Christmas Tour of Homes

Welcome to my home! (a day late!)

hope you enjoy.

This was the first year that we were able to set up our village since we started the collection about 7 years ago! I know that seems like a long time, but we are a little funny in that we wanted to have EVERY piece before we sat it all up! Well, now we do SO....I give you.....Little Town Of Bethlehem, by Department 56.....you should be able to click on the pictures to see the details! We are amazed at the detail of this village!

There is actually more to the desert scene, I guess I just didn't get it all loaded!

Now on to the living room.....

Our tree....although I am allergic to every tree known to man, we always have a real tree! I just pop the antihistamines! :)

This is the same angel we have had on our tree since our first Christmas together. This will be her 12th Christmas on top of our tree!

Just a few ornaments....we have a wide variety!

The kids fought over who would put this one up....they both miss our dear Pongo!

This tree is a small fake one I had at school. I put it up in the breakfast area and let the kids decorate it!

These two hang under the base of their little tree. They each made these little trees in Mission Friends at church a few weeks ago. They glued Hersey Kisses to the dots, and have taken off one each night, counting down the days to Christmas. I will use it again next year....maybe with a more spiritual meaning though!

And my tour ends with a visit from Santa. He stopped by this past Sunday. The kids were in total shock. The girl just stared at him and played with his beard, and the boy talked nonstop! Reminding Santa that he REALLY wants a Red Rider BB Gun! Santa played along and told him that he would "shoot his eye out!" LOL The great thing about this Santa was that he reminded the kids that the TRUE meaning of Christmas is in Christ, not him and the presents we get. It was really nice to have that come from him and we didn't ask him to say it at all!

And that ends my tour...

Hope you enjoyed.....

Go visit the other 700 + homes over at BooMama's!

Praise and Coffee Giveaway!

Do you want some PRAISE........

and some COFFEE......

If so, then head on over to Sue's at Praise and Coffee. I love going to her site. I get a lot from her Two Shall Be One Tuesday posts. Check them out!

WOW!!! $100 Jewelry Giveaway!!

I just went to Lisa's and she had a post about this giveaway over at Rachael's. I can't get over the cuteness of this stuff! The picture above is my absolute FAVORITE of the bunch.

Many nights a week Rachel asks me, "Mommy, how much do you love me?" And I tell her, "I love you to the moon and back, to the moon and back, to the moon and back and back and back and back. How much do you love me?" and she says the same thing back to me.

Go check out the giveaway and while you are at it, check out her ETSY shop too.

Two Shall Become One

Please go on over to Sue's place today at Praise and Coffee. She writes a post every Tuesday titled "Two Shall Become One" and today really spoke to me!

Satan attacked me last night after I wrote the post below, and I let him win! But in the end the victory will not be his....

I vote for LIFE!

I totally agree with my friend Sue at Praise and Coffee on this!

This is RIDICULOUS!!!

Ok, I have SO gotten into a rut that I didn't realize it had been a week ago today since the last time I blogged. And I only noticed that because I saw it on the sidebar of one of my blog friends!

The days have been so crazy around here. I promise to get some pictures up and to share some funny stories with you all SOON. So please don't give up on me. I will return!!!!

I started another blog for my classroom called Pieces Of The Puzzle. Check it out. It's still evolving. I hope to be able to use it as a tool to keep in touch with the parents, and to introduce the students to other kids within the Autism spectrum that are successful members of society.

Another thing that is ridiculous these days is my weight! I know part of it is stress and all, but I put on a pair of pants this morning that had gotten way too big for me. Well now they are just a little big....what the heck!

SO, starting this evening.....I am either taking evening walks in the neighborhood or I am getting my behind to the gym. The frequent stops to Starbucks will be coming to a halt....well, at least slowing down. (can't stop all together...what in the world was I thinking!!!)

Well, I can at least say I posted something today...may not have been all that interesting to you all, but at least I did it!

Timothy has a soccer game tomorrow! The season was suppose to start 3 weeks ago, but because of the two evacuations we obviously didn't get started. Maybe I'll have pictures of that on Monday. Oh, and hubby is coaching this time! Very interesting!!!

New Look!

Well I found the best site for those of us who would like a new look, but can't afford the facelift! You can click on the little box at the top corner of my blog, or just go to The Cutest Blogs on the Block. There are tons of free, and yes I said free, blog backgrounds. You can also sign up for a facelift, but this costs and there is a waiting list. However, I am sure it is TOTALLY woth the wait!

By the way they also make photo cards too! There are many different blog design secrets and tools there too! Go check them out!

WOW Quote!

