Happy New Year!

What a great Christmas we had!

On Christmas Eve, the girls are allowed to open one present. Every year until now, that present has been...matching pajamas. But this year, Mike was able to buy a used piano from the BCM, and spent weeks refinishing it without their knowing. So Christmas Eve afternoon, I took the girls to Dairy Queen for a treat (they just "happened" to fill up their marble jar that day!) and when we got home, I told them it was time to open their Christmas Eve present, and it was waiting in the living room. (Mike had some men from the church help him move it while we were at Dairy Queen, and even got boxes from Sears and wrapped it all up!) When they walked in and saw that HUGE box, they went nuts. It was awesome. Mike had to torture them, of course, and make them wait a little to open it...and then my memory card filled up! But here they are before they opened it:
And when they opened it and saw the piano...wow. I've never seen them so excited. They've been wanting one for years. It was so much fun.

That night we went to a Christmas Eve service at church (where they got to hold "real, lighted candles") then went home and had our own birthday party for Jesus, a tradition I grew up with. We fix a special dessert, put our nativity scene on the table, light our advent wreath and as many other candles as we can find, and Daddy reads the Christmas story out of Luke 2. Then we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and enjoy!

The girls left cookies and milk for Santa before going to bed. Mikayla's going to love that picture one day!

Christmas morning we told the girls they had to stay in bed until 6:00. Well, my clock said 5:59 when they burst into our room, but we let it slide. :) They have to wait together until everybody who needs to potty has pottied, and Daddy turns on the tree lights and gets the camera ready, then we all go in to the tree together. This year they found a sign that said, "Look outside"...and found a trampoline in the backyard! They were surprised and thrilled again!! And yes, I realize they're all going to break their arms. I've been told. ;)

Then we looked in stockings and opened presents, and everyone was happy with everything.







I love watching Mikayla open her present from Jessica--she cracks me up!

The aftermath:

I especially loved my new set of dishes (Pfaltzgraff Summer Breeze) that I've been dreaming of for at least 2 years, maybe more!

After a yummy breakfast of Aunt Melody's Christmas Morning breakfast casserole, we loaded up the van and drove 3 hours to my Mom's. We rested and played that afternoon, waiting for cousins Whitney and Kennedi, then opened presents again! Gran and Mamaw went together to get Jessica and Mikayla their first brand new American Girl dolls...again, they had no idea and were thrilled!

Then we had a nice big Christmas dinner, although we sure missed those who weren't there. The next day we hit the after Christmas sales--got to see some snow flurries!--and the day after that we went to Silver Dollar City in Branson with Mark and Sally and Kennedi to see the lights and shows and ride some rides. It was VERY cold, and we drove through some beautiful scenes of snow-covered hills in the sunshine. I loved it. For family and friends who feel like family, here's a slide show of Christmas celebrations there (*Click on the pictures and then roll your mouse over each picture to see the captions*):

Christmas fun

It's Christmas Eve and I'm waiting for my angels to settle down. I'm pretty excited myself! To pass the time...

Here are some Christmas quotes from my kids:

Rebecca (after hearing Mikayla comment on seeing a black Santa Claus): I like a brown-skinned Santa. I want a brown-skinned Santa. With a tattoo.

Mikayla (Christmas Eve morning, anticipating that night): I get to open one present, and find baby Jesus, and hold a real, lighted candle! (We went to our first candlelight service)

Jessica (at said candlelight service, thrilled to be holding fire): I feel so old!

If Rebecca doesn't fall asleep soon, maybe I'll have time to make up an "I Spy" poem about this picture:

Don't you just love "I Spy" books? Especially the Christmas one.
Let's see..
I spy a camel with saddle red and green,
I spy an angel with a robe of blue sheen.
A stocking of red with no other color,
4 lids, a penguin, and 6 snowman brothers.

That's all I can do tonight. Cold medicine's kicking in.

