Christmas 2007

The Christmas candy is done! The presents have all been opened. Christmas has come and gone! I feel like I blinked and missed it. Here are a couple of snapshots of Christmas 2007. The only bad part was I misplaced my camera from Saturday after making candy and opening gifts with my mom, only to find it Christmas Day with no space on the memory stick! Imagine that. But I managed to get a few photos. We got to spend lots of time with family which was wonderful. Ate way too much... We got a Wii which has pretty much consumed all of our spare time. We even had a tennis tournament last night until 11pm with the neighbors. We drew up brackets and everything. I wish I had pictures of that! Brutal! I lost early in the round, but look out next time. This could be the start of a new challenge amongst the neighbors. I think each family got one! I wonder how many wii's were sold this Christmas season alone?

Random thought: I wonder how many people could have been helped or fed or clothed with all of that money?

Micki and Luke

As you can see, Renee and Micki worked really hard!!! hmm...

(check those rolls out)

Too much activity for Miley!

Traditions

Christmas is going to be AWESOME this year!! We have so many different things happening…I just want to savor every moment. Here are a few of my favorite moments each year:

1. Christmas Candy - my sister, my mom, the girls and I make candy together every year. We’ve been doing this for about…well…too many years to count! Now that my girls are grown, my 5 year old nephew has joined in as the official “sprinkler” for any pretzels or cookies. We laugh out of control the entire day (I think this could be a response to our system being overloaded with sugar?!). We each have our trademark candy that we make. Sometimes we retire recipes and add new ones. Regardless, the results are addictive and sweet!

2. Doug’s brother and family comes in every year for Christmas. I cannot imagine traveling in each year, but they do it without complaining. It seems as the kids have gotten older (most are teens now) a sleepover has developed where all of the cousins get together. I absolutely love it! I don’t get to see all of them often, so having them all over at the same time this year is going to be great. Baking cookies at midnight is the best…hope Micki doesn’t fall asleep early again.

3. My newest tradition that is beginning this year is having Doug home for Christmas. Not having to plan around shift-work is going to be amazing. All God!

I am so very thankful to have the opportunity to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Without Jesus in my life, there would be NOTHING for me to celebrate. The way I see it: Jesus is the ONLY reason for the season.

Got anything special you do for the Christmas Holidays? What are your traditions?

Mini-Monkey and the Wii

As you can tell, I'm no longer having "Miley's pic of the week". Don't fret...it's not the end of Miley photos. Tonight's pic clearly states that Miley has decided she is old enough to read on her own now. She is quite an avid reader I might add. I cannot believe that she's growing up so quickly! She is such a great baby and a pleasure to take anywhere. Since I've called her mom "monkey" for 19 years, I've decided that it is fitting for Miley to be "mini-monkey". There is nothing sweeter than seeing her little face light up when she sees Honey and Pops! What a huge blessing to our family!!!

On an unrelated note, we got a Wii today. Just for the record, I am THE Queen of bowling with a high score of 233. I know that's probably not great, but hey, tonight was my real first time playing!! I dominated 7 out of 8 games against Doug! I better brag because I'm sure he's going to practice until he can reclaim his status as the King! (likely by the end of the weekend only because he's working this weekend)...I cannot wait until Miley's big enough to play!

Where can I get one of these and

do they come in 'white chocolate mocha'?

Priceless

Pen......$1.00

Lunch with Doug.....$15.00

Watching my husband step out in faith....priceless!

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to my man! This has been the scene every night this week for hours at our house. He's been studying hard and reading like crazy this week getting prepared for his new job. He made the massive decision to make the switch for some normal hours and normal life (if there is such a thing). Make sure you give him a pat on the back when you see him. I am so proud of him....life will never be the same after next week! I cannot wait!!!!!!!!

Praise our Mighty God...it's only through His guidance and blessing that any of this is possible!

Need a Last Minute Gift Idea?

Having trouble finding something for that Hard to Shop For loved one? Well, here's an idea...how about Rhino Poop! You can bid on it right now. It's considered art. "Each piece is dried, mounted in a clear trophy case and marked with the type of rhino that produced it."

If you are looking for a gift for me...this is not it. But you can read the article on CNN's web page. What will they think of next?

God's Wonderful Grace Rules

So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death,

now God’s wonderful grace rules instead,

giving us right standing with God and

resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:21 NLT

I've been reading in Romans lately, and this has stuck with me all week. No matter what is going on in my life, God's wonderful grace rules! No matter how aggravated I get with my foot taking forever to heal up (or what seems like forever), God's wonderful grace rules! No matter how crazy things get at work, God's wonderful grace rules! No matter how many times that crazy person in the grey suburban drives like a maniac on L Landry, God's wonderful grace rules! And the best part is that God's wonderful grace rules not only in my life, but in every persons life...even for that person in the suburban! It's there for the taking. FREE! I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have it any other way...

God's WONDERFUL GRACE rules!