Resolutions

Happy New Year! We're celebrating by ordering a pizza and veggin' out on the couch. Neither of us feels like getting out of the house, so we're just enjoying each and our girlies instead.

I usually make half hearten resolutions or ones that I know I'll never reach. But this year I have three resolutions, none of which are being made half heartily.

Love First
I'm not the most empathic person in the world. I can be a tad critical and cynical. I had a bit of a revelation this afternoon—maybe God has put certain people in my life in order for me to discover how short I fall when it comes to showing others His love.

Do more of what brings me joy and less of what doesn't.
I want to start making the time to do more of my own design work. Seeing and hearing how much my grandparents appreciated what I made them for Christmas, really showed me that it's something I need to do more. 

Find a hobby that Tim and I enjoy doing together.
Especially now that we live in the country, we don't have a whole lot of activities that we both enjoy equally. Tim thinks the answer is camping. I'm hoping to find something else too though, something we can do year round.

Feel free to share your resolutions in the comments or on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you guys!

Christmas Dilemmas

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. The holiday season is one of my favorite. I love deciding on the perfect gift and then going and buying it or having it delivered. 

But when raising a new family or even 5 years into marriage/parenthood, it is still a legit struggle to get everywhere. Family is usually pretty understanding but it sucks to have to be so many places at once. Getting out of the traditions we grew up with has been hard for Jess and I. Not just because our parents don't want to give those up. But we don't either. We would love to keep everything the same but it's not possible. This year for me was the hardest yet. I would've thought we had it figured out by now. But we don't, so it's back to the drawing board next year. I am so greatly for the well spent time with our family. 

In all honesty it doesn't work to have to be two places in one day. Because you always have to leave one place early to get to the next. And I don't ever want to leave either. I didn't have a Christmas this year that I was excited to leave. I guess we just have awesome family!

So anyone who is having some of the same problems. You are not alone....or am I alone!? 

Either way we always have a great time wherever we are. I love seeing all the family. And I love that all my family get to see the kids. It makes me so happy seeing them playing with cousins, uncles, and aunts they don't get to see that often. 

We spent Christmas morning home which was great. (No power other than the generator, thankful for that) The kids did so good and had so much fun opening their gifts and giving too. They each picked out stuff for Jesses stocking. I was laughing so hard at the store when they were picking the stuff out and Jess was smiling when he got it all out. 

Jesses stocking: box of fun dips, pixie stix (big ones of course), bag of ring pops, chocolate Santa, Hershey's kiss and a head massager. Direct quote from Rae, "oh um dad I was meant for them to share with us." (On the ring pops she picked out)

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Here is a little look into our Christmas fun.

Praise The Lord the power is back on now. Still not cable/internet, but I think we will manage;) but sorry if the pictures are small or wording off, I'm on my phone, cut me some slack!

Remaining Thankful

Sunday morning while we were away celebrating Christmas with Tim's family, Alexis called to report that we would be coming home to no power, a power line down in our driveway and a limb through the back windshield of Tim's car. What a way to start Christmas, uh? We resolved not to worry about it until we were home. We ended up having a wonderful time that day. We arrived back home around 9:30pm and were unable to get into our house, so we headed to my parents' to have a sleep over with Alexis and Ruthie. 

6 days later, like thousands of others, we are still don't have power and are down to one car.

I'm a complainer at heart, but doing the 30 days of thankfulness back in November has really helped me to change my mind set. While I've had my moments, overall I've remained thankful for what we do have. Which is a lot more than some.

So, in the spirit of continued thankfulness here are 26 things I'm thankful for as we're nearing the end of December.

1. My women's small group.
2. A happy, healthy and content baby girl.
3. Lemi-Shine (Silly, but true. This stuff works miracles on dishes with hard water stains).
4. Spending a weekend with Tim's family.
5. Having the means to make the two hour drive to visit his family.
6. The birth of Jesus Christ.
7. My parents' generator.
8. Parents who let us stay with them.
9. Landlords who hooked up a small generator to run the furance.
10. We were able to go to our house Christmas morning to open at least open gifts.
11. Visiting and spending time with all of our extended famlies.
12. A husband who provides for our family.
13. Being able to stay home with our girlies.
14. Our girls have gotten to meet 8 of their great grandparents.
15. A dad who still looks out for me.
16. Getting the news I could take the girls home. Even if it's to a house with no working stove or hot water heater - we're home!
17. Generous relatives who spoiled all of us.
18. The power company employees who took time away from their own families and traveled across the country to restore power to others.
19. Tim's Christmas bonus
20. Christmas music
21. We will only have to replace a window and not the car.
22. Our silly jumping bean, Stella.
23. A day of shopping earlier in the month with my mom and sisters.
24. I get to sleep in my own bed tonight.
25. The reminder to not take things for granted
26. Discovering the no 'poo lifestyle

Schrock's Rock

Hello everybody, I am so pumped to be back at it! The Schrock's have been doing fairly well. We have a lot going on that I will post at a later date. Today is for pics and general updates:)

First off we moved out of Clarksville and to Lake Odessa. Long story short put a "For Sale By Owner" sign up and sold it within a month and bought a house within the next month. We love our new house and our yard!

Jo is now in Kindergarten! I still can't handle that she goes to school 5 days a week all day. I miss her. But she is sassier than ever but still makes me laugh. Although this one is going to give me a run for my money. I spanked her the other day and she started laughing. (yes I spank once in awhile, not often) So you can see why she is a tough one. She is taking dance and loves it!

Rae is the funniest little lady. Anyone that is around her totally gets it. She has an attitude that we are working on though. Rae stays home with me everyday and usually goes with the flow. I am pretty sure though she would sit in front of the TV all day if I would let her. Actually, I know she would. I wish I could think of a funny Rae quote but I just can't right now:( Doing "Boogie, Woogie" is her favorite part of dance class.

Gat is now 2 years old and is getting more fun! I love that he is talking more and we get to see his personality. He may be a little spoiled...oops. But he's my baby! Medically speaking he is doing fairly well. More to come on that later. Physically he is walking in a walker more and is actually crawling more than rolling now. He is a miracle baby and I am reminded of that daily. He is involved in 3 therapies a week so he keeps us busy. Favorite thing to say right now, "Oh maaannn".

Jess and I will be married 6 years coming up in January! He is the best and I love him more every day (cliche I know but it's true). He makes me better and keeps me in check. Can't wait for you to get to know each of them better through 20somethinmama!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

"It is well with my soul."