Gratitude 252-271

God's protection over our family as we drive on the roads

health

vicks to help with coughs

deliveries on the doorstep

Christmas cards in the mail

an early Christmas present - stools for the island

Handel's Messiah - what a joy to hear the gospel put to music.

online shopping

chocolate covered pretzels decorated by little hands

the smell of pork tacos cooking in the crock pot

being able to sit in my heated home and look out the window at the snow

poinsettias

stockings hung by the fireplace

decorating Christmas cookies

Eating them - even better!

red and green frosting from Aldi

a little nap

Christmas tree with lights shining bright and ornaments hung

red berries and fake evergreen branches brightening up my house

celebrating 60 years with my Dad

Verse of the Week

This weeks verse is also a verse that has been to put music in the Handel's Messiah. As I have mentioned in the past, I'm not very good at memorization so music definitely helps me. I'm hoping it helps me this because when I wrote it out on my index card it took up the whole card!

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astry; We have turned everyone to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  Isaiah 53:4-6

Once again, if you are memorizing scripture with me I'd love to hear from you and hear how it is going.

My Favorite Pictures of Christmas Past

The First Christmas. Pre-Isaac. So Cute!

I will never forget this Christmas when my mom and I took the kids to Picture People. The kids would not stop crying! When we left, we were sure I would not be buying any of the pictures. When we came back, I laughed so hard when I saw this photo that I had to buy it. This was the first and last time I took all 4 for a professional picture at Christmas time. I still have the large photo hanging in my hallway.

This is my personal favorite. I still keep it posted on my fridge.

Preparing for Christmas

Black Friday. A day when millions of Americans wake up early or maybe don't even wake up because they never go to bed, to find the best deals on all kinds of gifts for Christmas. This year my husband had to work so I opted out of doing this but decided to get up a little early to go to Walgreens and CVS to get some of their freebies and a few good deals on toys. I thought they opened at 6am, so I set my alarm for 5:45.

If you don't know me very well, I don't like mornings. I especially don't like mornings when it's cold. I also firmly believe that if the clock doesn't have a 6 in the beginning, this is an ungodly hour and you need to be in bed. 5:59 NO, 6:00 YES. So to get up before 6 is big for me.

Of course when I got to Walgreens......CLOSED! Same with CVS. They didn't open until 7. I decided to head over to Target since I had time to kill. While I was sitting at a stoplight looking at all the filled parking lots Moody was on the radio. The man was talking about the commercialism of Christmas. As I sat there, I thought, how many of us would get up this early to go to church or spend time in God's word or to pray. If I'm honest, I know I wouldn't.

My point is, how much time do we spend shopping for presents, wrapping presents, baking goodies, cooking elaborate meals, decorating the house, addressing the Christmas cards, and the list goes on and on. We have joined the world in the commercialism of Christmas.

As my kids get older I see them excited to look through the toy catalogs, pick out what they want, ask over and over what they are getting and when they get to open presents. Will I ever stop this from happening? Probably not. My kids are sinners just like me and I haven't been able to cure my coveting and my selfishness. But what I can do is point them to what Christmas is really about.

I'm not talking about just telling them occasionally when they start getting greedy or bringing them to church Christmas day or listening to Christmas carols. It's about truly preparing our hearts.

To be honest, it's not just doing this for them. It's also doing it for me and my husband. It's so easy for me to get so busy with all this other stuff that I forget to take time to prepare for Jesus birth. I need to take time myself to reflect, to slow down.

A few weeks ago at my MOPS group a couple came and spoke about an advent book that they had published. I ended up purchasing one and I absolutely love it! It has 25 days with 25 doors to open. Behind each door is a Bible verse and all together they tell the story of Christ's birth. It has really been a blessing to spend a little time together as a family each night reflecting on this. Each night we read the previous nights verses and then open a new door. This has really helped the kids remember the story. We sing a few Christmas carols and pray as a family. We often pray for the families that we have received cards from in the mail that day. Just know, if you send us a card our family will be praying for your family. The kids really enjoy doing this and look forward to it every night.

I would love to hear how your family prepares for Christmas.

