Santa Handprints

I know, I still have Thanksgiving pics to post and here I am posting something Christmas-y. The Thanksgiving pics are coming but I just couldn't help myself in posting this.


While I am a crafty person, I rarely do projects that I put around the house - I tend to stick to scrapbooking & stamping. I saw an idea in the Dec Family Fun that was shown as a card and I decided to do it a little bit different.


Here is the original idea:

And, here is what we did with it:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and I think it looks great on our wall in the family room.

Hannah Montana Concert

One of Morgan's birthday presents was two tickets to the Nashville Hannah Montana concert. Apparently tickets were hard to come by and we saw tickets farther away from the stage than ours going for $1000 for two!!! I have to admit that it gave me pause as we could use an extra grand around here. But, I was reminded of the credit card commercial and new that this fit into the "priceless" category - no sale here.

Eric took Morgan to the concert the day after Thanksgiving and Morgan was SO excited. It was rather cold outside but she already knew what outfit she wanted to wear and it didn't matter that she'd be cold for a little while (yes, she wore a coat too).

Eric called during the intermission between The Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) and they were having a blast. He said that he should have brought ear plugs because the squeals from the young girls when they came on stage was deafening. My husband among a bunch of screaming girls at a HANNAH MONTANA concert, now THAT is priceless!

He said that Morgan was fun to watch during the concert, standing the whole time and singing and dancing along when she could. I wish I could have seen her myself.

Here's my baby and Eric before the concert (AUNT KRISTEN - note the bag ;) )

Redeeming Love

I have a lot of other catching up to do (pics from Thanksgiving, tree trimming, etc.) and I have 4 loads of laundry to put away but I just had to take a minute and post about something I read today.

I know that many of you have read the book "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers. If you haven't, you NEED to read this book, it's fabulous. I started reading it yesterday after church and I couldn't put it down. I finished it this morning before taking Owen to his 2 year check-up. It was that good.

At the back of the book was a note from the author talking about her spiritual journey and why she wrote this book (it's a fiction book btw). The following quote has nothing to do with the book, I just loved it.

"Many churches seem to be mere museums for plastic saints, or they preach
fulfillment from the world's point of view - a 'prosperity gospel.' This
church was different (the one that her family tried after moving). It was a
hospital for repentant sinners; their only blueprint for life was the Bible,
which everyone was carrying, and - most amazing of all - reading!"

I am so thankful to be a part of a church that is neither a museum or teaching the "prosperity gospel" but, instead, is committed to teaching the truth from the only book that matters - the Word of God.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's officially Thankgiving Day, not by much, but it's here. Just finished up two pumpkin pies and now I am getting ready for bed - obviously.

On this Thanksgiving Day, here are a few things that I am thankful for:

1. Jesus and His sacrifice for me on the cross.
2. My husband - he's a keeper :)
3. My kids - they are so cute and so fun to be around (most of the time LOL)
4. My family on boths sides (Eric's & mine).
5. Health
6. God's provision in our lives
7. My church & small group
8. I could keep this list going & going & going

There is SO much to be thankful for! Praise God!

Suddenly it doesn't seem so bad...

Okay, we've had a hard time with Drew & the potty. The kid is almost 4 and still has accidents and we still have to stay on top of asking/making/demanding that he use the bathroom as he doesn't like to stop what he's doing and use the restroom.

We've had accidents in lots of places and I've spent lots of time frustrated.

Maybe it's in light of our struggles that I found THIS post hilarious. Seriously, if you have a potty-training child or one that will be soon or recently did, you NEED to read this. Furniture store + expensive sofa + potty training child = READ THIS.

Pain in my BACK!!!

Okay, I just have to gripe for a minute.

MY BACK HURTS! Not a little hurt, a big, annoying, can't-bend-without-crazy-pain HURTS.

I have had lower back pain since college when I was in 2 accidents within two weeks of each other (Mom, not sure I ever told you about the 2nd accident after the one I had in Colo. Spgs). My lower back got knocked out of place and I had to see a chiropractor to get it put back in after many months of pain (it took me that long to work up the courage to go to the chiropractor for the first time). Every now and again, not often, it gets knocked back out of place and, wow, it hurts.

