Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving from the Finstad family!

I found myself looking through pictures of Thanksgiving Day 2009. It has been such an amazing year, and I cannot believe just how fast time seems to fly by. Last year at this time Makayla wasn’t even crawling yet, and now she’s constantly running around, climbing on everything, and sleeping in her new toddler bed! Wow, kids do grow and change so quickly. Now I love living in the moment, I mean that’s all you can do right. But I love reminiscing of holidays past and imagining holidays to come. Being at my parent’s house reminds me of everything good. I very much enjoy the smell of turkey, the many homemade casseroles, sweet pecan pie, and irresistible pumpkin pie. The voices, the laughter, the loudness (at times), football in the background, the crispness of the air outdoors, the Christmas tree and decorations, and the sweet embraces of loving family members. I imagine how it will be next year with two little ones to love on and dress up in cute little outfits. I imagine Makayla being a sweet big sister to her little brother, and me once again thinking about all the blessings in my life.

I am thankful for….

~ God’s love, grace, and mercy.

~ My loving husband. Tim is my best friend and treats me with love & compassion. I have to be honest and say I pray that other married couples have the same type of loving relationship that we have. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He is my better half.

~ My sweet (and sometimes sassy) daughter, Makayla Grace, who keeps me on my toes   and makes me see the wonder in things I missed before.

~ My son- Every time I feel him move around in my tummy I’m reminded of just how awesome our God is. Babies are a miracle and gift. I can’t wait to meet him!

~ My parents. They did a great job raising us kids, and taught me that family is most important. Thanks for helping Tim & I so much over the years, and being such a big part of Makayla’s life. It means the world.

~ My sisters whom I love dearly. Thanks Summer & April for always being two ladies I can count on. Sisters are the kind of friends that will always share a love tied with heartstrings.

~ My brother, Sean and his 3 children. I am thankful for all of you and wish we lived closer so we could spend more time together.

~ Thanks Granny for calling just to see how things are going.

~ Larry & Kris…for giving me a great husband. 

~ My pets. Somehow they know if I’ve had a rough day, and always try their best to make me feel better. Sometimes the kisses are a little too much, but I love them anyways!

~ Our Pastor, Sam Polson, whom God used to lead Tim & I back to church.

~ Our church family

~ and I’m thankful for so many other things I haven’t listed here….as I would be writing for days.

In the midst of the happiness, there is still a sad craziness. The craziness of Black Friday sales, the traffic, the commercialized Christmas, people asking for money here & there, the Scrooges, and the people who are so often forgotten. I pray that the goodness of the holidays will be forefront for our family and yours. I pray that we will always remember that Jesus is the reason for the season, and every blessing we’re thankful for is from our Heavenly Father.

The most beautiful gift we’ve ever received was the gift of eternal life through God’s son, Jesus Christ. 

Psalm 9

I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart;
         I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
         I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

Happy Holidays & God Bless,

Shawna

Praise & Prayer

It was about a month ago when I forced Tim to go to our pcp for his stomach problems. If you know Tim you would know that he doesn’t go to the doctor and I had to beg him to go. I just had that ‘wife’s intuition’ and it was eating me up. He said he would go only because I didn’t need to be stressed out, being pregnant and all. Our pcp referred him to a gastroenterologist and he ended up getting a colonoscopy. After the procedure, the doctor told us that the visit that day saved his life, and if he hadn’t of had it done soon he would be dying of colon cancer. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I was so very thankful in a million different ways for God taking care of this problem. Tim ended up having a very large polyp removed that ended up being precancerous. It is actually very rare for someone Tim’s age (just 27) to have polyps at all. He will need to be re-screened once a year to check for growths. My praise is that the polyp was removed before it became cancer! I know that God was completely in control each step of the way. My prayer (and prayer request) is that everything will look good when he goes back for a follow-up sigmoidoscopy this Friday, Nov. 19^th. My husband is the most amazing man and would never want to burden anyone else with his problems; that is why he didn’t even want me to share this initially. However, we also know that prayer is so incredibly powerful, and we should lift up prayers together & for each other.  Please pray for Tim this week, specifically Friday, that he would find comfort in knowing God is always in control.

Philippians 4:6 ^“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God…”

Sincerely,

Shawna

Our 1st Family Trip to Florida

1st family picture on the beach!

I felt like it was so important that we get away for a few days as a family and visit some family down in Florida. We were actually supposed to go during the summer but didn’t get to. I am happy to report that the ocean water in Destin is absolutely beautiful. We were able to spend about 2 hours at the beach each day. Although we were only there 2 days it was awesome. October is the perfect time to visit the area. One thing that really stood out were the swarms of monarch butterflies in the area. I have never before seen that many butterflies together; it was an awesome sight to see.

