Prayer Request and Running Update

First off, I need to ask everyone for their prayers. Karlton's business is basically at a stall, his company has been taking a really hard hit from the economy for a while now. All the builders that he worked for are either jobless or have shut their companies down. Right now he is trying to just get enough work just to pay us. But that is not helping all the credit card companies and people he owes from his business. Please add us to your daily prayer list or any prayer chains that the Lord will send Karlton work that will help him to keep money coming in for us and to pay all his debts for his business.



Karlton is an (electrician) Electrical Contractor in the Charlotte area (NC & SC), he has an unlimited license that allows him to do any size of a job weather it is putting recess cans in for an individual or wiring an apartment building, or a department store. So if you have electrical work that you need done or you know of any Building Contractors that need help please keep Karlton in mind.



We are trying to sale an old work vehicle and trying to get rid of unneeded things to try to stay a float. These times are really scary right now and with me not being able to help out financially it makes me feel helpless (useless), being a stay at home mom to 5 kids. At the worst time possible our lawn mower died, our microwave stopped working and I desperately need a new dryer!


I know we are not alone and their are people even allot worse off then we are! If you have any prayer request add them to my comments and I will certainly add them to my daily prayer list too! I don't know if you are like me but I feel so much better when I know that people are praying for me / our family!

Philippians 4 : 6
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything , by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I also wanted to keep you posted on my running.... I just completed my 2nd week. I have added another .2 of a mile a day so this week I ran a little more then 4 miles. I am enjoying it so much!!! Even with the minor aches and pains. LOL.... I feel so free when I am running! Plus it makes for a great nights sleep! I am still lifting weights everyday too. I am seeing allot of changes going on with my body.... some good.... some not! I have only lost 1 lb though. MAN it is hard to loose weight! I keep hearing I am adding muscle ,but I would rather just lose the weight! HA! I can't wait until I can run a mile a day, that will be a huge accomplishment for me! Hope I am not boring you with posting about my running / exercising.

Saving $$ W/ Coupons

Well I have officially joined the couponing craze! I have always used coupons but I never got the really good deals like freebies or next to free. My friend Heather got me jazzed about this with her posts on her blog with all the good deals that she was getting. So I went to a few of her favorite coupon sites and got the bug. Here is one that I used http://www.southernsavers.com/ to learn how to get all the good buys and print out all the coupons , that gives you all the heads up.

I gave it a try this morning and went to Target and Walgreen's to see what I could get and here is what I came back with (see picture above). After 14 coupons, my grand total was $4.03. I saved $15.77. The Axe Shower Gel , the Bliss Candy Bar, and the Reece's were all FREE. The only thing I bought at Walgreen's was the buy one get one free, candy bars. The rest of the things all came from Target. Here's what I paid for each item.

2 Mayo- 0.49 each

2 Ranch Salad Dressing - 0.49

Baby Wash- 0.57

100 Calorie snack packs -0.04

Ritz Crackers -0.99

Snack Size Pringles- 0.19

Not to bad for my first try. Thanks Heather for posting to get me started on saving (more) money! Do you get all these great deals with using coupons. If so Please leave me a message of any other ideas or great deals you have gotten lately. We can use all the help we can get right now with the economy the way it is especially with 5 kids!

A NC / SC Adoption Get Together

I don't know how many of you all read my blog that live in NC or SC , but if you are interested in having a play day for our adopted kids please let me know. The first one I did we met at the Latino themed mall that is next to Carowinds and had a great time. They have an excellent huge play ground for the kids. The 2nd one was at the Columbia Zoo. We had great turn outs at both.



Teresa, Sophia, I really hope you can come! We miss seeing you all and the kids are ready to play again! I was thinking of doing the Latino themed mall again. My big kids really enjoyed that
place. I am open for suggestions!! Please let me know if you have an ideas or you would like to come and join us! You can e-mail me at karlton5@juno.com or leave a comment here.

Also. let me know what date will work for you in June.

Guilty As Charged!

Jordan Craig Shrum , in 9 short days will be making his mother Mary Ann Shrum age 32, the mother of a teenager. He will be starting the 8th grade this coming August ......

where his brother Josiah Shrum age 11, will be joining him at his Middle School, Yes, this is right this poor mother will have 2 in Middle School this year ..... (People he is not as innocent as his looks here in this picture)

and his sister Sara Ava Shrum age 5, will be starting Kindergarden.

How can these children do this to their poor momma , it seems so unfair! Why is life so cruel!?!?

Update On Running..........

I just wanted to give you all a quick update..... I just finished my first week of running. I have ran 5 days since last Tuesday. I am only running 3/4 of a mile a day so that brings my total to 3.75 miles. I have no idea if this is good or not , but to me it is great! I am proud that I am sticking with it and I am really enjoying it. My breathing is getting a lot better , the pain in my side while running is lessening, and today I only had to walk 2 short times for a quick breath. I know I am getting faster too because I started out by listening to almost 3 songs on my ipod my first run and today my 2nd song was just ending as I ran into the yard! This week I will begin to run and walk 1.5 miles. But I am going to half it up, and then keep building on it.

So anyway... I hope that I am encouraging someone! Just take it from a non- runner.... I never ran in my 32 yrs of life!I never liked it before, because of all the ailments. But I am sticking with it and enjoying it! Any of you that live near me who wants to come and join me... Please Do!!!! I am not naming any names....TRACEY !!!! LOL!!! But seriously if you want to come and join me come on. I am just beginning so you don't have much to catch up with. I promise I am very slow!!!

How I Spent My Mothers Day!

