Oh Christmas Tree!!

It’s no secret how much I LOVE Christmas! I love birthdays too so having Jesus Birthday to celebrate makes it that much more special…a month long celebration!!! I love the music, I love the smell of a fresh cut tree, I love the twinkling lights and I love decorating the house! This year Hannah and I got to pick the Christmas tree, it was so fun doing that with her. We picked the perfect tree and this year, we got the “marriage saver” tree stand, Ok so that’s not what’s on the package, but it should be! They drill a hole in the trunk and all you do is push this baby on and DONE! NO crawling under the tree to make sure it’s level, no fights saying “more to the left…no more to the right…no more…” We seriously carried the tree in the house and cut the plastic off and DONE! It was up and had the lights on in no time…this photo was taken pre-ornaments.

Farewell to 8th grade...

On May 14th, Dave and I were chaperones for Joshua’s 8th grade farewell dance! He refused to let me take my camera…sigh…so I snapped this while he got ready, not the best picture, I know…sigh…The PTO really did a wonderful job decorating the cafeteria and outdoor area. The Hershey Pantry did a beautiful buffet for the kids complete with mini cheese burgers, pigs in a blanket, chicken tenders and no buffet in or around Hershey would be complete without a chocolate fountain!! The kids LOVED this, dipping marshmallows, strawberries and pretzels into the cascading chocolate…someone stood nearby reminding them to NOT double dip and to NOT use their fingers and I’m sure someone had to tell them NOT to put their mouths anywhere near the chocolate!! The cafeteria had stars hanging from the ceiling and balloons throughout. I was really pleased with the dress code, the kids didn’t wear prom gowns and tuxes, they wore khakis and button down tops, girls were pretty dresses, but they had to cover their shoulders and the dress had to be a certain length. Josh spent the night playing volleyball and basketball, occasionally coming to the dance floor to jump around with his friends…but no slow dances. We did notice there were girls coming to talk to him…I mean he’s so handsome and all!! It’s so hard for me to believe that my baby boy is going to be a freshman in high school next year…it seems like yesterday he was learning to walk….I have always heard parents say time goes so quickly and now I know exactly what they mean. I am proud of the young man that he is becoming and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for his future.

A different perspective...

Hannah came to me the other day stating that "she couldn’t stand her room being dirty, she had SOOOOO much stuff she didn’t want in there." So I gave her a bag and told her to fill the bag with everything she didn’t want and we could give it away…Days later I found the bag and this is what I found,a few papers about butterflies, a bookmark she got for her birthday and 2 notes asking for volunteers for school!! I am SOOOO glad these things are out of her life…I mean whew they really cluttered up the place…note picture of “uncluttered” room!! Gotta love her!!

I WILL go...

When God speaks people listen. Sometimes, as in our case, we don’t ‘hear’ that still small voice. Sometimes it’s like a bad cell phone connection, can you hear me now?? OK, I’ll get their attention....NOW can you hear me? We hear it now, we’ve been hearing it but thought well we have it figured out, we will go....when ___________fill in the blank, (Josh finishes high school, Dave get’s his ordination, Jen goes back to school, Hannah adapts to school) God has been revealing himself to us for years, calling us into the mission field and for a long time we questioned, what does the mission field look like?? Making changes is scary. Really scary, and making changes with kids involved is even more scary! But I keep listening to this song by Rita Springer: IF you say Go
If You say go, we will go
If You say wait, we will wait
If You say step out on the water
And they say it can't be done
We'll fix our eyes on You and we will come

Your ways are higher than our ways
And the plans that You have laid
Are good and true
If You call us to the fire
You will not withdraw Your hand
We'll gaze into the flames and look for You
I think we have been saying “wait” and not God. It’s time to step out on the water, in faith and fix our eyes on HIM.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend...

