Christmas Passed

I am sitting and replaying all the beautiful memories from the past few days celebrating CHRISTmas with my family! It was so great! There are so many memorable moments but I think the one that has affected me the most was just sitting at the in-laws as so many prayed and thanked God for the reason for the celebration! The fact that God did love us, Does love us, enough to send us His son- in the form of a babe, born in the lowliest of places....a stinky, dirty, cold barn! Wow! The savior of the world and there was no room for Him to be born in any inns in town. Don't you think people would have JUMPED at the chance to be the birthplace of the savior of the world, to have housed Jesus, had they known then what we know now? Yet, we know who He is and we have the chance today to still house Jesus in our hearts and yet, I am just as guilty as anyone of not jumping at the chance to be a house for my Savior. Yes, He does live inside but I find myself thinking that sometimes it's not so different from the place He was born....stinky, dirty and cold. Yet, still He came! I think of the wonder of what that truly means for me still today and then I think wow! That was amazing, but even more amazing then a babe, a Savior of the world being born of a virgin, is that this is just the beginning of the story! Wow! That's the part that still gets me! Yes, He came as a babe, born of a virgin, in a stable, but then He grew to a Man, unjustly charged and then hung on a cross and placed in a tomb... but though that is amazing that's still not the most amazing part! Wait for it..... The most amazing part of the story, the end of the beginning is that 3 days later when the tomb was opened IT WAS EMPTY! I thank God this Christmas as I reflect on how the story started and the amazing miracle in itself of the birth of this amazing child, but I truly can't help but revel in the Hope of the end of the story! I thank God that the tomb was empty!
May you live today and always with the beautiful hope of Jesus born of a virgin but Raised from the dead by God the Father! Be so thankful that He still knocks looking for a place to stay in your heart! Jump for joy that the Savior of the world is looking to be housed inside of you and then thank Him for his unending patience and love for us! Each one of us that He did all this for!
Merry CHRISTmas 2011

Christmas Card Tree

Over the years we've gotten all these cards for Christmas and I've struggled with where to put them and how to display them. So I've been looking for some ideas online- cheap as I spend enough at Christmas I don't want to spend more on a card holder no matter how cute it is and this is the one I'm going with.

Of course this probably wouldn't have worked 8 years ago when we were getting about 50 cards in the mail, but a sign of the times, we are down to about 15 cards this year so this is perfect for it! How do you display your cards?

If you need some good ideas check out this site here for some fun ones!

Laugh of the day

For the laugh of the day check out this blog! It's a riot!!

Happy Wednesday!

Fellow Mom

Hi

I just read this wonderful quote from a good friends blog and was truly touched by the words. As a stay at home mom I definately feel guilty at times... for not bringing in any money (especially at Christmas time), for not doing something with my day other then laundry, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, refereeing and then fit in the occasional teaching moment. Some days I just don't feel productive, ya know like a productive member of society, but this helped me so much with some of that guilt!

"Our First and Primary Mission Field is our Children! God values our children.
Jesus became indignant when the disciples didn't embrace the worth of children in God's expanding kingdom (Mark 10:13-16). God tells us that children are his blessing to us (PS. 127:3). and He places great importance on our teaching our children to love and serve Him (Deut. 6:7-9).

Don't feel guilty over making your children your primary ministry investment in their early years. your availability, sensitivity, affection, and unhurried attention are irreplaceable.

There are no neutral moments in a young child's life. Someone is going to be influencing your children, inculcating values and imprinting standards on their impressionable young minds. Let it be you!

Accept your calling from God to serve your family. As a mother, you are helping to shape the souls of your children for Christ and ultimately influence the world. Your children are your gift for the future."
- Jani Ortlund
(To read more from her just click on her name and go to her article.)

Wow! What a thought! Someone IS going to be influencing our children, weather it's the tv, the computer, friends at school or even random pictures they will see- it all has an impact! So, this year let this be your goal during the busy holiday season that can be filled with stress and impatience and use this time as a teachable moment for each "gift" you are preparing for the future.