I called 2 chiropractors today but they have weird hours and no one was in. I'm hoping I can get in tomorrow because this bites.

Any recommendations anyone? I hate trying out chiropractors, I've had a hard time in the past finding good ones.

Unexpected Fire Drill

I was up at Morgan's school today helping with some PTO stuff. There were several of us popping popcorn, getting prizes counted, etc. I had left Owen in the PTO office while I went to take Drew to the restroom. Suddenly the fire alarm goes off. Great - what am I supposed to do now? One kid with me and another kid in a different part of the school.

I go outside and another PTO mom agrees to watch Drew while I walk around back to find Owen. I found him and we wait.

Turns out it wasn't a planned fire drill, the alarm was set off by the popcorn machine THAT THE PTO WAS USING to get ready for something tomorrow at the school. LOL!

Oops!

11, 12, 13

Eric and I both really like the Oceans movies - they are pretty clever and interesting to watch. I have a funny "history" with the Oceans movies.

The first time I went to watch Oceans 11, I fell asleep. I tried several times after that to watch that movie but I fell asleep each and every time without fail. I think after trying 5 or 6 times I decided to watch it during the day instead of at night and I did end up seeing the whole thing.

Oceans 12 came out, same thing - I fell asleep each time I tried to watch it until I wised up and watched it during the day.

So, Oceans 13 came out this week and what do you think happened when Eric pushed "play" on the DVD last night? Yep - I fell asleep!

Perhaps I need to throw out the Tylenol PM and just pop in one of those movies when I can't sleep. For now, I'll try to find a time during the day when I can watch it kid-free.

Just call me "Scrooge"

I love the Christmas holiday, I really, really do but I just have to play Scrooge for a moment.

It's NOVEMBER 15th, one week BEFORE Thanksgiving, the leaves are still changing, it just now got a little cool outside, so why, WHY are there Christmas lights & decorations out already?????

Seriously????

Isn't there some kind of unwritten "law" that says that no Christmas decorations are allowed to be put up until AFTER Thanksgiving???

Operation Christmas Child

Our church is participating in Operation Christmas Child with Samaritan's Purse. Over the past several months, we were asked to bring in items such as soap, toothbrushes, socks, toys, candy, etc. that can be sent to children around the world for Christmas.

Each week Morgan has come home on Wed. night from church and told me about the items that we needed to bring in. She kept reminding me and we brought several things in.

Tonight was the night that the church packed the shoe boxes and sent them off to Samaritan's Purse. I have to be honest, I almost didn't come to church tonight. My back is KILLING me and it was pouring down rain - the idea of getting out there was NOT appealing. We went anyway and I'm so glad that we did.

Drew sang in front of the church with the other preschoolers - that was a riot in and of itself. Then I took the boys to their class and helped Morgan pack her box. She was THRILLED. She got the soap that we brought as it was the only one of a certain kind and thought that was the best thing ever.

I am glad that she is learning to show Jesus to others in a practical way through this project. Thanks to all those at our church that worked so hard to make this a success.

Please click the title above for more information on Operation Christmas Child.

"My bum is talking"

Those were the words my oldest son, Drew, used tonight to describe the bodily function he was having issue with. I'll let you figure out which function that was LOL.

Sometimes the things these kids say cracks me up!

Am I Not Allowed.

I read this today and I found it very good. Thought I'd pass it along. It's worth the read.

Scrap night fun

Tonight was so much fun. It was the first time that I've had people over to scrap/stamp since moving to TN.

Before moving here, I had a few friends that I would get together with, sometimes weekly, to scrapbook and stamp together. It was one of my absolute favorite things to do and so much fun with other people. I've missed that but, to be honest, haven't wanted to get together at my house because I was sad that I didn't have my scrapbook buddies with me - we had been doing this together for YEARS.

Tonight my friends Suzanne & Misty came over and it was great. We definitely need to make this happen more often!

His name is Jealous

"Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."
Exodus 34:14

On Wed. night during our sr. high ministry, we talked about how God is jealous. Jealousy as wikipedia defines it include actions that happen when a person believes a valued relationship is being threatened by a rival.

How appropriate a definition. God gets jealous when we give our affections to someone other than Himself and He will stop at nothing to get our affection back - He is in constant pursuit of our affection.