When I read this verse, “This is my beloved, and this is my friend” from Song of Songs 5:16, I can relate. I always say I married my best friend, but never fully understood what that meant until the last few years. Difficult times, trying times can either tear apart or make stronger and I can truly say ours has gotten stronger. Right now we feel like we are scaling the side of a mountain because my beloved has been battling a bout of diverticulitis since January 1st of this year, and the antibiotics have only helped to make him feel sicker. We have been in constant prayer and feel God’s loving hands upon us, giving of glimpses of His provision along the way. Let me share a for instance: A few Sundays ago we had a visitor at our church; someone was training at the Gap and decided he’d come and check out our services for the day. During the Sunday school hour we began to pray and lay hands of my husband and this visitor was praying and started to sing a song, it was an old Petra song and I didn’t understand the significance of this until later that day. You see in 1994 my than boyfriend, now husband, was in a terrible vehicle accident, as new believers the ONLY tape I had was Petra and I would listen to those songs over and over again as I drove to the hospital each day. And it was at that moment that I could sense God’s presence reminding me that He is with us, that He got us thru that awful time in our lives and He continues to provide and He will see us thru this as well. I love when God reveals himself that way, he’s so awesome!! Yesterday we met with a surgeon from Hershey Med. Center and they scheduled my beloved for bowel resection surgery, they will go in, laparoscopically, and remove the damaged section of bowel and reattach. And we felt such PEACE with that decision…scary, YES, but an overwhelming sense of peace. Will there be more tears, I’m sure but that Peace that is beyond understanding is with us and I am so thankful for that.
My husband’s coping mechanism has been his guitar, playing and worshipping calms the soul and I’m so thankful I’ve been here to capture some of those moments…

Oh how HE loves us!

In July we will be here five years...and I can say with honesty that not a sunset goes by without taking my breath away. Growing up in the coal region I don't remember watching the sun set...maybe because the coal mountains got in the way, who knows. One thing I do know is that each night I stand in awe of our Creator and marvel at the fact that HE loves us so very much...just look at His handiwork!

It truly is THE MOST wonderful time of the year!

It's no secret that I LOVE Christmas! I love the decorations, I love the smell of a fresh cut tree in my house, I love the beautiful white lights and getting to enjoy my snowbabies that decorate the mantle! I love decorating the house, I love picking the perfect tree, I love decorating it and I LOVE how the kids go thru their own ornament box and reminisce about when they got each ornament and lovingly place in on the tree. This year was a bit different, I got to decorate the house but while I was visiting with my mom, my dear sweet husband and kiddos went and picked the tree, put on the lights and some sparkly red beads (thanks to Hannah)! All before I came home. I thought I'd be sad, but it was just beautiful! The tree is much fuller than any other year but it's a Frasier fir, three of the five strings of Christmas lights were burnt out so we have only two sets on the tree, and it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had!!! I Love it,and most importantly I love my husband who thought to do this to surprise me...I truly am blessed! P.S. He even took photos for me to scrapbook! I am a lucky, lucky lady!!!

A memory...

I watched Good Morning America today and they had a “Recipe Club” where women got together and talked about a recipe that meant something to them, whether it was an apple cake made on a first date where they picked apples together to a fond memory of mom making bread pudding. I began to think about my culinary skills and where my love for all things food began!

My mother was a stay at home mom, raising four girls on a mechanics salary. I remember a big deal was going to the grocery store with mom on a Friday night (and then coming home to watch Dallas) and maybe, if you were on your best behavior, getting to pick a treat, my favorites were Oreos and Doritos! I can’t say my mom loved to cook, but she did. I can’t say my mom was a Julia Child either, I can’t imagine Julia ever using “straight bologna” as the main ingredient in a meal, what is straight bologna anyway?? Yet, when I got married I had that recipe tucked away! We always had our straight bologna stew with sliced fried potatoes, just thinking about it makes me smile because I can see us sitting at the dinner table enjoying our meal together!! My mom made sure we had a homemade meal each night, and we always sat together as a family, we didn’t need super nanny telling us to eat our meals as a family, it was unheard of to eat in front of the TV, even now when I visit my parents I find it hard to eat in the living room, I don’t even like to take a drink in there, it’s like holy ground!

My mom didn’t stop at just the main meal, she liked to make us a sweet treat every once in a while. I look at photos growing up and at birthday celebrations there was always a lopsided square cake with our names in piping gel across the top, my mom was no Sylvia Winestock when it came to baking, but when I look at those photos we were all smiling, it just didn’t matter!! Mom liked to bake, Texas Sheet cake, which I still have not perfected, I’ve been known to make a mean Texas hockey puck cake!! And when we were going camping we always had tandycakes! Ohh I’m making myself hungry just writing this!

