Taking a Break. . .

(picture courtesy of Corbis)

Just letting you know that I am going to take a blogging break – planned this time – for a bit, to relax and enjoy the week with my family. I’ll be back soon with thoughts and plans for the new year.

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,
Nancy

Merry Christmas!!!

photo courtesy of Corbis

“The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
You shall multiply the nation,
You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice
and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.”

-Isaiah 6: 2-3, 6-7

(This post was scheduled to have gone up on Christmas morning, but I just found out that it never went up – I must have done something wrong in the scheduling – ah, something new to learn! Seeing as how it is just as appropriate for any day of the year, I went ahead and posted it now.)

Blessings,
Nancy

On the 1st Day ’til Christmas. . .(as well as a few I missed!)

To be brief and just hit the highlights. . .

6th Day. . .Michael’s birthday – we baked and decorated cupcakes, I did a little shopping, and we had a blast at Chuck E. Cheese for Michael’s birthday dinner, followed by the cupcakes and a treasure hunt at home for his presents.

Ooo, and this lovely package arrived in the mail -

5th Day. . .I delivered Laura to a Christmas party for her Bible Study group and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping until it was time to pick her up. I was able to get quite a bit done, but didn’t finish with the shopping.

4th Day. . .Three of the children sang in the Children’s Choir at church, wearing their Christmas finery (no pictures – I couldn’t find the camera in the Sunday morning rush). Church was followed by our monthly fellowship meal (always a yummy assortment and good conversation). After all of the church activities were over, I headed out to. . .guess where. . .shopping! I ended up being out longer than I had anticipated, but I completely finished all of the Christmas shopping, as well as grocery shopping. Jeff heated up frozen pizzas for the kids and I brought he and I home Long John Silver’s for dinner. I propped my feet up and watched “White Christmas” – or actually half of “White Christmas” – until I fell soundly asleep on the couch.

3rd Day. . .Baking Day One!! One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season (just like my mother!) is the last few days before Christmas when I do all of the special baking each year. After another quick trip to the grocery store for several sale items, I started in on the fun. I baked a triple recipe of Cherry Cookies and 3 batches of Fudge (2 with nuts and one without). The children had fun putting the cherries on the cookies and licking the fudge spoons, not to mention sampling warm cookies.

2nd Day. . .Baking Day Two! Today I baked a batch of Haystacks, better known around here as Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies. I didn’t have time to bake the second batch, so I will be doing that on Christmas Eve. I dropped Matthew at work and we all straightened up the house for evening guests – my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, who were bringing a projector and a screen so that we could watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” on the “big screen”. We ordered pizzas and had salad, chips and dips, and Christmas goodies for dessert. The movie was so much fun to watch this way and was enjoyed by all – even the snoring husband (who took his usual evening nap during the second half) and the 2 year old, who had the most fun walking back and forth in front of the projector so that he could see his head on the screen.

Today. . .the 1st day ’til Christmas. . .Christmas Eve!! This is my favorite day of the Christmas season. It will include, among other things, some cookie baking, gift wrapping, delivering Christmas cookies to the neighbors and the arrival of my two oldest sons to spend the night and tomorrow with us!

Have a wonderful and joyous Christmas Eve!

Blessings,
Nancy

Coming back soon!. . .

On the 6th day ’til Christmas, I went AWOL from my blog! I’m truly sorry, but I haven’t been able to slow down long enough to write. I’ll be back as soon as I can and fill you in!

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,
Nancy

Happy Birthday Michael!!

Today is our son, Michael’s 7th birthday! Michael is our 7th child and our 5th son. He strongly resembles his brother Matthew, except for his darker hair.

Michael is a fun-loving and sweet boy. He is all boy, and loves to be loud, laugh and growl! His favorite thing to do is to play Nintendo and would do this all day if his mother didn’t stop him. He is also an avid reader, and enjoys reading all kinds of books.

Michael is a first grader this year, and is amazing me with his math skills – he has no trouble understanding new concepts and figuring out ways to solve problems – word problems are his favorites.

Michael loves playing with his friends at church and is a sensitive and kind friend to them. He is singing in the Christmas Children’s Choir for the first time this year, and enjoying it.

We are very blessed to have Michael in our family and love him very much!

Happy Birthday sweet Michael!

I love you,
Mom

On the 8th and 7th Days ’til Christmas . . .

Santa courtesy of Corbis

Sorry folks, I’ve been busy! I just haven’t had time to put down in writing just what we’ve been up to, so I’ll try to remember now the last couple of days together (no small feat).

The ice finally thawed around here as temperatures started to climb. A thick fog has hung over us for the last two days, but it hasn’t been cold (or frozen), so I’m not complaining. We were able to venture out again on Wednesday, so I spent the afternoon shopping at the toy store. This was a pleasant activity and I was happy to find everything I went in looking for.

