Our White Christmas

Last Wednesday night while we slept, the clouds quietly rolled in and we awoke Christmas Eve morning to this beautiful sight....







We had four inches of snow....not a common occurence here in West Texas....and the makings of a white Christmas, which is even more rare. Only the fifth time in the recorded history of our city.

And, you may remember, my kids missed it.

Grandma came on Tuesday night, and she, Kloe, and Jacob left for her house on Wednesday morning. The Mister and I joined them there on Thursday to spend the weekend for Christmas.

The kids were so sad when we told them it had snowed, because we were certain all the snow would be gone by the time we got home. Snow doesn't tend to hang around long here in our neck of the woods.

But when we got home Saturday night, what to our wondering eyes should appear? There was still plenty of snow left for playing, shoveling, making snowmen and snow angels and rosy cheeks.... These pictures are a little deceiving - they make it look like there was hardly any snow at all. Actually, there was quite a bit left, especially in the shade, and there were pretty deep drifts closer to the house. Further out in the yard where the sun was shining, it melted quite a bit faster.






Jacob insisted on wearing his too-small rain coat instead of his warm winter coat....


And here he is building his HUGE snowman. See Kloe's to the right? It was even tinier!




They say everything's bigger in Texas....except our snowmen! :)

And guess what happened on Tuesday? More snow!


The kids were so excited to go out and play while it was actually snowing. I looked out the window and saw this....


What is he doing? Just laying there, basking in the joy of SNOW. :)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

On the way home from Grandma's Saturday night, we heard this song by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir on the radio....

Happy Birthday To You.
Happy Birthday To You.
Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus.
Happy Birthday To You.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.
I'm so glad it's Christmas.
All the tinsel and lights
and the presents are nice,
but the real gift is You.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.
I'm so glad it's Christmas.
All the carols and bells
make the holiday swell,
and it's all about You.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.
Jesus, I Love You!

And from Jacob in the backseat,

"Mama, I love these words!" :)

bleh

It's Christmas Eve, and we got 4 inches of snow last night. This will make only the 5th white Christmas in the history of our city.

I had to work today.

My husband is at work as we speak.

And my kids are 150 miles away at Grandma's house....where there is NO snow.

Something is not right with this picture. :(

What a difference a day can make

One day later, this is what my "still to be done" list looks like:

Buy gifts for kids' school parties.

Wrap teachers' gifts.

Oh yeah, wrap ALL the gifts.

Attend 2 school parties tomorrow.

Four more family/friend gifts to buy. down to ONE!

Make and package spiced tea for various friends and family members. 2 more to do

Mail gift to niece who lives far away.

Two other gifts to mail.

Make coaster set (gift for a friend - supplies are already purchased).

Write letter for the one Christmas card I still need to mail.

Write thank you notes for my birthday, which was two weeks ago.

Christmas party tonight.

Seminar tonight after the party.

After my office Christmas party, and after the seminar, and after staying up until 3:15 a.m., I finally got all the teacher gifts wrapped, classroom gifts wrapped, paperwork filled out (various stuff for school that was due Friday) and spiced tea bagged.....and the kids both had a great time at their Christmas parties.






Our principal and assistant principal....they're the greatest!


Today, Jacob and Dad are building a birdhouse for Grandma....


....Kloe is lying on the couch with a 101.6 fever. Yuck....


....and I'm off to Hobby Lobby to buy my LAST Christmas present! Yay!

Oh wait. I mean....I'll be staying home to tend to Kloe. Maybe the Mister will have to go to Hobby Lobby. :)

Making my list and checking it 217 times

Gifts for parents and in-laws....check.

Gifts for teachers....check.

Gifts for immediate family....mostly check - two more small things to get for Kloe.

Gifts for friends....half check.

Gifts for our one niece, who lives far away....check.

Mail Christmas cards....check - all except one that I need to include a letter with.

Decorate....ahem.