So why am I writing this, well because I desire to leave a legacy for my kids, I’d like them to know who inspired me to cook and what recipes reminded me of my childhood and I wonder what would my kids pick as their favorite? Their choices probably won’t include ‘Spam’ or straight bologna, but I hope they will include lot’s of smiles and recollections of happy family times sitting at the dinner table together…

Thank you mom, for inspiring me

Incase your feeling like trying out that recipe for
Straight Bologna Stew here it is. I'm pretty sure you couldn't google this thing!lol

1 lb. hunk of straight bologna (cut into cubes)
sm. onion chopped
celery chopped
1 can stewed tomatos
*brown bologna, onion, celery in pan with a little oil.
add can of stewed tomatos and heat to a boil.
thicken with flour/water.
Serve over thin sliced fried potatos.

Quirks

Webster’s Dictionary defines Quirk as: a peculiar trait

I have been called many things, but never peculiar, at least not to my face!! But I just realized something, I have a quirk!! OK so I’m sure I have many, many quirks but this one just hit me tonight. It’s not a big deal really, sorta silly but it’s what I do, every time. So here is my big quirk, when I get a new scrappin magazine I first go thru it quickly, just breeze thru and pull out all the lil postcard thingies. Then I let it sit for a few days, then I go thru it slower and look at the layouts. Then it’s sits for a few more days, and then finally I read it word for word , cover to cover!! After that, well I rip pages out and do whatever and pass it on to the next crazy scrapper!!

So why am I so inclined to write this down? Well I don’t know exactly, but it made me think, what else do I do, all the time, without fail? I make lists, ohhhh I love making lists. Grocery lists, birthday gift lists, Christmas lists, daily chore lists etc… If there is a need to write something down, I make a list. There is something about crossing things off a list! I feel so, I don’t know, accomplished?? And if I should make a list, say a grocery list, and I have to cross something off before I go to the grocery store, well I make a totally new list. AND if I go to the store and come home and cross stuff off and still have other stores to go to, then I have to make another new list!

And coupons, oh my don’t even get me started with coupons!! I have this crazy thing that I cannot buy something without a coupon! Now if it’s a life and death situation (like bath and body works hand soap) then I will give some wiggle room, it at least has to be on SALE! It drives my Josh crazy! But I think he’s learning how to be frugal and thrifty. Either that or when he’s on his own he’s going to go hog wild and buy everything he’s ever wanted regardless of coupons or sales!! Ohhh I hope not! That’s all I have for now!!

And more thoughts...

Last evening I found myself unable to sleep, weighed with the burden of dear friends of ours who have just recently welcomed a baby into the world, a baby that at the very minute I am typing this, is fighting for his life. Sometimes I think as humans we want to control, we have it figured out and we have a back up plan if the first plan should fail, but my question then is, where does faith come in to play?? Is our faith something that we carry around like a helium balloon, it’s happy and fun and it’s there and we glance at it as we carry it along smiling, but when something serious happens we let that balloon go in order to free up OUR hands so We can get to work. When God’s hands already have it in control.. In scripture it tells us that we should “fix our eyes, not on what is SEEN, but on what is unseen.(2cor 4:17-18) So our faith needs to be a blind trust with our Heavenly Father. And as humans, it’s scary! Sometimes the places we are taken are cold and lonely and frightening but no matter where we go, no matter what the circumstances we face we are NEVER Alone!! When we face trials, it’s so important to cry out the Jesus, Psalm 143:6 I spread out my hands to you, my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” I love that “My soul THIRSTS” for you, I know there have been a few times in my life when I felt that physical thirst, that if I didn't get a drink I was going to lose my mind, that thirst was a need that I would do anything to quench and it was all I could think about. That's what Jesus wants from us, He wants us to desire him more than anything and drink of the living water, and when we do we need never thirst! Praise God! Do I think after we drink of this living water that we are never going to have burdens in life? No way, however, I am saying that during those times we need to keep seeking, keep knocking and be persistent in our prayers!! Drawing near to Him and HE will draw near to us. Psalm 73:26 says that “my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” HE is with us, when we weep, HE is weeping and wrapping his gently loving arms around us and even though we cannot physically feel his touch, we fix our eyes on the unseen, knowing that He is our refuge and strength!
Join with me in lifting up this young couple and their baby son. We are asking for nothing less than a miracle in his life. And pray that this couple will continue to trust and obey, to be deliberately obedient and intentionally trust!!