I sort of had more of a Mothers Day weekend. Friday Karlton and I took Lilee to see Ghosts of Girls Friends Past. ( We didn't have a babysitter so we took her with us, since she does sooo good in a movie.) I recommend going to see it! It is really cute and funny! Then Sat. we all went Shopping for the day (mainly for Jordan's B/D coming up) and then we went to eat at my FAVORITE Place to eat! Romano's Macaroni Grill... I had the Mushroom Ravioli and it was delicious, and of course their scrumptious chocolate cake! All I can say is Yummmmy! Yesterday I was taken to lunch and then basically came home and chilled! I worked in my garden a little bit with my flowers. Look at (the picture above) the Peonies I picked out of my garden yesterday. This is only 4 flowers, and they are huge! They have opened up even more since I cute them and put them in a vase. Then I came in and took a nap.... which was really nice!





Joel came home Friday with a flower pen that he made me! It is sooo beautiful!! Aren't gifts that your children make the very best gifts!!!! Then Sat. morning he had my breakfast waiting for me that he had fixed with a little note. Sunday I woke up to a card that Joel had made me with cards from the other kids and Karlton. Karlton and the boys are building me a Arbor to grow roses on as my gift. I will be sharing photo's of it as soon as it is done.





So that was basically how I spent my Mothers Day. Now you can share yours too, by leaving a comment! I read all the great comments that were left already! Kristy I am sorry you are sick! That is no fun! But to the other commentors, sounds like you all had a wonderful Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

We would like to wish all of our blog readers a very happy Mothers Day! Especially our moms! Hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing, special Mothers Day!

How will or have you spent your Mothers Day this year??Please leave a comment and share what you did or how your Mothers Day was Special. I will be adding more tomorrow how mine was spent!

Getting Back In Shape........

Pre -Adoptions ( a little more then 4 yrs ago) I weighed in at 118. Then the grueling wait for Sara Ava to come home began ......18 months later after we started our adoption I had gained 5 lbs. It was months and months later ( almost 13 to be exact) until Lilee came home I had gained another 6.It wasn't like I could nurse and all my weight would magically go away, like it had with the boys.So I knew I better do something! After I laid off the bags of chocolate (my stress reliever) and started to eat better again I lost 2 of it pretty easy. But after Lilee was home a year and I still had only lost the 2 lbs.

I took my hubby's advice and started lifting (light) weights. After a few months my weight had not changed but I noticed that all my clothes were fitting me really good and my stomach started flattening out. Then after the New Year I upped my weights a couple of lbs. and started doing lunges and squats for my legs and dropped 4 lbs. I have always done some sort of exercise weather it has been Yoga, Palate's, or exercises on my exercise ball, but I never would stick to anything that long. I can see the most body changes with lifting weights, not only the muscles that I have never had but the toning and the inches that it has taken off by flabby legs and booty.

Then ............. we went on a cruise that had FOOD, FOOD, every where and delicious desserts!!!! MMMMM! Lets just say I came back with a few lbs. Anyway..... I got right back to my lifting and lost 2 lbs . Now I have decided it was time to kick it in gear to loose the last 3 lbs. I want to loose,so I started running this week! I am not a runner and I have never ran in my whole life so this is huge for me!!! My goal was to start out by running a 1/2 a mile Tuesday,so that I could build up to a mile, and then eventually 2. I ran 3/4 of a mile my first day! I was a little shocked.... but it did not go with out pains. I soooo could not breath for a while afterwards and I thought I was going to pass out from my head being so dizzy!!! But I think I like it!!! Running....Not the dizzy part.... Ha! So this evening when I have help watching the girls I am going again!!! Whooo Hoo!!! I think I over did it a bit my first time because I had some great running music I was listening to on my ipod. You know the kind when you look down at your speed while driving and say woooooo! I think I might have been doing the same with running so this time I am going to put some calmer music on to run to..

I am an avid water -drinker always have been, but now I have almost cut out soda's from my diet too! ( I allow myself 1 -2 a week )Even though I never drank that many I have noticed a difference in my mid- section,I am not so blotted anymore.

Ok now ..... Are there any runners out there that read my blog? Have any helpful hints on running??? Is it normal to wake up the next day and your sides hurt so much you can't move? please leave me a message I need your support to keep going!!! Or have any healthy tips or life style changes that you have made recently that would like to share?????? Now its your turn!

(I had pictures to share with you as a visual but decided against it to spare you all!!!!LOL)

New Life

What do you think of when you hear the words new life? For me it is Spring time when everything busts into bloom and makes everything look new again.... a whole new world. It also makes me think of babies!




This is a rose that Josiah picked me yesterday. Notice how big it is compared to his hand under neath it. This is the largest rose that I have ever gotten off of this bush that is many years old.

Then he and Joel went around the yard gathering more flowers for me. This is a little bouquet they picked to put in a small vase.

My whole yard is is bloom right now. I have roses every where!!!! Someone stopped by the house for Karlton the other day and said what are you growing? Your yard smells sooo good!! I said roses!

This is a lady banks that is growing on my pergola. They are very light yellow.

Then I have my monster rose bush that has taken over everything! The more I prune it the faster it grows.

These are the tiny roses it grows.

Then the other new life that is at my house right now is a batch of new baby bunnies.

We have white w/ black, and black w/ white, and one solid black.

Here are all 5 of them. Anyone want a baby bunny????? I have 4 that needs to leave now!!!! If you live in the Charlotte ,NC / Lancaster, SC area and want one let me know! karlton5@juno.com

This is Macadamia , Josiah's bunny. See how tiny they are.... We will be keeping this one.

FFF

Wishing we were back here..... getting off the boat in Nassau. Happy times!!!