January

January for our home has proven to be busy and has not slowed down just yet! So much has happened since my last post, so I will start where I left you all off.

December was a wonderful month for me. I personally was blessed to spend a whole entire month my with my family. I was able to go to sleep and wake up to see my wonderful parents and siblings! I enjoyed the late night talks, shopping, and singing with my sweet dear sisters Tiffany, Melissa and Jessica. Joshua had a delightful time with his Aunts and Uncles!! My heart overflowed with joy seeing my Father play and my Mother cuddle, give kisses, and tickle my Son. It is not everyday that I get to see my parents enjoy and be a blessing to my son! But, as everyone says "All good things must come to an end". The day came to say "goodbye" to my family. But, even though it is tough to say goodbye, I had a wonderful husband and son to travel back home with. And, the Daniel Blanchard family moves on with their life joyfully serving God.

January brought on all the business that we are busy at right now. The week that we came home, Joshua went to Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard's home, so I could focus on finding a home. We found a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath, accented walls, 3 car garage, a back yard with a big deck, and just under 1,900 square feet home! We moved in a week and a half after we found it. Since then, we have been busy unpacking (all the boxes are unpacked now), decorating, stenciling, playing in the backyard, and getting to know the new area. We are truly happy to be in a home and out of an apartment. We will put pictures up shortly!

Daniel has been blessed to live so close to work. It takes him 10 minutes to walk to work and with him walking the car has been able to stay in the garage unless I need it! :-)

I have been blessed living so close to Daniel's work. Joshua and I are able to see Daniel more than we have been able to see him in the last 3 months. He leaves for work around 7:30 am and gets home somewhere between 4:45-5:10 pm, and he comes home for lunch again! Joshua and I are all smiles having him home with us!!

Well, I should probably try to go to bed. Busy day tomorrow!

May God richly bless you all!!

Thanksgiving

While I am sitting here in my living room recovering from my wisdom teeth being pulled and having a implant done. I am sitting here missing some of my family. Daniel is at work and Joshua has been at Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard's home since Monday morning. With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I got to thinking what I am thankful for. I would like to share a few blessings that I have in my life.

Thankfulness:

1. To be able to serve such a mighty God. It is a great honor to have our Lord stretch our His hand to such a lowly sinner as I am, and allow me to serve and worship Him freely!!

2. My Husband. Daniel has been my best friend and my lover. He has been there for me in our ups and downs, through the easy times and through the hard times. Everyday we grow stronger in our love for each other. Yesterday, we celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, and we pray for many more years together.

3. Our baby Joshua. Joshua has been our pride and joy. We have been blessed with such a easy going baby. He smiles and giggles most of the time, and when you are down, his smile and laughter will lighten up your face anytime, and he loves to pray!! :-) We pray, that Joshua will someday be blessed with another sibling.

4. Our families, the McDonald's and the Blanchard's. We know that if we needed them in a heart beat they would be there for us. If we need advice, they are the first ones we turn to. Both families in their unique way shed light of a Christian family, and we look to their example.

5. Our Church family. We have had little bit of a hard time finding a good church to attend, but we have found one. Not only do they preach the word of God, each family shows you how a family is to work according to the Bible.

6. Daniel's job. Yes it has it's hard times. Daniel drives 2 hours to work one way (4 hour round trip), and during the week, Joshua and I do not even get to see Daniel for 10 hours (it would be more then 24 hours, if you can count spending time with Daniel while he was sleeping, but when Daniel sleeps, he is out and he does not wake up till he has to go to work! :-) ), but I am grateful that Daniel stills has his job. It feeds us and puts a roof over our heads.

These are just some of our Blessings, that God has put into our life that we are grateful for.

We pray you all have Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!! Do not forget to thank the Lord for all your blessings in life!

Joshua Likes His New Outfit!

Everything Has Its Time

As I am sitting here pondering about my life, there is a certain scripture that the Lord brought to my heart.  Nothing I have not read before, but one that is there to remind over and over again that everything has its own season!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones. and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to gain, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time of war, and a time of peace. 

I (Christa) Am Blessed!

God had laid on my heart this past week/weekend of how blessed I am to have two such wonderful parents!  They have been through my tough times and my happy times.  My Dad has always been there when I needed him the most, and encouraged me in anyway and backed up his word/teaching with scripture!  My Mom has always been an example of a submissive wife, and through her, God has taught me to be submissive to my husband!  My Mom has also been there for me, even if it was really late at night, she would sit and listen to me pour my heart out to her.  Together, they have showed me the ways of the Lord.  Yes, I am blessed to have James and Stacy McDonald for my parents!

Thank you Dad and Mom for being there for me!  I love you two!!

We are are officially settled into our new home/apartment!  We are adjusting to this place very well.  Now that everything seems to be in its place and all the boxes have been out of the house for two weeks now, I am trying to get pictures, but I can not remember where I put the camera cable to download the pictures!  So, once I remember, I will post the pictures up soon! 

