Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours....Merry Christmas!  May God remind you of your blessings today and in the coming year.  We have SO much to be thankful for.

Here's a little something from us to you that will definitely bring a smile to your face.  Hope you can take a minute to visit.

Have a wonderful day!

What We're Up To

1.  Baking sugar cookies.  My favorite are the mittens.  I just love adding a new cookie cutter to my collection each year.
2.  Shoveling.  Playing in the snow.  More shoveling.  Repeat.
3.  Watching my toddler play in the snow and LOVING it!  My boys are definitely fond of the winter.
4.  Being cute.  'Nuff said.  

We hope you all are having a great weekend and anticipating Christmas with joy.  

Christmas Came Early This Year

I am sitting in the quiet while the rest of the house sleeps.  Hubby gets to stay home today. It's a SNOW DAY!!!  One extra day gets added onto his two week break.  The kids can bundle up and play in the freshly fallen snow, and mommy will be waiting with hot chocolate and marshmallows.  

Today is a day for enjoying.

As far as I'm concerned, Christmas is here! 

Counting my Blessings

I'm overwhelmed today.  

I have too much to do and not enough time to do it.  The list is so long.  When will I find time to get it all done?

I'll be honest...part of it is because I've chosen what's better for me and the family at the moment, and not necessarily been focused on my responsibilities.

Today I chose to spend part of the day baking cookies.  It is, after all, seven days 'til Christmas and cookies are part of the deal.

Monday I took the boys out for Cody's birthday.  We did a little shopping, went and had a birthday lunch and just enjoyed the day.

Last night, we had a lovely meal with our small group and had a splendid time singing Christmas carols and relaxing by the fire.  (The kids roasted marshmallows in their fireplace.  It was too cute.)  

Tonight, we had rehearsal for our upcoming Christmas Eve service.  We sang and laughed and talked.  

And the presents aren't wrapped yet.  The house is in shambles.  My bathroom needs a good scrubbing and the laundry has started piling up.  

I must remember that Christmas only comes but once a year and that it's about so much more than the guilt I feel over not sending out Christmas cards.  

Instead I'll follow the Star to a stable and the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths.  

O come, let us adore Him....Christ the Lord!

What the Birthday Boy Has Been Up To

Cody turns 7 tomorrow...the 15th.  I can't believe that!  I say it every year, but it seems like yesterday he was just a little baby in my arms.  How fast they grow!  This weekend at church, I watched him stand up and sing with the children's choir and he also carried a banner down the aisle for one of the songs.  He's even considering playing percussion with a drum ensemble on Christmas Eve.  He's really growing up!

We had a Wall-E/space theme party with some of his neighborhood friends.  We got very creative and came up with all kinds of fun things for the kids to do and eat while they were here.  The kids painted flying saucers and also made glow-in-the-dark moon rocks.  For food, we had intergalactic asteroids (pizza rolls), flying saucer pizzas (mini bagel pizzas), martian food (a watermelon filled with lots of fruit), mission to mars juice (green kool-aid and green ice cubes), out of this world cheese stars (cheese cut-outs), and little dippers (carrot sticks with ranch dressing).  We had lots of fun naming the food!

We had cupcakes with little Wall-E and Eve candies on them.  

Caden enjoyed a cherry candy cane which only added to the excitement.  : )
Truly, a great time was had by all.

And now, a tribute to the birthday boy:

Dear Cody, 

These past seven years have been such a blessing for me, your mom.  You are such a kind-hearted, sweet little boy.  I love watching you grow and change before my eyes. The time we've had together this year has been especially meaningful, as I feel we've gotten to know one another in new and different ways.  I love watching you play with and help take care of your little brother. Caden looks up to you and you make his eyes twinkle with happiness (MOST of the time!).  The two of you have gotten to be such good buddies and that makes me so happy.  I am seeing you grow and mature in areas I've prayed about since you were an infant.  I watched you serve in church this past weekend and sing His praises.  I listen to you every day, memorizing your Awana or Sunday school verses, reminding myself what a blessing it is to have God's Word at our fingertips that we might hide it in our hearts.  I see you learning and growing and I give all the glory to God for all that is good in you. It is a privilege to be your mom, and there is not a DAY that goes by that I don't thank God for the gifts He's given me...you are one of mommy's special gifts, indeed.

I love you, sweetie!  Here's to a wonderful year #7!

Love,

Mom

SHE'S ALIVE!

I'm still here....and managing to keep my head above water, praise the Lord!  We had a wonderful rehearsal at church last night as we continue the work at putting our Christmas program together.  Our choir is such a blessing, and we are so thankful for each and every one!  

In other news, Cody will be turning 7 on Monday (I can't believe that!) and we're having a small party with some friends of his tomorrow.  He was under the weather on Tuesday but appears to have made a full recovery.  He chose the Wall-E theme (we just saw that movie recently and we all thought it was adorable) and we've combined it with a "space" theme so it should be "far out!" Don't worry, I'll upload pictures soon....

I have stuffed goody bags, made cupcakes, wrapped a few birthday presents and prepared the space ships the kids are making  with two paper plates and a paper bowl on top (yes, I am having them make a couple crafts...am I nuts?).  Tonight we head to rehearsal for our final countdown to our weekend worship services.  Tomorrow, let the games begin!

If you're still reading, thank you.  If you're totally bored, I understand.

Moving on...I wrapped up lessons today and now feel like I can finally focus on Christmas.  It only took me 11 days, but that's OKAY!

I hope you all are savoring the best parts of this season and enjoying the remembrance of our Savior's birth.  It is such a special time, and it's so easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of the holiday season.  I am ready to slow down and drink it in.

I hope you are too.

MIA

It probably appears I've been missing from the blogosphere for a while and that's because I have been.  Life is crazy right now.  Jerry and I co-direct our church choir, and our big worship service for Christmas is this coming weekend.  I am music directing "The Sound of Music" for Christian Youth Theatre (CYT) this winter, and auditions were this past weekend.  Even though rehearsals don't start until after the holidays, there has been a lot preparation, so that's had me busy. Cody's birthday is in a week, but we're having some of his friends over for a little party on Friday (which happens to be tech week at church for our program).  Trying to stay focused on homeschooling, domestic responsibilities and still teaching 16 students per week on top of preparing for Christmas (OH mercy, I've barely started) is causing me to feel like I'm swimming (mostly drowning).  So please forgive me if I've not updated much this month or commented on your blogs.  I'm here.  Just absent.

And I'd appreciate your prayers...for strength, energy, good health for the whole family, and that my kids hold up during the week. Thanks, everyone!

Faith Proclaimed

In a world that's becoming increasingly hostile toward people of faith, I was overjoyed to hear the gospel message portrayed so beautifully today on Oprah.  I have started recording the show because I'm seeing that there are some shows that are actually worth watching....today was one of them.

Today's show was about the Cerak and Van Ryn families and their story of the mistaken identities of their two daughters back in 2006.  Both of these families are people who clearly love the Lord, and they boldly proclaimed that the only reason they have gotten through this ordeal is because of their relationship with Christ.

If you haven't seen it yet or familiarized yourself with their story, you need to.  It's amazing. You can read more at the show's website, but they have a book out as well that recounts their ordeal.  I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

The best part is that it was watched by millions of people.  And the name of Jesus was lifted high.  Praise the Lord!