Beautifully Poor

Let's Ring in 2015 with a BANG! As I look back on this year, I can see so many changes in my life, FOR THE BETTER! We moved to Minnesota from Michigan for starters. I went from working two part-time jobs to being a stay at home mom, which I absolutely love and consider myself very blessed for this opportunity. My little boy has started talking up a storm (FINALLY). In fact this morning I ate a piece of toast he didn't want and he got sad at me, no idea why. When he left the room, he looked back and told me, "Don't touch my juice box!" LOL like I would! But too funny anyways.  The bond between daddy and son has grown immensely strong. Don't worry, he doesn't have a real razor in the picture haha! I've made some amazing friends and my new life here in Maplewood has been extremely blessed. I thank God every day for what I have and can only imagine the plans he has in store for our family in 2015.  So as we count down the hours, minutes and seconds to 2

Finding the Beauty in my Child There he is. As beautiful as a kid can get. Handsome, tall, with good looks. Yet there is something beneath that exterior that many don't know. A little person bursting with self worth, entitlement and someone who knows what he wants. My little super hero as I call him. I cannot imagine my life without this little person I call Benjamin. Yet until recently, I felt like the biggest failure as a mother to him. Captain America/Ninja Turtle You see, Benjamin didn't talk for the longest time. When he was about 2 years old I called Early On back in Michigan where we came from. I stated my concern that he didn't really talk as well as the kids his age, and he had major outbursts of anger, like I am talking out of control, breaking stuff anger. I didn't know how to control my child or how to parent him and I was scared something was wrong. They hooked us up with speech therapy and sessions with teachers to work with him on behavior. Hah

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year! And it most certainly is! Christmas is one of my favorite times and now that my son is 4, it is even more exciting! He has been talking about it since July! Christmas morning is going to be so fun watching him open his gifts and just to spend time with my family.  We don't go to crazy though when it comes to Christmas. My son gets maybe 5 presents under the tree from mom and dad, and only one of them is bigger. This year we got him the Bat Bot from Imaginext because he has been wanting it forever! The rest are smaller gifts like a book and a board game. Christmas can be expensive so I was lucky enough to buy all of my husband's gifts and all but the Bat Bot and a smaller gift for my son with gift cards I had won from Twitter parties. I was very blessed this season to be able to do that! Otherwise our Christmas would be a lot smaller than it is.  Christmas isn't about presents anyways though, so in that factor, I

Forgiveness As this Holiday season is coming to its peak, we tend to forget what Christmas is really about. It's not about getting presents or shopping for the greatest deal or winning that prize we keep entering for! Family is the most important thing this season, and I will say that is my opinion. Yes we remember the birth of our Savior, if in fact you believe in God. If not it isn't about that either. So many times we forget about those people that should mean most to us. Showing kindness to strangers can be so easy, because they don't really know who we are and will think we are just the nicest person ever because they were hungry on the street and we fed them a meal or put a toy in the toy box at Walmart for Toys for Tots. What about the people in our homes and our immediate families? The parent not spoken to for years because of a fight, some sort of resentment, or even because they were abusive in some way. That sibling that has done so many horrible thing