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, satan shudders & says..."Oh no....she's awake!!"

This was one of those things that when you saw it you just had to copy and paste it right into a post. I stole it from Angel's site!

A Couple of Must Reads!!

Ok, I don't have much time to post today, but I will take time later to respond to both of these blog posts.

The first one is over at Angel's place...it is the Dangerous Surrender Chapter Two post! You must read it! There is so much I want to share about that post, but it will have to wait a day or two. I just don't have the time to type it all up in one sitting.

Then next one is over at Rachel Anne's.....it is titled The Goodest Mom. Go read it! (Am I sounding a little pushy?? Oh well!!

On another note...I am feeling much better. I still haven't heard from the doctor's office yet about the scheduling with the Allergist/Immunologist, but I am sure I will soon. And for Rachel, tomorrow is her speech/language evaluation with the school district. Please pray for her in the morning.

Thanks to you all!

An Award!!!

I feel so honored! My dear blogging friend Natalie has adorned me with this award! To Natalie I extend a ! She allows God to show compassion through her daily as she continues to come by here and encourage me, a stranger of sorts to her! Thank you for your kindness!

Now I understand it is my duty to pass this award along to someone.....hmmmmm....... this is really hard!!!

First of all I would like to extend this award to DAISY. She and I go "way back" (in blog history that is!) When I first started blogging, she was one of about 10 people on my sidebar! Honestly, I can't even remember how I got to her site......it might have been that I was just hitting the "next blog" button at the top! (of which, I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU DO!) She is a wonderful mother and has two of the most adorable children! She has always been so kind to stop by and check up on all that is going on around here.

Thank you Daisy for being such a kind friend!

Another that I can not leave out is my friend Janna. She is a friend of mine from college! We had some rough times starting out (heehee), but God saw to it that our relationship take a turn, and I am blessed forevermore from her friendship! Janna has had some tough times in her life, but always takes time to come by and see how I am doing. She is my friend and I love her dearly! Janna, thank you for always being there! I am praying for you dear friend!

Check this out!

One of my Bloggy Friends...... Natalie......showed me how to do this!

TAKS TESTING IS OVER!!!!!!

She says she has become a nerd, but I told her that I think it is great! Now maybe I can learn somethings from her! LOL

Surrender

I just came back from here ,an acquaintance from college, Angel is an awesome person and sometimes I don't think she actually realizes how awesome she really is! Just like many of us, she is just trying to do what God has called her to do and in the meantime she is sharing it with all of us, and for that I am very thankful!

Every morning I log on to this computer, check my email accounts and then quickly browse through many of the blogs on my sidebar. (of which later I will be adding Wendi...another UMHB Alumni!) Anyway, they are in alphabetical order, so as you can see, Angel is # 2 at this moment in my "blog life". So, as I started to "scan" her blog this morning I got stuck!!! (once you start reading her blog you will understand what I mean....sometimes you can't just "scan" it!)

First of all, she is adopting a sweet baby girl from China. You can read all about that on her blog. So, the first post I saw this morning was one in which she was showing all the stuff she was packing up for her upcoming trip to go get this precious baby girl. Then I started scanning the next few posts and since I , for some reason, can't view video's here at work, I just scanned over them until I came to this one, and this is where I got stuck!!

I am not currently reading the book she mentions here but the title of the book is Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren. It sounds like an EXCELLENT book and I hope to read it soon.

I STRONGLY encourage you to read HER post about the chapter she just read and what she got out of it. I am not going to even try to restate everything she had to say, but I did want to share with you what I got out of it as I read her post.

My "red pill" moment came a couple years back when I decided that the experiences I had growing up (the rape and self-abusive behaviors, the "yoyo divorce" my parents had, the addictions my dad faces still today, and every thing else....which was a lot) would help me to minister to young girls. However, giving up my "dime store pearls" for the real thing and allowing God to use the "cheap" stuff in my life to bless others has not been easy. It never is, for most of us anyway. I still keep finding myself with that red pill in my hand ready to swallow, but getting a bit choked on it!

Ok, I said I wasn't going to do this, but I just had to add this quote in here right now! It was taken from Kay's book:

After a month of anguished wrestling with God, I reached a point at which I had to make a conscious decision. Would I retreat to my comfortable life and to my settled plans, pretending I didn't know about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the millions of orphans? Or would I surrender to God's call and let my heart engage with a cause I was pretty sure would include buckets of pain and sorrow? I didn't know what would happen if I said yes to this increasingly strong urge to engage- what did "engaging" even mean? I felt like I was standing on the edge of a giant precipice; I couldn't go back, and yet the way forward looked like stepping into a void.

