Update and Announcement

We have been very busy around here the last week. The kiddies and I took a trip to my parents about 3 hours away to visit them and the other family that came in for the holidays. We had a great time visiting. We were able to see many friends and family. It was a great time of catching up, but we are very glad to be back at home. Although we have lots of organizing to get done with all the new toys the kids recieved.

Now for announcement time:



We are EXPECTING !!!! We are very happy and excited about our new blessing. I am just over 7 weeks along, so still have a ways to go, and the symptoms are starting to kick in pretty good. Over all I am feeling very well, just ready to move out of the first trimester.

Gingerbread House

(Disclaimer: This is NOT our gingerbread house. I borrowed the picture off photobucket :)

Have you ever tried making one of these? I got one thinking it would be an easy project for me to do with the kids. Boy was I wrong. I will spare you any of the grotesque pictures of ours. We did not even finish it, we started eating the candy. I could not get the icing to work and the house was a bit lopsided. If there are any tips to making this easier to accomplish I may give it another try, but if not then I will be giving up any hope of building Gingerbread Houses in the future.

One Life to Love by 33 miles

God has really been dealing with me lately on what it means to pour my life into the lives of my kids and husband and others around me. This song just touches me so much, I cry just about every time I hear it. The chorus is so true, we only have one time around, one shot at making the most out of the life God has given us.

I think it has been hitting me harder lately since the pastor at my old church just passed away and I have read recently on a board about a family that is loosing their 6 year old daughter to brain cancer.

I want my life to make an eternal difference and only the Lord can help me do it.

Santa and Christmas thoughts....

I have to vent just a little here. We do not and will not tell our children that Santa is real. We decided this long before we got married. Our kids will know that he is a part of the Christmas traditions, but is not real. They will know the gifts they receive are from us. Here comes the venting. Why does this matter to people. On a forum I post on, we were talking about Santa and I told them this. You would think that we were abusing our children. They went on and on about how they felt so bad for my children and sad for them and it was crazy not to let them believe in Santa. Thank God we do not base our parenting choices on peoples opinions.

One thing that irks me the most about Santa is how parents use him and the story of him to try and make kids behave. I hate hearing this statement: "If you are not good, Santa will not bring you anything this year". One it is a total lie on the parents part, because you know they are going to give the gifts anyway. Two, kids should behave because they are being obedient and it is the right thing to do, not because they might miss out on some present. Ok, vent over with.

Next I want to pass along a link to the history channel for videos they are doing on the origin of Christmas. There are a few different ones you can click on and watch, they are pretty interesting.

The History Channel Christmas series.

Just for those who have no clue, Christmas started as a pagan holiday that the church adapted to gain favor from converts. The puritans who came to America way back when would not celebrate this holiday for that very reason. Christmas did not come back into mainstream American until the 1840's and it was a totally secular holiday until the church adapted it again to get members involved.

I don't have a problem with celebrating the holiday, but I think Christians should know how the holiday begin and has evolved over time. I think we see a lot of good happen at this time and I think people should continue to give (of course not only at this time of year but all year). You also see alot of bad qualities and selfishness arise in people this time of year. For our family this is a secular holiday that never had anything to do with the birth of Christ. We use this time to give to those less fortunate and to those in our family, and of course to enjoy cookies and good eating.

The way kids can make you laugh and cry...

Yesterday, Baby Girl got into my cabinets and was playing with pots and such. Well I walked into the kitchen and this is what I see:



She made me giggle.


Then last night we went to a local light village that had Christmas lights up and small rides for the kids. Here is a moment that made me very teary:



It was a moment that I realized that my Boog is growing up. He was riding all alone and so very proud. It was also a moment that I realized that they grow up fast. I pray that God gives us the grace and mercy to raise them unto Him.

Through these moments, I know I am very blessed even when they make me cry.

"Honey, how do you get snow off the car?"

This is the comment that woke me up this morning. I replied "Snow?", Gus said "yes, snow". Snow is s huge thing when it happens way down here in the south. I got the kids up a little bit later and let them play. Baby girl was just cold and Boog played and played until his fingers were hurting from the cold. Here are a few pics.

Finally a new post.:)

I just realized it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Everything is going well. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with family and friends. (It is my favorite holiday). We are getting ready for Christmas and Baby Girl's 2nd birthday and my mothers graduation from college. We will be busy the next few weeks.

I have had many thoughts running through my head lately, but nothing is being cohesive enough to write out. I hope to get more posts going before to long.

I wanted to pass along a great series I have been listening to online. It is by Alistair Begg on of my favs to listen to. He has recently been preaching on the 10 commandments. If you want to listen you will have to click on the link that says "show past 30 broadcasts". The first one is from November 17 called "who takes first place?" then just click Nov 18th to hear the rest of that sermon and so on until you get to today. Each commandment is broken into 2 sessions so if you listen to all of them it will be a total of 20 sessions I believe. Each session is only about 20 minutes long.

Here is the link: Truth for Life

Hope you enjoy! :)