It was so amazing to watch Makayla play in the water and sand for the first time. I knew she would either love it or hate it, and luckily she loved it. I am a Florida born girl who loves the beach so I was hoping she would too. We got to spend some time with Granny, Aunt Joy, Aunt Jan, and Christopher on one day. I really wish we were able to spend more time with them; I just love the moments we have together and thank God for family. Our former Sunday school teachers, Bruce & Sherry Shields happen to be in Destin as well and graciously took us out to eat. I ate a huge (I mean huge) plate of delicious seafood. Oh just writing about it makes me crave more. There is just something absolutely fantastic about eating fresh seafood on the beach and watching the sunset. Amazing! We also got to visit with my brother and his girls for a little bit. I can’t believe how big Kaitlyn and Skylar are getting. It seems like just yesterday that they were here spending the summer with us, but that was actually several years ago.

The trip to Florida makes me excited to go back again, and next time we will go as a family of four which is an exciting thought.

A Night at the Hospital

As we sit here in bumper to bumper traffic right outside of Chattanooga I can’t help but think of the crazy events of this past week. Tuesday started out as a normal day, but ended with me in an ambulance headed to the hospital. It was around 6:30 when I started feeling really weird; sort of spaced out. This feeling quickly led to me feeling disoriented, unable to feel my right arm or the right side of my face, blurred vision, seeing zigzags, and unable to answer questions. It was a very scary experience. Needless to say Tim called my doctor, who then told us to call for an ambulance. Once at the hospital and after getting about 30 minutes of oxygen I started feeling better. I had to see a neurologist, get an MRI, and take a stroll over to my high risk OB to check on our little guy. So here’s the deal, I had an atypical migraine (aka: silent migraine).The type of migraine presents itself like a stroke, but is not a stroke. It was more than likely triggered by stress. The good news is that me and our little guy are okay and that’s all that matters. I was finally discharged Wednesday evening with the doctors ‘okay’ that we could still go on our trip to Florida. I just pray that the last 12 weeks of this pregnancy go smoothly. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful family and friends that are praying for us! God has truly blessed us. It feels like a lot has been going on lately and the Lord has been so lovingly carrying us through.

Makayla’s 15th Month Checkup

Makayla’s 15^th month checkup went very well. Nana got to take her to the appointment since Tim and I had to work. Nana said she was never doing that again! Apparently MG screamed and screamed from the shots she received. My mom (Nana) just couldn’t stand seeing little Makayla cry like that….I bet she cried too. Other than the crying, the appointment went really well.

Weight: 25 pounds 12 ounces (75 percentile)

Height:  32 inches (90 percentile...she is tall for her age)

Favorite Foods: Gerber pick-ups, peaches, and cheese

Teeth: She has 9 teeth and 2 more molars coming in right now.

New words: JazzyRose, coco, beach, cat, Lexi, baby (She mimics words all the time)

Favorite TV show: She’s on strike! Haha. She hasn’t shown much interest in television lately which is fine with us.

Other New Stuff:

~ MG is learning colors right now at Nana’s house. She has worked on yellow, blue, red, orange, and brown.

~ She absolutely loves painting, coloring, and sticker art.

~ She climbs on everything.

~ She can throw a fit when she really wants something.

~ She knows that baby brother is in Mommy’s tummy.

~ She makes gestures with her hands all the time. She will hold out her hands when she wants a hug.

~ Uses a fork to eat (She has gotten really good too)

~ She is even more affectionate now; gives tons of hugs and kisses. MG is just such a sweetheart and we love her so much.

Grandparents Day & Our Little Guy

Grandparents Day Fun!

Happy Grandparents Day Nana & Granddad!

 Makayla had fun today hanging out with Nana and Granddad! They came over to eat lunch and play with MG for Grandparents Day. One day Makayla will realize how blessed she is to have grandparents that love her so much and want to spend so much time with her. It makes my heart very happy! Here are some pictures from the day.

Granddad sneaking MG some icecream....caught on camera!

MG telling Nana that she know the word cat!

Never a dull moment!

Our Little Guy...our precious blessing!

Now for an update on our precious baby boy! I have a single umbilical artery with this pregnancy so our baby boy will be monitored more closely to make sure he is growing well. All other worries were removed last week when we got the news that everything else looks great! Praise God for that! We surely do serve a God who is much bigger than our biggest burden and I know God would have been our comfort and strength had the news been different. As of my 20 week sonogram he was measuring 2 days ahead and 12 ounces; the size of a can of coke! We are still trying to decide on a name for this little guy. Boy, are boy names hard to choose…lol. Hopefully we will decide soon…but…we want to keep the name a surprise. Don’t you just love the suspense?

