When Overwhelmed

We all have them.  Everyone has a day (or week) where it seems trouble is around every corner.  We become overtaken with the "what ifs?" and the "why Lord?" questions.  We become overwhelmed. 

We find in Scripture that the Psalmist was often overwhelmed.  Trouble was on everyside and in his despair he cried out to God, "Why?"  In Psalm 77 he says, "I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed." and then he asks, "Has God forgotten to be gracious?"  In verse 10 he says, "This is my infirmity." When we are overwhelmed and start to question it truly can be like a sickness and a weakness if we stay in this state. When we put our focus on the difficulties around us and forget the goodness of the Lord we become weak, nonproductive, and sorrowful.  It is like a sickness.

 Ever been there?  We all have.  But, I am so thankful that the Lord gives us the solution to our days of despair.  Like a recipe, He tells us the steps to take to have victory over days of despair.

1. Choose to remember.  (I will remember vs 10 and 11) We easily and often forget, don't we?  We forget the big blessings, the little blessings, and all the blessings in between.  If you think about the men God chose to write down God's Word and the troubles they faced, and think about how they still rejoiced and gave thanks to Him, then you realize that we really don't have much to complain about.  Our troubles often aren't even close to what they faced.  But, the problem is that we don't remember the blessings in our life.  It has to be a conscious decision to remember.  

How do we do this? 

    ***Highlight answered prayers in your prayer journal.  Then, when these times come, go back and read them and thank the Lord. 

    ***Do you have a friend that just always seems upbeat?  Call them!  Don't tell them all your problems, just ask them to tell you something God has done for them lately.  

    ***Go for a walk.  There is just something about looking up at the sky, seeing the pretty trees and hearing the birds that makes you thankful.  

Choose to remember how good God has been!

2. Choose to meditate.  (I will meditate also of all thy work. vs. 12) Now that you've chosen to remember how good God has been, think about it througout the day.  When those thoughts of despair come, push them out of the way with all the good things of the Lord.  Put reminders of God's goodness in places where you will see them (bathroom mirror, by the kitchen sink, at your desk.) 

3. Choose to talk about Him. (I will...talk of thy doings. vs 12)  It's so easy for negative to roll off our tongue, isn't it?  But, when we choose to talk about how good God has been, it not only benefits the person you are talking to, but it helps you as well!  We talk about what we love, don't we?  So, let's on purpose talk about how good our Saviour has been to us.

I'm so thankful the Lord knows we will have days where we are overwhelmed.  But, He doesn't leave us there.  He gives us all we need to succeed in this life.  It really is a wonderful life to live for Christ!
 

Daddy daughter love

My husband is cherishing these days of being the man in the lives of our daughters.  He knows that those days will quickly pass.   When he walks in the door with flowers for them, their faces light up.  I just love it.  I love this special relationship they have with him!

 

"I love you" Banquet 2021

It was that time of year again.  Time for our family to have our annual "I love you" Banquet.  We all love this time!!

About a month beforehand we draw names and try our best to keep it a secret.  Then, each person must make something for the person they have drawn.  No money is to be spent (except on an ingredient or two.)  The point is to create something with that person specifically in mind.  

We always start off the night with a yummy, pretty meal.  We all dress up and put on music and light candles.  So fancy and so fun!

This year we decided to have steak kabobs, shrimp cocktail, smashed potatoes and roasted brussell sprouts. 

Then, it was time to exchange gifts.  We were going to do oldest to youngest, but decided to let Liberty go first.  She was about to burst wanting to give her gift.  She was so excited about what she made!  Liberty had Silas and she drew him a picture and created him an under the sea pudding.  It was topped with Silas's favorite candy, Sour Octopus Gummies.  He loved it!!

Patrick had Tabitha's name.  He gave her a letter that made ALL of us cry.  He wrote about how proud he is of her and how special she is to each of us.  Having a daughter in law really is amazing!

He also made her some avocado inspired clay earrings.  They turned out soooo adorable and I can't believe I didn't get a picture of them! (Maybe I'll have a taco night and ask Tabitha to wear them!)

I had Callie's name and I also made her some clay earrings that are in the shape of a heart.  I also gave her an invitation to a tea party picnic, just her and I.

Josh had Micah's name and made him a really neat car book.  He found out the favorite cars of my Dad, Patrick and Todd and put them in there with lots of interesting facts.  He also printed out step by step instructions on how to draw the cars.  Micah loves it!!

Beth created a gorgeous necklace for Beth.  She used a new twisting wire technique and strung each bead.  It's beautiful!

Tabitha had Liberty's name and made a book  to learn shapes, letters, colors and all sort of things.  She put it in plastic pages so that Liberty can practice, then wipe it off and try again.  So creative!

Then we noticed Freedom feeling a little left out.  She didn't exchange names because she's still little.  So we hurried and put some chocolate in a bag for her.  She was thrilled!

Brenna created "Big J Chocolates."  She melted chocolate and made some neat flavored candy bars.  One had pretzels, peanuts, caramel and peanut butter.  So good!  She made another with his favorite flavor of jolly ranchers crushed up.  And another with nerds.  I am loving the candy with chocolate flavors lately!

Silas had my name and carved a bear for me.  He is getting so good at his carvings!  I love it!  He even used a wood burner to put the date on the bottom.  That makes a mother's heart happy. :o)

Callie sewed Beth a draw string bag and embroidered pretty x's on it.  How crafty!