The moment of decision came. With eyes closed and teeth clenched tightly, I finally said yes. The second I did my heart broke, and I was SHATTERED.....

I bolded the part that really hit me. If I am truly ready to take that red pill, then I am about to step into a world that will "include buckets of pain and sorrow". OUCH!! I sit here shaking my head, letting out heavy sighs, with a wrinkled brow, knot in stomach and huge lump in my throat as I reread and type!

I feel that there are SO many girls out there that are suffering. They either grow up in homes where the family is all "together" and everyone pretends that "all is well" (I say pretends because we all know that there is NOT one perfect family out there!). Or they grow up in a home where no one is there for them and they feel all alone. They all want to reach out to someone but feel as if there is no one for them to reach.

My family may have been a little "messed up" at times, but I know they loved me. Many of these girls feel that same way, but many of them don't even get to feel the love. My heart aches for those girls. Those are the ones that society "uses". They get beaten down from all angles. They beat themselves up while others are doing the same. They end up pregnant or in loveless relationships. They are the ones pretending all is well, but falling apart inside. She might be the girl sitting next to you at church, bathed, well dressed, singing in the church choir and active in every ministry you offer. OR she may be the girl that you see at the mall that you avoid eye contact with because you aren't too sure about her. You don't know if she is dressed the way she is because she belongs to some "cult" or because she is "working" the streets, or because she doesn't' have anything better to wear.

Either way, she is a girl. She longs to be loved, accepted, acknowledged, forgiven, at peace....and the list could go on and on and on.

I think people avoid such topics....disturbing ones....because they are afraid that God would have them do something about it! That is why I LOVE this quote that I found on Wendi's blog. She has it posted right under the title of her blog. What an awesome quote. I think it says it all!

"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it..., but I'm afraid God might ask me the same question."

~ Anonymous

Chew on that for a while!


Once again.....heavy sighs, knot in stomach, wrinkled brow, lump in throat and head shaking!


What do you think God wants YOU to do?

Pictures

Ok, I was FINALLY able to load all these pictures! WHEW....it took a while! As you can tell I have not had my camera with me at work in a while. These pictures are all from the month of April.

Come back tomorrow for an update on my doctor's visit. I wanted to wait till I took Rachel for her hearing check this afternoon. That way I could post them both together. Oh, Timothy's eye appointment was scheduled this morning for Tuesday, 29th of April...next week.

So, let's get started.....

These first few are from Tables On Parade. The women of our church all decorate tables and the men serve us dinner. We have special music and a speaker that night as well. This is my table. Simple, just like me! :) There were some AMAZING tables for sure....However, I didn't get pictures of them all, there were so many and I was too busy getting mine together and hosting it as well.

Here are the kids after we finally got home that night. They were dying to smell the roses in the car. So as soon as we got home, just barely in the back door, Timothy insisted that I put them on the floor so he could smell them!

Now, this next set of pictures are just a sample of the ones I have from the Sage conference at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler. If you all haven't heard of Sage, then go check them out! Great girls ministry! The theme for the weekend was Simplicity: feedom from chaos. The talked about ways to simplify your life so that you have more time to focus on God and your relationship with Him. They also do a fashion show/slide show of ways to dress/not to dress. The girls we took had a great time....although, several of them didn't even want to go!

This is Nolen. He was our bus driver. You can tell he was very excited about the weekend! LOL I snapped this picture and told him that it WOULD be posted somewhere at some point. So, Nolen, here it is! (He said I was wrong for taking this shot!)

Merritt Johnston is the main speaker. She is awesome. The girls loved her.

A time for praisin' and worshipin' our Lord with the ALL GIRLS Sage band! Our girls thought they "rocked!" Megan Charles was the "lead" singer for the group. She is on staff at Green Acres as their Girls Minister.

Rachel's 1st Tea Party! She had a blast....well...to be honest, she was very shy and reserved for the whole thing..... They had princess dresses for all of them to wear and then they had two young girls there doing hair and makeup....Rachel insisted that she sit in my lap while they "dolled her up". Then she made her way to the table. The mother of this birthday girl had gone to different garage sales and thrift stores/antique shops to find (a ton of) tea cups and saucers. They were all cute! She put them all on the table at each place setting and then the girls got to choose which one to sit at; this is the one that Rachel chose.

The special prize for the party was that Cinderella came! The girls were so excited! Rachel finally smiled! But she was still hesitant of Cinderella until Mommy talked to her too.