Verse of the Week

It's Monday night and I am just getting to posting the verse of the week. I wasn't home too much yesterday and my Mondays always seem to be busy. This weeks verse is an easy one. If you have ever heard a performance of the Messiah (which I did yesterday) then you will know this verse. So I hope you will all join me this week. Just jot this verse down on an index card, set it where you will see it often and when you pass by it, just sing this verse to yourself or belt it out and remember why we celebrate Christmas!

For Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon  His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

While Mommy is away, the kids will.......

make cookies.

make a mess.

both.

Brad loves Christmas cookies. You know the kind. The ones you have to roll, cut, bake, and then decorate. I will be honest, I loathe making these cookies. I love to bake, but these cookies make such a mess and take so long to make. My loving husband knows I don't like to make these so he often joins in. Usually, I get the honors of baking them and then he decorates with the kids.

I was gone one night so he decided to tackle baking them with the kids. They didn't turn out so good, so I think we will go back to my baking and his decorating. I'm grateful he tried to tackle it though. When I got home there was hardly a trace of this mess. He had it all cleaned up!

Brad also handed me the camera and said, "I took a few pictures in case you wanted to put them on your blog." What a sweet guy!

And where was I, you ask? Off playing Bunco for my first time ever! Guess who won first place?

You guessed it, ME!!!!

A Christmas Story

I have to warn you this is a long story and it is really cute and funny when told in person, so I am hoping a can convey all that on here. Also, I may ramble, but any of you who know me are probably used to that anyway.

This year I decided to get something for Brad that he would like as opposed to something he won't like but needs. Like clothes, socks, you know the sorts of gifts. I decided to get him a Garmin. As luck would have it, he told that's what he wanted about 2 weeks after I decided to get that for him. A few weeks ago Target had one on sale so I hauled all the kids to Target and we bought it for him.

Some of you may see where this story is going as soon as you saw I took the kids with me.

One night I was gone (don't even remember where) but apparently Isaac told Brad that we got him a map. Thankfully Brad didn't hear him and when he tried to get it out of him, all the kids were very good and didn't tell him. I thought I was in the clear.

Last Monday night, Brad comes home from watching some football at a friends house and tells me that Best Buy is having a sale on Garmins if I wanted to return the one I got him and get him the one from Best Buy. He knows this because his friends roomate works at Best Buy. Needless to say I was not very happy that he knew and I also wasn't happy that he told me right before I was to go to sleep. I couldn't believe he found out!

It turns out that my dear little Alex decided to give Daddy a hint as to what his Christmas present was. You guessed it............she told him it was a map! Since Brad knows I wouldn't get him a road atlas or a globe he figured out what it was. That's why I married him, all those brains! He's so smart!

The next day I checked out Best Buy online and there was a nicer one for $10 cheaper and free shipping. So we loaded up the kids again to head off to Target to return the first one. I didn't even tell the kids why were going, just headed into the store.

When they saw I was returning it one of them asked, "Why are we returning Daddy's present?"

Looking at Alex, I replied, "Because someone told him what he was getting."

Alex giggled, smiled and with a guilty look said, "It wasn't me."

The clerk and 2 ladies behind us in line burst into laughter.

Kids then ask,"Are we getting him something else?"

I reply, "Not while you are with me."

Again, women behind me are thoroughly amused by all of this.

So we came home and the kids informed Brad that his present has been returned.

As I said, I ordered a new one online. Now all I had to do was make sure that when the box came I found it.

Hmmmmm, do you see where this is going?

Monday afternoon Brad came home from work early and I headed into work since I had a few things to do. When I got home I noticed a box in the middle of the living room with a Best Buy receipt hanging out of it and the box was empty. I immediately took it and asked Brad why he would open it and where is the gift?

He told me how the events unfolded. He was on the phone and Joshua saw the box on the front porch brought it in the house and opened it. He took the gift out of the box, saw what it was and immediately went to hide it so his dad wouldn't it see it.

So I went to Joshua and asked him where it was. He was so excited and it was so cute, he was so proud of himself because he intercepted the gift before Brad could see it and he quickly went and hid it under the bed. The look on his face was just priceless. The girls let me know that they did not spill the beans and that they told Dad he was getting a horse.

Well, once again Brad knows what he is getting but the kids are sure that he doesn't. So now Brad can open his gift Christmas Day and act all surprised.

Hope you all followed me on that one. Now I just wonder what the kids will surprise me with since Brad texted me about 10 times while he was shopping with the kids to find out what sizes to get?????