Jesse Tree devotions every night....umm, not doing so good on this one. :(


Still on the list:

Buy gifts for kids' school parties.

Wrap teachers' gifts.

Oh yeah, wrap ALL the gifts.

Attend 2 school parties tomorrow.

Four more family/friend gifts to buy.

Make and package spiced tea for various friends and family members.

Mail gift to niece who lives far away.

Two other gifts to mail.

Make coaster set (gift for a friend - supplies are already purchased).

Write letter for the one Christmas card I still need to mail.

Write thank you notes for my birthday, which was two weeks ago.

Christmas party tonight.

Seminar tonight after the party.


And then there's the regular to-do list:

Drop off clothes at the cleaners.

Go to the bank.

Laundry.

Grocery store.

Housework.

Dinners to cook.

Help kids pack for trip to Grandma's next week.

Plan childcare for the 2 weeks they are out of school.

Balance the checkbook.

Pay bills....helpful!


It's hard for me to keep things in perspective at Christmas. I want so much for this season to be about JESUS and not about all these to-do's, but it's so hard when there just seems to be so much TO DO!

This post at Sincerely Anna really made me think today. How exactly do I do all the to-do's, and not end up looking back when Christmas is over and asking, "Where did Jesus go?"

I'm such a black-and-white person. All or nothing. One thing OR the other. This way OR that way. It is hard....HARD....for me personally, to buy gifts and go to parties and decorate and send cards and visit friends/family and run errands and do all the normal day-to-day stuff....and keep my focus and my family's focus on Jesus.

HARD.

In my tunnel vision approach to life, it almost seems like I either do all the to-do's or keep our focus on Jesus. I know that's not right....every moment of life is supposed to be about Jesus, whether I'm at church or doing Bible study or praying....or mopping the floor or picking up the dry cleaning or playing Monopoly. But it's really hard for me.

I guess my brain works more like a man's in that respect. More waffles than spaghetti in that department.

Hard.

I could really use your insight. How do you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus while doing the to-do's?

Family Night - Beer and Brats

Just kidding.

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day (which was actually on December 6) on Thursday night.

You know how I am....always late.

I first learned about celebrating St. Nicholas Day by reading the comments on this post at Building the Blocks. I wasn't quite sure how to go about celebrating - even after doing a little research online - but I did read somewhere that St. Nicholas Day is a common German celebration, and since both the Mister and I have some German roots, we decided to go the pseudo-German route. We had a pseudo-German dinner of brats and sauerkraut....


and beer ROOT beer.


We also had pierogies, because I thought they were German. Turns out they're Polish. Oh well....they were yummy. :)

(and yes, I'm slightly embarrassed looking at this picture to see how out-of-date my dishes are. you know, I never really notice stuff like that until I see it through someone else's eyes. oh well. they work, and we actually still have an almost-full set. :))

Both kids loved the sausage and hated the sauerkraut. Kloe loved the pierogies, but Jacob didn't like them at all (surprise).

After dinner we read The Legend of St. Nicholas - which actually isn't a legend at all - and learned about a boy named Nicholas, whose life became the foundation for our modern Santa Claus. Nicholas's parents died while he was still young. They had been very wealthy, and he inherited a large amount of money from them. A devout Christian, Nicholas used his wealth to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering...most often doing so anonymously.


So after reading the story and talking about Nicholas, we had our own little family Secret Santa exchange in honor of St. Nicholas.

It was really fun, and the kids were so cute trying to keep their gifts and whose name they had drawn a secret. As soon as Jacob drew a name out of the bowl he looked at Kloe and grinned, then ran off to his room to wrap her present. (we had each bought presents - at Dollar Tree - for everyone else in the family, so we would be prepared no matter whose name we drew.) When he came out of his room, he said, "You're just gonna LOVE what I got you, Sissy, you're just gonna love it!" So much for the "secret" part. :) So cute!

The Mister drew my name, and after wrapping my gift he came out of the bedroom saying, "You're NEVER gonna guess what I got you!"