Micah made Patrick some bacon salt that can be used to season popcorn, pasta, or anything.  He also made him an apron (that way he won't have to use mine when cutting up a turkey!)  Micah wanted it to say, "My Dad is the spatula in the west."

 What a great evening together.  Sure do love this family of mine!!

A litte superbowl fun

Well, our Eagles didn't make it to the Superbowl.  Or the playoffs.  Hey, they didn't do well at all this year!  But, we still wanted to have some Superbowl fun!  I think for me and my girls it's sometimes just about the food. ;o)  So, we decided to invite a few friends over after church, catch the 2nd half of the game and make a Chip Stadium!  So yum!

Plus there were pizza rolls and jalepeno poppers and lots of brownies!  Not necessarily a feel good meal, but we had fun!

And when you have your friends over, and they love your goats, too.....you bring them in for some cuddles.   Not an Eagles year, but it was still a fun season!
 

Motivating my homeschoolers

I'm always on the lookout for ways to motivate my kiddos in their schoolwork.  We decided to revisit an idea we had with our older 3.  It's called "30 Stars."  Basically, each time someone earns an A on a quiz or a test, we put up a star on a chart.  They all work together and when we reach 30 stars there is a prize.  This time they had 3 prizes to choose from.  They could pick the letter D, the letter F, or the letter I, but they had no idea what each letter stood for.  How fun!

Callie received the most stars on the chart, so it was her turn to choose.  She chose F.  So, here's what we did!  We had fish sticks and fries for dinner.  Then, we went and had ice cream at the Florida Creamery.  So yum!  We finished off the night by playing Foodles.

This is a crazy fun game.  You have a minute to draw what the card says.  When it was my turn to vote for the best, it was hard!  But, we sure had fun and laughed a lot.  So proud of my kiddos!

 

Hide and Seek

We love it when Liberty and Freedom get to come over and play!  They are learning so many fun things.  Usually Liberty wants to play "house."  You can find her and Callie playing with babies or having tea parties.  Sometimes it's "Follow the leader."  And then they always love "Hide and Seek."

Freedom is learning how to play.  She loves when everyone runs and giggles and tries to find one another.  She's trying to understand.  She knows she must hide, but isn't always sure where.  I loved her hiding spot she found the other day behind the piano bench. She doesn't quite realize you shouldn't be seen when hiding.  Oh well, she had fun anyway!  I wonder if anyone found her? :o)

 

New Wheels

I mentioned in my last post that Patrick had a trip to make down south and since we were that way we would see my parents.  Yipee!  Well, his reason to go down south is because he found a car for us!  Yay!

It's so amazing how God provides.  I thought I would let his words speak for this post.  This is what he put on facebook:

Words cannot explain the feeling of love that we experience from the people who make up Victory Springs Ind. Baptist Church.

It first began with the men talking about taking care of a need for a vehicle for their pastor. (We spent over $4,600 in repairs last year on our old 2002 Expedition and it still has so many issues.) The men brought a motion to the entire church to purchase a vehicle for their pastor with a portion of our regular operating fund on hand. Yesterday, the most amazing vehicle came to roost at the Gimenez home!

It's a 2013 (11 years newer than our old one) and only has 76,500 miles (190,000 miles less than our old one!) It has so many upgrades and we feel so spoiled...It was used by a large heavy-equipment company as their "taxi" truck to shuttle clients from the airport to the company. It's really like new! Thank you VSIBC!

God's provision is truly amazing.  So thankful!

 In the meantime we are enjoying a fun sunroof, lots of bells and whistles and buttons....as Micah put it, "I feel so rich!  Not only do we have a washer that sings, we have a fancy car!"  

Quick Trip South

2020. Crazy year, right?  Well, lots happened with our family, just like everyone else out there.  My Dad fell the day before Thanksgiving and broke his hip.  Thanksgiving day he had emergency surgery.  Then, there was a hospital stay, then rehab, then throw in all the other 2020 craziness....needless to say, it wasn't possible for my parents to come for their New Years trip this year.  We normally celebrate Christmas with them.  We had been trying to figure out if they would be able to come later, but it just wasn't working out.  When Patrick realized he needed to be in North Port (about an hour from my parents) we decided to go with our three youngest and spend an evening and morning with my parents.  It was super (too) quick, but well worth it to hug them, laugh with them and spend some time together.  A special bonus was that my Mam-maw was there visiting as well.  Yay!!

We enjoyed sitting around talking, and then a yummy BBQ dinner. After that my parents went into their bedroom and came out in their Christmas clothes.  Then they turned on Christmas music.  It was so sweet.  I sure do love them and all the special things they do.  They are awesome parents.  I really do have the best!

So happy to see Mam-maw too!!

But, why oh why, did they get Silas another joke book???

They are such good gift givers.  What a blessing they are!

Micah bought my Mom a set of jacks.  I had been telling him how good she was at it.  So she opened them up and started playing.  Some things never change.  She's still so good at it!

Then, all too quick it was time to say goodbye.  I told Dad that this summer I am coming for a week! Ready or not!! :o)  So glad that my Dad and my Mom are doing so good and things are much better.  Dad still has physical therapy, which is quite painful, but he is doing great.  So thankful!

As usual, they stood outside to wave goodbye.  The comforts of home....I want to never take them for granted.  Love you Mom, Dad and Mam-maw!!