So I'll leave you with this Merry Christmas wish, from my family to yours--Christ is born! He lives! Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas!

More Christmas Music and ornaments!

When Rebecca's playgroup/preschool met this week, we took them to a nursing home to sing and pass out jingle bell door hangers. They were so precious--my favorite part was when they walked around afterward giving out hugs. Mikayla and Jessica are in the back, helping, and the front row is Rebecca, Claudia, Abby, and Kate.

I've had fun taking pictures of my ornaments and writing about them, but it made me realize how much I love all of them! It was hard to pick just a few. So I didn't!

Some remind me of special people...


My college friend Mandy made this one for me...she's in heaven now.



My college roommate and forever friend Angie made this one for me...she's in Africa now.



My high school friend Amanda (who I got to reconnect with when we lived in Conway last year!) made this one for me.



Our next door neighbor of 8 years, in Idaho, made this for us, as well as a stained glass nativity! We love it.



My friend from junior high in San Diego, Alyssa, made this for me. And last week she sent me the cutest scarf her mother made! It was such a sweet surprise.



Mike's brother Jeff gave everyone in the family this sweet ornament the first Christmas after their Daddy passed away.


We also have ornaments that remind us of special places:


When I was a sophomore in college, we took a Spring Break mission trip to Quito, Ecuador. One of the elementary schools we visited presented each of us with a little clay man like this. Mine has hung on my tree every year since!



The area in Idaho we lived in is called the Palouse. It is made up of steeply rolling hills of wheat, peas, lentils. From an airplane it looks like a Sharpei puppy. This ornament is woven from Idaho wheat.



I got this one the summer after my sophomore year when I was a summer missionary in Vail, Colorado. It was a great summer--lots of happy memories. I've always loved this one.

I guess I should stop now, but it sure has been fun. For me, anyway. :) Wish you could all come visit and see the whole tree!

Christmas music and more ornaments

Are there songs you've sung your whole life without ever paying attention to them?
Sunday night, before our adult choir musical, we sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"...have you ever noticed those incredible lyrics? "...God and sinners reconciled...veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell...light and life to all He brings, ris'n with healing in His wings...born that man no more may die..." Glory!
Then the choir sang so beautifully, and our new friend David sang "Little Yeshua" holding a tiny baby...I was crying until Jessica and her friend Macye, David's daughter, noticed and pointed at me. It was a special night.

Back to the ornaments...

This bluebird is one I bought as a gift for Mike when I went on a trip with my friend Sandra to Branson, MO, (and Laura Ingalls Wilder's house in Mansfield!) when he and I were dating. I remember when I gave it to him I was secretly hoping it would end up hanging on my tree! The wooden teardrop shaped one we bought on our honeymoon in Gatlinburg, TN.


My Dad brought me this little doll from Germany.


Jessica's first Christmas...I can't believe she's 9!!


Mikayla's first Christmas...she was a millenium baby.


4 years ago last week I went to the doctor for a routine monthly checkup. I was 11 weeks pregnant, and thought I'd be in and out, so Mike didn't go. Due to some concerns, the dr ended up doing an ultrasound, and there was no heartbeat. My Mom was already on her way to visit us for Christmas, so she was able to be with me when we went to the hospital for a D&C. That night, my friend Marnie brought us the book The Crippled Lamb and this little Joshua ornament. It's very special to me.


And God blessed us with my sweet Rebecca a year and 3 months later! Here is her 1st Christmas ornament...which was actually a baby gift decoration.
Stay tuned...just a few more!