 Joshua really like this place!  So many new things to explore!  He likes the balcony, and the stairs.  Even though we have a gate, he just like to stand holding on the to the gate, and just look at the stairs!  So far, he has not been interested in the fireplace just yet!  It is hard to think, my little guy will be a year old next weekend! :-(   Here are the things he is doing:

   Army Crawling

   He LOVES baths!  Anytime of the day, he goes into the bathroom and heads straight for the tub, and talks to the the tub, and jumps up and down wanting to get in.  He does not like it when Mommy says "Not right now, but later tonight"

   Says "Dada" and "Nana" (I am "Nana" and only when he is crying!)

   Loves reading a book, and he likes reading to himself too!

   He talks a lot and holds a nice conversation with Daddy and Mommy (although, you really do not understand what he says, but he is so cute!)

   He laughs, giggles, and claps often

   He likes to take the couch pillows and pulls them on the floor and crawl over them!

   He is not walking just yet.  He does not seem too interested in it.  He likes to hold your hands and walk, but after a few seconds he wants to crawl.

   He still loves to cuddle too!

We will get the pictures up soon!  The picture above was taken off of Daniel's phone on the day of our move!

  

I know, I said that we would probably not be blogging until we moved, but my mind is too busy thinking of everything at one time, that I am not able to sleep.

We are almost done packing.  I think I would be done, if I did not have a little one crawling everywhere, or pulling things that I have just packed out of boxes!  Ah, the joys of packing with a little one.

Speaking of the little one...Joshua has been content with crawling to get from one place to another, despite the carpet burns, and has had no interest in walking.  Yes, he enjoys pulling himself up, but he will not try to walk to Daddy or Mommy.  He is also still figuring out how to stand on his own(even if we stand him up)  But, he has found a new interest.  Grandpa and Grandma McDonald gave him a walking toy.  He has just figured out what this toy is meant for, and now he knows how to use it.  You just might find him walking into walls, the piano, and the trash can!  Below is a video that was taking last night.  "Thank you" Dad and Mom for this gift!

Just a Quick Note

We will be taking a little time away from our blog, so that we may concentrate on our upcoming move.  We will be moving into a new apartment next week.  For those who would like our new address please email me at: crucifiedwithchrist84@gmail.com.

Our New Year's Letter

Greetings from the Daniel Blanchard household! Seems like yesterday we where celebrating the new year of 2008 with the McDonald clan in IL, and now we are in 2009!

Where do we start with regards to this past year and all of the blessings that we have enjoyed?

Perhaps we can start with the small blessings of Joshua James Gregory Blanchard. We welcomed our first born child into this world on February 28. He weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces and 18 inches. We are amazed at the speed that he is growing, in just the past few months he has been getting around more and of course getting into everything, but we wouldn't trade him for the world, he is our little blessing. God has tried our trust on him by allowing Joshua to experience some seizures, for which the doctors couldn't find anything wrong, for the past few months he has not had any seizures, and God willing will not have them again. Beside those small trials, Joshua continues to add joy and laughter to each day in our home. His favorite thing to do right now is clicking his tongue. He is starting to walk from one thing to another, as long as he has something to hold onto.

Daniel is still working with Hunt Construction on the same Project that he started last year, Collin County Community College. He still has another twelve months to work on this project. They are building four new items for the College, a new parking garage, renovations and additions to the existing campus buildings, the construction of a new library, and also a small clock tower. In addition to working for Hunt, he is also trying to start a CPR/First Aid training business. Nothing has happened at this point, but the Lord is good and hopefully he will bless our endeavors to praise Him in our work.

Christa continues to enjoy keeping house, and delighting that Joshua was added to the family. On top of keeping house, she loves taking care of Daniel and Joshua. Christa spends her days playing with Joshua and fellow-shipping with like-minded women and young ladies in the new church. She just started teaching voice lessons

This new year is already proving to be exciting and busy. Our year starts with a very short move to another apartment at the end of January. We also will be celebrating Joshua's first birthday at the end of February. Another exciting aspect to our lives is some of us are going to be doing some of the Homeschool conferences this year and will be staffing a booth for Greathall Productions for our good friends Jim and Randy Weiss. Hopefully we will see some of y'all at one of the nine conferences we will be attending.

Looking into the new year with earnest expectation of the grace of God. We thankfully acknowledge that the Lord has richly blessed our family in many ways this past year and we pray that He will bless all of our friends in this new year.



Happy New Year!

Blessings
Daniel and Christa Blanchard
(Joshua too!!)

Daniel and I like to walk every night, but due to my allergies, we have to walk indoors.  So, the past week we have been walking through the mall.  Although, we like the outdoors better!

We walked past a baby studio and I just wanted to see how much their prices were since we really needed to get Joshua's pictures done and a family picture (we still do not have one!).  So, after talking with this lady, we were about to leave, when she asked us to stay for a little bit and she would do a free sitting with us and we would have a free 5x7 and to view our photo's online as well.  Who could pass up a deal?