Here are some pictures of our little guy. Yes, I know he is so darn adorable!

Amazing!

Taken at 21 weeks...he is so cute!

 And here are some picture of me....my how I've grown!

Come on Fall

Well, the weather is finally cooling off a bit. It is supposed to be in the 80’s all week long! I am looking forward to more days at the zoo and fun at the park with Tim and Makayla. I love the fall weather and can't wait for it to get here. Tim has been putting some new flooring in at home this past week. It has been very hectic and extremely messy to say the least, but he has done a wonderful job so far. I can’t wait until the job gets finished! I will have to post some before and after pictures when everything is finished.

God Bless,
Shawna

Back to Work

Well I’ve been back to work for three weeks now, and I think I’m getting a little use to getting up so early in the morning. I definitely miss spending the entire day with Makayla. She has grown so much over the summer, and I am so proud of all the things she is learning. She just learned to say “juice” and is trying to say “baby” too. I am so thankful to God for blessing me with such an awesome daughter. I love every part of being a wife and a mom and wish I could be a sahm all year long. Luckily, I am teacher so I get to look forward to being a sahm every summer; now that is a true blessing!

I will be honest and say there have been a few times when I wondered if what I do every day as a teacher truly makes a difference. Sometimes I feel like my daily tasks at work are so monotonous.  I certainly know other people may feel the same way. My days and weeks feel so busy since I’ve been back to work. I just really want to make sure I am giving the same energy to my family as I’m giving to my students. I work my butt off trying to be a good teacher, a good role model, and a good employee. And I strive so much to be a good wife, mom, daughter, sister, and friend. How can I do all of this? Only with God’s help of course! I find myself thinking of Mary, mother of Jesus. Can you imagine what Mary must have gone through? She was about to get married to Joseph and an angel appears to her and tells her she will be with child and will give birth to a son. She must have felt such a huge responsibility. She must have wondered if she was doing things good enough, and if she could be the person God wanted her to be. But Mary trusted God through it all, and her story teaches us that in order to be willing to accept God's plan for our lives, we must know Him, believe in Him, seek Him and trust in Him. It’s a journey of being obedient to God through everything, including the small things.

God is always so faithful, and knows exactly what our needs are. Early last week we had Parent Orientation at school. Once it was over a mom of one of my former students came up to me. She reminded me of how irritated she felt when her son got me as a teacher 3 years ago. She said she just knew the entire year could be thrown in the trash since I was a “new teacher”. She really didn’t have to remind me of this however, because I remember the night clearly. I was a brand new teacher at my school, completely blinded by excitement that I failed to prepare myself for parents that didn’t want their child to have a “new teacher”. Anyhow, last week she told me something that I really needed to hear at that time. She said, “We really thought that year was going to be awful, but it turned out to be the best year, and Johnny (made-up name) still misses you. He has that country project ya’ll did still sitting in the garage and won’t get rid of it! We really hoped our daughter would get you as a teacher this year.” Wow! Now that made me feel like maybe I made a difference in someone’s life. I hope and pray that God allows me to do that as often as possible.

So no matter what I am feeling inside or what I'm going though, I know there is a Maker, my Maker, who is greater than anything! And you know what? In all the busyness of life God never leaves me or forsakes me; He is for me.

“So faithful
So constant
So loving and so true
So powerful in all you do
You fill me
You see me
You know my every move
You love for me to sing to you

I know that you are for me
I know that you are for me
I know that you will never forsake me in my weakness
I know that you have come down
Even if to write upon my heart
To remind me who you are”

God Bless,

Shawna

 

Digital Scrapbooking

I have enjoyed traditional scrapbooking for several years now, and have almost finished Makayla’s first year scrapbook. It is going to be such a great little memory book for her to look back at one day. She will always know how much we love I her! I have been trying to get a picture of MG praying. Every night at dinner we put our hands together and say a prayer. She caught on really quickly and puts her hands together and squints her eyes. She only does it for about 3 seconds, but that is pretty awesome for a 13 month old. Anyhow, I would love to put a picture of that in her scrapbook; it is so precious!

So this summer I started learning a little more about digital scrapbooking. I have dabbled in it before while creating websites and such, but never had the time to learn more. This summer I learned a little about it and started doing some pages. There is still so much to learn, but I don’t have the time. I hope to put these pages into the Shutterfly albums I make at the end of the year. Here are the ones I did for the ‘back to school/work’ slideshow that will be shown next week at a staff meeting.