Now for my little MAN....well, Sunday before last he decided that he wanted to wear a suit with a tie just like Daddy does. We had this coat, shirt and tie that someone had given him a little over a year ago that had been hanging in his closet. It HAD been too big for him, but not anymore! However, the shirt would not button around the neck! It fit him perfect everywhere else, but would NOT button around the neck. He was very upset about it but still determined to wear the tie....so I did the best I could....I clipped that little Veggie Tale clip-on tie to the next button down.

What's a Momma to do on a Sunday morning as she is trying to walk out the door (already running 15 minutes late!!) and her little man is upset!

Isn't he handsome!!! Sunburn (from t-ball and the first "warm/sunny Saturday in months), bummed chin and all!

Well, that's it....actually there were many other pictures to share....but these were just a few to highlight the month so far! (there is still more of it to come...)

Siest Fiesta

Oh, I am so excited!!! I went by Lisa's this morning and she had this cute little button on her post with the announcement that "Patty and Kim have created a Siesta Fiesta Blog for those attending the LPM event in August."
WOOOHOOO!!!!! I was so excited that I headed over there myself. Go check it out. It is going to be a great place to get to know fellow Siesta's before meeting up in San Antonio.

I am still working on the details for attending the event. I hope to be there SO, I will be frequenting the site!

Need $1000??

Need $1000 dollars? I thought so! If you'd like a chance to win, write a haiku poem about your mom and enter it at Rocks In My Dryer. Hurry!!!!! She's closing the comments tonight!

**Just a note** A Haiku is a poem consisting of 3 lines. It has 5 syllables in the 1st line, 7 in the 2nd one and 5 in the last one.

Here is mine about my mom:

Momma, or MeeMee,

loved, missed, admired and adored,

you're all these and more.

New Addition

Got ya....I bet you thought I was going to tell you I was expecting again didn't you??? If my mother is reading this she was probably about to pass out!! She already thinks I am way TOO busy as it is! LOL

No, really, I have added a new button to my side bar. It is Married to the Ministry. A blogroll on Lisa's site at The Preacher's Wife. Go check it out!

just a test

Just checking to see if a badge from Pay Per Post pops up at the bottom of my post. I've been trying to play around with editing the html....we'll see

***ok...didn't work.....

I am trying to get this....

to show up at the end of all my posts with out having to copy and paste it every time I write a new post....I don't know where to put it in the Html to make it do it every time.....

If anyone knows, please share!!

Thanks!

Self Defense

I may have mentioned to you all that I was going to a girls conference this weekend. I will post about the conference itself later today or in the morning. For now though I wanted to talk about some basic self defense things that were mentioned at the conference that have been on my mind.

During one of the sessions they talked about "Things every girl needs to know" and one of those things included some basic self defense techniques. Some of them you may already be exercising, but I am going to share them with you just in case you are not.

1. Always walk in the middle of the road between the isles of the parking lot. What I mean is, don't walk right up next to the cars. It only takes someone about 2 seconds to step out, muffle you mouth and throw you into a car if they want you bad enough. If you walk in the middle of the isle, then they are less likely to come after you for fear of someone grabbing you.

2. Always carry your keys so that a key or two are poking out from between your fingers. This gives you your own little weapon.

3. When fighting back, don't go directly for the gut. Go for the face! Attack any exposed skin you can find. When you think about it, if you go for the gut, or the mid section, then you have layers of clothing to get through. If you go for the face, you can cause some pretty good harm pretty quick!

4. Carry some kind of personal defense spray. I found some online here Blackhawk Gear . Along with many other items that could be used. Those of you with hubbies in the military or in the police force should check out that site. It has some pretty good discounts on items they could really use! I may go to that site to get Carlton some more Under Armour.

They also mentioned some other techniques, but that would require me making a video and posting it here, but I am not to that point in my blogging capabilities yet. (Hopefully soon!)

Anyway, hope you learned something new, and hope you find something at the site that will help you!

Free IPod????

Head on over to Cooking By The Seat Of My Pants. You might could win one!

New Look!!!

So, what do you think??? Jenny at Pink Armchair Designs "pimped" my blog!

HeeHeeHee....that was SO not something that is usually in my vocabulary......hubby's YES....mine.....not so much. But I thought it was funny!!!! LOL I guess it is okay to laugh at myself!!!

Go on over to her site and check her out!

She is SO precious. I think it is pretty cool how her design fit my personality and she doesn't even know me! The only thing I gave her was a poorly drawn DimpleQueen done in paint and in black and white. She took it and ran with it! She was so kind and said she liked it.....it made me laugh!

Thank you so much Jenny!!!