25 days of Thankful

25 Days of thankfullness





1. Windows open on Nov. 1


2. I'm thankful for my kiddos! I appreciate them each more now as one of Zoe's classmates brothers just died. He was 11. Life is short. Little things I tend to yell about are so petty and not worth it anymore. I'll be saying I love you a lot more now!
3. Family Fued tournaments


4. Coffee Dates with good friends


5. Shopping for Shoeboxes to show the Love of God


6. Friends you can always count on!


7. Lunch date with my favorite 6 year old!


8. Cooperative daughter on airport run.

9. Quality time spent with 92 year old grandmother

10. My Husband!!! Welcoming him home!

11. Baby Norah ... becoming an aunt- again!


12. Christmas Cards, designed, signed and ordered


13.Leaves raked and jumped in-Great Fall photos


14. Morning "playdate" with good friends


15. First IMOM cookbook "published".


16. Christmas cards stuffed and stamped! Waiting by door to mail- Before Thanksgiving!


17. Mornings with 45 women, crafts and cooking tips


18. 70 new recipes to try!


19. Clean attics and play forts


20. 3 more Christmas Presents bought! Only 5 more to go!


21. Thanksgiving shopping done.


22. Crafts with my 2 favs


23.Time spent with Family!


24. Thanksgiving! Food, Family and Friends!


25. A week day off as a family!

Happy Fall!

We've had a wonderful last few weeks! Here are some pictures from our last few weeks. It included a couple of zoo's, last class of ballet and pumpkin pickin at the wildlife adventure. We are really just enjoying this weather so there is probably more pictures then words to describe our days! How are you spending your Fall?

Wow!

Just Wow! Where has the time gone? It's been forever since I caught everyone up on my life so here's our past 2 months in a nut shell. We'll start with some fun pictures from the summer and then go onto more specifics below.

August has become a bittersweet month for me since Zoe started school.

Of course to end summer we always do some fun things that Zoe wants to do and this year her request was bowling... I'm not a fan, but it really wasn't that bad and Zoe had a great time as well!

Back to school, in first grade! She has an amazing teacher! She's a first year teacher and soo full of energy!

We struggled a little at the beginning of the year with some talking over the teacher and then some tears came with the new reading groups and the daily reminder of the loss of her best friend who moved away, but we're not just adjusting, we're excelling!

I've signed up to be the class room mother for her class and so have been on the hunt for some good Halloween party ideas for the party coming up.... I'm thinking Ghost bowling well a slight variation of that... I've bought those fake decorator pumpkins as the bowling ball to add a bit of a challange. Might be fun, I hope... now I just need to decide on a craft... any ideas?

Of course with Zoe going back to school again, Lexi felt she needed to as well, so we've got her in preschool 2 days a week now for a couple of hours....

Which means 4 free hours a week for me! What to do? what to do?

Well.... what I've done for those 4 hours is nothing, well kinda! Granted it's only been about 3 days into it but I've enjoyed it immensly. I've just been enjoying some me time. I had no idea how much that rejuvinates me! Wow! It's been amazing... I've read a book and had some coffee, caught up on some tv shows that I'd been meaning to watch and yesterday was my favorite thing yet....

We used to have a fire pit for our yard that we loved, but unfortunately we didn't love it as much as the thieves that took it from our yard did, so we have been on the hunt for a new one. Our neighbor was having a garage sale and sold us his... this is what it looked like...before I got a hold of it that is : )

This is what it looks like now! What a difference a little paint and a couple hours makes!

Soo excited to use it in our annual tradition of trick or treating at our house. The girls look forward to sitting around it in their costumes or sometimes just pajamas to pass out candy and tracts to the local trick or treaters and of course drinking homemade hot chocolate! It's really one of Zoe's favorite things we do in the Fall actually, so we were soo thrilled to surprise her with our new purchase especially since she had been asking what we were going to do on that night without it because for her that just makes Halloween! Now if only we had their costumes decided on.... well I've got some more time.

o that's us in a nutshell... with a few things lSeft out here or there, but that's about all I got today. So, here's to a wonderful weekend!