i have nothing left to give my kids. & they're just as done as i am!

yet... everywhere i turn, every devotional, every scripture, every spiritual message points me back to the most interesting paradox of being a Christian  homeschooling mom..

i'm RIGHT where i'm supposed to be..

^.^

enjoy your profound revelations..  :)

oh, & by the way.. i JUST realized as i'm typing that this is one of those good 'ol thankful thursday posts..

*you might be asking*- sO, what are you thankful for, lil' momma? 

only three weeks to go... ;)

photo credit

THANKFUL.. thursday? NOOooo... ;)

i can't believe it! i'm actually POSTing on a THURSDAY!! Yay me!!

is that even POSSIBLE??

yes. ;)

i was *browsing* the creative genius of others when i came across sO many goodies my head was spinning..

(this is when u ask, WHY was your head spinning, Tosha?)

well.. honestly, i realized how much i was missing out on exploring my inner adventurous, creative self.

i LOVE etsy. the place is an amaZing haven of inspiration, exploration, and encouragement..

but u can't just be inspired to explore & get encouraged..

which is what happens to me a lot of times during my creative adventures.

i get my *fix* just by lookin' at what other people have done, admiring THEIR creative geniuses & then feelin' sucky for not tryin' my own hand @ fun stuff..

sO, i went to the etsy blog...

*here's where it gets interesting..*

and i found

THIS!!

such an amaZing article that inspired me to not give up!

i'm encouraged. sO, i made a lil' reminder doodle. :)

cuz u know what..? i'll only get to the WHO and where i wanna be one small step at a time.

*peace* :)

thank-full!!

as u may already realize, i failed big time with my *EVERYDAY* posts 'til thanksgiving thing.

i'm not that great at this stuff, but i enjoy it, sO.. i keep goin'!!

;-)

the truth is i have a LOT to be grateful for. and although i may not be that great at keepin' up with commitments, i know someone who is. & that's Jesus!

NOooo, i'm not trying to turn this blog into some big, huge religious zone... but i AM a Christian!

& anyone who's in love with ANYthing/one tends to talk about that thing/one who has captivated their hearts... no?

of COURSE!

sO, yea.. i talk about HIM. Jesus is His name. He taught me a valuable lesson about friendship and forgiveness this week.

(imagine that.. THANKSGIVING week..)

i have a friend whose mom just went to heaven. she shared with me the week before her mother's death that she was sick. with cancer. that stuff is evil.

we prayed. i cried at the thought. it was only about a week later if not even a week that she called me again to let me know her mom was gone.

that quick.

a good friend would make sure to reach out to one whose dearest family member has passed away, right?

you'd think so. but i was sO self-consumed to even remember what being a good friend looked like.

i'm embarrassed by this. but grateful. God taught me a LOT in that week.

how to FORGIVE myself - for failing my friend

how to BE forgiving - through my sweet friend

& what a true GOOD friendship looks like. - she exemplified that to me in her reaction.

i may not do well next week in displaying EVERY sweet quality of a good friend.. but i'm learning.

and for that, i'm grateful. :)

(photo credit)

thankful #5..

i'm definitely thankful for a few more HOURS..

i'm starting to look like this..

photo credit..

thank-FULL!! #5

i'm sOooo VERY grateful for a SAVIOR.. wait.. i meant THE SAVIOR!!

His name is Jesus CHRIST!!! are my priorities out of order?? O_o

OF COURSE NOT!!

honestly, this guy gets the glory like NO other in my life!! i'm happy to have met Him.. i'm even happier that He accepted me & calls me His own!! ^.^

how can one resist such a supernatural love!? obviously, i couldn't. it took a while for me to discontinue living for myself.. but He changed me!! & i can't deny that He gets all the credit for my new life!!

sO, yea.. this is number 5, but the truth is, i'm grateful for Him EVERYday. i hope that i'm able to display this gratitude properly on a DAILY basis.

cuz, honestly, at times.. i suck. ewww!! i mean REALLY suck.

and yet, u know what??