After the gift exchange we made gingerbread men. I don't know that they are particularly German, but at least one website I found during my brief research said that they are popular St. Nicholas Day treats, and I thought they would be fun.

Well. The day AFTER we had our celebration I found pre-made gingerbread cookie dough, both in a tube and in a tub, but the day we were shopping all I could find was the bagged mix (sorta like brownie mix). You KNEW I wouldn't be making them from scratch. And only AFTER I had already dumped all the ingredients into the bowl....and was wondering why I couldn't get them to mix together....only then did I see the microscopic print at the bottom of the recipe that said "If using spread in place of margarine, be sure it contains more than 65% vegetable oil." Mine? 53%. Great. Apparently it wasn't oily enough. So in an effort to get it to mix a little better, I stuck the bowl in the microwave for about 6 seconds.

Well. It mixed up just fine after that, but now our dough was like goo. So much for using the cookie cutters. We opted for free-form gingerbread men, and shaped them with our hands like play dough.

Well. That didn't work so well. They came out looking like Pillsb*ry dough boys.

see? you can tell from this picture I'm not a baker....I don't even own a cookie sheet. we do all our baking on a pizza pan. it works better than when we used to cook our pizzas on a cookie sheet! :)
They turned out a little puffy....


....and nontraditional....


but they were still pretty cute....


and yummy!

Don't you love it when God shows off His awesomeness?

I was reading Kerry Hasenbalg's blog today, and I loved her most recent post so much I wanted to share it with you. She was telling 5 reasons she loves homeschooling (her son Cole is 7 years old), and Reason #3 caused my eyes to fill with tears....because....well, because God is just so awesome.

To understand the significance of Reason 3, you have to read Reason 2....

Reason 2: After finishing our reading about the life of Solomon in history class, Cole said, “Mom, I am really looking forward to heaven. When I get there I will hug God first, then I will ask to see the dinosaurs with my own eyes, and then third I will ask him what my special gift is. Do you think it’s strength like Samson or wisdom like Solomon or something else?” I said, “I am not sure but perhaps it's wisdom Cole. But no matter what, it is very important that we continue to ask for wisdom all along our journey in life.” Cole responded saying, “Yeah, I think you are right, I do really struggle some with bravery, especially at night time. Its like the controls in my brain aren’t working as well as they do in the day and it is difficult to capture all my fearful thoughts when it gets dark and late." I answered by telling him that I get more emotional at night too. I then explained that I know exactly what he means, and that he, like me, will just have to choose to believe in God’s Word even when our minds are weak and afraid. He said he was grateful to know that even as an adult I struggle sometimes too.

Reason 3: I was then reading Cole some of Solomon’s proverbs so that he would choose one to copy in his journal and memorize. When I asked, “Honey, which scripture verse do you want to write?" he said, “How about 2nd Samuel chapter 22 verse 3?" I said, "We were reading the Proverbs, what made you say that verse in 2 Samuel?” He answered, “I don’t know mom, I don’t really know if there is a Second Samuel book.”

I said, "Perhaps God gave you that thought because He has something for us written there, so let’s go and look and see what 2 Samuel chapter 22 verse 3 has to say." (emphasis added)

And the verse reads, “My God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold, my high tower, my savior, the one who saves me from violence.”

And when I finished reading those words, Cole said with great excitement, “Mom, this is the perfect verse for me. I am going to write this and learn it and draw a picture about how God protects me to help me when I am afraid and my controls in my brain aren't working so well.”

God is so awesome.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Ps. 115:1

Sweet Sleep

This entire post is copied from Angie at Bring the Rain....it really touched my heart, and one way I can DO SOMETHING to help is to pass the info along to you (I will also be sending a donation to Sweet Sleep). I hope you will visit their website and consider how you might be able to help. The cost of a mosquito net is only $8.00....that's 2 coffees from Starbucks....a Sonic Brown Bag Special....half the price of a CD....less than a movie ticket....you get the idea... :) Love you, friends!

