Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to you all!!! I hope everyone is having a great time with family and loved ones...we are in Ohio with Phil's family right now. Tomorrow we will go to my parents house, 45 minutes away. We will get to see a lot of family we haven't seen in a year or more...we are looking forward to it.

Praying that as we celebrate today we reflect on the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us all...I would not be where I am today without Him!!! Praise God!!!

We have a "boy" toy in the house!!!

So I pick up the girls from AWANA today and I see Zaria coming out of the Sparks room with a big bag and a smile on her face...Tonight was store night for the Sparkies and that meant that Zaria got to spend her Awana bucks. She earns her Awana books by bringing her book and bible to club time, by knowing her verses, and by doing kind things for others. She had a lot of bucks to spend and when I looked into that bag I cracked a smile myself. She had chosen what some would call a "boy" toy...it was a matchbox ice mountain playset with a matchbox car, a motorized lift, and an avalanche!!! What was so great is that she didn't care what others thought, she was so excited about this and wanted it over all the other "girl" things that they had. I love the individuallity that she posesses so early in life...yet she is not arrogant or self-righteous about it.

I am praisin and thankin our Creator for the way He made each of my girls so different.

Much love to you my dear blog friend(s)...(I hope I have more than one....Kristen!!!)

Praisin Him!!!!

Baby girl loves to put on her shades and dance to praise music:





Hello blog friends,

So sorry it has been a while since I updated. The Christmas season is upon us and there is lots to do. I am again excited this year to share Christmas with the girls. It is so much fun to make things with them, to decorate and to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Joy and peace is what I am praying and hoping to experience in the coming weeks (and into the new year) and I hope to not become anxious or stressed out in anyway.

We have been doing the Jesse Tree nightly (almost nightly unless it is 10:30 pm and the kids are still up and I am ready for bed!!) but it is awesome to reflect on Christ even before he was born. These devotions that go along with the Jesse Tree ornament focus on Christ in the Old Testament and New Testament. He was there in Creation, during Abrahams life, and David's too, etc.... I hope and pray that I and the girls can really focus on His rich, abiding love this Christmas and to pour out His love to family and friends.

So what are some traditions or things that you are doing this year? Let me know....

God bless you all!!!!

An onion moment

Yesterday was a beautiful moment with my toddler that I just want to share so that I can always look back at this post and remember...

My daughter and I were "cooking" together. The older two were outside playing with a friend so it was just me and the toddler hangin out and making food for dinner. I was cutting an onion for a salad and my eyes started to water and then I looked at her and her eyes were watering. She didn't understand why her eyes were getting all teary-eyed and so she did what her 1 and 1/2 year old mind was telling her to do when she starts crying, she just started hugging me ...we were "crying" together and hugging each other and she kept looking at me with tears in her eyes, smiling... and I kept looking at her and smiling with tears in my eyes. I felt like I was on a Hallmark commercial...we weren't trully sad though so maybe it wouldn't have made a real commercial, but still, it was a moment that I don't want to forget.

I really thank God for that little memory with my little one because I don't get lovely moments with my toddler very often. I had forgotten what it is like to be around an independant, I want my way, stubborn (I wonder where she gets that from?) little girl...so this little moment with her was a refreshing reminder that she has a sweet little loving spirit given to her by a God who trully adores her....

much love to you!!!

Not me Monday!!!

Our closet has not looked like this for the past two weeks because of broken closet rod sockets:

And the kids did not think it was fun to go "swimming" in mommy and daddy's clothes and play hide and go seek in the closet...

I did not just today hit my head two times, hard enough for me to feel like I was going to pass out, in the same spot on the same chandelier in our dining room...

When my husband and I were moving furniture around last week, we did not see the dead mouse that we were trying to trap for several months right under the computer desk where I always put my feet...

And we did not have a lot of garbage bags full of garbage in the garage, in the house, in the garbage can, laying around the garbage, for several smelly days because we forgot to pay the trash fee...and we did not have more stray animals roaming around our house looking for food...and tearing the garbage bags open, which made more smelly garbage come out of the bags, lying around waiting for me to clean up...

Go to http://www.mycharmingkids.net for more not me's...I know I will be reading some because I need to laugh today after this loooooong not me Monday!!!

much to be thankful for...

I have much to be thankful for and it seems when each Thanksgiving comes around I have more and more to add to my thankful list. I am thankful for my salvation and thank God for my salvation everyday. Where would I be without knowing where I will be going in my future? I thank God for His mercy and His grace....I thank Him for showing me the truth...I thank Him for His love and for His Son who suffered and died for me and rose again for me to have new life. I thank God for family...that we have recovered from sickness...

Today was a not so typical thanksgiving for us. We went to a real southern type restaurant tonight to have turkey, steak, potatoes, greens, corn bread rolls, and sweet potato pie. I was too tired and weak to cook a big meal so I am thankful for a restaurant that was open. We had a great time eating some good food and the best part is I didn't have to clean up!!! I really do need to clean up at the house but I have been taking a break from that because of lack of energy....

but I must get these kids to bed. I just wanted to write a little something tonight because it has been a while since I wrote....we are thankful we are doing well. Thank you for your prayers.

Not me Monday

I am really late on these not me's and that should be a not me in itself...

I am not ever late for anything...I am not ever running behind or out the door late because I always schedule and plan for unexpected happenings...like a dirty diaper, or I can't find my car keys, or an unforgotten purse, or a child who does not understand that the car is outside in the driveway and not in her bedroom or in the backyard, and all the previous situation have not happened to me at all this past week...

I did not have my lil toddler take off her diaper and pajamas several times this past week and lay all night long in her convieniently converted toilet crib, and then she did not greet me in the morning completely unclothed with a smile on her face...

I did not hope, wish, and pray for my husband to take the kids all day Saturday so that I could recover from a stomach virus. I did not pack food, snacks, and drinks and make a list of activities for him to do with the kids in order to keep them busy and gone from the house as the bed and toilet were not continually calling for me...

And...

I did not look at all the exercise equipment we have in our house and think about getting back on the bike or lifting weights or doing some of my pilates dvds on Monday, and then get so busy on Monday that I didn't even think about working out....oh well, maybe not tomorrow I will try again...

Hope you all have a blessed not me Monday!!!