My Own Personal Hallmark Movie

I had a friend in Idaho who used to video her kids when they were crying, or fighting, or in trouble, just so they wouldn't have idealistic memories of their childhood or expectations for family when they grew up.
I don't.
I'm beginning to think my perfectionism is creeping into my family life. (Remember my "failed" attempts at a family photo?) When we were decorating our "fancy tree," before I turned on my camera I told everyone in the family, quite sternly, that I didn't want any crudeness or meanness or extreme silliness on this video; just decorate the tree sweetly and remember you'll be recorded for all eternity. So twice I tried to video them and someone said, "Dangit!" or picked their nose or something else less than perfect, and I deleted the videos and tried again, getting more frustrated each time. On my third and final attempt, not only does my center child make a comment about tooting, my first-born puts her bahooky right in front of the camera and then jiggles my arm as I'm filming...and you can hear the frustration in my voice. Then I watched it, and finally the humor hit. As soon as I gave up on my idealistic fantasy of the living Hallmark movie (complete with background music), I realized what a mistake I'd made deleting the other 2, and how funny it all was. Everyone was having fun but me! I'm so thankful my Father is more forgiving and patient with me than I am with my kids! [I would post the video, but a)it's too long and b)it's too embarrassing. Baby steps.]

I do have some Hallmark moments in my Christmas season...sitting in my recliner by a toasty fire, stockings hung, gazing at my favorite ornaments, "treasuring in my heart" the memories they bring back. When we're decorating the tree I always make sure I can see my favorites from my chair. Here are a few that I love:

Maw, my Mom's mother, glued this ornament to the top of my Christmas present one year. She always put cute things on her presents...when I was a baby, she made our faces out of buttons and made gift tags out of those. She was so clever. Even as a child I remember staring at it, and seeing the lights shine through it. (Meredith--that is a Razorback leg in the background! Woo Pig, Sooie!)


Maw Maw, (yes, we're Southern)my Dad's mother, gave me this star with an angel inside. I always try to hang it near my wooden nativity.


When we lived in Virginia, our friends were so close they were more like family. We spent holidays together, went to church together, laughed and cried together. Mrs. Barrett, one of those special friends, made ceramic ornaments for each of us (and eggs at Easter!). Here's my cat, from 1972!


Also in 1972, my family bought a wooden ornament kit. "I" painted this elf (with quite a bit of help from my Mom!).


And last (for today) and least, I mean not least, this little guy. I always thought of him as a little marshmallow snowman...but Mike calls it an alien and tries to hide it at the back of the tree. My girls stood up for me this year and moved it right in front of his "Deep in the Heart of Texas" ornament.


That'll get us started for today...but there's more to come! (How about you...do you have any favorite ornaments to share?)

Can you smell it?

We decorated my favorite tree Friday night...the family tree, the memory tree, the REAL tree. It smells soooo good. Here is a picture of us decorating, and hopefully soon I'll take pictures of my favorite ornaments like Mer did.



But wait, there's more...
My Mom and neice visited us over the weekend. So Mike and I thought Sunday morning would be a perfect time to get her to take a family picture for us to put in Christmas cards. When I got my camera back and looked at how they turned out, I laughed out loud.






Oh, my.
And last but not least, the videos are working now!

Stuck

My brother the army chaplain, currently in Iraq, used this story from our childhood in a recent sermon. I don't remember this exact incident, but I do remember the Wonder bread sacks to get my boots on, and my Mom's "garbage coat," which is what I called it because she always wore it to take out the garbage!

Galatians 1:3-5 Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

We lived in Chicago which meant that there was snow on the ground from October to April and that we wore rubber boots over our shoes everywhere we went. To keep our shoes from getting stuck in our boots, we would put a bread sack over our shoes so our shoes would slide in and out with ease.

This habit will be etched in my memory forever because of one late winter day when my brother and I decided to take a shortcut home from school. Rather, he decided to take a shortcut and being the younger brother, I followed.

At first, the noise made by the mud sucking at our boots – a combination of a slurp and a thwuck - was funny, but soon I was stuck.