Six years ago my friend, Jen Gash, started an organization called Sweet Sleep after seeing the conditions of children’s beds in an Eastern European orphanage. Today, Sweet Sleep provides beds and bedding for orphaned and abandoned children around the world (http://www.sweetsleep.org/). They don’t just give the beds to orphans, they communicate God’s intentional creation of each child and His unconditional, unending love. They celebrate the children by throwing the biggest birthday party in the country. The children are even given Bibles in their own language and prayed with over their new beds. Finally, the children are told that when they lay down at night and pull the cozy new covers up around them, it is God---giving them a hug.

One week from today Jen will leave for Uganda where she’ll spend several weeks in the northern region of Gulu. This region has been in a brutal and senseless war for the last 22 years. A rebel army known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been terrorizing the North, attacking villages during the night. During an attack, LRA soldiers kill anyone they want and force the children of these villages to kill their parents or be killed themselves. The children who are left alive are then kidnapped into the LRA army and forced to become child soldiers. These children have lived through tremendous atrocities.

Recently this war entered into a time of peace. However, there are 1 million people still living in displacement camps in Gulu; three-quarters of those people are children living in child-headed households. These children have lost their parents and their grandparents---two generations of people to protect and care for them, to tell them stories about who they are and who they could be, to teach them stories about God and how to live according to His word.

This Christmas---while Jen is in Uganda, Sweet Sleep hopes to give beds and Bibles to 450 children. If the children can lie in their new beds and know they are loved and protected and, if they can claim a verse they’ve learned which reminds them of this knowledge, they can begin to have little victories over the fear that grips them. That’s when peace and hope and love can slowly come to their little hearts.

But, Sweet Sleep needs our help.

218 more children still need beds ($88 each). Together, you and I can work to change and save lives. Here’s what is still needed, you can determine which opportunity suits you best:
· 218 mosquito nets. Malaria kills more people in Uganda than HIV/AIDS. Treated nets are $8 each.
· Mattresses for 218 children so they will be able to sleep up off of the ground for the first time in their lives. Mattresses are $50.
· Can you imagine not having a blanket to warm you during these chilly nights or sheets to sleep in? 218 more children still need to be able to be warm and snuggly. They can for just $30.
· Bibles are $10 each. There are 450 households for a total of $4,500.

You can make a gift right now by going to www.sweetsleep.org/donate or you can send your contributions to Sweet Sleep, PO Box 40486, Nashville, TN 37204 with “Gulu” in the special comments box online or in the memo line of your check. All gifts are 100% tax-deductible. If you still need a great idea for a Christmas gift, you can even make this a donation in honor or memory of someone and they’ll receive a card from Sweet Sleep telling about their special gift. You can read more about this at www.sweetsleep.org/givethegift.

Thanks friends…..for changing and saving lives.

Jubilee is Coming Home!!

Back in August I wrote this post about my bloggy friend Linny, whose family is in the process of bringing home their new daughter, Jubilee, from Ch*na. In August, the previous acceptance of their application to adopt Jubilee (please forgive my errors in terminology, as I'm not too familiar with the adoption process) had just been revoked by the Ch*nese government. At that time I was asking you to join me in praying for Linny and her family, asking God to move on their behalf so that they could bring Jubilee home. You can read all about Jubilee here.

So many things have happened since then - none of them good, really - in regards to Jubilee's adoption. In early November Linny's family found out that their paperwork had been sitting buried on someone's desk for weeks. And due to some red tape glitch, because their immigration paperwork had been lost in their house fire in January, they were going to have to refile it all over again....AGAIN (for the 3rd time). They have had trouble with the US Consulate in Ch*na, the immigration office, you name it. It's been a roller coaster ride, to say the least.