I returned home just in time to head out again, this time with everyone in tow. We met Jeff at Wal-Mart to shop for our Santa’s Helpers gifts. Each of the children shopped for an item for a child their age, which didn’t take very long. Soon we were on our way to our next destination.

Laura’s birthday dinner from the day before had been postponed to this night, and she had chosen Chick-Fil-A, which also happened to be the drop-off spot for the Santa’s Helpers gifts. Ryan met us for dinner and we enjoyed chicken, good conversation, and the indoor playground for the kids. After dinner, Jeff took Laura to purchase her new I-Pod with her birthday money. I went on home with the rest of the crowd.
We spent the rest of the night watching “Holiday Inn” with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, while I finished writing and addressing the Christmas cards (which is why I didn’t get on here to write and tell you all about our day!).

photo courtesy of Corbis

Guess what I did the next day? Yep, back to shopping – you’d think I’d be done now! Actually I spent this day running several errands and only shopped a couple of stores, but one of them was very productive and crossed many items off of my list. Too bad I can’t share them with you, but little people often read what I write and I am a stickler for keeping Christmas presents a surprise – just ask them.

I was too tired this night to do much more than watch my daily “Arthur’s Christmas” and fall asleep in the chair.

I have been struck the last few days by the words of a lovely old Christmas carol – every time I hear them, I am moved and encouraged. I have bolded the part that keeps standing out to me -

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day,
Their old familiar carols play;
And wild and sweet the words repeat,
Of Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men.

I thought, as now this day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rung so long the unbroken song
Of Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men.

And in despair, I bowed my head,
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
with Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men.” “

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

May we all rest in these truthful words now and in the days to come.

Blessings,
Nancy

On the 9th Day ’til Christmas . . .

This is the sight we woke up to on Tuesday. No, that’s not snow – that’s ice, folks! And when ice covers the land around these parts, everything shuts down – the local schools were closed and Jeff worked from home. Our plans outside the home were postponed and I was left to replan the day once again.

Here are a few more pictures – just because I think it’s pretty and it’s always exciting when anything white covers the ground -

Tommy and Sarah left early to go “sliding” down hills with some neighborhood friends. The littles were happily playing upstairs and Jeff and Laura were both working on computers, so I locked myself in my bedroom and began this year’s Christmas gift wrapping. With Christmas music playing on the CD player, I worked for several hours wrapping up beauties to put under the tree, much to the joy of the children who have been begging me to wrap for over a week.

The day went by pretty quickly, and soon it was time for dinner. We had planned to go out to dinner for Laura’s birthday, but the temperatures had not climbed above freezing all day, and the ice still lingered, so we heated up some frozen snacks and fried a few eggs and called it dinner. Dessert was Laura’s choice of ice cream sundaes, which we had thankfully already purchased before we were stuck at home. We put in a candle and sang “Happy Birthday” to her, and enjoyed her choice -

Laura opened her birthday presents and then it was time to get children off to bed. We watched the new Batman dvd (one of her birthday gifts and a departure from my usual rule of watching only Christmas movies for late-night in December), which I did not enjoy. The Joker was a very disturbing character – his actions were extremely violent and his lack of respect for human life made me shudder. We had a conversation after it was over about the message that he was sharing – that every man is really evil, no matter how they act, and will show his true colors when pushed far enough. He wanted to prove that everyone is really just like him on the inside and there was great despair and depression in that fact. This made for a very dark movie, because that is where they left you. The movie tried to show that it wasn’t true for most people – that the good in most people will conquer the evil, but this point was so immersed in the violence that it seemed to be a minor statement compared to the evil going on in the city. The problem I felt was that there was some truth in what the Joker was saying – the Bible says:

“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
-Romans 3: 10-12

But that is not the end of the story, praise God! We are not left there, as the Joker would have us believe. The realization of the fact that we are evil and sinful, (the result of the Fall of man in Genesis) is the starting point to our realizing our need for a Savior outside of ourselves – our need for Christ. And this is the whole point of Christmas – we celebrate Jesus’ coming, but forget why He came – it was to save us from our sad condition – to grow up and to give Himself, sacrificially, as a substitute for us – to pay the penalty for our sin, because we cannot do it ourselves. For those who choose to accept His free gift of grace, there is no longer despair in our sinful condition, but hope and joy the Lord, as God changes us into the image of Christ.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
-Ezekiel 36: 25-26

Oh, all of the trimmings of Christmas are wonderful! But let us not forget that this is the reason we celebrate – this is the reason for our joy!

Blessings,
Nancy

Happy Birthday Laura!!

Today is my daughter, Laura’s 15th birthday!

I thought I’d write an acrostic for her -

L – loveable, laughing, lovely

A – amiable, artistic

U – understanding

R – resourceful, responsible

A – animal lover extraordinaire

We are blessed by her life and her presence in our family. She is beautiful inside and out, and her sincere love for the Lord is a joy to my heart. She is a major help to me each and every day and is a fun companion in our late night movie watching. She has a love for animals (especially dogs) that drives her passion for rescuing and caring for them. Her drawings amaze me, as she is quite talented with a pencil and sketchpad. She spends much time writing stories, as well, and is a lover of good books. She is precious, silly, fun-loving, gentle, considerate, and wise for her years.