Help me, big brother, I cried. Patiently, gently he yanked me, not out of the mud, but out of my boots. “Curse you, bread sacks!” Now I was really stuck and really muddy and really crying. His only course of action was to leave me (where could I go?) and get our mother. I don’t know how long I waited stuck like that, but I knew my mother would come. In her car coat and rubber boots, she walked right through the mud and put her arms around me and pulled me out. She carried me back to the side walk, and after retrieving my boots, she took me home.

I. And that is why God sent His Son that first Christmas. His children were stuck, and He had to redeem us.
II. He came to reconcile us.
III. He came because He remembers the covenant .

Christmas Program!

[I don't know why the videos aren't working...they work when I'm editing it. Sorry!]

Last night was the children's choir program at our church, and it was great. The choir director did a good job of making sure everyone who wanted a special part got one. My mom, Mike, and I all marveled at Jessica, who had a speaking part. If you knew her under age 7, and saw how terribly shy she used to be (unless she was holding her buddy Jonathan's hand) you too would be amazed at her speaking so confidently, loud and clear. I credit the warm, supportive teachers and leaders at Moscow Charter School and Trinity Baptist Church, where she was until 3rd grade, as well as those she's meeting here. I'm so thankful for the people God puts in my children's lives to mold them into who He wants them to be! Here is Jessica as "Isabella" (please excuse the feedback...Jessica had to wait to finish her lines until they fixed it, and even that didn't throw her!):

and here is Mikayla singing her duet (at least until my memory card was full):

Pray for New Life Church

Go to Life at 7000 Feet to read why.

One More Football Post

Did you watch the Heisman awards show last night? Although I was, naturally, disappointed that Darren McFadden (aka DMac, aka Run DMC) didn't win, when I heard Tim Tebow's testimony I couldn't help but like the guy. He was humble, and gave glory to "his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" every chance he got, and said his priorities are 1)His relationship with Christ, 2)His relationships with family, 3)Academics, and 4)Football. My-favorite-ESPN-newscaster-Kirk-Herbstreet said, "We've all seen your passion for #4, what must it be for the other 3!" Go here to watch his acceptance speech. It's encouraging to know there's hope for the next generation!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I realized I never showed you my Thanksgiving pictures; then I realized that in most of them we're decorating for Christmas, so why not put all the decorating ones together in one big slideshow? I guess our Thanksgiving traditions consist of eating (which we were so busy enjoying that we didn't take any pictures), watching football (and who wants pictures of that?) and decorating for Christmas.
Speaking of traditions, looking through my pictures also made me think about the traditions Mike and I brought into our marriage, and those we've started. Gingerbread, for instance. I never had gingerbread growing up (it's still not my favorite), but it's our tradition now to bake gingerbread men right after Thanksgiving, as our first Christmas treat. Neither one of us had an advent wreath growing up, but we started having one several years ago and now it's one of my favorite family times. We have 2 Christmas trees (aren't we spoiled?). One is the fancy tree Mike wanted, artificial, with white lights, red and gold balls, and a train going around the bottom, and the other is what I call the family tree, real, with multi-colored lights and all our home-made and memory ornaments. When we had a 2-story house it didn't feel quite so silly as it does now, with 2 trees in basically the same room...but my girls wouldn't have it any other way!

Home school art

I subscribed to the Teach Art at Home online newsletter, and we did the December project this afternoon. I was worried it might be frustrating for Mikayla, but she did great, and we all had fun! Here are the results:

Jessica's:



Mikayla's:

Words on Faith by Beth Moore

Go here to read this and more:
"Christ: the perfect blend of security and mystery. He’s security because of all we really can know about Him. Count on about Him. Believe unwaveringly about Him. But He’s also mystery. Someone we can’t conquer. Can’t explain. We know He’ll show up (security!) but never know how (mystery!). I love that about Him."

Heat Wave

It feels like Spring! Yesterday it was 65 degrees, and the girls went out on the driveway to paint their fingernails and toenails while Mike hung Christmas lights. Here's their handiwork:


(I wish you could see Rebecca's better...she got more on her feet than on the nails!)