Well, God heard our prayers, and I wanted to let you know that Jubilee is coming home! Thank you all so much for your prayers. Linny and her daughter Emma are leaving on Friday to go pick up Jubilee. Their Consulate appointment is December 21 at 9:30 a.m., and they are planning to arrive back home on Christmas Eve. Is that an awesome Christmas present, or what?

Will you please join me again in praying for this family? Pray for Linny and Emma's safety and peace as they travel, for God's favor on them as they go through their Consulate appointment and all of the other governmental process, and for peace and comfort for Jubilee as she goes through this enormous change.

Thank you so much, bloggy friends - you're the best!

Catching up....

There are SO MANY THINGS I have wanted to post about over the past couple of months that I just never got around to. So I decided to put several of them all in one big post just to get a little bit caught up....mainly for the benefit of our family members who aren't close by and want to see pictures of the kids. So, if you're not interested in all the hodge-podge pictures, feel free to skip. :)

Football

I didn't post one single picture from Jacob's entire football season! This was his first year to play, and he was in the 5-6 year old flag division. It wasn't quite what he expected and, after more than a year of wanting and asking and waiting to play, he was more than a little disappointed that there were no pads, no helmets, and - gasp! - no tackling. (Personally, I was ok with that.) But at least he got to use a mouth guard. :)

All of these pictures are from the last game of the season.

Taking the field....



Jacob is the one standing still right in the middle of the picture below. He's #1 - love it! :)



Receiving their award medals....



He did fave fun - I think just playing at the "big" stadium was more fun than anything - but I don't know if he will want to play again next year or not. About half way through the season, we had this conversation:

Me: So which do you like better, football or soccer?
Jacob: Soccer.
Me: Really? What do you like better about soccer?
Jacob: You don't get tackled.

:)

A Whole Lotta Carving Goin' On


Jacob's masterpiece....


Kloe's masterpiece....










Fall Festival

We went to two fall festivals this year....one at school and one at church. For the past 3 years, we've gone to 3 different ones each year - one at Kloe's school, one at Jacob's school, and one at church - so just having 2 was actually a relief! Both of my kids surprised me by wanting to be something different for each festival this year....which came as news to me. :)

School....
Jacob went as a king and Kloe went as....herself! She wore a nametag that said, "HI, NAME IS KLOE" :)



The PTA hosted a silent auction, and each class decorated a pumpkin that they could auction off to raise money for their classroom. Jacob was determined to get the puppy dog pumpkin done by his class. He asked me if he could take money to school the morning of the festival to buy the pumpkin from his teacher. So cute. He didn't understand the whole auction thing. When we got to the festival that night, he made us go straight to the cafeteria and bid on their pumpkin, and then we had to keep going back throughout the night to check on the bids. No one else ever placed a bid on theirs, so we won! He was so very happy. :)


Church....
We found an adorable go-go girl costume when we were at the thrift store looking for things for 50's day (further down in this post), and I wanted Kloe to wear it so much! But she was adamantly opposed....until the next day. Of course. I gave in (only because it was so cute) and we went back to the thrift store to see if it was still there. It wasn't. But we found a dress that came in a close second, and her costume turned out really cute.



Jacob decided he wanted to go as a soccer player. A famous soccer player, mind you. Whew - good thing we happened to have this old famous-soccer-player costume laying around. :)


They had lots of fun playing the games and raking in the candy.





Jacob got to show off his professional-soccer-player skills.


Kloe won $2.00 and Jacob won $1.00 - plus a few coupons for free food and ice cream - at the Cash Cube.


A very fun night!



50's Day

The week after the fall festivals, Kloe and Jacob's school celebrated the 50th day of school by having a 50's dress-up day. I was really surprised that Jacob actually agreed to dress up....that's not usually his cup of tea. They looked so cute!

We bought Kloe a gray skirt, pink cardigan, white button-up shirt, and pink and black scarf for her hair, all at the thrift store. We got an iron-on poodle at Walmart. Jacob wore his jeans rolled up with a denim jacket and slicked back hair. CUTE!