Doesn't that blow your mind? God desperately wants what is His - WE are His. He pursues us and He longs for us to pursue Him.

There is a constant war over us for our attention and affections.

I have to tell you, lately I feel like I'm in the middle of a war zone. We are important to God and Satan wants to destroy God and take away what God deserves - to be glorified. If Satan can get our attention on things other than God, then he has succeeded in robbing God of the glory that He deserves.

Does anyone else feel this way sometimes? I rarely hear people talk about it so I have to wonder if I'm the only one that feels the battle that goes on for our affection.

We need to fight like we know that there is a battle. God is actively pursuing us and wants us to live a life that glorifies Him completely.

Lord, help me to fight each day against the plans that Satan has for me. Help me, instead, to run whole-heartedly after you, a God jealous to have my attention and affection. Keep my heart, mind and spirit safe from the deeds of the evil one and set me apart for your purposes here on earth.

Changin'

Can I be honest and just say that I've been struggling lately? Seriously. I think the past 1.5-2 weeks have been the worst. I have been so frustrated because I feel like I can't get past certain issues and I end up dealing with them over & over again. I hate that. It feels very defeating to keep having the same issues and I have to be honest, the past few weeks I've let that take the wind out of my sails, so-to-speak. I started thinking it was hopeless to keep on fighting a losing battle, I was never going to be able to change that particular struggle so why bother.

Do you ever have those moments where God just kind of turns on the light-bulb and you suddenly get-it?

I had one of those last night.

Jesus has completely and totally changed my life. He changed my heart, he changed the place where I would be spending eternity, etc. The list could go on and on. All of a sudden I had this thought - If God could change the big things like my heart and my place in eternity, why couldn't he change the little things (and they are little in comparison to eternity)????

Sound simple?

It is - simple but not easy. Does that make sense?

God CAN change the things in my life that I struggle with on a daily basis. I struggle with anger, I struggle with consistency, I struggle with laziness, I struggle with my thought life, I struggle with pride, the list could go on and on.

I don't need to feel like I'm fighting a losing battle, God has won the battle.

Lord, help me walk in the faith that you can and will continue to change my heart and life. Please help me to submit completely to you and trust that you will mold me and make me into the woman of God that you want for me to be.

Sassy Girls

For Morgan's 6th birthday, we decided to treat her and some of her friends to a Sweet & Sassy party. It was really something - wow.

They got to pick their outfits, have their hair & nails done, do a little dancing, a birthday conga line, a runway show and then do cake & presents. It was SO MUCH FUN.

The theme was Hannah Montana and Eric was able to get a couple of tickets to an upcoming concert so that was Morgan's big gift from us. She is SO excited and can't wait to go.

Happy 6th birthday!!

Computers....

I started having some major problems with my computer and decided that I just needed to do a restore and start over. Eric was awesome and went and got an external hard-drive so that I could save all my photos & files over to that and then re-did my computer for me. It's a bit frustrating getting a few others things restored but that's okay. Now my computer works and I can burn CD's again & get on the internet, etc.

Gotta love technology!

Trick or Treat

Tonight we went over to Eric's cousin's house and spent some time with their family. The kids were excited to go out trick-or-treating.

Here are some pics from the night. Madelyn was dressed up as Belle and her daddy was going to go as the Beast. Unfortunately the only beast mask he could find terrified Owen to the point that he was in my arms screaming so Madelyn had to go trick-or-treating with her Daddy instead of the Beast. The other kids in the pic (pirate & ninja) are Madelyn's cousins on her mom's side.

I'm sure you can figure out what my kids dressed up as but just in case - Morgan was Hannah Montana, Drew was Spiderman minus the hat, and Owen was Pooh.

Bonus pic - Madelyn just became a new big sister last week when her brother, Riley, was born. Below is a pic of Riley and his mom, Rachel. Isn't he CUTE???





I also wanted to include an article that a family member forwarded me regarding Halloween. I struggle with this holiday because I don't like what it stands for yet it is hard, for our children, to ignore all that is going on around them. How intentional we must be as Christian parents to make sure our kids look at things as God sees them.

It's a good read.