Below are the pictures that we choose.  We are still going to set up an appointment and get some nicer ones! :-)

Meeting Mrs. Weiss

Getting Ready For Baby!

We have been busy with cleaning out closets, bedrooms, and the kitchen. Now that they are all done, I spent time yesterday washing and getting Joshua's things ready for his arrival! Here are some pictures! The last picture is of me for everyone who keeps emailing me and asking for a picture of what I look like at nine months!

He Turns 11 and A Small Update

Today, is Caleb McDonald's 11th birthday! Even though we have just moved into our new apartment, I did not want him to feel that I forgot about him! Happy, Happy, Birthday little brother, and may God bless you now and in the future.

Well, we are all done unpacking and my little apartment is all clean, but I am not at this time able to put up pictures, because our internet is having some problem and Daniel is trying to fix it! Sorry! I will try to get pictures up before the weekend is over.

A Wonderful Weekend

Daniel and I had a wonderful weekend visiting my Family in Dallas! We were able to stay at the same hotel, which gave me more time with my Family.

Unfortuantely, we have seemed to misplaced our camera, so we were not able to take pictures. If you would like to see some pictures, you can visit my sister, Tiffany's blog( itsthesimplethings.blogspot.com)!

Our Life

We have finally move to Dallas! It was a long move for a short distance( 3 hours), but thank the Lord, we have made it safe and sound, and are snuggled in! We are currently living with Daniel's family while we get our mortgage settled, and find a house that we can actually call HOME!

Daniel is back at work. He is having to drive 1 1/2 hours to work, and seems longer when he comes home because of traffic(Please keep him in your prayers. He has been coming home stressed and no energy to do things). Right now, he enjoys playing with his GPS system that he just bought. He is trying all the back roads to get out of traffic, and likes to even take it with us when we go down the street to the grocery store! Such a boy who likes to play with his toys!

As for me, I am doing well. My morning are not to great, but my afternoons seem to be good! My morning sickness is starting to slowly go away. I am starting to learn that being tired is part of being pregnant, and it is ok for me to take naps! I am three months along, and our first ultra sound is tomorrow morning! :-)

Well, I should get some sleep, for Daniel is already asleep right next to me! Goodnight!

A Bundle of Joy!!

We are proud to announce that we are adding to our family tree! We are expecting a little bundle of joy March 1st, 2008!

We are off to Illinois!

Daniel and I are off to see my family and his Grandparents! We will take plenty of pictures and post them when we get back from our trip!

Also, Daniel's job is being relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. We plan on moving somewhere between July 20th and 23rd! Please keep us in your prayers while we are transitioning to another state!

Life

Ah, were does the time go??

I am doing great! The surgery went well, and my recovery was very fast(which most people say is unusual!). I am enjoying walking around and being able to clean the house and drive the car!! :-)

Daniel and I are doing well. Daniel's job is getting finished and the structures they are building are looking more and more like buildings every day!

We went to stay with Daniel's family on Memorial Day and had an enjoyable time. We will be seeing them next week and will hopefully be able to ride some horses!!

As from what I gather from my family they are doing well! I am really looking forward to seeing them in FOUR weeks!! I miss them so much!

Well, that is all I can think of right now and Daniel just called and said he is on his way home for lunch. So, I will close for now!

Oh, Mrs. Henderson, I am so sorry I missed your call!! I wanted so much to talk to you and when I heard your message, I was upset with myself! I was available (Daniel and I were just playing cards), but when the phone said it had no number, I did not pick it up! The last time I answered a no number call, it was a really weird person! Sorry!

Blessings to all!

New Car!!

Daniel and I have bought a new car!! It is a Toyota Prius Hybrid 2007!!

The sun has finally been shining and the days have been beautiful - until about three o'clock this morning! We had a thunder stom with very fast winds. I thought the wind was going to break our windows! Thankfully, the only thing that was damaged on our property was the post that holds our house number fell down (and that holds a corner of the roof). We also found a leak in our kitchen ceiling next to our front door! But, if you go outside you will see that the storm did some damage to our neighbors! Below are some pictures from the storm.

As for the life of Daniel and Christa, we are doing pretty well and staying busy! We have found that we have to move out of our duplex by the 27th of July! Where are we moving next? Well, it is not totally certain, but it looks like it will be Dallas.

We spent Daniel's birthday in Dallas house hunting and spending time with his family! Daniel has entered the world of 24!! :-) And, he says he already feels pretty old!

This past weekend we spent our time with Wesley and Rachel Hurd, Katy, Zach,, and most of the Franklin family! We had a wonderful time at the Psalm sing, seeing old friends and singing! Later that evening we attended a ball with them, and Daniel had an enjoyable time at his first ball!

Daniel is on his way home for lunch, so I need to go get it started so he can eat! Blessings!