HE STILL LOVES me!! *... smh this love is amaZinggg!!*

what kind of MAN is this?? the disciples asked this question & it's sO appropriate.

we'll never fully understand this guy.. nor will we completely understand HIS love..

but we should be grateful for it. :)

EVERYday.

thank-FULL #4

provision..

something that we all take way too lightly at times.

i'm guilty. =_=

but, i'm realizing more and more that i AM grateful (& that i should express it WAY more often) for God providing for me & my family.

• i get to stay at home with my kids *full-time* (and i gripe about it at times... O_o)

ewwww!! i should know better!!

• i homeschool my kids. (and i have griped about that at times... O_o)

i like homeschooling now! LOL

• i'm in a happy, healthy marriage.. ^-^

which, i've heard that that ALONE is a miracle of provision!!

• i have 3 smart, healthy kids..

Yes! God's been an awesome provider.. and HE continues to be!!

i'm amaZed!

writing is sO helpful. LOL.. i'm sure i'll have to read this post for the rest of my life! ha!

sO, why are we such brats at times?? thinkin' that we deserve STUFF!?

God's faithfulness is awesome by itself. everything else is sorta bonus, ya know? :)

*sO, i'm grateful*

photo credit

thank-FULL

okay. i missed a day. it's fine.

this is MY blog. ;-)

today.. it's still Sunday to me.. (i didn't go to bed yet)

i'm thankful for SUNDAYs in Manhattan. not icecream. that would be sundae. eh heh..

i'm thankful for EVERY opportunity to worship with the body of Christ. i attend Times Square Church in Manhattan.. and i'm really grateful to God for placing me in such a fruitful place.

God's presence is uniquely awesome. and it's always refreshing to enjoy TRUE fellowship with the family of God.

visit!!

thank-full #2

i'm thankful for God's faithfulness!!

today is day 2 of my things i'm thankful for posts.

i do NOT do well if i'm overwhelmed.. at least not always.

lots of times i shut down.

a friend has "hired" me to make a party dress for her & i REALLY wanted to have it ready for her so that she could try it on tomorrow. so far, it's not even cut... and that sucks. *just a lil' bit*

it's 11:35 PM according to my clock at the moment.. and i really don't have the desire to go start cutting. *ugh*

it's all good.

sO, i'm thankful for God's faithfulness. 'cuz even we're not faithful, the Bible says that God STILL is.

TRUE STORY!!

& i'm thankful for HIS faithfulness!!

-on THAT note-

i'm gonna try my best tonight to get somewhere with this dress.. i've been challenged by the character of my Savior! if He is faithful.. & i'm supposed to be like HIM.. then i need to attempt to show a faithful character as well..

lesson learned!!

i love this life! :)

THANK-full!!

i decided JUST NOW that i HAVE to do a things i'm thankful for list!

as a matter of fact, i'm probably gunna start a THANKFUL THURSDAY!! Yay!

what a great way to be reminded that we shouldn't be selfish, self-centered bratty kids who throw tantrums over the littlest lack.

-__-

bleh.

i'll do one thankful thing a day this week.. then on Thanksgiving, i'll try to make a top ten list.

this is already fun!! ^.^

(or maybe i'm just a dork.. O_o)

eh heh.

anyway. today, i'm thankful for thrift shops.

money is tight.

i'm ok with that.

the reality is that we all need to be okay with that..

it may just get worse.

but this post is NOT about tight money.. (HA! witty, right??)

i LOVE thrift shops. i think i'd be the ONLY millionaire shopping at 'em if i WAS a millionaire.

don't get excited. i'm NOT a millionaire. *honestly*

heh heh..

anyway... in being *thank-full* for thrift shops.

i SCORED big time today!!

i'm sO happy.

u see those FLY-girl shoes?? TEN bucks! LOL..

i don't buy second hand shoes. i think that's YUK. for VERY obvious reasons. i get *squeamish* in just goin' bowling.. O_o ick.

blehk.

these are NEW shoes!!! i'm a happy girl. :)