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!

Spotted Boy, Tired Momma, Whiney Girl, Vacationing Daddy and Home Repairs

WOW...what a couple of weeks we have had around here. First, Rachel had fever for 5 days.....YES 5 days! She had no other symptoms than fever but it was high. Her only problem now is that she has reverted back to the whiny 3 year old. Well she is 4, but I remember 3 as being whiny....... gotta love her though....she's so stinkin' cute!

Now Timothy has CHICKEN POX!!! I praise the Lord that he didn't get them as bad as I did when I was a child. I had them EVERYWHERE!!!!! Timothy has only had them on his chest, back, and a few on his face. He never ran fever, but did complain of a stomach ache and sore throat a couple days before the first spot showed up. And yes....before you ask....he did have his vaccination. Well, he had the 1st one, but when school started and it was time to get his second one, NO ONE had it...not even the health department. SO, it makes me wonder.......does he really need it now? Hmmmmm......

As for the Momma of the house......well I am exhausted. I have had SO much going on at work lately, and have had to bring a lot of it home too. SO, I am tired. I am drained emotionally, physically and mentally! And today, one of my students didn't get his meds before coming to school, so the day was almost wasted. He was in RARE form and therefore the others fed off his behavior. There wasn't much I could do to "discipline" him because it really wasn't his fault and at the same time, I didn't feel I could do much to the others either.....it was just ONE OF THOSE DAYS!

The man of the house is on vacation. He had several days of paid vacation from the church that he had to take before the end of the year. So, he took some now and will take the rest at Christmas. I praise God for this because I don't have much leave built up at work, and since Timothy has had to stay home, it has worked out wonderful. He is out tonight at a Rockets' game.

As far as our house goes.....we will really need your prayers. We are about to have to take out a loan of some kind to pay for all the repairs. The plumbing will be around $5500 and the foundation will be around $6000 and the repairs to the inside we are not completely sure about but I would venture to say they will be in the ball park of $5000 as well. This is definitely money we don't have right now, but repairs HAVE to be done. Pray I can lay it at HIS feet and leave it there!

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.

Fever, Fever, Fever!

Today is day 4 of fever. Well, yesterday was a fever free day, so I guess it's actually day 3 with fever. Rachel woke up Thursday morning and told me she needed medicine. (sometimes I think she is a little hypochondriac!) Anyway, that afternoon, the daycare called me at work to let me know she was running a fever of 102.4. So I left work since the man was in Houston for a doctors appointment himself.

When I got to the daycare, she was listless and burning up! I called her doctor (cause I am the momma that runs to the doctor) and since she had just gotten over the bronchitis and ear infection, they told me to bring her in to the office. We were a work in, so you know what that means....yep...we sat and waited for 2 1/2 hours to see a doctor! The only positive thing about that is that Rachel slept the whole time.

Once we got in they took a swab to check for strep and it came back negative. Therefore, the diagnosis was a virus. A virus that they had been seeing with high fevers for 24 hours up to 5 days! Her fever has been as high as 103.4 and that's with Motrin and Tylenol!

She was fever free on Saturday, but woke up this morning telling me she needed medicine. She was on Carlton's side of the bed and he said, "Angie, I think you need to get the thermometer." Sure enough her temp was 101......UGH!

Pray for my little princess!

Today's Small Thing

Well, today's small thing was to speak with kindness all day. I told Rachel Anne that this was going to be a very difficult thing to do today.....well actually it has been difficult for me to do everyday since school started.

I am a very kind person by nature. Many people laugh at me when I tell them "I got mad today". I mean, I know I have my bad days and all, but for the most part I am pretty easy going!

I must ask you all to pray for me about this though. I have one VERY difficult student. Probably the most difficult I have had in my whole teaching career. It has definitely been a trying year thus far, but I know it will get better!

I not only want to speak to him with kindness today, but everyday!

BYOP (My Class)

Today, over at We Are THAT Family, there is a pumpkin carvin' party going on and my class participated today! Here are a few pictures from our carvin' party!

Overdue!

Below are some pictures I have been meaning to load for a LONG time now! I am just so busy and overwhelmed with all this new stuff at school that I just haven't had the time. SO...here you are....

Some summer fun with cousin Caleb....He adores Rachel!

Rachel and Timothy's first catch.....and some fries!

Timothy, Rachel and I joined Daddy at Disciple Now this year. Carlton wasn't able to get them their own DNow shirts, so I made them their own.....they loved them....and everyone else thought they were cute. Look at her face!!! LOL

My Boy's on Timothy's first day of school!

Timothy and Rachel....they really do love each other like this A LOT!

I don't do pictures well(I close my eyes all the time), and almost left this one out...but what the heck!

Timothy and his Kindergarten teacher.

There....got it done! Can check it off the list....now on to other stuff!!!

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....

Finally Free!

There has been SO much going on in my life and I have felt so "pushed down" by it all, however, God is showing me so much hope and peace these days and I feel I should share that with you all.

I have struggled for some time with depression. I have mentioned it here before in various posts. I mentioned it to one of my doctors, and he suggested I try taking a "lightweight" med. for a while. So, I decided to do that.

I know that taking a medication for depression can be a sticky subject among Christians, but for me it wasn't a question this time. My whole person was becoming someone that I couldn't stand to see in a mirror. Someone that I didn't know and someone that I didn't want my kids to know either.

I have been taking this medicine now for3 1/2 weeks. And with the exception of a day or two during "the visit" I have had a pretty peaceful feeling. NOW, do I totally give credit to the tiny pill I take every night before I go to bed.....NO....

I know that God has had much more to do with this freedom I am feeling than this tiny pink pill. Since taking this medicine, I have been thinking a bit clearer, and therefore have spent more time with Him than I had been. So I know that HE is the main reason for this freedom. I do give him thanks for giving me the courage to discuss this issue with my doctor. It had been on the tip of my tongue for some time now, but I just couldn't bring myself to say anything when he would ask, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Ever been there? I pray not, but if so, share it......

God is opening up so many doors for me right now. Tonight I was invited to a ladies Bible study at a neighbor's house. We (neighborhood ladies) read some scriptures, shared prayer requests and prayed together. Two of us were Baptists, one Methodist, one Catholic, one member of Church on the Rock, and one non-denominational member. It was awesome that we were all able to come together and pray!

Another thing is that God is opening up doors for our student ministry, the girls ministry to be exact. We will be hosting a Sage conference. This is something I have prayed about being involved in for many years, but God has closed the doors many times. Well, He is flinging them open now!! So pray, it's going to be a busy few months. The conference will be the last weekend in February!

Here is a video I posted many months ago....please listen and enjoy!