August Already

I can’t believe my summer vacation is coming to an end. It feels like it’s only been a few weeks, but in reality it’s been a few months. Makayla and I have had a wonderful time spending our entire days together. It has really been the perfect time. She has grown so much over the last year, and I’m so glad that as a working mom I was able to see those 1st big milestones with my own eyes. In fact, she started crawling and took her first steps on weekends when Tim and I were both home. We couldn’t have asked for anything better!!! Now that she has been walking for 2 months she has become a little pro and looks absolutely adorable! So I thought I would give a few update on Miss Makayla…

New word she learned: waffle (it sounds like bopple, and it is sooo cute!)
Favorite place to eat: Cracker Barrel
Clothes: Wears 12 mo (has for several months now) She can wear some 18 month clothes.
Teeth: 2 up top, 3 on bottom…plus 1 more coming in on the bottom and 2 more coming in on the top! She has done very well with teething. Yay!
Favorite TV Shows: Super Readers, Dinosaur Train, and Sesame Street (I definitely limit the time and days I have the tv on cartoons because I don’t want MG to ever be a television junky! The shows are good though.)

And not that anyone else cares what kind of schedule MG is on, but I wanted to put this on my blog so I can look back at it one day. Everyone knows that I am “Miss Sentimental”!

Schedule (which is about to change next week when I go back to work)
8:30            Wake up, get ready for the day (We love sleeping in!)
9:00            Typical Breakfast: waffle, milk, fruit
9:30- 11:00 Play time with Mommy, go strolling, watch Elmo’s World
11:00          Typical Lunch: meat, vegetable, fruit, milk or juice
12:00-2:30  Nap
2:30            Wake up, snuggle time, read a book
3:00            Snack Time: cheese, fruit, yogurt, or whatever I find
3:15-6:00    Playtime, and anything else we plan for the afternoon
6:00            Typical Dinner: meat, vegetable, fruit, milk or juice (basically whatever mommy & daddy eat for dinner.) Sometimes she doesn't get a meat and eats cheese pizza or cheese bread.
6:30            Playtime
7:00            Bath time, get ready for bed
7:30            Milk bottle (This is the only bottle she really gets now. Hopefully no more bottles soon!)  Playtime, family stroll, read a book, play with Jazz & Rose, then settle down.
9:00            Bedtime

MG started going to the church nursery almost 2 months ago, and needless to say it’s not going so well. As soon as we get into the hallway where her room is she starts crying. I hope it gets better very quickly! She has really become attached to her mommy and daddy. She is a lot like me when I was little; sensitive and very sweet. I am just happy that she loves her Nana and Grandad because I can leave her with them and she is perfectly content. Last weekend she went over there to play with Amelia and Anna Catherine. It was a hoot! Makayla acted like a little hotshot; running around, grinning, not wanting to leave, and basically thinking she was as old as the other girls. It was so cute and funny to watch. Here are a few pictures.

And now…here are some updates on our bun in the oven. I had my 16 week appointment last Tuesday and everything is going well. The baby’s heartbeat was 158! I think I felt the baby move once at 12 weeks and once at 14 weeks. Over the past week I have been able to feel the little one move more, especially at night when I’m lying in bed. It is so neat, and I know I will get to feel the movement more and better in the next few weeks. We will find out if our baby is a boy or girl at the end of this month!

Have a Blessed Week,
Shawna

Married for 4 Awesome Years!

Today and forever you are my dear husband, my best friend, the one God made for me, and my one and only love. I love you Tim!

Four years ago today I married the man of my dreams. I searched and searched for the perfect anniversary card, but year after year I can never find the perfect one. Of course I ended up buying one, but it just doesn’t say everything I feel in my heart. I started this blog as a way to preserve memories and precious thoughts. I will eventually print all the entries and make them into a little book my family can look back at. So while I’m not going to include the letter I wrote for Tim, I am going to include the words to a song that really became ‘our song’.

When God Made You

Its always been a mystery to me,

How two hearts can come together,

And love can last forever.

But now that I have found you I believe,

That a miracle has come when God sends the perfect one.

So gone are all my questions about why,

And I've never been so sure of anything in my life 

Oh I wonder what God was thinking,when he created you.

I wonder if He knew everything I would need,

Because he made all my dreams come true.

When God made you, He must have been thinking about me.

Ooo ooo,I promise that wherever you may go, wherever life may lead you,

With all my heart I'll be there too.

And from this moment on I want you to know,

I'll let nothing come between us, and I will love the ones you love.

So gone are all my questions about why…about why

Oh I wonder what God was thinking when he created you,

I wonder if He knew everything I would need,

Because He made all my dreams come true.

When God made you He must've been thinking about me.

He made the sun He made the moon,

To harmonize a perfect tune,

One can't do without the other they just have to be together.

And that is how I know its true,

Your for me and I'm for you and my world

Just cant be right without you in my life 

He must have heard every prayer I've been praying

I've been praying He must've knew everything I would need

When God made you, He must've been thinking about me.