HALLOWEEN
Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?
By Pastor Eric WattGuest Writer
CBN.com – What about Halloween?
Should you and I be involved in the celebration of Halloween?
Finding the answer to this question has been an interesting journey in itself. I interviewed several people and then researched what many leading Christian writers, authors and spokesmen have written about the subject. I also searched various websites like www.christianitytoday.com, www.focusonthefamily.org, and www.cbn.com to read what others might be saying. What I found was an agreement on the origins of Halloween, but a mixture of recommendations about allowing our children to participate in this super-charged media driven holiday.
The origins of Halloween are Celtic in tradition and have to do with observing the end of summer sacrifices to gods in Druidic tradition. In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. The waning of the sun and the approach of dark winter made the evil spirits rejoice and play nasty tricks. Believe it or not, most of our Halloween practices can be traced back to these old pagan rites and superstitions.
But what about today? Perhaps we can still learn from history. In the fourth century, Christians attempted to co-opt the holiday by celebrating the lives of faithful Christian saints the day before Halloween. This was a conscious attempt to provide an alternative and re-focus the day away from ghouls, goblins, ghosts, witches and other “haunted” experiences. Since that time many Christians have decided to allow their children to dress in more “innocent” costumes of pumpkins, princesses, Superman or as a cowboy. Part of this is due to the simple reality that in today’s Western culture it is nearly impossible to “avoid” Halloween.
Just before reaching a conclusion on the subject, I was struck with the thought that I ought to further my search and find out what Wicca, the official religion of witchcraft, has to say about Halloween. Perhaps they viewed the day as a simple fun and innocent neighborhood activity?
“Shock” is the only word to describe what I found. Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca. In fact, it is one of two high and holy days for them. The Celtic belief of spirits being released is current, along with the worship of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are promoted as something to embrace on that day. There is no question in my mind that to those who believe and follow the practices of witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world.
So after discovering this, what is a reasonable conclusion? As Christians you and I are placed in this world to be a light in a world of darkness. There is no lasting benefit to ignore a holiday that exists around us, but it also does harm to celebrate Halloween as it has originated and grown over the centuries.
My suggestion? Christians should be teaching their children (age appropriately) that:
there is a spiritual world filled with goodness from God and evil from Satan (Eph. 2:1-10);
life with Christ has power over darkness (I John 4:4); and
those who celebrate Halloween either are unaware of its roots, or are intentionally promoting a world where evil is lauded and viewed as an ultimate power.
To counter the evil influence of Halloween, we need to join together and celebrate the reality of the heroic efforts of Christian saints over the evil in their day. Many leaders in the past -- and present -- have fulfilled the mandate of destroying the works of the devil through their sacrificial commitment to Christ and His Kingdom.
Too, rather than “hide” in the face of evil, we should unabashedly and boldly create an alternative that is positive and uplifting; that celebrates good over evil and the triumph of God over Satan. We need to provide an environment that also makes room for heaps of fun while using the day as a “teachable moment” to celebrate God’s protection, provision and purpose for our lives.

Oops

Well, apparently Morgan wasn't allowed to dress up for school today. I looked in the school handbook and it didn't say that they couldn't dress up, I looked for something in the notes sent home from school, again, nothing said they couldn't dress up. I did have a note from her teacher telling me that I could dress up and add to the craziness of their Halloween party and the school down the road was able to dress up as book characters. Call me crazy, I guess I just assumed they could dress up as long as it was modest. I remember dressing up for school and loving to see what everyone else wore.

So, Morgan gets up and we get her all dolled up as Hannah Montana, wig and all. She was SO cute (I'll post a pic later) and she heads to school. About 30 minutes later I get a phone call from her teacher asking me to bring in clothes as they weren't allowed to dress up. Nice.

I felt really bad because I didn't want Morgan to feel embarrassed or anything so I hurried up and got to her school with clothes. She could have cared less and for that I am thankful.

So - tonight - Hannah will be out & about along with Spiderman and Pooh Bear.

Hannah Montana

So, is it sad that my TWO YEAR old was sitting in my car the other day ASKING/YELLING/BEGGING to listen to Hannah Montana and today my THREE year old turned it on here in the house?

Aren't they a bit young to actually like listening to Hannah Montana???