Thoughts...

Lately I have been feeling a bit like a chicken running around with it's head cut off. I have this crazy "to do" list a mile long and I feel like I can't do anything else until those 'things' get checked off. Only here is the problem, life is going on around me and I'm standing still while my family whirls around me. I want to engage but that 'list' keeps pulling me back! UGH! So this morning God woke me up extra early, 6:24a.m. to be exact! I layed there and tried to fall back asleep to no avail so I popped out of bed and started a load of laundry, only that's not what God wanted me to do. He wanted me to grab His word and my coffee and park myself on the patio and be refreshed. I didn't listen. I couldn't find 'my' bible, I had left it in the pew at church. And when I decided to get my back up bible, I realized that my husband shared that one with someone. Instead of grabbing one of my husbands (many) bibles, I sat down and sulked. It went something like this, "see, i can't even have my own quiet time, I am so unorganized and now my bible is not where it needs to be and I don't want to read someone else's bible, I wanted my bible." Ewe as I type this Willie Wonka is playing in my head..."I want a golden egg daddy, why can't I have a golden egg" and with that SELFISH ran through my head. I have been allowing my own selfishness to sabotage myself! Silly right? Yet as I sit and reflect that happens a lot! I get in my own way!
John 10:10 says the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life and have it to the full."
In my selfishness of my self imposed "to do" list I have allowed the thief to steal my JOY! UGH So for the rest of this morning, if you need me, I'll be on the patio with my husband's bible and my coffee, Join me!!

How Hannah became a true princess...

We recently came home from a family vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida. We had a wonderful time, can't say I have the desire to ever go again, but I'm glad we did go. Especially for Hannah, because in another year I don't think the Princess Breakfast would have had quite the "magical-ness"! I found this mini book idea on a scrap site that I frequent and I knew that I had to make one for my princess too. Here is the story as it is journaled in the album:

Once upon a time, not so very long ago in a far far away land there lived a beautiful maiden named Hannah. Her only fairy dream was to become an enchanting Princess. Her fairy God mother (mommy) always called her princess but she never really felt like a "true" princess.

Then one day, Hannah went on an adventure to the "Kingdom of Magic" in Walt Disney World.

One night while she slept, Cinderella came to her room in her magical carriage and left the beautiful maiden a wonderful gift.

Hannah awoke from her slumber to find a beautiful gown, a crown and some fairy dust.

Then fairy God "mommy" got right to work and transformed her into a beautiful princess.

And then she received a royal proclamation by Her Highness the queen to attend a celebration at the Akerhus Royal Banquet Hall.

Princess Hannah was extremely busy but she made time to enjoy breakfast with her fellow princesses.

Belle even found time away from the Beast to laugh and spend time with the new Princess Hannah.

Ariel was enchanted by Princess Hannah and stopped by to say Hello!

Aurora was passing thru and wished the new Princess well.

To end the day Snow White came by and joined the royal welcome.

And just like her friend Cinderella, Hannah also learned that "A dream is a wish your heart makes when your fast asleep" And Princess Hannah lived Happily Ever After.


*I want her always to remember this story, it was a lot of fun!! Now here is the 'real' story about how the outfit 'magically' appeared! Sooooo everyone that knows me knows that I am frugal. If not, you do now. When we were planning this trip to Disney many people told me that my daughter HAS to go to the Bippity Bobbidi boutique, so I checked it out. After I pulled myself back up off the floor (the prices are crazy!) I got to thinking, now, how can I make Hannah feel like a princess, and be cost effective in the process??? Bingo, I made my way to the Disney outlet where they had High School Musical gowns on clearance. Next was the crown head piece, again on clearance and no respectable princess would be without shoes, or in this case flip flops!! Wheeeee and then to Claire's where they had the hair extensions, with beads, and a pretty star necklace. And walmart had the fairy dust! DONE! Packed it in our suitcases and the evening before the breakfast, after Miss Hannah fell asleep, I got out all the items and displayed them in our room. Her reaction was priceless and when she asked where it came from her big brother stepped in and said, "how else Hannah, Cinderella brought it, in her carriage" And thus the fairy "tale" began. The best part was, on our way to the bus, we saw a horse drawn carriage!! Yep, that was the cherry on top!!