She is so special to me and we love her very much!

Happy Birthday, sweet daughter!

Love,
Mom

On the 10th Day ’til Christmas . . .

The 10th day ’til Christmas turned out completely differently than I had planned, but then, that’s not unusual! I started the day with the plan to go out shopping all afternoon. I had several places to go which were a little ways from home, and was going to make that trip to restock the house.

At around 12:30 pm, I left the house, all bundled up. A cold front had blown in overnight which had dropped temperatures into the 20′s. It was cold, but I was willing to bear it (I really don’t like cold!) in order to get some more shopping done. Besides, it was Christmasy weather, right? At least that’s what I was telling myself.

As I traveled down the road, not very far from home, it began. It started as tiny drops of rain, something not forecasted until nighttime. I turned on my windshield wipers to deal with it and discovered that the raindrops were freezing on my windshield. I was quickly growing a sheet of ice on the windshield and losing visibility. I panicked a little and then thought to switch on the defroster on the highest fan setting to try to melt the ice. I was traveling on a road with no shoulder and nowhere to pull over. I slowed to a crawl and was glad to see that a small bar of clear was appearing at the bottom of the windshield, as the defroster did it’s job. I drove a little bit further peering through the slowly enlarging bar until I came to a side street, where I turned off and stopped until the windshield had cleared enough to see well again.

By this time the rain had turned to sleet, but my windshield was warm enough to combat it. I decided to start off again. A Sonic restaurant was nearby, so I pulled in there to wait and see what was going to happen with the weather and think about whether to go home or try to continue on my way. The sleet stopped and the cars seemed to be moving fine, so I thought that maybe I would try to go. This seemed to be a good decision . . . until . . . I crossed the overpass of the highway. It was frozen – and I had to try to avoid hitting the cars in front of me, which wasn’t easy when braking caused the van to slide. I put the car in neutral (I wasn’t quite sure that this was the right thing, but I kind of went into automatic pilot, and somewhere in my brain I remembered something about doing this in this situation!) and tapped my brakes until I got to the unfrozen pavement on the other side of the overpass. It could have gone either way, but thankfully the Lord helped me to not hit anyone. At this point, there was no more decision making to be done – I headed straight for home – a little shaken, but glad that I hadn’t gotten farther away and into more trouble.

The sleet started up again, but by this time, I was home and inside in safety. I spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer and the phone. On the computer, doing some online shopping and on the phone with Jeff, while he visited a few of the stores that I didn’t make it to (but were on his way) – walking him through the stores with my list. So, I did get some of the shopping done that I had planned to, just in a different way than I had planned! The bad weather was confined to my immediate area, and didn’t affect Jeff at all. When it was time for him to come home, I was praying and expecting it to take him a long time, because the sleet was falling steadily and building up on our yard and driveway. He had no problem getting home at all, much to my amazement and relief! Oh, and by then, they had sanded that scary overpass, so he didn’t experience what I had. It was so good to have him safely home.

We sat down to Spaghetti, Caeser Salad and Italian bread for dinner, and watched Frosty the Snowman – rather appropriate, I think. The children have been clamoring for me to start wrapping presents. Hopefully, I’ll have time to do some of that tomorrow. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see if my plans change direction again!

Have a warm and cozy day!

Blessings,
Nancy

On the 11th Day ’til Christmas . . .

The 11th day ’til Christmas found us celebrating the December birthdays in our family. We met at the lovely home of my brother and sister-in-law to celebrate 4 birthdays – two of my children (Laura and Michael), my nephew and my sister-in-law. As always, their home was decorated beautifully for the season -

I loved this display my sister-in-law set up on her stairs with the old sled that my siblings and I used to have hours of fun with while growing up -

We ate pizza and build-your-own salads, with cheesecake, big chocolate chip cookie, and ice cream for dessert -

We enjoyed our time together, planned the Christmas menu, and took turns telling some of our favorite Christmas memories from the past. The kids always enjoy the big box of dress-up clothes at my brother’s house and come into the living room wearing different combinations of items that they think is so funny. Anna always goes for the same costume, the princess dress – no surprise there -

Michael was thrilled to receive lots of Legos and Laura added nicely to her savings for an I-Pod -

When we bid the family farewell for the night, we set off to look at Christmas lights. The first place we headed was to this house which we visit each year. They put out lots of lights and convert their garage into Santa’s Workshop. The kids love it, but especially David, as it was all new to him this year and there was a dancing Mickey Mouse inside (his favorite character). Here are a few pictures from our stop -

This tree was simply beautiful -

We rode around for awhile longer and enjoyed the sights before driving home and retiring for the night.

Blessings,
Nancy